So like a few weeks ago I had another brickhouse session where I sat down and just got rolled over by the deck. I originally went to Hollywood Park but as I got there the $400 game broke. Shows what I know going to a casino at 1am. But, surprisingly, the $500 unrestricted was still going strong with 2 tables. The second table was short handed and pretty aggressive so I didn't want to sit down in that. I had heard that not long before I got there, there had been a $30K pot followed directly afterward by a $15K pot. I sure wished I would have been there for that. But I decided to go to Commerce instead. It was quite a good decision. I sat down at a very good table with some weak people i had played with before. On my second round at the table I limped with 4d6d in position and someone made it $20 and 6 people called including me. The flop came 5c 7d 9d giving me an open ended straight draw along with my flush draw. Someone led out for $45 followed by a call and I went all in for about $375. No one called and I took down the $200 pot. Then another round later I called an early position raise in the SB with AKoff. The 4 way $120 flop came down Ac 7c 7s. I led out for $80 and it folded around to the button who was an incredibly bad player who min raised to $160. Now I knew he wasn't on the draw most likely. So he either had a 7 or an A. I was in check call mode unless the bets got huge. So I called. The $440 turn card was the beautiful Ad. I checked, he bet a measely $50, I checkraised to $200 and he went all in. I called and figured it was a chop that he got lucky on but no he turned over K7 and doubled me up to about $11-1200. Then about 6 hands later after 3 limpers i raised to $60 with KK and it folded to the UTG limper who I have played with before who isnt too good. He made it $160. Now I had another $1100 behind at this point and he had about $8-900 behind so I didn't want to give him a chance to catch up if he was behind and I didn't want to get stacked if he had AA so I reraised him $200 more to $360 preparing to fold if he went all in. He was confused and quickly called without thinking. Whew! I knew he didn't have Aces. The door card was the As and my heart sank until the rest of the flop came out. As K h 9c. He checked, and I checked figuring he either had AK or QQ, JJ. In which, he had 2 outs and I wanted to make him feel comfortable and make him think maybe I had QQ. So i checked back. The turn brough an off suit 8. He bet $200 into the $750 pot. I raised him all in here as he only had about $5-600 more. He called and had AK and I scooped the $2000 + pot. I then won a $300 plus pot with the nut flush 5 hands later. So I was rolling heavy in just an hour and half period with these big pots combined with a few small pots steals along the way.
Then this big one comes up. One player limps in, the cutoff ( a fairly tight player) raises to $45. I have Ks Jc on the button, not a great hand but I was rushing and I had the button so I called. The BB called and so did the limper. So we took the 4 way $180 flop of Kh Jh 4d. BB checked, first limper checked, Original Raiser bet out $125. I then raised to $325 for value and the BB folded. All of a sudden the limper in the pot goes all in for $1630. I had seen him do something close to this about an hour before when he went all in for $500 on the nut flush draw in a big multiway pot but it was much less money comparitively. As I am thinking about this, the original raiser regretfully puts all his money in as well! He only had about $700 total (my $325 plus another $375). So here I am with top two pair and two all ins in front of me. I have to call $1305 into a pot of ~$2700-$2800. I am getting 2:1 with top two pair. I know based on the original raisers mannerisms that he is not happy. So he doesn't have KK or JJ. He either has AA or AK, with the outside chance of something like AhQh. I didn't think the big all in guy had AA, KK, or JJ as I think I would have heard something from him preflop based on how I had seen him play so far. So I had him on 3 hands. Either KJ, 44, or a big draw (AhQh, Qh10h, Ah 10h, or AhXh). I didn't really think he would have had J4 or K4 but I would have been delighted if that was included in his range. So out of my analysis, I was chopping with one, needing a 4 outer against the other and ahead but needing to dodge some outs against the draw. Mathematically its hard to say which is the best option. I gave a little more credence to the drawing option as I had seen him do something similar. So i put him about 45% on the draw, 35% on KJ, and 20% on 44. After the original raiser put his extra $600 into the pot I felt my 2:1 pot odds were enough to gamble with so I called after a long think. It turns out the $1600 all in guy did indeed have KJ and the original raiser had AA. The AAs didn't improve and we chopped up his money in the $4200+ pot. I am still not sure if that was a good call or not. The pots odds generated by the AAs dead"ish" money were too great and compensated for the possibility of me being behind.
After that hand, most of the action players left and while there was lots of money on the table, it was in the hands of tighter players. I am still in rebuilding mode so I went against my mantra of riding the rush and decided to call it an early evening and ended my 2 hour session up $2400+.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Its All About the Big Pots
As most of you know, NLHE and especially my brand of NLHE is played for the big pots. I posted this hand on my email forum which was pretty much the only interesting hand of the session. I will reprint here.
So I was playing at the $500 unrestricted buyin at Hollywood Park and this nice hand comes up. The cutoff who is pretty steamy right now raises to $45 after 2 people limp in. The button folds and I am in the SB with QsJs. I think about reraising him but I notice that a good strong sophisticated player has limped in under the gun so I just call and prepare to fold if he reraises. The BB calls, UTG calls, and the other limper calls. So we see the 5 way flop with $220 in the middle. After calling the preflp bet I have $650 left, Steamy McSteam has about $350. The flop comes down Jh 10s 3s. I bet out $225 because i want to play this pot big with steamy. BB folds. Now the UTG limper raises $500 more to $725, the limper who was in the pot before steamy now goes all in for her last $350. Steamy folds and its back to me. The pot is $1425 and it would cost me $425. I know the BB is folding so I don't get any more equity there. Now, I know the $500+ UTG raiser has a strong made hand. At the absolute bare minimum he has QQ. With the more likely scenario that he has a set. I discount AA and KK as he would probably have tried to isolate preflop with two callers after steamy. The interesting part is what does the other limper have? She is a fairly straight forward readable player. During the hand though after she goes all in she keeps telling her neighbor, who she knows well, "its time to go home, its time to go home". I have played with her on at least 2-3 occasions and I have never seen her play a draw like this, but I am not at all positive she wouldn't have done this with spades. Something like AsKs would not be out of the question as well. If I had to break down her range it would be 33, J10, 10 10 (less likely as she most likely would raised preflop but possible), Not JJ as she plays those fast all the time, with maybe 15%-20% chance she has AsXs, although like i said I had never seen this from her. She would almost certainly not play a straight draw like KQ or 89 like this.
As far as the made hand goes I am almost drawing dead to running QQ or backdoor straight cards. If I am sharing spades with the limper then I am most likely drawing dead. But if not then I am getting 3.4:1 on my draw in an $1850 pot. After a long think I finally call. The hands turn over, My QsJs, the UTG's 10 10, and limper's J 10. Thankfully, she is drawing dead to the case J. And all my spades are live! Cardplayer has me as 34.55% equity which is more than enough. Turn and river come 5c 6c and I miss.
So I lost $1000 in that session. Boo. But I think I had +EV there so no biggie.
So I was playing at the $500 unrestricted buyin at Hollywood Park and this nice hand comes up. The cutoff who is pretty steamy right now raises to $45 after 2 people limp in. The button folds and I am in the SB with QsJs. I think about reraising him but I notice that a good strong sophisticated player has limped in under the gun so I just call and prepare to fold if he reraises. The BB calls, UTG calls, and the other limper calls. So we see the 5 way flop with $220 in the middle. After calling the preflp bet I have $650 left, Steamy McSteam has about $350. The flop comes down Jh 10s 3s. I bet out $225 because i want to play this pot big with steamy. BB folds. Now the UTG limper raises $500 more to $725, the limper who was in the pot before steamy now goes all in for her last $350. Steamy folds and its back to me. The pot is $1425 and it would cost me $425. I know the BB is folding so I don't get any more equity there. Now, I know the $500+ UTG raiser has a strong made hand. At the absolute bare minimum he has QQ. With the more likely scenario that he has a set. I discount AA and KK as he would probably have tried to isolate preflop with two callers after steamy. The interesting part is what does the other limper have? She is a fairly straight forward readable player. During the hand though after she goes all in she keeps telling her neighbor, who she knows well, "its time to go home, its time to go home". I have played with her on at least 2-3 occasions and I have never seen her play a draw like this, but I am not at all positive she wouldn't have done this with spades. Something like AsKs would not be out of the question as well. If I had to break down her range it would be 33, J10, 10 10 (less likely as she most likely would raised preflop but possible), Not JJ as she plays those fast all the time, with maybe 15%-20% chance she has AsXs, although like i said I had never seen this from her. She would almost certainly not play a straight draw like KQ or 89 like this.
As far as the made hand goes I am almost drawing dead to running QQ or backdoor straight cards. If I am sharing spades with the limper then I am most likely drawing dead. But if not then I am getting 3.4:1 on my draw in an $1850 pot. After a long think I finally call. The hands turn over, My QsJs, the UTG's 10 10, and limper's J 10. Thankfully, she is drawing dead to the case J. And all my spades are live! Cardplayer has me as 34.55% equity which is more than enough. Turn and river come 5c 6c and I miss.
So I lost $1000 in that session. Boo. But I think I had +EV there so no biggie.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Todd Brunson was Right
Maniacs can be dangerous! But they can also be quite profitable as well. You just have to have a little heart and a lack of reserve in order to profit from them. I think this primarily comes from reading people and seeing what extents they are capable of. There were a few maniacs in my session last night at Hollywood Park. They came in two separate instances.
The first $400 table I sat at was pretty weak tight. In fact, there was very little action at all. Most of the pots were small and it played like a $100 or $200 game where 4-5 people would limp into a pot and see who hit the flop. Not my type of game. So I raised a few pots and took the small ones down. Then I raised with AhKc to $45 and under the gun limper reraised to $200. I knew he had a big pair but I didn't think with the lack of action he would do that with AA or KK because there wasn't really an anticipated raise coming. So i felt as though it was QQ or JJ and I put it all in which wasn't too much more. Well, I was wrong, he had KK. I rivered an A to bad beat him. I primiarly put it in without any fold equity because what happened after that was what I was gunning for. The table loosened up and action flowed. The KK guy left with his last $400 because he wasn't too happy but everyone else started playing more hands for raises preflop. So all of a sudden we developed a poker game. The players were bad so this was a perfect table for me. I made a few good hands and got up to about $1000 when the first maniac of the night sat down.
I forgot to mention that i had met Rick for dinner prior to the HP session and we then went in separate cars to the casino. I beat him there and got my name on the list before him. Rick decided to play $200 while he waited and I decided to walk around and peruse the $400 game(s) and the $500 unrestricted game and get a feel for them (which we both had our names on the list for) instead of getting right into the $200 game. Well, Rick had a guy on his $200 game which I had played with before who had gone all in on his first hand and got no calls. The next hand he raised to $50 and check/folded the flop when called. All on a $3-$5 game. After Rick came to my table and got a nasty beat (J9 losing to AQ when all in on a 9 9 3 A board with a river A) and left, this maniac came and sat down to my immediate right. So he came in on the BB and I limped UTG with 88. I was actually still in a bit of rush state so I almost raised with it but i decided against it at the last minute. 4 other players limped including the SB and then when it got to captain manaic in the BB he goes all in for $400. Now this was an obvious attempt to establish himself as the table captain. He had done this at the $200 game and also the last time I had played with him at the $400 game. So I was almost positive I had him beat at this point in time and I was not worried about anyone behind me as they played their hands straightforwardly. The problem is, I would have to put in $400 to win $860 and even a straight out bluff like K9 would have me racing 50%. So I prudently folded and decided he would indeed give it away later. But I was in tune with his psychological state. He does this in order to create action but also to peg himself as a maniac and then try to tighten up a bit later and get paid off. This is what he did at the $400 game the last time I played with him. So its not entirely such a bad idea. I do the same thing to a much lesser degree to create action on non-actiony tables (read above with AK vs KK). But the point is he wanted to wrest the table captaincy away from me. All ego aside, this is an important idea in NLHE. When there is a loose, aggressive player on a table with tight weak players it is such an advantage because they abdicate to him and allow him to walk on them unless they have a monster. They do this by either call/folding too much or lashing out with weak hands. Both are characteristic chances to take all of their money. I want to be the recipient of all this dead action and I don't want him edging in on it. Which explains the situation on the next hand.
Since he was BB last hand, he is SB now and I am BB now. Everyone folded to the SB and before he looked or I looked at my cards I asked if he wanted to chop. He said no and raised to $30. I looked down to see JJ and immediately went all in. He thought for a long time and finally called and won when his KQ off paired a King on the flop. No biggie. I had no problems. But I started to bully him after that. The next hand I called his $40 cutoff raise with Kh8h on the button. We were heads up and the flop came down Q 5 3 with two spades. He made a weak CB and I called with the intention of taking it away as I thought at best he had an underpair to the Q. The turn came an off suit 5 and I made a 2/3 pot size bet after his check and did my usual table talk to feign weakness when, in fact, I was weak :). He folded and i was able to show my Kh8h. Two hands later, he was the only limper ahead of me when I got AhAd. I raised to $50 and he was the only caller. He checked in the dark and I immediately bet $60 in the dark ala Negreanu from High Stakes Poker as seen here.
The flop came down Q4Q and he folded. We didnt dance together for another 30 minutes or so but we continued our rousing table talk where he would make a play at supremacy and it would all come tumbling down after my clever retorts. As Craig routinely points out, my best poker attribute is my adept use of the needle. Sidenote: before I talk about the big hand vs this guy. The needle is not supposed to be used against anybody. In fact, generally it is a -EV play. I like to keep the flow and mood of the game quite smooth for the weak player so that they are enjoying themselves and having fun while slowly dieing a financial death. But when someone comes in and disrupts the flow of the game ( and the consistent flow of money to me) with massive all in overbets preflop and the like, then it not only disrupts the flow of the game but it negates the skill advantage I believe I have, and it can upset alot of the tigher, weaker players. Enter the Needle. If I can break this guy off both chip wise and psychologically, not only will the flow of the game return but I stand to be seen as somewhat of a hero by the table (which happened after this hand!).
