Hand by hand 6; Taking the hit

So by now I am feeling good, having worked my way up from 2 to 12.26. I pick up Ad/Qc utg+1, a hand I often fold but this time I open to .15 and get a call from the next seat with 5.01 and the big blind with 1.93. The call by the next seat widens the range the big blind could call with based on drawing hands being more profitable.

The flop is the 10d/8c/Jh and the big blind min-bets. Whatever. I bump it to .35 and again the next seat calls and the bb folds. No surprise on the fold.

The call is made more problematic by the big blinds’ fish-bet. If he does not bet and I raise, the call has meaning…but now he might be more reacting to my re-raise of the bad bet than belief I have a hand…which does nothing to identify if he actually has a hand or not. The call indicates it is good but not a monster if he does…much like my own gut shot straight draw.

The turn is the interesting Ac. I now have top pair, decent kicker. I am behind the same Aces I was behind before, ahead of any other pair, and drawing thin to split the pot with K/Q type hands. I lead out for .60 and again he calls. So he has to have something, and based on his play to that point, his something matches the board. Best case scenario is something like K/J type hand.

The river is the 10h and I do not like that card. If he had something like Q/10 and was calling based on the draw I am way behind. I am way behind most hands I would play in his position and so figure I have very little chance of being ahead unless he called the flop based on circumstances, picked up the club flush draw on the turn and missed or had some sort of straight draw that missed.

I have a hand with show-down value, but really do not want to face a big bet or re-raise on the river. I know I am calling up to about a pot bet, and hope to control what I face as far as river bet size. So I check and am happy to see him check behind.

And he shows K/J. I take down the pot and feel good about it.

Thing is…I raised a sub-par hand from that early. If I am opening a couple seats later it is fine, but opening so early meant I faced a lot of tough decisions as he had a pretty broad range of hands, many of which had me crushed. So instead of maximizing my chip extraction, I had to play a bit of pot control.

Not having learned my lesson, I have 13.42 and As/Jh utg+1 and open to .15. The small blind calls with 2.54. I always think a small blind caller either A) has a stronger than average hand or B) is a terrible player. Ironically, both of these cause issues.

If the flop comes A/4/2 a really poor player is not unlikely to have something like A/4 or even 4/2. I will be drawing against long odds against that, but have no point of reference for determining where I am at in the hand.

So the flop comes 7c/Ac/Ah and he checks. I have trips, there is a flush draw, and he would play both a miss and the nuts the same way here. He has few chips, so there is no way he is getting me off this hand. I bet .20 and he calls. I figure him for the ace.

The turn is the 4c, meaning the flush hit. I am not overly happy, and that happiness does not increase when he leads out for .75. I ponder putting him all in, but decide to see what the river brings. I flat call. The river is worse, the Kc. He checks.

There are 4 clubs, he showed strength on the turn when the club hit…no need to ship the rest, I check behind and am glad I did as he shows Ad/Qd.

Which goes back to my earlier points. I opened from too early with A/J because I had chips to play with. The small blind had a stronger than average hand. It did not work out well for me.
At the same time, I did not get all excited about trip Aces and ship it. I played some pot control and lost less than the maximum. I lost 1.05 instead of 2.54. I am happy about that.

Somewhat chastened, I fold an A/J to a raise, then later have Ac/8c under the gun and open to .15. This I do not feel bad about as I am doing it based on flush potential rather than medium-strong Ace. And I feel even better when everyone folds.

So after people fold to me in the big blind, I pick up Ks/2s on the button and open to .15. The sb calls with 1.45. This is the worst of all scenarios…they will go to the felt with a wider variety of hands, which is good for me, but bad in terms of figuring out if I am ahead or behind.

Lets say a King flops and they shove. Can I fold top pair, no kicker, to such a small percentage of my stack?

The flop is the 6c/9d/Jd and he checks, I bet .20, and he mildly surprises me by calling. The turn is the Ad, completing the flush. He min-bets. Total air or the nuts. I bump it to .40, he shoves, I fold. Whether he had the flush or the Ace…bot possible, including stuff like A/6 for two pair…he had me drawing dead.

