Enjoying this Tommy, keep it going and I'm sure it will be well worth the effort. Couple of questions, one poker, one random. What poker goals / aspirations have you got for the next 12 months? Favourite 3 movies of all time? Posted by jakally
Hey Jakally, thanks for the kind words.
Apart from the somewhat pithy but no less true answer to finally win a hand against you at the cash table, I'd have to say my real goal is to bring my standard at all formats of the game up together. It's been stated elsewhere but i really worked at my MTT game last year. Sadly I feel like a cartoon charecter on a rowing boat cast away on the high seas. The rowing boat has four holes in it but I only have three corks. Everytime I fix one leak another one pops up. My cash game has suffered from my focus on MTTs, there is no sense in denying it. I need to make serious adjustments, some pretty basic. Looking at the month so far I'm well ahead at NL100, beating but by no means crushing NL200 and getting spanked to the tune of 7 Buy ins at NL300. This is by no means a crisis but a healthy reminder to work hard, at least I'm pretty sure I know what I have to look at. I would like to fix this without my MTT game falling apart again.
Great Read, will defo be following: i also had near miss on stars storm 56/30k+ runners so frustrating when its very top heavy but still a bonus it was Due to the nature and swings of MTT's how many buy ins would you recommend? for a recreational player but wants to build there roll. If you had one bit of advice about tourneys what would it be? I also on sky Mains lately seem to be running deep but either bubble or min cash, partly due to bad beat but obviously there maybe errors, is there anything you think this could be down to? I usually get a stack and always go for the win Good luck mate! Posted by YOUNG_GUN
Hey YG, sorry this took a bit of time to get to.
MTT buy ins are a hard one to gauge. If you're only playing 5k+ runner events like the Bigs, the Biggers and specials like the Storms you probably need 300+ BIs. If I was only playing these as a recreational player I would seriously consider going to a budget rather than bankroll until the if/when of a big bink happened. They are just so swongy. For the more standard MTTs 1k-5k I would adjust this, probably look at 100-200 buy ins.
If we're talking Sky MTTs where the field sizes are generally even lower I would go to the very minimum of 75 average buy ins, however this would not be without risk.
If you just play turbos you probably can add at least 50% to the numbers, maybe double them.
One bit of advice? Pick a roadmap and know where on the map you are. If you are down to 20BB understand you are a reshove stack now and adjust you open and reshove range accordingly. If you got an early double understand that you can't win it now and that untempered bullying will just send you out, you are now in a great position to pick and choose where and when you want to play, a chance we don't always get in MTTs when the autopilot hands come.
To Ben and Nick, yes there is an argument for folding the turn, I obviously thought I was in trouble hence the river fold. I'd counter that by saying don't you think folding here makes us pretty exploitable? I mean, any decent player watching would scout that and think that for pretty much the minimum risk they can take me off all but the very narrowest of ranges here. Plus IMO there was a small chance I was ahead. Plus I still could catch another King, was surprised when that didn't happen, must have been a software error.
This Diary is EXACTLY what I think these Diaries should be like - a bit of everything - life, poker, hobbies, a really eclectic range.
Well presented, too, with paragraphs, line breaks, & punctuation, which might seem obvious or condescending, but many do not bother, & it makes them VERY hard to read, a badly presented wall of unpunctuated text makes eyes bleed. It takes just a little effort, but we write Diaries so that others will read them, & they are more likely to read them if they are well-presented. Just a fact of life. If anyone wants some help with this, just ask Tommy or I, we would both be delighted to help.
Most important of all, your Posts generate a lot of questions, & you answer every one - VERY important, that.
It is nothing to do with being a "big" player, not at all, big or small, a well-presented Diary makes a fun read, but there are some things that make them more-readable & durable, & this diary has the lot.
Incidentally Tommy, as you may know from here & elsewhere, unless I am actually forced to at gunpoint, I never, ever ever, Post, or even read Hand-Histories, I'd rather go to a Max Clifford Appreciation Society meeting in a dark & empty room. I have, in fact, never Posted a HH in my life, that I can recall, & I've been around poker forums a while. I only ever read them if I am forced to, too, life is too short, but many do like, & enjoy them.
However, I do think it is important to set in context James Atkin's comments last night. I have no plans to defend them, none at all, but I thought my role was to make him aware, via a mini profile, of your abilities & poker CV. After that, it was up to him to analyse things as he saw fit.
PS - fine fold with the A-K. I doubt many can make that fold. (A-K v 7-7, Board 10-7-10-A-K) Winning can sometimes be about folding.
