Poker and Wall Street

Thanks to the team at Poker News, I came across this rather interesting article about how Wall Street is actively searching for poker players to join them in the markets. Great to see the skill-sets acquired in poker being recognised by other industries.

Why Wall Street Is Recruiting Poker Players | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice
Since the 1980’s, Wall Street has offered some of the most highly coveted jobs in the country. And historically, there have been only three ways to get in: knowing an insider, having a top-flight degree or serious business experience. Increasingly, though, Wall Street firms are looking for employees with different qualifications: specifically, poker skills. Unlike connections or degrees (which are seldom predictive of job performance), poker skills demonstrate an authentic ability to think and act intelligently under pressure.

Historical Parallels

In a May 16, 2010 article, the Los Angeles Times revealed the aggressiveness with which Wall Street is pursuing poker experts. Danon Robinson, a partner at Toro Trading, was quoted saying that “if someone’s been successful at poker then there’s a good chance they could be successful in this business.” In fact, Robinson said, lack of interest in poker was “a red flag” and “almost the equivalent of not reading the Wall Street Journal.” Hedge fund executive Aaron Brown, meanwhile, said that Wall Street trading requires a steely maturity in the face of risk that is difficult to acquire “unless you put the money on the table at some point in your life.” Rich Blake described a similar intangible in a 2007 ABC News article when he spoke of a “penchant for risk-taking and a dispassionate regard for large sums of money.”

Today’s traders are not the first to spot parallels between gambling skills and trading instincts. In the 1989 classic Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis introduces readers to Howie Rubin. Rubin, bored with being a chemical engineer, taught himself to count cards and parlayed $3,000 into $80,000 over the course of two years in Las Vegas. Using his skill in blackjack (which is among the few “non-independent outcome games” in the casino), Rubin became a star trader in Salomon Brothers’ mortgage trading department. According to Rubin, “the trading floor at Salomon Brothers felt like a casino “because it required making bets and handling risk “in the midst of a thousand distractions.”

Poker-Themed Training Programs

Some Wall Street firms are going so far as to make poker an integral part of their training programs. Susquehanna International Group, based in Philadelphia, actually issues poker texts such as Hold ‘Em Poker and The Theory of Poker as mandatory reading. The former, described as the “first definitive work on hold’em poker”, was published in 1976 and aims to educate beginners on the basics of the game. Topics covered include the importance of position, key “flops,” semi-bluffing, strategies before the flop, the free card and how to read hands. The Theory of Poker, meanwhile, is a more sophisticated and intellectual treatment of poker fundamentals. Written by poker pro David Sklansky, the book “discusses theories and concepts applicable to nearly every variation” of poker. The value of deception, psychology, heads up play, implied odds and even game theory are thoroughly covered from the standpoint of an aspiring poker player. Additionally, readers are introduced to the Fundamental Theorem of Poker and how it affects game play.

After digesting these books, new hires at Susquehanna are asked to spend a full day each week absorbing poker concepts – by actually playing the game competitively. When asked about the rationale for this unorthodox training approach, program director Pat McCauley said “we are trying to teach people how to be good decision-makers under uncertainty.” That said, the poker-based training at Susquehanna is not just footloose and fancy-free fun and games. Rather, the training program and its poker games are run in a methodical and systematic manner. “It’s not the stereotypical stuff with bluffing”, McCauley insists – “it’s real science”

Poker On The Rise

Luckily for Wall Street, poker’s popularity appears to be soaring. On March 28, Poker News Team reported that the TV show High Stakes Poker had seen a dramatic rise in ratings, including a 27% jump among adults 18-49 years old. Ratings among men aged 25-54 (said to be the target audience of the show) are said to have risen by 25%. The Los Angeles Times (citing research from PokerAnalytics) revealed that 6.8 million people played “at least one hand of online poker for money” in 2009 – a 29% increase over 2008 and roughly three times 2005’s poker participation. From the standpoint of Wall Street’s investment houses, the surge in poker’s popularity represents a growing crop of future hires who are both comfortable placing large “bets” and undeterred by occasional losses.

Furthermore, Wall Street offers an opportunity that few hardcore poker junkies can resist – higher stakes and upside. A professional trader routinely makes trades worth several million dollars each. Make more good trades than bad, and you’ll be rewarded with a lucrative year-end bonus. At any rate, it appears that Wall Street’s once-impenetrable barrier of connections, degrees and business experience is crumbling on the altar of raw poker ability.

The Poker Star finale

I was at trivia on Wednesday night when the finale of The Poker Star was on One HD plus I hadn't watched episode 7 yet. As the day was winding down today I was doing some invoicing and decided to catch up on the show.

By far the funniest part of episode 7 was the challenge:


The look on Josh's face when Joe tells him he needs to go back across the plank is just priceless!

I was a little disappointed to see Ben go because I thought he deserved to get to the top 3. Unfortunately for him he choked, defending his big blind and then folding when he was just out-kicked. Anyone who's played a bit of poker would know that with the ace and an 8 already on the board it was most likely going to be a split-pot. That slip-up cost him his spot in the final week and I'm sure he's regretting it now.

