I’m getting the Nook because Calibre will transfer books to it.  I am getting the wireless version without downloading in the wild capability.  It was listed as new-in-the-box for $90. That’ll be a lot more handy than reading on the desktop or the laptop.  It is also suppose to be better on the eyes.

Pokerwise, I won another “tournament” on UB.  It is in quotes because there were 8 playing.  So, the starting table started as the final table.  It only excuse is that it was on the tournament page.

I need to find somebody outside the US that has a UB account — Canada should be good. Supposedly, they can still cash.  I’ll pay 10% for their trouble and transfer to them on UB (or it could be Absolute) and maybe see my funds.  I did pull the amount of my initial deposit a while back so this isn’t quite as bad as it might have been.  It isn’t huge.   I’m sitting at around $200.  If you are willing to help out, drop me an email directed to webmaster at this url.

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Managed a 2nd today in that little tourney on UB.  It wasn’t much of a brag.  Runners have been down.  Today, it was just 13 peeps.  The way many play, my guess is busto more than fear.

I played the heads up poorly.  Not so much throughout but on the last hand.  I just said or thought screw it and that isn’t me.

But, there is poker being played.  As to having something other than a number for winnings…

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1. Hiatus

There is one I’ve been thinking about doing.  It is about a Jordan post.  Now the esteemed barrister  is of the New Yawk flavor and of the trial phylum. That means confrontational and willing to work with rationalizing the facts in a case.   In the halls of jurisprudence, that a way to fame and lucre. At poker, maybe yes and maybe no.  Well, he might luck out and get all of OJ’s jury at the table but that’s too much luck.

So, I wasn’t too surprised to come across How to Win at Razz with an Exposed Queen.

Our Rumpole clone just may have enjoyed a bit too much of the plonk prior to or during the game.  He describes a skip down the yellow BRICK road with a straight face and high dungeon.   A better title might be Line in the Sand. To those used to the Jordan approach, it is great theater.  For any one contemplating a career playing RAZZ, not so.

___________________

My ring play was Stud8B and done at FT.  I am a bit ahead.  It was a bit of a struggle getting away from the tournament mindset though.  The wins would have been better had I ignored a few of the draws.

What I did manage to note is that FT studs are more studly than other sites I’ve played.  Capping was far more prevalent.   And pursuing that tack early isn’t very EV enhancing   Otherwise, it was the same mix of optimism and hand selection.   You’d of thought they were following Jordan’s RAZZ blog.  Bricks and dead cards held no decline in their optimism.

___________________

As to my MIA status, truth is I’ve been dungeon crawling on the computer more than dungeon crawling on the poker sites.

ADDENDUM:

Supposed to be 90 here today.  I’ve been out in the yard in a tee.  There is a weather watch for later today as a cold front is moving in our general direction.  But, it looks like we’re on the fringe of the fear of tornado and hail. Fingers crossed.  If my weather station quits reporting, it means the weather nymphs drew out.

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I was 10th out of 10 and then went on a run.  What can I say?  I was chasing too many great draws that whiffed.

This was interesting as I had a heckler.  I’ve played him before and he does a lot of -EV things.  Today, he was very unhappy when I called him with better crap or raised him with value bets. He was most unhappy with me.   That was fun.  Nothing like a heckler to keep your attention from waning.  With luck was on my side and I was able to type in “Bye” as he left.   I can be polite to a fault.

I was able to dominate the table to an amazing degree.  Not by playing table captain but by solid play.   People tend to gamble just a scosch more than is called for and that makes for nice averaging up.

ADDENDUM:

On the computer front, I need to figure where my sound went.  Thought it was plugged in right and now need to look again.   Then I need to get the computer I was using plugged back into the network so I can VPN into it and pull some files.   I like VPN better for that than just opening up that computer over the local network.   Not that its bad; it is just easier than mucking with MS applets.   Although, Win7 is a bit better at letting one configure things.

Thunder-boomers are happening here.  That means I have 85# of dog draped across my feet.

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• Early it sucked
• But I final tabled
• But I was the short stack
• Chipped up
• Chipped down
• Paid 3 and the bubble has me the short stack again
• But I took out number 4 and was in the money
• Had a fair stack too
• Expectations increased

From Mar 19, 2011

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Day before yesterday, I bubbled.  Today, it was out 12th.  Coming back after a hiatus caused by my ISP makes it seem more dramatic.  I am really not far from the good side.  But, the retrospective look isn’t as kind.  Thinking about it after points out flaws in my game.  We have all got them by accident or intent.

So, rather than detail my shortcoming, I’ll detail those of those I play against.  It isn’t as beneficial but it can be far more satisfying to rationalize the post mortem.

A while back I did a blog about my opponents biggest mistake.  But, I’m seeing that as more of a collection than that post intimated.  So, let me add a few to the biggest list and recap of old.

Gear Change

That’s been my favorite big mistake.  And it still is a favorite.  B____b___ is such a player.   I often see him chip up early and then waste the advantage.  When things pick up, he stays with his game plan of overly aggressive betting/play.  He is often out early.   This little graphic is the basis for his consistent operation.

From Blog

He just can’t grasp what this means.

Hand Knowledge

C___ Awsome  doesn’t grasp that some hands play best in multiway pots.  Others you’d like to see heads up.  At Stud8B, it is a very important component.   When you pick up suited Ace-baby-baby, you hope it is a family hand where your potential outshines the  hoi polloi.  He always raises.

Overplaying

There is a group that always bets two pair.   They see 5′s up and a great hand.  This is a favorite ploy of B___b__ mentioned above.  He also loves a high only hand like QQ9.  He’ll push that at least three streets if not to the bitter end.  The hand is one to push only in late stage gamble mode.  Playing hard for half the pot is foolishness.

VP$IP

I try to play in the mid 30% area.  That is a bit loose but this is tournament play.   Late you have to play more hands.  Early you can apply cheap misdirection of your image.  You can play a bit loose.  What you can’t do with that is chase.  Chasing probably deserves it own headline but the two intertwine.  If you play loose earlier, you must immediately tighten up to succeed with such a game plan.

Pot Odds and Outs

Again a member of the chasing family.  I see the guy with the up cards paring the aces on fourth street and he gets one caller who’s showing two babies.   And, they are doing it against an aggressive or smart player.  Why would he fight the guy over the antes and a couple of cheap calls?   It just isn’t worth it 98% of the time.  I played a hand today against –you guessed it, B___b___ — who had 6-3-baby. I completed the hand against just him with A2A.  He got a 6 on fourth and I got my ace paired.  He called my bet. On 6th and 7th he got a 3 and then a 6 — he made a boat and raised me.  But, I caught a two for the bigger boat.  What could he have been thinking?

Each of these major problems is a leak.  We all have leaks.  Here though I see them combine them into all  of the above.  I see these habits send players to the sideline in the bottom 3rd.  And, they never change.  It is like they are proud of their obvious flaws

ADDENDUM:

Note the graphic above.  That structure for a low rent game is amazing when compared to most sites.  Those levels just about end at the final table.  The antes will go to 75 and then 100 on the next two levels.  That will change the completion dramatically.   But, the trip to this point is more play than most sites allow.   Why do I still play with that evil entity known as UB?   Because it fits my game better than the other sites.

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I guess I’ll start with my favorite reoccurring theme.   Players in that little tournament are too predictable.  Being predictable is scrapping the bottom of the barrel.  I don’t know anything that is worse than the other guy having a solid read on you.  Ace-rag pales in comparison.

I played a hand against a girl that raises a lot with high hands.  And, when she does, she bets every street.  I’d had a top 5 position most of the game but it had slipped and the blinds were making me willing to gamble.  From early position she raised with a king up.  I’d brought end with a 3 showing and concealed aces.   I reraised; she three-bet; I capped.  We capped the next two streets until I was out of chips.   Neither of us improved.  She had the kings. The aces held.  Under other conditions, I’d have played the hand vastly different.  She created and succumbed to her image.

Right underneath that are people that overvalue hands and ignore pot odds.  You might throw in not being able to count outs but that’s immaterial after implementing the preceding.  These are the people that almost always are first at the walk of shame.  There’s a collection I watch that do it day after day.  You can lump them in with the previous group to an extent.  When you couple transparent with ignorantly aggressive,  it makes for a shortened session.

The fun of playing this tournament is being none of the above in the early stages.  It doesn’t get interesting until at least the 50-100 level.  The time before that is like family dinner on leftovers night.  When the blinds start to cook is the time to make hay and a gear change.  You can be more inventive but not to the overboard point.  The ones left still tend to be Doubting Tomas calling stations.  You really need notes or memory to indicate those with steal possibilities.

It is this middle period where the fun is.  Today mine was done away with by being on the wrong end of boat over boat that put me in rebuilding mode and lead to the hand I’ve already mentioned.  But, that second hour is often worth the buyin … regardless.   The third hour bring the gamble and prayers.

Anyway, I got second today.  Didn’t play the heads up particularly well.  The final table played like usual with people willing to gamble sooner than necessary.  I manged to limp along until we were down to three.   Then the guy who’d played table captain decided to self destruct.  You see some weird suicides and this one was near the top.  He was perfectly positioned and in a half dozen hands he ws running on fumes.  Unfortunately, the other guy at the table had the cards to benefit.

ADDENDUM:

In the more luck than sense category,  I found my file that reloaded my RSS feed.  The one on the old system was way out of date.  For some reason not based on smarts, I’d copied the newsfox.opml file that can restore thing to a thumb drive.   Trying to get back to the RSS feed with thing all ordered as I like them and containing those I read looked daunting.   Chuck another entry under that good/bad news blog from the other day and put it in the good news category.

I’ve mentioned before that if you run Firefox I think you’ll like the NewsFox addon.  It a 3-panel setup like the better mail progams use.   It really works well.  If you want to try it but don’t like facing problems like I had, just drop me your address and I’ll send you my configuration that’ll give you a lot of the A thru D list — including moi.

When you couple the fact that the current FireFox puts an RSS button in most url lines, it is easy to build your own too.  It is a little orange square.  You can’t miss it.

Blog of the day:

ROGER SIMON: Obama And The Tea Party: The Race Card Keeps On Turning. Obama would rather believe that his problems stem from the fact that he’s black, rather than from the fact that he’s proved himself a schmuck.

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Yesterday was one of those annoying one — the skin of your teeth flavor.  Not many playing and so it only payed three places — got third.

Today was of the deadly flavor. I much prefer that method.  I mostly hung around in decent shape early.  Middle of the pack at the final table.  It got better.  Never really to the point of having to gamble or forcing a chase.  Everybody else seemed to have lots of gamble.  When I made something, I got paid.

The heads up was ridiculous.   He raised and capped with zilch and did it every hand.  I had a bit better than zilch.  He didn’t win a hand.  I had about a 5x lead on the guy … but still …

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The highest I can recall playing is 2-4. But, it isn't that far from the lowest micro limits. Like all other stud games, third street determines the bring in – high card is forced to bet/bring-in and that determines your position for the start of the hand.

Occasionally, you can bluff third street. Although, it isn't that beneficial at lower limits. The bring-in will vary from site to site. When it is higher you consider the appropriate bluff more. Appropriate is based on position and the exposed cards. It is more important when you are playing higher limits and where the bring-in is above the norm.

Having remarked on bluffing and its desirability, it seems my duty to report that at lower level – where the benefits are minor and situational – people tend to bluff too much. The mentality seems to favor playing up cards with abandon. It doesn't take long to pick up a lot of info and fill your notes with tendencies.

Like all stud games, knowing the cards played determines the strength of your hand at that point in time. For most of those I encounter, that seems like worthless effort. It isn't. Available knowledge as the streets progress seems almost exponential.

If you have a heads up situation, the game is more thoughtful. Unfortunately, family pots are more the norm. Especially at modest levels, completing does not isolate and is -EV. In these situations, how you play needs to be fairly straightforward. As the streets progress, you evaluate against the added cards exposed. The next three street reduce the unknown. It really seems a simple game. That is especially true if you are catching. But, most days that is hardly a given.

Bricks are an all to consistent horror. Basically, half the cards in the deck suck. The result is that occasionally some really weird hands take down pots. Perceptions are important along with pot odds. Here is an example of this.

If you've read that gem, you can see this isn't as simple a game as we're making it out. There is level 2 thinking at times. Ideas about what down cards a player goes with in various situations and the insuring pot odds muddies the waters. This isn't a game for those who are tight passive.

If you want to give it a go, start with good table selection. Too many loose cannons can make learning difficult. There are plenty of tables filled with loose-passive folks that will let you get your sea legs. They might not be the best choice later but they give a great starting feel for hands.

This is a game that is part of the HORSE grouping. So, for those interested, a bit of RAZZ play will add an advantage. The folks playing HORSE vary their skill levels across the group. My experience is that it is a descending ladder of skill sets:

H

O

R

S

E

Razz is right in the middle and a good spot to start picking up EV. So, the HORSE crowd should think about getting a better game in the stud family. That and an understanding of scooping at the 8b games can really benefit.

While it is frustrating at times, it is a fun game when you pick off the bluff or avoid the bricks.

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