PokerStars Big Game - tourney hand analysis

As many of you probably know, PokerStars presents a TV show called “The Big Game” in which amateurs who qualified in freeroll tournaments on PokerStars get staked $100,000 to play in a high-stakes cash game with professional poker players. I have watched the show and found it rather entertaining and educational. I will have more to say about the Big Game in another post that I am formulating. But this post is about a hand that I played in one of their qualifying tournaments. After it was over, the player who came out on the losing end had some comments about the way I played the hand. I am certainly willing to learn from my mistakes, so I thought it would be worth looking more closely at this hand to see what mistakes I may have made, and what I could have done better.

A little background: in the Round 1 freerolls like this one, the top 300 finishers move on to the next round. Each of the nine players at the table starts with $10,000 in chips. The blinds start at $200/$400 with a $100 ante. So, before any cards are dealt, each player has an M of about 7. This has two effects: (1) you have to start accumulating chips early, and (2) just about every pot is worth contesting. Another thing that happens is that there is a lot of limping, because everyone wants to hit a draw and take down a big pot.

So, here is the hand in question, with my comments added along the way.

*********** # 109 **************
PokerStars Game #50429242296: Tournament #308745183, Freeroll  Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (1200/2400) - 2010/09/30 22:30:29 CT [2010/09/30 23:30:29 ET]
Table '308745183 11' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Rivit36 (19050 in chips)
Seat 2: iam99930301 (105650 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: ResinSystems (77700 in chips)
Seat 4: bunny'sTiger (48450 in chips)
Seat 5: Alley Cat 7 (210175 in chips)
Seat 6: BAPMAN55 (138500 in chips)
Seat 7: yestbay1 (203600 in chips)

I am second in chips at my table, and in the cutoff seat. My M is around 23, so I am in decent shape and have some room to maneuver.

Seat 8: kowalabear69 (106050 in chips)
Seat 9: Framkie B (87250 in chips)
Rivit36: posts the ante 600
iam99930301: posts the ante 600
ResinSystems: posts the ante 600
bunny'sTiger: posts the ante 600
Alley Cat 7: posts the ante 600
BAPMAN55: posts the ante 600
yestbay1: posts the ante 600
kowalabear69: posts the ante 600
Framkie B: posts the ante 600
Framkie B: posts small blind 1200
Rivit36: posts big blind 2400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Qd Ad]

A nice hand to play, especially in late position.

iam99930301: folds
ResinSystems: calls 2400
bunny'sTiger: calls 2400
Alley Cat 7: calls 2400
BAPMAN55: folds
yestbay1: calls 2400

Three limpers, so a nice pot is building. If I can hit a big hand, I can add a nice chunk to my stack, so I decide to limp along. I can stand to call a raise, but I don’t expect to see one.

kowalabear69: calls 2400
Framkie B: calls 1200
Rivit36 is disconnected
Rivit36 is connected
Rivit36 has timed out
Rivit36: checks

Pot is now 25,800. I would love to take this one, even on the flop.

*** FLOP *** [6c 4d Kc]

That doesn’t help me at all, but did it hit anyone else? I am ready to fold to a decent-sized bet.

Framkie B: checks
Rivit36: checks
ResinSystems: checks
bunny'sTiger: checks
Alley Cat 7: bets 4800

A bet of less than 1/5 the pot? Hard to tell what kind of hand Alley Cat would bet that amount with. My best guess would be a flush draw, because one or two pair or a set should bet larger to discourage others from drawing. I can certainly afford a call, and might catch an Ace and/or Queen or running cards that could win this pot. Of course, I don’t want to see a club. If someone behind me raises, I am done, with minimal damage to my stack.

yestbay1: calls 4800
kowalabear69: calls 4800
Framkie B: calls 4800
Rivit36 is disconnected
Rivit36 has timed out while disconnected
Rivit36: folds
Rivit36 is sitting out
ResinSystems: folds
bunny'sTiger: folds

Two more callers, so the pot is definitely getting fat; now up to 45K.

*** TURN *** [6c 4d Kc] [Jd]

I love that card, giving me straight and flush draws. I would probably fold to a big bet, though, to guard my stack. I don’t have to finish first, just 300^th or better.

Framkie B: checks
Rivit36 is connected
Rivit36 has returned
Alley Cat 7: bets 9600

OK, what is this cat up to? This time it’s just a little more than 1/5 the pot, giving me the odds to draw, especially since Alley Cat has a big stack for me to aim at. Even if someone has a set and would fill up on the river if the board pairs, I still have 7 diamonds as outs (discounting the 6d and Kd) plus 3 Tens for a straight (discounting the Tc which might give someone a crub frush). That’s ten outs, and the Rule of Two says that gives me about a 20% chance of catching a winning card. With the bet of slightly more than 1/5 the pot, I’m getting pretty much the right pot odds up front to call, especially if the players behind me call, plus some implied odds if I can get paid off. I can’t see much reason to fold here, and also no reason to raise since I haven’t made a hand yet.

yestbay1: calls 9600
kowalabear69: calls 9600
Framkie B: calls 9600

And yet more chasers, sweetening the pot even more: 83,400.

