I was reading Bond18's recent post The Worst Player I know and it made me think of a video I saw a while back. If you enjoy watching guys go off on their opponent after receiving a bad beat, you'll love this one. Enjoy!

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First Satellite

I made it the Commerce around 3pm. The tournament wasn’t starting until 7pm so I had plenty of time to play a one table satellite. They were running plenty of $120’s so I immediately sat down at one and it started within a few minutes. I only recognized a few regular local pros at the table. A few of the guys seemed pretty green and nervous. One guy asked if anyone was interested in a $50 last longer and I was the only taker. This in itself told me that the table was inexperienced because at the WSOP about 5-6 guys would always want to do it.

We start with $1k in tournament chips and 25/25 blinds/15 min levels. I was fairly card dead and didn’t play many hands. Given the fact that we only start with $1k in chips, it’s dangerous to splash around too much at the start, so I tried to find a good hands. Unfortunately it never happened. When the blinds got to 50/100 I was in the SB with AT and about 550 chips. The button had me covered and pushed. I thought for just a bit and decided to call. He was on a steal with Q8 and my hand held up. On the very next hand I raise to 250 with KJs from the button when folded to me. The BB pushes for 300 more so I’m getting over 2-1, which made it an easy call. He had A8 so I was 46% to win and a J on the turn made my 46% good. My last-longer partner busted out soon there-after so now I’m only in for $70.

Unfortunately, nothing much good happened after my KJ hand. I still never saw a premium hand and didn’t have many steal opportunities. With blinds at 200/400 and 4 people left I’m in the BB and the button pushes and has me covered. I have 850 left after posting the BB and look down at 89s. Not great, but it’s 850 to win 1450 so I’m getting 1.7 to 1. His range is super wide here, likely two overs which I would be 41% to, but he could have one over too with a hand like A5 so I would be a bit closer to 50/50, he could have an under pair which would put me at 50/50 or an overpair which is the only hand I don’t want to see; but this is by far his least likely holding. More important, was the fact that after this hand I have to post the SB and will be left with 650. Any hand I play for the next few hands I’ll definitely need to go to showdown and I won’t be able to win this many chips. Anyway, what seemed at first to be a so-so decision became an easy call for me. He had K7, so I was in okay shape, but his hand held. If you’re interested, here’s a link to an EValuator scenario which looks at this:

Link to scenario 1

This scenario assumes all 4 holdings for my opponent are equal, and of course the are not. Here’s what I believe is a bit more realistic based on the situation:

Link to scenario 2


Second Satellite

It was still only 5pm when I finished the first satellite so I signed up for a second $120. This time I recognized about 5-6 of the players from previous tournaments. Warren Karp was seated to my right. Warren told me about a horrible beat he suffered in the Main Event this year of the WSOP. It was day 5 and they were down to 70 players. Warren had about $1 million in chips and was on the button with blinds of 15/30k. An UTG player makes it $100k and it folds to Warren. He looks down at AA. He feels that the UTG player was likely to have a hand in the JJ-KK/AK range and felt there was a decent likelihood that he would call an all-in. This player had about $1.2 million.. The average stack was about $1.5 million. Warren pushes and the UTG player calls quickly. Guess what he had? 55! Can you believe this guy plays for 5 days, made it this far, is in reach of going really far and calls off almost his entire stack with 55! It boggles the mind. Of course the guy turns a 5 and Warren is out. Oh, well! Warren still had a very nice payday, but it was very painful.

On to the satellite. On the very first hand the UTG player limps for 25. I'm just to his left and look down at 67 and decide to call too. The button and both blinds call. The flop comes 389. A straight flush draw… not bad. The SB makes it 75, the BB calls, I call and the other two players call. The turn was the beautiful 5 so now I have the nuts. The SB pushes, the BB calls (what is going on here?) and I call. SB had 99 so he flopped trips and the BB had A 3 so he has a flush draw. I manage to dodge about 15 outs and triple up. Not bad. I tightened up a bit for a while, but did win a nice pot when I see a flop with KQ and hit trip Q's on the flop.

We got down to 3 players and I was the chip leader, but when one of the remaining players took out the other guy he had a 30-50% chip lead on me. He asked if I wanted to chop and offered me 500 in tournament chips and I took it. He was only getting about $100 more than me, so it seemed like a pretty good deal given that the blinds were now at 400/800 and he was a solid tournament player so it would be a crap shoot going forward.

Tournament

I didn’t recognize anyone at my table, but for the most part the majority of players were solid and experienced. This was a big contrast to my experience at the WSOP where 7 out of 10 players were extremely green and nervous at each starting table. We start with $2k in chips and 25/25 blinds. Levels are 40 mins. This is a very fast structure and you need to get hands and quickly build your stack or you’ll be dead. The next level is 25/50, followed by 50/100 and then 75/150.