Thanks Tommy, yeah i was mainly talking about sky MTT's
Good bit of advice aswell as i nearly always get a stack early on but think i go OTT on the aggression sometimes, within reason (would be my excuse lol).
WP hand 1, hand 2 is always a fold vs jibbz, maybe on turn or river idk id prob do the same as you.
Thanks for the lovely comments everyone, it's very much appreciated. I will be addressing everything that happened last night at some point today. Personally I think there are numerous interesting elements and I hope you do too, at least enough to get a good discussion going.
However as I said yesterday I want to look at the Daniel Negreanu Video Blog as it has caused a decent amount of commotion. Just to clear up one point, at no point do I think I am an authority on this subject and I'm sure Daniel, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson et al couldn't care less about my opinions on the topic, this is just a diary post to prompt decent discussion on the Sky Poker Forum regarding a relevant news story. Nothing more, nothing less.
I've watched the VBlog a few times now and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand Daniel is expressing views that to a certain extent most people feel towards those responsible for the Full Tilt poker debacle. I would have phrased it differently certainly, but if someone who has had thousands of dollars disappear on Full Tilt goes crazy and hurts those responsible I could understand why they had done it. I would never condone it and would hope the authorities would punish the person appropriately, I don't want it to happen but I would understand why it had happened.
On the other hand Daniel has rather painted himself in a corner with these comments. TV shows like Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker etc may never return, but if they did and somehow the likes Lederer and Ferguson appear on them, people who Daniel regard to be responsible for the Full Tilt mess (although for legal reasons I don't until they are proven to be in a Court of Law), then it's very difficult for Daniel to sit on the same table as them, laugh and joke with them without appearing to be completely hypocritical. I doubt Lederer will ever appear again on these kinds of shows but Ferguson is a possibility.
Also Daniel's comments are somewhat skewed with the well known feud between him and the Lederer siblings Howard and Annie Duke. Any opinion he has about Lederer and the Full Tilt mess is forever tainted with the fact that Daniel and Duke have had very public slanging matches. No matter how valid his opinion is on this matter, the perception of it will always be 'Daniel's only laying into him because they don't like each other, if it was someone else Daniel wouldn't be anywhere near as harsh.'
Daniel is in no way encouraging someone to bash Howard in the groin with a baseball bat. However he has to learn that he's a celebrity now, and celebrities have some exceptionally kooky fans. I don't expect it to happen but I wouldn't be shocked if a person of questionable mental stability actually tried to do this and claimed it was for Daniel. Daniel has to accept that while it makes no rational sense, his words on a subject can have more effect because of the cult of celebrity.
Well I've appear to gone 3-1 against Daniel in points so let's redress this a little with my final comment. It was asked on the 'Chat Box' show last night 'Who does this help?' How this helps is by keeping it in the public eye. I would have done it differently but the Full Tilt mess needs to stay in the poker community consciousness until those responsible are held to account (which in my opinion will be long after a deal is made for the players who are still after their money). So many times we as a community and our society as a whole get outraged and then forget. I cite the example of the Crossbow Cannibal.
Man kills women, eats their bodies, gets caught and at his very first hearing answers his name as 'The Crossbow Cannibal.' Nation outraged, 24hr news is all over it, everyone wants to see justice done. A couple of days later Derrick Bird goes on a gun rampage, murdering several people. A week or two after that Raul Moat kills a man, nearly kills two more and hides in a sewer for days. Thinking back, I was outraged by the Crossbow Cannibal, but for the life of me I have no idea if he's had a trial, if he's been sentenced or anything else about the case. Because it dropped out of public eye.
Now I'm not comparing the Full Tilt Suits to murderers, I'm merely saying that if this drops from public view, deals will be done, hands will shake and those who have caused grief and damage to a vast amount of people in our community will get off very lightly indeed. You may think this can never happen because of the enormity of the issue. You would be very surprised what you can forget about, especially when a deal between the players owed cash and the new FTP is done. And for keeping it in the public eye, albeit in a rather clumsy fashion, Daniel should be commended.
And to lighter things (for me at least, feel free to comment at any time on anything said previously, that's how it should be), FOOTBALL!!!!
After dropping several senior players last night, AVB's Chelsea lose the first leg of their Champions League Tie with Napoli 3-1. In other news Roman Abramovich is planning to build a holiday home for himself in the Chelsea Training ground. Probably.
I feel for AVB, the guy has been contracted to carry out a five year project. That was always going to be tricky but when most of the Senior players (who have arguably had a hand in the resignation/sacking in three of the previous four managers) know they are not likely to be part of this project, it is near impossible. Roman needs to invest. A lot. Although I think it's more likely that the only investment will be in the pay off for AVB.
