Cashed in a live tournament for the second time this year at my own home game the other night. Played just about perfect poker, lost two 60/40s where I was the 60, AIPF - and I lost a third one where I was dominated with A8 vs A10.
Really felt I would have taken it down if I could have faded those 6 outers and/or for once been the sucker instead of the suckee.
Last night I took down the tournament in my WSOP online satty series - and played great poker while also running fairly hot. Learned one big thing -
Showing cards is essential in NLHE tournaments.
Every book will say the opposite - but I really believe to get into people's heads, it is very necessary to showski at some point. Allow me to explain.
My image among my friends, live and online, these days is pretty aggro / spewey - last night I used this to a full advantage and hammered home the point by SHOWING when I had successfully bluffed two different players off of better hands.
I firmly believe if I hadn't stuck the needle in, in these two hands, I would not have gotten paid off like I did later on. I got paid with quad 3s for God's sake! How often does that happen? Next to never if you don't demonstrate that you can fire with air.
I really believe, if you have any understanding of the psychology of the game, that showing cards at the exact right time is just too powerful a tool in the arsenal to ignore.
I also showed a few times when I open shoved and everyone folded - in those instances I had a pair of jacks, and two times AK suited. It seems like this wouldn't work, but later I was able to shove and get folds with much trashier hands.
When I lucked out and more than tripled up in a 3 way pot, after being short stacked for a long time, I had some ammo and was able to show a few bluffs to these same players - and then they couldn't help but call me down with top pair when I turned a monster full house or flushed up.
So every poker book I've read is essentially full of shit. Showing cards, when you have the experience and understanding of how other players are thinking, is not only okay - it's basically required in tournament play. AND you can show both good hands and bad hands at different times on the same players and they will not necessarily be savvy enough to know that they are being manipulated.
Now, as Annie Duke likes to point out - there really are no absolutes in poker. If I'm at a table where I'm seriously outclassed by most of the players at my table, such as if I were to run deep in a WSOP event, I would seriously consider not ever showing my cards if I didn't have to. But in my home game, online with friends, and even at Commerce with a softish table draw - I'm certainly going to be whipping my cards out more often now that I've come to this conclusion.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Honesty Sucks
It's tough to know where I'm at in my game right now; I still love tournament poker, but it sure is hard. And since I've been tracking my results accurately, for really the first time ever in my 5+ years of seriously playing this game, I find myself with way more questions than answers.
I've played in 13 events in January and the first part of February 2012. I have cashed once. Once.
Somehow it doesn't feel that unusual or bad, but when I look at the raw numbers - I'm stuck just over 700 bucks, it is a bit unsettling.
Now, to be fair, four of the events were $40 satellites at the LAPC, and these truly are super-turbos. We start with 1000 in chips and blinds double every 15 minutes. Ridiculous really, and the only reason I played them was because I busted out of other bigger events early and was still itching to play.
So I take those four events out, and it's 9 events and cashing once, stuck just over 500.
I can certainly live with that, and attribute a good part of it to variance.
But, and this is a good thing - there is also the nagging feeling that a few costly mistakes on either crucial or tournament ending hands, have put me in this negative.
I can distinctly remember an event at HPC where I had a decent amount of chips and I was second in (not first) with QJ suited. I wound up in a three way pot with the third best hand, double dominated (my QJ vs. AJ and KQ - yuck!) I can definitely say that I was a bit tilted from being so card dead, and even rationalized it at the time as I walked out to my car.
Thinking back, it was pretty much a horseshit move. Not knowing how to fold broadway cards, especially suited ones, in early to mid position, even when the M is dwindling, is a leak that I can see that I have that needs plugging.
I did the same thing, calling off a shove by shoving, the other night in a fairly soft home game with KJ suited - ran into AQ and a small pair which held. I didn't need to do that. I had around 15 bigs, and in a tournament with no antes there was absolutely no excuse for it. Additionally there was a station monster stack in front of me, yes he called - who would've probably looked me up with A2, let alone a shitty pocket pair.
There have been a couple of bust out hands where I was first in, and I'm a lot more comfy with those moves, that just didn't work out.
And then there was my last satellite at Commerce (wait, wasn't I not including those?) where I shoved over an UTG raiser and a limper with pocket tens. Not that good, but really in a super turbo with 6 bigs I don't know that I'm ever folding tens. Funny result, the original UTG raiser let it go (stupid) and the limper called off most of his chips with J10, which of course hit a three outer on the river. I'm okay with this, results notwithstanding.
