So the year has gone on, I've played a bit here and there and I want to play more and more as the World Series of Poker approaches.
I've got my eyeballs on two events - the first will take place on May 29th, it's the Colossus. Click on the word to learn all about it. What will likely be the largest poker tournament in history, with at least 5 million dollars in prize money up for grabs as well as of course a bracelet - all for the low low price of only $565.
As a piece of history, and with my wife and kiddo out of town, I don't know that I could forgive myself for missing this one. I have recently pre-registered, the first time in my life that I have ever done this, and because of this I will for sure be playing in a bracelet event for only the second time in my life come Memorial day weekend.
The second event that I'd very much like to play in, and am planning on it, is the Monster Stack, two weekends after the Colossus. This bad boy bracelet event gives players, for the low low price of $1500, an amazing structure and a HUGE amount of chips to go along with it. Last year the winner took home 1.3 milly. There is some serious cheddar at stake, not to mention WSOP history.
Both of these promise to be once in a lifetime poker playing opportunities, and I am excited and very much looking forward to them. But there is the matter of recompense.
I feel somehow that I owe something to someone, perhaps the poker gods, perhaps THE God, or perhaps simply myself.
Of the half dozen or so events that I've played since my last post, I haven't seen nary a wisp of a cash. I haven't gotten anywhere near the money, in anything. Well, okay, after checking my ledger I see that I min-cashed at Commerce in the middle of March, but my notes point out that save for a crucial flip early on, I lost every race and picked up zero premiums on the way to my $355 pay day.
Last week I held my annual WSOP satellite in my garage. 9 of us plunked down $170 each for a $1500 bracelet seat. The winner gets a seat in the event of his choice, but also has to share any winnings with the rest of the group 60/40.
Well I was the first one out. With nearly a hundred big blinds, I could not fold my KK to a five bet shove pre-flop. Of course my opponent had AA.
Lesson learned. Even though I rationalized it at the time, correctly stating that the villain was one of the more aggressive and capable players in the satty, it was truly a horrible call-off by me. As aggressive and maniacal as the craziest of players can be - they are still never bluffing with 100 bigs behind pre-flop, unless for some reason they want to light their entry fee on fire. Put it this way, this particular opponent, and 99 out of 100 others, would not have re-shipped KK to a cold four bet.
My opponent in this case, is able to play like a maniac on occasion, and is tough and aggressive, but he was never, ever bluffing there. I should've flatted his three bet instead of four betting him. Failing that (I'm okay with a four bet as he would likely 3 bet JJ, QQ or AK to my UTG raise) I should have for sure tanked at the very least and took a read, then I very likely could've found a fold and proudly mucked my kings face up.
Instead I got to sit around for 7 hours as the rest of the guys played down to the WSOP seat.
So, not my finest hour.
But even worse, was the night before. I played in the Bike Quantum, an absurd multi-flight re-entry tournament that nonetheless is a cheap way to get in a lot of hands.
For 6 hours I played very well. Accumulating despite a dearth of starting cards and managing to avoid the experienced players, who as usual multiplied as the bubble approached.
Just before we redrew to 2 tables, I had a bit of an implosion. I went from 45 bigs to less than 15 over the course of 3 hands. I tried to get clever, make moves, whatever, and simply missed the flops spectacularly and compounded my misfortune by refusing to let go until long after it was too late.
It was a long walk back to the car for me, I was very frustrated after I have been playing so well, to so foolishly spew off chips by losing patience.
So here is my promise as my recompense.
I vow to play as much as I can between now and the 29th, while still putting my family and job first of course - and in doing so I will also promise to not push things, to not get impatient and try to 'outplay' my opponents when either A) I have very little or no equity in the hand, either by virtue of crap cards, a whiffed flop or bad position OR B) I find myself against one or more experienced players who will give little fear or thought about tangling with me.
The latter was really my downfall the other night. I have recently taken great pride at being able to avoid trouble, or at least extract myself from it early on to minimize the damage. This last time, I was simply being stubborn against opponents that I knew damn well played in the Quantum at least 5 or 6 times a week. No reason for my ego to get in the way and hang on when deep down I knew I needed to let go and look for better spots.
Ah well, poker. Just when you think you've got it licked, it comes back and kicks you right in the jackpot.
So I am sorry, poker gods or whoever, and I promise to do better. I promise to sit back and let good cards come when it is time to do so. I promise to sniff out the weak and prey on them, and to avoid the larger wolves that inevitably arrive along with the bubble. I promise to be the great player that I know I can be - if I stay within myself, and see the forest for the trees; the big picture ahead.
Actually, two big pictures.
The biggest tournament on record, ever. And another tournament that is massive and awesome.
Can't wait.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Finishing Strong
Another year of teh pokerz has come and gone and once more I feel good. Actually, I feel better than good. I feel great.
2014 for me was the year that it all came together. The previous years and years of playing, studying, thinking - obsessing - about the game, the game that is No Limit Texas Hold-Em Tournament Poker; have just now, at the end of this year, finally started to pay off.
I have genuinely reached the point in my game when I can turn my brain off to a certain extent and relax - and let the mantra consume me. "See ball. Hit ball." I've reached the place that Roberto Clemente talked about - I've worked enough, studied enough, absorbed enough. The game is on, it's time to let go and let the training take over. See ball. Hit ball.
By letting the information flow naturally, not forcing it - I'm free to concentrate on yet more variables; especially live tells. I am more than ever, consciously trying to get into the head spaces of the players around me. I can concentrate on "taking a read" on an opponents demeanor. Is he comfortable? Is he happy? Tilted? Angry? I look at these things specifically, and let my training take over on the other stuff.
Bet sizing, betting tells, betting patterns - including previous hands and their patterns - these have all become second nature to me. So too has stack sizes, mine and my opponents, their commitment thresholds and mine. How much pressure to apply to get someone off a medium strength hand. Don't have to really think about this anymore. And so, armed with this recent automatic flow of information, I have become a formidable poker player in the tournament arena.
This last holiday, I played three tournaments in three days. Three tournaments, three cashes, including my first ever absolute and utter take down.
First up was the $120 nooner at the fabulous Hollywood Park Casino. It took me awhile to warm up, but once I did I was able to play well and slough off being utterly card dead and rather snake bit. I squeaked into a min-cash, a nice bubble safety that the regulars at HPC always push for.
The next day, it was the Bike nooner. A $55 freeze-out (with re-entries of course) that typically makes it's 2.5K guarantee easily. With 91 runners, this one was no exception.
Once again it was slow going to start - I got tangled in a couple of ill advised tussles, but emerged unscathed enough to accumulate chips in the doldrum mid stages. But by 'slow start' I don't mean I sat back and played patient. I have finally shaken off the incorrect notion that it is right to be tight in the opening stages of low entry tournaments. When it's $100 or less with a fast-ish structure and 20 minute levels, there is no time to wait.
In 90% of the tournaments I play in, I don't wait to get involved - I get active, quickly. Chip accumulation has to start early in these events; and I now know more than ever that even more important that actually gathering chips, is planting the seeds at the table so that everyone is thinking "Who the fuck is this guy? He watches too much TV. I'm going to get top pair and NEVER FOLD."
It is crucial, for this to work, that the table be passive. I find in the lower buy in events, this is almost always the case. I get active quick, so I can get to plundering - but as long as I am careful, it doesn't matter that I win every pot. It is important though that I show my busted bluffs and weak starting cards.
Then, once the image is built, as it was on day 2 for me - it is only a matter of time until I get all the chippies. A grumpy button had finally had enough with my three bets and four bet shoved over 60 bigs, I snapped with KK. He had A10 which didn't hit.
A similar hand happened later as the money approached. A different grouch, but he again had a middling Ace that he called with to my 3 bet shove with QQ. My hand held and I was in a very good spot at the final table.
Dan Harrington talks about the main two styles of play, Tight Aggressive (TAG) and Loose Aggressive (LAG), in his seminal 3 part bible on tournament poker. He himself plays and extolls the virtues and value of playing TAG. But his books, as magnificent as they still are, are geared to WSOP events or similar. Long levels, deep deep stacks and tables loaded with experienced grinders. The rest of us don't play these, we play the $55 daily where $40 NL retirees are sitting down for a change of pace and are hoping to see a flop.
In this kind of tournament, playing TAG will get you a whole heck of a lot of min-cashes, and a whole heck of a lot of busting out 2/3 of the way through the tournament with no money in sight. Most agonizing of all, when you do wake up with a rare premium hand, more often than not you won't get paid.
In my opinion, which is founded on 8 years of semi-serious tournament experience at this point, LAG is really the only way to play these things; especially if your table is older and more passive. I bet, bet, bet and bet again - hardly ever limping - until they can't stands it no more; and I use my post flop skills (the aforementioned "see ball, hit ball" state of mind) to minimize my losses and/or maximize my wins - and occasionally take pots away with the worst hand.
In this second tournament it was really starting to crystalize - as you can see by my stack above when it was final table time. I was third in chips and had my eyeball firmly planted on the 1K + first prize.
Unfortunately I boned a hand early on that knocked me down a bit. I likely had less than a dozen big blinds when we all agreed to chop and I took down a not too bad $380 in fourth position of six remaining players.
Anyways - the hand. A micro stack in EP shoved all for less than a big blind and got one caller right away. I justified a fairly bad call in the hijack with A5os. This was a pretty big mistake because then of course the cutoff, button and both blinds came along. Six players plus another already all in. Blech. A recipe for disaster.
Now here is where most recreational players would say "check it down" and knock out a player to climb up the ladder. Well my degenerate brain doesn't' really work that way. As the flop came, I knew the pot was bloated, a large amount of precious big blinds and antes now bubbled in a juicy side pot - ripe for the taking. The micro-stacked player that was all in had less than a big blind, matched 6 ways, in the main.
The flop came with an Ace and a Five and two cards to a flush. The first player checked to me, I jammed. Too much money out there to let someone catch up, I likely had the best hand and I was getting all those chippies now.
The cutoff and button grumpily folded. Doesn't this a-hole know to check it down?
The small blind tanked and tanked. Really dude? You're going to call off your tournament life with a flush draw? Yep. He did it. And yep, he had a monster draw - a gut shot and a six high flush draw.
The BB folded and the board ran out - he spiked his baby flush immediately on the turn of course, and I was not quite crippled, but powerless to play any real poker until the aforementioned deal a half hour later.
I of course got lectured on my bad play, by the remaining big stacks. "Dude, check it down and let him bust."
Right. And surrender all that side pot equity in favor of letting a micro stack hang around for another ten minutes. Good idea.
Anyways, I was back for more the following day, with my compatriot Cali Al in tow this time.
This time around we only had 80 entries, so the prize pool was smaller. Also, Cali and I were a bit early, so we were seated at the very first table, which was full of other strictly recreational players who likely play mostly in home games.
It was truly one of the more passive and genuinely brain damaged group I had ever sat down with. Friendly enough at least.
I immediately started with the shenanigans, and the bulk of the table was fed up after only two or three of my sloppy stabbings.
As always, I eschewed limping for three betting large. This really worked out early on when I three bet from the cutoff, nice and chunky and got four callers. I flopped top pair, it was checked to me and I c-bet nice and juicy. All but the big blind folded.
