I don't get the idea of giving up the gold chip. I think that alone would encourage me to say no to a deal.
I'd like to hear Neil's thoughts on this.
Congrats on an excellent result!
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I agree with you.... I am sure he had a good reason but it does seem like a lot to give up with a 1 in 6 shot to grab it. Maybe because the blinds are so high that he figures he doesn't really have an advantage since there isn't much post flop play.
Thanks for the support PFC crew....TR to follow. Right now I'm a little drunk and more than tired. It was without saying a fun ride.....more to come. Cheers!
I agree with you.... I am sure he had a good reason but it does seem like a lot to give up with a 1 in 6 shot to grab it. Maybe because the blinds are so high that he figures he doesn't really have an advantage since there isn't much post flop play.
Yes, I had played the GPPT format before and I "science the shit" out of this first-ever Canadian version. Over $8,333 of EV was lost with the Golden Chip. After we had a long talk the following night, we both agreed that with his poker goals and skill advantage, the GTO reward of going for the $130,150 win greatly outweighed the risk of being the next one out for $13,500. With 20/20 hindsight, I should have offered to be the risk insurer, such as losing my piece of him if he finished 4th-6th so that there would be less pressure about going for the $130,150 win.
PocketsTwos will post later about what happened that night. The great thing about him is that he wants to learn from his mistakes, and will probably become the most successful player on the forum going forward. He has received an invitation to join DirtArse and me in WSOP Berlin and WPT Italy/Korea. I look forward to being Chef PocketsTwos' roommate again in "The Poker House" during the many upcoming events at Playground Poker Club.
Cool. Your math lines up with my sky calculations.
I think at the very least, the golden chips could let those 2 players argue for something better than icm money? Certainly after one of them was eliminated?
Hard to say what I would have done though. 30k min 100% guaranteed against a 16% chance of 130k and a 50% chance of a lot less than 30k. I know what the math says but it doesn't always override the Utility Theory. Especially for a cheap bastard like me. I think I might have crossed my fingers and hoped to negotiate a better deal after one or two more were gone. Once it gets down to 3 handed there could be no deal though. That chip adds too much value that the others can't compensate for.
The Utility Theory or "The Fear Factor" could have been overriden with insurance. There was so much value in the $50,000 bonus that there was a win-win insurance option for both parties, e.g., offer $7,000 in the worst-case scenario with a sixth place finish, while a first-place finish would provide over $130,000 to be distributed, plus the trophy and becoming a partypoker and Playground VIP to be promoted in the many upcoming events. He did get a $530 ticket bonus as one of the last players with a partypoker Caribbean Poker Party patch.
I will be posting a TR on some of the more interesting hands that I played during my three day run at the Canadian Grand Prix when I get back home early next week
Will also be discussing what was going on at final table and my decision to agree to the chop with 6 players left. I want it to be a learning lesson or critique so that we all may learn from the not so 'Golden' decision. I've already heard much feedback and will not be offended by any constructive criticism.
Also, I have just posted a "Interest list" on the BAP page for the upcoming CPPT main event that starts This Saturday.
Thanks. I posted some updates on Facebook/Twitter but basically I got a couple of bad beats on the river. Live poker is rigged!
Even before the final table started, the players at Playground were already asking for a 10-way chop!
Next festival after the most complicated format of Quantum tonight will be with DirtArse to WSOP Berlin and WPT Korea/Italy at the end of this month, so maybe I'll leave "The Poker House" trip report to PocketsTwos.
For this TR I don't want to go so much into all the details of the entire trip. Instead I want to talk about my decision at the final table to take the 6-way ICM chop despite having the 'Golden Chip' in hand, and also talk about some of the more interesting hands I played during the Grand Prix and at the final table. One thing I will say is that this was the third time I have stayed in an AirBnb house during a poker trip to Montreal. I highly recommend trying AirBnb if you haven't already. It's cheaper, more comfortable and feels more like 'home' when grinding the pokers for days at a time. My trip to Montreal was 10 days and there is nothing like getting back to the house and grabbing a beer out of the fridge and kicking back on the couch or discussing hands played that day with your poker playing roommates. On this trip, there was Blondefish, Loose Goose and myself. We had two other guys stay over for a few nights as well during the final weekend. One of the things I enjoy doing for the 'house guests' is cook breakfast for everyone. I like to cook and its a good start to a long day...and it helps ensure I don't get voted off the island.
