Monday, July 17, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
My recent results
Contrary to popular belief I haven't been playing as much poker as I would like to lately, there are a myriad of reasons for this that I won't go into. But when I have played I have done well for the most part, I didn't really notice the decent little winning streak I have been on. Here are my last few events and results:
Location & Event Date Buy-In Result
Full Tilt (WSOP Qualifier) - 7/3/2006 - $24 + $2 - 37/191 (No $)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/6/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 2/9 ($)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/7/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 5/9 (No $)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/7/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 1/9 ($)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/10/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 5/9 (No $)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/10/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 6/9 (didn't cash)
Full Tilt (WSOP Qualifier) - 7/10/2006 - $24 + $2 - 137/231 (No $)
Live Game (deepstack) - 7/8/2006 - $20.00 - 11/16 (didn't cash)
Live Game - 7/8/2006 - $10.00 - 2/14 ($)
Bodog Multi-Table Tourney - 7/11/2006 - $10 + $1 - 2/162 ($)
Wednesday Home Game - 7/13/2006 - $10 - 3/8 ($)
Wednesday Home Game - 7/13/2006 - $10 - 1/8 ($)
I am batting %50 cash rate for my last 12 games played, which is good for a poker player, I play a lot of 1 table Sit N' Go's, so I don't always cash as big as I would like, but they do give a good ROI if you are fairly consistent. The biggest accomplishment out of this run is my 2nd place finish in the Bodog tournament, it's kind of funny because I had just busted out of another Full Tilt WSOP Qualifier that I didn't play too particularly well in.
I played the Bodog tournament on a whim just to get the bad taste out of my mouth, and it resulted in my biggest cash so far. It's nothing compared to a lot of people I know, but I played well in that tournament for the most part. Of course I got lucky a few times, and I was in a few situations with all my chips in the middle behind needing to catch up and I survived. I made a lot of good reads and plays during the tournament, I stole several big pots when the blinds and antes were huge, and I kept my head above water until I found an opportunity to double up. In my next post I will dissect the Bodog cash a little bit more, but it was kind of funny/Ironic that at the end with my name being "themarksman" I was heads up with a guy named "sniper119".
Location & Event Date Buy-In Result
Full Tilt (WSOP Qualifier) - 7/3/2006 - $24 + $2 - 37/191 (No $)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/6/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 2/9 ($)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/7/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 5/9 (No $)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/7/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 1/9 ($)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/10/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 5/9 (No $)
Pokerstars Sit N' Go - 7/10/2006 - $5 + $.50 - 6/9 (didn't cash)
Full Tilt (WSOP Qualifier) - 7/10/2006 - $24 + $2 - 137/231 (No $)
Live Game (deepstack) - 7/8/2006 - $20.00 - 11/16 (didn't cash)
Live Game - 7/8/2006 - $10.00 - 2/14 ($)
Bodog Multi-Table Tourney - 7/11/2006 - $10 + $1 - 2/162 ($)
Wednesday Home Game - 7/13/2006 - $10 - 3/8 ($)
Wednesday Home Game - 7/13/2006 - $10 - 1/8 ($)
I am batting %50 cash rate for my last 12 games played, which is good for a poker player, I play a lot of 1 table Sit N' Go's, so I don't always cash as big as I would like, but they do give a good ROI if you are fairly consistent. The biggest accomplishment out of this run is my 2nd place finish in the Bodog tournament, it's kind of funny because I had just busted out of another Full Tilt WSOP Qualifier that I didn't play too particularly well in.
I played the Bodog tournament on a whim just to get the bad taste out of my mouth, and it resulted in my biggest cash so far. It's nothing compared to a lot of people I know, but I played well in that tournament for the most part. Of course I got lucky a few times, and I was in a few situations with all my chips in the middle behind needing to catch up and I survived. I made a lot of good reads and plays during the tournament, I stole several big pots when the blinds and antes were huge, and I kept my head above water until I found an opportunity to double up. In my next post I will dissect the Bodog cash a little bit more, but it was kind of funny/Ironic that at the end with my name being "themarksman" I was heads up with a guy named "sniper119".
Monday, July 10, 2006
What do players think?
I believe everything you do in poker should be deliberate, and I truly believe that when you come into a hand there should be some type of reason for it. I see players calling raises UTG with rags, and it really leaves much to the imagination what the purpose is behind the call. Here is an example:
I was playing in a multi table tournament blinds at $200/$400, the player UTG limps the next 3 players fold. I look down to see
I decide to raise 3x the big blind to $1200 because the player in 1st position will generally play speculative hands in any spot. Everyone else folds, and the UTG players calls the raise the flop comes 
he checks I lead out with a bet of $1200 he calls. At this point I am thinking maybe he has a Jack and another Face card, or he is slow playing with a high pocket pair. There are not flush draws, there are no straight draws, the board did pair, but a six is an unlikely holding. The next card is 
now I have top pair, and he checks I bet $400 he calls, the river came 
he then bets $2000, and I figure I am beat, but I have to see his cards, so I call and he flips over 
!!!! I am thinking to myself he called a raise UTG with that hand, what was the logic behind it?
