Here's proof FTP is insane!

Remember my hand a coupla posts down where we all flopped sets and I lost a bundle? Well, I talked about it on the show as Hand of the Week and we got an email today about that hand. Tom was in a tournament and saw the EXACT same thing happen, and to prove it, he sent me this screenshot.

FullTiltPoker is insane! I don't care what people say about the stability of programs that are written for these sites, they do this kind of thing ALL the time and it's ridiculous! I can't tell you how many times I see a flop come JJJ or AAA or KKK. In all of the times I have played brick and mortar or even home games, this happens maybe once every coupla months, and yet it happens every time I sit down at FTP or PR.

Sad.

Starting to hate Limit poker again

Last night I played Limit Omaha on PokerRoom and my frustration got the best of me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean I went on tilt and lost money. Quite the contrary. I just got tired of playing limit.

I know I'm supposed to play hands that have a lot of draw and redraw power, and I know I'm supposed to draw to the stone-cold nuts, so that's basically the strategy I always use. And I know that if the flop misses me completely and I don't have any real draws (or redraws) that I should get out, especially when faced with a bet or two and there's still people left to act. But when I get a hand like AAKQ double-suited, and I can't do anything but put in one more bet and then fold when the flop comes all low cards and all clubs, I have to move on or change strategies. What ticked me off about that hand was people bet and raised and reraised so when it got to me I had to get out. The turn was a Q and the river was an ace, which would have given me trips, which I was certain couldn't have been good. The bets continued to escalate, including being capped on the turn, and two pair won the hand! TWO PAIR?!!??!! One guy was betting his draw and the other players had lower two pair. The guy betting his draw didn't get there but his AQ made runner-runner two pair to win. I would've won a huge pot with trip aces, but how could I stay in? If I could've raised enough preflop I might have taken this pot.

So I mixed it up after that and rallied for a profit when I made the nut straight on the flop playing 4-5-6-7 rainbow. I got my bets in and a flush/full house failed to come on the turn/river. So with my VERY small profit, you know what I did? I moved to a pot-limit Omaha table. Screw LIMIT!

I like PL better because when I have a hand I can make it a little bit expensive for them to play, and if the draws/redraws don't come I can win a nice pot. I also like PL when I'm in late position with a hand because everyone limps and then you can REALLY put in a bet that will make them think twice about playing AJ67o.

Anyway, my limit rants continue. I can't wait till May when I go on a cruise to Mexico on a boat that has only limit Hold Em. That should be torture. So much for relaxation.

Team tournament strategy

So, now that Derby Lane is back running tournaments, they've scheduled a pretty interesting one for this Sunday: a two-person team tournament.

Fasso will be my partner in this new format. We're at work devising what the proper strategy should be, but I figured, "hey, we have a lot of smart listeners and bloggers out there, maybe they have a thought or two on how to play this."

Here's the deal:
It's a timed tournament - 3 hours. At the end of the 3 hours, your chips are combined with your partner's chips, and the 9 teams who have the highest chip counts place (max of 75 teams allowed). If your partner is felted, you're still alive. Starting chips and blind structure are extremely generous, considering how stingy Derby usually is on both: start with 2000 in chips, blinds begin at 25-50 and increase every 30 minutes, ending at 500-1000.

They also aren't doing random seat assignments, and they're going to try their best to minimize partners playing at the same table. (Partners will wear matching bracelets).

My first thought was with a starting chip/blind structure like this, combined with the normal Wild Wild West play at Derby, the prudent play would be to stay very, very tight for the first half at least, playing only premimum starting hands and trying to induce action.

Chris says he thinks a better play would be to be ultra-aggressive early on and then tighten up when the blinds get big.

Or perhaps the best strategy is for one of us to play tight and one to play loose.

So, the floor's all yours, Ante Up Nation. How would you play it?

