The Digest, March, 2013
03-01-2013
, 11:36 AM
The Mission of "The Digest" is to entertain and inform its readers."Mikes007, A_Schupick, Breich, Hippy80, Bona, BumbleBee99"
We appreciate our readers and welcome you to the February issue of "The Digest". Our columnists have worked hard to bring you information in an entertaining way. We hope you like it.
Our columnists work hard every month to bring you entertainment and information.
A special thank you to Ice_Wolf, BQ moderator and long time friend of the digest, for bringing us his take on his specialty, MTTs.
by...Ice_W0lf
Approaching Tournaments
Beginner’s Forum.. a large part of you are approaching tournaments with a terrible mind set. When I say terrible, I mean just plain awful. Why would I say such a mean and awful thing? Well, because it is true. I know this because I read the BQ forums every day, and I read through the different chat rooms set up with BQ players…. And I see the things people say or get upset over about tournaments AND IT IS ALL WRONG!
I get sad when I see things like “these tournaments are dumb.. play for hours only to just miss the money or win a little bit of cash” or “Ugh.. I had a chip lead early on and I only mincashed” or “I get bummed when I play a $109 and don’t cash it.” All of these thoughts come stem from one single problem: You are caring way too much about one single tournament or tournament session. That’s it… that is really all there is to it. You, a primarily cash game player, decide that today I am going to play 1 or 2 tournaments.. and because you don’t ever play tournaments, these tournaments have more meaning to you that they ever should. This leads to you getting angry over standard beats, mad because you just “wasted” a few hours and only made your buyin back, and feeling like these things are just flippaments for the lucky.
Now, let’s quickly break down why this type of thinking is dangerous. The main reason is that tournaments breed failure most of the time. Using a simple example, let’s say you have a 180 man tournament that pays 18 players (10%)… 90% of players are going to lose money, 5% are going to make just over a buyin, and 5% will end up with a decent pay day. Of course, poker players have an ego and we all feel like our mastery of poker should allow us to cash more than that 10% time. But how often are we really going to cash? To figure that out, I looked at 25 players that have been ranked #1 on pocket fives. Using their opr information for nlhe tournaments on Poker Star, I looked at their in the money (ITM), how many mtts they have played, their distribution at final tables (4-10th,3rd,2nd,1st). I also looked at how often they get 4-10th, and how often they get 1st-3rd (where the real money is in mtts). I used this information to see just how often these players.. players that have crushed mtts for years and years and played thousands upon thousands of games.. actually make the money.
As you can see, all of the players fell between 14% and 17%, with most being 14 or 15%. The average of these players is 14.28% over 345,000+ tournaments. I think you would find that if you searched even average player, you are going to find that most players float around this area as well. This is why it is so important to not put too much into a single tournament: Even the world’s best tournament players are failing to make their money back 85.72% of the time!
Now.. where do the top players separate themselves from the rest of the pack? That’s when you look at the other columns of number: final table distribution.
Looking at final table distribution, this is where you see the best separate themselves. As a group, when these player make the final table, these players are hitting those magical top 3 spots over 40% of the time and shipping the tournament nearly 25% of the time. Keep in mind that an average distribution would have these players hitting 1-3rd 30% of the time and winning 10% of the time. Also shown here, you can see that when these players hit those top 3 spots, they are more likely to ship it than they are to get 2nd or 3rd combined.
Now the question is.. how can you combat putting too much importance on one tournament/session? Well.. the obvious answer is to either always play tournaments or never play tournaments. Clearly this isn’t going to happen though.. some people only like to play tournaments on occasion and never playing them would cost you value (freerolls etc). You need to go into tournaments knowing that most of the time you aren’t going to make **** off them, while simultaneously thinking that you are going to ship every damn one that you enter. It definitely is a delicate balance, one that even mtt grinder struggle with, but it is a balance that can help the most with dealing with the mind-**** that tournament can be. Don’t think about a failed tournament as a waste of time or a failure.. instead think of a busted tournament as being one tournament closer to the tournament that you are going to ship.
by... Hippy80
2+2 can be a scary place at first glance. Noob Corner is for those of us reading who are newer to these forums, want to make the best your time here, and maybe even make some good friends.
Hi, welcome back to noob corner, and in a little change up, I thought it might be worth telling a story. It's the history of a poker player who used to post in BQ, and still occasionally pops back and says hello.
Lets call the guy "David". David was always a nice guy, he posted in the LC/NC thread regularly, and played in forum games. He was always willing to give a line check on a hand, or some ad-hoc coaching in the forum when players got it really wrong.
He was a 100nl and 200nl reg, and had a background in maths, making him one of the ballers in Beginners Questions.
He was a 100nl and 200nl reg, and had a background in maths, making him one of the ballers in Beginners Questions.
Then he started playing live. In October 2010, he entered the EPT in London, several of his friends had had good runs in the smaller UKIPT events that season, and the EPT was doubling up as the Grand Final for that series. He was leading the field on Day 2, Still in contention, on Day 3, and ended day 4 in 3rd place going to the final table. At this point, we were all excited, someone we knew was at the final table of a major event. Not only that, he was in 3rd place, and actually stood a decent chance of making some massive money.
I decided, as I didn't have anything on, I was going to go up to London, and rail him live. I got up early and headed to catch the train. After a horrible run of broken down British transport, I got to the Hilton London Metropole Hotel. Due to the state of the local transport, I was late, and had missed the start of the final table. I managed to squeeze in, and grab a spot on the TV set that had been erected around the final table, and managed to avoid the TV cameras on wheels that kept threatening to crush my feet.
I was sat with 2 UKIPT winners, and a selections of the great and good of poker. We discussed David's hands as the day progressed, and as players started to leave the table.
I decided, as I didn't have anything on, I was going to go up to London, and rail him live. I got up early and headed to catch the train. After a horrible run of broken down British transport, I got to the Hilton London Metropole Hotel. Due to the state of the local transport, I was late, and had missed the start of the final table. I managed to squeeze in, and grab a spot on the TV set that had been erected around the final table, and managed to avoid the TV cameras on wheels that kept threatening to crush my feet.
I was sat with 2 UKIPT winners, and a selections of the great and good of poker. We discussed David's hands as the day progressed, and as players started to leave the table.
After a day of gruelling poker, it came down to two people. The high Stakes, Full Tilt Sponsored (and part owner) John Juanda, who had come second in the previous year's High Roller at EPT London, and David. The guy who had analysed our hands in the forum, played poker against us, and been a really nice guy. It didn't seem real.
And then it began, a FIVE HOUR heads up battle. with pots going both ways, and David getting lucky on the odd occasion. I was getting towards the point where I was going to have to leave in order to catch my last train home. Then it was past the time I could get home, and we still hadn't finished. David had opened up a big chip lead of nearly 20 million chips. Juanda shoved, David called, and we going to see another 5 cards to find out the champion. Juanda had K
2, and David has A
3
.
And then it began, a FIVE HOUR heads up battle. with pots going both ways, and David getting lucky on the odd occasion. I was getting towards the point where I was going to have to leave in order to catch my last train home. Then it was past the time I could get home, and we still hadn't finished. David had opened up a big chip lead of nearly 20 million chips. Juanda shoved, David called, and we going to see another 5 cards to find out the champion. Juanda had K
2, and David has A 3. The Flop came 3:spade A Q
to pretty much seal it, the 9 turn and 6 river didn't change anything and David had won an EPT Title!
Q to pretty much seal it, the 9 turn and 6 river didn't change anything and David had won an EPT Title!