I know what players who do this think, everyone wants to think that they are a great poker player, that they can make plays undetected by most players. A lot of these players make the mistake in thinking that when this play works out that calling with that type of hand will consistently lead to winning. I wonder does this type of player think about the fact that they are a 2 to 1 dog, are out of position, and hold a hand that needs to catch up to most holding to win. I hear a lot of people work under the assumption that calling raises with low cards will give them an advantage since most players raise with high cards, and if the flop is low theywill have the advantage, that may be true and a case can be made to play those cards in a lot of situations.
Think about it let's say a player with low cards catches a piece of the board with a straight draw after calling a raise pre-flop, so they bet out and the other player goes all-in over the top and has said player covered. What does the player do? Their assumption that players only raise with high cards could lead them to ruin if they called her, but they could win the hadn as well if you are holding a pair lower than 7 after the flop, and you have all in in front of you there are a lot of ways for you to lose, even if the player has AK you are a favorite, but can still lose, if the board paired you can lose, of course there are many ways to win as well. My main point is that the decision is much harder when you are put in that situation, if you play it from late position then you have the opportunity to observe the action in front of you and make your decision off of the information you pick up.
I of course am not saying I am gods gift to poker, but I read several articles and noticed myself that a lot of players these days are making crazy plays,a nd when they get lucky and have this workout they tell themselves this is the proper way they should play. There is technically no correct way to play a hand it's all based on odds and risk, if something does not give you favorable odds I don't think you want to do that too often. Just my .02 cents.
I was playing in a multi table tournament blinds at $200/$400, the player UTG limps the next 3 players fold. I look down to see
I decide to raise 3x the big blind to $1200 because the player in 1st position will generally play speculative hands in any spot. Everyone else folds, and the UTG players calls the raise the flop comes he checks I lead out with a bet of $1200 he calls. At this point I am thinking maybe he has a Jack and another Face card, or he is slow playing with a high pocket pair. There are not flush draws, there are no straight draws, the board did pair, but a six is an unlikely holding. The next card is now I have top pair, and he checks I bet $400 he calls, the river came he then bets $2000, and I figure I am beat, but I have to see his cards, so I call and he flips over !!!! I am thinking to myself he called a raise UTG with that hand, what was the logic behind it?I know what players who do this think, everyone wants to think that they are a great poker player, that they can make plays undetected by most players. A lot of these players make the mistake in thinking that when this play works out that calling with that type of hand will consistently lead to winning. I wonder does this type of player think about the fact that they are a 2 to 1 dog, are out of position, and hold a hand that needs to catch up to most holding to win. I hear a lot of people work under the assumption that calling raises with low cards will give them an advantage since most players raise with high cards, and if the flop is low theywill have the advantage, that may be true and a case can be made to play those cards in a lot of situations.
Think about it let's say a player with low cards catches a piece of the board with a straight draw after calling a raise pre-flop, so they bet out and the other player goes all-in over the top and has said player covered. What does the player do? Their assumption that players only raise with high cards could lead them to ruin if they called her, but they could win the hadn as well if you are holding a pair lower than 7 after the flop, and you have all in in front of you there are a lot of ways for you to lose, even if the player has AK you are a favorite, but can still lose, if the board paired you can lose, of course there are many ways to win as well. My main point is that the decision is much harder when you are put in that situation, if you play it from late position then you have the opportunity to observe the action in front of you and make your decision off of the information you pick up.
I of course am not saying I am gods gift to poker, but I read several articles and noticed myself that a lot of players these days are making crazy plays,a nd when they get lucky and have this workout they tell themselves this is the proper way they should play. There is technically no correct way to play a hand it's all based on odds and risk, if something does not give you favorable odds I don't think you want to do that too often. Just my .02 cents.
Monday, July 03, 2006
The World Series of Poker (Can I make it)
I have played in a few WSOP Qualifiers (smaller events) on Full Tilt and Bodog, these tournaments seem to bring out my best play (except late in the tourney). I played in one memorable one a few months ago, and I finished 19th out of 269 people (the top 4 got a seat).
In that particular tournment I played very good poker early, and when it got later in the tournament I made a few bonehead movies that caused me to exit before I would have liked too. The funny thing about these qualifier type tournaments is that I noticed there is an awful lot of tight play on a lot of the tables. The main reason for this is (I believe) a lot of the people playing can't afford to drop $1500 or $2500 on a tourney, so they try to get in through these qualifiers, and they play like they have thousands on the line. The thing about it is, you have a few of those players who have won seats already and they don't care to be cautious, a lot of these players just roll over the table until one of the rocks wake up with a hand.
I just got knocked out of one about 30 minutes ago, it had 191 players and I finished 35th, I played well once again, and I did a good job of re-raising pre-flop, stealing blinds, and avoiding unfavorable situations. I was above the average chip stack just about the entire tournament, and I was getting annoyed by one player who called my pre-flop raise everytime. But I noticed that if I bet the flop he would go away most of the time, so I learned to not really worry when he called me.
