Time Tourneys at Pokerstars

If you have played at pokerstars during the last week, then you have probably seen the new Time Tourneys. These run for a set amount of time ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. When the time runs out, they do a chip chop for the prize money amongst the remaining players. These are MTT tourneys found under the tourney tab in the lobby. They are marked with a clock to the left of the tourney name. For as much as they are hyping these things, there are not that many Time Tourneys running. So, I wasn’t able to multitable a set of them at the same buyin level, or even same time allotment. Come on Pstars...

The payout concept is similar to the Fifty50 sngs, but with one big difference. In a Fifty50, half the prize pot is divided evenly among the players ensuring that you at least win your buyin back even if you make it itm with only one chip remaining in your stack. The other half is divided based on your stack size. In the Time Tourneys everything is based on your stack size compared to your starting stack. For example, if you start the tourney with 1500 chips and an $11 buyin, then 1500 chips equals $10 prize money. Thus, if you end the tourney with 3000 chips you will win $20, 6000 chips would pay $40, etc. However, if you end the tourney with less than 1500 chips you will win less than your buyin, in other words, you lose money. From the few games I’ve played, it seems like about 25% of the players getting itm actually did lose money! It doesn’t matter how many players are left when the tourney ends, your prize money is based on your stack size and nothing else.

How did they play, you ask? Well, I have only managed to play three thus far:

$5,50 buyin, 120 minute tourney

$11 buyin, 30 minute tourney

$11 buyin, 15 minute tourney

The 120 minute tourney played like a normal tourney all the way up to the last 15 minutes. A lot of players understood that creeping itm with a micro stack was a bad idea. These guys were shoving and calling with ATC hoping to get lucky. On the other hand, the players with 2-4 times there starting stack were trying to conserve chips. They would use every second of time available to slow down the game and were folding pretty much every hand. I didn’t have any really big stacks at my table, so I don’t know what they were doing, but I would have played very aggressively with a big stack.

The 30 minute tourney played more like a 45 man turbo. The final blind level played like the 120 minute game.

The 15 minute game was a real shovefest – LOL! It wasn’t as crazy as the hyper-turbos, but it was pretty crazy nonetheless. It was a push-fold game from the very first hand. Luck was a huge factor in this one.

Time Tourneys are great if you want to play some poker, but don’t have too much time. For example, I wanted to play last night before going to bed. However, it was already 11PM. I didn’t want to be up all night. So, I regged for the 15 minute Time Tourney. Fifteen minutes later, I was $28 dollars richer and my poker need was satisfied LOL!

I cashed in all three tourneys I played and won 2-4x my buyin. So, thus far I’m liking these things, but a ”big cash” is still eluding me. If (when) I play more Time Tourneys, I’m hoping to join the 30 minute ones. Skill is still a factor in these, and as I said, they played quite similar to the 45 man turbos.

I’ll keep you updated. Do the same, if you play any of these!

Roland GTX

PS: I tested the new Nova table themes, too. They look fantastic, but unfortunately, they cover too much of my cards. I had to switch back to black.

Latest 3/45 turbo

MrSmith back on Top

We were only five players in night's live game since someone scheduled the tourney right in the middle of fall vacation. Nonetheless, it was another good evening with plenty of fun and solid poker. If you recall MrSmith was the first one railed in our last tourney when he shoved his AK into an AA limper from the small blind. He got his revenge last night with a well deserved first place. Well played MrSmith!

The newest member at the table, SA (we will find a nice monicker for you soon enough...), started off with some big calls and some big wins during the low levels. Unfortunately, he had a classic "right move, wrong result" when his KK didn't hold up to MrSmith's A8s. Smith doubled getting back in the game with an A on the flop, and SA went from chipleader to a bit on the short side. He played well, but never recovered.

There were four of us left with fairly even stacks; however, the blinds just kept climbing making it a very tactical  push/fold end game. MrSmith was in the bb on the decisive hand. I folded A4o utg, but Klokkhammer had a shoving hand and moved all in. Barbapapps thought he was ahead. So he moved all in too. MrSmith was happy to see that he was holding AA in the bb and insta-called. His big pocket pair held up and Klokkhammer and Barbapapps were knocked out of the game. (MrSmith, edit the details if you remember them better than I did)

Heads up lasted all of three hands, the blinds just jumped up to 300/600 and my 2500 chips didn't offer too many options. I shoved with Q10 and MrSmith called with a better hand (A something). Once again, his hand held and he took down the tourney.

Sicne it was still fairly early, MrSmtih, Barbapapps and myself played a quick, winner takes all, turbo tourney. Once again, stacks were fairly even, but the blinds were punishing us. I picked up JJ utg and moved all in with 8 bbs and the chip lead. I expected it to fold around as it had most hands, but that was not the case. Barbapops in the sb had the best starting hand of us all and correctly made the all in call holding QQ. MrSmith in the bb also decided his KQ was strong enough to join in the melee. The K on the flop appeared to crush Barba and me, but a lucky J on the turn gave me a set and the win - oh yeah!

Thanks to everyone for once again making a great evening!

Roland

PS: Expect the next game to be early Nov. I'll get the date posted next week.

Wollmar Bullies His Way into 1st

Congratulations to TC aka ”Wollmar67” on his first live win! You turned your game up a notch with some smart aggressive preflop play once we were itm- well played! Remember to send us a pic with you wearing the ”Champion’s Belt” in all its glory. Yours truly took 2nd and MrEMC2 took 3rd.  And, thanks for a excellent evening guys! The tourney was exciting with solid poker from start to finish and the big stacks and short stacks trading places quite often.  

There were plenty of great hands and horrible hands for everyone, including five AAs I think. One of these was a huge preflop all in confrontation between  Klokkhammer’s AA and Stabekk’s KK - the As held. Another was my AA vs Wollmar67s JJ. My full house was no match for his quads! And MrSmith got the short end of the stick when his AK hand went up against AA in a sb bb confrontation. Nice line on that one TL!

Well, we can’t control the cards, but we can control how we play. I feel that everyone played smart poker. Furthermore, we played considerably faster than we used to. We got in about 90 hands last night, whereas we used to only manage 60 – 70. This has a huge impact on the game actually. So, thanks to everyone for showing up on time, having the right buyin amount, excellent dealing and quick play!

If you promise to be equally flink next game, perhaps I’ll insert a longer break so we can enjoy a bowl or three of my chili. Speaking of the next game Thursday, 6 October is looking quite likely.

PS: We ended up being 7 players last night, all of whom have become pretty much regulars now. That means we have two or three chairs still available. If we grow more than that I might have to start a new project and build a second poker table....    

Straight flush yet another time :-)

Hi guys,

You probably remember my sf night from march, don't you. Finally, I managed to clear the odds for the bad beat from that time.

Tourney was $3.50/27, and we were already down to 3 players, so the rest of the game was bonus anyway :D

Here's the hand, which put me in a great position to win the entire tourney.



Just to have mentioned it, I'm expecting at least one of these hands tonight, so I'm feeling pretty confident when it comes to the result, lol.

Looking forward to an exciting home game at Rolands place, bubbles are in the fridge already ;)

Home Game

I am definitely looking forward to our home game next week! It has been far too long since we sat down together with  real cards and chips. Right now we seem to be seven or eight players which is great.

I haven't been online much lately, but have played in a few of the Pokerstars Norwegian Poker League tourneys. The only success I've had was in an FPP Omaha PL tourney. I suck at Omaha, but it is fun to see so many full houses and quads.

Also, now that Klokkhammer is back in town, chess is back on the agenda if anyone else is interested. Not much else of interest here. I was simply tired of looking at my previous, all too depressing, post:)

Roland GTX

Another No Show for the August Home Game

No one other than MrSmith and myself regged for last night's home game on Pokerstars. Nagging and begging you to play doesn't make any of us too happy and the whole point of the club was to have fun and keep in touch. My point being that our tourney series at Roland's Room home game club has been put down. I can assure you that I hit the delete button as humanly as possible. May the good memories it created last longer than it did... (insert an "Amen" here if you have the urge).

On a brighter note, many of the other clubs are now a bit more accessible to the public. The Norwegian Donkr club looks promising according to MrSmith. I believe he has joined and I may do the same.

Furthermore, as I intimated in my last post, I've set the date of our next live home game for September. The details will be going out later today.

That is it for now. Keep in touch!

Roland GTX

Welcome back to the tables

I hope everyone had a good summer break. All is well on my end. None of our Norwegian friends/family were injured in the July attacks thankfully. With all the ranting about that topic in the newspapers, I'm going to stick to ranting about poker here.

The next Home Game Club tourney is scheduled for Sunday, 28 August. 


Here is the schedule for the rest of the year. The software won't let me set them so far in advance, but these dates are set in stone (even if I can't play myself):
August: Sunday the 28th
September: Sunday the 18th
October: Sunday the 16th
November: Sunday the 13th
December: Sunday the 4th


I can also mention that I won't be continuing with the Home Game Club in 2012. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough interest. I'm going to try once again to get a regular live game going instead.

I hope to see you on the 28th, and good luck at the tables!

Roland GTX



 

Confusing play

Hi guys,
I've been playing a couple of times lately, and doing ok. Quite a number of $7 50/50, there are both fun, and fairly easy to make money on.
Last weekend, I was playing my favourite tourney $4.50 180 players, and busted out on 29th place with following hand. I had been too long on that table, but I had the impression that the opponent was a steady player.
The hand was like this (leaving the players names for a change)



Hitting the 2 top pairs on the turn, I was absolutely sure that I was ahead, and indeed I was right. I was completely aware of the fl draw, of course, but I did consider the guy to be a good player, so I was sure he would fold a fl draw. Completely wrong, as you can see. WHAT A DONK, was my first thought. He had appr 20% chance of winning the hand, and I would have folded instantly. Well, just another a BB, and ok with it.
The problem is indeed that this player has some nice stats, as you can see yourself.
So either he was completely drunk or on tilt, or I made some basic mistake somewhere.
I tend to believe that the fault was mine, but I can't figure out how to play such a hand against such a good player. For the record, the fellow ended 3rd with a nice win of some $83.

