Giving Up

No, I’m not giving up poker. Quite the opposite. What I am learning to give up however, are two things during the game of poker, made hands, and bluffs.

I wrote the above 2 months ago as an opener for an article I had in mind, then forgot all about it. Not too long ago though, there was this hand I was involved in that reminded me of why I wanted to write about this again.

This happened in a live game at the Poker Empire. I was holding ATs in late position on the cut-off. Mid position raised to 4x BB, and I decided to be a bit more aggressive and 3-bet him to 12xBB. All limpers folded and we see a flop of AQ8. This was a dream flop for me as Q8 were of the same suit as my hole cards, so I had a pair of aces and a flush draw. Original raiser checks to me, and I bet slightly less than 2/3rds the pot, and he calls. Turn comes a K which makes my nut flush. He checks again, and I again bet 2/3rds of the pot which he calls. At this point, I read him for a pair of Qs on the flop, making two pair on the turn with a KQ holding, or he could have been holding an ace like AJ or smaller. The river then comes another K and he suddenly makes a bet of 2/5th the pot. This was in-line with my read of KQ, but I found it hard to lay down my hand. I had incredible value to call, and my hand beats almost another other possible hand he could have been holding except AK, which was extremely unlikely. I made the call, and he flips over KQ to take down the pot.

This could have been labeled as a cooler, and I would usually just write it off as something that could not be avoided. Not now though. Playing based on reads is a very important skill in poker. Without hand reading, you would only be playing your own hands. And since you would only be making a hand about 30% of the time, and making a better hand than your opponent even less, you would actually be losing more money than you’d be making if you only played your own hands.

In this particular scenario, I could have saved myself some money by folding my flush to a more than probable full house. Losing as little as you can when you’re behind, while winning the most that you can while you’re in front is the key to profitable poker.

Another thing I am working on giving up is bluffs. There are times when double or triple barrel bluffs are profitable, and those times are rare. Have you ever been in a situation where you keep firing, but your opponent just won’t fold? These are times you should look back to see if your bluffs made sense. When ever you try to make a bluff, your opponent should feel that he cannot beat your hand and fold. If you can’t make your opponent believe that, your bluffs are bound to be non-profitable. Pick your spots to bluff, and don’t just push money in the pot and hope that your opponent will fold.

Till next time, may you always give up when you should!

Avoid Building Pots…

With small holdings. I was tilting again 3 days ago (and I thought I’d kicked the habit) and this friend told me, “stop building big pots with your small hands”, or something to that effect, and that phrase registered with me like it hadn’t before.

We need to first define what is meant by a small hand/holding. Based on personal experience, this would mean a pair or smaller. This includes over-pairs, though they are obviously stronger. When a pot gets to a certain size in relation to the effective size of the stacks in play, the hands you showdown with should improve relatively. Effective stack is a term usually used to refer to the smallest, most relevant, stack of a player remaining in the hand. For example, if UTG raises with a stack of 2k behind, and action folds to button with a 1k stack, who calls and everyone else folds, the effective stack involved would be 1k.

This was a hand I played a week ago in a live cash game. The game has been going on for about 2 hours and I have been raising aggressively on the button, showing down some mediocre hands. The button came around to me again, and I got AsKs, with a live straddle in effect. There were a couple of limpers before action was on me, and I made a raise to 6xBB. The blinds folded, UTG (straddle) calls, and the first limper folds while the second limper calls. UTG is a hyper-maniac who plays and raises any two cards from any position, second limper is a solid TAG who generally plays online more than live games (coincidentally the same friend who told me told me to avoid building big pots with small hands).

My stack size was roughly 200BB, while UTG had 250BB and TAG had 170BB. The flop comes Ad9d7c, and action was checked to me. I made my standard continuation bet of 3/4ths the pot, and UTG folds while TAG calls. An 8s comes on the turn, and TAG bets 1/2 the pot, about 30BB. At this point, the remaining effective stacks were about 110BB, should I choose to call that 30BB bet. With his general style of play, he would not have bet into me with a mere pair, but would probably have check-called. Thus the only likely hands he would have been holding considering the flop call would be A8, 98 or JT. All three hands have me beat badly; my AK hand would technically only be able to beat a bluff. I shoved all-in and he calls. He shows 98 to take down the pot.

