Poker Elmo's World - 2008-04-19

Date: Sat, Apr 19, 2008

Several updates - and going to the WSOP!

A life update

Life has been crazy. I am currently a teacher at a small liberal arts University. I never knew I wanted this type of job, but once I got here, I liked it. I recently interviewed, however, at a major University. I got an offer, and our family is in the process of deciding what to do.

Poker update

I have played a lot more limit holdem recently - the players are just bad. I am doing well, although I am not sure how much of that is running well.

WSOP 2008 Update

I am going! I got clearence to play event #2, the $1500 opening weekend donk-a-thon. I might play event 3, if I bust out early of event 2. I certainly am not planning to bust, however. I plan on using my stars FPPs to buyin, but have to hit platinum star this month to make it - time to grind!

The school year ends in two weeks, so I will be posting more soon.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-03-25

Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008

Wow, has it been a month?

I have been super-busy with work and travel, so have not played too much. When I have enjoyed moderate success this month, both in short-stacking NL full-ring, and in satellite turbo-rebuys. I have worked on 7-10 tabling, and have done OK with it when I have had the opportunity to play. It isn't as fun, but the hourly rate when playing 10 tables can be pretty nice.

Gotta run - will post again when I have something interesting to report.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-02-21

Date: Thu, Feb 21, 2008

Update

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been swamped with work recently.

A few updates:

1. I am in a minor downswing. I am down maybe 6 or so buyins over the past 10 days. Nothing major, and I was on such a major upswing between the two downswings that it seems really minor. There have been some truly nasty beats, but also, as usual, a couple hands I probably should have played differently.

2. I have played a few SNGs on Cake Poker and have really enjoyed them. I used to play $55 turbos on stars and FT poker often and did pretty well. I might get back into them for a while - at least while I am enjoying them. I still think I understand the endgame quite well, although I should probably play around with my Sit N' Go power tools to refresh a bit.

3. I played some tourneys Sunday afternoon. I don't think I played bad overall, but I think I am pushing a tad too lightly when I get short-stacked. I will focus on being (slightly) more patient when down to an M of 3 to 5.

Life will be crazy for the next couple weeks, so I don't know how often I will be able to play or post - but I will try to provide updates on anything exciting.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-02-09

Date: Sat, Feb 9, 2008

Quite a good 16 hours.


Since getting home from work yesterday evening, I haven't played much - but what an incredible run.


I won multiple buyins at Full Tilt from HU NL cash and a little from 1/2 NLFR (short stacking). I was up at Full Tilt, then sat down with a guy who had $160 in front of him at a NL table. I searched his name and he was only playing the one table, so I sat down. The table with him was quite an adventure, and I will post details with the hands later, but it was a good run with him. (It is too good a story to ruin here - it will get it's own post :) )


This morning I played 3 satellites on stars - all for EPT event qualifiers (worth 800 W$ or 650 W$).


After starting off rough on the first $20R for 800 W$, I ended the rebuy period at 2000 chips, but spent 3 buyins (which would give me an EV of 3000 chips). I added on, and was in for 80. From there, however, things took off - and I ended up winning one of the two 800 W$ seats.


I was still in another sat for a 650 W$ satellite (busted in one). This one was a roller coaster. My stack yo-yo'd largely because I got called more often than expected. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. I made it down to the bubble as second shortie. 4 people get 650 W$ seats and there are 5 left. I am 2nd shortie but shortest stack is in the big blind.

The following is a crazy hand, IMO. I get AKs utg. What should I do? I could argue a fold, since shortie only has 3 big blinds left. Further, two players behind me are a bit reckless and aggro and I think they would put shortie all in 80% of the time.

I decided to push, as should shortie survive, I am next on the chopping block, and will have to take the big blind. Further, AKs is very rarely dominated, so at worst I should have a 47% chance of winning if called. Well, here is the hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t3000 (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)



Hero (t20800)

MP (t35741)

Button (t39500)

SB (t45313)

BB (t9146)



Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ad, Kd.

UTGA raises to t20500, MP calls t20500, 3 folds.



Flop: (t42200) 8s, 3c, Jc (2 players)



Turn: (t42200) 8d (2 players)



River: (t42200) As (2 players)



Final Pot: t42200



Results in white below:

Hero has Ad Kd (two pair, aces and eights).

MP has 9s 9c (two pair, nines and eights).

Outcome: Hero wins t42200.


It came down to a river card. I was surprised that a big stack would risk so much of his stack with 99 there when I was short and so was big blind. But, these kinds of errors are part of why these sats are so profitable. Unfortunately, it almost cost me here, but thankfully I made it through the hand.

After this hand, shortie lasted about one more orbit, but busted. I actually put the "99 villain" all in during his big blind with 88, but he called with A4o and hit his ace. I won 650 W$ in this sat, for a very profitable morning. Recall I won 800 W$ last month - since then, I spent about 400 W$ in sats, and have won two more, which brings me to over 1800 in W$. I am now in super shape to keep playing these turbo-rebuy sats, while also having enough join in some WSOP satellites when they start up.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-02-08

Date: Fri, Feb 8, 2008

Adventures vs. guy who played me at two-tables, part two: he returns for more!

I told you yesterday about the guy who I played HU against at two different tables. He was only playing two-tables, and joined the waiting list to play me on a 2nd table so we were both only playing two tables - both HU against each other. I took 6 buyins from him.

Well, last night, he returned. I was going to play just for a 15-20 minutes, but out of curiosity searched his name prior to sitting down. He was not playing. So I start a new table, and some random donk joins. After 5 minutes, though, the donk leaves, and who should sit down but the guy I beat the night before for several buyins. I am stunned at this point. It has been 5 minutes and he was not playing before. I felt like I was being stalked. I checked my other table, and he was on the waiting list there too. I asked him if he thought I was so bad that he had to put me on his waiting list. He said no, he just wanted to win his money back from me.

Looking at this choice - it is clearly bad. There is no reason why he should have been playing me unless he thought I was really bad. There are dozens of people playing, the reason to waitlist someone is if you think there is a reasonable chance they are the best to win money from. Vengance generally is not a good trait to have as a poker player. He eventually joined the 2nd table, and we were off. He was playing a bit better last night. He was reraising me PF from the bb more often (he almost never did before this) and was value betting more often. I was down about a full buyin at one point. I considered leaving, figuring he might be good, and there is no reason to play a neutral EV game. I started winning back some funds, however.

This was one of the points where I decided to play a game that was not exceptionally positive EV, but was playing because I think this player was playing pretty well and it was good practice. I actually told the guy that he was not good for making profits against tonight, but good practice for playing well and we started chatting about the previous night. He seems like a good player and a nice guy who just had some bad luck the previous night and started tilting just a bit. We were about even and I stacked him for 1.5 buyins with KK vs. QQ. I won another 1/2 buyin for a total of 2 buyins that night. We chatted friendly most of that session, and he said he did not want to play me again.

It was fascinating to chat with him, though. He said, I know now that you are a good player, but last night I did not think so. (I recommended Taylor and Hilger's Poker Mindset). He also said he was very frustrated by my aggression throughout the match and by the very thin value bets that I made against him on the river. When he mentioned the last, I knew he was a serious player. He studied the hands after we played and made a good effort to come after me again. I give him credit for ambition, but more credit for realizing he does not want to play me anymore.

It was a pretty fascinating experience, and I am glad I came out on the winning side again. But long after I remember the money I won I will remember playing this guy at 2-tables two nights in a row.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-02-06

Date: Wed, Feb 6, 2008

Update

I am going to be swamped with work for February, so I am not sure how much I will be able to play (several papers to write/revise, along with a couple grant applications due).

I have played some cash games recently. I tried limit cash for a while - it went great for a while and I won a ton at 3/6 and 5/10 - the players seemed so bad! Then of course, I lost most of it back, and the players didn't seem so horrible anymore. That sent me back to NL - where things have gone OK. I have mostly short-stacked NL cash on FT poker, but have also played some HU ($1 bb, $100 buyin). Tonight I played HU NL for a short while while I lost a couple buyins to one player. I was down 3.5 buyins but the player was so mediocre I stayed and won 1.5 buyins back.

