published!

i submitted an article to parttimepoker (PTP) a couple weeks ago, and they accepted it and published it last week. i really should update this more often ;)

anyway, the article is on short stack play in MTTs and you can find it here:
http://www.parttimepoker.com/poker-strategy-articles/072007/short-stack-strategy-tournaments.html

i came across the opportunity to submit an article when chris from ptp put out a stake on neverbeg (more on that in a future article) for the best 2 article submissions. mine was one of the 2 selected (obv). i plan to submit another article next week, probably on razz.

ptp is a cool site and their name really speaks to me since i am a part time player who can only find time to play late at night usually. they have strategy articles, news, humor, t-shirts, interviews, a forum, propping gigs, overlays, etc. they also have affiliations/partnerships/ownership in some other sites such as neverbeg.com, rakebacknation.com, and dailyhandquiz.com. anyway, those are all cool sites and you should check them out. especially my article ;)

btw the above paragraph is not a plug. for it to be a plug, that would mean that someone reads this ;)

fold KK? - yes!

so when would you fold KK? no, i didn't smell AA from a tight player who hasn't raised 4ever. no, i didn't pick up a tell. it's all situation. in fact i folded KK preflop, no raise before me. i would've folded AA here too. here's the situation...

pocketfives.com (a site that ranks online players and has other tips, etc.) emailed me about a promo they were doing, which included a $1 rebuy/turbo NLHE tourney where they added 30 buy-ins to the pokerstars sunday millions to the prize pool. great deal!!!

i had a great start - i ended up in 5th place by the end of the 30 minute rebuy period. there were a couple of guys pushing with ATC and continuously rebuying. my plan was to do that a little at the start, but once i doubled up, be a little more selective. turns out i got pretty lucky and only had one rebuy - and i didn't even need it! i had pushed on one of my first couple of hands with J9s and tripled up. the one rebuy i bought was during that hand, not thinking i'd actually win.

the post-rebuy period wasn't so kind to me. i tried a few steals and other solid raises that didn't connect on the flop, and after a long roller coaster ride up and down the standings, i ended up pretty short and luckily got all-in with QQ vs TT and it held up, putting me in the top 30 or so with 80-some players left and 73 tickets in the prize pool.

then came the hand - i get KK, utg+2. the SB had a little more than me, the BB was all-in blind, and one other stack with a little more than me behind me. 80 players left and they are dropping out 1-2 per hand. yes, i would've won the hand, in fact K-high beat Q-high on that one. but the point is, preflop i'm at best an 88% fav, but i figure to have at least a 98% of finishing with a ticket if i just fold away.

perhaps if i had a lead over everyone at the table by at least 2M then i would've considered it more. all things considered, i think i made the right play here, and here's my reward:

hopefully, i can turn this ticket into some real $$$!

razz is fun...esp with donks

i love it when a donkey sits down at my razz table and claims he knows what he's doing. this guy claimed that he had the lead at this point and capped the pot, then said i sucked out when i won. i had A2388, he had AA89J. if you think 17% is a favorite, you need to play me for all your money:

http://twodimes.net/poker/?g=r&b=&d=&h=2h+Ac+3s+8d+8c%0D%0AAs+8h+9c+Jh+Ah

i tried to be friendly with him after a while - and also probe a bit to see if he had more $$$. he does, so i'll have to look for him next time.


here's an interesting hand that should have never happened - if any of these 3 guys raised on 3rd instead of limping in, i would've missed out on a 20BB pot. (i'm BuckMyCards on FTP)

Full Tilt Poker Game #2233474689: Table Danville - $0.50/$1 Ante $0.10 - Limit Razz - 3:31:59 ET - 2007/04/18
Seat 1: beth_6302 ($20.40)
Seat 2: the plastered1 ($5)
Seat 3: jewels123 ($21.50)
Seat 4: golfnutty ($20.50)
Seat 5: NeverXscared ($8.15)
Seat 6: blunt2535 ($7.20)
Seat 7: BuckMyCards ($22.40)
Seat 8: taurusbull74 ($7.80)
BuckMyCards antes $0.10
beth_6302 antes $0.10
jewels123 antes $0.10
blunt2535 antes $0.10
taurusbull74 antes $0.10
golfnutty antes $0.10
NeverXscared antes $0.10
5 seconds left to act
the plastered1 is sitting out
Time has expired
the plastered1 folds
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to beth_6302 [8h]
Dealt to jewels123 [9c]
Dealt to golfnutty [2h]
Dealt to NeverXscared [Td]
Dealt to blunt2535 [Ts]
Dealt to BuckMyCards [4d 2c] [Qs]
Dealt to taurusbull74 [9s]
BuckMyCards is high with [Qs]
BuckMyCards brings in for $0.15
taurusbull74 calls $0.15
beth_6302 folds
jewels123 calls $0.15
the plastered1 has returned
beth_6302 stands up
BuckMyCards: ok - bedtime for me, gle <-- figured i was folding here as soon as someone completed, but then i realized i might see 4th here, b/c i know golf here never completes! golfnutty has 15 seconds left to act
kingframer111 sits down
golfnutty calls $0.15
NeverXscared folds <-- my new friend (see above)!
kingframer111 adds $40
blunt2535 folds
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to jewels123 [9c] [Kh]
Dealt to golfnutty [2h] [Qc]
Dealt to BuckMyCards [4d 2c Qs] [Ah]
Dealt to taurusbull74 [9s] [4h]
taurusbull74 bets $0.50
jewels123 calls $0.50
golfnutty folds
BuckMyCards calls $0.50
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to jewels123 [9c Kh] [3h]
Dealt to BuckMyCards [4d 2c Qs Ah] [3s]
Dealt to taurusbull74 [9s 4h] [6c]
taurusbull74 bets $1
jewels123 calls $1
BuckMyCards raises to $2
taurusbull74 raises to $3
jewels123 calls $2
BuckMyCards calls $1
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to jewels123 [9c Kh 3h] [6d]
Dealt to BuckMyCards [4d 2c Qs Ah 3s] [8d]
Dealt to taurusbull74 [9s 4h 6c] [2s]
taurusbull74 bets $1
jewels123 has 15 seconds left to act
jewels123 calls $1
BuckMyCards calls $1
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to BuckMyCards [4d 2c Qs Ah 3s 8d] [6h]
taurusbull74 bets $1
jewels123 has 15 seconds left to act
jewels123 calls $1
BuckMyCards raises to $2
taurusbull74 raises to $3
jewels123 folds
BuckMyCards raises to $4
taurusbull74 calls $0.05, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $0.95 returned to BuckMyCards
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BuckMyCards shows [6h 4d Qs Ah 3s 8d 2c] (6,4,3,2,A)
taurusbull74 shows [Js 7d 9s 4h 6c 2s 3d] (7,6,4,3,2)
BuckMyCards wins the pot ($21.40) with 6,4,3,2,A
taurusbull74 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21.90 Rake $0.50
Seat 1: beth_6302 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 2: the plastered1 is sitting out
Seat 3: jewels123 folded on 7th St.
Seat 4: golfnutty folded on 4th St.
Seat 5: NeverXscared folded on 3rd St.
Seat 6: blunt2535 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: BuckMyCards showed [6h 4d Qs Ah 3s 8d 2c] and won ($21.40) with 6,4,3,2,A
Seat 8: taurusbull74 showed [Js 7d 9s 4h 6c 2s 3d] and lost with 7,6,4,3,2

sklansky on razz and doyle's ss1 make loud and clear the point that A234+bad > a pat 9 and here's a good example in this hand on 5th:
http://twodimes.net/poker/?g=r&amp;b=&d=&h=2c+4d+Qs+Ah+3s%0D%0A3d+7d+9s+4h+6c
(i'll give him credit here for having 73 in the hole and not the J)