Any ideas

PS: God summer to everybody.

Results for June Home Game

Well, that was fun. Only three players registered tonight; the two Danes and myself. Congrats to Mckrogh on his first win! I'm sure he was happy to beat his boss to win the tourney LOL. On the final hand, JaneMaria got all in with AK while Mckrogh had AJ and top pair which held. Yes, I went out in 3rd (top 3 and first man out ....)

We will be taking a summer break until August. I'll get back to you then if anyone cares to continue. Perhaps live games once Klokkhammer returns will spark more interest.

Roland

Have You Missed Me Yet...?

Thanks for all the e-mails, phone calls and text messages inquiring about my health!  I'm sorry for the disappearing act, but a combination of events lead me to take a break. I've been rather busy both at work and at home, but have a new kitchen at our summer place to show for it. I've had long term house guests that tend to tilt my play. I actually was sick with one heck of a cold. And, the huge rake and buyin changes at Pokerstars really bummed me out. However, after talking to MrSmith yesterday, I felt the urge to play and write again. In other words - I'm back. Back to blogging and back to poker. I even played a profitable set on Pokerstars last night (six $7 Fifty50s).

There was one interesting hand. Midgame, two limpers already in the pot. I hadn't played a single hand yet. I had 55 and decided to complete from the small blind. The flop was 55K - Presto! Now, how do I get the most out of this situation? I checked the flop and the first limper (tighter than most players) made a 50% pot raise. The second limper folded. I didn't want to scare him away with a reraise. So, I flat called. The turn was a blank and I checked again. The villian made a 30% pot raise this time. Both of us were short enough that the next raise would have to be an all in raise. Should I reraise now or wait for the river. I flat called. The river was another blank, no straight or flush possibilites. He seemed like he was  milking a big hand. So, I checked again hoping he would move all in with top pair or something. He didn't. He simply checked down the hand. I won a nice pot, but could I have won more chips by playing it differently?

Also, I need to schedule a home game on Pokerstars. Does this coming Sunday, June 19th work for everyone? Rescheduled for the 26th!

Roland GTX

Live poker in Vegas

Hi guys,
I'm in Vegas as you know, and it's weird to see this crazy place. I was prepared for huge size, but huge isn't sufficient AT ALL. This place is insance. I'm staying at a "small" hotel, Venetian, which is hosting a conference with 7.000 people, in addition to all the gambling. Good lord, you need GPS inside these hotels.

Anyway, I played a deep stack on sunday, $150 buyin ($125 for the pot). Only 68 players, since it was mother's day, lol. Normally there are around 100 players. 1. place was around $2.500, 9 players getting paid. Blind levels increased every 30 minutes, 7.500 chips. I was both tired and nervous, but settled early, seeing a lot of players calling many flops early, with up to 7 players in the same hand. Pretty much the same as online poker. Didn't grab any big hands, but had a couple of good folds, i.e. JJ preflop in small blind, with a raise and rr from the button. The had QQ and 99, but I would have hit a set, lol.
I made no big mistakes, got some steals in higher blinds, knocked out one short stacked player shoving JJ, and I had AK in big blind (Hit the K).
After 6hrs, we were down to 12 players, with several short stacked. Blinds were 1000/2000, Ante 300, and I had appr 10.000 chips left. Got a QJs on the button, no action on the table, so I decided to shove. Big blind had around 25.000 chips, and decided to call with KQo, after thorough consideration. Hit a J on the flop, but turn was a K, LOL.
5 minutes earlier, there was a CRAZY hand on the other table. A girl with only 7000 chips shoved 95s, and was up against KK and AA. Bad timing indeed. But she hit both 5 and 9, the latter on the river. Amazing, and of course she made it ITM. That's poker :D
It was a lot of fun, and 6hrs entertaining for $150 isn't bad at all.

PS.: I was able to enter Pokerstars, without any hiding of IP address :D
I wonder if creating an account from Norway is sufficient, so seabreeze could play with that one?

Pokerstars and FT Closed for US Players

Well, I'm sure you have all read the bad news. I've put in several hours of reading on 2+2 as well as some other news sites. Right now there's a lot of questions, a lot of speculation and no real answers.

1. Will US players ever be able to cash out their accounts?
The experts are advising patience. The legal issues seem directed toward the sites more than the players. The sites probably won't touch player accounts until the dust from the legal battle has settled, and that may take some time. Also, it isn't possible to "Transfer Funds" from a US player account to a non-US player even when logging on from an IP address outside the US. (Reg: In retrospect, doing this type of transfer would probably be viewed as a pretty clear case of laundering money! I'm glad I didn't try to do that - LOL)

2. Are there any viable online poker options left for US players?
Some US players have said they were able to play on Bodog and CakePoker. If you are Jonesing to play you might give it a try. However, I wouldn't deposit very much money. The future of all sites open to US players is very shaky right now. Get a live home game going instead. Let us know if you find a place to play Seabreeze. You can read more about it here:http://www.onlinepoker.org/blog/

3. Can and should European players cash out their Stars and FT accounts while they still have a chance?
Some players have said they were able to cash out while others said their request has been put on hold. I don't know. It doesn't hurt to try if you are uncomfortable with the current situation though. Furthermore, many of the cashout options take a bit of time and effort the first time you use them. It might be smart to make a small withdrawal now so that your means of cashing out are set up. This way, if you need to withdraw your entire bankroll in a hurry, everything is in place. However, this seems to be a US issue for the time being. I don't have a big enough bankroll to worry too much. So, I'm leaving mine where it is for now. What about you?