*** RIVER *** [6c 4d Kc Jd] [8d]

Gin! How do I get some chips out of these suckers, er, worthy opponents? I hope someone has a lower flush and bets into me…

Framkie B: checks
Alley Cat 7: checks

Well, looks like Alley Cat either missed his draw or got scared by the diamond. Might as well bet a decent amount which I hope can be called by at least one person. How about roughly half the pot?

yestbay1: bets 42400
kowalabear69: folds
Framkie B: folds
Alley Cat 7: calls 42400

Suckered in one, anyway.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
yestbay1: shows [Qd Ad] (a flush, Ace high)
Alley Cat 7: shows [Kh Kd] (three of a kind, Kings)
yestbay1 collected 164600 from pot

Whaddya know. Alley Cat flopped a set of Kings and played them so slow that they got away from him (or her; I will guess “him” for simplicity’s sake). Then comes the commentary….

Alley Cat 7 said, "great very bad playing"

Normally I don’t respond to derogatory chat comments, but I thought I would toss one back.

yestbay1 said, "if you say so"
Alley Cat 7 said, "    u had nothing      and got really lucky for runner runner"
Alley Cat 7 said, "i say so      i guess"

In the interests of poker education, I decided to let out a little secret of my playing strategy.

yestbay1 said, "you gave me the pot odds"

Which got me the snappy rejoinder:

Alley Cat 7 said, "yeah    sure greg"

I have no clue who Greg is. In any event, I have to wonder if Alley Cat realized that he could have prevented getting drawn out on, just by betting more to deny me (or others who were drawing) the right odds to keep trying to get there. Maybe he will learn a lesson from this hand. I did, and it is: don’t slowplay your flopped sets in multi-way pots when there are draws on the board. Then again, I think I learned that lesson a while ago. Nevertheless, an occasional reminder is always a good thing.

Epilogue: I did finish in the top 300 and went on to the next round. More about that in a future post….

WPBT Luckbox Last Longer Challenge III (plus bonuses!)

As you may recall, the Luckbox organized a last longer challenge for last year's WPBT Winter Classic tournament. For 2010, the challenge has expanded to new heights of awesomeness. All the details are here, but below are some highlights.

The Luckbox Last Longer Challenge III, or L-Cubed-Cubed, just starts where last year's contest left off. PokerStars is once again adding to the contest prize pool, this year to the tune of $3,000. They are also sponsoring two new add-ons to the fun: $100 bounties on ten players from the original WPBT tournament in 2004, and a $500 prize pool for the first ten (post-flop) winning Hammers dropped in the tourney.

Be sure to read the whole post at www.upforpoker.com to get the nitty-gritty. Once you have done that, come on back, and leave me a comment if you would like to join me on a team for the L-Cubed-Cubed, or e-mail me at david [dot] westbay [at] verizon [dot] net. I look forward to going deep in the tournament with two of my fellow bloggers and taking down the big prize.

And if you haven't made plans to attend the Classic this year, what are you waiting for? If you are on Facebook, sign up to attend the tourney at this page; if you aren't on FB, read more about it and leave a comment at This Is Not a Poker Blog.

Many thanks to the fine folks at PokerStars for the very generous bonus prizes for this event, and to the Luckbox for putting it together! And to April, of course, for organizing the tourney.

Who will be on the winning team with me?? Get your name in fast - first come, first served. Once our team is formed, we will discuss our team name. It should be intimidating and awesome. Put your thinking caps on.

See you there!

Success story

As I predicted in my last post, I dropped in at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK, this past weekend to play some poker. In fact, my son Ben and I played in their Saturday morning bounty tournament, where the buy-in was $50 + $10, + $25 towards the bounty. I had never played in this tourney before so I didn't know what to expect in terms of number of players, structure, skill levels of my opponents, or much of anything else. Actually, I hadn't played in more than a handful of live, cash buy-in tournaments up to that one; the great majority of my playing is online. But this one went fairly well for me.


There were 71 entrants; 8 places paid. Everyone started with $2000 in chips, and blinds started at $25/$25, with levels lasting 20 minutes. I played my usual tight game at the beginning, and most of the other players did the same. In fact, there was plenty of limping and a lot of multi-way pots. I didn't get much going early on, but I took a few pots to keep from being blinded off too fast. My stack started shrinking, though, and it took a couple of decent-sized pots to stay afloat. I won a bounty when I called a shortie's all-in with A-J and caught a Jack to beat his 99. After that, I stole a few times and won a few others, holding my head above water but never threatening to take the chip lead.

I wish I remembered more details about specific hands, but there weren't many that stuck in my mind. I do feel like I didn't make any bone-headed mistakes or decisions that stand out in my memory. Suffice it to say, I made the final table and finished 7th, for my first live cash tournament payout. I won a second bounty along the way, so my total cash-out was $210.00. Less my $85 buy-in, I gained $125.00 net, which will cover my buy-in to the blogger tournament at the Winter Classic in December. I know that this is no big deal to almost anyone who might read this, but I feel good about the fact that I finally made the money in a "real" tournament, as I always thought I could. Hopefully this will be the first of many live cashes as time goes on. Finishing well in the aforementioned blogger tourney in December is definitely a goal this year.

Oh - my son busted early on. It was his first live tournament and he was a bit intimidated. I told him not to worry about it and that more experience will make him feel more comfortable.

I think I will leave it at that for now. I may have to try the same tournament when I am in Norman again to visit Ben later in the school year. With a little luck, I will do as well as this time, if not better.

WPBT Winter Classic, "Lost Vegas," and other random updates

Can it only be five months away, give or take a few days? Yes, the 2010 WPBT Winter Classic is closer than you think, and many have already made their plans to join in the insanity, including yours truly. Texas April has arranged the blogger tournament at the shiny new Aria Hotel and Casino on Saturday December 11. Of course, the other usual shenanigans are bound to ensue such as the Friday night mixed games at MGM Grand, the annual Thursday night introductory gathering at the Geisha Bar (which I will miss this year, but you should try to attend anyway), and other unpredictable hijinks and debauchery.

If you aren't already on the "I wouldn't miss it" list, you can RSVP via the Facebook event page or at the post on April's blog. See you there!

Next item: I recently ordered my copy of Dr. Pauly's long-awaited new book, "Lost Vegas," and you should get it too. If you are a fan of his poker blog, and who isn't, this book is bound to be a must-read.

As for my poker activities of late, well, it hasn't been pretty. Since May 18, I have cashed in exactly two tournaments out of 25 played. I am also slightly in the red in cash games over that period. I am looking forward to this run-bad streak ending, and soon. I also expect to get a little bit of live poker in next month when we move our son back up to Norman, OK for his sophomore year at OU. I plan to drop in at the Riverwind Casino up there and take another shot at their poker room.

Meanwhile, I'll be watching the ESPN coverage of this year's WSOP, and also watching the Texas Rangers as they do their best to hold onto first place in the AL West and win that division title. I want to go to another playoff game, and this time see the Rangers win it and go deep.

Yet another post about the WSOP Ladies Event

There have been many articles and blog posts about the World Series of Poker Ladies Event and whether or not it should be continued. Let me direct you here for a well-written post about this particular blogger's thoughts on the subject, which also includes links to other sites and posts on the subject. I don't fully agree with the position stated in this blogger's post, but it has a lot of merit.

I would like to hear what the people who actually *played* in the WSOP Ladies Event, this year and in past years, have to say. Those people are the ones most likely to be affected by any change in the status of the event, so I am very curious to hear what they think. I would like to see a poll or survey taken of these players, with questions including, but not limited to, the following:

*Did you play in only the Ladies Event at the WSOP, or did you play in any other events?
*If you played only in the Ladies Event, why did you make that choice?
- Scheduling
- Buy-in amount
- Preferred playing with ladies instead of men
- Thought the field would be softer
- Wanted to socialize with friends also entered in the event
- Someone recommended this event
- Other
*If you played in other events, which ones?
*If the WSOP eliminated the Ladies Event, would you play in other WSOP events instead? If so, which ones would you be most likely to play?
*If the Ladies Event were changed to a non-bracelet event, would you still play in it?
*Do you think that the WSOP Ladies Event has a positive, negative, or neutral effect on the participation of females in poker?
*If you could recommend one or two changes, however small or large, to the WSOP Ladies Event, what would they be?

Since the Ladies Event has a reasonable turn-out each year, it makes financial sense for Harrah's to continue offering it. If it is going to continue, then I think it makes sense for the participants to have input into how (or whether) it is offered.

I am not convinced that deleting the Ladies Event from the WSOP will have a positive effect on women's standing or participation in poker or in the WSOP in particular. Many seem to think that the women players should only be playing in open events, because there is no reason for them to feel that they can't compete on a level playing field with men. I think that a survey like the one I propose would give us at least some information about whether the Ladies Event is full of women who only play that event, or who play other events, or who would not play at all if that event weren't offered, along with a glimpse of why they feel the way they do.

If such a survey has been conducted, please leave a comment with a link where one might find the results.

WPBT Gives Back tourney reminder

Just a reminder that this Wednesday is the charity tourney on FullTilt to raise some money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. They are a great group and deserve your support. I am registered for the tournament, and you should be too.

The details again:
Date: Wednesday June 16
Time: 9PM CDT (Same time as Mookie)
It will actually be running in place of the Mookie. BDR will be broadcasting it.
Charity: Ronald McDonald House
$5 + $5 (Tournament, charity)
Password= vegas1
Tournament#= 164273435

Ronald McDonald and his friends, including your intrepid tournament organizer OhCaptain, thank you. See you at the tables.

My warning was heeded, but... and charity tourney pimpage

Update: I was right about my streak of bad cards finally coming to an end. In the Blogger Battle Royale this afternoon, I got AA, KK, and even QQ, a few times. However, I was unable to get any action when I had those hands, and therefore got no traction in the tourney. My best moment was when I flopped two pair and doubled through SmBoatDrinks when he tried to push me off the hand. After that, I slowly blinded off until my AQ < Smokkee's 44. Congrats to actyper for taking it down.

I'm feeling a bit pokered out at the moment, so I may take a break from playing this week. But I am signed up for the Ronald McDonald House charity tourney set up by OhCaptain:

Date: June 16
Time: 9PM CDT (Same time as Mookie)
It will actually be running in place of the Mookie. BDR will be broadcasting it.
Charity: Ronald McDonald House
$5 + $5 (Tournament, charity)
Password= vegas1
Tournament#= 164273435

Be there.

Fair warning

I have had at least a week's worth of card death leading up to today. So, I must be due to get some strong hands. If you are playing in the Blogger Battle Royale this afternoon, be advised that I feel good about my chances of getting some cards that will take me deep into this tourney.

Play back at me at your peril.

That is all.

Blogger Battle Royale, and other updates

I have been away for about ten days so I am doing some catching up. Let me first say congratulations to the WSOP Main Event seat winners of the BBT5 Tournament of Champions: jjok, NYRambler, and Adam27X. Good luck in the big show!

On June 6, the final BBT event of the year will be held, the Blogger Battle Royale freeroll. To get an entry, the Official BBT Badge is to be displayed on one's blog, so here you go:

Play Online Poker with poker's top bloggers Brought to you by online poker room Full Tilt Poker

Although I only ended up playing in one BBT event this year, I have been trying to follow along to see how my fellow bloggers have been doing. I look forward to playing in the freeroll on Sunday and winning myself a birthday gift of the $2,000 WSOP package.

My absence has been due to a cruise that my wife, son, mother, and I took to Alaska. We had a great time and enjoyed unusually nice weather for mid-May, at least according to the residents of the cities we visited. No rain, and warm temperatures the whole time.

The cruise ship had a poker table, where they spread $1-2 NLHE when the casino was open, and also had a few tournaments. I never got into any of the tournaments; they weren't well publicized and I either didn't hear about them until after they had finished, or I signed up too late and the tourney was full. However, I did get a fair amount of cash play in. Most of the players fell into one of two categories: tight-passive or inexperienced. There was one older gent who was rather aggressive and tended to overbet to protect his hand. When I picked up on his pattern (which took about three hands), I looked for a chance to take advantage of it. That chance came late in the cruise.

I joined the game with a nearly full table and sat in the seat directly to Older Gent's left. A few hands in, he shoved in early position for about $45. I looked down at two red Kings and called. I had him covered. Everyone else folded. He turned up AQ of hearts. A King came on the flop, which was a big help to me since the turn and river were A-Q. There was no flush or straight, and I took a nice pot, my biggest of the trip. At the end of the vacation, I came home ahead, which was a nice feeling.

Now, it's back to the daily grind of the day job and the occasional online and bar league poker play. See you at the virtual tables.

BBT5 update, and is it time to cash out?

I played in the first Mookie tournament of the BBT5 a couple of weeks ago. I cashed, but only high enough to get my buy-in back plus $1.10. Nevertheless, it felt good to go deep in a tourney with some stiff competition.

Speaking of which, it also felt good to play in the same game as people who know what they are doing. I have played in so many donkfests lately that it was a welcome surprise to see players actually fold to a raise instead of calling to the river with junk hands that anyone who has a clue would have mucked preflop. I also enjoyed seeing some familiar names at my table. It reminded me of the good old days when we all played together because it was fun, and not because there were high-dollar prizes at stake. (Not that I have anything against high-dollar prizes, mind you.)

All that said, I'm not sure how many more BBT5 tourneys I will end up playing, if any. The start times for the non-invitational games are on the late side for me because of my early work start time. I also don't have a large enough bankroll to play in them regularly. I got into a couple of FPP token-prize tourneys to try to win a token towards the Monday night BBT game, but those didn't work out. I will keep plugging away in various tournaments and ring games and perhaps I will win enough to feel comfortable buying into another BBT event or two in the next couple of weeks.

But this leads to my next topic of discussion: with the UIGEA supposedly taking effect as of June 1, how hard will it be to withdraw any money that I have on the poker sites? Suppose I score a big win and want to get some or all of the cash instead of leaving it in my online poker site account? I will admit that I haven't thoroughly searched the Net for a lot of detail on what is expected to happen. Maybe withdrawals will be no more difficult than they are today, although I hear that they can be a hassle at some sites. I have the feeling that making deposits will be much harder, maybe nearly impossible, once the UIGEA starts being enforced. But do I want to leave my money on line, knowing that I may have a hell of a time getting it back some day? Do I want to bother putting in the time and effort to win a big tournament, not knowing if I will ever get to benefit from it? I would love to hear others' thoughts on this subject. Have you changed the way you play, or where you play, or cashed out some or all of your online stakes?

I don't have any life-changing or bill-paying money tied up in poker sites. Maybe I will just keep playing with it as a form of entertainment, knowing that I may never see a profit from it. But I might want to get some of it out, if only so I can set it aside for use at a live, legal cardroom somewhere.

Your comments are welcome.

Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 5

Yes, it is true. The wild and crazy folks at FullTilt are presenting the fifth edition of the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments. As usual, they are putting up a gold mine of prizes including WSOP Main Event and preliminary event packages. Lots more details here.

I actually plan to play in this year's series. I have had a couple of tournament cashes recently which have boosted my FT bankroll to the point where I feel like I can afford to spend a couple of buy-ins in the BBT. I won't be able to play very often, unless I score a few more cashes, but I am looking forward to playing with some of my fellow bloggers in a few games.

Unfortunately, I can't play in the BBT championship tourney on May 27, because I will be on a cruise ship somewhere in the Inside Passage between Ketchikan, Alaska and Victoria, BC. So, if I get to the final table of a BBT tourney and I am in a position to possibly win a seat in that game, I will be looking to make a deal with my opponents to trade my shot at the seat for a little extra from the prize pool. I will, however, be available for the Blogger Battle Royale freeroll on June 6, which also happens to be my birthday. I plan to give myself a birthday gift by taking that one down and winning the $2K WSOP Bracelet Race package.

Special ackowledgement must, of course, go to the illustrious AlCan'tHang, who has been the major force behind the BBT over these past years.

I look forward to playing with everyone somewhere along the way during the BBT5.

