Wednesday, April 21, 2010

cash Rushes away in a record time

I didn't have any time tonight, so I fired up a session of Rush poker... and lost 2 buyins in 30 minutes.

I was not tilted. I was not playing bad. In my estimation, I made the proper play on both of my big loss hands - and the correct play was to go broke.

On hand #1 (10 hands into the session by the way, which in Rush poker is about 45 seconds after you start), I was dealt pocket queens on the button. The cutoff raises. Now I don't have any stats on the guy, but pocket queens is ahead of a cutoff's raising range, right? They steal like crazy in Rush poker - I routinely see people with 50, 60, 75% percent steal percentage. I 3-bet, he calls, the flop is 639. We get it in, he has pocket kings. Do I fold at any point in that hand? Am I supposed to fold?

Last hand of the night, hand #156 into my latest disaster, I have 8d9d. An UTG player raises. I call with position and a high implied odds hand. Flop is 9c Td Ad. Bottom pair, flush draw. UTG leads out, I raise. He calls. Turn is an 8. Now I have two pair and a flush draw. He leads out for pot. Do I fold? Call? I don't think so - I get my chips in with 13 outs to beat a set, and already ahead of AK, AQ, or higher flush draws...

He's got JQ for the made straight. How does an UTG raiser have JQ? No idea, but this guy does. I still have my 13 outs, but they don't come, and I'm gone.

Two more buyins lost - 7 in one week. I know it's not 100% luck - I'm making some bad calls, some imperfect plays. I'm not a great poker player. But I'm not this bad - I'm simply not this bad.

"You will run worse than you can possibly imagine" is a phrase I've heard on several occasions. I am currently learning what this means.

3 comments:

Forrest Gump said...

Matt, it is possible to get away with the QQ hand IMO. If I was playing, I'd have PTR already open. When the CO raises, I'd quickly type in their name to get some stats. Against a LAG or weak player I'm definitely 3 betting, but against one of the many solid (winning)grinders on Rush the danger signals would go off and I'm looking to pot control against them. I don't mind smooth calling with the luxury of position then seeing what the flop brings. That's just my style/approach. Not necessarily correct but it works for me.

matt tag said...

ok, so I call in position with QQ, and the flop comes all under and not dangerous. What now?

Do I call/call/call as long as I stay an overpair?

Anonymous said...

It depends greatly on the opponent, but say you quickly plug the name in PTR and you see a guy with 500k hands and a solid profit. I don't like my QQ - its got horrible reverse implied odds where u either win a small pot and lose a big one.

BUT, you have the luxury of position. So you smooth call and the flop comes babies. Because you just called pre the pot is very manageable. When he makes a standard c-bet I might either raise or again just call behind. If they re-raises me on the flop I likely give it away without good reason against a strong opponent. Had I smooth called the flop and he fired another substantial bet on the turn again, I got quite a bit of information and will consider releasing. It's rare to see good player multi-barrel with say AK after missing out of position.

If they've outplayed me so be it - the best hand doesn't always win. But I'm always happy to see flops, get a few streets of information then evaluate my options...

Just a different approach!


FG

PS Say the opponent has AK and I just smooth call the flop then they check the turn, then I'm looking to bet the turn for value. It's super rare they'll check the turn with a better hand in this spot.