Posts Tagged ‘deep stacks’

Versus a Scandi, no less!

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1507.85)
Hero (BB) ($1405.25)
UTG ($1047)
MP1 ($1395)
MP2 ($1000)
CO ($808)
Button ($1741.25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 5
5 folds, SB bets $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) 8, 6, K (2 players)
SB bets $40, Hero raises to $105, SB calls $65

Turn: ($270) 10 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($270) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $270, SB raises to $1372.85 (All-In), Hero calls $1000.25 (All-In)

Total pot: $2810.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had Q, 10 (flush, Ace high).
Hero had J, 5 (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: SB won $2807.50  Read the complete post...

75/150 I limp UTG with Ac Qc. Folds to the SB, who completes, and BB checks.

Flop Js Td 9s. Checks to me, I bet 300, SB calls. I think he can have any pair and even a few draws that I’m beating.

Turn 2d. He checks, I bet 900 expecting him to fold anything worse than a pair of Jacks that doesn’t also have a draw.

River 6h. He checks, I bet 1400 expecting him to fold most of his one pair hands. He calls with J9, which is fine.

75/150, I have been very tight but choose to raise to 450 with Jc9c in MP. Jon calls on my left, bad player calls on the CO, spazzy guy calls on the Button, blinds fold.

Flop Js Td 8s. Checks around to button, who bets 600. I call, the others fold.

Turn 6c, we both check.  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...

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’m a little late in mentioning this, but my latest poker strategy article, “Thinking Ahead”, is now appearing in the February issue of 2+2 Magazine. I’m a little frustrated that I couldn’t find a way to express myself quite as clearly as I would have liked, but I believe there’s some pretty valuable information in there if you take the time to digest it:

What many players do not fully appreciate, though, is the extent to which planning ahead can inform your ranges for the current decision point. In other words, players will ask, “What is the best plan for this hand?” when they ought to ask, “Given that I will sometimes check-fold, sometimes bluff the flop and then check-fold turn, and sometimes bluff by betting flop and shoving turn, with which hands should I execute each plan?”  Read the complete post...

I posted the other day about a sexy river check-raise that resulted in my opponent abruptly quitting on me, up about a buyin and a half. He found me Sunday and we played two tables of heads up for 4-5 hours. Initially, I was owning him. He was opening 100% of his buttons for a min-raise but had folded to 100% of 3-bets for the first hour or so. Naturally I ramped up the aggression, won every small pot, and got some big hands paid off. At my peak, I was up 7 buy-ins on him. I felt like I had the better grasp on the gameflow and was adjusting to him faster than he was adjusting to me, which is exactly what you need in a heads up game. Here are a few hands where I owned him:

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

When starting a session last night, I noticed that there were two 40/80 games going with several players whose names I did recognize. That’s usually a good sign, so I snatched up the last open seat at each and played a few hands while googling the unfamiliar screen names.

It turns out I didn’t recognize these guys because they are regulars in games so big I don’t even keep an eye on them to see if they’re ever worth playing. One guy was described as a “regular” at 300/600, which doesn’t even run regularly, so I’m not sure whether one can really be called a regular in them. In any event, I decided these weren’t actually games I wanted to play in.

In the meantime, though, I picked up some cards and won some big pots, including this one:

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