Texas Hold'em Course

[Doc Borodog]

Just a little update on my status.

I was 4 tableing at $3-$6 on Party, finding the games very easy to keep up with. I cashed out $500 and signed up for Empire (a Party skin site) to play 8 tables. I deposited the $500 at Empire and I'm currently 8 tableing $2-$4 across Party and Empire to build up the Empire bankroll and make sure I can beat 8 games at once. Everything seems to be going fine. At first I was timing out on some tables, distracted with playable hands hitting 4 tables at once, but I've trained myself to keep my eyes constantly roving now. Today I only timed out once in four hours of play.

After discussion with online professionals, the rate at which I'm winning seems sustainable: 2.5 BB/100 hand played. My pace is running at about 67-68 hands/hour/table. Realistically, I think that anything more than 4 hours/day could possibly lead to burn-out. So the math currently looks like this:

( .67 100HP/hr/tbl )x( 8 tbls )x( 2.5 BB/100HP )x( $6/BB )x( 4 hr/day )x( 5 days/wk)x( 50 wk/yr ) = $80,400/year.

I'll take it.

[Antrax]

8 tables at once?
And I thought Uriel playing five tournaments are once was insane
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Doc Borodog]

Yep. 8 tables. Since I'm playing roughly 14.5% of hands voluntarily, I'm actually playing about 80 hands/hour. Add in the blinds and it's still under 100 hands/hour.

The tricky part is when 5 of them hit at once. Yesterday I had JJ, JJ, QQ, AKo, and AQs all in play at the same time at one point! Both pocket jacks were the red jacks, by the way.

[Antrax]

That's what I was going to ask about. Premium hands aren't that difficult to play, I'm sure, but what about more marginal situations like if a queen hits on the turn when you're holding jacks, or if you're drawing, or whatever? SOME thought is sometimes required - I play 3 tournaments at once and it affects me adversely to some degree, I sometimes confuse my chip position between two tournaments and make wrong moves based on that, and similar things.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Eykir]

I just placed 29th out of 864 in a $5 tourney.

Strange hands:

dealt Q's, flop Q88, get someone all-in, and he doesn't have a chance. River comes a Queen. Quad Queens

A2s on the small blind. I stay in because I can afford to. Flop comes 227. People joke about 27 being the killer hand, I bet small, everyone calls. Turn comes 2. I bet 4xBB, everyone calls. River comes Ace. I bet all-in, get 2 callers.... Second Quads of the day, same table!

I was 1-1 in AA hands. I lost one AA hand to an 88 who flopped a 78J.... who in turn lost to an all-in low stack 59 to the turned 6 to fill in a straight. Insane!

I also beat KK with JK by flopping one Jack and turning another.

Then again, near the end, I lost AK vs 88 all-in after the flop with a King showing. He rivered an 8 to knock me down a ways. I still managed to survive another 4 rounds the table.

[Antrax]

I lost twice with Aces to AQo on the same day
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Dr. Borodog]

Got beat up some last night. Dropped 50BB. But the interesting thing is this: when you're playing 540 hands/hour, you really don't have time to get upset by the bad beats.

[Samadhi]

I wouldn't have time to add 2 and 2.

[GH]

4.

[Antrax]

Over the last couple of days, I've repeatedly lost all 80% all-ins I was in. I lost a tournament as a result of losing with pocket pair to a lower pair 3 times in a row, now finished third instead of first because some guy kept making abysmal calls and beat me every time, despite being dominated (AK vs. K3s dominated). I went in on the flop with TT, the flop was 223 and I raised preflop. I was chip leader. For some reason second stack calls me with KQ and rivers a K. Then again, in a similar situation, I go in with trip king, get called by someone with a lower kicker, sure enough, he rivers his kicker, etc. I'm still not losing money, but ARGH. Die already.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Samadhi]

Similar luck here, except I'm down over the last week. One that really annoyed me last night: I had KK, the flop was KQ2, I went all in. I get called by 56o (he was under the gun so don't ask me why he was in). The turn and river are a 3 and a 4.

