Itemizing a modicum...aka The Record for the record...aka Late Game Dilemnas
You know how a lot of people will tell you that if you start a blog it should be for yourself? Yeah, I heard that a lot when I started. Yet do you ever stop by here and get the distinct impression I am writing more for a conversation with you? You are almost always right. I like to blog, even if it does oscillate wildly, and even if it is pointless silliness. It is amazing to me over a thousand people have stopped by here, however briefly, and stranger that a few have hung around and we’ve gotten to know each other. After a bit of a drought, I have succeeded in connecting with a group of people who don’t do the same thing I do for a living. It took me a decade, but it has been worth the wait.
Now would I still post if no one read this thing? Likely I would, but they would read distinctly different. Perhaps a little more like my early posts. Perhaps a little more like today’s post. I’ve been meaning to do put this down for a while. I can make no apologies if what follows sounds like more Yay Me! crap. Fortunately I have fed you all an incremental diet of Yay Me! crap that most of you shouldn’t even blink as your eyes move over this. Well, that and the fact it’s really not that much of a Yay.
Forewarned is forearmed, or so says the gun salesmen I met yesterday.
Today’s post is inspired by the questions Blinders raised about MTT players. I haven’t been tracking my progress as closely as I should have been. Luckily, since I haven’t cashed anything out since Day 1 – I know exactly how positive I am. For a recreational player who plays mostly low buy-in MTTs, finding that I’ve managed to keep head above water to the tune of about 3k is satisfying. It’s too soon to know if I am truly a winning player or still running hotter than the mean. But at least my previous winnings are funding my next tournament buy-in. It’s not Hoy, Wes or Fuel’s roll - not yet anyway, but it feels like progress. I don’t know if this whole internet gambling issue is going to bring this experiment to a preemptive end, but given I am moving next to three huge casinos in about a month, maybe this summer has been the crucible to learn some fundamentals before going live.
Anyway, I am posting most (I missed a few in the early going) of my MTT cashes below. Feel free to ignore this entirely, it’s for my own benefit, which is after all, the whole point of a poker blog, no? Yeah I know a spreadsheet is prolly the way to go – maybe next month. Baby steps…baby steps…
Date Tournament BuyIn Finish [yeah, yeah, i know i know]
6/19 MATH $22 2nd/20 (cc beat me like a gong)
7/13 The (K)not $11 1st/18 (heads-up with Wes = helpful suckouts galore)
7/19 FT 3.5K $26 7th/195
7/21 FT 6.5K $26 2nd/202 (even chop btw 1&2)
7/25 FT 3.5K $26 3rd/248
8/1 FT 15K $109 20th/295
8/2 FT 20K $26 11th/1037
8/16 FT 20K $26 69th/1208
9/12 WWdN $11 3rd/60 (wherein A7s becomes my signature hand)
9/13 FT 20K $26 10th/1054
9/18 FT 20K $26 18th/1037
9/19 WWdN $11 4th/55
9/20 The Mookie $11 1st/42 (the Jewel in the blogger tourney crown)
9/24 FT 12K $75 3rd/222 (I find the final table again)
9/30 FT 9k $26 21st/514
I am missing a few blogger cashes that I didn’t screenshot at the time. And frustratingly, I think I might be missing two FT cashes, but it is what it is. An encouraging beginning. And yes, I realize there is no denominator. I did some rough calculations and figure my hourly rate at these things is just better than minimum wage, but I’m cool with that. I’m enjoying myself, and occasionally putting myself in position to do damage. I’m also up 3k so who am I to complain? I am preparing for a run at next year’s WSOP where I will definitely be taking some shots. The goal is to see a lot of hands and run deep as best as online will simulate. Any thoughts from more experienced players are of course welcome and a big part of the point of this blog.
A quick note on my run in the 9K last night. First off a big thanks to my GL charm and font of great advice, Jo. Also, the usual suspects were hard at work in the wee hours too. But despite dying when I finally went completely card dead, I have to say this might have been my strongest MTT run to date. I had no more than 5 premium hands the entire game yet I managed to outlast a big field, including a lot of the brethren. I took two tough beats early on and scored no suckouts. I ran as a micro-shorty until 3 of my 5 big hands came in close succession, then used the doubleups to intimidate the table. It was working beautifully until my stack got too big, the table broke and the new one had no love for me. Funny, cause I just cashed big a week ago, but I went to bed very happy with my play, despite making about 10 bucks an hour! Poker is odd.
And now I leave you with a question or two from the 9K:
Blinds 800/1600 antes are up. Your stack is 10k. Avg is 30K+. You are in the BB and wake to find TT. It folds around to MP where he pushes his 14k. You are new to the table but in three orbits have only seen him 3x the BB once, unchallenged. No other notes on him. It folds around to the SB, who pushes as well with 35K. He’s been somewhat looser but still solid. What do you do here? What do you think I did and why?
Okay. Cya at MATH, where I am freerollin' because 3rd out may be fucking terrible, but it beats the shit out of Gigli!
Laytah.
Now would I still post if no one read this thing? Likely I would, but they would read distinctly different. Perhaps a little more like my early posts. Perhaps a little more like today’s post. I’ve been meaning to do put this down for a while. I can make no apologies if what follows sounds like more Yay Me! crap. Fortunately I have fed you all an incremental diet of Yay Me! crap that most of you shouldn’t even blink as your eyes move over this. Well, that and the fact it’s really not that much of a Yay.
Forewarned is forearmed, or so says the gun salesmen I met yesterday.
Today’s post is inspired by the questions Blinders raised about MTT players. I haven’t been tracking my progress as closely as I should have been. Luckily, since I haven’t cashed anything out since Day 1 – I know exactly how positive I am. For a recreational player who plays mostly low buy-in MTTs, finding that I’ve managed to keep head above water to the tune of about 3k is satisfying. It’s too soon to know if I am truly a winning player or still running hotter than the mean. But at least my previous winnings are funding my next tournament buy-in. It’s not Hoy, Wes or Fuel’s roll - not yet anyway, but it feels like progress. I don’t know if this whole internet gambling issue is going to bring this experiment to a preemptive end, but given I am moving next to three huge casinos in about a month, maybe this summer has been the crucible to learn some fundamentals before going live.
Anyway, I am posting most (I missed a few in the early going) of my MTT cashes below. Feel free to ignore this entirely, it’s for my own benefit, which is after all, the whole point of a poker blog, no? Yeah I know a spreadsheet is prolly the way to go – maybe next month. Baby steps…baby steps…
Date Tournament BuyIn Finish [yeah, yeah, i know i know]
6/19 MATH $22 2nd/20 (cc beat me like a gong)
7/13 The (K)not $11 1st/18 (heads-up with Wes = helpful suckouts galore)
7/19 FT 3.5K $26 7th/195
7/21 FT 6.5K $26 2nd/202 (even chop btw 1&2)
7/25 FT 3.5K $26 3rd/248
8/1 FT 15K $109 20th/295
8/2 FT 20K $26 11th/1037
8/16 FT 20K $26 69th/1208
9/12 WWdN $11 3rd/60 (wherein A7s becomes my signature hand)
9/13 FT 20K $26 10th/1054
9/18 FT 20K $26 18th/1037
9/19 WWdN $11 4th/55
9/20 The Mookie $11 1st/42 (the Jewel in the blogger tourney crown)
9/24 FT 12K $75 3rd/222 (I find the final table again)
9/30 FT 9k $26 21st/514
I am missing a few blogger cashes that I didn’t screenshot at the time. And frustratingly, I think I might be missing two FT cashes, but it is what it is. An encouraging beginning. And yes, I realize there is no denominator. I did some rough calculations and figure my hourly rate at these things is just better than minimum wage, but I’m cool with that. I’m enjoying myself, and occasionally putting myself in position to do damage. I’m also up 3k so who am I to complain? I am preparing for a run at next year’s WSOP where I will definitely be taking some shots. The goal is to see a lot of hands and run deep as best as online will simulate. Any thoughts from more experienced players are of course welcome and a big part of the point of this blog.
A quick note on my run in the 9K last night. First off a big thanks to my GL charm and font of great advice, Jo. Also, the usual suspects were hard at work in the wee hours too. But despite dying when I finally went completely card dead, I have to say this might have been my strongest MTT run to date. I had no more than 5 premium hands the entire game yet I managed to outlast a big field, including a lot of the brethren. I took two tough beats early on and scored no suckouts. I ran as a micro-shorty until 3 of my 5 big hands came in close succession, then used the doubleups to intimidate the table. It was working beautifully until my stack got too big, the table broke and the new one had no love for me. Funny, cause I just cashed big a week ago, but I went to bed very happy with my play, despite making about 10 bucks an hour! Poker is odd.
And now I leave you with a question or two from the 9K:
Blinds 800/1600 antes are up. Your stack is 10k. Avg is 30K+. You are in the BB and wake to find TT. It folds around to MP where he pushes his 14k. You are new to the table but in three orbits have only seen him 3x the BB once, unchallenged. No other notes on him. It folds around to the SB, who pushes as well with 35K. He’s been somewhat looser but still solid. What do you do here? What do you think I did and why?
Okay. Cya at MATH, where I am freerollin' because 3rd out may be fucking terrible, but it beats the shit out of Gigli!
Laytah.
posted by Iakaris aka I.A.K. at 12:16 PM
21 Comments:
There are only a handful of blogs I read these days... and one of those is yours. Keep up the good work.
