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The devil's in the lack of detail - A blog
Suicide Engineering
A long time ago, I used to work for the machining department of a local railway company. As you can probably gather, in engineering, the work was all about standards, drawings, working to clear definite instructions. Naturally, to make money, jobs quoted for required rigorous assessment of costings and the ability to produce the item. When times were hard, one of the department's managers (there were a few through the years) decided to take on any job, at any price, to keep the department in existence. Hence the department's nickname at the time 'Suicide Engineering'.
What has this to do with poker ?, you may ask.
Well, as a newcomer to the game (didn't I mention that ? Oh, you've heard that a thousand times. You want something different than a bio you couldn't give a 'meh' about), what I wanted was a list of definitive rules to follow to make me a better player. Some standards were available everywhere. Don't limp in. Raise three times the big blind. Bet your house on big pairs. Position is key. Only bet within your range. Easy. Follow the rules and the big time is assured.
Hmmm. Life is never that easy. You follow these, and other associated rules to the letter and you will lose. Remember, you are playing other people, all of who are looking for an edge. Every single one is like a little codebreaker, trying to break your playing code. If your code only contains three or four dictums (one for Tikay), you'll be sunk faster than a u-boat sporting christmas lights and an oversize mankini.
This is where suicide engineering comes in. Sometimes you have to mix it up and forget the rules, just to keep the sniffer dogs off your trail. Now, I could tell you ways to do this, but you could probably figure them out for yourself. However, one that I do use, is to play a couple of loose hands and no matter whether I win or lose, I then go tight. This stops me throwing too many chips away, by continuing with poor hands. Also, if I then hit a great hand, the rest of the table won't know if I'm playing loose or not, (note: try to avoid going all-in when playing loose hands). As the blog title says, there will be a lack of detail in here. I don't want you to take all MY money, especially when so many other players are already relying on it.
As for suicide engineering, they are still in existence and have been back doing a proper 'tight' job for the last 19 years. Maybe that manager was a poker player ?
This is my first blog post. There may be more. Don't leave the country.
A long time ago, I used to work for the machining department of a local railway company. As you can probably gather, in engineering, the work was all about standards, drawings, working to clear definite instructions. Naturally, to make money, jobs quoted for required rigorous assessment of costings and the ability to produce the item. When times were hard, one of the department's managers (there were a few through the years) decided to take on any job, at any price, to keep the department in existence. Hence the department's nickname at the time 'Suicide Engineering'.
What has this to do with poker ?, you may ask.
Well, as a newcomer to the game (didn't I mention that ? Oh, you've heard that a thousand times. You want something different than a bio you couldn't give a 'meh' about), what I wanted was a list of definitive rules to follow to make me a better player. Some standards were available everywhere. Don't limp in. Raise three times the big blind. Bet your house on big pairs. Position is key. Only bet within your range. Easy. Follow the rules and the big time is assured.
Hmmm. Life is never that easy. You follow these, and other associated rules to the letter and you will lose. Remember, you are playing other people, all of who are looking for an edge. Every single one is like a little codebreaker, trying to break your playing code. If your code only contains three or four dictums (one for Tikay), you'll be sunk faster than a u-boat sporting christmas lights and an oversize mankini.
This is where suicide engineering comes in. Sometimes you have to mix it up and forget the rules, just to keep the sniffer dogs off your trail. Now, I could tell you ways to do this, but you could probably figure them out for yourself. However, one that I do use, is to play a couple of loose hands and no matter whether I win or lose, I then go tight. This stops me throwing too many chips away, by continuing with poor hands. Also, if I then hit a great hand, the rest of the table won't know if I'm playing loose or not, (note: try to avoid going all-in when playing loose hands). As the blog title says, there will be a lack of detail in here. I don't want you to take all MY money, especially when so many other players are already relying on it.
As for suicide engineering, they are still in existence and have been back doing a proper 'tight' job for the last 19 years. Maybe that manager was a poker player ?
This is my first blog post. There may be more. Don't leave the country.
