8 in the game this week - down to 6 as a few players go busto. The money on the table is increasing as more people are buying in for 60 now instead of 40. Still not "full" 100 BB stacks, but enough to loosen play and stop the game from being a "jam with top pair" game.
I had a few thin river calls on the night. The first was early - I was limping along with A4 soooted and hit my ace on a dry A83 board. The turn and river double-paired, leaving the board A8338. Loose-aggressive Mr. Pietzak made a small river bet, seemingly for value, but he is as capable of representing the 3 or 8 as having it. He also could have a hand like 55. The pot was not big so the river bet wasn't large, either, so I took a shot and called, but he indeed had the 3 from the blind. Limped pots suck!
The second thin call worked out pretty well. I raised up big slick and got a caller, KC, in the blind. KC seems to turn up with pocket kings 3 or 4 times a week, and he will simply call preflop bets (instead of reraising), and check/call with them or play them softly postflop and win pots with you thinking your top pair is good. The board was all low cards, straight-draws possible, but he isn't the type to defend with low connectors. I figured we both whiffed or he had one of his patented hidden, high pocket pairs. When he checked, I checked behind, hoping to pop off one of my overcards, and to keep the pot small. The turn brought more low stuff, and again we both checked. The river stayed low one more time. This time he fired out a bet for $6. I sat and considered his hands. I figured a medium pair like 88-TT would have bet somewhere in there, to protect against the overcards hitting. Maybe he slowplayed AA or KK, hoping to checkraise me, but I foiled his plans by checking behind. A small set could also be played this way, but I was thinking he had to worry about me having low cards and protecting against the straight. (I had shown down a 45 idiot-end straight earlier on the night, too). There were no flushes, and the only straight was with cards I didn't think he could have. My first, second, and third instinct said to fold with ace-high, but with one final thought- I decided the chances of AA or KK were simply lower because I had one of each in my hand, and I couldn't put him on a hand he would have logically checked all the way to the river. I announced "how about a hero call?", and tossed in the $6. KC announced "Queen High", and I think I tilted him off a bit showing down Ace-King.
A fairly new addition to this game, Anthony K, was hitting big hands all night (he ended up the big winner of the night with a $262 profit). In one huge hand, he raised preflop and got a caller. There was a queen-high, all diamond board, and the betting ended up with Anthony being all-in. I read Anthony as a bit weak-tight in style, so I felt that he had only three possible hands at the moment:
AdKd for the nut flush. AA with the ace of diamonds. A set of queens.
Top pair with flush draw was too weak for him to shove all-in on, in my opinion. Anthony got a call to his all-in - top and bottom pair - Q8. This gave him 3 more outs - a nine could come and give him a higher two pair, along with a diamond or an ace. He spiked a nine on the turn and dragged a huge pot. I was pleased that my read was dead on.
In another hand against Anthony, I raised up a pair of nines. Mr. Pietzak called, and Anthony reraised. Again, his style tells me he pretty much has KK/AA here. I think he just calls with queens, jacks, and ace-king. We both call, me for setmining/implied odds reasons (I will almost surely double up with a set against an overpair against this player), Mr. Pietzak for who-knows-why reasons. He even announces that he has no business being in this hand.
Again the board comes Queen high, and Anthony checks. I miss my set for the 567th straight time. Hmmm, maybe my read is wrong? He doesn't strike me as the checkraising type. Maybe JJ, maybe AK? Or, maybe QQ with top set (which anyone would checkraise). I decide to shoot out a bet and see if I can take it down. Mr. Pietzak calls (I'm guessing flush draw), but then Anthony announces he's all in. Ok, then - top set. Well done. I fold pretty quickly, but Mr. Pietzak isn't ready to fold. He asks Anthony "do you have aces again?". Anthony nods yes. It absolutely could be bullshit, but I actually think the reply is genuine. Mr. Pietzak says "I can beat aces, but I can't beat Queens". Middle set seems to be the best read, but once again there's no telling what Mr. Pietzak is playing half the time. He ends up calling the all-in - with a two-pair Q6 suited!!! (Well, he did say he had no business being in the hand). Once again, Anthony gets it in behind with bullets.
And once again, he catches up - this time with an ace on the turn. Another giant pot.
