I love poker on TV. I watch High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark and the World Series of Poker. Lots to be learned with careful observation and while I am not yet the poker player I want to be I am better than I was.
My current favorite is Patrik Antonius. He is a great player yet controls his emotions whether winning or losing a hand. Others give way to childish outbursts; Patrik is calm, cool and collected. No dark glasses, no hoodie. I watch him and will try to emulate his poker play going forward. We'll see how that works out for me.
Here's the Wikipedia article on Patrik:
"Patrik Antonius (born 13 December 1980 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo. Antonius was mentored by Marcel Lüske as a member of Luske's “Circle of Outlaws” and later advised by Jennifer Harman. Antonius is married to Maya Geller and has one child.
Antonius began making a name for himself on the poker tournament circuit with two finishes near the final table of a European Poker Tour (EPT) event and a World Poker Tour (WPT) event, 12th at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, then 15th at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event two months later, in early 2005. He went on to finish in the money in three events of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP). In September 2005 he made the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event final table, finishing 3rd in Barcelona. The next month, Antonius won the EPT event in Baden bei Wien, taking home the €288,180 first prize when in the final hand his 8♠ 4♥ beat Gunnar Østebrød's Q♥ 9♣ on a board of 4♠ 7♠ 8♥ 3♣ 7♣. In December 2005 he finished the year 2nd in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada, winning $1,046,470.
In July 2006 he placed 9th in World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, taking home $205,920, his biggest cash that year. In 2007 World Series of Poker, Antonius entered numerous tournaments but he only cashed in the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha event, placing third and winning $311,394, making that his ninth WSOP cash and increasing his WSOP earnings to a total of $569,964.
Antonius has been featured three times on NBC's Poker After Dark. In his first appearance he finished as runner up, losing out to fellow poker professional Jennifer Harman, but his next attempt saw him defeat Brad Booth in heads-up play to take the victory. In his third appearance he was runner up again, this time to Johnny Chan. As of 2010, Antonius' total live tournament winnings exceed $2,800,000. His 13 cashes at the WSOP account for $774,046 of those winnings…
Antonius was not able to enter the 2009 WSOP Main Event, as he was turned away when attempting to register along with hundreds of others due to a capacity field.
He also plays in some of the highest profile online tournaments, and in September 2008 he finished 2nd in the Full Tilt Poker $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up Pot Limit Omaha Championship, winning $320,000.
Antonius is a heads-up specialist. He is a regular high stakes player online and one of the most successful having won millions of dollars. He has played on Full Tilt Poker under several nicknames, including Luigi66369, CryMeRiver9 and Finddagrind, but having become a member of "Team Full Tilt" he now plays under his real name. During his early career he also used screen names e.g. I_knockout_U, try_hrdr_fish and -ANTONIUS- on various other poker networks…
He is equally prolific in live cash games, and is a regular in the Big Game, the high-stakes cash game at the Bellagio. Antonius appeared on the third, fourth and fifth seasons of GSN's High Stakes Poker. Patrik was involved, along with Sammy Farha, in the show's largest ever pot; it totaled $998,800. After a preflop raise and re-raise the flop came 6♦ 3♣ 9♦; Antonius held J♥ 9♥ for top pair and Farha held K♦ Q♦, giving him two over-cards and a flush draw. Sammy called Patrik's all-in raise instantly and the two agreed to run the turn and river four times. Though Sammy's hand was a slight favorite, Patrik won three of the four runs and collected $749,100.
In another sizable pot on High Stakes Poker, Patrik went up against Jamie Gold. Jamie had K♠ K♦ versus Patrik's A♠ J♦. Patrik raised to $4,000 preflop with Jamie reraising to $14,000, after declaring that his hole cards felt "like aces." The flop came out 3♠ Q♦ 10♥, giving Patrik an inside straight draw. Jamie bet $15,000 into a $30,800 pot, which Patrik called. The turn was the K♥, giving Patrik a straight and Jamie a set of kings. Patrik bet $45,000 into the pot, which Jamie reraised all in. As Jamie was raising, Gabe Kaplan commented that Patrik looked "like a lion." Patrik immediately called making the pot worth $743,800. The players agreed to run the river three times. Despite being a 77-23 favorite, Patrik won only the last of the three times, as Jamie hit a full house on the first two. Despite the bad beats, Patrik as always showed absolutely no emotion on his face. At the time, it was the largest pot ever on High Stakes Poker.
