Poker Friday

Players: Pokerhontasz, Pete, KingTubby,TheConge,Hadrosaur,Top_Jimmy

This week’s home game was moved to a Friday to suit players, and resulted in a 6 handed game with two new faces. Known simply as ’Pete’ our first new player caused some discomfort around the table when he loudly announced that he had a problem with ‘benders’. Pete has a serious issue with an allegedly perverted minority of people (myself shamefully included) who bend their hole cards slightly to view them secretively, and this tilted the lad from the start. Pete also took issue with the low stakes of our sit and go, but since these regular games are a new thing we want to make them as friendly and welcoming as possible to all our friends.  Our second new player is known as Hadrosaur (spelling?) and cast a much more unassuming presence at the table, possibly due to jenk cards for the first few rounds.

The first hand of the night prompted a steward’s enquiry regarding shuffling, since the flop brought JJJ with a turn 8 and river 9. This was a classic ‘battle of the blinds’ when KT limp-called a BB raise preflop. The turn actions were: bet-call and river bet-fold. TheConge later claimed he folded an ace which seems to fit the action and since KingTubby was first seat after the dealer, it seems likely Pete (KTs buddy) bottom-dealt him the case jack in his hole cards lolz! The early action saw generally passive play and Pete hitting some long-shot backdoor draws.  In one of these multiway pots Hadrosaur probe bet a draw heavy board to get HU with Pete, hit trips on the turn, but then lose to Pete’s straight on the river. TheConge noted, and I commented on the value of Mark’s so-called donk bet but on reflection a true donk bet is out of position into a preflop raiser.  Since Mark had position and probably the best hand, a probe with a good underpair is more of an informational bet, especially since the board only contained one overcard and was checked around to him.

With an imposing chip stack Pete became ‘table captain’ for a while and attempted to three bet my UTG raise at one point. I called preflop and on a Kxx board I checked with intent to call what would be an obvious bluffing spot, but Pete checked back. A blank turn resulted in check-check and I took it down on the river with a value sized bet. Looking back on this hand in the light of Pete’s later actions I am fairly happy with my play, since I was clearly WAWB (way ahead or way behind) but ultimately confused, since three-bet pots are usually pitched battles of doublethink post flop and Pete smiled unnervingly throughout the hand.  The other move that unnerved me early on was TheConge folding and showing top two pair after Pokerhontasz raised pre and led out on a monotone flop. The erstwhile overbetting monster had clearly brought his Ultra-tight A* game to the table and I felt like I was in a parallel universe, either that or TheConge was still hurting from King Tubby’s suck out against his top-two last time! I think Pokerhontasz must have used her WWDD (What would Doyle do?) mantra to dig deep and come up with such a genius bet against the only player on the table who could have laid down a hand in that spot!

Our first big blow up of the night started with Pete limping the HJ and TheConge announcing ‘call’ on the button but putting in a minraise. Conge should have been forced to only call the bet but we mistakenly left it as a raise, and this betting accident motivated Pete to reraise when it folded around to him again. Conge responded with a massive 4 bet leaving him with roughly a pot sized bet left behind.  Pete did not spend long in the tank before 5 bet shoving his mega stack and TheConge called faster than ‘A crack whore on giro day’ (thanks Charlie Don’t Surf for that one) and tabled KK. Pete threw down the mighty Q7s, dominated in spades. The board ran out Kd,Ac,4s,4h,6d and TheConge became overwhelming leader of the stack. He also later claimed he was ‘angle-shooting’ to induce spew with the miscalled hand so we will be looking to penalise the lad next time he pulls one of those stunts!

An interesting hand developed between myself and TheConge who minraised UTG and I 3 bet in position. Conge called and on a flop of 3,4,10 (two hearts) Conge bet and I shoved him deep into the tank.  The deeper the tank the worse the hand of course, and Conge eventually found a fold. He was representing a difficult decision with JJ but in fact was holding two napkins I am sure, since I can read Conge’s soul with Hellmuthian accuracy;) It was not long before we reached the bingo stage of the match and to cut a long story short there was a tonne of flips; plenty of cooking lagers; a row between me and Pokerhontasz when she slow-rolled again; a dodgy blow up from me calling way behind Hadrosaur’s stop and go’d KK; plenty more cooking lagers; an anti social early swerve from knocked out KingTubby and Pete and yet more cooking lagers.

