And the FEARFUL…and UNBELIEVING…and ALL LIARS…shall have their part in the lake of fire! And so it was at the Grand Sierra Pot of Gold tournament...

We were in Reno to gather info on poker rooms because we’re committed to providing quality info to the TwoRags community. Our last stop of the day, the Grand Sierra Casino & Resort (formerly the Reno Hilton), is located in the opposite end of town from the other casinos, on other side of the freeway. The Grand Sierra is a luxury hotel/casino/resort complex that seems like it's trying hard to shed its white trash roots but just can't bring itself to let go. The monument sign and website pitch the elegant rooms and spa and announce upcoming events like Harry Connick, Jr., dinner with the vintner from Duckhorn Vineyards and the American Ballet Theatre. But a look around the property—bowling alley, RV park, go-cart track, bungee jumping—confirms that this girl grew up watching Nascar. It's like the Pam Anderson of casinos—nicely renovated and elegant in formal wear but with tattoos and a social set that scream “I like rockers!”.



In any event, we were there to get info on the poker room so that’s where we headed. The room itself is located in a semi-enclosed area in the cavernous events center. It’s not the most intimate room, but its proximity to the events center is convenient for tournaments. Turns out, we showed up at about 5:45p about 15 minutes before the $200+$25 tournament was starting. To the staff's credit, they were very patient and gave us the info we wanted even while trying to organize the event. As we were wrapping up, it dawned on us that this was a great opportunity to get a better feel for the room from a player's perspective. We were both burned out from running around all day, but a live tournament in 15 minutes with no wives in tow? Are you kidding me?

The Grand Sierra requires all players to present a player card to register for a tournament, and for that, you need ID and money. Unfortunately, I left my wallet in the car so I sprinted out to the parking lot and then back across the casino to the players club desk. [Note: this property is BIG.] After a brief wait on line, I received my card which not only entitled me to register for the tournament but also opened me up to a "cavalcade of cash & prizes" just for swiping said card at the Everyday Prize Machine. I didn't see what prize I qualified for that day, but the couple in front of me was giddy with pride as they walked away with a fine coffee mug stand. This is obviously a promotion not to be taken lightly, but we were here to pull hard cash from the locals not add to our kitchen decor. Card in hand, I hit the cashier to register just under the wire. Total entrants: 82; total prize pool: about $16,000.

Assigned to the last table, I took my spot in the 4 seat. Rick was right behind me and sat across from me in the 9 seat. As soon as he settled in, he was dealt in under the gun. I thought for sure he'd fold here and get his bearings, but no, he fired out a raise. Two callers behind and I was thinking, "Uh oh. This is gonna suck when he's the first one out." Not good considering I staked him for the event. Flop was 965 two clubs, and Rick bet out. Guy to my right, an off-duty dealer, called and the other player folded. I repeat to myself, "Uh oh. This is gonna suck if he's the first one out." Turn was a club putting three clubs on board, and he fired again. Now off-duty dealer thought for a bit, announced he's got a middle pair and a draw (I'm not sure why guys do this on the turn ”Here, how 'bout I tell you my cards so your river play, should I choose to call, is much easier.”), counted out his chips…and then folded. Ok, pal, thanks for the recap. Rick flashed two queens (no club) and scooped the pot. I'm pissed he showed but relax a little now that my horse is out of the gate clean.

A note on the Grand Sierra’s Pot of Gold tournament series. If the rest of the events were run like this one, this is a nice series of events to play. The structure wasn’t bad for a tournament of this size, and the event was well-run with great dealers and floor staff. Again, there were 82 entrants for a prize pool of about $16,000 with $5,500 to the winner. Not bad for the 19th event of a two week series in Reno. There were a couple of familiar faces—Jerry Buss and two little cuties he hauled up from Los Angeles, a couple of guys I recognized from televised events. An inexpensive place to camp out for a couple of weeks, reasonable (<$1000) buy-ins for the whole series and a well-run room? That's worth putting on the calendar for next year.

Back to the action. The first few levels were uneventful with the exception of one hand. One guy raised in MP, Rick called from the blinds with TT. Flop came J high and Rick checked to the pre-flop raiser. Guy bet a little less than half the pot and Rick check-raised the pot. His opponent collapsed like a cheap soufflé.

