Getting ready for a poker trip to Melbourne. Well, I have been to Melbourne once, but I didn't play poker there. As a matter of fact, I have played poker in Vegas, LA, Macau, Seoul, Manila, Cebu, Cambodia, Singapore, Bangkok, Sydney, Gold Coast, Christchurch, , Perth, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and of course Penang. But I haven't played in Melbourne.
What's more this trip is going to be the first time I am being staked 100%.
I am excited of the prospects of getting staked full time and travelling the world, adding to my repertoire of poker locations and stories. I need to do really well in this trip to impress my stakers and eventually I hope to be able to start a group of grinders, playing under a staking company, travelling around the world playing poker.
I heard that Melbourne is facing record low temperatures this week, the coldest in 18 years. I hope my deck is the opposite of that. Will keep you guys posted of my trip and results.
Friday 24 July 2015
Thursday 23 July 2015
Two big plays - Bluff and big laydown
Recently I played in a cash game, stakes was 5/5. A few players limped ahead of me and I was on the button with J5 suited and decided to make a play at it, I raised 8x to 40. (yes again our standard game open is like 6x or more, with limpers ahead I had to make it 8x) A few callers making the pot like close to 200.
Flop came:
Aggro player loves to steal big pots donk bets 140. Super tight rock limps behind. Action on me on the button. I had nothing. No flush draw, only a runner runner straight draw. Normally I would have given up on the hand but I felt that both players were weak. Aggro player can have anything, maybe a draw. I doubt I can push him off a flush draw, but JT or QT likely he might fold to a big raise. But mostly because the rock limped behind him. He has gotta be wary of that. But what can the rock hand? A king? Set or top two is in his range but he probably reraised the 140 by then. Ace king doesn't seem likely, so maybe a King with a redraw, possibly J clubs. I know in this situation I might be called down by a flush draw when even if they miss they might still be good. But somehow I had a read on this hand that they will fold to a raise to 415.
Aggro player tanks and folds, kept on eyeing the rock behind him. The rock also folds his weak King and giving me the pot of about 100 bbs.
Last night I was playing the same game when I had AKo on the straddle. 4 limpers and came back to me. I made it 10bb. (they limped 2bbs each). All 4 limpers called. Pot was 200. Flop came:
My AK looks in really good shape. I bet 140 into 200. Player on my left just calls, then the next guy tanked for a while then called. Throughout this whole time I studied them very hard. Something tells me it isn't right. Guy on my left looked really strong. His demeanour, breathing, everything. Turn came another deuce.
Ace king should still be good here if it were good on the flop. But I studied the players again and something felt off. Pot was 620. I had 290 left. It was a shove situation I feel. But something felt wrong so I just checked. Guy on my left bets 245. The other guy calls. I don't put them on the deuce. Maybe to some my AK is an easy fold, but they fold because the read the caller not the bettor. I felt the bettor was the stronger. Anyway I fold and it went to showdown and guy on my left showed AJ. The other guy mucked.
Flop came:
Aggro player loves to steal big pots donk bets 140. Super tight rock limps behind. Action on me on the button. I had nothing. No flush draw, only a runner runner straight draw. Normally I would have given up on the hand but I felt that both players were weak. Aggro player can have anything, maybe a draw. I doubt I can push him off a flush draw, but JT or QT likely he might fold to a big raise. But mostly because the rock limped behind him. He has gotta be wary of that. But what can the rock hand? A king? Set or top two is in his range but he probably reraised the 140 by then. Ace king doesn't seem likely, so maybe a King with a redraw, possibly J clubs. I know in this situation I might be called down by a flush draw when even if they miss they might still be good. But somehow I had a read on this hand that they will fold to a raise to 415.
Aggro player tanks and folds, kept on eyeing the rock behind him. The rock also folds his weak King and giving me the pot of about 100 bbs.
Last night I was playing the same game when I had AKo on the straddle. 4 limpers and came back to me. I made it 10bb. (they limped 2bbs each). All 4 limpers called. Pot was 200. Flop came:
My AK looks in really good shape. I bet 140 into 200. Player on my left just calls, then the next guy tanked for a while then called. Throughout this whole time I studied them very hard. Something tells me it isn't right. Guy on my left looked really strong. His demeanour, breathing, everything. Turn came another deuce.
Ace king should still be good here if it were good on the flop. But I studied the players again and something felt off. Pot was 620. I had 290 left. It was a shove situation I feel. But something felt wrong so I just checked. Guy on my left bets 245. The other guy calls. I don't put them on the deuce. Maybe to some my AK is an easy fold, but they fold because the read the caller not the bettor. I felt the bettor was the stronger. Anyway I fold and it went to showdown and guy on my left showed AJ. The other guy mucked.
Sunday 19 July 2015
What I have learned recently
Lately I was preparing for a day long poker class. This is the first time ever in my life I am charging for coaching poker. I put a lot of hours in preparing for the class and I found that I learned a lot myself.
1. Misdirection tells: I guess I was vaguely aware of this tell myself but didn't really pay much attention to it. However after some more observation I found that this tell is very accurate and best of all easy to spot.
Misdirection means that someone says something to explain the reason they bet or called as if to imply that what they have isn't that strong. However if you ask WHY they would do that, it would be very simple, either they are strong and want to feign weakness, or that are high level players that uses this tell in reserve. However knowing high level pros they would prefer to keep quiet that say anything, I doubt they would use this as a reverse tell.
2. Odds and price. I knew about pot odds and all that, but I got a really good refresher and it helped me to think about it in a new light. I understand the reason to take an aggressive line, because of 3 reasons.
i) Player might fold
ii) Even if villain calls you have a good price for your draw
iii) Even if villain reraises, your price is rarely bad
3. Purpose of raising preflop. As I was explaining the purpose of reraising preflop, I got a refresher and I liked the way I explained it. Purpose is 3 fold.
i) Chase away stupid hands that can outflop you
ii) Create Value so that you can have a good pot to win or bluff at
iii) Put callers on a range
Some bets can achieve all three, whereas some can only achieve 2. If your bet only achieves 1 of the 3 objectives, then you should review your bet sizing.
4. No mercy. This wasn't learned during the preparation of the course. It was one of the games I played during this week. I hit a big draw on a big pot. The other player was already down $5k plus for the night. I decided not to value bet him for his last $400. He said he would have called and most likely left for the night. He went on a crazy run and cashed out $6900 with his last $400, most of it was my money.
1. Misdirection tells: I guess I was vaguely aware of this tell myself but didn't really pay much attention to it. However after some more observation I found that this tell is very accurate and best of all easy to spot.
Misdirection means that someone says something to explain the reason they bet or called as if to imply that what they have isn't that strong. However if you ask WHY they would do that, it would be very simple, either they are strong and want to feign weakness, or that are high level players that uses this tell in reserve. However knowing high level pros they would prefer to keep quiet that say anything, I doubt they would use this as a reverse tell.
2. Odds and price. I knew about pot odds and all that, but I got a really good refresher and it helped me to think about it in a new light. I understand the reason to take an aggressive line, because of 3 reasons.
i) Player might fold
ii) Even if villain calls you have a good price for your draw
iii) Even if villain reraises, your price is rarely bad
3. Purpose of raising preflop. As I was explaining the purpose of reraising preflop, I got a refresher and I liked the way I explained it. Purpose is 3 fold.
i) Chase away stupid hands that can outflop you
ii) Create Value so that you can have a good pot to win or bluff at
iii) Put callers on a range
Some bets can achieve all three, whereas some can only achieve 2. If your bet only achieves 1 of the 3 objectives, then you should review your bet sizing.
4. No mercy. This wasn't learned during the preparation of the course. It was one of the games I played during this week. I hit a big draw on a big pot. The other player was already down $5k plus for the night. I decided not to value bet him for his last $400. He said he would have called and most likely left for the night. He went on a crazy run and cashed out $6900 with his last $400, most of it was my money.
Retreat to Bangkok
I wanted a few days off so I was deciding between Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok. KL and Bangkok offered poker games that I wanted because Singapore's main game is SGD5/10. KL to me is boring during the day but Singapore and Bangkok offered plenty of activities. Bangkok and KL are cheaper in regards to hotels and other expenses compared to Singapore so at the end I chose Bangkok.
First night I played poker at a local poker room. Friendly and fun poker. I was doing well until one hand I had kings and ran into aces. But after a while I grinded back to be down just 10k baht and called it a night.
Second night I ran really well and won about 40k baht. After a week away I miss the time in Bangkok. Very relaxed, the game was relatively stressless, wake up late, lunch and massage in the afternoon, nice street food and dinner in the evening.
All in all I would recommend going to Bangkok for poker. The poker scene is still illegal and they rooms are few, but the day activities make it a great spot to chill and grind. Great food, great shopping, the people are nice, every thing is very affordable. I much prefer grinding in Bangkok than Kuala Lumpur or Singapore or Manila.
This was a short trip, a bit of a retreat for myself and after deducting expenses, I am up RM 3k or thereabouts.
Wednesday 8 July 2015
Little Update
After several bad days, I finally have a good run again. I recently participated in a heads up challenge where I had to beat 3 players to win 8 times my money. The first time I put $400 on myself but lost in the second round. The second time I put $300 on myself and won all three so I got a $2100 profit but tipped the dealer $150. So far my heads up results this year is 7 wins, 3 losses.
Recently I played a hand in a cash game. Many questioned how I made the river call so let me explain it here. It may have looked like a fish call at the time, but I have every explanation in my analysis to justify my call.
I was in the hijack position and I looked down and saw AsJs
so I raised it to 5x. (yes our regular game 5x is a standard open). Button calls and a 2 others called. Flop came 3h4h4s
It was checked to me and for some reason I decided not to cbet this flop. I checked and button lead out with a pretty big bet, about 15 bbs. (3/4 of the pot) Everyone else folded, I decided to just call. This guy called my preflop raise of 5bbs, unlikely he called me with a 4. Maybe A4, 45, but other 4s seem unlikely. If he hit the 3, I have 2 overs and maybe redraws on the turn. If he had a flush draw or straight draw, I am still ahead. He may have an overpair like 6s, 7s, even 10s, but I called. Turn was 9c
The 9 looks like a blank, doesn't complete any draws, but it doesn't improve my hand either, so I checked. He checked back. I now can safely eliminate 4 as a possible hand. 3 maybe, 6s-8s looks possible, 10s or better unlikely, 9s maybe check the house on the turn. Flush draw straight draw looks possible. Then river comes Ts
Recently I played a hand in a cash game. Many questioned how I made the river call so let me explain it here. It may have looked like a fish call at the time, but I have every explanation in my analysis to justify my call.
I was in the hijack position and I looked down and saw AsJs
so I raised it to 5x. (yes our regular game 5x is a standard open). Button calls and a 2 others called. Flop came 3h4h4s
It was checked to me and for some reason I decided not to cbet this flop. I checked and button lead out with a pretty big bet, about 15 bbs. (3/4 of the pot) Everyone else folded, I decided to just call. This guy called my preflop raise of 5bbs, unlikely he called me with a 4. Maybe A4, 45, but other 4s seem unlikely. If he hit the 3, I have 2 overs and maybe redraws on the turn. If he had a flush draw or straight draw, I am still ahead. He may have an overpair like 6s, 7s, even 10s, but I called. Turn was 9c
The 9 looks like a blank, doesn't complete any draws, but it doesn't improve my hand either, so I checked. He checked back. I now can safely eliminate 4 as a possible hand. 3 maybe, 6s-8s looks possible, 10s or better unlikely, 9s maybe check the house on the turn. Flush draw straight draw looks possible. Then river comes Ts
To me another blank unless he had 10s, but I already determined it was unlikely he had that hand. I was thinking maybe I can lead out and get a 3 to fold. Maybe even 6s-8s. If he given up on the draw he will fold them to me. And in case he was drawing with AhQh or AhKh, I can push him off the hand. So I bet out about 60% of the pot with 4 times that left in my stack. After a few seconds he asked me how much I had and shoved all in. What do I do? I don't think he has the 4. I don't think he would do that with 6s-8s. Only possible hand was nines full or busted draw. I studied his posture, his demeanour and speech. Didn't look super strong. Now my only concern was did he have AQh or AKh. I decided that if he had those hands he mostly would have reraised preflop. AJ should be good enough. I called and to everyone's amazement I showed the AJ and it was a good call. He showed Q6h. A reraise on the river looks really strong, but the story didn't make sense unless it was the 9s. I went with my read and won a hand I shouldn't have.
Lately I am also preparing for a one day course I am conducting in two weeks time. I really enjoy coaching people in poker. I get to improve as I prepare the materials myself. I should go to bed soon. I rare day I can sleep before 4am. Good night.
Saturday 4 July 2015
Ten "Commandments" of Poker 2 - You shall not make idols
Well continuing on my series on the play of words from the actual Ten Commandments, number two is Thou shall not make idols and I use it literally in the sense of poker.
I have seen too many aspiring poker players idolize a certain big name, Ivey, Dwan, Negreanu, etc etc. It is great to watch them play, learn from them, analyse their play, and read their books or blogs. But it is another thing to idolize them. These guys are great poker players, but they are not gods. Dressing like them, doing chip tricks, talk like them, placing your chips like them doesn't make you good. Some newbie players take their sweet time making simple decisions because it looked cool on TV. Sure, Durrr needs 2 minutes to think about the leveling on a half-a-million dollar pot, his brain churning inside trying to get every bit of info from his opponent during that time. But come on, $2 to call or not to call preflop with pocket fives, it ain't cool.
Negreanu is my favourite player. But when he was younger, his bankroll management was *$%@. Sorry Daniel, I love you but it is true. He had only about 3000 in his bankroll but went to play a $2500 buy in tournament where he won and became who he is today. Imagine if he didn't cash that day, how he would have ended up. But those who idolize him follow in his footsteps of crap shooting with money they don't have. We should learn his amazing reading skills, his way of playing the players, his hand analysis process, etc.
Some people idolize online phenoms like Isildur who rose to fame and fortune in a short period of time grinding from small stakes to be one of the highest earning, most feared online player. But not many have seen his decline and what I call self-implosion after a bad run of results. Sure he is a great player if not he wouldn't have gotten to where he is or was. Learning from them, their successes and mistakes is one thing, but to idolize them and think that you can follow in their footsteps all the way doesn't work. Isildur can pull off major bluffs because he has that level of thinking, the history with the opponent. A recent event in one of my friend's poker room, there is a newbie who saw someone call down a pot with K high and won. Since then he tried to call down pots with K high but to no success. This I call idolizing. He thought wow, how can this guy call down with K and win. I want to emulate that. But it is not as simple as just following what you see. There are so many other things you don't see.
Anyway, this post is kinda a blah post. But thanks for reading anyways.
I have seen too many aspiring poker players idolize a certain big name, Ivey, Dwan, Negreanu, etc etc. It is great to watch them play, learn from them, analyse their play, and read their books or blogs. But it is another thing to idolize them. These guys are great poker players, but they are not gods. Dressing like them, doing chip tricks, talk like them, placing your chips like them doesn't make you good. Some newbie players take their sweet time making simple decisions because it looked cool on TV. Sure, Durrr needs 2 minutes to think about the leveling on a half-a-million dollar pot, his brain churning inside trying to get every bit of info from his opponent during that time. But come on, $2 to call or not to call preflop with pocket fives, it ain't cool.
Negreanu is my favourite player. But when he was younger, his bankroll management was *$%@. Sorry Daniel, I love you but it is true. He had only about 3000 in his bankroll but went to play a $2500 buy in tournament where he won and became who he is today. Imagine if he didn't cash that day, how he would have ended up. But those who idolize him follow in his footsteps of crap shooting with money they don't have. We should learn his amazing reading skills, his way of playing the players, his hand analysis process, etc.
Some people idolize online phenoms like Isildur who rose to fame and fortune in a short period of time grinding from small stakes to be one of the highest earning, most feared online player. But not many have seen his decline and what I call self-implosion after a bad run of results. Sure he is a great player if not he wouldn't have gotten to where he is or was. Learning from them, their successes and mistakes is one thing, but to idolize them and think that you can follow in their footsteps all the way doesn't work. Isildur can pull off major bluffs because he has that level of thinking, the history with the opponent. A recent event in one of my friend's poker room, there is a newbie who saw someone call down a pot with K high and won. Since then he tried to call down pots with K high but to no success. This I call idolizing. He thought wow, how can this guy call down with K and win. I want to emulate that. But it is not as simple as just following what you see. There are so many other things you don't see.
Anyway, this post is kinda a blah post. But thanks for reading anyways.
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