Poker Pub Poker Blog: November 2006

2006/11/30

[+/-]

Pennsylvania to consider Table Games

2006/11/29

[+/-]

2006/11/28

[+/-]

Blogger Poker Tour Search Engine

2006/11/27

[+/-]

Five Tourneys in 5 days with CheckRayz

2006/11/26

[+/-]

My Way of Selecting a Poker Table...

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Table selection is an important aspect of one's poker game. I'd give you a magic number I look for when selecting an online table on which to play, but I strongly suspect the majority of my readers do not have Pokertracker - free to try, by the way... So, instead of spitting and spraying numbers, I'll talk in plain English.

There are very specific things I look for when selecting a NL Hold'em table to sit down and make money from. The texture of the table, my seat relative to my "targets" all depend on how I will play once I sit down. Today, I plan to fill you in on the thought process that works for me. Perhaps it may help you as well.

For starters, let's pretend that we know we want to play a NL Texas Hold'em cash game at a given poker site. Additionally, let's assume we are adequately bankrolled to play at said level. Furthermore, we're assuming that we can look at X number of tables ourselves, without pokertracker numbers guiding us, and that the players during this observation period will not get up, switch tables or sign off. Finally, you are actively using a labeling system within the poker software to tag and label players accordingly. My system has a few labels, to keep it simple... we may get into that later.

I know this is not reflecting reality, so to speak, but again, this is meant merely to give you a view on the concepts I use to find my table.

The first thing I do is go down my list to find anyone who I have labeled "that guy." To me, "that guy" is one of those players who are all but begging to give me their money. They're the people who can somehow manage to play AA, KK, AK to negative numbers and don't know why. Their game is extremely transparant. They bluff far too often in the wrong situations. Said another way, these are the extreme donkeys. If I see them logged on and at a table, if I can get a seat with this player, I do so. Thus, my system is thrown out the door.

When I am at the table with "that guy," I try to often isolate this player either preflop or post flop. This indicates I'm pretty much playing against this player and this player alone. Initially, this may prove effective and other players will get out of your way... Until they figure out what you're doing. Most likely by then, "that guy" has handed you most of his money and has run scared.

Anyway, back on track...

I have X number of poker tables open for observation. I am first looking for the absolute softest tables preflop possible. In fact, if no one ever raised, that's the ideal situation for me. I like limpers, and lots of them. This table would be my first choice. Ideally, I also like these tables to not have a high showdown rate - meaning, I prefer that most hands terminate via fold to bets prior to the river.

At this preferred type of table, I am inclined to limp out of position with hands I'd normally play only on the button IF I believe I can both see a cheap flop and outplay post flop. From position, I'm inclined to raise with hands like J-9 suited, or 10-7 not suited, maybe even 5-4 suited, with the intention of stealing, isolating, and/or outplaying post flop. I'm being mindful here of my table image though when I do stuff of this nature and also looking for "where" the call is coming from.

My main goal is to outplay and manipulate pot size here. Big pot, big hand and in position. Small pot, oop, decent hand... I'm playing the mistakes game. I'm willing to make a small mistake in a small pot in order to create and exploit big mistakes in bigger pots. These tables typically feature players who see too many flops. They also tend to go to far with their hands. The best way to exploit is to also see many flops and "allow" them to feel safe in going to far.

The above is the ideal table. Often we do not get our ideal situation. Sure, it would be great for me to get a table of soft players with "that guy" sitting to my immediate right just dying to get on the Christmas Card Mailing List as my single largest donor (money flows from the right to the left, typically), but that's not always going to happen...

What is going to happen though is that you're going to sometimes get one of the "tough guys" who typically multi-table and are not the least bit imaginative, sometimes not because they don't have the mind, but instead because they waste resources concentrating on several tables instead of focusing on one. It should be noted, I'm not knocking multi-tablin... I am suggesting though that many players do it and they have no business even playing on one table, truth be told. They lack understanding of the concept and theories of NL Hold'em, and over time, it shows.

The "tough guy" is going to maintain his 26% preflop raise because he read somewhere he should do that (and thinks this means all the time in all conditions). He will almost religiously make a pot size continuation bet on the flop no matter the cards. When encountering a player of this nature on an ideal poker table (see above), I tend to adjust my buy-in upward. Usually, I start off with about 1/2 the max allowed (NL $100, $50 is normally sufficient for me). I will buy in for the max when the "tough guy" is present.

Here, when he has entered the pot AND I have position on him, I will tend to mix it up, sometimes calling cleanly, intending to raise the flop bet, other times re-raising preflop and either checking or betting the flop... depending. When out of position, I will tend to go into re-raise or fold mode. If I am going to play a bigger pot against this "tough guy," I'm needing to take control of the hand. This requires me to show strength by reraising. He has a wide hand range he'd likely be raising with... remember, he believes it's correct to raise 25% of the time. On a table of this nature, when he's called, he's often an underdog AND KNOWS IT. So, if he knows this, my mere calling has somewhat tipped my hand. Why not make him pay for that knowledge? Reraise it, my friends... take charge. Be sure to make his decision difficult, while keeping your options open (i.e. - do not re-raise for half your stack, which makes folding to a re-reraise impossible... if you go that far, why not push it all-in preflop and eliminate position, simplifying your decision)?

Against the "tough guy" my goal is to isolate and control. Re-raise, position, and simplification of decisions for myself are my primary goals. Against this guy, I'm either going to educate him or he's going to run away to another table, because some idiot (me) re-raised him with AQs when he had 44 and position. He's not going to understand how I could play against him out of position, because he's seen me show down hands such as jack ten under the gun as a winner, so he just "knows" I have no starting hand selection and no concept of position... I must have got lucky. I had to have "known" that he either had a pocket pair or AKs, and either way I was "dominated" but yet I played back at him anyway... (someone get the cat litter out, as he's spit all over the felt and it's soaked).