This big blind was a special kind of home gamer that I have run into before. ULTRA passive and loose, and believes that everyone is trying to bully her. Her instances of success mostly come from snapping off maniacs like myself.
I value bet the shit out of her on the turn when it blanked and shoved the apparently harmless river which she instantly called off all her chips with. "Uh-oh" I thought... "I may be in trouble here."
Nope. She had second pair and was crippled. I had doubled up.
I firmly believe I would never have gotten all of that cheddar if I hadn't been dicking around on earlier hands.
Fish may be fishy, but they are more than capable of pegging someone like me as a maniac very quickly, and will put their minds to looking me up at all costs. They very much go out of their way to get involved, usually out of position, against the guy who watches too much poker on TV. Thank goodness for this. It is one of the easiest ways to accumulate chips without premium hands early on in a tournament.
Speaking of dicking around. A few hands later my friend Cali, who was three seats to my right, slung an over sized chip in after a few limpers and then said "raise". The table had a good laugh at his expense; he's a very good player, but hasn't played live in almost two months and much longer than that since his last foray into a card room.
So I got to limp with my 72 in the small blind and smash two pair on the flop.
My fishy friend from earlier called my chunky donk bet on the flop, and Cali reluctantly folded his aces or kings. I then checked the blank turn and by God she did fire with over half her remaining chips. I happily shipped it and then she tanked.
So help me God, with 3/4 of her chips already in the pot, she had to think about it. She finally slid the chips in and turned up a wired pair of fives. My two pair held and she was gone. I silently stacked my chips as Cali stewed in his juices.
A while later, a swarthy fellow whom I've never seen in my life but played with hundreds of times sat down on my immediate right. He was the first of many more serious players that would eventually replace all the rec players at my table.
We got tangled up early. He limped, I three bet chunky. He apparently didn't get the memo, that if he called he was supposed to fold or call my c-bet. He check raise shipped on me, an absurd over bet that I unfortunately couldn't call with zip and pip. I couldn't help but smirk a little and say "Okay, let me think about it." as I turbo mucked. I then made a little "hmm" with a cocked head, yes I was a bit irritated at his pointless play, which would earn him the minimum in value and maximum in loss if I had hit. He picked right up on my aggravation and responded in a thick Eastern European accent...
"You watch too much TV."
Yes. Yes I do sir.
So I resolved to pretty much avoid him as there were still plenty of ripe targets.
Eventually Cali waited way to long to get to shoving and had zero fold equity when he finally did and lost his race.
Time passed and I had no choice but to play more snug as better and better players sat down.
Too much TV guy actually turned out to be super tight, he barely played a hand. Turned out he had likely shipped on me with a set or an overpair.
At some point a young buck sat in the empty seat between me and TV Guy. He was a motor mouth semi-pro who proceeded to pull a Chris Manzoni with everyone else, me included.
Only problem for him was, the second time he raised my big I had A10 and was never ever folding. I three bet him chunky-ish (more of a standard 3x the size of his raise 3 bet) and he flatted. The board came all low and he ripped. I snapped. He had me covered.
We both turned over the same hand. He was shocked at my call and said so. "Sorry dude, actual poker player in this seat..." I muttered. He smirked, relieved to be chopping, as was I.
So he mostly avoided me after that. He pillaged a bit, but was unable to climb back up by the time I three bet shoved on him with AQ and he called off with deuces. Terrible call that saw him bust and donate the rest of his bullets to me.
The money approached and I sat on a whole grip o' chips. With uber active motor mouth gone, I could get back on the stick, so to speak; and I found that my maniacal image was still intact as I took a few minor hits from non-believers. Then I woke up with KK and got it all in pre-flop when a sweaty regular decided it was time to take a stand with QJ.
Well done sir, you're doing it.
I know had well over 50 bigs, at a time when the avg. stack was closer to 15. Because I had just played this tournament the day before, I knew I could fold my way to the final table and still be healthy when I got there. This really took the pressure off of me to remain active, and yet I didn't allow myself to pass up juicy spots when they arose, and this is a big difference in my game that has only recently surfaced.
Time was, if I knew I was set to make the final table healthy, I literally would only play QQ or better, even open folding AK. Today, when I'm in the same spot, I let go and let the small ball fly when premium situations, not premium hands, arrive.
If it is folded to me and I'm in the hijack or later, and the targets are good - I will raise with any ace, any broadway cards, any pair, or even a suited gap connector. Then I rely on my post flop skills to extricate me from trouble; this means I don't hesitate to give up with multiple opponents, but I also don't hesitate to c-bet with a favorable board if I'm heads up with an opponent who has been defending light but then fitting and folding.
It was a beautiful 10 8 suited that boated up on the turn that saw me amass a huge double knock out against two recreational players who were not nearly as good as they thought they were. One of them stacked off with an over pair, JJ I believe, that he had flatted with pre-flop to my raise, and the other I believe had a flush draw that he was drawing dead with. I know for a fact I got both of these stacks merged into mine because I hadn't just folded up my tent to wait for the final table. I played maybe half a dozen hands in an hour - and because of this they likely both saw me as a maniac. It also didn't hurt that I had busted the guy who the entire table saw as the biggest maniac of all.
So with that double knock out, we were almost at the final table. Another loud mouth sat down on my right, spewed off half of his stack (unfortunately not to me) and then we were at our final 10.
I immediately looked around and saw that most players were short, and I was one of only 3 that was robust. I was also the chip leader. I proposed we look at the numbers. Loud mouth demurred and so we played on.
When we were at six he finally called for a chip count. He had dwindled, I had actually chipped up, just by virtue of walks and little resistance to my opening raises. With most of my opponents, when I opened a pot - we were playing for stacks right from the get go. So really, I was playing tight - I was only playing hands that I was willing to call a re-ship from the shorties. It worked beautifully.
The numbers were run... and with this stack...
I would collect $750. I happily agreed. Though it was $250 less than first place money, it was great to lock it up because one hand could change everything instantly. No one, myself included, was at all deep. I had around 25 bigs, hardly enough room to maneuver with any real poker skill involved.
Everyone else agreed to their lesser amounts, including loud mouth who was happy to get $330. Ship it!
All of my tournament poker playing career, I have longed to be That Guy at the table. The one who accumulates without good cards, the one who runs over other players with a smile and avoids dumping off large amounts of chips for no reason. Tuesday night, I WAS that guy.
And it felt great.
My ledger says I'm up almost 2K in profit, which is a fantastic feeling for someone who only plays tournaments. I'm very much looking forward to another year on the felt - hopefully I'll make the WSOP this year. At the very least I'll be heading out to Vegas for sure.
2014 for me was the year that it all came together. The previous years and years of playing, studying, thinking - obsessing - about the game, the game that is No Limit Texas Hold-Em Tournament Poker; have just now, at the end of this year, finally started to pay off.
I have genuinely reached the point in my game when I can turn my brain off to a certain extent and relax - and let the mantra consume me. "See ball. Hit ball." I've reached the place that Roberto Clemente talked about - I've worked enough, studied enough, absorbed enough. The game is on, it's time to let go and let the training take over. See ball. Hit ball.
By letting the information flow naturally, not forcing it - I'm free to concentrate on yet more variables; especially live tells. I am more than ever, consciously trying to get into the head spaces of the players around me. I can concentrate on "taking a read" on an opponents demeanor. Is he comfortable? Is he happy? Tilted? Angry? I look at these things specifically, and let my training take over on the other stuff.
Bet sizing, betting tells, betting patterns - including previous hands and their patterns - these have all become second nature to me. So too has stack sizes, mine and my opponents, their commitment thresholds and mine. How much pressure to apply to get someone off a medium strength hand. Don't have to really think about this anymore. And so, armed with this recent automatic flow of information, I have become a formidable poker player in the tournament arena.
This last holiday, I played three tournaments in three days. Three tournaments, three cashes, including my first ever absolute and utter take down.
First up was the $120 nooner at the fabulous Hollywood Park Casino. It took me awhile to warm up, but once I did I was able to play well and slough off being utterly card dead and rather snake bit. I squeaked into a min-cash, a nice bubble safety that the regulars at HPC always push for.
The next day, it was the Bike nooner. A $55 freeze-out (with re-entries of course) that typically makes it's 2.5K guarantee easily. With 91 runners, this one was no exception.
Once again it was slow going to start - I got tangled in a couple of ill advised tussles, but emerged unscathed enough to accumulate chips in the doldrum mid stages. But by 'slow start' I don't mean I sat back and played patient. I have finally shaken off the incorrect notion that it is right to be tight in the opening stages of low entry tournaments. When it's $100 or less with a fast-ish structure and 20 minute levels, there is no time to wait.
In 90% of the tournaments I play in, I don't wait to get involved - I get active, quickly. Chip accumulation has to start early in these events; and I now know more than ever that even more important that actually gathering chips, is planting the seeds at the table so that everyone is thinking "Who the fuck is this guy? He watches too much TV. I'm going to get top pair and NEVER FOLD."
It is crucial, for this to work, that the table be passive. I find in the lower buy in events, this is almost always the case. I get active quick, so I can get to plundering - but as long as I am careful, it doesn't matter that I win every pot. It is important though that I show my busted bluffs and weak starting cards.
Then, once the image is built, as it was on day 2 for me - it is only a matter of time until I get all the chippies. A grumpy button had finally had enough with my three bets and four bet shoved over 60 bigs, I snapped with KK. He had A10 which didn't hit.
A similar hand happened later as the money approached. A different grouch, but he again had a middling Ace that he called with to my 3 bet shove with QQ. My hand held and I was in a very good spot at the final table.
 |
| Over 175K at the final table in the Bike $55 daily. |
In this kind of tournament, playing TAG will get you a whole heck of a lot of min-cashes, and a whole heck of a lot of busting out 2/3 of the way through the tournament with no money in sight. Most agonizing of all, when you do wake up with a rare premium hand, more often than not you won't get paid.
In my opinion, which is founded on 8 years of semi-serious tournament experience at this point, LAG is really the only way to play these things; especially if your table is older and more passive. I bet, bet, bet and bet again - hardly ever limping - until they can't stands it no more; and I use my post flop skills (the aforementioned "see ball, hit ball" state of mind) to minimize my losses and/or maximize my wins - and occasionally take pots away with the worst hand.
In this second tournament it was really starting to crystalize - as you can see by my stack above when it was final table time. I was third in chips and had my eyeball firmly planted on the 1K + first prize.
Unfortunately I boned a hand early on that knocked me down a bit. I likely had less than a dozen big blinds when we all agreed to chop and I took down a not too bad $380 in fourth position of six remaining players.
Anyways - the hand. A micro stack in EP shoved all for less than a big blind and got one caller right away. I justified a fairly bad call in the hijack with A5os. This was a pretty big mistake because then of course the cutoff, button and both blinds came along. Six players plus another already all in. Blech. A recipe for disaster.
Now here is where most recreational players would say "check it down" and knock out a player to climb up the ladder. Well my degenerate brain doesn't' really work that way. As the flop came, I knew the pot was bloated, a large amount of precious big blinds and antes now bubbled in a juicy side pot - ripe for the taking. The micro-stacked player that was all in had less than a big blind, matched 6 ways, in the main.
