Money'd in the WWdN

I played the WWdN last night for the first time in quite a while. I made the final table and was the first of the final nine to exit. Suprisingly, the prize money went that deep, so I actually profited a few dollars. It's been a long time since I won anything in this tournament, so it was a nice change of pace.

Before I get into the specifics and lose the two readers I have, let me put in a plug for the WWdN: Not The Anithri Invitational at PokerStars Thursday at 22:30 EDT. It's tournament 30611882 if you look things up that way. Password is monkey. My co-host darval won't be playing this week and I'm iffy because I'm traveling on Friday and may not be done packing by tournament time. But feel free to play amongst yourselves.

I got rather lucky early on when I tried to cheaply play a suited ace, caught four to my flush on the flop, and then got priced out when MsJoanne doubled my initial bet of 120 and then GRobman pushed in all of his already doubled stack. I say I got lucky, because the turn would have filled my flush, but the river filled GRobman's boat and knocked out MsJoanne. Thanks for the huge bet GRobman.

A lot of folding followed that exciting hand. I used a hoyazo move to put kerriz0r to the test on a king high flop by betting her (I think she's a she) entire stack minus one chip. She folded and I added about 300 to my modest stack.

A bunch more folding followed. (I was playing a HORSE ring game at the same time, so I mostly played basic, tight poker til the latter stages of the WWdN.) Then Longshot1999 had the misfortune to push all-in with AQo against my KK. A Q fell on the flop but Longshot1999 didn't improve beyond that and my kings took down a nice 2055 pot. That was just shy of a double up for me.

Several more rounds of folding and watching the blinds eat away at my stack followed. I finally caught a playable hand, AQo, and made a standard 3BB raise to 450. xkm1245 made it 1200, but thought better of it when I pushed in the rest of my stack. A reasonable 1425 profit, bringing me to 3600, the second biggest stack at the table.

Much more lack of excitement ensued. I took a medium pot when I pushed all-in with pocket 7's. This got me back the blinds I'd been bleeding while waiting for some cards, but nothing more. My stack was still about 3600, but now there were several much bigger stacks at my table.

I started getting more playable hands, but they didn't all work out. Okay, most of them didn't work out. My stack was down to 1800 when I pushed all-in with AQo and took the blinds and antes. No biggie, usually, but adding another M to a M=3.5 stack is a nothing to sneeze at.

Caught a big blind special when my J9o saw a 9 high flop, giving me top pair and four to a Jack high flush. There was about 1000 in the pot, so I pushed in the 2000 I had left and got called by Smally2004 with just Ace high. My nines held and I was up to 5100, out of immediate danger, with blinds at 100/200 and 25 ante.

Slow evaporation of my stack continued until we moved to the final table. Two hands later Smally2004 inexplicably called the 3BB raise from my pocket 6's with K2s from the big blind. Despite the flop being very hostile to my small pair, I had no choice but to call the following 1BB all-in, and was very happy to see I only had to dodge seven cards -- the three kings and the jacks that would fill a straight. Sadly, a rivered king put a dent in my stack, bringing me down to 3800. With the blinds at 200/400 with a 25 ante, my M was slightly less than 5.

The very next hand I caught ATo, raised to 3BB and called the all-in from aquaverse. His pocket 8's were good and added insult to injury by catching a third on the river. I was now about to the dead zone with my stack down to 1600. This was my first big mistake. My initial raise was okay given my position and the situation, but I should have folded to the all-in.

Continuing my rapid exit from the tournament, the next hand brought me suited big slick. With an M under 2, how can you not push with that hand? I get three callers and am hoping to quadruple up, but the board brought me no improvement and HermWarfare's set of sixes put me to bed. Three hands and out.

I can't say that I played brilliantly. I made some nice bets, stole a couple small pots, and otherwise played like anyone else who's read Harrington. Can't complain about making the money though. It helped make up for the shellacking I took at ring HORSE.

More HORSE'ing around

Having read Wil's post on Razz yesterday, I was inspired to put my new found knowledge to work. So I sat down at a $1/$2 HORSE table at Stars last night. As I've mentioned previously, I won my first HORSE tournament at Full Tilt, and have successfully played in one or two HORSE ring games. I'm far, far from an expert, but I'm starting to feel a little bit better about my O8 and having just read a full five or six paragraphs on Razz, I was sure I'd have a huge advantage at whatever table I joined.

