As you can see, only 4 players made it. Let me know if this was random bad luck or if a different time would be better for you.Benkogambit had position on me last night. I was in the small blind when he was the big blind. Normally, I like this against him, and open my preflop stealing range a bit. Yesterday, however, he seemed to have changed his game a bit. He loosened up his game somewhat defending his blind by calling a ton of my preflop raises. I found it hard to put him on a range of hands in these situations.
I've played so many turbos lately that I have become more of a preflop push/fold type of guy. Yet, benko forced me to play post flop with many A-rag type of hands that I'm not too comfortable with. If I'm in the bb and the sb raises, then I am more apt to fold my marginal hands or reraise big with my premium hands. The only hands I might flat call with QQ+. Obviously at a short table, you need to open up your game by playing awider range of hands. Yet, I have found it difficult to dissern the meaning of flat calling. Is this passive play with mediocre hands that should be abused through even more aggression? Or is it ultra-aggressive play with a monster simply letting me spew my chips?
Don't tell klokkhammer that you have also taken to the "wait and see" approach!
I still have plenty to learn regarding my own big blind play (calling range), as well as, my post flop game. Once again good game MrEMC2, benkogambit and MrSmith!
On a side note, I played in a Pokerlistings freeroll for having accrued 300 fpps last month. Anyway, there were 1000 players and the top 106 won a non-refundable ticket to any WCOOP $215 tourney! I was chip leader for a while, but ended up 22nd. I'm going to play in Event 26 next Sunday. It is a standard 20minute blind tourney with 5000 starting chips and probably around 10 000 players, more or less like the Sunday Million.
They ran one of these tourneys yesterday, Event 9. It started at 7 PM with 11 000 players and over 2 million bucks in the pot. The lowest ITM payout is 311 bucks and 1st is over 300K! I'd be happy with the 311 though - lol. Anyway, I just checked (10:00 am) and the tourney is still running with 19 players remaining. Hopefully I'm going to pull an all nighter next Sunday...
Roland
Nice post Roland! I was waiting for it. I am going to post the whole tourney for you on the replayer, just to "give away" tips on my playing style, hehe! I checked the replayer today, and there is a problem with posting too many hands. I checked with 1 hand, then 10, and it works fine. The 168 hands last night seems too much for the engine, so I will try 50, then 100 and find out where it breaks down. Then possibly post 2-3 replays with early blinds, middle blinds and/or late stages.
ReplyDeleteGreat!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Mr Smith - well done!
ReplyDeleteSorry that I did not make it yesterday. My youngest had a birthday with family visiting. It was impossible. I'll be happy to play monthly games on the first Sunday in month.
I am not sure I am too happy with comptetition on the "wait and see" approach benko - lol. Read somewhere (once?) that it pays off to use an alternative approach to the mainstream approach at the table. Too many "loose" player will give an advantage to the "tight aggressive" players. Or, am I totally wrong?
Did our birthday gift arrive in time Klokkhammer? I didn't get it sent until Thursday (sorry).
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that if every one is playing "loose", then it pays to play slightly tighter than them. This ensures that you are usually getting involved with hands that beat a part of their range. Conversely, if everyone is a tight passive rock, then playing looser and more agro will steal more blinds. I think the clue is being able to change your style dynamically while playing. Thus being less predictable and more adaptable. Although, preaching is one thing, practicing is another :)
Roland
PS: The WCOOP tourney is still going. 16 hours and 30 minutes into the game and they are now on the final table bubble.
9th place cashes for 13 913 dollars!
Good posts, all. Sorry you missed the game Klokkhammer but family comes before poker (usually!). Agree with your and Roland's comments about playing contrary to the prevailing style at the table. Being observant and comfortable shifting gears is one of many things that separates the great ones from the rest of the pack.
ReplyDeleteRoland, as you noticed, one of the adjustments I've made after playing a bunch of heads up and 6-max matches is defending my BB against a SB raise a lot more. Basically it's a matter of position. If the SB raises to 60 and it's 40 for me to call, I'm getting 2:1 on my money and I have position after the flop. In which case, I now think Klokk's instincts are right -- with relatively deep stacks and a fairly aggressive SB (like Roland), the BB should call with just about any hand that isn't complete junk. (No need to raise very often -- usually my hand isn't worth a raise and I want position to work for me after the flop. Against a SB who raises infrequently, of course, it's probably prudent to fold.)