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Poker

i went along to the world series of poker today at harvey's casino in south lake tahoe. it was the final table - the only two guys i recognised were phil ivey and joe awada. there was a guy called jonathan shecter who looked pretty familiar.

i watched for a couple of hours and saw a great hand of poker. one of the things about going to see poker live is that you don't get to see the hole cards...

early on jeffrey lisandro was chip leader with about 400k and phil ivey had about 250k.

blinds were, if i recall, $2000/$4000. i can't recall how they got to the flop but it comes 444. ivey bets $12,000 and lisandro raises him to $40,000. ivey calls.

the turn comes: a 5. lisandro bets $100,000. ivey sat and thought for a good 6 or 7 minutes - all the time barely making eye contact with lisandro. he responds by going all in. now lisandro thinks about this for a good 3 or 4 minutes before laying it down. the atmosphere was electric. i can't wait to see that hand played out on tv to find out what they both had.

back on earth, i've been playing online for real money and doing ok. i uploaded $30 two days ago and have about $75 in my account. i'll play a combination of tournaments and buy-in games. i find, online even for real cash on the line, people still take some crazy chances and i have to change my game accordingly.

i won $50 playing with friends in the house tonight - i experimented with playing a lot more aggressively and it seemed to pay off. i'm coming to the following conclusions about my game:

1. i get killed by bad kickers all the time. i've instituted an informal rule (subject to change depending on who i'm playing, position, stack size, etc.) that i avoind cards lower than 7 like the plague. whereas i used to play, say, A5 (even suited) regularly, i've started folding that kind of hand. having a good pair (or two) and losing to a better kicker sucks and this change seems to have helped a lot.

2. as a result of the above change, i'm playing fewer hands than normal. i think it's pretty normal when playing at kitchen-table level to play almost every hand in the hope of catching. i've started being very picky about what i'll open with and hand-selection is also improvgin my success i find.

3. slow playing a hand is heaven and hell. when it works, it's great but when it doesn't - more often - it sucks. i used to slow play more hands but now, more often, i'll take a pot down earlier and settle for a smaller pot.

4. i read and respect petersko's remarks but i i only play no-limit. i find that the all-in move is an essential tool of my poker game and i could not play without it.

i'm all in!

alasdair
 
I was in a huge poker tournament last Saturday night. It was for a fundraiser, so only top 5 got prizes. There were over 300 players, sitting at about 40 tables. The Australian POker Association helped them run it, so it was very well run. I made it to the final table, with about 200 spectators surrounding the table. I came 8th... went all in with Big Slick (Ace/King) and got done. Didn't win anything, but I had heaps of fun, and did much better than any of my friends. Can't wait to do something like that again.

I lost money last night... got fucking done twice where I should have (statistically) won. One time the only thing that was saving him was an 8.... what falls on the river? a fucking 8. The other time I go all in with pocket kings after the flop (highest card was a jack). My friend calls me... what does he have? Pocket Aces obviously.
 
alasdairm said:
1. i get killed by bad kickers all the time.

"Poker is a game of top pair, top kicker." - I can't remember who said it.
 
This was from the tournament last Saturday night. This was the finals table. I'm at the far end in the hoody.

40955pokersmall2.jpg
 
Plastic, but good ones. They were easy to bridge/shuffle with. They were lent by the Aus Poker Assoc. It was impossible to cater for 300 players with clay chips.
 
damn i forgot about this thread.

Johny Boy: your pm box is full.
 
i've noticed that, when watching professional games, most hands come down to 2 or 3 players in on the action.

contrast that with online play where most hands i've played tonight involve 7 or 8 out of a table of 10. so many hands where people take a chance with crazy hands like 6/2, catching two pairs with the board and taking th epot.

so i adjust my game - raising more pre-flop to put these people out. then i'll have something half-decent like, say, J/10. then the flop will come 224 and somebody playing an A/2 (just because they have an ace) catches trips. i'm somewhat pot-committed and end up just taking a bigger hit.

i think i'm going to have to sit in on tables much longer before i start playing and see the lie of the land...

i'm playing in a casino tournament tomorrow - wish me luck :)

alasdair
 
^^good luck alasdair. it sounds like youll do fine!
 
alasdairm said:
i've noticed that, when watching professional games, most hands come down to 2 or 3 players in on the action.

contrast that with online play where most hands i've played tonight involve 7 or 8 out of a table of 10. so many hands where people take a chance with crazy hands like 6/2, catching two pairs with the board and taking th epot.

so i adjust my game - raising more pre-flop to put these people out. then i'll have something half-decent like, say, J/10. then the flop will come 224 and somebody playing an A/2 (just because they have an ace) catches trips. i'm somewhat pot-committed and end up just taking a bigger hit.

i think i'm going to have to sit in on tables much longer before i start playing and see the lie of the land...

i'm playing in a casino tournament tomorrow - wish me luck :)

alasdair

That's why I suck at online poker. I'm good at a normal poker table, but I can't win shit online. And good luck for tomorrow.
 
I just started playing at local bars with a friend from work, and I'm having a lot of fun. I don't consider myself any good and I doubt I'll be playing for money anytime soon. But hey when it's free it can be a darn fun hobby, :)
 
Just play some low stakes... maybe a $5 tournament. PLaying for money adds another dimension to the game. You will learn more.
 
^ i agree. playing for money is key - even low stakes.

pretend money is a good way to learn percentages, think about position, etc. but it sucks. if it's free to call, why not call. somebody will. everytime.

the free games are completely unpredicatable.

alasdair
 
the free games are completely unpredicatable.

Exactly.

I won't play a $5 game either. To everybody I play with, a $40 pot in a tournament is inconsequential. And of course they'd play like it was.

The sweet spot for us is a $50 total minimum stake in a night. The losers generally buy back in at least once. That means somewhere betweeen $400 and $600 up for grabs in a given night.

If there's nothing significant at stake, poker becomes straight gambling, with everybody in until the end hoping to catch the cards.

I'm playing a casino tourney Saturday. We'll see if I can replicate my past win.
 
edit: in regards to alasdairm's comment.

Exactly. So many key parts of poker can only be experienced when playing for money (slowplaying, bluffing, makes you think harder about risk vs. reward, position play (ie. chip leader bullies the table) etc....) All these need to be learned through experience at some point.
 
I guess I should have said "I won't be playing with my money" because you win in these bars you go home with some money nothing grand though like 20 bucks...
 
i just played up the street at a homegame and got second of a table of six, losing to three[x] himself. :X at least second got me my buy-in back.
 
^^you know, you could always rob three[x], and then itll be like you won!

;)
 
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