World Series of Poker Event 24 and Event 27

Event #24 - $2500 No Limit Hold 'Em and Event #27 - $5000 Pot-Limit Omaha with re-buys.

Event 24 features a bunch of not so well knowns to me, Farzard Bonyadi and Lars Bonding I have seen before though.

Event 27 features Phil Ivey, Robert Williamson III, Allen Cunningham, Surindar Sunar and Phil Hellmuth.

New IRC channel

I created an IRC channel to hang out on with my buddies and anyone else who wants to hang out in an open chat room. I used to have some before when I was hardcore gaming and kind of miss the open interaction. Fed up with repeating myself in tons of privates messages. So, I'm just going to hang out there most of the time.

No rules as of yet, but I won't tolerate spamming of any kind. Instant ban for that sort of stuff. If you are going to be "manner" you can hang out there if you want, discussions will probably revolve around gaming and poker since its what I'm interested in hearing about.

You can get to my channel by using a client such as mIRC - You then join any Quakenet server and join channel : tillerman.net. You may need to type #tillerman.net if you try and get there via a command prompt.

This direct link may work for you also if you have an IRC client already installed on your computer - Join my channel

All are welcome for now. May change in the future =)

Bad Day

I felt like Mike Matusow today. I started off playing cash games, 20/40 NL and some 10/20 NL and got off to a real bad start. Then this tournament started so I entered it and once I was last 10 or so I stopped my cash tables where I was down a lot to focus on the tournament.

I worked out how much I was down and figured out I needed top 2 to break even, lol. I didn't make it but I sure felt like Matusow who said in an interview :-

MK: Still, a million dollars is a pretty good score.

MM: I needed to make one of the top three places [for it to matter]. Number nine doesn’t mean anything to me. It just enables me to pay off a few markers.

Haha, ok not quite on the same scale but hey a nano version =)

Seriously though? Can you ever imagine yourself in the World Series of Poker at the start of Day 1 knowing you have to get through 5500 players and finish in the top 3 just to break even for your troubles? =)

World Series of Poker Event 22 and Event 23

Event #22 - $1500 No Limit Hold 'Em.

Event #23 - $5000 Seven Card Stud.

Event 22 features Grey Raymer, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, Mark Seif, Minh Nguyen and Bill Gazes.

Event 23 features Chip Jett and Joe Awada.

Poker Question Answer

Make sure you read yesterdays post before reading more...

Ok. The hand described was a real hand that did happen to me about a week ago. I am going to analyze the hand quite indepth but in reality most of this analysis did not happen during the hand. Sometimes you just have to trust your own experience and judgement and of course your instincts on decisions such as this. The fact is that after I made my decision I was not sure if it was the correct decision so decided to analyze it and see if I could come up with a firm answer.

2nd UTG raiser, who raises 6* the BB with 8 people left to act behind him will generally have one of the following hands :- AA, KK, QQ, JJ or AK. I will cover other possibilites later in the analysis.

Now, the betting pattern that was initiated by the original raiser is consistent as far as the above hands are concerned with the following combos of hands only :-

1 combo of KK - KK.
3 combos of AA - AA, AA, AA.
6 combos of AK - AK, AK, AK, AK, AK, AK.

We are losing versus all of these combos.

and...

3 combos of JJ - JJ, JJ, JJ.

We are winning versus these combos. (Note only 3 combos of JJ because only when he has the JH does it logically fit in to the above criteria, any other JJ combo would just be counted as a bluff)

So that is 10 losing combos vs 3 winning combos which is just above 3-1 (3.33-1).

The original raiser bet $380 into $380 which gives us exactly 2-1 on the call which is about 1.33 short of a break even call or :-

10 times I lose $380 = -$3800
3 times I win $760 = +$2280
Loss = -$1520
Avg Loss per hand = $1520/13 = -$117 loss per hand every time I make this call.

Ok, so we agree a fold is certainly in order if we limit him to the above precise scenario. Unfortunately we can't do this because we have absolutely no information on him so there has to be a chance however slim that he has other possible holdings and we certainly have to factor them in somehow. This is where it gets tricky.

Other possible combos :-

3 combos of AJ - AJ, AJ, AJ. (Very inconsistent with betting but small possibility)
2 combos of KJ - KJ, KJ. (Highly unlikely possibility)
2 combos of KQ - KQ, KQ. (A more likely possibility from the flop and beyond but loses credibility based on pre flop action)
1 combo of JT - JT. (Very unlikely pre flop action)

So here is a further 5 combos we can beat and 3 further ones we lose to. This would take us to 13-8(1.62-1) which would technically turn this into a call. However, you cannot just weight these combos in the same way as the ones we talked about earlier as they are far more unlikely. At an estimate I would say these possibilities would take us down by only a tiny bit, maybe to 2.5-1 which would still keep it as a fold.

