Not much poker action over the weekend. Did have a go at the EPT qualifier for Deauville on Pokerstars but on a flop of K82 I ran into 88 when I was holding AK. No escape for me on that one. Not going to try another qualifier for Deauville as I’ve pretty much made my mind up that I’m going to Vienna in March so will give France a miss. The structure there for the main event looks excellent plus I’ve heard good things from other players. Why is it that the structure of the main event at festivals in the UK is so secretive? I’m sure I’m not the only player who would like this information posted along with the schedule. If you are going to be paying a lot of money to enter the structure should be available on the Poker In Europe website or on the Hendon Mob tournament database.
Away from poker. Good to see Arsenal lose. Always puts a smile on my face :-)
Monday, November 29, 2004
Friday, November 26, 2004
Party muppets
I love Party poker at the moment. I had left $70 after cashing out $2300 a few days ago and thought I’d blow it on the $100 Pot Limit Hi/Lo table. Well the players were just rubbish and I managed to turn $70 into $500 in about 45 minutes before going to bed. I got reraised to $90 to play when I had AA24 by someone with TJQK. Do they not realize this is Hi/Lo Omaha? Think I will use the $500 on some $100 Sit N Go’s to try and turn it into a nice amount to cash out again.
Overall online I have at least managed to turn one of the American sites I play on into profit. Party is now up and Paradise is still a bit down.
May go and play some more live poker Sat night. This time I’ll be sticking to Omaha. I do like playing dealers choice but when the games of choice are generally Stud and Omaha Hi/Lo it’s frustrating because of the amounts of split pots. I sat for 3 hours last weekend and remained even till a slight moment of madness.
Overall online I have at least managed to turn one of the American sites I play on into profit. Party is now up and Paradise is still a bit down.
May go and play some more live poker Sat night. This time I’ll be sticking to Omaha. I do like playing dealers choice but when the games of choice are generally Stud and Omaha Hi/Lo it’s frustrating because of the amounts of split pots. I sat for 3 hours last weekend and remained even till a slight moment of madness.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
A poker article i wrote a while ago
Online Poker Tournament strategy
Below is some tips I wrote a while ago for online poker tournaments and thought I’d add them to my blog.
Pay Attention
This is something we can’t stress enough when playing online poker tournaments. It is easy to get distracted whilst playing poker on the internet but this is just playing in to your opponents hands. Remember poker is about learning the strategy of all your opponents therefore its crucial that you analyse all the hands on the table even the ones you are not involved in. Look at which players are getting involved in a lot of hands and which are the tight players. You don’t want to get caught putting all your chips in the middle against a player who very rarely gets involved in a hand as this player is likely to be holding a premium hand like AA, KK, QQ and AK.
Any edge you can get over your opposition can be the difference between winning and losing a big tournament. So stop talking on the telephone, reading emails and watching TV.
Don’t play too many starting hands
This will always be one of the most fundamental strategies of any successful online player. Yet very few players demonstrate the knowledge and/or patience to play good starting hands.
Playing fewer hands will always give you an advantage over your opponents in the long run. Everyone has seen poker on TV and seen the professionals throwing their chips in the middle, bluffing and going all in with relatively weak hands. What you don’t see however is the hours of hard work and concentration that these players put in to make the final table.
Think about this, if your opponents play 50% of their hands and you only play 25% of yours you will have an advantage in the majority of the hands that you play. When you hit pairs your kicker is likely to be higher, your straight will beat lower straights e.t.c. By playing fewer hands you will continue to put yourself in the best position to win the hand.
Patience, patience, patience
One thing that is clear in big poker tournaments online is that a number of players think that it is crucial to increase their chip stack as soon as possible. What you need to remember is that a big poker tournament is a marathon not a sprint. With hundreds of players in a tournament you are not going to be able to win it in an hour but what you can do is lose it. So if you only play a few hands in the first two hours and you manage to double your chip stack then that is excellent progress. The other players on the table may think you are boring but I guarantee that any player who got overexcited with an average hand and got knocked out early would swap position with you right now.
Make Notes on Players
With so many players in an online tournament you aren’t going to be able to remember how your opponents are playing just by their name so make notes on them. Any small advantage you can gain in a tournament can be the difference between staying in and getting knocked out. Take a look at the following scenario. You have just been moved to a new table where two players whose poker nicknames are TeddyB and Moneyman. You look and see that you made the following notes about these players from playing with them previously.
TeddyB – Extremely careful player. Only ever raises with a high pair.
Moneyman – Likes to gamble and bluffs a lot.
These kind of notes are crucial in a tournament. If TeddyB raises you can assume the player has a strong hand. Whereas if Moneyman raises there is a good chance that it is a bluff.
With hundreds of players in a tournament making notes will give you an edge over your opponents.
Keep learning
Good players are constantly learning. They read books, poker articles, magazines and are always watching other players to help them improve their game. Poker is a game of skill, and its no coincidence that many of the best poker players in the world are degree educated and often have run successful companies. You can search for articles and poker books online which can help you significantly improve your game.
Below are a few recommended books with a brief description of how they may help you.
Doyle Brunson’s Super System – Doyle Brunson
This is known as the bible of poker. Written by 2 time World Series of Poker Champion Doyle Brunson along with tips and advice from many other poker experts it is an excellent read for all poker players.
Killer Poker Online: Crushing the internet Game – John Vorhaus
This book is dedicated to online poker and gives helpful tips and advice on how to improve your internet poker.
The complete book of Hold’em Poker: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing and Winning – Gary Carson
A poker book full of hints and tips which is useful for both beginner and advanced players.
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (Advance Player) – David Sklansky
A book for players who are looking to improve there game even further. Acknowledged as one of the best poker books around and it gives excellent poker tournament advice.
