From the Desk of the Poker Philosopher

I was really rolling in this for a few hours. There was a giant over-aggressive donkey at my starting table, and I was lucky enough to get more than a few hands against him early on to get up a nice stack.

Then I lost a good sized pot by raising up a bunch of limpers with AQ on my Button. Only the last limper called, and the pot was like twice her stack at that point. She shoved in on a QhJhTc flop and showed me KhQh, which got there.

Other than that I was running pretty well on all ins, won from the wrong end of a few 40/60's against short stacks, and my AK held against Phwap's AJ (pretty bad shove by him but also pretty standard for him) to pick up a nice pot.

We'd cut the field by about 85%, and I was rocking a well-above average stack. I'd been raising a lot from late position, and the table knew that. I'd shown down stuff like K2. But only one guy had been 3-betting me a lot. So I made a play at him:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 125 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 9,674
MP1: 19,105
MP2: 21,027
Hero (CO): 40,285
BTN: 45,691
SB: 35,075
BB: 56,239
UTG: 34,537
UTG+1: 20,960

Pre-Flop: (2,625) 7 A dealt to Hero (CO)
5 folds, Hero raises to 2,666, BTN folds, SB raises to 7,985, BB folds, Hero raises to 40,160 and is All-In, SB calls 26,965 and is All-In

Flop: (72,025) 3 2 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (72,025) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (72,025) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 72,025 Pot
Hero showed 7 A (Ace King high) and LOST (-35,075 NET)
SB showed Q A (Ace King high) and WON 72,025 (+36,950 NET)


Not sure what to make of this. He tanked for a long time, which suggests a few things: he wasn't 3-betting a polarized range, ie only hands that would snap-call or snap-fold; and he probably would have folded a lot of those hands. That suggests it was a good shove, but then again, I feel like I've been saying that as consolation a lot lately.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, FTOPS, Full Tilt Poker, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, tournament

Stumble It!

It's so rare to find a tournament with a structure as good as this one. Level increases were gradual and staggered every thirty minutes, and stacks started deep. There were a couple of good tournament players at my table, most notably SCTrojans and mattyv (AKA Plattsburgh). They both probably play better 25 BB poker than I do. But in a deep-stacked, high buy-in tournament, they are welcome at my table. There was no one particularly good at the start and a few downright awful players.

Trojans is famous for being a nit, so I made a kind of big fold to him early in the tournament. Turns out I was good, but I still think it was a good fold, because I imagine he plays KK and AA the same way:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 4,990
BTN: 4,960
SB: 4,980
BB: 5,060
UTG: 5,000
UTG+1: 4,980
Hero (MP): 5,030

Pre-Flop: (30) Q Q dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 60, Hero calls 60, CO folds, BTN raises to 260, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls 200, Hero calls 200

Flop: (810) 8 7 6 (3 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, BTN bets 500, UTG+1 calls 500, Hero folds

Turn: (1,810) A (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, BTN checks

River: (1,810) 2 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 320, BTN calls 320

Results: 2,450 Pot
BTN mucked J J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-1,080 NET)
UTG+1 showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and WON 2,450 (+1,370 NET)


There was another interesting spot early on where I turned middle pair, check-called for value, and then decided to turn my hand into a bluff on the river:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP2: 6,051
CO: 7,820
BTN: 4,970
SB: 4,890
BB: 1,641
UTG: 4,555
UTG+1: 5,444
Hero (MP1): 4,629

Pre-Flop: (30) T A dealt to Hero (MP1)
2 folds, Hero raises to 70, MP2 calls 70, 4 folds

Flop: (170) K 2 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets 134, MP2 calls 134

Turn: (438) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets 300, Hero calls 300

River: (1,038) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets 625, MP2 folds

Results: 1,038 Pot
Hero mucked T A and WON 1,038 (+534 NET)


My thinking here was that I could fold out better pairs and random low flushes, since it looks quite a bit like I have Ac and a pair. Then I enticed this guy to shove on me drawing to a gutshot and a running flush:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP1: 4,864
MP2: 7,515
CO: 6,621
BTN: 5,746
SB: 2,519
BB: 6,099
UTG: 6,412
Hero (UTG+1): 4,719

Pre-Flop: (75) A A dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 134, 4 folds, SB calls 109, BB folds

Flop: (318) J J T (2 Players)
SB bets 212, Hero raises to 555, SB raises to 2,385 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,830

Turn: (5,088) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (5,088) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,088 Pot
SB showed Q A (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-2,519 NET)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON 5,088 (+2,569 NET)


