Start Planning for WSOP 2006

To my home game pals: We need to start thinking about the World Series of Poker this summer. It's from June 25 to August 10. There are events and satellites for those events almost every day.

You can see the schedule here: WSOP 2006 Schedule

My plan is to go at a time when the cheapest events are being played. The cheapest events are $1000 or $1500. Single-table satellites for those events are $125 or $175 - 10 players sit down and play a single table satellite to basically win entry into those events. You would probably play in the satellites one day to get into an event the next day.

It would be cool to play in the super satellites, which are multi-table tournaments for getting into the main event. They cost $230 and pay out an entry into the Main Event for every 50 players in the tournament. But if you were to actually win (doubtful), you would need to stick around for the Main Event. I don't have that much time to spare.

The first couple of days are not a good time to go because it's a madhouse. I would like to go for 3 nights, so I would arrive the day before an event I want to play in. Based on that and wanting the cheapest events, the best time to go is to play in these events:

22-Jul-06 Saturday 2:00 PM 33 Seven Card Razz (2 day event) $1,500.00

23-Jul-06 Sunday 12 noon 34 No-Limit Hold'em w/re-buys (3 day event) $1,000.00

24-Jul-06 Monday 12 noon 35 Seven Card Hi Low Split (2 day event) $1,000.00

24-Jul-06 Monday 2:00 PM 36 Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event) $1,500.00

25-Jul-06 Tuesday 12 noon 37 No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event) $1,500.00

or

5-Aug-06 Saturday 10:00 AM 41 No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $1,500.00

6-Aug-06 Sunday 10:00 AM 42 No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $1,500.00

7-Aug-06 Monday 10:00 AM 43 No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $1,500.00

8-Aug-06 Tuesday 10:00 AM 44 No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event) $1,500.00

9-Aug-06 Wednesday 10:00 AM 45 No-Limit Hold'em (1 day event) $1,500.00

The first set of dates is better if you wanted to play some games other than hold'em. The second set is better if you want to be there to watch the Main Event. Two problems with the first set of dates are that we never play razz, and a re-buy event probably isn't a good idea on a limited budget. So my vote would be for the second set of dates.

For details on the fun, see the July 2005 entries in my poker blog.

I'm not 100% sure I'll be going, since I'm moving this summer. But I hope the worst case is that I only go for 2 nights.

- schneid

More Poker Books

I've read a few more since my post Good Poker Books.

I read The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King. This is a great story about billionaire Andy Beal and the contingent of professionals who played against him. I was impressed with how Beal could go home, greatly improve his game, then come back to Vegas months later and beat the pros. He constantly tried to raise the stakes so that the amount of money involved would make even these professionals nervous. In the end, he had trouble maintaining the discipline to follow his own rules, such as not playing long sessions, and lost. But that point is still under debate, according to Beal, who claims that overall, he was a winner.

The book Phil Gordon's Little Green Book : Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em contains a lot of useful observations about no-limit hold'em. It's really making me think about the game a lot more. Since they are so many short ideas, it's easy to pick up just for a few minutes. Then of course you'll be thinking about that one idea during your entire commute to work.

I'm currently reading The Book of Bluffs : How to Bluff and Win at Poker by Matt Lessinger. This is an excellent book about how, why, and when to bluff, including how frequently you should try certain bluffs and how often they work.

Finally, I'm really enjoying The Making Of A Poker Player: How An Ivy League Math Geek Learned To Play Championship Poker, by Matt Matros. This book details his rise to becoming a professional poker player. It's an interesting read and contains some useful strategic and mathematical information, but not a ton.

End of Second Rebuy Tournament

Well, here's how the second one went. I had an average stack, when the following hand occurred:

I have Kh9h in middle position, two limpers, I limp, 3 more limpers. Flop is Jh9sAh, so I flop middle pair with a flush draw. I might have 14 outs (nine hearts, two 9s, and three Ks). I go all-in, a guy calls with AQo for about 1/3 of my stack. I don't get any help (I'm 50/50 to win this one) and lose the hand.

The very next hand, I get dealt AA. I type "damnit" in the chat box, then go all-in which is pretty big since the blinds are 300/600 right now - I'm hoping some sucker will think I'm on tilt from the last hand. Sure enough, a huge stack calls, and shows KJo. I am an 87% favorite at this point. He flops a J, turns a K, and IGHN.

