Won Again!!

We played our weekly home game tonight. And I'm happy to say that I won again. Last week was pretty crazy. Dustin was catching cards like crazy, and if he had a draw, he was gonna get there. I did everything I could to finish third. Even then, it was a battle. I never really picked up a hand throughout the entire tournament. We got down to three handed, and I found A10 on the button. I raised and both blinds called. The flop came 10-8-6. Both blinds checked, so I bet about two-thirds the pot. Dustin called. At this point I was pot committed. A Q came on the turn and he checked. I moved in and he insta called me. I said, "Well, you just got there." Sure enough, he had J9. GG me.

So that brings us to this week. At the beginning of the tournament, I was trying to keep the pots small and basically play my typical small ball style. It was working well, even though I didn't really have many big hands. Brenda went on a major heater and won 8 hands in a row. Some of them were probably steals based on her table image. But for the most part, she was showing down some real hands. There really wasn't much action early in the tourney.

A loose player limped in middle position, and I had been card dead for quite a few orbits. I look down and find AQ. I had him 2:1 in chips and had position. So I figured, put in a raise and take it down now. Well, poker is not that simple. I raised, the small blind called, and the limper suddenly shoved in for a huge re-raise. To make a long story short, I made a stupid call, and he showed down AA. So now I'm the short stack. UGH. THE VERY NEXT HAND, I get 77 in late position and decide to shove in. The BB wakes up with AA. So I rebought and just had to go back to grindstone.

I was bleeding chips, missing flops, and just hitting a major cold deck. The blinds were going up and my M was about 5-6. So I had to find a hand and go with it. When your M gets low, you don't have the luxury of trying to play flops and play the player. Your limited with what you can do. So I pick up KJ in middle position and made a mistake by limping. A player in late position raised. I thought about it for a second and mentally went through different strategies I could use and the pot odds, both actual and implied. I decided to go with a stop and go play. So I just called. The flop came J-10-8. I pushed in and got called by the raiser. They had KK...again UGH! How many times am I gonna run into big hands? The turn brought a Queen, so there were chop possibilites. The river was my dream Jack, and she lost her mind. She got pissed and stormed out, ranting about how I'm such a bad player and how if it happened to me how I would criticize the play....blah blah blah.

So that got me somewhat healthy and we were down to 6 handed. I kept adding chips and stealing blinds, now that my M was in the yellow zone. I had a few big hands, but never really got paid off. I just kept making small raises and if I didn't have much and got a lot of resistance, I just let go of my hand. Eventually, we got down to three handed, and I had position on the most aggressive player at the table. He would raise about 80% of the time. If you've been reading my blog, you know I don't mind overly aggressive players. He had been calling most of my raises and making really ridiculous re-raises on the flop. So I knew he would be pretty easy to trap or that he would overplay his hand. Sure enough. I had A9 of clubs on the button, three handed. The blinds were 600/1200, so I raised to 2800. He called. No surprise. The flop came KQ8 with two clubs. With only 6200 in the pot, he pushed all in for over 50,000. I knew if he had a real hand he would have made a small bet or even checked hoping to trap me. So I put him on a straight draw. We were three handed and I had the nut flush draw with possibly one over. So I had 12 outs twice. I decided to call and he showed 52 of clubs. HUH??? I turned a 9 and he rivered a 5, down to heads up.

Heads up was quite a battle. Martin played really well all night long. We passed chips back and forth, and we both played some hands extremely well, and other hands horribly. We passed the chip lead back and forth a few times. In the final hand, I was in the big blind with 10-8 of diamonds. He raised to 30,000 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000. I had him about 2:1 in chips and I had about 240,000. I called and saw a flop. The flop came 7-6-4, rainbow. Two overs, a double gutter, not bad for my hand. I checked it to him and he bet out 30,000. At this point, I knew he had either a 6 or 7. So I quickly went over everything in my head. 3:1 odds on my draw, I have conceivably 14 outs, so it's a coinflip. I decide to take one off, and was planning on making a move on the turn, no matter what hits. The turn brought another 4. I now bet out 58,000, and he calls. I'm not liking my hand now. The river brought my straight card. A 9 hit the river, and I decided to get the rest of his money in the pot. If my hand is good, so be it. If he has the nut straight beat, so be it. I'm not folding and I can't see check calling with his stack getting low. I check, he bet 20,000, and I put him in. He calls and shows 96 for two pair. I win with the straight and he just gives me the old, "nice catch" comment.