So, naturally, I proceeded to get my ass kicked. I played just a couple hands of Holdem before the game switched to O8. My cards were crap so I saw the flop cheap when I could and got the hell out of Dodge when I couldn't. My bad cards continued into the Razz round and nothing much happened in stud. Then we hit stud hi/lo. I'm starting to really hate that game. Twice I had what looked to be the obvious winner going high, only to have one of the low hands pull out a straight and kick the crap out of my trips. I was quickly down below the point where I should have bought in again.

Finally the hell that is stud hi/lo was over and we were back to Holdem, something I knew how to play. Rather strangely, as soon as we switched to holdem several people sat out. Either it was an odd coincidence, or they figured their advantage at Holdem was less than at the other games so they simply weren't going to play. I took a couple small pots at Holdem and reclaimed a bit of my dignity, if not much of my stack.

Then we were back to Razz. I got quite lucky with the cards this time around, but I also felt much more in control. I was paying close attention to all the other cards, taking full advantage of when it seemed I was the one well in the lead -- even if my hole cards said otherwise. I stole a couple pots, got some great cards in a couple others, and ended the Razz round with my stack completely restored and a nice profit on top. It was getting late so I took my small winnings and headed to bed.

This was just one admittedly lucky round of Razz, but from what I saw I'd have to agree with Wil. There are some very bad Razz players at the HORSE tables. Several times I'd look at an opponent's hand and wonder what kind of junk he thought I had underneath that he was willing to chase with what he was showing. But chase they did.

If I can keep from losing my ass at stud hi/lo, this HORSE may well be worth riding.

Rebuy Redux

It's been a while since I've played any rebuy tourneys. I don't much care for the free-for-all atmosphere of the rebuy period. It's more like shooting craps than playing poker. But, for reasons unknown even to me, I jumped in to a $10+1 rebuy on Stars over the weekend. I figured I'd allow myself up to four rebuys, but no more.

The last time I did one of these I ended up with seven rebuys and an add-on. Fortunately, that was only a $3 one, so my total buy-in was $27. I was very disappointed in my money management toward the end of that one, so I wanted to do better on that aspect this time.

Despite the presence of one total nut case at my first table (she -- I think it was a she -- rebought at least ten times and was seeing the flop on about 70% of her hands), I managed to keep my head, play a smart game, and come out of the rebuy period without a single rebuy. My stack was just slightly less than average. Considering the number of really big stacks at the top of the leader board, I'm sure I was actually well above the halfway point as far as stack size goes. I did go for the add-on, topping me up to 8600.

Shortly after the first break I'm in the SB with A2s. It folds to me. I've got an Ace, so I make it 3BB to go. The big blind calls. Flop comes AJ3, only one of my suit. I'm figuring any hand that has me seriously beat would have re-raised before the flop. (One of these days I'm going to quit expecting everyone to play like I do.) For some reason the thought of JJ shoots through my head, but, seriously, who would have just called pre-flop with JJ? Obviously, a bigger ace has me beat at this point, but, again, I would have expected a pre-flop re-raise from a really big ace, and I figure I can probably bluff out a smaller ace.

So I bet 600 (2/3 the pot) and the BB pushes all-in. The alarm bells were definitely going off, but I ignored them. I call. The other guy turns over JJ. This was either a brilliant slowplay of JJ or one of the stupidest ways to play a vulnerable hand I've ever seen. I'm leaning toward the latter. His set holds and I'm down to 1700.

Two hands later I get TT and push all-in against a 3BB raise ahead of me. He shows A4o. Naturally, an ace falls on the turn and, having survived the rebuy period without a scratch, I'm gone a mere 12 hands later. Extremely disappointing.

Bubbled Again

Like on most Thursdays, I played the WWdN: Not The at Stars tonight. Very tough final table, particularly when it got down to the last five. Hoyazo dominated much of the time, taking full advantage of his big stack. I had abused him badly earlier in the tournament -- thought for sure he was done for a couple times -- so I'm sure he really enjoyed swiping my blinds.

Slb159 went out in fifth and cried foul when I called his pre-flop 3BB all-in raise from the big blind with 43s. Given the situation -- slb159 with an M of 1.5 with the blinds coming up next hand and me already in the big blind and having a big enough stack that a loss doesn't hurt much -- I'm calling with any two cards every single time.

