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Tourney is 36 hands in - I have played one hand, a Blind vs. Blind battle. My stack is down to 10 BB when I get dealt JJ. Looking to shove over a standard raise, but a problem occurs...
Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 60/120 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
MP1: 1,075
MP2: 1,585
CO: 1,480
BTN: 3,380
Hero (SB): 1,140
BB: 1,160
UTG: 1,760
UTG+1: 1,920
Pre-Flop: (180) J
J
dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, MP1 raises to 360,
MP1 is a break-even multitabler. This is the very first hand he has played of the night. (his stats are 0/0). Is JJ good enough? Can you assume this guy is playing nothing but AA/KK/QQ/AK because of a 36 hand sample? Or do you figure you need to go here and pray for AK/AQ (or a best-possible TT)?
Thursday night game is not going well in the early going. I'm getting "pocket paired" to death. I open with JJ, get 3 bet from a player who wouldn't normally 3 bet without a monster, and then put all-in on a K-rag-rag board. Ok, maybe I'm sometimes folding the best hand here, but why find out in the first hour? He says he had AK, played for minimum value if you ask me (what's he afraid of on a K-rag-rag board?).
I raise under the gun with 77, get two callers, and whiff on a broadway flop. I limp with 33 and get raised over, have to let it go. I call a raise with 66 (without even the chips to make it profitable), and whiff again.
Oh well, looks like it will be one of those nights. I top my stack back up to $40, and dribble away another $8 down to $32, when I call a standard raise from Tony with QhJh. Queen/Jack is one of the "trouble hands", for sure - but Tony is aggressive enough to raise with plenty of pairs worse than a jack, so I have top pair value here if I can hit and keep the pot small. Also, I'm in position and can use that even more than my cards to make some moves or give myself the right price to chase some draws. Finally, I'm no beginner poker player anymore - I should be able to play some of the "trouble hands" and get away from them if I flop a single pair.
All of these thoughts vanish away when the dealer lays down a QJJ board. My boat is floating!. Soooooo glad I just topped my stack up a few orbits ago. However, I only have 32 big blinds on the table, and I'm definitely going broke with my underboat if I have to.
We both check the flop. Tony would C-Bet many hands here to see where he was at. Any pair, either under or over the board, any Queen, or even AK. His check might indicate a big hand like QQ (which I'm dead to) or AJ (which I'm killing). In any case, this is one of those "way ahead/way behind" scenarios where it doesn't hurt to check for deception, and I don't have to worry about losing a street of pot building because my stack is so small.
The turn brings a nine, which doesn't hurt me at all, and might actually help me if Tony has just filled a gutshot with KT (although this hand is a bit weak for his raising range in early position). Tony bets $5, as I expect him to. Raising now pretty much telegraphs that I have a jack - not a bad result if he has AJ/JT/J9, but lets him off the hook with almost any other holding (even Aces/Kings would have to be scared here).
I look at how the river could go if I just call. I'll have about $23 left. The pot would be $18. If Tony bets the river, I can easily get all-in (with no fold equity, as it turns out). If he checks the river, I will of course bet - and I might even employ the "Tony Overbet" against Tony himself - a pot+ bet for value that is meant to look weak. Yes, this sounds like a plan. I call.
I feel pretty good about my future street planning, but forgot one about thing - what the various river cards might be. I am jolted back into reality when the river brings a king. Even though I have already committed in my mind to going broke on this hand - my mental image immediately shows Tony turning over KJ for the suckout overboat. This mental image makes my mind race and I lose focus on the action. Tony leads out for what I think is $12. I put in the $12 and announce "I'm all in", leaving the rest back for counting. I am corrected however, when it is pointed out that Tony put in only $7, and I have mis-counted a $5 chip near his bet as being part of his bet. I pull back my $5, but announce "that's ok, I'm still all-in" (which I would be anyway since I had already announced it). Tony doesn't look too happy, but I really don't have enough back for him to fold many made hands, so he calls. I am so geared up to see a king that when he flips it over, I turn away and say "you got me", but he says "no, I have three pair!", and I turn back around to see his other card is a queen, not a jack.
I feel pretty stupid here for letting my emotions of the big hand sweep me up. This is somewhat of a common theme for me when I hit a huge hand. I consider it a small victory that at least I recognized that the king could have burned me before putting me money in - but my stack size was too low and my hand too strong to consider just calling his river bet out of fear of being two-outed. There were far more hands that would have to pay off my mini-shove (AJ for trips/JT for a straight, even J9s for the smaller boat), big pairs, maybe even AK) than the lone KJ that had me beat now. As it turns out, Tony felt it necessary to pay me off when he improved to two pair with KQ, so my value range was even wider than I thought.
This hand brought me right back to even on the night - $64 after a $40 buy-in and a $20 top up. Later in the same orbit, I raised it up from under the gun with 99 (another pair to bite me again). When the player two to my left reraised all in for $8 more, my first consideration was just folding - why race for $8 against two overs (or be dead to a higher pair). When two people called before me, though, I decided I could now call for setmining reasons...
...and I finally hit a set! A-9-5, with two diamonds. The ace might even give me action as well. I was not thrilled with the flush chasers, however, so I stuck $15 into the pot right away. Everyone folded except the all-in guy, who could not improve over my set.