The final thing we have to take into account is the possibility that he is just bluffing and doing a crazy bet on the end. This is of course impossible to quantify but I think it might just be enough to take us down from 2.5-1 to around 2-1 or maybe slightly below which would give us a break even call or slightly profitable call on the river.

Some things to consider though :-
1. He raised 6*BB (Increases the odds that he has AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK)
2. He raised 2nd UTG (As above)
3. He did a full pot sized bet on the river (This is slightly inconsistent with only the J as surely he can see it is unlikely he will get called by worse. You would more commonly see a half pot bet or smaller on the river if he held only the J.)
4. There is still another player to act behind me if I call. A small percentage of the time he will be slow playing one of the above monsters and raise me.

Based on the the final 4 points I think a call on the end turns into a slightly unprofitable call. If any of the final 4 had been different, 4*BB or middle position raise or a half pot bet on end or no opponent behind me then it would probably swing back towards a call.

So I think we have answered the question and got about as close to an accurate answer as possible.

Correct Answer = Fold or Call (I think fold in the precise scenario laid out above is the correct play with calling being nearly as correct, when I say they are close we are talking 51% to 49% or closer, it really doesn't matter much.)
Wrong Answer = Raise (Anyone who suggested raise is clearly wrong - sorry!)

You are now probably wondering what exactly happened when I played it =)

Here we go, I folded on the river, the other guy also folded. The initial raiser then flashed JJ assuming he had the best hand =). And no this doesn't prove a call is clearly the right decision =)

I'm glad after playing over a million of hands of poker where I have seen the above situations thousands of times that my gut instinct leads me in the right direction. I knew at the time that it was a very close decision between folding and calling and after all this analysis it is pleasing to get the exact same answer!

Poker Question

Full ring table, 10 handed. Everyone involved in the hand had a full stack of $2000 in a 10/20 NL Hold 'em Game. You have no information on any player involved in the hand.

You have QQ in middle position. 2nd UTG makes it $120(6*BB) to go, you call the 120 and one other player calls the 120 behind you.

The flop is AKK.

The original raiser instantly checks, you check, player behind you also checks.
The turn is the Q.
The original raiser checks, you check, the player behind you also checks.
The river is the 2.

Original raiser instantly bets a full pot sized bet of $380.

What is your action, call, fold or raise? What action is most profitable long term?

If you are a lower limit player you will just have to pretend its a much tougher game than you are used to with less maniacs and crazy plays.

Analysis in comments please if you can be assed. I'll give my own thoughts tomorrow.

Fingerprint reader?

Fingerprint reader review

What about this for logging into poker sites? Would be so cute but I suspect it would be more annoying than useful. I'm not even sure it would work for poker sites, it seems to be hit and miss according to the review, doesn't work for firefox logins or even msn logins which is weird as it is a microsoft product.

Get it if you want to show off to your mates, I didn't get one but if you did let me know in comments your experiences =)

B Buddy on Tilt Video

B Buddy on Tilt

I was looking around the torrent sites for new poker downloads and came across this entry. This only happened a couple of days ago but it shows B Buddy, a player I know well going on crazy tilt at the Pokerstars tables. There are a bunch of $18,000 all ins pre flop with T4o taking down the pots. Pretty funny stuff.

Hope he didn't lose too much, he is a nice guy =)

World Series of Poker Event 13 and 20

Event #13 - $5000 No Limit Hold 'Em and Event #20 - $5000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em.

Event 13 features T.J. Cloutier, John Bonetti, John Henningan and Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf.

Event 20 features John Gale, Allen Cunningham and Cyndy Violette. Burt Boutins reaction when he gets knocked out is some classic stuff.

Changed Schedule

Well, I wasn't able to play in the last two WCOOP events because my schedule always changes over time until I am sleeping during the day and staying awake through the night. It is really horrible but it started when I worked night shifts at the Casino and ever since then my sleep patterns have been cyclical.

I am now waking up at 6AM but since the WCOOP starts 14 hours later today I doubt I will feel up to starting a huge long ass tourney. I really want to enter the 2500 tomorrow though so I will try and wake up at 8AM at the earliest. There won't be as many entries either so maybe it won't last 10 hours +.

