Happy Thanksgiving!

Due to work, I'll be away from the blog and the tables the next two days, but want to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. I always think about friends and family on this holiday, especially those that I don't often see. So, Seabreeze, Klokkhammer, Benko and MrSmith I wish you and your families a great holiday!

We will be celebrating with turkey on Friday, but no football on TV here.

Roland

My biggest payout (so far)!

Thanks to the swineflu, I have been able to play 4 tournaments the last two evenings. First day I played an 180 and 45 tournament. Busting out in the middle of the 45 (where I had a good position), but managed to recover well in the 180. Ended 7th with a 12 USD payout. I have to admit that I played to get itm to avoid the "tilt" description on sharkscope (Sharkscope have blocked most of the personal info by the way).

Yesterday I followed up with two 3 dollar tourney's. One 45 and one 90 turbo. Again I started well in the 45, but lost focus playing two games and was thrown out in the middle game against a river that ended in two pairs vs my highest pair. In the 90 i struggled, but managed to recover (play better when I focus on one game only) - my multi-table capacity is far below yours Roland - lol.

However, this time it ended well. I had less than average stack all the way, but played with one goal to sneak itm. With a triple all-inn 77, 1010 vs my QQ I suddenly were healthy enough to be itm-group with 30 players left. Then again I was below average until we were itm. Just struggling to survive I realised that I would manage to be 5-6th and secure a decent payout in my perspective, so I loosened up and started to steal blinds more aggresively. Tried to call or raise some pots pre-flop, but that was a waste of chips. So, it was either all-in or nothing. Luckily I managed to be in the best position pre-flop in all the all-in's and even win them - does not happen often!

So, being heads-up and turning the situation from 50k vs 70k, to 100k vs 20k by betting on every high card, I tried an all in with 10-6 vs Q-J. I felt I had to use my free chance on almost any range of cards as soon as he invited to go all-in, and it worked. The only hand I was behind during the game came to my rescue. Voila - I had won my first major tourney! Suddenly my statistics are pretty again.

I wished to let you see the game yourself, and not settle with this self-promoting version, but I did not get the hand-replayer to function. It only seems to work with a few hands. Does somebody have the recipe? You all seem to manage.

PS! I have started to call with more of my pairs, in order to try to get sets on the flop (after being the donk in the two last home games due to benkogambit doing this to me). Yesterday my 44 ended being a very strong hand with 443 on the flop. A poor russian player actually had 33 and thought he had me. I felt just as sorry for him, as you did with me in the last games benko...

Hands 1 to 100

Hands 101 to 150

Hands 151 to 175


Hands 176 to 190


Final hands


PS: There was a problem with hand 193 which was causing the problems with the replayer. I had to break the hand history into smaller groups just to pinpoint the problem. However, I still don't know what was wrong with that hand. I rewrote it manually just to get it up:)

GG

Home Game

Obviously I didn't do so well last night or I would have posted earlier, lol! Typical loose, passive game good for value betting but unfortunately I never had much value to bet either pre-or post-flop. That's poker sometimes! Finished fourth out of six. The chips and cards got rave reviews though. (I asked two of our guests who stayed behind which cards they liked best -- one chose the Modianos, the other the KEMs. COPAGs must be some sort of Scandinavian thing!)

A couple of staged photos per MrSmith's request....

Challenge Results: 100 games

I played the 32 remaining games last night. 100 games in two days - LOL! Things went better than the first day but I didn't manage to recover my losses completely.

Challenge Results

Games Played: 100 18 man $1,75 Turbo

ITM: 30% (30/100)

ROI: -6 % (-$10,30)

Finish

1st 4

2nd 6

3rd 7

4th 13

5th 12

6th-9th 27

10th-16th 31

17th-18th 0

Low Orbit Leader Board

Points: 289

Current rank: 1026th

High Orbit Leader Board

Points: 938

Current rank: 126th (not a typo)

FPPs: 125 (which I intend on converting to a Sunday 1/4 ticket worth $11 bucks. Thus putting me 70 cents up for the challenge LOL)

I lost this challenge but I did learn a few things. Firstly, notice that the rake is 17% rather than the normal 10 %. I paid an extra 10 cents per game, or $10 total because of this. I ended my 100 games being down $10.30. In other words, the higher rake accounts for a 6% swing in my ROI. I was aware of this before I started this challenge, but it is a good example of something to keep an eye on.

Secondly, variance was as brutal as ever here. However, noticeably fewer confrontations are necessary to get itm, and Ms are still decent late in the game. So, it is much less of a shove fest at the 18 mans than the 45 mans.

Thirdly, play was less donk than expected. There were a surprizing number of multitablers that were quite solid as well as some silver and gold VIPs. Play was passive which allowed for a lot of stealing pre and post flop.

Running 9 games tiled on my stationary PC was comfortable. I doubt I would multitable so many at a higher buy in level though.

I'll most likely play another 100 of these in an attempt to get my ROI on the plus side and win the challenge. I seem pretty easy to beat. Any takers this time around...?

Roland

Update: Day 1

I was home with a sick kid yesterday. We aren't sure if it is a cold or swine flu, but things seem fine. Being home allowed me to get in a few sets at least. Up to now I have played 68 games. All have been 18 man $1.50 buy in + .25 fee.

Playing 10 - 15 tables is surprizingly easy, but it doesn't allow for much if any player reads until the bubble. These tourneys fill up in about 15 seconds and I start all the games at the same time. This way the blinds are pretty much the same on all tables allowing me to more easily keep track of Ms. I've played ABC poker. When a table pops up, I first look at my position which sets my possible hand range. Then I look at the action before me this adjusts the range one way or the other. Then I look at the stack sizes, especially my own thus further adjusting my range. And finally I look at how my cards stack up to my range. This usually only takes a second and you are on to the next table.

There is a lot of passive play. So I always raise my premium starting hands to get value. More importantly, there is a lot of passive post flop play. If the flop gets checked a small bet on the turn will often win the hand and firing a second barrel small bet works too. I always assume that limpers have weak hands. I also assume that mini raises on the flop followed by a check on the turn are also failed weak steals. In other words passive play is typically a sign of weakness and can be abused.

The only problem I have had is getting the board to cooperate. My desperation shoves short stacked on the bubble have rarely caught a card and my premium hand shoves have rarely held up as you can see from my previous post.

Right now my results are dismal due to way to many 4th and 5th place finishes. Let's hope the remaining games go better. Here are my results thus far:

ITM 29%

ROI -18%

finishes

1st 2

2nd 3

3rd 4

4th 11

5th 10

6th-9th 19

10th-16th 19

Here was one interesting end game. The replay starts at hand 68 at the final table. Notice my stack size after the first hand:

Chip and a Chair

Update: Final hand Medoly

I've combined the final hands from my last 20 games today into one replay. Nearly all these hands are at the final table. So if there are four or less then I'm itm. I hope you enjoy this more than I did...

I still have plenty of games to go. Hopefully I'll be able to turn things around. I'm having fun at least.

Challenge Update: Test Run

Just to test the waters, I multitabled 10 games last night on my tiny laptop. I cascaded the tables and it was easy to manage. I can tile 9 tables comfortably on my stationary, but 15 starts getting too small. I can't read the stack sizes quickly enough. So, it looks like cascading is the way I'll go.

I did 20 games within about two hours. The play was easy, but the cards didn't fall my way. I was ITM 25% with 1 1st, 1 2nd, 2 3rd and 1 4th. I also had 3 bubble boys where I lost two with AKs to Ax hands and one with KK again. I aslo busted early in a few games: a three way ai with AA in one, as well as QQ, JJ and two other AK. My good hands didn't hold up, but I did win one with A10 when I got all in vs AK - LOL!

All in all after these 20 games my ROI is -12% and I'm down a whopping $ 4,35. Not much of a start. Let's hope the next set goes better...

Roland

Challenge: One hundred - One dollar sngs - One week

I want to try something a bit different at Pokerstars. I need to take a break from the 3/45 turbos, and I was inspired after reading about Boku87 (thanks MrSmith).

Boku87 was a SuperNova Elite and has done two personal challenges. In the first, he turned $100 into $10 000 in under two weeks. Now, he is trying to turn $5 into $100 000 in 12 months. He seems to be an ABC-poker type of player, but he also manages to play 500 sngs daily! Check out his blog, the Pokerstars blog, or YouTube if you want more details on what it means to multitable 50 games an hour all day long...

So, who wants to attempt a 500 game day with me? LOL, now that would be something! Seriously though, I’ve been looking at the Battle of the Planets leader board, my bankroll and the available sngs at Pokerstars and suggest the following challenge.

