Friday night 1-3NL at Ameristar.
My favorite hand so far:
I open raised to 10 from middle position with 9Ts and only get called by the BB, who has me covered. Flop was J Q x. He checked, I bet 10, he called. The turn was a low card, he checked, and I checked. The river was an 8 (no flush). He bet out 20. I raised to 60 and he thought for a long time, then finally called. When I turned over my hand he said that was the one hand he didn't put me on.
I have read that you frequently make the most money when you play in a style opposite of your usual style. I have been playing very tight, but looking for opportunities to open raise with lower suited connectors to balance out my range. This was one of those hands where everything just worked out perfectly.
Later I was in the BB with QJo. There was an early-position raise to 10 and 2 callers. I called. Flop was 9sThAs. I checked, the raiser bet 20, both callers called, and I called. Turn was 4h. I checked, he bet 65, one guy folded and the other called. I called. River was 7s (3rd spade). I checked and they both checked. They both had AK with no flush.
I understand pot odds and implied odds, but at the table, in the moment, I have a really hard time calculating them. I have a pretty good idea of what to do, and I don't spend a lot of time struggling to make a decision, but sometimes I have nagging doubts about whether I did the right thing. In this case, I had 105 left after the turn, the raiser had me covered, but the other guy had less. The flop call was easy: the pot was 100, I just had to call 20, and there was no action behind me. I had to be worried that the flush took away 2 of my outs, but I couldn't be sure. The call on the turn was probably more marginal, but it still looks right to me. I was getting less than 4 to 1, but I was counting on getting action if I made the nuts. I think Harrington would have been OK with that call. One thing I don't remember clearly was if I had a plan for what I would do if I made my straight with a third flush card. That is something I should have had a good idea about before I made either of those calls.
I got really sleepy that night, and purposely played a little longer after that to try to work on my stamina, but not so long that I started playing badly. I ended up taking a $10 loss at the NL table, but I was still up $60 from Omaha earlier, so it wasn't a bad night.
Saturday night 1-3NL at Ameristar.
I open raised to 10 from late position with 66 and get called by the blinds. The flop was KK8. The blinds checked, I bet 10, and they both folded.
This hand really helped me adjust my mindset from limit poker to no limit. I have been reading all this theory, but I have had a hard time seeing myself putting certain plays into practice, I think this is because of all the years I have played limit hold 'em. In (low) limit, when I get a small pocket pair, I want to see a cheap flop and I almost always give up if I don't flop a set. On a board like KK8, I would be so done with pocket 6s. But here, I raised preflop and I'm in position. Finally I'm seeing that in situations like this, it really doesn't matter what cards I have. That flop was perfect because it's so likely my 2 opponents missed completely. My sixes probably really were the best hand, but that's not really the point. To succeed in tournament play, I'm going to have to be able to take advantage of situations where I can bet with confidence to win pots without necessarily having the best cards. That is one of my biggest weaknesses, and this little pot was a baby step in the right direction.
My first real bluff: I limped behind some other limpers with JTo. The flop was 8 9 x, and I called a bet (forgot the details). The turn was a blank and it checked around. The river was an ace and it was checked to me. I bet and won the pot.
I didn't doubt that this was a good play, but it was still nice that it worked.
Later I called a $6 button straddle from middle position with Ah6h. I didn't expect the straddle to raise because he had done this a few times already. There were 5 players and no one raised. The flop was Jack high with 2 hearts. A guy in early position bet 12, the next player folded, and I raised to 35. I expected the bettor to call and was hoping everyone else would fold, which is what happened. Since I had position, I was hoping to get a free river card if need be, and also hoping that by getting heads-up, my ace would be good if it hit. The turn was a blank, he checked, and I checked. The river was the ace of spades. He bet 40 and I called. He turned over a busted straight draw, no pair.
Everything worked perfectly in this hand.
Monday night 1-2NL at Hollywood.
I didn't take notes that night, so I don't remember this hand exactly, but this is the main idea...
There were several limpers pre-flop, which was typical for this table, and I limped in on the button with KTo. The flop was K 3 6 rainbow and it was checked to me and I bet. The BB called, maybe somebody else called too. The turn was a 10. The BB led out betting, if anyone else was in they folded, and I just called. The river was unremarkable, but there was no straight or flush possible. The BB bet again, a good sized bet. I felt sure I had the best hand. The only better hand I could think of that he might play this way was pocket 10s, but even then I would have expected him to go for a check raise. I really thought he must have had a worse 2 pair, but I didn't really spend a lot of time thinking it through. I just called. He turned over T3 for a worse 2 pair and I won the pot.
I think I should have raised on the river, but raising for value on the river is not a situation that had come up for me before. If I would have stopped to think about it longer, I think I would have raised. Calling doesn't seem like a huge mistake, but I'm not really sure about that one. In a tournament situation, though, I have to be able to raise there.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Lisa
Last Thursday night was the start of the holiday weekend and I went to Hollywood Casino to play 1-2NL. This would be my first time playing 1-2 there and I wasn't sure how it would differ from the 1-3NL game at Ameristar. I got a late start, so I didn't get there until around 9pm, but they had 3 tables going and the tail end of the nightly tournament.
I didn't call ahead, so I just put my name on the list when I got there. The floor guy said I was 5th on the list, but that it should just be about 5-10 minutes. I guess that should have been my first clue that things were a little crazy.
I was actually seated very quickly. I bought in for $120. I was seated straight across from a young-ish Asian woman (Lisa) who immediately began talking to me about her hair. It was a long, loud, confusing story. I interrupted her to nicely point out that the action was on her. She said she knew that, but continued with her story for a bit before throwing in $40 in chips. One or two guys called (the rest of the table was men). She bet $100 on the flop and one guy called, saying "I've got a draw." I think she went all in on the river and he folded. She continued to talk loudly and semi-incoherently the whole time.
Lisa played every single hand and raised pre-flop every single time. Most of her raises were $30-$50, but sometimes $100, and sometimes whatever she had in front of her. Sometimes she would look at her cards, but most of the time she wouldn't. Many times she would ask everyone at the table whether they wanted her to look at her cards or not. When the action was on her, she would always talk for awhile before acting.
The first hour was the toughest for me. I had come to the casino to play poker, not to play "put in your money and spin the wheel." My first instinct was to change tables. Lisa was overwhelming. She slowed the game to a crawl. I soon learned that she could get away with anything she wanted because of the huge amounts of money she was giving away to the dealers and the other players at the table. None of the players (at our table) wanted to complain about her because they didn't want her to leave or change her mood. The dealers didn't want the floor to intervene because they were getting $20 and $30 tips every hand. Some of the other players in the room complained about the volume. The floor asked her a couple times to be quieter, but then did nothing when she wasn't. She told crazy stories about her life as an exotic dancer/escort, and she gleefully rehashed again and again all the hands she won with inferior cards. She frequently demanded to see flop, turn, and river cards after the hand was over, which all the dealers obliged. I could go on and on about the antics, but that wasn't really going to be the point of this post.
The point is that I decided to stay and play with her to strengthen my mental game. From a strategic point of view, the game was very simple: wait for a premium hand when I can get heads up with her and get all my money in. Easy enough. Meanwhile, don't let the craziness get to me. There were a lot of things about this situation that would normally really bother me, so I just set my mind where it needed to be and jumped in. Patience wasn't really a problem. I didn't really want to play a hand, but I knew I had to take advantage if the situation was right.
After about an hour of folding and feeling zen, I picked up pocket 10s in middle position and pushed all in over whatever her crazy raise was. Everyone else folded. She asked me if I wanted her to look at her cards and I said I didn't care. I knew it didn't matter. She didn't. The board had 2 overcards to my 10s, Q and A. In very dramatic fashion, Lisa turned over her two cards: Q 4. I decided to rebuy for $150. By this time I had a pretty good grip on how the game worked. Every hand was either uncontested, or someone heads-up with Lisa and every hand was a big production, but Lisa had a pocket full of orange chips and a bra full of black chips and she didn't seem to care at all how much she lost. It would be silly to walk away.
The second hour was a little crazier. Whenever she lost a big pot to a guy she insisted they buy her a drink, which was usually a shot. She started going all in preflop more and more. Whenever she lost all her chips, she would pull out another orange chip and buy $500 from someone at the table so she never had to go to the cage. She would put two blacks in her bra and sometimes push in the other $300 before the cards were even dealt. At minimum she raised to $100 preflop. She broke just about every rule in the poker room, but no one seemed to care. At one point she took another player's hand out of the muck to see what he had after no one would tell her she couldn't. Afterwards, the floor quietly told her not to do that again.
After she lost a few thousand in short order, she sort of slowed down. She still played every hand, but sometimes her preflop raises were more normal-sized and once she even called $2 without raising after making a big speech about how that was the only time she would ever do that. Which makes my next hand seem more magical to me somehow. I was in middle position with 44. I planned to fold to the big preflop raise that I expected, but for some reason, she only called under the gun. Maybe she thought she was the BB. Maybe she just spaced out for a minute (she was pretty sloshed by that time). I don't know. She didn't even make a speech. She just threw in $2. I called. I think almost everyone called. I flopped a set of fours on a very non-scary board. Of course there's no point in slow-playing. Lisa acted first and bet something like $50, I raised all in, everyone else folded, she called with nothing and didn't improve. So I won back my first buy-in plus a little more.
I didn't play another hand for awhile. The third hour was tedious, but I felt really good about staying focused on the game and being able to adjust to the changing conditions. Lisa continued to play every hand, but she was at least looking at her cards and folding in hopeless situations. There was even one hand that ended up being contested by two other players at the table - the only time that happened while I was there. Sometime in my third hour I picked up AK and called Lisa's small raise preflop. The flop was A66 with 2 spades and Lisa bet $100. I pushed all in. She stalled for a long time. She asked me if she folded would I let her see the turn and river cards. I said sure even though I didn't see how that was up to me. She finally folded. She claimed she folded a flush draw that would have hit, but I don't think that's what she really had.
I played for awhile longer, but didn't play another hand. The shenanigans continued, but I slipped away +$120 and feeling good about my lack of tilt.
I didn't call ahead, so I just put my name on the list when I got there. The floor guy said I was 5th on the list, but that it should just be about 5-10 minutes. I guess that should have been my first clue that things were a little crazy.
I was actually seated very quickly. I bought in for $120. I was seated straight across from a young-ish Asian woman (Lisa) who immediately began talking to me about her hair. It was a long, loud, confusing story. I interrupted her to nicely point out that the action was on her. She said she knew that, but continued with her story for a bit before throwing in $40 in chips. One or two guys called (the rest of the table was men). She bet $100 on the flop and one guy called, saying "I've got a draw." I think she went all in on the river and he folded. She continued to talk loudly and semi-incoherently the whole time.
Lisa played every single hand and raised pre-flop every single time. Most of her raises were $30-$50, but sometimes $100, and sometimes whatever she had in front of her. Sometimes she would look at her cards, but most of the time she wouldn't. Many times she would ask everyone at the table whether they wanted her to look at her cards or not. When the action was on her, she would always talk for awhile before acting.
The first hour was the toughest for me. I had come to the casino to play poker, not to play "put in your money and spin the wheel." My first instinct was to change tables. Lisa was overwhelming. She slowed the game to a crawl. I soon learned that she could get away with anything she wanted because of the huge amounts of money she was giving away to the dealers and the other players at the table. None of the players (at our table) wanted to complain about her because they didn't want her to leave or change her mood. The dealers didn't want the floor to intervene because they were getting $20 and $30 tips every hand. Some of the other players in the room complained about the volume. The floor asked her a couple times to be quieter, but then did nothing when she wasn't. She told crazy stories about her life as an exotic dancer/escort, and she gleefully rehashed again and again all the hands she won with inferior cards. She frequently demanded to see flop, turn, and river cards after the hand was over, which all the dealers obliged. I could go on and on about the antics, but that wasn't really going to be the point of this post.
The point is that I decided to stay and play with her to strengthen my mental game. From a strategic point of view, the game was very simple: wait for a premium hand when I can get heads up with her and get all my money in. Easy enough. Meanwhile, don't let the craziness get to me. There were a lot of things about this situation that would normally really bother me, so I just set my mind where it needed to be and jumped in. Patience wasn't really a problem. I didn't really want to play a hand, but I knew I had to take advantage if the situation was right.
