Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Doobs]

We raise with.....

 

3 callers.

We see The Flop Of Dreams.

 

So, it's time you guys made some decisions. How do we proceed from here on that flop, with our hand?

Stacks and pot size?

Would totally change how I would approach it.

We are all playing similar stacks, 15,000 @ 25-50.

I made it 125, three callers, one of whom was in the BB, so the pot was about 500.

Flushy drooped by mid hand and gave me a proper rubdown as to how I played it. What does he know about O8?

Just bet.  People make bad calls. 

[Marky_Crash]

Three more Star Spangled Banners on the Herbiemob page so far this year then

Well played Sir.

So, did the live reporting help?

I've deliberately swerved that question until I finish playing, David, & I'll explain why tomorrow. Something of a double-edged sword.

Thanks, yes, 3 more Vegas herbies.  

I really have not yet reconciled how I failed to Final yesterday, I will understand it better when a few days have passed & I can view it with less emotion. I had a mountain of chips 2 tables out, but could not hang onto them. It's not even as if I'm the type to splash chips around, I'm pretty nitty. I feel the same as I did after returning to Venetian above average a week or so ago, close to the money, & coming away empty handed.  

We were 5 handed for a long time yesterday, & I had a dreadfully awkward seat with 2 aggro kids to my immediate left on sentry duty. I never lost any huge pots, I just dribbled, & could not connect with anything. I somehow sense I was outplayed. That does not bother me too much, as I played the very best I could, I was right on my A game. I just think maybe them kids had my number.  

I did get in 3 pots which were huge, & could have gone either way, I chopped 2 & got quartered in the other. Chopping, & being quartered, really is the difference I suppose.

The trip has taught me that I have constructed my PLO, PLO8 & Big O ranges reasonably well, if a little tight. The big weakness I have is lack of aggression, lack of gamble. It seems to be incurable.  

I've looked at this closely in my own play and I don't think it's incurable. Like me I just don't think that you can convince yourself that it's genuinely the right thing to do in the situation. If you truly believed it you would do it.

Its a fantastic subject, Tom. I DO truly believe I need to be more aggressive (in poker), but I find it extremely hard to do.

I know it is the right thing to do, I just find it very hard to actually pull the trigger sometimes.

Once I become Billy Low Stack - a regular occurrence - I have no trouble getting it in fairly wide & light, & it works reasonably well, but of course get it wrong once when we are a shortie & it's game over.

There was a kid yesterday who was 3 betting light., I absolutely KNEW what he was up to, & all I had to do was find something I could 4 bet with. In theory, of course, if he is light, I can be light, but that's when the headache comes, I look at my spanners & think "nah, I just cant do it with these".

Oddly, it was him who banana'd me. I was pretty sure he was light again so I found the trigger. He had the Aces, obv.....

Great subject to discuss, this - I think the way we play poker generally reflects our character. And in real life, I'm not aggressive, not at all.  

I think with you method you will have frequent small cashes, with the gambly method you will have infrequent bigger cashes.

The gambly game is very exhilarating but just as painful when you donk off a good stack with spanners.

I personally think from what I have read that you have had the mix of aggression at a very nice level in your games. There have been a few very key pots in tourneys that would have given you monster stacks but they just didn't pan out. Being harsh on yourself is swaying towards being results orientated IMO, looks to me like you have just ran -ev in the super key pots but still pulled 3 nice cashes!

Regarding the topic in general...

You mentioned that working a shorter stack you only need to be given 1 banana and it is curtains. This is the main reason I personally in general try and be very active and get a stack that can cope with the inevitable swings ahead. If I screw my tourney up trying to get the stack then so be it, although I personally try and pick spots with the appropriate amount of risk in relation to my stack and try and keep changing the tempo in relation to my stack/opponents/position. Actually rather than being aggressive or tight I personally think the aim is to be fluid, playing a style anywhere on the spectrum between tight and aggressive to best suit the sitaution.

I don't think it is just as black and white as a choice between lots of small cashes or less frequent big cashes. There are so many variables in oh8 and I personally feel it is an ongoing battle trying to get the optimal balance between all the variables into our own games and constantly adjusting this to try and have the best mix for the situations we get into.

I am rambling again... Cliff notes: Personally I feel it is a case of being fluid and switching between the gears rather than being generally tight or aggressive.

Good luck in this event.

Has been great fun following your exploits!

[tikay]

Can't reply to posts at the mo, but will do soonest.