Other funny story, in the previous satellite on the same evening. Psycho Asian guy to my right (I've played with him before and he truly is emotionally unhinged, he kicked a chair over at HPC when he busted one time, but anyway...) lost his shit when I called his SB shove blind. The big blind was a third of my stack, so I thought nothing of calling - it was correct regardless of my holdings. I had J2 he had A9. The river brought a runner runner wheel and he really lost his shit, swearing at me up and down in Mandarin. My only response was a raised eyebrow and an "Oookay..." as I scooped up the chips. Later I did ask him if this was the first time he'd ever played poker, to which he swore again and again in his native tongue. Good times.
Then there was a disastrous end on Saturday - I was sitting on about 25 bigs, with the blinds ratcheting up. I knew it was time to start stealing when I could. I had a good tight image, and had truly been playing ABC for over 2 hours.
Blinds 200/400. Two limpers behind me, I raised it up to 2500 with K7os. This is not really an overbet here, it's a 3x plus the two limpers and a little bit more. The talky HPC regular who was a nice enough guy in the SB looked me up with what he called a "spite" call. I laughed as the other limpers and BB folded.
Flop was Q58 rainbow, he led out with a third of the pot sized bet.
I hate donking, it puts me on tilt. I need to learn to do it myself effectively, because it can be a great weapon against the right opponent (like me for instance). But anyways, this player I knew was decent and could be tricky against another player he recognized as decent too (that would be me).
So I flatted to reevaluate on the turn, which was a 6 to complete the rainbow. I was now open ended, plus I was guessing that any kings that hit would be good. 11 outs.
He led out again, this time a substantial bet that would commit me to the hand. It was jam or fold time.
I don't hate my jam here, because he tanked forever and complimented me on a good play before calling off over half of his stack to my shove. He had top pair, 10 kicker and it held.
At the time I hated his call, but on reflection I really blame myself every which way for this hand.
For starters, until I'm Daniel Negraneau, I really have zero business fucking around with K7os. I can see trying to steal pre-flop if I've been super dead and it's open folded to me, but I shouldn't be dicking around with it if I have to raise higher than 2.5x to get rid of limpers. Way too much money into a pot with a garbage hand.
And then, as Annie Duke likes to say, what if the king hits? Am I happy? Fuuuuck. Now I've got too much of my stack involved to ever really consider folding. And when I blank, as the hand shows, I can still get into trouble - even (or perhaps especially) if I'm reading my opponent right and put the right pressure on him. He could and did still read me for a bullshitter and make a hero call.
All of this could have been avoided - simply by being a bit more patient and waiting for better starting cards and a better situation.
As I drove home I couldn't help thinking to myself "Damn. I could be still playing poker, sitting on 16 bigs if I had just folded to that big turn bet. I knew he had top pair. Was he really a good enough player to lay it down? In my heart I knew the answer was hells no."
I'm excited for the future of my game, despite my lumps - if I can truly look at myself objectively. Tracking my bankroll to the last cent accurately is a phenomenal way of doing this. I had no idea that it would sharpen the picture of my game so drastically. I'm happy that it has, because I feel that with this more detailed view of my results, I'll be able to adjust quicker and more productively.
********
Quick update - Sven and I are Vegas bound on the third weekend of July for the WSOP. VERY excited. Haven't decided if I'm going to save up for a bracelet event, but I'm leaning heavily towards a few satellite entries instead.
I've played in 13 events in January and the first part of February 2012. I have cashed once. Once.
Somehow it doesn't feel that unusual or bad, but when I look at the raw numbers - I'm stuck just over 700 bucks, it is a bit unsettling.
Now, to be fair, four of the events were $40 satellites at the LAPC, and these truly are super-turbos. We start with 1000 in chips and blinds double every 15 minutes. Ridiculous really, and the only reason I played them was because I busted out of other bigger events early and was still itching to play.
So I take those four events out, and it's 9 events and cashing once, stuck just over 500.
I can certainly live with that, and attribute a good part of it to variance.
But, and this is a good thing - there is also the nagging feeling that a few costly mistakes on either crucial or tournament ending hands, have put me in this negative.
I can distinctly remember an event at HPC where I had a decent amount of chips and I was second in (not first) with QJ suited. I wound up in a three way pot with the third best hand, double dominated (my QJ vs. AJ and KQ - yuck!) I can definitely say that I was a bit tilted from being so card dead, and even rationalized it at the time as I walked out to my car.
Thinking back, it was pretty much a horseshit move. Not knowing how to fold broadway cards, especially suited ones, in early to mid position, even when the M is dwindling, is a leak that I can see that I have that needs plugging.
I did the same thing, calling off a shove by shoving, the other night in a fairly soft home game with KJ suited - ran into AQ and a small pair which held. I didn't need to do that. I had around 15 bigs, and in a tournament with no antes there was absolutely no excuse for it. Additionally there was a station monster stack in front of me, yes he called - who would've probably looked me up with A2, let alone a shitty pocket pair.
There have been a couple of bust out hands where I was first in, and I'm a lot more comfy with those moves, that just didn't work out.
And then there was my last satellite at Commerce (wait, wasn't I not including those?) where I shoved over an UTG raiser and a limper with pocket tens. Not that good, but really in a super turbo with 6 bigs I don't know that I'm ever folding tens. Funny result, the original UTG raiser let it go (stupid) and the limper called off most of his chips with J10, which of course hit a three outer on the river. I'm okay with this, results notwithstanding.
Other funny story, in the previous satellite on the same evening. Psycho Asian guy to my right (I've played with him before and he truly is emotionally unhinged, he kicked a chair over at HPC when he busted one time, but anyway...) lost his shit when I called his SB shove blind. The big blind was a third of my stack, so I thought nothing of calling - it was correct regardless of my holdings. I had J2 he had A9. The river brought a runner runner wheel and he really lost his shit, swearing at me up and down in Mandarin. My only response was a raised eyebrow and an "Oookay..." as I scooped up the chips. Later I did ask him if this was the first time he'd ever played poker, to which he swore again and again in his native tongue. Good times.
Then there was a disastrous end on Saturday - I was sitting on about 25 bigs, with the blinds ratcheting up. I knew it was time to start stealing when I could. I had a good tight image, and had truly been playing ABC for over 2 hours.
Blinds 200/400. Two limpers behind me, I raised it up to 2500 with K7os. This is not really an overbet here, it's a 3x plus the two limpers and a little bit more. The talky HPC regular who was a nice enough guy in the SB looked me up with what he called a "spite" call. I laughed as the other limpers and BB folded.
Flop was Q58 rainbow, he led out with a third of the pot sized bet.
I hate donking, it puts me on tilt. I need to learn to do it myself effectively, because it can be a great weapon against the right opponent (like me for instance). But anyways, this player I knew was decent and could be tricky against another player he recognized as decent too (that would be me).
So I flatted to reevaluate on the turn, which was a 6 to complete the rainbow. I was now open ended, plus I was guessing that any kings that hit would be good. 11 outs.
He led out again, this time a substantial bet that would commit me to the hand. It was jam or fold time.
I don't hate my jam here, because he tanked forever and complimented me on a good play before calling off over half of his stack to my shove. He had top pair, 10 kicker and it held.
At the time I hated his call, but on reflection I really blame myself every which way for this hand.
For starters, until I'm Daniel Negraneau, I really have zero business fucking around with K7os. I can see trying to steal pre-flop if I've been super dead and it's open folded to me, but I shouldn't be dicking around with it if I have to raise higher than 2.5x to get rid of limpers. Way too much money into a pot with a garbage hand.
And then, as Annie Duke likes to say, what if the king hits? Am I happy? Fuuuuck. Now I've got too much of my stack involved to ever really consider folding. And when I blank, as the hand shows, I can still get into trouble - even (or perhaps especially) if I'm reading my opponent right and put the right pressure on him. He could and did still read me for a bullshitter and make a hero call.
All of this could have been avoided - simply by being a bit more patient and waiting for better starting cards and a better situation.
As I drove home I couldn't help thinking to myself "Damn. I could be still playing poker, sitting on 16 bigs if I had just folded to that big turn bet. I knew he had top pair. Was he really a good enough player to lay it down? In my heart I knew the answer was hells no."
I'm excited for the future of my game, despite my lumps - if I can truly look at myself objectively. Tracking my bankroll to the last cent accurately is a phenomenal way of doing this. I had no idea that it would sharpen the picture of my game so drastically. I'm happy that it has, because I feel that with this more detailed view of my results, I'll be able to adjust quicker and more productively.
********
Quick update - Sven and I are Vegas bound on the third weekend of July for the WSOP. VERY excited. Haven't decided if I'm going to save up for a bracelet event, but I'm leaning heavily towards a few satellite entries instead.
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