Less than 5 days till Vegas

It's now less than 5 days and I'm excited as I was on my first BJ Trip 5 years ago.
I took some time this weekend to refine my poker strategy. Not much had to be done regarding pre-flop play. I decided for tight to very tight play and I am fine with that. But my recent experiences in live games showed a lack of post-flop strategy. I think I played to many losing positions: Bottom pairs, overcards on the board etc. And I didn't use pot-odds often enough to verify if my draws are worth a call or should be folded.

To practice tournaments I played several Multi-Table and Sit'n'go tournaments at Ultimatebet and Full Tilt with some success. I placed in the money on several but could have done better on others. The Sit'n'goes had been a good practice for short handed play. I was much to tight in the beginning but got better results in the end (by placing in the money between 1st and 3rd most of the time).

There's not much more to do this week - I think/hope that I'm well prepared.

I made a list of poker rooms to visit. On top of the list are the MGM and the Wynn. I will try to make a short visit to the Wynn casino on my first night (and maybe start with poker there). I will meet with two people I don't know yet (one is a poster in my german Poker & BJ Forum and the other is from another Vegas forum). Think it will be fun to meet somebody you now for a long time through internet posting but never met in person before.

I will visit Al Rogers from bj21.com to pick up my copy of Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker" - a brand new book from King Yao. I will post a review as soon as I read it. Maybe I will meet Stanford Wong - unfortunatly I missed him the last times I was in the office of bj21.com.
Another place to visit is the "Gamblers Book Shop" - the best ressource for gambling books in Las Vegas.

I will try to write a daily diary as long as I'm in Vegas but I'm not sure if I can make it. I recently changed my internet provider and I don't know yet if I get the same cheap and easy access in the hotel room that I had on my last trips.

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Down for the weekend but up with experience

I had a nice weekend but unfortunatly it didn't pay off moneywise and I lost somewhat. But it was a great trainings camp.

The players I faced had been more than bad. Lot's of people from Asia and Eastern Europe. The type of action was loose-aggressive to loose-super-aggressive.

Those people created more action than I was used to and there was a lot of multi-way, raise, re-raise pots (against those types PartyPoker is a passive crowd!). Usually there had been least 7 from 10 people seeing the flop (often with at least one raise). 3-4 players going to the showdown wasn't unusual.

I've seen people raising and re-raising with the worst end of it (72o) and proclaiming that they "...know how to play poker and they guy calling them with AK for an A-high just played it badly" ;-))
Guess, the same guy was suprised that the "tourist" just beat him in a big pot with KK that improved (not that it was needed) to trips on the river. "Oh, you already had a hand on the flop?" Payday! :-)) Well, no surprise that those people couldn't understand how anyone can fold Q7o.

Unfortunatly those maniacs go lucky from time to time. And with 3-4 at the showdown there's a big possibilty that one lucky player cracks your valuable hand (I got AA's, KK's, QQ's and Full Houses with 7's cracked). Bluffing somebody out of a hand - now way (most of the times).

With this style of opponents you face big variance. Much bigger than in other games. If you don't get valuable cards you will lose here even with super-tight play. You pay your blinds and you will definitly lose some valuable pots. If you get good cards - this is a goldmine for tight aggressives.

Unfortunatly I didn't get the cards this weekend and lost a little as said in the beginning.

What makes the game more complicated: Those guys fire up as soon as the game starts. Some play it like a re-buy tornament. They burn their money quite fast (first new buy-in after 15 minutes), buy-in for a second (maybe third) time and leave.
So a full table goes down to a 4-6 people game after not more than two hours.
If you are lucky you get fresh blood otherwise the table may brake after 3 hours or you play short-handed for several hours. Short handed play is different. You have to loosen up somewhat but the pots are smaller and the rake will hurt more. But I learned a lot this weekend. I logged 13 hours in 3 nights. Hoped for more, but well...

They provide some nice incentives that make the almost 300 km trip worth the travel.

This is not a place for a passive player type. This player will be dominated by the locals. Loose players will be crushed. They play bad poker but they know how to play people.
Even with my tight aggressive style it was difficult. The problem is that if you don't get good cards you can't show aggression. So for the first two nights I was labled as tight-passive. Not good as they easily used this against me. I knew I would strike back but until then I was clearly dominated. The last night was better. Raising and re-raising them with KK and QQ and going back to very tight play gave me some respect for value play. After that they tried to lure me into some pots but it went back to them (see the KK example above). Unfortunatly the table broke to early that night.

