Why I love Rebuy MTTs

I said a couple posts back that I like Rebuy MTTs because the rake is lower and it is a deeper stacks tournament than normal as well. Kind of the best of both worlds for me. I wanted to put some numbers behind what I was talking about for those out there who do not see the inherent advantage a rebuy tournament has to offer. So I will use the MATH rebuy as an example.

54 Entires ($10+1)
130 Rebuys ($10)
43 Add-ons ($10)

Total Prize Pool = $2270
Total Rake = $54
Rake = 2.3%

Normal MATH Rake 7.7%
$10+1 Rake 9.1%

So you have 1/4th the rake of a normal $10+1 MTT, and even the reduced rake ($24+2) of the MATH is still almost 3.5 times higher.

Now for the starting stack sizes. This is a bit confusing for rebuys, but lets look at it this way for now and I will explain why this is valid later. Lets just take all the chips in play and divide by the number of entries and call that the "rebuy equivalent starting stack". For the rebuy math you have T1000 x 184 and T1500 x 43 chips in play and 54 entries.

Rebuy Equivalent Starting Stack = T4602

This is 1.5x the normal MATH starting stack. Now I understand that you don't get these chips all up front, and you are only entitled to buy your way up to T3500 total. I don't think either of those two distinctions are very important. First of all, in a rebuy you can make it to the end of the 1st hour every time if you want. It is in your control. You can get to the point where you can take the add-on. The fact that you were a bit short early on in the first hour really does not matter much. You are not going to be eliminated for lack of a stack, and you are not constrained in anyway for lack of a stack in the first hour of a rebuy.

What about the T4602 chips though? How can I say this is really representative of the starting stacks when some will take 12 rebuys and others none? Well here's the thing. The people who are taking multiple rubuys are not doing so to build their own stack. Each time they do this it is because they have contributed their stack to the MTT field in general. The extra 2k in chips they get by double rebuying is the amount of chips collectively everyone else now has in their stacks. Multiple rebuys build the stacks of the collective entries not the multiple rebuyers. So if you play an average game, have average cards/luck in the first hour, and take the double buy-in plus add on, you will have on average T4602 at the end of the rebuy period (slightly higher actually due to the few eliminations). Better or luckier players will have more. Worse or unluckier players will have less. This is no different than a normal 3k double stacks tournament at the end of the first hour where you will have a spread of stack sizes, except there are really 1.5x as many chips to share. So rebuys are even deeper than deepstacks MTTs and have 1/4th the rake. Pretty nice combination IMO.

The New & Expanded Definition of "Lucksackery"

In the past when you accused somebody of being a lucksack, it was usually because they got it in behind and "lucksacked" their way to a 2-outer on the river. Or they chased some draw that they had no business chasing. Or they got it all in with a smaller pair preflop, and catch their set. I am cool with all this. You are a lucksack if you perpetually get it all in behind and find a way to get there by the river more than your fair share. It happens to all of us. Sometimes your read is wrong or you are priced in and you end up getting it in behind and lucksack your way to victory.
Times are a changin though. Now you are a lucksack if you get dealt a big pocket pair like AA or QQ. You are a lucksack if you flop a set. You are a lucksack if you get in a "set-up" hand and are not the one getting set-up. And I am not talking about getting AA every third hand like Astin. Once is too many in an MTT. It's like there is no credit ever given for solid poker. I have said here before more than once that you must get lucky to win a big MTT. This is true if you play like me, or the polar opposite. All people who get deep got a disproportionate level of good starting cards and or good situations. You can't win an MTT with air, and I have never heard anyone claim that they can.

So I would like to go over the "incredible lucksackery" that resulted in me taking the 1st break lead the Rebuy Madness MATH (RMMATH). I would call this optimal/solid poker. I would call this getting it in ahead every single time and having it hold up most of the time. I would not define this as "incredible lucksackery", but thats just me.

The 88 Hand

FullTiltPoker Game #4308899043: Mondays at the Hoy (30720363), Table 2 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:07:17 ET - 2007/11/26
Seat 1: Kajagugu (2,105)
Seat 2: cracknaces (2,045)
Seat 3: bayne_s (955)
Seat 4: emptyman (925)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (1,865)
Seat 6: hoyazo (1,150)
Seat 7: JL514 (4,045)
Seat 8: Blinders (1,940)
Seat 9: ck31 (1,970)
ck31 posts the small blind of 15
Kajagugu posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to Blinders [8c 8s]
cracknaces raises to 2,045, and is all in
bayne_s folds
emptyman calls 925, and is all in
pvanharibo folds
hoyazo folds
JL514 folds

To me this is a very easy call. This is a REBUY remember. I already know Chad is pushing slim, and I am really just playing him here as emptyman can't hurt me. If I lose I double buy and am right back where I was. If I win, it is close to a triple up. How many people fold this?

Blinders calls 1,940, and is all in
ck31 folds
Kajagugu fold
scracknaces shows [Kd 9d]
hoyazo: nah im not dumbemptyman shows [Td Jh]
Blinders shows [8c 8s]

Punching this in to pokerstove, its a three way coinflip (33% each), but I am 53/47 agianst Chad and he has the full stack. Overall this was +EV so an easy call this early in a rebuy

*** FLOP *** [6h 7d As]
*** TURN *** [6h 7d As] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [6h 7d As 5s] [7s]
cracknaces shows a pair of Sevens
Blinders shows two pair, Eights and Sevens
Blinders wins the side pot (2,030) with two pair, Eights and Sevens
emptyman shows a pair of Sevens
Blinders wins the main pot (2,820) with two pair, Eights and Sevens

The QQ Hand

FullTiltPoker Game #4309174264: Mondays at the Hoy (30720363), Table 2 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:31:09 ET - 2007/11/26
Seat 1: Kajagugu (2,375)
Seat 2: cracknaces (6,465)
Seat 3: bayne_s (870)
Seat 4: emptyman (2,695)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (3,520)
Seat 6: hoyazo (3,175)
Seat 7: JL514 (6,425)
Seat 8: Blinders (4,475)
Kajagugu posts the small blind of 30
cracknaces posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to Blinders [Qd Qs]
bayne_s folds
emptyman folds
pvanharibo calls 60
hoyazo folds
JL514 folds
Blinders raises to 300

I raised a little extra here because of the early limper

Kajagugu folds
cracknaces calls 240
pvanharibo calls 240
*** FLOP *** [2d Qc 8c]
cracknaces checks
pvanharibo checks

I really have to not c-bet a monster like this as part of my overall strategy. When I miss a C-bet, monster needs to be in my range for game theory reasons. So I slow play this hand. It realy would not have mattered as I think the chips go in no matter how either of us play this.

