This clip of Phil Hellmuth and Tom "Durrr" Dwan isn't exactly new, but man... I cannot lie: I love watching Hellmuth blow up.
Phil is right to a certain extent. Dwan shouldn't have put that much money into the pot that early on in the match. Folding pre-flop would have been hard to do but not neccesarily impossible. A smooth call would have been my preferred play there, and then let Hellmuth dictate the play post-flop. Who knows, he might lead out with a post oak bluff, making it cheap enough to see a turn. Or, maybe he even checks the flop feigning weakness, in which case you'd gladly take a free card. I don't know, it's all hearsay, really. I'm not even going to pretend to be the king of "the right play" (which is why I'm probably as up and down as I am).
Dwan trading verbal spars with Hellmuth is funny, too. "That's why you lose money online." Maaaaan... how do you have the balls to say that to a poker legend? I love it!
I wonder if they ever played those heads-up matches...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tourney Monster
So, encouraged by my success in Atlantic City, I took the plunge and quit my job at Lowe's and am now a full-fledged sit-n-go/tournament poker player.
Glad that got your attention. Welcome back.
My statement is only half true. As optimistic as I am, I'm also not an idiot and don't plan on making poker a full-time endeavor anytime soon. However, I am off the cash game circuit... for now.
I feel like I'm a much better tournament/sit-n-go player than I am a cash game player. Granted, I do play tournaments--especially in the middle and end portions---with a cash game mentality, but I like tourneys a lot more. I feel like it caters to my style of play a little more.
Since I made the switch, I've had pretty good results, cashing at a rate of around 45%. The tournaments I do get bounced from I'd say more often than not I fell victim to the Pokerstars "Let's advance the tourney by bad-beating the short stacks" policy.
Honestly, I can't take all the credit. I think one of the biggest reasons for my jump in quality play (aside from having good cards to play with, lol) is Gus Hansen's new book Every Hand Revealed. People say he makes some absolutely ridiculous plays at the table, but, um, last I checked his resume is quite impressive. Regardless, he finally opens up on the logic behind his mind-games. Even if you're rock solid and have no use for wanting to be like Gus (Supaluva187 I'm talking to you) it's still keen insight on how to defend a maniacal behavior as well.
Gotta go. Blogging has contributed to me losing about a third of my stack EARLY in a deep stack tourney. Peace.
As for that tourney... funny I mentioned the Pokerstars policy, because my aces got cracked by pocket eights... no money.
Glad that got your attention. Welcome back.
My statement is only half true. As optimistic as I am, I'm also not an idiot and don't plan on making poker a full-time endeavor anytime soon. However, I am off the cash game circuit... for now.
I feel like I'm a much better tournament/sit-n-go player than I am a cash game player. Granted, I do play tournaments--especially in the middle and end portions---with a cash game mentality, but I like tourneys a lot more. I feel like it caters to my style of play a little more.
Since I made the switch, I've had pretty good results, cashing at a rate of around 45%. The tournaments I do get bounced from I'd say more often than not I fell victim to the Pokerstars "Let's advance the tourney by bad-beating the short stacks" policy.
Honestly, I can't take all the credit. I think one of the biggest reasons for my jump in quality play (aside from having good cards to play with, lol) is Gus Hansen's new book Every Hand Revealed. People say he makes some absolutely ridiculous plays at the table, but, um, last I checked his resume is quite impressive. Regardless, he finally opens up on the logic behind his mind-games. Even if you're rock solid and have no use for wanting to be like Gus (Supaluva187 I'm talking to you) it's still keen insight on how to defend a maniacal behavior as well.
Gotta go. Blogging has contributed to me losing about a third of my stack EARLY in a deep stack tourney. Peace.
As for that tourney... funny I mentioned the Pokerstars policy, because my aces got cracked by pocket eights... no money.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Win in AC
Yesterday and Wednesday were the first time I had back-to-back day offs in almost three weeks, so I decided (with the permission of my girlfriend, of course) that I wanted to go to AC to play in a WSOP satellite. The plan was foolproof... except for the fact that I couldn't find one to play in.
Still, upon reading Bluff magazine I saw the tournament circuit schedule for Atlantic City. I decided I didn't want to do an early one (couldn't get up in time), and I didn't want to do a late one (work tomorrow/today). The 3 pm Caesar's $100-$20 fit my plans perfectly, so I figured I'd go play in that one.
My road-dog Kory and I got on the road at about 11:35, arrived at 2:30, giving me just enough to sign-up for one of those Total Rewards cards, register for the tourney and drain the lizard. At 2:58 I sat down at the table... only to be informed that the field was only going to be 20 players deep. Bummer. I came all the way down to AC for this shit?
Then I thought to myself, "You know what? You're here. This is the first time you've played live poker in almost two and a half months, just use this as a tool to work on your game."
I got off to a real sluggish start, barely amassing any chips by level four when the blinds were 400-800. Then all of the sudden things started to click.
Around that 400-800 level, three people limped into the pot. I looked down at J-10 off in the small blind and complete the blind, and the big blind checks. Flop comes something like Q-8-7. I check. Big blind checks. Seat three, who eventually made it to heads-up, bets like $1200. One call. Two call. THREE calls. I'm getting okay odds to call, $1200 to win $6800, and although I definitely put first position on a decent queen and everyone else on some kind of draw/middle-pairish hand, I figured I'm really trying to as many as nine outs: obviously the nine for the straight, but more importantly the jack or the ten as a scare card to bet the queen out.
Sure enough, the jack pops up. I make a "oh shit, I have it so I'm going to bet a really small amount as to not make it obvious" type of bet that most novices make when they hit a huge hand. Big blind folds. First position, I lie to you not, says, "I can't believe you hit that", and folds. Two more folds and I think I'm on my way to taking this pot, except this one dude calls. Great, now I have to shut it down.
Except from observing him I'd received some quality information. Throughout the tourney, he had been calling and chasing and calling and chasing, once calling big bets against another opponent all the way down to the river with ace-high. He loved to see a river.
The river was a blank, and I just knew my jack was good. I wanted to get value out of it, so I bet $3500. He calls, mucking an eight.
That got me moving. I didn't really get any huge hands but I started small-balling to death, getting opponents to fold to any sort of continuation betting.
However, I did almost make a costly mistake. Sitting with about $65,000 in chips at the $1000-$2000 level, an old man in first position went all-in. He had like $17,500. I looked down at pocket fours, and I really thought he was trying to buy it. Horrible call in retrospect. Even if he is trying to buy-it, I'm almost certainly looking at a coin flip situation, and having worked so hard to get that stack, to risk a third of it on a coin flip is Fisher Price: My First Hold 'Em Tournament material. So, of course I lose when he turns over jacks and the poker gods don't want any part of helping such a donkey.
I was halfway out the door with less than $20,000 when I looked down at J-8 of diamonds in the big blind. Long story short, I flopped middle pair with a diamond draw, dude who I barely had covered pushed, I called, showing an open-ended straight draw, no straight for him and I win.
Then I small-balled my way from $40,000 to almost $80,000, sat for awhile I watched myself make the money (three get paid), got to heads-up when my A-Q out-kicked this Asian dude's A-4, and got down to heads-up.
The guy I played heads-up against was probably the player I was closest to at the table. We started out sitting next to each other, and I watched him do his best Jamie Gold impression, dominating the table from the start. I exploited him for that throughout the final table, letting him be the aggressor and just straight up out-playing him post-flop, calling with positive results on marginal hands, trapping him with the big ones. The last hand was no different, as I had about a 3-1 chip advantage. I had the button and looked down at A-Q off, and I just limped. With the blinds at 2000-4000, he raises, like I knew he would. I immediately re-pop him all-in, and, probably tired from the five-hour long journey, he calls with K-5. Ace-high wins, and, yay, I'm just shy of a grand richer.
That last hand was a testament to my style of play. While pretty much everyone else fizzled down the stretch, I just grinded it out, fought my way out of trouble and came out victorious.
That being said, man, I can't believe I drove all the way up there for that shit.
Pictures on myspace coming soon.
Still, upon reading Bluff magazine I saw the tournament circuit schedule for Atlantic City. I decided I didn't want to do an early one (couldn't get up in time), and I didn't want to do a late one (work tomorrow/today). The 3 pm Caesar's $100-$20 fit my plans perfectly, so I figured I'd go play in that one.
My road-dog Kory and I got on the road at about 11:35, arrived at 2:30, giving me just enough to sign-up for one of those Total Rewards cards, register for the tourney and drain the lizard. At 2:58 I sat down at the table... only to be informed that the field was only going to be 20 players deep. Bummer. I came all the way down to AC for this shit?
Then I thought to myself, "You know what? You're here. This is the first time you've played live poker in almost two and a half months, just use this as a tool to work on your game."
I got off to a real sluggish start, barely amassing any chips by level four when the blinds were 400-800. Then all of the sudden things started to click.
Around that 400-800 level, three people limped into the pot. I looked down at J-10 off in the small blind and complete the blind, and the big blind checks. Flop comes something like Q-8-7. I check. Big blind checks. Seat three, who eventually made it to heads-up, bets like $1200. One call. Two call. THREE calls. I'm getting okay odds to call, $1200 to win $6800, and although I definitely put first position on a decent queen and everyone else on some kind of draw/middle-pairish hand, I figured I'm really trying to as many as nine outs: obviously the nine for the straight, but more importantly the jack or the ten as a scare card to bet the queen out.
Sure enough, the jack pops up. I make a "oh shit, I have it so I'm going to bet a really small amount as to not make it obvious" type of bet that most novices make when they hit a huge hand. Big blind folds. First position, I lie to you not, says, "I can't believe you hit that", and folds. Two more folds and I think I'm on my way to taking this pot, except this one dude calls. Great, now I have to shut it down.
Except from observing him I'd received some quality information. Throughout the tourney, he had been calling and chasing and calling and chasing, once calling big bets against another opponent all the way down to the river with ace-high. He loved to see a river.
The river was a blank, and I just knew my jack was good. I wanted to get value out of it, so I bet $3500. He calls, mucking an eight.
That got me moving. I didn't really get any huge hands but I started small-balling to death, getting opponents to fold to any sort of continuation betting.
However, I did almost make a costly mistake. Sitting with about $65,000 in chips at the $1000-$2000 level, an old man in first position went all-in. He had like $17,500. I looked down at pocket fours, and I really thought he was trying to buy it. Horrible call in retrospect. Even if he is trying to buy-it, I'm almost certainly looking at a coin flip situation, and having worked so hard to get that stack, to risk a third of it on a coin flip is Fisher Price: My First Hold 'Em Tournament material. So, of course I lose when he turns over jacks and the poker gods don't want any part of helping such a donkey.
I was halfway out the door with less than $20,000 when I looked down at J-8 of diamonds in the big blind. Long story short, I flopped middle pair with a diamond draw, dude who I barely had covered pushed, I called, showing an open-ended straight draw, no straight for him and I win.
Then I small-balled my way from $40,000 to almost $80,000, sat for awhile I watched myself make the money (three get paid), got to heads-up when my A-Q out-kicked this Asian dude's A-4, and got down to heads-up.
The guy I played heads-up against was probably the player I was closest to at the table. We started out sitting next to each other, and I watched him do his best Jamie Gold impression, dominating the table from the start. I exploited him for that throughout the final table, letting him be the aggressor and just straight up out-playing him post-flop, calling with positive results on marginal hands, trapping him with the big ones. The last hand was no different, as I had about a 3-1 chip advantage. I had the button and looked down at A-Q off, and I just limped. With the blinds at 2000-4000, he raises, like I knew he would. I immediately re-pop him all-in, and, probably tired from the five-hour long journey, he calls with K-5. Ace-high wins, and, yay, I'm just shy of a grand richer.
That last hand was a testament to my style of play. While pretty much everyone else fizzled down the stretch, I just grinded it out, fought my way out of trouble and came out victorious.
That being said, man, I can't believe I drove all the way up there for that shit.
Pictures on myspace coming soon.
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