wraptduck on Ultimatebet.com
I have moved on to playing on Ultimate Bet for the last few days, the games I play there are 2-7 triple draw $300-$600 limit & Omaha pot limit $50-$100 blinds. This big Omaha game on UB is a recent introduction and the action is hot and wild. In the first couple of sessions playing the 2-7 I was down 19k in no time. Later on I moved to the Omaha pot limit game and got a very well known Finnish player Ilary (nick: captain Rehab) to play me heads up and he was on firm tilt right away. This guy is a great player on the prima network and he plays the $200-$400 no limit games there and is considered one of the best in the world at this limit. The problem for him is that this game has dried up of late so he has moved to UB. Anyhow I cleaned him up for 37k and was back in front on UB. Later I played Omaha (ring games) pot limit and did well at that game so I am up about 40k on UB now for the last 2 days. Just trying these sites out to see how the action is these days. The adrenaline of high limit of online poker play is great and to play at the very high limits is very tough as the swings are huge. I will post some of the latest partypoker hand histories for anyone that wants to have a look. The private tables at partypoker a really good value most of the time. The guys that come and play me heads up just want to give there money away most of the time. I might decide to play more online as I am enjoying the challenge. I might even start up a site soon where people that read this blog can come and play with me.
Anyone is welcome to ask me questions about strategy especially if you are looking to play short handed texas holdem.
To download my hand history right click on the following links and select “Save as…”:
You should be able to upload these hands into Poker Tracker and anlayse the play.
Pokerworks.com
Deutsches Poker
Poker Français
Póquer en español
Poker in Italiano
Magyar Póker
Hrvatski Poker
Dutch Poker
Brasileiro Poker
May 17th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Tony, thanks for letting us see these hand histories. From what I could see, as the number of people on the table decreases you loosen up your starting hand requirements. You also play the button aggressively with raises and a second shot with marginal hands. Also, with several people on the table you regularly throw away A rag. Is this a fair assessment? Also, the people you played against seemed weak - is this the standard you normally face on the 50/100 tables?
Best regards
Mark
May 17th, 2006 at 10:27 am
at $100-$200 there can be very easy games from time to time but mostly the games a very tough. I tend to adjust to the players that are there and how I feel about them if they allow me to raise then bet and they fold on the flop then its value.
May 17th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Hi Tony.
Thanks for uploading your hand history, its very interesting but one of your hand confuses me. Why do you decide to go all in, whats the rationale behind this? Normally one is told to raise 3 times the BB plus one BB pr limper but you choose to go all in. Is it beacuse you smell weakness with the many limpers ( put them on small pp’s and suited connectors ) and you can win about 25% of your total stack and you choose to go all in beacuse you are pot comitted anyway if you try to raise to 3 x BB plus one BB pr limper? ( just my guess )
NL Texas Hold’em Trny:22885244 Level:4 Blinds(100/200) - Sunday, April 30, 17:47:37 ET 2006
Table $750K Guaranteed(645915) Table #65 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Kush99 ( $11620 )
Seat 2: billconnell ( $11928 )
Seat 3: dry_benefit ( $9123 )
Seat 4: therealTonyG ( $4918 )
Seat 5: supersamm ( $6983 )
Seat 7: redhead0806 ( $2988 )
Seat 9: keeper00 ( $9100 )
Seat 6: LOOSE_VGINA ( $15173 )
Seat 10: culcon ( $3595 )
Seat 8: FRUCKOFF ( $2962 )
Trny:22885244 Level:4
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to therealTonyG [ Js Ac ]
LOOSE_VGINA calls [200].
redhead0806 calls [200].
FRUCKOFF did not respond in time.
FRUCKOFF folds.
keeper00 folds.
culcon folds.
Kush99 folds.
billconnell calls [200].
dry_benefit calls [200].
therealTonyG is all-In [4818]
supersamm folds.
LOOSE_VGINA raises [9436].
redhead0806 is all-In [2788]
billconnell folds.
dry_benefit folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6s, 9h, Ks ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
LOOSE_VGINA shows [ Kd, As ] two pairs, aces and kings.
redhead0806 shows [ Jd, Th ] high card ace.
therealTonyG shows [ Js, Ac ] a pair of aces.
LOOSE_VGINA wins 4718 chips from side pot #2 with two pairs, aces and kings.
LOOSE_VGINA wins 3860 chips from side pot #1 with two pairs, aces and kings.
LOOSE_VGINA wins 9564 chips from the main pot with two pairs, aces and kings.
