Dog of a hand
Date: Sat, May 3, 2008 Internet
This is pretty incredible. I'm posting it just so that anyone reading this knows that I know I can be lucky too.
PokerStars Game #17165032972: Tournament #86987073, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/05/03 - 03:05:13 (ET)
Table '86987073 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: dmace16 (3758 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (2385 in chips)
Seat 7: bama63 (3611 in chips)
Seat 8: akBADseed (3746 in chips)
bama63: posts small blind 100
akBADseed: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ks Ac]
dmace16: folds
FR Vessant: raises 400 to 600
Pretty close to a shove with only 12BB, but these players have been very tight, so I'm not expecting to be called often. If they pick up a hand, they'll likely shove. And I'll call that.
bama63: calls 500
Okay, I'll tell you what he has up front. Kh9h.
So should he call? Fuck no. He's going to be playing king high out of position. It's suited, but I'm basically never paying off a flush unless the board also has an ace (note that he holds the K so any other flush isn't getting paid off). He's behind my entire range here. I've been very very tight, so he can't expect to see anything he beats here. At best I have a small pair and he might outflop me.
akBADseed: folds
*** FLOP *** [9c 9d Qd]
This is a decent flop for me, but it's one that I'd expect him to bet at automatically. He's decently aggressive postflop and I expect him to consider whatever he called with preflop to be ahead here or to be able to fold me out.
I am thinking, of course, that he's called with a pair, a big ace, KQ, maybe KJ. Paired flops are generally good for OOP players, because if he bets, I can't call with everything I raised with. Indeed, with the hand I actually did have, I will fold if he bets.
bama63: checks
Now that's odd. I had a feeling about his check and I went with the gut. Normally, you'd cbet here and expect to fold the other guy out.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with checking on this flop for him. I am incredibly unlikely to catch up with him because I'll never have a 9.
FR Vessant: checks
*** TURN *** [9c 9d Qd] [Kd]
bama63: checks
Should he check here? Probably. He has the full and this may well have hit my hand. If it hasn't, I'm not likely to call a bet.
FR Vessant: bets 600
bama63: calls 600
But this is awful. I am never folding AK here but when he calls, I'm worried because there are a few hands out there that beat me. KQ is solidly in his range, JT is possibly there. But he can have KJ too, maybe KT, and it's possible JJ/TT will call here too, although you'd have to think they'd bet the flop.
*** RIVER *** [9c 9d Qd Kd] [Kc]
bama63: checks
Crazy. He has to bet here. What if I have AA? Am I folding that? What if, unlikely as it might be, I have Q9 or T9? Those will be tough to fold.
FR Vessant: bets 800
bama63: calls 800
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Ks Ac] (a full house, Kings full of Nines)
bama63: shows [Kh 9h] (a full house, Kings full of Nines)
I was astonished when I saw his hand. That really was a huge suckout for me. Preflop was bad for me, because I should have shoved really, and he called a lot wider than I was expecting -- he actually loosened up a ton from here on in, calling a raise a few hands later with 52o. On the flop, I'm crushed. I was lucky he didn't bet, because I'm mostly folding unless it's very small. On the turn, I was both lucky and unlucky. Unlucky to catch up a bit, but lucky that it allowed the huge river suckout.
OTOH
Date: Sat, May 3, 2008 Internet
And having whined, here's the other side of the coin.
PokerStars Game #17164641564: Tournament #86987073, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2008/05/03 - 02:28:40 (ET)
Table '86987073 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: lilyannadwn (1545 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: dmace16 (2009 in chips)
Seat 4: xlntttt (1507 in chips)
Seat 5: DaTruth35 (1175 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (2055 in chips)
Seat 7: bama63 (1550 in chips)
Seat 8: akBADseed (2729 in chips)
Seat 9: Eyedread (930 in chips)
DaTruth35: posts small blind 25
FR Vessant: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [2h 6d]
bama63: folds
akBADseed: folds
Eyedread: calls 50
lilyannadwn: folds
dmace16: folds
xlntttt: folds
DaTruth35: folds
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [3d 2s 6h]
Top and bottom pair is a decent hand but it tends to be overtaken, and it can be tough later in the hand to know where you are. So no slowplaying, just bet out and take it down.
FR Vessant: bets 100
Eyedread: raises 250 to 350
Well, okay. Maybe he has a set of 3s. He's fairly loose so 54s is not impossible. But you can't fold twopair here. He mostly has an overpair or top pair at best. Sometimes he will have 55/44; sometimes nothing at all.
FR Vessant: raises 1655 to 2005 and is all-in
So I shove.
Eyedread: calls 530 and is all-in
And he calls off the rest of his stack with 83s.
*** TURN *** [3d 2s 6h] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [3d 2s 6h Kc] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [2h 6d] (two pair, Sixes and Deuces)
Eyedread: shows [3s 8s] (a pair of Threes)
I half thought the 3 or 8 would come and make me cry, but this time my 5/1 favourite held up.
