Ramblings

In an effort to get better and to improve my play/discipline, I plan on posting a few hands a week and some thought processes behind it.  Maybe my opponents will read this, maybe not…I guess I don’t really care all that much. This is a pretty simple hand, and although maybe not standard, meh.

I guess I’ll just give my thoughts-

Background: I have been splashy and probably have a little looser image than most other solid players. With that said, I have been quiet as of late (though tilting hardcore on other tables). Villain seems like a looser player, maybe not that good.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi $0.30 Ante – 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $357.60
CO: $697.10
Hero (BTN): $414.25
SB: $247.35
BB: $64.75

Pre Flop: ($4.50) Hero is BTN with 7 7 A T
1 fold, CO raises to $8.50, Hero raises to $25, 2 folds, CO calls $16.50

**PF- I felt like this was probably a semi marginal 3-bet. My hand doesn’t play fantastic in a 3-bet pot. There are a few reasons for this- the pair in my hand hurts my equity (as I’m not going to flop a set that often), the cards aren’t that connected (low straight possibility), and the Td isn’t really even close to a nutted diamond draw. I’m fairly sure I was on raging tilt when I played this hand and frankly didn’t give a shit.

A few notes- I 3-bet smaller when deep typically. I’m not sure if it matters tremendously, but it’s also something I do when 100bb stacked. Because these games play fairly straight foward (that is, any 4-bet = AAxx a high percentage of the time), you can usually play accordingly against these 4-bets. By making your 3-bet sizing smaller, you allow yourself extra room postflop (and allow yourself a better price when calling the 4-bet, if you have such a hand to continue with). I suppose this concept has been carried over to deep tables as well. This is probably not a hand I’d call a 4-bet with, but I’m not exactly sure where it falls in terms of equity/how often it flops ‘well’ vs. AAxx (I would imagine not very).

Using propokertools.com, I see it’s-

Could probably be worse too, depending on the side cards.

With that said, I was on raging tilt and decided to 3-bet. It’s not the worst situation in the world…I have the nut suite, I have some slight connectors, and most importantly, I have position with deep stacks. With this outlook on villain (and previous reads), I should probably inch my 3-betting range more towards value hands and not ‘speculative bad hands’ like this. But, tilt is a funny thing…

Flop: ($54.50) 8 4 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $35, CO calls $35
**Flop- I think this is a pretty clear bet. Checking seems poor, since I have little showdown value and little pot equity. I might check back with something like 978A, or a hand like 46xx (though even still I’d probably just bet/fold). The same concepts apply from NLHE- hands that you dislike getting check/raised on but still have enough equity to continue warrant a check in these situations. Think about when you 3-bet 78 and your opponent calls/checks to you on a 76Tr board…usually a check in most circumstances.

This, however, is not that situation- I DO have blockers, which is an important concept to understand in PLO. Villain can never be completely comfortable check raising even a 2pair type hand when 200bb deep (without some history). The two 7s in my hand allow me to put all barrels away! I do have some slight equity, backdoor flush draw and a gutter to the nuts.

Turn: ($124.50) Q (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $89, CO calls $89
**Turn- Turn is a pretty obvious brick. I suppose there is now a back door flush draw, but meh, shouldn’t really present much concern for me. Villain’s c/c-ing or continuing range now includes some spades I suppose…alternately, I could be doubling spades as well, and very often would.
With that said, I decided to bet the turn again, with the intention of shoving alot of rivers. At this point, I would bet pretty much all 2pairs, straights, semi-bluffs with little value (like the one I have), and I’d probably bet AAxx or Qxxx with the intention of checking behind alot of rivers. I think villain can still continue with alot of pair + gutter hands… a hand like 9T8x or something of that nature will continue. With that said, I don’t think villain will continue to go balls out with 2p or a weak pair by the river.

From the flop onward (and the texture of this flop + my hand blockers), it was pretty much a 3-barrel for me. This is probably a pretty bad outlook, and to derive your plans around pure bluffing like this situation, it’s probably not good. As stated though, I was on tilt…and it was probably the biggest factor for me, and something I need to address.

River: ($302.50) Q (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $264.95 all in, CO requests TIME…

**River- By this time, there is no option…I would say that my river range is fairly polarized…that is, I probably wouldn’t shove without Qx or a straight. I can easily have hands like that in my range, but as far as shoving the river with something like AAxx or 86xx or what have you, probably not going to happen. Even though, thinking about it now, he probably won’t have the balls to call the river shove with something like KKxx regardless…so I suppose shoving 86xx as a bluff wouldn’t be all bad.

I think he has a hand like some weird pair + gutshot type hand, maybe turned spades…I don’t think he’s going to have a straight often (mainly due to blockers), he’s not going to have a tremendous amount of Q’s in his hand either (not too much with the flop matches with that…maybe like 9TQJ? 89TQ? meh…).

So, as stated, moving your hands around straight bluffs from the start, I dunno…I think I’ll have to rethink my strategy. Villain folded after some thought, and I win.

I actually withheld some information- I just realized that villain took a stack from me minutes before this hand that left me quite tilted-

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4705594

It’s just been alot of 75/25 and 80/20s that I’ve been losing, for big pots. Pots that could have easily turned my session/downer around…but alas, poker is a whore sometimes.

I’m not sure if my thought process for this hand is even legit…I am struggling to understand alot of stuff at the moment, and I could very well be wrong. But meh…writing it all helps.