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Daaaaammmmmmnnnnnn......

post from Big Slick Nuts! on 18 April 2006 09:02:00 PM. © Big Slick Nuts!

I'll watch over you, Katherine.

I'm a plane ticket, pair of binoculars, and an uncomfortable approach away from being a stalker.

{sigh}

Read The Full Article:
http://bigslicknuts.blogspot.com/2006/04/daaaaammmmmmnnnnnn.html

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Calling All Cards

post from High on Poker on 18 April 2006 04:19:00 PM. © High on Poker

First off, a quick update/change to the DADI 5: WSOP Satellite event.

The person who knocks out Wil Wheaton will get to name a future WWdn event (as opposed to the winner of the entire DADI event, because, frankly, that lucky bastard will be getting enough).

In addition, I have offered a bounty on myself. If you take out the man known as HighOnPokr, you win yourself two decks of plastic, high-quality Copag playing cards. So, come and get um!

I expect more bounties to follow...

Also, I am trying to gather some bloggers for a homegame this Friday at casa del High. If you are in the NYC area and would be interested, please send me an email (highonpokr@yahoo.com). I'll tell you right now that it is not open to anyone, basically because it's my home we are talking about here, and I don't need you degenerates filling up the place. But I put it out there as a general invitation to my friends who read this, and to bloggers in the NYC area who I may or may not know. At least if you have a blog, I can take a perusal and see what I'm dealing with. The plan is probably a tournament ($40-60) and then some NL or Limit poker. Depending on the crowd we can even have mixed games.

Read The Full Article:
http://highonpoker.blogspot.com/2006/04/calling-all-cards.html

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Don't Show Up At A Gunfight With A Twig

post from Counting My Outs on 18 April 2006 02:42:00 PM. © Counting My Outs

© COPYRIGHT 2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

You know the old saying, "Never show up at a gunfight with a knife"?

Well, try showing up at a gunfight with a twig. That's exactly what happened to me today at the Poker Syndicate $2/4 LHE tables.

After 296 hands I ended up with a healthy loss of $128. And it wasn't the "getting run down down by the school of fish" problem that will happen on occasion at Poker Syndicate. This was not having the weapons to fight against the loosest pool of fish online. I went completely card dead. In those 296 hands I was dealt pocket pairs over Tens only twice. Pocket AA netted me a $3 pot when everyone folded preflop (which is basically unheard of at Syndicate) and Pocket JJ died on a monotone A-K-7 flop.

Now after about 2,600 hands at Poker Syndicate, I have slipped into the negative territory with this debacle. It's not many hands, so I'm not concerned. It is frustrating on occasion, though. I have never seen such a group of weak players in my life, but I just have been running bad there so far. At least I'm earning a bit of equity in the site while waiting for a good run of cards.

Fortunately I was able to mitigate the damage incurred at Poker Syndicate with two good $2/4 LHE sessions at Stars (118 hands, $80 profit) and Paradise (78 hands, $55 profit) since my last post.

It somewhat amazes me that of all of the sites that I have played $2/4 LHE, my best two sites are Stars and Paradise (each around 3.0 BB/100) and my worst two sites are Party and Syndicate (each under 1.5 BB/100). My two best sites were always considered two of tightest and my worst two are supposedly the loosest.

I guess it speaks to more variance at looser sites and I really haven't played as much at Party and Syndicate (each less than 4,000 hands) as I have at Paradise (>20,000 hands) and Stars (>10,000 hands). It's either that or I am just an easy target for being gummed to death by toothless sharks. (LOL)

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Read The Full Article:
http://countingmyouts.blogspot.com/2006/04/dont-show-up-at-gunfight-with-twig.htm
l

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Hating/Loving TPTK

post from Sound of a Suckout on 18 April 2006 11:42:00 AM. © Sound of a Suckout

For whatever reason I've fallen into playing baby NL games of late, usually $100 NL. It's been interesting, especially coming from a background as strictly a LHE monkey for quite awhile.