I was completely card dead for the first 3 levels. I never saw a pocket pair and the only big A I was dealt was AQ on the 3rd hand. My one mistake – perhaps – is that I splashed around quite a bit. I often limped from MP through LP with suited connectors and I called a few raises from the blinds with hands like AT. I never hit a flop, but I did have a few draws so lost a bit more when I called a bet to see another street. I won one hand in total during these levels – I had KQs and I called a guy down on the flop and turn with a K high board. If he pushed on the river I might have folded, but he checked on the river (I was out of position and checked to him on every street).

It might sound like I was playing very weak-tight, but the cards really dictated my play. Sure I could have made some big bluffs with nothing, but there really was no need for anything crazy yet. I had time -- or so I thought I did!

Towards the end of the 50/100 level I was down to 1300 in chips. I felt it was still just a bit early to push to steal the blinds and I didn’t like raising with only 13bb, so my goal was to go for a steal raise all-in. I couldn’t find a good situation, but then was dealt 88 UTG. As I said, I could have pushed, but felt it would be better to limp, hoping for someone to try and raise and then I would push. That’s what happened. UTG+1 also limps (very loose player) and a somewhat loose player in MP makes it 325 and I push. He pegs me as a tight player and went into the tank. He’s getting about a 50% overlay on his call. He asks if I have QQ/JJ and mumbles something like 'these are the only hands I want to see.'

This tells me that he has AK and he’s worried I have AA or KK. I really think if I said something like 'not QQ/JJ, a little better but you might have one over, who knows!' he might fold. But to be honest, I was more than happy to go against AK and get back into the tournament so I didn’t say much of anything. He counts out the pot and comes to the conclusion that he needs to call. He did have AK and I’m really not sure why it took him so long. He wasn’t concerned about the player to the left of me because this guy was very loose and it was clear he didn’t have much.

Of course an A came on the flop and I was out. The good news was that it was quick and painless and I got to go home at a reasonable hour and watch some of the US Open Women’s semi-finals on TIVO.*

I haven't played a live tournament since the end of June during the World Series of Poker. It's hard to believe it's now been over two months since I've played. How did that happen? I had planned on playing a few Legends events at the Bike, but it never worked out. Between vacations, kids events, party commitments, etc., I just never had 2-3 days. Why 2-3 days? Most of these tournament require 2-3 days. While I often could make the first day of a tournament, it would become a big issue if I made it to the following day since things would get very sticky if I had to cancel plans. Last year I played a Legends tournament and my wife was leaving at 6:30am in the morning with some friends for a weekend with the girls. I was doing great and made it down from 400 runners to about 50 when a critical hand came up around 4am. I had no good reason to call an all-in raise by my opponent, but I justified the gamble with the rationale 'how was I going to watch my children, if I was to stay alive in the tournament?'

I'll be playing at the Commerce in a $545 CA State Championship event at 7pm. The complete schedule is listed here. While I haven't been playing, I have been reading about, thinking about and discussing lots of poker lately. I'm looking forward to trying out some new strategies I've been thinking about trying. Stay tuned for an update on my experience.

- S

I was just reading through a thread on twoplustwo that really hit home to me. The author of a post was playing a $1000 satellite to an EPT event online at Pokerstars when a player at his table was deliberately stalling on every single hand by taking the maximum time to play. This has happened to me a number of times and it drives me crazy. It usually happens to me during one table sit-n-goes, so the only issue is the time the sng will take. In the case of a big MTT the stalling has serious consequences because you don't have as many hands to play as other players in the tournament.

The poster wrote to Stars and they told him that there was nothing they could do. He kept on complaining and asked who has taken over since Lee Jones left. Here's what they wrote:


The position formerly held by Lee has not been filled at this time but there are a few people who have taken those responsibilities. However they are not going to tell you anything different. Your simply not understanding there is no violation here so we cannot take any further action. EVERY player is given the full time to act on their hand and is their decision if they wish to use that full time.

Again I am sorry your frustrated but you are going to have to accept that this time is given and they can use it even if you would like them to act faster.


Regards,

Trent
PokerStars Support Team



Nothing they could do? Totally legitimate and within the rules? I completely disagree. If this were to happen in a live tournament the floor manager would give a warning and watch the play. If it continued to happen EVERY HAND they would certainly penalize the player. I have seen it happen many times and 100% of the time the floor manager will take a stand and penalize the player.

Pokerstars and other online sites really need to take action on this. It's not really that difficult. If a player takes the maximum time on a certain number of hands and always folds the hands then they should receive a warning. Once the warning is given the player should receive a penalty. What is so difficult about that?

I visited the Commerce last week to meet with some potential business partners. After the meeting I decided to stick around for a few hour cash game session. There was no wait and I was immediately seated at the $5/10 NL table. The maximum buy-in is $400 and that’s what I started with – if you bust-out they allow you to buy back in for $600.

A quick scan of the table revealed few dominant stacks. There was an attractive Asian woman to my right who did have about $1000, but she told me that she was actually even having bought back in for $600. She was very chatty with the guy to her right. He just lost a substantial portion of his stack when he raised PF with AK, hit the A on a AT5 flop and then was CR all-in on his flop bet and called. His opponent had A5. He spent about 10 minutes discussing with her his bad luck and the reasons for his call.