Blinders checks
*** TURN *** [2d Qc 8c] [8d]
cracknaces check
spvanharibo bets 630
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders calls 630
cracknaces folds
*** RIVER *** [2d Qc 8c 8d] [Ts]
pvanharibo bets 1,260
Blinders raises to 2,520
pvanharibo raises to 2,590, and is all in
Blinders calls 70
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pvanharibo shows [Ad As] two pair, Aces and Eights
Blinders shows [Qd Qs] a full house, Queens full of Eights
Blinders wins the pot (7,370) with a full house, Queens full of Eights

All my money goes in on the river with the 2nd nutz. This is not lucksackery. The way this hand was played, I could have dumped QQ postflop very easy, so this was not getting stacked vs. doubling up. I guess you can call this a set-up hand, but we have slowplayed rockets getting it in on the river unimproved in a three-way pot. Not exactly a complete set-up.

Calling Chad for Value

FullTiltPoker Game #4309272305: Mondays at the Hoy (30720363), Table 2 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:39:45 ET - 2007/11/26
Seat 1: Kajagugu (2,255)
Seat 2: cracknaces (2,000)
Seat 3: bayne_s (1,680)
Seat 4: emptyman (4,330)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (2,300)
Seat 6: hoyazo (3,025)
Seat 7: JL514 (12,145)
Seat 8: Blinders (8,265)
emptyman posts the small blind of 30
pvanharibo posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to Blinders [Qd Ks]
hoyazo folds
JL514 folds
Blinders raises to 180
Kajagugu folds
cracknaces raises to 2,000, and is all in
bayne_s folds
emptyman folds
pvanharibo folds

If you notice, Chad has exactly 2000 in chips. This is becuase he was jamming light, and getting stacked a bunch. KQ is easially ahead of his range here, and I am extra priced in as I have already raised. Not an automatic call, but a pretty easy one given the conclusion on Chad's range. The lucksackery continues.

Blinders calls 1,820
cracknaces shows [Td Kd]
Blinders shows [Qd Ks]
*** FLOP *** [Qh 3s 5c]
*** TURN *** [Qh 3s 5c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 3s 5c 9c] [7d]
cracknaces shows King Queen high
Blinders shows a pair of Queens
Blinders wins the pot (4,090) with a pair of Queens

The AA Hand

FullTiltPoker Game #4309293620: Mondays at the Hoy (30720363), Table 2 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:41:36 ET - 2007/11/26
Seat 1: Kajagugu (2,255)
Seat 2: cracknaces (2,000)
Seat 3: bayne_s (1,680)
Seat 4: emptyman (4,660)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (2,210)
Seat 6: hoyazo (2,935)
Seat 7: JL514 (11,965)
Seat 8: Blinders (10,295)
JL514 posts the small blind of 40
Blinders posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to Blinders [Ah Ac]
Kajagugu folds
cracknaces folds
bayne_s folds
emptyman folds
pvanharibo raises to 240
hoyazo folds
JL514 folds
Blinders calls 160

This is an unconventional play, but LJ was playing some very agressive poker. Since we would be heads-up I thought I would disguise these rockets, and see if I could get them paid.

*** FLOP *** [9h Jd 8s]
Blinders checks

Still disguising them

pvanharibo bets 520
Blinders raises to 1,040

Too scary of a board. Time to reveal my strength

pvanharibo raises to 1,970, and is all in
Blinders calls 930
pvanharibo shows [6h 8h]
Blinders shows [Ah Ac]
*** TURN *** [9h Jd 8s] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [9h Jd 8s Qc] [Jh]
pvanharibo shows two pair, Jacks and Eights
Blinders shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
Blinders wins the pot (4,460) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
pvanharibo: can't win against you

So I played this hand in a way that bottom pair crap kicker pushes into me on the flop, and that makes me a lucksack? I may be creating some of my luck here. A standard play does not get paid off like this.

Trapping Chad Preflop

FullTiltPoker Game #4309475161: Mondays at the Hoy (30720363), Table 2 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:57:26 ET - 2007/11/26
Seat 1: Kajagugu (4,670)
Seat 2: cracknaces (1,185)
Seat 3: bayne_s (5,280)
Seat 4: emptyman (4,750)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (2,000)
Seat 6: hoyazo (3,675)
Seat 7: JL514 (11,455)
Seat 8: Blinders (11,985)
Kajagugu posts the small blind of 50
cracknaces posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to Blinders [Ad 3h]
bayne_s folds
emptyman folds
pvanharibo folds
hoyazo folds
JL514 folds

Normally you just pop it up with any Ace when it folds to you on the button, but we have Chad in the BB. I figure he will jam over my weakness. I just limp with the intention of insta-calling his push with my weak Ace.

Blinders calls 100
cracknaces: so now you people want to play a re buy right
Kajagugu folds
cracknaces: wtf
cracknaces raises to 1,185, and is all in
Blinders calls 1,085
cracknaces shows [9s 2s]
Blinders shows [Ad 3h]
*** FLOP *** [Kd 2c 4d]
*** TURN *** [Kd 2c 4d] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 2c 4d Qd] [Th]
cracknaces shows a pair of Twos
Blinders shows Ace King high
cracknaces wins the pot (2,420) with a pair of Twos

These were the hands that got me the chips in the first hour. I see this as playing optimal poker and being rewarded for it, and not lucksackery. I got it in ahead every single time, and won most of the time. Sure, its nice to catch AA and QQ in the first hour, but I played them well and tricky and got paid. I pretty much only play premium hands, and I only play big pots with big hands. When I win a big pot with a premium or big hand this is normal and part of how I play MTTs. Some luck helps of course, but to dismiss everything as lucksackery seems to take away a bit too much from those who play consistantly well. Everyone has there runs of good and bad cards and situations. The good players make the most out of the good runs, and minimize their losses during the bad runs. Does this make them lucky when they finally get a big score or simply good?

