Posts Tagged ‘5-bet’

The next installment in the Thinking Poker Tournament Seminar series will be on Saturday, December 3rd, Noon-2 PM Eastern. The topic will be Playing Out of Position: Value Betting, Bluffing, and Getting to Showdown. Virtually all of the toughest spots in poker arise from playing out of position, and good players assume that they can get away with playing almost anything when they have position. Learn to punish them by giving them what they don’t expect: tough, creative opposition, even from out of position!

Thinking Poker Tournament Seminars are pre-scheduled, small-group discussions focused on the most common mistakes and skills gaps that I see in my NLHE tournament students. Each two-hour seminar costs $150 per person and is capped at five participants, to enable individualized attention and opportunities for everyone to ask questions and participate in discussions. The content is prepared and the discussion facilitated by me- it’s like an interactive poker video!

Participants will learn how to defend their blinds against late and early position raisers, how to deal with post-flop aggression, and how to pull-off the ever-vexing donk bet. In addition to the seminar itself, all participants receive a syllabus of recommended study materials to help prepare for the session and apply newly acquired skills in their future play.  Read the complete post...

I’m really upset at myself for spewing off my stack in the 4-max. It’s such a fun tournament, especially in the early stages when everyone is really deep and trying to play loose aggressive. Many otherwise good tournament players are just clueless about playing wide ranges super-deep and seem to think that being deep is a justification for never folding anything preflop and that being shorthanded is a justification for never folding anything ever. So of course what do I decide to do but run some huge bluff. I accidentally left $6 behind, which in this case didn’t affect anything since Villain snap-shoved over my river bet and presumably had the nuts (I probably should have called just to see his hand, though I did run the $6 up to the $72 before getting bad beat!). I think in theory this is a fine line, but the way people were playing in this tournament he might not even fold like two-pair.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (4 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t4313)
SB (t7167)
BB (t4705)
UTG (t3795)

Hero’s M: 95.84

Preflop: Hero is Button with K♠, 8♠
1 fold, Hero bets t60, SB raises to t160, 1 fold, Hero calls t100

Flop: (t350) Q♣, 8♣, J♥ (2 players)
SB bets t250, Hero raises to t666, SB calls t416  Read the complete post...

I played all of today’s WCOOPs but only did anything notable in the $320 6-handed shootout. My starting table feature PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis, thankfully on my right, and four players I didn’t recognize. I’d been playing aggressively against Lex, generally with the best hand, and finally he’d had enough. I picked up QQ in the BB and got him to 4-bet all-in with A7o in the BB. With his chips in my stack it wasn’t too much trouble to get down to the heads up.

My opponent was pretty much an ideal heads up opponent. I felt totally in control of the match the entire time, since by the time two bets had gone into the pot I knew everything I needed to know about what he had and where I stood. I played extreme smallball with him because I was sure my edge was huge. At first he was only continuing past the flop if he had a pair, so I was c-betting everything and calling all of his pre-flop raises. Eventually he started continuation betting, but again I caught on so quickly to what he was doing that I started check-raising him and was back in control in no time. I polished him off and waited a solid hour and a half for the next match to start.  Read the complete post...

Pretty sure I’ve used that title before, but that just goes to show you what a nit I can be in these silly tournaments. Check out this one, where I 3-bet-fold AKo with a 21BB stack. UTG+1 is very active but seems good. I previously 3-bet him from the button with this same size and folded to a 4-bet. Obviously I intend to stack off to him.

The cold caller is a fish, don’t mind his getting involved too much. The BB has been playing SUPER nitty, like 13/9 with 16% ATS. He is risking nearly 60BB vs. the UTG+1 raiser who still has a live hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds 25 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t24889)
Hero (MP2) (t5341)
MP3 (t8975)
CO (t7176)
Button (t13816)
SB (t11246)
BB (t17704)
UTG (t10097)
UTG+1 (t14679)

Hero’s M: 8.90

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K, A

1 fold, UTG+1 bets t500, 1 fold, Hero raises to t1111, 1 fold, CO calls t1111, 2 folds, BB raises to t17679 (All-In), 3 folds

This one is crazier and less good. I was ready to fold to the 3-bet until I saw Villain’s stats. He’s 44/33, though I hadn’t yet seen him 3-bet. I 4-bet intending to get it in, but his min-5-bet gave me pause:  Read the complete post...

