Good luck everyone. Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday, had a great starting table and good banter particularly with Harish Sahnan who is now sat directly to my right

(Will)

Appreciate your help on this one. Think I played it horribly, but not sure what best line would have been. I'll just tell you what happened:

UKIPT Side Event, £330 buy-in 280 runners (ish)
10k starting stack
Blinds 200/400 ante 50
Average chips at this point 22k ish

Me: 60k
Villian: 34k
Villian 2: 28k

I was on the BB. Villian raised to 1050 from mid position. He had shown raises with J10, J9s, KQs, this sort of range. SB Villian 2 reraised to 3k. Villan 2 very tight, not played a hand. I observed Villian not reacting much when looking at his cards, didn't think he had a premium hand. Villian 2 was different, tense body, fast heartbeat, trying to engage waitress etc. I was concerned he had AA. I decided to smooth call, and Villian 2 called as well. (I did this because I thought I was facing AA and may need to hit Q:what would have been best)

I called 3k, Villian called as well.

Flop: 10h   (Pot 9450)

SB Villian 2 checks.
I bet 6k
Villian calls
Villian 2 folds

Turn: (Pot 21450)

I bet 16k (Q: I did this because I thought he had a drawing hand and I wanted to close it out. I now think it was wrong, but what would be best)
Villian goes all-in for 25k

I call, when I should have folded and I know I should have. He tables 1010.

The third guy in the pot preflop really fked me on this one. What would have been better?

Views much appreciated

Will

Hi,

Always find it hard to know how to best play straight flush draws, with 3 of your suit on the flop. Unusual situation, I know, but it has come up several times in big tournaments for me. Here is the hand in question http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuOu6PbONmc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

What I knew about freezer01 was very significant in how this hand was played. We were 4 hands into the tournament. Freezer01 had played EVERY hand. Hand 1 he raised to 70, bet pot on flop, bet turn then folded river, flop was 10,8,5 rainbow. Hand 2 he called BB flop 7,8,2 he called 40, turn J checked, river 10 he bet 160 was called and showed 9,5o for a loss. Hand 3 he called pre and folded on a 4,6,A flop. Basically a very bad player

Questions:

1) I limped pre because I like to do that with medium Aces heads up against weak opponents- this is because I figure I can play better after the flop, avoid losing lots of chips to bigger aces and win often when he bluffs. Is this correct?

2) I made a large bet on the turn because I figured he had a weak hand that was currently ahead of mine, so I wanted to take the pot down but I knew I had outs. If he shoved I was planning to fold. I really felt like he could have almost any two given his playing history

3) The shove on the turn did not feel like a bluff, I was expecting a call with top pair or other hands I am beating, against because of his history.

?

Thanks
Will

Hi pleno1,

Don't you just love it when any of the following come up:

- A rich guy from Maccau decides that losing/winning 25k on dice is enough and he'd rather sit and play £1/£2
- Somebody takes down a tournament and decides to waste a couple hours playing cash with his new bankroll
- 45 minutes before the main event people are trying to 'win' their ticket at the cash table (I have always found this one of the most profitable times ever)

Such +EV

Second clip is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNMDVHoDNXM

Poker morality is an interesting beast- a few years ago, playing a crazy low stakes tournament at the Gutshot (sigh, I miss the sausage and mash...) the guy next to me was basically exposing his hand every time. I could literally see his cards without making any particular effort. On this occasion, I said to him, actually he was showing me his hand, and he then wised up and sorted it out.

Last year I was playing $2/$5 at the Bellagio and this drunk, loud American kid was sat next to me with a mega-stack. He was also literally showing me every hand. Lets be straight, I wasn't making ANY effort whatsoever to 'peek' at his hand, he was literally lifting the cards off the table right in front of my face. Tbh it was rather nice because he was also trying to bluff every hand. This time, instead of pointing out the obvious, I quietly double and then quadrupled up. Fortunately for him, perhaps, his girlfriend showed up and convinced him there were finer things to do in Vegas then give me his money and off he went.

Wondering what you guys would have done- would you tell somebody if they are unknowingly exposing their hand? Would it depend on who they were? On how high the stakes were? Do you consider it part of the game to take advantage of whatever information somebody chooses to give you, even if that is their exact cards?

There was also a time at the Flamingo where I was playing a local in a 6 or 7 player game of $1/$2. I had seen him lose a hell of a lot over a couple days (I can't remember his name, but he reminded me of the frog from the Budweiser advert- if you've ever met him you'll know instantly what I mean...). He was a nice old guy, and it appeared to me that he shouldn't have been playing. I deliberately did not take a cent of him during the game. I just didn't want his money.

Then there's the infamous Jamie Gold talking his way out of losing 'too much' against AA with KK on high stakes poker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erNjXtuKawU) LOL at Doyles comment 'we're playing poker here boys'. Interesting what they talk about.. is it masterful pot control by Gold or just begging?

Or Benyamine being given a $1m dollar rebate by Laliberte 'this represents one day in his life.. it represents your life' (Doyle, again lol)

So is a poker player with morals a bad player?

Will
Pokerversity

Well, I don't know- there are still lots of good receipes for that that might make it worth it. I would be interested to know why you think it is spam- did you even read the blogs? The are interesting to read and I would hope some people might find them interesting / entertaining. Purely posting here to encourage more experienced members of the poker community to perhaps read and offer comments to these enthusiastic newbies

We are trying to encourage inter university poker- have a look at our student poker blogs here www.pokerversity.com/bloggers . If you'd like to write or host your blog with us just let me know!

Will

Ok- so for example:

6 teams, 6 tables, NL 6 max

Each hand each player starts with 1000 chips and blinds 25/50.

You are UTG+1 with  . UTG raises to 200. Should you call / fold or raise?

Now, because your 'opponents' are the other 5 players who all hold  , the question is how to win more,  or lose less than these other players. The flop is going to be the same for all 6 of you- so if you fold and any other player hits trips and wins a big pot, you stand to be very behind.

Does this make any difference to your decision?

Thanks & forgive my ignorance-

However, most posts in that thread relate to confusion about the rules! Has anyone actually played this live- or got any more in depth analysis? I liked the 'poker without luck is like porn without boobs'

For me, it is a definite call and look at the texture of the board on the turn.

I would look closely to his reaction to the call, and body language as the turn falls, and then his betting amount and style. Putting these together with the actual card (blue or otherwise, paint or otherwise etc) I would then decide to raise call or fold the turn.

Hi guys,

I wanted to write a strategy article for duplicate poker. I just wondered if anybody wanted to share any ideas.. There are a few invites about to tournies running this structure, but nothing much written about it.

Particuarly, I am interested in when strategy should differ from a normal MTT line.

If anyone has actually played a live duplicate poker event, I would love to know what you thought about it ( and please tell me if I can't use your comments in my article, otherwise I will assume I can quote them)

Thanks so much

Will

I would be interested to know what sort of teamwork you think could be employed, both potentially 'allowable' and 'not'?

I think teamwork could be good, yes

One step further would perhaps be to have 10 teams, 10 shootout tables and everybody rotates a table each level... (not in the same direction) with any busted seats meaning players sit out a level...

Now that might be interesting! That way you take all the stacks of your team at some point.

Probably won't try that yet.

Thanks- I guess I agree with TightEnd's post. But there are surely different concepts of 'team' as well- comparing to rugby or football isn't really the sort of team I would be thinking about.

Team GB enter Olympics events and compete essentially individually and are really only interested in their own performance, however being part of the larger team structure is important for spectators and 'pride' etc. It's more that sort of team we had in mind.

One of my favourite Tony G clips was also due to a team event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y_o_Xrw-Qo