Poker is obviously poker, so I can't claim any grand epiphanies, but it is interesting experiencing some of the things you've seen bandied about by others, as far as the major differences between the games, and common advice given to limit players who are taking up NL. I repeat, none of this is rocket science, and old, old news to you NL superstars out there. This is more a reminder to myself, than anything.

1) Don't go broke with TPTK : You learn to push TPTK pretty hard in limit, and rightfully so. For every one time it goes down in flames and you lose a big pot, you'll win two pots.

NL, though, is a different story. Consistently shoving your stack in with TPTK will more than likely result in you going broke, over time. Most of your real money comes from sets taking down TPTK/overpairs, not from bludgeoning opponents into submission with just TPTK.

I'm still struggling with this one, especially at some of the crazy Party NL tables. If you're playing with opponents that will merrily shove into you with KJo on a K 10 4 flop (after calling a $4 raise from you pre-flop), AK looks pretty damn good, and it's next to impossible for me not to call. That same monkey can just as easily have K10, though, and be reaching for your stack. As much as I tell myself to wait for a better spot and to not get caught up in the push-monkey game, I still am tempted too often to call in that spot.

2) Sets are where you make money: The logical application of this is to be much more willing to call with any pocket pair, from pretty much any position, even if/especially if it's raised. I have to work to get myself out of LHE autopilot mode, as far as automatically mucking 22 if there's a raise in front of me. Obviously you have to temper this if someone later to act is persistently coming over the top, but baby pairs are a lot more valuable in NL, and you can't be mucking them consistently just because someone has shown strength.

Where I'm still flailing around here is how to play the baby pairs when I'm opening the action, as far as whether to try to limp or to go ahead and bump it up 3-4BB. Being aggressive is almost always better than not being aggressive, but a lot of the value in 22 is in flopping a set, as it's hard to continue otherwise, even when showing strength pre-flop. I tend to open-raise with baby pairs but I feel lost when a couple of people call, the flop comes all overcards to my baby pair and someone leads into me.

3) Don't be afraid to lump it all in on the flop with a really big draw: This one is pretty self-explanatory, but a bit different from LHE. While you'll often pump your big draws on the flop in LHE, the psychology is a bit different, as you've got assorted escape hatches if you blank on later streets.

In NL you might currently be behind on the flop, but have a big enough draw to not mind getting it all in. The dilemma is that you want to see the river, and not be faced with a difficult call on the turn if it blanks. So the relatively simple solution is to not be scared to lump it all in on the flop, with your monster draws, and hopefully pick up some fold equity while removing the temptation to abort the mission on the turn if it blanks.

4) Junk is pretty much junk in LHE, but junk can be valuable in NL: This one is completely self-explanatory, but deserves a token plug. If you're on the button in a LHE game and there are three limpers ahead of you, 68h is a junky hand that you fold 100% of the time, even if you know the blinds will just call.

Give that same hand to a skilled player in that exact situation in a NL game and they can probably extract a decent profit from it, over the long run. It's still pretty much junk but the ability to take someone's entire stack in one fell swoop puts a bit of a shine on otherwise junky hands.

This one is still hard for me, not so much when I can limp in behind a few others but when there's a raise after me, and only a few callers. I realize I need to limp/fold in most of those cases but I get a little greedy at times and call the raise too often.

Read The Full Article:
http://suckout.blogspot.com/2006/04/hatingloving-tptk.html

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Mastering the Micros

post from FeliciaLee on 18 April 2006 10:09:00 AM. © FeliciaLee

(Guest post by Glenn)

Felicia asked me to guest post again. Kind of funny,

since I have my own blog.

I just never post anymore.

Just haven't been into it too much lately. I feel like

I'd be just talking mostly about hands; have the

desire to post Hand Histories (which she hates, lol...

can you tell I'm my wife's husband--or is that

redundant??--since I have the "lol" fever).

However, I just got through with doing the max reload

bonus on Eurobet on micro-limits. Originally, I

thought that I'd be playing primarily Draw Poker. I

have 700 hours on that game at the $1/$2 level and,

prior to the last 100 or so hours, had earned an

average of about 3BB/hr, or $6/hr. I had been

3-tabling and was looking to go through the bonus

quickly and earn a bunch at the same time.

