On my recent post, “Defining His Range Into Oblivion“, tce left a comment that I felt warranted a new post:
… Read full postThis is a tantalizing post with some really interesting ideas that need more meat. Can you say more? In my experience, trying to blow someone off an Ax
What a donkey. I’m never 3-betting worse for value here, and it’s not a spot where I’m prone to bluff, either.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($2030)
Hero (SB) ($4011.75)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 10
, Q
Button … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
Hero (SB): $2,434.50
BB: $3,954.50
Pre-Flop: T
K dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $30, BB raises to $100, Hero raises to $255, BB calls $155
Flop: ($510) 3 A
2… Read full post
I think this has been out for a few days, but I just noticed that Poker Stars has posted a tentative schedule for a yet-to-be-named tournament series in April. I love the format of offering a low-, medium-, and high-stakes option for every tournament and am frankly staggered that they … Read full post
About three hours into this tournament, it was looking to be short and sweet. I shoved 33 from the SB over an aggressive guy in the CO who’d been raising most of the time it was folded to him. The BB wakes up with TT and shoves over the top, … Read full post
I really wish FTP had found a way to avoid scheduling this on Valentine’s Day. Emily told me she was OK with me playing it, which I think she would have been, but that’s really all the more reason to spend the day with her. And obviously the latter is … Read full post
I really wish FTP had found a way to avoid scheduling this on Valentine’s Day. Emily told me she was OK with me playing it, which I think she would have been, but that’s really all the more reason to spend the day with her. And obviously the latter is … Read full post
As I’ve said many times before, my preference in Stud tournaments is not to build big pots on 3rd street. That’s generally a high-variance, low-edge strategy, and it makes otherwise large mistakes on future streets much less severe. Unfortunately, people were being stupidly aggressive on 3rd, seemingly raising at every … Read full post
Not surprisingly, the quality of play in this was something like atrocious. Judging from the chat and general play, I was at a table full of clowns, which was cool. My favorite hand saw a guy raise pre-flop, and get two callers, and then bet 2x pot on A44 flop. … Read full post
I almost didn’t play this because my experience with limit tournaments has always been that even if I am not doing well they take forever. At least in NLHE if it isn’t going well you don’t waste a lot of time on it. Well, I managed to eliminate myself in … Read full post
Given the deep stacks, short-handed format, and substantial buy-in, this was probably the FTOPS event I was looking forward to the most. Sadly, the other players at my table were giant nits during the rebuy period. I got AK on the first hand and open shoved, then shoved a more … Read full post
I almost didn’t play this because my experience with limit tournaments has always been that even if I am not doing well they take forever. At least in NLHE if it isn’t going well you don’t waste a lot of time on it. Well, I managed to eliminate myself in … Read full post
This was an odd format. If you lost all 5000 of your starting chips in the first two hours, you got a free T5000 rebuy. However, if you reached the end of those two hours with chips, even if you had less than 5000, you got nothing. Essentially, it was … Read full post
Not a lot to say about this one. Only remotely interesting hand was this one:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
CO: 5,090
BTN: 10,960
SB: 3,465
BB: 9,106
Hero (UTG): 4,070
UTG+1: 6,958
UTG+2: 7,021
MP1: 9,145
MP2: 7,050
Pre-Flop:… Read full post
The Boston Debate League’s Fifth Annual City Championships took place over the weekend, and it was a great event. Nearly sixty students competed, which is actually a little low compared to the numbers we’ve had recently, but their enthusiasm more than made up for it. In the Varsity division, the … Read full post
I took an early exit from this tournament on a coin flip:
Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (8 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (MP1) (t4925)
MP2 (t5142)
CO (t5938)
Button (t4775)
SB (t8994)
BB (t5025)
UTG (t5146)
UTG+1 (t5070)
Hero’s M: 82.08
Preflop… Read full post
This guy was decent in some ways but pretty insanely loose and aggressive. I don’t think he ever folded to a 3-bet pre-flop (I probably should have made my raise size bigger), and there was a lot of 4-betting going on. For the most part, I just hung back, made … Read full post
It’s embarrassing how, after three years of playing poker very seriously, I’m still affected so dramatically by short-term results. For two weeks, I was getting brutalized, doubting my instincts, and not playing my best. Then I have one big day and I’m back to making good reads and following through … Read full post
What a month. It started out well enough, and after about a week and a half I was well on my way to a very solid January. Then all hell broke loose, and I lost heavily for the rest of the month, finishing it well in the red. I … Read full post
I pretty much never open limp, with the occasional exception of being in very early position, usually UTG, at a full ring table. This is particularly true in tournaments, because there is so much value in stealing the pot pre-flop and stacks aren’t generally deep enough to play a wide … Read full post
My latest poker article, Calling for Information, is now appearing in the February issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s a relatively low-level strategy article, compared to some of the stuff I’ve published, but even more advanced players may find parts of it useful.