Player redhead0806 finished in 1536 place
Player therealTonyG finished in 1535 place
May 17th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
I agree with Nicki to this extant: You played very tight up to this point. Raising ‘pot’ would have achieved the intimidation you were seeking, plus left you alive after the flop (which would have been against 1 or two players), had you been beaten (which, post mortem, we know you would’ve). But, I see no real mistake with log 1. I am sure your rationale for the move is extremely interesting and enlightening. I, too, would like to hear from you on this. I suspect you felt your chip count at this point was desparately low and you seized this opportunity to double or perhaps triple??????
Tim from Illinois (just ‘illinois tim’ from now on)
P.S. Wife and I are seriously considerating going to Vegas to watch you this sumer. Would like to know which events we would have the best chance of watchin you play close up (I imagine the ‘main event’ is a zoo, for instance. Neither of us have watched a tournament there and don’t want to waste a trip to watch you play on a monitor in another room or something like that. Please e-mail me privately about this, if you would be so kind.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:28 am
In that partypoker tourny that is not my A game I was in an internet cafe at the gutshot club in London. Dont think I was going to play the event to the end as I was playing a cash game at the same time as well & to play it all would have kept me up to 8am. I do like going all inn though if there is at least 25% that my stack can improve by if all fold and there is a decent chance of all folding. When I was playing the partypoker steps I used to do that all the time and it worked really well.
For the WSOP I will play all events this year prob best event to come and watch me play is the $50k H.O.S.E that will be a small field and all the best players will play it so it will be good to come and see them all and even me.
May 19th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Tony:
I have been playing on the net for about 1 month. I studied and used a ‘bot’ program prior to risking real money. I play small stakes, 2-4 mostly. I am a little ahead, but having trouble progressing. What do you consider the best source material (books, dvd’s whatever) for small stakes limit hold-em. I currently use Sklansky’s “Small Stakes Hold-em” This book seems to think that small limit hold-em is a wild, loose game that is easy to dominate. But every site I get on, the reverse is true. 2-3 to the flop, supertight, etc. Advice appreciated from you and the other “G-MEN’ (meaning your fans.
Thanks, Tim (see you in Vegas)
May 20th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Hey Tim,
Not sure if those low stake game are that much value, the rake portion is very high and unless you are wokring on clearing a bonus its not that good to play these games if you want to make money. I would suggest that you get all the deposit bonus offers you can via pokernews.com and play the free rolls and that should in the long run make you some money.
When you do play in those type of games make sure yo have pokertracker running and play a very tight solid game, these type of games are not for me so I am not hebest guy to get advice from. I love action games that are head up or short handed.
May 21st, 2006 at 9:44 am
Hi Tony,
Are you no longer with pokerchamps?
I don’t have pokertracker, is it user friendly? Lastly, I am always bubbling out. Very fustrating! I know you have to steal at that time and build a stack to the final table but my timing is terrible! How can I get better of learning who to steal from and viewing betting patterns? Everyone says that reading betting patterns is very important. I know the basics but good players always mix it up. This time they check their draw next time they bet out utg or check raise. Your advice is greatly needed and appreciated. ta!
May 21st, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I am no longer with Pokerchamps. Its not that important to think hey I want to steal, your strategy should be to look for good situations. The time before the money is the ideal time to be more agressive. Some things you could do like.
1. Once there is a raise and a call and you are on the Big or small blind you could go all inn if you felt the first raiser was weak and you could re raise a decent amount like if there is 20k in the pot and you have 30k then you have a good chacne to get away with it.
2. If all fold and yo uhave the small blind against the big blind this is a pretty safe moment to steal the rule here is that you need to increase your stack by 25% to go all inn so if there is 5k in the pot and yo have 20k then go all inn J hi is ok to do this with. No much point to raise if you have 20k there is 2k in the pot and you have a bad hand you could give a good player room to make a move on you.
3. Play your game you can get good cards as well so dont have it in your mind that you must steal jut play poker and look for opportunities to build your stack.
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:56 pm
Hi, Tony. What are your thoughts on suited connectors (particularly 5.4, 6.5, 7.6 or 8.7 suited) as well as low (2.2 to 6.6) & mid (7.7 to 10.10) pocket pairs. Obviously it varies depending on the situations but generally how should they be played? Thanks, mate. P.S. Good Luck in WSOP!!!
May 23rd, 2006 at 5:51 am
I like small pairs much better then suited connectors they are much easier to play. If you can put your opponent on AK and be correct then you make a lot of money with small pairs.
Suited cards a very hard to play and you will not make that much money with them or even lose in the long run, unless you can get your opponent to put you on a different hand like AK in these situations and hten bluff it out you hav eno shot playing these cards to see if you can hit the flop and get lucky.
May 24th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Hi Tony,
You say that you can make a lot of money with small pairs if you can put your opponent on AK. Since AK vs a small pair is about 50/50 before the flop, how can you then go onto win a lot of money with them? Are you talking about hoping that the other player doesn’t hit their flop, and then betting out to take it?
Also, I saw you on the ‘Poker Den’ last night with snooker player Ronnie O’ Sullivan- it was great. Is it any different when you’re betting with real money instead of chips? Have you ever spoken to poker commentating legend Jesse May? What’s he like? Cheers Tony. I always love it when you’re on the telly!
May 24th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Tony and John Yates:
What is “poker den”? Probably a non US show. I tell you, Americans are being deprived of Tony G. Mark my word, if this “bad boys” victory is anything like I think it will be, Tony G will be the next mega super star in the US — whose people are typically totally ignorant of foreign players. I can’t wait, and I hope that tony gets all the recognition he deserves.
Illinois Tim — see you in Vegas, Tony!! (I predict two WSOP bracelets this year alone). But not main event, too much of a lottery — but it could happen and I really hope it does.
May 25th, 2006 at 5:47 am
Hi Tim,
The “Poker Den” is a British poker series in which six players play each week in a Sit ang Go for £50,000. The theme of the show is that the players play in a mock gangster-like ‘den’, complete with burly security guards who serach them on the way in, and piles of British currency instead of chips. Tony has been on the show a number of times. He has been on lots of programmes over here, from the World Speed Poker Championships to the European Poker Championship. I saw Tony play in a late-night poker programme here on channel four about two years ago, and it was Tony’s performance at the table that got me interested in poker in the first place. Jesse May’s co-commentator, Padraig Parkinson, was just killing himself laughing at Tony’s speech-play and all-round demeanor at the table. I think that Tony is up there with Devilfish in terms of promoting the game on television in the British Isles. It’s no wonder that producers keep inviting him back- they’re getting a born entertainer.
May 25th, 2006 at 6:50 am
John Yates,
players overplay AK and if you know they have it then any pair is huge as long as there are chips that the player with AK can not call on the flop. Say somebody raises 2k u have 5k he has 5k and he/she holds AK you have 2-2 so if you feel its 60% he has AK then you call and bet out on the flop. Sometimes I do this and then when the A hits I say LOL he has the small pair and I bet anyway to win the pot. The key is to look fo rplayer that overbet AK before the flop and keep in mind the stacks need to still be in tact after the flop for you to take it down.
With real money the game is slow I dont like it I prefer to play with chips.
Jesse May is a very veyr cool bloke he is great.
May 25th, 2006 at 6:53 am
Thanks everyone for the kind words, I really do love to entertain and have fun at the same time. Those in the states you will see me on TV all the time I made it big on the CBS show and that will start from June 25th and that will be HUGE.
May 25th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Tony:
Are you still playing a lot online? I’ve been checking periodically, but haven’t seen you on there. Why did you change your picture? The last one was hilarious.
Jon G
May 26th, 2006 at 2:40 am
I have not been playing onlien much at all no time been playing a few big cash games over the last week. Online is just practice for me.
May 27th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Hi Tony,
Whilst your advice is surely first class and very interesting, I think it may be a little too advanced for me. I cannot put my opponents on specific hands, and so wouldn’t be able to tell if they had AK or A10, or whatever. You have made me realise, though, that I have perhaps been dismissing my small pairs a little too easily, especially in heads-up situations. Calling with small pairs and then betting after the flop (when there’s only one other player in the pot) sounds like the thing to be doing. I’m glad you reckon that Jesse May is such a cool bloke, he’s definitely one of British televised poker’s main attractions. Sometimes I can’t even be bothered watching if he’s not commentating. Unless you’re playing, of course! Cheers Tony, even if the advice was maybe a bit too advanced for me, you’ve still given me food for thought. If I have any other poker questions, I’ll know who to ask!
June 1st, 2006 at 11:01 am
Tony:
What is the “CBS” show to which you refer? (The ‘bad boys’ is wpt, isn’t it?).
June 1st, 2006 at 11:03 am
And again, when is the intercontinental competition which I believe you captained scheduled to be aired?
Illinois Tim
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:04 am
Hi,
The CBS show will start June 25th & this is the intercon cup not a WPT event. The bad boys(WPT) will air June 17th.
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:42 am
Its June 25th for WPT & June 17th for the CBS show.