Limping cards just because they're suited is completely retarded. They rarely ever hit the flop hard enough to continue with, let alone get paid for the many many times you completely miss, and flushes are so obvious when you hit them that most players will not call big bets with them anyway. You end up needing a huge parlay to make anything out of 83s. And calling a shove with middle pair against someone who bet out in the first place is plain terrible. He is never ahead there, and he will very rarely catch up, even if I only have top pair. Which I don't. I'm pretty much never shoving top pair in that spot.
Please not a 6
Date: Sat, May 3, 2008 Internet
Tendollar tourneys just aren't working out for me. This is a terrible table, full of very bad players, so I should make money.
PokerStars Game #17164225231: Tournament #86984081, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/05/03 - 01:54:51 (ET)
Table '86984081 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: dboy118111 (2305 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (2915 in chips)
Seat 5: Elbowman (1450 in chips)
Seat 6: Liminality (2980 in chips)
Seat 8: KW11 (690 in chips)
Seat 9: WazzleDazzle (3160 in chips)
dboy118111: posts small blind 50
FR Vessant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [3d 4d]
Elbowman: folds
Liminality: folds
KW11: folds
WazzleDazzle: folds
dboy118111: calls 50
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 6d 3c]
dboy118111: bets 300
FR Vessant: calls 300
He probably has a 6. He can have a draw too. It's a fairly loose call, and in retrospect, I could easily have folded here.
*** TURN *** [5c 6d 3c] [3s]
dboy118111: bets 400
FR Vessant: raises 600 to 1000
dboy118111: calls 600
I almost certainly have the best hand here, and will need to be very unlucky to lose. I probably should have raised a bit more but I am putting him only on TP, which is making a mistake against this raise. Not that the hand he actually had isn't making one.
*** RIVER *** [5c 6d 3c 3s] [6s]
My heart just sank. I know I will be beaten, but the pot is so big I have to call a push in case he has an overpair or 44, which is possible.
dboy118111: bets 905 and is all-in
FR Vessant: calls 905
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dboy118111: shows [7d 6h] (a full house, Sixes full of Threes)
FR Vessant: shows [3d 4d] (a full house, Threes full of Sixes)
Well, I could have avoided the trouble by folding on the flop but meh. This time the guy had six outs to beat me, but by fuck, I could do with winning a few this week.
***
The thing is, over the long term, this is what theoretically makes you money: crap players get their money in way behind. Like the guy in a 6.5 who called a shove with K8s after limping. I had AJs. I should win that 63% of the time, and I probably do, but when the 37% coincides with your putting 90% of your stack in, and the 63% less valuable spots, you lose money even so.
The guy with six outs loses one time in 7.5. But that one time he pretty much stacks me, and the other 6.5 will be times when someone has six outs, misses and doesn't pay me a cent.
Sigh. If the river had been a 7, for instance, I would have stacked him, and likely been $50 better off. Given that my average profit from a tenner is two bucks, you can see that a $60 swing really hurts.
Two outs is more than enough
Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 Internet
Same tourney. This is why my results have been so ordinary lately.
PokerStars Game #17158770334: Tournament #86955430, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/05/02 - 20:51:36 (ET)
Table '86955430 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: FR Vessant (4750 in chips)
Seat 4: wittuz76 (2150 in chips)
Seat 5: ps1west (1298 in chips)
Seat 6: Beefy Lad (2455 in chips)
Seat 8: wellunger (670 in chips)
Seat 9: EVIL E2612 (2177 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
wittuz76: posts the ante 25
ps1west: posts the ante 25
Beefy Lad: posts the ante 25
wellunger: posts the ante 25
EVIL E2612: posts the ante 25
Beefy Lad: posts small blind 200
wellunger: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qs Qc]
EVIL E2612: folds
FR Vessant: raises 4325 to 4725 and is all-in
No need for anything fancy. They're short enough to call with wide enough ranges to make inducing a shove unnecessary.
wittuz76: folds
ps1west: calls 1273 and is all-in
A terrible call. He has KJ.
Beefy Lad: folds
wellunger: calls 245 and is all-in
And so does he.
*** FLOP *** [2d 8d Jh]
Well that's not good but at least it's not a
*** TURN *** [2d 8d Jh] [Kc]
Oh dear.
I was a 4/1 favourite before the flop and nearly 6/1 after it.
But there's no lesson to be learned here. Bad players make bad calls and get lucky sometimes. Because they are taking bad odds, their luck will run out. And of course for both these guys it did run out.
I did learn something from this tourney though. I haven't been going well in the money, particularly heads up, and I got to HU with 3K. In a regular, the blinds are usually low enough for me to outplay the other guy. But I was card dead and panicked, calling a push for 3ishK with T9o. The other guy's QJ held up. The lesson learned is that you are going to feel a lot worse getting it in behind and realising you shouldn't have than you would if you made the right play and it didn't work out.
