Hello world!

Posted on November 19th, 2006 by squibster.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

12 comments.

Test Post

Posted on November 19th, 2006 by squibster.
Categories: Just Goobing.

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

2 comments.

Bang

Posted on March 29th, 2006 by Squib aka TwistedOreo.
Categories: Uncategorized.

The beginning always happens with a whimper, not a bang. Okay, so here it is, my blog. For a first post, I’ll just keep it short. This blog is going to be about my passions. Here they are: family, poker, politics, and random thoughts. Hoopdedoo.

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

2 comments.

Poker

Posted on March 29th, 2006 by Squib aka TwistedOreo.
Categories: Uncategorized.

In the last year and a half, I have developed a passion for poker. I began playing poker online about a year and a half ago, and it has been interesting. I have had success and made money, but it is getting tougher. I am also a part of an online community called fulltiltforum which is pretty cool. It has all the boogers of family, but when it counts everyone pulls together.
This site has helped my game. No greater compliment can be paid to a poker site except that, and there are many good ones out there, but I am constantly drawn to this one. I also host a private tournament every Monday night on Full Tilt Poker called “Dead Money Mondays”. This tournament has a $5 buy in and the game is No Limit Hold Em. The hook is that forumers are supposed to invite players that they run across out on the general tables and invite them to the game. Their skill level can be anything from a tremendous player to an absolute donkey.

This was done to help all of us on the forum to work on our reads. We know each other pretty well and the level of poker among us is pretty damn good for a $5 buy in tournament. The strange thing is, all of the guests tend to do very very well in this tournament. The tournament starts every Monday night at 20:50 Full Tilt Time (8:50 PM EST)

The password is drawing dead

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

9 comments.

My Current Book

Posted on March 29th, 2006 by Squib aka TwistedOreo.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I am currently reading Manhunt by James L. Swanson. What a great read, history combined with suspense. I personally think this book would make a tremendous motion picture, I would pay to see it. Very well written, historically precise, but done in almost a novel form. I travel often in my job and when I jump a plane, I usually pick up The Economist, but on occassion I grab a book at the airport. this one was a whim, and I am happy I did.

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

2 comments.

Tunry IV

Posted on March 29th, 2006 by Squib aka TwistedOreo.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I got drafted. Wow. Given my sordid Tunry past (I played in I, II and III where I was the captain of the Circus Hamsters), I am kind of shocked. Khanwoman picked me up in the 5th round (wasted 5th round pick, I would have gone lower), but anyway, I am really happy to be on the team.
Congrats to Cailtless Rulien who won the thing when he took out 2 players in one hand. His play was stellar. Mine wasn;t bad, but I misplayed my pocket Queens, getting a call by QJo..flop hit JJX and I was seriously damaged. I decided then to push with A10s two off the BB and got called by AA from the BB and I was out. The BB is the best place to hit AA for sure.
Razz is next week and this is a game I play well. I love that it tends to absolutely piss everyone off.

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

1 comment.

The Pandora Sidebar

Posted on March 29th, 2006 by Squib aka TwistedOreo.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Shout out to Topanga for turning me on to this site! A Forum member, she mentioned this site and I am thoroughly addicted. Make your own radio station and roll. Toppy also has a very nice blog and I will link it along with other forumers soon.

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

1 comment.

My article on MTT play…basic, but I like it….

Posted on March 29th, 2006 by Squib aka TwistedOreo.
Categories: Uncategorized.

The Rule of Quarters: Online Poker MTT Strategy for NLHE

Over the past year and a half of online poker, I have taken notes, and studied play. I have evaluated my own play, and made notes of my mistakes. Needless to say, my game has grown and I have had some success cashing in MTTs, and I only play under this screen name, one entry per tournament.

While there are many, many better players than I who post to this forum, there are a few who are not. Constructive comments are always welcome, as this article is a work in progress. Once upon a time, at the old forum, I wrote an article on Sit and Go play, and received a few complements. This article expands on that and tackles the world of the multi table tournament (MTT).

I have identified four stages of MTT play, thus the Rule of Quarters.

Stage One: The Early MTT

“Any two cards can win.”, and people believe it, so they will play anything. The inexperienced player may be afraid to give up chips to a bluff, or fall in love with a marginal hand. They will almost always start with hands that will get them killed at some stage in the tournament. It’s free rolling time.

So how should you play? There are two schools of thought here, and both can be effective. The first says, involve yourself in a lot of hands, and push your weaker hands to build a dominating chip stack. The second is to play it tight. Unfortunately, if you choose the first, you will experience more bad beats and suck outs.

In stage one, I believe your play should be typical tight-aggressive. You should enter very few hands, and push hard with them. If you merely take the blinds, that is just fine. Save the tricks for later, just as you would in Sit and Go’s.

Playing tight early will help establish your table image as a very smart, conservative player, who can be deadly with a hand. The smart ones at your table will recognize this and avoid you. The poorer players will give you their chips with their marginal hands.