4. What do the cards hold for the US online poker legislation as well as the sites involved in the case?
These are two separate issues and I have no idea what the future holds for either of them. Perhaps benkogambit can chime in here.

As I said in the beginning, plenty of questions but no answers.

Roland GTX

PS: Pokerstars lowered the guaranteed prize money in their Sunday lineup. So, no big overlay for the Europeans still playing.

April Home Game Results

Congratulations once again to JaneMaria! Our April game was a repeat of the March game with JaneMaria and MrSmith getting heads up. And once again, MrSmith experiencing a case of ”right move, wrong result” on the final hand. Not much you can do against that Danish luck! Thanks for turning out and great game to everyone!

Here is MrSmith’s 2nd place hand history. I’ll get in touch with JaneMaria to see if he has the winning history:



Roland GTX

Time for game style revision?

Hi guys,
not playing as much as I used to do, but that doesn't mean that I don't see things I've never seen before.

Take a look at this HH for a $10 Fifty/Fifty. Player 9 showed an interesting way of playing, simply by raising and/or calling AI whenever possible, lol. He got caught every now and then, but still managed to survive in a mysterious way. There were A LOT of complaints during the 27 hands, I can tell u. I lost my patience in hand 13, probably dump, but this was just too much :-))



I really can't recall to have seen something like this, can you? I don't think I'll try this game style, though. I doubt it pays off.....

CAP Ring Games

So, did anyone manage to cash in a Milestone hand at Pokerstars? I didn’t - though not for a lack of trying. I played more cash tables this past week than in my last three years combined! I had some big swings both up and down, and ended up pretty much break even. I split my time between 9 man PLO HiLo 0,10/0,25 tables and NLHE tables. Yesterday, I came across a ring game that I hadn’t noticed before: No Limit Holdem CAP. MrSmith and I played a bit together on one of these yesterday.

These tables place a 20 BB cap on the betting. In other words, even if you have a 100BB stack, you can’t wager more than 20 BB in a single hand!? It seemed a bit strange at first, but I really liked it. Firstly, the cap made it a push/fold type of preflop game rather than the deep stack set mining, suited connector play typical of the normal cash tables. For me this change fit my style well since it is more like tourney play where all your decisions are preflop.

Secondly, the cap allowed me to play at higher stakes than normal. This is good if you want to gamble at higher stakes and good for collecting VPPs. I played 0,50/1,00 tables yesterday and was quite comfortable since the most I was risking on a single hand was $20. At a normal 0,50/1,00 table I would probably buy in for 80 or 100 dollars. I’m not rolled to risk that much on a single hand!

Furthermore, several times at regular tables I’ve built up a stack double or triple what I started with that session with only to lose it all on one big hand gone bad. With the cap, you can build your stack as much as possible, yet you still can’t wager more than the 20 BB on a single hand. If you are an inexperienced cash tabler, or just want to take a shot at higher stakes, then this safety net might be the thing.

I might play some more of these. They were high action and plenty of fun. Post your thoughts if you have played them.

That is about it for now. I’ll be setting up the next Home Game in a day or two. You can find me grinding the $10 Fifty50s for the time being if you want to join me for a game. Finally, I played the TurboTakedown on Sunday and cashed for $110  :)

Roland GTX

Straight flush heaven and hell

Hi guys,
not often I do see a straight flush, or definitely not often I do get one either. However, all of a sudden I got following yesterday.

I was playing a $3/27, and was about to become pretty short stacked with blinds 200/400. And PS delivers this one





I managed to win that tourney, and obviously I should have logged out and went to bed, lol.

But I decided to play some $5 50/50. Already in hand 14 this one occurs. The villain was the wild sort, and he already managed to knock out one player with a lucky hand.



Not much to say about. Normally, I would have raised after the flop, but the villain was/is a BAD player, and I wanted to get most out of this hand :-)

A short way from heaven to hell :-))))

Home Game March 6

Congratulations JaneMaria - nice win! Sorry for the delay guys! Here is the hand history from our last Home Game. (Note: it's mine not janeMaria's. If you send me yours JaneMaria, I'll post it.)



There was a delay getting the standings updated in the Home Game Lobby. They are updated now, however, the point distribution doesn't seem correct. JaneMarie recieved 4.69 points for his win in our last tourney with eight players. Whereas, MrSmith only recieved  4.38 points for his win in the first game with ten players. Seabreeze took an even harder hit by placing 3rd in the last tourney but getting no points!

