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Day Two: An Easy Life
Thursday, June 30, 2005 I got over to the Rio around 2 p.m. this afternoon and had lunch with my friend Kevin from Washington, D.C. Afterwards, I went over to the poker room and was beckoned over to the $75-$150 1/2 kill Omaha 8/b game (no, I didn't play) by my friend Mark Gregorich. Mark asked if he could review my book for CardPlayer and I of course said sure. I hope that comes to pass. Mark also happens to be an expert on Omaha 8/b--he's one of the best players in the world. For those who don't know, Mark co-wrote (i.e., wrote entirely) the Omaha 8/b section of Super System 2. It's outstanding reading and I recommend it for everyone. As we were chatting, I got to watch Mark play an interesting hand. There was a kill posted in late position. It folded to the killer, who checked. Mark raised with A236. The button and small blind called. The killer mucked. The flop came 348 with two spades (Mark did not have spades). Check, Mark bet, both players called. The turn came the deuce of spades. Check, Mark bet again. Button called, small blind folded. River, offsuit ace. Mark bet. Button called and showed A5 for the scoop. "Conventional" Omaha wisdom says that Mark's turn and river bets were somewhat maniacal. Here's why they weren't. If Mark checks the turn and there is a bet behind him, he has to pay off anyway in case he's up against only the nut high. Even if he's up against the wheel he has a bunch of outs. But if he bets, it's quite possible a better high hand than his will muck, on either street. If, for example, the button has A34, Mark probably steals the pot by playing the way he did. Occasionally Mark will get raised and cost himself a bet. But this is more than offset by the time Mark steals half the pot, or even the entire pot. Everyone "knows" you're supposed to be passive in Omaha. Let's hope everyone keeps knowing this. Not finding a satellite to play, I left the Rio without having sat for a single hand of poker, and returned to my hotel room. There, I three-tabled $30-$60 for an hour and a half and made a couple thousand. I also played the eighth event in the WPTFan Series of Poker. I caught a bunch of cards and I won it, allowing me to retake first place in the overall points standings for that Series (as I've lamented earlier, I'd much rather be leading the points race in the other Series). After dinner I went back to the Rio and ran into my friend Bill Chen. We started talking for a while, and about half an hour into our conversation it occured to him that he'd never explained to me why it's optimal to bet Pi/4 of your hands in the infinite pot hi-lo [0,1] game with no check-raise. (Bill, along with his poker-thought partner Jerrod Ankenman, has spent a lot of time studying variants of this game. You can check out some of their results here.) Yes that's right, the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference comes into play when determining what fraction of your hands to bet in certain poker situations. Bill found a piece of paper and a pen and drew out the whole proof for me. When we were done geeking it up, I finally got into a $525 buy-in satellite and proceeded to get smashed with the deck. I flopped a straight and doubled through. I picked up AA against AK. Four-handed, I checked my option with KhTh. The flop came AhQhJh!!!! My first-ever Hold 'Em royal where I had to use both my hole cards. And (obviously) the first time I've ever flopped a royal. I picked up AT against A9 and busted a guy. Three-handed, I picked up AQ against AJ and busted another guy. Then heads-up, I flopped trips on hand number three and took the whole thing. Man the game is easy when you get cards like I had today. I played one more satellite and busted on the fourth hand when I took MY AK against AA. Deciding my luck had finally run out, I went back to my room. So my day consisted of two highly thought-provoking poker conversations with experts, a few hours of online play where I ran really good, and a brick-and-mortar satellite where I ran even better. I've had a lot of days when I wonder why I play this game for a living. Today was one of the few where I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Tomorrow: More satellites and more online play. Next WSOP event: $3,000 No Limit Hold 'Em on Friday Leg Two, Day One Wednesday, June 29, 2005 Today started with the $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em WSOP event. I made a bad play when I forgot to call with the nut flush draw and one card to come. There were two other players in the pot, and I was getting 2.83-1 closing the action. I don't like to give a lot of weight to implied odds with one card to come, which is why I folded, but in hindsight I think this was a clear plus-EV call. (Of course the flush hit, or I never would've gone back over this decision.) Then I lost some chips when I value bet KK on a board of A86A9 after two opponents had checked three times, and a third opponent was surely going to check behind me if I myself chose to check a third time. I got mini check-raised by the big blind. I called, and he showed me aces full. I've been paid off enough times making value bets like that one, that I don't really mind having the play backfire once in a while. Of course I can check on the river, but I generally trust my value betting instincts and don't really consider this bet a "mistake." I busted with AJ against KQ on