Part 1 of my trip report from the 2011 WSOP Main Event is now appearing in the August edition of 2+2 Magazine. This covers my first two days and includes everything you could want from the WSOP: big calls, big bluffs, scared money, fearsome Russians, surly Frenchmen, bad beats, and a pretty sweet value bet. Here’s a preview:

After some thought, my opponent moved all in for 36,500. This is another spot that I’d never put myself in online, betting without a plan for what I’d do if my opponent raised. In a live game, though, I have the added option of staring him down. I stared intently at him for a good three minutes not even thinking about anything in particular but just watching him and letting him sweat for a bit and trying to see what kind of a feel I could get from him.

When I decided that he’d basted in his own perspiration for long enough, I reached towards my chips and watched again for a reaction. He blinked and turned towards me a bit. That felt weak, but it wasn’t decisive, so I just made a note of it. Never taking my eyes off of him, I confirmed with the dealer the amount I would need to call. My opponent swallowed. I counted out the appropriate number of chips but held them in my hand, starting to lean towards a call but not having made up my mind yet. He blinked again and looked uncomfortable. I pushed the chips into the pot.  Read the complete post...

I owe you guys an apology. After sending a mysterious tweet from the table claiming that it was “literally a miracle” that I didn’t bust on a particular Day 6 hand, I took my merry time in providing any explanation and actually posted the hand in BBV before posting it here. So anyway, here’s the very fortunate turn of events that resulted in my confounding fate in the WSOP Main Event:

Blinds were 15K/30K/5K. I opened to 70K UTG with AA. John Esposito called in MP, Matt “Ch0ppy” Kay overcalled, and everyone else folded. Both Villains covered me.

The flop came K77. I bet 150K, John folded, and Matt called.

Turn was a blank, we both checked.

River K, I checked, he bet 250K, and I called. He quickly tabled pocket Kings for quads. “I did not see that you’d raised,” he told me as he scooped the pot.

As I mucked my Aces, I got a glimpse of an alternate universe where Kay reads the action correctly. He surely squeezes, and then I 4-bet, and then he shoves, and obviously I call with the nuts, but then he makes quads to send me to the rail.  Read the complete post...

…but this guy managed. He almost got there, too:

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Button ($170.35)
Hero ($250)
BB ($1351.95)
UTG ($258.90)
MP ($456.15)
CO ($96.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7c, As, 5h, Ac.
UTG calls $1, MP raises to $5.7, CO calls $5.70, Button calls $5.70, Hero raises to $31.7, 1 fold, UTG folds, MP calls $26, CO raises to $96.5, Button folds, Hero raises to $249.8, MP folds.

Flop: ($386.10) 7s, Ks, Kh (2 players)

Turn: ($386.10) 4s (2 players)

River: ($386.10) Ad (2 players)

Final Pot: $386.10
Results in white below:
Hero has 7c As 5h Ac (full house, aces full of kings).
CO has Kd Td Tc Ts (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins $386.10.

I started the day with 30K, quickly ran it up to 80K, dropped back down to 40K, ran it up to 130K, dropped down as low as 36K, then quickly ran back up to 140K and finished the day with 127,200.

Despite the swings, it was actually a really boring day. It was a soft starting table, but a couple of people lost their chips early and soon better players had taken their seats. The field is tough enough that it probably was a softer than average table throughout the day, but that doesn’t mean anyone was giving chips away.

I got my first double up early, opening with 22 in early position and getting called by one of the weaker players. I bet-shoved a 2d 7c Tc flop and held vs. ATs. After that I won a small pot raise-calling 44 in the CO vs. a German online player who turned out to have TT but couldn’t win the flip. It was a shame, because we’d been talking and he was the friendliest guy I’d played with all day.

He was soon replaced by Matt Waxman, who proved to be a good player but a much less pleasant table mate.  Read the complete post...