Stubborn

Here's the stubbornest razz player on the planet:

Strangest hand in the history of razz

This is from a HORSE tournament on Carbon Poker that I'm still in as I post this. So no time for analysis and discussion. I'll just post this hand history and let y'all ponder the weirdness of it.

Beautiful quads

Or at least they WOULD be beautiful...

If this hadn't been *&$%^@# RAZZ!

Return to razz

Tonight I played in my first online HORSE tournament in, well, ages. Probably six months, I guess. I was on Black Chip Poker.

I was cruising along just fine, and then something happened.

What happened?

Razz.

Specifically, I first got a shorter stack all in on 3rd street with my A64 against his 852, and lost:

Then I got another short stack to cap it on 3rd and get it all in on 4th, with my 523-6 against his 827-Q. And STILL lost:

I was a 60/40 favorite on 3rd, 84/16 favorite on 4th, and still a 65/35 favorite after pairing on 5th.

That one-two punch left me very short-stacked, and I was out in 19th place (of 59, with 9 paying) shortly thereafter.

The fog of memory is clearing, and I am quickly remembering why I stopped doing this stuff.

Won HUGE tournament!

That's right--I was luckiest best of FOUR players at turbo razz! Wooooooooooo!

My old friend razz

Points and bragging rights--what more could a guy want?

Well, OK, money. But that's not available.

Grump v. Jordan

I was just browsing through some of the blogs that I check on occasionally but don't have in my RSS reader. I found this post from Jordan (HighOnPoker) from about three weeks ago, in which he discusses a razz hand he and I played during the Tuesday Night Booze Cruise March 29. You'll need to go read his post before my discussion of the hand here will make sense. Go ahead. I'll wait.

You're back? Great.

The full hand history is posted below for reference. Let's look at it step by step.

I was dealt 5-6-7, so when everybody folded to me, it was an obvious raise with only Jordan (bring-in with a Q up) left. He's not quite right that I would raise there with any down cards, but almost any two is certainly true. With two good down cards (2 and 6), he called.

I don't hate that call. In fact, by coincidence, earlier that same day I had put up a post in which I tried to defend raising with a K up when I thought that somebody was just stealing my bring-in. That situation had the added dynamics of me being the big stack and the "stealer" being the short stack on the bubble, so it's not exactly comparable, but the point remains that I agree with Jordan that it's not always crazy to defend with a bad up card.

As it turned out, I was actually way ahead: I was 69% to win, Jordan 31%. (Percentages come from the wonderful razz hand simulator at ProPokerTools.) He was a 2.23:1 underdog. The pot was 140 after my completion, and he had to call 40 more, giving him immediate pot odds of 3.5:1. Which means that if he had been able to see my cards (Sklansky's classic criteria), the call would have been correct. The fact that my range was certainly broader than what I actually had makes it even more reasonable.

On 4th street, I get a Q, Jordan gets a 2. He pairs, which sucks for him, but I don't know that. It superficially looks like a good card for him from my perspective--except that (as he apparently deduced one street later) it gave me suspicion that he had paired, because most people will defend with a big card showing only with the most premium down cards (A2, A3, 23, etc.). He bet 60, I raised to 120, thinking that he would have to fold if the deuce had, in fact, paired him. Instead, he called.

I think that call is questionable. I am telling him, "Yeah, we both have a queen, but I suspect you just paired, and even if you didn't, my starting hand is strong enough that I'm willing to put more chips in against you." I think the right move in that spot is either (1) admit that you've been caught, the jig is up, and fold, or (2) reraise, which is the only way that you're likely to convince me you think your hand is stronger than mine, after discounting our equal queens. I.e., if you want me to believe that you started with A-3 and now have A-2-3, you have to raise.

Jordan writes that the call will "sell the story I wish to tell." I disagree completely. If you're actually sitting there with Q32A, and you see that the best I can possibly have is Q72A (and, of course, I might have much worse), why would you just call? To me the call said that either I was right about the deuce pairing and you were just going to try to get lucky, or you had started with something pretty mediocre, like A7 or A8 down, and now you were kind of stuck with a hand you couldn't quite fold but didn't like enough to reraise with.

What is the math on that call? I am now a 74/26 favorite, so Jordan is a 2.85:1 dog. The pot is 360 after my raise, and he has to call another 60, so getting 6:1 makes the call correct, somewhat surprisingly. (That kind of math is why it's often so hard to get people to fold in razz, even when they're obviously behind.) A raise is really better, though, in terms of the dynamics of the hand, setting up the steal, reinforcing the image you're trying to get across, and building a bigger pot in the event that you get lucky on the next streets. Unwillingness to make the pot bigger is inconsistent with selling the idea that you think you're ahead there.

Fifth street sucks for me: a ten to Jordan's 5. He bets 120, I call. I'm still ahead (64%/36%), though I'm in some doubt, relying on hope that my read of the deuce pairing him was correct.

Now let's look back again at 4th street. Suppose Jordan had reraised me there, telling a more convincing (though actually false) story that he had three babies and knew he was ahead of my Q7. I think most likely I would have folded with the second brick hitting me on 5th. The weak call on 4th, though, prompted me to continue with caution, and Jordan needed to get lucky again on 6th.

Sixth street sucks even worse: Another ten for me, 4 for Jordan. For the first time, I'm an underdog, with three bad cards to his two. I'm down to 29.1% to win to his 70.9%. The best hand I can make is a 10 low, and I'll be stuck with a queen low if seventh street brings me a king, queen, 10, 7, 6, or 5. That's a lot of cards that will make a really sucky hand. So I folded to his bet.

Was the fold correct? Let's see. I was a 2.44:1 dog, pot was 780, pot odds of 780:120 or 6.5:1. So I suppose that a call would be justifiable in those terms. But calling leaves me in a difficult predicament no matter what comes on 7th street. Even if I get my best card, an ace, I won't know where I am. Worse than that is the possibility that I'm already drawing dead, and will end up putting in two large bets (on 6th and 7th) with zero chance of winning, if I had been wrong in my guess about him pairing on 4th street. E.g., if his down cards were A3 or A6 or A7, or a whole bunch of other possible combinations, I was already dead. Given that, I think folding was the prudent move.

I appreciate Jordan's kind words (that he trusted I could figure out what was going on and not just blindly call down in desperation), as well as his modesty in not claiming to outplay me.

Josie piped up with a comment to the contrary, though: "You outplayed Grump!" Maybe, but I don't think so. I bet, raised, or called at every opportunity when I was ahead, and never put in a single chip when I was behind. Jordan, on the other hand, put in the equivalent of five small bets when he was behind. Without meaning to sound either self-congratulatory or critical of Jordan's play, that's a decent argument that I played the hand better and just got unlucky.

Full Tilt Poker Game #29461729425: Tuesday Night Booze Cruise (227570769), Table 3 - 60/120 Ante 10 - Limit Razz - 21:38:05 ET - 2011/03/29
Seat 1: SmBoatDrinks (2,385)
Seat 2: Rakewell (1,743)
Seat 3: HighOnPoker (2,912)
Seat 4: DDionysus (1,870)
Seat 5: cubbies760 (340)
Seat 6: MsDredful (1,175)
SmBoatDrinks antes 10
Rakewell antes 10
HighOnPoker antes 10
DDionysus antes 10
cubbies760 antes 10
MsDredful antes 10
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to SmBoatDrinks [Jd]
Dealt to Rakewell [5h 7c] [6h]
Dealt to HighOnPoker [Qs]
Dealt to DDionysus [8h]
Dealt to cubbies760 [Jh]
Dealt to MsDredful [9h]
HighOnPoker is high with [Qs]
HighOnPoker brings in for 20
DDionysus folds
cubbies760 folds
MsDredful folds
MsDredful is sitting out
SmBoatDrinks folds
Rakewell completes it to 60
MsDredful has returned
HighOnPoker calls 40
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [5h 7c 6h] [Qc]
Dealt to HighOnPoker [Qs] [2s]
HighOnPoker bets 60
Rakewell raises to 120
HighOnPoker calls 60
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [5h 7c 6h Qc] [Th]
Dealt to HighOnPoker [Qs 2s] [5d]
HighOnPoker bets 120
Rakewell calls 120
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [5h 7c 6h Qc Th] [Ts]
Dealt to HighOnPoker [Qs 2s 5d] [4h]
HighOnPoker bets 120
Rakewell folds
Uncalled bet of 120 returned to HighOnPoker
HighOnPoker mucks
HighOnPoker wins the pot (660)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 660 | Rake 0
Seat 1: SmBoatDrinks folded on 3rd St.
Seat 2: Rakewell folded on 6th St.
Seat 3: HighOnPoker collected (660), mucked
Seat 4: DDionysus folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: cubbies760 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 6: MsDredful folded on 3rd St.

HORSE and razz tournaments

Here's an updated list of when the two major U.S.-facing sites host HORSE and razz multi-table tournaments in the price range that I like to play.

Razz resteal

Here's a possibly interesting hand I played yesterday in a razz single-table sit-and-go. First the whole hand history, then the story.

*************************************************

(Razz Limit) - Level VIII (200/400)
Seat 3: azerplajin (3424 in chips)
Seat 4: Joliwhite (869 in chips)
Seat 7: Rakewell1 (5790 in chips)
Seat 8: mesothel (1917 in chips)
Rakewell1: posts the ante 40
mesothel: posts the ante 40
azerplajin: posts the ante 40
Joliwhite: posts the ante 40
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to azerplajin [7d]
Dealt to Joliwhite [5d]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [8s 6c Kd]
Dealt to mesothel [Jh]
Rakewell1: brings in for 60
mesothel: folds
azerplajin: folds
Joliwhite: raises 140 to 200
Rakewell1: raises 200 to 400
Joliwhite: raises 200 to 600
Rakewell1: raises 200 to 800
Betting is capped
Joliwhite: calls 200
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Joliwhite [5d] [3h]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [8s 6c Kd] [Td]
Joliwhite: bets 29 and is all-in
Rakewell1: calls 29
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Joliwhite [5d 3h] [Ad]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [8s 6c Kd Td] [Qs]
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Joliwhite [5d 3h Ad] [Jd]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [8s 6c Kd Td Qs] [2h]
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [8s 6c Kd Td Qs 2h] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Rakewell1: shows [8s 6c Kd Td Qs 2h 4c] (Lo: T,8,6,4,2)
Joliwhite: shows [Qc 4d 5d 3h Ad Jd As] (Lo: J,5,4,3,A)
Rakewell1 collected 1818 from pot
Joliwhite finished the tournament in 4th place
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1818 | Rake 0
Seat 3: azerplajin folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Joliwhite showed [Qc 4d 5d 3h Ad Jd As] and lost with Lo: J,5,4,3,A
Seat 7: Rakewell1 showed [8s 6c Kd Td Qs 2h 4c] and won (1818) with Lo: T,8,6,4,2
Seat 8: mesothel folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

*********************************************

We were on the money bubble with four players left. I was the big chip leader, with nearly half of the chips in play. On the bubble, nearly all of the hands had been short, with the low card raising and everybody else folding--especially if there was a low card to the right of the bring-in. It had been this sort of careful, boring stalemate for maybe ten minutes. Nobody with the bring-in had tried defending, except when everybody had a low card showing.

In this hand, I had the bring-in with (8-6) K. It was folded to Joliwhite, to my immediate right, showing a 5, who completed, as would be expected. Several factors made me decide to try the gambit of a resteal.

(1) I had never fought back in such a situation in this game, making Joliwhite's chance for success high, which I assume made it more likely that he would try to steal very light. (2) If I reraise, he will likely fold a lot of the hands he was stealing with, probably putting me on A-2 or A-3 in the hole, as he knows I haven't reraised a bring-in yet. (3) He was short stack on the bubble, so won't want to go to war light. (4) He took quite a bit longer than usual to put in the raise, making me think that he had contemplated just folding it, which I seen him do once before, giving me a walk (i.e., maybe he had something truly horrible in the hole, like QQ). All of this made me think that a reraise had a maybe 75% chance of ending the hand. And I could easily afford the risk.

So I fired in the raise, thinking it would win me the pot right there. To my surprise, he reraised. Well, now I had a decision to make. Fold and cut losses, or go for it? There was 1160 in the pot at that point. He can't actually go all in, but now he's pretty clearly pot-committed, so let's analyze it as if that reraise were an all-in, to simplify the math.

The pot is effectively 160 in antes + his 830 + my 400 already in = 1390. The all-in call costs me another 430, for pot odds of 3.2:1. Even if he has his best possible hand (A25), I'm 23% to win (I get that using the razz simulator here), which is 3.3:1, essentially a break-even proposition. For the reasons stated above, I thought he was actually not nearly that strong--probably at least one bad card, either a face card or a pair. As it turns out I was right about that guess; he had Q45. So in fact I was 44% to win, or 1.3:1.

