The Invincible Smurf; gaming star

The Racquetball Chronicles VI

2012-01-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

Today was a game I was really looking forward to. I was playing my friend JJ, the guy I play tennis with frequently, who runs the softball team I play with some years. I really enjoy our games as he and I have similar outlooks at this point in life; we play for fun more than victory but still enjoy the win when we get it, just not at the cost of enjoying the process.

Early on I got a pretty good sense of our respective abilities. I had a vastly better serve and sense of strategy. We have similar reaction times, though mine are slightly quicker. He has slightly better control.

I softened my serve in the interest of volleys and it was an excellent choice. We had numerous volleys where one of us would hit a strong almost-kill shot, the other would return with a defensive shot that would put player A running back to the back wall for a long-shot attempt...there would be 4, 5, 6ish near winners that we somehow returned.

In other words, we had a lot of lengthy volleys including lots of running around and some pretty spectacular shots.

After four games we had one of "those" games where I just wrecked him. So I took a few moments to talk to him about little improvements he could make to his serve and sure enough, the next game he built about a 10-8 lead and it was a solid lead.

At that point I was working hard on proper serves...low, to the backhand corner...and he was making strong returns that had me running. We exchanged the service three or four times, then he scored to go up 11-8. I was playing full out and falling further behind.

Then he struggled to return a couple of brutal serves, I won a volley. He got the serve back, then won a point. It was 13-13. I got an ace, then we had a spectacular ralley that ended with me hitting a corner kill shot, him returning it deep and me getting the best passing shot I have ever had.

We finished with a 6th game that was tight but saw both of us, tired out by our 2 hour match, playing a lot of position racquetball instead of running madly.

Very fun game.

I love playing with JJ and hope we get in many more games.

The Racquetball Chronicles Round 5

2012-01-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was matched up against T-mat, a guy from work who used to play regularly but took about a three year sabbatical. I figured I would score a few points but probably lose handily.

I was also a little concerned because when I set it up, I had forgotten he said he used to regularly plunk guys in the back who set up in position.

Well, the first game started out with him jumping out to a 3-0 lead as I played the back court and got spanked for it. Then I started working the mid court and got the serve, reeled off a bunch of points and was up by a comfortable 10-3 or so.

We then exchanged serves a couple times, but I was not worried because I was winning the volleys and he was struggling with his serve.

I finished off the game with a convincing 15-3 win and was feeling pretty good. Maybe I have improved that much. Sure, it was hard for him to score since his first serve was long the vast majority of the time, allowing me to get serve after serve I could handle. Regardless, I was winning most of the volleys.

Game two, he got his serve down. He was using a drive serve that was actually not legal as it screened me but I was complacent, thinking I would win anyway, and thought it would be good for me to work on my return game.

He was mixing up his serve well between drives down the forehand wall, drives down the back hand wall, and drives that just ate me up right into my chest. Even when I did get a return, it was a week one that consistently had him taking shots from scoring position.

When I tried pinch shots I angled them poorly, thus bouncing right back up waist high to his forehand and when I tried passing shots, I over hit them, allowing him to stay at mid court and hit kill shots.

Only my speed and agility allowed me to keep a lot of balls in play and his rust had him miss a few easy shots so it was a respectable score...something like 15-10, but he won. It was a really fun game because we had several rallies that included multiple points where we both had shots it seemed like we had put away for a winner, only to see the other guy hit an even better shot that we somehow returned...I loved, loved, loved it.

As the set wore on, I noticed an error I kept making. I have been working on using the walls more to create angles to make my shots harder to read. However, he is so good at reading them that all I was doing was giving him to set up in the mid court and blast perfect shots...but I kept hitting that shot. I really need to work on my in-game adjustments.

The third game was really back and forth. He built a 4 or 5 point lead, I fought back to tie it, he scored a couple, I took a small lead, he took a small lead, tie, I took a 10-9 lead, he took a 12-10 lead. I then scored 4 straight.

We were both gassed. It had been an incredibly tense game. I was sweating so bad that three times the racket came out of my hand. This new racket has a grip that gets super slick. I will either have to purchase a glove or regrip the racket. I NEVER had that problem with the old racket.

Anyway, at 14-12, I hit a gorgeous serve that bounced about an inch past the service line and bounced a second time short of the receiving line...a perfect ace. He flipped the ball back to me like you do when the ball is short so I shrugged and went back to work.

Unfortunately, I had assumed the game was over and, my head not on straight, served up a lollipop. He hit a kill shot, I went to return it...and the racket came completely out of my hand.

He then served an ace of his own, another point, then served an ace.

I started to go and he said, "this ain't tennis. You gotta win the last point on a rally."

Aha. Now I get it. My serve HAD been good but he had a house rule that I was not aware of. Fair enough.

Still, could not get my head back in it, and did not even go after one shot in the next rally that was not only eminently hittable, it was well set up for me to hit my most effective shot...a backhand pinch shot to the far corner.

He just outworked me after I thought the game was over. Even without that, he is a better player than me all around...he has a stronger serve, better kill shots, better position...so I feel good about the games and best of all, worked my tail off for an hour.

Also, it was good because I learned more about the game. My regular playing partner hits it to the same corner, but his shots tend to bounce off the side wall and/or back wall. So I was setting up to return those.

T-mat, however, keeps them scraping the side wall or bouncing dead at the back wall, so where I was setting up to play the rebound, there was none so I was out of position. So I need to read the ball angle better.

Then B showed up and we played. I fell into some bad habits because I was trying to keep it interesting. Instead of working on my shots, I was trying to set up rallies.

Even so it is such a mis-match that I wrecked him 2 games in about 15 minutes.

I then started serving more seriously which, counter-intuitively, he seemed to have an easier time returning than the lollipops I was serving earlier and suddenly we started getting a few rallies going. I still won pretty handily, but it was a better game.

We still had 25 minutes to go or so, so I took out a few minutes to help him work on his serve.

And he promptly serves time and again that I struggled to get to. Unlike some of my games with him, every point he got in this game was legit...I simply could not return those.

We had several good rallies, he was up 11-9 and serving many I could not handle...probably 9 of his points were off serves I could not return. I was winning most of the rallies and losing to his serve.

We closed out with a handful of good rallies and I walked off a 15-12 winner in the last game.

I need to remember to work on my ball control when I play B...not just try to get rallies, but work on hitting passing shots hard enough to get by the opponent, not so hard they bounce off the back wall. I need to work on the kill shots. The angles.

I also need to make him work harder because he plays better when I do.

Overall an exceptionally fun night of two hours of racquetball and I am spent.

The 2012 Racquetball Chronicles Round 4

2012-01-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

So tonight I was playing opponent B. A few things about B.

Whereas opponent a was indisputably better than me when we started and won 2 or 3 games by legit 15-1, 15-3 type scores, the me that started Dec. 5th would indisputably dominate B. It would not even be close.

And the me of today is 3-2 against A this year...which means I have gotten much, much better very very quickly but B is honestly not a challenge.

It says something about how I have grown the way I play B.

Whereas in my youth I would have "spotted" him or given massive advantages to him, then absolutely wrecked him anyway, the more mature me plays him straight up...I just play admittedly soft.

See, I think the "spot you 10 points and the serve, then win 15-10" guy is unintentionally being a jerk. He is saying I can give you any amount of advantage and still win because I am just that much better than you.

Well, we started playing and early on I was playing soft but practicing my serve to the backhand. Not the hard serve...just a high, defensive lob serve that I can use when I play right-handers. It will be months before I develop a solid serve to right-handers, but it is imperative I develop at least a defensive serve.

B was struggling with it and there were not many volleys. A quick 15-4, 15-1 demolition later, I switched up my strategy.

I wanted to work on a couple of shots. First, I want to work on the wall shot designed to be a passing shot. I typically hit it too hard...it rebounds off the back wall, giving them plenty of time to get to it. When I do not hit it too hard I hit it too soft and it becomes an easy mid-court shot for them. So I wanted to work on hitting it hard enough to get past them but soft enough to bounce twice before the back wall.

Second, I wanted to work on the corner kill shot.

The best way to do that is get into some rallies. So I started hitting high soft lobs to his forehand.

Unfortunately, I also got int he habit of not playing position. On the bright side we got in some volleys and he hit several nice winners. On the dark side, being out of position let me practice neither of the shots and I was playing too lackadaisically, not getting the workout I wanted.

He even led 10-7 in the third game, though there was no realistic danger of me losing. He ended the game with 10 by the simple expedient of me moving to center court and regaining my position. So it was good practice for that.

Game 4 was more of the same. I kept letting him have the front court and lounging in the back court. And here is where I figured out a valuable lesson.

Player A has a better kill shot than me. Not a massively better, but he hits say...30% kill shots when given the opportunity, and I hit maybe 20%.

Early on he had a much better serve. I struggled so much to return it his serve was often worth 10 points per game.

He also is slightly better on passing shots than me...lets say he hits 20% winners on those, I probably hit 15%.

So the edges he has are not all that many. I counteract many of them with superior speed and agility.

So why was he so dominate at first?

The same reason B scored 12 on me in the second game.

Position.

When one player is in the mid court and the other in the back court, it makes the player in the front court 50% or more better. They have the best scoring position, the best defensive position, and the biggest margin for error.

So when I allow myself to get distracted and stop moving to center mid court at every opportunity, I squander any advantage I have and suddenly small advantages for the opponent become huge advantages.

That is the single biggest shift in the outcomes of my games with A. Once I seized mid court I continue to hit a low percentage of winners via kill shot or passing shot...but I have many more opportunities.

A powerful lesson indeed.

It is one thing to read about the importance of position, another thing entirely to see the difference in live action.

At some point I will probably have a losing streak to A again, and I hope that when I do, I will return, read this, and reclaim the center mid court.

Meanwhile, I finished off the 4th game with a beautiful passing shot that was exactly what I wanted..low to the ground, lightning fast, bounced once inside the first service line and once just past the receiving line when I had driven him to the far side of the court...a great way to finish.

The 2012 Racquetball Chronicles Round 3

2012-01-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

My regular partner is planning to ski this weekend and wanted extra time to recover so asked if we could play earlier this week. I love to play...I would play pretty much every available day if I could find opponents, so of course I responded in the affirmative, booked the court and we were set.

When I got to the gym things started to go wrong. I forgot my towel and lock. That meant leaving my wallet with my grocery money in it and my I-phone in an open locker...not something my mind was at ease about.

Then I could not get into a rhythm with the weights and ended up doing weird sets...instead of 3 sets of 7 at 110, I did 3 sets of 20 at 80 on the preacher curl, for example. And they all felt weird.

Then on the leg kick it started to hurt. The bench press I dropped 20 pounds off my normal weight...and then could not even finish the third set. It was bizarre.

The leg extension I could not adjust the seat so cut the weight in half (!) and still struggled to complete the reps.

I quit. No sense pushing and hurting myself.

I went downstairs and watched basketball for a bit, then the racquetball court opened up so I headed on over and started working on controlling the location and speed of my shots for about 10 minutes.

Then my partner showed up and...had left his racquetball gear in his car. So we got off to a late start.

After warming up for a few minutes, he hit a horrible lag for serve. And I promptly hit an unbelievably bad one that did not even get to the front wall. Ouch.

He started out hot. His serves were perfectly placed for me to crush passing shots down the line to his forehand he could only possibly return if I hit them too high and so they went all the way to the back wall. Instead I mis-hit off my frame over and over until he was up 3-0.

I came back to take a 5-3 lead with a couple nice volley points where I seized center front court and ran him side to side until i could squeeze a pseudo-kill shot he was too winded to get to or else a passing shot he just missed.

Then he got a couple strong serves I could not handle and won a couple volleys off weak returns to go up 8-5.

We went at it pretty strong until he had a 10-7 lead and then something happened I could not believe.

I have had great wind for about a year now. Between biking with Fluffy the Cat and playing tennis at every opportunity, I developed tremendous stamina.

Until tonight when, inexplicably, I developed a side-ache and complete fatigue. I actually had to take a time-out.

Now getting to the ball was tough, and instead of using position and planning my shots, I just tried to get to them and wrist them away from him. I actually thought to myself, "He is winning this game because of my conditioning."

What a huge switch. Always before he has won with a better serve, return and better shots. My massive advantage was speed and endurance.

He built a 14-10 lead and had a tremendous serve that I somehow got to, he hit a kill that I somehow got to and it was my serve.

Ace. 11-14.
Perfect serve down the line he muffed. 12-14.
Great line serve, he returned weakly, corner kill. 13-14.
Perfect serve down the line he muffed. 14-14. Ace. Game.

I scarcely moved from 10-14 until I completed the 5 point comeback. What a great, back and forth game that he should have won. I was ecstatic...he was a bit disappointed. We both knew he should have won and said so.

After a quick break he came out on fire. He always gets very intense after he loses a game. He ran off 7 points and it was not close. I was muffing the easy serves and not even getting to the hard ones.

Part of it was strategy. Late in the first game I had gone for a shot I have been working on. He is to my right waiting for me to hit it down the line to his backhand. I am center back mid-court and the ball is belly button high to my backhand. I like to hit it about 5' from the corner off his back hand wall. It then squirts to the center of the center wall and pinches against the side wall, becoming almost a passing shot kill to the mid court and virtually impossible to return.

Except I mis-hit it and smashed him in the side of the face.

So now when his serve got passed me and I spun, waited and wanted to hit it to his backhand corner, I kept seeing him in the line of my shot. Instead of calling a hinder as I should have, I repeatedly altered my shot and hit a soft shot to his forehand that repeatedly let him smash kill shots.

Worse, when I did return one with a solid defensive shot, I failed to seize the center court forward position. I was playing fatigued and he was putting on an old-fashioned tail-kicking.

I got the serve, dropped an ace, a tough one he gave me a good set-up and I won on a passing shot, and another service winner to come back to 3-7.

Then I could not handle his serves again. 3-8. 4-8. 4-10.7-10.

he went on a run and got to game point, 14-7.Ugh. It was a whipping and no mistake.

So was he and I won a couple of quick serves to get to 10-14. "At least I hit double digits," I commented.

Then we developed a crowd. See, the racquetball court has a glass back wall. It is right next to the girls locker room. And about 6 of them stopped and watch a point. It was the perfect point to watch...

I smashed about as good a serve as I ever have, coming low and hard and would have bounced twice before the back wall, about an inch from the wall. He got to it and squirted it to the back-hand, low and left. I tried a passing shot to the far wall. He got to it and caught me leaning the wrong way, hitting a passing shot to my forehand. As I ran to the back wall, I saw people watching but still flicked a no look over the shoulder that was going to come off the front wall soft. He charged for the kill, I charged to center court. His kill shot skipped, I plowed it into the far corner, he got to it and I hit a beautiful passing shot down the line that was as pretty a shot as I have ever hit.

It was probably the best rally we have ever had, with both of us returning 2 or 3 almost sure-winners hit by the other. After that fantastic display, our audience left...and it was good that they did because he then muffed a poor serve, I put away a quick winner, we had a short, ferocious rally that ended when, in front of him, I leaped and hit the perfect overhead smash into the pinch corner and, at 14-14, won on a service winner.

Yep. I scored 8 straight points to win a game he had in hand.

Wow.

He does not like to leave on a loser, so we had just 10 minutes left, we were going to play to time (even though in reality I suspect he would be ahead and want to finish the game.)

Again and again I muffed cake serves...waist high, easy to read, 4' off the wall. He was winning 5-0 before I returned a serve. I quickly scored a couple, he then scored an ace on a great serve and garnered another point on a serve that pinched off the side wall straight into me...two very good serves in succession.

Then he served a nasty driving serve to my backhand corner which I got a good ceiling defensive return....but he pulled a muscle in his....well...lets just say posterior.

And it was over for the night.

Looking back I really can see how much I have improved but another huge weakness has developed.

I fell in love with a shot that bounces off this back-hand wall, off the center wall, off his forehand wall. But I was hitting it poorly and he was able to stand at center court and hit numerous winners off that. I hit it too high and too far back.

Second, when I got tired I played a lot of back-court instead of trusting my reflexes. Once I started bouncing it to the back wall and sprinting to the mid-court I dominated. It was tough for him to dislodge me from that position, tough for him to get a ball past me without resorting to a high lob off the back wall...which I had more than ample time to get into position to hit scorching passing shots which allowed me to seize the center mid-court.

I need to stop letting him jump to big leads and learn to handle those z-serves, particularly on a night like tonight when his serve was not nearly as strong as it normally is.

Still, I feel great about coming back from 4 and 7 points down to win in adverse circumstances.

I also am going to work on my wind. Back on the bike I go.

Great night, lots of fun.

The 2012 Racquetball Chronicles Round 2

2012-01-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

One of the guys from work has been wanting to get into racquetball to get back into shape. This morning we had an 8 o clock game set up.

Before the game we hit it back and forth for a bit and a few things were readily apparent to me. One, he has lost a fair amount of his agility and ability to hit the ball but it will come back quickly. Two, if I went all-out this would not be much fun for either of us. So I resolved to set up rallies and work on my serve location to a right handed player since my normal playing partner is leftie.

I had him serve first and worked on serve position, shot selection, and shot execution. The ball was certainly coming back at slower speeds, but it gave me the time to think about where I wanted to be on the court.

I was doing a good job of moving into the aggressive fore-court position and my reflexes were letting me not just get to the ball but actually think about where I wanted to hit my return. When he lobbed it over me, i was able to get to the back wall, think about my next shot, and was doing a good job of playing a defensive shot instead of always trying for an offensive shot even when out of position.

I also was able to recognize how important it was to re-lob it to him. This allowed me to get off the back wall and back into my prime position in fore-court, ready to take any low shot off the wall and put it away for a point.

I did score a lot of points off serves close to either wall he struggled to return so I spent a lot of time working on lobs to either corner to experiment with where to serve to a right-hander.

This is not a knock on him. He has not played in nearly 30 years, I am younger, quicker, in better shape, and have been playing for over a month...I should and did badly outclass him. I was able to toy with him, work on my game and still completely dominate the match.

I won 15-4, 15-6, 15-6.

He then wanted to work on his back-hand. I offered to just hit it around but he wanted to play another game so we did. He jumped out to a 1-0 lead on one of those z-serves I struggle so much with. I then took a 3-1 lead. And then he had a string of serves and a couple volley put aways. I was working hard on hitting it to his back hand and forgot to play position. So he was in front of me and I was struggling to put away winners.

Once I remembered to get back in position I kept pounding his backhand and ran out the game 15-6. He broke my serve a couple times but could not score off me again once I remembered to seize center court forward.

Overall it was a great time. Even though I was never in danger of losing a game, it was a good workout and allowed me to work on several weaknesses much more than working on reinforcing any particular strengths.

We did have several fun rallies involving getting to shots it seemed impossible for either of us to get to and I thoroughly enjoyed those.

I also had a really fun shot that was tight to my backhand when I was at the dotted line just left of center court. I pulled it tight and low, garnering a pretty good kill shot in the low right corner that bounced twice within about 8" of the wall. Probably the best shot I have hit yet.

So overall a fun day that i think improved my game a lot.

2012 Tennis

2012-01-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

JJ and I got together to play some tennis. I really like playing with him. He is relaxed, easy going, and loves the game almost as much as I do.

As he himself often admits, I am at this stage in our careers somewhat more talented than he is; I am quicker, have a better net game, a stronger serve, and have plenty of endurance. His sole advantage is his baseline game where he has a slight advantage.

As a result, I usually win about 6-2 or 6-3 most sets.

Tonight was more of the same. We both played well. He gets to shot after shot that I think is a winner and sometimes his returns catch me out of position and his placement is impeccable. He hit a lot of winners tonight and that was great.

We have both improved. Whereas before most points were scored by the opponent making mistakes, tonight I think most of the points scored were actually winners or else forced errors...someone having to run cross-court 5 or 6 times and trying a tough angle return.

I probably had a dozen of my beloved shots he returned slightly too high allowing me to slam from my favored net position and at least 20 times he put a lob over my head, I ran it down and returned it deep to his baseline.

We had some very fun rallies that could have been won by either player and I loved it.

My spin serve was lethal tonight and I offset it just often enough with my "speed" serve to keep him off balance.

My speed serve of moderate speed was getting in and was super effective because he had to play forward to have a chance to return the spin, so it seemed faster than it was. And I learned something,

I am that guy I often mock.

My spin serve is a very strong serve. It either wins the point outright or moves them out of position, allowing me to approach the net and limit their shot selection on the return.

But the serve I WANT to make is the lightning fast serve...which I get in a low percentage of the time.

I need to learn to want to serve the effective serve, not the one i am not good at.

Overall, really good time, 1:30 minutes of play time.

The 2012 Racquetball Chronicles Round 1

2012-01-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

With the onset of winter I really wanted to keep playing tennis, but my potential opponents were few and far between. Knowing a former co-worker was a racquetball aficionado, I suggested to him we play weekly.

He accepted and we decided to play each Thursday evening. We started Dec. 12th and, as I suspected, my advantages of speed, agility and endurance were no match for his advantages of experience and skill. I scored 6, 2, and 6 points the first week.

The second week I scored 10, 2, and 8. Both times there was a game in there where he just crushed me.

The third week in the second game I was ahead 12-1, scored a point, he mis-remembered the score and it stayed 12-1. I care more about playing than winning, so I let it slide. Ironically, after he mounted a furious come-back, when I scored to go ahead 14-13 it should have been game over...I should have had my first win. But that uncounted point would never be scored and he won 15-14, then absolutely wrecked me in the next game.

I then injured myself off-court and did not play for a week. When I did it was against my father in law.

John is an avid racquetball player, playing three times a week. If you suspect me getting my tail kicked was the probable outcome you guess correctly. I think I scored 6, 7, and 10 points or something like that. We then played 3 games of doubles.

We won 2 of those 3 games, but that was almost entirely John's efforts. I hit a few nice shots and missed a lot of shots. It was fun and my foot was one massive bruise when we finished.

Still, it was so much fun that the next Saturday we went down for some planned doubles with some of his regular partners. The first game I was partnered with a guy who played a style I had not seen and I loved it.

He stayed about mid-court, maybe a step or two towards the front wall,and relied on his quickness to get to seemingly every ball hit off the front wall.

We dominated the first game. By the time I partnered with him again he was too tired to play that way and the other 5 games, the losing team had something in common; me.

My game is quite technically weak for several reasons. First, I have no serve to a right handed player. Second, I tend to hit the ball too high and return it to center court. Third, when I do keep it to the wall I tend to hit it too hard, allowing it to bounce off the back wall and set my opponent up for a solid return. Fourth, I have tremendous difficulty reading the angles the ball will come off the wall.

However, I spent a lot of time thinking about how they played, where they positioned themselves, the way they hit their shots and planned to put them in practice this week against my regular playing partner.

He jumped out to a small lead but I was making progress. Typically when he serves I stood deep in the court close to the wall he correctly drops his z-serve off relentlessly. My thought process was this gave me more time to react to it.

After watching the guys John plays with, I instead took a couple steps in and towards center court. The z-serve still gave me problems, but whereas before I seldom successfully played a return, now I at least was returning it and getting to play volleys. Instead of him having 4, 5, 6, 8 point scoring runs just off his serve without having to expend energy, now he was working for those points.

He still has the advantage as he is more accurate with his shots and more skillful in correct court position, but actually putting the ball in play was letting me think about more than just trying to figure out how to return the serve.

He led the entire game and won something like 15-11. It was a tough, hard-fought game and the second best game I played against him.

Game two would show the results of game 1. This time I would be able to use the lessons I learned and the experience I gained in game 1.

First, I used the correct serve. He is left-handed so I relentlessly pounded my first serve hard and soft down the line, scoring several winners and, even when not a winner, forcing him to hit a defensive shot.

Later I will learn the z-serve as a change up, but for now I need to go with the best serve I have, even as he adapts to it.

Second, I was immediately moving to a position similar to what John's friend used; center court, a step behind the servers box. I am trusting my quickness and agility to let me get to any shot. This allowed me to set up passing shots and force him to run side to side, expending energy while I conserved my own while being in great position to hit the next shot.

I still need to master the kill shot and get better at both my drop shot (feathering the ball off the front wall when he is deep in the court) and passing shots, but the improvement was immediate and vast.

Third, I was using the side walls to ricochet the ball around and make it more difficult for him to set up the kill shots he is so good at.

I built a lead, but he battled back. He took a 5-3 lead. I have never come back from a deficit to take a lead. I have tied him a few times, but never led. But this would be different.

These were not great passing shots but better than before. I used to hit them too hard so they bounced high off the back wall and allowed him time to recover and get to them. Then I hit them too soft, allowing him to charge the wall and hit a kill shot. Now I was hitting them so they bounced twice before the back wall and that made all the difference.

I took the lead 13-10 and then we had an epic back and forth where we broke each others serve about 10 times apiece. It felt like whoever scored next would win. He scored to make it 13-11...but then I took the serve back and managed the last two points to win, 15-11.

I was happy but he was quite disappointed. I think he expected to beat me every game for quite some time to come. And it is entirely possible he will go on a long winning streak..but I am working hard at the game and learning. By the end of summer I think I will win at least 30% of the time. Not yet...but later this year.

Anyway, he said, "There is no way I am leaving on a losing game," so we played a third.

Sure enough, he played with intensity while I somewhat was playing satisfied and he jumped out to a 13-1 lead. He was dominating every phase of the game. So I stepped back, went to work and fought back to 13-9 before I ran out of steam and he put me away.

For the night, I was very happy. The new position helped me be much more effective in returning the serves. The new mid-court forward position helped me control the action and allowed me to mitigate much of his superior shot-making while poking at his weakness of endurance. My better touch on my shots allowed me to hit both better defensive shots and more winners.

I am quite happy with the improvement shown. 2012 is off to a great start.

The joys of playing someone better

2011-09-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been getting in lots of tennis. Some pleasant times with my friends Riot Kitty and Mr. Riot Kitty hitting the ball around, some great doubles tennis with JJ and Molly from softball and Betty from C-list...

I have really grown to love doubles. I like the wideness of the court, the speed of the game, and have even learned to not hate letting my partner hit the ball.

We have had some great rallies.

It is cool to have one of those epic volleys where everyone hits two or three shots that seem beyond their capability and keep the rally going.

In the end, though, there is a certain consistency...everyone has won at least one set. Everyone other than me has lost at least 3 sets. So we all get to experience winning which is cool and fun for everyone.

However, at the risk of coming across wrong...there is a slight lack of satisfaction in some of the tennis I have been playing.

I know...or at least strongly suspect...that when score is kept, I will be on the winning side.

But I fell in with a Romanian quite by accident where things are much the opposite. He is better than I am at almost every phase of the game.

Our first set he won 6-0. I cannot remember the last time I got skunked.

The second set I actually clawed to a 5 games to 4 lead...and he then got serious and won the set 7-5.

I have to really play strong just to win a point, much less a game or a set.

And that is a beautiful thing...because I can watch myself get better almost on a game by game basis.

My serves are getting faster and nastier. My ground strokes still struggle and I have no finesse...but I am getting better and better at getting to the net, blocking off angles, and hitting winners.

I actually was up 4 games to zero in the fourth set I played him...but then lost 6 straight.

I like playing people who are learning the game, but there is something about playing someone I know is better and that charge of winning games from them, even if I have yet to win a set. But I will. Soon.

Today, I am a champion

2011-06-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

For the last few months I have been playing basketball with a pretty cool team. Kyle, one of my oldest and closest friends is on it. So are Josh and Joe, friends in their own right and special to me because of the love I have for their parents, Dan and Vickie.

The others are guys I have come to know and enjoy playing with.

On the one hand, it has been a bit tough. I am not the player I used to be. Ever since about...oh, 6th grade, maybe 7th...I have been a superior rebounder. I had to be. I was either playing against guys taller and older than me or else playing 1 on 2 type games. If I wanted to win, I had to be a great rebounder.

And oh how I wanted to win.

Well, I am no longer the athlete I used to be. This was really brought home one game a couple months ago. I se3t my eyes on a rebound, timesd my jump perfectly, was at the apex of my leap...and did not even touch the ball as a guy just reached over me and took it.

Ouch.

But I have stuck with it. I worked hard to pass the ball to the right guy at the right time, be in the right place defensively. Get back on defense. Rebound when I coul, box out when I could not.

Well, the league put together a "Spring Madness" tournament. Modeled after the Final Four, it put together 64 teams of vaguely similar ability, seeded them, and ran a tournament.

We were a 6 seed. Eh.

Tonight, we had a double header. If we won the first game, we played for the championship. If we lost the first game, we played for 4th place.

The first game started really badly. We were down 19-3. Just getting hammered. Could not score. So I got more aggressive than I have been all year and put up some shots. My shot was off and I missed the first three.

But it got me flowing and my rebounding stepped up.

Our shooters started hitting. Nate, Patrick and Joe were hitting from outside, Joe, Josh and John were driving, Steve was rebounding like a demon. I got a handful of offensive rebounds and scored on the putbacks 3 or 4 times. We all tipped passes, jumped in passing lanes, closed out on shooters.

And worked our way back. Within 10. Within 5. Tied. Up 2. Up 5. Up 10. Ended up winning by about 13 or 14.

Incredible comeback.

The other team had gotten about a ten minute rest. No big deal. We came out flat yet again. We were heaving threes. they started building a lead. 2. 4. 5. Down to three. Up to 7. Down to 4. Up to 8. 10. 12.

Halftime saw a 19 point deficit. We started catching up but Joe sprained his ankle. Josh injured his hanmstring. We were all sucking win.

6:52 left, we were down 16. "One more push" someone shouted. We hit a three. A couple fast breaks. Another three. They hit a couple fast breaks to push it back to ten.

We come back, scratching and clawing. Down to 4. 2 Tied.

We tied it with 2:52 left. Both teams missed a couple shots. With a minute left we started stalling for the last shot. They tried to foul, then tried to trap and fouled on the trap.

Nate hit both free throws. Up 2.

Tough defense, they cannot score, we get the rebound in a huge mosh pit. They foul Nate. He hits both free throws...and they do not score again.

Twice in one night we come back from deficits of 16+ points to win, both against formerly undefeated teams.

NICE!

And we are the champions of a 64 team tournament. I had forgotten how awesome it felt to win a title. To do it like that...suffice it to say, I am PUMPED!

Teriyaki House

2011-04-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well, this week was a bit worse. Opened with A/J off suit from medium position, guy called with 5/6 suited and flopped a straight. Fair enough.

Also got called by Q/8off and 3/9 off that rivered straights after I was betting all the way.

So got down on chips early. Picked up A/10 off in big blind. About 5 people called, the flop was something like 10/5/4 rainbow. Pot had about what I had left so I shoved since my M was about 7 at that point. Got called by K/10...which promptly hit the King to knock me out.

The irony is most of the damage was done not by the two reasonable hands...I have no issue with a 5/6 suited call and as I told the guy who put me out, if I know he has K/10 and is drawing to 3 outs I am begging him to call. I got it in good, just got drawn out on. It happens.

No, the irony is most of the damage was done by really, really bad calls. Calling pre-flop and flop with 3/9 is pretty bad. I guess someone with lots of chips might call the pre-flop planning on making a move...but I can count on one hand the number of people there capable of making that move. This was not one of them.

It was someone playing to get extremely lucky and doing so. I guess the good part is I saw them hit the straights 3 of the 4 straights I ran into and did not get felted earlier than I did.

The bad side is I am frankly embarrassed to be at a table where I knew which people NOT to play hands with and which ones to play hands with, which means even at a table with 2 or 3 players whose games i respect I am pretty much just playing with really bad players since I play when the good players are not in the hand but not when they are...and I busted out on the last hand of the second level.

*Sigh*.

But now I want to talk about a hand I played online.

I was sitting behind just over 100 big blinds. Middle position with about 85 bb opens, gets calls from the next two seats and I have j/10 off on the button. I am already getting about 3-1/2 to one and it figures to go to 4-1 or even 5-1 because I expect one or both of the blinds to call just because they usually do when the pre-flop pot builds like that so I call.

The flop has 2 spades, a Q, J and some brick. The pre-flop raiser makes the fish raise of like 2 bb into a pot of 13ish blinds. He gets a call and a fold. I have a marginal hand and do not want to play a big pot. I consider raising, putting him on a Spade flush draw as his most likely hand, but...two other players, I have some showdown equity, no point to running into a big re-raise and being driven off my hand. I call.

The turn is another brick, he now raises 3 bb. Call, same thought process, I call. Arguably I should raise here, but really...what can I beat? Any Queen has me, J/K and J/A have me drawing thin, and if he is not on the flush draw then he is reeling us in with a line I see a lot of people take with a set.

The river brings the third spade and he insta-shoves about 70 bb into a pot of maybe 25. Big overbet. Other guy folds.

Problem is...that third spade was a second jack on the board, giving me trips. I go into the tank for a long time. He could have J/9 or worse, he could have an overpair or something like A/Q, all hands I can beat.

But...I put him on the flush draw from the beginning. It just felt like a defensive bet to protect his draw and had there not been two and then one other players, I would have raised him off that draw before the river.

Now it just feels like he hit the flush. I show discipline and lay it down.

I need to show that discipline more often. I had a read, when I hit a big hand tried to talk myself off the read. Why? just lay. it. down.

Teriyaki House, 4/1/11

2011-04-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

Roman called and asked if I wanted to play. Bob had advertised this as being triple points as an April Fools Day joke so the turnout was huge. 4 full tables, a couple people on the waiting list.

On the bright side, our table had all people I know and more or less like. On the dark side...that means the longer I last, the less likely I am to enjoy the company of the people.

On the way there Roman and I were talking a bit of strategy. I pointed out in these free restaurant games I tend to fall into bad habits. People limp far more often than raise, so I start limping and playing passively which is always a recipe for disaster.

I am at my best when I am aggressive. I bring it in for a raise, make continuation bets and value bets. No limp-calling. No playing numerous bad speculative hands like 8/9 off.

So the first hand I picked up A/J suited and brought it in for a raise. I got three calls. The flop was a mess, something like a 2/7/8 type rainbow. I continuation bet and got two calls. The turn was a 4 and put a second spade out there. I bet again, one call. The river was a blank, I checked, he checked behind and showed...J/4.

Wow. Seriously bad play on his part calling on the flop unless he was going to bet later because there is no possible reasonable hand I have he is ahead of. But he did hit his four on the turn, so he won the hand. This hand would matter later.

I then pick up pocket 6s, raise, get about 4 callers. The flop is the 5/6/7 with two diamonds. I bet, three callers. The turn is the 4 of diamonds, I bet and get two calls. The river is another diamond, a guy comes out betting, Easy fold. Any 3, 8 or diamond beats me.

So now I am down about 40%. I start folding a lot.

And watching how they play. Jen is sort of on tilt having gotten beat a couple times when she bet and people drew out on her. The guy who played the J/4 is playing any two cards that are suited, have a face card or better, or are split by no more than one.

About 4 people limp, I have a q/9 suited and start to throw it away. Then boredom and the desire to see a cheap flop with a losing hand induce me to call.

Jen raises to 5 times the blind, the J/4 guy calls. Again I nearly throw it away but then I start thinking.

She has a nervous way of betting when she does not want a call and is capable of throwing away hands. So really I am trying to flop a good hand to beat J/4 guy. Barring that, I know I can bluff her off the pot.

The flop gives me a gutshot, flush draw, and the pair of 9s with the 9/8/blank, two diamonds. I check, she copies her previous bet and he calls. I consider raising but decide just to see what happens on the turn and call. Basically I am putting my tournament on the line because I think she has a low pair and is afraid of the board and he is so loose he could have anything from a dry ace to deuce-seven so there is no way I am getting away from this hand.

Jackpot. The Jack hits the turn. She gives the exasperated sigh of someone who knows they are beat, then bets 1000, he calls. I only have 1700 left so I shove. She makes the crying call and he makes the brutal call. The river is a blank, she shows Aces, I show the nuts and triple up.

Almost. I had been getting a lot of texts and had my phone on the table. It was covering a 300 chip. Cost myself 600 chips that way.

So now I have a nice stack. I lose a bit on another set that runs into a straight, but nowhere near getting it all in. Slowly I start building my stack.

Then I get moved to another table. Exactly what I hate happened. I know nobody at this table and there are two poker-brat type guys at the table...they are constantly talking about what everyone should do, know all there is to know about poker and are going to disseminate it.

Next to me is a woman playing at approximately the speed of a glacier racing a slug. To my right is an older lady trying to out-slow her. The game slows to a crawl as we play about one hand every five minutes.

So the woman next to me shows a complete lack of understanding of the game. She bets into two all-ins with just an overpair, a couple times she shows trash hands at show-downs after two other people have shown hands with straights and flushes and looks like if someone reads the board she might find out she won.

In about a half hour I think I play one hand and win without a showdown. The I call with a 2/9 suited because one person is all in blind and three people limped. I am in small blind, so... I flop trip 2s. Betting ensues. I make a HUGE pile.

I get moved to another table and this time Roman is at the same table. We have some fun, I win some hands, lose a couple. My wins are all nice, my losses all small. I get moved to the other table. I have now played at all four tables tonight.

Now I am at the table with Helen so again someone I am familiar with. The slow playing woman from two tables ago is two seats to my right, we have three older ladies who take 30 seconds to fold every time. Ugh.

Pick up A/10 suited when we are down to 6 and it is folded to me in middle position. I make it three times the big blind. Slow lady calls. Flop is A/10/blank. She raises, I re-raise, she calls. The turn puts a King on the board. She shoves, I insta-calls. If she has the Q/J so be it, but I want to put her out.

She has a K/2. The 2 is a spade. So is the river. She flushes me on the river. I lose 22,500 of my 52k on that hand. Ouch.

Lose a couple more hands, the blinds are up to 3/6 and I get down to 20k. Start shoving when people show weakness and win several pots uncontested.

I slowly but surely work my way back up. I play a 4/6 hearts. I have no explanation for that. I flop a flush and take out two people who bet top pair and second pair respectively.

Get down to heads up with slow woman.

Early on she is hitting every hand and betting, I keep folding. She says, "This is too easy" to which woman behind me says, "Oops, should not have said that".

I start pushing hard. K/Q off, all-in. She folds. middle suited cards, shove. She folds. She raises, I have A/5 off, I shove. She folds.

She limps in, I check a trash hand, hit two pair, she shoves, I now have the chip lead.

Pretty soon I win it all.

I am pretty happy with the night. I think 34 total people played. I could have tilted after the J/4 play, but did not. I played aggressively as tournament play demands, did not needlessly risk my stack, and even late when I went from 52k down to 10, I did not panic but looked for the right situation to get it in.

