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online poker setup

arjun999 — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:39:58 GMT

hey guys.

i was just wondering to what would be a good setup for playing online poker?

i.e. pc or laptop, how many screens etc.

cheers :)

Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb wins his third SCOOP title this year

danishshaikh — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:21:06 GMT

Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb has been having a great time in the Stud tournaments as he picked up his third SCOOP title of the year (and fourth overall) in Event 26-H $2,100 Stud Hi/Lo. His previous two titles this year came in Event 10-H $2,100 Stud and Event 19-H $2,100 Triple Stud. He has won all three titles at the high events and he is on top of the leaderboard in both the high category and overall category. He will receive a trophy for each, a PCA 2013 package and an EPT Grand Final 2013 package providing he maintains his position at the top.

"joacowalter" from Uruguay won his second SCOOP title for the year, both being in high events as well. He won the first in Event 5-H $1,050+R Turbo NLHE in which he earned himself a staggering $204,212.

Event 25-H, $1,050 FL Triple Draw 2-7 [$50k Gtd]
Entrants: 118, Total prize pool: $118,000

1st place: joacowalter (Uruguay) $30,680
2nd place: vovtroy (Russia) $20,650
3rd place: Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde (Canada) $15,340
4th place: merla888 (Belgium) $10,030
5th place: SirWatts (Canada) $7,670
6th place: Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (Canada) $5,310

Event 26-H, $2,100 Stud Hi/Lo [$75k Gtd]
Entrants: 74, Total prize pool: $148,000

1st place: Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) $40,330
2nd place: PerpCzech (New Zealand) $27,380
3rd place: caprioli (Brazil) $20,720
4th place: Eugene "E. Katchalov" Katchalov (Ukraine) $14,060
5th place: Fred_Brink (Denmark) $10,360
6th place: slammedfire (Canada) $7,770

PokerStars & Full Tilt Poker announcement end of May

danishshaikh — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:17:07 GMT

According to iGaming Post, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the Department of Justice are reported to have reached an agreement on paying back Full Tilt Poker players after a recent court hearing. The site also claims, that an announcement will be made at the end of May.

"The date is yet to be decided, because of the logistics of repaying both Rest of World and US players is still being concluded. But PokerStars are confident that this will happen in the next ten days and will be approved by the US DOJ.

Having finalized the repayment structure we are told that the next step would be an announcement by the DOJ that both companies will be allowed to apply for licenses within the US, when and if this is made legal.", iGaming Post tells.

Last month, Groupe Bernard Tapie issued a press release, confirming that their pending takeover deal of Full Tilt Poker had fallen through. Since then, rumors have been going wild suggesting that PokerStars could be now buying Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and the U.S. Department of Justice have all have remained mum about the latest developments so far.

Phil Galfond Blogs : My Poker (+other) Story

techdemo — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:51:13 GMT

Phil Galfond`s Latest Blog : Visit http://www.philgalfond.com/my-poker-other-story/

Hey Guys,

So, I told those who follow me on Twitter (@philgalfond) that I was working on a long post and wondering whether I should chop it up into two pieces or not. I thought it was going to be over 5000 words. Most said just post it whole, and I was planning on doing that.

When I got to this section of my post, it felt different. The rest was observations mixed with some advice, and this was a story. It flowed differently and it read more quickly. Less dense and (hopefully) more fun. I decided to pull it completely out, expand on it, and make it it�s own post. It was supposed to be one of ten parts of the big post. Little did I know it would end up hitting the 5000 word mark all on it�s own. This kept me up much later than I planned on being up, and I am not going to edit, so please excuse any typos.

The other big post will be finished soon, and I�ll post it sometime in the next week, in one or two parts. For now, I give you this.

I was asked by many people how I got started in poker, or how I made the decision to drop out of school to play full time. The following is a collection of bits and pieces of my story, from ages 18-22. Some of it is about poker, some of it isn�t. By no means does this cover everything that happened in my life during that time, but I think it gives a good overall feel for it, and hopefully let�s you guys get to know me a little bit better.

The Beginning

I started playing online poker for fun when I was a freshman in at University of Wisconsin � Madison. I deposited $50 and began with $10 Sit-n-Go�s. Clearly, I didn�t know much about bankroll management at the time. I lost my first $50. I had a few thousand dollars in my bank account, mostly leftover from my Bar-Mitzvah and two summers as a camp counselor. My parents were paying for my school, housing, and a meal plan, and I never spent money on anything other than video games, so I wasn�t running out anytime soon. I deposited another $50.

Once the winter of my sophomore year rolled around, I had a run that $50 up to a few thousand. I had read a handful of books, joined 2+2, bought PokerTracker, and was making about $30/hr playing Sit-n-Go�s. I had recently gotten a job tutoring for SATs and ACTs, which paid pretty well for a college job (I think maybe $17/hr). They had a setup where they�d send out a schedule, and you would call in to volunteer to teach one of the available time slots.

I never called in.

Poker was my college job now, and I loved it. I didn�t have a need for extra money, as I said, but the idea that I was making so much of it was very exciting. More importantly, I was competing.

I played football throughout high school, and though our team was horrible, it was my life. I loved football and I loved competing. After a year of longing, I�d found a replacement to scratch my competitive itch.

I�m an obsessive kind of guy, so when I find something that interests me, I dive in full force. I was studying and playing around the clock (though mostly playing� I�ve never been big on studying). Poker was like a video game, an awesome video game, and I was focused on building my bankroll, my ROI, and the stakes that I could beat.

I spent most of my nights at my desk, next to my bed, above my 6″ high carpet of dirty laundry, in my crowded little room. I�m an introvert, so I enjoy my alone time. Actually, I need my alone time. I like people, sure, but too long in a crowded environment with no chance to get away is debilitating. I need my alone time to reset. My room was poker plus alone time � heaven.

My heaven was part of a three bedroom apartment. I shared it with two girls, one of whom was sure I was gay for the majority of that year. I think it was because I had a small poster on the outside of my door of a cat with a tiara that read �I�m a Princess� (I thought it was funny), and because she never saw me with a girl (how am I supposed to meet a girl while I�m in my room learning to crush online poker and also while I�m afraid of girls?)

I met Caroline through an Improv class that I took my freshman year. She was much better than me, but to be fair, she�d done Improv in high school. I was brand new. Her and Shannon were going to live with a third girl who ended up backing out. Caroline asked one of our mutual friends from the class if he knew anyone who needed a place to live the next year. I was always leaving things to the last minute, and this time my procrastination was handsomely rewarded. Caroline and Shannon were the best roommates I could�ve hoped for. I lived with them for three years, and though we don�t currently live in the same place, I consider them two of my closest friends to this day.

