A few posts back I mentioned that I needed to improve my middle game--basically shorthanded play. For the last week I have not been playing any sit 'n go's. Instead I have been playing 6-handed cash games and learning as much as I can about shorthanded play. If you are interested, I am blogging my shorthanded cash journey.
So far I have learned that in shorthanded play, you can't wait around for cards. The blinds move too quickly to wait for premium hands. I have also learned that because the stacks are so deep, the real skill in shorthanded play is after the flop. So I have been playing fairly loose with the intention of seeing more flops and practicing my reads.
I am going to continue playing the shorthanded cash games until such time as I feel I have mastered it. That might take a while. But ultimately I believe that mastering shorthanded play will greatly improve my sit 'n go play because every sit 'n go ends up shorthanded!
For now, I am putting my sit 'n go journey on hold. But I will be back!
Focusing on Shorthanded Play
Knockout Bounty Tournaments
I came across a new feature at Full Tilt Poker. They have added what are called Knockout Bounty Tournaments. Here's the marketing blurb from their site...
Everyone loves to knock another player out of a tournament. Now you can get paid for it. Here's how it works - Knockout Bounty tournaments will follow the same rules as standard tournaments, except that the buy-in will be split between contributing to the prize pool and creating a bounty on each player. For example, a Knockout Bounty tournament with a buy-in of $10+$1 will have $8 going to the prize pool and $2 as a bounty on each player. When you knock a player out of a tournament, the bounty money will be immediately credited to your account and the following message will appear:
All you have to do is look out for tournaments with the K symbol next to them in the Tournament Lobby:
Take extra pleasure in knocking out your opponents. Play in a Knockout Bounty tournament and get paid for more than just finishing in the money. Go for a knockout blow today!
OK, it's me again. Note, I haven't seen these for sit 'n go's yet, but I will let you know if I do.
Switching To Push/Fold Mode
I played a few sit 'n go's the other night. It is nice to be playing again and I am very happy with the continued development of my game. However, there was one hand that I could not get out of my mind.
In my first sit 'n go I was put to a decision for all my chips on the bubble. I had just over 2000 in chips. The big stack (in SB) is to my left. I have been watching him very closely and have developed what I believe is a dependable read on one of his betting patterns. When he hits a big hand he checks or bets about half the pot. When he misses but thinks he can steal, he bets the pot or shoves. I've seen the pot bet 3 times over the last 15 hands and each time it was on a semi-bluff. His check/bet half has been consistent from the early stages. It is unusual to play against someone that is so consistent and predictable, but it is a welcome trait!
Here is the detail from the hand:
SB: 8,280
BB: 1,415
UTG: 1,715
Hero (BTN): 2,090
Pre-Flop: (300) Td Ah dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 700, SB calls 600, BB folds
Flop: (1,600) Js Th 9c (2 Players)
SB bets 1,600.
OK, here is the pot-sized bet again. My first instinct was that he was semi-bluffing. The pattern fit perfectly with what I had observed throughout the tournament. If he had hit the flop he most likely would have checked or bet small. Do I call off all my chips here with 2nd pair or do I fold and wait for a better opportunity to get my money in? If I fold I will still have about 1400 in chips, plenty to continue the battle. Am I willing to put my whole tournament at risk based on a read? You betcha!
Hero calls 1,390 and is All-In
SB showed Ks 7h
I was correct on my read. I had the best hand. He was on a draw with 11 outs or about 42% to make his hand by the river. However, even through I made an excellent read, I still made a bad play. Not by calling his shove on the flop--that was an excellent call. But instead, my bad play occurred before the flop.
I didn't mention this at the start, but the blinds had just increased to 100/200; however, I did not notice the blind increase until I clicked the "bet pot" button when it was my turn to act. As soon as I saw the 700 bet I immediately knew I had made a mistake. I begged for the blinds to fold, but that would not be the case.
So why was the 700 bet a mistake? With my opening bet of 700, I had only left 1390 behind. As a general rule, if you are going to put a third of your chips into the pot preflop, you should just shove them all in because when you bet a third of your stack you are basically pot committing yourself. With my 700 bet, the 700 call from the SB and the 200 from the BB, the preflop pot was 1600. If I had bet half the pot on the flop (800) I would only have 600 left, not enough to move anyone off the hand on the turn. So I would have had to shove the flop anyway.
an MZone of about 7 (or about 10 big
blinds if there are no antes), push or fold.
Don't get cute with small raises or limps. As a reminder, if you shove before the flop you have two ways to win... 1) if your opponents fold, and 2) if your hand holds up at showdown. However, in my example above, even if my opponent had checked the flop he would have been getting near the proper odds to call a flop shove. By waiting until the flop to shove I gave up one of my ways to win and forced a showdown for all my chips on the bubble.
Don't make the same mistake.
Lesson 11: Identifying Playing Styles
I have posted Lesson 11: Identifying Playing Styles. In this lesson I discuss key metrics that are used to help you identify the playing styles of your opponents. The lesson includes a brief example of how to use the information. However, the details about how to modify your play based on this information will come in the future lessons. For now, this lesson covers the following:
Pre-flop Metrics:
- Voluntarily Put Money In Pot Percentage (VP$IP%)
- Pre-flop Raise Percentage (PFR%)
Post-flop Metrics:
- Aggression Factor (AF)
- Went To Showdown Percentage (WSD%)
- Went To Showdown and Won (WSDW%)
The lesson starts to get into some of the Opponent Stats portion of Tournament Indicator, the tool that I use when I play sit 'n go poker tournaments. Hopefully the examples given will help you start to see the potential of this information. Here's a quick screen shot.
I will cover additional measurements in upcoming lessons.
Enjoy!
Thanks Stephen!
I received an e-mail from a reader almost a week ago noting that my bad beat posts on the blog sounded like I was tilting a bit. He advised that I take a week away from the tables to reset and then when I return to play extra tight. Well, I took his advice. I stopped playing for 5 days (couldn't last a full week!).
During my break I took some time to examine my play. I looked at the last 100 sit 'n go's that I was knocked out before the money. I found a common thread that was very eye-opening. In almost all of the examples, I pushed in a situation that was +EV from an ICM standpoint, but it was not a situation in which I would have pushed prior to studying ICM. So what does this mean?
Studying ICM and understanding the numbers is important. Any good player will get their game to this point. However, it takes an expert to know when to ignore ICM! There are situations when you should just fold your cards and wait for a better opportunity, regardless of EV. Prior to my downward trend, I was playing more based on the situation instead of pure numbers. Again, the numbers are important, but they should be a factor in your decision. It is critical to understand your opponents and how they will react to your decision and then modify your play accordingly.
I started playing again last night and cashed in 4 out of 4 sit 'n gos. In each, prior to getting in the money, I made some conscious decisions to ignore +EV pushing opportunities--primarily in situation where I felt I would get called and didn't have a hand that would hold up well at showdown. I think this contributed to my good results last night. Time will tell.
Thanks Stephen for your e-mail message. It was the catalyst I needed to take my game to the next level.
Hello World!
The internet never ceases to amaze me. I was just looking at the logs for SitNGoTraining.com, as I do on a monthly basis, to ensure the site is still being used and providing value. Volume continues to go up and the audience continues to widen.
Last month the site received visitors from 107 different countries! That is very exciting, not only that people from across the world are visiting the site, but more so that poker is alive and well in many, many countries around the world. That is very cool!
The following is a list of the countries that were represented by visits to the SitNGoTraining.com site last month. I bet there are a few on the list that you will not recognize! If I missed your country, I apoligize. Please send me a message so I can add it to the list.
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Belgium
Bermuda
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cote D'Ivoire
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Ethiopia
Europe
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran Islamic Republic of
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Korea Republic of
Kuwait
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Latvia
Lebanon
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Moldova Republic of
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway
Pakistan
Palestinian Territory Occupied
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Reunion
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Vietnam
Lesson 10: Player Profiling
Poker is not about chips stacks, position, or cards. It is not about having the guts to push your chips in with nothing. Forget about tournament stages, M-zones, EV, and everything else I taught in the basic strategy. All of that matters, but it is not what is most important. Howard Lederer is fond of saying, “Poker is a game of incomplete information.” Poker is about making solid decisions in a given situation based on the information that you have been able to extract. Therefore, extracting information so you can make solid decisions is what is most important. And in order to do so, you must develop a clear understanding of your opponents. Player profiling is the first step.
I have posted Lesson 10: Player Profiling. In this lesson you will learn how to identify winning and losing players. Learn how to:
- Use Sharkscope.com to identify winners and losers.
- Color code the table for easy identification.
- Analyze player trends to fine-tune your profiling.
I will combine the information from this lesson, as well as the next two, to show you how to read your opponents and put them on a small range of hands. Once you know the cards your opponent is holding, it really doesn't matter which cards YOU are holding!!!
Enjoy.
Let The Bad Beats Continue!
