Pub Poker

Australia is very lucky in that it has pub poker, a +EV situation all around as it caters for those that like to take their poker a little more seriously and also those that take their drinking a little more seriously.

Last night, I had my second tilt at our local RSL trying to retain my crown from 2 weeks ago. It looked good when I overbet KK with blinds of 200/400 to 2000 and got 2 callers just after the break (when the add-on and drinks voucher get you 5000 extra chips). Flop of 44K just made it a case of winning all the money which wasn't too hard. Check, Check, 1000, call, call. Check, Check, 2000, call, call. Check, 1000, AI, call, call. Pocket 77s and AK chipped me up to 23,000.

Soon after I called down with TPTK (AQ) for 1/2 of my stack against JJ flopping trips. When a loose player min-raised UTG with blinds of 500/1000, 5 handed. UTG+1 called the 2000 and I had 12000 on the button with 99. I pushed AI looking (but not feeling) tilty and was called by AJ. The other player folded showing his 99, bugga.

I went out but replayed the situation a number of times and am not sure that I could get away from the TPTK in a pub environment where the play is so loose and the 99 shove was fine with me too as the blinds go up every 15 mins. On the flip side, I couldn't stack 2 relatively deep players in the casino with my KKK44 flop.

I enjoy the company of about a dozen mates there and hope to be a regular with what is a guaranteed +EV situation as long as I don't take it too seriouly or get bored.

Maximised my WillHill Safety Net

... by donking off 25GBP in hardly any time at all on a FR PLO table. It reminded me how painful the interface is and I am now looking forward to getting my money back. The math was interesting when down GBP25 as it would have been crazy for me to continue playing as I would have to win 50, to receive 25 more. Anyway, I don't think that the Safety Net is a good promotion for the site, apart from the fact that 25 is peanuts.

William Hill Safety Net up to GBP25

Seems too good to be true. Play the cash tables this weekend and if you lose up to GBP25, they'll recredit your account. It came by email and isn't on the site, so maybe it is because I've given up playing there since they changed my monthly bonus on me mid-month.

Will give it a go and let you know how it pans out. It's not a bad concept to encourage people back. Has anyone seen this promotion before?

Expected Value of Happiness

I had typed this as a response to the Blindmans comment on last nights session (please read it first) but have elevated to this level as I'd be keen to get some comments on the EV of Happiness and results orientation ...

"Very perceptive as always on the end. I subscribe to the theory that life should be treated as one big poker session yet I can still be results oriented ... an observation made by way of comment to BCG in the last few days.

Now, there is also EV in happiness. Some might say much more than the few dollars I risk at the tables - especially my recent 1c/2c foray.

The last bet on the last hand was a unique occassion. If the game was continuing I would most likely have value bet. But here's the rub, according to Daniel Negreanu in a recent PokerRoad podcast (I think) ... Never ... never ... make a bet if you don't know in advance how you will respond to a raise. ... I've been trying to keep this in mind and it is very important in NLH. Limit, you just call down, but in NLH the bets grow exponentially.

Remember, we're both relatively deep, its late, last hand, error prone. The pot was $100, so what would I bet? $30 invites a raise, $50 maybe, $70 probably, $100 definitely becomes a re-raise or fold for the other guy. What would I have done if raised ... I'm not sure and I didn't fancy the spot at that time. You are right though, I probably wshuld have fired $70 mid-session and hoped to be called down.

Back to happiness EV, I went back to my hotel very pleased with my play in Auckland, live and online. Had I re-opened the betting and lost to a full house it would have undone my good work and may well have changed my psychology for future sessions. As it stands, I can't wait to get back to the tables."

... So what do you think? It would be great to be a non-tilting machine, but realistically, even the best guys play better when in the zone or confident. Thinking it through, +EV is much more than the maths of one out of context Structured Hand Analysis. A similar situation is when top players go on a cooler, they can sometimes just start to play a lower variance style to regain more confidence.

So as we near the end of the month, happiness should form part of my goal setting balanced scorecard if I was disciplined and honest enough to get around to that.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this concept ...

Aussies 2 - Kiwis 1

An unexpected win at the casino last night. I'd been out for dinner and turned up late for a short session.

I was playing tight when a new player joined the NLH60-100, $1/$2 blinds game. By paying attention, occasionally you can spot little opportunities, even if they are against you overall style or plan at your time, especially live. One such situation occurred.

Fist hand for the new player, UTG he straddled for $15. Next position called and everyone folded to me on the button with pocket 9s. I had $108 and even though it is a very uncharacteristic play, I put it AI to isolate the straddler (obviously a gambler). (Mathematically, it is probably an OK play - would be keen to hear your thoughts.) He looked at one card and called and the player I wanted to lose folded as expected.

Board came A8Q J 7 and I was sure that I was done for. However, it turned out that he'd seen the T of a T4o and called. Easy double up in the end but the key was being awake to the available date. I love straddlers, its such a -EV play for all but experts and generates overly loose play (like mine, perhaps).

Kept playing TAG and ran my stack up to $280 when I called four callers on the button with my pocket 55 for $10(standard min raise in Auckland). Six of us see a flop of 567r, BB bets out $15 into $60 pot and gets 2 callers, on the button, I make a substatial pot-sized raise to $115 with my trips ... fold, call, call - bugga. Turn comes 9r ... bugga bugga ... check, check and I check for pot control . River blanked a 2, check, check and I checked fearing the 8, or set over set. Flop raiser had JJ and caller had 66 to scoop away a $400 pot from under my nose. I was behind the whole way and could have lost a lot more, so I was actually happy in a weird poker way. Only $125 of the pot was mine.

Two hands later I had T4o in the BB. LAG checked KT7 flop, I raised $15 and he called. Turn was a 4, he checked, I raised $30 and he called. Flop came 4 for my full house and he checked. His stack was $85 so I bet $100 and he called with KQo. I'd just won back what I'd lost.

My stack let me play a little then and then there was one more memorable hand. Again, a piece of data and a big element of luck. Last hand before table break, I had 7h4h in the BB. All players limped and I checked. Flop came Jh, 9h, 2h. Being the last hand, I led out for $15 and got 1 caller. One other player only had 1 heart and stated "I think you only have 1 heart but it'll be higher than mine, bugga". Turn was Kd, I c-bet for $30 and got called. Final card was a 9s, probably good for me but a little scary with both of us having $300+ behind (this was the guy that won set over set). I checked intending to call down and was relieved to see opponent had AhKc. In retrospect, there was more money to be had there, but I was right to control the pot.

Final result +$285 which was a pleasing positive variance end to the week. Big silver bird back to Sydney at lunchtime today.

Aussies 2 - Kiwis 1

An unexpected win at the casino tonight. I was playing tight when a player joined the NLH60-100, $1/$2 blinds game. UTG he straddled for $15. Next position called and everyone folded to me on the button with pocket 9s. I think you need to spot little opportunities and as I had $108, I put it AI to isolate the straddler (obviously a gambler). He looked at one card and called.

Board came A8Q J 7 and I was sure that I was done for. Turned out that he'd seen the T of a T4o. Easy double up in the end.

Kept playing TAG and ran my stack up to $280 when I called four callers on the button with my 55 for $10(standard min raise in Auckland). Six of us see a flop of 567r, BB bets out $15 into $60 pot and gets 2 callers, on the button, I make a substatial pot-sized raise to $115 with my trips ... fold, call, call - bugga. Turn comes 9r ... bugga bugga ... check, check and I pot control check. River blanked a 2, check, check and I checked fearing the 8. Flop raiser had JJ and caller had 66 to win a $400 pot. I was behind the whole way and could have lost a lot more, so I was actually happy in a weird poker way. Only $125 of the pot was mine.

Two hands later I had T4o in the BB. LAG checked KT7 flop, I raised $15 and he called. Turn was a 4, he checked, I raised $30 and he called. Flop came 4 for my full house and he checked. His stack was $85 so I bet $100 and he called. I'd just won back what I'd lost.

My stack let me play a little then but they were the most meorable hands. Final result +$285 which was a pleasing end to the week. Big silver bird back to Sydney tomorrow lunchtime.

Enjoyable evening

If I were a professional sportsperson, I think the range of preferred sports would go from darts at one end to golf at the other. Triple twenty, Triple twenty has got to wear off surely. That said, I enjoyed my years of snooker. I'd like to say that it was red, black, red, black but it wasn't. (Aside, just watched Sullivan on Sky Sports get 4 out of 5 frames with century breaks one week after 5 out of 5 centuries in Belfast for a best of 9 win. How good must that be?)

So last night I must say that I had the most enjoyable session for some time. I checked emails while waiting for a phone call. Opened the lobby while still waiting and there was a $2 NL super turbo rebuy. I don't mind coin-flippling in these so they can be fun. Long and short, I bubbled 6th out of 30 something.

At the same time, I opened 2 full ring PLO games 1c/2c and 2c/4c. When you can buy in for $5 it is really deep stack which I thought that I could play tightish and run up a healthy profit. Problem is with that many callers, there are a lot of seemingly bad beats. In reality, if you ran the odds calculator, you're often not more than 30% or 40% even flopping the nuts. That's my excuse for losing both BIs quickly. Pleased to report that I more than doubled up the next 2 so left with a modest profit and a bit of experience for the Blindman's PLO game in Perth.

Realising I wasn't going to make a living there and feeling good, I found what looked to be an active 6-max table and vowed to play TAG with a max stack PLO50. The guy to my right was extremely fishy and donked off a couple of BIs. It got really interesting when 4 of us had $150+ at the table and this turned out to be great experience for me.

I'm still the fish amongst the regulars but starting to hold my own these days. Nice profit for the evening but most pleasing was the fact that I really enjoyed every moment and felt that I was learning a lot. Deep stacked, I slow played my AA a lot and got away from most losing hands and cleaned up when flopping an A. I was more aware of position than usual too.

It's funny that the casino just didn't hold any appeal relative to the table that I had online. I will try to get up tonight though which is my last night in Auckland for a while and score 2 goals to turn around the 1st leg deficit.