Fifty50 HH

Here the HH history for the game I mentioned in the reply to Roland.






Interesting to see how the profibality develops for you, Roland. This BIG stack gave me $10 profitt, which indeed is less than the $17 you'll get for a 1. place in a regular 5/9. An average profit of $1.76 gives you break even if you're ITM 75% of the games. Making profit would require a lot more, right?

WBCOOP Update nr 2

I played in NL Holdem blogger preliminary last night. 790 players were registered. Things started great. I doubled up fairly early and put my stack to good use. I didn't play too many hands, but those I did play, I played aggressively. After the first hour I had double the average stack and got moved to a new table. Everyone at the new table had big stacks. Even better two of the biggest stacks were loose passive calling stations.

I went out of my way to get involved with a very wide range of hands any time one of these calling stations had entered the hand. It paid off and I eventually stacked both of them when my suited semi connected hands made flushes. This put me in the top 10 chipleaders.

At the 3 hour break, we were on the bubble with 164 players remaining (itm was 153). I was 2nd largest stack in the tourney with 46K chips. I had a loose aggressive Russian to my right with 25K and a tight aggressive guy with 22K to my left. Both had A ranks on PokerProLabs. I had hit nearly every hand I had played and thought this was going to be my night to go deep. Then reality set in...

About 20 minutes after the 3 hour break, the TAG to my left raised 3x utg and it folded around to me in the bb. I had AK clubs. I put him on a pocket pair 10+ or AK. So, I reraised all in. He called with AKo. Two hearts on the flop, another on the turn and a fourth on the river gave him a K high flush. I lost half my stack but was still solidly in the game. This was the first big showdown that I had lost and was actually happy to "get it out of the way" since I couldn't expect to win every showdown throughout the tourney.

Two orbits later and once again I pick up AK in the bb. The hand folds around to the laggy "A" guy to my right. He still has about 25K and I had about 23K. Both of us were a bit under the average stack size. He shoved on me and it was an obvious steal. AKo was good enough since I needed to double up if I wanted a shot at the final table. I called and he shows Q3. He flopped 33x for a set and all my chips. I actually think he may have gotten a Q on the river for good measure - LOL! I was out nr 74. I won another $11 SCOOP ticket, but my final table dream went up in smoke yet again.

The blogger Main Event is on Sunday.

Roland GTX

Fifty50: Another New SnG at Pokerstars

If you have played at all lately, then you have probably seen the pop-up commercials for Pokerstars’ new sng the Fifty50. It is a standard speed 10 man sng very similar to the Double or Nothing (DoN) games. The only difference being the payout structure. The tourney ends when only five players remain. Half the prize money is split evenly between the remaining 5 players and the other half is distributed based on your chip count.

I played a set of six of these to test them out. I chose the $5.30 buyin level. It is worth noting that the buy in for a standard 9-man sng is $5.50, twenty cents higher. That is a 3,6% improvement to your ROI before you even start the game! These sngs seemed to attract tight players, often tight passive players who just wanted to get itm. This is the opposite of the loose players I found in the Knockout sngs. The games lasted about 45 minutes (70-90 hands) which is quicker than a standard 9-man sng. Furthermore, with 50 dollars in the pot, the top five got $ 5 guaranteed plus 16 cents for every 100 chips in their stack. Obviously, you want to have a big stack at the end of the game, but you will be break even with as little as 200 chips.

I played my usual TAG game. I focused mainly on getting itm, not on having a huge stack at the end. But bubble aggression seemed to work well here. I cashed in 5 out of 6 games and had an average payout of $7.54. This means I had about 1600 chips on average at the end of the tourney. All in all, I averaged 99 cents profit per game for this set. I would be quite happy if I could consistently run with a 19% ROI in these things! 

The average payout is low for these games, but getting itm is much easier than in a standard sng. And, you can actually have a decent payout if you get a big stack. This makes them a bit more attractive than the DoNs. I’ll probably play a few more sets of these and see how they go. Once I get 50 or so games played, I'll give you an update. Leave a comment if you have tried them.

Roland GTX

WBCOOP Update

The WBCOOP has started. I played in the PLO preliminary event Monday evening. It played like a money tourney rather than a freeroll. There were 560 players with the top 200 winning tickets to the blogger main event and the top 153 also winning various SCOOP tickets.

