Hahahaha 40 More Dollars For Me

I played an hour or so at Warren, a .10/.25 PLO table on UltimateBet. I got stuck two buy-ins, and then went on a tear, surging back to above even, before doubling up to over 70.00 at the table, and subsequently donking off 8 bucks with a flush draw and a gut shot that never got there. At that point I figured it was a good time to get the hell out of there, so I left, up around 40 for the session. Here's a look at some funny shit, make sure you check out the last hand...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420521

I just called on the flop with a pair and a flush draw. Made two pair on the turn, but it was a bad card that completed his gutshot. No outdraw for me. Maybe should've raised light on the flop?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420504

If my friend Drokk was playing my hand here, and I asked him what he had when he bet the pot on the river, he would say "BALLS BABY!"

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420493

I think this was my best played hand of the day. I made a ridiculous call on the end, and he had just about what I hoped he had. Pass the chips please.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420480

I have a playable double suited hand here, but I'm up against AA and KK. I catch a dream flop though and get it all in three ways, with each of them holding 2 outs. Thats a tender 87% advantage in a three handed all-in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420473

I want to get my money in preflop here. The flop, turn, and river are awful for me. My hand should never, ever be good here.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420454

I potted preflop on the button with absolute garbage. I caught a piece and decided to fire out a continuation bet, and he called. Even though I make top two on the turn, I have no redraw and that card completes the straight and the flush draws. I'd given this pot up, but he checked, so I checked behind. Then he timed out into a check on the river. I checked as well and took the pot. Wow.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420405

This is the big one, the money maker, the earthquake that always defines the outcome of my PLO sessions. I potted preflop with a modest hand (yet very playable shorthanded). The table was playing very loose and very fast, and now that I was up a couple of bucks on the day, I felt like I could put some pressure on these guys. I get two callers, and the flop looks pretty good to me. I have top pair, two backdoor flush draws, and an open ender. I pot for 4.50, which I'm going to do about 99% of the time with this hand. -rebourne- called, but he was on his 6th or 7th buy-in, and was tilting very, very hard. Then rolledacesup, a LAG player repotted to 22.50. Now, let's think about what he could have for a second. Top two is possible, as is a set of fours or a set of tens. But it's unlikely he has QQ, seeing as I also have a Queen... well, I was wrong. I repotted and got it all in, donkey ass -rebourne- called, and so did rolledacesup. The turn came the As, giving me the dead nuts, and I just held my breath and hoped the board didn't pair. It didn't. I rake a 73.00+ dollar pot. In case you care, I was obviously an underdog preflop but according to Cardplayer, I'm only a 53/47 with this hand! It's a fucking coinflip! I get it in pretty bad, but I'm the one who bet and reraised, so at least I'm not calling off my stack with top pair and a bunch of draws. I CANNOT put him on QQ here, but either way, after the flop, he's only a 2:1 favorite with top set. Then after the turn I catapult to a 3.5:1 favorite. He acted like he was a 5:1 favorite at some point- this guy obviously doesn't understand the game. OF COURSE he's gonna get it all in with what was the nut hand on the flop, but he can't be upset when the best possible drawing hand against his set catches up.

Here is what rolledacesup had to say about it:

rolledacesup: you ***** stupid dumb *** piece of ****

rolledacesup: Gigantic overbet with a ******* draw

rolledacesup: You ******loser

rolledacesup: FU.CK you

rolledacesup: God damn this ******* site

rolledacesup: Everytime *** oesd (???????)

rolledacesup: Every ******* time

rolledacesup: **** you

-The Gerk-

That Hand From A Couple Days Ago

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1419134

There it is, in all its glory.

This guy was pretty new at the table, so after I potted pre-flop I didn't think he was making a move or anything. I was close to 100% sure he had aces. After running the percentages through Cardplayer.com's odds calculator, I am slightly better than a 2:1 dog pre-flop, and I was getting the right price on a call, with position on my opponent. After the flop, the hand is a dead coinflip, but I still got it all-in pretty light, something I shouldn't be doing. On the turn I am somehow behind 55/45, despite needing any 9, T, J, K, A, or spade to take the pot.

If you were that guy, and I re-raised all-in on the flop, would you call your stack off with aces?


No, me neither. As Ian said, I would probably put you (me) on a set of queens. Either way, that pot put me at even on UltimateBet.

I started playing on FullTilt yesterday, and so far so good, the PLO games are juicy there too. I'm up 15.00.

