If poker has taught me anything, it's that one shouldn't attempt to draw larger conclusions from a small set of occurrences. It's one of the fallacies that allows the sharks to feed off the fishes.
That said, I'm starting to wonder if the sharks aren't beginning to swarm in the Double-Up pool. Until the last couple days most of the Double-Ups I've played have been heavily populated with players who clearly didn't have a clue about proper strategy.
Some of the ones I've played recently, though, have had a majority of players who weren't idiots. Play even in the turbos has dragged on for quite a while, with pressure being applied all around.
I'm playing one right now where the VP$IPs of the last six players are 14%, 4%, 12%, 7%, 18%, and the high of 32%. That's after 60 hands. These all appear to be decent players who know what they're doing in this situation. No rash moves. No panic from the small stacks. It's kind of scary.
I'm dearly hoping this is just a blip and not indication of a larger trend. These have been quite profitable for me.
In case you're wondering, the one I was playing finally ended. The guy with the VP$IP of 32% made a stupid move on the last hand, raising a dry pot on the river when one player was already all-in, but it turned out okay. He won the hand and I added another big $4.80 to my bankroll.
Addendum: I just played another one that went longer than any of the turbo Double-Ups I've played. The play was very, very tight, but a couple of these guys still didn't have a clue about strategy. Three times there was a player who had crumbs left after posting the blinds and this one bigger stack raised pre-flop. He raised! I couldn't believe it. One player left to eliminate. One player who is clearly going all-in for just a bit more than the BB. And this moron raises and shuts everyone else out of the pot. I was screaming at the screen.
There were a couple other times where there were obvious calls to be made and people folded. I recall one where the SB had about 200 more than the BB. (The amount, not the player.) I had a lot of chips so I called from the button knowing he'd push and the BB (the player, not the amount) would call. He pushed, then the BB folds. He's already in for 800 and he folds for 200 more. Oh, well. They may be tight players, but they clearly don't know beans about proper strategy.
30 January 2009
29 January 2009
Double-Up Object Lesson
Today I'm going to yet again ram home the point made in Secret #1a. Don't risk chips when there's nothing to gain. This happened on the last hand of a tournament I just finished.
Here's the scenario. Six players left. Blinds are 125/250/25. The SB has 180 left after posting the blind. Proceeding to the left, the BB has 6235, UTG has 1960, I'm UTG+1 with 3140, the cutoff has 1580, and the button has 1380. If you've been reading this series, you know I consider this to be the entire table vs the SB.
UTG folds. I've got AJo. I wanted to force the SB all-in, so I made a min-raise to 500. In hindsight, I should have just called. The raise was more likely to scare him away. Here's where the larger mistake occurred. The cutoff raises to 1000, leaving 580 behind. Huh? The whole point here was to get the SB to push in with his last chips. Okay, again, I should have just called, but this guy has now compounded my error and clearly violated Secret #1a. All he has to do is stay alive a few more hands, one round at most, and he's in the money. But now he's trying to add chips for no good reason. And he's made it clear to the SB that unless he's holding AA, his correct move is to fold.
Of course, it folds around to me. The correct action would have been for me to fold. But I knew the SB was about 95% to go out in the next couple hands and even if I went all-in against this guy and lost, I'd still have enough chips to survive. And I wanted an opportunity to punish this guy for hisstupidity improper play. I know that probably sounds horrible, but his action annoyed the hell out of me. Plus, I could always end it on this hand. I call.
The flop comes AT7 with two spades. I check, knowing the other guy is going to push in and that I'm going to make the call, hoping he doesn't have me outkicked. Naturally, he pushes, which turns out to be an evendumber less optimal move than his pre-flop raise. I call. He turns over KK. The turn and river bring him no salvation.
I know it's hard not to take aggressive action with KK, but you still have to take the overall situation into account. If he'd just called pre-flop I wouldn't be writing this. Absolutely couldn't fault him for that. If he'd checked it down I wouldn't be writing this. He'd have still lost, but he'd be left with enough chips that he might outlast the SB. Re-raising pre-flop was risking chips he didn't need to and pushing all-in with an ace on the board is risking the whole tournament for unneeded chips. And he paid the price.
One can only hope the guy with KK learned something here.
Thus ends today's object lesson.
Here's the scenario. Six players left. Blinds are 125/250/25. The SB has 180 left after posting the blind. Proceeding to the left, the BB has 6235, UTG has 1960, I'm UTG+1 with 3140, the cutoff has 1580, and the button has 1380. If you've been reading this series, you know I consider this to be the entire table vs the SB.
UTG folds. I've got AJo. I wanted to force the SB all-in, so I made a min-raise to 500. In hindsight, I should have just called. The raise was more likely to scare him away. Here's where the larger mistake occurred. The cutoff raises to 1000, leaving 580 behind. Huh? The whole point here was to get the SB to push in with his last chips. Okay, again, I should have just called, but this guy has now compounded my error and clearly violated Secret #1a. All he has to do is stay alive a few more hands, one round at most, and he's in the money. But now he's trying to add chips for no good reason. And he's made it clear to the SB that unless he's holding AA, his correct move is to fold.
Of course, it folds around to me. The correct action would have been for me to fold. But I knew the SB was about 95% to go out in the next couple hands and even if I went all-in against this guy and lost, I'd still have enough chips to survive. And I wanted an opportunity to punish this guy for his
The flop comes AT7 with two spades. I check, knowing the other guy is going to push in and that I'm going to make the call, hoping he doesn't have me outkicked. Naturally, he pushes, which turns out to be an even
I know it's hard not to take aggressive action with KK, but you still have to take the overall situation into account. If he'd just called pre-flop I wouldn't be writing this. Absolutely couldn't fault him for that. If he'd checked it down I wouldn't be writing this. He'd have still lost, but he'd be left with enough chips that he might outlast the SB. Re-raising pre-flop was risking chips he didn't need to and pushing all-in with an ace on the board is risking the whole tournament for unneeded chips. And he paid the price.
One can only hope the guy with KK learned something here.
Thus ends today's object lesson.
27 January 2009
Double-Up Secrets #6
I don't have a clever name for this one. You could file it under "collusion", or one of the entries about the small stacks being the enemy, or we could just call it "Use your frellin' head!"
Here's the situation. Small stack moves all-in for less than 2BB. SB, who has him well covered, calls. The BB, who has about three times as many chips as the next closest stack and would in no way miss the chips, folds. What kind of cards can you possibly have that you fold on a chance to force out the final player when you're getting better than 5:1 on your money? 72o is only giving 8:1 against AA. AKs vs 32o is only 3:2 in favor of AK.
Admittedly, the pot odds are somewhat irrelevant at this point and maybe the guy figured he'd just be donating to the small stack, but there is already one caller. This is going to the showdown and two players vs one greatly increases the odds of the one player losing.
If a player moves all-in with less than 2BB and you've got three times as many chips as the next closest player and you clearly won't miss the 2BB, you call. There's nothing to think about here. It doesn't matter what your cards are. You call. End of story.
If you fold and the small stack wins, he gets one or two BB less than he would have if you called. In this case the difference is less than 1BB. If you call and the small stack wins, he gets one or two BB more than he would have if you folded. Neither of these results is likely to make a huge difference in the overall outcome for you. If you call and win, the small stack is out and you're one player closer to winning the prize.
Use your heads out there, people.
Here's the situation. Small stack moves all-in for less than 2BB. SB, who has him well covered, calls. The BB, who has about three times as many chips as the next closest stack and would in no way miss the chips, folds. What kind of cards can you possibly have that you fold on a chance to force out the final player when you're getting better than 5:1 on your money? 72o is only giving 8:1 against AA. AKs vs 32o is only 3:2 in favor of AK.
Admittedly, the pot odds are somewhat irrelevant at this point and maybe the guy figured he'd just be donating to the small stack, but there is already one caller. This is going to the showdown and two players vs one greatly increases the odds of the one player losing.
If a player moves all-in with less than 2BB and you've got three times as many chips as the next closest player and you clearly won't miss the 2BB, you call. There's nothing to think about here. It doesn't matter what your cards are. You call. End of story.
If you fold and the small stack wins, he gets one or two BB less than he would have if you called. In this case the difference is less than 1BB. If you call and the small stack wins, he gets one or two BB more than he would have if you folded. Neither of these results is likely to make a huge difference in the overall outcome for you. If you call and win, the small stack is out and you're one player closer to winning the prize.
Use your heads out there, people.
23 January 2009
Double-Up Secrets #5
Double-Up Secrets #5: Time your all-in
At some point in these double-up tournaments you're bound to find yourself with a small stack and in need of at least stealing the blinds. And sometimes, regardless of how patient you've been, the cards just aren't cooperating. You haven't seen a decent hand in ages and you're getting desperate. Hopefully you still have enough chips left to make at least some of the other players take notice when you push all-in.
It won't happen all the time, it may not even happen often, but sometimes you'll find the players in the blinds have fairly comfortable stacks -- well situated in the top five -- but not so comfortable that you are of no concern. If your stack is big enough to move them out of that comfort zone if they call your all-in and you win, that's the situation you want.
If you aren't getting cards and are forced to make a move, you're just hoping everybody is going to fold to your bet. By timing your move so the players in the best position to make the call are ones that you can hurt, you maximize your chances of getting the folds you want.
Here's an example from a recent tournament. Blinds are 125/250/25. I'm the small stack with T1085. The next closest stacks have T1535 and T1615. It folds to me in the cutoff. I've got a lowly 98o. The button has T1940. He's likely to not be playing anything but super-premium hands. The SB is the big stack with T5780. He's a concern because he can double me up and barely notice it. The BB has T2520 left after putting in the blind.
In this situation, the BB is comfortable, but calling my all-in and losing would knock him right out of that comfort zone and make him the small stack. If he's a smart player, he's unlikely to call with anything less than AA or KK.
Pushing all-in here with 98o is clearly a gamble, but by evaluating the situation you can maximize the odds that your gamble will pay off.
I pushed and it folded around. I was no longer the small stack and the blinds were about to hit the other two small stacks. Three hands later it was all over. The well timed push with junk was just what I needed to survive until the big stack could knock somebody else out.
The same kind of thing certainly applies to normal tournaments as well, but the comfort zone that exists in the double-up tournaments isn't quite the same in regular tournaments. Players are always looking to acquire more chips and will be far more likely to call what looks like a desperation all-in with mediocre holdings. The threat of dropping out of that comfort zone is what makes this more likely to succeed in the double-ups.
At some point in these double-up tournaments you're bound to find yourself with a small stack and in need of at least stealing the blinds. And sometimes, regardless of how patient you've been, the cards just aren't cooperating. You haven't seen a decent hand in ages and you're getting desperate. Hopefully you still have enough chips left to make at least some of the other players take notice when you push all-in.
It won't happen all the time, it may not even happen often, but sometimes you'll find the players in the blinds have fairly comfortable stacks -- well situated in the top five -- but not so comfortable that you are of no concern. If your stack is big enough to move them out of that comfort zone if they call your all-in and you win, that's the situation you want.
If you aren't getting cards and are forced to make a move, you're just hoping everybody is going to fold to your bet. By timing your move so the players in the best position to make the call are ones that you can hurt, you maximize your chances of getting the folds you want.
Here's an example from a recent tournament. Blinds are 125/250/25. I'm the small stack with T1085. The next closest stacks have T1535 and T1615. It folds to me in the cutoff. I've got a lowly 98o. The button has T1940. He's likely to not be playing anything but super-premium hands. The SB is the big stack with T5780. He's a concern because he can double me up and barely notice it. The BB has T2520 left after putting in the blind.
In this situation, the BB is comfortable, but calling my all-in and losing would knock him right out of that comfort zone and make him the small stack. If he's a smart player, he's unlikely to call with anything less than AA or KK.
Pushing all-in here with 98o is clearly a gamble, but by evaluating the situation you can maximize the odds that your gamble will pay off.
I pushed and it folded around. I was no longer the small stack and the blinds were about to hit the other two small stacks. Three hands later it was all over. The well timed push with junk was just what I needed to survive until the big stack could knock somebody else out.
The same kind of thing certainly applies to normal tournaments as well, but the comfort zone that exists in the double-up tournaments isn't quite the same in regular tournaments. Players are always looking to acquire more chips and will be far more likely to call what looks like a desperation all-in with mediocre holdings. The threat of dropping out of that comfort zone is what makes this more likely to succeed in the double-ups.
21 January 2009
Double-Up Secrets #4
Today I'm going to write about a topic that's not just a secret for double-up tournaments, it's treated kind of like a poker secret in general. It's often practiced by the pros in tournaments but seldom discussed. So let's keep today's topic just among ourselves.
Double-Up Secret #4: Collusion
Perhaps "collusion" is a bit too pejorative. Let's call it players acting in their own collective best interest.
The situations where this might come into play occur fairly often in the very latest stages of double-up tournaments. (The same concept will often apply in any tournament where the top X players all get the same prize and to a lesser extent in any tournament where the prize steps start getting big.)
Say there are two or three big stacks with T3000 or more and one small stack with less than T500. Say blinds are 150/300/30 and there are six players left. One of the big stacks limps and the shortie pushes all-in. It's almost a lock the limper is going to call since he's getting more than 4:1 on the call. The proper play for any of the big stacks yet to act is to make the call, regardless of what cards they hold. If the original big stack has a brain, he will call. Then, and here's the "collective best interest" part, everyone checks it all the way down. If you caught quads on the flop, you still check it all the way down.
There are two key points here. First, the shortie doesn't have enough chips to put much of a hurt on any of the big stacks. Second, and this is a repeated theme, the "enemy" here is the shortie. It is in the collective best interest of all the remaining players to do whatever maximizes the chances of eliminating the final player. The shortie is all-in, so he's going to the showdown no matter what. The best odds for the other players to defeat him is to have as many hands as possible going against him.
All too often I see this kind of situation arise, and then one of the bigger stacks catches something on the flop and can't resist the temptation of betting his hand. He's lost sight of the true goal -- survival. In this case survival is best achieved by eliminating that last player. And that is best served by having everyone hang around until the showdown.
A similar scenario that will often come up is when one player is forced all-in by the blinds or the ante. Be observant for this and, if it doesn't cost you most of your chips, be sure to call. And pray the players acting behind you know how to act in their own best interest. Again, the proper play is to call and then check it all the way down. Five hands drawing against one have far better odds of coming out on top.
Sometimes that last scenario will arise when there is more than one player yet to be eliminated. The collective best play is still to call and check it down, but you need to watch for shorter stacks who may hit the flop big and decide their personal best interest is served by pushing all-in. For this reason it may be best to only make the original call if you won't miss those chips (they're a tiny part of your stack) or you can afford to call the second biggest stack without serious damage to your stack.
In any of these situations there's always the possibility of some idiot who doesn't know the proper play. He'll catch on the flop and put in a big bet. In this case, all you can do is scream at the screen, shake your head in disgust, do what makes the most sense to conserve your chips, and take solace in the certainty that karma will catch up to him eventually.
There will sometimes be other situations where there will be an opportunity for players to act in concert toward their own collective best interest. In Double-Up Secrets #1 I wrote about a tournament I played where somebody built a big stack and then sat out.
Ordinarily, given the size of the player's stack, this wouldn't be a bad idea. In this case, however, the chips moved around among the smaller stacks for quite a while and this player was eventually in serious danger of blinding out. I was monitoring his stack size and noticed when it was getting low. In fairness to some of the other players, PokerSnore overwrites the player's stack size with "Sitting Out" when the player isn't at the table, so you had to hover over his spot to have his stack size pop up. But keeping track of the size of the other players' stacks, even if they're sitting out, is part of situational awareness. Everyone should be doing this at all times.
With just one more player to be eliminated, it became clear to me that the best course of action for the active players was to simply fold to the BB as quickly as possible. This would move the blinds around and more rapidly deplete the stack of the player sitting out. Sadly, not everyone caught on to this fact. Eventually this player was blinded out and eliminated, but we had to sit through a number of completely unnecessary hands being played out because some players were either unaware of the situation or couldn't figure out for themselves the proper strategy.
I want to make it clear that this was not a situation of someone who was unavoidably detained and fully intended to return. It was clear he sat out on this table as a strategy toward winning. It removed the temptation to play marginal hands and allowed him to do other things while coasting to a win. His sitting out was a strategy, and as such is subject to being taken advantage of just like any other strategy.
At any rate, the larger point is to maintain situational awareness and keep looking for spots where you can further the collective interests of those players most likely to win, which hopefully includes you.
Double-Up Secret #4: Collusion
Perhaps "collusion" is a bit too pejorative. Let's call it players acting in their own collective best interest.
The situations where this might come into play occur fairly often in the very latest stages of double-up tournaments. (The same concept will often apply in any tournament where the top X players all get the same prize and to a lesser extent in any tournament where the prize steps start getting big.)
Say there are two or three big stacks with T3000 or more and one small stack with less than T500. Say blinds are 150/300/30 and there are six players left. One of the big stacks limps and the shortie pushes all-in. It's almost a lock the limper is going to call since he's getting more than 4:1 on the call. The proper play for any of the big stacks yet to act is to make the call, regardless of what cards they hold. If the original big stack has a brain, he will call. Then, and here's the "collective best interest" part, everyone checks it all the way down. If you caught quads on the flop, you still check it all the way down.
There are two key points here. First, the shortie doesn't have enough chips to put much of a hurt on any of the big stacks. Second, and this is a repeated theme, the "enemy" here is the shortie. It is in the collective best interest of all the remaining players to do whatever maximizes the chances of eliminating the final player. The shortie is all-in, so he's going to the showdown no matter what. The best odds for the other players to defeat him is to have as many hands as possible going against him.
All too often I see this kind of situation arise, and then one of the bigger stacks catches something on the flop and can't resist the temptation of betting his hand. He's lost sight of the true goal -- survival. In this case survival is best achieved by eliminating that last player. And that is best served by having everyone hang around until the showdown.
A similar scenario that will often come up is when one player is forced all-in by the blinds or the ante. Be observant for this and, if it doesn't cost you most of your chips, be sure to call. And pray the players acting behind you know how to act in their own best interest. Again, the proper play is to call and then check it all the way down. Five hands drawing against one have far better odds of coming out on top.
Sometimes that last scenario will arise when there is more than one player yet to be eliminated. The collective best play is still to call and check it down, but you need to watch for shorter stacks who may hit the flop big and decide their personal best interest is served by pushing all-in. For this reason it may be best to only make the original call if you won't miss those chips (they're a tiny part of your stack) or you can afford to call the second biggest stack without serious damage to your stack.
In any of these situations there's always the possibility of some idiot who doesn't know the proper play. He'll catch on the flop and put in a big bet. In this case, all you can do is scream at the screen, shake your head in disgust, do what makes the most sense to conserve your chips, and take solace in the certainty that karma will catch up to him eventually.
There will sometimes be other situations where there will be an opportunity for players to act in concert toward their own collective best interest. In Double-Up Secrets #1 I wrote about a tournament I played where somebody built a big stack and then sat out.
Ordinarily, given the size of the player's stack, this wouldn't be a bad idea. In this case, however, the chips moved around among the smaller stacks for quite a while and this player was eventually in serious danger of blinding out. I was monitoring his stack size and noticed when it was getting low. In fairness to some of the other players, PokerSnore overwrites the player's stack size with "Sitting Out" when the player isn't at the table, so you had to hover over his spot to have his stack size pop up. But keeping track of the size of the other players' stacks, even if they're sitting out, is part of situational awareness. Everyone should be doing this at all times.
With just one more player to be eliminated, it became clear to me that the best course of action for the active players was to simply fold to the BB as quickly as possible. This would move the blinds around and more rapidly deplete the stack of the player sitting out. Sadly, not everyone caught on to this fact. Eventually this player was blinded out and eliminated, but we had to sit through a number of completely unnecessary hands being played out because some players were either unaware of the situation or couldn't figure out for themselves the proper strategy.
I want to make it clear that this was not a situation of someone who was unavoidably detained and fully intended to return. It was clear he sat out on this table as a strategy toward winning. It removed the temptation to play marginal hands and allowed him to do other things while coasting to a win. His sitting out was a strategy, and as such is subject to being taken advantage of just like any other strategy.
At any rate, the larger point is to maintain situational awareness and keep looking for spots where you can further the collective interests of those players most likely to win, which hopefully includes you.
19 January 2009
Double-Up Secrets #3
Double-Up Secret #3: The big stack is also not your friend.
Last time I wrote about the big stack not being your enemy. Just because he isn't your enemy doesn't mean he's your friend.
When it's late in the going -- seven players left or a big gap between the five biggest stacks and the rest of the players -- you don't want to get involved in a serious pot with somebody who can put a bad hurt on you. I'm assuming you're one of the big stacks here. If you're one of the small stacks, you have no choice but to go up against somebody who can put you out or leave you with crumbs. If you're in the top five, particularly if there's a big gap between five and six, you don't want to risk losing a lot of chips.
This doesn't mean you have to run away every time a big stack limps into a pot. You just need to be sure you hit the flop huge before you commit a significant number of chips. If you catch big on the flop and are first to act, go ahead and bet out. The other guy, if he's smart, will run away. If the other guy bets into the flop or plays back at you, you best be holding THE nuts if you continue. The penultinuts is death in this situation. I've written before about how I made this mistake in a ticket tournament. I rode the penultinuts from a sure ticket right to the rail. It's a lesson that has been seared in my memory. Learn from my mistake. Remember, your goal at this point is not chip accumulation, it's chip conservation. You must stay in that top five. It's far better to take a small hit and run away than to risk losing a big chunk of your stack.
I see this kind of thing happen all the time. Guys who could sit out and make the money keep taking risks trying to accumulate chips and often find themselves on the rail with nothing.
You know you're involved with some smart players when you see two big stacks quickly check it all the way down once getting into the pot. They know that playing into each other will just end with sadness for one of them and not really that much additional joy for the other.
This secret covers much of the same ground as Double-Up Secret #1a, but it's well worth repeating.
Last time I wrote about the big stack not being your enemy. Just because he isn't your enemy doesn't mean he's your friend.
When it's late in the going -- seven players left or a big gap between the five biggest stacks and the rest of the players -- you don't want to get involved in a serious pot with somebody who can put a bad hurt on you. I'm assuming you're one of the big stacks here. If you're one of the small stacks, you have no choice but to go up against somebody who can put you out or leave you with crumbs. If you're in the top five, particularly if there's a big gap between five and six, you don't want to risk losing a lot of chips.
This doesn't mean you have to run away every time a big stack limps into a pot. You just need to be sure you hit the flop huge before you commit a significant number of chips. If you catch big on the flop and are first to act, go ahead and bet out. The other guy, if he's smart, will run away. If the other guy bets into the flop or plays back at you, you best be holding THE nuts if you continue. The penultinuts is death in this situation. I've written before about how I made this mistake in a ticket tournament. I rode the penultinuts from a sure ticket right to the rail. It's a lesson that has been seared in my memory. Learn from my mistake. Remember, your goal at this point is not chip accumulation, it's chip conservation. You must stay in that top five. It's far better to take a small hit and run away than to risk losing a big chunk of your stack.
I see this kind of thing happen all the time. Guys who could sit out and make the money keep taking risks trying to accumulate chips and often find themselves on the rail with nothing.
You know you're involved with some smart players when you see two big stacks quickly check it all the way down once getting into the pot. They know that playing into each other will just end with sadness for one of them and not really that much additional joy for the other.
This secret covers much of the same ground as Double-Up Secret #1a, but it's well worth repeating.
15 January 2009
Quest Update
The Quest is moving along quite nicely of late. The Double-Up tournaments have clearly been the shot in the arm that I needed. The bankroll is up 58% since I began playing these tournaments. PokerTracker tells me my ROI in these is 26%. I don't know if that's a good tournament ROI, but I know I'd love to get half that return on my other investments. I'm now 25 for 38.
I got email from what used to be Poker.com and is now PDC Poker reminding me that I still have money there. I loaded up their new software and found they sit $0.02/$0.04 NLHE. No short-handed tables, but at least it's another place I can play with the current bankroll. I played for about an hour and walked away with $1 in profits. Overall impression was that the tables were very soft. Much more like I would expect at this level. The tables at PokerStars are hardly filled with sharks, but there are far more decent players in the shallow end than you would imagine.
PDC Poker also sent me a special reload bonus offer, but the clearance requirements look a bit steep. 300 comp points to clear $1 of bonus. Playing an hour of $0.02/$0.04 I earned a big ZERO comp points. At Poker.com you earned comp points for just sitting there. At the new place I can't even find specifics on how the comp points are awarded. I think I'll pass on their fine reload offer.
The bankroll now stands at $169.41. If I can sustain the current pace the next step up should be less than two months away.
I got email from what used to be Poker.com and is now PDC Poker reminding me that I still have money there. I loaded up their new software and found they sit $0.02/$0.04 NLHE. No short-handed tables, but at least it's another place I can play with the current bankroll. I played for about an hour and walked away with $1 in profits. Overall impression was that the tables were very soft. Much more like I would expect at this level. The tables at PokerStars are hardly filled with sharks, but there are far more decent players in the shallow end than you would imagine.
PDC Poker also sent me a special reload bonus offer, but the clearance requirements look a bit steep. 300 comp points to clear $1 of bonus. Playing an hour of $0.02/$0.04 I earned a big ZERO comp points. At Poker.com you earned comp points for just sitting there. At the new place I can't even find specifics on how the comp points are awarded. I think I'll pass on their fine reload offer.
The bankroll now stands at $169.41. If I can sustain the current pace the next step up should be less than two months away.
Double-Up Secrets #2
Double-Up Secret #2: The big stack is not your enemy.
Remember, your goal is not to finish with the biggest stack. Your goal is to finish in the top five. This means your enemy, or at least the one you should be focusing on, is the small stack. If you are the small stack, then it's the player with the next bigger stack. Early on this isn't particularly relevant, but when you're down to seven players -- only two eliminations left -- the focus of your aggression should be the two smallest stacks. If there are several stacks all in the same range, all of them should be your target.
These are the guys you want to see lose chips. If you're in the top five, then it doesn't even matter if you're the one winning the chips. You just want to see the small stacks get smaller.
Conversely, these are the stacks you don't want to see get bigger. It's sometimes painful to see these guys take the blinds, but it would be even worse to limp with a marginal hand only to have the shortie go all-in from one of the blinds with just enough that you have to fold. Now you've made his stack just that much larger.
Hurt the small stacks whenever you can, but don't give them chips. Just like in any other tournament, somebody who's in trouble stack-wise is likely to push all-in with anything they think has a chance of winning. You don't want to go up against a small stack with anything you wouldn't be willing to call his all-in with. If he's a smart player he'll read a limp as weakness and an opportunity to pick up some badly needed chips. Be sure you aren't just donating when you call.
If you're finding these tips useful, I'd appreciate you stopping by Poker Weblogs and rating the Patchwork blog. You will need to register there in order to vote.
Remember, your goal is not to finish with the biggest stack. Your goal is to finish in the top five. This means your enemy, or at least the one you should be focusing on, is the small stack. If you are the small stack, then it's the player with the next bigger stack. Early on this isn't particularly relevant, but when you're down to seven players -- only two eliminations left -- the focus of your aggression should be the two smallest stacks. If there are several stacks all in the same range, all of them should be your target.
These are the guys you want to see lose chips. If you're in the top five, then it doesn't even matter if you're the one winning the chips. You just want to see the small stacks get smaller.
Conversely, these are the stacks you don't want to see get bigger. It's sometimes painful to see these guys take the blinds, but it would be even worse to limp with a marginal hand only to have the shortie go all-in from one of the blinds with just enough that you have to fold. Now you've made his stack just that much larger.
Hurt the small stacks whenever you can, but don't give them chips. Just like in any other tournament, somebody who's in trouble stack-wise is likely to push all-in with anything they think has a chance of winning. You don't want to go up against a small stack with anything you wouldn't be willing to call his all-in with. If he's a smart player he'll read a limp as weakness and an opportunity to pick up some badly needed chips. Be sure you aren't just donating when you call.
If you're finding these tips useful, I'd appreciate you stopping by Poker Weblogs and rating the Patchwork blog. You will need to register there in order to vote.
13 January 2009
Double-Up Secrets #1a
This one is somewhat a corollary of Double-Up Secret #1 and may on the surface sound like another, "Well, duh!"
Double-Up Secret #1a: Don't risk chips when there's nothing to gain.
I just finished playing a Double-Up tournament where I saw this happen. We were down to six. There were three players all with about T800, in serious danger, and three who were in no danger at all. One of the shorties got involved in a hand with one of the big stacks and came out on top, more than doubling up. He wasn't a shoe-in to win, but he was in no immediate danger and with two players still at T800 he should have been folding anything but super premium hands. In his situation I would probably fold anything other than AA, KK, or QQ. I might call from the SB with a very strong drawing hand. But that would be it.
The next hand he was in the BB with the big stack in the SB. It folds to the SB who does a min-raise. The BB is holding AJo. The number one priority at this point is to protect your stack. Short of super-premium holdings, the proper action here without question is to fold. I don't consider AJo to be a super-premium holding.
Instead of folding, he does a min-reraise. This is probably the worst possible play here. He's committed 15% of his very precious stack on a non-made hand. Further, he's made a bet that's sure to be called because the pot is laying almost 6:1. And he's playing against someone with a stack more than twice the size of his -- somebody who has no fear of him at all. I could maybe see making a call here with the assumption you'd fold unless hitting the flop huge, but fold is still the obvious correct play. Pushing all-in would be better than making a min-reraise. The SB calls.
The flop is QQ6. The SB checks. Not holding a Q, I'm checking here. If you put in a reasonable bet, say half the pot, your stack is back very close to the danger zone and you're almost pot committed. Doing that on a bluff is suicidal. He dons his kamikaze outfit and bets T450 into a T990 pot, leaving T1210 behind. The SB calls. Oops.
The turn is a 4, unlikely to be any help to anyone. The SB checks again. Watching as this unfolded, even without knowing the cards, I had the clear sense the guy had gotten himself into a bad situation and just didn't know how to get out. He had enough chips already in the pot he felt he couldn't leave them out there, but he didn't know how to get them back.
I have no clue what was going through his head, but he bet T750 into a T1890 pot, leaving T460 behind. If the SB has anything -- and he must have something or he would have folded to the flop bet -- he's not going to fold to such a small bet now. The BB is clearly pot committed at this point, but doesn't push all his chips in. This is either desperation or somebody holding QQ trying to suck the other guy into pushing him all-in. The SB raises him all-in. Being pot committed he has little choice but to call. Actually, given the way the betting unfolded, it was pretty clear he was toast. It would have been smarter to fold and take a chance on the next hand rather than tossing in the rest of the chips on what was sure to be a losing hand.
The SB turns over KQ and we don't even need to see the river. The two small stacks who were in big trouble no doubt say a prayer of thanks and the tournament is over.
There were many mistakes made here by the BB, but by far his biggest was getting involved in the first place. If he folds to the min-raise by the SB he's still got twice as many chips as the next closest stack and there are two players in serious trouble with just one elimination left. He should be playing turtle and letting the big stacks finish the tournament for him. Instead, he tried to build his stack to no good purpose. One of the short stacks is quite likely to be eliminated in the next round or two. There's no good reason to take a risk on chipping up at this point. Don't risk chips when there's nothing to gain.
Double-Up Secret #1a: Don't risk chips when there's nothing to gain.
I just finished playing a Double-Up tournament where I saw this happen. We were down to six. There were three players all with about T800, in serious danger, and three who were in no danger at all. One of the shorties got involved in a hand with one of the big stacks and came out on top, more than doubling up. He wasn't a shoe-in to win, but he was in no immediate danger and with two players still at T800 he should have been folding anything but super premium hands. In his situation I would probably fold anything other than AA, KK, or QQ. I might call from the SB with a very strong drawing hand. But that would be it.
The next hand he was in the BB with the big stack in the SB. It folds to the SB who does a min-raise. The BB is holding AJo. The number one priority at this point is to protect your stack. Short of super-premium holdings, the proper action here without question is to fold. I don't consider AJo to be a super-premium holding.
Instead of folding, he does a min-reraise. This is probably the worst possible play here. He's committed 15% of his very precious stack on a non-made hand. Further, he's made a bet that's sure to be called because the pot is laying almost 6:1. And he's playing against someone with a stack more than twice the size of his -- somebody who has no fear of him at all. I could maybe see making a call here with the assumption you'd fold unless hitting the flop huge, but fold is still the obvious correct play. Pushing all-in would be better than making a min-reraise. The SB calls.
The flop is QQ6. The SB checks. Not holding a Q, I'm checking here. If you put in a reasonable bet, say half the pot, your stack is back very close to the danger zone and you're almost pot committed. Doing that on a bluff is suicidal. He dons his kamikaze outfit and bets T450 into a T990 pot, leaving T1210 behind. The SB calls. Oops.
The turn is a 4, unlikely to be any help to anyone. The SB checks again. Watching as this unfolded, even without knowing the cards, I had the clear sense the guy had gotten himself into a bad situation and just didn't know how to get out. He had enough chips already in the pot he felt he couldn't leave them out there, but he didn't know how to get them back.
I have no clue what was going through his head, but he bet T750 into a T1890 pot, leaving T460 behind. If the SB has anything -- and he must have something or he would have folded to the flop bet -- he's not going to fold to such a small bet now. The BB is clearly pot committed at this point, but doesn't push all his chips in. This is either desperation or somebody holding QQ trying to suck the other guy into pushing him all-in. The SB raises him all-in. Being pot committed he has little choice but to call. Actually, given the way the betting unfolded, it was pretty clear he was toast. It would have been smarter to fold and take a chance on the next hand rather than tossing in the rest of the chips on what was sure to be a losing hand.
The SB turns over KQ and we don't even need to see the river. The two small stacks who were in big trouble no doubt say a prayer of thanks and the tournament is over.
There were many mistakes made here by the BB, but by far his biggest was getting involved in the first place. If he folds to the min-raise by the SB he's still got twice as many chips as the next closest stack and there are two players in serious trouble with just one elimination left. He should be playing turtle and letting the big stacks finish the tournament for him. Instead, he tried to build his stack to no good purpose. One of the short stacks is quite likely to be eliminated in the next round or two. There's no good reason to take a risk on chipping up at this point. Don't risk chips when there's nothing to gain.
12 January 2009
A Quest milestone
As I write this, The Quest bankroll stands at $150.06. That's the 30 buy-ins I need to safely play at $0.02/$0.05 NL. I've been playing at that level for a while, theoretically just getting my toes wet, but now it's official. The Quest is now marching toward the $0.05/$0.10 NL level.
It's always been my intent to use good bankroll management on The Quest. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the 30 buy-in bankroll. It was no big deal before. If I lost a few buy-ins I could easily refund or just start over. It's still not really a big deal, but the 30 buy-ins doesn't leave me feeling safe. I'd like to see more like 50 buy-ins in the bankroll.
I'm going to advance the buy-in level before the next move up. I'll start dabbling with $10 buy-in events when I hit 30 buy-ins, with the official move coming at 40 buy-ins. For the level after that I'll advance both points by another 10 buy-ins and will then be at the point I consider fairly safe.