Challenge: One hundred - One dollar sngs - One week

Here are the details and rules

Time frame: complete 100 games within a 1 week period. The leader board runs from Sunday to Sunday each week. I might start tonight, or I might wait until Sunday.

Buyin: Only $1 buyins are allowed. This corresponds to the lowest division Mercury with its $1-$2.99 buyin

Size: Only tourneys with 6 players to 27 players give points

Your best block of 20 games counts toward the low orbit leader board. There is a 5 block maximum. Plus, your 100 games will also count as one block in high orbit leader board. Therefore, 100 games in the challenge.

Results from each day will be posted.

Can I complete 100 games in a week? Can I manage a positive ROI? Can I make the leader board?

I think this will be a fun challenge and a nice diversion from the 45s. I plan on playing a mix of 9 man $1.10 sngs and 18 man $1.75 turbo sngs. To reach 100 games, I plan on multitabling around 15 games per session. So, with one crazy hour of play each day, I’ll be on track for reaching my mark.

My goal is obviously to be profitable. Moreover, I want to see how my hand range and line holds up under the stress of so many tables. Being forced to run on autopilot for a hundred games should give me an indication.

If anyone else dare join the challenge then we can run prop bets and see who is best!

Any takers?

Roland

Christmas in November

The chips arrived today, four days after I ordered them. Can't beat that! Thanks for the help sorting out the numbers, Roland. Too bad you guys can't just jump on a plane for the inaugural game!

Close but no Cigar: again and again and again...

Since I didn't manage to get a live game going over the weekend, I focused my attention on MTTs at Pstars. I crawled itm in the Daily 30 K on Friday for a min-cash.

I also won a Sunday Million hyper-turbo fpp satelite. These are essentially Steps tourneys based on FPPs with 5 levels. There is one slight difference though. The blinds increase every 3 minutes, antes from first round and you only start with 300 chips! Crazy shove fest all the way requiring huge amounts of luck, but a lot of fun! I made it to level 3 before losing.

Yesterday, I also played a 300 man 100 FPP Sunday Million tourney. The winner of the touney wins a $215 ticket to the Sunday Million. Second place gets nothing. MrSmith and I were playing the same type of touney at the same time. Things became quite hectic as we were playing the final tables next to eachother and making outrageous moves in an attempt to win! Asking eachother for adice and fist pumping everytime we stacked someone. But, how do you put someone on a hand range in a tourney like this LOL! MrSmith busted out nr 3 of 300 (so damn close!). I got heads up in mine with a nice chiplead vs a passive weak player and was eyeing my 215 cash. The blinds were insane and this guy kept folding his sb! I got all in against him 3 times, each with the better hand and managed suckout river losses on all of them. The final hand we were all in preflop. I had pocket 10s vs his 98o. He picked up an 8 on the flop and another 8 on the river for trips and the win! MrSmith can attest that I wasn't too happy about that, as you can imagine...

MrSmith and Klokkhammer also caught some of the action in the Sunday 250K. There were 32 thousand players yesterday. Standard TAG game all the way for me from start to finish. I had a very nice chiplead early, but lost half my stack in an all in sb vs bb confrontation in which my AKs bricked. . After that I was short stacked for the next three hours. I caught some hands and some luck, and managed to double up near the bubble with 3500 players remaining. I kept my stack alive with an M of 5 for several hours. My all in raises won the blinds but my good hands never got called allowing me to double up and get back in the game. With only 900 players remaining (1:30 in the morning) I was blinding out and forced to shove utg without even looking at my cards. No love for me on that hand, and I was sent to the rail with a $70 buck cash. Once again I was almost deep...

The golden ring is quite elusive!

Roland

U like?

Playing Card Reviews

Well, Roland, since you asked (sort of!), herewith some, i.e., a great many images of my newly acquired decks of playing cards: KEM Arrow (black/gold) (US), COPAG 1546 (black/gold) (Brazil) and Modiano Black Jack (green/brown) (Italy). Together with some highly subjective comments. All are poker size (2 1/2" x 3 1/2", although the KEMs are actually a tad longer than the others) with jumbo index. Comparably priced at two decks for $18.50 for the KEMs and $15.00 for the COPAGs and Modianos. In all of the scans, the KEMs are on the left, COPAGs in the middle and Modianos on the right.

Packaging

All the decks come in plastic two-deck boxes with a divider down the middle but the Modiano box has no lid and the lid on the COPAGs fits too tightly so score one for the KEMs.

