An interesting game last night. As has been the trend for me the last few Fridays, I went down in chips early on, the reloaded, found my rhythm and scored a decent profit. Perhaps my biggest mistake last night was to try an ill-timed, multi-barrel bluff against Marc, who can be a bit of a calling station.
However, since I knew Marc's strategy was to take a lot of small shots (nearly every hand, he raised preflop and bet the flop), I knew a lot of the time he'd be in there with total air. I managed to make a big call on the river against him with nothing but an ace-jack high, which turned out to be the best hand. This pot definitely helped restore my confidence and set my game back on track.
Also, I stacked Andrew no less than three times in the game, and though he was using a short buy-in strategy, the pots added up nicely. I flopped a set of eights against his aces, hit a straight against his top-pair-top-kicker AK, and picked off a preflop all-in bluff with two sevens (he had the nine-deuce offsuit!!).
Marc, maybe by sheer virtue of being in almost every pot, was hitting a lot of boards hard for the first half of the night. He was getting especially lucky against John, putting him on tilt. In one pot, John held pocket kings and flopped top trips, only to have Marc hit a four-outer straight on the turn against him. However, he made much of the money back when he and Marc both held top pair of queens on the flop and improved to trips on the river. John's AQ outkicked Marc's KQ, and he raked in a nice pot.
Last Monday's tournament had some interesting pots as well. The key hand in the early stages of the tournament came for me when a three-way all-in pot happened between Lori (queen-high), Justin (KK), and me (AA). This pot gave me the chip stack I needed to make my way to the endgame and therefore the points and money. Eric, who ended up winning the tournament, got his early chip lead when he made a tough all-in call on the river against Andrew on a dangerous board with a lot of possible straights holding only top pair with a weak kicker.
It got down to three-handed play, and Eric had the decisive chip lead. Eric folded the button, and Justin called in the small blind (we were at $0.75/$1.50). I looked down at QT of clubs and raised it $9 on top. Justin called after a lot of deliberation, leaving himself $12.25 in chips, which he promptly shipped into the pot on the flop, which came jack-ten-nine. Having hit too much of the board to possibly fold even if I knew he had the jack, I called and he showed down two fours. My hand held up and we went into two-handed play. Despite this pick-up, I went into heads-up at about a 4:1 chip disadvantage, and eventually the final hand occurred. Eric raised from the button and I reraised all-in with the ace-ten. He thought about it for a while and called with two deuces. The board bricked out, and my tournament was over.
Fortunately, my second-place finish allowed me a further extension of my first-place points on the leader board. With August coming to a close, I'm excited to go into the final third of the year with a fairly solid lead over the rest of the field. Still, placing outside of the points on any given night when there are a lot of players playing could allow players like Chip to gain ground. Barring any cosmic mishaps, though, that won't happen.
Showing posts with label The Friday Night Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Friday Night Game. Show all posts
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
In the trenches
The cash games over the past few days have been pretty intense, with eleven players total playing in last night's Friday game. Fortunately for me, that just makes the tight/aggressive style that much more profitable in that game.
I had not done well two days before Friday's game, probably because I built big pots in situations where I really shouldn't have, and by the time my opponents stuck the chips in I was forced to call because of pot odds, knowing my hand was probably second-best. However, I came back and then some last night. About two hours into the game, I hit a pretty incredible rush. At this point, we weren't eleven-handed yet, more like seven or eight at the most. People were doing a lot of limping and many pots were multi-way, so after Andrew limped in under the gun, I limped my king-jack (a questionable move - I probably should fold here. Again, though, I thought there was a good chance of me seeing a flop for $0.50, with many many times that in the pot. Also I trusted my ability to fold here.). It folded over to Eric, who made it $2.50 straight. Two players called, Andrew called, and getting five to one pot odds, I called the extra $2.
Miracle flop: King, Deuce, Jack. Andrew led out for $10, and I raised him to $25. Eric then went into the tank for a little bit, and shipped his stack in the middle - he had everyone covered. As the other players were thinking, then folding around to me, I thought: "Can he have trips here?" I figured that with the KJ on board and the KJ I had in the hole, it was next to impossible for him to have KK or JJ, so if he had trips, deuces were the most (mathematically) likely hand he could hold. But would he raise the deuces like that preflop with so many players yet to act? I didn't think so.
I looked at him, and asked him, "Do you have three kings?" but of course I got no answer. Deciding my hand had to be best, I shrugged, and said "I call."
Eric looked at me and said "I don't have three kings."
"Three deuces?" I asked him,
"No," he replied. "I don't have trips."
This relieved me, since it meant that either we had the same hand (unlikely) or that I had him beat. He flipped over two red aces.
"Hold'em, dealer!" I shouted.
Jesse, the dealer and also a player in the game, burned and turned the last two and my kings and jacks held up as I scooped in a large pot.
Initially, I had bought in for fifty dollars: twenty in $1 blue chips, $5 in 25-cent white chips, and twenty-five in one dollar bills, all bundled together, folded in half and rubber banded. Unfortunately I had lost about $25 of it to Marc in a pot where he called a bet and raise with second pair, no kicker and got there on the turn (I misplayed the hand somewhat, and can't blame him totally for my loss of it. Still, it did depend on him getting lucky on fourth street.). I added $40 in chips, so by the time that big pot with Eric came down I was in for almost $100, about the amount I had lost Wednesday playing a cash game out there. Therefore, I was really glad to win that pot, which put my chip total near $200. That hand was only the beginning of a three-hand rush for me. A few hands later, I held pocket treys one off the button. There was a live one dollar straddle in play, and several players had limped. I called with my 33 and the straddler checked his option. In all, there were seven players taking the flop.
Miracle flop #2: trey of diamonds, deuce of hearts, deuce of diamonds.
With all of the limping and my opponents' reckless hand selection, I felt this flop should have given at least someone a draw (to a second-best hand, of course). Therefore, when it checked around to me, I decided to bet my full house. I went for a near half pot-sized bet of four dollars. Lee, the small blind in the hand, called, and the other players went out. There was now $15 in the pot.
The turn was the king of spades. Lee checked, and I quickly checked behind him. I knew that the king couldn't have completed any of the possible draws he might be on, and I wanted to get more money in the pot. I felt like a bet here would make him fold, so we went to the river. It was the ace of diamonds. Bingo for Lee, apparently, as he led out for $15 (the full size of the pot). If I just called the pot would've been $45, but since there's no way I thought I was beat I raised it up thirty more.
Lee said, "if you have a full house, I'm paying you off," and threw it in there, after some internal debate.
I turned over my two treys, showing him my full house. He showed five-four, for a rivered straight.
On the third big hand, I limped in late position with AJ of hearts, and the flop came A8J (miracle flop #3). Andrew shipped $16.25 in there (an all-in bet) and I called. He showed J6, which, of course, was no good.
These hands pretty much defined the evening for me. It's interesting how long you can sit at a poker table during a session, and you never know when a big decision is coming up. Last night, I played very few hands, but these key pots happened all inside of a 30 minute time frame. The rest of the time I was mostly folding, taking an occasional stab at a small pot. A couple of times I tried to mix it up, raising in position with hands like 97 suited, etc. but I mostly got shut down my reraises or by not catching any sort of draw on the flop, etc.
The point is, it's important to pay attention despite the fact that you might've been folding for an hour and a half, because any hand could be a good one, and any hand is a potential mine of information on your opponents.
I had not done well two days before Friday's game, probably because I built big pots in situations where I really shouldn't have, and by the time my opponents stuck the chips in I was forced to call because of pot odds, knowing my hand was probably second-best. However, I came back and then some last night. About two hours into the game, I hit a pretty incredible rush. At this point, we weren't eleven-handed yet, more like seven or eight at the most. People were doing a lot of limping and many pots were multi-way, so after Andrew limped in under the gun, I limped my king-jack (a questionable move - I probably should fold here. Again, though, I thought there was a good chance of me seeing a flop for $0.50, with many many times that in the pot. Also I trusted my ability to fold here.). It folded over to Eric, who made it $2.50 straight. Two players called, Andrew called, and getting five to one pot odds, I called the extra $2.
Miracle flop: King, Deuce, Jack. Andrew led out for $10, and I raised him to $25. Eric then went into the tank for a little bit, and shipped his stack in the middle - he had everyone covered. As the other players were thinking, then folding around to me, I thought: "Can he have trips here?" I figured that with the KJ on board and the KJ I had in the hole, it was next to impossible for him to have KK or JJ, so if he had trips, deuces were the most (mathematically) likely hand he could hold. But would he raise the deuces like that preflop with so many players yet to act? I didn't think so.
I looked at him, and asked him, "Do you have three kings?" but of course I got no answer. Deciding my hand had to be best, I shrugged, and said "I call."
Eric looked at me and said "I don't have three kings."
"Three deuces?" I asked him,
"No," he replied. "I don't have trips."
This relieved me, since it meant that either we had the same hand (unlikely) or that I had him beat. He flipped over two red aces.
"Hold'em, dealer!" I shouted.
Jesse, the dealer and also a player in the game, burned and turned the last two and my kings and jacks held up as I scooped in a large pot.
Initially, I had bought in for fifty dollars: twenty in $1 blue chips, $5 in 25-cent white chips, and twenty-five in one dollar bills, all bundled together, folded in half and rubber banded. Unfortunately I had lost about $25 of it to Marc in a pot where he called a bet and raise with second pair, no kicker and got there on the turn (I misplayed the hand somewhat, and can't blame him totally for my loss of it. Still, it did depend on him getting lucky on fourth street.). I added $40 in chips, so by the time that big pot with Eric came down I was in for almost $100, about the amount I had lost Wednesday playing a cash game out there. Therefore, I was really glad to win that pot, which put my chip total near $200. That hand was only the beginning of a three-hand rush for me. A few hands later, I held pocket treys one off the button. There was a live one dollar straddle in play, and several players had limped. I called with my 33 and the straddler checked his option. In all, there were seven players taking the flop.
Miracle flop #2: trey of diamonds, deuce of hearts, deuce of diamonds.
With all of the limping and my opponents' reckless hand selection, I felt this flop should have given at least someone a draw (to a second-best hand, of course). Therefore, when it checked around to me, I decided to bet my full house. I went for a near half pot-sized bet of four dollars. Lee, the small blind in the hand, called, and the other players went out. There was now $15 in the pot.
The turn was the king of spades. Lee checked, and I quickly checked behind him. I knew that the king couldn't have completed any of the possible draws he might be on, and I wanted to get more money in the pot. I felt like a bet here would make him fold, so we went to the river. It was the ace of diamonds. Bingo for Lee, apparently, as he led out for $15 (the full size of the pot). If I just called the pot would've been $45, but since there's no way I thought I was beat I raised it up thirty more.
Lee said, "if you have a full house, I'm paying you off," and threw it in there, after some internal debate.
I turned over my two treys, showing him my full house. He showed five-four, for a rivered straight.
On the third big hand, I limped in late position with AJ of hearts, and the flop came A8J (miracle flop #3). Andrew shipped $16.25 in there (an all-in bet) and I called. He showed J6, which, of course, was no good.
These hands pretty much defined the evening for me. It's interesting how long you can sit at a poker table during a session, and you never know when a big decision is coming up. Last night, I played very few hands, but these key pots happened all inside of a 30 minute time frame. The rest of the time I was mostly folding, taking an occasional stab at a small pot. A couple of times I tried to mix it up, raising in position with hands like 97 suited, etc. but I mostly got shut down my reraises or by not catching any sort of draw on the flop, etc.
The point is, it's important to pay attention despite the fact that you might've been folding for an hour and a half, because any hand could be a good one, and any hand is a potential mine of information on your opponents.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
big pots
The Friday night game went on for longer than usual last night, from eight or 8:30 until just after five in the morning. It was a game with unusually large swings for me, as I won and lost several large pots.
I actually got stacked for my 1st $50 buy-in in a pot against Marc (of all people. argh!). However, I rebought and began to rework myself toward even. I won a couple of medium to large sized pots from Dale, which was primarily what helped me. At about two in the morning when a big hand played out. We knew it was going to be Lee's last hand because he had said earlier he was done at 2 A.M. He folded, and I looked down on the button at the ten-eight of spades. I elected to raise it up to $2, and Dale was my only caller. The flop came down giving me a gutshot, and I led out when Dale checked it to me. He called, and I filled in when the nine came down on fourth street. Dale led out this time, for a big bet, and I flat-called. When a blank came on the river, he checked, I bet, he raised, and I went all-in, and doubled through him for a huge pot.
Unfortunately, I lost about $100 in a pot against Jesse when I was dealt KK on the button vs. his AA in the small blind, and the flop came three small cards. This is a classic cooler, and I'm not too beat-up about the way I played it . I perhaps could have folded the flop, but it would have been tough. At any rate, I still came out about $100 ahead for the session, and with the possible exception of that pocket kings hand I'm fairly satisfied. I picked up a lot more small pots than I usually do, which is nice, as it helped me to gain chips while we were shorthanded, padding the blow a bit on the end when I doubled Jesse up.
I actually got stacked for my 1st $50 buy-in in a pot against Marc (of all people. argh!). However, I rebought and began to rework myself toward even. I won a couple of medium to large sized pots from Dale, which was primarily what helped me. At about two in the morning when a big hand played out. We knew it was going to be Lee's last hand because he had said earlier he was done at 2 A.M. He folded, and I looked down on the button at the ten-eight of spades. I elected to raise it up to $2, and Dale was my only caller. The flop came down giving me a gutshot, and I led out when Dale checked it to me. He called, and I filled in when the nine came down on fourth street. Dale led out this time, for a big bet, and I flat-called. When a blank came on the river, he checked, I bet, he raised, and I went all-in, and doubled through him for a huge pot.
Unfortunately, I lost about $100 in a pot against Jesse when I was dealt KK on the button vs. his AA in the small blind, and the flop came three small cards. This is a classic cooler, and I'm not too beat-up about the way I played it . I perhaps could have folded the flop, but it would have been tough. At any rate, I still came out about $100 ahead for the session, and with the possible exception of that pocket kings hand I'm fairly satisfied. I picked up a lot more small pots than I usually do, which is nice, as it helped me to gain chips while we were shorthanded, padding the blow a bit on the end when I doubled Jesse up.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
turning a sixty dollar straight
At this week's Friday night game, I hovered around my initial $40 buy-in (within $10 up or down) for several hours before winning a big pot. I was one off the button and, after two limpers, I decided to enter the pot with the 98 offsuit. Eric, on the button, raised to $1.50, and the blinds folded. The limpers called, and I called. Since there was $5.75 out there and it cost me only a dollar, this was an easy call for me.
The flop came down 6Q7, rainbow. This was just the sort of flop I'd wanted, but there was no reason to bet into the field here. I had plenty of outs, and so when it checked to me, I checked, as well. Eric then decided to bet $2.50. One limper folded, and one called, and I made the call, hoping that if I hit I'd be able to double through Eric, who was playing really aggressively, and has trouble backing away from the big pots with me.
Lo and behold, the ten of diamonds slid off. The first limper checked, and I decided it was time to bet. The pot was about fourteen bucks at this point, and I elected to make a pot-sized bet, mostly because the pot was getting large, and I felt Eric had a strong hand from the way the action came down on the first two rounds.
I bet $12. Eric thought for about 30 seconds, then tossed a $25 bundle of rubber-banded one dollar bills into the pot. Our remaining opponent folded, and it was to me. This was a dream-come-true scenario for me. I had the best possible hand at the time, and my opponent had shown aggression on all three streets, so far, indicating what was probably a big hand (maybe QT? QA? a set?). Not only that, but my bet didn't slow him down. I had bet, and he had raised me back. Still, before I just announced "all in," I wanted to do some calculating. Would I get called for the rest of my chips if I shoved here? was it better to just call and then shove on the river?
well, I had $48.50 in my stack, meaning that if I called, I'd have $35.50 left (or, that would be the amount of my raise). I added up the size of the pot. 75 cents dead money from the blinds. a $1.50 bet and three calls preflop makes $6.75. A $2.50 bet and two calls on the flop makes $14.25. My twelve and Eric's $25 makes $51.25. If I call, the pot's $64.25 and I have $35 left. Can I fold on the river? probably not. Will I get called by a worse hand if I shove now? chances point to yes. I announce "$35.50 more" and put my chips in. Eric made the call, and I said "I have the nuts" as I turned up my nine-eight. Eric doesn't like to give anything away, so since it's a cash game and he's not obliged to show his cards unless he can beat me, he kept his hand concealed. The ace of spades came on the river, and he mucked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
