Still working at it

So I've been tracking my progress over 13 weeks and am still up.  I had several wins prior to my starting the tracking/blog process so I'm up even further, but that's neither here nor there.
One of the purposes for this blog is to help me organize my thoughts about the tournaments I play and maybe, if I get lucky, get some followers who can help me become a better player.
Along those lines, I've been reading and listening to a lot of poker commentary and have been working hard to implement some more sophisticated poker thinking when I play.
Those include:

• Increasing my EV of hands
• Having a plan when I check/bet/raise
• Playing position better
• Managing my chip stack

For increasing my EV, I've stopped raising ridiculous amounts pre-flop with strong hands. 

At the Vision,  it's been a nifty realization to be able to pick up when someone has JJ or 10 10.  Usually it's a huge preflop bet...like 10x BB.  Whenever someone bets like that, you can be sure it's a hand like JJ or 10 10.  Sometimes it's QQ.  But generally one of the other two.  What I've learned is that when you do that, you either when just the blinds, or get re-raised by AA/KK/QQ and even AK and are in trouble.

I've seen where someone UTG raises 10xBB and the Button calls.  An Ace on the flop and the original raiser check, the button bets and takes it down...then they table the bluff. When you know what the other guy has, the game becomes easier.

So, when I do get hands like this, I make a raise somewhere around 3x.  Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.  This is a bit of a feel bet for me, depending on level, position and chip stacks.

It does mean that sometimes I have to fold to a weak ace in later positions, but what it usually means is that I win a decent pot.  I've got a fairly TAG image, which helps me put the other guys on ranges.  So, I do (generally) fold when I think I'm beat.  However, this is something that I still need to work on.  If you've read some of my more recent blogs, you'll see what I mean, where there have been a few occasions where I KNEW I was beat but called anyway.

When it comes to having a plan, currently most of my thinking has to do with (in this order): cards, position and players.  Mostly my plan is to win the hand, whichever way possible.  If I have a strong starting hand, I try to get value on as many streets as possible.  I don't always accomplish this, as I often don't consider the hands that the other guy can have.  A good example is eluding me right now, but there are two or three times a session where I think about the hand after I've won it and realize that I was too aggressive, that I should have let another card come off so that I could let a weaker player hit something or let an aggressive player bluff off some chips.  I guess at the end of the day, the important thing is to win the hand, but along with increasing my EV, thinking about future streets and having a plan going into a hand will help me win tournaments by giving me chips to protect me from bad beats taking me out, and having enough chips to cover and put pressure on other players.

I finally feel like I'm playing my position pretty well.  I'm fairly TAG-y still and probably should flat the button a bit more often, but I'm working on never limping into a pot outside of the blinds and flatting a button isn't what I'm about now.  Generally, if I feel like flatting, I'll instead raise small, so if there's two or thee people in already, and I've got 87s, I'll raise 3x...trying to get the absolute dregs to fold the blinds and usually bet an Ace on the flop.  This goes along with having a plan.  I think I'm doing ok when I play my button...it's the CU and HJ where I've got to work on a bit more of a plan.  But, when it comes playing position, while I still have a ways to go with nuance, I'm improving.

Managing my chip stack is another tricky thing.  As noted in my last post, I've been thinking about my Push/Fold stack.  Of course I'm trying not to be in the position to where that's the case, but it's inevitable.  The problem with this is that it takes a while to feel like what I'm doing is appropriate.  In the first session I played after considering the Push/Fold hands (I've known about M for a while, but this is a bit different), I pushed with AJo and was looked up by 99.  Lost the flip.  I think this is a result I want (the call, not the loss) cause I was getting odds on the flip and usually no one has a calling hand there.  But it'll take a while of playing these hands in this particular manner to see if it's having a positive result on my game.  We'll see.

Anyways, not sure if anyones out there, but let me know what you think of my thoughts, and please feel free to comment and share your own thoughts.

