Saturday, March 20, 2010

#18 3/25/2010--Tournament Report #1B (Translation of #17)

ALL EXPLANATIONS WILL BE IN THIS COLOR.

I know that for me it's fun to read tournament reports, and see what the top players are doing and thinking while they play. In fact, there is a book entitled Every Hand Revealed, by Gus Hansen, that is just what the title says it is.

He dissects every hand of a live tournament and tells you what he was thinking as he played every hand. That's one of the poker books that I want to get at some point, but I'm trying to be careful to spend very little money on poker until I've established a regular income.

I actually planned to do this earlier, but in the earlier tournament, I played two hands and was out. I played both hands against a very loose opponent that was playing more than half his hands--in other words, he was bluffing a lot. My average in an MTT is to play around 15% of my hands, so just about any hand I play is ahead of his range, that is, the majority of his hands are going to be behind whatever I play. Usually, even the best players don't know exactly what another player is holding. They are playing against a player's "range." The thought process goes something like this. . . "Joe is a very tight player who usually doesn't open when he is first to act unless he has a big hand. He is probably playing a pair of tens or better, or ace-king." Then, as the hand goes along, further action might allow him to narrow the opponents range. I happened to get in big hands with him twice, both times he happened to have very good hands, and that was that.

There is a problem with doing a tournament report for this blog. Poker players who are reading this will want to see something different than my non-poker playing friends. So I'm going to do this one for the poker players, who understand the abbreviations and want to know details that the rest of you don't understand and/or don't care about.

In my next post, I'll copy and paste this, then insert some explanations/translations for those who aren't members of the poker literati.

PokerStars Tournament #302010964, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $2.00/$0.20 USD
This is the tournament entry fee. $2 goes to the prize pool, and PokerStars gets 20 cents.
3191 players
Total Prize Pool: $6382.00 USD
Starting stack of 3,000 chips
Starting time 2015

2030--Player "jean666" (not her complete player name, I don't "out" bad players online) is rated as a fish by HEM. Holdem Manager is a database program that keeps statistics on your play and that of your opponents. After only 13 hands, she is 77/0/1.4. (She puts money in the pot 77% of the times that she has that option, and raises 0% of the time). No action from me yet, I've been folding bad hands. It's a bad idea to out other players for at least three reasons. First, I took the time and spent the money to play against that player, study her, and take notes. Why should I give that information away free? Second, you don't want to humiliate the bad player and chase them off. Third, a player who is better than I could do the same thing to me.

2036--I still haven't played a hand. In 3 of 15 hands, jean has pushed a player out of the hand with a pot-size bet. It's very unlikely that she has the goods that often. I hope that I get to play a big hand against her before one of us switches tables.

2042--jean called 2 all-ins with T3s (ten-3 suited) and lost about 1/3 of her stack. I would love to catch some cards when she makes a move like that.

2047--I finally played a hand. I called the big blind, flopped 15 outs (fd/gs/oc), and hit my overcard (ace) on the river. My stack is 3,390, and I am 704 of 1,758 players still in, with late registration open until 2130. "Outs" are available cards that could improve your hand. For example, if I have two pair, sixes and fives, there are 2 sixes and 2 fives that are still out there somewhere. And since either another 6 or 5 would give me a full house, I would have 4 outs to improve my hand.

In this case I had a lot of outs because various cards would complete my flush draw, complete my gutshot (aka inside straight draw) or pair one of my overcards (cards higher than any of the community cards that are face up on the table). Sometimes you can have a weaker hand than anyone at the table, but have so many outs to improve that you are a mathematical favorite to win that hand.

2051--Vanessa Rousso got up on the desk, sat on my papers, and had to be evicted. No, my cat, not the poker pro. http://vanessarousso.com/ We needed a name for our new kitten, I was listening to the 2+2 PokerCast, and they named Vanessa as their female player of the year.

2055--I was moved to another table, and never played a hand against jean. :(

2055--Tournament break (5 minutes every hour)

2102--During the break I watched the International Space Station fly overhead. I was able to see it for about 3 minutes. I'm seldom in awe of anything or anyone, but that was an amazing experience! I already have my tournament highlight, that was it! And thanks to my wife for reminding me that it was time to get outside.

