Dougie Nutz

So obviously, I lost interest in poker a few years ago.

It is a fascinating game and I still believe that you can learn more about a person's character in 1 hour of playing poker than you will in three years of working with them. However, it also is way too time consuming if you want to maintain any level of skill and smooth out the variance. There are just too many other things I want to do in my life.

I'll leave these posts here, associated with my blogger account for historical and nostalgic purposes.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

Paul Phillips posts the following problems on his livejournal: My answers are interspersed. Now keep in mind that I am just beginning to learn how to play no-limit and do not play tournaments (except for sit-n-go's wicks are a different animal altogether) so I would be surprised if I got one of these right.

I know I'm failing to include any detail about these players but it's enough to go on that they were all amateurs who had demonstrated the ability to make significant mistakes.

...

Level 2, 50-100: I have 9500. Mid-position limper, I limp in the cutoff. Button makes it 600, first limper calls. I make it 2100, both other players call. Flop is 864 with two diamonds. Check, check, button bets 4000. First guy drops and I check-raise all-in for about 3000 more. The button has me covered with another 3000 or so to spare. What do I have? What should the button call with? What should he lay down?

Preflop limp reraise. I would put you on a pair or AK suited. If the other limper had folded, you might have a smaller pair, but with a player in between, you probably have a big pair AA-QQ. When you check raise on the flop you are hoping to get the button all in which means you think you are ahead. You would be ahead of most hands with a big pair or AK diamonds but your margin with AK is pretty slim. I don't think you want to get all in on a coin flip at this stage of the tournament so I narrow your hand down to AA-QQ.

Your opponent has to call 3000 to win a pot that has 17450 in it. Very close to 6:1 odds. He needs 7 outs to call. He could call with hands as low as a pair and a gut shot :78, 89 but how he would have gotten here with that hand is beyond me. I think that he only calls with AA-QQ. Of course it is going to be very tough to lay down AK or JJ-99 but the fact that you are just not in the mood to gamble with coinflips this early in the tournament should scare him off of those.

Level 3, 75-150: I have 15K at a new table. Folded to me on the button and I make it 550. The big blind, who has me covered by roughly 1000, re-raises to 2500. I re-raise to 6000. What do I have? What hands should he call or jam with?

This is tougher. You opened from the button. You could have just about anything at this point. He pops from the big blind. He could have just about anything also. You re-raise to almost half your stack. Are you bluffing? Highly unlikely. Again, this is first day and you are not looking to stick your neck out there. So you probably have a pocket pair. Not a great one or you would have given this guy a chance to bet at the flop. I would say TT-66. He should jam with any Ax Broadway (AK-AT). Maybe he should jam with hands as weak as KC. He should call with pocket pairs AA-TT.

Level 5, 100-200/25: I have 30K. There are two limpers and I make it 1200 in late position. Only the second limper calls, and he only has about 6000 remaining. The flop comes AJ6 rainbow. He checks and I check. The turn is an 8. Now he moves all-in and I call instantly. What does he have? What should I have called him with?

I don't see limping with a good ace at this point and there is never any reason to just call with a bad ace. If he has an ace I will eat my hat. He's got a mediocre jack or worse. You call with a pair of aces or a JT or better.

Then there is this hand from day two, which may have been the key hand of the tournament for me until the very late stages for reasons that should become apparent later. The big blind was a conscious player but UTG had made several questionable plays.

Level 8, 300-600/75: I have 60K. UTG (100K) limps and I call in the small blind. The big blind (12K) raps and the flop comes 863 with two spades. We check to UTG who bets 3K. I call and the big blind mini-check-raises to 6K. Now UTG mini-re-raises to 12K. After long consideration I call, and the big blind calls all-in. What does everyone have? The turn is an offsuit king. I check. I ask again, what does everyone have? UTG checks. The river is the 3 of spades. I bet 10K into the 40K pot. What do I have? UTG quickly calls. What does he have?

I concede defeat on this one. Small blind, big blind you guys could have anything. After that, I think you are just making it up. OK, OK just to say that I gave it a try. BB has two pair. UTG has a flush and you have a set for the full house.

Paul Phillips posts in his livejournal about a hand between him and Jennifer Harmon.

Jennifer Harman is constantly raising my blind from late position. She has about 130K, I have about 180K. Par at this point is maybe 60K so we both have large stacks. I call her 4500 raise in the big blind with TT. The flop comes T92. I bet 9000 and she raises to 29000, leaving her with 94K. I move it all-in and she finds a way to lay down aces. Looked at from one perspective this is an egregious waste of a 10-1 favorite, but instead I'll give her credit for a monster laydown... one she might easily not have made.

Laying down aces is always a tough move, especially against a tricky aggressive player like Paul. But this situation is an example of something that I have been thinking about lately while trying to learn how to play no-limit hold'em.

It is common wisdom in no limit Hold'em that you can call preflop with a small pair even if you are absolutely certain that your opponent has an overpair. However, since you are about 7.5:1 to flop a set, in order to make this a good call, you have to believe that you can get almost 10 times the preflop call from the betting after the flop. If you or your opponent don't have that much money left it is a bad call.

The converse of this would seem to be, if you raise with aces preflop, you really don't want to put more than 10 times that raise in the pot after the flop. There are a few ways to accomplish this. 1) You can do your best to put in at least 10% of your stack (or your opponent's stack) before the flop. 2) You can play Aces carefully after the flop. I think that both of these are a good idea. 3) You can fold if the amount of betting exceeds 10 times your pre-flop bet. That is pretty tricky. It is very tough to fold an overpair, especially with a non-threatening flop. I don't like that option at all.

But if you add it up, Jennifer raised to 4500 preflop, she reraised to 29000 on the flop and let it go when it got higher than that. Hmm, letting it go when the bet reaches 10 times your pre-flop bet. There might be something to that.

Update: The actual odds of flopping a set or better are 7.5:1 not 10:1 as I originally stated. Thanks to Burningyen for pointing this out. I think that you generally want to be getting 10:1 rather than 7.5:1 to account for the times that you wind up getting beaten anyway or are wrong about your read.

Multi-tabling is one of the best aspects of online poker. When you play four tables at once you are almost always making decisions and you are quite often involved in at least one hand. Poker goes from being a game of waiting, waiting, waiting to fast and fun (without having to sacrifice your calling standards). But one problem for me at least is that when I am playing 4 tables at one time I can't really keep track of all of the players on all of the tables, how they are playing and how I should play against them. I'll be lucky to identify one or two really fishy players and key off of them. Even then I have had times when I have gotten a raise from the number two seat and reraised because he is a loose aggressive player and I have a good enough hand (AJ) that is likely to be ahead. I play out the hand only to realize on the turn that the loose aggressive player in the two seat left a couple of rotations ago and this new guy is a shark. HAH!

So if you are going to multi-table, I would highly recommend some kind of tracking software. Poker tracker is the number one choice for a tracking database. You just set it up and while you are playing games and for most sites it finds the hand histories and sucks the results into a complete hand history database. You can go through the hands later at your leisure and analyze your results as well as the play of your opponents. It's like having the ultimate set of notes on everybody you play against. This is a great way to pick up leaks in your game and about the only way to figure out how everyone is playing at 4 tables getting 100 hands an hour.

But pokertracker's built in tools for tracking the play while at the tables are clunky at best. You really need to use a heads up display. The heads up displays actually project player's statistics on the table while you are playing. Gametime plus was one of the first heads up displays I ever used. PlayerView has a little bit nicer interface and it automatically recognizes tables you have open (you have to do this manually with Gametime plus). But it is a little bit pricey at $50. Currently I am trying out PokerAce and I like it a lot.

Combine pokertracker and a heads up display and you can have the fast and furious action that comes with multi-tabling while still retaining a significant edge over your opponents.