Went up to Red Rock on Thursday night and played for just a couple of hours.
I
feel like I didn't play that great. I feel like I was playing looser
than normal, but maybe I was just getting more hands to play. I was
also trying to be looser in position which is probably a good thing.
Only
played a couple of hands worth noting. I don't know if I played them
bad or not. First I had 9-8. I think offsuit, and I just limped. I
have not been playing hands like that AT ALL lately so this was a bit of
a stretch for me. Flop came A-10-7 with 2 of a suit. There were about
5 people in the pot and some guy bet out $10. I called. Maybe not the
best call, I don't know. With the suited board there are only 6 outs I
can feel really comfortable about, and the jack does make K-Q a
straight too (although that would be unlikely). A guy behind me called
the 10 as well.
Turn comes an offsuit jack. Bingo. Same guy bets 20. I thought
about raising, but I just called. I'm honestly not sure what I was
thinking at the time. I probably should have raised. The flush draw
was out there and if a K or Q came off, that would put me in a tough
spot on the river too. But I just called, and the guy behind me called.
River was a 10. Same guy bets out 20 again. I raise to 75, both
fold. Pretty good pot for me, but I don't know if I played it really
terrible, or somewhat terrible, or fine.
I also had A-A in the blind. Some guy in early position with a
short stack raised to 10. I just called, and another guy just called. I
thought this guy had a pretty short stack so I might be able to just
get it in with him on the flop or something. However, it makes sense to
think that if he has a short stack and wants to get it all in, why not
reraise him preflop and hope he shoves it in there? Either way, I just
called.
Sigh, I really should have written this blog the other day. I
don't really remember the whole hand. I think the flop came something
like J-T-7 and I checked, the other caller checked, and the raiser
checked. Then on the turn I bet 20 and the preflop raiser called, and
on the river I bet 40 and he folded.
On both of these hands I wondered if I should have bet less. On
the aces hand especially. I didn't have any reason to think he had a
super strong hand. I could have maybe bet 20 again or something like
that. On the straight hand, I guess 75 was fine. Really small bet
compared to the pot, so whatever.
Overall it wasn't the most focused night for me but I did end up winning exactly $100. I'll take it.
In
other news, I got my poker bankroll boost I've been hoping for in the
form of a birthday gift. :-) My awesome wife shipped me $1K for my
birthday to help start up a bankroll for me. Overall I have $1900 or
so, dedicated to poker. This is the first time I've had a real,
official bankroll in a long time. I'm excited about that and hopeful
that I can start building it up like back in the day.
I think we're going to play tonight. Probably either at Red Rock or at Aria. We'll see.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Disappointing night, bad play
I haven't been playing as much over the last week or so. I did get out last night though and it seemed like the perfect situation. Venetian $1/$2, late Saturday night. I arrived at the poker room at 11:30 PM or so and immediately got into a game.
I've been reading the 2+2 forums a lot, and I've also been reading Harrington on Cash Games. I'm trying to improve my game for sure. However, I think it got me into some trouble this weekend on various occasions and if I just stuck to my normal game I probably would have been better off.
In one hand I had AK in the big blind. It got raised to 8 bucks by a guy in his late 20s/early 30s. He bought in for 300 and was whittled down to just over $100. There was another limper too. I thought about calling, but decided to just reraise it to $22. The limper called $22, and the original raiser thought for a bit and went all-in. It was $101 more to me to call.
Cutting to the ending, I called and lost. He had KK, I did not spike an ace. However, here is how I arrived at that decision. Probably a lot of really bad decisions and just a flawed thought process that I need to work better on in the future.
First of all, I thought the limper/cold-caller was folding. He did fold, but it was insane to just assume that he was going to fold. When the raiser went all-in, the limper was like "That's not what I wanted to see" or something like that, and I felt like it was genuine. However, I didn't know him at all and that could have just as easily been some kind of a ploy. Obviously it wouldn't affect the raiser's action (he's all in). It only would make me think that he is not calling. If he had AA or something I would have assumed he would reraise, but since there was already a raise and a reraise, just calling there would also be reasonable. So really I was putting myself in danger there bigtime by calling the $101 with him sitting behind me with more chips than that. If he happened to have AA and he pushed all in I would have either had to fold (GROSS... just put in $123 and didn't even see a flop) or call, which would have been terrible as well but at that point I might have just been a combination of on tilt and feeling like I'm priced in. So this could have gone much worse.
There seemed to me like there was a lot of dead money in there, which is eventually what I based my decision on. There was 22*3 = 66 bucks in there that in my mind I was considering to be dead money (not a good assumption, but let's ignore that for now). Let's say it was dead money. What did I assume he was shoving with?
In my mind, I was thinking about the 2+2 forums and how everyone is just always calling everything, "villian could have blah blah blah in their range", and so on. I feel like if I posted this online they would all say I had to call. I might be wrong though. I really should post it and see what they say.
At the time, I thought that the raiser might feel kinda short stacked at this point since the pot was getting big. 3 people were in for $22 already. So he might just say fuck it and go all-in with a lot of different things. Even as I'm writing this it sounds retarded. I thought (at the time) that he might do this with TT+, AK+. But really at a 1/2 game, how often are people shoving in preflop with TT for $100 after a raise and a reraise? I'd say not very often.
But let's say he would do that. I also thought that if he was shoving with TT+, AK+, I would have equity in the pot to call because of the dead money. I ran this on PokerStove just now and against AK+,TT+, I only have 37% equity. That means that out of the $260 or so pot, I would only be getting on average $96 back, so I was still losing $5 on the call. And that is if my assumptions were accurate, which they really are not now that I'm thinking about it.
