Poker Elmo's World

2009-06-17T19:51:00.001-07:00

Ending this blog

Hi all. I am not playing quite as much poker anymore - and don't post enough to blog on it consistently. I will still post occasional poker thoughts, and will post on my recent big tourney win, but will now just do it on my professional blog - PAeconomist.blogspot.com. (The benefit of teaching game theory is I can post about poker topics and it still fits my work :) )

Thanks to all who followed this over the past couple years.

Matt

2009-03-01T07:17:00.001-08:00

I am not good at quitting :)

So, I was planning to basically quit and only play tourneys and only once a week. That basically lasted two weeks. I played cash games along with tourneys during those first couple days I devoted to tourneys, I also played an extra hour session of just cash games a couple times during the first half of February. The last two weeks, however, I started playing more. I wanted to play, I was winning, therefore I played a bit more. However, through Wednesday, Feb 25th, I had played enough to earn (only) about 5600 FPPs, and had not played any on any other site. I had played a lot less than before, but still a decent amount. My spring break started Friday, so I decided on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I would try to get to 10K FPPs so I am supernova at least one more month. I was successful, although it was a drag, even though I had a nice couple days in terms of profitability. Saturday I earned about 2800 FPPs in a day. I don't want to do that again.

Overall, on cash tables I had a great month - far exceeding my average monthly profitability for 2008 (which I was happy with). Also, for fun, I spent about $200 buying into step 1s and step 2s on pokerstars. I turned that into three step 4 entries (each worth $215). I already had two - so now I have five step 4 entries. I will start playing those this week. Once the WSOP sats start, I will try to play step 6s since I could just keep the cash if I win the satellite.

I don't think I will be making a trip to this years WSOP - although big satellite wins could change my mind. :) Will post if I win big.

I still don't intend to play too much, although since this is my spring break week, perhaps I can put in a few hours on some of these days to build a lot of FPPs early and then perhaps maintain supernova for another month. The dollar value of the FPPs I get is pretty sizable once stars adds their supernova multiplier, so it is certainly nice to have.

2009-01-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

Thinking of making a big shift in priorities ...

I am thinking of (almost) giving up poker. I have a couple new ideas for where to take my professional life. I am very excited about them. However, I think poker is going to get in the way if I don' make major life change. The problem is that when I have a free 40 minutes (sometimes less), I often fire up some games. Combine the times where I play for longer, with all the 20-50 minute sessions, and that is a lot of time I play poker. It isn't wasted time, since I earn money, but I fear that if I don't make a big change, I will struggle to get anywhere with my new ideas.

My initial plan:

1. Finish getting 10K FPPs this month. I only have 2500 to go - that won't take too many hours.

2. Quit poker, except for Saturday afternoons. I have supernova until March 31st if get to 10K fpps this month. I get a freerole tourney on Saturdays that is a nice value.

3. After March 31st, only play one night a week - and focus on tourneys. I like tourneys much more, so I should play them more, right? I could have a couple cash game tables going, or some SNGs going, but I think the big thing is to only play one night a week.

It is a bit scary for me to commit to this, since it is a big change. However, I think I have to do this. I need that time to work on my new ideas.

2009-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

A bit of redemption

In my last post, I noted how I felt bad about making an error in the $10 buyin, $30K guarantee on Saturday, Jan 10th. Well, I entered again this week.

I did OK early, doubling up with good hands and chipping up nicely. I then hit a couple monster hands and once in the money, I found myself chip leader with about 500 left. When that happened, I was telling myself how I was going to play better and make this one count.

I did.

I used a lot of small (about 2.25x the bb) raises PF to steal pots - they worked about half the time. I also had a few hands and when I got played back at, won some nicer pots. I played pretty aggressive most of the time, and from the time I had the chip lead until the final table (which was going from over 500 to 9), I was only all in once, with AJ vs. KJ, to get to about 1.9 million chips when starting the final table. That was 3rd in chips, and the mean chip count was 1.75 million.

At the final table, I was in the sb with AK and about 2 million chips. The short stack was on the button and pushed for about 400K. I reraised and the bb called for about 1 million chips with JJ. The short stack had 97. The JJ held, and we were 7 handed, but I was now one of the shorter stacks.