-The Gerk-

Tilt Talk, A Huge Hand

My PLO excursion over the last week has been filled with ups and downs. Some days I felt like I was playing pretty well, given my relative skill level, and I would squeeze out a buy-in or two profit. Other days, I would be tilting pretty hard, without ever taking a beat to encourage such bad play, and I would drop 2, 3, maybe 4 buy-ins before I finally signed off in shame.

Let's talk about tilt for a minute. "Tilt" is a word generally used to describe the frustration of a player due to any number of causes, and the resulting effect on the way he plays. Most times, a particularly bad beat will send a player into tilt mode, causing him to try to recoup his losses as quickly as possible, by playing more hands and pushing all-in with very modest holdings. Sometimes, when a player is tilting badly, he just wants to bust and get away from the table. It is important for a successful player to understand who at his table is steaming so that he can adjust his play against that player. When a bad beat doesn't tilt a player, any number of things might alter the way he plays- fatigue, boredom, hunger, frustration, table talk, or the need to be somewhere else are just some of the factors that can cause tilt.

Back to my talk about PLO. In Hold'em, I find that I only tilt when I'm frustrated or take a big bad beat that would've greatly changed my chances of winning a tournament/ making money in a cash game. However, in Pot Limit Omaha, I sometimes find myself tilting IMMEDIATELY upon sitting down at a table. I'm playing too loose, making too many crying/hero calls, and just all around not playing the game the way I need to play it in order to win. I'm unsure what causes this- maybe it is the huge emphasis on draws as opposed to legit hands like in Hold'em. When I sit down, I feel like the best way to make money is to get my stack in with the nut flush draw and suck out- but clearly that is not the best way to profit in Omaha. It feels like I'm tilting in one way or another 75% of the time at a PLO table. But that other 25%, I don't think I'm a bad player, just inexperienced.

I had worked my roll on UltimateBet up to 105.00, from the 75.00 I started with. I have played almost exclusively .10/.25PLO, but I have also sat down at a .25/.50 NL Hold'em table and a .01/.02PLO table (While I was waiting for a .10/.25 to open up). I lost a couple buy-ins Wednesday, a couple buy-ins Thursday, a couple buy-ins Friday, made a little on Saturday, and lost 2.5 buy-ins Sunday before making a push. I was down to like 20.00 in my account besides the 10.00 I took to the PLO table. I had about an hour to screw around, and before long I had doubled up. Then, just like that, I turned a set and completed my full-house to bust a guy and was up to 35.00 at my table. Common sense told to me to just leave the table- I had to be at my parents at 7:00 for my dad's birthday and I hadn't even gotten him a card yet. It was 6:15 and I needed to shower, but I felt like I was running well so I didn't leave the table. Then a monster hand came up, an incredible only-in-Omaha hand... that I will break down in it's entirety during my next blog posting. :)

(A CLIFFHANGER ENDING?!?!? WTF?!?!?)

-The Gerk-

PLO

I've played a fair amount of Pot Limit Omaha over the last few days. Overall, it has been an up and down affair- sometimes I play well, sometimes I play poorly, but either way I'm still running pretty badly (although some of that is definitely my fault). I played in a 100-person NL Hold'em tourney on UltimateBet this morning and finished 25th, five places out of the money. I nearly doubled my stack in the first two levels, but then lost a coinflip with AQ when I raised in MP and he pushed from the cutoff with 55. The board came 9-high. I got it all-in later with AQ again, on a flop of A-7-3. I had raised pre-flop in EP and attracted two callers, one from the button and one from the small blind. The small blind bet out weakly at the flop, kind of like a "Is my A5 good?" bet, I moved all-in, and he called. He showed A3 and I needed help. The turn came a K, giving me 8 outs on the river, and I spiked a Q to double up. My stack went up and down, and soon we were nearing the money, and with as low as 1700, I started playing push-or-fold poker. I pushed several times over the next few rotations and built my stack back to 3200. Then I ran into a very odd situation that cost me from cashing. With the blinds at 200/400, a loose player limped in MP, the SB completed, and I checked with A4 in the BB. If I had less chips, I might have pushed there, but I still had a manageable stack, and A-rag isn't going to produce the kind of all-in advantage I'm looking for. Anyway, the flop came A-K-T and we all checked it. The turn was a blank, and the SB bet the pot, 1200. This looks like a steal to me, and I call. Surprisingly, so does the guy in MP. The river is a 9, and after some thought, the SB bets 2000. I don't know where I'm at anymore, but the pot is so large I almost have to call. I did, and MP folded. The SB turned over...A9. That hand was not even close to what I expected him to have. T9 seemed likely, as did QJ-sort-of-hands, and I probably wouldn't have batted an eye at K9 either. Either way, my A was no good and I was left with like 600 chips. I folded my SB and found 88 two hands later. I pushed and it folded around to the BB, who was forced to call with 8c9c. He spiked his three-outer on the flop, and I didn't catch the case eight, end of story.