The interview challenge was entertaining watching the players stumble under the pressure of the questions. Clearly Josh froze but the others didn't do too much better. It was great to see PokerStars Team Australia get added to the tournament to mix things up. Everyone knew Chris's suckout was coming in the first hand. Sure, Emad could have been raising light, but first hand of the tournament you'd imagine his range was jacks or better pairs or ace-queen, ace-king. Chris was racing at best, behind a lot of the time ... but went all-in with ace queen and took the risk of getting knocked out first hand.

I was a little surprised Amanda became the Poker Star. I thought Josh was the one most likely but I think he failed to show the charisma and personality that Joe was looking for. His reputation as The Robot cost him dearly. Chris was just too aggressive and even tho most of the tournaments were short-handed, he needed to pick better spots and be more patient.

Amanda did very well to make it to the final and obviously win the ultimate prize. She really struggled with some of the more fearful challenges but showed a lot of heart and courage to get through them. It'll now be interesting to see how she does in the big tournaments.

No poker ...

I've put a self-imposed poker ban in place for the next few days. I just looked at OPR and it looks like I've played online for the last 10 days straight.

I feel like I need a break, just to get my head straight and come back fresh. I'm questioning the way I play, I'm getting sucked out on by ridiculous cards and I think it was getting to me. I need to get more sleep, I need to eat right and continue getting to the gym.

So I'm not going to play for the next few days. Tonight I went to the DVD store and grabbed a few movies. Angels & Demons, Little Miss Sunshine & Notorious. I'll let you know what I think next time.

Before I wrap up, congratulations to Assassinato for the most ridiculous week he's just had. Kid (no offence) has had scores of $8000, $6500 and yesterday took 4th in one of the Sunday majors on PokerStars for $36,000. It was a very quiet day at work so I railed him for the last hour or so and he was chipleader for most of it. He slid down the leaderboard but continually fought his way back. Good going Alex, great stuff!!

Tiffany Michelle & Maria Ho - Amazing Race

I just finished watching Amazing Race season 14 last night (yes, we're a little behind here in Australia) and today thanks to Twitter, found out that professional poker players Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho are teaming up in season 15 of the show.

Here's their introduction and the new season kicks off on Sunday in the US (probably at least a month later down here):

Status: Still sinking

Well, I really hoped to stop the poker rot last night but it didn't happen.

I played 24 tournaments last night on PokerStars and only cashed in ONE, the last one of the night.

Yes, I picked a couple of bad spots but I also ran in to some very unlucky situations. Overall tho, maybe I just wasn't being aggressive enough. I tend to play tight early and hope to chip up on the back of someone paying me off when I have a strong hand. Its in the middle and later stages of a tournament that I think needs the most work for me. I can go card dead and probably need to be raising more often, stealing more blinds, etc.

I had so many bubbles last night it was ridiculous! In the $3 45 man games, I had 2 final tables without cashing (top 7 get paid) and 6 other times I got knocked out inside the top 14. In the $2 180 man games, three times I got knocked out inside the top 24 (top 18 get paid). Sooo frustrating.

Thankfully my last game of the night and only cash was a second place in a $3 45 man. Going in to heads up the other guy has a massive chip lead as he just took out the other big stack. I get pocket aces in the big blind, he limps in and I know he's not folding because of his lead so I just minraise knowing that I'm pushing all-in on any flop. Flop comes king 2 7 so I go all-in and he calls because he's got king 2 suited and its over first hand.

So yes, I'm being tested right now and hopefully the lesson that I need to take from this is that I need to open up a bit more in the middle and late stages of the games. I'm out for dinner with a friend tonight but might get a chance to play after that.

2M2MM

I read a while back on one of the blogs I sometimes look at about an upcoming poker show called Two Months Two Million or 2M2MM. Its essentially a reality show about 4 young top online poker players and their challenge to win two million dollars in two months basing themselves in Vegas.

While on the Two Plus Two forums the other day I read that the show had started and there were a couple of threads of people discussing and reviewing the show. When I first read the comments the links to the show on YouTube had been disabled but I found some today that work.

Some of the negative comments about the show is that airs in 30 minute episodes including ads so its too short. Watching them on YouTube without episodes and back to back episodes took that complaint out of the equation for me. Check them out below and see what you think.

Weekly update

I'm sitting at my parent's house watching a British documentary called "Stephen Fry in America". Dad was keen to watch it and its been surprisingly entertaining. Fry is basically doing a tour around the US in a London cab and tonight's episode is focussing on New England. There's not much on TV on a Sunday night so I might find myself watching it over the next few weeks. The other option is Australian Idol which we watched a bit of earlier. The early episodes are the most entertaining as you have the extremes ... the good ones that stand out from the really terrible.

So yes, a quiet end to the weekend but not a total surprise after today. I spent the day moving not only my unit but the office to my new place in Morningside, just around the corner from my unit. It'll be interesting to go back to a home office again after having the separation from work over the last few years. The move wasn't fun ... the new place has 4 flights of stairs so even the removalists were struggling by the end of it. They were here for over 4 hours today, 2/3 of that spent unloading at the new unit and trying to get everything up the stairwell.

Anyway ... on to poker. I probably should have spent most of yesterday packing and getting organised but of course I didn't, I was instead playing online at PokerStars. Its been a swingy kind of week to say the least. After a solid, consistent last month or so and after seeing my game develop and grow, I've now started playing the next level of tournaments. Sure, its still micro but its a bit of a jump from the $1 level. The step I've taken is to the $3.25 45 man turbo tournaments and I've played plenty of them this week.

The $3.25 games didn't get off to a flying start for me as I bubbled a LOT of them early. I didn't think it was because I was playing badly or even too conservatively, I just felt like I was getting quite unlucky in the wrong spots. After the first few days I was breaking even in them but had a couple of days where I didn't do well, hardly cashing at all and even when I did they were min-cashes. I eventually started getting a little deeper and yesterday broke through for my first win, as well as a second and a fourth. I'm still playing a number of the $1 tournaments and did take down one of them yesterday too.

My bankroll has been fairly swingy this week, starting at $410 I've been down under $380 several times and up over $430 a few times, I think I'm currently sitting just over $420. I guess I'm going to need to get used to that as I start moving up from the $1 games. My ROI this month isn't great at just 9% but I'm still slightly in profit. My 90 - 180 games is in the red at the moment so I'd like to fix that in the next week or two ... it doesn't look good to me on OPR if I'm unprofitable in some games.

So the week ahead ... plenty more of the $3.25 games, I'll probably see what other options there are above the $1 level, start mixing in some of the $2 games and see how I go with those again. I'd like to improve my profit and my ROI and continue to get some more wins on the board (3 so far this month, goal was 6 I believe).

Worlds collide

It's so annoying planning for a night of poker only to find out PokerStars are doing their weekly reset of the server. Its weekly (I think) but it never seems to be on the same night, there's no announcement so you can never plan to be elsewhere.

Before the reset I was doing really well, chipped up in two 45 man tournaments with a good chance to cash both. I went a bit card dead in one and by the time final table formed I was in 8th or 9th place. I pushed all-in early and chipped up a little when I took down the blinds but was still short-stack. I picked up ace king off and pushed that all-in only to get called by the short-stack in the big blind who had pocket 6's and found a 6 on the flop. I then had pocket 5's under the gun and decided to put it in. I got called by a big stack in the small blind with ace ten off and the big blind who had ace 3 suited. Not a terrible spot for me until a ten hit the flop and the turn and I didn't improve, going out on the bubble.

On the other table I was in a good position, decent stack with a few short-stacks on the table. One or two went out and I found ace king in the small blind. The table folded around to me so I pushed all-in and got called by the big blind for 2/3 of his stack. He showed queen ten suited and turned a flush to knock me out in 7th. Frustrating as if I take down that hand I easily make top 3 and have a good shot at the win. Oh well, I now play for the win so I have to accept that sometimes.

I had another bubble later in the night to end what has been a very ordinary week in terms of profits (in other words losses) and statistics.

I was going to post this video clip as music and poker go well together. This is probably my favourite song at the moment, not because its Jay Z who gets plenty of love ... but because of the alto sax and the old-school groove. I watched the official clip for the first time today and saw it also includes a quick poker scene as well as LeBron James which is where the "Worlds collide" title comes from. Click here to see my other life.

PokerStars update

After my 3 day break from poker I jumped back in to the action on Monday night. It started well enough, min-cashing my first 45 man tournament but things got ugly as I then failed to cash 13 tournaments in a row before again min-cashing a 90 man tournament to end the night. I don't think I was playing badly as I made it down to the final 2 tables on 9 of those 13 tournaments but couldn't win hands at the right time to get me on to final tables and in the money.

Tuesday went a lot better. After the disappointment the night before I was focussed and crushed early, cashing 3 of the first 4 tournaments including a win a 3rd and a 5th (all 45 man tournaments). I trailed off a bit but still had another 2nd a 5th (45 mans) and a min cash in a 90 man. So the results from Tuesday (6 cashes from 18 games) made up for the losses of the night before.

Last night I planned to play a little in the afternoon and then watch some DVD's (Seven Pounds and Role Models) later in the night. I forgot that poker is on OneHD on a Wednesday night so the DVD's would have to wait. Unfortunately, the poker turned out to be a replay of the PCA that I had seen a few weeks earlier ... but I of course still watched it.

The night started well with a 5th in a 45 man before a stretch of 6 non-cashes. After some dinner I cranked it up a level tho and cashed 5 of the last 8 tournaments including a win in a 90 man and three 4ths. I was pleased that I had two good finishes in the 90 man tournaments because it had been a week or so since I had a top 3 finish in those so to finish with a win was nice.

The win was a hard-fought one. I was struggling for chips with about 30 to go and would have been close to the bottom of the chip-count. I pushed all-in twice with pocket 3's, once out-running ace queen and another time getting called by a big blind short-stack with 3 8 suited. After getting to a comfortable stack I then started to actually get hands and come final table was well placed.

Final table started a bit rocky when my ace jack couldn't hold up against a short-stack all-in of ace 2 suited and another caller with queen jack off. A 2 hit the flop and it was good enough to win. The same short-stack later pushed all-in from the button 5 handed, the small blind big stack then re-raised strongly and I loved it because I had aces! As I was re-raising my wireless internet connection dropped out so I was frantically trying to reconnect. Thankfully I managed to, button turns over king ten off, small blind has kings and my aces held up to take down a massive pot.

