My 2013 WSOP Adventure

My 2013 World Series Of Poker Adventure.

I opted not to write this up immediately after the event, deciding instead to enjoy the rest of my time in Vegas without obsessing over what I could have done differently.  Instead I drank way too much and got way to little sleep.   Combine that with over 8 hours over poker played on Saturday and there's a pretty good chance that I'm not going to remember most of the specifics of any one hand, but I can still give you an idea of how it went down.

The Beginning.

The tourney started off slow.  In what I think was a legitimate trend and not just me bitching, I card dead for most of the tourney.  I don't think I've seen as many 53o in my life.  Just to extra frustrating the flop kept hitting the garbage that I was mucking pre-flop.  If I  ever got some semi decent cards that I might consider taking a shot at I would either be under the gun, or someone would raise ahead of me.  I was intentionally playing tight so I stayed out of those hands as well.  My goal, and I think I was successful at it was to not have to make any difficult decisions.  Make enough difficult decisions and sooner or later you'll get one wrong, which often means the end of your tourney.   Its a bit a of a catch 22.  I don't usually like to start playing random hands until I win a few, just to get in a poker rhythm, but I can't get into that rhythm without playing hands.

So I stuck with the conservative play style and focused on analyzing the other players at the table. On a side note, I'm not the best at reading players by any means, but I at least try to pay attention to what is going on so I can learn a little bit about my opponent's tendencies.  Half the table was on their iPhone whenever they weren't in the hand.  If you're going to invest $1500 in a tournament I would think you would do more to make sure you were in it as long as possible.

So where was I?  Ah yes, card dead.  I won my first hand 50 minutes into level one.  Fortunately I hadn't played many so I was still around the starting stack size.  I didn't win my second hand until halfway through the second round.  This time it was big one.  I Ah9h and the flop was all hearts.  The guy across from me makes small bet and I call.   He's been playing a lot of hands, and been up and down.  I don't think he's much of a threat. The turn is another heart.  He bets again and I call.  He takes a third stab at the pot and I raise.  He goes all in.  When I call he says the ace is good, he has the queen.  I'm up to about 6.5K from a start of about 4.5K.


Midgame

I chipped up gradually winning a hand or two an hour.   Three big hands come to mind.

First I get to see a flop with KQo and find myself looking back at an ace, and two more kings.   Relatively new player across from me calls my medium sized bet.  I don't have a great read on him, but my initial impression is that he was a pretty good player.  I'm definitely concerned that he has AK.  The turn shows he does not as it beings the case king.  I bet again thinking he's probably got an ace and isn't putting me on a king, he reluctantly calls.  He checks on the river and I make what I think ends up being the perfect bet.  I want to say it was about 1.2K into a 2-3K pot.  It would leave the loser of the hand with enough chips not quite be in all-in or nothing mode, but only barely.    I say it was a perfect bet though because he sat and thought about it for at least a few minutes before finally calling.  I think any more and he is able to lay it down, and any less and I would have lets some on the table.   I'm up to about 10.5K now.

My next big hand I get to see a cheap flop with A5s.  I flop a flush draw, and pick up a straight draw on the turn.  The guy next to me, who has been fairly aggressive all day bets on both streets.  He makes a large bet on river as I complete my straight.  I think about it for a while trying to figure out if there is any way he can have a better straight.  While possible, it doesn't seem likely at all.  I call  and he  mucks his hand before I take my hands off my chips.

The last big hand before the dinner break isn't all that dramatic.  I have pocket aces, and the small stack raises preflop.  I re-raise about half his stack and he pushes.  He fails to improve before and I'm up to about 14K before dinner.  I'm the chip leader at the table.

We had been playing the featured table room, and they had started breaking down the tables and moving the remaining players in to the other room.  The get to my table just before dinner.  I only play a few hands at the new table before it too is broken up.

