WCOOP Event #2 ($530 NL Hold 'em) Recap

With the bullshit razz tournament out of the way the WCOOP kicked off for real today with 4,495 players (50% more than last year) putting up $530 to play no limit hold'em. First place was $365,218, 9th was $22,475 and 600th was $899.

Once again we were playing 30 minute limits and started with 2,500 chips. After folding just about everything for the first level, I found myself first to act with a pair of red kings during the beginning of level 2. With blinds of 15/30 I raised to 90 and got called by two players. When the action got to the big blind he reraised to 270. I had the second best possible starting hand so there was no way I was backing off. I made it 810 to go and the two original callers folded (like cheap lawn furniture!). My opponent thought for 30 seconds before just calling so I knew he didn't have AA (the only hand I was worried about) and I figured he had either AK, QQ or JJ. The flop came down 10 7 4 with 2 hearts. He checked and I immediately went all in for my remaining 1,600 chips. There were already 1,800 chips in the pot and I didn't want to screw around with my tournament life at stake so early on. After about 45 seconds (an eternity in online poker) he called with 99. Sweet! And then...the 9 of hearts came on the turn. AHHHHHH! What a bad beat! I screamed for a heart and the poker gods must have heard me because the 5 of hearts made me a flush on the river. I was up to over 5,000 chips.

We were down to 3,800 players after the first hour and I was in pretty good shape. Unfortunately a failed bluff took me back down under 3,000. With a board of 8 7 4 3 I put someone all in on the turn figuring it was unlikely they had a solid piece of a board with a bunch of junk cards. But I got called by K8 and lost a good chunk of my chips.

In round 4 with the blinds at 50/100 I dodged a bullet. The first player to act raised to 300 and I made it 800 to go with JJ. Another player moved all in for 5,500 and the first player called. Yikes! There haven't been many times that I've thrown away JJ before the flop, but this time I was pretty sure I was way behind. When the cards got turned over the player who moved all in showed AA and the original raiser showed JJ! Good thing I didn't call.

A few hands later I picked up Q10 in the big blind and got aggressive. Everyone folded to the small blind who raised to 400. I figured a raise to 400 was a little too much to be raising if he had a strong hand so I decided to put him to the test. He only had about 1,500 chips total and while I didn't have many more than him, I'd still be alive if I lost. I moved all in and he quickly called with KQ. Whoops. Luckily I had the 10 of clubs and managed to make a flush when 4 other clubs showed up. I definitely caught a nice break here.

After a few miscues I found myself with 2,110 chips in the big blind looking at AK of hearts. When the button raised to 300, I decided not to mess around and moved all in. He had 1700 chips, instantly called, and showed me AJ. I was happy to see a flop of Q 8 7. So far so good. To my great dismay the turn was a J, and as if to rub it in the river was also a J. Damn it!

I was down to 410 chips and thinking about how I was going to spend the rest of my day when I made a great comeback. First I beat A7 with KJ to get to 900 chips. Then I beat A5 with QQ to move to about 2,000 chips. Then in a big hand I beat AK with 10 10 to get to 4,000 chips. A few hands later I picked up another 1,200 chips when QJ moved all in against my JJ. Suddenly I was right back in the thick of things and feeling pretty good.

The next big hand showed up during round 6. With the blinds at 100/200, the first player to act just called 200. I was on the button with AQ of clubs and made it 800 to go. Everyone folded to the caller who put in 600 more chips. The flop came down 6 6 4 with one club. Not exactly my dream flop. My opponent checked and I stopped to think. Normally I would bet here in an attempt to pick up the pot, but I thought the most likely hand for my opponent to have was a medium pair like 77 or 88. If I was up against that kind of hand or if my opponent thought (correctly as it turns out) it was likely that I just had big cards, I might end up facing a check raise. I decided to check and see what the turn brought. Another advantage to checking here is some players would check the flop with a big hand (like AA or KK) in an attempt to induce a bluff, so if I bet the turn after checking the flop my opponent might give me credit for having a monster hand. When a 10 of clubs showed up, giving me a flush draw, I decided I would bet the turn if it was checked to me. Instead of checking, my opponent bet out 700. Given the fact that the pot already contained 1900 chips I made an easy call. The river brought the 9 of clubs. Bingo! I was pleased when I saw that I was facing a bet of 2,000 and I quickly moved all in for 3600. I got called by Q 10 and took down a nice pot.

A few hands later I put a button raiser all in with A9. He only had 2100 chips, but after he called, I was not happy to see him turn up KK. But, I was happy to see an ace on the flop and his chips added to my stack. I was up over 12,000 chips and with about 1,800 players left and and the average chip stack just creeping over 6,000 I could see the money just over the horizon.

As level 7 started with blinds of 150/300 I made a few plays that ended up costing me a good chunk of my chips and left me feeling a little shaky. After two hands where I raised before the flop, got called and unsuccessfully bluffed on the flop I found myself back down around 7,500. Ouch. Shortly after these minor blunders, while feeling like I was going down the tubes on a rocket powered jet ski, I picked up 88 on the button. Not exactly a freight train of a hand, but plenty good for a player on the button. I raised it to 900 and the small blind made it 2100 to go. Uh oh. He was a pretty frisky player and I'd seen him be fairly aggressive so I didn't think folding was the right thing to do. On the other hand I didn't want to move all in because I was fairly sure he'd call and I didn't want to put the fate of my whole tournament on a marginal hand like 88. So I just called. The flop came down 10 7 4 and he instantly moved all in. If he had a strong hand there's no way he would bet so much. Even though it was for all of my chips it was an easy call and I made it with great haste. He showed AQ and after a couple of bricks on the turn and river I took down a big pot. The call I made on the flop here was the type of call I wish I'd made during the main event of the WSOP. I'm thinking of the hand where I had 97 and was facing a big all in of the river and all I had was top pair...I should have called. I guess the important thing is I learned from that occasion and applied it here.

I was up to almost 16,000 and was in 166th place with 1633 players left. And then I went totally card dead. I'd been dealt about 200 hands at that point and taken 14% to the flop. Over the course of the next 105 hands (online you can go back and look at what happened in all of your previous hands and they keep track of all kinds of stuff so that's why my info is so specific), I played two hands, stole the blinds on both, and folded the other 103 before the flop. Although this kind of sucked it was much better than being faced with many tough decisions.

Most importantly, during this stretch the 3,895th player was eliminated and I cruised into the money. I bet some of you thought I wasn't going to make it since I didn't start off by saying, "I MADE THE MONEY!" Shame on you. :)

I was down to about 9,000 chips with the blinds at 300/600 and an average stack of 18,000 so I wasn't in great shape, but I was still alive. A few hands into the money play, I picked up AK and made it 1800 to go. A player to my left reraised to 3,000. This is a scary raise. If he was trying to win the pot before the flop he'd have made it at least 4,500 and this mini raise told me that he wanted to be called. But, there was no way I was throwing away AK. We were down to about 530 players and when we got down to 525, I'd pick up another $235 which was barely a consideration considering the amount of money involved. But, it helped me make a close decision about whether to call or move all in. I called the extra 1,200 and the flop came down K J 9. Now I was locked in. I figured if I bet and I was behind I'd certainly get called, while if I was ahead he might fold. But, I was about 95% sure that if I checked he'd bet no matter what he had and if I was ahead I wanted to get paid off. So I checked and as I suspected he put me all in. I made an easy call and was thrilled to see him show 77. I was 90% to win the pot and it would have left me with 19,000 chips...but the turn was an 8 and the river was a 10 making him a back door straight. SHIT!

I finished 528th which paid $899 for a net profit of $369. Not too earth shattering, but a solid showing and a good confidence booster. Also I feel fantastic about it when I think that I was down to 410 chips in level 4.

Event# 2 Preview.

Now it's time to get this party started. WCOOP Event #2 is $530 buy-in no limit hold'em. Last year this event had 3,062 entrants and a first prize of $306,000. Pretty straight forward.

My plan is to win around $6,000 in this event so I'll be free rolling the rest of the way. My back up plan is to make the final table and get even for the WSOP as well. My third option is to win the whole thing and pour champagne over my head. I'll let you know what happens.

WCOOP Event #1 ($215 Razz) Recap

The WCOOP (which my sister has kindly referred to as the world chicken coop competition) kicked off today with a $215 buy-in razz tournament that drew 1297 entrants. First place was $58,365, 8th was $5,706 and 136th paid $259.40.

With 30 minute limits and 2500 starting chips this tournament stood to be a long one by online standards. You can check out this link to learn more about razz if you've never heard about it or don't know the basics. http://www.fulltiltpoker.net/razz.php (it's just 7-card stud where the worst hand wins).

Razz is famous for being fairly boring and notorious for being insanely frustrating. In hold 'em (and many other forms of poker) if you start with a strong hand (like a big pair) you're hand is frequently strong enough to win the pot on it's own, unimproved. In razz, on the other hand, no matter how good your first three cards are you have to catch TWO MORE good cards to make a good hand. I'm not as used to recounting razz hands so I'm not sure there is going to be the level of detail and flavor that you can expect when I'm talking about hold 'em.

In a typical no limit hold 'em tournament online, about half of the field is usually eliminated in the first hour of play. In today's razz event it took 49 minutes for the first player to be eliminated. With limits starting at 10/20 with a whopping 2 chip ante it's not surprising that things started off slowly.

I struggled early on and never had more than 2600 chips at any point. After playing almost no hands in the first level I played a few in the second level and made a few second best hands. First I lost with 87523 to 8652A and then I lost a more disappointing 7532A to 7432A. There was no way I could get off either hand and by the first break (after level 2) I found myself with 1800 chips. You'll notice that even though I lost a few hands I still had 72% of my chips. This is contrary to NL hold 'em where if you make a strong second best hand you'll be on fumes or on the phone telling your friends what happened.

At the beginning of the third level I got a taste of the famous razz frustration when I had two very strong starting hands turn into garbage. In the first hand I started with 235, came in raising and got one caller. On 4th street I caught a 9 and then on fifth street a K fell like a big fat turd. I was forced to fold when my opponent, who had called my raise with an 8 showing, caught a 3 and an A and bet into me.

The next hand was worse. This time I started with A 3 5 and was up against the same guy who was a total whack job. Again I came in raising and he called me with an 8. On 4th street he caught a 9 and I caught a 2. Sweet! I've got this guy right where I want him now. On 5th street I caught a K and he caught a 7. There was heavy betting and raising at this point. Even though it would appear that he has the best hand at that point, I was still the favorite to make the best hand by the time all 7 cards were out. All I needed to do was catch a 4,6,7, 8, or 9 sometime in the next two cards. Factoring in the cards I'd seen in the form of other players up cards and my own cards I had 17 cards left in the deck out of the remaining 38 that would make me the best hand (Of course he could have a pair already which would mean I was in even better shape or he could catch two great cards and improve - these thing balance each other out to some extent). Sadly I paired my 5 on 6th street and my A on the river (the last card is called the river in stud games too) making my best hand K532A. Yuck!

I did have one good hand along the way. During the 4th level I started with A 3 5 and of course came in raising. I got heavy action the whole way from a player who started with 752 and improved to 75432 by 6th street. After my strong start I caught an ugly Q on 4th street and a beautiful 4 on 5th street. 6th street brought an even uglier K and I knew I was in big trouble. On the river, however, I caught the perfect card - the 2! I made a wheel (5432A), which is the best possible hand in razz, and took down a nice pot.

After 2 hours we'd only lost 70 of the starting 1297, but I was in the bottom 20% of the remaining players. During the next 2 levels I hovered right around 1,200 chips. I won a few small pots here and there, but never got much above 1500.

