Holiday Poker: July 6, 2005
I was invited to Pelican Rapids, MN to spend the holiday weekend with Jonah and Janelle’s family. First of all, it was a blast. Golf, jet ski’s, great food and even a little poker. Jonah and his brother Andrew have been trying to learn poker by playing on Party Poker with play money. So I played a couple games with Jonah looking over my shoulder. I was teaching while playing, trying to point out why I played hands the way I did. In the first game, I was pointing out how I needed to stay patient and save my money for one particular player that I had classified as the worst at the table. Typical party poker Loose Aggressive Player (LAP). This guy wasn’t only loose but also a maniac.
I patiently wait and find KK in the small blind. Blinds are 50/100 and I have 900 chips left. LAP calls and button calls. I am tempted to check, but I know the LAP will come with me. I consider moving all in, but think it could chase the LAP away. So I need to raise enough to bring the LAP and make the button fold. I raise to 350 and begin to worry that I didn’t bet enough to get the button to fold. Then the LAP reraises all in. I immediately call and he flips over JTo (Jack, Ten off-suit). Unfortunately for me, the board gave him trip Jacks and I lost the tourney.
Here is one hand that I thought I played really well, but the more I thought about it I questioned myself. I had QQ in the small blind...
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) converter
MP1 (t1510)MP2 (t877)MP3 (t860)CO (t665)Button (t738)SB (t925)Hero (t1180)UTG (t1015)UTG+1 (t230)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qs, Qd. 2 folds, MP1 calls t30, MP2 raises to t60, 4 folds, Hero calls t30, MP1 calls t30.
Flop: (t195) Ks, Ac, 7h (3 players)Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP2 bets t30, Hero calls t30, MP1 calls t30.
Turn: (t285) 4d (3 players)Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks.
River: (t285) 2h (3 players)Hero bets t90, MP1 calls t90, MP2 calls t90.
Final Pot: t555
I HATE playing out of position. I probably should have been more aggressive preflop. My thought at the time was that a lot of people single bet from early position with KK and AA and I didn't want to run into a dominant hand this early. So I called the minimal raise to see if I could get a better read on the raiser post flop. The flop comes Ac, Ks, 7h. Not the best flop for me. I check, another check and the initial raiser bets the minimum 30. This could be because he hit a set, but it also could mean I have the best hand. I call and the MP calls as well. Turn is a rainbow 4. Everyone checks the turn so I am guessing the initial raiser doesn't have an A or K and wimped out after two people called his flop bet. Turn is a 2h.
So I think I have the best hand or can get a weak kicker hand to fold. The pot is 285 and I bet 90. Both players call and the raiser had 55 and the MP had K5. So I thought I was smart because I figured out postflop that the raiser had a smaller pair. What a joke. I didn't play this hand well at all. Let me point out my mistakes. Preflop: This is a $10 SNG at Party Poker so the players aren't very good. With a superior hand I should probably raise preflop. Although, do I have to move all in since I'm out of position post flop? I probably should raise to about 250 to get rid of all the mediocre hands and then I'll know that I'm up against a pair or an A with kicker down to 9. Given that I didn't raise, I think it is okay to check the flop. Should I put him to a test and raise the 30 post flop bet? I didn't mind calling and if I call I think I have to check the turn. Once I got to the river though I didn't take into account the MP at all. I felt I had the raiser beat but then I only bet 90? The MP was either chasing something or he had a pair with a small kicker. In order to eliminate him I need to bet at least 150, probably close to 200.
Clearly an example that I have a lot of learning to do. Hope everyone had a great 4th.
I patiently wait and find KK in the small blind. Blinds are 50/100 and I have 900 chips left. LAP calls and button calls. I am tempted to check, but I know the LAP will come with me. I consider moving all in, but think it could chase the LAP away. So I need to raise enough to bring the LAP and make the button fold. I raise to 350 and begin to worry that I didn’t bet enough to get the button to fold. Then the LAP reraises all in. I immediately call and he flips over JTo (Jack, Ten off-suit). Unfortunately for me, the board gave him trip Jacks and I lost the tourney.
Here is one hand that I thought I played really well, but the more I thought about it I questioned myself. I had QQ in the small blind...