Comments
Building your stack – MTT's aren't everything
I remember the first time I cashed in an MTT (It was seven pence on 13th November 2014). I wanted the money right there in my hand. I was practically a professional poker player. It didn't matter that I'd already spent £3.65 to actually get it.
However, to get that seven pence, I'd been making the classic newbie mistake. Once I'd got my starting stack, I hung on to it tight. With luck, by the time the blinds had eaten into it, I would have made it to a paying position. In my case, at the rate of three and a half pence an hour. Not sure that it has been increased in line with inflation, post budget.
I was in a pickle. To win any money (every poker players goal, except for Monty Brewster, naturally) I had to be a NIT (it stands for something, but layman's terms means as tight as an aerosol can, which is pressurised). I could never go all-in and could never bluff. One bad play and nearly two hours could be down the pipe. The only snag was, although my stack was slow to go down, it was slow to go up too. I could barely manage to keep it at starting level, even with the odd winning hand.
Then I had a eureka moment. I'm not sure how it came about. It may have even been mentioned on Sky Poker TV via subliminal messaging. Even Tikay may have mentioned it. He may have not, but I've decided to include him in all my blogs. I bit like a watermark. I digress, ah yes, the eureka moment. 'If you want to get used to cashing, play sit 'n go DYM's'. That's 'double your money', to you and me. For me, that seemed a bit too much like 'proper poker'. There may be etiquette and things like that to consider. I had recently got the feeling that poker, certainly in the past, had been a bit like the tour de France. Not the drugs bit, but things like waiting on the yellow jersey, if he had to take a comfort break. Not sure if that applies to the chip leader?
Either way, I decided to jump straight in. It only cost thirty pence at the lower level, and the last three players remaining all cash in. It was a breath of fresh air. Especially the turbo version. I was having to risk all my chips to stay in. And unbelievably, sometimes I won. In fact, with the right hands, I won a few times. Only variance was now my enemy (I'll explain that one in a later blog, it involves dark matter and other technical stuff). And if I did lose, I'd only lost 12 minutes. Also, stack sizes now mattered. Players were doubling up, crashing and wait for it, playing poker.
All of a sudden, I was out of a rut. I could actually build my stack. A knock-on effect was my average spending (that is the 'true' value, and not the one I disclose to the taxman or my wife) had changed in an instant from losing five pounds a week, to actually making money. Okay, the figure was only shrapnel but a profit is a profit.
The acid test was, had all this practice at 'proper' poker made me a better player? A point to remember is, I am the fishiest fish of a player. I still have to think about which hand beats which once we get past two pair. However, on 14th March, I came first in a satellite for entry to the £3.2k Vegas Qtr Tournament. I think the cash value was £17. A feat previously unheard of. Certainly by my neighbours, who became only too aware of it at 5.33pm that evening.
Want to raise your game? Play the game – Sit n go DYM. You know it makes sense.
Playing 'au pair'
This is not to be confused with playing WITH the au pair. I remember an uncle of mine used to do that. He had a system that usually worked, but due to some variance in the bus route, my aunt returned home one afternoon, an hour early. That's when he was 'knocked out'.
No, this article is about what to do with pocket pairs. Earlier this morning, I was dealt AA and could not win with them no matter what I did. It was early on in a low stakes game and players were going all-in at a stroke. I think Saturday must be the day for the 'big shop' and there's only so much time for poker, so people 'all-in' to leave on time.
So, can anybody tell me what the standard play for pocket pairs is? Anybody? You, you at the back there? Smithers-Tikay, isn't it? Bet big, I hear you say? Right, see me after class. I want 100 lines of 'I must not be a blinkered sheep, I play poker' followed by a four page essay on 'Would you jump in the river too, if Johnny told you to do it?'
No matter what cards you hold, a hand is a hand is a hand, Got that? When is a hand not a hand? Only when it's mucked. Oh, we do laugh at my Christmas parties.
Okay, so we've agreed pocket pairs are a hand like any other. They are not Kryptonite.
Pre-flop, pocket pairs are the best hands. Aces being the best, with 22 only being beaten by 12 other hands. Not bad out of a possible big number of starting hands. Maths was never my strong point.
