I haven't put any money into online poker for quite a while, but I do play occasional freerolls hoping to cash-in at long odds. Last Saturday I entered a freeroll with about 1,100 other players, with only the top 27 places getting paid. It took about five hours and all the skill, patience and luck I could muster, but when the smoke cleared I finished in 19th place and won myself $2.
This may not seem like a big deal, but cashing in one of these things is damn hard. A few years back Chris "Jesus" Ferguson announced that he was going to try to win $10, 000 playing poker online without depositing a penny - he would start by cashing in a freeroll. It took him about a year and a half but he did it*, and the hardest part was cashing in the freeroll to get started.
The Jesus Challenge is the goal I want to set for myself - except without the year and a half time line. I don't have that much time to play everyday. But if I can build this up to $10, 000 within, say, ten years I'll be pretty happy.
And what's more, if I achieve my goal I'll do what Chris did and donate it all to charity.
I'm at almost $7 now. I'll keep you posted.
* - Given the fact that Chris seems to be somewhat deeply involved in the FullTilt legal problems, it is not unrealistic to doubt if he is telling the truth about this. Still whether or not he did it, I'm going to try.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Did I make the right move?
Among the players sitting at the table on Friday was a guy I'd played with several times before - let's call him Doug. Doug talks. A lot. Doug is a "colour commentator". He will evaluate the hand just played and say what the proper move was, or wasn't, at each stage. He will often criticize the other players, saying things like, "I don't know why he bluffed in that situation. Anyone can see the other guy is complete calling station, it's insane to try to bluff a calling station." Doug is annoying as hell, but most of what he says seems to make sense to me. Sitting at a table with him can be an education. He is an astute observer of his opponents and is more than willing to share his observations. After an hour you will have a pretty accurate picture of how he plays the game, which is useful should you have to tangle with him.
I was on the button with 4 5 off - a hand I would normally fold. But someone limped and everyone else (including Doug, who sat two chairs to my right) had called so I figured a $2 call wasn't out of line. The blinds were also in, so all nine of us saw the flop: 4 4 J rainbow. Sweet. It checked around to Doug who put out a $10 bet. I just called and two others called behind me. Doug said "Does everyone have a four?" and it seemed to me that he was trying to send out gee, I'm nervous vibes. Often when a guy asks if you have a particular strong hand, he will be holding that exact hand himself, and this is what I instantly felt Doug was doing. I knew that if Doug had a four, then I might have kicker trouble. So when an eight came on the turn and Doug bet $25 I folded. The other two folded as well. As Doug handed his cards back to the dealer he flipped one over. It was a four. It was nice of him to confirm for me that my read had been correct.
Still, not knowing what the other card was, there is a good chance that had I called we would have split the pot. With a 4 4 J 8 board, we would be splitting the pot if he had a 7 6 5 3 or 2 to go with his 4. And there is a chance a high card on the river would also split the pot.
So did I really make a smart fold? Or was I overly cautious? Should I have called a $25 bet into a $58 pot knowing my opponent probably had a 4, or was folding correct?
You tell me.
I was on the button with 4 5 off - a hand I would normally fold. But someone limped and everyone else (including Doug, who sat two chairs to my right) had called so I figured a $2 call wasn't out of line. The blinds were also in, so all nine of us saw the flop: 4 4 J rainbow. Sweet. It checked around to Doug who put out a $10 bet. I just called and two others called behind me. Doug said "Does everyone have a four?" and it seemed to me that he was trying to send out gee, I'm nervous vibes. Often when a guy asks if you have a particular strong hand, he will be holding that exact hand himself, and this is what I instantly felt Doug was doing. I knew that if Doug had a four, then I might have kicker trouble. So when an eight came on the turn and Doug bet $25 I folded. The other two folded as well. As Doug handed his cards back to the dealer he flipped one over. It was a four. It was nice of him to confirm for me that my read had been correct.
Still, not knowing what the other card was, there is a good chance that had I called we would have split the pot. With a 4 4 J 8 board, we would be splitting the pot if he had a 7 6 5 3 or 2 to go with his 4. And there is a chance a high card on the river would also split the pot.
So did I really make a smart fold? Or was I overly cautious? Should I have called a $25 bet into a $58 pot knowing my opponent probably had a 4, or was folding correct?
You tell me.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
The Dumbest Thing I Did on Friday
Poker is a difficult game to learn and teach because it is so situational - while you are trying to outsmart your opponents, they in turn are trying to out smart you. They change their strategies, lay traps, try to induce you to bluff and do all sorts of sneaky things. This is particularly true in No Limit - where a massive bet could be a desperate bluff or a sign of a monster hand. You sometimes wonder, "Why would he bet so much? If he had the nuts he would bet less hoping for a call." So you call the enormous bet only to see your opponent turn over the stone cold nuts. Why did he bet so much? The obvious answer is that he had you pegged as a guy who would suspect he was bluffing by betting so much. He was thinking about what you would be thinking about and he was right. The bastard.
I was playing on Friday at a table with a mixture of professional and recreational players. The pros were making a killing off of the fish, who were calling down marginal hands. I got luck early on when I flopped a straight against one of the pros and extracted maximum value as he was on a million draws and missed them all. I wish I could say it was skill, but unless you can learn to flop straights you have to admit it was just dumb luck.
I made the mistake right then of thinking I had wounded the pride of the pro, and this assumption led me to make a bad decision a few hands later, when I was dealt QQ on the button. There were six guys in for the $2 min-bet when it got to me and I raised it it to $10. It folded back to the guy I had just beaten. He only had about $120 left in chips and he pushed half his stack in making the bet $60. It quickly folds back to me. All I could think is that this guy wants revenge. Well you picked the wrong guy to try push around buddy! I announce "all in" and the guy calls sometime between me saying "all" and "in" - but still I think I'm okay until he flips over pocket aces.
Oops.
81% of the time the aces hold up in this situation. Luckily for me this happened to be one of those 19% occasions. A queen came on the flop and my trips held. But despite the happy ending, I know that I had been out-played. I gathered my chips and hoped I could avoid a mistake like that in the future. The lesson is not to assume a strong player will let emotion dictate their play. Weak players let things like wanting revenge influence them, but pros don't. If a pro re-raises you pre-flop (particularly if you have a tight image), it usually means he has a real big hand.
I was playing on Friday at a table with a mixture of professional and recreational players. The pros were making a killing off of the fish, who were calling down marginal hands. I got luck early on when I flopped a straight against one of the pros and extracted maximum value as he was on a million draws and missed them all. I wish I could say it was skill, but unless you can learn to flop straights you have to admit it was just dumb luck.
I made the mistake right then of thinking I had wounded the pride of the pro, and this assumption led me to make a bad decision a few hands later, when I was dealt QQ on the button. There were six guys in for the $2 min-bet when it got to me and I raised it it to $10. It folded back to the guy I had just beaten. He only had about $120 left in chips and he pushed half his stack in making the bet $60. It quickly folds back to me. All I could think is that this guy wants revenge. Well you picked the wrong guy to try push around buddy! I announce "all in" and the guy calls sometime between me saying "all" and "in" - but still I think I'm okay until he flips over pocket aces.
Oops.
81% of the time the aces hold up in this situation. Luckily for me this happened to be one of those 19% occasions. A queen came on the flop and my trips held. But despite the happy ending, I know that I had been out-played. I gathered my chips and hoped I could avoid a mistake like that in the future. The lesson is not to assume a strong player will let emotion dictate their play. Weak players let things like wanting revenge influence them, but pros don't. If a pro re-raises you pre-flop (particularly if you have a tight image), it usually means he has a real big hand.
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