When the 7th level started with a 30 chip ante and limits of 150/300 I knew if I played a hand I'd pretty much be committed to going to the end. When I was down to just over 1,000 chips I picked up a strong hand in the form of A46 and got action from another player showing a 4. On 4th street I caught a J and he caught a 2. I decided to take a stand since the pot already had a significant number of chips in it and I didn't have many left. All of the money went in on 4th street and when the cards got flipped over my opponent showed me 642A. Yikes! He paired on A the 5th street and the 2 on 6th street and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sadly he caught a 7 on the river and the best hand I could muster was a lowly 10 9 6 4 A. I finished in 857th place. :(

Luckily, like I mentioned before, this event was sort of a warm up, and while I liked my chances against the nut balls I found myself playing against today, razz isn't exactly my best game. While it would have been nice to get off to a strong start the $215 is only about 3.5% of the total that I'll be using for buy-ins so I'm not worried about the loss.

WCOOP Event #1 Preview!!!!!!!

Good news for those of you out in blog land! The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) kicks off this Saturday! It's just like the WSOP...except it's for 1/10 of the money...and 1/100th of the prestige. I guess it's nothing like the WSOP, but it is the biggest thing in online poker and unlike the WSOP you don't have to dodge 1,400 floosies every time you go to the bathroom.

I am looking forward to playing some non hold 'em varieties of poker and I plan to update the blog daily with results and accounts of the key hands. I am going to play 12 of the 18 events for sure and maybe 1 or 2 more if things are going well. All in all it should add up to about $6,000 in entries. I've got Gerry, Matt, E.B and Jake backing me again (very bravely I might add after the WSOP) and Mike has boldly jumped on the bandwagon and taken a full one percent of my action. Thanks to all of them again for their confidence in me.

All of the tournaments start weekdays at noon and weekends at 1:30 (pacific time). If you want to watch me play you can download the software at pokerstars.com and do a player search for AceSedai (that's me). If you need help with this process send me an e-mail and I'll give you detailed instructions. Of course you won't be able to see what I have, but you can check on my progress and make mocking comments about me in the chat box.

Event #1 is $215 buy in Razz. Razz is simply 7-card stud where the WORST hand wins. Straights and flushes do not count against you (A 2 3 4 5 is the best possible hand). Last year there was no razz in the WCOOP and pokerstars hasn't offered razz in any form until a few weeks ago so I'm hoping to run into a bunch of people who don't know how to play. This is basically a warm up for everyone and while there are 330 players already registered, I can't see more than about 500 more putting their hard earned coin at risk on this silly game.

Wish me luck!

Time Collection vs Rake

Ryan, a survivor from the Cloyne home game where I first learned to play poker, asked the following question in a comment he recently posted: "I remember some time ago that you had mentioned that you liked playing at the Oaks because it was by the hour. I was just wondering if you opinion has changed since then? Personally I prefer to play when there is a rake. My thinking is that if you plan to fold most of your hands pre-flop, why pay until you are ready to play?

There are two main ways that casinos charge you to play in their poker games. The first way is a "rake." The way a rake works is every hand, the dealer takes (or rakes) a predetermined number of chips from the pot. At the end of the hand these chips drop into a locked steel box attached to the table. The boxes get emptied every 8 hours, by men the size of small SUVs in security uniforms. Usually it's $3 (sometime $4) regardless of the amount you're playing for (at the very lowest games like $1/$2 limit it's $2.50). Some places have a rule that if the hand doesn't make it to the flop the casino won't take any money. In the lower limit games (anything $9/$18 or less), in addition to the standard blind structure the player on the button puts out $3 (these are the chips that are physically removed from the game and end up in the steel box). This money "plays" for the player on the button and counts towards any bets they make before the flop. So for example if you're playing $3/$6, there will be $1 in the small blind, $3 in the big blind and $3 on the button. If no one has raised, the player on the button gets to see the flop without putting in any more money.

In some of the dreary, ass backwards poker rooms in Nevada where there are three poker tables sitting in a space that has all the glitz and glamour of an area used for broken slot machine storage, they do the rake a little differently. Instead of taking a flat $3 they take 10% of the pot with a max of $3 (or sometimes $4). This approach works great online and is in fact what almost all of the websites do. In person it doesn't make much sense because it means the dealers are always fiddling around with quarters and dimes and loonies and twoneys and whatever. It's a big pain in the ass for the dealers and since now there are quarters on the table they get tipped 50 cents sometimes instead of a dollar.

