Gearing Up for Las Vegas
As some of you already know I'll be in Las Vegas from July 5th through July 9th. I'm very happy with the travel arrangements and accommodations and fully plan to utilize the new bribing skills I learned at www.frontdesktip.com so I can get a complementary upgrade for my hotel room! Muahaha, I hope it works, it'd be pretty cool to pull something like that off. I'm very excited to be meeting some of my very best online poker friends including (in no particular order) BW07507, ChuckTs and Zachvac. These guys and I have been chatting since Jan of 2008 and it's the first time any of us have met any of the others in person. The best plans are no plans in Las Vegas, so we're just planning to play a crap load of poker and have a great time. There's a bunch of other great people from CardsChat.com coming, in addition to meeting up with fellow rounders Vizer02 as well as my fraternity brother Pat McVeigh who plays small stakes hold'em at various strip casinos.
In preparation for my Vegas trip I've done something (yet again for the ump-teenth time) drastic with my online career - I've gone back (roll eyes) to playing No Limit Texas Hold'em in the 9-handed full ring format. Wow! Why? Well I wanted to get practice for how the format and play will be in Vegas, in addition to how bad people play the game. Coming from a 6-handed perspective, and even some Omaha, has really given me a good perspective on aggression (thank you 6max) and hand reading (thank you Omaha). The experiment is going well so far, meaning that I am feeling comfortable with the game and am making solid reads and plays. PLEASE let that hold up for two weeks!
I am excited to report that the entire time I'll be in Vegas I'll be updating my blog, hopefully twice a day. I found a great WordPress application for the iPhone, and it supports picture embedding so there will be pics involved. I will also figure out a way to get YouTube video in the posts too, so video will be a part of things hopefully. I am totally loving the iPhone 3G S, and the video capabilities alone made it a worthwhile upgrade.
So in the meantime you'll find me writing like a madman for the almost dozen publications I do content for, in addition to grinding full ring games at PokerStars and on Absolute Poker (although it should be noted that I am not icemonkey9 on AP!).
I guess I should give the obligatory hands to show off ... here we go ... and by the way - POKER HAND REPLAYS !!! WOOT! They took my suggestion to put in VPIP/PFR/AF in the replayer! Sweeeeeet!
The Good!
Won a stack on a coin flip. Yay for me!
The Really Bad
The bad here is both my play and the result. With two overs and a flush draw I really should have jammed the flop on the raise, but I called instead. Okay fine. The flush fills, and I guess not betting that card is fine since it gives away the fact I nailed the flush. The button bets, and I should have jammed this for sure, but again I wanted to slowplay my hand. Arg. Finally on the river I do a *terrible* less-than-half-pot "value" bet and of course, the button calls ... with the Ace high flush! WTF?! I guess he doesn't like STACKS OF MONEY. Anyways good thing he called I guess. What a biff for everyone involved.
Two Uglies
What can I say ... I got him to get it in and I was ahead, he had 7 outs I think ... and hit. It happens, and fortunately he was on a shortstack.
Ugly #2:The Reason I Hate SNGs and MTTs
LOL what a rollercoaster that ride was. I thought I could have some fun at the donkey Sit and Go tournament ... wrong! First I see his AA and I was like "CRAP!" then I see the K hit the flop for the over-set!!! Then I saw runner-runner hearts for the villain's winning flush. WTF. Anyways, I am always reminded why I don't play these things as soon as I play them!
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About Me
My name is Sean Gibson and I am a poker journalist and part time poker player. I work full time at PokerNewsDaily.com where I host a daily news show called "The Daily Deal" and also handle the bulk of the live player interviews. In terms of poker you will find me playing $1/$3 No Limit Hold'em in Vegas or in Los Angeles (or San Diego) and online playing small stakes games.
Hey man,
Been reading PNLHE and on the first hand, i was wondering, the commitment threshold there was $10 with $100 effective stacks (or is it $25?) when you 3bet pf had you decided then to commit?? With AK?? What if the guy had flatted and the board came down as it was?? I know that the issue of whether to commit changes on every street but b/c all the money ends up in PF there, like, pf in this case did u just think, im gonna 3bet here, if he raises i’m pushing and if he flat calls i push a huge majority of flops if checked to??
Sorry if they’re dumb questions but i’m struggling with commitment and spr so im trying to think of every hand i look at with those points in mind lol
Thanks for any advice you can give on this, and gl in vegas, i hope everything goes well there as the general tone of your blog for a while was that of frustration and suckouts!
Have a great time in Vegas. Can’t wait for the drunk posts.
Remember pics of Zach/Taylor with hookers could be worth a few $$ in your bank account if they really do want that stuff to stay in Vegas.
To orangepeeleo -
The first hand … lets take it simpler. I have AK suited on the button in a 6max game and my opponent is a 38/13. The squeeze there is the 100% right play. Have I committed my stack at that point? I think I am almost doing that. In a 6max game shoving with AKs is very standard as you get looked up by worse … especially by 38/13s.
He 4bets which is fine, and I’m willing to get it in and do. If he had flatted that bet OOP and checked to me, yes, I probably would have jammed the majority of flops. Something like 9TJ monotone to a suit I didn’t have I’d just give up on. As it is, the hand was pretty standard for us both.