Poker Minefield Attacks

The minefield in poker usually starts when the ante begins. It's when aggressive players start to really attempt to steal the blinds and generally lasts until the part of a tournament where non-aggressive players would be blinded out of a tournament or the bubble period begins.

Minefield attacks are used in poker tournaments and are based on stack sizes, used primarily for stealing pots with moderately strong starting hands or B+ to A- flop textures. [see Flop Textures]

Big stacks attack Short Stacks, Medium Stacks attack Big Stacks and Short Stacks attack Medium Stacks.

Playing a medium stack in a tournament minefield is more dangerous than playing a short stack. A medium stack will be 50 to 60 big blinds. With tournaments now going to games with a Big Blind ante, stacks take on a different strategy. 60 big blinds have a utility of about 40 hands depending on the blind change interval.

Many tournaments have 20 minutes between blind changes. At 2.5 big blinds per orbit, you're looking at your stack going down to 15 big blinds when the deal gets back to you, as the blinds, and ante have tripled . Most live games have about 30 hands per hour, that's only 10 hands per blind change. Short stacks, 10 Big Blinds or less, will be going All-in for the rest of the tournament.

If you have a medium stack, you must increase your stack by 20 % every orbit, or double up each hour. In order to be competitive, you need to play about 20% of the hands you are dealt, that's 6 hands per hour. Each hand will cost about 7 to 10 big blinds to get to the river.

Picking playable hands is crucial in the Minefield, but you can't just play premium hands to survive. You have to learn how to use the Luck Factor as a skill. Learn how to play marginal hands in optimal situations.

Advanced Poker Tournament Strategy 2, by Arnold Snyder.

[caption id="attachment_11" align="alignnone" width="248"] Mr Lucky Poker[/caption]

3 ways not to get better in Poker [Review]

3 ways not to get better in Poker

1. Only Playing Poker. Like any worthwhile endeavor, practicing improves YOU!
   More than even playing, practicing improves your game. Playing allows you to see where you need to improve.

"Practice makes PERMANENT. Repeat the same mistakes over and over, and you won't get any closer to Carnegie Hall." [Sarah Kay]

The more you practice, the longer you will last.
That's the goal in poker, to last longer.
Practicing makes us better at what we are practicing, unless you’re practicing wrong.

"Practice makes Perfect"? It doesn't! "Perfect Practice makes Perfect" [Lombardi].
Practicing and not improving on your errors, will guarantee poor performance.

2. Reading too many poker books.

You need to do more than just read a poker book. Highlight those parts that are keys to good poker. Make notes about key parts in the book. If the book is worth reading, you must have learned something useful, point it out.

3. Watching instructional poker videos or poker tournaments on TV or Youtube.

Trying to enact complicated instructional strategies on day one leaves you lacking in straightforward techniques that would be more profitable. Tools take practice to use them correctly.

Televised tournaments are more about luck, good and bad. They generally show bad beats or bad plays. The most important part is more about the commentary, which talks about odds and playing situations. Poker tournaments last several hours, even the ones with fewer players. Poker on television would be very boring if they showed the whole tournament.

I watch poker tournaments looking for why they play their cards and see what I would bet in that situation. Gus Hanson's book "Every Hand Played" gives a better picture of playing a complete tournament, but still it's not all the hands.

[Card Player Mag - Nov 2019; APT advancedpokertraining.com, advertorial]From <https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/24341-three-ways-to-not-get-better-at-poker>

I NEVER BLUFF

[caption id="attachment_11" align="alignnone" width="248"] Mr Lucky Poker[/caption]

Bicycle Casino Mega Satellite to the WSOP Circuit Event 8

My 1st Mega Satellite tournament ever @ The Bicycle Casino.

They paid 11 seats out of the field of  91, with the eleventh one getting about $1200. Not sure how that works if you don't want to spend the extra $400 to buy-in for the WSOP Circuit Event, means you would be out of pocket for about $630, after netting around $1000, from the Satellite event. Not too shabby if you could just cash out instead, giving you an ROI of about 3.35 times the buy-in.

POST GAME SUMMARY:

Not a Deep Stack Tournament. 

Your 160 M is quickly reduced to an M of 40 after the 1st hour with a utility of only 26.7 or about 2.5 orbits to get a couple of playable hands.

You need to double up by the 7th level or the blinds and ante will eat you up because you need to bet about  7.5 to 10 big blinds to win a hand.

