Poker experience

There's a long time

2004-09-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

I have not posted since a long time, and some of you have mailed to me just to ask me if I was dead (it's an image of course).
I have not played poker for a long time, only because I'm working hard, very hard on my poker room project. Actually, I'm creating a small company which will be specialized in high availability services.

This company will have 4 activities:
- Delegation of IT people for big companies
- Computer security,
- Web hosting
- hardware and software counselling for small companies

We are building an infrastructure for the Web hosting activity. It will be composed with very small rooms (20 computers) of cheap PCs and several SDSL lines for each room.
Each room will cost less than 15 000 $ of investment and will cost less than 25 000$ each year to be effective 24 hours a day.
With such little figures, It's a big challenge.

This first room will be configured just to be the most effective solution against hackers. To achieve this, we will use open source softwares well known for their robustness.
Step by step we are building each component carefully having in mind the hacking problem.

Moreover, because some of our friends are very knowledgeable people in hacking, we will improve the overall solution by adding our own shield system. When all this will be achieved, we will organize a hacking challenge with 10.000 $ of prize for the winner.

Why to do this ?

If one day we build a poker room, we would like to be sure that no one could be able to break our systems and take money in the players accounts. I'm not sure that actually all the poker rooms can guaranty this.

Good Day yesterday

2004-07-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

If you want to look at the biggest list of poker weblogs, just go to Tao of Poker written by Dr Pauly. His list and the time he spend just to publish everyday is really impressive. What a passion my friend.

Poker is my passion. I always try to show poker to friends and make them discover the fun of this game. I organize online showrooms some nights and some game at home with my nice chips for free.

Yesterday was one of this online session. I was playing on a NL 5/10 table on pokerstars just to show my friends how this game is difficult at high level.

With this group I had a previous demonstration friday the 23th on NL 1/2 tables, and I played play money games with them on wenesday or tuesday (I don't remember).
All this games were on pokerstars, because this is the site I play actually a lot, but once or twice in a week I play on other sites as well.

So yesterday I was playing on pokerstars and in the same time I was connected on ICQ just to comment each hand and give them some hints.
In fact after a 4 hours period, I finished winning 1390$ which is an incredible score for me. Of course I had luck, a lot of it. Whatever it was a pleasantfull show for me and for them because they finished the night with a lot of enthusiasm for this game. They will continue to play 'play money' games for quite a long time, because they understood that poker is a complex game.

With the results I had yesterday, I gained confidence to take some other shoots at this limit. This month I will have won a little more than 3500$ playing 64 hours which is very good for me.

Can I do it again in the next few months ?
Can I survive among the NL 5/10 players during the next few months ?
Can I reach a 50$ rate per hour level for a long time ?

These are questions I will try to answer cautiously in the next few months.

Clever guy

2004-07-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know who is this guy but he has made a very clever list of weblogs. Just have a look of it.
http://pokernerd.blogspot.com/

Results for July and a new Idea

2004-07-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hello all

We are neally at the end of July and my results are good.
I made more than 2000$ this month playing neally 60 hours at poker tables and averaging a 35$ per hour rate. I'm happy about that. Morevover I have 65% of winning games at NL 1/2 and 70% of winning games at 2/4. I lost 420$ at NL 3/6 and I won 100$ at NL 5/10.
I paid more than 750$ in rakes for the poker room. So this month is a good month for me.

Since a week, I proposed to some friends the idea of creating our own online poker room. All those friends are computer guys, some of them working for an IT company, others being at school. Creating a online poker room is a hard task, You need a very high availability and the solutions to achieve this, are all but easy.

My friends (6 total) are not poker players, so I teached them Texas Holdem, played in front of them during 3 hours on pokerstars and  give them some advices. They started to play on play money tables on some online rooms.

I ask them to test different online poker rooms assigning them different ones. My goal with them is to let them play during the next 2 months just for them to understand what is a poker room. I do believe that you are a better poker programmer when you are a good poker player.
We have built a training program for the next 2 months just to let them improve.

During the next 2 months, I will study carefully all the aspects of creating a poker room, and especially the IT part of it. Creating cheap High availability solutions is difficult. Robustness, fastness at the lowest cost is hard to achieve.