A few hands later, I put on a rare show of good judgment and fold 83c under the gun. There’s a couple of callers to Rick in the BB. Flop was, of course, 883 and I cursed the poker gods for taunting me. Someone stabbed at the pot, and Rick called. Turn was a 9. Check. Check. River was a blank and Rick bet out half the pot. The other player was thinking and Rick, channeling Scotty Nguyen, said “you don’t want any part of that…you can’t call that" at which point I knew I was happy my 83 was in the muck. Sure enough, the other guy called and Rick tabled 98o for the turned boat.

A few hands later, our table broke and Rick and I were separated. I’ve recently begun to move toward a more active style in tournament play but was nonetheless getting ground down and facing blind pressure. With less than 8 blinds in late position and holding KJo, I shoved on an MP raiser only to be shown QQ. Ugh, I hate KJ! But then, with a J on flop and K on turn. I brush off the shame of showing down KJ and stack the chips. A few hands later, I was in middle position with JJ facing an early raise and moved in. It’s folded back around to the EP raise and he insta-called (uh oh!) and proudly showed KQo. Dude, wtf? The gods, so graceful a few hands earlier, now confirmed their disgust with my new style and presented a K on the river. I was short again.

I survived another orbit picking up the blinds when I moved in with 77. Still short, I finally picked up AA in the big blind (love that!) and stacked up when the cut-off shoved with some woeful piece of trash. I then kicked and scratched my way to the last two tables with powerhouses like KTs, QTs, 66. Meanwhile, Rick was coasting along with a 2-3x average stack at the other table, the bastard. He later told me he had one sketchy hand at 300/600 where 2nd position raised to 2400, MP called and Rick pushed for 6500 from the hijack and took down the pot. But other than that, he was having an easier time of staying ahead of the blinds.

Finally, down to 15 players, I picked up QQ and pushed on a min-raiser directly to my right. I was concerned because he'd been stupid tight for the last hour, mentioning to me a few hands he folded. But with the blinds at 400/800 with an ante and sitting with fewer than 4,000 chips, I couldn’t afford to drop the hand. Of course, he showed aces, and as is often the case when two women showed up your door at the same time, I was out of money and alone on the rail. Whatever, I still had a horse in the event and that horse had chips. Time to cheer him on.

At 14 players, play was excruciating (it seemed like every 3rd hand was folded to the blinds) and it was all I could do not to howl “Will somebody please RAISE!” Fortunately, the blinds did their work, narrowing the field to ten, and the staff seated the final table. Unfortunately, only 9 spots paid so more painful viewing followed. A short stack would raise, and medium stack would push. Shorty showed KJo, medium stack showed JJ…K on the river. Gross. Two hands later same thing. Shorty would show A4, medium stack would show A7…four on the flop. And so on, ad nauseum.

Things were a little nervy when Rick open-shoved with what he later told me was AQo; the big blind took FOREVER to fold. In retrospect, the blind obviously didn't have much, but then again I didn't know my horse was holding AQo. A few hands later, Rick again short in the big blind. With an EP raiser, he paused for a bit then moved in. EP called and showed AQo. Rick flipped up two black aces (nice Hollywooding, dude!). Hold…hold… hold….yes! The AQ whiffs the board and we’re in good shape again.

A few hands later they’re down to 8 players with two critically short stacks, one of whom was a pro I'd seen on TV but couldn't place. UTG limped and the two shorties were all-in (less than a blind) to Rick in the big blind with Q6h. Rick checked and the flop fell 977 with two hearts. Rick checked again, and the EP limper shoved. What was that? How about just checking it down, pal? It’s about another 15,000 to call in a 30,000 chip pot. I'm not one to chase a flush draw late; I probably need to put more gamble in my tournament game. But Rick said “I guess I call if I want to win.” and counted out chips. UTG flipped over KK and the shorties showed A3 and some other unmemorable hand. Turn was a trey and the river…the beautiful Ah. Nice! Side note: there was a lot of fun commentary by the pro who pointed out that if UTG had RAISED with his kings, both of them would still be in. But he didn’t and they weren’t and it was down to five.

