Drawing out

We all hate to be known as a "suck out" and tonight's tournament probably branded me as one, despite the self image I have that I usually go into a hand with the best of it.  I got involved early with K/Q vs. Q/J on a flop of Q/Q/K.  I was first to act and I bet around 3/4 of the pot.  Call by the trip queens.  Turn, x, I bet the same $300 bet, just call.  River, king, I check, he checks behind,  SUCKOUT!!!  My kings full goes on the board as the high hand of the night.  Self comment:  Knowing the player I should have bet small on the river as he definitely would have made a "crying call".


A couple of hands later, I limp in the small blind with 3/6 (yes, I know whatever I get I deserve) with about 5 folks in the pot.  Flop is 6/6/4 with two of a suite.  I bet pot and get a couple of callers.  Turn is an ace, great!!, I bet about 400.  One caller.  River.....3, I check to encourage a straight to bet, and he bets around 400, I re-raise all-in, which he snap calls with his 6/4 for the bigger full house.  The player that I sucked out on actually cheers.  Self comment:  In retrospect I should have flat called the small bet on the river.  With trips possible I could have put him more logically on A/6.  Plus he was a decent player so he would have folded if he could not beat my full house.  Thus, there was no value in reraising. 


Now somewhat short stacked I call a raise from a very good player (who was even more short than me) with my AK suited.  Flop is 9 high with 2 of my suite.  He bets 400, I re-raise all-in, he calls with pocket queens.  Turn hits my flush and he is gone.  SUCKOUT!!!  Self comment: With other players in the hand behind me and on a draw myself it would have been a better play to flat call and see the turn with more information and position on the original raiser.


Short stack Bob from last week goes all-in, I fold my 8/9 suited and watch him win after 8/8/Q flop (he had KQ).  Later more on this bad fold.  Self comment:  The all-in was for 600 more (I was in a blind), and there was another caller before my action.  I actually counted out the bets and figured a 3/1 on my money, so it was not a bad fold, but knowing the bettor (he likes to shove with suited connectors) I could have made this call with any pair or big ace.


I limp with A/9, flop is A/9/x, Bob bets, I raise, he folds, I muck.  But wait.....another player between us still has cards!  We discuss for a while who gets the pot, eventually they push it to me (incorrectly I believe).  SUCKOUT!!!  Self comment:  This was really a cluster-F--K hand.  The premature muck by Bob induced my muck but should have been more careful. (Always hold on to your cards until they push the pot to you).  Rookie error.  The tournament director was sitting next to me and he should have awarded the pot to the other player.  That said, it was also a mistake on my part to raise Bob with another player behind.  A flopped high two pair is very strong and I might have gotten more out of both of them, particularly if they paired their weak kickers.  Poorly played by me all around.


Next to final hand, Linda limps with A/7 suited, I raise with 10/10, she calls.  Flop is 8 high, she bets about 1/3 pot, I re-raise all in, she calls for less.  She hits flush on the river.  SUCKOUT!!!  Linda is a very poor player, calling station.  She made an incredibly poor call preflop by limping with a weak ace, then calling a raise out of position.  Her lead out on a flush draw with one overcard could be construed as an attempt to take control of the action or even as a blocking bet if she were a more sophisticated player.  My re-raise to put her all-in should have ended the hand, but she was stubborn....and lucky.  I have no problem with my play here, just a bad beat.


Final hand:  Bob (the player I would have knocked out with my earlier fold of 8/9), raises with AQ, I call with QJ suited.  Flop is 2/9/10, I push all in with my open ender.  He calls and I FAIL TO SUCKOUT!!!!  Player down.  Comment:  Bob had folded to re-raise strength all night so I had no reason to believe he would not fold here with overcards and no pair.  With my 8 straight outs plus 3 jacks I was a favorite to win.  Again, just unlucky.  My only alternate play would have been an all-in check raise but probably not enough chips for it to work. 

Secret Tells, Tendencies and Traits Book

It is my plan when I return to the Moose to keep extensive notes on each player.  I plan to focus each session on a couple of regulars and take note of their betting patterns, physical tells, and bet sizing in relation to their starting hand.  For instance, I have noted that Janny will nearly always bet or raise $20 preflop with larger pocket pairs especially kings, queens & jacks in order to take the pot immediately.  She will limp with smaller pairs hoping to flop a set & hit quads.  She is also a player who is an "any two suited" player, so you must be on guard for her random 2 pair or flush.  If she is on a flush draw she will chase.  If she has top pair with a good kicker she will nearly always raise any bettor.  On physical tells, she will have her chips in hand if she plans to call.

Anyway, that is the idea of my notebook.  I am anxious to get the goods on some of the regulars and think that if I laser focus on them in a session I will get knowledge that will pay big dividends in the future.

King of Queens/ Karmic Justice

As you well know, queens are one of those hands that you love to hate.  Last night at the American Legion I was dealt them 3 out of 4 hands!!!  And, to top it off the third hand I had Q/10.  My raises went uncalled and I showed them all, even saying "Queens again?  Call me a liar!"  But, I am getting ahead of myself.  Early in the tournament a young player was dominating, raising virtually every hand or limping then betting.  He had a mountain of chips by the final table, had to carry them with his hat.  I doubled up through trip 9's with my 6's full and entered the FT as one of the healthier stacks.  Folks kept busting out and when we got to 6 handed it was suggested by "Bob" that we pay the bubble.  We all agreed to take $10/10/10/10 out of the first 4 spots (5th paid only $74) and I was delighted as was one of the two shortest.

I got out of bubble trouble with a nice double up and also doubled up "Bob" (he shoved with 7/6 suited, I called with K/Q suited, caught a king he runnered as straight).  "Bob" suddenly has a change of heart about the bubble now that he a very healthy stack and questions why so much from 4th place.  We all say "F" it (and "F" you) and scrap the bubble payment.  I was furious.  However, karma is such a powerful thing to overcome.  He hits a couple of bad beats and guess who is "bubble boy"?  Ya got that right!!!  His greed cost him $40.

Mr. Big Stack kid calls my A/K shove with J/J and I spike an ace.  He is on tilt and, loses with A/J against A/Q and is soon gone.  Chet & Jan are now the shorts which the chip leader, Scott and I both keep raising out of their blinds.  Finally heads up but outchipped I suggest a chop for $357 each or take $300 each and play for the rest, which is $55 better than 2nd .  He refuses, and says "let's continue playing for a while".  He is also the dealer on the final table and will split tips.  O.K., I play lots of heads up online and am pretty good.  We cat and mouse for a while until I shove with my K/10, he calls with 2/5 suited and I am massive chip leader as he has about 10K left.  Want to split now?  Yeah.  With blinds at 2000/4000 and only about 70,000 chips in play it is the right thing to do, but I do take down the 1st place for the records.  Also, for the record I would have played it out, but Scott is a good guy and had the nasty job of dealing, he showed his class at the end by foregoing his big share (50%) of tips and giving them to the other dealers. 

Set Mania

Per sonal best record today for flopping sets.....5 of them!  Let me tell you some tales of woe and some big wins.

1st hand....Playing 9/9 I flop a set with 2 spades on the board.  My $20 bet does nothing to dissuade a caller.  Turn is another spade, he bets into me, call.  River, yet another spade, he bets, fold.

2nd hand....Playing 6/6 I flop a set on a 8/6/5 flop.  He bets, I call (same guy).  Turn another small guy.  He bets, I call.  River, he bets, I fold, he flopped a straight with his 4/7.

3rd hand....Playing 9/9 again the flop is 10/9/3.  A player bets, I raise, another player calls and first bettor goes all in for less.  Turn, I bet, player folds, all in player shows 10/10 for set over set.

4th hand....Playing J/J, I raise big preflop with about $60 in front of me.  Get 3 callers.  The flop is J/ 3/x.  I bet $20 and everyone calls.  I bet my last $15 blind and the turn pairs the 3.  Everyone calls.  The river?  don't remember, but it makes one of the other players a straight and he wins the side pot.  Nice win.

5th hand....Playing 3/3, the flop is 3/10/10.  A guy with a weak 10 bets $10, I raise $20, he calls, everyone else folds.  Turn he calls my bet, river I check.  Decent pot.

Anyway, very mixed results, but never flopped so many straights in my life.  Small win due to some major suckouts. 

What is Sweet? Revenge, of Course.

First to my Sunday tournament activity.  Playing in the $60 buyin Moose I really was running pretty card dead.  With blinds at 200/400 I had 3200 in chips when I was dealt A/J in middle position.  I raised to 1600 with one limper (Jeff), who was my only caller.  The flop was J/10/X and when it was checked to me I went all-in.  The villain calls, saying "I will call you cause I've got nothing", then turns over AQ.  I am sure that he thought that he had two overs plus a gutshot.  The river brought him the king for broadway and I am out as he comments, "Sorry".  I paused, then replied, "Oh, that's great that you are sorry, that makes a huge difference to me".

Fast forward to the Steve Stark tournament at 2:00.  I am running good in this one, end up chopping 3 ways with Gary and his brother (didn't know he had one til then).  I think we got around $110 each.  So, with my small loss in the cash game (100), I had a net loss for the day of about $90.

Fast forward again to the 10 a.m. Moose.  I am running hog wild with aces, queens, AK, etc.  Unstoppable.  Draws coming in.  Muy caliente!!!  But here is the best part.  At my table is the villain from the Sunday tournament.  He has about 5000 chips and I raise to 600 with blinds at 100/200.  He calls, along with Joe.  The flop is queen high with two diamonds.  Villain bets 1600, Joe calls, and I get a chip count from villain and re-raise him all-in.  Joe tanks and folds.  Villain shows AQ but the diamond on the turn seals the deal for me.  Joe said on the flop, "I folded two diamonds, but only 9 high".  Revenge is so sweet, a dish served cold.  I did not say a word as he left.

Now, revenge part deux.  If you recall, a couple of months ago I had some conflict with another player, unnamed but think big and crude.  Paybacks are truly a bitch.  Running so hot, I pick up AA on the button with like 6 limpers.  No way that is going down.  I decide to overbet the pot to represent a small pair that doesn't want a call, so I just shove my huge stack.  Villain #2 cannot wait to call with a fair size stack having AK suited.  I say, "Well, I know that I am ahead temporarily".  He takes great offense at this and mentions karma, bad luck, etc. With just a few chips left he is all in on the next hand which I have QQ and is gone when they hold up, muttering as he leaves.  Now I am SORRY!!!!

Rational or Rationalizing?

One of my favorite quotes is, "Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal", according to science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein.  I am thinking that this explains my poker game.  Am I a good player who is often unlucky or a bad player who thinks he is good but actually makes some pretty bad plays.  Maybe the truth is somewhere inbetween.  I do know that I often play too fast despite telling myself before every tournament, "slow down, especially when going all-in".  Or, am I some kind of mad poker genius who can analzye previous actions by a player, subtle tells, and make decisions in a nanosecond?

Yesterday I was knocked out of the Joker's tournament when I called a raise from the small blind in my big blind with A/10 offsuit.  The flop was 5/5/10 and when the player shoved (had me well covered) I so instantly called with all my chips that she immediately said, "so you have a 5".  No, just top pair top kicker.  I am eliminated in 8th place.  In thinking about the hand, I definitely could have thrown away my top pair given the action and my chip count.  Subconsciously (or if genius applies) I remembered her raising a top pair hand off a big pot with an under-pair.  I also may have factored in (too quickly) the overbet.  Upon reflection (the rationalizing part of me), I think that she would have acted like that with an underpair to the 10 figuring the flop missed me.  That would be the following hands:

9/9, 8/8,7/7, 6/6 (not 5/5 as she would slow play this monster), 4/4, 3/3, and 2/2.  She would also slow play the flopped boat with 10/10, so that hand is eliminated.  She would also shove to protect her hand with J/J, Q/Q and K/K, but unlikely she has A/A, since I have one in my hand.  Also protective shoves if she is aggressive (which she is) with raising hands like K/J, K/Q, Q/J, A/K, A/Q, A/J, or even the same hand as mine A/10.   So, in short, given previous action, aggression factor, and raise/shove range I think not a horrible call, but perhaps so given my stack size....another factor.

Tell me what you think she had.  Will add a comment in a couple of days to let you know. 

How to play JJ

Why Can't I Get This Lucky?

Having lots of problems with KK, kinda like Jason Mercier in this hand vs. Chris Moneymaker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1SZ5EPt4So&feature=related

Running Bad, Playing Bad

How bad can you run?  Short stacked by calling Hal's shove with my AQ, he had 4/4.  Hit an ace on the flop, he rivers a 4.  Knocked out by Barbra in big pot with 8/9 on a fop of J/7/x, one player all-in, another player in pot, she shoves into the dry pot with pair of 7's, I call having only one big blind with my gutshot, overcards.  Hit my 9 but she rivers another 7 for trips.  Very bad.

