Art of the Min Raise (Part 17)

Gotta rove the tasty pot odds:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 Pot Limit Hold'em - 4 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/330499

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $88.80

Hero (CO): $70.40

BTN: $33.80

SB: $52.15

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with 5h 4h

Hero raises to $1.75, BTN calls $1.75, 2 folds (From the cutoff I'll certainly raise up just about any suited connector unless some really good player is at the table punishing me a bunch. Get called by a donkey on the button.)

Flop: ($4.25) 2h Ah 8c (2 players)

Hero bets $3, BTN calls $3 (Frop a frush draw and a gutter, standard c-bet the ace-high board.)

Turn: ($10.25) 5s (2 players)

Hero bets $6, BTN raises to $12, Hero calls $6 (Turn a pair...certainly not expecting him to fold an ace, but folding a weak eight or a pocket pair sevens and below isn't out of the question. He could also call with a bigger heart draw that doesn't have a pair, which is obviously fine. In any case he instead min-raises, which tells me that he has some kind of pretty big hand. I'd be totally shocked if he ended up with a flush draw taking this line, so I can be pretty sure that my heart outs are good, with the possible exception of the 8h. I'd expect that a 3 would give me the best hand pretty much always as well. Those 11 outs alone are enough to allow me to profitably call this min raise, calling 6 to win the 28 in the pot, plus almost certainly the remaining 17 in his stack. The 8h and the other two fives in the deck are a little dicier, but I think I'm good enough of the time that they add to the profitability of calling, even if sometimes I will get stacked. A river four and I'd probably check/fold. I'd expect to get bluffed fairly rarely, although occasionally it will go check/check and I'll have the best hand.)

River: ($34.25) Jh (2 players)

Hero bets $34.25, BTN calls $17.05 all in (Just the card I was looking for...time for a trip to valuetown!)

Final Pot: $68.35

Hero shows 5h 4h (a flush, Ace high)

BTN mucks Ac 8h

Hero wins $66.35

(Rake: $2.00)

-BRUECHIPS

A Case of the Mondays (Part 7)

This one is dedicated to all you chipotle lovers out there...

http://tinyurl.com/yznu28u

-BRACKCHIPS

Great Boxing Event Tonight

The Super Six World Boxing Classic starts tonight on Showtime and I can't wait. For those of you who haven't heard about it yet, Showtime has gotten the 6 best 168-lb fighters in the world and gotten them signed up for a tournament. This is very rare in boxing, a sport which is plagued by a cornucopia of different championship belts and difficulties in getting the best athletes in the sport to face each other.

Every boxer in the tournament is a great fighter with a shot to win it all. The eventual winner will have a rock solid claim to being the best fighter in the division, and one of the biggest stars in boxing. The first round is round robin, with each boxers scheduled for 3 bouts. The four participants with the highest point totals move on to the semifinals, at which point it becomes a single elimination tournament. Tonight the action starts off with Jermain Taylor vs. Arthur Abraham and Andre Dirrell vs. Carl Froch. Be sure to tune into the action and cheer on the Americans.

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 17)

Well I am still running like crap at 6-max...but god the donks are JUICY. I managed to get an hour or so of PT with this drooler the other night...unfortunately he had already sucked out on me for 100 bbs once earlier when we got in my K6 (BB special, he had limped) vs. his QQ on J66, but I got him back here: AK-high for 93% equity on the turn!

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/327300

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $183.25

SB: $50.00

Hero (BB): $67.00

UTG: $54.40

CO: $48.85

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with Ks Ac

1 fold, CO raises to $2, BTN calls $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, 1 fold, BTN calls $8 (Trying to get heads up with the donk on the button, he will call with ATC so this is a value bet more than a semi-bluff)

Flop: ($22.25) 3d 9h Jh (2 players)

Hero bets $14, BTN calls $14 (Not the best frop in the world...but gotta throw this out there I guess.)

Turn: ($50.25) 6s (2 players)

Hero requests TIME, Hero bets $43 all in, BTN calls $43 (Very very close. He's not very likely to fold really any pair. But there are shitload of draws out there...hearts, 87,QT,KQ,T8...he could have any of those for sure. And who knows, maybe he'll fold a three or something. Also I could get called by a worse "made hand"!)

River: ($136.25) 4h (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $136.25

BTN shows Ad Qh (Ace Queen high)

Hero shows Ks Ac (Ace King high)

Hero wins $133.25

(Rake: $3.00)

If I had had KhQh and bricked out I might have quit poker....

-BRUECHIPS

P.S.: Unfortunately we've gotten a few "spam" comments recently where advertisers or whatever come and leave a comment advertising their B.S. products. To combat that, we're now moderating comments, so we have to approve them before they actually go on the site. Sorry for the inconvenience to our fabulous long-time readers and commentors, rest assured you won't have to wait long to see your comments up once you submit them.

