Random poker questions...

Lafortezza

Bored in work...

1) Situation: You are heads up on the turn. You have AA the board shows J722 with 2 hearts, and you are sure your opponent is on the flush draw and he has a big stack. The pot has 10k chips in it, you have 800 chips remaining. Blinds are relatively small say 25-50.
If you are sure your opponent is on the flush draw, are you correct to push your last 800 chips all-in every time in this scenario when your opponent checks to you?
With the pot that big your opponent will never fold his draw, so should you check behind on the turn and see if the river makes his flush? If the flush does come you can safely fold the river and still play on in the tournament, if you push all-in on the turn you could be knocked out for a marginal return and no folding equity if/when the flush hits.

2) If you buy into a tournament for an amount of money that means alot to you do you factor into your play the idea of getting 'value for money', i.e. you want to get a few hours of play for your €100/€250 buy-in or whatever?
Do you find this affects how you play, e.g. folding a top pair top kicker to a big/all-in bet?

3) Do you prefer playing against friends/people you know or complete strangers? In the recent €50 hold'em only cash game in the Fitz, while I was on the waiting list the table was full of poker buddies and the banter was great. But it wasn't an easy table to make money at by any means.
When you're choosing a table to play at how do you factor in who is already seated when deciding whether to play?

4) How much prize money would you have to win before you would definitely pay the $10000 (and expenses!) to play the main event in the WSOP?

5) Do you think you should ever show your cards at the table when you don't have to (to build an image/put people on tilt/etc)? Every time you do it you give information on how you play, is that ever a good thing?

6) What the one thing that annoys you most at the poker table?

7) If someone offered to stake/pay your entry fee in every single tournament you wanted to enter in Dublin (not the WSOP!), and you would receive just 5% of the prize money, would you accept the deal?
If you wouldn't accept 5%, what % would you accept?
If you would accept 5%, would you take the same deal for free?

L.

careca

Interesting q's Luke.

1) There are a few things you need to know here. How much has your opponent got left. If the 800 puts him/her all in then I would def stick the lot in the pot. If they are in danger of going out then they might fold the flush draw. Personally I would prob stick it in anyway.

2) If you are worried about the entry fee then you won't play good/proper cards. Never lose more than you can afford. And if you fold top pair/top kicker often enough, you won't be in the tournament for long anyway. Why not just go for a pint for an hour and come back later, if thats the case.


3) Personally I like a bit of banter/chat at the table but it doesn't bother me who the opponents are

4) I would have to win double that amount before I would cough up. I would hate to win 10K and then throw it away at the BSOP and unless you got extremely lucky you would be throwing it away with over 2500 players.

5) I think there are times when you have to. Either to get a 'rock' image or else to show someone you won't be walked over, in this case it can be beneficial from time to time to show a bluff.

6) Bad etiquette. There are many different forms of it which have been discussed before. And so-called 'great players' telling you why you just made a terrible play.

7) 30/35% and no I wouldn't play for nothing. You wouldn't have the same intensity. Mind you I would agree to play for 5/10% in a major tournament (over 3K entry) as a once off just to see how I would perform

Hectorjelly

Q1

Your opponent has 8/9 outs so will hit his flush around 1/5 times. Assuming he will fold to a bet on the river if he doesnt make his flush, you are giving up 4/5 of 800 chips in equity by not betting. That works out at 640 chips. In a cash game you are simply giving away this money by not betting. (I actually discussed this exact problem with JP and Bite me recently.) If you check you are giving him infinite odds to hit his flush. However in this case if you lose all your chips here your out of the tournament, and with blinds of 25 50 you still have a chance to get back in the running, however if all the stacks at the table are going to be massive compared to yours your probably better off betting, as the chances of getting back into the tournament are so slim anyway.

Lafortezza

My own answers to the questions...(cos I'm still bored in work )

1) I check behind on the turn. Survival is important in the tournament and the pot is already massive, so all-in for an extra 800 chips isn't oing to make a huge amount of difference. As hectorjelly said, if other players have huge stacks compared to your 800 chips (if you fold the river when the flush hits), then you may as well push all in.
Obviously in a cash game you get your money in.

2) When I first started playing live games and was trying the bigger tournaments after the freeroll and €20 game, I was probably playing with scared money. Once or twice in the €100 game I was the ultimate weak player folding hands I should have been all-in on. Have learned my lesson now thankfully.

3) I *enjoy* playing against my friends, but I *prefer* playing against a table of unknowns. I think its easier especially when your mates are all reasonably good players. Even DeV.

4) I'd say if I won €25000-€30000 I might go for the WSOP. Definitely if I won €50k+ would be a once in a lifetime kinda thing.

5) I'm coming round to the opinion lately that you should never ever show your cards. Even if you think you're giving information away that will let your opponents make mistakes, if you don't show then they find it more difficult to put you on *any* kind of hand at all. Although I will always show DeV a bluff.

6) I hate people taking too long with an easy decision. If someone has a tricky situation then fine, take your time. But very often someone will think and think for aaaaages before laying down a crap hand. Just because they really want to see a turn/river card.

7) I'd probably accept 25-30%, and only in the bigger tournaments. Would play any of the WSOP/EPT events for free.

Krusty_Clown

1) If it's the Business League, just fold, as the other player is holding a Poker of 2s.

2) Don't play with money you're not comfortable losing. Value for money is also important. It's not just about winning, it's also about playing.

3) I like a mixture of both.. Home games with friends, and casino tournies without.. A bit of agression can really make for a good game.

4) Trolley loads of cash..

5) Yes - although it didn't benefit me in the BL.

6) Being river'ed.

7) 30%

Juan Pablo

Also bored in work...

1) Dunno if it would get to 4th street with me but if it was the case, all in. Over 10k there to be won with an 70 odd % chance of him missing. If he hits, he hits, cest la vie, he could have been slow rolling a monster like 72os.

2) You'll not win nout with scared money.

3) Cash game, I do better against people I know. I'd have a fair profile of a good few of the players in there and would kinda know what type of player they were so my hand seletions would differ versus different people (i.e. a raise from Bertie is a LOT different to a raise from, say, Chinese Michael)

4) I'd like to win my ticket in a tourney, all expenses paid! Otherwise, it would have to be a lot!!!

5) Ah from time to time, helps my ultra tight rock image.

6) Marq

7) At least 30%.


J.P.

Hectorjelly

2) If you buy into a tournament for an amount of money that means alot to you do you factor into your play the idea of getting 'value for money', i.e. you want to get a few hours of play for your €100/€250 buy-in or whatever?
Do you find this affects how you play, e.g. folding a top pair top kicker to a big/all-in bet?

I dont think so


3) Do you prefer playing against friends/people you know or complete strangers? In the recent €50 hold'em only cash game in the Fitz, while I was on the waiting list the table was full of poker buddies and the banter was great. But it wasn't an easy table to make money at by any means.
When you're choosing a table to play at how do you factor in who is already seated when deciding whether to play?

Online I do, offline you rarely get a choice

4) How much prize money would you have to win before you would definitely pay the $10000 (and expenses!) to play the main event in the WSOP?

I would have to have won so much that I could enter 10k tournaments on a regular basis. Ie a few million

5) Do you think you should ever show your cards at the table when you don't have to (to build an image/put people on tilt/etc)? Every time you do it you give information on how you play, is that ever a good thing?

Yes, its definitely a mistake to show cards on a regular basis, but there are times when;

a) you cannot possibly be giving away any infomation
b) you can use it to help you in later hands. Ill often show in a cash game online after doing something completely mad, like raising with 23s utg. Once you get categorised as a maniac its much easier to get paid off on hands. Basically if your good enough to have a reason as to why your showing then it can be a good thing

6) What the one thing that annoys you most at the poker table?

So many things annoy me, but offline its singing and people taking their time to muck hands they should be auto folding (ala Derry). Online its "good" players giving out to bad players.

7) If someone offered to stake/pay your entry fee in every single tournament you wanted to enter in Dublin (not the WSOP!), and you would receive just 5% of the prize money, would you accept the deal?

Nope, the tournamens in Dublin are too small to make this worthwhile. Even if you won the 100 FO in the fitz each week you'd only get €100 a week.

If you wouldn't accept 5%, what % would you accept? About 50 I think.

Waylander

1) I think I would go all in. If you do not bet the big stack will put you all in on a Flush draw anyway and hand the decision back to you.
2) No but I would probably work on the assumption that the average standard in this game would be higher then the standard I usually come up against, and hence would play fairly tight till I felt I was starting to know the other players
3) I do not mind one way or the other
4) Paying $10,000 would not be easy, I would prefer to win a satellite entry. However if I won $50K I probably would not be able to help myself.
5) Early in a game if you have been getting cards and winning pots without a showdown, I may show a hand to show that I am working with good cards and not stealing every pot, but it is something I rarely do.
6) 2 things - self appointed good players lecturing others on their plays, and people who get outdrawn whinging for ages.
7) I'd be looking for at least 50%

Shortstack

Have posted this without reading other answers.

1: Check, you can come back if flush hits - no brainer.
2: Don't buy into a tournament you can't afford to lose.
3: Table selection is crucial, if you know you stand no chance - go home unless good banter is worth losing money to you.
4: No need to pay in, so many online satellites, if you are not good enough to win in then you shouldn't waste $10,000 in the main event.
5: Depends on situation, to put people on tilt is good, but can come back to haunt you. If you have succussfully stolen a few times it is good to show a good hand next time.
6:Bad manners, excessive celebrating when sucking out, table coachs - why educate the fish?
7: 50% has to be the going rate, however if you are good enough it is worth building up your own bankroll.

mewso

1. I would probably check.
2. Once you've bought in the moneys gone. Thats the way I look at it. If it's a rebuy I do find myself thinking about avoiding spending too much. Possibly a weakness.
3. I prefer to know somebody at the table in a tourney. I'm not interested in cash games at the moment so I can't speak to that.
4. No amount of money considering the lottery it has become. Online qualifiers would be the only way I would go now because, to slightly alter Shortstack's comment, if you can qualify then you have good experience at getting lucky and hitting your draws so the new look WSOP is for you
5. I hardly ever show my hands.
6. Drunks/"experts"/impatient dealers
7. At least 50%. As someone has already said the Dublin tournaments would not be big payouts.

Iago

1) I go all-in on the turn every time, if you're opponent is on a flush draw 4/5 times he misses and you take the pot.

2) Never, makes no odds to me whatsoever, anything I enter a casino with is no longer my money, anything I have at the end is a bonus.

3) I prefer playing with strangers, although I do like playing with friends, as well. I think I prefer strangers because it gives you a chance to develop your ability against players you don't know, rather than players you know well. Oh and I have no friends

4) If I had it I would play in it. I think I would need to be up around €50K or so before playing in it though.


5) I very rarely show my cards, if I do it once a night I would consider that a lot. I think it's better to keep your cards hidden, no matter what you're showing you're giving away a facet of your play.

6) Apart from bad beats? I think just general shows of ignorance would be my pet hate. People trying to bully other players or slagging other players in a malicious way.

7) No, I would need to be taking home at least 35% before I would agree to a deal like this.

Lafortezza

Iago wrote:

1) I go all-in on the turn every time, if you're opponent is on a flush draw 4/5 times he misses and you take the pot.

Juan Pablo wrote:

1) Dunno if it would get to 4th street with me but if it was the case, all in. Over 10k there to be won with an 70 odd % chance of him missing. If he hits, he hits, cest la vie, he could have been slow rolling a monster like 72os.

You two were the only ones to say you'd push all in on the turn here. If you push for your last 800 into a pot of 10000, you only stand to win another 800. Your opponent won't fold his flush draw with the pot that big and you're busted out of the tournament roughly 1 in 5 times. Isn't it better to check, stay in the tournament and win the 10k pot 4 out of 5 times?

Interesting to see alot of the other answers.
The things that people hate to see at a poker table is summed up in one word: cúnts.

The other thing I thought was interesting was the situations people would require to pay into the WSOP ($10000). Alot of people would need to have alot of money made, and for the $10k not to be a considerable amount of money to them. Online qualifiers/lotteries also seem to be the preferred option.
Personally if I won say €50k in a big tournament any time soon, I'd put €20k to the side to go play the WSOP, once in a life time and all that.

Also I wonder how often people consider the make up of a table in a live cash game. As HJ said you can't choose your table online but in the Fitz, I know there's no way I'm going to sit down at the main €50 HE/Omaha table, and not a chance in hell I'll sit down at a table with any of the €100 Omaha players who fancy slumming it a bit. Just no chance of making money from tables like that.

The €50 hold'em only table was looking fairly tough when it was formed that first week too. Luckily for me it became a bit of an aquarium later that night

sirchancealot

1: all in,if you think you have the best of it get em in.

2: if any of those thoughts cross your mind you are dead money as you are playing above your psychological bankroll.

3:the problem in the fitz cash game is that you really have no choice in what table to sit at,as they all feed onto the first table.Ive played the cash game a few times just to kill time while waiting for someone but generally you only choose to sit down to win.

4:I would only play it if I felt I had a chance or if I won a ticket for way less.

5:overall its best not to show.

6:angry people in general but especially small angry bald men who are elated when winning then moaning like a woman when their ****e starting cards are beaten by good cards,having no room at the table especially when the person beside you takes up 2 seats worth of space,a warty middle aged english calling station who comments all night on everything and then laughs and finally people consistently calling or mucking out of turn.

7:5% no way regardless,if a backer wanted to stake you they must think you have a chance,therefore you need to be properly compensated for your work/hours.50% minimum.

Hectorjelly

lafortezza wrote:

As HJ said you can't choose your table online

I actually said the opposite of that, online you get a huge choice.

Marq

Juan Pablo wrote:

6) Marq

And me in russia with no way to defend myself. I'm back now though, so your carefree days at the table are over my friend.

Hectorjelly

Marq wrote:

And me in russia with no way to defend myself. I'm back now though, so your carefree days at the table are over my friend.

what were you doing in russia?

Marq

Trying desperately to get out.
I was over for two weeks to see my girlfriend who is living there for a year studying. Got stopped by the police three times. Was fined for walking down the street. it's a nightmare of a country.