So back to poker. I was in the SB and one of the tightest guys at the table made a raise to $25 in 2nd position. Four people called in front of me including our villain on the button. There were $135 in the pot so far and i had $5 in already, so i had to call $20 to win $135. My 45off wasnt too spectacular and neither was my position but my almost 7:1 pot odds made up for it. I called and so did the BB. So we took the $175 7 way pot off and it came down As 5c 9h. I checked, BB checked, Original Raiser checked kind of huffy, two more checked to an older lady in the cutoff who bet $45 into the $175 pot. Our villain made a casual call on the button saying something like "let's just see what's going on". I noted his behavior as he did this call. I had to call $45 to win $265 so about 6:1 with my bottom pair and backdoor wheel draw. I made the call and the BB folded as well as the original raiser who folded his KK face up in a flustered state. The other two in the pot folded as well. The turn came the 4h for a As 5c 9h 4h board. I now have bottom two pair in a $310 pot. I hadn't checked yet when the cutoff lady started putting chips in the pot. I informed her it was my turn and after a few seconds let her bet. She bet a measly $75 and the villain on the button then went all in for $465 or so. It was a pot overbet but not too out of line. Based on the casualness of his flop call i didnt feel like he had an A so he didnt have A4. 94 I had ruled out and anything strong on the flop was already out of the question (such as 55 or 99). Which left me with only a few possibly hands. Some gutshots one which got there (23), a weak 9, a pair with a flush draw, or a draw that picked up a flush draw. There was a small chance he had Ahxh but I really didnt think so. The cutoff lady only had $240 or so behind so I didnt have to worry about her. I ended up calling after some table talk to find out if he had a draw. He essentially told me with his body language he had a draw and after I called and and the lady mucked he said he had a draw. I then told the dealer no heart and said "Shit" when the 5h came on the river before I realized i had a full house. He, indeed, had the 6h7h for a gutshot on the flop with a picked up flush draw that turned into open ended. So not a bad move on his part with a 15 outer. That busted him and he left the table after which the status quo returned and I was able to win anoter $200 or so in the next 40 minutes just from making some moderate hands and stealing some pots. Once the table broke and I had to go to the must move table i had about $1700.
The second table had a higher calibre of player on it but also a good amount of action with more money behind. Everything was fine and good for the first hour and a half or so, I didn't play too many hands. I raised with AsQs and got two callers and hit a board of Qh Js 3s. Bet and got called and got a Jd on the turn. Checked and the only other player in the pot made a weakish $100 bet into the $350 + pot. I called figuring he was on either a flush draw (which I would be ecstatic if he hit), a straight draw (which was drawing to only 6 outs because of the present flush draw), or a weak Q. Given this range he can only hit a non-spade K or 8 to beat me. So i didn't raise as he would be scared off. The river brought an offsuit 3 for a board of Qh Js 3s 3d Jd. I probably should have value bet a weak Q ( i was first to act ) here but I checked hoping that he will try to represent a J and he checked and my AQ bested his KQ. Outside of that i didn't play many hands in the interim before maniac #2 sat down. This guy had come from the $500 unrestricted game that had just broke. Now he was a different manaic then the previous one as this one was more up beat with a devil may care attitude and penchant for gambling. The previous maniac wanted to bully control through betting. There is a huge difference. This guy saw almost every flop, would open raise UTG with 6s2s for $100, and would call almost any raise preflop if he was going to play the hand. He went through his first buyin pretty quick but made a few hands and got up to 900 quick. Then he got AK back to back in which case he was all in preflop. The first time he won about $100 in blinds and the second time he lost $500 when he got called by AA. Then a few hands later on the button before anyone had looked at their cards he moved all in. Now he was out of turn and blind but he put his chips on the line. A few people limped in and I limped with QsQd because I didn't think this was the type of guy who would clam up at the last second and retract it. And he didn't. He was all in blind for $280. The BB was surprised that he was in blind and called pretty nonchalantly. The 2nd position limper (an incredibly inexperienced player) also called which put him all in for $275. I saw the BB had about $6-700 more and there was already over $900 in dead money so I went all in (at this point I had about $2700). He folded his AdQh face up. So bad that I lost a Q but good that an A was dead. The board came horrible with something like 4h 7h 9h then 5s and 4s. The inexperienced player had KdJd which I thouroughly beat but the maniac had 10d 4c which rivered me. Nothing to do there. I played a bunch more hands, like one where I think I lost not too much ($320) with JJ vs KK against the tightest player on the table on a 8 high board. I made a full house against a flush which garnered me some pocket change. But the maniac was taking all sorts of pots from the table. He never really nailed me too bad after that but I was getting nickeled and dimed for a while. I eventually left when I had a little less than $1800. So I stayed for 7 hours and made a $1365 profit on two great tables. I definetly made a few mistakes that I could have avoided but I think I made some good moves/calls that more than made up for some of the adventurous things.
The first $400 table I sat at was pretty weak tight. In fact, there was very little action at all. Most of the pots were small and it played like a $100 or $200 game where 4-5 people would limp into a pot and see who hit the flop. Not my type of game. So I raised a few pots and took the small ones down. Then I raised with AhKc to $45 and under the gun limper reraised to $200. I knew he had a big pair but I didn't think with the lack of action he would do that with AA or KK because there wasn't really an anticipated raise coming. So i felt as though it was QQ or JJ and I put it all in which wasn't too much more. Well, I was wrong, he had KK. I rivered an A to bad beat him. I primiarly put it in without any fold equity because what happened after that was what I was gunning for. The table loosened up and action flowed. The KK guy left with his last $400 because he wasn't too happy but everyone else started playing more hands for raises preflop. So all of a sudden we developed a poker game. The players were bad so this was a perfect table for me. I made a few good hands and got up to about $1000 when the first maniac of the night sat down.
I forgot to mention that i had met Rick for dinner prior to the HP session and we then went in separate cars to the casino. I beat him there and got my name on the list before him. Rick decided to play $200 while he waited and I decided to walk around and peruse the $400 game(s) and the $500 unrestricted game and get a feel for them (which we both had our names on the list for) instead of getting right into the $200 game. Well, Rick had a guy on his $200 game which I had played with before who had gone all in on his first hand and got no calls. The next hand he raised to $50 and check/folded the flop when called. All on a $3-$5 game. After Rick came to my table and got a nasty beat (J9 losing to AQ when all in on a 9 9 3 A board with a river A) and left, this maniac came and sat down to my immediate right. So he came in on the BB and I limped UTG with 88. I was actually still in a bit of rush state so I almost raised with it but i decided against it at the last minute. 4 other players limped including the SB and then when it got to captain manaic in the BB he goes all in for $400. Now this was an obvious attempt to establish himself as the table captain. He had done this at the $200 game and also the last time I had played with him at the $400 game. So I was almost positive I had him beat at this point in time and I was not worried about anyone behind me as they played their hands straightforwardly. The problem is, I would have to put in $400 to win $860 and even a straight out bluff like K9 would have me racing 50%. So I prudently folded and decided he would indeed give it away later. But I was in tune with his psychological state. He does this in order to create action but also to peg himself as a maniac and then try to tighten up a bit later and get paid off. This is what he did at the $400 game the last time I played with him. So its not entirely such a bad idea. I do the same thing to a much lesser degree to create action on non-actiony tables (read above with AK vs KK). But the point is he wanted to wrest the table captaincy away from me. All ego aside, this is an important idea in NLHE. When there is a loose, aggressive player on a table with tight weak players it is such an advantage because they abdicate to him and allow him to walk on them unless they have a monster. They do this by either call/folding too much or lashing out with weak hands. Both are characteristic chances to take all of their money. I want to be the recipient of all this dead action and I don't want him edging in on it. Which explains the situation on the next hand.
Since he was BB last hand, he is SB now and I am BB now. Everyone folded to the SB and before he looked or I looked at my cards I asked if he wanted to chop. He said no and raised to $30. I looked down to see JJ and immediately went all in. He thought for a long time and finally called and won when his KQ off paired a King on the flop. No biggie. I had no problems. But I started to bully him after that. The next hand I called his $40 cutoff raise with Kh8h on the button. We were heads up and the flop came down Q 5 3 with two spades. He made a weak CB and I called with the intention of taking it away as I thought at best he had an underpair to the Q. The turn came an off suit 5 and I made a 2/3 pot size bet after his check and did my usual table talk to feign weakness when, in fact, I was weak :). He folded and i was able to show my Kh8h. Two hands later, he was the only limper ahead of me when I got AhAd. I raised to $50 and he was the only caller. He checked in the dark and I immediately bet $60 in the dark ala Negreanu from High Stakes Poker as seen here.
The flop came down Q4Q and he folded. We didnt dance together for another 30 minutes or so but we continued our rousing table talk where he would make a play at supremacy and it would all come tumbling down after my clever retorts. As Craig routinely points out, my best poker attribute is my adept use of the needle. Sidenote: before I talk about the big hand vs this guy. The needle is not supposed to be used against anybody. In fact, generally it is a -EV play. I like to keep the flow and mood of the game quite smooth for the weak player so that they are enjoying themselves and having fun while slowly dieing a financial death. But when someone comes in and disrupts the flow of the game ( and the consistent flow of money to me) with massive all in overbets preflop and the like, then it not only disrupts the flow of the game but it negates the skill advantage I believe I have, and it can upset alot of the tigher, weaker players. Enter the Needle. If I can break this guy off both chip wise and psychologically, not only will the flow of the game return but I stand to be seen as somewhat of a hero by the table (which happened after this hand!).
So back to poker. I was in the SB and one of the tightest guys at the table made a raise to $25 in 2nd position. Four people called in front of me including our villain on the button. There were $135 in the pot so far and i had $5 in already, so i had to call $20 to win $135. My 45off wasnt too spectacular and neither was my position but my almost 7:1 pot odds made up for it. I called and so did the BB. So we took the $175 7 way pot off and it came down As 5c 9h. I checked, BB checked, Original Raiser checked kind of huffy, two more checked to an older lady in the cutoff who bet $45 into the $175 pot. Our villain made a casual call on the button saying something like "let's just see what's going on". I noted his behavior as he did this call. I had to call $45 to win $265 so about 6:1 with my bottom pair and backdoor wheel draw. I made the call and the BB folded as well as the original raiser who folded his KK face up in a flustered state. The other two in the pot folded as well. The turn came the 4h for a As 5c 9h 4h board. I now have bottom two pair in a $310 pot. I hadn't checked yet when the cutoff lady started putting chips in the pot. I informed her it was my turn and after a few seconds let her bet. She bet a measly $75 and the villain on the button then went all in for $465 or so. It was a pot overbet but not too out of line. Based on the casualness of his flop call i didnt feel like he had an A so he didnt have A4. 94 I had ruled out and anything strong on the flop was already out of the question (such as 55 or 99). Which left me with only a few possibly hands. Some gutshots one which got there (23), a weak 9, a pair with a flush draw, or a draw that picked up a flush draw. There was a small chance he had Ahxh but I really didnt think so. The cutoff lady only had $240 or so behind so I didnt have to worry about her. I ended up calling after some table talk to find out if he had a draw. He essentially told me with his body language he had a draw and after I called and and the lady mucked he said he had a draw. I then told the dealer no heart and said "Shit" when the 5h came on the river before I realized i had a full house. He, indeed, had the 6h7h for a gutshot on the flop with a picked up flush draw that turned into open ended. So not a bad move on his part with a 15 outer. That busted him and he left the table after which the status quo returned and I was able to win anoter $200 or so in the next 40 minutes just from making some moderate hands and stealing some pots. Once the table broke and I had to go to the must move table i had about $1700.
The second table had a higher calibre of player on it but also a good amount of action with more money behind. Everything was fine and good for the first hour and a half or so, I didn't play too many hands. I raised with AsQs and got two callers and hit a board of Qh Js 3s. Bet and got called and got a Jd on the turn. Checked and the only other player in the pot made a weakish $100 bet into the $350 + pot. I called figuring he was on either a flush draw (which I would be ecstatic if he hit), a straight draw (which was drawing to only 6 outs because of the present flush draw), or a weak Q. Given this range he can only hit a non-spade K or 8 to beat me. So i didn't raise as he would be scared off. The river brought an offsuit 3 for a board of Qh Js 3s 3d Jd. I probably should have value bet a weak Q ( i was first to act ) here but I checked hoping that he will try to represent a J and he checked and my AQ bested his KQ. Outside of that i didn't play many hands in the interim before maniac #2 sat down. This guy had come from the $500 unrestricted game that had just broke. Now he was a different manaic then the previous one as this one was more up beat with a devil may care attitude and penchant for gambling. The previous maniac wanted to bully control through betting. There is a huge difference. This guy saw almost every flop, would open raise UTG with 6s2s for $100, and would call almost any raise preflop if he was going to play the hand. He went through his first buyin pretty quick but made a few hands and got up to 900 quick. Then he got AK back to back in which case he was all in preflop. The first time he won about $100 in blinds and the second time he lost $500 when he got called by AA. Then a few hands later on the button before anyone had looked at their cards he moved all in. Now he was out of turn and blind but he put his chips on the line. A few people limped in and I limped with QsQd because I didn't think this was the type of guy who would clam up at the last second and retract it. And he didn't. He was all in blind for $280. The BB was surprised that he was in blind and called pretty nonchalantly. The 2nd position limper (an incredibly inexperienced player) also called which put him all in for $275. I saw the BB had about $6-700 more and there was already over $900 in dead money so I went all in (at this point I had about $2700). He folded his AdQh face up. So bad that I lost a Q but good that an A was dead. The board came horrible with something like 4h 7h 9h then 5s and 4s. The inexperienced player had KdJd which I thouroughly beat but the maniac had 10d 4c which rivered me. Nothing to do there. I played a bunch more hands, like one where I think I lost not too much ($320) with JJ vs KK against the tightest player on the table on a 8 high board. I made a full house against a flush which garnered me some pocket change. But the maniac was taking all sorts of pots from the table. He never really nailed me too bad after that but I was getting nickeled and dimed for a while. I eventually left when I had a little less than $1800. So I stayed for 7 hours and made a $1365 profit on two great tables. I definetly made a few mistakes that I could have avoided but I think I made some good moves/calls that more than made up for some of the adventurous things.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Another Yucky Short Session
Not much to talk about in this one. Got to a nice, relatively passive table and saw a few flops and folded. Raised with AKoff and won the blinds. Then 45 minutes in I limp in 4th position after two limpers with As6s. There ends up being 5 total players seeing the $50 pot that comes down Ah Qh 7s. An early position player (who is very easy to read) bets a very weak $20 into the pot after which the player directly after him calls quickly. I know the first bettor is weak and will fold an A that is lower than A 10 and based on his play he doesn't have even that. The second guy i know is on a draw. So i raise to $85. The first bettor debates and finally folds whereas the second player promptly raises me all in. I was taken aback but I still thought he was on a draw as this particular player would have raised with AK-AJ preflop and would raise the first bettor if he had A7 or a set. So I had about $180 left and the pot was already $240+ so I quickly called and turned over my hand saying "No heart dealer". Of course he turned the 10h and then rivered the 2h and the other player had 5h6h. No biggie, but he had flush draw written on his forehead and if he thought about it, he would have realized he had no fold equity in the hand. But what can you do?