A short while later I decided to two-table HU NL for a while ($100 buyin, again). I was playing a guy and won about a buyin from him. I searched his name, and he was only playing one table. Then, however, on my other table the player left and this guy joined my other table. So I was playing two tables, both against the same player. Since he was only playing these two, I don't think this was a coincidence. He must have thought I was a donk. I ended up taking this guy for almost 6 buyins - after he was down 2.5 buyins, I was about to go. I actually left one table, but on the other, I ch-raised all in on a JJ62 flop w 99 and he called with A9 and lost. I felt bad about hitting-and-running, but I had sat out. I told him I was planning to leave, but would stay for another 15 minutes since I did not want to hit-and-run. He asked me to get back on the other table, which I did. He started playing pretty bad after that - and I took another couple buyins from him. I perhaps should have stuck around, but my wife and I were going to watch TV - sometimes +EV poker is not +EV life, so I left. I am generally happy taking 6-buyins from someone, however.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-02-02

Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2008

Always cool to quadruple up in NL cash

I had a good day at cash games yesterday, although most of my winnings came from one hand. It think I was up $600 or so for the day in cash games - and this hand helped ...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (9 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

SB ($365.35)
BB ($176.20)
Hero ($117)
UTG+1 ($233)
MP1 ($422.50)
MP2 ($411.20)
MP3 ($407)
CO ($394)
Button ($853.55)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ac, Ah.
UTGA raises to $14, 4 folds, CO raises to $44, Button calls $44, SB calls $42, 1 fold, UTGA raises to $131 (All-In), CO calls $73, Button calls $73, SB calls $73.

Flop: ($472) 8c, 2s, Jc (4 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($472) Ad (4 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($472) 8h (4 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $486

Results in white below:
SB has Jh Jd (full house, jacks full of eights).
Hero has Ac Ah (full house, aces full of eights).
CO doesn't show.
Button doesn't show.
Outcome:




I also played 9 tourneys last night ($30 on bodog, $25 on FT poker and stars at 8:00, $20 rebuy on FT, $3 turbo rebuy on tilt, and several sats). I won a sunday million seat on stars and cashed in the $20 rebuy. I was doing very well, but my A7 lost to A6, then I ran AJ into an uber-aggro guys AQ and AK within 2 orbits and was out. I finished 17th - but was happy how I played. I feel like I am getting my tourney-groove back. Overall, I finished about even in the cash tourneys and won a bit because of the satellite win. Naturally, however, the big money comes from getting a top 3 finish. I think I am playing well so if I keep putting myself in the top 30 of tourneys the big score will happen soon.

I also feel like I am completely in synch with satellites right now. I have played so many turbo rebuy sats that I really know when to sit back, when to push trash, when to stall, etc. I think I might have a 50% + ROI on those stars turbo sats. In fact, in the past three weeks, playing a limited number of satellites, I have won 3 Sunday million seats (one was a $530, too), an 800 W$ seat, two 530 UB T$ seats and one 215 T$ seat through UB. I also am good at the non-turbo sats, but of course those take much longer. I am running a bit hot to win this much, naturally.

A reminder - I am now offering lessons - right now my best games are probably NL cash and satellites. http://pokerelmo.blogspot.com/2008/01/pokerelmo-offering-private-poker.html

I will probably play some this weekend - but nothing Sunday evening as I will be watching the super bowl.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-30

Date: Wed, Jan 30, 2008

Decided to play yesterday ...

I was one day from reaching the "gold" iron man status on full tilt, so I decided to play a bit yesterday. Hopefully, this is the start of a new upswing. I won back all of Monday's losses plus a lot more, winning several buyins for the day over about 600 hands.

I think I played well, but the things that were going wrong in the past all went right. When I choose to reraise a guy who raised every button in heads up with J4s as a resteal, the flop was 974 and I turned a jack for two pair. On top of that, the guy decided to get frisky on the turn with AQ. I flopped trips or sets and got paid off several times and won an all in coinflip with Q3 suited vs. AJ on a J73 board when I had the flsuhd draw.

I actually played 1/2 NL full ring but dropped to $0.5/$1.00 NL HU cash. I figured heads up was too swingy to play 1/2 NL HU. I discovered there is a MASSIVE difference in player quality at 1/2 NL HU vs. $0.5/$1.00 NL HU. The main thing, I think, is there are so many more regulars at 1/2 NL HU it is tough to find the fish. I didn't have that problem at the $1 big blind games. I hope that is a sign of things to come - as I may play that a bit more.