Rush Poker revisited

To kill some time a few weeks ago, I decided to give Rush Poker at FullTilt another try. I figured it would be a quick way to get in a bunch of hands, and maybe I could get lucky and hit and run for a few cents.

I logged into the $0.02-0.05 NLHE game late on a Friday night. An hour later, I quit up by $11.20. A profit of 224 big blinds! I folded a lot but still probably played more hands than I should have. What happened? I caught AA and KK a few times, and got paid off big on a couple of them by second-best hands. I was amazed that my opponents were willing to go broke with the hands they played. Yeah, it's only $0.02-0.05, but surely you have to give the other players some credit when they don't back down.

The very next night I thought I would try again to see if variance would catch up with me. Same stakes; played for about an hour again. Result: profit of $15.26 or over 300 BBs. Again, premium hands got paid off. Wow, I'm thinking, this is the easiest money anywhere. So, I squeezed in short Rush sessions wherever I could: lunch breaks, after work, before bedtime, etc. I have not yet had winning sessions as large as the two above, but I have made a profit more times than not. I also earned enough FTPs to clear a small bonus (which paid for my entry into Bloody P's charity tourney).

Mainly, I am just folding almost everything and only playing premium hands or stealing the occasional pot with position. Having that Quick Fold button makes it a lot easier to throw away marginal starting cards that I might talk myself into playing if I had time to think about it before my turn to act. I think the next thing I need to do is make some basic notes about the other players. I see the same names flash by all the time, so I should be at least noting whether they fold most of the time or play more hands than the average Rusher. If someone is a habitual folder, then seeing them get into a pot should be a sign that they pr0bably have something and I'd better watch out.

So, I suppose that I will play some more Rush Poker. I don't expect to get rich from it, especially since I plan to stay at the micro limits, but if I can keep quitting ahead more often than behind, it could help build my bankroll a bit.

Rush Poker, WBCOOP, "Cowboys Full," etc.

I have been meaning to write a post or five about various things on my mind, but keep putting it off. Now, I don't feel like writing an Iggy-style uber-post, so this will be a condensed version of what I might have put up otherwise.

Rush Poker - I don't like it much. It doesn't suit my more thoughtful (read: snail's pace) style.

WBCOOP - no tickets for me. Couldn't gain any traction in the tourneys that I played.

"Cowboys Full - The Story of Poker," by James McManus - A good read, some interesting insight into how poker developed, mostly in the US but a tidbit here and there about other countries. But for my taste there was a little too much straight US history flavored with an occasional remark about how the historical figures were poker players or how their actions might have been influenced by poker. I would have preferred more info about how the game itself evolved and grew over the years, with perhaps some asides about the variations on poker that have become popular.

My poker year has not got off to a great start. A couple of bad cash game sessions, only a few minor tourney cashes. I've made some good decisions along the way, and some whoppingly poor ones. Although I need to work on my game more, that will have to wait for a few weeks. I will be acting in a community theater play in March, and rehearsals have already started. The rehearsals will eat up most of my free time until opening night, so poker will take a back seat for now. I may squeeze in a few hands now and then, but it won't be much. Meanwhile, if you will have any reason to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area over the weekends of March 12 through 28, come see our production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" at the Runway Theatre in Grapevine. It promises to be a very good show.

It's time again! 2010 PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

WPBT trip report 2009

I went to the poker blogger confab last weekend in Las Vegas. I have a poker blog. It follows that a trip report must be posted, yes? Well, here it comes.

This was my third trip out west to get together with this bunch of degenerates wackos fellow poker players. I still don’t feel like a card-carrying member of the community, but the integration process seems to be continuing, if slowly. I met a few new (to me) people this year; saw a lot of people that I had met before, many of whom actually remembered me; missed a lot of folks that either couldn’t make it this time or were there but I didn’t get to talk to; and actually had a couple of chances to spend a bit of “quality time” (read: more than two consecutive minutes) with a handful of them. As so many have pointed out, these gatherings are as much about the people you get to see as it is about playing poker or visiting Vegas. And despite the stories you may hear about drunken foolishness, -EV game playing, ejections from bars or casinos, and other unsavory behavior, this group is actually quite a decent crowd, who will welcome just about anybody who wants to join in the fun. Considering that I don’t drink, don’t play in the regular blogger games on line, and don’t post on my blog all that often, I appreciate the acceptance that the rest of the gang offers me.

But, let me get to some specifics about this year’s trip. First, I will readily admit to being a genuine lightweight in some respects. I arrived at the Geisha Bar Thursday evening around 11:30 PM, caught up with some of my old friends and acquaintances, and then left to get some sleep by 1:15 AM. I know that some were up until dawn or later the next morning, but my biological timer shuts down well before that and I end up pooping out comparatively early. I’m fine with that, and it made it easier for me to get up in time to try the Harrah’s breakfast buffet Friday morning with OhCaptain, who also got up around the time that some were just crashing. It was nice to just sit, eat, and chat over regular stuff. After we ate, we drove down to the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum at their new location. I had heard that the PHOF was a big hit with several bloggers last year, and as a big fan of pinball from my younger days I wanted to check it out this year. I had a blast playing a bunch of old classic machines, many of which I recognized from those good old days, while OhCaptain mostly took photos. Before we left, we walked across the parking lot to the Gamblers’ Book Shop, which neither of us knew was so close until we saw it as we drove up. It’s a small, unassuming place but has an enormous selection of books on all forms of gambling, many of which you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. We were there one day too late for the Doyle Brunson book signing which happened Thursday. Fortunately, they still had some books left that Texas Dolly had signed, and we each bought one – I got SuperSystem 2, the New Edition, and I’m glad to have it.

