Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Custom Tables


I have a friend on Railbirds that has been in the hospital over the holidays. She is well known on the site not only for her friendship, but also for the custom tables she makes other people. I told my daughters about this and they decided to make custom tables of their own for Judy. All I did was draw up a "table template" on a plain white piece of paper and have them go to work.


Here's Abby's


Here's Audrey's

And Anna's


Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Learning in Practice

My sister gave me Daniel Negreanu's Power Hold'em Strategy for Christmas. I was extremely excited to add this book to my library and was anxious to break into it. I just started in on Daniel's section tonight. Preceding his chapter David Williams has a section on mixing up your game. It was a great read, and although he's a lot crazier than I am, he nailed a few great points. Specifically he talks about how trained your opponents memory will be on the bad things you have done to them.

Following, you'll see a hand from an 18-person sit and go tournament where I did a fantastic job of mixing up my play. I was re-raised three times before this hand. Each time I folded because I had squat. Each time the opponent (whether through other action or out of courtesy) showed me a great hand. When I got opponents in for all of their chips, I had them crushed!

One particular hand took place at the final table where I had raised pre-flop with JQo from under the gun, a very loose play. A tiny stack in seat 6 called all-in for a lot less than my raise. The player on the button, Mikey also called my raise, leaving 500 chips in a side pot between us as well as 500 in the main pot. I wasn't about to check the hand down when it came three low cards, I fired out a continuation bet, as implicit collusion didn't seem to apply. I was trying to win the 500 chip side pot as the other 500 seemed lost to me. Mikey folded and I showed down nothing. A queen hit the river and I took the main pot too! I knew that anyone paying attention would use that hand against me later, so I had to be careful.

PokerStars Game #23386612430: Tournament #130426290, $1.00+$0.20 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2008/12/29 22:17:44 ET
Table '130426290 2' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: titan (4575 in chips)
Seat 3: NHRA (1900 in chips)
Seat 4: CgCook38 (9130 in chips)
Seat 7: Scorned (370 in chips) Another Shortstacked player, I don't care about how much I lose to this person because they are less than my current standard raise right now (600). It would be like folding after someone's reraise if I lose - only 600 chips lost (or less here).
Seat 8: van (3875 in chips)
Seat 9: Mikey (7150 in chips)
titan: posts the ante 25
NHRA: posts the ante 25
CgCook38: posts the ante 25
Scorned: posts the ante 25
van: posts the ante 25
Mikey: posts the ante 25 The same player in on the button in this hand, a perfect opportunity if the situation comes up again. Let's look at my cards.
titan: posts small blind 100
NHRA: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [9c 8c] Perfect. Last time I raised UTG I had two big cards. Now I've got crackers!
CgCook38: raises 400 to 600 Standard Raise
Scorned: calls 345 and is all-in Falling into my trap, I hope, one of the remaining players will call figuring that I will bluff the flop again. I will not bet into any flop unless I hit it hard.
van: folds
Mikey: folds
titan: calls 500 Perfect, he had to fold his blind last time, so no doubt he knows what's going on. If he has a hand, I hope it's Ace or Kings so I can bust him. Williams calls this a mistake, by the way. If he has enough chips and thinks I am bluffing he should reraise substantially.
NHRA: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ks 9d 9s] OMG! How much more perfect can this hand be (unless he has Kings of course)?
titan: bets 200
CgCook38: raises 1000 to 1200
titan: calls 1000 Trickle, trickle, trickle.
*** TURN *** [Ks 9d 9s] [Jd]
titan: bets 1500 Haha he's protecting against the flush and hoping against the nine!
CgCook38: raises 1500 to 3000
titan: calls 1250 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (250) returned to CgCook38
*** RIVER *** [Ks 9d 9s Jd] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
titan: shows [Ac Kh] (two pair, Aces and Kings) A reraise pre-flop would have chased me away and saved his tournament life.
CgCook38: shows [9c 8c] (three of a kind, Nines)
CgCook38 collected 8410 from side pot
Scorned: shows [Kc 9h] (a full house, Nines full of Kings) Like I said, I didn't care what this player had.
Scorned collected 1385 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9795 Main pot 1385. Side pot 8410. Rake 0
Board [Ks 9d 9s Jd As]
Seat 1: titan (small blind) showed [Ac Kh] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 3: NHRA (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: CgCook38 showed [9c 8c] and won (8410) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 7: Scorned showed [Kc 9h] and won (1385) with a full house, Nines full of Kings
Seat 8: van folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Mikey (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Monday, December 29, 2008

My First Trophy

I play quite a few private tournaments on Full Tilt Poker. I won my first one last night. It was a $1.50 + .50 buy in with 51 entries, including pro Gabriela Hill. With the win I received my first ever poker trophy (alright, so it's just an image, but still).
I feel like I am practically related to ol' Speedy. So it was great to receive this. Top prize was $19.89. 2nd place would have been okay with me, as the trophy features Speedy's drunk cousin!

