Raising Air

Not much to report from yesterdays poker after I played for a couple of hours last night and broke even.I dabbled back at the cash tables for a while before joining Juice for a couple of $16 turbs.In the first one I picked up the Nolan sisters ( QQ) very early on and after a raise and call before me,I shoved and faced 99 and AK ,with the Ace on the river sending me out.

I was 6th in the next one and came 3rd in the last one I played in.Actually the last one had an amusing moment when one of the better regulars ( A void in me) had pushed with q6 when it had folded to him and unfortunately for him, he was called by a better hand.Some muppet typed “q6?” in the chat as if a mistake had been made when in reality Mr Void was the short-stack,the blinds were high and it had been folded to him.I’d been lucky enough to get a couple of my fresh air steals through, but I was still tempted to write “q6?,yeah what a donk” in the chat to deflect from the fact I was playing in a similar way!

It was actually quite reassuring to see a solid regular push with nothing as doing so seems to be one of the secrets of winning in these games.It’s certainly better to shove with nothing while you still have fold equity, rather than wait and simply be blinded down.It was probably an ICM ( independent chip model) decision from Mr Void.

Although I’ve read some excellent ICM articles, ( see planet gong for more) I’m not a maths person at all and make most of my plays based on the situation,instinct and experience.Certainly on occasion I wish I did know ICM inside out as I’m left timing out on a crucial decision, but most of the time ( certainly at $16) I feel quite comfortable just applying the basic principles.

Tonights plan is maybe steal a wee ½ hour nap before playing in the raisetheriver league game at 9pm.I’m looking forward to a nice chilled out weekend.

Don’t forget Sunday is Bloggerment day on Stars and the tourney is now open for registration.It’s under the private tourney tab,password is donkament and it’s open to all bloggers and readers as always.( $5.50 entry fee)

Enjoy the weekend....

Live Game n donkey thoughts

Congrats to Jerry Yang on winning the main event at the 2007 WSOP and taking home $8.5m.

Meantime, I managed to come 2nd in a $6 ,18 player game after a few otm finishes.( out the money!)

Last night it was time to meet up with Dudley do-right and play some live poker baby!

We met up around 7.15pm just outside the Wabash poker club and what a thoroughly decent and easy to get on with bloke Mr Do-right turned out to be!Check out the links to Dudleys blog for a proper trip report.

We were hoping to enjoy a night of £5 sngs but it turned out that they were running a £22 freezeout ( no rebuys) with 10k chips to start and another 10k available as a free add on at any time.I managed to grab a quick spot of health food ( roll n burger in batter and a roll n chips) before we headed back for the 8pm start.

There were 19 starters and I never really made much of an impression to be honest.I laid down AJ after making a preflop raise and continuation bet ,only to face a reraise on a low board.

By the time I took my 10k add on I really needed it as the blinds were getting quite high.I was caught between raising and pushing to try and stay in the game and pushed successfully a couple of times.

I do recall losing with A10 to A6 and later getting lucky v Dudleys AJ when my A4 push spiked a 4.

I nearly pushed twice when folded to me, but the big stacked solid player on my left had put me off trying, as I had no fold equity against him.We were 5 or 6 handed for most of the game and I was in serious danger of being blinded away, so I pushed with K10 when folded to me ,only for the BB to call with A7 and knock me out in 9th,one off the final table.( almost an auto-call for him due to stack sizes)

I did enjoy the experience and after a nervous start I felt quite comfortable at my table.I didn't pick up any tells at all apart from sussing out that the girl on my right only stopped smiling when she had a hand.Sadly for her she stopped smiling altogether when her full house ran into dem quad biatches!

I played a little online when I got home and got to thinking about the old chestnut people come out with about wanting to move up to play with better players because the play is more predictable and there are less donkeys.In my opinion it's simply a matter of adjusting your game to suit your opponents.

I played a low level buyin table last night and raised 5bb with KK.It was called by four players at my 6 max table and I checked on a 5 5 3 flop and led out for £3 after an 8 on the turn also put a flush draw out there.One player called and another raised my bet to £9.With 4 players in preflop he could have had anything including the 5 so I laid down my cowboys and watched Mr 89 lose to Mr A5.

Now I could complain bitterly that donkeys called my 5bb raise with 89 off and A5 but they are quite entitled to play their cards as they see fit.The reply to this donkery play is simply to bet bigger next time preflop.It's like learning to drive where you learn the biting point of your clutch and how hard to press on the accelerator.

Having just written that, I can understand the frustration people feel "When donkeys attack", though often I think it's my own fault for failing to adjust properly.For example some donk called my raise in a $6 sng with 76off and then called my pot sized bluff in order to get lucky and hit their gutshot on the turn.At $16 level more players would have a)folded 67off preflop b) folded to such obvious "strength" post flop c) not used a ton of chips to chase like a drawing donkey

$6 sng's seem to require good cards more than $16's because people are willing to call you down with a lot less.The solution? Well it's a bit like the British way of speaking to foreigners on holiday when they don't understand what you're saying....just shout louder!

In poker terms this means betting bigger.Whilst a 2/3 pot size bet may deny drawing odds mathematically ,if you don't want the call or want to make sure Mr Donk really pays to outdraw you, then forget the maths and shout in his ear "I HAVE A BIG HAND YE MUPPET" by overbetting.Also learn to be happy to pick up blinds and a limpers cash with hands like AQ with bigger bets rather than being upset at getting no action.

Bigger bets also allow you to find out where you are a lot faster and save you losing money on later streets.Due to the fact the Britbloggerment game standards are higher than your average donkfest I'm trying to learn to tone my bet sizes down a bit as I clearly don't ( in most cases!)need to tell my story quite as loudly to get the message I want across.

Ok,that's more then enough for one day...