Playing with a Pro

I had my first opportunity to play with a pro last night on Full Tilt Poker.  I played a $5 HORSE SNG with Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie.  He’s been on a few poker shows and he invented Microsoft Word.

 

NOTE: Yes, it is quite possible that I played against someone who may have had access to his account.  My guess though it was really him.

 

When I logged on to Full Tilt last night, I saw that the $5 HORSE SNG was red, which indicates that a professional was in the game.  There were about three players already registered so I figured that I would enter as well.  Not everyday you get to play a pro and my HORSE game is not that bad.  So why not.

 

HORSE is a game that changes every level.  You’re playing the following games: Limit Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, Razz and Omaha and Stud 8 or better.

 

I had the following goals:

 

1. Not to look like a donkey.
2. Not to look passive
3. Make it to the money
4. Play heads up with Mr. Brodie
5. Win the damn SNG

 

With the exception of 4 and 5, I did pretty good.

 

My strategy was to play tight and when I was in a hand play aggressive.  So in the first level I was dealt A-To, A-Jo, Pocket 10s.  I could win with none of these hands.  Already I was down, but I was fortunate enough to fold early and only lose a small amount.  Thanks to the small 15/30 blinds in the first level.

 

It was here that I just waited for a hand to some my way.  I was also watching was Richard was doing.  He was just sitting back until the blinds got high and waited for hands to play.  We never really tangled much.  I was playing stud and I bet in late position with a good looking up card and he folded.  I bluff in razz with a good up card.  He reraised me and I folded.

 

Basically we didn’t tangle until the end of my run.  When the blinds were high enough, I doubled up in stud with my opponent showed Aces up and I had two pair.  I then crippled a few players with a wheel in Razz and I soon became the chip leader.  I was then crippled in Razz when my 1-3-4-5-6 was beaten by the wheel.

 

I was pretty close to losing at this point with 5 players left.  I’m just looking for a hand to get aggressive with.  Anyway, being patient pays off.  While I’m the severe short stack.  I’ve got three player shoving all in and by the time the hand is over, two players are knocked out and I’m in the money.  Two hands later I shove it all in on a drawing hand against the Quiet Lion and lose.  As I register my $4 profit, the get a GG from Mr. Brodie.

 

Cool.

November Poker Progress

Let’s talk November.  I’ve written before that I was on a bad roll and I was.  I know understand the term “grinder” because I grinded my way back to $450 just this week.  It helped that I was sick and could play a lot of poker in bed.  I was able to move up to the $10 SNG and do well there.  I was actually able to win one which comes with a $45 top prize.

 

I’m now at my highest level ever in poker and it feels good.  If I can avoid any major losses this month, I will have parlay $100 into $450.  If I can do it I’d like to make it to $500 by the end of the year.

 

Keys to success.  It’s the adage “never give up”.  I can’t tell you how many times I was short stacked and I threw away hands that I just did not want to go broke with.  I was down to 6 big blinds on the bubble, only to see the second place chip stack lose it all to a stupid all-in.

 

Yesterday was the first time I lost on the bubble and I was so frustrated.  I had pocket 2’s at one point and could have called a small raise.  I would have flopped a set and would have tripled my stack when two players shove all in with top pair.

 

Then I’m short stacked on my way to make the money only to see the chip leader double my closest opponents with stupid calls.

 

Gotta go.

Poker and the Christian

It's kind of funny, but I've been having a lot of discussions recently about whether Christians can play poker or if playing poker is a sin. I wrote about the theology of playing poker in an article that I wrote called "Poker and the Christian." My article has appears on many blogs and lists over the years.

In a nutshell, my position is that poker is a game of skill. The skill of calculating odds and reading your opponent. Because your playing against other opponents and not the house, you are eliminating the chance factor in the game.

Ever since writing about Christians and Poker, I've found a few of the underground Christian home games. Even at work, I've been able to participate in a few of our tournaments. By policy, my workplace can not advertise or allow us to use rooms to play poker. But there are a lot of us who love poker.

I have had pastor write me about their home games. I play people at my church and this year's World Series of Poker winner is a devout Christian - Jimmy Yang. If you have other thoughts about the "sin of poker" I'd love to hear from you. Write me at ang@mypalal.com.

September Progress

Things have been going will for me this month.  I've not been able to keep up with the Poker Progress chart.  Part of it was laziness and other was losing, but things have turned around.  I am not at the highest earning so far.  I'm at $580.  I've been playing strictly Sit and Go's.

 

The key to winning SNG's is patience.  Don't let revenge or emotions get the best of you.

