troutsmart
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Posts posted by troutsmart
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Good post TS.I too am a Utah guy and have made many a trip out to the rainbow casino in Wendover, NV. For most of you who haven't had the blessing of going to Wendover, I'll paint a brief picture. From the picturesque valley of Salt Lake City, you head west across 90 miles of desolation. The Bonneville Salt Flats may be where many speed records have taken place, but for anybody heading to Wendover, they guard a little town that rests on the Utah-Nevada border. Two lanes of highway cut across the vast emptyness. At times, water will gather near the highway, but the only other change of scenery is a large sculpture of a tree that an artist mysteriously built in the middle of this lonely stretch of road. Tracks of tires are forever embedded into the salt where tired drivers have fallen victim to the trancelike state you find yourself in. You imagine it happening, at least I do, dozing off and leaving the road, skidding across the salt. The only comforting thought in this is the fact that there are no trees, buildings, or anything of subtance in which to hit. So, for those who gamble and need a place to wet their appetite, they drive across what I've taken to calling "death's corridor." Fortunatley, just when you think you'll end up another mark in time, or plain go crazy, a small group of lights appear in the horizon. There you'll find the Rainbow poker room, among a few casinos, a McDonalds, and Burger King. At the Rainbow casino is one of the greatest group of dealers you'll likely find anywhere. The weekends are filled with regulars who brave "death's corridor." Mixed among the regulars are those looking for a little entertainment apart from Utah's reletively mellow nights. The college kid wears his hoodie, and dreams of winning a WTP event, while listening to Limp Bizkit on his IPOD. I know these guys. I play with them in house games, where they talk about pot odds, all the while proclaiming that an education is unneccessary, because they won a tournament online last week, beating 1200 players for a $4000 prize. They ride a bus out on Friday mornings with 80 senior citizens, who carry enough of their social security check to play the slot machines until the bus returns to Salt Lake at 5pm. The young kid stays behind, because the casino has generouslly comped him a room for the weekend, though he'll only use it for a few brief hours of forced sleep each of the 3 days he'll be there. He'll eat free meals, some in the casino restauraunts, but most he'll eat while he plays, out of a small white styrofoam container brought by a waitress to whom he'll give a blue $1 chip or two for her efforts. He is in fact better than most of the players at the table, yet week in and week out, he'll struggle to beat them. This despite mainly playing in that 2-5 game with a killpot, a game which doesn't sound so intimidating. With a good Friday behind him, he'll put his name on the list for the 10-20 game, and sit down with a group that not entirely unlike him, venture to Wendover each weekend. They are for the most part well practiced in their art and deem their weekends profitable. Our college student feels he can beat this game as he is no longer sitting with a table full of calling stations. He does, in fact, beat the game on occasion, but often returns the next weekend having to repeat the procedure again. How do I know about this college kid? I was almost him. For a few weeks, I rode that bus, and stayed in a free room, ate free food, and generally struggled to beat the lowest limit game, while taking a shot at the bigger game on a good weekend. I had allies in my cause. They were they of whom you speak. I decided not to go that route, and I rarely go to Wendover these days, but the last time I went, they were there, still trying to beat that "2-5" limit game, while praising the game of No Limit, still hopeful.I don't mean to demean. It is a good thing to have a dream, which they have. I simply become slightly concerned when I think about that face surrounded by that hoodie. There is a smart kid underneath there, who has decided that his greatest talent is knowing the odds and spotting a tell. He might very well, maybe in the near future, break through and become a "name player" who appears on the cover of Card Player and travels the tournament circuit. If anyone, it is likely to be somebody like him, who happens to catch a break. However, more than likely he'll have dropped his college classes, and find himself grinding it out at a job that hardly acknowledges his real talents, which in fact, have nothing to do with poker.When I think of Wendover TS, I too think about that college kid. I think about a drive across "death's corridor", and a few dealers who make playing cards a pleasure. Mostly, I think about how I rode a bus while my friends were with girls, all because I was a good No Limit player, who hated to play limit. Things change I suppose, except for that 90 miles of road that cuts across the Bonneville Salt Flats.
