BBM: I can do this!

I couldn't resist Goat's offer to burn off some bankroll (especially after a 10 buyin downswing at the cash game tables).

Instead, my love of deepstack cash games -- oh wait, this is a tournament? -- led me to some fun times.

Synopsis:

1) I was unable to fold flopped top two pair vs. Bayne. Spiked a four-outer vs. bottom set of fours for an early suckout & resulting double. I played this one very badly. As soon as Bayne 4-bet shoved the T64 two spade flop I tried to figure out if he could have anything but bottom set. I made a mental shrug and made a bad call praying he had an overpair. Instead I get rewarded for my bad decision with some good luck from the RNG.

2) I cracked another blogger's aces and they coldn't get away postflop.



I open for 2.5 bbs in EP, I get re-raised to 8 bbs. Effective stacks are nearly 100 bbs deep. I flop trips, pocket aces decide to check-raise the turn ... one pair is no good. No doubt many will just scratch their heads at this one and call me unflattering names. My short answer is: I have position, implied odds with deep stacks and a pretty good idea of what my opponent has. Investing 5 more bbs is easy enough to do there when I have my opponent safely covered and I'll know where I stand postflop.

At various points all the way down to three-handed once the cash bubble bursts I have half the chips in play. This lets me play big-stack poker and I run like sucko.

3) I crack Jo's aces with queens (all-in preflop). Must resist feeling guilty because she has a BBT4 ToC seat and I don't.

4) My aces hold up vs. sevens that flop a open-ended straight draw. I dodge ten outs twice.

5) We get down to headsup and I am slightly ahead of Buddy in chips after he felts Hoy. He flops a straight vs. my flush + gutter and I don't get there. I grind back for a while and then run a 4bet bluff with the suited hammer vs. TT and go home in 2nd place.

Fun times. The three-handed play was pretty darn fun and I enjoyed it. I wish I didn't spew so badly once Buddy knocked Hoy out since the HU portion of the tournament was much shorter than it could have been, and I thought I had a good handle on how to grind out a win.

Deepstack poker musings, Part 3

Core Concepts

It's past time for a brief refresher on the fundamentals. Deepstack NLHE cash game poker (I define that as a game where the effective stacks are 200+ big bets deep) is a game where a skill advantage can really take hold and generate large profits, simply because the lesser-skilled player's mistakes are more costly. How well you execute and perform to achieve these results is a function of time, luck, and discipline. It's much like the practice of law: you can always control how well-prepared you are, and if you have the requisite intelligence and discipline to put yourself in good situations to succeed, the one variable you have to worry about is luck.

Knowledge is the key to poker.

There are two parts to this. Firstly, there is self-knowledge. An awareness of your own table image and how your actions are likely perceived by your opponents. This is very important and this level of advanced thinking is often a stumbling block for young players in their quest to move up in stakes. You have to develop self-awareness as the games get deeper, tougher and are populated by a higher frequency of thinking players. Against weaker players, you still have to account for what they think of you (if anything). Remember, you can't bluff an idiot.

Secondly, there is knowledge of others. There is no substitute for knowing your opponents' tendencies. Poker is easy when you can read your opponent accurately and narrow their likely holdings to a relatively small range of possible hands. If you have more complete information than your opponent does, you have an edge and can exploit it.

For example, if you know that your opponent doesn't properly adjust their hand values to a 200+BB game and is willing to play for stacks with one pair, you have a huge advantage. You can use this information when you flop 2pr +, or aggressively play other drawing combo hands fast with an equity advantage against their vulnerable holding.

Where does the money come from?

You generate profits in three ways:

1) You get involved in a situation where you run a very strong hand into a strong but second-best hand (for example, a straight vs. two pair). This is a function of luck and patience.

2) You extract value from a marginal situation with an objectively weak hand (for example, a top pair, top kicker hand or a bluff vs. a lower pair, a busted draw, or a weak made hand that can't stand up to pressure). This is a function of skill and patience.

3) You fold. Yes, it's that simple. Yes, I will have a lot more to say about this.

The beauty of deepstack play is that the stack sizes are large enough to support three full streets of pot-sized bets and a raise. In my next post, I'll explore some common situations that arise in deepstack play with an eye back to the fundamentals I've briefly discussed above.

Deepstack poker musings, Part 2

This follow-up post is a long-delayed one, but I hope it generates some good discussion. I have a couple of pure theory posts upcoming, but I thought a workbook-style post was in order first.

I am going to walk through a live cash game hand I played earlier this week in detail.

The primary issue it raises for consideration is one of balancing expected value at a key decision point when you are dealing with two opponents with wildly varying stack sizes.

The situation

A private full ring cash game (no rake, yay!)

Hero (300+ BBs; has consistently been showing down the goods; only bought in for 70 BBs to begin the session. Table image: solid, aggressive postflop.)

Villain #1 (Very, very loose aggressive opponent to Hero's immediate left; stack size of ~ 90 BBs. Table image: wild.)

Villain #2 (Predictable TAG two to Hero's left; stack size of 200 BBs. Table image: a rock.)

Hero is in the big blind with 6c6h.

Villain #1 open-raises from under the gun to 3 BBs (this could literally be any two cards).

Villain #2 re-raises to 8 BBs (this is a straightforward play and narrows the range of hands to big pocket pairs or big aces).

Two intervening players call; Hero calls; Villain #1 calls.

Pot size: 40 BBs.

FLOP: 8c6s4s

Okay, we have middle set on a draw-heavy board.

Hero, in first position to act, checks in hopes someone else will drive the betting. I don't want to scare away customers!

Sure enough, Villain #1 bets right out for 7 BBs. Villain #2 raises to 18 BBs. Hero calls. Villain #1 calls.

Pot size: 100 BBs

TURN: 7s

Hero checks (and grimaces inwardly as the flush gets there and the inside straight fills in). Villain #1 shoves for 65 BBs. Vilain #2 tanks for three minutes and reluctantly calls. [NB. At this point I am nearly 100% certain in my read that I have Villain #2 crushed and drawing to 2 outs for a higher set]

Hero calls.

Main pot: 295 BBs.

RIVER: 4d

Hero checks, Villain #2 checks. Hero wins main pot with a full house, sixes over fours; Villain #1 had a flush and straight draw that didn't get there); Villain #2 had an overpair.


Now as you can see this hand features several key decision points on multiple streets ... and there are many different options you can take here to try to maximize value. To my mind, the crucial decision is on the turn when the opportunity exists to potentially build a side pot with a check-raise of Villain #2 once Villain #1 has shoved.

Item 1: If Villain #1 has made his draw I have ten outs for a redraw.

Item 2: Even if I need a redraw to win the main pot, I want to build a side pot to try and generate some value. But is a check-raise on 4th street the best way to go about this? Can I get a crying call here, or will all one-pair hands dump, even though I am laying better than 4:1 (villain would have to put his last 110 BBs in to win over 400 BBs)? Will they bluff on the river unimproved? Will they call an obvious value bet on the river unimproved?

Comments are welcome.

Mini-report on Friday live deepstack cash game

I was simply card dead and folded a lot.

I got four pairs in five hours of play (33 - won a small pot; 88 - chopped a medium pot; TT - lost a small pot; AA - won a big pot).

I managed to book a profit of $100 on the night (I bought in for $200) mostly because my one premium hand of the evening didn't get cracked. My pocket aces survived five preflop callers (yes, my UTG raise to 8 BBs got no respect despite my super-tight table image ... most of the players were oblivious to such things and were bound and determined, come hell or high water, to see a flop and consequently the game saw a lot of showdowns between very mediocre hands) when my opponent made kings up on the river only because the board had previously paired up (final board read K2726); so his kings and sixes were outgunned by my aces and deuces.

Sadly, more than half of my profit for the session is bound over to the city for a parking ticket -- I narrowly avoided being towed, ugh -- now that is a bad beat. Somehow this blogger's fancier vehicle escaped the clutches of the tow truck, but given his much worse luck at the poker tables that night, I guess I should be grateful to have incurred the extra $25 towing fee. Things could always be worse.

Deepstack poker musings, Part 1

The more I study poker away from the tables, and the more time I spend playing deepstack NLHE or PLHE cash games, both live and online, the more I recognize that it is this form of poker that appeals to me the most. And in part because I like this type of game so much, I find that I am more consistent at playing my A-game in these games as compared to other poker games. Not only that, it's simply more profitable for me than if I am slogging away at turbo SnG challenges or capped games with restricted buyins of 100 BBs where you will also regularly find skilled short-stackers playing with 20 or 40 BBs and will often have a high rake to contend with.

So, to sum up three key reasons why deepstack cash games are now my primary focus:

1) Poker is a game of mistakes. Deepstack poker provides me with more opportunities to exploit my opponents' mistakes for larger profits. I'd rather my opponent overplay a vulnerable hand for 400 BBs than 100 BBs! (As always, game selection is crucial.)

2) I play my A-Game more consistently in these games (expanding my concentration in tournament play to match my cash game play is something I am constantly working on)

3) Deepstack games reduce the frequency and utility of "push and pray" preflop poker that lesser-skilled opponents can use to blunt my postflop skill advantage by bloating the pot size preflop. They can't take away my implied odds so easily when the stacks are deep.


How did I come to this epiphany? In part, I guess you could say I'm a purist at heart, or maybe even something of an intellectual snob. I'm very analytical by nature -- all lawyers are -- and as I experimented and gained experience in playing various forms of poker, especially the ubiquitous 100 BB NLHE games played everywhere these days from online poker sites to local casinos, I began to realize that poker was much more interesting when the stack sizes were large enough to allow for pot-sized bets on all 3 betting streets postflop without all the money going in. In other words, a skilled player has much more scope to maneuver and play postflop with a wide range of hands. Position takes on increased importance. Bluffing becomes a bigger part of the game. I get to make better, more informed decisions once I've seen 60% of the board. And so on.

From now on, I'm going to try and develop my skills and put up crooked numbers on the positive side of the ledger in these games.

I'll end this inaugural post by touching on a few nuggets of wisdom I've been mulling over from the end of this book (for a review that mirrors my own opinions about the text, go here) as the authors interview one of the best cash game players you've likely never heard of, Bobby Hoff.

Hoff bluntly talks about two significant and exploitable leaks that many players exhibit in deepstack games (200+ BBs). On these common mistakes, he goes on to say that:

"Calling re-raises too much. If I raise with AK and I get re-raised, and I think the re-raise is legitimate, I don't even think about it. When I say I don't even think about it, I mean seriously I don't even think if I am throwing a good hand away. I just put it right in the muck, like this. That's how fast I put it in there."

It's fair to say that Hoff is very sensitive about avoiding sticky situations wherever possible. He doesn't get wedded to a hand.

"Not paying enough attention to trouble hands before the flop. Two big unsuited cards. I really like limping in with these hands or making very small raises.

... I would rather have 63s in early position to call a re-raise than AQ or KJ. If I have a six and a trey, it's hard for me to get in a real bind. If I have a king and a jack, and I make a pair, it's really hard to play, it's a really hard spot to be in. You don't want to make one pair because it's hard to make one pair and make any money.

Look at it this way. Think of a couple of hands where you make a raise in early position and you get a caller. In the first hand you have six-trey offsuit and in the second you have king-jack. Now in both hands the flop comes king-seven-deuce, three suits. You bet out on the flop.

Now look at the six-trey hand first. When they fold you take the pot. When they call, you know you're beat. You're done with the hand.

Now look what happens when you hold king-jack. When they fold, you win the pot like before. But when they call, what did they call you with? Maybe it was AK, KQ, 77 or 22. Those hands are bad news. You're hoping they called with KT, K9, or K8, but most guys who can play a lick don't call with those hands before the flop. Maybe they called with nine-eight suited and don't want to throw away middle pair just yet.

The point is, you don't know. You're out of position, and you don't know what's going on, and that's a bad way to try and make some money."

This struck me with uncommon force. Hoff speaks powerfully and simply about these and many other aspects of deepstack play in this interview, and I'll discuss more of these issues in subsequent posts.

Losing With a Great Hand

Sometimes, you're destined to go broke. That's all I could keep telling myself as I busted out early of Friday's deepstack tourney at the FCPC.

[Edited HH for accuracy]

The situation: I was treading water at roughly 22K in chips (starting stack was 25K) when I picked up red KK, my second premium pair of the evening, at the start of level three (blinds were 150/300). I was in late position, two off the button, and I raised it up to 1200 after a someone limped in. Joanne (who went on to finish third) called on the button and we saw an 8s5c8c flop headsup. I led out with a half-pot bet; she called rather quickly. The turn was a Qs and I bet 4K (I ratcheted up to a full pot-sized bet now that two flush draws were out there, and she insta-called. This raised some alarm bells and I got that sick feeling I had been outflopped by the way she was acting -- I suspected trip eights or maybe even pocket fives for a flopped full house -- but all my worries left me when the river was a beautiful Ks (Simon politely told me that this was a one-outer, thanks a lot for nothing Simon), giving me the overfull. I proceeded to stare blankly at the board for a moment or two and announced allin since I figured an overbet for value was likely to be called by many worse hands.

Let's just say I was gobsmacked when she called with a smile in her voice as she announced "I have four eights" for flopped quads.


Oh well, poker is a cruel game sometimes and there is no way I fail to get all my money in the middle in that situation once I make the nut full house. I beat six or seven strong hands in my opponent's range there and only lose to one possible holding . . .

NB. Last night's play featured no fewer than 3 instances of quads, which is definitely a club record. Somehow this donkey won the tournament; he received AA five times, KK three times, and QQ once and 55 once during five hours of play.

Deception early in deepstack tourneys ...

... can be costly. I was able to induce a bluff from a player who had exhibited signs of overplaying hands, but it put nearly all of my stack at risk early in the double-stacked, KO version of the Mookie. Check out my decision on the turn; I'd welcome discusssion on my decision to check rather than lead out.

[Edit]

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Th 9d]
PirateLawyer calls 40
jjok calls 40
ElSnarfGrande folds
twoblackaces folds
wangta79 raises to 150
TFG folds
lucko21 folds
pokerpeaker folds
IlkkaK folds
PirateLawyer raises to 450 -- decide to represent JJ+, AK for deception and set up a postflop play with a squeeze; this opponent has shown signs of weakness early on
jjok folds
wangta79 calls 300
*** FLOP *** [7d 7c 8h]
PirateLawyer bets 600 -- easy c-bet with OESD; I can play this hand with confidence
wangta79 calls 600
*** TURN *** [7d 7c 8h] [Ts]
PirateLawyer checks -- now have top pair to go with my OESD, I decide to c/r, but this is a risky decision because I will have to hold up if my opponent takes the bait
wangta79 bets 1,925, and is all in -- I read this as a horrible bluff by a big ace; this bet size screams weakness and I can beat ace-high
PirateLawyer calls 1,925 -- nothing he has makes sense except Ax that I'm beating, and even if I'm wrong, I can improve with any ten, six, jack or possibly even a nine
wangta79 shows [Qs Ad] -- sure enough he has a big ace and I'm way ahead (86% favourite)
PirateLawyer shows [Th 9d]
*** RIVER *** [7d 7c 8h Ts] [Ac] -- thank you FTP, on cue the RNG shows its disdain for me
wangta79 shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
PirateLawyer shows two pair, Tens and Sevens
wangta79 wins the pot (6,050) with two pair, Aces and Sevens

Comments? This was a high-variance situation to get in early on in a deepstack tournament, but I still think it was a +EV situation given that I flopped well and seized the initiative. Ceding the initative was a calculated risk and I was strongly favoured to get a full double-up and an early KO bounty; it just didn't work out this time.

Set Mining Gone Bad

I had a failure of execution early in the Big Game which sent me to the rail.

I limped in with pocket eights in a multiway pot. Five of us saw a K82 flop, two hearts. There was a small lead out by someone in early position, and I just called, hoping to jam any non-threatening turn. Sure enough three of us saw the turn and the flush completed when the 7h came down. A suspiciously small bet was made by the EP player, which I called and then a LP player who made a decent-sized raise to 2000, and the EP player jammed. I overcalled (!) and the LP folded.

EP showed Jh3h for the turned flush -- which I absolutely knew he had -- and I didn't fill up on the river.

Just an appalling blunder. I need to be able to make that laydown.