Heads up actually featured a little bit of play on this occasion and the match was between a fairly short short stacked, sober Hadrosaur and a huge stacked-but-well-oiled Conge. The players quickly swapped stacks when in a limped pot Conge’s Q3 hit middle pair on A23 board, prompting Conge to shove a second Ace on the turn. Hadrosaur insta called holding A9 and a river 3 brought a comedy double take with talk around the table along the lines of ‘He’s made a full house, oh no it’s the second nuts, no hang on its quads, no its not!’ TheConge was a little shell shocked and stared at a board for ages, trying to magically turn his hand into the nuts!  It was not long before Conge preflop shoved one too many hands and Hadrosaur called down with K2 to beat 57 to victory. Hadrosaur’s ‘virgin victory’ moment was rendered in ink by Pokerhontasz,included below.  I think she has captured TheConge's confident table steez well. I will also include a bonus self portrait Pokerhontasz doodled in down time between hands, which needs to become her table icon online if we can hook that up somehow:) Also this post is way too long for a glossary, so I am sorry if anyone is befuddled by any new terminology.

How to react to mistakes

How To React To Mistakes (in full ring sit and go games)

1. Note mistakes during a session for review later
2. Afterwards review and confirm what was/was not a mistake
3. Make positive to do lists before a game to avoid repeating mistakes

 1. I have taken to making quick notes on key hands or decisions on a pad and then looking at these in more detail at a later date. This helps me to quickly forget about mistakes and concentrate on the task in hand. At the higher blind levels you may need to quickly calculate your stack, relative stack size and M-zone etc. You cannot do this with regret or questions on your mind. If I have made a note on the pad then it can be put aside and dealt with later.

2. It is important to actually do your homework on sessions, as many mistakes are quite subtle and some so-called errors turn out to be the correct move even if you get bounced from the tournament or lose a big pot. I am finding that a handful of small errors, particularly on marginal hands is my biggest overall leak. In a sit and I have wasted chips calling instead of folding JJ to a raise for example, because in the heat of the moment you are aware that a reraise is pointless in the early game, but you do not think to fold such a pretty pair. However the same hand in the mid game becomes a shoving hand, a kind of steal with decent equity if you happen to get called by the initial raiser. With so many variables at stake a session review allows you to make for example a ‘pocket jacks’ positive action plan, so you are armed the next time you are dealt that cursed hand!

3. A session ‘to do list’ follows a review of key hands and mistakes. You can compile such a list before a game to mentally prepare for battle. It is far too easy to log on and register for a game, but you should have a poker mindset that you adopt beforehand, otherwise you run the risk of playing in the same style as your current emotional state.  I find that making 3 bullet points of things to do with certain hands or situations, allows me to enter that state and log on ready to make good decisions. My confidence is also boosted going into a game because I am mindful of not making the same mistakes I made last time.

Glossary

M-Zone

Your stack divided by small blind+big blind (+ any antes x number of players) gives you an ‘M-ratio’ number, usually between 5-40. These numbers fall into zones 0-1,2-5,6-10,11-20,21+, which dictate a certain style of play which will be the most profitable for that particulalr zone. Invented by Paul Magriel, a backgammon and poker guru.

Marginal hands/situations

Some hands look great but are difficult to turn a profit from, and some situations look amazing but are borderline losing plays. These hands and situations are fluid concepts related to the M-Zone and type of game you are playing. Top pair with second-best kicker is an example of a very marginal situation early in a tournament but will often be the nuts heads-up.

Equity

I am still a little mystified by the concept of equity but it seems to be your potential share of a pot represented  by a percentage. You see equity percentages on WSOP telecasts above the hands on screen. You will have decent equity in a hand if you shove JJ over a 3 bet in the middle stages of a tournement since an opponent's range for 3 betting will feature less pairs above JJ than below it plus AK,AQ type hands.  A big pot and attractive odds of more than 2:1 will  make calling with high cards or  medium/low pairs tempting to the 3 bettor, who will find him/herself on the wrong end of 43%/57% or 20%/80% equity share.

Hot pots! Home game write up #3

Players round the table: Top_jimmy, King_Tubby, The_Conge, Pokerhontasz, Valhalla.

The latest in our series of no-limit home games got off to an inauspicious start. An hour before kick off I had to bus it across town to check out P.A. equipment for my band and a couple of last minute drop outs left the attendance looking like it would be at most, 5 of us. It all came together ‘field of dreams’ style though because if you build it (a pot that is) they will come. In the balmy summer heat action was quick to ignite around the table and our first key pot was pretty much a hero call by TheConge: On a board of 10s,5c,Ah,(Tc,Qd) Conge bet the flop and was floated by Valhalla in the big blind. On the turn our hero was check raised by Valhalla who had picked up a flush draw with the arrival of the 10c. The river brought a small (blocking?) bet out of position from Valhalla who backed into a pair of Queens and TheConge called, showing down a winning Top pair no kicker with A4s.

