Hilarious 1K Single Table Satellite

Most of the money I brought to Vegas came in the form of a cashier's check, which apparently needs to be verified by the bank before I can cash it, so I'm pretty much broke until tomorrow. What else to do than play a 1K Single Table Satellite for the WSOP, then? Those are always a hoot.

The table looks perfect: one wannabe hotshot guy about my age, one middle-aged Israeli, 7 middle-aged white guys. A few of them are talking about having played 10-20 tournaments in the series, but they all suck. The two slightly less terrible guys are on my immediate left, but whatever.

I don't play a hand for the first hour, they are all splashing around a little bit but no one's playing big pots. Blinds 100/200, I have a little less than the 4K starting stack. Action folds to me in SB with hotshot in the big. I open limp, he raises to 825, I shove, he moans and groans and tells me how tight I've been, eventually folding an Ace face up like it's the greatest play ever. I casually show him a deuce, and the table goes wild.

Next orbit folds to me in the small, I open to 1200 with TT, hotshot shoves A9, my hand holds up and he's crippled.

Next orbit it's 150/300 he shoves for 1100 UTG action folds to dude in SB who calls. I shove in 8K with KJ on my BB, SB folds and says he had 76s. I get there vs. 55 to eliminate hotshot in 10th.

Button makes a small raise, I shove JJ in SB, Isreali goes on and on about he has the best hand but he's gonna be conservative and folds 66 face up. I show my JJ cuz now I want some fold equity on my shoves.

We play for a while, nothing much happens, eventually Israeli is getting sort. At 300/600, he shoves from early position for 3600. Action folds to me in the BB and I actually have a bit of a decision with AT. He seems to "get it" a little more than the others and recently lost a pot so I call. He has A6 but hits his 6 on the turn. Board is TT76 so I've got 8 outs on river but can't get there. I pass him his chips with no whining/fanfare.

This pot constitutes about 20% of the chips in play, but I'm still the chipleader even after losing it. I make a small CO raise with 99, SB shoves, naturally I call, but he has AQ and wins the flip.

Now I'm short, and a few hands later I shove 43s for 5x or so. Israeli goes on and on about he's gonna play to win and shoves over the top with KJo in the CO. He's ahead unimproved through the turn, then I bang a 3 on the river and he gets pissed, even though I'm in way better shape than he was with A6 and it's a smaller pot. I don't say a word, and eventually a few of his buddies come over and he recounts the story for them about the guy who goes all in with 4-high. I just shake my head.

Some other crap happened, I won some pots with pre-flop raises/shoves (and pots were tremendous at this point), I lost another flip to the Israeli, my AKs loses to 55, and then blinds are 600/1200. Israeli opens to 3000, guy to his left shoves 6400 total, Israel thinks for a while, which is funny in its own right, and finally folds!

There was also a hand, not involving Isreali, where the Button shoves for like 4BB, the SB reshoves 6BB, and the BB folds AQ face-up.

Action folds to me on Button, I shove 7BB or so with K9, Israeli wakes up with JJ in SB and holds up. Now I've got 1800 total, so there's no such thing as fold equity. I fold 73 and 72, and then I post the BB for 2/3 of my stack. CO shoves, I call blind, he flips K7, I have 74. Lovely. His hand holds, and I go out in 6th.

Exhausting Heads Up Match

I was about halfway through last night's session, and a lot of the 6-max games I was in were kinda bad. I was at the end of a few long waiting lists, but mostly there just weren't many good games going at the time.

I'd been sitting alone, waiting for action as usual, at a few heads up tables. Really wanting to play some heads up, I got aggressive and tried to sit with a few people who were definitely going to sit out against me. They sat out. I sat with a few randoms. They mostly sat out, a few played long enough to look me up on OPR or whatever before sitting out, one played just his button and sat out (total douche move), and one played for a few minutes until I tried to sit at a second of his tables. Then he sat out on both.

I even tried sitting with a few regs who are probably better than I am, figuring I might as well challenge myself, but to my surprise even they sat out. Finally, a guy I recognized from higher stakes sat across from me at 10/20 deep. It had been over a year since we played heads up, but I've seen him as high as 50/100, and I am pretty confident he's solidly better than I am. After warning him that I not play for long, I sat in and we played one table of 10/20 and one of 5/10.

Again, I'm pretty sure he would have the edge long term. However, off the bat I think I knew more about how he was going to play than he did about me. He was extraordinarily aggressive, and I did some things to induce action that I don't think he was expecting. It takes a lot of concentration to deal with extreme aggression from a smart player, and after about 45 minutes, I was exhausted. I quit him and my other games, but I was up three buy-ins and felt I'd definitely gotten the better of him over that short match.