For the financial part of this business, let have some numbers suppose there are 10 000 players each hour on internet on a site. Suppose that only 60% of them are playing on real money tables and that a player pay 7$ per hour to play. It gives a total earnings per year of more than 380 millions dollars.

Now for the costs. Suppose that you need 3 sites somewhere in the world for redundancy. Each site being equipped with 300 big PCs. You need big routers, big leased lines, a building for each site. Suppose that you need 70 people per site to have 24/24 hours support paying them an average of 50 000 $ a year (very good average salary).

Investment per site   1 500 000 $
Annual costs per site    5 000 000 $

so a grand total for the costs of 15 millions $ per year and 5 millions of investment.
then you will have to pay for marketing.

Suppose you spend 100 millions dollars for marketing per year.
It gives you 280 millions $ of margin.

I definitely want to try to have part of this.

Now suppose that we only have one site and that the software is created to reduce the total costs of administration by redundancy everywhere.
To which level can we reduce our costs per year ?

Probably less than 500 000 $ per year. At this price you don't have big marketing, and hire only 5 employees. You have machines, large broadband wire and a building, telephone, Fax,
and secure stuffs and what is priceless you have time to increase your number of customers.

Ok but we need a software, and we need a good one a one which we'll need to improve ourself, so we have to build it. How much time do we need to build it. 2 years part time. 1 year full time. 1 000 000 $ dollars just to create it and 500 000 $ per year to improve it.

Can I find 3 000 000 dollars for the software company (6 years of creation and improvement) and 4.5 million $ (initial investment and 6 years of hosting) for the company which will host the servers ?

good question.

Results for July

2004-07-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

Using poker tracker a lot, these are my results for the 14 first days of July

Totals 54 Sessions

NL(4$) 5 sessions ----- 4 winning sessions
NL(2$) 49 sessions ---- 31 winning sessions

True Win Rate 31.05 hrs
Hands 3447
$Won 40.40

Of course I'm happy about these results but what they don't say is that I had 3 periods during these 15 days. The first one lasting 7 days I played my normal game, having a 35$ per hour rate.
Then I started to slowplay some hands, and my rate per hour falled to 20$ (same as it was last month playing only one table), then understanding that I was going nowhere, I played more agressively going all in sometimes. My rate per hour climbed again to 40.40$.

I have paid 399$ of rake during this period for 31 hours, so a 12.87 rake per hour and a 0.1157 rake per hand. Quite expensive.

There is an excellent article written by a weblog buddy about the different types of poker players in rounders. I'm actually playing to make money. I need some. I try to earn 2000$ per month playing 60 hours. It's less fun than the way I played before, but it's quite effective.

If some of you have a comment on the rate per hour, please let me know. Do you guys do a lot better ? which amount ? playing on which tables ?

You should read as I do, the other weblogs. They contain definitely some gems in it. For example the 13th of july's post in grubby's weblog demonstrates clearly the concept of time dimension I explained several posts ago. Another lesson from this post is Let the other guys think you are the fish, at the end you will have the money (another of my favorite concept).

Tough Hands

2004-07-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday 4th of July, I was playing at WPT in Paris for a cheap tournament (NL 55 euros)
I was doing quite well, having sized the majority of my opponents and leading the table with 250 chips (we started with 100 chips).

Then came the following hand.

I'm in the big blind. I have J8o.
No one raise so I have a freeroll.
5 players in the hand.

The Flop J85

The small blind checks.
Of course, I'm happy with such a flop, so I check because I know that someone will make a bet and I will check raise.

The guy just after me bets 10. Ok it's what I expected.
A very tough girl raises it 50. A solid player raises all in.

The small blind folds
uh oh, I'm in trouble. I think quiet a long time and because, I respect both players who raised, I fold.

The guys who bet 10 folds. The girl calls the raiser.
At the end, she will show pocket jacks and the other guys will muck his hand.

Same tournament, a while after the preceding hand.

Pocket 8's. I bet 6 preflop.
A guy calls me.

Flop J64

I check, the guy bets 30. I think for a while about this hand. I suppose that if he wanted me in the pot, he would have bet less so I call.

Turn 4

I check. He goes all in for 50. I'm in trouble. There is 125 in the pot, and I have to put 50 to call. I'm now really afraid of a jack in his hand, but I'm committed and the call won't kill me. I call again. Just after my call, he says "nice call" and he leaves the table. He turns his cards face up, he has A8. The river will not save him.

Those 2 hands were tough. If you have a comment please let me now.

Stats for June

2004-07-06T00:59:00.000-07:00

After a rocket start, I lost my discipline and made some pretty bad plays (calling someone who is not a bluffer, bluffing at the wrong time). Whatever I finished June by having a 21$ per hour rate playing mostly NL 1/2 during 50 hours. I took some shots at bigger limits 2/4, 3/6 and 5/10, but I lost money at these limits so I stopped playing in it.

July has begun and I play mostly 2 tables NL 1/2. This way I try to increase my winning rate. Even if I have some money for myself, it's fully invested in some small promising companies so I definitely need some fresh money for my new project (bakeries). And my best way to achieve this goal is to win it at poker tables or to sell my shares which I don't want.

By playing 2 tables at same time, I try to reach a 35$ per hour rate. It's not easy for me. I'm pretty sure that some players do far better on internet, but it's hard for me just to achieve it.

Another change, I made in my games is: I stopped playing being tired. Now I always play after a good rest. I have observed that my results were far better this way.
So I go to bed early and I play when I wake up. Most of the time I wake up at 5 am and I play for 2 hours before going to work.

Moreover I use poker tracker intensively to track record, to improve my own game and to have some useful insights on the other players. However I have a line on the play of my adversaries long before I start using poker tracker in a session, just by observing them.

So for July the goal is to be the more efficient as Nike said it:
'Just do it'

Poker and Time Dimension

2004-06-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Today we will explore one of my favorite concept about poker: Time Dimension.
When you play at mid or higher limits, players often have a line on you very quickly. They remember what cards you play in particular situation, and when you bet. This capability can be used to your own advantage to trap them. Let me show you an example.

This morning, I played on table entering short stack with 20 big bets. I played very few hands but agressively. My first hand played was AJ. I raised preflop. Another guy reraised, I went all in. I had AJ, he had 66. A jack, with 2 queens on the flop and a 6 on the turn. I had to rebuy. I put another 20 big bets. Next hand played 44, a bet preflop, reraised by a guy, and all-in from me, called by the guy. He had AQ and nothing hit the board and I doubled. Few hands later, AJ again played agressively before the flop and called by someone. Bet on the flop, the other guy folded.
Some hands later, AQ in hand. I called a raise preflop. KQ8 on the flop. K on the turn and a blank on the river. I won the hand showing 2 pairs Kings and Queens.
Then pocket 8 with which I called a raise of 3 big blind (ok not a clever move but I do it sometimes). Nothing on the flop, I folded the flop's bet.

Finally pocket AA. I put 3 big bets, a guy after me doubled my raise, I called. Most of the time I go all in with such a hand, but I thought about slowplaying the hand so I just called. Flop AKJ. Perfect for me. I raised half the pot. The other guy reraised me 1.5 pot. Thinking some time about it, I went all in. Thinking a great time, he called my all in. Turn blank, River blank.

He had pocket Jacks, and his set of Jacks was beaten by my set of Aces.

I talked about the hand with him. He thought I had A9, AT, AJ, AQ or AK because I didn't reraised preflop and just called. On the flop he put me on top pair with the first bet and 2 pairs after my all in. He said that he had been trapped by the 2 hands he saw where I called the flop.

This is a perfect example of poker as a game where Time Dimension should be used intensively.
Of course, this one was perfect for me, but even if I had lost this hand, it would be a perfect example.

Next time, I will try to show you really bad plays in the first moves which lure the opponents giving you a shot to win a lot. These plays work well in mid limits (NL 2/4).

The Cobra and the mongoose

2004-06-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

For me the principal advantage of World Series is that it brings in one location at one time a lot of players who will play together for the only time in the year because they are living in different locations around the world.

Let me tell you a true story which happened between 20th of may and 30th of may in very old times (WSOP 2004) between Jacko the mongoose and Larry the Cobra.

Once upon a time (all the good stories begin with Once upon a time), in a middle age castle famous for its sword, and its dragons, somewhere in the desert of a very vast country burned by the sun, there was a great snake, a royal one, not a little one, called Larry. Larry was not like the other snakes. He was a gentle snake, very friendly one, especially for its prey, killing them with efficiency and compassion, neally a tear in his eyes. Because he was a gentle snake, he always had advertency of killing other animals, thats's why he was so famished.

Here comes the second heroe of this story, Jacko the mongoose. Jacko like every other mongoose is always dancing (even without music). He goes throught the life dancing fastly, very fastly. Its life is not a waltz, it's a techno dance.
When the mongoose confronts an enemy such as the cobra, it sits on its haunches and stretches its body to its full height to look more menacing. The mongoose is a fast and agile hunter. It is always looking for prey.

So when a cobra (even a gentle one) encounter a mongoose, can you imagine what happens ?
Of course they don't make love, they just prefer war. A big one with nuclear weapons and WMD. Big bluffs from the mongoose against big folds from the cobra. Bluff and Bluff again. Jacko the mongoose was dancing around Larry, trying to make tilting Larry.
And that's what simply happened. Larry probably tired of being lured by Jacko the mongoose, started to attack Jacko with a big bluff, but Jacko had a hand, a decent one, a set to be precise and Larry the cobra continued to bluff even when Jacko put Larry all in, calling for the fortune of finding a flush at the river.

Of course the river killed Larry (don't you know that most snakes hate water) who finished his life (just poker Life at this time) miserably, broke, one more time. He won't eat tonight. Perhaps tomorrow Larry, if Jacko the mongoose is not around.

I'm a fan. Simply a fan.

2004-06-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

Poker Community is like every human community, full of disorder, of creativity and with plenty of real good and funny things. Bad boys, sweet girls, or bad girls and sweet boys, you will find all of that and much more if you just have a look at my poker blogs links.

Some of their authors are really talented in writing (not like me), and you will have fun just by reading them.

So take a look, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your trip in the poker virtual tour.

It's not a TV show like friends, it's far better, it's life.

The easiness of being short stack

2004-06-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

Today, I will try to explain why in my opinion entering a table short stack is far better than entering a table with a big stack in cash games. On pokerstar when you enter a table you have several options about the money you bring with you. By default, you enter with 40 times the big blind, but most players comme with 100 times the big blind. Let me show you why 100 and 40 are far too much.

First when you enter a level for the first time of your life, you have to minimize your expected losses. Starting with 40 times the big blind gives you enough money to take some several shots, you would have not taken if you had a smaller stack. So you put in danger your stack by playing some marginal hands because you play against players who are probably far better than you. Having a short stack helps your discipline.

That's why, I recommend entering with 20 times the big bet. In this situation you will have enough chips to play 13*9 (9 seat on a full pokerstar table) hands. It's enough to see AA,KK,QQ, or AK. It will be easy to play such hand strongly, because even if you loose all, you will have lost just a part of what you originally wanted to put on the table. You will bring back 20 big blinds again just to take another shot.

Entering with short stack will force you to spot the very best situations, the situations in which you will be on a 70/30 bet in your favor. Moreover even if someone put pressure on you, it's just money you can afford, because you still have 20 big bets to play again, it will be easy for you to go all in.

All you have to do is to wait for a very good hand and try to double. The best way to achieve your goal will depend on the agressiveness of the table you play on. Waiting for the best hand will allow you to observe the table, see if your table is agressive or not, if some guys bluff a lot, if another is a tight player, so in a few words waiting for the best hands will allow you to do your homework.

Moreover if you are short stack people will play more easily against you than if you have a huge stack. They will easily draw against you. This is exactly what you want. Extract more money from them. Of course you will loose some pots sometimes with a turn or a river card, but most of the time they will miss their drawing cards, and you will take their money.

Having more money on the table makes you play more hands. Some of these hands will be folded easily. In this case you will only have lost your preflop bet or call. But some of theses hands will be terrific trapping hands; some from which you can't escape easily.

So next time you enter a table, just think about the money you bring with you on the table.

Fish and Chips

2004-06-09T01:35:00.000-07:00

Pokerstar about 1850
Partypoker 57.65

Today, I will speak about the player you can find at some poker tables called the fish, not devilfish, just the fish. In the tradition, this guy (mostly a male) seems to be happy just to give you his money by playing some fishy hands by fishy ways. There are several categories of fishs depending on all different errors they do while playing poker. Some are calling stations, others are maniac bluffers, ...

According to Mike Mc Dermott in Rounders "A fish acts strong, he's bluffing, acts meek, he has a hand." and more
"Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker"

I have been playing poker for 3 years now, and actually, after a few thousand hours of poker, I still have difficulties to spot them at poker tables even in low limit NL games. At rare occasions, I can say this guy is going to loose all his money, but most of the times it's not the case, I can't predict that this guy seated at seat 4 is going to loose his money at the table. Most of the times when I enter a table, I feel that games are not so easy to beat. Yes I can spot an error of some guys on one particular move, but most of the times they don't do this error every time. They do it once in a while.

I really feel that speaking about fishs is a clear demonstration of lack of humility. Poker is not an easy game, and I'm not a great player. Like the majority of the crowd, I have good days and bad days. Most of my bad days occur when I'm tired or when I feel really confident about beating the table. In this mental state, I always loose my discipline and finish invariably loosing money. Poker is for me a matter of work, humility and luck. It's not brilliant, it's laborious. Not everyday, but most of the times, I like entering a game thinking about how is hard this game and that I will try to do my best just to be even, to pay the rake.

When I play some big games (for me it's 5/10 NL games), I know that all the players are far better than me. They understand poker in a way I don't even think about. Whatever their hedge on me, I'm going to fight, just to see if I can do it, if I can survive and leave the table with all of my chips.

That's why when I play live games, I like to enter a table by saying 'Good evening gentlemen, I present myself, I'm the fish, you are the sharks, let me see if I can swim among you'.

Session June 5th 2004 (Table Galatea)

2004-06-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

Pokerstar 1450.54
Partypoker 57.65

After having good results on NL 1/2 cash games on pokerstar I decided to take a shot by playing NL 2/4 games. When I went to Las Vegas 2 weeks ago, having won money on NL 1/2 at Excalibur, I took 3 shots on NL 2/4 (or 2/5) tables at Palm's, Bellagio and Golden Nugget. At palm's I started with 100$ and finished with 212$ with Joe Awada seated at my right. At Bellagio, I started with 200$ and finished with 239$. At Golden Nugget, I started with 700$ and lost all.
The impression I got by playing these games was that they were tough. Even if I finished as a winner in 2 of them, I just left before loosing all my money. I don't have the same feeling with the session I finished 2 hours ago on pokerstar.

You can find the result of this session below.

Level ----- Minutes --- $Won ----- Hands --- BB/100
NL($4) ---- 84 -------- $289.50 -- 78 ------ 46.39

Neally all the money I won was won with one hand. I can't understand how my opponent can have played the hand this way. Of course I was scared when reraising on the river, but I simply can't understand why he called me with such a bad hand. He probably thought that I was buying the pot. But why ?
There's probably something very valuable to learn in this session.

I'm going to show the hand I speak about

POKERSTARS GAME #469980418: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2004/06/05 - 13:05:13 (ET)
Table 'Galatea' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Kleptic ($252 in chips)
Seat 2: Equis ($394.55 in chips)
Seat 3: OldGranny ($504.25 in chips)
Seat 4: anjelique ($480.95 in chips)
Seat 5: Dupangel ($222.25 in chips)
Seat 6: aragon ($400 in chips)
Seat 7: tayer30 ($438.40 in chips)
Seat 8: ENFORCER ($514.10 in chips)
Seat 9: crackleback ($353.75 in chips)
Dupangel: posts small blind $2
aragon: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dupangel [9s Qh]
tayer30 said, "thanks"
tayer30 said, "thanks"
Equis said, "gh"
tayer30: calls $4
ENFORCER: folds
crackleback: folds
Kleptic: calls $4
Equis: folds
OldGranny: folds
anjelique: folds
Dupangel: calls $2
aragon: checks
*** FLOP *** [Th 5s Qd]
Dupangel: checks
aragon: checks
tayer30: bets $32
Kleptic: folds
Dupangel: calls $32
aragon: folds
*** TURN *** [Th 5s Qd] [2h]
aragon leaves the table
Dupangel: bets $52
tayer30: calls $52
*** RIVER *** [Th 5s Qd 2h] [Jh]
Dupangel: checks
tayer30: bets $48
Dupangel: raises $86.25 to $134.25 and is all-in
tayer30: calls $86.25
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dupangel: shows [9s Qh] (a pair of Queens)
tayer30: mucks hand
NoShootSid joins the table at seat #6
Dupangel collected $449.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $452.50 | Rake $3
Board [Th 5s Qd 2h Jh]
Seat 1: Kleptic folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Equis folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: OldGranny folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: anjelique (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Dupangel (small blind) showed [9s Qh] and won ($449.50) with a pair of Queens
Seat 6: aragon (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: tayer30 mucked [9c Jc] - a pair of Jacks
Seat 8: ENFORCER folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: crackleback folded before Flop (didn't bet)