I avoid completely the players I label as "tricky." This is not a large percentage of the players. These are the players who are really able to mix it up. They always keep you guessing and shift gears based on table conditions, opposition, and texture of the board. These players are surely the top players in the given limit, and while I want to get better and play against good players, I don't wish to do it on the nine-to-five. Save that for the CheckRayz tourneys... When I am trying to grow the bankroll, I don't need "good play" I need donkeys. These tricky players are rarely going to give it up. They understand pot size manipulation and often come out on the winning end with the big pots.

As for the "call stations," I make sure I note their bet button is broke. I tend to do a lot of checking against these guys with medium strength hands, post flop. I tend to value bet more, and I rarely, if ever bluff (don't bluff if you believe it will most often be called).

I am sure I lost track of where I am. Ah yes, my point is/was... have some sort of method of table selection that works for you. Borrow mine in whole, tweak it slightly... do whatever. But, if you're serious about your game, you won't just simply accept a seat at a table just because it's there. Do your homework, know "who" is at the table, know "where" your money is coming from, and "how" you're going to get it. Exchange small mistakes for big mistakes, exploit your oppositions weaknesses to maximize your return.

Mike

Related Posts

Getting what you want from the poker tables

Pfft, you called me with what?

Poker and Investing

Preflop in the Microlimits

2006/11/25

[+/-]

BPT - Lookie here...

[+/-]

lots of value...

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New Poker Room necessary? List of Poker Rooms who welcome all customers as of 10/19/2006 10am EDT
Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! From the Blogosphere to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!. BPT Event 6 (12/2) hosted by Flopilicious!

I'm looking around the net and I see lots of value this weekend. The "b n m" stores aren't the only place to find a great deal. I personally do most all of my shopping on the net... But really, I'm not referring to shopping for the holiday season.

In fact, I'm talking poker tournaments - which is no surprise, considering after all this is the Poker Pub Poker Blog, right?

Anyway, first stop, Bugsy's Club. Today, Bugsy is holding the $10,000 Guaranteed. Buy-in for the $10K is $20 + $2. Furthermore, it should be noted, there is a $500 Bounty on Bugsy, and up to one million Bugsy's Bonus Points to be given away! Add to that the first time deposit bonus of 100% up to $600 and we've got quite a deal goin on over there. Download Bugsy's Club here.

Moving along, Poker.com has their monthly $50K freeroll this Sunday! This is, by far, the best kept secret on the net. Earn 5000 comp points prior to tourney start time to be eligable. This tourney holds once a month, so we know at minimum, poker.com gets 5000 comp points worth of my business monthly. Although, by only giving them 5K of poker business, I'd be shorting myself, as they have daily $1K freerolls, along with weekly $2000, and $10K freebies, daily freerolls for all players, dailys for new players... I'd be a fool for not playing here regularly! Download poker.com here to begin freerolling. I should further note, there's a 100% new player bonus going on right now at poker.com. Be sure to take advantage of it!

Continuing on to Poker4ever - No Limit Hold'em Tournament Saturday, November 25
5pm EST Buy in $10 + $1. Tourney is Guaranteeing $3K in the prize pool. Download Poker4ever here. Deposit $20 here and get $40 via play-through.

Finally, to help pay the bills... be sure to stop by and check out these great sets of poker chips, and nice poker tables from 5StarDeal, who has everything from casino supplies to home entertainment centers, toys, games, collectables, luggage and more...

Have a great weekend everyone...

Mike

Related Posts

Poker.com has the best kept secret on the net

New Poker Room, anyone?

Great Deal from Bugsy

Poker Rooms that are US Friendly

2006/11/24

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CheckRayz Leaderboard Chase...

2006/11/23

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Happy Thanksgiving...

2006/11/22

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"but i was 75% preflop, how could you call?"

As poker players, we hear that a lot, don't we? Especially online, where we have plenty of time and resources to crunch the numbers.

Usually these words are uttered in the context of complaining and whining. I am here to tell you... and the whiners, what you already really know... deep down. Just like having a static, one style approach to poker, this line of thinking is flawed.

My buddy Gerg (Greg backwards, pronounced as it sits) and I were talking poker last night. Of which, the whining part came up. It occured to me that I hear entirely too much "didn't he know that I had (insert hand such as pocket 4's, 7s, Kings, AKs here)? And then they follow up with "how could he call, I was 70%?"

For starters, maybe the "caller" thinks you're a donkey... and hopefully if he thinks that, it's wrongfully so. But maybe, just maybe he thinks you have a weak hand or are bluffing. As poker players, we do sometimes like people to think we're bluffing when we are not, right? Don't we also sometimes want players to call with weak hands - or at least hands weaker than ours?

Also, what's this 70% stuff you're talking about preflop? If you're playing against a good player, he's probably got you on a hand range preflop... If you're not playing against a good player, he has no clue you even have a hand. He's not thinking past his own foxhole.

Additionally, pondering how they could have called THERE is flawed. Put yourself in their head. Understanding who they are and what motivates them will help you to better understand how to defeat them. You can't think that you'd never call there with ace king, because to them, Ace king is a made hand! Know this, understand this, embrace and accept this, because it is EXACTLY how it is... People play their style, not yours. Be flexable, think like they do... figure out what mistakes they make, and why they make them. Commit to making adjustments to your game to best exploit their errors, which can also include PURPOSELY MAKING MISTAKES TO GET THEM TO SCREW UP.

