DadsPokerBlog » Uncategorized

Please “Help Put a Bad Beat On Cancer”

steve — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:17:21 +0000

: Image by larrykang via Flickr

Help Put a Bad Beat on Cancer!
On February 21st, 2010 the Twitter Poker Tour is teaming up with Bad Beat on Cancer to raise money to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Join the TPT and a host of Full Tilt Red Pro’s starting at 6PM ET on Sunday the 21st to raise money and awareness for cancer prevention!

For more information visit the Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Event page.

This is a great event and a chance for you to pick up some great prizes and help a great cause at the same time!

One step closer to the “WPT Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond Poker Classic”

steve — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:00:46 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

I mentioned in my last post that DoylesRoom.Com currently has a promotion going, “WPT Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond Poker Classic”, in which you play for the chance to win a first class Vegas Experience worth $17,000.00 and a chance to win a seat at the final table of a WPT event. You can buy in directly to the event or try to win a satellite game.

There are ten steps that you can move up the ladder in order to win the grand prize. Level 1 costs .22c, level 2 is .62c, level 3 is $1.82, and all the way up to level 10, which costs $3,750.00 to buy in. But if you are lucky enough to win at each level, you could turn .22c into a $17,000.00 package.

My first few attempts to climb the steps to a higher level were filled with some frustration as many of the players in the starting steps would go all in with just about any hand they had. Although I had not seen anyone with a 7 2 suited going all in, I would not have been surprised.

Last night I successfully finished step 2 and entered into step 3. While I had won my buy in for step three, you could just play the $1.82 plus .18c fee or $2.00 and buy in directly instead of winning an entry through a satellite. The format for these games is a single table sit n go, with blinds and antes increasing every ten minutes.The players are given a starting stack of 1,500 chips. Nine players compete for five available prizes. These are two tickets to the next step, 4, two tickets to the current level 3 and a ticket back to step 2.

This game was played far better that the previous steps I had been involved in. For the most part, the players were tighter and slightly more aggressive. This step lasted almost 1 1/2 hours with no breaks. There were 92 hands played, and I won in 18 of them. I folded 63 hands either pre-flop or post flop if I was in the big blind. By playing tight yet aggressive and by attempting just a few steals, I finished in second place and won an entry to step 4, which is worth $5.85. I am looking forward to playing the next level and writing about it as well.

Do you play satellites to enter larger tourneys? Do you buy in at a higher level to avoid the challenges of the lower levels? Have you ever played in a WPT tourney?

Results of playing on a RailBird.com Freeroll

steve — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:46:00 +0000

: Image by popofatticus via Flickr

Last night I decided to enter one of the RailBird.Com freerolls that are offered many times throughout the month. As the name implies, there is no cost to enter the event. And the prize pool was $150 to be divided up amongst the top 108 players. The best paid are the top five ranging from 33.95 for the top finisher and 9.98 for fifth place. At the bottom end of 20th and under to 108, you get about a half dollar for your efforts.

Out of the 1122 starting players, I finished 33rd and earned .48 for my three hours of playing. While winning would have been nice, I played this freeroll to get experience in playing in a large group at a low expense. While you might think that a freeroll would be full of bad players, playing any two cards, many of the Railbird players are quite good and play to make their way up in the monthly and annual ranking on RailBirds.Com.

Once we passed the bubble at 108, the players started to be more aggressive, trying to accumulate the chips needed to finish in the top position. The blinds and antes were high enough so that there was about 3,800 in chips before betting even began. It would be worth trying to steal the blinds and antes as often as possible with any reasonable draw.

I saw my opportunity when I was dealt AK off suit and three players folded before play got to me. I raised for about 1/3 of my 25,000 chip stack (the average was about 50,000) and got two players to fold before the small blind called me. The big blind raised enough to put both myself and the smal blind all in.

I was feeling pretty good when I saw the small blind turn over an AK unsuited, same hand as my own. But the big blind had pocket Kings, KK. The only good news was that there were no more kings for the big blind to catch. The bad news was that there were only two aces left for me and the small blind. As fate would have it neither of us saw an ace on the flop and we did not get a miracle QJT for a straight so we were both out of the tourney.

What risks would you take to win a tourney? Would you be satisfied to just cash out? How would have played this hand?

Two TPT events – cashed in one

steve — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:01:36 +0000

: Image by horde.lt via Flickr

Yesterday I played in both the Twitter Poker Tour European event at 7pm CST and the regular TPT at 9pm ET. I finished 2nd and cashed in the TPTE and I finished 16th out of 34 in the TPT.

I think I played well for the most part, especially in the first event. I had a problem dealing with an aggressive player who always entered a pot with a bet of at least 8 to 10 big blinds. I know from experience that most of the time he just has a drawing hand such as K 9 or 7 8 or even small pocket pairs. As a rule, he enters a pot about 50% of the time. This means that when I am in the big blind or small blind I am sometimes in a position where I have to fold unless I am willing to risk more chips or my stack to challenge him. I have re-raised him and seen him fold. I have also seen him shove all in as a response. So when I do challenge him, I really like to have some kind of a made hand or a strong draw. He actually went from first place to last place and finally back to first place in the TPTE. We went heads up but he had a 4 to 1 chip advantage that I was unable to overcome. During the game he was at my left, two persons over. So I had to have a good hand to enter a pot in the event that he came out firing.

This was true in the evening event as well. He was at my immediate left. But he was not a problem as he went out on the second hand going all in with a pair of nines and ended up being called by a pair of kings by someone else. I thought that I might have an easier time but this was not to be the case as three others to my left played in a similar style. I had the chip leader to my right putting in bets at least 5 to 10 times the big blinds. You had to have a premium hand or great draw to challenge him as well. I was able to win a few small pots by betting at least 6 big blinds. I won some good sized pots when I was allowed to limp in with small pocket pairs. The flop gave me three of a kind or a full house. But I stayed at or below average for most of the evening. I was at a low point with less than 7 big bets left in my stack when I went all in with pocket twos that did not hold up against an A 10 unsuited. In the second game, I was unable to deal with the aggressive players to my right and to my left. I felt like I was surrounded. I did not let them completely dominate me as I did shove all in a couple of times against their raises and had them fold.

I would say that my current style of tourney play is tight and passive and that I need to step it up to tight and aggressive if I intend to win an event.

What is your style of play? Do you play aggressive even if you don’t have the cards to back it up? What happens when you get caught with a weak hand that you played aggressively? Do you vary your style enough so that your opponents don’t know what you are doing?

Poker Players Alliance – A poker advocacy group

steve — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:16:27 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

The Poker Player Alliance (PPA), is considered to be the largest and most effective of all the poker advocacy groups in America. The following paragraph about the PPA is from their “about page” and says what they are about:

“The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is a non-profit membership organization comprised of online and offline poker players. Our membership consists of enthusiasts from around the United States who have joined together to speak with one voice to promote the game and protect the right to play poker in all its forms.”

I talked about the PPA in a previous post but felt that it was worth mentioning them again this “Labor Day” for all the labor they put forth in support of legalizing poker in the Unites States.

There are many ways that we can help out their cause. One is by donating our time to them. They hold rallies across the country and need support at those events. Joining them at the rallies would be very much appreciated. Another way to help them is by contacting the President of the United States as well as the Senators and Congressional Representatives of your state and telling them to support legalized poker in the U.S. There are forms at the PPA site that make that effort quite easy. Click “here to get to the forms”.

There is also a resource that allows you to find information about your own state and who to contact expressing your support for poker. Check out by clicking here!

Lastly, another way to help the cause is to donate cash to help pay for the costs of running their organization. Click here to donate. I became a paid contributor in 2007 and I am taking the time today to renew my membership with the Poker Player Alliance.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day!

Poker Resources – there are lots of them out there

steve — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:09:56 +0000

: Image by limowreck666 via Flickr

If you have a passion for poker and are always looking to learn more and experience more, there are many ways you can accomplish that goal at little or no cost. There are also other more pricier ways as well.

The low or npcost methods to help you learn the game can be found by joining poker groups, blogs and other online memberships that are free for the asking.

Three of the groups that I belong to are: Railbirds.com, Twitter Poker Tour TPT), and American Poker Players (APP). These are all free memberships that can provide you with a lot of valuable information as well as access to online games. Railbird.com offers online freerolls; the TPT offers entry in low buy in online tourneys, APP offers online tourneys and also lets you know about local games held in their local area.

Each group is different and has a different flavor of what they have to offer but all three flourish because of a common interest in promoting poker and helping players develop their game by use of their online blogs and discussion groups. Members can post their questions and topics and get feedback. Some of the feedback may have to be taken with a grain of salt as the experience levels of the larger groups vary from complete novice to semi-professional and professional.

Many of the poker book publishers also have user forums and blogs ads well. You will find that the major online poker sites have web sites filled with information on how to play the game and some basic strategy on how to go about it. Some of the major professional players also blog and some even offer advice on how to play.

I believe that this community of poker players in the United States that can help make your poker experience more enjoyable.

Do you belong to a poker group or community? Do you find that belonging adds to your poker experience? Do you have a favorite group that you can recommend?

Woe is me

steve — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:40:55 +0000

: Image by dotbenjamin via Flickr

I have been stuck of late and this week I was not feeling up to par. But still, I was looking forward to playing on Full Tilt Poker at the Twitter Poker Tour. Both events are No Limit Hold ‘Em and the entry fee is 5.00 + 1.00. We each get 3,000 chips as it is a double stacked tourney.

While playing reasonably tight at the TPTE, I busted out of the first tourney in forth place, at the bubble. There were only six players in that event. I guess that I was not tight enough.

The second event started at 9pm ET. Again, my goal was to play tight and finish in the money. Once more that somehow translated into 28th place out of 34 entrants.

Sometimes, I guess that planning and executing that plan does not always work out.

I thought that I was focused but somewhere along the line I made bad decisions or bad things happened to me. I do remember putting in almost all of my chips, thinking my opponent could not beat my pair of jacks. I did not see the possible flush on the board. He hit his flush, King high. Oops.

