Blinds Up!

  It's eleven fifty-seven
  And I'm running out of time     (Who sings this?)

At my regular Friday night tournament the blind structure is always the same, but the organisers sometimes change the time between levels and/or the starting stack size and/or the opening blinds. The blind levels usually go 100/200, 200/400, 300/600, 400/800, 500/1000, 1000/2000. This means that your stack loses half its value at the first level, then changes much more slowly for the next 3 levels before halving in value again. But last Friday the organiser, B, decided to change the blind structure, but only for the later levels. So the blinds increased more gradually after the 500/1000 level but the earlier 2nd level jump stayed the same. He also increased the starting stack from 25k to 30k, which I thought was a bit odd because both measures were likely to increase the duration of the tournament.

  However you've got to roll with the punches and adjust to these things so I went ahead and paid in along with the 32 other players. As usual, the play was loose and passive but the increased starting stack suited my tight early-stage playing style. I just bided my time, raising my big hands (but not too much) and limping in with drawing hands and the occasional marginal hand from late position. It didn't take long to identify the loosest out of a very loose bunch: two chronic calling station on either side of me. Over the course of two hours I saw one of these two, M, limp in with AA, KK and AK, and somehow win with these hands by calling to the river in multi-way pots. In fact M hit quad Aces at one stage, which should have won her the 'monster hand' jackpot but not long after that someone on another table hit a 5-high straight flush.
   I got into an interesting hand with the other calling station, U, when I raised pre-flop with AQ and he called me. I missed the flop, but it was paired, so I bet at it and he called. I missed the turn as well so I checked and so did he. After missing the river I bet at it again and he called, turning over AJ. My Ace high beat his. Mostly I just stayed out of trouble and managed to pull in a few pots, which kept me above the average stack. Hands that have got me into trouble in the past seemed to be coming through. With pocket Jacks I bet on what seemed a pretty safe board and dragged in some chips from a player who flopped top pair. Then with KK I re-raised a fairly solid player pre-flop then when I bet the flop she folded.
   With the big starting stacks there were only a few players knocked out in the first couple of hours. I managed to chip up a bit and was actually the big stack at my table going into the middle stages. However, I guess I got 'big stack fever' and got a little too active, missing some draws and losing some chips. By the time we were down to a couple of tables the stacks were getting short and players started getting knocked out pretty regularly. At this stage I had around the average stack, but this amounted to just 12 big blinds! But I wasn't prepared to do what many others tend to do in this situation and play conservatively with a short stack. So I waited for my chance and when I picked up pocket Jacks I called an all-in bet from R. She turned over 55 and when a Jack hit the flop it was all over. Just to rub it in, the river was another Jack. So that made my stack size a bit healthier as we approached the final table.
   My wife and I both made the final table (the top 10). D came onto the table with an enormous stack of chips, at least three times the size of the next highest stack. The shortest stacks started to drop out fairly quickly. With 7 players left I found myself in a hand with my wife (P) and B. With K9 in the hand, the flop gave me middle pair (nines). The flop was all clubs and my King was a club, giving me a draw to the King high flush. When I bet, B pushed all-in. I seriously considered calling with my flush draw, but eventually decided to fold.  P however did call with the Ace of clubs and B showed his flopped flush. With no clubs on the turn or river my wife went out in 7th place and I breathed a sigh of relief over my decision to fold. It was not long before the 6th player was eliminated and I was in the money. The short stack who had limped across the bubble then exited, leaving just four of us.
   By now it was approaching midnight and we all had at least 20 big blinds each. The band had long since stopped playing and the bar was about to close. B shouted the three of us a drink, perhaps in recognition of our stamina, and we carried on. By this stage we had a volunteer to do the dealing for us, which made things easier, and faster. At this point I was enjoying playing my natural end-game and felt reasonably confident that I had a good shot at first place. I was bluffing at a few pots, raising any decent hand, and chipping up bit by bit. I showed a couple of my bluffs, just to keep them guessing. One in particular, was an attempt to steal with 72 that didn't work out. I figured that this would keep them calling when I actually had a hand. Fortunately for us, B is not only the poker tourney organiser but also the club president, so he arranged to have the club stay open to allow the game to go on. Meanwhile my wife, who was sitting behind me, was starting to fall asleep.
   I managed to chip up a bit with the following hand. I raised with AQ pre-flop and was called by D. The flop came K J * . He checked so I bet half the pot. He called. I missed the turn as well but put in a bet and he called again. When the Ace hit the flop I bet again and he called with his King. I took a nice chunk of his stack with this hand, and also managed to tilt him a bit. So I was the big stack for a while, until I picked up pocket Kings. By this stage B had started pushing all-in a lot. When he pushed this time I called him and he turned over JJ. Jacks had been good to me so far and this time they were good to B. He hit a Jack on the turn and I lost the hand. I thought that was it for me but when we matched our stacks up I still had about 5 big blinds left.
   So I struggled on as the short stack, but with some careful play and some good all-in pushes, gradually built my stack back up, knocking out P in the process. By 1am D was the small stack and B and I had around 15 big blinds each. As it was getting so late, B suggested that we split the prize money but I was determined to at least try and eliminate D. So I suggested that we play till 1.30 and then split if there was no result. By 1.15 D was out and B and I split the remaining prize money; probably the best result I could have hoped for in the circumstances. Then we played our hands all-in to determine who would get the extra point for the challenge points table. In terms of points at least, I came first.
   After that marathon session I hope that B adjusts his blind structure and/or starting stacks for next Friday. After all, if you're running a cash tournament, you should ensure that it's structured in such a way that it is able to be played out to the end. While I'm happy to finally break my losing streak in this most recent series of games, it's disappointing to not have the opportunity to win the first prize outright. I've come in the top two on three occasions so far but in two of these I've split the prize pool because it was getting late, and I came second in the only game where I actually got to play to the end. Nevertheless, with only one more round to go before the end of the year, this result means that I'm no longer in danger of barely breaking even in live tourneys and should come out with a nice little profit. Heading into the Christmas season, it's not a bad position to be in.