The point is... and I know I've made this same point before... First off, know how other players view you RIGHT NOW. Second, have an idea what level thinker you're up against. Do they even know you have a hand or do they think you think that they think they have exactly AK?

Third, don't fall into the "but i was 70% preflop" trap. If it's me, I'm AT LEAST a cointoss on your range, and probably a favorite. If it's a bad player, they don't even know what you mean by incorrectly stating you're 70%.

And finally, don't assume that your opposition thinks just like you... Get into their heads, don't place your head into their situation. Exploit their mistakes...

Related Posts

preflop strategy in No Limit Hold'em

Poker Play and Investing

All day long, catchin cards

2006/11/20

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BPT - What "they" are saying...

2006/11/19

[+/-]

Reflections on Event 5...

2006/11/18

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House of Poker Blues - BPT Event 5 Live

Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and many other great musicians are some of the bigger names in the House of Blues. Each one making their personal mark in the history of music and with their personal and distinct sounds to live forever.

Today, it's the sound of poker chips set to a blues background. Names such as Irongirl, Kufolem, ViezeMan, imjusthere4thebeer, our host skinski, and many others. Today, event five of the Blogger Poker Tour, our cast of chip slinging bloggers compete to be the master or mistress of the house of poker blues and we're live with complete coverage here at the Poker Pub.

And speaking of our host. It was Skinski himself who took down last year's Poker Pub Beerbash, when the BeerGuy was hosting the BPT. Can the BeerMan return the favor? Whoever takes this event down will have the steepest field in BPT History. Already, there are 111 registered. With 1 hour to go, this event shall feature the most bloggers this tour has ever seen in one tournament. A solid finish by any of the top players will all but assure a trip to the Grand Final to compete for that Aussie Millions seat.

And while we're on the topic of top players and leaderboard points, here's a look at the official BPT Leaderboard.

The game today is 6-seat NL Texas Hold'em. You can follow the action with live up to the minute chip counts from the official tournament page.

We'll be back in 45 for complete live coverage of the Blogger Poker Tour.

Other links of note:

Official BPT Season 2 event 5 page

Official BPT S2 Event 5 forum thread

116 bloggers are set to go for this fifth event of the BPT.

Sitting at my table are: lightning36 (ouch), ZowieZ, PearlSnapMan, TheBigSurprise, and abstratto.

We'll also be looking in upon the following tables:

Host Table: Skinski, mortguns, cashline, ATheGuruK, mimi2mik, astinaguy

Leaderboard Table: Irongirl, RobinBos, peacefulpaul, vmavrou, goliath2180, bergeroo

We'll move to four tables when/if I donk out of the tourney...

Best of luck to all, comments enabled and we're ready for some six seater NL hold'em action!

3.01... redeye030 enters into the last longer competition by goin out first... Haley follows suit.

3.02... SB BB battle, I drop the hammer on lightning. He smartly folds.

3.07... realize chat was disabled...

3.08... imjusthere4thebeer Posted Small Blind 5
lightning36 Posted Big Blind 10
Dealing Cards
You Were Dealt (8c, Ac)
ZowieZ Folds
PearlSnapMan Folds
TheBigSurprise Calls 10
abstratto Folds
imjusthere4thebeer Calls 5
lightning36 Raised to 60
TheBigSurprise Calls 50
imjusthere4thebeer Folds
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (Jd,Ks,2d)
lightning36 Bets 135
TheBigSurprise Calls 135
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Turn (3h)
lightning36 Bets 755
TheBigSurprise All In for 2,150
lightning36 All In for 865
-------------------------------------------------
TheBigSurprise has (Kh, Jh)
lightning36 has (Kd, As)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing River (7d)
-------------------------------------------------
TheBigSurprise Wins 530 from pot 2 with : Two Pair, Kings and Jacks
-------------------------------------------------
TheBigSurprise Wins 3,640 from pot 1 with : Two Pair, Kings and Jacks
lightning36 OUT

Ouch... big hand, sorry bout that bud.

... irongirl up to 2700 and change early...

3.10,,, crazylegs, TheBigSurprise, brodoughno, z0ot62, GhabanoSim all out to early leads...

3.17... stormswift joins after beer flops straight, thebigsurprise goes runner runner to set his queens and launch them over fours. Your hero down to 1080.

3.22... Crazylegs seperating from the pack at nearly 8500 chips.

3.27... paul peacefully flushes over robinbos' 2 pr, sending robin to the rail... cazwil joins to take robin's place, bringing 4175 chips to the table.

3.27.. snapman sets over Beer's 2pr, Beer down to 640...

3.30... down to 102 players now, as opposed to some donkey and 102 players...

3.32... blinds 25/50... skinski chips up... 3975 as he goes set over set with cashline...

3.33... top 5 - isinm2006 8985, winaa2233 7035, SchZol 6260, Mada1970 5975, TOMOSO2 5285...

bergeroo rivers two pair to send goliath and his two pair to the rail...

3.38... 95 remain, your's truly in 95th currently...

3.40... blinds 50/100... Mada out 95th, 91 remain...

3.41... snapman calms and rails the storm with 2pr vs top pair... sends stormswift to the rail. 1 hand later, snapman drops hi QQ to Beer's A10. I'm back to 1090...

3.45... field thinned to 85 players. Mimi straightens out the cashline. Sends cashline, top pair in tow B-lining to the rail. Damriver with 1925 chips now joins the host table.

3.49... mtldon, phreaux, davidmalek, dangermouse all on the rail... 75 remain.

3.50... 75/150... host rails damriver...

mortguns Posted Small Blind 75
DamRiver Posted Big Blind 150
skinski Raised to 300
DamRiver All In for 875
skinski Calls 725
-------------------------------------------------
skinski has (As, Ks)
DamRiver has (Kc, Js)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (9s,Qc,Ad)(5h) (7s)
-------------------------------------------------
skinski Wins 2,125 from pot 1 with : Pair of Aces
DamRiver OUT

FishyMcDonk now joins host table with 2480 chips.