I gain entry to these tourneys by being a member of Railbirds. You can find my member page here.

A Questionable QQ Decision, Part II

Part of what makes having a blog so effective and yet so intimidating is that I open myself up to plenty of criticism about how I play the game. The following hand holds the door open for that criticism. This is from another $4.40 180-person sit and go tournament. There are only 17 people left, so we are all already in the money for $8.64. The next pay jump does not come until the final table of nine. The difference between winning and finishing 9th is $203.76. So the real money is in the top three spots.

PokerStars Game #23287002856: Tournament #129709193, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (400/800) - 2008/12/26 22:21:41 ET
Here the starting pot is $1,800.
Table '129709193 17' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Trev1972 (7780 in chips) M of 4.3
Seat 2: scaldret (11847 in chips) M of 6.6
Seat 3: Jack (31292 in chips) M of 17.4
Seat 4: golf (4529 in chips) M of 2.5
Seat 5: Manager (14735 in chips) M of 8.2
Seat 6: CgCook38 (23373 in chips) M of 13
Seat 7: uncle (20675 in chips) M of 11.5
Seat 8: BBC (12562 in chips) M of 7

golf is the only person desperate here. A couple people need a double up, but he's nearly out of time and should move all-in with any decent holding. With an M of 13 I need to be more aggressive than usual, while staying out of marginal situations.

Trev1972: posts the ante 75
scaldret: posts the ante 75
Jack: posts the ante 75
golf: posts the ante 75
Manager: posts the ante 75
CgCook38: posts the ante 75
uncle: posts the ante 75
BBC: posts the ante 75
scaldret: posts small blind 400
Jack: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [Qd Qc] Wow, what a great holding. There are not many marginal sitiuations I can imagine holding this hand.
golf: raises 3654 to 4454 and is all-in Like I said, I would be doing this with any reasonable holding. That means with any A, K or Q or a J7 and up, if it folds to me, I'm all-in. Knowing this, there is no reason this side of being unlucky that says I don't have him dominated.
Manager: folds
It's my turn. I have a couple of options. I can call or I can raise. Calling 4454 would leave me 18,844 behind. The benifit of calling is that I could potentially trap someone's reraise with something like JJ. The downfall is that I might get someone raising behind me with any hand that could marginalize a magnificent situation for me.

If I raise, it will likely be close to the minimum, or all-in. The benifit of either approach is that any AJ suited maniac will see someone who's committed to the pot. The disadvantage is that if someone comes over the top with AA or KK, I won't get away from the hand.

In retrospect, an all-in seems like the best approach, as JJ or worse might still call, while I take away the opportunity of a big stack opponent to take the hand away from me on the flop if an Ace or King falls. If I call here, two conditions should be met - I should commit myself to any more pre-flop action, and I should be able to drop the hand to a scary flop board if I am just called by someone with a deep stack. That being said....
CgCook38: calls 4454
uncle: folds
BBC: folds
Trev1972: folds
scaldret: folds
Jack: raises 26763 to 31217 and is all-in Whoops... I just turned my wonderful sitiuation marginal. I should have never been in this situation, and with a little pre-call planning, I would easily call this bet. I'm already in the money and this is a hand that will potentially set me up for the win. However, I didn't put enough thought into my original call, and eventually I folded thinking that I still have chips and I can still be a factor. This was a huge mistake, compounded by the fact that I saw that I would have won the hand.
CgCook38: folds
Uncalled bet (26763) returned to Jack
*** FLOP *** [Td 5h 8h]
*** TURN *** [Td 5h 8h] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [Td 5h 8h 6c] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Jack: shows [Ks Ah] (a pair of Sixes)
golf: shows [Jh Ac] (a pair of Sixes - lower kicker)
Jack collected 14362 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 14362 | Rake 0
Board [Td 5h 8h 6c 6h]
Seat 1: Trev1972 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: scaldret (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Jack (big blind) showed [Ks Ah] and won (14362) with a pair of Sixes
Seat 4: golf showed [Jh Ac] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 5: Manager folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: CgCook38 folded before Flop
Seat 7: uncle folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: BBC folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Friday, December 26, 2008

A Questionable QQ Decision

I was playing in a PokerStars 180-player tournament with 61 players remaining. This hand came up and I was screaming at c24 to fold. What do you think? (For those that don’t know, I learned the ‘M’ factor from Harrington on Hold’em. Check it out here.