Backs

All the decks have a white border around the edge of the backs. I like the COPAG design best followed by the Modiano but all are acceptable. Among individual decks, I would probably rate the COPAG gold first followed by the Modiano green. The Modiano brown is an orangy brown.

Corners

The Modianos have the most rounded corners; the KEMs, the sharpest corners.

Facecards

The KEMs seem to me to be the most traditional and most attractive.

Whiteness

The white portions of the Modianos are the brightest. The KEMs have a slightly greyish tint and the COPAGs a slightly cream-colored tint.

Color

The Modianos have the deepest red, almost a maroon, and the COPAGs the lightest red. In general, the color on the COPAGs seems very washed out and unappealing compared to the other two.

Interior Background

I was a bit disappointed to discover that only the Modianos have the yellow background on the non-facecards, which I like quite a bit. (The photos online had led me to believe that the COPAGs also had this feature but apparently not.) In addition, the line comprising the interior border on the COPAGs is blue rather than black or red, which I think was a poor design choice.

Pips

The numbers and letters on the Modianos are the most rounded, the ones on the KEMs the most elongated and the ones on the COPAGs the most blocky. The heart and spade symbols are the most rounded on the Modianos. I personally prefer the Modianos in this respect.

Feel

All the cards are plastic but the COPAGs have the most papery look and feel and the KEMs the most plasticky. Both I and my 13-year-old independent consultant picked out the Modianos as having the nicest feel. The COPAG deck is noticeably thinner than the other two. The KEMs are less slippery. All three shuffle nicely with the main difference being that the KEMs offer a bit more resistance when marrying the two halves of the deck together.

Smell

Right out of the box, the KEMs have the most chemical scent, the Modianos the most neutral, but I imagine this will fade over time.

Taste

The KEMs have a pleasant crunchy texture but also leave a bit of a chemical aftertaste. The Modianos go down well with a nice dry red. The COPAGs were chewiest.

Jokers

The Modianos win hands down, the other jokers are terrible. What were they thinking?

Conclusion

Hard to tell how the cards will wear but you can probably guess that based on first impressions, the Modianos are far and away my favorites with the KEMs a distant second. Another triumph for Italian design! Will have to try to get my hands on some Dal Negros next....

QQ in the 3+R/180 turbo

Played my A-game, no re-buys, 1 double-up with a premium hand + the add-on for a total of $6,30 and 5,5K chips at the break. No rush when it restarted (you can always pick off a couple of jerks after the break as they are still in "re-buy" mode). Anyway, 11K chips and just been reseated to a new table with approx. 90 players left.



I'm sure I lost since it was a new table and I had no notes/reads on the other players. Anyway, sometimes I really hate QQ, lol.

QQ in Daily 30 K

Before you look at the replay, think about how you would have played this one.

Early in daily 30K. Blinds are 25/50. I have 3800 chips and playing my standard TAG game. The big blind is an agro LAG maniac. He has limped about 50% of the hands, often calls large bets preflop, on the flop and on the turn. And several times has followed up by shoving on the river. The few times he has been called he has shown down air, middle pair, small pocket pairs and KK. His stack has bounced around from 900 chips to 10K! He is definately superagro, but he seems pretty good at reading people post flop.

I Picked up QQ and made a solid preflop bet expecting him to flat call from the bb as he usually does. He cooperates and calls as well as the utg limper. The flop is 1088. The hand checks to me and I assume I'm good. I make a pot sized raise hoping to isolate the lag bb. The bb flats again and the utg folds - perfect! The turn is a blank and the bb checks to me. I'm feeling pretty good about my hand now, but don't want him to suck out an A or what ever on the river. I make a 75% pot bet and he flat calls again...hmm. I expected him to fold.

The river is a K and he checks again... hmm where was the expected shove? What should I do now? AK would be consistant with his line of play. A10 also seems possible or pocket pairs lower than mine. He seemed to shove when he had a weak hand knowing he would lose a showdown. Since he checked the river I had to rethink what his check -calling could mean. He might be slowplaying (hyperagro style) with pocket 10s, 89s or A8. I decided to play it safe and simply check the river.

My gut feeling was correct. I avoided busting out early, but never managed to get back in the game. Bad luck or did I miss something here?

Roland

Paulson Chips (continued)

Roland, quick question for whenever you have time.... How many chips did you order for your custom set and what breakdown between denominations did you decide on?