I was really lucky it worked out that way. I barely knew Caroline and hadn�t even met Shannon until they �interviewed� me for the spot.

The interview included questions such as �Do you do heroin,� �What�s your favorite color,� and �Do you have any heroin?�

I didn�t have any, but they accepted me anyways.

My favorite color is green.

School and Atlas

I decided I�d be a Philosophy major. I didn�t know what it would lead to in life, and I didn�t much care. I found the classes really interesting, and that�s much more than I can say for almost any other class I�d taken, ever. As a student, I was always an underachiever. I developed some pretty bad study habits early in life. My Mom later told me �Maybe I should�ve made you work harder, but you were always getting A�s.�

I managed to get through middle school and high school doing almost no work, though towards the end my GPA suffered (I�m fairly certain my Chemistry teacher changed her grading system to 50/50 tests/homework from 90/10 because she hated me for not doing a single homework assignment all of first semester). I don�t know what it is about me, but I never was interested enough in something to do my homework or to study. I was good at tests, and I just relied on that to make it through.

College was no different. Actually, it was: There were fewer homework assignments and more tests, and most of my teachers didn�t know whether I was in class or not.

So, here I was in college with a new passion, little need to go to class, and my own happy place (my room). I think we all know how the next couple of years went.

I spent roughly 50% of my time asleep, 40% playing poker, 5% with my roommates and other friends, and 5% in class.

I moved up from $20 SnG�s to $30s, and then to $50s. I was playing, and studying, and loving it. I continued to have great results, and started to gain a tiny bit of recognition in the SNG community.

I now had a group of poker friends, most of whom I�d met on 2+2 and interacted with almost exclusively online. I also made a couple of �real life� poker friends. I helped them learn SnG�s and they both progressed fairly quickly. I�d like to think it�s because I was a good teacher.

I also started to take Improv further. Caroline and I had taken that class during the beginning of my freshman year, and I hadn�t gone back. During the end of that school year, she�d auditioned for and been accepted into Atlas Improv Co., which was actually a spin off of the company we took classes with, but that�s a long story. She told me that our old teacher Mary had asked about me, and encouraged me to audition.

I didn�t think I did very well at auditions. Most people were less reserved than I was, willing to be more adventerous and outlandish on stage. I was very surprised to hear the next week that they wanted me at callbacks. There were 9 of us at callbacks, and damn, these people were good. Intimidatingly funny, if that�s a thing.

I once again felt very outmatched, especially with my limited experience in Improv. I was much more surprised this time when I got the call that they�d accepted me into the Audition Class. I�m not sure what they saw in me to pick me over all those people, but I guess they thought I had a lot of potential. I certainly wasn�t there yet.

Audition class was a grueling (not joking) 10 weeks of learning improv. I had two regular classes a week (free for me) with other amateurs, and the one private audition class with just the four of us who made it. This private class was followed by 4 hours of watching the company perform. I became friends with the other auditioners � we had to stick together. Atlas had an extremely intimidating setup. The members of the company are to remain seperate from the auditioners, and you were intimidated by their impenetrable inner circle. The fact that I lived with Caroline kind of broke the barrier a bit for me, but still, I almost never hung out with the pros while I was auditioning. It was all very secretive.

One of the auditioners, Anne, became my best friend. We did a lot of hanging, and a lot of talking about the stress of the company. Funnily enough, she also is still one of my closest friends, and is also dating and living with Thomas, another one of my closest friends (who was already in Atlas at the time, and who happened to later be my roommate in Madison and NYC).

I�ll skip a lot of the improv stuff, as I assume you�d rather hear about poker. Long story short, after the 10 weeks, three of the four of us in Audition Class were accepted as full members of the company.

Outside of poker, Atlas was my life. It was a 8-14 hour a week commitment (two shows and 1-2 classes a week), and the guys and girls in the company were my best friends. This was the other defining part of my time in Madison, and the other thing that shaped much of my life, including leading me to New York.

So that was my life: Poker, Atlas, Poker, Poker, Friends, Atlas, Poker, Class, Poker, Poker, Atlas.

I continued to move up, from $50s to $100s. By the beginning of my Junior year, I was making $100-$200 an hour, and started dabbling in $200s, $1ks, and even $2k SnG�s (I still hadn�t completely mastered bankroll management).

The Big Decision

When I turned 21, in January of my Junior year, I made a decision. I was going to miss the first week of class and take a trip to Tunica, Mississippi to play in a $10k WPT event and a $10k WSOP circuit event. My bankroll must have been around $100k, so this wasn�t the wisest BR decision, but it�s something I really wanted to do. I wanted to play with the people I saw on TV, on a real stage, where I could possibly win a tournament on TV.

One of my two poker friends in Madison came with me to cheer me on and play in the cash games. They actually had a lot of Satellite SnGs, which we both played in and crushed (everyone was terrible).

I busted out of the WPT event early, but I had no regrets. It was still such an exciting experience for me, and the WSOP circuit event was even better.

I managed to survive and build up a stack. On day 1, I sat at a table with Todd Brunson. I was playing with someone from TV! Todd looked miserable most of the time, like he didn�t want to be there. I was shocked and disgusted at the time (but I get it now, Todd). How could someone be living the dream, playing in a $10k buyin live poker event, and be unhappy?! It was so awesome, I just couldn�t possibly understand. I decided then that I wanted to grind SnGs year round just to save up enough money to play in as many $10k events as possible.

On Day two, I sat at a table with Daniel Negreanu � one of the biggest stars in poker. He was a different story. He was having a great time, talking to everyone. He was seated near me and actually talked to me a lot. I couldn�t believe it. He�s a celebrity superstar poker player, and he was just talking like a regular person� to a regular person.

I continued to build my stack. This whole experience was just getting better and better.

Actually, on my first table of the tournament, I also sat next to Bill Edler, who made the tournament so much less scary for me. He�s still to this day, possibly the nicest and friendliest person I�ve played with. I had no idea who he was at the time (before he introduced himself) and I don�t think he was well known then anyways, but I still am thankful for how comfortable and pleasant of an experience he made my first WSOP event.

The tourney went on. I played on a few tables with Daniel. I played with Bill again too, and there were plenty of familiar faces who�d become my temporary friends. I was beginning to get more comfortable.