I won a few smallish pots early on which helped my confidence. Unfortunately, I missed every flop later in the game. We were down to about 240 players and I was getting short stacked. I picked up a great starting hand AK spades AJ diamonds on the button. A guy in early position made a small raise and got one caller. I made a pot sized raise which committed 90% of my stack. One player called and the flop was three hearts. I moved all in, he called with the flush and I was out 234th. Not much I could do with this one. PLO is a fun game at any rate.

Last night's blogger tourney was NL holdem with 3000 chip starting stacks and 15 minute blinds. There were 720 in this event. It didn't start until 1:00 AM though! I played very aggressive the first hour because I wanted to either build a stack or go to bed. This strategy worked well. I took down several big pots the first hour with all in reraises that got folds from the villian. I was lucky to be at the same table the entire tourney and had good reads on everyone.

I got called once when I reraised all in on the sb. I had AJs and he had 1010. I flopped a J and rivered an A. I lost a fairly big pot a bit later though. A superdonk who had played nearly half the hands made a standard pf raise. I called in the bb holding A10s. The flop was 8 high unsuited. We both checked the flop. The turn was another 8. He lead out with what looked like a c-bet steal and I made a solid reraise. He flat called. We both checked the river and he turned over KK. I lost about 20% of my stack on this hand.

Things went well, but my stack was always about the average. The 3 hour break started on the bubble with 154 players remaining.  Seeing it was 4 in the morning and I was miles away from the chip leaders, I turned off my computer and went to bed.

I checked my mail this morning. 93rd place for a Main Event ticket and an $11 SCOOP ticket! Tonight is the PLO8 event. It starts at 4 AM! I'm not sure if I'll make that one.

Roland GTX

HH Home Game 23/1

Weekend Update

This has been a great weekend for poker, at least for MrSmith! He took down both our live game on Saturday and our first Pokerstars Home Game on Sunday. Both were well deserved wins - congrats!

Our live game was fun. We were eight players and had a 1 hour rebuy period followed by an add on which everyone took. We ended up with 20 buyins in the prize pot. Here are the results:

1st MrSmith
2nd barbapaps
3rd Roland GTX

There was a lot of action and exciting hands too. Wollmar cracked my aces early after flopping two pair. After a rebuy, I managed to get back in the game. MrEMC, if i remember correctly, lost an all in confrontation after flopping a well concealed straight, but getting rivered by a better, and even more unlikely straight. MrSmith had the pleasure of nailing the first straight flush in our live games. He also won the tourney beating barbapaps heads up with AA on the final hand - nice hands!

We used my new Modiano Cristallo deck. Everyone seemed to like these cards a lot. They are considerably less slippery than the KEMs and are a bit stiffer with a papery texture. The faces are good too with the yellow centers, and the four large pips. They would be the perfect deck if the back design was as nice as KEM and Copag have.

The chili was a popular as ever :) Let me know if you need the recipe.

The Home Game last night was great. Thanks for joining the club and for playing in the tourney. I'll get the next game set up soon. We can save all the specifics for the hand history post coming from MrSmith.

The first WBCOOP tourney is tonight at at 8 PM (Oslo), if you want to railbird. It will be pot limit omaha.

Roland GTX

Getting Quartered in PLO Hi/lo and other stuff

I had a very instructive hand last night while playing a set of 1/2 cent cash table pot limit Omaha hi/lo (PLO). In other words, I lost a monster pot - LOL!

I was dealt a great starting hand with A2 hearts and A4 diamonds. This gives lots of possibilities for scooping the pot (winning the high and low). The first guy raised to 6 cents preflop and got a string of 3 callers before it I got to me in late position. I raised pot sized and everyone called making a big pot.

The flop ran 45 hearts and 10 spades giving me lots of outs for scooping. The first guy lead out with a raise again and everyone called. I reraised half the pot getting two callers and two folds. The turn was a 3 spades giving me the nut low, a straight that might hold up for the high and plenty of outs remaining for a heart flush.

The river was another spade. The first guy made a small raise, the next guy reraised but quite small. I thought I had a lock on the low but thought I was in trouble with the high. However, there was over 4 dollars in the pot already. I made a 3 dollar all in reraise hoping the other two would fold since it put them all in as well.

The first guy folded but the second guy called. He won the high with a spade flush. More importantly, he also had A2 so we split the low pot. I only won a quarter of the pot and lost money on the hand!

Getting "quartered" is pretty common apparently. Furthermore, I should never have reraised on the river. I was very likely beat for the high. Furthermore, it would have been much better for me call hoping the third player would call too since I would be winning a portion at least of anything he put in the pot. I misplayed the river in about every way imaginable. I think I learned my lesson though :)

All in all I had a profitable session though and played more aggressive than the first time I played this game.

Other Stuff
If you are reading this you must have noticed the changes to the look and layout of the blog. Let me know what you think. I am open for suggestions. It is easy now to change things on the fly.

Finally, I'm having a live tourney at my place tomorrow. MrSmith and MrE will be there among others. I'll let you know how it goes. I even ordered some new cards for occasion. Brown Modiano Cristallo from www.pokershop.dk. I ordered them Tuesday afternoon and they arrived from Denmark yesterday. That was fast delivery. It should be a fun evening, but I think table seating may have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. I can't wait :)

Roland GTX

PS: Did you remember to feed the fish?

Learning 7 Card Stud

I moved on to Limit 7 card stud last night. Here, like Omaha, there are two versions. The regular where the best high hand wins and hi/lo where the pot can be split. Also like Omaha, to qualify for the low you need five cards 8 or lower and straights/flushes are ignored.

I joined four 0,04/0,08 cent tables (lowest stakes available) of limit 7 card stud first and played a few hundred hands. People were absolutely horrible - LOL! Since this is limit poker not pot limit, the bets always seem fairly low compared to the pot. It seemed most hands had six active players and typically half of these went to the showdown.

I don't know anything about strategy for this game, but do know enough to only play hands that have nut potential. I played pocket pairs with a decent third card, Axs with decent 3rd card and three suited connector type hands preflop. If my outs didn't improve with each street, I folded to heavy action. But the few times I did make a nut hand, there were usually two or three people giving me their chips all the way to the showdown.

Being patient definitely pays off here. Actually, if there are enough people playing to multitable a bunch of these, AND you don't mind being a tight nit, I think this would make a great place to build a  bankroll. I was profitable on all four tables I played. On the other hand, I only played about 300 hands, so it might have just been dumb luck :)

I also tried limit stud hi/lo. I only got in about 100 hands, but people seemed even more likely to be calling stations than in the regular stud game. I played starting hands that could scoop the pot winning both the high and low. I lost a huge multiway pot on one table though. I had a A high low flush (A2356 which I thought was the nut low) and was drawing for a straight flush vs 3 other players with lots of raising on every street. I missed my draw and lost both ends. One guy had the real nut low A2345 and another guy had quads for the high! I lost a whole dollar on that hand - lol! Luckily, I won enough on the other tables to be up about 30 cents for this set.

Playing these stud games was fine when the tables were full. However, several times tables became short with only 3 or 4 players. I don't know enough about the game to play short handed or heads up and found myself either folding too many hands or getting too involved with second best hands.

Next up on the agenda are the final two games that form the 8-Game Mix: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw and Razz. Once I've tried them, I can try the actual 8-game mix itself.

Roland GTX

Learning Omaha

Hi guys

I have already reached Silverstar for February and can't seem to win a hand with AA, KK or QQ lately in the sngs. So, I am using this week to learn some new games as I said in my last post. I started last night by joining four 0,01/0,02 cent Pot Limit Omaha tables. This is really a game of the nuts! It is looks like holdem except you are dealt four hole cards. Your final hand needs to be two from your hand and three from the board. Best poker hand wins.

I only played about 400 hands, but ended up profitable (2.14 bucks lol). I got stacked early on one table when my nut flush lost to a full house on the river. But I tripled up on another table when I made the nut full house on the turn and had two active opponents. One had a nut flush and the other had a weaker full house.

My basic strategy was to play hands where all four cards were 10 or higher, but especially when two of them were a pocket pair or Axs. Post flop I would continue if drawing to a nut flush or nut full house, but would fold for example QJs with a flush draw if facing heavy action since Q high flush is not the nuts. I also laid down a few nut flushes when the board paired and a house seemed likely (I learned my lesson the first time...)

Unlike holdem, this is really a post flop game as no starting hand is that far ahead of any other. All in all this was a fun experience and I will probably play more of Omaha in the future. After this short but profitable session, my confidence was high. So, I moved on to the next game. Pot Limit Omaha HI/Lo.

Pot Limit Omaha HI/Lo works just like above except that the pot can be split between the best high hand and the best low hand. You need five cards lower than 8 to qualify for the lo, but straights and flushes are ignored. Thus A2345 of any suit is the nut low.

There are a lot more possibilities here to win half the pot. However, being a complete newb, I wanted to keep it simple. My starting hands had to contain Axs lower than 8, preferably Axs and Axs. This way I had the potential of winning both the high pot with a nut flush and the low pot with Ax both counting as low cards too. "Scooping the pot" gives the most profit. Moreover, if you flop a drawing hand, you have better odds of winning at least one of the halves of the pot.

Here again I joined four micro stakes tables and played about 400 hands. I was up a bit on three of the tables, but struggled on the fourth. People were very aggressive there and I lost most of my stack on one hand pretty early (I went to the showdown with a hand that looked good but wasn't the nuts). I recouped a fair amount on that table, and was slightly profitable or break even on the others. I ended up down 27 cents in total.

It is really easy to play like a loose passive donk in Omaha since every hand appears to have some potential, but you better have some serious post flop skills if you want to play that way. I tried to play extremely tight, but still found myself playing too many hands. Worse, I found myself chasing draws for hands that weren't even the nuts.

Raise sizes also seem quite different from NLHE. Again, since I'm a complete idiot, I opted for a simple solution. I either was passive and simply called, or aggressive and always raised 100% of the pot. I never made any other raise size. And, I never tried to bluff a single hand.

This is a whole new world of poker and plenty to learn. I'm just happy I got through my first learning experience without spewing cash:)

If I play tonight I'll start working on the elements of the 8-Game Mix. I want to get a taste of all the games before focusing a bit more on any one in particular.

Good Luck at the tables!

Roland GTX

Preparing for the WBCOOP

As you have probably noticed, I registered Roland’s Room for the World Blogger Championship of online poker (WBCOOP) at Pokerstars. This will give me tickets to 6 preliminary tournaments. The prizes in all of these are tickets to the blogger main event and various spring championship of online poker (SCOOP) tickets. I’ll need to itm in one of the SCOOP tourneys before seeing any cash.

I’ve checked with Pokerstars support, unfortunately all the preliminary tickets will be issued in my name and can’t be spread among us. However, I can promise to share the wealth (and glory) if I manage to get deep in one of the SCOOPs.

Take a look at the preliminary events for the WBCOOP:

• Pot Limit Omaha
• No Limit Hold’em
• Pot Limit Omaha HI/Lo
• No Limit Hold’em
• 8-game Mix
• No limit Hold’em

I’m comfortable with hold’em, but haven’t played any Omaha or 8-game Mix. I have spent a few hours reading up on Omaha and Omaha hi/lo strategies. My natural tight style seems to be ok with these games. Starting hand selection and knowing how to fold the second best hand seems to be the key. I’m going to play some micro stakes tourneys and cash tables this week to get better acquainted with the games. The little I’ve played has been fun though!

8-Game Mix is something very different. Here you play at a 6 max table and the game changes every blind level rotating between eight different games:

• Limit 2-7 Triple Draw
• Limit Hold’em
• Limit Omaha hi/lo
• Razz
• Limit 7 card stud
• Limit stud hi/lo
• No limit holdem
• Pot limit Omaha

This ought to be interesting! My strategy will probably be either autofold all hands for the rounds I’m uncomfortable with or play hyper aggressive early and hope that I get extremely lucky. Actually, I’ll probably read up on these games as well and make an honest effort.

Anyone want to join me while I try to learn something other than holdem...?

Roland GTX

January Private Game

I haven’t too much to report but did want to wish everyone good luck in 2011. Also, it might be interesting to hear what your poker plans and goals for the new year are. For myself, I am done with the knockouts. They are easy to itm in, but I just didn’t win enough bounties to make them profitable. I have moved on to regular stts instead.

I plan on sticking with the $10 single tables until I am rolled for trying the $20s. As far as bankroll management goes, here are my own guidelines. When I have 100 buyins for a given level, I allow myself to take a shot at the next level. If I drop back below the 100 buyins then I move back down. With 100 buyin minimum my risk of ruin if very low.

For example, 100 buyins at the $5.50 level is 550 dollars. If I have more than that then I can play at the $10 level. If however, I drop to less than 550 dollars then I move back down to the $5.50 sngs. If I keep winning, then once I get 1100 dollars in my account, I can start attempting the $22 sngs.

I have also been playing some micro stakes turbo mtts. Typically, I have been playing sets of six games: four $10 sngs and two 2/180s or 3/45s. Thus far, I’m making money on the sngs and losing money on the mtts.

By the way, running the Pokerprolabs HUD helps ALOT... :)

Finally, we need to get organized for our first private game of the year. I suggest Sunday, January 23rd at 9:00 PM. I’ll set this up tonight on Pokerstars unless I hear from you.

Roland GTX