Now, the main reason to my story, David (who you can probably now guess is David Vamplew) had just won the best part of a Million Pounds sterling. I had met the man for the 1st time ever earlier that day, and it wouldn't have really been unreasonable for me to be excluded from his night of partying. However, I was made welcome, amongst this group of professional poker players, and we talked, and drank until around 4am the next day.
The next day, David shipped a year's worth of UKIPT packages in the "Champion of Champions" UKIPT event, even after drinking a fair amount the night before.
The next day, David shipped a year's worth of UKIPT packages in the "Champion of Champions" UKIPT event, even after drinking a fair amount the night before.
David is still a nice guy, and very approachable, he hasn't really changed from the grinder we first met back before his success. And has he had success, a 3rd place in a WPT, a 4th in WSOP 6-Max event and he's also won several side events as he's played around the world.
What I'm trying to say is, from acorns, oak trees grow. You can start off in Beginners Questions, and using what's here, and your own mind, you can grow into a well known face on the Live Circuit (It does help that David looks a little like a certain wizard), all we ask is, don't become a douche in the process. David didn't, and look at him now...
Next month I'll give you a survival guide for your first big live tournament, as I'm going to be working at the EPT in London during early March, I'll see if I can pick up a few tips for you.[/QUOTE]
by...Mikes007
[QUOTE=A_Schupick]This month I have decided to dip back into the old hands from the checkup thread, but I have picked hands that have something in common. All of the hands I will look at today are focused on the turn, and what decisions we make on the turn then dictate what will happen on the river. The reason we have to focus so much on the turn, is because it is the first big bet street, and thus, will inflate the pot at a much faster rate. This intuitively means that when we make a decision on the turn, it’s going to have a much greater effect of what our river play should be, because we increased the odds that we will be getting to call, or raise, depending on what we think the correct decision is going to be.
Many times, what happens on the turn can decide for you what you will do on the river, unless an atrocious card comes on the river that really changes the composition of the hand. However, you will find there are few hands that really do that, because a lot of choices have to be made on the turn to narrow ranges to a degree, which many river cards are more innocuous than what they may appear. Also, flop peeling ranges can be wide, but turn peeling ranges are much more narrow, and turn raising ranges are even more narrow, so knowing hot o use this to your advantage can be exceptional useful.
Without further ado, let us look at some hands, and talk about what each action is going to mean.
Example 1:
This hand is a really tough one right out of gate, but I think it provides a lot of interesting options for us to consider. First, we have to consider villain, which is very, very important in this situation, because his stats suggest that his range is fairly wide. This affects our equity a lot in a situation like this, because he can have anything from combo draws, to sets and 2 pair+, but he is also pretty passive, so things get trickier, and closer. The best place to start is an equilab that starts before the turn action, and then another one that takes into account what we have seen happen on the turn.
Example 2:
So this hand is really interesting, because the pot is really small, so any bet on the turn is going to be only giving you just over 2:1. That’s a pretty unique thing, because rarely are pots every that small getting this far. When looking at this hand, villain is unk so we have to assume he isn’t really great, which is a fair assumption to make. Hitting a pair on this turn means we should lead here.
We want to get money in the pot, but we don’t want to have to depend on someone else to get the money in the pot for us, because with the pot being so small, someone betting at this pot is pretty scary, because there isn’t a ton of reasons to bluff, but you could get very loose calldowns. Leading here and then betting the river is the best choice, because you can get a lot of value form A-hi type hands. If you check here, you are going to be in a bad place on a lot of rivers if you call turn, because trying to take two bets in a super small pot with this weak of hand becomes really uncomfortable.
This is a hand that you could easily fold on the flop, but we will ignore that right now. This turn is a more important decision for what we are doing. Once more, what you do here is going to decide what you are going to do on the river, or at least it should be a major concern when you are deciding what to do.
This is mostly a fold, because you have to call the river here a lot, because you will be getting almost 8:1, and while that’s tempting, you are not good that percent of the time here. By calling on the turn, you basically are forcing yourself to call on any river, and there are a ton of rivers that are going to hit that kill your hand, you basically are only happy with a 3 or 4 that is not a heart. Considering when you hate that many rivers, and when you are already not ahead of the range considering the A and T hit on the flop, you have no choice here really. Calling here is burning money, because calling turn and then folding river allows for more exploitation in different circumstances.
I don’t think there is much change even if villain is way looser in this situation, just because his range, no matter how lose really is going to have either really strong draws, or made hands after that flop. This is a classic spot where you can lose a lot of money by trying to convince yourself to keep calling.
by...Breich
Saturday morning—rather, Saturday afternoon—I woke up and got myself ready for more tournaments. Saturday was the day of a big Limit Holdem tournament I had looked forward to throughout the preceding week. In discussion with my coach, we determined that the tournament’s field would be ripe for the picking. Despite the steep buy-in for an online tournament, Event #8 was a golden opportunity to excel in my main game.
Excited, I got myself some lunch, stocked up on snacks and Snapples, and got prepared for a long evening of tournament play. In addition to Event #8, I also bought in for a $15,000 Guaranteed NLHE tournament. My first year of serious poker was spent dabbling in multi-table tournament theory, so my coach and I were confident in buying in for a No Limit tournament.
A bust-out occurred within the first hour of the 6-max tournament. While I was done with half my tournaments for the day, Event #8 was fully underway, starting its third hour. My stack was dwindling. With less than four big bets, I needed a big break.
Little did I know that a surge from near defeat to a final table favorite was in the making.
The situation was dire: I was down to under two big bets. The big blind was approaching quickly. I would need a miracle to survive the inevitable onslaught. Two orbits earlier, I lost a five big bets to a three-bet pot that went three ways into the flop. A villain in the cut-off cold called three bets with 99, out flopping my AJo after the original raiser folded to his bet. Two failed blind-steals and a level change later, I was UTG+1 at a seven handed table with T6o. Sighing, I look at my stack of T2,600 and realize that the T1,000 big blind was a hand away.
The cards are dealt. Everyone has a hand. I close my eyes, and slam on the button. ‘RAISE’ temporarily replaces my screen name on the table, and I prepare myself for an inevitable letdown.
UTG+1 folds. HJ folds. CO folds.
I’m feeling pretty good about myself—I think, “I might actually get past this.”
BTN raises to T3,000.
And my heart sinks. I get ready for defeat. My hand must be crushed.
SB folds. BB calls T3,000.
I call all-in for T2,600.
As the flop hits, I look at my hand: J T . For a moment, I think that I might actually have a chance—I could be holding so many worse hands. I start to feel a smidge of hope.
Flop: 6 9 4
Not a bad flop, but I need a pair to continue. SB checks to the BTN, who bets. SB calls.
Turn: Q :diamonds:
I pick up an open-ended straight draw. My pair outs might still be good. But, even still, I get ready to lose.
SB checks. BTN checks.
That’s a good sign. I think to myself that BTN has definitely missed and SB could be holding any pair.
River: J
I start to get excited.
SB checks. BTN checks.
SB shows A T
BTN shows 2 2
Somehow, I took down the pot. I had regained life in the tournament. Just like respawning in League of Legends, I was somehow once-again alive in the tournament. I scoop in T8,300 for just over 4 big bets. I am still in the running, but I would need a couple more lifelines to hold out.
Those miracles arrived on time. I quickly took down decent pots with JJ and AQ in succession, doubling my stack to 8 big bets. An orbit later, I double that stack with AQs in an 8 big bet pot. Four hands later, TT puts me to just under T28,000.
In twenty minutes, I went from near-death to a 13 big bet stack.
The miracles continued: two pair, three of a kind, two pair, a flush. At the close of the third hour, I sat with T64,345. The big bet was now T4,000. I sat at a five-handed table with chip lead. The second highest stack was almost half my size.
