Poker: A Nuance Skill

Why Poker is Skill not Luck

  1. 2009-07-12 21:17:26

    Poker: A Nuance Skill-My friend JAKE's BIG DAY!

    My friend JAKE's BIG DAY!

    My friend Jake got 2nd in a $150 + $13 buy in on full tilt that netted him over $11,500 (CONGRATS Jake on your amazing day and play!). I helped a bit very late in the tournament with the heads up play. Jake played amazing and gave me some credit for explaining "M" the night before. I told him push when short stacked on pots unopened, and not when someone else shows interest. Not only did he tell me he used this a bunch mid-way through the tournament, but he said if it weren't for that, he would not have been near the final table.

    I am so happy that the information regarding the "M theory" that I got from Jason, Adrian, Jeff, Stephen, and of course Dan Harrington helped someone out. I worked on this concept for a year with Jason, hammering it into my brain. I used it in the $1500 WSOP event 54 a bunch near the end of day 1 by pushing all in 9 times while I was short stacked. Doing that helped me get into day 2. I missed one or two possible pushes day 2, to some disappointment of Jason, but was fortunate enough to get my money in with AQ of spades, only to have it in BAD vs. AK. I flopped the Q but she turned the straight and I was out (proud yet upset).

    Now lets look at Jakes play a bit more. He played very solid poker a field of 447 people, used the concept of "M" and got into the big money. We talked few times on the phone earlier, then again with 5 people remaining in the tournament. When he got down to 3, the stacks were 1.1 million, 130,000, and Jake at 90,000. He played very well despite being a player with much more experience at full tables. He got the chip lead at 650,000 and then took out the mid stack. We knew the big stack was the weaker of the two but he proved to be a very good heads up player. I just told Jake be aggressive but do not be afraid to fold some. He said that he did not have much experience heads up. He raised with 69 off and I reminded him that it was ok to fold a few when the guy re raised and took his 40,000. Jake then taking that in played very well for the next 10 minutes taking down lots of pots and got to within 100,000 of the guy. He was then dealt J9, the flop was J97 rainbow, he raised, was re-raised, and we decided that this was too good to let go and shoved. The guy had T8 leaving Jake with 4 outs, which he missed but made $11,600 for his 7 hours of GREAT play.

    We talked for about half an hour after the tournament. He was frustrated not to win but very pleased. I told him that there was not much he could have done in my opinion with that hand differently. We could have put him on a set, probably not T8, but top two pair heads up was just too good to get away. Jake is going to read some books on, and work on his heads up play. I personally am going to work on my bankroll that was crushed in WSOP event 54, LOL, as well as learning EV plays much better. If anyone knows how to best to study Expected Values of calling, re-raising etc., PLEASE let me know.

    I want to congratulate Jake on his AMAZING day as well as give him credit for listening to the Harrington "M" strategy we talked about the night before!!!!

    Until next time, may all your pots that you win be BIG and the ones you lose be small :)

    BUTTER #4

    P.S. In the next few post I will give some history about myself, as well as how I started playing poker.

    Posted by butter#4 at 2009-07-12 21:17:26

Comments on “Poker: A Nuance Skill-My friend JAKE's BIG DAY!”

    • anonymous
    • Thanks everyone for the comments on my play in that tourney last week. Its very exciting to get that deep with real money at stake.....doesn't happen enough!

    • avatar for Jason M
    • Thanks for the post, Chad. And congrats to Jake, for sure. 2nd in that big of a field is a great accomplishment, regardless of the payout. Besides, $11.5k for a $150 tourney seems good to me!

    • avatar for butter#4
    • I am playing, LOL, but I wanted to say not much money but good practice.

    • avatar for butter#4
    • Hey Nick it is Chad and thanks for the comments. It was hard to finish 27 from the money in WSOP but I am getting ready for next year!

      Yesterday I got 174 out of 6037 in a $5 tourney on Stars and won a freeroll at a local place in Madison. Not much money

      Jake made a bunch in cash games on Full tilt. He is playing $25 - $50

      Good luck man and I will talk with ya soon!

    • avatar for Nick L
    • Very nice post you put on I am a very good friend of Jason's. If your a tournament player Harrington on Holdem Volume 2 is the holy graile of tournament I own it as well. Look forward to your next post sorry bout your wsop hand that must of been depressing to run into that situation. Myself I am cash game player that plays on Cakepoker.com and play at my local casino from time to time.