Now going to the 10:00 tournament, playing very snug, folding every hand early until I get K/K 4 under gun with one limper.  I make it $250 and get two callers, then the UTG raises to 1200.  Smelling shenanigans and wanting to isolate, I reraise all-in.  He has A/A.  Ironically, with a flop of QJ/x, and turn of J, I would have won the hand with any smaller facecard pair.  Of course, I wouldn't have shoved with JJ or QQ but oh my how that trapper would have been trapped......  Had he come in for a raise initially I would have just called with kings (probably) to see if an ace hits, or re-raised and folded to a shove (credit for being a very good player), and shoved on the flop to a check if no reraise.  I am getting them all in irregardless in this situation.  Not nearly smart enough to call/fold.  Again this is just an example of how bad I am running right now, not really a whine.....just an observation.  

Tebow, Manning get the Gotye treatment in parody video

Tebow, Manning get the Gotye treatment in parody video

Beaten Like a Rented Red-Headed Stepmule

Yesterday was my worst single day loss in poker, ever.  Why I continued to rebuy is a mystery to me.  Not really on tilt, more like looking for payback.  Problem was, people just took turns drawing out on me.  In a nod to honesty, I did crack aces with my pocket kings (king on the river), and also bluffed a huge pot getting the best hand to muck too quick to retrieve with jack high missed straight draw on a river flush scare card.  But here is the deal, too often I was cracked by people chasing straights, flushes, and single bottom pair hands.  All of their draws seemed to come in against me.  On the other hand, my draws stubbornly refused to happen.  My "tilt" part if any came from calling raises with suited connectors only to see another suite flop, or worse, 2 of my suite with a draw that never happened.  I made one flush all day and one straight, yet was beaten a dozen times or more with those.

Playing in the tournament was not much better.  I raised with A/5 suited, and am called by 7/3 offsuit who sees a flop of K/8/7, he checks, I C'bet and he calls.  Turn 6 gives me both the open end and flush draw, plus overcard.  He checks, I go all-in, he calls.  Gone.  

Strategy For Handling three bettors

Strategy for handling three bettors in 6 max cash games

Bill Vosti

 

In no-limit hold ‘em 6-max cash games, there’s one thing most of my students bring up when I ask them to tell me an area they have trouble with: dealing with 3-bets, specifically, when getting 3-bet by their opponents.
It’s a spot that comes up often and is almost always tough to deal with. What the best action is will depend on a variety of factors: what your position is, what your opponent’s position is, who your opponent is, how you’ve been playing at the table (and perhaps in the past against this opponent), how your opponent has been playing at the table and how he’s played in the past against you.

So, yes, there are a million factors that come into play and it’s hard to tell my students what to do in every situation. Today, I’ll concentrate on one situation where I do believe you can follow some general rules since you will often play against opponents with many similar styles, specifically, the tight-aggressive (TAG) player. The situation occurs when you open-raise on the button, and either the small blind (SB) or big blind (BB) 3-bets you.
This spot will come up frequently since you should be open-raising the button with a wide range of hands. Being on the button is a very powerful position, and it will add greatly to your win rate if you try to play a wide range of hands in that position.
So how should you generally react to the SB or BB 3-betting you when you open-raise the button? My first word of advice is to play tightly until you’ve established some history against your opponent and you know that he knows you are raising a lot on the button and you know that he is willing to start 3-betting a wider range of hands to protect his blinds.
I have played back lightly against SB and BB 3-bets when I’m on the button when I’m new at the table and lost my stack very easily because of it. An hour later, I’ll realize the player who 3-bet me was actually a very tight player and in no way should I have been calling his 3-bet with hands like KJo or T9s.
Again, it’s better to play tightly and continue with your good to very good hands until you’ve got a better idea of how he plays. I would generally say this would be with 99 or better and AQo or better, but you can certainly add a couple hands. Now, how to play those postflop against an unknown player is a whole other subject that I’ll skip for today.
So let’s say I’ve been at an online NLHE 6-max table for an hour and have some reads to go off of. When it’s been folded to me on the button, I’ve raised with hands as weak as 85s and T8o. Perhaps the SB or BB, who are tight and aggressive players, have noticed this tendency, and they’ve started 3-betting me when I raise the button. They’ve 3-bet me a few times now and I know that they can’t be getting dealt big pocket pairs and AK every hand — they’re obviously 3-betting hands like small pairs, suited connectors or some other kind of marginal holding.
I have to fight fire with fire. I’m going to start using my positional advantage to abuse this tendency of my opponents to 3-bet me with marginal hands when they are out of position.
My main tactic to play back against my opponents in these spots is to call their 3-bet with a wide range of hands – let’s say, most suited connectors (65s and up), any two suited broadway (JTs or better), and some of my good but not great broadway hands (KJo or better).
Now, when I call with these kind of hands, I’m not calling just to hit a big draw or a big hand like two pair. I’m going to be semibluffing often on the flop, with hands such as middle pair or a gutshot.
For example, say I’m playing in a $2/$4 NLHE game on Poker Stars. I raise on the button with 6s5s to $14, and the BB, who is a tight yet fairly aggressive regular who knows that I raise with a wide range on the button, 3-bets me to $52. I have $400 to start the hand, and I call this raise.
The flop comes Jc 4s 6h. My opponents bets $76 into the $106 pot, and I shove in $272 over the top that raise. It’s a big shove, but if you’re raising here, it’s better to just put all the money in.
You might be asking, why not just call the flop and fold to another bet? In this spot, I like to shove because by calling, I usually give off to my opponent that we have a one-pair type of hand, and I can be bluffed off it on the turn. Also, there are many cards that can come that will improve my opponent’s hand to the best hand.
Also, it’s not terrible if we shove and get called, since it’s very likely we have 5 outs to improve to trips or two-pair to beat him, which is a roughly 20% chance to win. Rarely will we be getting out money in with a very small chance to win. And here’s the thing; if my opponent is 3-betting a wide range of hands in this spot, he’s simply going to be missing this flop way too much. If he’s 3-betting hands like 98s, A5s and 22, there’s not going to be many flops he likes and if we are shoving any piece of any flop we get, he’s simply going to have to fold and we’re going to win a nice pot. If he does have something to call us with, we have some kind of draw to back us up to improve to the best hand.
There are other benefits to this play as well. Often times, it will slow down your opponent from 3-betting us as much since he knows you can play back with marginal hands. It will make your life a little easier as you can raise the button without your opponents fighting back as much.
Also, it will make it more likely you will get paid off when you do hit a hand like two-pair, a set, or when you slowplay AA (by just calling your opponent’s 3-bet). If he knows you can go all-in with middle pair, he’s might even start calling with hands like TT in the example above.
The great thing about getting called more when you do actually have a hand, is that you will start getting paid off in spots where you don’t really bluff. What I mean by this is when you are in other positions at the table – like under-the-gun, where you are generally playing strong hands – you will get called by worse hands in other spots by this opponent because he assumes you can make moves in a wide range of spots. When in reality, you are making a very specific move based on the button versus the blind dynamic that happens in aggressive 6-max games.
Just a word of caution; don’t start calling every hand in this spot and shoving every piece from now on. It’s never going to a big mistake to play tightly against 3-bets. You must use it selectively and generally have a good reason for it. Doing this move against tight players who don’t 3-bet very much can be a losing play. Doing this in other spots where your opponent’s 3-bet means a strong hand (such as when you raise under-the-gun and your opponent 3-bets you) can be a very bad play.
As you can see, I just spent quite a bit of time talking about a very specific spot when dealing with 3-bets. There are other ways to play back in this spot, such as 4-bet bluffing, but the move described above is my favorite and most common tactic to fight back.
Start mixing it in at the right spots. You’ll get a better feel for the right time to use it and you’ll become a much tougher opponent to play against.

Third Winning Day in a Row!

Sat in the cash game for a couple of hours yesterday and won $148, for my third winning day in a row!  Looks like my WSOP contribution is $60 so far this week.  Not planning on playing today, but have my sights set on two tournaments tomorrow, the 10 Moose and the 12:30 Joker deepstack.  Time to focus on tournament play this weekend.

Don, was just reading an interesting article by one of my poker heroes, Tom McEvoy.  He has written or co-written like a dozen or so books and often plays in Pendleton, OR where I have seen him on the higher stakes cash games.  He talks about the aggressive 3 bets with garbage in today's game in his article in "Poker Player" magazine.  Not much new info but an acknowledgement of the fact that today's game is one of aggression with or without cards in the later stages of the tournament.  Tight is right early, but as you have seen, loose calls that connect strongly can propel you into big stack poker.  Good luck tomorrow.  I briefly thought about catching a flight down there today to join you in the tournament, but have to be back Monday and if I ran good that would be a problem.  And, as you well know, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail".  Next year I am there for sure.