While my hand had decent showdown equity, I believe calling the turn bet would be a bad play. With a hyper-aggressive player like UTG, AK would generally have been good enough to play for a large pot, but when you’re up against a solid TAG, and he’s betting into you after your initial aggression, chances are good that you’re behind. While raising all-in maximizes fold equity there, the effective stacks weren’t deep enough to force a fold from a hand as strong as two pair. In fact, considering my aggressive image on the button, effective stacks would have to be massive to force a fold from two pair. Thus, raising all-in was also a bad play. The only available move should be to fold.

With this in mind, folding over pairs like Aces or Kings becomes easier (but not by much, at least for me!). I used to like to think that when I get Aces or Kings, I just want to get all my money in regardless of the flop turn or river, because I should statistically win 70-80% of the time. These hands are only superior preflop, and if all the money goes in preflop, you should win or lose with no regrets. After the flop however, the hands have to be re-evaluated for equity, taking into consideration your position, your opponent’s position, effective stacks, pot size etc.

Till next time, may you always showdown in big pots with massive made hands!

On Coolers & Scare Cards

Live games are always very different from online games. Online games takes advantage of the fact that you can manage multiple tables at the same time, increasing your win rate through data-mining and pushing your edges. With live games, you rarely have that luxury, seeing much lesser hands than when online, and thus making it necessary for you to loosen up and play more hands than you would generally play.

It’s in live cash games that you get caught in more cooler hands than you would care to be in,  simply because hitting the flop strongly isn’t a common occurrence, and thus, you would tend to over-play hands that would be considered “moderate strength” hands in online play. Take for example this hand I played in a live cash game yesterday. I held AcTc pre-flop in middle position, with a very healthy chip stack, over-stacking all the players at the table. Action was folded to me, and I made the usual opening raise of 4xBB. I got three callers, including the blinds, and we went 4 way to the flop, which was Ad8s3d. Small blind  (a slightly loose player) went all in with a pretty deep stack, over-betting the pot 3x. Big blind folded and action was on me. AcTc on this board beats many hands that my opponent would have shoved with, so I made the call, and he showed me AJo, which held up to take the pot.

Admittedly,  his play was extremely unconventional, as he would only get value from a hand like the one I held, while forcing many other hands to fold, and reducing value, but this is the kind of play you can expect at live games. Hands like these increase the variance of playing lives games, so you will need to maximize value in pots that you win in order to overcome the losses you incur through coolers, bad beats and the inevitable mistakes.

As mentioned in an earlier article, bluffing is an integral part of maximizing value for your made hands. On that very same night, I was caught up in a three way pot with pocket queens on the cutoff. Action was folded over to the hi-jack, who raised 5xBB. I decided to slow-play my pair, and flatted, which resulted in the button also making a call. The flop was all under Q, with a flush draw and no cards above 9. Hi-jack makes a continuation bet, and I decide the flush draw was too dangerous to allow for further slow-play. I raised 3.5x his raise, and to my surprise, button flatted. Hi-jack folded after much hemming and hawing. Turn throws a T on to the board, which would also have completed any flush draw. I had already invested about one third of my stack, and decided to bet another one third of my stack to see if he had the flush (he would raise me if he had, since my bet was so strong). He flat called, and the turn put yet another card of the same suit on the table (none of my Qs were of the same suit). I decided to go for it and went all in with the remainder of my stack, which was about 3/4ths of the pot. He folded.

I later discovered that he actually made a straight on the turn, but didn’t raise due to the possible flush. The last card was enough of a scare card to weaken his resolve and allow me to bluff him off the best hand. This illustrates the fact that huge bluffs are often successful if you make them when situations are favorable to your bluffs. Some players attempt to “bluff” by making random big bets, and hoping their opponent folds, when the board isn’t conducive to a bluff. These are the times when you stand to lose your entire stack on a badly timed bluff, something I’ve been guilty of a lot in the past. That very night, I saw a player who had quadrupled his stack lose it all in a badly timed bluff that got called by his opponent who only had second pair!

Considering how tough online games are getting, it’s a nice change to play in softer live games for a change of scene. Try it some time, though take care to always play aggressively and in position! Check out the shot of this hand, the very first straight-flush to showdown in the live game I played in (Poker Empire!), and that was directly after the very same player flopped quad kings!

