Tuesday, March 9, 2010

More FTPA

Full Tilt's Poker Academy continues to fill holes in my poker game. One area that it has really helped me in is making situational aggresive decisions from out of position when I plan on calling anyway. Here's a situation that came up recently. I made a raise UTG 5-handed with KQo and flopped top pair with a late position opponent. My "continuation" bet was called and the turn paired the board with another 6.

At this point, there was $0.62 in the pot. My opponent had $1.16 remaining. If I bet my top pair again, I'd likely make it a $0.40 bet, meaning if my opponent called or shoved, I'd be committed to the hand regardless of what the river was. That bet and any call or raise would put at least $1.42 in the pot and I would only have to worry about my opponent's remaining $0.76.

If, however, I check, there's a chance that I can play the hand to showdown for only another $0 - $0.62. That's preferred, since I ONLY have two pair, and not even AQ for the top kicker. I'd rather ONLY invest $0.40 into this pot unless a Q comes on the river.

So I determined that my best course of action was a check on the turn. Any bet by my opponent would automatically commit me to the pot, therefore I would check-raise all-in if necessary on the turn, or check-check-call to showdown otherwise. Either way, folding never crossed my mind. It turned out to be the correct move. My opponent gave no credence to my continuation bet and probably put me on AK or AJ, with the second 6 giving him an extra hand to represent. Here's the run down.

Full Tilt Poker Game #18973203949: Table Gushing Spring (6 max, shallow) - $0.02/$0.05 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:25:41 ET - 2010/03/04
Seat 1: jojo972 ($1.76)
Seat 3: Shinobao ($2.17)
Seat 4: tb1984 ($1)
Seat 5: CgCook38 ($3.19)
Seat 6: baseball14t ($1.51)
Shinobao posts the small blind of $0.02
tb1984 posts the big blind of $0.05
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [Qc Ks]
CgCook38 raises to $0.15
baseball14t calls $0.15
jojo972 has 15 seconds left to act
jojo972 folds
Shinobao folds
tb1984 folds
*** FLOP *** [Qs 6h 2d]
CgCook38 bets $0.20
baseball14t calls $0.20
*** TURN *** [Qs 6h 2d] [6c]
tino_g43 sits down
tino_g43 adds $2
CgCook38 has 15 seconds left to act
CgCook38 checks
baseball14t bets $0.40
CgCook38 raises to $2.84, and is all in
baseball14t calls $0.76, and is all in
CgCook38 shows [Qc Ks]
baseball14t shows [8s 8h]
Uncalled bet of $1.68 returned to CgCook38
*** RIVER *** [Qs 6h 2d 6c] [Js]
CgCook38 shows two pair, Queens and Sixes
baseball14t shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
CgCook38 wins the pot ($2.89) with two pair, Queens and Sixes
baseball14t is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.09 | Rake $0.20
Board: [Qs 6h 2d 6c Js]
Seat 1: jojo972 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Shinobao (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: tb1984 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: CgCook38 showed [Qc Ks] and won ($2.89) with two pair, Queens and Sixes
Seat 6: baseball14t showed [8s 8h] and lost with two pair, Eights and Sixes

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Full Tilt Poker Academy

On the recommendation of some friends at The Poker Pod, I've started horsing around in the Full Tilt Poker Academy. What an amazing resource! I know there are a lot of resources on the web these days. What Full Tilt offers is pretty awesome though. All original content offered up to anyone who signs up. Furthermore, participation is rewarded on a points system that can be converted to merchandise and poker money.

I started the program while in Attu on temporary duty. However due to experiencing the Dark Side of Internet, I didn't really step into it until just recently. What I really and truly like about the program is that it makes me focus more on my online play. Obviously their pros offer extremely sound advice, and applying the principles will generally increase my bankroll over time.

Essentially the program has a progression that it takes a player through. The first step is a video lesson with a Full Tilt Pro. So far I've watched videos from Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer, and my favorite so far: Aaron Bartley. Each video is professionally presented and the advice is solid. Following the video, the player can take a "Sit N Learn" Quiz, where they are presented with seven questions related to the video. Accurately answering the questions in a timely manner can score the player access to monthly freeroll poker tournaments. Finally the player can take the related challenge for the lesson. The challenge actually tracks the user's actions on Full Tilt and rewards task completion with Academy points redeemable in the Academy store.

In all, I've only broken even since starting the academy. However, most of that fault lies with my absolute lack of focus at times. I recommend the Academy to any level amateur player, live or online. Many of the lessons are helpful in either environment.