Today I played in a special live SNE freeroll hyper turbo tourney at EPT MC. There were 46 entries, including at least four or five full ringers I've played a bunch with. Nanonoko was there also and was a really cool guy to chat with. The tourney paid $2500 for first with $100 bounties on all players. All final table participants receive a $215 tourney ticket. Should the winner of the event then win a heads up match with Barry Greenstein, his prize money would be doubled and the final table members would instead receive a $530 tourney entry.
Before the first hand was dealt at my first table, all but one of us agreed to flip for stacks. I woke up with KJ and was up against 33, K8, JT, and some other rag hands. The flop came KJ9, turn 5, river K to score me 6 bounties and an additional 6 starting stacks. Awesome. Shortly after I did a quick taped interview for what I believe was a Nordic poker site regarding the flip, why it happened and how I took it down. Maybe I'll find the video online one day.
Unfortunately, after reaching the final table and making it down to four handed play with 10 bounties collected, I lost two 70/30s AIPF both to same person which all but eliminated me. If AT had been > KT one time, there's a very good chance I would have shipped the thing. I guess I can't complain though, as I did score $1k USD in bounties and what will either be a $215 or $530 tourney ticket I can use for a Sunday major or SCOOP event.
Not a bad score given it was a freeroll.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Reflections
During the 15 minute break between the final two levels yesterday (as I was folding my way into the money), I stood out on a terrace of the Monte Carlo Bay Resort overlooking a bay of the Mediterranean. The cliffs of Monaco which house many architectural miracles loomed in the background. I spent five minutes thinking about where poker has taken me, perhaps spurred a bit from Chris Moneymaker asking me where I thought I'd be had his WSOP ME win not incited the "poker boom" (this conversation sparked by my thanking him for said boom).
In February of 2008 I decided to put forth an effort to not suck at online poker and hopefully earn a little extra spending money. It is barely more than two years later. I've gone pro. I reached Supernova Elite in 2009. I've played three major live donkaments (2009 WSOP ME, 2010 PCA, and 2010 EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo). It's been quite a ride, and I wonder how long its going to last.
Moving on to something a little less emo, tournament poker sucks. It sucks because it glorifies variance to the extreme while almost every structure quickly diminishes the skill levels at play due to typical ranges of stack sizes. The only saving grace I see is that tournament play does introduce a significant amount of situational factors to consider that simply do not exist in cash games. I imagine after putting in a reasonable amount of tournament volume and doing a little learning, identifying and adjusting properly to these situations becomes pretty trivial however.
Live poker sucks too, not because it is live, but entirely because of the hands per hour limitation. I'm really not sure I could make it as a sponsored pro. If my contract stated I had to play ten events a year, I might snap. To clarify, this isn't a reaction to my EPT Grand Final experience, which was decidedly positive (I have ~$19.8k more USD than I came with and a day of chatting with a WSOP ME champion was great).
Thank God for cash games, and thank God for online poker and multitabling.
In February of 2008 I decided to put forth an effort to not suck at online poker and hopefully earn a little extra spending money. It is barely more than two years later. I've gone pro. I reached Supernova Elite in 2009. I've played three major live donkaments (2009 WSOP ME, 2010 PCA, and 2010 EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo). It's been quite a ride, and I wonder how long its going to last.
Moving on to something a little less emo, tournament poker sucks. It sucks because it glorifies variance to the extreme while almost every structure quickly diminishes the skill levels at play due to typical ranges of stack sizes. The only saving grace I see is that tournament play does introduce a significant amount of situational factors to consider that simply do not exist in cash games. I imagine after putting in a reasonable amount of tournament volume and doing a little learning, identifying and adjusting properly to these situations becomes pretty trivial however.
Live poker sucks too, not because it is live, but entirely because of the hands per hour limitation. I'm really not sure I could make it as a sponsored pro. If my contract stated I had to play ten events a year, I might snap. To clarify, this isn't a reaction to my EPT Grand Final experience, which was decidedly positive (I have ~$19.8k more USD than I came with and a day of chatting with a WSOP ME champion was great).
Thank God for cash games, and thank God for online poker and multitabling.
EPT Grand Final - Day 2 Wrap: LOL Mincashaments
After another two plus hours post dinner of Q8s being the absolute top of my range preflop, I was fortunate enough to be able to fold my way through the bubble. At the time it burst, my stack was right around 12BBs. I ended up busting losing a 40/60 jamming KQo from the CO with two hands left to go on the day. This wasn't terribly disappointing, as coming back to play what in the next level would have been a ~10BB stack the next day wasn't a very appealing thought. I guess had I binked I could have tried to nurse my stack to an additional 5k Euros, but I'll have to settle for 15k. That's around ~$19.8k USD for those wondering. Given that the event felt like a freeroll I'm pretty content with the result, though I'll always wonder what could have been had my hand distribution during the entire second day not been beyond abysmal.