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The final test is coming this weekend

Two more weeks before the big trip to Vegas. Time to take my Poker knowledge to a final test. A whole weekend from Friday late evening to Monday early morning will be devoted to Texas Hold'em in a 24 hour B&M cardroom. Let's see how it goes and how many hours of playing time I can log in.

This weekend trip brought up an important question: how much of my bankroll should I take with me?
I use a session stopp/loss at 30 BigBets. I know S/L doesn't make sense in terms of the long run but at this time I am happy with it. After losing 30 BB's I'm currently mentally down and it's time to evaluate my play. And this of course is a good reason to stop. I have no fixed stopp/win - I play as long as I have fun and feel good with my game (not getting tired etc.)

I know that my overall bankroll should be 300 BB's. But I haven't found the numbers in between - until I read Fred Renzey's "77 Ways To Get The Edge At Casino Poker". I hate the title and I was a little reluctant as it is from Frank Scoblet's "Get The Edge"-Series (with a foreword by Scoblete). But I knew Renzey from his BJ Bluebook and he didn't dissapoint me with that one, too. I will post a short report after I read it completely.

Back to the topic:
He provides some interesting numbers that are very helpful: He uses 600 BB's as overall bankroll (which is somewhat conservative, but I'm fine with that. His 60 BB session BR is to high for me (at least now). Using a trip BR for a whole 5-day-trip (like Vegas) of 150 BB's sounds reasonable. And I came up with a stake of 100 BB's that should be sufficient for this weekened.

The next question wasn't answered in the book but I could answer it myself: How much to take to the table? Well in BJ I hade a session limit too (for similar reasons as in Poker plus as a heat stopper). But in BJ I need to take substantiel more with me than in Poker. Why? That's easy.
Before playing a hand in BJ I have to be aware that I might need some money infusion due to splits, re-splits and doubles (and worst: Insurances). I don't need that in Poker. I am not allowed to buy-in during the hand and if I buy-in after the cards are dealt I gain no advantage because I have no knowledge if I get AA or the doomed 72o...

So to determine my session BR is much easier than in BJ and I will set my session BR to the stop-loss at 30 units.

Time to go to bed.
Some work in the morning and more Poker tonight...

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Poker can be cruel

Just finnished 7th in an online tournament at UltimateBet. Won $81 with a $30+3 Buy-In. I'm happy with that result. Was somewhat short stacked at the end and went "All-In" with A9o just to get called by the chip leader with A9o(!). But the next round he got me with 10,10.

10 places paid so you can imagine that it took a long time to eliminate the 11th player. At the end one of the guys with a medium to short stack went "All-In" just to get called buy the chip leader. It was a good move in my opinion (before I knew what the medium stack had). The chip leader could easily afford to lose but had a fair shot to kick him out (even with his 52o)...but medium stacked showed AA! Ouch!

So how did we go to the final table? 52o cracked AA with a 5 on the flop and another 5 on the river!

That's why they still call it gambling ;-))

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Computerkids vs. Live Casino Players

I start to realize how big the differences are - between the online poker-kids and people who play mainly live casinos...

I always hear about those people that play online up to four games at the same time. And I just wanted to try it myself. So tonight I played two online tournaments parallel. One at UltimateBet and the other at Full Tilt Poker.
I thought it should be quite easy as there is a lot of boredom for a tight player in a single game. I was plain wrong!

Playing that way the game gets fast ... really fast. And the fun starts if you get things like AQs in both games at the same time. Raising (and later folding) one and folding the other immediatly due to the others players actions. At the showdown both of my opponents in both games had AA and AK. Weird things happen sometimes.

Maybe I'm getting too old but this is definitly to fast for me. I like to take some time for my critical decisions. And part of my decisions is to know my opponents. With two or more tables at the same time I'm not able to read my opponents anymore.

But it's good to realise that those "kids" must have a completely different approach to the game. And most of them won't be able to adjust this when it comes to the live game. I don't like to play those "kids" on their territory but I invite them into mine ;-))

PS: You can find me at "UltimateBet" and "Full Tilt Poker" with the handle "ShadowBJ21". Most probably it will be at a tournament table.

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There will always be fish!

Recently I placed well into the money in a small live tournament.
As it was a small local tournament there were plenty of fish.

I was always wondering why there are so many fish. Learning the basic & advanced principles of poker play (as well as BS strategy and card counting in BJ) isn't a thing I would call very difficult. Of course you have to put in some effort but it can be done.

