Letter from Doke (27th June 2011)

Hi,

Doke here again. I'm halfway through my spell in the desert for the WSOP. My day 2 of the 1k event didn't last very long: 30 minutes in to the day I ran queens into kings and aces. A disappointing end but I was happy to at least break my WSOP duck with a first cash.

Since then I played two more bracelet events, both 1500s, cashing in the latest. For the first time I not only made a day 2 but with a decent stack slightly above average) so I was hoping to kick on. It was still going to plan well after the bubble burst: with 200 left I was above average. Then I lost a big flip for half my stack. My exit hand was pretty horrible, and also quite interesting as it illustrates a very common mistake. I opened to 4700 in the hijack (playing 43k) at 1k/2k/300 ante with jacks. My aggro opponent three bet to 14500 on the button. I shoved and he tanked and eventually decided he dad to call getting over 2 to 1 with ace two off. First card out was a 2, next three were all aces! Although it worked out for him on this occasion my opponent made a pretty bad mistake. Not his call: he eventually worked out he was priced in. His mistake was three betting with a hand that's going to be less than 30% nearly every time I shove. You see this mistake a lot: an aggro player finds an ace on the button and when a tight player raises, thinks "I can raise here and take the pot if he folds". The problem with this logic is that with just over 20 big blinds, any decent tight player is not going to raise fold very often. I'm definitely folding less than 10% of the time when I raise with that stack: even if I am light with something like ace ten or pocket threes or a suited ace, I'm going to hope for the best and push my chips in. And even when I am light, I'm more than 70/30 against a2o.

So a2o is a horrible hand to 3 bet here, particularly when it commits you to call. Paul Jackson calls this “poor equity": you're priced in to call the shove (have the correct equity) but a big dog when it happens. In this spot, my opponent is committing himself to put 43k in as a 9/4 dog when he gets shoved on (about 90% of the time). The 10k he picks up the 10% of the time I fold doesn't compensate for this.

This illustrates an important principle in poker: before you put a chip into any pot you should know what you're going to do if you get played back at.

Although I've cashed in two of my five bracelet events to date, the nature of these events is the big money is up top so I'm actually down a bit on bracelet events. But all you can do is keep getting yourself into a position to run good when it really matters. I have two or three more shots at bracelet events before the main event kicks off next week.

Thanks to everyone who's been following my blog and leaving me comments there and on Facebook. Although I'm looking forward to the rest of my Vegas stay and the main event in particular, I'm also looking forward to getting home, and playing EMOP Dublin in Clontarf Castle. I gather satellites are now in full swing so I hope to see as many of you as possible there.

If you are looking for a live venue to satellite into EMOP Dublin there is a list of clubs taking part in the EMOP Dublin live satellite tour on the Irish Eyes Poker Blog.

It’s a good deal if you qualify in the live sats or online as you get Team Irish Eyes bonuses like Last Man Standing, Bubble guarantee and entry to the Team VIP Lounge at the event.

Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)

Doke

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Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).

For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:

Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion

See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx