FullTilt.com has a new tournament type called "The Matrix". They sell it with cheesy references to the movie of the same name, but it's actually pretty cool. You register like any other tournament, say, $10+1. The tricky part is that you play 4 simultaneous single-table tournaments with the same other 8 people.

The prize pool is split 5 ways. The top 3 of each tournament get paid ($9, $5.40, $3.60) and top 3 overall ranked players get paid on the same scale. You compete for the overall ranking by scoring two points for each person you knock out and one point for each person you outlast at each table. For example, if you get 5th at one table and knock out 1 player, you get 4 "survival" points and 2 "knockout" points for a total of 6 points.

I've played in 2 of these. The first time I placed 3/4/4/8 and 4th overall (and collected $3.60). That's a lot of bubbles. Today I placed 1/4/6/9 and 5th overall (for $9).

My main observations:

• it's great to play 4 games at once with the same people - you can get quick data on who is loose/aggressive and such
• when play gets short-handed and somebody is in a big pot on another table, it's easier to steal from them
• 4 games at once reduces your variance, and with the overall matrix score, it's almost like another game - consistency will pay off
• these tournaments are cheaper - you get 4 foe the price of one

Let me know what you think of them and if you have any strategic advice. Thanks for reading!

Don't worry, it's just a name. It's actually a peninsula. Bonus if you get that reference.

So I played in this game recently. It's pretty deep stack and a great time. I think we start with something like 400 big blinds. The structure goes a little nuts towards the end, but how else do you finish that kind of deep stack game in 5 hours?

Anyway, it's usually a limp-call fest, so the pre-flop pots get very large and post-flop bets are usually 10-20 times the big blind or more. My usual strategy is to limp along with everybody and make really good post-flop decisions. Unfortunately, I hadn't played in this game for a while so I wasn't thinking that way, and my hands and the hands I ran into just exacerbated the problem.

First Hand

First hand I limp in with just because it's the first hand. I hit a draw on a king-high board, but my opponent pushes hard and I fold.

Opponent shows

4 Hands Later

I get in early position so I call the preflop raise of 3BB and about 6 other people see the flop of . First position bets, the pre-flop raiser calls, and I just call.

The turn is the . First position bets, the pre-flop raiser calls, and I raise half the pot. First position folds, the raiser calls.

The turns is the . The pre-flop raiser bets out half the pot and I make a crying call.

Opponent shows

Wow.

3 Hands Later

I get dealt . 4 peope limp and at about half stack, so I decide to punish the limpers and raise it 1000 for each limper. One of the limpers re-pops all in and the rest fold. I call, figuring it's a coin flip, but maybe I'm dominating or tying.

Opponent shows

A jack was exposed during the deal, but that doesn't help me hit an ace or king.

! Rebuy!

Yay!

Next Hand

I get and raise it up. I flop a flush draw with 2 overcards and bet it. I get raised 3x my bet, so I call. The turn is my spade and we both check. The river makes the board look like this:

I push all in and I get called.

Opponent shows

Hey, I won one!

4 Hands Later

I get again, and 5 people limp. I raise it up and the big blind reraises. I'm sick of losing with these big hands and figure people will be reraising me a lot lighter because "there know way I can keep getting good hands" so I push.

Opponent shows

and no ace comes up.

2 Hands Later

Now I'm severely short-stacked so I push with my .

Opponent shows

Seriously?

Summary

I played for 30 minutes. These hands go slow, so I'm not kidding when I say we got in about 15 hands. During those fifteen hands, my opponents had

At least I got out of there early to go to Modesto with Megan :)

This Friday, I was invited to a $100 buy-in game by a friend and luckily my calendar wasn't booked. I had 3 other appointments earlier that day and only slept 6 hours the night before, but I was looking forward to playing again. It seemed like a long time since I had last played :)

We ended up with 16 players (top 3 payout), and the game was magnificently run. Bagged chips were handed out, professional tables/chips/cards were used, the blinds were (mostly) great, and everybody was very friendly.

I say the blinds were most great, because we started with 100 big blinds and the 20-minute rounds had a slow progression of big blinds (100, 200, 300, 400, 600, 800), but when we chipped up the 100s, we went from 500/1000 to 1000/2000 to 2000/4000, but then slowed down again at 3000/6000. Unfortunately, there was only 160k in play, so the bust-outs started happening during the huge (100% increase) blind levels.

Anyway, the setup was good. These guys knew what they were doing. They kept the players moving, the tables were always balanced, and two players even offered to deal while the players only had to shuffle on their button. This is as close to a casino as it gets without paying dealers. And did I mention they didn't take a rake or a fee or anything? 100% prizes paid back. If you are going to run a tournament, you can learn from these guys.

2nd Hand

We started mostly on time, and I waste no time losing over half my stack. I raised in late position with . The player on my left flat-called and the blind flat-called. The flop was or so. The blind made a very small bet, so I called and the guy on my left folded. The turn gave me two pair, and he checked, so I bet. The river was a blank, and my opponent bet, so I called, hoping he had or something. Nope, it was ! He went on to get kings twice and queens once or twice to make 2nd place. Wow.

Thank You, Dan H

I lost a little bit more but then made a bunch back with and didn't look back. I made it to the final table and that's when the blinds kicked in. I had to start pushing to get blinds, Harrington style, and it seemed to work. Everybody was getting a little desperate for chips and played it pretty well. I didn't get called much, and when I did, I had good cards. I definitely had some better-than-average hands during this run, which helped.

Hooks

Patti (who had bubbled in 4th the last two times in a row) was given a special deal that if she bubbled again, we'd actually give her $100 back. It was her birthday, so everybody agreed. With just five left, she was getting teased that it would be sick if she went out. I told her she should just fold into the top 4, but she just had to go all in with , and I just had to call with my ! Dave said he folded to my reraise, so it was looking bleak for Patti.

Board = !

Case ten. Wow. Thankfully, I had her covered from my blind hijacking, so I still had 14k left.

Forced

I went all in for 14k with the blinds at 3k/6k and of course received a pretty thin call. My (how lucky am I to get that on the hand I have to go all in?!) dodged the live cards and I doubled up.

In the meantime, Patti went out in 5th. LOL.

Top 3

The second hand of top 3 I get on the small blind. I have about 4 big blinds, so I'm ready to fold if the massive chip leader on the button raises or go all in if the button folds. The button calls. Ding ding ding! He actually wants to see a flop - must have the goods.

I decide to call. I think I was hoping to get to the flop 3 way to increase the odds of taking the short stack (big blind) out. He had about 2/3 of my chips. In retrospect, I don't know if this play makes sense, regardless of whether or not I think the button has a good hand. What do you think?

Anyway, the flop is . I'm thinking that's pretty good, and if the button really has I'm just going to live with it. I also decide the odds of the flush draw being there are pretty slim, so I'll let these guys do the betting for me. I check, the big blind checks, and the button bets 25k (putting either of us blinds all in). I call and the big blind happily folds.

The button remarks he should have just bet half as he flips over his . I said that probably would have been good, but he'd still have to call my all in.

Do I need to tell you one of two aces left in the deck popped out on the river? Nah, didn't think so. 3rd place doubles their money. I'll take it.

Cash Game

We played a quick cash game until only 3 of us were left. I managed to flop trip aces, turn trip aces, and get pocket kings twice in about an hour. That softened the sting of the 3rd place a bit.

If the organizers and host are reading this, thanks for the well-run game. Hopefully I'll be able to make it back soon.

I went down to Santa Cruz again this weekend to visit Megan and help my good friend Galen celebrate his birthday. We didn't get into town until late Friday, but that was due to seeing Henry Rollins speak in Berkeley, so it was worth it (and I even had my picture taken with him -woo).

Saturday was a lazy day until a few more friends arrived and we arrived at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium to watch the Santa Cruz Rollergirls compete with the Bay Area Derby Girls in a good old-fashioned roller derby :) I definitely recommend it when the season begins next year. We got some late dinner and hung out at a few places, but I could no longer restrain myself and broke away from the group around midnight to check out the action at the Ocean View card room.

3-100 Spread

I had called around 11:30pm to see if they had open seats, and "Guppy" put my name on the list and said something would hopefully come up soon. They usually have a single table going, and I arrived with a warm seat waiting for me - perfect. The max buy-in is only $100, but the blinds are $1/$3 with no crazy extra money on the button and you don't need to raise to open the pot. Unfortunately they rake $4 if a flop is taken, but you can't have everything, I guess.

I bought in for $100 and before I could message Megan to let the group know I had a seat and was going to stay, I doubled up with against a non-believer with on a jack-high flop. Nice.

Over the next two hours, I proceeded to flop two pairs a few times and have my top-pair/top-kicker hands hold up. For big pocket pairs, I only had aces once, and those held up, too. Somehow I had amassed about $700 in chips. I can't really pinpoint what happened, aside from being able to get paid off on the night's above average flops and not losing too much when I was behind.

Sunday Tourney

Coming off my great night before, birthday boy Galen and I entered the Sunday noon tourney. There were about 24 players. It's a $30 game and each player is allowed one 800-chip rebuy/addon for $20. Everybody starts with only 500 in chips and the blinds are 25/25 and blinds pretty much double, so it's crazy. But I've cashed in 75% of the games I've played in and it's fun, so whatever. Last time I kinda flamed out in 15th or so after not being able to build much of a stack, so I decided to be more gambly. Besides, I was up $550 even if I did a rebuy and lost, right?

The first hand I'm in the "big" blind (25) and I see - yum. A middle-position player raises to 100 (20% of his stack) and one player calls. Well, I guess I'm all in. Both players call! I have the and both dominated and triple up.