The highlight of the event was getting to chat with Chris Moneymaker for a little over eight hours of play on Day2. He is an incredibly personable and down to earth guy, and even mentioned me in an interview he taped during a break, saying that despite being the chip leader (at the time, shortly after he'd lose a few huge pots) he wasn't getting too out of line bullying the table because he had a big stack on his left playing solid (referring to me). At the time I had around 150-180k chips, which was likely in the 60-75bb range, so I wasn't a huge stack but could definitely do some damage. I hadn't really played back at him too much due to the extreme card death, but did cold 4b my one big hand all day after he 3b AQ, and 3b him with 64o from the BTN over his CO open once (he was opening super wide, and folded to both).
Pokerstarsblog also blogged about a trivial hand I played with Chris - though it was neat to see my name mentioned trivial or not. Here's the quote:
'Moneymaker's hand in the till
He's worked his way up to well over 400,000 - and the chip lead - so you can forgive Chris Moneymaker for being "at it" once in a while. On this one he open raised to 5,000 and got a call from Jason Collier.
Both checked the Q♠8♠4♥ flop and also the 4♠ turn. The 5♠ river made a flush likely and Moneymaker bet 7,000. Coller thought for a moment and made the call. "You got it," said the 2003 world champion - and he was right as Collier showed 6♠6♦ to take the pot.
"I had two red cards," Moneymaker said sheepishly.'
Oh, and I did manage to go the entire tourney (~17 hours live play or so), without flopping a single set. I flopped a monstrous two pair once (and nothing stronger ever), losing that hand. GG.
Hopefully Chris takes it down, if I recall correctly his stack when our table broke at the end of Day2 was around 50bb.
The highlight of the event was getting to chat with Chris Moneymaker for a little over eight hours of play on Day2. He is an incredibly personable and down to earth guy, and even mentioned me in an interview he taped during a break, saying that despite being the chip leader (at the time, shortly after he'd lose a few huge pots) he wasn't getting too out of line bullying the table because he had a big stack on his left playing solid (referring to me). At the time I had around 150-180k chips, which was likely in the 60-75bb range, so I wasn't a huge stack but could definitely do some damage. I hadn't really played back at him too much due to the extreme card death, but did cold 4b my one big hand all day after he 3b AQ, and 3b him with 64o from the BTN over his CO open once (he was opening super wide, and folded to both).
Pokerstarsblog also blogged about a trivial hand I played with Chris - though it was neat to see my name mentioned trivial or not. Here's the quote:
'Moneymaker's hand in the till
He's worked his way up to well over 400,000 - and the chip lead - so you can forgive Chris Moneymaker for being "at it" once in a while. On this one he open raised to 5,000 and got a call from Jason Collier.
Both checked the Q♠8♠4♥ flop and also the 4♠ turn. The 5♠ river made a flush likely and Moneymaker bet 7,000. Coller thought for a moment and made the call. "You got it," said the 2003 world champion - and he was right as Collier showed 6♠6♦ to take the pot.
"I had two red cards," Moneymaker said sheepishly.'
Oh, and I did manage to go the entire tourney (~17 hours live play or so), without flopping a single set. I flopped a monstrous two pair once (and nothing stronger ever), losing that hand. GG.
Hopefully Chris takes it down, if I recall correctly his stack when our table broke at the end of Day2 was around 50bb.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
EPT Grand Final - Day 2 at Dinner Break
Quick update. 159 left, 128 get paid. Average stack ~160k, I have 120k with blinds at 2k/4k and a 400 ante. Ridiculously card dead all day, even relative to yesterday. Made friends with Chris Moneymaker who has been on my right for all of Day 2. Real nice guy, incredibly down to earth.
Hopefully I can win a few pots and ride out the bubble, but who knows what will happen. If I could have just picked up one 88+ or AQ+ an hour things would be much different. Pretty sick that I've made it this far without flopping a single set all tourney (also no other flopped gin hands likes straights/flushes etc) - the one time I did flop two pair I lost to a rivered gutter. FML. I expect the bubble to burst about half way through the level after next, the two of which will be played tonight. Run decent one time please.
Hopefully I can win a few pots and ride out the bubble, but who knows what will happen. If I could have just picked up one 88+ or AQ+ an hour things would be much different. Pretty sick that I've made it this far without flopping a single set all tourney (also no other flopped gin hands likes straights/flushes etc) - the one time I did flop two pair I lost to a rivered gutter. FML. I expect the bubble to burst about half way through the level after next, the two of which will be played tonight. Run decent one time please.
EPT Grand Final - Post Day 1B Update
I finished my first day of play with an above average stack of 80.8k. Thus far almost exactly half the field remains, so average chips is right around 60k.
After the dinner break I only had one really eventful hand before my table broke. Sandra Naujoks opened the CO and I 3b 33 from the SB. I cbet a Kh8h2d flop. She hesitated and called. Turn was a beautiful 3d and she tank folded to what was basically a committing bet. I really don't think she's folding Kx there ever given the stack sizes so a heart draw or middle pair seems likely.
There were only 2 levels or so left in the day when I was relocated to a table with almost entirely all young online pros. Three or four were really short, so the table played much tighter than my previous one. I ended up busting two shorties, one of which I'm 99% sure was Stars Team Pro from Belgium Matthias De Meulder. He jammmed ~13bbs from the SB into my BB with J8o, I snapped with KQo and held. He seemed like a really nice guy. The other shortstack (who allegedly plays on FTP under the name "HU4Rolls" or something similar) jammed 22 over my UTG open with TT. TT held. I ran a kind of interesting bluff against what seemed to be a good LAG when I opened ATo from the HJ or CO, got called by him in the BB. Flop was Q9xr, I cbet he called. Turn Q check check. River Q and he lead a super gay 10-20% pot. I raised to 2.5x his bet or so and he folded (I think I'd take his line a fair bit and fold the river too, so I was basically trying to do what would own myself if I was in his spot - or maybe he just had JT and I had the best hand). Finally I cold 4b a guy with ~25bbs or so with KK (he 3b to around ~7.5bbs) and he folded.
They are paying a larger portion of the field this year than in years previous. 128 make the money out of the ~840 or so entries. If I can run good and have a strong Day 2 I could be in good shape for at least a min cash of 15k Euros (~20k USD). ONE TIME!
After the dinner break I only had one really eventful hand before my table broke. Sandra Naujoks opened the CO and I 3b 33 from the SB. I cbet a Kh8h2d flop. She hesitated and called. Turn was a beautiful 3d and she tank folded to what was basically a committing bet. I really don't think she's folding Kx there ever given the stack sizes so a heart draw or middle pair seems likely.
There were only 2 levels or so left in the day when I was relocated to a table with almost entirely all young online pros. Three or four were really short, so the table played much tighter than my previous one. I ended up busting two shorties, one of which I'm 99% sure was Stars Team Pro from Belgium Matthias De Meulder. He jammmed ~13bbs from the SB into my BB with J8o, I snapped with KQo and held. He seemed like a really nice guy. The other shortstack (who allegedly plays on FTP under the name "HU4Rolls" or something similar) jammed 22 over my UTG open with TT. TT held. I ran a kind of interesting bluff against what seemed to be a good LAG when I opened ATo from the HJ or CO, got called by him in the BB. Flop was Q9xr, I cbet he called. Turn Q check check. River Q and he lead a super gay 10-20% pot. I raised to 2.5x his bet or so and he folded (I think I'd take his line a fair bit and fold the river too, so I was basically trying to do what would own myself if I was in his spot - or maybe he just had JT and I had the best hand). Finally I cold 4b a guy with ~25bbs or so with KK (he 3b to around ~7.5bbs) and he folded.
They are paying a larger portion of the field this year than in years previous. 128 make the money out of the ~840 or so entries. If I can run good and have a strong Day 2 I could be in good shape for at least a min cash of 15k Euros (~20k USD). ONE TIME!
Monday, April 26, 2010
EPT Grand Final MC - Day 1 at Dinner Break
As I type this I'm on my 90 minute dinner break during Day1B of the EPT Grand Final. Our trip over was relatively uneventful and smooth, though any 15+ hour trip does take its toll regardless. When we arrived at our hotel in a daze of jet lag I struggled to make small talk with Joe Hachem on the elevator ride to the room. He seemed like a good guy.
Anyway, we played 6 levels before dinner today, with 3 more to kick off shortly. My table (which has remained unbroken thus far) has been very soft, though unfortunately a couple of the weakest players have now gone busto. I was expecting a softer field than the PCA, but I can say quite decisively that of my WSOP ME table and three PCA tables at which I was seated, all had a significantly higher average quality of player.
The most famous face at my table would have to be Sandra Naujoks. Being seated right across from her has its drawbacks, as you might imagine a lot of press photographers tend to focus on her. I actually played three pretty signifncant pots with her over the course of the day. The one major mistake I feel I've made thus far came against her, making a poor river call. It was a rough spot, as her line made no sense but for one single hand (which flopped a straight). It was definitely a fold as she's probably not good enough to be barreling air there in which case her range is exactly that hand.
