I hate these fishtards. They hate folding way too much.
PokerStars $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400)
Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Fishtard (5575 in chips)
Seat 6: Zen (4310 in chips)
Seat 9: Loose and Useless (3615 in chips)
Fishtard: posts the ante 25
Zen: posts the ante 25
Loose and Useless: posts the ante 25
Loose and Useless: posts small blind 200
Fishtard: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Zen [6c 7s]
Zen: raises 800 to 1200
So I raise with trash but he doesn't know that. I have played very tightly, never raised postflop, rarely made a move preflop, only shown down huge hands. It's been that kind of game.
Loose and Useless: folds
Fishtard said, "thats ok"
Fishtard: calls 800
He's played fairly tightly himself, so I expect him to have something at least decent, but not a big hand, because he'd push.
*** FLOP *** [Kc Tc 6s]
Fishtard: checks
"I have nothing."
Zen: bets 2000
"I have a king."
Of course, I don't. I only have a pair of sixes, but I figure that if he hit that, he would bet, as he has every single time he's hit the flop. If he calls with a draw, I at least have the pair to beat him with.
Fishtard: calls 2000
"I don't care."
See, I didn't continuation bet. I made a big bet. That says, I hit the flop very hard. He hasn't seen me bet a draw, so he can probably count out QJ or a flush draw hoping to get lucky. Besides, it's way too big a bet for that. But he didn't raise, so no king for him. I'm thinking he has the flush draw.
Unless you have a king here yourself, this is an easy fold for a reasonable player. I am clearly potcommitted and I'm backing myself in this hand. You don't have the odds to call with a draw. With a big combo draw, you should push, because you are now potcommitted anyway.
It looks an obvious call when you know what I have, but put yourself in his shoes. I raised PF, and I haven't done that much, and now I've bet the flop big.
*** TURN *** [Kc Tc 6s] [Jh]
Fishtard: checks
Zen: bets 1085 and is all-in
"I really do have it."
Fishtard: calls 1085
"I really don't care."
So I'm thinking, he will definitely show me a badly played king or a flush draw.
But no.
*** RIVER *** [Kc Tc 6s Jh] [2h]
Zen said, "sigh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fishtard: shows [Ts Qd] (a pair of Tens)
What teh fuck?!
Zen: shows [6c 7s] (a pair of Sixes)
Fishtard collected 8845 from pot
Okay, stupid me. I know better than to run big bluffs at this level. It will all too often be this hand that they've decided that fuck it, they will make a stand with any piece of the board. That's all the guy's done. He thinks he's beaten but says fuck it, if it's a bluff, I win the tourney.
So I'm playing another game. We're at the bubble. The bigstack is UTG when I'm BB, and three, four times he minraises, and I have trash and just fold. He really does have a big enough stack that I can't hope to make him fold, especially since he got the stack by making very very loose calls.
Finally, I pick up A8 and push over his steal. He turns over QT. Sigh. You don't need to be told that he flops a ten and turns a queen, do you?
So the next tourney, I literally don't play a hand before the bubble. I'm not kidding. I fold everything. I pick up A3 in the big blind and some tard limps. The flop comes K53 with two of my ace's suit. I check, he bets weakish and I checkraise allin.
One of four things can happen. He has a weak king and folds because I'm saying I have hit that hard; he has no king and folds because his steal has just gone bung; he has no king and calls but is behind my pair and if he hits the ace he's drawing to he still loses; he has a weak king and calls, and I have six and a bit outs to get lucky.
Well, maybe next time I'll be against the stealer or someone who can lay down a king. Of course, I don't think this guy made a bad play. Nor me. When short, you've got to do that kind of thing. The combination of what it's likely the other guy has (nothing), the chance that he'll lay down hands that beat you (small but not none) and the chance that you'll improve even if he is beating you (about 33%, so not negligible) make it a decent play when the alternative is to fold, and try to make headway with 6BB.
I have no excuse for tilt though. I pick up KJs in the BB and check after two limpers. It's not really worth trying the push with the stacks we have. The flop comes K53 and the small blind leads out. I don't believe he has much here, so I call, but the other limper minraises. This says "crap king" to me, so I call that too, and push the turn when it bricks.
I know, I know. I should just have folded the flop, if not the first time round, then to the minraise. Or pushed, if I really did feel I was ahead. Or even pushed preflop and not worried about the awkward stack sizes.
