Arrgh!! I hate my life!!


No man! It can not be true!
I haven't played a lot of tournaments lately and today I make a final table.
The bad thing is I busted by a MISCLICK!!! I was on the BB with JTo, then BTN minraises, I check the autocall tick but after 1 sec I change my mind and decide to fold but, in this time, SB has raise all in. So, instead of deselecting my choice (calling 8000) I end up calling all my chips against 3 players.

Result, I finished in 9th position. Life is sick sometimes.

GL everybody and see you soon.

Good News


Hi everybody!

I'm here with goods news! I can announce that I already finished the first chapter of my donk bet study.
After more than 2 weeks and dozens of hour later it seems I've learnt to use CardrunnersEv Calculator so i'm moving faster now.
I don't know how long will it take me the complete analysis but, if things goes this way, the complete hand (3 streets with all the variables) can take more than 100 pages ;)
So, if any of you is interested in the idea send me an email to charlie.di.poker@gmail.com

GL to everyone and see you soon!

Evaluación de mano


Hola amigos!

Hoy hago una edición especial de evaluación de manos. Es la evaluación de una mano que acabo de jugar con un amigo. Yo voy a repasar la mano desde mi punto de vista y después comentaré lo que creo que se puede mejorar en su juego.

La mano en cuestión es la siguiente:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (2 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com 
Hero (SB) ($299) 
BB ($410) 
Preflop: Hero is SB with K, 10  
Hero bets $8, BB calls $6 
 Flop: ($16) K, 3, 9 (2 players) 
BB bets $8, Hero calls $8 
Turn: ($32) 8 (2 players) 
BB checks, Hero bets $20, BB raises to $40, Hero calls $20 
River: ($112) 4 (2 players) 
BB checks, Hero checks 
Total pot: $112
Empecemos pues!
Preflop mi subida es estándar. En general suelo subir siempre la misma cantidad cuando tengo que abrirr el bote. Pero como sé que mi amigo va a hacer call muy frecuentemente con un rango muy loose, no me importa variar el tamaño de la apuesta en función de la fuerza de mi mano. Tal y como esperaba, paga.
El flop trae K39 y pienso: guay! Voy a apostar por valor e intentar sacar tres calles. Pero cuando pensaba que me iba a dejar la iniciativa, apuesta de cara. En el estudio sobre donk bets que estoy haciendo, trato cómo este tipo de apuestas pueden jugarse en un flop cargado de proyectos, pero aquí??? Si empiezo a delimitar el rango, tengo las siguientes observaciones:
- Normalmente no hace donk bets, por lo que no puedo jugar la mano con las asunciones de siempre.
- Suele ser pasivo y jugar check-call cuando no tiene nada y espera pillar más tarde.
- Antes ha hecho call en la ciega grande con AKo y ha jugado pasivo.
Así que mi idea es que su rango se compone principalmente de reyes con mal kicker y de algunas parejas o proyectos raros (QJ, JT, QT).
El turn empieza como esperaba, intentó llevarse la mano con un rey malo y como no me tiré va a jugar más despacio. Como creo que voy por delante hago una apuesta de ~2/3 del bote y para mi sorpresa, en lugar de hacer call me resube. Bien, vuelvo a evaluar la situación. Ese 8 da escalera abierta a JT y si lleva diamantes, (Ax) que no lo descarto, también se abre proyecto. De todas formas, la mano de la que tengo auténtico pavor es 33/99. Creo que es muy probable que tengo un trío aquí en cuyo caso ya estaría KO. Tengo que pagar 20$ para llevarme un bote de 92$, lo que me da unas odds de 4.5:1. Aunque sólo sea por el buen precio tengo que pagar ya que si no tiene el trío entonces no estoy tan mal:

Board: Kh 3s 9d 8d
Dead: 

    equity     win     tie           pots won     pots tied   
Hand 0:     67.123%      65.47%     01.66%               5041           127.50   { KsTs }
Hand 1:     32.877%      31.22%     01.66%               2404           127.50   { QQ-TT, 88-66, A9s, K5s+, K3s, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 97s+, 93s, A9o, K8o+, K3o, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o }