P.S. One interesting tidbit - with a timed tournament, I hafta imagine there will be a LOT of all-ins on the last hand. Can you imagine sorting through 6 side pots to crown a champion?!? Sigh ...

OK, here's a hand where I lost a bundle

Seems like everyone is always griping about my Hands of the Week because I always seem to win a monster pot. But then when you tell a bad beat people are always saying, NO ONE wants to hear about a bad beat! Well, you can't have it both ways. So, I'm gonna tell you about a hand I just had that cost me almost my entire bankroll on FTP. I had won a little money in Razz but I wasn't getting anywhere near clearing another level of my bonus. So I decided to play No Limit Hold Em, and let me preface by saying I have lost the most money in my career in NLHE on FTP. I've lost some decent pots on PR, but FTP is unreal.

OK, so I've got about $70, I had just won about $10 so I was feeling good. A guy in second position raises the standard 3x the BB and I'm on the button. I look down at 4♣4♠ so I call hoping to catch a set or see low cards. The guy in the BB also calls. So there's roughly $9 in the pot preflop. The flop comes 4♥6♠K♣. They both check, so I think they either missed the flop or they have a pocket pair that's at least under the king. So, if you harken back to your Super System tips, you remember that Doyle always suggests that when you have a preflop raiser and you hit your set, you should generally bet big into them because they more than likely will pay you off. So I thought about it and bet the size of the pot, which isn't exactly big, but I also don't want to lose them with this monster. Both players call! So now there's $40 in the pot. They both check again when a 5♣ peels off, and considering the preflop raise I wasn't putting anyone on a straight draw and of course there is now a flush draw. So I bet another $10 to see where I am. The BB pushes all-in for his final $30 and the initial raiser calls! So it's only $20 more to me. I HAVE to call with a set and $110 in the pot. I have like $25 left after the call. The river is an A ♣. So, there is a flush possibility and if one of these guys has pocket rockets I'm beat. He bets my final $25 and I have to call. He turns over pocket kings and the other guy shows his pocket sixes. ALL THREE OF US FLOPPED A SET! Now, tell me that's not bull! I lost like $70 on that hand and the other guy lost like $50. How many times have you seen TWO people flop a set in Hold Em, never mind THREE?!!!

So, do you want to know what the humorous part is? After the hand, a large prompt comes up on the screen and says: Congratulations! You just cleared another $20 bonus and we have credited your account!!! OH JOY!! I just lost $70 to win $20. And I had been so good up to that point too. So, is this one of those hands I should have gotten away from? In hindsight of course, but it's almost 8-to-1 that I flop a set there, never mind all of us. I put the initial raiser on like AK and thought I had him. I wasn't sure what the other guy had because he was in the BB, but it just didn't occur to me that they could have a better set until I was pot-committed.

At least I cleared my other $50 bonus on PR and had a big win there to level things off. It's all one big bankroll, and I'm going to have fluctuations, but that was a killer, and highly unlikely in the real world.

OK, so there you have it, a HUGE pot I DIDN'T win.

Am I bitter? I guess so, but that's poker, right?

World Poker Association

Got an email today from Kenna James mentioning the WPA (World Poker Association) which has its official launch is this week. Here's what Kenna had to say: "This player association is LONG overdue and needs your support. There is no one that I respect or believe in more then Jesse Jones (who runs it) to be the one to establish this organization. It is NON-PROFIT except for Jesse in which case it is NEGATIVE profit and a labor of love. Please show your support by becoming a member and encouraging your friends also. Check out the site today at www.wpapoker.com I just thought this was interesting, especially given the content of Wednesday's show.

It's something to look at and think about over the weekend.

More this and that

Hey rounders,

Coupla things to mention today. Our podcast was sent to iTunes yesterday just fine, but our feed on the web site wasn't updated until like 2:45 today. I could give you a laundry list of reasons why this happened but it doesn't make us go back in time and fix the problem, so let's just leave it at that.