Let's run it down. With such a low M and the blinds rapidly approaching, I can't give slb159 credit for much more than a random hand. If he's lucky, he's caught a high card. Against such a hand even the hammer is just slightly worse than a 3:2 dog. (Yes, I know some of you think the hammer would have a decided advantage.) It cost me 446 to call a 1071 pot. The pot's giving me 2.4:1. Do the little bit of math that's left. Unless the other guy is one of those who will let himself get completely blinded out waiting for solid starters, and there aren't any of those in this tournament, I have no choice but to make the call. He may have gotten very lucky and caught a pocket pair just in the nick of time, in which case my odds go in the dumper, but it's still not going to hurt me all that much.

I paired on the flop, slb159 didn't improve, and I completed the job Anithri started a couple hands before. Slb159 finished in fifth.

Did I get lucky to hit one of my cards? Absolutely. Was the outcome totally unexpected or a real longshot? Absolutely not.

As for the comment about bluffing, this is poker, babee. If you ain't bluffin', you ain't playin' it right.

Forty hands and one recovery from the brink of extinction later, hoyazo out high-carded me (A v. K) to knock me out on the bubble. Hoyazo went on to win, with Anithri taking second and NewinNov finishing third. Well played, all. Special congrats to hoyazo for winning both the WWdN and the WWdN: Not The this week.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to play next week as I'm flying back to California on Friday and I have to move out of my home of two months here at the luxurious Extended Stay America, which means packing up on Thursday night. I'm just hoping all the crap I've accumulated will still fit in my car. But I've already scheduled the WWdN: Not The Anithri Invitational, so please join in regardless of whether darval or I can make it. It's tournament 30611882 at PokerStars, Aug 31 22:30 EDT. Password is monkey.

HORSE'ing Around Some More

It seems I owe Full Tilt a partial apology. I don't know how I didn't notice, but the game change and the level change are coordinated. It was probably that fog of war thing that hampered my powers of observation. The game changes every six minutes with the level. At least until toward the end when I think it goes to all Hold'em.

I hold fast on my criticism of their not making the game change more obvious. PokerStars puts up a nice yellow pop-up announcing the change. You can't miss it unless you've dozed off. Full Tilt should do the same.

Of course, I think Full Tilt should get rid of those silly cartoon characters. It's hard to take seriously any site that lets you pick a frog or a rock or that evil, god-forsaken clown to represent you at the table. They clearly want to be taken seriously with all those pros they've signed up to pimp for them, and then they put clowns around the table. And, no, I'm not talking about Mike Matusow. It doesn't make sense to me. But what do I know?

HORSE'ing Around

I played a $5+$0.50 limit HORSE SnG at Full Tilt today. This was my first time playing HORSE. Actually, it was my first time, period, playing some of these games outside of my semi-regular friendly game.

First, some comments about the mechanics. I don't think Full Tilt does a good job in announcing the game changes or even what the current game is. Hold'em and Omaha aren't mentioned anywhere. I suppose they figure the arrangement of the cards in front of you should make it obvious, but when the fog of war descends it's easy to get confused and disoriented. It's a simple thing to put the name of the current game somewhere obvious on the screen and they should do so.

When the game changes to Razz, Stud, or Stud Hi/Lo, they put the name of the game in the middle of the table, but it's easy to overlook. (More on this later.) I think when the game changes at all they should do some kind of pop-up in the client. It's way too easy to overlook the RSE game changes.

I also don't think their 5-minute levels work particularly well with this game. This seems a natural for level change when the game changes, and I think they should go that way.

As for the game, it's a bit of a blur in my mind. I remember winning an early hand. And then not much happened for a long time. Toward the middle I started getting some okay cards. At least I think they were okay. O8 still confuses the hell out of me, though I'm definitely past the phase where you keep forgetting two-from-your-hand-and-three-from-the-board.

I do remember the turning point for me were two consecutive hands. We were playing Razz and for once I got some excellent starting cards -- A42. I end up all-in and my 974 beat the other guy's 976. Great hand. I more than double up to 1,990.

On the very next hand I get dealt A72. Fourth street brings me a 6. I figure I'm looking good. The only player showing anything threatening, 53, goes all-in for 45. I make it 200 and there are two other callers. On fifth street I get the 3. I've got a made 76. The all-in guy with the 53 just paired his fives. I couldn't be happier with this hand. I bet 400.