And yeah...I won the biggest tournament I have played in at any point in the last couple years.

Not going too far

2010-12-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

I restart with 2 bucks. I am already playing poorly, and now I feel like I am playing with house money.

So just a couple hands in, blinded to 1.90, I pick up the Cowboys on the button and open to .45. The sm, with 2.44, re-pops to .45 which I like as he will do that with a wide range of hands. A/A or A/K are, of course, possible here, but he could just as easily and much more likely have Q/J or a dry ace.

I shove and he folds. I am okay with picking up 10 bb with no risk. I would have been fine with him calling, too.

I then settle in and play pretty well for a while, winning a few small pots, folding a few times. After a while utg opens with a click raise and 4.68. I have the button and Qd/Qs to go with my 2.66.

I decide to re-raise to .40 and the click-raiser calls. A lot of people will do this with small pairs, with suited cards, connectors…even two-gappers I am coming to see…or two face cards.

They will also often make this move planning to raise virtually any flop under the assumption the button was raising based on position, not cards. I just happen to have cards.

The flop has an over, the Kc/2h/9d. There is always the danger he has a King or pair of nines in his hand, but his min-bet screams of thinking I just raised based on position.

I re-pop it to .45. I probably have to fold to a re-raise, but that will be the first actual strength he represents. He does the expected, however, and folds.

I discuss this hand just to point out why I often re-raise against min-raises with air. They usually mean exactly this…”I have a small hand that will not stand up to heat and will fold if you put pressure on me.”

So now I am back to playing my fearless style that is great when it works and gets me stacked when it doesn’t. A middle position guy opens to .15 with 2.62 and, on the button with 6d/6c I call with 3.03.

The flop is the Qc/5c/Qs. He might have a Queen but I am more afraid of the Club draw. More than likely whoever was ahead pre-flop is ahead now. He bets out .26.

When I am playing passively the hand is over right now. This time I flat it to see what he does on the turn.

The turn is another big card, the Kh. He checks, I bet .45 and he thinks for a bit, then folds.

I think this play, when it is working, is among the most powerful moves in my arsenal. From his standpoint, I showed I had a worthwhile hand, showed no fear of the trips or the A/K type hand, I must have something and that something must be relatively good.

Of course, I then get cocky and take it too far.

The next hand utg+1 opens to .12 with 2.17 and I make another call on the button with Ah/7h.
The flop is the 5d/7c/Ad. He bets .15 and I call. So far, so good. I am calling based on the continuation bet, not the two pair.

The turn is the 9d and he bets .61. I should have re-raised the flop or I should re-raise here. The board is starting to get draw heavy, he has twice show interest. I fold here if I have nothing, so now I want to charge him to draw. The call is a weak play.

Then again…I am a weak player...

The 6h on the river makes pocket 8s painful to me but few other draws. He bets .25 and I think about re-raising, but with straights and flushes, I am just as happy to see a cheap showdown now.

And his pocket nines take it down. I let him set the price on the flop and by not re-raising, I gave him infinite odds to hit his set. If anything, I got lucky to lose so little.

Not having learned my lesson, down to 2.33, I open utg with Ac/10c. I get calles from mp with 15.07 and the button with 3.23. So now I am out of position against two players with a marginal hand.

The flop is no help, 2c/5h/9s, though I am probably ahead of all non-pocket pairs as that hits almost nobody. I bet .30 and get a call.

The Kh turn is more dangerous. Part of the issue with my play style is I cannot afford to believe flop calls. So I am pretty much committed to the second barrel of .60.

Which means a .15 pre-flop open more or less commits me to a minimum investment in any given hand of over a buck.

.15 pre-flop with a call gives a pot of .30. I like to bet about half the pot but not simply match my pre-flop, so .20 on the flop. Now there is a buck in there and that makes the turn bet .50. So that is .85 with just one caller, but on the lower levels there are often two or three callers.

This needs some rethinking.

This time, however, it works as he folds.

So with 2.97 utg+1 I open to .15 with Qd/Qs. The small blind then shoves with 12.05.

It is possible he has Jacks or tens, but I think he has Aces, Kings, or A/K over half the time here. I think there are better times and places to play for all of it. I fold.

I think a lot of people call here. And sometimes I do…but I am never surprised to see Kings or Aces. I am surprised when I see things I am ahead of. So for me I think folds are correct.

The cut-off limps with 4.07, after my fold I am down to 2.65 in the small blind and make one of my occasional “suited connector cheap flop” calls with the 8c/9c and the big blind checks with 2.47.

The Kc/6h/10c gives me the flush draw, a gut shot, and back door belly buster. Nothing too exciting, so I check as does the big blind. The cut-off then makes a pot size bet.

I always find that strange. If they limp pre flop, they should be trying to play a small pot, so a min bet or click-raise makes more sense here. A pot size bet does not shout “I have pocket sixes” to me, instead it is “I have a missed drawing hand and position.”

I call.

The Qh on the turn gives me a Jack as an additional out but still nothing I am wanting a big pot with. I check, he checks behind. This hand is mine.

The Ah should give me pause. I am behind any two hearts or any Jack…okay, any card 10+ or any pocket.

But he wants to play a small pot. I bet .35 on a pure bluff and it works as he folds as he pretty much had to unless he had the Jack or flush himself.

With 2.92, I then open with Qs/Kd from late middle position and get a call from the hi-jack with 6.64.

The flop is the 7c/10h/9h. I have a gut shot and two over cards, plus his check which make me think a bet is in order. I lay out .20 and he calls, not unexpectedly. I figure he will check-fold the turn unless he hits it.

The turn is the 3d, he checks, I bet .35 and he…calls. Time to think about what he has.

A call pre-flop does not narrow his hand range much. The flop indicates he has a high card or some sort of draw since he check-called. Again a check-call on the turn.

Some sort of hand holding an Ace, 8 or Jack would make sense on the flop or possibly two hearts on the flush draw. The turn helped no likely holdings. I guess a small to medium pair is also possible.

The river is the 5c, he checks and I almost check behind, then look at the board. The most likely holdings are some sort of Heart draw, a small pair, or even just an Ace…none of which I beat in a showdown. I actually want to force a fold here as I think he will fold lots of hands that beat me.
I bet .70 and he obliges by folding to my king high.

The problem is I am getting too willing to push too far with too little and that is a recipe for getting stacked so I call it a session.

It is the right time to stop. I have had good results overall, I am about to get myself in trouble...time for some X-box.

Bad play, good result

2010-12-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

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.

Hand by Hand: Conclusion

2010-11-30T17:51:00.000-08:00

A button open with Jacks in the next hand wins the blinds.

Another button open with Qc/Ah pulls down the blinds. I am happy with that. Slowly but surely building my stack a little at a time. No big confrontations, no tough decisions…I like it.

Middle position limps with 4.37, the button calls with 1.83, the small blind completes with .69…yes, 14 big blinds…and I check with one of those hands I hate, the 7h/Kd. Outside of K/K/7 or K/7/7 there are not a lot of flops I like with this many people involved.

So when the flop is 7s/9h/3c, I have to decide…check-fold or take a stab with second pair, decent kicker? I decide the latter. The first limper calls my .10 bet, everyone else folds. Since there are no draws except maybe a gut shot of some sort, I have to figure I am likely behind.
But when the Ad falls, I fire another .20 at it and he calls. I am done with this hand. Barring a river 7 I put no more into this pot.

The river Jd does nothing to change my mind, I check, and…he checks behind with 5s/4s. He played for the gut shot, missed, and I win a small pot with a small hand.

For the most part, that is what I should be doing. Sometimes I am a little too ready to get involved in a big pot with a small hand. That is a real weakness I need to understand and correct.

UTG limps with 4.83, the cutoff limps with 3.55, I have pocket sixes and the button (and 7.75) so I come along, the sb completes with 4.42 and the button checks with 6.76.

The flop is the 8d/Kc/2s. No real draws, maybe the King or 8 got hit, maybe someone has sevens or nines…but I feel good about this. UTG bets .15, folded to me, I call, everyone else folds. The turn is the 8h, he checks, I bet .35, he folds. Perfect.

A bet does not always mean they have something…or that they will back up the something they have…the trick is discerning a real, “I played pocket 8s and want to get it all in starting with a half pot bet” and a “I doubt anyone will call if I bet half the pot” bet.

Middle position makes a weird raise to .12 with 2.02. I am in the hi-jack with Ac/Ks and promptly bump it to .50. Everyone folds.

Next hand, the sb limps with 2.10 and I check my option with 8.24 and the 8c/5d power house. The 2c/Qd/7s does not exactly make me do the happy dance, but when he checks I think a pot bet of .10 will take it down. I am wrong, he calls.

The Ad sees a check, I raise to .20, he click-raises. Normally I re-raise a real raise here expecting a fold, but now I am playing with the “I am up over 6 bucks, I should play smart” mindset…never mind that playing smart means busting his poor play. Instead I fold.

Then I turn around and open the As/9d from the button. A hand I routinely fold. They do it for me and I pick up the blinds.

Mp limps with 5.44 and, with As/Jc in the hi-jack, I re-raise to .20, a play I seldom make. I do not want to get involved in a big pot with the Greek Hero (A/J is sometimes called Ajax), though I know the limper often either folds or check-folds the flop. This time I make the “correct” play…at least, correct for most players.

And am rewarded with taking it down uncontested.

Later a button open with 4h/Kh also takes down the blinds. I would not call a raise or even limp with that…but I can open raise with it.

Sadly, the next hand I am on the button again with 3c/7c and open fold it. That is a clear mistake.

I also open fold 7h/6d from the small blind. Not that it is a monster by any stretch of the imagination…but it is a symbol I am losing my aggression for fear of losing my stack. It is not a death knell for the session…but certainly is a warning sign.

I somewhat disprove that with an open from the hijack to .15 with Kd/9d and 7.87. The big blind calls with 4.05.

The flop is the Qh/5d/6c. He checks, I bet .25 instead of .20, and he re-pops to 1.07 almost instantly. I actually dip into my time bank thinking. Certainly Queens, fives, or sixes are all possible pockets, as is something like 5/6 for 2 pair.

With a raise like that, I see no reason to continue the hand. He called out of position, so I should credit him for some sort of hand. He then check-raised with authority, not the little click-raise. I have to think I am beat. I finally make the right move and fold.

However, I am down to 7.47 in just a couple hands. This makes me sad. But I still open on the button with a wider range of hands than normal…like the Kd/9c. Now I have to decide…am I opening with a wider range because I think people will fold…or am I desperately trying to regain what I “lost”?

I open in the cut-off with 10s/Jc and the big blind calls with 5 even. That often represents someone on their first hand which, in turn, often means someone who wants action and is not “on their game” yet.

The flop is 5d/Jd/2c. I like it. I like it less when he leads out for .25, but no way am I laying this down yet. I call to see what happens on the turn.

The turn is a brick, the 4h. I guess A/3 makes sense, but otherwise…nah. He bets .65 and I call with top pair, weak kicker. I probably will not call much more on the river.

But then the river is the 10h and he shoves 3.95 all in. I go into the tank. I cannot put him on a hand, but ultimately think A/J is the most likely. I know I should fold, but I just keep screaming “top two pair” and call…to see him turn up pocket Jacks. Ouch.

I played like a tool and should not have called that river. Even if he did not have jacks. What hands can he play like that which I can beat? A/3 and 3/6, or pocket fives or deuces. I got greedy and got hit. Hard.

Now I am all the way down to 2.47.

Four hands later I open to .15 utg with Jc/Jh. The next seat calls with 2.72, a fold, a call with 9.57 and the big blind calls with 9.62.

The 2d/7c/6h flop sees the big blind lead out for a nickel. I pretend it did not happen and raise to .35, a fold, and a raise to .70. Right there I should be done with the hand but instead I shove and am called by pocket 6s. In 2 hands I go from 7.47 to stacked with 2 poor plays.

I tardily decide to wrap it up.

Going over my session like this is really good for me. I waited a couple of weeks so I could think through the hand and see how close I came to actually figuring out how it would play out. I was surprised a few times, but my style is definitely set.

And the biggest weakness I see is staying with hands long after I am obviously beat...like the last two hands.

So I know what to work on for sure and that is a good thing.

Hand by Hand 12

2010-11-29T01:16:00.000-08:00

The button opens to .15 with 8.78 and with pocket 8s I call on the button. The flop is the Kc/3s/Jd. I should probably either raise or check-raise here, but I check-call a wimpy .05 bet.

That puts me in bad position for the hand. The Qh on the turn is an ugly, ugly card. If I am not going to lead out, I need to be done with the hand. He bets .38 and I again call.

So to this point in the hand I have played passively. A re-raise pre-flop or on the flop would have been good. By the turn it does not matter…I have shown too much weakness. When the 3h falls and I check, I have pretty much, via my passive play, locked myself into a crying call for another half or ¾ pot bet.

I think I was probably ahead throughout the hand, though certainly A/10+ are all very believable as well, as are K/10 type hands…but when he fires 1.78 into the 1.11 pot…and I have 1.77 left… it just is not a good idea to call.

If I “defined the hand” earlier…maybe. But by not re-raising pre-flop, not raising on the flop or turn, I pretty much gave him free rein. I was badly outplayed on this hand.

Middle position open limps with 8.90, the hi-jack…who I have noticed plays lots of position poker…raises to .22 with 15.31, I call with 6h/Ah and the limper calls.

I am more calling based on position and knowing how hijack plays than my cards…I anticipate the flop raise, turn check and my raise taking it down. This is complicated by the limper also calling. Now I kind of need to actually hit my hand.

The flop is Kh/Js/9h. I have the nut flush and backdoor straight draws. But when it is checked to me, I check instead of raising. I do not want to get check-raised off the hand.

The turn is beautiful, the 10h. Lots of straight possibilities, I have the nuts. And the limper leads out for .35, gets raised to .90 by the hijack. If I raise again, it probably ends the hand. I call and the limper obligingly does as well. So suddenly we have a big pot.

The river 7h means only 6h/8h or 8h/Jh beat me…and I am not really considering either of those hands. For all intents and purposes I have the nuts. They both check, I shove my last .65. The limper re-raises, and I think he has either the straight or, more likely, a relatively high flush.
Yep, he shows the Qh/8c.

Uh…what? You limped from early middle, over-called a raise and call and kept going in that hand? Well played. Please, play like that much more often. I want to be in many, many pots with you.

I am happy that I was only .65 short of maximizing my potential win in the hand…had the hijack called that, it would have been perfect.

In fact, backing this up, he went to the river in the next hand, calling an all in with K/J off on the Q high flop.

Quite a few folds later, the utg limps with 2.06, utg+1 thinks for a bit then bumps it to .20 with 2.14, I am middle position with As/Ks. I can call hoping to get more callers and flop a flush draw or I can raise trying to win right then. I choose the latter and bump it to .75 with 4.35. Only the raiser calls.

I think he probably has a medium or high pair…say 7/7+ most likely. Other hands are, of course, possible…drawing hands like suited Aces, connectors…but the hesitation, then decision to raise seems like a pair.

Be that as it may, with 1.60 in the pot and him having 1.30 or so left, the odds all the chips do not go in on the flop seem slender.

And when the flop comes 4h/8c/Ah, he leads out for .05. As usual, I think he is either afraid of the Ace and wants to stop a bigger bet by me or he has a set and is hoping for a re-raise. I re-pop and he folds.

The next hand, utg opens to .15 with 9.64. I call from the cut-off with pocket 4s and 5.16. The flop is Ks/3d/Ac. He checks. If he missed, he might fold to a bet, if he hit he will check-raise. I think he is setting a trap, but I lead out for .20 anyway and he takes his time…then folds. Interesting.

I actually half suspected he had something like A/K and wanted me to bet. I almost checked, but if I check here, he bets the turn and if it is not a 4, I fold every time. If it is a 4, I want to play a small pot because I will feel like he has a set. Many people who flop sets automatically check the flop and try to shove the turn. So I still think the bet was mandatory here, even thinking he was going to check-raise.

It is a form of pot control. If he check-calls, I am probably ahead, a check-raise I fold. So I like the play in that case.

I then win a pot with 4 high when everyone folds to my big blind holding of 3d/4c.
UTG+1 open with hockey sticks picks up the blinds.

The very nxt hand I have pocket Jacks on the button. UTG+1 limps with 9.43, mp limps with 9.85, the cutoff limps with 6.71 and I bump it to .35 with 5.45. MP and the cutoff call and we have 1.20 or so in the pot, I have position and a pair.

The flop is pretty good for my hand, the 9d/2s/6h. They check, I bet .65, they fold. This game is easy (when you have better cards).

The next hand the sb limps with 6.16 and I check with 10c/6d and 6.18.

The flop is the 10s/9h/Qh. He checks, I bet the pot and he surprises me with a call. We both check the 3c. The river is the 3s. I think I am probably ahead, he probably has a dry ace or maybe a Jack to give him a straight draw, maybe a small pair. I bet .15 on the river…no need to go crazy and build a big pot. He calls with Ah/4h….missed flush draw, dry Ace. Nice.

A little later I make a curious call. UTG limps with 8.25, I am in the cut-off with 6.42 and 7h/8h and elect to limp along. I do not mind an open raise here, but think being second limper is begging for a re-raise that I will fold to. As it turns out the big blind checks with 15.00.

The flop is 2c/Qc/2s. We check it around. The 9h on the turn gets two checks. I bet .10 expecting folds. Instead I see a click-raise and call. Normally a click-raise gets a big re-raise from me here…but with the call, I fold.

The river 4h should change nothing. It completes no draws, pocket 4s are unlikely here, a Q/4 or 2/4 is just too bizarre. UTG leads out for .20 and gets raised to 4.24 and called.

What? Did we have pocket Queens slow-playing? Something like an A/2? Pocket 9s? Nothing else really makes sense to me. I guess Kings or Aces or maybe an A/Q or A/9…but the latter two seem like bad plays to me. Someone must have a boat here. Maybe even queens versus nines.

Aha. Yes, the big raise shows pocket queens. He flopped the boat and waited. Well played. The other guy…well…he limped with 2h/7s, flopped trips, and called what really had to be a boat on the river. I got off easy.

UTG+1 click-raises with 7.26 and, in the big blind with 9h/ah, the better than 3-1 pot odds make calling seem like an okay play. A 10d/7c/2d flop does not get me too excited, I check, he bets another .10 and I fold. Not a good place to go to war with no hand and no draw.

Middle position limps with 11.45, the cut-off bumps it to .15 with 3.90, I have the button and Jd/Jh. I probably should re-raise here, but I am afraid of a big re-raise that drives me off the hand. Note that this could be a good thing if I am against Q/Q+ or if an Ace or King flops since then I will know they are more likely to hold that card.

By calling passively, I give anyone with something like A/Q proper odds to draw to it since they determined the bet size and I never gave them a chance to fold. Then again…Jacks are not Queens, Kings or Aces, so maybe I SHOULD play for the set.

Anyway, utg calls, and along comes that feared flop…Ah/Qd/9d. I am not behind lots of hands. The preflop limp/caller thinks for a bit, then bets .30. I think if he actually hit this, he lets the raiser bet. This time the raiser folds, so I call to see what the turn brings.

The turn brings another Queen and he bets .40. Now, normally I fold here. There is an Ace I cannot beat and a Queen that has me drawing almost dead as well. He has shown strength twice…but…BUT…

The limp/call does not scream Aces, A/K or A/Q to me. It screams smaller hand. By flat-calling the flop I also indicated weakness. He then, instead of ramping up the raise, only added .10 to it. Instead of half pot, he goes quarter pot. It is entirely possible he has something like nines or tens. I decide to take one more card off and call the .40.

The river is a brick in every sense of the word, the 2s. He now min-bets. I am sure I am ahead, but not so sure I want to turn it into a big pot. I call and he shows…5d/kd.

I never put him on that hand but perhaps should of. That draw was there on the flop and fits the way he played the hand…cautious pre-flop, semi-bluff the flop, defensive bet on the turn and fish bet the river.

Hand by Hand 11

2010-11-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

Having achieved my goal, I restart with 2. First hand the button limps with 2.86, I check with 4s/2d and the flop arrives Ks/4c/Kd. Agh. Why could he not raise and get rid of me? I should raise here but I check and he checks behind. When the 5h turns, I raise and he folds.

These hands scare me. I am most likely ahead…but not definitely…and I do not want to get involved in a marginal hand in a big pot. But a pretty good result to start me off.

Soon I am in the big blind with As/4s. With 4 people having called a raise by the time it gets to me, I feel good about my 5-1 odds and call. The flop makes me even happier, the 4d/4c/9c. But it gets checked around. The turn is the 2s and I have a decision.

I most likely have the best hand, but I do not want to give someone 2 free shots at the club flush and I also do not want to have the pot never grow. I bet half the pot and everyone folds.

So I am feeling pretty good, I have 2.28 and pick up Kd/Ks in middle position. I make the standard raise and get click-raised by the hijack with 3.10. For some inexplicable reason, people think a click raise of .10 will get someone who has raised to .15 to fold.

I cannot imagine they would…although the open to .15 is only a 10 cent raise over the blind, it FEELS like a .15 because that is how much you are putting in voluntarily. Well, I have a big hand, I think he is making a move and I pop it to .85. I am mildly surprised when he calls.

Now there is 1.85 in the pot, I have 1.43 left and think he has some sort of medium pair. I plan to shove the flop. I should reconsider when it comes Jd/Ac/Jc. If he has an Ace…unlikely but possible…he calls. I doubt the jack but again…possible. I shove anyway and he snap calls with Jh/Qh, then turns the Js to give him the nuts.

Oops. But…if he insists on calling big re-raises with Qh/Jh I want to be in a lot of hands with him. He stacked me this time but I will get him many times in the long run.

I am not particularly bothered but take a break for a while, then come back and start again with 2. A middle position guy limps with 4.86 and I check in the big blind with pocket deuces.
This is actually one of the types of hand I like. I have a well disguised hand if I flop a set and have excellent implied odds. *** FLOP *** [5s Kh 2d]

Oh, I like that. Ideally he has something like K/Qs and we can get it all in. I check, he checks behind. The turn is the 9d. Now there is a diamond draw, he should have at least a gut shot. I bet the pot, he calls.

The river is the 7h and I am disappointed. I do not think I will get much action but I bet .25 and he click raises. I bump it to 1.00 and he calls. Probably a medium pair, maybe even two pair.

But no, he shows Ac/As. Yet again the “clever” ploy of limping with Aces costs 22 big blinds.

Now, admittedly I most likely call a standard raise in this situation, but at least then he charged me to draw at it and has some idea where I am. As is, he has no clue if I have paired the 9 or if I have something like 2/7 and hit two pair with a classic big blind hand. He is beat by numerous hands, played very passively beginning to end. I think he played very badly, but then again…I flopped a set and did not get it all in so how bad did I play?

So the next hand I play I am again in middle position with pocket faces…Jc/Jd and 3.00. I open to .15, the button click-raises with 4.89 and for whatever reason, instead of re-raising as I should, I simply call.

I am not overly excited by the 7c/9h/Qc but I lead out for half the pot anyway and he calls. The turn is the 5d, I lead out for .50 and he calls. Okay, I am not liking this. He is not afraid of the Queen, I am, I think I am done with this hand.

The river is the 6h, I check, he checks behind…and shows Kd/Kc. Well…I bet .90 into a better hand. But perhaps that saved me facing bigger bets and I did get to see a showdown…small consolation as I got outplayed in the hand. Then again…I would have called a raise to .65 or .85 pre-flop so I kind of got off easy with his fish-raise.

I stop playing for a while, then I reload to 2.00. This is probably a mistake. Whether playing well or poorly, when I start losing big pots I tend to keep losing big pots.

First hand I have Qh/9c in the big blind. The small blind opens to .15 and I make my standard position call. The flop is the 4d/Ah/10h, he bets a weird amount, .26. A pot bet would be .30. So he had to do that deliberately. I call anyway with nothing. The turn is the 5s, he checks, I bet .40, he folds. Life is good again.

The next hand the utg opens to .10 with 8.60, I call from the middle with 2.34 and As/7s, the button calls with 8.44 and the three of us take the flop with about .37 in the pot.

The flop is the 5c/5h/Ac. UTG bets .15, I call, The turn is the 2d, he bets .30 and I call. Problem is…I am beating A/6, A/4 and A/3. I am behind every other ace and any hand holding a 5. I am ahead of every other hand.

The river is the 10c and he shoves his last 8.05 all in. Now I have a tough decision. The pot is 1.19, I have 1.79, so I am getting less than 3-1 on the call…but I think he has the Ace. It is possible he is bluffing here, but will he be bluffing more than 2 times in three? I cannot convince myself he would and fold.

So now I am down to 1.77 and pick up pocket queens in the small blind. Naturally everyone folds to me, so I try to make it look like I am just making a position raise and open to .20. He folds anyway.

Middle position has 3.62 and click-raises. I am on the button with 1.72 and Ad/9d. I make the somewhat loose call, the small blind comes along with 3.54 and the big blind folds.

The flop is Jc/5d/Kh. They both check and I think it is probably a real check. Barring pocket pairs that match the board, nothing is strong enough to check raise here. I lead out with my dry ace, they fold and I take it down.

I then open to .15 utg with 10c/10h and the button, with 4.93, raises to 1.95…exactly the amount to put me all in. I use that raise myself with a strong hand from time to time. I figure he has Aces or Kings…either way, I am not calling all in with tens.

Of course, as bad as the hands I sometimes see people get it all in with, maybe I should…but I think I am a better player than that. I fold.

Middle position limps with 2.93 and, with 1.80, on the button I have Qc/Ks. I usually fold this, but this time I have my heart set on playing it…and think I can take it down pre-flop. I raise to .20. The big blind calls with 1.94 abd so does the original limper.

The flop is 2s/Jh/7c and the big blind leads out for .25. The original limper folds. I think if he actually hit that…say 10/J+…he check-raises here. He has nothing. I raise to .65, for the second time putting in a re-raise with a trash hand. I must be right about him having nothing as he folds.

The cut-off then limps, the small blind completes and I check with 5c/7c. I do not mind seeing a flop cheap with this hand. I will flop a straight or flush draw or be done…unlike K/4, this hand has potential.

The flop is the 6s/Kh/3h. Gut shot, nothing to get excited about. The sb and I check, the cutoff raises .05, I am planning to call when the sb takes time, then check-raises to .25. I fold. He has something like 2 pair or a set or a really nice draw like a 4/5 hearts…which I would believe.

The sb calls and the turn is the 3d. The sb takes time to think then raises to .25. Cut-off raises to .60 and gets called.

Now I think set over set is a remote possibility.

The river is the 4s. Only a 5/7 is helped by that. Again the small blind raises to .35, gets re-raised to .90, and click raises to 1.45. This garners a big re-raise, but a pointless one as sb has but .17 left and calls.

The limper shows 3c/6c…the two pair I posited. And wins against K/8, also a two pair hand, but one with one pair on the board, which means the full house takes it down. Glad I got out of that mess! I would have hit the straight on the river with less raising by those two.

And that is the thing...sometimes it is not the hands you play that make you happy...it is the ones you see other people play that you fold where they would have hit what seems like a big hand...and get clocked.

This is one reason I play suited connectors seldom and cautiously...I have hit higher flushes too many times.

Somehow I need to figure out how to get away from big confrontations with second best hands.

Hand by Hand 10; Achieving the goal

2010-11-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a weird little play. UTG times out, utg+1 limps with 3.78, a couple folds, the hi-jack bumps it to .15 with 2.90, I fold the Qd/8h on the button, the small blind shoves his last 1.14 and gets a call from the limper.

If I am in the hand I give the shove 4/4+, maybe a suited Ace, A/10+. I give the caller 9/9+, A/Q+, and so forth. Or the original raiser could show Kd.Jc and be facing a call from Ad/7h.

I really do not have words to describe that. I think I am still a sub-par ring game player. I am working hard to figure out what I am doing wrong. But my quality is outstanding compared to these two guys…

I will, of course, open from the button with 6h/7h. I am not unhappy when they fold and I pick up the blinds.

I then make an unusual fold. UTG takes time, then raises to .30, a whopping 6 times the blinds. This screams either weakness or Aces. He has 7.33. I have 14.39, pocket 3s, and am two seats off the button.

I often call here trying to flop a set and stack people. This time, the combination of weak hand and too large raise induces a fold despite the implied odds being correct for a call.

From mp I open to .15 with 14.34 and Ah/8h. The ideal is to get everyone to fold with flopping a flush draw against multiple callers being second choice. The next seat calls with 5.75, the big blind comes along with 1.18 and that makes me less happy. He can shove the flop and if I miss I will have no odds.

The flop is the Qs/Ac/Jc. I have top pair, but that is one ugly board. Big blind checks, I raise. 25, the next seat click-raises, big blind folds, and I call. The turn is the 9h. I should lead out here…usually people fold there. But I check and he shoves his last 1.47.

So basically I am getting 2-1 on a call. I need to have the better hand one time in three. I am behind most aces, behind Q/J, any hand holding a ten…there are just entirely too may hands I am drawing dead to and almost none I can beat. I fold.

So now I am going in reverse, down to 13.69. It does not ‘feel” like I am playing worse, but I am starting to lose hands. I again consider rat holing but the desire to complete the challenge keeps me going.

The small blind takes his time when it is folded to him, then opens to .15 with 1.88. I often call here with sub-standard holdings planning to call a flop bet, then when they check the turn, bet to take it down. I do just that with 8d/Qh.

The flop is good for my plan, the 4c/3s/Ks. He bets .20 and I call. The turn is the Kd, he checks, I bet .35, he folds. Okay, now I feel better. Pretty obviously I played the position and situation rather than the cards because a Queen high is not very good…

UTG+1 with 13.98 and 6s/6d I am back to my raising ways. I get a call from mp with 2.95 and then the cut-off, with 5.98, raises to 1.00. A good raise…unless the other guy comes along I have the wrong odds. I fold.

From the cut-off I open with 5c/Kc. The big blind calls with 11.64. I do not want to get too deep with someone who could hurt me that badly, that is for sure.

The flop is the harmless 4c/9d7d. There is a chance of course he holds a pocket pair matching that or some sort of straight or flush draw, but I am probably ahead. He checks, I bet, he calls. Okay, not my favorite moment, but not a big deal. He probably check-folds the turn.

But the 8c was a really, really ugly card. I have a perhaps exaggerated fear of the J/10 which of course just completed the nut straight. On the bright side, I picked up a flush draw and a gut-shot to the ignorant end of the straight. He checks and I bet, figuring to take it down or face a check-raise. He actually calls and I am mystified. Unless, of course, he is on one of the flush draws.

The river gives me the unlikely flush with the 9c…thus also pairing the board. When he checks I think I have the hand won and actually decide to value bet. I raise .60, he calls, I how my flush and he shows the 8s/10h. He flopped the open end straight and could not get away from second pair. Nice.

Even nicer, I am now at 14.98, a whopping 2 cents short of my goal. One blind steal will get me there.

And the next hand I pick up the best possible hand, Ac/Ah. The small blind opens to .15, I repop from the big blind and he folds.I made my goal and now rat hole.

I should point out that was not always my goal. My initial goal was to simply play well. I enjoy playing as long as I think I am making the right decisions. But when I got close to 15 I twice went for it, wanting to complete what I think is a particularly difficult Academy challenge.

The first time it cost me, the second time it worked out and I pick up a nice win.

Hand by Hand 9; Goal in sight

2010-11-24T06:22:00.000-08:00

When utg+1 limps with 5.78 I put him on a weak drawing hand. Having a weak drawing hand myself in the 8c/9h I decide to see if I can take a cheap flop and use position to win a hand if a big card flops. The big blind checks with 5.16 and we watch the 5d/Qc/Qs drop. Perfect.
They both check, I bet .10, they fold.

You would think this is good…but it might be bad. I would not mind had I raised pre-flop but I start calling more often.

UTG opens to .15 with 5. I have a couple notes on him and, when he gets click-raised by the cut-off with 2.21. I am on the button with 3h/Ah and elect to call. Click-raises over a standard raise scream weakness and I can possibly call a continuation bet on the flop and take it away on the turn. Of course, that assumes the original raiser does not make a substantial re-raise…which he does not, just calling.

The flop is 9s/Ac/6d. I am not super happy about the Ace…I would almost rather miss completely. Check, the re-raiser bets .25 and I call, the original raiser folds. The river is the 7d which completes a couple draws but is not too dangerous, he checks, I raise, he folds. The plan works.

So utg I decide if I can call with A/3 suited, I can open with A/5 suited and everyone agrees. They must agree…they folded.

UTG opens with 5.31, UTG+1 calls with 8.68 and I have 6.78 and two red nines. I also call. Everyone else folds, giving me the button. The flop is the 5d/Ah/6d. We check it around.

A bet might be in order here, but I do not want to get check-raised off the hand. The Jd also gets checked to me, and that changes things. There is now a flush on the board, everyone has twice shown weakness. There is still the chance of a check-raise, but I am not winning the hand in a showdown. I bet .30 and they both fold.

A couple hands later, UTG opens to .30 with 4.99 and I am in middle position with pocket threes. I call, everyone else folds.

The flop is the Jh/7h/5h. He leads out for .36 cents, a pot size bet. Often I will call here planning to take it away on the turn. This time, however, I think the situation is different. The flop is dangerous, it hits several hands I think he holds..like pocket 7s, pocket 5s.

There is a possibility he folds to a re-raise, but I was really trying to flop a set. I missed, the flop is dangerous, why play a big pot? Easy fold.

I open on the button with 6.91 and Kh/2h. This is at the bottom range of hands I will open with. I anticipate a fold, but if I face some resistance, I might flop the lucky flush. The big blind does indeed call with 4 even.

The flop is the 10s/Qg/4d. He checks, I bet .20, he calls. The turn is the 7s, he checks, I bet .35 expecting him to fold. He calls. The river is the Ac and he checks for the third time. I try to puzzle through what he has. No obvious draws on the flop except something like K/J or J/9, he has played passively.

My best guess is second or third pair with a modest kicker. I think he might lay it down to a third barrel, so I bet again and he calls with 6s/Qs. Fair enough. I was trying to be aggressive with a marginal hand, I thought I could garner a fold, I was wrong.

A bit later I open in the small blind with Qc/Ad and unsurprisingly the big blind folds.
A middle position open with big slick sees another fold.

A raise from the cut-off with Ad/Qd garners a third consecutive pick-up of the blinds (consecutive in terms of hands I found playable).

These are minor but important hands. They re instill my confidence after what felt like a pretty major mis-step. I do scale back my aggressiveness a certain amount…a couple hands I would have raised had I won the button verse big blind battle are folded, but the winning of the blinds uncontested is a confidence boost. Maybe too much of one.

The cut-off opens with 5.20. On the button with Ad/10d and 5.45 I elect to call, mostly planning my favorite call/turn raise ploy.

Plans change on the Ac/As/5d flop. He checks, I check behind. I am behind any Ace hand holding a King, Queen, Jack or five. I am ahead of any Ace holding a 9,8,7,6,4,3 or 2. So I figure to be a favorite against Aces and a BIG favorite against any non-pocket 5 hand.

The turn gives me the nuts, the 10s. He leads out for a quarter and I do the fish click-raise. He insta-calls. I figure he has the Ace and I am going to stack him.

Sure enough, the river is the 5h. He no doubt has an Ace and shoves his last 4.55. I instacall and his Ah/Qh loses a big pot to my bigger full house.

I like my check on the flop as I wanted to play a smaller pot until I had some idea of his holding. He could have had a medium pair, suited connectors, all sorts of hands. I figured to be a favorite against most hands, but I have been stacked a few times when flopping trips and running into a bigger kicker.

So outside of pre-flop, in this hand I never put in a chip when I was behind. I think a bet on the flop might have led to an all-in confrontation when I was behind and drawing thin. No doubt I drew out on him which used to be something that bothered me…but I am starting to figure out if you never draw out on anyone, you only ever win small pots.

With 9.96 and Qs/Ah I open from middle position and win the blinds.

UTG+1 with 10.03 and Qd/Qs I open to .15, get called by the next seat with 3.02 and then the big blind, with 3.02, re-pops to .65.

A/K, K/K and Aces are the only hands that bother me, but he could do this with a much wider range…A/10+, A/x suited, eights or better…I can re-raise trying to isolate or flat hoping to build a pot. I decide just to call it and it works as the other guy calls.

So now we have a pot of 1.95 and the flop is gorgeous. Qh/3s/10s. The blind leads out for a buck. I think about flat-calling but with straight and flush draws, I think that might be a bad idea. I again click-raise…a bad habit I am getting into. The next seat calls and the big blind folds.

Now the pot is so big there is no way I am folding, especially since the next seat has .37 left. The Kh turns, I put him all in and he calls with…8s/9s? Really? You called all that flop action with a gut-shot to the ignorant end? Nicely done! The river three to give me a boat is almost irrelevant as I rake another big pot.

Now I have 14.24 and face the old conundrum; rat hole my winnings or continue? I am actually attempting a Full Tilt Academy challenge that I will pass if I can make it to 15.00 so I decide to keep playing.

The problem with this is I sometimes play hands not because they are good hands to play but because I want to achieve the artificial goal and that leads to poor decisions.

UTG opens to .15 with 1.91 and I make one of those poor decisions, calling with 7h/Ah. I am not getting proper odds for a flush.

The flop gives me hope with the 6h/3d/10h. He bets .15 and I call. The turn is the Ad and now I am in a spot. I have too much hand to fold to his bet, not enough to win a showdown.

Fortunately, he only bets .15 so I call. The river is the 2s, I missed my draw, got the wrong odds….he bets just .20.

Interesting. The pre-flop raise was standard, the flop bet could be construed as half pot, but after that his bets were on the small side. On the one hand, I hesitate to call…the only Aces I can beat are A/4 and A/5 so if he hit the Ace I am losing. On the other hand, it feels more like a pair smaller than ten…his small bets are meant to keep me from making a pots size raise with something like K/10 or something like that.

So I am calling .20 to win 1.10, better than 5-1. I am not good enough to lay down top pair, no kicker so I call.

And he shows the Ac/5s. Of the two Aces I could beat, he holds one. Hysterical.

So close, now I have 14.87 and the very next hand I run into one of those hands I hate. Middle position limps with 2.59, next seat calls with 7.35, the button limps with 1.26, the small blind completes with 3.67 and, in the big blind, I have 8d/Ks. Not good enough to raise into four limpers, and I really do not want to hit any part of this. I check.

And hit part of it. *** FLOP *** [Jc 6h Kc] Now I have top pair, no kicker, with numerous draws available.

I lead out with a half pot bet of .15, get calls from both middle positions and folds from the button and small blind.The turn is the Ac, I no longer have top pair, there is a flush on the board, I check. MP bets half the pot, one fold…do I call or raise or fold?

I check-raise indicates I have the flush…but he showed no fear of the flush. He could have hit the flush, the straight, or the Ace, all of which beat me, or he could have sensed my weakness and be making a play. I should probably fold here, but I call.The river 2c almost guarantees a flush.

I check and will fold to any bet, but he checks behind and wins with the 7c/8c.

I maybe should have folded the turn, but since I got to see a cheap showdown with a hand that conceivably had some showdown value…eh, I do not feel bad about it. I do wish someone had raised preflop and saved me .45 though…

So now I am further from my goal. Should I keep going or pack it in?

Hand by Hand 8

2010-11-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

Apparently I think a suited Ace is a good drawing hand because when the cut-off opens to .17 with 5.00 I call in the small blind with Ad/9d and 3.18. I do have the right implied odds…but out of position like this, it will be real tough to hit them, so while a strict statistical standard says call…I should fold.

This time I call and we take the flop heads up. The 9c/2h/Qs flop probably misses us both. I check, he bets .25, and I continue my bad play with a call. I would not mind a check-raise here, but a call? I have second pair. Do I really want to go deep in this hand with almost nothing?

The turn helps nobody, the 5c. I check, he thinks for a bit, then checks. There is a club draw, but only of the backdoor variety. Likely hands are pair smaller than the queen, a 10/J, or maybe A/K, A/J, A/10 type hands.

The river is the 2d. I figure to have the best hand, I bet .45 and he folds. I think many players better than me check to induce the bluff here…but since about half the hands he has beat me but I think I could get him to fold something like Q/10, I like the move. Later as I get better, this may change.

So with 3.51 and the cut-off, I think As/3s is worth opening. The big blind calls with 4.95.
The flop again probably missed us both…9d/Js/Jh. There are a few draws and a few hands it hits but when he checks I test the waters with a .20 bet.

Usually after I bet .15 pre-flop, I want to bet half the pot as my continuation bet but in this case, that would be .15….and I do not like betting the same amount so I add a nickel. He calls.

This represents the downside of that on hands like this where I have no hand, no draw, and could be in trouble if he called with something like Q/J. Now there is an extra 10 cents in the pot which ups the level of betting on subsequent streets. This is good if I have a Jack in my hand…bad in this case.

But when the turn is the 2h and he checks, I think my dry ace is probably good enough to take it down with a bet. I bet .35, he folds, I collect the pot.

If he leads out on that turn I probably fold but since he checked twice I had the opening I needed.

Later, utg limps with 2.44 and I have pocket 4s in middle position. The cutoff limps along with 2.55 and the big blind checks with 5.37.

The reason I limp here makes sense to me. I have a modest hand at best I would not mind seeing a cheap flop with and maybe stacking someone. There is a decent chance a limp will encourage later calls and build a larger pot as I do not particularly want to isolate here with this hand, nor do I want to face a re-raise after raising myself.

So I am happy to see a cheap flop with decent position, the chance to flop a big hand or get out cheap.

The flop is Ac/3h/8d. If anyone bets, I give them credit for the Ace, 8, or better pair and fold. But 2 checks in, I decide to take a stab at the pot and bet .15. Everyone folds and I am happy.
And even happier when I pick up 8s/9c in the big blind and everyone folds to me. Free blinds are always a pleasure. Unless you have Aces…

So I have worked my way back up to 3.91 and am feeling good about myself. So good, in fact, I again open to .15 with pocket 4s utg+1. Middle position is my only customer with 3.88.

The flop is gorgeous…Ks/4d/Ad. Ideally, he has something like A/K, A/Q. If so all the chips are going in and I will be a big favorite. I lead out for .20 and he flat calls.

Okay, so A/K is probably out or he would re-raise. In fact, the call makes me leery of a draw, more than anything. The turn is the Jc which completes things like the Q/10 but otherwise I am probably still ahead. I lead out for .35 and he again calls.

Now I am very convinced he has a draw and outside of the Kd, there is no Diamond I want to see on the river. Which naturally means the 5d falls. I check and will have to debate the call when he bets. There is 1.38 in the pot. A half pot bet I snap-call even thinking I am beat as often enough I will get someone with A/K, A/Q, A/10, K/J or K/Q making that play. A pot size bet I am more leery of but will probably make the frustrated, crying call.

And all in bet…that probably garners a fold. I flopped big, bet my usual and got out-drawn. But he makes me happy by checking behind and shows Qd/Qh…he was happier than me about my river check.

I probably made about as much as I could off this hand, but he might call another half pot river bet. I just did not want to make the half pot river and get re-raised big which would force a fold. I figure I see a show-down here more often by check-calling my selection of bets here and pretty much only get called by the flush.

I must be feeling good about being back up to 4.59 because from the hijack I open to .15 with Qh/Jc and get a call from the button with 16.83. I plan to raise the flop, have him call, then raise the turn and have him fold.

The flop arrives, I bet .20 and he calls. The turn comes, I bet .35 and he calls. Time to take a look at the board. Kh/Ac/3h, turn is the Kc. I am done with this hand. The river Jh finishes the flush, hits some straights, and generally is irrelevant to me. I figure I am beat and lay it down to any raise.

I check, he checks behind and takes the pot with his Ah/Jd. I am okay with that. I had a plan for the hand, it works against anyone who does NOT, in fact, have the Ace or King, and I got away from it cheaply. I take down a lot of pots on similar flops with that line of attack.

I do, to an extent, question the pre-flop raise…or would, except it works so often. If anything, I should open MORE often with those type hands.

Early middle position opens with 2.14, I am in the next seat with 7h/7c. I consider raising, but the same elements as existed with the pocket 4s earlier are still in play. I figure to face a re-raise about 30% of the time. If I raise first, the re-re-raise drives me out of the hand based on odds. A raise to about .25 or .30 lets me still play. I flat call.

And am glad I did, as the cut-off raises to .24. The limper calls as do I. The pot has about .79 in it and the flop comes 3d/10d/7d. Talk about a mixed bag.

On the bright side…I flopped a set. On the dark side, I am behind a diamond draw and not too far ahead of lots of drawing hands that like the 10. I will play some pot control.

We check to the cutoff who bets .55. Limper folds and I decide to just call. The turn is the 4h. Good card for me if I am ahead, bad if behind. I check-call another 1.22.

Now the pot has 4.33 in it and I am pretty much committed to calling any river bet. The Jc does not bother me…unless he is betting the 8/9 it changed nothing. If he was ahead before, he is ahead now. If I was ahead before I am ahead now.

I briefly consider leading out but quickly decide against it. If he has the flush he will re-raise. If he doesn’t, he folds…the classic “I only get called if I am beat” conundrum. I figure I will still call about half pot, maybe even a pot size bet but not much more.

He checks behind with Qs/Js for a rivered top pair and I regret my check. If he called flop and turn bets with a flush on board, he definitely calls a river bet. At the same time, I do not want to get results oriented.

Most people against this board with this betting are not calling based on “two face cards”. At no point in the hand did he have any sort of draw and usually a bet here that faces a call or re-raise is losing. So the check is correct even if my read was WAY wrong.

I have folded by the time this hand comes up; I only know about it because in reviewing hand histories, I was dealt the Qd/5d and folded utg+1 but it immediately precedes a hand I entered voluntarily. The button limps with 1.95, the small blind click-raises with 6.93, the big blind 10.14 and the button also calls.

I hate, hate, hate the click raise. If it is something like the J/4 that did so earlier, they are never getting anyone to fold and if it is something like Aces you are giving some bad hands some good odds to draw at you.

Opening to .10 is one thing…having a limper and click-raising means where as they were getting less than 1.5 odds to limp, they are now getting better than 3-1 IF NOBODY ELSE CALLS and even better if just one person calls.

And the flop is the ever dangerous 9d/Qs/8c. Anyone with 10/J is licking their chops, a Q/10, 9/10, 8/9 are pretty happy and even something like a 6/7 does not hate this flop…though they do not love it either.

The small blind min-bets, big blind calls and button folds. The turn is the 10h and the min-bet/call routine happens again. River 7c sees a third min-bet/call.

So we have two guys afraid of the flop. Nobody has a jack or the raise would be bigger. Under pair, over pair, or weak hand like A/9, Q/6 type stuff?

Well…small blind shows pocket kings. He raised small pre-flop and found himself out of position on a dangerous board making defensive bets and wins a .56 pot. He would not have been happy had he faced a big river raise.

Of course, the big bind had pocket 2s. He got excellent pre-flop odds and was allowed to see a super cheap showdown.

I think the pre-flop click-raise cost mr small blind a fair pot. He could have won much more with a standard raise to .15 or a better raise to .25 or .30.In the very next hand, I open to .15 from early middle and Kh/Kc. Everyone folds, so I win a smaller pot…but I think I played it better. I did not price in bad hands and then have to tread carefully because I priced in trash that beats me.

At this point I have an interesting conundrum. I do not feel like I am playing either particularly well or particularly poorly...but I am having decent results. The question is...are these results indicative of my ability or of me getting lucky in the hands I run into?

The sets I hit are the type hand that makes me wonder.

Hand by Hand 7: Be aggressive, B-E-Aggressive

2010-11-22T22:47:00.000-08:00

Having taken the hit and gotten back up a little, I quit playing for a bit, then restart with 2.00. After hitting the bb, I have 1.95 and utg+1 pick up pocket queens. I open to .15, get called by the button with 3.81 and watch a flop of Jd/5h/9d. I lead out for .20 and he folds. I am not disappointed.

The cut-off opens to .20 with 2.49 and in the big blind I look down at Ac/Kc. The position and amount of the raise combine to lead me to believe he is hoping to get no call. Most people raise either .10, .15 or .17 cents. Click raise, 3 times the big blind, or pot. 4 times is often low pairs, dry Ace, maybe suited cards. I re-pop to .65 not really caring if he calls or not because if he calls, I will raise the flop, maybe even shove. He will fold unless he hits it…

Which kind of indicates I might be making a mistake. I will have to think about that. As it is, he folds as I expected.

The cutoff opens with a click –raise and 3.76. I am in the small blind with Kc/5c and 1.93, the type of garbage hand I have been adding to my repertoire more and more often. That needs to stop. I call and the big blind comes along with 4.07.

There are very few flops my trash hand likes. The 4s/10s/5s is not one of them. It is checked around. The 4d turn is no much better, but it gets checked around. The river is the 2d, I check and the big blind bets 20 cents. The cut-off folds.

Lets see…I have second pair, second kicker. It was pretty weak beginning to end. The big blind could have any two cards and coming to life on the river could have paired the two, absolutely nothing, or even something like the 10/2 full house.

If I am going to play trash hands and hit second pair, if people checkflop and a card like the 4 is turned, I need to raise there. Every time. Maybe even the flop. Now I am in a tough spot. I THINK I am ahead…and if so, I need to re-raise to get value.

But there are lots of hands that have me beat that he could call with. A/4, A/5, A/10, 4/5, suited cards like K/4 or hands like J/10, Q/10. If I re-raise into one of those, I lose my showdown value when I get re-raised.

I meekly check and take it down when he shows the Kd/7s bluff. So my poor play works out for me.

I pick up As/Js in the big blind and am debating to myself whether to flat it and try for a monster pot or re-riase and try to win pre-flop. The decision is taken away from me when everyone folds to me and I win without resistance.

After a while the hijack click-raises with 4.24, the cut-off calls with 1.58 and I make another poor decision with 2.22 and Kh/5h. The big blind refuses to be drawin into our stupidity and despite the 7-1 pot odds, he wisely folds.

The flop is the 6h/Jh/7d which hits lots of click-raise/cheap call type hands. I am not super excited about my second nut flush draw and check. But when the hijack raises .10 and gets a call, I am getting pretty good odds of 5.5-1 to call so I do.

The turn misses everything. If the 2c is not the epitome of a brick then that card does not exist. But it brings another round of .10 bet/call and I call again, now getting a ridiculous 8.5-1 on my draw. At least the odds are right. The river is the Qc.

Easy check-fold. There is no way one of them does not have medium pair, A/x, or something like J/9. But they both check behind and show 10h/9h…oh, how I wish that last heart had fallen…and 5c/9c. My King high is the best hand against a missed straight draw and a missed flush draw…

When it is folded to me in the small blind, I look at pocket Queens and decide to try and trap by over-raising to .20. It fails when he folds.

Two folds later, I am in middle position and again pick up Queens. This time, with 2.79, I make the standard open to .15. The cut-off calls with 5.04 and the big blind joins us with 8.74.
The flop is all low, but also all spades…6s/8s/3s. I hold no spades. The bb checks, I continuation bet .25, the cut-off calls and the big blind folds.

The turn is the 9d and decision time. Many people ignore the continuation bet. It is a move something like 100% of poker players know and understand, and as such it has lost much of its edge. Many people, myself included, call most continuation bets and then raise the turn if it is checked.

I choose not to check, but raise .45. If he calls I am done with the hand. There are straight draws, flush draws, potential sets…I am done putting chips in this pot. And a re-raise will garner a snap-fold. But he folds and I am happy.

I have been seeing a lot of folding to the big blinds, so with 3.23 I open to .15 from middle position with an atypically weak hand, the Ad/9c. This is a deliberate testing of the water to see if I should open more hands. It works as everyone folds.

At one point I fold a 4/7 which would have flopped top pair, open ended straight, turned the straight when the 8 hit, and seen a 7 on the river. I would have had the third best hand with one player having a 9 high straight and losing to a full house, 8s full of 7s. Glad I folded!

But when the button opens to .15 with 16.71 I have 3.23, Jh/9h and a wild hair. I call. This is one of those “sometimes I call, sometimes re-raise, usually I fold. And generally when I call I am glad I folded. Re-raises often see a fold, so is not a bad play. I think the call is the worst play, but I always convince myself I do not want to play a big pot out of position with a marginal hand…which is a good thought, but folding makes doing so less likely.

The flop is the 2c/Ah/3d, I check, he continuation bets, I fold.

From the cutoff I open with Kc/10s and everyone folds. Much better. Aggression > passivity.
MP opens to .15 with 5.80, I have the button, pocket deuces, and 3.10. Here is a place I call and think it is the better option. I am likely to have a worse hand, at best have an underdog, and want to invite the blinds to call with attractive pot odds.

They fail me and we take the flop heads up, Ks/Js/Kc.

This is a pretty good flop for me as it misses most hands but could scare him away. He checks, I bet .20, and he check-raises to .70. It misses most, but hits a few. A/J, A/K, K/J, Q/J, 10/J are all quite believable. He might fold to a re-raise…but with pocket deuces, a scary board, and someone who twice demonstrated strength…why? I fold.

MP limps with 16.38, the small blind click-raises with 4.75 and in the big blind with 2.71 I look at the Ad/8d. It seems likely the limper will call about 95% of the time if I call so my odds for the draw should be good. I call.

The flop is the unfortunate 7s/Kd/7S. SB leads out for .30. Pre-flop click-raise, post-flop pot raise. What changed? I give credit for a big hand and fold, the original limper calls. The turn is the Js which again sees a pot size bet and call.

There are no obvious draws so we SHOULD be looking at two made hands. I would not be surprised to see the sm with something like K/x suited, A/7, even something like K/10 type hands. Also possible are pairs higher than 7. Pretty much same set of hands for the limper.
The 9c river gets checked down and we see the sb with 4s/Jh for two pair and the original limper shows pocket queens.

Wow, how many ways did the play on this hand suck? The sb re-raise was horrible. No way is a click-raise going to work like…ever. So raising a J/4 off is a horrible, horrible, horrible play. The Queens got a raise and two callers. He really needs to re-raise big to isolate.

Just bad play pre-flop by both of them.

UTG+1 limps with 9.69, I am in the small blind with 2.61 and Qd/As. I either raise or fold here. If I limp and the big blind checks I am out of position against two players and a hand that never knows where it is. A fold is probably too weak. I raise to .25. BB folds, limper calls.

The flop is not exceptional…10d/8h/7d. This hits a large number of limp-call hands. J/10, 9/10, 9/8, 7/8, pockets 6 – 10 all like this. So do suited cards of the diamond variety. At the same time against a passive player if I am the pre-flop aggressor, I like to lead out again and do so for .35. He thinks for a while and calls. Either a draw or a set deciding best way to get paid.

The turn is the 3c. If I check I expect to face a raise. I doubt I win this hand at showdown. There is 1.20 in the pot now, I want to take one more stab at it. I fire .60 and he folds. I know the 3 did not scare him, so maybe a smaller pair now thinking I have a bigger pair?

A while later I am utg+1 with pocket 5s and 3.18. I elect to open with them. Sometimes I fold here when people are coming back at me with lots of re-raises, but this time they all fold.

I have said it before and will say it again. I can open raise pretty aggressively, but it is a real hole in my game how often I passively call. I could take down a lot of smaller pots with well-timed raises...and save a lot of chips by calling less.

Hand by hand 6; Taking the hit

2010-11-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

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.

Hand by hand 5

2010-11-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

So now, riding high with 8.01, I fall into one of the traps I sometimes fall into.MP takes a moment, then opens to .15 with 6.49 and, with Ac/2c I call from the next seat.

A weak suited Ace is a hand I do not mind raising with, but I think calling is less wise unless 2 or 3 other people have already called. Here I will struggle to make enough when I hit the hand for it to be worthwhile, I will face a re-raise too often to be comfortable…and worse yet, if the re-raise comes early and gets a couple calls, I could find myself priced into calling and now having put in 60 or 70 cents on a long shot drawing hand.

The small blind is the only other customer with 4.96 and in a small bit of good news…post-flop I have the button. On the dark side…I have a weak ace drawing hand…

…and flop the draw. 8c/9d/7c. A flop which also hits lots of other draws. The sb checks, the mp raises .20. This is a smallish raise, and I like it…the sb is more likely to come along, I am getting the right price if someone has 10/J or something like 2 pair…I flat-call.

The small blind folds so now we are heads up. The turn is the 5c. I do not have a mortal lock on the hand…he could conceivably have 4c/6c or something that would give him the straight flush, in which case all the chips are going in, or he could have a set.

He checks and I have to think. If he has a set or smaller flush, a bet here is the correct play. If he has a straight, it may or may not be the right play. If he has a pair of some sort or draw a bet might scare him away. Really, the two primary possibilities are A) he has a monster he is slow-playing, in which case the river will see some big bets and raises, or B) he made his continuation bet and now is done with the hand in which case I am unlikely to extract more.

The other possibilities pretty much all have him having a hand he MIGHT call a small bet on the river so I elect to check behind, slow-playing a hand which I rarely do.

The river is the 9s, pairing the board which I am not enthused about but not overly worried. I think he most likely bets a set on the turn. He checks, I look at a pot of less than .90 and decide about .55 seems right. Happily he calls. I think he probably has a pair with good kicker, maybe an over pair, and less likely but possible a straight.

He shows Jh/Jc, a believable hand the way he played. The pre-flop raise, the continuation bet on the flop, checking when the hand that beats you hits the turn, and make the crying call on the river. I could have easily been afraid of the flush with my turn check as well.

Oddly, winning this hand kind of shows why I think the pre-flop call was poor. All the elements were in place for this to be a big pot…a board that hits a lot of draws versus an over pair. The odds of flopping a flush are one in 15 or so. I put in .90 so I made .97 on the hand…so I got about 6.467-1 on my pre-flop call.

Long-term, this play is a loser even if in the short term it feels nice.

If I can figure out how to build a bigger pot here it becomes worthwhile, but in this case…the result was good but the play was arguable. If I open raise, I am fine with it….calling seems a bit weaker to me.

I pick up 9h/9c in the small blind, everyone folds to me, I raise and take the big blind.

From middle position I open with Ac/Ks and again everyone folds. I like adding to my stack with no risk.

I also like being over 9, if just barely, at 9.01.

On the button I open to .15 with Js/Qs. The small blind re-pops to .40 with 1.89. Now, normally I fold here. The vast majority of players either call or fold in that spot, so I credit him with a better than average hand. For whatever reason, I elect to call this time.

The flop is a complete whiff…3c/8c/6s. He continuation bets .40, a call I routinely make planning to have them check the turn, bet and take down the pot. The turn is the 7s and he bets 1.09 all in and now I have a problem. Normally this is an easy fold…I have to put him on a better hand than me…probably high pocket pair. I have nothing.

But…BUT…now I have backed into something where it is correct to call. There is 2.69 in the pot, it is 1.09 to call…slightly wrong odds, but I call…and he is in worse shape than I thought with Ad/Qh. I luck into the Ks on the river and win with the flush.

If the hand works backwards, I played horribly…but step by step I like my decisions.

Admittedly on the turn my odds were slightly wrong…but it is a call I will normally make anyway. There is a chance either high card wins, the flush almost certainly wins. And since I was playing the situation more than the cards…those are just bonus babies.

From middle position with 10.65 I open to .15 with 9s/Js. The next seat calls with 5 even, then the next seat raises to .67 leaving himself only .56 behind. I am in the squeeze position looking at playing an all in pot with Jack high…easy fold.

UTG with 10.50 and Qd/Qs, I open to .15 and everyone folds. This illustrates yet again why I do not regret the previous raise with the suited Jack…a fair amount of the time I pick up the blinds or win on the flop with a continuation bet.

UTG limps with 8.64, mp comes along with 2.51, I am in the big blind with 8c/10s and check. I do not mind seeing a flop with a hand like this…unlike the Q/4, K/2 type hands, this actually has some potential.

That potential is partially realized with the 10d/Kh/Jh flop…I hit bottom pair. I think about leading out but the 10 and jack make me nervous, there could be a heart draw…I really do not want to play a big pot. I check, next guy checks, third guy raises the pot, we both fold.

With position I might call here, but acting first, dangerous and draw-heavy board…nah.

UTG+1 limps with 2.81, I am in the small blind with 10.52 and Ah/9h. The bb is likely to check so I can take a look at a cheap flop with a strong drawing hand. It would be better if I had the button, but I will take a flier on this situation more often than not. I call and the big blind, with 4.96, does indeed check.

The flop is the 3h/7h/7d. I briefly consider raising…I will sometimes raise a draw. But I decide to see if I can see a cheap turn and check, as does the big blind. We then face a pot size bet. I call, the big blind folds.

The turn is the 9c. Again, probably the right thing to do to bet here but I check, he again bets the pot and I call. The river is the Qd. I missed my draw and have 9s and 7s. I beat a fair amount of hands that would limp-raise and decide to check raise. I check…and he checks behind.

And wins with Qh/10h. He played the hand the way I should have. If a Heart had hit on the river I would have had a nice score. As it was, I got off easy when he checked the first time he was ahead.

UTG+1 limps with 2.69, I am in middle position with 9.78 and pocket 3s, so I call, the big blind checks with 16.04.

I am not real excited about the 4h/10c/7h flop as there are certainly some draws and it could easily pair either of them, but when they both check I bet 2/3rds the pot and they both fold. I am not unhappy with that result.

I am not exactly Doyle Brunson when it comes to always playing the next hand after I win one, but I do tend to loosen my raising requirements if I am first into the pot so when I pick up 9s/8c in the cutoff the next hand and it is folded to me, I go ahead and open to .15. The big blind calls with 4.16.

The flop is not spectacular…8s, Ah, 6s. He leads out with 2/3rds pot, .20. Now, if he REALLY had a hand, he would check-raise me. He is trying to steal the pot, so I re-raise to .55. If he re-raises me, I am done with the hand, if he calls, which I expect, he probably check-folds the turn if he has nothing or check-calls the turn and checks the river.

My thinking is that if I flat call here, there is about a 50-50 chance he checks the turn or raises the turn. If he raises the turn I am in a tough spot as he could have the Ace or even just a better pair. I would rather find out now while it is cheap.

And my instincts prove right…he probably bet with air, because when I re-raise, he folds and I take down the pot.

In the cut-off I open with 10.15 and 8h/Kh. The goal is really to win the blinds here, but if someone calls I have potential to hit a good hand. Unfortunately, the big blind has 3.95 and an urge to re-raise to .10. Often I fold here, but this time I elect to call. Mixing up my game, I guess…I am not sure I like this call.

The flop is the Jc/Qd/Ad. He checks and I have to think. I do not really like this flop…the three non-diamond tens give me a straight, but other than that I am not real excited about any particular card. But I do not want to give a free card, either, so I bet half the pot and he folds.

I like the fold. I am unlikely to win a showdown unimproved, and unlikely too improve my hand. If he calls, I will be hard-pressed to either call or make a turn bet, so this was a pretty good result for me.

UTG+1 takes time and then opens to .15 with 5.02, the button calls with 1.12 and in the big blind I look down at Kc/Ks. With this much action, I am re-raising something like 100% of the time and do so to .70. The utg folds, the button re-raises to 1.12 all in and the .42 call is easy.

He shows 2d/2s and I am pretty happy. He is drawing real thin, never improves and I pick up a nice pot. Thing is…when he faced the re-raise, it pot-committed me and he had no business going all in or calling. With my re-raise, there is no way I am folding to such a small bet…it does not even match my raise. He only had .15 invested at that point ,why ship the other .97 with a hand that is ALWAYS an underdog?

I do not hate his first pre-flop call…he has position and a hand that can surprise people. But once it was re-raised…he should have been done with the hand.

The very next hand utg+1 open limps with 1.83 and, in the small blind, for the second consecutive hand I have pocket Kings. I re-pop to .35 with 11.65, the big blind calls with 6.57 and the utg+1 comes along.

So now we have 1.05 in the pot, I am out of position against two callers. I am happy for the action but leery as well.

The flop is the 5h/5d/2s. I figure to still have the best hand, I was the pre-flop raiser. Since I raised to ..35 pre-flop, I am going to go a little bigger than normal.

Here is a weakness…with a safe, rainbow flop like this, I should probably bet about half the pot…55 or so. Instead I bet 1.05 and they both fold.I probably did not maximize my winnings on that hand.

So definitely the fear of being drawn out on continues to be a weakness I need to figure out how to get past.

Hand by Hand 4

2010-11-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

This hand I just think is funny. UTG+1 opens all in for .25. I am in the small blind with 10d/5d and am always folding this…but the button calls with only 2.43. So I figure small pockets, A/10+, maybe suited connectors with the call weighted towards the higher end.

I am wrong. The all in shows 10s/Ad. Okay, so I was right about that. The call, however…10h/3h. So 2 suited 10/baby hands, two different reactions, and the three known hands all have tens.

A bit later the cut-off takes time, then opens to .17 with 2.25. I think back to a couple of situations…A), the playing too many tables, and B) the position open raise. I have 6.52, 10s/9s and the button…sometimes I fold, this time I call. The plan is more to call the flop and raise the turn than actually hit a hand.

The flop is Qd/Jd/Kc. I hit the ignorant end of the straight…but there is a flush draw. I am way behind A/10, ahead of everything else but there are a lot of hands it is close…pockets that match the board spring to mind.

He raises a weird .41 cents…actually, counting the blinds, that is a pot size raise. I want to charge draws, so I re-pop to 1.70, he shoves and it is .38 to call…easy call, even if he has the A/10. He does not…he has the 10c/9c and even though I “win” the hand via split pot, I lose .12 cents on it…

The cut-off click-raises to .10 with 7.14, the small blind calls with 2.29 and I look down at 8h/Jc in the big blind. I am getting 5-1, I often fold here but this time I call. I am not super fond of that call…earlier I folded the A/J off to a raise, though that was a standard raise…this click-raise on the button smells of either a steal or trapping with a big hand.

The flop is gorgeous, the 2c/8c/Jh. I flopped top two. I expect a raise from the cut-off so plan to check-raise. I check, he obliges with the raise, the small blind calls, and I check-raise to .95. The cut-off surprises nobody by folding, the button mildly surprises me with the call.

The turn is not good, the Ac. If he had the flush draw I am in trouble, if he had something like A/J I just got drawn out on. I raise 1.15 anyway…and he folds.

This might be one of those cases where aggression is the wrong move…but I would rather raise and get re-raised than check and face a tough call.

And now it is time for…attack of the random hand analysis.

The button click-raises to .10 with 2.96. The big blind calls with 8.20. I have mentioned before what button click-raises strike me as…sure, sometimes they have a real hand, but all too often it is a more marginal hand trying to steal the blinds cheaply. I play the big blind tighter than most people, so he could have a really wide range of hands here.

The flop is the Js/2c/7d. The big blind leads out for .05. This indicates he hit part of it, is trying to win a small pot. The button click-raises. This is an “did you mean it? Just go away raise.” And sees a click raise back at him. So he re-raises another click raise.

So we now have 4 raises TOTALING .20 Is this like…J/3 versus 7/4? Neither guy has much…or else both have sets. Finally the bb pops it to 1.38. And finally the button re-pops to 2.56 leaving himself .30 behind. And finally a call.

The turn is the 8c, the last .30 goes in and the button shows…Ah/Qh. And loses to 4s/7s. What a pair of nimrods. They played a 5.55 all-in pot with Ace high versus third pair, no kicker. Their click-raise war just makes it worse.

Later, utg opens with a click raise and 4.98, mp takes their time then click-raises to .15 with 2 even, a call from the next seat with 9.52 and the original raiser flat calls.

I already despise the play in this hand. The first click raise I am kind of okay with…a lot of Negreaneu hands try to play his small-ball style but do not have his reading talent so it is not always their best idea. But the re-raise that is again a click raise…nobody will fold to that and you price in worse hands .Horrible, horrible play.

So the flop comes 9h/2c/6d and utg checks. MP raises to .28, another weird raise…he had to manually type it in to get that amount. People that do that are absolute and complete tools. Just make normal raises. One fold later and utg check-raises.

Right here I think he most likely has a set, probably 9s or 6s. Other possibilities would be the over pair. I discount the big slick….he played small ball pre-flop. This flop either hit him hard to produce the check-raise to build a big pot or he does not fear it.

He gets a call and the turn is the 5h. UTG bets 1.05 so you KNOW he has a hand. I still think it is a set most likely, possibly an overpair. And he dialed up the exact amount mp had left, so it was also a message raise that sees a call.

UTG shows a pair of Jacks. I leaned very hard towards thinking it was a set but the over pair makes sense. The call though…4h/2s. What on earth? Bottom pair, no kicker. The pre-flop raise was asinine and his play only went downhill from there.

The flop raise was okay if he did a normal amount…calling the check-raise was pure donation and the turn call with bottom pair and gut shot straight draw was nearly as bad.

Apparently I got some of that hand on me, because the next hand the utg opens to .15 with 4.02. I am in the big blind with 7.44 and the Ks/5s. Heads up out of position against an under the gun raiser with a 1 in 15 shot at flopping the second nuts…no reason to play this hand, but I lose my mind and elect to call.

The flop is the 7h/2s/3d. I should either raise or check-raise here, but instead check-fold. I flat out gave away .10. On the bright side, I did not compound my error by playing a big pot out of position with no hand and no draw.

Early mp I have 7.29 and Kd/Ks. I open to .15 and get a call from the big blind with 1.91. This is bad for me, as all too often I decide the small risk means I am seeing the river no matter how obviously I am beaten because I had the second best pre-flop hand.

The flop comes out 7c/qh/2d. For whatever reason, I assign him the A/Q, he leads out with a pot size bet of .32 and I re-pop to 1.35. If he calls this, they are all going in on the turn.

I should point out…his .32 is a much different bet than the .28 I railed against in the other hand. He just hit the “bet pot” button instead of deliberately betting a non-standard amount. People who deliberately bet weird amounts are doing it to be irritating, whereas those who simply “bet pot” are usually just lazy. It is convenient, so they do it.

I actually thought he hit the queen, but if so he is a much better player than me because he laid it down. So in retrospect, he probably was just seeing if he could take a pot by the old “call with any two cards, lead out on the flop” maneuver. He actually did it better than most because instead of a min-bet or something ridiculous like that, he made a raise representing hitting a hand.

Middle position, I open to .15 with Qc/Kc and get the desired result…everyone folds. I will not call with this hand, but from middle on I will raise it. Either everyone folds or I take a flop with a hand with long-shot potential and aggression on my side.

The button limps with 1.73 and, in the big blind, I have Ks/Ah. A limp is usually a drawing hand with the occasional trap. I do not want to give drawing hands a free look, so with 7.77, I raise to .25 and he calls.

The flop is 4s/Qh/3c which misses the vast majority of drawing hands, I bet .40 into a .50 pot and he folds. Solid, ABC poker.

And now I have 8.10…not bad for starting with 2.00.

Hand by hand 3

2010-11-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

So with 2.51 after the Aces hand, I open from the button with Jc/Kh and the blinds fold. This should really be my plan, to pick up lots of small pots and play very few big ones.

Unless, of course, I pick up Ac/Ad the next hand utg+1 and again over-raise to .20. I need to stop that…make the standard raise. The hijack with 5.33 calls, as does the small blind with 5.35. So now I am in the squeeze position in a larger than normal pot…

And the very dangerous 10h/3s/Jd hits. This smurf-slaps all sorts of drawing hands that might call…Q/K, J/10 being the most obvious, though certainly an A/J type hand makes me happy.
The sb checks, I bet 2/3rs the pot, .40 and they both call.

I am not too excited about this. At least it was a rainbow flop…but I am not feeling good about a three-way pot with just an overpair on a flop like that.

The turn is the 6d. The sb checks and I have seen enough…I do not want draws hanging around. There is about 1.80 in the pot, I have 1.98 left, so I ship it and get a call from middle position and fold from the blind.

Fortunately, he shows exactly the type hand I was hoping…Kc/10s. He is drawing to 2 tens, about 5%. He also called with second pair, good kicker against A) someone who thrice showed aggression and B) with a player behind who might have re-raised.

I do not like my too-large pre-flop raise, but compared to this guys play…I am an all-star. I also rake a nice 5.43 pot.

Later, a middle position limps with 2.27 and I re-raise from the big blind with As/Kc. He calls. To me, this represents a drawing hand…suited cards, low to medium pair, maybe even something like 7/8 off.

The flop is 9d/6h/3s. I over bet .50 into a .60 pot and he ships his last 1.97. I go into the tank.
It is 1.47 to call, there is 3.07, so slightly better than 2-1. This hand hits a couple hands I put him on, misses a couple. I figure to be behind but have 6 outs twice, so about a 4-1 dog. A clear fold…but inexplicably, I call, he shows pocket 10s, and I rightfully lose with a badly over-played big slick.

I mis-read his play as thinking I was simply making a play from the blind and it cost me.

Still, I have 3.16 and am being fairly active. I open from middle with Ah/Qc, get called from the next seat with 4.66, the cut-off with 5.39 and the three of us take the flop with .50 in the pot after the rake.

The flop is another of those good/bad…Ad/10s/Qh. I hit aces up, but there are lots of draws that hit, and even a long-shot set or two. I continuation bet .30, get a fold and a call.

Now the pot has over a buck, I am not sure where I am , and the turn is the 9h. It only hits badly played hands like 8/J, I bet .55, he calls. Now there is almost as much in the pot than I have left, the river is the 3h.

Here I make a mistake. There are two good courses of action; check, hoping to induce a bluff, or bet about a buck hoping for a call from A/10, Q/10 type hands. Instead I ship my last 2.16 and he folds. I got greedy, did not think through the plan, and extracted fewer chips than I should. The only hands that call me are sets or K/J…MAYBE A/K but I doubt it.

So I have been up and down a bit with some erratic play. Thing is, during the session I do not think I am playing erratically. It feels like I am playing well (except the A/K versus pocket tens hand). But when going back over it, I see many holes in my play.

From late middle I open to .15 with Qd/Qc and 4.24. The cut-off calls with 2.09 and we see a 6h/7c/8c flop. This is not good for queens.

Medium pockets from 5 to 10 love this, suited connectors as well. Still, I will almost always continuation bet here. I do so with .25, he calls.

The turn is the 10s, making it even worse. I now want to play a small pot…but bet .55 anyway because history has shown this produces a fold about 70% of the time, with a call about 20% and a fold-inducing re-raise about 10%. He calls.

So now we have a pot of 1.90, he has played it passively the whole way, a dangerous board, and an over pair. The river is the 10c. Now there are straights, flushes, even trips that beat me. I am ahead of A/K and not much else. I check, he goes all in for his last 1.14. I am getting about 3-1 on the call.

I think I am probably beat. Really, what could he have called with here? If it was the club draw I am beat. If he started with something like the gut shot J/10 I am beat. I guess stuff like A/8 I can beat, A/K, pocket Jacks…but really, I think this is a losing call. But I have an over pair, it is just another 1.14 to win nearly 3, and I am not good enough to lay it down. And he shows…

Ad/6c. I rake in the 3.97 pot, but not sure if I played it right or not. There is simply no way I could foresee him showing up with bottom pair here.

So now I have 6.12 and pick up Qs/Ad under the gun. This is a hand that, when I am getting a lot of action, I usually fold. It is too easy to run into A/K, Aces up, or something similar when an Ace flop and hitting the Queen is nice but I want a small pot. From the middle this is an open-worthy hand, from here I often fold.

This time I open and everyone else folds.

UTG open limps with 1.08, the next two seats call with 3.37 and 6.68, the button calls with 8.23 and, in the big blind with 5c/Qd I check. I am not happy about being in this hand. Four other players, I have a trash hand with no potential and am afraid of catching just enough to continue. I have 6.19 and do not want to get involved in a hand like this, make a poor decision, and ship a bunch of chips because I saw a “free” flop.

Sure enough, the flop is 4c/2h/5s. I hip top pair, modest kicker. I lead out for .20 hoping everyone folds. Instead I get a call, a re-raise to .50 and I actually play smart…I fold.

A/2, A/3, A/4, A/5 suited are all possible, and an over pair is probable, a set also fits well here. The utg calls. The turn is the 3h and the both check. On the one hand…I feel silly laying it down. On the other hand…with the re-raise, one of them HAS to have a set or straight? And surely the other has an over pair? There are no real draws other than A/x straight.

The river is the 2d, a lead out for .05 and re-raise to .65…the call putting first guy all in. Sure enough…pocket 4s for the flopped set and rivered boat…and he got paid by the 6c/Kd which rivered the straight.

The what? He limped…under the gun…with K/6 off? Called on a gut-shot, then called a re-raise on a gut shot…wow. This guy is either really, really good (no) or so bad I want to play lots of hands with this guy. He will pay to the river with bad draws and then not make you pay off by min-betting.

