Charity Poker Tournament

This weekend I played in a charity poker event hosted by the Millville Rescue Squad. The buy-in was $20 and the prize pool was split 75/25 (charity got the 25%). The field was rather weak and was filled with people who thought they were great players; however, the sharks gobble them up rather quickly. When drawing for seats I was unfortunate enough to get selected for the only short handed table in the tournament which consisted of four people. I really wish that they would have taken my table and crammed us into other full tables. It would have been better to have an extra person sitting at the tables then to have such a short handed table. Although this bothered me, I wasn’t bitchy about it because I knew I was the best player at Seated at my table.

In Seat 1 was a young kid who felt the way to play poker is to make large raises and re-raises with nothing. I figured him out really quick and ended up taking most of his chips after an hour’s play. I was in Seat 2; Seat 3 consisted of a first timer whose luck just seemed unstoppable. So many times he put all his money in with the worst and came out on top. It was his night, that’s just how the cards fell for him. In the last Seat, Seat 4, we had a friend of Seat 1 and he partly featured Seat 1’s aggressive play style. He was aggressive pre-flop but very tight post-flop. When I got into hands with him I would keep the pot small pre-flop then nail him on the flop (or turn) and rake the money.

My only problem I faced was the luck that consumed Seat 3. I tried to stay out of his way unless I got the goods. I was forced to fold JJ and AK post-flop after decent re-raises pre-flop when I completely missed the board and Seat 3 went nuts with the betting. This cost me a good amount of chips both times which I ended up making back from Seat 1 and 4. Not to sound like Phil Hellmuth, but if my good hands would have held up with the luck-box, Seat 3, I would have eliminated everyone at my table with no problem. Just before the table broke I ended up crippling both Seat 1 & 4 which gave me a good chance to catch the tournament chip lead.

My new table consisted of so many familiar faces. In Seat 1 was the luck-box beginner (he moved to the same table); Seat 2 was another kid who over-valued the all-in bet and was part of the aggressive clique from my previous table; Seat 3 was my girl who was deep stacked and apparently running extremely well; I was in Seat 4; my long time friend, Sana, was in Seat 5; and one of the hosts of the event was in Seat 6. I knew everyone but the person in Seat 2, which I later made friends with after the game.

When I sat down at my new table I stole a line from Rounders stating, “If we wanted to take each other’s rolls we could have stayed home.” As everyone laughed at my entrance I quickly tallied up chip stacks for each player. Seat 1 of course had a tremendous chip stack and was the tournament leader, followed by my girl and I. Seat 2 has some chips, but like his friends – his aggression would end up killing him. My friend Sana was average stacked for the tournament, but he knows how to get chips. Finally, Seat 6 was short stack and didn’t understand that you can’t limp in with 4 BB left to see a flop – it was only a matter of time for him.

Overall the tournament went well. Momentum was definitely my way. I picked up a lot of chips and accumulated the second largest stack in the tournament. With such a stack I knew I could win the whole thing, and a few hours later it was 9 players left and only one person with a larger stack, the luck-box. That’s when the following hand occurred:

Blinds t150 / t300
Hero Chip Stack: t9300
Average Chip
Stack: ~t5000
Dealt to Hero: AKos
Hero in the Big Blind

Everyone folded to the luck-box who was in the Cutoff. He raises to t1,200. The Button folds, and my girl who was in the Small Blind calls. There is t2,700 in the pot, t900 for me to call.

What we know: The original raiser has been showing some aggression with weak hands. He has showed down hands as bad as Q2 suited. He’s a gambling player and the only one that can eliminate me. My girl, who just called the raise, would have re-raised with a monster holding and would have folded small pocket pairs. She has a hand like KQ suited, AQ/AJ, or maybe JJ-TT. She’s just calling here because of the raiser’s aggression, hoping to hit the board and take his chips. I have high confidence she’d re-pop him with AK, & AA-QQ so I figure to have the best hand here.

Before I go into details on this hand, I would like to know what you’d do in this situation. Would you call, re-raise, shove, fold? I will post the results of this key hand by the end of the week. I am hoping for some commentary on this one so please use that “comments” link!

Cheers!

General Update

Since my last post I haven't played much poker online which leaves me just shy of $200 for my race to $500. Soon I will be able to start playing in $10 SNG's which I am definitely looking forward to. I must admit, forcing myself to play in the $2-$5 SNG's really helped my patience. Players at these buy-ins shove and call all-ins with the crappiest cards. You truly need a hand or a solid read on the table to rake in a lot of chips. I've been doing good, but since the buy-ins are so low it takes a lot of money finishes to make a decent increase in your bankroll.

As for my live poker, I have been running fair. I played in a friends annual poker tournament which consisted of two NL Hold'em games finishing 3rd and 1st respectively. I also took a shot at the Turbo Hold'em Tournament at the Hilton in AC. I made an early exit when I tried to accumulate chips before the blinds and ante's went crazy. My girl also took a shot at the turbo tournament for her first live casino game. She finished 27th when her A6 was out flopped by her opponent's A2. I'm proud that she made it that deep in her first real tournament and with a little more experience she will do well on her own. She is already winning small games online, and I am currently attempting to help her establish a starting bankroll. I believe that if I keep working with her she will be a solid player on her own right in the future. She has really made solid progress in the last 4-5 months making consistant finishes in small online games.

In other news, my friend and fellow blogger James Hawkins posted about an employee cheating while playing on Absolute poker. The story has reached major news outlets like MSNBC and the hand history is posted all over the Internet. It's sad to see such ignorance in our community. I never understood why people always try to "gain an edge" while playing poker. If these people put the time into developing their poker skills rather than finding ways to cheat, they'd become solid legit players on their own right. It's stories like this that make Congress want to keep the Internet gambling from US players. They now have more fuel to add to their fire by claiming, "they are protecting US citizens from gambling scams".

Speaking of Congress and Internet gambling, recently the PPA went infront of Congress trying to pass Barney Frank's & Robert Wexler's bills. The Congress continues to be stubborn as CardPlayer writes, "reason is that lawmakers rarely admit to their mistakes and would often rather let their past decisions stand than to change their minds and look as if they are wavering". But with the PPA publishing stories about poker players with disabilities not able to play in brick and mortar casino's, one would hope that these heart warmers will one day change Washington's stance. Unfortunately pure ignorance will never go away as one "defender of the UIGEA" deeply argues that college kids are dumping thousands in credit debt to play Hold'em poker. He goofs at the end and admits he was someone who "did it" - referencing ringing up excessive credit card debt playing online poker. So when you think about it, since he was a losing player he wants to punish everyone. I bet if he won a major tournament for a couple grand he'd have a different tune on online poker. Sad isn't it? It's simular to Bill Frist (started the UIGEA) pulling the act that he was an anti-gambler while he received campaign money from Harrahs Casino. How that all works out I have no idea.

To further upset things, the IRS has passed a new law that enforces casino's to report any poker tournament winnings over $5,000 to them. The IRS will be asking for 25% of the player's winnings for tax purposes. If the tournament winner fails to present the casino with a valid tax id number (social security number), the casino is to withhold 28% of the winnings to be collected for taxes. This means when you see a player on WPT or WSOP win $1 million tournament, they will be playing $250,000 to the government. Such taxes really make me want to switch to a cash game player than a tournament player. The only advantage I have right now is that I do not play in high enough stakes to win such monies. As well, the new law states nothing about Internet poker. But tie this tax law with some of the new rules in tournament poker like the "cannot discuss your hand" rule, it really makes the cash games look better and better.

Well, that's it for now. Other then the normal daily grind I been spending time on TwoRags.com. This is one of the coolest poker sites I've seen in a long time. Not only do they have blind structures for virtually every brick and mortar & online tournament, they also have a wealth of information including EV calculators that you can use right on their website, no software downloading. It's definitely a must-bookmark site for any serious poker player.

Until next time, good luck on the felt!

SNG: Low-Blind Strategy

General Strategy for Low Blind Play

Three types of hands that should be played:

1. Premium Hands
   
   1. (AA, KK, QQ, AK) & (AQ, AJs, JJ-99)
2. Speculative Hands
   
   1. (Suited Connectors, Suited Aces, Low-Mid Pairs, Mid-High Suited Semi-Connectors)
3. Late Position Value Hands

Pocket Aces-Queens

• Raise, re-raise big before the flop (make larger raises in low stakes SNG)
  
  • Raise to value bet and limit your opponents
• Ideally take down a sizeable pot pre-flop, partially with Queens
• If at an action table and in early position, go for a check-raise
• If your hand doesn’t fair the best post-flop in a multi-way pot and your facing a lot of action, fold
• If you have only a few players post-flop and everyone shows weakness by checking, bet ½ the pot even if there is an over-card
• If you are the aggressor be willing to go all-in pre-flop. It’s the one time your willing to play a big pot in low blinds
• If an opponent goes all-in pre-flop, call with Aces and Kings.

Big Slick (AK)

• Great low-blind hand since it’s easy to get away from if you miss the flop
• Standard 3xBB raise if you face no openers
  
  • Add a little more to your bet for each limper
• If pot is raised, often call avoiding large pots in low-blinds
• If raised and the pot has multiple calls creating a large pot, go all-in
• Value bet flop if you hit your Ace or King
  
  • Place a higher bet with more people in the pot, and if the board is coordinated
• If you miss only continue bet if you are the pre-flop aggressor and everyone shows weakness

AQ, AJs, JJ-99

• Fold AQos, & AJs in early position
• Limp or standard raise with AQs, TT-99, and raise with JJ in early position
• In middle or late position call or raise with all of these hands if facing limpers; tend to fold if your facing a raise (particularly with AQos & 99)

Speculative Hands

• You must satisfy these three conditions:
  
  • Your in middle or late position
  • The pot is un-raised with at least two limpers
  • You are holding a hand which could develop into a post-flop monster
    
    • Usually means: suited connectors (45 suited and up), suited Aces, or ideally mid-low pocket pairs
    • Mid-high suited semi-connectors also qualify in late position after several limpers
• Goal is to see cheap flop, fold if you miss
• If pot is usually un-raised, limp small pairs in any position
• Do not use speculative hands to call raises or justify playing trash hands
• Be less inclined to play speculative hands if a player yet to act tends to raise

Late Position Value Hands

Must satisfy three criteria

1. Decent hand in late position
2. Everyone folds to you
3. You believe a raise will win the pot uncontested

Post-Flop Low-Blind Play

Post-flop is broken down into the following:

• Excellent Flops
• Solid Draws
• Hands you were pre-flop aggressor but missed
• Marginal hands
• All other hands (tend to check & fold)

Excellent Flops (Two pair with top kicker or better)

• Bet for value even if pre-flop aggressor
  
  • Bet more if facing multiple opponents or facing a dangerous flop
• If you believe your opponent is on a draw on the Turn, bet even if your hand is unbeatable

Solid Draws (flop draw to nut flush, mid pair with open ended straight/flush draw, or other quality draws)

• If in multi-way pot and checked to you as the last person to act, take the free card (unless you have a strong feeling a bet will win immediately)
• Keep the pot small when drawing
• If there are opponents to act after you, but it’s checked to you, bet if you would call a bet (semi-bluff)
• If facing a raise, tend to fold unless odds are good
• If someone bets just before you in a multi-way pot with players left to act, tend to fold. The action may get re-raised behind you
• With a straight-flush draw smooth call raise in multi-way, re-raise if heads up

Hands Where You Were Pre-flop Aggressor, and Missed

• If holding a missed speculative hand tend to check & fold every street
• If holding steal, or premium hand make a ½ - 2/3 pot bet against few opponents showing weakness
  
  • Fold to a prior bet or if facing a raise to your bet

Marginal Hands (Flop weak top pair or modest hand)

• If everyone checks to you bet ½ the pot. If you receive any action back, abandon the hand
• Fold if you face a bet before your turn to act
• Fold your hand if the following are met
  
  1. Pot is small
  2. Hand is marginal
  3. You were not the pre-flop aggressor

If you are the pre-flop aggressor and an opponent bets
out unexpectedly at the flop, he is very unlikely to have a monster hand.

Introduction to Sit 'n Go's

In the next few weeks I will be posting notes that I have taken from the book Sit 'n Go Strategy written by Collin Moshman. These notes are not an alternative for reading the book, but should be regarded as a compliment to the reading. One will never fully grasp the lessons to be learned in the text without reading it themselves.

This will be the first post of many. I will start out with the basics, then discuss blind play, and conclude with thoughts and maybe some comparison of Collin's strategy's Vs. strategy discussed at PokerXFactor. Without further a 'do, let's dive into the basics.


General Strategy

Play cautious game when the blinds are small and an aggressive game when the blinds are large

1. When the blinds are low, play only profitable hands. Avoid big pots unless confident that you have the best hand


2. When the blinds are of moderate size, begin stealing & restealing with decent hands in late position


3. When the blinds are high, make raises to win blinds. Make these raises with marginal hands that you would typically avoid playing in the lower blind levels

In the standard three payout SNG (Sit ‘N Go) structure, the more chips you have the less each chip is worth in real money; while the less chips you have, the more they are worth in real money.

Winning chips is not the same as winning real money; you should only be concerned about winning real money.

Being the better/raiser is better than being the caller. This is because betting and raising allows the possibility of winning the pot immediately. You can never win immediately by calling.

Equity & ROI

Equity is the amount of money a play will make in the long run.

Tournament Equity is your “rightful share” of a tournament’s prize pool. Every player has expected equity based on skill, mental state, distractions, etc. No player knows his own, nor any other player’s exact equity going into a tournament.

• Table selection is crucial to maintaining a high ROI (Return on Investment)

Equity uncertainty is fundamental to tournament poker play in at least two regards:

1. It allows you to profit


2. It causes vast fluctuations in your bankroll

It allows you to profit.

• You make money by having higher equity than other players


• Natural fluctuations (luck) prevent losing opponents from realizing they are losing

It causes vast fluctuations in your bankroll.

• You will inevitably face winning and losing streaks rather than a steady bankroll climb


• This can cause doubt in your ability and makes for uncertain short-term profit or loss

Doubling up in the early stages of a SNG only doubles your chip count, not your equity. In an early double up scenario, the loser has lost chips of greater value than those the winner receives.

When players are all-in with a race situation early in a SNG both players are long-term equity losers. The remaining players are equity gainers.

A player can gain equity even if another player at the table can continually knock out opponents while you gain no chips.

Pot Odds

• Single most important factor in deciding whether to call a bet


• To know whether you should accept a certain risk, you must know the corresponding reward

Chip Expected Value

EV (Expected Value) of a wager is how much it wins you on average

• Calculated by weighing each possible outcome with how likely it is to occur

cEV (Chip Expected Value) is the number of chips a play will make in the long run
Note: Fold is always cEV = 0