Saturday, December 24, 2005
Happy Holidays
After a great (and quite profitable) weekend meeting FJDelgado and hanging out with Joe and Aaron, I'm back home for the holidays until New Year's. It's always a nice change of pace, hanging out with the family and old friends and going for walks out in the frigid air. Happy Holidays everyone... unless you are one of the minority (I hope) of Christians who are offended by the phrase "Happy Holidays" like Bill O'Reilly is. In that case, Screw You.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Visitors
When I moved to Las Vegas, I thought I'd be getting a visitor at least every two weeks or so. After all, when I told my friends I'd be living here, the most common response I got was "Great! I'll definitely come visit you." The fact that most of these very same people had made a trip to Vegas in the six months before telling me that, made me think they actually would come visit. Somehow, this isn't the way it has worked out at all. My only visitors so far have been my girlfriend and my mother. Oh, and my friend Joe, but that doesn't really count since he lives here anyway and was only in town because he had been displaced from his med school for a month after Katrina.
This weekend, however, that is all about to change. I will finally have an actual visitor, my college friend Aaron. Also, Joe will be in town, and so will FJDelgado, who I'll be meeting for the first time. All of us play poker, although at somewhat different levels. If necessary, we could probably all agree to play 15-30 limit, but more likely, I think we'll just have a drink at the bar. In any case, I'm looking forward to finally having some different people around. Then I head back home for Christmas, and then back to Vegas with Brigid and my brother.
This weekend, however, that is all about to change. I will finally have an actual visitor, my college friend Aaron. Also, Joe will be in town, and so will FJDelgado, who I'll be meeting for the first time. All of us play poker, although at somewhat different levels. If necessary, we could probably all agree to play 15-30 limit, but more likely, I think we'll just have a drink at the bar. In any case, I'm looking forward to finally having some different people around. Then I head back home for Christmas, and then back to Vegas with Brigid and my brother.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Victory
The past month or so, I've been playing the tournament at the Mirage during the week. The cash games at the Rio and elsewhere are still pretty juicy on the weekend, but it seems like during the week, the biggest fish are playing in these tournaments. I also like the change of pace of playing in a tournament. The Mirage tournament is $130 plus unlimited $100 rebuys for the first hour, except on Thursday, when it's $230 plus a single $200 rebuy. Most people do the rebuy, so on Thursday it's essentially a $430 tournament. I've played in six or seven of these in the past couple months, and have never managed to make it to the money, which is either top 5 or top 9 finishers (depending on whether there are at least 50 entrants). However, my tournament strategy has been improving and I just know I'm better than nearly all of the players who play in these things.
So, yesterday (Thursday), after I got up around 4pm, I decided I'd try to make it to the tournament. I've been reading Harrington on Holdem Volume II, which is an excellent book about tournament strategy, so I decided I would do some last-minute reading before heading out. I've reached the part on Heads-Up (1v1) play, which is only useful if I make it to the final two... little did I know this would be the case later on in the night. However, the tournament was over after only one heads-up hand, and I didn't play it quite as Harrington suggested anyway. So, I guess the last-minute studying was kind of useless after all.
There were 59 entrants and about 50 rebuys, for a prize pool of I guess $21,800. First place is supposed to get 26% but this didn't quite work out when I did the math, so I'm not quite sure what the deal is. Anyway, I received nearly what I think I was supposed to. Here are some highlights:
Tournament lasted exactly 6 hours, going from 7pm to 1am.
Dealt AA once, raised in early position (EP), won the blinds.
Never dealt KK or QQ.
Dealt JJ twice. The first time was in the first hour, and a short stack (550) had gone all-in in EP, and was called by the player to my right. Since my hand was quite strong and I like to play a risky style to accumulate a big stack (and I hadn't used my rebuy yet), I just called. I figured that someone behind me with a weaker hand would be more likely to play, possibly even raising all-in to try to isolate the original all-in. People sometimes do this with relatively weak hands like AJ or 99, and if my JJ held up, I would be easily the chip leader at the table. Being chip leader is a position I am quite capable of exploiting. By just calling, however, I'm inviting AQ to play, too... a hand I'd rather have fold. This was a risk I was willing to take. I'd rather have a player with AK fold, too, but I think AK would call even if I raised all-in (I had about 2600 total I think). Even though I had only called, everyone else folded. The flop came 346, and, to my surprise, the guy to my right went all-in, betting 1550 at a 1700 pot. This is an unorthodox move, and it caught me off guard. What could he have here? With one player all-in, I can rule out a complete bluff. My opponent must think he can beat the all-in player. Usually people will only bet in this situation if they have a very big hand. So, my initial thought was that he must have a set, probably 66. It was also possible he had AA or KK. With these hands, though, he should be betting only 500 or so, trying to draw more of my chips into the pot. I decided that a hand like 88 or 99 was much more likely. Also possibly AK. These are hands that are probably ahead of the all-in raiser, but are still quite vulnerable and thus would like to get me to fold. So, I called and was surprised to see that he had only AJo. The other player had 77. The turn was a 9 and the river a 5, giving the all-in player a straight, but I won the 3100 side pot and came out ahead.
The second time I had JJ I raised and just won the blinds and antes.
Never dealt TT or 99.
I was dealt a pair higher than 88 only three times in six hours! Perhaps this isn't all that surprising. If I played 221 hands, I should expect to get a pair higher than 8's six times on average, so getting them only three times isn't all that ridiculous. Also, I may have played fewer than 221 hands, I'm not sure.
By the time we were down to ten players, there were two tables of five players, and I had the second biggest stack at my table. Two or three players were super short-stacked, but ninth place paid out over $900 and tenth paid $0, so people were playing very tight to try to get into the money. Fortunately for me, the big stack at the table was sitting to my right, allowing me to fold whenever he entered a pot, and steal the blinds and antes whenever he folded (this player would eventually be the tournament's second-place finisher). We had ten players for quite a while. Finally, I was in the small blind and an extremely tight, somewhat passive old pro raised under the gun. I figured him for at least AQ or 99, probably better. The next two players folded to me. I raised all-in with QT. Since the raiser had the third biggest stack at the table, he could have just folded his hand here and coasted into the money easily. He had been playing so tight that I thought this was his main goal, so I figured he would likely fold unless he had AA or KK. Actually, he called with AK! Even if I had AQ, which is about the best he could hope for, he was only a 74% favorite. Against any pair he is at only around 45%. Against a complete bluff he was only about 65% to win. So he was risking a sure $900+ here unnecessarily. Anyway, my QTo was 36% to win, and I caught a queen and knocked him out. The short stacks thanked me, and I was the new chip leader.
We consolidated into one final table of nine players. After a few hands I realized that players were still hanging on and just trying to move up a spot or two, even though 8th, 7th, and 6th paid only $120 or so more than the next lower finish. This was a great situation for me, as the chip leader. I started going all-in about 75% of the time if the players had folded around to me. With a stack of about 40K, I was picking up 2K or 3K each time I did this. Before I knew it, I was up to 60K, out of 160K total on the table. People were noticing what I was doing and even grumbling about it, but I wasn't showing my hands, so they didn't realize just how indiscriminantly I was raising. At one point, though, a micro stack smaller than the small blind limped in. The players in the blinds were particularly tight so I just pushed all-in with J4o. I figured people would see that the all-in player was on the brink of elimination and not want to risk their stacks at this point. I was right, and despite losing the main pot, I still added a bit to my stack from the side pot, which consisted of most of the blinds. The downside was that I had to show my J4o, and now some people were clearly determined to catch me bluffing. One guy actually complained to me. He thought I should be letting more hands in to try to knock out the short stacks. I didn't respond, but obviously, I didn't want the short stacks knocked out at all, since they were the whole reason my strategy was working so well.
I kept the big stack until we were down to four players and I started losing some hands. My J9 lost to AT, my J8 lost to AK. I had the second biggest stack when I found ATs under the gun. Four handed, this is a big hand. I considered a normal-sized raise, but one of the players at the table had recently started raising me all-in whenever I did that. So, I just went all-in myself. The big stack called me with JJ, and I was on the verge of elimination. Fortunately, the dealer put two tens on the board, and I sucked out and became the chip leader again.
When it got to be heads-up, I had about 100K and my oppenent had about 65K. First place was about $1300 more than second, and the Mirage rules forbid deal making, so we had to play it out for high stakes. The blinds were 2K, 4K with antes of 300, and I had the small blind and the button. I looked down at A3o, a good hand heads-up. I raised to 12K, looking for a call because I would have position on the flop. My oppenent raised all-in for another 50K or so. This is the player who had been re-raising me all-in quite frequently in the past 45 minutes or so. As a result, I somewhat recklessly decided to call him. Fortunately, my hand held up against his KJs (I was about 54% to win), and, for the first time ever, I had won a live tournament. They even gave me a framed picture of myself sitting behind all the chips!
So, yesterday (Thursday), after I got up around 4pm, I decided I'd try to make it to the tournament. I've been reading Harrington on Holdem Volume II, which is an excellent book about tournament strategy, so I decided I would do some last-minute reading before heading out. I've reached the part on Heads-Up (1v1) play, which is only useful if I make it to the final two... little did I know this would be the case later on in the night. However, the tournament was over after only one heads-up hand, and I didn't play it quite as Harrington suggested anyway. So, I guess the last-minute studying was kind of useless after all.
There were 59 entrants and about 50 rebuys, for a prize pool of I guess $21,800. First place is supposed to get 26% but this didn't quite work out when I did the math, so I'm not quite sure what the deal is. Anyway, I received nearly what I think I was supposed to. Here are some highlights:
Tournament lasted exactly 6 hours, going from 7pm to 1am.
Dealt AA once, raised in early position (EP), won the blinds.
Never dealt KK or QQ.
Dealt JJ twice. The first time was in the first hour, and a short stack (550) had gone all-in in EP, and was called by the player to my right. Since my hand was quite strong and I like to play a risky style to accumulate a big stack (and I hadn't used my rebuy yet), I just called. I figured that someone behind me with a weaker hand would be more likely to play, possibly even raising all-in to try to isolate the original all-in. People sometimes do this with relatively weak hands like AJ or 99, and if my JJ held up, I would be easily the chip leader at the table. Being chip leader is a position I am quite capable of exploiting. By just calling, however, I'm inviting AQ to play, too... a hand I'd rather have fold. This was a risk I was willing to take. I'd rather have a player with AK fold, too, but I think AK would call even if I raised all-in (I had about 2600 total I think). Even though I had only called, everyone else folded. The flop came 346, and, to my surprise, the guy to my right went all-in, betting 1550 at a 1700 pot. This is an unorthodox move, and it caught me off guard. What could he have here? With one player all-in, I can rule out a complete bluff. My opponent must think he can beat the all-in player. Usually people will only bet in this situation if they have a very big hand. So, my initial thought was that he must have a set, probably 66. It was also possible he had AA or KK. With these hands, though, he should be betting only 500 or so, trying to draw more of my chips into the pot. I decided that a hand like 88 or 99 was much more likely. Also possibly AK. These are hands that are probably ahead of the all-in raiser, but are still quite vulnerable and thus would like to get me to fold. So, I called and was surprised to see that he had only AJo. The other player had 77. The turn was a 9 and the river a 5, giving the all-in player a straight, but I won the 3100 side pot and came out ahead.
The second time I had JJ I raised and just won the blinds and antes.
Never dealt TT or 99.
I was dealt a pair higher than 88 only three times in six hours! Perhaps this isn't all that surprising. If I played 221 hands, I should expect to get a pair higher than 8's six times on average, so getting them only three times isn't all that ridiculous. Also, I may have played fewer than 221 hands, I'm not sure.
By the time we were down to ten players, there were two tables of five players, and I had the second biggest stack at my table. Two or three players were super short-stacked, but ninth place paid out over $900 and tenth paid $0, so people were playing very tight to try to get into the money. Fortunately for me, the big stack at the table was sitting to my right, allowing me to fold whenever he entered a pot, and steal the blinds and antes whenever he folded (this player would eventually be the tournament's second-place finisher). We had ten players for quite a while. Finally, I was in the small blind and an extremely tight, somewhat passive old pro raised under the gun. I figured him for at least AQ or 99, probably better. The next two players folded to me. I raised all-in with QT. Since the raiser had the third biggest stack at the table, he could have just folded his hand here and coasted into the money easily. He had been playing so tight that I thought this was his main goal, so I figured he would likely fold unless he had AA or KK. Actually, he called with AK! Even if I had AQ, which is about the best he could hope for, he was only a 74% favorite. Against any pair he is at only around 45%. Against a complete bluff he was only about 65% to win. So he was risking a sure $900+ here unnecessarily. Anyway, my QTo was 36% to win, and I caught a queen and knocked him out. The short stacks thanked me, and I was the new chip leader.
We consolidated into one final table of nine players. After a few hands I realized that players were still hanging on and just trying to move up a spot or two, even though 8th, 7th, and 6th paid only $120 or so more than the next lower finish. This was a great situation for me, as the chip leader. I started going all-in about 75% of the time if the players had folded around to me. With a stack of about 40K, I was picking up 2K or 3K each time I did this. Before I knew it, I was up to 60K, out of 160K total on the table. People were noticing what I was doing and even grumbling about it, but I wasn't showing my hands, so they didn't realize just how indiscriminantly I was raising. At one point, though, a micro stack smaller than the small blind limped in. The players in the blinds were particularly tight so I just pushed all-in with J4o. I figured people would see that the all-in player was on the brink of elimination and not want to risk their stacks at this point. I was right, and despite losing the main pot, I still added a bit to my stack from the side pot, which consisted of most of the blinds. The downside was that I had to show my J4o, and now some people were clearly determined to catch me bluffing. One guy actually complained to me. He thought I should be letting more hands in to try to knock out the short stacks. I didn't respond, but obviously, I didn't want the short stacks knocked out at all, since they were the whole reason my strategy was working so well.
I kept the big stack until we were down to four players and I started losing some hands. My J9 lost to AT, my J8 lost to AK. I had the second biggest stack when I found ATs under the gun. Four handed, this is a big hand. I considered a normal-sized raise, but one of the players at the table had recently started raising me all-in whenever I did that. So, I just went all-in myself. The big stack called me with JJ, and I was on the verge of elimination. Fortunately, the dealer put two tens on the board, and I sucked out and became the chip leader again.
When it got to be heads-up, I had about 100K and my oppenent had about 65K. First place was about $1300 more than second, and the Mirage rules forbid deal making, so we had to play it out for high stakes. The blinds were 2K, 4K with antes of 300, and I had the small blind and the button. I looked down at A3o, a good hand heads-up. I raised to 12K, looking for a call because I would have position on the flop. My oppenent raised all-in for another 50K or so. This is the player who had been re-raising me all-in quite frequently in the past 45 minutes or so. As a result, I somewhat recklessly decided to call him. Fortunately, my hand held up against his KJs (I was about 54% to win), and, for the first time ever, I had won a live tournament. They even gave me a framed picture of myself sitting behind all the chips!
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Poker Videos
Now that I've completed season 1 of Lost on DVD, I've been getting some poker videos from Netflix. First I tried Phil Hellmuth's instructional videos. Let me just say that I hate Phil Hellmuth and expected his videos to be horrible. I just wanted to make sure. Well, I was right. They are extremely hokey and pretty basic. The only thing of some marginal interest is when he describes some common tells to look for at the table.
The most recent video I got was World Poker Tour: Bad Boys of Poker. Here's how Netflix describes it:
Five of the world's greatest players go head to head at this ultimate Las Vegas showdown. Three-time WPT winner Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, Paul "The Truth" Darden, Phil Laak, David "Devilfish" Ulliot and WPT satellite tournament winner Mark Richards hit the tables to prove who's the baddest poker player on the planet. Extras include commentary by Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak, player bios and outrageous World Poker Tour clips.
Most of these guys are entertaining, and I was interested in the commentary by Esfandiari and Laak, so I decided to give it a try. It was well worth it. The commentary by "The Magician" and "The Unabomber" was consistently amusing and, when they would describe what was going through their minds as they played, even insightful (unfortunately they did this only a few times). They had interesting and funny stories to tell about the other players. According to Esfandiari, for instance, Devilfish is "the most funnest guy in the world to go to a strip club with." Also, both Esfandiari and Laak are in awe of Gus Hansen (who isn't?), although they jokingly talk about how lucky he is. They say that Gus is coming out with a book in the near future, which is the first I've heard of this - I'm excited to read it. Anyway, as a person who now plays so much poker that it sometimes gets a bit draining, I found it encouraging to see how much fun these guys still have.
