Friday, September 30, 2005
Pauly on TV
If you haven't read Pauly's blog http://taopoker.blogspot.com/ then you are missing some of the best and most complete poker reporting on the net. Pauly was a machine during the World Series of Poker. So it's no surprise that he turns up in some of the coverage. Don't believe me? Here are some screen grabs of Pauly in action during the $2500 PLH event where Johnnie Chan won his tenth bracelet.
Clapping for Jerri Thomas as she is eliminated. Time:22:53
Looking over Richard Osborne's shoulder as he is all in against Phil Laak. Time:37:47
Stealing a glance at the camera. Time:38:04
Clapping for Jerri Thomas as she is eliminated. Time:22:53
Looking over Richard Osborne's shoulder as he is all in against Phil Laak. Time:37:47
Stealing a glance at the camera. Time:38:04
Monday, September 26, 2005
Gutshot draw and implied odds
Here is a hand I played on Party poker Saturday morning:
Party Poker 30/60 Hold'em (8 handed) internettexasholdem.com
Preflop: Hero is Button with Qc, Js.
4 folds, LatePos/ raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BigBlind/ calls, LatePos/ caps, Hero calls, BigBlind/ calls.
Flop: (12.50 SB) Ts, Ah, 6d (3 players)
BigBlind checks, LatePos bets, Hero calls, BigBlind calls.
Turn: (7.75 BB) 5s (3 players)
BigBlind checks, LatePos bets, Hero calls, BigBlind folds.
River: (9.75 BB) Kc (2 players)
LatePos bets, Hero raises, LatePos 3-bets, Hero caps, LatePos calls.
Final Pot: 17.75 BB
Results in white below:
LatePos has Ad Kd (two pair, aces and kings).
Hero has Qc Js (straight, ace high).
The next hand the LatePos player blurts out:
LatePos: garbage fckn player
Hero: :-)
He just couldn't seem to believe that this wasn't the stupidest play he'd ever seen. Well, was it? Here's my thinking as I played the hand. This pretty much sums up what I was thinking except I rounded off some of the numbers in my head.
Preflop action: It's folded to the LatePos player who raises. Now granted this guy is a tight player with a VPIP% of 18.8% and a PFR% of 8% but he opened from one off the button. Even with those tight statistics he could be opening with a lot of hands that I don't mind going up against. Any ace, a suited king, TJ, QT, small pairs all of these would be reasonable holdings for him at this point. I've a got a good enough hand to play, I may as well raise to define his hand a little bit better. It works, he reraises. This narrows his hand down quite a bit, I'd put him on AJ, KQ or better non-pair or a pocket pair TT or above. I do not like to go up against these hands with QJ but with 10 bets already in the pot I've got to call for one more.
The flop: I've flopped a gutshot straight draw with a pretty non threatening board. I'm almost surely up against a pair bigger than mine so my only real draw is to the straight. I'm getting 13.5 to 1 to call. That's good enough to call with four outs (10.75 to 1) On one hand I have the BB still left to act behind me and he could check raise which would be bad but he could call which would improve the price that the pot is laying me. That is probably a wash. So I call.
The turn: I'm going to ignore the backdoor flush possibility. You can't run scared every time a potential draw hits the board. Due to the doubling of the bet size on tea turn I now have only 8.75 to 1 pot odds. That's not good enough to call on it's own. But with a close decision such as this one you should consider all of the options before just throwing away your hand. Implied odds take into account any extra money you are likely to make if you make your hand. If I hit an inside straight, he is not likely to see it coming so I will most likely to be able to raise and get two bets out of him. Those two extra bets bring the odds up to 10.75 to 1. I am just barely getting the odds to call. So I do. I'm not saying that this is a definite call. It is marginal call. Call or fold, it probably doesn't make any difference in your bottom line. So why not call. If I hit my straight this guy just might go off on tilt.
The river comes the perfect King. As if to make a point about implied odds he doesn't just go for two bets, but we cap it. Beautiful.
So there you have it. A marginal play that paid off three times. It paid when I hit the lucky card and won a huge pot. It paid when this guy turned around and badmouthed me for several minutes in front of the whole table. You just can't buy that kind of advertising. And it paid because now my name has a permanent "horrible player" sticky note next to it in this one guy's notebook.
You gotta have a little bit of gamble in you, otherwise you are surely playing the wrong game.
Party Poker 30/60 Hold'em (8 handed) internettexasholdem.com
Preflop: Hero is Button with Qc, Js.
4 folds, LatePos/ raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BigBlind/ calls, LatePos/ caps, Hero calls, BigBlind/ calls.
Flop: (12.50 SB) Ts, Ah, 6d (3 players)
BigBlind checks, LatePos bets, Hero calls, BigBlind calls.
Turn: (7.75 BB) 5s (3 players)
BigBlind checks, LatePos bets, Hero calls, BigBlind folds.
River: (9.75 BB) Kc (2 players)
LatePos bets, Hero raises, LatePos 3-bets, Hero caps, LatePos calls.
Final Pot: 17.75 BB
Results in white below:
LatePos has Ad Kd (two pair, aces and kings).
Hero has Qc Js (straight, ace high).
