To Milk or Not to Milk: June 29, 2005

So I snuck in a game last night before the NBA draft came on. (Side Note: I think the Wolves either made a fabulous pick or an awful pick. I don't think there is any middle ground with this guy. I loved when the announcers said that "if I had a nickel for every time this guy played defense, I would have a nickel". Anyone else instantly think of him and Wally playing at the same time?). Okay back to poker. I want to discuss a hand that I don't think I played well. My decisions were made for an intentional reason at the time, but looking back on it I don't know if I should have tried to milk for some more chips.

So Subject is on my direct right and is very aggressive. He isn't a complete maniac but I wouldn't classify him as tight aggressive either. He built a big stack by hitting a set and doubling off a maniac and then called down another big all in bet with top pair top kicker. After he built his stack he has been playing bully from position. So I get KJ in the small blind and complete to see the flop with five other players. Hand history is below.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (7 handed) converter
BB (t860)UTG (t1045)MP1 (t795)MP2 (t1005)CO (t905)Button (SUBJECT) (t2555)Steve K (t835)
Preflop: Steve K is SB with Jc, Ks. UTG calls t30, 1 fold, MP2 calls t30, 1 fold, Button (SUBJECT) calls t30, Steve K completes, BB checks.
Flop: (t150) 7c, 2h, Kc (5 players)Steve K checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP2 checks, SUBJECT bets t275, Steve K calls t275, BB folds, UTG folds, MP2 folds.
Turn: (t700) Td (2 players)Steve K bets t530 (All-In), SUBJECT folds.
Final Pot: t1230

Flop comes K72 with two clubs. I check because I think there are a lot of hands that could have me beat and I don't want a reraise. Also, a small bet isn't going to chase away any flush draws. So everyone checks around to the button who overbets the pot considerably. He is a typical bad player: bets a lot without a hand and slow plays the good ones, so I think I have him beat. I call the bet. Why did I call?

Well, I wanted to see if someone was slow playing a set. If someone hits a set they likely will check and get someone else to bet and everyone knew that the button was going to fire out a raise and play more bully. So the three other checkers all fold and I'm heads up with the bully. The turn card is a Td (Ten of Diamonds). Now that I am almost sure I have the best hand I want to take the pot down there. There is a decent amount of money in the pot and I don't want to give the maniac a free card on the river. He hasn't been playing absolute garbage so I could be giving him three outs on the river if he has an ace, or even more outs if he has two clubs, possibly five outs if he has a hand like A7s (Ace, Seven suited) or A2s.

So could I have made more money on this hand? I'm confident that he was paying attention enough to know that my flop call would slow him down so I was worried about the check and giving him a free card on the river. So I wanted to bet, but maybe I should have bet half my stack to see if he would chase. What do you all think? Would you have check raised all in on flop? Would you have checked the turn?

Chip Position on Bubble - June 26, 2005

Played a $5 Multi this morning. I have no idea how to play multi tournaments. I think I need to start being more aggressive and taking more chances with slight advantages. For example, if you have a pair and you suspect you are up against two overs, do you take the chance early so you can double up? If anyone has had success in Multis and has advice, I'm all ears.

So after busting out fairly early in that tourney I sat down at a $10 SNG. I wasn't able to double up early so when it got down to 4 and we were on the bubble I was the small stack and needing to be aggressive. Yet, all of the other players continued to go all in. So finally I am the BB with about 2 x BB chip count and this hand comes. This is NOT how you want to play from the Button when you are the second biggest stack at the table and someone is about to bust out.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (4 handed) converter
SB (t4840)Steve K (t620)UTG (t990)Button (t1550)
Preflop: Steve K is BB with 4d, 8h. 1 fold, Button raises to t1550 (All-In), SB calls t1400, 1 fold.
Flop: (t3400) Ks, 6s, 9d (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t3400) Jc (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t3400) 2s (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t3400

Just proves there is money to be made online. Next hand I was forced to move all in with 92 and ran into a T9. I usually feel frustrated after finishing third but I was very thankful this game. I even thanked the big stack SB before leaving the table.

Good Day - June 25, 2005

Sometimes you get in a rhythm at the poker table. You have good feel. You make good reads and time your bluffs well. It is a good feeling and I feel like I have it right now. Didn't win tons of money or anything. Just played two $10s and finished 2nd and 3rd. Then moved to a $20 table and finished 3rd. Although I didn't get any wins, I feel like I'm putting myself in a position to win and making good decisions.

Suffered some bad beats but they were after I was in the money and it happens. In the last game, it was down to three and I pushed against the worst player with TT (pocket tens) after he had raised to 3 x BB. He called with A4s and picked up an ace. Then on the next hand I'm on the button and raise all in with 88 and SB goes all in with QQ and BB has AA. Those are the kind of games I don't really get upset about because I know I played it well and got my chips in when I was ahead.

I felt I made one mistake and was lucky it didn't cost me. Blinds were up to 50/100 and we were down to six players. UTG had about 600 chips and I had about 900. I pick up AQo and I'm on the button. UTG raises 2 x bb to 200. 2 folds and I move all in on the button. AWFUL PLAY! A short stack feels pot committed so he has to call and what could he have? Well he bet 2/3 of his stack from UTG preflop. If he just wanted the blinds he would have moved all in hoping to isolate and be heads up against only one player if he did get called. Note to Beginners: If a player is short stacked and hasn't been very loose playing every hand and he decides to be the minimum when he doesn't have position after the flop, he has a big hand. He wants someone to call and he wants to double up to get back in the game. In this case the guy had AK and I was dominated. Truly an awful play that I hope won't make again for a long time. Luckily I was able to play aggressive double up and get back in the money.

On a positive note, I think I have been doing the one thing that you need to do to be successful at poker. Survival of the fittest. I have been able to identify the worst players at the table quickly and take advantage of their mistakes. You will hear a lot of internet poker skeptics talk about how you can't read a player in an on-line game and it is only a guess. Well, just like with a live game you can identify the really bad players usually in the first five minutes, AND there are many more bad players playing on-line as opposed to live games. If you pay attention during the first two rounds you are going to see the crazy bluffers, all in champs who might double up when they catch a nice river card against a better hand/player. As soon as you see that you should be going after those chips before someone else gets them.

Have a nice weekend everyone. May your reads be magnificent and your river cards fortunate.

Success - June 23, 2005

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. Last night, played one $10 NL SNG and won. Once it got down to four players all were fairly good with the big stack being very tight aggressive. Blinds were at 100/200 and I was in the SB with 900 chips left. 2nd and 3rd had between 1000-1100. I picked up K2o and UTG and Button folded. I raised all in knowing that the very tight BB would only call with a huge hand. Well he called with AK and I was able to find a 2 on the flop. After doubling up I had the other two short stacks raise all in, when I had AA and QQ on consecutive hands. After that I was able to bully the tight player around in heads up play with my big stack and I went on to finish first. I want to share one interesting hand to show you how not to play AQ from early position with a full table.

I was small blind with pocket 3's. UTG raised to 55 with AQo and I called hoping to hit my set and try to double up. Flop came 3J7 rainbow. I check and UTG which we will call SUBJECT above bets 100 into a 125 pot. Now if I were playing against better players I would have probably bet a small amount to induce a raise. Against loose aggressive players (LAPs) at small stakes games you are probably better off slow playing, unless they are just maniacs and don't want to get bullied out of a pot. If you are against Maniacs, I have found that it is good to bet small and they will reraise all in nearly every time. So back to the situation.

I call the flop bet and check the turn after a 9 comes. He bets 125 signaling to me that he probably doesn't have a strong high pair. I think he has two overs at this point and is just trying to buy the pot with his position. I call hoping that an Ace, King or Queen comes on the river to give him a pair. I was dissapointed when a 2 comes. The only hand that beats me at this point is a higher set. I think he has AK or two overs and I want to get some money out of him on the river so I bet 175. My thought is that if he is a typical party poker fish and has a "huge hand" like AK, he will reluctantly call my 175 bet on the river to see what I have. I was pleasantly surpised when he raised all in. I called and found that he had AQ. A summary of the hand is shown below.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converterUTG+1 (t800)UTG+2 (t785)MP1 (t785)MP2 (t760)MP3 (t770)CO (t785)Button (t720)Hero (t870)BB (t800)UTG (SUBJECT) (t925)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 3s, 3c. UTG (SUBJECT) raises to t55, 7 folds, Hero calls t45, 1 fold.Flop: (t125) 3d, Jh, 7s (2 players)Hero checks, SUBJECT bets t100, Hero calls t100.Turn: (t325) 9s (2 players)Hero checks, SUBJECT bets t125, Hero calls t125.River: (t575) 2h (2 players)Hero bets t175, SUBJECT raises to t600, Hero calls t415 (All-In).Final Pot: t1765

Now I want to review this hand from the SUBJECT's perspective. He raises with what he views as a great hand UTG. I call from the small blind and I really could have anything. Flop comes 3d Jh 7s. I check and SUBJECT bets 100. When I call the 100 bet, he has to think I have at least a pair. I called for a rather minimal raise from the small blind and I could have any hand. The board is a rainbow which means that I can't be chasing a flush (or shouldn't be) and I also could only be drawing at an inside straight draw. So if you assume that I'm not an awful player he has to know that I have a pair or a set.

On the turn SUBJECT throws out a 125 bet and I call again. Maybe I'm a bad player reluctant to give up my hand but I don't like the SUBJECT's turn bet. He should have checked the turn hoping for a free card. He saves his bet and has a chance to pick up an Ace or a Queen on the river which may beat me if I only have a pair. But the truly awful play is his reraise on the river. When I bet 175 in the pot it should scream value bet. There are a lot of poor players who will chase an open ended straight or a flush draw and then put a big bluff bet in on the river when they don't hit their cards. However, SUBJECT should have known that I wasn't chasing a straight or flush bet when I called his flop bet.

*******

Thank you for your comments on my last post. I hope I don't sound defensive, I just liked to discuss hands so I can learn a bit. I appreciate all of your inputs. Thanks!

