Posts Tagged ‘pot control’

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?

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($3829.50)
BB ($1000)
Hero (UTG) ($4795.55)
MP ($1490)
Button ($2152.50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, Q
Hero bets $40, MP raises to $120, 3 folds, Hero calls $80

Flop: ($262.50) 5, J, Q (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $140, Hero calls $140

Turn: ($542.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $330, Hero calls $330

River: ($1202.50) K (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

Total pot: $1202.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
MP had K, A (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $1199.50

On the river, there’s about $1000 left in Villain’s stack, so less than a pot-sized bet. I see a lot of people shove here, but I actually like his check back. It’s not what I expected, and in fact part of the reason I was slowplaying was that I thought he’d probably value bet quite a few worse hands on the river. If he’s checking AK and presumably AA here, though, I’m not sure if that means I should play my hand faster. I guess I could see check-raising the flop, but with his turn bet sizing, I doubt he’s calling a check-shove there.

Villain is Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham. He’s got a bracelet from the 2008 WSOP PLO $10K, but I don’t know how his PLO8 game is.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t5430)
BB (t4450)
UTG (t2960)
UTG+1 (t2520)
MP1 (t5635)
Hero (MP2) (t3005)
CO (t2945)
Button (t3055)

Hero’s M: 66.78

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 2, 4, K, 3
3 folds, Hero bets t90, 1 fold, Button calls t90, 2 folds

Flop: (t225) 3, K, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t155, Button calls t155

Turn: (t535) K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: (t535) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t295, Hero raises to t1060, Button calls t765

Total pot: t2655

Results:
Button mucked A, Q, 10, A (Hi: two pair, Aces and Kings).
Hero had 2, 4, K, 3 (Hi: full house, Kings over threes).
Outcome: Hero won t2655

Yes, I’m aware that this a pretty crappy hand and a questionable pre-flop raise. Let’s just focus on the river sexiness.  Read the complete post...

I was about halfway through last night’s session, and a lot of the 6-max games I was in were kinda bad. I was at the end of a few long waiting lists, but mostly there just weren’t many good games going at the time.

I’d been sitting alone, waiting for action as usual, at a few heads up tables. Really wanting to play some heads up, I got aggressive and tried to sit with a few people who were definitely going to sit out against me. They sat out. I sat with a few randoms. They mostly sat out, a few played long enough to look me up on OPR or whatever before sitting out, one played just his button and sat out (total douche move), and one played for a few minutes until I tried to sit at a second of his tables. Then he sat out on both.

I even tried sitting with a few regs who are probably better than I am, figuring I might as well challenge myself, but to my surprise even they sat out. Finally, a guy I recognized from higher stakes sat across from me at 10/20 deep. It had been over a year since we played heads up, but I’ve seen him as high as 50/100, and I am pretty confident he’s solidly better than I am. After warning him that I not play for long, I sat in and we played one table of 10/20 and one of 5/10.  Read the complete post...

I didn’t play the $25K, but the $2500 was plenty big enough for me. Emily and I even rearranged Easter brunch plans so that I could play it, which turned out to be a huge disappointment, as I lasted fewer than ten minutes against AJKHoosier1, my first round opponent. Obviously one of the most respected tournament players online was no slouch, but he also seemed to be running pretty hot. To wit:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t4975)
Button (t5025)

Hero’s M: 66.33

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3, K
Button bets t100, Hero calls t50

Flop: (t200) 6, 2, J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t125, Hero calls t125

Turn: (t450) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: (t450) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t250, Button calls t250

Total pot: t950

Results:
Button had J, 4 (two pair, Jacks and sixes).
Hero had 3, K (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: Button won t950

This might not seem like “running hot”, but the outcome of run-of-the-mill spots like this often determine the winner of a heads up tournament between two good players. The variance is through the room. This is just a standard spot where his range ought to be ridiculously wide, I turn my hand into a bluff on the river to knock out Ax and better Kx, and he has top pair.  Read the complete post...

I even knew they were putting a cap on registration for these, but I waited until the last minute to register anyway. Both the $150 (at 1000) and the $1500 (at freaking 100) buy-in events were locked, so I played the $15 for a lark. I don’t know if it was locked at 10K, but it got damn near that, with more than 9000 runners. I saw the field in the $1500 and was kind of glad I didn’t play it, though it presumably would have been softer with a larger field.

The structure was great and the opposition terrible, so with a lot of patience I was able to grind my way through my first table with no real difficulty. I roll my eyes whenever Daniel Negreanu mentions “small ball”, but against a weak field it really is an awesome strategy. No one was playing back at me ever, so I just stole like a demon pre- and post-flop without ever putting much at risk until I had a huge hand. The few times I did, I lost one big flip with AQ vs. 66 against a guy who limp-shoved on me from the SB (that one I think was mandatory) and when I reshoved 99 into KK (and probably I should have just folded pre-flop, even four-handed to a CO raise, given stacks, reads, etc.).  Read the complete post...

Most players just don’t know how to execute a good bluff raise on the river and won’t even try, and I probably play the Hero a little more than I should in “good spots” that my opponents probably don’t even recognize. This was against a smarter opponent, though, and while he doesn’t make a lot of moves, I caught him here:

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

MP ($840)
CO ($1099.85)
Button ($1910.10)
SB ($2159)
BB ($796)
Hero (UTG) ($2323)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K
Hero bets $35, 3 folds, SB calls $30, 1 fold

Flop: ($80) 4, 3, 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $55, SB calls $55

Turn: ($190) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($190) 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $155, SB raises to $555, Hero calls $400

Total pot: $1300 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had 7, 7 (two pair, sevens and fours).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and fours).
Outcome: Hero won $1297

First off, this is a decent spot for him to bluff. My hand is pretty clearly defined as an overpair or worse. Since he’s representing a flush or full house, my hand is just a bluff catcher, and as I said, most people just don’t check-raise bluff the river as much as they should.  Read the complete post...

It’s embarrassing how, after three years of playing poker very seriously, I’m still affected so dramatically by short-term results. For two weeks, I was getting brutalized, doubting my instincts, and not playing my best. Then I have one big day and I’m back to making good reads and following through on them.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($1168.50)
Button ($1144)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 8
Button raises to $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) 9, J, 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $30, Hero raises to $88, Button calls $58

Turn: ($236) J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($236) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $175, Hero calls $175

Total pot: $586 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had 8, Q (one pair, Jacks).
Hero had A, 8 (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $585.50

This one isn’t anything special, but it’s a spot where I probably would have folded last week. When you’re running bad, you always think they have it. But really, I think his value betting range, at least for a bet of this size, is like K9+. And the best hands in that range probably bet the turn. Throw in the fact that some draws missed and that he’s probably floating pretty wide on the flop, and this is practically a standard river call.  Read the complete post...