How's That For My Resume

I made a deep run last night in the MATH. I would end up in a ridiculously tough 3-way battle for the title, holding my own for about 1/2 hour, and the chip lead a good portion of the way before finally dropping out in third when my flopped two-pair ran into turned trips. It would be nice to get this deep and run into some random bloggers and not the powerhouses cmitch or Surflexus. I was a bit outclassed late, as I am simply not in enough of these types of events to get good late stage practice that is probably routine for these two. Congrats to cmitch for the title and Aussie Millions TOC seat.

I was feeling pretty good going into the Math rebuy. I love rebuy MTTs because the rake is lower (I actually care about these things) and it is a deeper stacks MTT than normal. Even if all goes wrong in the 1st hour you should still have 3500 in chips if you take the double buy and add-on. With the redonkulous play in these things you should be looking at a much deeper stack by the break. Since my MTT strategy relies on deepstacks, this would be a good structure for me.

I would start at a very tough table with Hoy, Chad, LJ and others. Chad was trying to play the rebuy properly with lots of preflop shoving, but the table was too tight, and were just calling him down for value. I called him down for value a bunch, and was always spot-on and I guess it got to him, because he started ripping me in the chat because I don't have a good enough "poker resume" which by his very specific definition is a massive MTT win or lots of 5 figure cashes. Sorry, I don't waste my time playing lots of massive MTTs so I should not be compared to the people who play 3-6 MTTs a day. If I played that many, I would have a very impressive "resume" by now, but I am more impressed with my bankroll anyway. I would love to see a website that did a proper job of calculating all entry fees and prizes as well as time spent in all MTTs so we could get the $/hr win rate for some of these impressive MTT resumes. I doubt I would be very impressed.

So again, as normal my game is ridiculed by all, yet I have success so often. I was one of the few who was profitable through the BBT1 and if you throw in my cash in the freeroll, I was decently profitable in that. I will also be profitable thought the BBT2 now as well, as I am just playing a few of these. But people act like my system can't work. There are times where even I start questioning the system, but you can't. You stick with it, and see what happens. Few would have got to where I did in last nights MATH with my cards because they would have made some moves that I did not make, and got eliminated long before the FT.

In the first hour, I nearly tripled up overcalling Chads all-in and a 1/2 stacks call with 88 and surviving the three overs. I then doubled through LJ twice (QQ then AA). After calling down a few more Chad pushes, I was up over 12k, and in the chip lead. I would go very card dead after that, and was pretty much not involved during the second hour. Fuel, Chad, Smokkee and others, actively questioning my game. I would not give in though. Short and desperate, I reraised all-in with KQo over emptymans open, and would run into AQ. I would suckout a K and double through. A few orbits later, I would jam AK over another emptyman open and double through again up to 20k.

With 18 people left, I made what I thought was a nice laydown of 33 preflop. Emptyman had opened and thought about isolating with a push, but I did not have set mining odds, and there were too many people behind. I folded preflop. I also folded 99 and AK preflop in the late stages which I doubt many of you could do to avoid a coinflip or worse. In this case I was kicking myself as I would have flopped Quads, and empty would have pushed into me on the flop.


I would arrive at the final table with about the 6th or 7th most chips. I would win some big pots off SellTheKids. One was when I jammed ATs from the cutoff, and he woke up with JJ but I flushed. One was a huge coinflip with AK vs. TT, and below I eliminated him with Quad Aces busting the bubble.

We got down to 4 handed by the third break. On the first hand after the break, I picked up TT in the BB and if folded to Surf's SB. He made a typical raise to 9.5k. I just went ahead and jammed. I did not want to play TT post flop, so I am taking the safe approach by Jamming. This is often misinterpreted by my opponent as weak, so Surf, thought and called with 44. I doubled though and took a big chip lead at this point. We would get down to three-handed for about 1/2 hour. I was getting decent cards, and holding my own, but was clearly being outplayed by my two opponents. Still I did hang on that long, and if I catch a decent set-up hand or slightly better cards, I could have won. Not my night though. The $340 will be a nice consolation prize, and a MATH 3rd can add to my impressive MTT resume.

Biggest NFL Dog Ever?

I have not been doing a ton of NFL betting this year, but have been dabbling with some success. Sunday morning while taking a peak at the lines, I noticed that the NE Patriots were 25 1/2 point favorites against the Eagles on Bodog. I know the Pats are good and everything, but a 25 1/2 point spread is higher than anything I can ever remember and I have been betting football for 20+ years. I think a 21 point line was the highest I have seen in the past. The Eagles while not great, are not the worst team in the league (by far). I mean they played these guys close a few Superbowls back, right?

So I did the obvious thing when you see that the public is getting way out of line. I closed my eyes and bet against Joe Public. Pay me bitches!

Pauly Tanks Again, Jek187 Wins, Leaderboard Tight

After, a solid start Pauly's fantasy football numbers have gone way south in Sunday's with Dr. Pauly on Fantasy Sports Live. If you had a pulse this week, it was likely you would be getting your TOC seat, or adding to a streak that would get you one eventually. Jek187 had the best score of the 35 entries. The leaderboard is getting tight at the top, and their is still time to stake your claim to the added prizes. Results and an update leaderboard are shown below.

Qualified for TOC

Bobby Bracelet , RTrizzle, ebk03001, Chewbot, bonds, Mattazuma, jek187, Expensive Wino, Pokerpeaker, Big Pirate, KenB25, Proehl, DrizzDJ, Mark, PokahDave, VinNay, HermWarfare, bayne_s, Zeem, Betty Underground, johnnieb, 23skidoo

Two Week Streak Vs. Pauly (TOC Seat for 3 Straight)

Mookie

Sundays With Dr. Pauly Leaderboard (Top 35)

RTrizzle 958.3
ebk03001 941.2
bayne_s 898.3
bonds 896.9
HermWarfare 889
Chewbot 870.1
jek187 863.7
Expensive Wino 860.4
Zeem 833.7
Pokerpeaker 833.5
Dr. Pauly 812.2
Big Pirate 792.3
change100 782.5
DrizzDJ 779
BigHeeb91 768.1
Mattazuma 765.6
Proehl 755.7
KenB525 747.9
Betty Underground 746.3
Mark 729.4
jakehead 728.6
Bobby Bracelet 727.8
PokahDave 633.2
VinNay 628.5
Garthmeister J. 619.4
DonkeyPuncher 602.9
Party Matt 602.6
mush237 525.1
belly2bar 524.7
johnnieb 513.4
23skidoo 451.6
scurvydog 424.5
Joe Speaker 408.3
Jevanstar 403.8
Mookie 401.1

Bonds Wins Week 12, Moves Into 3rd Overall

bonds put up a big Fantasy Football score of 163.5 to best a field of 22 in week 12 of the BFFB. The points for 1st were enough to move into the top three overall with 4 weeks remaining. Official results are below as well as an updated leaderboard.

Top of the Board

jek187 519.77 $162
Blinders 491.80 $216
bonds 406.70 $171
Miami Don 387.18 $225
love_elf 359.82 $99
HermWarfare 354.74 $135
bayne_s 343.16 $162
ebk03001 337.28 $99
jmathewson_III 317.18 $126
ChipperSports 286.14 $126
Zeem 270.74 $117
Big Pirate 252.70 $135
Joe Speaker 248.75 $90
Schuabs 238.65 $90
lifesagrind 231.51 $99
DonkeyPuncher 226.94 $54
Bobby Bracelet 211.46 $135
Chewbot 192.32 $18
Chico's Bail Bonds 180.58 $90
23skidoo 175.96 $18
Alpo_Splatr 163.23 $108
Madden 158.49 $108
scurvydog 155.03 $63
Otis 140.00 $36
mclarich 132.43 $63
Smokkee 117.77 $45
Dr. Pauly 111.78 $45
Mcguyver 108.28 $45
LTLover 105.64 $63
Instant Tragedy 71.13 $27
pwnage1 71.09 $27
DrizzDJ 65.98 $0
StB 61.95 $0

Qualified for Tournament of Champions
lifesagrind , Jek187 , love_elf , Mcguyver , jmathewson_III , Zeem (2), ChipperSports, Bobby Bracelet, Miami Don, Schaubs, bonds

Blinders Deadmoney in TOC Pool So Far ($150 Min)
$216

Top three fantasy scores of the season ($100/$50/$25 Bonus)
1 Jek187 186.9 (Week 2)2 Schaubs 172.1 (Week 11)
3 ChipperSports 163.7 (Week 7)

BoDonkey Win & No, I Am Not Hoy

I took down the Bodonkey in my second try last night. Its the best structure/overlay blogger tourney around and part of my alternative qualifying strategy for the Aussie Millions. Getting the $109T is almost automatic in this thing so you just take the tournament credits, and win the 100k which has 800-900 entries normally. Then you would have 25k to spend as you chose on an Aussie millions or WSOP ME or whatever. Plus you get cash even if you don't win. Getting the seat though the BBT is around 80 x 25 = 2000-1 (per shot), and winner take all.

So I have played on Bodog poker since it first launched, but I was unable to get "Blinders" for my screen name. Its one of the few sites that I don't have it on. My screen name on bodog is "Whats The Nuts". So I was putting on my usual dominating performance, and messing with the other bloggers in chat when the following actual conversation occured.

WhatsTheNuts: the 109 is my aussie trip
WhatsTheNuts: alternative qualifying strategy
WhatsTheNuts: use it to take down the 100k
pokerpeaker: I can't play on Sundays
WhatsTheNuts: WSOP ME seat + the Aussie
WhatsTheNuts: + change
WhatsTheNuts: and winning the 100k is easier than a donk infested BBT2
WhatsTheNuts: just ask hoy
pokerpeaker: I think you ARE Hoy
WhatsTheNuts: wow really
pokerpeaker: I do
WhatsTheNuts: thats a compliment, I guess
TRexRoar: too chatty to be hoy
WhatsTheNuts: do i play like him?
pokerpeaker: kinda
WhatsTheNuts: I mean I am still in this thing
TRexRoar: but the play is similar
NumbBono: Hoy can't make it this deep in a blogger event
WhatsTheNuts: i got to cut and paste this chat
Bayne_S: only Hoy would think being called Hoy is compliment
WhatsTheNuts: it will be funny when you find out who I am
TRexRoar: hahaha bayne
pokerpeaker: You are Hoy!
WhatsTheNuts: hoy wont like it
TRexRoar: waffles?

I love the Waffles comment at the end because it implies that not only I could pass for Hoy, but wawfuls as well, I guess. LOL.

Hoy Pwnership Thyme

This post is about inducing an all-in from Hoy. It's not like that's hard to do at 6-max turbo NL Holdem, so I am not asking for any credit here. Hoy got to my table shortly after the first break. This is actually fairly deep for 6-max turbo MTT as the blinds are way past the 2 hour point of a normal tournament. I had been putting on a clinic playing some incredible 6-max poker up to when Hoy sat down to my right. So Hoy sits down and does his usual try to run over the table thing (probably correct for this structure BTW). We had a shorty shove for 2,500, and Hoy called from the SB and I overcalled from the BB with AQ and some nice odds with a three-way pot, and it was for just 1/4 of my stack. Flop comes low two suited, and Hoy reverse hoys me or some BS. I came with-in about an inch of calling as I felt my two cards were still good if they hit, and I was getting close to the right price. I fold, and it turns out Hoy just jammed into a naked side pot on a draw? He would miss and lose the pot. I don't understand that one. I think you check and hope for your likely free card, but are still willing to call any bet from me.

