Tournament size and structure: live table dynamics

Okay, internet players, live players, whoever you are, put this in a time capsule and let aliens figure out what the hell I'm talking about, there is the two fundamental differences from the internet tournament and the live tournament: hand speed and the information derived from human interaction. When I play steadily in internet form, if I'm tuned into the table I can get "tells" based on tendencies and little things like delay time to clue me in on the "oh my god my hand is huge" pause/check vs the "oh my god that flop missed me, shot round the moon and landed in the lap of my opponent" pause/check. Very subtle to tell that online. So easy in a live setting. Screw Caro's book of tells (haven't read it, I'm sure it's excellent) all I can say is you still have to pay attention an get feel for all your opponents. You're not in the hand, so what, you are watching your opponents to see how they handle situations, because you'll be playing them.

What's the point? Live play takes twice as long per hand to play, and your job, whether in the hand or out of the hand is to pay attention to that much more information. I was to steal the blinds from the guy I KNOW will only push back with a real hand, or respects my raises, and not someone who is a big wild gambler, or a huge stack who can play any two playable cards in raised pots.

And we all want to be that huge stack who can afford the hands that amount to a raise of 1/5 of the stacks of your opponents, see a flop, and force the guy to commit his chips if you hit, right? How do be get to be that guy? So we can continue to play a game of a wide variety of hands, afford some mistakes, and force or opponents to commit all their chips?

The answer lies in the early play. The blinds are cheap, you need to play a wide variety of hands in reasonable situations, call the odd raise in the right measure, etc.

If you can play your whole game when the blinds are big enough that one raised pot commits chips of others, you have a huge advantage. It is BIGGER live for this very reason: live play takes 4x the concentration level per hand of play basically. more than twice the info played at 1/2 speed.

The standard $5=20 buy in in an online game at my site is 1500 starting chips with 5/10 blinds and 12 minute intervals. A table moving at a good clip is 60 hands/ minutes, slow table might be 40 hands/minute. I like to be tripled up in an hour, and need to be doubled up. starting chips or less is a misery, so thats 3000-4500 chips at 50/100.

The $200 buy in I do on the occasional weekend at the casino has a nearly identical structure, 7500 chips starting at 25/30 levels. it is 30 minutes a level. A very fast table can sometimes get through from BB to BB 10 handed in 15 minues, but 20 or a bit longer is typical if the dealer is slow or the players play slow (and not inordinately slow, just a reasonable time to make a big decision, as opposed to bang-bang-bang). But level 6, 150 / 300 with 25 ante, is after 150 minutes, not 60. Its tiring. because its tiring, the short stacks are getting frustrated. They are bitching and complaining. You can hear them mumble, and complain, and watch them show disgust at their cards. You can't see that on line, and its not as big a factor on line. There is much less money invested, there is no math required, and I've bought into another tourney already since I will be waiting for ever to make a single move.

Fatigue and impatience (happens to me too) means they will push with AQ in a terrible situation because its the best cards they've seen for an hour (Ive done this myself after 8 hours in $1000 buy in knowing full well the player I knew well had raised with a better hand). They will fail to manage the pot with JJ and get in a pot committed situation, and put the rest of the chips in post flop with AQ3 for a board AS A CALL. GO all in with AJ from the middle and hope there is not a better hand waiting out there.

Big stacks make bigger stacks reading and exploiting these situations. You rake them in and the people around you say "the rich get richer" and wonder how its done. If my read is perfect and can afford to lose, I should win in 70% of those sitations. Last wednesday I called an all-in with 66 from the BB. everyone limped, short stack said "screw it" pushed, I had been right beside him, heard him moaning about his stack size, read the situation well. If he had two overs, the series of limps told me higher cards were taken, so a "coin flip" with AK was seriously in my favour. Turns out he had 44, and lost, and crumbled about how this always happens to him. Sound familiar. Making the sick call with 44 makes a lot more chips than the desperate all-in that it only takes a deep stack with cajones to collapse. I wasn't that deep stacked, but the situation was very good for a lower pair. I can and will do this when I have the chips and short stack moves. A pair is huge in a short-handed game, like busting #5 from the final table. THOSE are the obligatory calls, not the 3:1 because the short stack is 5000 and the BB you;re in is 1500 but you have 84 off-suit. Junk vs junk really has no business in poker all in as seen on TV. PHil Gordon Nonsense. Last wednesday, along those lines for stacks and blinds, I have A2 suited, the BB, and 30K in chips, and he pushed from middle position. He had the best hand he would see in the next three, and I had the worst ace in the deck. I'm at best two random cards vs each other, and very likely up against A6 or better. Folded instantly.