The thing about uber-aggressive opponents is that, at least when they're smart, you have to play very differently than you ordinarily would. You aren't going to induce bluffs just by checking and calling- you have to widen the range that you are going to check-raise, 3-bet, etc. for value and then be prepared to call down. A few examples:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($6980)
Button ($4060)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, J
Button bets $60, Hero raises to $222, Button calls $162

Flop: ($444) 10, 3, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $333, Button raises to $827, Hero raises to $1321, Button calls $494

Turn: ($3086) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $5437 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $3086 | Rake: $0.50


In this one, the "standard" play would probably be to make a big, pot committing 4-bet. Against this guy, though, my overs and nut flush draw is a big enough monster that I'm actually trying to induce a shove from him. I actually think it was a mistake for me to shove the turn (for like $2400 in reality- I had him well covered) rather than check-call. There's a chance he's trying to showdown something like 77, though he's probably calling turn with that anyway, but most likely is that he's either floating or has a monster. Obviously the money goes in no matter what if he has a monster, so I ought to have induced another bluff from his floats, especially when I turn the gutshot.

In this next one, I check-call flop with an underpair to the board, then lead into him on the turn to induce a bluff raise. Otherwise, I don't think he barrels this card; my hand looks too much like a bluff-catcher:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($8795.50)
Button ($4057.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6, 6
Button bets $60, Hero calls $40

Flop: ($120) 9, 8, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $100, Hero calls $100

Turn: ($320) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $188, Button raises to $650, Hero calls $462

River: ($1620) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Total pot: $1620 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had Q, J (two pair, eights and twos).
Hero had 6, 6 (two pair, eights and sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $1619.50


Here I check-raise the flop for value with Ace-high, then check-call to induce from his floats. Guys like this do not give up easily on dry boards:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($3620.50)
Button ($2378)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, A
Button bets $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) 6, 6, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $40, Hero raises to $120, Button calls $80

Turn: ($300) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $150, Hero calls $150

River: ($600) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Total pot: $600 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had Q, 8 (three of a kind, sixes).
Hero had 10, A (three of a kind, sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $599.50


I was actually planning on checking this down on the river or turning it into a bluff and shoving if he bet again, but he didn't give me the chance:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($9195.50)
SB ($4428.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, J
Hero bets $60, SB raises to $220, Hero calls $160

Flop: ($440) 8, 5, 3 (2 players)
SB bets $288, Hero calls $288

Turn: ($1016) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $711, Hero calls $711

River: ($2438) K (2 players)
SB bets $3209.50 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2438 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won $2437.50


I think it's very likely he's overbetting for value, because the way he's been playing he expects to get looked up light but probably not for me to raise much on the river if he makes a normal-sized bet. If this is how he's playing his monsters, then it makes my plan to shove over a smaller bet even better.

This was the closest decision I had over the course of the match:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($4747)
SB ($4020)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 9
Hero bets $60, SB raises to $220, Hero raises to $522, SB calls $302

Flop: ($1044) 6, A, 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1044) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $744, Hero calls $744

River: ($2532) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $2754 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2532 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won $2531.50


A lot could be going on here. The thing is that when I check back the flop, it really looks like I'm planning on calling down. I could also have KK or QQ, though, so there's a chance he's trying to bluff me off those or maybe even value bet against with a worse Ace. I think as long as I also check back and then call down stuff like AK and AA, and of course if he bluffs club rivers, then this is an OK fold.

The Third Barrel is the Value Barrel

Not my best double barrel ever, but the A is a good bluff card on the river. That makes it a good time for him to call down light, which makes it a good time for me to value bet light, which makes it a better bluff card in the future....

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

CO ($1958.75)
Hero (Button) ($1000)
SB ($1273)
BB ($1000)
UTG ($287)
UTG+1 ($1000)
MP1 ($2117.50)
MP2 ($215)
MP3 ($1187)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 8
6 folds, Hero raises to $35, SB calls $30, BB calls $25

Flop: ($105) J, 4, 9 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $66, 1 fold, BB calls $66

Turn: ($237) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $177, BB calls $177

River: ($591) A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $377, BB calls $377

Total pot: $1345 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had A, 8 (one pair, Aces).
BB had 10, J (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $1342

Dealing With an Aggressive 3-Better

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.