a JTx flop. Later in the day, I played a Razz satellite! Fun! And I actually had a really interesting situation come up. I don't play much Razz, but it's not an overly complicated game. I was down to T340 playing T100-T200, so I was looking for any hand to go with. After a paint card brought it in, a deuce completed. I raised with A/65, the bring-in mucked, and the three called. On fourth, my opponent caught a king and I caught a queen. I bet and she called. On fifth, my opponent caught a three and I paired queens. Check, check (remember I only have T40 left now). On sixth, my opponent caught a seven and I caught a six (which paired me again). She bet T40. I tanked so long that someone called a clock on me! In a Razz satellite! When I had to call T40 into a T755 pot! I had a draw to a queen, a pretty miserable proposition. The thing was, I'd been playing with my opponent long enough that when she checked fifth, I was pretty confident she had paired her three. This meant, if my read was right, she only had a made king, and I still had a draw to the best hand (i.e., if she pairs on seventh and I don't, then I win). Eventually, I called. Sure enough, she rolled over five-three in the hole. According to twodimes.net (ignoring the dead cards, since I don't remember what they were), I actually had a whopping 24% equity in the pot. Wow, would folding have been a huge mistake (recall that I was getting 18.9-1, and needed only 5 percent equity to justify calling). Nice call, Matt. Of course, she made an eight and I busted. Finally, I played the $200 rebuy tournament at The Palms. 99 people entered, nine got paid. With 11 players left I had my stack up to T24,000 when average was T13,000. Then I lost a pot and was down to T20,000 when this hand occured. Blinds T800-T1600, T200 ante. I open on the button for T4,500 with KJ. I've been opening a lot, and winning without a showdown a lot. A completely clueless player (he'd be the first to admit it--he was a very nice guy) calls me in the small blind. The big blind mucks. The flop comes T44 with two spades and the SB checks. Not too long before this, I had a won a pot against this player with a continuation bet on a flop of QJ7. As I raked the pot, he'd said, "could you beat an ace?" I nodded (it was true, I paired the queen), but I wasn't sure he believed me. So anyway, now I have a decision on this T44 board. I could easily have the best hand against this guy, although I think his most likely hand is Ax. He's got about 13k left, I've got 15k left, and the pot is 12k. We're two away from the money and a lot of people are playing scared--but not this guy, he's just loose/passive all the time. I think about checking, but I'd hate to just leave that 12k pot out there. I think (probably not long enough) about moving in, but I'm afraid he'll just reflex call with his ace-high if I do. I decide to bet T5,000, thinking he probably won't raise me, and thinking that if he calls here, I still might be able to take the pot away on the turn. He thinks for a little bit and moves all-in. I can't say exactly why, it's a product of having played with the guy for so long, but I'm now almost sure he has Ax, with some small chance that he has a random flush draw. And I'm getting 4-1. So I call. He has A5o. I don't improve, and I'm down to T1,900. I have T1,700 left after anteing the next hand, and UTG moves in for a large amount. It folds to me and I look down at T2o. Again, I have a good read for some reason, and I'm pretty sure UTG has a big ace. I'm getting 3-1 with fantastic protection if I call. I decide that's a plus-EV spot (and here, all I care about is if it's a plus-EV spot; some people fold just because they'll "see a better hand before their blind"--that's not me). So I call. I'm sick when the guy to my left moves all-in with his enormous stack. The hands get turned up and I say, "I have the best hand right now." UTG has AJo, the guy on my left has KK. The board comes QT9A2. AJ doubles through KK, and I'm suddenly back up to T8500 thanks to a miracle two pair. Long story short, we end up making a deal four-handed. I had half-average stack and was worth about $4,000 according to the chip-percentage formula (which overvalues big stacks) and about $5,000 according to the Burns-Landrum formula (which overvalues small stacks). So in reality, without considering skill, I was probably worth around $4,500. I got $5,500 in the deal. I think that almost has to be a good deal, especially since I'd been playing all day at that point and was probably not on top of my game. So sort of a strange day. But hey, a win's a win. I'm really hoping I don't talk myself into putting up $1,500 to play the Razz WSOP event tomorrow. We'll find out soon enough. Pre-Vegas Goodness Monday, June 27, 2005 Played Stars, Party, and Dise today in preparation for WSOP Leg Two. I was out early on Stars and Dise, but got some chips on Party. I caught a run of good cards and found myself the chip leader several times, including four-handed. Then, three-handed, I made the mistake of getting all my opponent's chips in with two aces preflop. He had eights and spiked, and I busted a few hands later when I moved in with T8 on a board of 972 and my opponent called with A7. Oh well, third place was a solid $32k, which puts me over $100k net for the first time this year, and (I hope) gives me some momentum going forward to Vegas. Time for sleep. Bet update: This week, +$5,265. Overall, +$16,682. Who We're Rooting For Friday, June 24, 2005 I had the idea to do a "Who We're Rooting For" note every day, because it seems as though one of my friends, or at least a friend of a friend, is at just about every final table. Out of laziness, I haven't been posting these notes up to this point. But tonight I feel the need to post one. Who We're Rooting For, $1500 No Limit Hold 'Em: Greg Raymer Greg has been a good friend of mine for about three years. He's a fantastic guy and a fantastic player. In my opinion, he hasn't got the credit he deserves for a masterfully played WSOP last year, at least not from the "knowledgable" poker community. Now Greg is the chip leader going into the final table of yet another 2,000-person WSOP event. He has a very real chance to be the winner of two of the three largest tournaments (in terms of field size) in WSOP history. (Well, at least for a few weeks.) I think that might just get him some more respect. Go get 'em, Greg! On my end, not much to update. I still leave for Vegas on Monday. Sunday Update Monday, June 20, 2005 Played just Stars and Dise today. Came in 53rd on Stars, so I made a small profit. I had tremendous luck early in the tournament, but couldn't manage any suckouts when it REALLY mattered (although I certainly did try). As I've said before, the stallers really turn the big Sunday tournaments into a total crapshoot at the end. It's a shame. Oh well, at least I made some money. One great hand from Stars. So this "rene000" clown has been stalling every hand, and pretty much folding every hand. An orbit earlier I had come after his big blind with 97 and he woke up with AQ and I doubled him up, although that still left him pretty short. So on this hand he limps UTG. Based on his ultra-conservative style, I assume this means he has a hand he doesn't want to go broke with. I have two eights and decide to set him in, figuring he'll probably fold, and I might have the best hand even if he doesn't. Here's what happened. PokerStars Game #1933689289: Tournament #8620895, Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (3000/6000) - 2005/06/19 - 20:25:33 (ET) Table '8620895 293' Seat #1 is the button Seat 1: ST1300 (28649 in chips) Seat 2: jsexpress (63826 in chips) Seat 3: rounders24/7 (39996 in chips) Seat 4: rene000 (32602 in chips) Seat 5: eckeking (66164 in chips) Seat 6: Giomary (3714 in chips) Seat 7: CoolHand999 (47296 in chips) Seat 8: f2fun&fun (58384 in chips) Seat 9: jacksup (63066 in chips) ST1300: posts the ante 300 jsexpress: posts the ante 300 rounders24/7: posts the ante 300 rene000: posts the ante 300 eckeking: posts the ante 300 Giomary: posts the ante 300 CoolHand999: posts the ante 300 f2fun&fun: posts the ante 300 jacksup: posts the ante 300 jsexpress: posts small blind 3000 rounders24/7: posts big blind 6000 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to jacksup [8s 8h] rene000: calls 6000 eckeking: folds Giomary: folds CoolHand999: folds f2fun&fun: folds jacksup: raises 56766 to 62766 and is all-in ST1300: folds jsexpress: folds rounders24/7: folds rene000: calls 26302 and is all-in *** FLOP *** [Jh Qc 5h] *** TURN *** [Jh Qc 5h] [8d] *** RIVER *** [Jh Qc 5h 8d] [8c] GIass Joe [observer] said, "holy ****" *** SHOW DOWN *** rene000: shows [Jc Js] (a full house, Jacks full of Eights) jacksup: shows [8s 8h] (four of a kind, Eights) jacksup collected 76304 from pot Nice, huh? I also managed to amuse myself in the chat afterwards: GIass Joe [observer] said, "matt what are the odds of that" jacksup said, "4.5-1" Bet update: For the first time since I made the bet, I played zero hands of Party $30-$60 in the entire week. Overall total, +$11,417. Day Ten: $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Shootout (Leg One over) Saturday, June 18, 2005 With a 780-person field, I'd say I was unlucky to draw a starting table with Allen Cunningham, David Williams, Mike Laing, Chip Jett, and Casey Kastle. Believe it or not, other tables were worse--specifically Table One, which featured Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, Josh Arieh, Scott Fischman, and Ross Boatman. Anyway, at my table I play a few small pots and I'm quickly down to T1,250. Then I pick up aces, have my preflop reraise called, and then win on the flop. Back up to T1,600. Then I open in the cutoff + 1 for T75 (blinds T25 and T25) with QTo on Allen's big blind. All fold to Allen, who calls. Flop comes jack-high. Check, check. Turn king. Allen bets T125. I make it T350. Allen folds. Then a strange hand comes up. A player open limps, and all fold to me on the SB with 66. I check. Then Casey, who's been much more active than he typically is (probably realizing he'd have to be at this ridiculous table), raises T100 more. The limper calls, so I call. The flop comes jack-high and we all check. The turn is an ace and we all check again. The river is an eight. I check, Casey bets T275 into the T375 pot. The other player folds. I start thinking. I don't give Casey a big pocket pair, because knowing his style I'm sure he would've bet the flop with that hand, and equally sure he wouldn't value bet the river with it. The only hand he'd value bet the river with here is a slowplayed set or an ace that he chose not to bet on the turn. I think he usually would've bet an ace on the turn, so there is a reasonable chance he raised with big cards, no ace, and is now trying to represent an ace. So getting more than 2-1 on my money, I call. Casey shows AQs and I muck. I'm at T1,100 when David Williams opens for T200 (blinds T25 and T50) UTG. Two folds to me and I move-in with AQo. Folded back to David and he calls pretty quickly with 99. No improvement, and I'm out. Leg One of my WSOP adventure is over. Here it is by the numbers. WSOP events played: 6 WSOP cashes: 1 WSOP final tables: 0 One-table satellites played: 6 One-table satellites won: 2 Super satellites played: 1 Super satellites won: 1 Cash game hours: 1 Total hours of brick-and-mortar poker: 40.2 Total hours of online poker: 6.5 Total result, WSOP events: -$12,775 Total result, single-table satellites: +$7,385 Total result, super satellites: +$8,840 Total result, cash games: +$547 Total result, online poker: +$94 Total overall result: +$3,541 After expenses this will hardly even be a win, but anytime I can come to a big tournament, play six events with no high cashes, and still be ahead, I consider it a success. Of course, I'm hoping for much greater success in Leg Two, which begins on June 27. In case any of you are heading out to the World Series right about now, here are two quick things you should know: 1) A lot of people who have been here from the beginning are stuck pretty good right now. They're doing desperate things with their chips and buying into bigger and bigger satellites trying to make something good happen. I guess this is a roundabout way of saying the satellites--even the biggest ones--are very good. 2) The dealers have been working without a day off since this thing started. And they don't get a day off until it ends (well, they can ask for one, but most of them seem resigned to working all the way through). It's starting to wear on them, and it's only going to get worse. Be patient with the dealers, unless you want to cause a scene. I probably won't update daily again until I get back to Vegas. The good news is, I should have time for everyone's emails now (which I now I've been neglecting). I hope all my readers enjoyed this first batch of WSOP reports. Day Nine: $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout Friday, June 17, 2005 Limit tournaments are tough in that the first two hours are almost meaningless, and then the rest of the way you're in trouble if you lose two hands. I got my T1500 starting stack to T1975 by the first break, but then I lost FOUR hands after the break and that was that. My bustout was mildly interesting, though. Seated to my right was my good friend Bill Chen, who is blogging his own WSOP experience in a journal he's keeping with his coworker who's named Matt (it's not me, mind you). Anyway, I was down to T225 with the blinds of T50 and T100 when Bill open-raised from the cutoff + 1. I reraised all-in with ATo and it folded around to the big blind, who happend to be the one total fish at the table. He mucked. Bill, of course, called and he had A6o. My hand won unimproved, and the fish started slamming the table and yelling something about how he was supposed to have won this monster part (presumably whatever junk he had on the blind would've paired up with something on the board). So I'm up to T600. The very next hand I open-raise with KQo and the fish three-bets from the small blind. The big blind mucks, and I call. The flop comes 553. The fish bets, I call. The turn comes ace, and the fish bets again. I have T200 only in front of me. It's call all-in, or fold. I'm getting 5.5-1, but I could easily be drawing dead. I go into the tank and look over at the fish. He doesn't seem comfortable, so my read is that he doesn't have an ace. I think it's much more likely he has a pair, or two big cards. If he has two big cards, I'm at worse tied. If he has a pair, I'm probably about a 7-1 dog. I decide that because I believe there's a reasonable chance (20%?) I have the best hand, I should call. So I do, and as I roll over my hand Bill says, "Innnteresting." The fish has two tens and I don't improve. Oh well, at least I was drawing live. I played two satellites after the tournament and, for once, didn't win either of them. Damn, I was getting used to winning at least one satellite every time I played them. Tomorrow is the $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Shootout, and my last event of this first leg of my WSOP adventure. I fly home on Saturday (or possibly tomorrow if I bust early), but will be returning to Vegas on June 27th for the remainder of the tournament. Day Eight: A Tournament and a Satellite (the latter much longer) Thursday, June 16, 2005 I rolled out of bed at 11:30 and got downstairs in time to play the noon $500 No Limit Hold 'Em tournament at The Palms. I spend T200 on the first hand I play when I flop a pair, gutshot, and flush draw and never improve. About ten minutes into the tournament a guy sits to my immediate left, shows everyone a big rubber band, and says, "Anyone know what happened to the stuff that was in here?" "Bad trip, huh?" I asked him. He nodded. It seemed he was pretty significantly stuck--the rubber band was well-stretched. The guy folds the first three hands he's dealt, so I haven't seen him enter a pot when the following hand comes up. I'm dealt two nines on the button and open for T45 (blinds are T10 and T15). Both blinds call, including the stuck guy on the small blind. The flop comes 854 with two spades and the stuck guy pushes all-in for T1450!! The big blind folds and I go into the tank. I know I don't have to call here, but I also know this is a great chance to get chips