This tournament leans heavily toward the LUCK side, as evidenced by the tighter play, and as shown by my final hand. Luck beat me early on, when I figured to win and had the best hand, but didn't show up on my final hand.

Skill Factor: 35.13

Luck Factor: 64.87

You need to double up around Level 7 to keep your Competitive  Stack (CS) above 60 Big Blinds. You can get more aggressive if your Optimal Competitive Stack (OCS) can stay above 60 Big Blinds starting at Level 5, when the Ante kicks in.

The table was running at about 30 hands per  hour or 10 hands per blind change.

Table Type: more tight aggressive than loose or even loose aggressive

Player Types: mostly tight aggressive

I made it to Level 8, a little over 2 hours into the tournament.

Most memorable hand:

Had won a couple of small pots, most raises were in the 3 BB range, both preflop and postflop, still had about 10k in chips when LUCK reared it's ugly head.

At level 4, I had ATs @ DB, everyone folded to me, I raised to 3BB, SB folded, BB called

flop  67T, (2 diamonds) BB checked, I raised to 3BB and was called ,

turn was an A, giving me 2 pair to a possible flush draw, BB raised to 3BB, I went all-in and BB called (I had him covered)

River was a diamond, giving him the nut flush w/A9 of diamonds.

My final hand, @ level 8, in Kill Phil mode with A3 in the BB, everyone folded to me, went all-in with 1325, called by SB who had JQ, flop was xxJ and his pair won when nothing helped me on the turn or the river.

Still not that bad if I would have made it to the bigger event which looks to get about 800 players and $250,000 or more to 1st place.

It should have a Skill Factor of about 177 and a Luck Factor of only about 27, ROI of about 1,087 time your buy-in of $230, which is the only reason to play this satellite. Of course and ROI of about 150 times the $1675 isn't too shabby either.

I NEVER BLUFF

Hollywood Park Casino Celebrity Sit N Go

HPC (Hollywood Park Casino) has a new Sit-N-Go Tournament, currently only on Tuesday @ 8pm (2107)
$3,000 Guarantee. $330 Entry Fee. It's a 10 player, single table event, with $300 of the entry fee going to the prize pool. The $330 entry fee will get you $10,000 in chips  with 20 minute levels starting at 50/100.

Tournament Value:   38.54,
Anything under 50 may not be worth playing and more likely designed to get you back to the cash game tables, but then again, it's on Tuesday.
Could be worth playing with an ROI of 4.94, but being that it's on a Tuesday it's more of a Predator/Prey Tournament.

http://www.mrluckypoker.net/2017/02/hollywood-park-casino-celebrity-sit-n-go.html

Sit and Go Tournaments are not spread very much anymore in the local card rooms. The best one I played in was as Hawaiian Gardens Casino, a three table tournament on weekends. Sadly it went away. Commerce Casino and The Bike run them sometimes during their big event tournaments.
This one is on the fast side but not Turbo, with 20 minute blind changes or 3 times per hour and not deep stacked @ only 100 Big Blinds for an "M" of 100, with a Utility "M" of about 67 Big Blinds.

You reach the Minefield at about Level 4,  which now lowers your (M) to 29 Big Blinds, since you need a minimum of 60 Big Blinds at all times to be competitive, you have to play much more riskier hands.

If your average win/loss rate is 50% and with the ante kicking in, you have only about 30 hands left before you have to play a Kill Phil kind of game. The Minefield section is about 1.5 hours and should end about Level 9, where you will need at least $72.000 in chips to continue at the Bubble Phase and on to the In-the-Money Phase. This tournament only pays the top 2 out of 10.

The Minefield is not too deep at about 6 levels, which means that's where most of the action is going to be as players try to improve their stacks. At level 7, about 2.33 hours into the tournament, it should start getting exciting as short stacks are going ALL-IN and medium stacks get cautious.

You only have about 2 hours to Double Up your stack, which means changing gears could be problematic when you are getting short stacked.

Being a tournament more geared to Luck at 81% than Skill, at about 18%, Tight Passive players are likely to have to make bigger bets than usual, but this one could go on for about 3 hours or more. Haven't seen the results, I don't think Hollywood Park Casino publishes them.

It would be interesting to see if a deeper stacked tournament, with 30 min blinds, and paying 3 players would make the tournament more popular, especially on a weekend.
Maybe 3 tables with 30 players and the top 3 chip stacks at each table make the final 9 and pay the 3 finishers.

I NEVER BLUFF

(M) # big blind bets you can make based on your chip stack size. An indicator of how aggressive you can be on each hand. (named after Paul Magriel.)

