I posted the other day about a sexy river check-raise that resulted in my opponent abruptly quitting on me, up about a buyin and a half. He found me Sunday and we played two tables of heads up for 4-5 hours. Initially, I was owning him. He was opening 100% … Read full post
Here’s a few miscellaneous hands I made notes to post about. These first two were from my first night here, at $5/$10 NLHE, and the last one was from today in a pretty nitty $10/$25 game with a couple tough players.
River Check-Raise
Two limpers, I complete J6s in the … Read full post
100/200, very young kid in CO opens to 450, I call with Js 9s in SB, relatively bad German calls in the BB. Flop Q c Tc 5s. I consider leading out but decide to check, and we check it through. Turn is a blank, I bet 750, BB raises … Read full post
Playing in a pretty nitty 10/25 NL. UTG straddles for $50, gets two calls, I make it $275 to go with 7s 5s on my BB. Straddle folds, other two call. I’m playing about 7K, they both cover. Flop Qs 5d 5h. I bet $750, first player folds, the other … Read full post
After two hours of 5/10 NL this evening, I was up about $800. By my rough count, I’d voluntarily put money into the pot 16 times, won 13 of those pots, and saw exactly 1 showdown. I was going to leave at the next time collection, but then I played … Read full post
The more I think about it, the more I feel like this is one of the worst calls I’ve made in a long time:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($4423.50)
BB ($2026)
UTG ($2477)
MP ($2168.50)
Hero (Button) ($2000)
Preflop… Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($7800.50)
BB ($4029.50)
Preflop: Hero is SB with A
, K
Hero bets $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $499, BB calls $279
Flop: ($998) 2, … Read full post
I played a pretty long session at 40/80 over the weekend, definitely one of the longest I’ve played at such high stakes. It was a surprisingly tight game, with one guy who was not a fish but was noticeably weaker than the rest of us. But there really wasn’t a … Read full post
A comment on a recent post about the squeeze play observed that a pretty intense dynamic can arise in situations where more than one player recognizes a good squeezing opportunity. I think this is a good example:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from … Read full post
Given the difficulty I’ve had recently getting heads up action, I’ve put some thought into how the risk of provoking a quit ought to factor into my decisions. It seems there are certain situations, usually winning or losing a big pot, that greatly increase the chances of an opponent quitting. … Read full post
The last two months have been pretty brutal. Certainly part of that was due to whiffing the WSOP and a few failed shots at 40/80, but even my regular games have not been going well. Unlike in past downswings, I don’t feel that I’ve experienced extraordinarily brutal luck. There were … Read full post
I did a “Turning Point” segment today with Cardplayer’s Kristy Arnett about a key hand from Day 2A of the WSOP.
Just to provide a little more detail about the hand: blinds were 300/600/75. I opened to 1500 with KJo, Luca Pagano called, Grant Levy made it 4500 on the … Read full post
Maybe I haven’t forgotten how to play tournaments altogether? I went into yesterdays’ session resolved not to LAG off too many stacks in my tournaments, and while I didn’t entirely keep that pledge, I did play a pretty disciplined game in the Stars $300. To wit:
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 … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP2 ($7241)
CO ($5985)
Button ($925)
Hero (SB) ($15829)
BB ($12367)
UTG ($6770)
UTG+1 ($5322)
MP1 ($8295.50)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, 8
3 folds, MP2 bets
I played all three tournaments: the $10K, the $1K, and the $100. Each was what I expected it to be. The $100 was monkeylicious. The 1K was soft enough for the buyin, certainly weaker play than would be found at a 5/10 cash table or a weekly 1K tournament. The … Read full post
I had some fierce competition in this one, but I guess that’s to be expected in a 5K. There was dpeters17, Timex, psyduck, and Poker Savvy’s very own Christian “charder30” Harder, but the player who ended up giving me the most trouble was a Pocket Fivers guy named Wretchy. I … Read full 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 … Read full post
On my recent post, “Defining His Range Into Oblivion“, tce left a comment that I felt warranted a new post:
… Read full postThis is a tantalizing post with some really interesting ideas that need more meat. Can you say more? In my experience, trying to blow someone off an Ax
This guy was decent in some ways but pretty insanely loose and aggressive. I don’t think he ever folded to a 3-bet pre-flop (I probably should have made my raise size bigger), and there was a lot of 4-betting going on. For the most part, I just hung back, made … Read full 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 … Read full post
I pretty much never open limp, with the occasional exception of being in very early position, usually UTG, at a full ring table. This is particularly true in tournaments, because there is so much value in stealing the pot pre-flop and stacks aren’t generally deep enough to play a wide … Read full post
My latest poker article, Calling for Information, is now appearing in the February issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s a relatively low-level strategy article, compared to some of the stuff I’ve published, but even more advanced players may find parts of it useful.
… Read full postMy central argument is that if
Not my best double barrel ever, but the A is a good bluff card on the river. That makes it a good time for him to call down light, which makes it a good time for me to value bet light, which makes it a better bluff card in the … Read full post
Since I just posted a bunch of whines, here’s a brag. The SB was the table fish, the BB is a very tough and aggressive opponent. I could just 4-bet pre-flop but I think he’d find a way to own me. I decided I was just going to play my … Read full post
These are all from tonight. Fair warning: this is pretty much a whine post, but I’m trying to include at least some insight into how precisely running bad can lead to playing bad (aside from the obvious straight-up frustration/tilt). This is the worst one of the night, one of two … Read full post
Both of these hands are against a real 3-betting fiend. He’s ridiculously loose and aggressive pre-flop, especially when he has position. Even though I think he’s taken it to the point of exploitability, it’s still a tough and high-variance playstyle to combat. There are a lot of adjustments you need … Read full post