My Hand vs. Harrington

My favorite hand of the WSOP this year is a hand I played with Dan Harrington. I actually lost this pot but I am lucky I didn't lose a lot more. With about 25 people to go I found myself in about average chip position. Dan Harrington had roughly the same number of chips as myself and raised in the cut-off seat. I looked down in the big blind and saw K8 suited and called. I had been playing pretty tight and thought Dan may have been trying to take my blinds. I had let him do this a couple times already and thought this would be a good time to defend. I considered a reraise hoping to win the hand right there but instead just called. The flop came 2 4 K rainbow and I checked thinking I probably had the best hand. Harrington checked behind me and I didn't like his body language. Something told me to be careful. This is where things got interesting. The turn came 8. With about 800,000 in chips each and around 40,000 in the pot I bet 35,000. Harrington thought about it and just flat called my bet. Immediately I felt like something was wrong even with top 2 pair. The river came Q for a final board of 2 4 K 8 Q, and I immediately checked. Harrington thought about it and bet 80,000. I ended up deciding that I had to call even though I felt I was most likely beat. I was getting great pot odds and I didn't want to get run over. Harrington did turn over pocket 4's and when I showed him my K8 he was in disbelief. The hand would have been much different had he raised me on the turn but he didn't and I had more than enough chips to continue on in good shape. He told me the next day that he couldn't believe I didn't lose more on that hand. When he told me that it made my year... well that and the final table appearence and the money. Harrington was quiet at the table as you would expect but was funny and very respectful of all the players. I just wish I would have filled up on the river.

Charity/Celebrity Tournament

I just got back today from Dallas where I participated in a charity poker tournament put on by 102.1 'The Edge' and The Knights of Malta charity. Commander Sir Kent Farquhar of the Knights of Malta had invited me to play in the event as they were trying to raise funds for a new hospital. The main tournament was a freeroll and consisted of 600 people with the winner getting a free seat to the WSOP main event. I was to play in the 'celebrity' event in which the winner donated $2,500 to the charity they were playing for. In the main tournament I got to deal one table of six people. We were down to 60 at that point and the format was that there were 10 6-person tables and the winner of each table went to the final table. Well, I am happy to say that the winner of my table, Amber Thorton, went on to the final table and won her way into the WSOP. In the celebrity event I got to play with Gavin Griffen (WSOP pot-limit champ), Stevie Benton and Mike Luce of the band Drowning Pool, Jackson and Monica from Fear Factor who won a million dollars, Ralph Strangis (the voice of the Dallas Stars), and some other cool people to bring the total to 10. We all started with 1,000 chips and blinds of 50-100. Gavin and I just looked at each other and had to laugh. On the first hand I had the small blind and got pot odds to call with T 2 since everyone called but Gavin. I flopped a 2 and turned a ten and won the pot when no one called my bet. I was the chip leader after one hand. Mike Luce of Drowning Pool ordered everyone shots of Jager and the tournament was rolling. We lost someone on the 3rd hand and on the 4th hand I knocked out two people when my QQ held up vs. TT and AQ. The blinds then went up to 100-200. Gavin got knocked out a little later with KT because he was short on chips and all the sudden we were down to 4 after 9 hands. This tournament was hilarious. Blinds were going up every 10 minutes and each hand took about 3 minutes. I ended up getting heads up with a rock guy whose name I don't even remember. We were about even in chips. The first hand I got T4 of clubs and just called from the SB. The flop came T76 and I checked. Frankly, I wanted to check-raise because I figured he would bet with anything. He checked. The turn came ten for a board of TT76 and I checked again. Again he checked. Well, this isn't working I thought. When the river was an ace I moved all-in hoping he hit his ace. He called and showed me K9. Gotta love celebrity poker. He was forced to move all in next hand with 2 6 and I had 33 and it held up. Ship it! 14 hands into the tournament and it was all over. If only the WPT had been that easy. Well, I was happy for my charity and it was all in good fun.

Never Do This!!