3.53... Leader Table:

vmavrou Posted Small Blind 75
freeroll26 Posted Big Blind 150
Dealing Cards
bergeroo Folds
Irongirl Folds
cazwil Raised to 300
peacefulpaul Folds
vmavrou Folds
freeroll26 Calls 150
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (Ts,3s,2h)
freeroll26 Checks
cazwil Bets 150
freeroll26 Raised to 600
cazwil All In for 2,265
freeroll26 Calls 1,815
-------------------------------------------------
freeroll26 has (3d, 3h)
cazwil has (Js, Jh)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Turn (Ks)(6c)
freeroll26 Wins 5,505 from pot 1 with : Three of a Kind, Threes
cazwil OUT 69th Place...

3.55... table breaks, now sitting with GhabannoSim 3900, natsdad 2880, damatrix 2887, royalroynr1, and winaa2233... no sooner than I type this, natsdad doubles through ghabanno with AA v 10-10...

3.58... commish gives a shout out to the table...

4.00... 56 remain at the break... I sit in 36th...

Chip count

1 marckster1 14,570
2 TheBigSurprise 9,881
3 winaa2233 9,485
4 JayNYC 9,368
5 DawgRoyal 9,320
6 ViezeMan 8,805
7 freeroll26 8,375
8 isinm2006 8,085
9 peacefulpaul 7,945
10 elc3105 7,050

notable:

13 skinski 6,755
14 astinaguy 6,190

17 ReplicantPoker 6,000
18 brodoughno 5,645
19 natsdad 5,535
20 tomonbass 4,710
21 PearlSnapMan 4,695
22 gohabs1234 4,606

34 Irongirl 2,805

39 mimi2mik 1,880
40 Hacksaw2000 1,860
41 headwaiter 1,845 - BPT Debut...
42 cerberi 1,755

4.05... back with blinds at 100/200... Average Stack : 4218

4.07... caroon joins beer table with 2625 chips... Teentar and Gizalord join host table, viezeman with 8500 joins leader table.

4.08... 100/200... zowiez blinds out, viezeman (9900) chips up through zow and irongirl (1405)... iyatoni joins

4.10... 100/200... damatrix eliminated when winaa2233 rivers 2 pr... security called upon to hold DaMatrix back, as he ponders assulting win with the guitar right next to him...

4.12... viezeman drops vmavrou and irongirl doubles through iyatoni.

4.13... bolcs5 joins beer table...

4.15... blinds 150/300... mimi doubles through teentar KK sets vs. 88... mimi to 4700, teen to 1100...

4.16... fishmcdonk runs out of chips courtesy blinds...

4.17... 150/300... caroon steals through GhabanoSim, who had the read half right. Caroon caught a bit more of the flop, sends sim to the rail in 40th place...

4.20... smoke if you got em...

4.21... teentar doubles through skinski with AQ v skinski's pocket threes...

4.22... 150/300... bolcs takes the rail with KQ v. Caroon's A9... caroon to 6300...

4.23... Ossssss with 4000 chips joins to my left, as 35 players remain.

4.24... 200/400... blinds really stressin the tourney... Average Stack : 6628

4.25... 200/400... I push allin and double through winaa, despite being dominated KJ to AJ... my k hit the flop... up to 5200. I don't even dent win's stack.

4.25... viezeman rivers an ace to break down irongirl's K's... 34 remain.

4.26... mimi survives and doubles up KK v AQ through Gizdalord.

4.33... 200/400... natsdad doubles through caroon 2 in a row...

4.34... thebigsurprise goes out 31st...

4.35... 300/600... moved to original leaderboard table...

4.38... 300/600... 25 remain...
rail report...
25 isinm2006
26 headwaiter - great showing in debut!
27 natsdad -
28 Wvgirl -
29 Wade79 -
30 gohabs1234 -
31 brodoughno

4.42... 300/600... freeroll26 sets AA, hostilly rails peacefulpaul and his 10s...

4.43... Uzzzzi AK - Gizdalord 99... AK improves. Lord to the rail... 21 remain

4.45... 400/800... vieze over snap in the battle of the man... pearlsnapman to the rail in 20th... hand for hand now.

4.49... 400/800... cerberi points out of the 20 remaining, 15 are from 5th st forum... WOW! No sooner spoken, freeroll26 rails viezeman KK v AQ.

4.50... 400/800... bustout hand...

imjusthere4thebeer Posted Small Blind 400
iyatoni Posted Big Blind 800
Dealing Cards
You Were Dealt (Td, Ts)
freeroll26 Raised to 1,600
abstratto Folds
imjusthere4thebeer All In for 5,080
iyatoni All In for 8,420
freeroll26 Folds and Shows Ks Js
-------------------------------------------------
imjusthere4thebeer has (Td, Ts)
iyatoni has (Kc, Ah)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (Kd,3h,6c)(4d) (5d)
iyatoni Wins 3,740 from pot 2 with : Pair of Kings
iyatoni Wins 12,560 from pot 1 with : Pair of Kings
imjusthere4thebeer OUT 19th...