Bad bluff
Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 Internet
Here's another fairly obviously bluff. Villain is loose and bad. I gained my stack with TT that hit a set and an AA hand in which AJ tried to push me off a KQx flop and then called my shove.
PokerStars Game #17158306532: Tournament #86955430, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/05/02 - 20:30:30 (ET)
Table '86955430 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: burschikos (1625 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (3525 in chips)
Seat 4: wittuz76 (1330 in chips)
Seat 5: ps1west (2310 in chips)
Seat 6: Beefy Lad (1340 in chips)
Seat 8: wellunger (570 in chips)
Seat 9: EVIL E2612 (2800 in chips)
burschikos: posts small blind 50
FR Vessant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac 2h]
wittuz76: folds
ps1west: calls 100
Beefy Lad: folds
wellunger: folds
EVIL E2612: folds
burschikos: folds
FR Vessant: checks
Just check with the raggy ace. Too deep to do anything else and I don't like raising OOP.
*** FLOP *** [8d Jc 2c]
FR Vessant: checks
ps1west: bets 100
FR Vessant: calls 100
I expect he has nothing here, so I peel and see what he does on the turn. Folding is okay, but I did pair and his minbet suggests he wasn't confident in his hand and just wanted to fold me out. I think I can play this hand quite well from here, because I'm putting him on a KT type hand.
*** TURN *** [8d Jc 2c] [As]
FR Vessant: checks
ps1west: checks
So I make two pair and I'm definitely best here in my view. I check, hoping he will fire again. But he doesn't. Well, he clearly doesn't have a better two pair here.
*** RIVER *** [8d Jc 2c As] [Js]
FR Vessant: bets 200
I decide to make some value out of my hand. I'm nearly always still best here and I hope to be called by 8x or a small pair that thinks I'm bluffing.
ps1west: raises 300 to 500
So he bluffs.
I simply do not put him on a jack because his flop bet was so weak, nor an ace, because he checked behind the turn. I could sometimes be beaten by Jx here, or by A9+, but I very much doubt it. I think he has 8x and doesn't put me on the ace or possibly a small pair that thinks that I'm bluffing the riv.
FR Vessant: calls 300
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ps1west: shows [3h 3d] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)
I wouldn't have turned this hand into a bluff on the river. I may be bluffing, but I may also have something with some value (which of course I did). He could show his hand down for 200 and that will get value from bluffs. The way he played it, I need to be bluffing pretty often to make him good.
Calling station
Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Internet
Here's some high-variance play that I don't recommend.
I have a strong read on jawilmes. He's a LAGgy, not very smart player, and I've picked a few things up while watching this tourney.
Full Tilt Poker Game #6244268587: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (47526848), Table 1 - 150/300 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:39:27 ET - 2008/05/01
Seat 1: basatagirl (3,000)
Seat 4: Jamarekk (1,566)
Seat 7: PisquitoSour (4,676)
Seat 8: jawilmes (4,258)
jawilmes posts the small blind of 150
basatagirl posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Jh Ts]
Jamarekk folds
PisquitoSour folds
jawilmes raises to 600
basatagirl calls 300
I call because his minraise means one of two things: he's "trapping" with what he thinks is a decent hand, or he's noticed I'm playing tight and wants to win the blinds cheaply.
Mostly, it's the second. So I call the minraise. I'll fold if I don't like the action on the flop. Against a more straightforward player, the call is much tougher.
*** FLOP *** [5s Qd Th]
jawilmes bets 600
basatagirl calls 600
I'm pretty sure my hand is good here. When he has something, he's been betting decent amounts. This smells a lot like a bluff. I'm certainly not folding middle pair without strong reason to think I'm losing.
*** TURN *** [5s Qd Th] [Ac]
jawilmes checks
basatagirl checks
He confirms he was bluffing by checking the turn. I still want to check it down though, because my hand has value at showdown that can be lost if he pushes and bluffs me off it. On many river cards, I'm going to be happy to call a bet.
*** RIVER *** [5s Qd Th Ac] [Ad]
jawilmes bets 900
basatagirl calls 900
That's a terrible card to bluff with. If he wasn't confident on the turn, he can't be now. It's conceivable that he has Qx and was scared by the ace on the turn, but it's much more likely he had nothing. He thinks I don't have an ace (didn't bet turn) and could have paired the flop or begun with a small pair. This is not a good spot for a bluff though, because his story is just not credible for his kind of player.
This is why. If he was a tight player who I thought had a clue, his bet would look like a value bet. IOW, I'd likely read it as a smallish bet from a player with a decent queen, who figured that I might have that pair or a weak queen, and would possibly pay off a small bet. It's called a "value" bet because you attempt to get value for your hand the times it is better than your opponent's, which you figure it will often be. What you don't want to happen is to let me show down cheaply if I would pay for the privilege. But you don't put in too large a bet, because you want to be called.
But this guy has no concept of a value bet. If he has it, he bets it hard. He doesn't think what I might have. All he can see is his own hands. He is trying to steal the pot cheaply.
You should often play very weakly postflop in STTs, but here I had a clear read and the betting indicated a bluff very strongly. So I snapped it off:
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jawilmes shows [8d 4d] a pair of Aces
I don't recommend that a beginner plays this way. In an STT, you need to play tightly because of ICM and I often fold when I'm reasonably sure the other guy is bluffing because the chips will really hurt to lose. But when your experience allows you to read a player well, sometimes you need to call it down when you know you're good.
How not to check it down
Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Internet
Here is how not to check it down.
Full Tilt Poker Game #6243960089: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (47524616), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:58:16 ET - 2008/05/01
Seat 1: LDCrayne (660)
Seat 3: JDaGr8 (4,070)
Seat 4: mikesworld (5,870)
Seat 5: basatagirl (2,900)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 120
LDCrayne posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kh 6h]
JDaGr8 folds
mikesworld has 15 seconds left to act
mikesworld calls 240
basatagirl calls 120
I just call because I'm hoping shorty will push and we'll check it down and knock him out.
LDCrayne raises to 660, and is all in
mikesworld calls 420
basatagirl calls 420
So I call and obv. so does the other guy. He seems to have understood not to a/ bet me out of the pot first time round and b/ shove and make me fold after the other guy pushes.
*** FLOP *** [Kd 2c Qs]
I have top pair but I don't bet. The big stack has shown every sign of being retarded, and I'd hate for him to push and make me fold.
But truth is, even if he did, I could call, because I'd need to be super unlucky to bubble.
Anyway, I don't mind checking it down. Just in case allin guy has KT and the other guy would have made two pair on the turn or river.
basatagirl checks
mikesworld checks
*** TURN *** [Kd 2c Qs] [7h]
basatagirl checks
mikesworld has 15 seconds left to act
mikesworld checks
But really, thinking about it. I'd need allin guy to have K7 and retard to have Q2, or some similar parlay, to bubble. Remember, if bigstack beats us both, I come third because I started with more chips. Still, best not to fold the other guy out, just in case.
*** RIVER *** [Kd 2c Qs 7h] [Qd]
basatagirl checks
mikesworld bets 960
basatagirl folds
So he has to have a queen, right?
Uncalled bet of 960 returned to mikesworld
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mikesworld shows [Ac Td] a pair of Queens
No.
He bet me out of the sidepot with no pair.
I mean, wtf? Did he think that I call with a worse hand? Does he think, hmmm, if I fold out a better hand, I'll be ahead of the other guy and win? Well, he must.
LDCrayne shows [As 2h] two pair, Queens and Twos
But he doesn't beat him.
And I went on to bubble. In a just universe, the retard would have bubbled himself. And he nearly did. But he sucked out on the key hand, and finally sucked out on me when I pushed over a SB limp with 33 and his QJ caught a J.
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh
Date: Tue, Apr 29, 2008 Internet
I'm totally beginning to hate QQ though:
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-66571070-9
played at "Kampala" for USD TC from 2008-04-29 21:50 until 2008-04-29 21:51
Seat 1: oruga2000 ($1,470 in chips)
Seat 2: Koo23 ($1,340 in chips)
Seat 3: sniperr ($1,250 in chips)
Seat 4: Dr Zen ($3,280 in chips)
Seat 5: peter-klaus ($1,060 in chips)
Seat 6: mizmik1 ($1,630 in chips)
Seat 8: cigar202 ($1,450 in chips)
Seat 9: dyonisos40 ($2,060 in chips)
Seat 10: Hugotheboss1 ($1,460 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
peter-klaus posts blind ($10), mizmik1 posts blind ($20).
PRE-FLOP
cigar202 folds, dyonisos40 calls $20, Hugotheboss1 folds, oruga2000 folds, Koo23 calls $20, sniperr folds, Dr Zen bets $100, peter-klaus folds, mizmik1 folds, dyonisos40 folds, Koo23 calls $80.
FLOP [board cards: JD JC 6D ]
Koo23 checks, Dr Zen bets $200, Koo23 bets $1,240 and is all-in, Dr Zen calls $1,040.
He has KJ.
I mean, WTF?
BTW, Father Luke, if you're reading this, don't ever fold to his push on the flop. Yeah, this time he has the jack. But a lot of the time he doesn't.
***
I'm having a shitting morning this morning. I pushed over five limpers at t50 with JJ, got called by AK and he sucked out.
I am card dead for a whole other tourney, chip up with some nice shortstack play, then hit two pair on the flop and get it in with a flush draw. Which made.
Sigh. Some days, no matter what you do, you lose.
***
No sooner had I posted that than it got worse.
I raise 200 over a limper at t50. I have KK. SB calls, limper calls. Flop comes J97. I bet 400 into the 600 pot.
SB calls. I know he has a straight draw. It's obvious.
Turn T. I should just give it up. But obv. I don't. I push, he shows A8s.
I mean, wtf? He called a raise pre with a raggy ace. Then a big bet on the flop with a gutshot and an overcard.
