A Shot in the Dark
Last night at the bar I talked to Mike for a while about NL holdem strategies. There aren't many $1000 and $2000 NL full ring tables at Party, making it fairly easy to data mine everyone who plays there. The plan: build up a huge database, single out the big losers, and make a killing by playing a solid game against them. Sounds easy enough. When I got home I was pumped to play and couldn't wait to build a database, so I decided to make things exciting by sitting down at a $400 NL table. I would never do this if I were sober, but I was all jazzed up about poker and wanted the thrill of playing in a big game. I posted a $4 late position blind and was dealt a monster, Q3. It was folded to me and I checked, but the button raised it up to $14. Shite. The big blind called and I thought about calling. Then I said to myself "don't get stupid on the first hand" and folded. The the flop cam 8 3 3. SHITE!!!! The pot got up to around $200 before the big blind finally folded. Money down the drain.
Next I found myself with Q7 in the small blind. There were a few limpers but nobody raised so I tossed in another $2 to see a flop. 7 7 6. Fuck yeah!!! I didn't feel confident about what to do, but when in doubt I don't slow play, so I made a pot sized bet of $20. The big blind quickly called and the limpers folded. Turn was a J. This might have been a good spot to slowplay as the big blind could easily have had something like A6 and be drawing dead, but I couldn't rule out something like 98 or 85 so I bet $60. The big blind thought about it for a while and mucked. Victory is mine!!
Then I made the mistake of raising to $12 from early position with AQ. I don't even like AK at NL. Phil Gordon says smooth call a raiser when in position. He's right. You really don't want to be out of position with this kind of hand. One late guy calls me and the flop comes all rags. I grit my teeth and fire a continuation bet into the pot, and the guy just knows I'm full of shit cause he raises the pot and I immediately muck. That seems to happen to me a lot.
Then I lost a small pot with QQ and I was down $40. Then I got KK in early position and raised it up to $20. No slowplaying when drunk and stupid. A late guy and the big blind both called me, so this pot was already getting big. The flop came something like 4 6 8 rainbow. The big blind bet $20 right into me. I didn't really know how to interpret this, but perhaps he was hoping that I had something like AK and he was representing the kind of crap you usually get in the blinds which might have connected with that raggedy ass flop. Of course, if that were the case, why would he have called my big preflop raise? In any case, I didn't like the situation, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let the late guy in for a discount, so I raised it up to $60 and started praying. Please don't reraise me. If either one of them reraised me I was prepared to fold. I don't think I've ever bet $60 with the intention of folding if somebody raised me. And fortunately I didn't have to worry about it. Late guy folded and the big blind just called. And the turn brought a glorious K. Then I was of course hoping that the big blind had flopped a low set. He checked to me and I bet $100. Now I wish I hadn't because he folded. I'll never know what he had. Maybe something like A8s. Maybe I should have given him a free card (e.g. if he was drawing dead), but I really didn't want to see a 5 or a 7 on the river. That really illustrates the importance of making good reads at NL. By the time the turn rolled around there was about $180 in the pot. Had I known that the dude was weak I might have been able to get another $100 out of him. Clearly not on the turn, but maybe on the river if he decided to bluff me out or if he hit trips or two pair. But since I had little clue of what he had, I was forced to protect my excellent but vulnerable hand with a half pot sized bet. I can't complain because I made $100 for the hand and ended the drunken session up $60, but it really makes me want to work on my hand reading skills. Hopefully with time I'll be able to stereotyple enough people who play at these stakes in order to make accurate reads possible.
Next I found myself with Q7 in the small blind. There were a few limpers but nobody raised so I tossed in another $2 to see a flop. 7 7 6. Fuck yeah!!! I didn't feel confident about what to do, but when in doubt I don't slow play, so I made a pot sized bet of $20. The big blind quickly called and the limpers folded. Turn was a J. This might have been a good spot to slowplay as the big blind could easily have had something like A6 and be drawing dead, but I couldn't rule out something like 98 or 85 so I bet $60. The big blind thought about it for a while and mucked. Victory is mine!!
Then I made the mistake of raising to $12 from early position with AQ. I don't even like AK at NL. Phil Gordon says smooth call a raiser when in position. He's right. You really don't want to be out of position with this kind of hand. One late guy calls me and the flop comes all rags. I grit my teeth and fire a continuation bet into the pot, and the guy just knows I'm full of shit cause he raises the pot and I immediately muck. That seems to happen to me a lot.
Then I lost a small pot with QQ and I was down $40. Then I got KK in early position and raised it up to $20. No slowplaying when drunk and stupid. A late guy and the big blind both called me, so this pot was already getting big. The flop came something like 4 6 8 rainbow. The big blind bet $20 right into me. I didn't really know how to interpret this, but perhaps he was hoping that I had something like AK and he was representing the kind of crap you usually get in the blinds which might have connected with that raggedy ass flop. Of course, if that were the case, why would he have called my big preflop raise? In any case, I didn't like the situation, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let the late guy in for a discount, so I raised it up to $60 and started praying. Please don't reraise me. If either one of them reraised me I was prepared to fold. I don't think I've ever bet $60 with the intention of folding if somebody raised me. And fortunately I didn't have to worry about it. Late guy folded and the big blind just called. And the turn brought a glorious K. Then I was of course hoping that the big blind had flopped a low set. He checked to me and I bet $100. Now I wish I hadn't because he folded. I'll never know what he had. Maybe something like A8s. Maybe I should have given him a free card (e.g. if he was drawing dead), but I really didn't want to see a 5 or a 7 on the river. That really illustrates the importance of making good reads at NL. By the time the turn rolled around there was about $180 in the pot. Had I known that the dude was weak I might have been able to get another $100 out of him. Clearly not on the turn, but maybe on the river if he decided to bluff me out or if he hit trips or two pair. But since I had little clue of what he had, I was forced to protect my excellent but vulnerable hand with a half pot sized bet. I can't complain because I made $100 for the hand and ended the drunken session up $60, but it really makes me want to work on my hand reading skills. Hopefully with time I'll be able to stereotyple enough people who play at these stakes in order to make accurate reads possible.
posted by Fishboy77 | 2:40 PM
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