These were really my only two big hands of the night. Shortly after this the table was reduced to 5 players - 4 of whom had a bigger stack and Tony who was trying to stay afloat with $30-40. Everyone tightened up, seemingly content to take home their winnings to that point. I made a few moves to basically stay even, and claimed $91 from the kitty at the end of the night, up $31.
Right at 10 BB. Not panic time yet...
Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 60/120 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
BTN: 1,530
SB: 7,835
Hero (BB): 1,245
UTG: 1,650
CO: 1,240
Pre-Flop: (180) 3 5 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, CO calls 120, BTN calls 120, SB calls 60, Hero checks
Cutoff had already shoved 2 or 3 times, so his limp raised my radar here. He also has 10 BB
Flop: (480) 5 Q K (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks
Consider leading out, but KQ hits just too many hands.
Turn: (480) T (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets 240, 2 folds, Hero raises to 1,125 and is All-In,
I felt like this turn bet was weak from a decent player. The ten made the board scary, with 2 flush draws and broadway straight draws too.. I had one of them and a pair, and I though maybe the straight would give some fold equity too.
CO calls 880 and is All-In
River: (2,720) T
(2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 2,720 Pot
Hero showed 3 5 (two pair, Tens and Fives) and LOST (-1,240 NET)
CO showed Q
J (two pair, Queens and Tens) and WON 2,720 (+1,480 NET)
Villain made call with pair and straight draw on a very flushy board, well done. Good play by him, for sure, but bad play by me?
Limping with Aces is dangerous. You usually learn this when you limp in and the big blind flops two pair on you with 93 and you go broke
Someone limped with aces on me today. I had 66 in the big blind and went setmining. Then I hit my 6! Woohoo.
Too bad he hit his ace too. Set over set, I did the correct thing and went broke.
This donkey learned no lesson today.
getting close to that time, under ten big blinds in the SNG. Will be shoving soon if something doesn't change - but my stack is still big enough to 3 bet all in if the right situation presents itself.
I get ATo in the big - the best hand I've had in awhile. The button raises me to 4.5x. Do I shove over him? Let's see the evidence:
His stats are 27/15: very aggressive. I've seen him 3-bet numerous times as well (too often to have a monster every time).
I saw him raise a flop bet, then fold to a reraise.
4.5x bet size is awfully big - does that mean he likes his hand and wants to build a pot, or he doesn't like it and doesn't want a call?
He's on the button - raising range is very wide.
Sharkscope says he's bad.
My stats are tight, but I've been active lately.
Well, I've seen him bet/fold, he's bad, and aggressive, so I figure I might even have the best hand. I shove it in. He calls with AKo and buh-bye. Oops.
Postgame analysis - ATo vs. top 15% of hands is basically a coin flip - 47% to win. Add in some fold equity and I think this is ok.
The 4.5x raise size was the thing that threw me the most, I think. Some players will do this with 77 because they're scared to death to play it postflop, others will do it with big hands hoping it looks like a steal. I guess I misread the intent.
Part of SitNGo endgame strategy is adjusting your own odds. Say you're the big stack and you're bullying the shortstack, who is the big blind when you're the button. Knowing his stack size is very important.
The rule of thumb in SNGs is that if someone is offering you 2-1 odds or better - you need a good reason to not call. Otherwise, you're throwing money away. 2-1 odds means that you need a 33% chance or better to win the hand for the call to be correct. Well, 2-3 offsuit wins about 33% of the time vs. AKs. Actually, any two unpaired cards are at least 33% to win vs. any other two unpaired cards.
So say the big blind has 1000 chips left after posting. The blinds are 50-100. If you raise to 300 and he shoves his 1000 chips in, you have to call 700 to win 1450, and your odds are over 2-1. If you raise to 250, however, and he shoves his 1000 in, now you have to call 750 to win 1400, and your odds go down to 1.87-1. This still might justify a call depending on your cards and his possible holdings, but you've crossed below that magical 2-1 threshold.
I am learning that you need to think about this stuff before you raise. Suppose you're the big stack and you get dealt 9-3o and you're thinking about raising to keep beating up on the blinds. Let's say both the big and the small have 1000 chips left, and you don't want to call either of them with 9-3o, whether the pot odds say to or not. There are a couple things you can do - one is reduce the raise size to 250, which then manipulates the odds down to below 2-1 so you don't "force" yourself to call with garbage. The second thing you can do, of course, is fold.
Each of these actions can serve purposes for metagame reasons. The first time you reduce your raise size from 300 to 250, a player who is paying attention might think "woah, he just reduced his raise size - I wonder if that means he has a monster and wants action?". Folding for a lap or two can put it into the villain's heads that you're not just raising with any two cards - that you actually have some criteria for raising (which is true, even if that criteria is very wide).
Saturday night I had a very complex hand where I had to take all of this stuff into account. I was the button and the big stack. I had been very aggressive raising and my opponents were not showing too much resistance to this point.
The small blind was a beginning player who was cold-calling raises at a high frequency, and usually showing down broadway cards or aces with bad kickers.
The big blind was a winning player with over 2000 tournaments under his belt. He knew what he was doing.
We were at the 150/300 blind level and I found myself with KQo - a very good hand when 3 handed. I knew I was going to raise- the question was whether to raise to 900, or just 750.
Arguments for making it 900 -
KQ is a strong hand.
The small blind is cold-calling with lots of hands that I dominate. (put money in with the best hand)
If the big blind shoves, KQ should be good enough to justify a call with 2-1 odds.
I had been very aggressive, meaning that my opponents might be willing to take a stand with a much wider range, thinking there's a good chance would fold many garbage hands.
Arguments for making it 750 -
I could fold if something odd happens and not worry too much about odds. (say the small blind minraises and then the big blind shoves over. My odds would be even better than 2-1, but the heavy action looks like we're going to have the two shortstacks going at it right now - and in a SNG, I gain equity by folding).
Varying my raise sizes can keep opponents guessing.
In the end, I went with a 900 raise. The small blind folded but the big blind shoved over. After making sure I was indeed being offered 2-1 odds (it was actually 1.92-1, but I couldn't be this precise in live action), I made the call. He had AJ and won the pot when neither of us hit a pair.
Was this a good play? Well, if I know that I up against precisely AJo, I am about 37% to win with KQo - big enough from a pot odds standpoint. Moreover, however, Pokerstove tells me that I am the almost the same percentage to win vs. the entire top 8% of hands with KQo - and 8% is probably too narrow a range to assign to a good player who is reraising all-in and still has some (but not much) fold equity. When you also take into account the cold-calling tendencies of the small blind - I feel that this is a fine play, regardless of the result.
Had a nice day in the sun with the wife and friends on the water's edge in Port Clinton, OH. Came in for some evening poker, got the bad caller to call me with AJ vs. my AQ and watch him hit his 3-outer on the river on the 16th hand of the night - out in 8th place.
After my$130 2-outer AA vs. KK debacle on Thursday, my first thought was "enough silliness for the night". But at the last minute I fired up one more.... a strange tourney that got down to 3 handed in an instant, but then the 3 of us sparred for 100 hands or so.
Crap cards, of course - couldn't knock out the beginner player whose bet sizes I could read like his cards were face up - ended up taking a 2-1 call against the good player with KQ and losing to AJ knock me to nowhere. (Actually the pot odds were 1.92-1, I needed 34% to play, my hand was 40% to win. A correct call from a pot odds standpoint, but from chip equity?).
One third place and one early knockout puts you below the water line for the day not good enough.
Thursday night game, and I've obtained perfect table position. I am to the immediate left of the bad, needlessly aggressive, and oh-so-frakking-lucky CS - a regular in our Friday night social game who is trying the no-limit Thursday game for only the second time. I missed his debut last week, but Tony gave me a full recap, and his tale of Q6 two-pairs and bottom pair suckouts for trips was one I could have wrote before hearing it.
At the start of the night, I am to the right of solid, but tighter players who might give me a few cheap blinds. (though Mr. Pietzak squeezes in to my immediate left as a late arrival, and his game is gives me fits).
My cards are ok for the most part - I don't end up with any big postflop hands, but I play enough poker to hold my own. The night really boils down to the 4 pocket pairs of Aces that I'm dealt.
Bullets the First. CS has brought it in for a $3 raise. He usually starts off the night playing "normal", but he either gets bored or builds up his stack so that the money doesn't mean anything anymore. His opening range includes any 2 suited cards, or any one face card. Literally. I have already seen him show down K2 offsuit tonight (and flopped quad kings, natually). Later in the night he plays K2 sooted and hits trip twos. I've got the bullets so I bump it to $10, CS calls as I was 100% sure he would, and off to the flop we go.
Flop is Jack Nine Rag. He bets $5, I raise to $15, he calls. There is $50 in the pot.
Turn is a low brick, 2 flushy cards. He checks. I bet $15 more, He calls. I've got him on a jack or a flush draw now (probably a pair and a FD since he lead the flop). If he's got a jack, his kicker could be any card - literally J2 through AJ are all in his range. Pot is $80.
River is a Ten, and he fires $20 into the pot, which puts me all in. Uggggggh. He played JT, right? Or TT just hit a set. Or he's got a set with one of the two rag cards. I think I'm beat, but I'm not folding an overpair with 5-1 odds. I call and flip over the Aces. He shows J8 for top pair, no draw. As I drag the pot, he says under his breath a bit "I played that one wrong".
Bullets the Second. I raise up KC and CS's limp to $5 and they both call. The board comes low, with two hearts and somewhat coordinated. KC leads out, CS folds (a rare occurance - it means he has no piece of the board whatsoever, and no hope for a draw). I check KC's stack - it's small enough that any raise commits him, plus it's not big enough to worry about a big drawout. Finally, KC has a weakness at the table that I've known about for a long time - he takes raises as a personal insult, as his ego gets in the way. He has spite called me enough to know I could make some money here if he's got a smaller overpair or even a top pair Ace-rag type of hand. Finally, his leadout leads me to believe has a piece of this flop as opposed to a pure draw. I raise and he does go all-in, giving me 2-1 odds.