I pushed A6s in teh hijack with just under 1 million chips and an M=4, but was called by AK to cripple me, and I was out a couple hands later. I ended up 7th, for just over a $1,000 cash. I have had bigger tourney cashes, but $1,000 is nice, and it is pretty cool to finish in the final 7 out of a 5,000+ player field. I just wish I would have won the coinflip with AK. Maybe next time. :)

2009-01-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Tournament Blow Up

I played in the Supernova freerole on Saturday. When I play that, I often join the pokerstars $30K guaranteed, which has an $11 buyin. I got bounced early in the supernova freerole, but did well in the 30K. I was actually chip leader with 240 or so left, but this tourney has 10 minute blinds, so the chip lead does not afford you as much leeway as in other tourneys.

I made an awful, ill-timed move after I drifted down in chips. I was probably 12th in chips out of 160, but I was in the bb vs. the sb who had more chips. I am going off memory here, so the numbers could be slightly off, but they are close: I had about 190K chips when the average was 110. The sb raised my bb from 6K to 16K. I called the extra 10K with 54 suited.

The flop was K73 (all different suits). The sb led for 20K into the approx 40 K pot. Now it is on me. I think he is going to CB this always. He was very aggressive in the 3 or so orbits I had played with him. So, if he raises 1/2 the hands from the sb, then continuation bets always, his range is super-wide and he usually does not have a king here. Because I have a gutshot straight draw behind in case he does have something, I decided to raise. Up until now, I think my decisions are smart. The next move is where I think I screwed up. I could have raised to 50K. That opened me up to be bluff-3-bet all in and I fold, but it would be very tough for him to 3-bet there without a king. Note that even his bluff has me beat.

If I push, I likely only get called with good kings, a pair of aces, and a set. I decided to almost push - raising to 110 K. This was dumb. He reraised, and I could have folded and left myself with about 65K. Given the odds of a gutshot, I should have done this. I called, however, and busted to his AK. I should have either pushed (which makes my later decision easy), or bet smaller.

In a normal structure tourney, I don't even consider gambling like this. But these have 10 minute levels, and it almost plays like a turbo. Still, I am bummed about the way I played that hand.

Cash Games and Sit-and-Goes

I had a good January, mainly with cash games. I am buying in for 30 big blinds at full ring games, mostly 1/2 NL and 2/4 NL, and usually leaving if I hit over 50 big blinds. I had just been crushing the games, but have had a downswing since Sunday night, down between 10-15 buyins. I am still up 10-15 buyins for the month, which is good, but it feels less noteworthy since I was up so much more 5 days ago.

In SNGs, I am still playing super-turbos, and doing pretty well this month (year). I seem to do better on the full tilt ones than on stars, but I think that is probably just short-term variance.

I will likely be playing the stars $50K freerole again Saturday afternoon. I will try to be in IRC for anyone who wants to stop by to chat.

2009-01-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

Thinking about goals for 2009

ITH had a thread on poker goals for the year. I posted there, but figured I would list them here also.

1. Enjoy poker.

2. Don't use poker as a default way to spend the extra 20/30/40 minutes if I don't want to play.

3. Maintain supernova on stars (not sure if the first two are compatable with putting in the 20-hours per month I need to make supernova, but hopefully ...).

4. Earn money. I would be thrilled if I came close to earning what I made in 2008 (I would like more, naturally, but if I made what I did in 2008, I would be one happy potato).

Reviewing last years goals:

1. Continue to make some side-money for my family. I would love to make enough to finish our basement and fully-fund my roth IRA and my wife's roth and conventional IRA. (I know - saving for retirement - pretty exciting thing to do with poker winnings.)

Well, this was mostly a success. We finished our basement and did contribute quite a bit to savings.

2. Play a few more tourneys. Related to this, I would love to play a major live tourney or two, but I am not sure when/where I will get the opportunity.

Online, I did not play too many tourneys. So this would be a failure. But, I did play and cash in the $1500 WSOP event #2., so this was a partial success.

3. Work my way up to 5/10 NL holdem.

I came nowhere close. I played a bit of 5/10 from time to time, but losing one massive pot was enough to send me back down the limits. I still mostly grind 1/2 NL, but I do play some 2/4 and 3/6.

4. Begin Poker-Coaching.

I did a bit of this. I enjoyed it, but I don't really have much time for this.

2009-01-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

New Year

I took a short break at the end of 2008 from poker, and I am still assessing how much I want to play in 2009. I have been feeling like I am playing too much, and I should slow down. The problem is, poker is a way I earn money, which makes me think I should play whenever I have free time.