With a field of 95, the $10,000 Guaranteed tournament had a $500 overlay, paying at 9th place. With ten players remaining across two tables, I continued an onslaught of blind-stealing, raising nearly every small blind, button, and cutoff hand I was dealt. I absolutely commanded the table until finally, a player at the other table busted-out.
I was through to the final table with T72,345 and with near-chip lead. The chip leader held T76,070, and the other stacks were significantly smaller outside of 3rd place’s T60,570. I was in an excellent position to play well. I sat with 18 big bets at a full ring table, and was fully confident in my abilities.
After some excellent playing, I grew to a stack of T163,155. The close of the fourth hour was upon us, and the table was down to five players, four of whom had plenty of flaws. Here was the situation, starting from my left:
Blinds: T1,600/T3,200
40/37 spaz, T109,595
34/24 cold-calling pro (our villain from earlier), T67,570
25/14 tight player, T17,360
23/21 relatively-tight player, T17,520
Within three hands, the 25/14 was knocked out. Five minutes later, the 23/21 was out. I was down to the final three players. I had excellent reads on the other two players, having played with the 40/37 for 137 hands and the cold-calling hero for the entire tournament.
After slowly crippling the 40/37 over 40 hands, I opened the button with Q J and got three bet by the spaz. The flop came K J Q and villain was all-in after my flop raise. He shows 2 2 and I hold up to take down the pot.
I honestly could not believe my progress up to this point. I was filled with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness. I had never gone this far in a big tournament before, and I could not believe that I would at least be getting $2,000, as that was the second prize purse. However, first place paid $3,200. To the encouragement of my coach, ‘this tournament was mine’. Over an ensuing hour long, 173-hand heads up match, I would remind myself of that many times.
With a stack of T281,110, I had a better-than 2:1 lead over our cold-calling hero. He held T93,490, or just over ten big bets.
Having played with our villain over the entire tournament, I had a good set of notes built up on him. In the early stages of the tournament, he was fairly passive, cold-calling a lot and not taking too many stabs. However, that changed towards the latter half of the tournament, when I noticed him open raising more and more. At one point, he showed down something awful, and I knew that his strategy had switched to the aggressive end of the spectrum.
I didn’t really have a particular strategy going into the heads up match. To be honest, I’ve always tried to avoid playing heads up at cash game tables, particularly because I’m not as comfortable when playing extremely short handed. However, I didn’t let any of that bother me, and I quickly resolved within myself to play my normal game. I wasn’t going to let the fact that we were heads up phase me. I was just going to play.
I quickly picked up on villain’s tendencies. He had two modes—almost as if he were a simple logic-gate. The villain fluctuated from playing incredibly aggressive to playing incredibly passive. When he was playing passive, my strategy was simple—I stole his blinds religiously. He folded plenty of big blinds to my button. When I was in the big blind, he would open limp his button most of the time, and I would subsequently stab at the right moment post-flop to take down the flop.
On the opposite end, the villain’s aggressive mode comprised of initially three-betting any ace from the big blind. I saw him show down plenty of weak aces after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind.
However, I was playing incredibly well. My decisions were flowing with ease. I had Live’s debut album—Mental Jewelry—blasting through my speakers, soothing my mind and bolstering my comfort and confidence.
Others noticed my excellent play, also. Plenty of users from the Micro Stakes Limit Holdem forums were railing the tournament, some of whom watched starting from the final table on.
I felt amazing. While my stack at one point went down to breakeven with villain, I knew that I could take the tournament down. And, slowly, villain let me do just that.
After taking a big two pair and then an Ace-King-Queen high winner, villain was tilting to no end. I had my chat blocked, but those who railed the tournament informed me of villain’s mental breakdown. His play suffered, too; villain began three betting any K, then any Q. At one point, he showed down 8 6 after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind. I knew that victory was in my reach.
The close of the fifth hour is upon us, and I’ve still got a 2:1 ratio. Ten minutes later, with a 4:1 ratio, I get a callback from my brother. He was at home from Purdue, visiting my mother. I had earlier told him about the tournament and asked if he wanted to watch via the Carbon client. He was busy playing Guild Wars 2, but now he was done and wanted to watch. I help him download and set up the client via the phone, and he gets the client set up.
How I Won Poker Maximus IV Event #7 – A $100+$9 LHE Tournament
A Surreal Evening – How I Won Poker Maximus Event #8
A couple weeks back, I was gearing up for a weekend of tournaments. Having gotten through a rough academic week filled with presentations and busy-work, I was excited for an entirely free weekend. On Friday night, I played a couple of events in Poker Maximus IV—a Merge Network online tournament series. As is typical of most tournament runs, my efforts were to no avail. I shut down my poker clients and fired up some League of Legends for the remainder of the evening.
Saturday morning—rather, Saturday afternoon—I woke up and got myself ready for more tournaments. Saturday was the day of a big Limit Holdem tournament I had looked forward to throughout the preceding week. In discussion with my coach, we determined that the tournament’s field would be ripe for the picking. Despite the steep buy-in for an online tournament, Event #8 was a golden opportunity to excel in my main game.
Excited, I got myself some lunch, stocked up on snacks and Snapples, and got prepared for a long evening of tournament play. In addition to Event #8, I also bought in for a $15,000 Guaranteed NLHE tournament. My first year of serious poker was spent dabbling in multi-table tournament theory, so my coach and I were confident in buying in for a No Limit tournament.
A bust-out occurred within the first hour of the 6-max tournament. While I was done with half my tournaments for the day, Event #8 was fully underway, starting its third hour. My stack was dwindling. With less than four big bets, I needed a big break.
Little did I know that a surge from near defeat to a final table favorite was in the making.
The situation was dire: I was down to under two big bets. The big blind was approaching quickly. I would need a miracle to survive the inevitable onslaught. Two orbits earlier, I lost a five big bets to a three-bet pot that went three ways into the flop. A villain in the cut-off cold called three bets with 99, out flopping my AJo after the original raiser folded to his bet. Two failed blind-steals and a level change later, I was UTG+1 at a seven handed table with T6o. Sighing, I look at my stack of T2,600 and realize that the T1,000 big blind was a hand away.
I knew what I had to do, and I hated it.
I folded my trash, and watched as the hand played itself out. Just as our cold-calling villain takes down another pot on the river, I get in the ready position—my right hand pilots the mouse, ready to slam on ‘raise’, while my left hand covers my cards.
The cards are dealt. Everyone has a hand. I close my eyes, and slam on the button. ‘RAISE’ temporarily replaces my screen name on the table, and I prepare myself for an inevitable letdown.
UTG+1 folds. HJ folds. CO folds.
I’m feeling pretty good about myself—I think, “I might actually get past this.”
BTN raises to T3,000.
And my heart sinks. I get ready for defeat. My hand must be crushed.
SB folds. BB calls T3,000.
I call all-in for T2,600.
As the flop hits, I look at my hand: J T . For a moment, I think that I might actually have a chance—I could be holding so many worse hands. I start to feel a smidge of hope.
Flop: 6 9 4
Not a bad flop, but I need a pair to continue. SB checks to the BTN, who bets. SB calls.
Turn: Q :diamonds:
I pick up an open-ended straight draw. My pair outs might still be good. But, even still, I get ready to lose.
SB checks. BTN checks.
That’s a good sign. I think to myself that BTN has definitely missed and SB could be holding any pair.
River: J
I start to get excited.
SB checks. BTN checks.
SB shows A T
BTN shows 2 2
Somehow, I took down the pot. I had regained life in the tournament. Just like respawning in League of Legends, I was somehow once-again alive in the tournament. I scoop in T8,300 for just over 4 big bets. I am still in the running, but I would need a couple more lifelines to hold out.
Those miracles arrived on time. I quickly took down decent pots with JJ and AQ in succession, doubling my stack to 8 big bets. An orbit later, I double that stack with AQs in an 8 big bet pot. Four hands later, TT puts me to just under T28,000.
In twenty minutes, I went from near-death to a 13 big bet stack.
The miracles continued: two pair, three of a kind, two pair, a flush. At the close of the third hour, I sat with T64,345. The big bet was now T4,000. I sat at a five-handed table with chip lead. The second highest stack was almost half my size.
With a field of 95, the $10,000 Guaranteed tournament had a $500 overlay, paying at 9th place. With ten players remaining across two tables, I continued an onslaught of blind-stealing, raising nearly every small blind, button, and cutoff hand I was dealt. I absolutely commanded the table until finally, a player at the other table busted-out.
I was through to the final table with T72,345 and with near-chip lead. The chip leader held T76,070, and the other stacks were significantly smaller outside of 3rd place’s T60,570. I was in an excellent position to play well. I sat with 18 big bets at a full ring table, and was fully confident in my abilities.
After some excellent playing, I grew to a stack of T163,155. The close of the fourth hour was upon us, and the table was down to five players, four of whom had plenty of flaws. Here was the situation, starting from my left:
Blinds: T1,600/T3,200
40/37 spaz, T109,595
34/24 cold-calling pro (our villain from earlier), T67,570
25/14 tight player, T17,360
23/21 relatively-tight player, T17,520
Within three hands, the 25/14 was knocked out. Five minutes later, the 23/21 was out. I was down to the final three players. I had excellent reads on the other two players, having played with the 40/37 for 137 hands and the cold-calling hero for the entire tournament.
After slowly crippling the 40/37 over 40 hands, I opened the button with Q J and got three bet by the spaz. The flop came K J Q and villain was all-in after my flop raise. He shows 2 2 and I hold up to take down the pot.
I honestly could not believe my progress up to this point. I was filled with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness. I had never gone this far in a big tournament before, and I could not believe that I would at least be getting $2,000, as that was the second prize purse. However, first place paid $3,200. To the encouragement of my coach, ‘this tournament was mine’. Over an ensuing hour long, 173-hand heads up match, I would remind myself of that many times.
With a stack of T281,110, I had a better-than 2:1 lead over our cold-calling hero. He held T93,490, or just over ten big bets.
Having played with our villain over the entire tournament, I had a good set of notes built up on him. In the early stages of the tournament, he was fairly passive, cold-calling a lot and not taking too many stabs. However, that changed towards the latter half of the tournament, when I noticed him open raising more and more. At one point, he showed down something awful, and I knew that his strategy had switched to the aggressive end of the spectrum.
I didn’t really have a particular strategy going into the heads up match. To be honest, I’ve always tried to avoid playing heads up at cash game tables, particularly because I’m not as comfortable when playing extremely short handed. However, I didn’t let any of that bother me, and I quickly resolved within myself to play my normal game. I wasn’t going to let the fact that we were heads up phase me. I was just going to play.
I quickly picked up on villain’s tendencies. He had two modes—almost as if he were a simple logic-gate. The villain fluctuated from playing incredibly aggressive to playing incredibly passive. When he was playing passive, my strategy was simple—I stole his blinds religiously. He folded plenty of big blinds to my button. When I was in the big blind, he would open limp his button most of the time, and I would subsequently stab at the right moment post-flop to take down the flop.
On the opposite end, the villain’s aggressive mode comprised of initially three-betting any ace from the big blind. I saw him show down plenty of weak aces after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind.
However, I was playing incredibly well. My decisions were flowing with ease. I had Live’s debut album—Mental Jewelry—blasting through my speakers, soothing my mind and bolstering my comfort and confidence.
Others noticed my excellent play, also. Plenty of users from the Micro Stakes Limit Holdem forums were railing the tournament, some of whom watched starting from the final table on.
I felt amazing. While my stack at one point went down to breakeven with villain, I knew that I could take the tournament down. And, slowly, villain let me do just that.
After taking a big two pair and then an Ace-King-Queen high winner, villain was tilting to no end. I had my chat blocked, but those who railed the tournament informed me of villain’s mental breakdown. His play suffered, too; villain began three betting any K, then any Q. At one point, he showed down 8 6 after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind. I knew that victory was in my reach.
The close of the fifth hour is upon us, and I’ve still got a 2:1 ratio. Ten minutes later, with a 4:1 ratio, I get a callback from my brother. He was at home from Purdue, visiting my mother. I had earlier told him about the tournament and asked if he wanted to watch via the Carbon client. He was busy playing Guild Wars 2, but now he was done and wanted to watch. I help him download and set up the client via the phone, and he gets the client set up.
My mother and brother, still talking on the phone, are as excited as could be. I feel absolutely awesome. For as much as I try to talk to them about poker—pretty much every other day—I can never seem to get them that interested in the game. They love to hear me talk about it, but they just don’t share the passion that I have for the game. The moment I won the tournament, they felt that passion, and were joyous for me. My brother exclaimed, “that was awesome! You got dealt aces, then fours, then jacks! That was so cool!” My mother was yelling and hollering in the background.
She was excited for me, just like she was in high school during my wrestling matches, soccer games, and track meets. She was always the loudest of all the parents, and I would often roll my eyes when I heard her because she was so loud, But now, I couldn’t have been happier that my family got to see me take down the tournament. It was simply amazing.
My boyfriend, who is always supportive of my poker playing—especially when I hit downswings and doubt creeps into my play—was unable to watch the tournament because of work. However, he had his entire family along with the all the workers at the Dick’s Sporting Goods in Lombard, IL rooting for me. It was awesome to know that I had his support, along with the support of co-workers that I have never even met.
A huge thank you to all who observed on the forums—including Schu, Mike, Ice, my coach, and everyone else who posted and encouraged me throughout. Thanks also to all those who showed their support in MSLHE and in the Home Games forum. I cannot thank all of you enough. It was truly exhilarating to have all of your kind and encouraging words behind me.
Is this 12 people or thirteen?
*****************************
U.S. players, please encourage your lawmakers to pass favorable poker legislation. Watch the forums for SHENANIGANS and SHANOOBIGANS announcements. Play in them when they are held.
"The Digest" staff solicits and encourages you to participate in the production and improvement of "The Digest" by: giving us your suggestions or by offering to contribute your effort to the digest.
On Sunday February 10, 2013, five contenders battled for the honor of being named the SHENANIGANS 2012 Champion. This epic contest was played for play chips at a well-known poker site, with the prize pool and entries collected and distributed elsewhere. The tournament format was 8-game, testing the players' abilities not only in familiar games like NL Hold'em and PLO, but also in strange variants like 2-7 TDL and Stud/8.
Twelve players had placed highly enough on the 2012 scoreboard to be invited to this final event. Some of them were no longer active in the forums, others were unavailable to play at the appointed time. In at least one case, a player misunderstood the use of the “Register” button and thus was precluded from participating. The prize pool consisted of $60 from entry fees as well as an extra $43 carried over from the SHENANIGANS High Hand Jackpot.
