So I'm at my local casino today in their weekly $11 buy in. I'm feeling great after tweaking a few parts of my game and felt like I was a sure favorite. I get seated amongst a bunch of maniacs. I knew one in particular very loose player at my table and opted that I was not going to give my chips to her! So play starts off slow with everyone limping. Then a few hands later I start to notice that everyone is raising and when they do there is at least 3-4 callers; I'm thinking wow! I had already gotten used to being an aggressive player so this was completely new to me in this setting.
In one hand from middle position I raise with 6-6 and get called by 4 people. The flop is pretty much a disaster for me bringing an Ace a Ten and a Jack I believe; so that hand was a bet fold.
Then In another hand I raise from late position with Ace-6 and miss loosy goosy player re raises me; I fold.
Finally I'm on the dealer button and raise with A-Q and sure enough I get 3 callers. The flop is rainbow with 2 low cards and a Q. Miss loose bets, then another guy calls so I'm like wow. Someone has to either have a set or two pair. Since they were both in the blinds they could have easily called me with anything, especially by how loose they were playing. Regardless I push the rest of my stack in and get called instantly by both of them. Miss loose flopped 2 pair and the other guy had a A-Q as well. Not only did my gut tell me to get out of the hand but also it was rather obvious I was beat. If there was a flush draw out there or some sort of strait draw then maybe my push would of warranted a better call, but there wasn't. This was one of those stupid situations where one gets caught up in the moment and married to their cards.; for some reason my hand just didn't want to throw those cards into the muck. Sad day:(
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
poker is so sick
It seems the more I play poker the more I seem to downgrade the value of certain hands. Hands such as K-Q, K-J, QJ and so on... I hardly see any value in anymore. I find myself folding them more often than not and feel horrible calling a raise with them.
Regardless, it's even the so called "huge" hands that have me weary now. Last night playing live I was down to about 5 big blinds. I pushed with K-K and had the small blind call me and go all in as well with A-rags and the big blind call me with Q-2. The flop brought two 2's and just like that my tournament was over. The more I play the game the more I seem to encounter similar situations. I am far from complaining, but more of bringing awareness that the best hand is not always going to hold up so don't be surprised when your monster gets crushed by a kitty.
While playing a 90 player sit and go on pokerstars today I encountered a rather interesting hand that really has no educational value other than the fact that it shows one mans suck out being sucked out by another man. That may sound stupid but let me explain:) lol
I was sitting on the button with 8-8 and with the blinds at $30/$60 with one limper before me I raised to $280. Then the small blind (who I had already cracked his aces with J-10 the hand before) moves all in for $500 more. The limper folds and I instant call. The small blind rolls over 7-7. Sure enough the flop comes K-7-J giving him a set. Before the flop I was the obvious favorite, but after the flop I only had 2 outs to win; the 2 8's left in the deck or a miraculous runner runner for a straight. Regardless, the turn brought me an 8 then the river brought me another 8 giving me quads to his set.
Later in the tournament I ended up busting out when my Q-Q ran into A-A. Poker is such a devious game that will bring you up's and down's at moments notice. Here is a quick screen shot of the hand I explained above:
Go ahead and click the image to enlarge it;)
Regardless, it's even the so called "huge" hands that have me weary now. Last night playing live I was down to about 5 big blinds. I pushed with K-K and had the small blind call me and go all in as well with A-rags and the big blind call me with Q-2. The flop brought two 2's and just like that my tournament was over. The more I play the game the more I seem to encounter similar situations. I am far from complaining, but more of bringing awareness that the best hand is not always going to hold up so don't be surprised when your monster gets crushed by a kitty.
While playing a 90 player sit and go on pokerstars today I encountered a rather interesting hand that really has no educational value other than the fact that it shows one mans suck out being sucked out by another man. That may sound stupid but let me explain:) lol
I was sitting on the button with 8-8 and with the blinds at $30/$60 with one limper before me I raised to $280. Then the small blind (who I had already cracked his aces with J-10 the hand before) moves all in for $500 more. The limper folds and I instant call. The small blind rolls over 7-7. Sure enough the flop comes K-7-J giving him a set. Before the flop I was the obvious favorite, but after the flop I only had 2 outs to win; the 2 8's left in the deck or a miraculous runner runner for a straight. Regardless, the turn brought me an 8 then the river brought me another 8 giving me quads to his set.
Later in the tournament I ended up busting out when my Q-Q ran into A-A. Poker is such a devious game that will bring you up's and down's at moments notice. Here is a quick screen shot of the hand I explained above:
Go ahead and click the image to enlarge it;)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
First blog entry/Getting more $$ in the pot when you put the other player on a flush draw
So finally I get to blab on about poker without anyone shutting me up ha. I just starting to seriously grow my bankroll a few weeks ago just playing for about an hour a day real casually at best. I deposited 20 dollars into poker stars and within a few days grew it to 38 dollars playing merely one table at a time. Up until yesterday I started playing up to three tables and I would have to say that I've made the transition well.
Well enough about the introduction, I'm going to get right into the subject matter. I play a lot of live poker and it seems that every tournament I go to I see someone betting a huge amount on the flop with top 2 pair and justifying that they did it to scare away anyone going for a flush draw. The truth of the matter is that you do want to develop a large pot when you suspect someone is on a draw, but you also want to be smart about doing it. In tournaments, especially the ones I'm used to where the blinds go up every 10 to 15 minutes or so; if a person has a flush draw they are most likely going to gamble for all their chips. If its in the late stages of the tournament, you can expect and instant shove with any sort of draw. When it comes to live cash games their is a few approaches that you might want to take when you feel your hand is best at the moment and you want to extract as much value from it as possible. Lets look at a hand I encountered today while playing 6 max $0.01/$o.02 USD tables today.
I was under the gun pre-flop with As-10d. I raised to $0.06 and had three callers including the small blind. The flop came Ah-9h-Qs. The small blind checks then I check behind him. The reason I checked in this situation is because I had 3 people call my raise, I could of easily been dominated by anyone holding a better kicker. If I bet and someone raised, I would have a tough decision in my hands. The guy in middle position checks then the last person to act bets $0.12 into a pot of $0.26. The small blind called instantly then It came down to me. Since the person that bet $0.12 was in position over all of us I gave him far less respect for his raise and when the small blind just called I assumed he either had a weak Ace or he was on a flush draw. So I figured I'd might as well find out where I was at and raised it to $0.44. The point of the raise was to either get re raised and know I'm beat for sure or let the flush draw call me in which I get more value for my hand if he misses his draw. After my raise the guy in middle position folds and then the original better in position folds as well. The small blind calls me leaving it to heads up on the turn.
After the small blind called, I figured his range was pretty far and I was almost positive he had the flush draw. The turn was a blank, a 4c. The small blind checks, and I decide I want more money in this pot. I bet out $0.52 and the small blind called. When another blank hit on the river, 7c I was almost positive I was good. The small blind checked again and then I opted to check behind him just in case he was slow playing a set or really did have a higher Ace. Sure enough he reveled 2h-3h. I won a nice pot of $2.20 on that hand and goes to show that getting money into the pot when you suspect the other person is on a flush draw can bring in good dividends. The trick is not to make a huge bet to scare them off their hand. What you want to do is make it unprofitable for them to call your bet, but still make it luring enough that they want to gamble with their draw.
Well enough about the introduction, I'm going to get right into the subject matter. I play a lot of live poker and it seems that every tournament I go to I see someone betting a huge amount on the flop with top 2 pair and justifying that they did it to scare away anyone going for a flush draw. The truth of the matter is that you do want to develop a large pot when you suspect someone is on a draw, but you also want to be smart about doing it. In tournaments, especially the ones I'm used to where the blinds go up every 10 to 15 minutes or so; if a person has a flush draw they are most likely going to gamble for all their chips. If its in the late stages of the tournament, you can expect and instant shove with any sort of draw. When it comes to live cash games their is a few approaches that you might want to take when you feel your hand is best at the moment and you want to extract as much value from it as possible. Lets look at a hand I encountered today while playing 6 max $0.01/$o.02 USD tables today.
I was under the gun pre-flop with As-10d. I raised to $0.06 and had three callers including the small blind. The flop came Ah-9h-Qs. The small blind checks then I check behind him. The reason I checked in this situation is because I had 3 people call my raise, I could of easily been dominated by anyone holding a better kicker. If I bet and someone raised, I would have a tough decision in my hands. The guy in middle position checks then the last person to act bets $0.12 into a pot of $0.26. The small blind called instantly then It came down to me. Since the person that bet $0.12 was in position over all of us I gave him far less respect for his raise and when the small blind just called I assumed he either had a weak Ace or he was on a flush draw. So I figured I'd might as well find out where I was at and raised it to $0.44. The point of the raise was to either get re raised and know I'm beat for sure or let the flush draw call me in which I get more value for my hand if he misses his draw. After my raise the guy in middle position folds and then the original better in position folds as well. The small blind calls me leaving it to heads up on the turn.
After the small blind called, I figured his range was pretty far and I was almost positive he had the flush draw. The turn was a blank, a 4c. The small blind checks, and I decide I want more money in this pot. I bet out $0.52 and the small blind called. When another blank hit on the river, 7c I was almost positive I was good. The small blind checked again and then I opted to check behind him just in case he was slow playing a set or really did have a higher Ace. Sure enough he reveled 2h-3h. I won a nice pot of $2.20 on that hand and goes to show that getting money into the pot when you suspect the other person is on a flush draw can bring in good dividends. The trick is not to make a huge bet to scare them off their hand. What you want to do is make it unprofitable for them to call your bet, but still make it luring enough that they want to gamble with their draw.
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