Poker Career Down Under

Hardest way to make easy money

2010-09-07T17:40:00.002+10:00

All that is old is new again. I'm sure that if I read the old words of wisdom around no point in being the 10th best player at the table when the other 9 are also there hold truer than ever. I've never practiced game selection because I felt that I needed to train at altitude and the micro stakes don't hurt too bad. I enjoy live poker and the internet is increasingly where I train.

Well, this week I had the opportunity to play in the Sydney Champs where the PLO Event was a $770 buy in. It was very steep in my opinion and that was reflected in the turnout with only 38 entries. For me, having a quality event on my doorstep seemed worth the shot eventhough I would be massively -ve EV in such a small field. Sure enough a who's who of the casino regulars and the tournament pros showed up, minus the very best Lisandro, Assadourian etc. Surprisingly, I found the quality of play to be aggressive but not necessarily well timed at all. Problem is, like pub poker, one of them always wins and accumulates chips. With only 4 getting paid this became a real issue for me. I managed to increase my stack consistently but with 19 left I was on average and then with only 13 I felt like I was getting short. I then decided to take a stand with a flopped NFD which was a mathematically poor decision in the context of the hand but 3-way was a chance to get me back to where I could play PLO. Needless to say, I missed and was history. I felt that I was very aware and able to hold my own so roll on next year (hopefully with a smaller buy in and a bigger field).

In summary, only the top 5% make money and I'm just not there at the moment. The effort to get there is detrimental to other aspects of my life so I may need to retreat to the comfort of being above average and not much more.

Rush poker fan

2010-07-29T15:36:00.002+10:00

Never would've believed that I'd say it, but I am a big fan of PLO Rush Poker. May still be enjoying a honeymoon period, but I think that it is particularly well suited to PLO where nitty is of limited value.

If you'd like to get a sense of what its like when you are running good at Rush, watch this video.

For the record ...

2010-07-14T10:25:00.002+10:00

Nothing startling from a poker perspective. Live games are still going well despite two losing sessions that were more than compensated for by a number of winning sessions, including the casino.

Online, I had a +AIEV session that resulted in a big downswing in actual winnings and further dented my online roll, stepping me back down another level. Coincidentally, it happened at the same time that FTP were starting Rush Week, so I moved over and found a few dollars lying dormant that I invested in microstakes Rush. Ran good for a couple of thousand hands and thought that I'd found my new home. Then, as per online poker history, my stats probably caught up with me and I found myself going down to the same extent. So I'm break-even two days into Rush week having accumulated silver status points.

General mindset ... I still think that my game is improving and that my offline results are where I want them to be. All credit for that must go to my online experience and the thought processes that that stimulates. I still have a long way to go to the point where Bart Hanson's observations are second nature.

I'm off to Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane on business soon so I'll get to play a few more casino hours and meet interesting locals as usual. Watch this space.

Online too tough?

2010-06-23T15:10:00.001+10:00

Thought of the day: I have stats on 65k PLO .25/.50 players and yet when I last sat down at a table no-one was in my database. How many people play online poker? And since there aren’t that many good players, why can’t I win? Am I really that “not cut out for this game”?

I’ve been without the luxury of HEM for a few days. I had the offer of a new work computer so I’ve decided to keep the old one as a dedicated poker laptop. That freed up disk space on C: by letting me delete my Outlook Data files and suddenly I had over 1GB free again. So I immediately started unpacking my PTR downloads and let HEM load them. I was sent over 1m hands for free which is more than 24 hours of database loading, in theory. Before long, C: was full again. HEM DB had grown to 6GB. A quick FAQ search and I moved it to D: (the step by step was excellent). Problem encountered where I could no longer talk to the DB because of firewalls or something. Again, adventurous step by steps into Windows registries and services and before I knew it, I was up, running and loading again. The HUD fails to work tho’ when you’re loading 1m hands. That finished overnight so I’m looking forward to a couple of hours of PTR-assisted play this evening. Wish me luck.

Playing a lot less poker than when I went overseas. Just trying to have poker have less of an impact on the family. That said, Monday and Tuesday nights are chick TV nights and I did find myself fire up for a couple of sessions. I’ve been running bad at PLO, but it is just such an enjoyable form of poker that I am still keen to get to the stage where I can hold my own at meaningful levels. I’ve given up on mastering any form of poker having experienced the rapid rise in the PLO standard (everyone else’s) over the last 6 months. The best are extremely good and the average table at the small stakes seems just a little beyond me for now. It’s a young single persons game. I do post winning sessions and my AIEV shows that I am running extremely bad, but I know that there is more to it than that. I think that I’m still using NLHE lines when trappier passive pre-& check/raising-post and plain old aggro ram&jam styles might be the go. Still a work in progress.

Poker Long Weekend

2010-06-15T17:07:00.000+10:00

Our Friday night home game featured the toughest line-up that we’ve ever had and a competitive tough game was had, me being a modest loser for one buy-in, right on the last hand. I was 75c down when I flopped 2-pair and we got it AI against a bigger 2-pair. It happens. No big deal, but, I was running 21 out of 28 winning sessions and was keen to win $1 in that hand, just wasn’t to be. The host introduced two house rules which psychologically helped the game run much more like a casino game – no rabbit hunting and no talking about a hand if not involved. The fine for the occasional miscreant was contributing a couple of dollars into the next pot.

My next outing was a significant buy-in tourney at Star City Casino. I always seem to be seated at a tough table including always sat with Kiwi G at my table, a well-regarded old-time local pro who is a real gentleman. This time he was on my immediate right and to be honest it is something that I love about poker, the ability to be seated at a mini-legend. It’s amazing to watch and learn as he calls a flop bet OOP and instantly seizes the initiative. He and Luca to his right were certainly co-table captains running up against a single foe who held his own.

I built my stack a little before my AA got cracked by 44. MP raised and I re-raised from the CO and we were heads up to the flop of K84r. He was relatively shortstacked with 4000 in front so I bet 1900 to induce the AI which duly came and I called instantly as it was part of the plan. Needless to say his flopped set held up. I was now a shorty and with the Antes kicking in, the opportunity arose with 4 $200 limpers to shove AI for $3000 with the highly speculative A5s to capture $1000 on a fold or get lucky for a double up. Surprisingly only caller had 78s, flop came A78, turned a 5 to re-take the lead and rivered an A, I’m back in action at almost average stack. A welcome table break and in the first orbit I’m dealt AA with 4 limpers, shoved and didn’t get a single caller. Very next hand, 3 limpers and I’m dealt KK. Let’s go ith the crazy image and shove again. One caller with AQs who flopped an A and rivered an A, and I’m gone. Was obviously disappointed but only very little which I think is a good sign. Unemotional poker in terms of being results oriented and tilting is probably a very good thing.

Off to the $200 cash table and I booked a $100 profit before having noodles with a friend at Fat Noodle (highly recommended) and then back for more action at a crazy table with 3 pub players and 4 regulars. The regs must’ve been card dead or just lying in wait to stack of the pubbies but it wasn’t to be. The pubbies hit cards after cards until the lady had $500 in front and the young guy had about $1700. They’d inflicted a lot of damage hitting flush, sets and Full houses with incredible regularity. Then the final hand ensued. Blinds $5/$5. 3 limpers and SB checks. BB with big stack makes it $65 to go. Everyone folds to lady who calls on the Button. Flop comes 2 hearts, Q high - Check, Check. Turn brings a 3rd heart and a possible straight. Young guy leads out for $170 and lady calls. River is a non-heart A which doesn’t really change too much (you’d think). Young guy bets $250 and pub lady calls. Young guy shows AK and lady mucks. Table looks on in disbelief and salivates. I’d said that 10pm would be my limit and had to go 10 minutes later. I’m sure that I’ll hear that the $2k was redistributed around the table not long after.

The warped humour of the poker Gods

2010-06-09T18:05:00.002+10:00

Listening to the 2+2 Pokercast and they were making fun of Mike's success at the Double or Nothing SnGs. Being good at a game where you fold 94% of hands. Mmmm ... that might be good for my new found cascade multi-tabling. I could be the next Havad Khan?

Anyway, ran on average over about 15 of them winning 7.5 when I had the funniest one ever today. Got sucked out on AI when I flopped top set and got called by a naked 2NFD. No worries, it happens. Then, I'm still there with 15 chips. OK. I was card dead for an orbit so played my BB and flopped 2pair that held up. SB, same thing. Waited an orbit and won both blinds again, tripling up on one. Before I know it I get dealt AAQJds and UTG pots it, I repot and were AI with the 75/150 blinds as dead money. It was a 3000 chip pot and the flop comes a beautiful A. Turn blank and river the dreaded heart that gave my opponent a flush. I've read this story before, this time I'm gone.

Commerce Trip Report

2010-06-07T17:30:00.001+10:00

It has been a surreal month for me and I’m looking forward to getting back to some normality which is the first time that I’ve ever felt like that after travelling overseas. 5 weeks is way too long to be away from your family, even if you are with other family on the other side of the world. I really enjoyed pottering around at home with my father who has an incredible sense of humour. Before I left, we went shopping for a new Samsung LED TV for him so he’s all set for the World Cup now. Unfortunately for those of us living Down Under, the games are played in the middle of the night.

After leaving Ireland, I headed for a wedding in New Jersey which went like clockwork. The majority of the preparations had been done in advance so it was all very relaxed in the few days of the lead up. Lots of meals out didn’t do anything for the waistline though and I’m not sure that poker is the best pursuit for shifting that either. No poker was had in New Jersey, but a quick goggle search would indicate that there is a healthy ‘home game’ scene there.

The poker highlight of my trip was to LA where I was lucky enough to stay at the Commerce Casino. They have a Crowne Plaza upstairs which is actually very, very good, I thought. Spacious, clean room with free high speed wifi. I’d read and heard so much about the Commerce that I was really looking forward to seeing if it is as good/bad as they say. The 2+2 threads would indicate that an hour or two of good behaviour at a table is running like God. I’d have to agree. I’d consider myself pretty tolerant of a wide range of playing styles and behaviours but the Commerce certainly pushes the boundaries. Dealer abuse is common place and I saw cards thrown at the dealer 3 times. At Hawaiian Gardens (the Gardens, as they like to be called now) I seen the most amazing incident. We were playing $3/$6 Limit PLO8 which is played with racks of $1 chips. A huge hand ensued and a bluff was attempted on the river when there was no qualifying low, by a self-described gypsy who was casting curses on anyone that dared win a hand against him. Anyway, mild-mannered Chinese man in his 60s calls with pocket 77s and wins. Lightest hero call I’ve ever seen given the board that was out there. He scoops and the gypsy reaches into the middle of the table and splashes the pot toward him. He then gets up from Seat 7, walks around to Seat 1, reaches over and humourlessly knocks the old guys chip tower over. He then proceeds to go back to Seat 1 and ask the Chip Runner for a reload and plays on. I understand that this is an extreme version of what appears to be accepted (as opposed to acceptable) behaviour in LA. I could go on and on about what I encountered. The Hustler and the Bicycle Club weren’t any different.

For me the experience lived up to its reputation and I’d happily play at all of those casinos again because variety is the spice of life. I would certainly stop short of recommending them to anyone else. FWIW, my experience in San Francisco Card Rooms was entirely opposite, so it isn’t a Californian thing. As for results, I fared poorly except for my last session where I played a $40, yip $40, buy in $1/$2 NLH game. I’d read about it and again it lived up to its expectation. It’s an AI fest with half the table sitting on $300+ stack. It was my last day before flying out and I cashed out for 3 racks of chips to bring me close to even for LA. If I lived there I’m sure that I could beat the game because table selection would be so much easier and represent a massive advantage.

For the record, the most enjoyable places for me to play live poker in order are home games, Las Vegas, Dublin, Melbourne, Banbridge, London and San Francisco. Given its population Perth Burswood has done very well. The bottom of the list has got to be Star City Sydney for the rake, Macau for the smoking and LA for the worst behaved player pool by far.

Online update is that my game of cleaning up my losing HEM levels hiccupped at 25c/50c where I am struggling to claw back my modest PLO and PLO8 losses. Maybe that is my true level at the moment although the sample size is very small. I have been distracted again though … as I was sitting at LAX ready to fly back to Australia I decided to try Cascading my Tables as opposed to Tiling. Surprisingly, I much preferred it and ran pretty good. I played NLH 10c/20c for the experiment. Posted a win with ease. Since arriving home, I’ve fired up for just one session but again it went well. With Tiled tables, I max out at between 4 and 6 tables. With Cascading, I was comfortably 10-tabling FR and I’m sure that I could have added another 2 with ease. If you haven’t tried it, give it a go.

Travelling quite well

2010-05-20T09:35:00.002+10:00

I'm very fortunate to be travelling at the moment for a month. I had one week with work in Germany, followed by Ireland and the States. Thanks to the ash cloud, the trip was a little longer than usual having had to travel via Hong Kong.

Germany has to go down as my least successful poker destination. I broke even with a grand total of break-even. Basically the only game was in a smoking room off a 10-pin bowling alley and I passed on that experience tyvm.

Ireland is very well served with card clubs and I've shown a modest profit s far. The Fitzwilliam is probably my favourite card club in the world, apart from my Friday night home game. I almost bubbled their tourney getting my money in with AQ when I called an AJ shove from a short stack in early position. Alas, the BB woke up with TT and came over the top and I called. A J on the flop and they shared my money. Downstairs, my first hand was A88 and with pocket 8s I had to contain myself as first to act went AI and MP then shoved AI over the top. Happy days, triple up to 450 Euro. I had another few lucky hands, dropped some profit before finishing strongly for a 380 Euro profit on the night.

The Banbridge Bridge Club is not enjoying the best of times at present. Numbers are down and the atmosphere is nowhere near what it used to be. Quite sad really as it was a poker oasis in the North of Ireland. Hopefully it will improve but at present it seems to be limping along. I have always had concerns about playing bigger stakes to provide the buzz of a big win. The Bridge Club always seemed to be playing at stakes above the local economy and I'm not sure that they didn't break the recreational players. I fared wuite well, bubbling a S&G while we waited for the main event which I came 3rd out of 30, followed by a great cash game, only 4 handed. Another live win.

I'm playing very confidently these days and my modest losses online are really inconsequential compared with my live winnings. The experience of thousands of hands provides a big advantage over the purely live folks. It amazes me how many of them refuse to play online for a variety of reasons from fixed, boredom, not real poker etc. In my opinion, it is a big mistake to close your mind to any opportunity to improve.

And so to my modest losses. I have tilted off a bit of money on a few sessions. My game has improved a lot of late and I am trying to play a LAGgier style of PLO than I used to. It goes well for a period but when I lose, I tend to lose big (relative to my bankroll). I have been successfully dropping down in stakes and grinding back up again. I scored two cashes out of 4 SCOOP attempts that helped maintain my roll.

Currently I am playing a little bit of a game with myself. I have been multitabling up to PLO100 which given my results is clearly above my abilities but is helping me improve at the game. I looked at my HEM performance by stake and realised that there are a number of levels that I didn't beat on the way up. So I started picking off each level where I lost and was determined to turn it around with bring myself into the black. It's funny how even 1c/2c when given relevance can become serious stuff. The relevance for me is that I won't get to collect my Stars reload bonus if I don't build up my stake levels. Thankfully, I am up to 10c/25c PLO8 at this stage and the points are starting to accumulate again. Unfortunately, having turned around 4 or 5 losing levels, I am struggling with this one for now. Playing way too loose. I guess its better to be losing at what are relatively insignificant stakes.

So that's whats been happening this month. My next update should include a report from the Commerce which I am really looking forward to.

Yip ... winning feels good!

2010-04-27T21:23:00.003+10:00

So my friend and I entered the ANZPT Teams Event on Sunday. The entry was a modest $550 per team and my partner was all psyched up. I on the other hand must confess that I was a little blasé about the whole thing. After a couple of hours of treading water from our 6k starting stack, I'd played 1 hand in almost 3 blind levels and my partner had played about 8, up and down. Luckily a few spots came up to steal a few pots near the end of an orbit and we had scraped together 7100 when the blinds hit 200/400. Then everything came together ...

Jim was on the button mid-level with about 4BBs left and shoved on an unraised pot with QTo. BB wakes up with an A and calls. T hits on the river and we aren't out! A couple of hands later, he doubles up. His JJ survived an inocuous looking flop of 227r. Only problem was that opponent had 23o. Thankfully justice prevailed when the J fell on the Turn which he flat-called and then called the river AI.

Then a couple more hands and UTG he puts in a min-raise. UTG+1 goes AI with a short stack only to be followed by UTG+2 with an AI to isolate with his AK. Folds around to Jim who thinks for a nano-second before shoving with his AA. His little tap to break the inertia had set off a very lucrative snowball effect and we tripled up! Happy days, we're suddenly well above average with 30 something left out of a field of 96, I think.

Breathe deeply and go back to solid play. A few spots came up and to be honest for the rest of the evening almost all of our hands held up AK vs AJ, JJ vs TT etc. We were getting our money in good and the hands were holding. We sat on 57k for the longest time as the field went from 18 to 12 ever so slowly, maybe 2 hours. Then on my break I went for a stroll to keep fresh when I receive a Text "Better come back, sry". I then tried to practice my best false smile and trite "Don't worry about it" lines. Sure enough the final table was forming and Jim was standing up. Then I noticed, cradled securely was the 57k intact. With 600k in circulation, we were average stacked going into the final table with blinds of 2k/4k.

We were happy with our guaranteed $1k payout and then just looked to climb the ladder a couple of rungs or get lucky. Well lady luck was shining and a couple of runners fell by the wayside. With $500 increments we were up to a massive (for us) $2k payout. Now we were freerolling. The final table played out 1 orbit each. I sat down one time and shoved KQs from MP, no callers. Partner believes that wasn't in the script. Very next hand, the most active annoying stealer leads out with 17k. I look down at A9o and decided to 3-bet as he can't always have the goods, everyone folds and suddenly we're running level 2nd in chips. Then a couple more drop out and we find ourselves 4-way. As the others had doubled up, we're now shortstacked again.

With 3 equal stacks, surprisingly, we wielded the biggest threat for a couple of orbits with our potentially damaging AIs. Then before we know it, we're up in the running again without a showdown. Our hands continued to hold up until we were Heads Up with last year's ANZPT Player of the Year Runner Up, Chris Levick and his wife Danette (the TV dealer). They were undoubtedly the best team in the Event and I'll be honest, very intimidating. Chris was raising nearly every hand from the SB to 55k with 4k/8k blinds. I decided to do the same as did our partners. I was surprised at not facing a small ball approach because I thought that a coinflip suited us. Then came the crucial hand, Chris raises AI from the SB, clearly a hand that he's happy to get it in the middle with. I look at the first card, Kc. I comment "halfway there". Then squeeze out a delightful 2nd K. I CALL! Board runs out something, who cares. A $6k blank, blank, blank. And then the very surreal moment of realising that we were indeed ANZPT Teams Event Champions.

It's still a little surreal. So much so that it was almost 12 hours later that I even realised the value of the blank board. From 4th place, they were just chips, pot sized bets and a desire to come first. Even drinking beers with our friends at 3am on Monday morning in Star City, the money jumps in the top 3 places weren't considered or discussed. We had the title, the trophy and of course 75 pristine unused $100 notes each. The $40 extra was already converted into Stella Artois.

Winning feels good and tastes good!

PS Star City did an excellent job of running the entire series extremely well despite the above gorund dungeon that is the poker room these days. And a big shoutout to Pokerstars who sponser these affordable poker tours. This amateur got to play heads up with a formidable foe - thank you Pokerstars. Maybe now I can learn How to Play 8 Game Mix and How to Play Badugi too.

My final shoutout may sound corny but Mike and Adam at the 2+2 Pokercast deserve a lot of the credit for our win. We've listened to every episode including the original BigPoker.ca ones and had visualised being at a final table many times. We'd heard so many pros describe the experience of every stage so often, its like we had been there. When we got there we'd already rehearsed the future. especially the heads up combat. Thanks guys ... you're the nutz.

Winning feels good ... or so they tell me.

2010-04-22T11:06:00.004+10:00

Ah well, my ANZPT run is almost at an end. Just the fun run Teams Event to go. The Deep Stack Event was even shorter lived with a very early bath. Didn't even see the Button. BB in Seat 7, 11 handed. Internet kid in Seat 1 had 80% VPIP and 60% PFR, after 5 hands. I'm UTG with AKs. No need to go broke on a draw. Limped around. Flop comes Tc7c2d. Happy days, NFD and 2 overs. No need to go broke on a draw. Check, check, internet kid makes it 300 to go. Passive lady calls. Old guy (me) makes it 1200 happy to take it down. Fold, Internet kid makes it 2600. Bugga that wasn't in the script. Could he be making a move. Sure he could ... but then again maybe not. Are my two overs probably not. Let's assume that he has a set, I'm drawing pretty thin - 36%? Will I find better spots with my 4800 if I fold. Probably. Good enough to win, maybe not. How much did the tourney cost - $300. I'd seen this guy play PLO the night before for thousands. It's like a freeroll to him. Bugga ... go hard or go home. Sure enough 77 for a set. Turn came a K and the river a 9 with no clubs. Didn't even get to play my button.

Luckily, I was first on the list for the cash tables which soon had a 2-hour wait. I like playing when a new table opens and everyone has the same stack. We had about 6 AIs in the first 2 orbits and suddenly the $1/$2 table was playing relatively deep for Star City. I was card dead for a couple of hours and treaded water. A couple of big hands approaching tea time let me pocket a small profit before the dinner break. 40 mins and I come back at the start of the list but back to my $100 BI as a short stack at a lively deep table. Pleased to report a few hours of trappy limping later I walked away with $600.

A win for the day overall, but somehow didn't replace the feeling of exiting the ANZPT. I showed discipline in not entering either of the remaining two mega-satellites. I had a qualification plan going in and this wasn't my year.

Experiential learning. Having thought through my two early exits rationally for some time now I absolutely know the answer to the question, would you risk all of your chips in the first hand of the WSOP with AA preflop? I've always said that I would, but now I know without doubt that I snap call ... even a 9-way AI. Until next time ...

Quick ANZPT update

2010-04-20T10:13:00.002+10:00

I had an early exit from Event 1 last Thursday not even making it to the first break. AQo when the flop came AJ5r. I check/min-raised to take it down on the flop but got re-min-raised. Mega alarm bells. Turn comes a Q. I bet, he min-raises so I decide to go with it hoping for the AJ or AK. I can't put him on 55 or AA because he called pre-flop. Sure enough, he had the dreaded JJ ... gooooone.

Yesterday was a lot better, just missing out on the money. 12th out of 99 in the PLO, final table get paid. I was just under average stack at the time. With A787ds in BB, flop came 69T, so I had the nuts (sounds good) but with 2 hearts out there, no redraw (very vulnerable multiway in PLO). Blinds are 500/1000, I had 33,000 chips. I potted to 6000 but got re-raised AI to be pot committed and shoved hoping to hold on with slight edge and go 3rd in chips. In fact, I was in better shape as the shove was a fishy 9TJK for top 2-pair and a gutshot. With 75% equity, I quickly went to 0% when Q fell on the Turn. Ah well, played well and just missed out.

Should I have folded my way into the money? With $5.5k for 1st and $575 for 10th, I think that the answer is possibly "no", but I'm open to comment. What I should have done though was check OOP and it might have been checked around. Then I can get away when the Q flops and someone pots it. Assuming the top 2-pair pots it, this becomes a more interesting spot. What should I do in this scenariodo you think?

Another experiential learning experience under my belt, I'm looking forward to the Tony Haschem Deep Stack today. At $330 for a Bounty Tourney with 30 minute blinds its another good value tournament. Hats off to PokerStars for backing the ANZPT.

ANZPT Event 1 - short lived

2010-04-16T09:10:00.002+10:00

Reflective of my short lifespan in Event 1, I'll restrict my update to a very disappointing single hand. Starting stack 10k, dropped to 9k, clawed back to 11k, elderly gentleman joins table with 15k to my left, guy to my right says watch this guy bleed off his chips. Sure enough, his 15k was soon 7k.

I get dealt AQs UTG+1. Had been relatively tight to this point and with blinds of 50/100 I made it 600 to go. Only 1 caller, elderly gentleman to my left. Flop AJ5r. Decided to get a few extra chips, so checked, gentleman bets 600 and I min-raise to 1200 expecting to take it down. He min-re-raises to 1800, I call. Bugga, he has a strong hand, probably AK or AJ but maybe a set. Turn brings a Q, happy days.

At this point, Dan Harrington is ringing in my ears. He says that it is worth taking chances earlier against fish because the chips are easier to get off them than it will be later from the shark who would otherwise end up with his chips. So I bet 1800. He raised to 4000 which was effectively AI and I pushed in the rest to put him AI. Needless to say, I was crippled when he showed me JJ.

An hour later, I'd doubled up with a nice squeeze play, gone AI against a shortstack QQ vs AA and very next hand decided to push what little I have left in the middle with 44 to find consecutive AA and exit stage left. All in all, very disappointing.

Stepping back, I have been running good and am now even more revved up for the PLO Event on Monday.

Two semi-interesting spots late at night and tired.

2010-04-14T12:12:00.002+10:00

I hope that I haven’t used up all of my good luck just before the ANZPT which starts here in Sydney tomorrow, because I ran pretty well last night. My first outing was our local pub league which has introduced a $55 High Rollers Event on a Tuesday night. I was leading the Skill Leaderboard (Main Leaderboard includes multiple other donkaments that I don’t play in) as I play infrequently but have been lucky enough to win twice this month. Last night, I played pretty solid to get into second with 24 runners. Heads up was short when I shoved with TT second hand to a limp and was insta-called by JJ, relatively equal in chips. Ten on the flop was definitely very welcome and provided for the usual groans from the gallery only to be subsumed by the cheering that accompanied the J on the river. Best hand won, no complaints.

Then the action really began with a last minute home game arranged. 9 runners turned up and all bought $100 stacks to play 50c/$1 blinds and casino rules. Long story short, the bet sizing was pretty aggressive. $5 was a common initial bet, 3-bets to $16 weren’t uncommon and there was probably an AI clash every 1 to 2 orbits. I lost my first stack when my 77 ran into 9T on an 78J board on the 4th hand. No cooler here, to be honest, I was lucky not to be in a set over set scenario given the play. $25 in middle, $10, $10, I limp knowing I’m ahead of these two and happy to keep it 3-way, internet kid makes it $35 I think, fold, fold and I shoved my other $65 hoping to pair the board because getting a double stack early in these home games has its own implied equity, I think. Against this particular player I am always up against 9T, JJ or 88 here which I knew at the time. We ran it out 3 times and he won all 3. Replaying the decision in my head, it should have been an easy fold and just topped up.

Fast forward to last 5 hands of the evening and I’ve given over 1 hour notice of my departure time 2am at which point I declared 2 more orbits with a $250 stack from a $200 buy in. UTG and UTG+1 are both loose and straddled $5 and $10. First to act folds and I’ve got A8s. Seems like a reasonable isolating hand on the short stacked re-straddler (or pick up $17) so I make it $50. Folded around and we do indeed get HU as he chucks in $50 to call. Flop misses me as expected but I’m in position. LAG counts his remaining stack $63 and puts it in the middle AI. Across the table says “you’re sick, you haven’t even looked yet”. LAG says that he has, but it’s obvious to me that he probably hasn’t. I replayed my peripheral vision as best I could in my head and sure enough I was 100% sure that he hadn’t. Without running a simulator – do you think that I should call in this spot knowing that his range is a random hand?

Needless to say given that I’m running good, I won the hand and now find myself a couple of hands later with $355 in 5 neat piles ready for cashing out. Last hand, pocket AA. Happy days (maybe). I threw in my spare $5 to even up my stack and tempt someone to try and take Caro up on his advice, paraphrasing, “make them break their psychologically locked in chips to confirm real strength or force marginal hands to fold”. Alas, no-one raised and I’m 4-way to the flop, OOP. KJ7r, could be better, could be worse. I now have 4 piles and took the half pile of $50 and over-bet the pot to find out where I was at. Fold, fold, other loose player from before, call! Bugga, I’m now none the wiser, probably ahead to top pair. Turn 9s, now the TQ gets there and a back door flush draw appears. Ah well, if I check, he bets always. So as we’re both deep, this may be a bet/re-evaluate situation. This particular player, I’m probably getting it in if he shoves but I’ll factor in reads. What can only be described as a tentative suspicious call could have been worse, could have been better again. A 2h blank on the river was very welcome, but now what to do? $200 in front, $500 in the pot. Biggest hand of the night, very last hand. AA on a board of KdJc7d9s2h. What do you recommend and why?

Online : The training ground for live

2010-04-13T16:34:00.003+10:00

Long ago, I realised that I would never make it as an online pro. Thankfully, I've been able to comfort myself with the challenge of staying a winning player, even if it is only a few dollars. Then came PLO and I ran good early (as I've since found out). These days, I am struggling to keep my head above water at PLO100 but just managing too which has always been my goal. Still waiting for the influx of new players to the game which seems to be more of a trickle and the more experienced players. I must say that the standard has got noticeably better over the last 6 months and the CardRunner-type 3-bet aggression has well and truly come to the fore after what was a very passive old school style until recently at the lower stakes.

What has improved with PLO is my thinking about poker in general and this has undoubtedly help improve my offline play. My home games continue to be lucrative beyond what I think can be considered positive variance. That said, the number of hands I will play live in my lifetime is unlikely to exceed the 100k that is needed to be confident in PLO of being a winning player.

I dipped my toes back into pub poker with better results. If you can't beat them, join them, so I take a lot more aggressive lines early in the tourney. Go hard or go home. Luckily, Ive been running good when it matters.

I invested ($12) in Poker Income for my iPhone to track my Live results and the graph is very positive indeed. In BB/100 it is probably well over 100 for the last 60 hours of record keeping. My roll is up to the point where I can comfortably go to the casino within my BR and drop a few BIs if need be and reload. Not playing with scared money is very liberating indeed.

Finally, I am looking forward to the ANZPT which rolls into Sydney this week. I've registered for 3 x $330 tourneys at this stage. Will be disappointed if I get sucked out on early in the PLO, otherwise, I'm just going to give it my best shot to win the $2200 required for a Main Event ticket. Fingers crossed.

Mixed up online poker tournaments

2010-03-24T10:06:00.003+11:00

The surreal non-union marketeer plot could be watched from the Permanent Onlooker Unit, overlooking the Permanent Inner Lookout.

Sheepishly he sat sat there in his dressing gown, playing his unrepentant kimono role with his unrepentant merino look and permanent inner outlook. With every pot won, his Sisters of Mercy caoch displayed restrained poker nun mentor elation.

Phil Hellmutt, the newly signed Onion poker mule entrant, knew the value of umpteen notional kroner in an online poker tournament of this magnitude. However, without his hole card view, the power of his crazy chip was gone as his penultimate neon kronor fell to Mike and Adam's goading. "Look, Reunion Entrapment" they screamed as he was felted.

It just goes to show that online poker nouns matter as much as innovation in viral marketing where souls are souled!

Luck vs Skill - poker provides the ultimate balance

2010-02-23T10:23:00.006+11:00

In Australia, we have a game called Two-up that is played on ANZAC Day in memory of the Diggers that fought in Gallipoli in Turkey during World War 1. The game was extremely popular with the troops and was simply a case of having a spinner that would toss two or three coins with everyone around in a circle placing bets with each other on Heads or Tails (a tie was a respin). That's gambling and it's purest and was extremely popular with large sums wagered. In theory, no-one had an advantage or a disadvantage.

Now let's look at Chess. The best player almost always wins. Hence, you run out of opponents willing to play for money pretty quickly in your local neighbourhood if you are World Champion.

Backgammon, is a game of skill whereby the dice "deceives" less capable players in the short term into thinking that there is more luck involved in the game than skill. Over the long run though, the skill element comes to the fore and the best players bubble up to the top. That said, the losing players often extract so much enjoyment from the game that it can far outweigh any modest loses that they make.

But how much skill is there in poker? It's easy to learn but impossible to master with an enormous amount of applied knowledge required if you are committed to reaching the top of the pyramid; which is why poker is clearly a game of skill.

In my opinion, the ideal combination of skill and luck exists. As for the most important skill? Without a doubt, game selection. Invest with your head, not over it. If you are a losing player, try dropping to 1c/2c and working your way up when you KNOW that you are winning at any particular level. You'll be very surprised how difficult it is to win at even these levels but the experience will serve you well at every subsequent level.

Crazy Chip

2010-02-22T23:07:00.002+11:00

Dedicated to everyone who has posted a hand history or a graph on 2+2 ... enjoy!

Variance - love it or hate it?

2010-02-22T09:32:00.005+11:00

PLO VARIANCE IS BRUTAL! From being on top of the world in terms of my poker results, I played a series of sessions where my AI EV line stayed positive but my bankroll took a severe hit. I handed back almost 50% of my recent gains in a couple of big hands where I got my money in good.

Thankfully last night I arrested the slide with my confidence pretty low. I won a big hand 3-way for $250 in a FR PLO100 game and then a few hands later won another stack when we both got it in with AA** and I hit my flush. Less than an orbit later, I had the nuts on the Turn when an idiot str8 filled and I got potted into. It was such a confusing board, it took me a second to confirm I had the nutz before shoving. He folded which was emotionally confusing for me. I knew I had the nuts so I want a call, right? Nope, logically if he calls we tie on that board so the fold was way better.

HEM and experience are helping me ride what is an unbelievable emotional rollercoaster. If you are going to concentrate on PLO I strongly suggest keeping a close eye on AIEV to keep tabs on how you are really playing. For me it is a wake up call that after a couple of years of trying hard not to be results oriented, it is very much a work in progress. Also, I had become fairly objective and unemotional to results but after a brutal stretch I found myself cursing my luck.

Taking a few steps back, it is clear that in the live arena, it will be virtaully impossible for the wave of players transitioning to PLO to really know if they are long term winning players or not for many, many years. Needless to say, 95% of us won't be. An opportunity well worth pursuing for those of us that missed the heady days of Party Poker in 2003.

PS Another thanks to Jeff Hwang, when I was struggling, I was still very confident that I was playing solidly thanks to his clear guidance on how to play. It really does help if you're trying to knuckle down and grind.

A big thank you to Jeff Hwang

2010-02-16T23:11:00.003+11:00

My chart on PTR is a V-shape and the bottom of the V is about 3 days after I bought Jeff Hwang's first book on PLO. I've raved about the Advanced book before but in truth it was beyond me at that time. In fact, it has been a while since I picked it up because the first one is so good for teaching you solid big play poker.

I think that I'm running good and my results are great. I even made it into the PTR Top Winners yesterday. The confidence has also spilled over into my live game where results in local pub chip chops, Friday night home games and even the casino have all been positive. My losing sessions would certainly be below 20%. It won't last so this is really just a note to myself for posterity. In the bad times, I'll be able to look back and think that I had one of the games nailed, if only for a fleeting week or two.

What's been happening?

2010-02-08T13:09:00.005+11:00

A long time between posts! I'm not sure if I will continue blogging as regularly because it is just so time-comsuming and the regular updates tend to be so variance biased.

Having had the opportunity to reflect on a summer of poker, I must say that it has been a good one, the highlight being a home game in Whistler when I was skiing. A well run game with a mix of locals and regular visitors. I have met so many great people through poker.

I've been running good in our own home games which are definitely getting tougher. Similarly, played yesterday in a pub game that is now attracting internet kids chasing the easy money and consequently tougher. Pleased to report that I'm still a regular winner thanks to online volume primarily.

Online, I lost my shirt on Rush Poker. It's hard to tell if it is variance and I did seem to run extremely badly but that many BIs lost can't be all variance, surely.

4-tabling PLO100 FR is my game of choice these days and after "investing" in experiential learning, I invested on Jeff Hwang's two books on the subject which I can't recommend highly enough. My chart was down at an angle of 30 degrees until the books flicked it right up at 30 degrees almost overnight. The secret, play tighter, D'oh!

Live, I'm looking forward to the ANZPT but will miss out on Adelaide. May try to make it over to Perth and then give Sydney a real go buying into a few of the events.

In summary, Bankroll continues to grow and the game is providing me with more fun than ever before.

Theory and Practice

2010-01-17T11:40:00.002+11:00

In theory there should be no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is a lot.

I've not long finished reading Tommy Angelo's book where one of the most important take aways from me should be his original advice which is to lop of your C game. By consistently lopping off what is then your C game, your game will improve.

When I landed in Canada, I picked up Jeff Hwang's first book PLO The Big Play Strategy. In retrospect, whilst his advanced book opened my eyes to so many valuable concepts, there was so much that I didn't understand about the game that it is no wonder that I am still a losing player after 30K hands. That said, I have a lot more of the theory and have the experience of having made a lot of the mistakes. So hopefully the future will be promising. If only I could lop off that C (or even D) game ...

WBCOOP

2010-01-16T10:40:00.003+11:00

Currently in Whistler for a couple of weeks where the snow is phenomenal but the visibility poor. A forced rest day today when the weather closed almost all of the lifts. Sun is due out at the weekend so fingers crossed I'll manage to stay injury free for the WBCOOP the week after which will bring this PLO cashy out of Tourney hibernation.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 784915

Misdeal - how should this one be ruled?

2009-12-14T14:45:00.002+11:00

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

2009-12-11T12:28:00.003+11:00

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

2009-12-09T09:25:00.001+11:00

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

Tommy Angelo on Cash Plays

2009-12-07T08:29:00.003+11:00

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

2009-12-05T10:22:00.008+11:00

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

2009-12-03T09:01:00.003+11:00

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

2009-12-02T08:44:00.004+11:00

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.

Quite a variety and all is good, just.

2009-11-29T08:05:00.004+11:00

Quite an eventful week. I'll summarise the highlights here and move on. It started with me feeling right on top of things. Always a recipe for disaster. Disasters are relative though and thankfully what would have crippled my backroll a few months ago tends to put me back to square 1 or 2 now. If I do it again, it will hurt more so I'm dropping stakes again.

I was winning at PLO100 and feeling more and more confident. I was trying to build a roll for PLO200 which needs me to up my $ win rate if I'm to do this ahead of retirement, so I started multitabling more. I also found PTR and thought that for the first time I could practice table selection. I was quite excited at the prospect and fired up the fishiest looking tables. I was on waiting lists and when new ones bacame available I added to what was a good session. All was well and I was 4 tabling PLO100 profitably. Then boom, boom, boom, within 20 mins it was all gone. Cold decked for a few big hands, a couple of tilty plays and then I stood up with about $300 in front on a single table. PTR attests to this being my worst $ result ever.

In retrospect, I think I got a bit unlucky. That said, when the cold deck came, I had way too much of my br at risk, even if it was spread across 4 tables. I was sitting with well over $1000 in front. Sure I'd won most of it but it's still a massive whack for me. I decided to take a couple of days off and regroup.

APPT Teams event. All booked for this Friday. Table 24, Seat 2. More on this next week.

One of our poker buddies gets married on Saturday so we had a very enjoyable bucks party Friday lunch which involved consuming a significant quantity of beer. With 2 kids, this aging party stayer may have enjoyed his 3rd last bucks party. I was apprehensive about the hangover and the effects on my game. The evening was to be our Friday night game. Sure enough, when we shuffled up and dealt there was an even looser air around the table. I lost a few buy-ins early which I couldn't be sure wasn't bad play as the internal calculator was more than a little sluggish. AJ on an AAQ flop was AI on the Turn against AQ. QJ on a Q52 flop got AI against KQ. I guess like all things when you're drinking, your ability to sense danger and get away from it is significantly reduced. Thankfully, I must have sobered up and managed a very healthy win by 3am.

My Thursday night game didn't happen. I went to get a shower, walked past my laptop and couldn't believe what was playing out in front of my eyes. I've never railed a single game but had heard about Isildur. He was 4-tabling Antonius and I watched him drop $500K in 20 mins. Not surprising really, its only 5 BIs. What then transpired had me cheering aloud sitting on my own. His play was amazing and I always like the underdog, especially when they've written him off. Over the next 2 hours he was sitting with over 3m in front and ahead by 2m. He was smart enough to log one win where he quit one of the tables with 800k in front and fired up another. What was more amazing was that he added 2 tables when Durrrr showed up and absolutely clocked up the wins there. I was split on this one as Durrrr is my online pick. If you haven't checked these games out, I'd suggest you do as it is history in the making. One hand was $750k and it didn't seem out of context at all.

So that's it, a variety of ups and downs but all in all things are still good and in perspective. My next plan is to improve my 4-tabling and I'm going to drop down to PLO25 to do that as it should be a very beatable level for me now. Fingers crossed.

Imaginary Money, Tilt and Bubbling the Invitational

2009-11-22T11:09:00.004+11:00

MBB's post on "The EV Graph-Line, Losers, Whiners and Winners" had me questioning my logic for a moment and generated a wee bit of discussion. Thinking it through, I realise that having Sklansky Bucks to help manage tilt is a big help to me and every edge is just that, an edge. This article on Imaginary Money explains it much more simply that I ever could.

Playing with someone drunk at the table in a Tournament can tilt me. If it was a cashie, I wouldn't care but in a tourney it introduces too much luck for my liking. I can tangle early and get knocked out or sit back and sure enough someone else will get chipped up. Tilt is playing below my A game and there were hands that I knew mathematically that I should play and didn't. Anyway, the issue is with me, not the drunk.

In the Invitational, I managed to Bubble with a 5th and a 5th. I would have thought that 5th twice would get in the top 4, but 3 of last week's 4 placed in the top 4 again and one of the very strong casino regulars played extremely well to move up into 2nd. I sweated 8 or 9 races that would have seen me through when I was on the rail and lost them all. Que sera, sera.

I will allow myself one whinge though to get it off my chest. AJo I raise from CO and druunk in BB calls. Heads up, and a flop of K82r, I bet half pot as bet size had no relevance, it was binary, he'd play or not. Blank Turn so I check, check. River blank, so I check. He thinks and looks like folding. A few people down the other end of the table say don't fold, then someone speaks up and says, guys if you aren't in the hand. I sit tight and eventually he lifts his cards to fold, is 3/4 the way in the muck when a hand reaches out stops the cards in hand, pushes them muck and says, just check. He paired his 7 on the river and won the pot.

It's possibly the first time that I've ever been less than gracious at the table and hopefully the last. I think I can be excused though. For the record, the drunk did absolutely nothing wrong in this hand. In retrospect, it absolutely made the difference between an APPT seat or not as I could have easily folded into 4th and would have. Unfortunately, I realised this at the time and tilted by clamming up just a little too soon for fear of tilt. Que sera, sera.

Is it just about winning money?

2009-11-20T08:15:00.005+11:00

Results have got to be the ultimate scorecard, but only over the long term. In the live environment, because we don't get to the long term, it's important to keep a check on whether you're making more good decisions than bad. I'm convinced that online helps to be objective with the technical side of the game. Feel and hand reading ability is something I'm not particularly good at as a math player so that is up for debate.

The psychology of poker explains that there are lots of motivations for playing poker. Socialising, fun, testing oneself. Beating one's self up as an addict where your worthlessness is laid bare with just how unlucky you run being one of the more disturbing reasons. Bloggers are a mix of competitiveness and profit motivated for the most part. Hence, while we try not to be results oriented in the short term, we always know where we stand. Thoughts?

I’ve dropped a few hundred bucks while my AI EV line has just kept going up. I’m down about $450 on the month in luck which is approx 10 BB/100 over almost 4.5K hands at PLO100, I think. It just goes to show how much variance there is in this game. The good news is that my $200 profit could easily have been $650, or higher if I’d been lucky. Not complaining, just making a note.

Certainly not complaining about our local pub chip chop last night. Blinds 25c/50c with $50 max BI and after a couple of hours I was up about $75 with the night drawing to a close. Then came the defining hand of the evening. I was on the button with K9o and it was limped around 7 handed. I made it $3 to go and the SB who is extremely loose made it $10. Best player on the table calls and I call. 3-way to the flop of K94r, happy days, top 2 pair. Blinds check to me and I make it ¾ pot for $30. SB calls and with little hesitation, aggressive internet kid shoves AI for $130. I could Hollywood and bring along SB but wanted to take it down so I was AI quickly. Pocket 4s was most likely, followed by AA or AK. In actual fact, it was a highly questionable shove with K7o. SB had folded QQ and when the K came on the Turn I was home. Trust me, he had a lot of fold equity here and I admire the play very much. His mistake was that my calling range may have been AA, AK, K9 and set, approximately the same as my 3/4 pot raising range at that highly dangerous time of the night. Is that aggression profitable long term or ego getting in the way?

Next hand I had KQo and it’s that crazy last few hands stage. Again, preflop raise was to $10 and I called. Yes, that’s 20xBB. Flop came QQ2, you beauty! Heads up he led out for $10, I dodn’t bother checking stacks, this was mine at 11pm, I called. Turn blank, don’t even know what it was. Irrelevant when he shoves AI for an instacall. He had KK and got very unlucky. Once again an obscene BB/100 live.

Incidentally, the host of tonight’s Invitational Tournament was at the only other running chip chop table and cleaned all but 2 players out in about 45 minutes for a $300 profit - even more obscene. For the record, Australia right now is a low stakes poker player’s paradise. The internet though is the benchmark of how your game is going.

On that front, I checked out PokerTableRatings which I’d never seen before. I might invest in purchasing hands when they build up a better set for PLO. For now, I was interested in my PTR score of 32. Given isildur is 96, and Zigmund is 0, I’m not doing too bad I guess but obviously not a very scientific measure, must be just of BB/100 or something. Anyone know?

APPT Online Qualifier $22+R 3x-Turbo

2009-11-18T16:21:00.001+11:00

With only one $9500 seat on offer, this isn’t really my cup of tea, but it has been a while since playing an MTT and I thought that I’d give it a go. First thing I noticed was that 3x-Turbo is very Turbo’d. The blinds kept the pressure on the stacks all the way.

With an hour of rebuys, even right at the death there were a couple of double-rebuy AI with any two cards guys eating up any prospect of an overlay. The final tally being 103 entries, 405 rebuys and 14 add-ons for a prize pool of $10,440. With about 17 left I put out the call for railbirds as I was chip leader, but that doesn’t last long in a turbo and before I knew it we were at the final table with $15K/$30K/$3K blinds/ante and an M of approximately 5. I’d had to gamble to get this far and my shove with K9o would have been fine if the BB didn’t wake up with KJo and put me beside the birds on the rail. A double up would have had me close to chip leader again. Exciting while it lasted and 5th isn't too bad.

I then decided to blow off some excess energy before bed by 3-tabling PLO100, 2 x FR and 1 x 6max. The deck slapped me about after the chips would go in and my AI EV line soared but the dollars earned dropped a couple of hundred. I stuck with it and didn’t tilt to recover with a slight profit for the evening. I’m working through a$100 bonus from FTP for Christmas and managed to clear almost a third of it in one night. Hopefully I can keep breakeven at this level for a while to consolidate my right to be here.

PLO variance is brutal

2009-11-16T17:56:00.003+11:00

My interest in gambling dates back to primary school. Intuitively, I seemed to have a grasp of risk / reward. For example, we played marbles differently in the UK. Sitting with legs apart, we would line up the target, maybe 4 in a row and allow all comers to try to hit and win. First hit wins. I quickly worked out that by lining 6 or 7 with a slightly longer shot would still attract many takers – much more than 7. That was my earliest memory of free-rolling.

It wasn’t until we studied probability though that I got fascinated with the concept of convergence over a large number of trials. I still walk past roulette tables with a row or reds thinking that a black has to be very soon and that this is an opportunity. The wheel like the cards has no memory, but you know what, it always evens out.

And so it is that my run good came to an abrupt end with a sharp correction of fortune. Following another massive downswing, my AI EV line landed exactly on my $$$s won line for all Omaha hands played on FT, 21K of them. Amazingly, they both landed simultaneously on the x-axis – the ultimate break-even player, eh? Thank goodness for rake-back.

The inevitability of it all didn’t seem to make things feel any better, but I suspect that it did. Being aware in advance that I had run particularly well meant that I couldn’t take myself seriously if I grumbled too hard internally.
The good news is that I dipped down even further before going on another run to “test historical highs” as my charting mentor would say.

In short, PLO Variance is brutal. I’ve been lucky until now to avoid the wild swings of the last few weeks. I now know that the higher limits are much more volatile (betting the strong draws rather than waiting for the nuts). I’ve been getting all in more marginally knowing that the other guy is doing the same. My AI EV line confirms that those were positive plays for the most part. Fingers crossed for the week ahead. Ultimately though, I need to just get much better for which there is plenty of scope.

Friday Night Home Game
Another week, another profit. This week, exactly $500 to the good after 10 hours from 6pm. At 40 hands/hr (no way), that’s 400 hands max. With 25c/50c blinds, that’s an obscene 200BB/100, or more. I didn’t really get going until after midnight when we got shorthanded. I’m easy to push off pots, but when I’ve got the goods it is costly for the other guy. That’s where all of my profits came from. I played extremely passively all night. No risk, profitable poker.

The highlight of the evening came with poker Gods satisfying their penchant for irony. Early, one of our more active players got his AA cracked by T2o. Poker buddies have a warped sense of humour which comes to the fore in these situations. Anyway, a couple of hours later the same players were heads up for a big pot. The original winner pushed AI on the Turn and sure enough, the cracked guy had a flush draw with his T2 of hearts. There’s no way that he was getting the odds to call, but it would make for a great story. If you know the individual involved, he’s never getting away from the buzz of a good story and the required heart duly appeared on the river.

The epilogue was a lot less dramatic but in the early hours, I was dealt T2 when we were down to 4-handed. This was to be the very last hand. I raised and got heads up. C-bet, he wasn’t for shaking. Double barrelled the Turn and he still wasn’t budging. On the river, I had absolute air with $50 in the pot. Last hand, I over-bet the pot for $100 and he folded the winning pair. I’d never have gotten to the flop if it wasn’t for the irony in the timing. Needless to say, we were having so much fun that we played for another hour or so.

Running Good

2009-11-12T00:05:00.003+11:00

The human psyche is much more adept at spotting downswings than upswings. Even the term Variance is interesting. I would estimate that it’s use in everyday poker language is a 20:1 ratio applied to negative events over the equally common (zero sum game) positive outcomes of variance. This is synonymous with us believing that we’re either playing very well or being very unlucky all the time, plain silly.

Maths guys have HEM to thank for a heightened awareness of where we really sit. Whilst my recent form and upbeat posts may lead you to believe that I’m right on top of my game, I may have mislead you. Not intentionally, as I certainly have nothing to complain about. The fact is that I’ve just been running incredibly well.

The next chart is a useful measure of luck (not the full picture, of course) with the faint line representing my true EV adjusted for equity at the time of the AI.

Now, the volatile psychological emotional persona that I am may be exuding more confidence at the table. And as Doyle says, you should always play your rushes. I certainly think that my opponents are sensing a confident aggressive opponent that should be tangled with sparingly. And online, this is for the most part picked up from results and betting patterns in the current session. Last night I min-raised five Omaha hands pre-flop and picked up the blinds uncontested each time. Unheard of for me.

Why then can’t I bottle this approach to Omaha? One, I wouldn’t want to because you can’t bottle the exceptional luck that was required to produce the results. Secondly, because I’m an emotional human with constantly varying degrees of tiredness, confidence, goals etc. Only last night I was watching a WSOP recording while clicking away, hardly ideal.

Finally, BCG explained very eloquently in his response to a question posed by Yorkie that the negative utility of losing a dollar amount far outweighs the equivalent benefit from posting the same win. Therein, we have the essence of Tilt. Emotionally it affects us much more than the rush that the pessimist in us knows is going to come to an end relatively soon.

Tilt avoidance is much talked about but obviously extremely difficult in practice. I play sub-optimally every session (according to Sklansky’s definition), hence all we’re talking about really is trying to minimise the degree of tilt. I haven’t read Tommy’s book, so I must.

Right at this moment though, I don’t care, I’m running great!

Macau Trip Report

2009-11-10T21:29:00.002+11:00

I’ve felt as if I’ve been reaping some of the benefits of a few years of study over the last couple of months by more than holding my own in various live settings. I’m divided between which I enjoy more, live or online play. The truth is that they are very different and have various pros and cons. I’m very lucky to be able to enjoy both.

Macau Trip Report
I needed to go to Macau on an expenses paid Business Trip staying at the MGM Grand. Having enjoyed the poker room in the Vegas sister hotel just over a month before, how could I say no? Mega-tip for Aussies, check out Viva Macau Airlines. Obviously casino funded, this budget airline was well below half the cost of Qantas/BA/Cathay Pacific and by flying direct into Macau, saved me 5 hours on each leg. More on this later.

Now, when I was at Uni or when I just started working, I spent many an hour sleeping at the bottom of telephone boxes in London to keep warm waiting for the first form of transport toward home. An experience that not only lets you appreciate any class of hotel room, but realise what a waste it is to leave a fancy room unattended. Hence, knowing that I’d be out of the room for most of the time, I invited one of my poker buddies to fly up and use the room. With a text response “OMG … she said yes” and a quick change of booking from King to 2 Twins and we were set.

Flight and transfer went well. The first very minor hiccup was that our room was dark and unmade when we checked in. Less than 10 minutes later, we’d been upgraded to an Ocean View on a higher floor, free internet and free mini-bar for the duration of our stay. Free-rolling already.

Even though there is very little poker in Macau, it didn’t take us long to track it down. Star Worlds Casino around the corner had just opened their room. When we walked in, we knew which of the four active tables that we wouldn’t be sitting at. The one with Jeff Lisandro playing $1000/$2000 blinds. Approx equivalent of $150/$300, Jeff was big stack with about US$70K, 3 locals and 4 internet older kids having between $30K-$50K each. The accessibility of standing extremely close to World Champions plying their trade for significant sums is pretty unique to poker and a privilege.

Jeff entered very few pots and when he did had the ability to be incredibly intimidating. Not in a Prahlad Freidman sense, just an intense Ivey-like stare. It also whips up out of the blue. He studies the cards and then picks his moment to instantly stare which I must confess was even disconcerting for me on the rail just imagining how I’d react. I’m convinced that when I was there that he played perfect poker. Which was impressive as this was just another day at the office.

I’ve always read to be wary jumping into the first game you find when you land, so we moved on to the Lisboa. First thing to note is that there are two and we were in the old one which really was an opportunity to step back in time. We loved this place which was round with a Monte Carlo feel and more than a hint of Asia. Alas, no poker, so off we went over the confusing maze of passageways and footbridges to the Grand Lisboa and its PokerStars branded Poker Room. More Vegas-like, sort of, there were 6 smoke filled (and I mean smoke filled) tables going. Min buy-in was HKD1000-3000 (approx US$150-500). Long story short, my mate and I decided to take 50% of each other’s action and made a small profit to start the trip off well.

In Macau, they not only smoke at the table, they blow right in your face. It is disgusting and if you won’t be able to put up with it, do yourself a favour and not go to Macau. Everywhere is the same.

Next day was a walking tour which I would never have done alone. My friend is organised and had planned what we wanted to see. Macau was a Portuguese colony and trading hub port. It is steeped in the adventure of Marco Polo and his peers followed closely by a strong missionary influence. It is all within walking distance and well worth seeing. The beer and noodles at the end of the neo-classic churches was very welcome as we were famished and exhausted.

I was then attending my conference for the remainder of the trip, fitting in a few evening sessions. I finished the trip up overall but didn’t make nearly as much as Vegas and certainly not with the same ease. The games were a lot less textbook and bet-sizing very unpredictability. The game theory guys would have a field day, no doubt, but I always struggle with making bets based on very wide ranges. Just seems like gambling which isn’t my particular cup of tea. I know that I’m missing out on EV opportunities but my bankroll management considerations take precedence and I’m comfortable with that.

My friend entered a US$120 buy-in tourney with 37 entries that paid top 5. He was short-stacked when he spiked a 1-outer 3 on the river to triple up with 13 players left. From there he nursed his small stack, occasionally putting it at risk with well timed AIs. He was the darling of the railbirds when big stack after big stack clashed and fell by the wayside. Lo and behold, he limped into 4th for a $500 pay day that compensated for his minor losses for the trip. Macau was the toughest live game that he’d faced and he almost broke even overall, a credible result. He is way more experienced now and that has been reflected in local games that he’s played since his return. There is no substitute for training at altitude.

To cap off the trip, Viva Macau flew us home in style again. I mentioned the cheap fares above. What I left out was that there were 76 passengers on our 737 on the flight to Macau and only 56 on the way back. We all had a row to ourselves. I slept the entire journey both times – happy days! For the record, all other Australian delegates at the Conference chose the Qantas flights as being more reliable. They paid twice as much to sit upright, transfer to a ferry in HK and have a rough sea trip – I’m glad that I will never be that corporatized.

In summary, Macau was well worth one trip for me, but no immediate urge to go back. Primarily because casino games no longer do it for me and poker remains very embryonic there. Also, so close after Vegas, there is no comparison. Vegas, the poker player is treated like a king and it is definitely the entertainment capital of the world.

Online Omaha
One swallow does not make a summer! I’ve just had a bluebird. A PLO400 player sat at our PLO100 table when I had $300 in front and potted almost every hand pre and re-potted the flop. I played about 50% of the hands I entered with him because I hit a purple patch. Obviously he didn’t always have the goods and in fact, I don’t think I lost a single hand to him. Almost 1 hour of rope-a-dope, I stood up as it was well past my bedtime with $830 in front.

My PLO100 lifetime stats now reflect a mere $5 loss and if I can keep it that way for 10,000 more hands and add a few BB/100, I may be able to secure the confidence to take the occasional realistic shot at PLO200, the first level that you can grind out a living at this game. I still have many, many leaks to plug so there is plenty of room for improvement. More happy days!

Home Game Invitational APPT Teams Qualifier
See last post for the format. I came 5th in week 1. Got off to a good start during the rebuy period building my 10K starting stack to 27K. I tried not to sit back and coast but I may have overdone it a little seeing too many flops with KQ type hands. Card dead on the flops, I dropped slowly to 20K by the break. Still above average. There were 4 re-buys which were added to the prize pool and split by the top 3. My Macau buddy cashed again, coming 3rd.

I was going to look for tactics for next week but after coming 5th it is as if nothing has changed for me. I need a top 4 finish to be pretty sure of getting in and below that I just need the other results to go my way. Beyond that I won’t say too much more as a few of my opponents have discovered this blog. Roll on the 20th and all being well a small APPT entry.

Congratulations to The Serpent
The Serpent is probably the most popular of our home game buddies and in the local pub Tourney we had a special week with the entry raised from $27 to $55. The Serpent amassed a big stack early, sucking out with a straight against Double Barrel. He used the chips well and is the master of comedy, so a good night was had by all when he won for $900. In true Serpent style, he went on to shout a round. Further congratulations due soon as he gets married in a couple of weeks.

Durrrr Challenge
Halfway there and Durrr is up $750K … check out these hands, especially the last one; the joys of being pot committed.

October in Review

2009-11-06T14:24:00.005+11:00

October had a lot to live up to after Vegas, Ireland and China and a solid period of PLO on Full Tilt last month. It has been an eventful roller-coaster month.

Crown Casino Melbourne Trip Report
Another trip report for Yorkie. Crown Poker Room in Melbourne is the home of the Aussie Millions. It is undoubtedly one of the world's great poker rooms. Crown décor is well above average. The spacious well lit room enjoys a salubrious sobriety conducive to poker. Crown has secured approval to extend with another 15 tables and will be spreading further toward the PokerPro area.

The staff are knowledgeable, friendly and for the most part in control. I’ve been impressed over the years with many of the rulings that are made and how they are made. On this trip, we had a big stack chip down from ~$400 to below $100 when he went to the bathroom. We all knew and the dealer asked him and he denied it. The supervisor was informed subtely a few hands later and very effectively with a 30 second quiet conversation away from the table which probably went along the lines of “we can go to the cameras and ban you or you can take the chips out of your pocket”, the chip stack was sheepishly restored from the previously vocal player who never spoke from that point forward.

Crown players for the most part respect the etiquette of the game. Dealer and player abuse are kept to a minimum. Talking about the current hand is prohibited and policed for the protection of recreational players. In general, newcomers are very welcome and made feel at home. This is great for the local poker economy. I suspect that the original players established this culture early and the poker room management built upon it over the years. I really recommend Crown as a top poker destination to anyone. The only drawback for overseas visitors is the excessive Australian rake structures.

I was lucky in the couple of days that I was there and won a few buy-ins at the $1/$2 NLH tables. I played in the $2/$5 but got outplayed and scraped a breakeven session. Then I played the most gut wrenching form of poker ever. Before scrolling down, see if you can guess what it was. It’s the game and its structure that made for the most heart thumping session I’ve ever played. And I wasn’t even involved in most of the hands being the only nit at the table.

APPT Freeroll at Star City
Star City has opened a new poker room with a bit of fanfare and a mid-week freeroll that you needed to sign up for in person a few days before. With a field of 250 and 150 more alternates it was always going to be a crapshoot. Our starting stacks were 2000 and the blind levels 15 mins. We lost half of the 400 runners within 3 levels and were at 120 players by the 2hr break. Final table of 10 got paid, top 3 with APPT packages and next 7 with $330 Satellite tickets.

Back to the logistics, Star City shouted beers, champagne, wine and nibblies before the event which they really didn’t need to do but was a nice gesture. May seem like an odd thing to write for you overseas folks but here in Oz, the casinos don’t do anything for the poker players other than run a good,clean game. Not a whinge, just an observation. Eric Assadourian and Grant Levy, two Team Pokerstars locals and room ambassadors said a few words. The event was a big success and Star City got the full room photo shoots that they were looking for.

As for the room, they’ve tried to do the right thing with décor. They’ve retained the rigid chairs from downstairs which are adequate but no more. The biggest issue is the room that they’ve allocated. With its low ceilings it is very claustrophobic. There is no rail worth talking about which will be a big issue for the upcoming APPT and will minimise the likelihood of recreational passers-by giving live poker a go.

Despite being free, my experience left me as flat as I’ve experienced only twice before in my six years of live poker. Once in the Fitzwilliam Club, Dublin, when my K9 ran into KK on a K99 board after 7 hours of building my stack to 5xBI. Similarly, at Crown in the early hours one morning, the two big stacks went AI with my flopped 2 pair facing pocket rockets. The blank Turn wasn’t so blank when the river came runner runner 4s for my largest counterfeit to date. On both occasions, hours of solid grind went down the drain. I’ve had the opposite happen, but that tends to be mid-session as I rarely quit as a monster stack.

Back to my freeroll experience. Crapshoots don’t suit my nitty tournament style so I was pleased to negotiate the early rounds, picking up a couple of hands and stealing selectively to stay above average for every level. I had one mega suckout making my overset on the river against a flopped set.

We were down to 34 players and all was going well until the player to my right sat down. He was AI 4 out of 7 hands and showed pocket 66s, and 8 and a 3 in 3 of the hands. I stayed out of his way. Then a guy opposite led out AI from UTG with an M of 6. He hadn’t played a hand in 3 or 4 orbits so my pocket 99s were a coinflip at best I thought and folded in late position as I didn’t need to get involved. Two hands later and aggro on my right is AI from the SB when I look down to find AK. I thought about it for a little while but never really considered folding. Blinds were 1500/3000 and I was above average with 19.5K but my M was less than 5 given the crapshoot structure. Needless to say, he had 86o and flopped an 8 and I was crippled. I did triple up and managed to make it to the last 24 but I was never a threat again. I must confess that I was flat until lunchtime the next day as I’d worked so hard and played pretty well, I thought.

It was an insight into what the Poker Road guys talk about a lot. Live MTTs are brutal. Mike and Adam on the 2+2 Pokercast had a good session on the viability of MTT pros recently and copped a bit of criticism from listeners for being too negative. In my opinion it was spot on and no-one knows more about the subject than their guest, Sheets. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Online Omaha
My online game is exclusively PLO now. I’ve had a good month with brutal variance. I feel like my game is improving and I’m likely playing too many hands. I could benefit from better game selection but I’m taking on all-comers at the minute. My HEM alerts me to who’s who though. I’ve been a more regular player at the PLO100 level and haven’t lost my shirt as muh as the past. I have run good and my AI EV has balanced back level after approx 20000 hands.

Sweetest pot came where I was down 4 BIs after genuinely being smacked by the deck when I flopped middle pair and the NFD. Preflop raiser, raised the pot again. His range includes rundowns so he may have a set of AAA now, or not, I called to see what the flop would bring. Actually, I flopped a set 555 to go with my NFD and it obviously blanked the villain. He pushed AI somehow and we went to the river which gave him a FH. Very luckily, hero caught runner, runner quads for a $331 pot and it was game on again. I went on to build my stack up to $650+ before needing to step away from the table for real life reasons.

It’s taken a while, but I can’t see me returning to NLH again. It’s like riding a bike in terms of beating recreational players and I recognise that I’m never going to be able to compete with the internet kids that take the game seriously. Omaha, I’m already ahead of the inevitable wave of recreational migrants that the next few years will bring. I want to be able to compete effectively at PLO200 (a tough goal in my opinion) and then I’ll look at the next logical progression, PLO8.

Friday Night Home Game
My favourite form of poker is without a doubt our Friday night home game. We had two this month and as usual I managed to finish up. Unless you get unlucky, with a solid style of poker you should pull out a profit almost every game as it is so loose. The big pots can be dangerous because you can be up against anything. Playing against the other guys range probably needs to be done sparingly as it is so wide you’d be playing way too many hands to showdown.

The last game was the harder night at the office. I was card dead for the best part of 4 hours but managed to eek out tripling my stack to ~$150 when I flopped a set, built the pot and then got it AI on the Turn. I was called by a bare gutshot by a bigger stack (not atypical in our game) and my stack was gone when it hit on the river. I reloaded for the allowed double BI which kicks in after a few hours (blinds stay at their irrelevant same).

We’d started at 6pm and finished at 3am. When I cashed out, two double ups had me $350 in profit. This is the one game on earth that Phil Hellmuths book can teach you to beat.

Home Game Invitational APPT Teams Qualifier
No home games next month as we’re moving to a 16-player Invitational format to put 3 teams into the APPT. $230 each will raise the $3300 required. The winning 6 players will get a piece of each others action. Teams will comprise first and second etc. Any team cashing will keep 50% of winnings with the other two teams getting 25% each. With 6 out of 16 getting through the odds are good. The blind structure will be slow with a 7pm shuffle up and deal and approx 2am finish. Cash game will start up as people are knocked out.

If you have a chance to think about strategy, I’d be grateful. The points on the first night are … and the second night, doubled to reflect … Essentially the first night is like a barrier draw and will likely just go toward separating places 5 thru 8 on the second night. I’d be interested in your opinions as to how I should approach the first night. Ultimately the cards will decide, but in the case of coin flips etc, should I just make sure to get in the top half, top 6, go for the win or what? I’ll probably post how I go after week 1 and look for advice on making the top 6 overall in week 2.

Local Live Tournament Chip Chops
These are a fixed time tournament with a $50 BI, 25c/50c blinds and a pro-rata pay structure. Essentially a rake free cash game apart from a $5 admin fee for the Tourney organiser. The finite time period makes it a tournament and legal in NSW. In my opinion, continuing to push the boundaries of legality may result in further regulation in the not too distant future as Casino lobby groups etc may start to be impacted. Until now, they’ve been a beneficiary of the poker boom and recreational players, but creating significant competition is a different matter.

My results over the month were positive with 2 biggish wins $200+ (which is an obscene BB/100 rate) and on one occasion a $50 loss. I spend most of my time getting the game going and organising the cashing in/out of chips etc, with rebuys, so I’m not giving it my full attention. Consequently, there is little of no fancy play syndrome. Just basic T/A ABC big pot deep stack poker. If only the cash games were this good online.

Most Exhausting Poker Session I’ve Ever Player
OK, at the Crown Casino, I took my first crack at live Omaha. It was a form that I’d never played before, Limit Omaha. I’ve played PLO and Limit HE, so it can’t be much different, right? Wrong! This game was wild and GUT WRENCHING. I wasn’t in most of the hands but it’s as close as I’ve seen to grown men crying.

At least once every two orbits, we’d see a pot capped 7-way. In a $10/$20 game, we’re talking $280 preflop up for grabs. Needless to say, in Omaha, if the other streets weren’t getting capped too you’ be getting the odds to chase runner runner quads every time nearly. Raise, re-raise was the order of the day. Or raise, call, call, call, call, call, call was another likely scenario. If you had the nuts on the Turn you were trying to fade well over half the pack nearly every time.

I seen monster stacks crippled in just one orbit. The worst suckouts ever. The most tilt ever. They dropped like flys and the cash accumulated. I don’t know how this game keeps getting up. Luckily it was my first foray into live Omaha and my propensity was to learn from the experience. I played ultra tight, maybe VPIP 15% and score a very easy $350 profit. I wish I lived in Melboune and got another crack at the game.

I was literally exhausted after the session. It was such an emotional rollercoaster for those around me and every turn of a card brought drama. If you’ve never experienced live Limit Omaha played like this, I recommend trying it at least once in your life.

Conclusion
Being a slacko with updating my blog has had the benefit of allowing me a high level perspective. Overall, a very positive month where I feel that I can hold my own in a number of environments. Poker as a career is no longer something I aspire to. But poker as a very profitable and stimulating pasttime seems very attainable. Given that this journey all started with a very at risk $25, I may well have exceeded my expectations already. Let's hope my good fortune continues throughout November.

It will all kick off for me in Macau where live poker is only just starting to mature amongst $41b of gambling revenue per annum which generates $5.1bn in government income. Wish me luck with the crasians.

Vegas Trip Report

2009-10-12T16:14:00.003+11:00

I’m pleased to report that my lack of posts for a month was more to do with being a slacko rather than busto. The ultimate poker player’s paradise, Vegas was every bit as good as I imagined it. Multiple days of jet lag spent on Aussie time, sleeping most of the day and up all night.

Results Oriented
My priorities were to have fun and leave Vegas unscathed. I held my own on the felt by playing the lowest limits with mostly recreational players. I found the games soft and was able to assess playing styles and abilities relatively quickly.

I arrived with under $200 and managed to cover all of my expenses for the week. First session I was down to $120 after cabs and bought in for $100. I was quickly on a roll with 5 winning sessions in a row. Then I was silly enough to play the only table open in the Rio with grinders on the graveyard shift. This dented my BR as I was now playing a game with myself to see if I could leave Vegas without visiting the ATM.

My very limited bankroll (self discipline) curtailed any temptation at upping redline aggression and instead I played relatively nitty, taking positional opportunities when they arose. Pocket QQs were particularly kind UTG. I’d limp knowing that a raise wouldn’t be far away. An early raise of $10 might see 5 limpers and then I’d shove AI and take it down preflop, worked every time.

My best results came in the cheapest game in town, Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall, with its $5.99 Steak and Eggs, 50c/$1 blinds and $200 BI. A little predatory, it was the softest night game in town with a great view.

Poker Rooms
Spoilt for choice, I probably played in 25 poker rooms as I cruised the Strip. In approximate order, I liked the Venetian, Bellagio, Caesars, MGM, Excalibur, Binion’s (for traditition), Bill’s (for profit), Paris etc. Only disappointments were the Hard Rock which could only rustle up 2 tables on Saturday night and the Rio (where I stayed) which was the worst.