The flop came with an Ace and a Five and two cards to a flush. The first player checked to me, I jammed. Too much money out there to let someone catch up, I likely had the best hand and I was getting all those chippies now.
The cutoff and button grumpily folded. Doesn't this a-hole know to check it down?
The small blind tanked and tanked. Really dude? You're going to call off your tournament life with a flush draw? Yep. He did it. And yep, he had a monster draw - a gut shot and a six high flush draw.
The BB folded and the board ran out - he spiked his baby flush immediately on the turn of course, and I was not quite crippled, but powerless to play any real poker until the aforementioned deal a half hour later.
I of course got lectured on my bad play, by the remaining big stacks. "Dude, check it down and let him bust."
Right. And surrender all that side pot equity in favor of letting a micro stack hang around for another ten minutes. Good idea.
Anyways, I was back for more the following day, with my compatriot Cali Al in tow this time.
This time around we only had 80 entries, so the prize pool was smaller. Also, Cali and I were a bit early, so we were seated at the very first table, which was full of other strictly recreational players who likely play mostly in home games.
It was truly one of the more passive and genuinely brain damaged group I had ever sat down with. Friendly enough at least.
I immediately started with the shenanigans, and the bulk of the table was fed up after only two or three of my sloppy stabbings.
As always, I eschewed limping for three betting large. This really worked out early on when I three bet from the cutoff, nice and chunky and got four callers. I flopped top pair, it was checked to me and I c-bet nice and juicy. All but the big blind folded.
This big blind was a special kind of home gamer that I have run into before. ULTRA passive and loose, and believes that everyone is trying to bully her. Her instances of success mostly come from snapping off maniacs like myself.
I value bet the shit out of her on the turn when it blanked and shoved the apparently harmless river which she instantly called off all her chips with. "Uh-oh" I thought... "I may be in trouble here."
Nope. She had second pair and was crippled. I had doubled up.
I firmly believe I would never have gotten all of that cheddar if I hadn't been dicking around on earlier hands.
Fish may be fishy, but they are more than capable of pegging someone like me as a maniac very quickly, and will put their minds to looking me up at all costs. They very much go out of their way to get involved, usually out of position, against the guy who watches too much poker on TV. Thank goodness for this. It is one of the easiest ways to accumulate chips without premium hands early on in a tournament.
Speaking of dicking around. A few hands later my friend Cali, who was three seats to my right, slung an over sized chip in after a few limpers and then said "raise". The table had a good laugh at his expense; he's a very good player, but hasn't played live in almost two months and much longer than that since his last foray into a card room.
So I got to limp with my 72 in the small blind and smash two pair on the flop.
My fishy friend from earlier called my chunky donk bet on the flop, and Cali reluctantly folded his aces or kings. I then checked the blank turn and by God she did fire with over half her remaining chips. I happily shipped it and then she tanked.
So help me God, with 3/4 of her chips already in the pot, she had to think about it. She finally slid the chips in and turned up a wired pair of fives. My two pair held and she was gone. I silently stacked my chips as Cali stewed in his juices.
A while later, a swarthy fellow whom I've never seen in my life but played with hundreds of times sat down on my immediate right. He was the first of many more serious players that would eventually replace all the rec players at my table.
We got tangled up early. He limped, I three bet chunky. He apparently didn't get the memo, that if he called he was supposed to fold or call my c-bet. He check raise shipped on me, an absurd over bet that I unfortunately couldn't call with zip and pip. I couldn't help but smirk a little and say "Okay, let me think about it." as I turbo mucked. I then made a little "hmm" with a cocked head, yes I was a bit irritated at his pointless play, which would earn him the minimum in value and maximum in loss if I had hit. He picked right up on my aggravation and responded in a thick Eastern European accent...
"You watch too much TV."
Yes. Yes I do sir.
So I resolved to pretty much avoid him as there were still plenty of ripe targets.
Eventually Cali waited way to long to get to shoving and had zero fold equity when he finally did and lost his race.
Time passed and I had no choice but to play more snug as better and better players sat down.
Too much TV guy actually turned out to be super tight, he barely played a hand. Turned out he had likely shipped on me with a set or an overpair.
At some point a young buck sat in the empty seat between me and TV Guy. He was a motor mouth semi-pro who proceeded to pull a Chris Manzoni with everyone else, me included.
Only problem for him was, the second time he raised my big I had A10 and was never ever folding. I three bet him chunky-ish (more of a standard 3x the size of his raise 3 bet) and he flatted. The board came all low and he ripped. I snapped. He had me covered.
We both turned over the same hand. He was shocked at my call and said so. "Sorry dude, actual poker player in this seat..." I muttered. He smirked, relieved to be chopping, as was I.
So he mostly avoided me after that. He pillaged a bit, but was unable to climb back up by the time I three bet shoved on him with AQ and he called off with deuces. Terrible call that saw him bust and donate the rest of his bullets to me.
The money approached and I sat on a whole grip o' chips. With uber active motor mouth gone, I could get back on the stick, so to speak; and I found that my maniacal image was still intact as I took a few minor hits from non-believers. Then I woke up with KK and got it all in pre-flop when a sweaty regular decided it was time to take a stand with QJ.
Well done sir, you're doing it.
I know had well over 50 bigs, at a time when the avg. stack was closer to 15. Because I had just played this tournament the day before, I knew I could fold my way to the final table and still be healthy when I got there. This really took the pressure off of me to remain active, and yet I didn't allow myself to pass up juicy spots when they arose, and this is a big difference in my game that has only recently surfaced.
Time was, if I knew I was set to make the final table healthy, I literally would only play QQ or better, even open folding AK. Today, when I'm in the same spot, I let go and let the small ball fly when premium situations, not premium hands, arrive.
If it is folded to me and I'm in the hijack or later, and the targets are good - I will raise with any ace, any broadway cards, any pair, or even a suited gap connector. Then I rely on my post flop skills to extricate me from trouble; this means I don't hesitate to give up with multiple opponents, but I also don't hesitate to c-bet with a favorable board if I'm heads up with an opponent who has been defending light but then fitting and folding.
It was a beautiful 10 8 suited that boated up on the turn that saw me amass a huge double knock out against two recreational players who were not nearly as good as they thought they were. One of them stacked off with an over pair, JJ I believe, that he had flatted with pre-flop to my raise, and the other I believe had a flush draw that he was drawing dead with. I know for a fact I got both of these stacks merged into mine because I hadn't just folded up my tent to wait for the final table. I played maybe half a dozen hands in an hour - and because of this they likely both saw me as a maniac. It also didn't hurt that I had busted the guy who the entire table saw as the biggest maniac of all.
So with that double knock out, we were almost at the final table. Another loud mouth sat down on my right, spewed off half of his stack (unfortunately not to me) and then we were at our final 10.
I immediately looked around and saw that most players were short, and I was one of only 3 that was robust. I was also the chip leader. I proposed we look at the numbers. Loud mouth demurred and so we played on.
When we were at six he finally called for a chip count. He had dwindled, I had actually chipped up, just by virtue of walks and little resistance to my opening raises. With most of my opponents, when I opened a pot - we were playing for stacks right from the get go. So really, I was playing tight - I was only playing hands that I was willing to call a re-ship from the shorties. It worked beautifully.
The numbers were run... and with this stack...
 |
| Over a quarter million in chips - my biggest stack in recent memory. |
Everyone else agreed to their lesser amounts, including loud mouth who was happy to get $330. Ship it!
All of my tournament poker playing career, I have longed to be That Guy at the table. The one who accumulates without good cards, the one who runs over other players with a smile and avoids dumping off large amounts of chips for no reason. Tuesday night, I WAS that guy.
And it felt great.
My ledger says I'm up almost 2K in profit, which is a fantastic feeling for someone who only plays tournaments. I'm very much looking forward to another year on the felt - hopefully I'll make the WSOP this year. At the very least I'll be heading out to Vegas for sure.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Ballin' at Bally's Part 2
For the first time in the history of ever I slept until well past 9am in Las Vegas.
I watched some news, had a meal bar for breakfast, took a shower and then headed downstairs to register early for Event #3 at 11am.
I wish I could say that everything seemed better in the morning, it didn't really. Well, maybe a little. I realized that the main thing that had made my brutal exit feel so brutal wasn't the money - it was the glory. They were awarding these things to the winners...
Anyways, I was positive enough when I sat down in the 7 seat at a table in the corner of the room. My back was to the casino so there wasn't much to look at - but thankfully I had two nicer players on my left to chat with.
One was an older cat named Jerry, who revealed that despite his early 60's look and demeanor - he was actually 73. Jerry was an old school Berkeley type who actually hailed from the east coast. He regaled me and the other guy (a quiet but friendly school teacher named Matt who didn't look a day over 21) with tales of his poker and non-poker exploits. He, like me, has played poker with James Woods and also found him to be a swell fella.
I got tangled up in a couple of pots early on, one of which I double barrel bluffed perfectly, all for naught as the old rock was a non-believer and middle pair was more than good to call off a third of his stack. I say all for naught, but thankfully he stacked off entirely to me about an hour later when I hit a set and three bet his weak lead and he shipped it with top pair 10 kicker. Well played sir, you are doing it.
So with my confidence high, and my spirits rising thanks to the juicy and friendly folks around me - I proceeded to have the worst run of bad beats I've ever had in a poker tournament ever.
From my twitter feed...
My set of tens got run down by a set of jacks that spiked on the river, after all the money went in on a l0 8 4 flop.
I climbed back up a bit, only to get kneecapped about an hour later by a shortish stack who ripped with 66. I called off on the big blind with 1010. Again, my opponent hit a two outer on the river.
So four hours into the tournament, for the third time with a stack just under 20 bigs, I got my money in with a commanding lead. I flat called the button with a suited A3 and flopped top and bottom pair with a backdoor draw to the nut flush. Opponent, who I barely had covered let it rip and I snapped. He had a pair of red fives. A queen of spades on the turn gave me the nut flush draw. A black five that was NOT a spade gave him the pot.
One outed and utterly crippled, and frankly, fucking over it.
Two hands later I had KK which was promptly called by AA.
Awesome.
I only had one thing on my mind as I departed in haste. Roast beef, cheddar and horseradish. Toasted.
The line at Earl of Sammich was twice as long as yesterday, but I didn't mind. I patiently waited and then ate and licked my wounds, and tweeted out the four monstrous poker hands that I had just experienced.
I meandered back towards Bally's and then crossed into the noise and smoke pit known as the Planet Hollywood poker room. They had a tournament at 4pm, which was in 5 minutes. Sigh. More punishment please.
Thankfully - in poker, as with life, things are often darkest before the dawn. We had barely played two orbits when he showed up. Mr. Hollywood Park. I had never seen this fellow before, but actually I had played with him hundreds of times. Loud. Cocky and kind of a cock. Swarthy. He of the massive over bet from out of position. I couldn't help but lick my chops. I hope he didn't notice.
Less than an hour later I had busted him and all his chippies haz belonged to me.