The early stage is where you should grind it out, slowly building your stack and doubling up every once in awhile. During this stage your enemy is boredom, as grinding it out and playing few hands can get dull, but beware. You still need to understand the table that you are at, before you begin multi tabling, or reading the forum, watching TV etc… In fact, you should avoid this altogether.

Always use the hand history to take a look at every showdown. Use the notes feature to identify the weaker players (and the stronger ones). This can help you immensely later on if you get rebalanced. I use a simple color code offered on Full Tilt Poker to rank players.

Here are a few rules for early MTT play:

Do NOT Bluff or attempt to bluff
Represent your hand (most of the players early, can’t read it anyway)
Don’t bother with stealing blinds
Understand that most players early will also represent their hands to you, telling you when you are beat, so lay your hand down accordingly
Trust your reads: inexperienced players will attempt a bluff without properly representing their hand, take advantage
Don’t be tempted to limp with a marginal hand
Identify the weak as well as the strong using hand history
Keep chat to a minimum and make liberal use of the mute feature
Understand the advantage of folding 3 cycles (tight table image, it will help you later when you need it)
Play one table at a time, and don’t worry about chip leaders and your relative position on the leader board

You goal for the early stage is to double your stack. If you do better, fine, but a double stack will put you in good position for the second quarter.

How do you know you have reached the second quarter? Easy, you have hit at least the first break, or 50% of the tournament players have been eliminated.

Stage Two: The Rebalancing Stage

Okay, so you survived Stage One and have successfully doubled your stack. You peek at the leader board and see that the chip leader has over 15,000 chips to your 3,000. Look at 10 to 20…most likely, they will have about double your stack. Fine, one good play and you are right there with them.

So what is happening now?

If it hasn’t happened already, you will be rebalanced soon. Occasionally, you may be fortunate enough to stay in one place with a strong table image; however you have to watch those who are rebalanced to you.

The herd has been thinned and most, but not all of the donkeys have been eliminated. (Not all of them, in fact a lot of times the guy with the chip lead is one of the biggest ones at this point, remember his name, he has your chips).

If you have been rebalanced, you have to continue to play very tight to establish the proper image, you will need it. As other players land at your table, watch your relative position and consider their stacks in relation to yours.

Now, you can begin to play some real poker. In stage 2, it is time to begin to misrepresent your hand, set traps, steal, semi-bluff, etc… You can pull out a few plays that your table has not seen from you before. It’s time to confuse them, but remember, this does not mean that you involve yourself in a lot of hands, as you can destroy your image very quickly (just go to a showdown with CBL, and it’s done).

Consider position. Use continuation bets to steal pots. If there is a flush draw showing on the flop, you will often get a caller, as there will still be players who chase here. In this situation, you can do a double continuation on the turn assuming that the flush card did not hit. Be in position, and make certain that the player you are involved with is a bit weak here.

Pull out the bag of tricks. One that has worked for me recently, when I have flopped the best post flop hand is to place a probe bet in first position. Often this will get a raise, as this is a typical weak play, and your opponent has you identified as a tight player, so he may try to steal this pot from you with a small or pot sized re-raise. Once a player has done this, I like to come over the top with another pot sized raise and this screams “I have just trapped you!” (This can occasionally work as a bluff, but be very careful).

Beware of slow play and offering attractive pot odds. Of course if you have quads, it may suit you to slow play it to the river, or use the weak probe/pot raise ploy to get action.

Here are a few suggestions for Second Quarter Play:

Steal blinds in position on occasion (better to do this one or two off the button)
Trap
Play a few unorthodox hands if you can limp, but be prepared to fold post flop
Use position for continuation bets
Don’t sacrifice your table image by showing down bad cards
Use your stack to kill shorter stacks with relatively strong hands (showing these down is okay, it will enhance your reputation as a killer at the table)
Talk it up a bit more….complement any player who wins and showdowns and wins with a poor or marginal hand (you want to encourage poor play)
DO NOT GO MENTAL against a bad beat (unless you are out, then feel free to hurl the mouse) Understand that every MTT is going to give you set backs, you just want enough chips to survive them
Watch the larger stacks carefully, and do no bluff them…look to double up off of them.

Your goal in this stage is survival. If you increase your stack GREAT, but survival is more important than amassing the chip lead…you may be up there anyway, if you are successful with your traps, bluffs, and steals.

How do you know you have arrived at stage Three? Easy, it’s “double the bubble”.

Stage Three: In it to win it.

Stage three is easily identified as that time in the MTT where the stacks are all larger, the donkeys are all gone, and the play is strong. If you have played online for awhile, you will recognize many of the names left in the game. They seem to be there every damn time you play. It becomes tougher to read hands and recognize when traps have been set against YOU.

Hopefully, your stack size is places you ahead of the bubble number, and if it doesn’t you will have to skip Stage Three and move straight to Stage Four. If you have a comfortable stack, then this is a very important stage, as you want to put yourself in good position for the money.

