Leaks. Not leeks, you cook with those. But leaks. Those nasty things that let your money drip away to other people. I’ve been looking at my leaks over the past few days and wanted to throw them out there in hopes that by writing them down I’ll know better how to avoid them in the future.
Playing the same style no matter the game. There are a lot of differences between limit and no limit hold ‘em, and I ignore that fact to my peril. When I start playing $3/6 like it’s a NL100 table, I’m giving away money. Fast. There’s no reason to play marginal hands in low-stakes limit poker. None. You’re going to get paid off on your big hands, so why play anything else. Sure, if you wanna limp with suited connectors or one-gappers, go ahead, but your risk/reward is so very different in limit than in no limit. Let’s look, shall we?
Say I’m in late position with T9d, and it’s limped to me. So I toss in my $3, and the blinds complete and check, there are now four people in the pot. Flop comes down QJ3 rainbow and I’ve got a decent draw. It’s checked around to me and I bet. I get three callers for the next $3, because you’re pretty much going to get the odds every time in limit. Now we get the Tale of Two Turn Cards. The Ks is the best of cards and the worst of cards, not only making my straight, but also making AT (a hand people fall in love with at lower limits) the current nuts, and putting a flush draw on the board. It’s checked to me and I have no idea where I am in the hand, so I bet. But since I can only bet $6, not only are spade draws priced in, but the naked Ace or Ten is also getting correct odds to call, so I don’t get anyone to go away for my turn bet. In no limit, I can bet the ever-loving hell out of this pot to protect my hand, or at least figure out if I’m ahead. But in limit, the odds are always there to draw.
On the river my hand either holds up or it doesn’t, but that’s not the point. The point is that my style of no limit play is predicated on playing a lot of marginal hands and when I hit a flop hard or get a monster draw, I get paid off huge. It’s easy to have a loose table image when you are a loose-aggressive player. So I’m trying to remember to wait for big hands, and take down lots of small pots. If I can’t get the ever-loving nuts when my draw works out, I’d rather take down a few smaller pots with top pair. So I play a lot less hands at limit than at no limit, and at the stakes I play (2/4,3/6) I play a very straightforward style. If I have big cards, I raise. If I hit, I bet. If I miss, I check. So occasionally I get bluffed or outplayed, so be it. I’m not in a hurry, I just want to make the most money possible, and for me, that means playing super-tight and waiting for monsters.
I also have to play stakes that I care about. I read on Klopzi’s blog that he was killing the $25 short-handed NL tables on Interpoker, so I tried them. Four buy-ins later I realized that I’ll play anything for a quarter, and that’s a huge leak. Worse, I was trying too hard to bully around, and ended up raising every single hand for three orbits to $1 preflop. That didn’t go well. So I hopped up to the NL100, where dropping a full buy-in stings a little more, and played much better. It’s as dangerous for me to play below my bankroll as it is to play above it (and there’s an ugly incident at a $5/10 table that taught me a valuable lesson there. Oops.) I have to hit the right middle ground, where I can look at the chips as just chips, but the money still matters in the back of my head.
I’m also walking a fine line between not value-betting enough and betting too often on the river when I’ve got a medium-strength hand. If I’ve got the nuts, my chips can’t get to the middle fast enough, but when I’m running middle pair and my gut tells me my opponent missed her draw, I’m often loathe to pull the trigger on the last bet, which leaves money on the table.
So there are some leaks that I’m working on, maybe they’ll point out issues that you have in your play and save you some money on the road to discovery. I still haven’t gotten over the biggest leak, which is that I’m not all that good at poker, but I don’t have to be the best player at the table, I just have to be better than 3-4 of the other donkeys, and smart enough to avoid the folks that are better than me.
Oh yeah, and why is the play so much worse at $3/6 than it is at $2/4? I’ve had trouble cracking a single winning session at $2/4 on Stars, but have turned a profit at almost all the $3/6 sessions. Small samples, but the difference in play is remarkable. Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that $3/6 defaults to the top of the “Low” table for Hold Em on Stars? Or are there just levels where the play is softer than others? And if so, where are the talent voids, enquiring fatasses want to know.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Jay Greenspan goes fishing
My review of Jay's new book Hunting Fish: a Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Player is up on Pokerworks. Go give it a look-see.
Tags:
33 and still kickin'
This is the time of year when I look back and try to figure out if I’ve learned anything after another year on the planet. The answer is usually no. Note: this post is all rambling and navel-gazing. There will be poker content tomorrow. Probably. I think it will actually be a strategy post, so if you’re into that, come back later.
Friday night we played cards, a $20 rebuy with $5 bounties on the heads of each player. I was the Danny N. of the night, leading with a mere two rebuys, but I finished third with a couple of people’s bounties to make a $4 profit on the tourney. I cleaned up on the cash game afterwards, raking about a $100 profit, which got me back to even for the month after a couple of redonkulous sessions of $3/6 Limit. It was cool to be surrounded by friends and my wife, and everybody had a pretty good time. Our home game is getting a little large for my den, so I’ve started thinking about either doing two tables, which is a little cramped, or just capping attendance at ten. We’ll see.
Saturday was badass. My buddy Chris got me three comps to see Doc Watson at Winthrop, where he works, so me, Suzy and my sister Bonnie met up for dinner in Rock Hill and then cruised to sit in the third row and see Doc Watson. As many times as Bonnie and I have been to Merlefest, neither of us have ever seen a full set by Doc. I designed a show of his about three years ago, but when I’m running lights for live music I don’t really get to concentrate on enjoying the show, it’s more about making the lights support the music and enhance everyone else’s experience. So this was gonna be cool.
And it was. From the moment he walked out, looking frail and every bit of his 83 years, holding onto grandson Richard’s elbow to lead him to his chair, I wondered if he still had it. I shouldn’t have doubted. His voice is still strong and clear, and if he’s starting to look his age, he certainly doesn’t perform his age. He picks more cleanly and quickly than performers fifty years his junior. He told old stories, jokes, and drew songs from an encyclopedic trove of American traditional music like old Jimmie Rodgers, old spirituals, Flatt & Scruggs, Arthur Godfrey and so many other artists, as well as his own tunes. Jack Lawrence came out to play half of each set with Doc, and that’s when business really picked up. Jack’s one of the best guitarists nobody knows, and when he amped up the tunes, Doc was right there with him blazing along. It was a fantastic show, just a couple guys sitting in chairs picking along.
Sunday not much going on, but Suzy went with me in the evening to a programming gig. A restaurant had bought a used moving light, and the controller had lost its memory, so I dragged out a light board and programmed everything for them to have some flash and trash. A couple hours, a couple hundred bucks, and we’re all good. Sometimes it comes in very handy to have a few skills that not many people in a given city have, and thus you can charge a premium for using them.
Yesterday we went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a couple or friends, and that was pretty cool. I’d never been there before and was suitable impressed with the selection. My mahi mahi was a little dry, but Suzy’s meal was nice, it was nice to hang out with friends and not worry about anything else.
We did go see our friend Stan’s play Sunday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it. My buddy Warbucks was in it, and did a fine job. It’s an original production, and I always like watching Stan’s stuff. It’s a good show, has a little tweaking to do if he wants it to have legs, and the set needed a little more time and money thrown at it, but that’s pretty much my assessment of every set in
Thursday, August 10, 2006
WSOP Final Table begins today
If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that the WSOP final table kicks off today. If you’re an idiot living under a rock, you might not know that the best coverage of the WSOP hasn’t been by ESPN, Cardplayer or any other fucktard that has kicked a pile of money into Harrah’s corporate coffers, it’s been by the poker bloggers. If you want to know what’s going on, check out some of these fine folks.
Pauly revolutionized poker tournament reporting with his coverage last year. This year, he’s put his media badge on the line nearly every day to bring us the finest gonzo coverage of the WSOP. He’s also sporting fanstastic WSOP photos from FlipChip, who’s as good as it gets. He’s been out there for two months now writing his balls off and inspiring ridiculous behavior in certain other poker writers (yes, you, Otis!). Today marks the last poker tourney Pauly will cover this year, as he takes the rest of 2006 off from tournament coverage. So get your ass over to Tao of Poker and see how the best in the biz does it.
Craig (Cunningham) and (Michael) Craig over at Pokerworks are turning out some great stuff, too. Don’t ever discount CC for heartwarming profiles of players, and that other Craig guy wrote a badass book and spins an entertaining yarn every day.
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006
I know, hand history posts suck. But it's not a bad beat, so no $1 for you!