I'm happy with how I played again and at least I didn't get donked out of the tournament this time. Hell, I got all my money in as an 87% favorite! I should be so lucky. So no problem, shit happens.

- schneid

Rebuy Tournament

On Saturday, I played in the $5/1 Million Dollar Qualifier with rebuys. The structure of this tournament is awesome. You start with T1000, and any time in the first hour that you are under T1000, you can rebuy T1000 for $5. At the end of the first hour, there is an add-on of T1500 for $5. I'm actually playing in the Sunday tournament as I write this blog.

A lot of people really gamble early on with junk, since they can rebuy for $5. I busted early and rebought. There was a lot of limping and min raises. Then they go all-in with draws or mediocre hands. I played somewhat tight, and was able to get all their chips when I had the best of it. I had an above average stack at the end of hour. The cool thing about the rebuys is that you can gamble too, if you want, and don't have to worry about busting out. The other great thing about the structure is that there will be a ton of chips at your table, and overall in the tournament. Since you have a lot of chips in relation to the blinds, there's a lot of play in the tournament and not so much short-stack, all-in strategy. Once you have a big stack, you can push people around or limp in with marginal hands, hoping to flop a big one and get a lot of chips.

Unfortunately, I don't have a hand history. I played decently until the blinds were up to about 50/100, and had a less than average stack. Then in the space of about 5 hands, I tripled up. In the first hand, I was dealt 99. An early player limped, then I limped, and the small blind went all-in for about 20% of my stack. The limper just called, and I reraised all-in, knowing that the small blind could have anything, the limper probably didn't have much, and I didn't want to be against two opponents with live overcards. The limper folded and it was just me against J9o, my 99 held up and I won that one. Then there were 2 more hands in the next 4 where I held the nuts or near to it and made a bunch of money. I wish I could remember them...

The important hands were late in the tournament. I was 4th in chips and there were 20 players left. Top 4 spots paid entry to the Million Dollar tournament (worth $640). I was playing well and felt pretty confident. Then these two hands occurred:

I raised to about 4 times BB in middle position with AQo, Player X (with a large stack the size of mine) reraises about triple my bet. This guy has done this a few times, but we've never seen his cards. I think about going all-in, but I will have a better than average stack if I completely miss the flop and fold. The flop comes KQX. But before the flop, I put him on AA, KK, AK, or QQ, and I'm toast to all of those. I check, he bets, I think about it awhile, pretty sure he has a king, and I fold.

The very next hand, I get KQo. I raise to 4X the BB, and he reraises me again! This time I assume he thinks I'm steaming, plus I don't want to be pushed off the hand again on the flop, so I go all-in, and he calls immediately. He's got AJo, so I'm in OK shape until he flops an ace and IGHN. So I suppose he did think I was steaming, because I assume he wouldn't risk 2/3 of his stack with AJo. But maybe he would, and now I really question my not pushing with AQo, now knowing that he has a wider range of hands there.

I was very happy with my play overall, but not at the end. I think the bigger mistake was the first hand - I should've pushed all-in preflop with AQo. He probably would've folded or I may have doubled up. This mistake led to the second one, and I went from great position to out of the tournament.

In the current Sunday tournament, I just quintupled up (yes, you heard that right). With A5d, I called a min-raise and there were 5 players that saw a flop of Jd6cTd. Someone min-bet, I raised, two callers, two short-stacks went all-in, I went all-in, another guy went all-in, and the fifth guy called. The turn was a diamond and I quintupled up! The hands of the other guys on the flop were: top pair king kicker, open-ended straight draw, inside straight draw with backdoor flush draw and two overcards, and a set of sixes. The pot was laying me great odds. PokerStove says that the set had a 48% chance of winning, and I was 28%, so I got a little lucky. But I had the right price.

As I said before, there's a lot of play in these tournaments. I currently have 130 big blinds. You're in decent shape over 30 BB, I'd say. At some point yesterday, I had over 300 BB.

Maybe today's tournament will go better than yesterday's!

- schneid

Building a home in North Carolina?

If you are looking for a quality custom home builder in North Carolina, you should contact Glory Home Builders. Harvey Schneider builds quality custom homes at reasonable prices. I should know, because he's my dad. I've seen dozens of his homes and they are fantastic. They build mostly in the Winston-Salem area.

- schneid

My BARGE Geek Code

In the old days, I played poker for fake money on IRC. This was the original "online poker", years before the monster that we have now. I played probably from 1993 until about 1997 or so. I actually attended BARGE (Big August Rec.Gambling Excursion) in 1996 in Las Vegas with my wife. Our seminar was conducted by the Mad Genius of Poker, Mike Caro. Some of the attendees are now professional poker players or people well-known in poker circles for other reasons, such as Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, Perry Friedman, Rafe Furst, Kim Scheinberg, Barry Tanenbaum, Patti Beadles, Abdul Jalib M'hall, Lee Jones, Steve Jacobs, and Steve Landrum. It was a blast. They held a no-limit WSOP-style tournament at Binion's Horseshoe. We played in a blackjack tournament and a video poker tournament. We met some fun people and learned to play craps, the "heroin of gambling", as they put it. One event was trying to get banned from the Barbary Coast for counting cards at blackjack. We were surprised to actually be winning but just couldn't get thrown out. I even almost circled a Tiltboy. Perry Friedman, wearing a leisure suit, walked by me. I dropped a chip on the floor and said, "Did you drop that?" while making a circle with my thumb and forefinger. He turned around, looked right at it, and said "That's not below your waist." Doh! So close!

From http://zbigniew.pyrzqxgl.com/bargegeek.html, my BARGE geek code is: A+ G+ PKR PEG+ B+ TB ADB M+

I would like to attend another BARGE, but I assume they've gotten out of hand as far as attendance goes. In addition, I want to attend the WSOP every year, and I just don't have time for two trips.

- schneid

Recent Poker Strategy

One thing that has helped my game a ton is to not bet marginal hands on the river. If you just want to see the showdown, then you should just check. If you bet, you're asking for a better hand to raise, and a worse hand to fold. It depends on the opponent but is usually true. If you check, everyone thinks that's a weakness, and they will often bet with nothing, like if they missed their draw. Then you call and take it down. It's commonly known as "inducing a bluff" and it works well.

Another strategy that I've been trying to employ is manipulating the size of the pot preflop. For example, if I'm on the button with AK, and there are already 4 or more players in, I might not raise. At the low limits I play, I know the BB will call and every other limper will call too. If I thought anyone would fold, then maybe I would raise. If I raise, the pot will be 12.5 bets, and everyone will have odds to call with gutshots and all kinds of other crap after the flop. Your preflop raise makes it correct for those players to call with their drawing hands on the flop. And if you don't raise preflop with KK, then you get to see if an ace flops, and get out cheaply if one does.

I've been trying not to cold-call with hands that will be dominated. For example, if an early position player raises, and another cold-calls, I don't want to call with KQo. What do I think those two players have? AK and AQ both have me dominated, and AA, KK, and QQ would be bad too. With an early position raise and cold-caller, odds are good that one of them has one of those hands, plus everyone still has a chance to call behind me.

Pay attention to which players are in the blinds. If everyone limps in, or even worse, if there's a raise and the big blind calls, the flop is J44, and the big blind bets, I usually believe that he has a 4. After all, especially with a raise, who's the player most likely to have a 4? The blinds don't usually like to bluff out of position like this with several players still to act. Of course, if this player is an expert, then it's more likely to be a bluff. Don't try to bluff bad players like this; they won't even notice. In addition, at low limits, players that bet usually have it. Unless everyone has checked to them - the low limit players can't stand to let a flop get checked around unless it's really scary.

What's the difference between holding AT and the flop comes T99, or having AT and the flop comes TJJ? In the first case, if another T comes, you have the top full house. But in the second case, if the T comes, you have the bottom full house and any J beats you. Frankly, I hate being in a hand like that, especially with a lot of opponents in low limit games, because someone always ends up with trips.

Don't tap on the aquarium, as Phil Gordon and the Tiltboys say. Bad beats happen. Hell, 22 is going to beat AA heads-up 20% of the time. That's not lottery odds. Suck it up and be glad that your opponents are willing to put all their money in with bad hands. It's not the results of the one hand that matter, it's the results in the long run. You hear it all the time "How could you call with that?" There are some players out there who want opponents to call only when dominated and fold whenever they bluff. Players with this attitude are just as bad as bad players. And I love them all! In fact, be nice to bad players. That's the way to make the money. In addition, if you're rude to other players, they will go out of their way to get revenge. Some players think this is good, because those players will play poorly, but they might actually tighten up and trap you with a good hand.

