HoldemFAQ.com

NOTE:  I am just typing as things come to mind.  I will go over this story later tomorrow, proof it, and add more details.  I will update the status of the blog post below to let you know when I have made those changes..

Status:  Needs Proofed! 

First, my apologizes to the people who have been checking here for updates.  It was a hectic first day or two, but things are settling down.

On Saturday, Ray and I conducted a charity poker tourmant for Berkshire Poker, which benefited The Dalton Lions Club.  That went fairly well, and after getting everything broken down, I went home to pack.  The past two years, the  Battle for the Season Pass was held in the Bahamas. This year, they were holding it in the Dominican Republic.  After getting mostly packed, it was 1am.  Donna and I had to leave to get to the airport by 4am.  I decided that I might as well stay up.  I would only be getting 2 hours of sleep.

When 3am rolled around, I woke Donna up, we loaded up and off we went.  We made it to Hartford by 6am (2 hours prior to an international flight) and had a long time to wait.  Getting no sleep was starting to catch up to me.  Our flight went from Hartford to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then we were supposed to board a smaller planne to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  We got a little late of a start from Hartford, and hence we arrived a little late in San Juan.  The problem was that we only had a 30 minute layover in San Juan, and we were 20 minutes late.

As we got off the plane, we figured out where to go, then ran to the gate.  As we were running, I saw two other people running in the same direction as well.  I asked them if there were going to Punta Cana, and sure enough, they were.  As we got to the gate, we saw that it was closed and they would NOT let us on the flight even though there turned out to be FIVE of us from the Hartford flight that were going on to Punta Cana - and the airplane was STILL sitting out there. 

We were directed to Customer Service where they politely said that there were not more flights to Punta Cana today.  Great… I am stranded in the Caribbean on the WRONG island.  After some research, they said that they were going to route us to a ciry called La Romana.  Oh boy!  We will then be on the correct island, but still in the wrong city.  They then explained that they would put us on a bus and then take us over to Punta Cana. 

The five of us now had a 2-1/2 hour wait until our next flight.  We were all hungry, so we found a restaurant and I had a BLT.  At 4:30, we were in the air again and off we went.  Upon arrival in La Romana we breezed through customs (they just looked at us, saw that we were touorists, and waved us through).  Our next task was to find the American Airlines desk to arrange for a bus to Punta Cana.  Well, let me tell you, this was an interestesting experience.  Very few people there spoke English.  It was “interesting” to be in a foreign country trying to communicate a problem when you do not know the language.  After a few minutes, the person at the customer service desk went in the back and summoned a supervisor who spoke decent English.  We we able to get the situation resolved and they put us on a van to the actual resort (and not just the Punta Cana airport).  The downside was that the ride was 2 hours long!!! 

So, we got the scenic tour of the Dominican Republic.  All I will say is that it was pretty eye-opening, and VERY interesting.  After 2 hours of very nervous travelling, we finally arrived at the resort.  We got checked in to our room - which was about a 5-10 minute walk to the other side of the complex. 

Donna and I decided that we were hungry, so we ran to the buffet, which was only open until 10pm.  Luckily, we made it there and ate.  I was exhausted - remember I was running on NO sleep from the night before.  After dinner, we crashed (we did not even get the cell phones or internet card that we paid for - and hence why there was no update yesterday).

The neat thing about the mess-up was that we made two very good friends from Northhampton, MA!

In my next post, I will tell you what happened on Monday, when I had to lock horns in a Single Table Tournament with none other than the 2004 WSOP main event runner-up - Dave Williams! 

Since coming back from the WSOP, I have decided to put myself in a self-directed “Bankroll Management Class”.  It is not that I lost a lot of money - I just feel that if I want to make a run at playing high-stakes poker, I need to manage my bankroll a little better.  I am not bad at cash management by any means, but like every other poker player on the face of the earth, I fall victim to the dreaded bad run of cards.

