O-Poker

I'm heading out to LV in the morning. If you are interested in following my play out there, I have signed up for a twitter account.

You can follow me at @seemitch

It seems like all the poker pros at the WSOP are making prop bets to keep their interest in the grueling daily grind of playing long hours often with nothing to show for it. I listen to a lot of the poker podcasts and still have trouble keeping up with all the prop bets players have with each other. The one that everyone knows about is Phil Ivey's bracelet bet that he won earlier in the week, but the it seems like I hear a different number every time the story is told.

So, instead of trying to keep track of what all the prop bets out there, I have decided to make a few of my own on Bodog. Looking through the list on their site, a couple jumped out. My bets are as follows (I am sure some will disagree):

Which player will last longer in the 2009 ME
Phil Hellmuth -110
Tom Dwan - 130

My Pick - Hellmuth -110 (I know durrrr is a cash game monster, but Hellmuth somehow seems to always tear up donk filled large tourneys)

Which player will last longer in the 2009 Ante Up for Africa tourney
There are 14 Celebrities on the list and I'm guessing a few of them probably won't play or will register/donate the money and not show up, so it is probably more like a last longer out of 10 players.

My Picks - Hank Azaria 8-1 (He seems like he a more of a clue than most)
Charles Barkley 10-1 (I had to pick him since he was the only one that gave the Magic a chance against the Cavs. Prob a bad bet since he will be itching to hit the table games)

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2 days til I leave for Vegas!!!!!!!!!

I had to post this picture that I took the other day. Strange what you can get at the flea market.





EDIT: Not sure how I could have posted this without putting up the Oldie but a goodie:

I know that Tommy Angelo advocates "Mum Poker." It definitely has it's place, but I think talking at the table, especially, to those that like to talk also has it's place as long as you are mindful about what you are saying. People like to talk about themselves and generally, the more they talk the more information they are giving you. When I sit down at a cash game I always try to strike up a conversation with the guy on my left and right. If you know their thinking/how they play then you have a huge advantage. They won't tell you flat out how they play, but they are usually more than willing to tell you if it is the first time at the WSOP/playing live poker/etc or how great of an internet/live player they are. If you ask where they are from, they may volunteer more information like where they play poker on a daily, weekly, every few month basis. You may even be able to give them just enough information about yourself for them to think you don't know as much as you do. You don't have to lie - just don't tell them everything.

Even though I rarely play live I can think of a couple quick examples off the top of my head:

Example 1
Last year, I was over in Tampa at a deposition of the opposing expert witness in a hurricane damage case. I'm a consultant that sometimes works on legal cases. I'm definitely not a lawyer and don't dress like one, but I dressed like one that day. After we butchered the opposing expert, I headed over to the Tampa Hard Rock. I was minus the coat and tie, but I still looked like a business guy that wandered into the HR to gamble after work.

After a couple of hours, I wound up in a SNG (equivalent of an online turbo SNG). A few orbits in, it folded to me in the SB. I completed with I think 2 face cards. The BB, who through conversations thought that I could send some work his way, over shoved all-in. I folded. Not a big deal - nothing too unusual about the hand for a live SNG, until he started to give me lessons on how to play poker. He told me to never just limp from the SB because the BB can just shove and you will have to fold. He went on to further explain some of the "finer nuances" of poker to me. I politely thanked him for all his advice.

There was no reason to let him know that I had ever played poker before. He created a better image for me at that table than I ever could have created on my own. The entire table now viewed me as a businessman without much knowledge of poker.

Example 2
Last year, I sat down at a 2/5NL game in the Rio after one of the donkaments thinned out enough for them to open cash tables. The guy to my immediate right and I were talking a lot about poker. We talked about FTP and PS. I let him ramble on and on and I was soaking it all in. He went on to tell me how easy and juicy live cash games are. "All you have to do is raise and then c-bet and everyone folds." I noticed that he was getting way too liberal with this plan and was always firing 2nd and 3rd barrels whether he connected or not. His pattern became predictable, even more so because of our hand discussions.

About and hour or so into the game, I called him down very light on every street including his river bluff. His line made no sense. He wasn't playing his made hands the way that he played this one. He went ballistic and couldn't believe how horrible my call was for calling him down so light. He wasn't talking to me anymore. He was no longer my "friend."

I was reading some of the coverage of the 1st level of the $40k NLHE WSOP event yesterday. The starting chip count was T120,000 and the blinds were 200/400/w 50 ante. There were several players that got all-in with AA in the 1st level. I will put in the caveat that I wasn't there so I may not know all the cirucmstances surrounding the hands/player's histories with each other, etc, etc, but on the surface and from the pokernews descriptions it just seems like horrible play.

First Example:

Jim Bechtel Eliminated by David Chiu

We already have a man down only thirty minutes into this event and unfortunately, it was 1993 Main Event Champion Jim Bechtel.