But, speaking of our web site and the podcast. Remember when we were having trouble with iTunes and trying to get our show up on its site? Well, back then, to "fool" Apple, we had to create a new feed that Apple could approve, and in doing that we created two feeds. Well, for housekeeping purposes and the sake of uniformity, we are going to be doing away with the original feed very soon. If you are getting our feed from a site other than iTunes, you run the very real risk of not being able to get our show because we are not sure how many sites have picked us up and whether or not they use the old feed or the new one. Also the feed that's on the blog is the old one and will be updated very soon to the iTunes feed. I don't pretend to know what all of this means, but I do know you'll need to have the newest feed or you won't get our show. I'll post again when the actual move happens, but I just thought I'd warn you.

One other thing: I held the Ladies Night Poker Instruction/Tournament at my wife's club yesterday and I think it went very well. The spectrum of players there reached as far as people who have actually played the game for money to people who didn't even know what two pair was, so it was a challenge to keep everyone focused while still teaching. The women really enjoyed themselves and are already asking my wife when they can do it again. I've told her to tell them that I'd be glad to go to their homes and teach them for a fee, so we'll see if that pans out.

Haven't played much online, just a few hands here and there. Nothing to brag about and nothing to complain about so I'll just leave it at that.

The Andy Bloch show was VERY informative and really gave us a peak inside the WPT debacle as well as some other things. Andy was very gracious with his time and he really took apart the hand of the week so I hope Dan appreciates that. I wonder what Andy would charge for lessons? LOL!

OK, more later.

This and that

Hey all,

Got a bunch of little things to report so I'll just list them in no specific order.

HOMEGAME: We had our semimonthly homegame this weekend. It was supposed to have about 15 people with a few playing a live table and the rest playing tournaments, but we were all skeptical. Turns out we had 10 show up which is still good by our standards, but no one wanted to play a cash game so we all played turbo SNGs. I didn't make a dime in the tournaments but I made some stellar laydowns that I was proud of, so that kinda made it worth it. I did face off with Fatso in two $20 NL freezeouts and won them both so I still made a profit on the day. I also hooked up with Gambit on FullTilt and won a decent amount in Razz (not from him, just from the table). I've since gone back and won more, so I am convinced Razz is my "calling" aside from Hold Em. Simple game for a simple mind, huh?

KENNA JAMES: Our good friend came in second at the WPT's PartyPoker Million and took home a cool $700K. He's second in the player of the year standings (not sure which one, but that's what he said). You can check out his Updates from the road at kennajames.com. And if you saw him on the WPT last Wednesday you can really appreciate how amazing this guy is. He made perfect reads and still lost when the guy who just wanted to go home went all-in with J-10. Unreal. Kenna took it like a gentleman, that's why he's the COWBOY!

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: Well, we had our tournament, and it went off about 75 minutes late because the golfers were still out on the course. When they finally came in most of them were drunk and loud but they settled down and had a good time playing poker. I had to explain a lot of things to people and I kept the tables balanced, but all in all it was smooth. At the end when it got down to the final table I dealt and as Playthrough poingantly pointed out, I might get tipped, and I did! Now, this Wednesday I have to teach a seminar to the ladies of the club! That should be fun, and maybe I'll have someone ask for lessons.

Anyone watch the Monte Carlo Millions on FSN? The hand between Ivey and Jackson at the end when Ivey had Q♥6♥ and Jackson had 6♠5♣ was sick! Is it any wonder why Ivey is my hero?

That's about it. Had a bunch of bad beats this weekend but still had the mettle to rally and show a nice profit for the two days of poker.

More later, and don't forget, Andy Bloch is Wednesday!

Determining a world champion

I thought I'd put this up for the weekend, something to chew on as we rake in money hand over fist at the tables.

How do you think a world champion should be crowned? Do you think the current method is best? With more than 5,000 entrants this year, and surely more than that next, is this a true way to gauge the best poker player in the world for that year? It may make you the best NLHE player that month, but does it really make you the best POKER player in the world for the year? It's tradition, and do you want to screw with that? Hell yes!

What about a tournament such as the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event? This incorporates just about every game of consequence in the poker genre, and it has an expensive buy-in to keep out the fly-by-night satellite winners, etc. But, this is always LIMIT. And, I believe it gives STUD players an advantage. One of the beautiful things about NL play is the big weapon of all-in. Sure, you may say that this takes out the nuances and makes you play REAL poker, but I disagree. The mark of a true poker player is one who can deal with these types of moves and still win, all the while utilizing the all-in move for his/her own benefit. So the argument for H.O.R.S.E. is that it is a better representative of all things poker and requires the player to really understand the game as a whole. But, there is another downside: the buy-in. There are plenty of incredibly talented players in the world who don't have that kind of cash to enter a tournament. Sure, that ensures the satellite winners will be few and far between, but what about the player who can play all of the games but just can't get up the scratch to prove it? I feel a high buy-in like this makes the tournament almost fraternal in nature, as the big boys will be snickering at the railbirds because they finally have a WSOP event to themselves again. For this I think the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event would fail in this capacity.

Or, what about a points system? Like the BCS in football, certain major tournaments (i.e. WSOP events, WPT events, Euro/Aussie majors) will have point values. In the end, these points will determine the top 100 players in the world, and then they will be seated at 10 tables of 10 players each. The winner of that tournament has earned the right to be there, and rose to the occasion when it mattered most. And this tournament would be what I would call R.O.S.H. -- Razz, Omaha (HIGH ONLY), Stud (REGULAR) and No Limit Hold 'Em. This would be awesome! Imagine the players who suck at Razz pushing all-in during No Limit just to make enough chips to fade the Razz portion. And, I'm a firm believer that Hi/Lo games are for wusses and show no real poker value. Sorry, Scott and anyone else, but to get rewarded for sticking around because you were fortunate enough to get A-2 in the hole in Omaha, is a joke to me. I played it at Foxwoods and it made me ill. To be rewarded for having crap is totally against what poker is about IMHO. As for Razz, the whole concept is to make the best "worst" hand and it isn't a split game, so I don't want to hear anyone whining that it's the same thing, because it's not even close.

So there you have it, three scenarios for the World Champion. Which one are you for? You can probably guess which one I choose.

My thoughts on Razz

Hey all,

Sorry for the long layoff, but this new tbt daily gig has been kicking my butt. Our show today was on Razz, and though we covered it fairly well, I said that I had a bunch of notes that better defined the game, nuances and strategies. So, without further adieu, here's a primer on RAZZ:

Rules: You need to make the lowest or "worst" five-card hand, and straights and flushes don't count against you. The best hand is 5-4-3-2-A, known as a wheel. You can figure out the values of hands from there, such as 6-4-3-2-A being the next best hand and so on. So if you have a 9-4-3-2-A and someone has a 9-8-3-2-A, you win because you're playing a 9-4 and he's playing a 9-8. In this example, your 9-4 would be considered a SMOOTH 9-low and the 9-8 would be called a ROUGH 9-low because it's not the best 9-low possible.

HOW IT'S PLAYED: The game is dealt just like 7-card stud with two cards down, four cards up and one card down.
There's betting after the third card dealt (also called your "door" card or the first UP card) and on every subsequent street. On the first round of betting the high card showing has to "bring it in" which is a forced bet to ensure action, and it's usually a quarter of a full bet. Everyone else can just call the bring-in or they can complete the bet, which would be one full bet. At fourth street and throughout, the best hand (meaning the lowest hand) is first to act. He can check or bet. It's a limit game so you can only go up
one bet at a time. That's it.