I call and he shows my one read was off - he's on a pure draw but a strong one - a very dangerous 8hTh - he's got a gutshot, and a flush draw. The turn pairs his ten, giving him a few more outs, but a meaningless 2s hits the river and I drag another pot.
Bullets the Third. My favorite hand of the night. KC raises and I reraise to $10 with my Aces one more time. He calls. The board comes 775, two diamonds. The standard move would be to check here and shoot for a checkraise, but KC isn't the C-Betting type if he just whiffed with AK/AQ. Plus I would like to protect against the flush draw, and possible straight draw (KC just played soooted connectors against my last bullets, if you'll recall). Finally, I've got the KC ego to help me, maybe. I shoot $15 into the pot.
KC staightens up. "You didn't hit that board" he says with a bit of anger in his voice. "You've just got me on high cards and know I missed that flop. Well I've got a pair", he says, staring in my direction. He's looking for information, and I'm trying not to look back. One thought crosses my mind - his speech might be a total fake out. What if he's flopped a monster (A7/77/55) and he's trying to lead me to believe my overpair is good?". Now that would be something. In the end, I conclude that his slight angry tone is natural and his reaction is geniune rather than a great acting job. He's got a pair and is thinking of calling me, meaning I'm ahead and he has 2 outs to improve.
He ponders a minute more. CS is chirping in his ear, breaking the one to a hand rule - he puts me on the overpair (funny he couldn't do that before with J8 offsuit). Finally, KC's voice softens. "Will you show?", he asks me, smiling. I am impressed. If he's got a pair on this board and folds, he is reaching out and finding some discipline I wasn't sure he had (not sure I would have it either vs. many players). I don't answer the question, but he folds a pair of tens face up. I am even more impressed now - an overpair, no less, and I reward him by showing the rockets. He slaps the table down and says "again!", impressed by my luck and probably even more so of his great fold.
Bullets the Fourth. End of the night, only 5 players left. CS is long gone, having called an all-in on a TJA board with K9, drawing dead to an already-made QK straight (oy vey). I see my bullets one more time in the small blind. KC limps, and for once in a very long while I decide to limp as well with Aces. My stack is $130 - I had to buy in twice for $80, so I stand to make a decent $50 profit on the night. My plan right now is to check/call, payoff a better hand if needed as long as the pot stays small, and then sheepishly show my Aces one more time for a good laugh.
FA foils this plan by raising to $5 from the big blind. Hmmm. Well, he's got something, and the pot has just grown. KC folds. FA's line - decent player, but can't get away from top pair or overpair even on dangerous boards. Plus I limped preflop, giving my aces a bit of deception. I shoot it up to $15. If he calls, we're playing for stacks, and he has my $130 covered.
He doesn't take much time to think at all and bumps it to $25 more. His right hand has barely left the chips when I blurt out "I'm all in". I am positive that I have just told him I have aces, and to be honest I don't want him to call.
He looks incredulous. "All in? Really? How much?" I count it out $90.50 more. Will he take the bait with QQ/KK/AK? That's all he can call with, I figure. He counts out the bet to see what that leaves him with if he loses. The answer is $70 - still a profit on the night. Once I see this, I know he's calling - FA will look at the final $70 won on the night rather than the bad $130 loss on the hand and call it losing the battle but winning the war. He calls and turns over Kings. The small table collectively expresses shock when I flip over the aces for the fourth time.
Fred is already justifying his call "No way he had aces again. I thought you were just bullying me off the hand. I can't believe it. Well, what can I do, do I really fold kings there?"
There's still the small matter of running the board out. I see a clean flop, but I'm not too shocked when the king of spades hits the turn. Fred just says "wooooow". Still, there are now 3 spades on the board and I have the ace of spades, so a spade or the last two aces will make me a winner. The river is a black nine but the wrong shape - clubs - and the suckout is complete.
The game ends but we discuss that hand and others for another hour afterward.
A fantastic night of poker. Great reads, great work of "playing the player". I had bluffs that both worked and failed, and a ton of value extracted from those eager to pay.
In the end, I was 2 outs away from being up six buy-ins, but instead ended up down two. That's poker.
making up for recent good luck with a little bad - overpair runs into a set, ICM shove runs into AA for a bubble. I was due for some. Played ok in both.
just finished playing 100+ hands with 3 players left. Sparring, juking, jabbing, trying to stay alive.
One player was straightforward and every bet seemed to mean what I thought it did. The other player, whose name was a derivative of "you really suck" (with the f-word included), was a bit trickier. He 3 bet me a little too often to have a good hand every time, and of course I couldn't get a good enough hand to go with.
Then, in one quick flash, I shove A9 into AT and I'm gone. Buh-bye.
100+ hands, welcome to 3rd place. Grrrr.
Another good night - I played one tourney where we got to the last three, and then something strange was going on. The big stack was to my right, and was consistently raising me when he was the small and I was the big. Nothing strange there- that's what the big stack is supposed to do. What was odd was when the big stack was the button, he was almost never raising, leaving it up to me and the other stack to duke it out.
The player to my left was either folding her small blind to the big stack, or raising and taking it down. Almost no flop confrontations.
I kept getting whittled down but would double up when the big stack would call with an Ace-rag hand. He seemed to love holding any ace, and I avoided him hitting one as a doubled up with pocket sixes and pocket tens.
At some point, the play of these two other players became consistent enough that I just had to type into the chat "you two colluding or something?". No reply.
It might have been a coincidence that these two got into an all-in confrontation just one lap around the table later. The hand strenghs seemed normal for both of them to justify this, so nothing else looked fishy.
Once heads up, I was able to turn the tables on the ace master and then grind him down for the win.
I wasn't going to play a second tourney - but my kids were up late at 10:30 due to their spring break, so they were monopolizing the bed and TV in my room. Alrighty, then, let's fire up a second one.
This sudden change of heart must have fooled the poker gods into thinking I wasn't at the table, because I went on one of those nice heaters that you think happen only to other players but never yourself. I repeatedly was dealt nice cards or flopped big hands and got action from both bad players and good players with second best hands.
It started with bullets, right in the first blind level. A bad player, who had already doubled up with a flopped set, raised to 90. A good player 3-bet him to 240 right away. I 4-bet to 590. Now how many four bets are there at my level that aren't AA/KK/QQ? The bad player calls the huge bet, the good player folds AQ/AJ/JJ/TT (probably), and we see a flop, which comes queen high, no draws. I've got less than the pot left, and I drop it in. I get called right away, by a whiffed Ace-King (?), and I'm at 2600.
I bump that up to over 3000 when I play a blind vs. blind battle with Jack-rag-soooted, and the board gives me a one card straight with the jack, and the big blind decides to represent by betting out. The only hand that beats me is ace-jack and there should have been a raise somewhere with that hand before now, so I'm not folding here. He shows down a hopeless bluff with 67s.
Soon I get the bullets again and get my opening bet shoved over, this time with pocket jacks. Since we have already established that the poker gods aren't watching this one closely, I dodge the 2-outer and I'm over 5000 now.
I should have been able to coast into a first place finish with the amazing start, but I had to settle for second place. My heads up opponent was not very experienced, but was either getting great cards or playing very well. We swapped the chip lead a couple times.
The final hand of the night was a strange one to be sure. We saw a cheap flop, which came A , 2 , 2 . I had jack-ten, both black. We both checked. This player was not slowplaying - he seemed eager to knock me out - overbetting with shoves several times preflop when a 3x raise would have done the same job. I felt like he would have bet out with an ace or even a deuce.
The turn came the J , and he bet all-in into me. There were several ways I could have been beat here - an ace or a deuce, or two hearts for the flush. Not sure if I was lucky or good, but I really put him on a jack here, so I called. He revealed a Jack, and the three of hearts. At first I was pumped because I had him outkicked, but I knew I had to dodge a heart on the river, and that heart did in fact come in to give him the flush and the tourney.
A second look at the board, though, shows that the kickers didn't matter on this paired board. When the jack came on the turn, we both had two pair - Jacks and twos, with an Ace kicker. We got our money in tied, and he was freerolling to the flush.
So I made a couple mistakes on the final hand - first I misread the board, of course, not realizing that the kickers didn't play. This is funny because earlier in the same tourney I recognized almost the same situation during the heat of battle, but still managed to whiff on this one. The second mistake is getting my money in for at-best a tie, and with almost no redraw. (not to mention the few ways I could have already been beat if my read was wrong).
I went to bed up 5 buy-ins with my first and second place finishes, but still knowing I had plenty to work on.
Big blind is weak. We are about 50 hands in. His stats are running around 57/3 - meaning he's in way too many pots, and almost never raising them.
He bets every flop, but his bet size is either a minbet, meaning he has nothing, or a half pot bet, meaning he has something, or a pot size bet, meaning he likes his hand. I've seen 3 minbet/folds so far.
Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
CO: 2,860
Hero (BTN): 1,560
SB: 2,215
BB: 5,295
UTG: 1,570
Pre-Flop: (150) 6 6 dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, Hero raises to 250, SB folds, BB calls 150
standard 2.5x raise, he calls.
Flop: (550) 9 2 5 (2 Players)
BB bets 100,
Don't love the overcard nine, but I'm pretty sure I'm ahead here, because
1) Not many nines in his calling range (except Ace-9, he is a very bad player).
2) his minbet. 3 times already, that has meant nothing.
3) no draws except a gutshot with A-3/A-4. Not even a player this bad would call a raise with 3-4 (right??), and even if he did, I have 2 of his sixes.
Go with your read, dummy.Hero raises to 1,310 and is All-In, BB folds
Results: 750 Pot
Hero mucked 6 6 and WON 750 (+400 NET)
Ended up bubbling this tourney. I was victimized by a either really lucky or really good ICM caller - I shoved from the small blind with 68o, into what looked like a reasonable, tight, winning player. I figured even if he has AK, I still have a 1 in 3 chance with my 2 live cards. My assumptions went out the window when he called - with Ace 8. I even got my 8 on the flop but it did me no good.
For the record, my push with 68o was ok (assuming a tight to average calling range), his call with A8 is ok, too - but only if he can put me on an extremely wide shoving range (over 30%). As it turns out, I was shoving super-wide, so his call was profitable and correct, but I'm not sure how he knew that.
He knew more about me than I did about him. Or I just got unlucky.
