DayLee Grinder

Played a couple $6.50 90-man KOs on FTP tonight and had a decent run going in one of them until some donkey ass douchebag decided AK was to good to fold when I fired a pot sized bet with 2 pair on the flop and he had no draws. So many people play AK so poorly, it pisses me off.

Most people fall in love with AK PF because they know that they can rarely be much worse than 50% to win the hand if they get all of their money in heads up. While this is true, the reverse is also true: Rarely will you be much better than 50% to win an all-in showdown. So why is AK considered such a great starting hand? Folding equity!!! You can increase your pot equity to well over 50% by getting your opponents to fold in situations where they shouldn't. AK is not a strong hand if you don't hit on the flop, in the end all you have is Ace high.

Here are three keys to getting the most out of A-K pre-flop:
-Raise enough when you have AK to give your opponents a chance to fold
-Don't raise so much that the only hands that are willing to call you are the hands that have you dominated (AA KK)
-Jam with AK, but don't call all-in with it unless your M is improper

Take example this hand:
Full Tilt, $6.50 Buy-in (120/240 blinds, 25 ante) NL Hold'em Sit'N'Go, 8 Players
UTG+2: 3,515 (14.6 bb)
MP1: 6,382 (26.6 bb)
MP2: 10,940 (45.6 bb)
MP3: 2,235 (9.3 bb)
CO: 21,947 (91.4 bb)
BTN: 3,070 (12.8 bb)
Hero (SB): 14,426 (60.1 bb)
BB: 10,260 (42.8 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 5c 4c
2 folds, MP2 raises to 720, MP3 folds, CO calls 720, BTN folds, Hero calls 600, BB folds

Flop: (2,600) 3c 5d 4s (3 players)
Hero bets 2,600, MP2 calls 2,600, CO calls 2,600

Turn: (10,400) Kc (3 players)
Hero bets 11,081 and is all-in, MP2 folds, CO calls 11,081

River: (32,562) As (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Results: 32,562 pot
Hero showed 5c 4c (two pairs, Fives and Fours) and lost (-14,426 net)
CO showed Ac Kd (two pairs, Aces and Kings) and won 32,562 (18,136 net)

Flatting from CO actually makes me want to call here from the SB with 45s. Prolly not the greatest of calls from me here but CO could have taken this pot down with his AK however got himself into a world of hurt! When I pot-size bet the flop, CO needs to realize that his/her AK is no good there 95% of the time. Chances are I flopped a set, straight or a sneaky 2 pair :D

I do realize I should be nowhere in this hand most of the time however how can people donk off 12% of the chips with Ace high? No clue I guess, just needed to rant and rave a little about peoples failings in playing AK!

Thx to Rafe Furst as I used some of his AK notes

After a long weekend of grinding 25NL and Mini Ftops events, I logged into FTP on Tuesday to play in the PTP Appreciation tournament. Extremely fun tournament, would say 95% of the entrants had bounties on their heads. I put a $5 bounty on my head.

First hand I played was pocket deuces. Raised from UTG and had 3 callers. Flop came out 3 2 2. WHOA! Just flopped Quads. I lead out when BB checked to me and all i got was fold, fold, fold. BLAH! Reasoning behind leading out was figuring these players are too good to think I am not going to C-Bet when I PFR UTG. Also was thinking 1 of them was playing a PP but no my theory was completely and utterly wrong.

Biggest swing hand of the tournament was with AK and flopped TPTK. Bet the flop and had 1 caller. Turn made both a straight and a flush and I stupidly led out, Was check-raised and mucked TPTK. I really need to start checking TPTK on the turn but I always try to hammer it home. Eventually had like 500 chips left and blinds were 50/100 so I snap shoved with QJs and was called by K10, which flopped a king.

Prolly will not get to play much poker until the weekend, where I will once again lock myself in my apartment and grind 25NL and some MTT. Really need to start grinding my online poker bankroll so I can play in a big SCCOP Poker Tournament or two!!! They have some sick tournaments running with awesome prize pools. You people HAVE TO PLAY in a SCCOP Poker Tournament, some of the entries are only $11. Just think you can save $11 in a week by not having a SCOOP of ice cream after dinner. This is my SCOOP motto... 1 less SCOOP of Ice Cream, 1 more SCOOP tournament entry! Gawd I am a frickin genius but hope Ben & Jerry's doesn't hurt too much from this because Cherry Garcia is the bomb!