At the bigger games the casinos get their money a little differently. They do what is called "time collection." The way this works is every half hour the dealer collects a fixed amount of money from each player. This amount varies with the amount you're playing for (it's $6 at $15/$30, $7 at $30/$60, $12 at $100/$200 etc.). An easy way to think about it is, the players are renting the seats for the half hour.

In the past the Oaks Club was one of the few places that took time collection instead of a rake for all of their games.

Ryan's question is, is it better to pay time collection or a rake in low limit games. The argument for rake is that if you're using proper strategy you'll be playing fewer hands than your opponents, thus winning fewer pots and paying less than everyone else. While this sounds good, this theory has a few holes. First of all let's look at the math for a standard $3/$6 game. Time collection costs each player $8 an hour. Easy right? For a game with a rake it's a little more complicated. A standard dealer will deal 35 hands an hour so with $3 a hand coming off the table in rake we're looking at $105 per table per hour. In a nine handed game you're looking at $11.67 ($105/9 players) per player, per hour which is clearly more than $8 an hour (it's $10.20 per player for a 10 handed game).

But wait, we're playing tighter than everyone and you only pay when you win a pot right? The problem is when you add that extra blind on the button it becomes correct to get involved in many more pots. A third of the hands you're going to be in one of the blinds and even when you not, the action that this extra blind stimulates is going to force you to play more hands. Another way to think about it is in a time collection game you're paying $4 a round in blinds while in a rake game you're paying $7 a round in blinds. If you fold every hand for three rounds all of a sudden you're stuck $21 instead of $12.

Let's say you've found a game where they don't make you post that extra blind and just take $3 out of the pot anyway (a few places do this). You're still going to end up paying more. Your share of the pots is about 4 an hour (3.5 an hour for a 10 handed game). Even if you play fewer hands than everyone else you're still going to need to win 3 hands an hour to come out ahead in the long run, meaning you're paying $9 an hour instead of $8.

Let's look at another consideration. In a rake game there is no penalty for being away from the table. Every time someone want to go to the bathroom or take a short break they get up the hand before their big blind and come back a full round later. Since there is no penalty for being away from the game, in practice at least 1, if not 2 or 3 players are always away from the table. In a time collection game if you're away from the table, you're paying anyway so people have a tendency to stay in the action. Not only is a full game generally preferable, if a few players are missing in a rake game all of a sudden the number of pots you're due to win per hour goes way up. If you're in a game where there are an average of 7 players being dealt into every hand all of a sudden you're paying $15 an hour instead of $8.

Another consideration is it's good to have plenty of money on the table. I can tell you from experience that the games where everyone has three racks in front of them are way better than the games where everyone is nursing 2 stacks. Even if you were paying the same or slightly less than everyone else, If the casino is taking more money, there will be more short stacks and the game will not be as profitable.

While it may hurt to shell out those extra dollars, especially when you're losing, time collection is much better.

Another question might be "why are you squawking on and on about pennies? Who cares what the rake is?" I'll have to address that in another entry about "The evil power of the rake" (AHHHHHH hide the women and children!)

Poker Lessons

I've recently decided to get into the poker lesson for money game. My good friend Matt seems to be doing well for himself in this arena so I'm jumping in too. I've got myself 1,000 business cards and a shiny new website www.huffpoker.com.

I keep hearing from friends that they've all told 8 people about my blog and they've all been reading it. I suspect that some of the readership has long forgotten about me now that the WSOP is over, but if there is anyone out there in blog land interested in lessons, check out the website and give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. Keep in mind I'll gladly do lessons over the phone, if you're a friend I'll give you a generous price break and if you're one of my in-laws I'm going to charge you double. Just kidding. Many people have heard me say that I have the best in laws you could ever hope for (both my wife's family and my sister's husband's family).