PokerStars Game #23268345079: Tournament #129596577, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2008/12/26 11:27:07 ET
Table '129596577 3' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1:
Vsteak (2620 in chips) M of 11.6
Seat 2: Czar (5488 in chips) M of 24.4
Seat 3: c24 (2640 in chips) M of 11.7
Seat 4: G81 (1277 in chips) M of 5.7
Seat 5: CgCook38 (3495 in chips) M of 11.1
Seat 6: wolf (1625 in chips) M of 7.2
Seat 7: lax (1050 in chips) M of 4.6
Seat 8: ge44 (5140 in chips) M of 22.9
Seat 9: jd68 (4505 in chips) M of 20
jd68: posts small blind 75
Vsteak: posts big blind 150
As you can see, no player is particularly hurting right now. The blinds are fairly low and we are still 43 people from the money. Less experienced players may panic here, but there’s no reason to. Every player at this table needs to accumulate chips before making the money, so no one is a strong favorite.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [Js 4s]
Czar: folds
c24: raises 300 to 450 A standard raise from early position may indicate strength, even online. A good reason to fold most holdings.
G81: folds
CgCook38: folds Easy fold for me.
wolf: raises 1175 to 1625 and is all-in This is a bad player if others have been paying attention. He could have any two cards that most people would raise from position.
lax: calls 1050 and is all-in A fairly new player to the table, I have no idea what he has.
ge44: raises 3515 to 5140 and is all-in Okay. What the hell? This guy might have a monster. I wouldn’t do this without QQ or above, even with chips. But this particular guy might do it with anything.
jd68: folds
Vsteak: folds
c24: calls 2190 and is all-in What would you call with? It would take AA or KK for me to call here. It’s my tourney life and if I fold I still have enough for more than 9 trips around the table. If I call, I am guaranteed to get in against three other opponents. If I beat all but the shortest stack I am looking at a maximum gain of 3,755 while risking everything. If I beat all of my opponents I will only get 8,180 chips, an M of 36.4. That’s a great result, but how can I be certain that I am the favorite? If I know what the other guys have, is it still worth the call? We’ll find out I guess…
Uncalled bet (2500) returned to ge44
jd68 said, "gl all"
*** FLOP *** [7s 2c 6d]
*** TURN *** [7s 2c 6d] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [7s 2c 6d 5h] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
c24: shows [Qh Qs] (a pair of Queens)
ge44: shows [9d 9h] (a straight, Five to Nine)
ge44 collected 2030 from side pot-2
wolf: shows [Ah 6c] (a pair of Sixes)
ge44 collected 1725 from side pot-1
lax: shows [As 8s] (a pair of Eights)
ge44 collected 4425 from main pot
So if I were c24 and decided to call with only pocket Queens, I would have lost this hand with only a 55% chance to win pre-flop. A coin-flip to lose. Interestingly enough, I said only call with AA or KK. If he called with KK here, he would have only had a 54.8% chance to win (63% with the other two Aces), but I am not good enough to fold those here. c24 was correct that he was ahead, but I believe incorrect to call.. What do you think? Incidentally, ge44 finished 24th just before the second break. I guess having all those chips isn’t always enough. (My percentages were obtained using Cardplayer's Odds Calculator)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8180 Main pot 4425. Side pot-1 1725. Side pot-2 2030. Rake 0
Board [7s 2c 6d 5h 8c]
Seat 1: Vsteak (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Czar folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: c24 showed [Qh Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 4: G81 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: CgCook38 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: wolf showed [Ah 6c] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 7: lax showed [As 8s] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 8: ge44 (button) showed [9d 9h] and won (8180) with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 9: jd68 (small blind) folded before Flop

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Fame and Fortune

I was playing in a Full Tilt Poker tournament on Sunday with Michael Craig and a boat load of other friends of Full Tilt pros. I was running great and transferred over to Andy Bloch's table. I was two seats to his left with five times as many chips as him. This was my chance to knock him out and get a coveted "I knocked out a pro at Full Tilt Poker" t-shirt. (Yes, they really do send you one).

