AIPS VI POY Tie

Interestingly we have a tie for each of the first 14 spots.  I guess I'll have to update the http://aipsstats.com/ site to handle ties.

AIPS Stats

I'm continuing to post the "player of the year" stats for AIPS this year.  I'm hosting the stats at http://aipsstats.com/. I've also added a twitter account (@AipsStats)to announce tournaments.  Only AIPS related information will be posted to this account.  Also I'll be using the #AIPS hash-tag for all AIPS related announcements.  I'd suggest the rest of the nation do likewise.

I'm also interested in any feedback for improvements to either AIPS announcements or to the stats site.

Poker Stars Home Games

Well it's been a year since my last post, so it's about time for me to post again.  I've been playing on the Ante Up Nation Home Games hosted by PokerStars recently.  I think its not as profitable as sitting at a random low limit table, but it's a lot more fun.  Even though I only know the rest of the nation through the forum and AIPS events, it's fun to play against people you know a little bit.  Also since we all know each other there aren't the jerks you can get at random tables.  The only issue I see is the 50 player limit seems a little low, there are many more than 50 regulars.  But hopefully PokerStars will increas this limit over time.

AIPS V - Event #1 Stud

Last night was the first event in the AIPS  V series.  I managed to chip up and  have the chip lead for a little bit.  I had visions of bananas dancing trough my head.  But alas I failed to even cash an busted out in 14th place.  And that ended my streak of cashing in 5 AIPS events in a row.  Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Discipline in Poker

Lately I've been playing a lot of Badugi on Poker Stars.  It has reminded me of one of the most important attributes you need to have in poker.  Discipline.  It's easy when you hold a three card, ace-deuce-trey Badugi to call a big bet against a pat hand.   But it is rare that you are getting the proper odds. So I have had to re-learn discipline.  It reminds me that I may be doing the same in Hold'em.  Its easy to talk yourself into overestimating implied odds to make a call.  So maybe this will help all my poker games

AIPS Player of the Year

Warning:  The following post is a bit of a brag.  Please move on if you don't want to put up with it :)

I've played in the Ante Up Intercontinental Poker Series (AIPS) since its inception (see Ante Up Magazine for more information). AIPS is the only tournament series I make an "extra effort" to try to play.  Despite that my overall record hasn't been very impressive. I've cashed (2 of 55) playing PLO8 in AIPS I.  I didn't cash at all in AIPS II.  I cashed (4 of 110) playing 7 card Stud in AIPS III.  So as you can see 2 cashes over AIPS I, II and III  was pretty unremarkable.

When AIPS IV started I was disappointed when I missed event #1.  I managed to cash (10 of 111) in the event #2 Pot Limit Omaha.  I then failed to cash in event #3  Stud and #4 Limit Hold'em.  I then missed the next 3 events.  I figured any hopes a decent showing in the points race were dashed.

Then I played event #8 Limit Omaha 8 or better. I chipped up early and got heads up with GapBand85.  I somehow managed to win that event. Next I was gearing up for event #9 Razz. The night of the event I wasn't feeling very well, so I decided not to play. But at the last minute I changed my mind and played anyway. I started to chip up again and I began to have visions of repeating. I ended up heads up against x_TheLaw_x.  And after a hard battle I won that one too.  Two back to back first places.  There was a lot of luck involved but it still felt pretty good.

Now I had a vision of winning a 3rd banana in that season.  No one has won 3 bananas in a season since heffmike did it in the very first AIPS series.  So along came event #10 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em.  I was determined to play well.  I ended up finishing tied for 9th (it's a heads up event so not as impressive as it may sound).  But at least that was three cashes in a row.

On to event #11 Badugi.  I had never played Badugi before, but I had played a lot of low-ball games.  It took the first couple of levels before I thought I was sort of getting a feel for the game.  I ended up with the chip lead heads up with StephsHubby.  This is where my inexperience showed through.  I was trying to adjust to short handed play, but I think I over-adjusted.  I played too aggressive and did too much snowing.  StephsHubby recognized this and just kept calling and taking my chips.  I finished second and my third banana eluded me.  At least I had 4 cashes in a row, and had crept up into leading the points race for AIPS Player of the Year.

