I’ve been taking a beating in heads up games recently. There were one or two cases of bad game selection, but for the most part I don’t think I’ve playing or running all that badly. I’m losing to people against whom I’m pretty confident I have an edge, not because of bad luck or consistently bad play, but because I keep making like one big mistake per match. And the thing is, no matter how well you play 99% of your hands, you can’t afford to make a 100BB+ mistake, not even once. That just isn’t a handicap you can overcome.
Here was tonight’s. I was up about four buy-ins across on this guy across all the tables we were playing when this happened:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($8949.50)
BB ($28887)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7
, 10
Hero bets $100, BB raises to $375, Hero raises to $950, BB calls $575
Flop: ($1900) 9
, 6, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $699, BB raises to $2750, Hero raises to $7999.50 (All-In), BB calls $5249.50
Turn: ($17899) J (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($17899) 6
(2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $17899 | Rake: $0.50
Results:
Hero had 7, 10 (one pair, sixes).
BB had Q, 8 (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: BB won $17898.50
I underbet the flop with the intention of shoving over a check-raise, and I don’t think that was a bad plan. What should have given me pause (what did, to be honest, give me pause, though I ignored it and shoved anyway) was the size of his check-raise. I was expecting a check-raise to about 2K with some mix of bluffs and value hand against which I have a boatload of outs. This larger check-raise, I think, is almost always a flush draw. And a flush draw is the only hand against which I don’t have good equity.
I went on to finish slightly down to this guy after losing a few more big pots that I think I played fine but that just didn’t go my way. Erase this hand and I’m up. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. The only way to erase mistakes like these is to stop making them.
For the sake of my ego, here’s one of my better played hands against the same guy:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($7513.50)
BB ($10000)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 5, 5
Hero bets $100, BB raises to $350, Hero calls $250
Flop: ($700) 9, 7, 9 (2 players)
BB bets $375, Hero calls $375
Turn: ($1450) Q (2 players)
BB bets $900, Hero calls $900
River: ($3250) A (2 players)
BB bets $2900, Hero calls $2900
Total pot: $9050 | Rake: $0.50
Results:
Hero had 5, 5 (two pair, nines and fives).
BB had 10, 8 (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $9049.50
Now that you know that he had a bigger flush draw, what is the correct/best play on the turn? Should you just fold to his re-raise or maybe call and bluff him on the turn/river?
I think folding the flop is best, actually. I guess I could call and get it in if I turn a pair or a straight, but folding flop is better.
On the second hand, you impress a novice like me with the three straight flat calls. Did you know you were good because he never raised you (or switched to a check-raise)?
I certainly didn’t know I was good. I decided I was good often enough to call just because this was a good sequence of cards for him to bluff/semi-bluff. Pre-flop he 3-bet maybe 15-20% of the time and knew I was calling him light, so it doesn’t take much for him to bet the flop. Then he could easily have turned a draw or just fired again with air, and then the Ace looks like a good card to bluff. His bet sizing on the river is suspicious, as I’m not even sure he’d bet that much with an Ace. Especially if I’m putting him on a polarized range, I think he gets to the river with plenty enough air to warrant a call.
Sick $ put in both on draws….sick game.
Meh, you probably know I don’t like the draw/made hand distinction. I think it would be much worse for him to stick his money in with 9d8d even though that would be top pair rather than “just” a draw.
I take it the “draw” read is highly opponent-dependent? Surely a good heads-up player wouldn’t size their bets in such a way that it’s obvious when they’re raising with a draw. Alls I know is I have a long way to go–in that situation I stack off with your hand every time without blinking.
You’d be surprised. In a situation like this, there’s not a lot I can do about it, and I can see why he might prefer to just play his hand and take the chance of me figuring out what it is. Only if I’m good enough to do something like fold this hand or shove on him with Ace-high does it really become a problem that he’s turned his hand face up as a big draw.
Another question if you don’t mind. 🙂 Is the reason to raise bigger with the draw to commit himself to calling if you shove over top? And for the smaller-sized raises, assuming he had a balanced range, I take it he’d make them with made hands and complete air?
This is a great blog, BTW. Glad I discovered it.
I’m actually curious about the 4-bet this deep with T7s.
With 200bb stacks i’d think you’d want your bluff 4-bets to be slightly more nutted drawing hands, specifically to avoid this situation.