Monday, September 05, 2005

It's Hammer Time

YTD: +$25333.89

I love the WCOOP. Not because of the *actual* events, in which I invariably play very poorly - case in point, busted out nice and early in the $200 PLO. The real reason is all those satellites. PLO sats are heaven sent. I am currently running at well over 200% profit on them, which is quite an achievement considering that they are "capped" in terms of how much you can win.

How has this been achieved?

The heady combination of completely clueless PLO play coupled with no idea at how to play a game where winning a seat is the goal.

Many times I saw players with monster stacks, far in excess of what was needed to drift into a seat, get into pointless confrontations and not even make it to the final table.

After one such occasion, a very unusual hand occurred at the final table. The antes were something like 1-2k, maybe 800-1600 and I had about 20k. The other short stack had 16k and was conveniently situated on my right. The other four players were waaay chipped up. We were in a classic bubble situation, with only 5 seats getting paid.

Everyone passed to me in late middle position. The blinds were both very losey goosey. I had AA with some other nice cards.

I passed.

9 comments:

Lord Miros said...

And? That's why you're one of the short stacks. Just because it seems clever doesn't necessarily make it correct.

Anonymous said...

Hey thats really cool, no ego at all :D

Andy_Ward said...

I think it's better if the short stack is on your left. Is there some Omaha-specific reason why this isn't so ?

Andy.

Big Dave D said...

Andy,

I like the short stack on my right when we are on the bubble because (a) he is always going to hit the blinds first and be under that pressure (b) he will have to make a move first, so based on how that goes, I can decide what kind of move I need to make.

gl

Dave

Big Dave D said...

Your most stately one,

You should cut down on surfing when you have been hitting the sauce - look where you end up. I didnt think it was clever, just right. This is PLO. I'm not a monster favourite if I do get action. And playing through the streets against some LAP/LAG types is not necessarily going to be straightforward either. And if they pass, my situation hasn't changed much. And this being PLO, there is a much higher probablity of another stack spontaneously combusting anyway.

gl

dd

Andy_Ward said...

I think there are two more important reasons to want him on your left :

1) You can make sure his blind is always pressured, or at least as much as you want it to be. When the short stack is on your right, you often see the infuriating scenario where you pass UTG and the big stacks allow your foe a walk. Drives me mad that one :-). When he's on your left though, you'll get more walks and free flops than he does because if no one else raises his BB, you can do it yourself.

2) I'm going to be playing many more pots as the first raiser than as a caller/reraiser. That means when I do end up in a confrontation, it's likely to be with someone on my left. If you double through the other short stack, that's it, you've won the seat. If you double through a bigger stack, it's good but it's not over. You still have some work to do and bullets to dodge to get paid.

This is a bit like those questions "what hand would you rather have" in that (hopefully) no one can deal their own hand. What it means in practice is that if I am one of two similar short stacks in this spot, if the other one is on my right I consider myself to be "in last place" and will go for it ; but if he's on my left I can take my time, make sure I press his blind and see what happens.

Andy.

Andy_Ward said...

Corollary to this : if it seems like the big stacks are playing passively but your foe, on your right hand, is being aggressive from the SB then you have to call him down PDQ, before he grinds you down such that you have to double up just to catch him up again. It doesn't take long.

I hadn't really thought of that before. This is why explaining stuff online usually helps you more than it hurts you. Just don't do it at the table :-).

Andy.

Anonymous said...

Not sure on the preferred position here as its been so long since I've played STTs, MTTs let alone sats.

I agree with Andy that in having the short stack on your right can be a real chore - if its passed to the two small stacks, which it often is in these spots, then its advantage SB. Then of course, your opportunity to steal from the SB position is hit, because the small stacked button is in a perfect position to steal against a risk-averse BB.

Though I agree with Dave that you can make more informed judgements with him your the right: he is in more of a dilemma as to whether or not to make a stand.

One side has offers better opportunites, the other clearer decisons. It's a trade-off

I reckon the best spot to find the short stack is on the other side of the table, leaving you surrounded by big stacks. So perhaps you'd both gain and the big stacks lose out, since if you're next to eachother there's a good chance you will be forced to tangl & its cigar time for the big stacks.

Maybe, but I'm not sure.

choas

Unknown said...

Folding into a sat seat is definitely +EV, especially those PLO sats where people get a chubby from seeing any pocket pair.