Up

Up as in the Disney movie "UP". And not up as in "I'm up in poker".

I watched UP with my 7 year old daughter yesterday at Galleria. Wasn't really expecting much. More of the same Pixar grand adventure happy ending kind of movie with lots of special cartoon effects thrown in. Was pretty much contented to just spend a lazy Sunday afternoon relaxing with my kid.

But I have to say I was quite surprised at how good the movie was. Yes, it was the same feel good formula that Disney uses all the time. But there was something about Mr. Fredricksen and Russel that really pulled your strings. It was hilarious one second, then suddenly became touching and deeply affecting at times. At the danger of being called a wimp, I laughed out loud numerous times during the film. And during the sad moments, I really had to try very hard to keep a poker face. . Lest my daughter see me burst into tears and ruin my tough daddy reputation. =)

In short, it is one of the best movies I've ever had the pleasure of watching. A lot of people may disregard the movie since its an animated film designed for kids. But its an awesome piece of cinematic magic. And heartily recommended to kids and adults of all ages.

Wanna Bet ?

Last week, my account in JBET Poker had a few cents in it. I decided to transfer $40 from my other accounts with the express intention of just playing the $10+1 APT Macau Qualifier. The first night, I did pretty well. I think I was in the last 20 until this hand came up. Someone with around 8xBB went all in. I sensed weakness and looked down at AQ. I had about 12 BBs left, so I went all in to isolate. Guy shows A9. I believe the river was a 9. Next hand I had 33, go all in. Got called by KJ. A jack flops and that was it.

The 2nd night was a fiasco. There was this Korean guy who kept going all in almost every hand. I believe he rebought more than 20x in that first hour span. Actually that was fine with everyone in the table as everybody just waited for premium hands and doubled up. Unfortunately it allowed this Japanese guy to accumulate a ton of chips. I don't remember the actual hand but he killed with me one suck out. I rebought and after a few hands got KK. Went all in, got somebody to call with Ax and the Ace flopped. And I was out.

This left me with around $10 in my JBET account. I was tilting from the KK suckout so I just opened up the JBET Blackjack window with the express intention of just betting it all and clearing out the account.

After a few minutes of winning and losing, I had it up to $50. Hey, not so bad, I got back all the money I lost in poker and then some. I was pretty much just using basic Blackjack strategy. My logical mind was telling me to stop. But the gambler in me wasn't in the mood for any sissy moves that night. So I played some more, then suddenly it was up to $100.

Now I was torn. $100 is quite good. I could just withdraw it and spend it buying a new shoe or something. Imagine the regret you'll feel if you end up losing everything back and looking at your shoeless foot.

OK. My mind was saying. One last bet. See if the luck holds. $100 is not bad, but $150 is certainly better. Even if you lose $50, you'll still have $50 left which was the original amount you wanted to stop with in the first place.

And so I bravely or stupidly (depends on how you look at it) bet $50 on the next hand of blackjack. I got 19 if I remember it correctly. I was jumping with joy because dealer was showing a 5 (one of the worst possible hands in Blackjack) until he flops 20 with 2 more cards.

AAARGGHH! Fucking cheating Lameass computer program!! In a mindless red haze, I immediately bet the remaining $50. Just wanting to get back at the smirking blackjack program.

OK, we all know where this is going. I certainly deserve to lose the remaining $50 with my greediness. But lo and behold. I flop 20 the next hand and dealer gets 17. The balance was now back to $100. I bet another $50 and look down at 5 and 6 with dealer showing a 4. I press double. And a 3 comes out giving me a measly 14. But dealer luckily busts out with a 24.

The balance is now at $200. And here finally, my logical self prevails and I stop, giggling at the sheer absurdness of it. From $10 to $200. I immediately withdraw $100 out of the account just to lock it in and make sure that the new Nike Free trainers will be paid for by stupid gambling money.

The balance I keep in the account for a future night of blackjack craziness and who knows if I get lucky again. Har Har Har.

Please do not try to replicate this. I was extremely lucky this one time. Blackjack is negative EV and as poker players, we should know better than to engage in these kinds of games. You will lose more than you win in any casino game where the house always has an advantage. I wrote this only to share the fun, but know that I have in the past lost quite a bit in Blackjack. And that was certainly not fun. Some of the hands above may not be accurate as I am blogging from memory, but the sequence and the final result is all true. =)

Full Tilt Bonus

Just in case you're hiding in a big rock somewhere and are not aware, Full Tilt is currently offering a bonus simply for playing the game. No deposits required.

This is to entice players to try out their new software. I've already tried it and nothing really major. Just some new snazzy interface in the lobby and new filters on what tables to show. The actual playing table remains the same as far as I can tell. The one significant thing is the ability to cut a deal at the final table in tournaments which was not there before.

The bonus is quite significant, at least $100 to be cleared in 30 days in $10 increments. Not too shabby especially if you already have rakeback in the site.

For an SNG, the bonus is equivalent to about 42% rakeback. Combine this with your normal rakeback of 27% and you'll be essentially getting almost 70% rakeback. It would be criminal to play at other sites at these rates.

So expect to see me mostly playing in Full Tilt the next 30 days trying to clear this bonus. See you around.