So how do you get to be a big stack in the first 6 levels so you can do this? One is play all you playable cards in playable situations. J9 in the BB against a small raise (flopped the nut straight, checked, let him catch is Q on the turn, bet 2/3 pot, watch him re-raise me: he will eventually fold AQ), suited connectors, same situation, same price flopped trips and watched the a bet and a call (flush draw, he would show) and then check raised for a good stack.

Those hands were all just good grinds worth 1500 chips here and 2500 there. Yep, you do have to hit hands or be a great bluffer, but these are times of the tourney where people can afford to fold, so be very right and bluff very very smart if you want to bluff a lot in tournaments. It can work well in tournaments, but I exploit those guys who bet too much too, to make a big stack. If I know a guy will raise me just because of position, I will bet weak to entice it, let him throw too much in, and check raise him. I rarely just call, because the next card could be the lucky stupid card that made his 33 into 333, and I want the fold more: a bluffer can't call all in.

And gamble. yesterday , $220 game, I made good grinding in first 4 levels, turned 7500 into 14000. under the gun, I have 89 hearts. I limp in. Game's deep enough that we are still seeing limped in pots, so off I go. Book SAYS this is a bad hand in early position. BOOK doesn't say all that I said about how to play well in early positions, so read away. I have chips, prospect of cheap flop is good, this is a good starting hand. Limp in.

Man beside me I know well. Played with him many times. Older guy, likes his cash games too, and can often just be too aggressive. Today he is playing a more varied game, but he likes to talk and he's not a tough read.

He raises to 700 from the limped 300. There is no action behind at all, and 400 more is a perfect price for these cards. He has also played KK craftily earlier (JJ overestimated his hand by about a million, so we all saw it) and demeanour says he has a strong hand. Its just gut. read earlier blogs for good examples of putting people on KK and AA, and AK through their demeanours. Experience is the best guide. These are amateurs who learned online like you, remember. Not pros with ice in their veins. Human beings give of heat, vibration, electricity.

The flop is insanity. J 7 5. The J and 7 are hearts. ANY 10, 6, or heart make me a huge hand. A flush draw and a gut shot are enough to go nuts over. This is the double belly buster kind. Flop looks like crap! You can't see the straight draw even though 89 is a legitimate poker hand. You might see the flush draw.

It doesn't matter what my opponent sees, he has a big hand. I slow down to try and hit this, he will hammer the pot with his chips if he clues into a draw. there is only 2059 in the pot, he has 5000+ behind. If I check, it because I am going to lay down a 15 out hand that might even be able to pair and beat AQ (6 more outs for 21. That's 2/5 of the deck and I get to see 2, not 1 card to make it)

As you know who have read before this lenghty deliberation I have discussed is about 5 seconds of thinking in reality. Sorry, 8 seconds. 3 were spent confirming I had both ends of the straight draw.

The answer was simple. Take his move away. He's 60% to call. My hand is 50% to beat JJJ here (well, 45%, but he doesn't have JJ! NOBODY raises JJ that small! See my many blogs discussing early limp and minraise traps with monsters to attract action). Gut said a big hand, but a hand in need of a great deal of protection. He wants me to hit a flop and be bigger.

He instacalls and flips KK, confirming my gut. Just a vibe man. Be there and feel it. If you never get that vibe you will be forever pushing your short stack with 44 or 77 and wondering how he called with 66 or QK, as the case may be (both in the same tournament wednesday, btw) Sisyphus and the rock. Poker hell is loving the game and never learing how to take it to the next level, never better than final 20, just making the money, etc.

two tiny black cards. I didn't hit. But I played to win, and winning his 6000 chips means that bigger stack in relation to the blinds, that much time and hands to play before the game resorts to all-ins and calls preflop only, and the chips to be able to put a guy on a small pair and call QJ thinking its good.

