Friendly Fire

Like most, I started playing poker with friends.  We gathered around the table every Monday night, broke out our cheap plastic chips, and started passing coin around the table.  It was a lot of fun.Poker is a social game.  If you are an This social aspect fits well into home poker tournaments where a host invites you into their home as a guest to play their favorite game.  Sure it’s for money, but it usually has less of a cutthroat feel than casinos and more shady gambling venues.  You are playing with friends and with friends of friends.

This leads us to a pitfall in and of itself.  Friends have a range of feelings towards each other formed from outside the game, placing everyone on a different playing field.  Let me clarify.  When I play with strangers, I play equally against all.  When I play against friends and family, a type of caste system is put in place.  I fold more often to my wife because I don’t want to take her money; after all, it’s my money too.  I may not push hard against my buddy who recently lost his job.  I may show aggression to the point of mania against my brother who dented my car.  These are just examples, I don’t even have a brother, but you get the idea – I’m playing bad poker.

Most likely it’s a friendly, low-stakes game, so no big deal.  True…unless this impaired play carries over to bigger money or it becomes unfair play.  This atmosphere also breeds unintentional collusion.  Collusion is when two or more players work together to profit from the others.  If I play soft against my wife and she returns the favor, is that collusion?  If in a conversation outside the game my friend has told me the hand he goes all-in with every time and no one else knows, is that collusion?  I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t want it going on in a big money game. I may be getting carried away with my suspicions of conspiracy.  I know my friends aren’t nefarious and I’m sure your friends aren’t either.

Like I said before, this is unintentional collusion if anything; however, if we are all to grow as card players, we need to work on playing good, fair poker against everyone.  You can’t improve anybody’s game by playing softball.

The Min. Raise

There is one point in every tournament when every player should adjust their play. It is when the money is almost within grasp and the bubble boy (or girl) is about to be crowned. Most tighten up, some bet more freely, all have a number on their mind. The number of how many players are left.

On a micro-scale, we can deal with the easy numbers. My favorite games are single-table tournaments with the top three places paying out. (These are also known by the somewhat counter-intuitive name sit-n-goes. Once you “sit” you can’t “go” until the game is over.) The bubble here is fourth place. Out of the last ten games I’ve played I’ve been first, second, third or fourth–so the end-game strategy has been fresh on my mind. Be aware, this is on-line advice and my not apply in person.

Every time I reach the top four, everyone tightens up except for players with a significant chip lead. These players steal blinds with bets four or five times the big blind. I’ve found that when the blinds are high enough to significantly impact the smaller or mid stacks, that is overkill. The minimum raise is often enough to get the player to fold pre-flop. According to traditional advice, this is a weak play. I agree, it is weak, but if it works it works. I have been using this strategy over the last ten games and have been first or second most of them. In addition, when you do get a call, you are still seen as on the offensive for the hand. Most people will respect your post-flop bet assuming your table reputation is solid.

Disclaimer: The minimum raise has worked for me consistently, but only under specific circumstances. I’ve been min. raising (1)  online, (2) with four or less players at the table,  and (3) not in the big blind. I use the min. bet to steal the big blind, it is less likely to get anyone who has already called the big blind to fold. Also I’ve only tested this tactic with buy-ins between $10 and $30. Your mileage may very.

iPhone App Review: Motion X Poker, Texas Hold’em

This past week Apple rolled out the iPhone 2.0 software allowing support for third-party applications. If you already knew this, keep reading. If not, you probably don’t care about today’s post.

From here on out, I’m assuming you either have or want an iPhone or iPod Touch. I’ve found a few gems in Apple’s App Store already. Two on which are poker related: Motion X Poker and the new Texas Hold’em game. Both are time wasters and both are the best poker games available on any mobile platform.

First off, Motion X Poker. At first it resembles video draw poker, but as soon as you start playing you’ll see how wrong you were. It’s a dice game where the six sides of each die are ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine. The goal is to beat the dealers “hand” after three rolls of the dice. Standard poker hand values apply except that straights trump full-houses. I learned that the hard way. (Note to self, read directions.)

The game uses the iPhone accelerometer—meaning you roll by shaking your hand as if you were actually casting real dice. It will either be a fun gimmick or an annoyance at first, but in time it feels very natural. You chose which dice to keep between rolls via the touchscreen. The game also has some added replay value by rewarding winning streaks and other “accomplishments” with new die, table designs and reward gems. The game is $4.99 and worth it.

I was skeptical of Apple’s Texas Hold’em game at first. I have never been one to enjoy playing hold’em against a computer. However, the game has won me over in spades.

Keep in mind, if you buy a poker game branded for any console you’ll be paying somewhere between $20 and $50. Most mobile phone games from the cell network go for $4.99 and are close to unplayable. After about a hour of game play, I can say that the iPhone’s Texas Hold’em is the most fun hold’em game available for any system, mobile or otherwise.

First off, the graphics way surpass what I thought the platform was capable of. The player models are limited in their actions, but better looking than the poker games on the Xbox. I can even forgive the dealer’s resemblance to an ex-NSync singer. No, not him, the other guy.

The game play is easy and intuitive. Tap the screen to check, drag your cards to the center of the table to fold. Turn the screen sideways to change your first-person perspective into an overview of the table (similar to on-line poker sites.) The table views allows for a more speedy game. No need to wait to fold and get on to the next hand. That speed is something missing from nearly all other poker games I’ve played.
The only thing this game is missing is the ability to play for money. The functionality for wireless multiplayer is there, but the legality isn’t. You can still keep track of your imaginary bankroll and use it to play in higher stakes venues with, I’m guessing, smarter AI. There are good in-game statistics so you can track your progress. All-in-all, this is a superior training exercise than playing free poker on-line, but that isn’t saying much.

I give Motion X Poker an A and Texas Hold’em an A+, and I promise Apple’s not giving me any money to say this…althought they are welcome to. I will be reviewing other poker games that come my way, but the bar is set pretty high. If you have the cash to buy them, do so. If not, win some.

Confidence vs. Arrogance

All poker players sit at the poker table with the intention to win. Good poker players sit down with the expectation to win. Bad poker players sit without considering the possibility of losing

You always want to find the table in which you have the advantage. I watch tables play for a while before I sit down, and I sit down at the table when I’m fairly sure I am among the most skilled at attendance. This is good practice. If you are not doing this you might as when play craps.

The confident player’s over zealous brother is the arrogant player. He tips off his feeling with constant bad beat stories. Although he plays the game well, he misses chances to profit while telling others how to play. His wins are pure skill and his loses are entirely dumb luck. This outlook translates into never learning or improving from mistakes, because he “never” makes them.

It is important to not cross the line into arrogance or you will spend every lucky night without friends and every unlucky night on tilt and severely in the hole…and, come to think of it, also without friends.

Pick of July: Learn Poker From The Joes Podcast

This month I’m going with a podcast to which I have recently started listening. Restarted actually, I gave them a chance early on and lost interest, but I can give a full recommendation now to Learn Poker From The Joes.

For starters, a podcast is a show distributed over the internet. In this case it is audio, so you can think of it as a weekly radio program lasting  around an hour. Except it is better than radio in that it is commercial free.
Learn Poker From The Joes is a play on Full Tilt’s podcast Learn Poker from the Pros. Full Tilt’s show is also very good and also comes in a video format. However, it doesn’t get “pick” status because the episodes are too short to hash out any real information.

The host “Joe,” a guy called Judge, knows his stuff keeps his various guests on track, as all good hosts should. My favorite guest goes by KOOGE. There is no reason to listen to the episodes in order, so I suggest listening to a recent show featuring KOOGE first. For most, meaning iPod users, it is easiest to access the show on iTunes.

These guys are not pros, and yes, anyone can start a podcast, but the “Joes” go over more solid poker than the other popular poker podcasts (say that five times fast.) Many, like PokerRoad radio, spend the whole time complaining about bad beats at whatever tournament they are recording from.

Learn Poker From The Joes is a great podcast for beginning players and anyone who needs to re-examine their game. The “Joes” have brought up many aspects of the game I never considered or have forgot the importance. If you like this blog, give them a listen.

Lucky Number 45

To my happy shiny poker people,

I have moved and will not have a reliable internet connection until next weekend. Stop.

Regular posts will resume on the 12th of July. Stop.

Until then, link to me so I can get above the folks at the Betting for Value blog. Stop.

See the Top 100 Poker Blogs list for more information. Stop.

The Spoiler

It’s been a while, but I’ve got another poker variant for you. It’s called the Spoiler. I didn’t dream this one up, so you might actually like it.

The fun starts with five cards to each player and five community cards down. Each community card is turned up individually followed by a betting round. It is easy to screw-up with the three-card reveal, that’s what we’re used to.  After the third betting round, players must discard three cards from their hand. Players make the best hand from the five community cards and the two remaining of their own.

If you have read my previous game variant posts, you know why I both love and hate this game. It has the element of regret. Chances are you will curse yourself for choosing the wrong three cards to dump before seeing the last two community gems, but se la vi. That’s poker.

Stolen from the desk of David Sasseman

Probability That None Of Your Opponents Match Their Hole Card On The Flop.

Number of Opponents VS. Flop Does Match Hole Card

1 0.65

2 0.40

3 0.25

4 0.15

5 0.10

6 0.05

Some conclusions:

(1) Against four to five foes it is certain someone has flopped something. That is why it is ‘fit or acquit’ / ‘hit or miss’ poker. (2) When playing against one to two players, it is +EV to the flop. Heads-up, two out of three times your opponent will miss the flop. Two out of three times you miss the flop. One in three time you will hit the flop. Four out of nine times you both miss the flop. Knowing this, when playing short handed hold’em (and if you know what range of hands your opponent will call you with), you can exploit almost all players.

(Flop is unpaired. Your hole cards are unpaired. You must consider your opponent will have a pocket pair sometime.)

For more info on David Sasseman click here.

Short-stackers

Today’s topic sprouts from the seed planted from my previously mentioned play at the Seneca Falls casino. My relatively weak bet post-flop was a bad play, I should have gone all-in. I know that, your feedback shows my readers know that, but I still don’t think going all-in would have changed the outcome. The cash I had in play wasn’t significant enough to make my opponent fold. The bad play was a function bad financing.

Coming to a cash game as a short stack is, as a rule, not a good idea. By doing this you are putting your fate a little less in your hands and more at the mercy of the poker gods. There is a law of poker that states that a player with infinite finances will always win the money off of a player with a finite bankroll given enough time. This stays true regardless of the players’ skill levels, but if the cash impaired player is the more skilled, it will likely take more time. This is true because of dumb luck. The law can be scaled back on a kind of sliding scale. I started with less than half of my opponent’s chip stack, which meant I required more luck to win, even if I was the better player.

As a side note, coming to the table on the cheap is also a strategy. Nearly all the on-line cash tables I frequent have a player or two who are playing short-stack with the intention of going all-in before the turn hits. When they double, triple, or quad up, they often cash out returning to their short stack status. I find these players are unsure how to play their hands past the flop, but as long as they have at least slightly above average luck  they make money. After all, you can’t be bluffed off a hand once you’re all-in. I imagine the profits last only for the short-run for these short-stackers, as most of it probably goes to the rake.

Back from the road

Missed me? Haven’t posted the past week and change because I was out-of town visiting family. However, I did manage to fit in an overnight trip to Niagara Falls. We stayed at the Seneca Niagara Hotel & Casino and yes, I got around to playing cards and no, it didn’t go well.

The casino itself was nice, but a little too slot machine heavy for my taste, as are all casinos. It is the largest casino on the New York side of the falls, but not on the Canadian side. I have visited the Canadian casino previously, but only when they didn’t require a passport to cross the border. It looked like that little bit of U.S. legislation but a dent in Canada’s border tourism.

Cutting to the chase, (and I use the term chase here for a reason) I sat down at a $1/$2 no-limit table. After a little folding while I got to know my table, I’m dealt pocket Queens. My table appeared tight and I was in the dealer position. Three people called the $2 blind. I raise it up to six times the blind, $12, over-betting the pot. The small blind folds, the big blind calls as does two of the three other callers. More callers than I would have liked, I half thought that bet was high enough to steal the blinds from how the table was going, still the flop brought a smile to my face.

The flop was all trash, 2 4 9 off suit. Everyone checks to me. The only thing to fear was someone slow playing trips, unlikely. I bet $20 and one person stays with me. To sum up, the turn is a 2, I go all-in with another $20 or so and he calls and win with trip 2s. His hand was K 2.

Granted, he could have also beaten me with a king, but at least if a king shown I would have spent more effort in reading my opponent and may have folded. If I played it wrong, it was my not going all-in on the flop. I accepted that the poker gods had forsaken me and the bad taste of someone calling that pre-flop raise with a K 2 off made me swear off poker for the night.

If you would have played the hand different let me know in the comments. We all can learn from our mistakes. My next post will be back to saying something of value, I promise.