I don't have much time to post today, but I'd just like to talk about something that I have seen happen a few times in poker in my life. You should NEVER fold the river if all you are last to act and it is checked to you. This might seem obvious, but some players when caught in a bluff will just fold their cards assuming they are beat. You have nothing to lose by showing down your hand at this point, it doesn't cost you anything. Some players might say that they don't want the other player to know how they played their bluff. I argue that if you are a capable player you should mix up your play enough that it doesn't matter if he knew how you played that bluff, as you should have many many different types of bluffs in your arsenal. Here is an example of a hand that came up between me and a great player (I edited out his name).

Green Plastic is at seat 1 with $8524.
Player X is at seat 7 with $15811.
Player X posts the small blind of $25.
Green Plastic posts the big blind of $50.
Green Plastic: 9c 7c
Pre-flop: Player X calls. Green Plastic raises to $150. Player X calls.
Flop (board: 4d Th 6c):Green Plastic bets $300. Player X calls.
Turn (board: 4d Th 6c Ac):Green Plastic checks. Player X bets $900. Green Plastic calls.
River (board: 4d Th 6c Ac 5h):Green Plastic checks. Player X folds.
$.50 is raked from a pot of $2700. Green Plastic wins $2699.50.

Now, about this hand. I won the 2700 pot with 97, no pair. I usually would either fold or raise this turn here because all i had was a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, but this player had been firing out big bets on the river all day on me (when he was pretty sure I couldn't call) and i wanted to have a chance to make a big hand and checkraise him once. I had a lot of chips on the table so I figured if i got lucky and hit one of my 12 outs, I could possibly get all in for a huge pot. Also, even if I missed (and he checked) I wanted him to know that I am willing to "gamble" and could hold and/or check any two cards at the end. This would make him less likely to keep stealing pots on the river against me, as I suspected he was doing. In the end he was probably bluffing with no pair, or a small pair, and decided he didn't want me to see his hand. The truth is, a good player (me, I think) is smart enough to know why a person would fold a hand when it is checked to them. So he didn't get a chance to win the pot with whatever he had, AND i know that he was bluffing there. Interesting hand, comments?

Memories of Ireland

Back in June Poker Stars was kind enough to invite me to play in the World Poker Championship in Ireland. They paid my airfare, hotel room, and entry fee - ship it! I had a wonderful time and since I'm too lazy to come up with anything new I am reposting a thread I made back in June after the tournament. Here it is.

After a fun 20 hours of traveling I got to Dublin very early on Tuesday morning (tourney started on Wed.). At the airport I ran into Chris Moneymaker and talked to him a bit. It's a huge thrill to get to talk to the big names - just another added bonus.

On Tuesday evening there was a players reception at the casino and the heats were announced. Once I found out that I wasn't playing until Friday it was off to the pubs. I was really surprised how small the casino was though. I guess it's different in Europe but the casino was basically a 4-story townhouse. I originally was kind of disappointed but it turned out to be one of the cool parts of the tournament. The smaller casino almost forced everyone to talk to one another and it was neat to strike up relationships with the other players, the dealers, and the staff running the tournament. I had a friend from Ireland who took the train to Dublin so we went drinking along with a young player from London, Adam Matusiak ('Twos') and ran into Blair Rodman - a big tournament player from LV. For the next few days I didn't go to the casino much but did do a lot of drinking. Kilkenney is a nice freaking beer. Guinness ain't bad either.

Finally on Friday I played my first hand of poker on the trip. If you don't know who was in my heat (or are curious about the format) you can go back and look it up at www.worldpokerchampionship.com. Everyone started with 100,000 in chips.

I got down to 74,000 early but started to get some cards and was at around 96,000 when a huge hand came up. Playing 8-handed still I raised on the button with KT. Gary Bush, who was on Late Night Poker and also finished second to Gavin Griffen at the WSOP's pot-limit hold 'em event, reraised from the BB. This was about the 4th hand I had played out of 6 and Gary had been watching me. I had a read that he had a hand but it wasn't big enough to call an all-in so I pushed. It would've crippled me to lose. He had 24,000 invested and 60,000 left but folded AJ. I told him I had QQ - sorry Gary.

It may not seem like much but I was now the chip leader at the table and I played like it. Most of the players at my table knew who I was so I hoped they had heard I played tight (I played scary tight at the WSOP). In fact 2 players at my table had played with me at some point at the WSOP. I think they must have gotten word because with the exception of one guy (Jerry) I picked up lots of pots without a fight.

An hour later a woman raised my big blind but I woke up with KK and popped her back. I checked a KQ8 flop and she moved all in. She showed AT which was about the worst thing I could hope for. I'm not whining but visions of a bad beat were running through my head. No jack though and I was the chip leader at my table.

When we got down to 6 players from 16 they conducted interviews with all of us. We were miked at the tables and the TV cameras were on. I was much more relaxed than in LV and thought to myself, 'This is the life'. The final 6 consisted of some very good players, Jeff Shulman, Paul Phillips, Joe Beevers, a guy they call Nick the Greek, that Jerry guy, and little old me.

Joe and I had a lot of chips though - about 2/3 of the total number of chips on the table.

On one hand Shulman and Phillips went all-in with AK against Beevers QQ. Just like that we were down to 4. When the two short stacks butted heads Nick the Greek was out and Jerry had a little more to work with. He was super-aggresive though and he got into trouble a couple times with Joe.

His last gasp was when he raised me from the SB and I just called in the BB with QT. QT was a freaking monster against this guy. When I say I just called it should tell you how aggresive he was. The flop came 2 3 10 and Jerry bet pot from the SB leaving him with about 20,000. I put him all-in and he went into the tank. There was over 250,000 in the pot and he considered folding for 20,000 more so I wasn't too worried. He had to call and showed me 2 8 giving him five outs twice. The turn was a 10 meaning I was in the money again and I couldn't believe it.

Joe Beevers is tough.

He also picked up JJ, QQ, KK, and AA against me in about 30 hands. I didn't last too long.

The final hand I raised with A3 of diamonds and he called with KK. The flop came 3 9 10 with 2 diamonds and I bet out. When he put me all-in it was an easy call with so few chips left and two blanks put me into the semi-finals.

When we got down to 6 I mentioned to one of the dealers that I liked his watch. He let me wear it but when we got down to 2 he had to leave so I gave it back.

I think that did me in.

Anyways, the semi-final heat was two days later. There were some great players there including Carlos Mortenson and Erick Lindgren.

During the interviews before the semi-final the interviewer asked me if I thought I was the favorite coming off my WSOP performance. Are you kidding me? Haha - one of many highlights.
Long story short I played great according to me. It's hard to be objective but I think I do an okay job and I played pretty damn perfect. I got my stack from 100,000 to 160,000 without playing one hand past the turn and I was thinking I might win the thing when I found KK in the hot-spot.

I raised and got called on my immediate left. I checked the 5 7 9 flop and check-raised all in (blinds were enormous and thus the pots were too). When my man turned up 7 9 I still had outs but they didn't turn up. I tried to second-guess myself on that one but it was a 'had to be there' play and the guy on my left could have bet that flop with a lot of different hands including trash.

Overall, I was extremely happy. I proved that the WSOP wasn't a fluke, if only to myself.

I know this is long so I'll try to wrap it up but I want to express how much fun it was. I had never been outside of North America so it was cool just to go to Ireland. I had no pressure on me also so the tournament was almost like an added bonus. I really liked the format and I was so relaxed. The staff, dealers, and players were so friendly. What great people!

I guess I was expecting people in Europe might not necessarily like Americans but that was not even close to the truth. I actually enjoyed myself more at this tourney than the WSOP. Admittedly, it was hard to enjoy myself at the WSOP with it being my first tournament and playing for freaking 60 hours but the Ireland experience is one I'll always cherish.

I also got to go out to dinner with 'Miami' John Cernuto and his daughter, Jade after the tournament and that was a thrill. It was neat to pick his brain and talk poker.

It turns out that we played the WSOP completely different in terms of stategy. His ranking in the world is 7 so it's hard to argue but I guess it just proves that there isn't just one way to win in this game. I'm so sick of writing I'm not going to check this for errors.

By the way, I ended up getting the watch from the dealer in a trade for my lucky sunglasses. Bartering is kind of cool.

Sorry this is so freaking long.

Playing the blinds in NLHE

One of the most important keys to success in no-limit holdem is knowing how to play when you are in the blinds. The primary reason that this spot is tricky is that the small blind and the big blind are the two worst positions at the table. You need to be able to make decisions about the strength of your hand, and how to play your hand, when you are the first person to act after the flop. This is not easy to do. Today I just wanted to go over a few things that I have learned in my experience of playing the blinds. These ideas will be particularly useful short-handed cash games, as you are constantly involved in playing the blinds.