Speaking of my in-laws, I've been giving some regular lessons to my brother in-law Damian and he's making good progress. I'll post a blog entry soon about the process of taking him from someone who doesn't know what a flop is, to a poker god who throws flaming bolts of destruction upon the helpless citizens of pokerland, causing massive explosions of chips which then rain down from the sky and land in his overflowing coffers. Either that, or at least I'll help him become a break even player.

Giving them too much credit

When I used to play at the Oaks Club on a daily basis, I often played against a fellow by the name of Walter Brown. Walter is an international grandmaster in the world of chess and won the U.S. chess championship something like 6 or 7 times. It's apparent when you talk to him that he has an IQ that is off the charts. He'll be sitting there and out of the blue he'll mention something about the efficiency of some mundane process that the Oaks Club employees are engaging in or mention some way the world could be improved. It's clear that he's always got that big brain cooking something up.

You'd think Walter would make a sensational poker player. But, while he's always been a solid winning player (and a nice guy), he's never made the jump to being great and I never had any trouble beating him regularly. His biggest weakness is he gives his opponents too much credit. He is so logical in every action and thought that he can't conceive of someone making a totally irrational play that was based totally on impulse.

When people play poker they do some weird shit. It never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes it's out of boredom or anger. Sometimes it's because they "felt like gambling." Other times it's "just because." I had a hand come up recently in a $100 single table tournament that fits into the "just because" category. We were playing 4 handed with blinds of 200/400. The blinds each had about 2000 chips, I had 1300 chips and the other player, we'll call him Mr. X, had the remaining 8200 chips. I was first to act and moved all in for 1300 chips, Mr. X called and the other two players folded. I had a weak hand and was hoping to simply win the blinds before the flop so I wasn't happy to get called. When the hands were turned over I was thinking "If he doesn't have a pair or one of my cards I'll at least have a chance." But instead of a pair or an ace he showed 2 3! This is the worst possible hand to have heads up (yes worse than 7 2). What did he think I had? He couldn't beat anything. Did he have a psychic premonition that told him to get in there? Of course, he wasn't making a judgment about what I had or what he could beat. He didn't think things through at all, he just acted. Maybe he decided that he had so many chips he'd just throw a few around and see if he could get lucky and knock me out (which he did). Maybe he decided he was on a hot streak. Who knows.

The point is, you have to consider what I've heard called (in print mind you) the RBF or the Random Berzerko Factor. If you haven't played with someone before, they could be a berzerko waiting to strike down your AK with 9 5 when you least expect it.

More importantly you can't assume that everyone out there is playing the way you do. This is one of my big weaknesses. Sometimes I'll be agonizing over a decision and shocked at how off I was in my read. I'll have AQ, the flop will come down A, 9, 5, I'll bet, someone will put me all in and I'll think "He's either got Ak or AJ with a slight chance that he could have three 9's, but I have to call because there's so much in the pot already." I'll be crossing my fingers hoping for AJ, my opponent will turn over K9 or 44 and I think to myself "I'm giving these guys too much credit."

What really drives me bananas is when I have what I think is a close decision in a big pot, I decide to call, find out I'm WAY ahead and lose the pot anyway when a terrible card shows up on the turn or the river. That kind of thing might make you throw your dry erase markers across the room, causing your sleeping cat to tear out of the room in horror, leaving you eliminated from your tournament and feeling guilty that you scared your peaceful pet. Not that I have any experience with that kind of thing.

In person it's easy to make some pretty solid assumptions about what kind of player you might be facing, by noticing how they look, act, dress and speak. I can spot a beginner a mile away just by seeing how they hold their cards and if you see someone expertly doing tricks with their chips at least you know you're up against an experienced player. Online it's much more difficult. Everyone is just a blinking name and chip total. It's easy to assume that if you've never seen someone before they are playing more or less the same way that you are (hopefully a little worse). Sometimes when you have a decent hand you just have to get in there and cross your fingers. Hopefully when you do, you'll knock someone out and think "I've got to stop giving these clowns so much credit."