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I'm not sure you played it badly. Top pair w/ second nut flush draw is pretty strong on the flop. The mistake was probably the stab at the river; it looks like a "bluff out of nowhere," even though you had top two pair. I think you got trapped by your cards. and I think he had you beat.As for the flop and turn, I'm fine with my plays. However, the very reason I choose to not to reraise on the flop, was to keep the pot at a level I could call down a bet on the river, and then I made the boneheaded bet on the river. I absolutely detest this bet, though I see many players make it. There is virtually no value in a bet of this kind on the river in my opinion. If I check the river, he is probable to bet. Now I'm in a much more favorable position, as he can only bet $4.50. I now have a more managable bet to call with what I feel is a moderate hand.Considering the idea that the player was playing me. I've reevaluated my thoughts on this. If he is a strong player, he is very capable of such a move. However, maybe I didn't clarify this, he had very little information of me as a player. I don't know if a strong player who is capable of this would do such with such little information on his opponent. I could have been an absolute fish for all he knew that would call him down with a 98 busted open- ended straight draw (I've seen it), just to see the hand. Good players don't make bluffs without good information on an opponent in my opinion. My instincts told me he had a strong hand, whether it was a flopped flush or turn full house with a set of 7s or a 75. According to my friend, who was at the table (EDPUNK), this player was solid in his book having played with him for a while. He was a tight player that didn't strike him as making a bluff here.
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I don't think it really matters what he had, He knew what you DIDN'T have, and thats all that mattered. I tihnk he sensed weakness in you and might have stole the pot. Granted, he could have had a killer hand, but I think he sensed you didn't have much. Of course, it would be tough to put you on that K on the river. But I assume he played your cards, not his I like that analysis. If he was a good player, he very well was playing me.
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I'm playing a small .10 pot limit game on Absolute. My friend is EDPUNK, and I'm there mainly to pass some time with him, as he has to wait up all night due to a sick and pregnant wife. I usually play .50/$1 limit, but spent quite a bit of time back in December on these small pot limit tables. This hand comes up. I'm not particularly impressed with my play on the hand, and am open to criticism, but would particularly like to know what hand everybody puts him on. I had no prior knowledge of this player, so I have no idea what kind of player he was, which makes up a lot of my decisions usually.Stage #87458885: Holdem Pot Limit $0.05 [2005-02-19 06:17:47]Seat 1 - CRAZY78 $13.97 in chipsSeat 3 - LITHIUM33 $14.43 in chipsSeat 5 - ASHERLEV $11.28 in chipsSeat 7 - YOUCANTSEEME $10.06 in chipsSeat 8 - JACK 55 $7.41 in chipsSeat 9 - EDPUNK $5.08 in chips*** BLIND [dealer 8] ***EDPUNK - Post small blind $0.05CRAZY78 - Post big blind $0.10CRAZY78 - Pocket [Ks,10c] LITHIUM33 - Calls $0.10ASHERLEV - Calls $0.10YOUCANTSEEME - Calls $0.10JACK 55 - FoldsEDPUNK - Calls $0.05CRAZY78 - ChecksKT in the BB. Free flop. Not bad.5 players to the flop.*** FLOP [5s,10s,7s] ***EDPUNK - ChecksCRAZY78 - Bets $0.50LITHIUM33 - FoldsASHERLEV - Raises $0.50 to $2YOUCANTSEEME - FoldsEDPUNK - FoldsCRAZY78 - Calls $1.50I like the flop with TP and good kicker, plus K high flush draw. Bet the pot. Not sure what to put him on, so I call to keep the pot managable.*** TURN [5s,10s,7s,5h] ***CRAZY78 - ChecksASHERLEV - ChecksReally was wishing I had position right about now. Normally I have a fairly decent read by the turn, but this check of his baffles me and makes me think four things. 