Posts Tagged ‘bad beat’

My starting table had not a lot of chips but a couple of notable players, including Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, Andrew Chen, Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo, and Lauren Kling. We broke after less than an hour, but I still managed to play a few interesting pots. Also, a very friendly reader named Mark (hi, Mark) recognized me from the Blog and introduced himself, which was cool. A kid at the PCA recognized my voice from Poker Savvy, but I think this is the first time a blog reader I didn’t already know has recognized me.

500/1000/100, I open complete 73o in the SB, Lauren checks.

Flop Ks Js Jc, I check planning to call a bet and bluff river. She checks behind.

Turn 7c, I check, she bets 3000, I call.

River 9d, we check, I show my hand, and it’s good. Owen comments on my playing 73o and predicts that I won’t be giving a lot of walks.  Read the complete post...

This one of his first 4-bets, but this guy was very aggressive with his 3-bets pre-flop, and I had an inkling he was light. My hand isn’t a bad one to jam pre-flop, but I decided just to call and check-shove if I caught any piece. A gutshot, an overcard, and a backdoor flush draw looked good enough, and I’m not sure if the results speak well for my plan or not:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($7037.50)
Hero (BB) ($6200)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4, A
SB bets $100, Hero raises to $400, SB raises to $950, Hero calls $550

Flop: ($1900) Q, 2, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $950, Hero raises to $5250 (All-In), SB calls $4300

Turn: ($12400) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($12400) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $12400 | Rake: $1  Read the complete post...

I played this guy bawaa heads up on a couple of tables the other day. He played well and it was a wild match, with me taking an early lead, then getting stuck 6-7 buy-ins, then clawing my way back to even. After more than 1000 hands, I was up just $350 even though I ran several thousands dollars above EV. Remember though that that only counts all-in EV, and as you’ll see here, he had a couple of lucky catches himself.

When we were done playing we talked for a minute or two and he was really gracious. Even when his luck turned and he lost back all his winnings to, among other things, a few bad beats, he never complained or said anything but “nh”, and he was perfectly friendly when all was said and done. I invited him to come check out the blog, so bawaa, if you see this, leave me a comment!  Read the complete post...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $8.00 BB (3 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($816.20)
Hero (SB) ($2062.85)
BB ($2710)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 6
1 fold, Hero bets $32, BB calls $24

Flop: ($64) 5, 6, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $44, BB calls $44

Turn: ($152) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $96, Hero raises to $266, BB calls $170

River: ($684) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

Total pot: $684 | Rake: $1

Results:
Hero had A, 6 (two pair, sixes and fives).
BB had 7, 8 (straight, nine high).
Outcome: BB won $683

In a blind battle, I expect to be way ahead here even after getting called on the flop. It’s such a rare spot for me to check-raise that I expect Villain to bet not just floats but also any pair (which will be mostly 4’s and 6’s, rarely anything I’m behind) and maybe even Ace-high. If he 3-bets, I’m comfortable folding as he’ll have trips or better the vast majority of the time.  Read the complete post...

At a cash table, anyway. I’m sure I’ve sucked out a few times at the WSOP in pots that were worth a lot more than this in equity.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 BB (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($10690)
Hero (SB) ($14549)
BB ($25279)
UTG ($12963.50)
MP ($53395.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
UTG bets $240, 2 folds, Hero raises to $960, 1 fold, UTG raises to $2400, Hero raises to $14549 (All-In), UTG calls $10563.50 (All-In)

Flop: ($26007) K, 4, 8 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($26007) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($26007) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $26007 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had K, K (three of a kind, Kings).
UTG had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $26004  Read the complete post...

I believe I’m generally pretty good about not tilting, but for whatever reason some stuff was getting under my skin the other night. I felt like I’d been losing a lot of pots to bad luck, and though it’s hard for me to keep accurate track of how I’m doing across several tables over several hours, I felt like I was probably down a few buy-ins. What put me over the edge were these next two hands. They were played against the same player, in the same orbit, and I think they illustrate that I was already playing sub-optimally:

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

MP ($985)
CO ($1946.25)
Button ($1000)
SB ($1142.55)
BB ($1154)
Hero (UTG) ($2331.75)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, Q
Hero bets $40, 3 folds, SB raises to $88, 1 fold, Hero calls $48  Read the complete post...

100/200, very young kid in CO opens to 450, I call with Js 9s in SB, relatively bad German calls in the BB. Flop Q c Tc 5s. I consider leading out but decide to check, and we check it through. Turn is a blank, I bet 750, BB raises to 2K, CO folds, I think a long time and call with about 6K behind. River is the Ac, I shove pretty quickly, he folds disgustedly.

100/200, aggressive and very good guy raises to 450 UTG, I call next to act with Ac7c, same young kid from before calls in BB. Flop 7h 4h 2c. Checks to me, I bet 400, kid calls, original raiser folds. Turn 9c, kid checks, I bet 1100, he raises to 3500 with about 10K behind. After considerable thought, I call. river 9d, he bets 3500 pretty quickly, I call, he shows something random like Qd6d.  Read the complete post...

Playing in a pretty nitty 10/25 NL. UTG straddles for $50, gets two calls, I make it $275 to go with 7s 5s on my BB. Straddle folds, other two call. I’m playing about 7K, they both cover. Flop Qs 5d 5h. I bet $750, first player folds, the other one calls.

Turn is the 2s. With the deck crushed and my opponent’s stack in my sights, bet sizing is important here. I’m thinking he can have four types of hands:

a) Float/total air- Almost certainly folding to any bet, and not factoring into my decision.

b) Trips or better- Money’s probably going in no matter what, so doesn’t matter.

c) One pair Queens or better- Probably not folding but not raising either. I think he’ll pay off with these on the river for anything up to a pot-sized bet.  Read the complete post...