Group sweat

I was coming off a 7 hour day at the tables and definately not on my A-game. During the sweat I told Martin and Jason how i would probably shut down if we werent sweating. The reason I am writing this isnt because I spewed a shit ton of chips its simply because i think this is many gridners weakness. We plan a session and things start off crap and we dont quit. If you cant identify mini tilt and quit or correct it you are going to have some very spewy sessions imo. Enough preaching, read the hands bitches!

Hand 1: Thin value FTW. Villain in the hand was running some real nitty TAG numbers like 18/15/1 at the time. When he c/c the turn his hand looks like a weak made hand like a PP or T9 which we are ahead of most the time. Granted he had a low AF we can assume all OP DB and possibly even AXcc. On the river we missed value by not betting is the group consensus. Basically our range is nuts or northing here and we should get looked up much lighter then often based on this.


Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BB: $234
UTG: $179.60
MP: $369.25
CO: $214.95
Hero (BTN): $274.55
SB: $198

Pre-Flop: Jc Jh dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG raises to $7, 2 folds, Hero calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17) 7d 9h 2c (2 Players)
UTG bets $14, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($45) 7c (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $28, UTG calls $28

River: ($101) Qs (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Results: $101 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed As Ad (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and WON $98 (+$49 NET)
Hero showed Jc Jh (two pair, Jacks and Sevens) and LOST (-$49 NET)

Hand 2: Thin value FTW take two. This guy was a spew tard who had shown a propensity to c/c with all sort of shite. Checking the turn back is horrible in our opinion. We lose so much value from all his weaker made hands/draws and we allow way to many hands that could improve his holding peel off. When he fires the river weak we called based on prior reads where he bluffed the river small.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $200
SB: $198
BB: $396.40
UTG: $214.50
Hero (MP): $235.55
CO: $200

Pre-Flop: 7d 7h dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG calls $2, Hero raises to $9, 4 folds, UTG calls $7

Flop: ($21) 9h 6h 9s (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $15, UTG calls $15

Turn: ($51) Td (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $27, UTG calls $27

River: ($105) 5s (2 Players)
UTG bets $25, Hero calls $25

Results: $155 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed Qc Qs (two pair, Queens and Nines) and WON $152 (+$76 NET)
Hero mucked 7d 7h 7d 7h (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and LOST (-$76 NET)

Hand 3: If you bet it you will know. Thin value FTW take three. OK so really this is thin value/where am I. Villain is 19/16/3. The group felt the turn was a spot where we are betting for value as a larger part of his range could peel here and if raised we can fold without question. After heated debate and further analysis I feel the turn is a check. It seems imo that his weak holdings cant stand a DB but they may bluff the river or look us up lighter because we checked it back on the turn. Please comment on this hand.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BB: $257.15
UTG: $247.40
MP: $62.60
CO: $307.35
Hero (BTN): $200
SB: $197

Pre-Flop: 9d Kc dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) 6d 9h Tc (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($39) 3c (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $26, BB raises to $52, Hero folds

Results: $91 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB mucked and WON $88 (+$43 NET)

Hand 4: Thin value? Sorry not an option. This was early on and though we had started the session LAG there is no value in 4 betting as best case scenario is a flip. Also with position we can take the flop and play poker which is fun. Flop isnt horrible and we are obligated to call. On the turn betting is horrible as we get value from nothing we are ahead of, villains range to c/c or crai is AQ, QQ+. By the river it is quite obvious we are best but doubtful we can extract value from worse. A bet here might be ok but the info gained by seeing his whole cards rather then betting and having him fold is more valuable i believe.

FullTiltPoker Game #5398780128: Table Bonanza (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:14:00 ET - 2008/02/25
Seat 1: sockervadd ($225.40)
Seat 2: DinoDino76 ($183.60)
Seat 3: JxMxC ($359.95)
Seat 4: adonis999 ($245.15)
Seat 5: Life_Heater ($200)
Seat 6: Spear1 ($203.10)
Spear1 posts the small blind of $1
sockervadd posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Life_Heater [Js Jh]
DinoDino76 folds
JxMxC folds
adonis999 folds
Life_Heater raises to $7
Spear1 raises to $26
sockervadd folds
Life_Heater calls $19
*** FLOP *** [3d Qh 7h]
Spear1 bets $38
Life_Heater has 15 seconds left to act
Life_Heater calls $38
*** TURN *** [3d Qh 7h] [9d]
Spear1 checks
Life_Heater has 15 seconds left to act
Life_Heater checks
*** RIVER *** [3d Qh 7h 9d] [7c]
Spear1 checks
Life_Heater has 15 seconds left to act
Life_Heater has requested TIME
Life_Heater checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Spear1 shows [8c 8h] two pair, Eights and Sevens
Life_Heater shows [Js Jh] two pair, Jacks and Sevens
Life_Heater wins the pot ($127) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $130 Rake $3
Board: [3d Qh 7h 9d 7c]
Seat 1: sockervadd (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: DinoDino76 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: JxMxC didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: adonis999 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Life_Heater (button) showed [Js Jh] and won ($127) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
Seat 6: Spear1 (small blind) showed [8c 8h] and lost with two pair, Eights and Sevens...Read more!

The UF2B cares!

This is a poker story. A story of caring. When us Mid to High stakes players are tired or bored and dont feel like grinding our regular games it can be entertaining to drop down a few limits and just get nuts. Last night was one of those ocassions.

I(peten2toms) was donking up some 50NL which I mentioned to Dodgy. I also mentioned how this Lag tard was giving me fits aswell. Dodgy decided to join the table and have some fun too. We were going ape in chat and just splashing chips around. The Lag was ending his session and announced it. Two hands before his blinds Dodgy stacks him for 200BB. I know from personal experience just how bent I would be if I was villain. At this time Dodgy suggests HU which the donk happily agrees to.

Now the fun really begins. They were playing two tables of 50NL which is so minus EV for Dodgy it isnt even funny. Dodgy proceeds to stack donk 3 more times in under 20 minutes and sits out. As the HU match was taking place Dodgy decided to announce that he was a HS player by sitting at a large BI HU table and inviting the donk to join.

Why the UF2B cares? You might be saying; "What assholes!" Yes we stacked a Lag tard who some day might be a good mid stakes player. Yes we sat out after sucking out set vs combo draw. But, Dodgy the HS baller that he is, mainly for shits and giggles, opted to transfer homeboy his monies back. How sick is that? You are grindign 50NL and get destroyed by a HS baller. Then you wake up the next day with more money in your account then before. Plus an email informing you that the asshole who pwned you has transfered you funds. Sweet story to tell your poker pals....Read more!

Dice14 600NL FTP

This week I played three tables of 600NL on FTP. Not too many crazy spots, but a couple of small interesting ones.

1) Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

UTG: $905
CO: $753
Hero (BTN): $670
SB: $603
BB: $232.25

Pre-Flop: 6 5 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, CO raises to $21, Hero calls $21, SB folds, BB calls $15

Based on game flow, this can either be three bet or cold called. I opted to call because I had been actively three betting villain during the session.

Flop: ($66) 7 3 A (3 Players)
BB checks, CO bets $48, Hero raises to $150, 2 folds

Very dry flop. When villain cbets into a multiway pot, his cbetting range becomes narrower than if it were a heads up pot. Villain knows that I understand this. When I raise in this spot, I am suggesting significant strength because he is cbetting into a multiway pot (where his perceived range is narrow) and I raise with someone yet to act. I wasnt too concerned with the BB bc he was a LAP donk. Villain is a very aggro player so Id expect him to cbet this dry board with his entire preflop range a good portion of the time. Even if he has AJ+ (the top of his range), he'll most likely call and check the turn, effectively buying me a free river. One could make an argument for floating here, but against an aggro opponent I would expect him to double barrel a good portion of the time because he will often put me on a weak to marginal ace that cant stand much heat.

Results: $162 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked 6 5 and WON $159 (+$90 NET)

2. These two hands illustrate an important concept for a thinking player.

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

UTG: $303.35
MP: $854.80
CO: $158.25
Hero (BTN): $803.40
SB: $468.20
BB: $600

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $21, SB calls $18, BB folds

Flop: ($48) 4 5 A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($48) 5 (2 Players)
SB bets $24, Hero calls $24

River: ($96) 3 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Results: $96 Pot ($3 Rake)

Hero showed Q Q (two pair, Queens and Fives) and WON $93 (+$48 NET)
SB showed 7 9 (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-$45 NET)

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $167.50
SB: $846.70
BB: $171
Hero (UTG): $905.65
MP: $510.20
CO: $446

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $21, 3 folds, SB calls $18, BB folds

Flop: ($48) K A A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($48) 5 (2 Players)
SB bets $30, Hero calls $30

River: ($108) 6 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Results: $108 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed J Q (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$51 NET)
Hero showed Q Q (two pair, Aces and Queens) and WON $105 (+$54 NET)

Whenever I make a bet, I first like to identify its purpose. Value or bluff? In other words do I want him to call or fold? When I have a hand like mid pair on the flop, I typically expect to get called by TP the majority of the time. Im effectively folding out everything Im ahead of and paying off anything that Im behind. With a hand like mid pair, it is good idea to check it back if you dont think you can get value from worse hands. Each situation is independent though, bc I will sometimes bet mid pr for value on a draw heavy board.

Most of the value I get from it will be from bluffs. It is fairly standard in today's games to stab the turn after a flop check from the preflop aggressor. However, good players at 600nl and higher are often aware that your hand cannot stand much heat and will barrel the turn and river. If it happens once, let it be and fold the river. If the same opponent tries to double barrel me again after I check the flop, Ill look him up on the river the second time around. To play it safe, you could even check back TP against this particular opponent to see if he has the goods or not. If you show him that you are willing to balance your checking range on occasion, he should be reluctant to double barrel bluff you in the future. Even if you only do it once to him, it will stick out in his memory.

3. Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $1,245
UTG: $1,370
Hero (MP): $741
CO: $642
BTN: $220.25
SB: $612

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $21, 3 folds, BB calls $15

Standard. Villain in BB is a donk who has been taking weird lines against me. I have shown down a bluff against him as well.

Flop: ($45) A K T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $36, BB raises to $72, Hero raises to $192, BB calls $120

The check min raise is strong. If I were min raised from a donk in position, I would be inclined to give it less credit. If he were in position, Id say a good portion of his range is comprised of draws. As played, the check min raise is usually indicative of a strong made hand.

Turn: ($429) 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $528 and is All-In, BB calls $528

If he has QJ, so be it. Regardless of what I bet, I dont think he is going away. I opt to just shove it in there. However, I made a mistake in this hand. My raise on the flop was too small. I need to be thinking ahead in the hand. I want to set myself up for an easy turn shove. I should have made my flop raise about $225 so I could shove the turn for roughly a pot sized bet.

River: ($1,485) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,485 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed K T (two pair, Kings and Tens) and LOST (-$741 NET)
Hero showed K A (two pair, Aces and Kings) and WON $1,482 (+$741 NET)

Since he gave us fits earlier with his weird lines, Martin suggested that we chat own him. (Children under the age of 18 are advised to receive parental consent before reading any further.) His recommendation was along the lines of, "S*ck it, b*tch." Chat ownage is an integral part of a poker player's arsenal. However, Im not one to chat own a donkey bc they he is the one who is most apt to put money in our accounts. A simple "Thank you, sir" will usually suffice for donkey chat ownage. In any event, we all got a good laugh out of Martin's comment so thats the main reason I included it. Ill be responding to any comments or questions....Read more!

Hand 1: Feb 11th

This week I, LuckySOB, played 2/4 on Absolute. It was quite a boring session to be honest, but here's a few mistakes and an easy read if you just think a little.

Hand 1:

Stack sizes:
Hero: $449
BTN: $473
SB: $154

Preflop: (5 players) Hero is CO with Ts 8c
UTG folds, Hero raises to $16, BTN and SB call, BB folds

Standard opening range for me in the CO when folded too. BTN is a LAG player and SB is a donkey.

Flop: 6d Kd 7h (3 players, $52)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $36, SB folds Hero folds.

As played this is an easy fold, but I don't like not leading here. I'm leading a FD, an OE staight draw, and a K here, so I have to mix in the GS I think. The BTN didn't 3 bet my CO open so is likely not on a strong K and the SB is nothing to worry about. Leading myself often takes this pot down and gives me the abblity to get paid in full when the GS hits....Read more!

Hand 2: Feb 11th

This hand was played poorly.

Stack sizes:
Hero: $444
UTG: $540

Preflop: (6 players) Hero is BB with Td Th
UTG raises to $16, 4 folds, Hero calls.

UTG is a LAG 23/16 so I'm not 3 betting his UTG open and make a standard call here.

Flop: 6c 3h 3d (2 players, $34)
Hero checks, UTG bets $24, Hero raises to $52, UTG folds.

Fisrt mistake is my raise amount, I'm working on 2.5x c/r these spots with air and with hands. But I figured wrong and raised too small. Should have been $60. Second is the fact that I c/r at all. This villian is known to DB, so why raise? Well like I said, I'm doing this with air and with a hand.....BUT.....this is neither air nor the type of hand I should be doing it with. The types of hands I want to do this with are either hands like (air) 89s, KQs, JTs......hands that are easy to fold if he plays back......or hands like 3X, 33, 66, 63. The whole idea is to do this with big hands and without as to get paid off by the big hands. But here I'm only putting myself in a terrible spot if he reraises me or even calls and an over comes. The better play here is to c/c the flop and turn and evaluate on the river....Read more!

Hand 3 : Feb 11th

Not the most interesting hand, but it's amazing how easy the villans hand is to read.

Stack sizes:
MP: $406
UTG: $183
Hero BB: $437

Preflop: (6 players) Hero is BB with Ac Ks
Utg Calls $4, MP raises to $16, 3 fold, Hero raises to $52, UTG folds, MP calls.

The UTG player is terrible and I really don't expect him to come along with a raise/reraise behind his limp. The MP is a 23/10 that I don't have too much history with and this is a standard 3 bet for me vs 99% of these situations.

Flop: 9h 8h 2c ($110, 2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

This is a Terrible flop for me, I'm not getting any pairs to fold and probably shoved on by AK of hearts. So I elect to check/fold, but villian checks behind.

Turn: As ($110, 2 players)
Hero bets $72, MP raises to $144, Hero riases to $390 is all-in, MP calls $354 and is all-in.

This is what is so comically interesting about his hand range. A player like this is never checking behind a flopped set or a FD w/overs, AA would either 4 bet PF or bet the flop and any hand making 2 pair is not raising that early and calling a 3 bet. So that leaves us with only 1 of 3 hands he could have.........AK, AQ, or AJ (and almost certainly not 2 hearts). So this is an easy shove.

Hero shows Ac Ks, MP shows Ad Qc ($819 pot)
River: Qh

Ok so lets forget the results......... that lucky bastard asshole, see.......I've let it go. The real interesting thing to note on this hand is simply how easy some villians will make it to read their hand. With just a little simple thought we know we are WAY ahead and these are the hands that make poker easy....Read more!

Hand 1 : 4th Feb

OK, so it was my turn to be sweat last night (Dodgy), and I was expecting it to go one of two ways. I've been running crazy hot - the best run of my poker career so far - and I thought I'd either tear it up and win a ton, or I'd start my downswing! Luckily for the sake of the sweat, it was the latter! I think this was good though as we got into more interesting and difficult spots (rather than me being on the right side of coolers all night). I played four tables of $5/10NL on Full Tilt.


Hand 1

This hand is interesting because it brings up a really good point about adjusting the size of your bets based on your opponents' stack sizes.

Stack sizes:
CO: $969
Hero: $2974

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is SB with Jh Jc
UTG folds, CO raises to $70, Button folds, Hero raises to $230, BB folds, CO calls.

I had some history here with the CO. I'd just 3-bet him recently and check-raised him all-in on the flop (to which he folded). I 3-bet him again, and I'm almost always felting this hand with his stack size.


Flop: Js Kd 3d ($480, 2 players)
Hero bets $320, CO folds.

The flop is superb for me and I bet $320 leaving him $419 left to raise me. This is definitely a mistake. Dice made the point that a bet of $230 ish would be much better as it allows him to raise me by 3x. I totally agree with this. My bet size was fine if he had a full stack, but I failed to adjust properly to this more unique situation.


Uncalled bets:
$320 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $480...Read more!

Hand 2 : 4th Feb

Hand 2

Stack sizes:
Hero: $1182
BB: $980

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with 9d Td
UTG folds, Hero raises to $35, 3 folds, BB calls.

Here I'm UTG+1 and make a raise with T9s which is fine. I get called by the BB who is a good regular, a little looser pre-flop than most.


Flop: Ad Qd Js ($75, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $55, BB calls.

The flop is pretty good for me giving me a flush draw and a straight draw. I'm not 100% sure what I would do if raised here, as I think AQ, AJ, and QJ would be big parts of his range. Therefore, I probably wouldn't have too much fold equity and might just have to call with my draw rather than shove.


Turn: Tc ($185, 2 players)
BB bets $150, Hero calls.

The turn puts four to a straight out and he leads into me. At this point it seems like he has a KQ/KJ type hand, or he could have a small flush draw and be trying to represent a K. I don't think I have enough fold equity to put in a raise here, so I make a call instead. I'm 4-1 to hit my flush, so I need to win $600 to make this a profitable call (4 x $150). With his bet the pot is $335, so I only need to win another $300ish off him on the river if I hit. If he has a K I think I'll definitely get paid, and if he doesn't have a K then I'll have more outs than just the flush cards.


River: Th ($485, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

The river gives me trips and he checks to me. I might have the best hand here but, given the range we gave him on the turn (KQ, KJ, low flush draws), there's no way I can value bet.


Results:
Final pot: $485

BB showed Kc Jc
Hero mucks 9d Td...Read more!

Hand 3 : 4th Feb

Hand 3

Stack sizes:
Hero: $1047
SB: $1496.25

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is CO with Kd Qc
UTG folds, Hero raises to $35, Button folds, SB raises to $125, BB folds, Hero calls.

The SB here is an aggressive regular and will definitely 3-bet a wide range. I opt to defend with KQ, which is pretty standard when I open from the cut-off.


Flop: As 3d 5s ($260, 2 players)
SB bets $220, Hero raises to $500, SB folds.

These types of flops are excellent flops to make a play at imo. Anything that comes Axx, Kxx, or even Qxx, isn't going to hit a guy with a wide 3-betting range that often. Also, I'm very likely to defend with AQ-AT. Note that my raise is only just over a min-raise (I actually do min-raise here sometimes). Furthermore, I raise to an amount where he can't bluff-shove me off a draw as I've 'committed' myself, so he either has to fold or risk going with a weak pair.


Uncalled bets:
$280 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $700...Read more!

Hand 4 : 4th Feb

Hand 4

I think this hand is interesting because there are so many different ways in which it can be played. It's also against the same opponent as hand 3.

Stack sizes:
Hero: $1369
BB: $1293.25

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with 7c 9c
2 folds, Hero raises to $35, SB folds, BB raises to $120, Hero calls.

The BB is an aggressive regular who 3-bets fairly often. Here I decide to call with 97s and play a flop. I'm planning on using my position to take some pots away from him. Folding here is obviously fine. I would pretty much never 4-bet as my hand plays too well post-flop to turn it into a bluff, and I think calling with position is a much better option than getting involved in a pre-flop war.


Flop: 2s 3h 9d ($245, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

This is a good flop for me and he checks. Given the hand I'd just played against him (hand 3), I wasn't sure what he was going to do if I bet. I will definitely bet here sometimes, but I prefer to bet when I'm confident in knowing what to do to a check-raise. Here I wasn't, so I elected to check behind.

Turn: Jc ($245, 2 players)
BB bets $170, Hero calls.

The turn brings an overcard and he bets. This isn't necessarily bad for me. The way I look at it, he can have a maximum of two overcards to the board. Five different overcards can hit, and I believe he'll bet all of them. That means that I can call the turn and be correct at least 60% of the time. The downside is that the river will be a tough decision but, in the words of Dice, "That's why we get paid good money to do this job".


River: Tc ($585, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

The river gave me a horrible feeling when he checked. I said at the time that I really felt like turning my hand into a bluff, despite having showdown value. I decided not to as I do have showdown value and the only hands I can get to fold are Tx hands (and he might not even fold them). He can also have a J here and he'll never fold that. I really felt like he had showdown value when he checked though, and I think his showdown value will almost always be better than a pair of 9s.


Results:
Final pot: $585

BB showed Ah Td
Hero mucks 7c 9c...Read more!