Round One Loser - June 22, 2005

I played 7 $10 NL SNG's last night. You may be saying wow, that is a lot of poker, but I didn't get deep in the tournaments so the games didn't last as long as I would have liked. I made some very good plays, but I think my biggest pitfall was gambling too early. I like to play a lot of hands early to see if I can hit a big hand and trap someone who thinks top pair without a kicker is worth going all in. The idea is that I can get in and see the flop for cheap. If I hit a monster, I will be able to double up or win a big pot, but if I don't hit a big hand I will be able to muck the hand without losing much of my stack.

Problems: I limped in a lot from UTG (a.k.a - Under the Gun, left of the BB - Big Blind). Therefore, I was susceptible to a raise from LP - Late Position and was not seeing the flop for as cheaply as I would have liked. Sometimes it is better to wait for position or see how the table is going to play out before you start playing a lot of hands from EP - Early Position.

Positives: Below is an example of a hand that I thought I played well.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter
UTG (t1060)UTG+1 (t1435)MP1 (t790)MP2 (t680)MP3 (t640)CO (t755)Button (t1275)Hero (t710)BB (t655)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Qh, As. 5 folds, CO raises to t30, 1 fold, Hero calls t20, BB calls t15.
Flop: (t90) 9d, Ad, 3c (3 players)Hero checks, BB bets t15, CO raises to t45, Hero raises to t75, BB folds, CO folds.
Final Pot: t225

I am Hero and have 710 chips in the Small Blind. Blinds are only 10-15 in the first level and I would be playing out of position after the flop so I decided to call the initial min raise instead of reraising. My reasoning: AQ is a hand that will lose you a lot of big pots. You are dominated against AK and you feel compelled to play it very strongly if a Q hits. However, if a Q hits there are a lot of hands that could have you beat depending on the other two cards on the flop. For example, if the board is QJ5. There are a lot of players that will play QJ, or even KT and have an open ended straight draw.

So the flop comes A93 with two diamonds. I check it to the initial raiser because I want to get a read on his bet to see if I have the best hand. The big blind bets the minimum 15 into a 90 chip pot. This screams flush draw to me. The CO (Cut Off, Initial Raiser) is probably thinking the same thing so he raises it to 45. I don't like this bet because it is giving the BB proper pot odds to call. Now it is decision time for me.

First thing to ask yourself is... do I have the best hand? I suspect I have a better hand at this point than the big blind. I am still a bit worried that the CO may have AK, however I think he should have bet a bit more preflop and on the flop if he did. So my options are to Fold, Call or Raise. I don't want to fold because I think there is a good possibility that I have the best hand. If I call the big blind is definitely going to call to see if he can pick up a diamond on the turn. There is 150 chips in the pot, my call will make it 195 and all the BB will have to do is put 30 more in. Since he is putting in 30 to win 195, he is getting 6.5 to 1 odds and he has 9 outs so there is a 1-{(36/45)*(35/44)} or 36% chance of him hitting his flush and winning the hand. If he has a 3d in his hand he gets another 5 outs because he could draw three of a kind or two pair as well and he would have a 50% chance of winning the hand.

The final option is to raise. I chose to raise for a couple of reasons. First, I felt I could decrease the BB's pot odds to call and I could get him to fold. Not only does he have to worry about the additional money he has to put in the pot now, he knows that the CO has the option to raise so he may have to put in additional chips if it gets back to him. Secondly, I want to know where I stand with the CO. By raising a minimal amount I put the pressure on the Small Blind and I get some information out of the CO. I want to know if he has AK or better. By check raising the flop here I am showing strength. I think he will raise me if he has a big hand. If he was bluffing and just playing the position game he will fold which is fine with me and if he has a worse hand AT, AJ, I am probably going to get a call and will be ahead in the hand. As it turns out the BB and the CO folded and I was able to pick up just 120 chips.

***********************

Please Note: I am going to try to showcase a hand or so and analyze it during these posts. I would love the feedback/criticism of how I could have played the hand differently, how I didn't calculate the odds correctly, how my logic was off.

Also, any suggestions to the site, please let me know. This is a work in progress so hopefully it will get better and better as I write more. FYI - I am going to try to post every couple days or so depending on how much time I have to play poker.

The Beginning: June 20, 2005

This is the beginning of a new approach to poker. I have played off and on my whole life and started to read a bit and play a lot more in the past two years. Now I have started this blog because (a) everyone else has one, but more importantly (b) I think by writing out my experiences at the tables, it will allow me to become a much better player. Lots of poker players complain about dry spells, bad beats and the idiot player next to them who didn't play the hand right but ended up winning. Well, did you get your money back on the next hand, the next hour, the next day or week or month? If the answer is no, then maybe it wasn't a bad beat at all.

Doyle Brunson, one of the best poker players of all time, writes in Super System about his experiences at the table and how on most occasions when he gets all of his money into the pot and is called he is usually the underdog. So does this make him a bad player? No, it just shows how interesting poker can actually be. My goal for this blog is to identify the pitfalls in my game so I can minimize my mistakes, raise my skill level, raise the limits of the games I play in and ultimately so I can increase my bankroll.

I hope you all enjoy!