3 handed I raised solidly from the button with pocket queens, I get re-raised all-in by a shorter-stack who has ace 9 off ... 9 on the flop, ace on the turn ... groan. I exacted some revenge shortly after taking him out and getting to heads up with a slight lead. The other person took down a few early pots but the turning point would be when they min-raised from the small blind and I called with king 2 off. Flop comes king 9 9 with two spades which I didn't really think much of. First to act I checked, assuming my king was good, he bets, I re-raise strongly and he calls all-in. He turns over 5 6 of spades so I'm sweating no more spades and thankfully I take it down. He's almost out so I re-raise with ace 3 suited, he turns over ace queen but I flop a flush and its over.

I thought the king ten button, kings small blind, aces big blind seemed cold short-handed on the final table but I just across this from the World Series:

McKusick Gains Heat From a Cold Deck

There's was a ton of commotion over at table 72 in the orange section just a brief moment ago. We turned to the table to see three players all in. One player held and another player held . Both were terribly dominated by the third player's .

The board ran out , to give the player holding the the nut flush. That player was Ken McKusick out of Baltimore, Maryland and he now has nearly 120,000 chips.

To make things even more interesting, two players in the hand held jacks and another player held pocket sevens. Cold deck much?

Solid lay-down from the pocket jacks. You'd be pretty unhappy if you were the guy with the aces ... "but I have trips!!"

Bankroll now just under US$400 and I'm already just one win short of my goal of 4 tournament wins for the month.

3 days ... no poker

I just posted on my FaceBook profile that I haven't played poker for 3 days ... not surprisingly, within minutes a number of my friends came back wondering if I was sick, my internet was broken or just general shock. Yes, it has been a while since I've had a few days off from playing.

So what's been going on? Well, just had stuff on, just haven't been on my laptop, just had other things to do.

Friday afternoon I left work a little early as one of my best friends had invited for dinner and a night at the Broncos. I hadn't seen him for a while so it was good to catch up with him as well as a number of other friends that came to the game. After the NZ Warriors scored an early try to shock the crowd and of course the Broncos, Brisbane fought their way back in to the game and rolled over the top of the Warriors in the second half. Beers before the game, beer during dinner, beer during the game and I ended up crashing the night at Steve's place.

The next day started with a casual chat with Steve and his wife before Steve showed off his ever-improving culinary skills with the chef-standard omelette. That afternoon I went to the start of an old friend's bucks party which was barefoot bowling at Moorooka (where I used to live). It was a beautiful afternoon and perfect for lawn bowls and a couple of beers. The form on the greens was rather inconsistent to say the least, but I did have my moments. That night I went to the parents for dinner and as always mum cooked up a feast! Bowls was supposed to include a BBQ lunch but it didn't happen so by the time I got to the parents I was STARVING. Mum delivered the goods with a malaysian curry buffet and I'm pretty sure I had thirds. After that settled there were some home-made chocolate brownies straight from the oven ... mmmmmmm.

Sunday morning is always a leisurely affair at the folks place. Sleep in, have breakfast and enjoy hours of Foxtel programming. Simpsons, Sex & The City and plenty of property/renovation shows. After lunch I eventually hit the road, did some grocery shopping, got to the gym and then had dinner. Still ... no poker played.

When I finally did get online tonight, I of course caught up on goings on at the World Series of Poker. In the final event before the Main Event, one of Assassinato's friends, Faraz Jaka came 3rd in the $5K 6-handed no-limit hold'em picking himself up a cool $400K prize money. I'm sure he's disappointed not to have won but its a great result in a field of 928 players. Good going Faraz!

The Main Event itself got underway yesterday and day 1b finished today. With almost 1000 players starting both days its very hard to find out how players you follow got on. It'll be easier to figure out who's in and who's out when we get to day 2 and 3.

Anyway, I promise there will be more poker talk next post ...

The Brisbane Broncos in their Lance Armstrong inspired yellow jerseys

Short night on PokerStars

I was disciplined last night, going to the gym straight after work before settling in on the couch for the night. I don't know why anyone goes to the gym after work, its way too packed. Thankfully I got there just in time to get a park and left just before it was too ridiculous.

Anyway, on to the poker. I felt like I played well last night, results just didn't go my way. I stuck with my theory of just playing the $1 tournaments until I'm completely smashing them and have developed my game a little more.

So my first 45 man turbo, I make it to the final table 3rd in chips and reasonably well placed. Blinds are quite high by this point and no one is calling the shoves all-in from the shorter stacks. I may be 3rd but relative to the blinds I'm not in a comfortable spot. Someone shoves from early position and I have pocket 8's in the small blind. I know he's pushing with pockets or a decent ace but I'm willing to take the race to knock someone, substantially chip up and play for the win. He turns over ace king and all is going well until he rivers a straight. I'm now in a bad spot but get ace queen on the button, everyone folds to me so I push it all-in. I get called by the small blind who turns over jack 8 off. I flop ace queen and then he hits runner runner straight and I'm out in 9th (top 7 cash in these tournaments).

