World Poker Tour -- Bellagio Festa al Lago Main Event Day 4 - CardPlayer.com
My man Freddy Deeb gonna wreck shop! Just you watch. Deeb is a pimp and a half.
14 years ago
10.25.2009
10.18.2009
The defining hand
I took 2nd in a $6.50 knockout the other night which got me a nice little $80 profit. If I'd have made this call I'd have the uber mega chip stack and a better chance at first. As it ended up I was outchipped 4-1 by the time the winner of this hand took the rest of the guys out and lost a flip to get back in it.
I mean look at it and tell me how I could have called after they both shove? If just one is in there I'm all over it, but with the way I played it and the action that came up I don't see how I couldn't think I was beat here.
Of course, really the best action should have been folding preflop, yes I know that. :p
Full Tilt Poker Game #15371626424: $6 + $0.50 KO Sit & Go (112703139), Table 4 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:47:12 ET - 2009/10/16
Seat 2: Dray (65,566)
Seat 7: ser-il76 (86,828)
Seat 8: joeashsnow23 (63,856)
Seat 9: PrematureFlush (53,750)
Dray antes 750
ser-il76 antes 750
joeashsnow23 antes 750
PrematureFlush antes 750
Dray posts the small blind of 3,000
ser-il76 posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Jd 8h]
joeashsnow23 folds
PrematureFlush calls 6,000
Dray calls 3,000
ser-il76 checks
*** FLOP *** [6h 4c Jc]
Dray checks
ser-il76 bets 80,078, and is all in
PrematureFlush calls 47,000, and is all in
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray folds
ser-il76 shows [Js 7d]
PrematureFlush shows [Qc Tc]
Uncalled bet of 33,078 returned to ser-il76
*** TURN *** [6h 4c Jc] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [6h 4c Jc 3h] [3s]
ser-il76 shows two pair, Jacks and Threes
PrematureFlush shows a pair of Threes
ser-il76 wins the pot (115,000) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 115,000 | Rake 0
Board: [6h 4c Jc 3h 3s]
Seat 2: Dray (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: ser-il76 (big blind) showed [Js 7d] and won (115,000) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
Seat 8: joeashsnow23 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: PrematureFlush (button) showed [Qc Tc] and lost with a pair of Threes
I mean look at it and tell me how I could have called after they both shove? If just one is in there I'm all over it, but with the way I played it and the action that came up I don't see how I couldn't think I was beat here.
Of course, really the best action should have been folding preflop, yes I know that. :p
Full Tilt Poker Game #15371626424: $6 + $0.50 KO Sit & Go (112703139), Table 4 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:47:12 ET - 2009/10/16
Seat 2: Dray (65,566)
Seat 7: ser-il76 (86,828)
Seat 8: joeashsnow23 (63,856)
Seat 9: PrematureFlush (53,750)
Dray antes 750
ser-il76 antes 750
joeashsnow23 antes 750
PrematureFlush antes 750
Dray posts the small blind of 3,000
ser-il76 posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Jd 8h]
joeashsnow23 folds
PrematureFlush calls 6,000
Dray calls 3,000
ser-il76 checks
*** FLOP *** [6h 4c Jc]
Dray checks
ser-il76 bets 80,078, and is all in
PrematureFlush calls 47,000, and is all in
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray folds
ser-il76 shows [Js 7d]
PrematureFlush shows [Qc Tc]
Uncalled bet of 33,078 returned to ser-il76
*** TURN *** [6h 4c Jc] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [6h 4c Jc 3h] [3s]
ser-il76 shows two pair, Jacks and Threes
PrematureFlush shows a pair of Threes
ser-il76 wins the pot (115,000) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 115,000 | Rake 0
Board: [6h 4c Jc 3h 3s]
Seat 2: Dray (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: ser-il76 (big blind) showed [Js 7d] and won (115,000) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
Seat 8: joeashsnow23 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: PrematureFlush (button) showed [Qc Tc] and lost with a pair of Threes
10.13.2009
WOW - Awesome comment on AJ Benza's blog
So I was reading the link from the last entry about Benza being booted from High Stakes Poker, and then I found the comments below from an apparent anonymous person at GSN. So it sounds like he's being replaced by Vanessa Rousso who I really don't care for at all, but man this anonymous comment is AMAZING! Calling everyone out:
Anonymous said...