Plus I didn't even mention that he did the shoulder shrug move before going all in. It wasn't super obvious, wasn't super subtle, it was just there. I saw it, chose not to factor it into my decision for whatever reason. Another huge mistake.
Overall I'm just not happy with that hand at all. Total mistake. I'll really try to avoid that in the future and go with what I know. When someone shows extreme strength like that I think erring on the side of caution is best.
Anyway, enough about that hand. I also got myself into trouble by raising a couple of times with AJo, and ATs once. In the past I'd just fold those hands, or maybe limp if I was in the right position. I got into my head that I was playing too tight though so I started playing more of these. Not a good idea. I raised with those kind of hands 3 times, lost all 3. Not that the results matter, but overall I just don't think it's that great of an idea.
One of the AJ hands was somewhat interesting. I raised to 10 in middle position. Then a billion people called. A couple people behind me called, and 7 people saw the flop. Huge pot now. Flop came 6-6-9. Not sure if the board was suited. It checked to me and I bet 45. I figured that this board was pretty dry and I'd try to pick it up. The two people behind me both called, lol. Ugh. Now the pot was just getting gigantic. Turn was a king and I debated bluffing huge at it, but I decided to just give up. Especially since one of the people was pretty short stacked so I didn't think I could get her off of the hand. I checked, one of the people went all-in, the other called, they both had 98s. I think the raise preflop was bad (at least for me right now), the c-bet was fine I think though.
One hand that didn't really work out was when I had Q4s in the big blind. A bunch of people limped and I checked. There were like 7 people on the flop and the flop was Q-J-7 with 2 of my suit. Good flop. The small blind bets out 20. I think about it... I wanted to get it heads up if possible. I figure I have to be in pretty good shape one way or the other. I have a good hand (top pair) and if that's no good, the flush draw has to be good. So I raise to 50 and he calls, everyone else folds. The turn is a jack. He checks, I check. I figure he could have a jack, and I'm not too scared of any rivers because I have the flush draw too, so let's just keep the pot small. River is a 4 giving me 3 pair. :P He bets out 30. I didn't feel like it was a bluff at all, but later I thought he could have pretty easily been betting with the nut flush draw or something if he missed. And my hand is garbage... I can't beat a jack, and I can't beat any queens either. I can only hope to tie. So I just folded. The pot was pretty big to fold and I think it would be easy to justify calling there and hoping he has the flush draw. But I really didn't feel like he was bluffing at all. And honestly I didn't consider the flush draw possibility which was a mistake on my part.
Later in the night I picked up QQ and raised to 10. Got 1 caller, and a guy in late position made it 40. I thought about it and just folded. I figured I didn't want to have to play this postflop. I could reraise, but his reraise already suggests extreme strength. And if I just call, what am I hoping for? If the flop comes with an A or K I'm pretty much going to fold. And if it comes 10 high, what then? Do I just go with it? I didn't like those options and just folded.
Of course the flop made me SICK... queen high with 2 hearts. Feels awful to see that flop. So the two other guys get all in. 100% results oriented, but it worked out to be quite a fold because I avoided a huge cooler. There were 2 hearts on the flop and the guy had AK of hearts. I'm sure I would have checked, he would have bet, I would have raised probably, and we would have gotten all in. And then he would have hit his flush, twice. It came heart-heart and I would have lost a monster pot. So I got lucky there.
The only interesting winning hand I had was also probably played pretty badly. I had A-Q in the small blind. A guy in mid/late position raised to 8. I called. I'm honestly not sure I even like that call. Probably should just raise or fold. Anyway, I called and the big blind made it 17 total. Both of the other guys in the pot called, and I called.
Flop came Q-Q-x. BINGO! Sick flop, and I'm in a reraised pot. Perfect spot. I check. The raiser bet 15, both of the other guys folded, and I just called. Turn was a 10 or something. I check, he bets 30. I raise to 100, he folds.
I thought about this one and I think maybe I should have just called and checked the river, but I don't know. I was hoping he had something like AA or KK, but his betting was pretty weak. I guess alternatively I could have check-raised less, like 75 instead of 100. Might have been easier to call. I could have lead out but I did think that check-raising was probably better. I was really hoping to get paid on that one and didn't get much out of it.
Overall I ended up losing $113. I was unhappy with it and I'm beating myself up about the AK hand still. I hate putting a ton of money in with the worst hand when I think about it later and decide it wasn't a good idea.
Not sure when I'll play next, but my birthday is coming up and that means bankroll + $1000. :-) That means right now it would be sitting at a grand total of $1787. Not bad for 1/2 NL, and hopefully I can start running that up into more and more.
I'm considering just not even reading 2+2 for a while. On the forums I do feel like people justify really bad plays, especially preflop or on the flop. Maybe I should only think about what people are saying on the turn and river. There is a lot of gamble going on preflop and on the flop in those threads. It gets the ideas in my head and then I think I should be playing that way, and I mess things up compared to what I would have done if I just trusted myself. So I think I'm going to tighten back up, maybe open a few more pots in VERY late position, but overall just play super tight.
Good night!
I've been reading the 2+2 forums a lot, and I've also been reading Harrington on Cash Games. I'm trying to improve my game for sure. However, I think it got me into some trouble this weekend on various occasions and if I just stuck to my normal game I probably would have been better off.
In one hand I had AK in the big blind. It got raised to 8 bucks by a guy in his late 20s/early 30s. He bought in for 300 and was whittled down to just over $100. There was another limper too. I thought about calling, but decided to just reraise it to $22. The limper called $22, and the original raiser thought for a bit and went all-in. It was $101 more to me to call.
Cutting to the ending, I called and lost. He had KK, I did not spike an ace. However, here is how I arrived at that decision. Probably a lot of really bad decisions and just a flawed thought process that I need to work better on in the future.
First of all, I thought the limper/cold-caller was folding. He did fold, but it was insane to just assume that he was going to fold. When the raiser went all-in, the limper was like "That's not what I wanted to see" or something like that, and I felt like it was genuine. However, I didn't know him at all and that could have just as easily been some kind of a ploy. Obviously it wouldn't affect the raiser's action (he's all in). It only would make me think that he is not calling. If he had AA or something I would have assumed he would reraise, but since there was already a raise and a reraise, just calling there would also be reasonable. So really I was putting myself in danger there bigtime by calling the $101 with him sitting behind me with more chips than that. If he happened to have AA and he pushed all in I would have either had to fold (GROSS... just put in $123 and didn't even see a flop) or call, which would have been terrible as well but at that point I might have just been a combination of on tilt and feeling like I'm priced in. So this could have gone much worse.
There seemed to me like there was a lot of dead money in there, which is eventually what I based my decision on. There was 22*3 = 66 bucks in there that in my mind I was considering to be dead money (not a good assumption, but let's ignore that for now). Let's say it was dead money. What did I assume he was shoving with?
In my mind, I was thinking about the 2+2 forums and how everyone is just always calling everything, "villian could have blah blah blah in their range", and so on. I feel like if I posted this online they would all say I had to call. I might be wrong though. I really should post it and see what they say.
At the time, I thought that the raiser might feel kinda short stacked at this point since the pot was getting big. 3 people were in for $22 already. So he might just say fuck it and go all-in with a lot of different things. Even as I'm writing this it sounds retarded. I thought (at the time) that he might do this with TT+, AK+. But really at a 1/2 game, how often are people shoving in preflop with TT for $100 after a raise and a reraise? I'd say not very often.
But let's say he would do that. I also thought that if he was shoving with TT+, AK+, I would have equity in the pot to call because of the dead money. I ran this on PokerStove just now and against AK+,TT+, I only have 37% equity. That means that out of the $260 or so pot, I would only be getting on average $96 back, so I was still losing $5 on the call. And that is if my assumptions were accurate, which they really are not now that I'm thinking about it.
Plus I didn't even mention that he did the shoulder shrug move before going all in. It wasn't super obvious, wasn't super subtle, it was just there. I saw it, chose not to factor it into my decision for whatever reason. Another huge mistake.
Overall I'm just not happy with that hand at all. Total mistake. I'll really try to avoid that in the future and go with what I know. When someone shows extreme strength like that I think erring on the side of caution is best.
Anyway, enough about that hand. I also got myself into trouble by raising a couple of times with AJo, and ATs once. In the past I'd just fold those hands, or maybe limp if I was in the right position. I got into my head that I was playing too tight though so I started playing more of these. Not a good idea. I raised with those kind of hands 3 times, lost all 3. Not that the results matter, but overall I just don't think it's that great of an idea.
One of the AJ hands was somewhat interesting. I raised to 10 in middle position. Then a billion people called. A couple people behind me called, and 7 people saw the flop. Huge pot now. Flop came 6-6-9. Not sure if the board was suited. It checked to me and I bet 45. I figured that this board was pretty dry and I'd try to pick it up. The two people behind me both called, lol. Ugh. Now the pot was just getting gigantic. Turn was a king and I debated bluffing huge at it, but I decided to just give up. Especially since one of the people was pretty short stacked so I didn't think I could get her off of the hand. I checked, one of the people went all-in, the other called, they both had 98s. I think the raise preflop was bad (at least for me right now), the c-bet was fine I think though.
One hand that didn't really work out was when I had Q4s in the big blind. A bunch of people limped and I checked. There were like 7 people on the flop and the flop was Q-J-7 with 2 of my suit. Good flop. The small blind bets out 20. I think about it... I wanted to get it heads up if possible. I figure I have to be in pretty good shape one way or the other. I have a good hand (top pair) and if that's no good, the flush draw has to be good. So I raise to 50 and he calls, everyone else folds. The turn is a jack. He checks, I check. I figure he could have a jack, and I'm not too scared of any rivers because I have the flush draw too, so let's just keep the pot small. River is a 4 giving me 3 pair. :P He bets out 30. I didn't feel like it was a bluff at all, but later I thought he could have pretty easily been betting with the nut flush draw or something if he missed. And my hand is garbage... I can't beat a jack, and I can't beat any queens either. I can only hope to tie. So I just folded. The pot was pretty big to fold and I think it would be easy to justify calling there and hoping he has the flush draw. But I really didn't feel like he was bluffing at all. And honestly I didn't consider the flush draw possibility which was a mistake on my part.
Later in the night I picked up QQ and raised to 10. Got 1 caller, and a guy in late position made it 40. I thought about it and just folded. I figured I didn't want to have to play this postflop. I could reraise, but his reraise already suggests extreme strength. And if I just call, what am I hoping for? If the flop comes with an A or K I'm pretty much going to fold. And if it comes 10 high, what then? Do I just go with it? I didn't like those options and just folded.