My friend also bet me $500 today that I couldn't quit caffeine for 3 months which I accepted starting from today. I have drank 6+ cups of coffee a day for the last 15 years so I know it will be difficult and since I have never tried I'm not sure what to expect. He is screwed though because my willpower for these stupid kind of bets is pretty damn good. I just hope headaches and withdrawl symptoms aren't too bad. I will replace caffeine with fruit juice and water and see how it goes.

Some interesting quotes regarding caffeine :-

Most people are unaware of caffeine's addictive properties. Those who consume 300 mg. or more per day, suffer from withdrawal symptoms if they abruptly cut off their caffeine supply.

Caffeine is an addictive drug, affecting 90% of all Americans, which alters the brain's natural state, and stimulates it in a manner similar to the amphetamines cocaine and heroin.

Anxiety, nervousness, irritability, and impatience can all be aggravated by caffeine. Depression can result as a withdrawal symptom from an absence of caffeine in caffeine addicted individuals. People can be unaware of the effect of caffeine on their mood until family members of co-workers complain of their caffeine driven behavior. People with mood disturbances may find that nutritional and herbal support during caffeine weaning will help rebalance their brain chemistry and relieve the symptoms of depression.

If anyone has ever tried to quit Coca Cola/Coffee/Tea or caffeine altogether let me know what negative effects you experienced and any obvious beneficial effects you had as a result of quitting. I am now really curious what the end effects will be after a significant time span of withdrawl from caffeine. I'll report about my progess here =)

WCOOP Event 11 Result

Was happy with how I played in this event considering I never made one single low draw all tournament.

I woke up at midnight today so I missed Event 12, Stud Hi/Lo, not exactly my best game anyway =). Hopefully I can get back on schedule and play in tomorrows Pot Limit Omaha event. Probably my second best game.

Two great Pokerstars sites

http://www.thepokerdb.com - A big database of tournaments that have been played at Pokerstars, the database started around a year ago so it is already quite huge. It was funny seeing my record :-

Total Winnings: $32,330
Total Final Tables: 2

Date Tournament/Event Place Winnings
09/11/2005 Hold'em NL $1000 66 $3,580
09/10/2005 Hold'em PL $500 7 $19,553
06/05/2005 Hold'em NL $200 188 $359
05/15/2005 Hold'em NL $200 142 $424
01/29/2005 Hold'em NL $10 14 $257
01/17/2005 Hold'em NL $20 12 $67
01/16/2005 Hold'em NL $10 96 $69
01/15/2005 Hold'em NL $10 2 $6,227
10/17/2004 Hold'em NL $200 78 $904
07/30/2004 Hold'em Limit $200 29 $890

I am not really a tournament player so you should sign up and search around for real tournament players like Riverloser or TheBeat. They play a sick amount of tournaments at PS =)

The other site is run by the same guy - http://www.pscrew.com. It is basically a Pokerstars community site with a poker forum and about 3000 members so far that are specific to Pokerstars.

Pokerstars has always been my favorite software even though I don't play there as often as I used too so it was nice to see both these sites. Check em out.

Thanks for the links Nat.

WCOOP Event 10 Result

Grrr. Was always going to be tough winning two single table sit 'n go's in a row. I could have at least managed the first one though? =)

Tomorrow is Limit Omaha/8 so things are going to get worse before they get better I think!

World Series of Poker Event 11 and 12

Event #11 - $2000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em and Event #12 - $2000 Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys.

Features Eric Seidel, Freddy Deeb, Dave Colclough, Chris Ferguson and Josh Arieh.

WCOOP Event 9 Result

As suspected, I crashed out of the Stud tournament early and also lost a $50 last longer bet with Ackbleh which was way more painful than crashing out, trust me. =)

WCOOP Event 8 Result

66th out of 1790 was worth around $4000. Shame my last hand just didn't hold which was someones AJ vs my QQ all in pre flop. An A hit on the river, ugh =(

Oh well, at least I made the money again. I also had 5% of Elky so I got a further $2000 from this event as he finished in 8th place!

Now, if you want some entertainment and I mean real entertainment come and watch me in the Stud event. I can assure you, you won't be disappointed =)

WCOOP Event 7 Result

Woot! Finally a good result. My goal for WCOOP was to reach one final table which I have now done so I can relax for the rest of the championships =). I am not disappointed to have finished only 7th at the final table because when I was about 30th I had to survive 2-3 50/50 shots in a row which I did. I could have easily been out before then.