1) he just made a boat on the turn and now wants me hitting my flush 2) he's drawing to a jack, queen, or ace high flush and is taking a free card 3) he suspects I've just made a large hand and the 5 was a scare card 4) he has a made flush and wants to see a safe river card before putting more money in the pot*** RIVER [5s,10s,7s,5h,Kd] ***CRAZY78 - Bets $2.20ASHERLEV - All-In(Raise) $2.20 to $9.18CRAZY78 - Folds (Timeout)ASHERLEV - returned ($6.98) : not calledI absolutely hate this bet I make on the river. I rarely make this mistake, as I almost always will check a hand like this and call. Especially in pot limit. I immedietly was disgusted with myself, and then to confirm my disgust, he goes all- in leaving me with a tough decision. I normally operate under the rule that if I don't have an idea of what a person is holding, then it is probably best to fold. I find if I'm confused on a hand and call an all-in, invariably I'm beat, so I try to fold unless I have a grasp on the situation.*** SHOW DOWN ***ASHERLEV - Does not show*** RESULT ***Total Pot($8.90) Rake ($0.40)Board [5s,10s,7s,5h,Kd]CRAZY78 - Folded on the RIVERLITHIUM33 - Folded on the FLOPASHERLEV - Total ($8.50) All-In HI:($8.50) [Does not show]YOUCANTSEEME - Folded on the FLOPJACK 55 - Folded on the POCKET CARDSEDPUNK - Folded on the FLOPAs you can see, I waited too long and the computer folded my hand. That happened quicker than I planned, but honestly wasn't bothered. I was really mad at my betting out on the river, but was willing to part with top two pair.Anyway, there is your ammo team. Fire away. Critique the hand. What do you him put on? Would you have called the river? There is no answer unfortunatly as he never revealed his hand, but he did allude to the fact that he was bluffing. I'm not sure I buy it. Based on experience, he played this like a big hand.
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I loved the Hoyt, Gus, and Daniel final. Doesn't get much more exciting than those 3. I'd like to watch that table again with Daniel having more chips.I also enjoyed the Daniel, Lindgren, and Hinchcliffe (I can't spell) final. Enjoyed watching these guys play limit vs. no limit.However, I have to say my favorite final table would be the 5 Diamond durning the second season. Gus, Juanda, Freddy Deeb, John Hennigan, Chris Bigler, and Scotty Nguyen. That is a heck of a final table. This was the event that really made me feel Gus was a seriously talented player.
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1. hmmm... Smasharoo...you're my hero2. Daniel Negreanu....content/posts...quite a good ratio vs. my very shabby ratio.3. Danged if I know... this spot goes to those fellow insomniacs who I find up at extraordinarly odd hours and make me feel normal.4. Brain freeze... the kid who won the seat to Monte Carlo and wondered if he could actually go... his enthusiasm was contaigious and I'm jealous of him or I'd give him the 2 spot.5. Snore... to Smash's future contender, who has yet to join this forum. I'm etching you in this spot as motivation. You have 4 spots to go to dethrone the king. BTW, that is about 2000 quality posts. Good luck!
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$250 is good for .25/.50 limit holdem or try out a .10 pot limit or no limit game. Learn limit. If you want to keep the $250 and slowly build it into much more, play that limit game. When you get up to $300 or perhaps $350, you can start playing .50/$1. I know it sounds boring, but if you follow that advice, you'll not only hold on to your $250 and build it up, but will become an even better player than you currently are. Probably not what you want to hear, but I promise, it is what you need to hear.
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Might consider dropping down one level, work through any kinks. Probably just regular variance though if you're playing what you feel is a good game.
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5 tables left and the chip lead can be a difficult thing if you go card dead. Remember though that those same blinds that are chewing up your stack are even more damaging to your opponents. I like to start raising most pots about this time with about any hand, unless I have a player I need to worry about in the hand already. You will pick up lots of blinds, and odds are good you'll make a big hand or two and bust some players. The idea here is that you aren't taking large risks. Most players with big stacks that don't make final table have taken larger risks than they needed to.