I have notified Pokerstars support, but it looks like our leaderboard discussion is not over - LOL! I'll set up all the results with the system we used last year until stars gets this sorted out. The Home Game thing is still considered a beta and they have several bugs to fix.

Roland GTX

Fifty50 Updated Review

I’ve played nearly 200 Fifty50 at the $5.30 buyin level, and can make a few more sustatiated observations now. Firstly, here are my stats thus far:

• ·         ITM 75%
• ·         ROI 11%
• ·         Average payout when itm: $8.14 ($2.84 profit)

I’m profitable, so I’m not complaining. However, this doesn’t tell the whole story. I was home with a bad back for most of last week and played quite a bit during the day time. There were significantly more profitable regulars playing at this time making it harder to be profitable. On average there were 3 or 4 regulars with an A or K rating on PokerProLabs. For these daytime games, I ran more or less break even.

My evening sets on the other hand, were very profitable. There was typically only 1 or 2 regulars playing and I made all my profit here. This is the first time that I’ve seen a significant correlation between time of day and ROI. Having my HUD helped quite a bit in recognizing the winners from the losers. If I only consider my evening games, my ITM goes up to 85% (5 out of 6) and my ROI more than doubles. And, in response to MrE, yes. Quite often I got ITM without having played a single hand. One tourney only lasted 7 hands, not even a single orbit – LOL!

My style has been very tight early on and very aggressive at the bubble. Usually one of two senarios occur. The best situation is that I get a big hand and double up early. This allows me to open up and blind steal much more, especially from the regulars who are understand bubble play. The worst situation is that I don’t get any playable hands early and am short stacked on the bubble. Here standard bubble play applies. So, pick your spots and hope your hand holds if you get called.

I lost more than I should have by getting carried away with JJ+ and especailly AK hands during the early levels. I lost every single TPTK showdown during the first 3 blind levels. So, if you are still getting action on the turn with your overpair and AK hands, I advise slowing down or folding!

I’ve also played some $10 games. The blinds were noticably higher by the time we got to the bubble. Usually, you needed to open up earlier in order to survive. I haven’t played enough to say much else though.

On a different note, it is about time to set up our next Home Game. We have attracted some new members since our last game too. I’ll set up the next tourney tonight. Check the Club Lobby. Welcome on board to everyone!

Roland GTX

Fifty50 HH

Here the HH history for the game I mentioned in the reply to Roland.






Interesting to see how the profibality develops for you, Roland. This BIG stack gave me $10 profitt, which indeed is less than the $17 you'll get for a 1. place in a regular 5/9. An average profit of $1.76 gives you break even if you're ITM 75% of the games. Making profit would require a lot more, right?

WBCOOP Update nr 2

I played in NL Holdem blogger preliminary last night. 790 players were registered. Things started great. I doubled up fairly early and put my stack to good use. I didn't play too many hands, but those I did play, I played aggressively. After the first hour I had double the average stack and got moved to a new table. Everyone at the new table had big stacks. Even better two of the biggest stacks were loose passive calling stations.

I went out of my way to get involved with a very wide range of hands any time one of these calling stations had entered the hand. It paid off and I eventually stacked both of them when my suited semi connected hands made flushes. This put me in the top 10 chipleaders.

At the 3 hour break, we were on the bubble with 164 players remaining (itm was 153). I was 2nd largest stack in the tourney with 46K chips. I had a loose aggressive Russian to my right with 25K and a tight aggressive guy with 22K to my left. Both had A ranks on PokerProLabs. I had hit nearly every hand I had played and thought this was going to be my night to go deep. Then reality set in...

About 20 minutes after the 3 hour break, the TAG to my left raised 3x utg and it folded around to me in the bb. I had AK clubs. I put him on a pocket pair 10+ or AK. So, I reraised all in. He called with AKo. Two hearts on the flop, another on the turn and a fourth on the river gave him a K high flush. I lost half my stack but was still solidly in the game. This was the first big showdown that I had lost and was actually happy to "get it out of the way" since I couldn't expect to win every showdown throughout the tourney.

Two orbits later and once again I pick up AK in the bb. The hand folds around to the laggy "A" guy to my right. He still has about 25K and I had about 23K. Both of us were a bit under the average stack size. He shoved on me and it was an obvious steal. AKo was good enough since I needed to double up if I wanted a shot at the final table. I called and he shows Q3. He flopped 33x for a set and all my chips. I actually think he may have gotten a Q on the river for good measure - LOL! I was out nr 74. I won another $11 SCOOP ticket, but my final table dream went up in smoke yet again.

The blogger Main Event is on Sunday.

Roland GTX

Fifty50: Another New SnG at Pokerstars

If you have played at all lately, then you have probably seen the pop-up commercials for Pokerstars’ new sng the Fifty50. It is a standard speed 10 man sng very similar to the Double or Nothing (DoN) games. The only difference being the payout structure. The tourney ends when only five players remain. Half the prize money is split evenly between the remaining 5 players and the other half is distributed based on your chip count.

I played a set of six of these to test them out. I chose the $5.30 buyin level. It is worth noting that the buy in for a standard 9-man sng is $5.50, twenty cents higher. That is a 3,6% improvement to your ROI before you even start the game! These sngs seemed to attract tight players, often tight passive players who just wanted to get itm. This is the opposite of the loose players I found in the Knockout sngs. The games lasted about 45 minutes (70-90 hands) which is quicker than a standard 9-man sng. Furthermore, with 50 dollars in the pot, the top five got $ 5 guaranteed plus 16 cents for every 100 chips in their stack. Obviously, you want to have a big stack at the end of the game, but you will be break even with as little as 200 chips.

I played my usual TAG game. I focused mainly on getting itm, not on having a huge stack at the end. But bubble aggression seemed to work well here. I cashed in 5 out of 6 games and had an average payout of $7.54. This means I had about 1600 chips on average at the end of the tourney. All in all, I averaged 99 cents profit per game for this set. I would be quite happy if I could consistently run with a 19% ROI in these things! 

The average payout is low for these games, but getting itm is much easier than in a standard sng. And, you can actually have a decent payout if you get a big stack. This makes them a bit more attractive than the DoNs. I’ll probably play a few more sets of these and see how they go. Once I get 50 or so games played, I'll give you an update. Leave a comment if you have tried them.

Roland GTX

WBCOOP Update

The WBCOOP has started. I played in the PLO preliminary event Monday evening. It played like a money tourney rather than a freeroll. There were 560 players with the top 200 winning tickets to the blogger main event and the top 153 also winning various SCOOP tickets.

I won a few smallish pots early on which helped my confidence. Unfortunately, I missed every flop later in the game. We were down to about 240 players and I was getting short stacked. I picked up a great starting hand AK spades AJ diamonds on the button. A guy in early position made a small raise and got one caller. I made a pot sized raise which committed 90% of my stack. One player called and the flop was three hearts. I moved all in, he called with the flush and I was out 234th. Not much I could do with this one. PLO is a fun game at any rate.

Last night's blogger tourney was NL holdem with 3000 chip starting stacks and 15 minute blinds. There were 720 in this event. It didn't start until 1:00 AM though! I played very aggressive the first hour because I wanted to either build a stack or go to bed. This strategy worked well. I took down several big pots the first hour with all in reraises that got folds from the villian. I was lucky to be at the same table the entire tourney and had good reads on everyone.

I got called once when I reraised all in on the sb. I had AJs and he had 1010. I flopped a J and rivered an A. I lost a fairly big pot a bit later though. A superdonk who had played nearly half the hands made a standard pf raise. I called in the bb holding A10s. The flop was 8 high unsuited. We both checked the flop. The turn was another 8. He lead out with what looked like a c-bet steal and I made a solid reraise. He flat called. We both checked the river and he turned over KK. I lost about 20% of my stack on this hand.

Things went well, but my stack was always about the average. The 3 hour break started on the bubble with 154 players remaining.  Seeing it was 4 in the morning and I was miles away from the chip leaders, I turned off my computer and went to bed.

I checked my mail this morning. 93rd place for a Main Event ticket and an $11 SCOOP ticket! Tonight is the PLO8 event. It starts at 4 AM! I'm not sure if I'll make that one.

Roland GTX

HH Home Game 23/1

Weekend Update

This has been a great weekend for poker, at least for MrSmith! He took down both our live game on Saturday and our first Pokerstars Home Game on Sunday. Both were well deserved wins - congrats!

Our live game was fun. We were eight players and had a 1 hour rebuy period followed by an add on which everyone took. We ended up with 20 buyins in the prize pot. Here are the results:

1st MrSmith
2nd barbapaps
3rd Roland GTX

There was a lot of action and exciting hands too. Wollmar cracked my aces early after flopping two pair. After a rebuy, I managed to get back in the game. MrEMC, if i remember correctly, lost an all in confrontation after flopping a well concealed straight, but getting rivered by a better, and even more unlikely straight. MrSmith had the pleasure of nailing the first straight flush in our live games. He also won the tourney beating barbapaps heads up with AA on the final hand - nice hands!

We used my new Modiano Cristallo deck. Everyone seemed to like these cards a lot. They are considerably less slippery than the KEMs and are a bit stiffer with a papery texture. The faces are good too with the yellow centers, and the four large pips. They would be the perfect deck if the back design was as nice as KEM and Copag have.

The chili was a popular as ever :) Let me know if you need the recipe.

The Home Game last night was great. Thanks for joining the club and for playing in the tourney. I'll get the next game set up soon. We can save all the specifics for the hand history post coming from MrSmith.

The first WBCOOP tourney is tonight at at 8 PM (Oslo), if you want to railbird. It will be pot limit omaha.

Roland GTX

Getting Quartered in PLO Hi/lo and other stuff

I had a very instructive hand last night while playing a set of 1/2 cent cash table pot limit Omaha hi/lo (PLO). In other words, I lost a monster pot - LOL!