on 6th, i was in trouble, but pot odds wouldn't let me fold anything at this point:
http://twodimes.net/poker/?g=r&amp;b=&d=&h=2c+4d+Qs+Ah+3s+8d%0D%0A3d+7d+9s+4h+6c+2s

even if i considered the 3rd guy a threat on 6th, he wasn't much of a factor, even if i put him on perfect in the hole:
http://twodimes.net/poker/?g=r&amp;b=&d=&h=2c+4d+Qs+Ah+3s+8d%0D%0A3d+7d+9s+4h+6c+2s%0D%0AAc+2d+9c+Kh+3h+6d

so when i made a #2 (6432A) on the river, i figured i would go ahead and put my man all-in for his last 3+ big bets even though he could possibly have the wheel.


so not only did i win a big pot (for this limit) on my last hand of the night, i think i probably looked like an idiot and will get more action from these guys if i see them again. what they don't understand, is that i played it right.

this is why you always raise the bring-in out of the hand!

if anyone reading this finds an error on my part, plz let me know - i'd love to discuss it.

how i beat vista media player 11

i got a new laptop about a month ago and it came with vista. pretty cool looking, and some of the new features make finding programs really easy, but not a huge leap in operating system technology or anything. my biggest problem with it is that 20 seconds before the end of each song in my playlist, it would skip for a couple seconds. this was driving me crazy!!!

dell: no help
ms: see dell

i finally found the solution in the microsoft support community forums here:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx

note that i found this under the main vista group, not under media player.

for those of you who may run into the same problem, the solution is pretty easy: go to control panel, click on sound (wherever that is now), find your sound device and open its properties. go to the enhancements tab and check the "disable all enhancements" checkbox. that instantly fixed my problem. such a relief! i hope someone else with this problem finds the same relief.

feeling low...

after running into a big bad luck streak playing mostly HE on FTP recently, i've eased back my pace and focused on lowball games like razz and triple draw 2-7.

for most of the last 2 months (january, february) i was focused on clearing a bonus with FTP while at the same time fulfilling their iron man requirements playing a few hours a night at $1/2 NLHE tables. i was doing well there for a while, but towards the end of february, got into a slump and lost a lot of the winnings i had made. meanwhile, i had spent part of my time playing HORSE (mostly at andy bloch's $1/2 table - he plays there often at night and is usually pretty talkative and helpful. and yes, he kills there - i think i've only seen him have one losing session of about -$20 and several +$100 sessions), and found myself favoring the razz rounds, often looking forward to them and feeling disappointed that we moved on after 10 hands (especially after 10 starting hands with paint in a row).

so i started playing razz only tables and now i'm hooked. it's a bit of a roller coaster sometimes, but steady tight-aggressive play usually works very well. there are plenty of idiots out there that will chase you down the whole way when they're obviously way behind, and although they catch up every now and then, you usually benefit greatly from their bad play.

when i finished my bonuses, i moved over to stars (i had a small bonus to clear there too) and with more time to finish this bonus i played lower limit triple draw (2-7) for a while and was killing it at first. i was mainly in the bottom fixed limits and when i did particularly well, i'd try to parlay it up into higher limits a little. once, when i couldn't find any fixed limit games, i tried NL TD27, and that didn't go too well. all of the strategy i learned was geared towards limit, and NL triple-draw just doesn't seem to make much sense. no wonder poker stars only has NL at very low limits and not at the higher limits better players play at.

after a bad run in TD27, i decided to try the razz tables there and wow - they are way loose/passive. i mean i found some fish at FTP, but the lower-limit razz tables at stars are very weak. i can't count how many times i brought-in with paint and then looked away at another table (or the tv) and looked back in surprise to find a 4th card in my hand! how do i not get raised out of this hand?!?! i've even had a few walks!

anyway, if you're looking for a nice change of pace or want to turn your cold deck upside down, give some lowball games a try - just try not to get too addicted. i don't know how many times i've typed "it's way past my bedtime" (often a few times in the same session).