I am supernova on stars still. I get 2 months free at supernova, but it will extend until July if I get 10K base FPPs per month. Unfortunately, I have not been interested in playing too many cash games. I have been much more focused on SNGs, which I earn far fewer FPPs playing. Also, some of the games I have been playing on stars are their "hyper turbos", which are even sicker than tilt's hyper-turbos. They have no rake, however, which means no FPPs. The players on stars are worse, however, since their hyper turbo SNGs are all for satellites. Even the regulars who multi-table make some awful mistakes. On Saturday night, I won one without playing a hand. It was a 6-max SNG, with 2 seats. On the first 4 hands, two players doubled up. Then these two geniuses, who could coast and get at least 3rd (which is your money back), get all in with KJ vs. QT. One player now has 3000 chips, I have 650, and another player has 850. The player with 850 gets all in to the big stack a couple hands later and loses, and I win my seat with a VPIP of 0.

I really would like to get my butt in gear and get the 10K base FPPs, however. I like being supernova. I get a greater rate of FPPs, which works to a nice rakeback. I have also played the 50K weekly freerole most weeks, which has the value of a $35 buyin tourney. I have had little luck there, but the play is far weaker than a typical $35 buyin tourney, so it is a good tourney.

2008-12-19T05:12:00.001-08:00

Now I know what a crack addict feels like

I have been playing a lot of the hyper-turbo SNGs on full tilt and they are very addictive. I probably have averaged playing 20-25 per day over the past week. I mostly play the $45 and $30 buyins, since the variance is huge.

For those who are not familiar with the hyper turbos, you start with 300 chips and the blinds start at 15/30. The stacks aren't so thin where you have to push absolutely anything early, but they are pretty short. The trick in this (as with all SNGs), is knowing exactly when it is right to push and when it is right to fold. A good knowledge of ICM is crucial, although with stacks this short, you can't push all in as liberally and you can call all in more often. I actually don't think my ICM knowledge is perfect, but it isn't bad.

My best guess is that I have about a 5-10% ROI in these things (probably slightly higher counting the full tilt rakeback).

I have played a tad on stars, but not much, I had a nice run a week ago on the cash game tables there, so my bankroll is higher now than it has been in a while. I also have no more plans to cash out for a little bit, as our basement expenses are now covered.

On January 1st I will start putting in some hours on stars as I try to maintain my supernova and build up FPPs early in the year. Regardless of how devoted I get to earning Stars VPPs, I will certainly have enough for one $1500 event at the WSOP. I likely would have enough for two events or a bigger buyin event. However, I don't know whether I will be making the trip this year. (Since we have 3 kids, it puts a pretty big burden on my wife.)

I hope everyone enjoys the holidays. I will try to provide more-frequent updates (hopefully with good news).

2008-12-10T08:02:00.001-08:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 685903

2008-12-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Update

I made supernova shortly after my last post. I had felt like I was in a rut where things were not going right so I had not been playing as much. It was cool to make it - and I cashed out 186K FPPs right away to help pay for finishing our basement.

I have played a tad more recently. I got back into SNGs and sats. I have had some limited success. On stars, I have been bounced from all sats except I won a 650 W$ sat, which makes the overall experience profitable. On stars I have only played multi-table SNGs. I haven't played too many, but of those I played I took down a $36 45-man tourney.

I have played a bunch on full tilt recently also. A wise person might ask: "Why the he** would you get supernova on stars, then go play on full tilt". The reason is that they have these "super-turbo" SNGs. They are like crack: very addictive. The levels are 3 minutes long, and you start with 300 chips. ICM becomes very important, although some adjustments are crucial as well (big stacks there are extremely powerful). I have probably played 250 of them by now. I am +EV in them (at least up to the $70 level), but the variance can be pretty brutal.

I have played some NL FR and SH on stars as well. I am only playing that when I want to, however. In January I will make sure I put in the time to maintain supernova - but for the rest of the month I can avoid cash games if I choose.

2008-11-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Up to 97500 Base FPPs

I keep getting closer to Supernova. I had very little time to play this week, but I think I might be able to get to supernova this weekend (should take about 5 hours of play).

If I don't get there, I will get close.

I am not quite sure what I will spend my FPPs on yet. I was going to pay to finish the basement, but I think I have that covered.

Running about average when I play. The past 2 years the games have gotten easier around the holidays. With the bad economy, I don't know if that will happen again this year. I hope so, however.

2008-10-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

Getting close ...

Poker is still a bit of a drag. I am winning a bit, although nothing to shout about, but not enjoying it much. Most of of the time I am playing between 13-16 tables of 1/2 NLFR.

As the screenshot shows, I am almost at supernova. Once I hit it, I am probably taking a week break from poker.

2008-10-11T05:47:00.001-07:00

Playing for profit, not fun ...