Realise when you are beat
Sometimes you have to let go of a good hand. It’s not easy but some of the best play in poker is realizing when your opponent has a superior hand. Say for example you raise with QQ before the flop and you get three callers and it flop comes down A87. It is highly likely that one of the three callers has an A. Sure you can make a bet but if you get re-raised it’s almost certain your hand is beaten so you just have to chuck it away.
Remember the difficulty of Bluffing online
Players are far more likely to call your bluffs online than in a real card room. It’s much easier to click a button on a computer screen to call a big bet than it is to reach your chips in a card room and put in most of your chips. This means that your bluffs are often likely to be called online so you should be more selective on the hands you try and bluff. Another reason is that a player may be embarrassed to make a bad call in a card room whereas online it is faceless so that player is not scared of looking stupid.
Only play if you are in the right mood
This can not be stressed enough. If you are feeling tired, unhappy or have a headache there is no way you are going to be able to play your best game. To win in the long run at poker you must always play to the top of your abilities. So if your mood isn’t right quite simply wait till another day or take a rest and play later.
Calling bets to hit cards that won’t help you
One of the most common mistakes in poker is assuming that if you hit your cards you will win. Look at this situation. If you hold AQ and there is a flop of 9104 and you decide that the odds justify you calling to hit a Q or an A on the next card which is about 7/1 to improve your hand. The problem with this method of thinking is that your opponent may already have you beat even if you do hit a Q or an A. You are in major trouble if your opponent has any of the following hands TT, 99, 44, T9, A9, AT, KT, A4, TQ, AK, JK. These are all fairly typical hands that your opponent will play with. Although you can justify that you are 7/1 to improve your hand the odds on you actually winning the hand are far worse especially if you are up against a few opponents who are betting.
Have fun
Poker is meant to be fun. Remember this is why you started playing the game. Make sure you play with money that you can afford to gamble. Poker is an extremely exciting game. It feels great when all your opponents fold when you were bluffing. There is also nothing more satisfying than knowing you are playing extremely well and outplaying your opponents. Just play your strongest game and enjoy yourself and you never know what may happen. Only one person can win but plenty of players can make the prize money and enjoy themselves in the process.
Below is some tips I wrote a while ago for online poker tournaments and thought I’d add them to my blog.
Pay Attention
This is something we can’t stress enough when playing online poker tournaments. It is easy to get distracted whilst playing poker on the internet but this is just playing in to your opponents hands. Remember poker is about learning the strategy of all your opponents therefore its crucial that you analyse all the hands on the table even the ones you are not involved in. Look at which players are getting involved in a lot of hands and which are the tight players. You don’t want to get caught putting all your chips in the middle against a player who very rarely gets involved in a hand as this player is likely to be holding a premium hand like AA, KK, QQ and AK.
Any edge you can get over your opposition can be the difference between winning and losing a big tournament. So stop talking on the telephone, reading emails and watching TV.
Don’t play too many starting hands
This will always be one of the most fundamental strategies of any successful online player. Yet very few players demonstrate the knowledge and/or patience to play good starting hands.
Playing fewer hands will always give you an advantage over your opponents in the long run. Everyone has seen poker on TV and seen the professionals throwing their chips in the middle, bluffing and going all in with relatively weak hands. What you don’t see however is the hours of hard work and concentration that these players put in to make the final table.
Think about this, if your opponents play 50% of their hands and you only play 25% of yours you will have an advantage in the majority of the hands that you play. When you hit pairs your kicker is likely to be higher, your straight will beat lower straights e.t.c. By playing fewer hands you will continue to put yourself in the best position to win the hand.
Patience, patience, patience
One thing that is clear in big poker tournaments online is that a number of players think that it is crucial to increase their chip stack as soon as possible. What you need to remember is that a big poker tournament is a marathon not a sprint. With hundreds of players in a tournament you are not going to be able to win it in an hour but what you can do is lose it. So if you only play a few hands in the first two hours and you manage to double your chip stack then that is excellent progress. The other players on the table may think you are boring but I guarantee that any player who got overexcited with an average hand and got knocked out early would swap position with you right now.
Make Notes on Players
With so many players in an online tournament you aren’t going to be able to remember how your opponents are playing just by their name so make notes on them. Any small advantage you can gain in a tournament can be the difference between staying in and getting knocked out. Take a look at the following scenario. You have just been moved to a new table where two players whose poker nicknames are TeddyB and Moneyman. You look and see that you made the following notes about these players from playing with them previously.
TeddyB – Extremely careful player. Only ever raises with a high pair.
Moneyman – Likes to gamble and bluffs a lot.
These kind of notes are crucial in a tournament. If TeddyB raises you can assume the player has a strong hand. Whereas if Moneyman raises there is a good chance that it is a bluff.
With hundreds of players in a tournament making notes will give you an edge over your opponents.
Keep learning
Good players are constantly learning. They read books, poker articles, magazines and are always watching other players to help them improve their game. Poker is a game of skill, and its no coincidence that many of the best poker players in the world are degree educated and often have run successful companies. You can search for articles and poker books online which can help you significantly improve your game.
Below are a few recommended books with a brief description of how they may help you.
Doyle Brunson’s Super System – Doyle Brunson
This is known as the bible of poker. Written by 2 time World Series of Poker Champion Doyle Brunson along with tips and advice from many other poker experts it is an excellent read for all poker players.
Killer Poker Online: Crushing the internet Game – John Vorhaus
This book is dedicated to online poker and gives helpful tips and advice on how to improve your internet poker.
The complete book of Hold’em Poker: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing and Winning – Gary Carson
A poker book full of hints and tips which is useful for both beginner and advanced players.
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (Advance Player) – David Sklansky
A book for players who are looking to improve there game even further. Acknowledged as one of the best poker books around and it gives excellent poker tournament advice.
Realise when you are beat
Sometimes you have to let go of a good hand. It’s not easy but some of the best play in poker is realizing when your opponent has a superior hand. Say for example you raise with QQ before the flop and you get three callers and it flop comes down A87. It is highly likely that one of the three callers has an A. Sure you can make a bet but if you get re-raised it’s almost certain your hand is beaten so you just have to chuck it away.