Grinding
I learned a lot about the lifestyle by talking to the Vegas grinders in the graveyard shifts. For example, they put in 7 hours per day at the Rio and get entry into a $2000 freeroll with about 15 runners, final table getting paid. Also, 125 hours per month at Harrahs tables gets you $650 cash. These guys take nitty and bonus chasing to a whole new level.

My tale of woe was C-Betting a steal attempt on the first hand of the FR to rise above average. Then 2nd hand, blinds 25/50, grinder UTG makes it 200 to go, I look down at AKs in the CO and decide to call as more than half the field get paid so no need to get too rash early. Flop A94 with 2 diamonds. Grinder leads out for 200, I make it 600 and he called. Flop comes diamond, he bets 1500 and I had to decide was it a flush or air. These guys are so intent on getting every little promotional edge available, I couldn’t see him busting out 2nd hand, but I managed to convince myself that he might just have AQ or similar with the A of diamond redraw. Alas, no, he had KJ of diamonds and I was on the rail 2nd hand. No doubt, the butt of grinder glee.

Tournaments
My biggest surprise was the number, quality and value of affordable deep stack tourneys that they run. One cash I was proud of was a $120, 7500 chips, paying 9 places with 98 runners at the Venetian. I final tabled, finishing 7th when my pocket 6s got cracked by K5 with the K on the Turn. My pocket rockets held up twice mid-way thru to put me into position me well. This cash was particularly sweet as I was down to my last $3 in US dollars after the buy in. Top 3 paid approx $3K, $2K and $1K so I got my chance to dream, In the end, my welcome $369 payout and 6.5 hours of enjoyment was enough to kickstart the roll again. BTW, no need for an iPod in the Venetian as the music is excellent.

Enjoyment Factor High
There didn’t seem to be too many comps , but I didn’t search any out. I was intent on playing as much poker as possible and had a ball. I was free-rolling and relaxed my no drinking while playing rule from the second day. When it was completely relaxed by the end of the week, I moved to $2/$4 Limit which can be played on auto pilot. In this mode, I met an incredible range of characters all out to have a lot of fun. A poker players paradise!

LAX on my way to LAS

2009-09-12T01:00:00.002+10:00

My body thinks its nighttime but the clock says 8:00am, should I use the complimentary beverage voucher. Let me Google the Pope's religeon to decide. So there is only this Post between me and my first Sam Adams in a while, here goes.

First let me start by saying that around Feb time (I think) a number of us bloggers seemed a little flat with our games. With the exception of Jesse, who is a shoe in for a Limit Bracelet one day, we all seem to be doing a bit better of late. For my part here is an update "brag" post. Medium fish in a wee pond stuff.

Sydney Championships, $150 entry, 28 runners, 4th for $403. I'm glad that I didn't play the $770 event as I'm now 3 for 3 in cashes at biggish (for me) PLO Events. Another min cash could have been 2nd if my KK99ss had held up against the chip leader QQ64ss. Runner Runner 6-6 just felt bad. In reality the flop was all low and he had a few outs. My KKxx hit a K on the river AI against AAxx with 7 left, so I'm not complaining. As is usually the case with PLO, by the river I had a whopping 7 outs.

Before flying out at 6am on Sept 11 (I only realised when I got to America), I played our new game at the local Bowling Club. Over the 3 weeks, we've had 4, 5 and then 6 tables. I was packing so missed the Tourney, satisfying my poker craving with the S&G Chip Chop. Ran a double barrel bluff first hand to build my stack but managed to halve it. From there, I resorted to T/A against calling stations and scored a nice $50 on a 0.25c/.50c blind game. Obscene BB/100 if it was to count that way. In reality, its only a couple of big hands that make the difference. You just need to not get unlucky.

I've played every day of FT's Take Two promotion which should be an easy $50 and my redline is going really well. Showdown winnings are well down which is to be expected. Need to work on finding the optimal balance. I find that running the HEM graph along the bottom of the screen provides instant feedback on when my aggression is dropping off. My stats all of a sudden look really good alongside the winning regs, I think.

I got yesterday's game in at Sydney Airport. Was up a healthy amount when my plane was called. The final hand was K44 flop. A shorty raised the pot and I decided to min-raise my 4 to induce the shove with which he duly obliged. He had AAxx obviously and I logged off looking forward to Vegas even more.

And so to Vegas. I'm hoping to check in and go straight to bed with the Hard Rock Casino tonights choice of venue. If I'm feeling jetlaggy, I'm not going to play as I need to pace my finite BR. Hopefully I can win the early sessions and relax in that regard. I have no desire to move above the smaller stakes, just soak up the atmosphere.

OK ... Sam is beckoning ... gl all at the tables.

My first PLO8 MTT win and Sydney Champs

2009-09-08T13:52:00.003+10:00

What a difference a day makes. The deck must have read my blog and resented my flippant lack of appreciation for running good. Exacting revenge, it has just slapped me about the face repeatedly. Not one for bad beat stories, let me share with you that the Winnings line has plummeted below my AI EV line, which rose significantly overnight. Good news is that I didn’t Tilt, for which I credit HEM with its visual confirmation that it was just variance.

I was four tabling, with 2 tournaments and 2 FR PLO100 cash games on the go. A tad ambitious or irresponsible perhaps. I almost got ITM with my PLO tourney and came first in the PLO8 one that I was playing in which had 128 runners. Being my first ever PLO8 100+ player tourney win, overall it was a very good evening and another step forward in my pursuit of being an all-round poker player.

My Poker Ranking for the year was 98.71% before last night so I’m keen to see what a small stakes win contributes as I’d like to poke my nose into the top 1%, if only for a day. Not sure of the formula for the rating system, but I know that my ranking has been flattered by running good in a couple of low buy-in events. Having had my fair share of being smacked around the face, I’ll take anything that’s going.

The Sydney Championships are on and there is a $770 PLO Tournament which I would have loved to have played in. In the end, I have decided not to. As I’m off to Vegas on Friday, my $$$s are being conserved to be invested in the cash games over there.

I estimate that I'd be close to neutral EV given the amount of dead money and was really torn between giving it a go or not. Unfortunately, $770 weeds out a lot of the casual dead money that even $550 would attract, so my expectation may well be lower depending on the field size. Less than 100 players would be a pretty strong field, I think. Over that, there just aren’t that many great Omaha players available in Sydney on a Tuesday night.

The deciding factor in the end was the realisation that, for those close to me that don't fully appreciate the variance of poker tournaments, the utility of losing which is the most likely outcome greatly exceeds the utility of a min-cash which is the next most likely scenario.

If I was single, I would give it a shot just to get a chance to pit my wits against The Croc and Eric Assadourian and gauge how far I still need to improve. I know that a lot of the bets that I made last night with the click of a “pot” button, I couldn’t have done live and even if I could, there would have been a million and one tells in the physical activity.

In the end, I'm pleased that I appear to lack the gamble to just throw bankroll requirements out the window and give it a go.

Like Father, like Daughter

2009-09-08T13:42:00.002+10:00

What is the Game Theory optimal strategy for the % of times to stick with your Rock, Paper, Scissors selection for the next throw? That was the question posed over dinner last night.

Not sure that we confirmed my guess of 33% when my 17 year old daughter challenged me to a game up to 10. Of course, I accepted. But what happened next was very special for me as the parent of a teenager.

We literally couldn’t continue because we were laughing so much. After about 15 or 20 throws, we had matched each and every time. We were both changing, staying the same, anticipating etc. but every selection we made was identical. Our attempts to outwit each other were identical. As a parent, it really was a very special moment to realise how much is passed on to the next generation. Or am I reading too much into pure coincidence?

As a poker player, I have to wonder how exploitable my poker style is. Am I really that predictable? I’ve thought a little more about it and I wasn’t trying to choose because of what my daughter would pick but rather what a logical person would do. Presumably she was doing the same and consequently predictable to an observant opponent.

Scissors, Paper, Rock - Player Profile

2009-09-07T14:09:00.004+10:00

As per MBB's comment on my last post, I have found that increasing post-flop aggression has forced me to become more aware of player profiles. I've been aware that my post flop passivity has been a problem for some time. HEM just presented it in a format that I could no longer ignore.

Coincidentally, I was reminded of the maths of Paper, Scissors, Rock over the weekend and revisited a strategy site. The parallels with poker are amazing. I completed a Player Profile Survey and would be very interested to see if all aspirational bloggers are from a similar mould. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to add your Profile as a comment.

Apparently, my Spiritual Player Profile is as follows ... "You trust your emotions. When competing, you focus on your own game seeking inspiration from within and rely on inner harmony to select your throws. Winning or losing is not the primary focus of your game. Instead you focus upon playing the right throw for any given situation, regardless of your opponents actions. The Spiritual player can usually benefit greatly from strategies that rely upon proper form and technique (such as Cloaking and Shadowing). The downfall of the Spiritual Player comes from being so inwardly focused that you fail to recognise an opponents obvious mistakes."

Not too far off. Strategy for little old Scissors, Paper, Rock, eh? Who would have thought.

Red Lining it

2009-09-06T16:10:00.003+10:00

It amazes me that after all of the years that I've played poker, listened to podcasts and read books that there are still Ah-ha moments that are both shockingly obvious and have so far gone unnoticed by me. I'm hopeful that this one will transform my game. You need to be an eternal optimist for poker, eh?

So what is this miraculous find? Don't laugh. The good old Red Non-Showdown Winnings line. I got Omaha Manager free with my Card Runners Full Tilt sign-up and love the product. For the first time I can see what was going on. By comparison, PT Omaha is a dinosaur.

Anyway, a quick click on Graphs showed my Showdown winnings going up at a 30 degree gradient and my non-SD winnings dropping at a 30 degree gradient. Almost symmetrical and straignt as a die almost.

Thinking about it rationally, I spend a lot of time working out if my cards are ahead or behind and acting accordingly. The problem is that most flops miss most people and my opponents are doing the same plus c-betting, stealing blinds, picking up orphans and pushing me off missed draws on the river etc.

I've always known that I am passive post flop and tried on multiple occassions to rectify this but my Mr Logic side quickly kicks in again and lets me down. I find that no matter what I do, I struggle to make inroads into my AF stat.

The Red Line is different though. I have taken to having HEM Graphs open with AI EV and Showdown Winnings clicked for the last 1000 or so hands. Every big hand, I find myself glancing at my chart to see if I am playing well and playing aggressively enough. My results have been flattered by running good, but I know that I am playing better too. Just need to be careful not to get rope-a-doped (which has happened a couple of times). Or betting Pot on the river to manipulate my stats :-).

The real improvement came fromn reading several excellent strategy articles and posts on Showdown Winnings. They really put things into perspective. Including a reference to Fgators "famous" graph. Sad to say, mine was as bad or worse. Hopefully those days are behind me now.

Running good again

2009-09-06T15:26:00.003+10:00

As hard as I try not to be results oriented, it feels really good to be running good again. The world looks brighter. Over the last 1500 hands, I am running good against All In EV to the tune of 10 big bets / 100 hands. Unsustainable, but happy days while it lasts. Over this small sample size it made the difference between being a decent winner or a pretty bad loser.

Also, I may have stumbled upon the secret of how I can lose less. And it isn't to stop playing. Watch this space.

Poker as a career?

2009-08-31T14:52:00.003+10:00

I'm much further from having a rewarding poker career than I thought I would be at this stage. It's not that I'm not further from the start, it's just that what represents the finish line is getting further away.

Not only are the games getting harder, but I can see that what starts as a hobby can become a grind if you're not careful. Another important factor is that if the stakes are too low, the time required to eek out a living encroaches on your ability to make any "meaningful contribution to society / family".

As always, Jesse has captured this from experience much more eloquently in a recent post.

Overdue Poker Progress Update

2009-08-28T18:30:00.002+10:00

It seemed to me like a long time since my last post, but in actual fact it is only 4 weeks. To put that in perspective, it is a lot longer since I last contacted a few of my very good friends. The truth is that I just got out of the habit, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

A lot has happened in the interim, but as with life it has simply merged into an abstract blob in my memory. Poker has been as prominent and, if anything, appears to be settling into a very healthy space. It is still as time consuming but more purposeful. It is also more varied without appearing to have an overly adverse impact on my bankroll.

I am convinced that, if poker is your intended career, online profits will be derived from specialisation in a single form of poker as the games are evolving to be very unexploitable at the higher levels, which requires the high level thinking/discipline of an exploitive strategy. With a 'real job', I don't have the luxury, or need, to specialise to that degree to derive an income from poker so I'm pursuing variety without losses - which I seem to be achieving.

Online
I am playing PLO almost exclusively these days. I am profitable at PLO25, break even at PLO50 and losing at PLO100. Unfortunately, you lose 4 times as much at PLO100 as you win at PLO25 (assuming it is the AI coinflips that make the biggest difference). Hence, my grinding is funding my shots. Probably the nature of the poker climb. I'd like to be a winning PLO200 player so I have a couple of years of learning ahead of me, I think.

I am playing the $11 PLO MTTs and doing quite well. OPR has me as 98.4% which I think flatters my ability. It has helped me concentrate on decisions trying to make it into the 99%, if only for a day, but I haven't quite got there yet.

BTW, I've always maintained that I agree with general wisdom that claims that only 5% of poker players are winners. Based solely on my ranking and performance, I think that online with its ability to multitable that this number could be as low as 1%.

Live Poker - Home Games
I am blessed with a relatively soft, well bankrolled regular home game (every couple of Fridays). These are a lot of fun, the alcohol flows and we usually wrap up between 3am and 4am. No-one loses on a regular basis but a few of us tend to eek out a regular profit. We have a variety of styles which makes it a lot of fun, including two AI fiends that are as likely to have a hand or not.

Live Poker - Casino
The home games and online Omaha have just too much appeal for me at the moment and the Casino struggles to compete. I'm up overall but that is totally dependent on table make-up. Short-term variance affects almost every session result, but overall the trend is indicative of the mix being grinders, regular LAGs and recreational players. In Australia, we're blessed with heavily populated pub leagues that provide a steady supply of average live MTT donkament types.

Live Poker - Amici
This is the only regular live PLO cash game that I know of. It's a private Club with a time charge. The guys getting the game going are seasoned card players ranging from greek and italian old school to obnoxious internet kids. No soft spots in this game. Even those that don't understand PLO, understand cards and pick their spots extremely well. After 2 weeks, I'm 0 for 2. I'm hoping that that is variance, but each week I've lost a Buy-in early (got money in good both times) and then proceeded to play non-optimally. First week nitty scared money; second week my efforts to avoid that resulted in a bit tilty LAG style. Readying myself for third attempt. Big negative with this game is that smoking is allowed at the table. Big positive is that it is definitely training at live play altitude for me.

Study
Read a couple of books and magazines (I'm not a reader), kept up with my favourite Pokercast (esp 2+2 and PokerRoad) and watched a couple of Stox PLO Training videos. All of these have helped keep my perspective in balance.

Goals
I've never been able to come up with any meaningful goals that I was committed to sticking to. I try to keep things in balance, move forward incrementally, practice BR mgmt that suits my style and enjoy the game. Not really goals, but I think that they are all ticked for now.

Las Vegas
I'm off to Las Vegas for the first time since taking poker seriously. Can't wait! It's a work conference but I have a couple of days acclimatisation over the weekend of the 12th Sept - woo hoo! Feel free to drop me any tips that you might have.

Planning Ahead

2009-07-29T20:54:00.002+10:00

Most of the time, I make a decision in isolation on a street when I could be anticipating what might transpire on future streets.

Hopefully this video can inspire me to think a few streets ahead ...

Jade Bubble

2009-07-18T12:51:00.003+10:00

I needed to pick my daughter up from an 18th party in the City at midnight so decided to stay in town for a quick cash game. I've discovered that to get around legislation, the Jade Tavern runs a SnG format very similar to our home game. The key is that it goes for exactly 90 mins with unlimited rebuys and then you get paid out prorata. They call it a ChipChop. Effectively a cash game just inside the NSW law. Good on them, I say. It could be bette rrun as there were a couple of incidents that shouldn't have been allowed to happen, but I'm not rocking any boats here.

The first cash game was soft and a $100 tourney was starting so I though it'd fill the time nicely. I chipped up with TAG play into the final table from 33 runners and I was 5th. Picked up a couple of hands, one very big pre with AQ vs AJ, I'd raised in SB, BB re-raised, so I shoved on button. He reluctantly called. I'd like to think that I didn't give him any reason to fold.

With $1500, $1000, $500 in prizemoney, I was 3rd with 5 left. Two big stacks and two smaller ones. One of the smalls started stealing blinds and built up level with me.One of the bigs attacked the bubble and riled the other big stack to where he tilted of his stack, so we had a monster, 2 medium and a healthy female TAG shorty.

The lady played very well and patient, push/shove. Doubled up a couple of times and suddently I'm shorty with an M of 6 4-handed. My BB, limp, limp so I go AI with KJs and needless to say SB pocket 55 held up. Good experience and I played relatively well but shut down way too early - an old online habit of mine that I need to fix up live.

Another word for Passive ...

2009-07-13T23:50:00.004+10:00

Jeff Hwang's book has paid for itself already 10 times over and I've only read 20 pages. If you have been following my PLO posts, you'll see that my solitary attempts at playing style analysis of winners over a much too small sample size threw up a surprisingly high number of passive players. Totally different to the 6-max aggression of NLHE. I've now discovered the correct term for it - Floating - thanks Jeff.

Winning players float and steal, float and steal at an alarming regularity. It's akin to Brunson stealing the blinds relentlessly when he wrote SuperSystem. Sure the games will change in the not too distant future, but for now an understanding of the game and that play is probably enough for you to stand a good chance of winning. Thankfully very few people visit my blog or the secret would be out.

Running good helps ... a lot.

2009-07-12T19:43:00.002+10:00

Just cashed in a random $100 Turbo NLHE Tourney. When the cat is away, the mouse decided to fire up a single MTT and concentrate for a change. I'd like to say that it was pure talent, but I've never, ever run so good. Got my 2-outer on the river when my JJ came up against KK on the final table AI preflop. I usually got my money in slightly ahead and won almost every coinflip - except the last obviously when my 55 lost to AJo (winning that would have made me chip leader). Can't compain though with 3rd and my biggest ever cash, just over $3000.

Who said blogging isn't profitable, rumour has it one of us may even run deep in the Main Event. Good luck!

Walkabout meanderings

2009-07-12T12:15:00.004+10:00

It's been a while and there has been a lot to report but I've just never seemed to have the time to get it down on paper. Blogging is probably a habit and I just got out of it for a while. As this will be a brief snapshot from memory I realise that a whole lot of memorable things will be lost. Luckily there are many more memorable moments ahead.

Last night's was definitely my first live Royal Flush, unfortunately I dug a deeper, deeper hole for myself and was on the wrong side of it. It was a home game at my place $.50/$$1 relatively deepstacked with about $350 facing $450, 1am. Villain who we call Double Barrels is the ultimate LAG. Flop came AsQs4h, 2 spades. I bet, he called. Js on Turn and the board looked mighty scary, rather than slow down this was my chance to fire a second barrel at a juicy pot with air - call, bugga. Ts to make the Royal Flush Draw. Now if he doesn't have the Ks he can't call a big bet and even if he has trips we tie with Top straight. Great theory - rest is history as the mobiles captured the smiling Geoff stacking almost all my chips.

As the poker Gods would have it, QQ very next hand. Flop AQ7. Long story short I was pegged as tilting and more than doubled up. Very next hand, Kh4h and flop came AhQh7. Checked around. A big stack hits trips on Turn and bets big, I call. River blanks, he goes AI, I call and all of a sudden I'm almost back to where I was before the Royal Flush. Happy Days!

This was our second early morning home game in a row. Wife is off to UK and I was home alone (with my poker buddies, of course.) Previous night was same format cash game and I posted a modest win there too. We get T$100 chips for $50 and you can re-buy top-up at any time. Every 2 hours we vote on raising the binds / buy-in. When majority say yes, we double the stakes, blinds and buy-in. Sometimes we get to T$4/8, Friday we ended at T$2/$4 and last night T$1/$2. No-one gets hurt but the stakes seem meaningful to us so the play has relevance. I'd highly recommend the format. Other tip is to have multiple buy-ins prepared in advance in zip-lock sandwich bags.

I've had a lot of live poker since posting past and am well up I still buy in to the minimum tables and the rake is a killer so I'm pleased to beat break-even. I'm better at reading people and certainly classifying their styles broadly within a few hands. Patience and aggression are winning.

Omaha is restricted to online and I'm going OK there too. Up and down but modestly up overall. Have moved up from the micros to PLO50 again with the odd shot at PLO100. Jeff Hwangs new book arrived in the post from Amazon and I'm about 12 pages into it. Just reading the intro on floating has turned a profit already. I am still so naive in that game, yet breaking even; so logic tells me that the games are incredibly soft.

Lost my iPod about 2 months ago and the kids have given me one of their earlier ones so I'm catching up on multiple podcasts. PokerRoad Cash Plays and 2+2 PokerCast with Mike and Adam are truly incredible resources and very enjoyable.

I'm enjoying TV poker too which I've never had access to before gettilg cable TV. It is a shovefest, I know, but does provide an opportunity to dream. I must say that the spots that Freddie Deeb and others can put you in would be very very uncomfortable on a televised table. One day ...

Work has picked up in more ways than one. One of our Partners is aquiring the other and that is creating opportunities. I've also been travelling a lot (hence the live poker) and enjoying the challenge again. We have more work than people again which means that I can relax a bit more in these recessionary times.

Family are all well and life is all around good (apart from the Swans)! I'm now going to catch up with all of the blogs that I follow on this drizzly Sunday afternoon. Hopefully life is treating you all well!

Brandon Cantu wins Event 48 - PLO8

2009-06-29T17:51:00.004+10:00

What a sick flop to win/lose a bracelet on!

To quote "We finally have a winner. After a series of hands in which all the chips went in the middle, Brandon Cantu eliminated Lee Watkinson. On the final hand, Cantu raised his button to 150,000 and Watkinson called. The rest of the chips went in on a flop of 6h4cQc. Cantu showed AhTc7c4d, a pair of fours with a club draw. Watkinson showed a huge draw, 2c3c5h7s. Any non-board-pairing low card would have been a great card for Watkinson. Instead the turn fell 9s and the river fell 4h to make trip fours for Cantu and finally send Watkinson to the rail. Watkinson walks away with $141,873."

More on the subject of perspective

2009-06-05T16:54:00.003+10:00

Nothing to do with poker but, for those in the IT business, too funny not to share ... The Vendor-Client Relationship in Real World Situations.

On a more sobering note, the latest image of Tank Man in case you haven't seen it.

Mini Hat-trick

2009-06-04T23:22:00.004+10:00

Everything is perspective and at the minute, 1c/2c is reality to me and I'm winning and feeling good about it. Looking forward to moving up through the levels again soon.

My main focus this past 3 nights has been to try to bring my A-game to the $11 PLO Tourney on Stars. Compared to my microstakes, it is mega bucks; which is helping me take it seriously. Each night it has approximately 70 runners and I've cashed 3 out of 3, limping home near the bubble each time.

The secret? As Laff says, "Tight is right!"

Star City and Pokerstars $1 Million Turbo Takedown

2009-06-01T09:32:00.005+10:00

It has been a big weekend of poker with 2 live sessions at Star City and a crack at winning a Porsche Cayman S in the Million Dollar Turbo Takedown.

I went straight from work on Friday night and managed a 10-hour session straight. Sat in the $5/$10 Limit table with 5 or 6 to every flop, capped or not. I decided to play high cards, pocket pairs and suited connectors. In theory, this should be a pretty lucrative game and I'd be interested to see how lucky/unlucky I was using PokerEV. Long and short of it was that I dropped $300 in first 3 hours by coming 2nd each time and having been rivered more often than not. Then I had 2 hands in a row that I won and I was back to all square. Hovered there for another hour and could feel boredom creeping in so I moved to a 80-100NL game.