18 remain... three tables...

chipcount as follows:

1 freeroll26 25,260
2 ReplicantPoker 24,291
3 Enortone 19,183
4 luckylulo 18,296
5 cerberi 18,015
6 winaa2233 16,836
7 iyatoni 15,900
8 xScrewballx 15,360
9 caroon 13,684
10 Uzzzzi 13,265
Prize Bubble
Average Stack : 12888
11 JayNYC 12,470
12 Teanter 10,671
13 mimi2mik 8,040
14 abstratto 6,796
15 skinski 4,275
16 marckster1 4,098
17 astinaguy 3,260
18 Osssss 2,300

table 1 - cerberi, enortone, teentar, marckster1, luckylulo, winaa2233

table 2 - uzzzzi, freeroll26, abstratto, skinski, iyatoni, Ossssss

table 3 - astinaguy, xscrewballx, caroon, jaynyc, replicantpoker, mimi2mik

4.57... blinds 500/1000... toni rails abstratto 1010 v kq. toni up to 22K

4.58... blinds 500/1000... Ossssss allin on the short stack. doubles up utg+1 with a better kicker.

4.59... blinds 500/1000... Ossssss allin on BB QQ v. iyatonis A8. Toni flops an ace, rivers a redundant 8 on the river. Ossssss to the rail... Enortone with 19.8K joins the host table, sitting between freeroll26 and skinski.

5.00... markster1 allin with KJ v luckylulo A10. Lucky and her stack hold up. markster1 is on the rail. 14 remain at the break.

Chip count at the break

1 luckylulo 33,394
2 freeroll26 32,475
3 iyatoni 24,196
4 Enortone 22,183
5 ReplicantPoker 21,031
6 JayNYC 17,748
Average Stack : 16571
7 caroon 14,961
8 cerberi 12,515
9 winaa2233 12,336
10 xScrewballx 11,860
Prize Bubble
11 Teanter 9,171
12 skinski 8,625
13 astinaguy 6,520
14 mimi2mik 4,985

Click for complete, accurate up to the minute chip count.

5.09... 750/1500... freeroll26 pressures the table.

5.10... 750/1500... lulu gets lucky again, spikes an ace on the river, ousting teentar.

5.11... 750/1500... HUGE HAND... after very little significant action...

ayNYC Posted Small Blind 750
ReplicantPoker Posted Big Blind 1,500
Dealing Cards
mimi2mik Folds
astinaguy Folds
xScrewballx Folds
caroon Raised to 3,750
JayNYC All In for 17,748
ReplicantPoker Calls 16,998
caroon Folds
-------------------------------------------------
JayNYC has (Qh, As)
ReplicantPoker has (Tc, Ts)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (Jc,5d,7s)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Turn (Qc)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing River (4h)
-------------------------------------------------
JayNYC Wins 40,746 from pot 1 with : Pair of Queens
mimi2mik Leaves to join cerberi's table, replacing teentar...

1 elimination from my life becoming a little easier...

5.13... 750/1500... caroon allin on the button... continuing the preflop aggression displayed by him on my table.

5.14... 750/1500... Rep allin with 88, holds vs astinaguy's a6s... astina crippled and in the SB... Next hand spikes three on the river to double up via screwball's flopped pair.

5.15... 750/1500... my kids are threatening a strike from cleaning their toys up if they don't get food soon... I come over top and threaten to remove said toys from the universe of things not in the garbage if they do not proceed as ordered... :)

winaa outkicks lulu.

astina doubles through caroon, now sitting at 4K and in the SB...

5.17... mimi goes to the rail, K10 v lulu's 77. 7s hold.

Screwball doubles through jay k10s v A6... screwball now short with 75...

cerberi joins to the left of replicant poker, who sends caroon to the rail. 11 remain.

Screwball with QQ pushes allin on Jay, who has KK. Kings hold and we're down to ten and the prize bubble has been pierced.

Table 1 - winaa2233, freeroll26, skinski, iyatoni, luckylulo...

Table 2 - astinaguy, enortone, jaynyc, replicantpoker, cerberi

5.20... jay sends rep to the rail...

ayNYC Posted Small Blind 1,000
ReplicantPoker Posted Big Blind 2,000
Dealing Cards
cerberi Folds
astinaguy Folds
Enortone Folds
JayNYC Raised to 5,444
ReplicantPoker Calls 3,444
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (6h,Qd,As)
JayNYC Bets 7,777
ReplicantPoker All In for 21,359
JayNYC Calls 13,582
-------------------------------------------------
JayNYC has (Ac, 4s)
ReplicantPoker has (Td, Ks)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Turn (8d)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing River (7c)
-------------------------------------------------
JayNYC Wins 53,606 from pot 1 with : Pair of Aces
ReplicantPoker OUT

Astina shortstacked and allin doubles up yet again in the blinds...

chips

1 JayNYC 69,872
2 luckylulo 54,714
3 freeroll26 38,225
Average Stack : 23200
4 Enortone 19,183
5 iyatoni 17,946
6 winaa2233 13,172
7 skinski 7,875
8 cerberi 7,265
9 astinaguy 948

BUSTED...

uckylulo Posted Small Blind 1,000
winaa2233 Posted Big Blind 2,000
Dealing Cards
freeroll26 Folds
skinski Folds
iyatoni Raised to 4,000
luckylulo All In for 11,614
winaa2233 Folds
iyatoni Calls 8,614
-------------------------------------------------
luckylulo has (2h, Ad)
iyatoni has (9c, 9s)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (5c,3c,4d)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Turn (5h)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing River (5s)
-------------------------------------------------
iyatoni Wins 27,228 from pot 1 with : Full House, Fives over Nines
luckylulo OUT

Astina finally ousted, with j2 v. jay's Ax.

cerberi also goes out a10 v Jay's q6 suited and we're now at the final table...

Action starts off with Skinski mowing down winaa with a dominated ace. Winna allin next hand against toni's 77 and enortone's runner runner boated k10. 5 remain, action fast paced...

Skinski sits 14K, toni 25K, enortone 31k, jaynyc 81K and freeroll26 (last week's winner) 79K.