While waiting for one of the other players to act my eye moves across the middle of the table where I see the rather inconspicuous listing of the current game -- Stud Hi. WHAT??? When did the game change? Oh, shit! I'm playing the wrong freakin' game. I've got almost half my stack in the pot and I've got Ace high. I am so screwed. My only prayer now is that both the other guys fold, though I've still got to beat a pair of fives. I get one caller and one fold. I'm hoping I can force the other guy out on the next card and at least I'll be able to salvage something from this.

Sixth street brings the 4h. An improvement on my low hand that won't count, but still my absolute salvation. I've got four other hearts, including the ace. I've just filled a nut flush. The other guy still active is showing three diamonds and three to a straight. I bet, he raises to 800 and I push in my remaining 360 chips.

Seventh street is of no consequence to anyone. The guy who'd gone all-in earlier actually had aces in the hole, ending up with aces and fives. The other guy also caught his flush on sixth street, but his was only queen high. I backed my way into a 4,795 pot by playing the wrong game. This made me the chip leader. I caught a few decent hands beyond this, but mostly I used my stack to bully the rest of the table, never relinquishing the lead.



I'm not entirely sure if I had fun at this or not. It's nice winnning, but I spent a good deal of the time rather confused, not sure what makes a good hand and what doesn't in most of the games. I'm also well aware I totally lucked into winning that one big hand that made all the difference. I do know I'm willing to give it another try. If you have any real clue about what you're doing in the last four letters of HORSE, this could be an opportunity to take advantage of a lot of confusion in the larger poker community. And let me know where you're playing so I can stay away.

WWdN: Not The Biggest Tournament Around

Rather small turnout for the WWdN: Not The last night. Only nine players. We started on two short-handed tables and played that way until the first elimination.

I got lucky early on when my QQ turned a full house against a flopped pair of K's and I sent BlkBeltJones home early.

Then the crappy internet connection in my hotel started acting up and I'm sure I annoyed the hell out of everyone by timing out over and over. I know it's bugged me in the past when there's someone at the table who consistently times out, so my apologies to everyone. I need to either find an apartment or a hotel with better internet service.

I mostly drifted for the next 40-some hands until I stupidly underbet my turned TP and let surflexus draw to his flush. He caught his fifth diamond on the river and took most of my stack.

I continued being mostly card dead and blinded down to almost nothing. I know Harrington says when you get down to the felt you should just push with any two, but when surrounded by vastly larger stacks who won't even feel it if they call your all-in and lose, I prefer waiting for a hand with some kind of a chance. I'm not too demanding; anything better than average will do.

I doubled up through surflexus when my QT rivered a straight, but on the very next hand my AJs went down to slb159's KQo rivered flush. Bubble boy again.

Surflexus was on fire most of the night and went on to win. For the second week in a row TROPHYHUBBY came in second.

Please join us next week -- 30188246 Aug 24 22:30 WWdN: Not The TROPHYHUBBY Invitational -- at PokerStars. The password is monkey.

What's a suckout?

Damn. I got enticed into creating this blog so I could post comments on other restricted blogs, and now here I am adding entries to my own. Okay, I promise this will be the last time (yeah, right) I'll whine about not really wanting to blog.

I played a SnG at Bodog yesterday and somebody made a comment about a suckout and another player asked, "What's a suckout?" I suspect he was joking, though he did seem genuinely thankful for the explanations. If he was just trying to enhance his "beginner" image, nh.

Darval talks about what consitutes a suckout in his blog and that prompted me to respond and then do even more in-depth research. After reading through a lot of blather from people who admitted they didn't know what they were talking about but didn't let that stop them from posting endlessly about the topic, I finally came upon what I think constitutes a good working definition of "suckout".

Jobe Gilchrist over on the Full Tilt forums posted something which I will now paraphrase. A suckout occurs when at some point in the hand a player made a very, very bad decision and won the hand anyway. Bad decision here is used in the sense that if you could see all the cards you would not make that same decision. Very, very bad decision is used in the sense that if you'd just gotten paid after six months at sea and were already on your sixth Mojito and could just barely see your own cards, you'd never make that same decision if all the other cards were face up.

Feel free to discuss among yourselves.

Addendum: Not worth a post of its own, but I'd like to remind both of the people reading this blog about the WWdN: Not The Katitude Invitational tournament at PokerStars on 10 August at 2230 EDT. It's not usually a big tournament, but it makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity. Password is monkey.