Well, I managed to win another of these little tournaments. You know the one – probably by heart now. It is a 3.30 Stud8b that goes off every morning at 8:40. I had not even placed in the last three — missing even the final table.   I pretty much expect to final table.  That isn't any claim to genius, btw.

It is amazing how transparent people play these things. There is a girl that is always raising. She is often first out. There isn't a gear change ever evident. You run across one or two decent players at each table.

It a simple game really. You play fairly tight early and don't chase. This will get you always to the second break with some chips. (1-hr 20-min) When the blinds then get up to 50-100, you need to catch and/or look at outs more. Whether I'm chip leader of down in the pack, I have more options to consider. Late it is a push fest but too many do it with so-so hands. You can't get impatient.

Here's the hand that pretty much assured the outcome:

He let me cap 6^th street and do it again on the river. The pot was over 26K. The cap on 6^th was with him still on a draw and me showing a possible 6-high. He didn't even have a high hand on 7^th but still let it get capped.

I mentioned transparent. He was pretty close to playing with his hand exposed. He was aggressive and depended on the draw beyond reason. It worked a couple of times in the heads up with him doing runner-runner for the win. He fought back to almost even that way. I didn't have a reason to panic at that point and I think he was feeling invulnerable.

The final hand was a joke. I had a great draw and he had a pair of ducks up. On the river I managed to pair my 6 when he bet his last chips. The pot was too big not to call. People don't consider that when they make such a bluff.

Related posts:

1. Weird doesn’t do it justice
2. Don’t do as I do…
3. That little stud8 tourney

Against my better judgment, I played the Bammer. It had been a while since I’d played over on FT. It is one of those 8 P. M. blogger thingies that I try to avoid. The only one I play in often is Linda’s little HORSE one and I am truly beholding to that lovely lady.  She plays online poker

I played well and held the early chip lead for a fair poke. Later, Bammer (I think) said something about my game and someone responded that I always had a hand. That indicated I was playing pretty well and without regards for truth, justice and the American way. I might have had slightly better cards at times but it wasn’t the slam dunk being indicated. Felt pretty good about the remark.  If he'd thrown in bastard, it would have been perfect.

It didn’t take me long to remember that donkdom gets mandated much earlier on FT. They have 10 minute blinds. UB has 12. Doesn’t sound like a lot but it can be and is.

Later, I proceeded to play poorly. I played one hand with a read but needed more than that. Finally got busted by Doc. Of course he should have never called my all in … blah, blah, blah … questionable play … blah, etc. … A3 Suited??? Certainly ok raising but not calling. (yeah, I had KT and was short stacked. Howdja know?)

I did accomplish my goals:

• Gigglied Poker Grump with the play of a lifetime.  My 99 made a boat against his rivered CRUB FLUSH with him using crappy low cards close to 42. I'd raised from UTG with them and he chose to do the implied odds thing from the BB. Can I hear an amen? 

• Got Doc to be foolishly all in earlier when his QQ got sucked into my all-in genius of the hammer. He failed to understand my bragging when a duece came on the flop. Another player though was properly respectful of such power.

• Got to make fun of Waffles avatar/expression. He laughed. Always nice to run into one guy who arrives at a table with his sense of humor intact. Such an easy going fellow!

• Got to make serious/questionable fun of Josie without her knowing who it was. That made it deserving of a priceless commercial. (R J Squirrel 40 evidently wasn’t associated with such a powerhouse player)

• Got to pick on Amir even with him on my immediate left a good part of the time. We both started together and made the same table switch. Pretty sure I post-oaked him more than all the rest.

In the chat I told Bam-Bam that I didn’t play these things as they were past my bed time. That is sort of true as I later experienced. When I did hit the remote’s off button about a half-hour into Letterman, I couldn’t fall asleep. It isn’t necessarily past my bedtime when my stupid gene kicks in at a table; it is the after period when my brain keeps going and I can’t drop off to sleep. An hour and a half into trying, I finally pulled it off. Trying to count Bammer’s number of parents was as ineffective as sheep.

I will apologize for leaving within a second or so of busting out. I should have said my good byes and accepted being played the numbers. It was a knee jerk thing in that it is what I always do in less friendly tournaments and it happened before I could stop it – Click – Gone.  Now, ring a bell and I'll drool.