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The Art of the Call
Common sense and all poker authorities say that being the aggressor in most situations is the preferred way to play. The notion being that you can win the hand by your opponent folding or you having the best hand. I can say, for the most part, that makes sense. But this really boils down to a much more basic somewhat philosophical argument outside of poker. I see it more as the classic Irresistable Force vs Immovable Object question.
Through my poker travels and trevails, no matter how much my logic tries to convince me the above idea is true, other things seem to creep in. For instance, I have found that in order to win big pots it is much more crucial to be able to make a good (?) call. Basically, what I am saying is that by being the aggressor and getting your opponent to fold the pot is relatively small, but when a good or brave call is made then the pot grows much bigger. If you can win with those calls then you can most likely be +EV because your wins will be huge. I will give you a bunch of situations where the aggressor fails due to brave or good calls. The pots are all big so by calling and becoming the immovable object, big pots are won.
First Hand: Two nights ago I am playing at the Commerce $400 game. I have a decent size stack with about $1100. The table in general has been great with lots of action and showdowns at the river aka calls. This hand, however, it was folded to me on the button where I picked up 9d9s. I standard raised to $40 and both of the blinds calls. The $120 flop came down Jd 8c 2d. Both players checked to me. As the preflop aggressor, with only one relatively non-threatening overcard (as opposed to an A for instance) and the presense of a couple of draws I bet out $75. I got called in both spots. The $345 turn card came down the 7d. Now being called by two people with a J out there, a straight draw that got there, and a flush draw that got there I can reasonably assume that I can't beat anything. The SB bets out a meek $100 and the BB folds. Now, generally i would just toss this one out and say "Shit, he got there." But, I just started looking at the SB. He is a somewhat tight player preflop but post flop I had observed that he was very weak. He was twitching and giving off a whole lot of anxiety vibe. So I just didn't think he liked his hand. But I couldn't figure out what he was trying to accomplish. Was this $100 bet which gave me 4.5:1 odds meant to be a value bet with a high flush? Or was it a blocking bet with something like Ad8h? Or was it an all out bluff? None of it added up, I couldn't put him on a credible hand based on his previous play, he was giving off nervous energy left and right, I was getting 4.5:1 with a pair, 9 high flush draw, and a gutshot, so I called. I didn't know where I was but I just instinctively felt like a call was right, either I had the best hand, I could take him off his hand on the river, or I just felt really comfortable against this guy. Well the $545 river card came down the Ad for a board of Jd 2d 8c 7d Ad. Now I am watching the SB as he watches the Ad come down. He is clenching his teeth, gulping and swallowing, maybe even trying not to sweat. Basically he is very unhappy or extremely good at giving off false tells (very unlikely based on this player). But he bets out $200 into the $545 pot. He is giving me 3.5:1 odds to call with my 4th nut flush. I don't understand. If he made his straight draw with 9 10 on the turn then he obviously wouldn't bet the river. If he had a K or Q high flush he probably wouldn't be so nervous about the bet. If he had a 10high flush, he most likely wouldn't bet it and I can't see him calling preflop with something like 10d8d in the SB based on his preflop tightness. So I am quite confused and therefore I call. He asks "Do you have a diamond?" and I confidently turn over my hand and take down the $945 pot. He later said he had JJ. I suppose it makes sense for him to be nervous on the turn and river if he had planned to slowplay his set. But the immovable object (me) made some good calls which also turned out to be quite brave in my opinon based on the situation. If he hadn't been dripping with tells I probably would have let this one go. But the ability to call down won me the nice pot.
The next set of hands came from today's session at Hawaiian Gardens. The table was fabulous with lots of money on the table and some pretty loose play. I raised in middle position to $40 with 10 10. The button called as did the BB and the 2nd position limper. I have about $1400 behind, the button has a about $1050, the BB has about $800, and the 2nd position limper also has about $800. The $160 pot comes down J 7 4 rainbow. The two in front of me check to me and in contrast to the previous hand I decided to check. I checked for two reasons, there are now 4 people in the hand instead of three as in the previous so there is a larger chance that a J is out there. Two out of the three other people in the hand came in for full price as opposed to the previous situaiton where the blinds called with a discount so there was a chance that their hand was slightly less than normal calling standards. The other reason being that i was no longer last to act on successive streets so a CB might not be as effective if I were to be called by the button as I would have to show weakness by checking on 4th street. So after i checked, the button got kind of all huffy and bet out $140 into the $160 pot. As soon as he did this I got a sneaking suspicion. With such a dry board, I couldn't understand why he was betting so aggressively to get us to fold and acting like it as well. I was positive he didn't have a set because he wouldn't be that aggressive with it. It didn't feel like he had a J, and if he did, he really wanted to end the pot there. It felt like he had either a 7 or a small pocket pair below Jacks. In fact, I had seen him do a similar move about 2 hours earlier in a big pot where he put the preflop raiser on AK and moved in on him with something like 55 on a J 22 board. The guy called with 99 and won. So I really didn't think he had a J. The BB took a long time and finally called after staring into space and what seemed like looking at the pot to count it. So I figured he had 56 for the open ended. The 2nd position limper folded. I thought I could raise here and take it but I wanted to wait for a safe card on the turn and most likely a check down to keep the pot small figuring I had the best hand. So I called. The river brough the 5d putting 4 suits on the board. Now this wasn't a good card if the button had 55 obviously and it would have improved the BB's draw to a pair and a straight draw. BB checked and I checked keeping with my plan of keeping the pot smallish. The button now bet out $375 into $580 pot. The BB reluctantly folded. Now here I had a conundrum. I still believed that I had the best hand. But if he held a small pocket pair he very well could have a straight draw now and the betting lead as well as position. If he held a J, I didn't think he could call off his remaining $550 or so with it. I always do acting when I am in the hand because you never know when it could come in handy, so when I had called on the flop I had asked how much he had left and tried to act like I would if I had JJ on a J 7 4 rainbow board. I said "I just call" and did that whole bit partly as a preparation to move on him on the turn if need be. Well, now that he had put some more money in, I wanted to end the hand because the pot was big enough and my hand was small but still good in my opinion. So I went all in. He sighed and was visibly upset saying "you have a set of Jacks, huh?" He finally called anyway. The river came a 6 and he turned over 7s 4s to win the almost $2400 pot. Now he played it well, in hindsight, all of his bets made sense because bottom two pair is very easily counterfeited ( believe me I know!) and his hand was well hidden so I couldn't give him credit for that hand. He made good plays and made a good all in call as he beats pretty much all credible hands at the moment outside of JJ. Point being that again, the immovable object (not me) bested the irresistable aggressive force (this time me). That knocked me down quite a bit and about 30 minutes later this hand came up. I was in the BB with about $300 left and the 9 10 off. 4 people limped in and the SB folded and I checked. So the $50 pot came down 10 8 5 rainbow. I checked and everyone checked to the big stack (a fairly sophisticated player) on the button who overbet the pot $75. I felt like he had a draw to play this fast, maybe 67 or J9 so I called. Everyone else folded. The turn brough a 6 putting 4 suits on board. Now the pot was $200 or so. I now had top pair, marginal kicker, but I had a gutshot straight draw to go along with it. If he had J9 he didn't improve, if he had 67 then he had a pair with an open ended but he only would have 11 outs as a 7 would make my boss straight. So I figured he either couldn't call my all in or I would be a nice favorite. So I pushed all in for $230 into the $200 pot. He thought for a while and told me "I put you on a draw, something like 97 or 86. But I am going to make a donkyish call." He called and the 4 on the river didnt improve me and his A 10 won. Again, his hand was pretty good and it wasn't too much money to him but he had put me on a range of hands which all beat him and I had shown interest in a fairly well connected board. But yet the immovable object bested the irresistable force. And again the ability to make a good, brave, or bad call won a nice sized pot. It was the call not the aggression.
This last hand came from Commerce later on that night. After losing at Hawaiian Gardens I went to Commerce on the way home. I sat down at a table and saw two very nice big pots before I played. Through table talk and another player praising me with his fear before I even played I had convinced the table that we were going to be playing loose and aggressive for big pots. Or continuning to as was the case. So I limped and folded a couple times. Then on my 6th hand or so, UTG player (what seemed like a bad player so far) raised to $40 and the guy directly to my right called. I looked down to see AcKc. As I looked at it, I thought about how I wanted to set the stage for the session. I wanted it to be really fast and loose and I didn't care so much about this hand as what I wanted the atmosphere to be and my image to be. So I went all in for $370. Everybody folded around to the UTG who was not happy. He only had about $300 more. After talking himself into calling saying "its probably a race" he called and the other player folded. I asked if he had a pair and he said no and I showed my AcKc. He turned over his Qs 10s and said it was a small race. Well the board came out 9h 5s 8s. The turn came a 2s and I was drawing dead. No bad beat bitching stories here. I was only a 3-2 favorite when all the money got in. That's not the point. The point is that again, the immovable object (the call) bested all the aggression the irresistable force could muster (moving all in for 4.5X the pot).
I think aggression is a bit overvalued. Of course, you need to protect your hand and what not but the more I look back over my big wins, the more i think they came at least 60% in part from making some big calls in big pots. Some were good like the 7s4s call and some may have been as brave as the Qs10s (though I wouldn't like to admit it). If you can perfect the art of being a calling station then you can definetly be +EV.
Through my poker travels and trevails, no matter how much my logic tries to convince me the above idea is true, other things seem to creep in. For instance, I have found that in order to win big pots it is much more crucial to be able to make a good (?) call. Basically, what I am saying is that by being the aggressor and getting your opponent to fold the pot is relatively small, but when a good or brave call is made then the pot grows much bigger. If you can win with those calls then you can most likely be +EV because your wins will be huge. I will give you a bunch of situations where the aggressor fails due to brave or good calls. The pots are all big so by calling and becoming the immovable object, big pots are won.
First Hand: Two nights ago I am playing at the Commerce $400 game. I have a decent size stack with about $1100. The table in general has been great with lots of action and showdowns at the river aka calls. This hand, however, it was folded to me on the button where I picked up 9d9s. I standard raised to $40 and both of the blinds calls. The $120 flop came down Jd 8c 2d. Both players checked to me. As the preflop aggressor, with only one relatively non-threatening overcard (as opposed to an A for instance) and the presense of a couple of draws I bet out $75. I got called in both spots. The $345 turn card came down the 7d. Now being called by two people with a J out there, a straight draw that got there, and a flush draw that got there I can reasonably assume that I can't beat anything. The SB bets out a meek $100 and the BB folds. Now, generally i would just toss this one out and say "Shit, he got there." But, I just started looking at the SB. He is a somewhat tight player preflop but post flop I had observed that he was very weak. He was twitching and giving off a whole lot of anxiety vibe. So I just didn't think he liked his hand. But I couldn't figure out what he was trying to accomplish. Was this $100 bet which gave me 4.5:1 odds meant to be a value bet with a high flush? Or was it a blocking bet with something like Ad8h? Or was it an all out bluff? None of it added up, I couldn't put him on a credible hand based on his previous play, he was giving off nervous energy left and right, I was getting 4.5:1 with a pair, 9 high flush draw, and a gutshot, so I called. I didn't know where I was but I just instinctively felt like a call was right, either I had the best hand, I could take him off his hand on the river, or I just felt really comfortable against this guy. Well the $545 river card came down the Ad for a board of Jd 2d 8c 7d Ad. Now I am watching the SB as he watches the Ad come down. He is clenching his teeth, gulping and swallowing, maybe even trying not to sweat. Basically he is very unhappy or extremely good at giving off false tells (very unlikely based on this player). But he bets out $200 into the $545 pot. He is giving me 3.5:1 odds to call with my 4th nut flush. I don't understand. If he made his straight draw with 9 10 on the turn then he obviously wouldn't bet the river. If he had a K or Q high flush he probably wouldn't be so nervous about the bet. If he had a 10high flush, he most likely wouldn't bet it and I can't see him calling preflop with something like 10d8d in the SB based on his preflop tightness. So I am quite confused and therefore I call. He asks "Do you have a diamond?" and I confidently turn over my hand and take down the $945 pot. He later said he had JJ. I suppose it makes sense for him to be nervous on the turn and river if he had planned to slowplay his set. But the immovable object (me) made some good calls which also turned out to be quite brave in my opinon based on the situation. If he hadn't been dripping with tells I probably would have let this one go. But the ability to call down won me the nice pot.
The next set of hands came from today's session at Hawaiian Gardens. The table was fabulous with lots of money on the table and some pretty loose play. I raised in middle position to $40 with 10 10. The button called as did the BB and the 2nd position limper. I have about $1400 behind, the button has a about $1050, the BB has about $800, and the 2nd position limper also has about $800. The $160 pot comes down J 7 4 rainbow. The two in front of me check to me and in contrast to the previous hand I decided to check. I checked for two reasons, there are now 4 people in the hand instead of three as in the previous so there is a larger chance that a J is out there. Two out of the three other people in the hand came in for full price as opposed to the previous situaiton where the blinds called with a discount so there was a chance that their hand was slightly less than normal calling standards. The other reason being that i was no longer last to act on successive streets so a CB might not be as effective if I were to be called by the button as I would have to show weakness by checking on 4th street. So after i checked, the button got kind of all huffy and bet out $140 into the $160 pot. As soon as he did this I got a sneaking suspicion. With such a dry board, I couldn't understand why he was betting so aggressively to get us to fold and acting like it as well. I was positive he didn't have a set because he wouldn't be that aggressive with it. It didn't feel like he had a J, and if he did, he really wanted to end the pot there. It felt like he had either a 7 or a small pocket pair below Jacks. In fact, I had seen him do a similar move about 2 hours earlier in a big pot where he put the preflop raiser on AK and moved in on him with something like 55 on a J 22 board. The guy called with 99 and won. So I really didn't think he had a J. The BB took a long time and finally called after staring into space and what seemed like looking at the pot to count it. So I figured he had 56 for the open ended. The 2nd position limper folded. I thought I could raise here and take it but I wanted to wait for a safe card on the turn and most likely a check down to keep the pot small figuring I had the best hand. So I called. The river brough the 5d putting 4 suits on the board. Now this wasn't a good card if the button had 55 obviously and it would have improved the BB's draw to a pair and a straight draw. BB checked and I checked keeping with my plan of keeping the pot smallish. The button now bet out $375 into $580 pot. The BB reluctantly folded. Now here I had a conundrum. I still believed that I had the best hand. But if he held a small pocket pair he very well could have a straight draw now and the betting lead as well as position. If he held a J, I didn't think he could call off his remaining $550 or so with it. I always do acting when I am in the hand because you never know when it could come in handy, so when I had called on the flop I had asked how much he had left and tried to act like I would if I had JJ on a J 7 4 rainbow board. I said "I just call" and did that whole bit partly as a preparation to move on him on the turn if need be. Well, now that he had put some more money in, I wanted to end the hand because the pot was big enough and my hand was small but still good in my opinion. So I went all in. He sighed and was visibly upset saying "you have a set of Jacks, huh?" He finally called anyway. The river came a 6 and he turned over 7s 4s to win the almost $2400 pot. Now he played it well, in hindsight, all of his bets made sense because bottom two pair is very easily counterfeited ( believe me I know!) and his hand was well hidden so I couldn't give him credit for that hand. He made good plays and made a good all in call as he beats pretty much all credible hands at the moment outside of JJ. Point being that again, the immovable object (not me) bested the irresistable aggressive force (this time me). That knocked me down quite a bit and about 30 minutes later this hand came up. I was in the BB with about $300 left and the 9 10 off. 4 people limped in and the SB folded and I checked. So the $50 pot came down 10 8 5 rainbow. I checked and everyone checked to the big stack (a fairly sophisticated player) on the button who overbet the pot $75. I felt like he had a draw to play this fast, maybe 67 or J9 so I called. Everyone else folded. The turn brough a 6 putting 4 suits on board. Now the pot was $200 or so. I now had top pair, marginal kicker, but I had a gutshot straight draw to go along with it. If he had J9 he didn't improve, if he had 67 then he had a pair with an open ended but he only would have 11 outs as a 7 would make my boss straight. So I figured he either couldn't call my all in or I would be a nice favorite. So I pushed all in for $230 into the $200 pot. He thought for a while and told me "I put you on a draw, something like 97 or 86. But I am going to make a donkyish call." He called and the 4 on the river didnt improve me and his A 10 won. Again, his hand was pretty good and it wasn't too much money to him but he had put me on a range of hands which all beat him and I had shown interest in a fairly well connected board. But yet the immovable object bested the irresistable force. And again the ability to make a good, brave, or bad call won a nice sized pot. It was the call not the aggression.
This last hand came from Commerce later on that night. After losing at Hawaiian Gardens I went to Commerce on the way home. I sat down at a table and saw two very nice big pots before I played. Through table talk and another player praising me with his fear before I even played I had convinced the table that we were going to be playing loose and aggressive for big pots. Or continuning to as was the case. So I limped and folded a couple times. Then on my 6th hand or so, UTG player (what seemed like a bad player so far) raised to $40 and the guy directly to my right called. I looked down to see AcKc. As I looked at it, I thought about how I wanted to set the stage for the session. I wanted it to be really fast and loose and I didn't care so much about this hand as what I wanted the atmosphere to be and my image to be. So I went all in for $370. Everybody folded around to the UTG who was not happy. He only had about $300 more. After talking himself into calling saying "its probably a race" he called and the other player folded. I asked if he had a pair and he said no and I showed my AcKc. He turned over his Qs 10s and said it was a small race. Well the board came out 9h 5s 8s. The turn came a 2s and I was drawing dead. No bad beat bitching stories here. I was only a 3-2 favorite when all the money got in. That's not the point. The point is that again, the immovable object (the call) bested all the aggression the irresistable force could muster (moving all in for 4.5X the pot).
I think aggression is a bit overvalued. Of course, you need to protect your hand and what not but the more I look back over my big wins, the more i think they came at least 60% in part from making some big calls in big pots. Some were good like the 7s4s call and some may have been as brave as the Qs10s (though I wouldn't like to admit it). If you can perfect the art of being a calling station then you can definetly be +EV.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Just Card Dead
I went up to HP tonight rather early around 6pm and sat in the $400 game. I was doing well when I raised with AsKh and the board came Ks Qs 8s and got it all in vs 10s 7s on the flop and caught a Ad and 3s on the turn and river. We got down to short handed and I got a huge bad beat. On a board of 997 rainbow, I got it all in vs 89 with my 9 10 in a $900 pot and the turn came 3 and river came 8. That was nasty.
After that hand, the table broke about 20 minutes later and I went to play in the $500 unrestricted game. The game was great with over $30K on the table. There was alot of action too, but I was getting NO HANDS. I got a few suited Aces (Ah4h, As6s) and an AJoff or two but outside of that I got no hands to play in good situations. I sat at that table for 2.5 hours or so until I saw the 3 action players get busted on some ridiculous hands. For instance: After three limpers, the SB (an old, big stacked bad player) raised to $50. Jon (an experienced good player) called as well as one other on the button. The flop came down 5 7 2 rainbow. SB bet something like $125 and only Jon called. The turn was a 9. SB bet out $350 and Jon raised to $1100. They both were very deep stacked. SB called. The river came another 2 ( the board has all 4 suits) for a board of 2 5 7 9 2. The pot is about $2600 and the SB goes allin for $3400+. After a long, long study Jon finally calls the $3400+ bet. After the SB turns over his KK, Jon shows his 86off for the straight and rakes in the $9500+ pot.
I was no where near any of these types of pots :(.
After that hand, the table broke about 20 minutes later and I went to play in the $500 unrestricted game. The game was great with over $30K on the table. There was alot of action too, but I was getting NO HANDS. I got a few suited Aces (Ah4h, As6s) and an AJoff or two but outside of that I got no hands to play in good situations. I sat at that table for 2.5 hours or so until I saw the 3 action players get busted on some ridiculous hands. For instance: After three limpers, the SB (an old, big stacked bad player) raised to $50. Jon (an experienced good player) called as well as one other on the button. The flop came down 5 7 2 rainbow. SB bet something like $125 and only Jon called. The turn was a 9. SB bet out $350 and Jon raised to $1100. They both were very deep stacked. SB called. The river came another 2 ( the board has all 4 suits) for a board of 2 5 7 9 2. The pot is about $2600 and the SB goes allin for $3400+. After a long, long study Jon finally calls the $3400+ bet. After the SB turns over his KK, Jon shows his 86off for the straight and rakes in the $9500+ pot.