When I did get to the final table I was actually the second chip leader with 440000 in chips compared to the leaders 520000. However, it was kind of a misleading advantage because the 9th place player had 200000 in chips. It also turned out as I thought with no one being eliminated for ages and the short stacks constantly winning their all ins.

My 440,000 in chips fell dramatically as I raised garbage in steal attemps only to be reraised pre flop by the same player three times in a row. I believe he was hitting cards as he was very tight before this run of reraising and when he finally got called everyone saw AA.

After two players had been eliminated I became the short stack hovering around 100000 in chips desperate to find a playable hand. When I fell to 90000 things were really desperate and I got a really lucky chance to make another run when the cutoff minimum raised to 40000, the button called it and the SB completed. I only had 92s but I was getting 7-1 pot odds for the call. I called and the flop came 943, all spades, ugly flop if I get called but I can't fold here. I move all in and all three players fold giving me 210000 in chips.

Straight after this hand I pick up 9To in late position and raise to 60000, I get called by the guy who kept reraising. The flop is J6J with 2 diamonds. Hopeless but I have to bet as he has position on me. I bet 80000 and he instantly pushes all in. Argh. I fold.

I was now at 70000 in chips and desperate again. In the final hand I picked up A8o in the SB and the button minimum raised to 40000. I did an automatic all in and the big blind folded. The minimum raiser turned over JQo and the flop came Q8x. I did not improve by the river and was eliminated in 7th place.

I had a 10% swop with my buddy Kirderf and a 5% swop with Elky who finished in 36th so I picked up a grand total of $16620 out of the $19952 prize. Not bad at all.

Another cute thing of note, Barry Greenstein who was commentating obviously had to say my screen name - "TillerMaN", he then said "Bring Tea for the TillerMaN". Lol! A man who references the great Cat Stevens gets my respect! =)

No WCOOP Event 6

My internet was down all day today and by the time it went back up the tournament had started. Oh well, saved myself $215 as I would surly have finished around 600th based on previous form.

=)

Age of Empires 3 Demo

I just finished downloading the Age of Empires 3 demo. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet but will try it out later tonight.

Age of Empires 3

WCOOP Event 5 Result

Way I went out this time was a little brutal.

I have 8345 chips which is slightly below average and pick up AK in early position.

I raise 4* the big blind which is 800 in chips.

Everyone folds apart from the maniac who is sitting with 30000 in chips in the big blind.

The flop comes 5KQ.

A good flop for me, he checks. I bet 1000 into a 1700 pot. He calls instantly.

At this point I have him on Kx, Qx or a club or straight draw.

The turn is the 3.

A great card for me, he checks. I bet 2400 into a 3700 pot giving him around 2.5-1 pot odds if he is drawing and giving myself the biggest chance of a call to accumulate chips if he has just a pair.

The river is the 2.

A great card for me. All draws missed and all potential 2 pairs seem to have missed to. He checks quick.

I have 4145 chips left and the pot is 8100. I really believe he will call my all in with any K and maybe with a Q. I go all in for my remaining chips and he calls me with...

32.

Great! Way to set me up Stars. Lol. Must be saving my good run for the very final Wcoop event? =)

WCOOP Event 4 Result

Another good result =)

I actually fell to 445 chips within the first 30minutes which didn't help. I rebuilt to 4500 chips and fell back down to 2500. Then the following hand happened :-

Goes fold, fold, fold. I am on the button with QT. The blinds are 50/100 and I raise to 300. The SB folds and the BB who has shown himself already to be very loose calls my raise. No surprise.

The flop is T78. A very nice flop for me. I have 2200 in chips left and my opponent has me covered with around 5000.

I bet 300 into the 650 pot. My opponent instantly raises me 1500 more. I instantly push all in and he calls the remainder.

He has J7.

Turn is the 8.
River is the 9.

Goddam. =)

Try again tomorrow!

Interview with Mike Matusow

Interview with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow.

"MK: Let’s finish up here by talking about online poker. You love playing online and I know you’ve had some big swings there, but, presumably, you’re a winner in the long term. I’m wondering what you see people doing wrong online.

MM: They play too many hands. The speed of the game is so fast that they think they have to play every hand. But the game doesn’t change. The mathematics of the game don’t change. If a guy is robbing you blind, who cares? When you have a hand, he will pay you off.

MK: Doesn’t sound like you have much respect for online players.

MM: Online poker players are the worst poker players in the history of mankind. I play against really bad players who just give their money away. Guys put in $13,000, $14,000 when they can’t beat anything. Only online do you see that. That can never happen in a live game. I crush the no-limit online.