… Read full postMy central argument is that if
Shantel was a middle-aged black woman who for some reason developed a sort of matronly affection for me. She always told me that I was her favorite person to work with, but I don’t know why and the feeling wasn’t mutual. I didn’t dislike her, but she was a lot … Read full post
I like this line a lot in this spot, but not against the table fish:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP ($2000)
CO ($1850)
Button ($1329)
SB ($8366)
Hero (BB) ($2197)
UTG ($2274)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, … Read full post
I’ll get you off of it eventually…
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($4886.05)
BB ($300)
UTG ($600)
Hero (MP) ($1311.80)
CO ($1318.60)
Button ($1711.10)
Preflop: Hero is MP with 10
, A
1 fold, Hero raises to $21… Read full post
Not my best double barrel ever, but the A is a good bluff card on the river. That makes it a good time for him to call down light, which makes it a good time for me to value bet light, which makes it a better bluff card in the … Read full post
A few days ago I posted a hand where we were very deep and I feared I may have overplayed a small set/full house. Once again I was deep here against a pretty good player. Were I to fire a third barrel, I’d be showing a ton of strength, so … Read full post
Since I just posted a bunch of whines, here’s a brag. The SB was the table fish, the BB is a very tough and aggressive opponent. I could just 4-bet pre-flop but I think he’d find a way to own me. I decided I was just going to play my … Read full post
Weeks ago, I got a comment that I promised to answer in greater depth. Well, I’ve finally gotten around to it. Here was the question:
… Read full postI read with interest the blog in which you say that you use AQ as a four / five bet semi bluff.
With what hands
These are all from tonight. Fair warning: this is pretty much a whine post, but I’m trying to include at least some insight into how precisely running bad can lead to playing bad (aside from the obvious straight-up frustration/tilt). This is the worst one of the night, one of two … Read full post
Both of these hands are against a real 3-betting fiend. He’s ridiculously loose and aggressive pre-flop, especially when he has position. Even though I think he’s taken it to the point of exploitability, it’s still a tough and high-variance playstyle to combat. There are a lot of adjustments you need … Read full post
This is a pretty specific situation nearly 400 BB’s deep against a phenomenal player (CardRunner’s instructor/FTP red pro Eric “P3achy_Keen” Liu
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1945)
UTG ($1015)
UTG+1 ($4483)
MP1 ($991.45)
MP2 ($3100)
MP3 ($1609.25)
Hero (CO) ($3782.50)… Read full post
As of today, I am in the red for the year. Obviously not a big deal just two weeks in, but it’s annoying. It has a lot to do with my pocket Aces never winning the damn pot. In fact, I am in the red for the year with … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP2 ($723.55)
MP3 ($1002)
CO ($928)
Button ($995)
SB ($1000)
BB ($1717.50)
UTG ($585)
Hero (UTG+1) ($1015)
MP1 ($1239)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A
1 fold, Hero raises to $30, 6 … Read full post
There were nine 25/50 cap games going tonight! And I was playing all of them. This is against a guy who can’t read hands very well and never believes me:
Full Tilt $1500.00 Cap No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (4 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($6815)
Hero (SB) … Read full post
Of course I couldn’t actually see my opponent’s hold cards, but it sure looks like I could when you see the results:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($3706.55)
MP ($1875)
Hero (CO) ($3852)
Button ($4474)
SB ($1325)
BB ($2872.95)
Preflop… Read full post
Until recently, I didn’t play HSNL very often on Poker Stars and consequently did not remember anything about this player. However, I had a note on him indicating that I had previously observed him fail to make a thin value bet. Thus, I felt comfortable calling him down here:
PokerStars … Read full post
At least I wish I did…
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP ($2292)
CO ($2000)
Button ($2000)
SB ($828.85)
BB ($2773)
Hero (UTG) ($1904)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero raises to $60, MP raises to $200… Read full post
Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games
This is my bread and butter game, and even if I don’t do anything to improve, just maintaining my current winrate and putting in hours will be very valuable to me. Of course I do want to get better, but my general focus … Read full post
Sorry I haven’t had the opportunity to put together my 2009 Resolutions yet- they’ll be coming soon…
The Poker Stars Sunday Million (which now guarantees a $1.5 million prizepool and routinely clears that by a healthy margin) is comparable to the WSOP main event for its ability to entice atrocious … Read full post
Having already posted an analysis of last year’s resolutions (One, Two, and Three), I’ll turn now to some year-end miscellany:
Largest Pot Won
Though I played as high as 50/100 last year, my biggest win was in a recent 10/20 heads up game. It’s … Read full post
At the beginning of last year, I set some poker resolutions and goals for myself. It’s time now to see how I’ve fared during the course of 2008. I’ve already posted about my resolutions to Focus on Short-Handed No-Limit Hold ‘Em Cash Games and to Keep Getting Better at Other … Read full post
At the beginning of last year, I set some poker resolutions and goals for myself. It’s time now to see how I’ve fared during the course of 2008. Yesterday, I posted about my resolution to Focus on Short-Handed No-Limit Hold ‘Em Cash Games.
Resolution 2: Keep Getting Better at … Read full post
At the beginning of last year, I set some poker resolutions and goals for myself. It’s time now to see how I’ve fared during the course of 2008.
Resolution 1: Focus on Short-Handed NLHE Cash Games
I pretty well kicked the tournament habit, but my focus wasn’t exclusively on short-handed … Read full post
While visiting family in Maryland, I came across an article in the Baltimore Sun that I find funny on multiple levels. The article, entitled “New Meters Paying Off”, is about how a switch to centralized parking meters that enable customers to pay with credit cards has generated a big increase … Read full post
Our manager was in the store mornings almost every day, but even then he was usually in his office. Store policy was enforced on employees not through regular supervision but by the threat of surprise inspection by Carl, the manager at another branch owned by same person who owned our … Read full post
It never ceases to amuse me when my mistakes make me money. Here I meant to bet $99 on the river and accidentally bet $9. The result was inducing a huge check-raise bluff from a hand that almost certainly would have folded to my intended bet:
Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 … Read full post
This is from my laptop, so sorry for the lack of converted HH. It was from a 5/10 deep game, people’s stack sizes are in parentheses after their names:
UTG ($2000) raises to $40, UTG+1 ($2000) re-raises to $120, CO folds, I ($2000) call the $120 cold, SB folds, BB … Read full post
Absolutely murdered this guy at 10/20 heads up this afternoon. He was decent but overly loose and aggressive and did not adapt well to playing super-deep. As you’ll see, we had a very aggressive pre-flop dynamic going on, but it occurred almost exclusively on my button. The deeper we got, … Read full post
I play FTP’s 200 BB deep stack games almost exclusively. That’s in part because I prefer deeper stacked play but also because the higher stakes regular games are infested with people who buy in for the minimum of 20 BB (the minimum on the deep tables is 50BB). There are … Read full post
Gah how does this not value bet the river?!?!
Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BB: $3,800
Hero (UTG): $4,340
MP: $4,151
CO: $2,000
BTN: $4,026
SB: $3,853
Pre-Flop: A 8 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $70, 2 … Read full post
This was an interesting one:
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
Hero (BB): $1,050
UTG: $2,182
BTN: $1,186
SB: $1,018.90
Pre-Flop: T A
dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, BTN raises to $20, SB folds, Hero raises to $75, … Read full post
The frustrating thing about monster hands like Quads is that they rarely get paid off, since it’s so hard for your opponents to make second best hands. But I managed to win two stacks with quads tonight:
Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand … Read full post
I guess this is fairly standard and notable mostly for the sum of money involved:
Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
CO: $12,483
BTN: $16,645
Hero (SB): $10,000
BB: $17,688
UTG: $5,000
MP: $9,875
Pre-Flop: 9 8 dealt to Hero (SB)… Read full post
Villain was some random I’d never seen before and knew nothing about:
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG: $534.20
MP: $2,144.40
CO: $2,000
Hero (BTN): $2,000
SB: $2,215
BB: $1,015
Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, MP … Read full post
There are some hands that I almost always 3-bet (AA, KK) and some that I almost never 3-bet (72, 95), but in the middle are a whole bunch of hands and spots that are at least kind of close. What if you are 100BB deep, a tight-aggressive player opens UTG, … Read full post
Last night was my biggest to date playing exclusively cash games, topped only by the WSOP (obviously- not sure that even counts since it took two weeks) and my win in the UB 200K last November. Funny thing is while I wasn’t playing badly I don’t think I was playing … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BB: $1,154
Hero (UTG): $2,707
BTN: $1,072
SB: $5,637.50
Pre-Flop: 2 2 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $35, BTN folds, SB calls $30, BB folds
Flop: ($80) 5 8
Q (2 Players)… Read full post
In light of my recent article on Creative Bet Sizing, here are two river check-raise overbets I made against the same player. The situations are similar: I have an unlikely monster hand and my opponent has a well-defined strong-but-not-too-strong hand. By “well-defined”, I mean that he probably realizes that … Read full post
Bear wasn’t an employee, but he was one of our most colorful regular customers. I mean that both figuratively and literally: he was a hulking biker dude covered in ink from head to toe. Rose bushes encircled naked women on his arms, and his shiny bald head was decorated with … Read full post
This is an honest-to-God quote from the City of Boston’s official calendar:
Join the Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) to kick off the start of the city’s holiday season! The singers will join Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino for one of the city’s most cherished events- the lighting of Boston’s … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Creative Bet Sizing, is now appearing in the December edition of 2+2 Internet Magazine. The article examines underbetting and overbetting as examples of how to add unconventional plays into your arsenal. Here’s an excerpt from the section on overbetting the pot:
… Read full postBig bets are
The cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker made national news yesterday with an article in the Washington Post and a segment on CBS’ 60 Minutes. There was a lot of doom and gloom predictions about what this coverage would look like, but in the end I thought … Read full post
There was a great 25/50 deep game going last night, with two really big fish sitting on $10,000+ each. I had to compete with three very good players for them, but it was still a great spot. Unfortunately, I missed a pretty important bluff against one of the sharks.
The … Read full post
I hope all the Americans and anyone else who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a nice time. I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who reads and/or comments here at thinkingpoker. It’s enormously gratifying to know that there are people out there interested in what I have to say about … Read full post
Gary was a tough guy to work with. He had some mental disabilities that prevented him from engaging fully in the idle banter that generally passed between co-workers. Most of the time he did his job just as well as if not better than the other employees, but his strength … Read full post
The Boston Herald ran an article this morning about the Boston Debate League and one of its member schools which was nearly closed by the school district:
… Read full postThe debate team at the Academy of Public Service sailed into the “elite eight” last year at the national championships in Chicago.
Now,