Two games later in a 90 man turbo, I make final table, playing well and get to heads up. The other player took out the 3rd place finisher so has the chip lead. I check out their ranking on OPR to see what I'm up against and not surprisingly they're not a good player. A few hands in he raises from the small blind, I have ace jack in the big blind so re-raise before I get re-raised. They have the chip lead so I decide to shove and he calls me with king ten suited. My hand holds and I take down a huge pot and now take a dominant chip lead. A few hands later, he doubles the blinds from the small blind and I call with queen 4 suited. The board comes queen ten rag, I check and he shoves so I call. He turns over king jack off which is not what I wanted to see ... blank on the turn, ace on the river to give him the straight and the chip lead back. He works his way up to a 3 or 4 to 1 chip lead and I shove from the small blind with king ten off and he calls with 3, 4 off. Flop comes 2, king, 5 and I know exactly what's coming ... 6 on the turn and I'm gone. Another frustrating heads-up battle ends in a second place finish to a lesser player.

There was only one other small cash (2 total) from 11 games last night. Normally that would be a bad night but I'm not disappointed with the way I played (except for the final table of the other game, played WAY too passively). For example, in a 90 man tournament with 30 left and me being a short-stack, someone raises from middle position, I have pocket kings and flat call knowing that at this point I need to build a large pot and hope someone else comes along. The big blind shoves all-in over the top, the original raiser eventually calls and of course so do I. Big blind turns over pocket 8's, initial raiser had 7's so I'm well ahead with kings. 8 on the turn and I'm out. Normally I would discourage callers with pocket kings as I only want to be up against one other player, but at this stage of the tournament, I needed a big pot and if my hand had held I would've been up in the top 10 stacks.

Some other unlucky but well played moments throughout the night but I won't bore you with those. Despite only cashing twice, I turned a small profit. State of Origin 2 tonight so I won't be playing but will likely be back at the tables on Thursday night.

Go the Maroons!!

Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queensland

Probably the most exciting poker thing that happened over the last two weeks is that I stumbled across this announcement (below). Its great Queensland and more specifically Brisbane and the Gold Coast are taking part in the new ANZPT.

Thanks to the current economic climate, I won't be rocking up on the day with the $2,500 buy-in but I have been playing in a few of the online freeroll qualifiers. There's usually about 3000 or so players in these events and most of the time I get to in to the top 200. Top 20 qualify for the next round where the seats are up for grabs so its a tough ask to get in to the event this way.

Even if I don't qualify, I'm keen to check out the action of the first few days at Conrad Treasury Brisbane. For more information about the event, click on the title below to go to the official website.

Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queensland - ANZPT Sponsored by PokerStars.net

Conrad Jupiters and Conrad Treasury Casinos will be joining the inaugural season of the PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour as the new final event. The unique format will incorporate the event being held at two venues concurrently and the opportunity to firmly place Queensland as a new and exciting addition on the Australian poker tournament map.

What makes this event even better is that there is no admin fee for ANZPT Queensland. The entire $2,500 buy-in per player goes back into the prizepool!

ANZPT Queensland will be a five day event held from August 5-9, 2009 at both Treasury Casino in the State’s capital of Brisbane and Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast. The event has a cap of 280 players plus 20 alternates. All players qualifying through to Day 3 will play at Jupiters Casino. Those players who commenced play at Brisbane and make the final table will receive a complimentary night’s accommodation at Jupiters Casino Hotel.

For more information on the format for this event go to http://www.anzpt.com/tournaments/queensland/faq/

PokerStars update

Since my last post updating you on my online progress its been a rough week or two of poker for me. I mentioned in it that I was going to stop playing over the weekend because I seem to struggle to do well on Saturdays and Sundays.

I of course played anyway and my bankroll got smashed as I played a lot more $2 buy-in events trying to get to the next level. I ran BAAAD! Over the next 4 days (after my Friday update) I played 61 tournaments and cashed in just 8 of them and on the last day went 0 from 9! That is unheard of for me and my confidence was questioned.

I have since righted the ship and had a solid day on Sunday cashing in 7 of 23 tournaments. I felt like I was playing pretty well and was unlucky not to cash in a few more. Of those 7 cashes, 3 were final tables with the best result being a 2nd in a $1 90 man turbo. I really should've won that game but lost a couple of costly flips heads-up. I went in to heads-up play behind in chips (as usual) but fought back to even and then got to a 2 to 1 chip lead. At this point the other player raised from the small blind and I pushed all-in with pocket 9's from the big blind. He called with ace ten suited and caught two pair on the flop and my hand didn't improve. Then when he had a dominant lead he pushed all-in from the small blind and I instantly called with pocket tens. He turned over ace 8 suited and turned the flush to knock me out in 2nd place.

It annoys me to lose in situations like this where I know I'm up against worse players. I usually check out my competition's results on Official Poker Rankings and that gives me an idea of who I'm up against and what sort of player they are. Most of the time, I get to these final tables against loose/weak players but can't finish them off. I've started posting hands and following the threads on the Two Plus Two Poker Forum so hopefully that helps to improve my game and develop my play a bit more.