He had been crazy active, though not with the terrifyingly good timing that sometimes accompanies such maniacal behavior. I knew that I only need be patient, and I was in perfect position, two players to his left. With the button I looked down at 88 and three bet his hijack raise, he flatted. The flop came with a glorious 8. He led out, as he had done in every pot he had played, with a massive bet 1 1/2 the pot.
Happy dance on the inside.
I three bet him large. He tanked forever and then called. A second heart rolled off on the turn. He checked. So did I. Didn't care if the flush hit - I wanted all of his chips.
A third heart rolled off, again he bet massive. I shipped it, he was committed and called off with bottom two pair. Rebuy!
Only he couldn't rebuy, he had to reenter, and unfortunately he went to another table. I didn't see him again until it was final table time.
In a word, my play was flawless. Again, as is so often the case in these faster and smaller events, I find myself in graduate school with the rest of the class struggling to make it out of kindergarten. With others raising and calling off a quarter or half of their stacks, and then finding folds - I simply ripped, ripped and ripped again, expertly.
Finally when old Hollywood Park had had enough, he called off with 55 which mercifully did not two out my 1010. He was crippled, I was phat. Life was good.
My only stumble came a bit later, I was against a frat kid who fancied himself the table captain. He ripped a dry board and I had to call with middle pair. Yes, I had gotten unlucky and he had hit his king. Upon reflection, since I had such an advantage over him and everyone else I really should've found a fold and picked a better spot. If I hadn't seen him shoving light so many times I probably could've gotten away.
Anyways, that knocked me down quite a bit - so when old Hollywood Park had crawled back he was the first to suggest a chop at four handed which everyone agreed to. As the short stack I was ecstatic to get $390 instead of the $180 I would've gotten for fourth.
By the time I got back to Base Camp Bally's it was time to register for the last hurrah.
Once again it was time to rock and or roll. Unfortunately, at a table full of fishies, I picked the one barracuda to mess with and got tangled up in a catastrophic hand that saw me quickly crippled. I don't remember the hand very well, I didn't bother to tweet it, but I know it was a disastrous double barrel bluff that ended on the river with a stupendously stupid "hero" call that I somehow had convinced myself was good.
It wasn't.
I was out shortly thereafter and it wasn't even 9pm! What to do... what to do....
Yep. I registered as the break approached, re-entering the tournament with 30 bigs and not much hope against a large field. Even better, the soft players at my first table were nowhere to be seen at my new location. At least three fellows, and one gal - seriously knew what they were doing. In fact, the female looked familiar; I googled what I thought was her name and it was indeed her. Samantha Abernathy, who as you can see here, is a young but formidable poker player who has a gang of recent tournament cashes; and from what I understand (if the pro on my left was to be believed) is fully backed in all of her tournament entries.
So there was that. But being aware that I was outclassed to my left and right didn't really phaze me much, I'm used to it quite a bit in the larger dailies at Commerce; if anything it makes decisions a lot easier. No room to get tricky.
I should mention that twice I got my money in behind on my way to the final table. The big one was running my QQ into AA - but a lady came right in the window. About time I sucked out instead of getting sucked. This was quite a bit more than a double up as there had been a raise in front of the guy who had AA. I four bet shoved, as I had 25 bigs and little choice. Correct decision, lucky result.
The second occurrence came about an hour later when I three bet shoved with A7 sooted over a very active hijack players standard raise. Felt great about that. Not so great when the small blind woke up with AK and reshoved. The flop didn't bring much, but the turn and river ran out runner runner for a wonky straight. Yeah, I guess I suck, regardless of making the right move and getting unlucky.
Before I knew it we were redrawing for the final table. Yes, I had outlasted 150 runners, two nights in a row. Had to feel good about that.
Then came my exit. Instead of 8th I finished 9th, after this remarkable de' ja vu' hand. This time, I three bet shoved from the button after the cutoff had opened. He was a rambling drunken hulk of a player, who was nice enough, but clearly thought he was hot shit. Nice call sir.
Well this time it didn't sting, really at all. I figured getting my money in bad twice and winning in this tournament entitled me to a massive broom handle. Whatever. It was all good, especially the next morning when I really grasped what I had achieved.
I had final tabled two big tournaments in two days - pretty flippin' awesome.
I feel better than I ever have about my game, I more than once knew my opponents cards before they were revealed; once I even said so out loud. My future in poker is indeed bright.
Can't wait to go back, not sure when it will be; hopefully before the WSOP, but if not - I'm making it back for sure. In the meantime I have my home game a week from this Saturday, and then we'll see after that. Pondering doing another satty as we have a couple of big local events on the horizon. We shall see.
I watched some news, had a meal bar for breakfast, took a shower and then headed downstairs to register early for Event #3 at 11am.
I wish I could say that everything seemed better in the morning, it didn't really. Well, maybe a little. I realized that the main thing that had made my brutal exit feel so brutal wasn't the money - it was the glory. They were awarding these things to the winners...
 |
| Out of focus, but still awesome. |
One was an older cat named Jerry, who revealed that despite his early 60's look and demeanor - he was actually 73. Jerry was an old school Berkeley type who actually hailed from the east coast. He regaled me and the other guy (a quiet but friendly school teacher named Matt who didn't look a day over 21) with tales of his poker and non-poker exploits. He, like me, has played poker with James Woods and also found him to be a swell fella.
I got tangled up in a couple of pots early on, one of which I double barrel bluffed perfectly, all for naught as the old rock was a non-believer and middle pair was more than good to call off a third of his stack. I say all for naught, but thankfully he stacked off entirely to me about an hour later when I hit a set and three bet his weak lead and he shipped it with top pair 10 kicker. Well played sir, you are doing it.
So with my confidence high, and my spirits rising thanks to the juicy and friendly folks around me - I proceeded to have the worst run of bad beats I've ever had in a poker tournament ever.
From my twitter feed...
My set of tens got run down by a set of jacks that spiked on the river, after all the money went in on a l0 8 4 flop.
I climbed back up a bit, only to get kneecapped about an hour later by a shortish stack who ripped with 66. I called off on the big blind with 1010. Again, my opponent hit a two outer on the river.
So four hours into the tournament, for the third time with a stack just under 20 bigs, I got my money in with a commanding lead. I flat called the button with a suited A3 and flopped top and bottom pair with a backdoor draw to the nut flush. Opponent, who I barely had covered let it rip and I snapped. He had a pair of red fives. A queen of spades on the turn gave me the nut flush draw. A black five that was NOT a spade gave him the pot.
One outed and utterly crippled, and frankly, fucking over it.
Two hands later I had KK which was promptly called by AA.
Awesome.
I only had one thing on my mind as I departed in haste. Roast beef, cheddar and horseradish. Toasted.
The line at Earl of Sammich was twice as long as yesterday, but I didn't mind. I patiently waited and then ate and licked my wounds, and tweeted out the four monstrous poker hands that I had just experienced.
I meandered back towards Bally's and then crossed into the noise and smoke pit known as the Planet Hollywood poker room. They had a tournament at 4pm, which was in 5 minutes. Sigh. More punishment please.
Thankfully - in poker, as with life, things are often darkest before the dawn. We had barely played two orbits when he showed up. Mr. Hollywood Park. I had never seen this fellow before, but actually I had played with him hundreds of times. Loud. Cocky and kind of a cock. Swarthy. He of the massive over bet from out of position. I couldn't help but lick my chops. I hope he didn't notice.
Less than an hour later I had busted him and all his chippies haz belonged to me.
He had been crazy active, though not with the terrifyingly good timing that sometimes accompanies such maniacal behavior. I knew that I only need be patient, and I was in perfect position, two players to his left. With the button I looked down at 88 and three bet his hijack raise, he flatted. The flop came with a glorious 8. He led out, as he had done in every pot he had played, with a massive bet 1 1/2 the pot.
Happy dance on the inside.
I three bet him large. He tanked forever and then called. A second heart rolled off on the turn. He checked. So did I. Didn't care if the flush hit - I wanted all of his chips.
A third heart rolled off, again he bet massive. I shipped it, he was committed and called off with bottom two pair. Rebuy!
Only he couldn't rebuy, he had to reenter, and unfortunately he went to another table. I didn't see him again until it was final table time.
In a word, my play was flawless. Again, as is so often the case in these faster and smaller events, I find myself in graduate school with the rest of the class struggling to make it out of kindergarten. With others raising and calling off a quarter or half of their stacks, and then finding folds - I simply ripped, ripped and ripped again, expertly.
Finally when old Hollywood Park had had enough, he called off with 55 which mercifully did not two out my 1010. He was crippled, I was phat. Life was good.
My only stumble came a bit later, I was against a frat kid who fancied himself the table captain. He ripped a dry board and I had to call with middle pair. Yes, I had gotten unlucky and he had hit his king. Upon reflection, since I had such an advantage over him and everyone else I really should've found a fold and picked a better spot. If I hadn't seen him shoving light so many times I probably could've gotten away.
Anyways, that knocked me down quite a bit - so when old Hollywood Park had crawled back he was the first to suggest a chop at four handed which everyone agreed to. As the short stack I was ecstatic to get $390 instead of the $180 I would've gotten for fourth.
By the time I got back to Base Camp Bally's it was time to register for the last hurrah.
Once again it was time to rock and or roll. Unfortunately, at a table full of fishies, I picked the one barracuda to mess with and got tangled up in a catastrophic hand that saw me quickly crippled. I don't remember the hand very well, I didn't bother to tweet it, but I know it was a disastrous double barrel bluff that ended on the river with a stupendously stupid "hero" call that I somehow had convinced myself was good.
It wasn't.
I was out shortly thereafter and it wasn't even 9pm! What to do... what to do....
Yep. I registered as the break approached, re-entering the tournament with 30 bigs and not much hope against a large field. Even better, the soft players at my first table were nowhere to be seen at my new location. At least three fellows, and one gal - seriously knew what they were doing. In fact, the female looked familiar; I googled what I thought was her name and it was indeed her. Samantha Abernathy, who as you can see here, is a young but formidable poker player who has a gang of recent tournament cashes; and from what I understand (if the pro on my left was to be believed) is fully backed in all of her tournament entries.
So there was that. But being aware that I was outclassed to my left and right didn't really phaze me much, I'm used to it quite a bit in the larger dailies at Commerce; if anything it makes decisions a lot easier. No room to get tricky.
I should mention that twice I got my money in behind on my way to the final table. The big one was running my QQ into AA - but a lady came right in the window. About time I sucked out instead of getting sucked. This was quite a bit more than a double up as there had been a raise in front of the guy who had AA. I four bet shoved, as I had 25 bigs and little choice. Correct decision, lucky result.
The second occurrence came about an hour later when I three bet shoved with A7 sooted over a very active hijack players standard raise. Felt great about that. Not so great when the small blind woke up with AK and reshoved. The flop didn't bring much, but the turn and river ran out runner runner for a wonky straight. Yeah, I guess I suck, regardless of making the right move and getting unlucky.
Before I knew it we were redrawing for the final table. Yes, I had outlasted 150 runners, two nights in a row. Had to feel good about that.
Then came my exit. Instead of 8th I finished 9th, after this remarkable de' ja vu' hand. This time, I three bet shoved from the button after the cutoff had opened. He was a rambling drunken hulk of a player, who was nice enough, but clearly thought he was hot shit. Nice call sir.
 |
| So tasty. |
I had final tabled two big tournaments in two days - pretty flippin' awesome.
I feel better than I ever have about my game, I more than once knew my opponents cards before they were revealed; once I even said so out loud. My future in poker is indeed bright.
Can't wait to go back, not sure when it will be; hopefully before the WSOP, but if not - I'm making it back for sure. In the meantime I have my home game a week from this Saturday, and then we'll see after that. Pondering doing another satty as we have a couple of big local events on the horizon. We shall see.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Having a ball at Bally's
For the first time in a long time I drove to Vegas instead of flying. The drive was just fine, very little traffic as I left on Thursday instead of Friday. The only congestion to speak of was in L.A., the amazing "Waze" app on my phone guided me out pretty well, and I only spent maybe 20 minutes stopping and going before the freeway opened up. Then right after I got on the 15 from Pear Blossom it slammed down again - Waze didn't even blink, redirecting me to a frontage road immediately that bypassed the amazing mile and a half back up of cars (there had been a rollover accident). I zipped by that parking lot in record time and was back on the completely clear freeway in a handful of minutes. What an age we live in.
Still, even if I had been stuck in that parking lot for an hour or more - the biggest advantage of driving over flying will always be saving monies. No plane and no rental car = mucho savings. I got a great poker rate at the Bally's so my 3 night stay averaged well under $100 a night. That and a suitcase full of Nutri-System food made this by far the cheapest Vegas trip ever.
The one disadvantage of traveling by car - the monochrome open road for over 4 and a half hours with no one but Zack Brown for company. I left work at 530 and arrived at about 10pm. I quickly checked in, threw my crap into my room and instead of collapsing on the bed and getting a good night's sleep I hoofed it across the street to the Bellagio and took the tram to Monte Carlo. About 20 minutes of walking and another 10 minutes of tram locomotion.
And then I was home - my favorite poker room in Vegas when it comes to atmosphere and friendliness. The tables and chips are worn but clean, and the decor faded but warm and inviting. The dealers are pretty chill and the clientele, especially in tournaments, is mostly tourist and soft.
 |
| Feels like home. |
I konked out in bed just after 2 in the morning. My plan? Sleep in best I could so I could hopefully be not completely exhausted for the Bally's Labor Day Classic Event #1 at 11am the next morning.
Inevitably, I was up at 8am - and hustled a bit to shower and drag my tired but cleaner ass down to the Bally's poker room to play in their normal 9am turbo. Bally's has the best turbos in Vegas, not because the structures or starting stacks are any good (they're not) but because they come with 1K prize pool guarantees.
Still, I was sleepy enough to be unable to pick any good spots. That plus being card dead plus playing in a super-turbo meant again no monies for me. Still, I splashed around and had fun and in my mind didn't really count the tournament anyways.
By 11am the line for registration in the first big event stretched out of the poker room and into the slot machines. Lucky for me I had registered well ahead of time.
 |
| Ah yes, the dreaded seat 10. |
After my exit, which I don't remember at all - I made the best decision of the trip. Instead of registering for the Bally's regular 5pm donk-ament, I got in my car and asked Siri where I could get a hair cut. 10 minutes later I was sitting down in a Supercuts chair as a lovely young woman commenced with buzzing my balding head.
 |
| Now that's more like it! |
Again, I resisted the urge to go a gamblin' and instead headed back to Bally's and then hoofed it over to the always quiet and sedate Planet Hollywood. There I tracked down my new bosses restaurant and treated myself to an amazing diet cheat.
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| Roast beef, cheddar and horseradish. Outstanding. |
So then it was back up to my room for a brief respite. By the time I had registered and sat down for the Bally's Labor Day Classic Event #2 at 8pm I felt well fed and finally, well rested.
On the third hand of the tournament, this happened.
 |
| Bam. |
The small blind popped it big, with a 7x raise. All but one folded to me. It's taken me a long time to get it - but now I do. When an old man fires out an enormous overbet, especially out of position, especially into half a dozen players - his range is super tiny. I mean, SUPER tiny. He is basically playing two or maybe three combinations of cards. It's NOT AK, it is not JJ and probably not QQ. It's KK or AA, basically guaranteed.
I've learned now, that when a player plays his hand face up, that is, when I KNOW what his cards are - it is a huge mistake not to see a flop. And so I did.
Bam. Two pair. He donked about 1/2 of the pot. I three bet him. He shoved, again - a MASSIVE overbet. My bet which was pot sized, had just been raised about ten fold. This was actually a very easy call.
As God as my witness, I actually said out loud "You have aces. I call." True story.
He had Aces. My two pair held and my stack ballooned. Yay me.
Very satisfying to get the gasps of awe around the table. Very satisfying, the sheepish look on his face when he tabled his cards. Don't know if I've ever had a more spectacular drive down the 11th fairway in poker ever then that moment.
This double up (actually a bit more than a double up thanks to the limpede pre-flop) boosted not only my ego but my confidence, and I had a GREAT evening.
Still rather card dead, not a premium hand to be found except for a fleeting AK here and there and perhaps JJ once or twice, I nonetheless accumulated nicely for the next four hours.
I didn't get too tricky, I didn't try too hard to 'outplay' anyone. But at the same time my cards weren't good enough to sit on my hands and try to get to showdown. I c-bet when the times were right, I bluffed more than a handful of times - and they mostly worked.
I was just over average in chips when to my amazement we redrew for the final table. It was just after midnight. 150+ runners, whittled down very quickly by a fast but not crazy structure. I really think I've got this grinding thing down, at least when I'm in the groove and my A-Game shows up.
The final table lasted awhile before anyone busted. I don't remember who finished in 9th, but I know who busted out next. That's a not so subtle hint. Insert smiley face here.
At the table were two drunk buddies, who both had the resulting unfortunate condition of perpetual outdoor voice along with the even more aggravating "Everything we say is HILARIOUS" virus that seems to accompany the first illness.
Not much bother to me, I had my earbuds and my tunes - which I've found to be REQUIRED equipment in any serious tournament, mostly for this exact situation.
Early on I woke up with aces and 3 bet jammed the louder of the two drunks cutoff raise from my big blind. He tanked FOREVER and finally found a fold, showing his A7 off suit. I chuckled inwardly and absolutely did NOT show my cards. This was going to be sweet, I was in perfect position to knock out the knuckle head.
An orbit or two later, same situation - only now he was short enough that he open shoved after two limpers. Folded to me in the big, AJ - SNAP CALL.
He had A3 and he won.
 |
| No joy in Mudville. |
Honestly, all the good feelings that had built since my haircut, all the good will I had for the game, for the fellow travelers around me - evaporated in the cruel hammer of seventh street upon my heart. I was literally nauseous and couldn't get up for a moment. I finally hoisted myself, composed enough to snap the pic above, shook hands with the drunk who seemed to not be able to stop saying 'sorry man' over and over and over and over and over again.
I smiled meekly and somehow didn't say anything - not even SHUT THE FUCK UP.
I have been playing this game for a long time, and I do get it - but as in life, poker has a way of humiliating and humbling us at just the right moment; when everything is looking up, when everything is brightest. That's when the dagger falls.
I collected my paltry winnings and sat an an adjacent table for awhile, and I won't lie and say that tears didn't well up, but by GOD they did not fall. Eventually, as when I would count to ten as a kid, the anger and hopelessness began to fade. I succumbed to the enjoyment of watching the other players - still excited, still in it. The drunk of course sucked out on someone else, his AJ ironically cracking a boisterous Italian's AA. The Italian was gracious enough in defeat, though he did commiserate quietly with me about what a "fucking luck box cocksucker" the drunk was. I could only smile and shrug. I never, not for one second through the anguish, had one negative thought about Drinky McLoud. He was precisely what this tournament neeeded at the final table to make it very profitable for everyone else - even though the poker gods had other ideas.
Eventually, before it was over, I had to get to bed. By the time I was up in my room, my muttering to myself down the hallway had turned into a full volume one person conversation. I was alright, I was good. Better than good really. I had just outlasted 140 players, many of them good - I had final tabled and cashed in a Hendon Mob tracked event. It had indeed been a great day.
Day 2 - coming soon!
Monday, August 18, 2014
Don't worry, make happy.
So far in 2014 my longest streak without a tournament cash has been five events, or rather it had been until I failed to cash in 11 straight events these last 2 months.
Looking at my sparse notes, it's clear that I played OK and ran fairly terrible; never a good combination.
Hollywood Park has recently changed the buy-in and format for their afternoon tournaments. They are now at 7pm instead of 530, and the buy in shifted from a 50/30 to a 60/60 (meaning initial buy-in and one time only rebuy/add-on).
I have partaken in this event 6 times since the change - it makes it a lot easier for me to get there on the weekend, as I can spend all day with my kid and wife and they're tuckered out by then (or the kid has plans like a sleepover). I also like that the buy in is a bit higher, the prize pool is up just a few ticks and it's so much better to scoop up $300 or more for a min-cash than merely $100 or so.
So anyways, I didn't cash and I didn't cash and then finally, Saturday night - I cashed! I finished 6th of 60 runners for $400, a $280 profit after being in for $120. Very happy to book a win and I have to say I was very happy with my play and my demeanor.
I've really ramped up my energy lately at the table and my willingness to engage in small talk and silly things. No doubt many, perhaps most, really hate it; but I'm never overbearing or presumptive. I just like being social and besides making it more fun I think it really has an added benefit; when I'm engaging (and I'm never sarcastic or disparaging) I exude quite a bit of confidence at the table. I'm very cautious about not crossing the line to cocky. When I simply concentrate on having fun and make sure not to step on any toes - and I've found that the very good poker player comes out in me more often than not.
My exuberance says "There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now." And it also says "I've been playing this game for a long time, but I still love it and absolutely no one here is anywhere near intimidating to me." I think for me, this outward enjoyment and confidence is absolutely key to my no limit hold-em tournament game plan. It is a friendly way of telling myself and alerting the table that, yes, I'm damn good and I know it and let's have fun.
I did have more than a few "Neo sees the Matrix" moments Saturday night, I can barely remember any difficult decisions or missteps. I was fairly card dead throughout the tournament but still managed to accumulate. About 3 1/2 hours in I had found myself with a biggish stack because I had 3 bet shoved my 25 big stack with JJ and gotten called by A10 and 42. Yes, 42. It was an interesting fellow who for some reason called every bet I ever made in the tournament, until I busted him. So there I was for another hour or so with a nice big stack until I stumbled on this hand...
9 handed, about 40 bigs, avg stack a bit below that. With A7os in the cutoff I raised 5x after the passive rock on my right had limped for the umpteenth time. The SB who was the chip leader (and had me well covered) defended and it folded back around, we went heads up to the rainbow flop - KQ7. He checked and I stupidly checked behind. A blank rolled off and he checked again; I fired a smallish c-bet a bit less than half the pot, he called. The river was meaningless and he cut out a 2/3 pot sized bet and slid it in.
