The Poker Thread

[Drumstick]

Anyone playing today?

[Clarkman]

I am. Currently 39/100 remaining in the Bigger $33.

EDIT: 28/79 at the break.

EDIT: First hand back lost a flip AQ > 99. -30k.

[Drumstick]

PsychicSykes has reached the final table of the PokerStars $5 [2R 1A] $2.5k Gtd and is currently 3/9.

Come rail!

[Red Devil]

Unlucky Sykes.

[Psychic]

Nah, just a bad shove on my part.

[Pacman]

I feel like such a crap player when I make a bad shove. Is it ever permissible to completely bluff an all-in? Semi bluff, sure, but I guess I even do that too often and people can tell or something.

[Psychic]

For the most part you never really want to make an all-in bluff in a hand where you're certain you have little to no chance of winning if called. Can you give me an example of semi-bluffing all in, maybe an instance where you were called?

[Pacman]

No specific examples as I've not played for a few days now, but say for example I had an overpair and the board had flush and straight possibilities: if no one bet and I was last to act I will usually make a very large bet, sometimes even go all-in..

[Psychic]

That sounds more like a value bet than a semi-bluff. I'm just going to reaffirm what a semi-bluff is, just in case you've not got the correct information and because I like to feel important.

Semi-Bluff is a bet with a hand that is currently not that likely to be the best but stands a chance of being good by the river. Example: I raise preflop w/JTss and get called by one player who is out of position. The flop comes 2s8c9s, he checks and I decide to semi-bluff with my continuation bet. While I only have Jack high currently, I have lots of outs to improve by the time the hand is done.

Also, as you can see I've got outs to hit a straight and a flush, which means my hand can be referred to as a combo draw. When you have a good combo draw such as an open-ended straight draw and flush draw, you're a favourite against most hands excluding sets. Using Pokerstove (Download Pokerstove btw) we can see that...

Hand 0: 53.939% 53.94% { JsTs }
Hand 1: 46.061% 46.06% { AA }

With a big combo draw such as this hand on the 9s8c2s flop, we can expect semi-bluffs to be very profitable. However, if we were to semi-bluff something like 87cc on a Kc9s2c flop we have less outs to improve and when we do it can be obvious to our opponent we've hit our flush. For the most part at the micro-stakes you'll be making most your money when you have a hand like AK on A72 and your opponent refuses to fold his A9. Semi-Bluffing can be profitable but it's better against people who can fold, which are sometimes a rarity in the games you're playing atm.

[Pacman]

That sounds more like a value bet than a semi-bluff. I'm just going to reaffirm what a semi-bluff is, just in case you've not got the correct information and because I like to feel important.

Semi-Bluff is a bet with a hand that is currently not that likely to be the best but stands a chance of being good by the river. Example: I raise preflop w/JTss and get called by one player who is out of position. The flop comes 2s8c9s, he checks and I decide to semi-bluff with my continuation bet. While I only have Jack high currently, I have lots of outs to improve by the time the hand is done.

Also, as you can see I've got outs to hit a straight and a flush, which means my hand can be referred to as a combo draw. When you have a good combo draw such as an open-ended straight draw and flush draw, you're a favourite against most hands excluding sets. Using Pokerstove (Download Pokerstove btw) we can see that...

Hand 0: 53.939% 53.94% { JsTs }
Hand 1: 46.061% 46.06% { AA }

With a big combo draw such as this hand on the 9s8c2s flop, we can expect semi-bluffs to be very profitable. However, if we were to semi-bluff something like 87cc on a Kc9s2c flop we have less outs to improve and when we do it can be obvious to our opponent we've hit our flush. For the most part at the micro-stakes you'll be making most your money when you have a hand like AK on A72 and your opponent refuses to fold his A9. Semi-Bluffing can be profitable but it's better against people who can fold, which are sometimes a rarity in the games you're playing atm.

Yeah I've started to notice that the hard way.

Took me a while to get my head around the maths there, as it stands AA are winning so that must mean there's so many outs that given two turn cards it's more likely than not that Hand 0 will hit. The nine remaining spades, the other three 7's, the other three Q's: 15 outs and two cards to come = roughly 60% hit rate? I never realised how profitable that position was until now.

I thought a semi bluff was just "bluffing" when you thought there was still a chance you might have the best hand, didn't know there had to be more cards to come and whatnot. I need to read up on my terms, clearly.

Are there any half-decent poker podcasts? Ideally I need to read a few books but podcasts are so much easier since I can put them on my iPod.