I'm no MTT genius, but I think I'm in there as well. Why? Well, you have a VERY short stack, and your M is probably down near 3 or 4. Two players have already put in enough chips to triple you up (should you win the hand), and you're getting 3:1 on a 4:1 shot. Yes, you may not exactly be getting the perfect odds to play, but tournaments are about winning, and with your stack, 10-10 is probably the best hand you'll get.
Since your posting it I would say you called the bet. Personally I would have called the middle position push looking for a race. When the SB joins the party it becomes a fold for me. Even if he has been loose your now up against two opponents. I'd look to wait and push with anything in the small blind if folded to.
The first thing you got to do is put the first player (plater1) on a hand range. I would think could push here with AA-JJ,AK,AQ. Next, we need to put the SB on hand range. I would put the SB on AA-JJ,AK,AQ too.
Wins
TT 27.86%
Player1 36.0%
SB 36.0%
So this is a clear fold as calling will lose money in the long term. In fact for the call to be profitable you need hold AA or KK.
As for what you actually did, I bet you called looking for a chance to triple up and get an above average stack.
well i guess it would depend on if ur close to the money and how many players are left in the field. If ur close then fold if ur thinking u dont have a chance of making it much further anyways then u push and take your shot in hopes of taking the 3-1 ur being lay on ur money cause u probably wont have a better situtation w/ implied odds come up again
Well, I already know what you did, so I won't answer the question.
Was great wathcing you go deep in another though...awesome job again!
you're probably ahead. but, against two other opponents, you're gonna have to dodge a lot of bullets. i don't like calling off all my chips with T-T after a raise and reraise. tuf spot there but, i think folding's your best option.
yeah, what pauly said...
ditto pauly and trip :-)
2 raises in front of my pocket pair, I get up and kick the dog:
If he bites me, I push all in and go to the hospital,
If he runs away, I fold like a kicked bitch.
You should try this, it works on those tough decisions.
Nice run the other night, sorry I couldn't stay away to see the end.
So will you be fueling the private jet in a couple weeks with coordinates set to Austin ?
I would fold a pair like TT against 2 allins ahead of me. You have to figure you're up against maybe an overpair but at least one set of overcards. Even a bit short I don't like to put my tournament life on the line late in the tourney with a hand that is either dominated by a higher pocket pair or a 50-50 shot against two overs.
No use in keeping people wondering.
I did exactly what sleech outlined - tried to put my opponents on a range. I was even more liberal than he and still couldn't believe this was a positive EV move.
I reluctantly folded. MP turned over 45o! SB? KQo. Neither improved. Sigh. I still feel this was the right move, but I can see the case for calling too. I was already ITM and got no further assistance from the deck.
Pauly - That's pretty cool, brotha. Thanks a lot for taking the time to say so.
KGB: you would have been sitting pretty, whereas I was not.
LAG/sleech/Hoy/Smokkee: I'll take satisfaction that not only do we agree on this one, we agree for identical reasons. Smokkee your read on it was eerily close. This was one of those things where I felt I made the right decision, but it hurt anyway.
Rav: always good ta hear from you bro. I was already ITM so I focused on making correct decisions per se.
Jo: that was fun! I am hunting you down to rail everytime I survive the first hour
Trip & Kat: you two are obv high on the list of people that I'm talking about when I list connecting with folks as the key benefit to this thing.
E: I have called PETA. Better flee while you can. Get it? Flee. Dog. PETA. Clevah, eh?
Mookie: still workin on it. if we close on the house then yes - if not, I'm back to square one. I will let you know ASAP brotha.
I'm a little late to the party, but I still like your fold. I was in a similar situation in a cash game, and had I called, I would've flopped 4 of a kind 10s. My opponents had 55 and 88. It got me steaming, but without a read (I just sat down), it's smarter to fold.
I don't worry too much about hourly rate as I play during times I would be wasting doing something as equally unimportant. The wages of sin are pleasure and that is what I get from playing.
As for your sample hand, I fold and wait for another chance with two AIs in front. You were shortstacked but getting ready to be in late position for a few hands where you could wait to push into unopened pots. One doubleup and you become a danger to most players. One double up after you have stolen a few blinds and you are an average stack. With any reasonable chance of becoming an average stack with one to one and one-half doubleups, I continue to play cautiously. Below that level, it's push with your best hand.
It doesn't matter what they turned over, it is still correct to fold. You're right near the button so the next 5 hands should give you a first in best dressed opportunity. I would probably fold queens here. It's a reluctant call with aces imo, nothing's worse than a multiway all in pot.
Sweety,
All this poker talk is making me hot!
She really is gorgeous.
Wow. I mean seriously, wow. Why doesn't every sexy half-Japanese girl tell me that? Someone put that comment & picture on t-shirt and sell it at the next WSOP...
Oh... you were talking to Iak ><
If you guys haven't read the latest post from Melinda, you are missing out. Me thinks she can have a new career as an erotic fiction writer.
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