Pretty soon we needed to leave to get to the Neon Boneyard for the 2:00 PM tour. We texted Special K and Kat and picked them up, along with Betty Underground, and headed to the tour. It was fascinating, and many pictures were taken. I want to go back when the museum that they are planning is finished and some of the signs have been restored. Lots of history in those old hunks of metal and glass.

A few hours later, it was time to hit the Hard Rock Casino poker room for the Pokerati weekly PLO/NLHE game. I decided to play in this game as my first live session at either of those poker variants. I had only played either of them in a ring game setting on line for microstakes. I was a bit anxious when I sat down, but decided that I would start off slow and cautious and see how things developed. I got comfortable before too long, and ended up cashing out about $50 ahead thanks to a couple of decent pots. So, my cherry having been popped, I now feel like I can handle some NLHE cash (and in fact played a little more before the trip was over). Things didn’t go as well after that at the MGM Grand mixed games. I played HORSE with a table of bloggers for a couple of hours, but couldn’t catch any hands against the super-aggressive bunch at my table, and lost almost my entire buy-in. Maybe I should have joined the group that went to see Steel Panther, although I heard that some of them still had ringing in their ears the next day thanks to the volume being cranked up to 11.

Saturday was the big tournament, and I was looking forward to that. My first goal was to go deeper than I did the previous two years, and I achieved that. I feel like I played pretty well, and didn’t make a lot of big mistakes. I probably played tighter than some would consider optimal, but I didn’t get a lot to work with in the way of cards, and I had Dr. Chako on my immediate right for most of the time. He was, of course, raising most hands and I wasn’t getting much with which to play back at him. Still, I made it to about 30^th place out of 86, and I’m not totally unhappy with that result. Congratulations to Astin for taking it down. Next year, I plan and expect to last even longer, with the final table in my crosshairs. Unfortunately, my team in the Luckbox Last Longer Challenge didn't make the money in that prop bet. But I still thank The Luckbox for organizing it, and Otis and PokerStars for making it even more worth shooting for with the prize pool sweetener.

After I busted out, I hung around Caesar’s for a while to see how the tourney played out, but decided after a bit that I was too hungry to wait until it ended. I made my way to MGM Grand to use a buffet coupon that I had. Who should I see there but Falstaff and Mrs. Falstaff, who invited me to join them for dinner. I had a nice visit with them both, despite the food at the buffet being only average if not worse. It was worth it, though, to have one of those bits of quality time with the two of them.

Falstaff told me about the 11:00 PM cheap buy-in tourney at the Sahara and said he was planning to play in it and drag some others along, and suggested that I join in. I thought that sounded good, so we went to the MGM poker room to kill some time. First I slipped over to the new Hard Rock Café on the Strip to buy some souvenirs for my family, and then came back to MGM and sat down at a $1/2 NLHE table. When it got to be time to leave for the Sahara, I looked for Falstaff but he had already left his table. I ran down and hopped on the Monorail to ride up to the Sahara, but when I got there, Falstaff was nowhere to be found and he never did make it. I played in the tourney anyway but busted out shortly after the first break. That pretty much ended my night and I headed back to Harrah’s to crash.

Sunday morning, I stopped in at Lagasse’s Stadium at the Palazzo, site of the WPBT Sports Book Luxury Suite party organized by The Luckbox. Beautiful room, plenty of big TVs, a pool table, and a slightly frazzled waitress who tried her best to keep up with us and apparently everyone else in the whole sportsbar. I stayed for a while and then headed for the airport and home.

I had a good time, even if there were periods where I felt like I didn’t quite fit in completely. That feeling may always be there, but the fun parts outweigh the awkward parts, so the odds are good that I will be back in future years, as long as this group decides to do this. What better excuse could there be to get away from the real world for a weekend and live the debauched life that others only dream about? And to share that short interval of craziness with a gaggle of like-minded nutjobs freaks friends? Next year, barring apocalypse or Armageddon, I’m (all) in.

Some last minute thoughts before Las Vegas

A few things to mention before my trip to Sin City this weekend:

A new episode of Gambling Tales Podcast is now available. Go check it out.

My plans for the weekend include the Mixed Games at MGM Friday night and the big tournament Saturday, and possibly the Steel Panther show late Friday night. I also will be checking out the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, probably Friday midday, and I'm considering catching one of the Mac King afternoon shows at Harrah's on Friday too. I have heard that Katitude might be working on a tour of the Neon Graveyard and that sounds like something I'd like to get in on. Of course, I will be stopping in at the Geisha Bar on Thursday night after my flight arrives around 10:00 PM. I also want to just wander around town a bit and look at the sights as time allows, and overeat at a buffet or two. I expect to rage solo most of the time, but will welcome anyone who wants to hang out for an hour or three. My flight leaves Sunday afternoon, so it will probably be brunch for me late that morning and then head to the airport.

