When I saw you busted just short of the final table of the World Series of Poker last year I was disappointed because it would have been great for poker and poker legalization across the United States.  You are one of the most recognizable figures in poker, and have always maintained a smile on your face while making the game seem fun and enjoyable to the masses.  Hats off to you!

When I first saw the report of your final hand, where you called preflop with A4 and checkraised all in on an AdKdT board it seemed clear to me that your hand was an obvious shove preflop.  When I saw the explanation of your mistake of this hand and 2 others on your blog, I was pretty shocked to see the clear mistakes in reasoning and I feel compelled to point them out.  The italicized are your words and the bolded are mine.

“Hand #1 Justin Schwartz threw out a 500k chip in the cutoff with 80k-160k blinds and didn’t say anything. I know limping is part of his game plan, but he had smaller denomination chips that he could have called with. My thinking was that he did this on purpose to make it look like he meant to raise so that the rest of us left in the hand would be less likely to attack his limp.
I picked up 7d 8d on the button and limped. This is exactly the type of hand that plays well post flop and I didn’t think it was necessary to isolate Justin. The small blind folded and the big blind checked his option.
The flop came Kd 7s 6c and both players checked to me. Here is where the mistake comes: I bet 250k. The big blind folded, and a short stacked Justin check raised to 600k. I called with lots of back door potential with a 3 card straight, 3 card flush, and a pair.
The turn was the 3 of clubs and he went all in for about 3 million. I didn’t think about it for very long and folded my pair.

So what is the mistake? My bet sizing on the flop allowed Justin enough room to check raise me as a bluff. If I bet 450k he would have to risk a million or so to bluff me and that wouldn’t have left him enough wiggle room. By betting just 250k in a spot where I could easily be bluffing myself, I opened the door to get outplayed. I found out later that he had QT of clubs so he turned a flush draw but I was still ahead. I don’t think folding the turn is a mistake, besides, he had 15 outs to beat me, but that could have been avoided had a I made a more substantial bet on the flop.”

Your call preflop is fine, and kudos for paying attention to your opponent.  However, if you believe there is a decent chance that you will be check raised as a bluff on the flop (though that is probably results oriented thinking), then perhaps checking back or 3 betting his checkraise bluff is the correct play.  You are probably betting pretty wide when checked to in that spot, so you want it to cost you less when you bluff/bet with weak hands, not more.

Calling his checkraise because you have “a 3 card straight and 3 card flush” is silly, because with your small ball style, the last thing you want to have to do is call a big turn bet when you turn a draw (hello variance!) or to get bet off your hand on the turn.  In most of the possible turn scenarios, you lose 350k chips when you call the flop raise and fold the turn, and in some you wind up calling again with a draw (hello variance!) and fold when you miss.  The only time it really works is when you make 2 pair or trips and he bluffs it off(and doesn’t have you beat or outdraw you), which happens very rarely.  It’s obvious you weren’t deep enough to start making moves like this and you are not playing Pot Limit Omaha where he is suddenly going to get scared and check fold a strong hand on the turn or river because a scary card comes.

Hand #2 Blinds at 150k-300k Alex (short stacked) raised from middle position at a 5 handed table to 600k and I defended the small blind with Ac 6c and we went heads up to a flop of 10-10-3. I checked, he bet just 350k and I called. The turn was a 9 and we both checked, and once again it went check check on the Jack river.

So what is the mistake? This one is a little more subtle so think about this one for a minute…

Some would argue calling preflop is a mistake. I disagree with that, and that’s not the mistake. When I checked and he bet 350k I felt like I had the best hand, but wasn’t certain. The play was to check raise to one million and put the pressure on Alex to guess. A 10 is a card that is very likely to be in my hand (9T, JT, QT, KT, AT) so even if he had a hand like 88 he may consider folding. Truth is though, he rarely has a hand like that and bets only 350k. To call my check raise he would have to call more than 25% of his stack and then be in no mans land on the turn whether I bet or check.

Turns out he had Q9 and hit the 9 on the turn to beat me that hand. Many would look at the hand and think “unlucky.” I don’t see any value in that. What’s the point in labeling it as lucky or unlucky? Did I play the hand the best way that I could? No. There is value in analyzing your plays, not your variance.”

You actually played this one well and it was unfortunate that he hit a 9 on the turn to win the pot.  I wouldn’t call it “unlucky,” as that is going to happen roughly 25% of time the hand plays out the way it did, not including the times he a)has you beat or b)bluff you off your hand.

You should not be checkraising this hand to “put pressure on him to guess.”  You are unlikely to get him to fold anything you don’t have beat, and saying a ten is “very likely to be in your hand” (which it is not, use Pokerstove to count the combinations if you need) is silly.  If your range is somehow has a lot of tens in it, then calling your range should be enough to ensure you don’t get bluffed too often.   It’s interesting that you want to checkraise him to “put pressure on him to guess,” while representing a very narrow range out of position.  

You probably would happy with the way this hand played if you had won it.

“My last hand was the A4 vs J3dd hand on an AKTdd flop. Some will argue that against a player who opens 100% of buttons in that spot, that moving all in preflop is a better play. I think for most people that is absolutely true, but not for me, and not in that situation. The reasoning for that is a little lengthy but I’ll try to explain it in brief the best I can:

My goal was to win the tournament not make the final 9. I knew that Joe was abusing the bubble and the other players were not fighting back. I felt fine playing both in position and out of position against his very weak range post flop. My strategy wasn’t to just guess when he had a hand preflop that was strong enough to call a reraise, it was to see flops with him and eek out value wherever I could and rather than double up in a flip situation, GRIND my way to a double up.

It was working. I was able to go from 4 million in chips to 9 million without being in an all in situation. I was clawing my way back into the match by seeing flops and moving in with some hands when necessary.

Once I got over 8 million it allowed me to start defending my blind a bit more liberally against Joe. A few rounds in a row I had defended the blind, once with an all in reraise with KT, a much better hand to move all in with than A4, by the way, considering how he was playing.

So the reason I chose to call with A4 rather than reraise was threefold:

1) It balances my calling range from the blind a little bit
2) I WILL get extra value post flop when I hit an Ace. He can’t check an Ace
3) I avoid getting it all in preflop in spots where I will almost certainly be a 2-1 underdog when called

Once the flop came out, the hand played itself and it wasn’t meant to be in the end. Had I won that pot, though, I would be sitting on a very healthy stack of about 14 million. That’s the way I do it. Chop away, chop away, chop away, see flops, try to get it in good when necessary, and then hopefully the hand holds. It didn’t this time, but I’m quite happy with how I played overall and stuck to my game plan throughout.”

Almost everyone’s goal is to win the tournament, not to make the final 9.  Making a poor play and blaming it on “trying to win” is a cop out.

You might feel fine playing against him postflop when he(and you) have weak ranges, but there isn’t really enough room to maneuver with a hand that flops as poorly, and has poor equity on so many flops.  You don’t need to balance your range in this spot, since it will a)probably not get to showdown b)you won’t be in this situation often c)he won’t know what you had.  In addition, when you do flop an Ace, you will get a small continuation bet out of him, but likely not too much else that you want (you want a bet, but if he barrells off, that’s not great for you).  You do much better in the long term shoving against a guy that is opening that wide(and who may or may not call marginally) then hoping to flop well and win a bet.  

All of this analysis is completely moot, since as soon as you flopped an ace, you checkraised allin, rendering all of your analysis of small ball, eking out value and grinding completely moot.

For the record, if you just call the flop, which you absolutely should, you will be put to the test on the turn when he shoves this hand.

I’d love to hear your thoughts of my analysis.

Best of luck this year!

-Jason

Huffington Post

Bonus: Jon Stewart on Chris Christie

http://www.wnyc.org/story/online-gambling-in-the-garden-state-gets-off-to-a-slow-start/

http://www.wnyc.org/story/new-jersey-online-gaming-bet-comes-up-short/

-Jason

Since internet gambling has been up and running in New Jersey, I have been putting in a lot of hours playing online poker.  It feels really great to be able to play online again and my results over the last several months have been much better than even I could have expected.   I would like to share my experiences with you.

As I said above, it is great to be back online again.  When I started playing poker professionally, I began online because of the convenience, the ability to analyze my game and the flexibility of my schedule.  Those advantages have returned in full and not being forced to travel to the casino has made a huge improvement in my quality of life.  Travelling to casinos was not why I became involved in poker and though I met some great people,I am very happy to return to playing online.

Since I travel to New Jersey every day, I feel a bit like I have a regular job, commute and all.  I don’t mind the regularity so much, as it allows me to get into more of a routine than I had over the past 10 years or so.  I play at a local coffee shop which is nice enough to let me sit there for hours at a time and is open late.  I have adapted well to playing longer sessions since it is more difficult to take breaks.  The downside of not being able to play at home is that I get less hours at night when the games are the best.

The games have been excellent and there has been a lot of action most of the time.  I have been impressed by the number of players and am looking forward to New Jersey making compacts with other states to widen the player pool.  It seems like it won’t be too long before other states allow internet gambling as well and are looking to join New Jersey in the online gaming arena.

Geolocation is a huge issue for me.  To play, you must be in New Jersey and the software that checks your location is spotty and though it is improving, I still get disconnected frequently.  The geolocation is finicky and I have sometimes had trouble finding a place to play that is recognized as being in New Jersey.  The location system should be better, especially with a real and significant amount of money involved.