Would I play the hand differently in the future? Maybe. With 14 outs, it's not a bad spot to put a lot of pressure on your opponent. So I still have a lot to learn and still have a lot to work on. But I'm getting there. I win a lot of our tournaments, so that is a good sign for me. So far this year, I think I've won 6 or 7 of our tourneys and have cashed in a huge majority of them. If I win again next week, maybe i can get another long streak together.

Milestone

I finally reached one of my milestones for sit and go's. I set a goal to reach the $1,000 profit mark. I reached the goal a couple of days ago, but then went on a very cold streak that dropped me back below the mark. Today I went past the $1,000 mark again. The last few days have been very frustrating. I played more than 2,000 hands in all of the sit and go's I played. I was dealt AA exactly 5 times. Aces are not the only hand I play. However, the sheer number of playable hands in position and the number of hands that held up were very low. I kept getting my money in good, or was a big favorite and playing aggressive, and they just wouldn't hold up. It was quite the rollercoaster ride.

Getting Lucky

In any tournament you play, whether sit and go or multi-table, you have to get lucky to win. Don't let anyone tell you differently. In a typical multi-table tournament, you will have to go all in about 10 times in order to win the tournament. Some of those times you will have the best hand, and other times you will be a dog. That is the nature of poker. From time to time, you have to get lucky. I'm writing this because I won a tournament tonight and had to get lucky a couple of times. One of the players kept saying that I was a predictable fish and that I was such a bad player. Whenever a player would get lucky, the others would start calling that other player a donkey, a fish, and talk about how they play badly. What they fail to understand, is that according to the action, it may have been the best play.

Early in the tournament, I play pretty tight, and don't want to race off a lot of chips. I'm looking to slowly build a stack by playing small pots and generally only playing big hands. So I get AK on the button, and there is an early position minimum raise. I just call with position and no other players in the pot, other than the blinds. Flop comes K-7-5, rainbow. Early bets half the pot. I know I'm either a huge favorite here, or a big dog if he flopped a set or has aces. So I just call. The jack of hearts comes on the turn, putting two hearts on board. He bets the same amount on the turn. I raise to 450, he folds. SO with this hand, I set up my image and I also got the chip lead early. So that helped me build my stack to about 4000 with the blinds at 20/40. The blinds are now 30/60 and I still have the chip lead. The same player that made that early min raise play limps under the gun. He had been a generally weak player. I get KK in the cutoff and raise to 220. He min re-raises. He only had about 900 chips when the hand started. So I stopped and thought about it for a second. There was now 750 in the pot, costing me 160 to call. But what could he have? I have the second best hand in Hold'em. I decided that if I'm gonna play the hand it is going to be for all of his chips. SO I re-raise to put him in and he calls with AA. Sucks when you hit a cold deck like that. The flop came A-J-10. UGH!!! the turn brought a 9, and the river was a Q. That was the first time I had to get lucky. That's when the typical, "FTP is rigged", "Typical FTP setup", and "The donkey wins again" comments started. Now I ask you, who has ever folded kings in this spot? If he had been a tight player, I might have considered folding. But the hands he was showing down and the plays he was making didn't tell me aces. So he made a great play, but I got lucky.

So I was the massive chip leader, I had about 7000 with 6 people left in the tourney. I kept playing my typical small ball style and stealing pots when I could. When we got down to 4 handed, I got AQ spades in the small blind. UTG min raised, and I just called out of position. The flop came 467 with two spades. I knew he would be just about any flop, so I checked it to him with the intention of raising. I don't normally check-raise, but he was a pretty aggressive player. I knew that if he had a pair of 8's - J's, then I was a slight favorite. SO we got it all in, he had KK and I aired the rest. So now I'm sitting 3rd. Would I play the hand the same way in the future, probably. With such a massive chip lead, I'm willing to gamble in that spot to not only secure a money spot, but to also have the other players dominated 5:1 in chips. Just as how much getting lucky in tournaments is necessary, the same goes for not getting unlucky. I had aces and queens both cracked. AA vs. KK, he flopped a king. QQ vs. A6, he turns an ace.

SO, long story short, I was getting low on chips, continued to stay aggressive and slowly built my stack back above average. My pet peeve in poker is players that play tight passive. I find it hilarious that most of the complainers in poker are tight passive players. They check call and limp in a lot of hands. Then when they lose, they complain that the other player sucked out and got lucky. Stop complaining and play your hand the right way. If they call your bets without pot odds, they are making a huge mistake. That is what you want in poker. That is the goal, to get your opponent to make the biggest possible mistake.

Variance of Poker

Whether you like or not, variance is a part of the game. There will be periods where it seems like you just can't win a hand, or you just can't get a playable hand. That has been the story of my life the last few days. I've still cashed in quite a few sit and go's, but have been plagued the last few days with the dreaded variance. I've played in 46 sit and go's over the past week. I've cashed in 20 of them, and won only 6. More importantly, I was the bubble boy 12 times. It sucks when you go out on the bubble. It has to be the worst feeling in the world.

So, back to variance. Statistically speaking, you will be dealt a hand a certain percentage of times, and each hand will win a certain percentage of the time. Everyone has had periods where it seems like you get dealt a winning hand constantly. I've had tournaments where I was dealt aces and kings four times each, as well as other premium pairs and big suited connectors. The times when you are getting hit by the deck make poker an easy game to beat. However, those are the rare instances of the game. Most of the time you will be dealt marginal hands, and be put in tough decisions. That's where variance comes in. Variance is simply the up and downswings that both your bankroll and the number of playable hands you receive.

My only advice to you when you are running cold, is to stay active and try to pick your spots. Don't let yourself get blinded off or get bullied by a LAG. During my current run, I've got my money in as a dog, but that's what you have to do sometimes in poker. Most of the time I don't like playing two card chicken, and would prefer to play after the flop. But there are times when your stack size, compared to the blind force you to get in there and gamble. When you are put in these situations, you want to find a hand that is unlikely to be dominated. I personally move pairs and small suited connectors up in my hand rankings. I don't want to make a move when short with weak aces or kings. Most of the time, if you get called, it will be by someone with AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ....those are the kinds of hands that you don't want to be facing if you're pushing with A8 or K7. So, if I get a small suited connector, like 89 or a pair, I'm willing to push in. Remember, you have to take your current M into account, and how many and what kind of players are left to act behind you. So, stay aggressive and make a move when you can.

Poker Update

We just finished playing our weekly home game. It was an interesting tournament, to say the least. It didn't start out the way I thought it would, but that's the beauty of poker. Now, I always preach that you need to know what kind of player you are up against, and you should always play aggressive and preferably in position. All night long, I followed my own advice, and was playing position exceptionally well, and was watching and pouncing on the other players when I knew they were weak. I was reading most of players incredibly well, and made some big laydowns in the process. What was surprising about our game tonight was the level of loose/passive play, and the sheer number of loose calls, and weird plays that were made. That is not typical of the players in our game.

For this first two rounds of the tournament, I raised a few hands in middle to late position, when nobody had entered the pot. I got away with a few blinds, and never really picked up many big hands. But I was in high gear, and was looking to build my image. I love to play small ball, so early in the tournament, I was taking a lot of stabs at small pots, to try and slowly build a stack. Mission accomplished. I was slowly building my stack and just cruising along. In the third round, the blinds were 150/300, and I had about 25,000. There were two limpers, and I'm in the small blind with QQ. So, I raised to 1,500. Just to give you a little insight. I raise my standard 2.5 - 3 times the blind, plus whatever the other players have limped for. So, 900 plus the 600 they limped for, voila 1,500. I get an insta-call from the early limper. The flop came 6-7-8 with two diamonds. I watched her as the flop came down, she liked the flop, but I knew her range in this spot was pretty small. She wouldn't call a raise from early with J-10, or small suited connectors. I bet out 2,600 into the pot of 3,900, and she insta-shoved on me. I stopped myself and thought about her possible hands. AK, AQ, AJ or diamonds.....no. Set? She would have raised me, but not 6 times my bet....so, no. Overpair, like 9's, 10's, or J's? Very probable. I decided to go with my read, and called. She had 10's...good call Jay. UGH....she hit a 9 on the river to complete her inside straight draw. I ended up rebuying, and trying to get my head back in the game.