Unfortunately from here on in, it's going to take a bit of skill on your part. Yes, you are going to have to figure it out for yourself.
Pre-flop, we need to know what sort of hands are already out there. How are we going to do this? Watch a re-run on Sky Poker TV? Casually glance at the strangely placed mirror on the wall behind the other players? Buy a pair of x-ray specs from a 1970's Marvel comic? Nope, none of these. Besides, the x-ray specs don't really work. Neither do the hypnotism coin (see 'back in the room' for proof') or the magic 8 ball. We are going to do it using our betting sonar. If you send out a bet of a particular size, say 3 to 5 BB, depending on stack sizes and tournament stage, you should only get called by people with good hands, chancers (not Adam Chance out of Crossroads, although he WAS a chancer) and, for want of a better word idiots. Hopefully this bet will either win the pot, although very, very small, as Dec would say, thin the field or highlight other players with good hands.
If you haven't won the pot, it's time to see the flop. Note, I would recommend reconsidering your strategy if you get re-raised and have pocket tens or less. The flop is key. Are there any overcards? If so, you could be losing. Whether you are or not, depends on the number of people left in the hand, how many pairs were beating you before the flop and whether you were the aggressive raiser pre-flop. So many variables to consider. As a rule of thumb, I like to go with no overcards and I was the pre-flop raiser, two other players max and pocket tens or better as a sign that I'm still ahead. Not sure on the odds for that, I'm in with a chance.
At this point, whether you are ahead or not, you have got some scary monsters to worry about. These aren't the ones under your bed, they only get you after 2am. It's some sort of historic agreement to do with daylight saving. No these monsters want you whilst you're wide awake. Their Latin names are Flushius Drawius and Straightius Drawius. These need to be avoided at all costs, unless we are lucky enough to have pocket aces and the flush draw fits that ace. It's simple enough to avoid these monsters. Bet. Everyone likes to hang in for a drawn hand, but they are only worth it if the risk isn't too great. Large raises scare drawing hands. A bit like garlic, although that only works on vampires. Not sure what you use on real monsters. Better add a baseball bat to the list of your bedside accoutrements.
So bet big, if you think you are ahead. A second bet after the turn may be needed to scare off these monsters, as they know the flush draw odds could be as high as 36%.
Sometimes you will win, sometimes you will lose, but at least you are 'playing' the hand.
As an aside, with small pairs, in my view nines or lower, the safest play is to only bet on a set. I think that's the one where you hold a pair and the board has a third. Trips is the one where you 'trip' up onto three of a kind by matching a pair on the board. Got it?
Is it ever the right thing to fold a pair? Yes. If you believe you cannot win.
Here's a link to a short video involving pocket pairs and a couple of Sky Poker TV presenters, that never made it to the hand analysis stage..
https://youtu.be/_y5_pvfAkd0
Playing against the big stack
As this is a poker blog, I'll be talking about playing against a big stack of chips. This isn't to be confused with Giant Haystacks, who was a completely different beast and was only ever beaten by a tag team featuring Big Daddy and Rollerball Rocco. Unfortunately, Rocco usually had to take 'one hell of a beating', before Haystacks was taken down by a Big Daddy splash.
In poker, you can come up against the big stack for a number of reasons. The first being that you thought you were doing well by doubling up and then sat tight, whilst everyone else amassed chips (okay not everyone, as that would be impossible. For one, they ALL can't be playing me). The second is a player being knocked out and replaced by a big stack. And a third, where the tables are 'balanced' and you get moved from the goldfish aquarium at Greenway's primary school, to the shark tank in Orlando, Florida.
Okay, so it's not always your fault, but at some point you will be there, facing the big stack. Now, does this scenario seem familiar? You get a rubbish hand, you fold, the big stack takes your blinds. You get a good hand, the big stack bets a quarter of your stack, you fold? You get a good hand, the big stack bets a quarter of your stack, you call, the big stack has the nuts? Been there? Got the T-shirt and the sore backside? Welcome to aggressive poker.