Pokerhontasz showed her true colours as a trigger happy loose aggressive when faced with the assertive small-ball tactics of Valhalla. She responded to a preflop 3 bet and flop float on a Q,9,6,(J) rainbow board  the only way she knows how; by insta-shoving the turn!  Valhalla folded and charitably showed 88 afterwards but Pokerhontasz did not return the favour.  Having observed her play on many occasions I can safely put Pokerhontasz  on ‘any-two-cards’ for her to ship it in that spot!  I must have been downing the cooking lagers pretty quickly by this point because my notes from the night get progressively messy and difficult to interpret. The next major pot was a total shocker which changed the dynamic of the match, decimated my table image and kick started KingTubby’s best performance so far in the series. On a board of K93 with two hearts TheConge bet, I donk-raised a crap flush draw and KingTubby called behind, prompting a Conge shove, then me (sheepish) fold, and all-in call from KingTubby. The Conge tabled top two pair with K9 and Tubby showed top pair crap kicker K10. The turn brought a Jack, and the river a heart piercing Q for KingTubby to runner-runner a straight and claim most of TheConge’s stack.

Not long after this sickener I got it all in against a slightly tilting Conge in an AQ  vs his 88 race situation and in keeping with my insanely lucky streak (in all in pots) I spiked one of my 5 outs (an ace had already been folded) to leave him with about 8 big bets left.  We discussed the merits of his shove afterwards and my reasons for calling and his shove is definitely more defensible than my call, but both moves are more or less ‘standard’ as they say given the rapidly escalating blinds. The game picked up loads of pace after this stretch and TheConge was inevitably first out to one of my magical all ins even though I held two pieces of cheese instead of cards. What surprised everyone was how quickly I then donked off my stack in one of my classic ‘blow ups.’  I forget exact board details but Pokerhontasz flopped the nut flush, played it slow and allowed me to make a double live gonzo mistake. I put her on top pair (don’t ask me why) and got it in on the turn with straight and flush outs, drawing completely dead since Pokerhontasz held the nuts, including my magic straight flush card. Whoops!

Valhalla hung on for a little while with around 4 big bets and then KingTubby lost heads up fairly quickly to Pokerhontasz’ constant  min raise barrage. I got slightly annoyed when either of them folded the small blind and I went into my annoying ‘professor’ mode which is how these nights tend to end so sorry again guys.  Pokerhontasz pulled a heinous Hellmuth style speech to ‘ensure’ that she got a call with her final AJ preflop shove but KingTubby was destined to call with KTs anyways. I called it a slow roll but in actual fact it should just be filed under ‘moody’ or ‘unsportsmanlike’ conduct. The best thing about this particular game is that KingTubby got a reward for coming in second, and Pokerhontasz won in such convincing style: true to form results for both playersJ

 Glossary of terms-since I have been accused of being too jargony

Float-call a flop bet with no hand, usually with the intention to steal the pot on the turn or river

Blocking bet- a small river bet with probably (but not definiltely) the second best hand, that is likely to be smaller than the bet you would call if you check and your opponent bets (therefore saving money at showdown)

Donk-bet/raise- an out of position bet/raise with no plan for the hand, it is just fun to bet/raise yeah!

Slow roll- to slowly reveal the nut winning hand

Out of position-having to act first post flop, which is a disadvantage in the order of play

Hellmuth-Phil Hellmuth Jnr 'the greatest no limit holdem player ever' (snigger)

Reflection on donkey challenge weekend

Now that I have finished immersing myself in online poker this weekend I realise I have achieved nearly all of things I wanted to and beaten some fears along the way. The old bankroll has dropped by ten buy ins which is no worse than a bad run of playing it safe anyway, so I am glad that I have taken some shots and had a punt. I have spent the weekend largely tilt-free which is good progress in mental terms, by reflecting on bad luck situations as the product of quite a lot of bad play on my part. I have a great tendency to 'blow up' and make impatient, usually over betting or over calling decisions when I get excited towards the end of tournaments so this needs work. I still bet two barrels into tight calling stations on boards where 'they can't be repping much' when in fact they have the stone cold nuts, but I am starting to learn how to control this instinct. I find it helps to keep my hand away from the mouse for at least 5 secs before doing anything and to announce to myself 'why should I bet here?' and see what the reasons are and if it makes sense. If I can remain aware of other players' ranges and tendencies whilst doing this I can improve all the time. I sometimes forget that donkeys literally bet the strength of their hand and if you encounter serious resistance than chances are you are beaten unless you find an over bettor/donator on your table. I can also count on one hand the number of big pot hero calls I have made that went in my favour and would do well to remember this. I have also discovered that I do not like pot limit omaha since it is a game of big swings only suitable for adrenaline junkies with bigger bankrolls than I have! If I want to get my gamble on I can just wait to grind up my roll a bit again and have another punt on the odd NLHE MTT if I get time. I am going back to playing sit and gos recreationally again so I can get on with normal life stuff which is way more rewarding than playing a game all day. Time for a spot of guitar practise I think...

