Been a While...August 30, 2005
I need to make myself more accountable for updating this blog once a week. Not sure if I will but I'll continue to try. The problem is that I like to update my blog at work. Usually during lunch or when there is nothing else going on. Problem is that recently I have been extremely busy. I could consider posting while at home and I sometimes do, but when I have free time after work I usually like to play poker and if not poker, then I'm running errands, miles or hanging out with my wife. My point: I'll try to do better, but I can't make any guarantees.
So how have I been doing lately? My winning streak came to an abrupt halt. I worked my way up from the $10 SNGs to the $20 SNGs. I could have gone up to the 30 SNGs but I was killing the $20 SNGs and I wanted to get in the positive on the year at the 20s, so I stayed there for a while and then when I got up to the $30 SNGs I felt like it was a totally different ballgame. Is the game a bit different level wise? Possibly, but more likely I think I got out of my rhythm and started overthinking when I should be making the obvious play and underthinking when my opponent would give me a clue to his hand. So instead of just losing money until I was playing the 10s again. I took money out of my account and delegated myself to the 20s and gave myself a couple chances to go 10s or 30s. Of course I lost.
So I played a bit at the 10s and have worked my way up to the 20s. Yesterday I played my first 20 game in a week or so and on the very first hand I had QJs. I limped in looking for a monster. Flop comes J95 with two clubs. Small blind bets the minimum 15 and he gets two more callers. I raise to 100 to see where I stand. I could be outkicked, I could be way behind against a set, I could be a slight underdog against AQc or AKc (unlikely because more often these hands would raise preflop, but possible since it is first hand). So I bet 100 and the small blind calls, all others fold. I thought this was promising because he called quickly indicating a draw and I likely was not outkicked. Next card is a T of hearts and my opponent moves all in.
I have two options. Fold or Call. The board shows JT94 with two clubs and I have QJ. I thought about folding but I felt like I made a good enough raise on the flop to force out an inside straight draw (KQ, 87 or Q8). Plus, if he really hit his inside straight would he really move all in in this spot? Wouldn't he check, make me bet (since I showed strength on the flop) and then come over the top? I thought so and discounted the straight. There are no flush possibilities on the board which is important. If he is ahead of me at this point, I still have outs with my Q. If I catch a K or 8 I will have a straight that will beat any two pair or set. So does he have a set? If he has two pair did he catch it on the turn? Which would give him JT, T9 or T5. Does he have a set of tens? Possible again, but unlikely. Did he have a set or two pair on the flop? Well, I think the dangerous board would have caused him to raise me preflop. Plus I think he would have taken a bit more time in calling my flop raise. I had this guy on a flush draw, so I decided to stick with my initial instincts. I called for all these reasons, PLUS because it was the first hand. During the first hand real bad players play awful aggressive poker and take chances trying to push people around.
He turned over Q9. So he raised all in with top pair and an open ended straight draw. Which means he has only two cards (one of the remaining nines) that can win him the pot and eight cards that can chop the pot (any K or 8 would give us both a king high straight). An 8 came on the river and we split the pot.
This isn't a bad beat story or anything. I just wanted to share a hand with you that I actually thought about and tell you my imperfect analysis. So I had him on a flush draw but he had a smaller pair. So if someone calls quickly they are often chasing. Not necessarily a flush draw but possibly a second pair. With some players I may not have raised enough to chase away an opponent that was looking for a straight draw with KQ. They have ten outs against me (all four tens, and three K and Qs). But that is the beauty of poker. You have imperfect information and you have to make you best guess based on the information available. The best part is that I wrote notes on this players so I know that he is very aggressive and a guy you wouldn't mind facing with top pair in the future.
Anyone interested in how the tournament ended? Well, amazing enough the same guy got heads up with me, but he had a decisive 1000 to 7000 chip advantage. I got the lead 3 more times! and I got all my chips in against him 5 more times and he beat ended up beating me. Three times I had my chips in with the lead and the game would have ended. Oh well. That's poker.
Next up for me. I have been playing a lot of SNGs and I think it is hard to stay fresh. I could quit playing for a while, but I really do enjoy it. Poker has always been about the enjoyment for me rather than the money, but it is nice to have both. :) I bought Harrington on Hold Em 1 and Small Stakes Hold Em but Ed Miller, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. I have heard they are excellent books and I can confirm HOH. I am not finished with HOH 1 or 2, but I thought to keep myself fresh I would learn how to play small stakes limit games. I think with my math skills, I could calculate pot odds and be a decent player. Right now I'm good enough to break even at the casino and make a small amount of money on the internet. But I need to learn how to calculate pot odds quickly and to control the size of the pots so I can get the odds in my favor. Hopefully my game will improve and I can really start making the money. Basically most people will admit that it is much easier to make a lot of money playing limit cash games than it is to win consistenly at SNGs.