***** Hand History for Game 4914871133 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, August 09, 22:24:08 ET 2006
Table Fort James (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: mm1977 ( $196.25 )
Seat 4: MEIXMEI ( $75 )
Seat 5: azcat93 ( $238 )
Seat 6: MerrMerr ( $115 )
Seat 7: Tyger389 ( $77.50 )
Seat 8: zhenechka ( $184 )
Seat 9: franky6mo ( $118.02 )
Seat 3: falstaff777 ( $168.50 )
Seat 1: Misiu2004 ( $121 )
Seat 10: Zeeboo7 ( $120.50 )
Misiu2004 posts small blind [$1].
mm1977 posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to falstaff777 [ Jh Qs ]
falstaff777 calls [$3].
MEIXMEI folds.
azcat93 calls [$3].
MerrMerr raises [$6].
Tyger389 folds.
zhenechka folds.
franky6mo folds.
Zeeboo7 folds.
Misiu2004 folds.
mm1977 raises [$6].
falstaff777 calls [$6].
azcat93 calls [$6].
MerrMerr raises [$6].
mm1977 calls [$3].
falstaff777 calls [$3].
azcat93 calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ad, Ts, Jd ]
mm1977 bets [$3].
falstaff777 calls [$3].
azcat93 folds.
MerrMerr calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
mm1977 bets [$6].
falstaff777 calls [$6].
MerrMerr raises [$12].
mm1977 raises [$12].
falstaff777 calls [$12].
MerrMerr calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
mm1977 checks.
falstaff777 checks.
MerrMerr checks.
mm1977 shows [ 2d, 2h ] two pairs, tens and twos.
falstaff777 shows [ Jh, Qs ] two pairs, jacks and tens.
MerrMerr doesn't show [ Qh, 6d ] a pair of tens.
falstaff777 wins $109 from the main pot with two
pairs, jacks and tens.
Now before you tell me, there’s no question I didn’t play this hand very well, but there was soooo much money out there that I figured if I hit my straight I’d be paid off handsomely. I couldn’t imagine that my second pair was actually good.
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, August 09, 22:24:08 ET 2006
Table Fort James (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: mm1977 ( $196.25 )
Seat 4: MEIXMEI ( $75 )
Seat 5: azcat93 ( $238 )
Seat 6: MerrMerr ( $115 )
Seat 7: Tyger389 ( $77.50 )
Seat 8: zhenechka ( $184 )
Seat 9: franky6mo ( $118.02 )
Seat 3: falstaff777 ( $168.50 )
Seat 1: Misiu2004 ( $121 )
Seat 10: Zeeboo7 ( $120.50 )
Misiu2004 posts small blind [$1].
mm1977 posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to falstaff777 [ Jh Qs ]
falstaff777 calls [$3].
MEIXMEI folds.
azcat93 calls [$3].
MerrMerr raises [$6].
Tyger389 folds.
zhenechka folds.
franky6mo folds.
Zeeboo7 folds.
Misiu2004 folds.
mm1977 raises [$6].
falstaff777 calls [$6].
azcat93 calls [$6].
MerrMerr raises [$6].
mm1977 calls [$3].
falstaff777 calls [$3].
azcat93 calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ad, Ts, Jd ]
mm1977 bets [$3].
falstaff777 calls [$3].
azcat93 folds.
MerrMerr calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
mm1977 bets [$6].
falstaff777 calls [$6].
MerrMerr raises [$12].
mm1977 raises [$12].
falstaff777 calls [$12].
MerrMerr calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
mm1977 checks.
falstaff777 checks.
MerrMerr checks.
mm1977 shows [ 2d, 2h ] two pairs, tens and twos.
falstaff777 shows [ Jh, Qs ] two pairs, jacks and tens.
MerrMerr doesn't show [ Qh, 6d ] a pair of tens.
falstaff777 wins $109 from the main pot with two
pairs, jacks and tens.
Now before you tell me, there’s no question I didn’t play this hand very well, but there was soooo much money out there that I figured if I hit my straight I’d be paid off handsomely. I couldn’t imagine that my second pair was actually good.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Stacked Review at Pokerworks
My review of the STACKED game for Xbox is live at www.pokerworks.com. Check it out.
Real WSOP Coverage (just not here)
A lot of my friends are out in Vegas right now, eating crayons, snapping pictures, harassing waitresses at the Tilted Kilt, and trying to keep Pauly from getting medieval on the ESPN dickweeds. They’re also turning out some absolutely amazing writing. Here’s a sample from the Bukowski of poker blogging, the good Dr. himself.
We do our best under the circumstances. Check out PokerStars Blog. Otis put together a superteam of writers, journalists, and reporters for their blog. And we're kicking ass without the same access as exclusive media outlets. And we're 1/10 of the size of them.Corporate America corrupted poker. The WSOP has been tainted like the slutty girl on your freshman hall dorm with a severe case of the clap. But we're horny losers with self-esteem issues and fuck her anyway. The thrill, the rush, and the high far outweighs the long term consequences.Someday all of this insanity is going to end. But for now, I'm caught up in the maelstrom of the WSOP for a few more days.
So go check out the incredible work that Pauly, CJ, April, Wil, Michalski, Johnny, Otis, CC and so many more are doing out there.
Pokerstars Blog
Pokerblog.Com
Pokerworks.Com
These folks are out there breathing recycled air and eating stale sandwiches that they had to beat up a vidiot to get so you don’t have to. And if you’ve missed Change100’s running commentary on the fashions of the WSOP, then you’re just an idiot.
We do our best under the circumstances. Check out PokerStars Blog. Otis put together a superteam of writers, journalists, and reporters for their blog. And we're kicking ass without the same access as exclusive media outlets. And we're 1/10 of the size of them.Corporate America corrupted poker. The WSOP has been tainted like the slutty girl on your freshman hall dorm with a severe case of the clap. But we're horny losers with self-esteem issues and fuck her anyway. The thrill, the rush, and the high far outweighs the long term consequences.Someday all of this insanity is going to end. But for now, I'm caught up in the maelstrom of the WSOP for a few more days.
So go check out the incredible work that Pauly, CJ, April, Wil, Michalski, Johnny, Otis, CC and so many more are doing out there.
Pokerstars Blog
Pokerblog.Com
Pokerworks.Com
These folks are out there breathing recycled air and eating stale sandwiches that they had to beat up a vidiot to get so you don’t have to. And if you’ve missed Change100’s running commentary on the fashions of the WSOP, then you’re just an idiot.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Just another Madras Monday
I’m not dead, although it sometimes feels like it. Had a decent week last week playing the pokah, but work has been kicking my ass lately. Drove to DC for work, that sucked. Played in a home game at DoubleAs’ house with Garth and a bunch of Scott’s friends. That was cool.
Won the first tourney, that was even cooler. Didn’t win the second, but showed a profit. That was fine. Watched DoubleAs demonstrate the advanced play required to compete at the highest level on UB when he forced a opponent to fold on the river when the A-high straight was showing with no flush possible. He did mention that table looked juicy, but I didn’t think anything could be that juicy.
Had 12 people for the weekly home game, and I made a little money, including an amazing play-to-fifth-street-from-across-the-room Iggy-style hand where I called a $23 bet on the river on a gutshot fully expecting to go busto, but catching my 4-outer to suck out, party-poker-like, on my buddy Charles. I actually did feel a little bad about that one. But a $75 pot in $.25/.50 poker never feels bad for long. Switched to Omaha-ha later in the evening and dragged another monster when I flopped the nut boat. Got nervous when the guy to my right fired a $20 bet on the river when the board paired again, laying out possible quad 3s. I’m a big pussy sometimes, but at least I called. I do think I left money on the table, because I was good, but at least I didn’t fold to the monsters under the bed.
Up and down online, I swear I’m gonna go broke again on Stars trying to clear that frickin’ bonus. And I actually reported someone for inappropriate chat. I felt silly for a minute, but frankly, after the third time I was told how much I “suk” and how “u r a queer” I got a little tired of it. Since I figured by that point I would have called the floor on him in a regular casino, I did the next best thing. According to the email I got from Stars this morning, his chat has been revoked. Tell me how much I suck all you want, you’ll probably be right, but don’t call me names unless you know me. And after all, how was this guy to know I was an art-faggy kilt-wearing uberghey blogger?
Question of the day – Is there a better place to print money than $3/6 limit full ring on Party?
My add-on to my cash game set of Nevada Jacks Skulls just arrived, so now I think I have enough $1 and $5 chips to keep up with my home game, and the kind folks at Poker Source Online are now paying me in PSO points, so I’ll be changing over my NJ Skulls to the Nevada Jacks Clays over time. I got a sample of the clay chips – me likey. First purchase – 50 Clays in $25 denominations to round out my set of 1,000 cash game chips, then save up for a set of 500 clays. Mmmmmm, clays….
I think I may have a problem brewing here.
Naaaahhhhh.
Won the first tourney, that was even cooler. Didn’t win the second, but showed a profit. That was fine. Watched DoubleAs demonstrate the advanced play required to compete at the highest level on UB when he forced a opponent to fold on the river when the A-high straight was showing with no flush possible. He did mention that table looked juicy, but I didn’t think anything could be that juicy.
