Tournament report 010917

With the wife and kid off doing Girl Scout business, I set out for the Bike's Quantum Reload 25K Gurantee Saturday tournament.  I arrived a few minutes early, registered, and sat down right as the tournament started.  I try to always register early if I can, and I'm almost always present for the first rounds - there are too many opportunities to chip up early, as this is when a table is likely to be the most full of softer players.

This particular tournament is a double edged sword as far as these things go.  On the one hand it is a TON of poker to play before you even get close to the money.  Typically on the Saturday 25K, the largest of these dailies, it will be 10 hours or more before the bubble bursts.  Then when we are in the money, it's typically a pitiful min-cash for another 2 hours or so before final table time.  The field is also inevitably packed with decent regulars, especially the deeper in the tournament you go.

On the positive side - the price point can't be beat at $60 with a $50 add-on - though the rake approaches 30% after you factor in a 1K chip bonus for $5.  You can also re-enter for each following flight of registration, which increases in price as the afternoon progresses.  I believe these re-entries are juiced as well. This means for the most part it doesn't play like a re-buy event, players can find a fold under pressure.  Sometimes.  Click here for format details.

I also, believe it or not, sometimes really want to play a lot of hands, if I feel that I'm rusty or I have another more important tournament coming up.  In this case there's the LAPC and also my own home game's Tournament of Champions next Saturday.  In this regard, there is no better value than the Quantum.

In the spirit of improving my game, I planned to work on staying focused, upbeat, patient, optimistic and most importantly - to remain oblivious and neutral to any anger that might come my way for the way I was playing.

It is a real thing at the poker table, a weird kind of entitlement that players have that no one is supposed to raise their blind.  And if they do, they aren't supposed to keep doing it.  Well I'm sorry, if I think it's profitable to target you, I'm going to target you.  If you are a soft spot at a table full of sharks, I'm going out of my way to get into a pot with you.  Players also get angry if you appear to be doing this.

I have had a difficult time over the years cultivating a fearless attitude towards players potential anger.  At times I have literally thought to myself, 'Okay I already 3 bet this guy and got away with it, I think I'll just call or fold so he doesn't get all worked up.'   That mental attitude, the attitude of gracious conciliation, is a terrible one to have at the poker table.  I have to be utterly fearless and ruthless with my chips - while of course being pleasant, kind and affable in my behavior.

With my add-on that I got as soon as I sat down, I was at over 100 big blinds to start, and I'm happy to say after two 2 hour levels I still had over 100 bigs at the break and had quadrupled my stack.

That's right, hour long levels - in a $60 tournament.  It remains this way for six hours, to allow people to keep registering.  If you are looking to get experience in live tournament poker quick, this is for sure one of the best options in the country.

Shortly after the break I found myself in a hand with a super friendly older gentleman who had struck me as the very best kind of country fellow.  I found myself limping on the button with a low suited gapper, and he led out on the flop QKJ rainbow.  The three other limpers in the pot folded and I flat called.  A blank rolled off on the turn and he checked.  I carved out a half pot sized bet and put it forward, he called rather quickly - a good indicator of a hand of medium strength.  The flop had for sure hit his range, but I was hoping it wasn't top two pair.

The river was also inconsequential, he checked and I bombed it with a 3/4 size pot bet.  He grimaced and groaned, took a minute and finally said "I think you have me" and slid his cards forward.  I dragged a sizable pot (which also had 3 extra big blinds not to mention all the antes).  There is a reasonable chance he had 2 pair, but more likely the hand was AK, AQ or AJ.  Older home game players who have played a TON are savvy enough to not want to stack off with just top pair.  I was fairly proud of myself for formulating a plan (I'm never counting on hitting the board with low speculative cards) and sticking to it.  GG me.

Literally 2 hands later a different older fellow who was fairly tight, also to my left, opened for 5x UTG +1  I was in the hijack.  Such a large open is not unusual in this tournament, even in the later stages, but it does raise the possibility that we are looking at a strong over pair.  I had JJ and my plan was to flat and set mine, but when the one caller to my right was a seasoned regular in the cutoff, I decided to push - about 75 big blinds, to get rid of him (he had been speculating a ton in position).

I ripped, the raiser insta-pushed his chips in (about 30 big blinds).  I knew that he had AA, KK or maybe QQ.  Best case scenario AK, but his range had likely narrowed past that based on the blur that his chips became as they were shoved past the betting line.

It came around to the capable regular who sighed and tanked for about 30 seconds before he announced 'Call'.  Fuck.  He had me covered, I had about 2/3 of his stack size.

Disregard that I called him capable.  He turned up KQo.  The speedy shover had AA of course.

Turned a Jack and boated up on the river.  Ship it.

I like my isolation for a chance to go heads up and drag 30 bigs.  Absolutely horrific call by the regular, though he did stay in the tournament for awhile longer as he was able to grind his remaining chips back up a bit.

What I don't like about my move is that the initial raiser has a super tight opening range from early position.  He opened large, which is also an indicator.   Oh well, it worked out.  I think a better line would've been to flat in position and hope to flop a set and release if I didn't.

Now I was back up over 100 bigs.

I took a hit a little bit later from the player directly on my right, a younger fellow that I've played with before.  He's from Jersey and sounds like it, but he's nice enough.  Lol.  He told me he was strong with his big bet on the river, but I tanked a bit and called with marginal showdown value.  I should've known that he was betting for value, and I also should've remembered that he opens very wide in position.  His cards were low but suited and he connected well with the flop and improved on the river.

We were just past the second break, over four hours into the tournament when this took place.  Believe it or not, people were still calling very wide despite a lot of over raising pre-flop.  I had been card dead for awhile and figured I could flat a 4x on the button since there were 4 or 5 limpers and the blinds.

I had Ah6h, the blinds came along and the board flopped 6x6.  Both of the regulars I mentioned previously were in the hand and the one that called with KQ earlier donked. The other regular immediately to his left and my right raised it up!  There were a ton of chips out there at this point, I waited a beat or two and then pushed.

KQ guy tanked for a bit, and finally released.  The guy on my immediate right grumbled about being pot committed (he wasn't) and threw the rest of his chips in.  I had him covered by a bit but not a lot.
He turned up KK.  Another case of emotions getting the better of an every-day player.  A clear fold in a vacuum.

So now I had an ass-load of chips as we approached the end of registration.  I was one of only two players at my table that had been there since noon.  The other fellow was down at the other end, and he was a very loose passive player who had rivered himself into a big stack several times.  We were about even in chips for a lot of the tournament.

Sadly, almost all of the players who now surrounded me were decent or better players.  There was still a fair amount of limping, but 3 bets and squeezes started to appear more and more frequently.  I took a few stabs in position, but typically I would get 3 or 4 callers and completely whiff the flop, so I didn't c-bet a whole lot.

It's tough to make things happen when you are card dead and at a table full of every-days.   After registration closed and we took a 20 minute dinner break, 6 hours into the tournament and most likely about half way to the finish line, I took a few small hits, but also dragged some pots.   I tweeted after the dinner break that I had 135 big blinds, this was a math mistake - I realized after the tweet I was closer to 70 bigs, having doubled my calculation for whatever reason.    Still 70 bigs is a lot, well above average, and I was able to keep my head above water as the levels sped up from 55 minutes to 25.

Finally, much to my relief, our table broke.  The loose passive fellow had found the raise button and I have to say I didn't think much of how he got his initial chips, but I was impressed with how he used them.   Needless to say he made everyone's life difficult at the table, including mine, as he was limping into every pot and then outplaying people post with an aggressive mix of bluffs (that he eagerly showed whether they worked or not) and value betting.

But alas, my new table had the two tournament chip leaders sitting right next to each other and immediately on my left.  Sucky sucky.

They were fearless and super active, and without cards I had basically zero hope of getting involved with them, so I didn't bother.   I shut it down as the bubble approached, and enjoyed the show of them stealing pot after pot.  When we got to three 9 handed tables bubble safety was proposed (only 24 would get paid) and much to his credit, the biggest of the two stacks said 'Absolutely not.  I have to use the bubble as long as I can so I have the best shot at getting in the top 3.'  I really admired this, though it was easier to do so being a mid-size stack that was in very little danger of busting.

There was a ton of grumbling and some berating ("We are going to chop anyways, why deny three people their chance to break even?')  They did have a point, but I've come to realize, the game is filled with people who make a living on the felt - and as long as someone is friendly (as he was) and has a very good reason (he absolutely did) I don't think other players should say much about it.

The floor eventually stepped in and put the kibosh on the grousing.  And we played on.

The bubble period lasted another hour and a half.

I was so inactive, not by choice, that I got whittled down quite a bit.  I was around 30 bigs when the bubble finally burst.  I really didn't want to walk away with nothing after 10 hours of play, so I'm happy enough with my decision to play it safe - though I wouldn't hesitate to get my chips in with 10's or better, AK and AQ as well, especially against the aggros.

With a guaranteed payout of $275 I then set my sights on climbing the ladder.  I was utterly card dead, at the worst time of course, but I did manage to make one jump to $385 by the time my 4 1/2 big blinds stack finally got called by one of my shoves.  Me 99, he 66 and another 6 on the river of course.

All in all I'm very happy with my play.  I can't help but feel a little disappointed that I was unable to make any maneuvers against the big stack bullies on my left.  I just didn't have the gumption that close to the money after so many hours.  I'll give myself a pass for this - I'd much rather have almost 4 Benjamin''s in my bank roll than not.

I am eagerly looking forward to my TOC - the field has a couple of very good players, but the rest I should be able to handle.  I doubt I'll get another tournament in before that, but you never know.

The devil wins! (For now...)

Okay so with poker on my mind and my mind on poker, I've scheduled my first Vegas bender in over a year - outside of the WSOP of course.

I will be descending on the city of sin on the third weekend in March, just in time for one of the biggest gambling events in the city every year - NCAA Basketball tournament madness!  The first weekend of this annual frenzy of degeneracy is always by far the biggest, and as of this writing I have locked up a free Southwest flight, a reasonably priced room at Harrah's and a likely unnecessary car rental.

All told I've spent just under $600 so far, for four days and fabulous nights of poker goodness.  Looking at my tentative tournament schedule - I am likely to drop another $600 or so in entry fees.  The goal of this trip will be to recover that $1200 and hopefully notch a win big enough to go far beyond that amount.   I think I stand a very good chance of the trip paying for itself and a decent chance for a profit above and beyond that.

My plan of attack is centered at the north end of the strip.  I am staying away from the larger rooms like Aria, Venetian and Wynn, and their better structured tournaments because these events are typically loaded with Vegas regulars who are just as seasoned as their SoCal counterparts.

I have my sights set squarely on smaller buy in events that are likely to be loaded with drunken sports bettors.  I am avoiding the south strip rooms that have absolutely horrific tournament structures - Luxor, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay among others, and instead seeking out the rooms with only slightly terrible structures - T.I., Mirage and Caesar's.

The reason I'm slumming it, is because this is where the fish hopefully will be congregated, and be extra frenzied thanks to the big basketball games exploding everywhere.

I am hoping that the Mirage lives up to the nickname I gave it a long while ago - the timewarp. At it's best, the Mirage really is like journeying back to 2005, when players had narrow opening ranges even in late position, often folded to c-bets and defended their big blind 20% of the time instead of 80%.

And as for T.I. - Treasure Island, the later it is at night, the better it gets.  The drunken revelry can sometimes cross the line from amusing to exasperating, but in either case, there is lots of chips to be had at the expense of the intoxicated throng.  A very well run and most of the time fun room.  The have recently added more starting chips, which is great for fish who like to speculate early and tighten up later - I will be doing the opposite of course.

And finally Caesar's.  They have changed venues, from a completely closed off and expansive old school poker palace to a more typical smaller and open ended smoke catcher.  Having never played there before, I will have to see if I can stand it first before I commit to more than one tournament. If the room is enough to my liking, I will be sure to enjoy the slightly better than garbage structures and the usually fishy clientele.

Currently I have one compadre committed to joining me, A8Fold from back in the day (search this blog for Flatline and you'll get who he is).  Another Pepper St. regular has also said he will come along, Andrew the mack daddy who is a growing and smart poker player as well as one of my favorite 'new' people in my garage.   Hopefully they will both be able to follow through with their declarations and hopefully others will come along as well.

It should be a grand old time; in the meanwhile I have incentive to get a bit more active here at home with Casino play.  I have a home game tomorrow night, a single table tournament in my garage, but hopefully I can also find time to throw down in the LAPC this month or if not, at least partake in some dailies at the Bike or HPC.

The Road to Vegas Baby!

Ok so after a bit of thought I figured out that I don't want to waste time for the first half of this year playing for a Main Event seat in 2018.

Instead we will have a mini-series of Step 1 satellite tournaments, aimed at giving away as many $1500 bracelet event seats as possible.  Details can be found by clicking here.

Hopefully I will get at least 6 committed players besides myself and this will happen - by May we will have about a $2500 prize pool with this minimal amount of players, which will be enough to send two of us to the WSOP (one in a $1500 seat, the other in a 1K).

Of course there's a chance I may get 10 players or so - in which case we'll have over 3K to split among two players for two $1500 seats.

And let's not forget that there's a bigger chance that I won't get the minimal number of players I need - in which case I'm just going to cancel the whole thing which would suck and give me a lot less incentive to try again for the Main Event down the road.

ANYWAYS...

Thought I would post a little update on my home game satellite aspirations here and then also reflect on my own game as it stands in January of 2017.

Truthfully, I think I've regressed just a bit over the last six months or so - despite taking down two of my own tournaments in September and October and scoring $2600 at Hollywood Park in July.  This regression simply comes from playing less - I feel much less sharp and dialed in to 'the matrix' when I'm not playing every week.

This is okay, and I'm glad I can articulate this feeling here - because I definitely feel something's amiss lately when I'm at the table.  I'm either being far too tight to start, or I'm getting impatient when my stack get's down to 30 bigs or so.   Of course I always feel that I'm catching cards when I'm deep and utterly card dead when it's time to get it in for a double up.

Part of me feels like I should resolve to play more tournaments in 2017, and another part of me feels resigned to simply playing less and losing my edge in card rooms.  I still feel very capable in my own garage against most opponents that I've played with for years and (no disrespect intended) do not study or work on their games much if at all.

Part of my malaise / disinterest I can attribute to the medication I'm on (see here for the post about this) and yet I still get periodic hot flashes of desire to refocus and bear down again in pursuit of getting better and more comfortable with casino daily's and larger events.