 

A Touch of Class

Greetings.. Readers of Entropically Driven...

We Come in Peace ... but may take your chips :P

Weird Alien Greetings Aside... :)

This is the first official post by @thepokerempire to welcome you to THE POKER EMIPRE, a new room set up for you and your buddies to enjoy playing and learning about the finer points of poker...as well as other things in life.

Sure, there are a couple of places to choose from today if you play poker but just like the reasons to deciding which club or which pub to drink at, we at THE POKER EMPIRE want to make the room about you. If you're reading this, chances are you'd have heard about poker (ok lame.. ) but have you experienced the finer aspects that come with complete poker room enjoyment ? Here's what THE POKER EMPIRE can offer

1) Safe Quiet Comfortable Space

Poker is generally a quiet game. Other than the light banter at the table, the only words that should be uttered are 'check,bet,raise and all in' :P but .. no fun being too serious right ? so how do we ensure that nosey nellys don't complain about noise levels? At THE POKER EMPIRE, we have gone as far as to sound proof the room. This means that outsiders aren't gonna be hearing you talk, laugh, shuffle your chips and splash the pot (last action mostly frown upon as bad etiquette. To read on good poker etiquette, click here. Quietness aside, our lounge area features a comfortable sofa, poker reading material, soft lights and plenty of space for you to psych yourself up before a game or pace in frustration after a bad beat :P (a subsequent post will reveal an awesome feature for players who have just been bad beaten! :) )

2) A Poker Table

Well duhh... how can you play poker without a poker table ... well.. apparently you can .. but at THE POKER EMPIRE, we're not gonna make you settle for less... and we insist on the best. . so how about a proper full ring poker table with built in shuffler and dealer cut out ?

The math is simple, the more hands you see per hour means more action and possibly more wins. Thats why our flush mounted shuffler will definately be a feature that you want to "get your hands" on .. no phun intended :P Furthermore, the authentic table felt will make you feel like you're playing at the WSOP final table, chip stacks have to be bought or earned though :P

Did we mention extra comfy chairs ? Who wants a sore butt while playing poker right? Don't be intimidated by the Star Trek Captain's chair, thats just for the dealer :P

THE POKER EMPIRE also ramps up the authentic feel by being lighted with proper spot lamps. Upon request, other lights in the room can be turned off to give the extra cool and intense "Rounders" feel! do notify in advance if you want burly men standing around watching on :P

Finally, Oldies but Goldies, we only use COPAG playing cards for maximum bend and speed when peaking and dealing :)

3) A Well Stocked State of the Art Fridge, Pantry, and Nibbles Jars

Why state of the art ? cos it cools your drinks to the point where you don't even need ice for it. Don't believe it .. come by and try our ice cold COCA COLA and 100 PLUS :) Other selections of drinks upon request so do get your replies in :)

Our pantry also features a range of hot drink mixes, as well as various flavors of cup noodles... from Korean to Thai, Indian to Malaysian :) We also bring in different hot foods from time to time e.g. our opening week has featured true blue Sememban Siew Pao (delivered directly from Seremban!), Big Apple Doughnuts, Macdonald's and KFC :). For those Rounders Fans, Oreos to be included soon :)

Last but not least, we encourage you to stick your hands into any one of our 3 Nibbles jars, which is set to feature different nibbles every month. A certain chocolate covered peanut with candy coating seems to be the most popular at the moment :)

This brings us to the end of the first post for THE POKER EMPIRE, i will be revealing more cool points on the room in subsequent posts. All i can say for now is that you will see more clearly, drink more quickly, Chill more comfortably and vent more readily when you visit the room :)

If you feel like you are interested and would like to be part of our select group of players, Please contact Fish n' Chips on Facebook or email thepokerempire@gmail.com

With all the key points of the room covered, I leave you with our theme song .. no prizes for guessing :P

Till next time .. MI CASA SU CASA - Thats "my home is your home" for you non-Spanish readers :P

============BONUS======================================

Hilarious Poker Face Spoof

For those of you who haven't seen this two idiots slug it out

Affiliations

I’ve been really busy with live poker lately and haven’t had the time to blog like I used to. I’ve been working on getting partners to keep this blog updated with content, and the result of that is…

Entropically Driven is proud to announce that we are now affiliated with The Poker Empire! This is a group of poker players that meet up regularly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They have a very active FaceBook group (add Fish n’Chips as a friend to be invited), and even a fan page! They will be posting articles on The Poker Empire, and their scheduled events and activities on this blog, so be sure to check it out if you’re in Malaysia and are looking for a game.

I have met with a lot of the players in the room and they are very friendly, but competitive at the same time. If you’re looking for a fun, action filled game with friendly banter and camaraderie, email thepokerempire@gmail.com for more info.

Enjoy the new content!

Bluffing for Value

Bluffing is an integral part of poker, and something a lot of players either over-do, or do too little. What exactly constitutes as “bluffing”? Simply put, bluffing in poker is to try and make your opponent believe that you have a better hand than he does. This is usually done in the form of bets, or the not-so-usual verbal connotations.

Let’s face it, the number of times you actually make a hand in poker is far and few between. A large number of hands you enter pots with usually end up missing the flop, and if you don’t “bluff”, you will usually end up folding when your opponent bets, simply because you believe he has a better hand than you do. This means that, most of the time, you will lose money by entering a pot, if you don’t bluff. A player that doesn’t bluff is also very vulnerable, as his hands are practically transparent to any semi-decent poker player, simply because he never puts money into the pot without a made hand. Thus, the easy way of countering these kind of players is to avoid paying them off, and fold most hands to them. How do these players lose money then? Usually by bad beats, mistakes, cooler hands and such, which all poker players face, but they can’t offset due to their meager wins.

Another reason to bluff is to disguise or rather, balance your play. If you occasionally raise with your worst hands, your hand strength will be hidden when you raise with your premium hands. Your opponents can’t simply fold to your bets anymore, or they risk getting run over. The key here though, is to keep a consistent betting amount for your bluffs and your premium hands. Some players bet overly large or overly small when they bluff, and do the exact opposite when they actually have a hand.

Bluffing adds value to your play, by forcing your opponents to pay you off when you have a hand. Make sure though, that you don’t keep bluffing at pots, so much so that you are called down by almost any player. Instead, limit your bluffs to times when you have an edge, like position, a board that’s friendly to bluff at, e.g. you raise with junk on the button and a rainbow disconnected flop with an Ace hits the board, you raise again to bluff opponents off their hand. Bluffing also adds value to your play, by giving you additional information about your opponents while keeping the strength of your own hand hidden.

An example of how bluffing can give you an edge happened a couple of nights before in a live game I was playing. Blinds were $2/$5, and I was on the button with Q9 suited. A few players limped into the pot, and I made a raise of about 6xBB. All players folded except one, a tight, and extremely passive player. His stack was relatively short compared to the pot, roughly 3 times the amount. The flop came 3s2c2h, he bet into me, and I re-raised him all-in. He calls with A3s, a Queen comes on the turn to put me in the lead and I take his stack. This was observed by all players at the table. After one orbit of play, I get J8s on the button, while there was a player who straddled. After the usual few players limped in, I again made a 6xBB raise. The blinds folded, and the player who straddled, went all in. His stack was again about 2.5 times the pot after I made the raise, which gave me the odds to call if he was making a move or even if he was holding two over cards. I chose to call to advertise my strategy. I lost that pot. Payback came when I got pocket Qs the very next orbit, once again on the button. I made a raise and a player shoved into me, I call, and my queens held up to take the pot.

Note that most of my “bluffs” were done from the button (the canonical position to bluff), which generally gave me a significant edge over my opponents simply because they would have to act before I did. Also note that you have to display your “bluffs” to let your opponent know you’re actually bluffing. Sometimes, if it doesn’t cost too much, it’s worth it to play to outdraw on your opponents, simply to do a bit of advertising, and get some implied odds on all future hands, e.g., you value bet the river as a bluff and get called, but your next value bet is for a monster made hand and you make the maximum amount.

This was a pretty unstructured article, but I hope I managed to convey the necessity and value of bluffing in poker. Till the next time, may all your bluffs succeed!