TIPS
* I believe in the initial stages of learning this game, as with most games, tight is right. Don't play a hand that doesn't have three to an 8-low. And, ideally, you'd want that 8 to be concealed. If the highest card in your hand is concealed you have a much more powerful hand because of its deception. And if you're playing tight, as I suggest, then you really don't want to start with anything less than three to a seven. And, believe it or not, there are times when should you even FOLD three to a seven. When? If a lot of the cards you need are exposed; when you have to call two bets cold; or when it's a rough 7, like 7-6-5 or 7-6-2.

* People will often say position in stud games is not important, and they couldn't be more wrong. It almost always determines the strength of your hand and your play. For instance, you may have a 9 showing to start a hand. Everyone folded to you in fourth position and there are nothing but kings, queens, jacks and 10s behind you. At this point you want to complete the bet and force the other players to either be perfect in the hole or to fold. You have a very powerful hand at that point regardless of what you have in the hole. On the other hand, say you're second to act with an 8 showing and nothing but Aces, 2s, 4s, 5s, and 6s behind you. Your starting card is better than the 9 in the previous hand, but your position is horrible and it's a clear fold because there are a bunch of better cards to act after you.

* Look at the other cards on the board. This tip is true of all stud games, but in Razz it's much easier because you don't have to keep track of suits. In stud and stud hi/lo, if you or your opponents are going for a flush, you'll have to keep track of how many cards in your suit are out. Same for straights, you have to keep track of the ranks as well. In Razz, only the numbers count baby! If a lot of the cards you need are out already, you might want to consider folding. Also, if the cards YOU hold ARE out then that's called being duplicated, and that's a good thing. It's not like counterfeiting in hold 'em, which is bad. In this case, duplicating is good because the likelihood of your cards pairing you up or turning into a set grows thinner.

* If someone is playing an 8 or a 9 door card, it's more likely that he's PERFECT in the hole, that's to say he probably had two to a wheel in the hole or very close. Now, I may be giving some players too much credit here, but it definitely is likely he's not playing with a pair or 7-8-9 at that point. Which brings me to my next point, if he's playing a higher door card like an 8, if he gets a seven on fourth street, the likelihood that he paired that seven is remote since, like I said, he's probably perfect. However, if he gets an ace, two, or three, he may have paired those cards since he likely had two of them in the hole to consider his 8 playable. At this point it's up to you how you feel about your hand vs. his.

* If you're last to act, and it's just you and the bring-in bet (which is almost always paint), be sure to raise every time. You don’t want to give the bring-in a free card even if you have a powerful 3-card hand. There are two reasons for this: (1) He'll generally fold because he'd have to be perfect in the hole and still hope for you to miss and (2) If you give him a free card he may just get a perfect card for free and you could draw a higher card than his door card and then you’re off to the races. Make him pay to see another card every time. They will fold more times than not and it's always a profitable play because there are antes and his bring-in bet out there for the taking.

* Take a good look at the hands out there on fifth street. It's here where you know if you're leading or not. There's no deception. If someone has a K showing and all of your cards are under a king, you're leading. It's not like stud where he could have two kings in the hole for trips that beat your aces-up. At fifth street you know where you're at.
Now, that's not to say you're the favorite, as you will soon find out that the made hand isn't always the one most likely to win at this point. Doyle Brunson has a very small but useful section in Super System on Razz, and in this section he has an appendix that says an A-2-3-4-Q is a favorite over a 9-8-7-4-A. You may be leading after five cards with that 9-8, but the Q-4 will get there more times than not. So be cautious. If you're still ahead after sixth street then you're a big favorite (about 5-to-3). He does, however, say the same Q-4 hand is a dog to a made 9-6-3-2-A.

* If you have low cards in the hole and you pair one of them on fourth or fifth street, don't be afraid to still represent a hand. More times than not that card looks like it HELPED you rather than paired you. If you're going to call a bet, you may as well make a bet, especially if the other opponents don't hit "perfect" cards.