2119--After winning a couple small pots, I just lost about half my chips, down to 2,115. Button (the last player to act on every betting round except the first) checked (passed) and I raised with A9s in the small blind, button reraised and I called. A9s (ace-nine suited) isn't a great hand against a reraise, but with so many players playing junk early in MTTs, I tanked ("went in the tank"--stopped and thought for a while), decided it was worth seeing the flop (the first 3 of 5 community cards, which are shared by all the players to make the best possible poker hand) against one opponent, and reluctantly called. The fact that I had already seen bad players push players out of pots several times probably figured in my call as well.

The flop was three undercards, (cards lower than the 2 cards in my hand) button raised. At that point all I had was two overcards (six outs), so I needed to be getting at least 3.14 to 1 odds to call. I folded, and mentally kicked myself for calling a reraise out of position (out of position--one of the first to act, having to make a decison before you see what the other players do) with a good-but-not-great hand. Registration is over. I am 1,765 of 2,000, with 495 places paid.

2122--5 hands later. With AKo UTG+2, ("under the gun" plus 2, the third player to act) there was a raise and a reraise. All of my chips are probably going to wind up in the pot anyway, so it's best to move first, and I shoved (shoved all my chips into the middle of the table, went all in). I am called by AQo and double up. I'm now 867 of 1,822 with a stack of 4,580.

I'm in the top half of the field and just a bit under the average stack size of 5,327. I'm always reasonably happy when I'm in the top half of the field. When I get to the money, I usually do pretty well against players who don't understand when to take chances as the prize money gets bigger.

2127--I looked up "jean666" and she went out in 1,839th place at right about the time I doubled up. One of the things about tournament play that frustrates me the most is when someone like that is throwing her chips away, and I don't get to be one of the beneficiaries.

2133--Another table change. I have not played any hands since I doubled up. I have 4,344 chips (930 of 1,536) with an average stack of 1,536. About 1,000 players to get rid of before we hit the money.

Blinds (forced bets that rotate around the table so that everyone has to put one of the blinds in the pot twice each time around the table) are at 75/150 so my M (the number of times you can go around the table, at the current blind levels, before you run out of chips) is down to 19. I might have to start getting more aggressive soon. At this point my M becomes as important as my place in the tournament. I didn't realize that my M had dropped that far. I might have to reconsider doing any more of these tournament reports, or at least not take so many notes while I'm playing. As I have ADD, it's hard enough to concentrate, and my notetaking probably threw me off as far as keeping track of the tournament situation.

2155--Second break. I've played one hand since my double up and split the pot when we both showed AJo. My M is already down to 6. Wow, this really snuck up on me! I might be looking for a spot to shove real soon. I have 3,535 chips (not many more than I started with). Average stack is 9,039 and my place is 855 of 1,059.

2210--I shoved AQo UTG and picked up the blinds. My M is 7, place is 781 of 953. 500 more players to go before I cash. Of course, as the poker wisdom goes, I "play to win, not to cash", but I need to pick up more chips soon for either to happen. Plus, although it may go against that conventional wisdom, when I'm trying to build a big enough bankroll to generate an income, all cashes are welcome, even the small ones.

2219--I flopped a flush draw and shoved, and I didn't hit. Out in 852nd place. Not much to say in summary. Except perhaps for not watching my stack size closely enough and not getting more aggressive a little earlier, I don't think that I did much wrong. Looking back, it's easy to see the "luck" factor in poker. There were so many places that just one hand playing out a little differently could have made the difference. I was thinking about jean666 playing with garbage and unable to let go of a hand. Just one big hand for me when she was playing could have made a huge difference. But, as another poker saying goes, "Don't be results-oriented." Poker is about making good decisions, and over time, the results will follow.

Some have estimated poker to be about 25% luck (mainly what cards you and your opponents get, and when you get them) and 75% skill. It has been proven mathematically that over time, the best players will win. I will get those pots from players like jean666, my bankroll will grow, and I'll make a good living from this crazy game.I'm really hoping for a big month in April, when I don't have to adjust my sleep schedule and I can basically play, and sleep, whenever I want.

Posted by Poker Clif at 11:53 AM