5.26... 1000/2000... chips move back n forth via preflop raising...

5.27... toni raises from UTG+1 with AKo, enortone moves over top with AQs, toni calls and mows down enor's stack. Toni to 48K and in the BB. Enortone crippled with 1411.

5.28... 1500/3000... enortone allin in BB... AK v. the hammer. Toni sucks out with four to the flush, despite enor hitting two pair... Really bad beat, leaving horrible taste in the mouthes all all the spectators.

5.30... skinski is now the short stack. Toni sits third with 55K. Freeroll26 in the lead, though jay's not too far behind.

5.31... 1500/3000... toni patiently moves into second place with 67K and a dangerous board of AQK107 via top pair.

5.33... skinski doubles through toni via dominated ace.

5.34... 1500/3000... jay pushes on skinski's BB... skinski moves over top... Skinski sets his queens and moves to 49K... Jay down to 38K, had 10-9s on his initial raise and is now the short stack with 38K...

5.35... Jay knocks freeroll26 off of a flopped hand. Toni takes the lead by default... Jay now into second with 62K. Toni 70K, freeroller 54K and skinski 40K...

5.36... 1500/3000... skinski sets his 8s via a 28 in the BB. Now up to 54K.

5.37... freeroll 26 calls jay's raise, hits a dominated ten on the flop, moves allin. Jay to 108K and freeroll26 to the rail in 4th...

5.38... three handed 2000/4000... jay pushing his 112/66/50 lead...

5.41... jay continues his crazy preflop raises... chip distribution now 121/74/28...

5.42... 1. 2000/4000... skinski min-raises preflop from SB, bets out on the flop, encounters a raise from toni and folds with 12K.

2. jay pushes, skinski down to 8k on the fold...

3. skinski allin from sb ak v qj... hits his quads on the river, now to 16K and wins the button...

5.44... big hand - jay increases lead. toni calls preflop raise, jay bets out on fold, toni folds... jay shows bluff and is now at 146K.

5.45... skinski moves allin on the button... back to 22K, and again next time around... Reverse dominates toni, who called with ace better. Skinski up to 38K...

5.47... toni dominates jay A10 v A9, doubles through. Toni now to 122, jay to 71...

Great three handed play demonstrated across the board...

5.48... toni comes over top skinski in SB-BB battle on ragg'd flop... skinski lays down. 30K left.

5.49... 3000/6000... jay pushes hard... skinski calls... Again, skinski reverse dominates with K10 v jay's AK when 10-10 comes on the flop. Skinski now to 57K, Jay the short stack at 50K... Toni sits with 115K...

5.50... jay pushes from the button... this time dominating hand holds up AQ v Kq... Jay back in the lead with 115K, toni down to 68K and in the second spot.

5.51... 3000/6000... toni comes over top a bet by jay... who ponders a call and lays down... toni is back in the lead 101/79/48K.

5.53... toni pushes jay some more... now jay is the short stack at 43k...

5.54... Jay pushes allin with A7, toni calls with a6, reverse dominates and sends jay to the rail...

We're now heads up... 72/38 favor of toni...

hand 1... skinski bets on flop, toni moves over top, skinski folds...

hand 2... skinski bets on flop, toni folds...

hand 3... toni raises pre, skinski folds...

hand 4... skinski raises from button pre, toni calls... flop 9-7-3 all of clubs... allin made, skinski shows K8d and hits runner runner straight...

hand 6... toni bets on flop... 172/51K

hand 7... skinski wins on flop bet...

hand 8... skinski folds button...

hand 9... toni folds button...

hand 10... 8-4-8 flop unraised... toni bets pot, skinski folds...

hand 11... skinski raises from BB, 4-6-A... skinski bets, toni raises, skinski pushes... toni folds...

hand 12.., skinski folds pre...

hand 13... skinski folds pre...

hand 14... 4000/8000... skinski folds

15... toni folds...

16... ksinski raises 2x, toni calls... 10-9-9-10 board... toni moves allin... skinski folds...

17... toni raises, skinski pushes allin preflop...

toni flops a king holding Ak... skinski is dominated and cannot improve... toni takes down the event, while skinski gets host points and a strong second place... Great showing and fine tourney Earl!

BeerGuy out...!

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CheckRayz Tourneys on the Calendar

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We've got tourney! After some hard work and a few distractions, we now have everything in order at Bugsy's Club for CheckRayz Poker Tourneys. I'll be adding more tourneys between now and the end of the year, however, let's focus for the moment on Bugsy's Club happenings with CheckRayz.

Bugsy's Club has agreed to provide us a Poker League. This league will be a poker tour inside a poker tour for us. Look at the Leaderboard at CheckRayz as an overall "player of the year" manner (though this is the final half of 2006, actually). And look at the Bugsy's Club CheckRayz League as a smaller tour that counts for both itself and player of the year honors.

Here's how it works:

There will be 11 events (I may have wrote 12 somewhere). Anyway, 11 tournaments, which will take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings at 9.05pm EST from Wednesday Nov 29th through Friday December 22nd. These tournaments will be $1+.10, donkfest rules (Rebuy-addon hour number one) apply. CheckRayz leaderboard points will be assigned as per normal routine. Additionally, Bugsy's Club will have a leaderboard for our league.

Each tourney will pay out as per the normal payout schedule. At the end of the league, the top ranked league player, per the CheckRayz League Leaderboard at Bugsy's Club will be paid out top prize of $150. Second place receives $100, and third place $50.

This is a new concept to CheckRayz and should prove to be both exciting and challenging.

I look forward to seeing everyone there!

Mike

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Poker Pub and CheckRayz

2006/11/17

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Last forum post...

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Bugsy's makin an offer you can't refuse...

2006/11/16

[+/-]

Poker Playing Style and Investment Strategy

In my "previous life" I used to laugh at many of my peers. Generally speaking, they believed that "buy and hold" was an actual investment strategy. Worse yet, they believed "buy and hold" was the correct all around investment strategy. They'd say stuff such as "well, over time, markets ALWAYS go up..." And throw other things in there starting with "we all know that..." and using supporting charts that start off in the middle of a year, but imply that it's a year over year chart. And these brokers tell their customers to pay attention not to the market today, but instead to where it will be 20 years from now. Or, "Joe, what do you mean you want to sell, I thought you were in this for the long haul... WE need to hang in there... Buy and hold, remember?"

To blindly invest and believe, in my opinion, is a mistake. Buy and hold was a great posture to have when the market itself was in a tremendous upswing, as it was in the majority of the 90's. In the 90's buy and hold was the correct POSTURE, because most all was going up. It was however never a philosophy, just a posture.

In a structurally fair market, buy and hold investers will tend to get crushed. Structurally fair markets tend to feature stocks going up and down equally, both in magnitude and quantity. The correct posture, generally speaking, during these fair markets are properly timing the market. Picking your spot, moving in when the time's right and leaving the party on a high note, before it dies down.

I believe playing hold'em, the same is to be said. I believe that there's a time to play tight, aggressive poker. I believe there's a time to play a more passive, deceptive game. I do not believe that I am a tight aggressive player. I don't believe I am a weak-tighter, nor a loose-passive player for that matter. If I were to put myself into a catigory of what kind of ring game hold'em player I am, I'd say I was an observant, thinking poker player.

I'd say I can and do adjust my game to table conditions. Generally speaking, I know when I can limp with shit OOP and not have my ass handed to me. I try to know when top pair is good, and when yours is not. I can play hard, I can play soft... I can be aggressive and effective, I can be passive and cause you to fail. The point is, I am a thinking player. A cereberal assassin on the tables, if you will. And sure, I may sound full of myself by saying that... My point is, I strive to understand the game of hold'em. I've come to understand it in such a way to know that it's illogical to think that playing "a certain style" is also a correct overall philosophy. I believe that effective playing styles vary by opponent, by hand, and by table conditions. I believe I am wise enough to recognize that and to adjust my play.

I also believe that my few readers are insightful enough to understand and embrace the same.

Mike

2006/11/15

[+/-]

Micro Limit Preflop Strategy

Recently there's been discussion about effectively playing the NL$100 game. Anyone who remotely comes close to understanding Hold'em knows full well that there's no one cookie cutter strategy to playing hold'em. In fact, there's not any one "correct" method to play or playing style that applies "all of the time." Hold'em is situational. To approach hands or games with a mindset of "I'm a tight aggressive player and I'm going to run over this table no matter what" will get you stacked by someone who understands the game.

Poker is a game of mistakes. Whoever wins this battle of mistakes wins the game. I do not mean this in the sense that if you make ten mistakes in a session and I make five, I win, because that may not be the case. In order for me to win, I have to be willing to make mistakes while the pots are small, and cause you to make mistakes when the pot is big. I do this, I win...

When selecting a table, at the micro limits, I try to find the softest table possible. What I mean by softest is that I am wanting to find a table that doesn't raise preflop too often, but has a lot of players entering the pot voluntarily. Why do I want this? For starters, I want to be the strongest person at the table, but I do not wish for them to know that. Additionally, I enjoy exploiting the "mistake" of players calling or limping too often.

Now, I could theoretically put in a steal raise when there's too many limpers, and from time to time I do... But typically, I like to also limp, when the pot is small. So, quite often, I go into a hand wrong preflop... Remember, the name of the game is make mistakes in small pots, exploit other's mistakes in big pots. Players who tend to limp often at this level tend to play poorly after the flop.

Once the flop occurs, I decide if I wish to play for a small pot or build it into a large pot. I make this decision based on what I have, and what I have my opposition on, relative to the board.

For the reasons stated above, I am wanting to see a lot of flops cheaply. I'm equally likely to be limping with 7-6 suited as I am 10-10 under the gun. But, only at soft tables as described above. I understand that my money comes from exploiting mistakes post-flop, and that's typically what I plan to do.I've done quite well at it, for that matter.

Unfortunately, I'm not always able to find that table that is soft from top to bottom. There's always going to be someone coming in there who thinks they're a pro raising away... raise raise raise raise raise... Because they believe that to not raise is not manly. When these players get on the table, I tend to adjust to them, because after all, I adapt to my opposition, choosing the correct tools to get the job done. I don't play 7-6s utg because that hand doesn't like the preflop raise.

I do, however, weakly slip into the pot with monsters or monster busters when this aggressive player is still left to act and raise behind me. When he does raise in behind me, my decision is to either reraise and take position away, or to fold... It should be noted, I usually either mow these players down or they get all flustered saying crazy stuff like "hmmm, 9-9 right? I guess my eights are no good here." This is nothing more than the overly aggressive player trying to save face. His ego gets insulted when he's challenged from a substantial over the top raise. He knows that usually when he calls, he's behind. He in turn becomes the weak player, generally speaking.

Now keep in mind here, I play against overly aggressive players one way, and passive players another way... How do you catigorize me? That is the question, now isn't it...?

More on this later, as this is a topic that I'm surely not done with.

Mike

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2006/11/14

[+/-]

Greatest hammer dropper ever...

[+/-]

too fashionable...

2006/11/13

[+/-]

No, not just a monster...

I'd say I have created a monster, but really... implying it's just one monster would do it no justice. First off, congrats to "the shirt" for winning his third tourney. He is now officially in the lead for the most wins. previously, he and I were the only two time champions.

Now, back to ~~this monster~~ these monsters of mine. Anyone who knows me knows I am a poker blogger. And of course, if one stereotypes said poker bloggers, they'd understand that "us people" come with the natural tendency to "correctly" drop the hammer. But now, it's grown into a monster. At the monthly game yesterday, I do believe I've seen the hammer "correctly played" in every manner possible - and by everyone, blogger and non-blogger alike.

Hand number one:

Middle position raises, caller in the back. Flop comes Ace five five. Middle position fires off a bet, that is called cleanly. Turn comes an irrelivant four. Second barrel fired, and is called. River is insignificant and a THIRD barrel is fired. Late position thinks hard and folds pocket kings face up, only to find out he's had the hammer dropped on him.

While said hand is being reported to me, at my table, and from the small blind, there's a call. "That one really agressive kid" had limped from the early position. I check in the big blind. The flop comes Ace, eight, eight. SB checks, I check. "That agressive kid" fires off a pot size bet. The small blind comes WAY WAY over top, inflicting a CheckRayz upon thee. I get the hell out of the way. The agressive one folds pocket sixes. And yep, you guessed it... "The Actor" drops the hammer. He dropped a perfectly exicuted slowplay of the hammer, actually.

I'd say it ended there, but I'd be lying. One of the newer players even got into the mix. She showed down to the river with the hammer because she just assumed that it was manditory to play and show that hand, considering how often she saw such ridiculous things.

It's safe to assume all of my friends are going to come down with carpel tunnel syndrome from excessively swinging and dropping the hammer. I do, however, anxiously await the day where it takes down a tournament within our group.

Mike

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2006/11/12

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in case Mitch didn't know...

2006/11/11

[+/-]

Online Poker Commentary (with some politics)

I’ve pretty much ran silent here at the Poker Pub this week. There are several reasons for doing so, I’m sure. I’ve been suspending my opinion on the elections until the smoke clears. My personal life, for starters, is always full of fireworks somehow - no worries, all is well. I snuck away to play live poker this week. I’ve been negotiating with Bugsy’s Club on a poker deal for us… And perhaps I was also just simply taking a breather from posting. All these things combined probably point to the reason why I’ve not really written much in the lines of substantial posts this week.

I have been blog hopping throughout this past week, though. I highly recommend blog hopping. It’s great to read the thoughts, ideas, and stories from others who share your interest. I have my list of “regular blogs” I visit (you can find them on the Poker Pub Blogroll). Feel free to borrow my list, or draw from your own.

The point of telling you this is not to “pimp” any other bloggage, though that is an added bonus, right? No, instead, I’d like to talk about the state of online poker and how it relates to this past election - and throw in some of the thoughts of other Bloggers that I read along the way.

For starters, up until a month or two ago, I thought I was a Republican. I believed that I philosophically aligned with the Republican Party more so than others, considering I (primarily) believe in a strong national defense (funding the military). I believe in less taxes. I believe that while some forms of welfare programs (welfare is a term meaning transfer of wealth or monies from one group or class to another), I do not believe in it so far as to be nearly socialist in nature. I believe those who “work” harder and/or smarter should be allowed to keep most of what they make, and it should give them an edge against others… not that we’re competing here.

In contrast, I’ve always believed that “those other people” (the Democrats) enjoyed transferring wealth from one class to another, were incredibly weak when it came to national defense, defense spending, and/or foreign issues in which involve our military and/or taking a stand. Thus, I believed them to be pansies and socialist. And still, after these elections, I do not believe that any less.

I do, however, believe that I am finding myself lined up with the Republican Party a whole lot less than I once suspected I did. With the introduction of UIGEA, a mostly Republican-supported bill, I’ve become sick to my stomach, as now we have the small matter of the Government telling me how I can and cannot run my business and my personal life. Big brother is alive and well.

It seems to me that we have a case of one group ruling with an iron fist, allowing you to make money, but severely restricting where and how you can spend it. The other party, in my opinion, just wishes to pass my money out to everyone under the sun. (once again, all just my opinion here)…

Historically, I think this country has corrected problems in ever so dramatic over-reactions. Take the tailhook scandal (PBS on tailhook, Wikipedia on tailhook) for example… Our country, and the military specifically were too lenient on matters of sexual harassment. To make things “right” we became so damn tough on them that it almost became a felony to even make eye contact with a member of the opposite sex during normal, routine conversation. It may have been "right" to deal with and take a firm stance on sexual harrassment issues, but there's a difference, IMO, between getting proper laws in place, and going way overboard to make up for past leniency.

In this country, we tend to correct the wrongs of one extreme by swinging to the far opposite extreme. In reality, correcting the wrongs of the far right is not corrected by moving as far left as possible, but instead moving to the center of the bell curve.

The opposite of extreme right is not extreme left, nor is extreme left’s opposite extreme right. It is, instead dead center… Alcanthang cautions us:

"We've merely replaced politicians...

...with politicians. Just as easily corrupted as the mouth breathers now searching for prime consulting jobs.

This isn't the last step in the process, only the first. It needs to be made clear to the new bunch that if/when they fuck up, they are next on the chopping block. I already have the letters ready to go out to my congressmen stating that very fact.

We wanted a change, we got a change, now we must hold them accountable.”

That being said… I highly suggest EVERYONE, democrat, republican, or otherwise, get signed up to get a report of how their congressmen and senators vote. I challenge everyone to do exactly what Al suggests… Let’s all hold our elected officials accountable and show them that we mean business… We’re watching them, we have a vote, and we know how to use it.

My intention was to discuss online poker and some politics, though it seems I've discussed politics with some online poker... Things do not always go as planned...

Mike

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