2020 Poker: Color Up!

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

[Governor 18]

With the combination of COVID-19 crippling live poker, the GG online World Series going on, and the upcoming WCOOP series on PokerStars, the bigger names are starting to roll into town here in Mexico.  The infamous Shaun Deeb is staying with me for the next month and, say what you want about his untethered opinions, his penchant for finding drama, or his lack of Twitter punctuation, the guy's got some great poker stories.

[Zwylde 812]

Late post but finally got back to the Nugget in LC last week (before the storm).  Only three tables in play open and 5 players per table so the wait list was pretty long to get on.  No dividers but masks required.  It was worth the wait for me however.  Stuck two buyins in the first two hours with pretty dead cards but made sure to show a few bluffs hoping that would pay off for me later.  

it did!

Ran extremely hot for the next 4 hours and everyone figured there was no way I could have it AGAIN.  They were wrong.  

The shut the room down at 1:15am.  I think I heard them say they were required to shut down by 2:00am so the cut it off early to clean and do the counts before 2:00.

I guess now with Laura they might be closed down again for sometime. 

 

[Bookman 4639]

Anyone know of any trustworthy clubs on the Pokerrrr2 app that play 1/2 NLH?

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

Mike Sexton has been in Hospice care for the last month due to prostate cancer. 

He was a fantastic WPT commentor/ player and when he finally won that WPT title in Montreal in 2016, everyone exept his final table opponents were cheering for him. 

 

Hope he can overcome this. but outlook isnt good. 

 

edit forgot to add the article

 

https://www.pokertube.com/article/mike-sexton-s-health-in-critical-condition-as-poker-world-offers-outpouring-of-support 

Edited September 7, 2020 by AUS-97HORN

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Fuck, that sucks. Always liked him on TV.

We ran into him at the Bellagio poker room a few years ago and he was leaving the high limit room and my friend asked him how it went. He looked right at us and said something like “sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, they got me pretty good today”.

[Lurch 5931]

[Bookman 4639]

 

[Bookman 4639]

I've never played that five-card Omaha high-low (is that Big-O?), but I've been watching it some and it seems like a decent number of people have the strategy of raising every hand and then shoving the flop 100% of the time.

[Lurch 5931]

It is an insane game. Def go play it just for the experience

[blacklab 11939]

It's fun. Big pots, huge swings.

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

So I posted  this goofy fuck winning a fucking WSOP bracelet late in July and I described him as not terrible.... and I pretty much want to take that back.

I did say that he's not good and has no fold button, and is aggressive as hell but damn..

 

If you were playing in a live stream game your mistakes and WTFs??? are there for all to see.

But to actually film this disaster of poker session, take the time to edit it and then post it for everyone to see is astonishing.

He just uploaded what may be the most infuriating  37 min "live" poker video I have ever seen.

first hand starts at the 2:15 mark and you can just skip forward about 30 seconds to see the next hands if you want

 

There is an extra special had that starts at 26:20    If you watch NOTHING else in this video... you need to watch that hand.

 

 

 

  He manages to punt off $1000 in his first 4 highlighted hands......

then he manages to get himself into a fucking 4 bet $650 pot where he calls with a hyper weak hand... that somehow gets there.

and that hand sends him off on a heater that would be rage inducing to anyone on the table... right up to the $4k cooler 5B of AA vs KK

until the hand at 26:20.... holy shit.

Results arent everything.... but god damn,  this is the kind of moronic heater Ive only seen in person and never experienced myself

He managed to cash out with over a $5k win by playing horrible, and literally turning or rivering his 2,3,5 outers or fucking getting into massive coolers where he pips his opponent by 1

 

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by AUS-97HORN

[Lurch 5931]

I rather enjoyed that. Obv the muck was horribad and that J8 was sick but the rest was reasonably played

 

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

@Lurch   -  isnt this your home place?

 

 

[Lurch 5931]

It is! Mac has taken his fair share from me for sure

[Bookman 4639]

Question for the board about a hand I think I played terribly.

Playing a $1/$2 game, 7-handed. I have no history with anyone. Villain has the button and $261, and I'm in the hijack and have him covered.

UTG+1 opens to $8, I have two red Queens and 3-bet to $24, and the button 4-bets to $72.

Is this a fold?

I call. Pot is $155 and Villain has $189 left. Flop is 4 of spades, 2 of diamonds, J of spades. I check he bets $98.

Is this a fold?

I call. Pot is $351 and Villain has $91 left. Turn is A of spades. I check he shoves.

I fold because I can't beat anything at this point. I would have called any turn except a K or A.

Thoughts?