E

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-29

Date: Tue, Jan 29, 2008

Cash Game Downswing

I think I can officially call myself in a downswing. After losing a 2.5 more buyins at 2/4 NL I dropped down to 1/2 NL where last night I another 2.5 buyins. Combining that with the previous week, and I am in a 10+ buyin downswing in cash games. This is probably my biggest cash game downswing in terms of buyins in over a year.

Why the downswing?

1. I think part of it is a leak I discovered. At 2/4, at least, I have lost several big pots calling big bets with good but not great hands. I am working on putting in a raise earlier to define my hand, or simply being willing to give up a hand out-of-position. This probably accounts for 2-3 of the buyins.

2. Bluffs being caught more often than normal. It just seems that I don't bluff often, but when I do I happen to get caught. I will pull a bluff in a situation where a player can only call me with 20% of his range, and he has that 20%. That is a bit of bad luck.

3. Horrible outdraws. Last night I had AA lose to 54s when he turned a flush. I had reraised PF and he called, then potted the flop and he called so the pot was about 150 with about 140 left when he hit. I also had a redraw to the nut flush, but did not hit. KJ all in vs. TT on the turn of a QJ9x board and river is an 8, etc., etc. I don't like telling bad beat stories - this is just an explanation.

I will take a couple days off, then perhaps play again Thursday.

The good news - my bankroll is big enough to handle it, although I am dropping to 1/2 NL until I get out of this rut. Also, I have been doing great with satellite tourneys and the number stars T$ and W$ in my possession (over $480 and $600, respectively) and UB T$ (about $750, I think) are all from recent wins and have countered most of this downswing. Now I just need to turn those into tourney wins!

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-25

Date: Fri, Jan 25, 2008

2/4 NL

The good news - I am now very confident I can beat the game at either Cake Poker or Full Tilt Poker.

The bad news - I have lost about 2 buyins this week. That being said, 4 hands have really hurt:

1. AA vs. KK all in pre-flop, KK outdraws.
2. KK vs. AA - all in on blank flop. He wins
3. KK vs. QJ when we get short stack to commit 80 of 240 stack pre-flop. Lose when JJ3 flops.
4. Three barrell bluff called by good player - he called me down with T8s on a T high board. He made a good play/good read.

If I win one of those, I am about even, if I win two, I am ahead. If I win 3, I am up a couple buyins.

That being said, there were two hands where I lost a lot by calling down too loosely - so I could have done better. But overall, I am very confident right now that I can be a winner at the 2/4 NL games. I think I will be making that my new home.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-20

Date: Sun, Jan 20, 2008

Jekyll and Hyde Weekend

The Jekyll was my performance in tourneys and satellites – the Hyde was cash games.

I finished down 2.5 buyins – most from 2 hands this afternoon. The first when I got all in with a set versus a flush draw and gutshot and he hit the gutshot, the 2nd when against the same guy I got all in with a pair and nut flush draw vs. his straight. Just bad luck to not win one of those. I had one or two questionable plays yesterday but also some bad luck to keep me even for yesterday at cash games. I also lost about 5 buyins at HU SNGs, once again it just seemed like nothing was breaking my way. Before this weekend, I had been in a mini-downswing on cash games – probably down 3.5 buyins prior to this weekend – making it a 6 buyin downswing over the course of the week or so. Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary. But, I had been running so well that it seems odd to be having a rough week.

As bad as this weekend has been for cash games and HU SNGs – it was good for tourneys and satellites. Saturday morning I played a few satellites, one of them being the $20 turbo/rebuy for an 800 EPT seat on stars. I won that and cash out the 800 W$. This will give me a good start at making my run for the WSOP. Today (Sunday) I won a seat to the Sunday million (which I cashed for T$) and also a $530 seat to the UPC on UB – which I cashed for T$. So overall, counting T$ and W$, it has been a profitable weekend. I made a run in the pokerstars 50K freerole for supernova players (cashing an entry I won over the weekend). I finished 27th. I was disappointed in my bustout, as I was slightly above average, and had a blind-steals gone bad with 64s and T9 (vs. AK and QQ short-stacks), and busted when my K7 lost to AJ after spiking a K but having him hit a river-ace. I won $175 there, but would have loved to have made a run at the final table where top price was 9.4K. I think I played those last hands right, however, and I am definitely glad I played aggressive trying to accumulate chips when I thought I was making +EV plays.

With classes starting again last week – my time to play decreases. I don’t teach Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, so I hope to play some tourneys – mainly on Wednesdays, Fridays and over the weekend.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-09

Date: Wed, Jan 9, 2008

Great Post on 2+2 and a couple random thoughts

It takes a lot of time, but Phil Galfond answers lots of questions on this post on 2+2. To save time, just look for every post from Jman - he usually posts the question he is answering before he replies. There are some great NL tidbits in here.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/printthread.php?t=88525&pp=100




A couple random thoughts:

Different sites and difficulty of players

I had always thought players at pokerstars were a bit tougher than full tilt poker or elsewhere. A discussion at ITH has made the reason for this obvious. Those who 12-table full time earn so many FPPs on stars that they can become supernova elite. With that, they earn approximately 50% rakeback based on the bonuses and other items they can cash in their FPPs for, and Pokerstars buys their way into two free 10K tourneys. This is pretty tough to beat. For a part-time player, pokerstars is not as ideal for me - since I spread out my play enough I won't even reach the regular "supernova" level.

Full Tilt Poker still has some 8-12 tablers playing, but not as many. This means more spots on the tables are filled by your average player or by a complete fish. That makes for slightly easier games.


A few observations about the 12-tablers at $1, $2, or $4 big-blind no-limit holdem.

They are beatable - but not for a huge margin. They will likely not adjust to you since they don't have the time to pay attention. They will know your PT stats though.

The tighter ones don't raise lightly, especially in EP.

Good 12-tablers (who still can only be average overall, since they can't adjust to how you are exploiting them) are generally good about controlling pot size with marginal hands. If there is an EP/MP raiser and they call with AQ suited - they will generally not raise on a Q high flop nor bet/raise the turn. Likewise, some will slow down with AA. They could go bust with it - but won't usually be the one pushing the action.

You can pick on their blinds more loosely than a fish. Just don't get too crazy - they might catch on to you.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-03

Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2008

Woot - a Royal Flush!



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (9 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

SB ($569.70)
BB ($858.30)
UTG ($264.25)
Hero ($110)
MP1 ($384.20)
MP2 ($449.05)
MP3 ($62)
CO ($400)
Button ($648.60)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with As, Ks.
UTG raises to $12, UTGB raises to $44, 7 folds, UTG calls $32.

Flop: ($94) Ts, Qs, Kd (2 players)
UTG checks, UTGB bets $66 (All-In), UTG calls $66.

Turn: ($0) 8s (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($0) Js (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $226

Results in white below:
UTG has Qc Qd.
Hero has As Ks (straight flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins $226.

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Poker Elmo's World - 2008-01-01

Date: Tue, Jan 1, 2008

2008 Poker Goals

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and New Years Day. Watching some football, I figured I would jot out some of my goals for 2008.

1. Continue to make some side-money for my family. I would love to make enough to finish our basement and fully-fund my roth IRA and my wife's roth and conventional IRA. (I know - saving for retirement - pretty exciting thing to do with poker winnings.)

2. Play a few more tourneys. Related to this, I would love to play a major live tourney or two, but I am not sure when/where I will get the opportunity. I am sure I will play a few WSOP ME satellites, and if I make it I will just figure out how to work out the timing.

3. Work my way up to 5/10 NL holdem.

I will do this short-stacked, at least initially. I am already playing 2/4 and 3/6 short-stacked in 6-max and full ring games and enjoying good results. I hope to keep this up and keep moving up limits as long as my profits keep going up.

4. Begin Poker-Coaching.

I hope to have a post about this posted soon - but soon I will be offering poker coaching. I have done some already, and I have found it rewarding on a number of levels. First, I enjoy teaching (it is what I do for my career). I have enjoyed teaching the players I have coached as they have enjoyed success. Second, having to articulate ideas for someone else can helps me better understand various concepts. Research has shown that people learn best by doing or instructing others - and I think poker is no different.

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