I have to post this anonymously because under the Nazi-like environment that David Goldhill has created at GSN, I know they will try and identify and fire me. I've even gone so far as to have someone else post this and send from their computer so there's nothing that can identify me. He's even rewritten in his own language and spelling because he's a better writer than me and this way they can't recognize any style that's mine.
As long as you're naming names, from GSN's side of things, credit for the success of High Stakes Poker goes to one person: Kevin Belinkoff. He was a long time GSN executive who was forced out about a year ago, just after the production of the last season of High Stakes Poker. Belinkoff campaigned vigoursly on the show's behalf. The stories of his own compulsive gambling are legendary. He would work every angle he could to keep the show going. Other the AJ, he was the only one who would talk the press to promote the show. He'd work with GSN's ad sales department to woo advertisers. The giant billboard in Las Vegas was his idea. And it was Belinkoff's idea to cast AJ Benza as the host with Gabe Kaplan, seeing the need for a non-poker expert to balance out the show. Beyond that, Belinkoff stayed out of the way and let the show become the best poker show on television.
But when Goldhill arrived a little more than two years ago, there was no room for intelligent or creative thought at GSN. Countless longtime executives were forced out, including Belinkoff's boss, a harmless British guy named Jamie Roberts. He was replaced by Kelly Goode, a black woman with a chip on her shoulder and no idea about game shows, poker shows, reality shows, or anything other than the horrible crap she developed before she got chased out at Lifetime. She went to Harvard --she'll mention that any chance she gets--but this is not an intelligent woman. She has no people skills, no creative instincts, and it's well known throughout GSN and outside that she has no idea what she's doing. Belinkoff quickly left after her hiring, but it's unkown whether that was his choice or he was fired.
Goode is disliked by virtually everyone at GSN. She micromanages her department and makes everyone miserable. There are countless stories of television executives like that, but they are successful and know what they're doing. Goode is incompetent. The only people that like her are David Goldhill and his Nazi right hand Steve Brunell. Every decision made at the network, large and small, goes through those two guys. Goode is merely their puppet and with no real authority or job to do, she spends her time making everyone else miserable.
October 12, 2009 10:19 AM
Anonymous said...
Goode had it out for AJ from day one. No one is exactly sure why. It was likely that she wanted to make changes at her new job to assert her authority. That's not unusual, but it's better when they know what they're doing and have some track record of success. Belinkoff refused to replace AJ on the last season of the show. It doesn't require you knowing a whole lot about television to know that once the audience is comfortable with one host, you face a huge risk replacing him with another. It' good to take risks, but not when you have no clue what you're doing.
Without Belinkoff, production of the last season of High Stakes Poker was overseen by Mike Bevan. He's a nice guy and is best known for sitting in his office and playing solitaire on his computer for hours on end. The show wasn't as good, but it's the great poker play that people care about, and with the new players in the mix, the show still worked. But the ratings didn't show that. GSN stopped doing any kind of promotion or marketing for the show. After long time success on Monday nights, they moved it to Sunday and put on five consecutive hours of the show. Ratings suffered and it looked like Goldhill would get his wish and poker would disappear from GSN.
But everything Goldhill and Brunell have done at GSN has been an expensive failure. They spent a small fortune buying out contracts of top level executives. Expensive programming initiatives like the Game Show Awards and a live show on Saturday night have been colossol failures. Their own arrogance led to losing their most popular new show, Lingo, and most of the classic old shows. As sponsors have fled the network in the wake of their incompetence, the ad sales representives came to Goldhill and Brunell with a simple message: The only thing anyone cares about any more on this network is High Stakes Poker. When faced with the amount of money GSN would lose if they cancelled the show, they reluctantly ordered another season, more than one year after the previous one.
But now, the collection of non-poker playing incompetents took over. They cut the show's budget. So the new season will have fewer cameras and lower production value than ever before. David Schiff, who made the move to take over the show after firing Bevan, says a female host will bring in more female viewers. Read that again. The change to Vanessa Rousso isn't designed to bring in more men. Schiff thinks that she'll add more female viewers to the audience. At no point was a single person who knows anything about poker or the show consulted. Rousso was hired without an audition. Nugent was brought in as the head of talent, but he has little authority either. His greatest contribution is an upcoming reality show with Carny Wilson, and early reports on it is that her crass style won't sit well with viewers. So with one stupid decision after another, Goldhill and his crew of scared incompetents have ruined GSN and its best shows.
