As I now live on the west coast, I decided to do Vancouver instead of Montreal for my online pokering. I’ve barely been here 24 hours, and the weather has been beautiful, but I do miss the familiarity I have with Montreal, and the ease of getting around the city on the Bixi bike-share.
I had a bit of friction coming into Canada yesterday, nothing too serious, but the most difficult I’ve encountered on any or my trips here. The first customs agent asked me the usual questions but seemed satisfied with my answers and sent me on my way. Thinking I was in the clear, I retrieved my bag and went to leave the airport, handing my declaration form to another customs agent on the way out. The first agent must have marked something on there, because the second did a double take and then sent me to the immigration office.
The agent there was polite and a bit less aggressive than the customs people usually are, which was nice. He asked about how often I came to Canada, how long I planned to stay, and where I planned to stay. He also asked whether poker was my only source of income, and when I mentioned coaching and writing, he asked whether my writing was entirely online. I’m not really sure why that was important, but he told me to leave my bag and have a seat, then he disappeared for at least fifteen minutes.
Finally he returned and told me I’d be allowed in (he never actually inspected my bag). He said they’d had problems with online poker players staying in Canada for months at a time, returning to the US only briefly, and then coming back to Canada again. Apparently my track record of relatively brief visits over the last few years reassured them, and I was allowed into the country. Still, this was a bit of a scare, and also significant for being the first time a customs/immigration officer I’ve dealt with has demonstrated an awareness of the phenomenon of US poker players coming to Canada to play online.
Now that I’m here, it’s great to be playing the SCOOP on the west coast. Event 1 started at 5AM, which was early even for me, but from here on out none of the tournaments starts before 8AM or after 2PM. 8AM might sound early to some of you, but it’s roughly when I tend to wake up anyway, and I’m glad not to have events starting at 5PM and running until 5AM (I skipped several events last year for this reason).
I late registered all three Event 1s and came somewhat close to cashing in the $1K, ultimately busting on a coin flip:
PokerStars – $1000+$50|250/500 Ante 50 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
MP: 34.46 BB (VPIP: 26.92, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 26)
MP+1: 26.33 BB (VPIP: 15.38, PFR: 11.54, 3Bet Preflop: 21.43, Hands: 26)
MP+2: 25.08 BB (VPIP: 24.44, PFR: 15.56, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 45)
CO: 41.15 BB (VPIP: 12.33, PFR: 5.48, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 73)
Hero (BTN): 30.1 BB
SB: 13.1 BB (VPIP: 23.08, PFR: 11.54, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 26)
BB: 14.84 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 8.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 26)
UTG: 40.98 BB (VPIP: 15.38, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 26)
UTG+1: 75.37 BB (VPIP: 26.92, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 26)
9 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 2.4 BB) Hero has Jh Ac
fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 5 BB, fold, fold, CO raises to 41.05 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 25 BB and is all-in
Flop : (62.4 BB, 2 players) 3s 4c 9h
Turn : (62.4 BB, 2 players) 6h
River : (62.4 BB, 2 players) 4s
CO shows 6d 6s (Full House, Sixes full of Fours)
(Pre 55%, Flop 76%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows Jh Ac (One Pair, Fours)
(Pre 45%, Flop 24%, Turn 0%)
CO wins 62.4 BB
Relatively standard I think, though I can see a case for flatting pre-flop as well.
The 6-max progressive knock-out was a lot of fun, and I wish I’d lasted longer in that one. I got off to a pretty good start, three-betting quite a bit against a very active player on my right and generally getting the better of the many pots we played together. Then I lost a chunk running JJ into his QQ. I would have been ready to lose it all, but he just flatted my three-bet out of position, and we didn’t end up getting stacks in post.
I once again miraculously managed not to go broke here:
PokerStars – $1000+$1000+$100|75/150 Ante 20 NL (6 max) – Holdem – 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
UTG: 60.97 BB (VPIP: 5.88, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 17)
MP: 282.54 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 28.57, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 22)
CO: 61.31 BB (VPIP: 47.37, PFR: 32.43, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 38)
BTN: 147.22 BB (VPIP: 35.96, PFR: 19.70, 3Bet Preflop: 2.17, Hands: 203)
SB: 77.58 BB (VPIP: 24.50, PFR: 13.91, 3Bet Preflop: 5.13, Hands: 155)
Hero (BB): 61.95 BB
6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has Qd Ks
fold, fold, CO raises to 2.16 BB, BTN calls 2.16 BB, fold, Hero calls 1.16 BB
Flop : (7.78 BB, 3 players) 6s Qh As
Hero checks, CO bets 3.5 BB, fold, Hero calls 3.5 BB
Turn : (14.78 BB, 2 players) Qs
Hero checks, CO bets 12.5 BB, Hero calls 12.5 BB
River : (39.78 BB, 2 players) 7s
Hero checks, CO bets 14 BB, Hero calls 14 BB
CO shows Ac Ah (Full House, Aces full of Queens)
(Pre 86%, Flop 95%, Turn 98%)
Hero mucks Qd Ks (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 14%, Flop 5%, Turn 2%)
CO wins 67.78 BB
Villain could have easily shoved the river, and given that there was a $500 bounty for eliminating me, I think he clearly should have.
