Happy weekend everyone!

APPT Nanjing Millions - Update

As reported late last week, the @Asia Pacific Poker Tour Nanjing Millions was brought to a premature halt on Friday under the directive of Chinese authorities. It was a bitterly disappointing end to a hugely successful tournament.

The six-day championship kicked off with a fabulous opening ceremony at the Jiangsu Wutaishan Sports Center along with a charity event that was well supported by players as well as local Chinese celebrities and athletes.

Over four opening day flights, the Main Event had attracted 2,359 entrants which was an incredible turnout.  The response from the local poker community was so strong that an unscheduled fourth flight was introduced to cater for the demand.

Since the tournament ended there have naturally been a lot of questions asked about what went down and why the tournament was ended prematurely. Given the unique situation, it’s understandable that the poker community want answers. However, there has also been a lot of unfounded commentary based on speculation which has done nothing but fan the flames of one of the more unfortunate poker stories in recent times.

Poker Asia Pacific were one of the few poker media outlets present at the Nanjing Millions with our local reporter Denny Wei covering all the action from the opening days of the event so we are able to give you a first-hand recount of exactly what went down and what is known at this time.

Firstly, it’s worth pointing out that there was no “raid”. That term is grossly sensationalized, especially when you compare to some poker events around the world that have had to actually endure such an ordeal in the past. The photos that have been used around poker media outlets with police officials standing outside the venue are true photos, but the fact is that there was a police presence for the entire duration of the event. In fact, our reporter Denny was stopped by security before play on Day 1a as he was unable to enter the venue without first acquiring his media pass.  The police presence was there throughout, and the event was shut down when the doors to the venue were not opened at the start of Day 2.

There has also been conjecture about PokerStars being the organizer of the Nanjing Millions event. There is a distinction between being the event organizer and being a sponsor, which seems to have been confused.  The event was labelled as an APPT event and there was branding at the venue, but that just confirms that APPT China were a sponsor and promoter of the event. We can compare it to an event such as the APPT Aussie Millions in Melbourne’s Crown Casino. While the APPT are a sponsor of that event, Crown Casino are still the organizers and run virtually everything to do with the event, except for a few PokerStars support staff to assist with registrations. We can confirm that it was virtually the same setup in Nanjing.

Of the estimated 150-200 staff members that are required to run an event of this size, we understand that only a handful of those were brought in by PokerStars. And even then, they were only there for technical support or consulting expertise, not to run the event. It seems abundantly clear that the APPT were not the organizers of this event, but merely a key sponsor, along with many other major Chinese companies that adorned the advertising banners at the venue, including the leading jewellery and wine brands in China.

While PokerStars certainly now have some responsibility to assist players with a resolution, to hold them responsible as the organizers of the event is unjustified. Obviously they entered into the partnership with the understanding that the event had been officially sanctioned and all necessary approvals had been made.

The other factor that has been raised was the idea of rebuys creating a sense of gambling which appears to be the key issue with the Chinese authorities. The structure itself was very fair and not one that was slanted towards a need for excessive re-entries. Players started with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels which compares to many major events around the world. In fact, the format was identical to the hugely successful 2014 Beijing Millions, but with even more play time for players.

The event peaked at 692 players for Day 1b which included over 560 unique players on that day alone, so clearly there was not the excessive rebuying or gambling that has been suggested. On the second and third day, the venue was filled to its capacity of 420 players with alternates able to sit in the stands to watch the action below before being called up to take their seat.

Of course for those who actually participated in the event, what happens now?  The local poker operator, Star Poker Club, led by APOY champion Jian Yang, have confirmed that there were 165 players through to Day 2 of the Main Event with chip counts recorded. Taking that information into account, it appears the most logical resolution is that those players will be entitled to equity in the prize pool based on their chip count, while those who were eliminated on Day 1 of the event will not be eligible for any refund. The same would apply for any of the side events that also remain incomplete. The Star Poker Club also confirmed in a statement that all funds raised from the charity event will be donated as planned.

The biggest disappointment from this situation is the impact on poker in China which appeared to be a market on the verge of possibly the biggest boom the poker world had ever seen. While poker requires a financial investment to participate, it’s obvious to the rest of us that poker is a skill game. A mind sport. A competition. Yet that has been overlooked by Chinese authorities which may have caused irrevocable damage to the game in their country.