Anyway, bankroll is just over US$300 after dipping under 290 a couple of times. I'm just going to focus on the $1 90 man games for a while until I feel like I'm really crushing them, improve my stats and hopefully get June back in to the black again (-2% ROI at the moment).

Friday night poker

I may have mentioned this before, Friday night is a great night for staying at home. Back to back games of NRL and two consecutive hours of poker on OneHD. That's some quality TV time if you ask me.

Another very quiet day at work yesterday and while I was productive for most of it, I finished the day with two quick sit'n go games. I loaded up a $3.40 18 man turbo and despite playing well ended up a very frustrated bubble-boy. I was fairly card dead on the final table and ended up pushing all-in as short-stack from the button with ace 7 off-suit. The big blind thought for a moment and then called turning over king 2 suited. First card out ace, GREAT ... but it was the ace of clubs, another club on the flop and then one more on the turn and I was done. Top 4 get paid, I finished 5th.

The next sit'n go didn't go anywhere near as well and I was sent packing fairly early on. I planned on going to the gym last night but it was way too cold so that idea got vetoed and I ended up playing more poker.

The night didn't get any better from home as I failed to cash in the next 5 games. I was playing a mix of $1 90 man turbos, $2 90 man non-turbos and $2 180 man turbos. I was hoping I could overcome my recent poor form in the $2 games but that wasn't the best start. Suck-outs all over the shop and I wasn't getting close to the money at all.

Thankfully my luck turned half-way through and I managed to scrape in to the money of a 180 man tournament finishing in 16th. $2 drought over!! And from there, the floodgates opened ... somewhat. I final tabled the next 180 man finishing a frustrating 7th and got in to the money again on the next 180 man finishing in 10th (bubbling the final table).

The night ended with a strong performance in a $2 90 man game. I chipped up early and maintained and built my stack throughout the tournament. I was never in trouble and stayed in the top 10 stacks down to the final two tables. I took a beat inside the top 16 but quickly got back in to the top stacks heading to final table.

I played a really good final table and felt in control. I made one mistake when I raised with ace jack in early position, got called by the big blind and when first to act he shoved all-in on a low board. I felt it was a move but still folded ... he showed ace ten off ... groan. I recovered from this miss-step and sat in the top 3 stacks as players were getting knocked out. In the big blind I had ace king suited when the short-stack shoves from early position. I played on this guy's table for the last hour so I knew I would be in good shape. He turned over ace 5 off but the first card out was a 5 and while I hit an ace it of course did me no good. That hurt and I found myself in trouble for the first time but I managed to take down a few pots and fought back up to a reasonable level. The player to my right who had just taken a bad beat shoved from the button and I called all-in from the small blind with ace queen suited. He had me covered but I knew I was ahead and wanted to take a shot at the win and couldn't wait for a better situation than this (as the blinds were already high). He turned over king ten off which was what I expected ... unfortunately the first card out was a king and my hand didn't improve. Gone in 4th spot which was disappointing as I knew I was the best player at the table, things just didn't go my way.

So after a horrible start to the night with the $3.40 sit'n go's and then failing to cash in my first 5 MTT's, i finished the night cashing in 4 of my final 5 tournaments, final-tabling 2 of them. I didn't managed to get a win or a top 3 finish but the bankroll still improved to US$380. The best news tho was that my $2 drought was over!

I've mentioned it before but I tend to find the weekend games particularly ugly on PokerStars and my bankroll grows midweek and falls on the weekend. So with this in mind I'm likely not going to play this weekend ... plus I have work to do. We'll see how I go tho ...

PokerStars update

With so many pro poker players in Vegas at the moment for the early events of the World Series of Poker, most of the poker blogs are relatively quiet at the moment. There is essentially a new event starting every day so that doesn't give them much time to sit in front of the laptop and update the world about what's going on.

I haven't been playing as much as usual in the last week or so. I really need to get moving with a few business things so this will be my focus over the next few weeks. Saying that tho, I played cash games at PokerStars for a few hours on Saturday and decided to play some tournaments last night. The work will have to wait until this weekend.

Last night I felt I was playing really well. I didn't play too many games, just ten and I final tabled 3 of them. It could've actually been more but there were the usual suck-outs along the way.

Kings losing to king queen suited when they chased down the flush to the river. That was bad ... and there were others, but the worst was an unraised pot where I have king five suited in the big blind. Board comes 5, 6, 5 ... lovely! Small blind checks, I check, early position bets min and both blinds call. Next card out is a queen, small blind checks, I check, early position bets min, small blind calls. I decide its time to get some more out of this pot so I raise a couple of times the min blind, nothing excessive. Early position then shoves massively all-in, small blind umms and ahhs and calls and I reshove over the top and small blind still calls. What do they have you wonder? Early position turns over queen ten off, small blind turns over ace 6 off ... I'm in shock that either of them are still in the pot but know they're both drawing very thin (queen or a six). And the river ... a six of course ...

As mentioned tho, I made three final tables finishing 3rd, 4th and a 6th. So a profitable night and good for the stats but nothing too exciting.

