Ask A Pro – Debo34
Thursday, March 12, 2009 - smokin_aces
Gary ‘Debo34′ Debernardi is one of our online pros here at Ultimate Bet. You can see him in tournaments of all shapes and sizes and his poker knowledge is vast.
This week you can ask Debo34 a question in the comments section of this blog and one lucky reader will get their question answered by Debo34 next Thursday.
Check out his Bio at Ultimatebet.com.
All you need to do is ask Debo34 a question in the comments section of this blog post.
So fire away and learn from an Ultimate Bet pro!
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Tags: Ask A Pro, Debo34, online poker pros, Poker Strategy
March 15th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Debo,
What are your thoughts on drinking while playing poker. In my early days, it was beer and poker night. The two go hand in hand. Then I started winning bigger and taking it more seriously but I couldn’t distance myself from the beer association. Just recently I played in a tournament that last 12 hours and I was sipping Pasbt the whole time, as I normally do. I barely even remember the final table but I know i made a few boner calls and lost everything.
Is there an in between? How much beer (if any) do you have during a tournament?
sickdowg1
March 18th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Thanks for the question sickdowg1
This is an interesting question. I do think there is an in between here. The difference being how much the drinking impairs your decision making and thought process. Obviously it goes without saying that if you barely remember the final table that you had a few too many pabst’s and that your game was altered in some way.
I have seen alcohol adversley affect people at the tables many many times.In rare occasions i have seen players play better and be more relaxed at the table after having a couple of drinks.I think the key here is amount and the difference between getting a little loose, and getting plowed.
As far as me drinking at the table, i rarely do. On occasions i may go play a small tournament with a group of friends strictly for entertainment and drink it up.The majority of the time i am taking every tournament i play very serious and like to be as coherant as possible.
In a nutshell i guess if you are playing solely for fun and entertainment then drinking is fine. If you are trying to profit from the game in the longrun i think you need to drink in moderation while you play.
Good luck
Debo
March 19th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
[...] Check out Debo’s response in the thread here. http://blog.ultimatebet.com/2009/03/pro-debo34-2/#comments [...]
June 25th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
i want to play you
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I agree with you. I have noticed I can play and make good decisions with a beer or one drink but I play horrible after 3+ drinks or so. I make really bad decisions that I wouldn’t normally make.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Debo,
This has been driving me nuts…I figured the best way to resolve my question would be to ask a pro.
There was 640 people in the tournament for a $120 buy in tournament i was in yesterday. There was 21 people left with an average stack of 156,000 chips. I was in 16th in chips with 127,500 chips with the blinds 10,000/20,000…..I just got moved to a new table 7 handed, so i dont know the style of anyone’s play. Everyone had me covered in chips but the person in 2nd position right after me. I was in first position with AJ of spades. What would you have done with my chip stack, knowing I would be hit with the blinds next hand??
I shoved and got called by the BB w JJ and busted in 20th place because someone else busted at the other table. I am still questioning myself on what i should have done. I feel A10 is a instant fold, and AQ is an instant shove.
What would you have done?? Thank you in advance.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Wally, thanks for the question. This tournament is obviously a turboish structure since the average stack had less than 8 big blinds at the time you busted. I think having a little over 6 blinds and playing 7 handed makes this an auto shove with AJ suited here. For what its worth my shoving range would probably be bigger than AJ here as well. I would move in with any pair 66 or higher and hands like KJ and KQ as well. My range might not be as large if it were a 10 handed table though.
This is a tricky spot in these types of tournaments because nobody has a huge stack and even with 6 big blinds you still have fold equity when shoving. I’m sure at this point almost everyone was in shove or fold mode which might have made it hard to find a spot to move in later had you passed on the AJ. I like your play, just unfortunate you ran into a hand.
Best of luck
Debo