Antonius is the first player to go up against Tom Dwan in his "Million Dollar Challenge" on Full Tilt Poker (though not the first to accept the challenge). Dwan has challenged players to high-stakes no-limit hold 'em or pot-limit Omaha at Full Tilt, playing four tables at a time heads-up for a total of 50,000 hands. Dwan has put up $1.5 million to any opponent's $500,000; the player who is ahead after 50,000 hands will win the money put up by his opponent, plus any winnings from play in the challenge.
In November 2009, Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history, $1,356,946 against Isildur1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrik_Antonius
Friday, July 16, 2010
All In Can Be A Crap Shoot
I have been increasingly frustrated over bad beats in on-line tournaments. It's particularly irksome when my hand dominates and my opponent catches a lucky card on the river to win.
After careful observation of the play of others and analysis of my own mistakes, it appears going all in on-line tournaments should not be a frequent strategy.
In particular one should be careful in calling an all in. Initiating an all in with AA or KK for a pot that justifies it and also when one is in late position is one thing. Going all in to win a small pot early in the tournament is quite another.
Why risk going out for such small gains? I have seen overly aggressive players go all in repeatedly (apparently assuming if luck is with you any two cards will do) until they are eliminated when another player calls with an extremely strong hand.
Stupidest of all, in my opinion, is going all in after the flop with a small or medium pair. One cannot assume that no one else got a piece of the flop and the board pair that gave your two pair may well have given someone else a set.
Rather than going all in so often one is better served, I believe, to play smart poker.
In most circumstances, don't give opponents free cards to draw out on you if you have a decent hand. Checking doesn't tell you as much as a bet will and you may well pick up the pot. Waiting and letting your opponents have the chance to draw out doesn't appear to be good strategy. And if you flop two pair with potential straight or flush draw showing, then an all in may be justified.
And if an all in will take all your chips if you lose?
When in doubt, don't.
After careful observation of the play of others and analysis of my own mistakes, it appears going all in on-line tournaments should not be a frequent strategy.
In particular one should be careful in calling an all in. Initiating an all in with AA or KK for a pot that justifies it and also when one is in late position is one thing. Going all in to win a small pot early in the tournament is quite another.
Why risk going out for such small gains? I have seen overly aggressive players go all in repeatedly (apparently assuming if luck is with you any two cards will do) until they are eliminated when another player calls with an extremely strong hand.
Stupidest of all, in my opinion, is going all in after the flop with a small or medium pair. One cannot assume that no one else got a piece of the flop and the board pair that gave your two pair may well have given someone else a set.
Rather than going all in so often one is better served, I believe, to play smart poker.
In most circumstances, don't give opponents free cards to draw out on you if you have a decent hand. Checking doesn't tell you as much as a bet will and you may well pick up the pot. Waiting and letting your opponents have the chance to draw out doesn't appear to be good strategy. And if you flop two pair with potential straight or flush draw showing, then an all in may be justified.
And if an all in will take all your chips if you lose?
When in doubt, don't.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Is Online Poker Fair?
The Gambling Man has been plagued by bad beats
So the question arises, do the online software programs come close to the results from "live" cards or is there a very different dynamic involved?
Is it possible online programs favor certain players or certain situations so that the results are not even close to the "live" card experience?
I am a novice but I invite more experienced players to comment on this. Inquiring minds want to know!
So the question arises, do the online software programs come close to the results from "live" cards or is there a very different dynamic involved?
Is it possible online programs favor certain players or certain situations so that the results are not even close to the "live" card experience?
I am a novice but I invite more experienced players to comment on this. Inquiring minds want to know!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Texas Hold ‘em at the Silver Dollar Cabaret
“I ain’t sayin’ I beat the devil,/ but I drank his beer for nothing,/Then I stole his song.”
To Beat The Devil, Kris Kristofferson
Texas Hold ‘em at the Silver Dollar Cabaret
Texas Hold ‘em is a popular game just now. It started gaining popularity with tournaments like the World Series of Poker on ESPN. I saw it in 2005, and they showed the 2003 winner. He paid an entry fee of $40 into an Internet game and ultimately won his way to the final nine and then won it all. Champion of the World Series of Poker with a payoff of $2.5 million. That’s right: an investment of $40 and some outrageous poker playing and the guy wins $2.5 million.
This caught my eye right away. To me, it looked like easy money. After all, I’ve played poker before and it just takes luck and the right cards at the right time. It’s like Lee Trevino said about golf tournaments, “Somebody’s gonna win this thing and it might as well be me.” From your mouth to God’s ear, Lee. Except I want it to be me that wins.
Third place in 2005 won $2.5 million, and he was from Texas. Hell, I’m from Texas now; I’ve lived here for 5 years so I’m practically a native. First place in 2005? $7.5 million. I could use that and as the old joke goes I’d pay my debts as far as it would go. I play poker; I live in Texas. Maybe it’s meant to be. But here’s the catch: if you don’t have the $10,000 buy-in for the World Series of Poker, you have to win your way in.
Then I heard of the Silver Dollar Cabaret in downtown Dallas. Naked women, beverage alcohol and Texas Hold ‘em tournament the first Wednesday of each month until June and then the finals (for the preliminary winner) with the winning Alpha Male --or Female-- Poker player who wins it all headed for the World Series of Poker with a buy-in for the Tournament as a prize. Seems to me Opportunity must be knocking. I’ve always heard you must give a miracle a chance to happen.
That’s my game plan: no more depending on the Lotto for me. I’ll polish my game on the Computer with my YAHOO! version of the game (After all, it calls me “ The Future of Poker” and how can cyberspace be wrong?). Then I’ll be Las Vegas-bound for the WSOP. After all, it could be another Cinderella story: books, TV, a movie and even guest appearances on talk shows. It all sounds easy, but it isn’t quite a slam dunk yet.
First of all, you must actually get into the Tournament at the Silver Dollar. It’s not enough to simply walk up and tell them you are ready to play. First option: you listen to the Hard Rockin’ station that sponsors the whole thing and win tickets each morning by being the lucky caller. Second option: you can show up an hour early and put your name into the hat for the drawing they hold to fill the empty seats. Radio sounds like an option; after all my musical tastes are pretty eclectic for a dude who went to college in the 60s: 311 and Prodigy and Days of the New and Garbage are all way cool! I’m a bit out of touch these days, but I like all sorts of music. I’ll listen and call and win the ticket to play in the tournament. You must give a miracle a chance to happen, right?
But sometimes life is just too damn hard. I listened to the station. Rap music (I think) and metal so heavy as to defy the known elements of chemistry. So we are looking at Plan B: I go early, get lucky and win the draw. After all, it won’t do me much good to win the entry if I end up in a rubber room instead of Las Vegas.
Here we go. How bad can it be? Naked women, beverage alcohol and maybe poker. Hot damn! If it’s meant to be it’ll all work out, right? Yeah, right!
Here’s a rude awakening. All naked women are not beautiful. They are definitely naked, but not all beautiful by anybody’s standards. And all the people who attend services to worship the alabaster altars of their bodies are not even close to normal. Star Wars? Bar scene? Déjà vu all over again? You better believe it! Plus the music. Louder than LOUD and many many many speakers all around the place. There is no quiet nook. However, I am an ex-Boy Scout and discovered that a napkin torn into strips works nicely. I have to pantomime with the waitress to order a beer, but that’s life.
After putting my name and cell number on an entry form, I wait for the lottery to begin and for my name to be called. The Rockin’ Station has some cute girls in jeans and T-shirts supervising the drawing. Plus some guys who may be DJs. Nice guys with splendid voices, but I know why they aren’t on TV. No offense intended, but they better hope radio is around for a long long time. Great voices. Yep, they’ve got great voices but I bet they were picked on a lot in school when they were much younger.
The first time I didn’t get picked. Damn. Go home and wait a month and play poker on the computer until my eyes glazed over. But all in all it’s not too bad; after all, Texas Hold-em is an interesting game.
According to Wikipedia.com, there is no precise information on where or when Texas Hold 'em Poker was first played. According to legend, the earliest game played was in Robstown, Texas, in the early 1900s and it first came to Dallas, Texas in 1925. Texas hold 'em was introduced to Las Vegas by a group of Texan gamblers and card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim.
If you aren’t familiar with Texas Hold-em (or even poker), Widkipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_hold_'em) is just chock-full of information so I won’t repeat it here.
I learned a trick about my computer version of Texas Hole ‘Em Poker: it can be fooled. You are supposedly playing against all these superstars, but if you check and call until the very last card and then go “all in,” they call every time, no matter what cards they have. They are easily fooled in the game, but I’ll bet the real thing isn’t that easy. I hope I get the chance to find out.
Another first Wednesday of the month rolled around and here I am again. Naked women. More pretty ones this time. I was prepared this time; bought foam ear plugs at CVS; now I’m ready for the music. I dressed in black shirt, black slacks, black shoes, black socks. I want to look the part if I get in. I look around at the other hopefuls—bib overalls, baggy shorts, babes in spandex-- with spandex is being asked to do the impossible—I guess they don’t plan to be on TV, though, so they might as well be comfortable. Or are they deliberately trying to look like goofs to throw everyone off? Have to wait and see.
A few suit-and-tie guys have their cell phones in constant use. It is an eclectic group, to say the least. Now they are calling names so of course I feel a sudden urge to answer nature’s call, but I can’t risk missing my name if it’s called. Nature is calling louder; and they are still calling names. MY NAME is called; rush up with ID and get ticket for game and rush to shush nature and get to the poker room and find my seat and I’m in the game at last! Whew! I can’t believe I made it at last!!!!
The rules are simple: no ante, just blinds and ten players trying to be the last one standing for a chance at the finals. White chips are $25, blue chips $50 and everybody gets the same stack worth $500 for the game. When your chips are gone, then so are you. The game starts with small blind $25 and big blind $50 and then both blinds double every 20 minutes until someone wins it all. Cards stay on the table, and no hiding chips or you are disqualified.
After all, it’s an important part of the strategy to see how many chips the other players have left. If you are the chip leader you can pressure them a bit; if you are low man on the chip count, you better be careful. For the first 20 minutes I did okay. I won a nice pot with a pair of kings in the hole and played cautiously after that. Across the table one guy set an aggressive posture immediately by trying to bluff on every hand and he went out quick.
The second twenty minutes did not go so well for me. I had a few good hands, but lost my bets when someone else had a better hand.
Sooner than I wanted to, I was wishing the others luck and slinking toward the door. Not the first one out, but didn’t do as well as I thought I would, either. All is not lost, though: there are two more first Wednesdays—April and May—before the June 7 finals.
April is the cruelest month as T. S. Eliot says; I waited in vain with no luck this time. Didn’t get called and so I waited another month. Then I showed up and registered and waited. By this time I had the routine down now: earplugs, sipping a beer, and watching the crowd watching the ladies. My fingers were crossed and I was hoping hard; thinking about how I would play differently if I just got the chance. One more time! Redeem my failure and go for success.
Thousands of entrants and millions of dollars to be won at the WSOP. To paraphrase the old Dixieland song, “I want to be in that number…”when the money comes rolling in. Come on Luck, be my lady…be my lady tonight.
Since it’s the last night to play for a chance in the finals, they are really dragging it out—touting food specials and happy hour drinks while we wait. They call names in smaller batches. My name doesn’t come up and I wait for another batch and another…until it’s all over.
No second chance, no Cinderella story with a five-iron hit an impossible distance to win the Masters. For this year, it’s back to my Yahoo! Game and watch the event on TV and dream.
