I was not playing very well on Saturday, and it showed through in my results. I think I’m pretty good at letting bad beats and unlucky cards roll off my back, but I have a lot more trouble getting over a session where I played badly. Obviously a few mistakes can cost me quite a good deal of money, and it can be tilting to think how much could have been saved if I’d only…
Anyway, there were three key losses in these tournaments (I played the mini-FTOPS $250 as well). Here’s how I busted from the $2500. I don’t know for sure, and it’s not particularly relevant, but I’ve heard that MP2 was Dmitri Nobles. I don’t think this is awful, but it’s not good either:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
MP2: 4,918
CO: 6,392
BTN: 2,862
SB: 6,260
Hero (BB): 4,310
UTG: 11,155
UTG+1: 2,120
UTG+2: 10,217
MP1: 11,918
Pre-Flop: (75) K
A
dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, MP2 raises to 150, CO calls 150, 2 folds, Hero raises to 750, MP2 folds, CO calls 600
Flop: (1,675) Q
2 T
(2 Players)
Hero bets 660, CO calls 660
Turn: (2,995) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 2,900 and is All-In, CO calls 2,900
River: (8,795) 7 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
Results: 8,795 Pot
CO showed Q Q (three of a kind, Queens) and WON 8,795 (+4,485 NET)
Hero showed K A (Ace King high) and LOST (-4,310 NET)
This one, which cost me a big stack in the $250, may look the worst, but actually I think I would play it the same again:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG+2: 8,807
MP1: 6,110
MP2: 3,765
CO: 3,755
Hero (BTN): 10,244
SB: 3,640
BB: 6,201
UTG: 5,675
UTG+1: 13,823
Pre-Flop: (120) A Q dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP1 raises to 240, 2 folds, Hero calls 240, SB folds, BB calls 160
Flop: (760) 7 A K (3 Players)
BB checks, MP1 bets 400, Hero calls 400, BB folds
Turn: (1,560) 7 (2 Players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks
River: (1,560) J (2 Players)
MP1 bets 640, Hero raises to 9,604 and is All-In, MP1 calls 4,830 and is All-In
Results: 12,500 Pot
MP1 showed 8 9 (a flush, King high) and WON 12,500 (+6,390 NET)
Hero showed A Q (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and LOST (-6,110 NET)
It’s very unlikely my hand is good on the river, but there’s good reason to think Villain is on something like AJ/KJ. The river shove is a bit of an overbet, but that may be what it takes to get a bad player off of two pair. They perceive a huge difference, perhaps not wrongly, between a lot of their chips and all of their chips. It sucks that he had a flush, but there’s really very little reason to think he can call a shove here.
This one, on the other hand, is shamefully bad:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG+1: 8,687
MP1: 12,300
MP2: 3,795
CO: 2,115
Hero (BTN): 3,705
SB: 11,181
BB: 11,110
UTG: 9,127
Pre-Flop: (150) T T dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 300, 3 folds, Hero calls 300, 2 folds
Flop: (750) 8 3 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 400, Hero calls 400
Turn: (1,550) 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 1,000, Hero raises to 3,005 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 2,005
River: (7,560) A (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
Results: 7,560 Pot
UTG+1 showed Q Q (two pair, Queens and Sevens) and WON 7,560 (+3,855 NET)
Hero showed T T (two pair, Tens and Sevens) and LOST (-3,705 NET)
I’ve seen Villain overvalue hands before, but that’s no justification for this.
The TT is much better played than the AQ. With the TT, he could have hearts or just two-barrelling or whatever, your stack is much smaller rel to pot size. OTOH, your AQ is way too underrepresented to turn into a bluff by this river. Creative, but ridiculous.
I find the second hand a bit weird. If he IS on the flush draw he’s got you nailed when you attempt the bluff. He knows you pretty much can’t have anything that beats him. AA, KK are out of your range (I suspect you three bet them pretty much always) and even if you slowplay you’re not checking turn. J10h maybe but then the Jack hits on the river. KQh again I doubt you would play flop + turn that way. So I really think you could have picked a better spot than this for a move. Weird to see you playing bad but meh just shake it off you know you got skillz!! Also just wanted to thank you because this blog has taught me a lot so keep posting Andrew!
-Quinn
Thanks for the comments. Regarding the river bluff, I honestly don’t think it matters what I’m representing. He’s not reading my hand, he’s playing his own. He calls when he has a flush and maybe a good set, and otherwise folds. Based on what I perceived about his pre-flop raising range and his river bet sizing, I think I’m beat pretty much always and he doesn’t call that often.
“I think I’m beat pretty much always” … no way: you beat KJ and chop Ax (except AK obv) due to the paired 7’s on board. So, you are really risking your stack here to steal half the pot at best. Not good risk-reward. A standard just-call. Overshove bluff too much FPS.
Embarrassing that I missed the pair on board. I still lose to AJ, but yeah that definitely makes my hand stronger.
Good points, Steve. Think I can at least get a tax write-off?