Posts Tagged ‘hero call’

Villain had high Attempt to Steal and post-flop aggression. I debated 3-betting, since I’m well ahead of his pre-flop range, but I didn’t want to fold to a 4-bet, and I think getting it in pre is kinda light. It’s probably slightly +EV, but I hate giving away the advantage of position by just shoveling all the money in immediately. I’d say I was able to achieve a better outcome:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t6200)
MP2 (t4885)
MP3 (t18909)
CO (t8649)
Button (t9197)
SB (t18572)
Hero (BB) (t8618)
UTG (t4020)
UTG+1 (t10725)

Hero’s M: 17.95

Preflop: Hero is BB with K♣, Q♣
7 folds, SB bets t400, Hero calls t200

Flop: (t980) 2♣, A♣, 9♠ (2 players)
SB bets t400, Hero calls t400

Turn: (t1780) 10♥ (2 players)
SB bets t600, Hero calls t600

River: (t2980) 2♠ (2 players)
SB bets t1400, Hero calls t1400

Total pot: t5780

Results:
SB had Q♦, J♠ (one pair, twos).
Hero had K♣, Q♣ (one pair, twos).
Outcome: Hero won t5780  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

We had an interesting discussion in last week’s Extracting Value seminar about slowplaying on wet boards (i.e. when there are a fair number of draws possible). It’s overall not a great idea, but I do advocate doing it with often with top set. Good hand readers don’t expect you to slowplay on such boards, and consequently they won’t give you credit for a big hand on future streets. Thus, I like to have a few strong hands in my checking range, and top set is usually a good candidate. Even if an opponent makes a flush or straight on the turn, top set has a lot of outs, and you usually aren’t missing out on a flop bet since it’s hard for an opponent to have a second best hand.

This isn’t the best example of a wet flop, but it is a good example of an opponent refusing to give me credit because I checked the flop:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 162 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 40 Ante (5 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t13725)
Hero (UTG) (t6371)
MP (t9263)
Button (t14823)
SB (t15087)

Hero’s M: 9.80

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 10♣, 10♦
Hero bets t750, 3 folds, BB calls t450

Flop: (t1850) 10♥, 5♥, 2♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks  Read the complete post...

Ethics for Sale

Some of you may have heard that Phil Hellmuth overslept yesterday morning and was getting blinded off in the tournament. Apparently Mike Matusow called security at Phil’s hotel and got them to enter his room and wake him up. I didn’t know any of this at the time, but I was still at my starting table with Russel Rosenblum and Sorel Mizzi when Phil came dashing into the Amazon room, with a floorman shouting after him about whether he knew which table he was going to.

Russel: I wonder if the floor is going to scurry to get me to my seat if I show up late.
Me: I don’t understand why Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke aren’t getting the kind of shit that the Full Tilt guys are getting.
Russel: I don’t want to say too much here, but Phil and Annie are just paid spokespeople, whereas the Full Tilt guys may have been somewhat more that that.
Sorel: That’s… putting it very carefully.
Me: Yes, sorry, I know that. I guess I misspoke. I do understand why they don’t get as much shit as Lederer, but people still put money on UB because Phil and Annie were endorsing them, and those people are never going to see that money. I just don’t think Phil and Annie should be getting invited on stage at the WSOP like they’re the best and brightest in the poker world.
Sorel: But they’re just sponsors. They aren’t on the inside. They don’t know anything more about what’s going on behind the scenes than you do.
Me: Based on what I knew, I wouldn’t have worn a UB patch.
Sorel: But come on, if they are just throwing money at you…  Read the complete post...

Now that the WSOP is in full-swing, many players will be taking a shot or two at events well above their usual buy-in levels. This can be a great opportunity, because the $1000 and $1500 NLHE events attract hundreds of players weaker than what you’d see in an average $20 MTT on PokerStars.

What sets these tournaments apart is that, unlike the $20 donkament, they also attract some of the best tournament players in the world. This means that if you run bad at table drawing, you could end up with David Baker or Tony Dunst on your left. Understandably, this is a stressful thought for less experienced players considering these events. I have a couple of pieces of advice for these players:

1. Take Advantage of the Opportunity. Presumably part of the reason you are playing this tournament is for the experience of playing at the WSOP. Well, part of that experience is butting heads with the best of the world. Of course you’d rather watch them from afar than from their immediate right, but you can’t control that now. Observe them closely and try to pick up a few things that you can add to your own game. Even if they end up taking your chips, at least you’ll have learned something in the process.  Read the complete post...

I’ve been taking a beating in heads up games recently. There were one or two cases of bad game selection, but for the most part I don’t think I’ve playing or running all that badly. I’m losing to people against whom I’m pretty confident I have an edge, not because of bad luck or consistently bad play, but because I keep making like one big mistake per match. And the thing is, no matter how well you play 99% of your hands, you can’t afford to make a 100BB+ mistake, not even once. That just isn’t a handicap you can overcome.

Here was tonight’s. I was up about four buy-ins across on this guy across all the tables we were playing when this happened:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($8949.50)
BB ($28887)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7, 10
Hero bets $100, BB raises to $375, Hero raises to $950, BB calls $575

Flop: ($1900) 9, 6, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $699, BB raises to $2750, Hero raises to $7999.50 (All-In), BB calls $5249.50

Turn: ($17899) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($17899) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $17899 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 7, 10 (one pair, sixes).
BB had Q, 8 (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: BB won $17898.50  Read the complete post...

I know, I know, it’s not really that exciting. I believe this is the first time I’ve correctly called with J-high on the river, though!

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($17416.75)
Hero (BB) ($10049)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, J
SB calls $25, Hero checks

Flop: ($100) 9, Q, 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: ($100) A (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

River: ($100) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $50, Hero calls $50

Total pot: $200 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB had 7, 8 (one pair, threes).
Hero had 2, J (one pair, threes).
Outcome: Hero won $199.50

Edit: Fixed the title. Was thinking this was 3/6, not 4/8.

First, the appetizer:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $8.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($780)
Hero (BB) ($2215.50)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, 9
SB bets $24, Hero calls $16

Flop: ($48) 9, 7, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: ($48) A (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $28, Hero calls $28

River: ($104) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $75, Hero calls $75

Total pot: $254 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB had 3, 4 (high card, Ace).
Hero had 10, 9 (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $253.50

And now, the main course:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $8.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($1338.90)
MP ($2520)
Button ($471.40)
Hero (SB) ($3060.10)
BB ($800)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
UTG calls $8, MP bets $36, 1 fold, Hero raises to $136, 2 folds, MP calls $100

Flop: ($288) 8, 3, 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $199, MP raises to $468, Hero calls $269

Turn: ($1224) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $625, Hero calls $625

River: ($2474) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $1291 (All-In), Hero calls $1291

Total pot: $5056 | Rake: $3  Read the complete post...