Contra un rango de Kx y algunos 9x tengo un 67% de Equity, así que decido hacer call sabiendo que si demuestra fuerza en el river me tiro y si no la demuestra, check behind o un call pequeño.
El river no ayuda a nadie y él pasa. Puedo ir por delante? Sí. Merece la pena apostar? No, si me está tendiendo una trampa sólo voy a lograr perder más fichas. Si por el contrario, ha ido de farol va a hacer fold con todas las manos. Queda el espacio intermedio de las manos con valor al showdown. Posiblemente pague cualquier rey y algún 9, pero contra K3, K9, K4, KJ, KQ y AK (que todo puede ser) pierdo con lo que sólo gano a K2, K5, K6, K7 y K8. 6 me ganan, 5 gano yo y la amenaza del check raise. Conclusión: hacer check y ver qué llevaba. 97o! I win :D
Bueno, después de mi resumen esto es lo que yo aconsejaría a mi colega:
No has jugado mal. Estando cara a cara hay que jugar muchas manos y yo estoy abriendo cada botón, así que el call preflop es bueno.
Fíjate en el tamaño de las apuestas. Si normalmente abro por 3BB y una vez cambio y apuesto 4BB intenta ver y recordar con qué manos lo hago para ponerme en un rango.
La apuesta del flop está bien. Al abrir tanto muchas de mis manos son mediocres-malas. Si tienes un farol aquí puedes apostar. Recuerda que juegas fuera de posición y eso da una imagen de mano fuerte y vas a tirar un alto porcentaje de mis manos.
Cuando hagas un check-raise no apuestes el mínimo, es mejor que tu apuesta sea 3x la mia. Si yo apuesto 20$, tú 60$. Eso hace que me des peores odds (no es lo mismo 92:20 o 4.5:1 que 110:40 o 2.8:1) y demuestra más fuerza.
Por último, yo hubiera apostado ese river. El bote son 112$ y después de toda la fuerza demostrada vas a tirarme de bastante manos que van a ganar a tu 9, pero si pasas dejas que me escape vivo.

Espero que te haya servido de ayuda y seguimos en contacto :)

Awesome Poker Hands


Hi everybody!
I'm here again one more day. There's still not a lot of poker (play) in my life but I love the game as always. So, eventhough I'm not playing, I keep studying, reading and watching poker.
And that's what I bring you today, some videos to watch the amazing things that can happen at a poker table. I hope you enjoy the clips:







GL and see you soon.

Last hand review


Hi everybody,

I'm here today to apologize. I want to apologize because I made some mistakes in my last post hand review.

If you have played poker just a bit (well, almost by common sense) you would realize that in the previous hand, when the action gets to the turn, your equity can not be 4%. You have an open ended and the nut flush draw. This give you at least a 30% equity. But the more I looked for the mistake, the more clueless I was so I asked in the thread found in 2+2.

My guess would be that you've also entered a river where AcJc is just A high.
That would explain a 4% equity.
He were right. So I just redid the calcs but now without the river. Here is shown what I got:

Preflop:
This change doesn't affect preflop data, that is way I'm not showing it.


Flop:

First thing I have to say here is: Forget everything you read in my last post, is all wrong! Lets gonna reevaluate the hand again. In the flop our equity changes radically (compared to the old, bad analysis), it goes from 4% to 47,7% WOOW!. We have the two overs, the nut flush draw and a backdoor straight draw, so we have a nice amount of outs. To make this call profitable we have to take a look at the odds we are getting. He bets 350 into a 230 pot that results in a 580 pot. We have to pay 350 to win 580 or 580:350 or 1,66:1. This means that our equity in the pot have to be 1/2,66 = 0,376 that is the same as 37,6%. So we smile because our 47,7% is clearly bigger than the 37,6% minimun needed.


Turn:

Here we find that our equity have been reduced, why? Because if a J hits on the river our pair may be beaten by the straight so we have fewer outs than the flop and with one chance less to hit. Anyway, we still have a nice amount of equity to make our move. We still have the three options we talked before:

a) Shoving.
b) Calling.
c) Folding.

Now I'm gonna evaluate them.

a) Shoving
We can see in the graph published above that when we shove he will be calling with the 40% of the hands and, against his range, we have a 38% equity. So our EV is:
Pot size before shoving = 3020
Pot size after shoving = 4030
Fold Equity = 60%
Pot Equity = 38%
EV = 0,60*3020 + 0,40*0,38*4030 = 2424 -> Ev = 2424 - 2000 = 424


b) Calling
In this scenario we have to make to assumptions: What happen if we hit? What happen if we don't?
We are going to have a look step by step:

b.1) We check
We check to any river. Opponent will polarize his betting range to the point that he will check behind hands with moderated showdown value (One pair in a uncordinated board, up to two pairs if the gustshot is there and at most a straight if another club comes) and will shove the rest (big showdown value and bluffs). In this situation we can only call with at least a straight because his bluff range is so thin that is almost zero.
With this assumptions we have:
EV (opp. check behind)
Pot Size: 2010
Call%: 31%
Pot Equity: 38%
EV = 2010*0,31*0,38 = 236 + 1010 = 1246 //We have to add 1010 because is the value of our stack at the river.