Next DVD: Howard Lederer: "Tells" All
The most recent video I got was World Poker Tour: Bad Boys of Poker. Here's how Netflix describes it:
Five of the world's greatest players go head to head at this ultimate Las Vegas showdown. Three-time WPT winner Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, Paul "The Truth" Darden, Phil Laak, David "Devilfish" Ulliot and WPT satellite tournament winner Mark Richards hit the tables to prove who's the baddest poker player on the planet. Extras include commentary by Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak, player bios and outrageous World Poker Tour clips.
Most of these guys are entertaining, and I was interested in the commentary by Esfandiari and Laak, so I decided to give it a try. It was well worth it. The commentary by "The Magician" and "The Unabomber" was consistently amusing and, when they would describe what was going through their minds as they played, even insightful (unfortunately they did this only a few times). They had interesting and funny stories to tell about the other players. According to Esfandiari, for instance, Devilfish is "the most funnest guy in the world to go to a strip club with." Also, both Esfandiari and Laak are in awe of Gus Hansen (who isn't?), although they jokingly talk about how lucky he is. They say that Gus is coming out with a book in the near future, which is the first I've heard of this - I'm excited to read it. Anyway, as a person who now plays so much poker that it sometimes gets a bit draining, I found it encouraging to see how much fun these guys still have.
Next DVD: Howard Lederer: "Tells" All
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Sponsorship Update
Well, I never heard back from the cardroom.com guy. However, over the weekend I encountered two co-owners (I think) of "card-sharx apparel." After playing and chatting with them for several hours at the Rio, we got to talking about sponsorship. They already have some sorts of deals with Annie Duke, Clonie Gowen, Greg Raymer, Howard Lederer, Eric Seidel, Phil Gordron, Amir Vahedi, and Chris Ferguson. They told me they would consider making me a "featured pro" for their website, but that they weren't ready to start paying my way into tournaments. I asked by email what they meant by "featured pro." Here is the response:
I think I should call the cardroom guy back again.
Hi Keith,
Basically what we are looking to do is just give someone some nice shirts to wear when they play all the time in cash games our tournaments. In exchange for you doing this we will list you as a featured pro on your website. I am the largest site and have license deals with Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon, Erik Siedel, Amir Vahedi, Greg Raymer and more. This gives you instant credibility. This way you can work with other people to sponsor you into big events etc. All we ask if you get another sponsor to pay for the WSOP etc…is that you still wear our logo also as well as his on the same shirt etc.
Not all of this is perfectly clear. (He is "the largest site"?) I guess the idea is that by putting my name alongside those of a bunch of big-name pros, I might be better able to convince somebody else to sponsor me for tournaments. Hmmmm.... rather enticing. It might even work. However, I feel rather uncomfortable misrepresenting myself like this. Besides, the fact that I've never even played a major tournament would be sure to come out at some point, and I imagine any potential sponsors would have a problem with that last part: "you still wear our logo also as well as his on the same shirt etc."I think I should call the cardroom guy back again.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Rio Update
When I reported on the Rio last time, I complained that the walk from the parking garage was too long. It turns out there is one right outside the poker room, but I just didn't realize it until my friend Dan pointed it out. To get there, you drive by the main entrance, and take a right on Valley View (the one before you get to the Palms) and then the parking is on the right.
Recently I've been playing earlier in the evening because I haven't been awake very late. Unfortantely, the Rio usually only has one 2-5 NL table going at this time, and it takes a while to get a seat. Also, the game doesn't seem quite as wild as it was a couple weeks ago, especially in the early evening. Still, it's the best 2-5 NL game I know of. Also, they have three different poker magazines available to help pass the time while I wait for a table.
Recently I've been playing earlier in the evening because I haven't been awake very late. Unfortantely, the Rio usually only has one 2-5 NL table going at this time, and it takes a while to get a seat. Also, the game doesn't seem quite as wild as it was a couple weeks ago, especially in the early evening. Still, it's the best 2-5 NL game I know of. Also, they have three different poker magazines available to help pass the time while I wait for a table.
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