Posts Tagged ‘deep stacks’

I was inundated with requests for reviews over the holidays, so I asked a friend if he’d be interested in taking one of them. Thus, the review for Nathan Williams’ Crushing the Micro-Stakes can be found on Gareth Chantler’s blog. If you read the comments here on Thinking Poker, you know that Gareth’s got a great poker mind and expresses himself well, so I think you’ll enjoy his review, and I assure you that you can trust his opinion.

While you’re there, check out some of Gareth’s other posts as well. Like mine, his blog is a nice mix of strategy content and anecdotes from his travels. Gareth, originally from Canada, is currently backpacking through South America while playing a mix of live and online poker. He’s got some fascinating and funny stories that are well worth the read.

To understand this week’s hand, you have to understand the psychology of a certain type of live player. I’m not the most experienced live player myself, but I do think I’m quite good at understanding what and how my opponents think, and I’ve encountered more than a few of these guys in my time.

They don’t appreciate the variance in poker, and their first goal is to not lose, even if it means a lower overall win rate (not that they think about it in exactly those terms). They hate losing big pots and assume that if they do they must have done something wrong. Usually that something was, in their minds, either overvaluing or failing to protect a good hand. They’ll attribute both of these supposed mistakes to “getting greedy”.

The objective of these players is really to make big hands more than induce to mistakes, balance their play, or anything like that. Some commenters  question whether Villain would limp-call 87s. This may be questionable strategically, but I think you will see it quite a bit from live nits, especially when deep. They aren’t going to raise with it because they want to see the flop cheaply, but they don’t consider it a trouble hand the way they might ATo or KJo or something.  Read the complete post...

This week’s WYP is based on a hand I witnessed during a rare live cash session at the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, West Virginia. Rare for me, that is- the Hollywood has a surprisingly large and active poker room.

Hero and Villain are both regulars at the casino but don’t have significant history together. Villain is a quiet Asian guy in his early 20′s. He always borders on nitty and is especially so today because he’s playing 5/10 rather than his usual 2/5. He’s up on the session and seems inclined to keep it that way.

Hero is a white 40-something small business owner. Villain probably perceives him as tighter and less creative than he is but also knows him to be a winner in the game. He still has roughly the $2000 he bought in for, and Villain covers.

Villain open limps for $10 in early position. Hero raises to $50 with Td Th two off the button, everyone else folds, and Villain calls.

Flop comes 9c 6c 2h. Villain checks and calls $80.

Turn is the Ts. Villain checks, Hero bets $200, and Villain raises to $700. He is suddenly jittery, bouncing a bit in his seat and hands shaking as he pushes out his raise. Pot is $1160, and Hero has about $1600 still in his stack. What’s your play?  Read the complete post...

This week’s WYP didn’t prove too controversial, but it generated some good discussion nonetheless. I must say that I’m a little disappointed more of you weren’t tempted to make the same mistake I did:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2845.40)
BB ($1543.40)
UTG ($798.80)
Hero (MP) ($1573.80)
CO ($2739.30)
Button ($664.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q♥, K♥
UTG bets $18, Hero calls $18, 2 folds, SB calls $15, BB calls $12

Flop: ($79.20) K♠, Q♦, 7♥ (4 players)
SB bets $39, 1 fold, UTG calls $39, Hero raises to $159.90, SB calls $120.90, 1 fold

Turn: ($438) 9♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($438) 4♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $284.25, SB raises to $2666.30 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $1006.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB didn’t show
Outcome: SB won $1003.50

I think the consensus among the commenters is correct and checking is better. Even at the time part of me was thinking it wouldn’t be easy to get called by worse and I could get raised by both better and worse. But, like Fuel55, I then told myself that checking top two would be too weak. Nate made the case for checking very well:  Read the complete post...

This hand occurred at a PokerStars deep table, meaning that the maximum buyin is $1500 and there’s an ante ($0.60 I believe) in addition to the blinds. I’ve never seen Villain before, but he seems both very aggressive and very good. He’s 36/21 with 8% 3-bet. I haven’t seen him take much to showdown (which is in itself an indication of skill), but he’s consistently bet and raised in what seem like good spots. I’ll be happy to answer questions about why I played the way I did before the river, but I’m going to wait until Friday when I post the results so as not to give away anything about my own thinking. You’ve got top two on the river: what’s your play?

No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Hold’em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2845.40)
BB ($1543.40)
UTG ($798.80)
Hero (MP) ($1573.80)
CO ($2739.30)
Button ($664.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q♥, K♥
UTG bets $18, Hero calls $18, 2 folds, SB calls $15, BB calls $12

Flop: ($72) K♠, Q♦, 7♥ (4 players)
SB bets $39, 1 fold, UTG calls $39, Hero raises $159.90, SB calls $120.90, 1 fold

Turn: ($430.80) 9♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($430.80) 4♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero?

I’ve now got three Thinking Poker Tournament Seminars under the belt, and they keep getting better every time. The next seminar will be held at 11AM Eastern time on Monday, December 19. The topic will be Advanced Flop Fundamentals, and it will take one of my most popular PokerSavvy Plus video series as a starting point on which to build more advanced skills. This seminar will include a free one-month subscription to PokerSavvy Plus.

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 about alternatives to the continuation bet, how to deal with donk bets, when to slowplay, and how correct flop play varies with stack and pot size. My Flop Fundamentals video series will be required viewing in advance of the seminar, because everything we discuss will build on those concepts while getting more in-depth and sophisticated. Playing common flop spots well is essential to tournament success, so you don’t want to miss this seminar!  Read the complete post...

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...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($819.50)
Hero (SB) ($1000)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♥, J♣
Hero bets $9.60, BB calls $5.60

Flop: ($20.80) 2♠, 5♣, 5♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($20.80) K♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($20.80) A♠ (2 players)
BB bets $12, Hero calls $12

Total pot: $44.80 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 6♥, J♣ (one pair, fives).
BB had 8♦, 10♥ (one pair, fives).
Outcome: Hero won $44.30

With my line, it looks a lot like I have either A-high trying to showdown cheaply or air that I declined to bluff. In either case, I’m likely to bet the river. Thus, it doesn’t really make that much sense for Villain to bet if he paired the Ace, and it makes even less sense for him to try to value bet a K. There’s also not much point in bluffing if he has Q-high, so my Jack starts looking pretty good.

Of course this all falls apart if Villain realizes how FOS his river bet will look and expects me to call with J-high