Remember the difficulty of Bluffing online
Players are far more likely to call your bluffs online than in a real card room. It’s much easier to click a button on a computer screen to call a big bet than it is to reach your chips in a card room and put in most of your chips. This means that your bluffs are often likely to be called online so you should be more selective on the hands you try and bluff. Another reason is that a player may be embarrassed to make a bad call in a card room whereas online it is faceless so that player is not scared of looking stupid.
Only play if you are in the right mood
This can not be stressed enough. If you are feeling tired, unhappy or have a headache there is no way you are going to be able to play your best game. To win in the long run at poker you must always play to the top of your abilities. So if your mood isn’t right quite simply wait till another day or take a rest and play later.
Calling bets to hit cards that won’t help you
One of the most common mistakes in poker is assuming that if you hit your cards you will win. Look at this situation. If you hold AQ and there is a flop of 9104 and you decide that the odds justify you calling to hit a Q or an A on the next card which is about 7/1 to improve your hand. The problem with this method of thinking is that your opponent may already have you beat even if you do hit a Q or an A. You are in major trouble if your opponent has any of the following hands TT, 99, 44, T9, A9, AT, KT, A4, TQ, AK, JK. These are all fairly typical hands that your opponent will play with. Although you can justify that you are 7/1 to improve your hand the odds on you actually winning the hand are far worse especially if you are up against a few opponents who are betting.
Have fun
Poker is meant to be fun. Remember this is why you started playing the game. Make sure you play with money that you can afford to gamble. Poker is an extremely exciting game. It feels great when all your opponents fold when you were bluffing. There is also nothing more satisfying than knowing you are playing extremely well and outplaying your opponents. Just play your strongest game and enjoy yourself and you never know what may happen. Only one person can win but plenty of players can make the prize money and enjoy themselves in the process.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Mansour Matloubi v Stu Ungar
I remember the days when I was in my early teens when Mansour Matloubi used to tell me about his heads up battles against Stu Ungar and I found this interesting story on Phil Hellmuth’s website of all places. I often wander if I would have been playing poker if it wasn’t for Mansour. I did have a naturally tendency to gamble so I think I would have found it in the end. My dad buying me a gambling machine for my 12th birthday to try and get me bored of gambling probably says it all.
Mansour Quits Stuey forever!
Back in 1992 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Champions Mansour Matloubi and Stuey Ungar faced off in a series of $50,000 buy-in heads-up freeze outs. Mansour tells me he was at the top of his game at this point in his poker career, having just won the WSOP in 1990. The game they were playing that day was no-limit Hold'em, and the blinds were $200-$400 when the following hand came up. Stuey opened for $1600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit. After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow (no suits), Stuey bet $6,000--he started the hand with $60,000 to Mansour's $40,000--and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth-street a K came off and both players checked. On the river a Q came off to make a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour, smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last $32,000 or so. Stuey looked "right through" Mansour, and within ten seconds he said, "You have 4-5 or 5-6, I'm gonna call you with this." Stuey then flipped up 10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with merely ten-high! Wow, what an unbelievable call! Stuey can't even beat a jack-high-bluff with his hand, never mind any pair. In fact, Stuey could only beat 4-5, 4-6 or 5-6 in this scenario.
Give Mansour some credit. He did read Stuey right and made a great bluff. But Stuey deserves even more credit! He not only read Mansour right, he then made an amazing call. After Stuey called, Mansour looked up at the ceiling thinking, "I feel so crushed, it's almost like a bulldozer just ran over me. I still love Stuey, but what the heck is going on!" Mansour tells me now, "When a guy makes a call like that against you, you just give up. It's like he's taken all the steam out your sails. I decided that I couldn't play him anymore heads up no-limit Hold'em, at least on that day, if not forever." Indeed, it proved to be the last hand that Mansour ever played with Stuey heads-up.
Another day at that WSOP in 1992, Stuey was playing in a 5-handed $600-$1200 game with Mansour on table 59, while Bobby Baldwin and "Chip" Reese were playing gin at table 60. All of a sudden, Chip turns to Stuey at the other table and says, "How did you like the way I played that hand?" Stuey, who again, was busy playing $600-$1200 at the table next door, says, "I would have knocked four draws ago with five (points)." Chip then says, "Thanks" and rolls his eyes back in his head. Of course, Chip knew that Stuey was right, because Stuey was considered all but unbeatable in gin. In fact, he was so good at gin, that he couldn't even get a game from anyone anywhere for many years. But Chip didn't roll his eyes back in his head because Stuey was right, rather, he rolled his eyes back because he couldn't believe that Stuey was watching his every move while simultaneously playing high-stakes poker!
In the 1980's Stuey was considered the best in the world at gin (in fact he was the best for two decades), the best no-limit Hold'em player ever (by then he had won two World Championships, with one more to come), and one of the best backgammon players in the world as well. To be at the top in any of those games is quite a feat, but to be at or near the top in all three at once, was truly unbelievable. There are many other great stories about Stu Ungar and the amazing abilities that he had; soon there will be a book coming out about Stu; and a movie about Stu is currently being shot as well. I'm looking forward to both.
Mansour Quits Stuey forever!
Back in 1992 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Champions Mansour Matloubi and Stuey Ungar faced off in a series of $50,000 buy-in heads-up freeze outs. Mansour tells me he was at the top of his game at this point in his poker career, having just won the WSOP in 1990. The game they were playing that day was no-limit Hold'em, and the blinds were $200-$400 when the following hand came up. Stuey opened for $1600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit. After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow (no suits), Stuey bet $6,000--he started the hand with $60,000 to Mansour's $40,000--and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth-street a K came off and both players checked. On the river a Q came off to make a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour, smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last $32,000 or so. Stuey looked "right through" Mansour, and within ten seconds he said, "You have 4-5 or 5-6, I'm gonna call you with this." Stuey then flipped up 10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with merely ten-high! Wow, what an unbelievable call! Stuey can't even beat a jack-high-bluff with his hand, never mind any pair. In fact, Stuey could only beat 4-5, 4-6 or 5-6 in this scenario.
Give Mansour some credit. He did read Stuey right and made a great bluff. But Stuey deserves even more credit! He not only read Mansour right, he then made an amazing call. After Stuey called, Mansour looked up at the ceiling thinking, "I feel so crushed, it's almost like a bulldozer just ran over me. I still love Stuey, but what the heck is going on!" Mansour tells me now, "When a guy makes a call like that against you, you just give up. It's like he's taken all the steam out your sails. I decided that I couldn't play him anymore heads up no-limit Hold'em, at least on that day, if not forever." Indeed, it proved to be the last hand that Mansour ever played with Stuey heads-up.
Another day at that WSOP in 1992, Stuey was playing in a 5-handed $600-$1200 game with Mansour on table 59, while Bobby Baldwin and "Chip" Reese were playing gin at table 60. All of a sudden, Chip turns to Stuey at the other table and says, "How did you like the way I played that hand?" Stuey, who again, was busy playing $600-$1200 at the table next door, says, "I would have knocked four draws ago with five (points)." Chip then says, "Thanks" and rolls his eyes back in his head. Of course, Chip knew that Stuey was right, because Stuey was considered all but unbeatable in gin. In fact, he was so good at gin, that he couldn't even get a game from anyone anywhere for many years. But Chip didn't roll his eyes back in his head because Stuey was right, rather, he rolled his eyes back because he couldn't believe that Stuey was watching his every move while simultaneously playing high-stakes poker!
In the 1980's Stuey was considered the best in the world at gin (in fact he was the best for two decades), the best no-limit Hold'em player ever (by then he had won two World Championships, with one more to come), and one of the best backgammon players in the world as well. To be at the top in any of those games is quite a feat, but to be at or near the top in all three at once, was truly unbelievable. There are many other great stories about Stu Ungar and the amazing abilities that he had; soon there will be a book coming out about Stu; and a movie about Stu is currently being shot as well. I'm looking forward to both.
This will be updated onto my poker hot or not soon!
Quick gripe about the gutshot homepage.
The Bully!
Does he really know what he is talking about?
Also watched a few of the Pacific UK Open tournaments and its possibly the worst poker programme i've watched along with Celebrity Poker Club... Yawn!
The Bully!
Does he really know what he is talking about?
Also watched a few of the Pacific UK Open tournaments and its possibly the worst poker programme i've watched along with Celebrity Poker Club... Yawn!
I hate poker sometimes!!
After a pretty bad week both online and live over the weekend I set about attempting to retrieve my losses last night. I had done my usual, “I am not playing poker for a few weeks.” after my losses Sunday night online. Sunday was just one of those horrific online poker nights I would like to forget. I played in the £2.50/ £5 Omaha game on Betfair and lost each and every big pot I was involved in. So I took a fair few £500 losses to say the least. I lost a £2000 pot early on when I got reraised all in by someone with trips on the turn when I had the nut flush. I had 9TAK and got £800 in on a flop of TT9 against some muppet with JJQK and he hit his only out the J to give him a full house. My computer nearly got thrown out of my window on that last hand because it just summed up the whole evening.
It’s amazing how fortune changes so quickly because playing last night my good hands were actually standing up. I started again on the £2.50/£5 Omaha with £320…. I hit a few draws and scooped one major pot that went as following. I had Ac6c8h4h and called a £20 pre flop raise. Its flopped 4c7c2d. I bet the £100 as I have a gutshot, middle pair and the ace flush draw. Loose aggressive player reraises to £400 to play and player on the button goes all in for £600. I have £450 left and there is no way I can pass with the odds that this pot is now laying me. I could have passed the hand head to head but can’t pass three way action with a gutshot and the nut flush draw. Three of us all in. Cards over I see I am up against two sets of 4’s and 7’s. Turn brings an 8 and the river an 8 of clubs that gives a flush but pairs the board. The money moves towards me…. What? I look again at my hand and see a beautiful 8 that has given me an 88844 full house J and a £1750 pot. After that I played tight aggressive because my table was full of calling stations and finished the night with £3000.
Meanwhile over on Party I was playing the $10/$20 Hi/Low Omaha and managed to turn $300 into $2000 after a brilliant run of cards and immediately cashed out after my good fortune.
Its weird how poker messes with my mind. Sunday night when I finally went to bed about 4am I was vowing not to play again for a while and two days later I like poker again.
It’s amazing how fortune changes so quickly because playing last night my good hands were actually standing up. I started again on the £2.50/£5 Omaha with £320…. I hit a few draws and scooped one major pot that went as following. I had Ac6c8h4h and called a £20 pre flop raise. Its flopped 4c7c2d. I bet the £100 as I have a gutshot, middle pair and the ace flush draw. Loose aggressive player reraises to £400 to play and player on the button goes all in for £600. I have £450 left and there is no way I can pass with the odds that this pot is now laying me. I could have passed the hand head to head but can’t pass three way action with a gutshot and the nut flush draw. Three of us all in. Cards over I see I am up against two sets of 4’s and 7’s. Turn brings an 8 and the river an 8 of clubs that gives a flush but pairs the board. The money moves towards me…. What? I look again at my hand and see a beautiful 8 that has given me an 88844 full house J and a £1750 pot. After that I played tight aggressive because my table was full of calling stations and finished the night with £3000.
Meanwhile over on Party I was playing the $10/$20 Hi/Low Omaha and managed to turn $300 into $2000 after a brilliant run of cards and immediately cashed out after my good fortune.
Its weird how poker messes with my mind. Sunday night when I finally went to bed about 4am I was vowing not to play again for a while and two days later I like poker again.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Ridiculous
Playing Betfair No Limit Holdem $2/$5 at the moment. I raise $35 to play with AK and small blind calls. Flop 33A. I raise to $60. Small blind goes all in for $40 more so i call. He turns over 23 off. Absolutely ridiculous.
Just venting my frustration even though i didn't lose too much!!!
Just venting my frustration even though i didn't lose too much!!!
Mixed Weekend
Went to the Vic on Friday and played in the Dealers Choice. Was only there for a few hours but I managed to lose what I sat down with. I was getting inpatient and lumped it in on 5 card Omaha Hi/Low hand with the nut low draw and a high flush draw after being re-raised. Really didn’t see more than one or two good hands all night though. Still I shouldn’t have got involved in the hand that I did.
On Saturday afternoon I thought I would continue with my Sit n Go test and move up to $200. I managed 1st twice and busted out early twice so got $2000 back for a $845 investment. I played in the Omaha game on Betfair at the same time and despite being $1500 up at one point ended up $700 up.
The aspect that I consider is my biggest downfall as a poker player is that I am very inpatient. Its part of my real life personality as well. I want to win and win quick. It sometimes leads to poor decisions. The curse normally strikes the most when I am losing. I seem to think I need to win back my losses ASAP.
One amusing point from the Vic. I few people asked me if I am the Poker Bastard. I was on the table with a few of his biggest victims.
On Saturday afternoon I thought I would continue with my Sit n Go test and move up to $200. I managed 1st twice and busted out early twice so got $2000 back for a $845 investment. I played in the Omaha game on Betfair at the same time and despite being $1500 up at one point ended up $700 up.
The aspect that I consider is my biggest downfall as a poker player is that I am very inpatient. Its part of my real life personality as well. I want to win and win quick. It sometimes leads to poor decisions. The curse normally strikes the most when I am losing. I seem to think I need to win back my losses ASAP.
One amusing point from the Vic. I few people asked me if I am the Poker Bastard. I was on the table with a few of his biggest victims.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Bad night
Had my first really bad night online in a while the other night. A mixture of poor play and bad luck.
Played in the £2.50/£5 Omaha game on Betfair. Lost three big hands of significance costing me £1100. Yuck. Had good pot odds to call in all of them and worked out that the odds of losing all three were about 3-5%. Still I should have known it wasn’t going to be my night when I walked into Quad 9’s when I hit an Aces over full house on the flop.
Heading to the Vic on Friday. It’s the best night to play in the big Omaha game usually as you get a few players over celebrating the weekend if you catch my drift.
I rang Rendevous to find out how I can guarantee a seat in the £500 Freezeout early next month. The useless person who took my call preceded to tell me that I had to come to the casino if I wanted to register. I told her I lived in London and she said, “Why are you coming down to Brighton then.” Tsk…. Some people!
Played in the £2.50/£5 Omaha game on Betfair. Lost three big hands of significance costing me £1100. Yuck. Had good pot odds to call in all of them and worked out that the odds of losing all three were about 3-5%. Still I should have known it wasn’t going to be my night when I walked into Quad 9’s when I hit an Aces over full house on the flop.
Heading to the Vic on Friday. It’s the best night to play in the big Omaha game usually as you get a few players over celebrating the weekend if you catch my drift.
I rang Rendevous to find out how I can guarantee a seat in the £500 Freezeout early next month. The useless person who took my call preceded to tell me that I had to come to the casino if I wanted to register. I told her I lived in London and she said, “Why are you coming down to Brighton then.” Tsk…. Some people!
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Holdem V Omaha and passing the nuts
I must play some live poker this week. I’ve been lazy of late just playing online due to the convenience. I much prefer playing live though because I generally play a lot better. I keep meaning to try the Western Club as there should have a good dealers choice/Omaha game on. The main reason I don’t play Hold em cash is because I believe it can lead to situations that lead you to losing all your money and I just don’t think this happens in Omaha.
There are a number of situations that I think in Holdem you will lose all your money. The most obvious is holding KK in the pocket against someone who has AA. If it flops rags then your hand is almost impossible to get away from. Another situation where I think you inevitably lose all your money is when you have AK and it flops an A or a K and two low cards. If your opponent has made a set then you are likely to lose alot or all your money of money practically drawing dead. If you flop a flush and your opponent flops a higher flush its very hard to get away from and the same for straights.
The reason I like playing Omaha cash is that you don’t ever have to be drawing dead. If you play well you should always have a number of outs. Omaha is a game of drawing too or playing the nuts. If you draw to the nuts straight, nut flush and only commit all your chips when you have top set then you are never drawing dead when you commit your money. You still get to trap a number of players who will call you down without the nuts if you do hit. Also because Omaha is a more attractive game for players who like to gamble it tends to attract a lot more bad players than high stakes Holdem cash. I’ve seen some truly terrible players blow well over £ 5000 playing like maniacs.
Talking about Omaha I was playing the £ 2.50/£ 5 on Betfair and had the following interesting hand. I have £ 750 in front of me before this hand. There are 7 players on and there is a pre flop raise of £ 25 and I call on the big blind. 6 players call. I have 9sJsKdAd. It flopped 7c8h10c to give me the nut straight. I lead out a raise of £ 80. Player to my left calls and the player behind him reraises £400 more to play. The player on the button goes all in for £900. So I am sitting with £640 with the nuts and after deliberating I pass. I think this is the right play for the following reasons. Firstly, I am pretty sure at least one of the big raisers already has the nut straight and perhaps even both of them. However, as there is a flush draw and I can’t improve on my straight this is a very dangerous hand to commit all my money. Say for example that raiser A has 9JQ# then he already has the nuts and 7 cards to kills me as he will improve upon my straight. I can assume that either player A or B is drawing to a flush or has a chance of making a full house. As it happened player A had had the Ace Flush draw and two pair and player B had the nut straight and the Q to give him straight improvements. So on the flop if I had gone all in the size of the pot I would have been involved in would have had £ 2405. Player A had a 45% of winning the entire pot. Player B had a 4% chance of winning and I would have had a 0.5% chance of winning all the money. There was about a 50% chance of a split pot between me and player B. These odds just aren’t favorable enough for me to commit all my money. I have passed the nuts before in similar situations when I can’t improve my hand and at least two people have gone crazy on the flop.
What happened? Well a river heart came which gave player A all the money.
There are a number of situations that I think in Holdem you will lose all your money. The most obvious is holding KK in the pocket against someone who has AA. If it flops rags then your hand is almost impossible to get away from. Another situation where I think you inevitably lose all your money is when you have AK and it flops an A or a K and two low cards. If your opponent has made a set then you are likely to lose alot or all your money of money practically drawing dead. If you flop a flush and your opponent flops a higher flush its very hard to get away from and the same for straights.
The reason I like playing Omaha cash is that you don’t ever have to be drawing dead. If you play well you should always have a number of outs. Omaha is a game of drawing too or playing the nuts. If you draw to the nuts straight, nut flush and only commit all your chips when you have top set then you are never drawing dead when you commit your money. You still get to trap a number of players who will call you down without the nuts if you do hit. Also because Omaha is a more attractive game for players who like to gamble it tends to attract a lot more bad players than high stakes Holdem cash. I’ve seen some truly terrible players blow well over £ 5000 playing like maniacs.
Talking about Omaha I was playing the £ 2.50/£ 5 on Betfair and had the following interesting hand. I have £ 750 in front of me before this hand. There are 7 players on and there is a pre flop raise of £ 25 and I call on the big blind. 6 players call. I have 9sJsKdAd. It flopped 7c8h10c to give me the nut straight. I lead out a raise of £ 80. Player to my left calls and the player behind him reraises £400 more to play. The player on the button goes all in for £900. So I am sitting with £640 with the nuts and after deliberating I pass. I think this is the right play for the following reasons. Firstly, I am pretty sure at least one of the big raisers already has the nut straight and perhaps even both of them. However, as there is a flush draw and I can’t improve on my straight this is a very dangerous hand to commit all my money. Say for example that raiser A has 9JQ# then he already has the nuts and 7 cards to kills me as he will improve upon my straight. I can assume that either player A or B is drawing to a flush or has a chance of making a full house. As it happened player A had had the Ace Flush draw and two pair and player B had the nut straight and the Q to give him straight improvements. So on the flop if I had gone all in the size of the pot I would have been involved in would have had £ 2405. Player A had a 45% of winning the entire pot. Player B had a 4% chance of winning and I would have had a 0.5% chance of winning all the money. There was about a 50% chance of a split pot between me and player B. These odds just aren’t favorable enough for me to commit all my money. I have passed the nuts before in similar situations when I can’t improve my hand and at least two people have gone crazy on the flop.
What happened? Well a river heart came which gave player A all the money.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Drunk poker and random thoughts
Hmmm I played drunk last night on Betfair despite trying to promise myself I wouldn’t. I don’t just mean drunk I mean steaming. Played in the $2/$5 NL Cash Game and somehow managed to go from about $700 to $5000 but then preceded to blow most of it back by playing like an idiot. I remember calling $400 on the river at one point with a straight draw. I would NEVER do that if I was thinking straight. There were no conceivable pot odds and no implied odds either as the player moved all in. Ended up with a profit of $700 which considering I was playing like a lunatic is some result.
I’ve been thinking about different online poker rooms and why I seem to do much better in some than others. I’ve stopped playing Paradise because I seem to always lose at the Omaha game on there. The same thing seems to happen I sit down with $400 in the Pot Limit Omaha and nearly always end up on $1000 or more before blowing the lot. They also don’t cashout to my current account so I will be avoiding them from now on. They are a bogey site. I have the same thing with certain players at the Vic. There are a couple of players that despite holding monsters against them always outdraw me in massive pots. Sunny Nijram is one of those. He is an excellent Omaha player and also happens to be one of the very few that I can definitively say is in profit against me. He has also had a good week in the Masters Classics in Amsterdam. Oh and good luck to Keith “the camel” Hawkins who has made the final table to be played this afternoon. I sat on his table in the EPT event in London though I don’t really remember him too much. The guy who wrote the article that has appeared in Timeout this week was also on my table. One hand involving him annoyed me. He made a small raise preflop and I called. I had A9 suited. Flop 499. I check hoping to induce a bet. He checks. Next card A to give me a house. I bet about the pot. He passes AK. He was scared of the 9. I think everyone else at the table would have called me to at least see what move I made on the river.
Need to get back in Live tournament action so am going to enter the main freezeout events in both Brighton on the 4th December and Luton on the 11th December. If anyone knows whether I will need to buy in to these to guarantee seats beforehand the info would be appreciated. The EPT events are in my sight in Deauville and Vienna. I am sure to talk more about them as they approach.
I’ve been thinking about different online poker rooms and why I seem to do much better in some than others. I’ve stopped playing Paradise because I seem to always lose at the Omaha game on there. The same thing seems to happen I sit down with $400 in the Pot Limit Omaha and nearly always end up on $1000 or more before blowing the lot. They also don’t cashout to my current account so I will be avoiding them from now on. They are a bogey site. I have the same thing with certain players at the Vic. There are a couple of players that despite holding monsters against them always outdraw me in massive pots. Sunny Nijram is one of those. He is an excellent Omaha player and also happens to be one of the very few that I can definitively say is in profit against me. He has also had a good week in the Masters Classics in Amsterdam. Oh and good luck to Keith “the camel” Hawkins who has made the final table to be played this afternoon. I sat on his table in the EPT event in London though I don’t really remember him too much. The guy who wrote the article that has appeared in Timeout this week was also on my table. One hand involving him annoyed me. He made a small raise preflop and I called. I had A9 suited. Flop 499. I check hoping to induce a bet. He checks. Next card A to give me a house. I bet about the pot. He passes AK. He was scared of the 9. I think everyone else at the table would have called me to at least see what move I made on the river.
Need to get back in Live tournament action so am going to enter the main freezeout events in both Brighton on the 4th December and Luton on the 11th December. If anyone knows whether I will need to buy in to these to guarantee seats beforehand the info would be appreciated. The EPT events are in my sight in Deauville and Vienna. I am sure to talk more about them as they approach.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Poker Hot or Not
My hot or not list on poker at the moment
HOT
$2.50/$5 Omaha game on Betfair
$100 Sit n go's on Partypoker
I'm starting to actually play online poker only when sober
Hendon Mob's Poker Diary
Poker Bastards Blog - http://www.pokerbastard.blogspot.com/
Reading other people's blogs in work
My Victor Chandler profit for the year which i was shocked by
NOT
Players who play KJ and keep beating me
Getting so close and yet so far in qualifiers for the Aussie Millions and Caribbean
Paradise Poker
Whingers on the Hendon Mob Forum
Missing the Masters Classics in Amsterdam due to work commitments
Lack of live tournament action for me since the European Poker Classics
Young internet players who think that a few months or a year of good results mean they are good enough to turn pro
A few really bad/average players achieving good results in the EPT events
HOT
$2.50/$5 Omaha game on Betfair
$100 Sit n go's on Partypoker
I'm starting to actually play online poker only when sober
Hendon Mob's Poker Diary
Poker Bastards Blog - http://www.pokerbastard.blogspot.com/
Reading other people's blogs in work
My Victor Chandler profit for the year which i was shocked by
NOT
Players who play KJ and keep beating me
Getting so close and yet so far in qualifiers for the Aussie Millions and Caribbean
Paradise Poker
Whingers on the Hendon Mob Forum
Missing the Masters Classics in Amsterdam due to work commitments
Lack of live tournament action for me since the European Poker Classics
Young internet players who think that a few months or a year of good results mean they are good enough to turn pro
A few really bad/average players achieving good results in the EPT events
$100 Sit N Go test
I decided to give these a go due to the fact that all I hear is that how easy it is to consistently win money at them. I have played them before occasionally but never enough to see a pattern to my results develop. So I decided to play 10 $100 Sit n Go’s on Partypoker last weekend. I finished 1st 3 times and 2nd 3 times and 3rd once. I also never finished lower than 6th. So for an investment of $1090 I finished with $2500. A profit of $1410 was good for the four hours it took me usually playing two sometimes three tables at a time. I know I have to play hundreds of these before I can develop a real pattern of results but they are a guaranteed way to make money in my opinion. I just don’t really have the time to play them enough and they bore me.
My thoughts on how to play these. When there are 7 or more players on the table only reraise pre flop with AA, KK, QQ and AK. Call a raise with 88, 99, TT, JJ, QK suited and AQ. You can call the ante if you are in position with good suited connectors e.t.c. but don’t jeopordise your stack unless you have a BIG hand. Just hitting top pair on the flop if you have a rubbish kicker is NOT that time. Flush draws are not worth calling if someone moves all in if you have a reasonable amount of chips. You don’t need to get involved in coin flips just wait for a better situation to arise. Under betting the pot when you have a monster will often lead to an opponent thinking you are weak and trying steal the pot. The amount of players that make poor plays in these games is ridiculous. If you play extremely tight during the first few levels it is inevitable that 3 or 4 players will be knocked out. The hand that they get attached to most is an Ace with a small kicker. This to the average player in Sit n Go’s is worth all there chips if an A comes on the flop. Don't slow play big pairs before the flop. You don’t want to get a lot of callers if you have a high pair.
Obviously the tactics change when you get down to less players. You have a far better chance of doing well in these in the long run if you avoid the action unless you have a monster until at least 3 players have been knocked out.
Enough random babbling anyway…………..
My thoughts on how to play these. When there are 7 or more players on the table only reraise pre flop with AA, KK, QQ and AK. Call a raise with 88, 99, TT, JJ, QK suited and AQ. You can call the ante if you are in position with good suited connectors e.t.c. but don’t jeopordise your stack unless you have a BIG hand. Just hitting top pair on the flop if you have a rubbish kicker is NOT that time. Flush draws are not worth calling if someone moves all in if you have a reasonable amount of chips. You don’t need to get involved in coin flips just wait for a better situation to arise. Under betting the pot when you have a monster will often lead to an opponent thinking you are weak and trying steal the pot. The amount of players that make poor plays in these games is ridiculous. If you play extremely tight during the first few levels it is inevitable that 3 or 4 players will be knocked out. The hand that they get attached to most is an Ace with a small kicker. This to the average player in Sit n Go’s is worth all there chips if an A comes on the flop. Don't slow play big pairs before the flop. You don’t want to get a lot of callers if you have a high pair.
Obviously the tactics change when you get down to less players. You have a far better chance of doing well in these in the long run if you avoid the action unless you have a monster until at least 3 players have been knocked out.
Enough random babbling anyway…………..
Monday, November 08, 2004
Damn KJ
I keep losing at crucial stages in tournaments to this hand. Firstly I lost to it when down to the last 5 during the European Poker Classics in London then again last night when someone reraised me with this hand preflop when down to three players battling for a seat at the Aussie Millions and hit two pair. I ask why oh why does any poker player think this is a good hand? In the poker Classics someone called the equivalent all my chips with KJ. Of course I had an A… I would hardly raise all in without one at such an important stage in a tournament unless I had a pair. A hand like KJ at very best is going to be a coin flip. I have decided this is my new unlucky hand to come up against. Any player who believes KJ is a good hand needs to give up the game NOW.
Game Selection
I posted these figures here last week about my average rating since I started keeping these records since June and here is a bit more in depth analysis about them.
Online cash – 4.65/10
Live Tournaments 6.4/10
Live Cash – 7.1/10
According to my Hendon Mob poker diary where I added my stats for these separately I get the following interesting results
Online– Overall Win rate (per hour) +£9.50
Live Tournaments – Overall loss (per hour) -£17.55
Live Cash – Overall Win rate (per hour) + £131.55
Online - I am reasonably happy with £9.50 an hour due to a lot of times when I have played badly. I have been improving on that aspect of late. My last three online performances have all scored 7 or higher and hopefully this will continue. I have to learn to control my temper after bad beats… it’s too easy to go on the chase online.
Live tournaments – I am not surprised by averaging a loss of £17.55 an hour. I am sticking to only big tournaments from now on. I have played in the EPT £3000 and 7 other festival events in London (The Vic and Gutshot) Whilst I have had two finishes in the money and two on the bubble this will continue to show a loss until I manage a top 3 finish. Still I wasn’t sure whether to factor in my lovely 40% I invested in Tooz who won the Summer Breeze in Brighton.
Live Cash – Clearly I am very happy with my cash game results since my records started. Apart from two losses of £1800 and £2400 at the Vic I have had 12 out of 14 winning sessions. Hopefully I can maintain this kind of level but am sure to encounter a bad run at some point to level out the amount of profit I make in live cash.
The one shocking aspect of my analysis is that I have gambled over £20000 online to achieve a win rate of £9.50 an hour. This is way too high. There are far too many £500+ losses for my liking.
Online cash – 4.65/10
Live Tournaments 6.4/10
Live Cash – 7.1/10
According to my Hendon Mob poker diary where I added my stats for these separately I get the following interesting results
Online– Overall Win rate (per hour) +£9.50
Live Tournaments – Overall loss (per hour) -£17.55
Live Cash – Overall Win rate (per hour) + £131.55
Online - I am reasonably happy with £9.50 an hour due to a lot of times when I have played badly. I have been improving on that aspect of late. My last three online performances have all scored 7 or higher and hopefully this will continue. I have to learn to control my temper after bad beats… it’s too easy to go on the chase online.
Live tournaments – I am not surprised by averaging a loss of £17.55 an hour. I am sticking to only big tournaments from now on. I have played in the EPT £3000 and 7 other festival events in London (The Vic and Gutshot) Whilst I have had two finishes in the money and two on the bubble this will continue to show a loss until I manage a top 3 finish. Still I wasn’t sure whether to factor in my lovely 40% I invested in Tooz who won the Summer Breeze in Brighton.
Live Cash – Clearly I am very happy with my cash game results since my records started. Apart from two losses of £1800 and £2400 at the Vic I have had 12 out of 14 winning sessions. Hopefully I can maintain this kind of level but am sure to encounter a bad run at some point to level out the amount of profit I make in live cash.
The one shocking aspect of my analysis is that I have gambled over £20000 online to achieve a win rate of £9.50 an hour. This is way too high. There are far too many £500+ losses for my liking.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Back to Betfair
Despite promising to stick to Omaha online I just couldn’t resist a stab at the $5/10 No Limit hold em game on Betfair. The players are so weak it’s untrue at least in my experience.
I just have to rant about this bad beat. I sat down with $400 and called a small raise on the big blind with A9. Flop comes 998. Guy under the gun raises $90 to play. I move all in immediately and he calls another $280 without hesitation. What does he show? An overpair? a 9? No 8Q …. What the hell. Anyway the turn is a T and the river a J to give a miracle straight. How can anyone justify that call is beyond me. I requested a hand history but Betfair crashed. Tsk
I pulled out another $500. The players on my table were possibly the worst I have encountered on Betfair which is saying something. At one point I raised under the gun to $40 with AA and got re-raised $200 to play. I move all in for another $380… and my opponent flips over TK unsuited. He basically put £350 in pre flop with TK. I hit a run of cards and got paid of each and every time and mostly with opponents with marginal hands. With 4 clubs on the board and me having the nuts someone called a $300 bet from me on the river with a 7 flush. Over betting the pot was working a treat….
I ended up with $2700 after playing for about 45 minutes from an investment of $900. Maybe I will start playing No Limit cash games on Betfair again.
One thing I have noticed recently is that the players that play the $5/$10 and the £5/£10 are worse than the players on the 1/2 and 2/5 games. Is it a case of more money less sense?
Of the 5 players on my table last night I made negative player notes about 4 of them and positive player notes about 1.
I just have to rant about this bad beat. I sat down with $400 and called a small raise on the big blind with A9. Flop comes 998. Guy under the gun raises $90 to play. I move all in immediately and he calls another $280 without hesitation. What does he show? An overpair? a 9? No 8Q …. What the hell. Anyway the turn is a T and the river a J to give a miracle straight. How can anyone justify that call is beyond me. I requested a hand history but Betfair crashed. Tsk
I pulled out another $500. The players on my table were possibly the worst I have encountered on Betfair which is saying something. At one point I raised under the gun to $40 with AA and got re-raised $200 to play. I move all in for another $380… and my opponent flips over TK unsuited. He basically put £350 in pre flop with TK. I hit a run of cards and got paid of each and every time and mostly with opponents with marginal hands. With 4 clubs on the board and me having the nuts someone called a $300 bet from me on the river with a 7 flush. Over betting the pot was working a treat….
I ended up with $2700 after playing for about 45 minutes from an investment of $900. Maybe I will start playing No Limit cash games on Betfair again.
One thing I have noticed recently is that the players that play the $5/$10 and the £5/£10 are worse than the players on the 1/2 and 2/5 games. Is it a case of more money less sense?
Of the 5 players on my table last night I made negative player notes about 4 of them and positive player notes about 1.
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