(UM) Utility of M, effectiveness of your chip stack size based on total blinds and ante for each round.

Hollywood Park Casino Daily Tournaments

This one from Hollywood Park Casino is on a Saturday at 7pm. $3,000 Guarantee. $60 Entry Fee and one $60 rebuy/add-on. They need at least 81 players or entries, including rebuys, to meet the guarantee, as only $37 of the entry fee and/or rebuy/add-on goes the prize pool.
Their set-up sheet shows one on Sunday @ Noon for $150 entry and a $12,000 guarantee, with $30 going to fees and $30,000 in chips, no rebuy? We'll get to that one later.

Unlike many of the low limit Texas Hold'em cash games, this looks looks like it isn't on the fast side, with 20 minute blind changes, only due to the deep starting stack.

The $60 entry fee will get you $10,000 in chips and the rebuy/add-on will get you another $15,000 in chips, so it's pretty deep stacked at 250 Big Blinds (M), depending on if you added-on (rebuy) or didn't. If you didn't take the early re-buy, really an add-on if taken early, then you're very limited on your attack strategy. Some aggressive players like to hedge their ROI by trying not to add-on early. This puts your luck factor at about 90% and severely limits your playability. So if you are an action player you are most likely up against Tight Aggressive players who only play about 30% of their hands. The Minefield starts about a hour after the Tournament starts, so you have a little time to build your stack off the Tight Passive players. The tournament could run about 4 to 5 hours.

With an M of 250 to start, when you reach the Minefield at about Level 4, you'll be down to 83 Big Blinds, if your average win/loss rate is 50%, but with the ante kicking in, you have only about 37 hands left before you have to play a Kill Phil kind of game. The Minefield should end about Level 9, where you will need at least $42.000 in chips to continue to the Bubble phase.

The Minefield is fairly deep, which means that's where most of the action is going to be as players try to improve their stacks. At level 6 and 7, about 2 hours into the tournament, it should start getting exciting as short stacks are going All-In and medium stacks get cautious.

You have a little over 3 hours to Double Up your stack, which means you can change gears several times to maximise your play. At the Blind Off Level, level 9, you need about $264,000 in chips to make it past the bubble to where you're In-The-Money.

Being a tournament more geared to Luck, at about 53%, than Skill, at about 48%, Tight Passive players are still likely to get run over, but this one could go for 5 hours or more. Haven't seen the results, I don't think Hollywood Park Casino publishes them.

I NEVER BLUFF

Hollywood Park Casino 1st Sunday 25k tournament.

Updated: 2/5/2017

 Still haven't found the time to play in one, but it looks like a good Tournament.

Most tournaments are geared to be top heavy in payouts which makes them less profitable if you only get "In-The-Money".

Players have been clamoring for a more "fair" payout structure. So fast games with a low "M" tend to be more of a gambler's tournament even if you get to the final table.

I've won a couple of tournaments in the past here but Hollywood Park Casino has leaned more to gamblers in the past. I still search for the elusive Sit and Go tournaments, which Hollywood Park Casino used to have, even though they were more on the fast side.

I didn't play in this one but it looks like they are improving on their tournament structure in some of them, we'll see as they start moving to the new casino and get more players from the new facilities surrounding them.

So what kind of tournament do we have?
Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler "Approved"?
'Action' Dan Harrington Approved?
Arnold Snyder Approved?

Here is my assessment of the Tournament Value  for Hollywood Park Casino's  First Sundayof each month, Feb 2017. $25,000 Guarantee. 

$230 Entry Fee win no rebuy/add-on. They need at least 129 players or entries, including re-entries, to meet the guarantee, as only $194 of the entry fee goes the prize pool.

Hopefully there will be at least 144 players for Optimum Value.
Their regular Sunday Tournament is also @ Noon for $150 entry and a $12,000 guarantee, with $30 going to fees and $30,000 in chips, no rebuy? We'll get to that one later.

Unlike many of the low limit Texas Hold'em cash games, this looks looks like it isn't on the fast side, with 30 minute blind changes, but only  for the first 3 blind changes and fairly deep starting stack of 300 Big Blinds with a Utility "M" of about 200 Big Blinds, until it gets 30% faster at level 5.

The $230 entry fee will get you $30,000 in chips and you can re-enter up to the 9th Level, or about 3 hours and 30 minutes into the tournament.  Don't wait until then to get into the tournament because you'll be down to less then 40 Big Blinds by then if you haven't increased your stack.