I don�t remember a single hand, unfortunately, but I ended up going pretty deep. I busted somewhere around 22nd, which was good for a mincash of around $22k. I�d made my money back for the trip. I was still disappointed because I was so close to a TV final table, which was my dream, but I was mostly content with my break-even trip. (I actually won about $6k playing blackjack that night after busting out. I had a bit of a blackjack habit back then)

I went back to Madison, ready to go to my professors and collect everything I�d missed. It ended up being about 1.5 weeks of class. I loaded up my schedule online and started locating the classes, and thinking about asking them for the things I needed. I just felt overwhelmed� didn�t feel like doing it.

I decided that I would take the rest of the semester off to play poker, and come back to school after the summer. I had a lot of AP credits so I wouldn�t even fall behind as far as graduation timing.

Oops, Skipped Stuff, Some Flashbacks

Sometime during these last couple years, I�d taken a trip to Vegas to meet up with some other SnG pros from 2+2. I met a whole bunch of people, including (I think.. all the trips are blurring together) notables such as Raptor517, g0od2cu, theUsher, Apathy, and Daliman. Now known to most as Dave Benefield, Andrew Robl, Alan Sass, Peter Jetten, and Daliman.

Also sometime during that span, I made it out to the Bahamas for my first ever PCA. It was the first live poker tournament I�d played, and wow, it was exciting. I went fairly deep, but didn�t manage to cash. I did have a memorable experience and an epiphany, however. I was in a hand with a player who was very angry from the hand right before it. I think he may have gotten sucked out on, or maybe nothing happened and he was just an angry person. I don�t remember the action, but I remember that I�d gotten to the river with a missed flush draw that was now nothing but a measly Ace high.

You see, Sit-n-Go players didn�t really have to play postflop. During the early stages of SnG�s, you just played very tight. You�d continuation bet and then you�d give up unless you had an 8 out draw or top pair+, in which case you�d bet two or even three times! Most of the edge in SnG�s came from the late game, where you needed to judge people�s opening ranges, shoving ranges, and calling ranges, and run the math in your head for which hands you could shove or call with. I became very good at this rough head-math, and especially in judging the ranges of various opponents at various times. This was my edge over the other pros, I believe. I could tell when people were more or less likely to make a play based on game flow and my guesses related to their psychology.

Back to the hand. Here I was on the river with Ace high vs. a very angry man. I�d called the turn on whatever the board was, and I�d missed my flush draw. I checked, and angry man bet� and he bet angrily. It occurred to me then (embarrassingly late in my poker career) that he could�ve had another draw that missed, or just some random air that he was angrily betting multiple times because he was so angry. It occurred to me that I was allowed to call with no pair� something they didn�t teach us in the basic guides to Sit-n-Go�s.

I mulled it over. After some thinking, I sheepishly pushed my chips into the pot.

The angry man tossed his hand into the muck. Well, not �tossed� of course. He threw them angrily. I kept my cards where they were, and the dealer kept the chips where they were. I didn�t know that I would be forced to show my hand. I wasn�t looking for pride or recognition. In fact, I didn�t want anyone to see my hand. I didn�t want to embarrass the angry man and make him more angry at me.

I slid my hand towards the dealer, who flipped it up. The table erupted. Looking back now, it�s strange, since nobody makes a big deal about an Ace high calldown anymore. I guess the games were different back then, or my table was full of amateurs (I think a bit of both).

The other players praised me, the angry man got angrier, and I kept my head down and quietly collected my pot, working hard to suppress a smile that was fighting its way to the surface.

After that point, I was hooked. I was hooked on hero calling, and I was hooked on postflop poker (though I didn�t follow this passion just yet).

My good friend Dan (who I�ll meet soon), believes that I like calling because of my personality. I�m a passive person, and I don�t like aggressive people. What better way to feel satisfied than to outsmart them and make them feel stupid due to their own aggression?

It wasn�t long until I started to venture away from the postflop-less SnGs. In February of my Junior year, on the advice of Peter Jetten, I made the transition from my well established roots and solid hourly rate in SnG�s into the unknown world of cash games, where I could exercise my newfound calling muscles. Peter told me that there was more money to be made in cash, and Peter was right.

Cash Games

I started playing 5/10nl 6max on Party Poker. I was immediately a 5BB/100 winner (the games were extremely soft back then). I was nervous that I didn�t have the fundamentals for cash games.

I hired two coaches. First, Emil Patel (whitelime), and then Tommy Angelo. Emil helped me with some preflop fundamentals, though I probably only got three hours of coaching from him.

I thought that Tommy would be teaching me about cash game strategy, but man, was I wrong. I spent a weekend in Vegas doing Tommy�s coaching program. We worked on game selection, tilt control, quitting, and everything else that I wasn�t looking to be taught but needed to. Tommy didn�t teach me how to play poker, he taught me how to be a poker player.

Since then Tommy and I have become friends. I still call him from time to time for advice (actually did just two days ago). Emil and I became friends too, but that was bound to happen anyways, as our paths were going to cross many times.

I spent the semester in Madison playing as much poker as I could, and still doing Atlas stuff and seeing my friends. Pretty much the same as before without the minor inconvenience of class. I still played from my same desk, in my tiny room, in the same three bedroom apartment. Now though, I had two Dell 21″ FP monitors, I paid a company to do the laundry that was on my floor, and Caroline no longer thought I was gay.

The First Summer

The summer of that year, 2006, I came to Vegas for my first WSOP. I rented a house with Peter Jetten, Alan Sass, Max Greenwood, Andrew Robl, and the aforementioned Dan Quinn.

I learned more about poker that summer than I had in any full year thus far. Poker is what we had in common and poker is what we talked about. We were all students of the game, and learning together had a multiplying affect

Sure, we had fun too (too much fun for my taste). We were young and in Vegas for the first long time, so there was plenty of partying. It actually was a pretty stressful summer for me because I didn�t get to have much alone time at all.

It was during this summer that I started taking shots at bigger games. 5/10 and 10/20 were still my main games, but I started to try my luck at 25/50 and even 50/100 when the games were good.

I ran up $100k in a day on UB at 10/25 and 25/50, and promptly lost it back. The games weren�t good there, as I was mostly playing with Taylor Caby (Green Plastic) and Prahlad Friedman (Mahatma/Spirit Rock). I started playing in some FTP games. I believe I�ve talked about this more than once in the past, but I played my most memorable hand one night that summer.

Everyone had left. Most people were out partying, and I remember Andrew went to play poker somewhere. I was alone in the living room, one tabling on my laptop against 10lbBASS. The hand went a little something like this:

$50/100nl hu

I have KQs

He raises button to $300
I 3bet to $1111
He calls.

Flop 236r

I bet $1111, He calls.

Turn 2o

I check. He bets $3300 into a pot of $4444, leaving me around $3200 behind (he had me covered).
I go into the tank (though not for that long� no timebanks back then)

He wouldn�t have called preflop with a 2 in his hand, and he wouldn�t bet that big on the turn with a 6. He could somehow have an overpair or a set, but very unlikely. He was the type of player who floated a lot of flops. Could I actually shove this hand? It seems like my thought process was leading me there.

As I realized I was deciding to shove, my heart was racing. I was already down $20k that day, and I didn�t have that much money left. �I shouldn�t be playing this high,� I thought. Tommy had taught me better.

I inched my cursor over to the raise button and clicked. All-in.

He went into the tank. As his timer counted down, I was trying to think about what he could have that didn�t already make a decision. I had no idea, actually. Maybe he bet with 55 and thinks I have an overpair now? (heart beating) �Well if he does call I still have 6 outs, so, it�s okay Phil. Good play, no matter what. Don�t worry.�

With about half a second left, he called. My heart sank.

His cards turn over� KJo

My heart did whatever the opposite of sinking is for hearts. I just got $10k in with GREAT equity. Nice work, Phil. Oh man, this is awesome. I�m going to get unstuck for the day. Maybe I�ll even run it up and go on a huge heater!

River� J

???

I didn�t know what to think. Bad things, of course, but I wasn�t sure what specifically to think or feel. I just felt, I don�t know, like I wish that didn�t just happen. That�s all it felt like. I wish I�d have won that pot, I wish I didn�t play so big in the first place. I was a devastated. I didn�t have any money left in my Full Tilt account, so that was it for me.

Andrew came home soon after to find me sitting on the couch in the dark. I told him what happened. He told me he just got �pwned by Wayne Newton� in a big pot at Bellagio. He wasn�t devastated though. He let out a signature Robl laugh� you know what I mean if you�ve met him.

Everyone came home eventually. I remember spending a lot of time talking to Max about being depressed about it. Everyone was understanding and tried cheering me up.

The thing about me, when there�s something wrong, regardless of what it is, I don�t just �get over it.� I need to do something about it. I need to make a plan that will improve whatever the problem is. I made my plan that night- go back to 5/10, grind endlessly, and get it back. Easy. Sadness lifted, determination activated.

The next day, it was back to work. I was on a mission, and I felt motivated and happy.

It was during this summer that I first met durrrr, now more commonly referred to as Tom Dwan, the man, the myth, the legend. We became only friendly acquaintances over this summer, and it wasn�t until Fall of that year, and the following summer (when we were roommates in Vegas) that he became my good friend, a year which also introduced me to good friends, Z and Hac Dang. These three became a huge influence on the growth of my poker game, and especially my PLO game. I don�t think I�ll get that far in this post though.

Senior Year

Fall started and I enrolled in classes back at UW. I began going to class, playing poker, performing, just like old times.

At that point, I figured I was making around $500 an hour playing poker. I would stare at my professors and not hear a word they were saying. I�d think about poker, about my next shot, about strategy, about my goals. I just couldn�t take school seriously at all.

After a couple of weeks, I decided to stop going to school for real. I told my parents. I showed my dad my PT graphs, and my hand samples. I explained it as best I could to both of them.

I learned later that my Mom was crushed by my decision, but at the time she completely hid it. I�m not sure how she did that, or how she thought so quickly to do it, but I�m thankful for it. Knowing I was potentially breaking her heart would�ve taken a lot of the drive out of me.

My Mom told me she didn�t understand, but she trusted me and knew I�d make a responsible decision. My Dad understood. He said he wished I would stay in school, but he would�ve done the same thing if it were him.

So that was that- I was a full time poker player (and part time improvisor)

My friend Dan (from Vegas) had coincidentally just moved to Madison for his girlfriend (now wife). We helped take each others� games to the next level. I built up my roll and took another shot at 25/50 and 50/100. It didn�t work that time either, and I moved back down.

The key for me was my ability to move down and take it seriously. Some people can�t move way down after a big shot and loss, but I always could. I would take a 4-5 buyin shot at some bigger games, and immediately move back down and grind if it didn�t work. I don�t recommend this for most people, but it worked well for me.

Dan would sometimes come over with his laptop and we�d both just play poker all day. I had a bigger room now.

I was in a new apartment, though just as cheap. I never really spent any money until I moved to NY two years later. Caroline spent a semester in South Africa, so Shannon and I moved into a two bedroom across the street.

Hindsight

So, I dropped out of school to play poker. Would I do it again? Do I regret it?

The truth is, I do regret dropping out, and actually, I regret getting so serious about poker so early on. I don�t mind the fact that I don�t have a degree (what�s a Philosophy degree worth anyways?), but I mind that I missed out on being a college student. I missed out on some of my youth.

Sure, I was still hanging out with friends, some of whom were students, but it wasn�t the same. I had other focuses, responsibilities. I had job offers from training sites, accountants to hire, bankroll decisions to make. I grew up too quickly.

I wish I would have stayed in school and played a little bit of poker on the side, but not so much that it almost consumed my life like it did.

You can always go back to school and get a degree, yeah, but you can�t go back and be 21 again.

I have a lot more to say about making a big decision like this, but I�ll save that for another post. Please don�t interpret this post as my view on what you should do with a large life decision. That will be covered in my next post. For now I�ll just wrap up.

The Rest is History

I spent the rest of that year doing the same things I�d been doing. I was loving poker, Atlas, my friends, life in general.

After �Senior� year, things started to change. Shannon moved away, along with many of the other friends I�d made. As much of a city as there is in Madison, it�s still a college town (an awesome one, I might add). People graduate and leave. This is what eventually led me to New York. I wanted to buy a home and stay in the same place, and I didn�t want all of my friends to keep leaving. Thomas and I followed Caroline, Anne, and not-yet mentioned friends Gabe and Theresa, along with many other friend/acquaintances to the Big Apple.

But first, in my �Super-Senior� year in Madison, I moved into a 5 bedroom house with Thomas, Josh, and Dave� three extremely awesome guys from Atlas. I had two rooms now: One bedroom and one office. Both were on the top floor, and both were the only rooms with full bathrooms in them. Everyone had to use the shower in my office, which was interesting.

I had another amazing year living with them. I�ve really lucked out with roommates throughout my life. My five years in Madison (actually, just the last four) were the best years of my life to date. That�s not to say I�m not happy� I am. But those were years full of laughter, fun, poker, great new friendships, and it was still before I started to have real grown up responsibilities.

I had plenty of room in my new office for Dan to come over and play, or for me to store my mountains of empty gallon jugs of water and empty boxes of protein bars. I now had two Apple 30″ Monitors, and my comfy Aeron chair. Still was working on a fold out table as a desk, but overall, a nice setup.

Towards the beginning of that year, I took another shot at some bigger games. This time I didn�t look back. $25/$50 and $50/$100, then $100/$200, and eventually $200/$400. I was playing a lot of HU and some good 6max games ran too at higher stakes back then too. Every time I beat someone up at a level, I�d move up to the next level and play the next �boss.�

The competition was getting more and more exciting. My drive was getting stronger. The video game was becoming more real.

People online soon started talking about OMGClayAiken.

APT returns to India from May 21-27, 2012!

RUPAM — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:53:44 GMT

After a successful series in India last time in November,2011 at the floating Casino Royale, Goa ;Asian Poker Tour is again geared up to return to Casino Royale, Goa, India from the 21st to 27 May 2012.

This time the tournament will feature ten side events that will include a 15K Head Hunter, a15K six handed event and a 150K High Rollers event. However, the highlight of the tournament will of course be the INR 50,000 buy-in Main Event that kicks off at 4pm on Thusday 24th May, 2012. Here is the complete schedule:

The defending Champion PokerGuru Pro Sangeeth � Samoh� Mohan has also received a free main Event seat and will be looking to defend his title. Mohan said �APT Asian Series Goa is back and I couldn�t be more excited�. He added �Last year I had a dream run and I hope and pray it happens this time around as well. I think the numbers are going to be crazy and, with more money to play for, it�s like always � no guts, no glory�.

Casino Royale has also announced a 10K re-entry satellite on Saturday 19th May2012 which has 3 free seats of the Main Event added to the prizepool.

For more details visit the asian poker tour.com

One Pair Hand facing a lot of aggression from ABhishek Goindi in 50k Highroller Event

SuicideSpree — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:05:05 GMT

Blind Levels are 200/400 with a 50 ante, I have around 21k in chips, while Goindi has around 13,000 in chips.

I make it 800 from the CO with A9o and Goindi flatcalls from the Big Blind.

The Flop: AT4 rainbow, Goindi Checks, I c-bet 1100 and he raises to 2400. I flat call.

The Turn: K, Goindi leads out for 3300, I call.

River: J, Goindi insta-shoves for 7500...Me:?

Would appreciate any comments on earlier streets as well as what you would do on the river.

A brief online MTT primer for beginners/intermediates

rentdollarinplay — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:18:58 GMT

A very long time ago, i got my start in online poker playing sngs, 180mans and MTTs, after a bit i got coaching from a well known pro/coach frpm 2p2 (lots of 100r wins, sunday million win, ftp 750k 3rd etc etc are on his resume). I dont play almost any mtt nowadays, and this particular pro also plays little online due to black friday. This is a brief synopsis of his mindset and how to approach mtts (i hv dsitributed this thing to a fair number of people after discussing with the coach who doesnt mind as he doesnt coach any more). It might be useful to some of you folks (in 2 parts)

MTT Tournament Strategy Outline

* Introduction
- General Introduction
- Creating an outline for how to approach tournament poker is unfortunately quite difficult. There are simply too many concepts to effectively address without writing a book. But what I can try to do is to give you an overview of tournament strategy, in broad strokes, that can be expounded on by applying these general concepts to specific examples of your hands. This will also give you something to look back on if you ever just want to brush up on the basics of MTT play.
- The nature of MTTs
- MTTs are a very interesting beast, because they change so many times throughout the course of one tournament. And your strategy has to change with them. You need to be capable of constantly adjusting, and constantly staying one step ahead of your opponents. You need to always have a better handle on their ranges in certain situations than they have on yours. And you need to constantly reevaluate your table and your strategy.
- Resisting being results-oriented
- First of all, you have to emotionally separate yourself from results. Part of the frustration and part of the fun of MTTs is that we will probably never reach the "long run" in them. We'll never break even. There just aren't enough tourneys. So all you can do is make the best decision all the time, and the only way to make sure you're consistently doing that is peer review -- which is where I come in.
- Thinking in terms of g-bucks
- http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/'G-Bucks'-Conceptualizing-Money-Matters.-Phil-Galfond-985.htm
- How is this article helpful? Well, it gives us an effective method of analyzing our play without being results oriented. We need to think about our play in terms of our range and our opponent's range in a specific situation. The goal is to get to the point that every play we make has a positive expectation not against the opponent's hand in a specific situation (because we won't know his specific hand with enough accuracy, there simply aren't enough streets of information), but against his range of hands, and we want our opponent to be making mistakes not against our specific hand, but against the range of hands we could have in a specific situation.
- Examples:
- When our opponent opens the CO, starting the hand with 30BBs, and we shove from the button with 15BBs and ATo. He wakes up with AKo, and we lose the pot. We have made a mistake against his specific hand, but against his range of opening hands we have made a profitable play.
- Opponent opens UTG, starting the hand with 22BBs, and we shove 19BBs next to act with AK. It folds to him and he calls with 22. He has made the correct call against our specific hand, but against our range of hands in that situation (probably something like 99+, AQs+), he has made a very large mistake. So despite this seeming like a disappointing outcome, you are really "winning g-bucks" when your opponent makes a call like this.

* Preflop Strategy
- General Introduction
- It's really important to think of your strategy, especially preflop, in terms of your effective stack size. So this means that at the beginning of the tournament, when you have 150BBs, you will play drastically different preflop then you will at the 300/600 level, when you have 15BBs. Your opponents will be playing differently as well, and you will need to adjust to that.
- Early Tournament
- Early on in tournaments, when we are, say, greater than 50BBs deep, I believe it's important to constantly be leaning on people when you have position. Position becomes gradually less important as stacks become shallower, because your postflop decisions become simpler, but, when stacks are deeper, having position is such a huge advantage that it's important to constantly be putting pressure on your opponents. So early in tournaments, my game is very tight in early position, very loose in late position. This works at all limits, and very few opponents adjust appropriately, and you can often build large stacks early in tournaments using this strategy.
- What this means is overlimp and openlimp less. Raise more. Put pressure on people. First of all, it balances your range. Second of all, when you do flop well, the pot is bigger, so you are more likely to win a big pot with your hand. Third of all, having the betting impetus means you will be able to take down pots on the flop and on the turn by showing aggression, which will show a profit regardless of your hand.

- Late Tournament
- Preflop opening
- Deeper in the tournament -- typically after the 100/200 level or so -- your strategy will need to change. When effective stacks are mostly between 10-30BBs, people will combat your frequent raising by simply shoving allin, negating your postflop advantage. So you will need to tighten up. You will often need to think of hands, not in terms of their postflop value, but in terms of whether or not they can call a shove from various players at the table preflop. So, when you openraise a pot preflop, it needs to be with an idea of how you will react to the preflop actions of every player at the table. You need to know how loose the guy with the 15BB stack is, whether the guy with the 20BB stack is going allin with just 99+, AQ+, or whether his range is 22+, Ax, and any two broadway -- because that will determine not only how you react to his 3bet, but whether you even openraise in the first place.
- http://www.pokerstove.com/
- If you have any questions about how to use pokerstove, please ask. This program is very simple, and very free, but is one of the most useful programs available to tournament poker players. It can show you how your hand plays against a range of hands for your opponent, and you can plug in a calling range for opponent's and see exactly what % of the time that means they are calling.
- Shoving preflop
- Programs like SNGPT or SNGWiz, with the help of Pokerstove, can help to give you an idea of when to go allin preflop. In many cases, your two best options will be between openfolding and openshoving. This is usually because of one of two things: 1) for stacks of 10BBs or less, once you raise, you will be pot-committed to calling a shove anyway, and you would like to maximize fold equity and balance your range; or 2) for slightly larger stacks, you sometimes don't have a good idea for the sort of hands your opponents will play back at you with, but you can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that their calling ranges of your shove are such that a shove would be +EV. I am not going to include some sort of chart in this outline about when you should be shoving preflop, because that will change based on the calling ranges of opponents behind you. However, you really need to take it upon yourself to use these tools that are available to you to determine when openshoving preflop is profitable. At tough tables where opponents will rarely make mistakes like just calling your raise from a 15BB stack, or shoving far too wide over your open from a 15BB stack, it may be more profitable to simply openshove then to raise/call or raise/fold. You need to determine this by using the tools available and making sure you have are using all of the options at your disposal when they are appropriate.
- Restealing
- "Restealing" -- or 3betting an openraiser -- is the idea of reraising someone who you think is raising light. Basically, you make enough money from the % of the time they fold and you pick up the pot that it covers the times you are called by a better hand and win <50% of the time. Restealing is most effective with a stacksize between somewhere around 13-27BBs, assuming a standard open of 2.5-3x -- any less and you will usually have little fold equity, and any more and there are usually other options available that have a higher EV (expected value).
- I've provided you with a study I conducted of profitable resteal ranges using various opening ranges/positions that I think you should find useful. I was very surprised to find spots I was missing, as well as spots I was taking that did NOT have a positive expectation. Try to get comfortable enough with these ranges that you can fudge them a little bit in either direction when situations don't perfectly fit one of the scenarios provided.
- When to flatcall raises
- Typically I will never flatcall a raise when I have under 28 or so BBs. I just won't do it, I don't think it's a helpful thing to "add" to your game. In almost all cases, when you have a hand you think you should be flatting with under 25BBs, you would be better served to go allin, or simply fold. On the other hand, if you have a larger stack than this, and your hand is strong enough against your opponent's opening range that you think it will play profitably postflop, but not strong enough that you can 3bet and call a 4bet shove, than flatting is often the best option. However, it's important to remember other things that can make flatting bad, and make folding an otherwise good hand the best play. For instance, are there stacks behind you that are likely to go allin, forcing you out of the pot preflop? Will you be playing the pot against a good player out of position? Does your hand have reverse implied odds? These are things to consider before calling with a "good" hand with relatively shallow stacks.

- 3bet/folding
- 3bet/folding is reraising an initial raise, planning to fold if that person 4bets. First of all, you should never do this with less than 30BBs, and I would rarely do it even with that stack size (I would prefer to have at least 40BBs). There are two reasons to do this:
- 1) Maximizing value from terrible players that will call 3bets too often but will not 4bet without the goods (passive callstations). Sometimes you will run into players who don't like to fold preflop, but also don't really like to 4bet unless they have a very good hand. When these players raise, if you have a strong hand, even if that hand can't call a shove, it's often good to 3bet to begin to build the pot against a player who you know will not fold. It's important to note that these players are fairly rare, but when you see them, you should adjust accordingly.

- 2) Stealing pots from players who open very wide but will have a tight 4betting range, and will not call your 3bet. These players are somewhat common -- decent players who have a wide opening range (they like to steal the blinds), but who do not want to play a huge pot with a marginal hand. So it folds to them in the CO with 40BBs, and you cover. Their open-raising range is top 30% of hands, but they perceive you as tight and do not want to risk their tournament with a marginal hand, so they will only 4bet you with 5% of hands, which means with 1/6th of their opening range. So, assuming their are antes, and assuming the blinds also playback with top 5%, that would mean that somewhere around 75% of the time you pick up 3BBs (open)+.5BB (SB) +1BB (BB) +1BB (antes), or 5.5 BBs, and around 25% of the time you lose your 9BB 3bet. (5.5*.75) - (9*.25) = 4.125 - 2.25 = + almost 2BBs, a significant profit. Now you can't do this too much or people's 4betting ranges will widen, they will react to your aggression. But well-timed light 3bets like this can effectively maintain an aggressive image for you, so that you do get paid off more often when you have a big hand, and, at the same time, be profitable in and of themselves.

* General Postflop Strategy
- Introduction:
- Postflop strategy is, unfortunately, far too multifaceted a topic to be properly addressed in a simple outline for tournament strategy. However, I will try to give a small amount of insight on general postflop play.
- Early tournament play:
- There are three common postflop leaks I see in players early in tournaments. They are:
- Playing marginal hands out of position:
- Listen to me very carefully. At a 9handed table, AJo is not a winning hand UTG. Neither is 76s. Just fold them guys. Just fold them. Hehe. Seriously though, it's very important to recognize that position is critically important in NLHE, and when you reach postflop with hands like this, you are going to often be put in terrible spots because you have flopped one pair and don't know where you stand. You need to avoid these postflop spots before they happen by playing very tight in EP and loosening up significantly as you move closer to the button. On that same note, almost all people should be defending their blinds much tighter than they are. This is going to sound crazy, but you don't have to defend ATo 50BBs deep against a raise from MP. If the player is competent, he will probably have an edge on you postflop against that hand. Same thing with 87s. When you want to widen your preflop range, do it in position, so that you will not be put in very difficult spots after the flop.
- Turn passivity:
- It is very common for tournament players these days to call continuation bets. They think that everyone continuation bets their entire range, and they can call one bet with a marginal hand and fold to a second barrel. As a result, we need to be firing that second barrel with some frequency. Now, we can't just be firing it all the time, just for the sake of it. You will need to gradually become accustomed to board textures and specific turn cards that give you the liberty of being able to fire an effective turn barrel as a bluff.
- Examples of profitable turn aggression:
- Effective stacks 3000, blinds 25/50, we openraise to 150 preflop from the CO with 87s. BB defends. Flop is Q63r. BB checks, we fire 225, BB calls. turn A. BB checks, we bet 575, BB folds. Here, there are very few aces in BB's range after calling the flop, and many middle pairs, things of that nature, so we want to put a lot of pressure on him to fold those hands. And it makes sense for him to fold -- our range will often include many aces after raising preflop and continuation betting the flop.
- We have 5300, blinds 50/100, we openraise to 300 from the HJ with KJhh. SB has 3300 and defends. Flop is T84 with one heart, SB checks and we bet 475. SB calls, so there is 1650 in the pot going to the turn and SB has 2525 left. Turn offsuit Q, SB checks, we bet 1325. This is a good example because I think many players like to check here after picking up a draw, which is good sometimes, but you need to recognize stack sizes that will allow you to pot commit yourself or your opponent on the turn, and, if you are forced to get allin, have a decent amount of outs against your opponent's range. What this does is it widens your turn betting range without having you piss away chips drawing dead, which will allow you to valuebet the turn far wider and leave your opponents confused and scared to play against you. Also this relates back to flop play -- when we are firing two barrels on the turn when we pick up a strong draw and can make a pot-commiting bet, it allows us to fire the flop wider with hands with backdoor draws, because we know we will have many cards that we can hit on the turn that allow us to put our opponent to a difficult decision.
- Missing river value bets:
- Making thin river value bets requires a modicum of handreading, which comes with time and experience, but you can do it! What you need to do is really THINK, when you get to the river and have to decide whether to bet or check, about every street of information you've gained thus far. Think about your opponent's preflop range, whether he raised or called, and what that means. Think about his flop range -- did he bet or call your bet, or even call your raise, and what does that mean about his hand? Think about his turn range -- how did he react to your turn aggression? What was his timing like? Gather all of this information together, and then think about what your opponent's range should be. It should be fairly narrow at this point. Then use that information and think about a bet size he can call. Sometimes it is very apparent that your opponent has a very strong hand, but yours is stronger. If that is the case, bet BIG. Make him pay for it. But in other cases, you have a good one pair hand, and you are fairly certain that your opponent will have worse. In that situation, maybe make a bet of just over halfpot. You need to always be thinking on the river about all the information you've gathered so far, and how you can use that to make your opponent do what you want.
- Late tournament play:
- There are some common leaks I see in late tournament postflop play as well:
- Turning marginal hands into bluffs:
- Folds to you at 300/600/50 in the HJ, you start the hand with 17k, and raise with 77. BB covers and flats. Flop comes Q52r, he checks, and you bet. This is a mistake. Here we are not likely to bluff him off of a better hand, and not likely to get value from a worse hand. We need to check and try to catch opponent's bluffs on the turn and river, and basically try to get to showdown with a small pot.

- Missing river value:
- Same as above, except this can be a real leak, because the chips you get from river value betting can be so important! You will often have less information deep in the tournament, but you need to constantly be looking for thin value and trying to get the maximum from your opponent's range, because the deeper in the tournament it gets, the more important those extra chips are. There is some room for pause here though -- you should be wary of going too thin for value when "valuetowning yourself" (betting for value and being called by a better hand) will change your stack flexibility, i.e., move you from 20BBs to 7BBs, changing what your options are preflop.
- Failing to plan bet sizing to get allin by the river:
- Deep in tournaments, you should often be able to get allin by the river. When you have a good hand, you should be planning your betsizing to do just this. You need to be thinking about what the pot will be after your make your flop bet, and what that will allow you to bet on the turn without raising eyebrows, which will leave you with a

.

AKss- Villian limp shoves pre

URaBIGjoke — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:11:21 GMT

Poker Stars $1.00+$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 9 players - View hand 1761463
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: t1235 12.35 BBs
BB: t2313 23.13 BBs
UTG: t4300 43 BBs
UTG+1: t9752 97.52 BBs
UTG+2: t28940 289.40 BBs
MP1: t20512 205.12 BBs
MP2: t5800 58 BBs
Hero (CO): t2735 27.35 BBs
BTN: t13190 131.90 BBs

Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is CO with K A
2 folds, UTG+2 calls t100, 2 folds, Hero raises to t500, 2 folds, BB calls t400, UTG+2 raises to t28940 all in, Hero calls t2235 all in, 1 fold

Utg+2 was a super fish been donking around and getting lucky and the caller behind me was a 35/25 player.
I expected the villian to have a wide range which he couldnt fold.
My question here is the call right with a 27bb stack?

Is top pair fold ?

finesse — Sat, 12 May 2012 20:37:49 GMT

At a recent live tournament

Blinds: 300 / 600
Antes: 75

I open pot from UTG+2 (17000 chips) with Kc Js 1400 ... hijack calls (14000 chips) ... SB calls (23000 chips) .... BB calls (20000 chips)

Flop is: Ks 2c 3d

SB checks ... BB checks ... I bet 3600 ... Hijack folds ... SB calls ... BB folds

Turn is : 6c

SB checks ... I check behind

River is : 9c

SB bets 6000 ... What would be the right move here ??

ULTIMATE POKER CHALLENGE (UPC) (26 LACS GUARANTEED) 16th-20th May, Casino Pride, Goa

acesunlimited — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:18:08 GMT

The Ultimate Poker Challenge (UPC) 16th-20th May @ the Pride Poker Room, Goa. To register go to - www.ultimatepokerchallenge.in

16-May -- 5k Mega Satellite with Re-entries (2 Main Event seats GTD)
17-May -- 5k Rebuy (Single/Double) +Addon (INR 300,000 GTD)
18-May -- 10k Freezeout (INR 400,000 GTD)
19-May -- 50k Main Event (Freezeout) (INR 15,00,000 GTD)
20-May -- 12k Bounty (INR 300,000 GTD)

All tournaments will start at 8.30 P.M. Sharp.

50K Live Freeroll on the 16th of May at 5 P.M. only for the 1st 30 Players who report to the Pride Poker Room.

Satellites will start at 6 P.M. everyday.

PokerStars Macau Returns to Grand Waldo

Poker Guru — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:51:43 GMT

The PokerStars Macau live poker room will make a return to the spectacular Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex on June 9, 2012. It was previously housed there in 2008, before moving to the Casino Grand Lisboa venue in 2009, where it was located until the contract came to an end in March this year.

PokerStars Macau is home to the biggest and richest poker tournaments in Asia, and the new poker room will be located in the Grand Waldo main casino area, while the special events will be held in the new Conference and Exhibition Centre. The ever-popular Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon series will launch the new venue from June 9-18. The 10-day event includes nine Official Asia Player of the Year events and features the legendary Red Dragon Main Event, which comes with a HKD $3,000,000 guarantee.

PokerStars’ association with the Grand Waldo began in May 2008, when it was the venue for PokerStars’ first ever live poker room in Macau. Then from March 2009 until March 2012, the Casino Grand Lisboa served as home for the world’s largest poker room in Macau.

“It’s like coming back home after a long trip. It feels good.”said Danny McDonagh, PokerStars Director of Live Operations for Asia-Pacific. “This is where poker began in Asia, and the players can expect a lot more this time around. The entire Grand Waldo complex has been getting a make-over since we were last here."

"PokerStars Macau will run cash games in the Grand Waldo Casino and the new conference and exhibition centre is an ideal area for major poker tournaments. It’s going to give us new opportunities for enhancing the poker-playing experience.”

Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang added, “I have great memories of Grand Waldo. This was where I made my first big final table during APPT in 2008 and also where I met my wife. The PokerStars Macau tournaments are growing at a ridiculous rate so this is an exciting step to adequately fill the monster fields coming for these events.”

Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex

The luxurious Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex offers players five-star guest accommodation in 316 guest rooms plus 24 VIP suites in the Grand Waldo Hotel block, a 3,950 square meter Conference and Exhibition Centre, a 24-hour family-oriented spa, and a stylish nightclub.

Food lovers can also enjoy the new Rain Restaurant and Bar offering a high-class, friendly and relaxing atmosphere with live music and a wide range of food to choose from, including cocktail-style menus and five-course fine dining.

2012 PokerStars Macau calendar updates

PokerStars also confirmed today that the Macau Poker Cup Championship and ACOP (Asia Championship of Poker) will take place as originally planned in September and November respectively.

However, there have been some additions to the PokerStars Macau calendar, which will now host four major tournaments for the remainder of 2012. Most notable of these is the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Season 6 leg in Macau, which will include a HKD $30,000 event during the ACOP, which runs from October 26 to November 11.

Also, the ACOP: Platinum Series will be integrated into the Macau Poker Cup schedules in June, July, and September, where the final 10 players in each of the HKD $500,000 guaranteed events will play off for a HKD $100,000 seat to the ACOP Main Event.

JJ in sb - near the bubble

URaBIGjoke — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:41:17 GMT

Poker Stars $1.36+$0.14 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t300/t600 Blinds + t50 - 6 players - View hand 1759552
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: t7577 M = 6.31
Hero (SB): t5918 M = 4.93
BB: t5344 M = 4.45
UTG: t2415 M = 2.01
MP: t1334 M = 1.11
CO: t3214 M = 2.68

Pre Flop: (t1200) Hero is SB with J J
1 fold, MP raises to t1284 all in, 1 fold, BTN raises to t7527 all in, 2 folds

I think this is a very nitty fold. Top 4 get paid and there are 2 short stacks already and i dint find risking all my chips appropriate move that time. Button was playing very tight so i thought i would be flipping high percentage of time here which is why i folded.
Any thoughts? What would be the calling range here?

The Dollar Poker Festival, Colombo

vishaliprtgoa — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:49:03 GMT

The Dollar Poker Festival, Colombo

Jims Room at the Casino Bellagio,Colombo ivites you to The Dollar Poker Festival (7th to 10th June 2012).
Come and enjoy an exciting weekend at Colombo playing your favourite game at the best casino in Sri Lanka. Experience the great Sri Lankan hospitality participate in the action filled tables at Jims Room, Sri Lanka's first poker room.
Avail of sensational packages which will make your travelling to Colombo a welcome pleasure!

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Toll Free(India) 1800-200-7200 or Jims Room(Colombo) 0094776868543

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Visit us on: Jimscardroom.com

Attached Images

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Spot with AA pretty deep

rentdollarinplay — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:12:10 GMT

villain is scandi (norway), i hvnt seen him before, he sat with over a 800 stack.
history : Earlier he peeled my 4bet SB vs BB and c-r smallish JJx 2tone board and I folded.

Seems to be very active and playing lots of hands, could be a reg under a different screen-name on a different ipoker skin, not 100% sure though. Doesnt like to give up in most spots and seems to be a good hand reader post flop, though more than slightly loose pre, also likely to be very tricky (saw him c-r river twice, saw one SD where he had a missed backdoor flushdraw). He is playing 2 tables of 2/4. we are about 180bb deep

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $4(BB) Replayer
BTN ($718.39)
SB ($1021.35)
BB ($800)
Hero ($693.70)
MP: ($321.61)
CO: ($368.55)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ah Ad
Hero raises to $14, 3 folds, SB calls $12, BB folds

Flop: ($32) 5c Ks 4c (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $21, SB raises to $52, Hero calls $31

Turn: ($136) 4s (2 players)
SB bets $68

On paired turn with his tricky bet sizing do we like a raise or do we just flat? why?
Which rivers are we going to call a big bet on and which rivers are we folding?
Thoughts on flop flat?

i've about $630 behind

edit : game is 2/4 euro so tends to play like the 3/6$ games

Odds vs Gutsy Fold!

saranshprateek — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:54:42 GMT

Here is a hand I played few days back in a pokerstars tournament

Blinds - 25/50
My Stack - 3500
Everyone else - 2000-2700

Table was normal.
One guy limps, I raise from button to 200. Small Blind calls, Big Blind calls, and Limper also calls.

My hand - 10h10s

Flop comes - 8c10c9c

Action- Small Blind goes allin. Big Blind shoves instantly. Limper thinks for a while and shoves. I need to call 2500 in a pot of 8000.

I flopped the top set.
I know one of the villains has flopped a flush. But, I am getting perfect odds to call for a redraw (full house) i.e. 36% favorite.
But the tournament just started, I have only put 4BB out of my 70BB stack.

So should I call or fold?