Pot Limit Win

I won a 49 player PL tournament last night on bodog. It was a 15+1 with 9 spots in the money. The tournamnet followed normal bodog structure and started with a 1,500 stack. The stack size doesn't seem to be that big of a deal in these tourneys until you hit level 6 (start of the second hour). By level 8-9 the game should become much more push oriented, but per chance last evening it didn't. The field was remarkably passive, sans on hyper aggresor sitting two to my right through the whole tourney. I eventually picked him off at the final table with KK vs. AQs. I was involved in very few big pots and therefore was able to stay around average stack until the final table. The KK hand I mentioned was what put me in the chip lead with $18K and the blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante and seven players left. This shows that my chip leading stack was quite small with respect to the blinds, but I guess this should be expected with a passive field an only 1,500 starting chips. I was able to pick off four of the last five villians -- most with easy calls (TPTK or better). Overall, it was nice to win a tourney for the first time in quite a while.

Cheers.

Poker for the kiddies...

An interesting piece in the NYT yesterday highlighted a new group being founded at Harvard Law, which focuses on promoting poker as an educational tool.

A Harvard Law School professor and a group of his students formed an organization this fall — the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society — dedicated to demonstrating that poker has educational benefits. They argue that the game, which is probability-based and requires risk assessment, situational analysis and a gift for reading people, can be an effective teaching tool, whether for middle school math or in business and law classes.

I'm not totally convinced that promoting poker for middle school math learning is a positive expected value for the game as a whole, but I do appreciate a group working to show that this is not exclusively a game for degenerate gamblers. The variety of situations faced in a game are virtually endless and the number of decision points involved allow for a relatively fast learning environment. The value of poker for grad level students is not in doubt to me and it may be that younger kids can take a lesson from the game as well -- but it probably shouldn't be in the same form they see on TV. In addition, if poker is to be used as an educational tool -- it must include more than just NL Texas Hold'em. An exploration into Limit Hold'em may be the best spot to gain interest and keep math as the center focus... NL tends to involve much more reading of people and understanding implied odds and other factors.

Also, if any grad students want to learn how to play... I'd be glad to teach you. (Bring $50).

Job Cuts in Poker?

The NY Times Business section today has a piece on job cuts in the poker industry. I have often wondered if this type of technology, which effectively eliminates dealers, would become the new big thing. I doubt it will catch on incrediably quickly because the old timers will keep an outcry against it for sometime, but the idea of getting 46 hands per hour will undoubtably be alluring for a number of gamblers as well as owners. We shall see, but in many ways this is the logical progression of increased productivity, online gaming, and techological advances. I hope this doesn't take effect anytime soon, because I have friends in the industry. I also just love playing with real chips and cards. I mean, how am I going to justify losing without a dealer to blame, or how can I throw my cards down in disgust when I have no cards?

Stop.... HAMMER TIME!

One of my favorite poker stories... (it's not a bad beat... or at least for me)

Setting: Treasure Island Poker Room
Game: 9 handed Two-Four Limit Hold’em
My Stack: $80?
My Position: middle -- 4th preflop action

Under the Gun (UTG) folds, UTG+1 calls, Old Lady Villian makes it 4, Donkey makes it 6, fold, fold, button calls, small folds, big blind calls. 5 to the flop with $31 pre drop in the pot.

Flop comes Qd 5h 9s. big blind checks, UTG+1 checks, OL Villian bets 2, Donkey makes it 4, button calls, big blind folds, UTG+1 folds, OL Villian calls. 3 to the turn with $43 pre drop.

Turn comes 3h. OLV bets 4, Donkey makes it 8, button folds, OLV calls. 2 to the river $59 pre drop (after drop -- Boofer would it be $55 or $56?)

River comes 8s. OLV checks, Donkey bets 4, Pot is now $59-$63 with $4 to call – OLV lays down saying she had a good queen. Donkey calls over friend to show him that he has successfully bluffed a huge pot in 2/4 with THE HAMMER – 2/7 offsuit... I love poker.

Online poker scandal

I highly doubt anyone has missed the biggest online poker scandal in recent history, if not ever. As mentioned in the Freakonomics post, I sincerely hope that if there was an employee within Absolute who blew the whistle by supplying the necessary data to the public that they are congratulated and commended by the poker player community. I have been oft quoted as saying that there is no institutional interest in cheating by online poker sites. This does not, however, account for what appears to have been the likely case here – an individual with inside information using it for evil. A hearty well done goes out to the folks over at 2+2 forums for putting together one of the most intensive collaborative online detective jobs ever seen outside of the conspiracy theorists sites. A call to arms for all online players: Vote with your virtual dollars and move to a more reputable site.

Of personal poker note, I will get a chance to play live in a couple weeks when I return to Evansville IN for a weekend getaway. I cut my teeth playing 5/10 Limit at Aztar and I’m really hoping they still offer it. I hope to prove I can still play limit hold’em halfway correctly. I still remember how good I thought I was the first couple of times I walked with a two-bill profit. I also remember being so tight that I would fold pocket 6’s or 7’s in the cut-off position with nobody else in the pot in front of me... Now I don’t know if I could throw out a raise quick enough.