Players go into the inevitable valley where no matter what they do, they get beat by every donkey who catches runner-runner for the 87th time this session.  Usually the player wants to move up a level.  Poker players KNOW that they can beat the next level - and make up the losses quicker.  This train of thought is common to poker players who are in a slump - and  I am guilty of it too.

I REALLY wanted to play in the 2008 Pokerstars WCOOP, but my bankroll would not allow it (I deposited $200 and have built it up to $800).  Stardard bankroll management advice says that you must have at least 20-25 buyins for the level of cash games &/or SNGs you want to play, and at least 50 buy-ins for the level of MTTs you want to play.

I could be undiciplined and say, “I have a ‘free’ $600 in my account, I should buy into a $530 event and see what happens”.

While a lot of people would go this route, I maintained my discipline and did not buy in.  With a current bankroll of $800, I could only play SNGs for about $30 and MTTs for about $16.  I decided that I was going to take the challenge of the WCOOP Steps.

I started every time at step 1 for $7.50.  After about 3 weeks of playing, and buying into about 35 step 1 SNGs, I had won the following entries:

Event 1 - $215 NL holdem 6-Max

Event 6 - $530 deepstack NL Holdem

Event 27 - $530 Triple Shooutout (this was actually won in a MTT rebuy tournament, not the steps).

My bankroll was down to about $550.  I am not a big fan of triple shootout tournaments, so I unregistered from Event 27 and took the 530 W$, which I sold to one of the many sites what will buy them.  That replenished my bankroll back to approximately the same amount I had before I enbarked on the Step Frenzy.

Playing prudently within the limits set by my self-imposed “Bankroll Management Class”, I was still able to play in the WCOOP.  I am tempted to unregsiter from both events and sell the resulting W$ to boost my bankroll even more, but who knows - if I can cash in either of these events, the reward would be so much greater.

One of the bi-products of my poker playing has been my wife taking up poker.  About a year ago, I talked her into playing in a free “bar league”.  She did well and built a reputation of being a very solid-tight player.  During one of the bar-league final tournaments, she took third place for $150 (or something like that).  Not bad for free.

Over the last year, she has played in a few casino tournaments.  She had the same problem that I had - always making a deep run, but coming up short.  Either she was card cold and was blinded out, or she lost to some pretty bad beats.  She was frustrated, and threatened to give the game up on several occasions.

Last December, we went to Atlantic City where she played in a WSOP Circuit Ladies-Only event.  There were 350 or so players in this particular tournament.  Donna made a decent run and finished in the 70s somewhere - about 30 short of the money. After this ladies tournament, she said that she much preferred to play against women.

She played in a few other tournaments here and there.  During our visit to Vegas for the WSOP, she made the final table on 2 occasions, but came up short of cashing.  I started to look for women’s poker tournaments when I came across the High Heels Poker Tour. They were hosting a tournament at Turning Stone Casino in August 2008.  I told her about it, and she was interested. So, we made our plans and off we went.

The tournament started on Saturday August 23rd at High Noon.  There were 58 players.  Each player started with T10,000 and the levels were 30 min long.  I expected the tournament to last about 6-7 hours.  Was I ever wrong!

At the mid-point of the tournament, Donna was the chip leader.  She came out for dinner break all nervous.  She told me that she had never been in this position before (being chip leader).  I just laughed in good spirit and tried to calm her down.

After dinner she had a string of cold cards, and even a bad beat or two - but she hung in there.  She wanted to make the money so bad.  I told her that she had an intermediate goal first - and that was to make the final table.  She surely would not cash if she did not make the final table.  So they continued to play, and around 10:30pm the final table was set.  Unfortunately for Donna, she was now the short stack.

At one break, I told her that her skill got her this far, and now her fate was up to the card gods.  In any tournament, skill will get anybody deep, but then you need a run of cards to win.