Someone at GSN will see this and there will be an investigation trying to figure out who I am. I hope that they don't identify the wrong person and fire them, but the environment at GSN is a horrible one and they do everything they can to silence any dissent. AJ, you know everything I say here is true. Thank you for having the balls to say something.
Anonymous said...
I have to post this anonymously because under the Nazi-like environment that David Goldhill has created at GSN, I know they will try and identify and fire me. I've even gone so far as to have someone else post this and send from their computer so there's nothing that can identify me. He's even rewritten in his own language and spelling because he's a better writer than me and this way they can't recognize any style that's mine.
As long as you're naming names, from GSN's side of things, credit for the success of High Stakes Poker goes to one person: Kevin Belinkoff. He was a long time GSN executive who was forced out about a year ago, just after the production of the last season of High Stakes Poker. Belinkoff campaigned vigoursly on the show's behalf. The stories of his own compulsive gambling are legendary. He would work every angle he could to keep the show going. Other the AJ, he was the only one who would talk the press to promote the show. He'd work with GSN's ad sales department to woo advertisers. The giant billboard in Las Vegas was his idea. And it was Belinkoff's idea to cast AJ Benza as the host with Gabe Kaplan, seeing the need for a non-poker expert to balance out the show. Beyond that, Belinkoff stayed out of the way and let the show become the best poker show on television.
But when Goldhill arrived a little more than two years ago, there was no room for intelligent or creative thought at GSN. Countless longtime executives were forced out, including Belinkoff's boss, a harmless British guy named Jamie Roberts. He was replaced by Kelly Goode, a black woman with a chip on her shoulder and no idea about game shows, poker shows, reality shows, or anything other than the horrible crap she developed before she got chased out at Lifetime. She went to Harvard --she'll mention that any chance she gets--but this is not an intelligent woman. She has no people skills, no creative instincts, and it's well known throughout GSN and outside that she has no idea what she's doing. Belinkoff quickly left after her hiring, but it's unkown whether that was his choice or he was fired.
Goode is disliked by virtually everyone at GSN. She micromanages her department and makes everyone miserable. There are countless stories of television executives like that, but they are successful and know what they're doing. Goode is incompetent. The only people that like her are David Goldhill and his Nazi right hand Steve Brunell. Every decision made at the network, large and small, goes through those two guys. Goode is merely their puppet and with no real authority or job to do, she spends her time making everyone else miserable.
October 12, 2009 10:19 AM
Anonymous said...
Goode had it out for AJ from day one. No one is exactly sure why. It was likely that she wanted to make changes at her new job to assert her authority. That's not unusual, but it's better when they know what they're doing and have some track record of success. Belinkoff refused to replace AJ on the last season of the show. It doesn't require you knowing a whole lot about television to know that once the audience is comfortable with one host, you face a huge risk replacing him with another. It' good to take risks, but not when you have no clue what you're doing.
Without Belinkoff, production of the last season of High Stakes Poker was overseen by Mike Bevan. He's a nice guy and is best known for sitting in his office and playing solitaire on his computer for hours on end. The show wasn't as good, but it's the great poker play that people care about, and with the new players in the mix, the show still worked. But the ratings didn't show that. GSN stopped doing any kind of promotion or marketing for the show. After long time success on Monday nights, they moved it to Sunday and put on five consecutive hours of the show. Ratings suffered and it looked like Goldhill would get his wish and poker would disappear from GSN.
But everything Goldhill and Brunell have done at GSN has been an expensive failure. They spent a small fortune buying out contracts of top level executives. Expensive programming initiatives like the Game Show Awards and a live show on Saturday night have been colossol failures. Their own arrogance led to losing their most popular new show, Lingo, and most of the classic old shows. As sponsors have fled the network in the wake of their incompetence, the ad sales representives came to Goldhill and Brunell with a simple message: The only thing anyone cares about any more on this network is High Stakes Poker. When faced with the amount of money GSN would lose if they cancelled the show, they reluctantly ordered another season, more than one year after the previous one.
But now, the collection of non-poker playing incompetents took over. They cut the show's budget. So the new season will have fewer cameras and lower production value than ever before. David Schiff, who made the move to take over the show after firing Bevan, says a female host will bring in more female viewers. Read that again. The change to Vanessa Rousso isn't designed to bring in more men. Schiff thinks that she'll add more female viewers to the audience. At no point was a single person who knows anything about poker or the show consulted. Rousso was hired without an audition. Nugent was brought in as the head of talent, but he has little authority either. His greatest contribution is an upcoming reality show with Carny Wilson, and early reports on it is that her crass style won't sit well with viewers. So with one stupid decision after another, Goldhill and his crew of scared incompetents have ruined GSN and its best shows.
Someone at GSN will see this and there will be an investigation trying to figure out who I am. I hope that they don't identify the wrong person and fire them, but the environment at GSN is a horrible one and they do everything they can to silence any dissent. AJ, you know everything I say here is true. Thank you for having the balls to say something.
AJ Benza's replaced on High Stakes Poker
Yup he's getting replaced by a female cohost apparently. He's not too happy about it either. Read his blog about it here
10.12.2009
10.11.2009
10NL: ATo from bb line check - Micro Stakes Pot Limit and No Limit - Micro Stakes Poker Forum
10NL: ATo from bb line check - Micro Stakes Pot Limit and No Limit - Micro Stakes Poker Forum
This is a hand I posted from last night's short cash game session. Feel free to check out the feedback I get.
10.09.2009
Guy Laliberte is in space - Poker News - News, Views and Gossip
Guy Laliberte is in space - Poker News - News, Views and Gossip
Looks like further down the thread it is confirmed with a copied news story. From the sound of it he may have already gone and come back.
BBC News story about the trip, video included
Looks like further down the thread it is confirmed with a copied news story. From the sound of it he may have already gone and come back.
BBC News story about the trip, video included
Erica Schoenberg now single? - Poker News - News, Views and Gossip
Erica Schoenberg now single? - Poker News - News, Views and Gossip
Don't miss out on the filmstrip timeline showing Erica pre and post plastic surgery, then compared to Michael Jackson. This thread has a whole lot of win in it.
Don't miss out on the filmstrip timeline showing Erica pre and post plastic surgery, then compared to Michael Jackson. This thread has a whole lot of win in it.
I feel so unsatisfied.
This is the 2nd night in the row I'm making a solid run in a decent sized tournament field. It's really sick how well it seems I'm running with the little I'm playing.
I just got 21/351 players in a $5.50 regular MTT. Last night I took 15/244 in a $2.25 deepstack turbo MTT. Then I checked last months excel sheet and I see 24/691 , 19/368 , 28/377. Then of course I took 2nd in a 90 man as well good for $50 profit.
With the exception of the 90 man all these close but no cigar runs are difficult to swallow. I really thought that coming up short in the last 4 runs tonight's $5.50 would have been better. The Dray Days Twitter page has all the updates as I played it through so I won't rehash hands but it's like I always say: if you're going to run good in a tournament, do it at the end.
I will always carry reservations when I run great early or midway through tourneys. Historically any time I've won or final tabled something big it's been tight play followed by a good run down the stretch. Maybe I shouldn't think negatively but it's based on history what can I say?
Besides fun poker tournaments online I've had a great weekend so far. I got to spend quite a bit of good quality time with Kristina as she's now in her 9th month of pregnancy officially. With my schedule it's kind of lame that even when I'm off I end up sleeping a large portion of her Wednesday's off. We're managing though and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that some kind of schedule change is coming. I have a resume submitted for Billing at work which is M-F but it's been 2 weeks and I haven't even heard about an interview. :(
My old boss at KTSW sent me an email about a job opening at Clear Channel this week. It's an audio design engineer position producing commercials and promotions for the cluster of Austin stations they own. I went to Mix today and burned off everything that I produced when I was unemployed and able to pick up hours working in that department.
Came back home and earlier tonight made my first production demo with short clips of several different projects to try and show my "range". I probably listened to it 30 times after finishing it. Did my cover letter and resume and sent them in with the mp3, so now all I can do is hope. A steady full time radio gig and in production would be an AMAZING opportunity to learn and grow.
I just got 21/351 players in a $5.50 regular MTT. Last night I took 15/244 in a $2.25 deepstack turbo MTT. Then I checked last months excel sheet and I see 24/691 , 19/368 , 28/377. Then of course I took 2nd in a 90 man as well good for $50 profit.
With the exception of the 90 man all these close but no cigar runs are difficult to swallow. I really thought that coming up short in the last 4 runs tonight's $5.50 would have been better. The Dray Days Twitter page has all the updates as I played it through so I won't rehash hands but it's like I always say: if you're going to run good in a tournament, do it at the end.
