Posts Tagged ‘Poker’
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I remember a sportscaster a while back saying something that stuck with me.
The season is 162 games long. That means, on average, each team is going to win 54 games and lose 54 games. It’s what each team does with the other 54 games that separates the winners from the losers.
I’m paraphrasing, but the point is there – there’s the stuff you have to do and the stuff you never do, but what you do with the other stuff is what defines you. I was thinking about it today, and I realized that the same sentiment can be applied to poker.
Every instructional book I’ve read on playing poker begins almost exactly the same way – a study of acceptable starting hands, paired against the hands that always get thrown away. Aces are good from any position, but 2-7 off never plays. Pocket 8s and 9s are good from the middle provided the action is slow and there are alot of players, but AJ offsuit might not be your best bet from early position. Yesterday, it occurred to me: the strong hands – the high pocket pairs and suited connectors, the unraised big blinds – those are the hands that correspond to the “games you’re going to win”. Don’t get me wrong – you may not win the hand, but these hands represent the opportunities you’re always going to take because the odds say it’s the right thing to do. Conversely, there are the low three-offs, the double-raised big blind with A-4 off – these are the “games you’re going to lose”. Statistically, these are the hands you have to throw away, regardless of the circumstances. Maybe the flop comes and it turns out you would have hit, but still – you lose more than you win with these weak hands, so into the muck they go.
The difference here is while sports pundits can very easily carve a 162 game season into 54-game portions, that can’t be easily done in poker. I’ve been in sessions where I’ve played hundreds upon hundreds of hands and the fact of the matter is the statistically-obvious situations described above are going to come up alot less often than 2/3 of the time. More often than not, you’re going to need to make some serious judgment calls, use information about the players and the game that you’ve gathered through observation, and consider personal details like your own stack size and level of fatigue when determining what to do with the other less-obvious hands that come your way. Just like the coach puts in a different pitcher or switches up the batting order against certain teams where the outcome might be less obvious, you need to assess and re-evaluate your situation constantly while you’re sitting at the table. If you spend your whole poker career waiting for pocket aces in late position at a full table, you’re giving away a host of opportunities.
Many of you know I spend alot of time playing poker online. Lately, I’ve been discouraged from playing a great deal because players will lose their minds when they take a bad beat. They say things I’m sure they’d never say in person to the player who cracked their aces with 5-6 suited from late position. Long after the hand is over, these players hang around in chat, continuing their “virtual railbird” tirade and generally being a nuisance to the players who are left. In a cardroom, I can call the floor over and have the harassing influence removed – but I can’t do that online, and it forces me to do things like turn off the chat option or mute certain players, which takes away from the social part of the game for me. It kills me that, as mainstream as poker has become, there are still players who think that certain hands guarantee victory and feel a personal affront when these supposed guarantees come up short. These players almost always fail to really look at the situation they were in – maybe their opponent was short stacked and needed to make a move. Maybe he or she called a slow-play early and was getting the right odds to stay in the pot. Yes, suck-outs do happen – but sometimes the situation at hand (literally and figuratively) is what led to a player taking a bad beat.
As an aspiring semi-professional, I know what I should do statistically. It’s developing the finesse to deal with situations that are less cut-and-dry that will make me better than the pack. If you want to improve your game, I suggest you do the same thing.
Current Mood: 
contemplative
Tags: Poker
Posted in Poker | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
I don’t want to get too lengthy or too “technical” with alot of poker jargon, but I can’t help but brag a bit about my performance in Event 3 of this year’s World Series of Poker. Many of you kept up with my updates via Twitter, but I wanted to provide some details since it was one of the more exciting experiences of my life so far. 
This was a three-day event, and the game was Limit Omaha 8-or-Better (aka Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, or LO8). Overall, there were 918 participants enrolled. I was suprised with how many “names” were participating – including John Juanda, Eli Elezra, Freddy Deeb, Linda Johnson, and many others. Ms. Johnson was at my starting table, which didn’t do wonders for my tension.
Prior to the tournament, I got to meet multi-talented Hollywood mainstay and all around cool guy Joe Reitman, aka JoeUgly on Twitter, at the Starbucks just up the concourse from the WSOP pavillions. That sort of broke the ice for me tension-wise, as I got to have a conversation with a celebrity and a poker player, and it was pretty “natural”, so my nerves were eased for the time being.
When I sat down at my first table, my hopes were simple – “let me just win a couple of good pots.” Well, I managed that feat in what seemed like no time at all – by the dinner break (six hours into the tourney, a longer performance than any other tournament I’ve been in or won), I was the chip leader at my table and feeling pretty good. I got to meet Annie Duke, and she was awesome enough to take a pic with me before the players headed out for a long break.
My table broke when I returned, and I was moved to a new seat at a table with poker powerhouse Toto Leonidas. Alot of heavy action at this table meant my chip stack stagnated, as scooping opportunities (chances to win, aka “scoop”, the entire pot, rather than just the high half or the low half) were minimal since I was trying to avoid situations where I might get quartered (win only “half of half” of either pot – a Pyhrric victory, since you end up with less chips than you did when you started the hand). In the end, after almost 13 hours of play, I had survived Day 1 with a slightly smaller than average chip stack. We bagged our chips for the next day, got our seat assignments, and I headed back to the hotel for some rest.
The next day’s start was delayed by an hour, which gave me a unique opportunity – I ran into “The Master” himself, Men Nguyen, in the hallway on the way to my seat. Once the crowd around him had dispersed a bit, I asked his advice – “I’ve got the average stack, Mr. Nguyen – what do I do to stay competitive?” He offered some terrific advice that I tried to internalize as best I could in the moments before we started – I truly think it helped, because applying The Master’s advice helped me increase my chip stack considerably, which meant I was able to keep swinging with the big stacks for a while longer. I got moved to a new table again, and thought this might be the end.
As I approached my new table, I locked eyes with Eli Elezra, who would be seated two seats to my left. Mr. Leonidas was at this table again as well, along with a number of other big stacks. By this time, however, we were fairly close to the money – only 20 or 30 more players needed to bust before I would finish, so I figured I just needed to pick my spots, stay alive, and play smart. After this particularly grueling level was nearly over, I had my “Sorry, John, I don’t remember” moment. In two pots within 5 or 6 hands, I managed to scoop two pots playing heads-up with Mr. Elezra. This nearly doubled my stack and pushed me back to about twice the average. I went heads up with one of the most respected players in the game and survived. Not only did I survive – but we were moments from the dinner break, playing hand-for-hand as there was just one more spot left till the money. Just as the tournament directors were calling the dinner break, the “Players Left” count on the big board ticked down from 91 to 90. It was my first ever World Series of Poker, and I was in the money.
After the dinner break, time seemed to slow down. I spent most of the next level at a table with some unfamiliar faces and a few players I had played with throughout the past two days. I maintained my stack and tried to keep a tight-aggressive image. I got moved again with about 36 players left. We started with 102 tables, and I had made it to one of the final four. I knew this table would make or break me – Eli Elezra was back, seated in the same position as the last table we played at, with me occupying my last position as well. Thang Luu, last year’s winner, was directly to my left. In the #1 seat was Eric Lindgren, and to his left was Freddy Deeb. To Freddy’s left was Jordan Rich. I got seated with some of the greatest names in the game – not the time to make a rookie mistake. Too bad for me, this was going to be that time. I got dealt A-2-K-K, with the A-2 suited, which is a pretty strong hand pre-flop for LO8. I raised preflop and got one caller – Freddy. The flop came 5-A-8, all spades. Freddy bets, I raised, he re-raised, I called. The turn was an 8. I figured Freddy for a strong spade flush when he fired quickly at the pot, so I thought I was safe with my low – or so I thought. A 6 fell on the river and I felt confident I had at least half the pot – but I’d blown it. The Ace on the board counterfeited my low – When I told Freddy I had A2 for low and Kings, he said “oh – then I scoop you.” I missed how that was possible – but he turned over 2-3 for the low (making 8-5-3-2-A, lower than my 8-6-5-2-A), and the third 8 for the high. Going into the next break, my stack was reduced by half. I was in trouble.
Back from the break I got to say goodnight to Annie and Joe as they headed out for dinner – turns out I wouldn’t be too far behind them. My first hand back, I got dealt A-A-6-7, with two suits. Mediocre at best, but with about 1/3 the average stack I needed to move quickly. I pushed and got beaten out by two smaller lows and a full house, ending my first World Series of Poker run with a 29th place finish and a prize of about $6,500.
Overall, I’d say I did pretty well. I cashed in my first WSOP appearance, got to meet alot of my favorite players, learned alot more about what’s now my favorite game, and saw what it’s like to play with the best in the world.
Yes, I’ll be back next year.
Current Mood: 
accomplished
Tags: Poker
Posted in Poker | 3 Comments »
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
Today’s Sunday NYT Crossword: 31 minutes. The theme was one of those ridiculous “if you read these letters in the grid counterclockwise starting from 8 across” nonsense things so I just ignored it, which probably contributed to the extended time. Hate those.
WSOP preparations continue, as I have now figured out exactly what I’m bringing with me; I just need to figure out how to get it all out there without checking a bag. Hoping to get at least an upgrade from the Imperial Palace after I register for the event – since I got my travel package from Orbitz, I doubt they can refund much, but a few comped meals (or a room upgrade) might be nice.
This year’s vegetable garden went in yesterday – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, basil, and (shot in the dark here) corn got planted as our attempt this year. Today we will be putting the herb garden in up front, along with replacing some of the plants up front with lavender and rose bushes.
Current Mood: 
anxious
Tags: House, Poker, Puzzles
Posted in House Stuff, Poker, Puzzles | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
It is now two weeks until I leave for Vegas for my World Series Of Poker adventure. Some of you may be curious about what I’ll be up to, so I shall now attempt to explain.
Will you be on TV?
Depends on whether or not they decide to televise my event, which is very early in the tournament.
What do you mean, “your event”?
Yes, there is the giant tournament that ESPN and the rest of the media gives great attention to – the “Main Event”, which takes places over a number of weeks, attracts thousands of players, and offers a prize of millions of dollars to the winner. I am not playing in that event, mainly because I don’t have $10,000 for the buy in.
So which event are you playing in?
I will be playing in Event #3, the Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split tournament.
Omaha?
Yep. Omaha.
The games you see regularly on TV are based on Texas Hold ‘Em – each player gets two cards for themselves, and has to make the best possible hand with any combination of the two in their hand and the five community cards that come up on the table. Omaha Hold ‘Em is similar, except each player gets four cards and must use exactly two of them in a given hand. “Two from your hand, three from the board.” Always.
What’s the “hi-lo” part mean?
It means that for any given hand their can be two winners who split the pot – one with a high hand (the typical rankings apply, with a royal flush being tops), and a low hand, where the wheel (A-2-3-4-5) is the best possible hand. Here’s the catch – you don’t need to use the same two pocket cards for both possible hands, so it’s possible for a player to “scoop”, or win both hands of the pot, with the same hand. Scooping is how one wins this particular brand of poker.
Uhhh. . .sure. Whatever. Gonna do anything else while you’re out there?
I hope not. This event is scheduled for three days and usually attracts around 800 players. I hope to be spending the majority of my time on the event. In the unlikely and unfortunate event that I bust out early, I’ll probably just hang by the pool or in the casino, playing cheap blackjack and drowning my sorrows in free booze.
You know you want to come with me now, don’t you.
Tags: Poker
Posted in Poker | No Comments »