Edited September 17, 2020 by Bookman

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

folding to the 4 bet pre  in my mind is really nitty.   

I understand not shoving, and calling isnt terrible there to see if an AK hits the board. But once you make that call and get an all undercard flop and hes only $190  behind you are kinda stuck.

If hes got AA or KK its a shitty cooler in my mind.  I think the check on the flop is a mistake.  If hes got KK or AA, it sucks, but you WANT that undercard flop with QQ.  

I know Im not great, but that flop with that hand and Im shoving on the flop since its only effectively a $190 bet to win $150 outright,  almost no other bet you could do makes sense.  Plus there's the chance he calls with something you are ahead of (spade draw, overplayed TT). 

In my mind, on the flop first to act, assuming he doesnt have JJ. KK, AA (which you assumed by calling the 4 bet). Hes got to fold unless hes got KQss.  and if hes got AJ or 2 other random spades you are ahead of him (albeit barely on spades)

Once you check the flop and he bets that much, unless he has total "make a move air" hes committed to the pot, and its either fold if you think hes got you beat, or get it all in while you are ahead.

once the As hits  unless villain is a fucking lunatic or has EXACTLY  KQ with 1 spade, there is almost nothing he should reasonably have that you beat.  -I guess maybe KsTx - but thats a really iffy 4bet  - even with the button. 

Edited September 18, 2020 by AUS-97HORN

[Lurch 5931]

4 bets are so rare at 1-2, I could fold OOP. I prob call if UTG1 calls, but I’m pretty much just set mining at that point.

 

If I called pre, I check jam flop as he’d be pot committed to chase w AK. As played, you were pot committed going into turn. I’d probably donk jam here claiming the A, since I’d be calling anyway and maybe theres a slight chance I’d scare off KK.

 

[Bookman 4639]

I honestly can’t remember ever getting cold four-bet in a cash game. The guy put in 27% of his stack in preflop. With no history with him, I have to give him credit for AA, KK, AK, and maybe JJ, right?

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

I havent played since March, and my view may be skewed from the Texas card house appearances, but at $1/2  I have absolutely been cold 4 bet by AK,  numerous times, and AQ kinda often as well.   Ive also been 4 bet by 99-TT as well  (but I knew those players enough to have a feeling they were tilting)-  Ive also run into KK+ and called anyway and been wrong

in a cash game with only $250 at stake I think I just have to take my lumps against coolers pre flop and/ or undercard flops

[Lurch 5931]

It’s pretty much just AA, KK, QQ and AKs. Your HJ cold 3bet is at its widest TT+, AJs+, and AQ+. Button is just not fucking around with anything else w a 4bet unless he has strong reads on both of you or just hates money, especially since he still needs to see what you two are going to do, since you both could have monsters. He’s going to just call with all other strong hands.

 

 

 

 

[Hugh G. Rection 156]

Even if you narrow his range down preflop to JJ+ you are in a coin flip (50%) situation and you're 33% to call the 4-bet.

When the flop comes, you hope to set mine, but second best option is that undercard flop.  I'm shoving here.

 

You say you don't have a hand history, but what can you tell about the person?  An old man coffee type?  Young and aggressive?  This doesn't give you a definite range but does give you some reads.

Edited September 18, 2020 by Hugh G. Rection
maths

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

Wired magazine did a follow-up article to the Postle scandal a year later.  

https://www.wired.com/story/stones-poker-cheating-scandal/

 

Most of the article we know about, but its looking more and more likely that in the end Postle will not get any legal punishment. courts ruled that there was no actual evidence of cheating... just massive red flags and his continued refusal to explain his actions in a manner that make any poker sense.

Stones agreed to settle with lots of the "victims" but to settle they had to sign a paper that said they agree there was no electronic cheating.   Veronica Brill refused to sign on the settlement (specifically saying thats why), and now shes one of just a few victims that would have to move forward with a lawsuit that most of her co-victims signed off on. 

So shes out of her job at Stones, and to continue the lawsuit shes basically going to have to pay for the lawyer upfront, and the article implied that the is a better than average chance Veronica is going to end up getting sued by Postle for Libel, which will take a long time to conclude and she will have to spend a shitload of money to defend herself. 

No good deed goes unpunished.....

[Bookman 4639]

What court ruled there was no evidence of cheating?

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

On 9/23/2020 at 8:02 AM, AUS-97HORN said:

Wired magazine did a follow-up article to the Postle scandal a year later.  

https://www.wired.com/story/stones-poker-cheating-scandal/

 

Most of the article we know about, but its looking more and more likely that in the end Postle will not get any legal punishment. courts ruled that there was no actual evidence of cheating... just massive red flags and his continued refusal to explain his actions in a manner that make any poker sense.