Some quick SCOOP 2010 stats:
• Total Guaranteed Prize Pool: $45,000,000
• Number of Events: 38
• Lowest Buy-In: $11
• Highest Buy-In: $10,300

SCOOP 2009 Stats:
• Events Played: 22
• Total Number of Buy-Ins: 199,958
• Number of Unique Players: 49,029
• Total Prize Money: $38,324,830
• Countries Represented: 163
• Countries Cashed: 118

Played extremely well all tournament and no complaints about the way I played. Only made a couple of mistakes but corrected them quickly and moved on. On the bubble, I took kinda a nasty hit with QQ.

Full Tilt, 1,000/2,000 blinds, 250 ante NL Hold'em Tourney, 9 Players

UTG+1: 20,879 (10.4 bb)
BTN: 149,700 (74.9 bb)
SB: 30,984 (15.5 bb)
BB: 42,140 (21.1 bb)
UTG+2: 36,926 (18.5 bb)
Hero (MP1): 64,449 (32.2 bb)
MP2: 178,035 (89 bb)
MP3: 33,834 (16.9 bb)
CO: 36,781 (18.4 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is MP1 with Qh Qd
UTG+2 raises to 5,000, Hero raises to 15,000, 7 folds, UTG+2 raises to 36,676 and is all-in, Hero calls 21,676

Flop: (78,602) 5c 6c Js (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (78,602) Qc (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (78,602) 4c (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Results: 78,602 pot
UTG+2 showed Jc Ah (a flush, Queen high) and won 78,602 (41,676 net)
Hero showed Qh Qd (three of a kind, Queens) and lost (-36,926 net)

Cashed atleast! 5.5 hours of solid poker in a Donkament for a WHOPPING $77.24

After my successful +9BI Friday night with 25NL, I decided to take half of that profit for some MTTs. Playing 25NL Friday night and Saturday morning I accrued $45 in Rakeback which is pretty sweet amount for 25NL. Satellited into both Mini FTOPs #24 the $26 6-max KO tournament and the ME. Played several $11 MTT and $6.50 90-man KOs on Saturday and really do not understand people's logic when it comes to making some of the calls that they can make.

Super Stack $11 on FTP, blinds are 25/50 so pretty early in the tourney. UTG make it 175 to go. All MP fold and I am in the CO with AA. I make it 450 to go, BTN and blinds fold and action is back to UTG. He time-banks it, in hope that I would think he has a tough decision and he shoves for 4K and some change. I snap call and he turns over A5 and board come 55xxx and I am knocked out. Not that I am mad one bit about this donkey type play as it will pay me off most of the time however I just do not understand their logic in play. Went pretty deep in a $6.50 90-man KO but puked my stack with KQs on a AK2xx board.

Mini FTOPS#24 I was so card dead. Nothing worse playing 6-handed and folding folding folding. After 2nd break, I caught a break and had JJ UTG. Was re-raised with AK and won the coin-flip. Card dead once again and went out in 4000th place out of 16.5k when Ax called my push with 66. Was extremely confident in my play and hope my confidence carries over to the ME. First few blind levels of the ME have happened and still pretty card dead except for this hand.

Full Tilt, 15/30 blinds NL Hold'em Tourney, 8 Players

SB: 7,430 (247.7 bb)
BB: 7,435 (247.8 bb)
UTG+2: 8,600 (286.7 bb)
MP1: 7,390 (246.3 bb)
MP2: 7,595 (253.2 bb)
MP3: 5,915 (197.2 bb)
Hero (CO): 7,280 (242.7 bb)
BTN: 8,355 (278.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with Qs Qh
3 folds, MP3 raises to 90, Hero raises to 190, 3 folds, MP3 calls 190

Flop: (425) 7h 9d Ts (2 players)
MP3 bets 225, Hero calls 225

Turn: (875) Qc (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets 675, MP3 calls 675

River: (2,225) 3s (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets 2,025, MP3 calls 2,025

MP3 had A10 and could not release it. Hoping my play continues strong and I will have some better posts through out this ME

Blah ME grossness at its finest!