Rather quickly, 3 people busted out, leaving 7 - the top 6 paid.  Donna picked up A8s, went all in, and was called by AJo.  She got lucky when she spiked an 8 on the flop and doubled up - leaving the lady with AJ severly crippled.  Before too long, the bubble burst and she was in the money.  Play remained tight as each spot enjoyed a sizable increase in pay.

While the table was 6 handed, Donna picked up 44 UTG and shoved all-in.  In a 6-handed table, 44 figures to be the best hand because only larger pocket pairs beat it preflop.  Since pocket pairs are 17:1, statistically, it should be the best hand.  The card gods were not with her.  She got a call from the chip leader, and from the short stack.  Donna was all-in with a T2000 side pot.  The chip leader turned over 99 and the short stack turned over KK.  What an unlucky time for that to happen!  Nobody tripped up and after 11 hours of straight play, Donna was out in 6th place for a $675 cash - her first ever.

Because she cashed, she now has HER own Cardplayer.com page:

http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Donna-Larocque/88245

Donna is very excited now and CANNOT WAIT to play in more ladies events!  Good job honey!

I like it when people are predictable. What good poker player doesn’t? The easiest players to read are the ones with betting pattern tells. I ran into such a player at Foxwoods one day. I dubbed him “Mr. Math”.

Most people feared “Mr. Math”. They thought that he was an extremely good player.  I analyzed his play as soon as I heard people talking about how good of a player he was.  I quickly learned that you could read his hand by the amount that he bet. Mr. Math knew pots odds very well.  He would bet the numbers 100% of the time.  He would never, never, ever bet an amount that gave you correct pot odds to chase whatever draw was out there.  I observed this several times with a high degree of accuracy.

Location: Foxwoods

Game: 2/5 NL

My Stack: $600

The table is a normal mix of weak, loose, tight, and solid.  Mr. Math was in seat #10.

Hand:
The button is in seat #5.  I am in seat #3 (The Hijack position)

Seat 8: Fold
Seat 9: Fold
Mr. Math: Raise to $25
Seat 1-2: Fold

I know that this guy is feared at the table. People will most likely fold. I peek down and see

I am not fearful of a raise behind me. People get out of his way, so I am confident we will be heads up.  I decide to call for deception. As expected, everybody else folds. We are heads-up, and I am in position.

Pot: $57

Flop:

This appears to be a decent flop for my Aces.  Mr Math makes a pot-sized bet of $60.  He has SOMETHING, and whatever it is, he is definitely afraid of the flush draw.  My analysis went like this:

With his preflop raise, he could have trips, AJs, or even an overpair at this point. If a diamond comes, I might be able to make a play at the pot.  I put his range of hands as JJ, 77, AJ, or possibility, QQ, or KK.  I could be beat, but I could also have the best hand.  When in this situation, the best thing to do is raise, as it gives you the most information.  The problem with raising is, what do I do if he comes back over the top?  He would certainly make that play with JJ or 77.  Would he reraise with AJ (Top Pair Top Kicker) or an overpair?  I really do not know the answer to that question.  I have picked apart his betting tells, but I have not figured out what kinds of hands he would make this kind of a bet/raise with.  If he does come back over the top, then I have a very difficult decision to make.  One pair is not a particularly good hand to go to showdown with.  Since I know he is capable of laying down a hand on a dangerous board, I elect to make a smooth call the $60.  If a straight card or diamond falls on the turn, my plan is to make a play at the pot. The best card to help my cause would be a 8, 9, or 10 of diamonds - making the board dangerous.

Pot: $177

Turn

Mr. Math bets $50.

He just offered me pot odds of 4.5:1 with a flush draw on the board.  He does not fear the flush anymore.  I am beat, as he just filled up.  His most likely holding is 77. If he had JJ, he would have checked.

Tossing the rockets is pretty easy here.  I want him to show his hand so I can test my read.  I meekly say, “I think you have 77.  You would have checked Jacks, and you would not have raised preflop with threes.”

As I fold, I show ONE of my aces.  Mr. Math grins and proudly shows 77 for his full house – I was right on the money.