To Ben and Nick, yes there is an argument for folding the turn, I obviously thought I was in trouble hence the river fold. I'd counter that by saying don't you think folding here makes us pretty exploitable? I mean, any decent player watching would scout that and think that for pretty much the minimum risk they can take me off all but the very narrowest of ranges here. Plus IMO there was a small chance I was ahead. Plus I still could catch another King, was surprised when that didn't happen, must have been a software error. Posted by TommyD
Against anyone who did something other than nut pedal yeah, its jibbz, he calls pre and on that flop with only different 4 hands.
Tommy, I've seen you say on the forum & 865 that you only play cash levels you are rolled for & are comfotable buying in for the maximum at the table (even when it's a 200/250xbb table)
Often though I see you playing maybe 60/70/80xbb stacks, having bought in for the max then lost a few pots............
On rare occasions you continue with stacks around 40/50xbb also....
Obviously it's not because you are underolled/uncomfortable, & it's not just a case of forgetting to top up because you continue to play on.....
Is there a reason why sometimes you don't top up your stack?
Nice start to the diary look forward to reading more. Just a quick question what is you favorite form of poker ie, NLHE, PLO, Cash, MTT etc Posted by hawk7112
Hawky!!!
Sorry this took me a bit, I need a system
My favourite form of poker is actually Limit Badugi Cash. It's not exactly a popular game but I love it because in this game more than any other you can use position both ways. You can bluff (what is called 'snowing' in this game and other lowball draw games) either side of the person or people you are playing, you just need to know how and who. To 'Snow' is to stand pat, or not draw a card, in an effort to make people break their marginal made hand thinking you now have them crushed.
For those that don't know, Badugi is a four card triple draw rainbow suit low ball game. Clear now?
Hey Tommy, Loving the diary....is well rounded. I think you could fold the AK on the turn as well but lets face it most of us aren't. What would you have done with just a Ten? Pray for spew/chop? Cheers, Tom Posted by rolfus
If I had something like JT/QT? Pray does indeed come to mind. Replay the action up until the min check raise and I hold JT. So blooming tough, I can see me spewing here. Jibbz is tight, however my image of him is not as tight as everyone else who has posted. I could well be the one who's wrong. Assuming I don't spew jam the turn which would be completely owning myself, I would be betting for value but I'm not sure what I'm getting value from. I think I can just fold the river. Or put him on T9 and stack off. Probably just stack off.
There was so much strength in the betting and speed I might, just might find a fold. Or spew.
Tommy, I've seen you say on the forum & 865 that you only play cash levels you are rolled for & are comfotable buying in for the maximum at the table (even when it's a 200/250xbb table) Often though I see you playing maybe 60/70/80xbb stacks, having bought in for the max then lost a few pots............ On rare occasions you continue with stacks around 40/50xbb also.... Obviously it's not because you are underolled/uncomfortable, & it's not just a case of forgetting to top up because you continue to play on..... Is there a reason why sometimes you don't top up your stack? Posted by DOHHHHHHH
Good question JJ. It's half laziness and half a safety valve.
The safety issue is I like to spend a few hands after a few bad pots considering if I was the fault for the mistake and if the loss has affected me. A decent time ago I used to go chasing for money as soon as I took a slap on the table which just compounded the misfortune, a form of lairy play tilt consumed me. A habit I got into was just taking a few hands before reloading, it's a usual practise in live play, you'll see people have a little steam after losing half of their stack and the smart ones relax for an orbit then call for chips. The not so smart would reload to the max and announce all in at some point in the next hand.
The laziness issue is if I continue to play with 40/50 BB for more than five minutes or so. I may be multi tabling a ton and as i record every penny i invest I may glance at the stack and think 'can't be bothered to top up yet, got to sort out the spreadsheet, change that, I've got X amount of other games rolling, I'll just get a cheap double and continue.' It's pretty -ev on the whole, although if you play short you can get either called wider or stacks in easier for that cheap double.
I'm never at a table where I am not comfortable to load to the max at any point.
Comments
Apart from the somewhat pithy but no less true answer to finally win a hand against you at the cash table, I'd have to say my real goal is to bring my standard at all formats of the game up together. It's been stated elsewhere but i really worked at my MTT game last year. Sadly I feel like a cartoon charecter on a rowing boat cast away on the high seas. The rowing boat has four holes in it but I only have three corks. Everytime I fix one leak another one pops up. My cash game has suffered from my focus on MTTs, there is no sense in denying it. I need to make serious adjustments, some pretty basic. Looking at the month so far I'm well ahead at NL100, beating but by no means crushing NL200 and getting spanked to the tune of 7 Buy ins at NL300. This is by no means a crisis but a healthy reminder to work hard, at least I'm pretty sure I know what I have to look at. I would like to fix this without my MTT game falling apart again.