Of course, I didn't know those exact numbers in the moment of decision, but I've played enough razz and read enough instructional material and run enough simulations to have a general sense of the ranges of probabilities, and I thought that with the stack sizes the way they were, I was doing the right thing to get it all in, once there had been the raise and reraise, even with my one bad card.

I got lucky and won it. But setting aside the outcome as it happened, was this a good move on my part? I have thought about it a lot since then, and I'm still not sure. I have presented my thoughts and reasoning here, but maybe I'm just making up a self-serving justification for having done something that in reality was foolish. I am definitely susceptible to the occasional case of Fancy Play Syndrome. Is that a legitimate diagnosis here? Should I have just let the bring-in go and wait for the next hand?

So to the serious razz players out there--what say you?

Now THAT'S how to play razz!

Friday night I spent a pleasant few hours playing a $3-6 HORSE game at the MGM Grand with several other poker bloggers in town for the World Poker Blogger Tour. Through the weekend's festivities, I finally got to meet a bunch of people whose stuff I have read and against whom I periodically play in private online tournaments.

One of them was Josie, of the Very Josie blog. She got the full attention of the table with how she played the razz hand you see above. She was in seat 1. Somebody I didn't know was in seat 2. Josie had the bring-in with a queen showing. Seat 2 completed. Josie called--itself a little surprising. On 4th street she caught a 6 and called again. On 5th she picked up an ugly king. Eyebrows were raised when she called yet again. Calling with a Q and K showing, against a first-position raiser who now has 5-3-4 up is, um, shall we say, unorthodox. I confess that I turned to the guy next to me (Special K), and quietly asked, "This is razz, isn't it?"

6th street, with deuces for both players and another bet and call, set the tongues a-waggin' even further, for two reasons. First, Seat 2 looks for all the world like he has a wheel here. Second, the hand with which a bring-in player is most likely to have called the 3rd-street raise is A-2 in the hole, which, if true, would now mean three bricks up, and potential for making nothing better than a queen-low.

I think every person at the table--save the two involved in the hand--was laughing out loud when 7th street saw the following sequence of unexpected events:

1) A bet from Seat 2. (OK, that part was not unexpected.)
2) A raise from Josie (which is when I snapped the photo).
3) An extremely reluctant, obviously painful, face-up fold from Seat 2, revealing his 7-low.
4) Josie casually showing everyone her runner-runner 6-perfect, before stacking up the nice pot.

As they say, hilarity ensued.

I suggest that you not try this at home, even if your name happens to be Josie. You have to be VERY Josie to pull it off!

Nice start

I just started a razz tournament on Stars. Within the first few minutes, I managed to make three big hands against an opponent who either has no concept how razz is played or decided to spew off his chips and go do something else instead. Each of these three hands was played out with me raising at every opportunity, and him either calling me down or capping every street:







That's 23 big bets on the first hand, 14 on the second, 49 on the third. (The second hand was, as you can see, an attempted steal that just happened to break my way.)

Shortly after that hat trick, and after our fish went broke, I made a wheel and got called down on all but the last street, for another 7 big bets in the pot:



So 30 minutes in, I have more than doubled my stack (usually hard to do in a limit game) and zipped into the tournament chip lead. Now we'll see if I can hold on.


Update

Sigh. Of course it couldn't last forever. Made final table, but out in 8th place (only 4 paid) after a series of four crushing suckouts.

Strange language

I was just reading Todd Brunson's column in the July 28 Card Player magazine. It included this brief story about a mixed-game tournament he was playing, with Phil Hellmuth at the table:

A few hands later, the game was razz, and Phil again tried to dump me some
chips. I raised from the one hole with like six small cards behind me, and Phil
reraised me with a 7 up. Nice hand there, Phil--lol, I mean, did he really think
I had raised into six babies with an 8 in the hole?

I had a 3 up with A-2 in the hole. The one redeeming factor for Phil was
that he might have had a 5 in the hole, as there were three out. But that proved
not to be the case, as Phil bricked on fourth street (as did three others,
including me), then hit the miracle 5 on fifth street.

The only thing remarkable about this account, for me, was the sudden realization that it would have been complete jibberish to me, say, three years ago, before I had played my first hand of razz. Even with a pretty solid understanding of hold'em, I would have had no comprehension of what this story was relating, or the underlying strategic concepts.

I have a few readers who know little or nothing about poker. They read the blog because they know me personally and want to keep up with what I'm doing and thinking. Once in a while I pause and realize how nonsensical it must sound when I write a paragraph or a story that is chock-full of poker terminology and shorthand allusions to strategic concepts that I tend to assume my readers understand without having it all laid out in detail.

The thing that most commonly reminds me of this is when Memphis Mojo does a post about bridge rather than poker, and I'm left scratching my head, trying to grasp what the hell he is talking about--since I don't even know how the game goes. Take this bit from earlier today, for example:

West led the ♦8, a singleton! This has to be an awful lead. Does he
really hope his partner will win the ace and give him a ruff? Haha.

Kate won and led a low diamond to ruff. West was now void, but couldn't
beat my ♠9. Of course, I wouldn't have opened without that card, ahem. She
now had 13 tricks: She took six spades, two hearts, two diamonds, two clubs and
one ruff.

This all means precisely nothing to me. It might as well be written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. It makes me feel a bit stupid, though logically it shouldn't; I'm simply not informed about the relevant subject matter. (In my defense, I recently had occasion, on a completely unrelated writing project, to toss off a paragraph considering porphyria cutanea tarda, mononeuritis multiplex, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and venous stasis dermatitis, and I'm guessing that Memphis Mojo would be the one left scratching his head over that. So there! Ha!)

All of which is just to say this: Thanks to the non-pokery people who put up with what must be a nearly continual sense of bewilderment at the poker jargon found here. I actually do have some sympathetic sense of how foreign it must feel.

How DO people run so good?

I've been playing a lot of razz tournaments online lately. Well, I'm not sure what qualifies as "a lot" in the world of online poker, but for me two a day is "a lot," and that's about what I've been averaging. I don't know why, exactly. I get on kicks of one game or another and do a lot of it until I get bored and move on to something else.

With the majority of the razz tournaments, there has been a distinct pattern--not universal, but happening the majority of the times I play. The one I just finished was an absolutely typical example.

Phase 1: I start off slow, playing tight-aggressive. That keeps me sort of in the middle of the pack or a little below average.

Phase 2: Then there comes one or two big pots, in which I bet the best hand hard all the way, and get called all the way by an inferior hand or two. That pushes me to or near the top of the leaderboard. Here's that hand from today's tournament. As you can see by the pot size, it was being bet aggressively to the end:



And, as per the pattern, that took me to the front of the pack:



Phase 3: I go card dead, and fall somewhat in the rankings, but still stay in reasonably good shape.

Phase 4: The flame-out. There comes a series of two or three hands in which I again push with the best hand and either brick out or get some horrible suckout. Today's was a one-two punch, starting with this:



Remember, these are not shuffled as on Full Tilt's hand histories; you're seeing the cards as they were dealt. With my 7 on the river, my opponent could only win with a 4 or a 5, at least two of which were dead. He had at most six outs and made it.

Just a couple of hands later came this one:



I was ahead on every street until 7th. He could chop with a 3 (two of which were dead), or win with a 2. That's it. And he got it.

Phase 5: I fizzle out. Today, after being down as you see to just over one big bet, I got a double-up, but it all went in shortly thereafter and didn't survive. Most commonly I have been bubbling or nearly so. Today I didn't even quite make the final table. (Four places were paying.)

Sunday night I spent most of the middle part of the tourney not just as chip leader, but with more than double what the next guy had. Cruising, totally cruising. By the time we got to the final table of eight players, my lead had narrowed to just one or two big bets, but I was still on top, and had six or seven times what the short stacks had. Five were paid. I lost a rather spectacular series of three hands in a row, causing me to crash and burn in fifth, making the minimum cash, in exactly the same way as shown above.

I'm not looking for sympathy; I understand that if you play razz, you have to expect pain and suffering. But I'm genuinely astonished at the consistency with which this pattern has repeated itself over and over again for the past five or six days that I've been playing regularly. It's just plain baffling how the run-good kicks in with turbochargers, then abandons me just short of the finish line.

How DO people run so good?




I still LOL every time I watch this brilliant little movie (NSFW warning):

Oh, snap!

Even as we speak I am in a big $11 razz tournament on Full Tilt. Michael Craig is on my right, so I might win my buy-in back if I knock him out. Anyway, the table has just had this lovely conservation:

Dealer: jerry dash shows 8,5,3,2,A
Dealer: jerry dash wins the pot (1,135) with 8,5,3,2,A
Dealer: Hand #22090344640
Dealer: jerry dash wins the pot (585)
Dealer: Hand #22090352424
poolplayer11: retard luckbox
Dealer: poolplayer11 has 15 seconds left to act
poolplayer11: had u crushed till 4th st
Dealer: Michael Craig wins the pot (735)
Dealer: Hand #22090365415
jerry dash: crushed till 4th st. and you actually count that in a 7 card game...no wonder you're a loser
Dealer: jerry dash has 15 seconds left to act
poolplayer11: yep im a lose
poolplayer11: r
poolplayer11: and your a retard
Dealer: poolplayer11 wins the pot (100)
Dealer: Hand #22090372983
poolplayer11: &&%%ing moron
Dealer: jerry dash has 15 seconds left to act
jerry dash: looks silly calling someone a retard when you can't even spell at 3rd grade level
jerry dash: what are you, 12?
poolplayer11: yep and your still a retard

(Poolplayer11 folds after Michael Craig bets on 7th street showing A-2-4-6)
Dealer: Hand #22090402808
Dealer: poolplayer11 has 15 seconds left to act
dino800: nice 1 mike
poolplayer11: a235 and two pair nh man your a moron to
Dealer: Michael Craig wins the pot (1,585)
patg237: lol
Dealer: Hand #22090416012
poolplayer11: sooo gay
Dealer: Michael Craig has 15 seconds left to act
Michael Craig: wheel in five. you're a luckbox that you made two pair.
Dealer: jerry dash has 15 seconds left to act
poolplayer11: sure
Michael Craig: thank full tilt for rigging it in your favor.
dino800: ur r a cry baby loser ....go back 2 pool
Michael Craig: you were on fire and begging for someone to pour gasoline on you.


Dealer: Hand #22090455040
Dealer: grandhammer wins the pot (140)
Dealer: Hand #22090462316
poolplayer11: see mike might think he is a pro i actually play poker for a living and im a littile drunk thats why im at home
patg237: u da man
Dealer: poolplayer11 wins the pot (300)
Dealer: Hand #22090469944
poolplayer11: i never do good online
poolplayer11: i %#&&ing hate this site
Michael Craig: maybe there's a reason
jerry dash: a pro who gets drunk--you must live at home with your parents
Dealer: Rakewell wins the pot (220)
Dealer: Hand #22090478535
poolplayer11: yep
poolplayer11: i live with my parent go to the casino every night
poolplayer11: make my money and dont pay rient
patg237: omg ur so cool
poolplayer11: i know
jerry dash: gag me with an ace of clubs


With scintillating conversation like that available, why would anybody ever turn the chat box off?

(Personally, my favorite line is, "had u crushed till 4th st," said with not a hint of irony.)

Inexplicable

I just got eliminated from an $11 razz tournament. I lasted about 30 minutes--probably the shortest time in my personal history for such an event. That was largely because the thing started with the most bizarre series of razz hands I've ever seen.

I was a couple of minutes late registering, so one or two hands had been played before I joined the table. On my first hand, I was dealt (43)A, one of the best possible starting hands. I was delighted. But I had two challengers in the hand, and it was already getting weird because it was a player with a queen showing that first completed. It was then raised by my second opponent, and I reraised. We got it capped. In fact, we got it capped on every betting round except the last, where I bet out and then just called a raise because of a suspicion that my one sensible opponent might have caught a lucky river card. He had just a K-7 on 6th. I had an 8-4, but when I didn't improve on 7th, I needed to be cautious. I was right, unfortunately:




The weird thing, as you can see, is that the guy with the queen showing came along--not only came along, in fact, but was driving the raising just as much as I was. It was only because of his actions that we got it capped every street. Otherwise, I believe my more sensible opponent would have just called one bet each time, and possibly even folded. And the guy with the queen did this despite catching, in succession, a king, a nine, and another queen! As the final hand history shows, the best hand he could have started with (we don't know exactly because of FTP's scrambling of the three down cards) was 10-J-Q!

Here's the full hand history:

Full Tilt Poker Game #22044079393: $10 + $1 Tournament (170066414), Table 4 - 30/60 Ante 5 - Limit Razz - 1:18:27 ET - 2010/07/03
Seat 1: BreckGoat (1,495)
Seat 2: spie10 (1,485)
Seat 3: Rakewell (1,500)
Seat 4: john21703 (1,500)
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 (1,260)
Seat 6: ozzykorn (1,375)
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome (1,495)
BreckGoat antes 5
spie10 antes 5
Rakewell antes 5
john21703 antes 5
goldenphoenix98 antes 5
ozzykorn antes 5
VegasHerelCome antes 5
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to BreckGoat [7h]
Dealt to spie10 [8c]
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d] [Ah]
Dealt to john21703 [Qs]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc]
Dealt to ozzykorn [9s]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac]
john21703 is high with [Qs]
john21703 brings in for 10
goldenphoenix98 completes it to 30
ozzykorn folds
VegasHerelCome raises to 60
BreckGoat folds
spie10 folds
Rakewell raises to 90
john21703 folds
goldenphoenix98 calls 60
VegasHerelCome raises to 120
Rakewell calls 30
goldenphoenix98 calls 30
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah] [8h]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc] [Ks]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac] [7s]
VegasHerelCome bets 30
Rakewell raises to 60
goldenphoenix98 raises to 90
VegasHerelCome raises to 120
Rakewell calls 60
goldenphoenix98 calls 30
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah 8h] [2s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc Ks] [9h]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac 7s] [Kh]
Rakewell bets 60
goldenphoenix98 raises to 120
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell raises to 180
goldenphoenix98 raises to 240
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell calls 60
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah 8h 2s] [As]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [Qc Ks 9h] [Qd]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Ac 7s Kh] [Ad]
Rakewell bets 60
goldenphoenix98 has been disconnected
rubbersoul sits down
goldenphoenix98 has 15 seconds left to act
goldenphoenix98 has reconnected
goldenphoenix98 has 15 seconds left to act
goldenphoenix98 raises to 120
rubbersoul is feeling happy
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell raises to 180
goldenphoenix98 raises to 240
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell calls 60
ozzykorn: were playing razz right?
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4h 3d Ah 8h 2s As] [3h]
Rakewell bets 60
goldenphoenix98 raises to 120
VegasHerelCome calls 120
Rakewell calls 60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
goldenphoenix98 shows [Qh Jd Qc Ks 9h Qd Th] K,Q,J,T,9
VegasHerelCome shows [6s 5d Ac 7s Kh Ad 2h] 7,6,5,2,A
Rakewell mucks
VegasHerelCome wins the pot (2,565) with 7,6,5,2,A
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,565 Rake 0
Seat 1: BreckGoat folded on 3rd St.
Seat 2: spie10 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 3: Rakewell mucked [4h 3h Ah 8h 2s As 3d] - 8,4,3,2,A
Seat 4: john21703 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 showed [Qh Jd Qc Ks 9h Qd Th] and lost with K,Q,J,T,9
Seat 6: ozzykorn folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome showed [6s 5d Ac 7s Kh Ad 2h] and won (2,565) with 7,6,5,2,A


So, OK, I figure that the queen guy meant to sign up for a regular stud tournament and accidentally got razz instead. But now he made three queens (as he would see it) and lost to what would appear to be a pair of aces. Now he will surely give himself a dope slap, figure out what happened, and make the best of what's left of his stack, right?

Nope.

This was the very next hand:



I was dealt the (45)2, another premium starter, but could only improve to a smooth 10, after getting a pair and a king. My nutty opponent started with either (Q8)5 or (88)5, finished with a Q-8 and was still leading at the betting. It didn't get capped because my king and pair made me cautious. Against most opponents, I probably would have folded, but after the previous hand I suspected that more insanity was afoot, and I was right.

Hand history:

Full Tilt Poker Game #22044104742: $10 + $1 Tournament (170066414), Table 4 - 30/60 Ante 5 - Limit Razz - 1:20:13 ET - 2010/07/03
Seat 2: NSAID (1,500)
Seat 3: Rakewell (655)
Seat 4: john21703 (1,485)
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 (415)
Seat 6: ozzykorn (1,370)
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome (3,215)
Seat 8: rubbersoul (1,500)
NSAID antes 5
Rakewell antes 5
john21703 antes 5
goldenphoenix98 antes 5
ozzykorn antes 5
VegasHerelCome antes 5
rubbersoul antes 5
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h] [2c]
Dealt to john21703 [3h]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s]
Dealt to ozzykorn [4h]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [5d]
Dealt to rubbersoul [Kd]
rubbersoul is high with [Kd]
poguemahone68 sits down
rubbersoul has 15 seconds left to act
rubbersoul brings in for 10
NSAID completes it to 30
Rakewell raises to 60
john21703 folds
goldenphoenix98 raises to 90
ozzykorn folds
VegasHerelCome folds
rubbersoul folds
NSAID calls 60
Rakewell raises to 120
goldenphoenix98 calls 30
NSAID calls 30
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d] [9h]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c] [Kc]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s] [7s]
goldenphoenix98 bets 30
NSAID calls 30
Rakewell calls 30
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d 9h] [7h]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c Kc] [2s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s 7s] [Qs]
goldenphoenix98 bets 60
NSAID calls 60
Rakewell calls 60
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to NSAID [7d 9h 7h] [7c]
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c Kc 2s] [6d]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [5s 7s Qs] [4c]
goldenphoenix98 bets 60
NSAID folds
Rakewell calls 60
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [4s 5h 2c Kc 2s 6d] [Td]
goldenphoenix98 bets 60
Rakewell calls 60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
goldenphoenix98 shows [Qh 8s 5s 7s Qs 4c 8c] Q,8,7,5,4
Rakewell shows [Td 5h 2c Kc 2s 6d 4s] T,6,5,4,2
Rakewell wins the pot (915) with T,6,5,4,2
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 915 Rake 0
Seat 2: NSAID folded on 6th St.
Seat 3: Rakewell showed [Td 5h 2c Kc 2s 6d 4s] and won (915) with T,6,5,4,2
Seat 4: john21703 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 showed [Qh 8s 5s 7s Qs 4c 8c] and lost with Q,8,7,5,4
Seat 6: ozzykorn folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome folded on 3rd St.
Seat 8: rubbersoul folded on 3rd St.

On the next hand, I got my third good one in a row: (73)6. Would you like to guess who my opponent was?



