Another Holdem Hawk Update

The Holdem Hawk/Holdem Pirate folks released another updated today, and this one actually says it fixes the preflop tables, so hurray for that. Once again you can download these updates at http://www.holdemhawk.com/builds.html and they will inform you when you launch the program that a fix exists.

The fact that they messed up the pre-flop tables isn't great, but the new ability to edit them is a very nice enhancement. You can essentially emulate any preflop strategy you like including the one on www.lowlimitholdem.com, although I don't recommend it unless you are playing at the right kind of table (one where most of the people are seeing the flop every hand). These tables do exist online, but they are much more plentiful in brick & mortar cardrooms.

Hawk/Pirate Update

The Holdem Hawk/Holdem Pirate folks released a patch today. Their read-me documentation leaves a little bit to be desired. For example, on the day they introduced the new editable pre-flop hand chart the read-me file said this:

4/20/061.0.6110.446
-Fixed issues with Poker Stars
-Fixed issues Titan/Noble
-Fixed issues with Party Poker

Today's patch says:

4/25/061.0.6115.450

-Fixed issues with Poker Stars
-Fixed issues Titan/Noble

and I'm hopeful they've corrected some of the issues with their new editable pre-flop hands that I've encountered so far even though you'd never get a clue by reading the read-me. Updates for this program are located at http://www.holdemhawk.com/builds.html and our review page on Low Limit Holdem is located at http://www.lowlimitholdem.com/holdem_hawk.htm. Even with its flaws the company who created it seems to be doing right by releasing patches and fixes on a regular basis and the ability to calculate discounted outs instantly shouldn't be discounted (again, no pun intended).

UltimateBet Session Report

My main game at the moment is $10-$20 Limit Holdem at either UB or Party Poker. Today it's $10-$20 at UltimateBet. I'm using Holdem Hawk for fast pot-odds calculations and to keep me honest preflop.

A Holdem Hawk side note. They recently released a patched version which improves the stability and fixes a few bugs and also includes a not-documented feature in the options menu that lets you totally customize the pre-flop play tables. The default values arevery tight and don't help you take advantage of weak-tight play by opening with a raise with hands like medium pocket pairs in middle position. The good news is now you can tweak those settings yourself. The bad news is that the way the settings are defined isn't documented and the defaults in this new version seem to have some flaws (including the advice to fold QQ in an unraised pot sometimes). For example in the preflop configuration screen in middle position it has two tabs, one for what you'd do with a particular hand in an unraised pot and one for what you'd do with it in a raised pot. Of the actions you can take in a raised pot they included several options including "raise" and "reraise". Well since the pot is raised anyhow any raise you make IS a reraise, so the meaning of those two settings in this context is confusing. Next patch perhaps.

Where was I? Oh yes, the $10-$20 poker session.

Table conditions lately aren't ideal, however the mistakes of some of the players at the table are so extreme that the game is profitable. The best bet, no pun intended, at these tables is to play a mostly straightforward game. Avoid pre-flop domination and bad post-flop drawing.

One sample hand highlights some of the playing mistakes at the table:

I'm dealt TT in middle position. The player under the gun raises and is called by another early position player. I also call as do two players after me and the big blind. The flop comes 2h 3c 8h. The player UTG bets and is called and I raise for value and to hopefully eliminate some overcards. The next player folds and the late position pre-flop caller 3-bets. UTG calls and I call. The turn is a 6s and UTG checks and I bet into the late position player who raises. UTG calls, I call. The river is a 4c so the flush is dead.We both check to the late position player who bets. UTG folds and I call. The late position player shows 85o (rivering a 6 high straight) and wins the pot.

Worst hand and worst draw pumped the pot (I have to put the UTG player on a flush draw because of his river fold).

Besides that there were the typical people calling with bad unsuited aces especially in the blinds and people drawing with pocket pairs that were clearly beat to only two outs. Those are extremely juicy mistakes in the long run, but can be huge sources of tilt when they beat ones hand on the turn or river. Happily that didn't happen in today's session.

Here's the VP$IP% at the table right now:

Player 1: 44.7%
Player 2: 28.0%
Me: 16.8%
Player 4: 10.0%
Player 5: 21.0%
Player 6: 14.3%
Player 7: 20.4%
Player 8: 52.9%
Player 9: 24.3%
Player 10: 30.2%

As you can see there are a couple players seeing WAY too many flops, a couple people seeing too many flops NS one person playing excessively tight. I like my preflop percentage for this type of table (between 15-20% depending on how well I'm catching good starting cards).

Stars and Stripes

Yesterday Heaven and took a trip up to Bell Gardens, California to play in the first event of the Bicycle Casino's Stars and Stripes tournament series (a middle tournament series with buy-in's ranging from $100 to $500 for each event). This particular event was $100+$25 (!) No Limit Holdem.

On the upside, everyone who registered got a free Stars and Stripes hat so it was really $100+$25-$7 or so as MellowYellow from the Low Limit Forum pointed out.

The blind increases at this tournament were every 30 minutes and all 429 players started with 1000 chips. Heaven busted early when her straight on the turn was beaten by a boat on the river. I lasted until about 60/429 but still out of the money.

Two interesting hands came up. In the first when the blinds were 25-50 I raised in late position to 200T with QsJs. The BB, who I had covered by about 500T reraised to 500T (about a third of his stack at the time) and I called. The flop came As Ks 5c (!) and the BB instantly went all-in. I thought about this for a while. The instant all-in seemed like a move he had planned before ever seeing the flop so it could mean pretty much any pocket pair and maybe a hand like AK. Some of these hands are monsters on this flop but I had at least 12 outs to win and more if he had a hand like 99 or less. On the other hand I'd be down to 500T if I lost. After about 30 seconds I called the all-in because even though it was a gamble, with the 1050 already in the pot + my >40% draw to the nuts I felt it was a good time to gamble and get a larger than average stack. We turned up our hands and it turns out he flopped a set with 55 so it was off to the race. A turn Q and river Q left me with losing trips and a tiny stack.

I had to make a few all-in moves after this with Ax and won or chopped them all and managed to build my stack a big -- enough to keep up with the blind increases for the most part when the final hand of the evening for me came up with blinds at 300-600 and 100 antes and seven players in the hand (the pot before any action was 1600). I had was in the SB with 2800 left and a stack smaller than me went all in. Another player right after him with a medium-large stack went all in and I looked at my cards and found 88. Now I'm looking for a spot to put my money in but of course calling my chips off after two people had gone all in before me. I thought about this hand for a little bit also, but my feeling was that the first person was desperate and they most likely had an Ax hand like A4o and I also felt the player that went all in after them knew that and had an Ace with a larger kicker or perhaps a medium or small pocket pair and wanted to shut out the rest of the actions and kill the blinds. If both players had an Ax hand my pocket 8's were looking pretty good. I called. Player one turned over A9o and player two turned over AJo so my call definitely was worth it and if I won the hand I'd be an average chip stack. Unfortunately the flop came 9KT and the turn came a Q killing my hand entirely as the AJ made the nut straight. Still I was happy enough with that play and enjoyed playing live for a change.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

I've been spending some quality time with the websites lately... Low Limit Holdem Strategy and Tactics, Low Limit Omaha Strategy and Tactics, and Low Limit Stud Strategy and Tactics have all seen updates this week (the most in the hub site which is Holdem. It should be decently viewable at 1024x768 now with some CSS help from my significant other.

I've also been playing quite a bit of actual poker lately, mostly ring games. My results have been extremely good lately at the semi-tight online tables (these online folks don't really understand what no-foldem-holdem really is!) one very nice product I've recently found and been using myself is called Holdem Hawk or Holdem Pirate (same product, different name) which grabs hand and board information from the online poker game you're currently playing (supports a bunch of cardrooms including Party Poker and UltimateBet) and makes preflop recommendations and shows all your potential draws and outs as the hand progresses. It's really a must have as it makes precise pot odds calculations that are all but impossible in the flow of a real game.
My low limit results for the past week are: Bought into Noble Poker for $50, cashed out for $333 4 hours late. Bought into Full Tilt Poker for $450 because they are running a promotion where if you get 300 points by the 14th of April they'll give you $100 or two items of clothing from their gear shop. I triple tabled $3-$6 holdem and cashed out for $649 after about 1.5 hours and up 400 points. When the $100 bonus came in I worked that up to $300 at the $3-6 table and I'm still going as we speak.

Obligatory bad beat: Me-AQo, Opponent T5 suited, Flop AQ5 rainbow, opponent was short so capped all in for him on the flop. Turn: 5, River: 5.

Of course in poker it's not all upswings and even in the sessions I described I lost some big pots when people completed their draws or when I didn't complete mine, etc., but overall a very tight preflop strategy and good use of position works well at these cardrooms, especially if you have good knowledge of hand selection when the pot does get especially multiway.

Oh, if you're into Seven Card Stud (high or high/low) check out Stud Strategy which is Heaven's Stud Advice central and of course my own Stud site listed above.

In other news we're looking for a new apartment so my almost-12-year-old son has a room of his own to sleep in (it's not THAT bad he lives with his mother, but when he comes here he gets the couch at the moment). Who wants to be a teenager and sleep in the livingroom?