I figured my run of luck was over,  but of course I would do my best in the Main Event,  event #12 H.O.R.S.E.  This was a deep stacked event with a very slow blind structure.  I started with 3,000 chips and worked my way up to 6,000.  But then through a combination of bad beats and bad play I worked my way down to 532 chips.  Then I noticed GapBand85 was in the top 6.  The tournament paid 6 places and GapBand85 only need to cash to beat me.  So I figured the only way to clinch player of the year was to get myself back in shape to make the final table.  I went all in twice in Stud Eight or Better, but I only won half the pot so it didn't change my position much. Then it switch to Hold'em and I doubled up.  Soon I was at 1500 in chips and I was feeling very comfortable.  (This was about 4 or 5 hours into the tournament.  It had a ridiculously slow structure.)

After not too much longer I was back up to 3000 then 6000 chips.  Before too much longer I was back in the top 4 in chips.  When PottyTrainMe exited in 14th place, I clinched player of the year.  So I had only one thing left to concentrate on.  Winning my third banana.  My stack kept going up and down, and I moved between 4th than 2nd place all night.  I finally ended up heads up against StephsHubby after over 9 hours of play.  I was bleary eyed and it was 5 AM central time, but I was determined to win the banana.  I battled and briefly took the lead in the O8 round, but then I got brutalized in Razz and just couldn't overcome StephsHubby.  Then at 7:20 AM on the Poker stars clock StephsHubby pounded the final stake through my heart and my dreams of the elusive 3rd banana were shattered.

However, I was still pretty happy.  I finished AIPS with 4 straight cashes, two firsts and two second places.   I cashed in 6 of the 8 AIPS IV events I played.  Overall a very good year.  Looking back I have to believe I was running way above expectation.  That gives me 8 cashes over 4 seasons, averaging two per year.  That seems pretty reasonable to me.  So for now I'll close out the AIPS 4 chapter in my life quite happy.  But I'll still be looking to see if I can ever have the elusive 3 banana year.

Scott and Chris of Ante Up Magazine interviewed me for the February 12th podcast.  You can hear more incoherent babbling there.

Here's a picture of the two Pokerstars monkeys fighting with the Bananas I won.

The Father's Day Challenge

Every year my brother and I some elaborate poker challenge to determine who will pay for Father's Day dinner.  This usually involves big steaks, lobster tails and maybe some shrimp.  Of course the most important thing is bragging rights.  This year is no exception.  My brother always comes up with some elaborate scheme to determine the winner. 

This year we are playing 20 tournaments on Full Tilt Poker.  We will be using 3 scoring mechanisms.

1. Total cash earned
2. Full Tilt tournament scoring system
3. # players /  finish position

Whomever loses each scoring system will pay for 1/3 of Fathers day dinner.

Here's the list of the tourmants we will be playing over the next few months:

1. 17:15 $24+$2 7 Game Mix
2. 18:15 $24+$2 Pot Limit Hold'em / Omaha (PLHA)
3. 18:30 $24+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE) Heads Up
4. 19:15 $24+$2 Limit Hold'em (LHE)
5. 20:15 $24+$2 Razz
6. 21:15 $24+$2 Pot Limit Omaha (PLO)
7. 22:15 $24+$2 H.O.R.S.E
8. 23:15 $24+$2 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better (PLO8)
9. 00:15 $24+$2 7-card Stud
10. 00:15 $24+$2 7-card Stud 8 or Better (Stud8)
11. 19:00 $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE) Super Stack
12. 19:00 $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE) Super Stack
13. 19:00 $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE) Super Stack
14. 18:00 $24+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE)
15. 20:00 $24+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE)
16. 22:00 $24+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE)
17. 23:00 $24+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE) 6 Max Knockout
18. 16:22 Sunday $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE)
19. 16:22 Sunday $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em (NLHE)
20. "MiniFTOPS Main Event 21:30 $50+$5NLHE or 20:45 $69+$6 HORSE (Saturday)" 

 Here's hoping I will best my brother once again

Learning Badugi 3 - Four Card Badugi Combinations

So now I want to start to get an idea of some of the odds involved in Badugi, and see if I can draw any conclusions based upon these numbers.