I was no where near any of these types of pots :(.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
A God Damn Foot on my Neck
Every fucking time I start to put something together, I hit a massive wall. I was starting to make a comeback and was almost even on the year. In fact, I was -$715 as of last week. I had a few bad days in there and then tonight hits. I played a 40 minute session at Commerce. In that 40 minutes, I played 4 hands not counting posting/folding a few blinds. The first hand that I play: A semi-short stack openraises to $30 in early/middle postion. There are two callers ahead of me and I have AhQc in the BB. I just call because I don't know very many players at the table including the three in this pot. The $120 flop comes down Qh 10s 9h. I check, Original Raiser bets out $75 and both limpers call the $75. Seeing that the O. Raiser has only $175 or so left and feeling that the other two were definetly drawing I went all in for $285 more. The original raiser calls and the other two fold. I show AQ and he says "You're good for now" turn comes 6c and the river comes Ks and he turns over AJoff for Broadway.
2nd Hand I play: I am down to about $110-$115. Two hands later on the button, after two limpers I have AhQc again, I go all in trying to either get in a race or take the $35 and start rebuilding. There is no sense in raising here and getting someone into the pot when my CB would have no strength if i missed the flop. Both blinds fold and the first limper calls me and shows his AsQs after i show mine. Board comes innocuous and we chop.
3rd hand I play: About 6 hands later I am in 2nd position with the same $120-$125. I have Ah Ks. UTG limps and I want to make some money and get into a confronation, but I decide to limp as well and obviously push/call any raise. If i miss the flop and fold then I only lose $10. Well, it gets 6 limpers and the SB makes it $150. After UTG folds, I immediately call and everyone else folds. After the dealer makes the pot right, I ask if he has a pair and he responds "What does it matter?" and I say "I just wan t to know if my Aces and Kings are live" as I show my AK. He says "They're live". The flop comes down Ac 6c 3d. Turn comes 9c. He then says "you're good". The river comes Qc. He says "I have a club" and turns over his 7h 2c for the winner.
4th hand I play: After rebuying and and watching a few rounds go by without playing a hand I see some just ridiculous things. The table is just horrible. The AJ from the first hand has gotten super lucky and played his good hands badly and won, his bad hands badly and won, and everything badly and won. He had about $170 before the 1st hand listed was played and in the 25 minutes since then has made Quads, a gutshot, counterfeited someone's hand, and counterfeited another person's hand to build up to about $2000. After a setup has been called, a few people get up to smoke while the dealer checks the deck. They haven't returned yet so we take this hand 6 handed with me being UTG. I get 7c7h and usually raise it here but just limp. Our hero (AJ) limps and the button raises to $70. The two blinds fold and I call because i get the feeling just by the way he raised that he really didn't have a pair. But I still had $350+ so i didn't want to race off here for no reason. To my suprise, AJ calls the$70 as well after just flippantly limping in the first place. Well, my plan here was to lead out big if there were no cards over a 10. The board comes 7s 6c 3d. Well, no reason to play this too fast. I don't think the button has a big pair so I doubt if i lead he will raise. So i checked, AJ bets a pathetic $30 into the $220 pot and the button only calls the $30. So I know AJ has some weak draw (I assumed 89) and the button was just phising with big cards as assumed. So i wanted to keep them in and I raised to $100 (only $70 more). Big mistake. They both called. So going into the turn, there was $520 in the pot. The turn was the 8c. Not a fun card but one that almost certainly did not kill me. I went all in for $210 and AJ makes it $500 by putting in a whole rack. Button folds and I ask do you have a straight? Of course, he turns over 9s 10s for the gutshot and the 10c doesn't improve my set.
I can't count how many of these little shit session of <1hour I have had where people will not lay down a hand and my boss hand will not hold. Its just draining to see this day in and day out. I want to play in games where the stacks are deeper and people have more of a reason to fold but I just can't build a bankroll big enough for that without running through these games.
2nd Hand I play: I am down to about $110-$115. Two hands later on the button, after two limpers I have AhQc again, I go all in trying to either get in a race or take the $35 and start rebuilding. There is no sense in raising here and getting someone into the pot when my CB would have no strength if i missed the flop. Both blinds fold and the first limper calls me and shows his AsQs after i show mine. Board comes innocuous and we chop.
3rd hand I play: About 6 hands later I am in 2nd position with the same $120-$125. I have Ah Ks. UTG limps and I want to make some money and get into a confronation, but I decide to limp as well and obviously push/call any raise. If i miss the flop and fold then I only lose $10. Well, it gets 6 limpers and the SB makes it $150. After UTG folds, I immediately call and everyone else folds. After the dealer makes the pot right, I ask if he has a pair and he responds "What does it matter?" and I say "I just wan t to know if my Aces and Kings are live" as I show my AK. He says "They're live". The flop comes down Ac 6c 3d. Turn comes 9c. He then says "you're good". The river comes Qc. He says "I have a club" and turns over his 7h 2c for the winner.
4th hand I play: After rebuying and and watching a few rounds go by without playing a hand I see some just ridiculous things. The table is just horrible. The AJ from the first hand has gotten super lucky and played his good hands badly and won, his bad hands badly and won, and everything badly and won. He had about $170 before the 1st hand listed was played and in the 25 minutes since then has made Quads, a gutshot, counterfeited someone's hand, and counterfeited another person's hand to build up to about $2000. After a setup has been called, a few people get up to smoke while the dealer checks the deck. They haven't returned yet so we take this hand 6 handed with me being UTG. I get 7c7h and usually raise it here but just limp. Our hero (AJ) limps and the button raises to $70. The two blinds fold and I call because i get the feeling just by the way he raised that he really didn't have a pair. But I still had $350+ so i didn't want to race off here for no reason. To my suprise, AJ calls the$70 as well after just flippantly limping in the first place. Well, my plan here was to lead out big if there were no cards over a 10. The board comes 7s 6c 3d. Well, no reason to play this too fast. I don't think the button has a big pair so I doubt if i lead he will raise. So i checked, AJ bets a pathetic $30 into the $220 pot and the button only calls the $30. So I know AJ has some weak draw (I assumed 89) and the button was just phising with big cards as assumed. So i wanted to keep them in and I raised to $100 (only $70 more). Big mistake. They both called. So going into the turn, there was $520 in the pot. The turn was the 8c. Not a fun card but one that almost certainly did not kill me. I went all in for $210 and AJ makes it $500 by putting in a whole rack. Button folds and I ask do you have a straight? Of course, he turns over 9s 10s for the gutshot and the 10c doesn't improve my set.
I can't count how many of these little shit session of <1hour I have had where people will not lay down a hand and my boss hand will not hold. Its just draining to see this day in and day out. I want to play in games where the stacks are deeper and people have more of a reason to fold but I just can't build a bankroll big enough for that without running through these games.
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