Now that I think about it, I lied, there was one other big hand that I played just before the dinner break.   I have 56o in the big blind and for some reason a bunch of people limp into the pot.  I pick up an open ended straight draw on an otherwise uninteresting flop.  I hit an 8 high straight on the turn, and the small blind bets into me.  I raise, and he calls.  Everyone else drops out.  The river is a rag and the small blind bets again.  I make a big raise and he calls.  I'm already counting my chips and thinking how I'm in great shape to make it through the day.  And then he turns over 56 for a chop.  So I won a bunch of antes and my blinds.

The End

Things just didn't go very well for me at the new table.  Now that I'm thinking about, breaking up the tables was probably the worst thing to happen to me.  I was happy at the time when we broke because there were some solid players at my table that I didn't mind getting away from, but I also had been playing with many of them for five hours and I had good reads on them.  I had to start over at the new table.

I lost my first  big hand of the night with pocket jacks.  I raise preflop and get a couple of callers.  The flop is 7 or 8 high with two spades.  The short stack pushes all in and I call. He has two spades and rivers his flush to double up and knock me down to 10K.  Not much I can do there.

After that the blinds and ante's just start to hurt.  I'm able to steal them occasionally to stop the bleeding, but I'm still not playing many hands and certainly not winning any big ones.    A few missed flops here and there and the worst single play of my tournament and I'm down to 6.5k at the end of the eighth blind level

What was the worst play you ask?  I have AJs in late position.  Easily the best starting hand I've had in an hour if not longer.    I raise and get three callers.   The flop is rags, 2,3,7 or something similar, and it checks around.  The turn is a four and again checks for all.   The river brings my ace.  Short stack across from me makes a pot sized bet.  The next guy calls.    I distinctly remember thinking to myself that an ace on the river might not be good for me because it straight way to easy.  I'm thinking short stack has a pair of fives.  Based on his conversations with another guy at the table I think he's at least a semi-pro, and he's been battling back from nothing ever since I joined the table.  The only thing that makes sense for him is a pocket fives.  It can't be a bluff because you have to figure at least one of the three other guys has an ace and might call.   He also played pretty passively early on in the hand so I'm thinking he doesn't have me out kicked if he does have an ace.

The second guy I'm not as concerned with.  I haven't seen him play a ton, but he's been pretty loose,  I put him on an ace at best I'm thinking I also have him out kicked.    So I talk myself into calling.  There are so many chips in the pot that I start thinking about how much better off I'll be after claiming them. And I call like an idiot.  The fourth guy in the hand folds.

So small stack turns over 56s.  I never would have put him on that.  I can't see him calling a preflop raise with that and so little chips to spare.    But it doesn't matter because he still had the straight that I thought he was going to turn over.  And just to add to it, the other guy had what I put him on.  An ace with a weaker kicker than I had.   Of coarse his kicker was a two which gave him two pair, so even if the short stack was bluffing I'd have lost the hand.  Uhg.

My only excuse is that it was still the best hand I'd seen in a while, and by this point in the tourney I was starting to get mentally fatigued.  I wasn't paying as much attention to the action when I wasn't in the hand, and was having a little trouble concentrating in general.  Still it was a bad call and I knew it and I paid the price.

By level nine the blinds are up to 300/600 with a 75 ante.  A half our of that without doing more than stealing the blinds and antes maybe once and I'm down to about 4.5k.  I get A9s in late position.  The guy with two pair from the last hand limps.  I make a bigger than usual raise hoping to grab a nice sized pot pre-flop, but he calls.  The flop has two of my suit and we check it down.  The turn is an ace .  He checks, I bet he calls.  The turn is a harmless three.  Not my suit.    He goes all in.  He has me covered.  I don't buy it.  If he has something why try to push me out?  If he has something why not make a bet I can call, or let me bet and then raise me?  I call and he turns over A3.  He rivered his second pair while avoiding the one in my suit.  I stare it in shock for a few seconds and then its good luck guys, see you next year.

In hindsight this was also a terrible call.   I should have folded and left myself to fight another day.  I also probably should have pushed all-in on the flop.  I had a ton of outs plus some fold equity that probably would have won the pot for me there.  A little too passive I think.