I have been enjoying poker a lot less recently. I have been doing OK (albeit not great), and am now well out of a downswing I had in September.

Poker just isn't too much fun right now. I have been playing between 10-18 tables of 1/2 NL at stars. It all just seems the same anymore. I am potentially looking for other ways to make side money (through work opportunities) so I could play less and not have a drop in our family income.

I will keep playing a bit. I am almost at 90K base FPPs at stars, and certainly want to hit supernova this year. It isn't too tough to hit 10K base FPPs per month when averaging 14 tables. Further, my attitude may change at some point this year or next, and I would be pretty upset with myself if I came so close and was not able to enjoy supernova benefits next year.

2008-09-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lousy week

I had a pretty rough week - lost about 10 buyins over the course of the week. I am sure that I miplayed a few hands, but mostly I think it was coolers/bad luck. Yesterday I had 5 big hands where all money got in:

The first 4:
QQ vs. JJ (win) pre flop
AK vs. QQ (loss) pre-flop
QQ vs. JT on a J73 flop (loss)
98 vs. JT on a KQ8 flop - he had a flush draw too, so he was over a 65% favorite (loss)

The worst part of this - the 3 loses were at 2/4 NL (short stacking), while the win was at 1/2 (also short stacking). After this, I played some full stack NL. I was slightly up, when I got all in on a Q82 flop w AA vs. KK, and was rivered. Kind of a bad way to end the day.

Bad swings happen, just as good ones do - so I just need to keep playing well, or stop if I think I am not playing well. I am up a bit today, and am probably done. Hopefully I have a good weekend.

Quest for supernova

I am at about 5300 base FPPs this month, and slightly over 77K for the year. I should hit 100K (and supernova) sometime in late October or early November. That will add a nice boost to the FPPs I earn from stars.

2008-09-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Playing some, but still busy

I have played a bit in the past few weeks, but have been busy, as today marks the end of the first two weeks of the semester. My results have been all over the place. Since the last post, I have had two big downswings and two big upswings. thankfully, one of the upswings was completely ridiculous, so I am up a modest amount over the past few weeks. Really, I am running at about my expectation, but my results are all over the place.

WCOOP?

I doubt I will play any WCOOP events. I simply don't have time to commit more than 4 hours to an event. (And if you do well, it takes far more than that.) With the school year starting, and all the kids activities, it is tough to find big blocks of time to play. I usually play in stretches of less than one hour - and sometimes for as few as 15-20 minutes.

2008-08-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Have not played much this month

I guess that statement is all relative - but I have played about 11K hands so far this month. Given I have mostly 10-16 tabled, it really isn't many hands. I was getting back from a trip early this month. Then I visited family where I was gone for 9 days. I played a couple times on the trip, but only for a couple hours.

Thankfully I have done pretty well, with a PTBB/100 rate that is just slightly above my long term rate. On the trip, I also played live. I played a $175 tourney at the running aces casino in MN, where I busted in the 3rd hour on a pretty standard play. My mom played too, almost making the final table. While she was playing, I played some cash games where I won back my buyin for a break-even night.

I have about 5400 base FPPs (VPPs) for the month. I hope play 10 hours or so in the next 10 days, which will get me to Platinum star for yet another month.

School starts again on Monday. I am looking forward to it - but once again that will certainly cut into my ability to find time to play poker.

2008-08-05T09:07:00.001-07:00

Took a break

I had a family vacation last week. Because of that, I didn't play a single hand of poker for over 8 days. I played a little each of the past 3 days and ran well, which I am happy about. I am playing only on pokerstars this month, as I hope to make platinum again. I had just over 60K VPPs going into this month, so if I get platinum every month from here on out, I will reach supernova in November. Given that the school year starts up in a few months, I might struggle to make platinum every month, but hopefully I can accumulate enough VPPs early to get to supernova soon.

Next year - Supernova elite or another quest?

The more I play, the more I realize that trying for supernova elite will be futile given I have a full time job. I can comfortably play 12-16 tables now, still with no use of AHKs, so it is feasible I can get to 24 tables, but I just don't think I will be able to, nor do I think I can get in the hours necessary.

I might have a quest to earn enough in FPPs in the first part of 2009, however, to buy pokerstars WSOP main event package. It costs 710K FPPs, and it is one of their best values in terms dollar value/FPP. I would need to earn just over 200K base points, which I think I could do, especially if I focus and play a lot in the first 2 weeks of 2009, as I might be able to earn 40K base points per week those two weeks, which would allow me to coast to the 200K by May.

2008-07-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

Made a final table Sunday night

I played a few tourneys Sunday night:

The $200 mulligan on full tilt (busted in hour 2)
The $75 7:00 PM tourney on full tilt (busted in hour 2)
The $11 (one rebuy, one addon) at stars - busted in hour one
The $22 rebuy on full tilt.

In the last one, I made a run. I went into hour 2 slightly above average in chips, then used big hands to propel me to 3rd chip position out of about 60 left after the 2nd break. Starting the 3rd hour, I literally raised every hand first in. It was a 6 max tourney, so fewer players to go through, but I chipped up from 34K to 66K by doing this, and getting action twice when I had hands (I certainly got more action because of my image).

However, after changing tables to a very aggro table and losing a 12-out coinflip, I only ended hour 3 with 44K in chips. This was still above average with about 35 left, as we neared the bubble of 24 players paying. I chipped away, restole where necessary, and got lucky twice (KK beats AA, and J9 beats QQ on a J82 flop) and made the final table.

I busted in 6th (which is first out at a 6 max tourney) at the final table when I restole from "tilting guy" who happened to have QQ that time, and that was good for a $475 cash. I am happy with most of my play, but will review my hand history. I think I got too timid raising first in the later stages of the tourney, although I did resteal a lot.

1/2 NL cash games

14-18 tabling 1/2 NL is going OK, although I can't play as many tables on full tilt, I think. Their software lags a bit, and the fact that I don't see images for players makes it tougher for me to track who I am playing against and their tendancies. I think at full tilt I have to restrict myself to 8 (which is what I can play with 2 monitors in tile mode). Last week was a profitable one, although slightly below expectation, in large part due to losing a fair amount trying to 14-table full tilt (where I think I made a few mistakes).

Going to mostly grind this week, although I might try to play tourneys one night.

2008-07-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

Downswing over?

After winning over 3 buyins earlier in the day, I played for a bit at night. Mostly 17-tabling 1/2 NL, but at the end I came back to play some limit.

Sometimes poker seems so easy.

In my NL games, I made over $0.80/hand. Poker seems so easy sometimes.

VPPs for the month

I am not even to 15K VPPs for the month. Given the double VPP promotion, that is slacking. Thoughts of 30K VPPs are long gone. 20K VPPs would be a stretch, although I do plan on playing several hours tomorrow.

2008-07-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Grinding Stars

I have been playing quite a bit on stars the past few days. They have a double VPP promotion that started July 1st and goes through July 6th. I was hoping to get about 5,000 VPPs per day, for 30,000 K total, but after 3 days I had barely broken 10,000 VPPs. Not bad, but not great.

The games are a bit tougher, as all grinders are multitabling, and I am about even for the past 3 days. I am up some at NL cash (16-tabling), but down at limit. I think the NL earn rate is about normal for me, and I have been a tad unlucky at limit (e.g., last night I only got AA 4 times in 1350 hands, and lost money with them). However, I might only be a breakeven player vs. all these grinders right now. The problem I run into is I can get a lot more VPPs with limit.

Will be playing quite a bit the next 3 days on stars, then I have to play tilt to work off a $250 bonus I got from them. I think I need about 5,000 Tilt points, which should not be too tough to get if I can 8-10 table NL games, as tilt points accumulate more quickly than stars points (but they are not as valuable).

2008-06-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

Fighting through a downswing

I had a pretty bad downswing recently. I actually had a bad 4 days right after the WSOP, so I took a 3-day break. Then I had a great week after that, but proceeded to lose all the profits from my great week within 3 days or so. Most of my loses have come from HU NL holdem, so I am going to take a break from that game until I can figure out and fix my leaks. Some of the downswing is bad luck, but some of it is certainly from bad plays. That being said, I have now posted 3 straight winning days since my disaster of a day Saturday, recouping about 1/2 the losses from that day.

Multitabling stars and thoughts about next year

I have been experimenting with increasing the number of tables I play on stars. I have now 15 tabled NL full ring several times. I have had pretty decent results too. Over about 10K hands, my earn rate is slightly above my long term average earn rate. 10K hands is still very much the "short-run", but I don't feel like I am missing much.

I am going to investigate how to use these "AHK scripts". I would love to work my way up to 24-tabling 1/2 NL. If I can successfully do that - I may make a run at supernova elite on stars next year. If I 24-table 1/2 NL full ring, I estimate that it would take 1200 hours next year. That sounds like a ton of hours, but if I play 20 hours per week during the 30 weeks classes are in session (for 600 hours), and 35 hours per week for 20 other weeks (700 hours), that would get me the necessary hours with some times for when I need breaks. While that sounds like a lot of hours (even for me), I usually play poker every day. So 35 hours a week would mean 3 hours most days, with 3 longer days per week. In addition to 24-tbling 1/2 NL (or perhaps some 2/4 NL in there as well), there are other options. Ten tabling 3/6 limit SH, 5/10 limit full ring, or some combination of the two would also get me about the same number of VPPs as 24-tabling 1/2 NLFR. If I could somehow become a winning player at 5/10 SH and could 8-tbl that, that would get me much more. I think it is important to have this option, as if I get a bit bored of NL, I could take some time to play limit.

During the final 6 months of this year, I will work on figuring out whether I can profitably 24-tbl 1/2 (or 2/4) NLFR, and 10 (or more)-tbl 3/6 SH limit. If I can, I think I will go for it. The rewards are just too awesome, with the value of the enormous number of FPPs, and free buyins to the PCA, WSOP, and WCOOP main events.

2008-06-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

WSOP trip report – Part 2.

Note – the beginning and end chip counts are accurate. The rest are probably close, but also probably not exact.

Levels 3 and 4 (100/200 blinds and 100/200 blinds with 25 antes). I start these levels with 3375. Average is probably about 4300.

My M=11 when I start in level 3. This stack size has some features: 1) it isn’t a great size to splash around with, as a reraise means you lose 20% of your stack, and 2) it is a decent stack size for reraise pushes if you find a good spot, since you could pick up the 300 in blinds and the initial PF raiser (often 600) to add 30% or so to your stack.

To start these levels, I am playing patient, and looking for a spot to reraise push, even with a marginal hand. I will play good hands, of course, but I can’t count on them coming for me. I play about an orbit or so – losing the blinds twice, and getting one steal, before picking up the first meaningful hand – KQs in the big blind. A guy in MP raised to 600 and I have about 2900 in my stack. At this point, I think I could have pushed, but I decided instead to call the extra 400. I don’t like having to call off 15% of my stack on a call, but any flush draw, straight draw, or top pair hand and I will be getting all my chips in the middle. I have 2300 in my stack after the call. The flop is a very pretty KK2. I check, and he bets 1300. With only 1000 left, I don’t mess around and just push all in, since there is a flush draw on board. Looking back, this is probably a mistake, although I might be saying that since he folded after I ch-raised pushed. That being said, I don’t know that ch-calling there looks any less like a monster. Either way, a good result, as I added 1900 from villains stack and the 100 small blind to chip up to about 4900.

About 4 hands later, I get 55 (either in CO or hijack) and raise to 550 (bb is 200). The big blind calls. He is an aggressive guy who I think might be a live pro (or at least thinks he is capable of being a live pro). The reason I think this is his fundaments seem a bit shaky, but he is very aggro and seems very, very comfortable. The flop comes T72 with two spades. He checks, and I make a CB of about 625. He calls, I am not happy, and a 4 comes on the turn. He checks again, and I check behind. There is a flush draw on board, along with many straight draws, so I could be ahead, but I can’t play a big pot with 55 here. The river pairs the 2 – which is a good card for me. It is very doubtful he has a two, so if he was winning, he is still winning, and he was on a draw, he didn’t hit. I am mentally thinking about what to do if he bets, but I don’t have to worry – he checks. I check behind, and he shows T3 of spades for a busted flush draw. I add another 1250 to my stack – which is now around 6000.

The blinds go through me, and then I pick up 66 in 3rd position. I get called by the button (who was same player as 55 hand) and the small blind (who was villain in the AT suited hand in level 1. The flop comes 852 with 3 spades (I have no spades). Given I had been very active and the board isn’t too pretty for me, I decide not to CB this flop when the small blind checks to me. The button also checks, and we see an offsuit ace hit the turn. When the small blind checks to me, this seems like the perfect card to make a bet with. I can very easily represent an AK, AQ, AJ, etc. with this bet after raising PF and checking the turn, and so I fire about 900 chips or so into the pot, and both players fold. This gets my stack to just over 7,000 chips.

This is about where level 3 ended and level 4 began. Level 4, like level 3, was 100/200 blinds. However, level 4 also had a 25 chip ante – making the pots much more worth stealing! In the first orbit of the new level, I stole two times. Once was sb vs. bb, once in MP. Both I must have had something, but I didn’t write down the hands (probably suited connectors or broadway cards). One thing I notice now is a guy comes to our table, and I swear he is Mike Matasow, just 20 years younger. It is just uncanny how similar he looks to him. He does seem like a much nicer guy than Matasow, however, and much quieter.

I took an orbit off due to lack of cards/opportunities. When the blinds hit me again, I fold the bb, but limp A8o first in from the small blind. The flop comes A82. Hmm … how to play this monster. The opponent was an older guy who was very nice, but, bless him, was horrible. He was way, way, way too tight. He wouldn’t bet for me, so I made a small bet hoping he had something and would call. He folded, and I pick up the equivalent of a steal. This guy was great, and I will call him Old Fish from now on. I abused Old Fish throughout the tourney, but he saw enough good hands from me to always think I had it. Plus, once of twice when he contemplated and I got called elsewhere, he saw the goods from me. Old Fish would say things like: that guy pushes light – I was ready to call him with AK, maybe even AQ.

I fold for an orbit, and find AKs utg. This is now near the end of level 4, where we are about to go on a break. I raise utg to 625. The button, who is our 20-year younger version of Mike Matasow, reraises to about 1900. He only has 2000 behind. I have about 7300 or so, and figure that there is too much in the pot, and there are too many hands he would play here that makes me think I have good equity vs. his range. He was moderately aggro at times, and I had been aggro, so perhaps he was reraising me light. Although, maybe subconsciously I am just thinking this since he looks like Matasow. So, it gets back to me. I ask how much he has left to confirm he only has about 2K or so. I then put in enough chips to push him all in. When our Matsow-look-alike goes into the tank, I am happy. He obviously does not have aces or kings. I figure he will certainly call with either AQ or a lower pair, since he wouldn’t fold for half his chips, but I am not in too bad of a spot here.

After a few minutes, he starts asking me questions. I don’t really say much, figuring my utg raise and push look strong enough without me talking. Plus, I am not a good enough live player to make sure I don’t give away information. After about 5 minutes he folds! I was stunned, but happy. At the end of the next break, he was commenting on how dumb he was to reraise there with QJ. He asked what I had and I told him I would tell him after one of us busted. (Which wasn’t much longer for him.) I folded my blinds, then a few more hands before the 2nd break. At the 2nd break, I had 9,775. I was very happy with being able to chip up to 9775. Plus, I in levels 3 and 4 I increased my stack without ever seeing a showdown, which is certainly a much lower-variance way to increase a chip-stack.

To be continued …

2008-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Poker Elmo's 2008 WSOP event 2 trip report – Part 1

Note – the beginning and end of chip counts are accurate. The rest are probably close, but also probably not exact.

Prior to day 1 starting. I felt really good. I was talking to ChrisJP before the event started about this – but I felt quite different. This year, walking into the WSOP, I felt like a poker professional. I have now earned pretty significant sums of money for a few straight years playing poker – and feel like I have a great feel for the game. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself either, since this is only one tourney and absolutely anything can happen in a tourney. I had 3 other WSOP tourneys, with poor results (main event 2005 – busted with KK to AA near end of day 1 when I had a well-above-average stack, prelim event 2006 – busted in first two hours with a bad non-push early and a bad push late, and busted in level 4 of another 2006 prelim with average stack when my AK ran into AA). I have replayed those events and bustouts in my mind many times. However, I was determined not to let the ghosts of my WSOP past affect me today.

I stayed at ChrisJP’s place the night before the event – wow, what a great advantage. It was so nice to wake up and just go outside on a beautiful 70 degree morning and relax and chat with Chris. As I was driving to the Rio, I felt so much better than I normally do waking up in the morning when in a hotel – I felt like I had a “home-court advantage”.

Levels 1 and 2 (25/50 and 50/100 blinds). I start these levels with 3000. Average is 3000.

I got TT within the first couple of hands, on the button, and elected to call a 3x raise (to 150). The flop came 972, and I called a 250 bet from a lady who I don’t think would double barrel without an overpair or better, so when she also bets the turn, I fold.

About an orbit later, I get AT diamonds and raise to 150 from the hijack. I am called by the sb, who checks a KK8 flop w two hearts. I make a CB of 225, and it is called. The turn brings a 2, and I check behind when villain checks. The river brings is offsuit ten, and villain fires 500. Given the possibility of a busted flush draw or lower pair, I call and get shown 88 for a flopped boat.

With these two hands, I lost half my stack within 20 minutes and I am thinking that I could be out quickly. There were probably two minutes there where the following things went through my mind:
- I wanted to be anywhere but Vegas
- I couldn’t believe that I seemed destined for another early WSOP exit.
- The thoughts of my other WSOP bustouts went through my mind.
- I can’t believe that I could be out without ever being above the starting stack.