I guess that even though I was feeling better, I really wasn’t up to playing at my best.

How do you know that you are up to playing in a game or a tourney? Can you tell if you are at full strength and are fully alert? Or do you give yourself more time off to get better?

Now a New York Times Bestseller ….

steve — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:49:05 +0000

How often can a “dad” announce that his son has co-authored a book that became a “NYT Bestseller” in just three days of being officially released?

I really don’t know the actual answer to that but in my case, Chris Brogan’s new book, “Trust Agents” by Chris and Julien Smith has become a best seller in a short period of time.

How did this happen? Was it just circumstance?

No. It was thinking, planning and execution.

Who is the book written for? It really is written for everyone in all walks of life. It was written for companies and corporations, it was written for social media types, bloggers and twitterers. Even for moms and dads like us.

Chris recently gave an advance copy to his mother, my wife, Diane. Initially, she started reading it out of obligation. That is what good moms and dads do. Then all of a sudden out comes her highlighter and she says, “wow, this is a very good book and I understand most of what he is saying”. She also apologizes to me that she is marking up the book as she reads it.

She has just finished it and now it is my turn to read it and learn from it.

Thanks to all of you out there that helped make this happen.

Poker Hand Nicknames

steve — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:21:12 +0000

: Image by ghbrett via Flickr

In the world of poker, certain card combinations have been given names as the result of common usage or the personalities involved with the hand. There are even some superstitions that follow the hands in some cases. Perhaps the oldest is named the “Dead Man’s hand”, which was a pair of aces and eights dealt to Wyatt Earp just before his death. He was shot by his opponent who thought that Wyatt had cheated him. More recently Doyle Brunson has had a hand named after him, the ace queen was called a “Doyle Brunson” right up to the W.S.O.P. of 1976, when the name became associated with a ten deuce combination that won him the W.S.O.P championship which he repeated the next year winning it all again with the same hand, a ten deuce. Other hands that have names are ace king aka “Big Slick”, a pair of jacks are known as “Fish Hooks”, and the name “ducks” refer to a pair of twos or deuces.

As the result of playing in the “Twitter Poker Tour”, we have come up with a new name for a pair of queens. According to most poker circles a pair of queens are referred to as “Ladies” But for players of the TPT (Twitter Poker Tour” they were originally called “fleapids” in honor of Paul Ellis’s twitter name, “@fleapid” (this was later changed to @CoolWhipFlea). He would get pocket queens and would eventually go all-in with that hand only to lose. In fact it seemed that he would lose almost 99% of the time whenever he got a pair of pocket queens. He eventually changed the name from “fleapids” to “#fleapowder”. Now, whenever we see that hand being played almost all of us will type on the chat window “#fleapowder” if that hand loses. We might even say that we folded #fleapowder and most of the group will know just what we are talking about.

Do you have names for your special card combinations? Are you superstitious about getting certain combinations of cards? Are you even superstitious at all?

Guest Post – using comments by Paul Ellis of Pablosplace.com

steve — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:35:55 +0000

: Image by dno1967 via Flickr

On July 14, I wrote a post about “When to Move to the Next Level”. My twitter poker tour friend, Paul Ellis AKA @CoolWhipFlea of PablosPlace.com wrote a great comment. Here it is in its entirety. Thank you Paul.

————————————–

……. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Remember when Patrick Sebastian challenged us to the 10 to 250 challenge? It was somewhat of a wake up call for me about bankroll management. With respect to online play, I’ve basically been unable to play at the levels necessary to exercise proper bankroll management techniques and play the games that I wanted to play. For example, a $50 initial deposit is too little to play the TPT which is a $5 buy in event. Risking 10% of your bankroll on a single buy in is just well above what you should be doing. So I created a separate Full Tilt account for the sole purpose of the challenge, and have stuck to the bankroll management techniques recommended by Chris Ferguson in his $0 to $10k challenge. It’s been a real grind, but I’ve been able to move up in levels twice, and have run my bankroll from $10 to just about $100. I’m still a long way away from the $250 goal, but I’ve been steadily increasing the bankroll, and only moving up in payscale when my bankroll tells me that I’ve been running positive enough to take the risk. But here’s the more important thing, when I went through a rut, I moved down a level. I feel that it was VERY important to realize that when I wasn’t winning at the higher level, instead of jepordizing my bankroll on players that had a likely higher bankroll (especially since they now had my money ), that I needed to eat a slice of humble pie, stand up, and move to another table with lower limits. I think that this is the mark of a good player. Being able to recognize limits that are acceptable to play within so that you’re comfortable if you do lose. This is a game of skill, but it also has an element of chance/luck. And sometimes, the cards just don’t fall your way. When you’re on the one of the down swings, you have to know what you’re comfortable losing, and not jeopardize your entire bankroll with the swing. Moving up for me is just a simple matter of mathematics. If you’ve got the cash, you can take a swing at the bigger stakes for a percentage of your bankroll that you’re comfortable losing. But when you don’t have it, stay disciplined, and within the ranges that you’re comfortable playing at.

——————————————