What a dream scenario! Not only did we raise $2,620 for charity, I get a shot at Andy! I saw Andy play on his birthday as the chipleader (and eventual runner-up) of Event #1 of the WSOP in Vegas while watching my Dad and Uncle play Event #2. So this was extremely exciting for me.


Well, we also had a teeny-tiny snow storm blow through that day. As soon as I was seated at this table I got this:


Disconnected! My dream will have to wait until another day. For more on the tournament, check out Michael's blog:

Sunday, December 21, 2008

My Goals for 2009

Alright. It’s a new year coming up. All my friends are doing it. It’s time for me to put some poker playing goals for the New Year on paper. So here’s a rough draft.

1. Play better poker. This is a great place to start. Obviously the point of putting down goals is to improve something. And I am one to believe that goals should actually be possible. And if it is possible for me to play better poker, I should be able to measure this. So I need to update 2008’s goals rather quickly. Here’s the entire list from the old year: 1. make a spreadsheet to track all poker playing for next year.
Really, this is such a stupid goal to start with. I can see already that all of my other goals will be a spin-off of this one. I should have just made “Playing Better Poker” the name of the blog. So here are my goals for playing better poker:

a. Track every single bit of poker activity. I’ve already been doing this (sort of) lately. The fact is, I am not tracking the losses. I should be tracking how well I am doing in what types of games. In the last month I have been killing the 18 and 27 person sit n’ go tourneys on PokerStars. However I can’t seem to win at any limit poker cash game. Also, I can run deep in any multi-table tourney on PokerStars, whereas Full Tilt gives me problems. These stats should be plain for me to see when I sign in.

b. Assign time and loss limits. Mike Caro talks about the dangers of playing to get through a losing streak in Brunson’s Super System II. I am a living example of someone who loses all sensitivity to losing online. I can easily drop $100 in my bankroll without blinking. I need to structure my play around this by placing limits on how many tourneys I can play and how much money I can lose relative to my bankroll in a day.

c. Log my major mistakes. I play amazing poker in stretches. Eventually after playing a boat load of winning sessions I stop paying attention to what blunders I have made. When I am losing, these missteps are blaring. During a win streak I will need to step back and break down major hands of tournaments, which may mean reviewing long strings of hand histories.

d. Log my brilliant plays. I’ve made some moves in poker where my intuition was at high tide. Quite a few of these end up emailed to my dad or uncle, and so are archived somewhere in a mass pile in my Gmail account. I can learn a lot from focusing on what signs my brain picked up on before I made the correct decision in extremely close calls. These could help me from chasing down hands I can’t win while maximizing the bets that I can win.

e. Blog more, Railbird more, talk to my poker friends more. Actually, I probably do the last two enough. All I ever talk about is poker, even to people that feign interest. Railbirds.com has become my favorite poker site. The group I am involved with on that site has really brought out a better poker player in me. I have an increased sense of accountability and confidence since joining them. Blogging is a great way for me to reflect on my play and to try and improve.

f. Bring more mental focus to tournaments. This may not be measurable. In the Sunday Warm-up last week I had three weeks to prep myself for the event. The result was a tournament where I lost focus once. I can improve on that focus, and bring it to every tournament I play in. The only problem I see with this approach is the incredible let down experienced after being knocked out of such a tournament. I was still letting out huge sighs on Tuesday. There is a happy median somewhere, and the answer may be to plan out larger tournaments farther in advance while continuing to play the $1 and $3 sit n’ go variety “on a whim” so to speak.

2. Win more money. This doesn’t always go hand in hand with playing better poker. I’ve won money as a very bad poker player before. Here’s what I am looking at: In 2008 I cashed out $300 playing online poker. This year (to date) I’ve scored $570. For 2009 I plan on cashing out $1,200. I am riding a large wave of confidence into the New Year, and I look forward to proving to myself that I am not a fluke. So $100/month does not seem unattainable.

So that’s it – a mere two goals (sort of) for the New Year. I can’t wait to get started!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Sunday Warm-Up

Today I played in the $200+ 15 buy-in Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars. I kept a log of major events while I was playing. I was mentally prepared to play in this tournament and I am not sure that I would have changed the way I played any one hand. 12:45pm – I start the tourney at a 7-handed table with two players sitting out.

