Tuesday, January 1, 2013


I just got back from visiting my friend Kate and haven't played poker for two weeks (other than some cheap sit-and-goes). Today's New Year's Day, so time to grind.

I often play at a $12+1 tournament at Bovada. Unfortunately, it starts at 10 a.m., but I didn't wake up until after 11, oops. Instead, I jumped in a $10+1 tourney with 203 runners.

A-K was my nemesis. With two tables left, I raised with A K, and a short stack shoved. The math said to call and I was happy when he showed 10 9. The flop had aking, but two hearts and the river was another heart.

Then at the final table, I made a 3 times the BB bet with 7-7. A short stack moved all in, and again the numbers said to call. He turned over A-K and flopped two kings, leaving me with nine big blinds. On a better day, I would recover, but here I didn't and finished fifth.

This was a good/bad way to start the new year. A final table is good. The difference between fifth and first (money-wise) was bad.

Happy New Year to readers.

5 comments:

  1. And a Happy New Year to you as well. Lots of cashes.

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  2. Same old same old, I see. Best wishes for 2013!

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  3. Happy New Year, Mojo! Not a bad way to start off the year!

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  4. AK=Anna Kournikova. Looks great, seldom wins.

    Seriously, when you write "the math said to call" how far ahead EV-wise were you? I'm re-thinking how much margin I need in these so-called coinflip situations, especially when there is a big jump in payouts. In other words, how sma smart is it to call all-in with AK when you have to rely on the actual hand equity (i.e., you aren't the one shoving, therefore you have no fold equity on top)? Dunno. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

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  5. @Bug: Thanks for the comment. Both times I had raised and a short stack shoved, so my fold equity wasn't an issue. Each time, the shove was less than a min-raise, so calling was automatic regardless of pay jumps.

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