The first type of situation comes when you are in the small blind. You hold something like A3 or A4. The guy on the button raises, and there is no one else in the hand. He has been raising every un-opened pot and you know he could hold any two cards. Every part of you believes that A4 is truly the best hand here. However, in my experience this just isn't the type of hand you want to call a raise with. When you call a raise with this hand, you basically need the Ace to come on the flop for you to have any type of hand. Thats 3 cards that help you on the flop. If this players is aggressive, you know he will bet on the flop regardless of what he has. If you don't flop an Ace, you really can't call him unless the flop was like 422 and you had the A4. Ok, say you get 'lucky' and the ace flops. Now you probably have the best hand, right? Well, you check the flop and as expected he bets. You like your hand so you call. Now the turn brings another card that doesn't hit your hand. You check again, and he bets even bigger. Well, what do you do now? You still 'probably' have the best hand. But it is very possible he could have an Ace and a higher kicker, made 2 pair, made a set, or could be bluffing. You want to call him here but it is very tough to continue with 1 pair, no kicker. This is why calling with a 'weak ace' preflop here is not a good play (if you think he is stealing, you are better off re-raising, and then betting big regardless of the flop). When you are playing the small blind/big blind to a late position raiser who is probably stealing, you want to call with hands that when you make your hand, you will be quite certain that it is the best hand. An example would be: any pocket pair, suited connectors (if you make a straight or flush it's pretty easy to know it's the best hand), Ace/Face card, or other hands like this. I would even rather play something like 9T or 9J than A2. Ax and Kx (when x is a small card) are just not good hands to be defending your blinds to late position raises.

The next situation I'd like to talk about is playing the big blind when it is just you and the small blind in the pot. This doesn't happen too often in a full ring game, but it happens in shorthand a lot. When everyone else folds and the small blind simply calls, you have to feel almost like 'you have the button now.' You get to act last on every street in this hand, including preflop. This is a HUGE advantage. You do not need a big hand to make the following play. If the SB just limps in, try raising 3x the blind. There is probably a 75% chance he will fold to this bet. On the flop he will probably check, and you should make a pot sized bet regardless. Unless this flop hit him hard, he will fold now. This play works great, and it also sets him up for when you pick up a monster on the BB. If you never made this play, what do you think he would do the first time you picked up AA in this situation? He would fold to your big raise. This would force you to limp in with AA here which would most likely just get you in trouble. So again, this play works well to steal a pot here and there, but also sets your opponent up for when you have a big hand. You should note that you should only do this about 1/3 of the time this situation comes up, as your opponents will start to realize it. But if you have a pocket pair, two high cards, two medium suited cards, or once in awhile two connected low cards, go ahead and make this play. You will be surprised at how well it works.