As I was typing this, I was also playing in a $3.30 90-player SNG on FullTilt. I have been running poorly in these lately, but figured the tide had to turn eventually. Tonight it finally did. I think I played reasonably well, although I know of a few plays that I probably should have made but chickened out on, and a few others that I should have done differently. The main factor in my going deep in this one is that the cards came for me when I needed them. I came from behind at least three times when I was at risk of busting, twice when my pocket pair was lower than my opponent's and I flopped a set each time to double up. When I got to the final table, I mostly laid back and let the others beat each other up, and folded my way to heads-up. After starting with about a 3 to 1 chip deficit, I fought my way to the chip lead, which then changed hands a couple of times until I overvalued top pair weak kicker and shoved my 87off into Q7off. I should have slowed down when he didn't, and I could have lasted longer and possibly taken it down. Still, the $40 boost to my puny FT bankroll is quite welcome. I'm hoping that my good run in this tourney will carry over to Vegas.

Looking forward to seeing those of you who will be there this weekend! For those who can't make it, you will be missed.

Gambling Tales podcast, WPBT Last Longer Challenge, etc.

I have some catching up to do on some news, so here goes.

I am very late posting this info, but you can still check out the first two podcasts and watch for the future ones:

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“Press release” from bloggers Falstaff and Special K

Gambling Tales Podcast is now available. Join Falstaff (John Hartness) and Special K (Curtis Krumel) as we take you through the best in lies and legends about gambling today and through the ages. . Show #001 with Badblood and the origins of gambling is available immediately. New shows are scheduled to appear every two weeks. Guests scheduled to appear in future shows include Dr. Pauly, Lee Jones, Dr. David Schwartz (UNLV – Roll the Bones)

The podcast is available at http://www.gtpodcast.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GamblingTalesPodcast

Available on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=339814710.

It will be searchable on iTunes by the weekend.

Email address for Questions, Comments, and Suggestions: gtpodcast@live.com

Subscribe today!

Bloggers: Become a friend of the podcast (FOP) by posting this information on your blog. Drop us an email with a link to your post and we’ll link to you on the Friends of the Podcast list. See you in Vegas Dec. 10-14!

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Next is the latest development for the WPBT Winter Classic Dec. 10-14 in Las Vegas mentioned just above (how's that for a segue?):

CJ the Luckbox over at Up for Poker proposed a last-longer prop bet for the Winter Classic tournament (Facebook page). Not long after, the extra-good folks at PokerStars added a very sweet $2,000 to the prize pool for what is now titled the Luckbox Last Longer Challenge, or L-cubed. Check out this post for all the details. I have put out some feelers to find potential team members for the Challenge, but if you want to join me or add me to your team, please leave me a comment or contact me at david DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net.

I'm looking forward to the trip and to seeing everyone who will be there.

More pimpage: don't forget the PokerWorks bi-weekly tournament on PokerStars. The next game is tonight, Nov. 29; the time has changed to 22:30 ET (19:30 PT). Buy-in is still just $5 + 0.50 and the game will once again be HORSE. I have a commitment tonight and don't know if I will be back in time to play, but don't let that stop you from joining the fun!

I'm sure there is more stuff for me to post about, but I will have to hope that I can remember it for a future entry.

Poker baptism

This past weekend, my wife and I drove up to Norman, OK , to visit our son Ben who is in his freshman year at the University of Oklahoma (OU for short - don't ask me why they reversed the initials for their nickname). We had a lot of fun spending time with Ben and enjoying some of the Campus Activity Council's Family Weekend activities. We also did a few things on our own, chief among them (for the purposes of this blog) Ben's first time playing poker in a casino.

Norman is the home of the Riverwind, a very nice full-fledged casino run by the Chickasaw Nation. They have a large poker room, with 23 tables spreading Hold 'Em and Omaha at various stakes. Since you only have to be 18 to play casino games in Oklahoma, Ben had been interested in trying out the poker room since he moved up there for school. We finally had the chance to do that Saturday evening. Ben had only played No-Limit HE in home games at $0.10/0.20 stakes with his high school friends, and I didn't think it would be good to throw him into a $1/2 NL game for his first cardroom experience. So, I told him that I would buy him into the $4/8 Limit HE game, and I gave him some quick tips on how Limit is different from NL. I then put his and my name on the waiting list for the 4/8 game. Soon enough, a new table was opened and we were seated.

I would like to say that I set a good example for him to follow, but (1) I made a few bad plays, and (2) I got lousy cards most of the time which only gave Ben lessons in how to fold. However, Ben held his own just fine. He played pretty tight, as I recommended, caught a few hands and took down a few decent pots. By the time I busted out, about two hours after we started, Ben was hanging in there and cashed out only $5 down from his buy-in. For someone who had never played limit Hold'Em, I thought he did just fine. Afterwards, he told me he enjoyed it and actually liked some aspects of it better than no-limit, such as having fewer swings in his chip stack and not having to think about how much to bet on each round. I don't expect that he will be down at the Riverwind every weekend now, but he will probably feel more comfortable the next time he does drop in there, now that he has got his feet wet. I'm glad his experience went well for him. I plan to give him my copy of Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold'Em" so he can get the great advice in that book to use at his next sessions.

In other poker news, I made it about half way through the Bad Beat Challenge tournament. I won the Sunday night PokerWorks HORSE tourney a couple of nights ago on PokerStars (you should all play in that, it's every other Sunday and only a $5.50 buy-in). Tonight, I finished tenth in the local Amateur Poker League monthly venue championship tournament. Up and down, as my poker ride tends to go.

I'm practically counting the days to the WPBT Winter Classic. Now that I have played a little live poker again, the itch is getting stronger and I'm excited about being back in Las Vegas. I'm still planning to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, probably some time on Friday. If there will be a group of poker bloggers going there, or if anyone wants to join forces to storm the place, count me in.

Bad Beat on Cancer charity tourney Nov. 12

By way of Pokerati and PokerNews, I heard about a charity tournament on PokerStars that is coming up next week. On November 12 at 9:00 PM ET, Stars will host the Bad Beat on Cancer Poker Challenge, with proceeds going to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Entry fee is $10, with $10 rebuys available through the first two levels. As posted on (and stolen from) PokerNews, there are a lot of great prizes:
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...the top 50 finishers each will take something home. Players can find plenty of value for their donations including a VIP trip to the set of the "PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge;" a lifetime subscription to Deucescracked.com; a WSOP Academy seat; coaching from several of the game's top players, including the "Two Months, Two Million" cast, Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, Matt Glantz, Vanessa Rousso, Tom Schneider and Tom McEvoy; as well as a number of special prizes that enable winners to get up-close-and personal with the likes of Phil Gordon and PokerRoad's Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith. Other top prizes include a Borgata Triple Play tournament package, Poker Players International tournament voucher, and Bluff Magazine adventure, which takes the winner on a personal tour of the world's leading sports television network, ESPN.

All prizes are transferable; a winner can use them or give them to a loved one or friend. The password for the tournament is BadBeatChallenge and the tournament can be found in the Private Tournament section at PokerStars.com.
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Edit: the tourney is now listed at PokerStars. Tournament number is 210990483. I have registered to play and I hope you will too.

Deflecting, or reflecting, tilt, and other thoughts

Let's get my updates out of the way first:

A few weeks ago, I finished second in a local Amateur Poker League tourney. I hadn't finished "in the points" (top 16) in quite a while, so it was nice to make the final table and finish as high as I did. As usual in these tournaments, I had to get lucky a few times to last as long as I did. They play like turbos, with blinds going up every 15 minutes and pretty much doubling every round, so it turns into a crap shoot fast. Still, I didn't make much in the way of mistakes. That might be a good way to describe the strategy for these things: make the best plays you can and wait for your opponents to screw up. Also, pray that the Card Fairy smiles on you now and then. Other than that one game, I haven't played a lot of poker since my last entry, and don't have anything of note to report.

I have been meaning to write about something that came to mind while I was reading this post from CK a few weeks ago. At the end of it, she describes how a player called the clock on her in a ring game, got fed up by this move, and left the game. When she told the clock-caller that she didn't need to put up with his shenanigans and was leaving, the player told her that that was what he was hoping would happen. As she put it, "That's when I knew that young guy's clock call was an angle-shoot to try to put me on tilt."

That got me to thinking. Let me say first that I play very little live poker, and most of my live play is the free bar league poker tourneys like I mentioned above. I have never seen anyone in those games deliberately try to put someone on tilt, although I'm sure it must happen from time to time. But if you play live poker for real money, I imagine that it must be something that you expect and maybe even prepare for. After all, we all want to be in control of our emotions when we play so we make the best possible decisions, right? I suppose that there are as many ways of dealing with tilt or potential tilt as there are poker players. Some probably put on their Vulcan tinfoil hats, suppressing all emotions and playing as mechanically as they can, shutting out all comments and distractions around them. Some may "use" the tilt as motivation to play better, trying to figure out what happened that got them upset or pushed them off their game. Some may just get up and walk away, as CK did in her example, to cool off and prevent the steaming from causing them to spew chips.

I am wondering if there are players, and I'm sure there must be, who take the opportunity in situations like CK's to try to "tilt the tilter." You would have to recognize that the other player is trying to get to you, of course, but once you pick up on what is going on, you would need to determine your anti-tilt strategy. Please understand that I am not criticizing CK's choice in that particular instance. I am only using it as an example of a circumstance where one might be able to deflect the other player's tactic back at them.

So, if a player calls the clock on me AND I suspect that the intent is to get under my skin, how should I react? What about something like this:

*I make sure that the clock-caller is serious about the request. Maybe he or she is just kidding around (not likely, but asking adds to the stalling time that I am creating).
*I ask the dealer or floor person how much time I get once the clock has been called, when the clock starts, and maybe even ask that the time remaining be announced when it gets to ten seconds or something.
*I would then take all of the time on the clock, whether I need it to make my decision or not. If my decision is to fold, I would do so before the clock ran out rather than let my hand be folded for me.

This may (or may not) upset the clock-caller to a certain degree. It might be even more likely to upset the other players at the table. One hopes that those other players recognize that it is the clock-caller's fault that the game was held up (assuming that you haven't taken a lot of time to act on previous hands or had the clock called on you before).

Later, if the clock-caller is still in the game with me, I might pointedly check my watch any time he or she is taking a while to make a decision about a hand. If I'm feeling really contrary, I might even call the clock myself, after a reasonable amount of time has passed. I would think it less effective if calling the clock myself came across as a tilting response instead of a simple "let's all play by the same rules" action.

I am not by nature a confrontational person. In most cases, I believe that promoting or building a conflict is counterproductive. However, there are times when one must stand one's ground and even give one's antagonists a taste of their own medicine. In poker, I think it is a good idea to show your opponents that you can't be thrown off your game too easily and, in fact, are able to push back when necessary. It may gain you some respect or, occasionally, throw them off their game and give you the advantage that they were after.