Play Like You’re Winning

I’ve been having a good run lately. Single buy-ins last me the night in live games, cashing out highly positive. Something that hasn’t been happening too often for the past couple of months. Sometimes, when you start running really bad, you question your plays, and that’s when you spot the leaks in your game, and if you have the discipline, fix them. I’d like to think that’s what’s happening with my game right now.

Running bad actually has a very negative impact on your game if you don’t have the discipline to stick to profitable plays. You start making bad plays, getting too conservative, generally playing worse poker. Either that or you start tilting, playing from random positions, with random hands, losing more in the process. I’d like to tell all readers now, if you find yourself on a losing streak, take a step back and review your game. Are you playing too passively, playing too many hands from bad positions? Stop now before you dig yourself deeper.

Avoid playing bad poker just because you lose from bad beats. These bad plays become habit and bad habits are hard to kick. Not to mention you being likely to lose more when you start playing bad. Play like you’re winning. One of the methods I’ve been using to keep my tilt meter in check is to keep myself in the “winning” mindset. It might not work for everyone, (some might even become more rash!), but it’s been working for me. Keeping yourself in a positive frame of mind is really important when you sit down to a game. The funny thing I’ve realized when playing poker is that when you’re winning, you generally start playing better poker, simply because you don’t want to lose the chips earned through bad plays.

Till next time, play good poker, and play like you’re winning. Happy new year everyone!

Making Hands

I just had a discussion with a friend yesterday on the subject of playing to make hands in poker. This friend plays a lot of online poker, and is a profitable player. There are a lot of poker players who just sit and wait around for hands like AJ or KQ, and then raise or call, see the flop and then depending on how well their hand hits, make further decisions from there. These players might turn out to be profitable, depending on how successful they are in getting their opponents to pay them off on their made hands. The problem with this strategy is that making hands is not a common occurrence, and these players lose money on hands that they miss and subsequently fold.

There aren’t many loose passive players online, and these are the type of players that you can expect to pay you off if you play to make hands. This generally results in a break-even or even a losing record for players who play to make hands (Fit or Fold players) online, simply because they aren’t getting paid off on their hands, while losing money consistently to hands that they don’t hit and the rake. Sites like Poker Stars give significant rake-back to players who play a lot of hands at higher stakes (ranked supernova or supernova elite), but how many players get to those ranks?

Fact is, in the game of poker, your two pocket/hole cards don’t matter until you finally showdown on the river. What matters before the showdown is what your opponent might be holding, your table image, your opponent’s table image, you and your opponent stack sizes, the money in the pot, and finally, your position relative to your opponent. Players who play to make hands simply ignore these important factors in the game, at least until they make a hand, which actually mean that they rely more on luck, i.e. they are gambling. Of course, there are times when playing to make hands is necessary. E.g. when you’re up against a loose passive player, and, that’s it I think. If any of you readers can think of more situations where playing to make hands is necessary, please comment.

How does one not play to make hands? Here’s an example in a recent online game I played. I was holding AcTc on a NL100 6-max table, sitting on the cutoff. The player to my right had stats of 38/25 which meant that he’s a loose aggressive player. My own stats were 15/12. My stack size was about $130, and he had $150 or thereabouts, so we were pretty even. Action was checked to him pre-flop, and he raised 3xBB. I decided to re-raise him and made it $9. Action folded over to him who flat called. The flop comes Kd9d8h, with suits different to the one I was holding, so I completely missed the flop, and had no draw. He checks, and I made a c-bet of $12 into a $19.50 pot. He makes a min-raise, which made the existing pot $55.50, a very nice pot. I had slightly more than $90 left in my stack, about the same as what he had since he put in $12 more than me. I decided to go for it, and raised to $40. He folded and I took down the pot.

A player who plays to make hands would do things very differently if they were in my situation. They would have called pre-flop, whiffed, and folded to any decently sized bet on the flop. Of course, they would only have risked $3, instead of $61 (half my stack), but think of it in a different context. Passive calling gives you no information on what your opponent might have. Say the flop comes AdKd7h, and your opponent makes a pot sized c-bet. Since you already made your hand, you would probably re-raise, and say the opponent 3-bets you. What do you do then? AT here is crushed by AJ, AQ, AK and A7, AA, KK and 77. It’s also only about even money against a pair plus flush draw, and only really beats a smaller Ace or flush draw. Most Fit or Fold players would not be able to fold here. They finally make a hand, but face a 3-bet. They would then call the 3-bet, and face enormous pressure to call all subsequent bets, possibly putting your whole stack on the line instead of only half your stack.