Dabbling in Omaha

Lately, I've been incorporating a lot more PL Omaha into my usual games. Usually I'd open 1 table of a Double or Nothing Omaha SNG and mix it with my normal Holdem sets.

It's a refreshing break for a holdem addled mind and gives one different angles of thinking. Some common mistakes that would happen to me are as follows:

1. Mistakenly thinking that I already have the straight on a coordinated board. I always have to remind myself that I can only use 2 cards out of the 4 that I am dealt. A rookie mistake I know, but it takes some time to get the right frame of mind especially if you played holdem exclusively before.

2. When the board pairs up, you have to be very careful even if you have the nut straight or flush. A full house is entirely possible and probable. I have learned this lesson the hard way in a couple of big hands.

3. Bluffing is harder to do especially after the flop. Usually opponents would hit some kind of draw and would call you down.

4. AAxx and KKxx are still good hands much like holdem. You just have to remember to bet them aggressively preflop and after the flop. If there are still multiple callers, then be wary of possible straights or flushes.

5. The equivalent of suited connectors in Omaha are coordinated hands which are double suited. Hands like JT98 where let's say JT is hearts and 98 is spades. These hands are excellent beggining hands and should be played.

6. In an Omaha SNG, the concept of pushing all in when your M is low, first in vigorish, having fold equity appears to be much more effective. Players are very hesitant in calling with semi-decent hands. I think this is because it is harder to compute the odds of certain hands being ahead.

I've only read one section on PL Omaha strategy so far but its working out okay. I seem to be winning more than losing. But at this stage, I'm not too concerned about my bottom line. I just want to learn to play it better.

Going where the Sharks are

I recently made a blog entry advising beginners to choose their poker sites wisely and avoid the sites where the good poker players hang out to increase their profits.

I would now like to make an exception to this rule. If you are already a somewhat experienced player. Sometimes, you would actually prefer to play with experienced players. For 2 main reasons: (1) you can pick up new tricks/betting patterns from better players. (2) you can anticipate the moves of better players and react accordingly.

No. 2 is quite important especially near the bubble of an STT. The correct push at crucial times will mean the difference between ITM and a big fat egg. Let's say you're in the dealer position with A-x or a small pocket pair and the action is folded to you. You have about 6 big blinds left in your stack. Automatic push for you. But you don't necessarily want the call from the blinds, a fold is just fine because there is no risk involved and the blinds are already significant during the bubble.

With good players in the SB and BB who hold mid level stacks. Holding hands like K-10, Q-10, J-10 or K-J, folding would be an easy thing to do. They'd usually look for better spots to make a stand especially if they can still afford to. They'd correctly assume you hold some kind of A-x hand and they'd gladly get out of the way with their K-10 as they know they're behind and they can afford to fold.

But if you happen to encounter a fish/beginner in the SB or BB, K10 is an insta-call. Not even seriously thinking about it, just seeing the guy with the moustache and sword makes their teeny-weenie penises go hard and folding is not even an option that they would consider.

You might say, so what? You are still ahead with your A7, but its only around 57-43. Holding a small pocket pair like 5-5. The odds would be 52-48. Almost close to a dead heat. This means that almost 1 out 2 times, you'd get beat. I would rather just steal the blinds.

Do you understand what I mean ? I won't put complicated math into the scenarios regarding the equities of calling and the equities of folding. I'm just simply pointing out that playing against experienced players, you can usually anticipate how they think and make the correct move or response especially with some kind of tracker data in your hand.

Playing against fishes, you're in limbo. You're constantly guessing. There is sometimes no logic in their calls. Obviously, you'd be happy if they called with Q2 suited. But consoling yourself with the thought that you were way ahead with your AJ doesn't really mean squat once they luckbox the 2 in the river.

Berating them via chat doesn't do any good. They're happy just to be lucky because they don't realize how stupid the move was.

If its not too obvious, I'm actually ranting about some bad beats and disguising it as a poker lesson. Heheh. Thanks for listening.

Hiatus

Not really playing that much poker. For two main reasons.

1. Got sick for about a week. Developed some persistent low grade fever which was eventually traced to a wisdom tooth infection. Decided to just have it extracted. Dentist found some other problems with other teeth. So recommended oral surgery under general anesthesia. Went under. Had all the problems fixed in one go. Did not realize how hard it was going to be. Couldn't eat for a week. Only soft foods and liquids. Lost 10 freaking pounds !!

2. When I eventually recovered, our phone line now goes busto and obviously the DSL that goes with it. So I haven't played any kind of serious poker for about 3 weeks now. Which is kind of a record for me. It's refreshing in a weird sort of way. I don't really feel like an addict who had to go cold turkey. It's more like a persistent itch that I couldn't scratch.

Anyway, am on my way to full recovery and I'm so glad that I can eat semi solid stuff again. I am now salivating at the thought of ordering a big juicy steak at my favorite resto which I plan to do the moment the dentist gives the go signal.

Amazingly, I am looking forward to the steak eating more than the poker playing. Heheh.

A Rare Quadruple Win

Just for posterity's sake, I decided to post this result in the blog. I would usually play STTs in sets of four and it is quite rare for me to finish ITM in all 4. I guess the moons where in alignment last night or my fever was making me light-headed and playing at my best. Heheh.