My 2nd hand of NL, I find KK in the BB. Maybe 6 limpers for 2 dollars so I made it $20 to go. UTG+1 called and everyone else folded. Flop came with 3 low cards, so I c-bet for $20 thinking that it would be enough or tempt a chase by AK etc. Turned a low club making 3 clubs on board so I pushed the remaining $40 into a $90 pot and villain took forever to call. River blanked and I thought I was good, but he turned over a baby flush. Like the Limit table, I recovered this over the hours ahead and cashed in at 3am exactly even to the $. In hindsight, I made the most of the situation with very little to get my teeth into.

In Australia, P-platers can only take one passenger after 11pm which is a really good law. My daughter needed to get to the Presets with her friends, so I scored an unexpected econd session on Sunday night as chauffeur. Exact same story played out. Second hand of NL, KK UTG+1. I make it $10 to go and get 2 callers when the SB makes it $35. Fearing a strong hand, I called to see if an A would flop and attract a couple of other callers too. The flop came A55r 3-ways. SB checked and with only $45 in front of me it seemed like a reasonable play to push it in. Call, All-in and I was in bad shape. Yip, SB had AA, nh sir, bugga. My Limit seat came up and I still struggled with coming 2nd on the odd occassion I got in a pot. At 10pm with 1 hour of play left, I decided to give the NL a go again and lo and behold, I cashed in at 11pm for a total loss of only $6.

Whilst I played my own cards reasonably well, my reads were well off and I couldn't put anyone on hands. If I'm not raising peflop, I fail to define how others play against me. The regulars change gears depending on how everyone is playing. Over time, I'll need to pick up this skill. More thought required.

The Stars Turbo Takedown was a tough little tourney as the blinds rise quite quickly. I had 2 maniacs at an otherwise passive table with 2 dead no-shows to my right attracting aggressive blind stealing and c-betting. With my wings clipped early, I stuck to solid ABC poker. When the bubble eventually burst I was in approx 1700th position with an M of 7, which was above average. They dropped like flies from 10,000 with the payout structure very flat, another $5 for 500 spots or so.

I played fairly solid hoping to double up or steal as the opportunities presented themselves which I did. Critical hand was the SB shoving on me and I had A8o and decided to gamble. The wider his range, the better off that I am and I decided that with the blinds and antes about to eat in for us both this could well be a steal so I called. Alas, he had AKo and the flop of AK7 had me on the rail in 5972nd for $55.

In retrospect, I'd do the same again because of blind pressure on each of us and the fact that the real money requires a top 100 spot at least, more like final table. I probably forfeited $10-20 of ladder climbing equity for a tiny crack at the Porsche. It's important to dream to keep poker fresh!

Moving up a Level

2009-05-27T23:34:00.004+10:00

Inspired by my FR successes, I decided to actually see if it would translate to a real money buy-in PLO MTT. Alas no, I finished midway in the $11 on Stars, oscillating up and down around my starting stack. Played OK, I think.

Realising that playing for anything more than peanuts is way beyond me at this stage, I decided to grind out the 1c/2c PLO. My 4-tabling netted me a whopping $25. May try that again to see if 1c/2c is my sweet spot.

Still freerollin'

2009-05-27T01:01:00.001+10:00

Still having a bit of a sabbatical from serious poker and I must say that my mind is clearer to think about the game. That said, tonight I'm indulging myself with another Hubble Freeroll on Stars, this time PLO with 6066 starters.

At the first break I am 142nd of 1094. I got lucky just then hitting my gutshot for a 6-card straight flush 234567, gotta love PLO.

OK 4 hours later - on another break and I'm 12th of 86 and very happy with my play. Lost most of my chips at one stage in a big hand - can't recall why but I wasn't unhappy with my play. A couple of hero calls where I just couldn't put opp on anything but a missed FD and they were all right. Got respect for my min-raises from the tourney leader 2 seats to my left. Small ball min-raise aggression built my stack right up again. Overall, very pleased even though it is a freeroll with nothing at stake. Update: Finished 31st fo a 2nd ticket.

It struck me that most people are well capable of becoming winning players at some level; its just a case of being realistic at what that level is. For me it seems to be Freerolls for now :-(

Why I Play Poker

2009-05-26T17:45:00.002+10:00

Some time ago, I wrote to Adam at "Rounders the Poker Show" and suggested a topic for discussion - How to use forums more efficiently. I agree with Laff's comment to my last post that it just isn't a productive use of time (a finite resource for those of us with families and work commitments). That said, there is a wealth of valuable knowledge nuggets hidden away there and worth finding.

To address this, I take my hat off to PokerRoad and their Red Pro Strategy forum ... all wheat, no chaff. With only quality posts and discussions it is a phenomenal resource. In my attempt to get a URL to include, I happened upon this recent post on Shoving Mathematics.

As I will never reach this heightened level of understanding of the game (but can absolutely appreciate and respect it), I know that poker can stimulate me academically for a long time to come so long as I keep it fun and serious.

In summary, this is why I play poker!

The Wisdom of Crowds

2009-05-25T10:16:00.000+10:00

James Surowiecki argues in his book The Wisdom of Crowds that the aggregation of information in groups, results in better decisions than could have been made by any single member of the group. In terms of poker, it is clear that 2+2 can solve the challenge of optimal poker strategy far more quickly than a dozen or more of the top professionals, experienced experts in their field, ever could. Similarly, the exposition of the UB scandal when the crowd garnered and aggregated tiny components of knowledge was incredible and a testament to "crowd-sourcing".

I've been an advocate of this thinking for a couple of years now in business and am convinced that the discipline of crowd-sourcing, leveraging social media technologies, will be increasingly important. I'm a big fan of Betfair too. Apart from the ability to "play the bookie", at any point in time, it is the most reliable of who is going to win an election, Idol or the FA Cup Final. According to wikipedia, Betfair is the world's biggest prediction exchange, with around $28 billion traded in 2007.

The English Premier League has just finished and I've been involved in a Footy Tipping Comp. I know very, very little about the EPL, but I know how to find out who is favourite to win - Betfair. Last night, Man Utd reserves (title was already won) took on Hull City (fighting for survival) at Hull. How could I possibly evaluate the relative strengths of those two teams from the other side of the world. Don't need to, according to Betfair, Utd were a slight favourite to win as was borne out with their 0-1 victory.

By picking the favourites all year (I never picked one draw, its never the favourite) I just managed to scrape home ahead of 2nd place by one point. He occassionally varied his tips when the home and away teams were both the same odds, he'd pick the draw. Over the season, we both ended up well ahead of the other experts. The buy in was $50 each with 26 entrants and 3 places paid. I think that my 1st spot wins about $700, don't really know. I just know that it is always +EV to follow Betfair as the system is almost unbeatable. Certainly attempts to beat the wisdom of crowds is -EV.

Poker thought of the day ... whilst it is essential to mix up your play, don't ever succomb to Fancy Play Syndrome because it is always -EV.

Bootstrapping my Stars account

2009-05-24T20:58:00.006+10:00

I've taken a massive downswong on my online roll of late and now need to go back to microstakes to build it up. So bad that I just entered the Hubble FR on Stars with 9000 entrants. If I get in the top 72 I win a place in another $2000 FR.

A number of the successful online pros take shots way beyond their rolls, knowing that if they don't make it that they can always go back to grinding it. I'm not so sure. It's really tough bringing anything close to your A-game to these micro stakes. I'll let you know how I go. Right now, I'm 28th out of 5523 runners left.

Positional updates 58/4633; 98/4037; 141/3509; 203/2632; 704/1409; 636/1150; 153/815; 118/750; 91/650; (hurt badly blind vs blind bluff) 268/537; 223/493; 81/443; 97/410; 107/364 at 2nd break.

In parallel, I've been playing a $4.40 Limit O/8 with 153 runners, paying 36 places. The flat structures certainly keep the money in the pond generating rake. I'm not complaining at this stage as I try to get back to winning ways. I'm currently 24th of76. Fingers crossed.

Back to the Hubble FR 120/340; 125/290; got lucky with QQ hitting trips 25/266; chipleader just donked off half his stack with triple barrel on 27499r, I had A7 and the barrels were getting very big, now 4/206; 7/179; 9/163; 14/154; avg stack 90K, I have $190K; 20/135 closing in ... need to stay away from big stacks and steal where I can; ... another break 29/123; 24/109; 27/100; 36/94 (did I clam up too soon?); AA dbl up to 6/92; 8/86 almost home ...; 19/78 one of those spots where you can fold AA preflop ...; woo hoo made it in 19th position. Looks like Stars play on! 24/48; Finished 41st and won my ticket into another FR. Oh for a BR.

And back to PLO/8 20/66; 23/61; 26/57; Limit goes so slowly in comparison; 29/53; 30/51; 12/48; another break 19/42; 12/39; (pf raise with A245) 4/31; 5/27; 5/21; 6/19; 6/14; single tabling and concentrating now 9/13; bugga that was a mistake - finished 12th flopping middle flush and 35 Lo in BB. 2nd best twice hurts in this game.

2 out of 2 cashes for $5 profit!

Why play poker?

2009-05-20T16:56:00.002+10:00

At one point, my daughter had wanted to do Family Law as a career. "Why would you want to surround yourself with that much heartache?" was the obvious parental response. Thankfully, she is now planning a different career path.

And so it is with poker variance. Why do we choose a pastime that in the short term is inherently stressful and highly likely in the bad times to affect our general persona? It is time consuming and as I am in a full-time job, that encroaches on family and exercise time. Presumably then, it must provide us with benefits too (or as rational creatures we wouldn’t do it).

Personally, I benefit from a heightened ability to make risk-based decisions at work; I feel more confident making significant decisions in a timely manner with incomplete information. It is also a healthy outlet for exercising what modicum of intellect I have in a competitive arena.

What value do you derive from your poker journey?

World Press Photo 09

2009-05-19T17:36:00.004+10:00

It's easy to forget that there is a big world out there.

World Press Photo '09 is currently exhibiting at the NSW State Library and is well worth a visit. I've checked out the online equivalents and they don't translate, for example, this shot was simply amazing in person.

Poker Cruise 2

2009-05-18T17:17:00.001+10:00

I had a very enjoyable poker cruise on Friday but the result feels like a bit of a non-event; reinforcing the concept of the utility of money and the fact that wins don't bring nearly as much joy as losses bring lows.

Surprisingly on this trip, most people ended up winning, probably 6 winners and 4 losers. Usually, we have a couple of people gather most of the chips by the end of the night (symptom of alcohol, triple-barrelling and a propensity to call massive overbets). For some reason though, the money seemed to circulate more on Friday.

Our land-based host has been having a bad run and on Friday he just seemed to be playing in the moment and played extremely well all night to be a $400 winner. He picked his spots and seemed to be right every time he had to make a marginal decision.

One notable loser on the night was our only "internet kid" who had been looking forward to his first poker cruise and a crack at the rich oldies. No-one was happy at the fact that he was the one that could least afford to lose the money. In reality though, he didn't adjust well to the crazy and often unpredictable nature of our home game. A valuable investment as a lesson learned early in his career. No doubt, he’ll be back.

As for me, things started well on the very first hand with quad Kings almost tripling up. The games are wild and I was relatively card dead for the next couple of hours. I can recall a number of good lay-downs on the flop with 2nd pair, and TPGK etc. With an average of 5 to the flop, it plays like a Limit game with your stack always at risk, where you really do need the best hand at showdown. Massive over-bets get called, so its very difficult to knock people out. Somehow, I managed to play sufficiently tight/weak to slowly leak away my stack over a barren period lasting several hours.

My second buy-in fared better and grew steadily until a critical hand when I managed to limp in with 99 in early position. Flop of Q74r was checked around and then the 9 came on the turn, I led out with a modest $5 bet into $7 or so in the middle, MP raiser made it $50 (which is just the kind of game that it is). I was genuinely afraid of the QQ because the raiser knows that I play fairly tight into multi-way pots, although he did seem tilty on the night. Being a cash game, the AI shove for another $70 was relatively straightforward and if I'm behind, I'm behind. He had Q7 and had let me get there on the Turn which was a costly mistake. My trips held up and I was in a very healthy position to safely pick my spots again. When we docked at 2am, I had booked an uneventful $150 win, enjoyed gourmet sandwiches courtesy of one of the players and laughed all night.

The banter was great as usual, which is what real poker is all about. Roll on the next home game which looks like 3 weeks away.

First ever PLO8 Final Table

2009-05-12T23:36:00.004+10:00

I can't recall cashing in PLO8 before, but I seem to be getting the hang of the game a little more. Tonight I was wary of bubbling and when I got in the money I realised that I was still losing - $4.40 to enter, 99 runners and 27th paid $3.96. At the second break I was 8/23, needing a top 18 to turn a pofit of 55c.

Soon after break flop FH to put me in 4th of 23. Limits going up 600/1200 and I'm 6/20 with only 8000 in chips, card dead. Couple of good hands picked up the blinds and I find myself the shortest stack at the final table. 30mins later, bugga, another break and still hanging about with only 2.5BB left. Shoulda gone AI and got to sleep - chip and a chair tho'. Still 9 of us at Final Table. Not any more ... profit $3.52 and a lot of fun.

Pub Poker - Strategy Question

2009-05-11T22:04:00.005+10:00

$15 + $10 rebuy - 32 Starters, paying 3 spots.
Payout structure is $75, $150 and $250.

Blinds are 5K/10K and we're down to the last 4:
- UTG 8K
short-stack for some time, doubled thru blinds twice
- Button 41K
was short stack but just tripled up
- SB $80K
has only been playing a few weeks and playing a wide range preflop
- BB (Hero) 41K
has tightened up a little on the bubble with high blind structure

UTG folds, Button min-raises to 20K, SB folds. I look down and find AQo in the BB. What should I do, and why?

Jesse Takes a Shot

2009-05-09T22:57:00.005+10:00

Rangers 1 - Celtic 0 - Now that's a bad beat!

Just wanted to point you toward a blog that I follow Jesse Taking a Shot. Jesse had a career at Oracle that he has swapped for a crack at professional poker. Not the glamorous TV Tourney stuff, but the more traditional live Californian Card Room limit games. It's a series of very interesting stories and thoughtful perspectives like Jesse's most recent post on 'Poker is like Golf'.

I've also taking the liberty of transcribing one of his Bay 101 conversations into a movie by XtraNormal.

Importance of Poker Buddies.

2009-05-07T16:06:00.007+10:00

... or Sky City gets the better of me once again, this time with superior poker skills.

It's amazing when you hear stories from the professionals, how the met playing backgammon in New York or even Tennis in Scandanavia. Either, they're all leveraging the same connections to become famous or, as the results would indicate, their results are for the most part superior to the rest of us and they've learned quicker as a group. My recent experiences at the ANZPT and Sky City Auckland have reinforced this concept in my mind.

Recapping the ANZPT, I felt a sense of anticipation in the lead up and I wanted to do well, as reflected a few posts ago. I met or exceeded my expectations in terms of results and was suitably chuffed (you'll be pleased to know that my cockiness has been well and truly been knocked out of me coming back to earth at the felt which is a great leveller). Anyway, at the Sunday Deep Stack Event, it struck me that my anticipation was nothing to the excitement that a quarter of the field were enjoying having brought their partners along to share the experience. There was another quarter that it was just another day at the office. For me, I was in the middle which isn't a bad place to be because it means that you're still appreciating it. From a results and expectation perspective though, I have a long way to go yet and it's unlikely that I'd get there on my own.

Now what really struck me was that over the week where I played only 2 days, albeit 12 hours plus both times, you do get talking to a lot of other players. And by the Main Event where I turned up briefly to spectate, I was involved in conversations with a lot of the top Aussie Pros. People know people and just by being there, you get right in the middle of all sorts of hand analysis, comments on tells that were spotted, partnerships being formed for the upcoming teams event, media reporting, playing styles of specific individuals, who to watch out for and who to take advantage of, various home games that go on, etc. etc. It was really harder to avoid being in the middle of it all. How then can you not succeed?

And so to Sky City Auckland where I played all night. With the time difference, I can either leave in the afternoon to get a flight, or first thing the next morning. My preference is to do the latter, which means setting the alarm very early. If you stay out to midnight, it's hardly worth going to bed. And as someone who has been known to sleep under telephone booths in Euston Station, beaches in Greece etc, the thought of a hotel room lying essentially unoccupied seems like a waste. Extrapolating this line of thinking, I play to the poker room closes, get a cab to the airport in time for the opening of the Qantas Club at 5am. A couple of hours snooze there and then a 3 hour flight to Sydney where I manage to sleep the whole way - sweet.

Anyway, last night when I sat down, there were no recreational players, NONE! Hardly a +EV spot with a load of grinders. But you know what, the best players aren't grinders either, their gamblers at heart and that's who turned up for the most part. There were the long faces grinding out their $200 / night on the $60-$100 BI NLHE tables, where I started. But then a tournament started with $100 entry, 3000 starting stack and 20 minute blinds. Almost every one of the 50 competitors had been to Sydney and the ANZPT. I now understood all of their stories and could join in. I got respect at the table and actually started well, thanks to good cards. I didn't cash though and that wasn't the point of the story anyway. The point was, I was being accepted into this group and hearing stuff that I only get access to on PokerCasts. But this time it was current. The hand analysis was refining thinking that I'd only just experienced and drawn my own conclusions too. But these guys were noticing things that I hadn't really thought about.

For example, I had AA one time, with about 6000 in chips, blinds were 100/200. EP raiser made it 600 and MP limped. I was on the button, happy days. I thought about my betsize, and I was sure that 1500 would have got two aggressive callers. I made it 1850 to draw some attention to the bet. I nearly got the desired single caller but both folded which I wasn't too unhappy with as my stack was growing just nicely. But then a player not involved in the hand said "Nice squeeze play". I know that he was probably just fishing for confirmation, but it struck me that this was a squeeze play. I'd never really thought of it like that before the bet, but subconsciously that is what I was doing. And I hadn't even formalised it in my head after the action, but it was a genuine squeeze play. Just by drawing it to my attention, I thought about it more and it did crystalise my thinking on the move for similar situations in the future. A small example of how being in the community helps you improve.

I'm just not getting that to nearly the same extent online, on 2+2 or even to be truthful this blog. If this was a business, I'd have to say that the ROI just isn't there. That said, it isn't a business today, its a (sometimes very) challenging hobby that I really enjoy. In that regard, following the half dozen or so blogs that I do really does cheer me up, so it has got to be +EV. I just wish the LSG was back blogging again though. Those were the days.

So I was $100 after busting out and still a few hours to go before my flight (I didn't want to go busto on my kiwi dollars). I went to look at sitting at a table and there was a $1/$2 PLO game going. These were the very experienced online and live PLO specialists. Their home games also include Omaha/8. I was way out of my depth but if I bought in short stacked and played really tight preflop and picked my spots post flop, I should be able to do OK with not too much risk. Nice theory until I got it all in with a Turned A high Flush only to get sucked out on with a straight flush on the river. Ah well, there goes the first $100 chip. I took another out of my pocket and am pleased to report that this lasted me until the poker room closed. The education that I received though was second to none.

At the table was a German guy (I think) called Andy who could have come across as arrrogant to plenty and was commentating incessantly. He was by far the best LAG there. But he also analysed every hand after the pot. He'd also call (pretty accurately) the hands that people had, which I actualy think is easier in PLO as there is less bluffing and the range is narrowed by the flop betting a lot. He clashed with another guy who was a gambling NLHE LAG but very little clue about PLO. In the pursuit of all of his chips, he lost several BIs, but by cash out time, he'd way more than recovered them; nice work.

In the early hours, we got shorthanded, down to 6 but the banter continued and I got a whole new persective on how to play PLO. Spots where Andy would explain to the table that if you fire there he just can't call. I think that with a few more sessions like this, my game would come on in leaps and bounds, but I write this post back home and all alone in the absence of live poker buddies to discuss strategy with. I always have you guys though.

I'll leave it there, but without the opportunity to live amongst living, breathing poker players on a regular basis, I'm convinced that I'll never win a bracelet. Truth is that even if I did do it all day every day, it just isn't in me to be that bracelet winner anyway probably. Highest percentage of Cashing will do me just fine. If I could acquire a modicom of the BCG's discipline, I reckon that I can get that to 50%.

Well that is today's rant, but I'd certainly be interested to hear of anyone that has similar or contrary, thoughts and experiences.

PS The next Poker Cruise will be on Pittwater on May 15th if anyone can make it to Sydney for then, there are still 2 spots available.

Enjoying Live Poker in Wellington

2009-05-05T11:42:00.002+10:00

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, situated at the southwestern tip of the North Island with a population of 400,000. Unlike other kiwi cities it doesn't have a casino, so it was a pub poker night in JJ Murphy's.

There was an interesting twist that I hadn't encountered before. Basically, you get unlimited chip stamps for every beer purchased. Like beer pong, there would be an optimal strategy based on coherence. An interesting twist indeed.

Andrew and I were in town with work and needed a meal anyway, so we killed 3 birds with one stone. I started in the BB and checked my option with Qc4c. When folp came Tc6c3c it looked like it might be my night. SB bet, I raised and got 2 callers, including the SB. Turn came 7c and the SB overbets the pot for more than half of his stack. I thought about it and my read if anything told me that it was probably a rash bluff. Discretion being the better part of valour, and trying to practice ICM eventhough I hadn't as yet had a full explanation, I folded fearing the Ac or Kc. He never showed, so we'll never know. But I was still alive.

Two hands later, I'm on the button with AJ and it is limped around to me who just calls. Flop comes JT4r and it is limped around to me who also bets the pot and gets 2 callers. Turn is a K, first to act checks and then villain bets half his stack which was again a massive overbet to the table. I thought about it once more and decided that I didn't need to bust out this early with not even TPTK anymore. Evening not looking so hot.

From there I was in shortstack mode which is really quite a simple equation. AI or fold. Several limpers when I had KK preflop, All in, one caller with AK. I triple up. AI with 99 to mutliple limpers and everyone folded. Long story short, I built up my stack to about 3rd or 4th in chips. Blinds were doubling every 15 mins, so the games are over very quickly in Wellington. With 12 players left on 2 tables and 3 places paid, I was UTG with AT, pushed AI (7BB) and was called by BB who had AJ and that was me eliminated from the tourney. The food was great, company was good and Tui Beer is actually a very nice drop.

Andrew had an opposite strategy playing tight and doubling up with premium hands. He made it onto the final table relatively easily but was short stacked most of the evening (without losing a hand) and by this stage was effectively crippled. Got it in with K6s and when the board failed to improve he too was on the rail and we were back in work mode preparing for the next day's presentation.

Pleased to report that the presentation on Enterprise 2.0 went well and I'm off to the airport once more. Farewell Wellington! Auckland next and the crasian gamblefest that is Sky City.

ICM and SPR

2009-05-02T08:55:00.003+10:00

Thanks to a separate comment by Laff, I'm very aware that I don't even understand the implications of Independent Chip Modeling or Stack to Pot Ratios, so at least there is lots of room for improvement.

If anyone out there (read, either of you) know of any good links for in depth explanations of the implications of these concepts, please feel free to leave the links as comments for me and anyone else that may be bored enough to stumble across this post in the future. Maybe my kids, eh?

ANZPT PLO Saga

2009-04-29T17:13:00.005+10:00

Background
The ANZPT PLO Rebuy was the one that I have been looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. The rebuy chip was only allowed to be used when you were below your starting stack. After the first hand, we had 5 Rebuys at our table. I chose to use it as a second chance in case I got unlucky. It was valid for 4 levels after which you could get a refund. It could not be used as an Add-on. As I'm trying to contain my investment levels to within my bankroll, playing the tourney for a $275 entry as opposed to $515 meant that I could win more - sort of.

The first thing that I noticed about the structure was no antes. As these contributed to my downfall on Sunday, this was a bonus. With a 5000 starting stack, the 40-minute Levels of 25/25. 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 150/300, 200/400 levels were very generous. This tourney wasn’t going to be won within 12 hours.