[Antrax]

That happened to me IRL in the Mirage. Cost me $20.
Anyway, I continued playing and beat 22 with TT for the win (I was shocked). A funny highlight is that I raised with aces, got a million callers. Flop was 8 high, I went in, got called by trips (pocket 8s), then caught runner runner straight to beat him. The entire table started protesting, telling me what a poor player I am, and how he played his hand perfectly and I deserve to lose. So, boys and girls:
a) calling a big raise with a small pocket pair is "playing perfectly".
b) You need to be a good player to call an all-in with a monster.
c) Betting strong with an overpair is a bad play.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Samadhi]

Who are you to dispell their illusions? Better for you that they suck.

[Antrax]

Hence me complaining here and not on the table. I never talk on the tables.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[mikegoo]

I played in the most ridiculously lopsided in my favor single table tournament ever. $100 sit and go on Party (everyone starts with 1k) 3rd hand of the tournament I'm playing 67 suited from middle position against 2 people after me. I flop open ended 5,8,Q rainbow (none my suit) I check, check, #3 bets half the pot...I calll and #2 raises all in. #3 calls and since this would be a pointless story if I didn't, I call. I hit the straight and we're 8-handed with me at a little over 3k of 10k.

The next hand I get dealt some fun junk to play for cheap with a big chip lead, 5-7 suited, and again end up against 2 players after me. Flop comes open ended straight + a flush draw for me. Someone bets half the pot and we both call. Turn spits up my straight again... I bet half the pot and get raised all in by #2 with #3 calling...tough choice, I call. The river helps no one and I"m over 5000 chips (half) after 4 hands.

I decide to try my hand at being a bully at this point and won't let anyone play a hand I'm in for less than half their stack (and I"m playing quite a few hands since folks seem happy to fold to me). I only get reraised once before the final 2 and I have the better hand and nock the guy out. By the time it's 3 handed I have 7800 of the 10k chips having never dropped back below 5k and not let anyone else get to 1500 chips. It was glorious.

[mikegoo]

Of course I'lll throw a fairly lame bad beat in to the mix.... I lost the other 3 tournaments I was playing at the same time.

Tourney 1 ($100). On the 4th hand, after some smaller bets and raise/reraise action, I go alll in preflop with AA and have 2 others call me. Cards get shown and they are KK and QQ. A king falls and I lose.

Tourney 2 ($50). My JJ vs 66 somewhere in the niddle levels of blinds...a 6 falls, I lose.

Tourney 3 ($50). Seven handed and I raise 3 times the BB with from late postion with 99. BB calls (with 35 soooted!). Flop is 498 rainbow. He bets all in with a little more than I have. I blink a few times to make sure I"m seeing things right...call. Turn A, river 2, horse shit.

[Samadhi]

I had a nice run of hands tonight (the worm turns). The most enjoyable had to be A3 suited on the BB. Flop is KQ5 filling my flush. Check around. Turn is a 6, check around. River is a 7 suited (making 4 on the table). There's still 3 others in at this point, I check. Next goes all-in, fold, all-in, I all in of course. First time I've had two of a suit and seen a flop with more than one of mine in about a week, so it made me very happy.

[Antrax]

[mikegoo]

You are missing nothing except my state of mind at the time.... I was a bit frustrated from taking beats all day (I started this immediately after the other 3 tourneys mentioned above and 2 others where I couldn't win a hand). I should have stopped before getting into this one. My thoughts were litterally, "I have the odds and what the fuck, if I lose I can go do something that isn't pissing me off." As far as being a good player... I am when I don't let the expected swings get to me.

[Doc Borodog]

As many of you know, I don't really care for no limit ring games, and have almost zero experience playing them. Well a friend of mine had a small buy-in ($20) NL ring game last night for some friends, and convinced me to play. He had a rule in place that if you had often $50 on the table at any time, you could "throttle back" (i.e. take chips off the table) back to $50.

I played extremely well for the first coupld of hours, and had taken about $65 off the table, plus the $50 I left on it.

Long story short, after that I made 5 critically bad calls that cost me about $120 total, and cashed out for only $50. $20 in and $50 out is still $30 up, but considering it should have been $150 up, I'm pretty upset with myself.

If I had gone with my guts, I would have layed down 3 of those 5 calls, for a total of probably $80. The other two my gut instinct was to call, but better poker sense was to fold at least one of them, for another $20 savings. Only one of the 5 calls do I think was a situation I couldn't really get away from.

I'm documenting my embarrassingly poor play here so that I'll learn from my mistakes.