During the tournament I had plenty of time to watch the other players and I now realize that things that are easy for me aren't neccessarily easy for others.
Those people had sometimes difficulties to get the easiest things straight: like adding the right amount of money into the pot after they have been raised etc.

Don't understand me wrong! I don't say they are silly or dumb. It's just they look at the game from a different standpoint. They had fun and were caught in the action. Some of them were just to lazy or not interested in putting in further efforts.
They just don't like to invest that time into poker that I do.

On a real money table they will be toast quite fast. I'm fine with that - I'm there to get their money. Something wrong with that? I don't think so!
It's the basic principle of gambling. Money always comes from someone and goes to someone else. The strong/better take it from the weak. The same applied for card counting in BJ but there is a BIG difference: In BJ I don't take the money directly from the ploppies. They have to contribute to the casino and I take it from the casino. But if they wouldn't pay - I wouldn't get my share from the casino. So the ploppie pays the casino and/or the cardcounter in some way.

But in poker the feeling is different. You take it directly from the fish. It's not like David (the cardcounter) beats Goliath (the casino) - here Goliath is the winner over David.
It still feels nice to take money from guys you dislike but to take money from a nice guy is much harder. I have to learn to resist to teach him and tell him his errors. Because if I do so...there's one fish less in the pond.
But as said in the headline...there will always be fish. So I think I will continue to teach some of the nice guys and wait for the next "bad fish".

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Tournament...fun & pain

Tournaments can be fun (if you win) and a pain (if you make mistakes).

I get better but I still have to place in the money sometime.
At least it is fun to send two players home in a single round with 9,9 vs A,K and A,Q. Triple up with that move adds to the fun :-))

Was placed in the Top 10 for a long time just to get crippled more and more with several raises were I missed everything one the flop.

At the end I lost with Q,Q vs. a Full House. Bad mistake as I should have estimated him at least on a trey after the flop. No need to go All-In here. :-((
Placed in the 80's of 300 (40 would have paid).

But I will learn...hopefully ;-))

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...and some success

As said in my last post I have to learn it the hard way. And it's a lot of fun if something goes right like you planned it:

Raised an A,K pre-flop and got one caller. The flop didn't help me (but still left some outs for the turn). The other player checked and usually I would have checked too and hoped for the turn.

But I took a second look at the flop and it was a nice combination of cards that could have easily completed a straight for someone with the right hole cards.
As my opponent checked (and I was sure that he wouldn't check-raise me here) he probably was on a high pair (or missed the possible straight).

So I decided to take a bluff. I know that bluffing is quite difficult in Low-Limit. But at this time those people knew that I usually play & raise only quality hands. I took two big pots with big cards just recently. I took a shot for a raise hoping he thought I made the straight.
And guess: He folded :-))

This was a semi-bluff as I still had several outs but I figured that I would be better off to try to kick him out of this hand now.

This doesn't work all the time. And it would be a great mistake to bluff too often but it's nice to see that it works under the right circumstances. And if the risk/reward ratio is positiv this is a +EV move.

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Mistakes, Mistakes ... learning the hard way

As said before I don't like to play online. And I hate to play with "play money" - It isn't poker if losing doesn't hurt you.
So using a sim software isn't an option for me, too.

Yes, I read the books and create my strategy but I have to proof it in a live game in a B&M casino. I am aware that this might cost some money but this is the way for me.

Good thing I found a game that is not too far away and offers low limits.
So I have virtually no travel expenses and can play a limit that I can easily afford (compared to my former BJ play) but still hurts if I lose due to errors.

The game has a lot of bad players. A lot of raising and re-raising with every cards you can imagine. And some calling stations as well.

But even that kind of game will only be profitable if you don't make mistakes.
And I realize that I still make a lot of them.
My pre-flop play is fine. I would call it "tight & very aggressive".
But you have to pay a price fo this style: You must be willing to fold your already raised hand at a missed flop. I didn't do this often enough in the beginning. And that cost me a lot of money. And learning to fold on the turn/river if you are sure you're beaten with a good hand (e.g. low card flush) is even harder.

But I am learning and it is getting better now. Still a few weeks to prepare for real action in Las Vegas.

Am I still happy with my decision to walk away from BJ and turn to Poker? Hell, yes!
I love it. I have to learn much more but it's a great game and I feel that it suits my style. I started way to late to become one of the big players in the poker world (I'm close to 40 now) but I am quite sure I will be able to be a winning player in the long run.

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