Thats why his friends need to sneak into his hotel room to take away his keyboard and mouse (as stated earlier in the interview) because he is losing so much in the big games online? Some contradicition somewhere =)

World Series of Poker Event 9

Event #9 - $2000 No Limit Hold 'Em

Features Eric Seidel, Cyndy Violette and Harry Demetriou.

WCOOP Event 3 Result

Heads up. Argh. =)

My opponent was really tight/passive, usually a good opponent to have, but even though I was constantly chipping away at him he kept pulling out recoveries to get back to even in chips. I got so high in the standings because our match lasted forever until finally the blinds were so high that it ended up all in pre flop on a coin flip. My 88 vs his AQ. He won. I guess it is better to lose the first one than the fifth one.

Cash games went well today though, so I don't feel so bad.

WCOOP Event 2 Result

Another amazing result. Hand I went out on was yet another nice cold deck situation.

I have TT98 in late position and make an 80% pot sized raise.

I get called by the button, the small blind and the big blind.

The flop is A7T.

Wowser flop. Goes check, check. I bet 80% of the pot. I get reraised by the button a full pot raise. The small blind and big blind fold. I could call but it will be clear I am pot comitted if I do, so I just push anyway praying he does not have Aces.

He turns over AA45.

Christ.

Turn is the 2 followed by the river of death, the 5.

Good game! I did 3 rebuys and 1 top up. For a grand total of -$1015.

WCOOP Event 1 Result

Lol...... I outlasted 1800 other donkeys though =)

I will probably enter every event and post my embarressing results here =)

Running Bad

Months that start slow are really lame. It is psychologically disabling in my opinion and if you are not careful you can start reaching quick. And considering last month was my best month ever it just sucks to start off slow.

Heres one of my hands from yesterday which was a really lame session :-

$20-40 NL Hold 'em.

A good player raises in middle position to $160.

I am on the button with AA and reraise to $560. We both have $4000 stacks. I like this raise as I could be doing it with position on the button with much less than AA.

Everyone else folds and to my surprise he reraises me to $1800. I pause for 5 seconds and call. These games are pretty tough and he is a good player so I decided to call instead of maybe letting him fold to a reraise all in costing me his last $2200.

The flop comes K4K.

Not my number one choice for flops but still, could be worse. It is made better when he instantly goes all in on this flop for $2200. He would never do this with KKKK, so we can rule that out. I would also be surprised if he had reraised so much out of position with only AK. Still, it is an easy call.

He flips over what I suspect, QQ.

The turn is the 6.
The river is the Q.

Argh. Bye bye $8000. Things didn't get much better for the rest of the day.

I am going to enter most of the WCOOP events at Pokerstars, the first one, the $530 No Limit Hold'em event starts in 90 minutes. Already 1800 entries. Nuts.

Politics Test

http://www.okcupid.com/politics

I got Social Liberal (78%), Economic Liberal (10%) (Best described as a Socialist).

World Series of Poker Event 7

Event #7 - $1000 Rebuy No Limit Hold 'Em

Features Michael Gracz, Phil Gordon and David "TheDragon" Pham.

Lesson Learned

This hand did not happen recently, it is around 10 months old but it has always remained in my head as it was painful and taught a decent lesson. It is also pretty unique and will probably be amusing =)

10 Handed full ring game at Pokerstars.

Early position raiser makes it $50 to go. I call with 99 as does the player to my immediate left.

The flop is 99A. Woot =)

Original raiser checks as do I with my monster, the player to my left also checks.

The turn card is the Q.

A nice turn card. Original raiser checks, lame. I check behind him again as does the player to my left.

River is the J. Another excellent card, perhaps someone hit this time? The original raiser checks.

Now comes the fatal error, I put the original raiser on KK and assume I can only get action from the player to my left who I am praying has JJJ, KT or a flush in which case I want to check raise him huge. I check...

Player to my left checks. Showdown :-

Original raiser turns over AA. Noooooooooooooooooooo.. He was doing exactly the same thing as me.

Player to my left had 55.

Moral? Don't get to clever with monsters =)

The checks on the flop and turn are fine. I should have bet at least something on the river to perhaps get a call from KK or a passively played AK or Ax. Also the player to my left may well check as big a hand as KT or a flush on the river anyway fearing a very scary looking board. He would almost certainly call though. If I had just bet $10 on the river I would have won a $2070 pot instead of a $180 one =)

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

I am the hero in the hand. Lol? =)

The Best Damn Hand in Poker

http://72off.cjb.net/.

Pretty amusing =)