Take No Prisoners

As the evening draws to an end and a new day is starting tournaments that had started around 8 are just coming to their most crucial part – The Bubble – it is during this stage that play slows down while everyone is waiting for the three, two or one more players to be knocked out. Once those players are eliminated, all the remaining will finish somewhere in the money.
If you are willing to be the last person to be knocked out of an event without any reward, then you stand a good chance of stealing quite a few extra blinds. Quite often play slows down so much that deals are struck in order to speed the game along.

This concept of making a deal for the “would have been bubble” cuts out such an untapped area of tournament play, as so many tournaments are now dealing for the bubble. I believe that making a deal for the bubble is wrong. Making a deal is not wrong, but a deal for the bubble is. It takes a slice from everyone else’s potential profit. If for instance the tournaments get heads up then the remaining two players will be tried and generally want the ordeal to be over and done with; and as a dealer I agree with splits.

Back to the bubble

This truly is the time the big stack to rein terror over the table. Everyone is waiting for the short stack to be blinded out or knocked out; everyone is folding everything waiting for someone, namely the big stack to attack the short stack, because no one wants to go home empty handed, no one want to tell their mates that they lasted 5 hours and went out with no reward for all their play.
This is the time the big stack should be attacking everyone else BUT the short stack, because all the time the short stack is in everyone else is afraid of going out, this is the time when the big stack should be protecting the short stack as well as taking their big stack tax from everyone else. This is the Big Stack’s “Hammer Time”. So all you big stacks when it comes down to the bubble, don’t make a deal.

Sabbatical

I have decided to dedicate the next two months to observation and study of poker; both Hold’em and Omaha so I will not be partaking in any poker game, live or other. I hope that this period will help me rebuild my game as I feel at the moment my playing style has reached a level that I cannot continue without taking a few steps back. I believe that I play live so much more than online that I have developed errors that are common amongst live players. To name some of the main errors that I have come across and have assimilated, I have comprised a list.

Stealing too much in late position:

This is a major symptom of poker today. Too many players are being overly aggressive; winning Hold'em requires that you pick up the blinds every now and then. I feel that you don’t need to be constantly attacking the blinds especially in cash games as they are so small relative to the average stack size and to do so with relatively weak holdings can prove to be expensive, as you would end up winning the micro pots and losing the large pots. This strategy may work well against tight opponents but in poker today they a rare breed.

Isolating weak opponents too much:

This is another error of play today and another strain of the aggressive poker. Do not misunderstand my point, there is occasional value in isolating the weak player, however for this play to be profitable, you must get heads up with the weak player. Too often attempting to isolate one opponent will frequently bring other players in behind you. Then you may well be facing another bet from someone else who has position on you in an ever increasing pot.

Not understanding that some loose opponents are playing better than it seems:

There is an ever increasing breed of poker players who probably plays too many hands, but then plays their hands very well from the flop on. Most of these players do win and some of them do quite well. They are able to make up for their large hand selection through a good understanding of post flop play and their hand reading skills. However, if you were to just concentrate on their hand selection, you may well believe that these players are not very good. So be careful of someone who seems to be playing like a maniac and winning.

Defending the blinds too much:

They don’t call it a vicious circle for nothing. Players believe that because they steal blinds from late position that everyone else is “at it” as well and will elect to call and play a hand out of position with not necessarily a good holding, and they wonder why they are losing money.


My conclusion is summed up by something I once said to the guy who taught me to first play.

“They should have called this game patience”

Samson & Deliah

For years, Samson battled the Philistines. One time, he was attacked by them; before the fight had ended Samson had killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey!

Samson loved a woman named Delilah. He didn't know the Philistines had offered her money to trick him. "Why are you so strong, Samson?" she would often ask. Although she begged, Samson wouldn't tell. Finally, she cried, "You don't love me, Samson, or you would share your secret."
"It's my vow to God" he whispered. "If my hair is cut, my strength will go." When he fell asleep, she called the Philistines, and they paid her to cut his hair. Samson's strength was gone. The Philistines bound and blinded him. Later they threw a big party. But Samson prayed. And God gave him strength to push and collapse their temple. That day, thousands of Philistines died—along with Samson

Poker players often believe in lucky seats, dealers and trinkets. Which is why my mind on the long walk back from LC’s last Thursday evening was wondering if, just maybe, cutting my hair was a bad idea? (Apart from the obvious displaying my FA Cup size ears) what if my hair was my lucky charm.