The table was somewhat passive. Nobody appeared very aggressive or creative. Lots of very standard poker – fold bad hands, play good hands, bet with good hands, call with draws and good hands, etc. TPTK was a monster on this table and people were more than willing to go broke here with less than TPTK. Most everyone knew each other and was having a good old time being chatty and friendly. I was happy to join the party!

I waited a few hands for my BB and called a MP raise to $30 with A9. There were two other players. The flop came 9 high with few draws. I lead out for $70 and one player called. The turn paired the low card and I made it $150. The other player folded. One hand, good start. If only every hand could be so simple!

Things kept on going well for me for the first hour or so as I ran my $400 up to $1000 fairly quickly. Here’s a fun hand:

I like to raise with most hands from late position if it’s folded or limped to me. I’m in the CO and raise to $25 with T7s with one limper in before me. The blinds call and the original limper calls so there is about $100 in the pot.

The flop comes A high and it’s checked to me so I fire $60. Only the original limper calls but he doesn’t seem that confident. He makes a comment such as ‘no way you have an A, right?’. I didn’t think he was angle-shooting here, I really believe he meant it. My plan was to fire again on the turn if checked to me.

The turn pairs the A, which I like and don’t like. It makes it more likely that he doesn’t have an A, but also more likely that I don’t have one either. He checks again and as I take my time (as I always do) to ponder my options, he again says something like ‘no way you have an A.’ I only respond by saying $140. The second card on the board is a 9. I put him on either a 9 or a pair like 88 or TT. There is a possible straight on the board too so perhaps he has a straight draw. He takes quite a bit of time but calls. Now if he doesn’t say anything in this hand there’s a really good chance I would have given up the hand by now, but at this point I really think he doesn’t have the A and if I continue to play the game I think I can get him to fold. The river is a blank 2 and he checks again. He seems really frustrated and lost as I start to count out my bet. There’s no way I’m not going to take another shot at this hand. I just do not see him calling one last bet if he doesn’t have an A. I have about $250 left and announce all-in. He doesn’t take long to fold his JJ face-up. I was pretty surprised that he limped with it and also surprised he called the turn bet with it. This was the hand that put me at $1000 in chips.

Nothing much good or bad happened for the next hour or two. I win a bunch of small pots and lose some too. I don’t lose any pots at showdown. Most of the hands go like this:

raise from late position, blinds call. Bet at flop, they either call and I slow down or they fold.

OR

Raiser in front of me who I peg as weak, I call with intention of taking the pot away on the flop or turn when they slow down. If they are willing to fire on flop I will sometimes call if I hit some of flop or if I sense weakness. Often they check, I bet and take down the pot.

So nothing much happens for a while, although this was an interesting hand:

I raise from button with T6o, both blinds call, flop comes K64. It’s checked to me, I check this time – for no reason other than mixing things up a bit. The turn pairs the 6 so now I’m looking good. The BB bets $40 into a $75 pot. I pop it to $150 and the BB calls. The river is a Q. The BB checks. I’m a bit worried that he has a 6 too and really don’t want to get CR here. There was a flush draw on the board and the Q brought the flush so this could also be a problem for me. I decide to check and he shows 67. Unfortunately the Q gives us the same hand. I had him on the turn, but oh, well. What are you going to do. One thing about the hand was that the table saw what I raised with from LP. This was the first time in 2 hours that I had to show my hand from one of these raises. Not sure if this is good or bad, but I need to be aware of it.

I don’t play much for the next orbit or two and then this crucial hand comes up:

I’m in MP+2 with 97. The CO raises and 3 players call. I call too and 2 other people call so there’s $150 in the pot.

Flop comes T 6 4

The MP player bets $40 and one player calls after him. Now I have nothing but a gut shot here, but the bet is just so weak. I decide to call and my plan is to consider taking it away on the turn. One of the blinds calls too, so three of us see the turn and there is now $270 in the pot.

The turn is the J so now I have a flush draw with my gut-shot. The MP player bets only $70 this time – what is going on here. Hmmm. What to do… The guy in the blind has only $120 left and the MP player has $250 left. I have tons of potential outs, plus these guys seem so weak and unsure of their hands. I decide that the best option is to push (I have tons of chips here). The blind folds, but the MP guy calls pretty quickly. He doesn’t really take much time to think about it.

The river bricks so I have nothing. The guy waits for me to show my hand and I do. He stares for quite some time because he cannot believe what just happened. He had K3 so he missed too – he had a similar draw to me. So he wins this huge pot with K high. Unbelievable. His calls was actually pretty interesting. Assuming he didn’t put me on an A high flush draw, he had 12+ outs (his K could have been good, but probably not). Not sure what he thought I had or even spent a second thinking about it. He was probably a 2-1 dog at best and he was getting better than 2-1, but I really think he thought process was simply – ‘there’s a lot of money in the pot, I have to call.’ Well, it worked for him. What can I say?

Nothing much good happened for the next hour. I lost a race with AK, won a few small pots and ended up down about $100.

Well, had a great meeting and the session was fun. I was in the 5 seat and had a great view of the 2nd round of the PGA. I got to watch Tiger’s historic 63. That was fun too.