Realistically, I don't think I will be able (or want) to return to playing every weekend.  With that in mind, I think I have to remember to go easier on myself when it comes to my results, especially in casinos.  I really believe that the very best way to get substantially better at poker, is to play poker all of the time.   While sometimes this seems like it would be a fun time, usually I understand that this would be dreadful - turning something I love into a job would be a very bad idea.

Still, as I pine for big results, I really can't and don't want to put in the work that is going to get me there, that is - playing every day or most days.  The second option then is to increase my study time, in the form of videos, books, live instruction and/or chatting with my poker compatriots like we did  in our first cabal meeting.

Cranking up the study time is something that I think is very achievable - but I have to temper my enthusiasm for the results that will come from this.  No doubt I will improve, but it simply won't be the level of improvement that playing full time (or even playing several evenings a week) would bring.  And this is okay.

So right now I'm on the lookout for another WSOP Academy type experience, the kind that I had two years ago.  Truthfully, that workshop was a great investment that I believe did indeed elevate my game to the next level.  I would love to do another immersion weekend of that nature.  Both the WSOP and the WPT have discontinued their poker instruction seminars of old, they now both run alternate versions that are much more infrequent, though no less expensive.   I will have to keep my ears and eyes open for an opportunity to sign up for something like this.

The other study option is the Cabal - I don't want to let this go by the wayside, as I think our first meeting last year was a very worthy endeavor.  I will have to reschedule again soon - this time I think I will aim for a weeknight and make it 7 to 10 or so.  I hope I get a similar turnout as the first time.

And finally there is a third study option - enrolling in a video training course.  I have tried most of them at one time or another.   I would say the one that helped my game the most was Tournament Poker Edge, specifically watching videos by the site leader Big Dog Pocket 5s - he was, and is, a great example to see how a successful maniac does his thing on the felt and most importantly his banter is entertaining.  Eventually I got tired of paying every month to watch only one or two videos, and moved on.

Other sights I was less enamored of, CardRunners and DeucesCracked both had some use but their instructors were much drier than Big Dog and really their sites amounedt to little more than watching other guys play and trying to stay awake as they drone on about hand ranges and equity.  Run It Once was more of the same thing, and quite a bit more expensive to get access to the top tier instructors.  All three of these sights were also less interesting to me because they emphasized cash game play and their tournament videos were far and few between.

Two video courses that I tried many years apart had very different approaches.  The WSOP Academy video poker school I took in 2010 (I think) was entertaining and somewhat helpful.  What I loved is that it was a curriculum that had a beginning, middle and end - it was like taking a live seminar but at my own pace and over several weeks.  Doug Polk's upswing poker that I took just last year has a similar approach and I was able to get through the bulk of the course rather quickly.

The two problems with these sights, WSOP Academy was run by old school instructors who gave old school advice which wasn't always the best.  Annie Duke's stuff was good fundamentals, but nothing earth shattering.  Phil Hellmuth's lectures were very outdated on the content.

Doug's site was pretty great, but unfortunately it was and I presume still is rather light on content.  I was done in a month and a half - and then the only option after that is to watch Doug play heads up or short handed cash games once a week on his new video posts.  Again, not really what I am playing - full ring tournament poker.  Thankfully Doug is very active in posting free videos, he is quite entertaining and his poker advice is fairly awesome, even though he doesn't focus on tournaments.

Right now I have my eyeballs set on a site called the poker academy .com which is run by Rep Porter, a two time bracelet winner with over 2.5 million in tournament earnings.  The thing that appeals to me about his course is that it places an emphasis on tournaments and the videos are reasonably watchable and again, are a full curriculum instead of simply watching someone play poker and commenting as he goes.

The stumbling blocks to me enrolling are the price (all told $500 for the full course) and my time.  I enjoy watching his free 7 minute snippets, and suspect there is great stuff beyond them, but the actual full course is literally 25 hours of video.  I don't know if I can sustain an interest.  I suppose I will if I pay for the entire course at once.   We will see.

Beyond this increased study time, I will have to wait and see if I push myself at all to play more this year.  I am for sure excited to get back to the WSOP again, so that's good I suppose.  I would be super enthused to sneak in a mini-Vegas bender before that in February, if I had been playing more recently and felt sharp about my game.  Right now, as I said, I don't feel super great about my game - so Vegas is unlikely to happen.

In the linked post above where I reveal that I am medicated and talk about how my priorities in life are now in the right order - and I do still believe that, but  confess I do still day dream about a deep run and a big score, but I know it is unlikely to materialize if I don't play more often.

It is a bit of a dilemma - but I have to let fate take it's course I suppose.  If I really want a 5 figure score or more, I have to play more - there is no short cut, I have to do the work.  And at the same time, I can't imagine ever going back to playing 100 tournaments a year like I did from 2010 to 2014.

At this moment as I type this, my heart is winning out over my brain - I am pumped to play cards this Friday night in my garage, and I am looking at the newly released LAPC schedule for the perfect event that I can register for that doesn't conflict with work or family obligations.   So yes, I guess right now - I'm old Chris.  Probably tomorrow I'll be less enthusiastic Chris, but who knows.  It appears that this will be an ongoing battle, I just have to remember that deep down one of these forces is a little angel and the other is a little devil, both perched on my shoulders.

Only time will tell which one will win out.

WSOP MAIN EVENT SATTY

I must say the 'Cabal' meeting we had the other week went very, very well.  Maybe too well.

By the end of the evening, which came much earlier than I expected - everyone was mentally absolutely drained from analyzing hands.  Playing a mock tournament and then talking in depth about every hand we play is far more tiring than just regular the regular pokerz.

I think it was very worthwhile, as everyone had something to contribute - and everyone wants to do it again soon.  The couple of guys who couldn't make it are also eager to do the next one so they can get in on the goodness.

Tangentially related to this, I ran into two of the guys a week later at a party - one of which made it to the lab and the other who didn't.  Somehow the conversation got around to the World Series of Poker Main Event and how much we would all like to play in it.

For years I have pondered how to make it happen for my home game, that is - run a satellite or series of satellites so someone can win entry into the greatest poker tournament on the planet.

A couple of obstacles to this - first and foremost, the price.  10K is nothing to sneeze at and an amount that most of us, even those of us who could afford it (I count myself blessed that I can) wouldn't feel comfortable putting down ten dimes for a poker tournament just on principle alone. Dividing up the expense via' a satellite will help a lot, but most are reluctant to part with a thousand bucks or so in one or a few tournaments, and that's likely how much it would cost each player.

The other obstacle, and in some ways it's more difficult to deal with than the money, is the time commitment.  Who wants to put in at work for a week of vacation only to bust out on day one or two of the event.  Then what do you do?  Stay in Vegas and play poker for the rest of the week, all the while being bummed out that you just busted out of the Main?  Not an easy situation.

But I must admit, the two fellows I was talking with were rather pumped up about the prospect of one of us going.  The good thing about how we do it at my game, is that when someone wins a satellite, they keep 60% of the money that they win but they then have to share the remaining cash with the rest of us satellite participants.  It really fosters a compassionate and supportive atmosphere during the satellite, and well beyond into the WSOP itself.

I can't imagine how exciting it would be for one of us to go to the Main Event on behalf of my little game in Burbank.

So I just sent an email to gauge interest in the Cabal - if I get half a dozen or so people who say they are pumped about the prospect - then I'll send them all the particulars of how it will work, which I confess I'm still working out in my head, even as I type this.

Here's are a few different ways we might do it -

1) Make it entirely points based.

From Jan 2017 through March 2018 we play 8 tournaments.

Points are awarded to every participant for every tournament they play, with more points going to higher finishers as well as more points awarded if there are more players in a particular tournament.

At the end, the points leader goes to the big dance.

You must play in a minimum of 5 tournaments to qualify to go and to get a share of any winnings.

PROS:  Simple and fair.

CONS: Players can be mathematically eliminated before all the tournaments are completed.

One option would be to only count the points in players top tournaments, say only points from the highest 5 tournaments would count.  This would hopefully encourage those who bomb out on the first few events to keep playing.


2) Make it points based but also give a back door for those who bomb out early to catch up.

From Jan 2017 through March 2018 we play 8 tournaments.

Points are awarded to every participant for every tournament they play, with more points going to higher finishers as well as more points awarded if there are more players in a particular tournament.

At the end, the 8 top point leaders goes to our championship satellite, and the winner of that goes to the big dance.

You must play in a minimum of 5 tournaments to qualify for the championship and to get a share of any winnings.

After the 8 tournaments are finished - we have a free roll tournament where everyone who played 5 or more of the 8 tournaments can play for free.   The top finisher gets the remaining seat.  We could also make the championship ten handed, and give the top two finishers of the free roll the remaining seats.

Everyone who plays 5 of the original tournaments qualifies for a share if the seat winner cashes.

PROS:  Gives people who bomb out and have no chance of qualifying with points to stay in the running.

CONS: Puts a bit more emphasis on variance - as someone who sucks during the regular run of tournaments might get hit by the deck in the free roll and potentially the championship.

I think for this option we would count the points for all 8 events, to give incentive for people to keep playing if they still have a chance to qualify for the championship.

Another option we could add to this system - the starting chip counts for the free roll could be based on participation in the original series of 8 tournaments.  I don't like the idea of making the free roll starting stack based on results, because it defeats the whole purpose of giving people a chance who bomb out in the initial run of tournaments.

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There are countless of variations based off of these two systems - but I think both of these general ideas have merit.  

A third option which I don't think will work is to simply make the whole thing a TOC system - where if you win a tournament you qualify for a championship seat.  

This is a bad idea because as soon as you lock up a seat you have no incentive to keep playing.  Even if we said you had to play 5 tournaments to qualify, someone who locked up their seat early would have no incentive to play their best in the remaining tournaments, which would undoubtedly skew the results.


Inevitably, someone will bring up the idea that there should be a portion of each satellite tournament's prize pool set aside to be awarded as a prize right then and there.  I am not opposed to giving the top finisher his money back and perhaps 2nd place half of their money back or something similar.  Beyond that, the entry fee required will simply get too large or we will have to play too many tournaments and that will be too much of a time commitment for most of us.


I think $200 is the maximum threshold for most of the garage players, myself included, and if the price point is that high, I don't think it can be more than 6 to 8 tournaments total over a year and 3 months.

There's a lot to think about here.  I hope Cabal members who read this will be active in giving me feedback as to how they want to do this, that is - if they want to do it at all.

Poker Lab Information

Here is the information on our poker support group / learning laboratory.   Two VERY important things - 

1)  This is NOT about ganging up / beating up on our fellow recreational players in the Pepper St. garage - we will be focusing almost entirely as much as we can on larger buy in events in casinos, especially the World Series of Poker.

2)  I want this group to be small for now, eventually I envision this group being available to anyone who wants to improve their game - but I think we should keep it small and work out the kinks for awhile. 


Here is the EVITE info - which is way too long for an actual Evite:

THIS IS NOT A POKER GAME - NO BUY IN REQUIRED!

I am hoping to do this once every other month or so.

I am keeping this group small for now - eventually we will probably open it up to anyone who wants to improve their game in card rooms.  For now, I appreciate your discretion.  

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You are cordially invited to take place in a unique forum and laboratory in tournament poker, with a specific focus and goal of making a deep run in the World Series of Poker or other similar large Casino poker tournaments.

We are NOT getting together to focus on beating our fellow Pepper Street players - we are getting together to help improve our odds of a deep run next summer, or sooner if any of us tackle the LAPC or similar.

We all want to get better and what better way than sharing information with people that you like?  

No one is going to get rich playing in our little game, but there are lots of economic opportunities in the game at large. 

Wouldn't it be great if one of us could make a deep run at the World Series of Poker?  How are we going to make this happen?  We could cross our fingers and hope that one of us gets lucky, as we have for the past 8 years or so - OR, we could get pro-active and really work on making ourselves better using the best resource we have - each other.

There are lots of resources out there for improving your game - books, videos, podcasts, expensive seminars, and on and on.  But the very best resource I believe, and the one that has helped me the most by far in improving my game - is talking over hands with my friends.

I consider everyone on this list not only a poker buddy, but a friend as well.  The benefits we will get from spilling our guts about poker to each other will far outweigh any downside from revealing secrets. 

I have no qualms about being transparent with my friends, and I am not looking to get rich off of my home poker game.  There's a reason all my tournaments are only $40 or $60 max - the garage is my learning environment, and I think it's high time I shared this with all of you.  

I want to get better at my game, I want to take down a five figure score or more or at least see one of you do the same - and I think it's achievable,  but we can't do it alone.

I don't fancy myself an instructor at all, but I find by talking through hands with people, I learn AND they learn.  Hopefully we will have a mix of more experienced players and less experienced players in attendance, but both groups will benefit and learn together.

And just sos you know, this is not a unique idea or happening - there are several well known groups of tournament players who do this sort of thing once or several times a year.  Steve Danneman, who finished second in the main event in 2005 does this sort of thing three times a year with his home game, which has more than one bracelet winner in it.  

Please come prepared with thoughts on what you want to work on as well as any insights you have that you think might benifit the group. 

We will go around the table and discuss areas of our game that we think need improving and ideas how to do so, and give each other feedback.  Then we will play a 'tournament' hand lab, where we play a full tournament, but reveal our folded cards at the end and discuss our decision making progress.  This should be extremely helpful for everyone.

Hope you can make it!

The Cabal

Very recently a couple of very good poker players in my garage who also happen to be good friends of mine, suffered setbacks.  One had a health emergency with his wife, she has since bounced back very well.  The other, sad to say, lost a close family member.

I know very little details of the circumstances, but my heart goes out to these guys - especially the one that now has to deal with the crushing grief process.  But these events really gave me some perspective and set my brain to working on the bigger picture when it comes to poker and the people I play with.  It hit me like a bolt - maybe I've been going at this WSOP thing all wrong.

There is a very, very, VERY short list of people, on my list of over 30 or so regulars and 100 or so once in a blue-mooners, whose poker game I have above and beyond respect for.   Of that short list, there's an even smaller portion of those names that I am considering taking 'talking poker' to the next level with.

Allow me to explain.  For a long time I have worked on my game.   There are 5 things I do to improve, they are -

1. Play
2. Talk poker with a few confidantes.
3. Read books.
4. Watch training videos.
5. Other misc. things - including, podcasts, poker on tv, poker magazine articles and once every few years a training seminar.

On this list, nothing, and I mean nothing, beats playing.  The more I play, the more experience I get, the better I get.  I know for sure that I am technically a better player than many of the regulars in the card rooms, but where they have an edge over me is in raw experience.  They are able to get away cheap in bad spots and/or get their money in while they are ahead more frequently and with more accuracy than me, simply because they have more time at the tables.  By a lot.

But this first item isn't the concern of this post - the second item is.

I love talking poker with 3 guys, 2 of which had the setbacks I mentioned.  But, the sad part is, I don't do it nearly often enough.   Talking through hands thoroughly and honestly does more for my game than reading, watching videos and every other item on the list combined except for seminars like the WSOP academy which are very expensive and very infrequent.

So I'm afraid I haven't taken nearly enough advantage of my 3 confidantes.  I would like to change that in a big way.

The idea hit me when I was texting with confidante number 1, he of the wife emergency.  What if we were all to get together in my garage some afternoon or evening, and just lay it all out on the table so to speak.  In other words, utterly detail my thinking about the game - absolutely spill my guts about the inner workings of my poker brain.

I know it would help them, but it would probably help me more, to verbally articulate exactly where I am coming from and my thought process.  I get a TON out of just talking through the basics of a hand with these fellows. I can only imagine how much I would gain if I did not only that, but also revealed the inner workings of my poker world view.

Sounds crazy?  Stupid?  Hear me out.

The ultimate goal here, the big picture, would be to elevate my game greatly and ultimately make a deep run (like final table money or better)  in a major tournament.  I truly don't give too much of a shit about results in my garage compared to dropping a grand or so in a bracelet event for a shot at 5 figures or more.

What would I be gaining and what I would be losing?  Losing - three or more guys, the best players in my game, at the table in my garage having my inner playbook to work off of.  Gaining - a ton of valuable feedback on said playbook so I can make it better and better and use it in bigger venues.  Not even a contest in my mind.

Furthermore, I know I will become a better player also precisely because some of my opponents now know all of my secrets.  I will have to get a lot more creative to defy their expectations when we do play together.

Along with the ultimate goal of going deep in a big event, would be a very worthwhile thing of also helping my buds improve and perhaps they would go deep for big bucks one day.  The only thing more awesome than me sitting under the bright lights of a WSOP final table would be seeing one of these guys there.  I would quite literally drop everything and fly out to see any one of these dudes if it happened.

So that's what I'd like to do.  So far 2 of the 3 are on board, I'll have to work on the third fellow after awhile, he's grieving at the moment.  He's actually the one who might not be on board with this, but I'd respect him if that were his choice.

When we all, or most of us, do get together, I'd like to for sure go around the table one at a time and each of us go down a list of things that we want to share.  I myself have 5 topics that I'd like to bring up.  I'm going to share them here, in summary without too much detail, but these are aspects of my game that I am pretty proud of for understanding and working with to pretty decent results over the last 2 years.  If you're a player in my garage and you've just stumbled across this, congrats, you'll be given great insight into how I see the game.  Now keep it to yourself!  (Smiley winky face).


1.  Bet Sizing

More than any other topic, this has influenced my game over the past several years.  When I am in a hand (or even when I'm not) the very first thing I look at with a player is the size of their bets.  It is absolutely at the top of my list of things to observe.  It has top priority, because to me it is the number one source of information in a game that sometimes seems absent of it.

Once I see the size of a bet and a showdown, then see a different size of bet and a different resulting showdown, I have learned a TON about a particular player.

In general, but certainly not always - the big tell that's given off is; Big Bet = Big Hand.  Little Bet = Little Hand.   This is SO common with recreational and/or home game players.  It really is amazing.

I don't know that I've ever seen this tidbit in a book or video.  The idea is mentioned in passing and in many different ways, but in my opinion it is never given the correct emphasis.  This is a BIG deal and is something that I'm always hyper conscious of.

There are tons of players who adjust their bet sizing based on the strength of their hand, and it is an absolute disaster for them against observant opponents.  This can be pre-flop or post.   The biggest pre-flop tell I see on a regular basis is the over sized bet of pocket Jacks.  If someone has been raising 2 to 3 times the big blind all tournament, and then suddenly opens a pot with a 6, 8 or even 10x raise - that's almost always Jacks.  Occasionally QQ or KK, once in a blue moon 1010.   If it's any of those, that's an INCREDIBLY SMALL range of hands.  This player is essentially playing their cards face up.  In a game of incomplete information, this is a beautiful thing.

Post flop, things can be almost as obvious.  All players are different of course, but more often than not, when someone has top pair meh kicker, or second pair on a dry board, they will bet a quarter of the pot or less.   Often they will lead out of position (donk bet) with a hand like this.  Many players bet this size with air as well on a flop that they miss as a continuation bet.   When they hit the board squarely and it's wet, they almost always will bet 3/4 of the pot or more.

If they flop a monster, they most often will check/call, or occasionally check raise big.  When they do the former it's the easiest thing in the world to get away from.  This of course does not apply to a capable opponent - someone who is utterly at ease bluffing big.  But these types of players are far and few between in home games.  I can basically count them on one hand among the players in my garage.

Those who check/call a monster flop will also likely do the same on the turn, and then absolutely bomb it with a pot sized bet or more on the river, especially if I check back the turn.  Again, this is the same as a giant neon sign reading "Monster Hand" illuminated over their heads.

Now don't misunderstand - there are no absolute rules here, it takes a lot of experience at the table to sift through the bet sizing indicators and tells; but many players don't even know this is what they should be looking at.  I look forward to sharing this topic with my cabal and see what they say.


2.  Betting Frequency/Patterns

This is a much more nebulous category of tells that nonetheless can be very valuable with certain opponents.  This pattern of behavior is more frequently pointed out in books, so there's less of a big revelation here.  But I've used my observation of bet sizing in tandem with betting frequency and/or patterns very effectively for a few years now, especially on less experienced opponents to great results.

As with bet sizing, I use how often and when someone bets to help me put an opponent on a range of hands (see topic 3 below) and as with sizing, in general, the more an opponent is doing something, the stronger his or her hand is.  This is not always the case with everyone (there is a class of softer opponents who will bet every street small with a weak or negligible holding)  but in general - firing a second barrel on the turn means they have hit the board.

Firing on all three streets for sure means they have connected (again, except for very capable opponents who know that I like to float).  Once more, I have a very short list of players in my garage that I know can triple barrel with nothing.  With 90% of my opponents in a home game, if they fire on all three streets, I know they have show down value.  I refer to their sizing to clue me in to the degree of strength of their hand.

Leading out, also known as donk betting, is a big indicator for most home gamers that they have connected at medium strength with the flop.  Either middle pair or top pair with an ok kicker.  This is especially true if the board is wet.  I often notice that the bet size increases in tandem with the wetness of the flop.  (Again, sizing gives the most info.)

Check raising is super strong with most opponents.  I know of very few who are capable of doing it as a bluff.  I myself am capable, but only against players who are in turn capable of folding to a show of strength.  This is mostly folks who have played for several years and take their game seriously but aren't the toughest of the bunch.

A river bet more than any other bet, generally means what it means.  Yes, there are a good amount of players who value bet the river if they think they are ahead - though they likely don't even know what that means, but there are hardly any capable of firing if they have zero equity.  The ones that do often (again with sizing) put out a bet that's a quarter of the pot or less.  Or they simply shove which often makes no sense and is easy to decipher.  An abrupt river shove is almost always a slow played monster, but sometimes it is an act of desperation that can be picked off. Only the bad asses will bomb the river with complete air and a logical bet size.


3. Opponent Hand Ranges

This topic has been covered extensively by books and videos - so I'm absolutely not breaking any new ground here.  But I think it's worth talking about with the Cabal because I don't see this concept being used often enough in home poker.  I want to bring this up because I want to make sure that these guys are all familiar with this concept and use it the same way I do.

Too often I hear - "Well I put you on Ace Queen" or some other such nonsense.  I hope I can share and articulate why this is a bad method of reading an opponent.

To try and put someone on a particular hand is not just unlikely, it's actually harmful.  We should never aspire to narrow an opponents range to a single combination of cards.  Doing this too often leads to the disastrous scenario of folding a winning hand in a monstrous pot.  If you are literally only beaten by one hand (for example you have KK pre-flop with 40 bigs or less in a tournament and your opponent shoves) then you are committing an equity catastrophe here by folding.

My opponent who is very tight regular three bet shoves from the small blind after my open from the cutoff with QQ.  He has 30 big blinds which will cripple me.  I actually see players in situations like this go into the tank and agonize.  They know the player is super tight, and they are desperately trying to put him on a single hand - AA.   This is stupid.

My thought process, which takes about two seconds is - "What hands (emphasis on the plural) does he have here?  AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010, AK or AQ. Also, because it's me and I'm perceived by him as a maniac his range includes 88 or better, as well as AJ, A10, KQ, KJ and any suited ace, plus there's a good chance that a few other lesser holdings are in there too.  Insta-call."

Notice I include AA & KK but I don't worry about it because it's just a tiny part of his range.  What's the point of agonizing over a very small portion of the hands he is doing this with?  Poker is all about calculated risks and we must be willing to make them every time when the odds are so heavily in our favor.  We can't control the 10% flukes, we just have to live with them.

The other, and perhaps more important thing about putting your opponent on a range instead of a particular hand, is that you must have this to bet sensibly - especially on the river.

 What hands does my opponent have and what can he call me with that I beat?   This is THE question for deciding when to value bet and for how much.

A typical thought process before value betting should be - "For a half pot bet here, I'm getting called with, TPTK, an overpair, two pair, and certainly a lower set."  My own thoughts are more condensed, more like "There's a lot he can call me with" or "There's not much he can call me with that I can beat, but I'm too strong not to bet" or "He only calls me with what beats me, I'm checking back" and so on.


4. Perceived Range

Just as important as my opponents range of hands, is my own range AS PERCEIVED BY MY OPPONENT.

This is absolutely crucial for executing a successful bluff.  If I can't imagine what my opponent is putting me on, it is very tough to pull off a credible bluff.

Granted, most recreational/home players don't deal with hand ranges - but they do subconsciously imagine what different hands I am representing.  If I am playing someone who I know is hyper-fearful of draws getting there - you bet your ass I'm going to fire when a fourth spade peels off on the river.  I may even check raise bluff if I'm deep enough.

Conversely, if my opponent is a level 1 thinker (someone who only thinks about what they themselves are holding) I don't have to worry about my perceived range too much.  If they are weak and I bet they will fold.  If they call, they have showdown value - and if have air I shut it down or if I am strong I value bet the shit out of them.  Easy game.


5. The Myth of Soul Reading

I have covered this topic before on this blog I believe, but it is something I for sure want to bring up to the cabal.

This last year in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker there was a hand where a supposed poker pro folded quads face up to a shove on the river, claiming that his opponent must've had a straight flush.  Check out the particulars here.

Now, his opponent did not show, and later said that he did have the straight flush.  Let's take a leap here and presume that he was telling the truth.  My conclusion is that this is still an absolutely terrible lay down, not even considering that he was getting 2 to 1 to call.

Why?  You may ask.  He got away and preserved his tournament life (again, presuming his opponent is telling the truth).  Well, here's the thing - the likelihood of his opponent having precisely Q10 of spades is so unlikely as to be not really worth considering.   And this is a concept that I really believe in - sometimes, even if you could somehow magically see that you were beat, you would still be absolutely wrong to fold.

This also applies in the converse, if somehow you knew that your opponent was bluffing and that your nine high was good, you would still be absolutely wrong to call.  Stu Unger actually did this once, and he was right.  It worked out, but he was wrong to do so. Bear with me.

Poker is now and forever more a game of incomplete information, rooted in the idea that you MUST take calculated risks to succeed.  In other words, you must be willing to die in order to live.  In better words, poker is not about winning pots - it is about making correct decisions.

You absolutely will NOT win tournaments folding quads.  (This guy certainly is not in the November 9 - spoiler alert!)  Furthermore, if you make the 2nd disastrous decision to fold your quads face up, you will forever have a target on your back and you will absolutely be the next person I run a big bluff on.

Maybe once in a blue moon you will have a board and opponent that line up perfectly that lead to laying down quads being a potentially reasonable decision.

A loose/passive player whose over bet on the river let's you know he's super strong and there's a board of 9,8,7,7 with the first three cards being spades, where your opponent could have 105, 106, or J10 of spades or even better an open ended straight flush board where your opponent only needs one card to make his straight flush.

But even with these unlikely scenarios, no one can fault you for going broke with freaking quads.

The hand in the Main Event is ridiculous, and so are you if you lay down quads.

Really, this whole topic is to get all of us (myself included) to stop wasting time and energy 'splainin' meaningless hands.   In a tournament, 30 bigs or less - QQ?  Get it in.  JJ?  Get it in.  Flopped bottom set?  Get it in.  Open ended straight and flush draw?  Get it in.  Take your lumps.  Take your medicine.  And don't talk about it later.  Let's talk about actual hands.

*******

So there it is.  Really, this is all about making my game better and bringing my buds along.  I would love to aim higher, shoot for the stars.  Why not?

I see poker 'crews', groups of friends, on the WSOP all the time, sometimes they are pros but sometimes not, who have a regular home game that routinely go deep in the main.  Steve Danneman, who finished second to Joe Hachem in the main in 2005, has a regular home game filled with guys who often go deep and I think there may even be a bracelet winner or two in there.

Why not us?

*******

EDIT: 9-24-16, more thoughts.

I forgot one of the absolute biggest things I'd like to bring up - aggression.

More specifically, the lack of it in home games, that is - in general, raising instead of limping.  Why should we not limp?  Because good things happen when we raise.  And there's not nearly enough raising in home poker.

Think about it.  Say you want to come into a pot pre-flop with QJ in middle position early in a tournament.  It's a bit dubious to begin with, but what happens when you call instead of raise?  Players on your left are very likely to call as well, starting a limpede that often results in 5, 6 or even 7 or more players seeing a flop.  Good times.

Now you are in the middle of this mess and you have less and less information with each successive limper.  The guy on the button could have almost anything and the two blinds are literally calling and checking respectively with the entire deck.

Now the flop hits with a queen and two rags, rainbow.  Perfect right?  It's checked to you and you naturally bet - and get two callers, maybe three callers or more.

Super.  The turn is a king.  Fantastic.  Well this went well.  What do you do?  Check?  Bet?  Where are you in this hand?  I'll tell you where you are - you are in the land of FUCKED.

If you continue with your story and get called, that's bad.  If you check/call, that's piss poor because you inevitably will be sandwiched between two or more players who either have made hands better than yours or big draws.

If you lead out and get raised, as Eddie Murphy famously said "Whatthefuckyougondonow?"

All of this, and I mean just about ALL of this could've been avoided by opening the pot with a raise.  Even early when everyone's deep.  Yes, you're still likely to get multiple callers but guess what?  With two or three callers to your left, you're not attached to this hand - believe it or not you can get away easier because by calling your raise, your opponents have given you information that they otherwise wouldn't by just calling.

They have something.  As opposed to having possibly everything.  And just by virtue of getting called after you raise, you are in a much better position mentally to let go of this hand if you have to, even if you hit the flop.

So it is folded to you in middle position and you raise it up.  Now you only get one or two callers.  Maybe one has position on you or maybe not.  Now you are much more clear on where you are at, you've thinned the herd somewhat and when you hit top pair you are so much more well equipped to deal with people playing back at you.   Say this time you get two callers, one in position and one out of position against you.

Now you hit the same flop, it is checked to you and you c-bet, the one guy on your left does call, but the other guy on your right let's it go.

Stop right here.  Even though you've got someone playing back at you, can you see how infinitely better this situation is for you?  You are now heads up with what is likely the best hand - or you are crushed, but either way, the decisions you face on the next two streets should be relatively straight forward.

Regardless of the turn, my plan would be to check/call and then reevaluate on the river.  Easy peezy rice and cheesy.  Minimal mental effort required.

Good things happen when we raise.  We raise for value or we raise to bluff, but with either reason we get good things sent our way.  We thin the herd, and we get a shit ton more information than we would just by limping.

This is the kind of thing I want to dig into with my compatriot poker players.


So yes there would be a 'cabal' a small group of guys whose games I respect greatly.  But maybe we could all take it a step further.

Every other week or so I put out an evite to a hundred or so players for a tournament or a cash game.  I usually get a fantastic response.  Single table events fill right up fast, and multi-table tournaments typically have 20 or more players.

What if, I was to put out an evite for a "Poker Lab" event? An afternoon or evening of open discussion about the game we love.   I would limit it to 10 seats and see what happens.  The evite info would read something like...

"You are cordially invited to take place in a unique forum and laboratory in tournament home poker.

We all want to get better and what better way than sharing information with people that you like?

No one is going to get rich playing in our little game, but there are lots of economic opportunities in the game at large.  Wouldn't it be great if one of us could make a deep run at the World Series of Poker?  How are we going to make this happen?  We could cross our fingers and hope that one of us gets lucky, as we have for the past 8 years or so - OR, we could get pro-active and really work on making ourselves better.

There are lots of resources out there for improving your game - books, videos, podcasts, expensive seminars, and on and on.  But the very best resource I believe, and the one that has helped me the most by far in improving my game - is talking over hands with my friends.

I consider everyone on this list not only a poker buddy, but a friend as well.  The benefits we will get from spilling our guts about poker to each other will far outweigh any downside from revealing secrets.  I have no qualms about being transparent with my friends, and I am not looking to get rich off of my home poker game.  There's a reason all my tournaments are only $40 or $60 max - the garage is my learning environment, and I think it's high time I shared this with all of you.

I want to get better at my game, I want to take down a five figure score or more or at least see one of you do the same - and I think it's achievable,  but we can't do it alone.

I don't fancy myself an instructor at all, but I find by talking through hands with people, I learn AND they learn.  Hopefully we will have a mixe of more experienced players and less experienced players in attendance, but both groups will benefit and learn together.

And just sos you know, this is not a unique idea or happening - there are several well known groups of tournament players who do this sort of thing once or even several times a year.  Steve Danneman, who finished second in the main event in 2005 does this annually with his home game, which at this point has more than one bracelet winner in it.

Please come prepared with thoughts on what you want to work on.  We will go around the table and discuss areas of our game that we think need improving, and give each other feedback.  Then we will play a 'tournament' hand lab, where we play, but reveal our folded cards at the end and discuss our decision making progress.  This should be extremely helpful for everyone.

Hope you will join us for this unique event - pizza will be provided and at the very least it should be a lot of fun!"


That's my idea - I'll be running it past some of my closest friends in the game first to see their reaction.  Who knows, maybe they'll be disgusted!  I just hope they can see the bigger picture, crushing Pepper Street is not the idea behind my game; getting better and learning together so that we can crush out in the wild is.

Stay tuned to see where this goes!

Score!

For some reason I didn't feel compelled to post my WSOP report on this blog - but you can click here and check it out if you like.

As for this particular post, I'm happy to report that I recently had my biggest cash in 3 years.  It took place at the lovely Hollywood Park Casino (soon to be demolished and moved next door to a brand new facility) on a Friday at noon.  It was a 10K guarantee that, according to the floor, never has a problem meeting this amount; lots of people playing hooky from work I guess!

I didn't tweet the tournament, and now I'm kind of wishing I had because it has been several weeks and I'm afraid the details will be a bit sparse.

I bought in for $60 and there was also a $60 add-on which I ended up not doing, which is not at all like me.  I had a substantial pile of chips at the break, and I thought to myself, self, if I end up cashing in this thing (which looks pretty likely) I would love to have a bigger profit.  Not really logical or mathematically sound, but there it is.

Stack at the break. 

I recall getting into a number of hands that I played well, including two reasonably large pots that I had to bluff at to win; but by and large my play pre-break was fairly ABC.  I had told myself that I wasn't going to get too tricky, because trying to get the typical HPC tournament regular off of a medium strength hand is almost always a bad idea.

The two biggest pots I dragged both involved me flopping a set in multi-way pots, and then getting all the chips in with two players calling!  Both times my hand faded a big draw and also was crushing a top pair from the other player who was all in.

So yes, I was hit by the deck, but also my opponents were very soft in their propensity to not believe me and call off with top pair or some such.  Thankfully, I have gotten pretty good at sizing my bets to get maximum value.  Not once in the entire tournament did I slow play a flopped big hand.  Simply putting my foot on the gas was more than enough to get paid by the skeptical players with weak holdings or sometimes no holdings at all.

After the first break there was still a long ways to go; and here's where I start remembering a few hands.  One in particular that allowed me to nearly triple up and become the table chip leader.

Blinds were probably around 300/600, and I had around 60 bigs when I looked down at QQ in the small blind.   Or rather, I should say, I looked down at QQ after the flop, because recently I have taken to limping all of my small blinds when I am at 30 or more big blinds.  In other words, if it is limped to me, I don't even look at my cards pre-flop.  (I do pretend to look if I'm at a table where anyone is paying attention.)

Yes, this may seem a bit wacky, but I really think that being in the SB is such a HUGE disadvantage that even with a premium pair there are still a million ways to lose and short of flopping a monster - a surprisingly few ways to win, even if the hand goes to showdown.

By limping every SB I am balancing my range, and even though the majority of HPC players are not that good, many will still be able to narrow my range of hands considerably if it is limped to me and then I put out a sizable raise.

Now if there has been a raise behind me, all bets are off so to speak, and I look at my cards and of course re-raise if they are strong enough to warrant it.  I have to be pretty deep to flat and also be sure that I'm not going to get 4-bet by players on my left.

Anyways, the hand; it was all hearts and low cards on the flop. There were 4 players total in the hand, including the button, the big blind and a guy in the middle.  I checked, the big blind led out and it was folded around to me.  I called, having a queen of hearts and I was also very aware that my hand was likely good.