[Dark Ritual]

Okay. The GRSOP (and a new job) has convinced me to dip my toes in the water of Online Poker. I've played a bit of free-money before and just want to develop my skills at first. On PokerStars- what kind of tournaments/formats should I go for? (For the record, I really dislike those tables where you sit in and people keep leaving and joining and would rather avoid them.)

[Drumstick]

Some real quick notes as I'm on my lunch break at work:

Sit & Gos are ideal for beginners to hone their skills. Each player will start with a set amount (usually 1500 chips on PokerStars) for an STT (single table tournament). Top 3 cash though you should be looking to play for the win.

Deposit $20/$30 (or whatever you can afford, really) and start off at the $1 games. Once you can beat these on a regular basis, showing a consistant profit, move up to the $3 stakes. As a general rule of thumb, the minimum you want to be playing a game with is 30 buyins. So theoretically you should have $90 before moving up to $3 games, $150 before moving up to $5 games, etc. If you drop below your 30 buyins, move down a stake.

Your basic strategy for beating the low buyin games should be to just play tight, premium hands only (77+, AJ+), bet when you have it and fold when you don't, because the majority of the players at that level are bad and don't know when to fold. Once you get short handed in a game be prepared to expand the range of hands you are playing. A range of all pairs and JT+) should be profitable.

Once you feel confident enough with your game you may also be interested in taking a shot at a couple of small buy in MTTs (multi table tournaments).

[Red Devil]

Another thing to remember is that other players will make stupid plays (usually when drawing to a flush or a straight) when they have no right to. If they make it and beat your hand then just remember that in the long run chances are you will be making more money off them. Just take a couple of deep breaths and forget about it when it happens.

[Rex McGee]

There a GRSOP topic? Can't find.

[Red Devil]

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27401

[Rex McGee]

Ah. I did ctrl f for GRSOP.

[Dark Ritual]

Okay. Got $15 or so and will do some of the $1-ish sit-and goes as suggested by Drummy. Wish me luck!

[Luwinski]

Okay. Got $15 or so and will do some of the $1-ish sit-and goes as suggested by Drummy. Wish me luck!

Go for $30-50 if at all possible mate as a 15 buy-in swing is more than possible at all stakes/levels.

If you want rail/coaching I charge 5% fee (Jokes, just PM any of us for MSN/steam ect and we will all happily discuss the game with you).

You can use the pokerstars client to bring up previous hands, post them here for discussion (delete the section of the hand which displays the final results e.g. if they call and lose/win or if they fold to your second bet ect).

[Dark Ritual]

3rd tournament, first win! (Only won $5, but hey, a win is a win) Looking for some opinions on a few hands, though.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to GhostQuarter [8c Td]
elduko: folds
yanalex08: folds
Fntt : calls 20
pmpassos: folds
Maluski-9: folds
GhostQuarter: checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 9c 6h]
GhostQuarter: bets 75
Fntt : calls 75
*** TURN *** [5c 9c 6h] [Tc]
GhostQuarter: bets 200
Fntt : calls 200
*** RIVER *** [5c 9c 6h Tc] [As]
GhostQuarter: bets 200
Fntt : calls 200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GhostQuarter: shows [8c Td] (a pair of Tens)
Fntt : mucks hand
GhostQuarter collected 1000 from pot

Although I won the hand here, was I stupid to go for such a big bet with a flush on the table, and an ace which would easily beat my pair?

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to GhostQuarter [As Td]
GhostQuarter: calls 50
elduko: folds
yanalex08: raises 150 to 200
Fntt : folds
pmpassos: folds
Maluski-9: folds
GhostQuarter: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [Th 5s 5d]
GhostQuarter: bets 500
yanalex08: raises 2105 to 2605 and is all-in
GhostQuarter: calls 2105
*** TURN *** [Th 5s 5d] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [Th 5s 5d Ah] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GhostQuarter: shows [As Td] (a full house, Tens full of Aces)
yanalex08: shows [Qs Qd] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
GhostQuarter collected 5685 from pot

Again, I win this one but feel it's more luck than skill- would I be right in thinking it's a very sketchy call with two 5's on the board compared to my (at the time) one pair?

[Dark Ritual]

Okay. Got $15 or so and will do some of the $1-ish sit-and goes as suggested by Drummy. Wish me luck!

Go for $30-50 if at all possible mate as a 15 buy-in swing is more than possible at all stakes/levels.

If you want rail/coaching I charge 5% fee (Jokes, just PM any of us for MSN/steam ect and we will all happily discuss the game with you).

You can use the pokerstars client to bring up previous hands, post them here for discussion (delete the section of the hand which displays the final results e.g. if they call and lose/win or if they fold to your second bet ect).

Thanks for the offer I will keep it in mind!!

I have to admit though, I'm not entirely sure what the first sentence there means....