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I've watched his play quite a bit and yes, he has been lucky at times. However, he doesn't win based on luck. For every lucky hand he makes, he'll play hundreds of pot, slowly grinding away at his opponents, and then the big pots where I'd say he has the best hand the majority of the time. He does stumble on occasion, but who doesn't? I posted a hand, which described him winning a hand against Phil Ivey, where he had about a 2% chance of winning after the flop. That was lucky, but I couldn't blame him based on the situations, though the first hand was questionable. Here's a link to a thread in which I describe a hand from a few days ago.He would have busted out a long time ago if he wasn't simply outplaying his opponents. Considering his opponents are other top players, I'd say SpiritRock truly is a uniquely talented player.http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...3894&highlight=
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The genius of Phil Hellmuth is said to be his ability to exploit small edges. He puts people on hands and then uses it against them. Top pros don't seem to give him the highest respect as of late, feeling his game is a little off, being that he has become more passive of a player. Phil might have the distinction of being one of the most overrated players and underrated players, if that makes sense. He is one of the few faces of poker, a name and face most any poker player can identify. It's common knowledge that his cash play isn't on the top level, but many believe he could be a winner a few levels down from the top game. All his WSOP wins are in holdem, which isn't conclusive by any means, but might suggest that his all around game isn't there. The highest limits are usually mixed games. Nonetheless, he is still one of the best in the world, and I don't think we've seen the end of Phil. I've heard comments saying that he might not be in the Top 100 players in the world. Imagine that. That is some elite company. Poker is probably the only business that you can be in the top 100 in the world, and be getting finanancially drilled for it, while a guy who might be in the top 10,000 makes a great income 3 tabling on pokerstars or something. Honestly though, I wish we all could see a lot more of Phil, as long as he isn't standing on his balcony with his shirt off or brushing his teeth. Disturbing.
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I have a question about the structure that you're using. You might be getting beat simply because the game isn't set up right. Do you do a mini tourney where each player starts with a certain amount of chips and blinds increase? Do you simply play cash, and if so, what amount of chips and blinds do you use? I play in a weekly game that has a horrible structure if you ask me. I play simply because I enjoy the social activity, and if I do get chips, it can be fun when we do get shorthanded. We buy-in for just $10 and get 40 chips valued at .25 each. Blinds are .25/.50. This means that starting out, my first raise is 15-20% of my stack. Since we get 10-14 players, I have time to wait around for a good hand and get what stack I have left in, and hope it holds up. If I get above $25, I can start opening up a little and then the game becomes quite good.I simply illustrate that structure is very important. We've played 3 handed with the above mentioned setup and in my opinion, skill goes out the window. You simply cannot outplay an opponent unless you have chips to do so.So, is the structure allowing you to beat this game?
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Just thought I'd say that I too thought this was a great post. Thank you.I'm personally really trying to work on my river play as I feel that I often miss bets there. Good lessons to be learned. Every point you've made is something that a regular player can relate to and learn from.
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I say getting the most money in the pot on this hand is a +EV. You didn't say what limits you were playing, but based on the fact that the player limped with AQ, am I mistaking in assuming he might be fishy? If you felt you're against a loose fish, cap it without question as usually they have a weak ace that they feel just can't be beat. If it is a smarter player, slowing down on 4th and 5th street might be a more prudent play. To me, it all comes down to who you're playing. Overall though, getting money in the pot on these hands is a good thing.Hands that beat you.AA, AQ, A5, A3 Hands a fishy or loose player might cap with that you beat33, AK, AJ (stronger hands)AT, A9, A8, A7, A6, A4, A2 (weaker hands)KK, JJ, TT, KQ, QJ, any pocket (I've seen fish do such things plenty) You're looking pretty good if you ask me.
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Dance like nobody is watching
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Maybe I'll become an assistant, being that I've always wanted to have a fan club.
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I believe the post was recalling the previous two days and doesn't mention Valentines at all. Thus, if he does something with Lori, we'll hear about it in Daniel's next post, if he chooses to share this with us. I can''t blame him if he doesn't. We'd likely all be analyzing whether he should've held one hand or two when he gave her the rose.
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He didn't just calculate his odds of winning that particular hand, he calculated the odds of him winning the tournament if he had won that hand, and in the end the former gave way to the latter.Good players are playing to win. I like your analysis of the play and agree completly. The way the tourney was set up, Gus saw this hand as his best opportunity to put himself in a dominate position and win. I believe in cardplayer, Gus put Antonio on a mid pocket and liked the coinflip situation. He's a math guy and a gambler, making a very dangerous player.