Sigh. Tough decision that I made far too quickly. He was a good player, I knew this. He had defended his blinds a lot, but he hadn't been wielding his stack as much as I expected so far... All signs that I should let this hand go. Alas, I called and he had slow played top pair good kicker. He gave me a pretty good price to call with my minimal show down value, but I really should find a fold there.
I'm not crazy about my delayed c-bet in this instance; they don't work nearly well enough or often enough against experienced players. I should have been a man and c-bet the flop and then check folded the turn and river unless I improved. Bah. This hand brought me down from one of the bigger stacks to a shortish stack, 20 or so bigs.
The good news was, I was nowhere near crippled - and there were plenty of soft targets for me to still pillage.
Just remembered another good one with the same fellow; this one happened after I had stumbled and crawled back a bit, up to 25 bigs or so. I raised from the high jack with a middling ace of hearts - and yes, he defended his big blind. The flop was a dream, a gut shot broadway that was all hearts. Any heart or any 10 would give me juevos rancheros. He checked, this time I c-bet the flop and he called. A gorgeous black 10 rolled off on the turn. He lead out! I was free rolling to the nuts, and I had seen him semi-bluff before, so I just called. The river was low blank. He again bet about half the pot. I pondered if I had enough behind to raise sensibly, for value or to get him to call; it seemed like I was a little short for that, so I stuck it in.
He was getting about 3 to 1, and he tanked, and he... folded. Suck.
Still a nice pot; but my head spun a bit, wondering what the eff he was firing with and what he wouldn't call with when he had called light several times before against other players. He must have had a draw that missed, maybe 2 pair - but if he had that I think he would've called. He actually said during his tank mumbling "You hit your gutshot?" Yeah dude, but I reeeally wish a heart had spiked the river - then all your chippies haz belong to me.
Anyways, as the tournament wore on, he revealed himself to not be as good as I had first deduced. He made an absolutely HORRIFIC call against an other big stack with one card to come, he was drawing dead to 11 outs which of course hit. He would later unnecessarily piss his chips away at the final table.
So with my thoughtful jamming, and a bit of luck I found myself short stacked at the aforementioned final table. Thankfully, some other players had a plane to catch and proceeded to get their chips in light over and over again, including my buddy, he of the "looks good but isn't that good" gang that I have tangled with over the years.
Before I new it, it was 6 handed and there was one overwhelming chip-leader. He took a pretty good hit a few hands in, and though he was still the chip leader afterwards he suggested a chip chop which the rest of us happily agreed to. 6th place paid $230, but thanks to the ICM calculator I took home $400. Sweet!
I'm posting this now, because it feels good to book a win and write about it - but I also have poker on my mind as another Vegas bender is imminent. This time it's labor day weekend - wife and kid have another Girl Scout event on Saturday - and I'm very excited to be playing in what looks to be an outstanding poker series for the fun-seeking but passionate recreational tournament player that I am.
Bally's in Vegas is hosting this, a super low buy in six tournament 3 day series which includes a 20K guarantee main event. No doubt it will have an overlay (there room isn't big enough I don't think to make the guarantee unless every table is full and I have my doubts) as well as an abundance of recreational players who love tournaments. I know it won't be as soft as the usual lower buy in Vegas tournaments, but it will still be easier to beat than the average tournament in So. Cal.
For the first time in a long time I am driving in - and I also somehow scored a very good room rate at the hotel itself. Get up, roll out of bed, walk down to the poker room! Of course if somehow I find myself at 11pm with no poker chips in front of me I may just have to accidentally stroll on over to the Monte Carlo. (Maniacal laugh). I am as pumped up as I've ever been for a Vegas bender, and I know that it will be a blast.
Before this happens, I have a Saturday monthly tournament in my garage - I'm really going to focus and try to go deep as the last two PSP tourneys have been a bit of an indifferent "meh" on my end. I know I'll play good, just have to hope I run good as well.
Looking at my sparse notes, it's clear that I played OK and ran fairly terrible; never a good combination.
Hollywood Park has recently changed the buy-in and format for their afternoon tournaments. They are now at 7pm instead of 530, and the buy in shifted from a 50/30 to a 60/60 (meaning initial buy-in and one time only rebuy/add-on).
I have partaken in this event 6 times since the change - it makes it a lot easier for me to get there on the weekend, as I can spend all day with my kid and wife and they're tuckered out by then (or the kid has plans like a sleepover). I also like that the buy in is a bit higher, the prize pool is up just a few ticks and it's so much better to scoop up $300 or more for a min-cash than merely $100 or so.
So anyways, I didn't cash and I didn't cash and then finally, Saturday night - I cashed! I finished 6th of 60 runners for $400, a $280 profit after being in for $120. Very happy to book a win and I have to say I was very happy with my play and my demeanor.
I've really ramped up my energy lately at the table and my willingness to engage in small talk and silly things. No doubt many, perhaps most, really hate it; but I'm never overbearing or presumptive. I just like being social and besides making it more fun I think it really has an added benefit; when I'm engaging (and I'm never sarcastic or disparaging) I exude quite a bit of confidence at the table. I'm very cautious about not crossing the line to cocky. When I simply concentrate on having fun and make sure not to step on any toes - and I've found that the very good poker player comes out in me more often than not.
My exuberance says "There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now." And it also says "I've been playing this game for a long time, but I still love it and absolutely no one here is anywhere near intimidating to me." I think for me, this outward enjoyment and confidence is absolutely key to my no limit hold-em tournament game plan. It is a friendly way of telling myself and alerting the table that, yes, I'm damn good and I know it and let's have fun.
I did have more than a few "Neo sees the Matrix" moments Saturday night, I can barely remember any difficult decisions or missteps. I was fairly card dead throughout the tournament but still managed to accumulate. About 3 1/2 hours in I had found myself with a biggish stack because I had 3 bet shoved my 25 big stack with JJ and gotten called by A10 and 42. Yes, 42. It was an interesting fellow who for some reason called every bet I ever made in the tournament, until I busted him. So there I was for another hour or so with a nice big stack until I stumbled on this hand...
9 handed, about 40 bigs, avg stack a bit below that. With A7os in the cutoff I raised 5x after the passive rock on my right had limped for the umpteenth time. The SB who was the chip leader (and had me well covered) defended and it folded back around, we went heads up to the rainbow flop - KQ7. He checked and I stupidly checked behind. A blank rolled off and he checked again; I fired a smallish c-bet a bit less than half the pot, he called. The river was meaningless and he cut out a 2/3 pot sized bet and slid it in.
Sigh. Tough decision that I made far too quickly. He was a good player, I knew this. He had defended his blinds a lot, but he hadn't been wielding his stack as much as I expected so far... All signs that I should let this hand go. Alas, I called and he had slow played top pair good kicker. He gave me a pretty good price to call with my minimal show down value, but I really should find a fold there.
I'm not crazy about my delayed c-bet in this instance; they don't work nearly well enough or often enough against experienced players. I should have been a man and c-bet the flop and then check folded the turn and river unless I improved. Bah. This hand brought me down from one of the bigger stacks to a shortish stack, 20 or so bigs.
The good news was, I was nowhere near crippled - and there were plenty of soft targets for me to still pillage.
Just remembered another good one with the same fellow; this one happened after I had stumbled and crawled back a bit, up to 25 bigs or so. I raised from the high jack with a middling ace of hearts - and yes, he defended his big blind. The flop was a dream, a gut shot broadway that was all hearts. Any heart or any 10 would give me juevos rancheros. He checked, this time I c-bet the flop and he called. A gorgeous black 10 rolled off on the turn. He lead out! I was free rolling to the nuts, and I had seen him semi-bluff before, so I just called. The river was low blank. He again bet about half the pot. I pondered if I had enough behind to raise sensibly, for value or to get him to call; it seemed like I was a little short for that, so I stuck it in.
He was getting about 3 to 1, and he tanked, and he... folded. Suck.
Still a nice pot; but my head spun a bit, wondering what the eff he was firing with and what he wouldn't call with when he had called light several times before against other players. He must have had a draw that missed, maybe 2 pair - but if he had that I think he would've called. He actually said during his tank mumbling "You hit your gutshot?" Yeah dude, but I reeeally wish a heart had spiked the river - then all your chippies haz belong to me.
Anyways, as the tournament wore on, he revealed himself to not be as good as I had first deduced. He made an absolutely HORRIFIC call against an other big stack with one card to come, he was drawing dead to 11 outs which of course hit. He would later unnecessarily piss his chips away at the final table.
So with my thoughtful jamming, and a bit of luck I found myself short stacked at the aforementioned final table. Thankfully, some other players had a plane to catch and proceeded to get their chips in light over and over again, including my buddy, he of the "looks good but isn't that good" gang that I have tangled with over the years.
Before I new it, it was 6 handed and there was one overwhelming chip-leader. He took a pretty good hit a few hands in, and though he was still the chip leader afterwards he suggested a chip chop which the rest of us happily agreed to. 6th place paid $230, but thanks to the ICM calculator I took home $400. Sweet!
I'm posting this now, because it feels good to book a win and write about it - but I also have poker on my mind as another Vegas bender is imminent. This time it's labor day weekend - wife and kid have another Girl Scout event on Saturday - and I'm very excited to be playing in what looks to be an outstanding poker series for the fun-seeking but passionate recreational tournament player that I am.
Bally's in Vegas is hosting this, a super low buy in six tournament 3 day series which includes a 20K guarantee main event. No doubt it will have an overlay (there room isn't big enough I don't think to make the guarantee unless every table is full and I have my doubts) as well as an abundance of recreational players who love tournaments. I know it won't be as soft as the usual lower buy in Vegas tournaments, but it will still be easier to beat than the average tournament in So. Cal.
For the first time in a long time I am driving in - and I also somehow scored a very good room rate at the hotel itself. Get up, roll out of bed, walk down to the poker room! Of course if somehow I find myself at 11pm with no poker chips in front of me I may just have to accidentally stroll on over to the Monte Carlo. (Maniacal laugh). I am as pumped up as I've ever been for a Vegas bender, and I know that it will be a blast.
Before this happens, I have a Saturday monthly tournament in my garage - I'm really going to focus and try to go deep as the last two PSP tourneys have been a bit of an indifferent "meh" on my end. I know I'll play good, just have to hope I run good as well.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Unleashing the Beast
So since my WSOP Academy experience I haven't played that much poker - but what I have played has been MOST enjoyable.
I recently chopped evenly three ways for all the money in one of my home game Sit-N-Go's, and then a week later I finished 6th out of 80 runners at Hollywood Park for $475 after buying in for $80. But it was last Saturday night, at my home game monthly tournament that the Beast inside of me really let loose.
Let me explain; since my intense two days of training, there has been a percolation of poker knowledge in my brain, just simmering below the surface. Last Saturday night, it all came together. You know that scene in the Matrix when Neo finally sees the matrix itself? Towards the end of the movie when he looks at the enemy agents and sees line after line of green code. The walls, the ground, all in code as well. That's how it was in this tournament.
It wasn't as if I was raising every pot and running over the tables - no, there was a lot of folding involved, especially in the first half of the tournament. But every decision seemed easy, and when it was time to crank up the aggression, to bet big for value or to bluff entirely, I knew just when and how to do it.
Most satisfying of all, I ended up heads up with a very worthy opponent, who has had tremendous results in my game in the past (with three tournament wins in 2013), and I played absolutely perfect poker against her. Now, let me say of her play - it is a bit unorthodox, but I have a lot of respect for her game because of her results.
But this time, I was able to use all of my knowledge to pick her apart piece by piece. I know she has some gargantuan leaks, mainly defending light out of position (both her blinds and when she chooses to play a trap hand in early or mid position) - and I was able to use this leak to effortlessly steal chips from her over and over again.
At first glance, she appears to be sticky and tricky, but really, if she entirely whiffs the flop, she will give it up a good deal of the time, especially against an opponent who will keep firing. She is an emotional player, and if one is attuned to her ebb and flow as I was, it can be used against her. I knew when she was drawing, both from verbal and physical tells, and I knew when she had a made hand - again, simply by paying attention to her demeanor. As a result I was maximizing wins from her and minimizing losses - from the moment we sat down at the same table to the end when we battled heads up for the tournament.
A critical hand in this battle - I raised from the button with a red Ax, she defended (which she does heads up probably 90% of the time, as she probably should against an aggressive player like me) and we took a flop which was all black and low cards. I c-bet 1/2 pot, she defended. The board then paired - I fired again but big, 3/4 pottish, she hemmed and hawed and even complained that the music that was playing ("Eye of the Tiger") made her want to call. Wow, really? She eventually called, clearly agitated and basically telling me she was drawing to a flush or a gutshot but probably both. Now she had sunk a ton of her chips into the pot, probably a third of her stack. The river was a glorious red queen. She checked and I happily shoved, she turbo mucked. Big ass pot that I won with Ace high that was almost certainly the best hand.
From that moment on the wind was out of her sails and I started raising mercilessly and there was nothing she could do but fold. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a large amount of respect and even some fear for her game, but last Saturday night as her chips dwindled and mine grew the fear was gone entirely. It was very satisfying.
Finally she rightly shoved with QJ pre-flop and I made the easy call off with KJ. My mind flashed to a tournament earlier this year in Vegas, a Bally's 1K guarantee where I was heads up at the end and had KJ and the other player had QJ. A queen hit the river, giving my opponent across from me new life and we ended up chopping. I wanted desperately to fade those three outs this time, and thank the poker Gods I did!
Best of all, by binking this tournament, I've won a seat in the $1000 guarantee free roll that I'm putting on next January. There is a lot of cheddar for the winner - and I feel fantastic about my chances!
EDIT: Update; shortly after typing this out, I took down the single table Sit-N-Go in my garage last Friday night! The Beast knows no bounds! Again, it was a satisfying heads-up battle against another worthy opponent, Sven, whom I've talked about on this blog many times before. He and I are poker-buds, that is we do talk about strategy a lot, so it was very satisfying to not only have a commanding chip lead when our battle began, but to retain it and to close out the game with authority for the win.
I recently chopped evenly three ways for all the money in one of my home game Sit-N-Go's, and then a week later I finished 6th out of 80 runners at Hollywood Park for $475 after buying in for $80. But it was last Saturday night, at my home game monthly tournament that the Beast inside of me really let loose.
Let me explain; since my intense two days of training, there has been a percolation of poker knowledge in my brain, just simmering below the surface. Last Saturday night, it all came together. You know that scene in the Matrix when Neo finally sees the matrix itself? Towards the end of the movie when he looks at the enemy agents and sees line after line of green code. The walls, the ground, all in code as well. That's how it was in this tournament.
It wasn't as if I was raising every pot and running over the tables - no, there was a lot of folding involved, especially in the first half of the tournament. But every decision seemed easy, and when it was time to crank up the aggression, to bet big for value or to bluff entirely, I knew just when and how to do it.
Most satisfying of all, I ended up heads up with a very worthy opponent, who has had tremendous results in my game in the past (with three tournament wins in 2013), and I played absolutely perfect poker against her. Now, let me say of her play - it is a bit unorthodox, but I have a lot of respect for her game because of her results.
But this time, I was able to use all of my knowledge to pick her apart piece by piece. I know she has some gargantuan leaks, mainly defending light out of position (both her blinds and when she chooses to play a trap hand in early or mid position) - and I was able to use this leak to effortlessly steal chips from her over and over again.
At first glance, she appears to be sticky and tricky, but really, if she entirely whiffs the flop, she will give it up a good deal of the time, especially against an opponent who will keep firing. She is an emotional player, and if one is attuned to her ebb and flow as I was, it can be used against her. I knew when she was drawing, both from verbal and physical tells, and I knew when she had a made hand - again, simply by paying attention to her demeanor. As a result I was maximizing wins from her and minimizing losses - from the moment we sat down at the same table to the end when we battled heads up for the tournament.
A critical hand in this battle - I raised from the button with a red Ax, she defended (which she does heads up probably 90% of the time, as she probably should against an aggressive player like me) and we took a flop which was all black and low cards. I c-bet 1/2 pot, she defended. The board then paired - I fired again but big, 3/4 pottish, she hemmed and hawed and even complained that the music that was playing ("Eye of the Tiger") made her want to call. Wow, really? She eventually called, clearly agitated and basically telling me she was drawing to a flush or a gutshot but probably both. Now she had sunk a ton of her chips into the pot, probably a third of her stack. The river was a glorious red queen. She checked and I happily shoved, she turbo mucked. Big ass pot that I won with Ace high that was almost certainly the best hand.
From that moment on the wind was out of her sails and I started raising mercilessly and there was nothing she could do but fold. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a large amount of respect and even some fear for her game, but last Saturday night as her chips dwindled and mine grew the fear was gone entirely. It was very satisfying.
Finally she rightly shoved with QJ pre-flop and I made the easy call off with KJ. My mind flashed to a tournament earlier this year in Vegas, a Bally's 1K guarantee where I was heads up at the end and had KJ and the other player had QJ. A queen hit the river, giving my opponent across from me new life and we ended up chopping. I wanted desperately to fade those three outs this time, and thank the poker Gods I did!
Best of all, by binking this tournament, I've won a seat in the $1000 guarantee free roll that I'm putting on next January. There is a lot of cheddar for the winner - and I feel fantastic about my chances!
EDIT: Update; shortly after typing this out, I took down the single table Sit-N-Go in my garage last Friday night! The Beast knows no bounds! Again, it was a satisfying heads-up battle against another worthy opponent, Sven, whom I've talked about on this blog many times before. He and I are poker-buds, that is we do talk about strategy a lot, so it was very satisfying to not only have a commanding chip lead when our battle began, but to retain it and to close out the game with authority for the win.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
WSOP Academy
As you know, if you read this blog at all, I am very much a student of the game. I read books, I watch online training videos, I participate in strategy forums and... well, I write quite a bit about teh pokerz in this blog as well.
For about five years now I have wanted to attend a World Series of Poker Academy event. I have also considered a WPT Boot Camp. It seems to me that it would be a great way to get some extra poker knowledge and also have a lot of fun really diving into the strategies of the game, picking the brains of people who have had amazing results.
But always, the timing was off for me. Whatever weekend an Academy fell on, I always had something else planned or some kind of obligation. Last year, finally, I saw an event scheduled in Los Angeles on a weekend that didn't appear to have any conflicts. Also, the lead pro was to be Brian Rast, a fantastic player with outstanding tournament results and multiple bracelets, including one for the 50K Poker Players Championship in the WSOP. Sign me up!
I managed also to score a substantial discount, which brought the price down from $1600 to just over 1K for two full days of immersive training. While at first glance this may seem like a lot, it really is a tremendous value for the amount of time you get with not only Mr. Rast, but his fellow pros such as 3 bracelet winner and onetime WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen, who is hilarious as well as super poker smart, Gavin Griffin - also a bracelet winner with nearly 5 million in live tournament winnings, and two other very capable tournament specialists including the delightful Melanie Weisner, who has been on the international circuit in recent years and is a fun firecracker presence at the table.
I arrived a bit early and got in line to check in, when who should walk past me but one of the semi-regulars from my home game! Walter was here! He didn't see me so I texted him in line, we had a good laugh when we realized that the secret was out! I was glad that I would have someone to commiserate with over the weekend.
Checking in was a breeze, the nice lady at the counter, Lindsay, recognized my name simply because I had corresponded with her so many times over the years. She was glad I finally made it and made me feel welcome. Her boisterous colleague Ace got me a huge bag of cool SWAG (hat, patch, pens, water bottle, fun novelty items and a very nice sweater that fits great) and I took a seat. Walter sat down as my neighbor and we chatted a bit; turns out, this was his second Academy, he went to one in Vegas in 2008. He told me that it was a great experience, and that even though he already knew maybe 90% of what they had taught, it was that extra 10% that was WAY worth it.
The Academy was broken into two sections - a lecture from Brian Rast and live "hand labs" which was essentially a simulated tournament with an instructor (one of the pros) dealing and critiquing hands.
I felt like I did actually get a lot out of Rast's lecture, much more than 10% of the material was indeed new to me, probably about 20% overall, which was great - but even better than that for me, Rast's talk was absolutely a very satisfying affirmation of my game and my efforts over the past half a decade. When he would ask a question to the class, I typically knew it - when he would posit a hypothetical situation, I almost always knew the correct line or at least the arguments for it. Rast was great at being very detailed and at the same time very clear on some tricky topics like hand ranges and combinatorics.
He was also exceedingly patient and gracious with what I thought were some not so great questions - but he always found a way to direct them towards a productive path of discussion, so it never felt that any of the students were wasting our time, which they easily could have.
A couple of things, the new stuff for me - or if not new, at least a new perspective:
One item that kind of blew my mind on the second day lecture had to do with the concept of "blockers" and the value of 3 betting with any ace in position. When Rast really broke it down, it was illuminating as to why relentless aggression in position reigns supreme in NLHE tournaments.
Another topic towards the end of the first day that was very gratifying to go over - the value of 3 betting from the small blind. It was a great relief to hear the reasoning behind this, as I thought I was going crazy over the last 2 years seeing so much 3 betting from the small blind; no, it does really exist and there are actual mathematical reasons for it.
Also very satisfying to hear it confirmed, not only by Rast in the lecture, but by the other pros in the labs, that pocket pairs when they hit a set are indeed massively powerful and your only concern (except for the wettest of boards after 4th street) should be getting your chips in.
Related to this, it was EXTREMELY satisfying to hear in the labs, instructor after instructor telling players things like "You need to get it in here. You need to shove. Why bet so large and then fold?"
This is how I've approached the game for years - I have always seen the big picture of my tournament equity. My rule of thumb has been, if I am committing 25% of my stack or more with a bet, I should just shove. I'm not giving up so much and then folding. Turns out, 25% is too much. Rast puts that limit at 15%, the other instructors line up with this as well, with only one of them saying that you could push it to 20%.
Player after player in my hand lab would get their bet sizing wrong. I did too on occasion, but mostly because I was nervous. In my head I really did know before they even said something if I had done it wrong. One of the most satisfying moments for me of the entire weekend was with Melanie Weisner, when she was trying to explain to the fellow on my right that why his massive overbet of the pot with top pair good kicker was incorrect - she struggled a little bit in clarifying why it was bad and said so... "I'm not being clear here... your bet means you are...." she paused, I chimed in "Winning the minimum and losing the maximum?" "Yes!" she exclaimed "Thank you!" This is a concept that I've known for a number of years now, and it made me feel super good to know that I am on the right page with this very common leak.
So yes, if you couldn't tell, the hand labs were my favorite part. We would play the hand, and players who folded would keep their mucked cards on the rail. At the end of the hand all of the cards got turned up, and we all learned from the pro what went right and what went wrong.
My lab had one player at the table who was a genuine fish by the name of John. A perfectly nice person I'm sure, but a Bike regular who I've played with before who has zero clue on bet sizing and typically plays to lose the maximum. I have seen him accumulate a massive stack only to spew it all off on several occasions; it was interesting to see what he held in this hand lab, as he proceeded to do what he does.
At first I was a bit irritated, as John played nearly every hand, but I took it as an opportunity to think about how to deal with someone so loose, especially when he seems to be hitting most of his hands. Turns out I was more understanding than the instructors. Brian Rast on the second day lost it a little bit with John's luck boxing. He didn't raise his voice, but he was fairly irritated - "No, this is a bad hand that you shouldn't be playing" John tried to interject and Brian cut him off "Look, you guys are paying me a lot of money to learn, there is no justification for playing K6 out of position, even with a big stack... it's wrong, it's ugly. Don't do it." It was great to hear him go to town a bit, not mean at all, but definitely assertive. And it was also reassuring that even a LAG like Brian, who is a stone cold killer at the table and strikes fear into the hearts of amateurs like me, does indeed still hold that garbage OOP is inexcusable even when deep or against a table of fishes.
We also had a tournament on Saturday night, about 50 players and prizes for the top 3 including a trip to Vegas for first and a chance to win 5K in World Series buy ins for 2014. It was a good time, and I enjoyed playing and even talking a bit of poker as I normally would never do out in the wild. Hey, we were there to learn right? I might have misplayed my exit hand, but truthfully, at the final table I knew I needed to more than double up to have a chance at 1st place which was the only prize really worth having. I made a very good read on my opponents, they were super light, and I did get my money in with very live cards as a slight underdog to the one guy with the weak ace. Oh well. EDIT: I just ran my hand in an odds calculator, and my hand KQos was actually a tiny favorite when the money went in. I had KhQd which was 35.11% to win, the other guys had As3c which was only 33.5% and 79ss which was 30.95%. I RULE.
Overall, for me, this was a great experience. I would highly recommend it to most of my poker playing friends - especially those who are cognizant of their own leaks and are able to listen and apply what they have learned. It truly is one of those experiences that you can get a lot out of, IF you put effort into it. I could very easily see a regular from the Bike or Commerce, arrogant or inattentive or both, zoning out in the lectures and arguing with the pros in the hand labs and walking away thinking that it wasn't worth it; but it would take a special brand of idiot to come away from the WSOP Academy with this attitude.
I am super stoked that I went and very excited to review my notes and apply what I have learned in my next poker session - unfortunately I probably won't get to play for another couple of weeks but oh well.
I had originally hoped to try and satellite into the WSOP Circuit main event at the Bike this weekend, but my schedule is simply too busy. Hopefully I will be able to partake in a day 1 flight of Mega Millions 9 which runs right after the circuit.
For about five years now I have wanted to attend a World Series of Poker Academy event. I have also considered a WPT Boot Camp. It seems to me that it would be a great way to get some extra poker knowledge and also have a lot of fun really diving into the strategies of the game, picking the brains of people who have had amazing results.
But always, the timing was off for me. Whatever weekend an Academy fell on, I always had something else planned or some kind of obligation. Last year, finally, I saw an event scheduled in Los Angeles on a weekend that didn't appear to have any conflicts. Also, the lead pro was to be Brian Rast, a fantastic player with outstanding tournament results and multiple bracelets, including one for the 50K Poker Players Championship in the WSOP. Sign me up!
I managed also to score a substantial discount, which brought the price down from $1600 to just over 1K for two full days of immersive training. While at first glance this may seem like a lot, it really is a tremendous value for the amount of time you get with not only Mr. Rast, but his fellow pros such as 3 bracelet winner and onetime WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen, who is hilarious as well as super poker smart, Gavin Griffin - also a bracelet winner with nearly 5 million in live tournament winnings, and two other very capable tournament specialists including the delightful Melanie Weisner, who has been on the international circuit in recent years and is a fun firecracker presence at the table.
I arrived a bit early and got in line to check in, when who should walk past me but one of the semi-regulars from my home game! Walter was here! He didn't see me so I texted him in line, we had a good laugh when we realized that the secret was out! I was glad that I would have someone to commiserate with over the weekend.
Checking in was a breeze, the nice lady at the counter, Lindsay, recognized my name simply because I had corresponded with her so many times over the years. She was glad I finally made it and made me feel welcome. Her boisterous colleague Ace got me a huge bag of cool SWAG (hat, patch, pens, water bottle, fun novelty items and a very nice sweater that fits great) and I took a seat. Walter sat down as my neighbor and we chatted a bit; turns out, this was his second Academy, he went to one in Vegas in 2008. He told me that it was a great experience, and that even though he already knew maybe 90% of what they had taught, it was that extra 10% that was WAY worth it.
The Academy was broken into two sections - a lecture from Brian Rast and live "hand labs" which was essentially a simulated tournament with an instructor (one of the pros) dealing and critiquing hands.
I felt like I did actually get a lot out of Rast's lecture, much more than 10% of the material was indeed new to me, probably about 20% overall, which was great - but even better than that for me, Rast's talk was absolutely a very satisfying affirmation of my game and my efforts over the past half a decade. When he would ask a question to the class, I typically knew it - when he would posit a hypothetical situation, I almost always knew the correct line or at least the arguments for it. Rast was great at being very detailed and at the same time very clear on some tricky topics like hand ranges and combinatorics.
He was also exceedingly patient and gracious with what I thought were some not so great questions - but he always found a way to direct them towards a productive path of discussion, so it never felt that any of the students were wasting our time, which they easily could have.
A couple of things, the new stuff for me - or if not new, at least a new perspective:
One item that kind of blew my mind on the second day lecture had to do with the concept of "blockers" and the value of 3 betting with any ace in position. When Rast really broke it down, it was illuminating as to why relentless aggression in position reigns supreme in NLHE tournaments.
Another topic towards the end of the first day that was very gratifying to go over - the value of 3 betting from the small blind. It was a great relief to hear the reasoning behind this, as I thought I was going crazy over the last 2 years seeing so much 3 betting from the small blind; no, it does really exist and there are actual mathematical reasons for it.
Also very satisfying to hear it confirmed, not only by Rast in the lecture, but by the other pros in the labs, that pocket pairs when they hit a set are indeed massively powerful and your only concern (except for the wettest of boards after 4th street) should be getting your chips in.
Related to this, it was EXTREMELY satisfying to hear in the labs, instructor after instructor telling players things like "You need to get it in here. You need to shove. Why bet so large and then fold?"
This is how I've approached the game for years - I have always seen the big picture of my tournament equity. My rule of thumb has been, if I am committing 25% of my stack or more with a bet, I should just shove. I'm not giving up so much and then folding. Turns out, 25% is too much. Rast puts that limit at 15%, the other instructors line up with this as well, with only one of them saying that you could push it to 20%.
Player after player in my hand lab would get their bet sizing wrong. I did too on occasion, but mostly because I was nervous. In my head I really did know before they even said something if I had done it wrong. One of the most satisfying moments for me of the entire weekend was with Melanie Weisner, when she was trying to explain to the fellow on my right that why his massive overbet of the pot with top pair good kicker was incorrect - she struggled a little bit in clarifying why it was bad and said so... "I'm not being clear here... your bet means you are...." she paused, I chimed in "Winning the minimum and losing the maximum?" "Yes!" she exclaimed "Thank you!" This is a concept that I've known for a number of years now, and it made me feel super good to know that I am on the right page with this very common leak.
So yes, if you couldn't tell, the hand labs were my favorite part. We would play the hand, and players who folded would keep their mucked cards on the rail. At the end of the hand all of the cards got turned up, and we all learned from the pro what went right and what went wrong.
My lab had one player at the table who was a genuine fish by the name of John. A perfectly nice person I'm sure, but a Bike regular who I've played with before who has zero clue on bet sizing and typically plays to lose the maximum. I have seen him accumulate a massive stack only to spew it all off on several occasions; it was interesting to see what he held in this hand lab, as he proceeded to do what he does.
At first I was a bit irritated, as John played nearly every hand, but I took it as an opportunity to think about how to deal with someone so loose, especially when he seems to be hitting most of his hands. Turns out I was more understanding than the instructors. Brian Rast on the second day lost it a little bit with John's luck boxing. He didn't raise his voice, but he was fairly irritated - "No, this is a bad hand that you shouldn't be playing" John tried to interject and Brian cut him off "Look, you guys are paying me a lot of money to learn, there is no justification for playing K6 out of position, even with a big stack... it's wrong, it's ugly. Don't do it." It was great to hear him go to town a bit, not mean at all, but definitely assertive. And it was also reassuring that even a LAG like Brian, who is a stone cold killer at the table and strikes fear into the hearts of amateurs like me, does indeed still hold that garbage OOP is inexcusable even when deep or against a table of fishes.
We also had a tournament on Saturday night, about 50 players and prizes for the top 3 including a trip to Vegas for first and a chance to win 5K in World Series buy ins for 2014. It was a good time, and I enjoyed playing and even talking a bit of poker as I normally would never do out in the wild. Hey, we were there to learn right? I might have misplayed my exit hand, but truthfully, at the final table I knew I needed to more than double up to have a chance at 1st place which was the only prize really worth having. I made a very good read on my opponents, they were super light, and I did get my money in with very live cards as a slight underdog to the one guy with the weak ace. Oh well. EDIT: I just ran my hand in an odds calculator, and my hand KQos was actually a tiny favorite when the money went in. I had KhQd which was 35.11% to win, the other guys had As3c which was only 33.5% and 79ss which was 30.95%. I RULE.
Overall, for me, this was a great experience. I would highly recommend it to most of my poker playing friends - especially those who are cognizant of their own leaks and are able to listen and apply what they have learned. It truly is one of those experiences that you can get a lot out of, IF you put effort into it. I could very easily see a regular from the Bike or Commerce, arrogant or inattentive or both, zoning out in the lectures and arguing with the pros in the hand labs and walking away thinking that it wasn't worth it; but it would take a special brand of idiot to come away from the WSOP Academy with this attitude.
I am super stoked that I went and very excited to review my notes and apply what I have learned in my next poker session - unfortunately I probably won't get to play for another couple of weeks but oh well.
I had originally hoped to try and satellite into the WSOP Circuit main event at the Bike this weekend, but my schedule is simply too busy. Hopefully I will be able to partake in a day 1 flight of Mega Millions 9 which runs right after the circuit.
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