Talk about best laid plans... Last 100 hours I'm

under 2BB's/hr.. on the last 50, just over 1BB/hr.

There was a month that I didn't have one winning

session. Month! I have never had a full month that I

didn't win at Draw before.

This really got me. I was used to NO variance.

"Security" at Draw was a big point for me. One of the

reasons that I quit dealing poker. I figured, jeez, I have

60,000 hands on this game and am beating it at $6/hr

per table and can 3-table it.. so that's $18/hr! I'll

be making almost as much as I do at work without having

to drive a half an hour each way; which of course will

save on gas and it will be like making more. I didn't

have to 'worry' about what I was missing from health

insurance, since they never gave me enough hours to

get health insurance in the first place. My own hours,

blah, blah, blah.

So I took the plunge and what happened? The big

Variance hit (note the capital "v" -grin-). Boy did

that make me nervous!

Live play was the same thing. I had almost 100 hours

playing NLHE at $2/$5 blind level, making close to

$20/hr. Suddenly I was losing, losing, losing. Lost

playing mixed games. Lost at Omaha 8-or-better from

$10/$20 down to the low $2-$6 spread limit game they

spread here in Laughlin.

What the heck was I going to do?

I started playing all different games online. I

wasn't comfortable playing $1/$2 or higher on any of

the games since I don't have the hours in on them like

I did with Draw; plus with my current down-swing, I

wasn't comfortable trying higher. So I started playing

the different games at the micro limits: $0.25/$0.5

and $0.5/$1 levels.

I tried Stud and Stud 8-or-better; talk about

variance. There'd be times that I hit-and-run for $8-15

on the $0.5/$1 tables; and times that I'd lose

that same amount. I have a $0.42/hr win rate for the

40hrs that I've played Stud 8-or-better at $0.5/$1

levels. LOL

Stud I'm a loser (only played 6 hours though); Razz,

I'm pretty much break even too ($0.2/hr).

Omaha 8-or-better? $0.76/hr at $0.5/$1 levels; but

twice that at $0.25/$0.5!

Hold'em? $0.47/hr at $0.5/$1 levels; but again, more,

even 3 times that at $0.25/$0.5. At two different

sites, I currently have a 3BB/hr (per table) win rate

for $1.5/hr per table.

So what did I do? You guessed it! I have, and

currently am, multitabling $0.25/$0.5 Hold'em (O8

tables are slower and take more brain power). On one

of the sites I can get up to (and actually handle) 9

tables at a time. Though normally I sanely run 6

tables at a time. Therefore, I can make about $10/hr.

Now I just have to stop hitting and running... after

playing 6 tables for an hour, I get a little mentally

exhusted.

I just thought that was indicative of Draw before when

I was doing that. I figured that it was just so taxing

playing 3 5-handed tables. After an hour of that, I'll

have played a fast 300 hands at short-handed tables.

Geez, now, after about an hour, I can get in 400-500

HE hands!

I did have to force myself to play several times a day

to work off the one bonus though. I needed 6000

points, and ended up having to get over 100 points a

day. Just think of all the hours that I had to put in

in order to generate enough rake to build up 100

points a day at $0.25/$0.5! (This is why, to me, the

current Party reload bonuses are a such big joke;

there's no way I want to have to do a timed bonus

again--and they want you to work off the bonus in just

a week! No offense, but blow me!)

Therefore, once again, I'm taking my tag-line of

"bilking the internet poker machine, six dollars at a

time" to heart once again!

Don't worry, though! This hero is building his

confidence back up ;) I'm just currently sticking to

ye' olde Limit Holdumb for the time being. I even

currently have a good 2BB/hr average going at $4/$8 HE

for my last 40 odd hours of live play. (OMG, it was

SUCH a good feeling racking up 5 rackes of chips at the

Orleans one night!!)

So there's life yet in this playa!

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend and are doing

well.

