Daniel Negreanu
Poker Blog
Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog. He will blog about poker, golf, the WSOP & WPT and various other subjects like politics and hockey."Kid Poker" is one of the most successful poker pros in the world.
| End of Day One at the LAPC |
February 22, 2009
Feeling good for most of the day, more good news on Mommy as she continues to make
progress. Her vitals are considered stable now, an upgrade from critical which is a pretty
big deal. She is more lucid and is regaining control of her left arm and her feet. Her right
arm, man that right arm! It still won't move. Doctors have said it never will, but I just don't
wanna believe that. I wanna believe she'll have a full recovery and am still praying that it's
a possibility.
As I said, I came to LA to put in a good effort and so far I've been relatively pleased with
my play, except for one 7000 call that I want back very badly because I just know better!
In the last 15 minutes of the night, I'd already been chip leader for most of the day and had
a good read on all of the players at my table. With blinds at 150-300 with a 25 ante, I
raised from under the gun with Jc Jh to 675 and the button called.
The flop came K-9c-7c and it went check-check. The turn was the Kc so I bet 1650- he
called. The river was another K, so I value bet 3000. He thought for a bit, then raised me to
10,000.
I'd already promised myself I'd never pay this guy off- ever. I just had a tough time figuring
him for a King and checking the flop in position on that board? I should have gone with my
gut, I just knew he had it, but called anyway. He showed KQ.
I ended the night with 112,375 which is a very good start to the tournament. I should have
120,000, and despite that not seeming like a big difference at this point, a mistake is a
mistake, and I don't like making them.
The blinds tomorrow will be 200-400. Yes, you read that right, level 7 and the blinds are
just 200-400. They had a 75-150 level and a 150-300 level, as well as a 250-500 level that
will follow the 200-400 level. There is no better structure than this one. It's just not really
possible unless you lengthened the rounds.
25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
250-500 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100)
You just can't have any more levels than that! It still boggles my mind, though, how flat out
STOOOOPID some people are when it comes to understanding what makes for a good
structure. So many people say ridiculous things like, "Other places have better structures,
you get triple chips."
Ok, for you numskulls out there who don't get it, I'll explain this one more time fro you: THE
NUMBER OF CHIPS YOU START WITH IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT WHEN DETERMINING THE
AMOUNT OF PLAY A TOURNAMENT OFFERS.
So while some places may start you with 30,000 instead of 20,000, but there structure
looks like this:
50-100
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100)
Which tournament has more play? If you guessed the second one, you are a numskull and
should save your $10,000 and try out the slot machines, you'll have a much better chance
in the long run!
Sorry for being so harsh, but this is a major pet peeve of mine. Tournaments were just fine
when they gave you dollar for dollar, a 10,000 buy in- 10,000 in chips. People are just so
easily fooled by this silly concept that doubling the chips offers more play, That would be
true if the structures stayed the same- but they don't. Well, they don't in most of the
tournaments, but Matt Savage actually uses a structure used for $10,000, but gives you
10,000 more in chips.
The WSOP main event is a perfect example of how easily fooled some of you are. Years
ago it was dollar for dollar, with 10,000 in chips and 25-50 levels to start. So, what changed
exactly? EVERYTHING exactly doubled! The starting stacks were doubled, but the structure
was also EXACTLY doubled every step of the way.
I heard people get all excited, "Awesome, 20,000 in chips! That's so much better than the
way it used to be!" Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, I'm banging my head against the wall
DUMB!!!
End of rant. Point made.... (I hope :-)
Feeling good for most of the day, more good news on Mommy as she continues to make
progress. Her vitals are considered stable now, an upgrade from critical which is a pretty
big deal. She is more lucid and is regaining control of her left arm and her feet. Her right
arm, man that right arm! It still won't move. Doctors have said it never will, but I just don't
wanna believe that. I wanna believe she'll have a full recovery and am still praying that it's
a possibility.
As I said, I came to LA to put in a good effort and so far I've been relatively pleased with
my play, except for one 7000 call that I want back very badly because I just know better!
In the last 15 minutes of the night, I'd already been chip leader for most of the day and had
a good read on all of the players at my table. With blinds at 150-300 with a 25 ante, I
raised from under the gun with Jc Jh to 675 and the button called.
The flop came K-9c-7c and it went check-check. The turn was the Kc so I bet 1650- he
called. The river was another K, so I value bet 3000. He thought for a bit, then raised me to
10,000.
I'd already promised myself I'd never pay this guy off- ever. I just had a tough time figuring
him for a King and checking the flop in position on that board? I should have gone with my
gut, I just knew he had it, but called anyway. He showed KQ.
I ended the night with 112,375 which is a very good start to the tournament. I should have
120,000, and despite that not seeming like a big difference at this point, a mistake is a
mistake, and I don't like making them.
The blinds tomorrow will be 200-400. Yes, you read that right, level 7 and the blinds are
just 200-400. They had a 75-150 level and a 150-300 level, as well as a 250-500 level that
will follow the 200-400 level. There is no better structure than this one. It's just not really
possible unless you lengthened the rounds.
25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
250-500 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100)
You just can't have any more levels than that! It still boggles my mind, though, how flat out
STOOOOPID some people are when it comes to understanding what makes for a good
structure. So many people say ridiculous things like, "Other places have better structures,
you get triple chips."
Ok, for you numskulls out there who don't get it, I'll explain this one more time fro you: THE
NUMBER OF CHIPS YOU START WITH IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT WHEN DETERMINING THE
AMOUNT OF PLAY A TOURNAMENT OFFERS.
So while some places may start you with 30,000 instead of 20,000, but there structure
looks like this:
50-100
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100)
Which tournament has more play? If you guessed the second one, you are a numskull and
should save your $10,000 and try out the slot machines, you'll have a much better chance
in the long run!
Sorry for being so harsh, but this is a major pet peeve of mine. Tournaments were just fine
when they gave you dollar for dollar, a 10,000 buy in- 10,000 in chips. People are just so
easily fooled by this silly concept that doubling the chips offers more play, That would be
true if the structures stayed the same- but they don't. Well, they don't in most of the
tournaments, but Matt Savage actually uses a structure used for $10,000, but gives you
10,000 more in chips.
The WSOP main event is a perfect example of how easily fooled some of you are. Years
ago it was dollar for dollar, with 10,000 in chips and 25-50 levels to start. So, what changed
exactly? EVERYTHING exactly doubled! The starting stacks were doubled, but the structure
was also EXACTLY doubled every step of the way.
I heard people get all excited, "Awesome, 20,000 in chips! That's so much better than the
way it used to be!" Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, I'm banging my head against the wall
DUMB!!!
End of rant. Point made.... (I hope :-)
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