here's where you can find more info on razz and triple-draw:
razz:
- doyle's super system 1 has a couple pages in the lowball section
- i hear sklansky on poker is a great resource - next on my list for my poker library

triple-draw:
- doyle's super system 2 has a whole chapter by daniel negreanu
- not much else out there, but if you don't have SS2, you can get a little help from here: http://www.modernpolymath.com/journal/2006/11/17/2-7-triple-draw-strategy.html (although it differs from daniel's advice on 2-card draws)

you can usually find good info at 2+2 forums, and i saw several hand discussions here too:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=26&sid=e775ea1f11baedd0d679a0bd0402495b

if anyone knows of more good resources, let me know!

bloody sweep!

i can't believe it's been 11 years since we swept dook. and on top of that, we somehow backed into the 1st seed in the acc despite doing everything we could to give it to one of the teams in the state for lovers.

i suppose i have to comment on the one play that will forever get more attention than the rest of the game. the way i see it, only henderson (and maybe coach k) knows if (or how) intentional the injury was. i will give him the benefit of the doubt that he only went up for a strong hard play for a block and/or foul. when it first happened, i definitely saw it that way. however, on the replay, i had some doubt - the ball was well out of his hands, but given all the likely contact, all players involved had their eyes shut, so i can understand where he may have swung at where he thought the ball was and only found cartilage. but the motion he had didn't seem consistent with going for the ball - i mean how does shoving your forearm straight down help you block a shot? however, i believe him to be a good kid overall (although with horrible taste in schools) so again, i give him the benefit of the doubt.

some other points:

1. coach k suggested that hansbrough shouldn't have been on the floor. bull shit. anyone who's followed the unc-dook rivalry knows that anything is possible. a 4 possessions deficit has been overcome not once, but twice in under 17 seconds in this rivalry. if paulus and mcroberts hadn't have fouled out, they would have been in the game too. and henderson ain't no scrub either, he's probably the best prospect on dook's team. besides, copeland was at the scoring table waiting to come in for tyler, and tyler was too busy missing foul shots and getting rebounds to be pulled out yet.


2. billy packer's game-time comments seemed quite biased in favor of dook. he seemed to think any extra punishment was overkill, even after seeing the replays that made it look pretty dirty. he also made the same point about hansbrough not needing to be on the floor.


3. in the end, kudos to tyler for taking it well - after understandably being upset after painting the floor red, he joked about the bloodshed. both teams and coaches seem to want to put it to rest now, and i hope the media doesn't make too much of this (although i still like the imagery).

anyway, i hope this is the start of a nice 9-game winning streak. we haven't quite lived up to our potential yet, and i hope our we can maintain our focus here on out as we did in most of this game.

also - congrats to our women for winning their 3rd straight ACC tourney! let's see them go on a 6-game streak and claim the title they missed last year.

bye doyle!

doyle's room officially shut out US players today. they set up a process to transfer your money to full tilt, even including a conversion of your action points. that's a lot better than what most places have done (see tony g's process).

i have some money still in there and apparently waited a little too long to try to get it out. i didn't play much at doyle's room other than 1 refundable bounty tourney and some experiments in badugi (fun but crazy game somewhat similar to triple draw). so i only have 40-some bucks there and a handful of action points, but hopefully i can get that transferred sometime soon. i hadn't played there in so long, that i forgot my password, and emailed them for a new one, but they are not surprisingly very slow in responding right now, so here i wait...

this US ban is starting to get really annoying. i have a couple hundred bucks stuck in the neteller siezed funds, but that's nothing compared to this guy.

so back to doyle's room: here are some comments from the lobby chat room as they were counting down to the US ban deadline:

cheysemi: IS A BALL GOING TO DROP....SHOULD WE COUNT DOWN?

skzap: How will doyle play at his room now ?

GF-killah: AMERICA' GET A REAL GOVERNMENT!\\!!!1

iDrew: : America is the land of the FREE

Ace's Lacey: cheerio cheerio cheerio

fistme: have the americans gone to kfc?????

skzap: Congratulations for voting Bush americans ;-)