When we got to 6 handed, I made a great call against a LAG. I had position, and knew I could outplay him on the flop. So, I called and we saw a flop. QJs in late, the flop came Q-10-8. Not bad for my hand. Top pair, decent kicker, inside straight draw. The SB bet out, and he went all in for 11,000+. Again, I thought about the hand, and what kinds of reads I picked up on him. I had a ton of chips at this point, and decided to trust my read. Sure enough, he had Q9, and my jack played. Another one bites the dust.

Later, I took Joy, the one who sucked out with the 10's, out of the tourney. I was in the BB and was getting 2.5:1 on a call against a short stack shove. Pretty much forced to call with 10-8 suited. I hit an 8 and she was gone. When we got to three handed, I kept switching gears and was chipping away a lot of small pots. Johnny, did his standard slowplay. I got out of a few traps, and ended up frustrating him. I kept making small raises and small bets on ragged flops, or dangerous flops. On the button I raised 2.5 times the blind with JJ. He re-raised, and I put him all-in. He called with 77. No help for him, and he was out. I continued the same pattern heads up. I made most of my raises between 2.5 and 2.8 times the BB. I raised the button about 75% of the time. I got Jesse to commit all of his money on a gutshot straight draw, I flopped a set. Tournament over.

There was one notable hand earlier in the tournament. I was in the SB, and a tight player open limped under the gun. A tricky, loose player raised about 6 times the blind in the highjack seat. I look down and have JJ. I tried to get a read on the hand and on my opponents. Long story short, I picked up a reliable tell from him and knew that he had KK. Not AA, not QQ, but I knew he had KK. I folded my hand, and the tight player folded theirs. I took a minute before folding, and he said, "tough folding an ace?" When the other player folded, I flipped my jacks up and said, "nope, just knew I was beat. I know you have kings." He smiled, then realized that I just told him his hand. He started babbling about how he could have had AK, or 10's and the such. So I made him a bet. I bet him $20 that he had KK and nothing else. He started laughing, and said that he couldn't take the bet, then showed exactly KK. Like I said, I have been reading my opponents really well for the past few months.

Well, I won another tournament, time to get another string together. Good luck at the tables, I'll update the online side of my game sometime soon. I'm going to start playing a lot more live cash games and tournaments, so I'll keep you updated on my results.

SNG Update

I've played in a few sit and go's over the past couple of days. I've cashed in about 70% of them. Not too bad. Especially since I was playing on the weekend. Weekends tend to be filled with loose aggressive, weak players. It might sound counterintuitive, but it is a little harder winning against these kinds of players than against good, solid players. Against weak players, or LAG's, you have to show down a hand most of the time. You can bluff them from time to time and make moves at them from time to time. But you don't want to risk too much trying to push them over. Against LAG's, you want to let them hang themselves, and make a lot more value bets than bluff attempts.

This is a graph of my success so far. It has a nice trend to it. A big part of poker is variance, which is definetely illustrated by all of the dips in my graph. I'm sure I made some mistakes during those periods, or tried to run over a weak player and got called, and of course there's some bad beats in there. But the overall trend of the graph shows that I am on an upward rise. So that is very encouraging. Just have to keep playing well, and observing my opponents. I don't like to take overly complicated notes on players. Usually, I just note their tendencies. I try to make note of whether they are loose or tight, passive or aggressive, and make brief notes about any specific tell I might pick up or how they played a specific hand.

