Friday, April 04, 2008

Hands and Analysis from 3/30 GC

Played 6/12 again tonight. Lost $96 total.

The worst part is around 9:30 (I'd been there for 2.5 hours) the drunk guy left along with the really loose calling station lady. I was up $44. I took a break, almost left, but decided I'd play another round or two even though the table was a lot tighter and most of the players were pretty decent.

And I quickly lost $150 or so. And then I lost even more, including getting bluffed on the river. Oops.

I made some back, but I regret my decision to stay. I also realized just how much some of those guys can outplay me (one guy in particular I thought was too loose, but I realized that he'd been trying to play pots with the loose drunk guy). There was another hand too where he was just playing a level above me...

Anyway, I'll post hands on the blog, but I'm pretty frustrated because I'm not progressing as fast as I'd like.
That was an excerpt from an e-mail right after my session. I'm feeling a bit better now, and definitely have an urge to play poker tonight. I'll start a separate post for tonight's goals, in this post, I just want to analyze my play a bit.

Before I get to the hands, I played online Wednesday night, and I dropped 30 big bets. Good thing I was only playing 6-max .25/.50! But it was a very educational session because I realized a few things:
  • Online is much more aggressive than live, but it is much harder to bluff (probably because more people do it).
  • I can open with a lot more hands on the button or cutoff if players are tight and nobody has entered yet. I think I need to be looser on the button, especially if I can put in the first raise.
  • I have to throw away more hands to a raise on a tight table. Hands like T9s, QJs, ATo, 66, etc should just go right in the muck if it's a tight table and I can't plan on anyone playing behind me.
  • In early position, drawing hands (suited connectors, small pairs) need to go into the muck too. I don't get enough players.
  • After I lose a hand or two, I tilt by playing borderline hands (see above). I also tend to resist folding and look for reasons to call (maybe he doesn't have the flush and my gutshot draw is live). I know this happens in real life because it happened last session in one or two hands I went too far with.
  • As a corollary to above, I'll try to blast may way out of trouble sometimes when I'm likely beat. Only keep firing if I have outs and/or I have a reason to believe they'll fold the turn or river.

The Hands:

I'm not putting too much discussion, just some hands for now. Some of these are 'play along at home hands' and the result will be in the comments. I should mention, there was a drunk guy in the 8 seat (I was in the 5 seat) who was playing 90% of hands and raising at least 60% of them. He had a monster stack built up, then lost it over the first two hours of play. He and the guy next to him also got into a little conflict ("Don't put your hand in my face!"). I'll call him drunk aggressive guy, DAG.
  1. KTo on button, I limp, 5 total see the flop. KJ9 flop, SB bets (pretty tight, knowledgeable player), one caller in MP, what should I do?
  2. Notes are spotty on this one and I can't completely remember the outcome. But I'll make it up. I have KQo UTG and limp. One more limper, then DAG pops it. Two more callers (one in BB), and I three-bet. It was a three-bet for value more than anything, and an attempt to get rid of the limper to my left (it didn't work). Everyone just calls (5x3 = 15 SB). Flop KdT8d, I bet, two call (including BB, but DAG folds). Turn is 3d, I bet, only BB calls. River is a 9, BB leads. I called, and I think he had a smaller pair (so I won). My real question is: am I getting too fancy with the limp, three-bet with the KQo?
  3. 7d6d on button. DAG bets from UTG (meaning he has two cards), we get another caller, and I cold call (plus the BB). Flop comes A8s4s and DAG bets. I'm the only caller. I figured I was getting nearly the correct odds for a gutshot. He'd bet a number of hands to the river with jack high, so I would also get committed if I made any pair. Turn is the 9x, so I called another bet from him since I'm now open-ended. River is the 5s. He bets, I raise, he three-bets, and I groan and call, asking him if he has the flush. He rolls over 3c2c. To say he was simultaneously confounding and exciting the table is an understatement.
  4. It was around this time that DAG left. I can't remember if this hand was before or after that though. AA in MP, I raise and there are 5 players to the flop. Flop is AQcTc and it gets capped (can't remember the exact betting sequence, but I put in the last bet). I didn't bother waiting until the turn since it was a draw heavy board and I was able to put some double bets in to put pressure on other players. I think there were two other guys in with me, so total pot is 11 BB. Turn is a K, person to my right checks, what should I do?
  5. AKo in EP. I raise, get four to the flop of 875 rainbow. I bet, the only caller is a loose aggressive player (I'll call him Shades) on the button. The turn is an 8, and I'm pulling chips out to bet again, but Shades has already bet. I say, "Whoa, whoa, what about me?". He takes his bet back, and then I check, he bets, and I immediately count out two bets. He instantly three-bets. Wow... So I fold. He shows K7o, and in my usual fashion, I've already forgotten the board. I ask if that was a bluff with a gutshot, but someone else reminds me there was a 7 on board. I think Shades thought he was bluffing me off an overpair, when in fact, if I have capped, I might have gotten him to lay down. Maybe... Thoughts? Did I go off the deep end in that hand? What do you think of Shade's play?
  6. Qd2d on button. Two limpers, and I limp also, getting 5 to the flop. Flop comes Q9c5c, Shades in MP bets, and I raise. I'm going to call the guy Shades. He plays a lot of hands, maybe 40-50%, bets a lot especially in position, and has a nice stack built up. He's shown down all sorts of hands, including situations where he bet draws. Anyway, my raise gets it heads-up, and I figure he's got either a weak queen, a 9 or 5, or flush/straight draw. The turn is the Ks. I bet, he calls. At this point, I'm thinking 'No club, no club!'. Well, as luck has it, the Kc comes on the river. He bets, neither slowly nor quickly. What should I do? (I'm getting 7:1).
  7. Yikes, this is a lot of hands. Well, two more. At this point, the table has tightened considerably and there is no one I'd say is a fish. The only thing keeping me in my chair is the fact I'm stuck $150 (which is very bad). Anyway, I get AsTs on the button. I think there were two limpers to me, so I raised, and we got four to the flop. Flop is 4d3d2d. Checks to me, I bet, BB calls, player to my right check-raises, I call, BB calls. At the time, I knew I shouldn't even call the bet, but I was hoping I wasn't against a made flush. Let's just say I was probably tilty. Player to my right is a relatively solid player but he is on the loose side. The turn is the 7d and both players check to me. So I bet. Why not? I figure the bluff could succeed 10% of the time, and my play is consistent with one big diamond. BB calls, guy to my right raises, and I instamuck. Ooops! I don't think I need much help analyzing this hand, this is just evidence of how I play when I'm tilted.
  8. 55 in UTG+1. I limp, and we get six total to the flop of 653 rainbow. Checks to me, what should I do?
Ok, that's it for now. I'll have analysis in the comments and in my next post, along with my goals for tonight.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hand 1: What's his betting range for leading into 4 players? Pair+gutshot? Made Straight? 2 Pair? Set? You don't do well against this range w/7:1 odds, so fold.

Hand 2: Your reraise is excellent against better players bc you want A9o to fold. The issue is this... you are giving up the ability to protect your hand in later rounds by raising on equity here. (i.e. i.e. gut shots will call you on the flop). I wouldn't say it's too fancy, though, bc you're probably good w/any pair.

Hand 3: Played well against DAG.

Hand 4: You've got 10 outs to a full house if you're beat. It's likely you're up against a straight, but you can't let flushes draw for free. Bet can call.

Hand 5: Strong means weak. At best, he has a set or 2 pair. In this case, playing back at him might have won you the pot, but I don't think it would've happened often enough to be profitable.

Hand 6: What's his betting range? If he'll bluff the river, then you have to call.

Hand 8: Bet. Unless, you think someone in LP will bet and allow you to CR.

Sean said...

Hand 1: Really, fold top pair with a gutshot here? I'm surprised you'd say that. But, that said, I hated my hand and didn't like his range at all, and I can understand the fold. I ended up calling him down (raising the flop would have done no good either) and won against about the only hand I could win against (K8 or something like that).

Hand 4: Yeah, I bet both the turn and the river after nobody even looked like they wanted to raise. Both called down. At showdown, the dealer said, "KJ, right?". Nope. Just a value bet.

Hand 5: This was my first hint that this guy might be a level above me (which I figured out later). At best, in this spot, I could have an overpair, and he could easily bluff three-bet and get a free showdown (if he'd actually do it, I don't know). By my raise pre-flop, it was very unlikely I had an 8. I think this was a smart move on his part against a thinking opponent.

Hand 6: A, yeah, I folded. This was my big place getting bluffed out. It was a really dumb fold too, because he was very aggressive and he could easily bluff in that spot. He showed K9 after I folded. Take a second and think about the play though -- he had a near free-roll to a bluff. If I raised, he could fold -- I can't raise there without a flush. If he checked, I'd likely bet and he'd be calling a bet anyway. So by putting it in, he didn't lose much money but gave himself a chance to win without the best hand.

I think this play would be a great addition to my arsenal. If I suspect I'm behind, but a scary card comes on the river and I'm out of position, why not bet it if I plan to call anyway?

I think Shades was a much better player than I gave him credit for. I think a lot of his looseness earlier was an attempt to play pots with DAG.

Hand 8: Well, again, I was a little on the bad side of the tilt meter, so I made the risky fancy play that could lead to a bigger pot. Although it wasn't that bad, because the guy on the button (a regular in the 8/16 game, obviously a pro, middle-aged white guy with shades and MP3 player) is very aggressive. I checked, it checks to him, and he bets. SB, BB, and me call. Turn is an ace, which is a good card for me. It checks to the button who bets again, the SB and BB call, and that's when I raise. Obviously, I'm not doing a great job of protecting my hand, but with the raiser to my left, there isn't much I can do. An OE draw would never fold anyway, though, so I'm not sure how much protection is needed. The original raiser looked pained for a while and called, the SB (Shades) folded (dead money!) and the BB called. The river was a blank, I bet, only the button called, and he flashed his ATo. That was the pot that prevented me from having a huge loss.

Anonymous said...

Hand 1: It's still ok to fold... if you're not getting bluffed ever, then you're probably calling too much. He had the one hand you could beat... this isn't always going to happen. This plus the fact that the guy in the middle will draw out on you too makes it better to exit the hand.

Hand 8: I would tend to bet anyway because like you said... you're not going to be able to protect your hand...and you might get a 3-bet in.