Flame out in Tunica

Wow. Disaster. I busted out of the main event in less than three hours in Tunica. It's been so painful that only now can I write about it. The worst part is that there is no one to blame but myself. The month leading up to this event all I did was play limit hold 'em. What the hell was I thinking? Do you play ping pong or racquetball before Wimbledon? This is not to insinuate that I think limit hold 'em is inferior to no limit but rather to point out that my preperation for this trip was lackluster at best. Of course, I ran into a road block no more than 5 hands into the tournament. At my first table were Josh Arieh, Hans 'Tuna' Lund, and Terrance Chan of RPG fame (super nice guy by the way). I haven't been too shy in the past about how I felt about Josh Arieh. At the WSOP the TV cameras picked up him giving me a hard time and he made some comments directed at me that the cameras didn't pick up. I've been the first to say on different forums that I thought Arieh was the best player at the final table (it would've been interesting if he would've won some coin flips towards the end). But, I wasn't planning on becoming buddies with him to say the least. Josh, though, was very nice as we exchanged pleasantries before the tournament. As far as I'm concerned the way he acted at the WSOP is water under the bridge. Oh yeah, back to the tournament. Somewhere around hand 5 Arieh raised my big blind of $50 to $125. I looked down at 3d 4d and decided to call. Arieh pretty much bullied me around at the WSOP so I decided to show him a new Matt Dean. The flop came out K 3 4 rainbow. Ship it! I checked, Arieh bet ($300?), and I raised him to $800. He called. The river was a 9 which I think put two clubs on the board (I should know this but I don't). I led out this time for $1000 which now seems smallish with only bottom two pair. Arieh calls. Of course, the river puts a king on the board and I can only imagine what my face looked like. I wasn't wearing my sunglasses so I'm sure I looked white as a ghost. I check-folded to a $1500 bet by Arieh. As I went to turn my cards over Arieh said, "3, 4?". Well...yeah, Josh....3 4. I wonder if Arieh was up to his old tricks calling for a miracle gutshot with A2 or A5? Oh well, we'll never know. Especially, since I looked as though I saw a ghost and it never, ever crossed my mind to bet the river. I must have gone on tilt because I didn't play very well from there on. I got involved in one pot about an hour into the tournament with 77. The board of JJJ45 was nice but JQ liked it better taking another chunk out of my stack. With blinds so low I shouldn't have been desparate with $4500 in chips but when you are on tilt you want to chase your losses. That's probably why I thought TT was the nuts and ran it straight into AA to end my tournament in about 460th place out of 512. I'm not very proud of my effort. But, I am going to work even harder to improve my game. Results don't just come to you because you think you deserve them.

$2000 Tourney in Tunica

Well, I just recently got knocked out in 70th place at the $2000 no-limit event at the WPO in Tunica, MS. I'm now 0 for 4 in tournaments on the trip with only the $3000 no-limit event and the $10,000 main event to go. Everyone started the tournament with $2000 in chips and blinds started at $25-$25. 369 people entered and 36 got paid. I didn't play a pot for a while and was blinded down to $1850 when I got a free look at a flop from the BB with 10 3 offsuit. The flop came 10 5 3 rainbow and I slowplayed it enough to extract about $500 from one player. He said a couple hours later that he had KK so possibly I could have gotten more out of the hand but my stack was at $2300 about a half-hour into the tournament and I was feeling good. Later I got TT, raised in middle position to $125 (blinds still $25-$25) and got one caller on the button. I led out for $225 on a flop of 9 5 3 rainbow and was quickly called. I figured the guy would raise with a hand that could beat me like JJ, QQ, KK, or AA and that if he had flopped a set he would have taken a little more time calling me if he was going to slowplay. I put him on a hand like 66, 77, 88, or maybe A9. I checked when a 7 came on the turn to see what he would do. He led out of $400 and I decided then and there that I had the best hand. Sometimes you can't put a finger on it exactly but it didn't feel like he had a set right there so I raised to $1000 total. He called the extra $600 fairly quickly and I started to second guess myself. When a 2 hit the river I couldn't believe it. Not a bad board for a guy holding TT huh? This is where I made a huge mistake though! I was totally committed to the hand (my opponent had only $800 left) but I only bet $500 on the river into a huge pot. My opponent again called quickly and tapped the table when I showed my tens. He turned a 9 face up and tossed his cards in the muck. But, I left him with $300 in chips and that would come back to haunt! Why not just push him all-in? Well, to be honest I wasn't paying close enough attention to how much he had left. I definitely wanted him to call me on the river but if he was going to call $500 he almost certainly would have put his last $800 in also. Nevermind that for now, I had doubled up and was feeling pretty good. I played very tight for the next hour or two and didn't make a move at one pot, of course, I wasn't getting any cards. A very aggresive kid at my table on my right who had been raising a lot of pots came in for another raise midway throught the third round and I looked down to see Ah 10h. Since I hadn't done a thing for a long time I figured the table would let me have a hand so I reraised to $1000. Oops, the table folded to the kid on my left who moved all-in for another $925. So, I had to put $925 into a pot that would contain $4000 ($100 BB, $50 SB, my $1000, his $1000, his $925 more, and my $925 more if I called). $925/$4000 is 23.125% (which I literally calculated while making my decision). So I would have to win the hand 23.125% of the time to make this a profitable call. It seems like an easy call when I put it that way but I wasn't so sure. There was a great chance that the kid had an Ace with a better kicker which would put me in bad shape. But, I'm still going to win 30% of the time vs. AK offsuit whether or not he has the King of hearts. He could easily have a hand like JJ, QQ, or KK, but even then I still have about a 30% change of winning. Of course, if he has AA then it's time to cry. But, the thing that caused me the most torment is the fact that in a tournament every chip is precious. Did I want to throw away another $925 when I knew I was behind (he re-re-raises one of the tightest players at the table!)? I finally decided that although it was almost certain I was behind that I just had to call with that much in the pot. I wasn't surprised when he showed me JJ, just a little sad. But, low and behold a beautiful Ace appeared on the turn and I was up to $6000! Ship it! I lost about half of my stack later, though, when I pushed my JJ up against QQ on a flop of 752 with two diamonds. Shock of all shocks it was the guy who I could have eliminated who had come back from the dead to cripple me! Well, I wasn't exactly crippled but I didn't see many hands after that and was forced to play a short stack the rest of the tournament. The end finally came when I moved all-in from the cut-off for my last $2600 with A9 offsuit. The button thought and thought and then called with KJ of spades (leaving him with about $500 chips left). I couldn't believe he called off almost his whole stack off with only King high but just as I was patting myself on the back for my good fortune a King hit the flop and sent me packing. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

A Hand at the Mirage

Recently I played a hand at the Mirage in Las Vegas that I want to share. I was playing in the $2/$5 no-limit game and had approximately $600 in front of me. Under the gun I was dealt As Kd and raised to $40. The game had been pretty loose and pre-flop raises had ranged anywhere from $25-$50 usually. A very tight player across the table from me called the raise as did the BB who was a calling station. The flop came Qd Jd Td which was a pretty good flop for me but also very dangerous. The calling station led out for $75 from the BB and I decided it was best to just call with my straight and see what the tight player across from me did. The tight player thought for a moment, called time, and then raised it to $225 ($150 more). The calling station disgustedly folded while muttering to himself and that left me with a huge decision. Whenever anyone calls time there is usually big trouble. The raiser only had $75 left in front of him and I had him covered. The raiser was obviously going to put in his last $75 unless it was a complete bluff so I was going to have to invest another $225 if I wanted any chance of winning the pot. If we both got our money in there would be $800 in the pot ($40 preflop + $40 preflop + $40 proflop + $5 SB + $75 on the flop + $75 on the flop + $225 on the flop + $75 the raiser's remaining chips + $225 I would have to invest to stay in the hand). So I had to put $225 into a $800 pot. I'd need an expected value of at least 28% to stay in the hand. Most people at the table thought I should fold the hand since the player was very tight and unlikely to raise without a flush. I approached the hand from a slightly different angle though. The player across from me was very tight. So, what hands could he be calling me with preflop that would give him a flush? The Kd was in my hand and the Qd, Jd, and Td were on the board. For him to have the nut flush he would have to have Ad xd. This guy seemed too tight to be calling $40 raises with Ad xd. 9d 8d was a possibility also but I had put this guy on a bigger hand. The hand that came to my head was Ad with a K offsuit. With that hand he knew I couldn't have the nut flush because he held the Ad and he knew I was a solid player who raised under the gun. He knew I wouldn't raise UTG with Kd xd. Now that I put him on Ad Ko what do I do? The best I could do is split the pot unless I caught my miracle 9d. I quickly figured that he had 7 outs to win the hand, while I had 1 out to win the hand. 7 outs twice is approximately 28%. I figured 28% of the time I'd win nothing. About 68% of the time I'd win $400 (half the pot) and 4% of the time I'd win $800. Without doing the math I knew the expected value was much more than what I needed to call (It's actually $304 when I only have to put in $225). I then pushed him all-in for his last $75 because I figured that money was going to get in the middle anyways. He actually laughed at me as he flipped up Ad 2d. My read was dead wrong! I was dead to one out. For me the story ends happily as the turn brought the beautiful 9d. Ship it! The other player kicked a chair on his way out of the poker room saying that the game must be rigged. I really did feel a little sorry for him but not enough to give him his money back. I mean who calls my raise with Ad 2d? Just kidding. Some would say the lesson is not to overthink the hand (I mean the guy did raise into a very dangerous board after calling 'Time') but I'm happy with my decisions. What do you think?