Full Tilt, 50/100 blinds NL Hold'em Tourney, 9 Players

MP2: 5,755 (57.6 bb)
MP3: 3,845 (38.5 bb)
CO: 6,365 (63.7 bb)
BTN: 8,650 (86.5 bb)
SB: 9,290 (92.9 bb)
BB: 13,405 (134.1 bb)
UTG+1: 11,670 (116.7 bb)
Hero (UTG+2): 10,170 (101.7 bb)
MP1: 5,850 (58.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG+2 with 8h 8d
UTG+1 folds, Hero calls 100, MP1 folds, MP2 raises to 350, 4 folds, BB calls 250, Hero calls 250

Flop: (1,100) 6c 8c Ad (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 900, MP2 raises to 2,700, BB folds, Hero raises to 9,820 and is all-in, MP2 calls 2,705 and is all-in

Turn: (11,910) As (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (11,910) 6h (2 players, 2 are all-in)

MP2 had AQo and caught runner runner for a bigger boat! O well still in the hunt

Played some 25NL when I got home from work tonight and still playing. Currently up 7 BIs. No clue how to be honest except for the fact that there are so many donkeys playing Rush Poker on FTP it is unbelievable! I really like Rush Poker because it allows my semi-nitty style to play well.

Been playing 2 tables of Rush at a time and it is way better than playing 6-10 tables at a time imo. Tonight is a crazy night though and pretty sure it is because of all the casuals on playing after work on Friday to cool down after a long week of work. Had AA in the CO and it went 2-bet to $1 from UTG+1 MP raised to $3, I flat for some reason and UTG+1 pushes all-in for $22 and some change. MP thinks about it for a full time bank and pushes for $41. I snap call and take down the pot. UTG+1 had KJo and MP had 77. Seriously like WTF but I am not complaining at all.

Work was hellish all week and I am gonna need a couple cocktails to wind down after this session. Was unable to make it out on Saint Patty's Day due to hectic work however tonight might be my SPD! Toss back a couple Guinesses and a Irish Car Bomb or 2.

Hope to write some more sometime this weekend and hopefully it is about a big tournament cash or if not it will be about some poker strategy!

Wanted to touch briefly about online tells I have been watching for the ever since I started playing and believe me-EVERY online player has leaks in their game! You might not be able to pick up on someone holding their breath, the way a person swallows, starring at the flop or hands shaking like you in live poker however online poker players are full of tells and the we NEED to take advantage of them!

-Betting in Odd amounts to make the bet look big I find this to be a sign of weakness usually. Let us say blinds are 100/200 and someone bets 499, more than likely they are extremely weak. Betting this way, they are trying to intimidate their opposition while betting as little as possible. Really this bet is only 2.5 times the BB and the player is weak. Someone with AA preflop, or the nuts, will not try to look deceptive. Players betting 2 times to 2.9 times the BB from position are often playing marginal hands and NEED to be triple barreled.
-Pause and then villain bets- They want us to think they have a hand and are deciding whether to bet or not. When they check they expect us to check hehind. Jam that pot now!
-Instant call- They want to portray strength however they are weak or on a draw. Watch out for flush or straight card to hit, if these dont drop-Jam the pot again!
-Quick River Bet- Typically will mean villain has a strong hand as they did not give much thought into the play. A bluff takes some time for them to process. Quick bet on the turn or river, you better have the nuts cause villain has some goods.

There are many more online tells that I have read about or noticed and I will try and keep an ongoing blog about them are some point but time to hop on and play some cards.

dNA

New goal and focus is going to be to log 50,000 hands of 25NL and log 100 $6.50 90-man KOs on Full Tilt Poker. I have played on the majority if sites during my Bonus Whoring days and I still to this day find Full Tilt to be the best site out there! By far the easiest to navigate menu and options plus there is a lot of action. Poker Stars is a great site as far as action but I find it extremely difficult to navigate through.

Been trying to grind through some MiniFtops events on FT but WOW! total donkeyfest 101! I really hope the SCOOP on PS is not a total donkeyfest like this. Seriously do they put down a nice meadow of green grass and a beautiful stream for these donkeys to come feed on? I do realize that we want donkeys in our tournaments however too many makes it difficult which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill! Anyone plan on playing in some SCOOP events?

Place 22nd in a $42k guarantee over the weekend. Played with absolute confidence and I feel confidence is a part of the game that I am missing for some reason. Been on a pretty awful run of cards for quite a long time. I am not one to complain out my bad luck but feel the tides turning and I MY FAVOR! Was a little upset at the payout only being $180 for 22nd out of 2700 but meh I was more happy to play well and confident.

Until next time, may all your cards be letter of the alphabet!

dNA

Well seems Operation 10k is just not right for my life at the moment so changed the blog to random thought and scribbles about poker, life and everything else. More to come soon