My recommendation is to moderate your play here. Position is everything. You will have difficulty getting action (unless you have the misfortune to get it all in with KK, only to see action from AA). Blind pressure gets very real here, especially for the shorter stacks that will push. Here is how you should moderate your play.

Position, Position, Position
Steal Blinds from the medium stacks (Stealing blinds can put you in position for the next stage, and when you are successful, you can double your stack with just a few good thefts. This is when your tight table image really works for you, and why it is so important to establish)
Recognize that short stacks will push all in now with marginal hands (an all in bet from a short stack should get called down with reasonable hands A10o for example, or pairs 88 and up)
Experienced players recognize the tricks, it is better to represent here
Identify those players that have tightened up prior to the bubble (these larger stacks will only engage you if they have a hand, so you can steal past them
Watch your M. If you have not read Harrington II, read it.
When antes are in play minimum bets usually give good pot odds, if you get involved in a hand, pot sized raises or all in bets ONLY. (all in bets if you are under 10M)
You recognize these players. When you are not in a hand, you should be taking notes, and if you can spot a weakness, make a note for next time!
Offer up to one quarter to one third of your stack to bust a short stack with reasonable hands (unless the stack is this short do not attempt to bust a player with anything less than a Group One Hand)

Your goal in this stage: get in position for the win while getting to the money.

How do you know when you have reached the final stage? Easy, you are in the money!

Stage Four: In the Money

Once you have made the money, you will notice that play suddenly loosens up a great deal. In fact, in smaller buy in tourneys, I have seen some people immediately throw all of their chips in order to double quickly or to just be done with it. Unless I have a monster, I like to be very patient and watch here. Let others call off the short stacks, a lot of time you will suddenly see three way and four way action here. Avoid it.

Hopefully, you have enough chips to wait out this post bubble wild action (it doesn’t last long).

Once this is over and done with, you will see frequent folding all the way around to the big blind. This is good as the table has tightened and the play is strong. Be patient and wait for your hand. Blinds are meaningful, and you have to pay attention to their affects on your stack. You want to make the final table and it you may quickly find yourself in all in or fold territory.

Pay attention to your stack and steal blinds if you will not place your stack below 10M if you get a caller. (10 M means that your stack is exactly 10 times the BB, SB and the antes). If you fall below 10M, you need to go all in or fold your hand. This action will allow you to steal blinds as players with moderate stacks will not want to risk their stack position to a strong hand. Of course, you will get called and potentially eliminated if you run into a strong hand or a large stack decides to take a shot at you with a marginal hand.

Inflection points also play a roll. In the money and especially at the final table it is not so much about seat position as it is about stack position and hand strength.

There is a very nice move that I have made, and I have seen several others make with strong hands and medium stacks. Usually, you would make pot sized bets to steal or play, but when you are down to the money, it is about eliminating players. When I am dealt a monster hand, let’s say AA or KK, and there is a short stack at the table, I like to put out a bet that is about 2/3rds of the size of the short stacks chip count. Usually the table will still fold around to the short stack, which if he has never seen this move before, may take it for weakness and put all of his chips in. A lot of players will not recognize the fact that calling off that additional 1/3rd of their stack is a given. I have eliminated a few short stacks late in tourneys with this play and it gets the attention of the other players.

For a thorough example of inflection points, see Harrington II.

Here are some final table tips:

Chip position, not seat position
Watch your M
Blinds are meaningful, steal with occasional all in bets if you are close to M
Patience Pays
Understand who is pushing and call them down with marginal hands if you are not going to sacrifice your M
Group 1 hands play hard
Make use of your notes
Showdowns are rare, unless you are all in
Watch the bubbles within the bubbles
If a tourney pays 18 positions, spots 7 through 18 do not get you a very good hourly rate, remember this and get yourself in good position for the final table
At this point, you are LIKELY to face suck outs, do not go MENTAL, if you fall victim regain your composure if you survive, and understand your M
Play it slow, ignore the chat, everyone is looking for an edge now
Understand that to win, you will need to get lucky…skill can get you this far, but luck is going to win it outright.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have anything to add, please do.

Squib

Note: Squib is an online poker player with an infamous inverted nipple who is a member of fulltiltforum.com. Squib likes to represent himself as a supreme donkey, but actually makes money playing online (primarily in Sit and Go’s and MTTs). Squib has withdrawn several times and survived all of the “cash out curses” enabling continued play on several sites.

The above opinions are those of Squib, although they have been collected over time from online play, articles, books and forums. Squib tips his hat to Dan Harrington, who has written the finest tournament poker book in the history of the game. Like many online poker players, Squib could not get over that hurdle and onto the final table with some frequency until the Harrington book. If you have not read this book, and are playing online you are simply and purely fucking nuts.

Squib hosts a private tournament on Full Tilt Poker and invites everyone to play. The buy in is $5, and it is every Monday night at 20:50 EST. See Fulltiltforum.com or simply ask for the password.

Keep Me Inebriated, it's +EV

1 comment.