Everyone Loves A Chopped Pot

Chopped the first and second places tonight for $400.  Played pretty well tonight.  I've been reading this book called Poker Plays You Can Use.  Pretty stuff so far. I just started it and felt like it helped me a lot this evening.  I'll blog more about it later, plus I have a few other posts in the can.
My stats look pretty good for what they're worth.  I don't really know anyone else who's playing at my level right now...kinda looking for someone to chat with about this stuff.  Poker, the most frustrating fun you can have!

Push Fold Chart

Still learning a lot about this game.  Played the Friday Night game at Vision tonight.  About 100 people in it.  Not sure where I busted...probably 50 or so.
I've been watching and reading a bit more than usual this week.  The EPT tour is up and running in London, so I've watched a lot of streaming poker.
I came across a Push Fold chart today that read:

I'd played a fairly solid game up now. One hand early irritated me. Blinds were 200-400 and I was in the SB. I wake up with AQ off suit. Villain in MP raises to 1200. Two calls behind, I call, BB calls and UTG calls.
 Yeah.
Flop comes Queen high. I bet around 2500 and only the original raiser calls. HMMMMMM I think. The board wasn't really connected, so I"m thinking he's got some kind of pocket pair.
Turn was a bit of a blank as well. I bet 3000 he raises to 6000. More hmmmmm. This is where I should fold, but I'm not convinced he doesn't have AK. Another blank on the River and I check. He bets 6k again and for some inexplicable reason I call. I know by now he's got KK.
 No doubt about it.
But I call, convincing myself he either has AK, or JJ. There was even a slim chance he had AQ. But that was just me convincing myself that I wasn't beat. Of course he had KK, and I was out a bunch of chips. I got a lot of them back and more though, and played well after that, getting my stack up to 60k from a starting stack of 35k. I ran into a bit of a cooler hand when I had AA and got it all in for only 10k against 10 9 and the fella turns a straight. Oh well...If that hands different, the night ends different though...
We went on break not long after that, and I find myself after the break UTG+1 with AJo. This is where the chart comes in. The chart says that with 8 players and no antes: 99+ ATs+ A5s AJo+ KTs+ QTs+ are pushing hands. I had 12BB (2000-4000) with AJo. So, I've got 12 BB with 8 players. I think normally, I may raise to 11k or so, but I'm wanting to put some new info to test to see what happens.

So, I push all in, and get one caller. Fairly new guy at the table. He's all in for 2000 less than I have and we end up heads up, in a 'Classic Race Situation' AJ against 99. The nines hold and I'm basically out.

Now, I'm not regretting my play...I knew what the push meant, and got exactly what I think I wanted. If I double there, I'm cruising for a while. If not I'm probably all in fairly soon, lighter and with less to earn. However, here's the thing. If I play it normally, I raise to 11 pre flop...not sure if he calls or pushes. He may just call set mining. The flop came K high. So, if I push on the flop, he may fold there and then. I know that's more results oriented but still an interesting thought. I got my money in with the right price: It was a coin flip and I was looking for a double up. Half the time I win that and go on to play longer.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

So, I decided to play again last night. Played much better mentally.  Found myself in some, what I consider, tough spots.
I ran into Aces 3 times.  Of the three times, I put my opponent on Aces 2 of the three times.  I won one of the three.
I'm going to describe the three hands, plus one other hand that I found interesting last night.

The first time I ran against Aces, I was in the big blind with 10-5 off suit.  The villain min-raised from middle position when the blinds were 200-400.  It folded to me, so there was his 800, plus the small blind plus my 400 so it was 400 to win 1400 so I felt I was getting odds with plenty of chips behind me.  At Vision, where I play, the min-raise from middle position is almost ALWAY Aces. So, I was reasonably sure I was in bad shape, but felt at that price I could gamble a little.