A few hands later, four-handed with two shorties, there was talk of a chop, but that was quickly dismissed by the two big stacks. One of the short stacks went out soon after. Three-handed, there was a tense moment when Rick open-shoved with the remaining short stack and the big stack still to act. The short stack labored for a full three minutes before calling. I’m thinking he’ll show 44 or KTo. No, he tables AJs. WTF? That’s an insta-call for me in that situation and I'm conservative. As it turned out, his apprehension was deserved, Rick's ATo found a T on the turn. Bam! We're heads up, fellas!

One on one only lasted a few hands, maybe 10 minutes tops. On the final hand, Rick’s opponent completed the small blind and Rick checked. Flop was QKx rainbow. Rick bet half the pot. Opponent quickly called. Turn was another blank. Rick checked and his opponent moved in. I’m thinking “Uh, that's a fold.” but Rick looked into his opponent's soul and saw nothing but deceit. He said matter-of-factly “You don’t have a K.” and called with Q6s. I’m thinking “Uh, this is gonna be a long ride home.” Instead, his opponent turned over ATo, a gutter draw and overcard! River blanked and my horse had the title. Nice!

So now it’s 1 a.m. and Rick is basically catatonic. They take his photo, get his info and hand him 55 black chips. Rick comes to his senses enough to raise the tournament director for value, “Hey, do you have a hat I could have?”, and asked me if I thought he qualified for any of the “cavalcade of cash and prizes” mentioned above. I slapped him back to reality and herded him out to the car to split up the cash and roll back to Tahoe. By the time we got back to the Hyatt Lake Tahoe, room service had stopped serving (this ain't Vegas, baby!) but found the bar/lounge still serving food. That's the downside of winning tournaments—eating lousy bar food at 3a, but whatever. We'll take the win!

Edmond

In a fit of OCD waiting for room service during my recent Tahoe trip, I compared the 2006 WSOP structure with the revised "double stack" structure for this year's WSOP. I applied the 2006 field attrition (interpreted from PokerWire posts) to both structures. Looks like the play will probably be pretty much the same.

WSOP 2006 structure vs 2007

I think it's going to be interesting to see how many entrants materialize. With online rooms unable to buy in directly for the event, I'm positive the number will be much lower. Think about it fro the typical player. He wins a satellite and Tilt transfers the $10,000+ to his account. For most guys, that's real money and could go a long way toward paying a few bills. I can definitely see a scenario where most satellite winners take the dough pay a few outstanding bills and MAYBE play smaller events or other live satellites to the event. I'm betting the total number of entrants will fall by almost 50%. I don't, though, this means the live poker is dying. The 2007 LA Poker Classic main event had 791 entrants vs. 692 in 2006.

Still digging,

Edmond

I recently had some business in the Lake Tahoe area and had intended to bring my wife, but she had to bail out at the last minute. Naturally, I had a poker friend tag along to help me figure out a way to fill up the three days I wouldn't be working. We left LA on a Thursday, got into the Reno airport around 7p or so and drove the 30-40 miles to Lake Tahoe. If you've never been to the Reno/Tahoe area, it's a trip worth taking. Reno is a white trash town, but Lake Tahoe is stunning--pine trees, views of the lake, clear air--a big change from LA.

We rolled into the Hyatt Lake Tahoe around 9p. The Hyatt is a beautiful, rustic resort located directly on the shores of Lake Tahoe. The hotel/casino is not known for its poker, but it did have a room and there was a game, so we figured we'd have dinner and check it out.

After a nice steak at the Lone Eagle Grill, the Hyatt's main dining room overlooking the Lake, we wandered over to the poker room. I'm usually a NL player, but all they spread is 4/8 limit with 1/2 blinds and a 10/20 pineapple game with 5/5 blinds. Only the 4/8 was running so I bought a couple of hundred in chips and sat down.

Wow, talk about horrible play. The 1/2 blinds encourage lots of limpers--7 to the flop MINIMUM with me the only one who would even contemplate folding pre-flop. Ever the nit, I managed to blow off $100 or so playing crap like AA, KK and AKs. One guy considered himself a "semi-pro" from Santa Barbara who's "a supervisor for the City of SB but he makes his REAL money playing poker." This guy was classic, about 40 years old, sunglasses (at 4/8 limit...nice), struggling with trivial odds decisions. At one point, he over-called two players with four to a flush and straight on board and tabled two pair. Uh, I don't think that's gonna get it done.

Another woman insisted she put herself through grad school (Berkeley) playing poker in the 70s. She burned off $400 dollars (again, at 4/8 limit) in less than 2 hours. In one hand, she tabled a "straight" which was really four cards to a straight. She was insistent she had a straight (even though it didn't matter; another player had the nut flush) and only backed off when the dealer counted the four card straight for her TWICE. In another hand, she was struggling with a river raise on a KTTJ9 board with two diamonds and two hearts showing. She turned to me (to her right) and said “What do you think?” I’d been friendly and joking with her, so I said facetiously that her opponent probably had the "nut flush" again (even though it wasn't possible). At that point, the other player replied, "Yes. I have the nut flush." She then hemmed and hawed, said she didn't believe him, kept asking me what "nut flush" meant, etc. BTW, she had $6 left in her stack to call in a $60+ pot. She finally called and tabled a pair of pocket fives. Good Lord.

I finished the session down a hundred or so but I managed to pull a little of that back the following night when a drunken lawyer and a couple of his family members decided to give the game a whirl. Typical action, limp, limp, limp, limp, limp, raise, call, call, call, call, etc. Fortunately, I managed to turn a boat with pockets tens in one of these family pots so I ended the session up.

Two things stuck out from the session. First, the lawyer's wife thought he did an amazing Jack Nicholson impression and encouraged him to perform it for us. Love is indeed blind; the only similarity between him and Jack was the sunglasses and an odd fascination with the Lakers. Second, I'm not a limit player, but it struck me there was a ton a value in the game. Not only were people playing crap out of position, but they were repeatedly FOLDING post-flop when checking was an option. Thanks for the EV, guys! I'll give it a good home!

I'm pretty sure the crazy pineapple hi/lo split game was pretty juicy, too. It wasn't running on Thursday night, but Friday and Saturday, there was at least one table going. I'm told it's been a staple of the room for over 15 years and there's a few regulars in the game, but the action looked RIDICULOUS from where I sat. It's probably a game worth learning if you live in or visit this area frequently.

Couple of notes on the staff. Dan, the room manager, was very friendly and had an obvious command of the room. The dealers were efficient and fast, despite the lack of auto-shufflers, and every staff member endeavored to learn players' names. When I first sat down, I thought it was a room full of regular since everyone seemed to know everyone else, but within moments, the staff was addressing me by my name, too. It's a nice touch.

Overall, I had low expectations for the poker but was pleasantly surprised. And the hotel is fantastic! I didn't try the spa (I'll leave that aspect of the trip report to my wife next time) but the rooms, restaurants, service and setting were all really special. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Lake Tahoe area.

Edmond

Last night, a friend and I played in an annual, invitation-only tournament sponsored by a national financial services firm. There were 144 entrants (free entry) competing for a prize pool that included a video iPod (3rd prize), a $500 gift certificate at a local steakhouse (2nd prize) and an entry into the WSOP main event and hotel accommodations (a $12,000+ value) for the first place winner.

I busted out about 60th or so when my AQs refused to stand up to my opponent’s K3o, but my friend actually won the event, taking home twelve grand of value for a few hours of work. The quality of play ranged from laughable to abysmal with few players understanding things like hand value, position and blind stealing. Typical for events like this, the blinds increase rapidly—organizers usually want to complete the event in an evening—so you need a certain amount of luck to find your way to the final table. That said, an intermediate player with a decent understanding of poker and tournament fundamentals would have had a huge advantage over the field.

As I was sweating and coaching my friend, it struck me that it may seem a little down market for an aspiring player to compete in these events, but there can be a lot of value in doing so. I'm a big fan of improving my game by playing better players, but I'm an even bigger fan of money. Admittedly, the event above was an invitation-only event (it's good to be on the list!), but there are other pockets of unskilled money out there in charity/invitational events and home games. The prize pools often include non-cash prizes (TVs, gift certificates and the like) but can include, like this one, entries into major tournaments. Novice and intermediate players should definitely keep an eye out for them.

These events are also low risk opportunities to work on basic people reading skills. Very few players in a charity event will sit with the hat and sunglasses ensemble that you see at even low buy-in casino events; of the 144 players in the event we played, none wore sunglasses or a hat of any kind. Novice and intermediate players can use the opportunity to watch the other players for visual clues—their demeanor, how they handle their bets, how they look when put in awkward spot, etc.—and work on matching hand strength to these clues. In a live casino event, other players will be making a conscious effort to conceal their emotions and read yours. In an invitational or charity event, players tend to be less serious and less self-aware so it’s a great opportunity to train yourself to look for tells and try to predict hand strength.

Similarly, I think home games are another source of dead money and opportunity to work on your game. I deal and play regularly in a home game hosted by a friend of mine, and I often bring a friend who is an improving player. We usually play 1 or 2 single table tournaments over the course of an evening. While my friend has a definite edge in live and online tournaments, he has a huge edge in this home game. The other players have poker knowledge (a sharp contrast to charity events) but still make routine mistakes about hand values, position and bubble play. Add alcohol into the mix and you've got a real value opportunity for a thinking player. Doing the math…

Home games = drinking
Drinking = impaired judgment
Unskilled players + impaired judgment = more mistakes
More mistakes = more money

Further, home games are another good opportunity to work on people and hand reading skills. In our home game, I regularly see strong means weak, weak means strong reads, speeches ("Well, I don't like my hand but I guess I should call…") and other basic tells. While I'm dealing, I'm practicing my reading skills and putting guys on ranges of hands based on those reads. It’s surprising how good you can get at it, if you make an effort.

And don’t forget, the vigorish in a home game is a lot less than in a casino event. In our game, we each chip in for food and drinks—there’s no fee to play or expected dealer tip (although there should be…ugh), like there is in a casino. The payout for the players is a lot more efficient than in a live event.

So off-casino event and home games are good spots for an intermediate player to find value. But what about online events? I think online play is usually better than live play at comparable levels, but there is still plenty of, if not obvious, free money. For example, one overlooked source of dead money online is in tournaments with an overlay.

Several online sites offer tournaments with guaranteed prize pools that undersell—not enough people enter to cover the guaranteed prize pool, so the sponsoring site has to make up the difference. The balance is called the “overlay” and is extra prize money spread across the field. For example, a site offering a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool in a $100 buy-in tournament would have to draw at least 500 entrants to cover the prize pool. If they drew only 400, the overlay would be calculated as follows:

400 entrants…400 x $100 = $40,000 of buy-in money

$50,000 guaranteed prize pool - $40,000 entry fees = $10,000 balance added by the site

Therefore, each player would then receive an overlay of $25 ($10,000/400) on his $100 entry, making his $100 worth $125 in this event.

That extra money gets compounded by your skill advantage. If you're 2x as good as the average player in the field, you've got an expectation of $200 for your $100 buy-in. In other words, if you play this tournament multiple times, you can expect to win an average of $200 each time you play. In a tournament with an overlay, your expectation would be 2x the buy-in PLUS the overlay or, in the case above, $250. If you figure the average tournament runs 5-6 hours, that’s an extra $10/hour of value for a good player.

I’ve been tracking the major weekly online tournaments over the last year to see which ones provide overlays. The major PokerStars, Full Tilt and Party tournaments rarely offer them, but the weekly events of many second tier sites, Absolute, Bodog, Pacific and Ultimate Bet, almost always do. Moreover, on holiday weekends, these overlays can be pretty sick—one recent Bodog tournament offered a 90% overlay! You can see the overlays offered in leading tournaments over the last year or so here…

Overlays in online MTTs

To sum up, I’d say there’s a lot of free money out there, if you’re willing to slum it a little in off-casino events, home games and second tier online sites. I’m all for competing against the best, but if your goal is maximizing your dollars per hour of play, keep an eye open for local charity events, find or start a home game and look at some of the guaranteed tournaments offered by second tier sites on that chart. They can be low-risk ways to build your bankroll (or win WSOP entries!), skills and confidence so you’ll be that much stronger in live casino events.

