So today started out good and then it was all full of fail. I started losing every hand where I was all in and then I made a few bonehead mistakes which put me down $5k on the day after being up over $3k at one point early on. Things happen. There were quite a few interesting hands so I'll go ahead and talk about them.
No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($2159)
BB ($2000)
Hero (UTG) ($4278)
MP ($1918)
CO ($1788)
Button ($3819)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9, 10
Hero bets $80, 2 folds, Button raises $240, 2 folds, Hero calls $160
Flop: ($510) 2, J, 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $340, Hero calls $340
Turn: ($1190) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
River: ($1190) J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $880, Hero raises $3695, 1 fold
Total pot: $2950
Results:
Hero had 9, 10 (two pair, Jacks and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $5780
Ok so villain in this hand is a pretty spewy reg that I play with quite a bit. I would normally fold this preflop but since we both have close to 200bb's I thought I would be able to play this hand profitably. I could also 4 bet here because I think villain will give me a decent amount of credit and my hand play ok in a 4 bet pot. Anyway I call and flop 2nd pair.
I check to villain on the flop and he makes a standard continuation bet. I decide to call and see what happens on the turn. The turn is the Qd completing the flush draw that was on the flop. I check, and this is the most important clue in the hand in my opinion, villain checks as well. So immediately with about 90% confidence I can rule out sets and most 2 pairs from his range. I don't think villain will ever check a hand like QJ or pocket Js against me on the turn. He's just too aggressive in our past history to do that very much of the time. So when the river comes the Jd it is highly unlikely villain has a full house.
I check the river to him and he makes a pretty hefty bet of $880 into the $1190 pot. Since I don't think villain is going to have a full house very often at all I decide to shove all-in over his bet as a bluff. I think the villain has the Ad or Kd a decent amount of the time and by raising him all in on the river here I can get him to fold the Kd everytime and the Ad enough of the time to make it a profitable play. I can very easily have something like pocket Ts, pocket Qs, or QJs that now has a full house. In the hand villain went into his time bank then said "sigh, nice hand" and folded what I would assume to be the Ad. Good result for me and probably the highest my heart rate has ever been during a single hand of poker.
Now I played a ton of big pots against one player today. His name is bttech86 on Full Tilt and he is a very good player. We battled a lot so I will show you a bunch of those hands in chronological order.
No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (CO) ($2000)
Button ($2117)
SB ($4837)
BB ($1162)
UTG ($1796)
MP ($2069)
Preflop: Hero is CO with A, A
2 folds, Hero bets $30, Button raises $100, 2 folds, Hero calls $70
Flop: ($215) 10, 3, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $130, Hero raises $305, Button raises $350, Hero raises $350, Button calls $175
Turn: ($1525) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
River: ($1525) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $1362 (All-In), Hero calls $1245 (All-In)
Total pot: $4015
Results:
Button had K, J (high card, King).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $4012
Here is the first big hand that we played. Since I know villain is capable of 3 betting me on the button with a pretty wide range I decided to slow play AA and c/r a lot of flops because I dont think he will give my flop c/r's much credit.
So the plan works out perfectly. I call preflop and then I check the flop to him. He bets and I raise. Now I'm hardly ever expecting him to fold this flop but I was pretty excited to see him Click It Back on me. (For those that don't know, clicking it back just means he made the minimum raise the software would allow) Since I knew he was going to be doing this as a bluff I decided to Click It Back to him, hoping he wouldn't be able to resist the fact that he would looks super silly folding to my small raise. He calls and we see the turn.
Now on the flop, I "clicked it back" to him because I thought it looked the most bluffy. So when we get to the turn I decide to check to him so he will take a stab with whatever hands he has. A lot of people might bet here because there is so much in the pot and not much money behind but I think he has nothing sooooooooo often that checking is a much better play. Anyway he checks and we see the river.
The river isnt a great card for me as it puts out a 4 straight on the board(he just needs a 5 for the straight) The only hand I'm remotely worried about is 45s but even so I'm never folding this hand. I decide to check once again and hope he hangs himself on the river. He obliges and shoves all in with K high. Weeee.
No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($1030)
BB ($2382)
UTG ($1805.95)
MP ($1984)
Hero (Button) ($2581)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, A
2 folds, Hero bets $25, 1 fold, BB calls $15
Flop: ($55) 3, 2, 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $40, BB calls $40
Turn: ($135) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100, BB raises $370, Hero calls $270
River: ($875) K (2 players)
BB bets $1260, Hero calls $1260
Total pot: $3395
Results:
Hero had 8, A (two pair, Kings and eights).
BB had 4, 6 (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $3392
In this hand I make a standard raise preflop and get called by bttech86 from the BB. He c/c's the flop and we see the Kh on the turn. I decided to bet the turn for value to balance the times I will be bluffing the K scare card. This is where it get interesting. He c/r's me on the turn. Now I'm pretty sure this particular villain would raise the flop with a set of 2s or 3s but I guess it is possible that he slowplayed them. I also think he c/r's the flop with KJdd, KQdd, KTdd so that makes it impossible for him to have a K pretty much. So since I think he plays most of his big hands fast on the flop I decide to call his overbet on the river and see his 46hh and win the pot.
No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1000)
Hero (UTG) ($3134)
MP ($1879)
Button ($4121.50)
SB ($1240)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with J, J
Hero bets $35, 1 fold, Button raises $120, 2 folds, Hero calls $85
Flop: ($255) 6, 3, 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
Turn: ($255) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $160, Button calls $160
River: ($575) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $800, Button raises $3841.50 (All-In), Hero calls $2054 (All-In)
Total pot: $6283
Results:
Button had 4, 3 (full house, threes over sixes).