Samson's hair was not the source of his power; it was simply an outward sign that his life was set apart for God's service. By the time Delilah had Samson's hair cut off, he had already betrayed his relationship with the LORD (and thus found himself in the sh*t)

I then came to my senses, that night I had lost most playing Omaha (a game I am still studying) and the last hand I was called by a rather inebriated player who believed I was ahead but called regardless. This brings me to another point that I have observed in my poker play - I have often played at the wrong level against my opponents, let me explain...
When anyone is playing poker they play at a level. They go like this (roughly)
1. I don’t know what I have got
2. I know what I have got
3. How far behind the best have I got
4. What has my opponent got
5. What does my opponent think I have
6. What does my opponent think, that I think they have
etc etc...
On my journey home I realised that I was in trouble from the start. At the beginning of the evening I was playing at a lower level than my opposition in the Omaha hands (Level 4 vs. Level 5) - and lost. Later when playing against the well lubricated, I was thinking a few levels too high (Level 5 vs Level 2) - and lost (the level approximations are only examples). I have come to the conclusion that the premium play is to be one level higher than my opposition. So with my lesson learnt I will be putting myself back into the action with my best foot forward.

From Park Lane to Brick Lane

As much as I love this time of year with all its pomp and pageantry it does however discourage me from partaking in the finer things that life has to offer, like poker and as I'm sure you are aware that like drill; poker should be taken regularly to keep on top of your game. I managed to get a small number of games in these last few days both tournament and cash and in different locations around town, Sunday 1st day off in over 2 weeks so I headed off to the international. Seemed to be going fine until this hand

BL 300/600 - All fold around to cut off who raises 2400, Button (me) calls with JJ, both blinds fold because neither of us have played a hand in a long time.

The Flop 10, 8, 9 (rainbow)

My opponent bets 1500 – I call

Turn 2

My opponent checks and I push all in for 6000ish, after a few minutes he gets a chip count and after a few more minutes another player calls clock and during the 1 minute clock the tournament clock is paused and the dealer is a little unsure as what to do the tournament clock resumes 30sec later and just as the time is running out the other player calls (well past his allotted time) and shows QQ, river is a slight kick in the teeth as the J lands giving my already winning opponent a better winning hand

My second game came Monday afternoon with a 3rd place from 20 runners and not much to report.
Last night was a charity game where the prises were an X-Box 360, Manchester United signed football shirt and a Chelsea signed football shirt. My girlfriend took 3rd place to claim the Chelsea shirt while I was in a cash game with calling stations, the game might as well have been played with everyone anteing and then dealing all the cards out. I finished my evening of suck-outs with this hand against a player who had single handily ruined my table image earlier.
Blinds are 25/25p

I have A5h and my opponent 2nd to act raised £2 everyone folds and I elect to call in SB

Flop A 8 5

I check to let my opponent make a continuation bet which the obligingly did £5 and I raised to £20 they called

Turn 5

I check to represent a weak Ace they bet again £10 and I push all in for £35, they call.

River Q

My opponent proudly places QQ down and declares a house – I say nice hand and they mutter something about me not betting enough!!

The Duracell Bunny Is Running On Fumes

Last year for about one and a half months I had trained my body to operate normally to a 48hr day rather than a 24, this proved quite profitable at the poker tables as I was in the middle of my day and fresh as a daisy and everyone else at the poker table was tired. Last night I had the opportunity to repeat this feat. Around 11pm I had just finished dealing Poker/Blackjack/Roulette to a group of students from the music colleges around London, it was a fun themed night based upon James Bond, at the end I was in high spirits and not in the slightest bit tired. I made my way to the Casino and sat down to play. After 5 hrs this electronic bunny had come to a point where battery power was not enough to keep its head above water. So I stood up and left, after experiencing this sensation I can clearly see two problems with long session play.