Since the acrylic chip carrier will hold 600 chips, I figured I might as well go ahead and order 600 chips (instead of 550). For a 600 chip, four denomination set, I've seen several different recommendations on ChipTalk and elsewhere including:

200/200/100/100
200/200/120/80
240/180/120/60
240/240/60/60
160/300/80/60

A few people have commented that the second lowest denomination chip is the most useful, which sounds plausible, so I'm currently leaning towards a 160/240/120/80 split. With 8 players, I could still run a T5000 tourney with starting stacks of 20x25, 15x100, 4x500 and 1x1000 as you suggested or, with 10 players, 16x25, 16x100, 4x500 and 1x1000. Or even run a deep stack T10000 tourney with few enough players.

BTW, I will probably use the following blind structure which smooths out some of the percentage increases in the blinds from one level to the next:

25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
color up
200/400
300/600
400/800
600/1200
800/1600
color up
1000/2000
1500/3000
2000/4000
3000/6000
4000/8000

Roland's Room Replay, November 8, 2009

More on Benko's Setup

Hey Benko

Once again Im making a new post to accomodate all the hyperlinks :)

Here is a chiptalk table topper. You can find other versions at the online poker shops as well.

I've been looking for the perfect card setup for a long time. I like the backside design on some, especially the black and gold KEM cards. But I don't care for the faces of the KEMs. On the other hand I love the faces that have yellow, especially Fornier. And, I like the COPAG number design and colors on the faces. They seem easiest to read. But, I still haven't found one set that uses all the elements I like. The closest I have come are the Copag Summer Edition that I'm currently using.

All the plastic cards are good and last for a long time, but they all have there own feel too. Choosing a deck is like choosing a chipset - lots of choices! KEM are considered the industry standard in the US at least, but COPAG is gaining fast.

Check out HPT and CaraGails as pick something you like. Pretty soon you will be like me and have a dozen different decks, 4 chipsets and a whole bunch of stuff taking up space and never getting used... LOL

See you tomorrow.

Roland

Comment on Benko's chipset

Playing HU with 1 demon sounds good benko, but it isn't always practical. Unless you intend on jumping to a new blinds level when the game gets down to two players, you won't necessarily be at a blinds level that allows for $1000 chips. I set up a blinds schedule based on what you posted (see first pic). Furthermore, I compared your blinds to mine in terms of M and the starting stack. Check out the blinds section over at HPT if you want more info on the subject (see links section of blog).

You could go from your 1000/2000 level directly to 2000/4000. However,assume you have 6 players and two rebuys. Thus, 8 buyins making 40K chips. If you color up at 1000/2000 there will be 40 chips in play divided between the two remaining players. If they are evenly split each player will have an M of 20K / 3K = 6.6 M which allows for some play, but clearly nearing the end of the game. If you then jump to 2K /4K then the Ms become critical and the HU will turn into a shove fest. By going to 1500 /3000 (keeping the $500s in play) you allow more time for strategic HU play.

Both ways work. It is just a matter of what you as tourney director and your players prefer. Obviously the shorter the game, the more luck becomes a factor. The longer the game, the more skill becomes a factor.

Roland

Private game on Sunday

Our next private game is now available from the tournament lobby at Pokerstars. Check out the left hand corner of the blogg for the password.

Roland

Thoughts on HU anyone?

Another 1st in the 3/45, "kicker" had an ultrabig stack before final table (approx 23K, while I had approx 8K as nr. 2 or 3). Anyway, we finally get heads-up and he seemed very tight (I did my usual AI with Arag, etc., but he didn't bite). Still, he managed some nice steals and I wasn't sure about his style (no notes prior to FT as he was at other tables all along).

Le Paulson Noir Chips

As I think I mentioned a few months ago, I'm considering buying some Le Paulson Noir chips for use in a home game (maximum ten players, either one or no rebuy). My current plan is to go with four denominations ($25/$100/$500/$1000) split 200/200/60/40 for a set of 500 chips total. Blind schedule of 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, etc. and five thousand chips to start (16 $25, 16 $100, 4 $500, and 1 $1000). Does that sound about right to you, Roland (or others)? Thanks!

EDIT: Here is a link to the post with Benko's pictures of the Le Paulson Noir chips. There are also several other posts looking at chips needed, etc. If you don't find what you need feel free to post a question. - Roland GTX