EV (opp. bet and we call)
Pot Size: 4030
Bet%: 69%
Pot Equity: 11%
EV = 4030*0,69*0,11 + 0 = 305

EV (total) -> 1246 + 305 - 2000 = -551




b.2) We lead
We bet any river. Ok, what does this mean? First, he doesn't have a bluff range here. We are playing against his value range only. Second, praise we are playing against a player who can fold a hand when he already put half of his stack in the middle. And third, that given how the hand has been played we need an extraordinary amount of Fold Equity because his hand looks really strong. What hands are gonna be calling our shove?
- Overpairs+ if there is no flush and no straight.
- Straights+ if a straight is possible.
- Flushes+ if a 3rd club comes.
Now that we know why are we doing this move and against what range of hand are playing lets evaluate it:
Pot size before shoving: 2010
Pot size after shoving: 4030
Fold Equity: 73%
Pot Equity: 38%
EV = 3020*0,73+4030*0,27*0,38 = 2617 -> Ev = 2617 - 2000 = 617



So the ranking ends this way:
1st - Check-Call Turn, Shove River = 617
2nd - Check-Shove Turn = 424
3rd - Check-Call Turn, Check-Call River = -551

I hope you liked my (I hope this time correct) analysis. If you want to share any thoughts or opinions or whatever just post a comment.

GL to everybody and see you soon

Hand review of the day


Hi everybody,

I'm here to make my first hand history review with the help of CardrunnersEV.

I haven't played a lot this days and there are no interesting hands in Perpetuum so I'm gonna take a look to a hand that I just played in the Early Double in Full Tilt. Let's have a look on the hand:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (9 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com 
MP2 (t2210) 
MP3 (t2020) 
CO (t1970) 
Button (t1970) 
SB (t1980) 
BB (t1820) 
Hero (UTG) (t2000) 
UTG+1 (t2030) 
MP1 (t2000) 
Hero's M: 66.67 
Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, J 
Hero bets t60, 3 folds, MP3 raises to t100, 4 folds, Hero calls t40 
Flop: (t230) 5, 10, 8 (2 players) 
Hero checks, MP3 bets t350, Hero calls t350 
Turn: (t930) 9 (2 players) 
Hero checks, MP3 bets t540, Hero raises to t1550 (All-In), MP3 calls t1010 
River: (t4030) K (2 players, 1 all-in) 
Total pot: t4030
And now I'm going to break it down:

Preflop:
I think my open is fine/close. Playing from early position it seems a stronger range to open JJ+, AQ+ but being suited I think I can play it profitably. The big mistake comes when I make the call to his 3 bet. As we can see in the next picture, if he is 3betting with a range like this (JJ+,AJs+,AKo) I'm making a big -EV call.


Flop:
Then comes the flop. Is not a bad one, and is clearly better than an A-high one so I check hoping for a check behind that it doesn't happen. So lets evaluate the flop: He bets 350 into 230 so I'm gettin 1.66:1. With the range I gave him I can't count my Ace as an out due to kicker issues, so I have: 9 outs for the flush + 3 outs for the J equals to 12 outs. 12 outs over 47 cards results in 2.92:1, So this big overbet allow me to call hoping to hit my flush (Look how this affects our equity, winning an impressive 06%!!).

Turn:
Ok, now the river bring as an OESD+NFD. The jack is no more an out because a Queen would make a bigger straight. I check again hoping, once again, that my opponent check after me allowing me see a free river, but this doesnt happen neither.Now, he bets 540 into 930 so I'm getting 2.72:1 for the call. Now I have three two optons:
a) Call and wait for a good card.
b) Shove on him.
c) Fold  To me, folding seems so weak that I really don't take it into account.

So now I have to choose between calling and shoving. Once again, I think calling is too weak. If the river is a brick there's no way to win the hand unless I make a hopeless river bluff. If I raise now he may fold AK or AQ and that would be a good new for me. The problem is I don't have Fold Equity or, as we see below, I don't have enough FE to make him fold. We can see that if we can't rely on FE to win the hand, we are a big underdog


 But if we take a look when we think that opponent can fold AJ+ to our bet the things are a bit different:


Now I make him fod 60% of his hands so the final Ev of the move is:
EV = 3020*0,62 +0,38*(4030*0,36) = 2431

 So, if we think he's gonna fold all those hand to our reraise is a good move ;)

Hope you liked my analysis and hope to see you here for the next one.

GL at the table and see you soon. 


February Goals


Hi everybody,

I'm here today with two new comments to do.

First of all, I'd like to ask to Perpetuum Poker support to change hand history format. At least the MTT HH format. I've seen that HUSNG HH has a format that is captured by Holdem Manager. Would be a nice feature mostly because would make it easier to review the hands.

Also I'd like to say that I'm really excited waiting for the stuff of Cardrunners to activate my StoxEV calcultor as it seems a really interesting app to study poker. When I get used to it I'll try to post and review one hand everyday.

So that's all my news for today. Talk to you soon and good luck till then.