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I believe the hand with Brunson was very telling of why Gus succeeds. He simply makes players make mistakes against him. Brunson is dealt QQ and Hansen was dealt AA. Was Hansen lucky to be dealt the rockets vs. the other big stack on the table? Sure. What happens though? Brunson sees a safe flop and reraises All-in on Hansen. I believe the pot was under 100,000 at the time and Brunson puts 600,000 out there. Afterwards, Doyle said something to the effect that he wouldn't have played the hand as he had against anybody, but Gus. Great players make the other players make mistakes. Gus is just extremely good at getting some of the best in the world make mistakes.
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IF you can't take an $800 downswing playing that casino game, then it is best to stay far away from it. Sounds like you should play a .50/1 or 1/2 game on line. If you log enough hours and beat these games, you could build a bankroll that would allow you to play that game in fairly short time. Good luck to you.
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You're definitely better off sticking with Limit overall. However, the micro NL games are very soft and very profitable for small bankrolls. Wait around for the nuts and get your money in, chances are you will be called. Limit is much more of a long-term thing. There can be somewhat large swings in your bankroll, but overall it is a numbers game. You play the odds, so to speak, you can beat it.
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Sorry, all this occured on FullTilt. I guess I assumed most knew this. Sorry to mess up this thread, but seeing as you're talking about Ivey, thought I'd share a couple bad beats he took.
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Second handIvey buys back in for $5000SpiritRock has $9999.50Dealt to Ivey 9
T 
Dealt to SpiritRock J K SpiritRock is on the buttonI don't remember who raised preflopFlop J 8 4 
Ivey checkraised SpiritRock all-in and SpiritRock callsTurn 6 River J Final Board J 8 4 6 J SpiritRock wins with King High FlushTotal Pot: $9999.50OddsPre-Flop9 T 38.5%K J 61.5$Flop9 T 77%K J 23%Turn9 T 4.5%K J 95.5%Ouch again for Ivey, though this wasn't quite as rough. -
Was just watching a headsup between Phil Ivey and the infamous SpiritRock. Two interest hands came up back to back after the two were about even in chips after going back and forth for a while. 25/ 50 NLFirst handDealt to SpiritRock 8
7 Dealt to Phil Ivey J 8 SpiritRock raised preflop and Ivey calledFlop 8 2 J I believe there was $3000 in the pot after the flopTurn 7 Ivey goes all in for $3000 and after a bit, SpiritRock calls.River 7 Final Board 8 2 J 7 7 SpiritRock rivers the Full HouseTotal Pot: $9999.50Calculated some odds on thisPreflopJ 8 70.4%8 7 29.6%FlopJ 8 98.1%8 7 1.9%TurnJ 8 95.5%8 7 4.5%Ouch for Ivey!
freer0ll strategy
in General Poker Forum
Posted
I don't know if I'd classify freerolls as being harder than real money tourneys, but it certainly is true that they require some adapting. A typical freeroll will have a large field. The beginning is characterized by several players going all-in on most any hand. Within the first 10-15 minutes, and the next blind level, over 25% of the field might be gone. This means that there are a lot of chips to be gathered early. Play a fairly tight game, but don't be afraid to mess with a crazy player early on. The blinds increase fast, and you'll need chips, so get them while they are readily available. You can triple up on the first level, which allows you to play any style game you like later on.Once the field is narrowed past 50%, the tournament will become more standard. Play what style suits your preference, whether it is a tight-aggresive or a looser style. It is funny that at the end of most any freeroll, you'll find a decent bunch of players, and if you play a lot, you'll find the same players time and time again. Many good players will bust early in the tourney when a crazy draws out on them, but it was a risk they readily took. A freeroll can be like a giant sifter that constantly is shaking and sifting players. The best generally are those left. Anyway, have fun with freerolls. Try different tournament strategies with them. It is a great opportunity to play a different style than you normally play. Like I said, you'll run into the same players at the end usually. Chat with them, you'll meet some interesting people. Good luck.