How Quickly Things Change

I think I'm done with Rush Poker now.

The things I had written were true at the time - fish were playing ATC, laggy late position play worked well, etc.

But I just played lengthy sessions over the weekend and the games have completely dried up. My guess is the fish who were initially drawn to it have gone busto and decided not to keep re-depositing. And now it's just a bunch of us 14/12 regs playing nothing but big hand vs. big hand pots which don't occur frequently enough to make this game worth playing. If you want to amass a lot of FTP points it's still a decent game to play but aside from that I recommend going back to the regular tables.

Highlights I'm Not Proud Of

Over the weekend I played in one of those Knights Of Columbus charity poker tournaments where they had out Visa gift cards as prizes. Top 9 paid and first place was $700.

Normally I stay away from these because the players are often KoC members with no idea how to play the game and I almost feel guilty showing up. Almost.

But a friend of mine recently got his wisdom teeth removed and is unable to drink yet, so he talked me into going there with him.

He took third and I took first.

My suspicions were correct. The players ranged from bad to embarrassing. There was one other kid there who I could tell had a good grasp on the game but he busted with Queens versus Ace King around the middle stages.

At the Final Table I raised every hand and c-bet every flop. My friend was two seats to my right and would mutter before folding because as he correctly said afterwards ...

- I either fold my way to heads up or let you 3 bet me out of every pot I open.

That about sums it up. He busted with 7's versus KJ suited when his opponent flopped a flushdraw with a gutshot and hit his gutterball on the turn. Bink.

Heads up we were even in chips and it was over in 3 hands. He open shoved with 8's and I woke up with 10's. Better to be lucky, right?

At any rate, here are things I'm not proud of doing that night in no particular order.

• Check raising all-in on the turn against a guy in an oxygen mask and then showing 2-7 offsuit to the table
• Flatting Aces on the Button against an older woman and letting her think her flopped queen was good by calling her on every street saying stuff like, "I think this call is a bad idea."
• Slowrolling a kid because he yelled "one time!" at a KoC poker tournament.
• Slowrolling an old guy because he told me I take too long to act pre-flop.

I'd like to add that beers at these places only cost two quid and so much of my decision making was influenced by these beers. Still, I'm not proud. But I am $700 richer.

Full Tilt Rush Poker

I have to commend Full Tilt on this one.

Horrid customer service aside their site is quickly becoming my favorite due to Rush Poker and tournament structure.

In case you still aren't familiar with Rush Poker you should head to the Full Tilt website to watch their short presentation.

Essentially it's hyper speed poker. You're dealt a hand and as soon as you fold you're warped to a new table just as a new hand is being dealt. You can single table hundreds of hands per hour this way.

Right now my strategy is to play a very LAGgy game compared to my usual TAG style of play just because of how many people are hitting the "quick fold" button. I also tend to defend my BB every time I am there just to counteract people trying to play this LAG style against me.

I'm hoping they continue to add bigger stakes the more I continue to play here as you can amass points quickly not too mention all the rakeback once can earn.

$55 MTT Hand Results

Here is the way the rest of the hand played out.


Flop: T 5 4 rainbow


I bet 400 into 515 and get flatted


My initial thought process: His range of hands here is very narrow. There are several people to act behind on a somewhat coordinated board and he is not too worried about raising anyone out of the pot. 44, 55, and TT are the most likely candidates based on his MTT stats. He could have also flatted pre with AA but I would think he'd want to protect his hand against all the players behind him.


Turn: 4


I bet 800 into 1315 and he jams.


My thought process: My KK is beaten. Against a very solid player in the beginning stages I can't think of a single hand he plays this way that I beat unless he played QQ very strangely. And this I'm just hoping for.


I fold and he doesn't show but it was a +EV fold. I went on to cash in this event so all was not lost.

What's Your Play? $55 $40k Guaranteed MTT

Blinds 15/30

Our stack: 4100
Villain's stack: 2900

Villain has about $100,000 in MTT winnings and I've never played with him before. OPR confirms he does very well at mid-stakes buy-ins.

UTG with KK we raise to 100
Villain flats in MP
CO flats
Button flats
SB folds
BB calls

Flop: T 5 4 rainbow

BB Checks. We bet 400 into 515.

MP villains flats and everyone else folds.

Turn: 4

What's your action here and why?

Follow-Up to $50 MTT Post

In these spots (like 7-10 BB's) my typical range is this:

Pocket pairs: 66+
Suited connectors: 78s+
Ace hands: A9+

I think people spaz shove a little too light when they reach this amount of bb's. You really have to consider how light people will call you online. In low/mid-stakes I'll see someone jam 5-9 BB's with hands like A3o or 22 only to get called by something like A6, 44, KT, etc.

And while flipping is a necessity I try to do it with hands where the cards can run out well for me, like 9Ts and 89s instead of 44 and A7.

I also try to avoid shoving weaker hands like K9 and QT where you can often get called by someone holding a dominant hand like KQ, KJ, AQ, etc. Because in spots like that you will either be flipping or crushed - no one will ever call you with inferior holdings that you dominate.

The only thing I question is when to go into push/fold mode and when to start incorporating the suited connectors. Right now when I'm at 10 BB's I won't shove them. I'll just shove my strong paired and unpaired hands. Once I dip to 7 or 8 BB's I'll start shoving the mid-range suited connectors as well.

Part of me thinks I should loosen up and gamble for a final table stack so I'm going to run with that. I never really play to cash but I just don't know the correct pushing chart for like 10-20 BB's. I cut my teeth on 100-200 BB stack cash games for years so I need to step up my tournament game.

asdf

Lately it feels like I'm playing poker with my cards facing up so the whole table can see them. My 3-bets are being 4-bet like 90% of the time and even when I'm doing it with AK or a big pair I'm being held over or getting sucked out on by inferior holdings.

This can be a real confidence crippler but looking over the hand histories a couple days after playing it doesn't appear I'm doing things differently based on poor results which is nice to see.

I managed to offset some of my MTT buy-ins by making a few 180 Max $3 w/rebuys final tables including two 3rd place finishes which are good for about $200 apiece.

Here's a typical hand which shows how terribad I've been running.

Blinds: 1000/2000/200 (?) I forget the antes always - I should really know these.

My Stack: 42,000
Villain: 39,000

Villain limps EP
MP Russian fish calls (playing 63% of his hands lol)
I button raise to 9,000 with KK

Villain flats (wtf?)
MP Russian fish folds

Flop: 3 8 J rainbow

Villain open jams and I snap call.

He turns over 9T suited and spikes a 7 on the river, fml.

If it wasn't a Sunday major I don't think I'd be as pissed.