I was dealt a great starting hand with A2 hearts and A4 diamonds. This gives lots of possibilities for scooping the pot (winning the high and low). The first guy raised to 6 cents preflop and got a string of 3 callers before it I got to me in late position. I raised pot sized and everyone called making a big pot.

The flop ran 45 hearts and 10 spades giving me lots of outs for scooping. The first guy lead out with a raise again and everyone called. I reraised half the pot getting two callers and two folds. The turn was a 3 spades giving me the nut low, a straight that might hold up for the high and plenty of outs remaining for a heart flush.

The river was another spade. The first guy made a small raise, the next guy reraised but quite small. I thought I had a lock on the low but thought I was in trouble with the high. However, there was over 4 dollars in the pot already. I made a 3 dollar all in reraise hoping the other two would fold since it put them all in as well.

The first guy folded but the second guy called. He won the high with a spade flush. More importantly, he also had A2 so we split the low pot. I only won a quarter of the pot and lost money on the hand!

Getting "quartered" is pretty common apparently. Furthermore, I should never have reraised on the river. I was very likely beat for the high. Furthermore, it would have been much better for me call hoping the third player would call too since I would be winning a portion at least of anything he put in the pot. I misplayed the river in about every way imaginable. I think I learned my lesson though :)

All in all I had a profitable session though and played more aggressive than the first time I played this game.

Other Stuff
If you are reading this you must have noticed the changes to the look and layout of the blog. Let me know what you think. I am open for suggestions. It is easy now to change things on the fly.

Finally, I'm having a live tourney at my place tomorrow. MrSmith and MrE will be there among others. I'll let you know how it goes. I even ordered some new cards for occasion. Brown Modiano Cristallo from www.pokershop.dk. I ordered them Tuesday afternoon and they arrived from Denmark yesterday. That was fast delivery. It should be a fun evening, but I think table seating may have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. I can't wait :)

Roland GTX

PS: Did you remember to feed the fish?

Learning 7 Card Stud

I moved on to Limit 7 card stud last night. Here, like Omaha, there are two versions. The regular where the best high hand wins and hi/lo where the pot can be split. Also like Omaha, to qualify for the low you need five cards 8 or lower and straights/flushes are ignored.

I joined four 0,04/0,08 cent tables (lowest stakes available) of limit 7 card stud first and played a few hundred hands. People were absolutely horrible - LOL! Since this is limit poker not pot limit, the bets always seem fairly low compared to the pot. It seemed most hands had six active players and typically half of these went to the showdown.

I don't know anything about strategy for this game, but do know enough to only play hands that have nut potential. I played pocket pairs with a decent third card, Axs with decent 3rd card and three suited connector type hands preflop. If my outs didn't improve with each street, I folded to heavy action. But the few times I did make a nut hand, there were usually two or three people giving me their chips all the way to the showdown.

Being patient definitely pays off here. Actually, if there are enough people playing to multitable a bunch of these, AND you don't mind being a tight nit, I think this would make a great place to build a  bankroll. I was profitable on all four tables I played. On the other hand, I only played about 300 hands, so it might have just been dumb luck :)

I also tried limit stud hi/lo. I only got in about 100 hands, but people seemed even more likely to be calling stations than in the regular stud game. I played starting hands that could scoop the pot winning both the high and low. I lost a huge multiway pot on one table though. I had a A high low flush (A2356 which I thought was the nut low) and was drawing for a straight flush vs 3 other players with lots of raising on every street. I missed my draw and lost both ends. One guy had the real nut low A2345 and another guy had quads for the high! I lost a whole dollar on that hand - lol! Luckily, I won enough on the other tables to be up about 30 cents for this set.

Playing these stud games was fine when the tables were full. However, several times tables became short with only 3 or 4 players. I don't know enough about the game to play short handed or heads up and found myself either folding too many hands or getting too involved with second best hands.

Next up on the agenda are the final two games that form the 8-Game Mix: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw and Razz. Once I've tried them, I can try the actual 8-game mix itself.

Roland GTX

Learning Omaha

Hi guys

I have already reached Silverstar for February and can't seem to win a hand with AA, KK or QQ lately in the sngs. So, I am using this week to learn some new games as I said in my last post. I started last night by joining four 0,01/0,02 cent Pot Limit Omaha tables. This is really a game of the nuts! It is looks like holdem except you are dealt four hole cards. Your final hand needs to be two from your hand and three from the board. Best poker hand wins.

I only played about 400 hands, but ended up profitable (2.14 bucks lol). I got stacked early on one table when my nut flush lost to a full house on the river. But I tripled up on another table when I made the nut full house on the turn and had two active opponents. One had a nut flush and the other had a weaker full house.

My basic strategy was to play hands where all four cards were 10 or higher, but especially when two of them were a pocket pair or Axs. Post flop I would continue if drawing to a nut flush or nut full house, but would fold for example QJs with a flush draw if facing heavy action since Q high flush is not the nuts. I also laid down a few nut flushes when the board paired and a house seemed likely (I learned my lesson the first time...)

Unlike holdem, this is really a post flop game as no starting hand is that far ahead of any other. All in all this was a fun experience and I will probably play more of Omaha in the future. After this short but profitable session, my confidence was high. So, I moved on to the next game. Pot Limit Omaha HI/Lo.

Pot Limit Omaha HI/Lo works just like above except that the pot can be split between the best high hand and the best low hand. You need five cards lower than 8 to qualify for the lo, but straights and flushes are ignored. Thus A2345 of any suit is the nut low.

There are a lot more possibilities here to win half the pot. However, being a complete newb, I wanted to keep it simple. My starting hands had to contain Axs lower than 8, preferably Axs and Axs. This way I had the potential of winning both the high pot with a nut flush and the low pot with Ax both counting as low cards too. "Scooping the pot" gives the most profit. Moreover, if you flop a drawing hand, you have better odds of winning at least one of the halves of the pot.

Here again I joined four micro stakes tables and played about 400 hands. I was up a bit on three of the tables, but struggled on the fourth. People were very aggressive there and I lost most of my stack on one hand pretty early (I went to the showdown with a hand that looked good but wasn't the nuts). I recouped a fair amount on that table, and was slightly profitable or break even on the others. I ended up down 27 cents in total.

It is really easy to play like a loose passive donk in Omaha since every hand appears to have some potential, but you better have some serious post flop skills if you want to play that way. I tried to play extremely tight, but still found myself playing too many hands. Worse, I found myself chasing draws for hands that weren't even the nuts.

Raise sizes also seem quite different from NLHE. Again, since I'm a complete idiot, I opted for a simple solution. I either was passive and simply called, or aggressive and always raised 100% of the pot. I never made any other raise size. And, I never tried to bluff a single hand.

This is a whole new world of poker and plenty to learn. I'm just happy I got through my first learning experience without spewing cash:)

If I play tonight I'll start working on the elements of the 8-Game Mix. I want to get a taste of all the games before focusing a bit more on any one in particular.

Good Luck at the tables!

Roland GTX

Preparing for the WBCOOP

As you have probably noticed, I registered Roland’s Room for the World Blogger Championship of online poker (WBCOOP) at Pokerstars. This will give me tickets to 6 preliminary tournaments. The prizes in all of these are tickets to the blogger main event and various spring championship of online poker (SCOOP) tickets. I’ll need to itm in one of the SCOOP tourneys before seeing any cash.

I’ve checked with Pokerstars support, unfortunately all the preliminary tickets will be issued in my name and can’t be spread among us. However, I can promise to share the wealth (and glory) if I manage to get deep in one of the SCOOPs.

Take a look at the preliminary events for the WBCOOP:

• Pot Limit Omaha
• No Limit Hold’em
• Pot Limit Omaha HI/Lo
• No Limit Hold’em
• 8-game Mix
• No limit Hold’em

I’m comfortable with hold’em, but haven’t played any Omaha or 8-game Mix. I have spent a few hours reading up on Omaha and Omaha hi/lo strategies. My natural tight style seems to be ok with these games. Starting hand selection and knowing how to fold the second best hand seems to be the key. I’m going to play some micro stakes tourneys and cash tables this week to get better acquainted with the games. The little I’ve played has been fun though!

8-Game Mix is something very different. Here you play at a 6 max table and the game changes every blind level rotating between eight different games:

• Limit 2-7 Triple Draw
• Limit Hold’em
• Limit Omaha hi/lo
• Razz
• Limit 7 card stud
• Limit stud hi/lo
• No limit holdem
• Pot limit Omaha

This ought to be interesting! My strategy will probably be either autofold all hands for the rounds I’m uncomfortable with or play hyper aggressive early and hope that I get extremely lucky. Actually, I’ll probably read up on these games as well and make an honest effort.

Anyone want to join me while I try to learn something other than holdem...?

Roland GTX

January Private Game

I haven’t too much to report but did want to wish everyone good luck in 2011. Also, it might be interesting to hear what your poker plans and goals for the new year are. For myself, I am done with the knockouts. They are easy to itm in, but I just didn’t win enough bounties to make them profitable. I have moved on to regular stts instead.

I plan on sticking with the $10 single tables until I am rolled for trying the $20s. As far as bankroll management goes, here are my own guidelines. When I have 100 buyins for a given level, I allow myself to take a shot at the next level. If I drop back below the 100 buyins then I move back down. With 100 buyin minimum my risk of ruin if very low.

For example, 100 buyins at the $5.50 level is 550 dollars. If I have more than that then I can play at the $10 level. If however, I drop to less than 550 dollars then I move back down to the $5.50 sngs. If I keep winning, then once I get 1100 dollars in my account, I can start attempting the $22 sngs.

I have also been playing some micro stakes turbo mtts. Typically, I have been playing sets of six games: four $10 sngs and two 2/180s or 3/45s. Thus far, I’m making money on the sngs and losing money on the mtts.

By the way, running the Pokerprolabs HUD helps ALOT... :)

Finally, we need to get organized for our first private game of the year. I suggest Sunday, January 23rd at 9:00 PM. I’ll set this up tonight on Pokerstars unless I hear from you.

Roland GTX