Simon’s Poker Blog

Last night myself and a few mates got together to play a few hands, down a few beers (or bourbouns, or vodkas - we’ve never been too fussy when it comes to alcohol ;)) and generally just have a bit of fun.

In my opinion a low stakes home game is some of the most entertaining poker you can play. I think I’ve said this before but when I play against strangers it’s all about taking their money, when I play with friends it’s about having fun. That’s not to say the poker isn’t played to a reasonable standard, our group of players have been playing against each other on a semi-regular basis for I’d estimate over a year now and it’s starting to lead to some interesting play.

Anyhow, last night there were four of us playing SNG style no-limit hold’em “tournaments”, over about a 6 hour period we managed to finish four of these. Congrats go to Vaughano who, through a combination of good play, good cards and a bit of good luck managed to take the first place in three of the four and was not beaten heads-up all night.

How did I do? Well, poker wise it’s a night to forget really. I did manage second place in two out of the four but card wise I was pretty unlucky. I won’t complain too much but I couldn’t win a race all night, whether a coin flip, way ahead or way behind nothing went right (Did you know I was nearly a 90% favourite to win that all-in with the queens???? OK, OK - I’ll drop it :D). It wasn’t only bad luck though, I did play a few hands quite badly. I’ll blame the beer!

Good times, if you don’t play in any home games I recommend getting one organised - remember the aim is fun, leave your serious game at the casino or on-line and you’ll have a great time. Guaranteed. Certainly the most entertainment I’ve had while losing at poker!

Thanks for the game guys, I’ll catch you at the next one.

I just witnessed what has to be one of the craziest hands of limit hold’em I’ve seen. I wasn’t involved but I had to share it with you as it sure gave me a laugh.

I’m sat at a $0.50/$1 10 handed limit hold’em table, it’s loose with something like 50% of the player’s seeing a flop but generally passive and pre-flop raises are rare. I’m not getting anything playable which is annoying me because the two players directly to my right are seeing 50% and 75% of the flops respectively and calling down with almost anything, there’s money to be made here but I’m not getting the cards to do it. Although I’m multi-tabling at the time (and therefore not giving the table the attention is probably deserves), my interest is suddenly sparked when I see the betting capped four ways pre-flop!

One pre-flop raise was rare, but to see four players capping? I was intrigued. So the flop comes:

:5s::9h::2c:

Or what is better known in the business as “rubbish”. That doesn’t stop these maniacs with all four of them betting and raising to have it capped again for the turn. At this point I’m thinking surely we must have AA vs AA vs KK vs QQ or something wonderfully rare like that, these guys will surprise you though and they all see a turn:

So off they go again, betting, raising and capping. All four of them. At the river there is $32 in the pot, 32 BB! If you’re a no-limit player don’t be fooled - this is a huge pot for a limit hold’em game. They all see the river:

Surpsingly, this actually slows them down. The UTG player bets, second to act just calls this time, third position raises and fourth folds! UTG re-raises, second player folds and of course it’s capped. I’m a little disappointed because I only get to see half the players cards.

UTG shows:

:Kc::Ks:

Giving him a set of kings, but the third to act player turns over:

:8d::7c:

Giving him a straight. A straight he made on the turn! This guy had raised/called capped both pre and post flop before he made this straight. He simply does not fold. This time he got lucky, and took down a pot worth $40 - that’s 40 big bets at a limit table. With 67o. When you’re lucky, you’re lucky!

Am I the only one who wonders what the other two players might have had?

The frustrating thing is, I’m still at this table and he’s still sitting there two seats to my right. His stack is shrinking but it’s not heading my way, I’m card dead. Come on poker gods, give me a break ;)

EDIT: Just caught a club flush against him (and four others) - they all happily called me down to the river. What did he have? 83o for a pair of threes - the three came on the river. Patience is a virtue in this game, wait long enough and order will be restored on even the craziest of tables.

Well June ‘06 was a mixed month for me. On one hand in the cash games it’s been my best month so far up over 280 big blinds over around 5800 hands:

But tournaments both large and small were a different story with an ROI of -46% (this is on-line only so doesn’t include my first place at the monthly home game, which would improve this number a bit).

So then, my goals for July:

1. Keep the solid cash game going at my new limit.
2. Keep playing the low-level NL hold’em tournaments, aim for a positive return for the month.
3. Read “Harrington on Hold’em” volumes 1 and 2 (on order from Amazon, due to arrive middle of the month - darn international shipping).

It’s time for me to move up the limits! Don’t get too excited though, I won’t be playing high stakes poker just yet. I will, however, be moving up from my current $0.25/$0.50 limit to a whopping $0.50/$1.00. Look out!