ADDENDUM:

888 has online poker site.

They also have a section on poker strategy.

Related posts:

1. Tilt

I came to the final table the short stack.  Five places paid so the work was cut out.  We all seemed to flounder around.  There may have been two that had more than 10 BB but it wasn't by much for the one.  So, you really had to be selective.  It took a good while but I started chipping up.  And they kept coming.

By the time we were down to three, I had about 34K to the other two having less than 3K.  Table captain time and I managed to do it up right.

A while back I got my bud, Mojo, to transfer a hundred to that account.  Today's win got me to over $300.  I'd been in that area and then the ring play didn't cooperate well. So it was a timely cash.  

This silly little 3.30 tournament has been kind to me.  Today was the 16th time I managed to money in the thing.  Today I even beat out minimum wage.  Almost made it to the day laborer range. Well, 3.30's aren't going to make anybody rich but it is a fun tournament.  Goes off at 9:40 EST.  So, I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed.  I know most think of evenings as poker time but I'm an early bird.

I call it a tournament because UB does.  It more like a three table SnG in fact.  Last about 3 hours and change.   I'm able to maintain interest that long at Stud.  More to do and less likelihood of an early bustout keeps me motivated.  I can't really pull that off at NLH. 

Really, you have to play poorly or get creamed by the deck not to make it to the second break.  (1:20)  Today, we had 4 busts at that point and that's typical.

Oh, I even met a local guy playing it.  He's just up the road a ways.  That was nice.  Stngr, if you are reading this, HI!

Related posts:

1. Boring?
2. It is 10 P.M.
3. Once more into the breach

And if you are interested in how I'm doing playing ring, this sums it up pretty well.

ADDENDUM:

Do only old shits play Stud?   Might be the case.  Three of us chatted about our age.  I came in third.

Related posts:

1. Link Dump
2. On not being Studly
3. Expanding One’s Talents

No, not really. I just thought I'd make fun of the latest in-term that crept into the language. Seems to have gotten old hat in the course of a single WSOP. Well, I should make at least one of the silly term true. So, here you go: Lightning36

Why him? Well, he posted a very nice comment in my last blog. It is one of the reasons we do this. I’ll even forgive him the background sounds on his blog – which is so Web 1.0. Besides that, he’s sorta local so he could find me and do damage should I get on his case. And, I can live with the sound effect by avoiding them using the RSS feed most of the time. I’ll suggest that to you folks. Good read. Nice guy.

Enough about others. Me. Me. Me. Isn’t that what poker and its related blogging is all about? I managed another 2^nd.  Again, it was an annoying situation where I thought I was in control and the deck hit him over the head or I did the brain fart thing. (Sounding bitter and redundant; that last sentence.)

I’m actually happy about it all. I did it from a chip and a chair. Make that 128 (2^7 or 1000000B or 80H in geek) chips. It happened after a couple of major suckouts that aren’t that uncommon. What felt uncommon was it was from the guy two seats to my left. That seat has been an ongoing source of irritation. Other rile at the shuffle; I’m wearing my tinfoil hat so UB can’t find me so easily and put a loose cannon luckbox repeatedly in that seat.

I watched this guy play a lot of hand against a lot of folks. The showdowns were amazing with him rivering time and again with a wide assortment of typically very limited outs. He never just entered the pot but completed and reraised 95% of the time and was happy to cap with any three cards.

When the blinds were getting there, I made a stand on two hands against him. They weren’t great/nut hands but they were both ahead to the river where he did his thing. Damn cheesehead too. How they ever win anything is using the infinite monkeys solution. That even got one of them 12 bracelets. Their state beasty is the Badger – a surly little numbskull. Seems fitting. There only claim to fame is their per capita consumption of brandy is twice to much, much greater than any other area.  And, I mean that sweet, domestic crap that used to be the norm.

Anyway, lets get back to the important stuff, me. After a couple of double/triple/quadruple ups, I had some breathing room and managed to go on a tear. I approached the final table – small tournament with only 5 paying – trading the chip lead back and forth.

I played the final table as well as I can. It mixed table captaining with trying to instigate confrontation between others. All this is happening three breaks into play and that means the blinds and antes are turning things into looking like the start of a NL freeroll. Most had to enter a hand assuming they were pot committing beyond just the limp entry. At stud limping is from 1/3^rd to ½ the small bet. (My nemesis had left well before the money. Dancing on graves is such a lovely danse macabre. Doesn’t improve afterlife points but revenge is sweet.) Two of us were capable of playing without self-destructing quickly – although, he did. He was willing to chase draws. You have to do some of that at stud but when it gets to these levels you have to make a major gear change. He didn’t.

OK, lets end my good news/play and get to the horrid fact. I entered heads up with 2:1 on my side. I put him on the ropes and then let him crawl back and then take the lead. Yeah, the deck hit him over the head and the hands that looked to me like probable winners ended up not so grand. When his heater hit, I should have also done a better gear shift than I did – my bad.

Addendum:

I then went to the Stud8 ring game and proceeded to dump my profits in two sessions. Part is still playing to many situations. The other was some really horrid hands. In the one session where I lost a double buyin, I played 8% of the hands. That’s an unbelievable percentage. It is about half of what you’d see a total rock play.

I’m not sure I care that much for S8 ring. Limit tournaments changes game style so much and I find it fun to play all the personalities that the blinds demand. Limit ring is just grind, grind, grind. That isn’t my best feature.

I did play a bit of my old stud hi favorite. The high only game felt a bit strange. I kept catching myself wanting to play S8 hands. No, I didn’t play them but they ran through my mind in a weird way I wasn’t expecting. I need to play hi more often to get that out of my system.

Interesting bit from NASA. They mapped trees. It even looks at average heights. Here is the map for the U.S. and you can see the mountains and non-arable land outlined in trees.

Map is article link

Related posts:

1. Boring?
2. On not being Studly
3. Once again dear friend

Well actually a million a day is Steve Jobs goal. Otis joined the cult of the Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Rosaceae Species: M. domestica. (Yes, I googled that!. Only backwoods rubes know such things. ) Otis turning his mid-life crisis back onto his computer seems a healthy act.

The Apple computer is a nicely designed, overpriced PC with proprietary features and a proprietary operating system. Proprietary has always been Steve Jobs contribution to computing. IBM managed the same to a degree when it fought the BIOS wars at the beginning of time. Computer wars will outdo the Hundred Year Wars – given the time.

I no longer have a dog in this fight. Hardware is homogenized. It tastes the same and even Apple joined the x-86 world. All the proprietary stuff weakened and there were even clones in the market for a while. The shift was to their operating system which is a variant of Unix. Microsoft keeps closer to that. Today, the battle is the same as the one being fought between Chevy and Ford owners.

If you’ve followed the recent problems with iPhone 4, you’ll see Apple’s real strength. They can out PR everyone and do it with even more outlandish claims than BP can manufacture.

Antennas are part basic EE and part voodoo. The antenna on the new phone is an elegant design. That last until someone touches it. How they tested it without touching it would make another interesting tale. The meat owner touches the antenna – which runs around the edge of the unit right where it should be touched. This attenuates the the signal by adding impedance. That’s basic engineering 101.

Apple has ‘solved’ the problem by painting on a red face. Should be a clown face but Steve has his pride. They blame software. It seems their algorithm was faulty so they’ll resolve the issue by using AT&T code. That’s the same AT&T that is waring in the marketplace over reception which end users understand as a collection of bars. These bars all seem to have a limited relationship to the signal to noise ratio that determines successful conversing.

That Apple is failing at a basic engineering level is no real surprise. They recently began moving away from being a hardware company. They’ve adopted HP’s printer model. Instead of printer cartridges they are substituting iTunes and iApps. It is a better model because there it has no materials cost after the amortization. It is like McDonald’s being able to sell the same hamburger to every customer.

Sadly, few of us bother to become informed. Throw in our innate optimism and you get the Madoffs and modern snake oil extravaganzas. It plays out every night on our evening news which proves the value of the University’s version of all this – the liberal arts degree.

Well, gotta run.  Headed over to the video store iTunes to pick up … yeah, right.

ADDENDUM:

Well I managed to get a second in another little tournament. I plan to use those winning to pursue my goal of slowly pissing it away at the 8- seat tables. The heads up was disappointing. I started down 3:1 and came back to have him on the ropes. At that point, he either became a card rack or my Alzheimer’s kicked in. Voting in this may end up a tie.

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1. Apple Intros New Player
2. Tell Me a Story

There are all kinds. From Aristotle to those nut cases that show up pledge week. Then there’s today mix of both. Yes, it is our friend and all-around nice guy, Daniel Negreanu.

You can tell why he’s a gambler as your read his blog. He has a roulette personality. But, instead of 1-35 the slots are named. They are Vegan, Golf, God, et cetera. He that bouncing ball that is always landing in a new position.

I like his small ball ideas. When I concentrate on it, I do better. He seems to bring up topics that aren’t those typical chapter heading in yet another poker book.

While playing in the game Howard brought up something I found interesting enough to share my viewpoint on. Howard is notorious for showing up 2 hours late for all events. Lots of players do that, and I think in many cases it probably is a great idea, especially in the limit events where the first two hours are close to pointless. In no limit, though, I disagree with his view about the early levels being pointless.

I think it really depends on the type of player you are. For a tight, conservative player, playing 50-100 with 30,000 in chips seems like a waste of time. As Howard said, "It's like just waiting for a cooler either way." In Howard's case that may be true because his approach to the early levels is a conservative one, electing to not gamble in marginal spots, and instead waiting for the antes to get in there so he can come over the top of people, etc.

If you are a player like Alan Goering (perfect example), Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, or any aggressive player accustomed to playing deep stacked NLH, then those early levels offer an excellent opportunity to take some chances and look to either bust players, or chop away and build up a lead for the ante stage of the tournament. I'll use an example to illustrate:

OK, I’ve plagiarized enough. Go read the rest and give the poor kid a page hit.

You know I’ve been playing limit tournaments of late.  To a degree, the idea works in them too.  Especially, on line where there's a more rapid blind/ante progression.  Quality of play is a lot lower. Yet, the idea he promotes developed into an important part of my play. Not so much the first level or two; but, certainly the first hour. That’s probably the equivalent of a couple and change live.

When worked right, it is a way to builds a little cushion. Daniel thinks it out more. I keep it simple. My tournament starts with 500 big bets and it does seem close to worthless to get 10 big bets from mixing it up. But later it can cover the cost of an advanced move like his later example mentions. That little cushion lets you play (or try to) a better game later. Like what’s-her-face says, “It is a good thing.”

Related posts:

1. Weird doesn’t do it justice
2. Annoying?
3. Homer Hounds Revisited

Not a lot to report. I’ve been playing a little and it I suck. As the saga has been told, I’m playing on UB – avoiding giving FT my rake. There aren’t as many tables to choose from. There are/were more Stud8 games for some reason. It is also true that more women are playing them, Anyway. I’ve been playing the S8b tournament (3.30) to try to build some S8b chops.

If you read other blogs, you’ll see there is another idiot out there. I’d already figured out that a book on S8b was rarer than hen’s teeth. What I had forgotten was that Super System has a section. This made me the bigger idiot.

Again, reading this brought out features that just don’t fly well at the levels I play. Todd talks about playing lower and for him that is 30-60. At the 1-2 and mostly down that I play, aggression is more penalty prone. Completing and two betting early isn’t nearly as EV has he makes it to be. Sklansky even agrees with me here. At these limits, punishment is reserved for later play. But, he does expand my knowledge of what is playable.

OK, back to the title. Of late, my gluttony has been limited to punishment. I’ll avoid the bad beat stories – I don’t have the bankroll to pay you a buck for each one I could bore you with. On the good side I haven’t tilted. In a couple of days of playing S8b ring, I’ve dumped 6 buy-ins. OK, that isn’t the cooler from hell but it is annoying.

The card fairy has been consistent at both ring and tournament. It goes something like this:

Her: Here are your options:

1. Great starting hands that never get better

2. Second nuts galore with the nuts always there

Sound: Ah-OOO-Gah

Her: Sorry, you weren’t quick enough so you get both.