So how have I been doing lately? My winning streak came to an abrupt halt. I worked my way up from the $10 SNGs to the $20 SNGs. I could have gone up to the 30 SNGs but I was killing the $20 SNGs and I wanted to get in the positive on the year at the 20s, so I stayed there for a while and then when I got up to the $30 SNGs I felt like it was a totally different ballgame. Is the game a bit different level wise? Possibly, but more likely I think I got out of my rhythm and started overthinking when I should be making the obvious play and underthinking when my opponent would give me a clue to his hand. So instead of just losing money until I was playing the 10s again. I took money out of my account and delegated myself to the 20s and gave myself a couple chances to go 10s or 30s. Of course I lost.
So I played a bit at the 10s and have worked my way up to the 20s. Yesterday I played my first 20 game in a week or so and on the very first hand I had QJs. I limped in looking for a monster. Flop comes J95 with two clubs. Small blind bets the minimum 15 and he gets two more callers. I raise to 100 to see where I stand. I could be outkicked, I could be way behind against a set, I could be a slight underdog against AQc or AKc (unlikely because more often these hands would raise preflop, but possible since it is first hand). So I bet 100 and the small blind calls, all others fold. I thought this was promising because he called quickly indicating a draw and I likely was not outkicked. Next card is a T of hearts and my opponent moves all in.
I have two options. Fold or Call. The board shows JT94 with two clubs and I have QJ. I thought about folding but I felt like I made a good enough raise on the flop to force out an inside straight draw (KQ, 87 or Q8). Plus, if he really hit his inside straight would he really move all in in this spot? Wouldn't he check, make me bet (since I showed strength on the flop) and then come over the top? I thought so and discounted the straight. There are no flush possibilities on the board which is important. If he is ahead of me at this point, I still have outs with my Q. If I catch a K or 8 I will have a straight that will beat any two pair or set. So does he have a set? If he has two pair did he catch it on the turn? Which would give him JT, T9 or T5. Does he have a set of tens? Possible again, but unlikely. Did he have a set or two pair on the flop? Well, I think the dangerous board would have caused him to raise me preflop. Plus I think he would have taken a bit more time in calling my flop raise. I had this guy on a flush draw, so I decided to stick with my initial instincts. I called for all these reasons, PLUS because it was the first hand. During the first hand real bad players play awful aggressive poker and take chances trying to push people around.
He turned over Q9. So he raised all in with top pair and an open ended straight draw. Which means he has only two cards (one of the remaining nines) that can win him the pot and eight cards that can chop the pot (any K or 8 would give us both a king high straight). An 8 came on the river and we split the pot.
This isn't a bad beat story or anything. I just wanted to share a hand with you that I actually thought about and tell you my imperfect analysis. So I had him on a flush draw but he had a smaller pair. So if someone calls quickly they are often chasing. Not necessarily a flush draw but possibly a second pair. With some players I may not have raised enough to chase away an opponent that was looking for a straight draw with KQ. They have ten outs against me (all four tens, and three K and Qs). But that is the beauty of poker. You have imperfect information and you have to make you best guess based on the information available. The best part is that I wrote notes on this players so I know that he is very aggressive and a guy you wouldn't mind facing with top pair in the future.
Anyone interested in how the tournament ended? Well, amazing enough the same guy got heads up with me, but he had a decisive 1000 to 7000 chip advantage. I got the lead 3 more times! and I got all my chips in against him 5 more times and he beat ended up beating me. Three times I had my chips in with the lead and the game would have ended. Oh well. That's poker.
Next up for me. I have been playing a lot of SNGs and I think it is hard to stay fresh. I could quit playing for a while, but I really do enjoy it. Poker has always been about the enjoyment for me rather than the money, but it is nice to have both. :) I bought Harrington on Hold Em 1 and Small Stakes Hold Em but Ed Miller, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. I have heard they are excellent books and I can confirm HOH. I am not finished with HOH 1 or 2, but I thought to keep myself fresh I would learn how to play small stakes limit games. I think with my math skills, I could calculate pot odds and be a decent player. Right now I'm good enough to break even at the casino and make a small amount of money on the internet. But I need to learn how to calculate pot odds quickly and to control the size of the pots so I can get the odds in my favor. Hopefully my game will improve and I can really start making the money. Basically most people will admit that it is much easier to make a lot of money playing limit cash games than it is to win consistenly at SNGs.
posted by Steve K at 11:18 AM
3 Comments:
Regarding learning how to play limit, Small Stakes Hold 'Em will be your bible. I personally prefer 6-max to 10-max because 10-max is deadly boring in my estimation. Pokertracker is an ABSOLUTE neccesity if you are going to play limit for money. Categorizing players is absolutely imperative...
Pooh - Yea, I started reading SSH last week. Pretty good so far. I will definitely get Pokertracker but first need to get Microsoft Access on my computer. Once I do, how do I sign up using your website? Just go to your blog and click or is there a passcode?
You don't need to have access to use PT. It automatically sets up and runs the DB...
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