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Perhaps the worst overall session of poker in my life tonight. My monthly Tourney ended with me with top pair and a nut flush draw backup (in Holdem, mind you) against someone who plays maybe 60% of her hands. (She won the tourney last month, by the way). Not sure how she finished this month, but she knocked me out with her dominated Ace-nine two pair vs. my Ace-queen. The poker gods mocked me with a full house on the river, after all the chips were in the middle.
That's not the bad part of the session, though. Eh, fast tourney with top pair, flush draw, and 20 big blinds. Nobody's folding, thems the breaks. The cash game afterwards was the bus wreck. I played for three hours and didn't win one hand. Not one. I got bluffed out of a pot early - it was a good fold, but it was the best hand. Then the bluffer boats up on my flush and I have to pay him off for a big river bet. Then I fold and miss flops and fold and miss flops, until I'm sitting with a short stack, and finally hit an Omaha-worthy 19 card wrap - but brick it all and a paltry top two pair wins the pot.
Ooof. The kind of night that makes you want to take a break for a few days.
A long session at the Cleveland Horseshoe Casino nets me 80BB. I'm running 200BB profit in 15 hours play there so far, can't complain at all.
It didn't look good for about 3 hours, as I continued my card dead ways from the night before. Fold, fold, fold. Twice I tried iso-raising a weak ace against some limpers, this failed both times as they would call my iso and then donk out on a flop that missed me entirely.
Meanwhile, of course, the poker gods are testing you as you watch fortune strike everyone else at the table, again and again. One old man would call to the river with any pair at all, any bet size, waiting to hit. Sometimes he wouldn't hit and then call the river anyway, and someone would actually be bluffing this station, and he would win with third pair or with the worse kicker possible!
My favorite guy to watch came to my table late - he had just placed his chips at the table but hadn't sat down. He asked the dealer to include him in the deal, and she did as he posted his 2BB. A player I knew to be tight raised behind, this got the new guy to sit down, peek at his cards, and then call the raise.
Tight player lead out big on a jack high board. I felt it was a value bet with an overpair based on what I knew about this guy, who had been folding for hours like me. New guy called. I felt like new guy was going to get stacked on his first hand.
Second card was a six, no flushes completed, and the action went bet, raise, all-in, call. "Two pair and a flush draw" says the new guy, flipping over nine-six suited. "Christ", says the opponent, the first word out of his mouth today. He then watched helplessly as a blank river cracks his pocket kings.
Lucky guy goes on to play about 70% of hands preflop. He's aggressive, raising probably 25%. Then postflop, he calls with any piece of the board, either hoping for gin late or a dangerous enough board that he can take away with a big river bluff.
The table tries collectively to adjust. They start calling his big river bets lighter. Twice the player flips over strong straights or flushes, which came runner-runner, and as the result of floating a flop bet with nearly no hand at all. Soon after he gets someone else's stack with K3s, hitting the second nut flush, up against the third. He's up 3 buy-ins now in an hour.
Meanwhile, I'm still folding, and thinking about wrapping it up for the day. I'm down $50, and this guy's on my left (2 away), which will take away my ability to isolate. I'm going to have to hit a hand to win at this table right now.
I get pocket tens in early position, and raise to $13. Aggro-Luckbox calls. I'm going to have a hard time playing pairs like this against this guy, out of position, unless I hit my 1-time-in-8 three of a kind. If that comes, this guy's going to pay me off bigtime.
Flop starts with a jack in the window, and I'm already anticipating the bet/check/fold line in my head. But the second card improves my spirits greatly - a ten. A seven completes.
Not betting the flop against this light peeler would be criminal. With a $27 pot, I make it $22. He calls as I expect.
The turn is a seeming brick, and something slightly evil occurs to me. Something I don't do nearly enough in my game, and that's a checkraise. This guy can't help himself from betting after weakness, and we've already built up a nice big pot. I briefly weigh this option over just letting him float to the river, and settle on the checkraise. There are two flush draws on the board now, and a checkraise will shut this guy out of the pot and the ability to correctly draw to them. The only disaster is if he checks behind me, but I simply can't see that happening.
I let out of big sigh, Hollywooding like I'm giving up. I check. My villain obliges me, betting a small $20 into a now over $50 pot. I make it $100, pretty sure that will blast him out of the hand, but he just smiles and calls.
Uh, oh. Time for one more check of the board - I have to dodge 2 flush draws. I won't be pleased with an ace or 9 (for KQ), either. But then I look at my stack. I really don't have enough back to fold, my checkraise was committing. This is somewhat comforting, as if the hand is really over whether the chips come my way or not.
Maybe a tad too comforting. The river card is a harmless 4, and I shove my chips in without hesitation, practically beating the river card to the middle of the table. My villain folds instantly, face-up, showing seven-four of clubs. He had the backdoor flush draw, bottom pair, and the river gave him 2 pair. Maybe I could have gotten a river bet out of him with a little more tact and thoughtful sizing.
"There are always improvements to be made", I think as I stack a 300BB pot.
Been awhile since I played bad for a whole session, but I did tonight. Stacked myself with a straight on a 3 flush board. It was hard to find a fold - we were blind vs. blind, and I convinced myself I was in a dick-measuring contest against 2 pair. I wasn't.
Lost another 30 BB convincing myself that the 12/3 reshove pushbot had AK and that I should call his 3bet all in with tens. Nope.
My last big pot lost wasn't my fault - up against a 67/8 with an overpair against 50 big blinds. I wasn't folding. He had flopped the boat.
It was an odd session, I don't think I got dealt AA/KK or QQ once in over 300 hands. I got 3bet and checkraised enough times to send Ghandi into tilt.
A weird session.
Trip #3 to the Cleveland Horseshoe casino this morning, squeezing in a couple quick hours before work.
I spotted the bad players quickly. One guy flatted my raise, as I held AJ. I hit my ace and bet twice. He called twice. Remembering how I valuetowned myself with AJ last time vs. AK, I checked the river and he tabled pocket kings. No 3bet preflop? No giving up after 2 bets?
"I knew you had the ace, but I figured I would get paid if a king came", he said.
Yes, I suppose you would have.
Flopped a set of threes a bit later. Someone bet 10 and I raised it to 35. This same guy cold-called my reraise, as did the original raiser. Overpair for the original raiser, God know what for the first guy.
I busted out the "I mean it" pot sized $95 turn bet. First guy reallllly wanted to call, but in the end he folded. A bit too big I guess. That's ok, gotta go for that big fat value when you can.
A limped pot in late position with 6d7d. I hit middle pair on the flop, and two diamonds. A lead to $5, a minraise to $10, and I flat. I put the minraiser on top pair, two pair or a set.
Then, the amazing thing happens, I hit my flush on the turn! Shocking. He leads out for $10 again, the classic "please don't have a flush". I figure the jig will be up if I raise, but I've got to raise now anyway, in case he has a high diamond himself that he wants to draw to, or a set that wants the river to pair the board. I raise to $35. "You've got that flush, huh?", he asks. I stay quiet. He calls the raise.
The river bricks. His one pair + high diamond probably won't be calling me, but two or a set will call something. I settle on $42. He calls without flipping his cards. "You hit that flush?", he asks. I somehow think he knows the answer already.
"Yes sir", I reply as I table my 67. He mucks his cards.
Final decent hand of the day, pocket tens in the big blind. One player makes a $7 raise - a very small raise in a casino atmosphere. He has done this twice already, though, once with queen-ten suited, and once with ace-seven. I've got pocket tens in the big blind - I could probably 3bet and take this hand down, and that's probably the correct play with my read on the raiser, but I flat, and we get a big multiway pot,
The board runs out all low - a six is the highest card. I lead out, and everyone folds except the original small raiser. There are two clubs out there, which is my first thought, but he can also have top pair type hands like 67 or A6, or weaker overpairs like 77, 88, and 99.
Turn keeps my cards an overpair. I lead for $20 and he calls again. Fat value, all the way.
I hate the last card, the ace of clubs. The flush has come, as has the ace-rag two pair. Some of his hands have caught me, some have not. My river value bet has gotten thinner, but that doesn't make it wrong to make it. I add a couple bucks to the bet, $22. He looks at me.
"You really want me to go away, don't you"? he asks. I find it an odd question considering the action, which to me seemed on the weaker side. Sounds like he's not very strong, Two pair or clubs would insta-call or raise without speaking. It makes me think I'm ahead. I freeze up, not staring at him, trying to give away anything. Maybe he takes this action for a bluff - he calls.
"Pocket tens", I offer, and flip them over.
He stares at the board for awhile, not flipping his cards. Maybe deciding how I could bet that dangerous river, and still manage to get paid by a worse hand. I wonder the same thing, but he mucks and surrenders the pot to me without letting me see what he got so sticky with.
About half an hour after that hand, I had 2 more hours of time available to play, but something was telling me to get up. I was ahead a full buy-in, I had a bit of a headache, and the first super-fishy guy had left the table. Sometimes you gotta listen to the little voice. I waited for the blinds to get to me and then stood up for the day.
I was involved in 2 cases last night where river bet sizing took an important role.
The first was a Holdem hand. Tony raised on the button. I sat in the big blind with Ace-Ten offsuit: a tad too weak to defend with (don't tell the other players in my game who defend their blinds like parents defend children), but at the top of my folding range. These are good hands to turn into semibluff 3bets. Tony will fold small pairs and broadways with 40%+ equity against me, and I will profit.
Or, he'll take advantage of his position and play a big pot with advantage. He flats, and we see a Queen-nine-nine flop.
I'm pretty much done with the hand. The queen misses me and hits his range well enough. Can't very well represent a nine in a three-bet pot. Tony is sticky with pairs and this flop won't scare him too much - he'll probably float a cbet and leave me in the same position I'm in now on the turn, except with less money in my stack. I check.
Tony checks behind, giving me enough credit for the possibility of a checkraise.
The turn is interesting - a third nine. Our relative hand strength hasn't changed, I'm still done with the hand. I check, and Tony checks again. I've got him on a small pair now, or Ace-King. I don't beat any of it.
But the river changes this. A ten gives me a strange nines full of tens full house. I think I've just caught his ace-king and spiked over all his pairs. A value bet is in order, but Tony isn't calling a very big bet here. The bet size has to be small enough for pocket sixes to call, as well as ace high, king kicker. His range is very weak overall, but he can beat bluffs, and I have to try and eek a bluff-beating call from him.
I bet an even $10, into a pot of $24. Less than half pot. This should feel like a weak stab to him. He calls pretty quickly.
"I hit the ten", I say as I start to roll over my hand.
"Pocket Jacks", Tony replies, surprising me. Maybe the one hand that beats me that I could see being played this way.
"That was a nice blocking bet", he tells me. "If you checked the river, I would have bet much bigger".
"It wasn't meant to be a blocking bet, it was meant to be a value bet against every other hand you could possibly be holding", I laughed. But it did work out for me like a blocking bet, and I escaped my bluff-gone-not-quite-right without too much damage.
A similar situation happened later, in an Omaha hand. I ended up with the second nut flush, a queen high heart flush on a board with three hearts and 2 aces. I had two opponents in the hand. This time, I was much less sure of a winner, as is often true in Omaha, but I knew a small bet would get smaller flushes and trip aces to call me and I could squeeze a bit of value out. Furthermore, I could virtually never get raised by anything but a full house - the king high flush would be afraid of full houses himself, as would trip aces. A raise would bring an no-brainer fold.
My bet was $20 this time, but into biggish $100 pot. It was the correct size for what I was trying to accomplish. Value against weakish flushes and trip aces, blocking bets against the nut flush and full houses. Both players called me, and I was knew I was not winning the pot this time, as the king high flush dragged the chips his way. But again I mitigated severe damage.
Hilarious night with the fish getting the better of me time and again...
Started with getting all in on the turn with TT as an overpair, fish calls with AQ and spikes an ace.
Then I iso-raise another fish with J9s, hit top pair 9, and valuetown myself for 3 streets against Ace-nine. Ridiculous. Dude was playing 69% of hands at the time.
Aces cracked against the fishie's tens for another stack.
I was down 130BB, and was ready to call it a night. Last hand being dealt before my blind - I'll just fold and close up shop...
Except that it's aces.
Ok, don't get fancy. Raise to 3.5 bigs. Folds around to the fishy button (yes, this was a GREAT table), who three bets me.
And then, if that isn't enough, the big blind, the tightest player at the table, he cold calls the 3bet, padding the pot some more....
Alrighty then, no need to shove now. I close the action. Let's just call and shove the flop. With my luck tonight, I'll probably get them cracked again (for the third time), but it's the correct play...
Flop is 885 rainbow, nothing to worry about there. the tight-ass big blind bets his last 2.50 into the $17 pot. I flat, thinking the fishy button will shove all his overpairs. He does. I call. We're all in. Small blind has kings, big blind has ace-king, unimproved.
I have one out to dodge - the last remaining king. I dodge it. My 130BB loss becomes a 63BB gain on the last hand of the night.
Lost 120 big blinds in the cash game last night. We had some new players to the game - skilled, unafraid to get their money in, not very mistake-worthy. You have to play pretty mistake-free poker and then avoid getting unlucky to come him with a profit against this new group.
I thought I was on my way when I raised up 2 jacks and got 2 callers, and hit a nice little jack-eight-rag flop. Hello, top set!
I don't slowplay sets. I'm constantly cbetting with air, I like to do it with my monsters as well. This is even more true because two of the flop cards were hearts, and damned if I'm going to let that flush draw get there for free. I bet 8 into a $12 pot. One caller - one of the new players. Top pair for him, maybe QQ, maybe floating with TT/99. Or of course the damned flush draw.
No heart on the turn. A black queen. Now my opponent leads into me with a $21 bet. Eight-Nine for a straight? Really? JQ for two pair? Did he flop a lower set? Let's hope so. I start adding up combos - 4 combos of 89s (no way he's playing offsuit connectors) to beat me. 3 combos of 88, 3 more of the low card, and 2 more of JQs. I might throw in a slowplayed AA combo or two also. I'm ahead twice as often as I'm behind. Time to get the money in.
I raise to $68. My villain thinks a long time, staring at the pot. He's counting it, figuring his pot odds. He calls.
Heart draw. My guess is AhQh or KhQh now, top pair + flush draw. Gonna have to dodge the heart river...
I do. A black ten. The final board is J8xQT, putting a 4 card straight out there. My opponent checks. Any way he's got a nine in his hand? I don't think so. If he had 89s, he would have shoved over my raise. Should I bet for value though? I've got him on top pair flush draw, most likely. He should call some type of bet...
...I chicken out, though. I'm in position in an already nice sized pot, on a dangerous board. I can minimize losses when I'm behind, and this opponent isn't calling a large value bet with one pair. I could bet small - that always seems to induce a raise. I'm not sure what the correct play is, but I check it back. It saves me money.
"I got there", he says, in a near-conciliatory way. King-nine of hearts. Flush draw + gutshot. I watch him scoop the mini-mountain of chips his way, cracking my flopped top set.
Irritating, ridiculous, silly, all that woe-is-me-poker gods crap be damned - I love the way I played this hand in the end. I bet enough to deny him odds with his 12 out draw on the turn, and then I denied him any implied odds by using my position and checking back the river. He played the hand well, also - he made a just-barely-short of correct pot odds call, hoping for some backup implied odds, hit his perfect card, but didn't get any extra money out of me.
2 good poker players, nobody making any major mistakes, banging away with a couple of monster hands. Maybe there's some money to be made at the other end of this table...