The idea being that that nice hand in five gets taken down by runner-runner in the last two streets. Todd also describes S8b as a low variance game. I’d thought that too until the last couple of days.

The style of play though is different. The Stud players are an aggressive lot on the whole. There are a number that try to make a living off of pure aggression. I have a tracker program and can report that very -EV. They love those bluffs. While at S8b there are a lot more rocks. But both have enough chasers to make it interesting.

Anyway, that’s been my day; how goes yours?

ADDENDUM:

Well, CrAAKKers has an interesting bit looking at the PPA and how it relates to reality. The look is a common theme that’s best articulated by Bill Rini. The idea being that the landscape is one closer to Dali than concrete. Rini’s is well thought out and the Iowa flash fleshes it out even more.

The quote I’ll throw out is one from Dylan Thomas to his dieing father:

Do not go gentle into that good night

The assumption in all this is the law will make the bad boys of online poker play dead. Now, the only thing better than having a successful online site would be to own the government printing office – paper money division. The idea that Harrah’s et al can lock them out of the market. News break: that where they are and exist.

So, Harrah pulls off the nasty and gets them banned. Duh! Nothing has changed. Harrah’s can do all those corporate things to “promote their brand” and run ads on TV. That will erode away the outlaw’s market and bring fortune and fame to the bricks and mortar crowd. Game; set; match.

Until the WSOP came along and even after. poker rooms were the poor relation in casino planning. They don’t make enough money and are populated by degenerates looking for more perks than their rake provides and complaining more than a Jewish mother. But, that’s not a problem, online there is no buffet or walnut paneling. It profit beats the crap out of B&M table games.

All that is well and good. The part ignored is that half a loaf is still more than the ownership of the online sites can eat. They could do adequately on a fraction of the current rake. This would be a major attack on the B&M business plan. Harrah’s is a business. The owners of Full Tilt are gamblers. If they are going bust they’ll do it in style and bloody their opponent. Before both sides bleed to death, they’ll likely kiss and make up.

Outcome? We might get treated nice for a change but only for a while.

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1. Crystal Balls
2. It is 10 P.M.
3. Expected Value

No that isn’t the typical form. But this isn’t about being princess for a day. It is about being an also ran – twice.

I have been playing that little high-lo stud tournament on UB. It a $3.30 – not quite the Sunday Million. I can report it takes a little over three hours to lose to an idiot. Well, that isn’t quite true. Only one was a total idiot. I’ve been playing it to try to get a better handle on the hi-lo games.

Yes, in the last two, I came in second. Boo! Yea! Boo! Take your choice. After the second, I’m going with boo.

I have concluded that the hi-lo is a very girly game. I attribute my enjoyment of it to the failing testosterone level associated with aging. Others may attribute even less attractive reasons. The horror of this is I’ve come to enjoy it. I even feel I am approaching competence. I have yet to figure out what is a good starting hand. Fortunately, those at my table seem even less far along in that area.

The first girly thing is, of course, that it is a limit tournament. It is impossible to go broke on the first hand. In fact it takes real accomplishment to do it in the first hour. There’s always one or two up to the challenge. That first hour is boring. Well, occasionally the cards are generous and you can swim with the fishes. The low levels turn many hands into family pots. So, I do splash along with the crowd when I have a reasonable though speculative hand. But, even with pot odds I tend to fold the total trash. You can steal my bringin with easy. I should wear a apron and fill the chat with ironing hints. I’m Heloise with a green eye shade.

The thing that becomes apparent with time is that being an idiot about it only rewards the idiots about. If you don’t have a hand that has the chance to scoop, you are chopping pots that don’t really build a stack. And, if you are a speculator, the result is a placeholder under the best circumstances. People are playing with blinders. The agros have to complete and raise with abandon. The enjoyment comes from watching this play out. Gotta take your enjoyment where you find it.

About an hour and a half in, you get to shift out of granny gear. (That what we called first gear back in the days there were three peddles on the floor board.) Now you start to use all those lovely reads you picked up earlier. You might even start playing those high-only hands from time to time. Although, I find it +EV more for others. Yesterday, even my rolled up tens flamed out.

Some get even more stupid aggressive here. On 7^th street, over half of everyone’s card are exposed. There will be surprises but the boards are there for all to see. Hands like the quads I showed in a previous blog happen; but, there is a rarity factor that is ignored with abandon. In a NL game, half the field is gone. Here, there might be 10% making the walk. You build a stack here with the school still swimming around. God help you if you are totally card dead. The time between 1.5 and 2.5 hours is one you need to position yourself in. Worst case is an average stack that will bring on added gamble sooner rather than later. But, you can work a short stack but it sucks.

We’ve reached the point the game starts to play like NL. Even the bigger stacks become vulnerable. Many are still playing their hand like they did when playing a hand was a cheap date. They’ll brick and still fire. It can become ridiculously easy. Card death here is devastating.

Limit tournaments are all about gear changes. This goes right over the head of about 90% of the players. Limit is a very tactical game. That’s its allure. Cards are a bit less important than in NL. You can get by on less. I’m finding that making your way toward the end is as satisfying a tournament as you can play. It gives you the chance to exercise all of your game and, yes, make a few more mistakes than NL tolerates along the way.

If you haven’t played limit tournaments, you might be missing some gratification. Yeah, it has it ugly disappointments and draw outs too. But, it is closer to a chess match. It is strange to say but the unknown factor isn’t as dominant. It really lets you exercise all of your game.

ADDENDUM:

The heads up were different. The first was against a total agro. I started out pretty well. It was letting myself push off hands and trapping when possible. I am embarrassed to say that he finally managed to tilt me.

The second was more tactical. We actually managed to play some poker. I repeatedly was able to position myself with promise but could pull it off. In the end, his draws worked and mine didn’t. It was close to minimal gratification. Whoop-de-do.

Afterward, relying on the power of my Stud8b game progress, I moved over to a ring table and promptly lost two buy-ins.

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3. Sizing

It is why I play poker, anyway. Not sure how useful it solving the murder of kings. And who needs more loose cannon Danes at the table. I played Linda’s little HORSE extravaganza this evening. Sadly, in retrospect, I got some good cards, made some good read and played fairly well.

The reason it is in retrospect is that it got my juices flowing. Now, it is 1:30 and I can’t get to sleep. Got lousy cards and situations the last couple of her tournaments and slept like a baby. There were only 6 of us and we finally chopped when three-way. It was offered earlier by the big stack on a proportional basis. I was short stack at the time so it seemed less than magnanimous. When we chopped it even, I was the big stack and also very magnanimous. Or dumb, but winning wouldn’t have helped the bankroll that much. It was within fifty-cents of second and there wasn’t a payout for third. Seemed sensible to me. Everybody got a ten-spot.  Not enough profit to supersize.

It is a fun tournament. There are enough decent players to allow an attempt at higher level play. It gets tiresome to have to play closer to a rock because of the collection of calling stations.  And RAZZ plays completely different from the typical table with ones down cards less a factor. Tonight, I got fair cards. Had a reason when I played all but one hand.  I played with a lot more aggression than cheap tables normally allow. FUN!

In other places people will bluff when the darnedest collection of cards are up with it unlikely they hit based on their betting. Bluffing needs a base to work from. People in this game understand the game and so you can bet good draws with grounds that your little post oak bluff could win at multiple levels.  You can sell a story.

Full Tilt is not my favorite HORSE tournament site. They play a full level at each game. By the time you’ve made one circuit, the blinds are noticeable. It forces more aggression than one might think a limit game entailed. It isn’t an impossible situation; just a minor annoyance in not playing enough of the later games which I see as my stronger parts.

We did have one tilt happen where the guy push a collection of bricks at razz against Linda's not as bad showing.  There was another hand that I river bet with a weak 9 that I was pretty sure was a winner and unexpectedly got a call.  At that point I figured my aggressive stance had been noticed.  LOL  A bit latter I got the same guy to fold — again at razz — on 5th street with me holding a set of 6's.  [insert s___ eating grin here]

STUD 8

I mentioned I’ve been playing some cheap tournaments to try to get a better game going. It seems to be working. I monied in the last one. But, more important, I knew why I was playing hands in given situations. That is a big improvement.

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1. Full Tilt Tournament Play
2. Tilt
3. Poker-Daniel-Me