12:49pm – I am amazed at how tight the table is. This is the tightest table I’ve ever been at online. We’ve played 9 hands in four minutes, which means there has been a lot of folding. I won my second hand with a walk in the big blind.

12:51pm – I just won my first big hand. I played a K8o from the big blind and won 1,750 chips with two pair against an opponent who’s been active.

12:57pm – So far, I’ve stolen the blinds twice from the button when folded to me. I’ve skipped the chance once. There’s been very little action at the table for some time; I just walked with my big blind for the second time in twelve minutes.

1:00pm – Blinds just went up to 50/100. I’ve got 11,200 chips.

1:03pm – [This is one of two hands that I am not sure if I played correctly.] I just lost a chunk of chips with AKo. I made a standard raise and another player who had position on me made a re-raise. Because I was in early position I decided to make it three bets to give myself the best chance of winning without seeing the flop. He called and I bet the flop. He raised and I folded. My chip stack falls to 5,400

1:06pm – I picked off my first bluff in a big blind/small blind play. The big blind fired two shots into my small blind flopped pair. I felt like he was steaming from my stealing of his small blind on three prior occasions, so I called him down and won. I am up to 6,050 chips

1:13pm – I snagged a pot with 99 v AKo. Once again, I was betting from the button and the small blind guy paid me off. I’m up to 7,100. My uncle just went out with KK v AA in 3634th place. He won’t be happy.

1:14pm – I just tried my first early position steal attempt with A4o. I am up to 7,250 and the blinds just moved to 100/200.

1:15pm – The prizes have just been announced as late registration closes. 585 people will be paid at least $389.90 as we had 3,899 players register. The winner will claim $101,374 of the $779,800 prize pool.

1:17pm – I re-raised from the big blind with JKo against the most aggressive player at the table. My chip stack is now up to 7,850.

1:22pm – I am settling down nicely. I feel like I can compete at this level. I am at 8,450 chips and there are 7 minutes ‘till the 150/300 level.

1:24pm – This is the first time I’ve seen two limpers into the pot, and it happens to be against my big blind. I see a flop. And then a turn and a river as every one checks down. My J4o hits a four card straight and I take down the pot. I’m up to 8,950 and feeling great about my play so far.

1:25pm – I’ve stolen the blinds three times and folded once from button when it has been folded to me. Last time I had to make a continuation bet to take down the pot. I have to be careful what I raise with next time.


1:29pm – [This is a huge turning point as I surpass my starting stack of 10k for the first time.] I made a steal attempt with K9d. The big blind called me. The flop came down with an inside straight flush draw for me. I didn’t want to see a check-raise when the other player checked to me, so I checked as well. He bet smallish on the turn and I called him. I hit my flush on the river. I bet and he called with his AJo for one pair. This is a huge pot for me (7,600) and I am up to 12,650.

1:30pm – My dad just lost with a set of kings to a small card straight. He’s on life support and guaranteed not to be happy. Blinds are now 150/300 and he has 545 chips.

1:34pm – The first all-in called at my table: 66 v QJ by two very active players. The sixes hold.

1:38pm – My dad just went all-in under the gun with J9o and found AA in the big blind. He’s out in 3108th place.

1:40pm – I just got my first AJo, which I hate. The reason I am still in is probably because I haven’t had this hand yet. However, this time I flopped two pair and I move up to 13,550.

1:42pm - The first elimination at my table just occurred nearly one hour in.

1:45pm – It’s break time! The current leader sasodiits has 55,568 chips. I’m in 1,202th place of 2,907 remaining with 13,100 chips. The average chip stack is 13,412.

1:52pm – We’re back from the break. The blinds are now 200/400. The antes will start in 45 minutes. The first hand back I steal from cutoff seat with K9o.

1:58pm – There were three limpers on my big blind just now and I flopped top pair and a flush draw! The short stack goes all in after my bet is called by another player – I go all-in for the first time in the tournament. The other player folds and I pick off the short stack’s semi-bluff open-ended straight draw. I’m up to 21,001 after a 12,802 pot and I am ecstatic!

2:05pm – I made my first under the gun limp with 55. I bet the safe looking flop and moved up to 22,201.

2:09pm – We went to 300/600 blinds a little while ago. I just noticed. I guess I’m still a little fired up from my big hand.

2:11pm – My pocket aces net me the blinds.