This time, though, he or she was actually ahead. We got it all in on 3rd street, so the cards were revealed at that point, with no subsequent scrambling by FTP. I didn't catch up:

Full Tilt Poker Game #22044121030: $10 + $1 Tournament (170066414), Table 4 - 30/60 Ante 5 - Limit Razz - 1:21:22 ET - 2010/07/03
Seat 1: poguemahone68 (1,500)
Seat 2: NSAID (1,285)
Seat 3: Rakewell (1,235)
Seat 4: john21703 (1,480)
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 (80)
Seat 6: ozzykorn (1,365)
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome (3,210)
Seat 8: rubbersoul (1,485)
poguemahone68 antes 5
NSAID antes 5
Rakewell antes 5
john21703 antes 5
goldenphoenix98 antes 5
ozzykorn antes 5
VegasHerelCome antes 5
rubbersoul antes 5
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to poguemahone68 [Kh]
Dealt to NSAID [5c]
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h] [6d]
Dealt to john21703 [8s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [4c]
Dealt to ozzykorn [Ah]
Dealt to VegasHerelCome [Qc]
Dealt to rubbersoul [Ac]
poguemahone68 is high with [Kh]
poguemahone68 brings in for 10
NSAID folds
Rakewell completes it to 30
john21703 folds
goldenphoenix98 raises to 60
ozzykorn folds
VegasHerelCome folds
rubbersoul folds
poguemahone68 folds
Rakewell raises to 90
goldenphoenix98 calls 15, and is all in
Rakewell shows [7s 3h 6d]
goldenphoenix98 shows [As 3s 4c]
Uncalled bet of 15 returned to Rakewell
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d] [8d]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c] [Ts]
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d 8d] [Kc]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c Ts] [2s]
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc] [7h]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c Ts 2s] [8c]
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc 7h] [5s]
Dealt to goldenphoenix98 [As 3s 4c Ts 2s 8c] [Js]
Rakewell shows [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc 7h 5s] 8,7,6,5,3
goldenphoenix98 shows [As 3s 4c Ts 2s 8c Js] 8,4,3,2,A
goldenphoenix98 wins the pot (200) with 8,4,3,2,A
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 200 Rake 0
Seat 1: poguemahone68 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 2: NSAID folded on 3rd St.
Seat 3: Rakewell showed [7s 3h 6d 8d Kc 7h 5s] and lost with 8,7,6,5,3
Seat 4: john21703 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 5: goldenphoenix98 showed [As 3s 4c Ts 2s 8c Js] and won (200) with 8,4,3,2,A
Seat 6: ozzykorn folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: VegasHerelCome folded on 3rd St.
Seat 8: rubbersoul folded on 3rd St.

Anyway, the net result of this series of hands was that I was very quickly the shortest stack in the game. I might have won another small pot or two, but that was about it for me. Everything else was a big ol' pile of bricks on my few good starting hands, and I was out.

Better than bubbling, I guess, which usually seems to be my fate in these things, after wasting two or three hours. And I did get a decent story out of it: the story of the kamikaze razz player.

Online HORSE and razz tournaments

When I play poker online these days, it's mostly either HORSE or razz tournaments. These are often sit-and-go, single-table things, but I also enjoy taking on a multi-table tournament sometimes.

I have found it annoying to have to check the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker lobbies repeatedly to figure out when a MTT in one of these games might next be starting. (And, by the way, kudos to Full Tilt for making the tourney lobby much easier to navigate than Stars has managed to accomplish.) So today I made a first attempt at compiling my own little database of the daily events. I limited it to the price range that I prefer to play, roughly $10-$30. Obviously, there are games both higher and lower than this, but if you're interested in those, you'll have to make your own list.

This probably has some errors and omissions, but it's a start. If you see problems with it, let me know in the comments. Also, if you know of online sites other than Stars and FTP that sponsor HORSE and/or razz tournaments (open to U.S. players), please tell me, because I don't know of any others, and I would like to.





Which site has better MTT structures? I didn't know, so I checked the structure sheets for comparable events. Here they are from an $11 razz tournament from both places:






FTP starts you with 25 big bets. You get 10-minute levels. After 60 minutes of play, the next level has limits such that your original stack would be worth 7.5 big bets.

With Stars, you start with 60 big bets. You get 15-minute levels. After 60 minutes of play, the next level has limits such that your original stack would be worth 10 big bets.

Clearly, then, the Stars structure is significantly slower. Conventional wisdom says that this means there is a higher skill factor and lower luck factor involved in winning.

FTP does put more into the antes, though: 1/5 to 1/6 of a small bet, while Stars (after the first level) keeps them at 1/10 of a small bet. So if you prefer larger ante:limit ratio, Full Tilt has that going for it.


How about HORSE? Here are the structure sheets from a $22 HORSE MTT from each site:






Both use 12 minute levels. Full Tilt starts you with 37.5 big bets, Stars with 45. However, FTP progresses through the limits a bit more slowly (Stars jumps from 40/80 to 60/120; FTP from 40/80 to 50/100, which accounts for the difference), so that at the end of an hour of play--one cycle through the five games--you will be starting a level in which your original stack would be 9.4 big bets on FTP, but only 9 big bets on Stars. After two hours of play, you will be starting a level in which your original stack would be 3 big bets on FTP, but only 1.8 big bets on Stars.

Because having a big stack relative to the bet sizes isn't too important early on (you can only jam the pot so full in limit games, no matter how hard you try), I think I'd have to give the edge to Full Tilt for the better structure because of progressing through the levels a little bit more slowly.

In games with an ante, Stars keeps them at a constant 20% of a small bet; FTP hovers between 16% and 20% of a small bet. So if you like larger antes, there's a tiny advantage to the Stars structure, but not much.

All else being equal, I still prefer playing both razz and HORSE on Stars because at the showdown and in the hand histories you get to see exactly the order that the cards came in the three stud games, whereas Full Tilt continues to shuffle the three down cards, which I find annoying and confusing. Some people like that feature, though.

As the saying goes, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Unclear on the concept

Early in my epic HORSE battle tonight, I saw a pair of bizarre razz hands played by a guy calling himself "nelly1961."



Here's the full hand history, so you can see how the very strange betting went. As you'll note, KurtDog500 (my maniac opponent in heads-up) was being his usual hyperaggressive self, and nelly1961 was just calling him down--and it worked!