After this hand, Hoy kept it up and was literally getting it all in twice per orbit on average. So you got a 1/3 chance of inducing an all-in from him on any given hand. So I pick up rockets UTG.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4233743826: Mondays at the Hoy (30720307), Table 8 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:00:47 ET - 2007/11/19
Seat 1: buckhoya (8,515)
Seat 2: Loretta8 (7,937)
Seat 3: hoyazo (12,556)
Seat 4: Blinders (3,796)
Seat 5: cracknaces (7,538)
Seat 6: cubanlinks (4,855)
Loretta8 posts the small blind of 200
hoyazo posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [As Ad]
cracknaces: jackace

Normally I do not screw around at 6-max much, and if this would have been 1/2 hour earlier, I am auto-raising rockets, but my image had swung back to pretty weak-tight for the last 20 minutes. I am also a little bit short and need a double up. Lets see if Hoy can help me out.

Blinders calls 400
cracknaces folds
cubanlinks folds
buckhoya folds
Loretta8 folds
hoyazo has 15 seconds left to act

Hoy is thinking about raising to steal my UTG limp. He makes the right decision and checks. I am pretty well know for limping AA and KK UTG so you need to be a little concerned.

hoyazo checks
*** FLOP *** [Ks 4d Ah]
hoyazo checks

The flop is actually more than you would want. The ace is going to scare any one that does not have one, and there is only one more in the deck. Hoy did not try to steal preflop into weak-tight me, so I am certain he does not have an ace. There is no way I am showing any strength until the river.

Blinders checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 4d Ah] [7c]
hoyazo has 15 seconds left to act

Hoy thinks he might be good here, but is still a bit concerned, I am screwing with him. I mean how often to I miss a bet heads-up in position after a check? He makes a "weeny" bet to see where I am at.

hoyazo bets 400
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
hoyazo: I WILL FOLD IF YOU MOVE ALLIN

No way I am going to give him the info he wants, and that comment seals the deal. Lets stick with Plan A. Show no strength until the river.

Blinders calls 400
*** RIVER *** [Ks 4d Ah 7c] [Ts]
hoyazo bets 2,945

Thank you!

Blinders calls 2,945
hoyazo: missed your chance
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hoyazo shows [Kc Th] two pair, Kings and Tens
Blinders shows [As Ad] three of a kind, Aces
Blinders wins the pot (7,990) with three of a kind, Aces

Shortly after this Hoy played this hand. This is a very dangerous type situation based on Hoy's image. He is getting it in 2 times per orbit on average, and that has the whole table on notice. Early on in this thing I had a run of cards where I had won three straight pots without a showdown. On the next hand, I picked up A6o UTG 5-handed. Normally you have to raise that, but based on my image because of the previous 3 hands, I folded instead. I knew they would be gunning for me, and I am not going to war with A6. Hoy knows the table is gunning for him before this hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4233813861: Mondays at the Hoy (30720307), Table 8 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:06:57 ET - 2007/11/19
Seat 1: buckhoya (8,465)
Seat 2: Loretta8 (7,687)
Seat 3: hoyazo (8,761)
Seat 4: Blinders (7,991)
Seat 5: cracknaces (7,488)
Seat 6: cubanlinks (4,805)
hoyazo posts the small blind of 250
Blinders posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [8c 3s]
cracknaces folds
cubanlinks folds
buckhoya has 15 seconds left to act
buckhoya raises to 2,050
Loretta8 folds
hoyazo raises to 8,711, and is all in

Based on Hoy's range I think you start to get pretty priced in to call with anything you make that open raise with. You will need to put in about 36% of the pot to stay in, and Hoy's range is wide. This is also short-handed turbo, so its not like you can abandon 1/5th of your stack preflop. Hoy does not have the odds to set-mine so calling is out of the question. I think you can make an image fold here, vs taking what amounts to a guaranteed coinflip for your tournament by pushing. Having said all this, this is the BBT2 with a huge premium on winning it, so I think you probably need to take and win some massive coinflips to get the victory. I think this is a decent call by buckhoya.

hoyazo: you must fold
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders folds
hoyazo: blinders can call
hoyazo: buckhoya must fold
buckhoya has 15 seconds left to act
buckhoya has requested TIME
buckhoya calls 6,365, and is all in
hoyazo shows [9c 9h]
buckhoya shows [9d Ac]
Uncalled bet of 296 returned to hoyazo
*** FLOP *** [6h 5d As]
*** TURN *** [6h 5d As] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [6h 5d As 2h] [2c]
hoyazo shows two pair, Nines and Twos
buckhoya shows two pair, Aces and Twos
buckhoya wins the pot (17,630) with two pair, Aces and Twos

Mark Wins Week 6 of Sundays, RTrizzle Still in the Lead

Mark bested the field of 39 in this weeks Sundays With Dr. Pauly fantasy football tournament on FantasySportsLive.com. Rtrizzle remains as the season leader. Dr. Pauly finished in the middle of the pack, so we have some more people qualified for the TOC, and more with a valuable two week streak beating Pauly. Official results are shown below as well as the updated leaderboard.

Qualified for TOC
Bobby Bracelet , RTrizzle, ebk03001, Chewbot, bonds, Mattazuma, jek187, Expensive Wino, Pokerpeaker, Big Pirate, KenB25, Proehl, DrizzDJ, Mark, PokahDave, VinNay

Two Week Streak Vs. Pauly (TOC Seat for 3 Straight)
HermWarfare, bayne_s, Zeem, Betty Underground, johnnieb, 23skidoo

Sundays With Dr. Pauly Leaderboard (Top 30)

RTrizzle 866.3
ebk03001 845.6
HermWarfare 779.9
bonds 777.7
bayne_s 763.9
Expensive Wino 752.8
Chewbot 750.8
Pokerpeaker 738.4
Dr. Pauly 736.8
Zeem 728.9
jek187 728.6
Bobby Bracelet 727.8
Big Pirate 695.2
Mattazuma 688.6
KenB525 683.5
change100 682.1
BigHeeb91 676.1
Mark 669.9
Proehl 656.9
DrizzDJ 655.7
jakehead 645.2
Betty Underground 626.6
Garthmeister J. 619.4
Party Matt 602.6
PokahDave 565.6
VinNay 534.7
mush237 525.1
belly2bar 524.7
DonkeyPuncher 507.6
scurvydog 424.5

