Hugo's Blogspotting: 12 June

Annette Vs Mr. Cool

I don’t normally bother with blogs that are full of poker strategy in this column, but Annette_15’s recent update is not only quite amusing, but also is a good illustration of how sophisticated her thought processes are when it comes to dissecting a poker hand and deciding upon the right course of action.

Annette has been accused in the past of being arrogant, but I think that is unfair. It’s more likely a combination of her Scandinavian temperament (she’s from Norway, remember) and her youthful confidence. And that confidence has not lapsed into hubris; the fact is, she has put in the hours and the millions of hands online. She “gets” poker, more specifically tournament poker, and this has turned her into a pure LAG machine.

Other players who can’t believe a teenage girl can be so good at the game that they think they’re so good at just put it down to luck. As I have said before, there is a lot of envy in the poker world.

Anyway, back to Annette’s blog and in this entry she writes about a couple of hands she played with UK pro Marc Goodwin. Her analyses of the hands is frightening and it’s interesting that after both hands Goodwin resorted to calling her a luckbox.

“I'm on the SB with AK... oh god, told ya eh... one guy limps for 400. Marc raises to 1600 on the button. I really really reeally dont wanna play this hand at this point, and I definitely dont wanna see a flop with it OOP against him, so I reraise to 6500 pretty much telling him I'm not going anywhere and that I just wanna get the hand over with... It's probably pretty exploitable against very strong players who will know I have AK here and fold anything but KK , but marc isn't like that.”

I just love the way she insta-dismisses Goodwin from the very strong player class. There’s just no question about it, is there? Anyway, Goodwin has pocket 7s and shoves all-in to which Annette calls and then hits a king on the flop to win the pot. Naturally Mr.Cool was not too pleased.

“He told me he thought I had AT, AJ, AQ, AK and maybe small pairs. LOL again. First of all...I'm folding AT, AJ to his single raise preflop, all pairs im prolly set mining.. I'm never gonna turn AQ into a bluff by reraising cuz I wont be able to call a shove. And If I did reraise light I'm not gonna reraise that much of my stack and fold to a shove the last hand of the day to put me on tilt before the next day. So my real range there is QQ and AK... I wouldnt say ur 7s does very well against that range, Marc...I'm sorry.

He gets punished for his bad play when I hit a K on the flop to win the pot and then he starts going off on me again telling me how bad i am and that I'm the biggest lucksack in the world and that all I do is run good. Whatever... go beat ur mates in the GUPT instead or whatever that tourney series over there is called”

Actually Annette it’s called the GUKPT, but we get your point. There’s a lot of clannishness in poker and it sounds like Annette wasn’t too impressed by Goodwin and his clique.

Another Challenge From Antonius

Meanwhile there’s another European player out there who is willing to take on all challengers and that’s none other than Patrik Antonius. I guess it’s a combination of being a bit bored waiting for Doyle to choose what games they are going to play in their heads-up duel, and, now that he is an official member of Team Full Tilt, promoting that particular online poker room (more of the second obviously).
Antonius has thrown down the gauntlet to the best heads-up NLHE players.

“I would like to issue a little challenge to a few online players who have been very successful at the biggest games online the past few months. All they do is hide behind their computer screens, scared to play anyone that they think is any good. I have not played Heads Up No Limit on Full Tilt for a long time and have hardly any experience playing it compared to these guys, yet, they refuse to play me and are dodging me in all games.

Durrr, OMGClayAiken, trex313, Urindanger, I am looking for action and I want a chance to play against the best.”

The confidence that Antonius possesses is astounding – no wonder these other players are avoiding him. It’s been noted elsewhere that there is a new trend amongst a lot of the top internet players to just not play if they don’t think they have an edge.

Whilst this is technically correct – if you’re professional gambler you should only be looking to get your money in with the best of it, right? – these players also run the risk of losing action from the suckers if the fish wise up and realize that the games only go when they are around.

Like Doyle said, “You’ve got to give action to get action”. Chip Reese was famous for starting up tough short-handed games against other top players. This was in case a good punter came into the room; now he had a game to play in. As Reese used to say when asked why he would play in these bad games, “You gotta open up the shop so the customers can come in”.

Quiet Lion is Back

The WSOP has a way of bringing old players out of the woodwork and part of the whole point of the Series when they started it up back in the 70s was as an annual get-together for all the poker players from all points across the globe. Ok, back then it meant America, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, the same applies to bloggers and one of Blogspotting’s favourite sons has started updating after a long silence due to an appearance at the AGM of all gamblers, hustlers and donkament players. I am talking about none other than Richard Brodie aka the Quiet Lion.

Now I must admit to be rather unkind to the Lion in the past, taking the piss out of his endless references to fine wines and expensive restaurants. However, I came to find his blog addictive and am glad to see he is back and updating. Hopefully he’ll carry on after the Series.

This update finds the Lion in a Tao of Poker mood with his tip on how to win in Vegas.

“The only way to beat Vegas is to hit and run. That’s why I never moved here. If you spend too much time in Sin City it grinds you down, wears you out, and eventually absorbs you, stealing your soul and making you part of the jaundiced, hungry money machine.”

Wise words, wise words. What the Lion also forgot to mention is that he absolutely blessed and walks between the raindrops when it comes to gambling (somewhere in the Blogspotting archives there is an entry about him getting barred from all Harrahs properties because he won too much at Video Poker). What I am getting at is the prize draw for a Mini Cooper that the Lion found himself in.

Six cars were up fro grabs and basically the casino turned a simple draw into a sort of game show where punters had to match numbers on a board. By the time the Lion got called up there were only two numbers left.

“Finally there was one car left and they drew my name. Nichole said, “16 and 12! 16 and 12!” The room was spinning as I walked up to the stage. I decided to go for the drama. “Well, I’m pretty sure one of them is 16.” I said. Then I waited. I wondered if they’d call the clock on me. Finally I said, “How about….12!”
The room erupted into mixed cheers and boos as they revealed the final car. I took the cash option”

As the late Robert Palmer sang, “Some guys have all the luck”…

How to Win a Super Satellite

Talking of some guys having all the luck Rob Sherwood is in Vegas and whilst not running too great himself he marvels at a friend of his who has clearly gotten a horseshoe implant recently (is this operation available on the NHS?).

“Then I watched the Green Machine playing a WSOP super satellite online and learnt what it is you need to do to win a seat in these things. Basically any time you get dealt a mid-pair 77-1010 you should be trying to get it all-in preflop preferably against KK. Watch as you then flop a set on each occasion. Whilst waiting for these hands you should be aiming to ante off half your stack each time. As the bubble approaches you want to be making full use of your timebank by stalling as much as possible, then when another mid-pocket pair arrives just shove all-in in first position and instead of cracking kings yet again, for variety this time get snap called by AK and hold. Now for the final hour you need to ante off 3/4 of your stack whilst stalling as much as possible and watching the other tables and shouting for cards to hit to knock out any all-in players. Wp.”

Hmm, I know the feeling. You spend your whole time studying and thinking about the game, carefully analyzing past hands and pondering how you can improve. You consider the structures of the tournaments you plan to play and how those structures will dictate what sort of strategy you should be employing. Then along comes some mate who does the opposite of all of that and makes it look like there was never any question of them winning. Marvelous.

Life of Ivey

Finally, PokerRoad has a cool new section called the Life of Ivey. This is basically a fly-on-the-wall look at the day to day comings and goings of the best poker player in the world.

Phil Ivey’s reputation precedes him and it has to be said that these videos will just add to his mystique. The most recent episode, High Stakes Dice, is very entertaining and confirms to me that the really great poker players are at heart pure unadulterated gamblers.

At one point Barry Greenstein, who is doing the filming (I think the makers of Blair Witch Project Two will ask him to be the cameraman by the way), asks Phil if it’s possible for a dice player to not be superstitious.

“It’s possible, but it’s no fun. That’s like playing Baccarat and not squeezing when you look at the cards”

Hugo 'Chimney Sweep' Martin

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