Bad play number 1: A loose limper from early, a limp from Rainman in the SB, I check my BB with KJo. The flop comes AK2. Check, check, check. The turn is a blank that puts two spades on the board. SB checks, I bet something like $2. A fold, and Rainmain checkraises to $5. Rainman is a Captain Blufferman, and I really, honestly do not believe he has an ace, so I call. The river pairs the board 2s. He bets $10. I had $16 on the table at that point, and just pushed it all in, sure in my gut that he didn't have that ace and was following up his steal.

He didn't have an ace . . . he had two of them. Aces full of twos. Clearly, I had very little invested in this pot on the turn when I got check-raised, $2.50. Was is it Doyle always says? Never get broke in an unraised pot? Damn this was a stupid play.

Stupid play number two. I raise UTG to $3 (the and the last one is 6 handed, by the way) with AJ of diamonds, folds to Rainmain who calls me in the big blind. The flop comes A23. I bet $4, Rainmain calls. Turn is a 4. Not a card I like to see. Rainmain bets out $10. I called. I showed Rainman the $3 I had left, he bet it and I called all-in. He showed me A3.

This is the only play that I really feel like I don't mind my play. Yes, there are a lot of ways for me to be beat on the turn, but Rainmain is a habitual bluffer. There was over $24 in the pot on the turn, and I had $13 left in play. I probably could have layed it down, but I don't mind this call.

Terrible play number 3. Something like 7 handed. I limp on the button with QTo after a few other limpers. The flop comes KJ4, all hearts. My Queen is a heart. I have an open-ended straight + flush draw to the second nut flush.

The SB bets an overly aggressive $7 into the pot. I immediately put her on a king she wants to protect, but because she didn't raise preflop, her kicker is probably weak, although she could easily have two pair. The BB, a very good player calls. At that point I strongly suspected he had the Ace of hearts, but convinced myself I couldn't be sure of that. I considered raising, but didn't. I finally just called. The turn was a blank. Suprisingly, the action went check check in front of me. Again, I strongly considered a big bet, like $25. But I didn't. I check. The river was the ten of hearts.

The SB checked, and the big blind bet $20. I knew he had the nuts. There is no other heart draw that he would call the flop with now, nor that he could bet into me on that river with. I should have folded, but convinced myself I couldn't lay down the second nut flush. I payed him off. The Sb flashed and folded queens and jacks, and he showed me the ace of hearts.

This was a terribly played hand. In retrospect, the correct play was to make the big raise on the flop. I'm favored over the SB's pair or even two pair if I can buy mu flush outs from the BB. But I didn't. I didn't believe the BB had flopped the flush and was slowplaying, and if I had, then a fold was in order in the pot I have nothing invested in. I was either drawing to someone's stack, or wanted to take down the money in the pot immediately. Raise or fold.

Once I didn't do that, the river was a clear fold. I knew BB had the nuts. When you know your opponent has the nuts and you still call, you're a retard.

Terrible play number 4: I raise UTG with AKs. Two callers, including Rainman in the SB. Flop comes QJQ. Rainmain checks, I check, check behind me. Turn is an Ace. Rainmain checks, I bet $5. player to my left calls, Rainmain check-raises me ten more. I called, player to my left folds. river is a J. Board is now QJQAJ. Rainman bets $20 into me. At this point, I'm pissed off and feeling like leaving (i.e. definitely on tilt) and say fuck it and call.

He shows . . . AA. Again. Now, this was an incredibly stupid call on my part, you don't have to tell me. What could I possibly beat other than a stone cold bluff? Who makes that bluff into a preflop raiser AND a caller on THAT board? Not even Rainman. He beat me with any Queen or Jack. Hell, he even beat me with KT. TERRIBLE call. EASY fold.

And finally, stupid play number 5. The UTG player raises to $1.25, which he likes to do to juice the pot with things like suited connectors and small pockets. Every calls, we're like 7 handed, so I call on the button with KTs. The SB calls. The SB is very tired and is saying how she wants to go to bed. She's just played several hands where she just pushed all in around $20 to by the limps and blinds. She also called a guy down blind to the river on a recent hand.

The flop comes 89T, giving me TPKK. The SB immediately pushes all in, for about $20. Everyone laughs and it folds to me. I'm leaving after this hand anyway I decided and say fuck it (again) and called. She flipped over J7, flopped straight. And again I have to ask myself, how stupid am I? Why get broke in a small pot with a weak hand when you've only got $0.75 invested in it? This is a complete and total fish play. This is worse that fishy play. The small blind is a fish. I'm the fucking fish FOOD.

