Posts Tagged ‘heads up’

One of the cooler hands from my time splashing around in the small stakes:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $1.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($100.50)
BB ($51)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K♦, Q♠
Hero bets $2, BB calls $1

Flop: ($4) 5♣, 10♥, 2♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4) 7♥ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.85, BB calls $1.85

River: ($7.70) 4♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.65, BB raises to $10, Hero raises to $30.05, 1 fold

Total pot: $27.70 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero didn’t show K♦, Q♠ (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $27.20

Dipping into the archives to bring you some poker content…

Villain and I were starting a game. He’s pretty solid and not someone I’d ordinarily go out of my way to play heads up, especially not at 2/4 where there’s easier competition available.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($402)
BB ($400)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Qd, Kd.
Hero raises to $12, BB raises to $44, Hero calls $32.

Flop: ($88) 5s, 2h, Jd (2 players)
BB bets $52, Hero calls $52.

Turn: ($192) Td (2 players)
BB bets $162, Hero raises to $306, BB folds.

Final Pot: $660
Results in white below:
No showdown. Hero wins $660.

The key to floating successfully against a good player is having a lot of turn cards that improve your hand (or that you’ll be comfortable continuing on, anyway). I happen to get a particularly good one, but here that could be any A, K, Q, T, 9, or diamond.

I specify “against a good player”, because it’s much easier against someone who will just bet the flop and then give up if he has nothing. In those cases it doesn’t matter terribly much what you have, but against a good player who will fire second barrels with a good frequency, you need to have a hand that plays well on a lot of turns.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($1000)
BB ($3855.15)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8s, Ts.
Hero raises to $30, BB calls $20.

Flop: ($60) 8c, 5d, Qd (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $44.6, BB calls $44.60.

Turn: ($149.20) 8h (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $96.5, BB raises to $230, Hero calls $133.50.

River: ($609.20) Ah (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $221.5, BB calls $221.50.

Final Pot: $1052.20

Results in white below:
BB has Kd 9d (one pair, eights).
Hero has 8s Ts (three of a kind, eights).
Outcome: Hero wins $1052.20.

I put Villain on a draw but flatted the turn expecting that he would bluff missed rivers. Clearly I was wrong about that part, but I’m pretty happy that I got him to “snap me off” with K-high.

His river checking range consists of draws/bluffs that are giving up and huge hands that are never folding no matter how much I bet. Most of the latter actually beat my hand, though they are very much in the minority.  Read the complete post...

First hand is a very relevant bit of recent history:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($1153.70)
Button ($752.10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Th, Jh.
Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, Button calls $30.

Flop: ($84) Qc, 7d, 9h (2 players)
Hero bets $68.6, Button calls $68.60.

Turn: ($221.20) 2h (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

River: ($221.20) Kh (2 players)
Hero bets $165.5, Button raises to $641.5, Hero calls $476.

Final Pot: $1504.20

Results in white below:
Hero has Th Jh (flush, king high).
Button has 3h 7h (flush, king high).
Outcome: Hero wins $1504.20.

Obviously I was looking to check-raise-shove the turn, and I think Villain probably realized that when the hand went to showdown. About 10 minutes later, this hand came up, and I thought that given that last hand he would probably bet-call his J’s and maybe even T’s on the turn, so I again went for a check-raise:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($1922.40)
Button ($675)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Kh, Kc.
Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, Button calls $30.

Flop: ($84) 4d, Js, Ts (2 players)
Hero bets $68.6, Button calls $68.60.  Read the complete post...

This was the first and only hand I played with Villain, he just sat with a random amount that was probably all he had in his account:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($1000)
Button ($573.55)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Jh, 4d.
Button calls $5, Hero checks.

Flop: ($20) 4c, Kh, 4h (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $20, Hero calls $20.

Turn: ($60) 5d (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $543.55 (All-In), Hero calls $543.55.

River: ($1147.10) 8d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $1147.10

Results in white below:

Hero has Jh 4d (three of a kind, fours).

Button has 9s Qd (one pair, fours).

Outcome: Hero wins $1147.10.

I’m posting three hands tonight, all of them against the same Villain. I’d just stacked him for the second time, and after that he bought in for just 30 BB’s, won a sizable pot, and then started donking a lot of flops. In the first two, I made some biggish folds on the river. Despite that, or in fact because of it, I think that I ought to have folded the third as well. I’ll talk about why when we get to it:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($3484)
BB ($455.25)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7s, Kh.
Hero raises to $20, BB calls $10.

Flop: ($40) 2d, 3d, Kd (2 players)
BB bets $30, Hero calls $30.

Turn: ($100) Qh (2 players)
BB bets $80, Hero calls $80.

River: ($260) Qc (2 players)
BB bets $325.25 (All-In), Hero folds.

Final Pot: $585.25

Results in white below:

BB doesn’t show.

Outcome: BB wins $585.25.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($3373.50)
BB ($564.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Jh, 3d.
Hero raises to $20, BB calls $10.

Flop: ($40) 8s, Jc, 6s (2 players)
BB bets $30, Hero calls $30.  Read the complete post...

Thanks to everyone who played in the inaugural Thinking Poker cash game last night. We had our share of technical difficulties:

1. When I set the stakes at $.10/$.25 and 100-250BB buy-in, I somehow thought that would mean a $2.50-$6.25 buy-in range. Of course it’s actually 10x that, so we ended up playing for larger stakes than I was envisioning. Sorry for those who were turned off by that, but we still had about 10 people drop in over the course of the night.

2. At one point, I was trying to open a second table and accidentally closed the one we had filled. Apologies to everyone who was confused or inconvenienced by this.

Nevertheless, we had a good time. The next game will be at a more Euro-friendly time: 13:00 ET on Saturday, 3/5. Of course anyone’s welcome to play, but since it’s timed to accommodate our European friends, we’ll be playing $.05/$.10 PLO.

Several people asked me if there’s any prize for winning (or losing) the most in the cash games. There isn’t, but last night at least I personally left a lot of money on the table that a few lucky (what else could it have been?) participants managed to carry off:  Read the complete post...

Villain was pretty disbelieving of me and wasn’t making a lot of what I call “disciplined folds”, meaning that in small- to medium-sized pots he usually called any time his hand was defined as medium-strength rather than trying to figure out my value bet vs. bluffing frequency. I also think he bets most of his Q’s on the flop, so while he could easily have a 6, I wouldn’t be shocked to get looked up by A-high either.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($799.50)
Button ($648.20)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Jc, Jh.
Button raises to $8, Hero raises to $32, Button calls $24.

Flop: ($64) Qh, 6h, 2c (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($64) 5s (2 players)
Hero bets $47.6, Button calls $47.60.

River: ($159.20) 6s (2 players)
Hero bets $119, Button calls $119.

Final Pot: $397.20
Results in white below:
Hero has Jc Jh (two pair, jacks and sixes).
Button has 7h 7s (two pair, sevens and sixes).
Outcome: Hero wins $397.20.