I win some of this money back a bit later. Mr. Pietzak makes a standard raise. I am not looking at my cards preflop anymore - instead I'm watching the action go around the table. Anthony looks indecisive on whether to call or fold. In the end, he chooses to call. At this moment, I decide the time is right for a squeeze play, regardless of my hand. If I can get Mr. Pietzak to fold, then I'm pretty sure Anthony will fold too.
It folds around to me. Time to check my cards - maybe I have bullets and my squeeze will be for value. Uh, no, not quite. Queen-three-offsuit. Ooof. Well, I had already decided I was going to give it a shot no matter what my cards were. I looked over at Mr. Pietzak - the key was getting him to fold. If his stack was too low - I figured he would gamble for a quick double up with an enormous range - connectors, suited aces, etc. In other words, if he had $30 left, my play wouldn't work.
But this wasn't the case- he had something like $50-60. This was perfect. A raise to $15 would be really difficult for him to call with lots of his (wide) range - I would be shutting off his implied odds on the hand, but wouldn't be enough to feel like he could take a shot at a quick double up. I made it $15. Pietzak dutifully thought over his options, and then folded. Anthony folded instantly, as my observation hinted he would, and I took down $9 with nothing. Later, I win some more back from Anthony. He raises preflop and I defend my blind with AQ. I consider reraising, but Anthony's raising range is pretty tight - I don't need to build a big pot out of position with AQ. (but it's also too strong to fold). I whiff the flop, but there are two clubs. I check, and when Anthony bets, I decide to call the bet, and come out firing if the club draw comes in. I am rewarded with the 8 of clubs on the turn. I "Johnny Chan" right into him for 13 dollars, but he calls right away. Oops. I figure now he has top pair/overpair with a club (though I've already learned that he is capable of re-raising with Aces and a club draw, so I figure maybe TT-KK). In any event, I'm done putting money into this pot. The river pairs my queen, but puts the fourth club on the board, and I have no club. I check and so does Anthony. I call out "I hit the queen" and get a groan from Anthony as he flips over pocket jacks, with no club. Ha! The sucker-outer can be sucked out on himself!
That was the last large pot that I was involved in. I got very aggressive late and it paid off with some smaller pots. I continued my recent practice of playing more hands in late position, thinking my position can win me some pots even if my garbage cards don't hit the board. I played J7 on the button and hit top pair on a 7 high board, and raised someone's lead out bet in position - I got a fold. I open-raised in the cutoff with Kc9c, and again hit top pair on a nine high board. This time I was out of position, though, so I won a smaller pot as nobody caught me (someone had 88). From the big blind, I got K6 and hit bottom pair on an AQ6 board. The small blind lead out at me, I raised representing the ace, and got a fold (he said he had QJ, nicely done by me). I called a raise with AK (again against Anthony, playing carefully preflop against his tight range), and hit top two pair - AK4. Anthony lead out and I raised to 20 right away. I was protecting against broadway draws, a flush draw, and figured Anthony would pay me off with a smaller ace. Plus, I had been so aggressive recently, I figured perhaps this was the time someone would look me up. All sound, valid, logic, but Anthony didn't have the hand to butt heads with me, he folded.
Next to Anthony's huge haul, I ended up the second winner on the night with a profit of $90+. I won lots of medium pots and also lost two or three. I also played very aggressively, and am now taking some advice I received a few weeks ago to not show my cards if I don't have to - ever. I can see this paying off in the future - I got lots of "hmmms" and guesses as to my hand as I raked in chips with my aggressive play.
I also felt like my handreading and table reading is ever-improving. I pegged one of Anthony's pairs of bullets dead-on (even though I wasn't in the hand), and was able to pick off a bluff with ace-high. I also took advantage of a situation with a nice "squeeze with air" play based on reading the table. These little victories are enough to turn a break-even night into a winning night, and a solid player into a good one - winning hands you're not supposed to win based on what the cards say. That's good poker.
Played so well early. Small-ball style, hit some flops, got paid. Ace high straight. Two pair. Then it all vanished like a wisp of smoke in seconds:
Raised KJs up against the small stack, he shoved. I had 3-1 odds and called. He hit two pair on the river with Q9. Then in a BvsB battle, hit middle pair and called 3 minbets. Villain had bottom pair that tripped up on the turn. Two hands later, QQ, raise, get reraised by Q9 from before, I call. He has KK. Gone. In an instant.
Lots of good work vanished on the bubble.