God Bless :)

Glenn

Read The Full Article:
http://felicialee.blogspot.com/2006/04/mastering-micros.html

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Cookies

post from BadBlood on Poker on 18 April 2006 09:46:00 AM. © BadBlood on Poker

Over the long haul, (how long is that, really?) eventually we?re all dealt the same cards.  If that is the case, then how do you separate the long-term winners from the long-term losers?  It?s all in the way we play them.

Some players are able to get value from hands with negative expected value.  For those of you who watched High Stakes Poker on GSN, you saw a couple of episodes where Sammy Farha basically took control of the table.  He played his opponents in such a way that the cards that he was dealt did not matter.  If you can read your opponents and predict their actions, you can make junk hands valuable.

Another way to get value from certain hands is to bluff with them.  I?ll always remember a ?WPT Corner? segment when one pro said ?If you?re not getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar every now and then, you?re not playing good poker.?  I couldn?t agree more.

Here are a couple of recent hands where bluffs, bluff inducement, and bluff calling have played key roles.

Hand #1:

I?m on the button with 75o.  Yes, it?s garbage.  However, when a pre-flop raise is called twice before it gets to me, its value rises ever so slightly.  I call the raise and four players see a 764 flop, two diamonds.  I have no diamond, but I?ve got top pair, open ender.  The pre-flop raiser bets half the pot and it?s folded to me.  I flat call.  The turn pairs the board with a 4 and again, the pre-flop raiser in early position bets about half the pot.  I flat call again.  The river brings the A of diamonds and the opponent checks and opens the door for me to bluff.  I do.  I go all in.  I?m hoping to represent the check-call, draw to a flush that just hit.

I got called by pocket tens - both black.  At first, I was a bit amazed that he called, but after discussing the hand further with Random101, I realized that I didn?t sell my bluff well enough.  Depending on the type of player my opponent read me for, the call made sense.  I played the hand as if I were drawing to a flush and then pushed when it hit.  Which, if seen from the other player?s perspective, is exactly the line to take if you?re going to bluff.  Re-thinking things, if I were truly on that draw, perhaps a raise on the turn or even the flop would have better sold my story.  A simple raise on either of those streets coupled with my all-in on the river would have made better sense in my opinion and potentially won me the hand.

Hand #2:

It?s the G-Vegas Big-Game? and I?m sitting on the BB with pocket Queens.  After about 5 limpers come along for the ride, I bump it to $25 and get called (as I always do) by TheMark who?s on the button.  The flop is ten-high, all clubs.  He knows that I?ll check that flop if it hit me hard and since I don?t have a club in my hand, I still need to know where he is.  So I continuation bet $40 and he smooth calls.  The turn is an offsuit undercard.

Sometimes you can raise for information.  But sometimes you can check for information too.  I checked and TheMark fired out a $60 bet.  Just as in Hand #1, the EP player (me) checks to induce a potential bluff.  I know he doesn?t bet the flush there if he has it, so I can eliminate that holding.  I check call the $60 still thinking my hand is good.  It?s still vulnerable, but it?s still good ? at least I think so.  The river pairs the ten and there is cause for concern.  I check and TheMark bets $90 into what is now a $275+ pot.  I have to call, for two reasons.  The first reason is that his holdings in that situation are wide enough that I can still beat some of his hands.  The ten pairing could have helped if he had a lower two-pair.  Also, my passive plays on the turn and river have opened the door to bluffing opportunities, and I know he?s the type of player that will take advantage of that.

I call, he mucks and I win.

Both of the above hands were bluffs based on position and board texture.  Granted, neither worked, but those are the types of plays that have to be made in order to be a long-term winning player.  In those hands, arguments can be made that the bluffs could have been executed better.  One can also argue that the winning hands should have in fact folded to the bluff.  It can go either way.  This is one of the more esoteric facets of poker and one that truly fascinates me.

But that?s where my game has been of late, focusing on bluffs, recognizing opportunities to execute them, and even more importantly, knowing when to call one down.  Hopefully I won?t get too enthralled with this part of the game and lose focus on the fundamentals.  It?s not too much fun to bluff all-in into the complete, stone cold, utter, dead-to-rights nuts.  And I?ve done that.

