Herald journalist Steven Holloway played in New Zealand's biggest poker tournament last weekend. Photo / Thinkstock.
Herald journalist Steven Holloway played in New Zealand's biggest poker tournament last weekend. Photo / Thinkstock.
Was I unlucky or was I a fish*?
As I slumped away from the table after being eliminated from New Zealand's biggest poker tournament last weekend, I wasn't quite sure which camp I fell into.
I was one of 136 players who were eyeing up the $81,000 first place prize at Sky City's Festival of Poker Main Event, a three day tournament which attracted the sharpest poker minds in the country, at the cost of $2,300 a seat.
Glossary for the poker illiterate below*
And on the third hand of day two I had been forced to make a decision that would knock me out of the tournament if I got it wrong. And I got it wrong. So the mental inquest began...
Poker is a game of decisions. Thousands and thousands of easy, difficult and sometimes painful decisions, which separate the good players from the bad.
It's also a game of information gathering. A top player will be better equipped to store, process and analyze the information from his opponents and use it to determine the correct path of action in the future. I guess my data system was broken.
I called my opponent's all-in shove on a board that looked like this.
The board.
I held a Queen and a 10, he flipped over a Queen and a Jack. He had a full house, I was going home. That's the simplest way I can put it, but the reality is a lot more complex. Stick around for the full story.
Scroll to bottom for full analysis of key hands
Here is the story of my 2015 Festival of Poker Main Event
Wednesday 10.15am: Shuffle up and deal. The Main Event was underway and I was excited. Since retiring from the professional poker scene four years ago, my time at the tables had regressed from 40 hours a week to 0, and I had been looking forward to this multi-day, big buy-in event for a couple of months. There were three 'day ones' and Wednesday was the most enticing. It included nearly all the satellite winners so I hoped the field would be softer than normal.
I won the first hand of the day when I bet pre-flop* and everyone else folded. That was followed by a silent celebration where I mumbled to myself 'CHIP LEADERRRR', like a boss.
1.00pm: I shot the talkative middle aged man a pretty cynical set of daggers. Bullshit, I rebuked. Then he showed me his phone. It was real, Jonah Lomu had died and the news quickly swept through the surrounding tables. Within seconds everyone had their phones out and were sharing their shock. Conversation quickly turned to Jonah Lomu Rugby, instantly heralded at our table as the greatest Playstation game of all time, and I spared a thought for my sport colleagues back at the office who would likely be about to embark on one of their busiest afternoons of the year. But I had to stay focused, and I quickly scooped two big pots, turning a flush and flopping a full house to build my stack up to 37k from the starting 25k (this was the highest it would get). I guess you could say I was digging away like a demented mole....
1.50pm: I lose an 18k pot when I call a players' all-in with AK on an A68 board (all diamonds) and he shows me a flopped flush*. (Scroll down for detailed breakdown of hand). Ouch, that one hurt but I've still got slightly more than I started with.
3.45pm: Arghhh, my first glaringly obvious mistake. I made a flush on the turn but the board paired on the river and when I got check-raised I couldn't find a fold. I lose the pot worth 30k (analysis below).
4.00pm: The table breaks out in fits of laughter. An elderly Asian gentleman at our table has just been dealt two Aces for the second time in ten minutes, and we all knew it without seeing his cards. Each time he held AA or KK he would let out an audible and obvious 'sigh' before he acted, as if it was the hardest decision he had ever made. There were a few subtle giggles the first two times he did it, before everyone quickly folded, but on the third occasion the table erupted. He had a confused look as he once again flashed us his monster hand after the theatrics, as we all replied 'we know'...
6.15pm: I finish the day with 17,975 chips, which is good for 30 big blinds and I'm one of the shorter stacks heading into day two.
Saturday 12.20pm: I woke up on Saturday morning entertaining visions of turning my short stack into a monster stack, but my tournament only lasted three more hands before I wrongly called off my remaining chips (analysis below).
I busted the main event in time to play Sky City's new Flip n Go tournament, where every player bought in for $50, went all-in first hand, and the winner went through to the final table. It was mayhem, but the good kind. They ran 10 tables and I bought in twice but had no luck, so decided it was home time.
Despite failing to get anywhere near the money, I enjoyed my tournament experience at Sky City. They gave main event entrants $50 in casino chip vouchers and $50 in food vouchers and a hoody, and I thought the tournament was well structured and professionally run. The Festival of Poker Series also attracted some juicy side action in the cash-games where one lucky winner was reported to have taken down a $24,000 pot in an Omaha game.
I returned on Sunday evening to watch Te Rangi Matenga, Shane Tamihana and Darren Lukas each pocket $55,490 after agreeing to chop the prize pool up. Te Rangi was crowned the official winner after the players went all in and his AK held up, and after speaking to him following the event he sounded like a very thoughtful, intelligent champion, who at 23 has a big future in the game.