A couple of hours after the 9:15 PM EST start time, the action became heads-up. Breich and tehpokerz were engaged in a battle for SHENANIGANS supremacy. Both players were playing well and were reasonably evenly stacked. It looked like it could go either way, when the following hand occurred:
With that hand, Breich became the 2012 SHENANIGANS Champion after 2 hours 49 minutes of play, and earned a well-deserved undertitle. The complete standings and payouts are:
[CODE]1. Breich $55
2. tehpokerz $28 + $5 Bad Beat payment
3. Ice_W0lf $10 Bubble + $5 High Hand payment
4. McNeese72
5. mikes007
LINKS:
New Jersey passes it. Other states to follow?
Tourney FT, fold AA?
99 hand
Nut flush draw on flop, villain donk bets
"Should I go pro" thread with some actual good advice in it
"The Digest, February 2013
"The Digest" January 2013
"The Digest" December 2012
"The Digest November 2012
"The Digest" October, 2012
BQ Digest September 2012
BQ Digest August 2012
BQ Digest July, 2012
BQ Digest May and June 2012
Twelve players had placed highly enough on the 2012 scoreboard to be invited to this final event. Some of them were no longer active in the forums, others were unavailable to play at the appointed time. In at least one case, a player misunderstood the use of the “Register” button and thus was precluded from participating. The prize pool consisted of $60 from entry fees as well as an extra $43 carried over from the SHENANIGANS High Hand Jackpot.
A couple of hours after the 9:15 PM EST start time, the action became heads-up. Breich and tehpokerz were engaged in a battle for SHENANIGANS supremacy. Both players were playing well and were reasonably evenly stacked. It looked like it could go either way, when the following hand occurred:
Poker Stars, $1 Buy-in (200/400 blinds, 50 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 2 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #16247251
Breich: 8,700 (21.8 bb)
tehpokerz (SB): 6,300 (15.8 bb)
Preflop: tehpokerz is SB with A A
tehpokerz raises to 800, Breich calls 400
Flop: (1,700) 6 4 7 (2 players)
Breich checks, tehpokerz bets 800, Breich raises to 2,000, tehpokerz raises to 5,450 and is all-in, Breich calls 3,450
Turn: (12,600) 3 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (12,600) Q (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #16247251
Breich: 8,700 (21.8 bb)
tehpokerz (SB): 6,300 (15.8 bb)
Preflop: tehpokerz is SB with A
Atehpokerz raises to 800, Breich calls 400
Flop: (1,700) 6
4 7 (2 players)Breich checks, tehpokerz bets 800, Breich raises to 2,000, tehpokerz raises to 5,450 and is all-in, Breich calls 3,450
Turn: (12,600) 3
(2 players, 1 is all-in)River: (12,600) Q
(2 players, 1 is all-in)Spoiler:
With that hand, Breich became the 2012 SHENANIGANS Champion after 2 hours 49 minutes of play, and earned a well-deserved undertitle. The complete standings and payouts are:
[CODE]1. Breich $55
2. tehpokerz $28 + $5 Bad Beat payment
3. Ice_W0lf $10 Bubble + $5 High Hand payment
4. McNeese72
5. mikes007
LINKS:
New Jersey passes it. Other states to follow?
Tourney FT, fold AA?
99 hand
Nut flush draw on flop, villain donk bets
"Should I go pro" thread with some actual good advice in it
"The Digest, February 2013
"The Digest" January 2013
"The Digest" December 2012
"The Digest November 2012
"The Digest" October, 2012
BQ Digest September 2012
BQ Digest August 2012
BQ Digest July, 2012
BQ Digest May and June 2012
by... A_Schupick
[QUOTE=A_Schupick]This month I have decided to dip back into the old hands from the checkup thread, but I have picked hands that have something in common. All of the hands I will look at today are focused on the turn, and what decisions we make on the turn then dictate what will happen on the river. The reason we have to focus so much on the turn, is because it is the first big bet street, and thus, will inflate the pot at a much faster rate. This intuitively means that when we make a decision on the turn, it’s going to have a much greater effect of what our river play should be, because we increased the odds that we will be getting to call, or raise, depending on what we think the correct decision is going to be.
Many times, what happens on the turn can decide for you what you will do on the river, unless an atrocious card comes on the river that really changes the composition of the hand. However, you will find there are few hands that really do that, because a lot of choices have to be made on the turn to narrow ranges to a degree, which many river cards are more innocuous than what they may appear. Also, flop peeling ranges can be wide, but turn peeling ranges are much more narrow, and turn raising ranges are even more narrow, so knowing hot o use this to your advantage can be exceptional useful.
Without further ado, let us look at some hands, and talk about what each action is going to mean.
Example 1:
Quote:
I've got a hand myself too. Guy's like 45/20/kinda passive, somewhat of a loser at the stakes overall.
Poker Stars $1/$2 Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is MP with A A
1 fold, Hero raises, CO calls, BTN calls, 1 fold, BB calls
Flop: (8.5 SB) 5 7 9(4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, CO calls, BTN calls, BB calls
Turn: (6.25 BB) 8(4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, CO raises, BTN folds, BB folds, Hero ???
Poker Stars $1/$2 Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is MP with A
A1 fold, Hero raises, CO calls, BTN calls, 1 fold, BB calls
Flop: (8.5 SB) 5
7 9(4 players)BB checks, Hero bets, CO calls, BTN calls, BB calls
Turn: (6.25 BB) 8
(4 players)BB checks, Hero bets, CO raises, BTN folds, BB folds, Hero ???
[FONT=courier new][SIZE=12]
Board: 597 8
Equity Win Tie
97 8Equity Win Tie
MP3 17.60% 16.55% 1.04% { AdAc }
CO 24.52% 20.97% 3.55% { 77-44, A9s-A2s, KTs-K5s, Q9s-Q5s, J5s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, AJo-A2o, K9o-K5o, Q9o-Q7o, J8o+, T8o+, 98o }
BU 25.68% 22.00% 3.68% { 88-55, AJs-A2s, K9s-K5s, Q9s-Q5s, J5s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, 43s, AQo-A2o, K9o-K5o, Q9o-Q7o, J7o+, T8o+, 98o, 87o, 76o }
BB 32.21% 28.13% 4.08% { 99-55, ATs-A2s, K9s-K5s, Q9s-Q5s, J5s+, T5s+, 93s+, 84s+, 74s+, 64s+, 53s+, AJo-A2o, K9o-K5o, Q9o-Q5o, J6o+, T6o+, 96o+, 86o+, 76o }
[/SIZE][/FONT] MP3 31.00% 28.29% 2.70% { AdAc }
CO 69.00% 66.30% 2.70% { 77-55, A6s, K9s-K5s, Q6s, J8s+, J6s, T7s-T6s, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, KsTs, As9s, Qs9s, Ts9s, As8s, Qs8s, Ts8s, As7s, Qs7s, Js7s, As5s, Qs5s, Js5s, ATo-A9o, A6o, K6o, JTo, T8o, 98o }
CO 69.00% 66.30% 2.70% { 77-55, A6s, K9s-K5s, Q6s, J8s+, J6s, T7s-T6s, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, KsTs, As9s, Qs9s, Ts9s, As8s, Qs8s, Ts8s, As7s, Qs7s, Js7s, As5s, Qs5s, Js5s, ATo-A9o, A6o, K6o, JTo, T8o, 98o }
So considering this, we have to either fold or call, because we really don’t have enough equity to raise, under any circumstances. Let’s consider we are getting about 6:1 on our call to the river, so calling here with the plan to call the river is correct. The important thing to remember here, that no matter the card, you have to call the river, if you are calling this turn, because by calling, you are saying you are kind of lukewarm on your hand, and thus, he is more likely to barrel missed draws. Even scary cards like a Q or J don’t hurt you as much as you think.
