No Updates ... Another Trip

No poker updates basically because nothing significant to report. Busted out in one 5K guaranteed tourney last Sunday with the sickest beat.

Had about 20xBB nearing ITM when I got 66 in dealer position. Guy in cut-off raises to 2xBB. I just call. BB also calls. Flop comes J 5 6 with 2 hearts. BB bets half the pot. CO guy who has the same number of chips as me suddenly goes all in. Huh ?

No choice. Had to call for all my chips. BB guy who had us both covered also goes all in. WTF?

CO guy had 55. BB had AJ and of course I had best hand with my set of sixes. Guy with AJ is almost drawing dead as his only out is to draw 2 Jacks or 2 Aces. I think I was 80-20 to win that pot and triple up giving me the chip lead and an almost sure ITM.

Well of course that wasn't meant to be as CO guy turns and rivers hearts to complete a flush with his 5 of hearts. hahahah ....

I will be in Shanghai China this coming week for a business trip. Trip update when I get back. Heheh ... parang naging travel blog na ito ah.

Beach Trip

Recently took my family to an overnight beach outing in San Juan Batangas. Despite some initial apprehensions about the area's security from (rhymes with NBA), we decided to push through after a close friend of the resort owner assured us that there were no such incidents.

The drive took close to four hours and the last few kilometers are rough roads with no street lights, so you'd better travel while there's light as its probably a scary ride at night, but the remoteness of the place was part of the charm. San Juan is not as famous as Nasugbu or Anilao as its off the normal path. But the beach area is pristine. I would even dare say that the waters are cleaner than our top beach destination - Boracay. Which is not saying much since the place is kind of dirty now, and if you know what the locals know then you wouldn't even dare swim in its waters. Heheh.

Stayed in La Luz which is at the end of a long stretch of white pebbly beach . The place was private and very cozy. They don't allow you to bring your own food and instead require you to pay a certain amount to avail of your meals at their buffet table. I didn't mind this at all as it saves you from all the hassle of packing and cooking. The food was average at most, but you can eat as much as you want and their dining area is right up the beach front. So that's certainly a plus.

Not too many amenities, some snorkeling, cayaking and beach volleyball. But again its not a place where you go to socialize. It's a place where you can get some peace and quiet, a nap near the breakwaters, conversations with family and friends while drinking some San Mig light in front of the bonfire and nice relaxing massages in cabanas by the beach. No TV in the rooms, but the kids didn't mind as they had a blast playing in the surprisingly clean waters. As to how clean, let's just say that I did not see one single piece of garbage floating around. For a Batangas beach that is reachable by land, this is saying a lot.

So all in all. A great and relaxing trip. This is another place that I would add to my "must go" places. Great for a day trip if you're lacking in time but certainly worth the overnight stay. =)

Reason for Multi-tabling MTTs

I know that majority of SNG players multi-table to increase their profit. Logic being that more games played at a certain limit assures you of a good profit even with variance. The ups and downs will come but as long as your ave ROI is positive even if it is small, then you come out ahead in the end.

A good analogy is the supermarket. The owners don't mind making a few cents for each can of sardines that they sell. They are relying on the volume of thousands of shoppers to make their profit at the end of the day.

MTTs on the other hand are a different animal altogether. There is a very small chance of winning one of these babies as you play against hundreds of people, but if you get a Top 3 finish, then you're pretty much set and have made your profit in one big swoop.

Following my analogy, this would probably be the Louis Vuitton type of shops where they only need to sell a couple of pairs of bags and shoes a month and they're already set.

Having said this, would you want to multi-table MTTs ?

When I thought about this initially, I would think the correct answer is no. It is better to just concentrate on one table at a time so that you have a better chance of winning. Since the chances of that are already slim from the percentages and number of participants alone , you do not want to pass up any possible opportunity that comes up so you may want your full concentration on that table.

But having recently migrated to MTTs from being strictly an SNG player, I have realized that I play better when I multi-table MTTs. Well not for the same reason as SNG multi-tabling where volume means profit.

My primary reason for multi-tabling MTTs is to allow me to keep focus.

Huh ? I know it sounds like the opposite of logic. But hear me out. MTTs take a very long time to finish. On average, I would say 3 to 5 hours is the norm. During the majority of this time, you pretty much just sit in front of your PC, twiddle your thumbs and wait for hand after hand. There are long stretches of time when you have to keep folding crappy hands. There is a very strong temptation to finally get fancy and play marginal hands just out of sheer boredom. But this will be your downfall as it is very easy to get sucked into a hand where you flopped something and then you overplay it losing valuable chips in the process.

So what do I do? I just open up another table. Whatever's available. It could be anything. A $2.20 buy in tourney, an Omaha or Stud SNG, sometimes even a freeroll. This gives me the small distraction that I need during those long stretches of time where I need to fold. It keeps me focused during the whole tourney as my concentration is sharper trying to keep track of 2 tables or even 3. Just make sure that it is a somewhat small buy in game, something that you wouldn't mind sitting out of if you suddenly get a big rush of cards in the main MTT that needs your full attention.

And if you make it ITM in the side game that you opened, which happens more often than you might think, it becomes a pretty nice bonus. Of course, this advice only applies for somewhat experienced players. I wouldn't recommend it to beginners as you may end up getting confused and misclick fold when you're supposed to bet with your AAs. Heheh ...

So Multi-table for focus. And better focus means more profit. =)

Election Day Results

Final Tally ---> Novagalaxy 2 out of 3 =)

3 tournaments played this election day weekend. Managed to cash in on 2 of them. One was a very nice 2nd place finish in a $2K Guaranteed for $400. The other was a barely ITM 38th in the Bodog Double Stack 25K Guaranteed for $100.

Some details :

1. I think I could have taken down the 2kGuaranteed but I just got impatient. When we were HU, my opponent was playing very tight. So I bluffed a lot and this was working in the beginning as I managed to catch up to his lead. And then it was a looong see-saw back and forth affair. Finally went for a semi bluff with middle pair in what appeared to be a seemingly safe board. But unluckily for me, he played an unbelievable 7-4 and managed to flop 2 pairs. And that was all she wrote. To the credit of my opponent, he played very well. I almost had him with an AA when I was pushing continuously. He thought about it for a long time but made the good laydown.

2. The Bodog 25K MTT was tough. There were 400++ players and I wasn't getting any action with my good hands as everybody was being patient with the double stack. Managed to stay afloat with some jamming and a KK double up. But I was below average most of the time. Then this hand came up near the bubble part of the tourney.

Action was folded to me in the SB. I got 10-5 clubs. I had about 13xBB stack but there was a good amount in the middle because of the high blinds and antes. The BB was a very tight player so I pushed all in on a stone cold bluff. He insta-calls. Uh-oh and shows KQ. He flops the K for top pair and my percentages just dropped. But then I go turn and river clubs for the flush. Woohoo !! Just to rub salt in his wound, the last card was the Q of clubs to give him 2 pair.

When we were ITM, I tried to be aggressive to get a shot at the 6K first prize. First push was an A7 called by an A8 with no improvement for half my stack. Then I get AJ and push again. Caller shows A3. Hahah!! But I guess it was my turn in the suck-out wheel. As he magically flops the 3 and river is another 3. See what I mean about MTT variance. =)

But all in all, a pretty good weekend of tournament poker.

5 is the magic number

During the past week, I managed to play in 3 more tourneys. All 5.50 buy-ins, between 300 to 400 players. Busted out in two and placed 5th on one for around $100.

I know, 5th again. If I recall correctly, I think I've placed 5th three times already from the time I started playing MTTs more frequently. I don't know if I should consider this good news or bad news.

Maybe good in the sense that I've been playing consistent and making final tables every once in a while. But bad news in the sense that I've come close to winning some damn tourneys a couple of times but just falling a little bit short. I've said it before and I will say it again, the variance is just amazingly wide in MTTs and luck has to be with you to take down the win.

One notable hand I remember that got me the ITM. I believe there was around 28 players left, top 20 gets paid. I got Q10 in dealer position. Raise 4xBB. BB calls. Flop was Q 9 7. BB checks. I bet about half of the pot. BB calls. Turn is a 10 which gave me 2 pairs. BB pushes all in and he's got me covered. I think for awhile, there was no flush draw and I didn't think he had a set. I don't know if you could let go of this hand at this point, but I couldn't so I called for the rest of my chips. BB shows KJ for the made straight. Arrgh... I bang my head on the table. Of course, the poker gods are not that cruel most of the time. River shows another 10 which gives me the full house. I double up and coast comfortably into the money.

I bust out when I push with an A10s only to run into AK. Having used up all my mojo in that Q10 hand, there was no miracle this time around. Good Game. My next run at MTTs will be the election weekend. So hopefully I do well.

ITM and ROI in MTTs

Toybits3, another local poker blogger, recently made an interesting comment/question on one of my earlier posts. Like me, I believe he is also planning to play more MTTs vs SNGs and he has set a target for himself of an ITM rate of 10% and an ROI of 50% and asked for my opinion.

My instinctive answer was that an ITM of 10% to 20% is actually achievable if you're a patient player. Heck, my ITM is somewhere in this range and I'm not too experienced. The question is the 50% ROI. I made a comment about how hard it is to consistently place in the top 3 where the good money is and this is actually what matters instead of just barely making it to ITM.

I was not too satisfied with that vague answer, so I decided to make an example here to look at some possible scenarios and also for the benefit of everyone who maybe in the same boat as us.

I will use the payout structure of a tournament that I'm familiar with. The $15 buy in 2k Guaranteed tourney at Poker.com. There is usually only around 150 players and pays top 15.

1st - $600
2nd - $400
3rd - $200
4th - $160
5th - $120
6-10 - N/A
11-15 - $30

I did not put down the payout for 6 to 10 since it will not be too relevant in the example that I am making. Okay, let's assume 3 players. Player A, Player B and Player C. All 3 players have a bankroll of $300 and play 20 tourneys each.

Here are their imagined results:

Player A = ITM in 4 of the tourneys, places 11, 12, 13 and 15
Player B = ITM in 2 of the tourneys, places 3rd twice
Player C = ITM in only 1 tourney but places 1st

Here are their ITMs and ROIs

Player A -----> ITM = 20% --->ROI = -80% ----> Net Profit = -$240
Player B -----> ITM = 10% ---> ROI = +33% ---> Net Profit = +$100
Player C -----> ITM = 5% ---> ROI = +100% --> Net Profit = +$300

(hope I got my computations right)

So what does this tell us ?

Well, a good ITM rate is important since it shows consistency and a nice gauge of your poker skill. But it does not necessarily translate to a good ROI. For one to get a good ROI in Multi Table Tournaments, you'd better get some top 5 finishes sprinkled in your ITMs otherwise your high ITM rate will be for nothing if you're still losing money. A good example is player A.

That is why we should realize that making ITM in a tourney is just the first step. After you make ITM, then you cannot relax, yes you can feel proud about the achievement, but know that you still have a lot of work in front of you and you have to hustle your butt to make sure that you make it to top 3 because 60% of the pot is concentrated there. I actually read from Gavin Smith that these are the type of players he likes to bluff out of big pots in the endgame. Those who are already satisfied making it ITM.

Of course this is just a basic example using a single tourney. Other tourneys with different structures and more players will give you different results but I think the conclusion will come out the same. Making it to ITM is not enough, placing high is what counts to get a good ROI.

Also, I can now give a better answer to Toybit's question, the acceptability of a target ROI of 50% relative to your ITM target of 10% depends on what kind of tourneys you are joining. Looking at player B, he hits your target of 10% ITM and actually does good by placing 3rd two times, but his ROI is still only 33%. So we can say that if you plan to join these kinds of tourneys with fewer players, then your target may be a little high.

However, if the tourneys you normally join have humungous fields which bloats the pot relative to the buy-in, then maybe even one 3rd place finish will net you a 50% ROI and your target is just right. Of course, these tourneys with tons of players have unbelievable variance and are pretty hard to cash in.

I hope the above helps. =)

Labor Day Tourneys

Played in two $3000 Guaranteed Tourneys yesterday. One in poker.com and one in bodog. Busted out in the first one due to a stupid play where i semi-bluffed with a J10 middle of the tourney. Luckily I managed to cash on the 2nd one with a 5th place finish.

It took close to 5 hours to finish the 2nd tourney as there were around 400++ players. My back and butt was numb but I am quite happy with the ITM. Sucked out near the money when my JJ reraise all in was called by a slow playing AA. Turn was the J which kept me alive.

Was pretty much low stacked and card dead during the final table. But patience and some bluffs got me to 5th. At that point, the other 4 players had more than 100,000 in chips and I had around 30,000. Finally had to go all in when I flopped middle pair with half my stack in the pot. Of course, somebody flopped top pair and that was it.

One thing I've realized about large MTTs as I begin to play more and more of them. You really need some luck to survive. I mean, skill will take you deep. But there is always an instance where you have to be ready to risk everything and hope to get lucky.

This is especially true near the end part where the blinds are high relative to your stack. There is really no waiting for the nut hand before commiting your whole stack. I mean I had to play 92 and other garbage hands or I would have been blinded out. You just had to pick the correct spots and hope not to get called.

That is why a large enough stack for final table play is crucial. This allows a buffer for those suckouts which are bound to happen and gives you more flexibility in your play for the chance to take down 1st. Because as we all know, 1st is where the big money is.

But my observation is that you really have to be aggressive in the whole tourney to take a big stack with you to the final table. And this is the part where I am still lost. I play a generally TAG style with some bluffs/steals here and there. Sometimes if I'm really hot, I get a somewhat large stack. But most of the time, this style takes me deep/ITM but I always end up short stacked. And then I really have to hustle and take a lot of risks just to make the final table.

I will have to improve on this part of my game. How ? Don't know yet. But to be a profitable MTT player. I don't think TAG is the answer. So I need to adjust my style a bit and loosen up. Just gonna have to figure out when and where.

I am also susceptible to going on tilt when somebody suckouts on me for a big amount. Sometimes, I still have a good enough stack to carry on. But I end up donkeying it all away on marginal plays after I go on tilt. So another leak that I'm trying to fix.

Hopefully as I gain more experience, these things will come. =)