Here are some fun Omaha hands for ya:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1412577
I almost came in my pants when this flop fell. In Omaha (especially against LAGish players), it is hardly ever correct to slow play a big hand. This, however, would be one of those times.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1412551
Even if he has aces, the hand he is representing here, I am still only in a 60/40 situation, despite holding an ace. Isn't Omaha funny?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1412546
Here comes the bad run, I can feel it. I fucking KNEW he had JT, and I still couldn't fold my full house.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1412543
Yep, should've moved in on the turn here. Cost me the rest of my stack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1412536
Two outers are awesome...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1412531
I'll take those chips if you don't mind.

The same guy who two outered me with his TT did the same with 99 against my Ac-Qc-As-Td five hands later. What a horrible way to end what was going to be a good session. I would show you the hand, but I clicked out of the table so fast that the program that saves my hand history didn't get a chance to save it.

Send It Back Baby!

I am thoroughly convinced that the best game to play (that is to say, the game that is the most +EV) is PL Omaha. I had moderate success on Pokerstars playing PLO, but I only saw maybe 400 hands and I played like a donk because my bankroll was getting so low. But now that I am playing on UltimateBet, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the players on this site have no clue whatsoever as to how to play PLO correctly. I'm sure there are some real studs at the higher limits, but for the stakes I'm playing I am confident I can beat any 6-handed table on any given day.

There was an opponent I encountered today that checked 95% of the time when the action came to him. I saw him check down the nuts on every street multiple times, and he refused to bet with hands as strong as top set. It was unbelievable. Many other players, however, are trigger happy morons who can't wait to put their money in the pot with draws, whether they are dead or not. The majority, I've realized, are loose-passive, MAYBE LAG if they check-raise with the nuts. Overall, I think the people I'm playing against believe they are playing Hold'em, not Omaha. This works to my advantage in more ways than one- I can draw cheaply, and I get payed off when I make the nuts. It is such a simple game and I'm getting my money in good on a regular basis.

After the two horrendous beats earlier that cost me essentially 50 dollars, I got back on the horse later in the evening. In the first session I got up two buy-ins, then ran my second nut K-high flush into an opponent's A-high flush. It was tough to lay down simply because when I made my hand on the turn, I value bet and he just called. He potted the river and I should've known better, but its always tough to lay down the second nuts. They table broke soon after and I left up 7.00. I dropped a buy-in at my next table when my top-two and flush draw bricked out against top set, pretty standard PLO shit. But later on I went on a nice run and bullied the "Canada" and "Tokyo" tables and made three or four buy-ins. I am now up almost 30.00 on UB after a very short time. That is by no means a huge win, but I only played like 150 hands today and I got fucked with two horrible beats earlier, so my wins could've been so much more.

They key hand in my run was when I re-potted preflop in the SB with Ad-Ah-Jh-Td and got two callers. The flop came Qs-9c-Qd, and I moved in. The first guy took took forever and called, and so did the guy in LP, so I figured I was pretty much dead, after the overcall. But the turn came the dream card- the Kd, giving me broadway with the nut flush/royal flush draw. The river was some black brick like a 6, and when we showed it down, broadway was good. I'll take that 30.00+ pot any day.

Either way, I'm digging PLO on UltimateBet. You can expect me to play less and less Hold'em if my winning ways continue, but I still think NL Hold'em is my best game by far (I've been playing for upwards of 5 years now). Just for fun, I'll rank my top-five games in terms of what I think I'm best at (in my mind, anyway).

1. NL Hold'em
2. PL Omaha
3. 7-Card Stud
4. Razz
5. Limit Hold'em


P.S. Remember in my last post how I bitched about not having my hand history to format those beats into pokerhand.org? Well I found a program that saves my hand history to my hard drive, so hopefully that won't be an issue anymore.

-The Gerk-

The Two Worst Beats I Have Ever Taken

UltimateBet, I should have never given you a chance.

