The Olympics are over and now, I can focus on other important things like fantasy football. I have yet to see a single football game since the Olympics consumed my entire free time. There were obviously tons of stories from this Olympics but the one sport I enjoyed the most was basketball.
Now for some of you, you might think that I would say basketball because I play all the time and naturally, it's my favorite sport... except I hardly watch any NBA games (except for the playoffs) and in the past, I actually did not enjoy watching the US men's basketball team. But this year, it was different. For the first time in a long time, I felt like these guys played like a team and it was actually entertaining as hell to watch. They kept repeating that this was about the team and not about the individual players. "It's not about the name on the back but the letters in the front." Whether they meant that or not, I thought that was really cool and they definitely stuck by it and played like it. I think the biggest proof of that is the fact that of the top 10 scorers (measured by ppg), there is only one US player... in 9th place and that's D Wade. (LeBron in 11th, Kobe in 13th). There are 5 guys averaging double digit scoring closely followed by Bosh with 9.1 ppg. It just shows that they spread the ball around and everyone is contributing to the win. Like I said, I really enjoyed watching all their games and though this is not the "Dream Team", it was the first time in a while that I thought "Man, this is a great team and I can't wait to see their next game."
This may not be the most talented team but a Kobe & Kidd backcourt tandem (or even better is Kobe and Chris Paul) is 10x better than the Marbury and Iverson combo... and this coming from a guy who actually likes Iverson... a lot.
If for some reason you missed the gold-medal game, you can watch the entire game here. As a matter of fact, you can watch every single sport. Personally, I think that's cool as shit.
One thing that I thought was interesting from the gold medal game was what it must be like to be 17 years old and be matched up against guys like Jason Kidd and Chris Paul (how is Chris Paul NOT the starter????). That was the case with Ricky Rubio. He's 17 years old, considered to be the best point guard ever to come out of Europe (really, how big of a compliment is that though?). According to wikipedia, in Slam magazine, he was compared to Magic Johnson... now that's gotta be a joke right? I mean Magic? Really? Only guy who could match up (and possibly school) Magic is LeBron. That kid is damn good. But nonetheless, I thought it had to be crazy wild for a guy who is 17 to be playing against one of the best PGs in the NBA. When he's eligible, he'll obviously be very much sought after. That should be a fun time.
I'm gonna miss the Olympics. For the past few weeks, it's like the playoffs atmosphere the whole time and that was fun. Japan sucked as usual and I lost my prop bet with Schaubs but nonetheless, I just love watching sports and all the drama that unfolds. But thank god, football season is right around the corner. Give it a few weekends and I won't even think about the Olympics at that point.
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Floating 101
Quick nonpoker observation - Usain Bolt is a freakin machine.
For those of you that don't know, this guy crushed the 100m dash in the Olympics, cruising the last 20-30m (that's a fifth to the third of a race!!) with arms wide open as if to say "GET YOUR POPCORN READY!" Some people talked about how he should have ran through the race to really make the world record untouchable. The way I see it, he's running against 8 other allegedly fastest guys on earth. If he can crush them that bad, hell, I wouldn't say shit if he turned around and ran backwards the last 20 meters. Taunt away. I love showmanship. Is that even a word? I don't know. Whatever. And then I watched him destroy the 200m last night. Oh my god. Last night, the 8 others on that field must have felt what it feels like to get up to the tee earlier in the year when Tiger was crushing it. They're fighting for second cuz the top player is so dominant. Just sickening.
Alright... back to poker...
So, today, I wanted to talk about floating. In the past, and maybe still at 1-2NL and below, if you were in position, one of the moves you could make was to float the flop cbet with the intention of taking it away on the turn. For a while, the cbet was like the norm and people were pretty much cbetting any flop. So, one of the things that worked if you were in position is that you can call one bet on the flop to see if the guy actually has a hand. Unless he can double barrell, you can take the pot away on the turn when he checks to you. Now, I'm assuming everyone knows what floating means. Basically, floating is cold calling a bet, usually without really a draw, with the intent of taking the pot away on the turn. Now of course, if you are randomly doing it, it's probably more prone to becoming a leak rather than a move. The key here is to be able to read your opponent as well as understand the texture of the board. For example, let's say a fairly tight MP raises and you call from the CO with a suited connector... let's say, 67s. The flop comes AK9 rainbow. If he cbets, you calling here is certainly called floating but probably not a good idea. I think it's more effective when the texture of the board is unlikely that it hit your opponent. And then the key would be to try to see what hand you can convince your opponent that you have.
Full Tilt Poker Game #7734621116: Table Trails End (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:05:49 ET - 2008/08/21
5 handed
Seat 2: Hero ($400) <--- BB
Seat 6: Villain ($400) <--- SB
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [2s 2c]
3 folds
Villain raises to $16
Hero calls $12
I debated 3 betting here and I think that's fine too. But, the villain is an aggro so I decided that he's more likely to 4 bet here if he had any two face which I obv wouldn't be able to call. Plus, I felt that if I hit a set, I could get paid a fair amount. But I could really go either way. Just one example of a hand where I call instead of 3 betting.
*** FLOP *** [5s Ad Ah]
Villain bets $20
Hero calls $20
Now, this is a standard cbet by the villain. But with the board being what it is, it's very unlikely that the villain hit his hand. Of course, he could have and that's the danger of floating. Now, another thought might be that it's very likely that I have a better hand here than the villain so why not raise? I gave that some thought as well. But, this villain was an aggro but he wasn't completely clueless. So, at this point, regardless of the cards, I decided that I'm gonna play this hand like I have the A. And here, if I had the A, this is how I would play it. So I chose to smooth call here with intent of taking the pot away on the turn. Here, my cards are 22 but really, that's insignificant. It's all about the texture of the board.
*** TURN *** [5s Ad Ah] [4c]
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain bets $56
Hero raises to $156
Villain folds
Uncalled bet of $100 returned to Hero
Hero wins the pot ($181)
The turn card was about as good as I can ask for. Another low card that's unlikely to hit the opponent. Villain was bold enough to fire out another bet, knowing full well that I could be floating the flop with two face cards but without the A or a high pocket pair, he cannot call this raise especially the way it's been played. The only thing I'm noticing now is that my raise size could have been smaller. Here, I make a move to take it away but keep in mind that if the villain shoves, I can't call here. And if he doesn't have the A, he will fold even if I bet like $125. In other words, if smaller bet sizes would accomplish the same goal with the same percentage of risk, making the bet size smaller would obviously save you some money in the long run. Bet sizing is so key in the long term winnings of a player.
Either case, it worked out here. In a tough 6 max game where the players are constant raising, betting, and 3 betting, you're gonna have to really learn to read the texture of the board and make plays at times to keep you afloat. The best players know how to do this which is why if you look up some of the very strong regulars, they will be showing ridiculous BB/100 numbers. That's generally a result of knowing when to turn up the heat and playing their opponents' cards instead of their own.
For those of you that don't know, this guy crushed the 100m dash in the Olympics, cruising the last 20-30m (that's a fifth to the third of a race!!) with arms wide open as if to say "GET YOUR POPCORN READY!" Some people talked about how he should have ran through the race to really make the world record untouchable. The way I see it, he's running against 8 other allegedly fastest guys on earth. If he can crush them that bad, hell, I wouldn't say shit if he turned around and ran backwards the last 20 meters. Taunt away. I love showmanship. Is that even a word? I don't know. Whatever. And then I watched him destroy the 200m last night. Oh my god. Last night, the 8 others on that field must have felt what it feels like to get up to the tee earlier in the year when Tiger was crushing it. They're fighting for second cuz the top player is so dominant. Just sickening.
Alright... back to poker...
So, today, I wanted to talk about floating. In the past, and maybe still at 1-2NL and below, if you were in position, one of the moves you could make was to float the flop cbet with the intention of taking it away on the turn. For a while, the cbet was like the norm and people were pretty much cbetting any flop. So, one of the things that worked if you were in position is that you can call one bet on the flop to see if the guy actually has a hand. Unless he can double barrell, you can take the pot away on the turn when he checks to you. Now, I'm assuming everyone knows what floating means. Basically, floating is cold calling a bet, usually without really a draw, with the intent of taking the pot away on the turn. Now of course, if you are randomly doing it, it's probably more prone to becoming a leak rather than a move. The key here is to be able to read your opponent as well as understand the texture of the board. For example, let's say a fairly tight MP raises and you call from the CO with a suited connector... let's say, 67s. The flop comes AK9 rainbow. If he cbets, you calling here is certainly called floating but probably not a good idea. I think it's more effective when the texture of the board is unlikely that it hit your opponent. And then the key would be to try to see what hand you can convince your opponent that you have.
Full Tilt Poker Game #7734621116: Table Trails End (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:05:49 ET - 2008/08/21
5 handed
Seat 2: Hero ($400) <--- BB
Seat 6: Villain ($400) <--- SB
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [2s 2c]
3 folds
Villain raises to $16
Hero calls $12
I debated 3 betting here and I think that's fine too. But, the villain is an aggro so I decided that he's more likely to 4 bet here if he had any two face which I obv wouldn't be able to call. Plus, I felt that if I hit a set, I could get paid a fair amount. But I could really go either way. Just one example of a hand where I call instead of 3 betting.
*** FLOP *** [5s Ad Ah]
Villain bets $20
Hero calls $20
Now, this is a standard cbet by the villain. But with the board being what it is, it's very unlikely that the villain hit his hand. Of course, he could have and that's the danger of floating. Now, another thought might be that it's very likely that I have a better hand here than the villain so why not raise? I gave that some thought as well. But, this villain was an aggro but he wasn't completely clueless. So, at this point, regardless of the cards, I decided that I'm gonna play this hand like I have the A. And here, if I had the A, this is how I would play it. So I chose to smooth call here with intent of taking the pot away on the turn. Here, my cards are 22 but really, that's insignificant. It's all about the texture of the board.
*** TURN *** [5s Ad Ah] [4c]
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain bets $56
Hero raises to $156
Villain folds
Uncalled bet of $100 returned to Hero
Hero wins the pot ($181)
The turn card was about as good as I can ask for. Another low card that's unlikely to hit the opponent. Villain was bold enough to fire out another bet, knowing full well that I could be floating the flop with two face cards but without the A or a high pocket pair, he cannot call this raise especially the way it's been played. The only thing I'm noticing now is that my raise size could have been smaller. Here, I make a move to take it away but keep in mind that if the villain shoves, I can't call here. And if he doesn't have the A, he will fold even if I bet like $125. In other words, if smaller bet sizes would accomplish the same goal with the same percentage of risk, making the bet size smaller would obviously save you some money in the long run. Bet sizing is so key in the long term winnings of a player.
Either case, it worked out here. In a tough 6 max game where the players are constant raising, betting, and 3 betting, you're gonna have to really learn to read the texture of the board and make plays at times to keep you afloat. The best players know how to do this which is why if you look up some of the very strong regulars, they will be showing ridiculous BB/100 numbers. That's generally a result of knowing when to turn up the heat and playing their opponents' cards instead of their own.
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