I will always carry reservations when I run great early or midway through tourneys. Historically any time I've won or final tabled something big it's been tight play followed by a good run down the stretch. Maybe I shouldn't think negatively but it's based on history what can I say?
Besides fun poker tournaments online I've had a great weekend so far. I got to spend quite a bit of good quality time with Kristina as she's now in her 9th month of pregnancy officially. With my schedule it's kind of lame that even when I'm off I end up sleeping a large portion of her Wednesday's off. We're managing though and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that some kind of schedule change is coming. I have a resume submitted for Billing at work which is M-F but it's been 2 weeks and I haven't even heard about an interview. :(
My old boss at KTSW sent me an email about a job opening at Clear Channel this week. It's an audio design engineer position producing commercials and promotions for the cluster of Austin stations they own. I went to Mix today and burned off everything that I produced when I was unemployed and able to pick up hours working in that department.
Came back home and earlier tonight made my first production demo with short clips of several different projects to try and show my "range". I probably listened to it 30 times after finishing it. Did my cover letter and resume and sent them in with the mp3, so now all I can do is hope. A steady full time radio gig and in production would be an AMAZING opportunity to learn and grow.
10.08.2009
Peter Eastgate takes 2nd - EPT London Main Event
Aaron Gustavson Wins PokerStars EPT London Main Event - Poker News - CardPlayer.com
Besides Phil Ivey, I think one of the bigges stories in this year's main event are the repeat runs that both Dennis Phillips and Peter Eastgate. It's hard to imagine that anyone could ever really go back to back in the fields that have been generated since the Moneymaker boom.
Obviously Dan Harrington is the man with repeat final tables in 03 and 04, followed very closely by Greg Raymer. I think someone could definitely do what Harrington did again, but back to back wins? That's a whole notha story. :)
Last year's final table I said if I was putting money on anyone to win it was Ivan Demidov. The guy is fearless and after he mad the November 9 he went to London and took 3rd in the WSOP Europe main event.
This year TWO November Niner's made the WSOPE final table: Antoine Saout and James Akenhead. Even earlier than that Kevin Schaffel took 2nd to Prahlahd Friedman in the WPT Legend of Poker not long after the WSOP was done. So who do you put money on this year? Hell if I know! I mean, obviously we all are rooting for Ivey to take it down. But beyond that I think based on the results of these guys the last few months it seems to be anyone's game.
I will say that the chip leader Darvin Moon is an interesting dude. He's determined to stay a regular guy and if does take it down, it looks like he'll probably go Jerry Yang style and disappear for the rest of the year. Anyone can win this thing though, and I'm very excited to see what happens this year and in the rest of the coverage on ESPN leading up to the final table.
Besides Phil Ivey, I think one of the bigges stories in this year's main event are the repeat runs that both Dennis Phillips and Peter Eastgate. It's hard to imagine that anyone could ever really go back to back in the fields that have been generated since the Moneymaker boom.
Obviously Dan Harrington is the man with repeat final tables in 03 and 04, followed very closely by Greg Raymer. I think someone could definitely do what Harrington did again, but back to back wins? That's a whole notha story. :)
Last year's final table I said if I was putting money on anyone to win it was Ivan Demidov. The guy is fearless and after he mad the November 9 he went to London and took 3rd in the WSOP Europe main event.
This year TWO November Niner's made the WSOPE final table: Antoine Saout and James Akenhead. Even earlier than that Kevin Schaffel took 2nd to Prahlahd Friedman in the WPT Legend of Poker not long after the WSOP was done. So who do you put money on this year? Hell if I know! I mean, obviously we all are rooting for Ivey to take it down. But beyond that I think based on the results of these guys the last few months it seems to be anyone's game.
I will say that the chip leader Darvin Moon is an interesting dude. He's determined to stay a regular guy and if does take it down, it looks like he'll probably go Jerry Yang style and disappear for the rest of the year. Anyone can win this thing though, and I'm very excited to see what happens this year and in the rest of the coverage on ESPN leading up to the final table.
10.06.2009
YouTube - Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones-
Couldn't embed this on the blog, but it's one of my favorite songs from Qtip's The Renaissance.
YouTube - Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones- "Life Is Better"
YouTube - Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones- "Life Is Better"
10.05.2009
Where to watch WSOP 2009 on Youtube
Thanks to MsPokerJoker for getting all of the episodes up each week quickly. I don't have cable so this is where I keep up with all the coverage.
