Archive for January, 2009

Both of these hands are against a real 3-betting fiend. He’s ridiculously loose and aggressive pre-flop, especially when he has position. Even though I think he’s taken it to the point of exploitability, it’s still a tough and high-variance playstyle to combat. There are a lot of adjustments you need to make against a player like this, but one is just to call down with more medium-strength hands than you ordinarily would. Basically you are going to make money off of his bluffs, so you need to set him up to bluff and then be prepared to catch bluffs with weaker hands than your ordinarily would. Two examples:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($1000)
Hero (MP2) ($1000)
MP3 ($1316)
CO ($1035)
Button ($1000)
SB ($1069)
BB ($440)
UTG+1 ($160)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 9, 9
2 folds, Hero raises to $35, 1 fold, CO raises to $95, 3 folds, Hero calls $60

Flop: ($205) K, 10, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $135, Hero calls $135

Turn: ($475) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $365, Hero raises to $770 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $1205 | Rake: $3

I didn’t necessarily expect a fold here, but I did think my 9′s would have enough equity against his range, which probably includes a TON of semi-bluffs, to get it in.  Read the complete post...

This is a pretty specific situation nearly 400 BB’s deep against a phenomenal player (CardRunner’s instructor/FTP red pro Eric “P3achy_Keen” Liu

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1945)
UTG ($1015)
UTG+1 ($4483)
MP1 ($991.45)
MP2 ($3100)
MP3 ($1609.25)
Hero (CO) ($3782.50)
Button ($1000)
SB ($2473)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 3, 3
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $35, 1 fold, MP2 calls $35, 1 fold, Hero calls $35, 3 folds

Flop: ($120) 3, 10, 10 (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $90, 1 fold, Hero raises to $277, UTG+1 calls $187

Turn: ($674) Q (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $470, UTG+1 calls $470

River: ($1614) A (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1111, UTG+1 raises to $3701 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $3836 | Rake: $3

Results:
UTG+1 didn’t show
Outcome: UTG+1 won $3833

By the river, I’ve simply shown too much strength, on a scary board, to think that Eric is going to pay me off with a worse hand. Not to mention the fact that TT/QQ/AA are all very possible for him. Checking the turn and either calling or value betting the river might be a better line than this, given that the flush came in. On a non-club turn, I think betting is best, along with maybe bet-folding a non-club river. But with the flush getting there, it’s hard to put me on anything worse than what I have by the river.  Read the complete post...

As of today, I am in the red for the year. Obviously not a big deal just two weeks in, but it’s annoying. It has a lot to do with my pocket Aces never winning the damn pot. In fact, I am in the red for the year with specifically that hand as well:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($16395.35)
MP ($5000)
CO ($11776)
Button ($5609)
Hero (SB) ($6300)
BB ($3437)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
3 folds, Button raises to $150, Hero raises to $555, 1 fold, Button raises to $1400, Hero raises to $6300 (All-In), Button calls $4209 (All-In)

Flop: ($11268) Q, 4, 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($11268) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($11268) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $11268 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Button won $11265

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($12792)
SB ($5000)
BB ($5000)
Hero (UTG) ($6736)
MP ($12400)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero raises to $175, MP calls $175, 1 fold, SB raises to $700, 1 fold, Hero calls $525, MP calls $525

Flop: ($2150) 2, 8, J (3 players)
SB bets $1350, Hero calls $1350, 1 fold  Read the complete post...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($723.55)
MP3 ($1002)
CO ($928)
Button ($995)
SB ($1000)
BB ($1717.50)
UTG ($585)
Hero (UTG+1) ($1015)
MP1 ($1239)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A
1 fold, Hero raises to $30, 6 folds, BB calls $20

Flop: ($65) 10, 5, 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $45, BB calls $45

Turn: ($155) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $123, BB raises to $246

This guy was a total fish, but when he threw out that turn min-check-raise against an early position raiser, I threw up in my mouth. I just knew he had quads. Anyway, I talked myself down from that ridiculous conclusion- his tiny river bet helped:

Hero calls $123

River: ($647) 8 (2 players)
BB bets $260, Hero raises to $694 (All-In), BB calls $434

Total pot: $2035 | Rake: $3

Results:
BB mucked Q, Q (full house, fives over Queens).
Hero had A, A (full house, fives over Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $2032

There were nine 25/50 cap games going tonight! And I was playing all of them. This is against a guy who can’t read hands very well and never believes me:

Full Tilt $1500.00 Cap No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (4 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($6815)
Hero (SB) ($3572)
BB ($10062)
UTG ($4057)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, A
1 fold, Button raises to $100, Hero calls $75, 1 fold

Flop: ($250) Q, K, K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($250) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($250) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $122, Button calls $122

Total pot: $494 | Rake: $2

Results:
Button had J, A (one pair, Kings).
Hero had 4, A (two pair, Kings and fours).

Outcome: Hero won $492

Of course I couldn’t actually see my opponent’s hold cards, but it sure looks like I could when you see the results:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($3706.55)
MP ($1875)
Hero (CO) ($3852)
Button ($4474)
SB ($1325)
BB ($2872.95)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 10, J
1 fold, MP raises to $35, Hero calls $35, Button raises to $140, 3 folds, Hero calls $105

Flop: ($330) K, 2, 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $225, Hero raises to $777, Button calls $552

Turn: ($1884) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($1884) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Total pot: $1884 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had 8, 10 (one pair, tens).
Hero had 10, J (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $1881

This is the sort of hand that I think just looks crazy to people who aren’t very adept at reading poker situations. I’ll try to translate. First off, we’re really deep. It’s a decent spot for the Button to squeeze pre-flop, and I make a light call with a big implied odds/semi-bluffing hand given how much money is still behind.

Villain’s pre-flop range is fairly wide, and I think he bets nearly all of it (excluding some of his good but not great hands, which is actually good for me because it means more air in his range) on this flop. I check-raise, knowing that he probably has nothing.  Read the complete post...

Until recently, I didn’t play HSNL very often on Poker Stars and consequently did not remember anything about this player. However, I had a note on him indicating that I had previously observed him fail to make a thin value bet. Thus, I felt comfortable calling him down here:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($2613)
MP ($5724)
Button ($3810)
SB ($1980)
Hero (BB) ($2506)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, 4
3 folds, SB raises to $70, Hero calls $50

Flop: ($140) 4, 8, 8 (2 players)
SB bets $80, Hero calls $80

Turn: ($300) 6 (2 players)
SB bets $230, Hero calls $230

River: ($760) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $560, Hero calls $560

Total pot: $1880 | Rake: $2

Whereas a better, or at least more tricky, player might try to get multiple streets of value from hands as weak as A6, that would definitely fall into the thin category. It’s almost past the point of value to range merging, or trying to nullify the value of my position by playing as much of his range as possible in an identical fashion so that I couldn’t get a read on him.  Read the complete post...

At least I wish I did…

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2292)
CO ($2000)
Button ($2000)
SB ($828.85)
BB ($2773)
Hero (UTG) ($1904)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero raises to $60, MP raises to $200, 4 folds, Hero raises to $555, MP calls $355

Flop: ($1140) J, Q, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $500, Hero raises to $1349 (All-In), MP calls $849

Turn: ($3838) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($3838) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $3838 | Rake: $3

Obviously it’s not too often that I’m check-folding AA for a single pot-sized bet on the flop. In this case, though, I think I can put Villain on a very narrow range of hands. To be generous, I’d say he almost always has JJ+ or AK, and given that he didn’t 5-bet, I’m inclined to weight that towards JJ-QQ. In any event, he also puts me on a similarly narrow range, meaning that if has AK he probably isn’t going to bluff and if he has KK he can’t bet because what can he expect action from? I thought about all of that but then said, “Fuck it, it’s one pot-sized bet” and was promptly shown QQ.