Glossary for the poker illiterate: Fish: A poor player who is seen as 'easy money' and often makes the wrong decisions. River: The fifth and final board card in Hold'em is called the river or 5th street. Out of position: Being at a disadvantage due to having to act first post-flop. Flopped flush: To make a flush using the two pocket cards and the three first cards dealt on the community board. Pre-flop: Action that takes place before the first three community cards are dealt. Three-bet: Re-raising the original raiser (preflop) Button: The button or dealer button is a chip that shows who the current dealer is. The position where the dealer sits is also called the button. We also say that the dealer is on the button. Open: The first pre-flop bet.
I hold AK in the small blind and am playing off 33k with blinds at 50/100.
A player in early position opens the pot to 250, the button (who was a spewy player who I had seen run a few unsuccessful bluffs) calls. I raise it to 1000 and both players call.
The flop comes down A68 with three diamonds. I bet 2000, early position folds, and the villain on the button moves all in for 7000 more. I have to call 7000 to win 14,000 and at the time I thought the the decision to call or fold was close, but in hindsight folding is clearly best. At best, I'm likely flipping against his range, and when he shows up with 66, 88 or the flopped flush I'm basically drawing dead. But his spewy image played a factor in my thinking and I thought he would have a pair and a flush draw a lot of the time in this spot. I called and he showed me the 35 of diamonds for the flopped flush. Dammit.
#2
I hold 9Tdd and open the pot in early position to 500 (playing off 29K) at blinds of 100/200. Four players call.
The flop comes 68A with two diamonds. I bet 1300. An Eastern European woman who just sat down (and showed a creative bluff two hands earlier) calls on the button.
The turn is the queen of diamonds. Hoorah! I bet 3000 and she calls.
The river is another Q. I bet 5k and she thinks for a little while before raising to 10k. This is where my thinking let me down bigtime. Alarm bells should have been ringing in my head but instead I was married to my hand. I talked myself into thinking she could be running some creative bluff, which is crazy. I don't think she's ever clicking-it-back bluffing there. I call and she shows me AQ. Dammit.
#3
Play folds around to a young player who opens in the HJ to 1500 at 300/600 playing off 24k. I call on the button with QTcc (off 17k).
The flop comes down Q8Q rainbow. He bets 1900, I call.
The turn is a Jack (now two hearts out). He bets 4900, I call.
The river is an Ace (non heart). He puts me all in. I have to call 8,300 to win 24,900. Dammmiiiit.
Real-time analysis: I sat 'in the tank' for about four minutes contemplating my call. For the first three minutes I was thinking fold, I'm not beating anything accept bluffs, but then I somehow fooled myself into believing he had bluffs at least some of the time here.
Post-hand analysis: This is incredibly frustrating. I've put a lot of chips in and am now getting a great price to call, but to use a cliche which has been well worn over the years "when you're beat, you're beat."
All of his value hands beat me. I lose to 88, QJ, QK, QA, JJ, TK and AA and beat nearly nothing that is firing three barrels for value on that board.
On the flop he can have his full pre-flop range to continuation bet heads up, but he'll likely be check calling some of that range and check folding some too.
He might bet 8x, but he might also check. He might bet 22-77 or he might check.
On the turn, when he fires again I think it's unlikely he's doing it without some kind of equity, and I think he now checks a lot more value hands like Jx and 8x. So it's a little crude but I think his range is now weighted towards Qx, T9, 88, JJ. It's a scary board for KK/AA and I think most players would go into check/call mode with those hands on this turn.
I'm also struggling to think of hands that fit into the 'some kind of equity' bracket. 9, T, K, A heart flush draws would have some kind of perceived equity, but he's surely never flat out bluffing here.
His opening range likely isn't too ridiculous, so when we start saying he could have Qx, I think that's a bit of a reach. Is he opening Q6s? Probably not. Q7s? Q8 beats me. Q9 I beat though!
Basically, I'm screwed. An argument could even be made that I'm screwed on the turn but I think it's a huge ask to find a fold there when he could just be barrelling hearts or just be having a bit of a brain fart with a blind tunnel bluff.
But by the river, he's surely never bluffing and I beat next to no value hands.
His Ax hearts he now checks and hopes I do the same, so the only hands in his range that need to bet to win are his non ace flush draws... seems unlikely. Would he really follow through for 8k more?
I should have got away from 'well I called on the turn so now I have 8k into 24k so I have to call." They are two separate decisions, but decisions that are linked by a series of information. But these are the decisions that separate the best from the rest..
*Steven was invited to play the Main Event at the Festival of Poker by Sky City.