Early stages
I played like a rock for the first four levels. 4 or 5 of the others were in every hand though and potting it up. Inevitably these monster stacks tangled and there were casualties. It was easy to spot the bad players (who were very dangerous in the early stages) and in hindsight harder to spot the good ones who were chasing the easy money with marginal hands. Two guys got their egos and trash talk started early and both exited within the first 2 levels. The guy with all of their chips became a massive bully and even when he got back to average stack kept going. He went on to cash, so fair play to him. He was definitely lucky to get through those first couple of orbits though.

I limped or played the big blind when I could and made one pot-sized bet when I flopped trips and everyone folded, a combination of image and board texture. I was happy to take the family pot.

A couple of orbits later, there was a hand that gave me a lot of confidence that it might be my day. BB again, I had QQxx when the board came Q97, two hearts. There was a reasonable amount in the middle, probably 150 x 6 or something. OOP, I checked to see what developed, ready to pop it whenever it got back to me, but everyone checked. I wasn’t too unhappy as I’d decided not to go bust on that board having to make a decision on the Turn. The 3rd heart came on the Turn. I checked again to see what developed. Pot, Re-pot and I was done with the hand. 2nd Nut Flush lost to Nut Flush. My stack would have been gone. I was in no doubts at any stage in the hand that the right move in a cash game was to pot it on the Flop. I pondered the hand multiple times over the next several hours at the table and the more I think about it, the more that I really like my play. It isn’t the aggressive style often advocated, but it suits my personality and remember, my goal here was to cash Harrington style while I read and re-read Gus Hanson’s book.

Next crucial hand came before the first break. I had 10800 in chips, starting stack was 5000. I had my rebuy chip in my pocket which was good until the first break. In the BB, I limp again with 88xx, blinds . Flop 38J. I checked, TAG to my left raises about half the pot, I call. Turn was a T and he fires 3000, again I call to slow him down. River blanked and he fired 5000 into a significant pot. The bet didn’t seem to make sense to me and the more I thought about it, I was sure that he was just mistaking Tight for Weak. It was also just before the break which is notorious for making moves.I called with the luxury of my rebuy chip in my pocket and he mucked. I got to pick up the pot without showing and after the break, this was a regular point of conversation as they tried to work out what hand I was on.

It turns out that right and left of me were two aspiring full-time professionals and I could see that they knew it was a basic mistake for them to let me away with not showing. They certainly regretted missing out on very valuable data. I spotted one of them later in the big 25/50 PLO game where he’d been with Lisandro all week. He was short-stacking that game with $5K when the average was well over $60K (in real money). Anyway, I now went to the first break, well above average with $17K.

Loosening up
Next crucial hand, I have AAxx in early position and limp. I’m using this play more and more and advocate it in a loose game. In fact, I am getting more and more like Adam from the 2+2 Pokercast who advocates a style that rarely if ever raises pre-flop unless it is for a substantial portion of you stack. Anyway, I limp as do several others. Board comes 666, way ahead or way behind. Check and then a 600 bet into an 1800 pot from second position. Call, fold, fold, I call with tight image, fold. Turn doesn’t really matter, unless it’s a 6 which it isn’t.1200 into 3600 pot. I call in case it is the 2nd barrel with KK. River blank and he fires 4500 into the 6000. At this point, I’m done with the hand and show my AA fold. I know I was right but others questioned it. With my tight image, why would he string me along and risk his tourney on the river to a re-pot without the nuts. He also had no reason to think that I could get away from AA which was my obvious hand. We were both well above average and the couple of thousand didn’t dent my stack at all. In retrospect, the call on the flop was a mistake. I should have min-raised and found out where I was at then. I guess I hoped that they’d both shut down but in reality, I’m never going to be sure having shown weakness.

I played my hands and position as the cards dictated for the second and third sessions. Picturing Tiger Woods positioning himself for the final day assault. With the nature of PLO betting, I was very conscious of position as you can get yourself in a lot of trouble quickly OOP. My stack grew steadily right until the dinner break when I was well above the average stack with about 45 players left. Then the hand which was the subject of the last post came up.

Villain was Terry, someone that I met playing as a pub game regular about 3 years ago. Terry’s sole source of income these days is his poker, so I guess that that makes him a professional. We were seated at the same table and decided to grab a burger together during the dinner break. The conversation was very good and we talked about what may lie ahead in terms of bubbling, final tabling etc. Neither of us were planning anything rash just yet. Certainly it never crossed my mind that we would clash on the table so soon afterward. Soft playing would not be an ethical option for either of us though.

To recap, KK99dd vs AAxx. Unfortunately it was very strong AA67dd and I went from the 42% that I suspected that I might have been to a 35%. As you can imagine, no help from the board and my stack was seriously dented. In some respects I seemed to be effectively crippled. Most important for now was to regather my thoughts and not tilt. It is funny the competitive camaraderie that comes at these times. Two players went out of their way to remind me not to tilt which was appreciated.

Grinding it out
Now to knuckle down and not do anything too serious. Next hand dealt was well above average, but I folded as I wasn’t confident in my ability to think properly so I mucked to avoid anything silly. In hindsight, it was an exceptionally good decision for me and one that I'd recommend considering. If in doubt, muck. It doesn’t cost anything to fold apart from potentially lost opportunity.

Next hand I’m in the BB and get rubbish. Thankfully the 942r flop gave me top 2 pair. Again, not wanting to be rash, I checked to see what would develop and the short stack went AI. Everyone folded back to me and I thought about it and was convinced that he had an overpair to the board. I was right but the runner runner Jacks was gut wrenching. Now I was counterfeited and crippled.

Stayed cool and folded for a few orbits with my stack dwindling from 8000 to just on 5000 now with 600/1200 blinds I think. I really got such rubbish that I couldn’t tangle and my stack was so short I was going to get multiple callers. Then I got AAxx and pushed AI with 2 guys who checked it down. The A on the flop tripled me up – woo hoo!

Patience, patience, patience. Blind structure was so slow, I could wait orbits and pick up blinds to tread water. Then they broke our table and I missed the blinds. We’re down to 30 and I’m hanging in. I actually got a couple of walks which was fun as those around me started feeling bubble-fever too. It’s a bit like being a teenager thinking that the world is looking at you. In truth, everyone was also looking at the big stacks and was a bit afraid to attack me for fear of being re-popped. Somehow, they just dropped like flies around me.

AAxx again UTG, shove, BB said that he didn’t want to double me up and again I was cool with that. The big stacks continued to tangle on the other tables and in one hand they had 4 people AI preflop – way to go. We lost 2 that hand. Before I knew it, it was 22, then 21. I can’t recall playing a hand. When the next one dropped, we redrew and I got Table 23, Seat 1. I stacked my chips slowly and walked slowly only to find the Button at seat 8. Then I realised that 10 and 1 being empty the blinds had just passed – sweet.

I doubled up once more when we were on the bubble and playing hand for hand. Someone tried to steal my blind with random rubbish and I had AAxx in the BB. I thought a long time about folding which no-one could believe. I’m not convinced that it would have been the wrong move as I had enough for 2 orbits. As it was, I had to sweat the potential of 2-pair to the river.

2 hands later, Frank from Crown Casino on the other table lost his short stack and I was in the money, $611. A couple of people then exited quite quickly which I’ve noticed online. I needed to make it to 14th to jump up $200 – highly unlikely.

Final Hand
This for me was the highlight of my tournament. Weird I know. There were 15 left and I looked down to find KKxx in the CO. If I could make it to the final table, the jumps were significant. If I doubled up, and never played a hand, I felt that this may be possible. Time to make my move and steal the blinds. “Pot”. Actually, I slid my stack in and the dealer game me 150 chips in change. Fold, Fold and then insta-call by BB. Bugga, I knew he’d call but this looked like Aces.

Then I heard the commentator announce, we have an AI player on Table 22. The table was still looking at me and my 150 chips. I started looking at the cards and feigning a decision. Could I get away from a 18K pot to hold onto 150 chips preflop in PLO. Ridiculous. Then the announcement came … “we have lost our AI player”.

I then called, it was AA and I was on the rail. Like death and taxes, this had been inevitable since I was crippled with KK99dd, but by delaying my 150 chip call for a minute, I just made $189. After 12 hours of poker, I was very pleased with still being very aware of a lot of what was going on around me.

Feelings
Having played for 12 hours on Sunday and Tuesday, whilst I enjoyed every moment, I was mentally exhausted. My concentration levels were much greater than for an online session with so much new data to gather and interpret.

I was obviously very pleased with the result. I also exceeded my expectations with the variety of my play. I think the quality was good for me but a million miles below Gus Hanson.

I met a bunch of people that I respected and enjoyed their company. I outlasted Grant Levy by about 11 hours and Kiwi G by about 30 minutes. There were a lot of positives to take away from the experience. I even paid for my two entry fees and made $10/hr on top.

That said, it was my first glimpse of life as a poker pro and it wasn’t particularly attractive. The utility of the emotional positives are insignificant compared with the lows that you are subjected to with gut wrenching bad beats. The exhaustion levels would be compounded had I to play today and tomorrow again. The people you meet would have lives surrounded by poker, etc.

As for my WSOP ambitions, they’re stronger than ever and I’d like to prove the concept of +EV a lot further in these relatively small buy-in situations before possibly having a crack at cashing in the Aussie Millions. I know that I'm getting way ahead of myself, but we can all dream can't we? And heck, I'm feeling pretty good right now. Here's looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight. Aah, the simple pleasures of life.

ANZPT PLO Crucial Hand

2009-04-29T15:45:00.004+10:00

Full report to follow, for now, a big decision ...

ANZPT Sydney : PLO Tourney $275 + $240 Rebuy option (not used)
114 Runners : 18 places paid : 1st gets $16,000 thru 18th for $611
42 players remaining - Blinds 300/600,
Average stack 25K, Hero 40K, Villain 22K
UTG calls 600 : UTG+1 (Hero) pots with Kh9hKc9c to 5200, fold, Villain re-pots it All In for 22K, fold, fold, fold - back to me.
Note : Just had dinner with villain and was able to put him on an exact holding of very strong AAxx before making my decision.

What would you do?

Bubbled the Bubble

2009-04-27T13:47:00.002+10:00

When I read this Post in years to come I know that I'll be able to look back on it as an achievement, but for now I must confess that I am disappointed to have effectively bubbled. Yesterday's ANZPT $330 Deep Stack Tourney at Star City featured 320 runners, with 30 getting paid. I went into the first break having entered only 3 pots, stolen 3 blinds and had tripled my starting sstack to almost $30,000 after 2 hours of fold, fold, fold. This was my strategy and it worked. Some thanks must go to the Poker Edge and its advice on selectively re-popping the overly loose blind stealers. You can fairly safely pick up 4 x BB with very minimal risk, preserve your tight image and reinforce your aggressive image. The two pots that got to showdown feature KK and AKs.

After the first break, I had a solid hand where I repopped one of these guys from the blinds and got called with AK. Flop came K, rag, rag, I c-bet, got raised and pushed AI for not much more. With his effective stack, he was pot committed to calling which he duly did after thinking, with KQ. No Q and I was feeling good. A few hands later, I had QQ. Raised it up to 2200. Turn came AJ7r, I C-bet 4400 and was called. The Turn was a Q thankfully so I could confidently fire again for 8200 but he folded TT. Happy days, up toward $53K well above average. In this spot, I was looking good as I had two loose players to my right that I could re-pop.

Now, I must share with you a learning experience. We had a couple of people taking exceptionally long over decisions. One had already had time called on them and then the second took forever over what didn't really seem to be a very hard decision. We all knew he'd fold, it seemed more like Hollywooding. Anyway, I was starting to assert my presence with strong betting, and had moved on from my ultra tight image when the antes had kicked in and I called Time. This started quite a fracas with the player taking exception, snap folding and giving me heaps which the dealer warned him about. One other player stood up and said that he was just about to call time, whilst two others confirmed to the Tournament Director that it had been excessive. Anyway, looking back, there was no upside really to me having got involved and I wish I'd stayed out of it. Not that I'm afraid of the conflict, it just confused my thinking slightly after that and I also had the guy for a bit of tilt on my left which isn't a good spot for a tilter.

Two orbits later a hand came up. I was the small blind with A9s, with blinds of 1000/2000/100 ante, when the button limped for 2000. I called and we had $7000 in the middle when the BB raised AI to $16000. Button folded and I had to make a decision for $14000 to win $21000. PokerStove tells me today that if his range is 88+,ATs+,KQs,AKo (5.6%), I am a 33% chance against TT+,AKs,AKo, I am surprisingly still a 30% chance. So the odds seem to be approximately right. Question is, do I need to get involved. No, but a win would build a lot of momentum. What would a fold say, well I have potentially created a tilter that thinks that he can run over me with an AI. In the end, I called, he had KK and there was no A to help me. I did hit the 9 on the Turn. Far from crippled but a lot of food for thought and my reasoning said that calling time had made me factor in a wider range than what was probably reality in hindsight. He continued to play well, untilted for another couple of hours and we actually got on really well after that. In fact, as an aside, with deepstack tourneys, you really do build up relationships with the other players when you spend 6+ hours together in close competitive situations. So that was my first mistake.

The rest of that session is a little bit of a blur, up a little with steals and down a little with blinds. Its funny, overly compnsating for tilt by playing overly conservative is also tilt when the antes are in play. As with money under your mattress that isn't earning interest, with the effect of inflation you are actually going backwards. And so it was with my slide backwards over the next couple of hours with a static chipstack.

Thankfully, they split the table and I could make a fresh start. It's actually quite stimulating to quickly work out what the new table is like. First thing is to look at everyone and assign the stereotypes based on age, gender and dress code. Stack piling is a reliable tell. I even find that my own stack changes with my mood. Messy = loose, Neat = Tight, Anal = Ultra Tight. Table talk is also more data. Within 2 hands the seats beside me were talking about how our end of the table was quiet and the other side was getting all the hands. Sure enough they were stealing away without anyone pushing back. As the new arrival, I wasn't about to start clipping wings. I had 2 big stacks to my left so lay low while I worked out the table. Nothing memorable here, as the blind structure was so big I was eeking away at what I could. By now we were up to $3000/ $6000 with $500 antes, a big whack of my $50K. Still, I managed to steal enough to keep at that level. Once I raised UTG with 99 and got re-raised AI 2 seats later. Reasoning that I was ahead of nothing and coin flipping against AK, I folded preflop. My reasoning was right - he had AK. Still no real need to coinflip but in retrospect it may have been a better option and something I would definitely have done online where cashing means less to me at the stakes that I play.

Down from 39 through to 32 people left (top 10%), the blinds were 5000/10000/500 and I had 42K. We were 7 handed and the blinds were whizzing around. I was conscious that there were 2 stacks that were slighty shorter than me. I looked down and the same A9s from before was looking up at me. I'd been very tight so I wouldn't expect a caller if I pushed now when I could still hurt those on around $100K or less (which was almost the entire table). I made my stand and pushed AI. There was a guy to my left and we'd never warred with each other who would definitely have folded had he not found the same KK (different table) as before that hurt me. Would history repeat, alas, yes. He called and I needed the Ace which never arrived. Had it come, I'd have been on an average stack. As it was, I was going home slightly disappointed. I never threatened the $26K for 1st prize, but should really have limped into 30th spot if I didn't make that move at that time. Regrets, No. It's just poker and better for this to happen here as opposed to next years WSOP. Mulling it over on the drive home was a lot shorter than being tired and alone on a 747 from LA.

Stepping back, my goal was to cash and I bubbled. Over time, I've learned online to attack the bubble. I didn't and whilst I maintaned my chip count, the increasing blinds every 40 minutes left me with fewer and fewer options while I relied on a war of attrition that I wasn't in control of. In the end, I was very aware that I was taking a chance and on this occassion it didn't pay off. A9 vs KK twice. A look at the clock showed another coincidence, 12:30am. Exactly 12 hours from the first hand was dealt. I'm sure that the next few days will bring some clarity about the positives to be extracted as I outlasted 288 other players including a number of pros. There were no 'pub' soft spots at any of my tables. On the contrary, almost everyone that I played against was a Star City regular or very competent online player. The quality made it all the more enjoyable and has left me more confident for the future. I didn't adjust well to the high ante structure at the end and watched as others picked up blind after blind. Something I need to think about and then act upon in future tournies.

I unwound for 30 minutes watching Jeff Lisandro playing Omaha. These guys are at such a different level. It was $25/$25 5-handed. The big stack was a youngish guy from Montenegro (now living in Perth) with over $100K on the table. Lisandro was average with over $50K. There weren't any particular hands that stood out, just the routine way that they casually tossed in $500 chips that looked like humbugs.

Ah well, enough self-ruminating. I look forward to stumbling across this post again when I am old and at one with life ...

Gus Hansen and the ANZPT (Star City, Sydney)

2009-04-23T17:40:00.001+10:00

So there I was ready to study PLO8 when I realised that I have a couple of live events coming up this weekend in the ANZPT (passouts permitting). Given the significant investment and the fact that the micro PLO8 games will still be there in a week, a month and a year, I decided to get back into live MTT mode. I've previously read Harrington and in fact built my style around it since it suits my older Gen-X grinder personality. I've recently listened to the ESPN Poker Edge series which was very superficial but passes the time between Avalon and North Sydney each day.

Then I asked a friend if I could borrow his Gus Hansen's 'Every Hand Revealed' book. I picked it up 2 days ago and am not even through Day 1 yet. I'm blown away. If you've read the book you'll know why. I just find myself consantly asking "you bet how much with what? wow". It is another level and way beyond me. I get it after the event, but the courage and wherewithall to execute with a Tai Chi-like combination of self-awareness / calm / aggression / control is incredible to me. That said, it is proving to be extremely enlightening. Live cash, I see multiple players play a similar aggressive style. 30% of them win a lot and 2/3 off them don't lose more than a couple of BIs max. That means that in aggregate, they are +EV as a group. I meanwhile consistently eek out a happy existence most sessions that equates to a burger flipping wage - but I rarely lose. As the amounts involved are relatively insignificant "why bother?" is a reasonable question.

Back to the ANZPT, even the few pages that I have read have me feeling better prepared for this weekends tournies. $275 Opening NLHE tomorrow, $330 Deepstack Sunday and then the $275 2nd Chance PLO on Tuesday. I will not be playing anything like Gus, grinding away Harrington style and hoping to Cash. Online I've matured from wanting to cash, to focussing on Final Tabling and more recently, hoping to win. This is a maturation that I am yet to go through live. If I can cash in 1 of the 3 Tournies I will be very happy. The chances of me doing so if all players are equal is less than 3 to 1. If I'm in the middle of the top 1/3 of each field, I'm even money to cash once. So that is sufficiently ambitious for me for now. Obviously if I run good, I may re-evaluate. Any nuggets of live MTT advice welcomed, especially PLO in the early stages. As always, my measure of success will be how well I played, how aware I was, how I maintained levels of concentration, how I changed gears, how I bothered to calculate and not switch off to just playing the cards as dealt.

If I go missing for a week, I'm either depressed or winning.

PLO8 - Time to get serious

2009-04-21T16:06:00.003+10:00

I'm not sure that there is any shortcut to winning poker. I've often read that it is an iterative process requiring a lot of table time. My PLO8 journey started well and then a little bit of variance and a big bit of bad play has jolted me back to the study. Well, given that I jumped straight in at $100 buy-ins and no study, more accurate to say start my study.

In my library, I came across a Split Poker book by Ray Zee. He starts by saying that poor PLO8 players can go a long time before realising that they are losing players. Given that when the book was written 30 hands per hour of live poker was the norm, at its most generous, I've certainly survived a month or so of casual play. Still not very long, sigh!

This was the wake up hand ...

... it isn't the $100 that was the jolt, just my bad play on the low side that left me so exposed. I should have known when my steal was met with a min re-raise. Position, position, position.

I never regret being outplayed, just look to learn from it. When I read Ray's book further, the chapter focuses on playing tighter and tighter. It turns out that Edward Hutchison was right and I was wrong after all - surprise, surprise.

So here I am back to the drawing board. Without the 500 hands I played, the chapters would be boring and I wouldn't have picked much up. I'm already finding that I had intuitively discovered a lot more than I gave myself credit for. Looking forward to further study and hopefully not being the fish for too much longer.

PS I actually nipped into becoming a very small winning player up $5 immediately prior to the hand above. PokerEV tells me that I was running very hot though. In Sklansky Bucks, I should be down $200.

Why choose stress?

2009-04-20T13:23:00.002+10:00

At one point, my daughter had wanted to do Family Law as a career. Thankfully, she is now planning on a different career path. As a parent, my immediate reaction was, why would you want to surround yourself with that much stress and heartache?

And so it is with poker variance. Why do we choose a pastime that in the short term is inherently stressful and highly likely in the bad times to affect our general persona through a variety of internal feelings? Presumably it must provide us with other benefits.

For me, I benefit from a heightened ability to make risk-based decisions at work. I feel more confident making significant decisions in a timely manner with incomplete information. I'd love to receive comments on what value you derive from your poker journey.

First ever session of PLO8

2009-04-20T09:09:00.005+10:00

Inspired by a recent PokerRoad Cash Plays with Andy Bloch discussing Stud 8-or-better, I got to thinking that it is a much more complex game than I had imagined. The more I discover about other games, the more that I realise that NLH is over-rated. When Doyle and the boys were on the road, there is no doubt that it justifiably earned the reputation as the Cadillac of Poker. Since then, it makes for good lowest common denominator TV viewing. Online, it is falling into the category of HU poker, academically solved. Hence it is difficult to exploit the young kids with far more time on their hands than us oldies to perfect the game.

Omaha is a great gamble game. I still feel so naive compared to some of my opponents but I'm holding my own reasonably well. With a bit of study, I may even get to be a winning player. Tonight, I moved on again, this time to PLO/8. Adam from the 2+2 PokerCast often talks about it and the importance of scooping the pot in split games.

A2xx is a great starting hand if it makes a qualifying low, but you can lose money with the nuts when you get quartered. Also, if an A or a 2 comes you need to be careful that the low you make with your kicker is deceptive in how it can be beaten. Strong PLO hands with no low value, if you can limp in, can scoop if there is no qualifying low. Aces are gold, playing high and low. Beyond that I don't really have much of a clue.

I'm hardly bankrolled for PLO100 so jumping in to 2-tabling PLO8 at 100 was crazy to say the least. I guess I reconciled it in my own mind that I would get to experience it the way that it was meant to be played. Interestingly, after my small sample size of almost 400 hands, I have the impression that the variance may be a lot lower than PLO. In PLO8, you know when you are beat for sure. You know when you are putting a lot of money in HU with the prospect of getting half. Lots of opportunities to get away from hands on the flop. Similarly, you know when you have the nuts.

One of the many skills that I haven't mastered yet which is deciding whether you want to bring callers along for the ride or close hands out with a pot-sized raise. This isn't as obvious as it might sound. Anyway, after my first session, I lost just over $25, to be expected I guess, first time up. My PTO Stats showed heaps of leaks.

The first and most obvious one is true for any beginner, I've seen significantly more flops than anyone else - 46.88%. Average for the table was 25%. An interesting stat was WtSD, all those with >40% were winners, those below were losers. Makes sense really, winners decide on the flop if they're ahead or not. A bit like Limit poker ... I'll see you at the river. Another interesting observation, winning players seem to never fold their blinds to a steal. Maybe there aren't many steals, hence 0%.

To see whether I had been lucky/unlucky, I fired up PokerEV. If you haven't used this program before, it's pretty cool in that it works out your Sklansky bucks and tells you if you are running above or below expectation relative to when the money went in for hands that get to showdown. How did I fare? Actually, I ran pretty hot, so at least now I know that my almost breakeven flattered my performance.