1) Clarity of thought no longer exists. This was evident in the other players when I first sat down, people whom I know to be quality players were not playing well, as they failed to realise due to tiredness that they were no longer playing solid poker and were unnecessarily bleeding chips, not that I was complaining :)

2) Playing many endurance sessions will begin to have a long term effect. That is, you will get burnt out and not be able to make the quality decisions you need to make even when you are well rested. I have seen it happen to some very good players they just lose the ability to walk away from the game when their session is turning into a vicious circle of loss

After an hour of sleep this Duracell Bunny had to go to work. Today I have drunk 1 coffee two espressos’ about 1.5lt of energy drink just to get stay awake through three parades and I am expecting my sugar crash any minute now. Time for a siesta!

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.

Il buono, The Good;

On the Thursday night I decided to try a different tact to approaching the tournament. I have recently read an article which had different suggestions about how to play at the beginning of a tourney. First there is no question that in a regular poker game you should play reasonably tight. Of course there are exceptions, but those who play every hand will enjoy the action but not necessarily the results. Many successful tournament players are quite loose at the beginning of tournaments which results in either quickly accumulating chips or quickly busting out. I have previously found that I often go deep into a tournament only to find that my remaining stack is too small. Results on this new approach is definitely interesting but more experimentation is needed

il brutto, The Bad;

Was defiantly my out draw against Sir Mike.
I am in the cut off seat, the blinds are 100/200 and my remaining stack is just over 2000 more than 10 times the BB but not by much, everyone folds to me and I see A8os and with only 3 people yet to act I feel my hand is well above average for a four handed hand so I announce the immortal words “I'm all in”. The button folds, one down two to go, a promising start. The small blind gets out the way by throwing their cards into the muck as well. Which only leaves Sir Mike, who wakes up with a hand and elects to call. The cards go on their backs and no surprise to find out that AdQd has me dominated.

Flop

Kd – 7c – Jd

Sir Mike now has more out’s than you can shake a stick at

Turn – 4s

Still very far behind

River – 8h

And there we have it; I must be running well as I catch one of my two outs to win with a pair

il cattivo, The Ugly;

The Ugly – unlike the film came at the end of the night. Once I had got on the night bus, I sat down only to realise that the rather large incredibly smelly snoring old man defiantly had a problem with incontinence whilst asleep and every time the bus jerked forward or braked heavily pools of urine would go trickling by, I'm sure if I had been drinking then urine would not have been the only fluid to be moving around the bus

Where do they come from?

4 hours of play has left me mildly amused. Tonight I think I might have just seen it all. I have come to the conclusion that the rules of how to play poker live should be explained again to everyone and possibly printed in mutable languages and posted up on the wall (especially house rules) as it is starting to get beyond a joke.

Along with the regular acting out of turn, talking about the hand in-play and forgetting to say raise when only throwing in one chip, tonight I had to endure people showing their cards to their friends who were stood behind them (which makes their hand dead), as well this hand....

We join this hand on the river, three people remain. Player 1 who acts first fires out his 4th bullet of this hand which is roughly ¾ of the pot, Player 2 debates and calls, then as the third player is thinking about what to do player 2 picks his cards up where player 3 can see them!! Enough was enough and once again this evening I had to play sheriff, I informed the dealer what was happening and the floor was called over. The floor in my opinion did not entirely get it right. Yes Player 2’s hand is dead and no player 3’s hand is live. In my opinion player 3 was not going to call until they had seen player 2’s hand (now with an unfair advantage, could also be considered collusion) and so surely both players 2 and 3 hands should dead.

I know previously I encouraged everyone to sit down on tables where people are not playing solid poker, and yes I did triple up for the night but when other players are slowing the game down so much with live poker playing errors and making most hands last 5+ minuets then it is ruining your profit margin for the evening, my advice to anyone seeing this happening is to keep on at the dealer and the culprits will either adhere to the rules or leave. Maybe it is me, maybe I’m just tired but I think that this is a valid point.