Bad play, good result

Playing 2/5, I start with 2.00 and am in the big blind with 8/9. Two limpers with 3.2 and 1.05 call and I check.

The 10c/9s/8s flop is horrible for me in this situation. I have 2 pair, yes…but there is a very possible higher 2 pair, straight and flush possibilities. I want to play a small pot here since this limped into pot is dangerous.

It is checked around. The turn then completes a draw, the 4s. For whatever reason, I elect to bet out .10. I get a call and should be done right there.

But when the Jd falls on the river, I show I am even worse. Any hand holding a 7 or Q, a 10/9, 10/8, 10/7, J/10, J/9, J/8 all beat me. Any spade flush beats me. About all I can beat are things like A/J, A/10 type hands which are never calling me anyway.

But I bet out anyway. I guess MAYBE something like 10/8 folds here? But it seems unlikely. Sure enough, I get called down by 8h/10h. I really played this hand poorly.

Down to 1.68, I open to .15 from late middle position with pocket threes and promptly get re-raised to .45. Here is the problem with starting with 40 bb. I gave up 6 in the first hand, a little more to being blinded. Now I face a modest raise in terms of overall value….30 is not much and he has 5.00.

The problem is, I am calling .30 to win .90 pre-flop. I am unlikely to win unimproved, so I need to hit my set. That means I need to have 2.40 to be getting the right odds. If I have 5.00, I call in a heartbeat. If I flop a set I can probably stack him if his re-raise indicates strength.

I am not shoving here…I only get called I think by 10/10 plus and that dominates the range of hands he could have. So playing with a short stack, my raise pretty much means I can only play the hand if people call or fold.

So this might be an issue with my recent favorite tactic of buying in short.

Now I am down to 1.53. I get a limp from the middle with 7.16, another from the cut-off with 1.34 and I am on the button with Kh/Ac. I make the obvious raise to .30 and get the call from the guy who has me covered by about 5-1.

So now there is about .70 in the pot and the flop seems pretty good, the 5d/5h/8d. He checks, I bet .35 expecting to take it down, but he calls.

The turn is the 4c, he checks and I should shove here…but I get cautious and check. So when the 7d rivers, he bets the pot and I have little choice but to fold. I can beat nothing except a naked bluff, I gave up control of the hand. I am playing horribly.

Funny thing is…so are others. They fold to me when I am the big blind with just .88…less than 12 bb and a 5s/6s. I am happy to win the blinds there.

I blind down a bit and buy back to 2.00. This is, in many ways, a silly decision. If I am willing to play 3, I should start with 3. At the same time, at .82, I cannot even profitably play pocket pairs…

And the first hand after re-upping, I pick up As/Kh in the small blind. I get an early limper with 2.92, I raise to .25, he is my only caller.

The flop is the 8d/Ah/Kc. I am not real worried about pocket Kings or Aces here, but there is a small possibility he has eights. If so he is going to stack me no doubt.

I go for one of my rare slow-plays, hoping to check-raise. He checks behind.

The turn is about the worst card in the deck…the Jh. If he had something like Q/10 he just drew out, it provides other straight and flush possibilities and it kills my action if he has none of those.
But I have been playing very poorly, so I might as well continue doing so. I go ahead and bet .25. He click-raises me.

Now, if he makes a real bet here…raising the pot or something, I might fold. But a click-raise puts me in a spot where I do not think that is an option. Now there is 1.50 in the pot, I have 1.75 left and top two pair.

On top of that, his weak bet screams weakness…I actually think he might have something like 10/J or even A/J.

I try to go all in but mis-click and raise to 1.24, a weird bet. He click-raises again, but it is enough to put me all in and I call, thinking I might be ahead but with that sinking feeling I over played A/K yet again.

Until he flips up the Ac/6c. Wow. For once my slow-play worked, even though it was a hand I had no business slow-playing.

A thought that is only reinforced when the Queen on the river would have completed the straight for many of the hands I feared. But hey, sometimes bad play has good results, just as sometimes good play has bad results.

So inspired by my success, I then open to .15 on the next hand from the hijack with Ah/6h. I get called all in by the next guy with just .14…no big deal…and the small blind with 2.29, a bigger deal.

He check folds the 9/s Qh/Kc flop, my caller shows A/8, we turn a queen a split the pot. My second caller turns the raise into a positive.

A while later I open to .15 from the cut-off. By this point I have blinded down to 3.48 and am looking for a hand. Part of the problem is…when I have not played for a while after hitting a big pot, sometimes I am looking to play another big pot.

This is fine if I have the nuts…not so good if I am probably behind. The button calls with 2.25 and this is also bad. I have Aces, I have him covered. I have already decided to see the river.

The flop comes Qs/10c/5d. fair enough. Pockets that match the board, Q/10 are about the only believable hands I am behind and there are only a couple of draws I am afraid of.

I lead out for .20 and he bumps it to .45. All too often this means a set. I do not let that stop me from shoving. He calls off his last 1.65 and I think I did it again…shoved at the wrong time.
About the only hands he can have I am ahead of are K/J, A/Q, maybe J/9.

Fortunately, he does flip up one of those…A/Q. And I think my poor play was better than his worse play. All he can beat that I would raise here is K/Q, maybe J/Q. Otherwise he is most likely against someone over playing an over pair (read “me” ) or a set (read “what I SHOULD have had to make that move”).

We run out a couple small diamonds and my Aces get max value. Nice.

The problem with the hand is I determined before the flop I was seeing the river based not on hand ranges but on stack sizes. So having made up what I lost plus 2.50, I rat hole. Because that is how I roll.