I realize it’s not just about the money –although $10 million would be welcome! It’s more about the prestige of a rank amateur, a nobody, coming from nowhere to win it all, and being able to quit my day job and go pro. For “occupation” on all those forms I could put “professional gambler” and mess with so many many minds. But it will not be me and it will definitely be someone else and I hope it’s another unknown who bests the top players in the world and walks away with the prize.
Maybe next year will be my turn to make it to the WSOP and even to walk away with it all.
I can hardly wait.
Copyright 2010 The Gambling Man Blog
To Beat The Devil, Kris Kristofferson
Texas Hold ‘em at the Silver Dollar Cabaret
Texas Hold ‘em is a popular game just now. It started gaining popularity with tournaments like the World Series of Poker on ESPN. I saw it in 2005, and they showed the 2003 winner. He paid an entry fee of $40 into an Internet game and ultimately won his way to the final nine and then won it all. Champion of the World Series of Poker with a payoff of $2.5 million. That’s right: an investment of $40 and some outrageous poker playing and the guy wins $2.5 million.
This caught my eye right away. To me, it looked like easy money. After all, I’ve played poker before and it just takes luck and the right cards at the right time. It’s like Lee Trevino said about golf tournaments, “Somebody’s gonna win this thing and it might as well be me.” From your mouth to God’s ear, Lee. Except I want it to be me that wins.
Third place in 2005 won $2.5 million, and he was from Texas. Hell, I’m from Texas now; I’ve lived here for 5 years so I’m practically a native. First place in 2005? $7.5 million. I could use that and as the old joke goes I’d pay my debts as far as it would go. I play poker; I live in Texas. Maybe it’s meant to be. But here’s the catch: if you don’t have the $10,000 buy-in for the World Series of Poker, you have to win your way in.
Then I heard of the Silver Dollar Cabaret in downtown Dallas. Naked women, beverage alcohol and Texas Hold ‘em tournament the first Wednesday of each month until June and then the finals (for the preliminary winner) with the winning Alpha Male --or Female-- Poker player who wins it all headed for the World Series of Poker with a buy-in for the Tournament as a prize. Seems to me Opportunity must be knocking. I’ve always heard you must give a miracle a chance to happen.
That’s my game plan: no more depending on the Lotto for me. I’ll polish my game on the Computer with my YAHOO! version of the game (After all, it calls me “ The Future of Poker” and how can cyberspace be wrong?). Then I’ll be Las Vegas-bound for the WSOP. After all, it could be another Cinderella story: books, TV, a movie and even guest appearances on talk shows. It all sounds easy, but it isn’t quite a slam dunk yet.
First of all, you must actually get into the Tournament at the Silver Dollar. It’s not enough to simply walk up and tell them you are ready to play. First option: you listen to the Hard Rockin’ station that sponsors the whole thing and win tickets each morning by being the lucky caller. Second option: you can show up an hour early and put your name into the hat for the drawing they hold to fill the empty seats. Radio sounds like an option; after all my musical tastes are pretty eclectic for a dude who went to college in the 60s: 311 and Prodigy and Days of the New and Garbage are all way cool! I’m a bit out of touch these days, but I like all sorts of music. I’ll listen and call and win the ticket to play in the tournament. You must give a miracle a chance to happen, right?
But sometimes life is just too damn hard. I listened to the station. Rap music (I think) and metal so heavy as to defy the known elements of chemistry. So we are looking at Plan B: I go early, get lucky and win the draw. After all, it won’t do me much good to win the entry if I end up in a rubber room instead of Las Vegas.
Here we go. How bad can it be? Naked women, beverage alcohol and maybe poker. Hot damn! If it’s meant to be it’ll all work out, right? Yeah, right!
Here’s a rude awakening. All naked women are not beautiful. They are definitely naked, but not all beautiful by anybody’s standards. And all the people who attend services to worship the alabaster altars of their bodies are not even close to normal. Star Wars? Bar scene? Déjà vu all over again? You better believe it! Plus the music. Louder than LOUD and many many many speakers all around the place. There is no quiet nook. However, I am an ex-Boy Scout and discovered that a napkin torn into strips works nicely. I have to pantomime with the waitress to order a beer, but that’s life.