The flop cam 10 7 3. So I flopped top pair and bet 1200.  He called.  Still convinced he had Aces's.  Turn was a 5.  And that's why we limped in.  I bet 2500.  He called.  River was a King.  Now I thought this may scare him a bit, because I can easily have K10 in this spot.  Before that came out, I don't think he could have put me on two pair.  I guess I could just as easily have 10 9 too, which may be why he didn't re-raise me.  So, I bet 4000 on the river and he called.  That was a nice hand.

The very next hand I was in the small blind with JJ.  Lady in MP limps in.  I raise to 1700 and she raises to 3400.  She's a bit harder for me to figure out just because of the way she was playing to that time, and I didn't immediately think Aces, because I just ran up against them.  I called.  The flop was 10 9 5 with two clubs.  I bet 2500, to see if maybe she had AK.  She min raised me again.  So there was my original 3400, plus her 3400, plus the BB and a couple other calls from preflop plus her 5k, so there was around 15,000  in the pot and it would cost me 2500 to win it.  At this point I whispered to my neighbor that I'd have to crack Aces again, and was pretty convinced of her hand.  So, I had 2 outs to win with two cards to come so I was a 9 to 1 dog getting 7 to 1 odds.  However, if I jack comes, I win all her chips I think.  Plus, if a queen or an 8 hits, I get a bunch more outs on the river.  Maybe terrible thinking, but that was my thought.  Plus there was still a small chance she had AK.  Turn was a 2.  Crap.  I check and SHE CHECKS!  Sweet.  Free swing at the river which was a King.  So, if she had AK she got there.  If she has Aces she's still there.  She bet like 10k and I fold showing my cards.  I don't usually show my cards but convinced her to show her cards, and she did have Aces.  I think I played that ok, but am unsure.  It was a fun hand anyway.

The final time I ran against Aces was the last hand of the night for me.  Blinds were 3k-6k and I had 30k behind me on the button.  Villain in MP raises to about 15k and I look down at AKoff. Villain was a bit tricky for me to put on Aces based on his play.  I wouldn't say he was loose or crazy, but he had a bunch of chips and I felt his range was any pair of 8's or better, all big A10+ and possibly KQ, KJ.  We were 7 handed.  It folded to me and I pushed and he insta-called and flipped Aces. I flopped a sweat with J 10 5 showing on the table.  A King on the turn gave me another 2 outs but nothing helped on the river and I was busted.
Both of the last two times I busted out, I had AK against Aces.  I guess that's kind of a cooler, but in the previous tournament, I think I could have/should have folded.  This time, I'm not so sure it would have been a good fold.  It wouldn't have been a bad fold considering, but I'm trying not to be results oriented.  I really did think I had a big chunk of his range beat and or racing, so with his 30k plus the 9k from the blinds I felt like I was OK there.

The last hand that I want to talk about was an interesting one where I kind of think I was in a tough spot.  I guess in retrospect it shouldn't have been but whatever.
I was under the gun with 77.  I raised 3x and was called by the button, the SB and BB.  The flop was 356 with two spades.  It was checked to me so I bet for like half the pot to somewhere around 2500.  BB calls, SB raises to 10 and BB pushes all in for around 30k!  WTF!  So, I'm looking at an over pair with a straight draw.  I've got two of the four top straight cards, so I had a difficult time putting anyone on a made straight.  I was thinking BB had a flush draw (he was pretty terrible and easy to read) and I figured both of the blinds to be in the set range (pocket 3's or 5') or maybe two pair..like 56.  I tried to convince myself that they are all on some kind of draw or looking at weak Ace territory (A plus a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 here maybe)  Plus, I was 100% sure that if I call, all 4 will be all in so 4 to 1 with an over pair and a inside straight draw can't be terrible can it?
But discretion being the better part of valor, I fold.  BB call for less and SB calls and has them both covered.
BB flips over two spades (King high), SB flips over 33 for a set and BB flips 74 for the flopped straight.  The river brings the the flush for the BB who takes the whole kit and caboodle.  I started with the best hand, but finished in 4th place!

Cranky Poker

So, I did something I shouldn't do:  Played poker when I'm cranky.
I love to play cards. I think most people who play poker regularly love it.  And there are times when I've gone to play cards when not feeling my best and have had the cards wake me up and change my attitude.  But that's rare.
My game is mostly putting myself in good spots, playing by feel and making good reads.
When I'm cranky, it just takes one or two bad breaks to send me down the tubes.  I lost with pocket nines to a rivered 10 early on and started the whole "well, it looks like its going to be one of those nights".
That's not my game, and that's a terrible way to play.
I'm not saying I tilted my cards off, but I am saying I played hands that I shouldn't have played, and got in trouble.  The hands that I should have played, I played overly defensively.  Those, plus making bad reads is a terrible set of ingredients for good poker.

I think that's why I do better on the Sunday game than I would on any other game.  Sunday's are usually stress free and relaxed.  Tuesdays...not so much.

Stupid River

Well, my decent play has continued through the month of September.  Not sure if I'll get to play again this month.
Played last night in the regular Sunday night game at Vision Lanes.  Not sure the total number of players, but it was in the 50's.  They listed paying 5 spots, but ended up paying two bubbles.
First place paid around $535.  I came in 7, the final bubble, for my buy-in of $35.
I got knocked out on a bad beat that I couldn't avoid.  Some thoughts:
We had been at the FT for about half hour.  Started with 9 at the table.  Quickly lost one.  The dude who busted in 8 lasted a while.  We had talked bubble for a while, but the fella to my right would have none of it so early.  He was an irritating one.  He had an iPad, listening to music over his Beats by Dre.  I kind of think he may have been high.  He only mumbled and was constantly playing with his iPad.  Earlier, he went all in with AKss against the 9th place finisher.  No. 9 had 4's.  AK immediately started whining about never winning these and put his head down until the guy who lost informed him of the result.  Seemed rude.
Another hand the dude won on a 4 card flush and the dealer pushed chips his way.  He was fiddling with his iPad and didn't know that he won, or how he won.

That said, he had a bunch of chips...about twice as many as me...possibly a bit more.

So, it folds to him, with blinds being 30k/15k.  He was small blind, I was BB.  He glanced at his cards and mumbled all in.  I looked down at AK and knew I was good.  I wanted him to re-iterate he was all in so that he couldn't get away from the hand for claims of confusion.  I had to ask him twice before I could understand what he said, and STILL waited for him to push chips in before I called.  What I'm telling you is that he was mumbling.

I called.  The flop was 7, 8, 9 and I knew I was pretty done.  I know the odds are still on my side as he's got 10 outs 2 times so I was a 60/40 favorite.  The turn was an 8 so now I'm a 4 to 1 favorite.  The river was a 6, so he hit the straight an I was done.

2 Positives:  I got my money in good and got my investment back.

I had a headache for the last few hours and am proud of myself for pushing back a few urges to push/call light just get be done.  I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of putting people in tough spots, and stay out of tough spots myself.  I did play a few hands wrong and would play a few hands differently.
One hand for example:
I was in MP 66.  I raised PF about 3x.  Villain calls from cut off.  He'd been pretty active.  I didn't see a lot of cards from him but mostly middle to big aces.  I got an overly aggressive vibe from him although I didn't see enough cards from him to verify it, and I don't recall seeing him in the room before.
The flop came J83 with two diamonds.  Now, I don't think my plan was terribly solid here.  I thought this was a pretty good flop for me, although J was in his range (KJ, AJ, QJ, J10), I thought that I could rep a pretty big hand with my pre-flop raise and then a check raise.  One thing I've done a lot of was c-betting and I thought maybe if I check raise here, I could rep a big hand.  So, I checked, he bet a little over pot (1400 I think) and I re-raised to 4600.  He insta-pushed and I folded here.  He asked if I was on a flush draw and didn't show, which tells me he had a big Jack and he thought I was looser than I was.
Not sure if I should just float there and set mine.  He's got two diamonds a lot of times there, and maybe 5's or 7's occasionally.  I'm pretty sure I'm behind, but I think I could have flatted there, maybe catch a set and take him out.

Last two hands to note:  First hand of the night.  This has never happened to me before.

I was in the 7 slot on the first hand with pocket 8's.  I raised to 250 with blinds being 25/50.  I have a hard time betting 150 in the first round.  We've got 35,000 chips in front of us....but whatever.

The villain re-raises me from the BB to 650.  I flat him there and put him on a big Ace or so.  No history with the guy and a twitchy read.

Flop comes 8 high with two diamonds.  Gin.  I bet a little less than the pot and he re-raised me all in.  Yep, you read that right.  He bet 34,000 into a pot that had 2 grand in it on the first hand.  Well, I had the nuts and thought I was looking at AK of diamonds...really there were now hands that made sense for him to have.  I showed my set and he flipped over KK.  Two cards later I had 70,025 and he walked out the door, leaving a table of guys shaking their heads.

A few hands later I have K10 in the SB.  I complete and probably 5 other people come along.  The Button raises, but not much so I call and so does everyone else.   The flop comes 10 10 6.  I check and it checks around.  I think I should bet there, but I was hoping for a check raise potential.  Ace comes on the turn.  I bet and get a caller.   

A river Ace and I know I'm sunk. 

I bet in the 4k range.  Button repops to 10k.  So, it'll cost me 6k to win 18 or so.  Getting 3 to 1 on the chance he hit the nut flush or a bluff was too much for me to take and I call.  He flips over AK and crushes me.  Like a post a few weeks ago, it's frustrating when I'm sure I'm beat, but I call anyways.  

This guy kept giving me the vibe he's a bluffer but showed the nuts each time, and never got caught bluffing.
There's a saying in poker that if you never get caught bluffing, you're not doing it enough.  So, my read may be totally wrong on the guy.  He's a younger fella, so maybe it's just some bias built into my game that I have to deal with.

On the fence

Bubbled the final table tonight.  There were about 45 players and the house was paying the top 4.  Kind of a standard night.  Ran my stack up from 35k to 75k after a couple of hours.  Played pretty well, mostly playing my position fairly aggressively. I called just one hand pre-flop for the first hour.  I had 6x7x in the cut off and just limped in...and folded after the flop. Terrible.
Most of the hands I played in the first two hours I raised between 2.5x and 3x.  I took a lot of pots down on the flop.  Only won one hand with a pre-flop raise in the first hour.  Still think this is one of the best ways of playing that I've discovered in the last few months:  Never limp into an unopened pot (ever!) and if your cards aren't good enough to raise then they aren't good enough to play. (Of course I'm talking about when I VPIP, not the blinds)
This is good for a few things.
Reasons from (almost) always raising pre-flop in an unraised pot

• It builds the pot up
• Usually in the early parts of the tournament most decent sized bets are going to be called a number of times. and the further through the table you go the better chance that they'll call with a worse hand, just because people have heard about this Pot Odds thing.  
• This is why you have to have a fairly wide range in hands that you are raising with.  You can't always bet the nuts and fold everything else.  Suited connectors, from 67 on up, to any pair at all will be worth a raise, particularly early in the tournament.  Now I'm not saying I raise every suited connector or ever pair had.  It's also about position and if there was a raise ahead of me.  I could have 67 of spades on the button, but if there is a raise and a re-raise in front of me, I'll fold them.  Where as if i'm in the Higjack (HJ) the Cut Off (CO)  with 6s7s it folds to me, I'll rease 2.5x to 3x the big blind. 
• It hides your hand well
• If you raise preflop, many times people will automatically put you on some kind of an Ace.  This helps you if you flop an ace (AND ARE IN POSITION) and you don't have one.  Often times it will check to you and you almost always should bed..around the size of the pot.  Most often this bet will get through and you'll pick up those pots...and remember, they've been raised.
• Sometimes you're going to get credit for a strong hand when you're not.  So when a flop appears to miss your range actually HITS your range, it'll hit it hard.  I've stacked off people when I've raised with 6s4s from the cutoff and got few callers.  The flop went A 6 4.  I led with a small bet and was re-raised.  Turned a 4.  Villain goes all in with AJ and is out!  If you miss a flop and C bet bet gets called, you shut down.
• The real tricky spot is if you have big hand, say JJ+ or even AK and there is a raise in front of you.  This spot can be interesting to just flat a raise.  Generally speaking, if I'm in late position with a big hand and there's a raise in front of me, I'll re-raise.  With a middle hand 77-1010, AQ/AJ suited I'll probably flat, regardless of position.

Two hands to talk about today:

• I was in middle position with 50k or so and the blinds were 1k-2k
• I look down at 22
• The dude to my left only had 12k and I knew it was a matter of time before he tossed it in.  There were two pretty aggro players behind him, so in my mind, if I limp and he pushes, one of the two of them would likely re-raise to isolate with a wide range.
• I didn't like the spot so I folded.
• Dude pushed
• Aggro #1 re-reaised to 24k.  Aggro #2 tanked and folded.
• I felt proud of myself for a correct read
• A two came on the flop....crap.
• I actually would have boated and Aggro #2 would have picked up a set so I would have stacked the lot of them.
• I'm pretty sure if I raise pre-flop the short stack goes all in anyways (QQ).  This prices in the other two Aggros cause Aggro #1 doesn't re-raise (KQ).  The flop wask 2K7 so it would have cause me with a set, Aggro #1 with TP and a Middle pair with Aggro #2.  I'm pretty sure I better than triple up on that spot.  
• So, from a specific hand point of view, I should have played it.  From a read point of view, I was correct, so I think it's a good lay down over the long haul.

The last hand I want to think about is the last one I played:

• I was in the BB with ~80k. 
• Blinds were 4000-8000.  
• SB had me two to one in chips.
• I look down at KhQd.
• SB pops to 16k
• No history with this guy outside of the previous 10 or so hands.
• Seemed a bit aggressive, but that's more of an impression than anything.  He hadn't gotten out of line.
• I go all in for my final 73k.
• He thinks for about 5 seconds and calls with As10c.
• I flop a King.  He turns an Ace and I'm out.

So, things to think about:

• How often am I ahead there.
• Hands I Beat
• I think he raises EVER King he finds there, so I'm ahead of all those.
• I've got ALL those crushed...like almost 3 to 1.
• Same for hands like QJ, J10
• Hands I don't beat
• I think he takes a different line for AA, KK, QQ and maybe even AK.
• AQ will probably look the same.
• I think of those hands, AQ is most likely and puts me in a really bad spot.
• When I'm beat, I'm really beat.
• He also plays pretty much any Ace that way in that spot.
• That's where I was, and I'm a 3-2 dog in all these spots
• With my 8 and his 16 there is 24k in the pot.  In most spots, I'm getting called here I think so I've got 73k to win another 73 plus the 24k for 97k total.
• Races
• I'm pretty sure he makes the same play with 22 all the way to JJ.  He may do something a little different after that, but I'm racing all those hands.
• Put it all together:
• I'm ahead of a lot of his range. 3 to 1 ahead
• Crushed by a very little. 4 to 1 dog
• Behind by a good chunk. 3 to 2 dog
• Racing everything else. 50/50
• My conclusion was/is that overall that's a positive EV play to push here.
• On this hand specifically, the only think that makes me question is: If I flat call pre flop and push my last 68k on the flop, does he fold his Ace?  He may, so I may have won the hand if I had played it differently.  I'm for sure all in on the flop with TPSK and my chip stack.  I think he often calls me or pushes himself so I don't think it turns out different often.  I guess I could have folded, but that seems like a really tight fold in a Blind Battle.