So the next hand, I open in the small blind with 5.94 and Ac/10c. The big blind, with 5.08, re-pops to .40. Often enough I just fold here…I have a draw, but it is a long-shot, I am out of position, and most of the time people just fold their big blind to this open. So this guy might actually have a hand or just be someone willing to make moves.

I do NOT want a big pot here.

But I call. The flop is okay…3d/As/Qh. I am ahead of the same Aces I was before, am now ahead of Kings or other pairs, but behind better aces. I check, as does he. The turn is the 9c. I do not want to face a big bet by checking twice, the pot has .80, I bet .45 and he folds. Hey, this game is easy.

He apparently thought I was making a move based on everyone having folded…something I am sometimes capable of, but not always…and just wanted to take it down pre-flop. When that failed, he gave up on the hand.

With Ad/Kh the next hand, I am in the small blind again and this time I open to .20 and see the big blind fold.

The next hand I am in the cut-off with As/Qc and open to .15 The button calls with 9.10. This leads me to believe he has a wider range and is playing position, both because people on the button tend to call with a wider range due to position and people with nearly double the max starting stack are GENERALLY good players…sure, sometimes a bad player will hit a hot streak or double up on a big hand…but combine the stack and the position call and I am going to assume he has a wider range of calling hands.

The 4d/Ks/7h does not bother me much, I lead out for .25. I figure it is about 50-50 call or fold. If he calls, I lead again on the turn. If he re-raises, it depends on how much he re-raises. A small re-raise will see a call and lead on the turn, a big re-raise will get me to fold. But he makes me happy by folding.

I have seen a lot of people make the cut-off open raise and check-fold the flop when they miss...I am GUESSING that is what he expected. Either way, I feel like I am back to playing well and it shows in my healthy stack of 6.54.

Hand by Hand part 3

2010-11-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

I open from the cut-off with Ad/8d and 2.44. The button calls with 2.89. I am not overly worried…many people will call with a pretty wide range on the button planning to bet a checked flop.

The flop is pretty good for my hand…the Js/Qd/Kd. I flopped the nut flush and single shot straight draw with cards that will probably draw action. If I check here I will face a bet…a pot size might be too much to call, but would love to see half pot. However, my current flop strategy is to continuation bet the vast majority of the time.

I lead out for .20 into a pot of about .35 with the blinds and he folds. That works too. While some action would be nice, I still just have Ace high and have 12 outs to feel GOOD about the hand…any diamond or 10. Ace I like but am not ecstatic about, a paired board I hate if he calls…take the small win and move on.

From mp I open to .15 with 2.59 and Ac/Qs. I get my favored result…everyone folds and I pick up the blinds. I know that sounds strange…but an off-suit A/Q wants to play a small pot. And winning with no resistance encourages me to steal more blinds which leads me into more pots which gives me a chance to practice my flop skills…

Back down to 2.59 after a couple of blinds, I am in middle position and open to .15 with As/8s. I have been opening with a few more hands like this since they have the potential to win a nice pot if I do hit the flush…and since people again fold to my raise, thus paying my way through another set of blinds.

UTG takes their time, then click-raises with 10.78. When they have to be prompted, there are a couple of common scenarios. One is they are multi-tabling, playing more tables than they can handle and it takes them a bit to get around to the ones they are not active on.

The other is they have a big hand…usually Kings or Aces…and are trying how to mazimize value. Of course, these are not the ONLY times so going with those reads exclusively is a bad idea…but I certainly WEIGHT my reads in favor of those two.

So when he click-raises, I have 2.66 and pocket 9s and have a choice. I am not re-raising here…I am ahead of small pairs, suited connectors and stuff like A/K, A/x suited…but way behind 10/10+. I do not want to see a re-raise, with or without position on this guy…besides which, using Phil Gordon’s principle, there is a decent chance (about 25%) someone has a higher pocket pair behind me and might re-raise.

I am not folding, though…ideally, I can flat-call, get a couple callers behind, flop a set and take down a nice pot. The plan seems to be working as the next seat also calls with 3.15. The big blind comes along with 4.18 and we see the flop 4-handed…and with me now one seat off the button.

The flop is the Ks/6c/Qd. With the three opening seats all involved, there is a better than average chance one or more of us have hit the King or Queen…or both. So when it is checked to me, I weigh the odds. If I bet into three other players with an underpair, I am likely to get check-raised by A/K or K/Q. Much better to see if someone makes a move on the turn. No need to play a big pot here.

The turn is the 7c, a pretty harmless card as it hits no likely draws. Again it is checked to me and this time I bet half the pot. The big blind and utg both call, mp folds. So with three of us involved, about the only thing I can be ahead of is A/x clubs. The river is the 3s and, when it is checked to me, I have a pretty clear check.

I think I am most likely against a king or queen with marginal kickers, maybe even one of each. So I am quite surprised to see As/Jh and Ah/10h turned over and take down the pot.

I still like the check. Very seldom here will I be facing two opponents who caught no part of this flop. If I see a check-raise I absolutely have to lay it down here. As is, I saw a cheap flop, took a stab at it when everyone had thrice shown weakness, got two incidents of resistance, and got to see a cheap showdown with a hand with a small bit of show-down value that happened to be best.

UTG+1 limps with 2 even and I check my option in the big blind with 8d/Qc and 3.32. The flop is the Jh/8h/6d and I am still not excited. That hits lots of limping hands like suited heart hands, medium suited connectors, low to medium pocket pairs. I check.

He bets a nickel, my brain stops functioning and I call. I guess holding second pair, modest kicker and no draw gets me excited.

The turn is the 4s, changing nothing unless he holds something like 5c/7c in which case he made a straight. I check and again he bets a nickel. Hmm. Why is he keeping the pot so small? Either he hit a monster…say, a set of 6s or Jacks, maybe 2 pair…or he has a low pocket pair and is hoping I have something like K/2 and am on a draw. I call.

The river is the Ac. I check, if he bets a reasonable amount…say, a pot size bet…I fold. But he checks behind, shows pocket deuces and I win the pot.

His under-bets allowed me to stay in with a marginal hand. Beginning to end his play screamed “weak hand I hope I am good with” where if he played it strongly he wins the pot. A small pot, yes, but better to win 15 cents than lose 15…really a .45 swing including the 15 from the opponent you win or lose.

So now I am feeling my oats and, it is folded to me in the small blind I hold the Qd/Kc, raise it, and the big blind folds.

A bit later on I open from the hijack with 6d/7d. I probably do not call even a limp here as I am not confident in my ability to read higher flushes or big hands. But when I create pressure with the open raise, I can be the aggressor and have good things happen…like winning the blinds.
Yes, it is a very small win, but enough small pots lets me play bigger pots with better hands. Also, even if they call, they miss the flop 2/3rds of the time, I can continuation bet and win a small but nice pot that way.

UTG opens to .20 with 1.53. Now, most people open with a click-raise to .10, a 3xbb raise to .15 or a pot to .17. Normally, the bigger open is a smaller hand that is nervous about action…say a low to medium pair. So when it is folded to me on the button, I have 3.57, As/Kd, and a wish to re-raise and isolate. I bump it to .70.

Folds back to utg who goes all in 1.53. It is .83 to win 2.10, about 2.5-1 and I am most likely in a straight race…I figure he has 10/10 or worse. I pretty much have him locked into a pocket pair and there is a small chance he has Kings or Aces, but I doubt it…the over raise shouts smaller pair to me.

I had actually thought he might fold to my re-raise, he did not, the price is right, I call, and he shows much, much worse than expected…8d/6d. Too bad he then hits a straight to win the pot…but I think I made the right play. I read his weakness correctly, induced him into the mis-play, and he out-drew me.

Between the loss and a blind I dropped all the way to 1.99. This is bad as I start to get gun-shy and soon make a sub-par play. UTG+1 I have Ah/Ac. Now, the correct play here is to open to .15 as usual. But I am feeling puckish, so I make the over-raise to .25, 5 times the blind. I get a call from the middle with 8.71 and the cut-off with 4.84.

This is good and bad…it is good because they need good hands to make that call so I have a decent pot built…bad because, while the individual favorite, I am the overall dog.

The Kd/7s/7h hits. I am now drawing thin against kings…a not unlikely holding…or anything holding a seven…much less likely. I overbet 1.74, only getting called by Kings, something with a seven, or A/K…but they both fold.

I played this hand poorly beginning to end, win a small pot compared to what should have happened. A bet of about .50 would have been a better play. I am playing poorly at this point.The funny thing is…I was playing well until I had a poor result with it, then I play poorly and have a good result.

I just need to settle back in, not get all antsy and start making big bets with decent hands.

Hand by Hand Part 2

2010-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

I pick up the 8d/4d in the hi-jack, think about raising but some limps first. Fold.

In the small blind with an early limper, I fold the 2d/Js.

With a raise in front of me, in mp, I fold the 4s/6s.

This is one reason I love Rush poker. In ring games, to fold this many hands I probably have been playing 35 – 45 minutes or more. Here, I am maybe 5 – 10 minutes in. It makes it much more entertaining to fold stuff I should not be playing like 8d/4d or 4s/6s.

In the small blind I pick up the 9d/Kc. If folded to me I raise this as I figure to be a favorite over the big blind. But when UTG dips into his time bank, I fold and move on. See prior comment regarding love of Rush poker.

In the big blind I pick up the 5hKs. With a mp all-in open raise, this is an extremely easy fold.
UTG+1 I open with Ad/3d and everyone folds. This is a bit early position wise to be opening with such a weak hand…I think the constant folding is starting to get me. I will have to watch that. If I get too out of line, it will be time to go play some X-box for a while.

UTG+2 I open fold As/7h.

From the cutoff I open with 10h/Jh with my standard raise and again everyone folds.

In the big blind with Kc/8c I get little action…the sb limps with 1.43.

The flop is 7d/Ks/6h. He checks, I have top pair, weak kicker, no draw. I bet the pot, he calls.
Second pair maybe? The turn is the 10H, he checks, I bet half the pot, he folds. I like this result. There is virtually no river card I like and a call on the turn would make it real hard to call if he led out with a sizable river bet. So would a re-raise, for that matter.

MP with Ah/3s facing a raise, a clear fold.

UTG with 9c/7c I open fold. Would have been a good one to limp as 3 others do limp and the big blind calls…except open limping is not my style. Even if I want to see a cheap flop, I like to raise my standard as it A) disguises whether I have a real hand or am playing a modest drawing hand, and B) gives them a chance to fold so I can take the pot uncontested.

UTG with 2c/3s. If you did not know I folded before you read this sentence…you play too aggressive.

2cQs in utg+1 folds when raised to.

MP open fold of 10c/3d seems obvious.
On the button I fold 8s/10c to a raise.

MP fold to raise with As/5d.

With an early raise and call from the small blind, I fold the 9c/6c. This is arguably a mistake…a small mistake, but still a mistake.

I would be calling 10 cents with 35 in the pot, so getting about 3.5-1. I would obviously be playing to flop the flush draw with bonus points for a gut shot straight or something like that. From strictly an odds standpoint it is correct to fold here; I am in the squeeze position with a suited 2-gapper, not exactly an ideal situation.

At the same time, if a flush does flop there is a good chance all the chips are going in. I have 2.13 so cannot get badly hurt but could get a double or triple up out of it if they hit well…or could lose to a higher flush, also.

So if I have a lot of chips I might call and see if I can take a favorable flop with a disguised hand, but at the same time…playing Rush, it is not much of a mistake to fold this weak hand in bad position and see what I am dealt next.

Which turns out to be mp 2s/Qc which fold to a raise.

And 6c/3c in mp which I open fold. No reason to do other with 3h/8c.

Or an utg Ks/10c. The folds are coming fast and furious.

With 2 limpers I see the 10s/2c in the small blind and remember there is something I have to do…fold.

A middle position 5c/7c if I am having a good session I raise, trying to pick up the blinds, but with just 2.06 I meekly open fold.

The next hand is finally a raise-worthy hand..Ah/Jh in middle position which I duly do and everyone folds. Which, by the way, is an argument in favor of raising the 5c/7c I just folded.
In the big blind I fold 6s/Ah to utg open to 4 times the big blind.

On the button with a click-raise and call I have the 8d/9h and 2.08. With position and a hand like this I occasionally call but this time I fold.

UTG+1 click-raises with 4.88 and I call in the small blind with Ad/7d. With .25 in the pot we take the flop heads up.

The As/9c/Kh is exactly the type hand I hate. I hit it…sort of…but if he holds an Ace, quite believable for an early raise, I am probably behind. I am ahead of only A/2 through A/6. If he did not, I am not going to get much action unless he has a draw he plays aggressively.

I check, he again bets .10. Why the small bet? Did he hit it hard…say, pocket Kings…and just trying to price me in with the small bet? Or did he have something like Jacks or 8s and want to see if they are good? With top pair, no kicker I do not want a big pot but I do not want to fold either so I call.

The turn is one of those good-bad things. The 7s gives me Aces up…which is good…but I am still way behind A/K, A/9, pocket Kings or pocket 9s (I all but discount the pocket Aces). I check and he checks behind. Now I am sure he has something I am beating…K/Q, maybe K/J type hands, lower pairs, some sort of missed draw.

The 3s puts a potential flush, but I doubt it the way the hand has played out. I think a medium pair is most likely. I bet a smallish amount, .15, roughly a third of the pot and am happy he calls. Sure enough he turns up pocket 10s.

4d/5s early is an open fold.

Jh/4d I open fold in the small blind…probably a mistake, but I really do not want to play a hand out of position with garbage.

An early 2d/7s is yet another open fold.

On the button with 6s/Kh with utg+1 opening all in 1.40 there is something like zero percent chance I am playing that hand.

UTG Jc/Qc is a hand I see a lot of people play but for me It is an open fold.

I fold the big blind with Ad/2s to a hijack raise. I note, however, in going over this hand by hand, that guy tends to raise a LOT of hands…I might have to look into re-raising him.

UTG+1 limps with 4.28, mp comes along with 3.93 and in the cutoff I look down as 7c/7d and 2.32. There is an argument to be made for raising here…both players showed weakness, I probably will not win a show-down unimproved, and a raise here might take down .17 pot with no risk.

On the other hand, I would love to flop a set with several players along. I call, the small blind completes with 2.00 even and the big blind checks with 12.94. So now we have 5 players and a small pot.

The Jh/4h/9d gets checked to me in what is now the button. All the books say not to bluff here…too many speculative hands have a Jack in them, I am likely to get check-raised. Probably true at the higher limits but here…I have a pair, they have all shown weakness twice. I bet .15 and they all fold.

With a limp and raise the 3h/10d finds a home in the muck pile. It is followed by 4d/2c facing a raise.

Stats for this portion:
I folded when limped to 4 times, folded when raised to 13 times, and open folded 11 times. I open raised 3 times, called 2 times, and checked my option once.

I had been concerned my pre-flop strategy was poor, but I am more or less okay with it. Arguably I could open raise with a wider range of hands, but the problem is I am not comfortable with my post-flop play yet and getting involved with more marginal hands seems like a poor proposition.

Later, when I am better at getting away from hands I am beat on, I will open my starting range, but for now I think I like my pre-flop strategy.

So I think I will call it good with the “every hand” thing and just start looking at hands I had some action on.

A Hand I am proud of

2010-11-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

I am really working on narrowing down my style. I have pretty much settled in on the basics and am just refining it a bit.

Some are obvious...J/J+, always open raise. Cowboys or better, re-raise and try to get all-in. Hands like A/J+, open raise from the hijack or later. Open with almost any pair, but also call a standard raise with almost any pair.

Open hands with "potential" like A/x suited, 10/J, suited connectors, and K/Q from hijack or later.

Other than that...not much. Except pocket pairs, I fold when raised to if I am not willing to re-raise.

I had played a brief session and nearly tripled up. Took a break, watched some basketball, started playing again. I was up about 70% when this hand came up.

The first three players folded, and I was planning to open with 10d/Js from the cut-off, but I noticed a guy in early middle position with 13.12 and all four badges.

What I mean is...he has the "true poker player", Rush, Iron Man and Full tilt Academy badges. This tells me he is playing a lot of rush and is studying hard on Full Tilt's academy...which also tells me his style.

So before it even got to him, I KNEW he was going to open raise, I was going to call, he would continuation bet the flop, I would call, he would check the turn, I would raise and he would fold.

Normally I fold 10/J when raised to, but it went according to clockwork; he opened to .15. I called with 2.82, everyone else folded and we took the flop heads up.

The flop was pretty good...Kh/5d/7c. If he hit A/K he is going to put a hurt on me until the turn. If he has pocket 5s or 7s he will also get two bets out of me. Otherwise he is probably ahead but going to lose the hand.

He makes a standard continuation bet of half the pot, .15. I flat call as planned.

The turn is the 3d, the traditional place to raise big hands like a set or A/K that hit this flop. He surprises me by betting again...but it is a weak, defensive bet of .20.

I briefly consider folding..usually a second bet like this means they actually HAVE something. But then I consider the amount...had he made a standard bet of half the pot...which now has about .67 in it without the rake...if he bets .30 or .35, I admit i am beat and go away. I made a play, it did not work, move on.

But his bet screams fear and I pounce with the re-raise to .55.

He takes his time and I start sweating a bit. I have put in .85 cents now...over a quarter of my stack. If he re-raises, I fold. If he calls, then raises the river I fold. If he calls and checks the river, I will bet a buck or so...which if he calls, I will have lost nearly 2 bucks on a poor read.

But he does fold and I rake the pot, making about .50 on the hand.

Not a huge hand, very marginal difference on my overall win/loss rate.

BUT...a very important hand. I looked at an image...an online image...predicted what he would do based on that, played the hand knowing more or less what he would do, and winning a hand I would not have played without a belief that was what was going to happen.

I am pretty proud of that.

It is one of those rare times I feel like I really played well.

Hand by Hand part 1

2010-11-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

I want to try a slightly different tack for a bit. I want to go through a session hand by hand in Gus Hansen’s Every Hand Revealed style…a book, by the way, I found highly entertaining.

I have dropped down to 2/5 for a bit since I had gone through a long losing streak, then worked my way back towards respectability. But I wanted the swings to be less in dollar volume.

Starting with 2 bucks, I have 40BB…enough room to play some poker, but I am not going to take any big losses.

The first hand of course I am the big blind and pick up the rather modest 8s/kh. This is a hand I hope gets raised before it gets to me so I can fold. Instead I get one limper from middle position with 1.85 and it is an easy check.

Actually, I should probably raise here just because I am likely to win the hand outright. The flop is the 4h/Qc/Ah. I missed completely, he bets the pot. I have no hand, no draw, am out of position and have no idea what he has. Easy fold.

I pick up the Ah/4d in middle position, utg limps with 9.09. I have a weak, easily dominated hand with no kicker. Easy fold.

Kh/5h in middle position faces standard raise and folds. I see a lot of players get involved with these type hands. If the flush hits, it is the second nuts. The problem is, all too often someone playing the Ace also hits. There was a brief period where I had some weird reasoning that the K/x was a better suited selection than A/x because people would believe it less.

The problem was…if the flush hit but did not have the Ace, how far do I want to take the hand? It is a poor idea that I got enthused about for a while. Had a couple nice wins…and a couple big losses. So I more or less came to my senses and stopped playing for that.

With a limp and raise ahead of me, it is another easy fold.

Middle postion Ac/5h with a limper ahead is another easy fold. I can think of no reason to get involved with a hand that will lose almost every time and win very little when it does. Yet another easy fold.

6d/10s, I open fold from middle position. Bad hand, marginal position, best result I can imagine is to win the blinds. Not all that interested in risking .15 to win .07.

Open fold Ad/7c from the hi-jack. This is a more debatable hand. In a passive game, this is probably one I raise. If anyone calls, it is probably the big blind who then check-folds most flops. At the same time, it is a hand beating very few other hands…I am counting on the Ace to see me through. Not a place I want to be in.

If I had a larger stack, say…6 bucks or so, I might take a flier here. But I do not. Better to fold and see the next hand.

Kh/9h is another utg+1 fold. If I am in the cut-off again, I raise this. Of course, since the button DID raise and got re-raised, it would probably have met the same fate and I would have folded it as he did.

In the hi-jack I pick up the 10d/Ah and am considering raising, but when early mp raises, it is a clear fold. Too easy to hit a dominated Ace or a 10 on a board like 4/10/Q and lose a bunch to a K/Q type hand. Not a good situation, so the fold is easy.

4c/Kh utg+1 hits the muck. MP raises to 5 times the big blind, very much a non-standard raise. He has 2.40 behind and sees the button call with 3.35 and the big blind comes along with 2.00 even.

Right there is a powerful argument to make standard size raises with anything less than Aces. Already they have .75 cents in a 5 cent big blind game…and that means the bets, to make sense, need to be larger on later streets.

*** FLOP *** [Qd Jc 5c]
The big blind leads out for .20…which makes no sense. Even less sense…the guy who made the initial over-raise FOLDS to a raise that is A) smaller than his and B) roughly a quarter of the pot. It leads me to believe he had exactly the sort of hand I suspect when I see those raises…small pockets that cannot stand much action unless they hit a set.

The button flat calls. Could mean he has something, could mean he is making my favorite play.
The turn is the As, the big blind checks and the button…bets .20.

Now, at this point it is almost impossible for a poor player like me to put them on a hand. If he bets half the pot I think he takes it down. As is, I think one has a Queen or Ace, the other maybe add Jack to that…or maybe some sort of draw, straight or flush. Even a lower pair is possible but who knows?

The Qh on the river then sees the worst bet yet….05 into a pot that has 1.57 in it. The min-bet is called. The button shows Qc/Kd. The big blind shows pocket 8s. I am left speechless.

Qs/3c in the middle with a limper ahead is yet another easy fold. Even if I were wild enough to get involved with hands like this, seeing bizarre, almost uninterpretable behavior like the weird betting in reverse on the prior hand means it is too difficult to play.

Unless, of course, I pick up the 3d/10c in the big blind and win the hand when everyone folds. This is actually something I watch for because it is often a sign I can widen my opening hands and have a good steal percentage when attacking the blinds. Plus it is nice to pick up the small blind with a trash hand…

The first three spots limp, in the small blind I look at 5s/3c and meekly fold. This is a place a lot of other people will call here trying to hit the odd straight in which case they will almost certainly stack someone with that unlikely hit. But I just do not have what it takes to make that play.

Yet.

On the button with 8d/3s facing a standard raise there is no hesitation…fold.

UTG+1 makes a wild opening raise of .30 or 6x the big blind. In the hijack with Jh/8h I briefly ponder calling…then my brain starts functioning and I fold. I figure he PROBABLY has a low pocket pair…5s or below? But still, the BEST I can hope for is a race. Calling 1/6th of my stack for a long-shot draw just is not something I like to do.

An early position limper says 10c/6d is a bad idea. Fold.

So now I have seen 15 hands. 13 were clear folds, one I checked my option in the big blind and another big blind everyone folded to me. So I am not exactly action Jackson here. But that is sometimes a good thing. On Rush nobody can see how often you play so you can get away with that.

On the button with Kd/8h I would open raise, but with a click-raise and call in front of me, it becomes fold #14.

Early middle position, sitting on 1.95, I have 10h/10s and open to .15. The button re-pops to .52. It is .37 to call which would build a pot of .81 including the blinds. I put him on Jacks or better, A/K, maybe A/Qs. So at best I am a coin flip, and really I am playing for a set here.

That means I need 8-1. 37x8, I short-hand it, 3.20 is needed…and I only started with 1.95. The odds are wrong and I make what I believe is the correct fold.

All too often I see people call here, then check-fold the flop. When I have better hands…say, queens or better, I call, if the board is not particularly dangerous I then lead out on the flop. But with 10s…better stick around with 1.80 which will be enough to let me still play than take a long-shot that will make it so I have little to no wiggle room.

An early position 2h/7c is an easy fold.

6c/jc sees one limp ahead of me. I briefly consider calling, having seen just one flop so far, but good sense prevails. Unless the flop holds the A/K/Q of clubs I do not want to get involved…so why not save a nickel? Another fold.

Oh, for the record? The flop had the 5c/Ac/Qc. The turn had the 10c.But I still like the fold because I did not know that at the time.

UTG+1 Ac/5h. We have seen this before. Call it laundry because it is time to fold.

UTG opens a standard raise, folded to me in the big blind with 7c/Kd. Out of position with a bad hand that is easily dominated…fold.

In the hi-jack I pick up the Ad/Qs. It is folded to me, I make the standard raise and pick up the blinds. My 22nd hand, Ihave my first win. It is small, but I will take it.

UTG+2 with 2s/4h seems like a good time to open fold. I do not want to get too excited about people having folded to my prior raise, get involved in a hand with bad cards and give up a big chunk. Fold #20.

UTG open limps with 17.73. On the button I have 6h/7h. It looks like I can see a cheap flop in position with suited connectors. Low risk, high reward, I call. And the small blind then takes their time and raises to .30 with 4 even. Folded to me.

I have position, it is .25 to win .35…not very good odds, it would leave me only 1.47 to play after the flop so flopping a draw would pretty much stack me…better to toss off the nickel and move on. Fold #21.

Early middle with 6h/Ac is an easy fold.

Early with 2h/7h, I almost raise trying to be funny by winning with deuce-seven. Then I remember nobody would see it, the humor factor lessens as the thought of throwing off 3 blinds for a joke nobody knows seems downright silly and fold #23 ensues.

In the hi-jack with 5h/4s, I briefly consider raising. When I have 150ish big blinds, knowing people will fold quite often. However, with less than 40…I am not as frightening and cannot afford getting called. I fold.

With one limper, I weakly fold the qs/jd on the button.

The small blind limps with 6.27 and I check with 7h/Kd. I probably have the best hand, but no reason to get excited and get involved with a big pot with it. The flop is 8h/6d/4s. SB leads out for a nickel. I have a gut shot straight draw where I can probably get a fair bit out of him but more importantly, I have position and the belief he will fold the turn.

Speaking of turns, that miracle 5d hits, giving me the straight. He bets another nickel. I can either call or charge him if he is drawing to the backdoor flush. Also, if he is on a draw, he probably puts no more in on the river. If he has an over pair or set, it is probably all going in.
I re-pop to .20 and he obliges me with a call. The only hand I am nervous about is 7/9 and it is unlikely. The river is the 2h.

He comes out firing .30, his biggest bet yet. I do not want to scare him away so I just re-raise to .85 and he calls. He had the 3h/4h…the smaller straight. How did I not double up here? Good play on his part, I think there is a good chance I would have gotten stacked here if the situation was reversed.

Cutoff limps with 4.69, in the small blind I have the Jh/5h. I briefly consider playing it. Assuming the big blind checks I am getting 4-1. But I am out of position hoping to flop the 4th nut flush…I fold.

With a raise, call, and re-raise ahead of me, folding the 6s/4s in the small blind is easy for me. If I am not playing for the Jack high flush, I am definitely not playing a suited one-gapper out of position. Maybe if I were a better player…or calling would not take 16% of my stack.

Furthermore, I would not have called the re-re-raise all in, so I saved .42 cents.

Early position 7h-10h sees a raise and is an easy fold.

In the hi-jack with 8d/4d I am considering a raise, but when the guy before me limps I fold again. I like raising with hands like this which can either A) win the blinds or B) have solid position and a possibility..slim, but possibility…of flopping a decent draw. I do not like calling with weak hands and it is certainly not worthy of a re-raise.If someone calls, I certainly have a weaker hand than they do and am not going to like very many flops. Now I am involved in a raised pot with a trash hand. If someone reraises, I have to fold. So cutting out the middle man and folding now seems wise.

So the stats so far:
I open folded 10 times.
I folded when limped to 9 times.
I folded to a raise 8 times.
I open raised and folded to a reraise once.
I called a limp and folded to a re-raise once.
29 pre-flop folds.

I open raised twice and had everyone fold to me, so 3 open raises total.

Twice I was limped to in the big blind and checked.

Once it was folded to me in the big blind.

34 hands so far. Good start. A little behind, but I think I am playing well.

2010-11-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

For the most part I have been trying to just “play my cards” with a few exceptions…the call the continuation bet on the flop, then raise the turn when they check it move being the most obvious exception.

But sometimes I mis-play pre-flop which is dangerous. Playing 2/5, second hand of the session, utg+1 opens to .17 with 1.93, cut-off calls with 3.15, and on the button with Kd/Ac I have a choice; I can fold…too weak…call…bad idea…or raise, the best option.

The early raise represents almost any playable hand…any pocket pair, almost any suited hand, A/10+, maybe even just connectors. I used to have a tighter range for others, but the more I play, the more I see that the above range is more accurate.

Same for the call. And all too often, if I re-raise here, one is almost certain to fold and both are likely to do so. But if I let them see a cheap flop I will almost certainly get drawn out on by even the most modest of holdings.

Being a poor player, for whatever reason, I simply call and let them in cheaply.

The flop is horrible for my hand…5c/9c/6h. UTG+1 checks and the cut-off min-bets. This flop hit a lot of those hands I fear…but it missed a lot, too. The check screams extreme…either he missed the flop completely and will fold to any bet or else he hit it hard and wants to check-raise. I seriously doubt he has something like A/6s which he might bet to protect.

The min-bet screams pure weakness and trying to steal the pot. I elect to ignore my cards and play my read. I re-raise to .35 and am happy to see them both fold. However, had the cut-off called, then checked the turn, I would bet again. If he bet the turn, I probably fold since at that point I have to believe he has part or all of the flop.

An example of why I have widened my starting ranges for opponents follows: UTG+1 opens to .15 with 24.55, I fold, mp calls with 7.62, next guy also calls with 3.10. With .52 in the pot, including the blinds, a raise and two calls, the button goes all in 5.36 and gets a call from the small blind with 3.11.

To make that raise, I would expect queens or better, and from the call Kings, Aces, or Big Slick. The button shows Jacks…a hair worse than expected, but at the edge of believable range. Many people over-value them because they are paint. I used to but have backed off that considerably.

The small blind shows eights..just flat-out bad.The best he could expect to be up against was a coin-flip, the worst would be exactly where he was…under pair versus over pair. And just because I know I will be curious later…the Jacks held up, including hitting their set on the river.

This ends up being a very nice session. I end with about 1.40 to the good...28 big blinds. More importantly, I do so without being all in, playing any big pots...just picking up a bit here and there, mostly by raising good hands close to the button and either winning with a continuation bet on the flop or, more rarely, calling flop continuation bets, then betting the turn when they check or folding when they bet.

It is a pretty good formula I should follow more often.

Stacking off light

2010-11-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

I start out playing 5/10. The very first hand, I have Ac/Jh. This is one of those hands I am not overly fond of…too easy to be dominated, hit one or the other, get excited, and stack off with second best hand. Also, I am in the big blind and have mentioned before the issues with playing a hand out of the gate.
But when the small blind open-limps, it becomes a much stronger hand, is a clear raise, I do so, and he folds. In the great scheme of things, not a very exciting hand…but it is the correct play and one I need to be more willing to make.
But there are some moves I am often too willing to make…like getting it all in pre-flop with A/K. But sometimes I wonder if I really am too willing…
UTG+1 click-raises with 6.26, the small blind then goes all in 3.50 and gets called. The WORST hand I want to see here is maybe Queens…but probably Kings v. Aces. What I actually see is the small blind show Jacks…and get called by treys. Of course, the treys get rewarded for playing even worse than the Jacks and turn a boat.
Both players, in my opinion, played poorly. The click-raise screamed exactly what it was…a drawing hand that wanted to see the flop cheap. The Jacks risked way too much for no reason…a simple raise to .75 sees if oyur opponent is serious, and then if you want to be over-aggressive, you shove on the 8 high flop.
The treys are no better than a coin flip and are getting nowhere near the right odds to call. Horrible play, an easy fold.
UTG+1 click-raises with 1.18 and, in the big blind, I re-pop to .65 with Jacks and 4.48. When utg+1 calls, it leaves just .53 behind and it is a 100% guarantee that any flop other than maybe J/J, I am shoving the flop.
I get a 6h/8h/3c flop, shove, and get called. I figure to be ahead of something like A/x suited…but am even further ahead as she shows Ks/Qh. Of course, she turns the Queen and Rivers the King to take the pot…but I still think I played it correctly. I got her to put it in bad as a 3-1 dog, she just hit her outs.
The problem is, it makes me more aggressive and not in a good way. UTG+1 limps with 6.27, mp flats with 11.29, and I am on the button with Ac/Ks. Two people have shown weakness, I am obviously raising. I bump it to .60, anticipating one of them thinking it is just a position raise and calling.
They will then check the flop, I will raise, take down the pot, and life is good.
But the big blind, with 10.45, spoils the plan with a re-pop to 2.05. Now, the first thought should always be big pair, like Q/Q+. Of course, when I raise from the button after a couple of limpers, he can anticipate me having a wider range, so by extension might widen his own to say…10/10+, A/10+, A/x suited to re-raise.
Now I have a choice. If I call, it leaves me 1.20 behind. Folding is a viable option here, but calling is really not. This is a very clear all-in or fold.
I talk myself into thinking he has a wide range, that I have fold equity, and barring all that I might get lucky. It is that last prt that bothers me…I go all-in hoping to get lucky, thinking I am probably behind and might even be drawing super thin against Kings or Aces…but I do go all-in.
And for the second time in two races…I lose.
There is a very real sense that this hand was directly related to the prior one…I was feeling like it was “my turn” and I got loose at a bad time. That is poor play and a real hole in my game.
I know a lot of players do not mind getting it all in on a coin-flip and when I get down a bit, it is something I am all too willing to do. Thing is…I would rather do it with the made hand than the chaser.

Anyway, having gotten stacked, but still wanting to play and at that moment not realizing how poorly I played the second portion, I decide to drop down to 2/5 and keep playing. And sure enough, first hand, big blind with Ac/8c I check the big blind with 2 other players in the hand.
We all check the Kd/10c/6h flop. The turn actually gives me a draw when the 4c hits. We check to the short stack with 1.21 who bets the pot. The second stack, with 1.85 calls and with 2.00 and the nut flush draw, I also call.
There is an argument to be made for raising here, trying to either win the pot there or build a bigger pot if I river my hand but, having just gotten stacked on a loose raise, I go the conservative, pot control route.
The river is the Ah. Great. Now I have top pair, weak kicker on a board with straight, 2 pair and set possibilities. We all check and my hand beats the 6d/7d and 9h/js hands to take a small pot.
As by–the-book and inconsequential as this hand was in a vacuum, in the great sceme of the overall session, it was very important. It got me thinking again and playing better.
I pick up a couple small pots where I correctly read weakness and probably drive off better hands or missed draws. On the button with 2.54 I open to .15 with Js/Kd. The small blind calls with 10.75. Weird thing is…somehow I knew he was going to before he did and, with absolutely no evidence, I put him on a weak hand that plans to just take away the pot on the flop.

Sure enough the flop comes Qc/2h/8h and he leads out for .15. I do not even hesitate but re-pop to .45. I am not surprised when he calls, but I expect a check-fold on the turn.

The turn is the 5s, he takes his time and bets .20. I again re-pop, this time to .65, and again I expect a fold but get another nasty surprise as he calls.

Now I am a bit nervous. He called pre-flop, led out and called on the flop, led out and called on the turn. He has thrice shown strength, and it is probably time to cut my losses. I start looking at the board.
10/J+ with a Jack in hand, maybe something like A/8 suited, or even a heart draw of some sort seem the most likely hands. Maybe some sort of small to medium pair.

The river is the 7d, he surprises me by checking. I then make a huge mistake and shove my last 1.29 all in into 2.50 and…he folds. Had to have been a missed flush draw?

I think I mis-played this hand…but even though he showed strength in calling, he also showed weakness with the defensive bets. I go back and forth between thinking I scared away a missed flush and scared away a stronger hand like top pair, weak kicker or second pair.

In middle position I pick up 2 black aces. I have had people folding to my raises so make a weird play, upping my raise to 4x the bb with 3.38. It works as I get the big blind to call with 1.75. This is good and bad…good because I got action on my Aces, bad because I know me…if he hits his hand, he is doubling through me because having him covered but with Aces, it would take a stupendously bad flop and an incredible read for me to fold.
That is an admitted weakness in my game that has gotten me stacked several times.

The flop does not come close to scaring me…10d/3d/6h. I am behind pockets matching those and weird 2 pair hands that I would struggle to believe…10/6, 10/3, 6/3…maybe suited cards that flopped lucky?
He leads out to .15 and I love that…if he has a set, he check-raises me. Here it is more like he has A/x suited that hit one of the cards, maybe a small to medium pair or maybe even something like A/Q.

I re-pop to .60 and am pretty happy he calls it. I figure the hand is done, though, as he probably check-folds the turn.

The turn is the 2c, he checks, I put him all in and he calls.

There are not a lot of draws so I figure he has the 10 or a diamond draw…but he shows pocket 7s, the river bricks and I get maximum value from my Aces for a change.

So I start getting aggressive…opening from middle position with J/10 and continuation betting a/a/9 flops, that sort of thing. My stack is growing, mostly with no resistance on or before the flop. And then I get into a hand by accident.

The button opens with a click-raise with 2.00 and I elect to call with rather modest holdings, the Qs/6s. Usually I fold this, but for whatever reason, seeing the click raise and having the 3rd nut flush draw, I decide to take a flyer.

The problem with this sort of play is knowing what to do when you hit a pair…like say…an 8d/Qd/2d flop. I have top pair, no kicker, on a flush-heavy board. I check, he bets .15 and I….call?

Well…something to be said for keepint the pot small. Something more to be said for either A) folding in a bad situation where I am risking 2 bucks with a pair of Queens that might be drawing to an infitesimile chance against a made flush. Very little to be gained by raising.

The turn is the 10s, I check again. He takes his time and bets .25. If he bet straight out I probably fold here, but since he hesitated…I do not think he has the flush and, in fact, by his hesitation the 10 seems possible but unlikely…more like he had the 8 on the flop maybe and did not think a Queen was likely? I now think there is a chance I am ahead but still no reason to play a big pot. I call.

The river is the Ac. If he had something like Kd/9c, I am ahead. If he flopped the flush I am way behind. Other than that I could be anywhere in the hand, but based on his turn bet I think I am probably behind. I will call a small bet, but not very big. I check and am pretty happy when he checks behind.
He flips up the 10c/9d. SO now his play makes a bit more sense. Standard position open/continuation bet. His hand improved on the turn with second pair, modest flush draw. No need to bet the river and get raised off it by a check-raised flush type hand.