Three handed at the end of a $22 SNG. The player on my left is the best of all 9 who started at the table - a sick 35% ROI with almost 1500 tourneys played. I've been watching him. He's tight but takes his shots. I have seen him isolate poor players with regularity, and I have also seen him three bet with high frequency (once he had the chips to throw around). He's currently the big stack at the table.
I get dealt AK in the small blind, and the button folds. I only have 11 BB left - I will obviously play for my short stack here. So what's my move to get him to make the biggest mistake possible? Shoving is always an option - he might call me with a few hands I'm dominating, but I'll fold out some other stuff like KQ/KT that I don't want to. I could just complete the blind, but that always gives him a free play with junky cards and he could hit some bizarre two pair or trips hand.
My last option is the smaller raise, maybe even a minraise. I have seen him pounce on perceived weakness before - so let's try and a small raise that looks like I could easily fold. I decide on 2.5 the BB - I haven't minraised anybody yet in this tourney, and I don't want to arouse suspicion by doing something I haven't done before.
It's so sweet when a plan comes together. He shoves over my "weak" raise, and I insta-call. He has A9 suited. It's even sweeter when your plan actually works and the villain doesn't suck out on you - I double up to take the chip lead.
I would have won this tourney if not for a runner-runner wheel straight coming in while headsup. We play several dozen hands after that (88 vs. A2 while all-in). He ends up going into a shoving mode with the chip lead, which I perceive as weakness when he does it postflop. I make a hero call with bottom pair on an all-low board. My read was good, he is in fact weak - but he has top pair, crappy kicker.
Work is sucking extra hard this week, and my poker hours are the first thing to suffer. Only 3 online tourneys this month so far, and I'm even going to miss my heretofore un-missed Thursday live game tonight. A resounding phooey to the whole situation, that's what I say.
I did play a 9-man last night and came in second place - I cracked the bubble myself by calling the shortie's all in with 9T suited and over 2-1 odds (he was very, very short), then turning a straight against his two aces. I've been there.
My heads-up opponent was very good - we sparred back and forth for over 50 hands. I botched pocket kings by playing them slow preflop, then shoving into an A99 board. He had an ace and I was nearly dead but hit a two outer to cripple him. Then he outplayed me for a bit to get back to even.
On our last hand, I got it in with top pair, he was semibluffing with a flush draw and his draw came in. I was a 2-1 favorite when the money went in - give me that all day.
In non-poker news, our new dog, the big Ragu, is doing very well and starting to fit into the family structure just fine. One issue is that he does not like his crate very much - and he even proved resourceful enough to unzip the door himself last night and jump back into our bed. I was laughing too hard and felt too bad for him to put him back in. All this dog wants is to be close to his masters, something his original masters didn't want to give him. I don't know how anyone could look at this dog and not melt away into a pile of goo.
Squeezed one tourney into tonight between another late end to work and Carmine-minding. I thought I was in big trouble on hand number one - an average player minraised and I had AK. Since this was the first hand, I didn't know if minraise meant his hand was "meh" or if it meant his hand was "RRRAWR". I called the 2x bet.
I hit my ace on the flop - Ace Three Five, two clubs. He checks, I bet, he min-checkraises. Oof. So now what, did he have a strong kings/queens and was testing me, or did he have A3/A5 and hit his crappy 2 pair against my dominating big slick? Since stacks were still deep, and I was getting 3.25-1 odds, I decided to call again. (probably a bad play).
The turn was the nine of diamonds - putting two diamonds on the board.
Now he bets pot - 765. Dammmnnnnnnn. One check to his sharkscope stats - he's played 102 tourneys (not many), and is a modest winner. Well, I figure either he's got KK/QQ/JJ and just can't believe I've got an ace (I did just call the flop bet), or he's got two pair or a set and I'm in big trouble. Should I just fold the damn hand? Not a terrible play, certainly, but in the heat of battle decide his inexperience is my primary read and stick it all in. He calls and shows Ace hearts, 6 hearts. I'm ahead now but had to dodge 11 river cards (3 sizes, only 8 hearts b/c I have Kh). A lovely black ten gives me a first hand double up.
This is my only real hand until we get to 5 handed. I raise JJ and get shoved over from the worst player at the table. Since this same player had just lost a hand where he had raised a bet on the flop, and then folded to a shove-over, I thought the tilt-fu might be high in this spot, so I call.
He shows Aces. Bleah. They held up. Double bleah.
This knocks me down to under 4 BB but I'm not dead yet. I shove my button with any two cards and stay ahead when the blinds fold. I shove K9s from the cutoff (probably a borderline play), everyone folds. My big doubleup comes with 99 under the gun, five handed. I have just recently won a few small pots and have almost exactly 10 Big Blinds left. Limping is ridiculous, so is folding. Raising to a non all-in seems silly too. Only one option left. I put it all-in.
When the tightest player at the table calls me, I figure I'm racing or in big trouble, but he turns over almost the best hand I could have hoped for (other than 88) - he shows A9. He has only one live card and I double up into first place when I avoid it.
The bubble breaks about 2 hands later - I have come from the brink of elimination into the money.
In the very first hand of the bubble, I get rockets in the hole. I click my F2 button to lower my raise from 3x to 2.5x - hopefully just enough to look weak. (I almost never limp with aces, I always get nailed). The small blind - the same bad player who turned up with aces against my jacks earlier - shoves over me - a big overbet since he has 5000 chips like I do. I call and he turns over - JJ!. I briefly think how sweet redemption is, and then I realize that the poker gods will probably let him hit his two outer to have some true ironic fun with me. Strangely, they allow me to savor my revenge and let my bullets remain the winner.
When heads up, with a 10-1 chip advantage, I shove with Q2o. My opponent turns over Jack-Jack. Whoops. Ok, no biggie, I'll still be the chip leader when this hand is over...
except a Queen hits the flop and turn and gives me the win.
From worst to first. Good play and a bit of luck at the end.
I had time for a second tourney, but decided this was enough for one night. No need to get greedy
Not much poker recently - we took another foray into second dog ownership over the weekend. His name is Carmine, the Big Ragu. He is a 2 year old rescue.
He has had a couple of housebreaking accidents in his first few days, but we're almost positive this is due to the stress of his changing homes over the past month and he will settle down in a few days. He is very sweet and eager to please.
Big props to my daughter's U12 soccer team, who took first place in a 4 team soccer tourney last night. Their final record in the 4 games was 3 wins, 1 tie. Only two goals were scored on them in the 4 games.
The championship game was a rematch of the team they tied 0-0 a few hours earlier. Like the first game, our girls kept the ball on the opponent's side for nearly the entire game, but managed to bang a few goals in the second time around for a 5-0 shutout. The opposing team had a grand total of ONE shot on our goal in the championship game, vs. probably 30 shots on their own goal.
Better than a month of quality poker.
Thursday night game, full table of 10. Kings in the hole, from the big blind. A middle position player raises to $3.50, and the button calls. Call for deception? Nah, don't get fancy - bump it up to $11. The middle position player calls and we see a queen high flop. We get to showdown (details elude me) and my Kings hold up against AQ.
An hour later, same middle position player limps, a couple callers behind, I bomb the pot, again with kings in the hole. They all fold and I show the kings this time. My cards have been pretty good and I want to continue the idea that I'm just getting cards tonight.
Later in the game, the same player is short now, only $8 left, and he pushes all-in. I'm the big blind again, and one more time my cowboys are waiting for me. Poker is a cruel, cruel game sometimes. I announce "I give you permission to punch me one time in the face" and flip over my Kings. I almost hope he's got Ax and a fighting shot to stay alive, but he disgustingly flips over QT (?) and doesn't improve. His parting words are "that's annoying" and he scurries up the steps to ponder what bad he's done in life to deserve butting up against Kings three times from the same player.
Somewhere between my King-Cavalcade, I raised up an Ace-Eight offsuit from the cutoff and got two callers, one with position on me. We saw an Ace-high board (A56), which I bet. Both players called my bet.
The player on the button player is solid and for the most part straightforward - I felt like the call of my raise and this call here meant that he either had some type of ace or a pair. He wasn't (to my knowledge) the "call in position with connectors" type. Any ace would have to be low - AJ and above is probably reraising preflop. If he had a pair, he might have a set now, or he missed his set but was just floating me, not believing my CBet on the ace.
The player in the blind was much trickier and known for defending his blind with a wide range of cards, especially against TAGs like me. He was much more likely to float my bet with a wide range, even with no hand at all, looking for a spot where he could bluff me out of the pot on a scare card. His call scared the crap out of me, to be honest.
I hit two pair with an eight on the turn. I was ahead of every ace now (except AA, which I was discounting as a possibility). The 568 straight draw possibility was out there for the tricky player, though this eight was more likely to pair a card in his hand than fill a straight in my mind (good players don't call a bet with 79 on this board hoping to fill a gutshot, unless maybe the 79 were suited and there was a flush possibility. If he called my raise with 47, God Bless'em. He could have a 68 type two pair now, as well, which I was ahead of. Either player might have 77 and would surely call another bet.
Well, I was pretty sure had the best hand, and there was only one way to find out. I bet 2/3 pot.
The straightforward button player took his time to size up the board. He was deep in concentration, trying to put me on a hand, and I didn't feel like he was acting. Now I was pretty sure that he had a medium ace - say AT, and was trying to figure out if his kicker was good. ( It was indeed good on the last street, but not anymore, sir). Still after much thought, he called my rather largish bet. The tricky blind called as well, and I still had a challenge to face.
The river came a queen, which looked like a blank to me. AQ or QQ from either player would have most likely reraised me preflop, or certainly on the flop. The tricky player missed all of his gutshot possibilities. When he checked, I was sure he had whiffed. I trusted my read on the straightforward player and bet for value again. He repeated the board analysis, and in the end he folded, as did the blind. Despite them not calling the river, I won a nice size pot.
The straightforward player hinted that he thought I had bluffed my way out of the hand. I told him that his Ace-Ten was no good, looking for information. He rewarded me by telling me I was very close- he had Ace-Nine. Made a lot of sense- he had top pair and a gutshot, as a seven would have given him the one card straight. Thankfully, no seven for him.