Unbelievably, the fishtard turned up K5. Not even suited. Now obviously he's going to lose a lot of money at poker over his playing lifetime. But not today. Today he won mine.
Friday, 12 October 2007
Friday, 28 September 2007
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Antiwoot
Final three of a two-dollar tourney on Stars. I am chip leader and I'm playing really well. Payouts are about 600, 300, 200.
I pick up JT and complete in the small blind. Three to the flop.
It flops Q98. I check, BB bets, button, who has been extremely lucky throughout, calls, I raise big. Button pushes.
Finally, I have him. I call quickly. He shows me AQ.
Turn Q, river 9.
You could not fucking make that up. I've been sucked out on lots of times in lots of ways, but that 20 to 1 shot cost me at least a hundred bucks. Oh well.
I pick up JT and complete in the small blind. Three to the flop.
It flops Q98. I check, BB bets, button, who has been extremely lucky throughout, calls, I raise big. Button pushes.
Finally, I have him. I call quickly. He shows me AQ.
Turn Q, river 9.
You could not fucking make that up. I've been sucked out on lots of times in lots of ways, but that 20 to 1 shot cost me at least a hundred bucks. Oh well.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
On a freezer
Sometimes I just hate poker.
I am dealt T9 in the big blind. The flop comes Txx and I bet. Retard calls. Turn another T. I bet more, he calls again. River is an A. I figure he has been calling with Ace-something, so I check to induce the bluff. Sure enough, he bets fairly big. I call and he shows me AA.
So the guy let me draw out on him and then sucked out on me.
A couple of hands later, I limp on the button with 55. I probably should have raised but whatever. The flop comes 995. I bet fairly small, tard calls. He's loose enough to have just about anything here but I put him on the 9. I am hoping that I'm being put on a button robbery of the orphan pot. The turn is an 8. I bet again fairly big and he calls. The river is a 7. I bet once more, he raises all in. I am pot committed. Obviously, I hope he has the straight because it would just be too cruel for the same guy to suck out to a full house twice.
Now, I guess that you have days like that. Earlier, with QQ on a J high flop, I'd received two callers. The turn was another J. Oh well. I had too much money in to just give up, so I pushed. He had JJ. So in the next couple of games I get short and push over calls. Both times they call the push too, and have me dominated. Unreal. Then I push over a bet with TT, he calls and shows KQs. Of course he flops a Q. Then I push 88 over AK and he turns a K. Next AKs over QT, he calls, and rivers a Q. Don't ask who calls with that shit; he had a biggish stack and wanted to gambool. And just now, a shorty called a decent raise from KQ and we flop KQ9. Obviously I put him the rest of the way in. And he's delighted, because he called the raise with JT -- not even pushing, leaving himself 2BB -- and has me beaten.
So yeah, the tard has 97, of all the fucking hands. When you're cold, man, you freeze.
I am dealt T9 in the big blind. The flop comes Txx and I bet. Retard calls. Turn another T. I bet more, he calls again. River is an A. I figure he has been calling with Ace-something, so I check to induce the bluff. Sure enough, he bets fairly big. I call and he shows me AA.
So the guy let me draw out on him and then sucked out on me.
A couple of hands later, I limp on the button with 55. I probably should have raised but whatever. The flop comes 995. I bet fairly small, tard calls. He's loose enough to have just about anything here but I put him on the 9. I am hoping that I'm being put on a button robbery of the orphan pot. The turn is an 8. I bet again fairly big and he calls. The river is a 7. I bet once more, he raises all in. I am pot committed. Obviously, I hope he has the straight because it would just be too cruel for the same guy to suck out to a full house twice.
Now, I guess that you have days like that. Earlier, with QQ on a J high flop, I'd received two callers. The turn was another J. Oh well. I had too much money in to just give up, so I pushed. He had JJ. So in the next couple of games I get short and push over calls. Both times they call the push too, and have me dominated. Unreal. Then I push over a bet with TT, he calls and shows KQs. Of course he flops a Q. Then I push 88 over AK and he turns a K. Next AKs over QT, he calls, and rivers a Q. Don't ask who calls with that shit; he had a biggish stack and wanted to gambool. And just now, a shorty called a decent raise from KQ and we flop KQ9. Obviously I put him the rest of the way in. And he's delighted, because he called the raise with JT -- not even pushing, leaving himself 2BB -- and has me beaten.