After about an hour of folding and feeling zen, I picked up pocket 10s in middle position and pushed all in over whatever her crazy raise was. Everyone else folded. She asked me if I wanted her to look at her cards and I said I didn't care. I knew it didn't matter. She didn't. The board had 2 overcards to my 10s, Q and A. In very dramatic fashion, Lisa turned over her two cards: Q 4. I decided to rebuy for $150. By this time I had a pretty good grip on how the game worked. Every hand was either uncontested, or someone heads-up with Lisa and every hand was a big production, but Lisa had a pocket full of orange chips and a bra full of black chips and she didn't seem to care at all how much she lost. It would be silly to walk away.
The second hour was a little crazier. Whenever she lost a big pot to a guy she insisted they buy her a drink, which was usually a shot. She started going all in preflop more and more. Whenever she lost all her chips, she would pull out another orange chip and buy $500 from someone at the table so she never had to go to the cage. She would put two blacks in her bra and sometimes push in the other $300 before the cards were even dealt. At minimum she raised to $100 preflop. She broke just about every rule in the poker room, but no one seemed to care. At one point she took another player's hand out of the muck to see what he had after no one would tell her she couldn't. Afterwards, the floor quietly told her not to do that again.
After she lost a few thousand in short order, she sort of slowed down. She still played every hand, but sometimes her preflop raises were more normal-sized and once she even called $2 without raising after making a big speech about how that was the only time she would ever do that. Which makes my next hand seem more magical to me somehow. I was in middle position with 44. I planned to fold to the big preflop raise that I expected, but for some reason, she only called under the gun. Maybe she thought she was the BB. Maybe she just spaced out for a minute (she was pretty sloshed by that time). I don't know. She didn't even make a speech. She just threw in $2. I called. I think almost everyone called. I flopped a set of fours on a very non-scary board. Of course there's no point in slow-playing. Lisa acted first and bet something like $50, I raised all in, everyone else folded, she called with nothing and didn't improve. So I won back my first buy-in plus a little more.
I didn't play another hand for awhile. The third hour was tedious, but I felt really good about staying focused on the game and being able to adjust to the changing conditions. Lisa continued to play every hand, but she was at least looking at her cards and folding in hopeless situations. There was even one hand that ended up being contested by two other players at the table - the only time that happened while I was there. Sometime in my third hour I picked up AK and called Lisa's small raise preflop. The flop was A66 with 2 spades and Lisa bet $100. I pushed all in. She stalled for a long time. She asked me if she folded would I let her see the turn and river cards. I said sure even though I didn't see how that was up to me. She finally folded. She claimed she folded a flush draw that would have hit, but I don't think that's what she really had.
I played for awhile longer, but didn't play another hand. The shenanigans continued, but I slipped away +$120 and feeling good about my lack of tilt.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
NL cash games and tournaments so far
Not counting one very brief (winning) session at Excalibur in Vegas, I just started playing no-limit hold 'em at the casino less than 3 months ago. I have played 7 times, mostly at Ameristar, and it has gone very well. My only two losing sessions were when I quit while behind because I had been waiting for another game or tournament. One time I was down $80 and the other I was down $70. My profit from the other 5 sessions is over $1000.
I have played very tight and probably a little timidly. I am aggressive when in a hand, but it takes a lot of concentration and willpower for me to make bold plays. (Oddly enough, I haven't had much trouble getting paid off for my big hands, thanks to the weak competition.) I have to think a lot about bet sizes, and I'm sure I have made a lot of mistakes. I will write more about some specific hands, so I can hopefully learn from my mistakes and make improvements.
I have also played in 7 NL hold 'em tournaments in the past 6 weeks, trying to cram in some tournament experience before my WSOP debut. I played in 3 $125 nightly events for the big touring tournaments that were in town in April. The first was the Heartland Poker Tour at River City. The $125 nightly was the first tournament I'd played in a very long time (home or casino). I barely knew what to even take note of, so I don't really remember a lot of details. I actually felt like I played OK, but I busted after about 2.5 hours. I think there were about 100 people in it, but I'm not sure. After that, I played in 2 Saturday night tournaments at the Hollywood Poker Open. These nightlys were still relatively small events with 20-minute levels, but they had around 100 players and the blinds started much lower than the cheaper nightly casino tournaments. In the HPO tournaments I busted in 21st and 26th place (not in the money). I felt pretty good about how I played and about the experience overall.
