Hand 1

Full Tilt Poker Game #29426340091: Table Wet (heads up) – $25/$50 – No Limit Hold’em – 17:17:24 ET – 2011/03/28
Seat 1: jfriedmanaa ($12,604)
Seat 2: Mirttinur ($8,645.50)
jfriedmanaa posts the small blind of $25
Mirttinur posts the big blind of $50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mirttinur [Kh 8h]
jfriedmanaa raises to $125
Mirttinur raises to $450
jfriedmanaa has 15 seconds left to act
jfriedmanaa raises to $1,250
Mirttinur calls $800
*** FLOP *** [5s 6c Th]
Mirttinur has 15 seconds left to act
Mirttinur bets $1,350
jfriedmanaa has 15 seconds left to act
jfriedmanaa raises to $2,700
Mirttinur has 15 seconds left to act
Mirttinur has requested TIME
Mirttinur raises to $7,395.50, and is all in
jfriedmanaa folds
Uncalled bet of $4,695.50 returned to Mirttinur
Mirttinur mucks
Mirttinur wins the pot ($7,899.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $7,900 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5s 6c Th]
Seat 1: jfriedmanaa (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Mirttinur (big blind) collected ($7,899.50), mucked

Hand 2

Full Tilt Poker Game #29426516852: Table Wet (heads up) – $25/$50 – No Limit Hold’em – 17:22:56 ET – 2011/03/28
Seat 1: jfriedmanaa ($7,728.50)
Seat 2: Mirttinur ($13,519)
Mirttinur posts the small blind of $25
jfriedmanaa posts the big blind of $50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mirttinur [Ah 8d]
Mirttinur raises to $100
jfriedmanaa raises to $400
Mirttinur calls $300
*** FLOP *** [7d Jc 9c]
jfriedmanaa checks
Mirttinur bets $500
jfriedmanaa has 15 seconds left to act
jfriedmanaa raises to $1,575
Mirttinur has 15 seconds left to act
Mirttinur raises to $2,650
jfriedmanaa folds
Uncalled bet of $1,075 returned to Mirttinur
Mirttinur mucks
Mirttinur wins the pot ($3,949.50)

“You can do anything with $10 million. Like, you can buy a house and still have around $5 million left over.”

-Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates, NYT article.

As you know, I made the final table of the Wynn Classic Main Event, which played out last night. I felt like I played very good poker to get there, but was also pretty clearly fortunate, winning a 3 flips and AQ vs QQ allin pre (The hand itself was very standard) on the final table bubble on my way to the final 9.
Read the rest of this entry

This month I’ve been focusing a lot on HU cash, and I’ve been loving every second of it. I’m loving it not only because I’m up a lot (in fact, I’m up more than I ever have been in a one month period), but because I’m having so much fun and playing so well.

My journey of learning HU SNG’s helped me improve in cash in a lot of ways. I understand preflop theory so much better now, and I feel my preflop game is far superior to anyone I’ve been playing. My valuebetting has drastically improved as well. There were so many places in HU cash where I was betting with one pair that I didn’t realize were bad bets. But when I played Isildur awhile back I noticed something surprising; he wasn’t value betting very thin at all. After analyzing the merits of this and running over ideas with poker buddies, I made a huge shift in my value betting strategy. Lastly, HU SNG’s helped me reign in my aggressive mentality. I give up on bluffs at better times now, and in better places.

Because I went on such a long hiatus from playing cash regularly, I’ve been getting a pretty decent amount of action. I can normally find a regular within 10 minutes who wants to play. Almost all of them have the same sort of leaks in common:

1. They play too tight preflop

2. They don’t bluff nearly enough in spots where I’m folding a large amount of the time

I have, however, played two very good players. One, to my surprise, was aejones. I say to my surprise because I expected him to be pretty good, but I didn’t expect him to be very good. And he was, in fact, the latter. Another was Kanu7/IReadYrSoul. Of the two common leaks I described, he was the opposite. He played well preflop and often bluffed in spots where I had no intention of calling unless I had the super nuts. I feel like I have the potential to beat both of these players, but it’s only a challenge I’m going to take if I am desperate to find action… or if I have a big tournament score .

Max is 4th in chips currently at The Wynn Classic. 9 players left, first place is about $320,000! What a tournament beast!!

The only place I know of that will likely give live updates is twitter. You can follow Max at http://twitter.com/SuitedAAces.

GOOOOO MAAAXXXX!

“The only thing that matters when deciding whether to bluff is whether your opponent thinks you would not be bluffing in this situation. All factors, such as strength of your range or his range, all funnel into this concept.”

-Haseeb Qureshi in the most recent “Leakfinder” video on Cardrunners (paraphrased)

Let me say two things before explaining this quote. One, Haseeb Qureshi is far and away the best video marker you will find. He is not only extremely intelligent but articulate, explaining concepts with such elegance it’s hard not to understand his words without feeling a light bulb turning on in your brain. If you haven’t watched his videos, it’s worth getting a Cardrunners subscription just for this purpose. Two, to be fair, Rich “nutsinho” Lyndaker actually said almost the same thing before Haseeb did in a Leggopoker video. I think both of them are geniuses so I’ll give them equal credit.

P.S. Tried to write an elegant explanation, but couldn’t. Maybe I’ll try to find Haseeb and see — Since I gave him such a big compliment — if he’ll write an explanation I can post on this blog.

In the poker world, there are tons of different ways you could be a professional player. You can grind live tournaments, play hu sngs, play omaha, etc. But with so many different fields to choose from, how are you supposed to know which one will fit you best? I’m here to help. If you find that you match up with any of the personality types below, you’ve probably found your new niche.

Live Tourney Player:

- 85% of your life is depressing.
- You enjoy wearing hooded sweatshirts and complaining about things.
- You aren’t a friendly person.
- Your favorite sport is football but your favorite team is the Detroit Lions.
- You have a nickname that your friends gave you when you were younger and it makes no sense.

Online Cash Player:

- You are mediocre at everything you do, but think you’re awesome.
- You’re a strange looking person.
- You own a cat with a quirky personality.
- You love sports and even though you’re somewhat uncoordinated you are a decent basketball player.
- Your kitchen is covered with dirty dishes, pots, and utensils yet you don’t remember every using it.

HU SNG Player:

- You’ve been into at least two fights, but they were all against people smaller than you and they didn’t last more than 30 seconds.
- Whenever you play poker and you’re the big blind, no matter what the action is preceding you, you call.
- You have ADD.
- You have a lot of friends, but they all think you suck.
- You especially like South Park episodes that revolve around Randy Marsh.
- When a little kid passes you on the street, and he makes a face at you, you get extremely angry.

Live Cash Player:

- You used to go to frat parties in college (although you weren’t in the fraternity) and you hung out with the most drunk people there.
- You are a bitter person.
- When you were younger, your Mom would clean your room every day and make you a delicious dinner every night and you still found her annoying.
- You think college football is more exciting than the NFL.
- You think reraising AK is ridiculous.

Online MTT player:

- You aren’t intelligent.
- You are capable of feeling unlucky the day after winning a 20000 person tournament for 250k.
- You think you’re good at omaha, but you’re not.
- Your favorite movie is Belly starring DMX, Nas and a Jamaican guy who’s accent is so thick that no one can understand one word he says, but he’s your favorite character anyway.
- You smoke a lot of weed.

HU Cash Player:

- Your idea of a good night is getting into a 3 hour argument with someone over politics or philosophy.
- You’re totally inept in one normal social skill that all your friends are above average in.
- You’re unconfrontational.
- You possibly don’t enjoy sports, but if you do you like baseball.
- You tried cocaine once, and loved it. But you haven’t done it since.
- You’re an overachiever.

I’ve been in San Francisco to play in the WPT Bay 101 tournament and visit my brothers. Unfortunately, I busted out pretty early in the WPT event. Max lasted closer to the end of day 1 but busted before the day ended as well. It really blows because I love live tournaments a lot, I wish I was in it for longer just for the experience of playing.

Thankfully, it gave me time to play some online and its been paying off. I’m up about 50k on the trip. Mostly HU cash, and mostly from today.

I had a match against a guy I have played a fair amount before. His sn is IKA258. Honest assesment: He’s a pretty solid player. He’s not a guy I’m thrilled to play but I’ve had a strong desire to challenge myself against good players. I’ve had that desire because as I’ve stated before, I feel like I’m playing the best poker I’ve played in my career, and I think I can beat almost anyone right now.

To be fair, here is a total cooler hand on his side.

PokerStars Game #59371024427:  Hold’em No Limit ($25/$50 USD) – 2011/03/17 16:28:16 PT [2011/03/17 19:28:16 ET]

Table ‘Aurora XII’ 2-max Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: heybude ($10315.50 in chips)

Seat 2: IKA258 ($12007.50 in chips)

heybude: posts small blind $25

IKA258: posts big blind $50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to heybude [8c Ad]

heybude: raises $50 to $100

IKA258: raises $300 to $400

heybude: calls $300

*** FLOP *** [Jh Ah 8s]

IKA258: bets $500

heybude: raises $750 to $1250

IKA258: calls $750

*** TURN *** [Jh Ah 8s] [3s]

IKA258: checks

heybude: bets $1850

IKA258: calls $1850

*** RIVER *** [Jh Ah 8s 3s] [As]

IKA258: checks

heybude: bets $6815.50 and is all-in

IKA258: calls $6815.50

*** SHOW DOWN ***

heybude: shows [8c Ad] (a full house, Aces full of Eights)

IKA258: shows [Js Jd] (a full house, Jacks full of Aces)

heybude collected $20630.50 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $20631 | Rake $0.50

Board [Jh Ah 8s 3s As]

Seat 1: heybude (button) (small blind) showed [8c Ad] and won ($20630.50) with a full house, Aces full of Eights

Seat 2: IKA258 (big blind) showed [Js Jd] and lost with a full house, Jacks full of Aces

But otherwise, I had some pretty sick hands. Here’s two great ones with analysis.

Hand 1: Well executed bluff catch

PokerStars Game #59367692400:  Hold’em No Limit ($25/$50 USD) – 2011/03/17 15:22:23 PT [2011/03/17 18:22:23 ET]

Table ‘Natascha VII’ 2-max Seat #2 is the button

Seat 1: heybude ($5696.50 in chips)

Seat 2: IKA258 ($9067 in chips)

IKA258: posts small blind $25

heybude: posts big blind $50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to heybude [8s Kc]

IKA258: raises $100 to $150

heybude: calls $100 (standard)

*** FLOP *** [7s Ac As]

heybude: checks

IKA258: bets $250

heybude: raises $450 to $700 (Not that standard. He has been checking behind weak and medium sd value hands like bottom and mid pair, he could very well check king high, low pocket pairs, and 7′s. I could just call and call down some run outs but I think I’m getting a lot of folds flat out.)

IKA258: calls $450

*** TURN *** [7s Ac As] [Qh]

heybude: bets $1100 (I bet here because I had been c/ring and c/feding the turn a lot and because he has so much air in his cbet range that I think I have enough FE. C/c the turn also seems legitimate and actually seems better in hindsight. Although it involves more river soul reading.)

IKA258: calls $1100

*** RIVER *** [7s Ac As Qh] [3c]

heybude: checks (I can’t represent anything so I check)

IKA258: bets $7117 and is all-in (My instant thought is call here because I was too overwhelmed with reasons why he doesn’t have anything. One, I thought he was likely to play a fd like this the entire way. Two, I think it’s probable he 3bets the flop with various A’s because he tends to try to represent bluffs with his nut hands. Three, he goes all in, slightly overbetting the pot, while in previous hands with nut hands he bet under all in. Finally, there are tons of combos of flush draws he could have, much more than the combinations of nut hands that I think he rarely has here.)

heybude: calls $3746.50 and is all-in

Uncalled bet ($3370.50) returned to IKA258

*** SHOW DOWN ***

IKA258: shows [2s 4s] (a pair of Aces)

heybude: shows [8s Kc] (a pair of Aces – King kicker)

heybude collected $11392.50 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $11393 | Rake $0.50

Board [7s Ac As Qh 3c]

Seat 1: heybude (big blind) showed [8s Kc] and won ($11392.50) with a pair of Aces

Seat 2: IKA258 (button) (small blind) showed [2s 4s] and lost with a pair of Aces

Hand 2: Pretty standard bluff

PokerStars Game #59371729421:  Hold’em No Limit ($25/$50 USD) – 2011/03/17 16:42:57 PT [2011/03/17 19:42:57 ET]

Table ‘Natascha VII’ 2-max Seat #2 is the button

Seat 1: heybude ($6573 in chips)

Seat 2: IKA258 ($15368.50 in chips)

IKA258: posts small blind $25

heybude: posts big blind $50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to heybude [As Qh]

IKA258: raises $100 to $150

heybude: raises $350 to $500

IKA258: calls $350

*** FLOP *** [5s 6d 4d]

heybude: bets $500 (Standard at this point. I think if I check I get bluffed off my hand too much, especially since it seems like every time I have checked in a 3bet pot he has bet and I’ve folded. This is also is a great hand to double barrel with on good turn cards.)

IKA258: calls $500

*** TURN *** [5s 6d 4d] [9d]

heybude: bets $1350 (I think this is a spot where a lot of people c/f. But I bet because the 9 and the flush is basically a blank for his range and hit my range. It’s thin, especially because the profitability of this play is dependent on a planned 3 barrel on certain run outs, which includes most diamonds that hit. He has been unafraid to call me down in these spots but this hand has come after a long time of me tripling in a 3bet pot and having it)

IKA258: calls $1350

*** RIVER *** [5s 6d 4d 9d] [Js]

heybude: bets $4223 and is all-in (Basically, another perfect card for my range and blank for his. It’s not really a question at this point.)

IKA258: folds

Uncalled bet ($4223) returned to heybude

heybude collected $4699.50 from pot

heybude: doesn’t show hand

………………………………………………..

Because I no longer have a weekly update for my chase for the VPP record, I am going to start doing a quote of the week post every weekend. I’m not going to commit to a topic, but its safe to say many of the quotes are going to be about poker. I hope you enjoy these quotes.

“The idea of “creating a 3bet and 4bet dynamic” is totally retarded. You don’t just 3bet bluff for the sake of creating a dynamic.”

-Max responding to a question from an “Ask me anything” thread.

There is a lot of different strategy advice I see discussed whether as a question to me, in a video, or in a forum that are very wrong. This whole creating an aggressive dynamic concept is one of them.

I’m not sure I can say it any more succinctly then Max did, but I will expand on it. The whole point of playing more aggressive is because you feel like this aggression is exploiting your opponent. For example, if a player is folding to your 3bets 70% of the time, you should more aggressively 3bet because a 3bet with any 2 cards vs this player is profitable. Any hand you decide to fold preflop vs this player vs his strategy is passing up a +EV opportunity. One of the positives of this move is in fact being payed off more lightly when you 3bet a good hand when or if he adjusts and this is great overall when or if you adjust back to a tighter 3betting style.

But if you are facing a player who is 4betting a very thin value range as well as bluffs and is folding to 3bet 50% overall, 3betting aggressively is your worst strategy. If your opponent is competent, the more you are 3betting, the more +EV his strategy becomes.

Playing suboptimally (i.e. 3betting a shitload or 3betting very little) is something you do to maximally exploit someones strategy as best you can. A suboptimal adjustment for the sake of itself is illogical. If you feel like when you begin to play an unknown player that he is likely to play too tight and snug, by all means maximally exploit him by playing aggressive in the spots in which he is playing this way. But call it what it really is.

I hope the CA or US Government never makes online poker illegal. I hope that online poker never becomes so fish-less that its almost impossible to beat. A year ago, I was worried about this, but now I’m not. And the reason is live satellites.

I was introduced to live satellites in vegas last spring. There was a tournament series going on at the Wynn, probably the Wynn classic, and my friend asked me if I wanted to play a satellite. “You mean like online?”

“No the Wynn runs single table satellites to tournaments every day.”

“But won’t I have to play the tournament if I win?”

“No, they just give you “tournament chips” If you win, and you can sell them to people really easily.”
(I’ve been to several other tournaments since then, and almost all of them have the same system with Satellites. You don’t win a seat, you win tournament chips)

I sat down at a $535 one which started 15 minutes after I sat. I started out tight, assuming that the late game strategies of most of these players were going to be bad. As I folded and observed as time went by, I realized that besides my friend and I, the table was filled with fish. And I’m not talking about the kind of fish that plays like 40/5 but knows what he’s doing postflop, these players were making mistakes every hand. When it got to end game, they got incomprehensibly worse. Player’s routinely called hands like 88 to my raise with only 8bb, even with 5 players left and two getting paid. There was no adjustment to stacksizes, even when those stacksizes were minuscule compared to the blinds and antes.

I ended up winning this satellite, but I assumed after that I would have to go to vegas to play tournaments like these. It turns out that single table and multitable satellites like these, go on at every live tournament, and most of them reward you with a tourney chips and not a seat. And even if they do reward you with a seat, if it’s a tournament your already playing in, it’s basically the same thing.

Just this morning I went down to San Jose to play in a 1k Satellite to the WPT Bay 101 ME. I mostly went down there to get some live experience, since I hadn’t played at a casino for over two months. I assumed that since this was a $1000 tournament, the play couldn’t have been that poor. I was wrong again, it was even worse than my first experience at the Wynn and way worse than the Satellites that run during the WSOP. I sat down at my table and there was no one under 30 around me. A player to my right limp/called T5 for 1/8 of effective stacks. No one was even remotely decent. And although I didn’t end up winning a seat, I am 90% sure that my roi was at least 60% and 75% sure that it was around 100%. Making 1k for a mornings worth of work isn’t bad at all.

So if online poker ever dies, and you want to find me, look for me grinding live sattys at major tournaments. I’ll probably have some chips to sell.