I haven't written anything in a while because most of my time has been spent working at my day job or on other writing assignments. It also doesn't help that I went on a pretty bad losing streak since Turning Stone. I actually stopped playing cash games for a while and started focusing on the 20$ PokerStars 180 man sit and go tournaments. I played 30 of those and managed to take down a 1st, a 2nd, and a 3rd place victory. They are fun tournaments, but they require a reasonable time investment and it's very easy to get bad beat out of them. I found that making a few key adjustments to my game, really helped me do consistently well. I've heard from a lot of people that play these regularly that the secret is to play really aggressive poker. So for the first few I followed that advice and then it dawned on me that I am by nature a total maniac. So, maybe the key for me would be to actually tighten up. Well, let me tell you, that did the trick. I just let people pay me off and cut down on the amount of "glorious moves" I made. I also changed the way I play medium pairs. Generally in a cash game I like to set mine with them. But in a tournament, unless the stacks are very deep, I have found that set mining is not the optimal strategy. So I either open raise or open fold depending on my table, position, chips, etc... and I generally fold them to a raise (again depending on position, opponent, table, chips, etc...).

I ended up cashing out some of the Stars money (about 500$) and then of course I went on the inevitable bankroll mismanagement roller coaster that I always go on and lost a chunk of it in NL Holdem cash games and Pot Limit 2-7 triple draw cash games. 2-7 triple draw is the devil by the way. I believe there is a lot of money to be made on Stars in that game because the players are generally awful, but I had a terrible run and just didn't have the bankroll to handle it.

Meanwhile, my buddy Marc Karam (aka "Myst") won a million Euros for taking second place in Monte Carlo. A big kudos to him for that one! There's a party in his honour this coming Wednesday and it should be a great time. If you're in Ottawa you should check it out. Details are on JackSeven.ca and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2263578694.

I wrote a piece about Marc's win for the Eurolinx website (his sponsor) and they paid me through my Eurolinx account (thanks Jo!). I also took 3rd place in a J7 tourney on Eurolinx and had some money in my account from funds exchanges with other players (usually Stars money for Eurolinx money). So I started playing 1/2 NL Holdem and I have simply been crushing the game, winning 2-3 buyins per session. I forgot how truly awful the Eurodonx are and I it just doesn't make sense to play online NL Holdem cash games anywhere else. Not sure why even bother playing Holdem on Stars. There is no comparison. Anyway, I guess I've rambled on enough. I'll leave you with a screenshot from a recent session on Eurolinx to illustrate my point.

Labels: Cash Games, Eurolinx, Marc "Myst" Karam, Online Poker, Poker Stars, Tournaments

I played a 50+5 90 man SnG on Stars tonight and here is the hand I went out on in 31st place.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t100/t200
(Ante: t25)
7 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t1590
UTG+1: t12250
MP1: t3525
CO: t12848
Button: t6710
SB: t3035
Bill Sparks: t2545

Pre-flop: (7 players) Bill Sparks is BB with
4 folds, Button raises to t600, SB folds, Bill Sparks raises all-in t2520, Button calls t1920 (pot was t3395).

Flop: (t5315, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t5315)

Turn: (t5315, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t5315)

River: (t5315, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t5315)

Results:
Final pot: t5315
Bill Sparks showed
Button showed

I couldn't believe I got called in that spot with A4 suited. I was thrilled that my read was bang on and that I was a favourite to double through and get back in the race to take this puppy down. When the ace hit the flop and I didn't improve, I was so mad I wanted to throw my monitor out the window. My first reaction was to blame the donkey for calling me with ace rag, then I realized I like the call. If people only called my pushes with premium hands, I'd have a hard time doubling up in a tournament when I need to. Then I got mad at the cards for coming out the way they did and causing me to lose. Then I took a moment to appreciate how we are always willing to blame everything and everyone but ourseleves when we fail. Blaming my opponent or the cards really isn't going to help me improve my game and if that's the goal then I need to do some objective analysis, so here goes:

In general I don't like to be all-in preflop with pocket Jacks. Often times that leads to a race situation and I belive anytime your tournament life hinges on a 50/50 proposition you remove the edge that superior skill should provide you in this game. Having said that, given the circumstances, I believe pushing here was the correct play. My "M" was just over 8 so I really had no choice. In other words, I feel that this last play was correct. So, I need to look beyond this play in order find where I might have gone wrong.

Greg Raymer said that a poker tournament is a great example of "The Butterfly Effect" which is a concept that is part of a branch of physics known as Chaos Theory (which actually originated in meteorology for those of you who care). If you're not familiar with the butterfly effect here is how Wikipedia describes it:

... a phrase that encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory. Small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system...

The phrase refers to the idea that [the flap of] a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or, for that matter, prevent a tornado from appearing).

So, where is "the flap" that caused my eventual demise. I searched through my memory and the hand history and I believe this is it:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t75/t150
8 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t3815
UTG+1: t1375
MP1: t4480
MP2: t2675
CO: t2280
Button: t2860
SB: t5315
Bill Sparks: t5200

Pre-flop: (8 players) Bill Sparks is BB with
4 folds, CO raises to t450, 2 folds, Bill Sparks raises all-in t5200, CO calls all-in t1830.
Uncalled bets: t2920 returned to Bill Sparks.

Flop: (t2430, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t4635)


Turn: (t2430, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t4635)


River: (t2430, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t4635)


Results:
Final pot: t4635
CO showed
Bill Sparks showed

At the time when this hand occurred I had a decent amount of chips and there was really no need for me to push. I should have called and then folded when I missed my set on the flop. That would have left me with t4750 which is still a reasonable stack that allows me to play some poker. Instead, I was left with under 3k in chips which lead to my eventual push with JJ.

So, my conclusion is that just because the cards don't go your way on the last hand of a tourney, you may still be responsible for the loss. Learn from your mistakes instead of blaming them on others.

Labels: Hand Histories, Poker Stars, Poker Strategy, Tournaments

Well, as usual, I played in my live Wednesday night 60$ NL Holdem freezeout tourney. Coming fresh off a 2nd place cash at the 100$, I was feeling pretty good. My first table draw was not spectacular (it never is at these events since at least 1/3 of the field consists of solid players, you're likely to run into a few at any table). I had the 100$ event winner at my table along with a few other players whose game I respect and some new faces.

I was plodding along quite nicely early on, made some money on pocket Kings and a few other good hands. I then decided to loosen up a bit early and I got myself in a few sticky situations with marginal hands forcing me to fold and give up some of my winnings from early on.

With about 1700 chips (down from the starting amount of 2000) and after losing a recent pot on a bluff (I folded, so nobody saw it was a bluff), the following hand came up:

Blinds 20/40.
UTG+1 Raises 100 to 140.
4 players call.
I am the BB and look down at QQ.

At this point, I had been watching the action make its way to me and surmised that it would be a good opportunity to make a "move" and pick up some dead money. The only player I had to worry about was the initial raiser. He was a new face, but had already accumulated a big stack and only shown down good cards. When I saw the pocket queens. I thought, "perfect" and pushed my stack into the middle. I really did not take the appropriate amount of time to reflect upon the situation. For whatever reason I did not realize that I actually had 1700 chips, I thought I was much shorter than that, and I made my all-in figuring that any other legitimate raise would commit me to the pot. When the dealer counted out my chips and announced the amount, I knew right away I had made a mistake. No matter what the ourcome of this play was, I had aloud myself to get way ahead of my hand and risk my entire tournament life unnecessarily.

The correct line (IMO) was to raise to ~600 and fold to a re-raise by the original raiser, or move all-in against any other player if they re-raise. Of course, by going all-in I leave myself no room and the only hands that call me are AA,KK, or AK. Of course, the original raiser went all-in over top with his pocket Aces and that was the end of my tourney. Luckily I had a 10% stake in the eventual winner and I managed to make some profit in the cash game.

I guess the moral of the story is the same old tired cliché, "think before you act!".

Labels: Live Poker, Tournaments

I guess I've been watching too many episodes of High Stakes Poker on GSN. I got on to a cash table at pokerstars today and possesed by the spirit of Sammy Farha I started playing a very LAG style and then somehow found the balls to pull off this insane move. Don't try this at home folks, at these stakes and against these players it is usually equivalent to poker suicide.


Click here to view a larger version

The preflop call with J3 under the gun is just silly. The re-raise to 30$ out of position is perhaps understandable but still highly ill advised. The 80$ bet on the flop is pure insanity (especially with the SB only having 30$ behind).

Pulling this kind of thing off is quite the rush but this will have to suffice as my one psychotic move for the month. No more of these for a while.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
Bill Sparks: $261.05
UTG+1: $152.60
CO: $414
Button: $242.25
SB: $59.45
BB: $118

Pre-flop: (6 players) Bill Sparks is UTG with J♥ 3♥
Bill Sparks calls, UTG+1 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, BB raises to $8, Bill Sparks raises to $30, 3 folds, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: Q♣ 4♦ 2♠ ($96, 3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Bill Sparks bets $80, 2 folds.
Uncalled bets: $80 returned to Bill Sparks.

Results:
Final pot: $96

Labels: Hand Histories, Live Poker, Tournaments