2:13pm – [This is a mistake I made, I almost forgot about it.] I just doubled up someone. He limped under the gun plus one and when I bet my second pair after checking my big blind he raised all-in. He was too short for me to fold. He showed pocket kings and I am down to 15,881. [It would have been better to check to see what happened as there were four people in the hand.]

2:16pm – My kings net me the blinds.

2:22pm – The blinds are now 400/800 and I’m spiraling down. My chip stack is 13,781.

2:25pm – I just moved to a new table and lost any table image I might have. [At the time I was not happy about it either!]

2:38pm - The blinds are up to 400/800 with a 50 ante bringing the pot to 1,650 to start. I’m hurting at 10,931 chips.

2:41pm – I am back in business for now. I eliminated a player with my AQ v his AJ. I’m up to 21,781.

2:46pm – I just hit a set of sixes. There was a raise pre-flop and one other player called in front of my button. I called as well with my 66. I hit my set on the flop. The original bettor bet and the next player raised. I went all-in for the third time today and everyone folded. My reward is a 34,681 chip pot.

2:50pm – There is three minutes to break and I can’t wait!

2:52pm – I got pocket kings in the small blind in the last hand before the break. I re-raised someone and took it down. I have 37,981 at the break and feel magnificent. The chip leader amarillion has 162,871. I am in 318th out of 1389 remaining. The average is 28,070. The first hour chip leader is now in 123rd place.

3:00pm – Blinds are 500/1K with a 75 chip ante. I get AKo on the button the first hand back from break. There are three limpers and I make a big raise. The short stack in the small blind comes over the top. I call and she has AQo. A queen hit the flop and I am down to 21,808 and fuming!3:03pm – My first pocket jacks net me the blinds, which means a 3,175 pot at this level.

3:15pm – The blinds are now 600/1200 with a 100 chip ante. I have 18,123. It’s almost time for me to move chips.

3:24pm – I haven’t played a hand in the last 14.

3:25pm – I just got AJs and got to play a hand after 15 folds. I get back up to 17,883.

3:30pm – The blinds are 750/1500 with a 150 chip ante. I have the ability to go around the table five times without playing at this level. It’s all-in or fold for me now.

3:31pm – I go all-in with AKo thinking it might be my last hand. The other guy has the same hand and we split the pot. [sigh.]

3:36pm – The blinds just passed and I have 14,083. There are 855 remaining and I am in 788th place.

3:41pm – I am about to hit the blinds again. I feel like I’m on my death march, but I’ve been here before. I just need a double up. It doesn’t help that 11th place in the entire tourney is one seat to my right. Actually, it probably does help, as it is keeping me tame.

3:43pm – I just got QQ in the small blind. Sweetness! I ran into AJo and got 29,116.
3:45pm – The blinds are up to 1K/2K with a 200 chip ante. There is now 4,800 in pot to start.

3:56pm – [Another questionable move by me.] I just had 77 in the big blinds. There was a raise of 4,000 by under the gun plus one. I called, checked, and folded when I didn’t hit a set.

4:00pm – Break time again. I have 15,416 and am 633rd of 656 remaining. The chip leader jumps13 has 358,976. The average stack is 59,435. The first hour chip leader is in 31st and the second hour chip leader is in 23rd.

4:07pm – Back from break and the blinds are 1250/2500 with a 250 chip ante. I have about 2.5 trips around the table remaining. The first hand back I go all-in with A7o and now have 21,166.

4:08pm – SWEET! I just got JJ and went all-in. I was called by AQs and my jacks held up! I might make the $$$!!!!!

4:13pm – I have 42,682 after the blinds passed. We are some 40 people from the money!

4:19pm – 384th of 609 remaining and I am pumped!

4:21pm – I have 37,082 left after the blinds and am in 418th place of 600 remaining. 15 people from the money!

4:22pm – The blinds moved to 1.5K/3K with a 300 chip ante.

4:30pm – In the money!

4:31pm – I have 27,832 after the blinds pass and I am way short.

4:32pm – I go all-in with A5s and double a short with A9o.




4:35pm – It’s over. I went all-in with 66 and was called by the big blind table chip leader with A5o. An ace fell on turn and I went out in 508th winning $389.90 for my efforts.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Implicit Collusion

- Implicit collusion occurs in tournament poker when a player has bet all of their remaining chips and is called by more than one player. It is the decision made by all remaining players in the hand to cease betting into a side pot, and it is the only form of teamwork allowed in the game (it is allowed in fact because it is implicit). This strategy has two advantages. The first is that an eliminated opponent helps everyone at the table move higher up on the payout scale. Secondly, the main pot won’t be won by either remaining player if the all-in has the best hand. Therefore a bet into the main pot may not return anything.

