For those who are AC/DC, we salute you

Some events are over-hyped so much, that their unfolding must be a disappointment. The Super Bowl is often an example. I was afraid that the AC/DC concert last night at FedEx Forum would be a case in point. The show, however, was amazing, and I needn't have worried.

When I showed up, they didn't make me sit in the geriatric section, and I'm quite pleased about that. Also, they announced "no cameras," but everyone had one. Digital cameras are so small these days, that it would be impossible to keep people from bringing them in. I carried my point-and-shoot along and took some shots for both of my readers.


(Click any of the images to enlarge.)

The show started around 8:30 and for the next one hour and 45 minutes there was electricity in the air, oops, bad pun it was high voltage another bad pun, oh well, couldn't resist. Let's get one thing straight: AC/DC doesn't mess around. They rock and they rock hard -- no punches are pulled. The people in my section stood, stomped their feet and stayed standing for the entire show. What did I do? I stood too, of course. The show was tightly choreographed. It moved smoothly from one song to another and the light show was great.

AC/DC used more props than any group I've seen (although Pink Floyd gives them a run for their money). The show began with a giant video of a train out of control and they then began the concert with their current hit "Rock 'N Roll Train." The train stayed as a set (like you would see if you went to a play) and you can see it here:


Besides the train, if you look to the top-left, you can see one of the three large jumbo-trons.

The singer, Brian Johnson, was extremely engaging. He talked to the audience and drew us in. There was a runway that extended maybe 90 feet out into the audience and he spent a lot of time there, high-fiving with the crowd as he sang.


You can see part of the runway in this image.

When I was in high school back in the iron age, no wait, it was only the bronze age, I had a history teacher who divided us into small discussion groups. We had to take the material from the text book and break it out into three categories depending on how important we thought it was. I forget the name of the lowest one, but it was something like details or nice. Then there were two higher groups of material: goods and musts with the latter being the most important. When you see a concert, the "must" part is the music -- in the end, that's what it's all about -- the music.

Some bands get stale with time, but not this one. Their music sounded fresh and better than ever. They played all the hits. The audience joined in, particularly on the song "Dirty Deeds." But AC/DC wasn't afraid to play a new song or two. "Big Jack" and "Black Ice" are from their most recent album and they were both awesome, too.

Angus Young, the lead guitarist, is one of the founding members of the group (along with rhythm guitarist brother Malcolm Young.) He began the concert wearing his trademark schoolboy uniform with shorts, schoolboy cap, white shirt and tie and jacket. About one-third way into the concert, he stripped down to just shorts and shoes and socks.


Shirtless Angus Young is front right in the image above.

His guitar work was beyond excellent, probably the best I've ever heard (and yes, I've seen Clapton). Several times, he took his right hand away and continued playing with just his left. I assume this is hard to do, and, even if it's not, it looks quite impressive.


Angus Young plays his guitar (above) in front of a large screen that zooms in on his finger-work.


I mentioned the light show. The above is one of many photos I took that show the effect of the different lights.


When they performed "Whole Lotta Rosie", they used another prop shown above -- a large-breasted woman riding the run-away train. Notice the 90-feet blow-up doll has an AC/DC tattoo on her arm.


If you click to enlarge the image above, you'll see a giant bell near the top. It was lowered before they sang (guess what?) "Hells Bells" -- another of their many props so props to them for their props. One of the songs they sang for an encore was "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" and they had giant cannons that fired. (The other encore song was Highway to Hell.) During the song "T.N.T.," giant fireballs came out of the train.

The opening act was "The Answer," a heavy metal group from Belfast, Ireland. They were okay, but after they finished playing, I still wasn't quite sure what the question was.



You can read the review that was in the local newspaper, The Memphis Commercial-Appeal, by clicking here. I like mine better -- it's is more informal, has more photos and has YOU reading it!

Electricity in the air -- is it AC or DC?

Poplar Avenue is the main east-west artery in Memphis. If you travel west on it heading to downtown, you might look to your right and see this billboard:


I waited for a break in the traffic, pulled to the right-hand lane and shot this photo through the windshield of my Camry. I'm not sure why they bothered with a billboard -- tonight's show has been sold out for some time now.

I looked over the info on AC/DC in Wiklpedia and found out some interesting facts.

True or false? The band gets its name because some of the members are heterosexual and some are not?

The answer is false. According to Wikipedia, they took the name because they saw AC/DC on the back of a sewing machine and thought the electricity concept symbolized their raw energy, power-driven performances.

The group has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 71 million albums in the United States.

AC/DC is pronounced one letter at a time, though the band is popularly known as "Acca Dacca" in Australia.

Although the band is commonly classified as hard rock, and considered pioneers of heavy metal, AC/DC has always classified its music as "rock and roll."

Changing gears -- Is just me or do they overdo the fees on tickets. I believe in capitalism and making money and all that, but enough is enough. The ticket itself was expensive, but here are the add-ons:

Facility charge = $2.00
Convenience charge = $13.10
Delivery = $2.50
Order processing fee = $4.20
Additional Taxes = $1.22

Total fees = $22.52!

Note - delivery means they sent me a PDF by e-mail and then I had to print my own ticket. If they sent the actual ticket to me instead, it was more.

One more thing. They say no cameras allowed. We'll see about that.

It's left me numb

I played in the NumbBlowMe Open tournament tonight. That's the one where you have to full-blown bat-shit crazy to enter with 10 cent rebuys. You know the one, it's turbo. If you aren't all-in on each hand for the first 90 minutes, you'll be left behind.

Here's an example (note how many players joined the shove-fest and note how I hit runner, runner to score a flush):



Here's my bustout hand. I was nursing a short stack and picked up Q-Q and raised 3X the BB and got two callers. The flop was 10-high and the other guy moved me all in, haha, these donkeys. He hit his gutshot on the turn, c'est la guerre.

Avoiding pitfalls

It's so easy to make mistakes when defending a bridge contract. The deal shown below was played online on OKbridge last Saturday in their 5:30 ACBL IMP tournament. It was deal #1:

                ♠ A 9 8 7
                ♥ 9 8 6
                ♦ 9 8 2
                ♣ J 5 2
♠ Q 10 3 2                     ♠ 6 5
♥ K Q 10 7                     ♥ J 5 3 2
♦ A K J 6                      ♦ Q 10 7 5 4
♣ 10                           ♣ 7 6
                ♠ K J 4
                ♥ A 4
                ♦ 3
                ♣ A K Q 9 8 4 3

Usually South opened 1♣ and West doubled. There were many different auctions from that point, but 3♣, 4♣ and 5♣ were common contracts. In almost every case, West led a high diamond, and then paths diverged. Let's see what happened when North-South were in 5♣.

In looking at the play records, I see that often West continued with another high diamond and the contract was makeable. Declarer ruffs, draws trump and leads the ♠K and then the jack. After West covers (ducking is no better), declarer leads another spade from dummy, conceeding a trick to the ♠10. But now the ♠8 is high and the ♣J is an entry to discard a losing heart. Several declarers found this line, so kudos to them. It's obviously the best shot because West is far more likely to hold the ♠Q than East. A few declarers improved on this by taking a backwards finesse. They led the ♠J first. After it was covered, they then finessed East for the ♠10. This cannot cost a trick and gains when East has ♠10 x x.

In several instances, however, West shifted to the ♥K at trick two. Now if declarer plays as described in the paragraph above, West can cash a heart trick when in with the spade. At several tables, however, when he was in, he couldn't tell whether to try and cash the heart or the diamond. Good carding by East and an alert West will overcome this pitfall, but online players don't always card well.

After the shift to the ♥K, however, declarer can take a different line. He can run all the clubs but one, and reduce the hands to this:

                ♠ A 9 8
                ♥ 9 8
                ♦ ---
                ♣ ---
♠ Q 10 3                   ♠ 6
♥ Q 10                     ♥ J 3
♦ ---                      ♦ Q 10
♣ ---                      ♣ ---
                ♠ K J 4
                ♥ 4
                ♦ ---
                ♣ 3

To reach this position, West must have watched the cards played by East and known that it was safe to discard his high diamonds. When he led the ♥K at trick two, what did East play? East must play an encouraging card -- the ♥5 if playing standard carding and the ♥2 if playing upside down.

Now South plays his last club, and what does West do? If he discards a spade, South has no spade losers, so he must discard a heart. But which one? If he discards the ♥10, South can read the position and lead his ♥4 to endplay West. When West wins, he has to lead a spade, giving up his trick in that suit. To avoid the endplay, West has to discard his ♥Q. Now if South exits with a low heart, East can overtake the 10 with his jack and cash one or two diamonds.

See how many pitfalls there are? See how important accurate carding is? See how high the level of trust must be? Would you and your favorite partner avoided all the traps?

Thanks to Xwing who showed me this deal. You can see the bidding and play of this intersting deal at each of 65 tables if you click here.

Poker pearl #17

Columnist Roy Cooke writes an article each month about high-stakes limit poker in Card Player magazine (to the right you can see the scan of the cover of latest issue). His Jan. 28 piece is titled "Overaggressiveness Can Cost you!" Here's something he wrote:

"It's a truism of the game of poker that aggressive play is winning play. But many aggressive players overplay their hands and bet way too often.

"Some people think you should always bet if you think you hold the best hand. But that is conceptually incorrect. Generally, you should bet only when you think a worse hand will call the majority of the time, or a better hand will fold and the pot is laying you the correct price to bluff.

"You don't always have to be 100% correct when you are betting in order to get called. If you are the favorite to make money over the long haul when called, the bet is correct.

"It is especially important that you don't have an autopilot style . . . Every single bet that you're putting into the pot requires an independent analysis and decision . . . That translates into significant profits over the long haul -- and significant profits make for a happy poker player!"

Dueling 4-4 fit stories

The Korbels (Dan and Susie) posted about avoiding weak 4-4 fits a few days ago in their bridge blog and you can read that particular post here. Not to be outdone, I also posted a story where a deal makes 6NT or 6♠ in a 5-3 fit, but not 6♦ in a 4-4 fit. It's titled "4-4 fits are not da bomb" and you can read that one here.

Today, the Korbel's posted another deal that Dan played Monday night on BridgeBase online. They were in 7♣, eschewing a 4-4 spade fit that doesn't make the 7♠ grand slam because of a 4-1 spade split. He then discussed when to avoid 4-4 fits. You can read his post here.

Now it's my turn for a 4-4 fit story. Earlier today, a friend showed me a deal where an online player played a 4-4 fit in slam. What's that word? Oh yeah, serendipity.

Here are the two hands (low spot cards are approximate):

                ♠ 8 5
                ♥ 3
                ♦ Q J 9 8 6 5
                ♣ 10 6 5 2
==
                ♠ K Q 6
                ♥ A K 5
                ♦ A K 3
                ♣ A K J 3

It's always awkward to bid when one hand is so strong and the other so weak. The pair who played this deal landed in 6♣.

Notice that in 6NT, a club finesse is needed. You don't have the entries to lead up to spades twice. Even if you led to the ♠K and it holds, you can't be sure that West isn't ducking. If the finesse to the ♣J wins, you claim six diamonds, three clubs, two hearts and one spade. I make 6NT to be about a 50% proposition.

Playing 6♦ is better. You have entries to the North hand. Win, let's say, the heart lead, draw trumps ending in the North hand, and lead to the ♠K Q 6. If it wins, ruff a heart to North and lead another spade. If the ace is onside, you claim (six diamonds, two clubs, two hearts and two spades). If it is off, win any return, go to the North hand by ruffing a spade and take a club hook. If successful, that gives you six diamonds, two hearts, one spade and three clubs. I'm no math guy, but I make the combined chances around 75%.

The actual contract of 6♣ is the worst of the three. Because you are off an ace, you must bring in the club suit. If it splits 4-1 (or worse), you are down (unless there's a singleton ♣Q). If it splits 3-2, you still need the club finesse. I make it around 34%. (The math guys out there like Paul Gipson (The Beer Card) can probably tell you down to the one-hundredth of a percent, but you can see that the "magic" 4-4 fit is not where you want to be on this deal.

Daniel, your turn.

Here's how to pick you fantasy football team

Having trouble winning your fantasy football league? This youTube link probably won't help, but it's amazing what these guys can do.

If you're at work, turn down the volume, then click here. I don't know if there is some editing going on, but what you will see is pretty amazing.

Another Tuckfardian Monday

Fourteen runners showed up for the weekly, always-fun, NL Hold 'em Tuckfard Open. We were missing BamBamCan, but Pebbles played in his place and Bedrock was well-represented. Most of the other usual suspects showed up. I saw MuhcTim playing and he foolishly went all in with A-A against NutzCarson's 6-6. S-N-A-P -- that was the sound of his aces getting beat. Katatitude brought her attitude. Early on Wolfshead had bad luck when he ran his 10-10 into my K-K -- some nights you can't avoid the coolers.

I was lucky early to build a big stack when the aforementioned K-K took out both a short stack and crippled Wolfshead. After that I was able to wait for premium hands. The few times I did bet, I was getting little resistance as I showed some pretty strong hands.

Of course, you have to get lucky. When you make quads and someone bets and you take down a decent-sized pot, that's not you playing great poker, that's pretty much luck. Here's a screen shot:



When we were four-handed, I was again lucky, this time against RedNeckTuckfard. We were all in preflop. She had ♣4 ♦4 versus my ♣A ♠J. The flop was ♠10 ♠5 ♣7 -- a good flop for her. The turn was the ♦7, so now all she has to do is dodge an ace or a jack. The river was the ♣5 -- whoa! When I looked a second time, the board showed two pair, 7s and 5s to counterfeit her 4-4. We both had 7s and 5s, but my ace played as a kicker! She was a good sport about it.

I was card dead for a while and kittenshocker and cemfredmd slugged it out. Finally, kittenshocker went out in third-place. At that point I was outchipped by 13+K to around 9K. He whittled me down, and finally I picked up ♠5 ♦2 in the big blind. Cemfredmd completed and I went all in -- ha ha, just kidding, I checked, too. The flop was great for me: ♠2 ♥5 ♥Q. I flopped two pair! I forget the betting but we ended up all in. My two pair wasn't looking so good when the cards were turned over. The villain other guy had ♣2 ♣Q for a higher two pair! I'd like to report that I hit a 5 on the river to boat up, but that only happens on TV or to the people who play against me online.

So, congrats to cemfredmd, and shockerkitten as well. Also, congrats to fourth-place good sport, good player and bubble-girl RedNeckTuckFard and to NutzCarson who was 5th.

What price glory?

In my previous post, I described a chop that happened at the final table of the Friday noon tournament (the Friday tournament final table was held on Saturday) at the WSOP circuit event currently being held at Harrah's Casino Tunica. You can see the final standings and the exact payouts if you click here.

Let's review: When they were five-handed, they chopped the prize pool. The rumored chop was (about) $26,000 for the first four places (they were all about the same in chips) and $10,000 for a short-stacked fifth player. In my post I asked what was wrong with this. Several readers made good comments, but none of them hit on what I was trying to get at.

When you finish a WSOP tournament, if you finish "in the money," you have to sign for first place, second place, etc. and that creates what is called a tax event. Whoever wins, for example, signs for $56,860 and also gets a ring. It doesn't matter that he only gets $26K (the agreed chop facilitated by Harrah's), he's still responsible for taxes on 58 grand and change. That's what he signs for, and, next January, he'll receive a W2-G tax form for that income which is reported to the IRS.

Once they agreed on 26K each, it would actually be to each player's advantage to be the next one to bust out! They would sign for fifth place money (which was $5,687) and that would be their tax liability.

Things can be absurd. Here's a far-out example: If the short stack came back and won, he would have to sign for the $58+K. They immediately withhold 3% for Mississippi state tax (which would be around $1700. Then on what's left, he would owe (let's guess-timate) 20% federal taxes for another $11,000 or so. Between the two, this is more than his cut of the prize pool based on the chop.

What's wrong with this picture?

The event I played in Saturday night at the WSOP at Harrah's Casino (Tunica) was one hour late getting started so I watched a little of the final table from Friday's event. The events work like this: they play until down to the final table (or occasionally when there is two tables left if it is after a certain time, I think 2 a.m.), then those players come back the next day.

I heard that when there were five players left, they made this chop: There was one short-stack and the other four were about the same. The shortie got $10,000 and the other four got $25,000 each. (I'm not sure the numbers are exactly right, but something like this.)

They give a ring instead of a bracelet at these circuit events, so they played on. The winner would get his name in lights and the ring. A friend of mine won one of these rings two years ago, so I've seen one -- they're nothing special as far as being valuable, basically something to show off.

What's wrong with this chop? I'll give my comments in a day or two after others have had a chance to comment.

EDIT: You can see the payouts if you click here.
1st: $56.8K
2nd: $29.3
3rd: $15.9
4th: $8.5
5th: $5.6

You can see the big difference between 1st and 4th and thus the rationale for wanting to chop.

When I add them up, however, it comes to around $116K and that doesn't work out. 25 times 4 is 100 and 10K for 5th so there would be 6K left over. As I said, the numbers were hearsay and not exact. For the purpose of this discussion, let's say they chop was $26K for the top four and $11K for fifth. Also, let's assume the short-stack was very short.

The geezers beat up on me

I played in the WSOP circuit event Senior's tournament tonight. To play, you had to be 50 year or older. Ahem, well they let me in to play without checking my ID and I'm quite upset about that.

The tournament structure was excellent. We started with 6000 in chips and levels were 30 minutes. I had high hopes. Early on I saw there were 276 players, but they were letting in alternates and I didn't hear a final tally. I can say there was lots of gray hair. My hair is brown, but it has some gray in it, too, come to think of it.

When the blinds were 50/100, the lady in front of my opened for 300 and I checked my hole cards to see: ♠Q ♥Q. What would you do? There are different ways to play this, but I decided just to call. If an ace comes and she makes a CB, I get to watch her body language before deciding how to proceed. Also, there are players to act behind me. If went fold, fold to a guy who raised to it 2500. W-O-W. The lady who bet 300 thought and folded. Now, what would you do? I didn't have a great read on the guy, but he looked like a solid citizen. I'm not sure what the huge overbet is all about, but I folded. I never found out what he had.

I did a lot of folding, actually. When you play the seniors, it doesn't pay to get too aggressive unless you expect to get called down. Bluffing is not a good idea, but you can value bet them to death. I had A-K, K-Q suited, and J-J once to win small pots.

My only misstep was when I was in the big blind with ♦10 ♦9. The blinds were 300/600/50. A guy came in for a min-raise and so I called. The flop was 10-8-6 rainbow. I had top pair and a gutshot str8 draw. I checked and he made the expected CB of 1200. I check-raised him to 2600 figuring that would take down the pot. Instead, he moved all in and I had to fold. Yuck-o.

I did a good job of playing position poker. Because I had folded so much, when I did make a bet, it was given respect. Even so, I never really built much of a stack. I think 11,000 was my high mark.

Here's my bust-out hand. The blinds were 400/800/75 and I was in the small blind with around 5500 (having just paid my BB). My hole cards were ♠Q ♦7. It was folded to the button who called, and so did I. The BB checked. The flop was Q-4-2 and I bet out for 2500 into a 3100 pot. The BB folded and the button called. The turn was ♥7, giving me two pair, but putting three hearts on the board. I put the rest of my chips in and was called. The button had played king rag, both of them hearts. I had four outs to full house, but that only happens on TV I think. In any event, it didn't happen for me.

It was 9:30 and I didn't feel like playing anymore. I stopped at Wendy's on my way home and picked up a salad. My poker may suck tonight, but at least I'm eating healthily.

Here's a shot of the playing area. It's a photo of about half the players in what they call the Event Center. There were (EDIT) roughly 500 players in the noon event, and nearly 300 in the 4 p.m. (which actually didn't start until 5 p.m.) game. Sorry it's blurry -- I was using my cheap camera.



Here's what we call the shot clock. It's a big flat panel TV screen that shows the amount of time left in a particular level, what the blinds (and antes) are and some other information. I'm not sure what's up with the pink.



After I busted out of the tournament, I wandered back to the poker room (other side of the building) near where I parked. Business was booming, as you can see in this image:

"I thought I had a straight"

I went to the Goldstrike last night to play in their 6 p.m. tournament.I arrived at 5:55 and the tournament was full and they had 35 alternates ahead of me! There is a WSOP tournament in Tunica at Harrah's and so all of the poker rooms are booming. Instead of getting on an alternate list behind 35 players, I decided to play some 1/2 NL hold 'em.

I bought in for my usual $200 and settled in. The table was good. There was action, but not crazy action. After about 20 minutes, I looked at my hole cards to see ♠ K ♣ K. I raised to $15 and got three callers. The flop was ♣10 ♦8 ♥7. I guess that's a pretty good flop for me unless someone hit a set.

I bet $45 into a $62 pot and it folded to an old man who raised to $120. What the hey ... ? I thought for a while and went ahead and moved in. Yes, he could have a set of 10s, but he didn't play a hand with a 9 for $15 unless it was a pair of 9s, and then he still has to hit his straight. I put him on J-J or Q-Q or a horribly misplayed A-10. He called. In a cash game, you don't have to show, but I usually do. I think it makes it more fun. He turned his cards over too, and showed ♥10 ♠6. Huh?

Now he says, "I looked at it wrong, I thought I had a straight." The way he said it, it sounded believable, but who knows?

You know what's coming, don't you? The turn was another 10 giving him trips and the river (not that it mattered) was a 6 filling up his boat. Instead of sitting with close to $500 in front of me, it was rebuy time. Sure you hate to lose the money, but the way it happened makes is so much worse -- a guy (claims to anyway) misreads his hand (CHERRYS) to get lucky and win a big pot (LEMONS).

Today is a new day. I'm going to play in the WSOP tournament at Harrahs at 4 p.m. today. I figure why not? I've used up my bad luck -- it's time for some good luck.

4-4 fits are not da bomb

One of the bridge blogs I read is Korbel Bridge Adventures by Susie and Daniel Korbel, two of Canada's young stars. (Daniel is also a poker player and I've played at the same table online with him.) In a recent post they discussed how we, as bridge players, are obsessed with finding 4-4 fits and that reminded me of a deal I played in Charlottesville VA a long, long time ago.

I held: ♠A Q 8 6 5 ♥J ♦J 10 7 5 ♣A Q 4.

My partner was Bob L. and he opened 1♦, I responded 1♠ and he rebid 2NT. I made a check-back bid and partner showed me a three-card spade fit. I checked on aces (we were off one) and bid 6♦ to give partner a choice. My reasoning is that we had 32 or 33 high-card points, and so because the slam is skinny, we might need to make an extra trick by playing in diamonds. Partner passed and the opening lead was a low heart. Here are all four hands (low cards are approximate):

                ♠ A Q 8 6 5
                ♥ J
                ♦ J 10 7 5
                ♣ A Q 4
♠ J 7 3                         ♠ 10 4
♥ 7 6 5 2                       ♥ A 8 4 3
♦ Q 4 2                         ♦ 8 6
♣ J 7 5                         ♣ 9 8 6 3 2
                ♠ K 9 2
                ♥ K Q 10 9
                ♦ A K 9 3
                ♣ K 10

East won the ♥A and partner eventually took the diamond finesse for down one.

It was annoying to see that it made 6♠, and, in fact, makes 6NT. South's strong heart spots were tricks because of my jack.

Then, we looked again. We can make 6♥ in a 4-1 fit! Win any lead, drive out the ace of hearts, win the return and draw trumps. Because the East-West hearts split 4-4, you would take the rest of the tricks. So much for the magic 4-4 fit.

The language of bridge

Language, according to the Webster online dictionary, is a system of words (or signs or symbols), their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community. All languagues must define the relationships between those signs and that is called grammar. The meaning of a word can change. The word Washington, for example, may mean the U.S. capital, one of the U.S. states or someone's name. Usually you can tell which meaning is intended by the context.

Bridge bidding is similar to a language. It is a series of signs or codes meant to relay information to your partner. The grammar of bridge is, perhaps, the system you've agreed to play. If you are playing a 2/1 system, then a 1♣ bid means something entirely different than the same bid in a Precision Club system.

In bridge, what does a 2♦ bid mean? If it's an opening bid, it may be a weak-two bid, it may be Flannery, or it may be something else, depending on your agreement. Suppose someone opens the bidding and the next player bids 2♦. Now what is that? It depends on the context. If the opening bid was 1♠, then 2♦ means whatevever an overcall is (depending on your style). If the opening bid was 1NT, then 2♦ might show the majors, or diamonds and a higher suit, or something else. If the opening bid is 1♦ and you bid 2♦, many players agree that the bid shows 5-5 in the majors.

Playing online a few days ago, I was East on this deal:

                ♠ K 10 9 6 5 2
                ♥ K 8 6 2
                ♦ 10 2
                ♣ Q
♠ J                            ♠ A Q 8 7 4
♥ A J 5                        ♥ 9 7 3
♦ Q J 8 4 3                    ♦ A 6 5
♣ A K 6 3                      ♣ 10 8
                ♠ 3
                ♥ Q 10 4
                ♦ K 9 7
                ♣ J 9 7 5 4 2

West opened 1♦ and North bid 2♦, a Michaels cuebid. This is supposed to show 5-5 (or occasionally 6-5) in the majors. This is like talking to someone, but artibrarily changing the meaning of some of the words you are saying. Either that or maybe it's the quivalent of lying. East bid 2♠ to show where his values were (unusual vs. unusual would be better) and South bid 3♣. When you have a bad hand, it's usually a good idea to pass. Besides the fact South has a weak hand, her ♦K has questionable value. After partner has shown the majors, at least bid hearts if you feel you have to bid -- you know you have a fit there (unless partner is lying to you). He doesn't care about your moth-eaten club suit. West doubled and that ended the auction.

West led the ♠J which held the trick. She continued with the ♣ K and then the ♦3. East won the ace and returned a diamond. Declarer took the ace and advanced the ♥10. West grabbed the ace and cashed the ♦Q and led another. East ruffed with the ♣10 which uppercut South. She over-ruffed and now West's ♣6 was promoted to a trick.

The final result was a score for North-South of minus 800 which was 8.91 IMPs for East-West. You can see other results and who else is lying by clicking here.

To enjoy this deal as a bridge movie in a java applet, click here. Use your back arrow on your browser to return.

Some Saturday poker action

I played in a tournament last night at the Goldstrike Casino. The bad beats and suckouts were rampant. Early on, a guy made a small raise with A-A and was called by 8-8. The flop was 8-X-X and the A-A guy bet and was raised all in. He called. The turn was a miracle card for him -- one of the two remaining aces. Not to worry, however, the set of 8s hit a one-outer -- he drew the fourth 8 on the river.

In another cute hand, a shortstack moved all in with ♠A ♠5 and was called by A-K offsuit. The flop was K-X-X where the two Xs were spades. The A-5 guy hit his flush on the turn when the ♠K was dealt. The big slick guy had exactly three outs now, but an ace came on the river to give him a full house.

There were a lot more hands like this that I don't remember the specifics of, but needless to say, it was a crazy night. The worst part was I had to listen to all the dumb jokes about how live poker is so rigged, etc.

There were 59 players in the tournament. I lasted for three hours. When I was shortstacked, I moved in with 5-5. Presto ran into 10-10 and I didn't improve. It was 9 p.m. and I wanted to play some more, but the 1/2 NL HE games had a waiting list five miles long, so, I jumped in a 4-8 limit game. I won $60 and decided to call it quits for the night, being down $50 (the entry to the tournament was $110). I asked for a comp for a large pepperoni pizza that I wanted to take with me to eat while watching the NFL games Sunday. I got the pizza, and, as I was walking out, I realized I was carrying a $50 pizza. That's not too bad, however -- one time last August, that darn free pizza cost me nearly $300.

When I got home, I played in two cheap online sit-and-gos. This hand was from the first. We were all in on the flop. The short stack had the A-A hand, so at least I figured to win the side pot from the Q-Q hand. Check the river.



Then this one. Too bad the guy didn't have a full house, or at least the nut flush. For some reason, his hand doesn't show, but he had ♦J ♣Q.

Six-player sit and gos are ridonkulous

Earlier this morning, I signed up for a six-person sit and go on my laptop. When I finished what I was doing on my desktop computer (and before the SNG kicked off), I logged off my laptop and opened the poker site on my desktop. When I did, I couldn't find the SNG tournament. I figured when I logged out, it withdrew me.

About 45 minutes later, a window popped up telling me I had finished 3rd. I beat half the field and didn't play a hand. Honestly folks, I couldn't make this stuff up. Has anything like this ever happened to you?

Poker pearl #16 - Playing from the big blind

You are in the big blind and the button or small blind raises and you have A-K or A-Q. Do you reraise? That's what most players would do. Let's say that you have J-10 or Q-10 instead. Now would you call or fold or?



Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin (shown to the right) has crushed multitable tournaments online for years. He's also done well in live tournaments. Below is a tip about playing the big blind that he gave in the Dec. 31 2008 issue (Casino Edition) of Card Player magazine.


In the big blind against aggressive players, "I like to just call with a lot of my bigger hands, like A-K and A-Q, and I like to reraise them with hands like J-10, Q-10 and Q-J. The reason for that is that they are going to call a lot of the time when I reraise if we are deep-stacked.

"If I do it with A-K, and the flop comes jack high and I bet again, so many people put me on A-K or something similar and float me. Then, I don't know where I am at. If I do it with J-10 and the flop comes jack high, I bet and they call, and I end up getting value out of the hand. Now, if an ace or king flops, my bluff (bet on the flop) is going to succeed a lot more.

"So by reraising with those kind of hands, on an ace- or king-high board, your bluffs are working more often, and you are getting value when you actually hit."

All around the world

What if you were offered to be coached at bridge by a world champion? Wouldn't you expect it to cost a fortune? Not so fast. The Junior program on Bridge Base Online that I wrote about here does just that and it's free!

Today, I watched the coaching session directed by Lynn Deas (and facilitated by vdoubleu) on BBO. Players 26 years old and younger participated. There were 10 lesson hands and Junior players took turns bidding and playing them. After each one, play paused and the board was discussed. Juniors asked questions. World-champion Deas and NABC-champion vdoubleu (BBO screen name) gave advice, corrected wrong or inferior plays (but nicely, of course) and the Juniors soaked it up like a sponge.

I clicked on the participants' profiles. There were bridge players and spectators from six of the seven continents -- sorry, no one from Antartica was logged in, ha. Quick, where is the country of Vanuatu? Answer: It's an island in the South Pacific Ocean and there was a Junior bridge player from there who participated! It's a cliche, but true, that the Internet has made our planet smaller and more interconnected.

Here's a deal (hands rotated) that was played and discussed:

                ♠ A Q 3
                ♥ A 8 6
                ♦ 6 4 2
                ♣ A 8 5 3
♠ 10 9 6 4                      ♠ J 2
♥ Q 9 7 3                       ♥ J 5 4 2
♦ K 8                           ♦ J 7 5 3
♣ J 9 6                         ♣ K 4 2
                ♠ K 8 7 5
                ♥ K 10
                ♦ A Q 10 9
                ♣ Q 10 7

South opened 1♦ and North bid 2♣. South rebid 2NT and North raised to 3NT.

West led the ♠9. Declarer won the ace and led the ♦2 to the 3, 10 and king. West could infer that South had the ♠ K (no finesse at trick one) so he shifted to the ♥3 that went to the 6, jack and king. South led a spade to the queen and finessed again in the diamond suit. The defense slipped a trick and declarer made 11 tricks.

Assuming you lead the 9 from 10-9 holdings, do you agree with West's opening lead? In the discussion that followed, it was suggested that a heart would be better because your suit is stronger. They don't call it "fourth from your longest and strongest" for nothing. Deas didn't just quote rules, however. Young players want to know why. She explained that after a heart lead, East needed less values in the suit for that to be successful. Also, Deas explained that if you do decide to lead a spade, you should lead low.

Did declarer make the right play at trick two by tackling diamonds instead of clubs? The answer, as Deas explained, is yes. South has stronger spot cards (the 10 and 9).

What are the odds of making three tricks if you play on diamonds? The discussion revealed that it is about 75%, a handy number to remember. You need either the king or jack onside to set up three diamonds tricks. You can take four, of course, if both the king and jack are finessable.

If you're a Junior (26 years old or younger), you can participate, too. See my post just below (called Why guess?) for the program and hours.

Why guess?

There's an excellent Junior bridge program offered on Bridge Base Online. It's for for players 26 years old and younger. The program has flourished after lots of hard work by vdoubleu and JuniorsBBO (BBO user names).

On Tuesdays, the Juniors play a 10 board mini-tournament paired with more advanced players. Afterwards, there is a directed-play lesson.

On Wednesdays, the program offers what is called a "Teaching Table." The Juniors play 10 deals, and, after each, they pause and open it up for questions and discussion by various well-known bridge experts (such as Mike Passell, Steve Robinson or Curtis Cheek).

On Thursdays, five-time world-champion Lynn Deas offers a coaching program (except when she is on the road playing at tournaments). If you want to read a NY Times article about Lynn, click here. Four Juniors sit and play a random deal. Afterwards, they discuss various aspects of it, guided by Lynn.

I watched the 10-board tournament yesterday. They had 17 tables -- a good turnout. Players were there from all over the world. I saw Junior players from Germany, China, Italy, Turkey, Denmark, Poland, Canada and the U.S. There were other countries represented too -- these are just the ones that came to the table where I was a spectator. Vdoubleu tells me that they believe they have at least 1500 Juniors who play and they think 600 are Americans.

This was board #1 (hands rotated):

                ♠ Q 10 6
                ♥ K 8 7 4 3
                ♦ K Q 5
                ♣ K 10
♠ A 8 5                         ♠ J 2
♥ 10 9 5 2                      ♥ Q J 6
♦ 7 6                           ♦ A 10 4 3 2
♣ J 9 5 3                       ♣ Q 7 4
                ♠ K 9 7 4 3
                ♥ A
                ♦ J 9 8
                ♣ A 8 6 2

At the table I watched, South opened 1♠, North bid 2♥ and South rebid 2♠. North bid 4♠ to end the auction.

The ♣3 was led to the 10, queen and ace. Declarer advanced a low spade and played the ♠10 from dummy, losing to the jack. Apparently South hoped to guess the ♠J and win four spades, and two in each of the other three suits to get to 10 tricks. The defense eventually led two more rounds of spades and declarer lost two spades, one club and one diamond -- down one for a score of minus 9.50 IMPs.

At another table, declarer won the low club lead with dummy's ♣K, played another to his ace and unblocked the ♥A. He ruffed a club in dummy, discarded his last club on the ♥K and now led a trump. He didn't have to guess anything, and, in fact, when the ♠J fell doubleton, he made five for a score of plus 450 and a gain of 2.25 IMPs.