PokerStars Game #44948706570: Tournament #278495893, $10+$1 USD HORSE (Razz Limit) - Level III (40/80) - 2010/06/02 2:37:58 ET
Table '278495893 1' 8-max
Seat 1: nelly1961 (404 in chips)
Seat 2: KurtDog500 (2455 in chips)
Seat 3: Rakewell1 (1229 in chips)
Seat 4: TheVault54 (2629 in chips)
Seat 5: Jorgyboy (1139 in chips)
Seat 6: Clemson1979 (1108 in chips)
Seat 7: whitespur (1234 in chips)
Seat 8: wogfir (1802 in chips)
nelly1961: posts the ante 8
KurtDog500: posts the ante 8
Rakewell1: posts the ante 8
TheVault54: posts the ante 8
Jorgyboy: posts the ante 8
Clemson1979: posts the ante 8
whitespur: posts the ante 8
wogfir: posts the ante 8
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qc]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2h]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [Jh 8h Ad]
Dealt to TheVault54 [Td]
Dealt to Jorgyboy [6d]
Dealt to Clemson1979 [Ts]
Dealt to whitespur [9h]
Dealt to wogfir [2d]
nelly1961: bets 40
KurtDog500: raises 40 to 80
Rakewell1: folds
TheVault54: folds
Jorgyboy: folds
Clemson1979: folds
whitespur: folds
wogfir: folds
nelly1961: calls 40
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qc] [Jc]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2h] [5h]
KurtDog500: bets 40
nelly1961: calls 40
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qc Jc] [3d]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2h 5h] [2c]
nelly1961: checks
KurtDog500: bets 80
nelly1961: calls 80
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qc Jc 3d] [3h]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2h 5h 2c] [8s]
KurtDog500: bets 80
nelly1961: calls 80
*** RIVER ***
KurtDog500: bets 80
nelly1961: calls 80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KurtDog500: shows [8d 6h 2h 5h 2c 8s 6c] (Lo: 2,2,8,6,5)
nelly1961: shows [3c 5s Qc Jc 3d 3h 6s] (Lo: Q,J,6,5,3)
nelly1961 collected 784 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 784 Rake 0
Seat 1: nelly1961 showed [3c 5s Qc Jc 3d 3h 6s] and won (784) with Lo: Q,J,6,5,3
Seat 2: KurtDog500 showed [8d 6h 2h 5h 2c 8s 6c] and lost with Lo: 2,2,8,6,5
Seat 3: Rakewell1 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: TheVault54 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Jorgyboy folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Clemson1979 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 7: whitespur folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 8: wogfir folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)


I was so stunned by that action and outcome that I took some time to review the screen shot of it, trying to make sense of it. I concluded that most likely nelly1961 just had no idea how razz is played or how the winning hand is determined. I believe he thought that he won because of having trip 3s.

But I didn't really have time to figure it out, because three hands later, just as I was reaching my conclusion about nelly, the next big confrontation arose, and I was in the middle of it:




This time, nelly1961 was the aggressor, with that excellent razz hand of his: Q9Q, made all the better by a king and a second pair to follow.

Here's how he bet it:

PokerStars Game #44948754521: Tournament #278495893, $10+$1 USD HORSE (Razz Limit) - Level III (40/80) - 2010/06/02 2:40:54 ET
Table '278495893 1' 8-max
Seat 1: nelly1961 (752 in chips)
Seat 2: KurtDog500 (2059 in chips)
Seat 3: Rakewell1 (1321 in chips)
Seat 4: TheVault54 (2605 in chips)
Seat 5: Jorgyboy (1103 in chips)
Seat 6: Clemson1979 (1172 in chips)
Seat 7: whitespur (1210 in chips)
Seat 8: wogfir (1778 in chips)
nelly1961: posts the ante 8
KurtDog500: posts the ante 8
Rakewell1: posts the ante 8
TheVault54: posts the ante 8
Jorgyboy: posts the ante 8
Clemson1979: posts the ante 8
whitespur: posts the ante 8
wogfir: posts the ante 8
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qs]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2s]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [Ad 4c 6s]
Dealt to TheVault54 [Kc]
Dealt to Jorgyboy [Js]
Dealt to Clemson1979 [9s]
Dealt to whitespur [7h]
Dealt to wogfir [5s]
TheVault54: brings in for 12
Jorgyboy: folds
Clemson1979: calls 12
whitespur: folds
wogfir: raises 28 to 40
nelly1961: raises 40 to 80
KurtDog500 said, "you do know what razz is right?"
KurtDog500: calls 80
Rakewell1: raises 40 to 120
TheVault54: folds
Clemson1979 said, "shhh"
Clemson1979: folds
wogfir: calls 80
nelly1961: calls 40
KurtDog500: calls 40
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qs] [3h]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2s] [4d]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [Ad 4c 6s] [Td]
Dealt to wogfir [5s] [4s]
KurtDog500: bets 40
Rakewell1: calls 40
wogfir: calls 40
nelly1961: calls 40
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qs 3h] [Kd]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2s 4d] [6h]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [Ad 4c 6s Td] [2h]
Dealt to wogfir [5s 4s] [4h]
KurtDog500: bets 80
Rakewell1: raises 80 to 160
wogfir: folds
nelly1961: raises 80 to 240
KurtDog500: raises 80 to 320
Betting is capped
Rakewell1: calls 160
nelly1961: calls 80
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to nelly1961 [Qs 3h Kd] [3c]
Dealt to KurtDog500 [2s 4d 6h] [Jd]
Dealt to Rakewell1 [Ad 4c 6s Td 2h] [As]
Rakewell1: bets 80
nelly1961: raises 80 to 160
KurtDog500: calls 160
Rakewell1: calls 80
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [Ad 4c 6s Td 2h As] [5h]
Rakewell1: bets 80
nelly1961: raises 24 to 104 and is all-in
KurtDog500: raises 56 to 160
Rakewell1: raises 80 to 240
KurtDog500: raises 80 to 320
Betting is capped
Rakewell1: calls 80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KurtDog500: shows [9d 5c 2s 4d 6h Jd Ah] (Lo: 6,5,4,2,A)
Rakewell1: shows [Ad 4c 6s Td 2h As 5h] (Lo: 6,5,4,2,A)
KurtDog500 collected 216 from side pot
Rakewell1 collected 216 from side pot
nelly1961: mucks hand
KurtDog500 collected 1240 from main pot
Rakewell1 collected 1240 from main pot
nelly1961 finished the tournament in 8th place
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2912 Main pot 2480. Side pot 432. Rake 0
Seat 1: nelly1961 mucked [Qc 9c Qs 3h Kd 3c Ts]
Seat 2: KurtDog500 showed [9d 5c 2s 4d 6h Jd Ah] and won (1456) with Lo: 6,5,4,2,A
Seat 3: Rakewell1 showed [Ad 4c 6s Td 2h As 5h] and won (1456) with Lo: 6,5,4,2,A
Seat 4: TheVault54 folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 5: Jorgyboy folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Clemson1979 folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 7: whitespur folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 8: wogfir folded on the 5th Street

Poker gems, #362

Howard Lederer, in the ESPN broadcast of the 2004 WSOP razz event.


After playing razz for a whole day, you really feel like you wanna go beat someone up.