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1018.50)
BB ($1088.50)
UTG ($440)
UTG+1 ($104.50)
MP1 ($953.75)
Hero (MP2) ($1177)
CO ($1417)
Button ($760)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, J
3 folds, Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, SB raises to $115, 1 fold, Hero raises to $250, SB raises to $1018.50 (All-In), Hero calls $768.50

Flop: ($2047) 7, 3, 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($2047) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($2047) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $2047 | Rake: $3

He had Jacks here, so I lost. I'm less confident about this one, as it was my first 4-bet of the night, but I think that could also increase his bluff frequency because he knows I know he's been running me over. With a suited AJ, I'd definitely just call pre-flop. Even here, it might have been better to flat and then jam a lot of flops or something just to induce an additional bluff. But this is the kind of thing you need to do against overly aggressive opponents.

A Boat I Can't Bet

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.

The one upside to this is that, since I folded the river very quickly (he tanked for a while before shoving, so I had time to decide that I couldn't call), he may have concluded that I had nothing and was just running a psychotic bluff. That in turn may have helped me stack him on this hand:


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

UTG+1 ($1810)
MP1 ($1439)
MP2 ($6505)
MP3 ($1090.20)
CO ($3129)
Button ($2052)
Hero (SB) ($2000)
BB ($1821)
UTG ($2062)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, 4
3 folds, MP2 raises to $35, MP3 calls $35, 2 folds, Hero calls $30, 1 fold

Flop: ($115) 3, 4, J (3 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $90, 1 fold, Hero raises to $290, MP2 calls $200

Turn: ($695) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $475, MP2 calls $475

River: ($1645) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $1200 (All-In), MP2 calls $1200

Total pot: $4045 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 4, 4 (three of a kind, fours).
MP2 had A, J (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $4042

Just a Sexy Value Bet

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

Big Triple Barrel

I guess this is fairly standard and notable mostly for the sum of money involved:

Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $12,483
BTN: $16,645
Hero (SB): $10,000
BB: $17,688
UTG: $5,000
MP: $9,875

Pre-Flop: 9 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, BTN raises to $150, Hero raises to $555, BB folds, BTN calls $405

Flop: ($1,160) 7 4 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $777, BTN calls $777

Turn: ($2,714) J (2 Players)
Hero bets $1,888, BTN calls $1,888

River: ($6,490) 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $6,780 and is All-In, BTN folds

Results: $6,490 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked 9 8 and WON $6,487 (+$3,267 NET)


Naturally I double barrel when I turn the gut shot and a potential overcard to whatever pair my opponent may have. I do wish I had bet a hair more so that river would be a slightly less than pot shove rather than slightly more. Basically I think without history and at stakes that are higher than either of us usually play, I am getting called only by AQ or better (and even AQ is close). Given that the deuce on the river makes sets less likely and Villain is probably 4-betting QQ-AA a decent amount of the time pre-flop, I think this is a highly profitable shove in a vaccuum. Of course, a reputation for stuff like this will get you called down by 66- which then again is not bad at all as long as you can adjust.

A Random Call, Part Two

Eugene asked a great question about my recent post, A Random Call, which reminded me that I'd meant to post this hand as well. It happened not long after I snapped off a 2x pot river bluff with top pair, weak kicker. This was against the same opponent but on a different table:

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): $4,732.50
BTN: $4,231
SB: $4,144.50
BB: $5,019.50
UTG: $2,000
MP: $7,734.50

Pre-Flop: 9 9 dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to $70, BTN raises to $240, 2 folds, Hero calls $170

Flop: ($510) 4 2 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $222, BTN raises to $700, Hero raises to $1,178, BTN calls $478

Turn: ($2,866) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2,813 and is All-In, Hero calls $2,813

River: ($8,492) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $8,492 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 9 9 (two pair, Nines and Twos) and LOST (-$4,231 NET)
BTN showed K K (two pair, Kings and Twos) and WON $8,489 (+$4,258 NET)


I chose this line to induce as many bluffs as possible, but in light of my recent call I think trying to play my hand as a bluff-catcher is a bad idea. Villain is probably not expecting me to make a big fold after he'd just shown down a big bluff, which means he's not going to try to bluff me off an overpair. Of course I could get into the whole, "but does he know that I don't expect him to bluff?" thing, but in this case I don't think he knows enough about me to expect that. He's probably just not going to bluff much in this spot, which means I ought to be playing the 99 with the intention of folding to heavy pressure.

In general, catching an opponent in a big bluff will induce one or both of the following dynamics for at least the near future:

1. Villain will stop bluffing in spots where he can only represent a narrow range or where you clearly have a relatively strong hand (ie better than top pair).

2. Villain will try to restore his ego and/or take advantage of the new table dynamic by running another big bluff.

These are not necessarily mutually exclusive, because the former only assumes he will stop bluffing in certain situations. When you appear to have a relatively weak hand, he may actually bluff with renewed vigor in order to reassert his castrated manhood.