An hour to kill, killed in no time.

I just played pot limit hold em to pass the time today.
I had lost a few sit n goes so wanted to mix it up.

I started playing tight, as I always do, but the table was tight and I took advantage of that.
Not to mention I kept hitting trips.

I ended up playing a very loose and aggressive game, betting into almost every pot.
I sat down with 20K and after 120 hands I had 86K, and quickly got it to 60K and then slowly creeped up to 86K

Statistics for 119 Hands
Street Saw Saw/Total
Flop 93 78%
Turn 59 50%
River 46 39%
Showdown 34 29%

Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total
Pre-flop 4 3% 3%
Flop 19 20% 16%
Turn 5 8% 4%
River 5 11% 4%
Showdown 20 59% 17%

So I won 53 hands in 119, which is higher than average for me.
I felt really good how I’d adjusted my play to suit the table, and then some new guy sat down to my right.

Two guys all in, me and he had them covered. The flop was K44. I had K9.
He bet into it, I called. The turn 5. He bet the huge pot. I had an inkling he had the 4 but I called.

He had the 4.

Then the next hand I had KQ, and hit the KQ on the flop, he hit a set though, and cleaned me up.
So then I had only 20K last hand.
I had AQ, and hit a Q high board. He had JJ and hit a J on the river.

Lost it all in three hands.

Stealing the blinds

I tend not to bluff.
I have played enough hands now to see what happens to me, and others, when I or they bluff – they lose.

I think it was Dan Harrington who taught me that you can’t bluff a novice. If they can’t imagine you have what you’re representing – and then fold a hand not quite as good as that (but better than what you have) then you’ve only cost yourself more chips.

On the other hand, an expert would likely have such a good read on me and the situation to know he actually has me beat, statistically or otherwise.
So when I put my chips in, I usually think I have the best hand or a good chance to get there. Most of the time, mind you, I still want everyone to fold. That is a pot you don’t have to earn.

There-in lies the allure of the bluff. Sure, it’s all about having more gustre than your opponent. That game of chicken, making the enemy stand down to your brute force, sly wit, or intimidating threat of taking all their cash. Sure, for most people, that’s what bluffing is about – I guess – but for *me*, it’s about winning something I didn’t earn with the minimal effort. Cunning.

In other words, I like to bluff when I think it’s a sure win. Some might say it’s not really bluffing if it’s a sure win, but anyone who calls usually has me beat. So I wait til they’ll fold before I even bet.

I’ve never been good at stealing blinds.
Phil Gordon tells me that to make a profit on my blinds, (because I intend to lose them usually) I need to bluff four times every three rounds to steal the blinds. Then I make a profit of one and a half bets.

Anything else on top of that is just gravy.

And every book I’ve ever read tells me that a standard play is to try steal the blinds when you have the button.
But as Phil again points out, that play is so standard, that it’s expected. Nobody raised until the button? Well he’s just gonna raise to scare us all off, right? So Phil says he makes *his* steals from the cutoff – one before the button. But who hasn’t read Phil’s book? We *all* know that’s now the new standard.

And when I raise from these positions, I always get called. Either by a good hand or by junk in the blinds – that usually hit and smash me.
So unless I have a great but speculative hand, or a monster hand (AK or AQ suited, for the former, AA,KK,QQ for the latter) I won’t raise from those seats. Instead I try to play small and hit hard, to take a bigger pot or get out early.

So why would I be writing this blog if I don’t have anything to say on this matter?

What I’ve discovered is that because I play a recognisably straight forward tight game that the only place I can steal the blinds is when I am under the gun. It really is harder to pick my spot, and I don’t usually do it with *absolute* junk, but quite often a standard raise – by me – from under the gun takes the pot. I’ve had players fold hands like Ace-Jack suited with only a Queen Ten in my hand.
Of course, this won’t work against any table with a fresh untutoured player on it – all players on the table need to recognise a tight player, and know how to play in position, and what it means to play out of position.

But when I get that table, I can steal my blinds back. I don’t get to steal four times every three rounds, but I get one or two.
And when I *finally* get called, I know I’m up against a monster. If I don’t hit the flop HARD, I bow out, get caught bluffing, and change gears. If I *do* hit the flop hard, I actually get paid for the effort.

And maybe when I get my AA under the gun, I’ll get a caller too.

Anyway, if I’ve only discovered one thing for myself in poker, or invented a play, it’s that I steal blinds from under the gun.

NEW TO BLOGS

I’ve never blogged before, but have always thought that sometimes my internal thought processes might amuse someone, so….

Let’s give this a go.

Today’s blog is gonna be a bit lame though, as I warm up to all this.

Yesterday was my first attempt at gambling for cash on Full Tilt Poker.
I invested $5.00 in my skill and talents as a “professional” poker player. Gotta start small!

I tried some 9 player sit’n'goes at $1.25 entry, winner gets about $5, 2nd gets $2.70 and 3rd gets the difference (with $9 being the total prize pool.)