Poker gods, punish these idiots. Don't send them their straight cards.
If you must, send me the queen that resucks on them. For fuck's sake, it's just not right that all my big pairs get cracked so much and by such bad players.
Meeeeeeeh
Date: Tue, Apr 29, 2008 Internet
The poker gods are cruel, and the cruellest thing they do is not to punish idiots. I find that the hardest thing in poker. Not so much the bad beat, but that the other player was just so stupid.
Example follows.
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-66568958-14
played at "Kabul" for USD TC from 2008-04-29 20:14 until 2008-04-29 20:15
Seat 1: Dr Zen ($1,320 in chips)
Seat 2: triops ($1,445 in chips)
Seat 3: mc stepper ($2,305 in chips)
Seat 4: doc drool ($450 in chips)
Seat 5: frozenman76 ($1,815 in chips)
Seat 6: grippenlake1 ($1,290 in chips)
Seat 7: RecTimer ($1,770 in chips)
Seat 8: RassRodz ($1,205 in chips)
Seat 9: washington6 ($1,760 in chips)
Seat 10: jeepers113 ($1,640 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
frozenman76 posts blind ($15), grippenlake1 posts blind ($30).
I have QQ.
PRE-FLOP
RecTimer folds, RassRodz calls $30, washington6 folds, jeepers113 folds, Dr Zen bets $150, triops folds, mc stepper folds, doc drool folds, frozenman76 folds, grippenlake1 folds, RassRodz calls $120.
I have a bad feeling. QQ is close to the losingmost hand for me. I'd be running a lot better if it just occasionally won me a decent pot.
FLOP [board cards: JC 5D TS ]
RassRodz bets $200, Dr Zen bets $1,170 and is all-in, RassRodz calls $855 and is all-in.
So I'm not all that scared of his bet. He can have JT or a set, obv. but I'm never folding QQ on an undercard flop.
His call of my push is atrocious though. He has KsJs. How can he think he's good there? He is only beating the bluff. Why put me on a bluff though? Leaving aside that I'm never bluffing in that spot, why would he even think I was?
Well, obviously he doesn't think at all.
TURN [board cards: JC 5D TS 6S ]
RIVER [board cards: JC 5D TS 6S 3S ]
Believe it or not, this guy gave me shit after this hand. He felt like a genius.
Maybe he is. Because it seems to me that the right play against me is to get it in with absolutely any shit you have, because you are going to suck out way more than expectation.
UPDATE: Still, I finished third, which means I took that guy's buyin. Yes, I came back from 115 chips. It's always worth fighting.
A bad bluff
Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 Internet
This is an interesting hand, which is illustrative of a principle that can save you quite a lot of heartache and chips in poker.
I am familiar with Flutterbies, but I'm not in this hand. What we've seen in this tourney is that she called a raise with TT, then pushed a flop with a T on it that looked like it might have hit the raiser. It had, and that's why she has 2.7K.
I just played Orezza and I know that he's a LAGgy type who seems able to understand what's going on most of the time. He made a couple of insane calls on the bubble though. He's been reasonably quiet in this tourney. He becomes aggressive when he has a stack; I know that much.
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-66286044-27
played at "Dayton" for USD TC from 2008-04-25 21:52 until 2008-04-25 21:53
Seat 2: Flutterbies ($2,722 in chips)
Seat 3: Dr Zen ($1,525 in chips)
Seat 4: sgruno ($1,470 in chips)
Seat 5: grippenlake1 ($2,765 in chips)
Seat 6: vaktis100 ($1,710 in chips)
Seat 7: XXstevencXX ($1,365 in chips)
Seat 8: rumram ($375 in chips)
Seat 10: orezza2B ($3,068 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($25), sgruno posts blind ($50).
PRE-FLOP
grippenlake1 folds, vaktis100 calls $50, XXstevencXX folds, rumram folds, orezza2B bets $300, Flutterbies calls $300
So we note that she has called a decent raise. She's not as tight as she should be, but she has played tightly this tourney, and has not been involved much. No reason to think that Orezza doesn't have at least some sort of hand here.
Dr Zen folds, sgruno folds, vaktis100 folds.
I have rags and fold.
FLOP [board cards: 7C 8C QH ]
orezza2B checks, Flutterbies checks.
TURN [board cards: 7C 8C QH TH ]
orezza2B bets $100, Flutterbies calls $100.
RIVER [board cards: 7C 8C QH TH 8D ]
orezza2B checks, Flutterbies bets $900, orezza2B calls $900.
When they turn over their cards Orezza shows Ah7h and Flutterbies AK. She blows up at him for his call. What a donkey! But is he?
No. His call is reasonable and her bluff is not. This is why. Bluffs are stories. The story you are telling must be credible. What is Flutterbies' story here: "I have an 8 "? "I have QT and slowplayed it"? "I trapped you with J9"?
None is very credible. She's a tight player and called in the blinds. There aren't many 8s in her range. A8s maybe, but that was a big raise to call with that. And can an 8 call on the turn? If she played a straight or QT slow from fear of folding him out with a raise on the turn, why put in such a big bet now?
Basically, Orezza only needs to think "the 8 didn't improve her and she played the hand really weakly, so mostly this is a bluff" and he can call with his pair. I think I would call too in his spot, against this player.
One thing that might have tipped Flutterbies off that bluffing was not a good idea was that the guy put in such a big raise pre. This is not a sign that he's tight, and if he's not tight, he's not folding anything on the riv. The principle here is: make sure your bluff tells a credible story. What's credible varies, depending on the opponent, but if you can only really be bluffing, most villains will call.
For me the tourney ended in the money. I busted pushing A8 into Orezza. He called with 76s, which I suppose is not as bad as it could be (I had 1.3K and he had over 8K), and he turned and rivered 7s.
Lesson: domination
Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 Internet
Sadly not chicks with whips, which would be fun, but an important concept in poker, which it's worth understanding before moving on to starting hands.
There are two reasons that we start with understanding hands you can end up with, rather than with hands you begin with. One is that not knowing what beats what is such a severe handicap that you must rectify it. The other is that understanding that hand values are relative is important in poker.
AA is the best starting hand. Everything else is drawing to beat it preflop. But when the flop comes three of a black suit, you have red aces, and half the table is going nuts with betting, your AA is junk. Even before the flop, the relative value of hands depends a lot on what hands they can make. (Even more so in games such as Omaha, where starting values are closer but how well your hand will play postflop is crucial.)
You'd often rather be in a hand with QJs than with K7o. Okay, the king high hand has greater starting value. But QJs makes many more straights and flushes. Importantly -- and we noted this in the lesson about hand rankings -- using both cards to make a hand will tend to make your hands stronger. On a TKAr board, QJs makes the nuts, and no one else is likely to have it. On a 9TJQr board, K7 does not make the nuts (AK does), and anyone else with a K at least "chops" (splits the pot) with you. On a 5689r board though, you are only beaten by T7, which is on the whole an unlikely hand for anyone outside the blinds to have. The point is, hand value is relative: if others are unlikely to have hands that beat you, your hand is strong.
Now imagine you have AJ. This is a reasonably good starting hand (not as good as most donkeys think though). Why? Not because it can make some strong straights, because it rarely will. But because if you flop top pair with it, you will either have TPTK or TP with a jack kicker, which will often be best.
But imagine that the guy in the hand with you has AQ. Now if you flop an ace, you have dogshit. You must hit your jack to beat the guy. You have three "outs" to do that (there are three jacks in the deck that will make two pair for you and beat his TPQK). AQ dominates AJ. Formally, if you have fewer than three outs preflop against another hand, that hand dominates you.
(For simplicity's sake, we might write that AQ > AJ. The greater than sign just means "beats". There isn't a symbol for "dominates".)
Some hands are very prone to domination. KJ is a good example. It's a hand many beginners overrate, but think. When you hit your hand, and someone gives you action, are you going to be winning or losing? Well, sometimes they will have hands you dominate, like QJ/KT. But if the action is heavy, you are often up against KQ/AK/AJ, all hands people like to play. You are also dominated by JJ and KK, and of course by AA, which dominates all other starting hands. Note that bigger pairs dominate smaller pairs because the smaller pair has only two outs to beat the bigger one. That puts you in terrible "shape" (we say you're in bad shape if your hand is "way behind" another hand or range; in good shape if you are "way ahead" of another hand or range).
Note that although AK beats 72, it doesn't dominate it. 72 can win against AK by hitting one of six cards in the deck. Indeed, you are better off having 72 vs AK than you are having AQ! You'd generally consider AQ a strong hand, but do you see how that changes depending on what the other guy has?
Try to avoid domination. How? Don't call raises with hands that can be "easily dominated". If an early raiser is "tight" (does not play many hands), do not call with AJ. His "range" (the cards he is likely to have) includes AK-AQ, but not hands you in turn dominate like AT-. You don't want to play AJ against this range, because you have to get lucky to beat him. Against some players, you could "outplay" them postflop (use your superior skills and handreading ability to bluff them off their better hand) but there's not much scope for that in STTs. Don't call large raises with small pairs. You will sometimes be ahead, but not much. And when you're behind, you're dominated, and will rarely catch up.
Having understood that hand strength is relative and changes on each street, and that position in a list is not the whole story, we can move onto starting hands.
***
Actually, quick note about another phenomenon to be aware of (I will write more about it when we discuss implied odds and reverse implied odds): reverse domination. Imagine that you hold AQ and the flop comes 963r. Someone bets small. You might call. You have six outs to beat top pair (three aces and three queens) and often they'll be "good" (will actually make you the best hand; outs do not always make you a winner, and sometimes you must discount them for various reasons: we'll talk about that later, but not in great detail, because, frankly, you could play STTs at a low limit without ever calculating pot odds). But what is the other guy has Q9 or A9. Now you have only three outs, but do not know it! You had the guy dominated before the flop, but now he dominates you. This is reverse domination. It's one good reason not to call small bets with "overcards" (cards bigger than the flop). Some of the time, the other guy will have paired his rag kicker but will have a big card to go with it. This is particularly true with aces. More usually, the flop would be A93r, so you have TPQK, a decent hand, but are reverse dominated by A9/A3. There's nothing to be done in those cases. Against most players, you are "going broke" (putting all your chips in and risking getting busted) in this spot.
Lesson: hand rankings
Date: Thu, Apr 24, 2008 Internet
This is how the hands rank, from lowest to highest:
1/ The worst hand in holdem is 75432. Seven high.
2/ All unpaired hands come next, ranked by the order of their highest card A6432 beats KQJ32. (Note that A5432 is actually a straight, known as a "wheel" or a "bike".)
3/ Pairs are next. They rank from 22 up to AA. When we say "top pair", we mean the best possible pair on the flop. On a flop of K32, top pair is a pair of kings. If you and your opponent both have the same pair, they are distinguished by the highest side card, or kicker. On that flop, if you hold AK, you have "top pair, top kicker", known as "TPTK". If you have second kicker (a queen in this instance), you have TP2K. If you have a small card, or "rag", you have TPNK. N = "no". TPMK is "top pair, meh kicker". That generally means one you don't think beats your opponent's.
4/ Two pair is next. They rank from 3322 up to AAKK. Note that it's only the bigger pair that counts unless you both have the same bigger pair. AA33 beats KKQQ, and AAQQ beats AA33. If you both have AAQQ, your kicker will play. Say the board is AQQ3 and you have A9. Your hand now reads "AAQQ9". You would beat A8, but you are "behind" AT. We say we are "ahead of" hands or "ranges" that we are beating, and "behind" ones we are losing to. Why ranges? Well, we don't know what the others have, but we can put them on ranges. We know the kinds of hands they play, so we figure they have a range. Our hand can be beating that range, or some of that range. Even if you are only beating some of what he might have, you can be "ahead of his range". This is an important concept in poker and particularly in STTs.
5/ Next is three of a kind. If this is made with two in your hand (known as a "pocket pair" or "PP", because your two "downcards" are your "pocket cards" or "hole cards"), this is usually called a "set"; if only with one in your hand, usually "trips". But people mix this up a lot and a lot of people call sets trips. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that you grasp that a set is much stronger than trips on the whole. A set is a very strong hand, nearly always. Trips not always.
6/ Next is a straight, any five cards in consecutive order. Straights rank from A2345 (the wheel is the lowest straight even though aces are the highest cards, you'll note), up to TJQKA. 56789 is a straight. TJQKA is called "Broadway" and the cards that make it up are often called "Broadways". KT is a Broadway hand. Sometimes we'll say a player is calling with "any two Broadways". Couple of things to note with straights. They are much stronger when they are made with both your holecards. If you hold AK on a QJT board, you have a very strong hand. If you have 62 on a 4578 board, you have a straight but it's not so strong. Also, you can have different ends of the straight. If you hold T7 and the board is J98, you are beaten by QT. If you hold 73 and the board is 89TJ, you do not always have a strong hand, even though you have a straight, because any Q has a bigger hand.
7/ Next is a flush. Five cards of the same suit. Again, they rank from seven high up to an ace, and what counts is your highest card.
8/ Next is a full house or a "full boat" or just "boat". Sometimes when you're drawing and make your hand, we'll say you "filled up" or "filled your straight" or "boated up". It all means you made your draw. A full house is three of one rank, a pair of another. Only the top rank counts when you compare fulls, unless you have the same, then the pair plays. On a TTT37 board, 88 beats 87, although both have fulls. It's always worth bearing in mind that the other guy can be holding a pocket pair that makes him a bigger boat, even though you've boated up.
9/ Next is quads, four of a kind. Sometimes, your kicker will play here, but only when there are four of a kind on the board, obviously. If you have quads using your hole cards, no one else can have it!
10/ Next is a straight flush, which is a flush made from consecutive cards. You'll rarely see these, and they're nearly always well hidden.
11/ Best of all is a royal flush, which is a Broadway straight flush. If you have one, try not to pee your pants.
A couple of things to note. Pocket pairs are great starting hands because pairs beat all unpaired hands, and unpaired hands make most of the outcomes that your holecards can expect.
We often contrast "made" hands with "draws". A made hand is one that beats an unpaired hand. Often it just means a pair. A draw is usually a hand that currently cannot beat a made hand but could if it "improved".
On this board, KT9, K3 is a made hand. It is a pair of kings. Your kicker is awful though, so you have TPNK. On the same board, AQ is "drawing". Draws are often to strong hands like straights, but note that if these two hands are against each other, an ace will make AQ the better hand. If the turn is an ace, AQ has "caught up". If the turn is a jack, AQ has "drawn out" on K3. Because there is now no card on the river that can make K3 better than AQ, K3 is "drawing dead". If you have some, but little, chance of drawing out, we might say you're "drawing slim".