I feel like I've been rather card dead over all thus far. No AA/KK, three QQ (won all 3 pots), two JJ (had to c/f a KTx flop 5 ways after opening UTG, other one was the bad river call), one AK, one AQs, two AJ. I've won all but one hand at showdown, and played fairly well postflop I think. I've only had the opportunity to run 2 bluffs, but as you would thnk my imagine is very solid due to picking up very very few medium strength hands preflop (almost no mid pairs/suited connectors etc). First bluff was double barreling air on a 996Q board vs a competent player. Second one I don't really like, but took a b/c/b line vs a fish who folded river - I think I should have just given up or three barreled, but hey it worked. The card deadness combined with winning all but one showdown has put me at a marginally above average stack of ~43k and change at this point. We started with 30k chips, and I believe the blinds will be 250/500 with a 50 ante when I return. Hopefully I can run good for 3 levels and have 80-100bbs+ to start Day 2.
Anyway, we played 6 levels before dinner today, with 3 more to kick off shortly. My table (which has remained unbroken thus far) has been very soft, though unfortunately a couple of the weakest players have now gone busto. I was expecting a softer field than the PCA, but I can say quite decisively that of my WSOP ME table and three PCA tables at which I was seated, all had a significantly higher average quality of player.
The most famous face at my table would have to be Sandra Naujoks. Being seated right across from her has its drawbacks, as you might imagine a lot of press photographers tend to focus on her. I actually played three pretty signifncant pots with her over the course of the day. The one major mistake I feel I've made thus far came against her, making a poor river call. It was a rough spot, as her line made no sense but for one single hand (which flopped a straight). It was definitely a fold as she's probably not good enough to be barreling air there in which case her range is exactly that hand.
I feel like I've been rather card dead over all thus far. No AA/KK, three QQ (won all 3 pots), two JJ (had to c/f a KTx flop 5 ways after opening UTG, other one was the bad river call), one AK, one AQs, two AJ. I've won all but one hand at showdown, and played fairly well postflop I think. I've only had the opportunity to run 2 bluffs, but as you would thnk my imagine is very solid due to picking up very very few medium strength hands preflop (almost no mid pairs/suited connectors etc). First bluff was double barreling air on a 996Q board vs a competent player. Second one I don't really like, but took a b/c/b line vs a fish who folded river - I think I should have just given up or three barreled, but hey it worked. The card deadness combined with winning all but one showdown has put me at a marginally above average stack of ~43k and change at this point. We started with 30k chips, and I believe the blinds will be 250/500 with a 50 ante when I return. Hopefully I can run good for 3 levels and have 80-100bbs+ to start Day 2.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
EPT Final Monte Carlo Main Event + Eurotrip
Tomorrow my girlfriend and I leave home for two weeks. We'll spending the first week in Monaco, as I'll be playing in the EPT Final Main Event (10k + 600 Euro buy in). In a way I'm freerolling as my tournament package came courtesy of Supernova Elite 2009. I've now used both my SNE packages, but do still have a free WCOOP ME entry coming up thanks to my 2009 effort. I'm looking forward to staying at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel, which appears to be very high end.
After the tournament, we'll be spending a couple days in Paris, followed by ending the vacation being shown around London for three days. I'm certain it will be a good time regardless, but it sure would be nice to luckbox my way to cash. Expect a few blog updates during the event detailing any progress.
After the tournament, we'll be spending a couple days in Paris, followed by ending the vacation being shown around London for three days. I'm certain it will be a good time regardless, but it sure would be nice to luckbox my way to cash. Expect a few blog updates during the event detailing any progress.
That Doesn't Happen Too Often
The new buy-in structure at Stars has thus far made it very difficult for me to get 24 decent tables open outside of full blown weekend primetime (Friday/Saturday evening and night). That said, it seems like of the tables I do sit at there are now more with 3+ fish instead of one or two. It also seems like there are more soft 1/2 and 2/4 tables. I do wish they had simply copied FTP's model, but maybe cutting tables a bit and playing a greater portion of my volume at midstakes wouldn't be so bad. I'll have to see how things play out in the next few months.
Anyway, two days ago I had something happen at a newly formed 50bb 200NL that I'm not certain I've ever seen before. That being: I flopped the nut straight in back to back hands at the table, stacking (for only 50bbs unfortunately, damn you Stars!) a fish each time. I think I've probably flopped the nuts in back to back hands before, but in those cases I'm certain it was top set. The HHs are below for kicks.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (5 handed)
MP ($230.50)
Hero (Button) ($100)
SB ($106.15)
BB ($100)
UTG ($60)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 6
, 5
1 fold, MP bets $4, Hero calls $4, SB calls $3, 1 fold
Flop: ($14) 4, 7
, 3 (3 players)
SB checks, MP bets $12, Hero raises to $41, 1 fold, MP calls $29
Turn: ($96) Q (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $55 (All-In), MP calls $55
River: ($206) 10
(2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $206 | Rake: $2
Results:
Hero had 6, 5 (flush, Queen high).