Total Possible Badugi Hands:
52*51*50*49/ 4!  = 270,725

4 card Badugi Hands: (no pairs, no matched suits)
52*36*22*10/4! = 17,160

Chance of being dealt a pat 4 card Badugi:
17,160 / 270,725 = 6.34%

Combinations of various 4 card Badugi Hands:

Highest Card	Formula	# of combinations
King	4*36*22*10 / 3!	5,280
Queen	4*33*20*9 / 3!	3,960
Jack	4*30*18*8 / 3!	2,880
10	4*27*16*7 / 3!	2,016
9	4*24*14*6 / 3!	1,344
8	4*21*12*5 / 3!	840
7	4*18*10*4 / 3!	480
6	4*15*8*3 / 3!	240
5	4*12*6*2 / 3!	96
4	4*9*4*1 / 3!	24

This means that the median badugi pat hand is somewhere around a Jack high Badugi.

Badugi <<Previous Index Next>>

Learning Badugi 2 - Tips From Greg Raymer

The Ante Up Poker Magazine had WSOP main event champ Greg Raymer on their pokercast to share his Badugi tips before the AIPS Badugi event. It's clear Greg barely scratch the surface of his Badugi knowledge, but he still provided some great tips. I've outlined some of the key points here, but I'd highly recommend you listen to the entire interview (the 2009-11-20 podcast) to get the most of it.

• The first key is to play only good starting hands. Greg stated there are only 3 hands you should play.
  
  1. Pat Badugi - You can usually play any 4 card Badugi you are dealt pat.
  2. 3 low cards - If you have 3 unsuited cards low cards (e.g. 7 or an 8) you can play it. Position matters so you need stronger hands in early position.
  3. 2 card draws when opening in late position, defending the big blind or playing short handed. Both cards should be 4 or lower. Sometimes you can expand to include a 5.
• If you are opening the pot, ALWAYS raise.
• An A-2 draw is a favorite over a 5-6-7 with 3 draws to come despite needing to draw an extra card.
• A rough 4 card king high Badugi is a slight dog (basically a coin flip) to a better 3 card draw (e.g. A,2,3)
• If you are drawing fewer cards then all other players, you should always be betting/raising while draws remain.
• If you are drawing more cards you should always be checking then you can fold, call or raise as appropriate.
• When playing short handed, you can play more 2 card draws as well as 8 or 9 high 3 card hands.
• You can consider breaking a Q-5-4-2 Badugi if other players start standing pat. If heads up you may just want to fold or grit your teeth and call your way down.
• Snowing is a type of bluffing in draw poker. It involves not drawing cards, even if you do not have a 4 card hand. This may fool other players into thinking you have a 4 card hand, then you can bet them off their better 3 card hand.
• If you hold a 2-3-7 Badugi, you would rather draw against a pat jack high Badugi, than an A-2-3. You are less of a dog against the jack high Badugi.

Anyway those are a few of the highlights from the I captured from the show. Be sure to listen to it to get all the details.

Badugi <<Previous Index Next>>

Learning Badugi 1 - Introduction

I was recently introduced to Badugi when playing in Event # 11 of AIPS IV coordinated by Ante Up Magazine's pokercast. I've gotten a hooked on the game. So I've started playing Badugi cash games on Poker Stars. So I thought I'd share my experiences as I learn the game.

For those that don't know Badugi is a 4 card draw games. The object is to get the lowest unpaired, unsuited hand possible (aces are low). So the best possible hand is A, 2, 3, 4 of four different suits. The tournament played as a limit tournament with 3 drawing rounds and a blind structure similar to a limit Hold 'em tournament.

For example, a $2-4 Badugi game would have $1 small blind and a $2 big blind. Everyone would be dealt 4 cards, then there is a $2 betting round. Then everyone that didn't fold can draw 0 to 4 cards. Then there is another $2 betting round. Then there is a second drawing round. Then a $4 betting round. Then the third drawing round, then a final $4 betting round.

If you still pair a card or match a suit after the drawing rounds, you cannot play one of your cards so you play a 3 card hand. A king high 4 card hand beats a 3 card 7 high hand.

Badugi Index Next>>

Learning Badugi Index

Here is an index to all my Badugi related posts.