Depositing was very difficult in the beginning, but over the last month or so, I have had no trouble.  The addition of Neteller as a payment option and the ability to deposit at the cage have helped as well.  I hope that the banks will soon allow deposit via credit cards.

There are 3 main sites where there are a significant number of game: Party Poker/Borgata, WSOP and 888.  The software on WSOP and 888 is good and their promotions and customer service are responsive.  Party Poker/Borgata software frequently crashes on me and I have many more geolocation issues there than on the other two sites.  The crashing of their software has been an issue for nearly six months and they have refused fix it or even to acknowledge the problem.  I hope that as more sites and games become available, I will not need to play there any longer.

1.  ”Poker is not a job.”  Dictionary.com defines a job as “a paid position of regular employment.”  While playing poker online, I worked 50+ hours a week playing and working on improving my game and won nearly every week and every month.  The IRS considers professional gambling an acceptable occupation and I pay taxes as I would at any other job.  Just about anything that would make it “not a job” could be applied to things like professional athletes, stock traders, artists and a whole host of other professions.

2.  ”You wasted your time and education.”  My education provided me with the skills and ability to hone my poker game and anything else I do in the future.  I strongly believe that it is not for people to decide how others live their lives and what is best for them.  There are plenty of doctors who choose to administer botox and do plastic surgery instead of performing heart transplants and saving sick children in Africa.  They have chosen something that they are happy with and I do not think they have wasted their education.  Being challenged daily, working for myself and having my time be flexible were important to me and thus poker was a good choice for me, whereas it might not have been for others.  While I could have chosen to pursue other occupations (and still might), I do not consider my education a waste and it is a foundation I can always build on in the future.

3.  ”You should have chosen a more productive career path.”  There are so many jobs that could fall into the “unproductive” category that makes this argument almost laughable.  Is making a movie productive?  Does it make the world a better place?  No and no.  I don’t believe it is right for other people to judge and apply their values to others.  People enjoy watching movies and they enjoy playing poker, how big would the uproar be if the government told Steven Spielberg and other directors to “do something more productive” because movies don’t help anyone?  When I think of countries that tell people to do jobs that serve the public good, I think of North Korea, not the United States.

4.  ”You should have forseen the end of online poker when determining your career choice.”  I don’t believe that it was possible to see this outcome when I started playing poker in 2003.  Moreover, there are thousands of examples of jobs that were solid and safe, until technology changed and they were no longer viable.  Someone posted in the 2+2 thread that he had a secure job in the newspaper industry, which was a fantastic and stable job until people stopped buying newspapers.  Even if I could have seen what might have occurred in the online poker realm, that does not make what has occurred acceptable.

5. “You were not fired.”  I admit that I was not actually fired, since I was self employed, but frankly, it makes for a better headline.

My name is Jason Schlachter and I used to have the greatest job in the world until I was fired by the government 2 years ago.  I was an internet poker player.  Playing poker on the internet challenged me and pushed my limits.  Each day I woke up excited at the prospect of being the best I could be and through my hard work, I was one of the most successful internet players.  Not only was I successful in my job, but I took pride in the fact that I could provide for my family, and I loved the flexibility that allowed me to never miss spending time with them.  It has been 2 years since the government has prevented me, as well as my colleagues and other aficionados from playing poker on the internet.  Now, despite the fact that the law that was passed in 2006 making internet poker illegal has since been ruled NOT to apply to games of skill (like poker), and the proliferation of casinos everyplace in the US (including lottery and horse racing on the internet)the government continues to prevent internet poker sites from operating in the US and no longer allows me to pursue my chosen profession.

It took me a very long time to be able to admit to people that I played internet poker professionally, because some people did not understand the skill involved and therefore looked down on me, asked me when I was going to do something real with my life and called it gambling.  In reality, playing poker professionally is actually a bit like being a professional chess player and a bit like being a stock trader.  Like playing chess, it requires  thousands of hours of study to determine what the best moves are in different situations and when to use them.  You must be able to consider what your opponents are thinking and their thought processes as well as to remain in complete control of your emotions at all times.  As in stock trading, it is necessary to analyze situations in real time and to have the ability to make quick, calculated and rational decisions, often for a lot of money.  Despite what many people believe, it is in fact nothing like playing craps or the lottery.  You are competing against other players, not the casino, and your skill has a large effect on the outcome.  In fact, as someone who has played nearly 8 million hands in his lifetime, an amount which would take more than 300,000 hours in the casino, I can assure you, there is little gambling involved.

I began to take poker more seriously in 2003, when I was senior at the University of Pennsylvania.  I had played poker with friends on occasion and realized that there was a lot of skill and that I could get better by studying the mathematics of the game.  As a former runner and tennis player, I enjoyed the competition inherent in poker, was looking to improve and was willing to work at it.  I went to Atlantic City once or twice, but between taking 5 classes and writing my thesis, I did not have time to make the trip, so I decided to deposit a few dollars in an online poker site.  I began playing for pennies and soon I was trying to learn the best way to beat my online opponents too.  Often this required working out solutions away from the table and my geeky, math loving, solution based self loved it.  When I graduated, I moved back home and was looking for jobs during the day, and playing poker at night.  Before too long, I was making far more money playing poker then I could if I had gotten the jobs I was seeking, so I decided to continue.

In September of 2006, on the last day before Congress would break for the election, Bill Frist and John Kyl, two extremely conservative Republicans tacked on the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act(UIGEA) to The SAFE Port Act.  This bill made it a crime to process payments to online poker sites according to the 1961 Wire Act.  Despite the fact that no one on the Senate-House Committee had seen the final language in the UIGEA, it did not matter, because it was attached to The SAFE Port Act, which had to pass.  After this bill was passed, the European Union and Antigua filed lawsuits and won damages against the United States as a result of this law violating free trade agreements.

In 2009, New York and Illinois requested clarification of the UIGEA from the Department of Justice(DOJ).  In April of 2011, the DOJ took action to shut down the sites that were still operating in the US, ignoring the request for clarification over whether operating a site was actually illegal.  It was not until December 2011 when the DOJ finally admitted that the 1961 Wire Act did not apply to poker, which made their attempts to close the internet poker market in 2006 and 2011 wrong.

In fact, before the UIGEA, the internet poker market in the US was operating well and in the open.  Since 2006, poker has moved into a grey market and players who want to play have been forced to deal with disreputable companies, delays in payment and even the possibility of not getting paid.  When the US government shut down the poker sites in 2011, the reputable site that I played on, paid me, as well as everyone else immediately, but the players on Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were not so lucky.  The government has sold the company and has said that they will pay the players the money that is owed but to date has not done so and has shown no plans to.  This is very unfortunate for many people who needed these funds for living and working expenses, who were not only fired by the government, but have also had their money trapped by them.

Since 2011, I have been forced to travel to Atlantic City and Pennsylvania in order to support myself and my family.  Not only has my income been reduced substantially but my expenses have also risen. In addition, since I live in New York City, nearly a 2.5 hour drive from there, I cannot commute and must stay over and be away from my wife for extended periods of time.  While many of my colleagues opted to move out of the country to work playing internet poker, I did not feel as though this was a reasonable option for me.

The government has admitted that they have erred in this matter and have lost in the WTO regarding internet gambling.  I believe they are hypocrites for continuing to push the lottery, horse racing and for allowing casinos to be built everyplace, while denying people the ability to gamble in their own homes.  I am asking that the government finally do what is right and just and to restore internet poker to people who want to play.

Sincerely,

Jason Schlachter

One of my greatest strengths is being able to adapt to different and new situations and being able to get to the best solution, even if it is via a route I have never traveled before.  In poker, it’s very important to be open to all possibilities and to be able to change your decisions in order to incorporate new information.  The easiest players to beat are the ones who play only their own hand, who look down and say, “I have TT and that’s a good hand and I don’t care what the action is in front of me, I am playing it!”

Here are 4 hands from the past 2 weeks that I have played in a way that I have never played them before.  I won’t go into too much detail about my thought process in each hand, but if you email me, I will discuss them further.

1.  $10/$10 with $3,000 effective stacks.  A bad player opens to $40 UTG, I 3 bet from MP with KK to $130.  The SB, who plays a ton of hands and is very aggressive (and is also very good) 4 bets me to $460.  Knowing that this is not a spot for him to be messing around, I decide to fold.

2.  $10/$10 with $1900 effective stacks.  A bad player who does ridiculous things limps UTG, UTG+1 raises to $50, someone calls, I call in MP with AQo, 3 other people call and UTG makes it $350.  I make it $1200 and he calls.  The flop comes T52 and he folds for his last $700.  Note that in the last hand I folded KK preflop and here I (effectively) get it allin with AQo.

3.  $2/$5 $300 effective stacks.  A loose, bad player limps UTG and I check 65o out of the BB.  The flop comes 5s3s2c.  I lead out for $15 and he calls.  The turn is a J.  I lead for $40 and he calls.  The river is a K.  I check and he bets $50 and I call.  There are few hands he bets on the river for value, and he was nice enough to give me a good price to call.

4.  $10/$20 $3000 effective stacks.  A loose bad player with $3000 limps, I raise to $90 with 66.  The SB($1000) who has been reraising over half his hands and shoving allin frequently reraises me to $400.  I decide to put him allin for his $1000.

These 4 hands seem to be all over the map, but the important thing to learn is that there is no “always.”  You should have standard action that you take, but have no attachment to the standard when the scenario changes.

I have updated the book review section with some of the books I have read recently.  I highly recommend Game Change.  Enjoy!

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2013/02/reaction-to-governor-chris-christie-s-conditional-veto-14298.htm