Non Poker

In cerebration of the DOW rebounding to 10k...this is actually going to be a stock related post. Actually not stocks...but specifically online brokers.

I've been trading stocks online for over ten years now (FML I'm getting old) and have used MANY a brokers. Over the years I have experiemented with probably 7-8...etrade, datek, ameritrade, wit capital, schwab, firsttrade, scottrade, etc. Needless to say I've experienced a wide range of service amongst these brokers in this highly fragmented marketplace.

About a year ago I tested out Tradeking - a lesser known player but a playa nonetheless. Surprisingly I had never heard of them...but after calling and giving their website a test drive I figured try them out and transferred one of my Scottrade accounts over.

...A month later - the remainder of my accounts/securities were ALL over at Tradeking. These guys are the absolute ROCK STONE NUTS.

Unless you are someone who is mad old school and feels the need to physically spend time with a broker - IMO, you can't go wrong with the boys at TK.

1) Customer service

2) Extremely competitive pricing schedule

3) An excellent customizable web interface

I really don't even know where to start when it comes to the customer service...these guys are so far above the rim its ridiculous. However you contact them, email, chat, phone - you NEVER have to wait, and in addition to that - these people KNOW what they are talking about.

5 bux a trade people...5 bux. Ya I know some places are cheaper, and even free in some cases - but I'm GLAD to pay them for the trade. Oh and for those of you still who have not yet heard of the internet...call em up and it's STILL 5 bux. I don't think you can find anyone under 25 when you pick up the phone for a trade. Oh and none of those silly IRA/inactivity fees...no minimums either.

Big fan of their website/interface - fresh, easy to navigate, and customizable.

Oh one other HUGE thing - they offer DRIP for any security that has it available. This was a HUGE part of the reason I was seeking alternatives to Scottrade last year...HADDDD to get my DRIP on - had gone way too long without it.

TRADEKING

Give em a shot.

-BRACKCHIPS

New CR Vid, Case of the Mondays....

The final part of my 'Pwning Shorties' series went up on CardRunners today. Don't forget that you can get a CardRunners membership totally 100% scot free by signing up for Truly Free Poker Training and accumulating enough FT points.

Also, here's your Monday fun link:

www.lamebook.com

-BRUECHIPS

I suck almost as bad as MLB umpires

I've been trying out some 6-max recently, partly just for a change of pace, and also because there are lots of fishies there. I've had a few decent seshes, but unfortunately it did not go well at all for me tonight. Probably has something to do with me running like poo in life over the last 24 hours. Anyway my sesh had plenty of bad beats, some cooler situations, a couple bad calls, and a couple of spots where I thought somebody would fold a weak hand and they didn't. Oh well. You'll find a lot more just completely random and spewy play at 6-max than you will at full ring. I guess it's where the aggro donkeys go to have fun. For instance, there was this hand:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/319888

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $33.70

SB: $57.10

Hero (BB): $50.00

UTG: $67.95

CO: $43.05

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 9h As

2 folds, BTN calls $0.50, SB calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2.50, BTN calls $2, 1 fold

Flop: ($5.50) Ah 3c 8h (2 players)

Hero bets $3.50, BTN raises to $7, Hero calls $3.50 (Probably not planning on folding this hand since I don't see what hand he'd limp the button with that now beats me...maybe A3 or 33 sometimes, but that's not too many hands. No reason to shove though, might as well allow him to continue to bluff if that's what he's in the mood to do.)

Turn: ($19.50) 2h (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $24.20 all in, Hero calls $24.20 (Not the best turn card, but usually people don't min raise flops with draws, so I wasn't that worried about it...plus I've got the 9h anyway which gives me some outs if he has a 7-high flush or lower, or if he does have aces up.)

River: ($67.90) 4d (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $67.90

BTN shows 9d 6s (Ace Nine high)

Hero shows 9h As (a pair of Aces)

Hero wins $64.90

(Rake: $3.00)

Anyway back to the title of the post...even in the abyss of my deepest tilt sessions, I don't think I make as many mistakes as umpires have made during the playoffs so far. How many just blatantly obvious missed calls have we had so far? There were two in the opening game of the Phillies series, both favoring the home team (runner tagging up on a fly ball, and later Cliff Lee not being called out after being picked off at second). There was one in the Sox game last night, which also favored the home team (Youkilis coming down with a throw at first base, clearly tagging the bag with the runner being out by 5 feet, called safe). There was one, probably the most egregious of all, in the Yankees/Twins game tonight when a Joe Mauer double was inexplicably called foul, again favoring the home team. Terrible. And these are just the ones I've seen. And all of them I could call immediately, in real time, watching on my TV. I'm sympathetic to the fact that it's a difficult job, and it's easy to second-guess once you've seen slow motion replays from 3 angles. But ALL of those calls were immediately obvious to anyone watching in real time, even with much a much worse view than the umps on the field had. It's enough to make you want replay available for more situations. Hopefully it won't be a continuing issue that plagues the rest of the postseason.

-BRUECHIPS

Brack is Beautiful (Part 21)

Can't really claim I played this hand particularly well, just counted on the power of spades to get me through it:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/316714

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP1: $100.15

MP2: $101.50

CO: $100.00

BTN: $109.95

SB: $79.00

BB: $112.00

UTG: $197.00

Hero (UTG+1): $166.85

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG+1 with As Ts

1 fold, Hero raises to $3.50, MP1 calls $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, 1 fold, BTN calls $3.50, 1 fold, BB calls $2.50 (A little bit of a loose open for sure, but it's spades...)

Flop: ($18.00) 8s 2h 4s (5 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $13, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, BTN folds, BB raises to $46, Hero raises to $163.35 all in, BB calls $62.50 all in (5-way pot not exactly what I was looking for, but I manage to frop the nut frush draw and bet into the field. Maybe a check here is better with so many people involved. I get a free card pretty often, can sometimes check/raise to take it down while winning more dead money, etc....anyway, this time I bet, got raised, and shoved it in. When the BB raises, he definitely has a set a huge % of the time, but I thought he'd have worse draws often enough for me to get it in. Lower spades, maybe the occasional 6h5h or 5h3h, I think he'd play those similarly. If I had a lower spade draw like JsTs or something I'd be instafolding...anyway he did indeed have bottom set, but the river gave me the inevitable flush.)

Turn: ($235.00) Td (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($235.00) Ks (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $235.00

BB shows 2d 2c (three of a kind, Twos)

Hero shows As Ts (a flush, Ace high)

Hero wins $232.00

(Rake: $3.00)

-BRUECHIPS

Miscrick FTW

Maybe he calls off a shove on the end anyway, but my misclick min-bet somehow induced this moron to shove on the river:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/311915

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $53.65

CO: $23.15

BTN: $107.30

SB: $26.00

BB: $123.30

Hero (UTG): $145.80

UTG+1: $48.00

MP1: $22.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with 7d 7c

Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, MP2 calls $3.50, 3 folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($11.00) 6c 7s Ad (3 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $8, MP2 calls $8, BB folds (Frop set, bet dry A-high frop as I arways wourd)

Turn: ($27.00) Qs (2 players)

Hero bets $16, MP2 calls $16 (Smallish turn bet - could def be even smaller - to make sure an ace doesn't fold and sets up irresistable pot odds for the river shove)

River: ($59.00) 8c (2 players)

Hero bets $1, MP2 raises to $26.15 all in, Hero calls $25.15 (Obviously meant to just shove but I clicked the 'Bet' button before I realized that my click on the 'Pot' button had missed...so I end up betting just the minimum, but luckily even that doesn't keep this donkey from stacking himself. Maybe he thinks I'll fold some random queen?)

Final Pot: $111.30

MP2 shows Jd Jc (a pair of Jacks)

Hero shows 7d 7c (three of a kind, Sevens)

Hero wins $108.30

(Rake: $3.00)

-BRUECHIPS

Brack is Beautiful (Part 20)

Hand played against a very aggro re-raiser from the brinds:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/310307

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $224.45

MP: $110.75

Hero (CO): $100.00

BTN: $90.00

SB: $104.00

BB: $95.25

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with 4s As

2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, SB raises to $9, 1 fold, Hero calls $5.50 (Spades, so obviousry I'm seeing a frop...in addition, this player was re-raising from the brinds quite a bit, so I kinda wanted to see a frop in position. 4b-ing is an option too, but getting 5b bruffed is def a possibility, and I trust my ability to make good decisions post-frop.)

Flop: ($19.00) 3h 2d 5s (2 players)

SB bets $10, Hero raises to $27, SB raises to $95 all in, Hero calls $64 all in (Also, spades pretty much guaranteed to frop at REAST the second nuts. I think his bet/3b is pretty spewy. This is one of the crappier boards to c-bet, and there's not much that I would be raise/folding on this board. Maybe he thinks that I will raise/fold AT or 66 or something I don't know. More likely he's just aware that he has re-raised a bunch from the blinds, and therefore thinks that I am going to be fighting back on any frop, and therefore has just decided he's never folding. It's good to be aware of those dynamics, but you still have to look at your hand and the board and do a little thinking. If this frop were 6h2s2d, then I think his play would be a lot better.)

Turn: ($201.00) 8h (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($201.00) Td (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $201.00

Hero shows 4s As (a straight, Five high)

SB shows Kc Qh (King Queen high)

Hero wins $198.00

(Rake: $3.00)

-BRUECHIPS