If you're not used to having a big stack (I've omitted some jokes here, it's not the Benny Hill show, y'know), you may not understand the mindset of the big stack. On the odd occasion when you have had it, did you find yourself folding playable hands, letting players off lightly,making small bet sizes, so as to not upset anyone. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The big stack's job is to hammer all the other players. You only have two cards. They are the ones with the two cards and a big stick, and boy are they are going to use it.
If you are in the blinds, they will beat you. If you limp, they will beat you. If you check, they will beat you. If you fold, they will....well, they won't do anything, but this strategy isn't going to win you much money. What do you mean, when you play poker, you are happy to be dealt a terrible hand because at least you know it's a fold? Shame on you, you'll be folding pocket jacks next.
Now down to business. Why are the big stack's cards so much better than yours? No, the game is not rigged. There is no bogeyman. Elvis IS dead and both sets of cards are the same. So how do we take on Biggus Stackius (I really need to check these Latin terms, I've heard that Wikipedia has the odd mistake in it)?
Firstly, do not play poor hands. The big stack does not want you to see a flop. If you need the flop, it's already over. They will bet big to ensure that 80% of hands played will never see a flop. This will then cut down your range. They know you will only call a big raise with big hands. If you make it to a flop, they can probably put you on around 17 hands (AA through to 55,AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, KJ, QJ). Don't believe me? Next time you play the big stack, check which cards YOU play against a big raise. It ain't 2-3 off. To beat the big stack, you will have to increase this range. What to?, I hear you ask. As the blog title says, no details. Although aces with small kickers, suited connectors and smaller pairs might be a good place to start...
Secondly, do not limp. You shouldn't be limping anyway (re 'The golden rules of Tikay'), but no-one ever listens to that. You must let the big stack know you have a hand. A good way to save chips is the bet two thirds of the big stacks usual raise, it might save you some chips if they only call. Aarghh..I've said too much already.
Thirdly, try to avoid heads up. The big stack will not want to fend off too many callers with a big bet AND poor cards, as the odds against winning will be greatly increased.
Fourthly, and finally, when the big stack folds before you (or is away) widen your range against the other players. One serious point to note here. Beware of the 'away' player. I have gone all-in and lost before now when the 'away' player suddenly 'returned' to snap me off.
Now you know what to do against the big stack, go in there and take them on. Sometimes you will lose because the hands available to you will not give you enough betting chances to win. That's just how it is. That's why YOU need to be the big stack, but that's a whole new blog...
Bench.
A chip and a chair
I believe it was Stapes who coined this phrase on Sky Poker TV, on one of the odd occasions he managed to wrest Tikay from the 'second seat'.
There has never been a truer word said, although you don't actually need a real chair. A virtual one will do, like most of my friends. Do you believe it, though? How many players actually believe it. You SAY you do, but how close do you ever get to that 'final' chip, before giving up?
Imagine (I have a funny story about that word. Whilst at school, the technical drawing teacher, when trying to explain a concept, would always begin an explanation with 'imagine' followed by a pause whilst he thought of the best way to get the point across. In the brief pause, the usual suspects at the back of the class would add in, in unison, 'all the peo-ple'. Anyway, I digress. Imagine you're in a tourney (not to be confused with a tourniquet – one stops you bleeding blood, the other sees you bleed chips), or a sit and go. You start off with 2,000 chips. When is that stack no longer viable? One hundred chips, two hundred, FIVE hundred? What happened to a chip and a chair? Oh yeah, it's good in principle, but not for real life situations, I hear you say. Well, bearing in mind I'm just a fish, I played a sit and go yesterday, was reduced to 225 chips when the BB was 100, yet still managed to spin up to 2995 chips before the end of the game. Sure, I could've gone all-in on the very next hand, but I sat back and picked the right hand, which fortunately came along. It's not over until your last chips are lost.
I have recently played games with a stack as low as 40 chips, and still not gone out (at that point). Remember the Tom Robinson band? 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 motorway? That's how quickly you can spin back up. Well, not exactly like that it's more of 2 - 4 - 8 -16, but that was never going to make a good pop song.
Hang on to your chips and hang on to your chair. Don't tilt. You're making it too easy for everyone else. You're one hand away from getting back in there.
One point to note. If you can get away with it, when you come to the hand that you are going to go all-in on, I would advise putting as few chips as you can pre-flop, then the rest post flop. It makes your hand look stronger. Shhh... don't tell everyone.
Bench.
Where did I leave my bike?
The first time you saw the villain, he was riding a white stallion. As he got closer, you could see it was actually a motorbike, then some sort of bicycle, then a white stallion again. On closer inspection, it finally turned out to be a sit up and beg (see Tikay's guide to the universe for this one).
Just what am I on about, you may ask. Representation. Well to be more accurate, representation and the development of hands. Not in an evolutionary sense, as I'm sure even Charles Darwin didn't envisage the true nature of the opposable thumb was for easy multi-tabling. I'm talking about how a hand develops from a pocket pair, to a full hand after the flop, then a chance to chop and change on the turn and the river. My hand usually develops from rocket powered AA to, well AA, as I continue to miss connecting with the flop, turn and river. If my poker game was a train journey, I'd still be waiting on Crewe station.
Now pay attention for this bit, this is where the poker starts. So, the villain appears riding his white stallion. He must be, he's just raised five BB's. This stallion can have multiple names. AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ, KQ. Then comes the flop. Let's say 9D, 4D, 3S. The villain bets again, but this time he's now on a motorbike. He's betting as though he has a flush or straight draw. His transport is now named JT, A2, 87, 65 or any two diamonds. But wait, I thought he had a big pair? Then the turn is something like 3H. The flush draw has missed so far, and the straight draw. Now the motorbike has changed to pocket 3's, aka a pushbike. Something's not right. Then the river sees a third diamond and the villain is back to betting a flush draw. He changes his cards quicker than Lucky McLuck on Bruce Forsyth's 'Play your cards right'. Come showdown, he has air, maybe an ace with a suited kicker. The sit up and beg.
So what does this all mean to you? Well, when someone, bets or checks, you should be able to put them on a hand. This may be a very wide range. It may be almost anything. However, the way they play next narrows down that range and these are the signs you need to look for. You have to watch how each player bets on every street. Did they check before the flop? Please don't tell me you let everyone get practically free cards by limping in? They could be holding anything, especially the big blind. See Tikay's golden rule number one.
Watching how people behave on each round allows you to narrow down what possible hand they have. It won't work every time, but consider this. Someone bets big preflop (let's say they have pocket tens). The flop comes A, K, Q. How will they bet next? One likely play is they will check to see who bets, or whether they can make the straight. If they are up against two suited cards, that don't match either ten, then they are likely to check too.
Don't forget, these scenarios are all fixed or likely to occur at any time, but you have to consider how your opponents have bet THROUGH the streets and not just that they are betting big right now.
Remember, players will bet in a fashion that makes sense to them. Whether that is a bluff or honest play. You just need to work out WHY they would bet that way.
Oh, and be careful for players pretending to be on mopeds, when they really have a thoroughbred.
Bench.
The System Works
In the case of flushes, the cistern works too.
Winning at poker (a bit like the Loch Ness monster. Everyone has heard of it, but no-one can prove it exists) needs a system. Playing hands on ‘gut’ feelings will lose you money.
Back in the day, My Dad used to have a money making system. We hired our TV off Radio Rentals. It was fitted with a coin operated meter at the back (Honestly, they existed. Ask Tikay). Putting money in allowed you a certain amount of viewing time, and at the end of the month, some guy would come round to empty it. If you had paid more than the rental charge, you got a refund. If you had paid less, you had to make up the difference. The guy who came to empty ours looked like Illya Kuriakin, out of ‘The Man from UNCLE’ (this blog would have been so much easier to spellcheck if he looked like Napoleon Solo). Anyways, he would come round and find a pittance in the meter. He always wondered why my Dad never had more kids. What he didn’t know, was my Dad had a system. That system involved using a pair of scissors to open the meter and take the money he had deposited back out. Simple. As long as no-one knew his system, it worked.
So what’s YOUR system? No, not for watching TV for free (including Sky Sports 4. You know who you are), for playing poker.
There are a number of things to consider. Range being the most important. The range of cards you play should vary depending on the playing environment. The environment being the number of callers, position, pot size, stack size, etc. The playing environment does not mean if you are on a TV table or playing in the conservatory in your underpants.
As a minimum, I would suggest you first decide which cards you will play when the betting is not aggressive. These may be AA to 44, AK to A5 suited, Suited connectors, etc. Then you would need a tighter range for when you face decent betting. Maybe AA to TT, AK to AJ. Playing loose, will lose you money if you haven’t mastered the game or the players at your table. I always like to think that I have a hand that is the minimum for going all-in. Last night it was 88. It was too low. Slightly more thought needs to be put into bet sizing. Too much for this short blog, but bets should be sized in a constructive manner and not plucked out of fresh air. For instance, one of the mistakes I have made is going all-in with the nuts. If I’ve already won, why scare off my customers? I should temper my bet to try and extract as many chips from them as possible, even if it is as low as 50.
One other consideration is only for when you are unable to build your stack. When will you have to go all-in to save your game? Don’t leave it until too late, or you either won’t have the cards or everyone will call you. Unlike your friends, who meant to ring but their phone was dead / couldn’t get any reception / aliens had landed.
Bench.
Pot Odds – WTF are you on about?
There is a theory that suggests an infinite number of monkies, with an infinite number of typewriters, with infinite time could reproduce this blog. Well not with this Spanish layout keyboard they couldn't (it's the last time I buy a netbook off eBay).
There is another theory that says you should call a bet, if the pot odds are right. Pot odds? I hear you say. I ain't got no time for pot odds. The timer is clicking down and I've barely got time to count the number of possible outs I have, never mind a crash course in math.
Well guess what, poker is all about math. Most of it you don't need to worry about. You're holding pocket twos. There are five callers and the flop is A, K, Q. You are in trouble.
However, there is some math worth knowing, and it really is very simple (and complex too), but for us the simple bits will do for now.
Consider this. The pot is 1500 chips. You need to bet 100 chips to call. Your pot odds are fifteen to one. You could win fifteen times what you are being asked to bet. With me so far? Now for the skill bit. Firstly, you need to decide what possible hands you could achieve, that will win you the pot. Using the original example, you've decided that a third two will make you the winner (until the river at least). So what are the odds of hitting that magical card? The rule of thumb is for the turn card, you multiply your number of outs by four to get the percentage chance of one of your cards being dealt. If you only have the river to come, then it's only two times. So we need a two. We know there are two in the deck, which makes an 8 percent chance a getting one. Your gut already knew this, but just couldn't put a tangible figure on it. Your gut usually just assigns an adjective instead. For instance, not a freeking chance. Other adjectives are available, just not postable.
Eight percent isn't great. To change this into odds, just divide it into 100. It's roughly one in twelve.
With me so far? That timer is way too short, especially when you CAN NEVER FIND A PEN AND PAPER IN THIS HOUSE WHEN YOU NEED ONE!!!!.
However, you are getting pot odds of fifteen to one, remember? Okay, just scroll back up and check. I'll wait.
Okay, with me now? Getting your card odds are twelve to one, so the theory says, if you called twelve times, your third two would come up once and you would win FIFTEEN times your bet. On average you would amass three time you bet in profit. See how that works?
This is where it gets a little flaky. It's alright betting to the pot odds, but what if you lose big pots and win small pots? I'm not sure of the answer to that one. I guess it just has to balance out. Providing you play similar level poker all the time, the odds are with you.
I'll see if I can work that one out for a later posting, but providing you can roughly work out your pot odds versus you hand odds, you should get a good idea whether it is worth betting or not.
There are two main advantages of pot odds. The first is, if you need card for a flush or a straight, you hand odds could approach two to one, making most bets worthwhile. Also, if you a trying to stop a hand dead, as you think you are ahead, you can size your bet to give your opponent terrible odds, so they won't call you and maybe fold.
Maybe...
Bench.
This is really unusual & original, great stuff.
It's not the X factor
'It's all I've wanted, all my life', says the nervous teenager to the judges. So much so that they have bought a train ticket and spent four or five hours in a waiting room. Surely that's enough graft to justify a number one single and a life of fame and luxury?
No. No it's not. You need to take singing lessons, give up the ciggies, do turns at small pubs and clubs. Push, push, push and actually learn your craft. Oh..., apparently, these days you don't.
Unfortunately, poker isn't the X factor. You don't get a free buy-in to a top tournament. Win it by limping in and telling the story of how your cat died in a freak accident involving a tumble drier and his favourite blankie.
Although, as with singing (there are SOME similarities with the x factor) you can be told what to do, but the only way to improve, is to practice. I think that's why proper poker cards are mad of plastic, so you can practice in the shower.
Now, I know I'm not the greatest player in the world. Because I don't play enough poker, I'm not prepared to lose a game (although I do), which means I'm not prepared to win. It's catch 22 really.
I'm not aggressive enough, even when I'm chip leader. Hey, it happens!!! I sometimes sit back when I should be crushing my opponents. Don't worry, it won't last. I'm taking the reverse version of anger management classes, so I can start to crush players, and not say 'sorry' in the chat box when I steal their blinds.
Soooo, practice is the key. This means a lot of poker with very little reward.
I played the £20 freeroll today, and managed to come 12th out of 451 runners, without any rebuys. Might not seem like much to a seasoned player, but believe me, to reach such heady heights is a great personal achievement for me. To do well in a tournament, free or not, is for me, usually about as likely as finding a CV that doesn't contain the line 'Can work on my own, as well as part of a team'.
It took about an hour. I won 22 pence. Hopefully I can reach the £10 an hour rate before the Green party's target of 2020.
However, I did learn a couple of things. No eureka moments, just one or two little titbits where I could've made a better play, or actually made a good play.
Playing more poker is a bit like muscle memory. The same situations tend to crop up and you automatically choose the best play to make (in your own opinion).
One thing to consider, is when you are playing poker and situations occur that you don't like (holding a high pocket pair, facing an all-in bet) make a decision on what you are going to do and then stick to it every time you play. If it doesn't work a decent percentage of the time, choose another play. Even varying your play can be a choice. Tricky, huh? For instance, I used to have fixed points for going all-in. It was either TT or better and AT suited or better. Obviously, that's changed now, and I consider number of potential callers, position and stack sizes before making a decision.
Just work out your own playing boundaries and then see how they go, stretching them or shrinking them as you see fit. Or you could go and play poker on 'Britain's got talent', but that's not the x factor either...
Bench.
The King is dead, long love the.. No wait, he's still dead
Them bloody pocket pairs !!! Oh, can I say bloody ? No. Right. Them blinking pocket pairs. Well except for the Jacks, as they only have one eye. I'm not actually quite sure if that is a true fact. I'll check later and amend as required.
And so to pocket pairs. The big ones, usually AA, KK QQ or JJ. You could include TT, but that's only in Isle of Man Hold 'em.
It was KK that did for me tonight. I'm not that fussed. I needed to spin-up, went all-in and faced TT (why doesn't anyone listen when I say leave out TT? If they'd had read this blog before playing, I'd still be in the tourney. Naturally, that would create a temporal paradox. I think it's temporal, not tempura. Anyway, it's the one that doesn't give chronic heartburn and yellow submarine type nightmares.
I digress. So you have KK and the plan is to go all-in. Don't slow play it. Flush and straight draws could nail you, as well as smaller pocket pairs.
Therein lies the snag. I have 900 chips. I need to make 2,000 to get back to an average stack. The blinds and early callers (in this case, none) will only give me 150 chips. Therefore, I NEED someone to come with me. And lo and behold someone does. Not a short stack, hoping to double up against one other player, but a large stack with pocket tens. The cards flip over. The third ten appears, no face cards at all, and I'm sank. I cry all the way home, which isn't far, as I'm already in my lounge. A voice in my head tells me 'don't worry, betting the big pocket pairs will win out over time.It's the law of averages.
Rightly or wrongly, for me, that sucks. There was more than one way to play the hand, and I played it wrong. I lost. I know, I know, you can play hands right and still lose. That's not really helping. Neither is this litre of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream or my favourite snuggle boots.
The logical half of my brain (yes, if they can split the atom, they can cut my brain itno two parts) says the plan should have been this:
1. Place a biggish bet to scare off the chancers.
2. See the flop and decide if I'm still ahead.
3. If so, place another biggish bet.
4. If the board looks flushy or straighty (some technical terms I've picked up) bet REALLY big to scare these hands off.
5. If someone else goes 'all-in', panic.
Number 5 is where it all goes down the drain. How do I figure that I am facing a better hand?
To be honest, I've not worked this bit out. I may still end up all-in against a better hand. At least i would have had control of the hand. Maybe I could've found a fold, If I checked the flop and faced a bet. Maybe I should have only risked half my chips? I've recoverd from worser (is that a word?) positions.
If I was playing ten tourneys at a time, it wouldn't matter so much, but all my eggs were in the one basket. Perhaps if you play four at a time, the variance drop and you win the flips in at least one of them ?
Lots of 'Ifs', 'buts' and 'maybes'. Okay, there aren't actually any 'buts', but I'm sure one will come along, or maybe three at once, if my kindle's autocorrect is anything to go by...
Will think this one over again tonight.
Bench.
would you take it as a compliment if i said your writing is authoritative it in its simplicity and just like jeffrey archer but without any conviction?
entertaining to read.
Same Old, Same Old
Sooo….. I was playing a tourney last night (pre-KK disaster) trying to remain disciplined. Not THAT sort, I meant avoiding the tilt or playing garbage. In tourneys with slow climbing blinds, it is difficult to not play ‘any’ hand, if just to alleviate the boredom (now I know why people multi-table).
Still, with 20 chip BB’s and a stack of 75 to 100 BB’s, you WANT to play hands. This is especially worse if you’ve just finished a game, and you are still pumped up. No, not THAT sort of 'pumped up'. Refer to my earlier ‘Not THAT’ note.
Anyway, I decided to play tight for a bit. My reasoning was, if I didn’t play absolute garbage for three hands, I could then risk 3BB on only moderate garbage. It’s not a great system, but it eases my conscience. Whilst playing tight, I had a period of getting some decent hands mixed in with the garbage. Decent being something like AT off or KQ suited. As it happened (to steal a now ‘free to the public domain’ catchphrase) I noticed that my betting was taking on a kind of routine. I was betting, say, 200 with really good stuff and calling raises or betting around 100 with generally good stuff. As things played out, a lot of these hands went to showdown. (Hey, I’m not letting go of any pair over 55, just because the board has four hearts). Which reminds, me, I saw my first ‘Charlie on a treadmill’ last night. AKA a royal flush. Nothing to do with this blog, but hey, everyone remembers their first time (Recheck the ‘Not THAT’ note, and this time take notice.)
Anyway, this began me thinking (hmm.. that sounds like the first line of a Reggae song….odd), if I can see a pattern in my playing, maybe the other players can too. I then started to mix it up a little. Varying bet sizes and throwing in a few dodgy hands. I figured that would put them off the scent, faster than a Broadchurch scriptwriter.
It was about then that I noticed the guy two seats to my left, would always bet 2½ BB, when on the button with no other raisers. There would usually be folds from the blinds, but if he was 3-bet, he would fold. I now knew his game.
OMG, I’m almost a card sharp. I’d got this guy’s number. I figured that I’d have him next time. I just needed to get through this KK hand….
In summary, maybe if I kept an eye on the game a bit more, instead of watching the TV when I’d folded, I might pick up a bit more info to help me play a little better? The moral of the story being, you’re in the hand even when you’ve folded.
Bench