One of the strategies I try to employ during the early stages of any large tournament that is to employ what Daniel Negreanu has termed 'small ball' poker. I don't think he invented 'small ball' but, he has popularized this style of play and has been seen in the media talking about how he employs this strategy. Although I haven't read much of his or anyone else's take on this style of play, I have over the years incorporated some of the elements into my own game play in tournaments - particularly in the early stages. Maybe it's my own fear of being the first guy knocked out of the tournament, but I have never quite understood when I hear some one say on an adjoining table, "All in", only to look up at the tournament clock and see that we haven't even passed the half way point of the first level. Don't get me wrong, there will be situations where all of your chips will get in the middle and it may be warranted, but I think that those situations are very rare to be risking 200bbs and your tournament life on the line. One of the things I read years ago about Joe Cada's WSOP main event championship run, is that he was never 'all in' with his stack right up until the final table....
I survived Day 1 and went thru with 10% of the field into Day 2 with a stack of 172,000...not bad considering the average stack was going to be in the 200k range. The Grand Prix is unique in that you can buy directly into Day 2 for $1100.00 for a 200k stack. Anybody that is in Day 2 is automatically ITM...I actually think the smart money was buying into Day 2. I had managed to get there on my fourth bullet...playing two of the turbos and two regular $109.00 flights that were essentially turbos. (See BF's previous posts on Patience Factor for the GP Montreal).
I started Day 2 on table 70 way back in the corner of the tournament area. Of note, seated directly on my right was a dude named Thomas Waters. Tom works for Party Poker and manages the day to day poker operations. He has been with Party for seven years and has recently moved over to the poker side of the business. Nice guy, and he was illiciting feedback about the new mobile party platform and talking about the current 'Powerfest' that is currently running on PP. Tom was the short stack at the table and didn't get any traction but, before he busted he had some of his co-workers bring over a Party Poker hoodie for each player at the table....thanks Tom!!
I did my Hendon Mob homework the morning of Day 2 before I left the AirBnb house after receiving a link to my table draw from Jeff R. of the Dog House Poker Room in Georgetown - thanks Jeff! The one guy I had my eye on was Jeffery Cormier who was seated on my left in seat 5...I was seat 2. He was very LAGy and rode a roller coaster stack most of the day. I don't know if he made it thru to Day 3 but he was a tough nut. One hand that sticks out in my mind was against Jeff. I had raised in the cutoff with pocket 6's and he called in the bb. The flop was K Q x and I had fired out a c-bet after he checked to me. He called. The turn was another Q. He checked and I blasted away again with my lowly pair and he mucked after short deliberation. I had put him on a weak A or a small pair...I thought I could rep the K after he had checked twice to me.
The hand that really sticks out in my mind as it was likely a turning point for me during Day 2 of the Canadian Grand Prix occurred much later in the day. My stack had hovered between 12-20 bbs all day long. I couldn't seem to find much in the way of hands but, I stole blinds and antes when I could and won the odd pot. At the 2nd last break of the day I found myself in the danger zone at around 9 bbs. I knew that after the break with the antes and blinds as high as they were, I would be looking to get it soon. I had moved a bit earlier to a new table near the aisle that separates the tables in the tournament area. My friend Tim was sitting across from me in seat 3 and I was in seat 9. I had watched Tim's stack grow from around 300k to about a million in a few short hands when he had made big hands and got paid off. So not long after the break I went on a very timely mini heater and ran my stack up to around 890k after a double-up and a couple of nice multi-way pots. This is when I got involved in the hand of the day...
Comments
I agree with you.... I am sure he had a good reason but it does seem like a lot to give up with a 1 in 6 shot to grab it. Maybe because the blinds are so high that he figures he doesn't really have an advantage since there isn't much post flop play.
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Lmao, this comment is spot on.
Congrats on the great finish.
PocketsTwos will post later about what happened that night. The great thing about him is that he wants to learn from his mistakes, and will probably become the most successful player on the forum going forward. He has received an invitation to join DirtArse and me in WSOP Berlin and WPT Italy/Korea. I look forward to being Chef PocketsTwos' roommate again in "The Poker House" during the many upcoming events at Playground Poker Club.
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I think at the very least, the golden chips could let those 2 players argue for something better than icm money? Certainly after one of them was eliminated?
Hard to say what I would have done though. 30k min 100% guaranteed against a 16% chance of 130k and a 50% chance of a lot less than 30k. I know what the math says but it doesn't always override the Utility Theory. Especially for a cheap bastard like me. I think I might have crossed my fingers and hoped to negotiate a better deal after one or two more were gone. Once it gets down to 3 handed there could be no deal though. That chip adds too much value that the others can't compensate for.
Congrats.
Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk
Will also be discussing what was going on at final table and my decision to agree to the chop with 6 players left. I want it to be a learning lesson or critique so that we all may learn from the not so 'Golden' decision. I've already heard much feedback and will not be offended by any constructive criticism.
Also, I have just posted a "Interest list" on the BAP page for the upcoming CPPT main event that starts This Saturday.
Thanks for all of the support PFC!
Sent from my iPad Air using Tapatalk
Chip lead with 7 players left? I wish the coverage explained what happened.
Good luck in the main. Or whatever your next one is.
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Even before the final table started, the players at Playground were already asking for a 10-way chop!
Next festival after the most complicated format of Quantum tonight will be with DirtArse to WSOP Berlin and WPT Korea/Italy at the end of this month, so maybe I'll leave "The Poker House" trip report to PocketsTwos.
For this TR I don't want to go so much into all the details of the entire trip. Instead I want to talk about my decision at the final table to take the 6-way ICM chop despite having the 'Golden Chip' in hand, and also talk about some of the more interesting hands I played during the Grand Prix and at the final table. One thing I will say is that this was the third time I have stayed in an AirBnb house during a poker trip to Montreal. I highly recommend trying AirBnb if you haven't already. It's cheaper, more comfortable and feels more like 'home' when grinding the pokers for days at a time. My trip to Montreal was 10 days and there is nothing like getting back to the house and grabbing a beer out of the fridge and kicking back on the couch or discussing hands played that day with your poker playing roommates. On this trip, there was Blondefish, Loose Goose and myself. We had two other guys stay over for a few nights as well during the final weekend. One of the things I enjoy doing for the 'house guests' is cook breakfast for everyone. I like to cook and its a good start to a long day...and it helps ensure I don't get voted off the island.
One of the strategies I try to employ during the early stages of any large tournament that is to employ what Daniel Negreanu has termed 'small ball' poker. I don't think he invented 'small ball' but, he has popularized this style of play and has been seen in the media talking about how he employs this strategy. Although I haven't read much of his or anyone else's take on this style of play, I have over the years incorporated some of the elements into my own game play in tournaments - particularly in the early stages. Maybe it's my own fear of being the first guy knocked out of the tournament, but I have never quite understood when I hear some one say on an adjoining table, "All in", only to look up at the tournament clock and see that we haven't even passed the half way point of the first level. Don't get me wrong, there will be situations where all of your chips will get in the middle and it may be warranted, but I think that those situations are very rare to be risking 200bbs and your tournament life on the line. One of the things I read years ago about Joe Cada's WSOP main event championship run, is that he was never 'all in' with his stack right up until the final table....
..to be con't
continue already !!!
I survived Day 1 and went thru with 10% of the field into Day 2 with a stack of 172,000...not bad considering the average stack was going to be in the 200k range. The Grand Prix is unique in that you can buy directly into Day 2 for $1100.00 for a 200k stack. Anybody that is in Day 2 is automatically ITM...I actually think the smart money was buying into Day 2. I had managed to get there on my fourth bullet...playing two of the turbos and two regular $109.00 flights that were essentially turbos. (See BF's previous posts on Patience Factor for the GP Montreal).
I started Day 2 on table 70 way back in the corner of the tournament area. Of note, seated directly on my right was a dude named Thomas Waters. Tom works for Party Poker and manages the day to day poker operations. He has been with Party for seven years and has recently moved over to the poker side of the business. Nice guy, and he was illiciting feedback about the new mobile party platform and talking about the current 'Powerfest' that is currently running on PP. Tom was the short stack at the table and didn't get any traction but, before he busted he had some of his co-workers bring over a Party Poker hoodie for each player at the table....thanks Tom!!
I did my Hendon Mob homework the morning of Day 2 before I left the AirBnb house after receiving a link to my table draw from Jeff R. of the Dog House Poker Room in Georgetown - thanks Jeff! The one guy I had my eye on was Jeffery Cormier who was seated on my left in seat 5...I was seat 2. He was very LAGy and rode a roller coaster stack most of the day. I don't know if he made it thru to Day 3 but he was a tough nut. One hand that sticks out in my mind was against Jeff. I had raised in the cutoff with pocket 6's and he called in the bb. The flop was K Q x and I had fired out a c-bet after he checked to me. He called. The turn was another Q. He checked and I blasted away again with my lowly pair and he mucked after short deliberation. I had put him on a weak A or a small pair...I thought I could rep the K after he had checked twice to me.
The hand that really sticks out in my mind as it was likely a turning point for me during Day 2 of the Canadian Grand Prix occurred much later in the day. My stack had hovered between 12-20 bbs all day long. I couldn't seem to find much in the way of hands but, I stole blinds and antes when I could and won the odd pot. At the 2nd last break of the day I found myself in the danger zone at around 9 bbs. I knew that after the break with the antes and blinds as high as they were, I would be looking to get it soon. I had moved a bit earlier to a new table near the aisle that separates the tables in the tournament area. My friend Tim was sitting across from me in seat 3 and I was in seat 9. I had watched Tim's stack grow from around 300k to about a million in a few short hands when he had made big hands and got paid off. So not long after the break I went on a very timely mini heater and ran my stack up to around 890k after a double-up and a couple of nice multi-way pots. This is when I got involved in the hand of the day...
to be con't