Bechtel, David Chiu, and Per Ummer saw a flop of {9-Diamonds} {2-Spades} {2-Hearts}. Bechtel checked, Chiu bet 6,000, Ummer folded and Bechtel called. The {6-Diamonds} cameon the turn and Bechtel checked again. Chiu fired out 9,200 only to be met with a shove from Bechtel for his entire 119,000 stack.

Chiu made the call and flipped over {9-Hearts} {9-Clubs} for a flopped full house, cracking Bechtel's {A-Clubs} {A-Spades} . The river was the {3-Spades} and Bechtel's tournament was over while Chiu doubled up to 245,000.

No real explanation needed on why this was horrible. What was he thinking? Is worse hand ever calling?

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Phil Laak (mr uber-tight on High Stakes Poker) was involved in the 2nd one:

After a flop of {J-Clubs} {8-Diamonds} {2-Clubs} Phil Laak announces to the entire tournament floor that he is all in. Camera crews rush over to see Laak turn over {8-Clubs} {8-Hearts} for middle set against the pocket aces of his James Calderaro. The turn and river are blanks and Laak doubles up to 245,000. Calderaro drops all the way down to 7,900.

The Laak showmanship plus his ultra-tight early tourney play makes this seem very bad by his opponent. Maybe there was more to the hand since the description doesn't have how the action went down, but it just seems bad, bad, bad.

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Not too sure about Tony G's getting all in with Aces either - even though we won:

With the board showing {5-Diamonds}{3-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}, Tony G just got it all in with {A-Clubs}{A-Spades} versus Erik Cajelais' {8-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds}. The turn was the {A-Hearts}, further improving Tony G's hand. And the river was the {8-Hearts}, giving Tony G the large pot.

Tony G is quickly up to 248,000, while Cajelais falls to 3,800.

I think we need to know more information on how this hand went down.

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As LJ pointed out to me - Brian Townsend also posted on his blog that he couldn't believe how horrid the play was, especially considering players had to shell out $40,000 to play the event.



*****EDIT*******

Short Stack Shamus at Hard Boiled Poker (which happens to be one of the many places I am following the WSOP) pointed out Tony G's interview about the hand. It makes it seem a little more reasonable. The other two still seem horrible, especially the first one.

PokerNews Video

Both are on Sunday. I can't play the Brit Blogger Game because I will be watching the kids, but I'm definitely in for my last shot at a BBT4 TOC seat on Sunday in MiamiDon's Blogger Big game.

Tournament: Brit Blogger Game
When: Sunday's at 16:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $5+.50
Password: donkament

Tournament: Blogger Big Game
When: Sunday, May 31st at 21:30ET
Game: Superstack NLHE
Buyin: $69+6 (or token)
Password: donkey

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Orlando is now up 3-1 despite the refs trying to give the game to Lebron...err Cleveland. (Just ask Charles Barkley) The town is going nuts!!!

BTW, Charles Barkley is a genius. He predicted that Orlando would beat Cleveland. Hopefully, the Magic will make him look like Kreskin.

ESPN article on the game - breaking down the fouls/controversial travel call.

My question is why wouldn't this be a foul on Lebron instead of a good "no-call" for not calling a foul on Dwight Howard.

"n the closing seconds of overtime, I think everyone was sure Dwight Howard would be called after he bit on a LeBron James fake, and made contact while James released the shot. It looked like a play we have all seen called a foul a zillion times. But replays revealed that at the time of contact, Howard was upright on the ground, and James jumped into him."

It looks like they will be streaming 24 WSOP Final Tables on ESPN360 and Bluff. Hopefully, ESPN will allow access to people that subscribe to ISPs other than those they are affiliated with. I remember it being a huge clusterf%ck last year.

This may effect my decision on which event(s) to play - not because I think I am going to be at a TV table, but because the field sizes may be slightly bigger for the events that are going to be streamed.

Hard Boiled Poker has a pretty good post about it

Link to Pokernews story with streamed event list

I am going to work hard this weekend plugging leaks. It seems that I have a major one. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to plug the leak, but I'm sure I'll find other leaks while I'm trying to correct the major one.

The first step in plugging leaks is discovering them. This one wasn't hard to discover thanks to five straight days of rain, water dripping through the window, pelting the back of my recliner and creating an extremely large puddle on our (luckily) brick floor.

Oh yeah, I guess I should have said "non-poker related post" in the title.

Unfortunately, the government moves slow so it is still 6+ months before uncapped NLHE games start getting spread in FL. I can't wait.

Ante Up (as always) summed it up best on their blog (see quote below).

STEPS

1. Gov. Charlie Crist signs SB 788.

2. Gov. Crist and the Seminole Tribe draft a new compact

3. Florida Legislature and Seminole Tribe Council approve the new compact

4. Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs approves the new compact, and it’s printed in the Federal Register.

(Complete timeline) - Best guess: Dec. 1, assuming the Legislature approves the compact

They also have a pretty good Florida poker magazine that they started a few months ago. If you are interested in FL poker/FL poker players or are a fan of their podcast then go support their startup and buy the magazine. Sure you can read it for free online, but what would you read in the bathroom.

I'm still not sure which event(s) I will play while in LV, but at least my plans are finalized. I fly out Sunday, June 14th (which isn't Father's Day) and fly back Saturday, June 20th (the day before Father's Day). My current plan is to play one WSOP tourney from the following:

Monday June 15th - 2k NLHE
Tuesday June 16th - 1.5K NLHE
Thursday June 18th - 2k NLHE (leaning towards this one)

I will probably also play a one or two Venetian Deep Stack tourneys. The rest of my time in LV will be spent at the cash games and unfortunately keeping up on work in my hotel room (or maybe by the pool.)

I can't wait. Only 25 more days until I'm in LV eating Beef Jerky and drinking Milwaukee's Best Light

CK has started to compile a list of the bloggers that are heading out to the WSOP this year.

EDIT: Al updated his blog it ends May 31st instead of May 24th. (I actually have 6 more shots.) The ones listed below plus another Riverchasers, Skillz, Mookie and the Blogger Big Game if it gets moved to May 31st.

To say that I am disappointed in my BBT4 performance would be an understatement. I think I had one 2nd, two 3rds, one or two more final tables, and two-three final table bubbles. These things are all about winning entry into the TOC for a shot at 2 WSOPME packages and 2 WSOP $2k packages. 2nd place might as well be last place, but it still stings to get close and come up short.

There are four events left, but I will only be able to play two. I don't play during the day on Sundays and Sunday night I will be at Game 3 of the Orlando/Lebron Series. So the LHE skillz game tonight and the Mookie tomorrow night are my last two shots.

I'm going to go into both tourneys like I have gone into every BBT4 event - play for first because the other spots are meaningless. Maybe I will at least get to have some fun abusing the guys that are in the running for the overall points crown. Good Luck to the rest of you that haven't won seats yet!!!!

"I don't tilt."

"I never tilt."

It has been a long time, but I remember saying the above quotes. There are varying degrees of tilt, some more extreme than others but everyone tilts. Tommy Angelo's book, podcast interviews and new video series on Deuces Cracked have helped me realize a big leak and begin to plug the dam. You can have many goals in poker, but one of your main goals should be to "tilt less" than your opponents. If you deal with the bad beats, coolers, running bad over a session, etc, etc better than other regulars in the game do then you will profit in the long run.

I tilt a lot less than I used to. I now find myself taking a little more time to make decisions right after a bad beat, cooler, or bad call/play. For the next orbit or two, I am consciously asking myself, "Would I normally make this bet/raise/call/double barrel/triple barrel/etc if xyz hadn't just happened a few hands ago?" The 2 additional seconds that this usually takes has probably meant more to my game lately than anything else. I occasionally find myself folding instead of calling/raising or raising instead of calling/folding thanks to taking that extra 2 seconds.

If you think you don't tilt or never tilt, make sure you aren't kidding yourself. Review your sessions. Don't just review the big losses and wins, but also review the next 50 or so hands after a big loss or win. Did you do something differently than you normally would during that stretch that you would consider spewing, playing too nitty, or just a plain bad that caused you to lose more or win less than normal?

I have been playing exclusively full ring cash games for a couple of months now instead of 6 max for numerous reasons. I'll probably go into some of the secondary reasons in future posts, but I can sum up one of the main reasons in one question:

Why would you play 6 max NLHE online when almost every online training site focuses predominately on 6 max NLHE? They are training hoards and hoards or people how to play and how to play against the ideas/concepts/etc that they are teaching. I know that there are still fish to be found in 6 max NLHE, but it seems like more casual players or players that predominately play tourneys would sit down at the full ring tables because that is what they are used to playing (whether in live games, tourneys, or sngs).

Just something to think about......oh yeah, and if you are a good 6 max player, please stay at the 6 max tables.

I finally finished the 15k hand experiment (5k hands of 2 tables, 5k hands of 3 tables, and 5k hands of 4 tables - all 200 nl full ring).

As a few people pointed out, 15k hands isn't really going to tell me anything. The main reason for the experiment was to work on staying disciplined and focused and work on my game. I spent more time than every taking notes, really thinking out hands both during and after sessions, focusing my energy on trying to always play my "A" game, and deciding not to play when I shouldn't. I still have a little trouble playing when I shouldn't (I think most people do)

It took longer than I thought mainly due to a very busy April (work, sister's wedding, family stuff, etc, etc)

I'll post a follow up with more in depth thoughts on the things I worked on next week, but here are the results.

1st 5k hands 200 nl fr - 2 tables only
Hands - 5,001
Amount Won - $47.15
ptbb/100 - 0.24

2nd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 3 tables only
Hands - 5,001
Amount Won - $1,413.35
ptbb/100 - 7.07

3rd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 4 tables only
Hands - 4,976
Amount Won - $812.15
ptbb/100 - 4.08

Overall result of all 15k hands 200 nl fr
Hands - 14,978
Amount Won - $2,272.25
ptbb/100 - 3.79

And the Graphs:


1st 5k hands 200 nl fr - 2 tables only



2nd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 3 tables only



3rd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 4 tables only




Overall result of all 15k hands 200 nl fr