After putting my name and cell number on an entry form, I wait for the lottery to begin and for my name to be called. The Rockin’ Station has some cute girls in jeans and T-shirts supervising the drawing. Plus some guys who may be DJs. Nice guys with splendid voices, but I know why they aren’t on TV. No offense intended, but they better hope radio is around for a long long time. Great voices. Yep, they’ve got great voices but I bet they were picked on a lot in school when they were much younger.
The first time I didn’t get picked. Damn. Go home and wait a month and play poker on the computer until my eyes glazed over. But all in all it’s not too bad; after all, Texas Hold-em is an interesting game.
According to Wikipedia.com, there is no precise information on where or when Texas Hold 'em Poker was first played. According to legend, the earliest game played was in Robstown, Texas, in the early 1900s and it first came to Dallas, Texas in 1925. Texas hold 'em was introduced to Las Vegas by a group of Texan gamblers and card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim.
If you aren’t familiar with Texas Hold-em (or even poker), Widkipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_hold_'em) is just chock-full of information so I won’t repeat it here.
I learned a trick about my computer version of Texas Hole ‘Em Poker: it can be fooled. You are supposedly playing against all these superstars, but if you check and call until the very last card and then go “all in,” they call every time, no matter what cards they have. They are easily fooled in the game, but I’ll bet the real thing isn’t that easy. I hope I get the chance to find out.
Another first Wednesday of the month rolled around and here I am again. Naked women. More pretty ones this time. I was prepared this time; bought foam ear plugs at CVS; now I’m ready for the music. I dressed in black shirt, black slacks, black shoes, black socks. I want to look the part if I get in. I look around at the other hopefuls—bib overalls, baggy shorts, babes in spandex-- with spandex is being asked to do the impossible—I guess they don’t plan to be on TV, though, so they might as well be comfortable. Or are they deliberately trying to look like goofs to throw everyone off? Have to wait and see.
A few suit-and-tie guys have their cell phones in constant use. It is an eclectic group, to say the least. Now they are calling names so of course I feel a sudden urge to answer nature’s call, but I can’t risk missing my name if it’s called. Nature is calling louder; and they are still calling names. MY NAME is called; rush up with ID and get ticket for game and rush to shush nature and get to the poker room and find my seat and I’m in the game at last! Whew! I can’t believe I made it at last!!!!
The rules are simple: no ante, just blinds and ten players trying to be the last one standing for a chance at the finals. White chips are $25, blue chips $50 and everybody gets the same stack worth $500 for the game. When your chips are gone, then so are you. The game starts with small blind $25 and big blind $50 and then both blinds double every 20 minutes until someone wins it all. Cards stay on the table, and no hiding chips or you are disqualified.
After all, it’s an important part of the strategy to see how many chips the other players have left. If you are the chip leader you can pressure them a bit; if you are low man on the chip count, you better be careful. For the first 20 minutes I did okay. I won a nice pot with a pair of kings in the hole and played cautiously after that. Across the table one guy set an aggressive posture immediately by trying to bluff on every hand and he went out quick.
The second twenty minutes did not go so well for me. I had a few good hands, but lost my bets when someone else had a better hand.
Sooner than I wanted to, I was wishing the others luck and slinking toward the door. Not the first one out, but didn’t do as well as I thought I would, either. All is not lost, though: there are two more first Wednesdays—April and May—before the June 7 finals.
April is the cruelest month as T. S. Eliot says; I waited in vain with no luck this time. Didn’t get called and so I waited another month. Then I showed up and registered and waited. By this time I had the routine down now: earplugs, sipping a beer, and watching the crowd watching the ladies. My fingers were crossed and I was hoping hard; thinking about how I would play differently if I just got the chance. One more time! Redeem my failure and go for success.
Thousands of entrants and millions of dollars to be won at the WSOP. To paraphrase the old Dixieland song, “I want to be in that number…”when the money comes rolling in. Come on Luck, be my lady…be my lady tonight.