November Notes

       Money, get back,
       I'm all right Jack
       keep your hands off o' my stack           Pink Floyd


 INTER-CLUB
   In previous posts I've mentioned the Inter-Club poker tournament. This is  a $20 tournament that is held every 4th Sunday at various club venues. There are six clubs involved in this (I think) and each club enters a team of eight players. The idea is that, apart from the prize money,  players are awarded points according to their finishing position in each game. These points accumulate through the year and at the end of the year there is a prize-giving event where both individuals and teams are awarded cash prizes according to their over-all places on the points table. Each month a proportion of the prize pool is set aside and this is used for the end-of-year awards. I'm not sure how much this is but it is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the total.
   I've played in a couple of these events and I even finished in the top three once, but the fact that a big chunk of the prize pool is 'raked' puts me off making it a regular thing. I know that there is a chance of getting some of that back by either finishing well in a number of games, or by getting into a strong team that usually finishes well. But of course that means you'd have to commit yourself to playing every month. And of course if you play in a team, you're dependant on your team-mates' results, and if you don't (you can play as an individual) then you're at a disadvantage because you're up against people playing as teams.
   So I've decided not to play in this tourney as a rule. However my wife enjoys it and has ended up playing regularly for the Onehunga RSA team, so I guess I'll go along for the ride occasionally. There's one coming up that will be held at a club I've never been to before, so I guess I'll go along to that one. The only question is whether I'll play using my poker stake or just take the entry fee out of my spending money. I shouldn't use my poker stake because I only want to use that money to play in games that have a good pay-out structure (i.e. have a low rake). On the other hand, a good win would boost my bankroll, and it needs that at the moment.
   The thing I don't get about the way this tourney works is how you reconcile playing for a team with playing for yourself. Are you really supposed to take it easy on a fellow team member sitting at your table? So if a team-mate raises pre-flop when you have, say JJ or AQ, what are you supposed to do? Fold? Re-raise to let them know you have a hand? And what if you fold some good holdings to help your team-mate out and then they get eliminated, leaving you short-stacked? After all, the higher you finish in the rankings the better for your team, right? It's essentially a game that is based on collusion, something that is strictly prohibited in 'normal' poker. So on the odd occasion when I play in this, it will always be as an individual player. It's less confusing that way.