Just a quick comment to understand HOW 66 was a good call and why QJ may or may NOT be a good call. When there are limpers and other interested players (clearly folding hands in the margins) coming in or barely folding, they are holding suited A-rag, Q10, KJ, K10 A9, A10, sometimes AJ, especially as the price goes up. QJ not a good call if 3 people limped in and a 4th considered it. your outs got folded. CONVERSELY my 66 is that much better in that pot with interest, because it doesn't need to hit, my opponent likely does pushing his A9 to AK, QK, JK, QJ, etc. 44 is not my worry. A made pair much better than two semi-live overcards. I can call QJ because there was NO action except the late raiser, not even a whisper of hope, so paint is good to catch with all that junk in the muck. Next time you see 6 limpers in the pot, watch the flop be 8 high and then think of me.

Bedtime! until Next Time! I will try more than 6 months between blogs, I promise....to try....

Aggressive play; big laydowns; how others' bad play can hurt you

Hey again.

I'm currently sulking over being victimized by someone else's terrible play, so while I am analysing it, we might as well talk about good play too.

Let's go back to my last final table.

I had discussed my triple-up house in the last blog. As usual, big chipstacks become short ones as the blinds get bigger, and I am patient but card dead as we dead into the final 20. I had lost short stack race when K10 went all in and I had JJ in the big blind, which pretty much defined my middle tourney, along with two chopped pots. I am carefully managing my 7000 chips, having left the table of death still alive. The resulting big stacks seem to have all found themselves on the other remaining table: no one at my table has more than 10,000 in chips.

And they are tight, these players. All trying to wait for that perfect hand. An Asian lady whom I had played with earlier is in seat 10 to my seat one. She is an early aggressor: all in bets, no callers. She's trying to exploit the tightness of the rest of the table.

She's betting in to me, and she's just what I'm looking for. The first time she raises into my blind, I have AK, and instacall and race her A9. The flop is A A 5, which is fine, until the turn is another 5, and the river junk, and we split (again).

Because I have shown AK, I exploit this. I go all in with Q10 a few hands later. No takers. I get AK and do it again. No takers. I start harping at these tight players.

But I will get no takers. Except my lady.

Its come full circle now, all folding to her SB. She raises. I have A6. I push all in. She is committed and calls with K10. I win my race and finally my double up, and hold about 20k.

It is a brutal brutal table, with short stacks having to gamble. Eventually, I bring my 19k to the final table. Average would be about 30k.

one player to my immediate left was at the table of death with me. I had raised early with AJ at that table and he had gone over the top on me. I folded. I watched him play: any good showdown hand usually got this response, most often a wired pair. He had got a huge triple up after he pushed all in on a short stack with 99, and the BB instacalled with AA: he hit the 9.

So, blinds 1000/2000, early in the final table, I am in early position with QK clubs, and raise to 6000. This fellow shoves his now big stack over top of me.

And the next guy agonizes over his hand. and folds
The next guy is also in agony! and folds....

So, here I am with QK, 1/3 of my stack in the pot. Those two other players' agony told me two things: they probably folded my outs, and my all-in opponent has a pair.

I have to lay this down. Pot odds be damned. We only pay 8 so, busted is busted.

He will show his AA.

My fortune is to see AA myself the very next hand. And I just quietly limp it in. Only the SB and BB are in the pot: not my favorite scenario with the limp-trap, but it pays off. The flop is 10-high trash, and the BB goes all in. I call. He had caught a pair of threes, and pays me off. He is chip and a chair (miraculously, he will be a big stack when I bust out, but I'm not telling his story).

So now I have 35k in chips, and when another short stack goes in for 16k, I see 10 10. He's short enough he could be raising with anything. After looking to my left to see three players left, all with decent chips, I only have two viable moves here: fold or all in.

I am not in love with the price: if I'm beat I'm back to ground zero again. But I shove.

The BB will agonize, but fold (he had 99, and would have hit trips on the turn, we will learn) but 10 10 is in a fair race with AQ and holds up.

I will be chip leader until Chip-and-a-chair, who previously got survival chips with AA in the BB (2000 blind was all he had), will race his 66 against my AK and hold up. I didn't catch cards again, and will bust out in 5 after my stack dwindles due to short handedness, big blinds, and no cards, pushing my last 20k up against JJ in the BB with A10.

5th or now, what I liked about that tournament is that I can't think of a bad play I made.

So, on to this Saturday's $150+15, 5000 chip debacle. We are an hour in, the third level has just started, 75/150, and I have been patiently waiting for an opportunity, winning a few small pots just to pay for seeing few failed flops. I have 4075 in chips. To my right is a player who has recently feasted in a tilting player who over-committed QQ out of position post flop and ran smack into KK: he has 9000 chips. Lets call him Ted. To his right is a player whom I know previously but has just come to the table: he has about 8000 chips. We will call him Bill.

Ted is first to act and limps in. I have AA and bump it up to 575. Everyone folds to the Button, who calls, to Bill, who calls, and Ted, who also calls.

Ted had previously shown down AJ limped in in a similar position, so I am not surprised by the call. Bill is a pot odds player. The button call will not factor into the play, other than the preflop money he adds: we have 2375 in the pot.

The flop is 7 5 3 two diamonds. Nice flop.

Ohh, and here comes action: Bill appears to like the fop. Bill bets 1000.

Ted hesitates slightly, then just makes the call.

Okay, PM, where we at here? Did Bill just hit trips? No, something in his demeanor said no, and he didn't seem to like the call...and Ted definitely has a draw.

The shame for me here is, Bill's shitty bet gave Ted easy pot odds, and now I have only 3500 to bet 2500 over a 5375 pot. And Bill might have hit it, but I sure ain't folding AA. In I go (just a note: in reality, my mind is figuring this out a lot faster than my recreation would appear).

Okay, so Bill started out with a stupid bet, and then, when is comes back to him does something even stupider. HE JUST MAKES THE CALL. EVEN WORSE. HE MISTAKENLY PUTS IN 1000 LESS THAN HE'S SUPPOSED TO, AND I HAVE TO REMIND HIM, OFFERING UP A MASSIVE TELL OF UNCERTAINTY.

WHAT A MORON. TED'S GOT THE FLUSH DRAW DUMBASS!

Ted just makes a smooth call, putting about 13k in the pot in total.

I make a comment, "I sure hope you have each other's outs," because the last thing I want is two opponents to have live cards.

The turn is a J of hearts. And STUPID BILL checks. Ted, who appears to know how to play poker, and goes all in.

Bill folds now, and I am semi-relieved to see (no surprise) AJ diamonds. His pair is no good. I am 85% to a river.

the 5 of diamonds.

Thanks a load BILL.

In all the earlier examples, what did the player do? Protect his hand and his stack. All In.

BILL's post flop bet was bad enough: you have 10 10 on a 7 high board out of position, and you bet 1000 into 2375? A check I can see, and a bet of 1750 I can see, but 1000? Guaranteed to keep a draw in.

And, Bill, Stupido, When I went all in that was your opportunity TO PUT TED ON THAT DRAW AND PROTECT YOUR HAND!!!!!!!! Two choices, all in or fold. Flat call? outrageously stupid.

Ted committed a huge portion of his stack to that draw, but when you are 35% (or even money) to win 13000 on your 4000 investment, the IMPLIED ODDS are huge. (reminder: implied odds are what keep you in when the odds may be mediocre but the potential payoff at the end is enormous)

If Bill puts the 4000 he has over me on the flop, Ted's got to commit all but 1000 chips to a flush draw and two overcards (one of which is very dead) 6500 chip raise and my investment only 1575? Pretty early in the tournament for that kind of gamble.

Thanks Bill. Way to take out one player while crippling yourself.

The moral to this story: if you think you have the best on the flop, or pre-flop, and you're up against a short stack's all in, you'd better do two things: 1) Make damn sure you're better than another big stack; 2) if you are sure, protect it unless you flopped a house or straight flush or other ridiculous monster (see last blog).

Happy hunting! (Ima gonna shoot me up some Bill....)

Short blog to start long year: playing the players and the table

Just back from my first final table of the year, a good restart to a bad 6 months of bad play, bad beats, bubble bitchings, etc. Longest dry streak ever.

Its late, so you get a taste. Here's my early triple up hand, but let's start quick with something that I put a lot of emphasis in my live game but don't talk to much about: table position.

