Here’s a few miscellaneous hands I made notes to post about. These first two were from my first night here, at $5/$10 NLHE, and the last one was from today in a pretty nitty $10/$25 game with a couple tough players.
River Check-Raise
Two limpers, I complete J6s in the SB, BB checks. Flop KJ6, all diamonds. I bet $35, the first limper raises to $75, the other players fold, and I call.
Turn 5d, we both check.
River Jc, I check, he bets $150, I raise to $550, he pays me off.
Slowishroll
Two limpers, I raise to $65 with 88 in MP and get 3 calls. Flop 458 rainbow, I bet $200 into a $275 pot, one of the limpers calls and the others fold.
Turn J, he check-calls $400.
River is an offsuit 3, and he open shoves about $1500. I actually thought for a while before calling here just because I couldn’t figure out what he had. With two pair or a lower set, I’d expect him to have raised by now for fear of letting a four-straight show on the board. There also weren’t many draws to speak of that he could have missed and would now be turning into a bluff. I kind of felt like 76 was his single most likely holding, but I certainly wasn’t sure enough that he couldn’t have a lower set or a random bluff or something. I called and he indicated for me to show first, basically saying he was bluffing, and he mucked when I showed.
The whole table gave me shit for not snap-calling, but I don’t regret thinking it through. It was such a weird spot for him to shove, and it was a 150BB decision, so I’m not going to apologize for taking my time even with a strong hand.
Oh, OK- That Works
This one was at 10/25. I open to $100 with KJo in MP. Action folds to the BB, who is the weakest player at the table, a white guy in his late 50’s or early 60’s who played pretty loose-passive relative to the rest of the table. He looked like he wanted to call before even looking at his cards, and sure enough he tossed in three more green chips pretty quickly.
Flop comes 952r. He checks, I bet $125, he calls very quickly and nonchalantly.
Turn 2. He checks, and I feel like he probably just has A-high here (and not AK, so my outs are usually live), so I bet $325. He again calls quickly.
River Q, and I give up and I tell him that a pair is good. He tables KT. Ship it.
The Best Thing About Live Cash Games
You get to see and hold your winnings:
which is how they getcha, b/c you don’t see what u paid in originally at its side 🙂
Hey Andrew!
This is Nitin, you might remember me as a volunteer judge from the Boston debate league (are you still affiliated with that by the way?) Anyway, just wanted to say that I recently stumbled upon your site and it has quickly become one of my favorites for reading good poker analysis.
I have one question about your thought process on the river check-raise though – what is your motivation for raising the river? Do think that the first limper probably hits a king on the flop with something like K8 or K9? In that case, what makes you so sure his low card is not a diamond that he thinks is too low to bet out when the fourth diamond hits the turn? My gut instinct might have been to just call the river bet since I’m not playing a diamond, but obviously your check-raise was very succesful.
Nitin, our hero makes a house on the river. I *think* a house > flush…
Nitin! Of course I remember, and awesome to hear from you. Sounds like you play some poker yourself?
I’m not in Boston any longer, so I can’t stay as involved as I like, but I try to spend a few hours a week writing grant applications or otherwise helping with fundraising.
As Tom pointed out, I did fill up on the river here. I think my check-raise ought to look extremely strong to him, and he should probably fold hands worse than the Ace-high flush, though I certainly didn’t expect him to. It’s weird, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a river check-raise bluff in a live poker game, but I’ve also never seen anyone fold to a river check-raise, even when a bluff is all they could beat.
Thanks for writing! Hope you’re well.
Oh whoops! Didn’t realize you made the boat on the river. Ok that makes everything a lot clearer now 🙂
That’s a bummer that you’re not in Boston anymore, it was always a pleasure to run into you at BDL events. You should come visit for the City Championships or something. Rachita says hi, by the way. It was really funny, when I saw your blog on cardplayer.com I sent it to her and she was like, “No Way!!”. You neglected to mention to us that you finished 39th at the WSOP main event!
I have been playing poker since around ninth grade, but it’s much more of a hobby than a revenue-generating avenue. I really like the theoretical/analytical aspect of the game though, and I can definitely see how debate has influenced your approach to poker (and your online screen name as well).
My approx total for the cash/chips there is a min cash in the PCA ME. Looks pretty sexy in hundreds and $1k chips
/brag
are you ammending your goals to play more live poker in 2010?
are those yellows $5k? at foxwoods yellows = $2 but given the bright color i’m guessing they’re $5k???
well done.
Absolutely not. A week of live poker every 6 months or so is all I can stand. I look at it as a challenge to myself to see how well I can keep my composure despite the boredom and the scumbags. PCA actually wasn’t too bad in that regard, more similar to the interesting and ecclectic crowd at the WSOP than to the band of degenerates who frequent Foxwoods on Wednesday afternoons.
And those are 1K chips. Definitely not $2, but definitely not 5K’s either. Sorry, I did try to make the picture large enough that that was visible.
Hi Andrew, I have few questions regarding the live poker scene if you do not mind.
I am a young player who had never been to a casino let alone played in any live poker game that’s remotely competitive. I definitely see myself in the future to be attending it though. From what I understand, the live games are extremely slow compared to online. So how profitable are the live games in comparison to online games? I heard the games are much softer in comparison to online. But is that enough of an edge for one to be more profitable live than online? I would think online would be ultimately more profitable, but seeing as how there are plenty of pros who’d prefer to play live over online, I am a little bit confused.
I hope I have delivered everything that I wish to communicate without confusing you.
Cheers!
Hi, Pete. It actually sounds like you’ve got a pretty solid understanding of what to expect from live poker. Yes, it tends to be considerably easier than online games at comparable stakes, but it’s also much slower, and you can only play one table at a time. If you play online poker seriously, ie at stakes that are significant to you and on 4+ tables at once, then it’s unlikely that you could have a better hourly rate in a brick and mortar casino, particularly when you factor in stuff like commuting and waiting for a seat.
There are still reasons to play live. Some people enjoy the social aspect of it. Others, usually those who already have a lot of live experience, benefit from skills like reading live tells that they can’t apply online. For my own part, I enjoy it as an occasional break from online play and an opportunity to play what is usually a much lower-stress game. You just don’t get bluff-raised, 4-bet light, etc. in a live game anywhere near as often as you have to deal with such nuisances online.
Even though they tend to be much easier on-balance, live games aren’t just easy version of online games. There are some differences in how the games play:
-live games are almost always 10-handed
-live games, especially at higher stakes, play deep. It’s not unheard of for players to sit 1000 BBs deep, and this can create situations that just don’t arise online.
-there’s less folding and more multi-way pots
All of these differences require skills that you aren’t going to have automatically just because you play online poker. So don’t assume that just because you can multi-table 1/2 NL online, you can go crush a 10/25 NL live game. You very well might be the best all-around player at the table, but it will take some practice in a live setting before you have all the skills you need to beat the game.
BLING BLANG BLAOW