- I came to know about implicit collusion the same way many poker fans have. While I was watching a televised tournament two players used it to eliminate another. The announcer stated that checking down to the river is almost a forgone conclusion when a player is all in. Indeed many players will get outright offended by a bet when implicit collusion can be used. However, like everything else in poker, implicit collusion should be used only after all factors are considered.

- I had a recent chance to use implicit collusion. I was at the final table of a $4.40 buy-in 180 person tournament. Sixth place payed $36 and fifth payed $46.80, a significant jump for my online bankroll. The winner would receive $216. Here is the hand history with my comments:

PokerStars Game #22802198942: Tournament #126155012, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (600/1200) - 2008/12/10 18:21:48 ET
Table '126155012 4' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: Player1 (47926 in chips)
Seat 4: Player2 (5401 in chips)
Seat 5: Player3 (111977 in chips)
Seat 6: CgCook38 (31569 in chips)
Seat 7: Player4 (46108 in chips)
Seat 9: Player5 (27019 in chips)
Player1: posts the ante 125
Player2: posts the ante 125
Player3: posts the ante 125
CgCook38: posts the ante 125
Player4: posts the ante 125
Player5: posts the ante 125
Player1: posts small blind 600
Player2: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [As Jc]

Pretty good starting cards in pretty good position. I have been showing down cards of high value and most of my raises pre-flop were respected.

Player3: raises 3600 to 4800
Player3 is a solid player that seems to know hand values pretty well. I had not seen him make any silly moves since being seated next to him. I felt that a re-raise would do a few things here – First, it would keep the players behind me from entering the hand. My AJ is a pretty weak hand and I don’t want to play it out of position. Second, I really don’t want to see a flop with my weak ace, and I felt that Player3 might possibly fold if he was raising with a weak ace or a small pocket pair. If he has me beat and doesn't fold, he will likely raise all-in and I can easily fold.

CgCook38: raises 7200 to 12000
Player4: folds
Player5: folds
Player1: folds
Player2: calls 4076 and is all-in
This was unexpected. Player2 has played extremely solid values and I didn’t expect him to come in. He must have AA, KK, or QQ or perhaps AK.

Player3: calls 7200
This is unfortunate. I really didn’t want to see three players go to the flop. There is 17,178 chips in the main pot that Player2 is eligible for and 13,448 in the side pot.

*** FLOP *** [6s Ac Qh]
Is this the proper spot for implicit collusion? I have top pair. If I bet and Player3 folds I will win 13,448 and a possible total of 30,626 chips if I beat Player2 in a showdown. That would put me squarely in second place with 5 remaining. If I bet and Player3 can beat me, he will raise and likely Player2 will be eliminated anyway (again, likely). It would be the proper decision to bet here, but for some reason (since it is so ingrained in my brain to implicitly collude) I chose not to pay attention to how much money was in the side pot, and I checked and cost myself a shot at a lot of money and perhaps a win.

Player3: checks
CgCook38: checks
*** TURN *** [6s Ac Qh] [9d]
Player3: checks
CgCook38: checks
*** RIVER *** [6s Ac Qh 9d] [5s]
Player3: checks
CgCook38: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Player3: shows [5h 5c] (three of a kind, Fives)
Whoops… Player3 easily folds this to a bet at any point before the river card comes out. Player2 mucked [Js 9h] below and I would have won the hand outright (Note that I was way wrong about what hand Player2 was holding. Late in a tournament you never know what a player will do when short on chips). I was forced out of the tournament a few hands later because my chip stack was so low. Note that Player3 chose to use implicit collusion on the river. He could have bet here safely, as I will raise with anything that beats him, but will likely pay him off with a hand like AK or two pair.

CgCook38: mucks hand
Player3 collected 13448 from side pot
Player2: mucks hand
Player3 collected 17178 from main pot
Player3 said, "gg"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 30626 Main pot 17178. Side pot 13448. Rake 0
Board [6s Ac Qh 9d 5s]
Seat 3:
Player1(small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4:
Player2 (big blind) mucked [Js 9h]
Seat 5:
Player3 showed [5h 5c] and won (30626) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 6: CgCook38 mucked [As Jc]
Seat 7:
Player4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9:
Player5 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)