Darkened Poker

Click here for schedule, they have a lot more 1000$ events this year which is good to see, going to play a whole bunch of those.

Looks like my week long vacation this years starts on the 28th, so I can hit #3, #5, #8.  If I cash big I can come back and do it all again starting Event 14.

Sat, May 29th
12:00 PM, $1,000
4-Day Event Event #3: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

Sun, May 30th
5:00 PM $1,500
3-Day Event Event #4: Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

Mon, May 31st
12:00 PM $1,500
3-Day Event Event #5: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

Tue, Jun 1st
12:00 PM $5,000
3-Day Event Event #6: No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (2000 players max)
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

Tue, Jun 1st
5:00 PM $2,500
3-Day Event Event #7: 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit)
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

Wed, Jun 2nd
12:00 PM $1,500
3-Day Event Event #8: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

So I flew to Vegas for the last weekend of the 2009 WSOP.  As I do every year I either have to win the buy in through Sat’s or cash games as I am not blowing $1500 on a seat.  Last year a friend and I did Sat’s but we got screwed in that they let us win our seat after they had already stopped registration.  So this year I wanted to try jumped into a 1-2 cash game at Bally’s to try and win enough in 12 hours to get myself into event 51.

Bally's Casino

My choice of Bally’s is by no means scientific, I have just had some good luck there over the years.  I like that they have enough traffic to keep the games filled with fish and I find there is less semi-pro’s there vs other places like MGM grand.

Well this game did not start out so well as it had in the past.

First Hand: 77, 5 of us head off to the flop

Flop: 7 8 J

I lead and it gets re-raised and then called by 2 people, not liking the draws out there I push and get called by 88 and 9 T which means I am drawing to 1 out.  Board does not pair and 9T gets a nice 600$ pot.

re-buy

Second Hand: KK, 3 of us head off to the flop after they call my 40$ re-raise

Flop: K Q A

All the money gets in on the flop and I am against QQ and A 8 suited, it comes runner runner spade to give the A8 the nut flush and an impressive 900$ pot.

re-buy again

Third Hand: TT, and 3 of us see the flop in a raised pot.

Flop: J T 3, I lead out, it is called and then re-raised.  At this point I am effectively pot committed if I call so I push to get rid of the flush draw.  One fold and then called by JJ who wins a nice 450$ pot.  This kind of bad luck can not run forever right?

re-buy one last time

In years past I would not even try that 3rd buy in yet less a fourth.  Loosing 2 buy in’s would be enough to put me on silent tilt and nothing good would come of the rest of my time there.  Especially with the added pressure of starting down 700$ in 1 hour when I was trying to make 1500 in < 18 hours so I could buy into a tournament.

What was great this years is I did not get down or go on tilt, I looked at the table and saw nothing but fish getting lucky.  So I took that last buy in and ground it back over the next 17 hours straight.  By 8 am I had won enough to get into the tournament but sadly by the time I got to the Rio, event 51 was sold out…

Wow, just like last year if you want to play you have to wait till Monday and play in that event.  It might have been just as well as I had not slept in a long time and might have just donked off my chips anyway.

I have said in past posts that you should leave a table after losing 2 buy-ins as you table image is shot and you can no longer bluff.  At a good table that might be the case but in your average low limit table in Vegas it is by no means the same situation.  You now have a bunch of fish that think they are invincible and will give you their entire stack whenever your ready.  You just have to make sure you’re OK to still play.

Given how many tournaments sold out this year including day 4 of the main event I think next year I will go ahead on reserve my seats online.  Although it is fun to go clean up the cash games I am now really dieing to play in one of these tournaments.

Chris Moneymaker

The World Series of Poker achieved a major milestone Sunday, announcing that it had officially crossed the $1 billion mark in prize money awarded over its lifespan.  Staring in 1970, the event has grown to the biggest poker competition on the planet, and this year celebrated its 40th anniversary.

“It’s nice to reach this milestone during the 40th annual WSOP,” Jeff P commented. “What’s most remarkable is that nearly two-thirds of this amount has been awarded in just the last four years.  Poker is alive and well and here to stay.”

For the fourth consecutive year, the total WSOP prize pool will exceed $155 million – compared with a total of $354 million in prize money awarded during the WSOP’s first 36 years.

Historical prize pool information for the World Series of Poker:

• 2009 – Total announced Tuesday.

• 2008 – $180 774 427

• 2007 – $159 796 918

• 2006 – $159 599 815

• 1970-2005 – $354 000 000

****************************************************************************

35 years of giving out on average 10 million a year and then the Chris Moneymaker effect and now averaging ~= 160 million a year.  What I think is really exciting when you think about it is we have a long way to go still.  Other countries are just getting into poker now and starting to remove their anti-gambling laws so they will be adding to this pool in the future.  Even if these places do not remove their anti-gambling laws poker will still grow in it like it has in Ireland.  I played with a bunch of Irish lads and folks from Texas at the WSOP this year.  They are not deterred and if they can not play in casino’s or online they are going ahead and creating underground games to build up their poker skills.  They are making sure they do not get left behind.

