Jun 09, 2009 – 19:06PM
I'm only home for a few days, but it's great getting to see the kids again and sleep in my own bed. I think I've gotten more sleep in the last few days than I got the entire time I was in Las Vegas. I've spent a lot of time since I got back just catching up on general things. Spending some time with the family, I finished my Bluff column for the next issue, and I've been playing a little PLO on Lock Poker. I had some pictures taken last night some of you might see in an upcoming Bluff Magazine issue, but I'm not 100% sure about that nor how much I should say just yet so I'll leave it at that for now.
Aside from that just been doing normal catch up stuff. Paying bills, getting things in order for my next trip, etc. I have a small favor to ask of my readers. If you like the new site design I would like to ask that you mention it on the forums (Pocket 5s, 2+2, ITH, FTR, etc). I'm normally not much of a self promoter but with the latest redesign and the partnership with Lock Poker I know there are a lot of people that haven't visited in a while and I'd like them to get a chance to see the new site and new features. Yes it is a bit of shameless self promotion and for the cynics out there it is to generate some buzz around things, but I'm really excited about the new web site and partnership with Lock Poker!
-Rizen
Jun 08, 2009 – 21:06PM
I'm sure everyone who has made it here noticed that the look and feel of rizenpoker.com has changed. The wonderful (and might I say quite talented) design team at Lock Poker has done a substantial overhaul to the look and feel of the site. As always, I do appreciate any feedback anyone has on the new site and will take all of it into account.
I'm back home now for a few days before heading back out for the WSOP. The $5k I felt I played really well in and chipped up great, even after losing a pretty big pot in the first 10 hands with pocket kings. With 3 hands left to go in the day though at a completely new table the CO opened the pot. I had no clue how he played but I had QQ so I re-raised him. When it came back around he 4 bet me and at that point I felt like I had to decide if I wanted to go all in or fold. Without knowing much about the player having only been at the table an orbit or two and him raising in the CO and me 3 betting on the button I shoved all in and he snap called with AA. I didn't get there and went from about 75k chips to out at the end of the day. It was a cooler, although if I had been at the table long enough to have a stronger read on the guy maybe I know more and can make a better decision.
I'm disappointed I didn't cash or make a day two while I was out there on the first trip, but hopefully I'm saving all my run good for the later events! I obviously missed 'Ask Rizen' last Friday. Quite honestly with the WSOP I barely even remember what day it is. I will probably be a little hit and miss on the 'Ask Rizen' feature until after the WSOP, although I will do my best to keep doing it every Friday during the Series.
-Rizen
Jun 06, 2009 – 12:06PM
Yesterdays $2.5k started off pretty well. I was at a really good table for me with a pretty good seat and ran my stack up to $8500 pretty quickly. I had the best player at the table to my immediate right and was able to take down a lot of tiny pots early on. Our table broke early though and I got moved to the worst seat at a much tougher table with an online cash player ('Kadabra' I think?) GBecks, another online player whose name I don't know, and mossified84 all to my immediate left. The first two pots I saw on the table saw two 10k+ pots and two players bust. So I knew there was a decent chance I would be playing some big pots. Oddly though, it didn't really happen that way. Generally the players to my left stayed out of my way except for a few random calls and three bets. I was playing pretty tight because I expected to get a lot of action without creating it but my impression was off some as I never really did get much action period, on my bluffs or real hands, so in hindsight I probably should have been bluffing a little more.
I lost a big pot just before dinner with T9s vs 85 when GBecks raised in early position and a really weak/loose player called on the button with the 85. I had T9 of hearts in the big blind and Garrett had been raising my BB a lot and in early position a lot in general so I called. Flop was 9-7-6 and it checked through. I lead into a brick (I think a 4?) turn and Garrett folded and the 85o obviously called. River was an Ace and the button only had 2k left and the pot was about 7k at this point so I put him all in. I was never folding if I checked, and the player wasn't capable of bluffing there in my opinion. This player was weak enough I could see him calling with a worse hand though, so I thought value betting was okay. Obviously if I check the hand plays out the same way.
Coming back from dinner about 5 hands in a guy who was playing about 35% of his hands (and folding to 3 bets A LOT) limped, I had ATo and 15 big blinds so I shipped and he had AA. To run into AA and not KK/QQ/AK there is pretty unfortunate for me. i did flop a ten and a back door flush. I called for a spade on the turn for some serious river sweat, but I didn't get it or a ten and was out.
$5k is today, will probably be a tough field. More starting chips though, and hopefully I can get a better seat draw if not a better table draw. Can't control those things though, and if I have a bad draw I'll make the most of it. I'm bound to win at least one big pot this series if nothing else by dumb luck and statistics. After this event I'm back home for a few days before coming back out.
-Rizen
Jun 05, 2009 – 11:06AM
Gonna make this one kind of short. $2500 NL today, should be fun. Yesterday's event I had a SUPER soft table that got a little tougher when the moved Jason Potter into the 5 seat and Steve Paul-Ambrose into the 10 seat at late registrations. Entire table was pretty passive, and I just got unlucky when a player in early position just called with AA and I had AK. Flop was K high and I basically value towned myself on every street thinking I was good the whole way. He never raised or anything so I was shocked when he flipped AA.
I'll tweet my table draw when I get it for those of you that want to live sweat and will be doing updates on breaks as usual, hopefully more than once today!
-Rizen
Jun 04, 2009 – 11:06AM
I was a little tilted on the ride home last night. I was pretty excited about the $2500 HA (mixed PLO/PLHE) event. I got off to a pretty good start, was playing pretty well, had made some really tough (but good, I think) lay downs. I had looked around the table and had a pretty good idea of where my chips were going to come from and how I was going to get them. I think I misplayed an AK hand a little versus the table fish and probably missed some value. I got overly cute with the hand and played it kind of slow, something I really discourage my students from doing with big hands, but I still won a pretty good sized pot and was up around 13k.
There was a pretty good older gentleman across the table from me who I'd made both big lay downs against. I think they were good, but after seeing me lay down two pretty big hands (I didn't show them, but agonized over the decision for quite some time and don't usually act in those situations) he was betting into me a little more and adjusting I think (and rightly so). He was making a lot of full pot bets, which is actually a good thing in pot limit, but compared to the rest of the table I really felt like I could trap him at some point later into running a big bluff against me based on the table dynamics and his play style.
He had raised UTG and I flatted in the CO with TT66ssdd. Sometimes I muck that hand pre because flopping a set of tens or sixes can just be a trouble spot in PLO and a t high flush isn't super easy either, but I had position, the table fish was in the small blind and likely to come along and I had a read that I could potentially get the pre-flop raiser to run a big bluff against me. Flop was Q76 with two spades. So I have bottom set plus a bad flush draw. The original raiser pots it, I call, fish folds. Turn was a red 2 (not putting a second flush on the board). This is where I think I might have gotten a little cute. He pots it and I just flatted to try and induce a river bluff since my two flats was really repping a draw and based on prior play I could see him 3 barreling with any hand that had the As in it. If I shoved the turn he plays pretty perfectly probably, but at that point i probably should have been happy to take down what was in the middle. Although he would have been getting about 4:1 or so on a call, so he very well might have called anways.
River was a ten. He shrugs his shoulders and shoves. i was going to snap call any river but when he shrugged then shoved I felt like he was trying to induce a call by acting. I couldn't really justify folding the 3rd nuts there though so I called and he had KK89 no spades. I set it up pretty well based on table dynamics, under-repped my hand to induce the first two barrels (although he probably thought both barrels were for value since I was calling on a draw heavy board). In my head I was already counting my ~30k stack and off to day 2 which is a huge mental mistake before even the second break, but I'd been playing so well I got ahead of myself. Poker isn't a game that always rewards the right plays, and i think I should have shoved the turn not just because I lost the hand, but because at that point the value of winning the pot (especially in a tournament where chancing a suckout can put you out) was greater than trying to induce a third barrel.
I'm fine now and was honestly un-tilted within about an hour. I'm just going to go and try and play my 'A' game again today. So far I haven't won a significant pot where I was all in the whole series, so if nothing else the law of averages is bound to catch up eventually and let me get there even if I get my money in bad (which isn't the goal!). Based on my historic WSOP play I have a history in the smaller buy in events of either being out before dinner break or making a deep run and cashing. That's mostly because if I can work a decent chip stack into the middle levels I feel I have a huge advantage, but it just hasn't happened yet. I was hoping with the slightly better structure and triple starting stacks this year that would help change things a lot, but so far it hasn't for me, although the sample size is pretty small so far.
-Rizen