Unfortunately, shortly after seeing and "stealing" the blinds, the blinds go up and I get . I get mixed up with the other "big stack" (1200) and lose when he flops trip jacks against my top pair. Ugh! I piss the rest away on a preflop all in with and I rebuy.

I fold for a while, but with 800 in chips and the blinds at 50/100, it's time to make a move. Somebody raises and flat calls, so I go all in with one more time and get up against and . Oops, I'm out.

Tom, one of the gracious dealers from the previous night and the same dealer to give me all those big cards joked with me later that I thought I was invincible after that first hand and the way I ran over the table the previous night. I think he was right, and decided to consciously think about that the next time I had a good win right before going to another game.

Dealer's Choice

I shrugged it off anyway, cuz Galen was housing and made it the 2-table mark. I bought in for the Texas Hold'em, Crazy Pineapple, Omaha Hold'em high or high/low dealer's choice game. It didn't go as well as last time. It was primarily an Omaha game this time around (95%), nobody was tired or drinking, and it took me an hour before I even split a pot. I definitely haven't played as much Omaha as those guys, and the cards didn't go my way. I lost some "educational money" and hopefully I'll get them next time - maybe during an evening session ;)

Recap

Plenty of pokering and up $400 later, I'm pretty happy with the weekend. Oh, and it was fun hanging out with all my friends, too :p Check out the Ocean View Card Room. All the employees are great.

UPDATE

Galen ended up taking 7th. At one point he was done to 700 but battled up to 5000. He found under his hands and an opponent who had him covered re-raised. Galen called and the flop came up ragged and unsuited. Galen decided his opponent was playing big cards and pushed all in. Opponent rolls over and Galen wins! Wait, no, the came on the river. WTF?! :p

Howdy folks. Long time... I've been away from poker a bit, so there's not much to say. A friend of mine came in to work the other day with a Euchre shirt on. For those of you who don't know, it's a card game :p It's a MidWest thing, and I have played it plenty. My friend is from Chicago, so it made sense, but it was still a little weird. That stirred up some fond memories of family and friends from long ago. Last week I made a blog comment regarding my early card game training, which consisted of Rummy 500 and Cribbage with my grandmas, as long back as I can remember. I've always been into card and strategy games, which got me thinking...

Dan Harrington, a master chess and Backgammon player, has also mentioned parallels between other games and poker. For example, I recall reading how he explained equity was a very important concept in Backgammon. It's all about having certain percentage chances to win various values of points if you make a certain move. Poker is very similar, but for cash. As Doyle Brunson says in the intro to Poker After Dark, "Poker actually isn't about winning and losing. Poker's about making the right decision." You might not win every time, but if you have equity in front of you, you don't want to leave it on the table. If you want to get into backgammon, nothing will make you a more serious player faster than gambling for real money. I poked around a bit, and this online backgammon site seems pretty good.

While I was poking around on that site, I came across their online pool game, too. I'm a big billiards fan, so that's pretty cool. We've always had a pool table where I work right now. In fact, over a year ago we bought a ping pong table top to put over it and we just recently removed that to get back into pool. It's amazing how much skill you can lose by not practicing. I better practice up for a while before I start trying to take people's lunch money ;)

A few years back I started getting into chess again, which has taught me some patience, but it is very different from poker in that there is no hidden information. Gleaning this hidden information has been a strong point of mine, so chess isn't as interesting. Not much money in it for me, either ;) Craig's bughouse games are a blast, though. Make sure you come to the next one!

I'm taking off to Santa Cruz for the weekend. Megan and I are going to catch a free show tonight on the Boardwalk and see Romeo and Juliet on Saturday. And while I'm in town, I might as well get some poker in at the Ocean View card room, right?

I hope to be playing in their noon Hold'em tournament on Sunday. I've played in the Saturday tournaments (36 players with alternates for ~$30 and a rebuy) three times. So far I've placed 4th, 2nd, and 1st. I'd be fine to fill that in with a 3rd place :)

If I get enough time, I'm going to try and sneak away from Megan for some of their late-night action. The last time I was there, I played dealer's call for high or high/low Hold'em, Pineapple, or Omaha, and had a great time.

Hopefully I'll catch James there. Anybody else?

Update (09/02 10:00am)

The tournament was small - 20 with a couple alternates. I built up a chip stack early but called somebody down on their flush draw on the turn, which they promptly made on the river, so I was back to square one. I built up again, but lost an all in with my pocket pair to a higher pocket pair. I exercised my rebuy and started building up again, but the blinds caught up and I lost an all in race. I ended up in 11th or so. :(

My grandma Delores went to the Oneida Casino near Green Bay WI for her birthday (today). She usually plays the slots, but was waiting for grandpa Don to finish up on one machine, so she decided to play some good ol' 5-card draw. The poker gods delivered her followed by on the draw. Wow.

One quarter turned into 250 quarters (that's $62.50). She could have plugged it for 5 quarters, but who knew :p

Happy birthday, Grandma!