So yeah, the tard has 97, of all the fucking hands. When you're cold, man, you freeze.
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Winning is the nuts
So I am enjoying poker at the moment, probably for two reasons. First, I haven't been playing all that much, and second, I'm winning what I do play. This is not a proud boast, because I've been playing very small games, just for fun.
In mid-July, I had the flu, and took a break from poker for a couple of weeks. Since then, I have been beating the $5 SNGs very nicely but have only been playing on average a couple a day. I'm confident that my stats are converging on my true win rate now. Opinions differ on how many games are enough. Some think you need to play thousands to be sure; but I read something in 2+2 magazine that suggested that, if your win rate is high enough, a few hundred games are enough. I have records for about 420 games, and I'm beating them pretty well. My plan remains to play a thousand and move up if I'm still beating them.
But at the moment, for fun I'm playing the turbo $1.50 HORSE SNGs on Stars. I've started crushing them, which is a sure sign my poker has improved, because, say six months ago, I was better than average but not running anything like as well as I am now. I'm probably running a bit hot, winning those close calls that so often crop up in turbo SNGs, but I feel I'm playing them well.
My opponents make lots of mistakes, the most painful being that they play far too many hands and then chase what are fundamentally bad draws. The way they play razz is simply hilarious. You are on fifth street, showing three babies, and they call your bet with paired kings and a baby. Now sometimes they are going to make their runner-runner low, but these guys will be drawing to an 8! Occasionally, they beat you because your much better draw doesn't come in and you can't beat an 8, but that's rare enough that they are not ever going to be winners at razz.
It's one of my better games at this level, simply because I'll play reasonably soundly and they won't. I realise, of course, that most players at the bottom do not know how to play razz, and don't care. If they mostly folded, that would probably be okay. Playing tight, in any form of poker, is usually going to be correct (at the earlier levels; some make the corresponding mistake of playing too tightly when very shorthanded).
I have an even bigger edge in holdem, and if we happen to be on holdem when fivehanded with high blinds, I like my chances. This is simply because I am good enough to beat microlimit holdem, and most of my opponents only play NL and have no idea how to adjust.
Omaha8 is tougher, because it is better for the fish, but playing for low is enough to see you through. It's difficult to play at this level because other players will have all sorts of hands, and you can't count too much out, so not having the nuts can kill you. For instance, I played a hand today in the BB, where I held 55xx. The flop came 995, giving me a full house. I'm almost certainly ahead on the flop, of course (because only 95xx and 99xx beat me, and they're pretty unlikely to be out), so I bet and get called in three places. Given that there's no low draw on the board, you just know that at least a couple of those guys have pairs and are drawing to their two outers. So, naturally, a guy turns his 7 and makes a bigger full house. Unfortunately, the 7 also made a flush, and some idiot bet that, so it cost me three bets to show down. I could and probably should have folded, but it was just about possible on that board that I'm against a low draw, a 9 and a flush, these players are so bad.
The stud games I'm improving at. Hi/lo is easier because players will so obviously be drawing for half the pot that you can often get half uncontested. I'm not very sound in stud, but I can hold my own. I've learned a few concepts recently that have helped (obvious things like this: before now, I might have folded mid pairs for a raise; now I will sometimes call if they are live because playing too tight is a mistake in stud -- same with draws: I'll call sometimes so long as my draw is very live and has other possibilities).
I've also had three goes at triple draw. And frankly, I rock. I've won two out of three. I read the Negreanu chapter in SuperSystem 2, and although his advice is for slower tournaments, what I remember of it works pretty well in an SNG. In tougher games, I'd need to pay more attention to pot odds and play more accurately, but at this level, there's no need at all. This is why. Threehanded, some guy limps and I raise with 732xx. I change two and he changes four. I am not kidding. I pick up a 4. I bet, he calls. I change one and miss. He changes three. I bet, he raises, I threebet the monster draw, he calls. I change one, and pick up the 5 to make the nuts. He stands pat. I bet, he calls and shows a 9-8-7. Well, maybe I'm bluffing on the end, and he has to call, but his play just sucks throughout. This is one of the better opponents. Others draw two to 9s, call raises and then show down hands that do not feature 2s or even 3s, refuse to call on the end when the pot is huge or call with pairs or very high lows in smallish pots. One gave me a lecture for folding for one more on the end. To be fair, the pot was reasonably big, but I had made a straight. The chances that the other guy had a hand I could beat were tiny. I said, I had a straight. He said, you are a idiot. I said, well, one of us is. Maybe he thought a straight was a winning hand.