Of course the flop made me SICK... queen high with 2 hearts. Feels awful to see that flop. So the two other guys get all in. 100% results oriented, but it worked out to be quite a fold because I avoided a huge cooler. There were 2 hearts on the flop and the guy had AK of hearts. I'm sure I would have checked, he would have bet, I would have raised probably, and we would have gotten all in. And then he would have hit his flush, twice. It came heart-heart and I would have lost a monster pot. So I got lucky there.
The only interesting winning hand I had was also probably played pretty badly. I had A-Q in the small blind. A guy in mid/late position raised to 8. I called. I'm honestly not sure I even like that call. Probably should just raise or fold. Anyway, I called and the big blind made it 17 total. Both of the other guys in the pot called, and I called.
Flop came Q-Q-x. BINGO! Sick flop, and I'm in a reraised pot. Perfect spot. I check. The raiser bet 15, both of the other guys folded, and I just called. Turn was a 10 or something. I check, he bets 30. I raise to 100, he folds.
I thought about this one and I think maybe I should have just called and checked the river, but I don't know. I was hoping he had something like AA or KK, but his betting was pretty weak. I guess alternatively I could have check-raised less, like 75 instead of 100. Might have been easier to call. I could have lead out but I did think that check-raising was probably better. I was really hoping to get paid on that one and didn't get much out of it.
Overall I ended up losing $113. I was unhappy with it and I'm beating myself up about the AK hand still. I hate putting a ton of money in with the worst hand when I think about it later and decide it wasn't a good idea.
Not sure when I'll play next, but my birthday is coming up and that means bankroll + $1000. :-) That means right now it would be sitting at a grand total of $1787. Not bad for 1/2 NL, and hopefully I can start running that up into more and more.
I'm considering just not even reading 2+2 for a while. On the forums I do feel like people justify really bad plays, especially preflop or on the flop. Maybe I should only think about what people are saying on the turn and river. There is a lot of gamble going on preflop and on the flop in those threads. It gets the ideas in my head and then I think I should be playing that way, and I mess things up compared to what I would have done if I just trusted myself. So I think I'm going to tighten back up, maybe open a few more pots in VERY late position, but overall just play super tight.
Good night!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Bankroll Boost
My birthday is coming up and my awesome wife is going to give me a great present - $1000 towards my bankroll! I'm just getting started so I basically have no bankroll at all to speak of, just the few hundreds I withdrew from the bank account a couple weeks back. I have about $900 right now. I have been playing super tight to try to make sure I don't have any big downswings and lose all of my money, but this extra 1K will give me a lot of breathing room.
My plan is to keep grinding it up and eventually move up to $2/$5 NL. Hopefully sooner than later. Once I get up to about $3K I think I'll take one $500 shot at it. If I start winning right away, I'm stick around. :-) I figure $2500 should be enough to let me ride through any big downswings in $1/$2 if I'm playing super tight.
I see people post on 2+2 about their bankroll requirements and it makes me laugh, although I don't know if I'm laughing at them or me. :) Everyone wants to have $10K, $15K for a $2/$5 NL bankroll. Bro once I have $10K I'm going to be playing $5/$10 NL, for better or worse. :-) At least on the weekends.
I'm really excited about the extra $1K because the WSOP is coming up, so action will be better. I'm hoping to be playing $2/$5 regularly by then. Starts at the end of May so I don't have a ton of time, but with some luck I can get there. :-)
My plan is to keep grinding it up and eventually move up to $2/$5 NL. Hopefully sooner than later. Once I get up to about $3K I think I'll take one $500 shot at it. If I start winning right away, I'm stick around. :-) I figure $2500 should be enough to let me ride through any big downswings in $1/$2 if I'm playing super tight.
I see people post on 2+2 about their bankroll requirements and it makes me laugh, although I don't know if I'm laughing at them or me. :) Everyone wants to have $10K, $15K for a $2/$5 NL bankroll. Bro once I have $10K I'm going to be playing $5/$10 NL, for better or worse. :-) At least on the weekends.
I'm really excited about the extra $1K because the WSOP is coming up, so action will be better. I'm hoping to be playing $2/$5 regularly by then. Starts at the end of May so I don't have a ton of time, but with some luck I can get there. :-)
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Afternoon at Venetian
I got a chance to play some poker this afternoon at Venetian. Got up there at 12:20 today and played about 5 hours. When I got there they were starting a brand new $1/$2 NL game, perfect time to arrive. Bought in for $300 (max) and started the game.
For the most part it was a pretty slow day, but I did play some interesting hands.
In one hand I had KK in the big blind. 2 people limped, the SB called, and I raised to 12. Everyone called. The flop came J-8-6, rainbow. The small blind checked to me and I bet 35. It folded back around to him and he instantly made it 100 total.
He was reaching for his chips a bit when the flop came out, wasn't hiding it at all. I actually thought maybe he was trying to make me not bet by doing that. But then when it came back around and he made it $100, I knew it wasn't an act.
I thought about raising or reraising all-in. It was a pretty good board for me. Eventually though I just folded. I definitely didn't think he was bluffing and I had shown strength twice, so he had to know I had something. Unless he thought I just had A-K, but I really don't think he was bluffing. So that hand cost me $50 or so.
At that point I rebought for $80, bringing me back up to $300. Just a short while later I got A-5s (clubs) and called a $7 raise on the button from a girl that just sat down. 4 people saw the flop. The flop was pretty sick for me:
3c-4c-8h
Flopped a gutshot straight flush draw. The first two people checked, and she instantly fired out $30. Pot sized bet.
Normally I don't love calling such a big bet to draw. However, I called anyway. :-) I figure if the 2 rolls off I'm going to win a monster pot, and with the flush draw, it's just a really big draw that I do not want to fold. Plus I'm in position. So I call.
Turn is pretty good for me, the ace of diamonds. So now I make top pair in addition to my draws. She checks.
At this point I put her on either a pocket pair below aces (like JJ, QQ, KK) or she turned a set of aces and she's slowplaying. In retrospect, a set of aces sounds pretty retarded because with the flush draw out there and me calling a big bet on the flop, she should just keep firing away. No real reason to think a check-raise would work out well if I'm drawing. And there were so many draws on this flop.
Now I decide to play TERRIBLE and check behind. That move pisses me off pretty bad now, and it was totally the wrong decision IMO. What I was thinking is, if she did have something like KK, I had the best hand and the best draw and didn't want to chase her away. Of course that is STUPID because if that's what she has, she won't call much on the river anyway. Whether I hit my draw or not. She had like $110 left. Even if she had 3 aces at that point, I still had a great draw so getting it in there wouldn't be the worst. Plus since I have an ace, there's even less chance that she has that. So after the hand I really cringed at not betting here. It was just stupid.
River, offsuit queen. She thinks and bets $50. At this point because I didn't show strength when the ace hit, I felt like I had to call. I called, she had pocket queens, damn it. So overall I completely butchered this hand. Granted I think she literally had 1 out on the river, but still. She wouldn't have paid me off had I hit anyway (once the ace came) so I should have just bet the turn and won.
I have to admit I got slightly tilted after playing that hand so poorly, and started to go from TAG to LAG for a bit to try to get some of my money back. :-) Luckily I didn't do that for long and I didn't really lose any pots during that time, so it was OK. I didn't do anything really stupid.
Did start getting a little out of line with AJ. Raised to $10 with AJo in middle position. One caller in the blind, this guy was playing tight and overall just pretty good. Flop came 6-6-3, he checked, I bet $15. Normally I would give up here but I was recently reading a good post on 2+2 about good boards for double-barrelling. They pointed out that if you have a board with all low cards, that's a great double-barrel board. Reason being, people are going to be much more likely to peel one with 2 overs. So in this situation when the 3 came off on the turn and he checked, I decided to bet $30. He folded. Not saying it was the right play but that's what I did. Definitely was asking for trouble, as I'm generally playing really tight and not bluffing like this. Guy could have easily had 8-8 and I'm blowing $50 here.
Later on I had a pretty fun hand with J-J that I think I played awesome, especially regarding bet sizing. Guy under the gun raises to 7 (same guy I had my KK against earlier). I just call, as do 2 others. Flop comes out : T-8-3 rainbow. Blind checks, raiser checks. I bet $20 into $28. The raiser calls. I felt like he didn't really want to call much, or that he had a weak hand anyway. He had his cards in his hand and I seriously thought he wanted to fold, but just didn't for whatever reason.
Turn came a 4. He checked again. Since I still had the overpair and there were a lot of scary cards that could come on the river, I wanted to bet a decent amount again. I bet $50 into the $68 pot. He called again. At this point, I'm not kidding when I thought he might have just had A-K and didn't want to let go. I felt like he just decided, I'm going with this. It was crazy.
The river was another 4. He checked. I thought about it a bit. I really thought he had a weak hand. I had about $220 left, and he had me covered. I seriously considered just going all-in. Even now, I think it might have been the right decision because I don't think he wanted to fold no matter what he had. I ended up thinking for a bit and shoving out a stack of red for $100. You could tell he just felt like he had to call. I think he said something like "this is going to be the best money I spend all day" or something like that (which made no sense) and he called. I say "jacks" and throw them down, and he shows 9-9. Just a pair of 9s. He did not believe me AT all, that was just a bluff catcher.
Now that I'm thinking about the hand and the size of the pot at that time, maybe it would have made more sense to go all-in. However, $100 was still a really huge bet to get paid on the river, especially since I really thought he had a super weak hand, and might have even just had A-K. So I was really happy with myself on that one.
That hand got me back from being down $160, to where I was up $40. I hovered around there for the rest of the day and eventually left up $30. Overall not a terrible day.
For the most part it was a pretty slow day, but I did play some interesting hands.
In one hand I had KK in the big blind. 2 people limped, the SB called, and I raised to 12. Everyone called. The flop came J-8-6, rainbow. The small blind checked to me and I bet 35. It folded back around to him and he instantly made it 100 total.
He was reaching for his chips a bit when the flop came out, wasn't hiding it at all. I actually thought maybe he was trying to make me not bet by doing that. But then when it came back around and he made it $100, I knew it wasn't an act.
I thought about raising or reraising all-in. It was a pretty good board for me. Eventually though I just folded. I definitely didn't think he was bluffing and I had shown strength twice, so he had to know I had something. Unless he thought I just had A-K, but I really don't think he was bluffing. So that hand cost me $50 or so.
At that point I rebought for $80, bringing me back up to $300. Just a short while later I got A-5s (clubs) and called a $7 raise on the button from a girl that just sat down. 4 people saw the flop. The flop was pretty sick for me:
3c-4c-8h
Flopped a gutshot straight flush draw. The first two people checked, and she instantly fired out $30. Pot sized bet.
Normally I don't love calling such a big bet to draw. However, I called anyway. :-) I figure if the 2 rolls off I'm going to win a monster pot, and with the flush draw, it's just a really big draw that I do not want to fold. Plus I'm in position. So I call.