Example 2:
Quote:
Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 Limit Hold'em - 10 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is MP2 with K K
4 folds, Hero raises, 3 folds, SB calls, 1 fold
Flop: (5 SB) Q 6 2(2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB calls
Turn: (4.5 BB) T(2 players)
SB bets, Hero ???
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is MP2 with K
K4 folds, Hero raises, 3 folds, SB calls, 1 fold
Flop: (5 SB) Q
6 2(2 players)SB bets, Hero raises, SB calls
Turn: (4.5 BB) T
(2 players)SB bets, Hero ???
This is an example once more of how making your choice here is going to make your river play really easy. Whatever you decide here will basically also be your river play, because only an A is a bad card for us, but we have to discount a lot of Ax from his range, because of how tight he is, and thus, the likelihood we would have raised PF.
So we are left with raising, calling or folding. Raising is out of the question, because the value range we are targeting here is so small that getting value you from it is severely outweighed by the bad things that happen when he 3-bets here, or even if he calls, because of how tight he is. Simply, we just don’t like anything that happens here.
So now, we have either checking or folding. What we do here will pretty much decide for us on the river, because our logic will still be the same, and we have to remember to not chicken out and start second-guessing ourselves. So with folding, we are giving him credit for QQ/QT/AA/TT, which seems like a bad range considering how tight he is, because he is going to be raising a lot of those hands PF. QTs is in his range for CC’ing in the SB, and so would QJs and KQo, as well as JJ/TT (Though discounted). Considering this folding seems to be a little tight, but it wouldn’t be terrible, because you are behind a decent amount of his range now. I think calling is by far the best though, because he could have one of those hands we talked about, and could be donking to try to make sure he keeps getting bets in.
What is important to note is that if the player were looser preflop, then we should be raising a lot of turn donks, because our range is even stronger. As ranges get wider from the SB, then we need to be raising more donks, because the chances of them being monster hands are less and less, and having an over pair is really powerful in this type of position.
Quote:
Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is BB with 5 2
2 folds, CO calls, 2 folds, Hero checks
Flop: (2.4 SB) 7 8 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks
Turn: (1.2 BB) 5 (2 players)
Hero ???
no reads only 6 hands, and he didn't raise any, played 4 of them
Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is BB with 5
22 folds, CO calls, 2 folds, Hero checks
Flop: (2.4 SB) 7
8 7 (2 players)Hero checks, CO checks
Turn: (1.2 BB) 5
(2 players)Hero ???
no reads only 6 hands, and he didn't raise any, played 4 of them
So this hand is really interesting, because the pot is really small, so any bet on the turn is going to be only giving you just over 2:1. That’s a pretty unique thing, because rarely are pots every that small getting this far. When looking at this hand, villain is unk so we have to assume he isn’t really great, which is a fair assumption to make. Hitting a pair on this turn means we should lead here.
We want to get money in the pot, but we don’t want to have to depend on someone else to get the money in the pot for us, because with the pot being so small, someone betting at this pot is pretty scary, because there isn’t a ton of reasons to bluff, but you could get very loose calldowns. Leading here and then betting the river is the best choice, because you can get a lot of value form A-hi type hands. If you check here, you are going to be in a bad place on a lot of rivers if you call turn, because trying to take two bets in a super small pot with this weak of hand becomes really uncomfortable.
Quote:
I think it's time for me to have a round at this here.
Villain is an unk. Although I saw him defend the bb w 9d5d in a bvb situation and called down on AsQsTs5c2h board - a meh standard hand imo. I had 15 hands on him so far.
Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is SB with 5 5
2 folds, BTN raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BTN caps!, Hero calls
Flop: (9 SB) T 2 A (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls
Turn: (5.5 BB) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero ???
Villain is an unk. Although I saw him defend the bb w 9d5d in a bvb situation and called down on AsQsTs5c2h board - a meh standard hand imo. I had 15 hands on him so far.
Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com
Pre Flop: (1.4 SB) Hero is SB with 5
52 folds, BTN raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BTN caps!, Hero calls
Flop: (9 SB) T
2 A (2 players)Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero calls
Turn: (5.5 BB) 2
(2 players)Hero checks, BTN bets, Hero ???
This is mostly a fold, because you have to call the river here a lot, because you will be getting almost 8:1, and while that’s tempting, you are not good that percent of the time here. By calling on the turn, you basically are forcing yourself to call on any river, and there are a ton of rivers that are going to hit that kill your hand, you basically are only happy with a 3 or 4 that is not a heart. Considering when you hate that many rivers, and when you are already not ahead of the range considering the A and T hit on the flop, you have no choice here really. Calling here is burning money, because calling turn and then folding river allows for more exploitation in different circumstances.
I don’t think there is much change even if villain is way looser in this situation, just because his range, no matter how lose really is going to have either really strong draws, or made hands after that flop. This is a classic spot where you can lose a lot of money by trying to convince yourself to keep calling.
by...Breich
A Surreal Evening – How I Won Poker Maximus Event #8
A couple weeks back, I was gearing up for a weekend of tournaments. Having gotten through a rough academic week filled with presentations and busy-work, I was excited for an entirely free weekend. On Friday night, I played a couple of events in Poker Maximus IV—a Merge Network online tournament series. As is typical of most tournament runs, my efforts were to no avail. I shut down my poker clients and fired up some League of Legends for the remainder of the evening.Saturday morning—rather, Saturday afternoon—I woke up and got myself ready for more tournaments. Saturday was the day of a big Limit Holdem tournament I had looked forward to throughout the preceding week. In discussion with my coach, we determined that the tournament’s field would be ripe for the picking. Despite the steep buy-in for an online tournament, Event #8 was a golden opportunity to excel in my main game.
Excited, I got myself some lunch, stocked up on snacks and Snapples, and got prepared for a long evening of tournament play. In addition to Event #8, I also bought in for a $15,000 Guaranteed NLHE tournament. My first year of serious poker was spent dabbling in multi-table tournament theory, so my coach and I were confident in buying in for a No Limit tournament.
A bust-out occurred within the first hour of the 6-max tournament. While I was done with half my tournaments for the day, Event #8 was fully underway, starting its third hour. My stack was dwindling. With less than four big bets, I needed a big break.
Little did I know that a surge from near defeat to a final table favorite was in the making.
The situation was dire: I was down to under two big bets. The big blind was approaching quickly. I would need a miracle to survive the inevitable onslaught. Two orbits earlier, I lost a five big bets to a three-bet pot that went three ways into the flop. A villain in the cut-off cold called three bets with 99, out flopping my AJo after the original raiser folded to his bet. Two failed blind-steals and a level change later, I was UTG+1 at a seven handed table with T6o. Sighing, I look at my stack of T2,600 and realize that the T1,000 big blind was a hand away.
I knew what I had to do, and I hated it.
I folded my trash, and watched as the hand played itself out. Just as our cold-calling villain takes down another pot on the river, I get in the ready position—my right hand pilots the mouse, ready to slam on ‘raise’, while my left hand covers my cards. The cards are dealt. Everyone has a hand. I close my eyes, and slam on the button. ‘RAISE’ temporarily replaces my screen name on the table, and I prepare myself for an inevitable letdown.
UTG+1 folds. HJ folds. CO folds.
I’m feeling pretty good about myself—I think, “I might actually get past this.”
BTN raises to T3,000.
And my heart sinks. I get ready for defeat. My hand must be crushed.
SB folds. BB calls T3,000.
I call all-in for T2,600.
As the flop hits, I look at my hand: J
T . For a moment, I think that I might actually have a chance—I could be holding so many worse hands. I start to feel a smidge of hope.Flop: 6
9 4 Not a bad flop, but I need a pair to continue. SB checks to the BTN, who bets. SB calls.
