Misdeal - how should this one be ruled?

I was playing in a $25,000 self-dealt regional freeroll tournament when the following situation came up. Any ideas on what the correct ruling should have been?

When dealing cards to all players, one flipped over and that player received his card last with the exposed card left face up as the first burn card. The first betting round was completed with an EP raise, MP call, Button call and both blinds folding. 3-way to the flop.

It was a long table and the dealer was at one end, with the exposed card at the other. He’d forgotten and dealt a burn card and then the flop. The first player checked, second to act checked and the dealer who was third to act bet almost pot. The flop was A34r. At this point, the second to act noticed the exposed card and said that the flop shouldn’t be the flop. It was agreed by everyone the order that the flop came out, so the 3rd card was obvious. It was the all important Ace.

The Tournament Director was called, what should the ruling have been:
- Misdeal and declare the hands dead? If so, how are monies re-distributed?
- Add the first burn card to the flop and declare the Ace as the second burn?
- Place the burn card and the flop into the deck, shuffle, re-burn and flop?
- Another ruling?

Is it relevant that all 3 players had an opportunity to act did? That said, the betting round wasn't complete. If the mistake had been noticed just after the Turn card has been dealt would that have further complicated things? I'm surprised that I haven't seen this before and would appreciate advice on the correct ruling.

Aussie Millions Qualifier

Just received this Satellite report from one of our Friday Home Game buddies ... sometimes the bad beats on the bubble make us question why we play poker ... at other times, we just get reminded.

Entered a tournament to win an Aussie Millions ticket last night at the Crown $100 buy in for 1,000 in chips with unlimited re-buys for the first three 30 minute blinds, there were 88 players started and at the break there were three add ons I bought in three times after my initial buy in and never added on could see no sense in spending $300 for 3,000 in chips….. By the break I had 5.4k in chips and they announced three tickets to the Aussie Millions and 4 to 7 won $1,650 and 8th won $900.

Hit the final table of 10 just wanting to win the $900 after spending $400, when there was eight I just wanted the $1,650 as $1,250 up on the night would have been OK, only when No.8 went out did it dawn on me “Fuck Me” I might be in with a chance of a ticket here chips were always scarce I had average stack all the way through the tournament. I played like a rock RSL would have been proud of me.

Then there was four someone had to bubble a knew it wouldn’t be me I had played one of the best games up against some of the best players in Melbourne, at 2.07 this morning after 7 hours of play the Diamond G won a 10.5k ticket and booked himself a place in the Aussie Millions in January.

Happy, no fucking ecstatic and its hard to find words to describe how I feel at the moment, just needed to share my moment of glory with a Poker buddy

mini-Durrrr Challenge

An extremely well written Match Report from a blog that I follow that is simply hilarious, enjoy!

Tommy Angelo on Cash Plays

I haven't read the book yet but Tommy has been on so many pokercasts that it is either excellent or he has a great publicist. Either way, I have picked up a few things listening to him. Recently I discovered that Bart Hansons Deuces Craked podcasts are available on iTunes so I've been listening to them. They are informative and a great advert for the training site. Anyway, he has a 2-part interview with Tommy well worth listening to.

I was reminded of two moments that had a very positive impact on my results on the last two sessions. First was the bucks night home game when I got a bit of stick for dropping a few BIs very early. The best player present announced "You watch, all of those chips will be back over there before the end of the night". Likely or not, it did give me an image that I genuinely hung on to with every winning pot that night for a healthy win.

This takes me to the APPT where you will have read that I crippled us on two of the 40 minute levels; thankfully my partner was on fire and just went on a rampage both times. Just before midnight there would have been 20 something teams left and I was on break readying myself for the next level. We'd built back up and had about 27k with blinds of 600/1200, I think. Average would have been about 30k when two of my friends were leaving and we passed each other. One said to me that there were a lot of big stacks and that we really needed to make a move. My thinking was that our M was almost 20 and we were just below average so we were traveling just nicely. It just came out "Our M is almost 20 so we're still good". It was at this point that I got a knowledgable nod of confirmation from the same player that I respect from the home game above which had an uncanny assurity about it. It was this nod that I pictured on many subsequent decisions that night, not the negativity of the implosion round from two hours before. Tommy talks about exactly this kind of thinking, which was very real and recent for me. For the record, one poker savvy friend has definitely helped me earn $1000 in a week, thanks.

To round out my heater check this out. I guess I got my river bet-sizing perfect as he tanked for the longest time bank I've ever experienced. Happy days ...

APPT Teams Event - Sydney

Just up out of bed and thought that my quick and immediate thoughts are probably more valuable than any hand by hand blow.

Let me start by saying that with two teams from our Invitational qualifier playing that I was very aware when driving in that there was a lot of room for distraction for me and I was keen to keep out of that. I was here to work. I'd also heard on PokerRoad that it is important for live players to get away from poker on the breaks as you can rest the side of the brain that's doing your poker thinking. Seemed like a plan and I was going to try to do that. I did and it kept me focused throughout.

