Archive for June, 2007
June 22, 2007 at 1:40 pm
· Filed under Public Appearances, Quote of the Day, Tip of the Day, What Would You Do?, ace, aggressive, amatuer, big stack, bluff, calculator, cards, cash game, chips, dan harrington, draw, drink, duff, fold, free, freezeout, gambler, gambling, kk, limit, live game, mistakes, money, no limit, outs, pai gow, passive, player, pocket pairs, position, post-flop, pre-flop, prize, pro, satellite, short stack, show, small blind, software, strategy, suited, sunday, tournament, tv, v-points, vegas, virgin, winning, world series, wsop
The last few tournaments I’ve played, I have made no particularly silly plays or played any different than I normally do. However, the last few (about 6 now!) simply haven’t gone my way. When I call with suited connectors I hit nothing, when I’m calling good odds with my flush and straight draws .. I hit nothing.
Some days you are unstoppable and everything is running your way. Other days nothing you do turns out right and you feel as if everyone and everything is against you. However, you never know what’s round the corner …. one quick win of a tournie and we’re back up and running to where we started again. Life will deal all sorts of hands to you, and just when you think you’ve got it sussed out….yours chips will be disappearing. Similarly, you may feel at the lowest of the low and suddenly the cards will start to run good for you again. Make the most of these opportunities and you can start to build your chips back up in life. “What’s the meaning of Life?” – all the religious types keep asking. Surely it’s a very simple answer: “Fun”
If you’re not having fun, then you’re probably sitting at the wrong table. Get up, move to a new one, find a good seat and profit on life.
Duff
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June 21, 2007 at 12:23 pm
· Filed under News and ramblings, Tip of the Day, aggressive, amatuer, big stack, bluff, bully, cards, cash game, chips, clothing, draw, drink, duff, fold, freeroll, freezeout, gambler, gambling, limit, live game, mistakes, money, no limit, odds, on the button, online, outs, passive, player, pocket pairs, poker, position, post-flop, pre-flop, pro, raise, short stack, show, sit-n-go, small blind, strategy, suited, sunday, tournament, under the gun
I was (as usual!) in a $10 ten seater last night and a couple of very interesting hands came about. One was the most lucky suck-out I’ve ever had against me, and the other two were beginners trying to slowplay big hands with short stacks and me taking them both out.
Let me start with the beginners and their Slowplaying tactics. I had a very tasty chip lead (over a third of total chips on the table) so naturally I was playing bully. A guy (we’ll call him “Dave” with 287 in chips) flat calls on the small blind and so I check my big blind of 4 6 unsuited (I have 1957 in chips). The flop comes 6-2-5 with two hearts. He’s sitting there with 237 in front of him and so I bet 150 to find out where I am and hoping to get him all in. Sure enough he raises all in and so I call the remaining 100 or so. He turns over KQsuited (clubs) and never improved. I took him out with a pair of sixes.
He was short stacking as it was and going up against chip leader, he only has 5 times the big blind and so should have definitely (imho!) gone all in pre-flop. If he had have done so, I would have folded my 9 5u and he would then be up to 350 in chips and now on the button. Silly Dave Silly!
The next guy (we’ll call him “Jeff”) has 401 in chips and is on the big blind, I’m on the button and currently have 2319 in chips (blinds are 25/50). Everyone folds round to me, so I being bully make it 150 to play with my 9 8u. the small blind folds and Jeff calls my raise. The flop comes 5-5-7, Jeff only has 250 left so I bet into him 100, he raises back all in. I’m getting odds to call my gutshot straight draw so I do. He turns over pocket rockets, I then hit my 6 on the turn giving me a straight sending Jeff packing! Again in my opinion Jeff should have reraised all in pre-flop. At least then he is going in with the best hand, and I prob would have folded, whereas by giving me a look at the flop he then has suddenly handed me odds to call him. What are your views on this?
I wonder if MC Neat plays poker.. as his mate DJ Luck clearly does!! This was brilliant, and it was so lucky that I was laughing and just looking at the screen in disbelief. I even told him to buy a lottery ticket! bless. So MC neat is sitting there with 1114 in chips and I have 2973. He is on the small blind and calls, and I look down to pocket fives on the big blind, so I raise it to 300 (blinds are 50/100) .. he calls. The board comes down 4-10-2 rainbow. He goes all in quicker than you could say it. …. So now I’m faced with a decision of about 850! I had noticed that when he bluffed he liked to move all in very quickly, so I figured that my pocket fives where actually good, so I called. He turns over 6 3u !!!! yes folks ! he called my raise with 6 3u !! So currently he has a gutshot straight draw and needs a five. I’m holding two of them !!! There are only two left in the deck and so is 20/1 to make it …….. the turn comes a five !!!! how I laughed! Fair enough he put his chips in there but it did make me giggle. I called his bluff correctly though and I ended up getting all the chips back off him and knocking him out so was all good in the end.
Ended up coming 3rd as I made a bluff at the wrong time against a rock. hehe StoneColdBluff baby!
- Duff from scbpoker.com
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June 1, 2007 at 11:03 am
· Filed under Tip of the Day, ace, aggressive, big stack, bluff, bully, cards, chips, fold, freezeout, gambling, no limit, online, player, poker, position, post-flop, pre-flop, raise, short stack, sit-n-go, strategy, suited, tournament, under the gun
One of the key elements to anybody’s poker game strategy is patience. you must be able to bide your time and wait for the premium hands and premium position. It will make you a winner in the long run.
I was playing in a $10, 10 seater, sit-n-go last night. I sat down at 10pm expecting it to end around 11pm as most of the sit-n-gos I play last around the hour mark. But this one went on for longer than I expected.
I was happily making moves and steals in my usual way all throughout the game and seeing off the weaker opponents, until the game got down to 4 players. Top 3 were getting paid so now its bubble play!
It was the longest most boring bubble play I have ever witnessed. It took around 25 minutes to go from 4 players to 3. It is argued that the bubble is the best time to start stealing post and blinds and getting agressive. However, I had the loonies to my left and the rock to my right. Never a good spot to be in.
What made it worse is that the deck had gone stone cold on me (no pun intended!). The blinds were hurting my stack enough to make it a marginal play if I tried to bluff so I stayed out of most hands and only played my BB if I could check it, or I would make the occasional raise with decent cards. Im 2nd in chips and I didn’t want to lose my advantage going into the final three.
So I waited…and waited…and waited. It really was agonising to see. It was painful folding my 72u UTG only to watch the chip leader fold their SB to the short stacks’ BB! I was cursing and shouting at the screen “RAISE HIM, RAISE HIM” but I guess they just couldn’t hear me. I got tempted to lump with cards like A7s, TJs, JKu but I decided to wait for better hands.
And this is the moral of today’s tip. No matter how slow the game gets, no matter how dragged out the tournament becomes, you must retain your integrity at all times and continue playing premium hands and premium position.
4th place busted out shortly followed by 3rd. Now its me and one other heads up. Ive got about 4k, he must have had 11k. Blinds 300/600 then 400/800. I play it cagey at first as this guy was a looney. Again I had to be patient and wait for the right time to push all in. In the end he let me see a cheap flop where I moved on him with top pair. He called with middle pair and that was that. Thanks. I won the tourney all because I had that little bit more patience than everyone else.
Patience. Add it to your poker amoury.
V
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