2 & 3 outers donk calls part II

Playing in the morning Moose tournament I got really unlucky twice. The first was going all in pre-flop with JJ and getting called by a shorter stack with AQ. He hit an ace. The second and last hand was an all-in push with AJ, called by Q10 offsuit who caught a 10. Unbelievable. The first one I can sort of understand, however it is usually better to go all in with AQ rather than call with it. The other one was just a total donk call ($900 or so).





The cash game was a wash for me despite winning the high hand with quad aces (king kicker). Two hands made the difference between a break even and a huge win day. The first one I raised pre flop with AA to $15. Pocket 5's calls. The flop is jack high with a 5. I bet 15 and am raised to 35. I call. Approximate pot size was 200 with almost 100 of my money when I failed to improve. 2 outer wins.



The second hand was more painful. A young aggressive player who was raising every pot caught his two outer on me. I called the preflop raise with A7 suited. The flop was A67 rainbow. Very nice. When he bet I check raised him to $30 (he had A10). With other callers, he calls. The turn, a 10. He bets, I raise, another player calls, he reraises and I cap it. I try to sell him on the idea that I am playing the 8/9 but he doesnt buy the idea and on the river I check raise him but he calls to win a gianormous pot. The bad part was that we got into a little verbal discussion about it. Him telling me the odds about his hand superiority preflop and me calling him lucky to catch a 2 outer (after me catching my 2 outer on the flop. Anyway, I had to stick around long enough to watch him lose all of his (my) chips as I knew he would. I called him down very light a couple of times and won, plus calling his buddy down light. They both were bluffing massively and betting strong on bottom pairs and draws.

Playing Poorly

Yesterday I could not cash in any game. After reviewing my hands decided that I was playing very poorly and making horrible decisions. An example that turned out well for me, but still a bad decision. The very first hand of a SNG with about 2 limpers and me in the BB with AK offsuit, the button shoves all in. Keep in mind that there is less than $50 in this pot. I call, he has Q/8 offsuit. We both catch air and I double up. You might think this is sweet, but in my opinion it would have been a better fold. I was probably looking at a coin toss most of the time and better to fold all hands but kings or aces here.

My biggest problem yesterday seemed to be betting into strength too much. If I raised preflop with pocket 10's and there is an overcard on the flop (as there will be 60-70% of the time) you are usually behind if you C-bet and are called. Continuing to bet is bleeding chips.

Another problem is not analyzing the river carefully enough after betting the flop and turn. An example today was betting the flop with 7/8 on a 9/10 flop with two spades. Two callers. The turn is a blank for my straight draw, I bet again. Two callers. The river is a blank, check to me in middle position. I check and the button checks behind showing the winning J/Q missed straight draw but queen high nothing and the other player showing 3/4 missed flush draw. A bet on the river would have taken the pot.

After going through lots of this yesterday I passed on playing at the American Legion tournament. Too bad, I am one of the most consistent final table players there. Instead watched "Social Network", excellent movie.

This is what I am talking about ace ten

These two actually happened after the next hand. But again, the got lucky. If he had hit his 10 or ace on the other one he was gone.

This is what I have been talking about with the overplaying of Ace Ten. I raised UTG with my jacks (pot), he reraises me with one caller between us, so I reraise all in to isolate him. He catches two pair on me, but I flop the set and he is gone from the tournament after being chip leader.

On another note, the reason I had him covered was that he ran into my aces (again a raise preflop) with his 6/7. He caught a pair and a flush draw and I got all in with him. What a prime donkey.

Haunted by Ace Ten

Why are people so in love with ace/ten? I have seen so many people risk their tournament life with this hand. You are always looking at an overcard on your 10 if you hit it, and your kicker is no good if an ace falls most of the time. It is really a trash hand yet so many people will call all in, or go all in with it. I am truly amazed.

A few minutes ago playing in a rebuy tournament, I raised preflop big with JJ and was called by A10. I check raised him all in on an ace high flop, he called me. Unbelievable. People play so bad it just amazes me.

Is Taking a Week Off Good For Your Game?

Well, it has been a solid week of no poker for me so decided to try my luck, er I mean skill, in some sit n go tournaments this morning. Here are the results:

Tournament 1 (hold em) 1st place
Tournament 2 (omaha) 3rd place
Tournament 3 (hold em) 1st place

So, perhaps the absence has been good for my game. I played very passively or perhaps carefully in all 3 tournaments, even laying down a turned full house (the underfull) in omaha (which would have knocked a player out who had a straight). My patience in waiting for the right position and situation really did pay off despite being snapped with my 10/10 vs A/10 late in one tourney. I later repaid his lucky 3 outer with my own.

Tonight: American Legion

Week Off From Poker

My valentine's gift to my wife this year is a week off from poker. Started by not playing in the Am. Legion tournament, instead taking her to a play. So far, so good, not even one game online. Wish me luck.

Overplaying Hands

Lately I have seen a trend in tournaments of people overplaying their hands. A few examples:

Player goes all-in, overcall all-in by 10/10 (that is o.k. in my book to isolate a probable ace high race), but then J/J overcalls!!! WTF is he doing? He is looking at a race against every overcard and/or overpair. P.S., he won.

Player all-in, I call raise with 8/8, then it is re-raised all-in with AK (a drawing hand). I call with good pot odds and lose when he spikes an ace. Who was overplaying? I think the AK was, and if the pot was not as large I would not have overplayed my medium pockets.

I raise to 1100 on the button with 10/10 and several limpers with 100/200 blinds. The small blind reraises enough to put me all in which I call to see A/A (I felt pot committed with 1/2 my chips in the pot (1200 more for a 3400 pot). I do believe that I overplayed my hand as the player had not shown himself to be a donk. What could I beat that he could reraise with? Certainly a huge dog to his pairs range and a coin flip to AK which are the only hands I can imagine a raise.

Failure at Legion

Failure came pretty early for me at the Legion tournament last night. I kept getting moved from table to table as we lost players and when we broke a table. It is difficult to establish a table image this way and also I kept getting placed with some major donks. I managed to chip up fairly well, getting to around 3x the original 2100 when I ran into trouble. I had just lost a big pot and an early position player, who I had covered by around 2000 or so went all-in. I called the 1600 quickly with my 8/8 and one of the blinds then reraised all-in which then put me in. With over 5000 in the pot already I was willing to gamble, so I called. The original raiser had a very weak hand J/8 suited and the reraiser had AK offsuit. I was dodging 9 outs of theirs with only 1 card that could improve me. Naturally the blind hit an ace and we were both knocked out. I would not have played it any other way, so not losing any sleep over it. I got all my chips in with the best hand.

Quote of the Day

"Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time."
-Arnold H. Glasgow

Think about that the next tournament you play in.

There are Donks, and then there are DONKS!!!

Personally witnessed the biggest donkdom Monday in a 45 person SNG tournament. First hand of the game guy goes all in with KQ offsuit with no limpers. Potential win: $15, potential loss: his tournament seat. He is called by A3 suited, hello second donk. Then a third player overcalls with: AA, hello real hand. The flop contains a 3 and the river of course has another 3. Guy triples up for an unbelievable suckout. Later in the tournament I have the pleasure of knocking him out. 5 handed I get all my chips in against the massive chip leader with AA and flip positions to become chip leader. Ultimately came in second after some back and forth losing with my AJ vs AA.