There were 77 Teams that stumped up $1100 each. The Teams Event is a 40 minute level, 8000 starting stack tourney where players alternate every level. On the first level you just get 4000 chips so your partner is guaranteed a hand. I tend to avoid the crazy stuff early unless I have a premium hand. Can you believe that we lost one team, both partners obviously going AI within 40 minutes. My VPIP was 0%, card dead but not concerned at all. Focused on understanding the 5 players to my left. My friend was to my immediate right and I know his game. A T/P lady to his left so all was good. Break came and I took 10 keno tickets and wrote down all that I'd learned. This helped when I sat down next.

Partner lost a few chips missing flops but nothing serious and we had 6500 when I sat down. Next 37 mins, VPIP still 0%. Pocket KK, raise, call, call in front, I re-raise and they all fold. Next hand played out similarly and I'd added to our stack, we're above average.

I then took my break, went to the bathroom, cleared my head, and obviously felt good with the situation. 10mins to go, I walk back to check out the chip stacks and my partner is in a crucial hand. I arrive, he sees me, calls me closer and the board is 5354 mostly red, not sure. He'd beem overbet AI on the Turn and was in the tank a little but didn't look at all concerned. Made the call and almost doubled up when his JJ was facing 77, nice call sir.

Next was my memorable level, mid-way through SB completes and I see a flop with KJs, why raise? Flop was a beautiful AJJ, and softplaying isn't ethical so my check in position was definitely a slowplay. Turn was checked to me and I put in a standard 3000 2/3 pot raise, called. Blank river, so no need to slow down. 5500, called and my set beats his A7, happy days. My friend had dropped 2/3 of his stack which was the only negative.

A few hands later and we're now well above average. UTG with 77, I limp, one raiser, Button calls and I call. Flop 873 and the SB is Sean Keeton a Melbourne pro playing with Tony Hachem, Joe's brother, all sponsered PokerStars players. He leads out and I decide to call hoping for a third stack to come along and maybe even squeeze us. They fold but no problem. Turn comes the Ace and pro fires again, I raise this time for value hoping he has AK/AQ and he calls. River blank, he checks, I bet about 2/3 the pot (which was about 3/4 of his stack) hoping for a call or an AI. He tanked and found what was probably an easy fold. There were 2 hearts out there and I heard him discuss with Tony that he was chasing the Flush, maybe it was the NFD on the Turn. That was the highlight though (which could have gone very wrong as I'm not getting away from it if that heart fell on the river).

Now we're cruising and its a bit of a blur of minor ups and downs for a couple of rounds. My partner is playing exceptionally well and building our stack up nicely. I've definitely gone more nitty cruising toward a cash.

Then we move table and I got the table captain to my left raising 50% of hands. He pounced on my nitty play and everyone elses. He even took out a few big stacks that tried to stand up to him. He wasn't a massive stack but just constantly announced "raise". My Button was neutralised massively. 6 minutes to go and no need to really get involved, I have A9 on the button. I have the SB covered and if I put any sort of a normal raise in the BB will 3-bet me for half my stack. I considered doing this and re-raising AI but I'm sure he would have raced so I thought, why not get it AI and steal the blinds most likely. MISTAKE! SB wakes up with AQ and I lose most of our stack. We're crippled.

Partner comes in and plays mega well to build us up from 4000 to a respectable 17000. I add to it on the next level with a KK double up and another hand. He add on the following level and we're looking good again.

Then my implosion. AA MP, I raise, SB calls. BB calls. Flop K88. SB leads out, BB calls and I go into the tank, I can't be good here. I fold and the SB stacks off with his K against the set. Nice escape. A couple of hands later, late position pocket 10s. Flop K85. BB bully checks, I bet 5000 or so, he CR to 15000. Maybe I push AI here, who knows. Turn blank, he checks. Turn a J, he bets, I fold. It was only 4000 which was suspicious and I could have called, but we had 16k left and my partner can use that a lot more than 12k. Crippled again. Luckily I'm playing with one of the best players in the room in my opinion and he builds us right up again. He had about 7 steals almost in a row that were all folded. We're back.

Before I knew it we were on the bubble. Joe Hachem was on the feature table and attacking the bubble more than 50% of hands. Our table was a lot more passive with an occassional steal. There were even a few walks before the two big stacks picked up the blinds virtually every orbit. Hand for hand lasted the best part of an hour with 3 small stacks doubling up. Then Joe Hachems partner got it AI and called with his KK v TT. T on the flop and Joe Hachem was out. My partner wanted to play with him, but I was happy to ee him gone and we were in the money.

Result, we went out soon after for a modest cash. Most importantly for me, I've maintained my 100% record of cashing live PokerStars events - I'm 4 for 4. This was my biggest buy-in to date so that's all good.

Synopsis, you heard it from my selfish perspective but the truth is that I was the wimp in this team. My partner played incredibly well and if you click on a few blogs, you'll no doubt read his recount soon. (PS There will probably be a lot of typos and inaccuracies but I'm leaving this post as is as it is my genuine recollection of 11 hours of very enjoyable poker from 4pm thru to 3am).

The secret to winning Teams poker for me is to partner with the best player in the room! Thanks partner for making the trip across.

Thoughts on staking amongst friends

MBB asked “hey there, i have never considered staking someone … do you just do it because he is a friend, or because you think he has a significant edge over the field, and therefore 5% of entry is more likely to return a profit over the long run?”

He is a friend, he didn’t have a significant edge and as the funds came out of my BR, I was certainly in it to return a profit. Unfortunately, I won’t live long enough for the long run on this one so it was more like taking a shot that doesn’t hurt my ability to play the stakes that I enjoy playing right now. Let me expand …

For the record, and for the foreseeable future, I will be open to anyone staking me anytime with the exception of our Friday night home game which is just giving up too much EV, lol. Even if you come across this post in a few years time when I’m playing full-time (dreaming again), drop me a note and I’ll probably give you a piece of my action.

Btw I offer 50% of that game to my daughter every week and she always says no saying that she’ll jinx me. I’m not sure if it is superstition, as she’s very logical, or just not wanting to change something that’s working. On second thoughts, she probably realises that she can manipulate me into risk free cash almost any time for the cost of a short lecture.

At the moment, I believe that I would be +EV in any PLO live tourney up to a couple of hundred dollars. Basically, one that attracts recreational players and not worth it for the pros. I don't always want to stump up the full BI and will happily sell off a piece to reduce variance. And that is what my friend decided to do.

He is an extremely good player and he makes his living out of poker (not all playing) so I guess that he's a professional, of sorts. I’ve seen him run over lots of tables and always puts people on decisions. He’d proven his credentials to a degree by winning a live Satellite at Star City to the Main Event. Now, the Main Event is a big step up. The ticket was worth $6300 and he was looking to lock in up to 50% of that in cash to enter a couple of preliminary events. The sweetener that he added was a free 5% of his $1650 PLO BI. Essentially $400 for $315 investment, if he’s neutral EV. I thought that he was close and it give me an interest in the tourney. Obviously, I needed him to go deeper to get the entertainment value of railing him near the money for it to have paid off. Even having done my dosh, I’m comfortable with the decision and know others that I would take a piece of.

My preferred scenario would obviously to build my roll a bit more and swap pieces, probably 5%, for entertainment value and reducing variance slightly. Basically, the utility of a slight win when you bust out of a tourney is presumably worth more than giving up the equivalent dollar value when you make a score and are happy anyway. Again, I’ll review this when I’m handing over Joe Cada type cash.

APPT staking update

My first foray into staking. I have a 5% stake in one of the APPT participants. He'd thrown in the PLO as a sweetener where I thought that he may run well as there aren't many that play locally. Alas, the $1650 buy in was obviously prohibitive to the recreational players and just over 50 players started out. With that many PokerStars sponsored players in town, the field was always going to be strong.

He had Eric Assadourian, Toothpick Tony, Van Tran, Lee Nelson and a few other pros at his table so wasn't looking goood. He did manage to double his stack, get sucked out on the river for most of his stack, build up again from crippled and get it AI questionably to finally exit after several hours of top class experience.

On to the Main Event where he played Day 1A yesterday. I got a call around 6pm to say that he was on an unscheduled break. Bugga, a euphimism for Busto. But not quite, as Pokernews reports "The big story of the day came not from the actual play of poker. A fight broke out between Mark Ericksen, who was playing in the high roller event, and an unknown man not participating in anything. There was an unscheduled, lengthy pause while things got settled and the tournament staff resolved the issues." It turns out that it was quite the biffo with the tattoo'd unknown getting by far the better of the action. Not helped of course by Star City Security restrining the victim. Altercation was non poker-related and when the dust settled the room was re-opened. Definitely bad Feng Shui about this room imo.

Anyway, my horse went back into battle and I haven't had an update since. My sister always says that no news is good news, so woo hoo! My turn on Friday in the Teams Event with a fellow blogger, wish us luck.

UPDATE: Text just arrived "Sry guys i busted out last night. Flopped 2 pr, 10 j raise re-raise all in against qk, river 9".

Reminds me of an earlier hand but with a few more outs, "Casino Royale - Tony "Bond18" Dunst got all in on a flop of JsTc4s for a 60,000-chip pot with one opponent. Dunst held KsQs for a straight draw and a flush draw while his opponent held JcTs for top two pair.

The turn was the 9c, giving Dunst his straight and leaving his opponent drawing to a full house. The river was the 7c and completed the board. That pot moved Dunst up to 85,000 chips.