Posts Tagged ‘river check-raise’

I expect Villain’s flop raise to be his only barrel if he is bluffing. That is, he’s usually going to check down his air and bet only if the river improves his hand to one that beats mine.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (4 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($709.80)
BB ($4005.10)
UTG ($413)
Button ($798.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, 7
2 folds, Hero bets $16, BB calls $12

Flop: ($32) 9, 7, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $24, BB raises to $72, Hero calls $48

Turn: ($176) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

River: ($176) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $124, Hero raises to $621.80 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $424 | Rake: $2

Results:
Hero didn’t show K, 7 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $422  Read the complete post...

The second installment of my trip report from the main event of the 2010 World Series of Poker, covering Days 3 and 4, has just been published in the September issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:

I came into Day 4 with a monster stack relative to the field. I had over 500,000 chips, when the average was about 180,000, ranking me 27th among the more than 1,200 players who remained. Day 4 was a particularly good day for this, as it was also the day that would separate the players who would win nothing from those who would take home at least $19,000. With 747 players to be paid, no one wanted to be eliminated in 748th place (or 762nd, for that matter), which meant that most people were playing more conservatively than usual.  Read the complete post...

The problem: I’ve usually got the best hand, but I don’t think a bet is getting called by worse.

The solution: Bet small and call the check-raise.

The catch: They always have it.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($5810)
SB ($5107)
BB ($13717)
UTG ($10095)
MP ($5000)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, Q
UTG bets $150, 1 fold, Hero calls $150, 2 folds

Flop: ($375) 9, 8, Q (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($375) K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $123, UTG calls $123

River: ($621) 10 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $222, UTG raises to $1140, Hero calls $918

Total pot: $2901 | Rake: $2

Results:
Hero mucked K, Q (two pair, Kings and Queens).
UTG had J, Q (straight, King high).
Outcome: UTG won $2899  Read the complete post...

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

MP ($2234.75)
CO ($350)
Button ($1000)
SB ($2029)
BB ($3622.05)
Hero (UTG) ($1183)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, J
Hero bets $40, 2 folds, Button calls $40, 2 folds

Flop: ($95) Q, 2, J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $60, Hero calls $60

Turn: ($215) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($215) 2 (2 players)

Hero checks, Button bets $155, Hero raises to $680, 1 fold

Total pot: $525 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero didn’t show A, J (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $522

Granted I don’t rep much, but it’s also very hard to put me on a hand that needs to bluff, and TAGfish don’t like to hero call. FWIW my Jack is good on the river about 10% of the time when he bets- calling is not an option.

What a run. In the last two days I’ve 20x’ed my chips without ever seeing TT, QQ, KK, or AA. I did have AK quite a few times today, though, and I connected with a few flops when it counted.

I stole more than my share of pots for a few hands, then made a questionable 4-bet shove with AKo. UTG+1 had raised to 2500, and I called with AKo next to his act. Then Brian Jensen re-raised to 8500, the raiser folded, and I shoved like 55K. He snap-called with KK, and then though I turned a flush draw, I couldn’t get there on the river. I probably should have just 3-bet the original raiser, and that would have had the added advantage of being able to get away if Brian cold 4-bet. Anyway, that didn’t help.  Read the complete post...

I get a lot of questions/comments about my underbetting, which is understandable since it’s one of the more non-standard plays in my arsenal. I think this hand illustrates one of the many advantages of such a play, which is inducing spazziness from hands that otherwise wouldn’t give you action.

Villain is extremely aggressive, and up to this point I’d been letting him push me off of a lot of small pots:

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

BB ($419.10)
Hero (SB) ($428)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6, 6
Hero bets $12, BB raises to $38, Hero calls $26

Flop: ($76) 6, K, 5 (2 players)
BB bets $52, Hero calls $52

Turn: ($180) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($180) 10 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $68, BB raises to $329.10 (All-In), Hero calls $261.10  Read the complete post...

I like PLO8 and know a bit about it, but I’m far from an expert. I also played the $100, in which I was surely a favorite, but the 1K had a surprisingly competent field (or maybe not so surprising- I mean it was a 1K). Not that there wasn’t any bad play, but I may well have been a dog to the field.

I decided that at least in the early stages of the tournament, I was going to limp in EP with anything I wanted to play. Villain here had been isolating me a lot, so I decided to check-raise him on this flop- not sure if that’s good or nto.

Poker Stars $1000+$50 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament – t15/t30 Blinds – 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter  Read the complete post...

I ended up doing quite well in this one, finishing 5th out of more than 1400 runners. On the whole it was a lot of fun to play so short-handed and I felt I played well, but a monumental error in my final hand left a bad taste in my mouth.

The thing about a 4-max tournament is that you have to play a lot of pots with everyone at your table; there’s no avoiding anyone. That’s good news if you’re the best player at the table, but bad news if even one of the others is better than you, especially if he knows it and takes full advantage of it.

Call me cocky, but I feel like I’m a favorite over a huge percent of the field in a $300 SCOOP event, and sure enough I dominated the first few tables I was at. That gameplan ran into a brickwall when I ended up at a table with ZeeJustin and a high-stakes PLO player who also played very well. Suddenly I was the third best player at the table and was getting killed.  Read the complete post...