With PokerTracker, it's very easy to recount all the action to this hand.
Has the player been lured by my actions before that hand ?
Has he simply tilted ?
Was he regular to some degree of making this sort of mistake ?
Those questions are the ones I'm going to try to answer by analysing the session.

I think the explanation can be found very simply by remarking that 6 hands before the hand where he lost, this guy had 82.35$.

469954803 tayer30 ---- 82.35$ +91.35$ straight 8 to queen
469956380 tayer30 ---- 173.70$ +65.00$ all in on the turn, everyone folded
469958215 ENFORCER ---- 238.70$ -4.00$ folded preflop
469959190 crackleback - 234.70 -16$ 2 pairs Kings and Jacks
469979084 tayer30 ---- 218.70$ 221.70$ 3 of a kind, sevens
469980418 the hand he lost 222.25$

He has probably tilted. Moreover on the hand 469954803 he chased and hit the straight

Him Td8h

Flop Qh8s3h
Turn Jh
River 9c

Someone raised 58.35$ on the flop and he called and then hit the str8.

Session June 5th 2004 (Table Sponde)

2004-06-05T02:13:00.000-07:00

Pokerstar 1161.04
Partypoker 57.65

The Result of this session will be find below.

Level ----- Minutes --- $Won ----- Hands --- BB/100
NL($2) ---- 181 ------- $60.40 --- 166 ----- 9.10

This table was very agressive. There was one player at this table (Corbettkri) who was a big agressive bluffer. He lost a lot (492 $).
On this table I saw the flop with a lot of hands, but folded them quickly.
Every hand with Axs saw the flop. But the agressivity of the table was too important to play like that. On this table I should have played the strategy, I explained 2 posts ago (Wait for the big hands and be agressive with them during the first hour and then mix the game by drawing and playing suited connectors).

Some stats
Hands played --------------------------------- 166
Hands which saw the flop --------------------- 36
Hands which saw the flop but were folded ----- 21
Hands which went to showdown ----------------- 5
Hands where my opponents folded b4 showdown -- 10
Premium Hands ------------------------------- 14
Premium Hands won ---------------------------- 76.75$

Premium Hands List
AKo -- 1 -- -6$
AQs -- 1 -- 4$
AQo -- 1 -- 10.15$
QQ --- 2 -- 57.85$
JJ --- 3 -- 18.05$
88 --- 1 -- -14.95$
77 --- 1 -- 19.65$
55 --- 2 -- -8$
33 --- 1 -- -2$
22 --- 1 -- -2$
Total 14 - 76.75$

Cash games need far less luck than the tournaments, because the fact that the blinds don't grow, gives you enough time to wait for the premium hands. You just don't need to build a huge stack as in tournaments.

Results of the session June 5th 2004 (Table Ariel)

2004-06-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

Pokerstar 1100.64
Partypoker 57.65

These sheets are extract from Poker Tracker a powerful software which allows you to track your results.

