Endgame Poker Tourney Play, part 1...

As I've mentioned before I do a lot of reading and studying in my spare time, attempting to evolve and improve my poker game. Most recently, I've been going through "Harrington on Holdem Vol. 2" - (twoplustwo publishing) with a fine tooth comb. I'm definitely not breezing through this book, although it is a relatively easy read. I'm going through in attempts to committing each area of the book to mastery level memory, wanting to know not only what he's saying, but why... Throughout the next few posts, I'm going to discuss his endgame strategy from the eyes of the drunken one.

Endgame

Dan Harrington lists his "theory of inflection points" as the single most important aspect of a playa's poker game. During the football season, I had offered commentary regarding Schottenheimer as a coach, and getting too conservative at the wrong times with his play calling. Harrington and I are obviously on the same page, as he discusses how when playing football, providing there is lots of time left in the game, and the score is close, the teams have the entire playbook to work with. However, when a team is down by a few TD's and the clock is winding down, the offensive coordinator really only has a few options available to him. Running up the middle is not a viable option, as it allows the clock to run. Additionally, passing short down the middle is not a legit option either, considering the receiver has to again get out of bounds, which is no easy task. Most of the two minute offenses tend to pick the sidelines at 10-15 yards, in between throwing the bomb. And really, these plays are pretty much the only plays that make sense in the context of the game. They need to move the ball, and they need to move it both quickly and efficiently --- lower percentage, higher reward plays.

The team that are up by two TDs late in the game, however, wants to run the clock down. Consequently, they run up the gut. When necessary, they can throw in the middle, lay out a screen play, or pretty much anything they choose. Their goal is to run out the clock in the most efficient manner possible. And hell, they're in the lead, thus they can afford to play conservatively. They don't need the bomb to work for them. They must sit on the lead and select their plays carefully and efficiently, the ones designed to both move the ball and burn the clock --- high percentage plays.

When late in a tourney, is this not the similar problem you have? When you're short stacking, the blinds and antes eating away, don't ya need to pick the sidelines and convert the long bombs? When way ahead, do you really need to get mixed up in running a low percentage high reward play?

Tommorrow, we'll discuss the logical play-book for different scenerios. Ponder the above, and reflect on how it relates to your late game play.

Upcoming CheckRayz Tourneys

This is an exciting time for me, as we have lots of action packed, money added buyins and freeroll poker tourneys coming up at CheckRayz. Finally... "the 'deathstar' is fully operational."

Our tourney filled week begins with a $5+.50, $100 added event at River Belle on Weds March 1 - 9pm EST. Launch “imhere4beer” and receive a $20 launch bonus straight to your River Belle account. River Belle are currently offering a 50% match up to $100 as a first time deposit bonus. Additionally, fund the deposit with Neteller or firepay and receive $25 extra! (note - the money added will be transferred to player accounts after the event).


Next stop on the CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour is TouchStone Poker - Thursday 2 March 9pm. This poker room is brand new and has agreed to host a $100 Freeroll. Once again, there will be a bounty on your hero’s head, a first edition CheckRayz Tee-Shirt. However, to try to stay a step ahead of the pack, his sn is “CheckRayz.” Don’t let this fool ya, knock the donk from the tourney. Instructions or help on registering for the event can be found in the FAQ section of the Freeroll Poker Blog.

March 3rd at 9pm EST we head to Hollywood. The peeps at Hollywood Poker are sponsoring a $200 added $5+.50 event. The tourney is listed in the “private” “scheduled” tourneys tab under the name of “imhere4beer.” Speaking of which, launch bonus of $10 for knocking the drunk one from the tourney. All first time depositors via the CheckRayz link below who participate in this tourney will also receive $10 free (no catch - this is better than a freeroll).

Finally, to end our launch week, we’ll be holding a $100 freeroll at Kiwi Poker. Launch bonus of $20 (not bad for a freeroll launch bonus), once again for “imhere4beer.” This event is scheduled for Saturday 4 March at 1pm, one day before…….

The CheckRayz “donk fest” at Kiwi Poker --- Sunday March 5th at 3pm. $50 added to the prize pool and an entry of $1+.10 fully equipped with rebuy and add-on for the first hour.

There will be a launch bonus on “imhere4beer” again, though it applies only to the fatal blow that knocks him from the tourney (if the donk rebuys, you’re not collecting, and he will rebuy when he can, cuz that is the drunken donk he is).

Finally, keep checking with the CheckRayz tourney schedule for more upcoming events, including the Heads up Challenge and a Freeroll at Celeb Poker.

Mike



Poker Tournament Strategy
Endgame Strategy
Poker Tournaments

Reflections on the "Monthly" tourney...

Well, our "monthly" poker tourney is in the record books. On one hand, I am proud to say that while I did make the finals table, I did not finish "on the bubble." However, I did finish one off the bubble, and not to the money side either... LOL. The quality of play improved significantly in this tourney, compared to tourneys in the past. Here's a recap of significant hands either at my table and/or directly involving me.

SB-BB - level 2 (blinds 2-4)

I'm in the small blind, stack of about 450 (we start with 410 in chips), Big blind has about 300 chips and has got involved in several hands early on. I'd previously been involved in 1 or two hands, and am known as a tight aggressive monster. My raises are generally well respected, unless against "that guy" or in obvious steal positions.

The cards are folded around to me. I peak down into the hole and see bullets staring at me. Now, the SB-BB is a scenerio where I've been known to make a steal play early on. So, I make an odd raise after fumbling with my chips, making it ten (2.5x'as BB). He senses steal and raises another twenty. I suspiciously make it $100. He calls cleanly. We go to the flop, which comes J-9 (clubs) - 6 (hearts). At this point, I'm worried about a flush draw and a set, though not necessarily "too" worried about it. I like the idea of him thinking I'm going for a steal here, going into this flop. If he has a set, I'm redraw, if he's on a flush draw, he's got several outs. So, having him covered and a high M, even if I lose this hand, I put the decision on him and push allin. I'd be content with a steal here. He ponders and makes a quick decision to call. He turns over queen-ten of clubs.

Oh no... I think I'd rather be up against... well, just about anything else. 6 outs to the straight, 8 to the flush (one of my aces was clubbed), of which two are a straight flush. 14 outs and two cards to go with me presently in the lead. Turn and river are thankfully irrelivant. GG, he's out. I dodged a bullet there, though it would have not been crippling.

Button goes around, and to me (blinds are now 5-10), I receive QQ. I make a 6x raise, with hopes of getting heads up with someone. I get my wish, as the hostess of the evening (SB), a generally tight player comes over top of me, making it 120. BB folds, as does the lone limper. I ponder this for a moment, putting her immediately on a PP of some sort, or Ak (suited or not), POSSIBLY AQs or AJs, though less likely. I need to narrow my range of hands a bit further, so I reraise to 360. I know this move, if successful would cripple her, so she really has no choice but to fold or go allin. If she folds, she held 22-88 or AQs, AJs (10 possible hands she'd make an initial move into me, and folding to my subsequent move). I give it about a 40% probability of getting the fold in my head. If she moves allin, she holds 99-AA (likely not QQ). She'd also possibly do this with AK, so I have to consider that as well, and would be about equally likely to fold it as she'd be to push allin. So of the hands that she'd come over top, two have me as the dog the queens - least likely of the scenerios tie, barring a disasterous four to the flush which I wont even think of, and I'm favored with 3 hands (JJ-1010-99). So, I'm quite comfortable here with her coming over the top (knowing I'd be slightly favored in the majority of the hands she'd move this way in), yet more comfortable with my 40% chance of her folding to me. If I drop this hand, I'm back to about 500 chips, which is an M of 33 for now, 16 when the blinds go up, so I can certainly spin the wheel here.

She ponders the decision and pushes allin. I call with little hesitations. Her cowboys hold up and she takes down the pot (she goes on to take second place, by the way).

Game is rather uneventful, besides the fact of her mowing down another person named Mike (while I was the dealer) who also held QQ. She chips up and is leading the table when we go into the "monsterous" blind level. We jump from 10-20 to 25-50 with a $5 ante. At this point, even the big stack is beginning to stress over the blinds, as this is a huge jump to absorb (note: this jump has been my only area of criticism of the tourney... ever). The tourneys here are run extremely professional, well organized, and nothing but love from all ends. This jump though gets me every time... LOL.

With an M of four, I'm having to gather chips with a quickness. First hand in, I'm on the button, dealt garbage and fold (six peeps at the table now, 12 remain in the tourney). Second hand, I have ace small suited. UTG min raise (100). I push allin, hoping to get a fold, and knowing this player can indeed lay down a small pair or ace big to my raise. He ponders and does. Next hand, UTG raises allin, I fold, as does everyone else. Blinds pass me, uneventful. Cutoff, I'm dealt J10s. M's back to 4-5, so I once again utilize the first in viggorish and push Allin. Oops, forgot to check the BB's stack. His M is under one and has to call. It folds to him, he calls, turning over J7. I dominate and hold up. Blinds hit me, which are now 50-100, ten ante, I'm back into the critical level. Pocket tens, in the hole and a limper UTG. I call, my tens hold up to his 6's. Cutoff gives me A10s. Allin I go. He defends his blinds, turning over KQ of the same suit. Flop and turn miss, river comes a Q. Back to square one. I go out with KJ vs. QJ, as the flop hits him hard. Nice hand, GG. Your hero eliminated sixth.

All in all, I played a solid game with no complaints on any beats I took. Reading and studying continually with my Harrington on Holdem Vol 2 book helps a great deal. Especially short stacked play.

More tommorrow, specifically in regards to the upcoming block of poker tourneys with CheckRayz.



Poker Tournament Strategy

Monthly Live Game today...

Its that time of the month again... No, not "THAT" time of the month. I mean, today is the monthly live game with my friends. I always look forward to these tourneys and often skip out on other important stuff (or delay) so that I'm able to play in this game.

Last month, I was sent to the rail quite early by "that guy" (read: donkey, SuperDonk, tool boy, fish of all fish, moron, idiot, insert colorful name of choice here) who made a garbage call to a sizable raise I made holding Ace Three offsuit to my pocket queens. Hopefully, he'll not be within my site today, as I had seriously considered assulting the fool for simply being "that guy." And yes, he's the person who causes the room to cringe as he "announces" his entrance.

I've received several pieces of advice regarding how to play him from members of the Shark Forum, to which I am most appreciative. I remain confident that I will not get burned by this moronic player who only knows "call and raise" and knows not when its appropriate to set down a hand (see my post last month detailing how idiotic this hand was - first post in the archive).

Speaking of tourney play, yer hero took down the CheckRayz poker freeroll at poker.com yesterday, nailing down a $50+5 coupon to today's 5.15pm $10K guaranteed tourney. This would be the second CheckRayz tourney I've won. I increased my lead on the CheckRayz Leaderboard with this victory.

Consequently, I've placed a bounty on myself in the next CheckRayz tourney, which happens to be on Wednesday 1 March 9pm EST at River Belle Poker Room. $5+.50 to join, $20 launch bonus on my donk ass. and $100 to be added to the prize pool. Not a bad deal, if you ask me.

Additionally, there is plenty of opportunity to knock me off the top of the leaderboard, with several money added and freeroll poker tourneys in the upcoming days. Speaking of the CheckRayz Leaderboard, the first leg of the campaign ends March 31st. I'll be expanding later in the week (probably Friday at the mailbag) as to what exactly we're going to do with this leaderboard of ours (not that I know anything *wink, wink... my guess is a special free, money-added event).

More to add tommorrow, regarding my thoughts from the monthly tourney.

Mike



Poker Tournaments

The Continuing Adventures of SuperDonk - poker "idiot"!!!

OK, I wrote earlier in the week regarding a person that I referred to as "SuperDonk" that I came across in the poker room. This wasn't his screen name at the poker room. It was one that I made up for him. After last night, I am beginning to think that SuperDonk is not a person, but perhaps a spirit that infests the body of an online poker player of choice for a given session. Sidenote, I think Super Donk is lazy, as it seems that he only possesses the virtual image of players from oh, say the UK --- like London specifically --- no offense to our UK readers here. I'm going to have to hire an artist to draw me a picture of this Super Donk ghost/character, as I slightly suspect he's gonna be cast a recurring role in the pub. With that said, onto our next episode of "SuperDonk builds bankrolls!"

(used car salesman/cheesy cartoon voiceover) - "When we last left off, SuperDonk was battling the evil forces of the TAG Drunk Dude. SuperDonk used his Super Powers throwing chip after chip in the pot, in hopes of capturing and running down our evil drunken fiend. However, the evil villian, Beer Dude KNEW Super Donk had a weakness. The evil one set trap after trap for our hero on the river, causing SuperDonk to become weak, trembling with fear and folding his hand... Will SuperDonk avoid the river trap? Stay tuned...!!!

SuperDonk: "We meet again, Drunk guy with chips. Don't you know justice always prevails?"

Beer Dude: "If you're to defeat me and my evil chip stack, you'll need to do better than see 92% of the flops. I'll walk all over your any two cards playing ass... Wait, you're the donkey, thus an ass. So, I'll walk all over your any two cards playing self and declare victory on behalf of the evil TAG empire. How ya like them apples, ya jackass?"

SuperDonk: "I'm not afraid of you, Beer Guy. You're forgetting something."

Beer Dude: "Oh yea, I am... sorry, let me reword. How ya like them apples, ya SUPER Jackass?"

SuperDonk: "Very funny evil 1. No, you forgot we're playing in my home turf. I'm not afraid of your river bet, providing we're playing for........ British pounds!!!"

Beer Dude: "No!!!! You'll never beat me you horses' ass, errr Donkey. Fold to my River Bet!!!"

SuperDonk: "Never! I show you the power of... the Jack-three!"

BeerDude (breaking character): "Are you f'ing kidding me? We're gonna get cancelled if you show down hands like that, Donk boy. Seriously, we're gonna get cancelled."

SuperDonk (also breaking character):"Well, what if I play 96% of the flops and go to showdown on all of them, would that help?"

Voiceover:"Stay tuned for next week when superdonk says..." "10-4offsuit is a great starting hand, you fiend!!!"

Haha, I know, cheesy. But this dude was by far the donk of all donks.

Stats are as follows for said hero superdonk over 87 hands:

Voluntarily put money in pot: 97% (rounded down)
Folded small/big blind to steal: 0% and 0%
win rate per 100 hands: -137 POUNDS

I'm not real sure this guy can be outdone. Funny thing is, people would actually fold to this clown. Everyone at the table saw what I was doing. All I needed was a piece of the flop, and I'd show down against him. I'd beat on him for a while (for a bit with any two cards), then sit back and let others take a run at him. He'd bet into them and they'd fold. Once they were frustrated and his bankroll built up a bit, I'd take another run at him. It was truely an amazing evening. I'll sit with this clown anytime, plus, I got the script for the SuperDonk pilot I'm working on as well, so it will give me some material.

Mike



Poker Stories
SuperDonk, Poker Idiot Saga
Horrible Poker Play

Slowplaying and the Mailbag..

Before getting to the Friday Mailbag, I want to discuss something that many people make the mistake of doing. The slowplay. In poker, be it cash games or poker tourneys, you always see peeps dropin the old slowplay. Unfortunately, more often than not, the slowplay is not used in the proprer context, from what I've seen. Some times, dispite the "incorrect" use, it works and you look genius, other times, well... it turns into a tilting bad beat story. I'd like to cover when a slowplay is correct:

Slowplaying your hand

According to David Sklansky (Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, 21st Century Ed. p.73 - Two Plus Two Publishing) slowplaying is only correct when ALL of the following circumstances are in place:

1. You have a VERY strong hand.

2. You'll "probably" chase everyone out by betting, but have a great chance of winning the huge pot if you check.

3. The free card you're about to give has good possibility of making a second-best hand.

4. The free card you're about to give has little chance of making a now first-best hand or giving someone a draw to a better hand with sufficient odds to justify a later call.

5. The pot must not yet be very large.

He goes on to say that an appropriate slowplay would be with you holding JJ, and the flop comes J-6-2 rainbowed. Unless you're against AA, KK, QQ, your opposition will need runner runner to mow your monster down. If, on the other hand, you have 6-6 or 2-2, slowplaying is not correct in this scenerio.

Just keep that in mind, and we'll expand more on the slowplay later. That being said, on to the mailbag.

BeerDude, is it my imagination or are you turning into quite the donk in the shark tourneys lately? Signed, at least ten peeps from the shark army.

My, my... it does appear that way lately, doesn't it. I mean, goin out with pocket fives early (vs AA), and then later on with pocket nines (vs j10s after jack hits). Actually, I'm kinda experimenting, if you will believe that. I'm reading a book, which you may have heard of "Harrington on Holdem, volume 2: endgame," - two plus two publishing. I've been employing some of the tactics he teaches (which will be discussed later in the week, perhaps). However, I am admittingly trying them out earlier in the tourney than he's suggested. I figure that when playing vs. the Shark Army, these "moves" stand more of a chance to be recognized or even seen through, as opposed to general tourney play, given that we have a much "better" group of playa's, ESPECIALLY at the buy-in tourneys Sharky hosts.

Now once again, the things I am trying, I'm doing so knowing they are slightly out of context, so you see me do something totally donkified and it works, ya might want to check with me to see if the move I was making was known to be "correct" before trying at home. Besides, I'm a ring man all the way, and don't take much opportunity for tourney play presently, so I've really got no where else to "work out" so to speak.

NEXT!

Beer, What the hell do you do all day?

To paraphrase one of my favorite Cheech and Chong (the link is for Born, as I am certain he'll dig it, based on his msn pic) skits in "report format" my last week looks like the following:

Me: "On Monday, I woke up, then I went downtown to look for a job, then I hang out in front of the drugstore. The second day of the week, I woke up. Then I went downtown... to look for a job. Then I hung out in front of the Drugstore. The third day of the week..."

Sister Mary Elephant:"OK class, that's enough, class.... class... CLAAAASSSSS!!!! SHUT UP!!!!! (sweet nun's voice): Thank you."

Moving along here...

BeerMan, Did Sharky seriously lay down pocket kings last night?

What do you think?

Moving on...

Beer, How exactly is CheckRayz related to Shark's sites?

Great question. Here's how it works. Sharky has his main poker sites, Shark Poker Tour and Online Shark. He owns and operates both of those domains, scheduling some sweet poker tourneys for us poker folk. He was looking to expand his operations and I was looking to launch, ironically right at the same time. I approached him, he showed me the ropes, and with a little "business" being done, we're partners in the CheckRayz site. He helps me out, I'm allowed to say I know him (I pay to be his friend - he accepts such payments through neteller in case anyone else is interested - LOL). OK, bad joke, no one's laughing...

Bottom line, we're partners, co-owners if you will. Two old poker guys on a fixed income trying to make ends meet.

Finally, our final piece from the mailbag.

Yo Beer, When ya gonna get them therrrrr poker tourneys goin again for for CheckRayz? I need leaderboard points!

Have ya seen our poker tourney schedule lately? If not, back up, click the link and let what you see answer it on its own. Oh, and in case you're wondering... That's only the beginning of March. There are still more FREEROLL TOURNEYS and money added poker tourneys to come, so stay tuned, keep playin', check-a-rayz'n, and refer a friend.

Mike

Poker Strategy
CheckRayz Mailbag

Ho-Hum day on the poker tables

Today was a rather "ho hum" day on the tables. Net I was slightly down, close to break even. I had the favorable tables (a 70% saw flop, 63% saw, and two 40-50% saw flop... overall table preflop aggression of less than 10% as a prime example of one table I was on today). That table, while sounding real appealing, was not entirely favorable. I think it was "too fishy" --- yes peeps, that is possible. I was constantly being outdrawn by one or the other, or the other or the other...

I decided that I'd love one or two of these peeps on my table, combined with perhaps another monster such as myself, or at least a few tight passives as well, but not as a collective. I even got accused of "fishing" today myself on a seperate table!!! I was dying... I raise UTG pre with AQs, an overly aggressive button player calls me as does the small and big blind. So four handed, we see a flop of K-10-x. SB checks, BB bets, I raise, button reraises, fold, fold, cap, call. Turn comes 9. I bet out, continuing my show of strength. River another blank.

Now, other than the call after the cap (though could be a trap), I've got no reason to believe I have the best hand. However, in diving into the aggressive button's stats, I see him being 5 for 5 in went to showdown, so I know that if he misses his hand he goes to showdown. Additionally, his postflop aggression is above a 3, preflop raise about 40%. With all of that in mind, I figure that his call meant he was chasing, though he could have a small pocket pair. I figure if I check, he's going to bet and it could get expensive, especially if I am wrong about him (regarding not being on the board and having a pocket pair). Additionally, I've shown strength all along, he contested it both preflop and flop, but not as aggressive as I've seen him before. I suspect my best chance of either limiting my losses at this point, or winning the pot is by betting, so I fire off a bet, he calls cleanly. We show down, he had ace two off, and I take down the pot.

And then he calls me a fish! Are you f'ing kidding me? I replay the hand to review who exactly was betting and who was calling. I wasn't the caller. But, I just laughed and told him how lucky I felt. He singlehandedly recouped most of my losses from the more fishy table earlier in the day within a few hands. When I offered to play heads up at a price of his choosing above $50, best of seven series, he left without response. Oh well.

Well, tommorrow is Friday, and that means its mailbag time! So until then...

Mike



Poker

Hey "Super Donk", a 92% (VP$ip) is NOT a passing grade...

Ok, we've been talking stats off and on a bit here. And in doing so, I am trying to educate and inform my readers. However, I need to make something perfectly clear. While we do want passing grades in this "class," its important to know that a 92% vp$ip is NOT a passing grade. Why do I feel compelled to put this out there, you ask? I sat down with a donk, to my right no less who after 78 hands not only did he bust out, he had a 92% vp$ip and thought that he was playing correctly. He was actually yelling (typing in caps), bitching about peeps chasing. This could get hilarious, as I'm now reviewing the hand history, so bare with me.

Case no. 1:

I'm in the SB (which means "super donk" is on the button). Action folds around to the cutoff, who raises (cutoff was Mr. 62%). BB calls cold my raise (tight passive), Mr. 62% and "Super Donk" also call. I forgot to add, I'm holding AJo in the SB. Though, I think at this table, I may have made this play with J2 and felt like I either had the best preflop hand or that I'd outplay post flop...

Anyways, flop comes Q, 10, 8 (10 and 8 are suited in clubs, as is my jack...). This flop is not a bad flop to me, considering I have an inside straight draw twice over (king hits I'm golden, 9 hits I'm sitting well). Additionally, runner runner flush for my jack and an overcard. I feel comfortable enough to bet here. So, I bet out. Passive guy calls, 62 folds, and Super Dink... Donk, Super Donk calls.

Turn brings me a five of spades, shattering my dreams of the runner runner four card flush. Though, I'm not certain this helps anyone... then again, Super Donk has been playing shit, so it may have helped him. We'll see. I bet. Tight Passive dude folds, leaving me all alone with the JackAss with Super Powers. If he calls, I am certain I have the best hand, as he's not even on the board. If he comes over top of me, I can scare him. He calls, which means he has nothing. River comes a 4 of diamonds. I fire off a bet, and he calls. He shows down his ace three to my Ace jack and accuses me of chasing.


Case No. 2

I'm on the button, dealt pocket threes. Super Donk raises from the cutoff, which means he is suited. I reraise. Blinds fold. Flop comes AK8 rainbowed. Dangerous looking flop. Super Donk bets. He could have an ace or a king, but the way he is playing, he raises suited cards and calls with A and K. So, I raise, he calls (he doesn't have an ace or king, I'm sure of it!). Turn comes three. Oh, set. He bets, I raise, he reraises, I cap, he calls. River comes a jack and no flush. He checks to me, of course, I bet. He calls. Shows himself down the old Queen three suited. He asks me how I could make that play with all those cards on the board? I respond by telling Super Donk that there were only three, four and five cards on the board and I make these plays, and many other plays with those amounts of cards on the board every hand. I politely suggest he go back to yahoo to play go fish, but then tell him that he seems to be getting better at this game, so maybe he should stay, as my luck is running out. (note: did I say luck? I meant to say his bankroll).

God, I could write about this clown forever. Actually, I could really go on longer than his bankroll would last. This by far has to be my favorite super hero on the poker table I've met this week (last week it was the "Mighty River Guy" who constantly folded to the fear of cryptonite coming on the river).

Overall, I had quite a kick ass day on the tables. Actually, this has been (knock on wood) a kickass week for me thus far. Let's hope the poker gods stay on my side here. But please everyone remember, just because you'd get a passing grade in college with a 92%, when studying and playing poker, 92% is not a passing grade.

Mike



Poker Stories
SuperDonk, Poker Idiot Saga
Horrible Poker Play

"Must be that therrrrr poker hat he wearing..."

Live Poker Action Results

Finally, something positive to discuss (from a results standpoint) from the "Showdown Muppet" Casino. I went up with my parents and their friends this time, and have decided I really need to start driving myself, so that I can be there on my agenda (read: I can leave when I choose). Though, in my older age, I'm not a fan of driving any further than the local bingo hall, the "supermarket," the doctors, or to and from mass. But seriously, I'm going to begin going to participate and disrupt this proclaimed "Muppet show" on a weekly basis, so I think I need to get over this whole driving thing. Oh yea, we're talking live poker story here, nearly forgot (once again, condition of old age?).

I sit down at the table, chips in tow, sporting this SAAAAAWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET shark poker tour hat. This real nice, yet kinda redneck guy sitting across from me comments on that therrr hat I am wearin'. He asks, "That's a real nice poker hat you got therrrrr. Are you a professional?" I laugh and tell him no, I'm not a professional, I just play one on TV. He laughs uncomfortablly, once again compliments my hat. I invite him to check out the website. Two hands later, he leaves. Apparantly that set the stage for the table image of mine, as my raises were seeing some lovin. A few chasers, but not the whole table as seen this past weekend. My bluffs were working, semi-bluffs were on. The hands I showed down were monsters. Either my game was "on" or the cards were simply not working "against me" (note: I was not hitting everything under the sun, however, it didn't seem that my opposition was either). Overall, I walked out of there a winner, totally recouping what I spilled over the weekend, and turning a "bit" of a profit.

Of note, early position, guy to my left (quality person, IMO) has his first hole card flipped over on the deal (ace of hearts). Of course, dealer announces this will be the burn card. His next card, which comes in order is an Ace of spades (the card that "should" have been the burn card was a seven of hearts). He's tilting, I'm feeling for him. He pulls a smoke out of his cig. case. I suggest to him that he go smoke now (non-smoking poker room), citing that he's in early position and upset. Continuing, I tell him to go while he's out of position, come back when he's done. He'll likely be in the cutoff by then and can post in lieu of the missed blind marker and both have a favorable position and the benefit of calming down. He tells me he "should" but chooses not to. That being said, he sees the BB and SB only once, and proceeds to bust out completely in 7 hands. I felt bad for him and was certain I could have played a few hands further infuriating him and taking advantage of tilt, but as I said, quality guy, so I avoided confrontation with him during his fall.

Later on, a darker complected version of Larry Bird sits across from me, to the dealer's natural right. I of course point out he looks like a more tan version of Larry Bird. He tells me that if it weren't for his darker color skin and the fact that he was sitting at a poker table (Larry was very frugal in his day, so I hear), people would come asking for his autograph. I think the guy could very well have a gimmick goin if he tried. Hell, Elvis has a following of impersonators. He was a fun guy to play against. Very aggressive player. He called down one of my preflop raises and admittedly tried to bluff me off my hand. However, I hit the flop hard and wasn't backing down. Later on, we were four handed into the flop (I of course raised pre... he reraised, two callers, I called cleanly as well) , I was holding AQs, flop came K10x. I checked from the BB, he bets, two callers, I reraise, he bumps, two folds to me, I bump again, he calls. Turn comes a Jack. I check, hoping he bets, he does, I raise, he calls. River brings a king. No flush on the board, I bet out, he raises, I reraise, he says "I'll cap." Dealer reminds that heads up no cap, so knowing I have at least a piece of the nut, and that the rake was already maxed, I reraise some more. 5 minutes worth of raising and reraising, I'm certain he has a ten, completing his nut straight. However, in the unlikely occurance he's been sitting AA, KK, QQ, JJ, or an underpair, I keep going, as I do not want to miss an opportunity (even if its only a slight possibility at best) that he's holding something other than the ten. 5 minutes later, he's FINALLY all-in. We chop the pot (he had K10o). It was fun, I must say and did indeed scare the table that he and I were so aggressive.

My thoughts are that I'm liking weekday play better than weekend play at the casino. Additionally, they have daily tourneys during the week at 10am and 6pm. I think I'm gonna start off by playing in the 10am, and then hit the ring games after to further develop my live action skills. This will help keep things exciting and fresh with respect to my poker game.

CheckRayz Poker Tourney Talk

We have seven poker tourneys scheduled in an 8 day stretch with CheckRayz. Busy and potentially profitable stretch for those who play regularly. The dynamics of the CheckRayz Poker Tour Leaderboard could very well change drastically during this timeframe. Speaking of the leaderboard, I'm going to expand later this week as to what the hell I plan on doing with it, so stay tuned.

Anyways, our poker tourney stretch begins on 25 February at Poker.com. This event is a freeroll poker satellite tourney. Top two take down a coupon into the Sunday 10K guaranteed at poker.com. March 1st, CheckRayz return to River Belle for a $5+.50 money added poker tourney. Next night, March 2nd, we hit our newest up and coming poker room, TouchStone Poker for a $100 freeroll poker tournament.

March 3rd, we're back to Hollywood Poker for a $200 money added $5+.50 event. New depositers to Hollywood through CheckRayz will receive (pay attention) a $10 FREE BONUS (meaning, do nothing other than deposit, register, and play in the tourney) and receive $10 free! This tourney at Hollywood is listed in the private, scheduled tourneys under my Hollywood ID (imhere4beer).

To finish off our CheckRayz poker tourney stretch, we spend a long weekend at Kiwi Poker. Tentatively, I've scheduled three events (two on 4 March and one on 5 March). Details should be available on these phenominal three tourneys tommorrow (once again, stay tuned).

While you're at it, take note that we have two events scheduled at Celeb Poker - March 8th being a $100 Freeroll Poker Tourney, and March 9th a $50 added, $5+.50 entry fee Heads up Poker challenge tourney. This time, it will indeed be a heads up tourney (an oversight on my part last try).

In conclusion, lots of freeroll tourney and money added poker action scheduled. Stay tuned, refer a friend, and while you're at it, check out the sweet events Sharky has lined up.

Mike

Poker Stories
SuperDonk, Poker Idiot Saga
Horrible Poker Play

CheckRayz Poker Announcements (as advertised)

As advertised here, there are several announcements regarding CheckRayz due to be released today. That being said, let's cover them before I head off to play live at the "Showdown Muppet" Casino.

CheckRayz refer a friend Campaign

Starting today and running through March 31st, CheckRayz are running our “refer a friend” program. In order to survive, our membership must grow. We have several quality players right now. I’d like to see our number of players explode, but want quality people such as yourself. Who do you know that loves to play poker that likes the concept of money added and freeroll poker tourneys in a closed community such as ours? They can be an up and coming novice, an expert player, or somewhere in between. It can be your neighbor, a person you see at the live game, or on the virtual felt, a friend, a relative, a spouse, your dog (don’t laugh, I’ve seen players who the family dog could outplay). You get the idea… Blog readers are getting a head start on the rest, as I'm not announcing this to the membership until the next newsetter comes out later this week.

The rules of the contest are as follows:

1. Participants must be a registered member of CheckRayz. Not yet a member and wish to participate? Register now.

2. Don’t “spam” your friends. Make sure these people are peeps who would enjoy playing poker and are receptive to having their name dropped to us. Also, the people must “legally” be permitted to set up a real money account at our poker sites (I.e. they must be of legal age).

3. Click on the “forward to a friend” button and enter their email address, sending them our newsletter or send me a line to let me know who you've referred. I'll have a formal referral letter later in the week if you wish to send that instead.

4. They must put your name in the “referred by“(I.e. Brian Jones, Jane Smith, or whatever your name or checkrayz registered screenname is) box when they register. This is how I track registration and referrals.

5. Prizes… oh, did I forget to mention there will be prizes? The person who has the most converted referrals between now and March 31st (read: most forwards and converted signups listing their name as the referral) will receive $25 in a mutually agreed upon poker account at one of the CheckRayz affiliate poker rooms. Second prize is $15 dollars in a similar mutually agreed upon poker account. Third will receive $10 of the same.

6. In order to keep peeps on their toes and informed of where we’re at in the referral contest, I will update approximately weekly the standings in the refer a friend contest on the blog. I won’t use real names (screen names only on the blog) listing the top referrers, to give everyone an idea as to where the “bar” is set at. That way, we all know where the lead lap is.

This is a great way to have fun, win money, and help us to grow with quality people of your choosing.

Freeroll Tourney Blogging

I started what I envision being a CheckRayz community Freeroll poker blog. My vision for this web log is to allow our membership the opportunity to author posts regarding your favorite freeroll poker sites, tell your success or bad beat story from freeroll poker tournaments you’ve played in, and to talk freeroll strategy. Eventually, I’d like to have a regular team of writers. For now, I am accepting guest posts. To express interest in this project of ours, please write up something under the above scope and send it to me. I’ll be giving CheckRayz first edition t-shirts to all who land a guest spot on the web log.

CheckRayz Tourneys

During the downtime of the past week, I've added several money-added and freeroll poker tourneys to the CheckRayz poker tourney schedule. Come support us by participating in the events!

Off to play live. Report to come tommorrow in addition to more tourney talk!

Mike



CheckRayz Announcements

"We're playing limit so you can't bluff us"

As advertised, your's truely went to get some live action at the local casino. Sharky warned me that it was gonna be a ridiculous day. He said for me to be neither surprised nor scared to see the pot capped six handed, to see chasers all day long, and that I'd be, by far, the best player on the table. Was he ever right...

I entered the game on the button and was organizing my stack (started at 2/4, as the 3/6 table was full). I folded my first few hands, as they mostly contained 2's in them (i.e. 2-9 offsuit, 2-7s, 2-5o, etc.). Additionally, I wanted to see how the table was going to actually play, since I've not played live casino limit before (i usually play no-limit on the rare occasion I make a "run"). The average hand was 7-8 deep, unraised preflop. My chippies get in order, and I'm dealt AQs UTG. Of course, I raise, bumping it to $4. These two guys on the far end of the table, who we'll refer to as "Stadler" and Waldorf (they reminded me of the old geezers in the balcony on the muppet show) look at each other as the action "pauses." "Stadler" looks at me and asks me, "why are you raising? We've not had a raise here in the two hours we've been sitting here." I smiled, and responded politely that I'll gladly make up for lost time. Play continues around to "waldorf" who says (to either "Stadlor" or to himself, not sure which), "I see what he's doing. He comes here thinking he can buy it. I don't think he realizes that the reason IIIIIIII play limit is so that I CAN'T be bluffed out of pots." He re-raises, we end up capped seven deep. Flop (A-5-7) cap, turn cap (2), river (K comes) cap. My AQ loses out to K2 --- shit you not. Despite my showing the AQ down, with top pair mind ya, he tells the entire table, "I told ya this bum was trying to steal. He's not gonna steal shit from me."

I'm thinking "this old guy has no clue what he's against." And when I left the table at the end of the evening, he still had no clue. My best hand preflop held up exactly once on that table. I got lucky occasionally, with lesser hands, however, my KK got cracked to two pair (Q-3), my 10-10 got cracked by Jack six offsuit (played UTG). AK busted, AQ busted, split pot after flopping a straight. It was a long night. I do, however, plan to get back there to play tommorrow, as my parents are going up, and I'll bum a ride off of them.

Tommorrow, expect to see an announcement regarding CheckRayz and freeroll poker tourney blogging as well as an update on our upcoming tourneys.

Mike



Poker Stories
SuperDonk, Poker Idiot Saga
Horrible Poker Play

playing poker vs. the weak...

Yea, yea, I said next post would not be til Sunday. However, I'm up a bit early. And yea, I know I said I was planning to go to bed last night. I tried. I went to bed, layed there for about five minutes and heard my messenger goin nuts. Got up, tended to business and fired up Sun Poker "just to see." I'm glad I did.

I sat at my 2/4 table and took it easy while I collected my pokertracker stats. Once I began playing, I had a hard time keeping a player to my immediate right, which was perfectly fine with me. I preferred for Mr. 59% to act right before me. I usually do not sit at a tight table, but this guy was profitable enough to keep me there. Plus, the table was relatively weak. To my immediate left sat a guy who played 27% flops, never raised preflop, nor did he check-raise. He was a tight-weak player who was far from tricky. Next to him sat Mr. 10%. No worries there. And finally, Mr. 15%. Overall a weak table and my theory was that the donk was gonna give me enough action and allow me to bet everyone else out if need be. In fact, without premium hands, I was not entering the pot unless he did (or on the occasion a newbie stepped in to the seat immediately to my right).

Remember yesterday when I mentioned watching for the guy who folds to the river bet too often? Yea, well the guy I'm referring to was "that guy." He'd raise up preflop, I'd reraise. Eventually, I wasn't even concerned with my hole cards, I knew if he raised the unopened pot, and I reraised, he and I were heads up. He musta been drunk or something. We'd go back n forth raising pre. Flop would come, which usually went to cap. Turn came, I'd bet hard, he'd call station. River, he'd check, I'd bet, he'd fold. Or I'd bet, he'd fold. In fact, this happened 10 of 14 times. More than a few times with large pots and odds so huge that it was damn near correct to call my river bet with 2-7offsuit and AKQJJ on the board.

A question you might be thinking of right now is, "Beer Guy, you must be drunk. Why in the world would someone holding a 2-7 offsuit even be in that pot, let alone call yer river bet." Good question. I can't answer the first, as I've not yet been able to think like a total donk. However, I can answer the second part. I was observant enough, thanks to pokertracker, to pick up that this clown was weak on the river. Like extra weak. He, on the other hand, was not picking up on the fact that I knew he was weak on the river. Thus, its pretty likely that I was bluffing on the river more often than I'd like to admit. If 2-7o is the last hand he ever plays, then he's correct in folding on the river (forget preflop for a second). However, if he's gonna continue to contest me for pot after pot, he might wish to take the advantage that I've clearly exploited away from me and throw in a raise, at the very least do SOMETHING to make me think twice about bluffin on the river. Who knows, I bet into the dangerous board on the river, and he re-raises me, I too might think twice, considering he's allowed me to beat him senseless on the river and he's laid down and taken it. This guy was clearly goin too far with his hand and having a "come to jesus" meeting with himself at the worst possible time, the river. Thanks to him though, I had a +45BB win rate JUST AGAINST HIM!

Surprisingly, the others did not fair as well against him. He was calling down their raises and reraising them, pretty much what I was doing to him. They too were weak, and would drop a few hands to him. I think this kept him in the game. Well, that and when he flopped two pair (3-6s) against my capped KK. I don't mind though, as he was still very profitable to me and I assure you, I will find this guy whenever I am at the tables and he's present.

As mentioned, off to live action today. I'll have a full report tommorrow of the live action. Plus, we'll discuss some of the upcoming CheckRayz events and promotions. Good fishin'!



Poker Stories
SuperDonk, Poker Idiot Saga
Horrible Poker Play

PokerTracker Stats assessed pt II, Friday Mailbag

Housekeeping

Several money-added freeroll poker tourneys and money-added buy-in poker tourneys have been added to the Feb-March Calendar for CheckRayz. We're ending Feb with a bang and starting out March with "Authorita!" CheckRayz poker tournament schedule can be accessed here. Not a member? sign up and play in our checkrayz leaderboard poker tournaments now!

Also note, the Money added River Belle tourney originally scheduled for yesterday has been rescheduled for March 1st at 9pm. Please download, deposit and support.

Poker Tracker Stats pt II

When we left off yesterday, we were looking at my win rate of 39.60% when I saw the flop. We were preparing to take a look at what is goin on with the Beer Guy's game once the flop comes, which is where we shall begin.

As stated yesterday, I'm trying to achieve tight aggressive play, carefully selecting my "spots" and being a leader or monster on the table, as opposed to a follower or caller a.k.a. "donk." One of the ways I can tell if I am achieving leadership/monster status is my aggression level on each street.

On the flop, I'm typically going to put in a continuation bet or a probing bet, depending on what I've done preflop. Additionally, if I am checking, am I doing so with the intention of folding, or trapping? One thing I have to keep in mind on the flop though, is that often these bets are called for several reasons. One reason is that peeps know that a brotha is gonna put in a continuation bet on the flop. Another is that there are two cards to go. And yet a third reason why bets may be called on the flop is because they're cheap relative to the turn and river. So keeping this in mind, I am shooting for an aggression factor --- (% times you raise plus % times bet) divided by % of hands called. Ideally, I'm shooting for a flop aggression factor of between 1.8 and 3.0, keeping the above in mind.

My flop aggression factor: 1.9 and rising. This is looking good from my standpoint, especially considering I like to play "stop and go" poker when playing limit (I'll discuss this strategy in a post down the road).

Turn Aggression

On the turn, I should be betting for value in many instances. Also a good place to throw in a check-raise if you're against the proper opponent. Not a bad place to throw in a semi-bluff as well in the limit game. Keep in mind, one card to go. Ideally speaking, once again you're wanting an aggression factor between 1.8-3.0.

My turn aggression factor: 2.53 and rising. I've been pounding the turn recently, in part due to my previous reluctance on betting the river. I've found that by often throwing in a river bet, my bets and raises on the turn are getting more respect, especially considering the opposition may well be calling at least one more additional bet on the river. If he's drawing, is he wanting to chance having to call down my check-raise or my bets on the turn KNOWING he's gonna face one on the river?

River Aggression

For starters, the river bet has been a part of my game that I have neglected quite often. Before, I'd raise pre, bet, bet, get to the river and check through. Not any more. I've taken this stat up nearly 3/4 of a point over the last few sessions. That being said, the ideal river aggression factor is 1.8-2.5. Here, you're betting for value generally. Which, if you think you have the best hand, you bet it, right? Well, generally speaking, but we'll keep it simple. When else do you pound the river? I can tell you, if I look at my pokertracker stats and see that my opposition is folding on the river to a bet, say 40% of the time or more, I'll bet the River each and every time we're in the same pot and twice on Sundays where he and I are heads up. Especially in the lower limits, people will incorrectly fold to a river bet with a huge pot and great odds. On the river, we're looking for an aggression factor of 1.8-2.5.

My river aggression: 1.76. Once again, last few sessions, I've driven this number up by nearly .75. This in part, is helping my bottom line and increasing the BB/100 hands I'm taking down, which in case anyone is wanting to know, I'm taking down 2.93BB/100 hands. Not too shabby!

We'll revisit pokertracker in the weeks to come. I just was crunching my stats and figured I'd share with the readers of the Pub. Now onto the mailbag.

Friday Mailbag

To participate in the Friday Mailbag, send a message to me via eeeeemail, instant message, or private message via the Shark Forum.

(Insert name of choice) writes:

I still cannot log in. I'd love to play (insert room of choice here) tonight, but can't seem to log in to the site. Can you please help?

Thank you. This question is asked as often as I press rewind on the Tivo watching Stacy Keibler kick it on Dancing with the Stars. This is becoming my favorite question. Once again, here are the following main reasons why people cannot log into the site.

1. Did you register with checkrayz? Be aware that in the shark network, there are three seperate databases. Often, you'll receive shark network email. However, it does not mean you've subscribed to all three databases. Before emailing for help, type in your email address into the "forgot password" box.

2. Do you have the registration confirmation handy? If not, type your email address in the "forgot password" box on the checkrayz site.

3. Got it now? Copy (ctrl+c) and paste (ctrl+v) your email address and the password provided from the registration/forgot password into the appropriate sign in boxes.

4. Clear your cookies and repeat above.

5. Email mike through the checkrayz site. Wait for his response, which will generally occur within the same day. DO NOT EMAIL THREE TIMES IN THREE HOURS CITING YOU'VE BEEN ASKING AND ASKING WITH NO RESPONSE. You'll get not much more than sarcastic commentary from me and will end up on my shitlist.

I'd put that in the FAQ section of the rayz site, but...

1. the FAQ section is not built yet.

2. I love answering that question.

Next question...

Beer Guy, when will you be having more freerolls?

Glad you asked! Just added a whole bunch of poker tourneys, many of which freerolls. Find them here.

Another two emails asking...

Beer, I like the idea of pokertracker, but can't afford to drop the $55 bux. What should I do?

I respond:

For one, you're looking at it wrong. You cannot afford to do WITHOUT it! Try this. Download pokertracker here, DO NOT pre-load any hands. Ask me which site you should try it at. Download and deposit at said poker room, turn on gametime +, find and isolate some donks, make the $$$ necessary to pay the registration fee while test driving pokertracker. In fact, you play the 1000 hands necessary by downloading pt through me, depositing, and playing on a beer guy reccommended site, I might even kick ya the $fitty-five to get ya goin.

And finally... mailbag letter of the week:

Beer, Is your brother as big of a donk as you?

My answer is this. I'm 5'8", he's a good six something. You tell me.

More mailbag next week. I'm playing live action tommorrow, so expect a sunday wrap up and surely a great "Little Bro's bad beat story" for ya.

Mike

CheckRayz Mailbag
Pokertracker
Poker Strategy
Poker

The Beer Guy's PokerTracker Stats Assessed...

Housekeeping item

The tourney at River Belle scheduled for today with CheckRayz has been postponed. I will also announce the reschedule date tommorrow.

Pokertracker Analysis

As mentioned yesterday, we're going to take a look at my pokertracker stats and see how well the Beer Guy is... or is not playing. We'll begin taking a look at it today, and finish up tommorrow, along with the ever so popular Friday Night Mailbag. I first want to credit and thank Shark for introducing me to pokertracker and getting me situated on what to look for, stats wise. Additionally, thanks go out to Sharky, Doug, and Clay for the strategy posts, regarding pokertracker on the Shark Forum. Through them specifically, as well as the commentary, input, and feedback of the entire Shark Army (in addition to the numerous hours of study and self-evaluation I put in on my own), I've been able to continually improve my game. Which for the record, everyone can... and must continue to improve, learn and develop as a player in order to be successful. That being said, on to the poker stat crunching where we'll look at my last 3000 hands (approximately) at the $1/2, $2/4 shorthanded limit ring games.

Preflop Play

As we all know, I shoot to be a tight-aggressive poker playa. I'm not wanting to let anyone at the table run me over. I'm the monster, I'm in control... that's how I like it. That being said, I need the proper image to achieve the control I'm looking for. For that reason, I have to limit the starting hands I both play and show down. Otherwise, I'd end up being a joke of a monster, right?

VPIP- Voluntarily Put into pot

Very Tight - under 20% see flop - be careful with this guy. He carries big cards and probably is not afraid to use them! More often than not, this guy is only coming in with premium hands. Proceed with caution when encountering this guy's raise.

Tight - Under 25% - This number is ideal. Hand selection is probably in order.

Semi-Tight - 25-30%

Semi-Loose - 30-40% Ladies and gentlemen, we're now entering donk land, please fasten yer seatbelts!

loose - 40-50% - A pros best friend! Not playing real money for long. Get him while he/she still has a credit card or until mom figures out what he/she is doing

NO CLUE - Seek and destroy - over 50% with exact % in notes. An inheritance or power ball is his/her only chance.

That being said, my stats read a VP$IP of...... 22.79%, putting me on the tight scale, which is once again where I am wishing to be.

Preflop Raising:

Once again, we're a leader not a follower. Consequently, leaders tend to raise, not call. We'd expect my numbers to be high, but not unreasonablly high as outlined below.


PRE-Flop Raising Very Passive - Never Raises Preflop
Passive - 3% or less Avg. agg 3 to 6% - this clown typically is afraid to raise it up without premium hands. I can often drive him out of pots through my "storytelling" approach (raise, bet, bet, bet...).

Aggressive 7-10%

Very Aggressive - 11-15%

Extremely AGGRESSIVE - Above 15% - take note of this, save for rainy day, though you'll know to bring an umbrella. Its likely he will not, and you'll see that he's prolly raising any A, any PP, any King, and perhaps even any suited connectors. Keep your eye out on his play further into the game. It should be duly noted though that many pros are well above 15%, though it doesn't necessarily mean you should "try this at home."

My Preflop Raise percentage: 13.62%. This puts me on the higher end of the range of where I want to be. I used to be a lot less "hostile" on the table til Sharky and I discussed limit strategy (I was originally a low stakes no limit player). He convinced me that I needed to make more of an effort to raise and play from "position," looking to raise up in the cutoff and on the button, especially if I have some sort of hand and the pot has yet to be open. We'll look at this next.

Steals

As far as stealing goes, we're first looking at attempting to steal a blind. This means it was folded around to player in these positions and these were their actions in Cut Off and Button (cut-off is seat before button to act)

No Steal 0% - the kid is playing only his cards, and position matters not to him.

Low steal under 15% - He may or may not have a clue, keep an eye for the hands he shows down when trying to steal to get a better understanding if he is using his cards or position.

Average steal 16-25%

hi steal 25% - 40%

40 always steals (write these exact percentage in your notes) - any two cards for this clown.

My steal attempts: 20.55% - right in the middle of average. Once again, I am happy with this number.

Allowing your blinds to be stolen. Keep in mind here, playing out of the blinds is dangerous. Sure, you're already partially or fully invested in the pot, but you act at the worst possible time after the flop comes. For this reason, you want to be somewhat picky in when you choose to play, call, complete, or raise in the blinds. Many bad beat stories begin with "So I was in the Small Blind..."

Ideally speaking, we fold the following to steal attempts:

Folded SB to steal 78-88%

Fold BB to steal 55-65%

My percentages:

My SB Folded to Steal Attempt: 71.26% --- this is a little lower than what we'd have shot for. I've been working on this number over the past several weeks, and from a progress standpoint, its been rising nicely.

My BB Folded to Steal Attempt: 51.49% --- once again, this is lower than what I'm shooting for. The blinds were one of the leaks in my game I've been trying to plug. Consequently, because this number is on the rise, I'm happy with it, relatively speaking. Still some room to go for improvement though.

Finally, we'll look at my won when saw flop percentages. Ideally, we should be winning approximately 31-40% of the flops we participate in. I'm sitting at 39.60%, so this puts me in relatively good shape.

Tommorrow, we'll continue, beginning where we left off today, and assessing my post-flop play.

Pokertracker
Poker Strategy
Poker

Sunday Tourney Results pt. 2

$500 added $10+1 Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic

As discussed over the weekend, I planned to enter the Celeb Classic at Hollywood Poker. My original intentions were to play this one slowly early on, as I was certain there'd be quite a few donks tryin to chip up early. However, that would not work. Third hand in, I'm dealt AA early position. I raise up 6x preflop and get two callers (both of which are the "pot committed Blinds). Flop comes down K-8-3 rainbowed. Blinds check to me, I continue the bet, and throw out a bet of approximately 3/4's the pot. SB folds, BB calls cleanly. Turn comes 2, totally rainbowing. He checks to me. I throw out a 1/2 size pot bet, trying to look a bit weaker than I actually was. He calls cleanly once again.

River card is a 6. He bets min. I ponder this bet for a bit. He could have a pp, of which 5 pocket pairs would have me beat (K,8,3,2,6's all have me). There's no straight on the board, and while the king is possibly a scare card to him, he's not shown any strength until now, and even now, its not really anything I would call strength. Additionally, he could have as little as Kxs, of which four "K-X'ses" have me beat. There are no possibilities of a flush either. So, 8 Kx I beat, 4 I lose to. 5 PP have me, 7 PP I'm beating (I can't have him on aces). Additionally, there were no real straight draws either, so 7-9, 8-6, QJ, J10 are not likely holdings either, unless he's totally bluffing.

Being early in the tourney, I have him on a hand range of about 24 hands, of which I win 15 of the 24 times. I decide to throw a reraise out there, but not so big that its going to cripple me if he has one of the nine hands. I'm also rather certain he's not going to lay down his hand, even if I so much as go all-in here, as he probably does not know any better... So, I reraise to half the pot. He calls cleanly, and flips over K-6. I'm thinking that the mullet man character he has is accurate, he's a total tool.

Funny thing about those characters on Hollywood too, I catch myself thinking that the players actually play like I'd imagine the characters to play.

Speaking of Hollywood, my rep there gave me the OK to hold another $200 added $5+.50 tourney for CheckRayz in the near future. Again, he will give ten dollars free to any first time depositer to Hollywood through the CheckRayz site. CheckRayz Tourney schedule will be updated near the end of the week, keep checking back.