Ultimately, I was busted by a player who went after my bounty a bit more aggressively:
PokerStars – $1000+$1000+$100|75/150 Ante 20 NL (6 max) – Holdem – 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
SB: 167.27 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
BB: 373.33 BB (VPIP: 41.30, PFR: 34.78, 3Bet Preflop: 40.00, Hands: 47)
UTG: 107.29 BB (VPIP: 52.38, PFR: 40.32, 3Bet Preflop: 10.53, Hands: 63)
MP: 61.73 BB (VPIP: 35.53, PFR: 18.86, 3Bet Preflop: 2.75, Hands: 228)
CO: 68.97 BB (VPIP: 23.30, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 4.30, Hands: 180)
Hero (BTN): 24.38 BB
6 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has 2c 2h
fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 24.25 BB and is all-in, fold, BB calls 23.25 BB
Flop : (49.79 BB, 2 players) Tc Ah Ks
Turn : (49.79 BB, 2 players) 8h
River : (49.79 BB, 2 players) Th
BB shows 8d 2d (Two Pair, Tens and Eights)
(Pre 37%, Flop 15%, Turn 98%)
Hero shows 2c 2h (Two Pair, Tens and Twos)
(Pre 63%, Flop 85%, Turn 2%)
BB wins 49.79 BB
The most interesting pot I played was against Chris Moorman in the $2000 Sunday Million replacement:
PokerStars – $2000+$100|50/100 Ante 10 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
Hero (UTG): 135.17 BB
UTG+1: 105.97 BB (VPIP: 38.46, PFR: 23.08, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 13)
MP: 69.55 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 8.89, 3Bet Preflop: 2.22, Hands: 91)
MP+1: 23.7 BB (VPIP: 21.11, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 4.76, Hands: 91)
MP+2: 108.03 BB (VPIP: 31.87, PFR: 19.78, 3Bet Preflop: 7.69, Hands: 91)
CO: 105.24 BB (VPIP: 22.47, PFR: 17.98, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 89)
BTN: 104.23 BB (VPIP: 20.69, PFR: 8.62, 3Bet Preflop: 2.94, Hands: 60)
SB: 103.1 BB (VPIP: 6.67, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 15)
BB: 95.76 BB (VPIP: 16.44, PFR: 13.70, 3Bet Preflop: 5.26, Hands: 74)
9 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 2.4 BB) Hero has As Ac
Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold
Flop : (8.4 BB, 2 players) 3d 4c 7c
Hero checks, CO bets 4.2 BB, Hero calls 4.2 BB
Turn : (16.8 BB, 2 players) 7s
Hero checks, CO bets 8.4 BB, Hero calls 8.4 BB
River : (33.6 BB, 2 players) Jc
Hero checks, CO bets 22.39 BB, Hero calls 22.39 BB
CO shows 5d 5h (Two Pair, Sevens and Fives)
(Pre 20%, Flop 23%, Turn 14%)
Hero shows As Ac (Two Pair, Aces and Sevens)
(Pre 80%, Flop 77%, Turn 86%)
Hero wins 78.38 BB
It was all downhill from there, though. I was really card dead, barely opening at all and getting three-bet almost every time I did (except when I had Kings, of course!) Eventually I open jammed 13BBs with JJ and lost a flip to AK in the big blind.
Tomorrow is the heads up, which should be a lot of fun!
When I visit Vancouver for week I usually buy a bike in stores with used bikes,etc.
I infer from your flop check that you perceive Moorman to have many small pairs in his range to coldcall a UTG raise in the CO, 100BBs deep. The results confirm the hypothesis. I don’t think he can profit with these hands, especially if when he hits one of the best board runouts for his range, it doesn’t seem like he has any interest in getting stacks in.
You could look for some kind of festival ongoing at the time and tell the custom agent you plan to attend. Going to be tough if the only thing going on is Barbie-Con.
Perhaps you could let us know your sched so we can rail you. I watched for a couple hours on PS yesterday.
I’ve always gotten in telling the truth. Aside from an intrinsic desire not to lie, I also think that getting caught out in a lie would very much hurt my chances of getting in.
Playing the heads ups that start at 11 Pacific and also the rebuys that start at 2.
I didn’t mean to lie. Whenever Im in a new town I always look for some kind of cultural and creative stuff going on in town. If not I try to stop into a local museum and check out a program. Its my thing. I like telling the truth myself but I wouldn’t say Im going to extract money from the inexperienced either. LOL!
Great Ill stop in and watch.
Wow that call with the AK in the Heads Up was brilliant. Flush was there.
Full House was there. Brilliant read.
Flushes and full houses aren’t easy to make, especially not when I’m holding the A of the flush suit!
One time!
Seriously still love reading these. Thanks for the updates.
That’s a bluff, not value by moorman, no? Pretty merge-y really. Maybe it is pure value.
Flop and turn some combination of value/protection, river 100% a bluff.
(Sorry – I really should read these closer to air time) What hands can Moorman reasonably expect to be in your range that you would fold to his river bet (and that are ahead of 55) … 88-TT? It seems to me that there aren’t that many, and that even the ones I can postulate wouldn’t seem like hands he would be super confident of getting to fold. Far be it from me to question Moorman (and maybe there’s history I don’t know about), but I don’t quite understand his river bet.