General Results

Level --- Sessions -- Winning Sess. --- $Won ---- Hands -- Hours -- BB/100
NL ($4) - 1 ---------- 1 -------------- $75.20 -- 55 ----- 0.92 --- 17.09
NL ($2) - 12 --------- 8 -------------- $632.45 - 654----- 10.88 -- 24.18
NL ($1) - 9 ---------- 6 -------------- $293.60 - 458----- 8.03 --- 32.05
NL ($0.5) 17 --------- 8 -------------- $307.20 - 715----- 14.58--- 42.97
NL ($0.25) 3 --------- 0 -------------- $-23.05 - 63 ----- 1.17 --- -73.17
NL ($0.02) 4 --------- 1 -------------- $-2.53 -- 84 ----- 1.60 --- -75.30

This is the result of my last session

Level ----- Minutes --- $Won ----- Hands --- BB/100
NL($2) ---- 69 -------- $57.49 --- 65 ------ 22.08

This session was played with the strategy explained in the preceding post.
However rapidly, I saw that this table was a passive table, so I started to steal some pots and play pairs even in first positions against a blind field.

Some stats
Total Hands played ---------------------------- 65
Hands which saw the flop ---------------------- 11
Hands which saw the flop but were folded ------ 6
Hands which went to Showdown ------------------ 1
Hands where my opponents folded b4 Showdown --- 4

The positive result was obtained only with one hand and because a new player who was very agressive came on the table. I won a big hand ($48)against him. Before that, I was just even, my steals just compensated the blinds.

In fact on such a table, I probably should play loose and agressive to steal many more pots.

Overall Strategy

2004-06-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Pokerstar 1043.24
Partypoker 57.65

What I am going to do in the few next weeks is to play in the 1/2 NL cash games tables on pokerstar or partypoker.
During the first hour of play (60 hands) I will play only the premium hands (AA,KK,QQ,JJ, AK,AQ,AJ, lower pairs in late position) just to have a line on the play of other players. I will play by the book trying not to gamble by not chasing draws, not bluffing, ..
Then in the second hour, I will mix it up, playing some suited connectors, drawing to flush or straight.
I will have a piece of paper with me just to take notes about the players or the table.
Moreover, I will only play after a good rest just to be concentrated on the game.

A game of Hunting

2004-06-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

When I was young, I used to live in a region of France where hunting is more than a tradition, it's a religion. In this region (south of bordeaux) most of people have a gun, and most of people use it for hunting ringdove.
Hunting Ringdoves is not an easy game. You have to use decoys to lure the birds. You can kill them only if they land to eat. Most of the time, you see them flying around you, waiting for them to land near you.

For me, Texas Holdem is like hunting Ringdoves. Let me explain why.

Sometimes, I like to start on a cash table waiting for the premium hands (AA,KK,QQ,JJ,AK,AQ,AJ). I play during the first 2 hours with only these hands, raising with them preflop and playing these hands straightforward after the flop trying not to bluff. On internet where there are 60 hands played per hour, you will play 3 hands during these 2 hours (sometimes more, sometimes less). What I want to do with these hands is to show the other players the hands I play with.
Of course all the other players around the table finish to know that I am a real tight player and so they start to adapt themselves and play accordingly.

So once in a while I take a shot seeing the flop for cheap with suited connectors expecting to find a perfect flop and lure other players. Let me take an example of what I did at Las Vegas on a NL 1/2 at Excalibur.

Me 7h5h
Flop 3d4s6h

With this flop, I raised 10$. The guy I was against, raised to 50$. I reraised him 100$ and he reraised me all in. Of course I called him. We turned our cards faces up and he showed 3s4s. He had 2 pairs. He was sick of my cards because he expected me to show an overpair like AA or KK and that's why he reraised me all in.

On the fifth street came a 4 giving him a full boat and I lost 350$ on this hand.

However I played perfectly this hand, playing during the first 3 hours only premium hands and waiting for a good shot to make a killing. I neally succeeded this time, but the poker gods decided to let him escape of my neally perfect trap.

This strategy is very powerful. It can be used only in cash games (lives or internet).
To play a very easy readable game allows you to lure people if you play something very unusual and you get a perfect flop. If you don't catch a perfect flop, just throw your hand away to prevent people from seeing the hand you started with.

Las Vegas Trip

2004-06-03T02:03:00.000-07:00

I've been playing poker for 3 years, mostly Texas Holdem NL tournaments or cash games in low limits (partypoker or pokerstar) or micro limits (on pokerstar). This year from 20th of may to 30th of may I went to Las Vegas to participate at the big event of WSOP 2004.

During these vacations, I played at several locations including:
- Excalibur NL 1/2 Tables,
- Palm's NL 2/5 Table,
- Bellagio NL 2/4 Table,
- Golden Nugget NL 2/5 Table,

I played at NL 1000$ at Bellagio tournament on Friday May 21th and NL 1000 $ at Binion on Thursday May 27th.

First of all. Because in France we can buy poker chips with blue card, I had not taken a lot of money for my trip. When I went to buy some chips at Bellagio for the tournament, they ask me to come back with dollars, so i had to go to the ATM machine to get some dollars. I withdrawed 500 $ and played a satellite at 230 $. I finished second in this satellite and qualified for the big tournament (NL 1000 $) at 5 pm in the afternoon.
After having lost in the big tournament, I went back to the ATM machine to withdraw more money for the next events to come, but having reached the limit of my blue card, I was not able to withdraw money anymore. So I was in trouble, having more or less 250 $ for my livings.

I went to Excalibur NL 1/2 table and playing very tight (AA,KK,QQ,AK,AQ, and low pairs in back position when not raised), I started to win money (200$ for the Friday night). This gave me a lot of confidence, because I knew that I would be able to make money on the Excalibur NL 1/2 table. After that, I did not withdraw money from the ATM machine anymore. My winnings at Excalibur Poker tables were sufficient enough to pay my livings at Las Vegas, to see some shows (Blue Man Group, le cirque du soleil, ..) and to make a trip to Grand Canyon by flight with helicopter.

Moreover I took some shots at higher limit tables
- 2/5 NL at Palm's where I played with joe awada (starting with 100$ finishing with 212$)
- 2/4 NL at Bellagio (starting with 200$, finishing with 239$)
- 2/5 NL Golden Nugget (starting with 700$ and loosing all in one hand with pocket Aces cracked)

I played several satellites for the Thursday Event at Binion, winning or finishing second, 3 times on 4 games and selling 2 seats, keeping one for me.
At this tourney, I played against Tony Kaiden on my first table, and Padraig Parkinson. And after having changed from table, I sat on a table where there was Tom Mc Evoy. I didn't recognize him. That was only when he lost, that I asked the other players who he was.

Having played during 10 days at Las Vegas, what are the lessons I learned ?

1) there are 2 types of players in theses games:
- the locals,
- the tourists,
Mostly the locals are very good poker players. Some play for living and are poker pros and others are amateurs who comes to play nightly. Some tourists are good players too, but most of them are fishs. They provide bread and butter for the locals.

Because of the arrival of locals amateurs, the games are tougher in the evening and during the night. The games are far easier in the morning because there are less pros and more tourists.

2) In the Excalibur 1/2 NL table, winning the game is essentially a matter of playing tight and patiently, waiting for the right hands and making pay the other players. When all players know your game, you can start mixing your game up a little. Most of these games are played before the flop.

During the Friday night and Saturday night, you see a lot of americans coming with money to be spent at Las Vegas. When they sit down at your table, it's a gift. Most of them will try to draw on you whatever the price they pay. It's wonderful. All you have to do is to wait for premium hands and a good flop. They will always call you. There are so numerous that when one is killed another one sits at your table. You know that you are going to win, you only have to expect to have good hands before these fishs have been killed by other players at the table.

3) In 2/4 NL games and higher, you find a lot of very good players. They always know where you are. They have a line on your play after some of your first moves.
The impression I had playing these games was to be a fly among spiders. Very uncomfortable.
Moreover most of them have a lot of money when you sit at the table so they can do some tricky things against you.

If you want to play comfortably in these games, you have to enter the table with 1000 $.
It gives you enough bullets to survive some bad hands. Most of these games are played after the flop. Most of the time, you see the flop for cheap, and the big money comes after the flop.

Presentation

2004-06-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hello

I'm Daniel Dupard. I'm 36 years old. I got a wife and a kid. I've been playing poker for 3 years now, mostly online (partypoker and pokerstars) and at Aviation Club de France in Paris. This year, I went to Las Vegas for the WSOP 2004.

I decided to start a weblog just to share my experience of poker with other players, and to improve my english. So if you see some mistakes in my writings please let me know, i thank you in advance for your answers.