A black jack peeled off on the turn.  The plan was to check call. My opponent bet large this time, almost the full pot.  I suspected that the turn had helped him, his sudden change in sizing from a bit less than half pot on the flop and now to almost a full pot bet just screamed strength.

For a moment I  thought about re-raising, which would commit me to the hand, but then I really thought about it.  Yes there was a good chance he had AJ with a heart, but something about this guy also really led me to believe that he had a super strong range here - like aces or kings or some such.  He had been playing very passively and had gotten paid off earlier when he flopped the world.  Again the pattern had been the same, he led out when he flopped top pair (I think he had A9 or similar) and then bet very big on the turn when he tripped up.

So I stuck with my original plan and called.  At this point I had maybe 40 bigs behind, it would suck if I had to let this one go having stuck a third of my stack in, but I already told myself that I wasn't folding if a heart peeled on the river.  If he had the K or A of hearts than good for him.

And yes, a heart did hit the river.  The king of hearts.  A fantastic card, but if my opponent had AJ (or AK or AA for that matter) with the ace of hearts I was going broke.  Weirdly it did make sense that all of these premium holdings were in his range. My plan was to check raise jam.

 I checked, and he thought, and fired a very small bet, maybe a third of the pot.  Well this sucked, because now a jam by me was a bit preposterous, more than the size of the pot.  But then I thought about it - if he had AK, AJ, AA, KK, KJ or even better, low cards with a heart or maybe 1010, 99, 88 with a heart, I could get paid.  Plus, he had already put not a small amount of money into the pot.  So I went with the check raise jam.

He snap called.  I gulped.  "I guess this is no good..." I sighed as I turned up my queen high flush.  "No, you're good" he said disgustedly, and then in beautiful HPC style that I know so well he held up his cards as if to look at them, then popped them with a flick of his finger, then showed them to his neighbor on his left and then shook his head and slowly mucked his cards face up.  JsJh.

He had turned a set, hence the big ass bet; and my read had been correct insofar as the turn had helped him a lot.  And yes, he was slow playing a premium, much as I had.  I dragged a big pot for more than a double up with all the pre-flop limpers and antes in the pot as well.

Yay.

I believe it was here that I became the table chip leader, and didn't relinquish that for the rest of the tournament.  I would love to say that from this point on I cranked up the aggression and expertly kept accumulating by applying pressure in a lot of hands.  But the truth is, that with several hours still ahead of us before the money, I didn't get involved unless I was in position and had at least some equity in my hand.  If I raised pre, got several callers (which was typical), I wouldn't necessarily c-bet if I whiffed the flop.  I had been here before, and had spewed off my chips unnecessarily more times than I would like to admit - this time my chips were pretty much on lock down.

Thankfully, this wasn't that difficult, as most of my opponents played way too tight and revealed the strength of their holdings with their bet sizes or post flop flatting.  Again and again and again I saw the pre-flop over-bet with QQ, JJ, etc.  Again and again and again, I was able to deduce when someone had connected hard with the flop and get away with minimal damage.

Also, though I didn't catch many premiums (I remember getting AA in the whole tournament once, alas no action), I did have enough medium pairs, tasty suited connectors and broadway cards in position to get into hands and take them down often enough that my stack hardly ever shrank, but rather grew as the time passed.  One pot in particular I had K10 on the button, called a middle position player's pre-flop raise, flopped 2 pair and he stacked off with TPTK.

Yes, I was in the zone.  But I also had to get lucky, and I did mainly because I can't recall losing any crucial 60/40s when I was the 60.  Every time I needed to have my hand hold up or face a big loss of chips, it did.  I have played enough tournaments to know that is pretty unusual.   I did lose a few here and there, and also got my money in bad a few times and lost, but never in a pot of any real consequence.   On one hand my AQ got unlucky and ran into a short stacked AK, but then I got super lucky and sucked out on him with 2 pair on the river.  He was not pleased.  But he had also hardly played any hands and I had maybe an 8 to 1 chip lead over him.  I was never folding AQ to him, ever, even knowing there was a good chance I was behind.

And so the money came and went, we were down to just over 2 tables.  When we finally colored up the 500s, I was the tournament chip leader.

Pretty dope yo.

At this point, the average stack was a bit under 20 big blinds.  I had almost 80.  I felt pretty darn good.  Once the bubble had burst, the shorties quickly dropped or doubled and tripled up to hang in there.

We had started at noon, the final table formed just before 6pm.  Two other big stacks could hurt me, but I still had them covered.  Several medium stacks wouldn't feel good if they doubled through me, but they were not that scary.  And then there were 3 or 4 micro stacks that were all asking for an ICM count.  We agreed to run the numbers - I would be getting over $2500 if we chopped.  First place money in a normal payout was $3200, but $2500 would be awesome because no one was super deep at this point, I had maybe 45 big blinds. So I enthusiastically voted yes, but two guys, who happened to be rather obnoxious, voted this down.  They both had medium stacks.

So we played on and I busted a nice fellow on my left who happened to be in a wheel chair and had obviously suffered some kind of stroke.   He demeanor changed from affable to pissed off when my Ah6h turned a flush against his AJ, and he basically tried to run me over as he spun on his wheels to get to the payout desk.  I of course was deferential to him because of his condition, but I also remembered that I should be kind no matter what he looked like - read this post to see what I mean.

(Incidentally, the man in the wheel chair in that post was Garrett Greer, a tournament pro with over 3 million dollars in earnings and a 2nd place finish in this year's millionaire maker at the WSOP.  He hadn't broken through back in 2011, so I had no idea who he was at the time.)

So then there were six, then five and then finally four.  We had run the numbers for an ICM chop again, twice, at this point.  And still, both of the negative guys had turned it down.  One was now short stacked and the other unfortunately had doubled up.   I was still the chip leader.   I almost said 'no' to running the numbers again, but then thought better.

I was to get $2640, so I of course agreed.  After some squabbling and wheeling and dealing, the short stack managed to convince me to give him $100, we finally agreed, shook hands and cashed out.  It was 730pm.

Never had the 25K pinkies before.  So tasty.

So there it was, my biggest cash since 2010 I believe.  Very, very happy to fall into some real money for only $60.   I played very well, certainly not perfect, but I think the reason I managed to avoid spewage was that I most of the time kept it simple.  If I had zero equity post-flop, I let it go.  Just as important, I didn't enter a pot at all if I had garbage.   Getting tricky gets me into more trouble, especially against experienced regulars (whether they're good or not.)   I think this big win is a great lesson to me that more often than not good decisions, good fundamentals and patience will win the day, especially against weaker opponents.

I would like to say I have been crushing my home game this year as well, like I did last year when I won 4 out of 12 tournaments - alas my results haven't been nearly as good, though I have cashed in the top 3 a couple of times.  I think the main reason for my not as good results in my garage is me trying to get too tricky.  I have to remember, my image at Pepper St. is that of a maniac.  There's no reason for me to get involved with zero equity, I need to be more patient and wait for strong hands and then get my chips in and get paid.

But even with me leveling myself in my silly tournaments, I have to say, I think my game is stronger than ever; evidenced by my two WSOP cashes and this score here.  I am pretty much seeing the Matrix on a regular basis - and am comfortable against most opponents.   Here's hoping for another big score or two in the second half of 2016!