One of my fellow bloggers extols the virtues of the "mighty" hand deuce-four. Separately, he also favors clubs (which he calls "crubs") as his suit for choice. Both of these notions occurred to me last night as I was dealt the imporbable deuce , four (!) I was on a roll and decided to play it like the powerhouse it was. I raised it up and got a caller - my friend Tony, whom I consider one of the best handreaders at the table. Have fun reading this one, sir!
I hit the 4 and a backdoor club (crub) draw and bet it for value like it was teh nutz. Tony called my bet quickly and I immediately started to doubt the power of the deuce-four. The turn came something goofy, and though I was starting to become a nonbeliever, I fired another value bet into the pot. Tony put the chips in his hand down - a bit too hard - in a classic "what the frak do you have now" type moment, and I knew I had him. He went over the hands he could put me on (set of fours, etc) and finally folded. I can't say I'm become a full convert at the church of the deuce-four, but it did win me a pot.
I was able to win a couple more pots playing on my (luckbox, aggrotard) image. I raised up a pair of eights and then bet them hard despite two overs on the board, but no real draws to keep anyone around. I also called a bet with second pair that I was sure wasn't good, but then bet hard on the third flush card to scare away a decent player.
In the last hour I lost a couple of pots and won one more big one. The first loss came against Tony- I called a raise of his with seven-eight suited and hit the low end straight draw on a nine-ten-three board. Tony bet and I raised my draw from position. Tony called very quickly. When the three paired on the turn, Tony bet right into me (despite my flop raise), which should have been my cue to go away, but I called one more bet hoping for my straight. The river paired the ten, putting TT339 on the board. Tony thought for a second and then bet for value again. His slight hesitation made me think that he didn't have a ten, and a big raise might really freak him out, but my best guess was that he still had a hand he liked - either an overpair, nines (a smaller boat), or one of the tens. I wasn't sure I could make him fold any of those hands for sure, so I had to tip my hat and let this one go.
The hand right after this one, I looked down on American Airlines - two aces in the hole. I wondered if I could play on the image of losing a big pot and play the tilted guy - so I made my raise a bit bigger than usual. I got a caller from a fairly small stack with position on me. His stack was low enough that I probably couldn't fold my bullets unless the scariest board imaginable popped up, but my fears were allayed with an Ace-Queen-Nine board. There were two spades but that wasn't stopping me now - not with the effective stacks this low. I checked and let him do the betting for me, which he did.
In true Julliard student fashion, I studied the board looking trying to put my opponent on a hand. Of course, I didn't care what his hand was since I had the current nuts, but I wanted to look weak. I was also deciding between the checkraise now or to slowplay for street and just call. In the end, I felt like this player probably would have not bet out one the spade draw, meaning he had a piece of this flop. The best I could hope for was AQ or QQ - he wasn't getting away from that - but he could get away from lots of ragged aces or AK on this board, so my best bet was to call.
The turn came and I checked again, trying to look like a meek little puppy with a broken leg. The villain bet the rest of his small stack and I called, the trap working as well as I could have hoped. He showed me QJ and was drawing dead. Tough sledding trying to muscle someone out of the pot who holds the nuts.
I lots two pots in the last half hour to a player getting fancy at the end of the night. He limped from late position and I called with KQ off, trying to get a bit fancy myself (instead of raising preflop). He bet a ragged T38 board and I floated the bet, thinking I might hit one of my overs or try and scare him away on a scary board. The turn indeed paired my king, which I check-called. I then lead out for value on the river and got called - by T3 suited! Hah! His two pair took out my top pair for a nice pot.
A couple hands later, this same player limped again. This time I had AQo and wanted to raise out dumb hands like T3. He called. The board came low and we checked all the way to the river, my aggression toned down a bit from the last pot he took from me. I announced "Ace High", figuring he would have bet any pair and that I was good, and then he floored me again by replying "Ace high, King Kicker". He had limp/called Ace-King! At least this was a small pot.
Very proud of my play overall. I found one spot I should have folded - the baby straight draw against Tony, who wasn't going anywhere on a paired board. On top of this, I was pretty sure he knew what I was holding, too (or had me on a pretty narrow range), meaning that either he was already ahead and didn't care, or wouldn't pay me off if that straight came. I donated one street too many on this hand, but won big pots with big pocket pairs, and a few smaller ones with good aggression and the fear of my good run of cards. Total profit on the night - $72 - just under 2 buy-ins.
Only time for one tonight - a bizarre affair where I hit a set of Queens early (and didn't get paid enough), then had my computer shut itself down for no reason in the middle of the tourney. Of course, my computer takes like 36 hours to boot (seemingly), so I lost a level or two of the tourney waiting for it to come up.
Late levels were an extremely tight affair - we still had 6 players at 120/240. Then a huge 3 way all in with TT vs. JJ vs. QQ (JJ sucked out on the river to take it) brought us to the bubble. We bubbled around all the way to 250/500, where 3 players had around 2500 (5 BB) and it was a total shove-fest.
I ended up shoving from UTG with A9 and getting called by AJ to bubble. SNGWiz says this was a borderline play for a couple reasons:
I'm shoving into all 3 players.
The big stack was the Big Blind (though he wasn't the one who called me).
Tough sledding either way - the blinds are about to take another chunk out of my stack.