Still digging,

Edmond

I recently saw a hand from the Aussie Millions Cash game and I thought it was pretty instructive for intermediate players on how NOT to play a hand. With 60-70 hours of poker programming on each week, many players continue to enjoy the game by watching players on TV. Unfortunately, a number of the hands shown on TV reinforce behavior patterns that are real money losers for most players. For example, playing small suited aces out of position is a EV- play for most cash and tournament players, yet you routinely see this in televised play.

In another blog, I recounted a hand where Phil Hellmuth gets eviscerated by Daniel Negreanu playing an A4o, out-of-position. Similarly, in this Aussie Millions video, Phil Ivey, arguably one of the best cash game players ever, dumps over $60,000, playing A3 under the gun. In the context of his playing experience with the other players at the table, the play may have made sense. Furthermore, there may be places where such a play is justified—you're facing blind pressure late in a tournament or you’re seated at a passive table and assured of seeing a cheap multi-way flop—but in your typical online or live cash game, small aces out of position are money pits. Fold them.

Here's how the hand played out.

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The blinds are 300/600 with a 100 ante. There are eight players seated; the starting pot, with antes, is 1700.

Ivey starts the action by limping with A3 for 600. Directly to his left, Erik Lindgren limps as well with AQ. Novice and intermediate players have to recognize that these plays are not optimal in the typical online/live cash game. If there are 4-5 players to a flop, I can see Ivey limping, but Lindgren's limp behind is horrible here, in my opinion. There's $2300 in the pot with Ivey's limp, and AQo is a decent starting hand but one in which you need to narrow the field and figure out where you stand. I think the better play is a raise to around $5000 and would argue that a player in an online/live game is making a big mistake by mirroring Lindgren's action.

In any event, he limps and Chris Ferguson, an amateur in seat 1 and John Juanda fold. At that point, Patrik Antonius, holding 88, raises $3800 to $6700. I like this play. There's been no show of strength (two limpers), his eights are likely good and he wants to narrow the field. If he's called, he can re-evaluate after the flop. He puts in a nice raise to see who's serious about their hand. The blinds, Billy "the Croc" Argyros and Jeff Lisandro, both fold.

With the action back to Ivey, he re-raises $17,000 or so, a very aggressive play and again one that novice to intermediates should avoid. I can see his thinking here—he and Antonius play each other frequently; he may see Antonius making a play from position and decides to represent a monster hand. Unfortunately, Patrik calls.

Online and live, the limp/re-raise from UTG with a monster hand (AA, KK, AK) is a very transparent play and one you should use sparingly. It typically results in the pot ending right there with no further value for your hand, and when action proceeds to the flop, pretty much everyone in the hand knows what you're holding. Acting out of position when others know your hole cards is a problem.

On the 43Q flop, Ivey continues to represent a big hand and fires a 2/3 pot bet of $16,000 at the 24,300 pot. Antonius calls.

The turn is the 5, and Ivey fires another $40,000 at the pot. At this point, Antonius pushes, and Ivey thinks (more accurately, he pretends to think) for a bit and folds.

Note that Argyros comments at several points in the hand and when Ivey's contemplating Antonius’ shove, he makes a joke which falls flat. Not only does he look like a buffoon wearing his ridiculous crocodile hat, his breach of protocol is shameful for a better player. It's surprising even at these levels how many players don't show common courtesy to the other players. If you're not in the hand, respect the others who are and shut up.

To his credit, Ivey says nothing, but he’s clearly aggravated and gets up from the table to steam a little.

Let’s recap. Ivey limps with A3s under the gun, is raised, re-raises and continues his charade on the flop and turn until he’s rebuffed. Of course, if Ivey flops a monster here (two pair or trips), he looks like a hero, but those are both long shots (70+ to 1 and 50 to 1, respectively). It’s far more likely that he’s going to end up dumping off chips with a small ace out-of-position and he’s one of the best in the world. Do your bankroll a favor, fold the small aces out-of-position!

Still digging,

Edmond