For any casino newbies, I'll explain briefly the physical layout of a casino table. Take the pictures of my table and make it a little longer and a lot less nice. In the middle of one long side is a slight indent so the dealer can reach the felt better. The betting line is similarly proportioned to the size of the wood racetrack on mine. Seat one is to the left of the the dealer, and so forth.

Seat one and seat ten have a nice view of most of the players and no view of the players hidden by the dealer: for seat one, we are blind to seats 9 and 10, and can't see their stacks and often have to be reminded it's our turn to act. I hate seat one and seat ten for that reason.

I like seats 2 and three, and 8 and 9, because being on the edge, I have an angled view of most or all faces. It's a greater distance to the centre of the table where the flop is, but this is why I play wearing prescription sunglasses. (I find that simple polarization is the perfect tint for poker, btw) They also have a little more elbow room and room for chips. 2 and 9 are probably the best.

Today I start in seat 5 which is just across from the dealer. From seats 4 through 7, we can't see faces well in the adjacent seats. The flop is right in front of us, but we have to turn our head to see players, making it obvious where we are looking.

Here's how I used seat 5 and a huge flop to bust one player and cripple another.

I am 2nd to act. I have 3500 chips. We are second level 25-50. I have 22 and limp in. There are several callers and no raisers. The table has played a steady, predictable game playing predictable cards predictably.

The flop is JJ2 rainbow. Not only a dream flop, I am certain based on both the nature of the players and the frequency of J high flops so far someone has a J.

Check check from the blinds, 300 or so in the pot, I bet for value, 225. Seat 7 calls and seat 1 also flat calls.

Lets talk about seat 7 and seat 1 and their players.

Seat 7 is an older player. I can't see him and he can't see me. He has been steady, has grinded well and has 2000 more than me. Unflappable guy, steady post flop player who I am not particularly familiar with, but I can easily suspect the kind of hand he would limp in.

Seat 1 is Brian. Brian is a great older guy, loves the game, loves to trap, loves to gab. He is very chatty and high strung though he rarely chats up during a hand he's in. He has resorted to sunglasses and a baseball cap recently because he is aware he has tells due to his high strung nature. He also is still trying to make things happen and only has about 1700 in chips. Think of Uncle Fester without the high voice, you got Brian.

By the way both of these players flat called, I don't just suspect, I know they both have a J in their hand. I STRONGLY suspect it is the kind of mixed-paint hands people limp in with, because they are just not J7 players. Brian likes to trap, and I get a buzz off of him which is a clear tell.

I had bet out because I knew I'd get action. I really liked the action I got, because I know I'll get plenty more. I knew they were slow playing a J because there is no draw on that board, and both made a very deliberate move to flat call which is inconsistent with a wired pair lower than JJ. Their question to themselves, was call or raise, not fold, call or raise.

Seat 7 can't see me to figure why I bet out. Brian, being short, has hit his dream flop and doesn't want his prey to get away. He is tense like a cat ready to strike, which will also work to my advantage.

Turn is 5 of clubs. NO DRAW. NO PAINT. I KNOW I STILL HAVE IT GOOD AND I KNOW THEY WILL PAY ANY BET.

So I make a value bet which looks like a probe: 525. Seat 7 flat calls, and now Brian can't stand it. He throws his 900 over the top all in. I am now in a position to reraise all in, and I don't hesitate: I know seat 7 isn't folding.

But I seal the deal with a comment, as Seat 7 considers his situation. "ARE THE 5 JACKS IN THIS DECK?" I ask.

Now seat 7 has been me play connectors and small cards well in small pots I have shown down 89 off to win a hand with middle pair, for example. I have totally misrepresented to him a hand I actually never play: 10 J.

I get the call, and my reads prove perfect: Seat 7 has QJ, Brian has KJ, and I have 6 pieces of paint (possibly less, there were other limpers) and one card, or 12%. to dodge on the river. Its a 4. I rake. Instant chip leader.

I took advantage of the fact that seat 7 couldn't see me and simply made quiet bets and let him hang himself, building up a big pot so, if necessary, I can make it all about my chips by the river. Having hit the perfect turn, and Brian doing the reraising for me, all it took was that little nudge to push seat 7 over the edge too.

All you get. Night all...0