Not bad for an older guy

Today has been a pretty good day on the whole but I feel a little jaded now. I woke this morning at 6a.m after a late night last night trying to get back a silly little $200 loss. But anyway I finally went to bed at around 1a.m about $250 down for the day but made around $400 this morning.

Then it was back to the poker and more $0.50-$1.00 games. I need to pay more attention to my game selection policies or should I say the tables that I hang around on after the weaker fish have gone. I stayed on two tables today with six regs and two short stackers on them that I clearly should have been swerving and leaving. This just gets down to value and making money from Texas Hold Em depends on the little things that you do and these days I tend not to do them as often as I should do.

But things went my way today and one example shows how well the day went. It gets folded around to a fish who makes it $3.50 from the cut-off with an $89 stack. I have 7c-6c and call. The flop comes 5h-Jd-3c giving me a gutshot draw. They make a c-bet for around $5 and I smell weakness and get it wrong by raising to $16 and they snap call. Now I know that they have an overpair and so am looking to catch runner runner or my straight. The turn card is the Qs and they check and I check behind and the river card fills my straight with the 4d. They bet half pot and I raise them all in and they call showing pocket queens……nice!

Things like that have been happening a lot lately but you have kind of caught me at a good time with this blog because I have just come through what has been a very bad run by my standards. I have also just gone through the $40k mark in my $100-$100k challenge and so I am very happy with where my poker is at this time.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson plays as www.pokerstars.co.uk

Playing the game correctly is tough

In online poker then you absolutely must select the proper strategy to use against individual opponents. My strategy roughly falls into two broad categories. I play No Limit Texas Hold Em full ring and in an average game then there will clearly be players of all different categories. For example you may see the full ring regular that could be playing on anything from between four and twelve tables depending on their ability to be able to handle many tables at once.

These opponents tend to play solidly and if they get involved in a big pot then they will tend to have a big hand to go with it. Their method of operation will tend to mean that they always buy in for 100bb and they will play conventionally when out of position and open up their ranges from later position just like any other normal player.

So if a player who is playing eight tables raises from early position then rest assured that they have a strong hand. So three betting to isolate them may not be a good idea because you will be isolating a likely premium hand. At the end of the day you are trying to match hand strength versus your opponents hand strength. In actual fact though you are not just looking to do that but to also match up against their likely hand strength as well or lack of.

So if a regular raises from UTG+1 in full ring then they are likely to have a premium hand. So three betting with 7-6s on the button does not really look such a good idea anymore does it? This is because you are isolating a better opponent with a stronger hand and also someone who could four bet you and take you from the hand completely. For example if the stakes are NL100 then someone raising to $3.50 and you three betting means that your raise will be to at least $10 and that is 10% of the stack size that you bought in for. In fact if you only have $100 then it is exactly 10% and there will be many regs.

But contrast that to a fish who limps and you have the same 7-6s. Now you can raise because the situation is different. Firstly you are up against a fish and not a reg and secondly their hand strength is likely not as strong. If you can isolate against them then they will not play their hands as strongly as a regular grinder would. So you can see here how strategies that you employ in online poker should differ.

Come and play poker with Carl at www.pokerstars.co.uk

Exploding the big stack myth

If another big stack has signalled their intention to attack you then it is in your own best interests to figure out an acceptable defence that will tell them that you mean business without it leading to world war 3 or in this case the total decimation of your stack. The only time that it may be in your interests to not go up against a big stack is if you are the one who will be starting the aggression. Just like in politics, other players will know when you are being out of line.

So should we avoid another big stack when it is merely poker chips and money that in poker tournaments? Once we make the connection then we understand that the conventional thought of avoiding big stacks is blatantly wrong just like much of the perceived wisdom in poker books is wrong. It is wrong because much of it fails to make this game theory connection with other fields.

Let’s say that you have studied poker so well and worked so hard on your game that you are now the poker equivalent of Manchester United (bear with me here). Would Alex Ferguson send his team out into a third round FA Cup tie at home to Grimsby Town with a game plan of sitting back and hitting Grimsby on the counter attack?

Of course he wouldn’t and the reasons that he wouldn’t are obvious. Their overwhelming superiority over the opposition means that this is not the optimal strategy. Better to go at them and be 3-0 up with twenty minutes to go and then rest players for the next match. Despite the fact that Ferguson knows nothing about the Grimsby players he knows their relative ability because he is aware of what league they are in.

But change the opposition to a mid-week Champions League clash against Barcelona and he is not going to play the same gung ho style because he knows that not only will it not succeed but it could seriously backfire on them against opposition that are their equals.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk

Moving my game forward

I remember the first coaching session that I had at NLHE and my coach who was successfully beating NL100 and NL200 said to me… “Carl, why are you raising from the button with 8d-4c?”

He had a point because looking back then this “any two cards can win” rubbish belongs in the realm of novice poker and players that frequent poker tournaments. In cash games and especially multi-tabling cash games then I had to start thinking about equity and fast.

I was coached on equity and how to identify the equity with regards to certain types of hands. Equity comes in different shapes and sizes and is pot equity and fold equity. A hand like 9-2o for example has a very slight equity edge over 8s-7s but the suited connector fares better against stronger hands. This is the first big lesson of equity because the 9-2o is around 50.02% against the suited connector of 8-7s but is an 87-13 dog against a hand like pocket queens.

However despite being a slight underdog to the 9-2o hand when heads up, the suited connector does much better and is a 79-21 dog. This is what equity does because the suited connector wins far more big pots than the 9-2o hand and this is where it catches up and passes the inferior holding. The suited connector can make the nut straight and a flush while the 9-2o hand is going to find itself in an awful lot of unprofitable spots.

I have recently been playing my poker at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/rafa-nadal/

The British Poker Awards are back!

There are many ways to cast your votes again this year but there are two categories you are not allowed to have your say in unless you are Jesse May - the much loved American poker commentator and player or one of the five other members of this year's Judging panel. which include Bluff Europe, Poker Channel Europe, Poker Listings, Poker News or PokerStrategy.com.  These categories are Player of the Year and Best International Player.  While the three other awards you have to leave to 'Pro's Choice' are Best Card Room, Best Card Room Manager and Best Tournament Director.

But there are eleven other opportunites to have your voice heard as voting is going on.  The first thing you'll probably notice when you check in to cast your votes is Neil Channing's face - not a bad way to go really as he was voted the Best Cash Player in the inaugural British Poker Awards.  Neil is part of a video clip highlighting the 2010 event.  James Akenhead is there as the Best Tournament Player as well, while Sam Trickett was voted Best New Player.  The online side of the game saw awards go to Chris Moorman as Best Online Player while Best UK Poker Forum went to the Hendon Mob.  Best Contribution to Poker went to Vicky Coren and The Player of the Year honours went to Praz Bansi.
 
The 2011 awards saw some some players receiving second awards.  Vicky Coren was awarded Best Social Media User, Neil Channing got Best Blogger, Chris Moorman repeated as Best Online Player and Sam Trickett took Best Cash Player.  The faces changed for the other big categories with Jason Mercier awarded Best International Player, Kara Scott was recognized as Poker Personality of the Year and Jake Cody scooped as Best Tournament Player AND Player of the Year.

This year Sam Trickett is up for Best Cash Player again as well as Best Tournament Player, Chris Moorman is back as a Best Online Player nominee (can he three-peat?) and Neil, Kara and Vicky are also on one nominee list or another for their contributions to the game.

The awards ceremony takes place on 17th September aboard the Yacht H.M.S. President - for a very reasonable £21.85 including fees you can buy a general admission ticket which gives you an invite to the VIP player's cocktail party with live music and entertainment as well as your seat at the ceremony.  The historic yacht is docked on the Embankment in the City of London, so no anti-nausea medication required unless your favorite player loses.

Carl "The Dean" Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk

Latest Poker News

Starting in July of this year, after the news that Shuffle Master cancelled its agreement to purchase the online poker company Ongame Network, mutters and whispers began to emerge regarding a Zynga/Ongame deal.  At the time the Shuffle Master/Ongame Network deal fell through, bwin.party issued a statement that Ongame Network was "re-engaging with other third parties that have expressed an interest in acquiring Ongame" after both itself and Shuffle Master "mutually agreed not to proceed with the proposed transaction".  Zynga's name came to the forefront of the rumours when Chief Executive Officer and founder of Zynga Mark Pincus stated that Zynga was actively exploring the real money gambling market internationally.

Having recently been beat to the Facebook real money gaming punch by Gamesys, it seems that if these current rumours are true and Zynga is no longer one of the companies touted to be in negotiations with the Ongame Network, they've lost out on another real-money gaming plum. Ongame is the second largest online poker network, with 30 faces including Hollywoodpoker, bwin, FullDeckPoker, Gala Casinos, Coral and Betfair.  Of course, the Ongame Network skins base their online gaming on more than poker, offering casino games, slot machines and sportsbetting among other real-money action.  They have skins aimed at Denmark (Scandic Bookmakers), Greece (Poker.gr), Russia (Fonbet) and almost every inch of the rest of Europe, and are heavily supported in the UK by multiple outlets.

However, the plum has been pruning a bit in the harsh climate created for online real-money gaming by the events surrounding the shutdowns of several major sites such as PokerStars and FullTilt poker by the U.S. Department of Justice which began in April 2011, just one month after Ongame went on the market.  Like many if not all of the other competing networks, Ongame has seen its player traffic down a hefty chunk over this last year and is surely hoping that the recent news of the PokerStars settlement with the U.S. authorities for itself and FullTilt signals a change in the weather for the better.

Come and play poker with Carl at www.pokerstars.co.uk  

The WSOP main event favourite?

He's been chosen as the favorite by betting sites to take down the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event at 3-1 odds, and the man himself, Jesse Sylvia seems to agree with this by reportedly saying, "I will be the next champ."  The odds, and most likely a lot of Sylvia's confidence, are based on his chip lead.  He'll be sitting down in seat 6 at the Rio, Las Vegas on 28th October with a stack of 43.8 million chips.

Sylvia says he's learned a lot from fellow final tablist Russell Thomas, whom he roomed with in 2010.  Since that time, Thomas went on to a full time job as an actuary while Sylvia turned pro.  They had many conversations during the first 10 days of the 2012 Main Event, about chip counts and hands played and a few jokes about the impossible dream of them both making the final table.  But by the time they got to 10-handed they both just looked at each other, too speechless to do anything but shake their heads in wonder
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Jesse started playing with friends in home games during in his final year of high school in his home town of Martha's Vineyard.  He moved on to on-line play once he was in college, making small deposits and learning the game.  It was in his senior year that he stunned fellow students and himself by cashing in a big Sunday online tournament for over $100,000 - playing in the university's math lab because his own laptop was broken.  He's had many peaks and valleys since he started playing, but Jesse says he needs those in his life, not just working a regular job in an office.

Though Sylvia says he can live on no money and be very happy, and in just making the final table has made a lot of money, he does recognize that it's not the kind of money to do whatever you want for the rest of your life.  But still his gut instinct tells him that come 28th October, Jesse Sylvia will be 'going for the glory' and the WSOP Main Event bracelet.

Carl "The Dean" Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk