Practice Game

On Friday afternoons I like to prepare for the Legion tournament by playing some similarly fast games.  These are also good practice for the "Morning Moose", with 10 minute blinds and 1500 starting chips.  Lately I have been reading "The Poker Tournament Formula", which focuses only on these types of fast tournaments.  There are some good chapters on playing position, playing stacks, and general good poker advice.  

So, playing a 9 player SNG with a $1000 play chip buy-in, I got hurt early when a loose player called my KK raise with A/10 (also called by QQ).  I C-bet the flop with a 1/2 pot bet and followed up with another on the turn despite the ace high flop.  They both called.  I gave up and checked the river in position and the A/10 more than doubled up.  I was down to around 1/3 my starting chip stack but just hung in there, doubling up a couple of times to get back in the game with 4 or 5 players remaining.

I ground it out, to play 3 way action, and noticed that the player who called my kings out of position was playing nearly every pot.  In addition, I noticed that he would bet if checked to in position, or bet the flop every time in early position with any pair.  I used that to my advantage several times, letting him bet until the river with my strong hands, then coming over the top.....which would nearly always elicit a fold from him.  The other player, who had a substantial chip lead over both of us sat out a while then got involved in a losing hand with the other player and became the short stack.  I ended up taking him out with a medium pair on his preflop shove while he was on tilt.

Now heads up, I again let my opponent do the betting, limping with strong hands, raising with garbage but leading out when checked to me.  We were about even in chips, I had a few hundred more, when our final hand played out.  With pocket jacks in the big blind, he limped with 9/5 offsuit.  I raised to 600 (blinds 100/200) and he called.  The flop was amazing: J/9/9.  I of course checked to let him bet, which he quickly obliged me.  Flat calling, the turn was even better, a 5.  Now when I checked, he bet big and feeling he was pot committed and sitting with a 9 or a jack, I re-raised him all in.  He insta-called and the tournament was over when no miracle 9 appeared on the river to save him.


Book description from Amazon.com
This is the first book to provide winning strategies for the small buy-in ($100 or less) no-limit hold'em tournaments that have exploded in poker rooms all over the country-and on the Internet. The strategies for small buy-in no-limit hold'em tournaments are similar to the big-money games, but the important factors-hand value, position, aggression and others, and speed of play-cause a radical change of strategy. Snyder recounts his own experience with these methods at a win rate of almost 300% and gives readers specific strategies for winning the big money available in prizes at the hundreds of small buy-in no-limit hold'em tournaments taking place weekly around the country and on the Internet.

Is Ace Queen Ever A Winner?

Doyle Brunson said it best.  Never go all in with a queen in your hand.  Playing at the Friday Legion tournament we were down to 10 players, one more to the final table.  I was running very card dead, only played one hand the first 4 blind levels.  Yes, that card dead!  So, shoving a couple of times and picking up blinds, and once getting called very short with JJ in my hand, I had only 5 big blinds when I picked up AQ under the gun.  Easy shove, except the guy next to me had KK and I was done.

Update on my TV appearance.  I keep getting kicked down a level or two, fighting back up to level 8.  Today I tried once again to level up from 8 and finally succeeded.  Heads up play I was outchipped 2/1 but mixed up my play a lot (is it just because I am mixed up in my head, or was it intentional?)  Too close to call.  Anyway, I tried a variety of methods which I would like to describe for you.

On the button:  Because it is such an obvious steal position, I was careful to mix up my play, sometimes limping with big hands (any ace or king), and other times folding.  My raises nearly always came with garbage hands.  He never played back at me...not even once.  If he called, he folded to the continuation bet every time.  This style of play assured me that I could escape if he played back hard, and trap with my big hands.  Raising from the button with great hands usually does not earn you much.

Not on the button:  If he raised from the button, I would call with reasonable hands, or sometimes re-raise big with good hands.  I would fold most garbage hands, except for suited or connectors.  When he limped, I would check behind as out of position and grateful to see a flop for free.  A couple of times, just to mix it up, I would raise when he limped, which got a fold always.

Bottom line, I eventually got him outchipped 2/1 and he re-raised me all-in with J/7 when I raised with 7/7.  Bad timing on his part, and drawing very thin.  Now on to level 9 (again). 

Decisions....Decisions....Decisions

The Friday night American Legion tournament put me to some tough decisions.  As I am now fond of quoting, it is all about making good decisions, both in poker and in life.  The clear winner is the person who consistently makes good decisions, irregardless of the outcome.

My tough decision (usually I am more impulsive) came when the good but bluffy player immediately to my right raised big preflop 2 under the gun.  I have seen him shove with Q/8, 8/9, and other stuff, so when I looked at AQ suited my first instinct was to shove.  But wait, he has bet a little less than 1/2 his stack.  I have him covered, but barely.  If I call and lose, I will be in dire straits with around 18 players remaining.  I uncharacteristically tank for a moment, even standing up.  The dealer is short stacked and the whole table is behind me.  Finally, I sigh and reluctantly muck.  My only choices were to shove or fold in my opinion.  The dealer shoves for less, and another player calls.  This is the biggest pot of the tournament.  Unbelievably the flop is A/Q/x, and when the other live player shoves, the original raiser folds....kings.  The dealer turns over A/K, the other player 10/10 and the dealer triples up, with the other player taking a small side pot.  Oops. My bad not shoving.  But wait, I had the worst hand of the group.  Good decision, ignore the outcome.

I now regretfully watch the dealer begin accumulating chips.  He was the player who knocked me out last Friday, and he is an excellent player, so I am thinking paybacks are a bitch, but one I unfortunately missed out on.  Also, had I shoved, I would have been the chip leader heading into the final table with probably around 1/3 of all chips in play.  Move on, Phil.

Making the final table with a workable but not big stack I watched player after player donk off their big stacks.  I doubled up with J/J vs. Q/5 calling a shove.  Had the distinct pleasure of knocking off another player who has stacked me a couple of times.  The dealer from table 2 did not make the final table.  Finally, playing patiently with several players self destructing, and getting some monster hands, including KK, QQ, JJ twice, I call a min-raise from a short stack with .....Q/5 (donK!!!).  On a queen high flop, and a short stack all-in, I put the original raiser all-in, and he turns over....aces!  Nice trap.  The same player (turns out he is an Arizona cash player visiting) begins running over the table, taking most of the dealer's chips with aggressive play.  I trap him back with K/K in the big blind vs. his small blind completion, and shove with a queen high flop, but he doesn't fall for it.  We are down to 3 players, I am 2nd in chips, and offer to give the lead player the 1st money and chop 2/3 money, which is $40 more than 3rd, $183 each.  I do so not because I am afraid of playing him heads up, but want to cut a break for the other guy, a friend who does not have a big poker bankroll.  Probably a poor decision from a financial standpoint (but in all fairness, huge blinds and anything can happen), also reduced variance and increased good karma.  

Interview With Blogspot.com

I was recently interviewed by blogspot.com in a "virtual interview".  Here is a transcript of the conversation.

Blogspot (BS):  Hi, good morning "fliphall".
Me:  Good morning blogspot.
BS:  First of all, where did you come up with the name, fliphall?
Me:  When I first signed up for an email account with Microsoft, I tried to use my real name, Phil Hall, but it was already taken, so I would have to be like, philhall321 or something.  So, I tried my childhood nickname, Flip, and that worked.
BS: How did you get that nickname, from acrobatics, job flipping hamburgers, or maybe flipping people off?
Me:  No.  When I was a little kid, the neighbor girl directly across the street, Carol Short, who was my age, couldn't say Philip, it came out Flip, and the name kind of stuck...at least with her.
BS:  Do you have any other nicknames?
Me:  Well, in high school my friends called me "Curl" for my curly hair.  Unfortunately for me today, that would no longer apply.  Then in college, my fraternity brothers called me "Philagorilla", after a popular animal at the St. Louis zoo, and my hairy chest I suppose.
BS:  So, Mr. Flipcurlgorilla, how long have you been blogging?
Me:  About 6 years.
BS:  How did you choose "Adventures in Pokerland" as your blogspot name?
Me:  Well, after playing poker for a few years, I felt sometimes like Alice in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".  You know, you are often met with some very weird stuff in the game, and in the poker room.  Sometimes I still feel like I followed a rabbit down a hole and run into this \psychedelic world. Also, thinking about the Red Queen wanting to chop off Alice's head is very appropriate. LOL. (Me actually laughing out loud).
BS:  So, why do you write at all?
Me:  For the gratitude of my legion of followers, again lol.  Actually, I do it so that stuff doesn't continue to rattle around in my head.  After getting knocked out of a tournament with a horrible beat, it helps me to write about it and analyze it so hopefully if I made a mistake it won't happen again.  Or at least get it out of my system.  The other reason(s) I write is because it is something I have always enjoyed doing.  I majored in English in college and did a heck of a lot of reading when younger.  While the dream of a novel has often danced in my head, I basically lack the discipline of sitting down and focusing on writing.  Doing some blogging helps me keep active with the little skill I possess.

Conversation will be continued later.......

Happy Hour Drinks at Taco Bell

Did you know that they have $1.00 happy hour drinks (freezes) at Taco Bell from 2:00-5:00 every day?  I love getting them, but I must say that the help there is not on the ball.  Yesterday, I ordered one, and the total was $1.09 with tax.  I handed her a dollar bill and a dime.  My change?  2 cents, thank you!

So, today, same order, I hand her $1.10 and she asks me, "do you want hot sauce with that?".  Why yes, I believe I will have two packets!!!  Then, she asks me "do you want the 1 cent change?"  I answer, "yes, if I save up another 108 of them I can buy another drink". 

Bad Table Change

Sometimes in a tournament you are just flat out sitting in a golden seat.  It was like that Friday night at the American Legion tournament.  We had more players than normal (39), so there were four tables.  I drew table 3, which I liked because my friend Mike was dealing.  I usually get good cards on his watch.  There was a big raiser two to my right, and my friend John, an excellent player immediately to my right.  Nice seat.  The new player kept over-raising every pot....making it 350 with blinds at 20/40 for example.  As Annie Duke said, that puts too much pressure on your hand.  So, true to form, he raised to 250 and I looked at 6/6.  With another caller, went ahead and tossed my chips in.  The flop was a dream for me, 3/3/6.  His continuation bet of 300 was flat called by me, and other players folded.  Heads up, in position, with the overfull I was very comfortable raising to 700 when he bet the brick turn (maybe a 10).  After he tanked for a moment, he then called.  The river was absolutely the worst possible card for me...another 3.  Now I can't beat any pocket pair 7's or greater.  I was grateful when he checked, and I checked behind as there is no value in betting as most of the hands that could call me have me beat.  He mucked his hand and later told me he was on a flush draw.  Would have been awesome if he had hit it.

Later I flopped a set of kings and won a nice pot from the kid to my left playing AJ against my preflop raise and a flop of K/J/x.  He posted the high hand of the night a few hands later, queen high straight flush, good for $78 at the end of the evening.

When the 4th table broke we redrew seats and I moved to table 2 with Jeff dealing.  As hot as my other seat was, this was as cold.  I played few hands, and with the blinds moving up to 200/400, and only 10 big blinds, I raised two UTG with J/10 suited.  Everyone folded to the big blind, a short stack, who reraised a couple of hundred with 6/6.  He doubled up when he hit a 6 on the flop...and I even nailed my hand with a J on the flop and 10 on the river.

Now very short, shoved the next hand with A/6 suited, knocking out the big blind who called her short stack with 9/4.

The hand that pissed me off was Terry, a very loose player who flat called his very short stack with 9/9 on the button.  The dealer called the small blind with 6/9 offsuit.  The flop was jack high and checked around.  Rather than shoving, Terry checked to the river, where the dealer made a straight, bet, and Terry called off the rest of his chips.  Horrible.  What was bad was that with his newfound wealth, the dealer started catching big cards, raising, and winning pots.   That set him up for raising light with A/7 offsuit, finding me with 8/8.  I was too short stacked to push him off the hand, so I flat called hoping for more players and more chips in the pot.  The flop was A/x/x, all spades.  I checked my hand and saw the 8 spades.  Jeff bet big, and I called with the thought that an 8 (which would not be a spade), or a spade might win it.  When he tabled his hand, he had the 7 spades.  Great.  Except another spade did not come and I was out.

I looked at the stats on this and here is the news:

Preflop:  I was almost a 3/1 favorite (71% to 29%)
Flop:    He was a 60%/ favorite

Never a huge dog.  Just can't hit 10 outs twice.

Two Steps Forward....One Step Back

Playing in the step 10 SNG I was filled with high hopes....which were dashed when a player who caught lucky on me earlier (my flopped two pair was counterfeited on the river), and should have been on the rail, knocked me out heads up.  My consolation prize?  Oh, I get to play level 9 again.  Sigh.  The next stage final is two days from now, so unless I get lucky twice will probably not be able to participate.

I really miss the "live" tournament play for real money.  Was on such a roll before leaving the Tri-Cities.  My next opportunity is tomorrow night at the American Legion.  Have not played that free-for-all for several weeks.  Will be back in TC's next week, but only for a few days.