if he's just made a frustrated all-in with something like one pair. I'm almost sure he doesn't have the nuts. So I ask him, "Did you flop two pair?" He just laughs, and I'm pretty sure he did not flop two pair, and that he has one pair at most. There's no way I put him on a pair bigger than mine. "I'm gonna call," I say. "Do you have pocket jacks?" he says, and I know I'm toast. Sure enough, he rolls over two tens and my tournament is over. I really think tens were the only hand in his range that beat me, so I still don't mind my call, despite the fact that I called T1250 to win T1395 with 11 percent equity. :) I head over to the Rio and enter a $500 satellite. The field is significantly tougher than the fields have been, but still highly beatable. I'm sitting next to my friend JohnnyBax and as we're talking it becomes clear to another player at the table that I have a poker blog. He asks me about it, and so I toss him my card. Fast forward a few limits. A guy who just lost a monster pot two hands earlier goes all-in for T100. The blinds are T200-T400 and I'm the big blind. Fold to the button, the guy who has my card, who says, "I know your blog says not to do this, but I raise." I'm almost sure I know what this means. It means, "I have a hand that's not a monster, but I'm isolating the short stack with it anyway, and I read somewhere that I'm not supposed to do that." Bax folds on the small blind, and it's up to me on the big blind. I have Q9o. The button has about T5,500 behind, and I have almost that much in front of me. "I'm all-in," I say. The button thinks for a long while and folds. He's quite upset when he sees my hand, claiming he folded ace-king. I scoop up the T1,500 in dead money and lose the T400 main pot to the short stack. Credit to Gavin Griffin for giving me, and the rest of the poker world, this play. So I end up heads-up with a three-to-one chip lead and the guy won't accept less than $1,500 to make a deal. Since we're playing for $5,120, I decline and we keep playing. He chips away at me, and then we get it all-in on the flop in an even money situation (he had 14 outs twice). I lose, and now I'm at a 4-1 chip disadvantage. He offers me a $1,000 to leave, which is basically zero EV chip-wise. I decline again. I don't take deals unless they're significantly to my advantage. I move-in with Q4s and get called by AJo. I flop a queen and double up. I move-in with 66 and get called by AJo. My hand holds, and I'm back to a 3-1 chip lead again. I chip away at him and get up to a 4-1 advantage. I move-in with KTo and get called by A8o. I flop a king and the match is over. Just your routine satellite victory, I guess. I played $100-$200 Hold 'Em for an hour to get ready for tomorrow's Limit Hold 'Em Shootout. I wanted to play the $5 buy-in Limit Hold 'Em event in the WPTFan Series of Poker, but I got back to my room one minute late. I learned tonight that Full Tilt doesn't have late registration. That was annoying (yes, I made $5,000 today, and I'm annoyed because I missed a $5 online tournament). Finally back to playing the real WSOP events over the next two days. Both events are shootouts, which I think is great news for me. Shootouts, where you have to win your table to advance, suit my style very well. I'm hoping to make some noise in one of them. Day Seven: (Truly) No Poker Wednesday, June 15, 2005 Just sent in a 40,000-word draft of the Lindgren book. Let's hope that's enough (I previously sent in a 31,500-word draft, and they wanted more). Other than writing, which took up most of my day today, I managed to get out and see Lance Burton perform. Pretty incredible--Ivy and I were constantly asking ourselves "how did he do that?"--but not the greatest show for an ornithophobe like me, especially from the second row. I'm thinking of playing a $500 tournament here at The Palms tomorrow. Anyway, I'll definitely play something in preparation for my next WSOP event on Thursday. Day Six: (Almost) No Poker Tuesday, June 14, 2005 I took the day off from playing yesterday, and instead wrote about 2,500 words of the Lindgren book. I did, however, play Event #3 of the WPTfan Series of Poker, a series of tournaments among internet friends that gives me a fun distraction from the real thing. Despite very nearly being the first one out of that tournament, I managed to win it--actually the first non-Hold 'Em tournament I've ever won (it was Razz). I am now the points leader in the WPTFan Series. Maybe that will translate into some success in that other Series. Today is more writing, as the final, ultimate, really really last deadline for the Lindgren book is tonight. Tomorrow I'll get back to some brick and mortar poker in preparation for the Limit Hold 'Em shootout on Thursday. Day Five: $2,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em Monday, June 13, 2005 For the first time in four WSOP events, I didn't make it to the first break. This isn't all that surprising, as there's only so much you can do with blinds of T25-T25 (and then T25-T50) and T2,000 in chips. I played no pot bigger than a few hundred chips for the first hour and a half, and had T2,050 in front of me when my bustout hand occured. I think it's at least mildly interesting, so I'll post it. UTG limps for T50, I make it T200 in the next seat with AKo. Folds to Victor Ramdin in late position, who calls T50. He gets informed that it's T200 to play. He surrenders the T50 and folds. The small blind, who hasn't been very active (then again, no one at the table has), calls. The big blind folds, the limper folds. The pot is T550. The flop comes JT7 rainbow. SB checks. I bet T375. SB makes it T900. He's giving off a weakness tell, and I should have a decent number of outs if I get called, so I move in. He calls instantly with QQ. None of my outs hit and IGHN. I ran this hand by my friend Gavin Smith and he gave what I thought was an excellent analysis. First, he said he would've strongly considered checking behind on the flop. This avoids the problem of getting blown off the hand, and might allow me to represent strength later in the hand. Gavin said if he'd bet the flop, he probably would've folded to a check-raise, which is why he probably wouldn't have bet the flop in the first place. "Your hand is too big to bet," is the way Gavin put it. I knew when I bet the flop that I'd have to defend the bet a good chunk of the time, and since I'd sensed weakness (incorrectly? some people are very nervous with queens, so it's hard to say) I was prepared for that eventuality. I like moving in rather than calling the check-raise because it ensures that I see the last two cards. I also still think there are a lot of good reasons to bet the flop. I think there are better hands than mine that will check-fold (e.g., small pairs) or even check-raise planning to fold to a jam (e.g. A8, KT, AT, maybe QJ). But I think Gavin's idea has a lot of merit, and I think in general most players bet the flop, after raising preflop, far too often. This journal has been pretty spare most days, and yesterday's entry was particularly brief, so let me try to add a little of the local color tonight. - I don't feel as though I'm in Vegas. I haven't been to The Strip yet. I've never been in Vegas for 24 hours, let alone six days, without setting foot on The Strip. I might as well be in Reno, or San Jose, or Atlantic City, because that's what this feels like--staying in a relatively uninhabited area, and walking every day to the local casino that happens to be spreading a poker tournament. I'm not planning on playing a WSOP event for the next three days, so I'll be sure to get to the Bellagio and end this Strip-less madness soon. - I picked possibly the dumbest pre-arranged sequence of throws in the Roshambo tournament--rock, rock, paper, scissors, rock. I'd assumed my opponent would "know" I wouldn't go rock on the first throw, because everyone goes rock on the first throw, and sort of based the rest of my sequence around that first decision. Boy did that backfire. Scott Fischman, who I believe had a prearranged sequence as well (although I'm not sure), threw paper, paper, scissors, scissors, paper, and beat me 4-0. Only after I was knocked out of the tournament did Annie Duke reveal her random number generating strategy (actually, someone else had given her the strategy) of looking at the digits of a serial number on a dollar bill and using 1-3 rock, 4-6 paper, 7-9 scissors, 0 go to next digit. Annie made the final four of the tournament. Wish I'd thought of this system myself. - The Rio is withholding three percent of the prize pool of the Mega/Super satellites for the staff. This is on top of the $60 in rake they're already taking out for the $1,000 buy-in tournament. So it costs us $90 to play a super satellite. When I got to the final table, the TD made clear that we'd already tipped 3%, but that the staff would appreciated being further compensated. When I made clear that I wasn't planning to compensate further, I got some snickering from one of the dealers. Something is not right here. I go out of my way to be pleasant and patient with the overworked and underpaid tournament staff, and when I won my one-table satellite I tipped $120, which I'm sure was well-above-average. But when the Rio screws us with the juice, I get a bad rap from the dealers for not tipping them even further. I guess the only way around this is to keep my mouth shut and not-tip quietly. I thought bringing up the fact that the players are getting screwed and therefore not tipping would make the Rio reconsider the juice they're taking. I now see the fallacy in my logic. - The CineVegas Film Festival is in town at The Palms, the very hotel to which I just checked in. I'm excited to get away from poker a little bit before the shootout events start, and since Ivy just got here this seems like the perfect distraction. My friend Mike May, one of the best poker players on the east coast, alerted me to the screening of George Romero's Land of the Dead taking place on Saturday. The movie is sold out and my flight is scheduled for Saturday, but Mike, Ivy, and I are doing everything in our power to try to see this film. (It probably won't happen, but it's a fun quest.) Bet update: I again logged very few hands this week, but I ran goot in the hands I did play. Total for this week, +$10,474. Overall total, +$11,417. A long way to $100,000, but I'm planning to make a real run at it after WSOP is over. Tomorrow is going to be mostly a writing day (I'm in the final stages of the Lindgren book draft), but I'll definitely squeeze in at least one movie. Don't know if I'll play poker or not. I need a break after playing three events and a super over the last three days. Day Four: The Short Version Sunday, June 12, 2005 I should've been asleep about two hours ago, so for now you'll have to settle for the brief rundown of my day. Lasted five hours in the Limit Hold 'Em tournament before busting. High-water mark was T4,500. Played the Mega/Super Satellite (sic) for a main event seat (well, lammers for me). Hand of the tournament: Fish limps UTG, I limp in middle position with KcTh. Others behind me fold, but the blinds call. Flop QJ4 all hearts. Check, check, Fish leads out for T200 into T600 pot. I make it T700. Blinds fold, fish calls. Turn Kh. Fish checks. I bet T700. Fish says raise and throws in T1,000. I explain (not politely enough) that that's not a raise. Eventually he puts out T1,400. I call. River is Ah. Fish says, "I'm all-in." I say, "I call, I have a royal. Ship it." Fish shakes his head and says, "Nice hand, I have a straight," and rolls over QcTs. Remember, there are FIVE hearts on board. After that hand I have my usual super satellite heart attack roller coaster ride. Eventually, after seven hours of up-and-down, I win my seat (aka, my $10,000 in lammers). Yeah. $2,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em tomorrow. Day Three: $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em Saturday, June 11, 2005 With 1400 players in the field, I drew a starting table featuring Gavin Griffin, Freddy Deeb, and a few minutes later, Joe Cassidy. And Joe was two to my left, no less. Despite this very bad luck, I was able to double up against one of the fish, and then bust Joe. The Joe bustout hand was one of my more interesting of the day. I opened for T250 (blinds T50-T100) in mid-late position with TT. I'd been opening a lot and, in case you don't know, Joe's pretty aggressive (understatement alert). So when Joe moved in for T1,250 on the button I did an invisible fist pump...until the small blind quickly called the T1,250 cold. The big blind folded and it was back to me. The small blind had about T3,000 behind, and I had a little more than that. I thought for a while, feeling strongly that this was a close decision and not sure what I should do. For a while my opponent was looking very comfortable with his hand, not willing to make eye contact with me. Then suddenly he gave me the aggressive staredown. A few seconds later I announced all-in. He thought for not too long and folded. Joe had 55, my tens held up and I was on my way. The small blind, meanwhile, was kicking himself for the next ten minutes...because he had mucked two queens. So I ran my chips up to T12,000, bluffed off T6,500 of them, then ran TT (again!) through David Plastik's QQ and got it to T14,000. I stole my way to T26,000, mostly around bubble time. But then John Bonetti moved to my immediate left with his gargantuan stack, meaning I would need a hand to play. And I went card dead. I whittled down to T16,000 with the blinds at T800-T1,600 and a T200 ante. At this point I moved in with KQ in the cutoff and ran into AK on the big blind. I was left with T2,100, and I came real damn close to winning a three-way all-in with J3s and getting back to T7,200. But I didn't. I finished 83rd, for a whopping $1,225 profit. Yes, it's my first cash in a major tournament this year, and yes it's my first-ever cash in a WSOP event, but all that stuff is meaningless. Only high finishes matter. In fact, I actually think my EV in this tournament was higher than $1,225. Tomorrow is my best shot to get on ESPN, since I'm playing the $200 buy-in Roshambo (rock-paper-scissors) charity tournament, hosted by Full Tilt and to-be-aired on ESPN. I got my ass kicked at Roshambo by my friends a few weeks back, so I'm going to try to find a way to just randomize my choices before this thing starts tomorrow. Should be fun. And oh, tomorrow is also the $2,000 Limit Hold 'Em event. Limit Hold 'Em is my best game. Day Two: A Couple of Satellites Friday, June 10, 2005 I ended up not playing at all last night (watched some soccer and tried to do some writing instead), but today I played two one-table satellites--both $525 buy-ins for $5000 in lammers and $120 in cash. In the first satellite I had to listen to my opponents discuss in agonizing detail how they would never bet into a dry side pot without a monster because they knew it was important to eliminate players, and how much it drove them crazy when anyone did this. Never mind that eliminating players at the expense of your own chip stack would be an egregious mistake in a winner-take-all satellite. Then I had to listen to one guy say over and over again how he tried to make a deal in every satellite he entered. That was his goal. Sure enough, when we got three-handed he asked if we wanted to chop it three ways. I had 40 percent of the chips, and had accumulated almost all of them by stealing. My opponents were folding pretty much every time I raised. Before I even knew it had happened, I'd said, "No way." At one point in the three-handed stage, I moved in with K8s and got called by the guy who wanted to deal with KJs. His hand held up and he doubled through. I managed to bust the other guy and got heads-up with 2/3 of the chips. My friend of KJs fame tried to come up with some new deals. After I flatly rejected his first two ridiculous offers, he finally came up with a deal that was basically zero EV from a chip perspective. I don't think so. If you're going to fold every hand for the entire satellite (except for the rare case where you open for nine times the big blind), you better not hope to turn too much of a profit at the end if you're trying to make a deal with me. On the first hand after I instructed the dealer to keep the game rolling, I