Since it’s the last night to play for a chance in the finals, they are really dragging it out—touting food specials and happy hour drinks while we wait. They call names in smaller batches. My name doesn’t come up and I wait for another batch and another…until it’s all over.
No second chance, no Cinderella story with a five-iron hit an impossible distance to win the Masters. For this year, it’s back to my Yahoo! Game and watch the event on TV and dream.
I realize it’s not just about the money –although $10 million would be welcome! It’s more about the prestige of a rank amateur, a nobody, coming from nowhere to win it all, and being able to quit my day job and go pro. For “occupation” on all those forms I could put “professional gambler” and mess with so many many minds. But it will not be me and it will definitely be someone else and I hope it’s another unknown who bests the top players in the world and walks away with the prize.
Maybe next year will be my turn to make it to the WSOP and even to walk away with it all.
I can hardly wait.
Copyright 2010 The Gambling Man Blog
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Bad Beats
Let's face it: Bad beats are part of Texas Holdem Poker whether you play tournaments or cash games. No matter how good your hand seems to be, there's always going to be a time when your hand is second best.
A recent tournament illustrates this. I got QQ and went all in in response to a moderate raise called by three other players. Didn't expect other three to call all-in but damned if they didn't! Very large pot but....
Pre-flop I dominated . Other three had JJ, 99 and 77.
Big pot and I was excited.
Looking good!
Flop was 10 10 3 rainbow.
So far so good.
Turn was J.
COME ON QUEEN!!!!
River was 5.
Out of the tournament.
Yeah, I got a bad beat but given the same circumstances I'd do it again. No big raises so not likely anyone had AA or KK so my all-in on QQ was a righteous move.
I lost but that's poker. Bad beats are part of the game.
A recent tournament illustrates this. I got QQ and went all in in response to a moderate raise called by three other players. Didn't expect other three to call all-in but damned if they didn't! Very large pot but....
Pre-flop I dominated . Other three had JJ, 99 and 77.
Big pot and I was excited.
Looking good!
Flop was 10 10 3 rainbow.
So far so good.
Turn was J.
COME ON QUEEN!!!!
River was 5.
Out of the tournament.
Yeah, I got a bad beat but given the same circumstances I'd do it again. No big raises so not likely anyone had AA or KK so my all-in on QQ was a righteous move.
I lost but that's poker. Bad beats are part of the game.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
"Wishing and Hoping" is not a viable strategy in Texas Holdem Poker
I see this a lot in tournaments with a small buy-in. An aggressive player will go all in repeatedly and pick up small pots for a while. Ultimately they go all in and someone calls with a better hand and they are gone. Is it because the buy-in is small? Or are they just "wishing and hoping"?
Same thing happens with a sizeable pot and someone goes all-in with a fllush or straight draw. It can pay off and does from time to time but does it pay off often enough to make it worthwhile? If you have A X suited and the flop comes up with two of your suited cards, this is worth pursuing some of the time. Especially if you are ahead in the chip count and the price to see the next card is not excessive.
But I see players with two small suited cards pursue the flush when all indications are that someone who is calling has the A and even if they hit they will lose. Also the straight they are pursuing is on the bottom end and a possible high end straight is on the board. They are betting based on "wishing and hoping" that they will hit and it will be good. Sometimes it works out but most of the time it will not.
Recently I had Q 3 of diamonds and 10 J 4 diamonds came up on the flop. I bet modestly and one player called. Then the K of diamonds came on the turn. I bet again and he called. The 8 of spades came up on the river and then my opponent made a pot-sized bet. I called and sure enough he had the A of diamonds and took the pot.
Was I wishing and hoping?
Not really. He could have had a lower diamond and my Q would have been good.
Should I have gone all in when I flopped the flush?
I had more chips than my opponent so he may not have been willing to call an all-in for a flush draw. On the other hand he well might have called and then I would have lost even more than I did.
In retrospect I would pretty much play it the same way but perhaps a larger bet at the flop based on his chip stack to make it more expensive for him to draw out on me. It was early in the tournament and I didn't have a clear idea of whether he was an aggressive or tight player as yet.
In any case, base your decisions on good solid play and never go all in "on a wing and a prayer!"
If "wishing and hoping" is a major part of your poker strategy you are better off playing slot machines.
Same thing happens with a sizeable pot and someone goes all-in with a fllush or straight draw. It can pay off and does from time to time but does it pay off often enough to make it worthwhile? If you have A X suited and the flop comes up with two of your suited cards, this is worth pursuing some of the time. Especially if you are ahead in the chip count and the price to see the next card is not excessive.
But I see players with two small suited cards pursue the flush when all indications are that someone who is calling has the A and even if they hit they will lose. Also the straight they are pursuing is on the bottom end and a possible high end straight is on the board. They are betting based on "wishing and hoping" that they will hit and it will be good. Sometimes it works out but most of the time it will not.
Recently I had Q 3 of diamonds and 10 J 4 diamonds came up on the flop. I bet modestly and one player called. Then the K of diamonds came on the turn. I bet again and he called. The 8 of spades came up on the river and then my opponent made a pot-sized bet. I called and sure enough he had the A of diamonds and took the pot.
Was I wishing and hoping?
Not really. He could have had a lower diamond and my Q would have been good.
Should I have gone all in when I flopped the flush?
I had more chips than my opponent so he may not have been willing to call an all-in for a flush draw. On the other hand he well might have called and then I would have lost even more than I did.
In retrospect I would pretty much play it the same way but perhaps a larger bet at the flop based on his chip stack to make it more expensive for him to draw out on me. It was early in the tournament and I didn't have a clear idea of whether he was an aggressive or tight player as yet.
In any case, base your decisions on good solid play and never go all in "on a wing and a prayer!"
If "wishing and hoping" is a major part of your poker strategy you are better off playing slot machines.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Will it go round in circles?
Poker luck goes in cycles. When you are hot, you are hot. When you are not, you are not.
We’ve all had the experience of not seeming able to lose:
Hand after hand seems to work out in our favor.
Call with 7 5 suited and flop 5 10 5.
Hold two suited cards and flop the nut flush.
Hold Q 4 off suit and flop a full house.
Call with 3 8 suited and flop 333 for quads.
This is as good as it gets. While it lasts. As the saying goes, sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug.
Poker luck comes and goes in cycles. Just as you have the miracle hands time after time you will have bad luck as well. Sometimes every bluff seems golden and other times nothing works in your favor. Accept it and learn to deal with it.
The key is to know when to back off and not lose all the chips you won with good luck on marginal calls and raises during the down cycle.
Laozi said, " Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?" If you are in a down phase with no decent cards and unable to bluff effectively because someone else at the table is getting great cards then slow it down and minimize your losses until the cycle returns to the upswing for you. Don't waste chips futilely trying to make something happen.
As Mark Twain said:
"By law of periodical repetition, everything which has happened once must happen again and again -- and not capriciously, but at regular periods, and each thing in its own period, not another's and each obeying its own law."
Be patient and play good poker while you wait for the good luck cycle to return.
We’ve all had the experience of not seeming able to lose:
Hand after hand seems to work out in our favor.
Call with 7 5 suited and flop 5 10 5.
Hold two suited cards and flop the nut flush.
Hold Q 4 off suit and flop a full house.
Call with 3 8 suited and flop 333 for quads.
This is as good as it gets. While it lasts. As the saying goes, sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug.
Poker luck comes and goes in cycles. Just as you have the miracle hands time after time you will have bad luck as well. Sometimes every bluff seems golden and other times nothing works in your favor. Accept it and learn to deal with it.
The key is to know when to back off and not lose all the chips you won with good luck on marginal calls and raises during the down cycle.
Laozi said, " Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?" If you are in a down phase with no decent cards and unable to bluff effectively because someone else at the table is getting great cards then slow it down and minimize your losses until the cycle returns to the upswing for you. Don't waste chips futilely trying to make something happen.
As Mark Twain said:
"By law of periodical repetition, everything which has happened once must happen again and again -- and not capriciously, but at regular periods, and each thing in its own period, not another's and each obeying its own law."
Be patient and play good poker while you wait for the good luck cycle to return.
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