That started the cycle back down the drain of total suck. In tourney #2, I tried my study partner's method of limping with AK early instead of raising. The board came king high with no draws, and I got stacked by a set of fours. I can't decide if a preflop raise would have got the fours out or not. I probably get stacked either way. Just another cold-deck for me.
In tourney #3, I get caught shoving AT by AQ, but hit a 6TT flop. I'm 98% to win - all I have to do is avoid runner-runner queens.
Turn is a queen.
Like my favorite video, I think to myself "don't even fucking think about it".
SB is a decent player, in big trouble. I've been trying to be aggressive, with some success.
Flop: (320) 4 2 7 (2 Players) SB checks, Hero bets 200, SB raises to 930 and is All-In, Hero calls 730
I bet my second pair. Villain thinks and thinks, then shoves. I figure he's got overs and just doesn't believe I hit this board. If he's completely missed, he's got 6 outs. The most he could have is 15 (3h5h), then I'm in trouble. But he took so long to consider, I guessed he was weak and just trying to figure out if I have anything. I make the gutsy call.
Turn: (2,180) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In) River: (2,180) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 2,180 Pot SB showed K 2 (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-1,090 NET) Hero showed J 4 (a pair of Fours) and WON 2,180 (+1,090 NET)
Nicely done, he had 5 outs with bottom pair and an overcard - I was a 4-1 favorite with second pair.
Ok, I'm playing on UltimateBet right now, and the Sharkscope coverage seems a bit spotty. I'm playing 2 tourneys at once, and neither of them come up. So I have no early reads on the players when this hand comes up as the third hand of the tourney.
Preflop: Hero is BB with A, Q 1 fold, UTG+1 calls t10, 4 folds, Button calls t10, SB calls t5, Hero bets t70, 1 fold, Button calls t60, 1 fold
I raise the limper with AQ - something my study partner does often, and I'm working into my game. Button cold calls. I'm thinking pocket pair, Ace-Rag, or low broadway for him.
I hit my ace, but the board of course sucks. I lead out and get clickraised. Right here I need to know how good this player is. If he's a donkey, I'm much more apt to just shove over him - I rule out AK, and I beat all other aces except AJ/AT, both of which he might have raised on the button. This could be a donkey with 55 testing me. Sure, it could be KQ, too - I'll never know, I guess. I call the raise.
Queen is a crappy card. Improves me to two pair, but now all of the crap broadway kings hit their straight. Player bets pot and I decide I have plenty of chips left to play for, I bail.
Total pot: t680
A few minutes later, Sharkscope comes up for this tourney. Player has 86 tourneys played, with a -22% ROI. He's awful. I would have been much more likely to shove over him on the flop and take my chances on his A5 - thinking it's good.
Here's the hand the villain got knocked out of the tourney with.
I am swapping hand histories with someone right now. His first hand history pointed out some things I could have been doing better in my game.
1) Punishing Limpers. I would get AQ in the small blind and have 3 limpers. I would just complete, for a couple reasons:
a) seeing monsters under the bed. What if BB wakes up with a hand? what if that 52/4 guy actually has AA this time? b) trying to be cute - hitting my ace and crushing people limping with A7.
Bad play - raise for value. Chase out the limpers, win chips.
2) Punish the short stack. In bubble situations, whenever I'm not the big stack, I would go into "survival mode" - fold my hands and wait for shorty to bust out. Of course, if he doubles up, then I'm in more trouble.
If the shorty is on my left, I can assist in keeping him down. Push all in with a wide range. Force him to call off his stack with garbage. Keeping making him have to make tough decisions. Don't just leave this all up to the big stack - steal his blinds yourself (you still need them, afterall).
I used both of these tactics in a tourney today and they both helped me. In fact, I punished limpers on a complete bluff:
Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, Q 3 folds, MP2 calls t60, 3 folds, Hero checks
Flop: (t150) 10, A, 2(2 players) Hero checks, MP2 bets t100, Hero raises to t260, 1 fold
MP2's stats at the time were 50/7, with a 16 aggression factor. This means he's limping into half the pots and then betting them almost every time, whether he hits them or not. Well, I decided that he didn't have this ace, and might not have had the ten or the deuce, either...
Total pot: t350
Sadly, I bubbled in this tourney - the small stack got lucky (despite my attempts to crush him), and then my ICM shove with 79s got called (by Q9, egads) and I was toast. But I feel like I played well.
Last 5 days, ROI close to +60 posted two first place finishes today, and my ROI for the month is creeping closer to positive... Need to keep the hammer down...
Player #1 - stats 50/7, 2nd in chips. Player #2 - 72/6, playing from every position, coldcalling raises, 5th in chips.
Take that all in - Player #2 is playing 72% of all hands.
my stats are currently 7/0.
Player #1 raises - unusual for him. Mr 72/6 calls of course. I've got AKo and could shove over them both, except Player #1 scares me a bit. He plays too many hands but doesn't raise many. I decide to wait for my ace or king and then commit if the board isn't too scary - I don't feel like I need to race yet, way too early.
Good news/bad news - I hit my K - but the board is all three clubs. I don't have the ace of clubs. I'm out of position and c-bet. Both donkeys call.
The turn gives AQ a straight. I'm now behind just about everything worth calling on this board, and everything Player 2 could have raised with. I check, Player #2 calls. I give up.
River is a blank - Player #1 bets again, Player #2 calls again. With 33. (a pair of fucking threes, he paid three streets of value with, on a mostly broadway, 3 club board.). Player #1 shows AQ for the straight, with which he called my c-bet on a flop of three clubs, hoping to hit his gutshot, and hoping nobody had clubs. He hit it, and nobody had clubs.
10 hands later, steaming more and more as I watch the horror around me, I take my leave, with AK again. Mr. 72% limps in and raise 4x over him. Should have shoved (he still wouldn't have folded, though). Flop comes 246 and I c-bet all in. He calls with 68, with his 68 offsuit, and takes me down. Hits an 8 on the river for good measure.
...getting caught on the river. I was caught 5 times in 75 hands (2 tourneys) today on the river.
I'm not exaggerating. I won't list them because I know it's boring and nobody cares about bad beat stories. I know about bad beats - they happen. They're supposed to happen at a statistically predictable amount, though - not 5 times in 75 hands. C'mon.
They say when a bad beat happens in a SNG, you fire up another one and move on. But when they happen over and over and over, that's pretty hard.
A small crowd this week - I guess summer months have people off doing other things. We had 7 for a couple hours, then 6 and finally 5.
This night proved to be much the same as recent weeks, with me close to the break even mark. The very first hand of the session, I raised up a pair of tens under the gun and got one caller with position on me. An ace came on the board, which I check-called. We both checked the turn, so I fired off a river bet with my tens as the highest card showing except for the ace. My opponent, the habitual non-believer, said "you don't think I have that ace", and he was right. His non-believing ways appear to have leaked into his reads of what others think he has - funny how one's style can affect upper level thinking that way.
Anyway I won a small pot on hand #1, then gave it all back on hand #2. A pair of sixes this time, which I limped, then called a raise from the big blind. The final board was a scary KQQJx monster with three diamonds. I made a solid bluff at the board but got a call from AK.
The rest of the night was spent leaking away chips on some marginal stuff that missed everything, and two big pots against CS, both with KQ. CS is the luckbox who plays 75% of the hands and hits over half of them, seemingly. If he takes a couple losses, he will tighten up and play more normally, but if he wins some chips, then look out - he becomes the table captain and bets every hand and every street. CS usually falls into a big hole when he hits a decent hand like two pair but is dead to an even bigger hand, then he is prone to give his chips away.
He was in table captain mode when he made his 4th or 5th raise in a row from UTG. I defended with KQ and hit top pair. I chose to check-call and let CS do the betting for me, which was my plan for the entire board, but then the turn brought another spade, and I had the king of spades. Top pair with a flush draw, hmmm. I checked again, but when he bet I broke out the checkraise, and CS folded. I later learned he also had KQ, but no spade, so I was freerolling. I was actually surprised he laid down his top pair in the face of my checkraise.
Later, I defended again with KQ, and the board was pretty nice - 9TJ, all spades. I had the straight but on a flushy board, but the Qs would give me a monster straight-flush to the king. Why couldn't it ever be easy? Couldn't I flop the nut straight on a rainbow 9TJ board? I started to play this one the same way, with a check/call. CS's bet sizes are pretty transparent - I felt that this bet was his "standard one pair or nothing" bet size, which he ramps up in size once he hits two pair+.
The turn brought was looked harmless - the 3c. I checked, and CS made his bet again, this time his bigger "I've got the best hand now" $10 bet. This confused me, why would his betsize change on a 3? Maybe he had pocket threes. Well, I could blast him out of the pot right now, bit I decide to call one more time and try for that elusive straight flush.
A harmless river, no luck. I think I have the best hand, though, so I lead out with a $15 bet, which scares CS off. He reveals J3 - the 3 did in fact improve his hand to two pair, but a good fold on a dangerous board. An UTG raise with J3 - oy vey. CS has balls of steel, but once again he made a good laydown with a decent hand, something I considered his biggest weakness. If he becomes a true LAG, then I'll have another worry in this game.
..the poker gods, that is. Played well at UltimateBet and took second place. Had a meathead in the big blind on my button who couldn't fold. Just couldn't do it. On the bubble, he shoved on me when I had AQ and I called - he had 45o and of course hit trip 4s. I figured for sure I was dead, but I put my last 3 BB in next hand with J8s and doubled up, then sat on 8 BB for an orbit until my savior hand came - KK, and doubled up through AK. I was back in business.
Two hands later, AA. Beautiful. The only problem is that I'm in the big blind, and usually everyone folds to me in this case. No such bad luck here - a limp for 300, then a minraise to 600 from Mr. No-Fold-em. Minraise - beautiful - he's got something. I decide to raise to 1800, but my hands are shaking from excitement and I can't really get the UltimateBet slider thingy to stop where I want. It lands on 2100 and I figure good enough. I raise. NoFoldem shoves it in and we my aces survive against 66.
It looks like I'm going to win the headsup battle too until my second pair of aces gets cracked on a wicked 5JJQK board (JQK of diamonds). I get it in with KQ but the villain has an Ace and hits it on the turn, leaving me drawing dead. I probably had a bit more time and could have folded preflop to his all-in bet, but it was just three hands after the big AA cracking and I thought he might be shoving wider, feeling the rush of impending victory. Turns out he got it.
4 tourneys played on UB now, net profit - $1. Double that with rakeback. I'm on my way.
I sat down to play 4 tonight, and the first 2 didn't look good. In the first, A donkey called my preflop raise from the blind at 30/60. I had A7 and was basically blind stealing, but I hit my Ace on a A23 board. I suppose I should have folded - I could only really beat A4/A5/A6 - but I also thought he could have called with a pair and was just not believing I had the ace. Neither was right, he had 4d5d and flopped a straight. Uggggh.
Second one, I played well but bubbled. I though I could get a guy off an ace on an all spade board, 7s2sAs, but he called with A9. I had the Ks but didn't catch up. This wasn't horrible- I got my money in behind but on a nice draw that didn't come in. Ok.
I was able to take first and second in the next two, though, with some fine play, and was able to bring my ROI on the month back toward respectability (still close to minus 20, but I was at -50 not too long ago).
I also watched Tony play in a 365 player tourney tonight- he took 45, just out of the money (they paid 36). He played great but ran out of opportunities - ended up shoving 66 into QQ. Oops.
On vacation this week, squeeze one tourney in this morning, and even won it!
Perhaps the doomswitch is off - I won a race to knock someone out (on the river, no less), then made a nice read and won the pot with the best hand...
Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 150/300 Blinds, 3 Players LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter BTN: 2,640 SB: 7,820 Hero (BB): 3,040
Pre-Flop: (450) A 9 dealt to Hero (BB) BTN folds, SB raises to 600, Hero calls 300 Villain was minraising often, but not every time. A medium ace in position seemed worth a call.
Flop: (1,200) T 9 4 (2 Players) SB bets 1,200, Hero raises to 2,440 and is All-In, SB calls 1,240 Pot size bet was unusual for this player, I felt like maybe it was weak. I decided to go with the hand.
Turn: (6,080) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In) River: (6,080) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 6,080 Pot SB showed J Q (a straight, Queen high) and LOST (-3,040 NET) Hero showed A 9 (a flush, Ace high) and WON 6,080 (+3,040 NET)
I looked like a genius getting it all in with second pair against a draw - then of course the draw hits. But the poker gods see fit to let his straight draw out card also give me a redraw to the runner runner nut flush, and then bring it to me on the river. The old roller-coaster hand. Oh well, the best hand won. (best hand preflop, and on the flop, too).
Got purely lucky on the last hand - shoved a shortstack in with A9o, he called with TT, hit a ten on the flop, then I runner-runnered again to flush on the river. I'm sure that guy felt like I have all month.
Well, I removed my ban tonight and played one, since we got home from out of town early. Even got dealt Aces twice, though I didn't win much on them.
Got to the 4 man bubble early and sparred back and forth for a long time, then started running out of luck with no cards.
My first all-in of the night, the very first one - with AQs, called instantly by the big stack with TT, lost the race. Bubbled in fourth.
Cold-decked again. For what must be the fucking 20th time this month. 4-handed, in a super-tight bubble, where nobody is getting cards - the big stack gets dealt a good pair in the face of my all-in, and my hour+ of good play vanishes in an instant coinflip.
What did I bother playing for? I could have just flipped a coin and flushed $11 down the toilet on heads - same diff.
Well, I'm officially tired of the bad run - I have pulled some of my bankroll out and I'm switching it over to UltimateBet (where I will get 30% rakeback, even on SNGs, BTW). I'm on vacation this week, and I will try my hand over there for awhile.
My self-imposed Full Tilt ban is going well. I had about 30 minutes last night before falling asleep where I was tempted to fire it up, but I didn't - I launched my old Poker Academy software instead and played 50 hands in a ring game. (fake money, but hard to get fake money, so people play surprisingly solid poker).
I even flopped quad deuces! (didn't get paid, though, drat).
Thursday night cash game, and for once I win a couple pots early. 89o from the big blind hits two pair. Tens that avoid danger on a KKx board.
I give it all back, though, on a couple hands that sting a bit. AJo from the big blind - limped to me. This is my borderline "big ace" hand - do I raise the limpers here (I almost always raise the limpers with AQ/AK), or play it more slowly for a smaller pot? I choose the latter.
I hit the jack on the flop but a king comes, too. I check and it checks around. I bet the turn and get a caller. The river gives me two pair with an ace, but any queen has a straight. Out of position with two pair, not a fun place to be in. My opponent loves to limp with paint - lots of queens in his range. But he's also aggressive and will bet this board with lots of hands too.
There's really no good solution, and I guess I'm not good enough to simply check/fold two pair yet. I lead out myself and get called by Q9.
My failure to raise the limpers costs me here. Q9 (under the gun in a 7 handed game) shouldn't be in the hand under any circumstances, but I played my AJ and second pair timidly and it cost me (although not too much - it was small pot at the end).
My second hand was KK, which I raised from the button. I made the raise a tad bigger hoping it would look more like steal. Mr. Pietzak, to my left (lovely), defended the small blind, and then Fred A, Mr Q9 from earlier, made a speech about how he has to call now since he has odds. I've seen Fred A make speeches with big hands before, but tonight he's jabbering away from some early cocktails and I don't think he's trying to set a trap. He calls and we're off. The board is all low junk, 6 high - some of this could easily be in Mr. Pietzak's range. They check and I bet the flop. Pietzak folds right away but Fred A calls. Hmm. Did he play 67 and hit top pair? Or maybe Ace-rag and hit the rag? Or maybe he has something like 77/88 and is just floating my "continuation bet"?
The turn is low again. There are two spades, but my kings are still a big overpair to the board. Fred A checks again. Here's where I veer off the beaten path. The standard play is to bet again, put money into the pot with the best hand, protect against draws, blah, blah, blah. That's all good and correct. But if I check the turn, in position, I may allow Fred A to bet at lots of rivers, now thinking a smaller pair is good against my AK/AQ type hand. Of course, I run the risk of him catching up and hitting an ace, or two pair, or a set, or his flush. With the board all low cards, and with me holding the two black kings - I decided that the chances were more likely that he held some kind of pair rather than some type of draw. And, therefore, I was ok in giving him a free card to try and elicit a bet on the river from him. A pair has only 2-5 outs to beat me right now. I checked the turn, with the intention of calling basically anything except a large value bet with an ace on the river.
The river looked harmless enough - a red 7 or something, and as I expected, Fred lead out. I called and he showed me the 2-5 straight. 2-5? Mother of Christ, what a luckbox.
Now the questions - am I getting too cute for my own good? Should I have just raised up the AJ preflop and bet the kings heavy all the way down to the river? This is a good poker game, with many experienced players. I don't feel like I can play ABC poker all the time and win money, but of course you can't play every hand goofy, either. There's a definite balance there.