I saw an example of a player (Glazeman) who was too aggressive and just wasn't patient, he was in 2nd place chip wise with about $17000 at the time, the first hand he messed up on was he raised from the button to 3x the BB which was about $600, the SB re-raised over the top all-in for his remaining $3700, I folded. The original raiser thought about it and called showing A 6 off suit, the SB had JJ, the Jacks held.
Then Glazeman had a raiser 4x BB in front of him as well as a caller of that raise, he decides to go over the top all-in. One player folds, the other player calls showing KK, Glazeman shows AQ off suit, the Kings hold, and Glazeman goes down to $1200 chips. In my opinion he took risks that weren't really neccesary in both of those hands, an argument can be made for the A6 call, but it just wasn't neccesary. But he could have easily re-raised with the AQ to allow the other player to define his hand, I am sure if he had KK he would have went over the top, a bet of say $2200 would have been sufficient. But that's just my opinion.
The hand I ended up going out on, I was UTG and I raised 4x the BB with
the guy next to me drdraz called, he had a history of calling raises with Ax hands it didn't matter what the kicker was. So being that he just called I figured him for Ax, Kx or something in that range, the flop came 
I checked because I had a sneaking suspicion that he had AJ, he thought about it for a while and he bet $1300. Now even though I was about 92% certain he had AJ I called anyway, and sure enough he shows 
, and of course I get eliminated in 35th place.
The first question to myself is "Why did I call??" I knew he had AJ I was almost sure of it, and the funny thing is this isn't an isolated incident. I do a decent job of knowing what a player in a hand is holding against me, but I still hardly ever take the advice, I guess I just have to see the other person's hand to verify if I am correct or not. I don't know what it is, but I do it all of the time especially late in tournaments, it may be related to stamina who knows.
At this point I am going to Vegas, and will be at the WSOP if I am playing in it is an entirely different story. I have to feel like I can go into the tournament and play with confidence, right now I feel I am a little bit above a break even player which is decent I guess, but it's nowhere near where I want to be. I need to play more, hopefully I can qualify for the WSOP and have a chance to play in it cheaply we will just have to see.
In that particular tournment I played very good poker early, and when it got later in the tournament I made a few bonehead movies that caused me to exit before I would have liked too. The funny thing about these qualifier type tournaments is that I noticed there is an awful lot of tight play on a lot of the tables. The main reason for this is (I believe) a lot of the people playing can't afford to drop $1500 or $2500 on a tourney, so they try to get in through these qualifiers, and they play like they have thousands on the line. The thing about it is, you have a few of those players who have won seats already and they don't care to be cautious, a lot of these players just roll over the table until one of the rocks wake up with a hand.
I just got knocked out of one about 30 minutes ago, it had 191 players and I finished 35th, I played well once again, and I did a good job of re-raising pre-flop, stealing blinds, and avoiding unfavorable situations. I was above the average chip stack just about the entire tournament, and I was getting annoyed by one player who called my pre-flop raise everytime. But I noticed that if I bet the flop he would go away most of the time, so I learned to not really worry when he called me.
I saw an example of a player (Glazeman) who was too aggressive and just wasn't patient, he was in 2nd place chip wise with about $17000 at the time, the first hand he messed up on was he raised from the button to 3x the BB which was about $600, the SB re-raised over the top all-in for his remaining $3700, I folded. The original raiser thought about it and called showing A 6 off suit, the SB had JJ, the Jacks held.
Then Glazeman had a raiser 4x BB in front of him as well as a caller of that raise, he decides to go over the top all-in. One player folds, the other player calls showing KK, Glazeman shows AQ off suit, the Kings hold, and Glazeman goes down to $1200 chips. In my opinion he took risks that weren't really neccesary in both of those hands, an argument can be made for the A6 call, but it just wasn't neccesary. But he could have easily re-raised with the AQ to allow the other player to define his hand, I am sure if he had KK he would have went over the top, a bet of say $2200 would have been sufficient. But that's just my opinion.
The hand I ended up going out on, I was UTG and I raised 4x the BB with
the guy next to me drdraz called, he had a history of calling raises with Ax hands it didn't matter what the kicker was. So being that he just called I figured him for Ax, Kx or something in that range, the flop came I checked because I had a sneaking suspicion that he had AJ, he thought about it for a while and he bet $1300. Now even though I was about 92% certain he had AJ I called anyway, and sure enough he shows , and of course I get eliminated in 35th place. The first question to myself is "Why did I call??" I knew he had AJ I was almost sure of it, and the funny thing is this isn't an isolated incident. I do a decent job of knowing what a player in a hand is holding against me, but I still hardly ever take the advice, I guess I just have to see the other person's hand to verify if I am correct or not. I don't know what it is, but I do it all of the time especially late in tournaments, it may be related to stamina who knows.
At this point I am going to Vegas, and will be at the WSOP if I am playing in it is an entirely different story. I have to feel like I can go into the tournament and play with confidence, right now I feel I am a little bit above a break even player which is decent I guess, but it's nowhere near where I want to be. I need to play more, hopefully I can qualify for the WSOP and have a chance to play in it cheaply we will just have to see.
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