Had 12 people for the weekly home game, and I made a little money, including an amazing play-to-fifth-street-from-across-the-room Iggy-style hand where I called a $23 bet on the river on a gutshot fully expecting to go busto, but catching my 4-outer to suck out, party-poker-like, on my buddy Charles. I actually did feel a little bad about that one. But a $75 pot in $.25/.50 poker never feels bad for long. Switched to Omaha-ha later in the evening and dragged another monster when I flopped the nut boat. Got nervous when the guy to my right fired a $20 bet on the river when the board paired again, laying out possible quad 3s. I’m a big pussy sometimes, but at least I called. I do think I left money on the table, because I was good, but at least I didn’t fold to the monsters under the bed.
Up and down online, I swear I’m gonna go broke again on Stars trying to clear that frickin’ bonus. And I actually reported someone for inappropriate chat. I felt silly for a minute, but frankly, after the third time I was told how much I “suk” and how “u r a queer” I got a little tired of it. Since I figured by that point I would have called the floor on him in a regular casino, I did the next best thing. According to the email I got from Stars this morning, his chat has been revoked. Tell me how much I suck all you want, you’ll probably be right, but don’t call me names unless you know me. And after all, how was this guy to know I was an art-faggy kilt-wearing uberghey blogger?
Question of the day – Is there a better place to print money than $3/6 limit full ring on Party?
My add-on to my cash game set of Nevada Jacks Skulls just arrived, so now I think I have enough $1 and $5 chips to keep up with my home game, and the kind folks at Poker Source Online are now paying me in PSO points, so I’ll be changing over my NJ Skulls to the Nevada Jacks Clays over time. I got a sample of the clay chips – me likey. First purchase – 50 Clays in $25 denominations to round out my set of 1,000 cash game chips, then save up for a set of 500 clays. Mmmmmm, clays….
I think I may have a problem brewing here.
Naaaahhhhh.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
DC bound
Oh yeah, and I’ll be in DC Wednesday and Thursday night of this week if anybody has any games they want to hook me into, I’m very much up for playing cards after working for a ridiculously large defense contractor all day. Lemme know if there’s anything going on.
A couple of things
A strange sense of malaise has fallen over me, blog-wise for the past few days. It feels like I’ve said it all before, but the blog is something that once it builds momentum requires constant maintenance or it runs out of steam. So here’s a maintenance post of sorts.
There’s been some pokery goodness in the past week, starting with my return to the underground game a little bit west of here and continuing into the home game on Friday night. I was running around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to get shite all set up for the boys and girls to come over and sling cards, so it was a good thing for me that it took us a while to get rolling. We had some great hands, some terrible hands, and a lot of limping.
One hand in particular I think is worth some evaluation, because it illustrates a point about running an absolute bluff. At least to me. I’ve spent some time thinking about this hand because I was in it, and have tried to work out the hand from the perspective of the guy across the table.
We’re 8-handed with a ton of limpers. BTW, the home game is $.25/$.50 blinds, $50 max buy, NLHE. There’s probably no more than $300 around the table at this point, as it’s early and the rebuy monster hasn’t taken too many bites out of players yet. I’m UTG with ATs, and I raise to $2.50. I get two callers, and we see a flop of Q T 6 rainbow. I check, MP checks and Twitch bets out $4. I call the ½ pot bet, looking for one of the 5 cards that improve my hand, working on the assumption that 2nd pair no good. MP folds.
Turn is a brick and I check. Twitch checks behind and I’m baffled a little. River is an 8, completing the monster J9 straight draw, but I check my 2nd pair. Twitch thinks for a second and then moves in for about $17. I’m baffled by this, as the bet makes no sense to me. Why push after I check? I think for a long time (probably inordinately long given the $11 I had remaining, but I wanted to think through a hand for a change) and finally convince myself that he also has a pair of Tens, with a worse kicker. I call, and he flips up 34o, for no pair, no draw, and absolute naked bluff.
In my opinion, he gave me that hand on the turn. With a $3-6 bet on the turn, and almost any bet on the river, I’m done. But when he checked the turn it confused me. I didn’t know if that was weakness or a trap for a river bet, but the push on the river was too much for a made hand, it was obviously a bet that didn’t want a call. So I thought about what my opponent wanted out of the hand, and I gave him the opposite. My 2nd pair was good, and I was on my way to finishing the night up about $90. Anything I missed there? I know the results were good, but it’s not all about results. I felt like I played well most of the night, AND the results were good, so I called it a good night.