Turn is pretty good for me, the ace of diamonds. So now I make top pair in addition to my draws. She checks.
At this point I put her on either a pocket pair below aces (like JJ, QQ, KK) or she turned a set of aces and she's slowplaying. In retrospect, a set of aces sounds pretty retarded because with the flush draw out there and me calling a big bet on the flop, she should just keep firing away. No real reason to think a check-raise would work out well if I'm drawing. And there were so many draws on this flop.
Now I decide to play TERRIBLE and check behind. That move pisses me off pretty bad now, and it was totally the wrong decision IMO. What I was thinking is, if she did have something like KK, I had the best hand and the best draw and didn't want to chase her away. Of course that is STUPID because if that's what she has, she won't call much on the river anyway. Whether I hit my draw or not. She had like $110 left. Even if she had 3 aces at that point, I still had a great draw so getting it in there wouldn't be the worst. Plus since I have an ace, there's even less chance that she has that. So after the hand I really cringed at not betting here. It was just stupid.
River, offsuit queen. She thinks and bets $50. At this point because I didn't show strength when the ace hit, I felt like I had to call. I called, she had pocket queens, damn it. So overall I completely butchered this hand. Granted I think she literally had 1 out on the river, but still. She wouldn't have paid me off had I hit anyway (once the ace came) so I should have just bet the turn and won.
I have to admit I got slightly tilted after playing that hand so poorly, and started to go from TAG to LAG for a bit to try to get some of my money back. :-) Luckily I didn't do that for long and I didn't really lose any pots during that time, so it was OK. I didn't do anything really stupid.
Did start getting a little out of line with AJ. Raised to $10 with AJo in middle position. One caller in the blind, this guy was playing tight and overall just pretty good. Flop came 6-6-3, he checked, I bet $15. Normally I would give up here but I was recently reading a good post on 2+2 about good boards for double-barrelling. They pointed out that if you have a board with all low cards, that's a great double-barrel board. Reason being, people are going to be much more likely to peel one with 2 overs. So in this situation when the 3 came off on the turn and he checked, I decided to bet $30. He folded. Not saying it was the right play but that's what I did. Definitely was asking for trouble, as I'm generally playing really tight and not bluffing like this. Guy could have easily had 8-8 and I'm blowing $50 here.
Later on I had a pretty fun hand with J-J that I think I played awesome, especially regarding bet sizing. Guy under the gun raises to 7 (same guy I had my KK against earlier). I just call, as do 2 others. Flop comes out : T-8-3 rainbow. Blind checks, raiser checks. I bet $20 into $28. The raiser calls. I felt like he didn't really want to call much, or that he had a weak hand anyway. He had his cards in his hand and I seriously thought he wanted to fold, but just didn't for whatever reason.
Turn came a 4. He checked again. Since I still had the overpair and there were a lot of scary cards that could come on the river, I wanted to bet a decent amount again. I bet $50 into the $68 pot. He called again. At this point, I'm not kidding when I thought he might have just had A-K and didn't want to let go. I felt like he just decided, I'm going with this. It was crazy.
The river was another 4. He checked. I thought about it a bit. I really thought he had a weak hand. I had about $220 left, and he had me covered. I seriously considered just going all-in. Even now, I think it might have been the right decision because I don't think he wanted to fold no matter what he had. I ended up thinking for a bit and shoving out a stack of red for $100. You could tell he just felt like he had to call. I think he said something like "this is going to be the best money I spend all day" or something like that (which made no sense) and he called. I say "jacks" and throw them down, and he shows 9-9. Just a pair of 9s. He did not believe me AT all, that was just a bluff catcher.
Now that I'm thinking about the hand and the size of the pot at that time, maybe it would have made more sense to go all-in. However, $100 was still a really huge bet to get paid on the river, especially since I really thought he had a super weak hand, and might have even just had A-K. So I was really happy with myself on that one.
That hand got me back from being down $160, to where I was up $40. I hovered around there for the rest of the day and eventually left up $30. Overall not a terrible day.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Let the suckouts begin
Hey there! I'm just another low limit NL grinder in Las Vegas looking to step up my game and start crushing. I figured it would be a great idea to start a blog so I can chronicle my ups and downs and get feedback from you on my play. Maybe even make some friends out here in Vegas to play with. Please comment on my blog, subscribe, follow me on Twitter (@TheBestEverPokr), or check me out on the 2+2 forums! I'll be posting in LLSNL for now, and my 2+2 name is "TheBestEver".
Played last night at Venetian, sat down at about 6:30 PM. I have been playing really good lately in my opinion. Super tight, but overall making decent decisions and staying out of trouble. Last night I sit down and it's shorthanded, which I'm not really comfortable with. It was 6 handed, and it eventually got down to 4 handed for a really short period of time. I played some hands TERRIBLE and was down $140 almost immediately. Couple just stupid hands where I got myself into trouble and had no plan for the hand, and it showed.
First hand, I had A-10. Raised on the button to 10. Got called. Flop was 4-4-2. Guy bets out 10. In a full ring game I'd just fold here a lot of the time. Could be ahead, but whatever. Just save my money. This time I decided to call because it was so shorthanded and he might just be trying to pick up the pot. Turn was a 7. He checks. I should have bet, but didn't. Honestly I just had no plan for this hand whatsoever. If you call on the flop, why don't you bet the turn when he checks? It makes no sense. Anyway I checked behind, river was a queen. He bets 15, I call (why???) and he has Q-J. Stupid.
I think I started to tilt myself a bit by playing that stupid, and then I played another hand even worse. :P I had AJhh on the button and raised to 7. Same guy insta-reraises to 17. I call, and I honestly didn't even think about what he could have or anything. I just have no idea what I was thinking at all. So I call, and the flop is great : JTx with 1 heart. He checks. I check behind, WTF?!?!?!?! If I fired 30 there I might have picked up this pot. It just makes absolutely no sense to me what I was thinking. Turn is a king, he fires 20, I call. River is a blank, he bets 50, call. A-Q for the straight.
I've been playing such a super tight, low variance style lately that going down $140 with no real hands this early was just mind-blowing to me, and I really got upset with myself. I don't know what I was doing. This has happened to me in the past, and I'm sure it happens to a lot of people... you play really good for a long time, then something snaps and you just make a really dumb mistake, go on tilt and just ruin the entire session.
I knew I had to focus and get back in it. Even if I didn't get that money back, it would be good to just play out the session and play well, and hopefully break even from here. Just get some practice recovering from stupid mistakes. So that's what I did. I tried not to get too frustrated with myself and I just got back to it.
Had some big hands and got no action. Pocket aces a couple times, no preflop callers. I was making it $10 preflop which was more than some other people, but overall I think that's fine and I just happened to raise when nobody had any hands. On one of the AA hands I was in the blind and with a bunch of limpers I made it $17 and everyone folded, but I guess that's OK. I'd rather play that heads up or not at all when I'm out of position. Historically I've gotten myself in a lot of trouble with big pocket pairs so I'm willing to give up some value to escape the tough decisions I'm going to face later in the hand, at least for now. Maybe once I play a lot more and get more comfortable I'll change that attitude a bit.
Had a pretty sick hand with 6-7d. Guy in early position makes it 6. A couple people call and I call. Flop is pretty much the sickest possible : 4d5d8c. Straight with the straight flush redraw. Insane flop. Raiser bets 10, one guy calls.
At this point I didn't want to just call. Even though my hand is really strong, I'd rather raise here and try to get action from AA or a set or whatever, or even a straight (giving me a free shot at someone's stack). If a diamond came off and didn't give me the straight flush, it would be bad. Granted, I was in position so I could have risked it. But I did raise it to $35, and both folded. A bit of a bummer but overall I'm not too worried about it. If a diamond came off it would put me in a bad spot where I could lose a lot.
Another hand, not sure I played it well or not. The turn put me in a weird spot. I was in early position with 2-2, limped, and called a raise to $7. 3 players in. Flop was great, 2-3-5 with 2 spades. I check, the raiser bets 11. The other guy calls and I call. I'm hoping for a blank on the turn, maybe a king or queen, and I would either lead out or checkraise.
The turn is a 6. This is not the best card. :-) The other guy in the pot could have the straight, as anyone is calling with the 4.... A-4, 44, 45s, etc. I just checked. The raiser bet 20, the other guy folded, and I called the 20. I didn't want to check-raise here, although maybe it makes sense. Not sure. River was a queen. I check, the guy bets $25. I call, he has QJ and I win. As it turns out I probably made the most money I could have. I could have potentially check-raised the river, but what hands are calling me? I think probably not that many. And I didn't really know how to play the turn, or if I played the flop OK. I could have raised there as well. I need to post that one to 2+2 to get some feedback.
Valuetown express hand : this one was nice and easy. I'm in the SB with KQo. I check. About 6 people are in. Flop K-Q-4. I bet 10. Girl calls me. Turn 7. I bet 20, girl calls. River 4. I bet 50, girl calls. She mucks, I win. That was my biggest hand of the night profit-wise. I think I played it great, but then again it sort of plays itself. I think doing anything like check-raising would just be fancy play and not necessarily good. Being out of position and all.
After that hand, finally I was back in black. :-) Up about $40 then. Ah. Feels great to battle back and be up.
I left maybe an hour later. Played for about 4 hours and won $30. I'll take it. Not a huge win, and I feel like I actually had more good hands in this session than a lot of other sessions I've played lately, so it's kinda weak. I could have probably won an extra $100 at least if I just didn't play stupid. Either way though I'll take it. I could easily have continued to tilt and left down $400. I've done that in the past and it does not feel good compared to a $30 win. :-)
One thing I want to work on is controlling my breathing. :-) I think when I get in these pots, not even huge ones, I just start breathing out of control heavy and it's really hard to just look like nothing is happening. I don't remember being that bad about it back in the day. Then again, I was playing every day, and I also was probably drunk a lot of the time. Not sure if that would make this easier or harder to control. :-) I'm trying to run up the flight of stairs back to the parking garage when I play at Venetian, and then try to just walk out to the car controlling my breathing like it was a super easy run up the stairs. I feel like that does a pretty good job of simulating the same body conditions as I encounter when I get a big hand.
Well, that's it for my first blog post. Thanks for reading. :-) More to come. Please follow me and leave comments!
Played last night at Venetian, sat down at about 6:30 PM. I have been playing really good lately in my opinion. Super tight, but overall making decent decisions and staying out of trouble. Last night I sit down and it's shorthanded, which I'm not really comfortable with. It was 6 handed, and it eventually got down to 4 handed for a really short period of time. I played some hands TERRIBLE and was down $140 almost immediately. Couple just stupid hands where I got myself into trouble and had no plan for the hand, and it showed.
First hand, I had A-10. Raised on the button to 10. Got called. Flop was 4-4-2. Guy bets out 10. In a full ring game I'd just fold here a lot of the time. Could be ahead, but whatever. Just save my money. This time I decided to call because it was so shorthanded and he might just be trying to pick up the pot. Turn was a 7. He checks. I should have bet, but didn't. Honestly I just had no plan for this hand whatsoever. If you call on the flop, why don't you bet the turn when he checks? It makes no sense. Anyway I checked behind, river was a queen. He bets 15, I call (why???) and he has Q-J. Stupid.
I think I started to tilt myself a bit by playing that stupid, and then I played another hand even worse. :P I had AJhh on the button and raised to 7. Same guy insta-reraises to 17. I call, and I honestly didn't even think about what he could have or anything. I just have no idea what I was thinking at all. So I call, and the flop is great : JTx with 1 heart. He checks. I check behind, WTF?!?!?!?! If I fired 30 there I might have picked up this pot. It just makes absolutely no sense to me what I was thinking. Turn is a king, he fires 20, I call. River is a blank, he bets 50, call. A-Q for the straight.
I've been playing such a super tight, low variance style lately that going down $140 with no real hands this early was just mind-blowing to me, and I really got upset with myself. I don't know what I was doing. This has happened to me in the past, and I'm sure it happens to a lot of people... you play really good for a long time, then something snaps and you just make a really dumb mistake, go on tilt and just ruin the entire session.
I knew I had to focus and get back in it. Even if I didn't get that money back, it would be good to just play out the session and play well, and hopefully break even from here. Just get some practice recovering from stupid mistakes. So that's what I did. I tried not to get too frustrated with myself and I just got back to it.
Had some big hands and got no action. Pocket aces a couple times, no preflop callers. I was making it $10 preflop which was more than some other people, but overall I think that's fine and I just happened to raise when nobody had any hands. On one of the AA hands I was in the blind and with a bunch of limpers I made it $17 and everyone folded, but I guess that's OK. I'd rather play that heads up or not at all when I'm out of position. Historically I've gotten myself in a lot of trouble with big pocket pairs so I'm willing to give up some value to escape the tough decisions I'm going to face later in the hand, at least for now. Maybe once I play a lot more and get more comfortable I'll change that attitude a bit.
Had a pretty sick hand with 6-7d. Guy in early position makes it 6. A couple people call and I call. Flop is pretty much the sickest possible : 4d5d8c. Straight with the straight flush redraw. Insane flop. Raiser bets 10, one guy calls.
At this point I didn't want to just call. Even though my hand is really strong, I'd rather raise here and try to get action from AA or a set or whatever, or even a straight (giving me a free shot at someone's stack). If a diamond came off and didn't give me the straight flush, it would be bad. Granted, I was in position so I could have risked it. But I did raise it to $35, and both folded. A bit of a bummer but overall I'm not too worried about it. If a diamond came off it would put me in a bad spot where I could lose a lot.
Another hand, not sure I played it well or not. The turn put me in a weird spot. I was in early position with 2-2, limped, and called a raise to $7. 3 players in. Flop was great, 2-3-5 with 2 spades. I check, the raiser bets 11. The other guy calls and I call. I'm hoping for a blank on the turn, maybe a king or queen, and I would either lead out or checkraise.
The turn is a 6. This is not the best card. :-) The other guy in the pot could have the straight, as anyone is calling with the 4.... A-4, 44, 45s, etc. I just checked. The raiser bet 20, the other guy folded, and I called the 20. I didn't want to check-raise here, although maybe it makes sense. Not sure. River was a queen. I check, the guy bets $25. I call, he has QJ and I win. As it turns out I probably made the most money I could have. I could have potentially check-raised the river, but what hands are calling me? I think probably not that many. And I didn't really know how to play the turn, or if I played the flop OK. I could have raised there as well. I need to post that one to 2+2 to get some feedback.
Valuetown express hand : this one was nice and easy. I'm in the SB with KQo. I check. About 6 people are in. Flop K-Q-4. I bet 10. Girl calls me. Turn 7. I bet 20, girl calls. River 4. I bet 50, girl calls. She mucks, I win. That was my biggest hand of the night profit-wise. I think I played it great, but then again it sort of plays itself. I think doing anything like check-raising would just be fancy play and not necessarily good. Being out of position and all.
After that hand, finally I was back in black. :-) Up about $40 then. Ah. Feels great to battle back and be up.
I left maybe an hour later. Played for about 4 hours and won $30. I'll take it. Not a huge win, and I feel like I actually had more good hands in this session than a lot of other sessions I've played lately, so it's kinda weak. I could have probably won an extra $100 at least if I just didn't play stupid. Either way though I'll take it. I could easily have continued to tilt and left down $400. I've done that in the past and it does not feel good compared to a $30 win. :-)
One thing I want to work on is controlling my breathing. :-) I think when I get in these pots, not even huge ones, I just start breathing out of control heavy and it's really hard to just look like nothing is happening. I don't remember being that bad about it back in the day. Then again, I was playing every day, and I also was probably drunk a lot of the time. Not sure if that would make this easier or harder to control. :-) I'm trying to run up the flight of stairs back to the parking garage when I play at Venetian, and then try to just walk out to the car controlling my breathing like it was a super easy run up the stairs. I feel like that does a pretty good job of simulating the same body conditions as I encounter when I get a big hand.
Well, that's it for my first blog post. Thanks for reading. :-) More to come. Please follow me and leave comments!
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