I can live with 9th

I entered the MiniFTOPS $33 razz event this evening mainly so that I would have something to do while watching Cardgrrl play it. As she will gladly tell you, she is the Razz Queen. Last night, however, she had a terminal case of the runbads, and lasted only about 90 minutes, winning no more than two or three pots during that whole time.

I, on the other hand, apparently had all the rungood for both of us. I lasted just under seven hours, finishing on the final table bubble, picking up a $450 payday.

From about 45 minutes in until maybe 90 minutes from my demise, I was in the top quarter of the field the entire time, and most of it in the top 10%. This was not--I repeat, not--from world-class play on my part. I just played ABC, getting paid off by the hordes of calling stations when I made a strong hand, and getting away relatively cheaply otherwise. Not rocket science.

I misplayed four hands during the tournament, as I see it. But I'm too frazzled to bother recounting them. Besides, razz hand histories are just too messy to slog through, and there is still apparently no hand replayer for stud/razz hands that would let me animate them for you.

I also lost a big chunk in the late stages--when I could least afford it--on a misclick, of all things. I didn't know the break had ended, and was clicking on a web page, when suddenly it was my turn and my table appeared under my mouse, and the spot on the screen I was clicking was no longer a web link, but the "raise" button. I had accidentally 3-bet the table. Somebody 4-bet it, and since I had two low cards (including the up one), I called with fingers crossed. Caught another good one, so called another small bet, but then bricked and ran away. Dumb.

Once I got severely short-stacked, I was in a perpetual dither about whether to play aggressively and hope to get lucky and be back in it, or hunker down and hope to slither up the pay scale. I mostly chose the latter, and survived two pay jumps longer than I had thought I would as a result, so I guess it sort of worked. But, of course, in the process I basically sacrificed all hope of being in the top handful.

I also blew at least one hand during that period by going back and forth during the hand between getting it all in and hoping, versus conserving chips. That was just moronic and cowardly. My early-age biblical training comes rushing back to me: "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Rev. 3:16) "How long halt ye between two opinions?" (1 Kings 18:21)

I had my fair share of good luck and bad luck, no extraordinary amounts of either. It was basically a "can't complain" scenario.

It was perhaps a good warm-up for the HORSE event on Stars tomorrow afternoon, which, should I be fortunate enough to go deep again, will be many hours longer than this was, I suspect.

Thanks to F-Train and AlCantHang for sticking around for moral support all the time I was on life support, and for the many good wishes from Twitter friends. Thanks most to Cardgrrl for being my motivation to enter the thing to begin with.

Call of the century

From the razz portion of a HORSE sit-and-go recently completed.




I was just so convinced he was stealing that I was determined to call him down, almost no matter what. I knew making the call on 7th that if he had just one unpaired card lower than a 10 among his three down cards he would win. I decided that the chance that he didn't was worth the call. And whaddyaknow--I was right.

Or I might just be an idiotic calling station.



That's all I have to say about the hand. Now I have to say a word about how I got this animated for you.

I have lamented several times that there is no poker hand replayer that works for stud and razz hands. Tonight I did another search to see if perhaps that had changed, and found one here: http://www.universal-replayer.net/. It's kind of clunky, but it does a job that nothing else does (as far as I know), and even simulates the skin of whatever major poker site the hand occurred on.

The problem with it is that, as far as I can tell, it doesn't save or export the videos in any standard video format. So I downloaded a trial version of CaptureWiz here. That enabled me to make an .avi file from the replayer, upload it to YouTube, and then embed it above. Way more steps than such a task should require these days, but I don't know of any more straightforward way to accomplish it. Suggestions welcome. (CaptureWiz also apparently picked up whatever was coming in through my computer's built-in microphones and transferred it to the audio track, so that's the computer fan you hear whirring in the background. There's probably a way to stop that, but it's not important enough to me to spend any more time on it right now.)

Full hand history below for the obsessively interested:

*********** # 28 **************
PokerStars Game #26778907976: Tournament #153656543, $10+$1 HORSE (Razz Limit) - Level III (40/80) - 2009/04/06 3:41:53 ET
Table '153656543 1' 8-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Rakewell1 (1995 in chips)
Seat 2: Brandon518 (2178 in chips)
Seat 3: YaDunSon (1664 in chips)
Seat 4: Cardgrrl (836 in chips)
Seat 5: STERGEON (1250 in chips)
Seat 6: tuckmaniac (1631 in chips)
Seat 7: Qn58903 (1421 in chips)
Seat 8: fluffyflo (1025 in chips)
Cardgrrl: posts the ante 8
STERGEON: posts the ante 8
tuckmaniac: posts the ante 8
Qn58903: posts the ante 8
fluffyflo: posts the ante 8
Rakewell1: posts the ante 8
Brandon518: posts the ante 8
YaDunSon: posts the ante 8
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [6h Ah Ks]
Dealt to Brandon518 [Qh]
Dealt to YaDunSon [6d]
Dealt to Cardgrrl [Ac]
Dealt to STERGEON [4h]
Dealt to tuckmaniac [8s]
Dealt to Qn58903 [7h]
Dealt to fluffyflo [2d]
Rakewell1: brings in for 12
Brandon518: folds
YaDunSon: folds
Cardgrrl: folds
STERGEON: folds
tuckmaniac: folds
Qn58903: folds
fluffyflo: raises 28 to 40
Rakewell1: calls 28
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [6h Ah Ks] [4c]
Dealt to fluffyflo [2d] [3d]
fluffyflo: bets 40
Rakewell1: calls 40
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [6h Ah Ks 4c] [Ts]
Dealt to fluffyflo [2d 3d] [7c]
fluffyflo: bets 80
Rakewell1: calls 80
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [6h Ah Ks 4c Ts] [2h]
Dealt to fluffyflo [2d 3d 7c] [5h]
fluffyflo: bets 80
Rakewell1: calls 80
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to Rakewell1 [6h Ah Ks 4c Ts 2h] [As]
fluffyflo: bets 80
Rakewell1: calls 80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fluffyflo: shows [Jh Qc 2d 3d 7c 5h 3h] (Lo: J,7,5,3,2)
Rakewell1: shows [6h Ah Ks 4c Ts 2h As] (Lo: T,6,4,2,A)
Rakewell1 collected 704 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 704 Rake 0
Seat 1: Rakewell1 showed [6h Ah Ks 4c Ts 2h As] and won (704) with Lo: T,6,4,2,A
Seat 2: Brandon518 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 3: YaDunSon (button) folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Cardgrrl folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: STERGEON folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: tuckmaniac folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Qn58903 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 8: fluffyflo showed [Jh Qc 2d 3d 7c 5h 3h] and lost with Lo: J,7,5,3,2