I actually put on a smaller pair and was trying to induce the same play, but this works, too. Probably my favorite hand of the tournament was this triple barrel:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 4,104
MP1: 12,670
MP2: 7,820
CO: 7,226
BTN: 6,465
SB: 20,698
BB: 10,625
UTG: 10,166
Hero (UTG+1): 7,758

Pre-Flop: (120) 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 218, 2 folds, MP2 calls 218, CO calls 218, 3 folds

Flop: (774) T A 8 (3 Players)
Hero bets 540, MP2 calls 540, CO folds

Turn: (1,854) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,250, MP2 calls 1,250

River: (4,354) K (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,250, MP2 folds

Results: 4,354 Pot
Hero mucked 5 5 and WON 4,354 (+2,346 NET)


There's actually not a lot to say about this one. It was some combination of the board texture and his timing that convinced me to pull the trigger on the river- he called the turn super-quickly, which I don't think he'd ever do with a monster given how many draws were out there. So I'm putting him on either a bare A or a pair and a flush draw. When the draws missed on the river, I figured he was folding nearly 100% of his range.

Plattsburgh was really the perfect guy for this next play. He's pretty aggressive pre-flop, and since I had position on him and stacks were deep, I'd already 3-bet him several times. I know that he's capable of 4-betting light, and I doubt he knows anything about me to think that I could 5-bet light. Plus, since he plays tournaments exclusively, he's rarely going to be playing with stack depths and opponents where light 5-betting is a consideration. So I think his 4-betting range here is going to be way too wide, since he probably doesn't expect me to move on him without Ace-King.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 2,088
BB: 6,720
UTG: 21,908
UTG+1: 16,737
UTG+2: 16,462
MP1: 13,120
MP2: 7,129
CO: 15,744
Hero (BTN): 11,316

Pre-Flop: (240) Q A dealt to Hero (BTN)
5 folds, CO raises to 420, Hero raises to 1,111, 2 folds, CO raises to 3,124, Hero raises to 11,316 and is All-In, CO folds

Results: 6,488 Pot
Hero mucked Q A and WON 6,488 (+3,364 NET)


For what it's worth, it doesn't matter that I have AQs here, because I think his calling range is QQ+ and AK. The Ace is important, though, because it gives me equity against KK and more importantly because of card removal effects; with an A in my hand, he is that much less likely to hold AA or AK in the first place.

I didn't have much time to enjoy the nice stack, though, because two orbits later I had to make an excruciating fold:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 2,488
BTN: 5,840
SB: 22,248
BB: 15,317
UTG: 16,222
UTG+1: 16,680
UTG+2: 5,609
MP1: 12,460
Hero (MP2): 14,360

Pre-Flop: (240) J A dealt to Hero (MP2)
2 folds, UTG+2 calls 160, MP1 folds, Hero raises to 666, 2 folds, SB calls 586, BB folds, UTG+2 calls 506

Flop: (2,158) 8 4 J (3 Players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets 1,194, SB raises to 2,500, UTG+2 folds, Hero calls 1,306

Turn: (7,158) 6 (2 Players)
SB bets 3,000, Hero calls 3,000

River: (13,158) T (2 Players)
SB bets 5,000, Hero folds

Results: 13,158 Pot
SB mucked and WON 13,158 (+6,992 NET)


I very nearly folded the turn. For as little as 500 chips more, I would have. It took discipline, but between the T falling on the river to put me behind JT and the fact that the guy kept betting, I just couldn't justify a river call. With every bet, it becomes that much less likely that he's overvaluing QJ or KJ, which is all I can beat at this point. Without a read, it's a fold, though an annoying one.

I won a few more medium-sized pots, mostly by open shoving, but the blinds and later the antes were eating into me. Eventually I shoved over an early positio raise with AKs and lost a flip to 99 to bust out. That's the bad thing about well-structure tournaments: I played for seven hours and didn't even come close to winning anything.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, 5-bet, bluff, FTOPS, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, tournament, triple barrel

Stumble It!

Once again I had some rough table draws, ending up with a lot of high-stakes cash players. As I previously explained, this is bad in an FTOPS tournament for a number of reasons. One of them took me to valuetown on the first hand of the tournament:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 1,500
BB: 3,000
Hero (UTG): 3,000
CO: 3,000
BTN: 3,000

Pre-Flop: (45) 9 9 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 90, CO folds, BTN raises to 315, 2 folds, Hero calls 225

Flop: (675) 8 T Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (675) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 450, Hero calls 450

River: (1,575) Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 1,250, Hero calls 1,250

Results: 4,075 Pot
Hero mucked 9 9 (two pair, Queens and Nines) and LOST (-2,015 NET)
BTN showed A T (two pair, Queens and Tens) and WON 4,075 (+2,060 NET)


I got him back a bit by stealing this pot from him:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 2,835
SB: 3,150
Hero (BB): 3,065
UTG: 2,845
CO: 4,605

Pre-Flop: (45) 7 5 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls 30, CO raises to 135, BTN folds, SB calls 120, Hero calls 105, UTG calls 105

Flop: (540) 9 T 8 (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, CO checks

Turn: (540) K (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets 360, SB folds, Hero raises to 980, 2 folds

Results: 1,260 Pot
Hero mucked 7 5 and WON 1,260 (+765 NET)


He virtually never has more than one pair here, and I think he has nothing at all a fair amount of the time. Most importantly, I don't think he ever expects me to be bluffing here. Plus I do have some outs if called.

I briefly got up a decent stack, but then another 25/50 NL player got seated on my immediate right. He raised from the SB, I re-raised 88 from the BB, and called his shove. He had AK and got there.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, 6-max, bluff, FTOPS, Full Tilt Poker, poker, poker strategy, semi-bluff, session review, tournament

Stumble It!

I knew Monday night's FTOPS was a 1K NLHE, but I was pleasantly surprised when I was "seated" to find only five other players at my table. I had no idea it was a 6-max! I was less pleasantly surprised to find two other regulars in the FTP 10/20 games at my table. Dammit, I play tournaments because I want to play with fish! Not only were these guys ten times better than the average player in the tournament, but I knew they were also going to be much more aggressive when stacks were deep. That meant I would have to play high variance poker, which I'd much prefer to avoid in such a well-structured event.

Thankfully, my table broke pretty quickly and I was moved to a softer one. This time, I got to be the undisputed aggressor. For a while, I was getting no respect:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 8,010
Hero (MP): 6,890
CO: 7,410
BTN: 7,380
SB: 4,930
BB: 4,130

Pre-Flop: (60) J A dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 120, CO calls 120, BTN calls 120, SB folds, BB raises to 520, Hero raises to 1,240, 2 folds, BB raises to 4,130 and is All-In, Hero folds

Results: 2,740 Pot
BB mucked and WON 2,740 (+1,500 NET)


Eventually, that reputation got me a big payday, though:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 4,820
Hero (BB): 5,841
UTG: 7,055
MP: 9,651
CO: 6,488
BTN: 4,895

Pre-Flop: (180) A 4 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 240, MP calls 240, 3 folds, Hero calls 120

Flop: (780) 8 9 T (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, MP checks

Turn: (780) K (3 Players)
Hero bets 601, UTG raises to 1,920, MP folds, Hero raises to 5,601 and is All-In, UTG calls 3,681

River: (11,982) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 11,982 Pot
Hero showed A 4 (a flush, Ace high) and WON 11,982 (+6,141 NET)
UTG showed J K (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-5,841 NET)


But it wasn't to last. I lost two medium-sized pots on bad beats to short stacks, then Valuetowned myself against a guy who I still think may have been loose enough to show up with worse Aces here:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 140/280 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 54,174
Hero (MP): 11,705
CO: 11,010
BTN: 10,714
SB: 19,723
BB: 5,384

Pre-Flop: (570) A J dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 780, CO calls 780, 3 folds

Flop: (2,130) T 5 A (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 1,320, Hero calls 1,320

Turn: (4,770) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (4,770) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 2,580, CO calls 2,580

Results: 9,930 Pot
Hero showed A J (two pair, Aces and Tens) and LOST (-4,705 NET)
CO showed A Q (two pair, Aces and Tens) and WON 9,930 (+5,225 NET)


Finally, I shoved A9 on the button over a raise from the chipleader in the CO, but he had AQ and it was lights out for me.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, 5-bet, 6-max, Full Tilt Poker, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, squeeze play, tournament

Stumble It!

I just happened to notice this post on fellow Poker Savvy Plus pro Dani "Ansky" Stern's blog. He posted the details on PokerHand, but I find it annoying to click a link just to see the action, so here's my summary:

Dani's playing 10/20 heads up no limit almost 250 BB deep. He 3-bets KJo from the BB and calls a small 4-bet. The flop comes 632r, and they check it through. Turn is an Ace, Dani checks, his opponent bets $400, Dani raises to $1000, the guy moves all in $4000, and Dani calls with King-high no draw. His opponent has J7, and Dani wins the pot.

What was he thinking? Visit his blog to find out.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, bluff, heads up, NLHE, Poker Savvy

Stumble It!

Sorry all, I know I've been a little light lately on posts and especially on strategy stuff. Truthfully I haven't played much poker since the WSOP. This is due to some combination of having a lot of non-poker stuff to catch up on and also not feeling any pressure to put in hours now that I'm way ahead of pace to hit my monetary goal for the year. But if you're looking for some great strategy reading, may I suggest Cole South's (CTS) old blog?

His new blog, hosted at Cardrunners, is still decent, but there's actually more strategy content in the old one. Of particular interest is an article he posted about 4-betting versus aggressive 3-betters. This is something that at least in the higher stakes games people have improved upon by now, but it's a great example of how to identify and exploit a particular leak that you notice in your opponents' play.

Thanks to Korako for bringing the old CTS blog to my attention.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, Cole South, poker, poker strategy

Stumble It!

Thanks for all the support guys. Today was ridiculous, such a tough table for most of the day, fought tooth and nail to get up to 2 mil then got moved to softer table and picked up quick 2 mil. Alex is an amazing player, had some awful luck today and kept coming back. Even on my right he was ridiculously tough to play against. He deserved to finish higher, but for selfish reasons, not sorry to see him go. Roothlus and Gbecks on my left, also very solid of course. Raptor got moved to table at end of day, but then I was moved not long after. Gah I feel like I've been dangling by the seat of my pants for four days now.

Sorry I don't have a pic with chips stacked up, but believe me that bag was heavy as hell and weighted down with beautiful green chips worth 25K each. I look forward to ripping it open and stacking it all up tomorrow while the rest of my table drools with jealousy.

Here's a wild hand: Alex on my right is super LAG, has been opening like 30% of pots. I've 3-bet a couple of times, recently he called OOP with 87s, check-raise bluffed a K-high flop, and showed when I folded. He told me to stop 3-betting him. I did.

Few orbits later, blinds 10K/20K/3K, he opens to 55K UTG+1, I call, tight player in HJ raises to 200K, Alex calls, I shove for 1 million, tight guy tanks and folds K's face up. Alex folds and tells me he had AK. Deliberately not revealing my hand here, but what do you think of their folds?

Another one, late in the day, I have 3M. Fat middle-aged guy from GA with like 1.5M opens to 80K at 12/24/3, I flat with AKo, everyone else folds. Flop Q44 he bets 125K I call. Turn A he bets 300K I call. River blank he bets 500K I tank. He doesn't seem like the type to triple barrel bluff, and I can't imagine I beat anything he's value betting. I'm afraid he has AQ. I tank some more and try to talk to him.

"Aren't you afraid I have a 4? Did that cross your mind?" No response.

"I wish I knew more about you sir. All I know is you are from Georgia." No response.

Finally I call, he tables KQ. I show AK, and he mucks angrily and asks, "How do you call the flop when I fire?"

I ignore him.

"You call with nothing on the flop?" he asks again.

"Sorry sir, but you wouldn't answer any of my questions," I tell him as I stack his chips.

I'm second overall, with 79 remaining. $77,000 locked up.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, narrative, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, tournament, trip report, wsop

Stumble It!

I'm listed as Andrew Brooks on Poker News, finished the day with 566,500. That's down a fair bit from my peak of 750K but a hell of a lot better than the 65K I started with. I finished level 1 still at 65K, then won a flip for my life against Brandon Adams AK >JJ. After that I won two more big pots against Brandon when he bluffed into my top pair and another with top pair against another really aggressive guy on Brandon's right. I 4-bet AA pre-flop against the same dude, maybe not the best way to play it, but got a decent pot regardless. Then I busted one guy QQ > TT, then busted Mike Mercedes (whom I later learned was MikeyMer- we dropped the ball on that one, research team) with shoving Q9 over his check-raise on a 984 flop to bust his A8. That was all during level 2.

After that I mostly just played good until the bubble, then dropped a brutal beat on some poor bastard named Mitch. We were hand for hand with 668 players left, I raised to 9K (at 1500/3000/400) UTG with 87s because this shorter stack was in the BB. He called, and we saw a Q87 flop. He lead out, I shoved, he called and flipped 77. I'm a sonofabitch and rivered an 8 to bubble him.

Last level I dropped nearly 200K, but I don't think I did anything spewy. Just raised decent hands pre-flop and either missed flops or folded to 3-bets or called 3-bets in good spots but missed flop. No regrets, and still in good shape for today.

We don't start until 1:00, but I'm going for breakfast now. Here's my table draw, looks favorable at first glance, though I haven't googled anyone yet. I'll be doing some research of my own after breakfast, but anything you want to e-mail to me would be greatly appreciated.

