Lapsed Left Look

Arghg.

Played in my monthly poker tournament last night and had a lot of fun.....

...but I ended up leaving the game--outside the money--with me kicking myself for one dumb lapse of I-should-know-better judgement.  Said simply, I forgot to Look Left.

One key to mastering poker is figuring out what the players to your left are going to do before you yourself act. This is important in both online and live poker. In live poker, however, it's somewhat easier to do. You get to, uh, look left before acting. And last night, at a critical point, I forgot to do so.

I was seated all night at the same table. I didn't have to move, and most of my opponents didn't move either through the course of the night. In other words, I had more than ample opportunity to observe their individual play and figure out their tendencies. And for the most part I feel I did a very good job of this, chipping up slowly and steadily throughout the tournament by making good reads and exploiting their weaknesses. Unfortunately, the blind structure of this particular tourney is, shall we say, fast. This means that "slowly and steadily" chipping up isn't sufficient, especially at the end of the tournament.

The bottom line is I found myself closing in on the money with about 13 big blinds and five minutes before said blinds were going to double again. So I started choosing some spots for all-in shoves to pick up the blinds. My own cards essentially didn't matter; what mattered was what the players upstream of me had done, and what the players to my left were going to do. Four-deuce in late position with folds to my right and the remaining players having body language that said they're poised to fold? Easy-peasy: Shove. Ace-ten on the button with two limps ahead and interested-looking blinds left to act? Folderoo. And so on.

I was managing to chip up again, but then the blinds went up yet again and the action folded to me on the button holding K-T suited. My stack was at 10 big blinds, so I shoved-- without looking left.

Let me repeat: Arghg.

The nitty old guy in the big blind literally--and I mean literally--already had his whole stack in his shaking hand as I moved my chips into the middle. His chips literally--and I still mean literally--beat mine into the pot. He of course turned over AKs.

Me dominated.

Me didn't improve.

Me sent home.

Me very, very angry at me-self.

Me need to remember to look left next time.

Argh.

All-in for now...
-Bug

Decisions, Decisions

WSOP 2013 Schedule of Events was released today. Only bad news is I can just pick one from the bunch. Max buy-in I can afford is $2K. Suggestions are welcome...

On to the next entry in this WSOP journey prep journal...

All-in for now...
-Bug

Event	Date	No. of Days	Buy-In
Event 1 – $500 No-Limit Hold’em Casino Employees	5/29/13	2	$500
Event 2 – $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 8 Handed	5/29/13	4	$5,000
Event 3 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	5/30/13	3	$1,000
Event 4 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed	5/31/13	3	$1,500
Event 5 – $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8/OB	5/31/13	3	$2,500
Event 6 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Millionaire Maker	6/1/13	3	$1,500
Event 7 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	6/2/13	3	$1,000
Event 8 – $2,500 Eight Game Mix	6/2/13	3	$2,500
Event 9 – $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout	6/3/13	3	$3,000
Event 10 – $1,500 Limit Hold’em	6/3/13	3	$1,500
Event 11 – $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed	6/4/13	3	$2,500
Event 12 – $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em	6/5/13	3	$1,500
Event 13 – $5,000 Seven Card Stud 8/OB	6/5/13	3	$5,000
Event 14 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/6/13	3	$1,500
Event 15 – $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.	6/7/13	3	$1,500
Event 16 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads Up	6/7/13	3	$10,000
Event 17 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/8/13	3	$1,500
Event 18 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	6/9/13	3	$1,000
Event 19 – $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em	6/9/13	3	$5,000
Event 20 – $1,500 Omaha 8/OB	6/10/13	3	$1,500
Event 21 – $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed	6/11/13	3	$3,000
Event 22 – $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha	6/12/13	3	$1,500
Event 23 – $2,500 Seven-Card Stud	6/12/13	3	$2,500
Event 24 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/13/13	3	$1,500
Event 25 – $5,000 Omaha 8/OB	6/13/13	3	$5,000
Event 26 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors Championship	6/14/13	3	$1,000
Event 27 – $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mixed Max	6/14/13	3	$3,000
Event 28 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/15/13	3	$1,500
Event 29 – $5,000 H.O.R.S.E.	6/15/13	3	$5,000
Event 30 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	6/16/13	3	$1,000
Event 31 – $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8/OB	6/17/13	3	$1,500
Event 32 – $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed	6/18/13	3	$5,000
Event 33 – $2,500 Seven Card Razz	6/18/13	3	$2,500
Event 34 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo	6/19/13	2	$1,000
Event 35 – $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha	6/19/13	3	$3,000
Event 36 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout	6/20/13	3	$1,500
Event 37 – $5,000 Limit Hold’em	6/20/13	3	$5,000
Event 38 – $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Four Handed	6/21/13	3	$2,500
Event 39 – $1,500 Seven-Card Stud 8/OB	6/21/13	3	$1,500
Event 40 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/22/13	3	$1,500
Event 41 – $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Six Handed	6/22/13	3	$5,000
Event 42 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	6/23/13	3	$1,000
Event 43 – $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball	6/23/13	3	$10,000
Event 44 – $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em	6/24/13	3	$3,000
Event 45 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Ante Only	6/25/13	3	$1,500
Event 46 – $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8/OB	6/25/13	3	$3,000
Event 47 – $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold’em	6/26/13	3	$111,111
Event 48 – $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em	6/26/13	3	$2,500
Event 49 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/27/13	3	$1,500
Event 50 – $2,500 Six-Handed 10-Game Mix	6/27/13	3	$2,500
Event 51 – $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship	6/28/13	3	$1,000
Event 52 – $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em	6/28/13	3	$25,000
Event 53 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	6/29/13	3	$1,500
Event 54 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	6/30/13	3	$1,000
Event 55 – The $50,000 Poker Players Championship	6/30/13	5	$50,000
Event 56 – $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em	7/1/13	3	$2,500
Event 57 – $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em	7/2/13	3	$5,000
Event 58 – $1,111 Little One For One Drop	7/3/13	4	$1,111
Event 59 – $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball	7/3/13	3	$2,500
Event 60 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em	7/5/13	3	$1,500
Event 61 – $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha	7/5/13	3	$10,000
Event 62 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event	7/6/13	10	$10,000

Virtual Villains

I've been fiddling around lately with the DD Poker software I blogged about back in March (here).  One of the cool things this package allows you to do is play big MTT simulations against large fields of strong opponents. The software is actually pretty sophisticated, with reasonably strong AI (artificial intelligence) built into the opponents. They check-raise, bluff, limp-reraise, float, and otherwise implement all manner of different and challenging strategies. They even make big lay downs, get bored, and actually go on tilt. Seriously. Some opponents are weak-tight, some TAgs, others loose aggressive, and yet others seem to vary their tactics continually as a function of blind level and stack sizes. In other words, it's a challenge to play well against these virtual villains.

To make a long story short, I've been playing a number of tourneys via DD while stuck on airplanes and airports lately, and frankly I'm impressed. No, these are not real players. And no, it's certainly not equivalent to playing in a live (or online) event against real humans. But it's not bad, either. Seriously. Give it a try; it's free.

There's a lot to be learned playing against the computer, and while I definitely need a helluva lot more real seat time, this isn't a bad way to help stay sharp and get in massive amounts of hands in different tournament situations when I can't play the real McCoy.

I've played probably thirty or forty big field events over the past 4 weeks, usually busting out sometime during "day 2" of the virtual event. Yesterday, however, I finally went deep in one of DD's WSOP main event simulations. Very deep. How deep, you ask? Answer:

Off and on, this particular event took somewhere around 20 hours to complete. Fun, addicting, time-consuming poker... gotta love it. Even if it is just a simulation, and the villain's are virtual.

On to the next entry in this WSOP-2013 journey...

All-in for now...
-Bug