Well, my first three games I got busted. The first two in fourth place too (the bubble!) in hands that statistically I should have won.
My next two games I came second in each, and had almost earned back my original $5.

But I got busted trying to steal a pot with AQ in the next game, and that left me too broken to recover.

I have enough for one more, but am being cautious. Maybe this afternoon I’ll try again.
Some professional, heh! There’s still room left in this dream.

In other news, I’ve wandered back over to the werewolf forums that I frequent, where I often live or die by my word.
I also like to moderate games for other players to be challenged by.
I am very ambitious in game design for werewolf, sometimes I bite off more than I can chew, if you’ll excuse the pun.

I have four games I could run, but they all need work before they’re ready.
1. Village of the Damned
2. Ingulf The Mad
3. The Dark Moon
4. Hunters of the Red Moon

1. This game has been one of my favourites for a long time. What is different in *this* game of werewolf, is that everyone has a physical location on a map, and it takes time to travel to other players’ huts. So if you’re not home when the wolf comes knocking you might just survive. But then, someone might be setting up to ambush you on your return. Also, there’s gold pieces with which you can purchase potions. You can drink them yourself, or trick others into drinking them (if they’re harmful!) or can be tricked yourself into drinking something undesirable. And every player has a role, with strong abilities, and a somewhat misaligned agenda to fulfil.

It’s just a big job to mod this game, and I know for a fact I’ll be the only one to ever try. That’s kinda satisfying in some respects.
I have nailed the balance issues in the large games (20+) but I was having trouble in small games (I think I was running 11-13?) so I need to extend it slightly. But the more people, by far the more work. There are just more interactions, people visiting your huts, or paths crossing during the night – more potions to keep track of, more actions to resolve. With six people, I might have an interaction between every player – 36 interactions. But with 7 players that can become 49. And so forth.

To moderate this game, I actually make a map of the village for each night, and draw the paths taken by every player, and see where they cross, and keep track of how long it takes to get to the destination. Pretty intense. But the reward is the story that evolves (every game is drastically different!) and watching each player’s role come to life – and then a very sudden and unexpected end. I get more out of resolving it than any player gets from their single side of the story.

2. Ingulf The Mad. If the last one was big this is massive. 50 players massive. Complicated lynch resolution, tricky roles with changing states as small as “free slave” or “captured slave” or others that change the game for every role – such as if Ingulf gets captured by evil. When this happens, agendas change, abilities change, and more.
Plus the text is conceptually required to come from the novel, which means I have to find and type every passage as I require it. And I must find at least two a day. A lot of work. Not to mention delivering 50 night results (this number decreases daily, though.)
I would run either of these games as 24 hours day and 24 hours (plus, if required) night. Very slowly.

3. The Dark Moon, I can make as tricky or as simple as I require. Player’s role and ability is influenced by one of the four moons as they come into and out of cycle.
I’ve been toying with lunar cycles based loosely on what I remember of biorhythms. The trick I can employ though, is a fluctuating cycle for the dark moon, which can’t be seen. And this is based on the story too – if you need justification for my tricksy ways.
I need to work out what happens when moon cycles cross (or hit peaks or troughs), to make this game interesting, and design a game long enough to make the most of at least a three moon cycle I guess. So maybe a two week game. Not to mention how different roles can actually BE affected by lunar cycles.

Ideas so far:
All players = their vote is worth nothing in trough. Their vote is worth double in full moon.
OR = your vote is worth double if your moon is crossing the moon of the moon of the player you vote for. Your vote is double at full moon.
(Not entirely sure how to do this, yet.  Biorhythms are real time, but votes in real time, while correctly recorded, would be hard to correctly calculate.)
Hunter – at trough acts as normal villager. In normal moon, acts as normal hunter. On full moon, if he is killed, he gets brutal (and as a night target automatically succeeds in killing the wolf that killed him.)
Seer – at trough gets reversed view. Normal days get normal view results. At full moon gets full role result.
Sorcerer – similar.
Wolf – At full moon gets “tough” can’t be lynched ability. At trough votes against him are doubled.
Bodyguard – at trough fails to protect and dies also. At full, also acts as a witness? Or perhaps learns the number of wolves attacking?

4. I had already designed this game, and came real close to running it, but I kind of forgot a thing or two I originally intended, and incorporated slight variances which, I feel, don’t make the game suspenseful or exciting. I dropped it, until I can fix it up.
It’s close, though.
Hidden roles here, can’t tell you much.

But there are some cool roles here such as unexpected wolf roles.
Also, I’m considering having involved level of interaction between players – such as a seer who looks not for the wolves, but their trusted companion to gain mason abilities, or unlock powers.
Also, there is more than one kill method and some players will be susceptible or immune to various attack types. This will make it a true hunting game for evil – they must seek out their prey and strike appropriately.
Oh, did I forget to mention sacred ground?

On any night, any ‘hunted’ player (ie not evil) may take refuge in the sacred ground, where they may not be attacked at night.
Why, oh why would I include such a game breaking mechanic?

Wow, this was a long blog.
Don’t get bored, check back often.