MP had A, 4 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Hero won $204
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (5 handed)
Hero (UTG) ($204)
MP ($81.90)
Button ($102.15)
SB ($100)
BB ($60)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, J
Hero bets $8, 1 fold, Button calls $8, 2 folds
Flop: ($21) 10, 8
, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $14, Button raises to $36, Hero raises to $113, Button calls $58.15 (All-In)
Turn: ($209.30) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($209.30) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $209.30 | Rake: $2
Results:
Button had 7, 7 (three of a kind, sevens).
Hero had Q, J (flush, Queen high).
Outcome: Hero won $207.30
Extending the theme of extreme rarities, yesterday the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL ended up going up 2-1 in their playoff series against the Brandon Wheat Kings. They won despite allowing a NATURAL SHORT HANDED HAT TRICK against in the second period. I'm pretty certain a natural short handed hat trick in hockey is far less likely to occur than almost anything else in professional sports (far more rare than say a perfect game in baseball). Wow.
Anyway, two days ago I had something happen at a newly formed 50bb 200NL that I'm not certain I've ever seen before. That being: I flopped the nut straight in back to back hands at the table, stacking (for only 50bbs unfortunately, damn you Stars!) a fish each time. I think I've probably flopped the nuts in back to back hands before, but in those cases I'm certain it was top set. The HHs are below for kicks.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (5 handed)
MP ($230.50)
Hero (Button) ($100)
SB ($106.15)
BB ($100)
UTG ($60)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 6
, 51 fold, MP bets $4, Hero calls $4, SB calls $3, 1 fold
Flop: ($14) 4
, 7, 3 (3 players)SB checks, MP bets $12, Hero raises to $41, 1 fold, MP calls $29
Turn: ($96) Q
(2 players)MP checks, Hero bets $55 (All-In), MP calls $55
River: ($206) 10
(2 players, 1 all-in)Total pot: $206 | Rake: $2
Results:
Hero had 6
, 5 (flush, Queen high).MP had A
, 4 (one pair, fours).Outcome: Hero won $204
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (5 handed)
Hero (UTG) ($204)
MP ($81.90)
Button ($102.15)
SB ($100)
BB ($60)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q
, JHero bets $8, 1 fold, Button calls $8, 2 folds
Flop: ($21) 10
, 8, 9 (2 players)Hero bets $14, Button raises to $36, Hero raises to $113, Button calls $58.15 (All-In)
Turn: ($209.30) 5
(2 players, 1 all-in)River: ($209.30) 7
(2 players, 1 all-in)Total pot: $209.30 | Rake: $2
Results:
Button had 7
, 7 (three of a kind, sevens).Hero had Q
, J (flush, Queen high).Outcome: Hero won $207.30
Extending the theme of extreme rarities, yesterday the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL ended up going up 2-1 in their playoff series against the Brandon Wheat Kings. They won despite allowing a NATURAL SHORT HANDED HAT TRICK against in the second period. I'm pretty certain a natural short handed hat trick in hockey is far less likely to occur than almost anything else in professional sports (far more rare than say a perfect game in baseball). Wow.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Pretty Average
It'd really be nice if being 5 BI's below AIEV wasn't a heater session, 7 BI's out average, and 10+ BI's out "bad". I accept that I'm always an underdog when the money goes in vs a fish and they aren't drawing dead, but maybe when I'm the favorite in a 95/5, 90/10, or even 85/15 spot I could win 10% of the time? 5% even? No?
SECT from last two days:
I'm heading off to Europe in a little over a week so I won't have a full month of poker. I'd be very close to pace for having a 100 BI out AIEV month if I could grind the month away though. That'd be awesome! I flip coins as a hobby and have fair coins land heads 100 times in a row all the time too, but only when flipped against people who don't play much.
SECT from last two days:
I'm heading off to Europe in a little over a week so I won't have a full month of poker. I'd be very close to pace for having a 100 BI out AIEV month if I could grind the month away though. That'd be awesome! I flip coins as a hobby and have fair coins land heads 100 times in a row all the time too, but only when flipped against people who don't play much.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Lets Not Overreact
Pokerstars finally announced its much anticipated changes to their cash game buyin structure, and implemented said changes today. They are as follows:
Many USD currency Hold’em and Omaha games with No-Limit or Pot-Limit betting will be offered with new and different minimum, maximum, and default buy-in amounts. Most stakes of NL Hold’em and PL Omaha will be offered as follows:
20-50 bb, with default buy-in of 40bb
40-100 bb, with default buy-in of 80bb
100-250 bb, with default buy-in of 200bb and ante equal to 20% of the Big Blind
All games in Euro currency will still offer a buy-in range of 35 to 100 bb, but the default buy-in will be lowered from 100 bb to 70 bb. Euro games are now available at some new stakes.
Pokerstars is the last of the major poker networks to make changes to their structure, will Full Tilt being the first. Unfortunately for us Stars regs, Full Tilt did a much better job from the perspective of a full stack player, labelling their low BI tables as "shallow" and setting them to be 20-35bb buyins with their 35-100bbs tables labelled as "standard". Thus far on FTP, the fish have generally flocked to the "standard" tables and SSing has all but died.