This is another case where I am not real sure I played the hand right…pre-flop, flop and turn folds all make sense. But I stuck with a modest hand and got lucky when it held up.

But it also feeds into my feeling that this session, people are playing loose and a wide range. He put in 2 bets on a dangerous board too…a few raises take it down pre-flop, a few more take it down on the flop and even after loosing a sizable pot, I have 4.96 and open utg+1 to .15 with Ac/Kd. The next seat calls with 3.65 and the big blind comes along with 17.96.

The flop is nice…6h/4h/Kc. Some chance there is a set, better chance I will face a draw, but with top pair, top kicker I like my hand. BB checks, I make a pot size bet to drive out the draws and utg+2 click-raises, the big blind folds.

His raise screams “you were just continuation betting, go away”. I re-pop to 3.29, expecting him to fold, but he re-raises to 3.50 all in. Oh nuts. He has pocket 4s or 6s…but now with my big raise, I am committed and the .21 cent call is easy even thinking I am crushed.

I am surprised to be ahead. He has pocket queens and walked into big slick. For once I win a big pot with top-top, getting max value from it.

In fact, it is such a big pot that after stacking off light at 5/10 and putting in another 2, I am still up over 2.00.

When I open-raise 2.70 with Aces, I realize I am now playing afraid to give back my gains. That is a recipe for disaster, so I shut it down.

But it was suited

2010-11-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

MP limps with 19.80, the button limps with 4.30, the small blind waits a bit and then limps with 10.57 and I check in the big blind with 4c/As.

I always get nervous when someone waits that long and then flat-calls. Sometimes they have a drawing hand and are determining whether to play it…but often, they have a big hand and are trying to figure out how to get a big pot. I am not going to be overly happy if an Ace hits.

The flop is 4d/6d/Jd. The small blind leads right out for .30 and I am done with the hand. A/J, pocket Jacks, 6s, 4s…Queens or better…I believe any and all of these. My 4s with nice kicker draw thin against his range and with 3 more players to act…easy fold.

MP calls, the other two fold.

Turn is the 9s and sb raises .50 and gets a call. With a big flop like that and this play, no re-raise, I think someone might have the flush, all those sets are also possible, and maybe a lower flush or even something goofy like a straight draw or Ad/J some other suit.

The river is the 9d. The small blind leads out for a buck. MP hesitates, the raises all in, 3.40. It is now 2.40 to call to over 6 bucks…

Small Blind has been raising all the way and wanted to raise pre-flop…set? Which, of course, is now a full house? I would not be surprised by pocket Jacks, pocket aces, or a flopped flush.
The other guy called/called/re-raised. He HAS to have the flush, and the way it played…just one card to the flush. He has the Ace of diamonds…OR a full house?

I am not surprised when he shows the Ad/2h. He got in cheap, called on the nut flush draw, and went all in when he hit it. I had him pretty much nailed.

I am a bit surprised by the small blind; Jc/Kd, the second nut flush. He flopped top pair, good kicker, led out on every street and had a strong flush.

On the one hand, his hand is weaker than I thought…I put too much emphasis on his pre-flop hesitation. With 3 limpers, K/J off is a raising hand out of position only if you are stupendously good or a weak player.

On the other hand…he played it strong even in the face of what could easily have been a boat or flopped flush. I need to think about this hand from a few angles. At the moment, the only play I am ecstatic with is mine…I got out cheap.

MP opens to .35 with 9.90, the button requests time and then calls with 11.16, the big blind bumps it to .90 with 11.16, mp folds, the button requests time and then calls.

About now I think this clown is multi-tabling more tables than he can handle but has a hand worth playing…decent to good pockets or suited connectors the suited connector type hand. The big blind had a mp raise and caller and still re-raised…J/J+, A/K, A/Js+ is about his range I think.

The flop is Qh/6d/Ah. Now the big blind takes his time, then bets 1.00 into about 1.80, so slightly better than half the pot and gets a quick call. I would not be surprised by set over set, set vs. top two, or A/K type hands.

The turn is the Ad, again the blind takes his time, then bets a buck. He gets click-raised and quickly calls. One of them has to have the Ace, and I am leaning towards it being the button.
The river is the 8d, hitting exactly no likely hands. The bb checks, the button raises 3 bucks, the big blind check-raises all in and the button calls the last 4.26.

I would not be surprised to see both with an ace, quads fit here, so does a full house with A/Q, pocket Q, A/6…or maybe just trips.

The big blind shows pocket kings, the button As/10s.

I guess I should not be surprised by the bb hand as when the second Ace falls, he probably discounts the possibility of the button having an Ace. I am not overly surprised by the button hand, though it is a softer Ace than expected, but the “its suited” cry justifies it to many players.

Suited cards get way over-valued. I fold Ad/Jc from utg+1, mp click-raises with 4.64, the cut-off raises to .75 with 10.10, the button calls with 11.81, and the small blind raises to 9.90 all in. Aces, Kings, or big slick? MAYBE queens. And gets a call from the cut-off…same hands.

SM shows…Ac/10c. “But they were suited” and sees the cut-offs pocket queens flop a set and turn a boat. Who raises all in over a raise, re-raise and call with a suited Ace? What a huge risk (and loss, in this case) for a 1 in 15 chance.

I can honestly say… I would NEVER have put him on that hand. I thought the Queens were a loose call and would not have loved a call with Kings (though I would have done it).

UTG takes his time, then limps with 4.49 and, in the big blind, I check with 9s/4c and 6 even, not too happy to play a garbage hand out of position.

The flop is 6c/9c/5s. I consider raising, but decide to go for the check-raise instead. He raises .25, slightly over the pot and I decide instead to keep the pot small, just calling.

The turn is the 2c, changing nothing. He could have something like 7/8, 8/9 type draws. I check, he bets .75 and again I flat it. There is a flush on the board, he could have a good pair, 2 pair, or A/9. I am not too excited about top pair, no kicker.

The river is the 3s. Okay, I backed into the second highest straight on a board with vague flush possibilities. He has shown strength ever since the flop.

He bets 1.50. I figure he has top pair or better, maybe a medium flush, or something like 2 pair. I am not happy about it but I think I have to call here. I do with my straight and he shows… 10c/Kd. K/10 high. I take down a nice pot with about

I do wonder, though, if I am making a mistake by not playing more flush draws. As these hands show, people WILL pay a flush off if they do not believe it. That is an element I need to add in to my game.

Big or small

2010-11-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Playing 5/10, I know going in I will almost always lose the first hand. I do not want to get involved with sub-par holdings out of position right off the bat, so will almost always fold when raised to unless I have a pair or Big Slick type hands…so I figure to play roughly 1 in 17 big blind hands.

I have occasionally wondered if I should start with a weird amount like 4.27 or something so they do not know it is my first hand…maybe at higher levels I will but I am not sure how many people are aware enough at this level to make it worthwhile.

In this case the button click-raises with 14.70, the small blind calls with 8.50 and I have 8c/10c and am calling .10 to win .50…5-1 with suited connectors against what is probably a position raise with soft cards seems like a decent idea. I call as well.

The flop is vaguely interesting…7s/ad/9s. There is an excellent chance one of my esteemed opponents possesses and Ace, a smaller yet viable chance one has a Spade draw, and even the chance someone will hang around with something like the J/10 hoping to hit their gut shot.

We check to the button who hesitates and then bets the pot. The small blind folds and I elect to call, tentatively putting him on the ace and figuring I can take a nice pot if I hit my straight.

The turn is the 10h, at least giving me a small pair but also hitting a few not unlikely hands such as the aforementioned J/10 so I am not overly excited about it. It also makes it so if I should hit the Jack for a straight, a Q/K type hand…very believable for the button…might hit it harder. I check and am pretty happy when he checks behind.

The river is all kinds of ugly, the Ks. Now there is a flush, a couple straight draws, and 3 cards that make a higher pair. I am beating medium pairs and that is about it. I check, planning to fold to virtually any bet, but he checks behind with pocket 4s and I start the session with a nice .70 pickup.

I also like that I played the hand in such a way as to keep the pot small and manageable.

I continue the theme when the button opens to .30 with 15.84 and, with 4.52, I look down at pocket 9s in the small blind.

Often here I will re-raise, and certainly there is something to be said for that move. But it is a move better made with a little stronger hand…say Jacks or better.

To open on a button, people have a pretty wide range…any suited hand, any pair, any connectors, suited or not…and often enough, even just a dry face card or better.

Against that range I am in pretty good shape with Jacks, but significantly less likely to win unimproved with nines. When I re-raise, the pot is going to be at least 2 bucks if they call, I will have 3 behind and be in a tough spot if the board has 2 or 3 big cards on it.

By flat-calling, the pot is smaller and I have more room to play with maneuvers like check-raises on favorable boards. So I think it would be prudent to call more and raise less IN THIS SPECIFIC SITUATION. I am out of position for the entire hand with what is a drawing hand, I want to play a small pot unless I hit it hard.

I pretty much like the flop. 2s/4c/Qh. Sure, any hand like 10/Q+ is ahead, but unlikely. No obvious draws…I am in pretty good shape. I check, planning to check-raise a small bet, call anything up to about the size of the pot, and fold to a huge bet. He bets .40, about half the pot, and I call.

The turn is harmless, the 7c. Here is where I like having position. If I am behind him, he checks, I am confident and lead out with a bet, expecting a fold. Acting first, I still think I am ahead but want to keep the pot small so I check. He checks behind and, unless an Ace or King hits the river, I am pretty sure I am ahead.

The river is the 3d. I almost raise but, if he has something like a Q/5 suited type hand, he will still call but will not raise lest I have a better queen. I think I will only get called by hands that beat me or MAYBE something like pocket 8s.

At the same time, he might raise with something like A/7 or A/4 type hands, and I will call even a pot-size bet with the way the hand played out.

He checks behind and shows 3c/9h, a complete position bet/continuation bet bluff. I might have gotten a small call out of him when he hit the river…but I think I played the hand correctly. Small pot with decent but not great hand…then again, maybe this is one of those “value bet thin” opportunities. Bet thin or try to induce the bluff?

Of course, it is not always good to keep the pot small. Middle position limps with 9.69 and, on the button, I have Ac/Qc and 5.07. I think this is clearly a situation to raise it to about .50, but I elect to call and play for the flush. This lets the small blind and big blind in cheaply, and essentially means even flopping an Ace or Queen is not so good as I will have no clue if anyone got in cheap and hit a low two pair type thing.

The small blind completes with 13.29 and the big blind checks with 7.09. So now we are 4-handed and I have just Ace high…

And the flop is as wonderful/horrible/frightening/great potential as I could hope for. Ah/Kd/10d. There are all sorts of draws, the A/K I doubt and A/10 I would believe just out-flopped me as did just the type of hands I might have let in cheap…Q/J, K/10.

It is checked to me and I face a decision. If I am ahead and check, I let in some draws for nothing. If I raise, I will face a check-raise from hands that have me beat and some that don’t and have a decision of my own. Or I could try to draw at the 3 clean outs I have if behind.
This is a case where a pre-flop raise would have identified at least some of the potential…having failed once, I elect to raise, thinking someone might read it as a position raise and re-pop in which case I would test them with a big re-pop…but they all fold.

I really think this was not the best way to play the hand; I let people in cheaply and thus either A) made less than I should have or B) gave them excellent odds to out-draw me. Admittedly, this is a high reward play…if I hit the flush, it will be surprising to people that I would limp here so I can make a good deal…but the odds against it are high, it does NOT fit the style I play best…play a lot of small pots and big ones only with made hands.

But it would be a vast improvement in my game to get a better handle on pot control and, when I have marginal hands, do a better job of keeping the pot smaller, particularly out of position.

Mistakes I make

2010-11-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

At some point I am down to about 1.16, decide to add in more coin. This is a mistake. If I were willing to risk more, I should start with more. Better to stop playing than to piece-meal add in small amounts.

UTG limps with 5.60, utg+1 click-raises with 7.82, b click-raises to .15 with 2.42 and gets two calls. Already I have seen three people making plays I dislike. The limp screams either weakness or trapping with K/K+. But if trapping, he should re-raise which leads one to believe he is playing a drawing hand of some sort.

The click raises scare nobody away, price in drawing hands, and are just pointless.

The flop is deadly…Jc/Kc/Ac. This hits all sorts of hands these guys might hold. BB leads out for .47. Where did that come from? When I see someone click-raise pre-flop then overbet post flop they typically have either the nuts or close to it…or a busted draw, like small to medium pairs, and are trying to save their previously decent hand by fear-raises.

He draws a fold and a call.

With a flop like that you certainly hope someone has the flush or something like A/K or maybe a set. The pre-flop betting argues against every set with the POSSIBLE exception of Jacks, but wow…flush, straight, straight flush, 2 pair, set. Those are the likely hands.

The turn is the Jh. Now a potential full house with something like A/J or pocket Kings or Aces enters the picture and both guys check. What a weird hand.

The river is the 3c, making a flush even more likely and yet again the bb makes a weird bet, raising .20. He either has a flush, boat…or missed completely and is trying to keep the pot small.
If he wanted a big pot he gets his wish as mp goes all in and he snap-calls.

MP had pocket Aces. Okay, the way he played makes sense AFTER the flop…his pre-flop play I think was poor, but then again…he managed to get it all in with a decent pot.

Post flop he plays a small pot with a set on a dangerous board, he slow-plays the full house on the turn and pounces on the river.

Meanwhile, the big blind, who played super weird beginning to end shows…pocket Jacks. So his weak pre-flop bet sort of makes sense…though a flat call or real raise still would have been better.

He hits his set on the flop and, afraid of the flush tries to over bet. Of course, he will only get WORSE hands to fold and, in fact, is merely called by a better set.

He also slow-plays the turn when he hits the second nuts (he still loses to Qc/10c) and then tries to induce the big re-raise with his betting in reverse.

What bizarre hand, and the poor Aces…what a beat.

Having gotten down to 2.54, I work my way to about 4 with a series of shrewd, aggressive but “standard” plays.

UTG click-raises after his time bank almost expires with 3.26, everyone folds and with 6/8 spades I decide to call. This is a move I fold about 2/3 of the time and call about a third, and I seldom have any real rationale behind which choice I make. This is a real hole in my game.

The flop is the 3s/10c/10h. I check, if he breathes on it I fold and move on, but he checks behind. The turn is the 7c, I now have a draw but nothing to write home about…gut shot straight to the ignorant end. I check, he bets .10…and inexplicably I call.

If a club calls, I plan to raise the river, but it is a poor, poor plan indeed. The river is the 9c…now I hit my straight. I am losing to a flush, 9/J, 10/7, 10/9 or 10/3. The way the hand played out, I am not real nervous about that. I could see it being almost any pocket pair, maybe a suited ace, or even something like A/7, K/7 type hand.

I lead out for .30, he takes his time and raises to 1.00. Now I have a decision. If I think he has slow-played a big hand…hidden boat, maybe the flush…I am calling .70 to win 1.70, about 2.5-1, a little less than…I only have to be wrong one in three to win the hand. I might fold here if I strongly believe this read…but I do not think so.

If I think he is playing something I am beating…poorly played Kings, lets say, or A/10 type hands…I re-raise. This is actually where I think he is at. I think I am ahead.

But there are just too many hands that beat me. If he is betting on the come when the flush draw arrives, I should fold. If he slow-played the boat I should fold. If I am ahead, I go all in.

My hand has show-down value but is not really strong enough to re-raise so I finally decide to flat call. I think I am ahead but have just enough fear I am behind that I decide to just see his bet instead of re-raising. If I am right, I win a pot, if I am wrong I do not go broke.

Good decision…he shows pocket tens. He flopped quads. And for the first time in a while, I am super happy with my play, even though I lost 1.20 on the hand. But I hit a big hand, thought I was ahead, but took the prudent route and, while I did not lose to the hand I feared (flush), I did not push a marginal but beatable hand. Go me!

So now I am down to 2.75 but feeling good about it. So good I open to .10 utg with pocket threes, a hand I routinely fold in that situation…but a real flaw in my game that after I lose to a huge hand and/or with a big hand, I often ramp up the aggression and often pay for it.

UTG+1 calls with 4.79 and then middle position goes all in for .32, it is folded back around to me.
Now, normally I fold here. I am either behind or in a coin flip with the all in and thus getting poor odds, if I call I face the prospect of a re-raise. When I am playing well, I believe this is a fold. But this time, I look at the low cost of losing if NOT re-raised and elect to call.

My bad play is made somewhat better when utg+1 also calls.

The flop is pretty good, Qd/7d/3h. I flopped bottom set. This is a pretty clear raise…and I check hoping he will raise so I can check-raise him. There is no reason to think he will…he has been very passive so far. He checks behind.

The turn is the 6s and now I (belatedly) spring into action, betting the pot. So I compound my poor pre-flop and flop play with a bad bet…I should just bet half the pot here.

He folds and…well, I always should have called the first guy, who shows 8h/4h.

Actually, I still should have folded…I was not getting the correct odds to call and did not know he had such a horrible hand.

Of course, this pales in comparison to a play I make later on a Jack high board where I think a guy is on a flush draw and get it all in...and am beat by second pair, thus letting you know I was on a pure bluff and gave away all the progress I had made.

Risk versus reward

2010-11-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

I start playing again. UTG limps with 1.76, mp calls with 19.37, and 4.56, hijack calls with 3.13, , and on the button I also call with 1.95 and pocket deuces. In the small blind I look at pocket 2s…easiest call ever. I am not re-raising here as I WILL get action and WON’T like it.

The big blind checks and we take the flop 7 handed.

If I am going to play a 7-handed pot, I like hitting a set on a 10c/9d/2h flop. Two possible sets, a lot of draws, and the probability someone has an over pair. MP2 bets .37, folded to me with just one person left to act…re-raise or try to bring him along? I decide to see if I can triple up and flat, but he folds anyway.

I figure the range is one of the two aforementioned sets, J/10, 10/9, Q/K, or bigger pair. The turn is kind of ugly, the 8h, he shoves 1.34 and I know I am calling but…

If he has J/Q I am drawing thin, if he has pocket 8s, 9s, or 10s I am also in deep trouble, but other than that I look good and I am just not good enough to more than consider folding in passing. I know I am calling, even with the sinking feeling I am tossing off another 1.34 with the worst hand.

I am wrong..he has top pair, decent kicker…10h/qh. So he also has the flush draw. So he has 7 hearts that make the flush (the 10 and 9 give me a boat), plus 3 jacks for a total of 10 outs…I am a 5-1 favorite, my hand holds up and I take down a nice pot.

When my hands hold up, this game is easy!

The very next hand I make a mistake. The button limps with 6.07, the small blind completes with 4.81 and I look down at the cowboys. Not wanting to give away some of my newfound chip wealth, I over-raise to .90 and they both fold.

I played scared. I should have just made a standard raise to .25 or .30 cents and seen how it went. I had a strong hand against two weak ones, that would charge them for their draws. But I knew I would see it to the river even if obviously beat and instead of adjusting my post-flop play, I made a bad raise.

From middle position I open to .15 with Jc/Kc. This is a play I make on occasion when people are folding a lot. I mostly expect to pick up the blinds or at worst, pick up a small pot with a flop continuation bet if called by one player. The next seat calls with 3.95 and the small blind elects to come along with just .80.

The 9h/Ad/Qs flop does not make me ecstatic…with just .65 behind, I figure the small blind probably has the Ace, I am drawing to 4 tens. He checks, I make one of my rare flop checks after a pre-flop bet, and the next guy leads out for .28.

The blind takes his time, then click-raises, leaving himself just .09 behind. I think I am behind, I am getting horrible odds, and am in danger of getting hit with the squeeze play if I call. I make the disciplined and, I believe, correct fold. Guy behind calls.

The turn is hysterical…10H. I would have hit my straight. They get the last .10 in and I figure the mp guy has to have something like A/10+, maybe even pockets, something that hit the flop and big blind probably some sort of ace.

Well, big blind proves looser than expected…Qc/10c, so he called with poor odds to hit his flush. MP shows As/4h.

On the bright side, my read was correct insofar as believing I was behind. I made the correct play. But it really reminds me I might be playing too tight because players like this I want to be in more hands with.

I make a couple of standard plays that do not work, hit a few blinds and suddenly have lost 2/3rd of my stack, down to 1.26. UTG+1 I click the wrong button and raise to .10 with pocket 3s. I wanted to raise to .15. It is folded to the big blind who goes all-in 18.35.

What an idiot. On the bright side, it makes it a very easy fold for me…no matter his hand, the only thing I am ahead of is A/2 or pocket deuces, and best case scenario is a race. Enjoy that .10 win. Big risk for little gain unless you had Aces.

Of course, it is also possible he had a poor hand and got what he wanted...picking up .10 for no risk. But way too much risk for no gain.

Coin Flip

2010-11-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

After the debacle with the jacks, I step down to 2/5 for a bit. This is a mixed choice; on the one hand, starting with 40bb means there is just a couple bucks at risk. On the down side, a missed flop or two puts you in bad shape.

I manage to get down to .92 without seeing a river with a couple times folding to big turn check or re-raises. So when I pick up pocket Queens, it is part of the plan to see the river or have won by then.

UTG takes their time then opens to .15 with 3.04, the hijack flats with 5 even and, in the small blind, I go all in. This is probably my best decision, but lets think about it for a second.

The advantage to going all in is I will see the river. I have the third best starting hand, there is already .37 in the pot, I gain fold equity and have a good chance of getting at least one fold.

The disadvantage is I might be looking to triple up here and letting them see the flop, they might catch a worse hand but enough to call me. But if the flop is scary, I might hesitate. I am not a good enough player to play dangerous with tough decisions, so for me, at this point, I believe it is the proper play to shove.

It works out for me when one guy folds, the other calls with 8s and my queens hold up. But just because it works out in one instance does not mean it is the correct strategy.

Being in the small blind, if I merely call here the pot is .50 or so and I have .77 left. Any continuation bet pot-commits me so I am shoving the flop. The difference is that now they have seen the flop. If they hit something like 2 pair they call, if not they do not. It just seems like more risk for the same or less reward than getting it all in when I believe I am ahead.

So now I am at 1.65 and folding like mad. UTG opens to .15 with 5.00, I fold, middle position flat-calls with 2.57, the small blind raises to .55 with 5.00, utg re-pops to 5.00 all in and gets called by middle position and the small blind.

With this action I expect to see one of 4 hands from utg: Aces, Kings, Queens or big slick. Actually, the worst hand I expect to see from anyone is Jacks or better, weighted heavily towards pairs and one player having big slick.

UTG and the small blind each have Aces, so their moves definitely make sense. Middle position has…pocket 6s?

He had the smallest number of chips, true…but with a raise, caller, re-raise, and re-re-raise, he has to know at least one of them has a big pair, q/q+…so he is way behind and not getting the right price to call here. He needs 8-1 and is getting 3-1 at best, and that only if the blind over-calls.

I would like to think I do not make that play, but…

Having been hit by just one blind, I open to .15 from middle position with 1.60. The big blind re-pops to .46 with 5.07.

What a weird amount. It is not a pot bet…he has to deliberately make that weird amount. My best move here is probably a fold; I am drawing thin against any over-pair, and his range here is somewhat narrow…eights or better, suited Ace, maybe A/10+?

I widen it a bit because he is the big blind and I was middle position, and also because people with the habit of making non-standard bet amounts tend to also have non-standard starting, raising and re-raising requirements.

If I am behind a bigger pair I am really playing for a set as I am relatively short-stacked so any draw is going to take my whole stack and not give proper odds. So I really need 8-1 on a call…there is .32 in the pot and I have to call .31, so just about 2-1.

Curiously, I choose to think he is on a move and might lay it down, so I re-raise all-in 1.60.

He snap-calls as anyone who played the hand as he would did and his hand is at the top end of his range, A/K. IT is irrelevant that the tens hold up…I think I mis-played the hand. When he re-raised from the big blind, he represented a strong hand, and I had a medium strength pair. More caution might be better in the future.

There is really no need to get involved in coin flip situations unless I am sure I am on the positive side of it. Pick my spots better, have better results.

Jacked up

2010-11-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

When I see a hand that goes to show-down, sometimes I like to play along with it and see how close to their holdings I can get. Early middle position open limps with 12.19 and the big blind checks with 11.01.

Okay, we know very little so far. The limper probably has some sort of drawing hand like pocket 6s or worse, suited connectors, maybe something like J/10 or a suited hand that doesn’t match…Q/3s type garbage. The big blind could have pretty much any two cards.

The 6c/3s4s hits a few hands, misses a lot. The big blind leads out for .20, a pot size bet essentially. He could easily have something like 4/8 or A/3, he could have a couple spades, he could have 2 big cards or even pockets that match the board.

The limper click-raises…this feels like a “I see your fish bet and want to see if you will fold.” The big blind flats it. So now we have a pot of about a buck.

The turn is the 4c, the big blind checks, the limper does the ultra-fishy .10 min-bet probably expecting a fold. Instead he sees a check-raise over pot-size to 1.35.

Right abut now I figure the big blind has some hand with a 4 in it. It fits his play perfectly…he had a poor hand pre-flop, hit a small part of the flop, wanted to see if his hand was good. The re-raise priced him in. The turn gives him three of a kind, he is looking good.

I revise that judgement when the limper re-pops to 11.69 all in. He has to have something like pocket 6s or pocket threes here? How do you do that without a super-strong hand? You just saw a big check-raise.

The big blind calls. I expect to see set over set or set vs. something like 10/4 trash that hit the four.

The limper shows a hand that fit my initial profile…4d/6d. He flopped two pair, turned the boat. The big blind…show 8s/5h? What? He called all in on a gut-shot straight draw? He is drawing dead and loses a 20.25 pot playing the board plus his 8. What a tool.

I do not have words to describe this. I mean, I think my analysis was pretty sound…IF he was a sound player. But he called a huge re-raise of his check-raise all in when literally the ONLY hands he could beat were 2/7 and 2/8. Those are the ONLY two possible holdings he could beat. Any other holding has either a higher card or paired the board.

His check-raise was kind of cool, he read weakness and pounced on it. However, when re-raised all in, the only way this could have been a more obvious fold was if he himself held the deuce-seven. His play was fine until there and at that point he derailed horrifically.

Speaking of de-railing horrifically…

UTG+2 limps with 17.88, next guy calls with 3.34, a fold, a call with 30.61, the small blind completes with 10.15, and in the big blind, with 3.35, I look down at Jh/Js.

There are a lot of weak hands behind me…4 limps. Probably a couple small pocket pairs, suited connectors, suited card type hands. I think I can probably take it down right here and bump it to .80. The first limper calls, everyone else folds.

He still has a similar range, shading towards stronger draws or slightly larger pockets…the implied odds if someone calls behind him could allow him to make this move, plus he is at worst playing for 1/6th his stack.

I could do without the Ace on the As/10d/2c flop, but I typically continuation bet half the pot here anyway. This time I instead lead out for 1.90, leaving myself just .65 cents behind. What a bad bet on so many levels. He calls, it does not matter what he has because with .65 left I am priced into my turn shove on the 4c, even though his call pretty much screams A/x suited since there are very few draws and none that make sense.

Also possible are pocket tens or pocket deuces.

Turns out he had a worse hand than I anticipated, Ad/Qh but still more than ample to stack my poor pair of jacks.

If I bet a more reasonable .60 cents on the turn it is possible I get away from the hand, but when I overbet, against my normal style, on the flop, I was all but guaranteed to either make a worse hand fold or a better hand stack me. I played very poorly and had the expected result.

Actually, I like my pre-flop raise…I got a poor call from a hand that never should have limped. But then I made a major flop error. So some good, more bad.

Contrast that to my next hand. The cut-off open limps with 5, I am in the small blind it looked soft, I have pocket Queens and 3.90, I re-raise to .60 and the limper calls.

Again I am not overly excited about the flop…Kc/4c/Ad. This time I check and he checks behind. The turn is the 9s. I am feeling better about my hand…he could still have a soft Ace or some sort of hand that hit the King, but more likely a draw of some sort or smaller pair.

I lead out for my normal half pot bet of .60 and he calls. I like that he just flats it. He has a pretty wide range, some of which beat me, a lot of which are behind. But now, with better betting, I have 2.60 behind instead of .65, I was not locked into the hand if he came out with a big re-raise.
The river is the Js which I am also not to keen on. Q/10, pocket Jacks, any Ace or King beat me. I want to keep the pot small, I check, he checks behind and his K/Q take it down.

He played the hand cautiously, but so did I. It is possible I could have taken it down with flop, turn and river bets, but it is also likely he would have called it down and I would have gotten stacked. Even though I lost over a quarter of my stack on this hand, I think I played it vastly better than the prior hand.

Unfortunately, it leaves me with a short stack and I sometimes, after making a GOOD play like that, will make a bad play.

The small blind opens to .40 with 19.98 and, in the big blind with 2.60, I look at a pedestrian 10d/Kc. He over-raised here which could represent anything from pocket rockets on down to a 2/7 making a position raise. For some bizarre reason I decide to re-pop it to 1.20, expecting a fold. He calls.

The flop is Kh/4d/4c. I have Kings up, modest kicker, and with 1.40 left, a pot of 2.40, my aggressive pre-flop move that failed means I am pretty much locked into seeing this one through.

Now, admittedly I am pretty good against his overall range here…A/K, K/Q, K/J and anything like x/4 suited have me crushed, but I am well out in front of everything else. But still…I want the fold equity so I shove. Fortunately, he folds so he was probably on some sort of move, and my making a move wins a small pot. But it was a seriously curious move I made and I am not overly fond of my play on the hand. A fortuitous flop should not mask that.

So I bounce around getting down to about 2.88 or so, back up to 3.38, up and down in that range for a while. MP limps with 8.34, small blind completes with 3.53 and I am stuck in that position I hate…3.38, big blind being squeezed, and a horrible hand of jc/2c.

I always hit just enough of this to take a shot at it, get stubborn, and lose a bunch.

Sure enough, here comes the Js/Qc/7s. I hit middle pair, no kicker. The small blind checks, I decide to take a stab at it and bet .20.

The early limper calls and the big blind folds.

The turn is the Kc. Limp, call with one behind. He could have hit this soft, hard, or not at all. Worth taking a look at the turn. I again lead out for .30, he again calls. I am done with the hand.
The only draws that make sense are something like 9/10 or a spade draw, but many more of the hands in his range are ahead of me, including an awful lot of Queen and Jack hands, none of which I can beat.

The river is the 6d, I check, he checks behind. I figure he has to have me beat so am glad to see a showdown cheap, not so glad to have put in .50 more than I would have if someone would have just raised pre-flop so I could go away.

Fortunately, he had one of the few…very few…hands I could beat, a 5/8s for a busted flush draw and I take down a modest but nice pot for a hand I had no desire to be in.

A re-raise with suited A/k wins a pot, I fold, and then utg limps with 3.27, I limp from the hijack with 4.45 and pocket 4s, and the big blind checks with 4 even.

The flop is pretty good for such a modest holding facing one drawing hand and two random cards…8s/3d/3h. I am ahead of the vast majority of their range here. The big blind checks, the limper raises to .20. I think I have a shot at this pot and re-pop to .60.

It probably made sense when I did it, but now I find it a bit curious. It works, however, as they both fold.

34 hands later I have 4.30.MP opens to .35 with 12.11, the cut-off calls with 8.73 and on the button I look down at Js/Jh. I re-pop to 1.55 figuring they are about 70% to fold. This proves to be one of the 30% as the cut-off re-raises all in 8.73. I have 2.75 left.

His range here is A/K, A/Qs, maybe 10s or better. If I think he thinks I am making a move, drop it to A/J, A/10s+, pockets 8+.

Any way you look at it, I fare poorly against his range and should fold here. There is about 2.70 in the pot plus the 2.75 I need to call, so I am getting 2-1, but am probably needing to get 3-1 to call here.

Being an idiot, I call anyway, he shows Queens, I do not improve, and after a session I really worked to get back in the positive, I throw it all away being stubborn.

When he re-raised a re-raise, I need to be ready to release nice but not strong hands like Jacks here. It is a real weakness in my game I need to work on. Stacking off twice with Jacks is not something I am proud of. It plants me firmly in the fish camp for sure.

Stack it up

2010-11-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

After folding the first 36 hands, I open on the button with Qh/Jc, people fold, then I fold another half dozen hands. The button opens to .30 and I re-pop from small blind to .90 with Ac/Qh. He folds. I then fold 9 more hands.

Finally, on the 55th hand I am dealt into, I see a flop when I am in the big blind holding 9h/jc and people limp. I check, then fold to a bet on an 8s/2c/kc flop. They later get it all in with a full house 2s full of Kings verse trip kings.

Another 11 folds ensue. I am feeling like I will never pick up a hand. UTG+1 opens to .30 with 2.99, I call from the hijack with 3.50 and pocket 10s, the button makes a weird raise to .55 with 8.25, the big blind calls with 4 as do the initial raiser and I.

The flop is the 7f/5s/Jc. With this much action, it would not surprise me to see a set in there, nor would something like A/J or big pockets from the button. The big blind leads out for 2.10, the initial raiser folds and I have a choice.

This is not an overly dangerous board for my tens, I have been very patient, folded lots of hands, and this is the first hand that feels like it has showdown value.

However, it is not worthy of a re-raise, there is someone behind me, and I have a good chance of being behind. I am proud of the fold. I am even prouder when the guy behind me re-pops to 4.20 and the blind calls all in.

The re-raise shows pocket 5s, the initial raiser A/J. That is one of my better assessments in a long time and I got off cheap.

A bunch of folds later I pick up an actual hand, 2 red aces. UTG+1 I open to .30 with 3.37, the next guy does the click-raise nonsense with 1.75, I re-pop to 1.65 and he re-raises his last .10 all in. Perfect, I got what I wanted…heads up all in pre-flop with the best hand.

Better yet…he did that with 10/8 off.

One reason I like it when I play a lot is I get used to seeing the same moves and start understanding what they represent. I open on the button with 4.93 and the small blind calls with 18.74.

The 9d/10d/5s hits a lot of hands he could call with but misses a lot as well. He dips into the time bank and checks, I bet .40, he click raises to .80.

I think he is trying to bet me off a continuation bet. He has maybe 2 overcards, maybe a small pair, maybe a suited ace that missed. He does not have a good hand. He is betting I raised and continuation bet based on position and he thinks I have nothing. I re-raise to 1.60 and he folds.

I would like to say my pocket twos were the best hand…but I think it has more to do with my read of what he thought I had was better. Actually, his read was right…but I read his read and wrote a new chapter.

Of course, it is not always true that a re-raise means nothing.

IN middle position with 3.90 I open to .30 with pocket jacks. The next guy calls with 10 even.

The 9d/9s/qs flop feels pretty safe. Unless someone has something like A/Q I should be well ahead here. I bet .40 and he re-raises to 1.00.

So unlike the click-raise trying to lazily drive me off a standard continuation bet, this is a pot size bet re-raising more than I raised. He put some thought and effort into it. Right here I should fold but I call. The turn is the 8h and I shove my last 2.60 all in.

Brave bet…but stupid. Check was the play here. H does have to think about it…taking not just his regular time but about half his time bank before finally calling with Qh/Ks. I never improve and my bad read stacks me.

It does not keep me from making moves. Having restarted, I am in the cut-off with 4.33 when utg+1 opens to .30 with 12.37/ It is folded to me and I look down at As/10s.

Now, as a general rule this is a quick fold, but for some reason I elect to call here. We take the flop heads up and it misses me completely, the Kh/8d/9s. This hits a fair number of hands he could have..A/K, K/K, pocket 8s or 9s, and even something like suited J/10.

It also misses a lot of hands…small to medium pockets, A/Q, suited cards type hands. He leads out pretty aggressively for .50. I elect to call and see what he does on the turn. If he raises I have a clear fold, if he checks I will bet and try to take down the pot.

If he re-raises, again it is a clear fold. If he calls I will be very cautious on the river as a lot of people will call me down with hands as weak as pocket treys here.

The turn is the 2h, he checks and I have a choice. I think he probably whiffed with something like A/6s or has a low pair he is nervous about and thinks he is beat. I put out a .90 bet into about 1.60 and am done putting in chips but he folds and I add about .80 to my stack.

All in all not a very exciting hand, but one that shows why I am willing sometimes to take bad hands too far with poor reads. When I actually have something I tend to play that instead of the situation.

I had just played a hand with A/Q where, with an open ended straight draw but the possibility someone holding Q/K held the nut straight, he raised all-in 15.69 into a pot of about a buck. Sitting behind 4.29 I open to .30 from middle position with Ac/Qd, the cut-off click-raises with 9.32 and I call.

A click-raise here screams weakness to me and, if he makes a serious raise to say… a dollar, I fold but with the click-raise I think he has at best a mediocre pair and at worst total air and just thinks I will fold to a re-raise.

The flop is Ah/10h/5h. That is about as bad a flop as I can see…sort of. I myself represented weakness, as many people when re-raised pre-flop will call almost any re-raise, then fold to any bet on the flop. This is a co-ordinated flop that has me drawing all but dead if he was playing something like a 6/7 hearts. But it is also a good spot for a check-raise.

I check, he bets .90 and I re-raise all in my last 3.69. This is a very poor play as he will only ever call if he has me beat…with the hearts on the board, he has to have a flush or set to call here.

Or A/6 which is what he shows…the 6 is a heart, but not a good one, he never improves, and my poor play is rewarded with a double up.

In retrospect, while some of the decisions seem to make sense…the check-raise, for example…I was clearly either A) playing at a super high level with incredible reads of weakness that suckered him into a super bad call…after all, how can I make that move without the flush or set myself? (by being a bad player? Oh…right…)
Or B) I was on tilt and pressing bad plays, deserving to get stacked again.
Either way, having regained what I had initially lost with a bad read, it was time to rat-hole.

I need to have awareness of why I am making decisions. Although at the time my thought process seemed to make sense on the last hand...he showed weakness, I did too, then hit a better than average hand and made a move...it was not a good move.

Just because it got rewarded does not make it good, either.

Is it better to be good, lucky, or good and lucky?

2010-10-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

UTG+1 opens to .30 with 12.77, I flat-call with 15.36, the hijack calls with 10, the small blind calls with 3.25 and we have a pot of 1.30 and four players.

When the flop comes 6d/9h/3d I am not super excited. On the one hand, it misses an awful lot of hands and hits very few…maybe suited Q/9+, assorted pocket pairs, the unlikely but possible 7/8 hit a straight draw. On the other hand…with that much action, I am likely facing a better pocket pair.

The small blind checks, utg+1 continuation bets .60 and I have a choice. With 2 people left to act, I might face a big raise. On the other hand, I can represent strength by calling and perhaps take away a decent pot with a turn bet. I decide to call and see what happens.