The next hand the LatePos player blurts out:
LatePos: garbage fckn player
Hero: :-)
He just couldn't seem to believe that this wasn't the stupidest play he'd ever seen. Well, was it? Here's my thinking as I played the hand. This pretty much sums up what I was thinking except I rounded off some of the numbers in my head.
Preflop action: It's folded to the LatePos player who raises. Now granted this guy is a tight player with a VPIP% of 18.8% and a PFR% of 8% but he opened from one off the button. Even with those tight statistics he could be opening with a lot of hands that I don't mind going up against. Any ace, a suited king, TJ, QT, small pairs all of these would be reasonable holdings for him at this point. I've a got a good enough hand to play, I may as well raise to define his hand a little bit better. It works, he reraises. This narrows his hand down quite a bit, I'd put him on AJ, KQ or better non-pair or a pocket pair TT or above. I do not like to go up against these hands with QJ but with 10 bets already in the pot I've got to call for one more.
The flop: I've flopped a gutshot straight draw with a pretty non threatening board. I'm almost surely up against a pair bigger than mine so my only real draw is to the straight. I'm getting 13.5 to 1 to call. That's good enough to call with four outs (10.75 to 1) On one hand I have the BB still left to act behind me and he could check raise which would be bad but he could call which would improve the price that the pot is laying me. That is probably a wash. So I call.
The turn: I'm going to ignore the backdoor flush possibility. You can't run scared every time a potential draw hits the board. Due to the doubling of the bet size on tea turn I now have only 8.75 to 1 pot odds. That's not good enough to call on it's own. But with a close decision such as this one you should consider all of the options before just throwing away your hand. Implied odds take into account any extra money you are likely to make if you make your hand. If I hit an inside straight, he is not likely to see it coming so I will most likely to be able to raise and get two bets out of him. Those two extra bets bring the odds up to 10.75 to 1. I am just barely getting the odds to call. So I do. I'm not saying that this is a definite call. It is marginal call. Call or fold, it probably doesn't make any difference in your bottom line. So why not call. If I hit my straight this guy just might go off on tilt.
The river comes the perfect King. As if to make a point about implied odds he doesn't just go for two bets, but we cap it. Beautiful.
So there you have it. A marginal play that paid off three times. It paid when I hit the lucky card and won a huge pot. It paid when this guy turned around and badmouthed me for several minutes in front of the whole table. You just can't buy that kind of advertising. And it paid because now my name has a permanent "horrible player" sticky note next to it in this one guy's notebook.
You gotta have a little bit of gamble in you, otherwise you are surely playing the wrong game.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Play Poker at Party
Party Poker is an awesome place to play poker. They have so many games that you can find a juicy one just about any hour of the day. And you usually don't have to wait for more than 10-30 minutes for the next big tournament to start.
You can download Party software here and get started playing free games right away.
When you are comfortable with the interface, you can sign up a real money account. But don't sign up without a bonus code. It's like throwing away free money. Here are a couple of Party bonus codes:
DougieNutz will get you 20% extra on your first deposit up to $100.
DougieNutz25 will get you $25 extra on your first deposit.
You'll have to play a certain number of hands to clear the bonus. Just remember, tight aggressive play and don't get in over your bankroll.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do get a little kick back from party if you sign up using these codes. Of course if you like this blog, then signing up with Party using these links and bonus codes is a pretty nice way to show your appreciation.
Thanks.
You can download Party software here and get started playing free games right away.
When you are comfortable with the interface, you can sign up a real money account. But don't sign up without a bonus code. It's like throwing away free money. Here are a couple of Party bonus codes:
DougieNutz will get you 20% extra on your first deposit up to $100.
DougieNutz25 will get you $25 extra on your first deposit.
You'll have to play a certain number of hands to clear the bonus. Just remember, tight aggressive play and don't get in over your bankroll.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do get a little kick back from party if you sign up using these codes. Of course if you like this blog, then signing up with Party using these links and bonus codes is a pretty nice way to show your appreciation.
Thanks.
# posted by Doug @ 1:39 AM 
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Low Limit Conventional Wisdom
Factgirl has a fun post about playing poker in Las Vegas. In it she reports on what passes for conventional wisdom to your average low limit holdem player.
It just goes to show, never take advice from a veteran 3/6 player. If you do, you just might find out why they are still playing 3/6 after all those years.
when I turn over my AQ Cosmo shouts "you raised with ace queen?!?!?" The whole table laughs like I had raised with 83 "They weren't even SUITED!!!" the Korean guy snorts. LA Asian sunglasses guy leans over and says "Yeah. I know what you were doing, but when you raise at this level you aren't going to chase anybody off. You should just limp with ace queen."A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. If you talked to these guys long enough they might even convince you that this is not completely crazy. After all, they will tell you, AQ is the kind of hand you want to play against few opponents not many. Against many opponents the chances of this hand holding up are slim, so why throw more money in on a speculative hand? But this is completely wrong. While your chances of winning the hand may be slim, they are probably better than each one of your opponents. If they call when you have an advantage, you win in the long run.
It just goes to show, never take advice from a veteran 3/6 player. If you do, you just might find out why they are still playing 3/6 after all those years.