245 Huyen Vo Houston Texas 224000 O22 1

174 Graddus Terwiss Cha Van 0 DNR 318000 O22 2

299 Randy Benton Rolla Missouri 176000 O22 3

89 Hai Bo Chu Melbourne Australia 453500 O22 4

18 James Mills Downey California 757000 O22 6 (2_2)

467 Aleksandar Rasic Troy New York 35000 O22 7

255 Cedric Kolstad Mesa Arizona 217000 O22 8

50 Andrew Brokos 566,500 9

Thank to everyone who's been leaving comments as well. It's great to know people are cheering for me, and I'm flattered to have fans I didn't even know existed!

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, NLHE, poker, session review, tournament, wsop

Stumble It!

With deeper stacks (these hands are all from deep tables), you need to be, not necessarily more aggressive, but aggressive in more situations. With 100 BBs's, a 4-bet squeeze will almost always commit your stack, which means there's only a narrow range of hands with which you can make this play. Showdown equity is always important.

But as stacks get deeper, there is more room to maneuver. You can put in more bets in more spots and still have room to fold. That doesn't mean you can go crazy against just anyone. Reads are important, as you need to know that your opponents are capable of letting go of a hand and/or having a less-than-stellar hand in the first place.

In this first one, MP and CO were both very aggressive pre-flop. I was certain they'd fold often enough to make this profitable. The only x-factor was the Button. I wasn't sure what would be his standards for cold calling a 3-bet. But he was also deep, and I figured that coming in cold for the fourth bet would get him off of even some pretty strong holdings:

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $458
UTG: $400
MP: $1,303.30
CO: $1,099
BTN: $827.40
Hero (SB): $915

Pre-Flop: T 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP raises to $14, CO raises to $48, BTN calls $48, Hero raises to $210, 4 folds

Results: $162 Pot
Hero mucked T 8 and WON $162 (+$114 NET)


In this second one, the SB and I had both been aggressive, and this was the second time I'd seen the BB put in a cold 4-bet. This is definitely a riskier play to make, but for that reason I think it will also have better fold equity. BB and I have some history together, but I still think this is a tough spot for him if he holds QQ.

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $1,033.75
Hero (MP): $3,620
CO: $2,026
BTN: $1,010
SB: $2,005
BB: $4,111

Pre-Flop: J 9 dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, SB raises to $125, BB raises to $350, Hero raises to $1,000, SB folds, BB calls $650

Flop: ($2,125) 3 A K (2 Players)
BB bets $700, Hero folds

Results: $2,125 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB mucked and WON $2,122 (+$1,122 NET)


While waiting for BB to act, I regretted raising quite so much. I wished I had made it 900 instead of 1000. I felt it would have put him to essentially the same decision, as I really didn't think he would ever flat call this raise. When he did, that confused me. I think he definitely would have shoved or folded AK pre-flop, and probably would have shoved in with AA and KK as well.

At the same time, this is a really bad board for him to lead out on as a bluff, and it's hard to put him on a hand that would need to bluff pre-flop. Maybe he was doing this as a probe with QQ? I don't know, it was tempting to shove in, and maybe with second pair or a gut shot or something with even a little equity against his calling range, I would have. In retrospect, floating seems like a good option, looking to bet the turn if he checks. I really don't think he could fire a second bluff if I called the flop. Meh, folding can't be that bad.

Reads didn't play as big of a role in this one, I think my hand pretty much plays itself here:

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $692.70
CO: $1,659
BTN: $1,142.25
Hero (SB): $1,725.25
BB: $691.60
UTG: $813

Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $21, MP calls $21, CO folds, BTN raises to $72, Hero raises to $225, 4 folds

Results: $192 Pot
Hero mucked A K and WON $192 (+$120 NET)


If the Button shoves in, it's a crappy spot, but with AK and 20% of the effective stacks in pre-flop against an aggressive opponent (I've seen him shove in some dumb spots before), I think I've got to call it off. The more important thing is that that won't happen that often, and there really isn't a better option than re-raising with AK. Flat calling and playing out of position isn't appealing, nor is folding.


That doesn't mean I'm incapable of 4-bet/folding AK pre-flop- it just depends on the opponent:

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $800
BB: $523.30
UTG: $974.30
MP: $936.40
CO: $150.50
BTN: $1,771.40

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to $12, BTN raises to $44, Hero raises to $155, 2 folds, BTN raises to $1,771.40 and is All-In, Hero folds

Results: $326 Pot
BTN mucked and WON $326 (+$171 NET)


My only regret here is that if I'm going to fold, I ought to raise a little less. $125 would probably do the trick.

Labels: 3-bet, 4-bet, 5-bet, 6-max, Full Tilt Poker, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, short-handed, squeeze play

Stumble It!