* If you have someone board-locked, you should bet/raise until it's capped. In other words, if you have (A-2) 8-3-7-9 and your opponent has 8-3-7-J, so the best he can be is tied with you with just one card to come. At this point you know you're not losing and he'd have to catch perfect to beat you on the river. What's more, he might have an A-4 in the hole and think his hand is good, so ram and jam!

* Never try to hit two perfect cards in a row. If you started with three to a wheel and then hit K-Q while someone with a scary board is betting into you, it's time to throw it away. Sure, it started out great, but you can't rely on two perfect cards to get you out of this jam. Just lick your wounds and fold.

Here are a few of Doyle's tips:

* He says unless you're playing a VERY GOOD Razz player, allow yourself to be "trapped," and by that he means if an opponent checks to you, take it as REAL weakness and bet out. It's unlikely a bad player would then raise.

* If you think you have a chance at winning on the end, be sure to call a bet. If you've gone that far the pot odds almost always dictate a call if you've made any kind of hand. It's not like stud where Ace high would never win a hand, but a J-8 might win the pot for you in Razz.

* If there's a very strong-looking board on third street, the minimum you should consider playing is three cards to a seven.

* If you have an ugly or weak-to-normal board, to be the first raiser you should have no worse than an 8-6-3.

I actually recommend Phil Hellmuth's Play Poker Like the Pros. I know I've given this book a hard time in the past, but his Razz section is actually pretty decent and is the most extensive I've seen other than Championship Stud, which is an old book by Linda Johnson, Dr. Max Stern and Tom McEvoy that has a Razz section.

I hope this helps, because I know it helped me, and this is a game where a lot of money can be made if you play correctly. If you have any questions or comments feel free to add them here. I'd love to hear/read what you think.

Enjoy!

Fatso returns!

OK, we hear you. We like Mike Fasso, too, (aka Fatso, Pesto, the Cineaste, stpetebeach and Lance), so you'll get a double shot of him on the next two podcasts. (Yes, our proving-too-be-difficult-to-schedule dealer/supervisor shows have been delayed again. We'll try again for March 29/April 5).

But that means your clamor for Mike will be answered sooner. We plan to do one show on limit hold'em (as requested) and the other on razz. So fire away some questions here, and keep posting questions for the dealer and supervisor shows. We'll do them sometime this century.

Oh, and the photo of Shakespeare, you ask? We were laughing the other day that Fasso has a resemblence to The Bard.

ANDY BLOCH ON MARCH 22 PODCAST

We've reeled in another top pro player. Andy Bloch, one of the most personable pro poker players out there, will be our guest on the March 22 podcast. He'll talk about an emerging disagreement between some pro players and the World Poker Tour, as well as fill us in on his full slate of projects, from a new blackjack DVD, a new book and his affiliation with FullTilt. (The Cineaste, aka Fatso, spotted him playing in a $20 HORSE SNG recently. Way cool.) Also, we'll try again with our long-delayed shows discussing the life of a dealer and the life of a poker room manager on the next two podcasts (March 8 and 15). Our guests for the shows will be a dealer and a shift boss from The Silks Card Room at Tampa Bay Downs. Start posting your questions here for all three guests. March will be an action-packed month at Ante Up!

Forum

Ok guys,

Paul contacted me again, and this time I acquiesced. He's probably going to start a forum for us on his site and all we have to do is occasionally mention the site on the show and link it off here. So, everyone will have a place to vent and chat poker other than what Scott, Fatso or I have posted here. Not sure if this is going to hurt our blog numbers or not, but maybe you guys could agree to click the link when I post it in the rail on THIS page, that way you have to come here first before going to his forum pages.

That probably seems like a lot of effort, but if you could just check in here to see what we have to say first, and then click his forum link that would be cool. I really don't want to see our numbers shrink since we have worked pretty hard to build them up.

If you're wondering why I haven't posted in a few days it's because we are swamped here at tbt*. But I'll post soon. I won some razz money the other night and will be playing more tournaments soon to bone up for our Ante Up! tourneys.

More later.