Week 6 Sundays With Dr. Pauly Results

Schaubs takes Down Week 11 of the BFFB

Schaubs put up a huge score of 172.1 to take down week 11 of the Blogger Fantasy Football Battle, and earn a seat in the TOC. I once again put up a solid score and I have now taken over the overall lead. I already knew I was better at poker than most, and now it is becoming clear I may be the best at Fantasy Football as well. Don't worry, I am not eligible for any of the added prizes so the top three over all prizes may end up going to places two through four. Also the added prizes are only for bloggers. For the highest weekly scores (all achieved in week 2), I am removing two of the leaders who are not bloggers, and replacing with the next highest scores. Please send me a link if I am mistaken here. Schaubs now has the second best (qualifying) weekly score in the BFFB, and Chipper Sports has moved into third. Below are the updated season standings, and results from this week. Another $36 has been donated to the TOC pool with my contest win this week, and we are now solidly over the $150 minimum added for the TOC.

Qualified for Tournament of Champions

lifesagrind , Jek187 , love_elf , Mcguyver , jmathewson_III , Zeem (2), ChipperSports, Bobby Bracelet, Miami Don, Schaubs

Blinders Deadmoney in TOC Pool So Far ($150 Min)

$198

Top three fantasy scores of the season ($100/$50/$25 Bonus)

1 Jek187 186.9 (Week 2)
2 Schaubs 172.1 (Week 11)

3 ChipperSports 163.7 (Week 7)

Week 11 BFFB Results

BFFB Leaderboard (Top 3 get $100/$50/$25)
Blinders 460.36
jek187 453.08
Miami Don 387.18
ebk03001 337.28
love_elf 330.00
jmathewson_III 317.18
HermWarfare 312.57
bonds 312.39
bayne_s 296.00
ChipperSports 286.14
Zeem 270.74
Big Pirate 252.70
lifesagrind 231.51
Bobby Bracelet 211.46
Schaubs 203.01
Joe Speaker 194.30
DonkeyPuncher 193.59
Chico's Bail Bonds 180.58
Chewbot 163.89
Alpo_Splatr 163.23
Madden 158.49
scurvydog 155.03
Otis 140.00
23skidoo 137.46
mclarich 132.43
Smokkee 117.77
Dr. Pauly 111.78
Mcguyver 108.28
LTLover 105.64
Instant Tragedy 71.13
pwnage1 71.09
DrizzDJ 65.98
StB 61.95
Metaltoad 61.26
Digger 60.32
Family Guy 59.48
Bad Ass Mofo 52.24
funnyshoes 50.07
Canable 48.56
meansdude 45.85
wwonka 42.65
PokahDave 39.65
Bill Belicheat 38.00
RotoScoop.com 34.34
Flick 31.50
BG 31.15
Lounge9 30.71
TripJax 29.92
shnikies 29.43
Trama 0.00
FallStaff 0.00
Red Ryder 0.00
FFGoat 0.00
Mookie 0.00
Al Can't Hang 0.00
SirFWALGMan 0.00

C-Betting Like It's Your Job

C-Betting is an important part of an overall NL Holdem strategy. I have discussed it a bunch here so no need to go into great detail again, except that I just realized how early in an MTT it is most likely correct to increase your c-bet frequency even more than normal. To the point where you are doing it "like it's your job". I would never recommend c-betting like it is your job in a cash game, though if you play as tight as I do, you should come semi-close to that. Like a part-time job at least with overtime potential.

So in cash games I like to C-bet when in position and with a small number of opponents. Then you factor in the texture of the board, and lastly you factor in your actual holdings. It is VERY important that you do not C-bet based on your cards, but do it mostly based on the situation. If your C-bets are always situational, there will be no way to really put you on a hand when you do it. If you do it frequently after raising preflop, people will expect it from you, and will be less likely to play drawing type hands preflop against you. Because I play pretty tight preflop, when I C-bet the flop I can be reasonably put on an overpair, and it is also reasonable, that I will not be able to be pushed off of it. Of course, I can be pushed off of a C-bet in a cash game as it is usually just a small portion of your stack. So in cash games I C-bet a very high percentage of flops, but shut down a bit when out of position and as the number of opponents goes up.

Early in MTTs are different though. I realized this last night at the OCPT. Now this is a rebuy tourney early, but I would say this would apply in general for a deep stacks tourney as well. If you play tight like me, you need to dial up you C-betting to near automatic early on. You do this because the early levels do not matter. You may be giving up a small amount of expectation value by C-betting a bit too much, but the image points a tight player like me gains is huge.

So I was catching some cards early and over raising a bunch preflop, and ending up heads-up or three way, and I was just C-betting away like it was my job. They would look at me, and I would say "You know it's coming". So they were mostly backing off, and the one or two times they did not I had something and doubled through. My image for the tourny was set. First of all, when it gets later and I am raising preflop against much bigger blinds, they will still expect the C-bet and will be more likely to stay out of my way. I can also deny a C-bet later on that they would expect at a key point where I want a free card, or to confuse them with a monster. You get them to expect you to do it on autopilot early for cheap and then exploit that expectation later.

Think about a C-bet as an implied multiplier. In a MTT if your preflop raise amount is 3x and you are called for heads-up, the C-bet will be in the 5x range. So automatic C-bets make your 3x preflop raises appear bigger. You pay for the strong multiplier image early in an MTT, and then use the leverage you just earned against much higher blind levels later. Am I on to something here? I did C-bet my way out of the RC on the first hand so it obviously does not always work, and you must be able to release a C-bet to pressure. Early MTTs are very much like cash games so there is tons of room to get away when things go wrong.