Stones agreed to settle with lots of the "victims" but to settle they had to sign a paper that said they agree there was no electronic cheating.   Veronica Brill refused to sign on the settlement (specifically saying thats why), and now shes one of just a few victims that would have to move forward with a lawsuit that most of her co-victims signed off on. 

So shes out of her job at Stones, and to continue the lawsuit shes basically going to have to pay for the lawyer upfront, and the article implied that the is a better than average chance Veronica is going to end up getting sued by Postle for Libel, which will take a long time to conclude and she will have to spend a shitload of money to defend herself. 

No good deed goes unpunished.....

If nothing else, gotta go with SVP on this one....

The crowdsourced investigation caught the attention of Scott Van Pelt, an anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter. On the night of October 3, Van Pelt spent three and a half minutes discussing the drama at Stones, and he made clear where his sympathies lay. “If you were this good, why would you be playing in games only with a videofeed at $1/$3 tables at Stones' poker room?” he asked as he wrapped the segment. “Why wouldn't you be in Vegas winning all the money in the world?”

 

 

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

The article I posted had the legal decision details in it.  Unless I completely misread it, it said that all the civil lawsuits filed by the opponents against Postle specifically were eventually thrown out by a judge for a specific legal reason, but basically the gist of the Judge's decision as I understood it was just because there was smoke, didnt mean there was fire, and if you cant prove collusion with a Stones employee, you cant have a lawsuit. 

Edited September 27, 2020 by AUS-97HORN

[blacklab 11939]

The reason it was thrown out was california has a law that basically says you can't sue over a gambling dispute. 

[Governor 18]

5000 Freeroll tomorrow at 7pm Central if anyone wants to play

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

[AUS-97HORN 11781]

Postle filed a $330M lawsuit today against almost everyone who publicly questioned his poker god-ness   

that includes ESPN, Veronica Brill, Phil Galfond, Daniel Negraneu, and others (including I'm sure a lot of youtubers)

bold strategy... what happens when discovery comes and hes required to show his entire internet purchase history for the last 3 years, plus his google search history, and his company he owns with  RFID related experiences? 

 

[dirtonia 269]

Played my first live session since March on Friday. Just a quick one at Shuffle 512. Had pockets aces 3 times in the first 30 minutes, winning about the minimum. Of course I ended up running my pocket kings against some other dudes rockets. Awww yes, I’ve still got it!

Brad Owen is going to be at TCH later this week.

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Because Encore will be closed Monday thru Thursday, the poker room moved back over to the Wynn casino floor

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

The Planet Hollywood Resort poker room will reopen at noon Friday.

The room will be open from noon to 4 a.m. Thursday through Sunday thereafter. Games will be eight-handed with plexiglass dividers between the players.

The 10-table poker area is located in the middle of the casino floor.

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Three more Las Vegas poker rooms are no more.

According to a report from CardsChat, MGM properties Excalibur, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage have shuttered their poker rooms for good. They'd all been shut down since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic but company officials had called them "temporary" and said they'd be "continually re-evaluated."

Evidently, the evaluations have determined that the properties would be better off moving forward without spreading poker. While that will be sad news for many, there's some silver lining in that six figures worth of bad beat jackpot must still be distributed back to the players, and it'll happen in a series of freerolls.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2020/11/mgm-closes-three-vegas-poker-rooms-mirage-38202.htm

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

For almost 20 years, Daniel Negreanu has been one of the smiling faces of poker.

Fans flock to the World Series of Poker each year at the Rio, and Negreanu interacts with them and takes photos. His presence on TV poker broadcasts is generally jovial and upbeat. He is perhaps the most famous poker player in the world.

But he does not enjoy universal praise. In fact, he has become something of a lightning rod for criticism in the past few years, for his actions while serving as a spokesman for the online poker site PokerStars and for his behavior on livestreams this summer during the WSOP Online.

Those attacks have often been spearheaded by Doug Polk, and now Negreanu said he is giving the poker world what it wants by agreeing to a high-stakes poker heads-up match. The two will play 25,000 hands of No-limit Hold’em starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday on PokerGO.com.

Negreanu said criticism comes with living life in the public eye, but that Polk’s attacks have been relentless.

“Almost like a political campaign, he did everything he could to try to smear me in every way possible and paint me in the worst light by taking things out of context,” said Negreanu, a 46-year-old who lives in Las Vegas.

Polk, who recently led the failed effort to recall Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, said everything he has criticized Negreanu for has been fact-based and fair.

“I don’t hate Daniel. I do think deep down he’s a good person,” said Polk, a 31-year-old who lives in Henderson. “I just think he has a lot of other issues at play. I think there’s a bunch of public issues that he’s been very much in the wrong in.”

‘More rake is better’

Talking to Negreanu on Thursday and Polk on Friday was akin to hearing the defense’s case followed by the prosecutor’s rebuttal.

One of Polk’s most consistent attacks has centered on Negreanu’s use of the phrase “more rake is better” while defending PokerStars’ increase of the rake (house cut) in 2016.

Polk used a short clip of Negreanu saying “more rake is better” over and over. He later wore a T-shirt with the phrase while randomly seated alongside Negreanu in a poker tournament, then paid to put the phrase on a billboard outside the Rio during the WSOP in 2018.

To Negreanu, “more rake is better” does not fairly represent what he said.

“When I said four words — ‘more rake is better’ — in the context of a 30-minute conversation, you don’t even stop to think what’s the rest of the sentence,” Negreanu said. “More rake is better than what? More rake is better for who? He doesn’t do any of that. He just has a tagline.”

Polk said any justification is “(expletive) hilarious.”

“He can’t just man up and say: You know what, I work for a site, we’re increasing our prices, deal with it. That’s all he had to say,” Polk said. “Instead, he had to be the good guy, so he basically had to convince everyone: Hey, we’re going to make you pay us more money, but it’s a good thing for you!”

Negreanu has also been criticized by not standing up more strongly to PokerStars when it took away benefits for certain high-volume professionals. Negreanu left PokerStars in 2019 and is now an ambassador for GGPoker.

Blackface, Twitch threats

Polk has also repeatedly surfaced a clip of Negreanu wearing blackface in a comedy skit from some time in the 2000s.

“Obviously, it’s not something I would do today,” Negreanu said. “But it never came from any malicious intent … and I’ve addressed it several times, saying, yeah, I never meant any harm. Most of my friends growing up were Jamaican, and I grew up in that culture, so I did a skit. Obviously it’s inappropriate, and I wouldn’t do something like that today.”

Polk said all of Negreanu’s statements about the incident read more as a justification than an apology.

The most recent criticism of Negreanu came from two outbursts during livestreams while playing in the WSOP Online. In one, he seemed about to break his computer when he was disconnected from the internet, and in another he went on a vulgar rant after someone in the chat made a comment about his wife. Negreanu was temporarily banned from Twitch over the comment.

Negreanu said he wishes he could keep his cool at all times, but he does not apologize for those outbursts.

“Listen, I’m not going to apologize for being upset about my internet going out. I have a temper when it comes to stuff like that,” he said. “I’m not going to apologize when somebody attacks my wife and says really horrible things about her. I’m going to defend her, and I always will.

“… I’ve gotten to the point in my life where it doesn’t faze me because I have my dream life. I have my dream woman, and there’s really nothing I need to be concerned with in terms of public opinion. If people like me, great, and if you don’t like me, that’s great, too. I probably wouldn’t have liked you, either.”

Polk heavily favored

As for the match, Polk is a -556 favorite to win on pokershares.com (Negreanu +410).

Casual poker fans might wonder how Negreanu, a six-time WSOP bracelet winner with $42 million in live tournament earnings, is such a prohibitive underdog, but it all comes down to the format of the match.

Polk is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner with more than $9 million in tournament earnings, but he made his name in poker by beating the best players in the world in heads-up No-limit Hold’em online, while Negreanu is known primarily as a live multitable tournament player.

The first 200 hands Wednesday will be played live at the PokerGO studio by the Aria, but the rest of the match will be played two tables at a time online at $200-$400 blinds (a $40,000 initial buy-in on each table).

Pokershares set the betting total on Polk’s winnings at $500,000.

“It really comes down to (Negreanu) because I’m going to be really good,” Polk said. “I’m going to have a really good strategy. I’m going to play well. I’m going to do my best. It kind of comes down to how well can he play?”

Negreanu compared the match to a free-throw shooting contest between Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Kerr. O’Neal is the better basketball player, but not the better shooter.

“So really I have nothing to lose going into this — I’m a very ‘Rocky’-like underdog — outside of money,” he said. “So if I lose this match, but I did my best and I put in a good effort and I made it competitive to some degree, I’ll feel great about it.”

Both players said they could see being civil to each other going forward after the match, but that a friendship was unlikely.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/poker/daniel-negreanu-weathers-criticism-awaits-doug-polk-poker-match-2173304/

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

[Bookman 4639]

I'm still fairly new to PLO. How often do y'all stack off preflop?

There was a guy on tilt yesterday who was squeezing 100% of his straddles. I limped with AAJ8, one suited A, with the plan to re-raise. He had about 80 BBs.

He raises, I re-raise, and he 4-bets. I 5-bet shove and he calls with 7-7-3-2.

I'm a 3:1 favorite there so I think it's a good play. When I watch PLO on TV it seems like there's a lot of preflop action. When I play my stall-stakes games it seems like nobody raises preflop and when they do they have AA or KK. And stacking off preflop is incredibly rare.

[blacklab 11939]

I mainly play big o not plo but my answer is based on who is playing. There’s guys I play with that will go all in Preflop with any pair above ten and I’ll get it in against them with a top big o hand as much as possible. Against an old cranky nit, never. 

[Bookman 4639]

I got check-raised twice today on the button in PLO with the nuts. One call and one fold. On the fold I had 9-9 on a 3-9-3-J-9 board 400 BB deep.

Edited November 21, 2020 by Bookman

[Lurch 5931]

You’re saying you folded preflop to a chk-raise?

[Bookman 4639]

PLO can be so much fun. Yesterday flopped quads in position 4-handed, and the action before me was bet, raise, call. Turn was check, bet 50% of pot, call. River was bet 90% of pot, call.

[Zwylde 812]

On 11/29/2020 at 6:56 AM, Bookman said:

PLO can be so much fun. Yesterday flopped quads in position 4-handed, and the action before me was bet, raise, call. Turn was check, bet 50% of pot, call. River was bet 90% of pot, call.

Yup.  Those are the hands you are just waiting for.  If you stay halfway patient and don't get sucked into playing too many hands preflop you should eventually score a couple of pots like that.  I played on Black Friday and lost $700 in the first 30 minutes but topped the stack back up and stuck with it.  Was able to cash out +$700 after a couple more hours.   One guy was just rebuying $100 at a time and would generally put it in with any hand.

Where have you been playing?

   

[Bookman 4639]

On 11/30/2020 at 5:55 PM, Zwylde said:

Yup.  Those are the hands you are just waiting for.  If you stay halfway patient and don't get sucked into playing too many hands preflop you should eventually score a couple of pots like that.  I played on Black Friday and lost $700 in the first 30 minutes but topped the stack back up and stuck with it.  Was able to cash out +$700 after a couple more hours.   One guy was just rebuying $100 at a time and would generally put it in with any hand.

Where have you been playing?

   

Since Covid I've been playing on the Pokerrrr2 app. I had played some but not much PLO live. It's so much easier on the app -- easier to see (and double check) your cards, easier to calculate pot odds, easier to see stacks.

[Bookman 4639]

You raise 8-8 UTG. SB calls, BB 3-bets. You're pretty deep, know the BB has A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or A-K, and you know the SB is not going to raise, so you call.  SB folds.

Flop is J-10-8 two clubs. Bet, raise call. Turn is a 7. Check, bet, call. River is a 2 of clubs.

Value bet and fold to a raise?

[Lurch 5931]

God no. Bet jam to a raise

[Lurch 5931]

If you know his range is AA KK QQ AK there is exactly one combo that beats you (AKcc) and 18 combos that may call your jam.

[TexArcher 37830]

7 hours ago, Lurch said:

If you know his range is AA KK QQ AK there is exactly one combo that beats you (AKcc) and 18 combos that may call your jam.

I'm tempted to bet river and call a raise, thinking that he's probably not check-raising with anything other than the AcKc.  He's got to know I can easily have JJ, TT, 99, 88 from the betting all the way back to my pfr.  I'm not folding, but I'm probably not jamming, either.

But that might be a leak on my end and I know a couple of psychos I'd absolutely shove over.  Probably villain-dependant, as usual.

[Bookman 4639]

Yeah I should say these are guys I play with a lot. I stack this guy a lot and he'll get out of line with pocket pairs but he's not one to 3-bet my UTG range without the goods. Anyway, I bet and he called with K-K. I almost didn't bet it though because I didn't want to get raised and I wasn't sure if he'd call with a worse hand. I bet about 1/3 pot on the river.

I need to value bet better. I also need to spend more time thinking about my bet sizes.

[Lurch 5931]

On bet sizing, when you flop a set you should immediately be thinking about your stack size and how you can get it all in with bets on each street that will make opponent think they’re getting good odds with top pair. Ie, small, small, jam often won’t work, but had you made flop bet a little larger, then turn bet can be a bit larger and now river jam is much more palatable... even though the exact same pot size results if he calls.

If you can ever get 1/5th of your stack in on flop, you’re usually set up well for this