Archive for January, 2010

a hand…

Posted by orange in Uncategorized on January 3, 2010

saw this thread in ssnl-
Villain is 18/11/AF58% over ~100 hands, no other reads

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($112)
Hero ($121)
CO ($17)
BTN ($20)
SB ($117)
BB ($100)

Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1 3 3
UTG raises to $3, Hero calls $3, 3 folds, BB calls $2

Flop: 2 3 8 ($9.50, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: 7 ($9.50, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $6, Hero raises to $18, BB folds, UTG raises to $58, Hero ???

I thought this hand was pretty interesting overall. The responses in the thread don’t make alot of sense (imo)…some are saying that checking the flop is fine, which I disagree with. And even if it would be fine, raising the turn seems very contradictory.
PF= obviously fine.
Flop= I think is a bet, and not really too close. Not only should you be stealing here a fair amount, but checking does alot of things…
-won’t allow us to get value. this one should go without saying.
-fucks our ranges…if we aren’t betting this flop with a set mmmm? we should be betting this flop with alot of hands for alot of reasons.
What I most hate about not betting the flop is it forces us to take strange lines in a bad manner on latter streets for value. Note the post- hero’s turn line is fairly contradictory to the entire logic of the flop line- If villain has a big hand (and is stacking off) then one would expect to get action from a flop bet. It’s not like all of a sudden he’s going to go insane on a brick turn when we raise. It seems like if we want to maintain balance, it’d be best to just flat call the turn…though, obviously worse for value.
I suppose it’s good to occasionally use unconventional lines. But when your line is inconsistent with really any hand you’d take it with, it seems poor. Like…what would you ever really raise the turn with in that 33 hand aside from a set or perhaps 87? Maybe like 56ss? I guess a check flop/call turn/jam river line wouldn’t be all that bad, but again, you’re not really going to do that with a very wide range.
Our goal in poker is to be unpredictable, to mix our ranges and to play our hands in the most +EV way possible. With the emergence of better players and harder games, it’s important to start to think about balance. More importantly, it’s vital that we start to think about future streets. All of these unusual (and probably overly strong) plays can be seen in this hand by the mistake of not betting the flop. The combination of the flop check and turn/river raises makes it very hard for us to attain value…value from hands that would have give us action on a flop bet to begin with.
I’ve been thinking…should we bet this flop with our entire range? Continuing on various turn cards? I don’t know. I suppose it’s fine to have a checking range, though, I think I’d prefer not having a hand that I could play for stacks…then again, villain’s range (should) typically be a bit weak, given that he will typically bet the flop himself with an overpair (I would think).
So in short, given the flop check by our opponent, we should expect a fairly weak range (since he would bet the flop with most all overpairs + sets/etc). I don’t really know what to think of the combination of the flop check/turn raise though, and I’m not really a fan overall.Betting the flop not only makes this hand 100x easier to play (which shouldn’t really be the goal) but it’s more +EV in a general sense as well.
As is, I guess I’d just stack off.
Anyways, I’ve been fairly frustrated lately, the last poker session didn’t end well. Lost with AJ on JTx to KQ, lost to AQ to a MP overlimp (a TAG overlimped AA?), lost a straight to a higher straight in a 3-bet pot, lost with AA pf, and lost with a flush when I had to fold to a TAG’s river donk ship when the board paired (lol @ his play).
I need to get better…I need to play better. I quit after losing with Aces because I could instantly feel tilt coming in, something that I’m not proud of. I’ll have more opportunity to play in the future…as is, I have enough money saved up to where I can sustain this bad run (thank god). But I’m also not even sure how much longer I wish to play poker. We’ll see…

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Year in Perspective/Goals/etc

Posted by orange in Uncategorized on January 2, 2010

Haven’t posted in a while, haven’t felt like writing much. This past year has been disappointing monetarily. I didn’t make really much at all relatively and its disappointing. I didn’t play a whole lot, but with that said, breaking even still sucks. I probably played 100k hands or so for the year, if that. PLO hands run much slower as well.

My last downer pretty much killed any motivation I had as well as alot of winnings. I probably lost like $15k or something over like 20k hands at 1/2 PLO. I wasn’t playing fantastic and I wasn’t running very well either. With that said, I’m happy that I’m moving forward…a new year is a fresh start. Results from the past don’t matter, and the year is beginning on a nice $0.00 mark. Results aside, I did learn alot, even though the results didn’t quite show it.

Aside from poker, this year was successful. I had a great spring in senior year and a very memorable summer. I was able to see new places and learn new things (scuba diving and rock climbing to name two). This past fall semester I graduated, and am now done with school. Football was excellent and I’m disappointed now that it’s over.

This coming year I have one main goal: to be happy. I’m not setting any poker goals. I have stuff that would be nice to accomplish, but I’m not going to kill myself if they don’t happen. I want to play more, that’s for sure. But more importantly, I’m going to play because I WANT to. I’ve often found that when I force myself to play, bad things happen. I’m not going to fill a quota each month, that’s absurd. I want to reinstall some discipline in my game, to start studying more poker.

I want to travel more this coming year. I’m thinking about doing a Southwest Asia trip with another friend, do some hiking/trekking/rock climbing around that area. I’m thinking a 5-6 weeks or so would be pretty good. I’m still on the fence on whether or not I’m going to do Vegas this year. Seeing friends is pretty fun and I might want to come back home during that time (I’m thinking about traveling before Vegas).

Workout wise, I want to get better at cardio. I also want to get better at rock climbing. This new gym I’m at is tough, and much harder in their ranking than my other gym. With that said, I like it, and I like the challenge.My technique is still pretty raw and I’ve been getting by on my strength alone (which I need to improve).

Probably won’t play poker today. Haven’t played the last few days due to watching lots of college football. Florida fucking crushed yesterday and I was elated that Meyer and Tebow can go out on a good memory. Gl to all and hopefully 2010 is a good one

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