I played four sit 'n go's this evening. I was hoping for a new month and a new lease on poker. I have been running bad for about 6 weeks now, getting hit with endless bad beats. I hoped tonight would be different. That wasn't to be the case. My bad beat trend continues.
First game I am down to about 10 bb's and open-push with QQ from the SB. Get called by AK. I don't have a problem with the call--he had twice the chips I did and I would have made the same call in this situation. He flops an A and gets a K on the turn just to top it off. OK, coin toss. I can live with it. Good push, good call, bad result for me.
Second game, again I have QQ, this time in the CO. I raise 3x and get called by the button. Flop comes K42. For some reason I thought my QQ was still good. I bet out 2/3rds the pot and he pushes on me. I had seen him push with air twice so far in this tourney. So I called. He turns over A6. Gotcha! Of course he catches an ace on the turn. OK, great read, great call, but definately a bad beat.
Third game I am in the SB with A8 of diamonds. Two limp in before me so I complete the SB. The button checks. Four players. Flop comes T97, two diamonds. So I have an open-ended straight draw and a nut flush draw. I bet half the pot and the button raises 3x. To call I would be pot committed. I probably should have folded. I would have had enough chips to continue playing, but I had 15 outs to give me the best hand and another 3 if my ace was good. 18 outs, I'm not going anywhere. I shoved and he called with top pair. Blank on the turn and the river. I'm out again.
Following my bankroll rules, I decided to quit for the night. However, about an hour later I decided to play one more before calling it a night (it was after midnight, so technically it was the next day!).
Second hand of the tourney I am dealt T9o in the big blind. Three players limp and the SB completes. I check my option. Flop comes 2QJ giving me the idiot-end of an open-ended straight draw. The SB checks, as do I. The UTG limper min-bets, we all call. The turn brings a 8, giving me the nut straight. Finally, I caught a hand. The board is a rainbow, so no concerns about flush draws. But still, I make a pot sized bet. Decided to take down the pot here and now. However, the UTG limper shoves. Everyone else folds. Do I call? Why wouldn't I. I have the best hand--I have the nut straight. I should call this all day long, right? Wrong. The river is another 2. Oh no, paired board. Did he make a boat? No, that would be too easy. He turns over pocket 2's to make quads on the river. Yes, a 1 outer (well, actually, 7 outs if you count the Q and J), but that is how I am running these days... actually for about 6 weeks now.
I am most definitely quitting for the night. Tomorrow I will go through my hand histories to see what I could have done differently in these situations to improve my results. I do not expect I will come up with anything, other than quitting! And that ain't gonna happen any time soon!
If any of you have connections with the poker gods, could you put in a good word for me... please?
Progress Report:
It's that time again--time to report on my progress. Another month has passed during my challenge to turn $50 into $5000 playing sit 'n go poker online. My results in October were less than impressive.
October Results:
- Games Played: 82
- Av. ROI: -1%
- Total Profit: -$94
Overall Results (see graph):
- Games Played: 445
- Av. ROI: 11%
- Total Profit: $192
However, I am still very excited about the challenge. First, I have been experiencing the longest run off bad cards and bad luck that I have experienced. I realize all players go through this at some point, and that the duration varies widely. Some experience downswings for a few days, others a few months or even years. I hope mine is coming to an end.
Second, I spent a lot of time reviewing hand histories this month (hence, the low total number of games played). In the majority of cases (around 80%) , when I was knocked out of a tournament it was the result of a bad beat when pushing as the short-stack. I have really focused on the short-game over the last month. And as a result, I am making solid decisions. SitNGo Wizard has really helped with my ICM calculations. I am getting to the point now where I know which pushes are +EV, but more importantly, know when to ignore ICM!
Third, I mentioned in a previous post that I am going to dig deeper into my middle game. My thinking is that if I can continue to build chips, I can delay the short-game push/fold decisions. However, short-game push fold is more than just when I am short-stacked. More on that later.
I realize I can not focus on the results of any one particular hand; the key is to examine the decision to ensure you made it correctly. If you did, the results are what they are. You have no control over what happens after you put your chips in the middle with the best of it. I am very happy with my short game and the decisions that I have been making there, even if the results have not gone in my favor.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the final thing I wanted to mention is the importance of bankroll management. If it weren't for my bankroll management rules, I would have gone broke during my downswing--guaranteed! As I mentioned in my introduction, I went broke numerous times in the past due to much smaller downswings or tilting off my role. With the rules I now have in place, I have protected myself against going broke again, or at least greatly slowed the process!
Onward!
