As you know i have been working very hard on perfecting a profitable playing stlye for a $5 sng tournament.Well so far i have been pretty break even;But i am not quite satified with my results.For record sake this is tourney #51709307 and below i will be posting hands and explaining my thought process.
With the playing style that i am workig on,I need to 1st evualuate the play at the table. This starts at the 10/20-15/30 Levels and my main goal is to see who really understands what's going on,and who doesn't. I also want to see who will lay a hand down and who will call to the river.
During this time my hand playing requirements are very tight,but they are also super Aggressive also.One thing i have noticed is that i need to play my big non-pair hands as close to the button in late position as possible.These hands include (AKo/AKs/AQs/AQo with AKs/o i will push 5-6xbb UTG. But i am not so inclined to do the same with any AQ suited or not from UTG when the blinds are 10/20-15/30. From my experience AQ becomes more valueble at higher levels in middle to late position;The way i play it for a sng anyway.
One big problem in my game that i have found;Is the fact that i want to pull the trigger alittle to early in these things.And this has gotten me into alot of trouble.I have currently played only 2 hands in this tourney so far.Picking up both AK and KQ with no action after the 6xbb raise. But getting the action is not what is important to me;The show of agression is though!
The only thing i want to be remembered for is my agression and my play with big cards.This will give the impression that i only play good cardz and that i play them very hard! As a side note i am starting to work big connectors into my arsenal,but only when i have the ammo and position to do so.
Right now my M=19 and now under 20 so my game changes just a hair.Right now i will no longer play small or Med suited connector;As well as small pairs.My play also become more agressive ect.The current level is now 50/100 my M=10 and i am basicly playing position poker at this time,waiting for 1st in vigorish! 8player remain...
What i am trying to do here is find somethig that works on a consistant basis and then stick with it.I want to be able to mix it up and play hard also.Now if i must get on myself about one thing where i constantly fuck up;And that is not knowing when to let a hand go. And can think of three or maybe four different situations today alone where i lost;Becuase i thought my KK was good on an AA7 flop.
Today at the table even a guy who has gotten used to seeing me play made a comment when i lost the hand;Saying "I thought you learned the other day but i guess not". He then goes on to call me a donkey and to remind me of my shit house stats on SharkScope.com. I think one of my biggest achiles is to learn to lay it down and that should increase my cashflow.
I also have a formula that i am trying to perfect also;That has to do with ICM and the ammt of chips in the pot.The equation is (p)x(s)=(mpd) pot/street/max/pot/def
I have been working on thisformula for a while now;And basicaly i will need to go over hundreds if not thousands of hand histories.But i do plan to develope some kind of a database to take care of all of the guess work.
Basicly what seperates me from being a great player are a number of unseen thought proceses.Such as mastering the Zone System by Harrington,as well as the Blue book and aquiring pocker tracker data as well.And one big word i need to remember is SMALL as in ball poker.The only time i should play Long is in the green only!
And i am also considering keeping track of my hours log in a spreadsheet to better grasp my time investment.The fun thing about your learning curb and playing poker;Is getting familar with proper hand and position play.Now the style that i play does deviate from traditional poker;Such as making a call with to suited cards to a big raise.I call this shooting a flyer or trying to hit a shit hand to bust a better hand.
Patience is number one if you plan to make any money at this game.And honestly my patience sux at the table,the internet table anyway.But i have found that reading and writing such as what i am doing now,greatly helps my game overall.While i am on the subject of my Sng play i must also think about last night;When i played in the $11.70 super sat tournament.I seem to always make the final table in these tourneys rather it beig a full feild or not.
But lately here i find myself to be results oriented;When i have picked up KK in two final tables and had them both cracked! Which brings me to a final table that i attended last night in a super sat.I basicaly got my ass handed to me,becuase i had made my mind up to play bitch ball until the blinds got real big.Well instead of just playing my game i allowed myself to be outplayed;Becuase my mind was not in concert with the game that i am used to.
Peeps can call me a donk a fish or whatever! But i feel real confidient about the style i play in poker at this time.And as reckless as my style of play may look at times.I have been working my ass off to master the way that i play. I am not a Lag or a Tag player i am a HYBRID of both styles;and basicaly the better im running to more LAG i will be.I love playing longball poker when the System allows it;But i also enjoy having a coach roach style of TAG.............................!!!!!!
*********** # 4 **************
PokerStars Game #10202852489: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/31 - 17:24:35 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: Achille34 (1420 in chips)
Seat 4: GoBirds21 (1340 in chips)
Seat 5: omaha82 (1460 in chips)
Seat 6: vern555 (1460 in chips)
Seat 7: BertieJ (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Akutama (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (1830 in chips)
omaha82: posts small blind 10
vern555: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qd Kd]
With 10/20 blinds i opt to play this hand hard!!!
BertieJ: folds
Akutama: calls 20
sailor14: folds
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 100 to 120 In this position this is a standard raise for me!
Achille34: folds
GoBirds21: raises 160 to 280
omaha82: folds
vern555: folds
Akutama: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 160 With my hand and another 160 i have np making the call!
*** FLOP *** [Td 8d 9d]
SR8tAcEto5: checks
GoBirds21: bets 1060 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: calls 1060 He seems to want to represent a QJ wheel but do you really come over the top with QJ????
*** TURN *** [Td 8d 9d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [Td 8d 9d 2d] [8h]
IN THIS HAND I BASICALY OPTED TO PLAY FOR MY FLUSH! I KNEW HE WAS PROBOLY ACE HIGH. BUT I WAS ALSO AWARE OF THE FACT THAT,IF I HIT MY K=3 Q=3 OR A DIAMOND=9/I HAVE 15 OUTS TO WIN WITH 2 CARDS TO COME.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Qd Kd] (a flush, King high)
GoBirds21: shows [Kc Ac] (a pair of Eights)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2730 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2730 | Rake 0
Board [Td 8d 9d 2d 8h]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Qd Kd] and won (2730) with a flush, King
high
Seat 3: Achille34 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: GoBirds21 (button) showed [Kc Ac] and lost with a pair of
Eights
Seat 5: omaha82 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: vern555 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: BertieJ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Akutama folded before Flop
Seat 9: sailor14 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
In this next hand i am second to act with to big suited and connected cards.
*********** # 20 **************
PokerStars Game #10203114899: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/05/31 - 17:41:12 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (2910 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (2800 in chips)
Seat 6: vern555 (990 in chips)
Seat 7: BertieJ (2900 in chips)
Seat 8: Akutama (1335 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (2565 in chips)
Akutama: posts small blind 25
sailor14: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qh As]
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 150 to 200 This is my standard raise from 2nd position! But i have now changed this range as a raising had UTG. Here i came into the pot with a 3xbb raise;but after further research i would opt to limp here and call a small raise. I basically want to know where i am at by seeing another bet after i get involved.Doing this i make early position late position why watchign the action.
vern555: folds
BertieJ: folds
Akutama: calls 175
sailor14: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [8d 5d Ac]
Akutama: checks
sailor14: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 500
Akutama: folds
sailor14: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 600 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 600 | Rake 0
Board [8d 5d Ac]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 collected (600)
Seat 6: vern555 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: BertieJ (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Akutama (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: sailor14 (big blind) folded on the Flop
HERE I PICK UP POCKET 88 IN THIS HAND
*********** # 21 **************
PokerStars Game #10203131838: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/05/31 - 17:42:17 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (2910 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (3200 in chips)
Seat 6: vern555 (990 in chips)
Seat 7: BertieJ (2900 in chips)
Seat 8: Akutama (1135 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (2365 in chips)
sailor14: posts small blind 25
JKPoindexter: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [8s 8d]
SR8tAcEto5: calls 50 UTG I option to limp to rep AK and keep myself out of trouble
vern555: folds
BertieJ: folds
Akutama: calls 50
sailor14: folds
JKPoindexter: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kd Ad 8h]
JKPoindexter: checks
SR8tAcEto5: checks
Akutama: bets 200
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 200 Very dangerous not to reraise but with my stack i was wiling to just call here!
*** TURN *** [Kd Ad 8h] [3c]
SR8tAcEto5: bets 250
Akutama: raises 635 to 885 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: calls 635
*** RIVER *** [Kd Ad 8h 3c] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [8s 8d] (three of a kind, Eights)
Akutama: shows [Td Ah] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2345 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2345 | Rake 0
Board [Kd Ad 8h 3c Th]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 showed [8s 8d] and won (2345) with three of a kind,
Eights
Seat 6: vern555 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: BertieJ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Akutama (button) showed [Td Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces
and Tens
Seat 9: sailor14 (small blind) folded before Flop
HERE IS ANOTHER HAND WHERE I PICK UP POCKET 99'S
*********** # 38 **************
PokerStars Game #10203279541: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/05/31 - 17:51:41 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (4450 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (4360 in chips) HERE I HAVE A LOCK ON 2ND PLACE!
Seat 7: BertieJ (2125 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (2565 in chips)
JKPoindexter: posts small blind 50
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [9d 9c]--MY 9 IS 29 HERE SO IM FREE TO PLAY LONG BALL!!!
BertieJ: calls 100
sailor14: raises 200 to 300
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 200--BASIC OUT OF POSITION CALL
BertieJ: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [As 6c Jd]
SR8tAcEto5: checks
BertieJ: checks
sailor14: bets 100
SR8tAcEto5: raises 400 to 500--NOTHING MORE THAN A BASIC CHECK RAISE ON A NON-FLUSH BOARD.IM JUST TRYING TO SEE IF HE HAS IT HERE!
BertieJ: folds
sailor14: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 1150 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1150 | Rake 0
Board [As 6c Jd]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) collected (1150)
Seat 7: BertieJ folded on the Flop
Seat 9: sailor14 (button) folded on the Flop
HERE I PICK UP AK !!!!!!!1
*********** # 39 **************
PokerStars Game #10203294209: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/05/31 - 17:52:37 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (4400 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (5110 in chips)
Seat 7: BertieJ (1825 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (2165 in chips)
SR8tAcEto5: posts small blind 50
BertieJ: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ah Kh]
sailor14: folds
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 4899 to 4999 Now that i have reviewed this HH i do not advocate the open push here with AK even though it is suited.The problem i have been having is doig shit exactly like this. Yes it loks good and shure im a big favorite vs 3 random hands.Well atleast i think so LOL. ACTUALLY WE ARE A 40% FAVORITE
BertieJ: calls 1725 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [7d 2s Kc]
*** TURN *** [7d 2s Kc] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [7d 2s Kc 3s] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Ah Kh] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
BertieJ: shows [8h 8d] (a pair of Eights)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 3650 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3650 | Rake 0
Board [7d 2s Kc 3s Ac]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (small blind) showed [Ah Kh] and won (3650) with two
pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 7: BertieJ (big blind) showed [8h 8d] and lost with a pair of
Eights
Seat 9: sailor14 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
So i ended up getting lucky here even though i feel the open push was wrong on my part! This was also a pretty much coinflip from start to finish vs 88.If my M were let's say 10 are below i would welcome this move with open arms! But here it was just and overly agressive overkill.
IN THIS NEXT HAND IM SURE IT'S GOING TO TAKE A LITTLE ANALYST FOR SURE! THIS WAS A SUPER AGRESSO MOVE HERE LOL!
*********** # 41 **************
PokerStars Game #10203310418: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/05/31 - 17:53:38 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (4500 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (6935 in chips)
1ST I need to break down my game situation here;As i am the chip leader and my M is a whopping (46).My effective m is proboly around 25 or 26 but anyway,as far as the move itself and not the cards is justifiable.
By looking at this hand i am afforded by the math to spend (3000)-6935=20/m(green).So i should be allowed to lose 3000 in chips in this hand ;and still safely have enuff ammo to fight in the orange and yellow zone.
Seat 9: sailor14 (2065 in chips)
JKPoindexter: posts small blind 50
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Td Kh]
sailor14: folds
JKPoindexter: raises 100 to 200--JK makes a small mini raise so i decide to push!
SR8tAcEto5: raises 399 to 599
JKPoindexter: calls 399--The flat call here allows me to narrow his holdings!
*** FLOP *** [Qc Ts 9s]
This flop gives me a double draw./If another T spikes i have a set/If i J spikes i have the Nut Wheel!/And the K gives me 9OUTS!
JKPoindexter: bets 600
SR8tAcEto5: raises 600 to 1200 -With this reraise i have consumed 1000 in chips only! and i still have 2000 in ammo to work with if needed!
JKPoindexter: calls 600
*** TURN *** [Qc Ts 9s] [8d]
JKPoindexter: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 1400 bARRING he has a Jack i have a double belly draw as well.
JKPoindexter said, "nh"----And there is the white flag!!!!!!!
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 3598 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3598 | Rake 0
Board [Qc Ts 9s 8d]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) collected (3598)
Seat 9: sailor14 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
So maybe this does look Hyper Agresso!!!!! But that's becuase i play with 2nd and 3rd level thinking!
THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HIGH RISK LOW REWARD!!!!! NO MORE............
*********** # 69 **************
PokerStars Game #10203494999: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/31 - 18:05:15 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (3899 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (7861 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (1740 in chips)
SR8tAcEto5: posts small blind 75
sailor14: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qd Kh]
JKPoindexter: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 6849 to 6999
sailor14: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 300 | Rake 0
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (small blind) collected (300)
Seat 9: sailor14 (big blind) folded before Flop
WELL I JUST PLAYED THIS HAND AND WANTED TO SHARE TOTAL STUPIDISM!!!!
PokerStars Game #10218275034: Tournament #51787083, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/06/01 - 16:12:51 (ET)
Table '51787083 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 3: OTTER3 (1570 in chips)
Seat 4: Stefanw88 (1120 in chips)
Seat 5: zachsback (2035 in chips)
Seat 6: toronto500 (3620 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (1645 in chips)
Seat 8: TrentTX (1740 in chips)
Seat 9: q-dog2k (1770 in chips)
toronto500: posts small blind 15
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ac Th]
TrentTX: raises 60 to 90
q-dog2k: calls 90
OTTER3: folds
Stefanw88: folds
zachsback: folds
toronto500: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 60 -Totally a pot odds call with the unsuited AT. BAD CALL!!!!
*** FLOP *** [5d 9s Td]
SR8tAcEto5: checks
TrentTX: bets 300
q-dog2k: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 420 to 720
TrentTX: raises 930 to 1650 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: calls 835 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5d 9s Td] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [5d 9s Td 9h] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Ac Th] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
TrentTX: shows [Jc Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
TrentTX collected 3395 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3395 | Rake 0
Board [5d 9s Td 9h Kc]
Seat 3: OTTER3 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Stefanw88 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: zachsback (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: toronto500 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) showed [Ac Th] and lost with two pair, Tens and Nines
Seat 8: TrentTX showed [Jc Jh] and won (3395) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 9: q-dog2k folded on the Flop
I GUESS IF THERE IS ONE THING THAT I HAVE TO REMEMBER,AND THAT IS TO PLAY SMALL POTS IN THE EARLY LEVELS!
AND RULE #1 OF MY POKER 10 COMMANDMENTS-never go broke in an unraised pot!!!!!
In this hand below i decided to call the short stack with 98s. I ended up being a 60/40% underdog or in other words i am a 3:2 dog in these races.
*********** # 83 **************
PokerStars Game #10203584706: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/31 - 18:10:55 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (1109 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (8086 in chips)
Seat 9: sailor14 (4305 in chips)
JKPoindexter: posts small blind 75
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [9h 8h]
sailor14: folds
JKPoindexter: raises 959 to 1109 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: calls 959
*** FLOP *** [6s Kd 5s]
*** TURN *** [6s Kd 5s] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [6s Kd 5s Td] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JKPoindexter: shows [Tc Ad] (a pair of Tens)
SR8tAcEto5: shows [9h 8h] (high card King)
JKPoindexter collected 2218 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2218 | Rake 0
Board [6s Kd 5s Td Jh]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (small blind) showed [Tc Ad] and won (2218) with a
pair of Tens
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) showed [9h 8h] and lost with high card
King
Seat 9: sailor14 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
THIS WAS THE LAST HAND THAT I PLAYED FOR THIS SESSION!
*********** # 95 **************
PokerStars Game #10203660519: Tournament #51709307, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em
No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/31 - 18:15:47 (ET)
Table '51709307 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (1318 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (12182 in chips)
JKPoindexter: posts small blind 100
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [8d 7s]
JKPoindexter: raises 200 to 400
SR8tAcEto5: raises 11782 to 12182 and is all-in
JKPoindexter: calls 918 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [7d Tc 4c]
*** TURN *** [7d Tc 4c] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [7d Tc 4c 8s] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [8d 7s] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
JKPoindexter: shows [9h 4h] (a pair of Fours)
SR8tAcEto5 said, "gg"
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2636 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2636 | Rake 0
Board [7d Tc 4c 8s Qc]
Seat 1: JKPoindexter (button) (small blind) showed [9h 4h] and lost
with a pair of Fours
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) showed [8d 7s] and won (2636) with two
pair, Eights and Sevens
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
HU SNG PLAY NEED TO KNOWS
Heads Up SNG Advice
by shipitthisway on 6/19/2006 20:50
Heads Up. One-on-One. Mano-a-Mano. Some refer to it as the truest form of poker.
Playing someone heads up is a different form of poker. I like to think of it in basketball terms, another game I enjoy. In basketball, we always see NBA and College teams playing 5-on-5---10 guys on the floor like ten guys at a full poker table. With ten guys on the floor, each person adapts to the game, seeing what their teammates and opponents are doing and how they are playing and developing a role as a result. In tournaments, when you are playing with a full table of ten people, your responsibilities are usually more limited because your role calls for you to be patient and only attack a minority of the time.
Now think of a 3-on-3 game of basketball at your local gym. There weren't enough guys to run a full game, so you play a half court game with only six players. This is similar to SNGs that only seat six people or short-handed tournaments. In 3-on-3 basketball, everyone is forced to be more active and have more responsibilities. With five guys on a squad, you can ignore a bad teammate by not passing to him and having him set screens. With only three, however, a good player will get double-teamed and the other two teammates have to be capable of knocking down a shot or getting open under the hoop to help the team. In 6-man SNGs, you also have to be more active and have more responsibilities, since the blinds will come around more quickly and there are fewer opponents.
Now imagine that it's just you and a buddy. You decide to play one-on-one, and it's a whole new ballgame. There are no teammates to pass to, and you don't have to worry about screens or double-teams. You have all the responsibilities, as you're the only one to score, defend, and rebound. I used to play one-on-one with my older brother all the time growing up. He was 2 years older, a couple inches taller, and a few pounds heavier. As a result, I had to adjust my game by playing tougher defense and perfecting my jumpshot and fade away moves. When you're one-on-one, there is nobody else to blame but yourself, but you're also the only person to receive credit if you succeed. This is why I started to play heads-up poker; it was just me and my opponent. There was only one person to focus on, one person to beat. Winner take all.
Another real reason I played heads-up was when I used to receive transfers online, they were only $6. I played $5 SNGs, so I only had two options: A full table or heads-up. I decided that getting better heads up would also improve my overall poker game, and that the vice-versa would not be true. In the past year, I have probably played between 2,000-2,500 heads up SNGs, and now will offer some advice on things I have picked up:
1) The button is your best friend. Position is key in all forms of poker, especially in heads up play. The button gives you power. It allows you to control pots, consistently pick up "dead" pots, chase draws at the right price, bluff a weak opponent, etc. etc. etc. When Phil Ivey played John D'Agostino heads up at the 2004 Turning Stone tournament, they each held the same hand, 8-9 offsuit. Howard Lederer said that the player with the button (Ivey) was about a 2:1 favorite because of their position. On the flop, both players missed and Ivey took it down by stabbing at the pot.
A few months ago, I was helping a friend who was new to poker. He had seriously never played a hand in his life, and he put a couple bucks on an online site. He played a couple heads up games as I offered advice, and he started winning. He put $25 on and soon he was playing for $100 a game. He had just won one match, but he accidentally hit the rematch button. I had to leave, as I was already pretty late for a class and had to force my buddy to fend for himself. I told him just to be aggressive with the button and bet his big hands hard. Somehow, he won.
I like to raise from the button just about every hand. If I'm not raising, I'm at least calling. Unless the blinds are very high, I want to see just about every hand where I have the button.
2) Bet, bet, bet. Your chips are your ammo. Put in tester bets, bluff-raises, continuation bets, value bets, whatever. When I play heads up, I am trying to pick up every single pot and not let you do the same. You have to have heart to play No Limit poker, but you gotta have a big pocket pair between your legs to really win at Heads Up No Limit poker. If you control the action, you will control the outcome most of the time. Know when to stop, but don't be afraid to put them to the test. The beauty of heads up poker is that every chip you win, your opponent also loses. You absolutely cannot sit around and wait in heads up.
3) Tilting is very common in heads up play. I don't care who you are, if you're any kind of a competitor, you will tilt when you play poker. You lose to a 3-outer, and you think about the swing you just took. It may not also lead to losing money, because some are smart enough to realize when they are doing so, but the thing that tilting people love to do the most is gamble to win their money back. When you're playing to break even, you're going to play some horrendous poker. I can tell you from personal experience about nights when I have lost six figures---tilt is very dangerous and very common in heads up poker.
In heads up, you will inevitably run into someone who thinks that you simply got lucky when you won. If you show them a bluff, they want nothing more than to bluff you back. Ultimate Bet has the beautiful Re-match button, which has led to some very profitable sessions for me. I once won seven straight $200 Heads up SNGs in less than thirty minutes against an opponent who was making the most ridiculous losing plays I have ever seen. Identify and try to attack those who are on tilt, but also keep your own emotions in check. As a rule, I would never lose more than two SNGs in a row to a single opponent.
When I was early in my days at high stakes SNGs, I played a series of games with Muddywater from CardRunners that really gave me confidence. We had played a couple of $500 SNGs that he won when he asked to play for $1k a pop. We moved to the next level, and I started to control the action. I had just watched a couple of his videos on his site, and was in complete control of the match. I was picking off his bluffs, getting hands paid off, and showing my bluffs just to try and get in his head. The two of us laugh about it now that we know each other, but I had him rattled and calling me a "cardrack." I was hitting some flops, which one person is bound to do more than the other, and got Andrew, who is a very intelligent and tough opponent, to go on tilt and lose eight consecutive games to me before we quit.
4) Don't expect to win every time. A 52.5% is the water level win percentage for a heads up player. That also means that you will almost lose half of all games you play. You are going to lose. Your opponent is either going to pick off a bluff, outflop you, suck out on you, or catch hands all match. These things happen, and they happen a lot of the time. Keep your head.
5) Identify which sites you play best on. For me, for example, I always played my best on UB's structure because it dealt hands the quickest, allowed the re-match option, allowed for skilled play, and always placed me in the center of the table.
6) Understand the facts and react accordingly. I am going to reference Vol. 2 of Harrington on Hold 'Em (which I recommend reading) for some facts that are permanently stuck in my head for heads up play. Dan says that flopping top pair heads-up is the equivalent of flopping a set at a full table. I don't think top pair is quite that strong, but it is very, very strong heads up.
Your kicker also matters. My favorite hand in heads up play is K-Q, because if either a K or Q flops, you have top pair, great kicker. If it comes j-10-x, you have two overs with the nice draw. After the flop, having a draw with overcards is a huge hand, one that you will want to push the action with almost all the time. Holding A-J on a 10-6-3 flop should look like a set to you when you're playing heads up.
One statistic that really sticks in my head is this: The frequency of both you and your opponent holding pocket pairs on the same hand is a little less than 1 in 300 hands. What does this mean? It means that any pair is very valuable in heads up play. At a full table, you will take a hand like 3-3 and try to flop a set. At a heads up table, you can take that pair and push with it, re-raising and moving all-in, being willing to gamble. Especially when the blinds are high, I love to push with baby pairs and pick up the dead money from the blinds. Remember that every chip you win, your opponenet loses, and vice versa.
Heads up is a unique yet interesting form of poker. I suggest trying it out for anyone who is serious about improving their game.
by shipitthisway on 6/19/2006 20:50
Heads Up. One-on-One. Mano-a-Mano. Some refer to it as the truest form of poker.
Playing someone heads up is a different form of poker. I like to think of it in basketball terms, another game I enjoy. In basketball, we always see NBA and College teams playing 5-on-5---10 guys on the floor like ten guys at a full poker table. With ten guys on the floor, each person adapts to the game, seeing what their teammates and opponents are doing and how they are playing and developing a role as a result. In tournaments, when you are playing with a full table of ten people, your responsibilities are usually more limited because your role calls for you to be patient and only attack a minority of the time.
Now think of a 3-on-3 game of basketball at your local gym. There weren't enough guys to run a full game, so you play a half court game with only six players. This is similar to SNGs that only seat six people or short-handed tournaments. In 3-on-3 basketball, everyone is forced to be more active and have more responsibilities. With five guys on a squad, you can ignore a bad teammate by not passing to him and having him set screens. With only three, however, a good player will get double-teamed and the other two teammates have to be capable of knocking down a shot or getting open under the hoop to help the team. In 6-man SNGs, you also have to be more active and have more responsibilities, since the blinds will come around more quickly and there are fewer opponents.
Now imagine that it's just you and a buddy. You decide to play one-on-one, and it's a whole new ballgame. There are no teammates to pass to, and you don't have to worry about screens or double-teams. You have all the responsibilities, as you're the only one to score, defend, and rebound. I used to play one-on-one with my older brother all the time growing up. He was 2 years older, a couple inches taller, and a few pounds heavier. As a result, I had to adjust my game by playing tougher defense and perfecting my jumpshot and fade away moves. When you're one-on-one, there is nobody else to blame but yourself, but you're also the only person to receive credit if you succeed. This is why I started to play heads-up poker; it was just me and my opponent. There was only one person to focus on, one person to beat. Winner take all.
Another real reason I played heads-up was when I used to receive transfers online, they were only $6. I played $5 SNGs, so I only had two options: A full table or heads-up. I decided that getting better heads up would also improve my overall poker game, and that the vice-versa would not be true. In the past year, I have probably played between 2,000-2,500 heads up SNGs, and now will offer some advice on things I have picked up:
1) The button is your best friend. Position is key in all forms of poker, especially in heads up play. The button gives you power. It allows you to control pots, consistently pick up "dead" pots, chase draws at the right price, bluff a weak opponent, etc. etc. etc. When Phil Ivey played John D'Agostino heads up at the 2004 Turning Stone tournament, they each held the same hand, 8-9 offsuit. Howard Lederer said that the player with the button (Ivey) was about a 2:1 favorite because of their position. On the flop, both players missed and Ivey took it down by stabbing at the pot.
A few months ago, I was helping a friend who was new to poker. He had seriously never played a hand in his life, and he put a couple bucks on an online site. He played a couple heads up games as I offered advice, and he started winning. He put $25 on and soon he was playing for $100 a game. He had just won one match, but he accidentally hit the rematch button. I had to leave, as I was already pretty late for a class and had to force my buddy to fend for himself. I told him just to be aggressive with the button and bet his big hands hard. Somehow, he won.
I like to raise from the button just about every hand. If I'm not raising, I'm at least calling. Unless the blinds are very high, I want to see just about every hand where I have the button.
2) Bet, bet, bet. Your chips are your ammo. Put in tester bets, bluff-raises, continuation bets, value bets, whatever. When I play heads up, I am trying to pick up every single pot and not let you do the same. You have to have heart to play No Limit poker, but you gotta have a big pocket pair between your legs to really win at Heads Up No Limit poker. If you control the action, you will control the outcome most of the time. Know when to stop, but don't be afraid to put them to the test. The beauty of heads up poker is that every chip you win, your opponent also loses. You absolutely cannot sit around and wait in heads up.
3) Tilting is very common in heads up play. I don't care who you are, if you're any kind of a competitor, you will tilt when you play poker. You lose to a 3-outer, and you think about the swing you just took. It may not also lead to losing money, because some are smart enough to realize when they are doing so, but the thing that tilting people love to do the most is gamble to win their money back. When you're playing to break even, you're going to play some horrendous poker. I can tell you from personal experience about nights when I have lost six figures---tilt is very dangerous and very common in heads up poker.
In heads up, you will inevitably run into someone who thinks that you simply got lucky when you won. If you show them a bluff, they want nothing more than to bluff you back. Ultimate Bet has the beautiful Re-match button, which has led to some very profitable sessions for me. I once won seven straight $200 Heads up SNGs in less than thirty minutes against an opponent who was making the most ridiculous losing plays I have ever seen. Identify and try to attack those who are on tilt, but also keep your own emotions in check. As a rule, I would never lose more than two SNGs in a row to a single opponent.
When I was early in my days at high stakes SNGs, I played a series of games with Muddywater from CardRunners that really gave me confidence. We had played a couple of $500 SNGs that he won when he asked to play for $1k a pop. We moved to the next level, and I started to control the action. I had just watched a couple of his videos on his site, and was in complete control of the match. I was picking off his bluffs, getting hands paid off, and showing my bluffs just to try and get in his head. The two of us laugh about it now that we know each other, but I had him rattled and calling me a "cardrack." I was hitting some flops, which one person is bound to do more than the other, and got Andrew, who is a very intelligent and tough opponent, to go on tilt and lose eight consecutive games to me before we quit.
4) Don't expect to win every time. A 52.5% is the water level win percentage for a heads up player. That also means that you will almost lose half of all games you play. You are going to lose. Your opponent is either going to pick off a bluff, outflop you, suck out on you, or catch hands all match. These things happen, and they happen a lot of the time. Keep your head.
5) Identify which sites you play best on. For me, for example, I always played my best on UB's structure because it dealt hands the quickest, allowed the re-match option, allowed for skilled play, and always placed me in the center of the table.
6) Understand the facts and react accordingly. I am going to reference Vol. 2 of Harrington on Hold 'Em (which I recommend reading) for some facts that are permanently stuck in my head for heads up play. Dan says that flopping top pair heads-up is the equivalent of flopping a set at a full table. I don't think top pair is quite that strong, but it is very, very strong heads up.
Your kicker also matters. My favorite hand in heads up play is K-Q, because if either a K or Q flops, you have top pair, great kicker. If it comes j-10-x, you have two overs with the nice draw. After the flop, having a draw with overcards is a huge hand, one that you will want to push the action with almost all the time. Holding A-J on a 10-6-3 flop should look like a set to you when you're playing heads up.
One statistic that really sticks in my head is this: The frequency of both you and your opponent holding pocket pairs on the same hand is a little less than 1 in 300 hands. What does this mean? It means that any pair is very valuable in heads up play. At a full table, you will take a hand like 3-3 and try to flop a set. At a heads up table, you can take that pair and push with it, re-raising and moving all-in, being willing to gamble. Especially when the blinds are high, I love to push with baby pairs and pick up the dead money from the blinds. Remember that every chip you win, your opponenet loses, and vice versa.
Heads up is a unique yet interesting form of poker. I suggest trying it out for anyone who is serious about improving their game.
BAD BEATS ARTICLE FROM POCKET FIVES
Why Me? A Perspective on Bad Beats
by + to the EV! on 8/16/2006 00:28
10 people are left in the Sunday Million on PokerStars. Your 2,000,000 chips puts you solidly in third place. However, two to your left is the chip-leader, who has been running over the table with constant aggression.
Then, bingo! You look down at KK. As it folds around to the button, you make a standard three times the big blind raise. After the small blind folds, the big blind quickly shoves all of his chips in the middle. You make the call, and upon seeing his A9, the fresh new car smell is already in the air. You're five cards away from becoming the new chip leader, and the flop comes out Q 2 7 – beautiful! The turn worryingly brings your opponent a flush draw. The K of clubs appears on Fifth Street, giving your opponent his flush.
Beats such as these are no rarity in poker. Any player who has been around the block at least once has seen it many times. People often wonder how they can be a great player when such beats “happen every time.” What great players have is the correct perspective on such hands. There are a few things that a great player must realize in order to cope with the bad-beats of poker over the course of a lifetime.
Bad beats happen:
The main reason that poker is such a popular game is the fact that anyone can win on any given day, and that any two cards can win a single hand. Bad beats are a part of poker, plain and simple. Learn to deal with them or find a new game.
What can I learn from the hand?:
Many times in a hand that seems to be a terrible beat, there is something to be learned. Questions you need to ask yourself are:
-Did I raise pre-flop?
-Did I raise enough?
-Did I bet enough to give my opponents an incorrect price for their draws?
Although it may not have changed how the hand ended up, it is important to learn from everything you can when playing the game of poker. Make it a habit to save hand histories and discuss them with friends. On top of that, use programs like PokerTracker or PokerOffice to analyze your play.
The money went in when I was in front:
All a good poker player can do is to get his or her money in with a statistical advantage over their opponents. You should be completely happy with yourself if you can accomplish this feat more times than not. You have outplayed and manipulated your opponents, and by being able to get all the money in with the best of it, you are on the road to long-term profit, regardless of the result of any individual hand.
Damn the Results:
A great player once told me, “Play the hand to the best of your ability, and damn the results.” Nothing is more important than this statement. The results of one hand do not in any way, shape, or form, indicate how a hand was played. If a person consistently gets in with the best statistical hand, positive results will follow.
The perspective, or understanding, that great players have of "bad beats" also includes many things that may not be apparent to the average or casual player. One thing that a player must understand is the true meaning of the word "dominated." In a literal sense, dominated means "to enjoy a commanding, controlling position." In poker, how much of a favorite does it take to be in command of a hand? Many players do not have a sense of domination when considering bad-beats.
For example, consider our previous hand - A9 against KK. The kings will win 67.57% of the time, while the A9 takes down the pot 32.07% of the time (a split occurs 0.36% of the time). Basically the kings are going to scoop 2 out of 3 pots. Look at it this way: suppose that 32.07% of time you ate egg salad for lunch, you would be sick for the rest of the day. Would you be surprised to get sick when you ate it? No, of course not. There is a one in 3 chance you are going to be spending your evening in the bathroom. Now, consider a hand more along the lines of Aces versus A9 suited. Aces are a 93.27% favorite. The difference in the two examples is being a 2:1 favorite and being an 18:1 favorite.
Rivered? Turned? Flopped? It's all the same:
Another key factor to coping with bad-beats is being able to understand that it does not matter what street your opponents hand improves on relative to when the majority of the money went into the pot. In regards to pre-flop play, Ace-Nine suited seems a much tougher beat when your opponent hits arunner-runner flush on your King-King. But, this is no different than your opponent getting an Ace as the door card, if all the money was in the middle before the flop. The 32.07% chance to win the hand incorporates every possible scenario in which A9 suited beats KK.
Another common complaint from multi-table-tournament (MTT) players is that they always seem to go out with the best of it. However, when diving into the statistics of MTTs, you may find that it is more-so a "bad-beat" when you win a tournament after winning multiple 67%/33% scenarios. It is more likely for you to lose one all in as a 2:1 favorite over the course of an MTT than it is likely for you to win every 2:1 favorite scenario. Over the course of an MTT, there are many times when a player does get his/her chips in the middle as a 2:1 favorite, whether it be Ace-X against a pair bigger than X, top pair against a flush draw with no live cards, or an open-ended straight draw. Over, say six of these situations, you are more likely to lose one than you are to win them all. In MTTs, you can expect to lose six of eighteen out of thesituations where you are a 2:1 favorite. However, you can expect to lose only one when you're an 18:1 favorite. The math is simple, but the perspective on how often a bad-beat should happen and how often a bad-beat does happen is a very complex issue.
The fact is that bad-beats are a part of the game of poker. The negative aspects of beats come from the psychology behind them. The human brain being what it is, however, means that you're much more likely to remember the beats you suffer than the beats you deal to other players.
by + to the EV! on 8/16/2006 00:28
10 people are left in the Sunday Million on PokerStars. Your 2,000,000 chips puts you solidly in third place. However, two to your left is the chip-leader, who has been running over the table with constant aggression.
Then, bingo! You look down at KK. As it folds around to the button, you make a standard three times the big blind raise. After the small blind folds, the big blind quickly shoves all of his chips in the middle. You make the call, and upon seeing his A9, the fresh new car smell is already in the air. You're five cards away from becoming the new chip leader, and the flop comes out Q 2 7 – beautiful! The turn worryingly brings your opponent a flush draw. The K of clubs appears on Fifth Street, giving your opponent his flush.
Beats such as these are no rarity in poker. Any player who has been around the block at least once has seen it many times. People often wonder how they can be a great player when such beats “happen every time.” What great players have is the correct perspective on such hands. There are a few things that a great player must realize in order to cope with the bad-beats of poker over the course of a lifetime.
Bad beats happen:
The main reason that poker is such a popular game is the fact that anyone can win on any given day, and that any two cards can win a single hand. Bad beats are a part of poker, plain and simple. Learn to deal with them or find a new game.
What can I learn from the hand?:
Many times in a hand that seems to be a terrible beat, there is something to be learned. Questions you need to ask yourself are:
-Did I raise pre-flop?
-Did I raise enough?
-Did I bet enough to give my opponents an incorrect price for their draws?
Although it may not have changed how the hand ended up, it is important to learn from everything you can when playing the game of poker. Make it a habit to save hand histories and discuss them with friends. On top of that, use programs like PokerTracker or PokerOffice to analyze your play.
The money went in when I was in front:
All a good poker player can do is to get his or her money in with a statistical advantage over their opponents. You should be completely happy with yourself if you can accomplish this feat more times than not. You have outplayed and manipulated your opponents, and by being able to get all the money in with the best of it, you are on the road to long-term profit, regardless of the result of any individual hand.
Damn the Results:
A great player once told me, “Play the hand to the best of your ability, and damn the results.” Nothing is more important than this statement. The results of one hand do not in any way, shape, or form, indicate how a hand was played. If a person consistently gets in with the best statistical hand, positive results will follow.
The perspective, or understanding, that great players have of "bad beats" also includes many things that may not be apparent to the average or casual player. One thing that a player must understand is the true meaning of the word "dominated." In a literal sense, dominated means "to enjoy a commanding, controlling position." In poker, how much of a favorite does it take to be in command of a hand? Many players do not have a sense of domination when considering bad-beats.
For example, consider our previous hand - A9 against KK. The kings will win 67.57% of the time, while the A9 takes down the pot 32.07% of the time (a split occurs 0.36% of the time). Basically the kings are going to scoop 2 out of 3 pots. Look at it this way: suppose that 32.07% of time you ate egg salad for lunch, you would be sick for the rest of the day. Would you be surprised to get sick when you ate it? No, of course not. There is a one in 3 chance you are going to be spending your evening in the bathroom. Now, consider a hand more along the lines of Aces versus A9 suited. Aces are a 93.27% favorite. The difference in the two examples is being a 2:1 favorite and being an 18:1 favorite.
Rivered? Turned? Flopped? It's all the same:
Another key factor to coping with bad-beats is being able to understand that it does not matter what street your opponents hand improves on relative to when the majority of the money went into the pot. In regards to pre-flop play, Ace-Nine suited seems a much tougher beat when your opponent hits arunner-runner flush on your King-King. But, this is no different than your opponent getting an Ace as the door card, if all the money was in the middle before the flop. The 32.07% chance to win the hand incorporates every possible scenario in which A9 suited beats KK.
Another common complaint from multi-table-tournament (MTT) players is that they always seem to go out with the best of it. However, when diving into the statistics of MTTs, you may find that it is more-so a "bad-beat" when you win a tournament after winning multiple 67%/33% scenarios. It is more likely for you to lose one all in as a 2:1 favorite over the course of an MTT than it is likely for you to win every 2:1 favorite scenario. Over the course of an MTT, there are many times when a player does get his/her chips in the middle as a 2:1 favorite, whether it be Ace-X against a pair bigger than X, top pair against a flush draw with no live cards, or an open-ended straight draw. Over, say six of these situations, you are more likely to lose one than you are to win them all. In MTTs, you can expect to lose six of eighteen out of thesituations where you are a 2:1 favorite. However, you can expect to lose only one when you're an 18:1 favorite. The math is simple, but the perspective on how often a bad-beat should happen and how often a bad-beat does happen is a very complex issue.
The fact is that bad-beats are a part of the game of poker. The negative aspects of beats come from the psychology behind them. The human brain being what it is, however, means that you're much more likely to remember the beats you suffer than the beats you deal to other players.
The Endgame
The Endgame
by The Shrike on 8/27/2006 00:30
I received some compliments on my play in a recent $109 rebuy tournament on Pokerstars, including one from legggggggy indicating there was something to be learned from the skills I showed that night. I have always been told my short stack game is very good, so I thought it might be a decent time to offer my thoughts on short stack end game play.
There are many things that go through my mind when I am in that spot, but I always keep in mind that odds aren’t everything. At times during this tournament, I was the smallest stack by a lot. Frankly, I don’t remember a ton of specific hands, but I can tell you that there are always times late in these tournaments when I have to stop and think, where some players might say you have to call because you are committed.
Mostly, what I am referring to is being in the big blind, with say ¼ of your chips in the pot already. You look down at K10 or A2, and since you have ¼ of your chips in, you pretty much have to play for your tournament life, right? Well, not necessarily. Conventional thinking is that if you fold, you won’t be able to make a decent raise, and you will get called, so you can’t allow yourself to fold and become that low where you have no ability to make people fold to your raise. Again, this is not necessarily true, in my opinion.
I trust my instincts. Suppose I have 83 off suit in the big blind with 2000 of my 5700 chips invested in that big blind. A guy raises who isn’t a huge fan of Ace rag, a player who is a little tight in general in that spot normally. If I fold, I have 3700 with blinds at 1000-2000, which is not very appealing. And yet, I have to think: what hand do I put that raiser on? Maybe it is overs and my cards are live, but it is very possible that he has a pair, middle or 99 and up.
Many people would say you have to call anyway, and people have criticized me at the table and from the rail for folding. True, I can’t put a solid raise up now, but if I know the table and the players, I can pick a spot to still get my chips in ahead perhaps, and I have 7-8 hands to get better than 83. In this tournament, for example, Beatiful Man was huge and had been raising with a wide range of hands, especially Ace rag. I hate Ace rag, but if in the next 4-5 hands I get A7 or A9 with him raising in front of me, I may very well be ahead, and there IS a solid raise (from him) that can’t just be called by anyone behind me. If I win the hand, I now have 3700+3700+3000 in blinds and the antes. This “jumping in” behind a raise is a play I have used with great success. I’d rather trust my instincts and “reads” in that way than simply give up with 83 and be up against 99.
Furthermore, reads are possible online. I often have a very good idea of the exact hand people have online, as many of my friends could tell you. Sometimes you just know when someone has AJ or A10, and I might very well fold in my big blind with A6, if I am sure. I like my chances in picking a spot to jump in and call underneath a raise and either be ahead or be live, and I’ll play that way no matter what the railbirds think.
Right or wrong, this has been a very successful short stack end game strategy for me, and I get endless amounts of praise for my late play; so do what you will with my thoughts, and good luck.
by The Shrike on 8/27/2006 00:30
I received some compliments on my play in a recent $109 rebuy tournament on Pokerstars, including one from legggggggy indicating there was something to be learned from the skills I showed that night. I have always been told my short stack game is very good, so I thought it might be a decent time to offer my thoughts on short stack end game play.
There are many things that go through my mind when I am in that spot, but I always keep in mind that odds aren’t everything. At times during this tournament, I was the smallest stack by a lot. Frankly, I don’t remember a ton of specific hands, but I can tell you that there are always times late in these tournaments when I have to stop and think, where some players might say you have to call because you are committed.
Mostly, what I am referring to is being in the big blind, with say ¼ of your chips in the pot already. You look down at K10 or A2, and since you have ¼ of your chips in, you pretty much have to play for your tournament life, right? Well, not necessarily. Conventional thinking is that if you fold, you won’t be able to make a decent raise, and you will get called, so you can’t allow yourself to fold and become that low where you have no ability to make people fold to your raise. Again, this is not necessarily true, in my opinion.
I trust my instincts. Suppose I have 83 off suit in the big blind with 2000 of my 5700 chips invested in that big blind. A guy raises who isn’t a huge fan of Ace rag, a player who is a little tight in general in that spot normally. If I fold, I have 3700 with blinds at 1000-2000, which is not very appealing. And yet, I have to think: what hand do I put that raiser on? Maybe it is overs and my cards are live, but it is very possible that he has a pair, middle or 99 and up.
Many people would say you have to call anyway, and people have criticized me at the table and from the rail for folding. True, I can’t put a solid raise up now, but if I know the table and the players, I can pick a spot to still get my chips in ahead perhaps, and I have 7-8 hands to get better than 83. In this tournament, for example, Beatiful Man was huge and had been raising with a wide range of hands, especially Ace rag. I hate Ace rag, but if in the next 4-5 hands I get A7 or A9 with him raising in front of me, I may very well be ahead, and there IS a solid raise (from him) that can’t just be called by anyone behind me. If I win the hand, I now have 3700+3700+3000 in blinds and the antes. This “jumping in” behind a raise is a play I have used with great success. I’d rather trust my instincts and “reads” in that way than simply give up with 83 and be up against 99.
Furthermore, reads are possible online. I often have a very good idea of the exact hand people have online, as many of my friends could tell you. Sometimes you just know when someone has AJ or A10, and I might very well fold in my big blind with A6, if I am sure. I like my chances in picking a spot to jump in and call underneath a raise and either be ahead or be live, and I’ll play that way no matter what the railbirds think.
Right or wrong, this has been a very successful short stack end game strategy for me, and I get endless amounts of praise for my late play; so do what you will with my thoughts, and good luck.
SPECAIL ARTICLE JUST FOR JEREMY BEHRINGER
by Colombo18 on 1/9/2007 20:48
Your heart is racing; thoughts of riches flow through your mind like tourists through Times Square. Then it happens. The ace sends a sharp coldness through your body as it lands on the river, and you are forced to muck your pocket kings. You feel like a tired and withered boxer, using your last ounce of strength to keep your knees from buckling while being pummeled in the chest by Joe Frazier’s nasty left hook. You take the most painful swallow of your life and realize that you have lost.
How could this happen? How could my opponent get so lucky against me? These are common questions that we ask ourselves when someone sucks out on us. It’s frustrating, yes, but the first step to becoming a successful poker player is to grow to accept these shortcomings; you will not win every time.
Failure to accept this will result in succumbing to our ultimate enemy - tilt. Tilt is a rush of negative emotion caused by bad luck or failure. It strongly clouds our judgement, and it must be avoided. Playing on tilt is like trying to beat Michael Jordan in a one on one basketball match. At first, you play your usual game, but then Mike starts to overpower you. You can’t score; nothing works. Eventually, you just start hurling half court shots, hoping to get lucky. Now Jordan has the complete advantage, and he runs away with the game. If we allow ourselves to tilt in poker, we will fail.
Unfortunately, tilt is unlike many other sicknesses of today. The reality is that no matter how hard you try, it cannot be cured. It’s not as simple as going to the doctor for a flu shot. The key to overcoming tilt is, strangely enough, not to rid yourself of the disease, but instead to destroy the side effects. Nobody will ever stop tilting in their lifetime. Our only goal is to realize what is happening and prevent ourselves from taking half court shots.
As I previously stated, we must understand that we won’t win every time. Our mission is to simply get all of our money in as the favorite. If you are an 80% favorite to win the hand, then expect to lose 20% of the time. The sooner you can accept this and take these bad beats in stride, the quicker you will become a force at the tables.
It’s not so easy, though. Everybody struggles with coming to terms with this concept. Don’t get discouraged if it takes you a very long time to get comfortable with losing. Only a few months ago, it was I that would erupt in a burst of anger when getting unlucky in a home game. Looking back, it is very reassuring to see how far I have progressed, and you can do it too.
The final piece of advice that I can give you is to simply quit if things aren’t going your way. A game of poker lasts a life time. There will always be tomorrow, and quite frankly, quitting early today won’t really affect you in the long run. Playing bad and chasing losses, however, will.
Good luck at the tables.
- Ryan Colombo
Your heart is racing; thoughts of riches flow through your mind like tourists through Times Square. Then it happens. The ace sends a sharp coldness through your body as it lands on the river, and you are forced to muck your pocket kings. You feel like a tired and withered boxer, using your last ounce of strength to keep your knees from buckling while being pummeled in the chest by Joe Frazier’s nasty left hook. You take the most painful swallow of your life and realize that you have lost.
How could this happen? How could my opponent get so lucky against me? These are common questions that we ask ourselves when someone sucks out on us. It’s frustrating, yes, but the first step to becoming a successful poker player is to grow to accept these shortcomings; you will not win every time.
Failure to accept this will result in succumbing to our ultimate enemy - tilt. Tilt is a rush of negative emotion caused by bad luck or failure. It strongly clouds our judgement, and it must be avoided. Playing on tilt is like trying to beat Michael Jordan in a one on one basketball match. At first, you play your usual game, but then Mike starts to overpower you. You can’t score; nothing works. Eventually, you just start hurling half court shots, hoping to get lucky. Now Jordan has the complete advantage, and he runs away with the game. If we allow ourselves to tilt in poker, we will fail.
Unfortunately, tilt is unlike many other sicknesses of today. The reality is that no matter how hard you try, it cannot be cured. It’s not as simple as going to the doctor for a flu shot. The key to overcoming tilt is, strangely enough, not to rid yourself of the disease, but instead to destroy the side effects. Nobody will ever stop tilting in their lifetime. Our only goal is to realize what is happening and prevent ourselves from taking half court shots.
As I previously stated, we must understand that we won’t win every time. Our mission is to simply get all of our money in as the favorite. If you are an 80% favorite to win the hand, then expect to lose 20% of the time. The sooner you can accept this and take these bad beats in stride, the quicker you will become a force at the tables.
It’s not so easy, though. Everybody struggles with coming to terms with this concept. Don’t get discouraged if it takes you a very long time to get comfortable with losing. Only a few months ago, it was I that would erupt in a burst of anger when getting unlucky in a home game. Looking back, it is very reassuring to see how far I have progressed, and you can do it too.
The final piece of advice that I can give you is to simply quit if things aren’t going your way. A game of poker lasts a life time. There will always be tomorrow, and quite frankly, quitting early today won’t really affect you in the long run. Playing bad and chasing losses, however, will.
Good luck at the tables.
- Ryan Colombo
GREAT ARTICLE FROM POCKET FIVES
For those of you looking for a fast and easy way to improve your game, try never limping and never calling any bet. This was one of the first pieces of advice I received, and while I don't follow it 100% of the time, it is a great base strategy off of which to branch. I've never really understood why people limp in, but I love to be at a table with a lot of limpers. I know everyone wants to "see a flop," but if you want to become a profitable player, seeing a lot of flops is not going to help. Limping in a pot allows others to control the action and makes it so you don't know how strong the other players are, especially in the blinds.
The most common type of limp I see is from early position with mid pocket pairs. I think players do this because they don't want to commit a lot of chips with a mediocre hand with so many unknown hands behind them. But think of what happens when you see an early position raise; you immediately put them on a strong hand, and rightly so. Poker is all about misperception, so if you raise with 66 in first position, a lot of players will fold hands like 88 and AJ because they think you have a stronger hand than them. Now if you limp, the same player with 88 or AJ might think of raising 4 times the big blind, which would let them take control of the hand with some weak, limper chips in the pot. So what are you going to do? Fold and give up an extra big blind? Or call, hope to hit a set, and if not, then check-fold? Neither are good decisions, so don't limp in the first place!
Now what happens if someone limps in front of you, and you hold a hand that is playable? Try asking yourself these two questions: how strong is the player that limped? Is it worth it to raise roughly 4 times the big blind with position? If you think the player is strong, and it's not worth the raise, then just be patient and fold. When I'm playing my best poker, you will never see me limp in a pot with 40x the big blind or less; the only time I would is with more than 40 big blinds, a small pocket pair or suited connector, and with 3-4 bad limpers in front of me.
Now on to calling bets... If your struggling and want to start over with your game, start with never calling any bet without getting at least 4-1 on your money. When I say never call a bet/raise, I mean when there is a button raise to 3 times the big blind, NEVER call from the blinds; either raise or fold. When there is a middle position minimum raise, NEVER call; raise or fold. When you start calling these bets, you're playing weak poker, and stronger players will start making squeeze plays and/or betting any flop that comes. This is going to leave you with the decision to either make a big bluff back at them or fold. Again, neither are good scenarios.
But what about slow playing? First of all, I would recommend never slow playing with more than 40 times the big blind. Too often a bad card will come, and there are too many chips left in your stack to commit your whole stack to the hand. With less than 40 times the big blind, slow playing can be effective in unique spots, especially against an aggressive player. Think of situations where you have recently had the opportunity to slow play a hand. If you are out of position, it should be because a loose/aggressive player called your preflop raise and you hit a set, two pair, straight, etc.
In this case, the biggest question you have to ask yourself is how concerned you are about the turn card. If you think that most cards won't hurt you, check-calling and letting him control the action is not a bad idea, and then check-raising the turn or betting out are both solid plays to follow up. If you are in position and you aren't worried about the turn, calling a lead out bet or checking a flop are passive plays that can be profitable. You really have to play your opponent in most cases and think about whether or not he is going to bet the turn if he sees weakness in a checked flop. Knowing when to slow play is a very important aspect in poker, and it is the only time I would ever recommend calling a bet.
Try following this base strategy for a month or so, and then slowly branch out and see how other moves can fit into your game. Keep in mind each scenario, and then use the ones that are successful as often as you feel comfortable. This should help you become a better poker player. I still keep "never limp, never call" in the back of my mind whenever I play, and it has helped me become a profitable player.
The most common type of limp I see is from early position with mid pocket pairs. I think players do this because they don't want to commit a lot of chips with a mediocre hand with so many unknown hands behind them. But think of what happens when you see an early position raise; you immediately put them on a strong hand, and rightly so. Poker is all about misperception, so if you raise with 66 in first position, a lot of players will fold hands like 88 and AJ because they think you have a stronger hand than them. Now if you limp, the same player with 88 or AJ might think of raising 4 times the big blind, which would let them take control of the hand with some weak, limper chips in the pot. So what are you going to do? Fold and give up an extra big blind? Or call, hope to hit a set, and if not, then check-fold? Neither are good decisions, so don't limp in the first place!
Now what happens if someone limps in front of you, and you hold a hand that is playable? Try asking yourself these two questions: how strong is the player that limped? Is it worth it to raise roughly 4 times the big blind with position? If you think the player is strong, and it's not worth the raise, then just be patient and fold. When I'm playing my best poker, you will never see me limp in a pot with 40x the big blind or less; the only time I would is with more than 40 big blinds, a small pocket pair or suited connector, and with 3-4 bad limpers in front of me.
Now on to calling bets... If your struggling and want to start over with your game, start with never calling any bet without getting at least 4-1 on your money. When I say never call a bet/raise, I mean when there is a button raise to 3 times the big blind, NEVER call from the blinds; either raise or fold. When there is a middle position minimum raise, NEVER call; raise or fold. When you start calling these bets, you're playing weak poker, and stronger players will start making squeeze plays and/or betting any flop that comes. This is going to leave you with the decision to either make a big bluff back at them or fold. Again, neither are good scenarios.
But what about slow playing? First of all, I would recommend never slow playing with more than 40 times the big blind. Too often a bad card will come, and there are too many chips left in your stack to commit your whole stack to the hand. With less than 40 times the big blind, slow playing can be effective in unique spots, especially against an aggressive player. Think of situations where you have recently had the opportunity to slow play a hand. If you are out of position, it should be because a loose/aggressive player called your preflop raise and you hit a set, two pair, straight, etc.
In this case, the biggest question you have to ask yourself is how concerned you are about the turn card. If you think that most cards won't hurt you, check-calling and letting him control the action is not a bad idea, and then check-raising the turn or betting out are both solid plays to follow up. If you are in position and you aren't worried about the turn, calling a lead out bet or checking a flop are passive plays that can be profitable. You really have to play your opponent in most cases and think about whether or not he is going to bet the turn if he sees weakness in a checked flop. Knowing when to slow play is a very important aspect in poker, and it is the only time I would ever recommend calling a bet.
Try following this base strategy for a month or so, and then slowly branch out and see how other moves can fit into your game. Keep in mind each scenario, and then use the ones that are successful as often as you feel comfortable. This should help you become a better poker player. I still keep "never limp, never call" in the back of my mind whenever I play, and it has helped me become a profitable player.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
MY BEST PERFORMANCE EVER TO DATE!
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 89 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 21 times while in big blind (33%)
- 7 out of 22 times while in small blind (31%)
- 6 out of 46 times in other positions (13%)
- a total of 20 out of 89 (22%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 29
This was by for my most dominating show of agression that i have ever displayed! I was on my A game for this one and i can say it proudly.I must say i was in the Zone for this game staying in the green most of the time.
PokerStars Tournament #51279451, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00
Tournament started - 2007/05/26 - 15:20:11 (ET)
Dear SR8tAcEto5,
You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $22.50 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.
- 7 out of 21 times while in big blind (33%)
- 7 out of 22 times while in small blind (31%)
- 6 out of 46 times in other positions (13%)
- a total of 20 out of 89 (22%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 29
This was by for my most dominating show of agression that i have ever displayed! I was on my A game for this one and i can say it proudly.I must say i was in the Zone for this game staying in the green most of the time.
PokerStars Tournament #51279451, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00
Tournament started - 2007/05/26 - 15:20:11 (ET)
Dear SR8tAcEto5,
You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $22.50 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.
Friday, May 25, 2007
KILLER POKER
Play Aggressive Poker
While I wouldn't call myself an expert, I think I have played enough to make some helpful observations to the relative poker newcomer. I play in a weekly game with some coworkers, where we usually do a single table no-limit Hold'em tournament, and I have participated in a few low stakes multi-table tournaments online. The following advise is probably best used in low stakes tournament settings, but I think they probably apply elsewhere.
I think the single most important approach you can take to a game is to be aggressive. The aggressive player sets the tone, and can usually control the action for a given table.
Before I go any further, let me explain what I mean by being aggressive. Aggressive play and loose play are not the same thing. Aggressive does not mean betting every hand, or always staying in a hand to the showdown. In fact if you are going to be aggressive, you should probably not play as many hands as most of your opponents. Being aggressive means that rather than calling, you would raise, rather than checking, you would bet, and when you bet, bet more than the token minimum allowable bet.
Since this strategy requires you to wager more in the hands that you do play, you have to be more selective in those hands. You don't have to win the most pots to come out ahead; you have to win the biggest pots.
One situation where you would want to consider aggressive play is pre-flop from a late position. If you are going to play a hand, why not raise pre-flop rather then just calling? Force your opponents to pay to see the flop, and build up the pot that you are planning on winning. Betting pre-flop will also represent a strong hand which can be used for bluffing after the flop, if the flop doesn't help you. If there were many callers pre-flop, then raising, will either increase the size of the pot when other players have to call your raise, or force them to fold, eliminating the chance for them to back into a hand later on.
Another example is when you think no one was helped by the flop. Often lesser players will simply check around hoping to get a free card to help them out on the turn. In this situation, the person that bets first will often win the pot, because everyone else will fold. Betting post flop from an early position could also be a defensive move. If you have an average, but not great hand, consider betting instead of checking. Weaker players that may have bet had you checked will often just call rather than raising you. So by betting a small amount, they become tentative, and don't try to push you. And if they had nothing, they may fold rather than staying in to try to back into a hand on the turn or the river.
When you play cautiously you allow your opponents to control the hand and capitalize on your weakness. By being the aggressor, it is you who determines how the hand is played out, and what the ultimate stakes will be.
While I wouldn't call myself an expert, I think I have played enough to make some helpful observations to the relative poker newcomer. I play in a weekly game with some coworkers, where we usually do a single table no-limit Hold'em tournament, and I have participated in a few low stakes multi-table tournaments online. The following advise is probably best used in low stakes tournament settings, but I think they probably apply elsewhere.
I think the single most important approach you can take to a game is to be aggressive. The aggressive player sets the tone, and can usually control the action for a given table.
Before I go any further, let me explain what I mean by being aggressive. Aggressive play and loose play are not the same thing. Aggressive does not mean betting every hand, or always staying in a hand to the showdown. In fact if you are going to be aggressive, you should probably not play as many hands as most of your opponents. Being aggressive means that rather than calling, you would raise, rather than checking, you would bet, and when you bet, bet more than the token minimum allowable bet.
Since this strategy requires you to wager more in the hands that you do play, you have to be more selective in those hands. You don't have to win the most pots to come out ahead; you have to win the biggest pots.
One situation where you would want to consider aggressive play is pre-flop from a late position. If you are going to play a hand, why not raise pre-flop rather then just calling? Force your opponents to pay to see the flop, and build up the pot that you are planning on winning. Betting pre-flop will also represent a strong hand which can be used for bluffing after the flop, if the flop doesn't help you. If there were many callers pre-flop, then raising, will either increase the size of the pot when other players have to call your raise, or force them to fold, eliminating the chance for them to back into a hand later on.
Another example is when you think no one was helped by the flop. Often lesser players will simply check around hoping to get a free card to help them out on the turn. In this situation, the person that bets first will often win the pot, because everyone else will fold. Betting post flop from an early position could also be a defensive move. If you have an average, but not great hand, consider betting instead of checking. Weaker players that may have bet had you checked will often just call rather than raising you. So by betting a small amount, they become tentative, and don't try to push you. And if they had nothing, they may fold rather than staying in to try to back into a hand on the turn or the river.
When you play cautiously you allow your opponents to control the hand and capitalize on your weakness. By being the aggressor, it is you who determines how the hand is played out, and what the ultimate stakes will be.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
JEREMY BEHRINGER A.K.A JSB1976 KILLIN!!!!
Today we have to give credit where credit is due;And when we talk about an improved player.It has to be Jeremy Behringer aka the Ringer/45kdizzle.This guy has really been tearing it up lately almost cashing everytime he plays.An already good player,he is really starting to make his mark for us.His attitude toward the game is a straight forward approach;With very aggresive moves thoughout a STT 6 Max tourney.
His ROI% seems to rise on a day to day basis,and his play is very unpredictable.As he stresses patience in his arsenal of moves.Jsb1976 along with his sidekick Willis Mccoy aka.(Sr8tAcEto5)will also take this approach to the game also!!!!
http://a945.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/01370/44/97/1370437944_s.jpg
His ROI% seems to rise on a day to day basis,and his play is very unpredictable.As he stresses patience in his arsenal of moves.Jsb1976 along with his sidekick Willis Mccoy aka.(Sr8tAcEto5)will also take this approach to the game also!!!!
http://a945.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/01370/44/97/1370437944_s.jpg
JDIZZLE THE 45KDIZZLE KILLIN THE 6MAX!!!!!
Recent Results
GameID Date (PST) Type EntryFee Entrants Profit
50734900 19-May-07 22:48
NL Holdem $12 6 $33.80
50729477 19-May-07 21:15
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50653099 18-May-07 22:52
NL Holdem $12 6 $33.80
50639078 18-May-07 18:47
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50570456 17-May-07 22:11
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50566497 17-May-07 21:08
NL Holdem $12 6 $33.80
50562629 17-May-07 20:12
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50476363 16-May-07 19:46
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
GameID Date (PST) Type EntryFee Entrants Profit
50734900
NL Holdem $12 6 $33.80
50729477
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50653099
NL Holdem $12 6 $33.80
50639078
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50570456
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50566497
NL Holdem $12 6 $33.80
50562629
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
50476363
NL Holdem $12 6 $12.20
BAD BEAT ON JEREMY(JSB1976)BEHRINGER
This is some real funny shit here!!! Jay has been killing the $12 6max tourneys on PokerStars. Then he runs across this guy who kills his winning streak;And also takes him out with a horrible call!
PokerStars Game #10012473313: Tournament #50764332, $12+$1 Hold'em No
Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/20 - 11:12:29 (ET)
Table '50764332 1' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: thor5163 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: JSB1976 (1720 in chips)
Seat 4: PAT1223 (3000 in chips)
Seat 5: RAZZ123 (1570 in chips)
Seat 6: RoccoJets (1250 in chips)
thor5163: posts small blind 10
JSB1976: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JSB1976 [Ah Jh]
PAT1223: folds
RAZZ123: folds
RoccoJets: folds
thor5163: calls 10
JSB1976: raises 40 to 60
thor5163: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Ad 3c 9c]
thor5163: bets 80
JSB1976: raises 80 to 160
thor5163: calls 80<--------------BAD CALL BUT AN EASY ONE
*** TURN *** [Ad 3c 9c] [2s]
thor5163: bets 100
JSB1976: calls 100<-------------JAY IS GONNA BE PISSED BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE RERAISED
*** RIVER *** [Ad 3c 9c 2s] [4c]
thor5163: bets 260
JSB1976: calls 260
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thor5163: shows [5h 6d] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
JSB1976: mucks hand
thor5163 collected 1160 from pot
JSB1976 said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1160 | Rake 0
Board [Ad 3c 9c 2s 4c]
Seat 2: thor5163 (small blind) showed [5h 6d] and won (1160) with a
straight, Deuce to Six
Seat 3: JSB1976 (big blind) mucked [Ah Jh]
Seat 4: PAT1223 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: RAZZ123 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: RoccoJets (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
JAY IS A GREAT PLAYER AND HE KILLS THE 6 MAX.BUT IN THIS HAND HE TAKES THE LEAD,AND THEN RERAISES THE FLOP FOR THE MINIMUM.THAT IS A NONO IN ONLINE POKER,AND IT WAS EASY FOR THE DONKEY TO CALL AN EXTRA 80 IN CHIPS.AFTER ALL HE ALREADY PUT IN 80 SO WHAT IS 80 MORE TO SEE ANOTHER CARD.
AND TO FINISH ME OFF
PokerStars Game #10012580143: Tournament #50764332, $12+$1 Hold'em No
Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/20 - 11:21:01 (ET)
Table '50764332 1' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: thor5163 (2265 in chips)
Seat 3: JSB1976 (920 in chips)
Seat 4: PAT1223 (2690 in chips)
Seat 5: RAZZ123 (1320 in chips)
Seat 6: RoccoJets (1805 in chips)
PAT1223: posts small blind 15
RAZZ123: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JSB1976 [Qc Qh]
RoccoJets: folds
thor5163: raises 30 to 60
JSB1976: raises 60 to 120
PAT1223: folds
RAZZ123: folds
thor5163: raises 450 to 570
JSB1976: raises 350 to 920 and is all-in
thor5163: calls 350
*** FLOP *** [Ac Jh 8h]
*** TURN *** [Ac Jh 8h] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Ac Jh 8h 5s] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thor5163: shows [Kc As] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
JSB1976: shows [Qc Qh] (a pair of Queens)
thor5163 collected 1885 from pot
thor5163 said, "love my job" <---------------FUNNY SHIT
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1885 | Rake 0
Board [Ac Jh 8h 5s Kh]
Seat 2: thor5163 showed [Kc As] and won (1885) with two pair, Aces and
Kings
Seat 3: JSB1976 (button) showed [Qc Qh] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 4: PAT1223 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: RAZZ123 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: RoccoJets folded before Flop (didn't bet)
HERE IS THE CHAT WE JUST HAD ABOUT THIS ENTIRE EPISODE! LOL ENJOY!
Jeremy Behringer: dude called my raise on the flop with 56o
willis mccoy: oh
willis mccoy: you didn't paste the entire hand
Jeremy Behringer: yes
Jeremy Behringer: dude had 56
Jeremy Behringer: calls 160 of a flop that showed A 3 9
Jeremy Behringer: turn is a 2
Jeremy Behringer: river is a 4
willis mccoy: yes i understand it
willis mccoy: fucked up
Jeremy Behringer: calls with 56?
Jeremy Behringer: lol
willis mccoy: was he a donkey
Jeremy Behringer: fish bowl
Jeremy Behringer: he writes and u had???
willis mccoy: you still dint paste the entire had
willis mccoy: hand
Jeremy Behringer: i said u beat all the way until the river
willis mccoy: LOL
Jeremy Behringer: finally told him to just shut up and that I was way better than him and it will show, trust me
Jeremy Behringer: QQ
Jeremy Behringer: all in
Jeremy Behringer: vs AK
Jeremy Behringer: course i lose
willis mccoy: down to 15 here
Jeremy Behringer: i am pissed bro
willis mccoy: im sure
Jeremy Behringer: 56?
Jeremy Behringer: sucks to have a heater broken by a retard like that
willis mccoy: out in 14th place
willis mccoy: now im pissed
willis mccoy: LOL@love my job
willis mccoy: JSB1976: raises 40 to 60
thor5163: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Ad 3c 9c]
thor5163: bets 80
JSB1976: raises 80 to 160
thor5163: calls 80
*** TURN *** [Ad 3c 9c] [2s]
thor5163: bets 100
JSB1976: calls 100
*** RIVER *** [Ad 3c 9c 2s] [4c]
thor5163: bets 260
JSB1976: calls 260
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thor5163: shows [5h 6d] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
JSB1976: mucks hand
thor5163 collected 1160 from pot
JSB1976 said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
willis mccoy: minimum repop
willis mccoy: easy call
Jeremy Behringer: what was easy call?
willis mccoy: you should have repoped for 3x instead of 2
Jeremy Behringer: no, he had nothing
willis mccoy: you raised him
Jeremy Behringer: its not an easy call, he had 56
willis mccoy: on the flop
Jeremy Behringer: he had no draws
Jeremy Behringer: nu str8, no flush
Jeremy Behringer: no pair
willis mccoy: don't matter you gave him easy odds to call
Jeremy Behringer: nope
willis mccoy: 2-1
Jeremy Behringer: he had NOTHING
willis mccoy: he only needed 80 more to cal
Jeremy Behringer: nothing to call with
Jeremy Behringer: 80?
willis mccoy: don't matter you gave him good odds to call
Jeremy Behringer: the blinds were in the first level
willis mccoy: you should have reraised to 240 on the flop
willis mccoy: as long as you feel lke you are ahead in any game you should always repop for 3x the original raiaser unless you are slowplaying
willis mccoy: you have to punish the chaser
willis mccoy: make him pay
Jeremy Behringer: good odds?
Jeremy Behringer: he had 56
Jeremy Behringer: he is a retard fuck
willis mccoy: but you don't know that until the show down
Jeremy Behringer: 56 on that flop with what I had he was probably a 99 - 1 dog
willis mccoy: donkey yes
willis mccoy: bad play yes
Jeremy Behringer: the only way he wins is runner runner
willis mccoy: but it's a much as your fualt as it is his
Jeremy Behringer: he is the dumbfuck for 1 calling pre flop and calling again on the re-raise post flop
Jeremy Behringer: no, I disagree 100%
willis mccoy: you din't charge him enuff to chase
willis mccoy: on the flop that is
Jeremy Behringer: when the blinds are 10/20 or 15/30, 80 more is a lot
willis mccoy: you only rerISAED THE MINIMUM
Jeremy Behringer: if I reraised a dollar it should have been enough with what he had
willis mccoy: don't matter the repop is still 3x
Jeremy Behringer: HE IS THE DUMBFUCK HERE NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
willis mccoy: i always repop for 3x the bet
willis mccoy: CALM DOWM NAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
willis mccoy:
Jeremy Behringer: bottom line is the dude called a raise with absolute shit
Jeremy Behringer: shit
willis mccoy: well now you know what to do next time
willis mccoy: 3x
willis mccoy: yeah it was a bad call
willis mccoy: but just think about al the shit hands we play and take peeps chips
willis mccoy: they just don't get to see it
Jeremy Behringer: stove says he's a 94 - 6 dog and he had to have known that I at least had an Ace
willis mccoy:
Jeremy Behringer: so he knew he was heavily dominated
willis mccoy: daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam
willis mccoy: he just got lucky J
willis mccoy: you can't win them all you know
Jeremy Behringer: he insta called too, which had me put him on a 45, not a 56!!!!
willis mccoy: lmao
Jeremy Behringer: after the turn he was still 91 - 9 dog
Jeremy Behringer: after the turn he had a gutshot
willis mccoy: LOL you killin me man!!!
Jeremy Behringer: needed a 4 and a 4 only
willis mccoy:
Jeremy Behringer: what a fucking joke
willis mccoy: Just let ot go!!!!
willis mccoy: your gonna put yourself on tilt!!!
Jeremy Behringer: that has to be one of the worst beats I have had in a while cards wise
Jeremy Behringer: dude writes, I love my job
willis mccoy: yeah that was funy
willis mccoy: im posting this chat and the hand on the site LOL
Jeremy Behringer: lol
PokerStars Game #10012473313: Tournament #50764332, $12+$1 Hold'em No
Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/20 - 11:12:29 (ET)
Table '50764332 1' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: thor5163 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: JSB1976 (1720 in chips)
Seat 4: PAT1223 (3000 in chips)
Seat 5: RAZZ123 (1570 in chips)
Seat 6: RoccoJets (1250 in chips)
thor5163: posts small blind 10
JSB1976: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JSB1976 [Ah Jh]
PAT1223: folds
RAZZ123: folds
RoccoJets: folds
thor5163: calls 10
JSB1976: raises 40 to 60
thor5163: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Ad 3c 9c]
thor5163: bets 80
JSB1976: raises 80 to 160
thor5163: calls 80<--------------BAD CALL BUT AN EASY ONE
*** TURN *** [Ad 3c 9c] [2s]
thor5163: bets 100
JSB1976: calls 100<-------------JAY IS GONNA BE PISSED BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE RERAISED
*** RIVER *** [Ad 3c 9c 2s] [4c]
thor5163: bets 260
JSB1976: calls 260
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thor5163: shows [5h 6d] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
JSB1976: mucks hand
thor5163 collected 1160 from pot
JSB1976 said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1160 | Rake 0
Board [Ad 3c 9c 2s 4c]
Seat 2: thor5163 (small blind) showed [5h 6d] and won (1160) with a
straight, Deuce to Six
Seat 3: JSB1976 (big blind) mucked [Ah Jh]
Seat 4: PAT1223 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: RAZZ123 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: RoccoJets (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
JAY IS A GREAT PLAYER AND HE KILLS THE 6 MAX.BUT IN THIS HAND HE TAKES THE LEAD,AND THEN RERAISES THE FLOP FOR THE MINIMUM.THAT IS A NONO IN ONLINE POKER,AND IT WAS EASY FOR THE DONKEY TO CALL AN EXTRA 80 IN CHIPS.AFTER ALL HE ALREADY PUT IN 80 SO WHAT IS 80 MORE TO SEE ANOTHER CARD.
AND TO FINISH ME OFF
PokerStars Game #10012580143: Tournament #50764332, $12+$1 Hold'em No
Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/20 - 11:21:01 (ET)
Table '50764332 1' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: thor5163 (2265 in chips)
Seat 3: JSB1976 (920 in chips)
Seat 4: PAT1223 (2690 in chips)
Seat 5: RAZZ123 (1320 in chips)
Seat 6: RoccoJets (1805 in chips)
PAT1223: posts small blind 15
RAZZ123: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JSB1976 [Qc Qh]
RoccoJets: folds
thor5163: raises 30 to 60
JSB1976: raises 60 to 120
PAT1223: folds
RAZZ123: folds
thor5163: raises 450 to 570
JSB1976: raises 350 to 920 and is all-in
thor5163: calls 350
*** FLOP *** [Ac Jh 8h]
*** TURN *** [Ac Jh 8h] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Ac Jh 8h 5s] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thor5163: shows [Kc As] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
JSB1976: shows [Qc Qh] (a pair of Queens)
thor5163 collected 1885 from pot
thor5163 said, "love my job" <---------------FUNNY SHIT
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1885 | Rake 0
Board [Ac Jh 8h 5s Kh]
Seat 2: thor5163 showed [Kc As] and won (1885) with two pair, Aces and
Kings
Seat 3: JSB1976 (button) showed [Qc Qh] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 4: PAT1223 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: RAZZ123 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: RoccoJets folded before Flop (didn't bet)
HERE IS THE CHAT WE JUST HAD ABOUT THIS ENTIRE EPISODE! LOL ENJOY!
Jeremy Behringer: dude called my raise on the flop with 56o
willis mccoy: oh
willis mccoy: you didn't paste the entire hand
Jeremy Behringer: yes
Jeremy Behringer: dude had 56
Jeremy Behringer: calls 160 of a flop that showed A 3 9
Jeremy Behringer: turn is a 2
Jeremy Behringer: river is a 4
willis mccoy: yes i understand it
willis mccoy: fucked up
Jeremy Behringer: calls with 56?
Jeremy Behringer: lol
willis mccoy: was he a donkey
Jeremy Behringer: fish bowl
Jeremy Behringer: he writes and u had???
willis mccoy: you still dint paste the entire had
willis mccoy: hand
Jeremy Behringer: i said u beat all the way until the river
willis mccoy: LOL
Jeremy Behringer: finally told him to just shut up and that I was way better than him and it will show, trust me
Jeremy Behringer: QQ
Jeremy Behringer: all in
Jeremy Behringer: vs AK
Jeremy Behringer: course i lose
willis mccoy: down to 15 here
Jeremy Behringer: i am pissed bro
willis mccoy: im sure
Jeremy Behringer: 56?
Jeremy Behringer: sucks to have a heater broken by a retard like that
willis mccoy: out in 14th place
willis mccoy: now im pissed
willis mccoy: LOL@love my job
willis mccoy: JSB1976: raises 40 to 60
thor5163: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Ad 3c 9c]
thor5163: bets 80
JSB1976: raises 80 to 160
thor5163: calls 80
*** TURN *** [Ad 3c 9c] [2s]
thor5163: bets 100
JSB1976: calls 100
*** RIVER *** [Ad 3c 9c 2s] [4c]
thor5163: bets 260
JSB1976: calls 260
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thor5163: shows [5h 6d] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
JSB1976: mucks hand
thor5163 collected 1160 from pot
JSB1976 said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
willis mccoy: minimum repop
willis mccoy: easy call
Jeremy Behringer: what was easy call?
willis mccoy: you should have repoped for 3x instead of 2
Jeremy Behringer: no, he had nothing
willis mccoy: you raised him
Jeremy Behringer: its not an easy call, he had 56
willis mccoy: on the flop
Jeremy Behringer: he had no draws
Jeremy Behringer: nu str8, no flush
Jeremy Behringer: no pair
willis mccoy: don't matter you gave him easy odds to call
Jeremy Behringer: nope
willis mccoy: 2-1
Jeremy Behringer: he had NOTHING
willis mccoy: he only needed 80 more to cal
Jeremy Behringer: nothing to call with
Jeremy Behringer: 80?
willis mccoy: don't matter you gave him good odds to call
Jeremy Behringer: the blinds were in the first level
willis mccoy: you should have reraised to 240 on the flop
willis mccoy: as long as you feel lke you are ahead in any game you should always repop for 3x the original raiaser unless you are slowplaying
willis mccoy: you have to punish the chaser
willis mccoy: make him pay
Jeremy Behringer: good odds?
Jeremy Behringer: he had 56
Jeremy Behringer: he is a retard fuck
willis mccoy: but you don't know that until the show down
Jeremy Behringer: 56 on that flop with what I had he was probably a 99 - 1 dog
willis mccoy: donkey yes
willis mccoy: bad play yes
Jeremy Behringer: the only way he wins is runner runner
willis mccoy: but it's a much as your fualt as it is his
Jeremy Behringer: he is the dumbfuck for 1 calling pre flop and calling again on the re-raise post flop
Jeremy Behringer: no, I disagree 100%
willis mccoy: you din't charge him enuff to chase
willis mccoy: on the flop that is
Jeremy Behringer: when the blinds are 10/20 or 15/30, 80 more is a lot
willis mccoy: you only rerISAED THE MINIMUM
Jeremy Behringer: if I reraised a dollar it should have been enough with what he had
willis mccoy: don't matter the repop is still 3x
Jeremy Behringer: HE IS THE DUMBFUCK HERE NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
willis mccoy: i always repop for 3x the bet
willis mccoy: CALM DOWM NAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
willis mccoy:
Jeremy Behringer: bottom line is the dude called a raise with absolute shit
Jeremy Behringer: shit
willis mccoy: well now you know what to do next time
willis mccoy: 3x
willis mccoy: yeah it was a bad call
willis mccoy: but just think about al the shit hands we play and take peeps chips
willis mccoy: they just don't get to see it
Jeremy Behringer: stove says he's a 94 - 6 dog and he had to have known that I at least had an Ace
willis mccoy:
Jeremy Behringer: so he knew he was heavily dominated
willis mccoy: daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam
willis mccoy: he just got lucky J
willis mccoy: you can't win them all you know
Jeremy Behringer: he insta called too, which had me put him on a 45, not a 56!!!!
willis mccoy: lmao
Jeremy Behringer: after the turn he was still 91 - 9 dog
Jeremy Behringer: after the turn he had a gutshot
willis mccoy: LOL you killin me man!!!
Jeremy Behringer: needed a 4 and a 4 only
willis mccoy:
Jeremy Behringer: what a fucking joke
willis mccoy: Just let ot go!!!!
willis mccoy: your gonna put yourself on tilt!!!
Jeremy Behringer: that has to be one of the worst beats I have had in a while cards wise
Jeremy Behringer: dude writes, I love my job
willis mccoy: yeah that was funy
willis mccoy: im posting this chat and the hand on the site LOL
Jeremy Behringer: lol
Friday, May 18, 2007
CONTINUATION BETS!
Ah, the continuation bet, my old friend. I’ve got two strong beliefs about the continuation bet:
It’s one of the easiest and most effective moves you can make in no-limit hold’em
It’s one of the most overused moves in today’s no-limit hold’em games
Yes, yes, I know that it applies to other forms of poker as well, but no-limit hold’em is the most popular game today and the one where people talk about continuation bets the most. Plus, it’s the game that I’ve got data on.
A continuation bet (or c-bet) is when you make a bet on the flop, turn, or river when you were the last one to make a bet or raise on the previous street. Most of the time, a c-bet refers to a bet on the flop made by a pre-flop raiser. You raise pre-flop and get one or more callers. Then on the flop you bet again – no matter if the flop hits you or not. The bet is simply the continuation of the strength you represented pre-flop. It is a bluff of sorts. But, it is a very effective bluff since the same type of bet will be made with a made hand.
Part of its logic is that the pre-flop raiser is more likely to have a stronger hand than a mere caller. Therefore on the flop he’s the one more likely to be ahead. When both hands miss the flop, which is a common occurrence, the pre-flop caller often gives up when the pre-flop raiser makes an aggressive move. In fact, for situations like a pre-flop raise being called by the big blind, Chen and Ankenman state in The Mathematics of Poker that the pre-flop raiser should bet 100% of the time when checked to. The difference in the strength distributions between the two hands is so great that an autobet on the flop is called for. Notice that this effectively always puts the pre-flop raiser out of position. The caller can check and decide his action after the continuation bet.
A continuation bet needs to get everyone to fold more than one time in three (33%) to be profitable when your c-bet is half the size of the pot. One time in three you profit a whole pot. Two times out of three you lose an additional half pot. That breaks even. If your c-bets are 2/3 of the pot, then you need to win 40%; you need 50% success for a full-pot bet. These percentages assume that your hand has no value and that if you are called or raised you will concede the hand. This also assumes that the chips all have the same value, like in a cash game or early in a tournament. If you’re later on in a tournament then your bubble factor is going to be higher and you’ll need to win more frequently. This is due to the non-linearity of chip values; the chips you are risking are worth more than the ones you hope to gain. For more information on bubble factors, see my previous articles stored at http://base.google.com/base/search?authorid=1448569&hl=en&gl=US
But how often do c-bets work in practice? Well, this wouldn’t be a Tysen Streib article without some cool numbers and graphs, so let’s dive in! There are many factors that affect how likely a continuation bet succeeds. Some of them I can’t quantify, like your reputation. If your opponents always see you putting in a c-bet whenever you can, they will start calling more often. Other factors I will attempt to quantify below, by analyzing a large database of online hand histories.
Number of Opponents and Their Skill Level
The more opponents you have on the flop, the less likely your c-bet will work. More experienced opponents will also call c-bets more often.
This graph shows how likely c-bets worked as a function of the number of opponents on the flop. There’s a line for a collection of $10 tournaments as well as one for tournaments with a buy-in of $100 or more. The thickness of the line represents the standard error in the numbers; I have fewer data points with 5 or more opponents, so the error is higher.
I have a couple of caveats to this and subsequent graphs. I’m defining a success as “what is the chance a bet on the flop takes down the pot?” If anyone calls or raises, then it’s a failure. These aren’t strictly continuation bets. There is no requirement for a pre-flop raise or for the bettor to be the one that raised pre-flop. This was purely for sample size reasons. If I had restricted my analysis to pure c-bets then I wouldn’t have enough data points for my further subdivisions below. So the absolute value of success won’t be exactly the same as with pure c-bets, but my purpose here is to show what the factors are that influence the chance of success.
The $10 tournaments are observed hand histories – there is no common player throughout. The $100+ tournaments are all from my own histories; however, I eliminated every hand where I personally saw the flop. Therefore these statistics should be free of any bias introduced by the presence of a common player. My sample size of the higher-level tournaments is much smaller, so I won’t be using them in the further breakdowns below.
Pairs and Flushes on the Flop
Continuation bets are more likely to succeed when the board is paired or if there is no flush draw (a rainbow flop – all three cards are different suits). This is because other hands are more likely to miss these flops and not contest the bet.
Again, the thickness of the bars represents the error; my sample has only 92 flops of trips where a bet was made on the flop. Fewer samples mean more error.
Although I’m not showing it here, the chance of success in higher-level tournaments is much more similar across board types. I would suspect that higher-level players will contest a paired flop more often since it’s such a common ploy to bet at a paired pot in order to pick it up. It used to be that people would bet at paired flops because that was a great opportunity for free money. Now that everyone knows that, it’s no longer a free lunch.
Connectivity of the Flop
The more connected a flop is, the more likely someone will have a draw and call that continuation bet. I divided all the unpaired flops into five categories of connectivity:
0-Gap flops have all three cards in a row (654 or JT9)
1-Gap flops have one missing card (532 or QJ9)
2-Gap flops have two missing cards (AKT, 975, or 632)
A Mixed flop has two touching cards and one disjoint card (QJ3 or K76)
Unconnected flops are all others
I would have expected Mixed flops to be a little closer to 2-Gaps than Unconnected. I guess I shouldn’t fear straight draws on those kinds of flops as much as I do.
High Cards on the Flop
I’ve always noticed that my c-bets work more often when there’s an ace on the flop. That’s why when I raise pocket nines pre-flop, I always put in a continuation bet when the flop comes up something like AQ6. The pre-flop raiser is much more likely to have an ace than a caller.
This is a chart that shows success as a function of the highest card on the flop (unpaired flops only). The smaller success on the lower flops is probably due to the increased connectivity rather than the lack of high cards. Notice that ace- and king-high flops separate themselves from the rest of the pack. I’m surprised to see that king-high is essentially just as good as ace-high. Nice info.
Bet Size
I’m sure it will come as a shock to everyone that bigger bets are more successful at picking up pots.
It does appear that there are diminishing returns for bet sizes above half the pot. Perhaps Harrington was onto something when he suggested that half the pot was the ideal size for a continuation bet.
In Conclusion
I hope you’ve learned something from this study. If you aren’t a regular user of continuation bets, I hope you start. If you’re a habitual user, I hope you learn to back off in certain situations. A good example of when not to continue bet is when you have a fairly good draw, especially if you are in position. Checking behind to see a free card will give you more information, help keep the pot small, may induce a bluff by your opponent, and eliminates the chance of a check-raise. In addition, by occasionally not c-betting, you give more credibility to the times where you do bet. This helps preserve fold equity on future hands.
In addition, low-level players love to chase draws. When the board is draw-heavy and you totally miss, it may be better to simply give up the hand, especially if you have more than one opponent. Higher level players are more suspicious of c-bets in all circumstances and it becomes more of a test of psychology. There are some people who will call continuation bets with anything (especially in position) and then see if the pre-flop raiser gives it up on the turn. If the raiser fires a second shot on the turn, they often give up if they still have nothing. If the raiser checks, they’ll bet to pick up the pot. If you suspect you are up against this kind of opponent, you will have to bluff a second time on the turn more often when you miss. You should also check-raise the turn when you have a good hand more often than you would against other opponents. It all comes down to knowing your opposition and playing against their tactics.
It’s one of the easiest and most effective moves you can make in no-limit hold’em
It’s one of the most overused moves in today’s no-limit hold’em games
Yes, yes, I know that it applies to other forms of poker as well, but no-limit hold’em is the most popular game today and the one where people talk about continuation bets the most. Plus, it’s the game that I’ve got data on.
A continuation bet (or c-bet) is when you make a bet on the flop, turn, or river when you were the last one to make a bet or raise on the previous street. Most of the time, a c-bet refers to a bet on the flop made by a pre-flop raiser. You raise pre-flop and get one or more callers. Then on the flop you bet again – no matter if the flop hits you or not. The bet is simply the continuation of the strength you represented pre-flop. It is a bluff of sorts. But, it is a very effective bluff since the same type of bet will be made with a made hand.
Part of its logic is that the pre-flop raiser is more likely to have a stronger hand than a mere caller. Therefore on the flop he’s the one more likely to be ahead. When both hands miss the flop, which is a common occurrence, the pre-flop caller often gives up when the pre-flop raiser makes an aggressive move. In fact, for situations like a pre-flop raise being called by the big blind, Chen and Ankenman state in The Mathematics of Poker that the pre-flop raiser should bet 100% of the time when checked to. The difference in the strength distributions between the two hands is so great that an autobet on the flop is called for. Notice that this effectively always puts the pre-flop raiser out of position. The caller can check and decide his action after the continuation bet.
A continuation bet needs to get everyone to fold more than one time in three (33%) to be profitable when your c-bet is half the size of the pot. One time in three you profit a whole pot. Two times out of three you lose an additional half pot. That breaks even. If your c-bets are 2/3 of the pot, then you need to win 40%; you need 50% success for a full-pot bet. These percentages assume that your hand has no value and that if you are called or raised you will concede the hand. This also assumes that the chips all have the same value, like in a cash game or early in a tournament. If you’re later on in a tournament then your bubble factor is going to be higher and you’ll need to win more frequently. This is due to the non-linearity of chip values; the chips you are risking are worth more than the ones you hope to gain. For more information on bubble factors, see my previous articles stored at http://base.google.com/base/search?authorid=1448569&hl=en&gl=US
But how often do c-bets work in practice? Well, this wouldn’t be a Tysen Streib article without some cool numbers and graphs, so let’s dive in! There are many factors that affect how likely a continuation bet succeeds. Some of them I can’t quantify, like your reputation. If your opponents always see you putting in a c-bet whenever you can, they will start calling more often. Other factors I will attempt to quantify below, by analyzing a large database of online hand histories.
Number of Opponents and Their Skill Level
The more opponents you have on the flop, the less likely your c-bet will work. More experienced opponents will also call c-bets more often.
This graph shows how likely c-bets worked as a function of the number of opponents on the flop. There’s a line for a collection of $10 tournaments as well as one for tournaments with a buy-in of $100 or more. The thickness of the line represents the standard error in the numbers; I have fewer data points with 5 or more opponents, so the error is higher.
I have a couple of caveats to this and subsequent graphs. I’m defining a success as “what is the chance a bet on the flop takes down the pot?” If anyone calls or raises, then it’s a failure. These aren’t strictly continuation bets. There is no requirement for a pre-flop raise or for the bettor to be the one that raised pre-flop. This was purely for sample size reasons. If I had restricted my analysis to pure c-bets then I wouldn’t have enough data points for my further subdivisions below. So the absolute value of success won’t be exactly the same as with pure c-bets, but my purpose here is to show what the factors are that influence the chance of success.