In mid-July, I had the flu, and took a break from poker for a couple of weeks. Since then, I have been beating the $5 SNGs very nicely but have only been playing on average a couple a day. I'm confident that my stats are converging on my true win rate now. Opinions differ on how many games are enough. Some think you need to play thousands to be sure; but I read something in 2+2 magazine that suggested that, if your win rate is high enough, a few hundred games are enough. I have records for about 420 games, and I'm beating them pretty well. My plan remains to play a thousand and move up if I'm still beating them.
But at the moment, for fun I'm playing the turbo $1.50 HORSE SNGs on Stars. I've started crushing them, which is a sure sign my poker has improved, because, say six months ago, I was better than average but not running anything like as well as I am now. I'm probably running a bit hot, winning those close calls that so often crop up in turbo SNGs, but I feel I'm playing them well.
My opponents make lots of mistakes, the most painful being that they play far too many hands and then chase what are fundamentally bad draws. The way they play razz is simply hilarious. You are on fifth street, showing three babies, and they call your bet with paired kings and a baby. Now sometimes they are going to make their runner-runner low, but these guys will be drawing to an 8! Occasionally, they beat you because your much better draw doesn't come in and you can't beat an 8, but that's rare enough that they are not ever going to be winners at razz.
It's one of my better games at this level, simply because I'll play reasonably soundly and they won't. I realise, of course, that most players at the bottom do not know how to play razz, and don't care. If they mostly folded, that would probably be okay. Playing tight, in any form of poker, is usually going to be correct (at the earlier levels; some make the corresponding mistake of playing too tightly when very shorthanded).
I have an even bigger edge in holdem, and if we happen to be on holdem when fivehanded with high blinds, I like my chances. This is simply because I am good enough to beat microlimit holdem, and most of my opponents only play NL and have no idea how to adjust.
Omaha8 is tougher, because it is better for the fish, but playing for low is enough to see you through. It's difficult to play at this level because other players will have all sorts of hands, and you can't count too much out, so not having the nuts can kill you. For instance, I played a hand today in the BB, where I held 55xx. The flop came 995, giving me a full house. I'm almost certainly ahead on the flop, of course (because only 95xx and 99xx beat me, and they're pretty unlikely to be out), so I bet and get called in three places. Given that there's no low draw on the board, you just know that at least a couple of those guys have pairs and are drawing to their two outers. So, naturally, a guy turns his 7 and makes a bigger full house. Unfortunately, the 7 also made a flush, and some idiot bet that, so it cost me three bets to show down. I could and probably should have folded, but it was just about possible on that board that I'm against a low draw, a 9 and a flush, these players are so bad.
The stud games I'm improving at. Hi/lo is easier because players will so obviously be drawing for half the pot that you can often get half uncontested. I'm not very sound in stud, but I can hold my own. I've learned a few concepts recently that have helped (obvious things like this: before now, I might have folded mid pairs for a raise; now I will sometimes call if they are live because playing too tight is a mistake in stud -- same with draws: I'll call sometimes so long as my draw is very live and has other possibilities).
I've also had three goes at triple draw. And frankly, I rock. I've won two out of three. I read the Negreanu chapter in SuperSystem 2, and although his advice is for slower tournaments, what I remember of it works pretty well in an SNG. In tougher games, I'd need to pay more attention to pot odds and play more accurately, but at this level, there's no need at all. This is why. Threehanded, some guy limps and I raise with 732xx. I change two and he changes four. I am not kidding. I pick up a 4. I bet, he calls. I change one and miss. He changes three. I bet, he raises, I threebet the monster draw, he calls. I change one, and pick up the 5 to make the nuts. He stands pat. I bet, he calls and shows a 9-8-7. Well, maybe I'm bluffing on the end, and he has to call, but his play just sucks throughout. This is one of the better opponents. Others draw two to 9s, call raises and then show down hands that do not feature 2s or even 3s, refuse to call on the end when the pot is huge or call with pairs or very high lows in smallish pots. One gave me a lecture for folding for one more on the end. To be fair, the pot was reasonably big, but I had made a straight. The chances that the other guy had a hand I could beat were tiny. I said, I had a straight. He said, you are a idiot. I said, well, one of us is. Maybe he thought a straight was a winning hand.