moved in with 96o and he called with A6. I didn't improve and now my opponent had a 2-1 chip lead. I stole my way back to even, and then I moved in with AK. He called with QT. Ten on the turn. King on the river and I win. Amazing that I could have a guy call all-in twice, have him win both times, and still bust him the next time I moved all-in and got called. That's, in a nutshell, why I made no deals. In the second satellite, I had 40 percent of the chips four-handed when I got it all-in with KK vs. AJ against the one guy left at the table who wasn't a total weak-tightie. The board came 8TQ9x and he doubled through. On the very next hand he open-limped UTG (he'd been doing this often enough that it didn't necessarily indicate a monster) and I moved in with KJ in the next seat. The blinds mucked and UTG called instantly with AK. No help for me and IGHN. Oh well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad in tournament poker. $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em tomorrow. Hoping I catch some cards. Day One: $1,000 No Limit Hold 'Em with rebuys Wednesday, June 08, 2005 I arrived in Vegas early this morning and joined Chris for a 2 a.m. club sandwich at the Rio's coffee shop. Check out Chris's blog for some of the hilarity that ensued. I was the only one at my table to rebuy on the first hand this afternoon--a very good sign. I treaded water for a long time and watched the player two to my right bluff at pot after pot. Everyone reading this knows that guy was just asking to run into the Matros check-call machine. Sure enough, he opened for T150 on the button and called on the big blind with Ac5c. The flop came JJ5 and I checked. He bet T275. I called. The turn was a three. I checked. He bet T425. I called. He threw his cards towards the muck, but immediately retrieved them when the river brought a queen (his cards never came near the muck). Ninety-nine percent of the time when this happens it's because a player thinks his opponent has folded, and is getting rid of his cards to take the pot. "Are you mucking?" I said. "No," he said. I checked. After I checked my opponent said that he'd heard someone at the other table say "all-in," thought it was me, and was mucking...and then he bet T425 again. I was almost sure he had a queen, but I paid off anyway. Sure enough, he showed me QTo to take the pot. This took me down to just below T1,000, so I took another rebuy. On the very next hand, my nemesis raised to T125 and I made it T400 with AA. He called instantly, still telling (actually reretelling) his friends on the rail the story of the last hand. The flop came king-high. I bet, he moved me in, I called instantly. He had KJ, spiked a jack, and I took a double rebuy. I blinded down to T1,750 by the time we hit the break, so I did a double add-on for another $2,000. All told, I was in this thing for $7,000. (Seven buy-ins is probably about my average in rebuy tournaments anyway.) I stole some pots after the break and got it up to T5,000, but then I got T2,000 of it in with AKs against Can Kim Hua's 88. I didn't improve. I lost some pots and got down to T2,000 when my nemesis opened for T450 from the cutoff. I moved in with 55. The big blind folded, my nemesis had KK and I was done. Not the WSOP start I was looking for, but it's a marathon, not a sprint. I'll play some cash games at the Bellagio tonight and/or tomorrow. My next WSOP event is the $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em on Friday. Bad Start or Good Start? Tuesday, June 07, 2005 So I missed my flight, and as a result had five and a half hours to kill in JFK airport. In that time I wrote the CardPlayer article I have due this week, did some work on the Lindgren book, ate food for the first time today, and won $3200 three-tabling the Party games (JetBlue wireless internet rocks). So am I off to a good start, or a bad start? Cast your votes now. I'll update tomorrow, after day one of the $1000 rebuy tournament. Not Much to Report Monday, June 06, 2005 Sorry I haven't been updating, but I've been playing almost no poker. Highlights of the last week included: girlfriend's birthday, signing books at Book Expo America, getting filmed for a poker documentary, giving a lesson to some young players in Westchester, being a groomsman in my friend's wedding in D.C. So yeah, not too many hands to talk about. Rest assured, I leave for Vegas in two days for a little something known as the World Series of Poker. I'll try to update every day from there. I did manage to play three Sunday tournaments today. Busted uneventfully from Stars and Dise, but had a spectacular flameout on Party. Ran my starting 1500 up to 15,000, only to lose 2/3 of my chips to set-over-set, another 4k to a marginal (and probably incorrect) call I made, and my last 1k by running into aces--all in the span of like six hands. Poker is fun, huh?!! Bet update: Played even fewer hands this week than last week. Total for this week, +$271. Overall total, +$943.  September 2004 | October 2004 | December 2004 | January 2005 | February 2005 | March 2005 | April 2005 | May 2005 | June 2005 | July 2005 | August 2005 | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006 | May 2006 | June 2006 | July 2006 | August 2006 | September 2006 | October 2006 | December 2006 | January 2007 | April 2007 | May 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | October 2007 | January 2008 | |
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