Well, I hope my public humiliation helps me to focus and play my best game during every single hand. In limit, it's hard to make a bad call on the river, since the pot is usually large enough that you only have to rarely be correct for it to pay. The same is NOT true in no limit, and I have to learn to make laydowns.

You may all point and laugh now.

[Antrax]

Okay... I just had a really lucky session. Last time was last week, when I got AA four times during the tournament, two of them consecutive, and also got KK, two JJ, AKs and AQs, and other such things. This time was different. Today was "bluffing can't go wrong" day. I did things like bluff a bottom pair and catch trips, semi-bluff with a flush draw, get called and hit it, and the best part was when I won with Q high after betting all the way - I have no clue what he was calling with. I also won with AJs vs. QQ, AJo vs. 99 and J3s vs. 22. This is a testament to shut me up the next time I complain about bad beats
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Antrax]

PP threw a bunch of bonus dollars on me, to lure me back into playing (I didn't play for three weeks - reserve duty + US trip). So I figured sure, I can stand to play 200 raked hands of limit. Off I go to the .5-1 tables (I don't trust my limit hold'em skiils enough to risk real money, and they're loose enough to get raked plenty). So, while I see the appeal of instant gratification, I really don't see how anyone can prefer limit to no limit. I've been playing for only two days, about an hour and a half a day, on three tables, and it's already cost me my will to live. I can't count how many times people outdrew me, regardless of what I did to discourage their calling. People repeatedly draw to gutshots/trips on those tables, and while it makes for very large pots when I win, it also pisses the hell out of me when I lose. I just don't see how can you enjoy a game where hitting top trips on the flop is only the first step to success, because God knows if the turn and river provide ANY possible flush or straight, someone WILL have it, regardless of the betting. That's why God made the all-in play, and may he be blessed.
So anyway, yeah. After playing some limit, I made my bonus $20, plus $50 by playing 3 hours of .5-1 with people who called my bluffs down and lost on the showdown (meaning their highest card was a T). A rounder is me.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Samadhi]

I've accidentally started a limit tourney a few times. It's agonizing waiting until the blinds are big enough that people actually stop chasing.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Doc Borodog]

And I just don't see how you can enjoy a game where the lucky drawout costs you your whole stack instead of a few bets.

Honestly, I can't believe the sh*t people will cold-call me with in no limit, and procede to outflop me or semi-bluff their whole stack and bust me when their sh*t hits.

I absolutely hate no-limit ring games.

[Samadhi]

I agree with you there to some extent. I mitigate that by just buying it at minimum and leaving and leaving the table at maximum. But that's one of the reasons I like mini-tourneys. People don't play so stupidly.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Samadhi]

One other thing I forgot. For whatever reason, it seems that a large bet (several bb or just enough to make calling the pot bad for a flush draw, say) is far more effective on tables than all in.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Antrax]

It makes sense. If you go over-the-top (let's say, put 800 in on a 200 pot) it looks like you're just trying to scare everyone away. Why wouldn't you want to be called if your hand is good? hmm?
Personally, when I see someone going crazy I assume he's holding a monster and he's just jaded from being flushed out, but other people think in different ways.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[borschevsky]

Bill Fillmaff's Secret System

[Doc Borodog]

I made a staggering 9 big bet mistake today, and relearned a valuable lesson in NOT FOLDING in a big pot.

$3-$6 limit table. One limper, small blind calls, I check my 98o. The flop comes 953 rainbow. The SB bets out, I raise, the limper calls the two cold. The SB calls.

The turn is a 10. Damnit. The SB checks, I bet out, the limper calls, the SB calls.

The river is a Jack. Damn, damn, damn. SB checks, I check. The limper bets out. The SB calls. I have 3rd pair with no kicker. Not really a hand that can overcall, right? I folded.

LIKE AN IDIOT. OH MY GOD. WHAT WAS I THINKING???

My call would have closed the action. I was getting over 9:1 on my call, which means I only have to be ahead 10% of the time to make the call profitable.

The SB had a pair of FIVES, with a SIX KICKER. The limper and river bettor had ACE FREAKING HIGH, with a deuce kicker. He missed his gutshot straight draw and stabbed when I checked and showed weakness.