Note that this situation is not fictional, and occurs very often in a game of poker. A lot of experienced regulars online would make that 3-bet on the flop simply because its profitable to do so against a player who only plays to make hands. Every time that player folds, its instant profit. If that player goes over the top, it’s very easy to for them to fold since they can recover that loss in subsequent hands using the same line of play.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of how to play a more imaginative game. As always, comments and feedback are appreciated. Till next time, may you not play to make hands, but make your hand just the same!

Stayin' Alive

We’ve often heard people say tournament play is different from cash games, but what exactly does that mean? How much different can cash games get, when you’re playing the exact same game? The cards don’t change. Your odds and outs in a particular hand don’t change.

What changes is the fact that blinds played are progressively increased. Imagine playing cash games with progressively increasing blinds! You could only play as long as your bankroll can sustain your blinds. The more blinds (forced bets) you have to make, the more the game becomes a gamble. In fact, thinking about it, a single tournament could be used to represent a player’s progression at poker, that is, if you had the choice of remaining at a certain blind level until you’re ready to move on.

When you’re forced to move up in blinds, the more it becomes necessary for you to recover your losses through forced bets. This means playing more hands, which would eventually mean that luck decides the outcome. When should you start playing more hands in a tournament? At the beginning, where the blinds don’t matter as much? Or towards the end when you’re forced to play hands due to a diminishing stack size?

The ultimate goal of a tournament is to stay “alive” as long as possible. The person who stays alive the longest, wins. This is the fundamental concept of a poker tournament, and one that most players fail to understand. Everyone tries to accumulate as many chips as possible, but in an inevitable situation in the tournament when you’re forced to make a decision for all your chips in a cooler situation (e.g. nut flush versus a possible full house), players ignore the goal of “staying alive” when making that decision.

How does staying alive factor into a poker decision? Simple. Imagine that you’re playing a tournament with actual money. Blinds increases periodically, and you don’t stop playing till the last man standing. You’re given a decision to go all in pre-flop when you’re holding Aces, but you’d be playing for all the money you have left in the world, with no chance of earning more. This would mean that if you lost (which you will, at least 20% of the time!), you will be relegated to permanent bankruptcy. Would you still take the risk with Aces?

I was playing a hand in an online tournament just yesterday. I was the shortest stack, with 13 players left in the game. Blinds were $25/$50, and my stack size was $900, less than 20 times the big blind. I got AQs on hi-jack, and made a standard raise of 3xBB. Action folds over to the player on the Big Blind who was playing a loose aggressive style, and was at that time, holding the largest stack with about $4000 in chips. He thought for a while, then shoved me all-in. Based on his play, the chances of him holding a better hand than mine was slim, and I made the call. Sure enough, he was holding JTo, and my odds to win was almost 65%. The flop comes J66, and he flops top pair, but I flopped a flush draw, with two over cards. Even with him holding top pair, I was still the favorite to win with a 52% chance. His Jacks held up to take down the pot, eliminating me in the process.

I knew I had the better hand, based on all the information available, but if I had thought about it in terms of actual cash, and going bankrupt, I would never have made that call. With 15 big blinds remaining, and 6 players on the table, I could still see about 60 hands before I’m forced to play for all my (remaining) “money”. A lot can happen in 60 hands.

In reverse, the “staying alive” factor can also be used to advance yourself in the tournament. Big blind played an aggressive strategy, forcing me to make a decision for all my chips while only risking a 25% of his stack. He had 35% to win $900 if I called, and 100% to win $225 if I folded. He only had to risk 25% of his stack. This was an excellent play, and plays like this win tournaments. He ended up placing 2nd.

There are a lot of ways to view this, and the sheer number of possibilities that could happen is what makes poker an extremely challenging game. Sure, it was technically a suck-out by the JTo, but if you think about it in relative terms (since everything is relative), Big Blind was playing at a 25% risk, while I was playing at a 100% risk. The odds to win the hand was in my favor, but the odds to win the tournament was in his favor!

Which would you rather win? Till next time, make your decisions like all your money depends on it!