 

Alan Ng

 

Alan Ng Home Page

Disney Collectibles Store - www.themeparkshopper.com

 

A real tough laydown

I'm trying something new.  I'm part of a poker site that has taught me a lot about playing SNG's and MTT.  It's Poker X Factor and it's radically changed my game.  I'm definitely winning a lot more than I'm losing and their training videos have been invaluable.  As part of the service, I'm able to upload hands and have people evaluate my play.  Here's an interesting hand:

Click here to view a larger version.

 

I posted this hand in the forums and wanted to get peoples opinions.  About half of the responses said the guy was bluffing and the other half said he had a hand.  Let me tell you my thoughts during this hand.

 

First, in playing this hand, I had a good chip lead and I was playing real tight up to this point.  I'm on the button and I thought I would attempt to steal the blinds and A-rag suited is not a bad hand to do this.  Otherwise, I would never raise A3 suited unless it was a steal attempt.

 

I was called by RARuiz.  This guy has been playing very loose aggressive.  He likes to see flops and he likes to attack weakness.

 

So now we see the flop and it's 3h-10d-9s.  RA bets and I'm thinking maybe he hit the flop, but a min bet in this situation is usually a probe bet, so I'm certain he didn't hit the flop.  Plus I'm getting odds to draw, so I call.  Then the Ace comes on the turn.  RA bets and I'm feeling that this is a continuation bet, so I reraise to basically tell him I have an Ace.  He then repops me.

 

Now I'm stuck.  I'm basically faced with the decision of whether he has a better ace than me.  All I know if this if I continue with this hand, I'm putting him all-in and risk crippling my big stack.  At this point I decide to fold and congratulate his loose play.

 

It was hard giving up this hand, but I wound up winning this SNG and meeting RA heads up to do it.  I basically used his aggressive style against him.  The turning point in the match was me having pocket Kings and playing them very weak.  He shoves me and I cripple his stack to ultimately win.  If you're going to be aggressive, be smart.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

July Progress

It's been awhile since I've given an update to the poker blog.  Again, I'm exclusively playing SNG's and I'm currently hovering around $500 for my total poker bankroll.  I've basically been stuck here for the last month.  It's a little frustrating, but I'll survive.

 

My losses have been an combination of bad plays and bad luck.  Fortunately, I'm winning enough to make up for the losses.

 

Here's a few thoughts on winning strategies.  1. Focus on the game.  2. Take notes.  3. Attack the weak.

 

Here's a few of my losing habits. 1. Gambling.  2.  Calling when I know I'm beat.  3. Folding when I know I'm ahead.  4. Not playing the hands that need to be played.

 

I want to be at $600 by the end of August.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

May Poker Update

I've pretty much been playing SNGs exclusively.  I've done a few MTT's but SNGs have been my prime focus.  I was doing well, but then I took a big hit recently.  I basically am back down to $100 in profit.

 

Why the loss?  The first is bad beats, but I can go on forever about that.  It happens.  I have a good number of times that I was knocked out on the bubble and most of the time I was going in with the best hand.  At the risk of sounding like Mike Matasow, I will state that you can do nothing about it.  In the long run you'll win.

 

The second reason for the loss was gambling.  I allowed myself to get into a position where I put it all in hoping to hit my 8 outer, instead of folding.  I allowed myself to chase, while at the same time calling off chips.

 

The third is not playing aggressive.  Attack at weakness and then back off if played against.

 

I dropped to a $50 profit for the year.  I'm now back to $100 profit and hopefully I will see it rise.  I've had a nice run of 7 out of 8 cashes this weekend.  The key to those victories was money management and knowing when to play your short stack.  I also have been better about watching my opponent and picking up on their playing style.

 

The 1 loss was interesting, because I was out in three hands. I start as the dealer.

 

Hand #1: AQ.  I come in for a raise and get called.  The flop is rags. I raise again and I'm reraised.  My instincts told me that board didn't hit my opponent, so I call the reraise.  The turn is a rag.  My opponent bets and he's obviously trying to get me off my hand.  I reraise and he folds.

 

Hand #2: AJ.  I limp in with several callers.  The flop comes A-Q-J.  I have two pair and I bet it pretty strong, hoping to stop anyone from drawing.  I'm called.  The turn comes a 10.  Any hand with a king bets me.  My opponent bets, and I have pot odds to hit a full house.  The river calls nothing and my opponent makes a min bet.  I call and he had the king.

 

Hand #3: AQ suited.  It comes to me, I raise.  The big blind reraises and I shove all in.  He has pocket 6's and I have two suited overs.  I was hoping for a coin toss and I lost.

 

Thats poker. 

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

March Progress

OK, so I haven’t written in a while.  March has been a frustrating month.  I’ve been mostly playing SNG’s and I was able to push my bankroll up to $300, but a long losing streak brought my balance back to $250.  Basically, I ended March with the same balance at I started.  It was a frustrating net $0 month.

 

I haven’t updated my chart because, I’m too lazy to keep the adding these small tournaments.

 

How would I describe my month?  It started great thus the $300 balance.  I won a $10 SNG at Full Tilt.  Since then I’m started losing more SNG’s than winning.  I’d say 33% of the time it was my fault by making some bad moves.  The other 66% of the time was losing with the best hand.  Pocket aces losing to pocket 6’s or small suited connectors.  But then that’s poker.

 

So for April.  I’m still doing SNG’s and a few MTT’s.

 

Hope to do better.

 

Alan

Poker Progress Update

The latest dip was not a loss in poker but a withdrawal to pay for some nice clothes for my wife.  It's my permission to play poker.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Poker Progress Update; My longest SNG.

Things have been going quite well for me in January.  Not including a $100 reload, my overall poker bankroll has grown above $100 in pure poker winnings.  I’m feeling very confident.

 

I am currently on an SNG roll.  I’ve been doing quite well at that definitely cashing more than losing.

 

I want to talk about yesterday’s SNG.  It was probably the longest SNG I’ve played in for quite a while.  It saw me at one point being the chip leader on the bubble and then drop to a very low stack on the bubble as well.  Here’s the story:

 

Hand 2: It was a $5 SNG.  My plan was to play tight.  Second hand, I’m dealt AQo on the button.  I’m not a big fan of AQ so I decide to limp in with this hand and see a flop cheap. 

 

THE FLOP: Ks-Td-Js

OMG, I just flopped the nut straight and I’m in position.

 

Seat 5 comes in for a minimum bet of 30.  Seat 8 makes it a standard raise of 90 and I flat call and so does seat 5.  Seat 5 comes in for a minimum raise of 60. I feel like I can do a little trapping here, my only concern is the flush draw, but only mildly concerned.  What I like is that I have two players who are battling and I’m just in for the ride.

 

THE TURN: 7c

Great card because it helps no one and makes the flush draw more difficult to call.

 

Seat 5 bet 2/3 the pot to 360. Seat 5 folds (probably the flush draw).  I make a minimum raise to 720, just to say that I’m playing this hand.  Seat 5 calls.

 

THE RIVER: Ac

This card is a little frustrating because if he has a Queen we split the pot and a lot of hard work come for nothing.

 

Seat 5 immediately put me all in for my remaining 555.  I call of course, because I have the nuts.  Seat 5 shows JTo.  He flopped two pair and overvalued his hand.

 

He was very embarrassed.  I made a few comments to help him get over the trauma but I didn’t care.  He was left with 90 and out shortly after.

 

THE BUBBLE

By the 37^th hand we reach the bubble.  This games goes on for another 92 hands before it ends.  This is how frustrating things got.  Here’s the chip stacks:

Humble Guy (me): 4060

tripJJJ: 2675 – Passive player, easy to push around.

bh4500: 3525 – Passive player, easy to push around.

big ed k: 3140 – Often overplays hands, very aggressive (try not to give him your chips)

 

I have the chip lead, but not by much.  Everyone is playing relatively tight. My strategy is to use my chip lead to whittle down my opponents.  I will come in with standard raises whenever I can and fold to an all-in if caught.

 

This pretty much worked for the next 52 hands.  Over the 52 hand span, I won 19 hands, lost 2 hands, lost 2 hands because I gave up the small blind.

 

At hand 89 here are the chip stacks:

Humble Guy (me): 5950 (+1890)

tripJJJ: 2620 (-55)

bh4500: 1815 (-1710)

big ed k: 2665 (-475)

 

The blinds are now at 150/300, meaning everyone but me is short stacked and I’m going to have to call some all-ins.  My strategy is to call an all-in when I think I have the best hand going in.

 

Hand 90:  ATo (big blind)

This is a great hand to shove in.  tripJJJ is under the gun and makes a standard raise.  I’m going to reraise all in naturally.

tripJJJ calls with J9d.  I have the best hand.

 

FLOP: 9h-6d-2s

Not a good flop. tripJJJ now has a flush draw and top pair.

 

TURN & RIVER: Qh & 8s

That was a big hit, but no worries, I’m still in it.  I’m down to 3180 chips.  Still playable.

 

Hand 91: As-Ad (small blind)

Great hand for an all in.  Bh4500 goes all in for 2265.  I call.  He shows 8d-8h.  I’m a 5:1 favorite to win.

 

FLOP: 4s-2c-8c

No freakin’ way. And the trip hold up.  I’m now down to 1065 will only 3.5 big blinds.

 

Now, I’m looking for opportunities to steal blinds and double up.  The players to my left are very passive and I know I can push them around.  I’m expecting big ed K to call me, so I want to have a strong hand with him.

 

Hand 92: 9h-8h (dealer)

I fold this hand pre flop because don’t want to go all in with a mediocre draw hand.  Ironically, I would have flopped the nut straight.

 

Hand 95: KTd (small blind)

Big ed k goes all in and I’m calling.  He shows pocket queens.

 

BOARD: Ks-8s-Ad-4d-Kc

It was right for both of us to come all-in this hand.  My hand holds up and I double up.  Big ed k is out and we’re in the money.  I’m still not out of the water yet, but I have chips to play with.

 

The funny thing is that big ed k takes the next 10 minutes to grumble about my call.  He’s calls me a donkey and can’t believe I play the way I do.  He doesn’t understand basic short stack play.  I really love putting guys on tilt.

 

The SNG continues.  I wind up busting tripJJJ.  Just as that happens, I hear a crash in another room of my house. And my wife and I investigate.  So basically I’ve abandoned my keyboard and start getting blinded off.  Bh4500 does something stupid and realizes that I’m not at my keyboard, so he goes all in at every hand.  He’s putting himself in danger, because when I return I could have had pocket Aces and busted him. 

 

That didn’t happen and I wound up winning.

 

I hope this was insightful and entertaining for you.

 

 

The Classic Slowplay

If you're up against an overly aggressive player, I have the best slowplay story to tell you.  I'm "Humble Guy" the aggressive player is collette0725 and this is the second hand of the game.

 

Full Tilt Poker Game #1544170196: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (11179929), Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:49:01 ET - 2007/01/06
Seat 2: Sheila Noya (3,090)
Seat 3: DarthSushi (1,500)
Seat 4: Ravenous (1,500)
Seat 5: Humble Guy (1,500)
Seat 6: SPOTLGHT (1,500)
Seat 7: softailman_2 (1,500)
Seat 8: LJ Postman (1,410)
Seat 9: collette0725 (1,500)
Sheila Noya posts the small blind of 15
DarthSushi posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Humble Guy [Kc Kh]
Ravenous folds
Humble Guy raises to 120
SPOTLGHT folds
softailman_2 folds
LJ Postman folds
collette0725 calls 120
Sheila Noya folds
DarthSushi folds

 

So I'm dealt Pocket Kings in early position and I come in for a standard raise.  Basically I'm feeling pretty good about this hand and I'm willing to fold cheap if an ace hits the board.  Collette calls my raise.

*** FLOP *** [Kd 7d 8h]
Humble Guy bets 120
collette0725 raises to 510
Humble Guy calls 390

 

I just hit trip Kings.  Now's my chance to slowplay and win big.  Because this is only the second hand, no one knows me or my playing style, so I'm going to portray myself as someone who's not very experienced.  I bet the standard raise of 120.  The reason is that that appears to be a continuation bet as opposed to someone who hit big.

 

Collette reraises me, which is great.  I pause a little and I call the bet.

*** TURN *** [Kd 7d 8h] [Ac]
Humble Guy checks
collette0725 bets 870, and is all in
Humble Guy calls 870, and is all in
collette0725 shows [Qd Jc]
Humble Guy shows [Kc Kh]

 

An ace hits the turn.  The ace can appear to be a scare card.  So I continue to show weakness by checking and Collette overplays her hand and goes all in hoping to scare me out of the pot.  Of course, I call. 

*** RIVER *** [Kd 7d 8h Ac] [8c]
collette0725 shows a pair of Eights
Humble Guy shows a full house, Kings full of Eights
Humble Guy wins the pot (3,045) with a full house, Kings full of Eights
collette0725 stands up

 

And as you can see Collette was bluffing with no hand, made a horrible read of my cards and I doubled up.  I wound up coming in 2nd in this tournament. This is why I love this game of poker.

 

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Poker Progress Chart

I didn't want my entry be about a big loss.  I've played a couple of SNG's and have made the money a few times.  Here's your chance to see my progress so far.  My progress chart is at this page - http://www.mypalal.com/poker/ProgressChart.cfm.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

My first big loss

I could blame the fact that I'm sick, but I just got unlucky and I played badly.  I had recently won about $30 in $.50/$1 limit.  I played again.I began to lose and lose fast to the point that I almost lost what I had won previously.

 

Three factors to my losing.

 

1.  Draws that didn't pay off.  This happens a lot in limit, but I just couldn't convert a draw.

2.  Suck outs for my opponents.  I would have top pair with highest kicker and my opponent pairs his kicker on the river.

3.  Too aggressive with aggressive players.

 

Factors 1 and 2 I can live with.  That's the problem with limit and you'll win hopefully more than you'll lose.  Aggression is my problem at the moment.  I seem to take raises personally and I just need to muck when trying to be overly aggressive with my losing hands.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

My Second SNG

Game Summary:

Full Tilt Poker

$5 SNG

Finished 2 out of 9

Gain: $8.00

 

The best way to sum of this game was scratch and claw your way to second place.  I was basically short stacked and battling it out with my third place opponent to make it finally to second place.

 

DON'T GO BROKE WITH TOP PAIR. Early a player was dropped because he overplayed his pocket aces.  He raised under the gun raising 9x the BB.  He's called by a guy with pocket 6's.  I probably would have folded this hand so early in the tournament.  Anyways, pocket 6's flops trips and pocket Aces will not fold but to go all in.  I'm not sure that I could fold Aces, but maybe I should learn.

 

I took a hit on the third level.  I was dealt A7s in the small blind.  3 limpers. The flop comes 8-8-7.  I have two pair.  I get to see where I stand.  I'm reraised just a little by the button.  The turn comes and I check the dealer bets all-in.  He's short stacked, I call because of odds and lose when he shows his 8.  I should not have been so aggressive because I misread the guy and I priced myself into call his all-in.

 

I'm now left with only 750 in chips and I'm approaching the short stack.  I need to find a moment to double up, which means pocket pairs or overcards.

 

5 hands later that opportunity comes.  I'm dealt KQo and I go all in.  I'm actually hoping to pick up the blinds, but I have a caller with KJ and I double up and find myself back to where I started.

 

I was a little handcuffed for the rest of the came.  It was a game of who can find themselves in second place.  Not the best game I've played but second ain't bad at this point.

 

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

The First Game of the Year

Game Summary:

Full Tilt Poker

$2 SNG

Finished 1 out of 9

Gain: $6.75

 

It's January 1.  2007 is only 2 hours old.  I just got back from my improv show (www.nationalcomedy.com).

 

Let's dive into a game.  I log into Full Tilt and find a $2 SNG to play.  The other games were just not filling up at the time and I wanted to get into any game ASAP.

 

I decide to use my regular SNG strategy.  Play tight in the first few level and hope to get lucky.  Then look for double up opportunities and get the medium stacks to fold.  Then play aggressive when 4-5 handed play.

 

I think the key to my success here was patience.  I was running pretty card dead the first few levels.  I maybe won only two hands and not for much.  You don't want to give up a lot of chips on mediocre hands.  Let the aggressive players win these small pots because you can use it against them later on.

 

Mistake people made.  Very quickly we lost three players.

 

Two players decide to try and double up fast in the second level.  With two limpers, the button goes all-in with 1,120 with KQo.  The big blind calls with pocket 7's.  King on the turn give it to the button and 7's are knocked out.  The problem - we have gamblers and they overplayed their hands.  KQ  wanted to steal the pot, they could have done that with a small raise.  Pocket 7's is a low to medium pair, the likelihood was that they were up against two overs.  It's just too soon to put your tournament at risk.

 

Turning points.  Throughout this game, I'm basically just trying to stay alive and look for moments to earn some chips.  It wasn't until the 10th level that things turned around.  Blinds are at 120/240 and I have 1500 in chips.  I'm battling a passive player, slowly building a pot until I finally the river hits my hand and I win a 1040 pot.  Later I'm dealt AK against the chip leader.  I go all-in against his pocket Jacks and double up with a King on the flop.

 

You've got to win races in order to win tournaments.

 

When I'm head to head, my strategy is to figure out how the other person is playing.  My opponent was playing tight.  I basically stole whenever I could and fold under aggression.  We played for almost 30 minutes, because I didn't want to go all-in with him unless I felt I could beat him.  And I finally did.

 

Finally, I'm dealt KQo and I'm faced with a large raise.  I figure I'm against a low pocket pair so I call and I'm up against 6's.  Queen on the flop and I will 90% of the chips.

 

Last hand I have A8o and I'm raised all-in again.  I call against Q-10 and I win the tournament.

 

Good start to the year.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com