Actually, I probably ended up saving a ton of money with the kings. Fred A got his straight on the turn, so if I would have bet out again, he would have checkraised me, and I would have had an impossible decision to make - was he raising with 88/A6 and I was still way ahead, or was my overpair worth going broke over? I would have at least called the checkraise, and then had to call another large river value bet.
So what were these two hands - were they botched "slowplays", or are they "small ball", Negreanu-style? Negreanu does say in his book that small ball poker will lose more small pots due to people catching up, but it will also win big pots when people overplay their KK against my 34s that hits hard. I was down about $25 towards the end of the night. Mr solid player, Wiley, raised my blind and I caught a pair of queens in the hole. I re-raised a standard amount, which for his small stack meant shoving back or folding. He shoved. I wasn't thrilled with running a late night race against AK or being crushed by AA/KK, but Wiley's stack was small enough that I thought his range could include AQ or smaller pairs than my Queens, so I made the call. I was rewarded with dominating a pair of tens and doubled up.
This put me to within $5 of even, and that's where I ended the night.
ok, we played 2 tonight. The first left me with an unplayable 99 with 9 BB and 5 people in front of me. No action is correct - folding is wrong, limping is wrong, small raise is wrong, all-in is wrong, too. I shoved and got called by QQ.
In the second, I played some awesome poker. Played really well. Got rivered twice (by the same guy) holding a set and two pair but didn't lose too much. Picked on the weak players, tricked the good players a few times.
The bubble broke and I got my money in ahead vs. the same as earlier guy - Top pair/top kicker vs. open-ended straight draw. He rivered me again to knock me out in third.
I'm calling a break from Full Tilt. I've got my cash game tomorrow night, and I'll be out of town over the weekend. I'll be skipping Friday, then next week I'll be on vacation all week. I think Tuesday I'm getting some live training, but that's hand history review and not live play. My goal is to transfer some cash to my second site and play there over vacation.
The player to your left who has played 51% of hands in the tourney will have AK when you shove your short stack in with AQ roughly 98% of the time.
And then, a new way to lose that I haven't experienced yet this month- the donkey call. My cards suck all game, my stats are 10/6 - some player at 21/20 raises and then calls my all-in with KJo. I had AQ and did not win.
Played a single tourney tonight- took first place, called it a night. I needed a night where I didn't go to bed steaming.
Played very nice poker, especially when three handed. Made a huge double-barrel bluff on an ace-high limped board. Small blind limped into me, I checked with K5. Flop came A67 - he donked into me, I raised. He called. Then the turn paired the seven - he checked, I bet BIG and got a fold. It felt very good.
Then he tilted off some chips to the other guy, and finally steamed over at the perfect time, when I got dealt KK. He raised, I reraised small, he shoved and had J8s.
Two second place finishes tonight. I got some cards and they held up. My crap luck prompted me to temporarily move down in buyin, so I'm not winning any money, but the little victories are much needed. I still managed to lose a dollar on my total play for the day, so my ROI for the month continues to be around -40.
Despite the second place finishes, the poker gods still had their last digs on the night...
Pre-Flop: (180) A 4 dealt to Hero (BB) SB calls 60, Hero raises to 240, SB calls 120 Villain is passive. His call of my raise tells me he has something he likes.
Flop: (480) Q 4 A (2 Players) Hero checks, SB bets 240, Hero raises to 960, SB calls 720 He calls my large checkraise. I put him on something like A6-A9, and I've got him down to 3 outs with my 2 pair.
Turn: (2,400) 2 (2 Players) Hero bets 1,680, SB calls 1,680 Deuce didn't help - this large bet should tell him I'm playing for stacks, but he calls anyway.
River: (5,760) 5 (2 Players) Well, backdoor flush got there. Does he have A9 of clubs or something? That would suck. Well, I'm calling if he shoves - have to shove myself. Many, many worse hands will call.
Hero bets 2,915 and is All-In, SB calls 2,915
Results: 11,590 Pot
Hero showed A 4 (two pair, Aces and Fours) and LOST (-5,795 NET) SB showed 3 A (a straight, Five high) and WON 11,590 (+5,795 NET) Or, alternately, player was crushed the entire hand, and got runner-runner straight to take me out. Goody.
4
dealt to Hero (BB)
2
(2 Players)
, Q
, J
, 10