Everyone else folds and we see the Ah fall on the turn. He checks which demands a bet, I oblige with 1.20 and he folds.

I seriously doubt my sevens were the best hand anyone had…he quite possibly had something like 8s or 10s and did not want to lose a big pot, I showed strength and he played predictably.

And the very next hand I have pocket 7s again, open to .30 from utg+1, everyone folds. Hockey sticks ftw.

Numerous folds and forgettable hands later, utg+1 opens to .32 with 13.52. People deliberately being stupid like that annoy me but I double check to make sure I do not make dumb plays just for that reason. In the small blind I re-pop to 1.06 with 16.45 and he calls.

The flop is pretty scary…10d/9h/Kc. Pocket 10s or 9s are in his range, so is Q/K suited, smaller pockets, suited connectors…a lot of hands that flop hits. At the same time I have top/top and was the pre-flop aggressor. I lead out for 1.20. He calls.

Now I am exactly where I do not want to be…in a sizable pot with a marginal hand. Still, he could just be seeing if I am serious. We will see how the turn develops.

The 8s does not make me overly happy, though it is not a horrible card. It does add a couple hands that have me in trouble, but I want to see where he is. I bet 2.20 and he calls. Now there is over 8 bucks in the pot and I know he has SOMETHING but do not know if I am ahead or behind in the hand.

The river 10s only changes things if he had something like A/10, J/10 type hands…otherwise whoever was ahead on the turn is still ahead. I do not want to face a big re-raise, so I check planning to call about a half pot bet. He checks behind.

At this point I think I am probably ahead. Maybe he had a weird missed draw like Q/J or maybe something like A/9. But he turns over the Ad/Kd and we split the pot. I lose .25 due to the rake…

After that I rathole and start again with 4.00.

I have been playing for a while, having people fold to my continuation bets, and feeling good. UTG+1 limps with 5.63, the button limps with 3.34, and I check with 5.59 and Jd/6d.

This is the type hand I wish people would raise on me so I could fold before I hit a piece of the flop, meet resistance, and get stubborn, shipping chips like mad with marginal hands in bad spots.

The flop is 10d/Kd/6h. I have the third nut flush draw and randomly decide that is a betting situation. I bet .20, utg+1 calls and the button raises to 1.15.

This is a clear signal; fold. Go away. His stack is small enough I have the wrong odds to chase a flush, there is another guy behind, and I am chasing the third nuts.

So having accidentally gotten into the hand, taken a stab at it, and being squeezed, I make the obvious move…I re-pop to 2.10.

Idiot. This is why I hate getting to play bad hands in the big blind. I get stupid because I am not a very good player.

UTG+1 folds, button re-pops to 3.24 all in. It is beyond obvious I am beat, probably by a set of 6s but he could have something like K/10 or 10/6 suited to have limped there…whatever he has, he hit the flop hard.

Unfortunately, my poor play has led to the following situation: 5.84 in the pot and it is 1.14 more to me. Getting better than 5-1 on the call…and with two cards to come I am 3-1 dog but at this point the pot is too big and I played too stupidly to fold.

He flips up 2 black aces…a horribly mis-played pair of aces, and of course my even worse play is rewarded when I spike the 8d on the river to steal the pot.

I fold for a while, then I pick up pocket Kings in the small blind, it is folded to me, I raise and he folds. The very next hand I pick them up again. The cut-off opens to .40 with 2.89 and, with 8.77, I re-pop to 1.35. If he has anything at all then we will see a river with all the chips in the middle.

He calls and when the flop comes 4d/7c/8d he insta-ships his last 1.54 which, with over 2.70 in the pot and an over pair, I would have to have an incredibly accurate read to fold here. I do not, I insta-call, and the turn is the 10c.

Great, I think, he now wins with any Jack, 6, or 9…10 outs. Fortunately the river is an Ace and my cowboys hold up.

The rest of the round is pretty uneventful and once again I notice a weird trend. My biggest score came when I made a massive mistake and got rewarded for it. I need to not let that get into my head lest I start playing idiotically.

I need to figure out a way to avoid the big blind conundrum...even though it paid off this time, it was still a huge mistake that I should not repeat.

Hand it over

2010-10-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Sitting behind 3.80 I pick up 2 red Kings utg+2 and open to .30. The cut-off calls with 6.10 and so does the small blind with 21.25. I am not real sure how I feel about this.

On the one hand, I get to see a flop with a chance to win a nice pot. On the other hand, I do not like having two other players in the hand, especially if I do not improve and there is a lot of action or an Ace. It is hard to let go of a big hand for me still, so I would just as soon get it all in pre-flop. Later, when I am a better player, this will not be true…but right now it is.

The flop is jolly good, Kc/3c/4d. I am ahead of anything and only draws like a 5/6 or A/x clubs have any real chance of catching up. Even better, he leads into me for a buck, meaning if I flat it, I will have 1.60 left and it is all going in. I debate re-raising, but decide to raise the turn instead.
Even if they hit the flush, I will have 10 outs on the re-draw to the full house and the pot will be big enough I will not be good enough to get away from the hand. Regardless of what the turn is, the chips are shipping.

The turn gives me the second nuts, with only the pocket 3s ahead and only pocket aces having a chance of drawing out. Easiest call ever when he leads into me, I call all in and his nines are drawing dead.

After folding for a while, utg+1 opens to .20 with 25.35, one fold, call with 10.58, call with 12.67, call with 1.66, call with 47.95 and I look down at Ah/Kd in the small blind.

I am sensing a lot of weakness….drawing hands, small to medium pairs, suited aces. I think I can get a lot of folds and bump it to 1.50.The third caller calls with me covered, the short stack also calls leaving .46 behind.

With about 5 bucks in the pot and three players, when the flop drops Ad/3h/2c I have to think. I have 5.92 left. Pocket Aces are unlikely, 3h/2c also possible but unlikely, and I am ahead of everything else except the possible things like A/3 suited, A/2 suited.

At the same time, I want to end the hand now. No reason to get tricky or sneaky and have something stupid like a 5/6d stick around and draw out. I ship it, the big stack folds, small stack calls off his last .66.

No clue what he would have to overcall 4 callers and a big re-raise (that he should have shoved rather than flatting). I am pretty happy when he turns up Kc/Qd. He is drawing to 3 outs, never gets them, and I take down a nice 5.16 pot with a read of weakness, aggressive pre-flop, and fortuitous flop.

UTG click-raises with 3.84 and, on the button with 11.73, I elect to see if I can lure in one or both blinds, flop a draw and take a nice pot with Ad/8d. They spoil my evil plan for world domination and fold.

The flop is the 2d/7c/4h, he leads out for .30 and I call with my two overs, planning to have him check the turn, I will bet it and take down the pot. The turn is the irrelevant 8h, pairing me but making no difference, really. He checks, I bet .80 and he calls.

Now I have to put him on a hand. He min-raised early, continuation bet, then check-called an all-small flop. A/x suited, medium pockets, a couple over cards to the board or even an overpair all fit the bill. The river is the Ac and he bets 2.54 all in.

Now I have top two pair and and am facing a pot size bet all in. No obvious draws, so I am behind only a modest pocket pair that hit a set, but the way the hand played out, I am more thinking he has something like A/10 suited. Any way you look at it, I am not good enough to fold here. I call and his As/6s helped him donate 38 big blinds to me.

Oddly, except for the river, the cards never mattered…I was playing a situation and played it right, got lucky and it benefited me hugely.

I wonder sometimes if I play too tight. I mean, on the one hand…I already am a losing player and much of my losing comes from hanging onto hands too long after the flop. But I wonder how many of the “good folds’ I make are horrific folds if I knew the truth. Case in point:

I open fold the cut-off with 15.10 and Ks/9s. I know it is a poor hand, but might be worth opening here to see if I can take down the blinds which I will a good 60 – 75% of the time. The small blind, with 9.61, does open to .30 and the big blind with 19.22 calls.

At this point I am glad to be out of the hand. I do not want to get involved with one guy who can stack me and another who can take 2/3rds of my stack with a marginal hand that is likely to hit something good but not great.

The Jd/6d/5d flop is the type that will hit many, many hands either guy could play here as both have a very wide range. The small blind continuation bets with a pot-size bet which the big blind flat calls.

If the big blind re-raises here I think the hand is over. A flop like that has all sorts of possibilities…straight draws with hands like 7/8, flushes or flush draws, and lots of hands like K/J+, J/10, A/J.

When he flats, it makes it hard to tell…does he have the nuts and wants the small blind to hang himself? Does he have a draw? Did he hit part of it but is nervous about the small blind having the nuts?

The turn is the 10h, the small blind leads out for 1.80 and again the big blind flat calls. I am thinking most likely we are looking at a couple of flushes or flush draws with still the possibility of something like a set or two pair.

The river is the Qc, a very interesting card. Lets say instead of flush the small blind had something like A/K. It actually fits the way he played the hand somewhat and now he would have a straight. It also makes hands like J/q or Q/10 2 pair hands.

He raises 5.40, leaving himself about 1.60. The big blind thinks for a goodly long while and finally calls.

I am thinking flush, straight, set are the most likely hands here, though 2 pair are a lesser possibility. Any way you look at it, I am folding anything weaker than a set here, and possibly even folding that.

The small blind shows Ah/Js…second pair, top kicker. The big blind shows 10d/Jc for two pair.
So a battle of the blinds has a 15 dollar pot over a pair vs 2 pair on a board showing straight and flush possibilities. Crazy.

UTG opens to .35 with 9.94 and I flat call from the next seat with 15.15 holding pocket 8s. Middle position comes along with 5.62 and then the big blind raises to 1.50 with 10.49.

When the utg raises to 9.94 it is an easy fold…I give him probably aces or kings, q/q+, MAYBE A/K and I am drawing thin against that. If he flat calls, I probably come along as my implied odds would be excellent. But believing I am against a bigger pair most likely and a coin flip at best, I am out.

The big blind does call and sure enough…utg has pocket aces, big blind big slick. Flop and turn bring Kings and the pocket rockets get shafted in a 19.26 pot.

I am just happy I had the good sense to fold when clearly behind with poor odds. Not a certain thing. But the beauty of it is the very next hand I open to .30 from middle position with pocket 7s and win the blinds, thus getting back almost half of what I put in the previous pot.

A bit later the cut-off opens to .40 with 7.42. A bigger than normal raise like this frequently represents a weak drawing hand…pockets of 6 or less, say, that would rather have everyone fold. The button calls with 3.60 and they take the flop heads up.

The 9h/6h/As flop is more likely to hit the button I think as he might have an Ace in a lot of his potential holdings. The cut-off continuation bets .30.

What an absolutely idiotic bet. He raised .40 into a .15 cent pot…now he is going to bet .30 into a .95 cent pot? Betting in reverse screams A) weakness and B) bad player.

It is almost incumbent on the button to re-raise with any non-nut hand and get this chowder head out of the hand. He flats it.

The turn is the 7s, the cut-off checks, the button then shows he is just as bad as the cut-off with a .40 bet into about 1.70. Call.

The river is the 3c. 8/10 is the absolute nuts. I would believe a soft ace, two pair, or even something like K/q from either player. The cut-off checks, the button bets .80 cents. The cut-off calls.

The button shows Js/10s. So lets review his play; he calls the open with a drawing hand. Fair enough. He calls the flop, sensing a continuation bet. Fair enough. He picks up a draw on the turn and raises the river because that is the only way he can win. I guess in retrospect it makes sense…but I still think not re-raising the flop or making a serious turn bet was a mistake.

The cut-off shows much better than expected…pocket Queens. Okay, the over-raise is a bit out of school, the underbet on the flop with the Ace makes sense, then he plays pot control. Much better than expected. But still a horrible play from the flop on.

And that is the thing...I think sometimes I credit others with being better players than they are. By the same token...all too often when I call I am up against the absolute nuts. I think the clear result is this; I need to get better at putting people on ranges that more accurately represent holdings. I put them on the same range I would have and I am relatively tight.

Quads mean nothing when you are terrible

2010-10-29T01:53:00.000-07:00

About 60 hands into a session of 5/10, early mp open limps with 2.08, I complete from the small blind with pocket 9s and 3.46 and the big blind checks with 18.78.

I like to play a small pot out of position with a marginal hand like this knowing if I hit, it should be well disguised and might take down a nice pot.

I love/hate the flop…Ac/Jc/9d. That hits a boat load of hands…and club suited connectors, A/x suited, J/10, K/Q type hands. I would be very surprised if someone had pocket Aces or Jacks here, so I figure to be way ahead at the moment but there are some big possible draws that would not surprise me.

And yet, having nothing remotely approaching the nuts, I check my set, the big blind checks behind, and the mp limper bets the pot, .30. I figure I really want the big blind in the hand, so I flat call it but he folds anyway and we see the turn heads up with about .90 in the pot.

The turn is the 5d, hitting nothing I am afraid of, leaving the same draws. I check, he bets the pot, and I click raise since that puts him all in. He calls, shows Ah/Qd and I have him drawing dead. Too bad there was not more available because the river is the 9s, giving me quads and a modest 3.98 pot for them.

Contrast that to the next meaningful hand. I had opened pocket 10s and folded to a big re-raise, paid out a few blinds and bled a bit here and there in such ways. The cut-off opens for .30 with 2.71, the small blind calls with 12.33. I have 3.44, As/Qh, and a sudden burst of aggression, re-raising to 1.20 believing I will take the pot down right there.

MP re-pops all in, the small blind folds, and it is 1.51 to call. There is 4.16 in the pot giving me roughly 3.5-1 with an above average hand…I do not want to call, because I think I am at best in a coin flip against a pair but more likely drawing thin against Q/Q+ but I am priced in and call. He shows an even worse hand, Ac/Js, neither of us improves and I win a 5.34 pot with Ace high.

I really need to think about my play here. I thought the first guy was making a position raise with a wide range of hands, the small blind showed weakness by flat-calling. I had a decent but not great hand and figured about 80% of the time, the re-raise gets them to lay it down pre-flop, resulting in a .60 win.

So I am risking 1.20 to win .60, but I am also, as we see, priced in to calling a re-raise. Just because it worked out for me this time does not mean it was the right move.

Say I do this ten times. 8 times they fold, for net gain to that point of 4.80. Twice they call or re-raise, and against their range to call/re-raise I am probably about 40% or so to win. The numbers might not be exact, but I think they are pretty close…I think with A/Q+, 9/9+, and A/Js+ I should make this move.

My analysis might be off, but with less than 40 bb, it seems like the correct move.
And time for another exercise in hand-reading.UTG+2 opens to .40 with 10.05. The over-size open raise generally indicates a hand that does not really want action…usually low to middle pair, but not always. The high-jack, with 10, re-raises to 1.20. I put him on J/J+, maybe A/K, A/Q suited type hands. The button flats it with 9.90…a bit trickier to figure.

With the initial raiser still to come, he might be hedging his bet against a raise or might be calling with any pair or maybe something like suited connectors, suited aces, or drawing hands like J/10. With 2.75 in the pot, it is an easy call for the initial raiser and the three of them take the flop with about 3.75 in the pot.

After all the pre-flop fire-works, the flop is the 6s/4h/10d. Could hit pockets, most likely the 4s or 6s from the mp guy and 10s for the later guys. Maybe the J/10 guy if there is one, and him I would expect to raise.

It is checked around and the 3c hits, perhaps the most innocuous card in the entire deck. It guarantees no flush, unless someone was so loose they played a 5/7 or 2/5 it completes no draws…in other words, a completely irrelevant card.

MP now bets out for 3 bucks, the cut-off folds, and the button calls.

So now I am thinking it has to be something like over pair versus over pair, with set over set or set over over pair somewhat likely. There are no believable draws left, this has to be a couple of made hands.

The river is the 9c. Unless someone had pocket 9s…very possible…or the less possible, almost unbelievable 7/8, this changes nothing. The mp bets 5.85 all in.
I suppose it is possible he had something like pocket 5s and bet the turn with an open ended straight draw. Fours, sixes are also in his range, with Jacks or better also a possibility.

The button calls his last 5.70. It takes a stronger hand to call, right? So Queens or better, maybe even a poorly played hand like A/10s, J/10, 9/10 or some weird two-pair hand like 4/6 suited?

Middle position shows pocket 6s. It fits how he played the hand; try to win pre-flop, call with good odds when two people are in the pot, slow-play the probable winner, get it all in.

The button shows…well…uh…I missed his hand. Badly. Ah/3h/ He called off 100 big blinds with a pair of threes. No straight draw. No flush draw. Wow. Could he really think his threes were good here? The only hand he beats here is a King high bluff. Or pocket deuces. Wow.

UTG opens to .30 with 8.09In the hijack, I have Qc/Qd and elect to re-raise to 1.05. UTG calls and we take the flop heads up.

The flop is 7c/6d/Jh. I am probably way ahead, behind only pockets matching the board, Kings or Aces. I do not put much stock in the latter. He checks, I raise to 1.20 and he re-raises to 2.50.

Right here I should be done with the hand. A/J, K/J, Q/J are really the only hands I can beat. He is not bluffing here, he most likely hit this flop hard or has the feared over pair. There is an outside shot he has something like tens but is it worth getting involved?

My brain shuts down and I re-raise all in which he snap-calls with pocket jacks. Ouch. I got cleaned out, and deservedly so.

This is a huge hole in my game. Over pairs are nice...but not guaranteed. When I am ovbiously beat and drawing thin...LAY IT DOWN.

Set it up

2010-10-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Decided to step down for a bit and play some 2/5. Started playing 2 tables with 2 bucks on each, on one table was down to 1.07 and on the other up to 2.27. On the table with 2.27 I open utg with a min-raise to .10 with pocket fives, hoping to see a cheap flop.

UTG+1 calls with 3.47, the button comes along with 11.06, the small blind completes with 3.08 and the four of us take the flop.

I like the 6c/Kd/5c. Someone playing a suited King or something like K/Q or K/J hit this, I will also probably get action from any flush draw. I am not particularly nervous about pocket Kings based on pre-flop action, and if someone has pocket 6s, I am getting stacked.

The sb checks, I continuation bet .25 cents, UTG+1 click-raises to .50, a fold, the small blind calls.

So now there is about 1,60 in the pot, I have 1.88 left and am probably ahead. I want to get it in while I have the lead and with this much interest, they are almost guaranteed to call. I re-pop all in.

The utg+1 flat calls it, then the small blind re-raises all in.

About this point I get the sinking feeling I am on the wrong end of set over set, and the other guy is most likely a flush draw, possible the OTHER set in a sick cooler, or maybe just a bad player sticking around with a weak King or 2 pair or even something goofy like an open ended straight draw.

UTG+1 calls…I am surprised to see the red pocket rockets, he mis-played them horribly. And the big blind is all in…with that goofy 7h/8d straight draw. I show my set and start hoping.

The turn is the 10c, the river the Jc. The Aces win the 1.51 side pot and my set pulls in 6.50. Nice….almost a triple up.

I almost quit for the night but decide to keep playing. It is a weird night where almost every raise I put in faces a monstrous re-raise so I tighten up for a while, win a couple pots, lose a couple and notice a few times I am folded to in the big blind so loosen up again.

After a while UTG open limps with 7., utg+ 1 and 2 call with 2.81 and 1.56, a fold, and in middle position I look down at As/Qh. Now, often I fold here, but this time I just sense weakness and think I can take the pot uncontested so I raise to .35. It is folded back to the last guy who called and he again flat-calls.

I start thinking about what he could have. Big pairs, big slick are out. It feels like a drawing hand that got big eyes at the size of the pot. Suited connectors, suited ace, small to medium pair…nothing bigger than 7s or 8s I think.

The flop is 9c/6h/4d, he checks, I bet .40 expecting to either take it down or face a re-raise all in. He flat calls it. I am confused. The turn is the 5h, he checks.

A lot of times people will pride-call the first bet, but fold to the second bet. He has .81 left, I bet .80 expecting him to fold…and he calls.

The river is the 2h, he bets his last penny. Having badly mis-read him and mis-played the hand, the bet is so ridiculous there is no way I am not calling it. I expect to see him turn over a straight or set of 6s or even something like A/9 and I am kicking myself for giving away 15 BB with A/Q…

Until he shows the 10d/Jc.

I have made some pretty bad plays…but his might top every bad play I have ever made. All he could beat was an 8 high bluff. Literally. And he stacked off with Jack high.

After a while I Have 6.87 and pick up Ac/Jc. I open to .15 in middle position, the big blind calls with 5. And we see the flop heads up. I have seen this guy betting huge with some pretty marginal holdings.

The flop is 4c/9s/6d. Probably missed up both. He takes his time, checks, I bet .25 expecting a call and bet on the turn. He almost runs out of time and then calls.

The turn is the Jd, he takes his time and checks. I bet .55 and he check-click raises. I believe he is on total air and have a choice. I am not folding here…but do I re-raise all in or flat call and see how the river looks?

Though I think he is loose and could have a hand as bad as 5/8, even loose, wild players can have something like pocket 4s. If the river is dangerous, I can fold there if he bets all in but I think he will check the river with a strong holding and bet with a weak one. If I go all in, he is calling here…and I am not sure the risk is worthwhile. After all, my hand is just top/top. I flat.

The river is the 4d. That actually hit’s a fair number of hands he could have…Q/4 suited+, and diamond suited hand, etc. At the same time….it misses a lot of hands, too.

He bets 1 buck into a pot of over three bucks. I think I have him but am not so sure that I am willing to put him all in so I flat call and he shows Js/Qh. I pull down a nice 4.69 pot with a pretty marginal hand.

I hover around between 8 and 9 bucks for a while, am thinking about quitting, and should have.

With 8.79 I pick up Qs/Qh. Middle position open limps with 4.66, the next seat raises to .30 with 1.36.

I see (and use) this move a lot…when I am middle or later and people have shown weakness, I widen my range and will re-raise with a pretty wide range expecting to take down the pot. Against a wide range like that, I want to get heads up, so I raise the pot, 1.02. Everyone folds except the raiser who re-raises all in. The .34 cents is an easy call.

Unfortunately, he had a legit hand…pocket kings, and when the flop brings another, I take a hit.

I play a couple more hands and end with more than a double up of what I put in, satisfied overall. In the same situation, I play the queens the same way…I trusted my reads all night, this time he had a better than expected hand. If he has a bigger stack and re-pops, I think I lay the Queens down so that tells me I am improving again.

How did that turn out?

2010-10-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

With 4.52, I pick up pocket jacks utg and open to .30 playing 5/10. The small blind calls with 8.62 and we take the flop heads up.
5s/6s/8s/ I am not overly fond of this flop. I may have just flopped dead to running Jacks. He checks, I bet .40, he click-raises to .80.

Okay, if he actually had the flush, he raises bigger than that. If he has a set I also expect a pot-size bet. This feels like a bluff, drawing hand, or even two over cards trying to pick off a bluff continuation bet with nothing that will fold a dangerous flop. I call.

The turn is the irrelevant 2d, he checks, I bet 1.20 expecting him to fold. He calls. I now think he has Something, but not a lot…maybe pockets bigger than 8, maybe a straight draw, maybe even something like A/Q with one of them being a spade.

The river is the Ah which hit’s a lot of hands he could have. I do not particularly like it, but am happy when he checks. I am not raising again because if I do, I have to lay it down to any re-raise, but there is some chance I can win a show-down if he has a flush draw worse than an ace, a pair worse than Jacks, or a missed straight draw.

He shows the 7c/5c and he shows a mix of a couple of the things I thought he might have…lower pair, missed straight draw.

I am really working hard on going with hand ranges instead of specific hands, and it is paying off quite a bit. I add over 2 bucks to my stack and am rolling.

With 7.02, I have been quiet for a while. UTG+1 I pick up pocket 8s. Sometimes I fold them here, this time I open for .30. Middle position re-raises to .90 with 9.75 and I have a choice.

This is a tough spot for me. When I do flop my set, I tend to struggle to get paid off. I am perhaps too aggressive. At the same time, every so often someone will stack off and the raise is therefore .60 for potentially 7.02...uf U have 3 bucks or so, I have to fold here, but this time I call.

I love the flop…8d/6d/2h. I have the absolute nuts at the moment. I decide to go for the check raise. He obliges by betting a stout .90.

I figure he has an over pair and is trying to bet off the flush draw or maybe has the flush draw himself. I can either flat it or charge him for the flush draw. I choose the latter approach and raise the pot, 4.65,

He comes over the top and it is all in 1.47 to call, an easy call. I have the nuts at the moment, if he is on the flush draw I have the re-draw to the boat, and if he has an over pair or lower set I have him drawing very thing.

The fist-pump auto call shows him with pocket Kings, the turn and river brick (well, okay…the river pairs the board giving me 8s full of sixes) and I have a 13.25 balance.

I have decided I have been playing too tight lately and been trying to open with a wider range of hands and even, on occasion, call a speculative hand or two. So when utg+2 limps with 8.01, I limp behind with js/10s and 14.07. The big blind checks with 3.45 and we take the flop.

One reason people love to play J/10 is because any straight it hits, it is the nut straight so long as both cards are used. So when the flop is Kc/Qs/9h I am loving it. I flopped the nuts and very few cards can take it away. If someone flopped a set the chips are getting shipped, and otherwise only runner-runner can beat me.

The big blind checks, utg+2 min-raises. I have a choice to make. Big blind, I assume he hit nothing and is done with the hand. I have no idea whether the early limper hit anything or not. Should I call or raise?

I have the nuts and want the big blind to come along if at all possible. Plenty of time to raise on the turn if he folds so I flat it and the big blind indeed comes along.

The turn is the 5c and they both check. I should probably check here, but I do have 2 clubs on the board, the big blind over called, and I might get a call so I lead out for .30, about half the pot. The big blind folds, UTG+2 calls.

The river is the 8h, he checks. How much to bet? I have to decide between half pot, pot size, or over bet.

He open limped, under bet the flop, check-called the turn. He has at best a marginal hand so I doubt he will call a very big bet. I elect to bet half the pot and he folds.

I do not know if I would have gotten more action had I checked the turn or not…I doubt it. I think I like the line I took here as it built a pot that might have made it worth calling if he has something like K/10, A/9 type hands. In the end I flop a big hand and take a modest pot.

I am now faced with a tough decision. I have worked my way from 4 bucks up to about 15. With a big stack like that I can call more re-raises with speculative hands, open pots more aggressively...but I can also undo hours of good play with one silly call or ill-timed bluff or draw-chasing.

Also, playing Rush, I find I do better when I play more but shorter sessions...I tend to make better decisions. So I decide to pack it in for a while and go play some X-box.

Oops

2010-10-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

With 4.83 I get a bit aggressive and open to .30 from utg+1 with pocket sevens. Middle position calls with 10.73, the small blind and big blind also call with 1.51 and 16.30.

The flop is marginally good with the 4c/3d/6c, but I am not super excited. With 3 callers, there is a good chance someone has a better pocket pair, probably something between 8s and jacks.

There is also a chance someone just setted up and club draws are possible. So I am far from having the nuts. I pretty much want to end this hand here and now as I have 3 probable outs if I am behind…the sixes…and a few more outs that are not “clean” outs…the sevens, for example.

The small blind leads out for .40 into a pot of over 1.20. I re-pop to 2.40, the middle position folds and the small blind calls all in for his last .81.

I figure he has to have a set, over pair or the flush draw. I would be surprised, but only marginally, to see something like a 5/6 suited. I am wrong.

He has Kh/8s. He over called with that garbage, raised into three people and called a strong re-raise on a gut-shot runner-runner straight draw. I need to be in more hands with him.

I hit the straight on the turn, the board pairs on the river, I win the hand.

The very next hand, with 6.70, I pick up pocket 8s in the small blind and am looking forward to playing another pocket when utg+3, whom I just touched up on his horrible play, with 4.00, opens to 1.10.

I very nearly call….but even complete tools can pick up a hand, and although this looks like an idiotic tilt raise from a bad player, I know he will call with anything and can easily suck out. Not worth risking 4 bucks on a pair of eights. I fold.

Later, after chasing a nut flush draw and folding to big river bet, I have 5.03. UTG+2 opens to .20, I re-raise to .75 with two black jacks, and he calls with 10.07.
I am not too happy about the call. He could have a suited Ace, a medium pair, A/K, all sorts of hands here. Queens and Kings also believable.

The flop is 7d/5c/Ks. He checks.

If I check here, about 90% of the time they bet the pot on the turn, and unless it is a Jack I have to fold since they could have hit the King and been trapping and I am a poor player still. So it behooves me to bet here.

I lead out for .90 cents, he does me no favors and calls. Or maybe he does. I guess in retrospect if he has something like A/K, K/Q, K/J type hands he probably re-raises here.

Same with a set, though there is always the possibility he has some bizarre draw…if he has a 6/8 or something like that. So it is possible he has a medium pair, 8s or better, and wants to play a small pot.

The turn is the Jh and he checks. A check might be wise here, but in the heat of the moment I over-emphasize the possibility of A/K and bet. He folds.

On the one hand, I possibly lost a chance to have him pick up enough to bluff with on the river. The only draws he has that beat me are horribly played A/Q or A/10, the aforementioned 6/8 or some equally long-shot draw.
On the other hand…I won over 1.60 with no risk…

Later, I make a bizarre call with King high that loses a fair amount, and then lose the rest with top pair, top kicker to flopped trip 10s with someone who stayed in against a raise and call with 10/4, and quit having been up to about 8 bucks at one point and ending with nada.

Mostly because of poor play.

I need to be aware of what I am doing more often instead of giving back all my progress with bonehead plays.

Hand reading exercises

2010-10-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

UTG opens to .20 with 5.32, a fold, a call with 12.04 and I find myself on the button with Ac/9c. Okay, I have a drawing hand, position, and will likely get another caller from the big blind. I elect to call with 3.70, then both blinds disappoint me by folding.

The flop is 9d, 3h, 2c. With the min-raise, the utg has a wider range than usual…A/10+, K/J+, any suited ace or king, any pair. The call represents more or less the same range.

I figure to have the best hand with top pair, top kicker and when they both check, the bet is mandatory. With about .70 cents in there, I lead out for .40. UTG calls, middle folds.

So I figure he probably has 2 overs, maybe even something like A/4 or A/5. He checks the 7h turn, I lead out for .80 and he again calls.

The river is the 5d and he checks. Let’s see…he min-raised utg, check-called innocuous flops and turns and checked the river. What fits that?

An Ace that missed, 2 over cards, pocket 4s, pocket 6s or slow-playing a set or over-pair. I do pretty well against that range so I go ahead and bet again.

He folds, so I really have no idea if I was right or not. But with a marginal hand, I am happy with that pot.

In middle position I open to .30 with pocket Aces. I am happy when the button calls with 10 and then the big blind also calls with 10.73.

If there have to be two other players, I am happy with the 6c/4c/4h flop. Probably missed everyone except a draw. I want to take down the pot and lead out for .95, getting the button to call and the big blind to fold.

Over pair or flush draw, slightly weighted toward the flush draw, with two big cards also a possibility. The turn is the 10d, I have 2.94 left and the pot means I am playing this to the river, so I shove my last 2.94 which he calls.

Really, the main thing I am afraid of here is pocket 10s, but I think maybe A/10c, A/x clubs are likely, with pockets 7 through 9s equally likely. Less likely but possible are jacks, queens or kings.
He flips up pocket 7s, my aces hold up and I double up. Nice, my Aces held.

With 7.27 I open to .30 from utg+2. The big blind is my only customer, with 10 even.

The flop is 5c/4d/5s, he checks, and something like 99.999% of the time, I am betting here regardless of what I have. I bet .40 which he snap-calls.

The turn is the Qs and we both check. An unusual move for me as I almost always bet here. The river is the 9c, he leads out for .40.

Okay, so he called out of position pre-flop, check-called the flop, checked the turn, and then under-bet the river. I am thinking marginal hand here. Maybe a dry ace, medium pair, maybe even A/K or A/Q type hands.

Also possible but less likely are pocket 4s or pocket 9s. I re-raise to 1.40, takes his time and calls with pocket 7s. My pocket queens boated up and take down the pot.

UTG+1, with 4.29, takes time and then click-raises. Middle position, with 17.90, calls, the big blind also calls with 7.22 and they see the flop three handed.

The flop is the 5s/6c/8d, it is checked around. The turn is the 7d.

Big Blind raises to .20, about 1/3rd the pot. UTG folds, mp bumps it to 1.25.

This is a frequent reaction to weak, defensive bets like that of the big blind and may or may not mean he has a hand. As the moment the 9/10 is the nuts, but there are 2 flush draws, the way the hand has played any set is possible and something like pocket 9s or even pocket 4s is also a distinct possibility.

BB re-pops to 2.30, indicating a hand, and mp re-re-re-raises to 2.20, which the button calls.
At this point I am thinking set over set, set over 2 pair, two pair versus straight are the most likely hands.

The river is the 10d, bb hesitates, then bets 1.0, mp raises to 2.20 and there is a call.

Flush is a possibility, but remote. I think these are two made hands and think my turn conjecture is pretty good.

Big blind shows Ks/4s…the ignorant end of the straight. The mp shows Ac/9c and takes the pot with the higher straight.

I really do not like the play on this hand at all. While the K/4s was almost the same hand as pocket 4s at that point in the hand, all the re-raising without shoving screamed “hand that can be beat trying to scare away better hand”.

Worse, he was betting into a made hand. Not worth getting involved with the bottom end of a straight, the best he could hope for was something like a set where the board did not pair.

But I have seen worse plays…cut-off open limps with 16.17, small blind completes with 7.58 and the big blind checks with 7.86.

The flop is 10d/4d/3s, it is checked around. The turn is the qd, the sb checks, big blind bets .30 (pot size bet) and everyone calls.

River is the 8c, the small blind leads out for 1.20, the big blind calls, the cut-off folds.

The small blind shows pocket aces and loses to the big blind’s king high flush…k/7 was his holding.

So the desire to get action on aces led him to let everyone see a cheap flop, he bet nothing when he was ahead, and then called and bet when he was behind. How did that work out for him?
Yes, if he raises pre-flop he probably gets a fold from the big blind…but he does not lose 16 blinds on the hand and makes 3. That is a 19 blind swing because he tried to trap, then did not bet to charge the draws.

I have to constantly remind myself...while there are players on this level capable of tricky plays (i.e. the pocket rockets dude), there are far more people against whom it should be a simple game; bet when I have the goods, fold the rest of the time.

Slowplaying for the win

2010-10-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

I seldom slow-play because it seems to bit me every time. Every so often, though, I will have the absolute nuts and decide to.

Playing 2/5 UTG limps with 2.79, I call from the next seat with 9h/9c and the big blind checks with 1.44. The flop is perfect…3c/9s/7d. They check and, leery of chasing them away, I elect to slow-play.

The turn is the 6d, the bb checks, utg raises to .10. I think about re-raising, but since the only draw are the unlikely flush and the unlikely straight, I call hoping the bb comes along. He does not.

The river is the 4d, UTG again bets .10, I raise to .40 with my set, he calls…with 2d/5d and wins with a 7 high flush.

Yeah, slow-playing is a GREAT option for me. Guess I should have raised the turn, but at the time my thought process seemed logical. Instead I let him pick the betting amount and draw to his hand with infinite odds.

Later, I open from the button with Ah/Qu to .15 with 3.58 behind, the big blind calls with 3.30 and we watch the 2c/9s/3c fop. Misses most hands he could reasonably have, he bets a nickel anyway, I raise to .25, he calls.

The turn is the 5s, he bets a nickel again. It feels like he is betting a draw of some sort and trying to keep the pot small by controlling the bet size. A/x c, maybe a suited 4/5 make some sort of sense. Or maybe something goofy like K/3.

I bump it to .50, he actually asks for time bank help, then eventually calls.
The river is good and bad…Qd. No draws hit, I am behind a set or a weird two pair hand like Q/9, 9/5. Overall, I think I am probably ahead.

He leads out for .10. I think for a while, should I raise or call. If I raise, I am folding to an all-in shove, the pot has about 1.69 in it…I have some show-down value with top pair, top kicker.

If I raise, he probably folds everything I beat, calls with everything that beats me, and raises with some of each. I meekly call and watch him flip up Qc/10c.

So I was right about the flush draw, and end up winning a pot I led beginning to end.

Hand Reading school

2010-10-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

I notice this next hand went to show-down, so am looking at it as an exercise in hand-reading skills.

The button limps with 18.18, I fold the Qc/7c, the big blind checks with 15.78.

The button could be trapping with Aces or Kings hoping to get raised, or he could have something like a j/10, suited ace, small pocket pair, maybe a weak ace…and I going to say maybe even a suited Jack type hand. The big blind could have…well…anything.

They both check the 9h/Kh/4c flop. The turn is the Qh.

The big blind leads out with a pot size bet of .20. He could have the unlikely flush, though it is more likely he has the 9 or 4 and wanted to see what the button would do.

The button click-raises. Okay, that could be anything…flush trying to get a re-re-raise, a set, a pair, or even someone thinking the big blind is stealing.

The big blind then re-pops with yet another min-raise which the button flat calls.

So I am thinking we have a couple of marginal hands here or a good but easily beatable hand.
The river really changes nothing, the 3c.

The big blind leads out for .90 cents which the button flat calls. I expect to see maybe 2 pair like a Q/9, maybe Q4 type thing versus a small flush, maybe a pair of queens or something like that.
Or not. The big blind had pocket Aces, the button had Qs/10h. So I was right about the button, wrong about the big blind.

I tighten up quite a bit, then notice people are folding a lot. I see an early middle position guy limp with 7.74, I have Kc/Jd on the button and raise to .40 expecting a series of folds.

My plan goes awry when the small blind re-pops to 1.00 and the original limper calls. I actually play smart and toss my marginal hand into the muck.

With about 2.50 in the pot, they both check the 5s/4d/5h flop. Fair enough…big blind looks like A/K maybe…or maybe just making a move. Some sort of drawing hand for middle position.

Turn is the 9d and the small blind leads out for 1.20. Same sorts of hands as before, the button is playing this more like a draw. At this point I revise my estimate to maybe suited connectors, probably hearts.

The river is the Qs, a dangerous card for a medium pair. The small blind takes his time, then bets 2 bucks into a pot of 4.58…and the mp folds.

Time goes on, I fold lots of hands and am on life support with Ac/8c. The cut-off opens to .20 with 16.14. I am in the small blind with a hand I routinely fold even when I have enough to make it worthwhile from an odds standpoint.