I had a blast playing and I'm pretty proud of how well I did, but I can't decide if more frustrated that I went out so early last year, or that I lasted so long with nothing to show for it this time.

Other Notes

Rich, from the poker league went out towards the end of level 5.  I thought some of my other friends gamble a lot, but he's crazy.  The night before the WSOP when I went to bed to get some so that I would be well rested for the next day, he went to play some poker to warm up.  He then played some blackjack and eventually found himself at a craps table.  Until seven in the morning.   We got up at nine so that we'd have enough time to eat and get over the Rio to register before it started at noon.  I don't think he spent more than ten waking minutes without gambling, with the exception of when we would take a break to eat.  And he did really well too.  Except for the most brutal craps table I've ever seen that we had the misfortune of playing on Saturday morning.

Aaron, also from our poker group won over $1000 making $5 bets on video roulette.   For most of the 11+ hours that I was at the Rio, he was playing roulette.  They display some statistics about hot and cold numbers and the percentage of odd/even black/red and his strategy was to take the coldest number and bet it until it hits.  Mathematically irrelevant but in practice at least this time, very effective.  While playing roulette for that long he managed to skip dinner and consume many many free drinks. Shortly thereafter he would disappear and not reappear until 7 the next morning.  He vaguely recalls hitting a bar in Ceasars and then their poker room, but can't remember most of what happened during that time.  He slept most of Saturday recovering.

Craftsteak at the MGM Grand.  If you're into that sort of thing, and money is no object you can get the best steak you will ever have.  Jason was determined to have their Japanese Wygu (sp?) steak.  The rest of us just wanted a good steak.  A good steak was $50.  The American Wygo was $120.  The Japanese was $200.  The tasting menu for the Japanese was $275.   I normally would consider going all out for the expensive stake here, but I'm a little shell shocked in the wallet department from my WSOP loss and the other failed gambling of the weekend.  I also don't think that I'll be able to tell the difference.  I'm not enough of a connoisseur where I think I'll be able to tell the difference between a really high quality steak and a really really high quality steak.  I was wrong.   Jason and Rich got the tasting while Aaron and I got what we later termed peasant steaks.   Jason and Rich gave us a taste of their steak and I think it has ruined every other steak that I will ever eat.  It literally melted in your mouth.  There was the perfect amount of marbling where the flavor couldn't have been any more perfect, but at the same time, it wasn't overly fatty.

The Stage Door Casino.  You know that shitty looking bar/liquor store/Casino just off the strip between the Flamingo and Bally's? The one that looks like you'll get stabbed if you go near it?  That place is awesome.  Sunday night around two in the morning there actually isn't that much to do, even in Vegas.  Not as many  clubs or bars are open and they close earlier.  No shows, not very many people , its basically gambling or nothing.   So we went there.  Three of us had three or four rounds of drinks and it cost us $21.  less than a single round just about anywhere else on the strip.  And Jason won $30 playing video poker.

So that's my 2013 WSOP adventure.  Hopefully I'll be back next year.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Online Poker is Legal...

... In Nevada.

Just in case you haven't heard by now, Nevada has become the first US state to legalize online poker.  Once they saw that New Jersey was poised to legalize it Nevada fast tracked their bill so that they could be the first, lest someone confuse New Jersey with the gambling hub of America.  Personally I find it hilarious that these two states have some sort of feud going on.

I didn't think we'd see online gambling in the US for many years to come. With so many other pressing issues, I didn't thing politicians on the federal level would be interested in a potentially controversial law until it had overwhelming support. Honestly, It probably has overwhelming support now, but those against can be loud enough to scare away most politicians.


When the Poker Player's Alliance recently decided to abandon their efforts federally to focus on state by state, I didn't really pay much attention, but I think that's the way to go.  Follow the model Gay Marraige, and Marijuana legalization where you get a few states to legalize it, then let the public see that the end of the world doesn't occur, and then add more and more states, until the federal law is practically a moot point.

Now I just have to hope that Illinois gets in line soon. Or for Nevada to allow out of state participants.

Here's an article on the law.  I'm sure google has more, but I'm too lazy to look for them for you.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Sen Reid to Introduce Online Poker Legalization Bill?

There's a story on the Wall Street Journal about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) potentially introducing a bill that would legalize online poker. Read the story for more details.


Some notes and thoughts:

I don't foresee this passing anytime soon. They are currently in a lame duck session of congress, with republicans to control the house shortly and republicans in the senate digging in their heels in regards to passing any legislation, let alone something that they've been against for so long.

Its interesting that the Nevada casinos seem to be behind this. I was under the impression that they were against online gambling and felt it might dilute their brand. Why fly all the way to Vegas when you can gamble from the comfort of your living room? (Because Vegas is awesome, that's why.)

The article mentions that there may be a rider that only established casinos (B & M I assume) to operate online for the first two years. The cynic in me says this is because those casinos helped him survive a close election a month ago and this is payback. Although since these casinos don't already have poker software I would think they might struggle to compete with existing sites like FullTilt and PokerStars.

I wonder if Harrahs or some other casino would buy or partner with an existing site to get their player base? FullTilt poker brought to you by Harrahs, or MGM Online Poker powered by PokerStars? I wonder how much money it would take for the existing sites to make that deal. If the commissions I earn on the few referrals I've made are any indication, those site's aren't exactly in need of a lot of cash. Speaking of which, have you tried FullTilt or PokerStars recently? You should. You should also use bonus code POKERWORDS or click on the links above.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Vegas Baby

So, I got back from Las Vegas a few days ago. Just it time for my semi-annual blog post.

First off, let me say that Sports Betting sucks. It makes games that I would normally enjoy stressful because not only does my team need to win, they have to do it by +X points. I put a few wagers down on college games. I not big into college football, but I was leaving Sunday before the NFL games finish so it would have to do.

I $100 on my Illini -7 vs Northern Ill. Northern Ill is decent for a directional school, the Illini are usually in the bottom of the Big 10, but this was a game they should have easily won by more than 7. They won by 6 after giving up a field goal in the last minute of the game. So rather than being happy because Illinois gets a rare win, I'm pissed because I'm out $100.

I then put $40 on Michigan State -3.5 over Notre Dame because fuck Notre Dame. Of coarse MSU only wins by 3, so again I'm happy they lost, but pissed because I'm out more cash. Finally sticking with my Big 10, I took Iowa over Arizona in a pickem. I thought Iowa was supposed to be in the national championship conversation so they should at least be able to beat Arizona, even on the road. Yeah, Not so much. I also tried a three team parlay with Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa. Nebraska is the only team that held up its end of the bargain. I knew I should have bet on them too.

Ok enough bitching. On to the good stuff. Poker.


I actually played some poker for the first time in months. Friday afternoon I tried out Caesar's $70 NL Holdem tournament. About 50-60 people played, I don't remember exactly. I ended up busting out around 25-30, but I had blast. I didn't realize how much I miss playing cards.

The people in the tournament were not good. It was frustrating that I didn't do very well. I started off the tournament being loose and aggressive and stealing a lot of pots that no seemed all that interested in. There weren't any players at my table that I was scared of, just a lot of loose passive calling stations.

I got into trouble with a K7 or K something and a weak kicker. I paired the king on the flop, but there were two hearts on the board. A little worried about the flush draw I tried to chase people out, but got one caller. A third heart came on the turn and again he called my bet. We checked down the river and he had a king with a better kicker.

Shortly after that, I had pocket 7s and one caller. The turn paired the board with a king. The river paired the board with a 9 and counterfeited my hand, forcing me to fold to his weak bet.

Shortly thereafter I was in all-in or nothing mode. I hung on for a while, picking up a blind here and there, but ultimately got caught and that was that. Like I said I had blast playing, but I was still pretty frustrated with the result. I felt like if I had played a little tighter and smarter I could have easily won that thing. So I decided to try again Saturday.

The Saturday noon tourney cost a little more at $85, but you got $T7500 chips to start instead of $3500 as the day before.

I was intentionally going to play this tourney a lot tighter than the day before, figuring that with the extra chips I could afford to wait for a big hand to take advantage of. No need to put my self at risk unnecessarily. The cards and the people at my table helped out with this strategy quite a bit.

For almost the entire tournament, no matter which table I was moved to there was a loose aggressive player or sometimes two with a big chip stack immediately to my left. For most of the tournament I was somewhat afraid to raise pre-flop because I expected a call and didn't want to have to play for a big pot without a premium hand. Also most of the players in this tournament seemed to be better than those who played the previous day.

Did I also mention that my cards were terrible? The ante's kicked after the first break at level 4. Normally I would have loved that because I think I'm usually better than the average player at stealing pots pre-flop. Most players don't take the ante's into account so stealing a pot becomes much more profitable.

I couldn't get a hand. I would decide that I need to steal a pot pre-flop and then not be able to pull the trigger because I would have a terrible hand, or someone else would put in a big bet.

I spent most of the tourney more or less within a big blind of whatever the average chip count was at the time. There was a big tourney board that listed the blinds, and players remaining, and average chip stack and I was always right there in the middle. I would fold for a few orbits, then steal some blinds, then fold for an orbit, then win a pot with a continuation bet on the flop. I won just enough to keep me in the game, but nothing more.

When we got down to three tables, I think my luck started to change. I got a pair of aces and had a short stack go all-in ahead of me. That gave me enough chips to move into more of a bully role, and I was finally able to start playing more aggressively and push people off hands.


The problem with a noon tournament is that I didn't really eat before hand. I had a chocolate chip muffin and a coffee for breakfast, but that was it. I don't think the Red Bulls and Vodkas I was drinking were very nutritious. There was a nearby restaurant that catered to the poker room, but I didn't really want to be eating while playing. During the third break I went to looking for one of the convenience store like shops to grab a candy bar or something, but I got a little lost in the casino and by the time I found the place the break was almost up. So I had to wait until the next break. By the end of the tournament, in addition to my small breakfast I had only eaten a nutra grain bar and a snickers bar and about 10 Red Bull and Vodkas. The diet of true athlete.

When we combined down to two tables, I again got moved immediately in front of the two biggest stacks at the table. The guy to my left seemed like a pretty solid player from the few hands I had played against him at an earlier table. The girl to his left was the chip leader.


I got a second pair of aces, and again had someone go all-in ahead of me, moving me into second place at the table, with most people being pretty short stacked. I got a little reckless and called an all in with KT or something weak like that. I had tried to steal a medium/small stack's blind and when he pushed back I assumed it was only out of desperation. He had AT, and knocked me back to the pack. I was again at the point where one wrong move would knock me out of the tournament, and after almost four hours of play, having nothing to show would have sucked. That thought was certainly in the back of my mind.

I was almost upset when I got AQ on the button. I was missing the crappy hands I got in the beginning of the tourney that were easy folds. I needed some other people to go out to get my confidence back up a bit. I was not to thrilled when the guy to my right called, and especially worried when I completely missed the flop. Alls well that ends well though as I made a large continuation bet and after thinking for way too long he folds.

I'm back into a comfortable chip count.

A few hands later I get wired eights and make a standard raise. The guy to my right calls, saying it was the last time I would he was going to do that, or something to that effect. The flop is glorious. K84. I make a small bet and he pushes all in. I insta-call and suddenly I'm the chip leader at the table.

Things were pretty undramatic from my point of view from that point on. We condensed down to the final table and two people went out rather quickly to the tournament chip leader. When I got to the table he probably had double my chips. after knocking out two people I think he had more chips than the rest of us combined. He was also looking and acting very stressed and brain fried.

The tourney paid seven, so when we got down to 8 someone suggested that we all chip in $5 for the bubble so they don't leave completely empty handed. It ended up being the girl who was two to my left from the previous table. Her formerly mosterous chips stack had slowly dwindled down to nothing. I don't know how she got that many chips to start with, but she played too tight and folded to easily to stick around at those blind/ante levels.

So I made the money, and was in pretty good shape to finish near the top.

And then over the coarse of like seven hands, the chip leader eliminated four more players. And just like that we were down to three. I didn't need to worry about the short stacks sticking around and doubling each other up. They kept pushing in and he kept getting cards.

He says the third place guy and I should chop and just let him win. Its not fair how good cards have been. I think was being honest, not trying to be a d-bag. I told him I'd just let him eliminate the other guy and then take my chances heads up.

One or two hands into three way action I get QQ and the short stack pushes all in with a AJ or AT, a high ace. Fortunately the big stack folds, and the other guy doesn't hit his ace, so were heads up.

I jokingly ask if he wants a 50/50 chop. He has more physical chips than I do, and his are the orange $T10,000 chips while mine are mostly the blue $T5000 or white $T1000. For some reason, he agrees, as long as he gets an extra $50. 2nd paid a little less than $800 and first a little more that $1300. a 50/50 split came down to $1080 each, so we just rounded down so I got $1000 and he got the rest. It was about $50 less than we had agreed to, but it made the math easy and I still felt like I was getting a steal. I'd like to think that I could have taken him heads up, but for an extra $250 or so, why take the risk. Plus its nice to say I won a grand playing poker.

I think I actually left Vegas with more cash than I started with, even taking into account all of the fancy restaurants that we went to, and the Cirque-du-Solei show we say. All in all. Good trip.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Heartland Poker Tour Take Two

You'll never believe what I did today. I played poker! More poker than I've played in the last five or six months combined. Of coarse that translates to about 15 minutes and maybe 12 hands, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I had to go to a client in Indiana today, and about halfway between my house and there is the Majestic Star Casino, home of a Heartland Poker Tour event. Last time the tour came through I wasn't able to make it, but a number of friends went to the first round satellites and qualified with ease. My plan was to get there around 5:00, place in either the $105 or $150 satellite and then play in the $440 at 7:00.

I did manage to get there around five despite the Indians Highway constructions best effort to reroute me to Ohio or Michigan. I was sixth on the list for the $150, but the other four people didn't sign up until almost 6:00.

Here's an observation. Casinos in Vegas = Fun and Exciting, even when killing time waiting for a table to open up. Casinos in Indiana. Sad, Dirty and Pathetic.

On the plus side I turned a dollar into a fat two dollars and twenty cents playing five cent video poker. That's 120% ROI. Beat that. I forgot to turn in the ticket though, so I might as well have lost, but that's not the point.

So the tourney finally starts around 6:00. Little to no chance it will be done in time for the 7:00 qualifier. We get T$1700 with blinds starting at T$25/T$50 and going up every 10 minutes. You basically get one chance to win a pot otherwise your out.

I think eight of my ten hands in the first orbit were K and something in the range of 2-6 offsuit. I'm not trying to complain about my cards, but it was odd that I had King almost every hand.

In the little I saw, the players weren't as terrible as I had been led to believe, but they made up for by being annoying. There were a few of the same players in most pots and they felt the need to give us a play-by-play of each hand. Even when they weren't in a hand they had to tell everyone what they would have gotten. Just shut and play. Is that too much to ask?

I hadn't put in a chip other than the blinds until the hand I went out. I had AKo in late position with a limper or two. I put in a big raise and the BB went all in over the top. She was one of the play-by-play analyzers and had already gone all in with weaker aces, and just complained about how she should have gone with her gut when she folded QKs to two all-ins, and AK and AQ. She would have flopped a flush.

So anyway, I thought there was a pretty good chance I was ahead and I was pot committed regardless. Of coarse she had aces. So I'm out third. I'm also reasonably confident that I could have just folded every hand and made it into the next round. Or at least to 4-5 where I could have played the all-in or nothing game.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com