On Stars however, there is no labelling of any kind, and at least thus far it seems the 20-50bb games will be just as prevalent as the 40-100bb. Short stackers will survive for the time being, but with their game selection reduced somewhat, their edged reduced in their games (50bb "fullstacks" should in theory play less speculative hands preflop and thus be at less of a natural disadvantage to SSers), and the rat-holing time doubled (from 30 min to 60 min), SSers should start to become significantly less profitable, and hopefully stop making any money at all even after rakeback. However, unlike on Full Tilt this happening will probably be a slow process as 50bb stacks adjust and SSers realize their winrates have dropped. Thus, Stars will still collect a ton of rake as the SSers start down the road to busto, this at the expense of those who want the best possible game selection playing 100bb full stack poker.
I wish Stars had simply copied FTP's model. They love money however, and these changes should in the long run be better than nothing, though they may actually be a negative for 24 tabling fullstacks in the short term. I suppose we'll all have a better idea of what results these changes are actually going to bring in a month or so.
Many USD currency Hold’em and Omaha games with No-Limit or Pot-Limit betting will be offered with new and different minimum, maximum, and default buy-in amounts. Most stakes of NL Hold’em and PL Omaha will be offered as follows:
20-50 bb, with default buy-in of 40bb
40-100 bb, with default buy-in of 80bb
100-250 bb, with default buy-in of 200bb and ante equal to 20% of the Big Blind
All games in Euro currency will still offer a buy-in range of 35 to 100 bb, but the default buy-in will be lowered from 100 bb to 70 bb. Euro games are now available at some new stakes.
Pokerstars is the last of the major poker networks to make changes to their structure, will Full Tilt being the first. Unfortunately for us Stars regs, Full Tilt did a much better job from the perspective of a full stack player, labelling their low BI tables as "shallow" and setting them to be 20-35bb buyins with their 35-100bbs tables labelled as "standard". Thus far on FTP, the fish have generally flocked to the "standard" tables and SSing has all but died.
On Stars however, there is no labelling of any kind, and at least thus far it seems the 20-50bb games will be just as prevalent as the 40-100bb. Short stackers will survive for the time being, but with their game selection reduced somewhat, their edged reduced in their games (50bb "fullstacks" should in theory play less speculative hands preflop and thus be at less of a natural disadvantage to SSers), and the rat-holing time doubled (from 30 min to 60 min), SSers should start to become significantly less profitable, and hopefully stop making any money at all even after rakeback. However, unlike on Full Tilt this happening will probably be a slow process as 50bb stacks adjust and SSers realize their winrates have dropped. Thus, Stars will still collect a ton of rake as the SSers start down the road to busto, this at the expense of those who want the best possible game selection playing 100bb full stack poker.
I wish Stars had simply copied FTP's model. They love money however, and these changes should in the long run be better than nothing, though they may actually be a negative for 24 tabling fullstacks in the short term. I suppose we'll all have a better idea of what results these changes are actually going to bring in a month or so.
Friday, April 9, 2010
How To Fade Two Outs
The damn Canadian Dollar just keeps on getting stronger versus its US counterpart. I yearn for the days when a Canadian Dollar was only worth 0.75-0.85 USD and every withdraw I made came with a nice bonus attached from the currency conversion.
Comical runbad continued Thursday. I was two outed countless times, and one outed once against a megadonk (got AI on the turn with KcKx on a 3 club low board vs JdJh). Right at the end of my session however I did manage to figure out how to fade a two outer when AIPF: simply have a short stack AI with the two outs! It also helps to have the same suits as the big stack to kill what would otherwise be a guaranteed four flush. See below:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed)
Button ($23)
SB ($105.70)
BB ($37)
UTG ($66.30)
UTG+1 ($48)
Hero (MP1) ($200)
MP2 ($37)
CO ($225.30)
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A, A
2 folds, Hero bets $8, MP2 raises to $37 (All-In), CO calls $37, 3 folds, Hero raises to $200 (All-In), CO calls $163
Flop: ($440) 3, 6, 9 (3 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: ($440) 3 (3 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($440) 4 (3 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: $440 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and threes).
MP2 mucked K, K (two pair, Kings and threes).
CO mucked K, K (two pair, Kings and threes).
Outcome: Hero won $437
Comical runbad continued Thursday. I was two outed countless times, and one outed once against a megadonk (got AI on the turn with KcKx on a 3 club low board vs JdJh). Right at the end of my session however I did manage to figure out how to fade a two outer when AIPF: simply have a short stack AI with the two outs! It also helps to have the same suits as the big stack to kill what would otherwise be a guaranteed four flush. See below:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed)
Button ($23)
SB ($105.70)
BB ($37)
UTG ($66.30)
UTG+1 ($48)
Hero (MP1) ($200)
MP2 ($37)
CO ($225.30)
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A
, A2 folds, Hero bets $8, MP2 raises to $37 (All-In), CO calls $37, 3 folds, Hero raises to $200 (All-In), CO calls $163
Flop: ($440) 3
, 6, 9 (3 players, 2 all-in)Turn: ($440) 3
(3 players, 2 all-in)River: ($440) 4
(3 players, 2 all-in)Total pot: $440 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had A
, A (two pair, Aces and threes).MP2 mucked K
, K (two pair, Kings and threes).CO mucked K
, K (two pair, Kings and threes).Outcome: Hero won $437
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Pandemic of Fail
Rather than spend three paragraphs ranting about how god awful I've run so far (particularly at 200-600NL) in April, I'd like to talk about something I've noticed lately with regards to the pool of regulars at small stakes full ring games on Pokerstars. For whatever reason, it seems like a surprisingly large number of regulars who were beating the games for meager yet somewhat respectable winrates (say something like ~1ptBB over 500k+ hands) during 2008 and the first half of 2009 simply aren't winning anymore.
I was intending to try and break down my thoughts as to why I think this phenomena exists in this post, but aside from the obvious points such as increases in game difficulty and more people chasing SNE, I keep failing to do so adequately. I'll leave you simply with this: I'm confident the vast majority of the regulars whom have seen their edge disappear in the last year do not understand how game theory applies at a very fundamental level to poker.
Anyway, here's a hand from today versus (surprise!) a regular whom used to win money but hasn't been beating the rake since July of '09. He's very TAG preflop, running around 13/10 over 4k hands. His raise cbet is 12% over this sample, a pretty reasonable number.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)
BB ($152.45)
UTG ($101.50)
UTG+1 ($49.50)
MP1 ($100)
Hero (MP2) ($118.45)
MP3 ($117.65)
CO ($118)
Button ($40.05)
SB ($137.05)
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 2, 2
3 folds, Hero bets $4, MP3 calls $4, 4 folds
Flop: ($9.50) 2, J, Q (2 players)
Hero bets $6.50, MP3 raises to $13, Hero calls $6.50
After being minraised on the flop, I have what is probably the most interesting decision point in the hand. As noted above villain's raise cbet stat is pretty much middle of the road. However, his sizing is completely retarded and what makes things interesting. Minraising JJ, QQ, or QJ here would be awful under nearly all circumstances. He'd want to raise a big draw (say T9dd or AKdd) larger as well to benefit from FE. Basically, no good player should have a minraising range at all on this flop. I decide to flat to keep bluffs in his range and because if I 3b the flop I don't see him getting it in without a big draw, KdQd or an overset which has me crushed.
Turn: ($35.50) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $13.90, Hero calls $13.90
The turn card sucks and I call to control the pot size, allow him to continue bluffing if that's his plan, and if he somehow does have a flush hopefully boat up the river. His sizing on this street is also ridiculous and makes the decision a bit more interesting. A made flush would want to price a set out of odds to boat up. Based on my flop line, he should fear I have a flush a decent amount of the time and he's going to get c/red. I can also very easily have a hand like AdAx here that if he had a set/non nut flush he'd want to price out with a bigger bet. Just like the flop, villain is once again repping nothing.
River: ($63.30) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $86.75 (All-In), Hero calls $86.75
I really dislike calling overshoves as they're so often the nuts, but villain has repped nothing every postflop street and I have a boat. Snappity snap.
Total pot: $236.80 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had 2, 2 (full house, twos over Queens).
MP3 had 6, 7 (two pair, Queens and sevens).
Outcome: Hero won $233.80
I guess this might be why he doesn't win money anymore.
I was intending to try and break down my thoughts as to why I think this phenomena exists in this post, but aside from the obvious points such as increases in game difficulty and more people chasing SNE, I keep failing to do so adequately. I'll leave you simply with this: I'm confident the vast majority of the regulars whom have seen their edge disappear in the last year do not understand how game theory applies at a very fundamental level to poker.
Anyway, here's a hand from today versus (surprise!) a regular whom used to win money but hasn't been beating the rake since July of '09. He's very TAG preflop, running around 13/10 over 4k hands. His raise cbet is 12% over this sample, a pretty reasonable number.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)
BB ($152.45)
UTG ($101.50)
UTG+1 ($49.50)
MP1 ($100)
Hero (MP2) ($118.45)
MP3 ($117.65)
CO ($118)
Button ($40.05)
SB ($137.05)
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 2
, 23 folds, Hero bets $4, MP3 calls $4, 4 folds
Flop: ($9.50) 2
, J, Q (2 players)Hero bets $6.50, MP3 raises to $13, Hero calls $6.50
After being minraised on the flop, I have what is probably the most interesting decision point in the hand. As noted above villain's raise cbet stat is pretty much middle of the road. However, his sizing is completely retarded and what makes things interesting. Minraising JJ, QQ, or QJ here would be awful under nearly all circumstances. He'd want to raise a big draw (say T9dd or AKdd) larger as well to benefit from FE. Basically, no good player should have a minraising range at all on this flop. I decide to flat to keep bluffs in his range and because if I 3b the flop I don't see him getting it in without a big draw, KdQd or an overset which has me crushed.