This time I call for who knows what reason. Actually, I know exactly the reason. I decided to take a shot when it would not hurt bad if I missed the draw.

The problem with chasing draws is all too many people…like myself…increase the bet size on each street. So it quickly gets expensive.

Lets say I am the aggressor and open to .30 with a suited ace. I flop two to the flush so I bet…I will put in about half the pot, but more than my pre-flop, so lets say .40 cents. I am already into it for .70 and now there is a buck and a half or so. I miss the turn, bet half the pot, .75 cents…he re-raises the same .75 so I call with excellent odds, but miss on the river.

I put in 2.25 and missed my draw. I will walk away satisfied because for the most part I controlled the betting (except the turn) and will play it again the same way the next time.
All too often if I do not bet the flop or turn I face pot-sized bets instead, which is why I prefer betting; I get the fold equity and control the pot size.

But of course, even if I flop the flush draw, I am only going to hit it one in three times. So lets say I miss twice and put in 2.25 the third time…which means I need to WIN 7.75 just to break even…which means the POT needs to be 10 bucks if I JUST put in the 2.25 on the time I win.

So I usually only play for flushes in very specific circumstances; several people have entered the pot cheaply, I am in late position and can enter for a raise with an above average suited Ace or similar circumstances where I either flop with excellent pot odds or move on.

It is one of the few draws I demand better than accurate odds to play.

But here I am low on coin with a chance to double up and decide to play.

So I flat his raise, the big blind folds and with .50 in the pot we see the flop heads up.

The flop is pretty good…7s/9s/6c. I missed the flush but flopped a straight draw. No need to get too crazy, though so I check. He bets .30 and I flat it.

Turn is the 5d…I hit my draw. I check, he bets .90, I pop all in for my last 1.70. He calls.

And turns up 8/J. Great, split pot. Except the river is the 10s and I lose to his Jack high straight.

UTG, with 13.82, opens to .30 after taking their time. Middle position calls with 14.99 as does the button with 10.22.

UTG I generally give credit for a pretty good hand….10/10+, A/x suited, A/J o, in some cases suited connectors or K/q, though I weight it pretty heavily towards type one hands.

Medium position is getting into medium pairs, say fives or better, plus the above hands and maybe something like A/10. Button is a much wider array, though with a raise and call, I might tighten the list a bit.

The flop is 3s/5h/qc. UTG checks. Jacks or worse, a missed draw, or a big hand like queens.
Medium position raises to .40, I tentatively think A/Q, K/Q, pocket 5s or pocket threes, subject to revision.

The button re-pops to 1.20. I tend heavily to think A/Q or pockets that match or beat the board.
UTG calls which mystifies me. I would have thought a re-raise if he hit or a fold if he missed. A call is unexpected as there are no reasonable draws here. Middle also calls.

Now there is about 4.50 in the pot and three interested parties. The turn is the 8c and utg and mp check.

The button leads out for better than a pot-size bet, 5 bucks. He has to have a big hand, I lean heavily towards a set. Both other players call…top/top? 2 pair? A worse set? Or maybe we have set over set.

The river is the King of clubs. UTG fires out his last 7.32. I am thinking A/K or, more likely, pocket Kings with the way the hand played out. Both other players call. Got to be a set and either something like A/Q or a set?

UTG shows pocket queens so I was pretty close. The button shows…3h/8h? What? That is horrible. He over-called against utg and middle position with an 8 high flush draw?

Nearly as bad is the over-all winner, the middle position who shows the Ac/2c.

He called based on a flush draw, fair enough. He then called with a gut-shot, picked up a flush draw on the turn and rivered the nuts. He played worse than I have in weeks and got paid off huge, 36.01.

The utg had a pretty safe board to slow-play and it STILL bit him. I feel for the guy. He flopped the absolute nuts, there were no reasonable draws, he got bet into by someone drawing all but dead, got called by someone drawing super thin…and still got coolered.By the same token, I read exactly one hand anywhere near correctly…UTG. The others had much worse hands than I gave them credit for.

So a couple hands where, as a neutral observer, I had some decidedly mixed results on figuring out what they had. People are playing far looser than I credit, and I need to take that into account more often.

And work on figuring out hands better.

Tool time

2010-10-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

My second hand in the session, I pick up A/K. Middle position, with 63.78, opens to .50. That screams small pair, something that does not want action. I have As/Kh and raise to 1.65. He surprises me and calls.

I have 2.25 behind, the pot is 3.40, it is probably all going in on the flop. Sure enough, the flop is 7c/5c/kc.

Ugh. I hit top pair…but what an ugly board. I would believe pocket 5s or 7s. I am not really worried about A/x suited because of his over-raise. I shove my last 2.25 and he calls….

With Ac/6h. Okay, so I was WAY off on what he had. He made a bad raise/worse call. At least now he had the nut flush draw and proper odds. The turn is the harmless 8h and I have to dodge 11 outs…the 9 clubs and 2 sixes.

The river is the 4, I am happy…until I notice it gave him the straight.

So how did I play this hand? Pre-flop, I like it. My read was generally correct…he had a sub-par hand that did not want any action. He was just trying to pick up the blinds with a scare-raise.
Very poor play on his part. He is risking .50 to win .15 and will only ever get action from a better hand.

I like my re-raise, although it can be argued it pot committed me with a drawing hand…at the same time, if I can get it all in with an unsuited A/6 against my A/K every time, I am happy with that.

I actually figured I was in a race and the flop PROBABLY gives me the lead with the King. I am only ever getting called by a better hand when I shove…unless I am against a bad player which, in this case, I would argue I was based on his pre-flop play.

Once I flop top/top, due to having nearly half my stack in, I am committed to the hand and have some fold equity by shoving. If he has 6s, 4s, 3s or deuces he is folding here, and he might even fold something like 8s or 10s.

Overall, a good read ended up costing me 40 big blinds.

Contrast that with me randomly deciding to make a move. The button, with 8.64, click-raises. All day and all night I fold garbage like the Qh/4h. For no apparent reason, I call this time.

I guess, recognizing the odds given, I decided to try to flop a flush draw or something. But the plan right now does not include advances poker plays like bluffing or playing the player type moves..I am trying to get back to the basics, playing good cards and playing them aggressively.

So this move makes no sense on any level. With just 3.85, I do not have enough chips to drive him off a hand, I have a bad hand, bad position…it is just a bad, bad idea.

The flop is the Jc/8d/3c. At least I do not compound my folly…I just check. He min-bets, I sense weakness and re-pop to .40 which he calls. Right there I should be done with the hand.

On the As turn, I bet .90 and he flat-calls it. The river is a 9s.

Okay, at this point I have not bothered to put him on a hand, I called with a bad hand, re-raised with nothing, and then bet with air. I have gotten 1.40 deep with nothing because he min-raised.
I finally, belatedly give up and check, he checks his Kings behind and I lost a good portion of my stack in a hand I should not have been in. Horrible, horrible play from beginning to end.

I continued playing poorly and getting (rightfully) buried. There are times I take a hit and it does not bother me...I get it in good, get drawn out on.

But there are times I really wonder what I am thinking. The first hand here I am okay with...the last one not so much.

When I have a play like that, I need to take the rest of the night off.

Cowboy Roundup

2010-10-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sitting behind 26.59, I pick up Kings, this time the red ones. UTG+2 I open to .30, the small blind calls with 11.84

The flop is a pseudo-dream flop, A/A/K, the third nuts. I am only behind A/k and pocket Aces, neither of which is overly likely. Normally, I bet out here. This time I elect to do one of my rare slow-plays. If he has one of those hands, it is all going in anyway and if he doesn’t he would just fold. Finally, a smart decision. He checks behind.

The turn is the irrelevant 9d, I bet half the pot, he calls.

The river is the 7s and suddenly he leads out for 1.30. I should re-pop it…but suddenly I get nervous. What if he called with A/9 or A/7 and now he drew out on me? What is he had big slick and slow-played me? As unlikely as these scenarios were, I suddenly wanted to play a small pot…and flat-called.

Not that I would not call a re-raise...after all, I have the fifth nuts and two hands that beat me...pocket Aces and big slick...are highly unlikely with how the hand played out. But it would be with a sick feeling that I had lost a huge pot.

He flipped up pocket 9s and I took a very, very small pot compared to what I should have taken.
When I have such a powerful hand, I cannot be afraid of getting involved. At the very least, a re-raise on the river was in order here. The way the hand played, it was very unlikely he had A/K or pocket Aces and no other hand beats me. Well, okay, so A/9 and A/7 do, both of which were in his range…but unlikely.

With 26.33 I pick up 2 red jacks in the big blind. UTG+2 opens to .30 with 9.80. The small blind, with 3.25, calls, I re-pop to 1.35, the utg+2 calls and the other folds.

The flop is decent for me…10c/6c/7d. I am pretty aggressive, betting 2.70. He re-pops to 6.20. Well now, that looks bad.

Remember a while ago when the opposition had bet weird and did this, I did the call-fist pump routine. This time it is way different.

He raised a standard amount and flat-called. This time I figure 6/6+, suited Ace, maybe A/J+. The re-raise indicates a made hand and he is wanting to maybe prevent the flush draw. Really, about the only hands I believe he is holding I could beat would be the somewhat unlikely A/10 suited, but I think he more likely has 10s, 6s or 7s. I fold and do not regret it.

Here is a fun hand I had nothing to do with except folding my small blind. Early middle position limps with 22.27, I fold my Ad/2c from the small blind, and the big blind checks with 18.65.

The flop is 4s/3h/8c. The limper bets the pot, .25 and gets a call. Lets see…open limper could be Aces or Kings trapping…though I tend to seldom see that play on this level…it could be a weak ace, probably suited, or a low to medium pair or possibly suited connectors. The big blind could be literally any two cards, but with a call here I would not be surprised to see him have something like 8/3, 8/4….maybe a 5/6 even. He could have all sorts of hand.s He might have two overs to the board or might just be planning to raise any checked turn.

The turn is the 7d. If either of them had the 5/6 they are very happy. The original limper bets .75 and gets a call. Pot is about 2.25 or so now.

The river is the 9s. 10/J is the nuts, but the way this hand played out, it is highly unlikely. Pocket 9s, pocket 8s/4s/3s are all within the realm of possibility as well as random two pair hands.

The initial limper checks, the big blind finally bets…20.42 cents into a 2 dollar pot! What on earth? I am betting he has something like pocket 9s, maybe pocket 3s…I would never call this bet without a 10/j or set of 8s or 9s. But the initial limper does call.

Original limper shows 8s/7s. Okay, flopped top pair, turned two pair, and checked on river when lots of hands beat him.

Big blind had…pocket 4s.He let the other guy hang himself, then made a fish bet and got paid off for it.

I really hate the way the first limper played the hand. He had no business limping in with that hand. I like his flop and turn play, hate every step of the river play. Bet again, don’t call a massive bet like that. Wow. So this pot of 35.35 goes to the big blind who got a free shot to hit his set.

He then eschewed the value bet to try and get hugely paid off.

Though I did not play this hand, I could see me being either guy and I see holes in both plays, yet I also see the value in both plays (except the river call). I guess the line between a really good play and a really bad play is really thin…

For example, I played a hand where to a point I took a similar line (though with a better finish for what I played). With 17.79 I watch the utg limp with 9.71, middle position take his time and then click-raise with 5.90 and from the next seat I have A/K.

Limps and click-raises both scream weak hand/weak player to me. I am raising this something like 103% of the time. I bump it to .85. The first limper calls and we take the flop.

The flop is decent for my hand, 4h/Qs/Jc. He could limp with something like J/10 or a suited ace that hit the four, maybe pocket 4s or some other middle pair, say 7s or worse. All those hands fit how he played the pre-flop, as well as a few random things I would hate to see like K/Q.

He checks, I bet 1/2 the pot expecting him to fold, he calls. The turn is the 10c, he checks, I bet expecting a call…and he folds. Probably should have checked there, but I like to charge people for their draws, and he was getting near pot-commitment time.

I need to be less fearful of getting drawn out on. It will help me make more on hands like this where he is highly unlikely to have a hand that has any chance of drawing out on me.

I had a really bad run where I was getting sucked out on with numerous runner-runner draws or one memorable one where I had Aces, got called on the flop and turn and rivered when a 10 hit by a guy holding 10/4 with a queen and king on the flop.

Or another where my Aces got taken down by a guy who called a re-raise with a suited q/9, missed the flop but called all in anyway and hit runner runner to flush out.

So I got gun shy about how I play, nervous about hands that could beat me and sometimes weighting my thoughts towards those hands instead of more reasonable hands.

As a result, several good hands I have mis=played and not pulled in as many chips as I should. Definitely a hole in my game.

Poke em in the eye and see if they blink

2010-10-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

Time to talk about a hand I was not involved in…but could have been.

TehKitteh, with 15.51, opens to .30 from utg+2. The cut-off, Gator John, with 15.67, click-raises to .50, it is folded back to TheKitteh who flat-calls.

Now, I absolutely HATE the click-raise. Kitteh put in .30 voluntary, risking .30 cents to win .15. The raise back to him is now 20 cents to win 75, almost 4-1. There is no hand worth raising that is not worth calling that idiotic raise with.

So if he is “raising for information”…he got none. Well, a little…if Kitteh comes over the top you can put him on Queens or better or big slick.

So they take a 5c/10d/4s flop heads up with a pot of just over a buck. Kitteh checks, Gator raises .80 and Kitteh again flats it.

What a weird bet. If you are going to min-raise pre-flop, why come out betting 80% of the pot? I am lost in this hand. Is he betting for value or from fear?

The turn pairs the board, the 4c. Kitteh checks, Gator raises 1.45. Okay, another weird bet, from a percentage look he is betting in reverse, putting in 45% of the pot. Now it reads as he is scared. Which Kitteh pounces on with a re-pop to 5.40.

Check-raises on the turn scream strength. He raised and flatted pre-flop which screams drawing hand; a/x suited, medium pocket pairs, suited connectors all fit the bill. There are now two baby clubs…so I guess he could be playing a backdoor draw REALLY weird. Or two overs to the board…I guess Jacks, Queens, Kings are in his range, as are a/j+ of clubs.

Actually, A/10c would make a lot of sense here…top pair, nut flush draw, fold equity. But so would pocket 4s or pocket 5s trying to build a pot big enough to warrant a river all-in.

Gator calls the re-raise.

The river is the 5h. Kitteh leads out all-in with the last 8.81 and gets a call. I really expect to see maybe A/4, 4/5, A/10c+, or an over pair…yes, that wide of range.

Gator is more the over-pair desperately hoping his Jacks or Aces are still good.

Kitteh has pocket 10s and Gator pocket Kings.

I have mentioned before how I hate getting involved with hands in the big blind. It is virtually always something I would not play otherwise, but then I hit just enough to continue the hand because it seems I should and I get crushed. Exceptions would be the odd speculative hand I want to see cheap…pocket deuces, A/x suited, maybe J/10 or a medium suited connector.

But when utg+2 limps with 4.59 as does the next guy with 5.41and the small blind with 9.65, I look at 8s/kc and check.

I am not exactly ecstatic when the flop comes 7s/ks/7c. This hits all sorts of hands people limp with. But when the big blind checks, I lead out for half the pot, .20 cents. UTG+1 click-raises, the middle position calls.

Now, had mp not called, I probably re-raise here. Click-raise is weak. But the over call by the squeeze position worries me. I almost fold but decide to call and see what happens on the turn.

Plus, there are pretty good chances I might be up against something like A/7s or K/J type hands that have me drawing pretty thin.

The turn is the Jc. A/J, K/J now are ahead of me. I am not real interested in playing a big pot here, especially against two other players. I check, the utg+2 bets .50, roughly 1/3 the pot. MP raises to 1.40, I fold, utg goes all in and gets a call.

With that action, one had to have a 7 and best guess for the other would be over pair. As it turns out, one had 7h/10h (the first all-in) and the second had 7d/8c. They are on track for a split pot until the river drops an 8 on them.

I am actually pretty happy about this. I probably should not have called the first re-raise, but I did not keep chasing long after I was obviously beat. Had the over call not happened, I probably would have gotten stacked here.

All too often, hitting a big pair like a King is something I chase too long so maybe I am improving my level of play.

I still struggle to figure out what to do with Big Slick or, as I often call it…Anna Kournikova. Looks sexy, wins nothing. UTG+1 opens to .20 with 5.93, UTG+2 flat-calls with 10 even, the hi-jack also calls with 9.90. In the cut-off, I look down at Ac/Ks and 9.66.

A call is not going to happen here. With this many people, I am highly unlikely to win a pot and many are likely to have speculative hands or soft aces. I can either fold or re-raise. I consider both and elect to raise to 1.15. UTG+2, mp, and the hi-jack all call.

I like the flop quite a bit. Ad/7c/2c. Maybe someone hit the club draw, a bit less likely are pocket 7s, A/7s, a/2s, or pocket deuces. Other than that, I am ahead.

There is about 5 bucks in the pot, I normally bet a couple of bucks here…but this time I have some sort of brain cramp and bet 8.51 all in.

I hate, hate, hate that bet. It is way too much for too little. With the action on the hand, pocket sevens are well with the range of hands they could have.

Nor am I happy when I get a call by a guy who has me covered. He flips up…10/9c, on the flush draw. Okay, as bad as I played it…he played it worse.

Turn is a 10 but the river is a blank and my over-play pulls down a 20.32 pot.

Another difficult one to play for me is over pairs to the board. Sitting behind 20.23, I watch the utg take his time, then raise to .60, 6 times the big blind. On the button, I have two black kings. Time to decide what to do.

Over-raises like that usually represent a small pair that does not want action, though occasionally someone will trap with Aces with the fish-bet. He has 7.58, so I am risking about a third of my stack on this hand.

I decide to put on some pressure and re-raise to 1.95 which he flats. Now we have over 4 bucks in the pot and the flop comes 10s/qs/9d. He insta-bets all in 5.63 and I am completely lost in the hand.

The over bet pre-flop COULD represent pocket 9s, 10s, or Queens…but I think it is more likely to be 6s or below. His call indicates he is a poor player…if he had re-popped me pre-flop I would be more inclined to think Jacks or Queens.

At the same time, I cannot completely discount a set. I am not really counting K/J type non-sense. I actually cannot get my head around any other hand but a small pocket that missed and he was betting the flop regardless of what came.

Based on his poor pre-flop line and the instantaneous nature of his flop shove, I THINK I am way ahead of something like threes or deuces and he is trying to scare me away. At the same time, there is a chance I am drawing thin if he does have queens. I guess a suited A/Q is a remote possibility but I do not even consider it.

Additionally, I have Jacks as a probable out for the straight. I call.

I would never in a million years have put him on the hand he has. As/9h. He hit bottom pair, backdoor flush draw. He never improves and I pick up the 14.29 pot.

Wow, I cannot even describe how badly he played that hand. He opened under the gun with a weak ace, called a strong re-raise, and shoved with bottom pair on a dangerous board it was almost impossible to have not hit the re-raiser. I should write his name down and play more pots with him.

At the same time, I should also really think about my own play. Unquestionably I played the pre-flop correctly. If he comes over the top again I am not sure if I call there…but I suspect I do. I would put his range on J/J+, A/K, A/Qs and I have pretty good equity against that.

On the flop…well, utg usually represents strength but over-bets indicate weakness so on a pretty nasty board, I have to think what he could have hit. Again…if he hit K/J playing like that, he is going to stack me no doubt.

Against a set I am a 4-1 dog, against a flush draw I am a 3-1 favorite, against anything else he could REASONABLY hold…pockets lower than 7s I will argue…I am a big favorite. So yeah…I think I need to call here.

So this was a pretty nice session, and will cover a few errors along the way....

Random Hands

2010-10-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

Having rat-holed a nice pick-up, I start a new session and promptly play exactly one of the first 23 hands…a boring open raise with big slick everyone folds to.

Finally I pick up big slick again, this time in the small blind. That is something I both love and hate. It is impossible to play a hand in position from the blind which adds to the difficulty. On the other hand, people often discount the strength of the hand…so I have to put them on a wider range of holdings.

UTG+2 opens for .30 with 9.10 in front of him. With 3.90, I have to decide how to proceed. Folding is something I actually occasionally do, and it is always a mistake. He could have a lot of hands here…6/6+, suited connectors, suited Ace, even something like K/Qo I have seen quite a bit.

Calling is a poor option as I give worse hands a free shot to draw out on me and I let them control the action. So a re-raise is in order. I pop it up to a buck and he flat calls.

I more or less rule out Aces or Kings, put Queens as possible but unlikely, and figure him for a good pair…10/10+, with other hands possible but unlikely. On the bright side, I have the initiative. On the dark side, he has position and the pot is a bit larger than I like with just Ace high.

The flop is pretty not good…7h/9s/5h. I hit none of that. Time to make my continuation bet as he probably hit none of that either. Now, with 2 bucks in the pot, I usually bet half the pot here…but in this case, that is the same amount I bet pre-flop, which is a bet that just feels weak and even at the amount, that pot commits me so I pot bet, 2.10, leaving me just .80 cents behind. I probably should have just moved in.

He instantly re-raises me. I figure he has something like Queens or Kings…maybe even Aces…but now with over 6 bucks in the pot and just 80 cents behind, there is no way I am folding. I made a bad bet, got clipped, and now time to pay.

He flips up pocket 7s, a hand I had in his initial range and had I only bet a buck, who knows…I MIGHT have been wise enough to fold. I doubt it…but every so often I surprise myself.

I actually thought I was drawing dead. Running Aces or Kings would give him a boat. The turn is the 10h and I start laughing…so many people have drawn out on me in ridiculous situations like this that I see it coming and when the 2h hits, I rivered the nut flush and take down the 7.38 pot on a ridiculous suck-out.

It is not often your chance to win a hand is better after the turn than the flop…but wow. Just wow.

Funny thing is…if I were him I would not have been in the hand anyway.

Lets reverse it for a second. I open to .30 and get re-raised to 1. I have pocket 7s which are almost guaranteed to need to improve to win the pot. I am really playing for a set here.

Short-hand math says I need to get 8-1 to play for a set…he is calling .70 to win 3.90 max, or less than 6-1. For me, that is an easy fold, particularly as I am behind most hands in the range of an opponent who re-raises from the small blind…I credit them for 10/10+, A/K, MAYBE A/Js+.

Against that range I am significantly behind over half and a coin flip against the rest. If the small blind calls, I am okay with that…if they re-raise, the odds are wrong and I need to fold.

So here is a case where both players played poorly, just at different points in the hand; his pre-flop play was abominable, and my post-flop play arguably even worse. And I got extremely fortunate to hit a horrific long-shot. I’ll take it.

Sometimes after I play a hand poorly and get rewarded, I get overly aggressive. This time I fold 9 consecutive hands and then, irony of ironies, he next hand I play is from middle position with pocket 7s.

Utg click-raises with 5.38, I call with 7.28. I want more people in the hand to increase my pot odds. Unfortunately, the next person raises to…wait for it…1.00 with 4.10 behind.

Folded back to me and I am facing an .80 cent raise to win 4.45 – rake. A simple 8x.80 tells me I need 6.40 and I am getting incorrect odds…so I fold.

This is a very similar situation with identical hands facing similar raises. I actually would argue I had MORE incentive to call…the re-raise was in the face of a lower-than-average raise and flat-call, both of which indicate marginal holdings, and had several people left to act, so this is more in line with an isolation raise.

I would give them any mid pair…say 4s or better, a moderate suited ace or a strong unsuited ace, a range my 7s have better equity against…but not good enough to call based on the odds. I might be wrong but I like the way I played this hand.

I then fold 22 consecutive hands…meaning I have not seen a flop in a while and the blinds have chipped me down to 6.78 when I pick up Ah/Kc and open to .30 from the cut-off. The big blind, with 6.80, calls and we see the flop heads up.

I am pretty happy with the flop…Ad/3h/7c. I am way behind pocket threes or pocket 7s but way ahead of anything else. There are not draws. He check-calls my .40 cent continuation, then check-folds the 2h turn. This game is easy.

A couple hands later I open with Queens in middle position, everyone folds. But I am okay with that. Being tighter with my opening hands has been good to me, no need to get involved bumping around opening trash like A/10o and then hitting flops part-way, getting lost in the hand and giving up big chunks.

Or getting into hands by accident. With 7.59 I am in the big blind with Js/Kc. The button limps with 37.89, the small blind folds, and I check my option.

If I am going to get a cheap look with a marginal hand I might as well flop a big hand. Now, normally here I will lead out. I have a good but hardly untouchable hand. For whatever reason…I check. He checks behind.

The turn brings us the 10d, adding a couple draws and potentially hitting several hands he might hold. I put out almost a pot size bet and he folds. Again…not sure how to play this. There is nothing to indicate he will ever bet into me. So I guess that is about as good as I can do. I need to figure out a better way to play hands like this where I am extremely likely to have the better hand.

After numerous folds and a couple uneventful, by the books hands, I pick up Ah/Jh under the gun. I routinely fold this hand as I am really working on tightening up my pre-flop hands, but this was a “I have folded lots of hands and this sure looks pretty after a barren stretch” moment so I raised to .30 with 7.63 in my stack.

The cut-off, with 2.81, flat-calls, as does the small blind with 2.36.

The three of us look at a pot of about a buck and a flop of 3c/8c/Js. With top pair, top kicker and both of them having less than three bucks I am pretty sure to see the river. The small blind checks, I bet half the pot, the cut-off folds and the small blind calls.

The turn is the 6s, he checks, I bet .90, he flats leaving .66 behind. That .66 is going in or he is folding on the river…because I am betting if he does not.

The river is the 3s, he leads out for .66. I know I am calling, but just as an exercise for myself, I work through the hands he could hold.

He was getting a decent price on his call, calling .25 to win .75 if the big blind folded, or 3-1. So with the loose nature of the game, I can give him credit for A/10+, A/xs, suited connectors, any pair, 10/j, or any two face cards. A pretty wide range.

He played it passively, check-calling to the river. He led out on the river, knowing I am unlikely to fold to a .66 cent bet into a 3.50ish pot. So he either A) has a monster and is afraid he will not get paid or B) has nothing and knows his best bet is making me fold.

Looking at the hand, a 3 is a definite possibility but unlikely. It feels more like a missed flush draw with minor thoughts he held a 9/10 and wanted a straight. I really think he is going to flip up a/x of clubs.

I make the easy call and he shows us the Kc/10c. What do you know, the missed flush. Okay, so I missed what his top card was…I am quite pleased with my read on the hand.

So some up and down play with pretty good results.

Check or bet?

2010-10-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Having folded the first few hands of a session, I am sitting behind 3.80 when I pick up Jc/Qs in the cut-off. If anyone raises, it is another fold, but when it is folded to me I open to .30. The small blind calls, big blind folds and we go to the flop heads up with about .65 in the pot.

If I am going to raise a trash hand like that, it might as well flop a draw…like 10s/9d/5s. I put in a .50 bet, a little high for normal...it was actually a mis-click. I meant to bet .40.

That sounds like a minor detail, but it is not. I am trying to keep my odds where I want them, to control the pot. If I make a half-pot bet on the flop, a half-pot bet on the turn is a third cheaper and the same with the river...yet each way gets me close enough to get lots of chips in if the situation warrants.

But the larger flop bet will require larger turn and river bets...and lead to more chips in the center when I do NOT think the situation warrants based on hand strength, but the pot odds will be more favorable.

More favorable pot odds when I think I am behind do not mean I am happy...if I think I am behind but calling because I will be wrong x amount of the time, I want the call to be for fewer chips, not more.

He thinks about it for quite a while, then raises to 2.25 all-in. I am getting basically 2-1 on the call.

I know I have 6 clean outs…any non-spade K or 8. I might have an over card…but I suspect he is either top pair/top kicker or flush draw. Maybe a set.

I should fold…I usually do…but inexplicably, for reasons I still cannot explain…I call. He has Jh/9h and I am drawing better than expected…11 clean outs. Still an underdog but not as bad as expected.

The turn is the 2h and then my poor play is rewarded when I spike the King on the river.

This looked like exactly what it was…two fish battling it out, playing poorly, making bad calls and taking turns getting rewarded. I stunk up the joint on the hand…but got paid off unlike when I actually have good hands.

Oddly, I am finding this lately…when I play what I believe is well…pushing good hands, charging for draws, betting monsters…I end up with losing sessions.

Conversely, when I play maniacally…chasing draws in the face of odds, for example…I have good results. This is counter-intuitive and dangerous.

It also leads to brainless aggression. Like sitting behind 6.15 as a result of sucking out on that guy, when the small blind with 7.31 opens to .30, I call the extra 20 cents with Kh/10c.

I do not mind the call…I have an above-average hand, have position, and he could be betting position. I will most likely call the expected continuation bet on the flop, then raise his checked turn and take own the pot. Hopefully. That is the plan.

And helping the plan along, the flop is 9d/Jd/8c, adding an up and down straight draw to my over. He bets .60, I flat-call it. No need to build a pot with a draw in play.

The 4d falls on the turn…perfect bluffing card. He checks, I bet, he folds. Thing is, if I was not planning to bet the turn, I should not have called the flop. Or, arguably, the pre-flop.

At the same time, if he is a good player and has the flush, he wants to check-raise me here. I am only ever getting called by a better hand...or a horrific player.

Very next hand I pick up big slick in middle position. Guy in front of me raises to .30, I re-pop to 1.05, he folds. Nice.

I then fold 21 consecutive hands before picking up Ah/Qh in the hi-jack. At this point I have 7.23. A middle position guy takes time, then raises to .30 sitting behind 12.24. I ponder re-raising, but decide to flat call.

A/Q suited is, in the way I play, a drawing hand. I might get a couple more calls and perhaps win a nice pot should a flush hit. Sure enough, a guy with 5.79 calls on the button, the blinds fold and we take a three-handed flop.

The flop is Ks/7c/2h. Checked around. Turn brings the Ac, I bet, they fold.

A few folds later, I pick up hockey sticks in the hi-jack. With 8.35, I am feeling frisky and make it .30 to go. The small blind, with 9.95, calls and we take the flop heads up.

I am not real excited about the Jh/Kc/3s flop. That hits a trainload of hands the small blind would call with. It also misses a truckload of them, and when he checks, I continuation bet .40 into a .66 cent pot. I actually expect him to call and then check-fold the turn, but he ups my happiness meter 2 points by meekly folding.

This illustrates to me again the power of position. If he comes out firing, I am going to have to think long and hard about what to do. If it is one of those idiotic 1 or 2 blind bets into a 6 blind pot, I probably re-pop him. If it is a half size bet, I am on the fence over whether to call, fold, or raise. If it is a pot-size bet, I probably fold here.

Conversely, when he checks, I am pretty much locked into raising here. 7s are nice, but unlikely to win a show-down unimproved. Therefore it behooves me to put pressure on the opposition, best done by betting when they show weakness. It is easier to see their weakness if I see their move before I make mine.

The next hand I fold the small blind to a min-raise holding 4s/6d. Too bad, the flop was 6h/6s/4c. Would have been my second flopped boat with a trash hand in this session…but I folded them both. Wisely. Especially wisely as the turn and river were both tens and I would have lost to the A/10 holdings that boated up…

Which, by the way, leads indirectly back to one of my weaknesses. If I flop 6s full, I would be very tempted to slow-play. It feels like a pretty safe hand. If someone wants to beat it, they need pockets that pair or something unlikely like running cards that pair the board.

But when I slow-play, I seldom if ever manage to get the chips in by the river…UNLESS the opponent not only catches up, they pass me…and I get stacked with flopped 6s full verse rivered 10s full. This time I avoided it by the (correct) pre-flop fold…does anyone think when I checked the flop and bet the turn that the A/10 is folding?

Fresh off the smart fold, I pick up 10c/8d in the big blind. The small blind, with 6.84, click-raises. Often I have folded this lately, even though it looks, feels, and plays like something he could do with…well, there are 291 starting hands, my 10/8 block very few of them…any hand NOT containing the 10c/8d are in his range.

This time I call planning to call his flop raise, raise the turn and take it down.

The flop is the generic Qd/7d/3c. Hits a few hands he holds, misses most of them. He raises another .20, I call.

The turn is the Jh, hitting a few more hands I believe. He checks, I bet .50 expecting him to fold, he hesitates…almost times out…and calls.

Hmm. Did that Jack hit him? He on the possible but unlikely diamond flush draw? He have the 3, or a pair smaller than the Jack… 9s most likely as I hold a ten and eight, somewhat reducing his possibilities for those.

Regardless, I am going to tread carefully on the river. Barring the miracle non-diamond 9, there is really no card I am ecstatic about and I am kicking myself for wasting 90 cents…well, okay, 50 cents. Well, okay, not really upset…the hand went according to plan outside of his call. I built a plan for the hand, played the plan, and my opponent refused to co-operate.

The river is the 10h. I am not super excited about that. K/9, 8/9, 10/9 are all believable holdings that love that card. He checks.

Now…I have a marginal hand with marginal show-down value. Check behind and see what happens? I know if I raise and he re-pops I am folding so that is a wise course of action.

But the more I think about it, the more I think he has a missed draw. The hesitant call on the turn followed by the river check indicates either a weak hand that will fold…or a monster that will re-raise.

He has a couple hands he will fold that have me beat…a couple in his range that are weaker he will call with. Ultimately I am not sure if betting here is the right play or wrong play. I need to think about this a bit more.

As it turns out, on the hand, I bet another .90 cents into it. He expends his full 20seconds, asks for time, and finally folds.

Sitting behind 9.14 I open to .30 from utg+2. The button calls with 3.03 and we go to the flop heads up. The flop is 2c/Jh/6s. As the pre-flop aggressor, I am going to continuation bet here something like 99% of the time and I do so, leading out for .40cents.

He flat-calls and it is time to start putting him on a hand. A/K, A/Q, A/J, K/Q, K/J, maybe tens or similar pockets.

There are really no draws. He might be slow-playing a set of 6s or deuces, but I think that is unlikely. I think the most likely hand is a couple overs or something like A/10 suited where he is playing his Ace.

The turn is the 4d. This hits exactly zero hands he was playing…well, okay, if he has the 3/5 it hits him and I am going to get stacked. I bet pre-flop, I bet the flop, now I have a choice. I am pretty sure not only that I am ahead but that he is not going to catch up. So check or bet?

This is me. Clear answer; bet. I lead out for .80 and he again flat-calls. The river is the qd. There are now precisely 2 hands that beat me…pocket queens and 3/5. I need to figure out if it is better to bet or check.

There are no obvious draws here. He has something…but he seems more interested in seeing a cheap river than raising since he never re-popped me. I do not think he will bet, so I again half-pot it…which would still put him all in. He folds, sadly for me.

Now, going back over the hand, I wonder if I should have played it different. I had pocket Jacks so I flopped the nuts and ended with the third nuts. Not sure how to play them differently to get his whole stack. I actually like how I played it.

Perhaps the reasoning can be explained by the next memorable hand I play. With 10.88 I am in the big blind with Ad/2h. If anyone even click-raises I will fold in a heart-beat for reasons I have discussed elsewhere. There are 2 hands that can flop I love; 3 aces or 3 deuces on the flop. Otherwise, not too happy.

2 middle position guys with 7.20 and 23.20 limp, everyone else folds, and I check. A raise could be argued for here…but I really do not want to play a big pot out of position against 2 players with A/2.

The flop is pretty decent…2c/Ac/Jd. I am behind pocket Jacks which I believe would have been raised pre-flop but not much else. A/J...more believable, but I still would expect a pre-flop raise from that. I almost bet, then decide to check-raise instead.

This was a mistake. Both players limped…there is no reason to believe this hit either, so no reason to believe they will raise. Both check and the turn is the 9c. I check-fold to a bet.

I played this hand about as poorly as possible and instead of picking up a small pot, I won nothing. On the bright side…I lost just the big blind…but that is small consolation.

Sitting behind 9.78 I pick up pocket 4s on the button. I open to .30, the big blind calls with 2.80 and we see the 10c/9c/2s flop heads up.

This is a decent flop for me…A/10, A/9, K/10, Q/10, J/10 are really the main hands I think Trish1969 could be playing. I am not overly worried about that…she checks, I bet, she calls. Lots of people do, I expect her to check-fold the turn.

The turn is the Js…changes nothing. Unless she has something like K/J, if I was ahead before, I am ahead now. I guess a couple draws get there. She checks, I bet…she flat-calls.

Now I think the most likely hand is a flush draw. I will be very careful on the river. The river is the irrelevant 3. Unless she has pocket treys, I am in good shape. She checks and it is time to choose between checking and betting.

If she has the Q/K or a set, she will re-pop me. If she has the busted flush draw I suspect she will fold. If she had something that tagged the 9 or 10 and just wanted to see a cheap river, it is 50-50 what I should do. Ultimately I get the feeling she either has nothing or a huge hand…either way a bet wins nothing, but could lose a lot.

I check, fully expecting to see A/x and take down the pot. Instead I see her turn up…7d/Jc? What?

Let’s see. I guess the pre-flop sort of makes sense since a lot of people will defend their blind with about any two cards. Fair enough.

And a lot of people will also “just see what happens” on the turn…a move I use myself to take down a lot of pots by calling the flo and betting the turn…but that relies on calling in position.

In fact, that is exactly what I did myself earlier with the K/10. Of course, I did it in position...I seldom if ever do it out of position.

So on the turn, she suddenly hits a jack and now has top pair, gut shot straight draw. On the river, I have bet every step of the way, so there is no reason for her to bet. She has a marginal hand that wants to see a cheap showdown.

I do not like the pre-flop or flop play, but upon further review I sort of get her turn and river. I do not know I would have played it that way...but I am glad she did.

So here is a hand I think I actually played pretty well…and ended up losing 1.40. But I am okay with that much more than the hand I played poorly and “lost” .10 because I should have won a small but worthwhile pot.

So for the session, I think the lesson is clear. I really need to work on when to bet and when to check on the turn and river.

When Big Pockets go south

2010-10-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

Started out with 4 bucks playing 5/10. The plan was to play tight, mostly set-mine. Raise 7+ from early, any pair from middle, call up to 30 cents in middle or later with about any pair. Raise Big Slick, A/Qs from middle or later, A/Jo from late. Everything else is a fold.

And the very first hand, pick up the cowboys in the big blind. UTG has 7.15 and bumps to .30, folded to me. Some players, better than me, would flat-call here. I do not because I tend to hold the hand too long…I would rather win .35 pre-flop (his raise + the blind) than play a hand out of position, particularly if an Ace flops.

I re-pop to .95, he calls. There is about 2 bucks in there, I have 3.05. The flop comes down Jc/9d/3c. The correct play here is to bet half the pot and shove the turn.

