Sunday, December 27, 2009

Night of the Big Hands

With the KQh in my hand, I rivered my first live Royal Flush tonight, and I got paid. The crowd went wild. But the pot was small in comparison of things to come.

There was some discussion at R’s before we started to play. Since there were twelve of us, some people thought we should do a tourney. I was not in that camp. Others were apathetic, and I successfully bent their ears. We played two tables of six. I love me a cash game.

The RF was not my first big hand of the evening. Despite dropping half of my buy-in right off the bat chasing open-enders, second-best flush and the like, I went on to make a nice profit on a Q high flush, my Jacks held up in the SB, and, I was soon up a good $40 over my initial $80 buy-in (.50/1.00).

Lin raises to $3 from UTG +1. Fuck Phil calls from the SB. I find Kings in the BB and pop it to $16. You would think that would narrow the field, but both players call. Both players are calling stations preflop, and both will play almost any hand, making ranges hard to figure. Even though both will see a flop at almost any cost, but FP is a much more sophisticated player than Lin. If Lin had Aces, he would have re-popped me preflop. The flop comes T 8 7 rainbow. Either one could very well have a set. Yet, FP will also play connectors, J9 suited and the like for any price if we’re deep. And we were, at least for this game, at 60+ BBs.

FP will let you do the betting for him. I felt I was restricted with the one pair, and played accordingly weak-tight by not making it too expensive to continue. Not that betting big would have helped. Last time we played FP, defended his blind (67 off) and snapped my Aces on the Button. I didn’t want a repeat performance, and by the river (I had them both covered), FP was acting like he had it by going all in with his remaining $32 in a $100 pot. Lin had pittance left but I couldn’t call FP’s bet with just the pair. Lin had QQ, FP had a smaller pair and straight draw. I was beside myself.*

It took me a while to regain my composure. Lin was sitting over there grinning like a Cheshire, and FP (back in for $80) was sulking. Even though I was again below my buy-in, I sat determined.

The game is dealer’s choice, and after a couple orbits of J4 off and the like in NL Hold ‘em, when it came to my deal again, I decided to shift the odds to my favor with some NL Omaha hi. It limped around to me with 7d7h8s9h. To make a long story short, a flop of 568 did the trick and I bet the pot. Two callers, Lin and FP again. I had FP all-in on the turn (T), Lin folded, the river was a J, and FP failed to improve on his set of eights. I was now over where I was before the Kings debacle.

AQ pre from the Button brought me more good fortune with two pair, Kings were good to go against a shortie with Jacks all-in, and I left a hundred up. New Year’s Day R is having an all-day game with both tourneys and cash games. I’ll be playing with other people’s money.

* I spoke to Phil about the hand later. I asked him his rationale for taking me off of the best hand when it was clear he was behind both Lin and I, and it was equally clear that Lin wasn’t folding. His response was “I had to do something, and I thought you might have AK.” I’m going to be thinking about this hand for some time to come, for within it lies answers to how I might improve my game, and further disguise it at the same time.

8 comments:

Forrest Gump said...

Congrats on the winning session.

In that spot with KK its a fairly simple pot odds situation? The final amount to call didn't seem great in relation to the pot? Did you ask the question "How many times must i have the best hand here to be correct in calling?".

Can you recall what the pot was laying?



FG

TenMile said...

Good playing. If your gut said fold 'em - well, sir.

matt tag said...

I think I can help you with your kings. Read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-No-Limit-Hold-em-I/dp/188068540X

It discusses "stack to pot" ratios (SPRs), which is the effective stack divided by the starting pot as the flop is dealt.

In this case, the pot was about $48, and the effective stacks (if they started at 60), are 44 BB.

Stack to pot ratio is therefore right about 1. (48/44).

I won't ruin the book completely for you, but knowing the SPR as the flop is dealt tells you how to correctly play many types of hands, including overpairs. It lets you make the correct profitable decision before seeing the flop!

Wouldn't it have been easier for you to be thinking "as long as an ace doesn't flop right now, I can profitably get all-in here no matter what they're holding?"

bastinptc said...

There was $92 in the pot after the flop. Phil put his last $32 in on the turn (I can't remember the card...a 2 or 3, I seem to recall). I was getting 3 to 1, so yes, I suppose I should have called. Truth be told, both guys are such luck boxes that I didn't want to be down to a $30 stack, so yeah, I was scared money, which is the worst kind of weak-tight player there is.

What I should have done is look at Lin's stack after the flop, and raise that amount. Hindsight...

bastinptc said...

Pardon me, I mean "bet" that amount.

Memphis MOJO said...

well you left a winner, so that's the bottom line.

Forrest Gump said...

"What I should have done is look at Lin's stack after the flop, and raise that amount. Hindsight..."

That B&M for you. Keeping track of the pot and stacks sizes really can be tricky. I haven't played B&M in ages and I know I'll be awful the first few sessions. :/

I think you might have been actually getting 4-1 in that spot, in which case I'd take a breath and ask myself "Am i good here 20% of the time".


FG

PS Moj,not sure if i agree with you there. Whether you finish up or down is mostly determined by the cards you're dealt. I can walk away from a losing cash session satisfied if i think i made good decisions and minimized what could have been a much bigger losing session.

FkCoolers said...

"What I should have done is look at Lin's stack after the flop, and raise that amount. Hindsight..."

I agree with this. FP's lead out isn't big enough to make you fold and this type of lead is often times a drawing hand instead of a made hand/set.

And you want to re-raise to iso here like every single time to reduce your chances of someone binking a card on you.