Then, I remembered that I have my Hutchison system Prefloper application. I fired it up and played a lot more sensibly. I made a comeback from that point. I did ignore it quite a few times, almost always to my detriment, again I reasoned with myself that it was experimentation but in reality we all know that it is the desire to see more flops and get lucky. As PokerEV confirms, I did get lucky. If only I had the discipline of BCG and the Blindman, I reckon that I would turn a healthy profit at this game. Maybe next week :-).

Trip down memory lane

2009-04-16T12:32:00.002+10:00

"A year in the Life" is an entertaining blogs by a guy in London with an equal mix of poker and life stories. The ex-Snowman's latest post has him reminisce on leaving his hometown which reminded me of a similar experience back home recently. If you don't know me you may wish to move to the next post now, even if you do, you still might.

For what it's worth, I grew up in a town called Downpatrick in Northern Ireland, population 9,000. Then "The Troubles" started and almost overnight the town grew to a population of 17,000 as people were moved out of their homes in Belfast to satellite towns like ours. It changed the culture of our wee town overnight. No longer did we know everyone. Those that we didn't know were displaced and often to be feared. Over the years, it has all become fully integrated, but our wee town has never quite been the same.

I had the chance to take my 17yo daughter around last month for pretty much the first time. We parked tha car at the house where I was born and starting walking. My mum and dad moved there only weeks before I appeared. Back then it was all families and fun; now it is all broken glass and many would find it intimidating. I wanted to show my daughter the back lanes that we played in but they have been all bricked up, presumably to stop sniper movement at one point. Doesn't look nice at all with angry barking dogs everywhere.

From there we walked up the back to my old school which has hardly changed. I naively thought that as an ex-pupil from the other side of the world that I'd be able to stroll about the school but I felt like rip van winkle. Ireland has caught up with the rest of the UK with its pervasive and over-zealous regulatory compliance that conspires to take the fun out of life. Having signed a Child Protection document, I was allowed around the corner to see my year photo. I'd forgotten a lot of my classmates but with the photo the memories all flooded back. From there we walked through the grounds which now sported a very high perimeter fence coated in Anti Climb Security Paint. I'd never heard of such a thing, seems like a pretty cool product, check it out.

Passed my house in "Cornflake Hill" (GBP3,900 in 1970, I really do need to find the pound symbol), so named because everyone else ate toast for breakfast. Then walked Aunt Sally's. She always had an open door policy and kept all of us cousins, neighbours and friends fed between our adventures. From there on to Samson's stone (Samson threw it from the Mournes years ago (folklore) / Glacial movement (science)). The Council have tried to make tourist spots with nice stone walls and paths. The alcoholics, druggies and glue sniffers seem to find them quite homely. Then on to the local hospital where my Aunt was being looked after by my cousin with another cousin in the neighbouring room. It was around about now that it was really sinking in what you give up when you leave a small town to the other side of the world with no extended family.

From here I visited Brother Justin, an aging Christian Brother who inspired many of us with his love of mathematics. He's losing his memory and spent most of the time trying to recall me. He did remember that Stevie Stockdale was a one-footed footballer though and I very much enjoyed his company. He was always a relatively gentle man unless you didn't hold the corner of the paper exactly 1.5 inches each side when he was stapling for the class. That was one of my earliest introductions to real pressure with a task where there is really no excuse for getting it wrong. We all loved the tension of queuing up and on average there were about 1.7 clips around the ear per queue.

Scotch Street was also the home of Allie M where we had our first big regular poker school. We would have been 9 or 10 at the time and played for all of our spare coppers. Allie was no good at maths or poker (great soccer player) and always done his dough. The pub next door was always full of old guys playing darts and Allie was great at darts. The same routine played out over the years. Allie lose his money, I'd lend him some, he'd go next door and win heaps playing darts with the old guys (in retrospect they may have let him win) and he'd return with more money for the game which he'd duly lose. Needless to say, this is where I built my first illicit bankroll that I hid in the base of my Seiko watch. The role of notes eventually bacame so fat that it wouldn't fit. That was about when I turned 14 or so at which point we all proceeded to spend it on alcohol. It's funny, even then I never used any of the profits, the winnings was always just a scoreboard. Another +EV regular is now a doctor. He was a top chess player so we never gambled at that. What we did do though was teach ourselves backgammon solely for the purposes of heads up gambling - earliest introduction to extreme variance with our loose doubling gambles.

Now this is a great tip for any golfers out there. Next time you want to gamble on the game, introduce the concept of the doubling cube on each hole. Starting at only $1 per hole, you'll be amazed at how many $64 putts you'll need to sink. Give it a go, you'll love it!

On to the St. Patrick Centre which tells the story of Patrick who is buried in Downpatrick. Was very interesting except for leaving out the part about where they decided to bury him. Not sure if this is folklore or I made it up, but my story goes that when he died, they couldn't agree where to bury him, so they put him on a donkey and where the donkey stopped that was it. Unfortunately for the poor donkey, each time he slowed down the neighbouring villagers would come and create a commotion to keep him moving toward their town. Eventually the poor donkey died in Downpatrick with Patrick still on his back. As an aside, buried with Patrick are St Brigid and St Colmcille. From there, we went up to see his grave which is covered by a stone that I'm told my great grandfather helped transport. Again be wary of Irish folklore.

Walking down the hill, we popped into Denvirs a traditional pub/hotel where I would play chess representing our town as a schoolkid against the adults. I always played Black in seat 3 or 4, and always tucked myself in for the night with the Kings Indian opening. I was aware back then of table image and took forever pretending to think about my moves (40 moves in 90 minutes timed, with an additional 15 to finish the game if required). I'd complicate the middle of the board and offer a draw around move 30 which was surprisingly accepted way more often than it should have been. I was a grinder back then inching my rating up, 1 draw at a time.

Then back to pick up my car. As it was getting dark, I was pleased that it was an old Toyota that my sister had lent me for the week.

No place for this kind of post in a poker blog I know, but one day I'll be even older than I am now and may stumble it myself. Thanks to the ex-Snowman for the inspiration and apologies to anyone who made it this far. Almost as boring as folding 84% of hands, I'm sure. Back to poker next time where I ran really good last night 4-tabling Omaha with a PLH Tourney on the side.

Freerolling on Pittwater

2009-04-13T11:42:00.003+10:00

This was the venue for our latest Home Game on Nathan's boat in Pittwater. We pushed off at 4:30pm and landed again at 4:30am. Picking up on the Blindman's comment on the Durrr stalemate, if we'd been at the casino, the rake would have had us all broke. As it was, I ended up $170 after losing a few pots late on, including a rare significant river bluff with air that didn't come off. Good news is that The Serpent was the recipient and he looks after me. That said, I'd loaned him $50 to get back into the game a couple of hours earlier. He proceeded to turn that into $700, nice score.

Anyway, given the surroundings we were all freerolling and as always, no-one got hurt.

Durrr Challenge update

2009-04-12T15:30:00.003+10:00

Just listened to the 2+2 Pokercast where they mentioned an interesting point. With all of the variance inherent in HU PLO and after $33M invested (including blinds), Durrr and Patrik were within $15K. Pretty amazing really. Just checked and since then my man has pulled away again, including this cool hand exemplifying playing your big PLO draws fast ... http://www.highstakesdb.com/view-hand-history.aspx?GameID=311025.

UK Trip Report

2009-04-07T07:26:00.000+10:00

After a couple of weeks in cold but sunny Ireland, I have just arrived back in Australia to find that winter approacheth with the end of daylight savings. It's funny that even though the weather here never gets too bad, most people tend to still hibernate a little for winter with fewer barbies etc. This period of indooredness augers well for us poker nuts and explains why the Scandanavians kick our butts online.

My trip home was eventful to say the least and there was a lot to do. It wasn't particularly hectic, but mentally challenging all the same. I played some online poker toward the end of my trip and experienced a significant downswing. This was totally due to bad play on my part and I'm not sure if any of that can be blamed on my state of mind. Either way, I am hoping that the next chapter is much more positive and that my confidence returns. I did get the opportunity to read a few magazines and read a few 2+2 posts which provided me with a few more insights. There isn't actually a lot written about PLO yet, so my table time is allowing me to differentiate the quality of what little is out there.

One great find though is a little utility called PokerEV. PokerEV automates the analysis of the Sklansky Bucks concept on your hand histories - HE or Omaha. I fired it up and was amazed to find that I was running away ahead of expectation. The truth is that my first 10K hands I didn't actually play that well probably - I just ran good. The last 5K hands have seen that situation reverse and normal variance is catching up on me and bringing me back to earth. Like a golfer that deconstructs and rebuilds their swing, I am hoping that I can go through a period of analysis and work on my PLO theory and refine a consistent winning style that doesn't rely on running good. As I'm holding my own at 6-max PLO100 already, I'm very optimistic for the future if I can knuckle down and do the study. TAGgier style here I come.

Live action has been a more positive experience for me. I had 3 sessions when I was home, one in Banbridge and two in London. The Banbridge Bridge Club was an all nighter which worked out well because my Dad said that the country roads are dangerous at night. There was a Tourney running with 22 runners where I was chip leader with 4 left only to fall away and take 3rd position. We then started SnGs with ever diminishing numbers of players until 6 of us watched the sunrise. I managed three 1sts and a 2nd of which I was very pleased. They play deep stacked with slow blinds, so it was relatively straightforward to play a Harrington style and avoid marginal decisions for my stack. I also got an edge by claiming in the early hours that Hold'em wouldn't keep me awake so we played a PLO SnG and a mixed NLHE/PLO SnG where I had a big edge in the PLO games.

London I managed to make it to the Vic Casino which lived up to its reputation IMHO. The staff were both knowledgeable and friendly and the tables were well laid out and the area was very spacious. It was an afternoon visit and it was very quiet with the regulars grinding it away on a 5/5 NLHE table. I got on the first 1/2 NLHE table to open (which is actually a $2-$5 table in Oz). The dealers were on the ball and incident free. You are allowed to buy in deep, from memory 400GBP which seems ridiculous. I bought in for 200GBP and was a medium stack. I could only play for 2 hours so I had another 200 in my pocket. I was dealt a few half decent / speculative preflop hands in position and limped, missing my trips etc. Stack dwindled slightly but insignificantly when I found QJs in one of the blinds. The board came T95r and the preflop raiser c-bet to which I called again and found myself in a decent 3-way pot. The K was a dream card for me and I checked OOP expecting a raise but it was checked again. River blanked and a surprising thing happened - the old regular to my left couldn't wait to get his chips in, 40 of them. I hadn't acted yet and they were in already. The dealer directed the play to me and I thought about it. I checked hoping that the 3rd player would come in too (I had the nuts). He folded and now I had the option of raising which I did AI. I was insta-called (presumably trips) and tabled my straight for a healthy double up. The only downside was that the preflop raiser told me that he slowed down on the Turn because he could see that I was very happy with the K. I know that he was telling the truth so I need to work on that. Anyway, my first trip to the Vic resulted in a 186 profit or in Aussie terms almost $500.

I then met up with Stevie, Kate and Indi for dinner near Leicester Square at Browns, I highly recommend it if you are in the area. We have been friends for years and had a good old laugh mixed in with a healthy smattering of opinion and philosophy etc. The wine was flowing but I was abstaining as I planned to stay up late at the Empire. With a flight to Sydney the next morning, I like to pull an all nighter and then sleep throughout the journey. Also, hangovers on a long haul flight are no fun at all. So off we toddled about 10pm and got a table almost immediately. I was the only one playing and sat at a table of dour grinder pros which wasn't at all what I was looking for. Where are the drunk tourists? Anyway, I played a couple of orbits before exercising my table selection right and headed to the bar with my friends to people watch the casino floor. It never ceases to amaze me the amounts that people routinely gamble on -EV table games. As it neared midnight, I returned and found a much better table. Alas, I was relatively card dead and tread water for most of the session. The table broke around 4am when it goes to self-dealt (rake free), sweet. I offered to deal for everyone but the game dwindled to myself and a German online/live grinder. He wanted to play heads up but that was a boring losing proposition for me. He agreed to PLO and we played back and forward with no big pots when the table started to build up again and revert back to NLHE. Throughout all of this, I doubt if my stack went outside of the 100-300 range. Around 7am my patience paid off (I would have been broke otherwise as I really had unbelievably bad cards all night) when I was dealt KK UTG. I limped as it was pretty loose at this stage. Next player who had been ultra aggressive (partly drunk) raised to $10 and got 3 speculative callers. With $200 in front of me, I made it $50 which wasn't even a pot-sized bet. Drunk makes it $200 to go, presumably to isolate but I'm not sure that he thought that far ahead and everyone folded. His hand range was so wide, I reckon that AA was about 10% of his range and I called AI. He showed 88 and I was just trying to avoid a suckout, which I did. From there, I was able to loosen up my starting range as I was deeper stacked and I enjoyed the last hour before heading to the airport.

All up, my live play netted me over $1000 in Aussie money playing what could be considered the lowest available stakes in Europe. The joys of living in Australia. In the context of my immature loose PLO downswing, this was a big positive and a timely reminder that nitty is a hard game for others to exploit. What to do with my offline bankroll is my next challenge. The ANZPT is coming to Sydney this month and there are a number of tournamenets that I'd like to take a crack at. The Main Event is outside my bankroll and the others are probably -EV as I don't think that I'm good enough yet to place unless I run above average. That said, I've had quite a bit of casino table time and online tournies so it is probably time to combine the two and see how I go. Anyone else interested in travelling to Sydney for the smaller buy in events? It would be good to meet up. Maybe we can even pool bankrolls and winnings to reduce variance. This time next year, I hope that there will be a queue of people trying to buy a piece of my action, maybe even Stars themselves. Until then, as always, all advice and support welcome.

Bad Beats

2009-03-28T23:54:00.003+11:00

Played a $55 PLO Tourney on Stars last night and was pleased to get to the final table in about 6th spot. Only 27 runners, so 3 spots got paid. Played very patiently and found myself with 3 stacks twice the size of the other short stack and myself when dealt AAxx. Folded to me on the button, it was an easy pot bet and when BB called and an A flopped it was an easy AI in position. When called, there was only a Q that hurt me. Needless to say, I got rivered. 5th when the double up would have had me comfortably in the top 3.

Bad beat? As we know, horses with an 8% chance of winning come good all the time, so not really.

Now that I've turned off all but the regulars with my bad beat story, I'll share with you that my mum passed away last Thursday peacefully. My mum was a stickler for the rules all of her life. When I grew up, I was the youngest of 3 and was never allowed to win at any game. My mother and father taught us that one day we'd win in our own right and the feeling would feel so much better. They were right and my own children have had to endure a similar apprenticeship for life. What we did do as a family was to compensate with handicaps. Playing Monopoly at an early age, I may have been given a better starting stack or a couple of houses, or at chess, my brother would take his queen off the board.

My mum at 75 was still golfing and winning in Open competitions on her own merits. Little did she know she had advanced cancer at the time. Crippled with mis-diagnosed acute pain she was still bowling competitively up to Christmas. Even when I was home a couple of weeks ago, she'd complete the Sunday Times cryptic crossword as she had done every week for over 20 years. My mum posted off her solution every week and never once won, undeterred she continued to enjoy the challenge and hope to win. The day before I left for Australia a couple of weeks ago she was indulging her meticulous nature by vacuuming our attic.

Cancer is a bad beat! In January, after an MRI, my mum was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer in an advanced stage. At that point, we were able to get the constant pain relatively tolerable whilst maintaining her mental faculties. There was no potential of a cure and my mum as she'd always done set about preparing for the end-game. When she passed away, it was at home, peacefully with all of her family around. That is all that she wanted. Her life was in order and she had no regrets. She'd always played the game fairly and for the most part had been rewarded for her efforts, ethics and generosity.

A week later, life is returning to some normality. The loss remains the same but how we deal with it seems to be improving. My father will soon be left alone after 55 years of constant companionship. When the table breaks up though there are often new players to fill the vacant seats. Ireland still has a very strong sense of community and my dad has had many offers of help. Cheating death himself a couple of years ago, he now walks the promenade daily, stopping frequently to chat with the others who realise that life is for living.

Thank you for undulging me by reading this post. We all need to move on and that includes hobbies and blogging. I too look forward to our occassional interactions with our little supportive community. Thanks all.

Midnight in Bangkok

2009-03-16T04:02:00.003+11:00

On my way back to the UK as my mother's condition has deteriorated. It's surreal as we had the most wonderful couple of weeks together only about 10 days ago. Prospects this time around aren't very positive at all. One third of the way home, immersing myself in my pastime is keeping my mind off things.

And so to poker, I've completed my 10,000 hands and was disappointed to dip below the 8BB/100 target. I really did get smacked about there at the end. As I fire up and play a few hands in the background, I can see that my recent session has me back up to 9.11BB for 10736 hands. Sweet ... what a difference a day makes, eh?

Another stat that I'm pleased with is my weight. I've managed to hold onto the 74kg target that I set myself for a month now. I have relaxed my nibbling and fluid consumption as I've been catching up with a lot of old friends and had visitors staying. Break even with quality table time is always a good result.

OK QF1 is ready for departure, cya ... +$34.75 in Thailand, 9.18BB/100

Don't have pocket 10s, please.

2009-03-14T23:15:00.004+11:00

Got slapped about recently by variance ... this one makes up for a couple of them. I'm back in the sadlle.

Durrr v Antonious - anyone for a side bet?

2009-03-13T10:15:00.004+11:00

Tom "durrrr" Dwan is facing Patrik Antonius in the first round of the Durrrr Challenge. Durrr is giving 3 to 1 and I'm happy to give the same odds to any takers as I really think that Durrrr will beat all-comers. For some reason, I think that Ivey is the only one capable of finding a new A-game to counter Durrr's strategies.

50k hands of 4-tabling 200/400 PLO Heads-up could break anyone. If you'd like to keep up to date with progress, check out the Graph updated every 250 hands (http://www.highstakesdb.com/challenge/durrrr-vs-antonius.aspx). Durrrr dipped initially but has been ahead pretty much since then.

When you see the size of the pots, it's amazing that there has been bigger swings yet. I particularly liked the finesse in this one ... http://www.highstakesdb.com/view-hand-history.aspx?GameID=294943.

Weekend in London (Part 2) – Empire Casino

2009-03-10T17:16:00.000+11:00

I went out to do some touristy sight seeing between the flat and the Palm Beach Casino in Pall Mall. It looked more upmarket, but they only had one poker table that hardly ever gets used. Undeterred, I came across the Gala nearby, they don’t have poker but recommended the Vic. I explained that I only had jeans and they said that with a collared shirt, that’s fine. Next time, as that is the home of poker, I’ve just never passed the dress code.

And so it was that I popped into the Empire hoping for the same alcohol fuelled action as the night before. Instead, I found the grinders. Sometimes you realise what a great movie Rounders was, and this was one of those moments. I heard that there was a Tourney ready to start, a 20 pound rebuy, so I decided to play a few cash hands in the interim and scored a 100 pound profit in 3 orbits.

I was assured that the Tourney would finish by 6pm or 7pm and as I was meeting for dinner at 8pm I decided to give it a go. First hour of rebuys went well and I picked up a few small pots here and there from the tighter players that hadn’t adjusted from their usual Freezeout style. In fact, whilst they’d all read the books, there was only one playing small ball at the table and doing rather well. I joined in. Approaching the break, I had increased my 1000 starting stack to 2500 when I picked up a great tell. Basically the tournament monitor was next to our table and a few people were glancing at it more approaching the break. Then a limped hand came up and I was in position. We had 5 callers to the flop which came out high, low, low. First position led out and everyone folded. He was one of the monitor gazers and had about 700 left in front, I had bottom pair and called. Turn looked blank and he fired the second barrel, I insta-called and was right. He immediately re-bought. I now had 4000+ and was well above average but still behind the small ball LAG.

After the break, things tightened up, as did I a little and when we lost our dealer (it was self-dealt but this American dealt extremely well), I offered to move one seat to the right and deal. At this stage, I was well ahead and was happy to slow down and cruise into the money only playing premium hands. Dealer was a place to stay in the game but not get carried away through boredom or a desire to get involved. Because I developed a tighter image through dealing, I picked up a few blinds uncontested to inch forward by the next break.

Now the blinds were meaningful to my stack again and I sat in my own seat and we went to self-deal with 22 players remaining out of 67. Not sure how it happened, but I managed to go up and down a bit until there were about 13 left and rather than attack the bubble like a couple of others at our table, I decided to try to cruise into the final table. It was the mistake I made early with online MTTs, taking the foot of the pedal a little too soon. When we got to the bubble, blinds were 1500/3000 and I had 9000 left. We were 5- and 6-handed and one guy on the other table had 2000 in chips. He survived about 4 AIs and before I knew it, I was the short stack.

I had 3500 and UTG+1 when I got KQs, I needed to make a move so pushed AI. Tyrone in the SB was about to put his money in for an easy call when I said “Why would you do that? We’ve been friends all day, mate.” He said “OK” and folded. It’s only later that I thought that this might be collusion, but really there was worse table talk going on and it was intended as a survival tactic, not collusion. The BB duly put in his extra 500 with 74o or something and I was suddenly on 9000 and feeling safer again. Turned out that Tyrone had folded A4o and the A did flop, phew. Bubble popped soon after and I drew Seat 8 at the final table. Seat 7 had a single 500 in chips so I was determined to sit out a few hands. Got dealt KK, so pushed, got a caller and doubled up early. 500 guy exited as did someone else and I was in 6th. Got blinded out almost when I got AA UTG. The others did the right thing and all called me down, I quadrupled up, still short stacked though with 290,000 chips on the table.

One more exit and I was in 5th, then the Button raised and I had 69s with my short stack. He had the second lowest stack and I reckoned that this was my chance to inch up one last position. He had KJ and I was well alive but didn’t hit. 220 pound for 5th and I had a decent score on the other side of the world.

Off to dinner at a contemporary Indian restaurant called Mint Leaf and then some Scottish Bar that opened late until it closed and we got passes downstairs to the nightclub. Left there about 3 or 4am and still needed some more lubrication before my 11am flight back to Sydney. Ah, to be young again. Empire was next door so headed in to find the same alcohol fuelled poker as Friday night. Note: Sydney’s Star City Casino at the weekend is full of grinders that won’t leave their seats for the drunks who won’t wait for hours. London, it’s drunk fish heaven. Anyway, I’d had a few but sensible enough to play TAGgy and score another win. I think another 120 or so, so like a recent post my downswing ended up OK.

A couple of years ago, I’d told my son about how many consecutive winning sessions I’d had. With the wisdom of youth, he replied, that’s easy day, you just keep playing until your up. I thought that I’d got past that stage, but maybe I haven’t. One thing is true though, I never tilted!

One other note: When I went back in the early hours, I sat down and won a pot quickly with a second barrel when my AQs missed the board completely. Maybe I wasn’t as TAGgy as I thought, lol. Anyway, Tyrone was bouncing up and down wanting into the warm water. I asked him if he wanted my seat and he couldn’t believe it. When I was cashing up, Tyrone had accumulated a big stack. As I used to tell my kids – good things happen to good people. If you ever read this Tyrone – you’re one of the good guys!

Weekend in London (Part 1) – The International Club

2009-03-10T15:47:00.004+11:00

My luck started with London accommodation as my brother in law lives in the centre of London and let me have access to his flat while he was in Scotland for the weekend. As it was a couple of hundred metres from Buckingham Palace I was freerolling.

First stop, Browns for a meal and a few beers with Stevie before going to the International Club (new Gutshot) where there were a number of familiar pros playing in a PLO tournament with approx 200 runners as part of a Festival of Poker. Barney Boatman exited in 57th while I was there.

We sat at one of the first cash tables opened for the evening, a 1-2 pound NLH, equivalent of $2/$5 and it played as aggressively. Stevie in only his 2nd live game got involved in the 2nd hand. He raised to 7 pounds preflop. As he was keen to survive a while, I knew he had a hand. Flop came QT2 (2 spades) he c-bet. Turn came another spade and he checked. Big guy with headphones who fancied himself as Phil Hellmuth bet the pot, next guy AI and Stevie semi-reluctantly put in the rest of his 100. River paired the 2 and I knew straight away that he had the QQ for a FH to beat the bluff and the baby Flush. Sweet.