Turn: ($35.50) 7
(2 players)Hero checks, MP3 bets $13.90, Hero calls $13.90
The turn card sucks and I call to control the pot size, allow him to continue bluffing if that's his plan, and if he somehow does have a flush hopefully boat up the river. His sizing on this street is also ridiculous and makes the decision a bit more interesting. A made flush would want to price a set out of odds to boat up. Based on my flop line, he should fear I have a flush a decent amount of the time and he's going to get c/red. I can also very easily have a hand like AdAx here that if he had a set/non nut flush he'd want to price out with a bigger bet. Just like the flop, villain is once again repping nothing.
River: ($63.30) Q
(2 players)Hero checks, MP3 bets $86.75 (All-In), Hero calls $86.75
I really dislike calling overshoves as they're so often the nuts, but villain has repped nothing every postflop street and I have a boat. Snappity snap.
Total pot: $236.80 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had 2
, 2 (full house, twos over Queens).MP3 had 6
, 7 (two pair, Queens and sevens).Outcome: Hero won $233.80
I guess this might be why he doesn't win money anymore.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Final Fantasy XIII
I promised to provide my thoughts on FF13 once I had completed it, so here we go. If you're looking for poker content you'll want to skip this entry entirely. I'm really only going to provide cliff notes rather than a full review as the latter would likely only interest the extremely hardcore.
Being that I had fairly high hopes for the game, I would say that it ended up being a marginal disappointment for me personally. Unsurprisingly, FF13 is most probably the best looking video game made to date. The plot and cast of characters were fairly engaging, though certainly not nearly as strong as the better entries in the series. No individual character jumped out as being exceptionally interesting or cool and I think this hurt my enjoyment of the game somewhat. That being said, all six characters did develop significantly and their coming together as a group was believable from a human interaction standpoint.
The soundtrack was far too ambient for my taste. High quality music, but not a single truly memorable track. I'm certain not having Uematsu around was part of the cause.
In terms of gameplay, FF13 did a lot of truly innovative and damn near revolutionary things for the genre. The game is most definitely the most linear Final Fantasy made, and while this isn't inherently a bad thing I believe it contributed to my feeling like a part of the game was missing. The battle system relies very heavily on macro management of your three person party, with very little to no micro management necessary. Because said battle system was entirely new and innovative I found it to be quite enjoyable at first, but as battles began to drag on the lack of micromanagement left me wishing I had more to do. Character advancement was handled by moving through class oriented grids somewhat similar to FFX - no complaints in this regard.
While I accept that no future entry in the series is likely to give me the enjoyability of 6 (my favorite FF), I was truly hoping that 13 would end up somewhere in league of 4, 7, and 10 on my favorites list. Despite being an enjoyable game, it seems that is not to be however. At least I'll always remember the baby Chocobo that lives in Sazh's afro.
Being that I had fairly high hopes for the game, I would say that it ended up being a marginal disappointment for me personally. Unsurprisingly, FF13 is most probably the best looking video game made to date. The plot and cast of characters were fairly engaging, though certainly not nearly as strong as the better entries in the series. No individual character jumped out as being exceptionally interesting or cool and I think this hurt my enjoyment of the game somewhat. That being said, all six characters did develop significantly and their coming together as a group was believable from a human interaction standpoint.
The soundtrack was far too ambient for my taste. High quality music, but not a single truly memorable track. I'm certain not having Uematsu around was part of the cause.
In terms of gameplay, FF13 did a lot of truly innovative and damn near revolutionary things for the genre. The game is most definitely the most linear Final Fantasy made, and while this isn't inherently a bad thing I believe it contributed to my feeling like a part of the game was missing. The battle system relies very heavily on macro management of your three person party, with very little to no micro management necessary. Because said battle system was entirely new and innovative I found it to be quite enjoyable at first, but as battles began to drag on the lack of micromanagement left me wishing I had more to do. Character advancement was handled by moving through class oriented grids somewhat similar to FFX - no complaints in this regard.
While I accept that no future entry in the series is likely to give me the enjoyability of 6 (my favorite FF), I was truly hoping that 13 would end up somewhere in league of 4, 7, and 10 on my favorites list. Despite being an enjoyable game, it seems that is not to be however. At least I'll always remember the baby Chocobo that lives in Sazh's afro.
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