My real concern at the moment is my horrible performances in anything other than the $1 90 man games. Every time I play the $2 90 man non-turbo tournament or even the $2 180 man turbo, I'm doing no good at all. Compared with my success rates at the $1 game, the next level up is a real struggle right now. I don't think its any tougher, I'm just running bad. Sure, I don't play as many of those tournaments as I do the $1 games but in the last 2 weeks I have essentially not cashed ANY of them and bubbling the money twice is as good as it gets. Over the next week or two I will be playing more of these tournaments and hopefully this trend will not continue!

Anyway, bankroll is now at $363 ... yes, I'm plateauing at the moment.

Adapting from online poker to playing live

I came across the following article on the PokerStars blog this morning. Its written by Greg Raymer and is a good read about converting from online play to live.

Click on the title below to read the full story.

How to adapt from online winner to live champion, by PokerStars' Greg Raymer - PokerStars Poker Blog

Many of our PokerStars players coming over to Las Vegas for the WSOP will be playing live tournaments for the first time. While the rules of the game are the same, playing online and live are two very different animals.

So who better to ask for some sound advice on how to adapt from online play to taking a shot at mega bucks at the Rio than Greg Raymer, who won the Main Event in 2004 and has got $6.8million in live winnings to his name....

by Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer

So, you've been playing on PokerStars.com, and doing well, and now you want to take a shot at the live games. What should you do? Well, the good news is you've already accomplished the hardest part, so the rest will probably come relatively easily. Here's some advice to make it even easier yet.

I've been playing poker seriously since 1992, so I started out as a live player, and only became an online player when it became available years later. Wherever you play poker, the hard part is learning how to play poker well. If you're winning online, then you've already done that. In 2004 when I won the Main Event, and prior to then, we used to make fun of the online players, and how bad they were. And for the most part, we were right. However, in today's poker world, it is the winning online players who have the most talent and knowledge, as compared to the live players. More importantly, the bad online players are nowhere near as bad as the bad live players.

APL return

I played my first APL game in ages last night. One of my friends has just got back from overseas and a few other people have been asking me to come along so I ended up going to Broadway last night. It was good to catch up with a few friends that I haven't seen for a few weeks. It was good to play live poker for the first time in a while and actually touch the cards and the chips.

I picked Ellen up on the way and we got to the game just as it was starting. It was a full house so instead of setting up another table, we ended up being reserves number 7 and 8. This would cause much joy later for players that got knocked out early and had to wait an hour or more to get back in the game.

I got in during the 2nd blinds and shortly after I sat down got pocket queens in the small blind. One of the looser players who was short-stacked raised the blinds in early position and was quickly called by someone else and then me. The flop came out 6, 7, 7 with 2 clubs and the original raiser put in the rest of his stack (just another 300 or so) and was again called by the other player. I decided to push all-in over the top of the caller and hope the initial raiser had ace king or a lower pocket pair. The caller thought I had pocket 9's and decided to fold and the initial raiser turned over kings. He could've played the hand exactly the same way with a lot less. I thought afterwards, I probably should've played my queens a little slower post-flop to get some more in the sidepot as insurance in case the initial raiser was actually strong.

I didn't see many cards after that until after the break. I limped in with ace queen from eary position, someone raised with 9's in middle position, got a few callers and won the hand on a low river and flop. Shortly after another loose/aggressive player (yes, there are plenty of them in APL) raised in early position, I didn't have much more left so I pushed in over the top with pocket kings. I knew I was ahead, knew he couldn't fold, so just had to hope they would hold up. The big blind ummed ahhed and eventually also called. Turns out she had 9, 10 suited, initial raiser had queens, my kings hold up and I get the main pot while the queens take the subsequent sidepot. Nice triple up for me and I'm right back in the game.

For much of the next 30 mins or so our table plays short-handed as the turbo-table gets drawn and we're down to the final few tables. Blinds rising quickly and 5 handed I stupidly don't shove with ace 8 under the gun and a tight big blind player. Later, I'm in the small blind with king jack suited and everyone else is folded, the big blind has a large stack so whether I shove or not he will call with any two cards. We joke about this on the table so I just call and he puts me all-in anyway. I of course call and he turns over ace 6 off and I flop a full-house, I double up but still not that far in front of the blinds.

Next orbit, I'm in the small blind and push all-in with ace 9 off for an extra 4000 and a new big blind who is also chipped up umm's and ahh's for a minute or two and then calls with 7, 8 off. Low board, he turns the straight and I'm out in 12th spot, which isn't too bad considering there would've been 50+ players. Other than the king jack suited full-house flop, not much luck and not many cards.

Friday night poker

I'm really liking quiet Friday nights with no plans. Firstly, you have the NRL double-header on TV and now that I have OneHD there is 2 hours of poker on as well! Last night was the High Stakes Poker episode where they're basically playing a sit'n go where Daniel Negreanu is busted early when he runs bottom set in to top set. Unlucky

I haven't really played too much poker this week. After a big weekend on PokerStars last weekend, I made sure I didn't play on Monday, instead just watched TV and read a book. Wednesday I had a pretty solid night, playing 13 games and getting in the money in 6 of them. Unfortunately I didn't get really deep in any, the best being an 8th in a $2 180 man turbo tournament. I mentioned last month that I noticed I wasn't doing well in these but I'm giving them another shot and am doing much better.

