22 March, 2005
Let's take a look at a few hands in succession.
If you play in a tournament online you will be surprised to see that 1 or 2 seats winning over and over is common.
I set my video camera and recorded the action in a No Limit Texas Hold 'em game. Here's what we saw:
Seat 6 checked after the flop (We find out later he flopped a straight) and seat 9 bet $300 with a only a pair of 9s and a straight draw. Seat 6 called and here a 10 comes on the turn and seat 6 checks his straight again. Seat 9 bets.
Seat 6 has set the trap and raises with his straight forcing seat 9 to go all in if he calls.
Seat 9 called and is all in.
Since the turn is a 10 seat 9 now also has the straight.
Seat 9 and seat 6 split the pot
Next hand seat 5 (which is our seat. That's why we can see the cards) Has A 6 suited (Hearts) and raises 200 before the flop.
Seat 9 is the only caller. He has 10 5 suited (Hearts) and wins the pot on the river with 5s
The next hand we make a straight on the turn and take down the pot uncontested.
The next hand seat 9 raises $400 before the flop. Seat 4 then went all in for $950. (We had K5 again, but offsuit this time and fold)
Seat 8 went all in for $1045 and seat 9 called. These are the cards we then saw. Seat 4 has K 9 Spades. Seat 8 has A J offsuit. Seat 9 has Q 8 offsuit (Not a good call for over 2/3 of your chips)
As "luck" would have it seat 9 flopped a pair of Qs and neither of the other 2 players paired any cards. Seat 9 takes down another pot.
On the next hand we have A 9 offsuit. Seat 9 goes all in.
Since we just saw him call all in with Q 8 offsuit we call with the A 9. He's all in and we see has J 2 suited.
This is what was dealt. J 2 made two pair on the turn. Another win for seat 9.
Next hand (And remember these are all in a row. We haven't skipped any hands here.) we have A 6 offsuit and seat 9 goes all in again. (Why not? It seems he can't lose). He's been going all in with junk. And we are now relatively short stacked now. So once again we call with A.
The cards turn and he has Q 4 suited. He pairs the Q on the flop.
But that isn't enough he makes a set on the turn and of course wins another pot. And we are now out of the tourney.
We stick around to see one more hand and what do you know seat 9 goes all in. He has over 4k in chips now.
Seat 8 calls. Taking him all in. Finally he has been caught with his foolish betting. Seat 8 has A Q suited. One of the best hands you can start with in Texas Hold 'em. Seat 9 has has 7 3. One of the worst starting hands in the game. 7 2 offsuit is considered by most if not all experts to be the worst starting hand. Here he is at least suited, but they are diamonds same as the other player so he can't win with a flush.
Here we see the board. Seat 9 paired the 7 and seat 8 paired nothing. Seat 9 wins yet another pot. That was all I cared to watch.
And if you think any of this was altered you can see the action in real time.
The only edits to this are for time. The pauses in action were deleted.
I set my video camera and recorded the action in a No Limit Texas Hold 'em game. Here's what we saw:
Seat 6 checked after the flop (We find out later he flopped a straight) and seat 9 bet $300 with a only a pair of 9s and a straight draw. Seat 6 called and here a 10 comes on the turn and seat 6 checks his straight again. Seat 9 bets.
Seat 6 has set the trap and raises with his straight forcing seat 9 to go all in if he calls.
Seat 9 called and is all in.
Since the turn is a 10 seat 9 now also has the straight.
Seat 9 and seat 6 split the pot
Next hand seat 5 (which is our seat. That's why we can see the cards) Has A 6 suited (Hearts) and raises 200 before the flop.
Seat 9 is the only caller. He has 10 5 suited (Hearts) and wins the pot on the river with 5s
The next hand we make a straight on the turn and take down the pot uncontested.
The next hand seat 9 raises $400 before the flop. Seat 4 then went all in for $950. (We had K5 again, but offsuit this time and fold)
Seat 8 went all in for $1045 and seat 9 called. These are the cards we then saw. Seat 4 has K 9 Spades. Seat 8 has A J offsuit. Seat 9 has Q 8 offsuit (Not a good call for over 2/3 of your chips)
As "luck" would have it seat 9 flopped a pair of Qs and neither of the other 2 players paired any cards. Seat 9 takes down another pot.
On the next hand we have A 9 offsuit. Seat 9 goes all in.
Since we just saw him call all in with Q 8 offsuit we call with the A 9. He's all in and we see has J 2 suited.
This is what was dealt. J 2 made two pair on the turn. Another win for seat 9.
Next hand (And remember these are all in a row. We haven't skipped any hands here.) we have A 6 offsuit and seat 9 goes all in again. (Why not? It seems he can't lose). He's been going all in with junk. And we are now relatively short stacked now. So once again we call with A.
The cards turn and he has Q 4 suited. He pairs the Q on the flop.
But that isn't enough he makes a set on the turn and of course wins another pot. And we are now out of the tourney.
We stick around to see one more hand and what do you know seat 9 goes all in. He has over 4k in chips now.
Seat 8 calls. Taking him all in. Finally he has been caught with his foolish betting. Seat 8 has A Q suited. One of the best hands you can start with in Texas Hold 'em. Seat 9 has has 7 3. One of the worst starting hands in the game. 7 2 offsuit is considered by most if not all experts to be the worst starting hand. Here he is at least suited, but they are diamonds same as the other player so he can't win with a flush.
Here we see the board. Seat 9 paired the 7 and seat 8 paired nothing. Seat 9 wins yet another pot. That was all I cared to watch.
And if you think any of this was altered you can see the action in real time.
The only edits to this are for time. The pauses in action were deleted.
Going all in against someone with more chips.
I have to say this may be a fluke, (of course all of this is just my observations and is not a scientific study by any means) but I have noticed online more often then not when someone goes all in against someone with a bigger stack. The bigger stack player will win. As we see here.
And just as often when they are beat going in before the flop.
The only real exception to this seems to be when someone is about to become the one who will win the majority of the pots. See my next post for more info on this.
And just as often when they are beat going in before the flop.
The only real exception to this seems to be when someone is about to become the one who will win the majority of the pots. See my next post for more info on this.
21 March, 2005
This is the blog that dares ask the question.
I've played poker at least once a week for over 20 years now. I played almost every day when I lived in Las Vegas. I no longer live in Las Vegas, but do live near a casino and still play often. And in those games I have had my share of bad beats. But, based on my experience I have to say the dealing on line leaves me saying hmmmmm way too often.
The 2 big hmmms
1.) You can go an hour with out seeing a pocket pair and then all of a sudden everyone has pocket pairs at the same time. And one will more often than not get a set.
Such as this:
This is particularly interesting because of the cards that were dealt and when they were dealt. As it turns out with this hand it was early in the tourney and and the pocket 5s went all in preflop. The pocket As called all in and the 7s which had won the previous pot called. But, what if they hadn't been all in? If you had pocket 5s and you flopped a set (made three of a kind on the flop) would you then go all in? If you had pocket 7s and you flopped a set would you then go all in? If you had pocket Aces and the flop was all low cards, none of them suited for a flush draw and no straight draw would you go all in? The answer is most of the time YES if you want to win. You can't let people out draw you in Texas Hold 'em. In this hand if they were not all in all 3 players would have to believe they had the best hand after the flop and then would go all in. Hmmmmmmmm.
2.) One or two seats at every table seem to win often. No matter what the game is, no matter how bad their starting cards are they outdraw over and over and over. 8 or 9 players at the table and yet 2 seats win again and again and again. I've seen hot seats in my casino poker play. I've been the benefactor of it. But, on line 1 or 2 seats seam to win over all the other seats no matter if everyone plays to the river or not. I have heard people say it's because on line (especially in free rolls) people play more hands or chase more etc. But if more are playing more hands and chasing to the river why would 1 or 2 seats be winning such a disproportionate amount of the pots at every table in every tourney? I mean if any of this true. And it's really just my observations here that make me say hmmmmmm.
Although I am mainly using one online site in my examples rest assured I have tried dozens of sites (certainly all the well known and widely used ones) and I see little difference in the dealing between them. In my opinion the site I'm using in these examples is probably the better of the lot. Some of the sites are so bad and so blatant I wonder why anyone plays there.
Here we see another site. These are two hands back to back. Notice the players stacks at the table.
More to come.
The 2 big hmmms
1.) You can go an hour with out seeing a pocket pair and then all of a sudden everyone has pocket pairs at the same time. And one will more often than not get a set.
Such as this:
This is particularly interesting because of the cards that were dealt and when they were dealt. As it turns out with this hand it was early in the tourney and and the pocket 5s went all in preflop. The pocket As called all in and the 7s which had won the previous pot called. But, what if they hadn't been all in? If you had pocket 5s and you flopped a set (made three of a kind on the flop) would you then go all in? If you had pocket 7s and you flopped a set would you then go all in? If you had pocket Aces and the flop was all low cards, none of them suited for a flush draw and no straight draw would you go all in? The answer is most of the time YES if you want to win. You can't let people out draw you in Texas Hold 'em. In this hand if they were not all in all 3 players would have to believe they had the best hand after the flop and then would go all in. Hmmmmmmmm.
2.) One or two seats at every table seem to win often. No matter what the game is, no matter how bad their starting cards are they outdraw over and over and over. 8 or 9 players at the table and yet 2 seats win again and again and again. I've seen hot seats in my casino poker play. I've been the benefactor of it. But, on line 1 or 2 seats seam to win over all the other seats no matter if everyone plays to the river or not. I have heard people say it's because on line (especially in free rolls) people play more hands or chase more etc. But if more are playing more hands and chasing to the river why would 1 or 2 seats be winning such a disproportionate amount of the pots at every table in every tourney? I mean if any of this true. And it's really just my observations here that make me say hmmmmmm.
Although I am mainly using one online site in my examples rest assured I have tried dozens of sites (certainly all the well known and widely used ones) and I see little difference in the dealing between them. In my opinion the site I'm using in these examples is probably the better of the lot. Some of the sites are so bad and so blatant I wonder why anyone plays there.
Here we see another site. These are two hands back to back. Notice the players stacks at the table.
More to come.