I GAVE away $55. Good grief. What a mathematical disaster. You should virtually NEVER fold the river for one bet in a large pot with ANY sort of real hand.

Gak, gak, gak!

[Antrax]

FWIW, I don't think folding is a mistake there. I'm hardly an expert on limit, but people do play hands with T and J in them (as well as a 9), so what you had is third pair with shit kicker, and can reasonably expect to be beaten when two cards in the playing zone hit, both over your pair.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Doc Borodog]

Except that "reasonably expecting" something is not more than 90% certainty, which is what I needed to make the fold correct.

[Antrax]

I think I should be the no-limit Hold'Em cop and be allowed to hand out fines and penalties for people who make stupid plays that somehow become good for them. My rant today focuses on people who slowplay hands that are bad in multiway, preflop. I am so tired of people calling preflop with QQ, then somehow the flop comes Q high AND someone was in who had KQ so they double up. What SHOULD'VE happened is that the flop would've been A high, and some idiot with A6o who limped because it was cheap should take all their money, then kick them. And it doesn't stop with premium hands. I've seen people slowplay hands as weak as ATo preflop. Of course, they get lucky one in ten times and catch someone with a KT who limped, but most times what happens is some random shit hand hits two pairs on them or they hit an ace and get outkicked. I should be allowed to fine them for the times this doesn't happen, until people get it into their thick skull that slowplaying hands like AJ is a terrible move and people who practice it should be shot in public.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Samadhi]

Played a mini-tourney against a guy who did that the other day. He would also call with crap like T5o or go all in with 76 with a raiser and callers already in the pot. But he could not lose. He made every bad play I could think of and the cards always loved him. I ended up coming in second to his first. It was the most frustrating game I've played in my life.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Samadhi]

Ok, here's a play I'd like advice on (a little ironic actually)

10 person table, I'm dealt QT clubs on the small blind (75/150). Two people call before me. I call, BB checks. (first half hour of a small buy tourney, with rebuy. I'd be happy to hear arguments in favor of raising, but I believe seeing the flop without an all in is a good thing)

Flop is As Jc Qh
I bet 150, BB folds the two callers call

Turn is 8c
The pot is 1050, I bet 800, one call, one fold

River is Ac
I check, the other guy raises 2200. Here's the part I'm not sure about: I was pleased as punch that he took my bait, but a call left us both with about 1100. I called, and that's my question:
Should I have called or reraised the rest of his stack? About the only thing he could have been playing to win is a slow play rocket. (keep in mind that the BB was 150 and I would have been on the button with 1100 if I lost on the call).
_________________
And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Antrax]

[Samadhi]

Well, that was no help.
_________________
And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Samadhi]

Well, that's not fair. Point taken about the idiot bet. I had him read on every other portion, but missed the weak bet
_________________
And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Antrax]

Reached my 400 tournaments mark on a sour note - over the last two days, I've lost 11 of the 14 tournaments I've played, 9 of which were to repeated "lose with the 60% favourite in an all in situation" (2-3 consecutive times each tournament, depending on my stack size), and 2 were due to me playing badly as a result of the previously-mentioned losses. So, out of 400 tournaments, I've made first place 64 times (16%), second 61 times (15.25%), third 49 times (12.25%) and lost the other 226 tournaments (56.5%).
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Doc Borodog]

Chopped for 1st today in a live 12 person $50 rebuy NLHET. Grrrrl played and did very well, but did not place in the money.

[Antrax]

Today I went on tilt. After losing with aces twice in a row (different tables) to a hopeful bottom pair who caught a set and to someone who caught runner runner straight (with 34o) to my trips, I literally yelled "ENOUGH" (in Hebrew, though) at my monitor, and just started raging. It was like an out of body experience. I stopped folding at all, started pushing with really marginal hands (at some point I went on top of someone with Q8s), calling when I should fold, etc, all the time shouting things like "raise ME, would you?". I was playing in four tournaments when I started doing this. The results: 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, wiping out my entire losing streak for the past two days. Some of it was luck (40% underdog luck) but most of it was just shock at seeing me act like a maniac, I guess - I play a lot on the same hours, so I'm guessing many people have notes on me that read things like "tight" and "solid". Seeing me go all-in on top of a raise three times in a row had to confuse people, which means I got a LOT of folds, a lot more than I'd give a player who acted like me.
So now I'm relaxed
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!