After a minute or so, I slapped myself (figuratively) and reassessed the situation. The facts as I saw them:
- This is only one tourney, I can’t put too much stock in any one tourney.
- I still have 30 big blinds, I am not dead
- Every tourney I have made a big score in there has been a moment where things looked really bad.
- I am better than these people – so lets just play poker and see what happens.
- I might bust early – but I won’t go out without a fight (this cues the Rocky music in my head).

Game on.

An orbit later, I get 88 in the sb with an OAD in the bb who thinks he is hot stuff. I limped 88, thinking this guy would raise, and he did not disappoint. He raised to 175 (bb is still 50), and I raised to 850. He thinks for a while and pushes me all in (for about 1500) and shows KJ. This is a pretty bad play by him, IMO, as he has to be at best flipping, and he could have folded with only investing 175. The board came AQ5-Q-9, and I double up back to about the original starting stack.

I felt good about things at this point – like I had a new lease on my tournament. After defending my big blind to a 3x raise with AJ, I ch-raised a J92 rainbow flop and took down the pot. The next hand, I limped K2s in the sb, and the flop came KK2 in a 3-handed pot. I checked the flop, hoping there would be a bet, but there wasn’t one. On the turn, I checked again, and the big blind bet 125 into the 150 pot, and the MP limper called. I decided to ch-raising here, hoping someone had enough to play along (there were two flush draws on the turn. I ch-raised to 400, hoping a flush draw might find the odds appealing to call, or perhaps someone else has a monster they will stack off with. Both fold, however, and I pick add another 400 chips to my stack.

My stack is now up to about 4000 or so (I think), and we are now moving to the next level, with 50/100 blinds. I find 88 in my big blind and defend a 3x raise from the hijack. My early read on him is that he is pretty straightforward, a bit agro, but won’t get too out of line when his stack is at risk. When the flop comes 974 with two diamonds, I decide to ch-raise is 350 chip CB to 900. I think I am probably best here, and if he reraises I will safely dump my hand. He folds, and I am up to 4600 or so. The next orbit in the small blind, I find AQ suited, and I reraise a button raiser from 300 to 900, and he folds. This gets me over 5K.

I feel like I have been pretty active, and I guess I have. I haven’t been too out-of-line, but the table has not known that. Right now, I am feeling super about things. I was a card from being out within 30 minutes, and now I am above average at about 5K.

Unfortunately for me, it was time for my luck to even out after winning a flip earlier. I raised to 300 with 99 from 3rd position, and 5th position pushes for about 1600. I have an easy call with getting 300+300+150+1300=2150 and I have to call 1300 given this is a laggy guy who’s range seems pretty wide. He had AJ and I was a slight favorite until the door card was a jack. This pushed me down to 3500 or so. Fortunately my mindset was still good, and I was thankful that, of the two all in races, I won the race when I was all in and lost when I had 3500 left. I still was above the starting stack, and ready to go back to work.

I played two hands of note in the last fifteen minutes or so of level two. I cold-called a pre-flop raise to 275 with 22 in the cutoff seat. The effective stacks were about 3500, and I felt I was (barely) getting the implied odds to try to spike a set. Further, with position, sometimes other situations arise to pick up a pot. It didn’t hit, however, and when I was bet into, I folded. With about 13-1 odds, this was a pretty marginal call pre-flop, and might have been a mistake.
One blind steal with 76s, a few hands that I fold, and the first two hours are over. My chip stack at the end of the first two levels is 3375. It could have been a lot worse, so I am happy to be here with this stack. However, blinds are going up to 100/200, so I don’t have time to be patient. I don’t have to go crazy, but need to do some work to accumulate chips.

To be continued …

2008-06-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Heading home

I am about to get on a flight home from Vegas. For those who didn't listen to the podcast, I finished 181st in Event 2, for a payout of almost $4,300. I wrote down almost all my hands of note during tournament. I hope to provide a hand-for-hand account of my tournament in the next few days.

Outside of the WSOP - it was mostly a breakeven trip. I played 3 SNGs and chopped one, for a slight net win. However, I lost about a half buyin at 5/10 NL. I was pretty happy with my play in 5/10 NL - especially since it was the highest stakes cash games I had ever played live. I think the play in the 5/10 NL game I played was comparable to a $100 or $200 buyin NL full ring table at stars.

2008-06-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

WSOP updates

Updates will be located on the Right hand side. If those don't provide the most recent updates, the forums at ITH will have them:

http://www.internettexasholdem.com/poker-forum/

Hopefully I will call in early and often!