2 levels complete, not much happening. Got quartered in a 2,000 pot, probably a bad play by me to continue and pay off his river bet, but I had nut low and 2nd pair, (ace kicker) and I thought I might just be good for both, as he looked FOS.

14,000, blinds now 75-150.

[tikay]

My turn to do the three quartering, as Mr FOS tries it on once too often and we have both ends locked.

16,900.

[Doobs]

Got about 10k less.  Had two disasters both times with aces.   Roland De Wolfe and Tony Bloom are here. 

[tikay]

Got about 10k less.  Had two disasters both times with aces.   Roland De Wolfe and Tony Bloom are here. 

Plenty of time to spin that up Doobs, good luck.

I heard Roland was in town, quite surprised he is playing a $3k jobbie though.

[Marky_Crash]

Good luck Doobs, hope you manage to rebuild.

Looks like an amazing field, so many big names.

[tikay]

Level 4 just started, 100-200, we are on 14,850 down from 18,000 after a bit of a misunderstanding arose, and I got three quartered with nut low and a bad flush, was pretty sure I had both ends and I 3 bet him on the end.

We've been very active today, more so than all trip. It's a bit scary, and has not really yielded much benefit yet, but has not cost us anything either. It feels wrong to keep peeling in position, but we are playing pretty deep, and I don't think it's terrible, even though it's never been my style.

EDIT - back up to 17,000 now.

[tikay]

2 players on our table just got it all in pre flop, both had full stacks.

The hands were A-2-5-7 and A-2-4-10.

No low came, and the 10 man scooped.

That's how to get a stack, I guess. I'm a bit envious in a way, being able to make such plays at this stage, in exchange for getting a big stack or busting.

[Marky_Crash]

2 players on our table just got it all in pre flop, both had full stacks.

The hands were A-2-5-7 and A-2-4-10.

No low came, and the 10 man scooped.

That's how to get a stack, I guess. I'm a bit envious in a way, being able to make such plays at this stage, in exchange for getting a big stack or busting.

Just enjoy the event and play the way you are comfortable mate, no rush with those stack sizes, you haven't had any trouble getting stacks in your previous events. Look at the mountain of chips you amassed in your last event!

Would love to have played this one, want to stay up and rail but will probably fail in the next half hour...

[tikay]

Another quiz for you, what do you do here?

We have

 

It gets a bit hot on this flop......

   

The turn is an off suit 8.

The fella had raised pre into 4 of us. He might have the aces as played, or maybe a broadway set.

We are heads up after the flop and he pots the turn.

We..........?

[Doobs]

Back up to 11.  Short stack easy to play.  Tony Bloom is definitely playing.  Roland was chatting to him for a long time.   He'd have loved my table the other day.  Some fella was saying it was impossible to make money betting on sports.


Edit.  20 eaay game

Edit

[Doobs]

Back up to 11.  Short stack easy to play.  Tony Bloom is definitely playing.  Roland was chatting to him for a long time.   He'd have loved my table the other day.  Some fella was saying it was impossible to make money betting on sports.


Edit.  20 eaay game

Edit

28k.  Aa62ss.  Just called a raise.  Shortie shoved the bb.  Utg reshoved.  I reshoved.  Ended up with 3/4 of main.  1/4 side.

[Marky_Crash]

Another quiz for you, what do you do here?

We have

 

It gets a bit hot on this flop......

   

The turn is an off suit 8.

The fella had raised pre into 4 of us. He might have the aces as played, or maybe a broadway set.

We are heads up after the flop and he pots the turn.

We..........?

Tough, we can't reraise the flop as there is only a backdoor 2nd nut low draw and we could be facing a set who would repot us and blow us off the hand.

Cant raise the turn for similar reasons even though we now have the 2nd nut low.

You have opponent on AA or maybe a set which suggests while he may well have a2, there is every chance the a3 is live due to his apparent continued interest in the Hi orientated flop. He could have hands like a4kk a5kk aaxx etc. So with a possible live low draw, broadway draw and nut flush draw I would flat the turn and hope to connect with the river and hope there are some implied odds if he will call/bet the river.

Position would dictate a lot here, sounds like you are in position and he is barrelling off?

Probably would sigh/fold the river to most bricks that land as it looks like he might be hard to shift off the pot and his range is probably weighted to a lot of calling hands on a brick river.

[Marky_Crash]

Nice one Doobs!