Darkened Poker

In this episode Howard made a really good bluff and turned over the title of amateur moves to Sahamies who makes a crazy & desperate bluff against Phil Ivey.

In this case Phil flops 2 pair and Sahamies flops an open ended str8 draw.  Phil shows nothing but strength in this hand by re-raising Sahamies bet on the flop and betting almost the full size of the pot on the turn.  Then just because Phil checks the river Sahamies suddenly thinks he can pick up the pot and bets 51k which is almost a pot size bet.

The hand begins at 3 min.

I am just not sure what Sahamies was thinking here, the river card was not really that much of a scare card to Phil Ivey unless he just put him on only top pair.  Given that Phil had shown that much strength it seems pretty crazy to put him on a hand that weak.  The bluff amount was kind of stupid to as he was risking 50k to win the 25k he had dumped in there on a draw.  Given that I do not believe Phil Ivey has a pain threshold in poker anywhere near those stakes his pot size bet was just giving money away as it had the same chance of working as a 1/2 pot size bet.

I really like Phil’s check on the river, if he put Sahamies on the str8 draw or just a pair he has little chance of his river bet getting called.  But checking does give Sahamies the chance to hang himself which he did.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker

Episode 2 was mostly uneventful but #3 is worth checking out as Howard Lederer continues his tradition of betting bitch slapped, this time by Phil Ivey.  I know Howard Lederer is a force in limit poker, but I am getting the idea that he does not spend nearly as much time at the no limit tables.  I am just not sure that on TV, for these limits and against this line up is where I would be learning even if I could afford to.

In this episode Howard teaches us how important it is to have a plan for your hand before you commit way to much money to the pot.  The hand starts at time 5:30 in the video when Eli puts on the $1200 straddle, Sahamies puts on the $2400 double straddle and Ivey continues it with a $4800.  It gets to Lederer and he has pocket 88′s which is a pretty good hand against 3 blind straddles but can play pretty bad after the flop unless you flop a set.

Like an amateur he raises to 19,800 or about 2x the pot which declares to the table that although he has a decent hand he is playing scared and wants to take it down right now.  Seems like Phil Ivey picks up on the problem with Howard’s bet size and moves all in for another 100k.  He correctly deducts that Howard will not call his all in with anything less than AA or KK  and if he had either of those hands we would have only made a pot size bet to begin with.  Although in this case Ivey had 99 and really had the best hand, I believe his cards did not matter and he would have done it with any 2 cards.  Howard is now in a bad situation as he has about 1/6th his stack in the pot pre-flop and is being put to the test for the rest of it.

Howard then confirms his amateur status in NL by going into the tank for over 2 1/2 min before finally folding. His table was very understanding by not calling a clock on him, I wonder if they were thinking they did not want to do it and risk upsetting the fish.  One of the most important things in NL is having a plan for what you will do at any point if you get raised all in.

If he has thought about about how his bet would be interpreted ( looking desperate ) and that he might face a re-steal which he was not willing to call.  He most likely would have taken a more conservative line that would be easier for him to play, like just call pre-flop and play that pair for set odds on the flop.  Since everyone had 20x over the blind straddle bet behind in their stacks he would be getting more than enough odds.  Even a min raise would have likely ensured he was most likely heads up were pocket pairs are easier to play.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker

Poker after Dark is having their ” Top guns Cash game” and it is finally some pretty good poker TV.

In this episode Howard “The Professor” Lederer shows us how not to play AA as he gets stacked by Eli Elezra’s set of 8′s.  So many mistakes in this hand it was like a gift that Eli Elezra did not even have to work for.