Tommorrow, we'll put some of my pokertracker stats through the ringer.

Mike



Poker Tournaments

Sunday Tourney Results...

As advertised yesterday, I planned to play in several online poker tournaments. I did not end up playing in all of them that I listed, however, I managed to make a few of them. Below are the results/storylines for each of the poker tourneys.

Bodog 100K Guaranteed Satellite

Look, I have to admit, Bodog has some killer overlays in their tourneys, butI am not certain I like their new "feel." They did something to the software, whereas now I have tabs, vs. the multiple screens of old. They put in a picture-in-picture feature, so I can keep my eye on the table as long as I have the program on my desktop. I do like that, but the lobby isn't updating like it used to. I think, however, its a matter of getting used to "new" versus being content with the "old," so I'll suck it up and continue to play.

Tourney begins where I find myself on a loose passive table. Round two of the blinds, I find am 4 handed (limpers) in the big blind sportin' AQs. I raise 6x, 1 limp drops out. This wasn't what I wanted, as my raise was designed to get me 2-3 handed. I keep in mind going into the flop that I am not 2-3 handed and we're still early in the tourney (read, I won't "marry my hand unless I get the better of the flop). Flop comes QJ3 (of which, 2 hearts, 1 suited club to me). Not too bad a flop. I figured to have the best hand here, or if not, damn close and able to redraw. I throw out a 3/4 pot continuation bet. The short stack reraises to allin, folds around to me. I make like I am thinking for a second, and make the easy call, knowing I'll still have suffiicent chips if I lose. He flips over J-shit clubs, giving him the same backdoor flush draw I have (he's dead there) and middle pair to my top pair. Turn and river miss him completely, I chip up, he bounces from the tourney.

Hour 1 ends, 28 of 45 remain. My stack sits at 2555 - 4th largest of the eight at my table. Table is still too donkified for my liking. Bodog stats are showing a 5% saw flop rate for me, which I know to be false (I'm closer to 15%, but who's counting). Two guys to my immediate right seem to be taking turns putting in the big preflop raise, and if they're not some clown two to my left is. So yes, for anyone keeping score, the table appears to be a bit more aggressive than it was in the opening minutes. I'll be looking to pick and choose my spots and have breathing room with my stack being about 28x's blinds, as my entire arsenal of tricks are still available to me. I have betting power and also can afford to lay down a hand.

Third hand after the break, I peak at AA in the SB. Thief two to left limps UTG. Action folds around to me. I decide to throw him a pitch I am sure he'll catch. I raise to 300, a weak looking raise. BB folds, thief boy ponders and makes it 900. I'm smiling, giving my daughter the high five as she is watching/playing with me. I decide what the hell, let's make it all-in. He quickly calls. Flips himself over a pp of sixes. Flop misses all, I take her down unimproved. 2 hands later, he bounces with AQ v JJ. My stack sits at 5.1G, now leading the table. Stats still accuse me of a 5% saw flop rate.

Blinds move to 50/100 and things are looking good - 24 remain.

AKs against a player who limped preflop. I throw a 4x raise out there (blinds 50/100), he calls. This coming after he'd seen my AA play, QQ raise, JJ raise. I'm rather certain he is aware of my table image, as his commentary seems to be following along with the hands, so either he is paying attention and taking notes, or he just likes to read himself talk. He calls, flop comes 3-4-4. I check. He throws out a 1/4 potbet, I check-raise to the pot. He calls. I'm thinking that he's trying to steal at this point and have the better hand. So, barring q-j-10, I am jamming the pot. I'm thinking he has AJ or A10, actually, and would interpret the checkrayz as aces, kings, which would cause panic if he was holding a lower pp. Though, I'm not sure he'd limp with a low pp, and surely wouldn't be a "caller" preflop. Turn comes 8. I jam the pot, he calls and turns over A-8o. River misses, I'm crippled. I thought he'd lay down his hand and that the community cards had not helped him. My read was correct in that he either had A-less than I, and a small pocket pair was not something he had. I'm wondering though what he read me at? Did he read me AK right on? Probably not. Did he have me on twos? Or a steal? prolly not, once again.

In thinking about it, I'm rather certain that he talked to hear himself speak (one of my original possible observations), and that he was likely unaware that his opposition had a set of cards in the hole. 8 PP's (AA-99, 44, 33) that beat him as of the turn. 5 pp subject to redraw. 5 AX (Ak, q, j, 10, 9) cards subject to redraw on the river that out did him. 1 Ax (A4) that had him at that point. Too many ways for him to be rivered. I'm even more convinced he had no read at all. Bodog'd again, nuff said. Still liking their overlays, despite my lack of success there.

Tommorrow I will write about my other tourney experience, as there were an interesting hand or two from the Hollywood Celebrity tourney. Things came up and I was unable to make the River Belle events I listed. The NZ Poker Champs Super Satellite Qualifier did not hold, due to lack of interest. I don't understand the logic behind that. I WANT that package. I'm working with Kiwi, having offered them suggestion as to how to get any one of their satellite qualifiers off the ground (they've held only two in the last two weeks).

As for CheckRayz news, I am building the Calendar for the end of Feb-mid March this week. Check back here and on the Rayz site for tourney announcements. I expect to have a significant number of freeroll poker tournaments to offer for the upcoming month.

Cheers,

Mike



Poker Tournaments

Sunday Poker

Saturday Recap

After recovering yesterday from a wild friday night (i pretty much needed all day to recover), I'm ready for some serious poker today. Despite being in the hurt locker, I managed to fumble around the Shark Poker Tour Freeroll at Absolute Poker, and additionally found my way to the finals table for the $1 rebuy. Reelcrazy, an absolute monster on the table of the shark tour took down the entire event. Great win, tough play.

After the event, texasdan, careybear and myself went off to Kiwi Poker and played one of their $1500 guaranteed (with rebuy). I wasn't feeling it (tired hung over) so when I donked out near the end of the first hour, I called it a night. Today, I feel refreshed and am ready to do some serious playing.

Sunday Poker To-Do List

Usually, a few of us stumble around to find a last minute tourney to play in. I decided not to stumble this time and plan ahead. I'll be participating in the following tourneys today:

Bodog $100K Guaranteed Semi-Final - $10+1. 9.30am. Looking to end the curse at Bodog.

Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic - $10+1, $500 added. 2pm EST. Liking the $500 added here.

River Belle - Poker Night Live - $10+1. 4pm EST. What can I say, I want to be on TV - even if it is with the I and the R cut off of my screenname.

Celeb Poker - $4000 Guaranteed - $10+1. 5pm EST. I believe there will be a nice overlay.

River Belle - Poker Night Live - $10+1. 4pm EST. What can I say, I want to be on TV - even if it is with the I and the R cut off of my screenname.

Kiwi Poker - NZ Poker Championships Super Satellite Qualifier - $10.75+1. 7pm EST. I'm going to NZ by winning one of these Super Satellites...

Notes and results to be posted tommorrow. I'm always lookin for a "partner in crime." Feel free to join. Drop me a line or IM if interested.

Mike

Poker Tournaments

Friday Morning Mailbag...

The mailman came early today, the Friday Night Mailbag is in the AM today. The Beer Guy has some beer to drink tonight in celebration of a friend's birthday.

Quick Tourney Thoughts

The River Belle tourney went off without a hitch. We had a new group of final tablists last night. Despite their first appearance at a CheckRayz final table, they upheld the tight aggressive play that our tourneys are noted for. Great job from everyone. Your's truely was bounced out early. I showed up along the rail, homeless... to watch the action at the finals table.

Mailbag

Amir writes:
Beer Dude,

I still cannot log in. I'd love to play River Belle tonight, but can't seem to log in to the site. Can you please help? Thank you.

Amir, if only everyone else having issues was as pleasant as you. Not often do I get both a please AND a thank you in the same email. I know we covered our bases, but here are the following main reasons why people cannot log into the site. You and I will go over why you cannot through email and/or messenger. But for others, listen up.

1. Did you register with checkrayz? Be aware that in the shark network, there are three seperate databases. Often, you'll receive shark network email. However, it does not mean you've subscribed to all three databases. Before emailing for help, type in your email address into the "forgot password" box.

2. Do you have the registration confirmation handy? If not, type your email address in the "forgot password" box on the checkrayz site.

3. Got it now? Copy (ctrl+c) and paste (ctrl+v) your email address and the password provided from the registration/forgot password into the appropriate sign in boxes.

4. Clear your cookies and repeat above.

5. Email mike through the checkrayz site. Wait for his response, which will generally occur within the same day. DO NOT EMAIL THREE TIMES IN THREE HOURS CITING YOU'VE BEEN ASKING AND ASKING WITH NO RESPONSE. You'll get not much more than sarcastic commentary from me and will end up on my shitlist. Nuff said. NEXT!

Some random person asks Beer Guy, where did you get your poker screenname from?

Haha, great question. My imjusthere4thebeer is not a random screenname. It does, in fact have history. Back in my more youthful days, I was dating this chic. And she "found" me at this party, which consisted of 6 girls and myself. We're all hammered. She comes stormin in acting all irritated, pulling out the classic lines such as "what do you think you're doing with all these girls?" The girls are all worried, thinking that there's gonna be a fight or something. Being one to think on my feet, I look at her (with my totally serious drunk guy look) and tell her "Don't worry hun, I'm just here for the beer." This totally shatters the ice and prompts laughter from my party "friends." However, it pisses her off. I was dumped, she left frustrated, calling me some new and innovative names. A"friend" felt sorry for me, being dumped and all, the victim in the scenerio, and helped me out... The phrase, and later the screenname has been entact ever since.

OK, enough with the mailbag. Poker Tracker and more tourney talk tommorrow. Maybe even a formal poker room review or two.

Mike




CheckRayz Mailbag

Prima time Thursday...

Thursdays may be Prime Time Thursday (and the hottest night for weeknight tv from an advertising standpoint) on television, but in the poker world... or at least our poker world, for that matter, its still the hottest night in poker, but better called Prima Time Thursday. Our CheckRayz Leaderboard Tour heads back to River Belle Poker for the second of our three River Belle events this month. If last week was any indication of the awesome level of play present on our tour, three of the top four on our leaderboard all made the finals table. In a dramatic finish, your's truely kept punching until the bell and ended up landing a lucky knockout blow against head of Shark Poker Tour Security Bornsupreme. If memory serves me correct, he and I dramatically raised and reraised one another, ending up allin preflop. I had 8's in the hole to his 9's. I did not spike trips, however, I did manage to get four diamonds on the board to land the lucky haymaker and take the win. This was not the way I wanted victory, but its in the history books now, nothing more can be done. Though, I suspect born will be looking for some revenge tonight, so I'll take the automatic table change upon sighting.

I've faired rather well at the prima tourneys. I think this is due to the blinds structure and starting chip stack. I tend to play tighter than most, regarding the amount of flops I participate in. This allows me to be patient and wait for my game to come to me, rather than going to it.

Look for a leaderboard update tommorrow, and in addition to the friday night mailbag, I'll be announcing the details for a CheckRayz promotional arrangement. While you're waiting, download pokertracker and use it to evaluate your play. Load hands or play through, loading on the way and take a look at your game.

And finally, tying television and prima (River Belle, specifically) together, please find the reprint from a River Belle press release regarding Poker Night In Canada.

River Belle Gives Poker Players the Opportunity to Become TV Stars

Program to Air on CGTV Nightly from 11pm - 1am EST

Gibraltar, February 8, 2006 - River Belle, one of the most recognized and trusted online entertainment brands in the world, announced today that it brings exciting poker activities to poker enthusiasts in Canada through Poker Night Live Canada. The program will be broadcast daily by CGTV, a Canadian cable channel specializing in gaming entertainment, on Rogers Digital Cable channel 228. During Thursday and Saturday broadcasts, players will compete on the River Belle branded playing felt.

Riding on the success of the UK version, Poker Night Live will televise a virtual poker table with participating online players. Commentary will be provided by two avid poker players with tournament experience. The broadcast allows viewers the opportunity to watch how online poker is played while practicing their skills. Additionally, Canadian poker players now have a live platform to exhibit their poker talent through Poker Night Live Canada and River Belle - the "TV Tables" can be accessed through the River Belle Online Poker software, which is available to download at Riverbelle.com.

River Belle recently launched a new and innovative online poker room complete with Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi/Low, 5-Card Stud and 7-Card Stud, all available with a wide range of table limits. River Belle Online Poker provides players the unique opportunity to create their own private tables and replicate weekly poker nights with good friends at any time. Features also allow players to pre-select their seats, locate a specific player, or search for their favorite table. More advanced players can play at ten tables at once while watching each game via the "Mini View" feature. River Belle Online Poker also offers free poker school for learning the skills and rules of each game.

"Poker Night Live will give online players the rare opportunity to showcase their poker skills on live television," said Tim Johnson, Chairman of Carmen Media Group, owners of Belle Rock Entertainment. "River Belle is the ultimate entertainment portal and we are very excited to share it with the Canadian market."

About River Belle

River Belle is the fastest growing online entertainment brand in the Belle Rock Entertainment group, which is owned by Carmen Media Group Limited based in Gibraltar. River Belle Online Casino, River Belle Online Poker and River Belle Multiplayer Casino make up the successful River Belle portfolio accommodating thousands of players every day. Part of the Prima Poker Network - a global card room network where players from different card rooms play against each other, River Belle Online Poker is designed to bring players the ultimate poker experience. Incorporating state-of-the-art software powered by Microgaming and rich interface features, River Belle brings the best online games to life. As the most trusted name in online gaming, River Belle continues to set the standard in fair play, transparency initiatives and the promotion of responsible gaming.

CheckRayz Announcements
Poker Tournaments

Steelers victory...

Its hard being nearly perfect, but someone has to do it...

As reported here, my overall prediction, calling for a fifth Super Bowl Ring in Pittsburgh held true. I am perfect in my post season predictions regarding the end results. Obviously, for anyone having read my previous post, my little predictions did not pan out. But, no worries there, as long as we got one for the thumb, that's all I am concerned with.

So, in the interest of fairness, let's look at the predictions that didn't pan out...

1. Ben played far from perfect.
2. Stephens dropped several passes, no fumble though.
3. It doesn't really matter, as we won.......

I'm still sooooo pumped about our victory. Nearly as pumped as winning the checkrayz - river belle freeroll last week!Tommorrow, we'll be back to writing poker... But until then, Hats off to ya Pittsburgh!!! We're the champions of the world!!!!!!!!!!

Mike



Misc. Offtopic Ramblings

Poker Pub Prediction...

In case anyone didn't know, I like to predict football games. I've done an "OK" job this football season in picking games, only going undefeated in the playoffs. And yes, before anyone speaks up, I picked each and every game in the playoffs. Its not like I made 1 correct pick and call it undefeated. In fact, let's take a look at some of the predictions from the entire 2005-2006 season that I made:

1. San Diego upsets Indy (called this week six).
2. Philly misses the playoffs (week 1).
3. Minn plays like a better team without Dante's inferno.
4. Pats talking about their injuries during the regular season(which were approximately the same amount of injuries they had in 2004-2005) suggested they didn't believe in themselves.

Playoff predictions made wildcard weekend.
5. Skins win, then choke in the playoffs.
6. New England follows suit with the skins.
7. Eli studies his brother's playoff game film, which results in following the same post season path.
8. Cincy, who dey?
9. Carolina - Chicago is nothing more than the "who sucks less" bowl. Carolina travels to the NW, but flies south for the rest of the winter after realizing they can't hang.
10. Burgh drops Indy, nuff said.
11. Seattle goes through to the big game.
12. Jake Plummer is still Jake Plummer, dispite his Grizley Adamsesque appearance. 34-17 Steelers (prediction made at finals table of CheckRayz event at Celeb Poker - for entertainment purposes only).

My partner is a Hawks fan. Naturally so, as he lives in Sea-Town. We've yet to make a formal wager, however, I'm confident I'll get the congratulatory telephone call when the Steelers win. In the unlikely event the Steelers lose, I'll be placing a phonecall to the Shark family to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Shark. We're all honorable peeps, and the absence of a formal friendly wager won't stop us from doing the right thing here.

Super Bowl Notes...

Game's closer than what I'd like to think. Seattle are a tough squad, winning 11 straight. Steelers have been in playoff mode for about seven game weeks now. One team is peaking, the other streakin'.

Steelers have the edge, as they've faced many a team "just like Seattle" whereas Seattle have only faced one three-four D this season, and won 13-10. Hasslebeck threw for 224 yds, 1 td, 2 INT. Alexander didn't find the end zone, rushing 21 times for 61 yds.

In the interest of fairness, both teams can be electric. Each squad has top notch WR core, dangerous RB, and a solid D.

Prediction

I don't see Seattle only putting up ten. They're playing good ball. I'll give them three TD's and a FG. We'll give two to Shaun Alexander, one to Jurevicius in the air, and a Josh Brown FG.

24 ain't enough though. Steelers see 1 TD from Bettis on the ground, one from Heath Miller, Hines grabs one, as does Cedric Wilson. Josh Brown kicks a FG as well, making the final score line 31-24.

Other Super Bowl Predictions:

2 INT from Hasslebeck
1 funble from Jeremy Stephens
Surprisingly small amount of sacks from the Steelers D. However Hasslebeck knows they're there and is paniced.
Alexander does not get 100 yds on the ground.
Steelers do.
Big Ben puts up near perfect numbers, from the QB rating standpoint.
Randell El has a huge day on Special Teams, and catches six balls between the 20s.

There ya go. See everyone on Monday, as I'm off to the game.

Mike



Misc. Offtopic Ramblings