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and sixes).
Outcome: Button won $7267.50
Here I make a pretty big river mistake against bttech86 :( Because we are so deep to start the hand the only thing I can really do is call preflop. So we see a flop and he checks behind. When he checks behind I think he has some decent showdown value, almost all of which I am ahead of. I think he would bet the flop with everything that is better than my hand because he wants to start building a pot.
The turn is another 3 putting 2 flushdraws out there and I decide to lead out and get a call from his Ahi hands that probably arent folding the turn.
The river is the Tc and I decide to overbet to make it look like I want him to fold A high. This is where I make a pretty astronomical mistake and decide to call his river shove. I'm probably to optimistic in thinking that he is turning some sort of hand into a bluff here often enough for me to call even though we have seen him be pretty bluffy in the last 2 hands. I end up calling the huge river bet and seeing his 43s for a full house. :(
No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($2807)
UTG ($2885)
Hero (MP) ($4950.50)
Button ($2714)
SB ($2000)
Preflop: Hero is MP with A, K
UTG bets $60, Hero calls $60, 3 folds
Flop: ($150) 3, K, 3 (2 players)
UTG bets $120, Hero raises $360, UTG calls $240
Turn: ($870) 2 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $640, UTG raises $1500, Hero raises $3887.50, UTG calls $962
River: ($5794) 2 (2 players)
Total pot: $5794
Results:
UTG had A, A (two pair, Aces and threes).
Hero had A, K (two pair, Kings and threes).
Outcome: UTG won $5806
Here's the last hand that I'm going to post tonight. I think I make a small mistake on this turn against this player. He is a pretty passive fishy player so I decide to just call preflop. There were some crazy active players behind us who I might be able to trap if they decide to reraise.
Anyway just the 2 of us see the flop and its about as good as I can ask for. I don't think this villain is going to have a 3 very often when he raises preflop from this position and I dominate a lot of his Kx hands. I raise his bet on the flop and he calls.
The turn is a 2 and he checks to me. I make a standard bet and he c/r's me. The problem with my play from here on out is that I don't think this villain is ever doing this with something like KQ or KJ. Maybe if the board was more drawy he would but the board is pretty dry and shouldn't be too scary for him. I also don't think this villain is ever bluffing here. So given the fact that he's never raising a worse hand than mine, and the fact that he's never bluffing I should probably just sigh and fold to the turn c/r. It should be pretty easy to play against these type of players because you kind of just get out of the way when they show you some aggression. But I missed all the signals while I was playing and went all in to see his pocket Aces and I lose the pot.
So overall I played pretty well today, unfortunately I made some pretty costly mistakes in some big pots that hurt me but everyone makes mistakes. All I can do is try to learn from them and try not to make as many of them in the future. That's all I got for now. Later everybody.
Monday, November 23, 2009
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Hand 1... I'm a thinking player capable of bluffs. But I am simply not capable of making this play here. Which is why I am where I am and you are where you are, lol. I just hope I don't spew 20 BI mis-applying this to my current stakes, lol
ReplyDeleteHand 2... Over in the uNL forum the mod named *Split* has a phrase that needs to be added to the poker lexicon: Deep in a big pot with the mortal nuts, he makes gay/small-ish bets designed to induce spazzy plays, and he calls it "Jiggling the retard-switch." I'm a fan of jiggling the retard-switch in spots like this (:
Hand 3... Here is where reading this blog has helped my OWN game. 6m 50NL, tonight, I open 33 from CO, aggro BTN calls. Flop 8d 4d 8s, I c-bet, he raises. He raised like 4bb more than what a pot-sized raise would be, so it smells funny to me, and I call. I know I get counterfeited a lot, and flop is debatable, but w/e, I had a read.
Turn Jh, I check, he checks back (DRAW DRAW DRAW). River Kc, I check, he bets 60bb. I timebank forEVER, and then I had a NxtWrldChamp epiphany: The turn and river (especially since there's no Ace) connect in NO WAY to ANY reasonable flop raising range! ...So I called.
And get shown 7d6d for the whiffed-everything-draw. And proceed to get berated for the next 10 mins about how he was a favorite on the flop and I'm a station-y fish for calling (maybe true?)
ANYWAY, the lesson I took away from this, is, in big pots where we take non-standard lines, re-evaluate your showdown value on the river, ESPECIALLY if the turn and river completely miss any reasonable flop raising range. ...Thoughts?
Hand 4... meh. I take solace in the fact that I will always lose lots of money when my AK runs into AA on a K-high flop, regardless of whatever line I take. Folds are easy to find in review. Especially in hindsight.
Hey TJ,
ReplyDeleteYea don't go spewing everywhere trying to turn every marginal hand you have into a bluff. Make sure you have a specific read and sound reasoning to back up your play. My reasoning in a nutshell was I thought villain never had a full house and would probably fold the K and A of diamonds to my shove.
As for the 33 hand I think it's fine with a read as long as you're fine looking silly sometimes. A lot of people will shy away from the best play sometimes in fear that it won't work out and they will be embarrassed by it. I've pretty much gotten over that fear and it's really helped me progress as a player. And I agree with you, it's important to look at the entire story that player was trying to tell you during the hand. You deciphered it correctly and made the correct call. Good job.