We put our names on the 1/1 list and ended up on 2 different tables. Stevie ended up winning significantly. I on the other hand suffered a string of 80/20 suck outs but didn’t tilt. It was a friendly table (apart from Hellmuth who’d spewed 650 pounds in about 2 hours and left). After my 5th bad beat, two of the better players across the table commented on how I handled them which pleased me. To quote Fleur “you are the only one in this room that would still be smiling after that run”. I put it down to online PLO training.

Anyway, my thanks go to the Asian girl who had been interviewing the exiting players in the PLO Tournament for GutShot.com. I was down to a residual $21 when I got KK in the SB. I decided to shove it looking like a Tilt raise. She called with KQ and genuinely wished me luck. When I won she seemed happy too. It is a pretty cool Club with the same culture as the Gutshot. I managed 2 more double ups and finished the night down 80 pounds. A good result all things considered.

On our way home, we went looking for a cleansing ale and short of paying for 30 minutes in a pub or some nightclub full of people half our age, we decided on the Empire Casino, Leicester Square. Stevie won again, and I lost again, this time only $45 in a very loose/drunk/ unprofessional (but funny) game. Cold decked and didn’t get to the Turn once, I don’t think.

Pride come before a fall

2009-03-10T09:53:00.004+11:00

Ouch – met up with my old friend variance at the PLO100 table which on my bankroll isn’t the best place for it to happen. Anyway, it was a sufficiently big enough whack to dent my confidence and force me change my table selection filter from 25-100 to 25-25.

Pleased to report that the skill of discipline has seen me post about 9 consecutive short and modest PLO25 wins since. Compared to PLO100 it is petty cash, but it has brought my BB/100 back toward the 8 mark as I close in on my 10,000 hand milestone.

It also prompted some hand analysis and I’m winning big style with all of my better starting hands, losing with most marginal hands and almost all bad hands. Not surprising really. That said, the deception element of the broader hand range may be getting me more action and paying for itself in the Premium Hands (LAG style). Something I need to think about more. Surprisingly, the category of Premium Aces is one anomaly where I am losing. Probably a case of overplaying AAKQss etc post flop on a K/Q type board.

PLO100 Table Time

2009-03-04T23:24:00.003+11:00

I've mentioned a few times that I am a great believer in table time. It helps teach you things and provides a solid foundation for future learning too. I am looking forward to reading more about PLO with my recent experiences.

I don't know what the equivalent NLH level is to PLO100, but the actual $ amount seems higher than NLH100 when you consider the average pot sizes and increased variance. I've been experiencing a period of short downswings (maybe 4 BIs) and then recovery. I'm hopeful that it will soon start to trend upward from here.

My BB/100 is well down from its earlier highs to 8 as I close in on that 10,000 hand volume. That is to be expected as I no longer play PLO25 or PLO50. I have recently put in well over 1000 hands of PLO100 without deviation and am break even without table selection. I've played both FR and 6-max. If I am to do well at FR, I need to tighten up my hand selection significantly. Truth be known, my 6-max results would also improve with that adjustment.

I am still Passive post flop which I hate but I just can't shake it no matter how hard I try. I hate investing more on a draw but I realise that long term it is an error. On any particular hand though, it is an easy low variance cop out.

All in all, I think that I am playing a level that is getting me toward my goal of holding my own at more meaningful stakes. With some 2+2 study, I hope to have a good 2009.

Live in Banbridge

2009-03-02T21:22:00.003+11:00

If you know Northern Ireland, it's probably the last place that I would have expected to find a quality poker club. It's upstairs in the town of Banbridge and the sign on the door stated "No Alcohol". Inside the wall has a poster warning that player abuse will not be tolerated. The tables had been top quality in their day but are a little worn by this stage - not a bad sign.

I was welcomed on arrival and the hospitality continued throughout the night. I've been gone from NI so long that I'm out of touch with what's safe and what isn't these days. I remember enough to know that I was a fish out of sectarian waters. I also play enough poker to know when the other guy knows that I know that he knows. When I left Ireland, I could not have felt comfortable in that spot, although I found myself in similar spots a few times. That said, I couldn't have been more welcomed or more comfortable on this occasion. How far Ireland has come on in my absence.

Back to the poker. 23 players and 40 pound entry. I know that the exchange rate doesn't equate exactly, but that isn't an insignificant BI for a country town. I could understand why, pound for pound, this was the best standard of poker I've ever encountered outside of a Casino. I won a couple of hands early and managed to stay above the average until the tables were broken from 3 to 2.

With 11 players remaining, I found myself in the BB with a min raise. Blinds were 500/1000 and I had 12,500 behind. UTG had min-raised and as we were 5-handed there was a lot of stealing happening. With 85o, I decided to call and take it from there on the flop. 456r looked pretty good and I checked. Villain with 5000 behind bet 2000
and I decided to take my shot, hoping he had AK or similar - AI. He insta-called and I knew I was drawing slim.

Turns out I wasn't has he had 75s and I was ahead. Turn blank and river 2 to complete his str8 and I was on the rail but feeling not too bad with my play throughout. I'd been patient and got within a river card of top 3 in chips at the final table.

S&G was just starting and I decided to join 4 others with a 10 pound entry winner takes all. Ran pretty good in this one and won relatively easily thanks to the cards I'd been dealt. So I broke even on the night but once again felt older and wiser.

Thumbs up for the Banbridge Bridge Club.

Allowing for jetlag

2009-02-28T01:19:00.003+11:00

I read an article in a magazine a long time ago that was giving advice on pacing yourself for the WSOP in Vegas. The most important advice they said was to not lose your bankroll on the first couple of days at the cash tables. It's all too easy to be sucked in by the occassion and hit the tables as soon as you arrive at your hotel, under-estimating the effects of jetlag.

As an aside, we can under-estimate the value of tit-bits that we pick up along the way. Are there any particular snippets from your past that have come in useful? I'd be interested to hear.

Anyway, as I awoke at 5:00am, I suspected that I may not be as sharp as normal. To pass the time and avoid waking everyone, I managed a couple of hours of Omaha. I stepped down to PLO25 to avoid hammering my roll and ended up profiting 3 BIs with little or no risk. Again, I was aware that I was running good. I've had two more short and modest winning sessions at PLO25 and find it very passive compared to PLO100.

Sydney to the mountains of Mourne

2009-02-26T19:34:00.003+11:00

Left Canberra at 12noon for a 5:40pm flight out of Sydney for the UK and made it with ease. I didn't have many outs had I broken down or encountered significant roadworks but all was well.

After checking in. I had a couple of hours to kill before the new A380 took off. My PartyPoker Lobby threw up PLO100 tables and I took the first 6-handed game available that didn't have a massive stack. Ran pretty good and made a $130 profit before boarding the flight.

The trip over to the UK was very comfortable in economy. The plane was brand new and the passengers seemed to look after it a bit better than normal. TV screens in the back of the seat in front makes all the difference. Watched 3 movies on the way over; enjoyed Mickey Rooney in The Wrestler a lot, Four Holidays passed the time and some other movie with Ricky Jervais seeing ghosts in NY was pretty poor.

Singapore I had about 30 mins to play several orbits of PLO100 for a further 'conservative play' profit of $20. This was a very loose min50BB table and the stack average was well over $200. I sat tight, hit hands and got no action. A safe TAG win.

Heathrow not so good for WiFi access, I reckon that the GBP10 for 24 hr access is -EV, so I decided to watch one of my recorded videos from BigPoker.ca. It was a $530 S&G. I won't spoil it in case you want to watch it. If so I recommend playing 15mins-25 mins in and then skipping forward to 45mins onward. Actually, I didn't learn too much, recapping:
- early, avoid AQ, AJ, KQ, 22-TT unless in late position as they can be lots of trouble.
- don't call for a lot of chips with AJ late but feel free to push with almost any 2 cards in the right spot.
- even 88 on an 89Q flop can be trouble with a raise and a re-raise.
The standard of play seemed surprisingly unimpressive for the BI, but I dodn't see everyone's holecards.

Good news is it is almost time to board my flight! The last leg to Belfast is barely an up and down.

Off to Canberra, then UK.

2009-02-22T23:24:00.003+11:00

Off working in Canberra and then a trip home as my mother is sick back in Ireland. Tuesday, I present at 11:00am and then dash straight off for the 5:40pm flight out of Sydney. Wish me luck as its a cheapie non-transferrable fare.

On the poker front, just finished my packing and allowed myself a few orbits of Omaha. The rest must have done me good as I played the good cards that I was dealt rather well, I think. Won all but one showdowns and a few more along the way. Turned $60 into $135 in a few orbits and then off to bed. The lull that we were all in seems to be behind us as a group.

Crown Casino Trip Report - Premium pairs

2009-02-18T21:35:00.003+11:00

Still now online poker for a while and fitting in whatever ive games I can justify. Was in Melbourne with work Tuesday night and got a few hours at Crown. The $1/$2 game was playing so I jumped in. The BI is between $40-$80 nd to my horror the rake is 10% up to a $15 cap - ridiculous. The other players need to be really bad to win and winning fewer hands with larger pots has got to be better, so TAG is the way to go, in theory, I think, bugga who cares, I'm here to play poker and break even is probably a win.

Unmemorable hands were suited connectors and small to medium pocket pairs which all missed on the flop. Three memorable hands ...

Hand 1: All folded to me on the button with AA. I made it $6 to go to look like a steal, SB fold, BB raises to $16. Hollywooded a little and re-raised to $46 to which he inst-raised AI. We didn't show so you can guess my horror when 4 blanks were followed by a K on the river. He had AQo - moral of the story, you make most money from the mistakes of others.

Hand 2: Everyone limped to me in the SB with QQ. I made it $17 to go and got 3 callers. Flop came AKTr. Bugga. Plugged up all of the courage I could muster and pushed $50 into the middle. To my surprise Fold, Fold, Fold - managed to resist shouting Woo Hoo!

Hand 3: Late at night, all regulars at the table which is getting more aggressive. 5 limpers to me in CO. With KK I decide to limp expecting SB to raise. He'd been raising $17 to steal pots and $6 to build pots. Not a bad strategy, I guess. He duly raised to $6 and everyone called. With me almost last to act now I got to bump it up to $56 and with a lot of banter, everyone reluctantly folded. Happy enough to win without trying to avoid an A.

Big winner on the night was Crown Casino; Little winner was me with a profit of $20 and quality table time under my belt.

Been walkabouts

2009-02-14T19:47:00.005+11:00

Haven't played online for over a week and will probably not play during February. I am hoping that the break will clear my head a little and let me think through some deeper strategy. I'd like to get back into posting on 2+2 and watching some of the Stoxpoker videos.

So what else have I been up to. Well, I have been playing a few live games which I hope to continue. With 200 hands max in a session, it is very prone to variance. The Friday night home games have been tough. Last night my flopped set went down to a river, river straight. Not unusual as it is very rare to win a big pot without showdown. I lost $15 which felt really good because I had bought in again for another $100 about an hour previous when I was down over $200 (mainly thx to my set getting sucked out on late in the session after being patient. I loosened up considerably after that as I've always been a reasonable short-stacker.

The pub games haven't been going so good. They don't really suit my style as the blinds go up too quickly. On Tuesday, I had A5 on a flop of 533. Thought I might be good but opponent had flopped quads - out 4th hand.

Tonight is a bit of a crazy night. While we have been having terrible bushfires in Victoria, Sydney has had a number of consecutive rainy days mid-summer after our own mini heatwave. My wife is overseas, so my daughter thought that she'd have a party with 70 of her friends. Big softie agreed and now with the inclement weather has even offered to partition off some of our office and be the only bouncer. Thankfully, I grew up in Belfast.

So far so good, my daughter set down the rules early (I'm the other side of the partitions watching for intrusions and monitoring the hype levels). It's approaching 9pm, so I only have another 3 hours to go, touch wood.

This week I am off to Melbourne overnight so I will probably hit Crown casino. I just had my best result ever about a week ago running $80 up to $850 before losing a couple of hundred on my final handon a TJQ4c board, I had the K and was All In and my opponent took forever to call. When he hesitated I knew I was good as it was his first time in a casino. So I wanted a call. The old adage, be careful what you hope for. Anyone else, it would have been the worst slowroll ever as he had the Ace. To his credit, he was being straight up and I'd stacked him before, he was concerned abouth the Kc9c. Fair play to him.

Party Update: Luckily needed the toilet and went in to find an alcohol fueled pigsty. Got someone to clean that up and then sprung a few others drinking openly and a few more bags containing quite a bit of alcohol. Found the owners and ejected them. An over-zealous British backpacker misunderstood me and took on the role of bouncer, evicting everyone. Actually worked out well as most wanted to come back in and were happy to turn in their alcohol. It was funny to be party of an amnesty and the kids that were left handed over heaps. The potential trouble makers have thankfully headed to an open house in Northbridge whose parents have gone to Armidale for the weekend. Another teenager in trouble Sunday night, I suspect. Party is now back in full swing by 10pm and a number of the kids have come to me and said it is muc more fun this time.

Back to poker, happy to be back blogging. Enjoyed catching up with the Blindman's Telesina fun, Laff's wins and BCG's steady climb up the charts like the Beatles. Jesse's move from Oracle to Hold'em proves to me that its possible, his blog also lets me know how much I still have to learn. And last but not least, Adam still cracks me up.

Mixing it up with the Telesina mafia

2009-02-04T23:28:00.006+11:00

I'm hooked on Telesina, it is just the best buzz. Like my early days of trying to work out PLO. At least there were books then, this is learned the old fashioned way, toe to toe combat.

The Italians have got this game sussed and with so many cards out there, I am surprised that there isn't more collusion, but there doesn't seem to be. All of the comments are in Italian and I think Pesce must mean fish. I'm sure that my approach is unique and will soon come a cropper. I'm swinging wildly but having a hoot and racking up valuable VIP pts. That's the main reason I stuck it out. The pots are big and if you get in amongst it, they mount up.

I've just seen the new NOIQ Race Leaderboard and I'm in 504th spot. An extra special push tomorrow night, I hope. Just had a lucky streak and am standing up from the .10 Euro table with EU210 having sat down with only EU40. Had taken a beating before that though and have leveled back up, I think, I haven't found Telesina Tracker yet.

How cool is Google?

2009-01-31T17:55:00.003+11:00

I made it to the final table of my first ever Telesina tourney. Nearing the bubble, I decided to Google Telesina for strategy and lo and behold what should appear on the first page but my wee blog. Surprise, surprise, no in depth analysis of strategy, yet. The future for online poker is bright. So many games to be solved.

I'm currently on the bubble lying 5 of 6, with 5 getting paid. Shortstack has just doubled up twice, from 19 chips! Q7o, J7o. Short stack went down to AAA by 3rd street. Ouch QJs hit Q but my 2-pair ran into KKK. Ah well, 100% cashing ain't bad. And Google knows about me.

1st ever Telesina Cash foray

2009-01-31T12:13:00.003+11:00

First thing to note is that I tried to sit at a 0.1 Euro table but stood up as one of the players had 200 Euro in front of him. Clearly a game of skill with fish. I'm the biggest one because I can't spot the sucker at the table. Aggression seems to be key, with KK showing betting pot appears to be the move. Eight hands in, I'm down $1.65 and only gone past 3rd st once. I started with 20Euro.

J9o fold, J8o fold, KQo BringIn J suited on 3rd st, pot and I take down my first hand of Telesina. Pocket AA this hand. Woo Hoo, 3rd street was a Q and opp had QQ. He bet pot, I re-raised pot confidently ahead and I'm up $3. Not that I'm results oriented :-).

J8o, 89o, A7o all folded. J7s, I bring in and proceed to have 5 diamonds. Flushes beat FHs and I'm now up $7. This isn't exactly helping my rake race but i'd forgotten how much fun poker can be.

A8o, 79Qr(BI), JTo, Q7o, 89o, all folded. KTs bet, checked down, pot on 6th when QQs paired, check and won small pot.

AJ8r, Q8o, K8o, Q9o all folded. We're now down to 3-handed so aggression and variance will play a big part. K9T7r went too far, first obvious mistake but they were min bets. Pocket AA now, with K. Potted twice to take it down.

A97r folded, ATs became AAs and I lost a small pot on SD. JTs became JJTT and guess what my opp had JJTT. Never played with a stripped deck before. My A kicked. Up $8.

QTs with T on 3rd st. The other Ts were exposed and there was a pot bet called. Easy fold. A trick for any Stud game is that if you can't currently beat someone elses exposed cards, you are chasing and should almost always fold. Sounds obvious but draws are enticing. And so it is here. 3 players got dealt Ts. One guy has KK exposed and one of the Ts is calling him down. Needless to say, he misses his st8.

Q9o, [just realised I have 28Euros on the table] that's well over $50, way more than my starting backroll all those years ago. I know they call it microstakes, so was I playing nano stakes when I started?]. J7o, etc folded.

Interesting 9TQK and I need a J. 2 have been exposed in the 12 visible cards, plus my 4. I make that a 2 in 16 or 8/1 chance of making my str8 next card or 4 to 1 by the end. Whilst it looks like I'm getting pot odd. The bets are flying in so I'll fold as it wouldn't be the nut str8 anyway. Next hand was 9JQ with 2 Ts exposed, exit stage left.

I've just realised that with 6 players, if we all stay to SD there is only 1 card not exposed. We just had 1 where the other 4 got to SD. Now playing HU as 1 guy got all the money. This is where BCG would stand up and why I lose my money so readily.

Woo Hoo, my first bluff. I had TT and another was exposed. Opp had all high cards. but missing the T for a str8. He had 2 high pair and the only thing I could possibly have was a str8 if a Q was buried. No Qs exposed, so I bluffed the pot, he folded which I knew he could as he's played well.

We're back up to 5-handed and my hot streak continues with Euro 37 in front of me (I just made a FH). Just made another mistake though. Had AAxxx and someone had KKxxx and the bet the pot which was going to be $15 by the next street. I folded fearing the K. Turns out I would have won unimproved as my AA was good. That wasn't my mistake though, I just realised that I only looked at the 2 hands and forgot to check the exposed cards for other Ks. There probably weren't any as I think I may have done it subconsciously, but there is a different way of thinking in Stud. Especially as in the bluff opportuntiy that worked up above.

OK, I'm going to wrap this post up. In short, I've really enjoyed the relaxation. The deviation has reminded me of skills that I've acquired in other forms of poker - bet sizing, position, board texture, starting hand selection, player tendencies etc.

If you've ploughed thru this post and reached here, thx for persevering. Hopefully it has reminded you of how far you've come on your journey too. I'd highly recommend Telesina the next time you are feeling jaded with grinding poker.

PS Just hit a K for the nut str8 gutshot. There were 14 exposed cards and no Ks out. I make that 4 of 18 or 9/4 by the end. Not nearly as tuff to hit the lone gut shot in a stripped deck it would appear.

PPS Stood up having doubled my $20 BI with 40 Euros and a Post that I look forward to revisiting with nostalgia in years to come.

PPPS I've noticed that the tables are full of Italians. With PokerStars now having free reign in Italy, I predict that there'll be at least one Italian WSOP bracelet this year. This is a great training game for all variants of poker.

Telesina Freeroll

2009-01-31T11:36:00.005+11:00

I love new games and there was a Freeroll running on NOIQ for Telesina. It's a mix between 5-card stud and hold'em (last card is a community card). You play with a 32-card stripped deck (2 thru 7 removed). This changes the probabilities and flushes are now ranked higher than FH which seems like a semi-common occurrence. There is a bring in.

The freeroll was PL and 2000 people entered. I'm currently placed 178th out of 668. Here is a live commentary of what happens next.

First hand, 3 people got dealt 9s face up. IMO, they should all fold now, they don't. One guy seems to pick up on this and raises the limpers. He gets a couple of callers and is pocket Qs improve to take down a big pot. This hand is freeroll stuff and not real Telesina, I'm sure.

I've folded J8, T7 and A8 as I assume that tight is always the way to go. Common sense tells me that if I am playing my top 20% of starting hands in any game, my average hand range will be ahead of my opponents. A mix of post flop judgment and aggression should then selectively win more than my fair share of pots.

OK, pocket JJ. 8 on 3rd street, checked. 8 on 4th street for 2-pair. I ended up checking it down and was beaten by QQ99 on the river. With a stripped deck, there were potential str8s and flushes abound, including KK exposed.

NOIQ does a really good thing IMO, leaving the folded cards exposed. I found with stud online that I could never keep up with the folded cards. This hand I have JJ again, but an A brought in and the next player with a K raised the pot. Looks like KK for sure. His K came again on 5th street. Indeed he had KKK and beat 999. Poor play by the loser.

I've folded Q7o. K7s/KJs/89s/TT go to 4th st and the TT ended up with AAATT. Next hand, I BI with A9o (no choice). Call, Pot sized raise, call, I fold. Without playing a marginal hand, I find myself in a credible 159 of 252.

QJs, I called down a couple of improved streets but folded on 5th street to a bet that would have me AI and possibly drawing dead as 5th was a blank. Now, I'm relatively short stacked and get dealt 99. I call and its a family pot. A suited J on 3rd street sees me push AI to get a family of callers. A rush of blood really when I didn't need to. I'm out in 217th, had a lot of fun and am a little bit oler and wiser. May visit the micro cash tables and give it a go. So easily distracted. Or is it HORSE study?

Big music week - Once & Leonard Cohen

2009-01-30T16:09:00.003+11:00

Big real life winner this week. I wrote before about an Irish movie called Once - Boy meets Girl and share a love of music. Anyway Boy and Girl came to the Concert Hall at the Opera House this week (sold out) and I rocked up and scored cheap tickets for what was a great gig. True life story of busker comes good. Hard to top that you'd think, but ...

Thursday sees Leonard Cohen in town. Not sold out so a chance of picking up cheap tickets as they were $190 a pop. Couldn't believe that no-one showed up with an extra ticket. A far cry from slipping a couple of quid in with a ticket stub to get into FA Cup Finals. I always had plan B which was to buy them from the ticket office. To make matters worse, there were two of us. Missed Paul Kelly the Support Band, but just as the interval was starting, who would appear but the iconic Aussie Scot, Barnsie. "Jimmy, any spare tickets". "Stay there lad, you may be in luck" I must say that he is a real gentleman. Anyway Row BB, Seat 1 was virtually on the stage, and free. Concert was amazing. At 76, Leonard is still the real McCoy.

Poker was pretty much reduced to a live session at the Casino for my free parking. Broke even, which to me is a win given the 10% rake and my relatively novice stage in poker maturity. The big players have a lot of gamble in them when you see them play. I watched the $500/$1000 BI table and they had on average $6000 in front of them with $5/$10 blinds, that's a lot of post flop play. With $500 bets not uncommon, that was the TAGgiest live table I've ever seen. They were all regulars and are now off to Adelaide for the ANZPT.

As for the weekend, Friday is Home Game night but I haven't heard from anyone, so I'm not sure if it is on. Sunday I'd like to play in a $200 PLO Tourney at Star City. Need to see how well I can advance my domestic duties in the interim.

A lesson in Irish Economics

2009-01-29T14:32:00.002+11:00

Having gone busto on NOIQ, I needed some light relief:

Young Paddy, moved to Roscommon and bought a Donkey from a farmer for €100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the Donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'

Paddy - 'Well,then just give me my money back.'
Farmer - 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'
Paddy - 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'
Farmer - 'What are ya gonna do with him?
Paddy - 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
Farmer - 'You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'
Paddy - 'Sure I can. Watch me.. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with Paddy and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'

Paddy - 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two euro's a piece and made a profit of €898.00.'
Farmer - 'Didn't anyone complain?'
Paddy - 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two euro's back.'

Paddy now works for the Irish Government