Would have been better but I talked myself into a very bad call in Omaha High for a $25 river bet with the same logic. I was right, he also didn’t really want a call. Where I blew that one was in forgetting that in Omaha, third nuts is not worth any real action, because the second nuts is a viable holding. Sure enough, his straight was one number higher than mine and I felt like a dumbass.
Last night I took a shot at a Party Sit N’ Go, the first time I’ve tried one since they upped the starting chip counts. But the blinds start higher, too, so it’s no difference in play. And I was right, there is no difference in the play from when I was playing SNGs a lot. I found myself the chipleader early, the prohibitive chipleader when we got 3-handed, then on fumes heads-up when the other guy played his AA perfectly, letting my catch up a little with KQ and ship him most of my stack. But then he fell apart, being so afraid of doubling me up that he surrendered way too many blinds to my push. He let me back in the game and I eventually put him away. I credit Harrington 2 with being able to play better heads-up than him, and that was a nice $100 bump to cover some of my other dismal online play from the past week.
This week’s project: not playing while bored and/or distracted. In other words, playing to win money for a change.
There’s been some pokery goodness in the past week, starting with my return to the underground game a little bit west of here and continuing into the home game on Friday night. I was running around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to get shite all set up for the boys and girls to come over and sling cards, so it was a good thing for me that it took us a while to get rolling. We had some great hands, some terrible hands, and a lot of limping.
One hand in particular I think is worth some evaluation, because it illustrates a point about running an absolute bluff. At least to me. I’ve spent some time thinking about this hand because I was in it, and have tried to work out the hand from the perspective of the guy across the table.
We’re 8-handed with a ton of limpers. BTW, the home game is $.25/$.50 blinds, $50 max buy, NLHE. There’s probably no more than $300 around the table at this point, as it’s early and the rebuy monster hasn’t taken too many bites out of players yet. I’m UTG with ATs, and I raise to $2.50. I get two callers, and we see a flop of Q T 6 rainbow. I check, MP checks and Twitch bets out $4. I call the ½ pot bet, looking for one of the 5 cards that improve my hand, working on the assumption that 2nd pair no good. MP folds.
Turn is a brick and I check. Twitch checks behind and I’m baffled a little. River is an 8, completing the monster J9 straight draw, but I check my 2nd pair. Twitch thinks for a second and then moves in for about $17. I’m baffled by this, as the bet makes no sense to me. Why push after I check? I think for a long time (probably inordinately long given the $11 I had remaining, but I wanted to think through a hand for a change) and finally convince myself that he also has a pair of Tens, with a worse kicker. I call, and he flips up 34o, for no pair, no draw, and absolute naked bluff.
In my opinion, he gave me that hand on the turn. With a $3-6 bet on the turn, and almost any bet on the river, I’m done. But when he checked the turn it confused me. I didn’t know if that was weakness or a trap for a river bet, but the push on the river was too much for a made hand, it was obviously a bet that didn’t want a call. So I thought about what my opponent wanted out of the hand, and I gave him the opposite. My 2nd pair was good, and I was on my way to finishing the night up about $90. Anything I missed there? I know the results were good, but it’s not all about results. I felt like I played well most of the night, AND the results were good, so I called it a good night.
Would have been better but I talked myself into a very bad call in Omaha High for a $25 river bet with the same logic. I was right, he also didn’t really want a call. Where I blew that one was in forgetting that in Omaha, third nuts is not worth any real action, because the second nuts is a viable holding. Sure enough, his straight was one number higher than mine and I felt like a dumbass.
Last night I took a shot at a Party Sit N’ Go, the first time I’ve tried one since they upped the starting chip counts. But the blinds start higher, too, so it’s no difference in play. And I was right, there is no difference in the play from when I was playing SNGs a lot. I found myself the chipleader early, the prohibitive chipleader when we got 3-handed, then on fumes heads-up when the other guy played his AA perfectly, letting my catch up a little with KQ and ship him most of my stack. But then he fell apart, being so afraid of doubling me up that he surrendered way too many blinds to my push. He let me back in the game and I eventually put him away. I credit Harrington 2 with being able to play better heads-up than him, and that was a nice $100 bump to cover some of my other dismal online play from the past week.
This week’s project: not playing while bored and/or distracted. In other words, playing to win money for a change.
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