So now from a peak of over 13 I am down to 11.57. More importantly, people are playing back at me more often. I rein it in a bit, even folding a sb when it is folded to me.

UTG+1 limps with 2, the next seat click-raises with 3.39 and I find myself in the big blind with 9d/8c. Usually I fold but every so often I get a wild hair and try to hit a straight. I do so here and utg+1 also calls.

The flop is the Jd/Ks/4c. I check, utg+1 min-bets and gets a call. It is a temptation to call because it is so cheap or re-raise since utg+1 so obviously has a small pair and wants to keep it cheap. But I took the decent pot odds, tried to get in cheap and hit a big hand…no need to chase. I fold.

UTG opens to .20 with 2.00. That is a big open raise to start with and 10% of his stack. I think low pair band, in the cut-off, elect to call with Ad/9d. This indicates to me I get looser when I play too long. The big blind also calls with 8.30, making me feel a little better.

The flop is the 8c/5h/2d, they both check, I bet half the pot and they fold. Nice!

When the button limps with 6.82 I am in the big blind with 11.76 and pocket threes. That is a hand I either want to open raise or see a cheap flop. Bingo, no need to re-raise here.

The flop is a bigger bingo, Kh/3h/4c. Ideally I can check-raise here to get an extra bet, though there is nothing to indicate the button hit this and will raise. I check and he comes through with a pot sized bet of 12 cents. I check-raise to .55 expecting a fold and he makes me even happier with a call.

I think A/K probably re-raises here, but something like K/Q or a flush draw calls. So does a pair below the king. Still a wide range of hands here.

The turn is the 10d hitting no hand I fear. I bet the pot, 1.22 and he calls. The river is the 2c. I am thinking probably two pair or top pair, good but not great kicker. I am sure I am ahead. I bet the pot, 3.66, he re-pops all in. It is 1.34 more to call, I am thinking now it is probably A/K or so. I make the easy call…

And lose to the 6s/5s. Ouch. I bet all along, he rivered the straight. Huge 12.75 pot where I flopped the big hand, bet it all the way and lost on the river. I am sad. And all the way down to 4.94. A costly hand that will alter how I have to play as I cannot play a lot of draws because I have the wrong odds now.

It is a crushing hand, but I do not go crazy for a while. Late mp open limps with 2.47, the hijack calls with 3.21, I call with 4.87 and Qh/10h, the small blind completes with 7.13 and the big blind checks with 13.90. I am regretting the limp. Q/10 suited is not a good hand in a multi-way pot.

The flop is the 4h/6c/Kd and it is checked around. The 3h turn sees it checked around so I bet .15 into this mad-house of weakness. Only the hijack calls. The river is the 8d and he checks.

Unlikely he has the King. There is a chance he had something like 7/8, maybe a flush draw. Most likely, the only way I win this hand is if he folds so I bet .30 and he makes me happy with the fold.

From middle position I then open with Kd/As and everyone folds. This is good as it gets me to 5.26. I have noticed people with more than starting maximum chips get a fair amount of fold equity and furthermore, the danger of tilt seems to have passed. I am not getting all crazy, though that big hit still hurts.

However, it also reveals a mistake I made...or a couple of them.

First, when I was at 13, it would have been a good idea to rat-hole and restart so I am not risking much of my stack. I am more likely to double someone up than double up myself. When I am a better player this may change, but for now I should play smaller stacks so my mistakes hurt less.

Second, I was thinking he never had the right odds on the big hand straight draw...but since I paid him off, what turned out to be his implied odds meant he probably did have the correct odds.

It was obvious I had a big hand from my check-raise and post-flop aggression. And I am nowhere near a good enough player to get away from that hand. Even when he re-raised I was pretty much feeling the snap-call/fist pump routine...until I saw the straight.

So I need to recognize that dynamic...the hidden straight against a deep stack can be painful.