The $10 tournaments are observed hand histories – there is no common player throughout. The $100+ tournaments are all from my own histories; however, I eliminated every hand where I personally saw the flop. Therefore these statistics should be free of any bias introduced by the presence of a common player. My sample size of the higher-level tournaments is much smaller, so I won’t be using them in the further breakdowns below.
Pairs and Flushes on the Flop
Continuation bets are more likely to succeed when the board is paired or if there is no flush draw (a rainbow flop – all three cards are different suits). This is because other hands are more likely to miss these flops and not contest the bet.
Again, the thickness of the bars represents the error; my sample has only 92 flops of trips where a bet was made on the flop. Fewer samples mean more error.
Although I’m not showing it here, the chance of success in higher-level tournaments is much more similar across board types. I would suspect that higher-level players will contest a paired flop more often since it’s such a common ploy to bet at a paired pot in order to pick it up. It used to be that people would bet at paired flops because that was a great opportunity for free money. Now that everyone knows that, it’s no longer a free lunch.
Connectivity of the Flop
The more connected a flop is, the more likely someone will have a draw and call that continuation bet. I divided all the unpaired flops into five categories of connectivity:
0-Gap flops have all three cards in a row (654 or JT9)
1-Gap flops have one missing card (532 or QJ9)
2-Gap flops have two missing cards (AKT, 975, or 632)
A Mixed flop has two touching cards and one disjoint card (QJ3 or K76)
Unconnected flops are all others
I would have expected Mixed flops to be a little closer to 2-Gaps than Unconnected. I guess I shouldn’t fear straight draws on those kinds of flops as much as I do.
High Cards on the Flop
I’ve always noticed that my c-bets work more often when there’s an ace on the flop. That’s why when I raise pocket nines pre-flop, I always put in a continuation bet when the flop comes up something like AQ6. The pre-flop raiser is much more likely to have an ace than a caller.
This is a chart that shows success as a function of the highest card on the flop (unpaired flops only). The smaller success on the lower flops is probably due to the increased connectivity rather than the lack of high cards. Notice that ace- and king-high flops separate themselves from the rest of the pack. I’m surprised to see that king-high is essentially just as good as ace-high. Nice info.
Bet Size
I’m sure it will come as a shock to everyone that bigger bets are more successful at picking up pots.
It does appear that there are diminishing returns for bet sizes above half the pot. Perhaps Harrington was onto something when he suggested that half the pot was the ideal size for a continuation bet.
In Conclusion
I hope you’ve learned something from this study. If you aren’t a regular user of continuation bets, I hope you start. If you’re a habitual user, I hope you learn to back off in certain situations. A good example of when not to continue bet is when you have a fairly good draw, especially if you are in position. Checking behind to see a free card will give you more information, help keep the pot small, may induce a bluff by your opponent, and eliminates the chance of a check-raise. In addition, by occasionally not c-betting, you give more credibility to the times where you do bet. This helps preserve fold equity on future hands.
In addition, low-level players love to chase draws. When the board is draw-heavy and you totally miss, it may be better to simply give up the hand, especially if you have more than one opponent. Higher level players are more suspicious of c-bets in all circumstances and it becomes more of a test of psychology. There are some people who will call continuation bets with anything (especially in position) and then see if the pre-flop raiser gives it up on the turn. If the raiser fires a second shot on the turn, they often give up if they still have nothing. If the raiser checks, they’ll bet to pick up the pot. If you suspect you are up against this kind of opponent, you will have to bluff a second time on the turn more often when you miss. You should also check-raise the turn when you have a good hand more often than you would against other opponents. It all comes down to knowing your opposition and playing against their tactics.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
POKER STARS 4.40 180 SNG TOURNEY
After failing in the larger field $5.00 tournament,due to my horrible play.I will now turn my attention to the $4.40 180 man sng tourney. Same rules and the same styles apply,As i must rmember the three PPP Patience/Picking spots/playing poker.
THE RULES
1.EVUALUATE THE TABLE
2.PLAY BIG QUALITY HANDS EARLY IN THE GREEN ZONE
3.SMALL POTS SMALL RAISES/POT CONTROL
4.D.S.H 20/50(G)
5.3K/3-1 RULE
HERE WE HAVE MY 1ST KEY HAND THAT ALLOW ME TO USE RULE #4
PokerStars Game #9891664443: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:32:36 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: cuposhutup (1300 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 (1440 in chips)
Seat 4: nigeonline (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (1770 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: brasilos (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 (1500 in chips)
cashdaddy69: posts small blind 10
nigeonline: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [9s 9c]
soccerpror: calls 20
DENTBOY1: folds
brasilos: calls 20
barnz2828: folds
RugbyGuy03: raises 100 to 120
cuposhutup: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 120
cashdaddy69: folds
nigeonline: folds
soccerpror: folds
brasilos: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qd 9h 2s]
RugbyGuy03: checks
SR8tAcEto5: checks
*** TURN *** [Qd 9h 2s] [7c]
RugbyGuy03: checks
SR8tAcEto5: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qd 9h 2s 7c] [8h]
RugbyGuy03: bets 80
SR8tAcEto5: raises 80 to 160
RugbyGuy03: calls 80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [9s 9c] (three of a kind, Nines)
RugbyGuy03: mucks hand
SR8tAcEto5 collected 630 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 630 | Rake 0
Board [Qd 9h 2s 7c 8h]
Seat 1: cuposhutup folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (button) showed [9s 9c] and won (630) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: nigeonline (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: soccerpror folded before Flop
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: brasilos folded before Flop
Seat 8: barnz2828 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 mucked [Kd Ah]
AK CRACKED!!!!!!
PokerStars Game #9891730002: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:37:07 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: cuposhutup (1280 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (1840 in chips)
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 (1520 in chips)
Seat 4: nigeonline (1460 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (1780 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (1420 in chips)
Seat 7: brasilos (1480 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 (1220 in chips)
brasilos: posts small blind 10
barnz2828: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ks Kh]
RugbyGuy03: folds
cuposhutup: calls 20
SR8tAcEto5: raises 80 to 100
cashdaddy69: raises 1420 to 1520 and is all-in
nigeonline: folds
soccerpror: folds
DENTBOY1: folds
brasilos: folds
barnz2828: folds
cuposhutup: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 1420
*** FLOP *** [3s Js 5s]
*** TURN *** [3s Js 5s] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [3s Js 5s 8s] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Ks Kh] (a flush, King high)
cashdaddy69: shows [Ac Qd] (a pair of Threes)
cashdaddy69 is sitting out
SR8tAcEto5 collected 3090 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3090 | Rake 0
Board [3s Js 5s 8s 3d]
Seat 1: cuposhutup folded before Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Ks Kh] and won (3090) with a flush, King high
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 showed [Ac Qd] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 4: nigeonline folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: soccerpror folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: brasilos (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: barnz2828 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
AQ BUSTED-I PICK UP KK AND MAKE THIS CALL EVERYTIME!!!
With my stack at over 3000 in chips my (M) is a healthy 100;So i can basically play my Phil Ivey game,small poting to death!!!
PokerStars Game #9892086054: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/13 - 14:01:28 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: cuposhutup (465 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (2550 in chips)
Seat 3: typeS0723 (585 in chips)
Seat 4: nigeonline (290 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (6485 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (1890 in chips)
Seat 7: sjaakjee (1360 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1115 in chips)
Seat 9: BWV988 (2235 in chips)
cuposhutup: posts small blind 15
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ks Ac]
typeS0723: calls 30
nigeonline: folds
soccerpror: folds
barnz2828 said, "lol"
DENTBOY1: folds
barnz2828 said, "NH btw"
sjaakjee: raises 90 to 120
barnz2828: folds
BWV988: folds
cuposhutup: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 90
typeS0723: raises 465 to 585 and is all-in
sjaakjee: raises 775 to 1360 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d Kc 9d]
*** TURN *** [6d Kc 9d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [6d Kc 9d Tc] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
typeS0723: shows [7h 7c] (two pair, Tens and Sevens)
sjaakjee: shows [Ah Jh] (a pair of Tens)
typeS0723 collected 1305 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1305 | Rake 0
Board [6d Kc 9d Tc Td]
Seat 1: cuposhutup (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: typeS0723 showed [7h 7c] and won (1305) with two pair, Tens and Sevens
Seat 4: nigeonline folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: soccerpror folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: sjaakjee showed [Ah Jh] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 8: barnz2828 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BWV988 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I FOLD AK HERE FOR THE DONKEY RERAISING ALL-IN WITH AJ SUITED!!!!
PokerStars Game #9892263043: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/05/13 - 14:11:48 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: sandertje (2455 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (2430 in chips)
Seat 3: typeS0723 (1555 in chips)
Seat 4: DMac1 (2365 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (7475 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (690 in chips)
Seat 7: Techno35 (2080 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1365 in chips)
Seat 9: BWV988 (2835 in chips)
DENTBOY1: posts small blind 25
Techno35: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [7h 8h]
barnz2828: folds
BWV988: folds
sandertje: calls 50
SR8tAcEto5: raises 100 to 150
typeS0723: folds
DMac1: folds
soccerpror: folds
DENTBOY1: calls 125
Techno35: folds
sandertje: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [7s 3c 7c]
DENTBOY1: checks
sandertje: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 200
DENTBOY1: raises 340 to 540 and is all-in
sandertje: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 340
*** TURN *** [7s 3c 7c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [7s 3c 7c 3s] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DENTBOY1: shows [8c Tc] (two pair, Sevens and Threes)
SR8tAcEto5: shows [7h 8h] (a full house, Sevens full of Threes)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 1580 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1580 | Rake 0
Board [7s 3c 7c 3s 2h]
Seat 1: sandertje folded on the Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 showed [7h 8h] and won (1580) with a full house, Sevens full of Threes
Seat 3: typeS0723 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: DMac1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: soccerpror (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (small blind) showed [8c Tc] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Threes
Seat 7: Techno35 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: barnz2828 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BWV988 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Just the way i wrote this one up!!! 1st i get one caller in front of me so im ok with that.So i make it 150 to or 3x the BB,i am trying to keep the pot as small as possible preflop.At the same time i am attempting and hoping to buy the button.In this case that is exactly what happends.
I now have position after the flop to further more control the pot.With 7H 8H i am hoping 1st of all the hit the flop one of three ways. 1st i am hoping to hit the flop and also be drawing to a striaght or a flush at the same time.And lastly hitting 3 of a king and draw to a FULL HOUSE AS I DID IN THIS HAND.
ALL GREEN ZONE PLAY!!!! CURRENTLY 89 PLAYER REMAIN OUT OF 180!
CURRENTLY ON BREAK(72 PLAYER 8TABLES)I AM 49TH JUST BELOW AVG STACK!
PokerStars Game #9892709387: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:38:38 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (2980 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: thebornkid (3950 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (2075 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (2945 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (5210 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (10835 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (2515 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1720 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (540 in chips)
El Wapote: posts small blind 75
Wexel: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ks 4s]
funbags11: calls 150
scarfaic83: folds
jwig23 has returned
Fred254: folds
jwig23: folds
thebornkid: folds
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 150
El Wapote: calls 75
Wexel: checks
*** FLOP *** [Jd 8h 2h]
El Wapote: checks
Wexel: checks
funbags11: bets 300
SR8tAcEto5: folds
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11 collected 600 from pot
funbags11: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 600 | Rake 0
Board [Jd 8h 2h]
Seat 1: jwig23 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: thebornkid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jerry710 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: El Wapote (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Wexel (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: funbags11 collected (600)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
CLASSIC BLINDS STEAL IN THE YELLOW ZONE!!!!
LIMPED HERE WITH 77 AND BET OUT FOR INFORMATION!!
PokerStars Game #9892789752: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:43:39 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (2830 in chips)
Seat 2: thebornkid (3950 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (1925 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (3020 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (4460 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (9695 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (4315 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1495 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (1080 in chips)
jwig23: posts small blind 75
thebornkid: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [7c 7h]
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 150
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11: calls 150
scarfaic83: folds
Fred254: folds
jwig23: calls 75
thebornkid: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kc Qc Qs]
jwig23: checks
thebornkid: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 150
funbags11: folds
jwig23: folds
thebornkid: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 600 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 600 | Rake 0
Board [Kc Qc Qs]
Seat 1: jwig23 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: thebornkid (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Jerry710 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 collected (600)
Seat 5: El Wapote folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Wexel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: funbags11 folded on the Flop
Seat 8: scarfaic83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #9892814518: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:45:14 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (2905 in chips)
Seat 2: thebornkid (3725 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (1775 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (3470 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (4460 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (9695 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (4165 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1495 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (1080 in chips)
Jerry710: posts small blind 75
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Js Th]
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11: folds
scarfaic83: folds
Fred254: folds
jwig23: folds
thebornkid: folds
Jerry710 said, "m"
Jerry710: calls 75
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 450
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 300 | Rake 0
Seat 1: jwig23 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: thebornkid (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) collected (300)
Seat 5: El Wapote folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Wexel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: funbags11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
CLASSIC PUSH WHEN THE BLINDS START RAISING AND THE TABLE IS TIGHT! NOW THE 1-3 RULE TAKES EFFECT!! 2 FOR 2!!!!
PokerStars Game #9892878399: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:49:18 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (1405 in chips)
Seat 2: thebornkid (5900 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (1850 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (3545 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (4235 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (9470 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (3940 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1270 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (1155 in chips)
Fred254: posts small blind 75
jwig23: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [6c 6s]
thebornkid: folds
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 450
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11: folds
scarfaic83: folds
Fred254: folds
jwig23: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 375 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 375 | Rake 0
Seat 1: jwig23 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: thebornkid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jerry710 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 collected (375)
Seat 5: El Wapote folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Wexel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: funbags11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 (small blind) folded before Flop
WE ARE NOW NEARING THE BUBBLE SO I CHOSE TO RIASE THE UNOPENED POT AS opposed to limping!
AFTER THIS HAND I PICKED UP KK AND RAN INTO JJ AND A J HIT THE FLOP AND I WAS OUT!! BESIDES MY KK'S GETTING CRACKED I PLAYED EXCELLENT POKER!!!
THE RULES
1.EVUALUATE THE TABLE
2.PLAY BIG QUALITY HANDS EARLY IN THE GREEN ZONE
3.SMALL POTS SMALL RAISES/POT CONTROL
4.D.S.H 20/50(G)
5.3K/3-1 RULE
HERE WE HAVE MY 1ST KEY HAND THAT ALLOW ME TO USE RULE #4
PokerStars Game #9891664443: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:32:36 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: cuposhutup (1300 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 (1440 in chips)
Seat 4: nigeonline (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (1770 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: brasilos (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 (1500 in chips)
cashdaddy69: posts small blind 10
nigeonline: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [9s 9c]
soccerpror: calls 20
DENTBOY1: folds
brasilos: calls 20
barnz2828: folds
RugbyGuy03: raises 100 to 120
cuposhutup: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 120
cashdaddy69: folds
nigeonline: folds
soccerpror: folds
brasilos: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qd 9h 2s]
RugbyGuy03: checks
SR8tAcEto5: checks
*** TURN *** [Qd 9h 2s] [7c]
RugbyGuy03: checks
SR8tAcEto5: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qd 9h 2s 7c] [8h]
RugbyGuy03: bets 80
SR8tAcEto5: raises 80 to 160
RugbyGuy03: calls 80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [9s 9c] (three of a kind, Nines)
RugbyGuy03: mucks hand
SR8tAcEto5 collected 630 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 630 | Rake 0
Board [Qd 9h 2s 7c 8h]
Seat 1: cuposhutup folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (button) showed [9s 9c] and won (630) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: nigeonline (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: soccerpror folded before Flop
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: brasilos folded before Flop
Seat 8: barnz2828 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 mucked [Kd Ah]
AK CRACKED!!!!!!
PokerStars Game #9891730002: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:37:07 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: cuposhutup (1280 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (1840 in chips)
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 (1520 in chips)
Seat 4: nigeonline (1460 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (1780 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (1420 in chips)
Seat 7: brasilos (1480 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 (1220 in chips)
brasilos: posts small blind 10
barnz2828: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ks Kh]
RugbyGuy03: folds
cuposhutup: calls 20
SR8tAcEto5: raises 80 to 100
cashdaddy69: raises 1420 to 1520 and is all-in
nigeonline: folds
soccerpror: folds
DENTBOY1: folds
brasilos: folds
barnz2828: folds
cuposhutup: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 1420
*** FLOP *** [3s Js 5s]
*** TURN *** [3s Js 5s] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [3s Js 5s 8s] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Ks Kh] (a flush, King high)
cashdaddy69: shows [Ac Qd] (a pair of Threes)
cashdaddy69 is sitting out
SR8tAcEto5 collected 3090 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3090 | Rake 0
Board [3s Js 5s 8s 3d]
Seat 1: cuposhutup folded before Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Ks Kh] and won (3090) with a flush, King high
Seat 3: cashdaddy69 showed [Ac Qd] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 4: nigeonline folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: soccerpror folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: brasilos (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: barnz2828 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: RugbyGuy03 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
AQ BUSTED-I PICK UP KK AND MAKE THIS CALL EVERYTIME!!!
With my stack at over 3000 in chips my (M) is a healthy 100;So i can basically play my Phil Ivey game,small poting to death!!!
PokerStars Game #9892086054: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/13 - 14:01:28 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: cuposhutup (465 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (2550 in chips)
Seat 3: typeS0723 (585 in chips)
Seat 4: nigeonline (290 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (6485 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (1890 in chips)
Seat 7: sjaakjee (1360 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1115 in chips)
Seat 9: BWV988 (2235 in chips)
cuposhutup: posts small blind 15
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ks Ac]
typeS0723: calls 30
nigeonline: folds
soccerpror: folds
barnz2828 said, "lol"
DENTBOY1: folds
barnz2828 said, "NH btw"
sjaakjee: raises 90 to 120
barnz2828: folds
BWV988: folds
cuposhutup: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 90
typeS0723: raises 465 to 585 and is all-in
sjaakjee: raises 775 to 1360 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d Kc 9d]
*** TURN *** [6d Kc 9d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [6d Kc 9d Tc] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
typeS0723: shows [7h 7c] (two pair, Tens and Sevens)
sjaakjee: shows [Ah Jh] (a pair of Tens)
typeS0723 collected 1305 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1305 | Rake 0
Board [6d Kc 9d Tc Td]
Seat 1: cuposhutup (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: typeS0723 showed [7h 7c] and won (1305) with two pair, Tens and Sevens
Seat 4: nigeonline folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: soccerpror folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: sjaakjee showed [Ah Jh] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 8: barnz2828 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BWV988 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I FOLD AK HERE FOR THE DONKEY RERAISING ALL-IN WITH AJ SUITED!!!!