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) converter
MP1 (t1510)MP2 (t877)MP3 (t860)CO (t665)Button (t738)SB (t925)Hero (t1180)UTG (t1015)UTG+1 (t230)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qs, Qd. 2 folds, MP1 calls t30, MP2 raises to t60, 4 folds, Hero calls t30, MP1 calls t30.
Flop: (t195) Ks, Ac, 7h (3 players)Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP2 bets t30, Hero calls t30, MP1 calls t30.
Turn: (t285) 4d (3 players)Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks.
River: (t285) 2h (3 players)Hero bets t90, MP1 calls t90, MP2 calls t90.
Final Pot: t555
I HATE playing out of position. I probably should have been more aggressive preflop. My thought at the time was that a lot of people single bet from early position with KK and AA and I didn't want to run into a dominant hand this early. So I called the minimal raise to see if I could get a better read on the raiser post flop. The flop comes Ac, Ks, 7h. Not the best flop for me. I check, another check and the initial raiser bets the minimum 30. This could be because he hit a set, but it also could mean I have the best hand. I call and the MP calls as well. Turn is a rainbow 4. Everyone checks the turn so I am guessing the initial raiser doesn't have an A or K and wimped out after two people called his flop bet. Turn is a 2h.
So I think I have the best hand or can get a weak kicker hand to fold. The pot is 285 and I bet 90. Both players call and the raiser had 55 and the MP had K5. So I thought I was smart because I figured out postflop that the raiser had a smaller pair. What a joke. I didn't play this hand well at all. Let me point out my mistakes. Preflop: This is a $10 SNG at Party Poker so the players aren't very good. With a superior hand I should probably raise preflop. Although, do I have to move all in since I'm out of position post flop? I probably should raise to about 250 to get rid of all the mediocre hands and then I'll know that I'm up against a pair or an A with kicker down to 9. Given that I didn't raise, I think it is okay to check the flop. Should I put him to a test and raise the 30 post flop bet? I didn't mind calling and if I call I think I have to check the turn. Once I got to the river though I didn't take into account the MP at all. I felt I had the raiser beat but then I only bet 90? The MP was either chasing something or he had a pair with a small kicker. In order to eliminate him I need to bet at least 150, probably close to 200.
Clearly an example that I have a lot of learning to do. Hope everyone had a great 4th.
posted by Steve K at 12:08 PM
3 Comments:
Good god man, reraise preflop. You do NOT want to be playing small, multiway pots with QQ out of position. Make it T250 or so. If there were a couple more callers, pushing becomes the best option, in my opinion.
After that, thump on that 30 bet. Your hand, while it might be best, sucks, you want to win the pot now or be done with it. Since the pfr obviously sucks balls (mini-raise in most instances = sucks balls...), you might be able to blow him off a K or a weak A. If he calls your raise, you are done with the hand (though this chook will probably make T30 turn and river bets if you check to him, so might as well call those...)
The fact that the hand was won by k5 illustrates why you need to reraise pf. I might play aces or very occassionally Kings like this, but queens, jacks or tens you need to reraise. Lower pairs are iffier oop, and just calling and trying to spike a set is a reasoanble plan, except for the fact that the guy sucks and won't make any big bets at you post flop...
Yea, I know how bad that was. Part of my reasons for this blog is to hold myself accountable for when I play hands horribly. Reporting on them allows me to think about them a bit more. Hopefully by talking about the bad hands and not only braggin about the good ones, I will get some good advice and I will improve my game. Thanks for the input on how much to raise.
No worries dude. You made a very common NL mistake - "trapping" preflop with a very vulnerable hand. This is especially bad in a tournament when the value of each incremental chip you lose is greater then that of the marginal chip you gain.
I'm not sure where I saw this, but a checklist of things you want to do once you decide to play a pot in a NL tourney.
1) Don't go broke
2) Win the pot
3) Win a Big pot.
Obviously, circumstances may dictate a reordering of priorties, especially when you are either short stacked, or can get all your money in as a substantial favorite (3-1 or better, if you asked me...).
Heads up, QQ is a decent 'trapping' hand here, but multiway for small PF bets...yech.
Must pass bar exam so I can start playing again...
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