So I was up against one of the most aggressive players I have ever seen. Now, I'm all for playing aggressive poker. But this guy took it to the extreme. He raised a lot of hands, most of which were from early or middle position. If it weren't for some rather weak players, he would have been out of the tourney in the second or third level. He did make some good plays, like using the squeeze play from the button when players limped. So I was trying to get into a hand with him. There were a couple of problems early on though. Most of the time, when he raised, he would get re-raised by a short stack, or I would have total air. So I was playing patiently, and just waiting to pick him off.

There were a couple of hands that come to mind. I only had about 1500, and the blinds were 50/100. He raised, AGAIN, and I had AJ off on the button. I knew he was weak, and only had the blinds to go through. He raised to 300, so I pushed for 1500. The small blind called off his last 1000, and he folded. The small blind had 22, I turned an ace and we were down to 6. Later, I got AK, and the same kind of situation came up, I re-raised and he folded again. Long story short, the two short stacks went out and we were in the money. I was sitting second in chips to the LAG, and it was time to go to war.

He took the short stack out, and we were heads up. He had me outchipped almost 2:1. When we got heads up, he didn't slow down one bit. Which I don't mind. I don't play tentative, but at the same time, I like to play flops against players that overvalue marginal hands. One thing you have to remember, is that when you have an unpaired hand, you will only flop a pair or better about 30-40% of the time. Most of the time, you will miss the flop. So, the blinds are 100/200 and he has the button. He raised to 600, and I called with 9-10. Not a great hand, but it is a hand that you want to see a flop with. The flop came Q-6-7. I have a gutshot draw, and I'm pretty sure the queen didn't help him, but I can't be certain. I check it to him and he bets 400. Now there's 1600 in the pot, so I'm getting 4:1. For a gutshot, I'm not getting the right odds. However, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a queen. So if I have 10 live outs, then I'm only a 60:40 dog. In that case, I'm getting the right odds. So I call, and sure enough, I hit a 9 on the turn. Now I have second pair, which I figure will probably be good. I was thinking about leading out on the turn, but decided to wait for the river, let him hang himself until then. Sure enough, he bets 600. You see how I knew he didn't have a queen? A 2 hit the river, but it was a flush card, now I wish I didn't play the hand so passively. But I knew the kind of player he was, and if I tried to get rid of him and he had a flush draw, he would have called. SO now I plan on just check-calling the river. He bets 1000, and I call, he had KJ.....lol. The true definition of a LAG. Willing to fire three bullets with king high.

So that gave me the chip lead, and there was no way I was gonna let him off the hook now. I knew I had him rattled, and now I could put a little more pressure on him. It's tough to pressure a LAG when they can eliminate you from a tournament. You just have to wait for an opportunity to double through them. Later, I check-called him on the flop with second pair. Then lead out on fourth and fifth with second pair. It was a defensive bet, one I knew he wouldn't raise, and I knew I would be able to show down. Same thing, I win, he has bottom pair.

I made a couple of moves at him. One hand I had an open end straight draw with a flush draw on the turn. I check-raised the flop with a flush draw, and pushed in with the combo draw, as well as two overs to the board. SO I pretty much knew that if he had a small pair, I had 21 outs. The final hand was pretty standard. He min raised, I called OOP with Q9. The flop brought a queen with two clubs. I knew he would bet almost any flop, so I checked to him again. He bet 240, I raised to 1200. He pushed in for 2160 total, and I called with top pair. He had K8 of clubs. He had 12 outs, so he was about 45% to win. Not horrible, but a dog. The turn and river bricked and I won the tourney.

One tip when playing against LAG's. Don't let them control the table. From time to time, you have to push back. You don't want to let them steal you blind, then eliminate you with the money they stole from you. Against a LAG, I will open up my re-raising standards to AJ+ and 88+. Most of the time, I try to keep myself out of this position, by playing position against these players, and try to trap them when I flop a monster or a huge draw. Against a LAG, if I have 15 outs or more, the money is going to get into the middle. So stay observant, and fight back against players that try to run you over. Once you push back, they will usually look for weaker targets and leave you alone for the most part. Some just don't learn, and you have to whack them a couple of times before they get the hint that they can't steal from you.