It's always been my intent to use good bankroll management on The Quest. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the 30 buy-in bankroll. It was no big deal before. If I lost a few buy-ins I could easily refund or just start over. It's still not really a big deal, but the 30 buy-ins doesn't leave me feeling safe. I'd like to see more like 50 buy-ins in the bankroll.
I'm going to advance the buy-in level before the next move up. I'll start dabbling with $10 buy-in events when I hit 30 buy-ins, with the official move coming at 40 buy-ins. For the level after that I'll advance both points by another 10 buy-ins and will then be at the point I consider fairly safe.
You made the call
Well, actually, I don't know what you would have done because there were no responses to my "You make the call" entry.
Here's the situation. PokerSnore Double-Up tournament. You're in the BB for T300 with T1800 behind. Blinds are 150/300/30. There are six players remaining -- one more elimination and it's over. The short stack has T1415. The next biggest stack has T2430. You're holding KQs. The small stack pushes all-in and it folds around to you.
If you fold, you've still got T1800 and aren't in immediate danger of blinding out, but the SB is coming next hand and you'll be down to T1620. Just as importantly, the once small stack will have T2045 if you fold. He's pretty desperate, being down to less than 5BB. He could be pushing here with almost anything, hoping the other short stack won't play back at him.
If you call and win, the tournament is over and you walk away with money. If you call and lose, you're in very big trouble and will probably have to push with whatever you are dealt next hand. Certainly you'll have to push within the next four or five hands.
I made the call. Ultimately, I reasoned that no matter what I did I was going to have to risk all my chips within the next few hands. Better to make my stand now with decent holdings and hope my opponent had JJ or less, giving me a coin toss.
My opponent had AJo. I didn't catch and he took down the pot.
I was forced to push with 54o a couple hands later and ended up getting outkicked by a 73o. Sad way to end a tournament.
If you have any thoughts on this, please leave a comment. I think I made the right choice here, regardless the outcome, but I would like to hear what others think.
Here's the situation. PokerSnore Double-Up tournament. You're in the BB for T300 with T1800 behind. Blinds are 150/300/30. There are six players remaining -- one more elimination and it's over. The short stack has T1415. The next biggest stack has T2430. You're holding KQs. The small stack pushes all-in and it folds around to you.
If you fold, you've still got T1800 and aren't in immediate danger of blinding out, but the SB is coming next hand and you'll be down to T1620. Just as importantly, the once small stack will have T2045 if you fold. He's pretty desperate, being down to less than 5BB. He could be pushing here with almost anything, hoping the other short stack won't play back at him.
If you call and win, the tournament is over and you walk away with money. If you call and lose, you're in very big trouble and will probably have to push with whatever you are dealt next hand. Certainly you'll have to push within the next four or five hands.
I made the call. Ultimately, I reasoned that no matter what I did I was going to have to risk all my chips within the next few hands. Better to make my stand now with decent holdings and hope my opponent had JJ or less, giving me a coin toss.
My opponent had AJo. I didn't catch and he took down the pot.
I was forced to push with 54o a couple hands later and ended up getting outkicked by a 73o. Sad way to end a tournament.
If you have any thoughts on this, please leave a comment. I think I made the right choice here, regardless the outcome, but I would like to hear what others think.
10 January 2009
Double-Up Secrets #1
I've long used StatCounter to monitor the activity here on the Patchwork blog. Mostly it shows me how futile is the effort to continue this mess, but I do it as much for myself as anyone else, so I keep going. It's also made clear to me that the vast majority of people who come here via search engine do so by mistake. That was the genesis of the "Maybe you were looking for..." section off to the right (if you're not using Bloglines or Google Reader).
A strange thing has happened recently. Some people have been searching for terms that properly link here. (Aside from "Guest-Tek sucks". It still cracks me up that I'm #1 on Google for that search string. I'll probably now cement that position since I've mentioned it again.) Someone came here specifically looking for "MMIAs". That's a bit of a hoot since as far as I'm aware I'm the only one to ever use that term and even I haven't used it in quite a while. There are still plenty of them out there in case you wondered.
Several of the recent searches have been for information regarding the Double-Up tournaments I've been writing about. Specifically, people seem to be looking for tips on how to win at these. Careful reads of what I've written will no doubt turn up more than a few useful tips, but I've generally assumed anyone reading this blog is already an experienced player and is aware of how to properly play in the types of events where the top X places all get the same prize.
I may come to regret it, but this is the first of what will no doubt be a very irregular, disjoint series of tips on how to be successful at Double-Up tournaments. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that right now I stand 16 for 25 in these. I was bubble boy in at least three of the losses. (I also gigli'd in a couple, most spectacularly when I went out on the first hand in a KK vs AA battle.)
So, without further ado, here is Double-Up Secret #1.
You don't have to come in first to win.
This may well be firmly in the "duh" category, but it has everything to do with how to properly play in these tournaments. You don't have to build a giant stack. It's a bit like when you're in a group hiking and you come across an angry bear. You don't have to be the fastest runner in the group. You just have to not be the slowest.
With the Double-Up tournaments, you just have to keep your stack in the top five. Much of the time simply not being the short stack is good enough. I'd like to be able to say when you build your stack to size X you can sit back and relax, but I can't. There is no fixed rule on stack size because, like with most things in poker, it depends on the situation.
Generally speaking, if you double up early, this will take you most of the way to victory. If you do so, you should start playing ultra tight. Only get involved in situations where you know you're very, very likely to come out on top. Only play premium holdings and be willing to let go of the drawing hands if there is any resistance at all. I've folded AK pre-flop because somebody ahead of me put in a big raise and I wasn't willing to risk the chips on a hand that will have to connect with the flop to continue. Once you've doubled up your starting stack your objective is chip conservation. The chips you already have will quite likely carry you through, so guard them carefully.
This is not to say you should take undue risks to double up. Some people play these a bit like freerolls, trying to double early, and will push all-in with almost any two cards. If you happen to have premium holdings when this happens, go for it. I don't recommend taking much of a risk though. If you don't have AA, KK, or QQ, it's probably not worth calling. Even QQ would be marginal in the very early going.
Short of a situation like this, play only strong starting hands and maybe the odd speculative suited connector if you can see the flop cheap. Even in the turbos you have sufficient time to build your stack if you don't take a big hit in the early going. Don't be in a hurry. Remember, you don't need the biggest stack, you just need to be in the top five. Once you get beyond the first two or three levels, drop the speculative hands unless you're sure you can afford it.
If you do double up, don't get too confident in your big stack. The blinds will keep rising and you may eventually be forced to engage again. I was in a game the other day where one guy had built his stack to about T4000 and then sat out. Ordinarily a stack of this size at the point in the tournament that he sat out would coast to victory, but this particular tournament dragged on and on. His stack began to dwindle. The blinds kept going up. At some point it became obvious to me that if we all simply folded to the BB as quickly as possible, the absent player would be blinded out and the rest of us would win. Not exactly the white hat way of winning, but this is poker. If you walk away from your seat, you suffer the consequences. The guy did eventually blind out, though it was clear that some of the other players weren't aware of the situation because they kept playing their hands. We'll discuss that topic another time.
A strange thing has happened recently. Some people have been searching for terms that properly link here. (Aside from "Guest-Tek sucks". It still cracks me up that I'm #1 on Google for that search string. I'll probably now cement that position since I've mentioned it again.) Someone came here specifically looking for "MMIAs". That's a bit of a hoot since as far as I'm aware I'm the only one to ever use that term and even I haven't used it in quite a while. There are still plenty of them out there in case you wondered.
Several of the recent searches have been for information regarding the Double-Up tournaments I've been writing about. Specifically, people seem to be looking for tips on how to win at these. Careful reads of what I've written will no doubt turn up more than a few useful tips, but I've generally assumed anyone reading this blog is already an experienced player and is aware of how to properly play in the types of events where the top X places all get the same prize.
I may come to regret it, but this is the first of what will no doubt be a very irregular, disjoint series of tips on how to be successful at Double-Up tournaments. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that right now I stand 16 for 25 in these. I was bubble boy in at least three of the losses. (I also gigli'd in a couple, most spectacularly when I went out on the first hand in a KK vs AA battle.)
So, without further ado, here is Double-Up Secret #1.
You don't have to come in first to win.
This may well be firmly in the "duh" category, but it has everything to do with how to properly play in these tournaments. You don't have to build a giant stack. It's a bit like when you're in a group hiking and you come across an angry bear. You don't have to be the fastest runner in the group. You just have to not be the slowest.
With the Double-Up tournaments, you just have to keep your stack in the top five. Much of the time simply not being the short stack is good enough. I'd like to be able to say when you build your stack to size X you can sit back and relax, but I can't. There is no fixed rule on stack size because, like with most things in poker, it depends on the situation.
Generally speaking, if you double up early, this will take you most of the way to victory. If you do so, you should start playing ultra tight. Only get involved in situations where you know you're very, very likely to come out on top. Only play premium holdings and be willing to let go of the drawing hands if there is any resistance at all. I've folded AK pre-flop because somebody ahead of me put in a big raise and I wasn't willing to risk the chips on a hand that will have to connect with the flop to continue. Once you've doubled up your starting stack your objective is chip conservation. The chips you already have will quite likely carry you through, so guard them carefully.
This is not to say you should take undue risks to double up. Some people play these a bit like freerolls, trying to double early, and will push all-in with almost any two cards. If you happen to have premium holdings when this happens, go for it. I don't recommend taking much of a risk though. If you don't have AA, KK, or QQ, it's probably not worth calling. Even QQ would be marginal in the very early going.
Short of a situation like this, play only strong starting hands and maybe the odd speculative suited connector if you can see the flop cheap. Even in the turbos you have sufficient time to build your stack if you don't take a big hit in the early going. Don't be in a hurry. Remember, you don't need the biggest stack, you just need to be in the top five. Once you get beyond the first two or three levels, drop the speculative hands unless you're sure you can afford it.
If you do double up, don't get too confident in your big stack. The blinds will keep rising and you may eventually be forced to engage again. I was in a game the other day where one guy had built his stack to about T4000 and then sat out. Ordinarily a stack of this size at the point in the tournament that he sat out would coast to victory, but this particular tournament dragged on and on. His stack began to dwindle. The blinds kept going up. At some point it became obvious to me that if we all simply folded to the BB as quickly as possible, the absent player would be blinded out and the rest of us would win. Not exactly the white hat way of winning, but this is poker. If you walk away from your seat, you suffer the consequences. The guy did eventually blind out, though it was clear that some of the other players weren't aware of the situation because they kept playing their hands. We'll discuss that topic another time.
09 January 2009
You make the call
Here's the situation. PokerSnooze Double-Up tournament. Six players remaining, meaning only one more elimination to go. I'm in the BB for T300, leaving me T1800 behind. There's T630 already in the pot, including my blind. The short stack pushes all-in for T1415. It folds to me. I'm holding KQs. The pot is laying me 1.83:1. Do I make the call for T1115?
If I fold, I'll be the short stack by about T250. I won't be out of it, but I'll need to catch something to push with in the next four or five hands. (Or there's always the possibility two of the bigger stacks could mix it up, but I'm not holding my breath on that.)
If I call, there's a small chance I'm ahead. Most likely I'm behind. If I'm lucky, he's got JJ or less and we're in a coin flip. If I'm slightly unlucky, he's got an ace. If I'm really unlucky, he's got AA, KK or QQ. If I lose I'll be left with about T700.
Assuming he's got any pocket pair, or ace-anything, PokerStove says I win 42.68% of the time. If I'm just playing the odds, I clearly make the call given what the pot is laying me. But there's a lot else at play here seeing as I only need to survive past one more elimination that isn't me. If I fold, the two next biggest stacks will be T2045 and T2430, with blinds at 300/150/30.
Discuss amongst yourselves. Do I make the call?
If I fold, I'll be the short stack by about T250. I won't be out of it, but I'll need to catch something to push with in the next four or five hands. (Or there's always the possibility two of the bigger stacks could mix it up, but I'm not holding my breath on that.)
If I call, there's a small chance I'm ahead. Most likely I'm behind. If I'm lucky, he's got JJ or less and we're in a coin flip. If I'm slightly unlucky, he's got an ace. If I'm really unlucky, he's got AA, KK or QQ. If I lose I'll be left with about T700.
Assuming he's got any pocket pair, or ace-anything, PokerStove says I win 42.68% of the time. If I'm just playing the odds, I clearly make the call given what the pot is laying me. But there's a lot else at play here seeing as I only need to survive past one more elimination that isn't me. If I fold, the two next biggest stacks will be T2045 and T2430, with blinds at 300/150/30.
Discuss amongst yourselves. Do I make the call?
08 January 2009
Still doubling
I'm still hitting up the Double-Up tournaments at PokerSnooze. Results the last week have been off a bit. I lost three in a row yesterday.
Very first hand on one of them I get pocket kings. There is a min-raise ahead of me. For some reason the alarm bells didn't go off on this. I'm thinking now that for some reason I didn't notice it was a raise. Two more callers ahead. I make it T140 to go. The original raiser pushes all-in. Combined with the min-raise this should have made the alarm bells ring their loudest. That's why I'm thinking I misread the min-raise as a call. I called. Of course, the other guy had aces. One hand and I hit the rails.
These tournaments appear to have become exceedingly popular. I tried for about five minutes yesterday to register in one of them. I'd select one with just one player registered. By the time I could click on the necessary things to get registered the tournament would be full. Even when I clicked the "register me in any similar tournament" button it took a couple minutes for a table to come up.
As I was writing this I won my third Double-Up of the day. It doesn't quite make up for yesterday due to the rake, but it sure feels good. I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost my touch.
I've noticed that the quality of play in these has been improving a bit. In the last hand of the last tournament one player was all-in in the SB. I had squat, but I called anyway hoping everyone else would grok the situation and do likewise. One other player did and the BB checked. Surprisingly, the BB caught trips on the flop, but he checked it down. The shortie was eliminated and the rest of us walked away with money. It's nice to see it played properly at least sometimes.
The recent tournament losses have set back progress on The Quest a bit, but it's still moving in the right direction.