Turn: Q :diamonds:
I pick up an open-ended straight draw. My pair outs might still be good. But, even still, I get ready to lose.
SB checks. BTN checks.
That’s a good sign. I think to myself that BTN has definitely missed and SB could be holding any pair.
River: J
I start to get excited.
SB checks. BTN checks.
SB shows A
T BTN shows 2
2 Somehow, I took down the pot. I had regained life in the tournament. Just like respawning in League of Legends, I was somehow once-again alive in the tournament. I scoop in T8,300 for just over 4 big bets. I am still in the running, but I would need a couple more lifelines to hold out.
Those miracles arrived on time. I quickly took down decent pots with JJ and AQ in succession, doubling my stack to 8 big bets. An orbit later, I double that stack with AQs in an 8 big bet pot. Four hands later, TT puts me to just under T28,000.
In twenty minutes, I went from near-death to a 13 big bet stack.
The miracles continued: two pair, three of a kind, two pair, a flush. At the close of the third hour, I sat with T64,345. The big bet was now T4,000. I sat at a five-handed table with chip lead. The second highest stack was almost half my size.
With a field of 95, the $10,000 Guaranteed tournament had a $500 overlay, paying at 9th place. With ten players remaining across two tables, I continued an onslaught of blind-stealing, raising nearly every small blind, button, and cutoff hand I was dealt. I absolutely commanded the table until finally, a player at the other table busted-out.
I was through to the final table with T72,345 and with near-chip lead. The chip leader held T76,070, and the other stacks were significantly smaller outside of 3rd place’s T60,570. I was in an excellent position to play well. I sat with 18 big bets at a full ring table, and was fully confident in my abilities.
After some excellent playing, I grew to a stack of T163,155. The close of the fourth hour was upon us, and the table was down to five players, four of whom had plenty of flaws. Here was the situation, starting from my left:
Blinds: T1,600/T3,200
40/37 spaz, T109,595
34/24 cold-calling pro (our villain from earlier), T67,570
25/14 tight player, T17,360
23/21 relatively-tight player, T17,520
Within three hands, the 25/14 was knocked out. Five minutes later, the 23/21 was out. I was down to the final three players. I had excellent reads on the other two players, having played with the 40/37 for 137 hands and the cold-calling hero for the entire tournament.
After slowly crippling the 40/37 over 40 hands, I opened the button with Q
J and got three bet by the spaz. The flop came K J Q and villain was all-in after my flop raise. He shows 2 2 and I hold up to take down the pot.I honestly could not believe my progress up to this point. I was filled with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness. I had never gone this far in a big tournament before, and I could not believe that I would at least be getting $2,000, as that was the second prize purse. However, first place paid $3,200. To the encouragement of my coach, ‘this tournament was mine’. Over an ensuing hour long, 173-hand heads up match, I would remind myself of that many times.
With a stack of T281,110, I had a better-than 2:1 lead over our cold-calling hero. He held T93,490, or just over ten big bets.
Having played with our villain over the entire tournament, I had a good set of notes built up on him. In the early stages of the tournament, he was fairly passive, cold-calling a lot and not taking too many stabs. However, that changed towards the latter half of the tournament, when I noticed him open raising more and more. At one point, he showed down something awful, and I knew that his strategy had switched to the aggressive end of the spectrum.
I didn’t really have a particular strategy going into the heads up match. To be honest, I’ve always tried to avoid playing heads up at cash game tables, particularly because I’m not as comfortable when playing extremely short handed. However, I didn’t let any of that bother me, and I quickly resolved within myself to play my normal game. I wasn’t going to let the fact that we were heads up phase me. I was just going to play.
I quickly picked up on villain’s tendencies. He had two modes—almost as if he were a simple logic-gate. The villain fluctuated from playing incredibly aggressive to playing incredibly passive. When he was playing passive, my strategy was simple—I stole his blinds religiously. He folded plenty of big blinds to my button. When I was in the big blind, he would open limp his button most of the time, and I would subsequently stab at the right moment post-flop to take down the flop.
On the opposite end, the villain’s aggressive mode comprised of initially three-betting any ace from the big blind. I saw him show down plenty of weak aces after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind.
However, I was playing incredibly well. My decisions were flowing with ease. I had Live’s debut album—Mental Jewelry—blasting through my speakers, soothing my mind and bolstering my comfort and confidence.
Others noticed my excellent play, also. Plenty of users from the Micro Stakes Limit Holdem forums were railing the tournament, some of whom watched starting from the final table on.
I felt amazing. While my stack at one point went down to breakeven with villain, I knew that I could take the tournament down. And, slowly, villain let me do just that.
After taking a big two pair and then an Ace-King-Queen high winner, villain was tilting to no end. I had my chat blocked, but those who railed the tournament informed me of villain’s mental breakdown. His play suffered, too; villain began three betting any K, then any Q. At one point, he showed down 8
6 after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind. I knew that victory was in my reach.The close of the fifth hour is upon us, and I’ve still got a 2:1 ratio. Ten minutes later, with a 4:1 ratio, I get a callback from my brother. He was at home from Purdue, visiting my mother. I had earlier told him about the tournament and asked if he wanted to watch via the Carbon client. He was busy playing Guild Wars 2, but now he was done and wanted to watch. I help him download and set up the client via the phone, and he gets the client set up.
How I Won Poker Maximus IV Event #7 – A $100+$9 LHE Tournament
A Surreal Evening – How I Won Poker Maximus Event #8
A couple weeks back, I was gearing up for a weekend of tournaments. Having gotten through a rough academic week filled with presentations and busy-work, I was excited for an entirely free weekend. On Friday night, I played a couple of events in Poker Maximus IV—a Merge Network online tournament series. As is typical of most tournament runs, my efforts were to no avail. I shut down my poker clients and fired up some League of Legends for the remainder of the evening.
Saturday morning—rather, Saturday afternoon—I woke up and got myself ready for more tournaments. Saturday was the day of a big Limit Holdem tournament I had looked forward to throughout the preceding week. In discussion with my coach, we determined that the tournament’s field would be ripe for the picking. Despite the steep buy-in for an online tournament, Event #8 was a golden opportunity to excel in my main game.
Excited, I got myself some lunch, stocked up on snacks and Snapples, and got prepared for a long evening of tournament play. In addition to Event #8, I also bought in for a $15,000 Guaranteed NLHE tournament. My first year of serious poker was spent dabbling in multi-table tournament theory, so my coach and I were confident in buying in for a No Limit tournament.
A bust-out occurred within the first hour of the 6-max tournament. While I was done with half my tournaments for the day, Event #8 was fully underway, starting its third hour. My stack was dwindling. With less than four big bets, I needed a big break.
Little did I know that a surge from near defeat to a final table favorite was in the making.
The situation was dire: I was down to under two big bets. The big blind was approaching quickly. I would need a miracle to survive the inevitable onslaught. Two orbits earlier, I lost a five big bets to a three-bet pot that went three ways into the flop. A villain in the cut-off cold called three bets with 99, out flopping my AJo after the original raiser folded to his bet. Two failed blind-steals and a level change later, I was UTG+1 at a seven handed table with T6o. Sighing, I look at my stack of T2,600 and realize that the T1,000 big blind was a hand away.
I knew what I had to do, and I hated it.
I folded my trash, and watched as the hand played itself out. Just as our cold-calling villain takes down another pot on the river, I get in the ready position—my right hand pilots the mouse, ready to slam on ‘raise’, while my left hand covers my cards.
The cards are dealt. Everyone has a hand. I close my eyes, and slam on the button. ‘RAISE’ temporarily replaces my screen name on the table, and I prepare myself for an inevitable letdown.
UTG+1 folds. HJ folds. CO folds.
I’m feeling pretty good about myself—I think, “I might actually get past this.”
BTN raises to T3,000.
And my heart sinks. I get ready for defeat. My hand must be crushed.
SB folds. BB calls T3,000.
I call all-in for T2,600.
As the flop hits, I look at my hand: J
T . For a moment, I think that I might actually have a chance—I could be holding so many worse hands. I start to feel a smidge of hope.Flop: 6
9 4 Not a bad flop, but I need a pair to continue. SB checks to the BTN, who bets. SB calls.
Turn: Q :diamonds:
I pick up an open-ended straight draw. My pair outs might still be good. But, even still, I get ready to lose.
SB checks. BTN checks.
That’s a good sign. I think to myself that BTN has definitely missed and SB could be holding any pair.
River: J
I start to get excited.
SB checks. BTN checks.
SB shows A
T BTN shows 2
2 Somehow, I took down the pot. I had regained life in the tournament. Just like respawning in League of Legends, I was somehow once-again alive in the tournament. I scoop in T8,300 for just over 4 big bets. I am still in the running, but I would need a couple more lifelines to hold out.
Those miracles arrived on time. I quickly took down decent pots with JJ and AQ in succession, doubling my stack to 8 big bets. An orbit later, I double that stack with AQs in an 8 big bet pot. Four hands later, TT puts me to just under T28,000.
In twenty minutes, I went from near-death to a 13 big bet stack.
The miracles continued: two pair, three of a kind, two pair, a flush. At the close of the third hour, I sat with T64,345. The big bet was now T4,000. I sat at a five-handed table with chip lead. The second highest stack was almost half my size.
With a field of 95, the $10,000 Guaranteed tournament had a $500 overlay, paying at 9th place. With ten players remaining across two tables, I continued an onslaught of blind-stealing, raising nearly every small blind, button, and cutoff hand I was dealt. I absolutely commanded the table until finally, a player at the other table busted-out.
I was through to the final table with T72,345 and with near-chip lead. The chip leader held T76,070, and the other stacks were significantly smaller outside of 3rd place’s T60,570. I was in an excellent position to play well. I sat with 18 big bets at a full ring table, and was fully confident in my abilities.
After some excellent playing, I grew to a stack of T163,155. The close of the fourth hour was upon us, and the table was down to five players, four of whom had plenty of flaws. Here was the situation, starting from my left:
Blinds: T1,600/T3,200
40/37 spaz, T109,595
34/24 cold-calling pro (our villain from earlier), T67,570
25/14 tight player, T17,360
23/21 relatively-tight player, T17,520
Within three hands, the 25/14 was knocked out. Five minutes later, the 23/21 was out. I was down to the final three players. I had excellent reads on the other two players, having played with the 40/37 for 137 hands and the cold-calling hero for the entire tournament.
After slowly crippling the 40/37 over 40 hands, I opened the button with Q
J and got three bet by the spaz. The flop came K J Q and villain was all-in after my flop raise. He shows 2 2 and I hold up to take down the pot.I honestly could not believe my progress up to this point. I was filled with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness. I had never gone this far in a big tournament before, and I could not believe that I would at least be getting $2,000, as that was the second prize purse. However, first place paid $3,200. To the encouragement of my coach, ‘this tournament was mine’. Over an ensuing hour long, 173-hand heads up match, I would remind myself of that many times.
With a stack of T281,110, I had a better-than 2:1 lead over our cold-calling hero. He held T93,490, or just over ten big bets.
Having played with our villain over the entire tournament, I had a good set of notes built up on him. In the early stages of the tournament, he was fairly passive, cold-calling a lot and not taking too many stabs. However, that changed towards the latter half of the tournament, when I noticed him open raising more and more. At one point, he showed down something awful, and I knew that his strategy had switched to the aggressive end of the spectrum.
I didn’t really have a particular strategy going into the heads up match. To be honest, I’ve always tried to avoid playing heads up at cash game tables, particularly because I’m not as comfortable when playing extremely short handed. However, I didn’t let any of that bother me, and I quickly resolved within myself to play my normal game. I wasn’t going to let the fact that we were heads up phase me. I was just going to play.
I quickly picked up on villain’s tendencies. He had two modes—almost as if he were a simple logic-gate. The villain fluctuated from playing incredibly aggressive to playing incredibly passive. When he was playing passive, my strategy was simple—I stole his blinds religiously. He folded plenty of big blinds to my button. When I was in the big blind, he would open limp his button most of the time, and I would subsequently stab at the right moment post-flop to take down the flop.
On the opposite end, the villain’s aggressive mode comprised of initially three-betting any ace from the big blind. I saw him show down plenty of weak aces after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind.
However, I was playing incredibly well. My decisions were flowing with ease. I had Live’s debut album—Mental Jewelry—blasting through my speakers, soothing my mind and bolstering my comfort and confidence.
Others noticed my excellent play, also. Plenty of users from the Micro Stakes Limit Holdem forums were railing the tournament, some of whom watched starting from the final table on.
I felt amazing. While my stack at one point went down to breakeven with villain, I knew that I could take the tournament down. And, slowly, villain let me do just that.
After taking a big two pair and then an Ace-King-Queen high winner, villain was tilting to no end. I had my chat blocked, but those who railed the tournament informed me of villain’s mental breakdown. His play suffered, too; villain began three betting any K, then any Q. At one point, he showed down 8
6 after a pre-flop three bet from the big blind. I knew that victory was in my reach.The close of the fifth hour is upon us, and I’ve still got a 2:1 ratio. Ten minutes later, with a 4:1 ratio, I get a callback from my brother. He was at home from Purdue, visiting my mother. I had earlier told him about the tournament and asked if he wanted to watch via the Carbon client. He was busy playing Guild Wars 2, but now he was done and wanted to watch. I help him download and set up the client via the phone, and he gets the client set up.
My mother and brother, still talking on the phone, are as excited as could be. I feel absolutely awesome. For as much as I try to talk to them about poker—pretty much every other day—I can never seem to get them that interested in the game. They love to hear me talk about it, but they just don’t share the passion that I have for the game. The moment I won the tournament, they felt that passion, and were joyous for me. My brother exclaimed, “that was awesome! You got dealt aces, then fours, then jacks! That was so cool!” My mother was yelling and hollering in the background.
She was excited for me, just like she was in high school during my wrestling matches, soccer games, and track meets. She was always the loudest of all the parents, and I would often roll my eyes when I heard her because she was so loud, But now, I couldn’t have been happier that my family got to see me take down the tournament. It was simply amazing.
My boyfriend, who is always supportive of my poker playing—especially when I hit downswings and doubt creeps into my play—was unable to watch the tournament because of work. However, he had his entire family along with the all the workers at the Dick’s Sporting Goods in Lombard, IL rooting for me. It was awesome to know that I had his support, along with the support of co-workers that I have never even met.
A huge thank you to all who observed on the forums—including Schu, Mike, Ice, my coach, and everyone else who posted and encouraged me throughout. Thanks also to all those who showed their support in MSLHE and in the Home Games forum. I cannot thank all of you enough. It was truly exhilarating to have all of your kind and encouraging words behind me.
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Is this 12 people or thirteen?
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U.S. players, please encourage your lawmakers to pass favorable poker legislation. Watch the forums for SHENANIGANS and SHANOOBIGANS announcements. Play in them when they are held.
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03-01-2013
, 08:22 PM
03-12-2013
, 05:13 PM
Great read... 
03-15-2013
, 04:27 PM
03-19-2013
, 08:00 PM