Source.

SuitedAce's Poker Trivia of the Week

There is one chance in 500 of drawing a flush when playing poker.

#SuitedAce #PokerTrivia 

Chinese Police Shut Down APPT Nanjing Millions

On Friday, April 16, the Chinese National Police shut down the @Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Nanjing Millions event in Najning, China, after a raid at the Jiangsu Wutaishan Sports Center.

"We can confirm that the Chinese National Police stopped a poker event in Nanjing," a representative of the Nanjing police told PokerNews. "At the moment, we cannot release any information about the police operation, but we would like to remind that any gambling activities are illegal in Mainland China."

The police operation that led to the sudden stop of the event organized by the PokerStars-sponsored APPT was first reported by the World Gaming Magazine (WGM), which promptly published on their official Facebook page that "The APPT Nanjing Million has been dramatically shut down after the Chinese National Police raided the tournament late this afternoon."

"We're hearing that the office of the tournament organizers has been seized and surrounded by police," the WGM continued, adding that many players were still trying to reach the people responsible for the event to understand how to proceed.

"Due to the APPT Nanjing Millions tournament being suspected of illegal gambling, the police have started an official investigation and have decided to stop the event," stated a note that the authorities placed at the entrance of the Jiangsu Wutaishan Sports Centre. "All the people who took part to the event are now asked to register with the authorities and and cooperate in the investigation."

The APPT Nanjing Millions Main Event started on April 14 and attracted a more than 2,300 entries during four starting days. Although the event was initially supposed to host only three starting days, a fourth starting flight was added by the organizers to meet demand.

At the time of writing, neither the Chinese authorities nor the event's organizers released any information about any arrests being part of the police operation.

Talking to BLUFF, Amaya's Head of Corporate Communications, Eric Hollreiser, said that "After three very successful days of tournament poker, the organizers of the Nanjing Millions decided to postpone the event in order to address questions from local authorities. We are in contact with Star Poker Club and are seeking additional details. The organizers have issued a statement apologizing for the inconvenience and plan to resume the tournament in the near future."

Source.

Happy weekend everyone!

The 5 Best Online Poker Moves - and How to Counter Them

Boost your profits by adding these five online poker moves to your arsenal today.

Since the advent of online poker, everything about the game has gone into overdrive. Shuffling is instantaneous, dealing is measured in microseconds and the clock is on as soon as you get your cards. Even casual players now play on multiple tables, while volume has become the holy grail for pros.

Because of the sheer number of hands being logged by players around the clock, the way people play the game also changes and develops at a frightening rate. Players observe what other players are doing and learn how to adapt to them much faster than if they were playing live, resulting in an ever-shifting battleground of strategies and counter-strategies.

Meanwhile, the explosion of forums and training sites means tactics are picked over and discussed every minute of every day. Effective moves are identified and disseminated on sites like 2+2, and before you know it you have a new strategy buzzword. Then, just as the ‘stop-and-go’ or ‘light reshove’ comes along, it’s seemingly out of fashion again, rendered predictable and exploitable as it filters down through the ranks.

Unless you’re a full-time pro, keeping up with these trends can be tricky, so here we’ve assembled five tactics (and counter-tactics) being used by top players. Add them to your arsenal and stay one step ahead of the competition – for the moment at least…

1. The unexploitable shove

What is it?
The so-called unexploitable shove is a move used in tournaments, where the small blind, or sometimes the button, makes a seemingly large open shove preflop, usually for somewhere between 15 and 25 big blinds. Generally there will be antes in play to make the move effective.

Why has it become popular?
The clue is in the name! If used correctly it’s unexploitable – which is not to be confused with optimal, as there could be a better option such as a standard raise. But all the same, a correctly executed unexploitable shove can be proven by maths to be +cEV (chip EV).

What this means is that you could open-shove from the small blind, turn your hand over so the big blind can play perfectly against your hand, and you would still show a profit. How? Because if you shove a correct range of hands they will only be able to call you with a tiny range which, coupled with your equity in the hand, the blinds and the antes, will still see you turning a theoretical profit.

One of the reasons for its increased popularity is the prevalence of three-betting preflop, so simply shipping it in where you appear to be risking a lot to win a little is actually far more profitable than standard raising and intending to fold to a three-bet or a shove. Likewise shoving (from the small blind) negates the problem of having to play the hand out of position if you raise and get flat-called by the big blind.

Making unexploitable shoves is about recognising good spots and pushing small edges preflop. With edges in tournaments ever decreasing it is a sound move to have in your arsenal. Be warned though, as there is a fine line between executing an unexploitable shove and spewing off a stack. However, with practice, experience and use of equity calculators such as PokerStove, advanced moves like this can become second nature.

How to defend against it
Here’s the thing – you can’t. If you’re in the big blind and the small blind makes an unexploitable shove, your hand and the range of hands you’d call with don’t matter – the shove will still be profitable. Of course that’s not to say you should simply give up.

The best reply to an ‘unexploitable’ shove will generally be to fold all but true premium hands, but your range may also influenced by your stack, your opponent (are they sophisticated enough to know what they are doing with this move?), the payouts (are you playing to win or just ladder up?) and so on.

Effectiveness rating – 5/5

2. The river overbet for value

What is it?
An overbet is usually defined as a bet that is greater than the size of the pot. A river overbet for value happens in cash games more frequently than in tournaments, as stacks are commonly deeper and there’s no fear of losing your tournament life.

Why has it become popular?
Two words: Tom Dwan. We’ve seen him make this move very successfully on a number of occasions on shows like High Stakes Poker. We all want to be durrrr so the logic extends that we all try to play like him. It doesn’t usually work for us though, as we don’t have his image or reading skills and our opponents aren’t payoff wizards like Eli Elezra.

Nonetheless, that’s not to say overbetting the river for value won’t be profitable at $0.25/$0.50, it’s just that it needs to be used against the right opponents and in favourable situations. Overbetting the river against a calling station, or an opponent who has gone into check-call mode is a good spot.

Likewise when you’re confident your opponent holds a very strong but second-best hand such as, say, the nut full house against a worse full house, then overbetting the river is genius as it’s almost impossible to fold.

Also, to some opponents overbetting the river looks far more bluffy than simply betting half or two-thirds of the pot. And, of course, opponents don’t have to call this overbet very often to make it more profitable than just betting half the pot for value.

Having the balls to overbet the river when holding a monster takes courage, as it’s naturally so tempting to want to eke out as much guaranteed value as you can when holding a big hand.

How to defend against it?
Folding is the obvious answer, especially as you won’t be getting fantastic pot odds to call. Also, with all the cards out and the information from previous streets available, before taking any impulsive action it’s time to go over the action that occurred on previous streets and try to work out if it smells of value or a bluff.

If you see this move being deployed in a hand you’re not involved in, take good notes. Few players are capable of sometimes overbetting the river for value and sometimes as a bluff.

Effectiveness rating – 3/5

3. Pot Control

What is it?
Pot control is a way of keeping pots small, either in tournaments or cash games. This is achieved by just calling out of position preflop with a good but not great hand or checking in position on at least one street postflop. Situations where you might want to play a small pot include spots where you’re either way ahead or way behind, you can’t get three streets of value or you can’t stand a check-raise.

Why has it become popular?
Pot control has become popular as a direct way of combating the aggression in the modern online game, and due to the fashion of playing ‘smallball poker’. In recent times continuation betting has become such an epidemic that players have developed counter-strategies, and these in turn have become widespread.

Many players have realised that check-raising on dry flops such as K-8-2, either as a pure or semi-bluff, will force c-bettors to fold a lot of the time. The check-raise works because on dry flops like this the preflop raiser has either connected well with a hand such as A-K, missed completely or missed with a made hand such as 9-9 through Q-Q that would find it hard to continue, especially in the face of a suspected second barrel on the turn.

As a result, c-betting is far less effective than it once was. Against thinking players a better line is often to check behind and exercise pot control. By doing this you can make a delayed c-bet on the turn and fold out hands that would have called/raised you on the flop (such as bottom pair and draws that haven’t completed).

And when you do have a hand of some sort, you can get mediocre hands to call the turn, where if they had called on the flop you may have had to check the turn and hand them the initiative on the river.

By showing weakness on the flop you may also get them to lead the turn with worse, allowing you to call in position. While this is a valuable play, pot control can sometimes get you into a world of trouble, as you can let worse hands get there and have to make hero calls if they lead into you on the river.

How to defend against it?
Playing out of position is tough, and as pot control isn’t an aggressive play it’s not so much that you’ve got to defend against it as get value out of your big hands when out of position. The best way to do this is by trying to make your foe commit a big mistake. Usually this means leading into them with strong hands and making them play a guessing game.

Effectiveness rating – 3/5

4. The donk lead

What is it?
The donk lead is a term that describes an open bet into the preflop raiser out of position on the flop. This is opposed to the more conventional play of ‘checking to the raiser’.

Why has it become popular?
Ironically the popularisation of this move has its roots in the live game. Gus Hansen’s book Every Hand Revealed, in which he records the key hands from his victory in the 2007 Aussie Millions main event, is partly responsible for the prevalence of donk-leading.

Gus would say, ‘Well I’ve got second pair and a backdoor flush draw – that’s enough for me to lead out here!’ The second reason for its popularity is again the aggression factor in the online games.

A preflop raise, especially one from late position, doesn’t necessarily mean strength, so flat-calling out of position and then leading into the preflop raiser is seen as a good way to steal the pot.

How to defend against it?
Just as the preflop raise no longer means strength, neither necessarily does the donk lead. In its infancy a donk lead was often a set, with the lead hopefully enticing the preflop raiser (whose raise used to mean strength) to make a big mistake and come over the top.

Now a donk lead tends to be quite polarised between strong hands like sets and hands that are, rightly or wrongly, betting for information and to see where they stand. The latter is often a hand such as second pair (something like 8-8 on an A-7-3 flop) or even top pair, weak kicker.

On uncoordinated boards, a raise often gets the trick done and sees the donk-leader slide his cards into the muck. On coordinated boards, especially any that contain two cards between eight and Queen, it’s usually best to give up the hand if you’ve got nothing, as these types of boards smack out-of-position flat-calling ranges square in the face. Even if the donk-leader is semi-bluffing with a draw, he’s got many outs to make his hand.

Effectiveness rating – 2/5

5. Checking to induce

What is it?
This tactic is used on the flop, where instead of betting with what you believe to be the best hand, you check to under-represent the strength of your hand and induce your opponent(s) to either bet into you or raise you on subsequent streets. While it increases your chances of being outdrawn, it also allows you to win extra bets that you would have lost had you played your hand in a straightforward fashion.

Why has it become popular?
Nobody is ever given credit for having an actual hand nowadays, and if you check back on the flop it’s seen by weaker players as tantamount to giving up on the pot. In this way, a check can actually maximise the value you can win from a hand. Continuation bets also get picked off so frequently these days that (as already discussed) checking on the flop is often the safer play, and ensures you don’t get blasted off the hand on the flop.

How to defend against it?
Don’t automatically assume that because the preflop raiser checked the flop they haven’t got a hand. It’s not always a green light to lead into them on the turn. So if you check and they bet the turn, you call and then they bet the river, it’s very likely that one pair, even top pair, is not winning. The best way to defend against this move is to play as few pots out of position as possible.

Effectiveness rating – 3/5

Source.

SuitedAce's Poker Trivia of the Week

Although he has never won a tournament, it is estimated that @Tobey Maguire  has won more than $10,000,000 playing poker.

#SuitedAce #PokerTrivia 

5 of the most common cash game leaks – and how to fix them

Cash game expert Ross Jarvis fixes the five leaks in your online six-max cash game.

We are all individuals with the ability to think for ourselves and make our own decisions. At  the poker table everyone has the ability to make their own choices as to how they play a hand and why. In theory, there should be a vast array of different playing styles and opponents out there, making the game very complex and difficult to beat.

The reality, though, is that there are many weaker players making identical, repetitive mistakes each and every day at the six-max online tables, and you may be one of them. Join us as we list the five most critical leaks that losing players make at the six-max tables – and how to fix them.

1. Sitting in the wrong seat

What is the leak?

To win in cash games everyone knows you must have great game selection. What’s often overlooked is that the seat you take is more important than the make-up of the whole table.

Why is it a leak?

Depending on which seat you have at a six-max table, the game can suddenly become hugely profitable or unbeatable. Too many players log on to a site, instantly put themselves on a ton of waiting lists and sit down without paying attention to their seat and who is next to them. Sometimes this works out fine, but with just a little more research in the lobby you can give yourself a much better chance of finding good seats where you can make more profit.

How to fix it

You should be doing two things when deciding where to sit at a poker table. The first is avoiding having a very good, aggressive player sitting to your left. Even if the remainder of the table is made up of a few fish and weak regs, having that one good LAG on your left can ruin everything. It’s no fun being constantly three-bet out of position or being floated continuously on flops you may have missed, and that’s in store if you take a seat like this.

When a player on your left really has the measure of you, simply leave, find another game and win cash. But the main consideration when looking for a seat is finding a spot to the left of a clueless, bewildered, spew-tastic mega-fish. If you can somehow acquire this hallowed seat then the chances of you taking their money rise hugely.

Now you can decide to play only pots that they are involved in, isolate them preflop and have position on them throughout the hand. Many times I have seen a seat like this open at higher stakes than I normally play, and even if the rest of the table is composed of tough pros it’s still very profitable to sit down and focus on the fish to your right.

2. Inflexible thinking

What is the leak?

Always sticking to the same default strategy no matter what the table dynamic is. This can range from never limping to always four-betting pocket Aces. If you use your imagination, there’s sometimes a better way.

Why is it a leak?

When you’re multi-tabling four, six or more tables it’s easy to start playing on autopilot and adhering to the same ‘rules’ to determine your play. As long as you have solid fundamentals  this approach can certainly be profitable. But if you want to emulate the best players it’s much better to add in some creativity and treat each situation as unique rather than relying on a ‘system’.

How to fix it

Here are some easy ways to mix up your game. There’s a common mantra that you should never limp in a six-max cash game. Mostly, that will be the case, but there are certain points where limping may be best. A good time to limp would be if a fish limps in the cutoff and you have 8-6 suited on the button. By limping you can try to flop a monster cheaply, confident  that the fish will call you down and help you create a large pot. Any hand that can flop well but is unlikely to make top pair is a good candidate for limping behind with rather than bloating the pot.

With all this aggression flying around the modern game, it’s largely been forgotten that there are still good times to slow-play. A great example is when you raise A-A and a player you think is full of it three-bets you. As you’ve already assumed he doesn’t have a big hand, there’s very little point in four-betting now, as he’ll just fold the vast majority of the time.

It’s better to just call and gain the extra continuation bet from him on the flop before deciding how to proceed. Of course, any time you suspect a player is strong when he three-bets you must revert back to your usual tactic of four-betting the Aces, as getting all the money in preflop is so tremendously +EV for you. It’s vital to play fundamentally sound, but always be aware that there are alternatives for every scenario.

3. Playing too many hands from the blinds

What is the leak?

Calling raises in the blinds too often preflop, meaning you play the rest of the hand out of position.

Why is it a leak?

Unless you’re in a blind versus blind situation, playing marginal hands out of the blinds can be a huge drain on your profits, for the simple reason that you will always be out of position and at a disadvantage. Despite getting a discount on the call, it will be nearly impossible to show a profit from the blinds against good players. You will lose less if you just fold every time you don’t have a monster. Play tight or prepare to lose.

How to fix it

There is a narrow range of hands you can profitably flat-call with versus a button or cutoff  raise. These are: A-T, A-J, K-J, Q-J and pairs 2-2 through 8-8. The main reason these hands are playable, and hands like A-8 and Q-T are borderline, is that you are going to be able to dominate some of your opponent’s looser open raises.

By playing this range it allows you to win some big pots; if you hit a set you can even try to stack him. If the original raise comes from an earlier position like under the gun then you need to tighten up even more. Now hands like A-J, K-J and so on are very likely to be dominated, so you should just fold.

With every other hand you wish to play you should be three-betting. This is broken down into two categories: three-bets for value and three-bet semi-bluffs. For value you should be reraising A-K, A-Q, K-Q and pairs 9-9+, looking to get it all-in preflop against a suitably aggressive villain.

Conversely, suited hands like 10♣8♣, A♦2♦, and 7♠6♠ and 7♠6♠ are not good enough to call with, but are definitely good to frequently three-bet light out of position. Often you’ll just take down the pot preflop but even when called you can still pick up a number of good draws that you can then play aggressively.

If you spot a fish calling too much out of the blinds he’s really at your mercy. Make sure you continuation bet all uncoordinated dry flops (such as K-2-6 rainbow) and fire again on the turn a lot of the time if called. Because of his passivity preflop you know his flop calling range is likely to consist of top pair/ weak kicker or middle pair-type hands. Both of these are probably going to fold by the river if you crank up the pressure.

4. Aimless aggression

What is the leak?

Players are constantly being told that aggression is the key to winning in cash games. Yet  many players use aggression in spots where playing passively is clearly the better option.

Why is it a leak?

Knowing the importance of aggression is pointless if you are applying it in the wrong  situations. Let’s see if you’ve ever played a hand this way: the button raises and you call from the big blind with J-T. The flop is J-6-8 rainbow. You check, he makes a c-bet and you check-raise. Sound familiar?

If this is how you often play your mid-strength hands then you are making a big mistake. In theory, raising top pair is a sound move, but in practice you are just leaving yourself open to being exploited by a tricky opponent.

How to fix it

Let’s analyse the consequences of our flop check-raise. First, our opponent can just fold his air hands and we pick up a small pot. That’s fine, but calling would be better because they may either decide to bluff a later street when a scare card comes or try to use brute force to take the pot down.

The second alternative is when our opponent just calls. Now we have only a broad idea of our opponent’s range: it could include overpairs, all Jacks, straight draws, total floats and monsters, whereas we have hugely over-represented our own hand.

On the vast majority of turns that don’t improve our hand we are going to be unsure whether to bet again, escalating the pot size tremendously, or check, giving up the marginal strength of our own hand.

Finally, we could be reraised right away on the flop. Do we really want to jam 100 big blinds with top pair/weak kicker on this kind of dry board? When an innocuous check-raise is broken down like this, it becomes clear that unfocused flop aggression can quickly escalate into big problems later in the hand. In this, and hundreds of similar situations, playing passively and just check-calling is by far the superior option.

Aggression is great but there must be a reason for it. If you start reraising just because you don’t know what else to do, that’s a problem. Save the aggression for spots where your hand is either a monster, a good semi-bluff or total air.

5. Ignoring how position affects preflop ranges

What is the leak?

Hand ranges change all the time according to what position a player has at the table. Many weaker cash players ignore this and get stacked unnecessarily.

Why is it a leak?

When you play against aggressive players online it’s very common to get all the chips in preflop. It’s always player-dependent to some extent, but in late position (such as on the button versus the blinds or vice versa) you can jam all-in preflop pretty light and expect it to be +EV.

My typical value range would be 9-9+, A-Q and A-K. This is because there are fewer people to go through and a greater likelihood that people are stealing or three-betting light, thus  allowing you to capitalise by four-betting or shoving lighter in return.

If you jam with J-J in these situations and run into a bigger pair you haven’t done anything wrong, you’ve just been unfortunate to run into the top of your opponent’s range. A major error that players constantly make is failing to adjust these ‘standard’ all-in ranges when the seat positions are altered.

How to fix it

Say you hold the same hand, pocket Jacks, but this time you are in the cutoff and a player has raised under the gun. Three-betting with the intention of getting all-in would now be a major mistake, unless there is a hyper-aggressive dynamic between the two players. You are  showing so much strength (but actually over-representing your hand) that he will likely fold all smaller pairs (or set-mine), while four-betting hands that beat you and A-K.

Being four-bet here puts you in a terrible situation, since folding means you have wasted the value of a strong hand like J-J (that you could have played a smaller pot with postflop if you’d just called), while jamming over the top isn’t good either as you are crushed by his value range because of the relative positions.

Until the positions move onto cutoff versus button you should have a supremely tight all-in preflop range, perhaps only A-A, K-K and A-K against certain opponents. If you continue your usual preflop aggression you’ll constantly be running into overpairs or hoping for a race at best.

It’s easy just to chalk these hands up as coolers, but in reality many of these situations are completely avoidable. While it may feel too tight to just call a raise with A-Q or J-J, it’s often going to be the play that allows you to make the most value from your hand and lose the least when your opponent does have you crushed.

Source.

Happy weekend everyone!

If You Have Chips, You Have a Chance

This year the World Series of Poker Circuit canceled its scheduled stop in Cincinnati, but a year ago the series did visit the Horseshoe Cincinnati and I took part. The WSOP-C has stops all over North America throughout the year, with a dozen “ring” events with buy-ins ranging from $365 to the $1,675 Main Event and sometimes a lot of other even lower buy-in non-ring events from which to choose, too.

During my time at the Horseshoe, I played a wide variety of events on the schedule. One of my most notable experiences, however, occurred in a $150 satellite tournament to the Main Event. It was through this experience that ideas of patience and relentlessness were truly enforced for me.

There came a time in the satellite where all hope seemed to be lost — where the hours I put in at the tables seemed to be for nothing. It was persevering past this mentality that ultimately awarded me a seat to the Main Event. Let’s have a look at the situation in question.

This Game is Easy… I Love Poker!

I played in this satellite with a couple of my friends, and I began the day running hot. I trended upward from the first hand I played and never dipped below the starting stack. As the day wore on, both of my friends happened to fall in hands against me and I considered myself a lock to win a seat to the $1,675 Main Event.

The satellite earned enough participants to give away 12 Main Event seats. My memorable moment came with just 14 players left, just a couple more eliminations away from the bubble bursting and those seats being won.

After cruising along for most of the day, my stack took a few hits as play wore on. That’s when I suffered one of the worst beats that I’ve ever taken.

This Game is Cruel… I Hate Poker!

I opened for a min-raise from middle position with A♠J♥ and received a call from the player in the big blind. I observed this player to be quite tight and was a little surprised that he called at all.

The dream flop of J♠J♦6♥ then hit the felt and my opponent checked to me. Given the quick nature of these satellite tournaments and my perceptions about my opponent, I simply moved all in hoping to take it down right there and hang on until the two short stacks — one on each table — busted. Conversely, if my opponent called, I would have him crushed unless he held {J}{6} or {6}{6}.

Much to my surprise, my opponent snapped me off. I triumphantly tabled my ace-jack and sure enough was crushing his J♣9♣. I was primed to reduce the field by one and bring the remaining players that much closer to winning a seat to the Main Event. But in an instant, a {6} struck the turn, meaning that we both held jacks full of sixes and would chop the pot. This card instantly deflated me but at least a chop was better than losing.

Then, without warning, the dealer slapped down a {9} on the river, giving my opponent jacks full of nines and the best hand!

I would be lying if I said I was anything other than absolutely mortified. I watched in shock as the dealer cut down both of our stacks, shipped my chips across the table, and began to shuffle for the next hand.

Losing the hand left me with just 5 big blinds. Suddenly I was the one everyone was hoping to bust at the table to bring them closer to those Main Event seats. I felt like giving up. I felt like the entire day had been spent for nothing. In that moment I hated poker. I felt the urge to simply jam in the next hand regardless of my cards and chalk the experience up as a loss, having collecting another bad beat story to tell.


But something in me told me to move past that. Something told me now was the time to be more focused than ever.

Never Give Up
It took an immense amount of will power, but I directed all of my energy toward trying to exploit the cracks in the table. The blinds and antes were especially high because of the turbo-styled structure of the tournament, and no one wanted to lose chips. I managed to pick my spots wisely and play position, moving my stack back up to over 10 big blinds without a showdown. From there I continued to put pressure on the medium stacks when the opportunities arose, all of whom were wanting to fold their way to the Main Event.

Before I knew it, I was back in the game. One elimination occurred and then the field began to talk about a deal. After that discussion a 13th seat was added to the prize pool, and before I knew it I was the proud owner of a voucher for a seat to the Main Event.

This was an important moment for me as a player because it truly reinforced ideas that we’ve all heard for years. The old “chip and a chair” adage is one of the most clichéd phrases in poker, and yet there still remains something to be learned from it. A bad beat can leave you with little to no chips and an even smaller amount of hope, but dwelling on these negative aspects will only make matters worse.

A successful poker player needs to be able to deal with both the highs and the lows of the game. Succumbing to negative thoughts will only force you to make incorrect choices because you will not be thinking clearly. After suffering a bad beat, fully face the current situation rather than being blinded by circumstance. In this case, I was suddenly forced to figure out exactly how to play a 5-BB stack. Rather than writing myself off as dead, I made note of the current situation and worked relentlessly to figure out how to make it work for me.

How did the Main Event go? Not as well, I’m afraid, as I busted during the 7th level. But despite failing to cash there, I still profited from the experience in the satellite by having that lesson reinforced to me that you should never give up.

Source.