OForce

Hi all,

Last week I had my account terminated on PartyPoker due to an allegation of colluding with another player. I analyzed my hand history and found out that this other guy and I had been involved in all-in confrontations in over 20% of the SNGs we participated in, which to me made the hypothesis of collusion implausible. I exported the hand history and send it to the costumer service, but they replied 15 minutes later stating that the case had been decided and they were not going to revert the action.

I felt very offended by the situation as a whole. To me that looks like a case for the courtroom, but since I live in Brazil I'm not sure how that would work out. Another option is to try the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), some type of third party which is going to mediate the case. Does anyone have had any such experience? What should I do now?

I sincerely appreciate any help you guys can give me,
OForce.

Hi guys,

I played the LAPT Peru and got eliminated in a debatable spot. It was the end of Day 1A and I was moved to a new table, so I didn't have solid reads on any of the players. To my left there was a short stack on push or fold mode. Two to my left was a guy who only played a few hands during the time I was at the table, but he didn't win nor reached showdown. Three to my left was a maniac with a big stack. He had been calling raises with handslike K4 suited.

I had 27K and blinds were 500/1000 with a 100 ante. It was folded to me on the button, surprisingly, since the table was loose overall. I raised to 2500 with ATo. SB folded and Villain, the tight guy, three-bet to 7000. He had me covered by a big margin.

My initial reaction was to think he was restealing against a button opener. He was playing tight, but with a maniac to his left and a short stack who shoved preflop to his right, that's no surprise.

If he had reraise for value, though, my hand was nearly useless. I tanked for a while and finally decided to shove. My reasons were:

Villain, as I said, had three-bet against button, so he could be restealing;

It was probably apparent to the players that I satellited into the tournament, making me an easy target to be pushed around;

My table miage was tight as well;

It was the second to last hand of the day, and many newcomers try to get to Day 2 (in other words, shoving would look strong);

27k could really hurt his stack and he wasn't committed to call;

I had blockers to AK, AQ, AA and TT;

It is better to die fighting than being blinded away (avg stack was over 43k).

Long story short, the guy instacall with AKs and flopped a flush.

What do you guys think about the hand?

Hi guys,

I've been playing online poker for a few years now, but I don't have a ton of experience in live poker. Aside from some cash games I've played in Vegas, I have been part of about 10 live tournaments. Last month I qualified to played the LAPT in Lima, Peru. Considering that I usually grind the micro- and low-stakes MTTs, it's pretty scary to all of sudden play a $1,700 event, especially considering that the entry to this LAPT is my biggest cash to date by far.

Do you guys have any advice to give me with regards to playing multiway pots, survival and poker tells? I've heard the competition in the LAPTs is pretty soft, but I hope I don't get tempted into being involved in a lot of pots because of the passive opponents. By the way, I've read Zach Elwood's Reading Poker Tells and one of Joe Navarro as well, although I'm not particularly good at picking up that type of stuff.

Thanks!

Hi guys,

Last week at PokerStars I played a qualifier to a live event. There was an interesting situation and I would like to know your thoughts on it. The tournament was an $82 re-entry with 40+ competitors. The top two players advanced to the $1,700 live event and got $300. Third place got $320. This was the final hand of the tournament:

Table '965296476 5' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: Hero (63011 in chips)
Seat 6: Villain A (269219 in chips)
Seat 8: Villain B (47770 in chips)
Hero: posts the ante 300
Villain A: posts the ante 300
Villain B: posts the ante 300
Villain A: posts small blind 1200
Villain B: posts big blind 2400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Qc 6s]
Hero: folds
Villain A: raises 266519 to 268919 and is all-in
Villain B: calls 45070 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (221449) returned to Villain A
*** FLOP *** [6h 6d Ts]
*** TURN *** [6h 6d Ts] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [6h 6d Ts 4h] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain A: shows [Ks Td] (two pair, Tens and Sixes)
Villain B: shows [Ad Kh] (a pair of Sixes)
Villain A collected 95840 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 95840 | Rake 0
Board [6h 6d Ts 4h 3h]
Seat 2: Hero (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Villain A (small blind) showed [Ks Td] and won (95840) with two pair, Tens and Sixes
Seat 8: Villain B (big blind) showed [Ad Kh] and lost with a pair of Sixes

In summary, one of the players had a huge amount of chips while the other contestant and me were relatively short. The big stack, who had moved in frequently over the past ten hands or so, shoved against the smaller stack and got called by AK. This is my first question: Given the prize jump, is it correctly to call a shove in this spot with AK?

AKo is roughly a 65% favorite against a random hand, meaning that Villain A will be eliminated about 35% of the time. I think this play has a negative EV. For simplification purposes, I assumed the big stack was going to get the big prize 100% of the time since he has so many chips. Therefore, the other two players' chance of getting the entry to the live event depended on the sizes of their stacks relative to each other. In other words, I (Hero) had approximately 57% of the chips that do not belong to the big stack, while Villain A had 43%. In my simplified view, these percentages should equal to our chances of getting the entry.

Had Villain B won the race, he would have been a 3-to-2 favorite against me with approximately 59% of the chips. With this in mind I tried to calculate his EV value before the hand and after it in case he wins. Initially Villain B's EV was roughly $1,050 (= .43*1,700 + 320). If he calls and wins, his EV goes up to $1,320 (= .59*1,700 + 320). This represents an increase in EV of less than $300, which does not look satisfying considering his 35% chance of losing the race with AKo. If we consider that he gets only $320 if he loses the hand, he actually loses EV with the call.

I hope my explanation was clear enough and I wish there were no major flaws in my line of thinking. After pondering about this situation carefully, I came up with some additional questions and would like to know your opinion(s) on the subject. 

What are the hands Villain B can profitably call the shove with?

How short would Villain B have to be to make this a profitable call?

If I were in Villain A's seat and pushed all-in, could Villain B call my shove more liberally? 

Given the stack sizes at the table, what is my optimum strategy?

Thank you for your attention.