You reach the Minefield at about Level 4,  which is still not too bad at 150 Big Blinds, since you need a minimum of 60 Big Blinds at all times, to be competative. If your average win/loss rate is 50% and with the ante kicking in, you have only about 70 hands left before you have to play a Kill Phil kind of game. The Minefield has a long fuse, about 4.17 hours and should end about Level 15.5, where you will need at least $360.000 in chips to continue at the Bubble Phase and on to the In-the-Money Phase.

The Minefield is fairly deep, which means that's where most of the action is going to be as players try to improve their stacks. At level 11 and 12, about 4 hours into the tournament, it should start getting exciting as short stacks are going All-In and medium stacks get cautious.

You have a almost 4 hours to Double Up your stack, which means you can change gears several times to maximise your play.

Being a tournament more geared to Luck, at about 16%, than Skill, at over 90%, Tight Passive players are likely to get run over, and this one could go for close to 8 hours or more. Haven't seen the results, I don't think Hollywood Park Casino publishes them.

I NEVER BLUFF

Updated: 2/5/2017

Phill's Little Green Book Notes

Updated 2/11/2017

I have all of Phil Gordon's books, including Poker: The Real Deal, one of my first poker books. His "little books", Green, Black, Gold and Blue, show his, as well as the game's evolution. They all have some good math basics, as well has his own "tricks", like how to play Ax. His best tip is the Gordon Pair Principle, about the odds someone is holding a better pair preflop.

Here are a few of the tips from the Little Green Book.

Psychology: Timing of Bets
Try to always take about the same amount of time to consider options and take action on a hand.  Not too fast, not too slow.
(use a clock or watch to vary your time; like when the second hand is between 10 and 12, act         
faster or way slower, like you are thinking about your outs or  may or may not have the nuts.)

Beating Tight and Passive Players
Tight/Passive players play so few hands that, while they may hit the flop, Phil says 35% with AK,
I think it's more likely they will only play a hand maybe once out of 9 hands, which means about 35 hands have to be played before they hit it. You should be able to pick up several small pots against them.
 OK, what's tight and what's passive.
Tight players only play the top 10 hands and even then bet weakly on the bottom half of that spectrum. 
Passive players will play a few more hands, but quickly fold to any action if they didn't hit their hand. 
Raises, Re-raises, and continuation bets will usually get either of them to fold.

Beating Loose Players
Play tight, wait for great flops that hit your hand, give them hope and lots of rope.

Implied Tilt Odds
You want to play against players that are easily emotional about either their bad beats or your bad beats and any hand they suck out on. Playing into their emotional outbursts and bad plays, even with a marginal hand, will eliminate them.

Tells: When they look at my chips.
Usually means they have a good hand and they think I'm weak. If you catch a monster hand, you can over-bet the pot or check-raise.

When they reach for chips
Kind of depends on who's looking. If they reach for chips after looking at my chips, but I bet first, make the raise. If they are not looking at my chips or anyone else's chips, they have something, but it's my turn to bet, I'll bet my hand strength depending on how many chips they appear to be grabbing and look for a pause in their grab, which means they aren't as strong as they wanted to project.

The Quick Call
Players that quickly play the flop, usually a minimum bet, frequently have a drawing hand. If they had a good hand, the top pair or better, they would be considering what to raise. If they missed the flop, they are thinking about folding or bluffing, which takes a little more thought.

The Slow Call
It's usually a raise with a strong hand or a fold with a weak hand. Calling, after a long pause, could be a ploy to suck you into a monster hand or a draw to the nuts.

Texture: After the Flop
What cards are in play, how will they interact with other players hands or hand ranges and what bet is likely to come based on the board texture. Most bets are likely to be 25% to 100% of the pot. Any less is usually a missed fishing expedition; any more is either a poor bet by a weak player with the nuts or a bluff at a nut draw or 2nd top pair. The more players still in the hand, the more likely someone has at least top pair.
   
Living up the "Weak means Strong and Strong means Weak" philosophy, Phil leans toward making weaker continuation bets with strong hands in order to entice a player to call. With weak starting hands that have good outs but miss the flop or maybe hit 3rd top pair, betting half the pot usually get slightly better hands to fold, top pair will usually re-raise though, so it's an easy fold. With medium strength hands, betting half the pot to 2/3 of the pot gets some players with slightly better hands to fold and players with Nut potential, but worse hands, to call.

After the Turn and a scare card hits
Phil likes to just check if he had the lead but it didn't help him and call a small or continuation bet, he's not liking a check-raise here.
If it didn't hit you, It may have hit them, how many players still in the hand should determine how scary the card is. If it's only you and one other player, make a continuation bet, it's still a game of fish, so you have to ask if it hit them, if you just check, they would most likely make a continuation or value bet which would cause you to likely fold. If there is more than one other player in the hand, it either hit them or helped them, if it didn't help you, you have to check, or if you do have a good hand or the nuts, check raise.

It's all about the odds to improve.
Based pretty much on your outs.
9 to 10 outs, like a high flush draw, maybe a nut flush draw, is about a 35-45% chance of hitting your draw, you should bet about half the pot, if you're the first to act.
4 to 6 outs, like and inside draw to 2 over cards, is about a 15-20% chance. Phil likes to bet about 2/3 the pot, but I think you need at least one Broadway card to even consider that bet and you need  to only have one other player in the hand.
Less than 4 outs is a real gamble. The newer professional and amature poker players are much more aggressive now and love to gamble. Phil likes a pot size bet here, to take the pot down, but I think position is the relevant factor here and knowing what type of player you are up against and it can only be one, two or more players are likely to have you beat regardless of position.

Tournament Strategies: Stealing the Blinds
Stealing the blinds is a critical element in tournaments. At a full table, you need an above average stack size to steal one every 13 hands or so, and position will likely make a more optimal timing of once every 16 or more hands a better option. In a six handed or less table, you should only be trying to steal from the last three seats anyway.
A blatant thief is easily caught.
It's hard to steal the blinds from "Next to BET" instead of "First to Bet", when first to bet actually raised. You have to not only be in position, but have a playable hand to commit grand larceny. You also have to have that gut feeling that they are actually trying to steal the blinds, which means they have to be no more that two seats on your right. More than two seats away is not likely a steal, but some type of good to great hand. If you're the button, then there are two seats on your right that are stealing seats, the Hi-Jack seat and the Grand Larceny seat.  
BB-SB-BTN-CO-HJ-GL-M4-E3-E2-UG

The Green, Black, Gold and Blue books from Phil Gordon.


I NEVER BLUFF

14 WSOP BRACELETS AND COUNTING

Updated 2/11/2017

14 World Series of Poker Bracelets
Phil Hellmuth, the "Poker Brat". Love him or hate him, I hear he's reasonably sane away from the Poker table, but you can't deny his success at the green felt arena.
14 WSOP Bracelets, to go with his 108 WSOP cashes, a record, 7 of those at the main event, and 52 WSOP final tables, also also a record! What is really amazing is that 22 of his final tables have not been at Texas Hold'em events, like Seven Card Razz, 2-7 Lowball, Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi-Lo, Pot Limit, Limit, No Limit Omaha Hold'em and event that great game of HORSE, a mixed poker, as well as the Poker Players Championship eight game mixed event. He also finished 4th in the 2012 "Big One for One Drop" $1 Million buy-in event, for a big $2,645,333 payday, which only had 48 players, of which 9 players finished in the money. He's even got his own logo.

Up until the advent of micro cams to view a players cards while playing poker, the field of participants never got over 8,773 for a single event at the World Series of Poker. Back in those days they had only a few games that were played and only a few WSOP events. The first few years of the WSOP main event had less than 20 players. It added a few games and tables and you only had to outlast less than 100 players in the big game, which after 20 years grew to around 200 players.

This year there were 68 events, some of the poker games have come and gone, but the audience has grown every year, even after Poker's Black Friday, which actually helped increase the live game venue. The new kid on the block this year, the "Colusus", with low buy-in of $568, had 22,000 players, exceeding the projected max expected to be 20,000. The winner got $638,000 for a $568 buy in, a cool 1.123:1 profit. I expect it will be even bigger next year, and more of the WSOP satellites will include a low entry event.

Most casinos that even offer poker now, only spread a few games for the cash table players and the tournaments are mainly designed to get you to bust out early and get you back to the cash table games, same with the card rooms at places that are not full fledged casinos. The WSOP events are structured a little better now and with the 22,347 players for one event, not to mention the other 67 events, the Disneyland of the desert should be making lots of money. The entourage for each player may be an additional 2 or more people, who may spend a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each, because they have to stay around for up to 5 days for the one event. That's a lot of income for Sin City.

One of my favorite poker games is RAZZ, a great poker game, and the one Phil Hellmuth has been specializing in lately, which helped him win that bracelet this year and $271,105 for 1st place. It may only have had 102 players, but at $10k per seat I'll take a 27:1 profit any time I can. It's lots eaiser than trying to beat 22,374 No Limit Texas Hold'em players.

Now he's up to $12 million in WSOP winnings and $18.5 million in live tournaments. He's won 2 main event WSOP bracelets in No Limit Texas Hold'em, 3 bracelets in Limit Texas Hold'em, 6 bracelets in other WSOP No Limit Texas Hole'em events, 1 Pot Limit Texas Hold'em bracelet and 2 in Seven Card Razz.

Now how about that Paper Microscope!

I NEVER BLUFF

A day at the Gardens: Hawaiian Gardens Casino CA

Updated 2/11/2017

I've played at most of the card rooms in the LA area; Hollywood Park, Hustler, The Bike, Commerce, even Crystal.
If I had to rank them it would most likely be:
1. Commerce Casino a slight edge over
2.The Bike,
3. Hustler
4. Hawaiian Gardens Casino
5. Hollywood Park
6. Crystal Casino.
Haven't played at Normandie yet, but from what I hear, I would put it slightly over Crystal.

Hawaiian Gardens Casino
I've been looking for more Sit and Go games and Omaha games, in my price range, and heard they had some at Hawaiian Gardens Casino. Hollywood Park advertises Sit and Go's but I have yet to see one as they keep saying they don't have enough dealers. The Bike and Commerce have them during their big tournaments, but not normally. None of the other local casinos offer them.

I tried a couple of the Sit and Go tournaments at Hawaiian Gardens. They have a couple of formats. A 6 max that pays the top 2. A full single table that pays half the table and a 3 table shoot out. They are all turbo games, 10 min rounds, fast and more gamble in them than skill, but a fun game. I played my first shoot out a week or so ago, busted out midway in a it.

This week I wanted to try the 6 max, but it wasn't starting for another couple of hours, but they had a single table Sit and Go for $175 which payed the top two. Again it's a turbo, 10 min rounds and 1500 in chips, so it's fast. Threw away a couple of marginal hands, out of position, didn't really get any playable hands that weren't already family pots by the time it got to me. Finally got a monster, AA, two from the UTG position, I'm kind of short stacked, only about 12 big blinds, and I'm sandwiched anyway, so I just called a min raise (my first mistake), and two others called. There's 5 in the pot and the flop comes like 9,5,4, and I raise the pot (my second mistake). The cutoff raises all-in, he just barely has me covered, everyone else folds, I call, (my final mistake). The turn and river are no help to either of us, he shows 44 and cracks my AA and I'm out.

Chances are if I would have gone All-in pre-flop, he would have called anyway since we were both needing chips. So I look around at some of the cash games going on. Most look like they are good games. I like No Limit and Pot Limit and Omaha 8, but my favorite is Pot Limit Omaha. Most of the local casinos don't' have one that fits my pocket book, but they have one here with a $100-$200 to buy-in and $1-$2 blinds. They had a seat open so I jump in.

OK, they are playing $2-$4 blinds because they all decided to raise them, but if I only wanted $1-$2 blinds they would accommodate  Not my favorite stack ratio now that it's instantly depleted 50$, which cuts my "M" in half and puts me below my "CM", but I decide to play at $2-$4. They have some real action players, so my normal game should do quite well. In fact I won the first hand I played and got a fair sized pot. Played a couple of other hands along the way, but didn't get any favorable flops. Some of them liked to run it twice in an All-in bet, not my cup of tea, don't really see the point of a 50% tie over a 33% win ratio. The game was going OK for an hour or so, a couple of players busted out and bought back in and a couple of players busted out, left, and others joined.

One of the players who joined was another old fogy. Most of the players know him, as the players here often know each other. This one didn't want to play $2-$4, so after hemming and hawing about it, they changed to $1-$2, but wanted a $5 bring in on the next bet or call, which was kind of OK, but he didn't really sound too happy about it.

The game was kind of up and down as far as action now. The action players would raise pre-flop almost every hand, I won a few and lost a few, but still liked the game. The only misstep was when I raised hands instead of calling post flop without the nuts. I fixed that leak after my stack was down 50%. Some of the players were starting to cash out or bust out and no new players were on the board, so after we were down to 4, the table broke. A couple of the players, including the old fogy, decided to go to the Commerce, said they were going to play a proposed PLO game, they already had some signed in as "interested". Just in time for the Sit and Go Shootout here. I came out with a slight profit in the Omaha game.
This will be one of my games to play in the future.

The Shootout was looking kind of slim, but Tina, the tournament boss said it should fill up nicely. About 10 minutes after it was supposed to start, each table had only about 4 to 5 sitting, looking kind of iffy, but after about 10 min, we filled up. One of the players at table 1 had won the 2 earlier Sit and Go's, was getting kind of loaded, and busted out early. I was in about the middle of the pack at table 2, had 5 left and 2 were already short stacked. I decided not to play anymore hands to get to the final table, but I got a couple of good ones, one was Ten/Ten, won that round, another KQ, flopped the Q, won that one. Finally the 2 short stacks busted out and we broke for the final table.

Stacks were reformatted to the beginning of the tournament, we started at $1500 with $25/$25 blinds and 10 min rounds again. I must have gotten AK about 4 times in the game, won some pots. We were down to 5 players again and I was 2nd in chips. Busted one player out and now the chip leader, though not by much. Another player busted out and we were down to 3. Forth place paid $110, so now I was in the money and 3rd place paid about $350. Another player busted out and we were down to 2 with the chip lead see-sawing back and forth due to the blinds increasing. Each hand was more of a gamble and there really no skill going now. Most of my hands have been good, at least one face card with a middle kicker, only had to throw one low hand away, 2-3o. Every hand now is All-in and after a couple rounds where my opponent folded, I finally won and came in 1st, paid $656, not bad for a $70 entry, which helped set off the $175 I lost in the first Sit and Go.

I think the PLO games at Hawaiian Gardens will be financing my Sit and Go's, and some of the other deep stack tournaments I plan on playing.

UPDATE:
Looks like they have discontinued the Sit and Go tournaments and rarely have PLO games anymore.

Would have been a regular stomping ground for me, but not anymore.

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One Flop, Ten Hands

Updated 2/11/2017

One Flop, Ten Hands

Ed Miller Explores Ten Situations On One Flop

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/16138-poker-strategy-with-ed-miller-one-flop-ten-hands

What happened pre-flop?
You have a $1,000 stack, and most of your opponents have you covered. Everyone folds to the player two off the button who opens for $30, [a $20 raise, 2x BB, with $5/$10 blinds.] You call on the button. The blinds fold. It’s two players to the flop, and the pot is $75. 
[Seat 8 could have anything depending on the type of player. Tight players would most likely raise 3xBB with AA-TT, any raise Minimum to 2xBB is more likely AK to AJ, possibly KQ or QJ, Loose players would probably raise 3xBB with anything if everyone folded to him. Selective Aggressive and Solid players are more likely to raise 2BB with any good suited connectors or trying to trap with over pairs, below AA. The flop is the real decision maker for most players.]
10♣  6♦  3♠ (no flushes or straights made, best non-paired hand is a straight on the turn or flush on the river)
Top set, I would just call. Slow playing top set is natural, since the holding cripples the deck for our opponent. On this board, I will be raising nearly all my value hands, so it’s nice to still be able to threaten the nuts when I just call the flop. Some players would look at the possible draws and think it’s too dangerous to slow play. With most hands we aren't slow playing. Just this one.
Middle set is a raise. We’re raising a lot of hands, so we definitely should raise bottom and middle set. If we catch our opponent with an overpair or A-10, we could easily win stacks.
[Over pairs] 
Do not always reraise (over pairs like Q-Q) preflop in position, and one reason I don’t is that I like to have this hand in my range on flops like this one. This is a flop raise. If I’m going to apply pressure with bluffs, I need to have real hands sometimes also.
[Two over cards, Ace high] 
Call. We have two overcards, a backdoor-flush draw to the queen, and possible ace-high showdown value. It’s not a great hand, but recall that our strategy has us folding infrequently because of our structural advantages in the pot. I prefer calling with this hand over bluffing, as calling preserves the showdown value, and we’ll almost never end the hand with the nuts, so there’s no value to building a pot.
[Drawing hands] 
A wrong-suited gutshot to the nuts. This is a hand I’d raise. Again, we’re raising frequently to push our positional advantage and possibly to punish our opponent for continuation betting too many hands. Gutshots to the nuts make good bluff-raising hands in general, as they typically have no showdown value, and they also can justify building the pot since you will end up occasionally stacking an opponent when you hit the nuts. If you get reraised, you fold.
Top pair with a marginal kicker. This is a straightforward call. If this pot blows up, your hand is not good. It’s best suited to pick off bluffs and to protect your calling range (since you’re also calling with unpaired hands).
Middle pair with 2 card backdoor-flush and low end 2 card straight draws. This is a hand I might have reraised preflop. But if I didn’t, I’m likely raising it now. The potential to make three sixes or the backdoor draws add value to this hand in a big pot. Many turn cards add equity to this hand — any spade and any six through deuce. If our opponent calls the flop raise, we will frequently get to bet big on the turn with a decent chance of drawing out when called.
Bottom pair with the nut-flush 2 card draw. Many people raise this hand reflexively, but I prefer to call here. If you get this hand all-in on the flop, you’re likely up against a set or a big overpair — a range against which you are a slight dog.
[Gapped Low pairs, between middle pair and low pair, such as 55 or 44] 
This is the type of hand I fold. There’s a small amount of showdown value, but that’s it. The draw isn’t strong enough to risk a big pot. And it can’t handle a second bet. I also fold hands that need 2 cards to complete a straight or flush.
Backdoor 2 card flush and 2 card straight draws with an over card. I would likely call. The backdoor draws mean a lot of turn cards will justify aggression. I’m defending a hand this weak because I have the structural advantage (position), and in most cases I’m not going to let this pot go without a fight. ♠
About Flop Textures part 1 part 2 

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Laws of Combat (as it relates to Poker)

Updated 2//11/2017

Basic Laws of Combat

              (as it relates to Poker)

1. You are not superman.

(Don't expect to win every hand)

2. Suppressive fires -- won't.

(Limping in can get you killed)

3. If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.

(Luck! Even a Donkey wins a hand now and then)

4. Don't look conspicuous -- it draws fire.

(Drawing attention to yourself makes you a target, too bold or too timid will result in challenges)

5. When in doubt, empty the magazine.

 (Go All-In when you smell fear, yours or theirs)

6. Never share a fighting hole with anyone braver than you are.

(Get out of the pot if bigger stacks attack)

7. Never forget your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.

(Limping in can explode on you)

8. If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.

(Calling stations usually have something)

9. No plan survives the first contact intact.

(After the flop, all hands change)

10. All five second grenade fuses will burn down in three seconds.

(Holding on to draws usually backfires)

11. Try to look unimportant, because the bad guys may be low on ammo.

(Keep a low profile but play your good hands aggressively against low chip stacks)

12. If you are forward of your position, the artillery will fall short.

(First to act may get you shot)

13. The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack.

(You are being slow played by a better hand)

14. The important things are always simple.

(Don't try to overplay a hand)

15. The simple things are always hard.

(AA doesn't win every hand)

16. The easy way is always mined.

(Catching the flop doesn't mean the Turn or River won't get trapped)

17. If you are short of everything except enemy, you are in combat.

(The less chips you have, the more likely you are to lose)

18. When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.

(It's OK to declare victory before the river if you have the nuts)

19. Incoming fire has the right-of-way.

(Get out of the way of aggressive action if you don't have the nuts)

20. No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.

(Top 10 hands don't always work)

21. If the enemy is in range, so are you.

(You can't avoid the enemy when you are heads-up)

22. Beer math: 37 men times 2 beers each equals 49 cases.

(Chips, you can never have enough of them)

23. Body count math: 3 bad guys plus 1 probable plus 2 pigs = 37 enemy killed in action.

(You must eliminate everyone, limpers and calling stations end up as Collateral damage)

24. Friendly fire - isn't.

(Expect to be attacked by anyone, even friends)

25. Things that must be together to work usually can't be shipped together.

(Most drawing hands don't catch)

26. Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support desperately.

(Your friends can't help you when you need them, no insurance)

27. Anything you do can get you shot -- including doing nothing.

(Being too passive is only slightly worse than being too aggressive)

28. If you make it too tough for the enemy to get in, you can't get out.

(Sometimes it's easy to get pot committed with less than the nuts)

29. Tracers work BOTH ways.

(Being too obvious can get you trapped)

30. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

(Your friends will stab you in the back, eventually)

31. If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will have more than your fair share to take.

(Build your chip stack by making good choices with good cards and steal some pots)

32. When both sides are convinced they are about to lose, they're both right.

(Calling on the river usually means the worst hand could have won with a bet)

33. Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.

(You can't bluff a bad player, suck outs happen at the river)

34. Any significant military action will occur at the junction of two or more map sheets.

(After the flop, any street can turn a winning hand into a losing hand)

35. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.

(Going All-In doesn't guarantee you a win)

36. Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you.

(Playing out of turn will ruin your game)

37. Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.

(Pay Attention! Looking bored will get you action)

I NEVER BLUFF