I have gotten drawn out on a lot lately and was feeling puckish. I decided it was going to cost him to draw out. Realizing Jacks were in his hand range but not much else I was not ahead of, I went ahead and went all-in. He folded.

I do not know if I like how I played the hand or not. I am really only getting called by MAYBE A/J, queens, aces, or a set. I guess some weak players would call on the flush draw, but they would be getting bad odds.

At the same time, it adversely affects my play when someone with some trash like a suited 10/7 sticks around and hits runner-runner. It should not bother me…I want to face those hands in this situation and have them call. But it has felt like I was running into that a lot lately…so take the .87 pick-up and move to the next hand.

2 folds later, I break my plan, opening to .20 from under the gun. A middle position player with 6.98 calls, as does the big blind with 24.66.

The flop is ugly, Ks/10d/8d. Many times I continuation bet here, having raised pre-flop. But on this board…K/Q, K/J, K/10, Q/J, Q/10, J/10, 7/8 suited, 9/10 suited as well as a variety of A/x suited that include an 8 or 10 all are well in the range of hands here. At the moment the only hands I am ahead of are things like A/Q, A/J, pocket treys.

It is checked around. If a baby falls on the turn I will take a stab at it…but it is the Jh. The big blind bets the pot and I fold.

I am quite happy with that outcome. I saw a speculative hand cheaply, did not send good chips after bad, and folded on a dangerous board. I am showing improvement.

3 folds later I pick up pocket 9s in early middle. I raise 3 times the blinds and everyone folds. Just the type of result I like on speculative hands.

6 folds later I have 4.72 and bump it to .30 from under the gun. A middle position guy with $8 calls as does the button with 4.78.

The flop is pretty decent, Qs/Jd/7h. I am ahead of lots of reasonable holdings such as A/Q, A/J, Q/J, medium pockets, and behind sets. I bet the pot…and they both call.

The first call does not bother me…the over-call does. Time to tread cautiously. The 3s falls on the turn.

Now, I have to believe one of the opponents has a set…but for whatever reason, I convince myself one has the queen, the other the jack, and shove. I see a re-raise call in and call, and they flip up pocket queens and jack ten.

Neither hand surprises me, and the J/10 was exactly the type hand I was hoping to see. But I played like a complete tool and, when a ten fell on the river, ended with the third best hand.

If there was just one caller on the flop a shove might be good here…but against 2 callers, the Aces are drawing thin. It requires discipline to lay them down…discipline I did not show.
I played poorly and I paid for it.

That is definitely a hole in my game. I need to stop over-valuing big pairs and recognize the prevalence of sets in Rush poker.

Random Hands

2010-10-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

I find Aces difficult to play sometimes. Like many weak players, I tend to hold on to them too long even when it is obvious I am behind or even drawing dead. So my goal often becomes to get it all in pre-flop if possible…prevents me having to make tough decisions.

Sitting behind 56 big blinds on the button, I am happy to look down at two black aces. Ideally, one person will raise, another re-raise, and I can raise all-in.

UTG+1, with 77bb, opens 3 times the big blind and gets calls from two middle position guys with 90 and 38 big blinds. Perfect. There are 10.5 big blinds in the pot when it gets to me.

I re-raise all-in. Ideally, the first guy has queens or kings and another guy has A/K and a loose idea of good calls. Second best would be everyone folding which is what happens.

It is perhaps a sign of me being a poor player that I am ecstatic to take down 10.5 blinds with no risk rather than see 2 or 3 players call since I know their combined chance of winning is better than mine even though my individual percentage chance is better than either of their individual chances.

Shortly thereafter, I have 64 bb and pick up 8c/6c in the big blind. As a general rule, I routinely fold suited one-gappers. I play them poorly and they have long been a losing proposition for me. On this occasion, it is folded to the big blind who, sitting behind 120 bb, opens to 3 bb.

An easy fold, even though more often than not the sb is raising position. For some inexplicable reason, I call.

Actually, I had a very specific reason. More often than not the small blind who raises here will continuation bet the flop, then check-fold the turn after I flat-call the flop and bet the turn when they check it. That play has a very high rate of success but I still usually only make it when I have something like suited connectors, a dry ace, maybe K/Q off.

So really, my cards do not matter, I am playing a scenario.

The flop is a mixed bag…6s/Kc/Qc. I pick up bottom pair with no kicker and a garbage flush draw. He bets about 2/3rd the pot. I flat-call it, expecting the normal check-fold on the turn…and having plenty of outs if not.

The turn is a blank, the 3s. He bets 2/3 pot again, I flat-call it. The river is again a blank, the 7s. He checks. The pot is mine, I just need to send in the chips and he will fold…but I meekly check behind.

That is a huge mistake. The only hands he could have that I am beating here are things like A/x clubs, 10/J, maybe a pair of 5s. But many of the hands that have me beat will fold to a bet here the way the hand played out.

And, in fact, he would have folded…showing the 10d/2d. He was playing the “battle of the blinds, he will fold” card and my draw won me a nice pot. But it does not excuse my poor river play. I think I needed to bet there and got cautious when my draws missed. I was never playing the draw, it was not relevant to my river action.

Conversely, the same holds true for him. I do not think my busted draw/near-bottom pair could call even the most modest of bets there.

Later on, sitting behind 33 bb, I am in late position with Kh/qh. This is the type of hand I do not mind opening with but hate to call. It is right in the happy zone of all too many hands that either dominate it…A/K, A/Q, pocket Kings and Queens…or that want it to hit, like A/x suited.

I am not a good enough player to know when I am beat or to lay down the second nuts so it is a hand I typically stay away from. On this occasion I am in the cutoff. The hijack opens to 3xbb with 113 big blinds behind and I call. Everyone else folds.

The flop comes down Kd, 4s, 3s. This is exactly the type of flop I love/hate. I have top pair, good kicker…and am right in the happy zone of a lot of hands in his range, but way ahead of many other hands in his range….4+, suited aces. Lets see what the action is.

He bets a third of the pot…a feeler-type bet or a trap. It screams weakness…I am going to weight his range more towards something like Jacks or tens, nervous about the king. I put in a good size raise, about 1-1/3 times the pot. At this point, I am committed…I am seeing the river. He re-pops all in.

Well now, that changes things. Aces, A/K, pocket Kings…pocket 4s…pocket 3s…all hands in his range and all hands he wants to get it all in here. Of course, so are things like suited Ace of spades, the aforementioned medium pockets, and several other things I can beat.

If I have 50 or 100 big blinds, I probably have to fold here, but being a bit short-stacked, I bite my lip in frustration and call. I think I wanted him to fold when I re-raised his weak feeler. He shows up with Ks/10c…top pair, worse kicker, and a back door flush draw.

For what it is worth…my hand held up and I doubled up with a pair of Kings, Queen kicker…not necessarily a situation I want to be in very often! I do not know if I played this hand horribly or very well. I would believe either. Since he re-raised all-in and I called based on my holdings and a pseudo-read...

A while later I am in the big blind with Ah/2h with 60 big blinds. The cut-off opens to 3 big blinds with 114 behind everyone else folds.

I normally fold here. I am out of position, trying for a 1 in 15ish shot at the nut flush with no other hand making me happy. For some reason I called.

The flop was about as good as it could be, a 6s/Kh/8h giving me the nut flush draw. This is good and bad…it is good because I hit the hand I was playing for. It is bad because…well, it will be hard to get paid off if I hit and cost me a pretty penny if I do not since I tend to stick with my draws too long based on the classic “implied odds”.

He bets almost a pot-size bet. I am not getting the correct exact odds by far, but my implied odds, I convince myself, are good enough…I call.

The turn is the jackpot…the 5h. I check and he checks behind. The river is the 2s. Now I face a decision. I have the absolute nuts..how to get him to pay off?

I have check-called all the way. I can check and hope he bets, lead out with anywhere from a half-pot to a full pot…or try to look like a bluff. I choose that. With 16 bb in the pot, I raise all in with my last 52 big blinds. It is a horrible bet that makes no sense. I was trying to look like I was bluffing.

He called with Kd/9d…a pair of Kings. Yeah, he paid off with top pair, modest kicker on a flush board. Woo-hoo! There is a reason TJ Cloutier advises not playing K/9 and why I routinely fold it.

So sitting behind 112 big blinds, I am getting into that hazy zone. I had hit a really rough patch over the course of several weeks where when I got it in good…say, pocket Aces against pocket jacks…I would get out-drawn. Then I would get frustrated and push a draw or just two big cards or a clearly out-drawn pair too hard and give back every chip I had won and more.

I was losing buy-ins hand over fist.

So typically, I have been starting with 40 big blinds and rat-holing once I get to about 80 bb. I just did not want to lose what I had won all in one go. This has the interesting side-effects of A) forcing me to play tighter and B) keeping me from playing speculative hands which I tend to play poorly.

So to be sitting on that many buy-ins, there was a real danger of either A) playing scared which leads to folding when I should not or B) playing afraid of playing scared, which means over-valuing my hand and sticking with it when obviously beat.

And under the gun I pick up one of those troubling hands…pocket Jacks. I raise to 3 big blinds, get called by a guy with 210 big blinds, and the big blind also calls with 36 big blinds.

Great…I am sandwiched between someone who will probably be willing to move in with a pretty wide range and a guy playing deep-stack, I have a hand that will most likely see over cards on the flop and, as the pre-flop better, I already know I plan to continuation bet.

The flop is about as bad as it can be…Ks/9c/Ad. Big Slick, A/Q, A/J, A/10, K/Q, pocket nines…all those hands have me crushed and are quite believable. I am not too nervous about pocket Kings or Aces…but I am way behind their ranges.

Big blind leads out with a pot-size bet, I triple his bet. The deep-stack guy takes his time but finally calls. I do not like that. It feels like he hit a big hand and is trying to figure out if it is better to get the chips in now or try and bring the big blind along.

The turn is a blank, the 4h. No flush draws. The big blind checks, I check behind, deep stack piledrives his last 200 blinds in.

That screams strength to me. He did not bother to size his bet, just shipped them. The big blind calls and I am done with the hand. Time to figure out what they had.

I am thinking the big blind has a soft ace or a stupid draw, maybe the 10/J, A/J, or A/10 type thing hoping to hit a straight or that his Ace is good. The other guy feels like A/K, maybe suited A/9, pocket Aces or, unlikely but possible with his turn move on the 4, pocket 4s or even A/4..
Well…sort of. The move-in was with Aces up, he did indeed have A/K and I got away from the hand relatively cheaply, just 12 bb lost. But the Big Blind?

He over-called with K/6. He over-called a re-raise with K/6. He called an all-in with K/6. Wow. That is just…that is awful. I feel pretty good about my play on the hand comparatively! Not sure about my re-raise…but other than that I am satisfied.

The good thing about hands like this is they really help me establish how people play various hand ranges. I mean, I do not really expect people to play K/6 in that situation, but people defend their big blind with all sorts of trash and I need to take that into account in blind battles.
I also need to be more willing to release my hand on flops like that. I know I said I was planning to raise regardless of flop…but upon further review, maybe that was not so good.

To be sure, often enough my opponent folds on a continuation bet or re-raise on a flop like this…but that is against ONE opponent. It stretches the bounds of credibility I would be facing TWO or more opponents without an Ace or big pocket pair in their hand. I should have saved that bet.
But at least I am thinking about it and learning. Getting better. And that makes me happy.

This is me playing poorly

2010-10-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sitting behind 49 bb, I watch UTG, with 135 BB, open to 4 times the big blind. It is folded to me in the cut-odd where, with pocket Queens, I elect to re-raise. He thinks about it and finally calls.

The flop is one of those frightening but fun flops where things can go horribly wrong when you get stacked or very right and double you up…Qc/Kc/Jh. I am way behind the Cowboys, about even with A/10, and way ahead of everything else. He comes out firing about a third pot bet.

Why would he lead out into the pre-flop re-raiser? My best bet was he had a marginal hand and/or was trying to prevent the draw at the flush. It did not feel like he hit the flop hard but more like it missed him, he thought it might have missed me too and wanted to drive me off.

I re-raised him all-in. Now he faced a decision. I was laying him about 2-1/2 to 1 to call. I had twice shown strength, re-raising pre-flop and on a dangerous flop.
What types of hands could I do that with? Considering he was under the gun, I should respect his hand and indeed I figured him for 6+, any suited Ace, and any unsuited A/J+… a pretty wide range, many of which suited his actions.

So if that was what I put him on, he had to put me I would think on a stronger range…JJ+, MAYBE suited Aces if I am loose, perhaps two face cards. The only way he is chasing me off that hand is if I have something like pocket 8s type hands.

Unless, of course, he is thinking deeper and trapping, trying to make it look like he missed the flop or hit it semi-hard and is trying to draw me in.

He ended up calling with A/Q, catching an Ace on the turn, and the river….was a blank. Nice. Scary as he had lots of outs…any Ace, King or ten gave him a winner on the river, so 8 outs. But I always like getting it in as the favorite and having my hand hold up. I actually think I played the hand pretty well, though perhaps some people would try for pot control and just call on the flop.

The problem with that approach is the turn card. When the Ace falls, it makes calling off the rest of my chips a tougher decision. With Aces up he is shoving, but at that point, I have to give serious thought to him having a straight or two pair. The 2 pair counterfeits many of my outs.

If I put him on A/10 then I am drawing to 13 outs and need to be getting 4-1. I would not be and have to fold. If I put him on 2 pair I am actually still ahead and need to call. Having him on a range where I do not know what he has means I have to guess at what is the positive EV play…and I am not good enough to figure that out.

Thus it was a case where I was better off taking a strong hand, adding the fold equity and shoving on the flop. This time it worked out.

Later on I made what I think was a completely poor play.

I have picked up a move where if I am in position and the pre-flop aggressor, I regularly make continuation bets, expecting flop calls, then raise again on the turn and have them fold. Having rat-holed a nice gain, I was sitting behind 43 bb and picked up 10h/qd.

When I am playing well I often fold that, but this time did not have the option. The button open-limped with a deep stack, the sb folded and I checked.

The flop was As/Qc/9s. Top pair, mediocre kicker. I bet half the pot, he merely calls. The turn was the 9c, adding a gut-shot. I bet half the pot…and he triples my raise. No problem, this is a clear fold.

What hands can he open limp, call the flop, and raise with? 10/J is the most likely holding, but so is stuff like A/8/ For that matter, 8/9 suited is a reasonable holding as well. Nor would I be surprised to see him have pocket 8s or pocket 10s.

Across his entire range,the only thing I am ahead of here is a semi-bluff with something like K/J. It is a clear fold. Whenever someone re-pops on a second barrel, they always have SOMETHING. Just let the hand go.

Or be an idiot, call planning to bet again on the river if a good card comes, so that is what I did. The river was the irrelevant 3s. I suppose if he has K/J or picked up the club flush draw on the turn he MIGHT fold here…but cut your losses.

Or put in a half pot bet, watch him call with A/9 and lose a sizable portion of my stack in a hand I would not even have been in had I not been big blind.

I do not hate my flop and turn raises…but the rest of the hand…I played like a chump and deserved what I got. Putting in half my stack with second pair, mediocre kicker against demonstrated strength is a horrific play I am embarrassed to have made.

Of course, making correct choices does not always have a good outcome either.

Sitting behind 68 bb, late medium position raises 3.5 times the blind with 80 bb behind. I re-pop from the button to 13-1/2 bb, the big blind, sitting behind 45 bb, repops to 30 big blinds. Then the mp calls.

Now I have a decision. The re-raise by the big blind screams Aces or Kings, MAYBE A/K on a move, but I am weighting it towards the pairs. The call is less sure…he can easily get squeezed by me as I have enough left to force him to a decision if I re-re-raise. So I figure I am behind one guy, ahead of the other, and getting about 4-1 real odds with much better implied.

I elect to call.

The flop is rags, 6d/9s/2c. No flush draw, no believable straight draw. BB raises his last 15 blinds all in, the mp flat-calls. It just screams weak to me. I figure I am way behind the big blind, but the MP looks like 10s or jacks maybe? Or maybe that is what I am hoping.

I want to get his chips, and if he called one bet, he will call another. I come over the top for my last 38 blinds, he calls, and sure enough, BB had Aces and he had…7s?
Sweet! I thought he had a stronger hand. I will most likely lose the initial bet and still come out ahead by taking his chips…until the turn is a 7.

Sigh.

I had him where I wanted him, read him correctly, and made the right move. It just failed when he hit his 2-outer.

So up and down, get down to about 26 bb when the button, with 140bb, opens 3xbb. For some bizarre reason I decide to defend with 10/9 off. But I go about it the wrong way.

To properly defend, I should re-pop here. Just calling does nothing to differentiate between someone on a blind steal with any two cards or someone with a legit hand. Now I will spend the hand out of position with a marginal hand.

Nor is there anything reassuring in the Jh/Kd/6d flop. I have the ignorant end of a gut shot straight draw…do not think I will be happy to see a Queen, either, as A/10 is certainly in the realm of possibility. I have yet to narrow his hand. I check, he bets 30xbb, and I fo….call?

What? Well, actually, I had an idea he was on a steal. I had notes on him as being pretty aggressive. I planned to see what he did on the turn and go after him on the river. It is a pretty standard play on this level to continuation bet any hand on any flop and it seldom means anything.

Sure enough, the turn is 3c, I check, he checks behind. The river is a harmless 6c, but it works well for me. The way I played this hand it is well within the realm of cards I COULD have and was just trying to see the river. So does anything with a Jack or king with weak kicker…maybe even something like Q/10.

Still, I am highly unlikely to win if it is checked down and I am not a good enough player to check-raise a pure bluff, so I bet half the pot and he folds.

In all honesty, as soon as he checked the turn it was almost impossible for me to NOT bet the river. I had twice called with nothing, I had to take a shot at winning the pot. I acted in those manners because of things I had noted him doing and it paid off THIS time.

A bit later I am utg+1 with 37 bb. The utg, sitting behind 57bb, opens to 3xbb and I look down at Ad/Qd. Ironically, this is a hand I routinely fold. Easily dominated, against a first position raiser, I am simply not a good enough player to play this hand. But this time I decide to call for whatever reason.

Everyone folds and we take a 6c/Ks/9d flop heads up. He bets the pot and, with no hand, no draw, but position, I call, planning to raise the turn after he checks and take it down. But the turn is the 7d and he goes all in. Well, that changes things, doesn’t it?

Why would he over-bet the pot here? Most likely holding is a set he is protecting but if so, it is a big set. He raised under the gun, thus representing strength. He made a standard continuation bet, but then bet 3 times the pot, all-in, so he is absolutely committed to the pot.

The only thing I can beat here is a pure bluff and I am getting less than 3 to 1 on a call, so calling based on a flush draw is a poor play. Time to fold and move on…or, idiotically, call and get stacked by the A/K when the flush draw misses.

I was not getting the proper odds, I was just hoping to "get lucky". Not a good choice.

There are times when it is good to follow up with a second barrel, other times it is not. I really need to differentiate between the two.

On my over-pair that stacked off against the suck-out set, I should more carefully consider the long-term odds. On drawing hands, I need to get BETTER than the actual odds because I usually do not think on enough levels and have secondary plan to win the hands.

So this was not an example of good play at all.

Big Blind pain

2010-10-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

I was playing some short-stack, trying to work on my game. Sitting behind just under 30 BB, in the big blind. UTG+1 limps, the button limps, the small blind folds, and I look down at the horrific A/6 off.

Frankly, I even thought to myself "I wish someone had raised this so I could fold." This is the type of hand I hate. If an Ace flops, it is harder to get away from because nobody raised. A/6 is bad though because it only beats A/5, A/4, A/3, and A/2...most of which, including A/6, will also be beat by the board.

Nor am I too excited about flopping a 6, not with two limpers. I do not want to play this hand at all, particularly out of position.

Sure enough, the flop comes A/A/2. The early guy raise, the button flat-calls. I am nowhere near a good enough player to get away from this hand yet...though I actually thought about folding, but it was not a serious option.

I flat-call and watch the turn change everything...another deuce.

Okay, now I have Aces full. I am behind exactly one hand...pocket deuces, which if they have, I am paying off.

Sure enough, early guy raises, button flat calls. This is good...one of them HAS to have the case ace, and the other must have pockets of some sort. It is good because I am splitting with the other ace and need to beat the rake.

The river is a 10. Early guy checks, button goes all in. No way am I folding a boat here...though I should have.

He was playing Ace 10.

So a hand I never wanted to play, should have folded on the flop, did not make a move at the one point I was tied for best hand, ended up costing me all my chips.

There is a reason I hate getting free checks with hands like this...

This is me playing well

2010-10-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Playing some .05/.10.

Sitting behind 53 bb I see the utg, with 38 bb, open to 3-1/2 bb. Sitting utg+2, I look down at the cowboys. This is a position where I definitely want to isolate and go heads up, as Kings will not hold up against several callers. I re-raise to 12 bb and it is folded to the first raiser who merely calls.

I like that he just calls. He should have 7/7+, maybe a suited Ace or even some medium suited connectors. He would probably re-pop with Queens or better.
The flop is good and bad. 9d/7d/2h. He leads out for his last 26 blinds all-in. So I would need to call 26 bb to make 48. What hands could he have here to raise/call/all-in with?

Pocket 9s or pocket 7s are definitely in his range, maybe even pocket deuces if he is super loose. So are Aces and Queens, though unlikely, but any pocket 10s or pocket jacks could make that move, as could a suited diamond ace.

Even against a suited Ace, I am a favorite. The only hands he could reasonably hold that I am behind are pocket 2s, 7s, or 9s, or the bizarre 7/9s of some other suit. I think it is a pretty clear call.

He turns up the A/Qd. So he has 9 diamonds to complete the flush and 3 aces to hit a bigger pair, 12 outs twice for about 48%. The turn is the Ks which helps a bit as it counterfeits the 2d. Ultimately, the river is the Ac so my set of Kings holds up.

Going back over the hand, though, I am not sure the call is as automatic as I thought at the time. In fact, if he check-raised me all-in, I am less likely to call as I will put more emphasis on the set which I am drawing thin against. His leading into the pre-flop raiser screams more he has a weaker hand or is semi-bluffing…
Not that I am sure I thought that at the time, but in retrospect, it makes the way he played the hand make more sense. Certainly a lesson to tuck away in the back of my mind.

A while later I am sitting behind 70 big blinds in the cut-off. Utg, with 123 bb, limps. It comes to me, I decide my hockey sticks are worth seeing a cheap flop and limp behind. The big blind, with 381 bb, checks and we take the flop 3-handed.
The flop is the 6c/As/6d. Check, check, and now I have to see if my 7s are any good here. I bet half the pot. The big blind folds, the under the gun calls. Time to narrow his range of hands.

He open-limped, so an Ace is unlikely unless it is A/x suited. Medium pairs, medium suited connectors are the most likely holdings. If he check-raises the flop, I will figure him for a good pair, say Queens or better, and if he just calls, I am either way ahead of someone fishing or way behind and he is luring me in.

The turn is the innocuous 3c. That changed nothing. He checks. Now, what to do? If I check and he bets the river, it will be difficult to call. If I bet and he re-raises, I am done with the hand. If he check-calls I will fold to any bet on the river as I am beat. But there is a chance he called just to see if I was serious.
Check behind and hope to see a cheap show-down or raise to try and drive out a better hand? No way am I getting called by a worse hand here. I again bet half the pot and he folds.

Mindless aggression for the win…

A while later I have 76 bb and the button. When it is folded to me I decide to open to 3bb with Ac/Ts. The small blind, with 133bb, calls and the big blind folds.

I never like it when the small blind calls. He needs a stronger hand because A) he is getting a smaller discount and B) the big blind is yet to act. So anything except a limp that gets action is usually facing a big hand and is therefore dangerous.

The flop is 10d/qh/Qs. As expected, he checks, I bet half the pot, he calls. The good news is he did not raise. The bad news is…he called. A/Q, K/Q, J/Q, and J/10 are all reasonable, believable holdings and I am head of only the J/10. He could also have a medium pair and just be seeing if I am just making a continuation bet.

The turn is the 8c. He again checks. I raise half the pot. If he calls or re-raises, I am done with the hand. If he folds, I take down a nice little pot. He check-calls.
The river is the somewhat dangerous 9d. if he had J/10 he hit his straight.

Otherwise, it is pretty innocuous. I by no means think he has the j/10, but the possibility is there. All he has to do is breathe at this pot and I am folding. He checks.

Reviewing the hand, he called a dangerous flop, called again on an innocent card. I cannot imagine him calling any bet I make with a worse hand than the tens I hold, and cannot imagine him folding any better hand. I check behind expecting him to flip up a Queen or maybe even Jacks or something like that.

Instead he shows the Jh/Kh. Okay, so not really a hand I put in his range after the flop. And from strictly an odds perspective, he played very poorly, though from an implied odds stance…maybe not so much.

Of course, what could he think I had to keep raising on a dangerous board like that? If I raised with Q/10, Q/9 type hands…quite plausible from the button…he is bidding fair to get taken to the cleaners on the river when he pretty much has to call or raise after hitting his hand.

And the only hand I might call him with that he can beat with a straight would be precisely A/10 or A/q. I do not hate his pre-flop or flop calls…but the turn call feels pretty loose. Still, he made the call and took the pot.

The funny thing is, Sklansky and his basic theorem claim I won the hand. He would not call pre-flop, on the flop, or on the turn if he knew the cards I was holding, nor was he getting the correct odds to do so.

Maybe Sklansky feels like I won the hand…and in a sense I did, though dropping 14 BB to someone who hit their gut shot sure does not FEEL like a win…

For some inexplicable reason, I begin going the conservative route. In the small blind I pick up Big Slick suited with 59 big blinds. Utg raises to 3xbb, utg+1 and the hi-jack call. The correct play here is a re-raise to drive out hands like pairs of 9s, medium suited connectors, weak aces. The second best play is to fold, which I have done several times.

Not that A/K is not a good hand…it is. But it is a distinct dog to that much action. Add to that being out of position and for a player who sometimes refuses to release hands that clearly are no longer good…well, better to just ditch them pre-flop.

So I call because I am an idiot. The bb also calls and we take a flop 5-handed. I am out of position with a drawing hand. Any serious action on the flop means I am done with the hand barring a 10/J/Q rainbow flop or a stout flush draw.

The flop is all trash….7c/6s/3c. This hits right in the heart of the types of hands people are all but guaranteed to be holding. Seeing pockets 6s, 7s, and 3s would not surprise me, nor would 6/7 suited, 5/6 suited, 8/9 suited. This is the type of hand I need to train myself to get as far away from as possible unless I have a draw. This time, I have the draw...the nut flush draw.

Check to utg who leads out with 2/3rd the pot bet. One fold, one call. Okay, the first bet COULD be a blind continuation bet…and could easily represent pocket Kings or Aces which my flush draw will have an easy time getting paid off. I base this on the fact he fired into a dangerous flop with 3 people left to act.

It could also be a hand like A/K trying to protect itself from getting drawn out on.
There are a fold and call in front of me…the call indicating they have something worth seeing another step even with people behind to act. I obviously want as many people in the pot as possible here, so a re-raise is out of the question. I call as does the big blind.

The turn is the Jc, giving me the nut flush. In fact, unless someone is playing something goofy like a 5/6c, I have a lock on the hand unless, of course, the board pairs.

Worst thing I can do now is bet it. Too much interest in the hand to give away my strong holdings. I am really hoping for a second barrel from UTG and a couple “I have a set” type calls.

Unfortunately, it is checked around. The turn is the harmless 9h. Unless someone was playing the 8/10, nothing changed. I do not want to see it checked around, so I put in about a half-pot bet. BB calls, UTG folds, other guy calls. So lets check out the reads.

The big blind had pocket 9s…he was counting on first an over-pair, then got to take off a free card which meant he paid me off with a set. Costly river for him.
The middle position guy had pocket Jacks…over-pair that became a set when he turned the Jack.

So knowing what I know now, did I play it right? Well…maybe. If I knew the one guy had Jacks and nobody would bet, I raise here to keep him from drawing at his 10 outs with infinite odds…but probably drive off the pocket 9s and thus not get paid on the river.

Conversely, if I check the river, there is a good chance the Jacks check, the river raises and then I am faced with another decision to either call or re-raise. On the one hand, I have an excellent conundrum…the only way I lose this hand is if power goes out on my computer or I have the spack-out of all time and fold the nuts.

On the other hand…I am not sure the best way to build the pot here. If they are paying attention, the way the hand played out screams at least one flush and maybe two. I am guessing utg had a big over pair, knew he was beat and released his hand. There were two sets…just not the ones I expected, though certainly they both made sense when the end came.

After that hand I am up pretty well and I have noticed that stacks about 120 blinds deep or more get a lot more respect to their raises which I respond to by widening my raising hands. So from the hi-jack with 150 BB I open to 2xbb with a modest Ac/6s. Not a very good hand…but I actually expect to win the blinds.

Both blinds spoil my plan by calling. I have mentioned before how little I like it when the small blind calls…

Worse yet, he has me covered and the big blind is just a blip with 25 bb remaining.
The flop is the 10d/Ah/Qc that hits a lot of hands the blinds would be tempted to call with…2 face cards, any Ace, 10/J and of course big pocket pairs all love that flop. A/6…not so much.

But they check to me so I continuation bet half the pot. 3 blinds to win 6 is a cheap price that does not have to work all that often.

The small blind calls, big blind folds, and we see the Kc. Ouch. Now a humble jack beats me. He checks and I have to decide…bet again, probably with the worse hand…or check and hope to see a cheap river. I elect the latter course. The river is the 10c, just making it even tougher for an Ace to win.

I am beating almost nothing here. Q/K I am ahead of, any A/9 or worse is a chop, and every other conceivable hand…A/10+, 10/J, A/K, A/Q, A/J I am behind. I am extremely happy when he checks and I check behind. There is no possible holding he will call with if he is worse off than I am and I am ecstatic to get away from the hand cheaply.

For the record…he had K/Q, a hand I did not honestly think about when playing it and I drew out on him when the river spiked the 10. Turn-about is fair play as he had out-drawn me on the turn…but with a board that dangerous, we both wanted to keep it small.

That is a lesson I often struggle to keep in mind. There are times to play small pots, I do not always have to fire that second barrel into a dangerous board.
At the same time, I need to work on building bigger pots when I hit a big hand.

Sitting with just under 160 big blinds I am utg+ 3. UTG click-raises sitting behind 140 bb, I elect to call with pocket 3s and we get 3 more callers. Good. Makes the hand easy to play…I either hit it hard or go my merry way, having gotten pretty spectacular implied pot odds.

The flop is beautiful…4c/3c/8h. I am behind pocket 4s and pocket 8s…both believable hands…but way ahead of over-pairs which I am hoping people have. Good chance to stack someone…and then the big blind goes all in for his last 23 big blinds.

Well now…that changes things a bit. Suddenly that pocket 4/pocket 8 seems a bit more likely, doesn’t it? Also in the hunt are pocket 9s or better and A/x of clubs, betting the flush draw and over betting the pot to get us all to fold. Also very likely are bigger but vulnerable face pairs (jacks, queens).

The utg calls it. Oh, ouch. That makes it trickier. The first guy MIGHT have a set. The second guy…much more likely. It is still possible they both have over-pairs. Ideally I am against Aces and Kings or some such over pair. Regardless, I am not even close to being a good enough player to lay down a set in this situation. In fact, I am still trying to build a pot!

So with one player to act behind me, I have to choose between calling or raising yet again. Since I have position on the caller, I elect to just call and either check or raise the turn depending on what falls. The guy behind me folds and the turn brings the case three.

Great. Now I have a virtual lock on the hand. Even if the other guys both have sets, I have a hand that is a 96% favorite. I am ecstatic.

The guy who has been check-calling everything checks. Here is where I made a mistake. I should have checked. Even if he checks the river, I can bet then. Instead I put out about a half pot bet and he makes the prudent fold. Might have cost myself some chips there.

For the record, the guy who over-bet all in had pocket 10s. Over pair read for the win. Unfortunately, I was not patient and did not win as much as I could have. I need to be more willing to slow-play.

The problem is, from time to time I have slow-played stuff like nut flushes and gotten crushed on the river by a boat. Or flopped a straight and had someone runner-runner the flush when my turn bet could not get them off the hand. This has made me gun-shy about giving people “free” cards.

Later on, sitting behind 190 bb, everyone folds to the button who limps in with 111 bb. The small blind folds and I check my Ac/Jd. Wow. How many ways do I hate my play here? I have no idea if he is trapping with a big hand or succeeding in seeing a cheap flop with something like suited connectors.

That is a clear raise situation. The flop comes down 9c/Jh/2s. Up front I love this flop. I am hoping he floated something like J/10 and I am way ahead. I lead out with a pot based bet. He click-raises.

Now I am deeply troubled. Hands he could limp-raise with here include A/J, A/9, maybe A/2 suited…none of which bother me…J/10 which I am ahead of, J/9 which I am behind, or any variety of medium to low pocket pairs such as nines or even deuces. He could also be raising with air since many people consider a big blind leading out to be a fish move.

So my options are three-fold; fold, flat-call, or re-raise.

Folding in many ways makes the most sense. I checked my option instead of “defining the hand”/raising to drive out weak hands, etc.

At the same time, top pair top kicker against such a weak play as open-limping the button is pretty passive and does not seem wise. Better to see if he is serious about his even more fishy min-raise. No folding.

Calling is another option. Problem is, then I am pretty much locked into having no idea where I stand on the turn. Unless a Jack or Ace falls, I do not really like any card very much so most of the deck misses me and I will be hard-pressed to call another bet.

Re-raising is more my style; put heat on someone who seems marginally interested in the hand. I choose that option. Including pre-flop action and the raise/re-raise there is just over a buck in there, I repop to 2.05. I figure he will either A) fold (the more likely) or B)re-pop me in which case even with top pair, top kicker I know I am beat.

He surprises me by just calling.

Okay, so what is going on here? The most likely answer is one I see a lot in the micro-stakes level. People do not want to admit to bluff-raising, so they call any re-raise, then check-fold the next street. No matter what falls here, I am raising the turn.

And the turn is arguably the third worst card I could see. I had talked myself into believing he was most likely to have J/10. That would give him second pair, open ended straight draw. Q/J is also quite believable.

But I followed through with my plan and raised about half the pot. He folded.
I do not like my pre-flop play but I like my flop play. I had a good but not great hand and raised to protect it. I would rather have gone for the check-raise, but with his passive limp, I had no reason to believe he would raise so I needed to do so myself.

The re-raise is more questionable, but I was going with my read that his limp/min-raise indicated weakness and this time it paid off.

With 201 bb I was looking for places to put on pressure. I open from middle position with K/J off, a hand I routinely fold because it is trouble.

I am never happy to hit either card as I am all too likely to be dominated, and hitting both I am afraid of stuff like A/Q, A/10, Q/10 that have draws of varying quality. Very few flops are good for this hand. But I open click-raise from late middle.

The small blind calls, everyone else folds. I do not like this. Typically a small blind averages a better hand than anyone else as they are out of position, get a smaller discount, and still have one guy behind them. On the bright side, he just called instead of raising. Even brighter, he has just 40 bb, so I cannot get hurt TOO bad…

The flop is pure horror, 2h/Qc/8s. It hits A/Q, K/Q, J/Q type hands I see a lot of people play out of the blinds and I am drawing thin against all of those. He min-raises.

That screams weakness to me. A lot of guys will do that when they miss their hand, hoping to scare away better hands without having to call. So I did not hesitate to re-raise about the size of the pot, fully expecting him to fold. He called.

The turn was the mildly dangerous 2c if he was playing some random A/2 suited. He raised a bit more, 3 big blinds, into a pot of 12 big blinds, I re-popped to 10 big blinds, he folded and I won the pot, undoubtedly with a worse hand. He probably had something like A/K, maybe A/J.

I played a while longer, but these were some of the more interesting and memorable hands. There is a lot to think about on these.

I really need to key in on my reads again. I had gotten away from doing that and it was hurting. When I pay attention, I often can make some pretty solid plays.

I do need to work on the following parts of my game:

1) patience. The "check" option is better than raising sometimes when I have a chance to see a cheap showdown with a marginal hand.

2) building big pots with big hands and small pots with weaker hands

Poker Luck

2010-09-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

Playing rush poker, sitting on 39bb. I pick up A/Ko in the big blind and raise it to 3x bb. Button +2, with 58bb, flat calls. Button folds. Small blind goes all in for 9 big blinds, a raise of just 6 bb to me.

Knowing I have a big hand and he could be making a play, I am debating my options; flat call or re-raise all in myself to isolate.

Then the big blind comes over the top all in for 40 big blinds. Time to rethink.

I have one guy behind me. He flat called, lets assume he is a decent player and has something like medium pockets, suited connectors, suited ace, or just 2 paint cards and a plan to use position to steal.

He is getting the wrong odds with all those. I figure Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, or his own big slick he would have re-popped, so I believe he will fold.

I had already decided to call the small blind all in. Now I am looking at calling 36 bb to pick up 51. Roughly 1.5-1 I thumbnail it.

The problem is...I raised under the gun, the big blind has two potential callers and is re-re-raising to get it all in. That screams Kings or Aces to me and I am drawing real thin.

Of course, there is also the possibility he has a medium pair and is making a move...but that is a big, big move and not a good one.

Calling here is also a bad move and I finally fold.

Yes, I am proud of that fold.

They flip up their cards. The small blind has pocket 8s, the big blind pocket queens.

According to Sklansky, I made the correct move...I was about 36% to win but not getting 3-1 to call.

The flop was 10d, 8c, 3c.
The turn was 8h...giving the worst hand quads.
The river was the Ah...had I called, I would have lost 9 big blinds...and won 30ish.

So was I lucky or unlucky here?

Well...if I had Kings or Aces, I was unlucky. I got driven off a hand by...wait a second, if I have Aces, I am still in the hand and if I have Kings...I cannot honestly say I am good enough to lay them down in that spot. I am not.

On the one hand, I am unlucky in that my opponent did not set a trap, play weakly on the flop and turn and let me double up on the river.

On the other hand...I am fortunate that he did not flat call the all-in, then move all in himself on the flop or turn. I saved 6 bb.

So was it luck or skill?

I like to think a combination. Plenty of luck in getting out of the way of one hand that was ahead and one that became untouchable.

And a bit of skill in not just looking at Big Slick and stubbornly hanging on.

Yes, it would have paid off THIS time...but making a habit of making those calls will clean a lot of chips from me.