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Small woot
Sometimes my progress in poker has seemed agonisingly slow, and the milestones far apart. So little things mean a lot. I've been playing $10 sngs on Party, because I was clearing a bonus and the rake is the same for a 10 as a 5, ridiculously. I've been going okay, not having much luck, and was breakeven before today (in only a handful of games). The games are ridiculously soft, so that's no big thing.
So I have been playing a few games at Party, and a couple of 5s at PokerRoom. First up, I came third in a 10, which made me just better than breakeven, which made me happy. In a five, I limped and called a raise from the BB with 99. The flop came Jxx, rainbow and raggy. The BB checked and I bet. He called. Now, only a clueless player would raise AJ at low blinds in an sng, and you'd need to be double clueless to flatcall a bet with it here. So I'm putting him on AK/AQ, maybe a pair, and when the turn is a rag, I'm willing to get the money in. Sigh. Most times, I shut it down on the turn, because even if I'm good, I don't want a big pot, but I thought I might get paid by a big ace.
Well, if I didn't make mistakes, I'd be a robot. He turned over AJ and IGH.
Next up, I was delighted to get my chips in preflop with KK. My opponent, loose and retarded throughout, had TT, which made me even more delighted. I was a lot less delighted to see a T on the flop. At the same time I was playing a turbo, and with a bit of luck, which you need in turbos I think, particularly if the other players are tightish, which they were, I got to heads up. No luck though. The blinds were huge, so it was pretty much a crapshoot. I do a lot better when there's some play, and I can use fold equity to win a lot of pots.
I had already started another five and the ten had filled, so I was playing both while finishing the turbo. So I got a nice stack in the ten, and a not so nice one in the five, but the players in the latter seemed to want to throw chips at me, so by the time we got to the money, I was in good shape, with three of us on about the same size stack. My two opponents obliged me by going all in, and I had the luxury of throwing away a decent hand -- AT, I think -- knowing that I would be guaranteed second. The guy who won that clash had played quite LAGgy throughout, having pulled a big stack early. I had let him steal a couple of pots with minraises, and now he tried that again, and I punished him several times with resteals. I soon overhauled him, and I think that demoralises bad players, so that they lose discipline. I easily won it from there, with the other guy calling a push from my top pair with nothing at all. Meanwhile, in the ten I'd played a nice game, patient early, aggressive later, and had the luxury again of watching players with decent stacks knock each other out. A huge suckout in the money, with 55 catching its set against QQ, finally paid me back some of the bad luck I'd been suffering. I then caught the same guy stealing, calling his push with K5s with 99, which held up.
So I'm heads up at both tables, and going well. I pick up KQ in the ten and get it in. The other guy calls with K9s and of course he flushes. Now 1740 chips at t600 blinds is what we call being in very bad shape. At Party, there are 20,000 chips in play, so the guy has me more than 10 to 1 in chips.
So I pick up 84 and push. I'm pushing any two every time until I am no longer blinded out. There's no option. Of course, I'd like better cards, because he has to call here.
Or not. Unbelievable! I sometimes just cannot believe how bad the players I'm against are. I'm no Phil Ivey, fair enough, but how bad do you have to be to fold in the big blind against a guy with less than three BBs! I started cursing that I was so far behind, because this guy totally deserved to lose. Next hand, he folded. What teh fuck?
Next hand I picked up Ac9c and pushed. He folded again. Next he called in the SB and I pushed with J5. He folded again. Unreal.
Now I'm in better shape, although still on the ventilator. I fold my next hand, J4, because I am sure he will have to spite-call the next push. I figure that I can wait till the next hand to go for it again. So I pick up 54s in the BB and he minraises. There is no way I'm folding, and he might, so I stick it in. He has K8s, so my cards are live, and I river a 5 to double up.
Now I know I will win. I am still way behind, nearly 2 to 1 in chips, but I know that I will win this game. He just isn't good enough to beat me.
So a small woot for me. I won a $10 sng for the first time. It doesn't sound like much, I know, in a game that sees millions bet, won and lost every day, but in my small corner of it, it's a big thing.