Lastly once our government gets around to removing this internet gaming law I expect a lot more people here will getting back in the game.  It has spread so much confusion that I am sure there are lots of people that would love to take up the game but think they will somehow end up in jail.

♣♥♦
Darkened Poker

Sat, Jun 27th               12:00 PM
3-Day Event                 No-Limit Hold’em (Event 51)
No Rebuy/Add-ons   Structure Sheet         $1,500

Mon, Jun 29th            12:00 PM
3-Day Event                 No-Limit Hold’em (Event 54)
No Rebuy/Add-ons  Structure Sheet         $1,500

Going to show up a day early, hit some cash games and play some Satellites to see if I can get in on the cheap.  Last year the Satellites were a mess, read my post on it if you going so you do not get screwed.

Preparation:

• I have added Sit&Goes back in to may daily routine.
• I have started playing tournaments again if I get home early enough.
• Scaling back # of tables to get use to the slowness of only playing one table, cut back from 8 to 6, will try to get down to 2 before leaving
• Playing live on weekends again, it is a bit of a drive but good to see tells again.

Anything else I should be doing with limited time?

Nothing to learn from this hand, it was interesting because I expected to see either a set of 4′s or 5′s or maybe a slow played Q’s that now turned into a set.  In a million years I did not expect to see his hand, hell of a raising battle for just one pair, you never know what a fish is going to turn over.

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold’em

MP2: $5.23

Hero (BB): $5.14

CO posts a big blind ($0.02)

Pre Flop: ($0.05) Hero is BB with T T

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, UTG+2 calls $0.02, 1 fold, MP2 raises to $0.04, 2 folds, SB calls $0.03, Hero calls $0.02, UTG+1 calls $0.02, UTG+2 calls $0.02

Flop: ($0.22) T 4 5 (5 players)

SB bets $0.12, Hero calls $0.12, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP2 calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.58) Q (3 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $0.22, MP2 raises to $0.44, SB folds, Hero raises to $0.88, MP2 raises to $1.32, Hero raises to $4.98 all in, MP2 calls $3.66

River: ($10.54) 6 (2 players – 1 is all in)

MP2 muck KQ

♣♥♦

Since the coming all the T.V. poker there has been some very interesting behaviors at the tables that I would like to see stopped, especially during cash games.

1.  Standing up and clapping for yourself when you win a all in pot even if it is less than 40$.  This blows me away, but I guess it is just annoying more than anything else at least it does not slow down the game to much.  I can not understand their ego problems that they have to congratulate themselves for winning a pot.  Guess it is a generation Y thing were they need praise every time they do the slightest thing right.  As a matter of fact all table celebration needs to go away in the cash games.  Poker is a zero sum game in all aspects, so you win money and someone loses money.  Your feeling good about it and someone is feeling bad about losing.  You start celebrating and they will feel even worse, you run the risk of driving them home which is very bad for the game.  Do your celebrating away from the table.

2.  Talking your way through the hand before you make a big call.  This has to stop, not only does it waste time and slow the game down.  But it has the potential teach the fish some hand reasoning.  Usually the people that feel the need to protect their egos by explaining why they made a call in case it was the wrong one are not the best hand readers yet.  So their explanations are flawed and the fish are not learning that much, but still why are we even showing them that they should be thinking through all this in the first place.  Sadly the pro’s started this bad habit on the WPT, but it is a little different when Gus Hansen is explaining why he is calling 1.5 million all in with 7 high.  As apposed to some donkey over calling 3 all in’s with trip K’s on the river when the flush and str8 got there.  The only good thing about this is I get insight into your thinking process that I can use to bluff or value bet into you on the next hand.  I do like that, but the down sides outweigh these benefits.

3.  There is no need for Mike Sexton, Norm MacDonald, Phil Gordon, or Bart Hansen commentating wannabes in cash games.   We do not need anyone talking about plays, reviewing hands, or anything else that gives free information to the fish in the game.  If they did not notice that I slow played AA’s, under the gun or raised with 67 suited in last position; don’t inform them.  If a fish makes a bad call and is all in, do not tell him his exact percentage to win when the cards are flipped over.  He might not make that bad call again next time.  If someone is playing tight and finally raises, do not announce that he has been waiting all night for AA’s as you fold.   Yes it makes you look smart when you call out that kind of stuff but it is really hurting the game.

4.  Stop calling out hands, if you get a read on someone keep it to yourself.  Do you know how unsettling it is for a fish to realize you basically know what his cards are as if he is playing with them turned over.  It tends to send them either home or to a table change pretty quickly.  Calling out card might be great for Daniel Negreanu and the table image he is going for in a poker tournament were people are forced to play with him.  But in a cash game were people have options, they are not going to play with someone that has their number.  So as much as it making you look smart, it is hurting the game.

More rants of a grumpy player, leave me your comments.