I Call Mofo! ( + stats)

Apologies for yesterdays whiney woolly post.I should have listened to my Mum who says that if you don't have anything good to say,don't say anything at all!

I spent part of yesterday afternoon learning that ICM isn't an abbreviation for my post title but actually stands for Independent Chip Model and is a maths based method of deducting if a call/push at a sng has a positive or negative effect on overall tournament equity.I'd looked at it before, however this was the first time it really seemed to sink in a bit.Between that and reading Jennifears ( shark at $16 turbo level on Stars) breakdown of a tourney she played and the follow up destruction of her post by a 2+2'r and I realised just how much I have still to learn.( a ton!)

I'm not a maths guy at all and can only hope that my feel and intution lead me to make the right ICM moves more often than not.I did learn that it's not really practical to do ICM calculations during hands and it's more of a tool to be used to go back over hands and work out if the best move was made.This is unlike basic tools like Poker indicator and Sharkscope which I use to help me put players on pushing/calling ranges.

I did find it amusing to note on one article that the author dismissed us one tablers as recreational players.I became rather annoyed at that until I realised it was true!I think it was the implication that one table hobby players are just playing for entertainment.Sure,at $2 per game profit I can hardly claim to be semi-pro but I can assure such posters that while I'm no ICM genius ,I put in enough effort to not be overly bothered about playing with a 12 tabling "pro" tighty push or fold merchant!.


I did pick up one quote from a chap called Kajun on a Pocket fives post which I found interesting.He wrote " You also see alot of people isolating against an all in shortstack player with Ace rag. It's like wtf".

I made exactly that move in an sng and felt I'd played it well! The shortstacked player had just lost a big hand and pushed around 400 in chips on the next hand.I made a large reraise with A7 and beat the shorties 47o/s to win the pot.I had a tight image and didn't feel I would get any other callers unless I ran into a monster.I was going to ask if anyone out there had an idea why Kajun would question my type of play.I think the reasons are that a)I risk the risk of running into a better hand from any of the other players still to act and b)with A7 v 74 I totally dominated but if the villain had 64 then I'd only be slightly over 60/40% favourite and would lose too much overall tournement equity by playing this way.Any other suggestions welcome!

It all sounds very complicated and in some respects it is ( to me anyway!).I think the basic premise seems to be to simply enforce the old adage that the difference between what you can call with and what you can raise with is often huge and to reconsider making calls near/on the bubble when moving up one place can make a big difference to roi ( return on investment)over the longer term.

To the poker and I began by winning a wee 18 player $1.75 turbo I only entered because I thought my Mum was joining the same one.I came 9th in my first $16 game of the night and won the next one after taking the lead quite early and never looking back.

The cash tables beckoned and I had another decent night at Party and then Ladbrokes 6 max tables.I was even lucky enough to join a $100 nl 6 max table at Laddies and win a buy-in with AA v KK after only a few hands.It was a close call though because I'd bet out 5bb preflop and decided to flat call the villains raise to $10 instead of trying to get the money in at that point.I've been learning that slowplaying can be a bad idea not because it always lets the villain catch up or overtake in the hand but because a scare card ( villain has KK for example and flop comes low,I hit a set and check,the turn brings an Ace and action dries up) can halt the action.

Anyway the flop came Q J 3 and he pushed all in.With his action preflop a set of Queens or Jacks seemed possible and although I knew the table was loose ( highest average pot of all open $100 nl tables) I ended up reasoning that with a hand as strong as a set he wouldn't go all in and I made the call hoping he was on an KK,AQ,AJ,A10 type hand.

It was certainly a nice way to end my night!

Ok,don't forget to register for tonights Britblogger game on 'Stars at 9pm bst.Password is Donkament and it can be found under the "Private" tab.

There are eight in already including the current PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker winner,Daleroxxu!!( a fellow Scot) Be careful out there as this lad can play a bit! Are you up to the challenge?

Ok,here are my latest bankroll stats. Pokerstars $175,Party $859,Ladbrokes $1358,Full Tilt $1287,Pokerroom $567. Total $4246 ( + $362 since 13/5 )