So I have been playing a few games at Party, and a couple of 5s at PokerRoom. First up, I came third in a 10, which made me just better than breakeven, which made me happy. In a five, I limped and called a raise from the BB with 99. The flop came Jxx, rainbow and raggy. The BB checked and I bet. He called. Now, only a clueless player would raise AJ at low blinds in an sng, and you'd need to be double clueless to flatcall a bet with it here. So I'm putting him on AK/AQ, maybe a pair, and when the turn is a rag, I'm willing to get the money in. Sigh. Most times, I shut it down on the turn, because even if I'm good, I don't want a big pot, but I thought I might get paid by a big ace.
Well, if I didn't make mistakes, I'd be a robot. He turned over AJ and IGH.
Next up, I was delighted to get my chips in preflop with KK. My opponent, loose and retarded throughout, had TT, which made me even more delighted. I was a lot less delighted to see a T on the flop. At the same time I was playing a turbo, and with a bit of luck, which you need in turbos I think, particularly if the other players are tightish, which they were, I got to heads up. No luck though. The blinds were huge, so it was pretty much a crapshoot. I do a lot better when there's some play, and I can use fold equity to win a lot of pots.
I had already started another five and the ten had filled, so I was playing both while finishing the turbo. So I got a nice stack in the ten, and a not so nice one in the five, but the players in the latter seemed to want to throw chips at me, so by the time we got to the money, I was in good shape, with three of us on about the same size stack. My two opponents obliged me by going all in, and I had the luxury of throwing away a decent hand -- AT, I think -- knowing that I would be guaranteed second. The guy who won that clash had played quite LAGgy throughout, having pulled a big stack early. I had let him steal a couple of pots with minraises, and now he tried that again, and I punished him several times with resteals. I soon overhauled him, and I think that demoralises bad players, so that they lose discipline. I easily won it from there, with the other guy calling a push from my top pair with nothing at all. Meanwhile, in the ten I'd played a nice game, patient early, aggressive later, and had the luxury again of watching players with decent stacks knock each other out. A huge suckout in the money, with 55 catching its set against QQ, finally paid me back some of the bad luck I'd been suffering. I then caught the same guy stealing, calling his push with K5s with 99, which held up.
So I'm heads up at both tables, and going well. I pick up KQ in the ten and get it in. The other guy calls with K9s and of course he flushes. Now 1740 chips at t600 blinds is what we call being in very bad shape. At Party, there are 20,000 chips in play, so the guy has me more than 10 to 1 in chips.
So I pick up 84 and push. I'm pushing any two every time until I am no longer blinded out. There's no option. Of course, I'd like better cards, because he has to call here.
Or not. Unbelievable! I sometimes just cannot believe how bad the players I'm against are. I'm no Phil Ivey, fair enough, but how bad do you have to be to fold in the big blind against a guy with less than three BBs! I started cursing that I was so far behind, because this guy totally deserved to lose. Next hand, he folded. What teh fuck?
Next hand I picked up Ac9c and pushed. He folded again. Next he called in the SB and I pushed with J5. He folded again. Unreal.
Now I'm in better shape, although still on the ventilator. I fold my next hand, J4, because I am sure he will have to spite-call the next push. I figure that I can wait till the next hand to go for it again. So I pick up 54s in the BB and he minraises. There is no way I'm folding, and he might, so I stick it in. He has K8s, so my cards are live, and I river a 5 to double up.
Now I know I will win. I am still way behind, nearly 2 to 1 in chips, but I know that I will win this game. He just isn't good enough to beat me.
So a small woot for me. I won a $10 sng for the first time. It doesn't sound like much, I know, in a game that sees millions bet, won and lost every day, but in my small corner of it, it's a big thing.
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Think about the future
So I'm playing a HORSE tourney, and I pick up 9d8d. Here is the hand:
PokerStars Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind t500 (7 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP2 (t666)
Hero (t6444)
Button (t6758)
SB (t16859)
BB (t3545)
UTG (t6537)
MP1 (t9133)
Preflop: Hero is CO with 9d, 8d.
2 folds, MP2 raises, Hero calls, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls.
I should note that the raise was to 660 or so.
Flop: (5.32 SB, t2664) 4c, 7d, Jd (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets, SB folds, BB folds.
Turn: (3.16 BB, t3164) Qc (2 players)
River: (3.16 BB, t3164) 4h (2 players)
Final Pot: 3.164 BB (t3164)
So the other players start whining in chat. A guy posts "?" and I know he means "why did you bet into the sidepot?" So I tell him it was for value. "You didn't get any," he said. (The allin guy had A7 and I didn't draw out on him.)
I realise I am having a conversation with someone who knows nothing and I should stop. I say I'm too busy to give them a lesson in poker.
And the other guy says "dude, there is no value in betting at an empty side pot with someone all in".
But there is! How clueless can you be? A bet for value hopes for a call. I wanted both guys to call me, paying me 2 to 1 on my gutshot straight flush draw. I have 12 outs to beat top pair! If one calls, with precisely top pair, I don't make the value I hoped for, but if both fold, and the allin guy has less than top pair, which is very likely, I have 18 outs (and if I'd folded out a bigger 8 or 9, and an 8 comes, my bet was a coup!). By putting money into the sidepot, I also increase my chances of getting paid another bet when I make my hand. With the dry sidepot, it's easy for these guys to fold when the flush card comes. With money in it, they might think their pair is still good and call what they take to be a bluff.
Eighteen outs make me a huge favourite. Poker is about betting when you have the best of it, not about taking results as a guide to how well you played. You don't always get value when you bet for value. Sometimes you are actually behind; sometimes you fold to a bluff. But you calculate spots where you should have some value and make the right play. The only bad outcome for me in this hand is just one caller with a pair better than 9s or better (or who has several of my outs, or both: say he holds TcTd). As it happens, I had the 18 outs, and I was unlucky. They don't grasp that.
Players don't. They see what they take to be terrible plays and cannot grasp why they weren't. That's why it's possible to win. Take the following two plays.
In an sng, I raised with some shit like A6s, A7s. The BB pushed. I called. I was being offered more than 2 to 1 by the pot, and had him covered. He had a bigger ace, but I sucked out. Cue the whining. "Only idiots get lucky like that..." he whined. He thinks I'm an idiot for calling with A6s? Dude, only an idiot would fold. The blinds were high and he can be pushing pretty wide. Against the top 20% I'm 45/55! Against the top 10%, hands that nearly everyone would push from the BB in this spot, I'm 39/61. I think the guy's looser than he is tight, but even at the tight end, I have a thin call. The guy has just looked at his cards, and looked at my cards and thought, he's called with trash. He hasn't given any thought to the pot odds on offer, or to the fact that I don't know his hand until he turns it over, and must guess what he might have.
In another game, it's the bubble. I'm UTG with KJs. I have the BB covered, but not by very much. Neither of us is very very short, but we both have about 6BB. The bigger stacks have been playing tightly, and are not enormous. I shove and he calls.
He should show me AA/KK. Anything less is an autofold.
But he has AQ. If I push as loosely as the top 20% (and I don't), he is less than 60/40 to double up. But, as I discussed, doubling your chips is not doubling your equity, and this is a bad bet to take. This player will probably never understand that. Which is why, over the long term, he will lose money at sngs, and I will win it. (In case anyone reads this who doesn't get why his call is bad, imagine you have ten occasions to make it. You win six times, and lose four. The six you win, your equity increases from, say, $20 to $30, the four you lose, your equity is of course $0. So when you win, your equity gain is 6 x 10 = $60, and when you lose, you lose 4 x 20 = 80. These aren't the correct figures, but the general idea is correct. The fall in equity when you lose is so much bigger than the rise when you win that you lose money in the long term by taking even those gambles that favour you strongly.)
AQ is a good hand. It's hard to fold it. But being able to fold is a key skill in poker.
But was my push good? Surely I have more risk? Well yes, if I know he has AQ, and furthermore, know he will call. But I don't. (Well, I could be pretty sure he would call with that because he hadn't shown any sign of having a clue.) Mostly, all fold. There are a lot more bad hands than good ones! I probably wouldn't push this hand at a table that was calling loosely, but this one had been playing tightly, as I noted. My hand will play well if I'm called. My combined chances are good enough to make a push worthwhile here.
PokerStars Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind t500 (7 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP2 (t666)
Hero (t6444)
Button (t6758)
SB (t16859)
BB (t3545)
UTG (t6537)
MP1 (t9133)
Preflop: Hero is CO with 9d, 8d.
2 folds, MP2 raises, Hero calls, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls.
I should note that the raise was to 660 or so.
Flop: (5.32 SB, t2664) 4c, 7d, Jd (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets, SB folds, BB folds.
Turn: (3.16 BB, t3164) Qc (2 players)
River: (3.16 BB, t3164) 4h (2 players)
Final Pot: 3.164 BB (t3164)
So the other players start whining in chat. A guy posts "?" and I know he means "why did you bet into the sidepot?" So I tell him it was for value. "You didn't get any," he said. (The allin guy had A7 and I didn't draw out on him.)
I realise I am having a conversation with someone who knows nothing and I should stop. I say I'm too busy to give them a lesson in poker.
And the other guy says "dude, there is no value in betting at an empty side pot with someone all in".
But there is! How clueless can you be? A bet for value hopes for a call. I wanted both guys to call me, paying me 2 to 1 on my gutshot straight flush draw. I have 12 outs to beat top pair! If one calls, with precisely top pair, I don't make the value I hoped for, but if both fold, and the allin guy has less than top pair, which is very likely, I have 18 outs (and if I'd folded out a bigger 8 or 9, and an 8 comes, my bet was a coup!). By putting money into the sidepot, I also increase my chances of getting paid another bet when I make my hand. With the dry sidepot, it's easy for these guys to fold when the flush card comes. With money in it, they might think their pair is still good and call what they take to be a bluff.
Eighteen outs make me a huge favourite. Poker is about betting when you have the best of it, not about taking results as a guide to how well you played. You don't always get value when you bet for value. Sometimes you are actually behind; sometimes you fold to a bluff. But you calculate spots where you should have some value and make the right play. The only bad outcome for me in this hand is just one caller with a pair better than 9s or better (or who has several of my outs, or both: say he holds TcTd). As it happens, I had the 18 outs, and I was unlucky. They don't grasp that.
Players don't. They see what they take to be terrible plays and cannot grasp why they weren't. That's why it's possible to win. Take the following two plays.
In an sng, I raised with some shit like A6s, A7s. The BB pushed. I called. I was being offered more than 2 to 1 by the pot, and had him covered. He had a bigger ace, but I sucked out. Cue the whining. "Only idiots get lucky like that..." he whined. He thinks I'm an idiot for calling with A6s? Dude, only an idiot would fold. The blinds were high and he can be pushing pretty wide. Against the top 20% I'm 45/55! Against the top 10%, hands that nearly everyone would push from the BB in this spot, I'm 39/61. I think the guy's looser than he is tight, but even at the tight end, I have a thin call. The guy has just looked at his cards, and looked at my cards and thought, he's called with trash. He hasn't given any thought to the pot odds on offer, or to the fact that I don't know his hand until he turns it over, and must guess what he might have.
In another game, it's the bubble. I'm UTG with KJs. I have the BB covered, but not by very much. Neither of us is very very short, but we both have about 6BB. The bigger stacks have been playing tightly, and are not enormous. I shove and he calls.
He should show me AA/KK. Anything less is an autofold.
But he has AQ. If I push as loosely as the top 20% (and I don't), he is less than 60/40 to double up. But, as I discussed, doubling your chips is not doubling your equity, and this is a bad bet to take. This player will probably never understand that. Which is why, over the long term, he will lose money at sngs, and I will win it. (In case anyone reads this who doesn't get why his call is bad, imagine you have ten occasions to make it. You win six times, and lose four. The six you win, your equity increases from, say, $20 to $30, the four you lose, your equity is of course $0. So when you win, your equity gain is 6 x 10 = $60, and when you lose, you lose 4 x 20 = 80. These aren't the correct figures, but the general idea is correct. The fall in equity when you lose is so much bigger than the rise when you win that you lose money in the long term by taking even those gambles that favour you strongly.)
AQ is a good hand. It's hard to fold it. But being able to fold is a key skill in poker.
But was my push good? Surely I have more risk? Well yes, if I know he has AQ, and furthermore, know he will call. But I don't. (Well, I could be pretty sure he would call with that because he hadn't shown any sign of having a clue.) Mostly, all fold. There are a lot more bad hands than good ones! I probably wouldn't push this hand at a table that was calling loosely, but this one had been playing tightly, as I noted. My hand will play well if I'm called. My combined chances are good enough to make a push worthwhile here.
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