A Quick Update

For those of you who did not notice, I have pretty much completely dropped out of contention for the BBT2. I went into this planning on playing every event until I got my TOC seat. I played the first four I think, and then one last week, and none yet this week. I have just too much on my plate with the launch of Basketball and Hockey at Fantasy Sports Live, and a new pressing personal issue. I will be limiting myself to only the Riverchasers events going forward, and as a result will have little chance of qualifying. That sucks! Unfortunately, the winter gathering is also in jeopardy for me as well, but I am still hoping to go last minute.

All this is pretty much killing the direction I want to take this blog. I was going to use the BBT2 to get back to playing more and get some fresh material to write about. Hopefully riverchasers will do that for me. I have not played online since last weeks MATH I think, but I do have the Orange County Poker Tour tonight which is a local monthly home game MTT tour. Its usually pretty interesting, but I tend not to mention it much here. So anyway, it may be a while before I get this here blog going again. Not what I had planned, but I am just trying to play the cards I have been dealt lately.

All But One Outscore Pauly This Week

Results from this weeks Sunday's with Pauly are shown below. Pauly is way down at the bottom so tons a bunch of people got thier TOC seats or movede one step closer.

Sundays With Dr. Pauly Leaderboard

RTrizzle 718
ebk03001 702.8
bayne_s 675.7
Bobby Bracelet 660.2
HermWarfare 649.7
Chewbot 641
Dr. Pauly 619.7
bonds 613.7
jek187 607.4
Expensive Wino 604.5
Party Matt 602.6
Zeem 594.3
BigHeeb91 582.4
Mattazuma 581.1
Pokerpeaker 578.5
change100 576.6
Big Pirate 576.6
jakehead 571.8
KenB525 542.8
Proehl 534.4
DrizzDJ 529.1
Garthmeister J. 519.5
Betty Underground 496.5
Mark 496.2
mush237 441.2
PokahDave 422.8
DonkeyPuncher 418.3
Joe Speaker 408.3
belly2bar 388.2
Alpo_Splatr 381.8
VinNay 373
scurvydog 331.2
Lounge9 324.9
Chico's Bail Bonds 319.1
Victory 278.9
johnnieb 258.5
Troyinator69 243.1
Family Guy 232.2
23skidoo 227.3
Jevanstar 212.6
GCox25 205.5
Mookie 188.2
Digger 173.5
Al Can't Hang 164.4
Bill Belicheat 155
Miami Don 151
Smokkee 140.2
RJ 121.6
Jack D 121.1
fantasy 116.9
Bad Ass Mofo 114.8
DontDoItPls 107.2
Chuckdnb 106.2
Lord Bodak 104.5
Madden 93.9
Otis 90.7
spotcheck13 89.5
Draft Master Mike 84
KingBack 83.4
McGuyver 81.2

Qualified for TOC
Bobby Bracelet , RTrizzle, ebk03001, Chewbot, bonds, Mattazuma

Two Week Streak Vs. Pauly (TOC Seat for 3 Straight)
jek187, Expensive Wino, BigHeeb91, Mattazuma, Pokerpeaker, change100, Big Pirate, KenB25, Proehl, DrizzDJ, Mark, PokahDave, VinNay, Troyinator69, Jevanstar

Miami Don Wins Week 10, Now Within Striking Distance

Miami Don knows how to win his 10-player contests on FSL. Sunday he won his 5th Blogger Battle Contest in seven tries. This time putting up a 129.8 for the best of all 25 competitors and a seat in the tournament of champions. The TOC prize pool also grew to $162 with another cash by Blinders. The Leaderboard is real tight now with lots of chances and plenty of time to move into the top three for the bonus cash. Complete results are shown below including cash won through the first ten events.

Blogger Fantasy Football Battle Leaderboard

jek187 417.54 $117
Blinders 402.31 $162
Miami Don 387.18 $225
love_elf 330.00 $99
jmathewson_III 317.18 $108
bonds 312.39 $126
ebk03001 305.49 $99
HermWarfare 284.68 $117
Zeem 270.74 $117
ChipperSports 257.11 $99
bayne_s 251.04 $117
lifesagrind 231.51 $99
Bobby Bracelet 211.46 $135
Big Pirate 202.43 $90
Joe Speaker 194.30 $63
Chico's Bail Bonds 180.58 $90
Alpo_Splatr 163.23 $108
DonkeyPuncher 160.08 $36
Madden 158.49 $108
scurvydog 155.03 $63
Otis 140.00 $36
Chewbot 133.57 $18
mclarich 132.43 $63
Smokkee 117.77 $45
Dr. Pauly 111.78 $45
Mcguyver 108.28 $45
LTLover 105.64 $63
Schuabs 102.47 $45
23skidoo 96.41 $18
Instant Tragedy 71.13 $27
DrizzDJ 65.98 $0
StB 61.95 $0
Metaltoad 61.26 $0
Digger 60.32 $72
Family Guy 59.48 $36
Bad Ass Mofo 52.24 $27
funnyshoes 50.07 $0
Canable 48.56 $18
meansdude 45.85 $27
wwonka 42.65 $27
PokahDave 39.65 $0
RotoScoop.com 34.34 $0
Flick 31.50 $0
BG 31.15 $0
Lounge9 30.71 $0
TripJax 29.92 $0
shnikies 29.43 $0
Trama 0.00 $0
FallStaff 0.00 $0
Red Ryder 0.00 $0
FFGoat 0.00 $0
Mookie 0.00 $0
Al Can't Hang 0.00 $0
SirFWALGMan 0.00 $0

Qualified for Tournament of Champions
lifesagrind , Jek187 , love_elf , Mcguyver , jmathewson_III , Zeem (2), ChipperSports, Bobby Bracelet, Miami Don

Blinders Deadmoney in TOC Pool So Far ($150 Min)
$162

Top three fantasy scores of the season ($100/$50/$25 Bonus)
1 Jek187 186.9, 2 Madden 185.3, 3 Digger 184.8 (All Week 2)

Week 10 BFFB Results

Playing the Hammer for Value

I had to skip the last two events of week 2 of the BBT2. The Mook was Halloween night at 7PM local time, so it was just not going to happen. Riverchasers, where the wife usually works late, had her off early this time. So I got back into action at the 6-max MATH. I hate 6-max. I will not play it at a cash game ever. I have played a few 6-max MTTs and I always seem to do pretty good. The secret is that I don't really adjust to 6-max at all. People assume that you will, and you end up in some good spots with better hands as a result. This specific MATH, I was all over the map with my stack while even applying this strategy. I rivered a straight against AA early, while playing the hand fairly well to get a nice stack. I was then very up and down. I played a huge pot preflop with AK in the middle stages and ran right into AA. I attacked from the CO a shortstacked BB with A2 and ran into AK. I rallied back immediately everytime, and eventually got down to 4 tables pretty short.

Below I played the Hammer for value. I do not play the hammer. I also always use the automuck feature, so I can't show it even if I dropped it. Here I just played it for value (the correct way) from the SB with the intent of showing it for once. The hammer only counts when you win at showdown with it, and it counts extra if your river value bet gets called by A high. Ask anyone this. Below that is the hand that I went out with in 23rd. I don't really like the call with 44 there preflop by cmitch. You really need to push or fold that if you are not getting the set mining odds. Once I just get called there preflop I am auto-pushing that flop every time with zero regrets. I lose to an 8-1 shot instead of chip up a helpful amount at an important point.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4082516934: Mondays at the Hoy (30720201), Table 7 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:28:59 ET - 2007/11/05
Seat 1: Blinders (3,275)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,420)
Seat 3: corron10 (2,840)
Seat 4: twoblackaces (1,045)
Seat 5: Maudie (2,845)
Seat 6: columbo (4,575)
Blinders posts the small blind of 25
a104l9 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [7h 2d]
corron10 folds
twoblackaces folds
Maudie folds
columbo folds
Blinders calls 25
a104l9 checks
*** FLOP *** [3c Qd 2s]
Blinders bets 50
a104l9 calls 50
*** TURN *** [3c Qd 2s] [6s]
Blinders checks
a104l9 checks
*** RIVER *** [3c Qd 2s 6s] [Kh]
Blinders bets 50
a104l9 calls 50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Blinders shows [7h 2d] a pair of Twos
a104l9 mucks
Blinders wins the pot (300) with a pair of Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 300 Rake 0
Board: [3c Qd 2s 6s Kh]
Seat 1: Blinders (small blind) showed [7h 2d] and won (300) with a pair of Twos
Seat 2: a104l9 (big blind) mucked [9h Ad] - Ace King high

Full Tilt Poker Game #4083498419: Mondays at the Hoy (30720201), Table 10 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:59:01 ET - 2007/11/05
Seat 1: Blinders (4,555)
Seat 2: Easycure (9,305)
Seat 3: jeciimd (17,233)
Seat 4: cracknaces (14,810)
Seat 5: cmitch (17,863)
Seat 6: katitude (8,864)
Blinders antes 50
Easycure antes 50
jeciimd antes 50
cracknaces antes 50
cmitch antes 50
katitude antes 50
cracknaces posts the small blind of 200
cmitch posts the big blind of 400
cmitch: :)
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Jc Jh]
katitude folds
Blinders raises to 1,200
Easycure folds
jeciimd folds
cracknaces has 15 seconds left to act
cracknaces folds
cmitch calls 800
*** FLOP *** [3d 4h 7d]
cmitch checks
Blinders bets 3,305, and is all in
cmitch calls 3,305
Blinders shows [Jc Jh]
cmitch shows [4s 4d]
*** TURN *** [3d 4h 7d] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [3d 4h 7d 2s] [Qs]
Blinders shows a pair of Jacks
cmitch shows three of a kind, Fours
cmitch wins the pot (9,510) with three of a kind, Fours
cmitch: gg
Blinders stands up

Uncle Bracelet Gets TOC Seat, & RTrizzle Moves Into SWDP Lead

Bobby Bracelet bested Dr. Pauly's Fantasy Football score for the third consecutive week earning the first entry into the Sundays With Dr. Pauly Tournament of Champions. He already has a seat in the Blogger Battle TOC as well. RTrizzle finished second for the week and has moved into the overall lead. Chewbot had the highest fantasy score this week out of 40 entries. Week 4 results are shown below as well as the season standings.

Sundays With Dr Pauly Season Standings

RTrizzle 599.5
ebk03001 587.7
bayne_s 561.4
Bobby Bracelet 555.3
Dr. Pauly 546.6
Chewbot 533.5
HermWarfare 527.1
jek187 519.6
Expensive Wino 519.3
Party Matt 517.6
bonds 508.8
change100 503.2
Mattazuma 498.3
Big Pirate 496
Pokerpeaker 486.8
BigHeeb91 469.6
Zeem 469.1
KenB525 445
Proehl 441.1
jakehead 436.3
DrizzDJ 418.8
Garthmeister J. 418.2
Joe Speaker 408.3
Betty Underground 406.6
Mark 401.8
belly2bar 388.2
mush237 382.5
PokahDave 337.8
Lounge9 324.9
DonkeyPuncher 322.9
Chico's Bail Bonds 319.1
Victory 278.9
Alpo_Splatr 274.4
VinNay 242.3
scurvydog 220.3
GCox25 205.5
Mookie 188.2
johnnieb 179.7
Digger 173.5
Al Can't Hang 164.4
Bill Belicheat 155
Miami Don 151
Smokkee 140.2
Jevanstar 131.3
Troyinator69 122.1
RJ 121.6
Jack D 121.1
fantasy 116.9
Bad Ass Mofo 114.8
DontDoItPls 107.2
Chuckdnb 106.2
Lord Bodak 104.5
23skidoo 103.5
Family Guy 102.4
Madden 93.9
Otis 90.7
spotcheck13 89.5
Draft Master Mike 84
McGuyver 81.2

Qualified for TOC
Bobby Bracelet

Two Week Streak Vs. Pauly (TOC Seat for 3 Straight)
RTrizzle, ebk03001, Chewbot, bonds, Mattazuma

Week 4 Results