Some more terminology. We use capitals for the Broadway cards, numbers for the "rags". We sometimes use "s" "h" "c" "d" for the suits. Note though that As7s is different from A7s. The first is precisely ace of spades, seven of spades. The second is Ac7c/Ad7d/Ah7h/As7s. We call it a "suited ace".
If the flop is KsTs3s, it's "monotone". As7s is the strongest possible hand. It's the "nut flush".
If the flop is KsTs3d, it's "twosuited". KK is the strongest holding in the pocket here, making a set of kings. KT is also very strong, making two pair. QJ has a draw that will be filled at either end by an A or a 9. We call this an "openended straight draw", or OESD. Q9 will make a straight if a J comes. The J is not at the end of the straight but "inside" it, so Q9 has an "inside straight draw" or a "gutshot straight draw", or gutshot, gutter, gutty, GS. Q3 has another weak draw, which is called a "backdoor straight draw". It will need to "catch perfect" on the turn and river to make a straight. That doesn't often happen. On this flop, As7s has a draw to a flush. Any spade will make a flush, and because it would be the best flush if it made, it's the "nut flush draw".
If the flop is Ks7h3d, it's "rainbow". We might write that K73r. This flop is "dry" because there are not many draws possible. 65/54 have gutshots but that's it. On this board, the best possible hand in the pocket is KK, and 77/33 are very strong. You would rarely lose with any of those. K7 and K3 would also be very strong. K7 would make "top two". 73 makes "bottom two". It's not as strong because any king can easily "draw out" by "hitting its kicker", IOW, by pairing the sidecard. Note that if the turn and river paired, any K now beats 73. This is very frustrating and happens a lot.
1K
Date: Wed, Apr 23, 2008 Internet
When I first started to learn to play STTs, I said that I would play a thousand $5 games and if I was going well, I'd believe I could win at them. I moved up before I'd done a thousand, but I still play them from time to time when I'm working.
I have finally made the thousand mark and, whatever happens to me in poker, I will know that I made at least one goal, which was to win at the $5s.
So I do. I can be certain of that. In 1K games, I have made 34.7% ROI. Given that I mostly play these while I'm doing other things, rarely playing any attention, it's pretty decent.
I've won 169 of them (tenhanded, which most have been, par is 100) and placed in 422 (par is 300; if I only played regulars or paid more attention, I daresay I'd make the money a bit more often, but I don't, and this is still mroe than respectable). It was thrilling to win the first and I still love to win. Sadly, I didn't win the 1Kth. I made a bad play and came second. But I have learned a lot in playing them, and from all the sources I use to improve. I have ups and downs but I take comfort in knowing that I am at least winning at poker. The $20 I deposited way back when is still in the game, still increasing bit by bit.
Snapping off the blu... oh shit
Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2008 Internet
Here's something I hate.
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-65984467-41
played at "Palembang" for USD TC from 2008-04-21 21:21 until 2008-04-21 21:22
Seat 5: rabidbunny2 ($915 in chips)
Seat 6: cashmomma19 ($2,380 in chips)
Seat 8: protools775 ($3,215 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr Zen ($3,585 in chips)
Seat 10: rand23 ($4,905 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
protools775 posts blind ($75), Dr Zen posts blind ($150).
PRE-FLOP
rand23 folds, rabidbunny2 folds, cashmomma19 folds, protools775 calls $75, Dr Zen checks.
I have K8. Not worth raising. Villain is a bit loose so he can have quite a wide range here.
FLOP [board cards: 4C TD JC ]
protools775 checks, Dr Zen bets $200, protools775 calls $200.
Both missed, so I bet out. I'd expect villain to bet if he hit the J or T and he might fold a 4. When he calls, his most likely hand is a flush draw, but some players like to get cute if they think you're aggro, so he can have a made hand some of the time.
TURN [board cards: 4C TD JC 2S ]
protools775 checks, Dr Zen checks.
I check behind because I had my stab and I don't mind taking a free card.
RIVER [board cards: 4C TD JC 2S JH ]
protools775 bets $150, Dr Zen calls $150.
Easy call. This is nearly always a bluff from the missed draw. And it was in this instance too. Sadly, the other guy had Ac9c.
His play makes no sense. He's strong enough to raise pre. Maybe he was "trapping". Doing that against a big stack is a bit dumb, but if there were no dumb players, I'd never make a cent.
On the flop, betting is good for him. If I had limped, it's the kind of flop I might have hit, but I probably missed with a random hand and will fold.
On the turn, it's okay to check I suppose, but on the river, the bet is terrible. It's just so obviously a bluff. He presumably didn't bet the turn because he thought I had a pair, and I'm never folding a pair to a minbet. A J bets more because it fears losing value, and I can be fairly certain he doesn't have one anyway, given that he didn't raise the flop or bet the turn.
In the end I played the guy heads up. But he way outstacked me and had the rub of the green. Oh well.
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