YouTube - MsPokerJoker's Channel
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You know my little baby girl Aubrey is due to arrive into the world November 1st. How cool would it be if Ivey win's the main event and she's born on the same day! My wife just rolled her eyes when I brought the idea up, but I know my poker people can appreciate how awesome that would be!
YouTube - MsPokerJoker's Channel
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You know my little baby girl Aubrey is due to arrive into the world November 1st. How cool would it be if Ivey win's the main event and she's born on the same day! My wife just rolled her eyes when I brought the idea up, but I know my poker people can appreciate how awesome that would be!
10.03.2009
Poker Legends Sued for Robot Fraud
LOL Botters trying to push online poker is rigged defense.
Poker Legends Sued for Robot Fraud
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Poker Legends Sued for Robot Fraud
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10.02.2009
Ivey ballin'
Going to try and add more articles like this using a new Firefox addon. Going to test it on a 2+2 thread next.
Chopper shock
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Chopper shock
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Barry Shulman Wins the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event
Negreanu came so close!
Barry Shulman Wins the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event
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Barry Shulman Wins the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event
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Valuable lesson relearned last week
FIRST THINGS FIRST - I've changed the blog URL to http://draydays.blogspot.com
So if you have my blog linked, please update it so you don't have a dead link on
your page! :)
It's been a week now since my live outing to a $30 home game tournament out in Round Rock. Unfortunately I ended up being the bubble boy. After walking away I remembered a valuable concept that I picked up while playing tons of SNG's a few months ago. The idea is that on the bubble, the size of your stack compared to the other stacks at the table matters more than just how blinds you have left.
I'm not a poker expert and I could very well espouse wrong information on this blog under the premise I know what I'm talking about. I really don't know any poker experts who I can discuss concepts with or who can correct me if I'm wrong, though. All I can do through this outlet is just get my thoughts out there, whatever they may be at this moment in time.
When I was participating on the 2+2 SNG forum earlier this year I was really surprised at how many big hands the players there could agree were easy folds on the bubble. The primary factor in the decisions was the presence of someone who was very short stacked. For example you are 3rd in chips with 7 big blinds and 4 people left (3 getting paid). Another player has 2 big blinds. Even though 7 bbs definitely puts you in shove/fold mode, you can still tighten up in most situations. It's because your equity, based on your stack size in relation to everyone else's, is still much greater than the guy with 2bbs left.
My big mistake last Thursday was looking for spots to shove on the bubble because my stack was short enough, when there was an extremely short stack left. We were down to the last 7 with 6 getting paid. I came into the final table of 10 players 2nd in chips. We played for about an hour with 8 players left. Nobody had a big stack, the biggest was maybe 25 big blinds. It's also worth noting this game had a WSOP structure with antes included - something I've never seen in a home game EVER. So the final table was basically a lot of raise it/take it play without many flops being seen.
After we lost the 8th player this guy Brian who was one of the shorter stacks shoved with a couple of rags. The player on his left snap called with AT. Brian lost the hand but had the other guy covered and was crippled at that point. A few hands later I pick up 77 under the gun with about 10bbs left, shoved after a few seconds of thought and BOOM! ran into two Kings. I'm out on the bubble feeling REALLY stupid. :(
I classify myself as someone who always plays to win. I'm not out to just to squeek by in tournaments and make no money. However, the equity of cashing should have been a bigger factor in my decisions at this point in the tournament, BECAUSE Brian had an extremely short stack. Nobody really had chips and everyone's finishing position was going to have more to do with luck than skill. Playing for first and not being scared to put chips into the pot shouldn't have mattered, even if I consider it a valuable attribute for any poker player to have. The most important thing was to cash and lock up that equity and THEN let the cards fall where they may. Obviously now I regret the decision because I ran 77 into KK.
If I'm honest, though, it was luck that got me to that final table 2nd in chips. There were 3 game making hands where I got all of my chips in behind and won - QT>KJ , KT>TT , and against Herby I had Q8 beat his JJ by flopping two eights. The most difficult part about bubbling this tournament was just knowing that first would have been a very nice payday. There were over 30 people playing at $30 a head plus many $10 rebuys. It was actually a sick thing to watch person after person putting an extra $10 in the pool for a stack equal to 2 big blinds. I personally would never pay money for no chips because I think it's money wasted. I would never say that out loud to anyone because they're jacking up the prize pool with zero to no chance of getting back into the game. I had a big chip stack and a good chance of chasing, why would I want to discourage a growing prize pool?