Very first hand on one of them I get pocket kings. There is a min-raise ahead of me. For some reason the alarm bells didn't go off on this. I'm thinking now that for some reason I didn't notice it was a raise. Two more callers ahead. I make it T140 to go. The original raiser pushes all-in. Combined with the min-raise this should have made the alarm bells ring their loudest. That's why I'm thinking I misread the min-raise as a call. I called. Of course, the other guy had aces. One hand and I hit the rails.
These tournaments appear to have become exceedingly popular. I tried for about five minutes yesterday to register in one of them. I'd select one with just one player registered. By the time I could click on the necessary things to get registered the tournament would be full. Even when I clicked the "register me in any similar tournament" button it took a couple minutes for a table to come up.
As I was writing this I won my third Double-Up of the day. It doesn't quite make up for yesterday due to the rake, but it sure feels good. I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost my touch.
I've noticed that the quality of play in these has been improving a bit. In the last hand of the last tournament one player was all-in in the SB. I had squat, but I called anyway hoping everyone else would grok the situation and do likewise. One other player did and the BB checked. Surprisingly, the BB caught trips on the flop, but he checked it down. The shortie was eliminated and the rest of us walked away with money. It's nice to see it played properly at least sometimes.
The recent tournament losses have set back progress on The Quest a bit, but it's still moving in the right direction.
03 January 2009
More doubling, sort ot
I've been continuing to play the Double-or-Nothing tournaments at PokerStars. One bubble and two more wins making me 6 for 7.
One thing here has started to bother me a bit. "Double-or-nothing" implies you walk away with double what you wagered or empty handed. That only happens here if you disregard the 8% tournament fee. If you're looking at this in a truly logical manner, you can't just ignore that fee. It's money that was in your virtual pocket before the tournament started and is no longer there once the cards fly.
In the non-turbo tournaments that 8% fee means you're really looking at winning 85% of what you actually wagered. That's not really "double-or-nothing". It's a bit better with the turbo versions since the fee is only 4%. There you're looking at winning 92% of your original wager.
Thinking about all this made me realize how PokerStars can afford to sponsor all those pros. The tournament fee percentage is relatively constant across all tournaments. In the deep end of the SnGs they're making about $80 an hour for server resource time. In the shallow end it drops to $4/hour or less, but I'd be willing to wager they're still making a tidy profit even at $4/hour for a resource that's shared among probably dozens of tables. In the deep end they're clearly making a killing.
In many ways, it would be far more equitable for the poker sites to charge a flat hourly fee for sitting at a table. But that would make the charge far more obvious than rakes and tournament fees do and would no doubt scare away a lot of potential customers.
As to the quality of play at the DorN tournaments, it continues to be quite horrible. With only two eliminations to go, two players on life support and a third with an M of about 3, I watched as the two big stacks pushed all-in against each other. Stupid, stupid move.
I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on these guys. I once pushed all-in on the bubble of a ticket tournament where I could have easily folded my way to a ticket. I had the penultinuts and figured the odds of the other guy having the nuts were slim. I was wrong. But at least I learned from that experience. Last night I folded AKo against a small raise ahead of me. I probably had the best hand, but with two eliminations to go, one guy with less than 2BB, another with just a bit more, and a third with less than half my stack, it simply wasn't worth the risk. My goal at this point is survival, not chip accumulation.
Too many of these players appear to be falling into the trap of wanting to build huge stacks. There's nothing wrong with that if it's early in the tournament. Late in the game, however, you don't want to take any unnecessary chances. Fifth is the same as first in these things. You don't need the biggest stack to win. All you need is to still be seated when that fifth player is eliminated. One of those big stacks I mentioned above threw away a win. He could have clicked "sit out" and made the money. Instead, he took a chance on increasing his stack and went home with nothing. Thanks for playing.
I'm going to continue playing the DorN tournaments as much as possible. The turbos are kind of nice because the whole thing is over in about 30 minutes. I usually don't bother even trying to play if I know I have less than an hour available. With these turbos I can probably play four in that time. (Two at a time.)
I only wish more players would play at turbo speed. Far too many players seem to be simultaneously playing on more tables than they can really handle. It makes action even at the turbo tables a real snooze-fest much of the time. Given that PokerStars has actively been courting this kind of non-action, I'm thinking they should really be called PokerSnooze. If you want to play 20 tables at once, I'm sure the action is coming at you non-stop. If you play just one or two tables at the same time, keep the coffee handy. You're going to be needing it.
One thing here has started to bother me a bit. "Double-or-nothing" implies you walk away with double what you wagered or empty handed. That only happens here if you disregard the 8% tournament fee. If you're looking at this in a truly logical manner, you can't just ignore that fee. It's money that was in your virtual pocket before the tournament started and is no longer there once the cards fly.
In the non-turbo tournaments that 8% fee means you're really looking at winning 85% of what you actually wagered. That's not really "double-or-nothing". It's a bit better with the turbo versions since the fee is only 4%. There you're looking at winning 92% of your original wager.
Thinking about all this made me realize how PokerStars can afford to sponsor all those pros. The tournament fee percentage is relatively constant across all tournaments. In the deep end of the SnGs they're making about $80 an hour for server resource time. In the shallow end it drops to $4/hour or less, but I'd be willing to wager they're still making a tidy profit even at $4/hour for a resource that's shared among probably dozens of tables. In the deep end they're clearly making a killing.
In many ways, it would be far more equitable for the poker sites to charge a flat hourly fee for sitting at a table. But that would make the charge far more obvious than rakes and tournament fees do and would no doubt scare away a lot of potential customers.
As to the quality of play at the DorN tournaments, it continues to be quite horrible. With only two eliminations to go, two players on life support and a third with an M of about 3, I watched as the two big stacks pushed all-in against each other. Stupid, stupid move.
I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on these guys. I once pushed all-in on the bubble of a ticket tournament where I could have easily folded my way to a ticket. I had the penultinuts and figured the odds of the other guy having the nuts were slim. I was wrong. But at least I learned from that experience. Last night I folded AKo against a small raise ahead of me. I probably had the best hand, but with two eliminations to go, one guy with less than 2BB, another with just a bit more, and a third with less than half my stack, it simply wasn't worth the risk. My goal at this point is survival, not chip accumulation.
Too many of these players appear to be falling into the trap of wanting to build huge stacks. There's nothing wrong with that if it's early in the tournament. Late in the game, however, you don't want to take any unnecessary chances. Fifth is the same as first in these things. You don't need the biggest stack to win. All you need is to still be seated when that fifth player is eliminated. One of those big stacks I mentioned above threw away a win. He could have clicked "sit out" and made the money. Instead, he took a chance on increasing his stack and went home with nothing. Thanks for playing.
I'm going to continue playing the DorN tournaments as much as possible. The turbos are kind of nice because the whole thing is over in about 30 minutes. I usually don't bother even trying to play if I know I have less than an hour available. With these turbos I can probably play four in that time. (Two at a time.)
I only wish more players would play at turbo speed. Far too many players seem to be simultaneously playing on more tables than they can really handle. It makes action even at the turbo tables a real snooze-fest much of the time. Given that PokerStars has actively been courting this kind of non-action, I'm thinking they should really be called PokerSnooze. If you want to play 20 tables at once, I'm sure the action is coming at you non-stop. If you play just one or two tables at the same time, keep the coffee handy. You're going to be needing it.
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