So last night, I was playing a couple of $1 90 man turbo's but I concentrated mostly on the $2 90 man non-turbo's and the $2 180 man turbo's. Things started off slowly for me getting nothing out of my first 6 games. Nothing was going right for me and I was a tad frustrated at running in to bigstacks who were playing junk but kept sucking out on me (mostly when they were dominated pre-flop). I then managed to final table one of the 180 games but finished 9th. That started a string of in the money's without getting deep.

It was getting pretty late so I decided to finish with two 180 games and then I'd call it a night. I made the money in both and hoped I could make both final tables but finished 11th in one when the big-stack limped in from middle position, I shoved all-in with ace king but I didn't have enough to make him fold. He turned over king 8, I have ace king, first card out 8 (and my hand doesn't improve) ... frustrating.

On the other game I started to get a few things going my way, hitting 2 sets prior to the final table to chip me back up from short-stack. With the blinds already high on the final table I pushed all-in with pocket 8's and got called by ace queen in the big blind. First card out ace (groan) but the rest of the flop and turn formed to give me outs on the river of any 7 for a straight or an 8 for the set. 8 on the river, bang, another set!! This win put me in to 3rd place and I essentially cruised through in to the final 3 from there. Three-handed went for a while and stack sizes continued to fluctuate. Eventually the short-stack got knocked out and I was heads up but facing more than a 2 to 1 chip deficit. I knew I was in trouble but the chip leader was fairly loose aggressive so I figured one good win and I'd be right back in it. I can't remember the hand itself but before I know it I hit the chip lead. Things were going well until he took down a couple of raised pots post-flop when I had nothing. The final hand he doubled the blinds and I re-raised all-in with king queen off. He called with jack 9 off and rivered the 9 ... ouch. Heads-up I kept getting it in with the better hand the cards just didn't hold up, so I'm happy with the way I played and the $72 second prize is niiiiice.

Bankroll now US$404.

Tony "Bond 18" Dunst

Wow, its Saturday and I just realised I haven't posted since last Sunday night! Time to catch up then.

I'm not sure quite how I got there, but I stumbled across online poker phenom Tony "Bond 18" Dunst's blog. If you want to read all about life as a mid 20's pro poker player goes, he'll give you complete backstage access. Poker, sex, drugs and fine tailored suits ... its got it all.

I can't do any of his stories justice so I'd recommend you check it out for yourself here. Funny stuff!!

Weekend results

I played a LOT of games this weekend. Didn't have any plans so other than a basketball game on Saturday night, some grocery shopping and a few other things ... I spent the rest of my time on PokerStars. Its now 11:30 on Sunday night and I'm not sure if its the time of night that has me tired or the drain of playing so much poker.

It was a rough weekend on the tables for me too. I had so many big hands cracked by absolutely rubbish cards. I won't go in to too much detail, but trust me, it wasn't pretty.

I was mostly playing the $1 90 man games, playing a lot of them, but I also played a few of the $2 90 man non-turbo games and also tried my luck at the $4 180 man non-turbos. The only highlight from playing most of Saturday was 2nd place finish, another final table and a couple of other cashes.

Tonight went a bit better as I made final table in the $2 game as well as the $4 game ... at the same time. I lost a key hand just prior to the final table of the $2 game so instead of being in the top 4 or 5 stacks I was down about 8th. Essentially there was an all-in and two big stacks. Instead of just checking it down, I got milked by the other player with minimum bets on all 3 streets. The board came queen ten rag and I had ace king, by the turn I had the straight draw, the nut flush draw and if the ace hit I had the top kicker. Nothing came for me and it turns out he had pocket kings. Blinds were quite high on the final table and I ended up going out in 7th place.

The $4 game started well for me but by the time we were down to the top 30 I was near the bottom of the leaderboard. I tried to be patient and wait for a hand but it wasn't coming. We got near the bubble and I was just praying I could make the money. I eventually got pocket kings and I just had enough left to call the blind and thankfully they held up. Next hand I pushed it in again with ace queen off and the big blind was the only caller with ace 6 off. Again it held up and I was safely in to the money. I made final table and watched as a few people got knocked out early. With blinds rising, I pushed all-in with ace ten as an attempted steal and the big blind called also with ace ten so we split it. Next hand I'm under the gun with ace queen off and I'm still short-stack by a fair margin so I push it all-in again. I get called by pocket 8's and ace 2 off in the big blind. My hand doesn't improve and the 8's take the hand down. So I finish that tournament also in 7th for a prize of $25. I would have loved to have gone a little further as each place up from there is another $10 and there's some really good cash for the top 3.

I'm happy with the way I played. I've decided to be more aggressive on final tables in order to give myself a better chance of winning or getting in the top 3, rather than hanging on and waiting for other players to get knocked out. So shoving with ace ten and ace queen when I was short-stacked is fair enough. Besides, I usually get called by weaker hands so the opportunity to chip up is definitely there.

So at the end of what feels like a rough weekend, bankroll is at US$340.

Below is my graph from SharkScope. Not tough to see when I finished 5th in that big field tournament for $102. The first "hill" on the graph where it goes from 0 to 100 and then back to 0 is when I was playing late last year on the credit I won from PokerStars. From then on its the US$12 I deposited.