I'd have only done 2 things differently - probably not shove the Q8 from utg...and the 77 at the final table obviously.
Herby was the only guy I knew there, all the regular Sunday crew couldn't make it. We tried to get a game together on Sunday at Herby's place but it didn't happen. :( It sucks that we don't get together and play as much as we used to, but it's a collective effort. I think we've all been either busy or broke most of this year, but I do miss not seeing a lot of the crew as often as I used to.
I hope this entry was easy to read and had a good flow to it. If you knew how long I spent proofreading and rewording it, you'd probably shake your head.
So if you have my blog linked, please update it so you don't have a dead link on
your page! :)
It's been a week now since my live outing to a $30 home game tournament out in Round Rock. Unfortunately I ended up being the bubble boy. After walking away I remembered a valuable concept that I picked up while playing tons of SNG's a few months ago. The idea is that on the bubble, the size of your stack compared to the other stacks at the table matters more than just how blinds you have left.
I'm not a poker expert and I could very well espouse wrong information on this blog under the premise I know what I'm talking about. I really don't know any poker experts who I can discuss concepts with or who can correct me if I'm wrong, though. All I can do through this outlet is just get my thoughts out there, whatever they may be at this moment in time.
When I was participating on the 2+2 SNG forum earlier this year I was really surprised at how many big hands the players there could agree were easy folds on the bubble. The primary factor in the decisions was the presence of someone who was very short stacked. For example you are 3rd in chips with 7 big blinds and 4 people left (3 getting paid). Another player has 2 big blinds. Even though 7 bbs definitely puts you in shove/fold mode, you can still tighten up in most situations. It's because your equity, based on your stack size in relation to everyone else's, is still much greater than the guy with 2bbs left.
My big mistake last Thursday was looking for spots to shove on the bubble because my stack was short enough, when there was an extremely short stack left. We were down to the last 7 with 6 getting paid. I came into the final table of 10 players 2nd in chips. We played for about an hour with 8 players left. Nobody had a big stack, the biggest was maybe 25 big blinds. It's also worth noting this game had a WSOP structure with antes included - something I've never seen in a home game EVER. So the final table was basically a lot of raise it/take it play without many flops being seen.
After we lost the 8th player this guy Brian who was one of the shorter stacks shoved with a couple of rags. The player on his left snap called with AT. Brian lost the hand but had the other guy covered and was crippled at that point. A few hands later I pick up 77 under the gun with about 10bbs left, shoved after a few seconds of thought and BOOM! ran into two Kings. I'm out on the bubble feeling REALLY stupid. :(
I classify myself as someone who always plays to win. I'm not out to just to squeek by in tournaments and make no money. However, the equity of cashing should have been a bigger factor in my decisions at this point in the tournament, BECAUSE Brian had an extremely short stack. Nobody really had chips and everyone's finishing position was going to have more to do with luck than skill. Playing for first and not being scared to put chips into the pot shouldn't have mattered, even if I consider it a valuable attribute for any poker player to have. The most important thing was to cash and lock up that equity and THEN let the cards fall where they may. Obviously now I regret the decision because I ran 77 into KK.
If I'm honest, though, it was luck that got me to that final table 2nd in chips. There were 3 game making hands where I got all of my chips in behind and won - QT>KJ , KT>TT , and against Herby I had Q8 beat his JJ by flopping two eights. The most difficult part about bubbling this tournament was just knowing that first would have been a very nice payday. There were over 30 people playing at $30 a head plus many $10 rebuys. It was actually a sick thing to watch person after person putting an extra $10 in the pool for a stack equal to 2 big blinds. I personally would never pay money for no chips because I think it's money wasted. I would never say that out loud to anyone because they're jacking up the prize pool with zero to no chance of getting back into the game. I had a big chip stack and a good chance of chasing, why would I want to discourage a growing prize pool?
I'd have only done 2 things differently - probably not shove the Q8 from utg...and the 77 at the final table obviously.
Herby was the only guy I knew there, all the regular Sunday crew couldn't make it. We tried to get a game together on Sunday at Herby's place but it didn't happen. :( It sucks that we don't get together and play as much as we used to, but it's a collective effort. I think we've all been either busy or broke most of this year, but I do miss not seeing a lot of the crew as often as I used to.
I hope this entry was easy to read and had a good flow to it. If you knew how long I spent proofreading and rewording it, you'd probably shake your head.
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