The movie question is harder but I'd have to say:
The Hustler
Glory
The Verdict
MTT buy ins are a hard one to gauge. If you're only playing 5k+ runner events like the Bigs, the Biggers and specials like the Storms you probably need 300+ BIs. If I was only playing these as a recreational player I would seriously consider going to a budget rather than bankroll until the if/when of a big bink happened. They are just so swongy. For the more standard MTTs 1k-5k I would adjust this, probably look at 100-200 buy ins.
If we're talking Sky MTTs where the field sizes are generally even lower I would go to the very minimum of 75 average buy ins, however this would not be without risk.
If you just play turbos you probably can add at least 50% to the numbers, maybe double them.
One bit of advice? Pick a roadmap and know where on the map you are. If you are down to 20BB understand you are a reshove stack now and adjust you open and reshove range accordingly. If you got an early double understand that you can't win it now and that untempered bullying will just send you out, you are now in a great position to pick and choose where and when you want to play, a chance we don't always get in MTTs when the autopilot hands come.
To Ben and Nick, yes there is an argument for folding the turn, I obviously thought I was in trouble hence the river fold. I'd counter that by saying don't you think folding here makes us pretty exploitable? I mean, any decent player watching would scout that and think that for pretty much the minimum risk they can take me off all but the very narrowest of ranges here. Plus IMO there was a small chance I was ahead. Plus I still could catch another King, was surprised when that didn't happen, must have been a software error.
Stunning Diary-age Tommy, thank you.
This Diary is EXACTLY what I think these Diaries should be like - a bit of everything - life, poker, hobbies, a really eclectic range.
Well presented, too, with paragraphs, line breaks, & punctuation, which might seem obvious or condescending, but many do not bother, & it makes them VERY hard to read, a badly presented wall of unpunctuated text makes eyes bleed. It takes just a little effort, but we write Diaries so that others will read them, & they are more likely to read them if they are well-presented. Just a fact of life. If anyone wants some help with this, just ask Tommy or I, we would both be delighted to help.
Most important of all, your Posts generate a lot of questions, & you answer every one - VERY important, that.
It is nothing to do with being a "big" player, not at all, big or small, a well-presented Diary makes a fun read, but there are some things that make them more-readable & durable, & this diary has the lot.
Incidentally Tommy, as you may know from here & elsewhere, unless I am actually forced to at gunpoint, I never, ever ever, Post, or even read Hand-Histories, I'd rather go to a Max Clifford Appreciation Society meeting in a dark & empty room. I have, in fact, never Posted a HH in my life, that I can recall, & I've been around poker forums a while. I only ever read them if I am forced to, too, life is too short, but many do like, & enjoy them.
However, I do think it is important to set in context James Atkin's comments last night. I have no plans to defend them, none at all, but I thought my role was to make him aware, via a mini profile, of your abilities & poker CV. After that, it was up to him to analyse things as he saw fit.
PS - fine fold with the A-K. I doubt many can make that fold. (A-K v 7-7, Board 10-7-10-A-K) Winning can sometimes be about folding.
I think you could fold the AK on the turn as well but lets face it most of us aren't. What would you have done with just a Ten? Pray for spew/chop?
Cheers, Tom
However as I said yesterday I want to look at the Daniel Negreanu Video Blog as it has caused a decent amount of commotion. Just to clear up one point, at no point do I think I am an authority on this subject and I'm sure Daniel, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson et al couldn't care less about my opinions on the topic, this is just a diary post to prompt decent discussion on the Sky Poker Forum regarding a relevant news story. Nothing more, nothing less.
I've watched the VBlog a few times now and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand Daniel is expressing views that to a certain extent most people feel towards those responsible for the Full Tilt poker debacle. I would have phrased it differently certainly, but if someone who has had thousands of dollars disappear on Full Tilt goes crazy and hurts those responsible I could understand why they had done it. I would never condone it and would hope the authorities would punish the person appropriately, I don't want it to happen but I would understand why it had happened.
On the other hand Daniel has rather painted himself in a corner with these comments. TV shows like Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker etc may never return, but if they did and somehow the likes Lederer and Ferguson appear on them, people who Daniel regard to be responsible for the Full Tilt mess (although for legal reasons I don't until they are proven to be in a Court of Law), then it's very difficult for Daniel to sit on the same table as them, laugh and joke with them without appearing to be completely hypocritical. I doubt Lederer will ever appear again on these kinds of shows but Ferguson is a possibility.