In my short time on the site, I was up about ten bucks, and at .05/.10NL, that isn't too bad. Today I dropped a buy-in at the .05/.10 NL Hold'em table, and then bought into a .10/.25PL Omaha 6-handed table. In case you weren't aware, the Omaha players on UB are pretty terrible at the lower limits. Case in point, a 50 person tournament I entered yesterday, and took 6th place at despite my lack of Omaha experience. Well today I suffered two incredible beats in back to back hands. (I don't know how to access my UB hand history, so until I figure that out I can't post the hands on pokerhand.org.)

Here's what happened:

UTG raises pot (.85)
UTG+1 calls.
MP calls.
I re-pot to 4.00 with AhAsKh9s
Blinds fold.
UTG calls.
UTG+1 folds.
MP calls.
(Pot is upwards of 15.00)

Flop is 3h- 9s- Ac

UTG checks.
MP checks.
I bet the pot.
UTG folds.
MP tanks... and calls of his last 6.00 with Ad- 7d- 5c- Js

Turn is 4d.
River is 6c.

MP takes the pot with a straight, three to seven.

In this hand, I got the most amount of money possible into the pot with the guaranteed best hand. Then I caught a dream flop in Omaha- top set, a pair, and two out of the three back door flush draws. Unless my math is incorrect, I win this pot after the flop 95% of the time (it could be more, since my opponents only outs are running 4-6) He called off his whole stack with only the case ace and no kicker to speak of, and caught the only possible two cards he could catch to suck out on me.

I couldn't believe that beat. I started laughing uncontrollably, in a sad way. But the worst beat would happen the very next hand.

UTG pots to .85
UTG+1 folds.
I call with 8c8s6c5h
Three folds.

Flop is 8h- 3d- 7s

UTG checks, I check.

Turn is 7c

UTG bets the pot (2.05)
I raise the minumum to 4.10.
UTG moves all-in.
I call.

Opponent shows: A-7-K-5

River is 7h.

Board reads: 8-3-7-7-7

Opponent wins with four of a kind, sevens.

I checked the nut hand on the flop and got all of my money in on the turn with my opponent drawing to ONE OUT. You can't ask for anything more than that, a 98% favorite. When the river card came a seven, I lost it. Although I only technically lost 10.00 for the Omaha session, I was up to 25.00 before the AA hand, and would've been back to 25.00 had I not been one-outed. If I take both pots, like I'm supposed to? I have a whopping 50.00+ stack and am up 4 buy-ins for the session.

I can't believe it.

-The Gerk-

Birthday Full of Games, New Life on UltimateBet

It's been a few days since my last post, so it's time to fill you all in. I hosted a few tournaments on Monday, the eve of my birthday. My girlfriend made me a World Poker Tour cake that looked pretty kick ass, and Drokk made me a much simpler cake with my face on the Queen of hearts printed out on a piece of paper stuck to the top of it. As far as the poker went, I played decently, but nothing fantastic, I made a bluff in the first tournament that cost me half my stack, and I ended up rebuying twice before taking home zero for third place. I took an interesting beat when I got it all-in three ways with AK against Ian's AQ and Drokk's 66. Ian flopped a Q, which won him the side pot, and Drokk spiked a 6, which gave him the main pot. I split the second tournament when Ian and I got it heads-up. We played another hold'em tournament and PL Omaha tourney too, but I can't remember who won either one of them.

I have no money on Pokerstars anymore, but I did make deposits on both UltimateBet and FullTilt. My username on both of those sites is The Gerk, so come look for me if you don't have anything better to do.

I will post some sick hands from my play on UB later.

-The Gerk-

The End, and a New Beginning

In case any of you are curious, here's the pot that the rest of my bankroll went into: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1380872

Although it's not a total cooler, that is a very, very bad spot to run into, seeing as my two pair is virtually dead (no redraw for a full house, only quads). I still had nine hearts though, but none came.

So now that your Pokerstars Cashier says that you have exactly $0.00, what are you going to do now? Well, I'm going to deposit two checks into my account today and then take some of that and deposit it on at least two, maybe three sites. Pokerstars for certain, UltimateBet is probable, and so is FullTilt. If you have any suggestions or bonus codes, now would be a good time to leave them in the comments. I'll see you at the tables again this weekend. :)

-The Gerk-

Good Morning Mr. Stone Cold Cooler

When I woke up this morning I was excited about hitting the PL Omaha ring games. I ran well last night, and I was hoping for a repeat performance. Not so much.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377638
The first hand I played I called of a bet on every street drawing totally dead, only to make the second nuts on the river and be forced to pay him off.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377635
Very soon after, I ran into one of those legendary, unavoidable Omaha confrontation where an absolute monster runs into the dead nuts. I would like one person reading this to tell me that they could've laid my hand down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377626
I rebought, and tried to rebuild. But my stack and my confidence were ailing after that AA hand. I doubled through once I got shortstacked when I checked my flopped K-high flush and then bet the turn/ potted the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377619
Then I ran flush into over-flush, but I really didn't belong in this pot. I almost folded on the turn- Puuha-Pete is really tight, a I don't like calling a bet so light. But there was a good chunk of change in the pot and I am also an idiot, so I called and set my self up for disaster.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377615
Then I got it all-in a huge underdog...and won?!? I'm lucky the guy to my right either doesn't know how to play or loves to bluff- because after the turn, I should win this pot EXACTLY never.

After that my stack floundered up and down, never really making headway. Eventually my table broke and I didn't find a new one. Oh well, one step closer to reloading on Stars. :)

-The Gerk-

Busto? Not yet baby!

The end is on the horizon for the wreckage of my Pokerstars bankroll, but the sun hasn't set just yet. If you check out the refurbished forums under the "The Gerk's Poker Blog" folder, you can take the poll I posted and it should reveal to you how I busted out of a pretty significant tourney I was in a couple days ago. Since then I have donked off a stack or two at .10/.25 NL, a 5.00+.50NL 9-handed Sit & Go, and a full buy-in at .10/.25PL Omaha. I had registered my very last 2.20 in a huge super satellite (a 3x shootout) to the Sunday Million, but I withdrew it because I was sick of waiting for it to fill up. I took that meager stack to a .02/.05PL Omaha ring game and decided to let it ride. What happened next was a major heater combined with really awful opponents that multiplied my bankroll by 8 times. I currently sit with almost 18.00 and I'm ready to fuck up those tables again tomorrow. Here are some key hands courtesy of Pokerhand.org.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376052

I make a straight on the end with a monster draw in my first pot. I was probably good on the flop, but I'm not sure what he could be just calling with on the turn. It's very possible he had an overpair, but that is a donk call on such a scary board. I was kind of glad that he laid it down on the end though, I didn't need to run into a rivered flush at this point in my night.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376057

I have a fairly solid starting hand in this pot, but I choose to check preflop anyway. I think it is beneficial to me to play more pots and maneuver postflop than it is for me to jam at these limits. I could already tell that this table was very loose and at least two players were absolute lunatics. When Jimsuckout just called my raise on the flop, I put him on precisely 78. The funny thing was, when I pushed on the turn and he tanked for a few seconds, I kinda knew I was right but he was going to have to call anyway. Thankfully my two pair held.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376068

This hand was no fun at all. I had the sick feeling my AQ was good against this guy on the turn, but when he insta-pushed on the river I knew that because I improved, I no longer had the best hand. It's one of those weird spots where you don't want to make two pair and you are rooting against yourself. Granted, this all could've been avoided had I not called preflop with somewhat modest holdings. Betting on the flop was also probably not correct, but I really wanted to see where I was. I am almost certain that one of the players who folded had me in really bad shape. This is an example of a novice (me) in a game I don't play too much (PL Omaha) and the result of falling in love with face cards.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376079

I'm not at the stage of my PL Omaha game where I can fold this hand postflop. I had to know I was beat, and although I had AA, I had almost zero redraw if the guy had a deuce. His JJ was kind of a cooler, but I think I played the hand badly and deserved to learn a lesson the hard way.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376088

A pretty standard failed bluff on the end. He made a good call on me.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376091

I figured this was going to be the last hand of my night. When I called the all-in on the turn, I was essentially giving up... but apparently he put me on rags or he made a move with KK or something.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376093

I had a pretty monster hand preflop, and what's better is the flop wasn't all that bad. This hand defined my night, and it was great to take it down. At this point, almost all of my income was coming from oksuz, and I had determined that he was the craziest player I've ever played against. I would not be surprised to see that his holdings were as modest as a pair of eights or something when he called my all-in.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376102

TIMZILLA said he folded three queens on the turn, but I'm pretty sure he's a goddamn liar. If he was telling the truth, then I wish he would've called.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376108

I knew my deuce was good.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376113

Here I miss an ENORMOUS draw against a player that I know will pay me off. A little part of me died when the river came a blank. This is one of those pots where "implied odds" comes into play a great deal.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376116

This one was probably the most fun hand of the night. What the FUCK could he lay down when he re-reraised me and he only has 1.30 back getting over 9:1 on a call?!? The world may never know.


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1376118

One of those hands where you flop a monster, it becomes the nuts, and then becomes another monster. My only concern after the flop fell was how I was going to get my opponent to pay me off. Unfortunately, this guy seemed like he had played the game before, so I was all but S.O.L.


-The Gerk-

The Analysis of a Hand

If you haven't read the comments section of the previous blog post, refer to them first before reading this one. In summary, this particular hand decided a 5-handed NL Hold'em tournament that some friends and I played on Friday. My opponent seems to believe that the call he made was correct, and that I shouldn't "gripe," but the objective of this analysis is to prove that it was not only an incorrect call, but a VERY incorrect call.

In the tournament in question, there were five players and two rebuys, with each player starting with 20.00 in chips. Therefore, there are 140.00 of chips in play. We are heads-up at this point, and I have just doubled up to take a VERY slight chiplead when my TT held up against Ax all-in preflop. After I lost the pot in question, I was all-in with my BB the very next hand- my opponent called in the dark and we played the hand with the hole cards face up. Therefore the stacks were approximately even, with me having a 6.00 (or one BB) chiplead. The hand went as follows.

The Douginator (67.00): Posts BB (6.00)
The Gerk (73.00): Posts SB (3.00)

The Gerk: Moves all-in (73.00 total)
The Douginator: Calls all-in (67.00 total)

The Gerk shows Ac7d
The Douginator shows QhJd

Flop: 9-x-T
Turn: 8
River: Q
Board reads: 9-x-T-8-Q

The Douginator takes the pot (134.00) with a straight, 8 to Q.

Since some of you may not understand what "pot odds" are, let me explain them to you. Pot odds are calculated, generally when making a call with a draw, to determine whether or not a player has the proper equity (or return on investment) to commit a certain amount of money to a pot.

For example, lets said you had a flush draw on the turn of one particular hand, and would thus have 9 outs to the best hand. If the pot was 10.00, and I bet 8.00, you would not have the proper equity (ROI) to call the bet, seeing as calling 8.00 into a 18.00 pot would only be giving you a 2.5:1 ROI. The odds for you to make your hand are roughly 18% (or 4:1), making it improper to call. I would have to bet a maximum of about 3.25 in order for it to be a proper call with your draw (and you should always look for situations when you're getting BETTER than the proper odds on your money, i.e. getting 5:1 on a call with a 3:1 lead)

In our example, The Douginator had committed exactly 6.00 into a pot that became worth his entire stack. In other words, he had to call 61.00 in a 73.00 pot (the BB is considered no longer his). He was getting roughly 2.2:1 on a call, that is to say, you need to be 100% sure that your QJ is AT LEAST a 66% favorite in the hand in order to call (we'll ignore the fact that he is making the call for his tournament life, or 15.00 real money.) Pot odds do not necessarily imply to to this pot, because he is calling off his entire stack before the flop. But if they did, he would still not have the right price to call- QJ is a favorite against only about 50% of hands (Q8 is the exact median), not even close to the 2/3 advantage you would be looking for.

And he certainly wasn't pot committed, seeing as after his BB he still had 61.00 (10+BBs). While this would be a relative short stack in many tournaments, if I had just stolen the blinds, I would only have 12BBs.

You may be asking, but what should he have done with QJ in that spot?

FOLD.

If he had any read on me whatsoever, he would know that I was never pushing with less than QJ. Although I was being very aggressive with the blinds so high, and I was moving with QK, Kx, Ax, any pair, as well as any big hand, I was certainly not going to risk my tournament with a dead average hand. He would need to put me on a completely random hand in order to justify a call (not based in any way on pot odds, as he assumed). My range would have to include smaller Jacks and smaller Queens, as well has hands he had a smaller advantage over, like 8-5 and 3-4. If you would like to input a range of hands to determine whether or not a call was justified, please google poker odds calculator or visit flopturnriver.com and have at it.

In the comment post he claimed he "needed to make a play." A play implies that he is the one doing the betting, not calling off his stack with a very average hand. If he wanted to make a play, he could have very easily folded QJ and pushed all-in in position when he had the button the next hand, and 9 times out of 10 taken his BB back.

And to say that the QJ hand did not decide the tournament is completely ignorant- a hand that gives one player a 134.00 to 6.00 chiplead is a pretty consequential hand. And it would have been avoided had he not fallen in love with two facecards.

I'm not saying QJ is not playable- but it is definitely not playable when facing an all-in. It should be folded in EP and MP at a full table. In LP, it is acceptable to limp with it as long as there are other limpers and hope to flop a set or a straight. On the button, it is profitable to raise with it in hopes to steal, but if you are reraised, you are almost certainly way behind. In blind v. blind confrontations, raising is best since many SBs complete with inferior hands as bad as J2 or 83.

For more on pot odds, getting proper ROI, implied odds, and the minimum starting requirements to call an all-in bet, please look up ZeeJustin's blog (I'm too lazy to provide a link). He goes into great detail about how and why it is not only profitable but essential to push in blind v. blind confrontations. He also breaks down what hands you would need to call such a bet, and QJ is obviously not among them.

And a note to all:

Although I am more than willing to admit my mistakes, especially in a game of incomplete information such as Hold'em, make sure you know that you are correct before you post about it. Before you reply on my blog and accuse me of not knowing what I'm talking about, get your facts straight and MAYBE learn what the terms you're using actually mean.

-The Gerk-

Run Badly, Break Even

Survival.

Not one word is more important in the grand cosmic ideology of poker.

One must always keep his head above water, if nothing else. That should be his primary concern; not to win big, not to play a certain style, or to play his cards. Surviving is always paramount, and not just in tournaments, but in cash games too. If your bankroll is in trouble, then you need to do whatever you have to do guarantee its immediate survival- lower your stakes, change your playing style, or switch games.

I have become a master of survival in the last few weeks. I have been consistently (probably 75% of the time) beating the .10/.25 NL game on Pokerstars since my bankroll train-wrecked. Winning in a game filled with so many loose players is quite a task, and to do so I've had to tighten up many loose ends strewn throughout my game. I am only taking about .75-1 buy-in every hour and a half or so on average- but I am surviving. I am being forced to take huge chances by accepting 5:1 edges before the flop in order to make money- but I am surviving. I am playing boring, tedious poker- but I'm surviving.

UPDATE: I just dropped 2 buy-ins. In the first, I made an all-in call after a flurry of betting on an 8 high, all-spade flop, with 9d9s. He had me drawing close to dead with AcAs. Then I rebought, won a couple of pots, and then gave it all back in one dramatic hand. I called a min-raise from the cut-off with 8cTc, and in a three-way pot the flop fell 9c-Jc-3h. EP bet .25, and the min-raiser made it 1.25 to go. I called with my monster draw, and EP folded. The turn was the As, and he checked it to me. I fired 3.00, and he called. The river was a blank, the 6d. He checked again, and I put him on exactly QJ. I pushed my last 12.60 into a pot of 8.00+ and he took only a second before calling with...QJ. I'm not sure how he can make that call and think he had the best hand, but to each his own I suppose.

That's the synopsis of my online play- just .10/.25NL Hold'em, and it's enough to make a man go mad. Until I work my way up quite a ways again, I will be staying away from other games, as well as tournaments that aren't 4.40 180's. Although playing in those donkament 180's has very low equity, I consider myself to be pretty damn good at them, and a win would bolster my bankroll tremendously.

I am thinking about putting some money on UltimateBet and Full Tilt once I get my bearings back on Pokerstars- any thoughts?

Me and the guys have had some good live games lately. My hot streak in those shorthanded Hold'em tourneys has ended, but I've been doing well overall. We played a razz tournament the other day that got totally sick- Drokk busted out early, and Ian and I both told him he couldn't rebuy. But after some coaxing we allowed him back in, and he went on his usual sick rush of cards. We got it heads-up between us, and he had a lead until I made an 8-6 and nearly doubled up. He verbally conceded the match, but went on to steam roll me until I was nearly felted. I made another comeback, and the heads-up dragged on for what felt like years. I think it finally ended when Drokk caught an eight-outer on 6th street when we were all-in at 400/800 (50).

We played some more Hold'em on Friday night, as well as a PL Omaha tournament. I finished third, third, and second in Hold'em, busting in very frustrating situations each time. In the first game, in the 1.00/2.00 round, I pushed in the BB with 88 and got called by Drokk's AKs that he had limped in with. He flopped top pair, a straight draw, and a flush draw. That crippled me to around 12.00, and I pushed with Q8 the next hand. I was called by AT, and I bricked out. So, yeah, it's frustrating to lose a 60/40 on both sides in back-to-back hands, especially for your tournament life. On the plus side, Ian played absolutely amazing en route to a victory. I've never seen him more aggressive. The key pot he took against Roy was when he fired out 15.00 with 33 on a J-9-J-9 board. It was definitely good to see him take one down.

The next game I got it all-in when we were three handed with Kx and was called by Qx. The turn paired my opponents hand (I don't remember if it was Mike or Ian) and I was out.

I decided to play the third tournament a little differently. I decided that if I had to rebuy multiple times, it was not an issue- my only concern was winning. I was going to push in all the spots I thought my opponents were weak, and I was going to play super, super aggressive. It worked out very well, and I had a mountain of chips going into heads-up against Mike. I doubled him up when he got relatively short stacked, and then he took a big pot off of me to take the chip lead. That is when I put my foot back on the gas. With blinds at 2.50/5.00 and with a stack of around 35.00, I pushed almost every hand preflop. After taking a few blinds uncontested, I caught TT and earned a call from an Ace-rag. I doubled through and retook the chiplead. Only this time, I didn't slow down. Three hands later I pushed with A7 from the button, and he called with QJo. That is well below the starting requirement for him to ever have a +EV outcome in this type of hand. It should be an instant fold, unless he is willing to commit his entire stack to a situation where he may be completely dominated. Even if he knows I am pushing with every single hand (which I wasn't), K2 is a favorite to QJ, as well as almost any other hand I would be moving with. I don't know why I am griping- I am more than happy to get it all-in right there, and I should be willing to exploit my percentage advantage over the long run. But when the board ran out 9-T-3-8-Q, I was more disappointed than anything.

The PL Omaha tournament was a blast. We played 15 minute levels with unlimited rebuys for the first three, so it created a game with lots of play and lots of ridiculous chip swings. I built a monster stack in the first level, then doubled Drokk and Ian up in consecutive hands. We were three handed when rebuys ended, and then Ian went out in third. The heads-up match between Derek and I was insane. With a 3:1 chiplead, I flopped the nut straight with J-8 on a T-7-9 board and we got it all in. His TT wasn't behind for long, as the turn came a 7 to leave me drawing dead. I rebuilt my lead and got it all in again, this time with my JJ way ahead on a 3-7-J-T board. The river came a Q to spike him a straight. Eventually I had the lead once again, going into the final hand. I held Js-7s-10d-5d, and bet a flop of Jd-Ts-3h. He called, and the turn came the As. I checked, and he potted. I called, and the river came the Qs. I pushed it all in, and he called with KQ for the turned straight. I took it down with the second nut flush. I would love to sit here and analyze this hand completely, but frankly I haven't the time or the patience, so do it in the Arabianmonkey forums, or in the comment section, and I will chime in with my own thoughts.

-The Gerk-

Live Games Are My Specialty

I have had no success whatsoever on the internet lately. Every time I've had a chance to make a splash in an MTT or even a 9-person Sit and Go, something terrible always happens and I bust outside of the money. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've run QQ into KK, KK into AA, or AK into KK. I feel like even my monster hands are about to be outdrawn or counterfeited. It has been a very long time since I've felt this insecure at the poker table. I am playing scared- and scared poker is losing poker.

My Pokerstars bankroll is very, very low. Dangerously low. Like, I could very soon have no Pokerstars bankroll low. My bad run the last few weeks has absolutely destroyed me- I've switched gears, games, and playing styles and yet nothing can get me out of this internet funk. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently that is resulting in me losing money, but I need to get out of it and save myself before I lose it all.

Meanwhile, I am incredibly happy with my live game. Although I busted fast in the big K of C tournament last week, I know that I played well, and it has carried over into the weekly games I play with the guys. On Saturday we had a crew over at my apartment, playing Hold'em tournaments and NBA LIVE '07 on the Playstation 2. That night I won two out of three. On Monday, we played our usual game, and I won two out of three tournaments that night too. In fact, the only tourney I didn't win was the first one, where I was essentially coolered into busting. The blinds were 1.00/2.00, and everyone limped into me in the BB. I found AcQs, and pushed for 18.00 more. The SB folded and Derek called instantly, turning over the hand he said he had, AhAd. The flop came all spades, giving me outs, but Derek faded the turn and river to bust me. Five handed, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do with AQ there.

Today I worked on the website a bit and then hit the .10/.25NL tables where, once again, I could get no momentum. I'd really like to have to go back and edit this blog entry to mention an incredible victory at the tables, but I'm fairly sure that won't be necessary.

-The Gerk-