PokerStars Game #9892263043: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/05/13 - 14:11:48 (ET)
Table '50192115 9' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: sandertje (2455 in chips)
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 (2430 in chips)
Seat 3: typeS0723 (1555 in chips)
Seat 4: DMac1 (2365 in chips)
Seat 5: soccerpror (7475 in chips)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (690 in chips)
Seat 7: Techno35 (2080 in chips)
Seat 8: barnz2828 (1365 in chips)
Seat 9: BWV988 (2835 in chips)
DENTBOY1: posts small blind 25
Techno35: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [7h 8h]
barnz2828: folds
BWV988: folds
sandertje: calls 50
SR8tAcEto5: raises 100 to 150
typeS0723: folds
DMac1: folds
soccerpror: folds
DENTBOY1: calls 125
Techno35: folds
sandertje: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [7s 3c 7c]
DENTBOY1: checks
sandertje: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 200
DENTBOY1: raises 340 to 540 and is all-in
sandertje: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 340
*** TURN *** [7s 3c 7c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [7s 3c 7c 3s] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DENTBOY1: shows [8c Tc] (two pair, Sevens and Threes)
SR8tAcEto5: shows [7h 8h] (a full house, Sevens full of Threes)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 1580 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1580 | Rake 0
Board [7s 3c 7c 3s 2h]
Seat 1: sandertje folded on the Flop
Seat 2: SR8tAcEto5 showed [7h 8h] and won (1580) with a full house, Sevens full of Threes
Seat 3: typeS0723 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: DMac1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: soccerpror (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: DENTBOY1 (small blind) showed [8c Tc] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Threes
Seat 7: Techno35 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: barnz2828 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BWV988 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Just the way i wrote this one up!!! 1st i get one caller in front of me so im ok with that.So i make it 150 to or 3x the BB,i am trying to keep the pot as small as possible preflop.At the same time i am attempting and hoping to buy the button.In this case that is exactly what happends.
I now have position after the flop to further more control the pot.With 7H 8H i am hoping 1st of all the hit the flop one of three ways. 1st i am hoping to hit the flop and also be drawing to a striaght or a flush at the same time.And lastly hitting 3 of a king and draw to a FULL HOUSE AS I DID IN THIS HAND.
ALL GREEN ZONE PLAY!!!! CURRENTLY 89 PLAYER REMAIN OUT OF 180!
CURRENTLY ON BREAK(72 PLAYER 8TABLES)I AM 49TH JUST BELOW AVG STACK!
PokerStars Game #9892709387: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:38:38 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (2980 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: thebornkid (3950 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (2075 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (2945 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (5210 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (10835 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (2515 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1720 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (540 in chips)
El Wapote: posts small blind 75
Wexel: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ks 4s]
funbags11: calls 150
scarfaic83: folds
jwig23 has returned
Fred254: folds
jwig23: folds
thebornkid: folds
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 150
El Wapote: calls 75
Wexel: checks
*** FLOP *** [Jd 8h 2h]
El Wapote: checks
Wexel: checks
funbags11: bets 300
SR8tAcEto5: folds
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11 collected 600 from pot
funbags11: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 600 | Rake 0
Board [Jd 8h 2h]
Seat 1: jwig23 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: thebornkid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jerry710 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: El Wapote (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Wexel (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: funbags11 collected (600)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
CLASSIC BLINDS STEAL IN THE YELLOW ZONE!!!!
LIMPED HERE WITH 77 AND BET OUT FOR INFORMATION!!
PokerStars Game #9892789752: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:43:39 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (2830 in chips)
Seat 2: thebornkid (3950 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (1925 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (3020 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (4460 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (9695 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (4315 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1495 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (1080 in chips)
jwig23: posts small blind 75
thebornkid: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [7c 7h]
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 150
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11: calls 150
scarfaic83: folds
Fred254: folds
jwig23: calls 75
thebornkid: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kc Qc Qs]
jwig23: checks
thebornkid: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 150
funbags11: folds
jwig23: folds
thebornkid: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 600 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 600 | Rake 0
Board [Kc Qc Qs]
Seat 1: jwig23 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: thebornkid (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Jerry710 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 collected (600)
Seat 5: El Wapote folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Wexel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: funbags11 folded on the Flop
Seat 8: scarfaic83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #9892814518: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:45:14 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (2905 in chips)
Seat 2: thebornkid (3725 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (1775 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (3470 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (4460 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (9695 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (4165 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1495 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (1080 in chips)
Jerry710: posts small blind 75
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Js Th]
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11: folds
scarfaic83: folds
Fred254: folds
jwig23: folds
thebornkid: folds
Jerry710 said, "m"
Jerry710: calls 75
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 450
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 300 | Rake 0
Seat 1: jwig23 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: thebornkid (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) collected (300)
Seat 5: El Wapote folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Wexel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: funbags11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
CLASSIC PUSH WHEN THE BLINDS START RAISING AND THE TABLE IS TIGHT! NOW THE 1-3 RULE TAKES EFFECT!! 2 FOR 2!!!!
PokerStars Game #9892878399: Tournament #50192115, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/13 - 14:49:18 (ET)
Table '50192115 6' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: jwig23 (1405 in chips)
Seat 2: thebornkid (5900 in chips)
Seat 3: Jerry710 (1850 in chips)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 (3545 in chips)
Seat 5: El Wapote (4235 in chips)
Seat 6: Wexel (9470 in chips)
Seat 7: funbags11 (3940 in chips)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (1270 in chips)
Seat 9: Fred254 (1155 in chips)
Fred254: posts small blind 75
jwig23: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [6c 6s]
thebornkid: folds
Jerry710: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 450
El Wapote: folds
Wexel: folds
funbags11: folds
scarfaic83: folds
Fred254: folds
jwig23: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 375 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 375 | Rake 0
Seat 1: jwig23 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: thebornkid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jerry710 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: SR8tAcEto5 collected (375)
Seat 5: El Wapote folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Wexel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: funbags11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: scarfaic83 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Fred254 (small blind) folded before Flop
WE ARE NOW NEARING THE BUBBLE SO I CHOSE TO RIASE THE UNOPENED POT AS opposed to limping!
AFTER THIS HAND I PICKED UP KK AND RAN INTO JJ AND A J HIT THE FLOP AND I WAS OUT!! BESIDES MY KK'S GETTING CRACKED I PLAYED EXCELLENT POKER!!!
MTT PLAY POKER STARS $5 SUNDAY TOURNEY
Today i am going to play the Poker Stars $5.00 Mtt tournament. We currently have 1100 players and a $5,000 prize pool;Although i love playing the STT tournaments my true love is large tournament play.
As you can see by my rankings on www.officialpokerrankings.com,i am not very good in the larger feild tourneys.
PokerStars Game #9891244878: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:03:34 (ET)
Table '49447868 137' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Tube10 (1530 in chips)
Seat 2: Claimbanger (1500 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: Amateur (1640 in chips)
Seat 4: Inc CdB (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: tumtumy (1170 in chips)
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 (1470 in chips)
Seat 7: marks2k (1480 in chips)
Seat 8: garnett_21tw (1530 in chips)
Seat 9: AA_Anton (1710 in chips)
marks2k: posts small blind 10
garnett_21tw: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [8c 8s]
AA_Anton: folds
Tube10: calls 20
Claimbanger: folds
Amateur: folds
Inc CdB: folds
tumtumy: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 60 to 80
marks2k: folds
garnett_21tw: folds
Tube10: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [2c Th 5c]
Tube10: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 100
Tube10: calls 100
*** TURN *** [2c Th 5c] [Kc]
Tube10: bets 440
SR8tAcEto5: folds
Tube10 collected 390 from pot
Tube10: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 390 | Rake 0
Board [2c Th 5c Kc]
Seat 1: Tube10 collected (390)
Seat 2: Claimbanger folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Amateur folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Inc CdB folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: tumtumy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 7: marks2k (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: garnett_21tw (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: AA_Anton folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Here i pick up 88 and raise the unopened pot 4x the BB. Had there been a limper in front,i would have limped as well.The caller whom i know nothing about calls my flop bet.He then pushes the turn when a 3rd club appears so i fold.
PokerStars Game #9891302830: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:07:55 (ET)
Table '49447868 137' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Tube10 (1760 in chips)
Seat 2: Claimbanger (1430 in chips)
Seat 3: Amateur (1580 in chips)
Seat 4: Inc CdB (1450 in chips)
Seat 5: tumtumy (1370 in chips)
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 (1320 in chips)
Seat 7: marks2k (1470 in chips)
Seat 8: garnett_21tw (1480 in chips)
Seat 9: AA_Anton (1640 in chips)
Inc CdB: posts small blind 10
tumtumy: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Kc Ad]
SR8tAcEto5: calls 20
marks2k: folds
garnett_21tw: folds
AA_Anton: calls 20
Tube10: folds
Claimbanger: folds
Amateur: calls 20
Inc CdB: folds
tumtumy: checks
*** FLOP *** [4s Ah 8c]
tumtumy: bets 20
SR8tAcEto5: calls 20
AA_Anton: folds
Amateur: folds
*** TURN *** [4s Ah 8c] [2c]
tumtumy: bets 20
SR8tAcEto5: raises 60 to 80
tumtumy: calls 60
*** RIVER *** [4s Ah 8c 2c] [Kd]
tumtumy: bets 100
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 400
tumtumy: calls 300
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Kc Ad] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
tumtumy: mucks hand
SR8tAcEto5 collected 1090 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1090 | Rake 0
Board [4s Ah 8c 2c Kd]
Seat 1: Tube10 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Claimbanger folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Amateur (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Inc CdB (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: tumtumy (big blind) mucked [4c Qs]
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Kc Ad] and won (1090) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 7: marks2k folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: garnett_21tw folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: AA_Anton folded on the Flop
Here i pick up AKo UTG and i limp not raising;The key here is that it is very early and i don't want to run into AA or KK.I am also out of position and would like to see what the table has to offer.
After only 17min. we are down to 900 players in this cheap free for all. What i am doing now is testing my new system for sng stratergy to a full tournament situation.I am truly hoping for the best as i write this story LOL.The hard work has to pay off sooner or later.
PokerStars Game #9891505550: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/13 - 13:21:44 (ET)
Table '49447868 121' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON (1325 in chips)
Seat 2: bernd1351 (2255 in chips)
Seat 3: lars moritz (1405 in chips)
Seat 4: bronkietonki (705 in chips)
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (3010 in chips)
Seat 6: sneakyman7 (2585 in chips)
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny (4155 in chips)
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 (1495 in chips)
Seat 9: mixeral777 (1155 in chips)
bronkietonki: posts small blind 15
Wendelin82: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [4s 4d]
sneakyman7: raises 60 to 90
Jubba Ronny: calls 90
SR8tAcEto5: calls 90
mixeral777: folds
SHOOKAHOON: calls 90
bernd1351: folds
lars moritz: calls 90
bronkietonki: folds
Wendelin82: folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 7s 6h]
sneakyman7: bets 240
Jubba Ronny: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 240
SHOOKAHOON: folds
lars moritz: folds
*** TURN *** [3c 7s 6h] [Ah]
sneakyman7: bets 510
SR8tAcEto5: calls 510
*** RIVER *** [3c 7s 6h Ah] [9h]
sneakyman7: bets 1200
SR8tAcEto5: folds
sneakyman7 collected 1995 from pot
sneakyman7: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1995 | Rake 0
Board [3c 7s 6h Ah 9h]
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON folded on the Flop
Seat 2: bernd1351 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: lars moritz (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: bronkietonki (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: sneakyman7 collected (1995)
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny folded on the Flop
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 folded on the River
Seat 9: mixeral777 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Well here i let greed get the best of me this was a horrible play!!! Now i am in serious trouble!!!
PokerStars Game #9891550666: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/13 - 13:24:48 (ET)
Table '49447868 121' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON (1235 in chips)
Seat 2: bernd1351 (2255 in chips)
Seat 3: lars moritz (1315 in chips)
Seat 4: bronkietonki (690 in chips)
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (3370 in chips)
Seat 6: sneakyman7 (3710 in chips)
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny (3705 in chips)
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 (655 in chips)
Seat 9: mixeral777 (1155 in chips)
sneakyman7: posts small blind 15
Jubba Ronny: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Kc Qc]
SR8tAcEto5: raises 90 to 120
mixeral777: raises 240 to 360
SHOOKAHOON: folds
bernd1351: folds
lars moritz: folds
bronkietonki: folds
Wendelin82: calls 360
sneakyman7: folds
Jubba Ronny: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 240
*** FLOP *** [5h 7c 9c]
SR8tAcEto5: bets 295 and is all-in
mixeral777: folds
Wendelin82: calls 295
*** TURN *** [5h 7c 9c] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [5h 7c 9c 7s] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Kc Qc] (a pair of Sevens)
Wendelin82: shows [Kh Ac] (a pair of Sevens - Ace kicker)
Wendelin82 collected 1715 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1715 | Rake 0
Board [5h 7c 9c 7s 8s]
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: bernd1351 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: lars moritz folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: bronkietonki folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (button) showed [Kh Ac] and won (1715) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 6: sneakyman7 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Kc Qc] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 9: mixeral777 folded on the Flop
AND I AM OUT DO TO MY BAD PLAY!!!!
As you can see by my rankings on www.officialpokerrankings.com,i am not very good in the larger feild tourneys.
PokerStars Game #9891244878: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:03:34 (ET)
Table '49447868 137' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Tube10 (1530 in chips)
Seat 2: Claimbanger (1500 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: Amateur (1640 in chips)
Seat 4: Inc CdB (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: tumtumy (1170 in chips)
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 (1470 in chips)
Seat 7: marks2k (1480 in chips)
Seat 8: garnett_21tw (1530 in chips)
Seat 9: AA_Anton (1710 in chips)
marks2k: posts small blind 10
garnett_21tw: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [8c 8s]
AA_Anton: folds
Tube10: calls 20
Claimbanger: folds
Amateur: folds
Inc CdB: folds
tumtumy: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 60 to 80
marks2k: folds
garnett_21tw: folds
Tube10: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [2c Th 5c]
Tube10: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 100
Tube10: calls 100
*** TURN *** [2c Th 5c] [Kc]
Tube10: bets 440
SR8tAcEto5: folds
Tube10 collected 390 from pot
Tube10: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 390 | Rake 0
Board [2c Th 5c Kc]
Seat 1: Tube10 collected (390)
Seat 2: Claimbanger folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Amateur folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Inc CdB folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: tumtumy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 7: marks2k (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: garnett_21tw (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: AA_Anton folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Here i pick up 88 and raise the unopened pot 4x the BB. Had there been a limper in front,i would have limped as well.The caller whom i know nothing about calls my flop bet.He then pushes the turn when a 3rd club appears so i fold.
PokerStars Game #9891302830: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/05/13 - 13:07:55 (ET)
Table '49447868 137' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Tube10 (1760 in chips)
Seat 2: Claimbanger (1430 in chips)
Seat 3: Amateur (1580 in chips)
Seat 4: Inc CdB (1450 in chips)
Seat 5: tumtumy (1370 in chips)
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 (1320 in chips)
Seat 7: marks2k (1470 in chips)
Seat 8: garnett_21tw (1480 in chips)
Seat 9: AA_Anton (1640 in chips)
Inc CdB: posts small blind 10
tumtumy: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Kc Ad]
SR8tAcEto5: calls 20
marks2k: folds
garnett_21tw: folds
AA_Anton: calls 20
Tube10: folds
Claimbanger: folds
Amateur: calls 20
Inc CdB: folds
tumtumy: checks
*** FLOP *** [4s Ah 8c]
tumtumy: bets 20
SR8tAcEto5: calls 20
AA_Anton: folds
Amateur: folds
*** TURN *** [4s Ah 8c] [2c]
tumtumy: bets 20
SR8tAcEto5: raises 60 to 80
tumtumy: calls 60
*** RIVER *** [4s Ah 8c 2c] [Kd]
tumtumy: bets 100
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 400
tumtumy: calls 300
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Kc Ad] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
tumtumy: mucks hand
SR8tAcEto5 collected 1090 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1090 | Rake 0
Board [4s Ah 8c 2c Kd]
Seat 1: Tube10 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Claimbanger folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Amateur (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Inc CdB (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: tumtumy (big blind) mucked [4c Qs]
Seat 6: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Kc Ad] and won (1090) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 7: marks2k folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: garnett_21tw folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: AA_Anton folded on the Flop
Here i pick up AKo UTG and i limp not raising;The key here is that it is very early and i don't want to run into AA or KK.I am also out of position and would like to see what the table has to offer.
After only 17min. we are down to 900 players in this cheap free for all. What i am doing now is testing my new system for sng stratergy to a full tournament situation.I am truly hoping for the best as i write this story LOL.The hard work has to pay off sooner or later.
PokerStars Game #9891505550: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/13 - 13:21:44 (ET)
Table '49447868 121' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON (1325 in chips)
Seat 2: bernd1351 (2255 in chips)
Seat 3: lars moritz (1405 in chips)
Seat 4: bronkietonki (705 in chips)
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (3010 in chips)
Seat 6: sneakyman7 (2585 in chips)
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny (4155 in chips)
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 (1495 in chips)
Seat 9: mixeral777 (1155 in chips)
bronkietonki: posts small blind 15
Wendelin82: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [4s 4d]
sneakyman7: raises 60 to 90
Jubba Ronny: calls 90
SR8tAcEto5: calls 90
mixeral777: folds
SHOOKAHOON: calls 90
bernd1351: folds
lars moritz: calls 90
bronkietonki: folds
Wendelin82: folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 7s 6h]
sneakyman7: bets 240
Jubba Ronny: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 240
SHOOKAHOON: folds
lars moritz: folds
*** TURN *** [3c 7s 6h] [Ah]
sneakyman7: bets 510
SR8tAcEto5: calls 510
*** RIVER *** [3c 7s 6h Ah] [9h]
sneakyman7: bets 1200
SR8tAcEto5: folds
sneakyman7 collected 1995 from pot
sneakyman7: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1995 | Rake 0
Board [3c 7s 6h Ah 9h]
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON folded on the Flop
Seat 2: bernd1351 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: lars moritz (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: bronkietonki (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: sneakyman7 collected (1995)
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny folded on the Flop
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 folded on the River
Seat 9: mixeral777 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Well here i let greed get the best of me this was a horrible play!!! Now i am in serious trouble!!!
PokerStars Game #9891550666: Tournament #49447868, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/05/13 - 13:24:48 (ET)
Table '49447868 121' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON (1235 in chips)
Seat 2: bernd1351 (2255 in chips)
Seat 3: lars moritz (1315 in chips)
Seat 4: bronkietonki (690 in chips)
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (3370 in chips)
Seat 6: sneakyman7 (3710 in chips)
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny (3705 in chips)
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 (655 in chips)
Seat 9: mixeral777 (1155 in chips)
sneakyman7: posts small blind 15
Jubba Ronny: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Kc Qc]
SR8tAcEto5: raises 90 to 120
mixeral777: raises 240 to 360
SHOOKAHOON: folds
bernd1351: folds
lars moritz: folds
bronkietonki: folds
Wendelin82: calls 360
sneakyman7: folds
Jubba Ronny: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 240
*** FLOP *** [5h 7c 9c]
SR8tAcEto5: bets 295 and is all-in
mixeral777: folds
Wendelin82: calls 295
*** TURN *** [5h 7c 9c] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [5h 7c 9c 7s] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Kc Qc] (a pair of Sevens)
Wendelin82: shows [Kh Ac] (a pair of Sevens - Ace kicker)
Wendelin82 collected 1715 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1715 | Rake 0
Board [5h 7c 9c 7s 8s]
Seat 1: SHOOKAHOON folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: bernd1351 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: lars moritz folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: bronkietonki folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Wendelin82 (button) showed [Kh Ac] and won (1715) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 6: sneakyman7 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: Jubba Ronny (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Kc Qc] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 9: mixeral777 folded on the Flop
AND I AM OUT DO TO MY BAD PLAY!!!!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
LET'S PLAY AN STT WITH SR8tAcEto5
Once again i will take you though the battle of the single table sng tournament.This time we are at a single 9man SNG. Currenty the blinds are 10/20 and i have 1500 in chips. As usual i am player the Zone System by Dan Harrington ALA Donkey! So far this morning i have cashed all three SNG's i have played. And becuase of varience and my lack to cash them regularly.
I have been working all week on using a timed aggression;And the ability to make moves at these lower limits.As i have done in the past i will post key hands and situations! Right now i have 1650 in chips after winning a few small pots. This is one thing that i have change in my SNG early on. Instead of rasing say 5x the BB i will only raise 3x the BB early on with sneak hands,such as 57s/67s/78s/ect.
This way i can control the size of the pot;Becuase early on i am not looking to play into big pots unless i have a top three hand,AA/KK/QQ ect. The first thing i try to do is spot the fish at the table,and so far i have not been able to do this.Everyone seems solid so far but the donkey will jump out soon enuff.The second thing i look for is the overall table image.
Is the table tight or loose in which this case, the table is just a hair tight. I currently have 1600 in chips and the blinds are 15/30.Full table and green Zone play as i am still assesing the table! Blinds are now 25/50 and i still have an M of 20.
PokerStars Game #9841586218: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/05/10 - 12:31:13 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1870 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1315 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1055 in chips)
Seat 4: Will_to_Drum (705 in chips)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (2745 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (1100 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (3625 in chips)
Seat 9: SaintCharles (1085 in chips)
elephbelge: posts small blind 25
Will_to_Drum: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ac Kd]
keeperjoop: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 150 to 200
Come4Play: folds
SaintCharles: folds
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
Will_to_Drum: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 125 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 125 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ibaf21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Will_to_Drum (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: keeperjoop folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 collected (125)
Seat 8: Come4Play folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: SaintCharles folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Here i pick up AK and raise the unopened pot 4x the BB with my big hand.The hand before i tried to make a move on a hand on the river and lost $200. That was a bad play for me becuase i try to have a hand won by the turn.If i get can't a guy off a hand by the turn 9/10 ill let it go on the river.But playing this way buys me alot of free cards for the river.
Right now we have two short stacks at the table that would would love to play a pot with. My stack is not strong by far as i am in the Orange Zone.I can only play small ball poker and i can no longer draw or play small pair and suited connectors. Come4Play is totally dominating the table with his agressive play. I am only wating on the oppurtunity to bust him.
PokerStars Game #9841767629: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/10 - 12:47:41 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1945 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1690 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1585 in chips)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (2620 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (950 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4710 in chips)
kimmmddd: posts small blind 75
elephbelge: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qd Qh]
keeperjoop: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 800 to 950 and is all-in
Come4Play: calls 950
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 7s 5h]
*** TURN *** [3c 7s 5h] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [3c 7s 5h 3s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Qd Qh] (two pair, Queens and Threes)
Come4Play: shows [Jh Kc] (a pair of Threes)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2125 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2125 | Rake 0
Board [3c 7s 5h 3s Th]
Seat 1: ibaf21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: elephbelge (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: keeperjoop folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Qd Qh] and won (2125) with two pair, Queens and Threes
Seat 8: Come4Play showed [Jh Kc] and lost with a pair of Threes
Here i pick up QQ with All-in M and double up when i find out COME4PLAY IS A DONK!!!
PokerStars Game #9841784503: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/10 - 12:49:10 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1945 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1615 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1360 in chips)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (2695 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (2125 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (3760 in chips)
keeperjoop: posts small blind 75
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qh 9c]
Come4Play: folds
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
keeperjoop: calls 75
SR8tAcEto5: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qs Kh Qd]
keeperjoop: bets 300
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 600
keeperjoop: calls 300
*** TURN *** [Qs Kh Qd] [3h]
keeperjoop: bets 450
SR8tAcEto5: raises 450 to 900
keeperjoop: calls 450
*** RIVER *** [Qs Kh Qd 3h] [6s]
keeperjoop: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 475 and is all-in
keeperjoop: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 3300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3300 | Rake 0
Board [Qs Kh Qd 3h 6s]
Seat 1: ibaf21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) collected (3300)
Seat 8: Come4Play folded before Flop (didn't bet)
This hand made me chip leader for the moment!!!!!
With my M now up the 15 i am allowed to play more aggressive;But i must still make short small decisive moves. I must also be careful of the DOnkey with chips playing behind me.
5 players now remain with myself in 2nd place and COME4PLAY STILL IN 1ST.
PokerStars Game #9841932373: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:02:23 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (2040 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (2215 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (935 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (3800 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4510 in chips)
SR8tAcEto5: posts small blind 100
Come4Play: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [7d 7h]
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 100
Come4Play: checks
*** FLOP *** [5s 3d Jh]
SR8tAcEto5: bets 200
Come4Play: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 400 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 400 | Rake 0
Board [5s 3d Jh]
Seat 1: ibaf21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (small blind) collected (400)
Seat 8: Come4Play (big blind) folded on the Flop
Here i limp looking to call a raise or trap!!!
PokerStars Game #9841948014: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:03:46 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1840 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (2215 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (935 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (4000 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4510 in chips)
ibaf21: posts small blind 100
kimmmddd: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Js As]
elephbelge: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
Come4Play: folds
SR8tAcEto5 said, "to"
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd is disconnected
kimmmddd is connected
kimmmddd: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 500 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 500 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ibaf21 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: kimmmddd (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: elephbelge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 collected (500)
Seat 8: Come4Play (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
BASIC BLIND STEAL WITH A BIG HAND!!!!
PokerStars Game #9841976274: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:06:17 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1665 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1840 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1410 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (3925 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4660 in chips)
ibaf21: posts the ante 25
kimmmddd: posts the ante 25
elephbelge: posts the ante 25
SR8tAcEto5: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts small blind 100
ibaf21: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Jd Kh]
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
SR8tAcEto5 said, "!"
Come4Play: folds
ibaf21: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 625 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 625 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ibaf21 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (button) collected (625)
Seat 8: Come4Play (small blind) folded before Flop
Another Steal using the 1-3 Rule here!!!
PokerStars Game #9842005664: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:08:54 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1265 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1865 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (5285 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (5085 in chips)
ibaf21: posts the ante 25
kimmmddd: posts the ante 25
SR8tAcEto5: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts small blind 100
ibaf21: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Jd Qc]
kimmmddd: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
Come4Play: calls 399
ibaf21: folds
*** FLOP *** [5s 7h 3d]
Come4Play: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 600
Come4Play: calls 600
*** TURN *** [5s 7h 3d] [8s]
Come4Play: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 1000
Come4Play: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2498 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2498 | Rake 0
Board [5s 7h 3d 8s]
Seat 1: ibaf21 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (button) collected (2498)
Seat 8: Come4Play (small blind) folded on the TuRN
i am proud of this play!!!!!
PokerStars Game #9842025412: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:10:38 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1040 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1840 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (6659 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (3961 in chips)
ibaf21: posts the ante 25
kimmmddd: posts the ante 25
SR8tAcEto5: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts the ante 25
ibaf21: posts small blind 100
kimmmddd: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ts Tc]
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
Come4Play: raises 701 to 1200
ibaf21: calls 915 and is all-in
kimmmddd: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 701
*** FLOP *** [5c 4s 9s]
SR8tAcEto5: checks
Come4Play: bets 2736 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: calls 2736
*** TURN *** [5c 4s 9s] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 4s 9s 8s] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Ts Tc] (a pair of Tens)
Come4Play: shows [Kd Ac] (high card Ace)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 5842 from side pot
ibaf21: shows [5d 5s] (three of a kind, Fives)
ibaf21 collected 3345 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9187 Main pot 3345. Side pot 5842. | Rake 0
Board [5c 4s 9s 8s 7c]
Seat 1: ibaf21 (small blind) showed [5d 5s] and won (3345) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 2: kimmmddd (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Ts Tc] and won (5842) with a pair of Tens
Seat 8: Come4Play (button) showed [Kd Ac] and lost with high card Ace
I just finished this tourney in 2nd Place!!! Im not very happy about it but hey that's poker!!!!!!
I have been working all week on using a timed aggression;And the ability to make moves at these lower limits.As i have done in the past i will post key hands and situations! Right now i have 1650 in chips after winning a few small pots. This is one thing that i have change in my SNG early on. Instead of rasing say 5x the BB i will only raise 3x the BB early on with sneak hands,such as 57s/67s/78s/ect.
This way i can control the size of the pot;Becuase early on i am not looking to play into big pots unless i have a top three hand,AA/KK/QQ ect. The first thing i try to do is spot the fish at the table,and so far i have not been able to do this.Everyone seems solid so far but the donkey will jump out soon enuff.The second thing i look for is the overall table image.
Is the table tight or loose in which this case, the table is just a hair tight. I currently have 1600 in chips and the blinds are 15/30.Full table and green Zone play as i am still assesing the table! Blinds are now 25/50 and i still have an M of 20.
PokerStars Game #9841586218: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/05/10 - 12:31:13 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1870 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1315 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1055 in chips)
Seat 4: Will_to_Drum (705 in chips)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (2745 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (1100 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (3625 in chips)
Seat 9: SaintCharles (1085 in chips)
elephbelge: posts small blind 25
Will_to_Drum: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ac Kd]
keeperjoop: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 150 to 200
Come4Play: folds
SaintCharles: folds
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
Will_to_Drum: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 125 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 125 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ibaf21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Will_to_Drum (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: keeperjoop folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 collected (125)
Seat 8: Come4Play folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: SaintCharles folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Here i pick up AK and raise the unopened pot 4x the BB with my big hand.The hand before i tried to make a move on a hand on the river and lost $200. That was a bad play for me becuase i try to have a hand won by the turn.If i get can't a guy off a hand by the turn 9/10 ill let it go on the river.But playing this way buys me alot of free cards for the river.
Right now we have two short stacks at the table that would would love to play a pot with. My stack is not strong by far as i am in the Orange Zone.I can only play small ball poker and i can no longer draw or play small pair and suited connectors. Come4Play is totally dominating the table with his agressive play. I am only wating on the oppurtunity to bust him.
PokerStars Game #9841767629: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/10 - 12:47:41 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1945 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1690 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1585 in chips)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (2620 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (950 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4710 in chips)
kimmmddd: posts small blind 75
elephbelge: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qd Qh]
keeperjoop: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 800 to 950 and is all-in
Come4Play: calls 950
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 7s 5h]
*** TURN *** [3c 7s 5h] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [3c 7s 5h 3s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Qd Qh] (two pair, Queens and Threes)
Come4Play: shows [Jh Kc] (a pair of Threes)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2125 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2125 | Rake 0
Board [3c 7s 5h 3s Th]
Seat 1: ibaf21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: elephbelge (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: keeperjoop folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Qd Qh] and won (2125) with two pair, Queens and Threes
Seat 8: Come4Play showed [Jh Kc] and lost with a pair of Threes
Here i pick up QQ with All-in M and double up when i find out COME4PLAY IS A DONK!!!
PokerStars Game #9841784503: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/05/10 - 12:49:10 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1945 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1615 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1360 in chips)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (2695 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (2125 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (3760 in chips)
keeperjoop: posts small blind 75
SR8tAcEto5: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Qh 9c]
Come4Play: folds
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
keeperjoop: calls 75
SR8tAcEto5: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qs Kh Qd]
keeperjoop: bets 300
SR8tAcEto5: raises 300 to 600
keeperjoop: calls 300
*** TURN *** [Qs Kh Qd] [3h]
keeperjoop: bets 450
SR8tAcEto5: raises 450 to 900
keeperjoop: calls 450
*** RIVER *** [Qs Kh Qd 3h] [6s]
keeperjoop: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 475 and is all-in
keeperjoop: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 3300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3300 | Rake 0
Board [Qs Kh Qd 3h 6s]
Seat 1: ibaf21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: keeperjoop (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (big blind) collected (3300)
Seat 8: Come4Play folded before Flop (didn't bet)
This hand made me chip leader for the moment!!!!!
With my M now up the 15 i am allowed to play more aggressive;But i must still make short small decisive moves. I must also be careful of the DOnkey with chips playing behind me.
5 players now remain with myself in 2nd place and COME4PLAY STILL IN 1ST.
PokerStars Game #9841932373: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:02:23 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (2040 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (2215 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (935 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (3800 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4510 in chips)
SR8tAcEto5: posts small blind 100
Come4Play: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [7d 7h]
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 100
Come4Play: checks
*** FLOP *** [5s 3d Jh]
SR8tAcEto5: bets 200
Come4Play: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 400 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 400 | Rake 0
Board [5s 3d Jh]
Seat 1: ibaf21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (small blind) collected (400)
Seat 8: Come4Play (big blind) folded on the Flop
Here i limp looking to call a raise or trap!!!
PokerStars Game #9841948014: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:03:46 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1840 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (2215 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (935 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (4000 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4510 in chips)
ibaf21: posts small blind 100
kimmmddd: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Js As]
elephbelge: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
Come4Play: folds
SR8tAcEto5 said, "to"
ibaf21: folds
kimmmddd is disconnected
kimmmddd is connected
kimmmddd: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 500 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 500 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ibaf21 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: kimmmddd (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: elephbelge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 collected (500)
Seat 8: Come4Play (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
BASIC BLIND STEAL WITH A BIG HAND!!!!
PokerStars Game #9841976274: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:06:17 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1665 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1840 in chips)
Seat 3: elephbelge (1410 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (3925 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (4660 in chips)
ibaf21: posts the ante 25
kimmmddd: posts the ante 25
elephbelge: posts the ante 25
SR8tAcEto5: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts small blind 100
ibaf21: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Jd Kh]
kimmmddd: folds
elephbelge: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
SR8tAcEto5 said, "!"
Come4Play: folds
ibaf21: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 625 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 625 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ibaf21 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: elephbelge folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (button) collected (625)
Seat 8: Come4Play (small blind) folded before Flop
Another Steal using the 1-3 Rule here!!!
PokerStars Game #9842005664: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:08:54 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1265 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1865 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (5285 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (5085 in chips)
ibaf21: posts the ante 25
kimmmddd: posts the ante 25
SR8tAcEto5: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts small blind 100
ibaf21: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Jd Qc]
kimmmddd: folds
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
Come4Play: calls 399
ibaf21: folds
*** FLOP *** [5s 7h 3d]
Come4Play: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 600
Come4Play: calls 600
*** TURN *** [5s 7h 3d] [8s]
Come4Play: checks
SR8tAcEto5: bets 1000
Come4Play: folds
SR8tAcEto5 collected 2498 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2498 | Rake 0
Board [5s 7h 3d 8s]
Seat 1: ibaf21 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: kimmmddd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (button) collected (2498)
Seat 8: Come4Play (small blind) folded on the TuRN
i am proud of this play!!!!!
PokerStars Game #9842025412: Tournament #49939588, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2007/05/10 - 13:10:38 (ET)
Table '49939588 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: ibaf21 (1040 in chips)
Seat 2: kimmmddd (1840 in chips)
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 (6659 in chips)
Seat 8: Come4Play (3961 in chips)
ibaf21: posts the ante 25
kimmmddd: posts the ante 25
SR8tAcEto5: posts the ante 25
Come4Play: posts the ante 25
ibaf21: posts small blind 100
kimmmddd: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SR8tAcEto5 [Ts Tc]
SR8tAcEto5: raises 299 to 499
Come4Play: raises 701 to 1200
ibaf21: calls 915 and is all-in
kimmmddd: folds
SR8tAcEto5: calls 701
*** FLOP *** [5c 4s 9s]
SR8tAcEto5: checks
Come4Play: bets 2736 and is all-in
SR8tAcEto5: calls 2736
*** TURN *** [5c 4s 9s] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 4s 9s 8s] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SR8tAcEto5: shows [Ts Tc] (a pair of Tens)
Come4Play: shows [Kd Ac] (high card Ace)
SR8tAcEto5 collected 5842 from side pot
ibaf21: shows [5d 5s] (three of a kind, Fives)
ibaf21 collected 3345 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9187 Main pot 3345. Side pot 5842. | Rake 0
Board [5c 4s 9s 8s 7c]
Seat 1: ibaf21 (small blind) showed [5d 5s] and won (3345) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 2: kimmmddd (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: SR8tAcEto5 showed [Ts Tc] and won (5842) with a pair of Tens
Seat 8: Come4Play (button) showed [Kd Ac] and lost with high card Ace
I just finished this tourney in 2nd Place!!! Im not very happy about it but hey that's poker!!!!!!
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