Also Daniel's comments are somewhat skewed with the well known feud between him and the Lederer siblings Howard and Annie Duke. Any opinion he has about Lederer and the Full Tilt mess is forever tainted with the fact that Daniel and Duke have had very public slanging matches. No matter how valid his opinion is on this matter, the perception of it will always be 'Daniel's only laying into him because they don't like each other, if it was someone else Daniel wouldn't be anywhere near as harsh.'
Daniel is in no way encouraging someone to bash Howard in the groin with a baseball bat. However he has to learn that he's a celebrity now, and celebrities have some exceptionally kooky fans. I don't expect it to happen but I wouldn't be shocked if a person of questionable mental stability actually tried to do this and claimed it was for Daniel. Daniel has to accept that while it makes no rational sense, his words on a subject can have more effect because of the cult of celebrity.
Well I've appear to gone 3-1 against Daniel in points so let's redress this a little with my final comment. It was asked on the 'Chat Box' show last night 'Who does this help?' How this helps is by keeping it in the public eye. I would have done it differently but the Full Tilt mess needs to stay in the poker community consciousness until those responsible are held to account (which in my opinion will be long after a deal is made for the players who are still after their money). So many times we as a community and our society as a whole get outraged and then forget. I cite the example of the Crossbow Cannibal.
Man kills women, eats their bodies, gets caught and at his very first hearing answers his name as 'The Crossbow Cannibal.' Nation outraged, 24hr news is all over it, everyone wants to see justice done. A couple of days later Derrick Bird goes on a gun rampage, murdering several people. A week or two after that Raul Moat kills a man, nearly kills two more and hides in a sewer for days. Thinking back, I was outraged by the Crossbow Cannibal, but for the life of me I have no idea if he's had a trial, if he's been sentenced or anything else about the case. Because it dropped out of public eye.
Now I'm not comparing the Full Tilt Suits to murderers, I'm merely saying that if this drops from public view, deals will be done, hands will shake and those who have caused grief and damage to a vast amount of people in our community will get off very lightly indeed. You may think this can never happen because of the enormity of the issue. You would be very surprised what you can forget about, especially when a deal between the players owed cash and the new FTP is done. And for keeping it in the public eye, albeit in a rather clumsy fashion, Daniel should be commended.
Pretty much agree with a lot of that, Tommy.
A difficult subject, this.
As I have reiterated numerous times, I hold Daniel in high professional regard, I can barely think of a better Site Pro, he is awesome.
However, I think his tone was out of line, & wrong. And yes, his long running feud with Annie & Howard is in there somewhere.
After dropping several senior players last night, AVB's Chelsea lose the first leg of their Champions League Tie with Napoli 3-1. In other news Roman Abramovich is planning to build a holiday home for himself in the Chelsea Training ground. Probably.
I feel for AVB, the guy has been contracted to carry out a five year project. That was always going to be tricky but when most of the Senior players (who have arguably had a hand in the resignation/sacking in three of the previous four managers) know they are not likely to be part of this project, it is near impossible. Roman needs to invest. A lot. Although I think it's more likely that the only investment will be in the pay off for AVB.
Hi Mum!
Sorry this took me a bit, I need a system
My favourite form of poker is actually Limit Badugi Cash. It's not exactly a popular game but I love it because in this game more than any other you can use position both ways. You can bluff (what is called 'snowing' in this game and other lowball draw games) either side of the person or people you are playing, you just need to know how and who. To 'Snow' is to stand pat, or not draw a card, in an effort to make people break their marginal made hand thinking you now have them crushed.
For those that don't know, Badugi is a four card triple draw rainbow suit low ball game. Clear now?
There was so much strength in the betting and speed I might, just might find a fold. Or spew.
The safety issue is I like to spend a few hands after a few bad pots considering if I was the fault for the mistake and if the loss has affected me. A decent time ago I used to go chasing for money as soon as I took a slap on the table which just compounded the misfortune, a form of lairy play tilt consumed me. A habit I got into was just taking a few hands before reloading, it's a usual practise in live play, you'll see people have a little steam after losing half of their stack and the smart ones relax for an orbit then call for chips. The not so smart would reload to the max and announce all in at some point in the next hand.
The laziness issue is if I continue to play with 40/50 BB for more than five minutes or so. I may be multi tabling a ton and as i record every penny i invest I may glance at the stack and think 'can't be bothered to top up yet, got to sort out the spreadsheet, change that, I've got X amount of other games rolling, I'll just get a cheap double and continue.' It's pretty -ev on the whole, although if you play short you can get either called wider or stacks in easier for that cheap double.
I'm never at a table where I am not comfortable to load to the max at any point.
Just thought i would post so people can see what you mean regarding your OP