1. Howard does not pick a way to play his AA, just calling Phil Iveys raise of 3k he could play them small ball and exercise pot control.  Re-raising big he could play long ball poker and either take down the pot or really maximize the amount of money he put in while ahead.  But instead he only re-raises to 10K and puts 10% of his stack in pre-flop ( started with 100k ) which told everyone he had AA or KK, pot committed him and still gave small pairs the odds to draw at him.  Just calling the 3k to trap Phil Ivey or re-raising to 20k would have been a much better option, if your going to announce your hand strength with 2 people still to play make sure the information is useless to them.  Also given that he is out of position I would raise even more to compensate for that fact, I sure do not want to be playing out of position for the rest of the hand against Eli and Phil.
2. On the flop there is both a str8 and flush draw which is never what you want to see with over pairs.  At this point he he bets 2/3 the pot which means 1/3 his chips are in the pot and he can be all in by the turn.  This bet is even worse than the pre-flop bet as 2/3 the pot is not enough to chase 2 people out with that many draws.  If he wants to drive people out a pot size bet would be proper, but in this case I do not think that is the right way to go.  Problem with betting the pot is he would only get called or re-raised with a Set or the combo Str8 and flush draw.  Since he is out of position I would check this hand, see what they do and use it as a bluff catcher if the situation is appropriate.  Most likely call Phil all the way down if he bet and Eli folded on the flop.  Maybe call one street if Eli bet and Phil folded but dump it past the turn if he is still betting as Eli could only have odds to call pre-flop with pair type hands.
3. The turn play is even worse, Howard hums and haws and then goes all in for a pot size bet of 70k.  Is anyone at that table really believing your acting job?  One good thing about getting all in on the turn is you are not put to a hard derision on the river if the draws get there.  It would be the right move if he was playing against fish that would call a bet that size on a draw.  But no one at that table is going to call him unless he is crush so he is just asking to get stacked.  Sadly he has committed so much pre-flop and on the flop that even if he just switches to check calling down now he would most likely get stacked anyway.   At this point he could just check and call down Eli if the flush or str8 does not get there.  It is not a great move and kind of weak but at least then his hand has some bluff catching power.

Hand in question happens at 9 min point.

Have not been a big fan of the Poker after Dark but these are getting almost as good as the High Stakes Poker shows.

♣♥♦

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

I have noticed a trend, with less and less super fish online people are now way to aggressive at trying to attack them when they think they have found one.  Recently I was playing at the micro levels when I flopped Top 2 Pair ( 3 handed ) on a 3 flush board and I bet the pot, got flat called and then raised all in for 4$.  At these stakes I will see a pair and a flush draw or Str8 and flush draw enough times to make calling worth while so I do.  In this case Dose_Chips got lucky and flopped a flush and I did not fill up.

<30 seconds later Dose_Chips is sitting at every table I am and directly either to my left or right!!! I understand the need to maximize your chance to get paid off by the fish but do it in such a way that they are not tipped off that you are targeting them.   Most people would either shut down against Dose_Chips at this point or quit for awhile as even fish do not want to feel like they are being taken advantage of.

What was even more funny is Dose_Chips should have checked the hand history before he tied himself to my tables.  He probably also should have checked out his targets stats on Sharkscope or other such sites to verify their fish status before putting 4 tables of money up for grabs.

After calling every raise I make for the next hour he has given me back about 3 time what he initially won from me.  He finally does get the best of me on one hand but does not even manage to take full advantage of it by value betting his hand on the river.

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold’em – 9 players

Hero (UTG): $7.05
UTG+1: $7.75

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG with Q K

Hero raises to $0.15, UTG+1 calls $0.15, 4 folds, BTN calls $0.15, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.62) 7 T K (4 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $0.35, UTG+1 calls $0.35, BTN folds, BB folds

Turn: ($1.32) 2 (2 players)

Hero bets $0.45, UTG+1 calls $0.45

River: ($2.22) J (2 players)

Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Final Pot: $2.22

Hero shows Q K (a pair of Kings)

UTG+1 shows A K (a pair of Kings – Ace kicker)

If your going to take the worst of it by trying to get heads up with a fish with any holdings then you sure as hell need to value bet your good hands to compensate for all the lost money pre-flop.  About the only other thing this kid could have done worse is challenge me to play heads up.

This does re-enforce a article ( Table Image ) I wrote a long time ago about trying to create the fish table image as the only way to make money at tough tables.  I did not think it was worth doing online as most people do not stay at a table long enough for the advertising to pay off.  But if you have one of these guys that will join you at ever table then it seems it would be worth it.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker