Wednesday is the only weekday when I play tournaments anymore. I like the $300 weekly on Poker Stars with 20-minute blind levels, and because I’ve found that tournaments and cash games don’t mix well, I play some of the other big nightly tournaments to round it out. I can’t really complain about running bad last night, just one critical mistake sank me. But let’s start with the good news.
Play Your Sets Fast
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 9 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter
MP2: 3,430
CO: 3,530
Hero (BTN): 2,890
SB: 3,010
BB: 2,890
UTG: 2,760
UTG+1: 2,950
UTG+2: 2,180
MP1: 3,430
Pre-Flop: (30) 7
7
dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to 80, 3 folds, Hero calls 80, 2 folds
Flop: (190) 7
2 9 (2 Players)
UTG+2 bets 120, Hero raises to 360, UTG+2 raises to 2,100 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,740
Turn: (4,390) 4 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
River: (4,390) 5 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
Results: 4,390 Pot
Hero showed 7 7 (three of a kind, Sevens) and WON 4,390 (+2,210 NET)
UTG+2 showed K A (high card Ace) and LOST (-2,180 NET)
Bigger is Better
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter
UTG+2: 4,885
MP1: 3,775
Hero (MP2): 4,845
CO: 2,100
BTN: 2,555
SB: 2,625
BB: 2,885
UTG: 3,550
UTG+1: 3,500
Pre-Flop: (45) 6 6 dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 95, 2 folds, SB calls 80, BB folds
Flop: (220) 6
5 K (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 150, SB calls 150
Turn: (520) A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 400, SB calls 400
River: (1,320) 3 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 900, SB calls 900
Results: 3,120 Pot
Hero showed 6 6 (three of a kind, Sixes) and WON 3,120 (+1,575 NET)
SB mucked Q A and LOST (-1,545 NET)
I probably should have bet a little more on the river, at least 1000. I didn’t think enough about his calling range. I was trying to keep Kings in his range, and I didn’t consider the possibility that he’d called with Ace-high pre-flop. Even though he probably does have Kings more than Aces, his calling range probably consists of sufficiently more Aces than Kings that I ought to err towards a larger river bet. Also people hate to fold.
Try to Flop a Lot of Them
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter
SB: 4,855
BB: 3,775
Hero (UTG): 6,585
UTG+1: 1,115
UTG+2: 2,555
MP1: 960
MP2: 3,915
CO: 3,505
BTN: 3,455
Pre-Flop: (45) 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 85, UTG+1 calls 85, 7 folds
Flop: (215) 4 J 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets 150, UTG+1 raises to 375, Hero raises to 6,500 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 655 and is All-In
Turn: (2,275) 4 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
River: (2,275) T (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
Results: 2,275 Pot
Hero showed 5 5 (a full house, Fives full of Fours) and WON 2,275 (+1,160 NET)
UTG+1 showed A A (two pair, Aces and Fours) and LOST (-1,115 NET)
This guy was very tight, and his pre-flop call was pretty shady given his stack size, so I actually figured him for Aces even before the sketchy flop raise.
Good Read
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 8 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter
UTG+1: 4,560
MP1: 6,790
Hero (MP2): 7,050
CO: 2,405
BTN: 2,310
SB: 1,995
BB: 3,450
UTG: 4,815
Pre-Flop: (150) 7 8 dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 250, 2 folds, SB calls 200, Observer folds
Flop: (600) 4 8 9 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
SB checks, Hero bets 400, SB raises to 1,100, Hero raises to 1,800, SB calls 645 and is All-In
Turn: (4,090) 4 (2 Players – 2 are All-In)
River: (4,090) 9 (2 Players – 2 are All-In)
Results: 4,090 Pot
Hero showed 7 8 (two pair, Nines and Eights) and WON 4,090 (+2,095 NET)
SB showed A 6 (two pair, Nines and Fours) and LOST (-1,995 NET)
The BB in this hand was sitting out. Ordinarily I’d find a pre-flop call with the SB’s stack size shady, but he seemed kind of loose and passive. The flop bet sizing was initially worrisome, but I couldn’t put him on a set based on pre-flop action, as I think he’s probably shoving any pair given my wide range for stealing from the Away BB.
Proud of This One
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 8 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter
BTN: 13,210
SB: 7,695
BB: 7,500
UTG: 6,60
UTG+1: 4,340
MP1: 10,275
Hero (MP2): 8,570
CO: 6,635
Pre-Flop: (390) A 8 dealt to Hero (MP2)
3 folds, Hero raises to 560, 4 folds, BB calls 360
Flop: (1,310) 9 2 2 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
BB bets 1,000, Hero calls 1,000
Turn: (3,310) 4 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
BB bets 1,000, Hero raises to 7,000 and is All-In, BB folds
Results: 5,310 Pot
Hero mucked A 8 and WON 5,310 (+2,740 NET)
First thing’s first: I never believe the blinds when they lead into me on dry flops. And that weak turn bet is just begging for it. This is a nice spot where I could easily have top pair or an overpair, whereas a non-tricky opponent will practically never have anything that strong, so it is very tough for him to continue.
Crucial Error
Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold’em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 9 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter
BB: 13,150
UTG: 11,220
UTG+1: 9,315
UTG+2: 5,770
MP1: 6,245
MP2: 3,980
CO: 8,915
Hero (BTN): 11,350
SB: 6,765
Pre-Flop: (390) Q T dealt to Hero (BTN)
5 folds, CO raises to 600, Hero calls 600, 2 folds
Flop: (1,590) K 2 7 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero checks
Turn: (1,590) 4 (2 Players)
CO bets 600, Hero raises to 2,240, CO calls 1,640
River: (6,070) 5 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets 8,500 and is All-In, CO calls 6,065 and is All-In
Results: 18,200 Pot
CO showed J J (a pair of Jacks) and WON 18,200 (+9,285 NET)
Hero showed Q T (high card King) and LOST (-8,915 NET)
Pre-flop is a little loose, but this guy was pretty bad. I know, I know, all the more reason not to bluff him. Anyway, I’m pretty sure he’s got a decent pair smaller than Kings when he checks this flop, since it’s a great one for him to continuation bet if he doesn’t have anything. I almost always flat call the turn, but I decided that given what I knew about my opponent’s hand, he would almost never three-bet me and might fold. So far, so good.
Once he calls and checks a fairly innocuous river, though, it’s not a good time to bluff again. He knows it’s coming, he knows he’s shown weakness and given me incentive to bluff, and he’s not going to fold. My opponent played this one well, and I did not.
Hand 1- I’m shocked people at the $300 level play AK like this…crazy.
Hand 2- Is there any merit to checking the turn to look weak- or to induce a river bluff? He’s calling your cbet with a decent range- but he’s not calling the turn with less than Ax.
The rest seem pretty standard. The A8 bluff never works for me. And the final hand you know you played poorly. There’s just no need to get that fancy when you have an abv avg stack like that…
Hand 2- Checking the turn is a pretty big mistake. It’s so much more important to build a big pot against a big hand than to win one more small bet from a marginal hand or a bluff.
If the average river bet you win after checking is 300, then you’d have to get that bet in more than four times as often as you get two more streets of value with my line to make it more profitable.
Moreover, I don’t think there’s anything deceptive about checking when the Ace comes. It’s a good card to bluff and a time when people often check for pot control/deception if they DO hit the Ace, so I actually think a turn bet is weaker than a check, though granted not everyone sees it that way.
I agree the A8 thing doesn’t work all that well. I do think that it works much better if you call the flop and shove turn than if you just raise flop- they NEVER believe that. Calling flop also gives you a chance to re-evaluate the turn, and as happened here, some opponents will pretty well broadcast where they stand on the turn.
Yeah nothing to say in my defense for the last one.
Okay…I suppose your largish turn bet also looks weak and would do a far better job building a pot than checking. You extracted the maximum from him.