After the tournament, I checked the traveller, and 14 (out of 17) pairs bid 4♠ and made either four or five. This says to me that the quality of bridge is fairly good, do you agree?

Juniors are welcome to come and play. The hours are (Eastern time) 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 11 a.m. on Wednesday and 11 a.m. (but subject to change) on Thursdays. Spectators are welcome, too. Participants have to download the BBO software, but the price is right -- it's free. If you don't want to download anything, I believe there is a web-based version that you can navigate to from the BBO home page. When you enter the playing area, find the names vdoubleu or juniorsbbo and right-click on either. Then click on the option to join their table.

The King James version

My boss and I went to see the Memphis Grizzlies play the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. He scored the tickets from a lady he plays bridge with. (She has season tickets, but is out of town.) They were great seats (Row H). I usually sit at an altitude of 5000 feet or more and take an oxygen tank with me, so this was a treat.

I haven't been going to as many NBA games the last couple of years because the Grizzlies have been so bad. I wanted to go tonight, however, to see LeBron James and he didn't disappoint. It looked like he was taking it easy on us, yet when it was over, he had a triple double. Yes, he had 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He looked like a man playing with children, frankly.

He is so big, so strong, so fast, so athletic that it's just not fair that he also has a high basketball IQ -- he just seems to know where to go on the court and what to do at all times.

I took my camera. I wanted to take my good one, but I tried that two weeks ago when they played Phoenix. They stopped me at the door and made me check it. They only allow small digital cameras, so I took my point-and-shoot tonight. Sorry these pics aren't any better -- where there is action, the shots are blurred. (Click to enlarge; you know the drill.)


Marc Gasol, younger brother of LA Laker Pau Gasol, lines up to shoot a free throw. LeBron is number 23 in the dark red uniform.


The FedEx Forum scoreboard shows an early score.


The used to call them the Grizzlies' Dance Team. Now they are calling them the Grizzlies' Girls -- ugh. I'm an older guy and not into PC, but that's ridiculous in this day and age.


At the break after the third quarter, they had these guys perform. They jump in the air (with the aid of something they bounce off of) and slam dunk the basketball. The are dressed like Elvis impersonators and call themselves the Kings of the Court (Elvis was The King).


LeBron takes a breather as his teammate shoots a free throw at the other end.

Swimming with sharks

I played in the Sunday Millions on Poker Stars. The entry fee was $215 and the prize pool was guaranteed to be $1.5 million. I usually play in cheap $5 and $10 MTT online, so this was a step up. I've forked over more than that quite a few times in live tournaments, but online I'm conservative. I won this seat in the WBCOOP qualifying, so it's a free-roll for me.

When I registered, there was a notice that said all hole cards will be shown for players who reach the final table. Oh no! I can't bear the thought of blog readers everywhere laughing at my nitty play. I reluctantly checked the box that said ok. Um, wait, there's this little detail about reaching the final table first, right?

Blinds started at 25/50 and the stacks were 10,000. At game time, there were 7,908 players, um, some weren't really players runners.

3:34 p.m. - There were two empty seats at my table. The first orbit I played ♥10 ♥9 and flopped a straight (Q-J-8) and won a small pot. My stack was 10,550.

3:37 p.m. - I had ♦A ♣A on the button. Everyone folded to me, so I got tricky and limped. I made a minimum bet on a flop of low cards and the BB folded. Too bad I had that hand and got no action. I knew I would need good hands like that one later when the blinds and antes get to be sky-high.

3:46 p.m. - Blinds were 50/100 and I had A-10 in BB. The button raised to 200 and I called for 100 more. The flop was K-9-x. I checked and the villain CB to 200. I called. The turn was a 9 and I checked as did he. Now I was pretty sure he's full of it -- perhaps A-Q, A-Js, an underpair or air. The river was a rag and I bet 444 and he folded. I successfully floated from out of position! Kids, don't try this at home. My stack was 10,950. At this time, there were 8,134 players enrolled and late registration was still open. There were still only seven players at the table and the blinds were coming around lightning-fast.

3:57 p.m. - It was folded to me on the button and I chose to play ♥9 ♥6. I bet on the flop and was called. I folded on the turn when a player made a good-sized bet. Yuck, first misstep.

3:58 p.m. - It was folded to me and I raised to 300 with A-J off and won the blinds.

3:59 p.m. - Late registration was closed. There were 8,268 runners. To win in a field this large, you have to take chances. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

4:00: p.m. - The blinds were 100/200 I raised to 555 with ♥A ♥J and get one caller. Flop was 10-x-x and I CB to win the pot. My stack was now at 11,283.

4:04 p.m. - I was moved to a different table. My stack was at 10,883. Blinds were still 100/200. J-10 off in the BB and it is min-raised with two other players. I call for 200 additional. Flop was 8-7-7 with two diamonds. One player made big bet and another called -- I folded.

4:10 p.m. - The cutoff raised. I called on button with ♠Q ♠J. They say you should raise or fold. Heck, it was early in the tournament, so decided not go crazy. Flop was Q-J-10 and raiser checked. I bet a little more than half the pot and he folded. Stack was now 11,183. Easy game, call with crap, hit two pair, no problem -- I'm a great player, no?

4:18 p.m. - Picked up ♥J ♦J and raised three times the big blind. It folded to the Big Blind who moved all in! His stack was 31K, so I inferred he was an active player. My first instinct was to fold, but wait, not so fast. I tried to put him on a hand. Why move all in? I ruled out aces and kings. The villain might raise, but not all in -- no reason to run me away. I went into my time bank and finally decided he had a hand that he didn't want to play out of position, most likely A-K. He could also have J-J, a hard hand to play when high cards hit the flop, but that was unlikely because I had two of them. He could also have Q-Q or 10-10, but big slick was the most likely.

Next, I had to decide whether to play with him or not. Often I'm nitty and hate to play for my tournament life in a coin flip situation. I always think I can outplay them later, so why take a chance. This tournament was different, however, because of the huge field. When I was first learning to play, I often entered the free rolls that had 5,000 players. To go deep, you absolutely had to embrace the coin flips. The strategy of just chipping up little by little didn't work -- there were too many players.

This may sound like after-the-fact rationalization, but in any event, it was what I was thinking. I took a deep breath and called. Take a look:



O-o-o-ps! Well, that certainly wasn't my best effort. I thought about not posting it because I look like a dope -- a shark took a bite out of me, so big deal. I have one more free entry and several big cans of high-grade shark repellent -- bring 'em on!

Poker pearl #15

Professional poker player Jonathan Aguiar is known online as FatalError. He has made the transition to live tournaments and final-tabled an event at the 2008 WSOP that you can read about if you click here. He was interviewed in the Jan. 14 issue of Card Player magazine (see scan of the front cover of the magazine to the right) and he discussed short-stacking cash games. He claims much of his tournament success is due to this skill.

An example of short-stacking would be to buy into a 1/2 no-limit hold 'em game for, say, $80 or $100 when most players have $200 or more in front of them. The short-stacker waits for a top 10 hand, then shoves over a raise pre-flop. Very loose players often call the shove with weak hands such as 7-6 suited (or sooooted, as they say) or other random hands. This strategy can be beneficial to the player whose bankroll doesn't permit the full buy-in.

There's a player at the Tunica Casinos who uses this strategy. He buys in for $100 and likes to play tight, but will shove with 9-9 or better. Even if he's called by A-K, he's a slight favorite and it's +EV because there's other dead money (blinds and money from others who limped in). If he doubles up, he cashes out. You are supposed to wait an hour, but I wouldn't be surprised if they let him back in sooner than that. Quick story: Once he was in the small blind. There were four limpers to him. He had ♦A ♦7 and it cost him $1 to play. He folded! With the big blind included, he was getting 11:1 on his money and he folded! Folks, that's tight, but that's how he plays. Another quick story. One time he went all in and busted and rebought for his usual $100. After a few orbits, he went all in again, and busted again. He left the table, and came back with three racks of red chips -- $1500! It was like saying I'm tired of this, so eff you, don't mess with me now.

These are questions and answers from the magazine:

Question: How do you combat a short-stacker?
"When he is on your left, you can't open with garbage hands anymore, because he will find himself in very easy situations to shove on you; you'll either fold too much and give money away or call too much and give money away. That means you can't play your suited connectors and other hands with which you can't call a shove."

Question: If you are short-stacking and double up, what should you do? Do you get up?
"If you get up, well, that's ratholing, and it's something that angers a lot of people. (But) Players leave, go to another table (online) or sit out (in a casino) and come back in (again) with a short-stack (such as 20 big blinds).

Question: Is it more profitable to short-stack at a six-handed or nine-handed table?
"If you can adjust, it really doesn't matter. I'd say the win rates are pretty similar, but people specialize, and obviously certain players are going to be better at one or the other."

Question: Now that you've built your bankroll, are you still short-stacking cash games?
"No. I made the transition . . . last summer during the World Series, because 20-big-blind play is one of the most important parts of a person's tournament game. That is really where the final table is played, and that's usually what the effective stacks are."

EDIT: Here's a link on shortstack play courtesy of bastinptc:
Ed Miller post.

Here are a few more links:
here, or here or here.

In his excellent blog, Lair of Lucypher has written three pieces about shortstacking. He refers to himself as an "unrepentent shortstacker." You can read what he says by clicking Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.

A 4-3 fit is for sissies. Try a 4-2 fit!

When you have a 4-3 fit in trumps, that's called a Moysian fit. It's named after the late Sonny Moyse, an editor of the Bridge World magazine back in the Fifties and Sixties.

At the local bridge club in Memphis, one pair bid and made 4♥ in a 3-3 fit. I blogged about it last August and you can read what I wrote here.

I played at the club last night and I'm glad I did. It happened again! Well, sort of. After a bidding accident, North-South played 4♥ in a 4-2 fit (hands rotated and low cards approximate where immaterial):

                ♠ Q 8 6 2
                ♥ A 6
                ♦ 9 8 6 5 3
                ♣ K 6
♠ 10 7 3                       ♠ 9 5 4
♥ 8 5 2                        ♥ J 9 4 3
♦ A J 10 7 4                   ♦ Q
♣ J 2                          ♣ A 10 7 5 4
                ♠ A K J
                ♥ K Q 10 7
                ♦ K 2
                ♣ Q 9 8 3

South opened 1♣, West made a light overcall of 1♦. North made a negative double, and, after a pass by East, South bid 4♥. North squirmed for a while, but could think of no way to escape, so passed. Good thing or we wouldn't have a story. When in doubt, go for the story -- bloggers appreciate having something to write about.

West led a low heart which was won by declarer's ♥10 -- one problem solved. He advanced the ♣3 to the king and ace. East led back the ♦Q. Declarer did not cover and West chose not to overtake and return one to East for a ruff. Hey, this is a 4-2 fit and you will normally need some luck to make it, right? I'm just sayin'.

East exited with a heart to dummy's ace. Declarer led a spade to his hand to draw the remaining trumps. Now he played the ♠K and the ♠J to dummy's queen. When that suit divided 3-3, he cashed the fourth spade and discarded his losing ♦K. He led a club from dummy. At this point he had West's hand counted and knew she had started with two clubs. He thought for a while (East might have split her honors with a holding that included the ♣10 9), and played the queen, dropping the jack. He led the ♣9 to the 10, and won trick 13 with his 8.

That was 10 tricks via four spades, four hearts, and two clubs. Plus 620 was worth 5 on a 7 top (two pairs made more in 3NT).

A 4-3 fit? Hah! Anybody can do that. It takes a real hero to play a 4-2 fit and make game.

I've played thousands of bridge deals over the years. Nearly every time I play, however, I see something new. What an amazing game!