- schneid

Job Change

I should mention that I changed jobs in early November. I left GE Healthcare to go back to Tellabs in Naperville. My job at GE was pretty easy and not a lot of hours. But I couldn't take the bureacracy, apathy, chaos, throw-it-over-the-wall mentality, blame, and constant turnover (seemed like about 30% of the employees quit every year). Anyone over 3-4 years of experience was like a senior employee. I knew in less than one week that the place was a wreck. A typical conversation there went like this "How do you do XYZ?" - "I don't know, Bob used to do it and he doesn't work here any more". No one paid attention to anything unless it was on fire. Priorities changed on a weekly basis.

I was told during my interview that they were moving to another nearby facility, so I bought a house 25 minutes from that facility (but 1 hour from the current one). They never moved in the entire 32 months that I worked there. It didn't only affect me, a lot of people moved to be near the other facility; one friend closed on his new house a week before they cancelled the move. Of course, now that I have left, they have finally moved. The total lack of financial rewards didn't help - no bonus, no employee stock purchase plan, no stock options, nothing. Very minimal annual raises, and that's it. Many people think having GE on your resume is great, and they seemed to think that was your reward.

I never wanted to be one of those people that hates their job, but that's who I had become. I did manage to stick it out for 32 months, AND I turned down two (and a half) job offers while I was there. Neither offer would have given me a job that was a significant improvement over GE. What was the "half" job offer? Well, they were asking me to take a HUGE pay cut and I was very tempted to do it, because the job would've been fantastic and a short commute. But they didn't make an offer because there was just too much of a gap in salary.

I'm back at Tellabs, and at the same time have steered my career back in the direction I wanted to go - software quality assurance and process improvement. I had worked at Tellabs for 10 years when I was laid off in January 2003. The project that I'm working with is working around the clock on very short development cycles. They are working too hard and are burned out. Things need to change soon. I've also been putting in extra hours, but nothing like the developers. The company provides dinner every night and food on the weekends, plus free soda and coffee all the time. It's not a reward, just something they must do if they expect everyone to be at work all the time.

The amazing thing is the quality that they've been producing. Of course, there are some silly mistakes with such a compressed schedule, but it's unbelievable that the quality of the product is pretty high. This is due to the fact that the employees are so experienced and talented, 10-15 years experience on average, and totally dedicated to the project. Nothing like this could ever have been accomplished at my former employer.

With the current work environment, people are often asking me "So, you've been back for a few months, what do you think?", thinking it's a loaded question. I tell them that I'm thrilled to be back. And it's true. It's a lot easier to work harder when everyone around you is working harder; it's easier to be dedicated when everyone else is; and it's worth the effort to try to make a difference when you actually think you can.

So here's what I traded: easy, chaotic job with short commute for harder job, longer hours, and long commute. And I'd do it again every day of the week and twice on Sunday. This is the concensus among my other friends that have left GE, and there are a lot of them.

The only unfortunate thing is that I'd like to move back closer to Naperville. I regret not moving somewhere in the middle. But my oldest is only in kindergarten, so we will move this summer when he's done. We're looking at Batavia and Geneva. Naperville would be nice, but the prices are outrageous, and where the prices are decent, the traffic is phenomenally bad. I'll be trading a 2.5 hour daily commute for potentially a 30-60 minute commute. That's an extra 1.5 - 2 hours I can spend with my family every day, so it's worth the expense and pain of moving, not to mention the fact that the houses are more expensive. Our criteria are: good schools, short commute, and nice house at a somewhat reasonable price.

I'm going way off on a tangent here, but there was just an article in the newspaper about people moving way out in the suburbs for more affordable housing. They face a 2 hour or longer commute every day to get a nicer house for less money. You might have a big nice house then, but you'll never be there and you'll never see your family. A short commute is critical for me. I realize that things are different the closer you get to Chicago, where you pay a fortune for an old ranch in almost any town; we are lucky to be in the far west suburbs.

- schneid