WITHDRAWAL
   I've always been a little nervous about the notion of withdrawing money from a poker site. The conventional wisdom seems to be that it's dead easy to deposit money with poker sites, but devilishly hard to make withdrawals. Once the sites have your money, they don't want to let it go. But I've always figured that if I accumulate funds at a site, more than I need to play, then I'm better off to have it earning interest in my bank account than to have it earning interest for them. So a few months ago I decided I had more than enough in my 888poker account and should take some out. Almost immediately, the US government started fighting with itself, triggering a cash flow crisis and causing the US dollar to plummet in value against the New Zealand dollar. This strengthening of the $NZ might have been good for anyone planning an overseas trip, but it was bad news for me. So I figured I'd better wait for a bit, and when the $US reached the point of buying NZ$1.20, then I'd take my chances.
   I had previously made a sort of withdrawal from Fulltilt Poker, by transferring my funds to Pokerstars but it's not really the same thing. Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago one of my work-mates, who plays poker on Pokerstars, decided to make a withdrawal. Apparently it was a bit of a hassle and it took him more than a week of e-mailing back and forth before he finally got his money. Also, because I'd made my deposits using a Visa debit card, I wasn't sure how a withdrawal would work. I thought I might have to use Skrill or Neteller, or some other e-transaction site.
   In the end, here's what happened. I went to the 888poker cashier, selected withdrawal, and entered the amount. The cash money disappeared from my account almost immediately and the 'history' tab listed my withdrawal as 'processing'. A couple of days later it was listed as confirmed. I checked my bank account, but the money wasn't there. However it was the weekend so I waited until Monday and checked it again. The money was in my bank account. It turned out to be a painless, ridiculously easy process. So much for all the horror stories.

FRIDAY TOURNAMENT
   I've been playing regularly in the Friday night $20 tournament at the 'Workies' since early July. I started out with a hiss and a roar, making the top two twice, cashing several other times and often finishing in the top ten. But my results have dropped off a bit in recent weeks. In the last nine games I've cashed just once, and that was a 5th place money-back situation. In fact, in the last seven games five of my finishes have been between 10th and 14th. I seem to be specialising in finishing just outside the final table.
   After winning the previous 'ten week challenge', I decided to try and improve my game further by checking out some strategy websites. One of these was by 'Serial EPT Qualifier' Pierre Neuville on www.pokerlistings.com.  He advocates a strategy based on relative chip stack size. The idea is to stay at or above the average stack size by adjusting the amount of acceptable risk vs likely reward. Although this strategy is specifically aimed at online qualifying tournaments, I decided to give it a go and spent a few weeks constantly monitoring relative stack sizes and trying to keep above the average stack size.
   Then I came across a series of strategy lessons available on You Tube that seemed quite useful. These are by someone called 'Gripsed' and can be found by searching for 'poker tournament strategy' on You Tube. These are divided into different stages and, although I think the later stage videos are less applicable to the loose live game I'm playing in, the early stage advice seems to be much more useful. This strategy focuses more on actual stack size rather than relative stack size. The idea is to play tight in the early stages and look for opportunities to draw to a big hand in multi-way pots. Apart from that, there are different strategies outlined for different stack sizes. The essential message for the early stages is: don't panic, look for the right spots to make a move.
   So I've been more or less following this strategy for the last few weeks. Even though my results so far have been pretty poor, I intend to persevere and see where the"'Gripsed plan' takes me. It has occurred to me that deviating from the way that I was playing before may not be too clever. After all, I was winning when I first started playing this tourney. But I've been playing poker long enough to realise that my initial success could have been a lucky streak, just as my recent losses could be the result of an unlucky patch. I haven't been playing in these tourneys long enough to know one way or the other. There's also the fact that the number of entrants in these tourneys has been increasing. When I first started there was typically 18 to 25 players in the game. Now there is usually 30 to 40. That has to make some difference. So for now I'll be following my new strategy and when the series ends in a few weeks I'll review my progress and decide how to proceed when the tourneys start up again next year.
   I've also decided that I'll be playing primarily in online Texas Holdem tournaments during the summer period, so that will give me a chance to tinker with my playing style and hopefully find out what works for me. That's the theory anyway.