Now you could argue that $0.50/$1.00 is nothing to get too excited over and I’d tend to agree with you except for one thing, I’ve worked my way up to this level from a lowly $30 deposit over at Poker Champs nearly a year ago where I played $0.02/$0.04 no-limit.

Thing is it’s never really been about the money, true I’d love to make some decent cash playing this game one day but unlike some I have never had illusions that I could just deposit a few hundred on-line and start turning a profit in the middle/high stakes games. Much better in my opinion to start low and work up, sure I’m probably not facing the best opponents in the world but I am still constantly learning I have no doubt that the 60,000 hands of hold’em I have played at these micro-limits have had nothing but a positive impact on my overall game.

So if it’s not about the money (yet) why am I moving up? Well, I’ve thought about this and here are my reasons:

1. Even though I’m not withdrawing any cash from the game I am building up a bankroll and I’m now bankrolled sufficiently to play the higher limit.
2. I feel like I’m getting a little complacent at the $0.25/$0.50 limit, almost like I’m in a rut. At a higher level (even low stakes) I immediately notice that I’m more attentive. It’s nice to mix things up.
3. Even if it’s just a little bit, moving up is a sign my game is getting better. Improving my game is my current aim.
4. I want to move from the “Micro” to the “Low” tab over at Poker Stars ;)

So here I go then, up the ladder. Wish me luck!

Played in three Sit and Go’s over at Party Poker tonight, after going out in fourth in the first one (losing most of my chips after I folded to a bluff made by the big stack at the table, still kicking myself about that one) I wasn’t in the best of moods.

Then to make matters worse, in the third hand of my next tournament I’m dealt:

:Ac::As:

I raise 3 X BB and get one caller, the flop is:

:6c::Qs::8d:

I bet the pot and get re-raised all-in. I call and he shows:

:8s::8h:

For set of 8’s. I don’t improve and am out… 10th place. Question is should I really fold aces here? I’m playing in low level Party Poker SNG’s, opponents would (and do) make this same move with AQ, KQ … heck half the time their hand wouldn’t even need to be that good! Maybe I’m just making excuses but I think that calling this bet in these games will win more often than it loses.

Ok, so that was fine… I mean, not great but it happens right? Ok, so back on the horse I up the stakes from a $5+$1 to a $10+$1 game.

Things didn’t start so good, I lost a big pot when my AK missed the flop and my continuation bet was raised. So, I tighten up a bit and eventually I’m dealt:

:As::Ah:

*gulp*

I raise it up 3 X BB again and again I get one caller, the flop is:

:Tc::Ts::5h:

My opponent checks to me, I bet the pot and he calls. The turn is a king and he checks again, I go all-in (for my last few remaining chips) and he instantly calls showing:

:Ks::Th:

For a full house, I’m out in 9th. Sure, I fell for a trap here but am I really going to check the flop heads up just because it’s paired? Perhaps I should have analysed his call on the flop a little further, but honestly I don’t see myself getting away from this one. If I check the turn and he goes all-in on the river what then? I have to think if I second guess myself too often I’ll lose more times than I win.

So, something for me to analyse in a couple of days time once the adrenalin dies down. The question is, was I just unlucky a couple of times in a row or should I have laid these hands down? In hindsight obviously I should have played them differently, but to actually do that in the heat of battle… well I’ve still got a bit to learn before that happens.

EDIT: At the end of the day I went out of these tournaments with nothing more than a pair. Sure, it’s a nice pair but just a pair nonetheless. Heads up a pair of aces is going to win most of the time, but you’ve got to ask yourself in these kinds of situations is this move worth my tournament if I don’t have the best hand? Honestly, if I asked myself that and I wasn’t already tilting a little bit from the previous beats I probably would have been able to answer “no” and fold (in the first case) or slow down (in the second). This was just a case of two good hands at the wrong time, luckily it’s not going to happen too often and hopefully the next time it does I’ll be in the right frame of mind to make the correct play.

Low stakes limit hold’em game on Party Poker. Loose, generally fishy table. In the big blind I am dealt:

:Kh::Qc:

Two players limp, the small blind raises and I call. The first limper calls the second re-raises, small blind re-re-raises and I have a think.

Betting is capped, I’m up against four loose players who even with all this action could have just about anything. I have to put at least one of them on a big pocket pair which could leave me drawing close to dead but given that these players seem pretty comitted to their hands I decide it’s worth at least seeing a flop where I can re-evaluate the hand and throw it away if I don’t hit two-pair or better. So I call, as does everyone else and we see the flop:

:Jc::Kd::Kc:

Just the kind of flop I was hoping for, but I still have to be wary of the preflop action and look out for JJ, AK or even KJ. Still I like my chances and I can’t be too scared of the bigger hands and even if they are out there I do have outs against all of them. So, the UTG player bets and I raise. The player to my right re-raises, the button caps and I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. I’m gettng 14.5:1 to call and if I don’t already have the best hand I figure I’m drawing to 4 outs to win (3 queens and 1 king) as well as a jack to tie if no one has JJ. So if I’m behind I’m almost getting odds to call and certainly my implied odds are good enough, add to this the chance that I’m already winning and I have to call. So I do. As does everyone else and we go to the turn:

I blink a couple of times and once again am thankful that I’m playing on-line (I can only imagine I was grinning like a mad man). Great card for me, but surely now these guys are going to slow down… right?

Well, UTG bets, I raise, player to my right re-raises and the button caps. Ok… I can play this game. I call. The river is a ten and we dance the same dance again, four players capping the betting. Once all the money is in I turn over my quad kings and take a look at what everyone else had.

UTG:

:Ad::Ah: - no real business being there after the flop.

Player on my right:

:Jd::8d: - optimistic, probably hoping for a tie. Why re-raise?

The button:

:Js::Jh: - unlucky, but should have slowed down on the third king.

This hand now takes the record for largest pot (in terms of big bets) that I’ve won at limit hold’em table - 46 big bets! Sometimes I really love this game :P

I’ve been so sidetracked with limit hold’em ring games lately that I’ve been neglecting my sit and go’s (SNGs) which is a shame because single table no-limit hold’em SNGs are my favourite kind of poker. I enjoy them because they give you a chance to play with and study ten opponents from the start of a tournament until the end, they really give you the opportunity to play the players much more than you get to in a ring game.

The other thing I love about them is that each one is different and you need to be able to adjust your game accordingly, there’s no getting up and finding another table or seat. You’re stuck there until the end and it’s adapt or bust… fantastic!

Since it had been over a month since my last one I decided to jump into one this evening over at Party Poker. I expected that since I hadn’t played one in a while I would be a bit rusty, this combined with the fact that this was my first time playing in a tournament on Party made me want to start out small so I signed up for a $6 game and waited for my opponents to arrive.

Arrive they did and we got started, first hand of the game went to the player to my directly to my left who took around 500 chips off the player directly to my right who was chasing a gut shot draw (against a big raise) vs a set of tens. I knew I was in for some fireworks!

Second hand in and I’m dealt in late position (one off the button):

:As::Qs:

Blinds are at the starting 20/40 and the under the gun player min raises to 80 and two players before me call. I don’t like these callers and raise it up to 200 in an attempt to isolate. The player on the button calls as does the small blind and one other player, we’re four handed to the flop:

:2d::7c::Tc:

Raggedy flop, no help to me at all but the action is checked to me and I decide to try a continuation bet. Half the pot feels right here so I make it 500, the player on the button smooth calls and the other two players fold. We see the turn:

The pot is 2080, I’m out of position against a player I have only seen play one hand in my life where he chased an unlikely gut shot against the odds. I have no idea what he would have smooth called with on the flop, but I like my chances that I’m now winning with my TPTK. I have 1300 in chips and he has 820, given the size of the pot I decide to put him all-in. He calls and shows:

:Kd::Ts:

Nice! Until, the river:

Giving him two pair and leaving me as the new table short stack with 480 in chips. Ouch, not the position I wanted to be in at this early stage. However, instead of tilting and blowing of the last of my chips on some crappy holding I decide to grin, bear it and do everything I can to make a comeback. So I start folding… and folding… players start dropping out but due to the blinds my stack has shrunk down to 390 and the blinds have already jumped up to 50/100. Things were looking grim when under the gun I was dealt:

:Ac::As:

But how to play them? An all-in bet probably would have sufficed here as my stack wasn’t really going to intimidate anyone but that would have been the obvious short stack move. I decide to min raise with the idea that I’ll either call a re-raise or push all-in on the flop. So, I raise. My old friend on the left (let’s call him lefty) calls, the short stack on the button re-raises all-in for another 64 the blinds fold and I call as does lefty. We see a flop:

:9s::3h::5c:

I move all-in for another 127 and lefty calls. We turn them over:

Lefty:

:Kh::Th:

Button:

:Ad::6d:

The turn is the last ace and my opponents are drawing dead. I (almost) triple up to 1200 in chips but am still the short stack but at least now I have something to play with and it seems I’ve gained a little respect as the next hand I steal the blinds with a 3X raise holding JJ. I go back into fold mode and just as the blinds go up to 100/200 in the big blind I’m dealt:

:Ah::Qs:

Four players call around to me (including my good mate lefty) and with a stack of only 900 left in front of me I’m left with a decision. With four players AQo is vulnerable, I have to raise which pretty much commits me for the rest of the pot but I decide not to push all-in just yet. I make it 600 to go which lefty calls (I should mention he’s the chip leader right now - somehow!) as does one other player. My raise sucessfully knocked out one of the limpers and I’ve still got 500 up my sleeve to make a play on the flop:

:Ks::5s::9s:

The pot is 2000, I have 500 and the second nut flush draw. I’m 90% sure lefty will call me with anything and I run the risk of either of my opponents holding at least a king but I’m pot committed, I have to push and hope no one has the ace of spades. Sure enough, lefty calls, the other player folds and lefty shows:

:9h::4h:

For a pair of nines (a typical lefty holding ;)) which is excellent news me as it gives me 5 more outs (any non spade ace or a queen - the ace of spades was already an out) We see a turn:

The river is a jack and I take down a pot worth almost 3000 to move from short stack to second position. I then hit some nice cards and lefty doubled me up again my KK vs his 99 and I was the chip leader into the final four.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the details, this post is already way too long but to cut a long story short I came second (and more importantly I beat lefty - he went out in third). I would have loved first but lefty near doubled up my heads up opponent leaving me out stacked around 10 to 1 (I’d lost a few chips by this point due to the large blinds - 600/1200).

At the end of the day though it was a great feeling to come back from down and out with ten players remaining to take second. Just shows that the old saying “All you need is a chip and chair” is true - if you’re calm and patient enough.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far I’m impressed!

As a side note, if you don’t already have an account over at Party Poker use the code “SIMONPOKER” when you sign-up to let them know I sent you and get an extra $25 on your first deposit. If you use this code I get a bit of cash too which helps me keep this site on-line (might also help buy me a beer which is always appreciated!).

Multi-table tournaments are, without a doubt, the game I suck the most at. I play cash games I win. I play single table sit and go’s and I win. I play a MTT and I end up donking off all my chips in some stupid situation, usually after I’ve gotten myself into what should be a good position.

Granted, the fact I suck at MTT’s is probably due to the fact that I don’t play enough and I don’t study them enough, it might also be due to the fact that I play very high variance, low buy-in games. I have to consider though, that if I can’t beat the fishy games, I’ll never beat the real ones. Anyway, I’m rambling - let’s consider tonight’s effort:

It’s about 10 minutes after the break in a $1+$0.10 tournament on Poker Stars, I have just over 5700 in chips and the blinds are 100/200 I’m in middle position and the action has been folded around to me. I look down at:

:Ks::Qs:

Which is an attractive holding so I raise it up to 600, the player to my immediate left (who I have a read on and would describe as a loose calling station - having called large raises earlier with next to nothing) calls leaving himself with a stack of about 3100. Everyone else folds and we’re heads up to the flop:

:6s::Th::Js:

Which is an excellent flop for me, I have an open-ended straight draw, a spade flush draw and two over-cards which may or may not be live. This a good flop regardless of what my opponent has and I have to bet, the pot is 1500 and I bet 1000 which my opponent considers, then smooth calls.

A call like this is strange, but we have to remember we are dealing with a loose player - a gambler. His call though makes me rule out holdings like JJ or TT and I’m 95% sure he doesn’t have Jx as he would surely re-raise such a large bet. There is no doubt in my mind he’s drawing, but to what? He may have spades, but I can’t be scared of the ace of spades here so what about the straight? What cards would he have called my preflop raise with? AK and AQ come to mind, but surely he’s not drawing to the gut shot? Oh yeah, this guy is loose, very loose. He’s not thinking about odds. So we see the turn:

A very interesting card, if my read is correct he doesn’t have a jack and since I bet on the flop I can bluff that I’ve got one. Even if he calls I still have all those outs to beat him. The pot is 3500 and I have 4100 left and he has 2180, only one thing for it. All in!

Which he calls! I’m devastated, he must have had a jack right? So much for my reads… well, we see the river:

I’m stuck with a pair of jacks, king kicker and he turns over:

:Ac::Qd:

He was on a gut shot straight draw the whole way, he was calling whether I had a jack or not. Heck, he would have called if I had two! He takes down the pot, leaving me with under 2K and out a few orbits later when my pocket threes didn’t hold up heads up against KQ.

So did I play this hand badly? Well if bad is losing most of your chips to a player with ace high then yes. But if you consider that I read his hand nearly perfectly after his flop call and put him all-in on the turn when he only had ace high then I played correctly.

However, if you consider that he was going to call any bet no matter what the cards and that technically he was beating me on the turn (about 70/30 actually) as was any ace, jack, ten or six then you’d have to say I played it badly.

At the end of the day my chips were in when I was behind and whenever this happens I’m disappointed. This was a MTT tournament though and you don’t win these things playing passively, problem I have is working out where to draw the line between aggressive play and stupidity. I guess I’ve just got to keep practicing!

I’m not sure if I’ve written about this before but myself along with a few friends have started up a small poker league where we get together at least once a month to play a low stakes game (usually a sit and go style no-limit hold’em tournament) and keep track of the results.

I’ve generally had reasonable success at home games and although I don’t track my results as closely as I do on-line (I see them as more a way to have some fun rather than a way to win money) I believe I’m “up” overall. However, all of this was irrelevant at yesterdays game where I screwed up royally!

It’s the second round, blinds are 20/40 and I’m in early position. I haven’t really played any hands up until now and I still have most of my starting 1500 in chips. There are seven players in the game and it has been folded around to me, I look down at:

:9s::4s:

An instant fold right? Well, I’m not so sure. See at this point I’d been doing a lot of folding, I’d probably only seen one or two flops the whole game. Also, there hadn’t been a lot of raising at the table so far so I liked my chances of seeing a cheap flop. If I hit no one at the table would expect me to hold cards like this, if I didn’t these are easy cards to get away from. It’s not something I would do often, nor would I necessarily recommend it but the time felt right to play so I limped and with three other players (including the blinds) I saw a cheap flop:

:9c::2s::4c:

Giving me top two pair and a back door flush draw. Just about the nicest flop I could have hoped for apart from the two clubs. Now here’s where I make my first major mistake (ignoring preflop which I’ll analyse a little more later), in a pot of $160 I only bet $50. My defence here is that I was hoping to be raised, but in hindsight the table was quite passive at that point so I really should have expected callers not to mention my bet of $50 gives anyone on a club draw nice odds to call with even if they don’t realise it. Anyway, two players call and we see the turn:

Which (ignoring the fact that any over card is potentially dangerous) looks like a nice card for me as I now have four to a spade flush. After the callers on the flop I decide I need to bet bigger this time around and make it $200 to go. One player folds, the other smooth calls which is extremely suspicious as $200 would be considered a large bet into almost any size pot given how the game has played so far.

The river is a rag and I bet out again, this time $400 which my opponent considers and then calls turning over:

:Tc::9h: (suits may vary)

For a higher two pair. This leaves me as the short stack at the table and although I definitely should have done a better job at surviving I was out soon after in 7th place (out of 7). Not my best day at the poker table and all because of one hand - 94s! What was I thinking? I never play 94 even if it is suited! Let’s consider where I went wrong…

Preflop:

• It’s good to be creative and occasionally play cards that your opponents wouldn’t expect, however, 94s in early position is maybe taking that a little bit to the extreme.
• Why call preflop? I should definitely have raised here, if I’m going to to try and be a little deceptive then I should represent a big hand. A standard 3 X BB raise here would likely have caused T9o to fold.
• There was no real need to try this move here at all, the blinds are low and I have plenty of chips. I should wait for a better opportunity to win some chips.

Flop:

• Preflop mistakes don’t matter now, I hit top two pair but there is a flush draw and I am also vulnerable to pretty much any other 9. In this situation you have to bet big, $50 is not enough. Make it at least the pot, maybe a little more. $200 has a nice ring to it. 

Turn and River:

• I think I played these streets correctly, out of position I was giving chips away here regardless. With no raise on my turn bet I had no reason to consider T9 and when no flush came on the river I was fairly confident I had the best hand, however, due to my mistakes on other streets (preflop especially) my opponent could have had absolutely anything.

So there you go, sometimes when the cards aren’t running well for you and you feel you’ve got a tight table image you’ll be tempted to play “any two cards”. This is good. Just make sure when you do that you learn from my mistakes and pick your moments based on table position, table feel and your opponents and please, when you hit that flop hard always make your opponents pay to outdraw you. You’ll have a much better idea of where you’re at and just maybe you’ll avoid donking off a lot of your chips like I did.

Of course, you’ll do much better if you just have a little more patience than I did and wait for that big hand to come along… no need to force these things, especially early in the tournament.

I’m a few days late on this one, but in case you happen to see it here first “RBCalc.exe” a rake back calculator distributed by checkraised.com has been identified as containing trojan horse software designed to steal log ins for online poker sites.

I guess it was only a matter of time… scary stuff!

If you think you might be infected, check out the article over at Card Squad for details on how to remove the malicious software.