Challenge donkey-lost in maths

For this part of my challenge I wanted to get to grips with the medium pairs problem when you have around 17bb and usually one limper to contend with. I looked at various scenarios where you limp and then give yourself the option of hitting a set, shoving low flops, shoving over cbets, or check folding to overcards etc. This is essentially the problem I faced in the MTT I busted out of this morning holding 99. My conclusion is that the limp play is a small losing play each time you make it and should therefore not be entertained, but it took me a long time to work this out using lots of expectation calculations. In low stakes tournaments you see a lot of medium pairs played as a 'stop and go' in these sorts of situations and I just cannot justify this move numerically. I have run out of momentum in my maths session and may have to concede that this problem remains open ended for the time being. The crux of the problem is that you have around 54% equity if you shove and get heads up against a typical range, so you know as soon as you get these hands that you are going to have to flip for your tournament life and give two high cards the chance to call and see all 5 board cards. Given the pot to stack ratio you rarely leave any player any other option but to call if you shove as you will typically offer them around 40% break-even percentage anyway. This is before you consider that if you do it from middle position then you may well be called from behind as well, dropping your equity share to around 32% and leaving the initial limper 30% break even percentage and a very inviting call. If you fold your puny middle pair you dodge a bullet for sure but one more pass through the blinds takes you down to 15.5 bb and if this happens again the pot odds you offer become even more juicy to villains with their finger poised on the all in button. It is perhaps looking more and more like you can justify the all move unless you are in a sit and go with no antes and you have more of an edge in the shove/fold war that will play out as the bubble fast approaches. In an MTT it is probably better to shove and let the chips fall where they may. This topic needs further research and I have yet to consider cases where you face a raise, but in working this out so far I have learned how to make expectation calculations properly. I have also discovered how to predict the number and range of hands villains may hold, how to calculate certain basic probabilities and I have used up most of the rough paper I had in the living room for taking telephone messages. Good times:)

Challenge donkey-memorising shove/fold charts

WRT to shove fold charts I have been using some downloadable resources from prokerstrategy.com and for the most part these are a nice level of security when you have -13bb and want to ship it with decent equity, even when you are called. You still need to look for opportunities where you have more than the usual amount of fold equity when the spread of stack sizes may cause extra tightening up.  The charts also do not take into account your 'M zone' or relationship to the pot size including antes in MTTs, but for sit and gos they are the business. I have almost completely memorised the 'open shove' and 'rebound from the button' charts, I just wrote them out with only a few minor errors which I need to correct. In fairness I had started to memorise these charts before this weekend so this was more like revision, but in keeping with the steeper learning curve I set myself this weekend I wanted to revisit the material and learn it properly. I was inspired to learn some shove/fold charts when I watched a Poker After Dark episode where James Akenhead is put all in by David Williams and you can see the cogs turning as after a few seconds James announces matter of factly 'That is a call.' Contrast this on the recent NBC heads up championship where Dennis Phillips makes an emotional, almost agonised call vs Eric Lingren, with the chip lead and a decent equity hand vs Eric's likely shove range. I would rather have the numbers at my disposal to make emotionally detached informed +EV all-in decisions than be a 'feel' player who is subject to silly tanking moments or donkey calls. Heads up all in decisions are obviously more simple that full ring considerations so the pokerstrategy.com charts cover different eventualitites of position and number of big blinds and there are 4 charts in total.

Challenge Donkement!

For this part of my weekend I got up early to play an MTT. I do not know why the weekend tournements are so weak in the morning but that is just what I have found. MTTs are technically not much of a challenge and do not really deserve to be on a poker to-do list, so I upped the ante and played a large field higher buy in to 'make it more interesting.' Play started incredibly loose with lots of min bets, donk bets and generally ugly play. There was an very fast pace to the game, as if loads of ADD kids had been let loose with a poker account. Donks and fish were calling raises from all positions and hitting lots of weirdness post flop. It was not long before the game settled into what I call the 'frantic limping' stage. This is when the blinds are so high that any decent raise leaves you pot-committed, so many players look down at A4s or K10 and limp in from any position on the table. The sharks were doing well at this stage pushing hard post flop, and there were also a few phantom chip leaders from early all-in head butts. I made an good fold of 66 in EP, noticing a desperate medium stack in the blinds and as predicted the BB shoved. As the board played out I managed a wry smile, as I would have been up against top 2, and made quad sixes lolz:) In the end I came out of the last intermission to a quick exit in 38th place of 295 because I could not manage a nit-fold with 99 preflop to a few limps. When the board came down low and the big stack potted the flop I slid in my 16BB to look down the barrell of 1010. I know this was horrible 'yellow zone' play but even if I had shoved preflop then the monster stack was calling in a heartbeat, so we can probably file this one under 'cooler.' I really need to tackle the maths side of my weekend challenges now and start working out the +EV way to deal with these sodding medium-low pairs at 15-88BB...I think my good buddy KingTubby would agree with me that these hands are a terrible curse!