It hurts when the lid to the cookie jar slams against the top of your hand.

Read The Full Article:
http://badbloodonpoker.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_badbloodonpoker_archive.html#11453
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Jordan = Weak Tight

Okay, a bit misleading. If you've read this humble corner of the blogs-and-crafts center, you know that I am anything BUT weak tight. However, in my neverending quest to kill the beast called Rio, I've adapted a bit of weak tight strategy into some preflop play. I don't even know if I'm using the term "weak tight" right. I'd expect all of you Poker Tracker junkies to have more insight, so feel free to leave a comment.

First let me start by saying that yesterday was a -$60 disaster. I placed 3rd and 2nd in two out of four Rios, therefore suffering a net loss (3rd pays $1 profit only).

I played two non-Rio SNGs (first with Iamhoff and DrewsPop, the second with DrewsPop and Hoyazo), only to lose. In the first one, it was fancy play by me that caught me right in the junk. In the second one, escalating blinds caught up to me. However, I had, what I would call, an amazing play. I held AQ and another player raises from 100 to 350. This seemed familiar so I checked the hand history and saw him do it about 4-5 hands ago with J9s. Okay, buddy, let's play. I decide to flat call, hoping for his usual continuation bet. Sure enough, I check on the Ace-high flop, and he raises about the pot size, which is fairly significant. I have about 22oo left, so I push (right after typing "watch this" to Hoyazo and DrewsPop in our Yahoo IM window. Sure enough, he calls with AJ, and...we split the pot when the board two-pairs. Doh! With that, I would've been the huge chip leader.

But I digress. The rest of my losses came at 1/2 Limit on Party, trying to earn the free $30 they offered me.

Now let's get to the weak-tight. The key to Rios is keeping out of the way of the maniacs early. It wasn't working last night, unfortunately, since either the players were generally tighter, or the shortstacks were constantly getting lucky. However, I've become weak-tight preflop, with hands that may even be considered premium in a 6-handed game.

Specifically, I've been playing AJ, AQ, and AK by merely limping in. My goal is to hit my Ace and hopefully either have a player stay in with A6 or some other crap and then call me down, or have a player not believe that I have the ace (because, after all, I just limped), or miss the flop and get the fuck out. Basically, I'm trying to remember that I shouldn't be overplaying these hands, especially when they miss the flop. The value is in hitting the flop and in getting your opponent to stick around for the ride. The other benefit, which I already touched upon, is that no one suspect big slick in this situation.

The other thing is this: I've found myself continuing weak-tight post-flop in some situations. In one, I had AQ and hit the Ace. Someone else bets out a small-ish amount, and I decide to go along for the ride. I wasn't sure if I was milking him or he was milking me, but me calls somehow kept his bets low. Something smelled wrong, but I couldn't just fold in this situation. In the end, he had AK, and I saved myself some dough by not re-raising. Folding would've been better, but realistically, most of the time, I re-raise here, which would've been a disaster.

Am I making any sense? So, that's it in a very tiny nutshell. I'd like to go into it more, but now that I began explaining, I've realized that there isn't much to tell. I give up some blinds that I could possibly take easily with a bet, but I also maximize the value of the hands when they hit. It's a balancing act, I suppose. In the end, what really interests me about it is that it is so different from my usual style. Then again, my results yesterday may suggest that I return to the old me. Oh well oh well.

That's it for today. Mama High will be in the City tonight, so poker will probably be late or not at all. Have a good one!

Read The Full Article:
http://highonpoker.blogspot.com/2006/04/jordan-weak-tight.html

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The Rake - Taking The Pulse Of Poker For
4/17/2006

Poker zombie irritation? Treat your problem at the source. (Photo courtesy MST3KTemple.com) · According to one columnist a generation of "poker zombies" were spawned around 2003 "after Bravo began airing table footage of highly admired celebrities like, um, Ben...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/pokerblog/archives/002639.php

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