The 4 tournaments I've played at Hollywood have probably been a waste of time. I played in 2 $60 nightlys, that were real stupid. The $75 bounty I covered in my last post. The other $75 tournament was the best of the 4. It was a new structure for a Saturday-night tournament sponsored by the Deepstacks Poker League. Apparently they used the structure usually reserved for their more expensive tournaments - more chips, lower starting blinds, antes in play after a few levels. I definitely want to write more about that one, because it was weird and frustrating. I didn't do well in any of these, and I'm not sure if I learned anything useful. The only tournaments I will be able to play between now and when I get to Vegas will be this variety. I don't know if it's worth my time and money to play in more, or if I should just stick to playing NL cash games for now.
Meanwhile I am reading "Harrington on Modern Tournament Poker" by Dan Harrington (thanks, Danno!), and devouring as many online videos and articles as I can. I have also read Jared Tendler's "Mental Game of Poker" books and will be trying to work through both of them. What else should I be doing/reading? I just have 5 weeks!
I have played very tight and probably a little timidly. I am aggressive when in a hand, but it takes a lot of concentration and willpower for me to make bold plays. (Oddly enough, I haven't had much trouble getting paid off for my big hands, thanks to the weak competition.) I have to think a lot about bet sizes, and I'm sure I have made a lot of mistakes. I will write more about some specific hands, so I can hopefully learn from my mistakes and make improvements.
I have also played in 7 NL hold 'em tournaments in the past 6 weeks, trying to cram in some tournament experience before my WSOP debut. I played in 3 $125 nightly events for the big touring tournaments that were in town in April. The first was the Heartland Poker Tour at River City. The $125 nightly was the first tournament I'd played in a very long time (home or casino). I barely knew what to even take note of, so I don't really remember a lot of details. I actually felt like I played OK, but I busted after about 2.5 hours. I think there were about 100 people in it, but I'm not sure. After that, I played in 2 Saturday night tournaments at the Hollywood Poker Open. These nightlys were still relatively small events with 20-minute levels, but they had around 100 players and the blinds started much lower than the cheaper nightly casino tournaments. In the HPO tournaments I busted in 21st and 26th place (not in the money). I felt pretty good about how I played and about the experience overall.
The 4 tournaments I've played at Hollywood have probably been a waste of time. I played in 2 $60 nightlys, that were real stupid. The $75 bounty I covered in my last post. The other $75 tournament was the best of the 4. It was a new structure for a Saturday-night tournament sponsored by the Deepstacks Poker League. Apparently they used the structure usually reserved for their more expensive tournaments - more chips, lower starting blinds, antes in play after a few levels. I definitely want to write more about that one, because it was weird and frustrating. I didn't do well in any of these, and I'm not sure if I learned anything useful. The only tournaments I will be able to play between now and when I get to Vegas will be this variety. I don't know if it's worth my time and money to play in more, or if I should just stick to playing NL cash games for now.
Meanwhile I am reading "Harrington on Modern Tournament Poker" by Dan Harrington (thanks, Danno!), and devouring as many online videos and articles as I can. I have also read Jared Tendler's "Mental Game of Poker" books and will be trying to work through both of them. What else should I be doing/reading? I just have 5 weeks!
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
5-12 $75 Bounty tournament at Hollywood
Last night's tournament is a good place to start because it's fresh on my mind. Also, since I only played three hands and lost all three, it's easy to remember.
This was a $75 buy-in bounty tournament. Each player has a $25 bounty, so you get paid $25 for each player you knock out. I wanted to play in this tournament for 2 reasons: 1) I thought I had a good chance at collecting some bounties, as I've knocked out several players in the other tournaments I've played in; 2) there was no "early-bird bonus" for registering early like their other nightly tournaments. Everyone starts with 10,000 in chips. Blinds start at 100-200 and go up every 20 minutes, with no antes.
My goals for the tournament were to practice studying my opponents, putting them on hand ranges, thinking specifically about what they do right and wrong and how best to play against them, and to practice counting the pot every hand. I also wanted to try to play a little more loose and aggressive than I had previously been playing. Since I only played for about 45 minutes, I didn't do a lot of this, but I tried.
The first hand, I was under the gun and folded. There were several limpers. The flop was jack-high. The guy 2 seats to my left bet 400 and a lady across the table called. Everybody else folded. Turn was another low card. He bet 400 and she called. River was unremarkable. He checked, she bet 1000 and he called. She didn't want to show her cards. She said she had one pair lower than jacks and acted like she was going to muck. He turned over A7o for a pair of 7s and she mucked without showing.
The next hand, I was in the BB. Again no pre-flop raise. I had garbage and folded along with everyone else to the first bet.
Next hand, I am SB and I am dealt KJo. The guy 2 to my left limps, cutoff limps, I limp, BB checks. Flop is 6-K-T rainbow. I bet out 400. BB folds, and the other 2 guys call. Turn is a Q. I bet 800 and they both call. River is a 3 (no flush). Since no one has shown any strength, I bet 1100. They both call (wtf). I turn my hand over, the guy 2 to my left turns over QTo for 2 pair, and the other guy mucks. Oddly, both of them apparently thought that my KJ made a straight (it didn't).
Almost forgot about this, but the next hand I was on the button with 55 and it folded around to me. I raised to 600 and both blinds folded. So I guess I can't say I won nothing.
I didn't play a hand again until my next BB. By this time, the lady who tried to bluff the first hand was down to about 3000 in chips and went all in pre-flop. Everyone folded around to me and I called with pocket 10s. She turned over ATs. "Yay!" I thought, until the ace came up on the flop.
I didn't play a hand through the entire next level (200-400). I was down to 3400 in chips when the blinds went up to 300-600. A guy 3 seats to my right had lost a pot to an all-in bet that left him with just 400 in chips. This was interesting because of the bounties. The guy who won the big hand didn't get the bounty because he didn't have enough chips. Now this guy is forced to go all in with any 2 cards, so his bounty was basically up for grabs. I vowed to go all in on the next hand with any reasonable hand, so of course I was dealt 24o. *sigh* Fortunately he ended up winning a 4-way main pot on the next hand, so he was up to 1600 and the next hand was his BB. Again I planned to go all-in with anything reasonable and this time I got JTs (spades). Unfortunately, the UTG player raised to 2000. The next guy folded. I did think about it. I was probably more influenced by the bounty than I should have been, but I reasoned that the UTG player could be raising with a very wide range here also trying to get heads up with the bounty. So I went all in for 3400. Everyone else folded. BB went all in for his 1600 and the raiser called my bet. The BB turned over AQo (red) and the raiser turned over AKs (spades). The flop was A-T-6 clubs, turn & river were blanks. AK got 2 bounties.
I'm not sure if I believe that final all-in move was a mistake or not. The player who raised UTG had been playing tight, and I'm really not sure if he was thinking about the bounty situation or not. If I would have folded there, the blinds would have eaten almost a third of my remaining stack if I didn't get a better hand to double up. But... if the bounty wasn't in play there, I probably would have folded. I guess I should have been thinking about the big picture and trying to survive in the tournament. But considering how short stacked I was, I would have needed an incredible run to get back into contention. So does that make going after a $25 bounty a better play at that point?
Consulted Harrington, hoping to find a recommendation to push with the JTs after a raise and the BB all in. But no. He doesn't address that exact situation, but I'm pretty sure he would say to fold.
This was a $75 buy-in bounty tournament. Each player has a $25 bounty, so you get paid $25 for each player you knock out. I wanted to play in this tournament for 2 reasons: 1) I thought I had a good chance at collecting some bounties, as I've knocked out several players in the other tournaments I've played in; 2) there was no "early-bird bonus" for registering early like their other nightly tournaments. Everyone starts with 10,000 in chips. Blinds start at 100-200 and go up every 20 minutes, with no antes.
My goals for the tournament were to practice studying my opponents, putting them on hand ranges, thinking specifically about what they do right and wrong and how best to play against them, and to practice counting the pot every hand. I also wanted to try to play a little more loose and aggressive than I had previously been playing. Since I only played for about 45 minutes, I didn't do a lot of this, but I tried.
The first hand, I was under the gun and folded. There were several limpers. The flop was jack-high. The guy 2 seats to my left bet 400 and a lady across the table called. Everybody else folded. Turn was another low card. He bet 400 and she called. River was unremarkable. He checked, she bet 1000 and he called. She didn't want to show her cards. She said she had one pair lower than jacks and acted like she was going to muck. He turned over A7o for a pair of 7s and she mucked without showing.
The next hand, I was in the BB. Again no pre-flop raise. I had garbage and folded along with everyone else to the first bet.
Next hand, I am SB and I am dealt KJo. The guy 2 to my left limps, cutoff limps, I limp, BB checks. Flop is 6-K-T rainbow. I bet out 400. BB folds, and the other 2 guys call. Turn is a Q. I bet 800 and they both call. River is a 3 (no flush). Since no one has shown any strength, I bet 1100. They both call (wtf). I turn my hand over, the guy 2 to my left turns over QTo for 2 pair, and the other guy mucks. Oddly, both of them apparently thought that my KJ made a straight (it didn't).
Almost forgot about this, but the next hand I was on the button with 55 and it folded around to me. I raised to 600 and both blinds folded. So I guess I can't say I won nothing.
I didn't play a hand again until my next BB. By this time, the lady who tried to bluff the first hand was down to about 3000 in chips and went all in pre-flop. Everyone folded around to me and I called with pocket 10s. She turned over ATs. "Yay!" I thought, until the ace came up on the flop.
I didn't play a hand through the entire next level (200-400). I was down to 3400 in chips when the blinds went up to 300-600. A guy 3 seats to my right had lost a pot to an all-in bet that left him with just 400 in chips. This was interesting because of the bounties. The guy who won the big hand didn't get the bounty because he didn't have enough chips. Now this guy is forced to go all in with any 2 cards, so his bounty was basically up for grabs. I vowed to go all in on the next hand with any reasonable hand, so of course I was dealt 24o. *sigh* Fortunately he ended up winning a 4-way main pot on the next hand, so he was up to 1600 and the next hand was his BB. Again I planned to go all-in with anything reasonable and this time I got JTs (spades). Unfortunately, the UTG player raised to 2000. The next guy folded. I did think about it. I was probably more influenced by the bounty than I should have been, but I reasoned that the UTG player could be raising with a very wide range here also trying to get heads up with the bounty. So I went all in for 3400. Everyone else folded. BB went all in for his 1600 and the raiser called my bet. The BB turned over AQo (red) and the raiser turned over AKs (spades). The flop was A-T-6 clubs, turn & river were blanks. AK got 2 bounties.
I'm not sure if I believe that final all-in move was a mistake or not. The player who raised UTG had been playing tight, and I'm really not sure if he was thinking about the bounty situation or not. If I would have folded there, the blinds would have eaten almost a third of my remaining stack if I didn't get a better hand to double up. But... if the bounty wasn't in play there, I probably would have folded. I guess I should have been thinking about the big picture and trying to survive in the tournament. But considering how short stacked I was, I would have needed an incredible run to get back into contention. So does that make going after a $25 bounty a better play at that point?
Consulted Harrington, hoping to find a recommendation to push with the JTs after a raise and the BB all in. But no. He doesn't address that exact situation, but I'm pretty sure he would say to fold.
Intro
2015 has already been a pretty good poker year for me. I've been playing more than ever and learning a lot. This summer, I'll be taking a shot at the World Series of Poker in the Ladies' Event. Up until recently I haven't had much tournament or no-limit experience, so I'm trying to cram in as much as possible between now and then. So far, NL cash games have been going very well. Tournaments, not so much, but they've all been learning experiences. I'm not sure any tournaments I'll be able to play in here will truly be able to prepare me for the WSOP anyway, so I'm not too worried about that. I'm trying to read/study as much as possible, and hopefully be able to try out some things in the small games. Mostly I'm just trying to experience a variety of situations and learn as much as possible. It would be really nice to record a win (or at least a cash) in one of the small tourneys, but if I can build up my bankroll by way of the 1-3 NL cash games then it's not that important.
I am spending a lot of time reading and thinking about poker. I'm hoping this blog will help me organize some thoughts and delve deeper into some issues. If anyone wants to give me some feedback, that would be great. I need all the help I can get!
I am spending a lot of time reading and thinking about poker. I'm hoping this blog will help me organize some thoughts and delve deeper into some issues. If anyone wants to give me some feedback, that would be great. I need all the help I can get!
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