1. Introduction
2. Tips from Greg Raymer
3. Four Card Badugi Combinations

Badugi Next>>

Addicted to Poker Media

Yes, it is true. I'm an addict. I watch all of the major poker TV shows and listen to most of the major podcasts. I'm a junkie, gotta have my poker fix. Not to mention that I'm often playing poker online while listening to a podcast, or watching Poker TV.

There is a lot of poker out there, but the cream does rise to the top.

TV:

• High Stakes Poker - This is hands down the best poker show out there since its inception. This season the $500,000 buy in raised it up another notch. It is fascinating watching people verbally probe other players to find out if they have to lay down their strong hands. This is poker at a whole nutha level.


• Poker After Dark - This show started out a little slow, but the episodes in 2008 have been great. Although I do prefer Shana to Marianela.


• NBC Heads Up Championship - This is the only place to see heads up poker. Although the poker content is spread very thin until the late rounds. I mean how can you really get a feel for how the pros play when 8 simultaneous matches only get 1 hour of coverage?


• World Poker Tour - This is the show that started it all, but it isn't as exciting as it once was. The fast structure (that has recently been adjusted) lead to quick all in fests. And while all in poker may be exciting for the general public, it doesn't give the true poker enthusiast much to really enjoy. Poker is in the nuance, not just brute force.


• WSOP - On the plus side, the WSOP is the biggest poker spectacle of the year. You will see a wide variety of amateur and professional players. You will also see a wide variety of games. (Got Razz?) In fact is is the only place to see anything other than hold'em. On the negative, everything is extremely cut down. It is rare to get any feel for how the tables really went down. It is produced for mass consumption and watered down, but it still has enough pizazz to make me want to watch it.
  

Podcasts:

• Ante Up - I think this may be the longest running poker podcast still going. It is also very likely the best. The banter between Chris "Ace Ten" Cosenza and Scott "Let me lose at limit" Long is hilarious without being juvenile or offensive. They are professional journalists and it shows. The show is educational, informative and entertaining. They are serious amateur players trying to get better at the game. This means they can discuss poker at the level of most of their listeners (except on the topic of pot odds). You can probably skip the first 10 episodes before they knew what the hell they were doing (although the first episode is less than 7 minutes long).


• Rounders/Two Plus Two Pokercast - This was originally a radio show based in Canada. It has professional poker player Adam Schwartz as a host. While Adam isn't one of the "Big Name" pros, he definitely has a solid understanding of the game. He also looks at the game from a pros point of view, which is to say a way to make money rather than just entertainment. He and the co-host Mike Johnson have a good rapport, but it isn't quite as humorous as Ante Up. They have good information and the show is entertaining. Recently the show has migrated to be owned by the two plus two poker site (the Sklansky/Malmuth publishing company and poker forum). They are still working some of the kinks out of the transition. They are overhauling the show as a result. Some of the changes I think will be good, such as tips from Sklansky. But others will likely make it a more specialized show for the online poker community, instead of the show accessible to the average poker fan which it has historically been.


• Poker Road Radio - This is the third incarnation of the Joe Sebok, Gavin Smith traveling tournament cast. It was first "The Circuit" hosted by Card Player Magazine. Then it became Poker Wire Radio until Poker Wire bit the dust. Now Sebok has started his own company and it should be here to say. This show presents poker from the professional tournament player's point of view. This version of the is hosted by Bart Hanson (who previously hosted Live at the Bike). Bart doesn't bring the same level of humor that previous hosts Scott Huff and Joe Stapleton brought, but he does bring a stronger poker background. He also give some needed sanity and balance to the wackiness of Smith and Sebok. This show does a great job of emphasizing that there are several winning styles in poker, but it probably won't make you a better player. For example Gavin's style of play takes a level of reading ability that beginning players just won't have. Over all the show is entertaining, but consider it R rated and it has a South Park sensibility.


• Pocket Fives Podcast - Hosted by the online site pocket fives, this podcast is for hardcore fans only. It focuses on the online poker world, so if you want to know more about sbrugby, GreenPlastic, BelowAbove, ActionJeff, Rizen, Sheets or other online players this is the podcast for you.
  

Well I think I've written enough for now. Let me know if you are as addicted to poker media as I am, or am I just a degenerate? :)