Update - a new holdem format, and multitabling

Rough week - played 12 tourneys and monied in only one of them. Different problems in every tourney - unplayable cards, not hitting flops, bluffs getting raised, dominated hands, etc. I reviewed to see if my play looked ok, and other than a couple weak river calls with marginal hands (2pair), I couldn't see any major problems.

Finally, two nights ago, after getting my pocket Kings cracked by AJ to knock me out, I took a look at what type of ring games were out there. Maybe a different game would change my luck. I came across "capped no limit" games - where you could only put a cap of x dollars into the pot on any one hand (usually 30 big blinds), and then were considered all in.

I played a few hands in this game to see what it was like. The cap gives people an excuse to play all kinds of crap – the thinking being that they can only lose so much on one hand. I think this logic is flawed and should be the exact opposite, though. Sure, you can’t lose much on any hand, but you can’t win much either.

To me, the only reason for playing garbage hands like Q7 or K2 is for implied odds – hoping to flop the monster flop (Q77, 228) that makes up for all the times you flop nothing or all the times you flop top pair but get outkicked. Because of the cap, there are no implied odds – I’m not getting your whole stack with a well-disguised monster, I’m only getting 3 dollars.

Therefore, I think you tighten up and play ABC poker against the limpers, then value bet them to death with TPTK, top two pair, and the occasional set. If you add in the occasional connector and “trouble hand” (KJ, QT, Ace-crap) in late position, I think you have a recipe for winning these games.

So last night, I got into my regular tourney and finally won a big hand (KK vs. JJ, both overpairs on the flop), and was able to tighten up in an aggressive allin fest until I ended up in second place. A much nicer result than recent tourneys. I then decided to try some more of this capped cash game, and I also wanted to try and MULTI-TABLE (say loud with echo) for the first time to see what that was like. I chose a .10/.20, 6 man, $3 capped format for my experiment. I started with one table and $20, got it up to $27, then opened a second table for $12. The action moves very fast once 2 tables are open, and it took a bit of getting used to, but I did get into the swing.

My best played hand - calling 2 all-ins before me with AKo – the first guy was pushing often and then showing (moron) things like AJ, KQ, 66, 55. When he pushed this time, I knew I would call him with my AKo, but then a guy inbetween us pushed as well. I didn’t know what he had, and had to quickly rethink my call.

We were all going to be all-in with $3 invested, so I was calling $3 to win $9 – 3-1 pot odds. I only had to win 1 out of 4 times for this to be a good play – The only way this would be a bad call is if someone held AA – even against KK I’m 30% to win (better than the 25% I need), and no worse than a coinflip against every other hand. This was an easy call. The most amazing thing was that I was able to process all of this in real time and make the right play!

So I call. Not only was it a good mathematical call, but it turned out ok as well. Opponents turn over 66 and 88 – I’m about 50% to beat both of them, needing only 25% for this move to be profitable (a huge overlay), and a King comes on the flop to triple me up. Woohoo!

Now, the not so good news - after my big win, I gave it all back. I ended up playing 355 hands on the two tables, for a grand total of .50 lost. I still consider that a "win" considering I was playing a new game and MUTLI-TABLING for the first time ever. Add in the $27 I won in the tourney and it was nice to go to bed with an overall victory after a week of losses.

One other note - cleared my first $20 Full Tilt bonus 2 nights ago as well. Rakeback rules!