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These Days
Jul. 21st, 2007 05:41 pmIt's been a struggly-wuggly month at the tables. As per usual for we players with absolutely no self-confidence, I become (erroneously) convinced that other players are "on to me". But, on the plus side, the penalty for being wrong at No Limit prevents me from assuming that all playbacks and reraises are people who are "at it", rather than WTDs who have hit their hand ... again. And I'm still in profit.
What I used to do at Limit (particularly on weekend mornings when I would be playing the loosey-gooseys playing late at night in the US) was call people down with my Top Pair, only to see it lose, because I became convinced that players were trying it on. At No Limit I've learnt a few things. One is, don't turn your AQ into a seven-deuce. This sound piece of advice has worked well for me.
Uniquely, I actually folded KK pre-flop in one hand last week -- something I don't recall ever doing before and which I don't plan to do again. Equally uniquely, opponent showed his AA after a ridiculous overbet all-in to my reraise. I think it went something like ... he raised the BB of $1 to $4 in MP3, and I raised to $14 in the cut-off. He then reraised all in to $96 or thereabouts (I had this covered). And I was still likely to call, until I looked at his stats and saw rockety-rockety not-very-aggressive staring out at me. Unless the guy had an aneurysm, I oculdn't see the guy having anything but AA.
Nice of him to show it to me after I folded, though.
I think that I was a mite unlucky in the hand that follows, but I'm not sure how I can get away for losing less unless I fold the river, for which there is an argument. The size of his bet was nicely done. Anything of $20 or above would probably elicit a fold, while at $15 or above, given the guy's rather weak-tight stats, I'm also likely to fold.
I'm getting rather hesitant to post hand histories any more, to be honest. I'm not sure that I'm getting much help out of it; rather, I just get battered confidence that it takes me some time to overcome (also one of the reasons that I don't let people hear the results of my piano practice!). I suspect that (to be boringly Freudian) this rather goes back to my youth and the lack of intellectual encouragement I received ... certainly nothing from teachers and even less from my contemporaries. All this made the perpetual criticisms I received of the efforts that I made (imperfect that they were) cause me to keep the work that I did to myself. I thought that I had got over this, but ovbviously part of it still remains, deep down.
But I know that some of you find them interesting and helpful and I guess that it keeps the readership up, so, there's one reason to keep including them!
And, well, it is an unusual hand.
NL Hold ‘em 50c/$1, $100 buy-in
Seat 1 manurafael ($17.75)
Seat 2: ratseht ($97.00 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: Villain ($36.00 in chips)
Seat 6: amjhoo ($33.55 in chips)
Seat 8: haegie001 ($18.00 in chips)
Seat 9: pelmenis111 ($124.40 in chips)
Seat 10: orangetea1 ($37.30 in chips)
Hero: Post SB $0.50
Villain: Post BB $1.00
* HOLE CARDS *
Dealt to Hero [A♡ J♠]
amjhoo: Fold
haegie001: Fold
pelmenis111: Call $1.00
manurafael: Call $1.00
ratseht: Fold
Hero: Call $0.50
Villain: Check
FLOP [Q◊ K◊ T◊]
Hero: Bet $4.00
Villain: Call $4.00
pelmenis111: Fold
manurafael: Fold
* TURN * [2♣]
Hero: Bet $7.00
Villain: Call $7.00
The weak-tight-players at this level (this guy was 10%/3%) don't tend to go for draws in this situation. They might call the flop, but not often the turn. He can't really have a set (he wouldn't be likely to flat-call on such a wet board). Two-pair is a possibility, and he might have something like a pair with a draw to the nut flush/nut straight. But I seriously think that I am likely to be in trouble here. I'll await the size of opponent's bet on the river before making my final decision.
* RIVER * [Q♠]
Hero: Check
Villain: Bet $13.00
Ugh, that's a horrible half-pot size bet. And he'd make that kind of bet with a Queen, I should think. I still don't like it. But folding here feels wrong as well. I'm genuinely ambivalent.
Hero: Call $13.00
Hero shows A♡ J♠ for straight AKQJT
Villain shows A◊ J◊ for Royal Flush
* SUMMARY *
Total pot $49.40 Rake $2.60
Villain: wins $49.40
Oh. Well, a nice river bet there. But it's not often you flop a straight in the small blind only to come up against a flopped Royal Flush in the Big Blind.
What I used to do at Limit (particularly on weekend mornings when I would be playing the loosey-gooseys playing late at night in the US) was call people down with my Top Pair, only to see it lose, because I became convinced that players were trying it on. At No Limit I've learnt a few things. One is, don't turn your AQ into a seven-deuce. This sound piece of advice has worked well for me.
Uniquely, I actually folded KK pre-flop in one hand last week -- something I don't recall ever doing before and which I don't plan to do again. Equally uniquely, opponent showed his AA after a ridiculous overbet all-in to my reraise. I think it went something like ... he raised the BB of $1 to $4 in MP3, and I raised to $14 in the cut-off. He then reraised all in to $96 or thereabouts (I had this covered). And I was still likely to call, until I looked at his stats and saw rockety-rockety not-very-aggressive staring out at me. Unless the guy had an aneurysm, I oculdn't see the guy having anything but AA.
Nice of him to show it to me after I folded, though.
I think that I was a mite unlucky in the hand that follows, but I'm not sure how I can get away for losing less unless I fold the river, for which there is an argument. The size of his bet was nicely done. Anything of $20 or above would probably elicit a fold, while at $15 or above, given the guy's rather weak-tight stats, I'm also likely to fold.
I'm getting rather hesitant to post hand histories any more, to be honest. I'm not sure that I'm getting much help out of it; rather, I just get battered confidence that it takes me some time to overcome (also one of the reasons that I don't let people hear the results of my piano practice!). I suspect that (to be boringly Freudian) this rather goes back to my youth and the lack of intellectual encouragement I received ... certainly nothing from teachers and even less from my contemporaries. All this made the perpetual criticisms I received of the efforts that I made (imperfect that they were) cause me to keep the work that I did to myself. I thought that I had got over this, but ovbviously part of it still remains, deep down.
But I know that some of you find them interesting and helpful and I guess that it keeps the readership up, so, there's one reason to keep including them!
And, well, it is an unusual hand.
NL Hold ‘em 50c/$1, $100 buy-in
Seat 1 manurafael ($17.75)
Seat 2: ratseht ($97.00 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: Villain ($36.00 in chips)
Seat 6: amjhoo ($33.55 in chips)
Seat 8: haegie001 ($18.00 in chips)
Seat 9: pelmenis111 ($124.40 in chips)
Seat 10: orangetea1 ($37.30 in chips)
Hero: Post SB $0.50
Villain: Post BB $1.00
* HOLE CARDS *
Dealt to Hero [A♡ J♠]
amjhoo: Fold
haegie001: Fold
pelmenis111: Call $1.00
manurafael: Call $1.00
ratseht: Fold
Hero: Call $0.50
Villain: Check
FLOP [Q◊ K◊ T◊]
Hero: Bet $4.00
Villain: Call $4.00
pelmenis111: Fold
manurafael: Fold
* TURN * [2♣]
Hero: Bet $7.00
Villain: Call $7.00
The weak-tight-players at this level (this guy was 10%/3%) don't tend to go for draws in this situation. They might call the flop, but not often the turn. He can't really have a set (he wouldn't be likely to flat-call on such a wet board). Two-pair is a possibility, and he might have something like a pair with a draw to the nut flush/nut straight. But I seriously think that I am likely to be in trouble here. I'll await the size of opponent's bet on the river before making my final decision.
* RIVER * [Q♠]
Hero: Check
Villain: Bet $13.00
Ugh, that's a horrible half-pot size bet. And he'd make that kind of bet with a Queen, I should think. I still don't like it. But folding here feels wrong as well. I'm genuinely ambivalent.
Hero: Call $13.00
Hero shows A♡ J♠ for straight AKQJT
Villain shows A◊ J◊ for Royal Flush
* SUMMARY *
Total pot $49.40 Rake $2.60
Villain: wins $49.40
Oh. Well, a nice river bet there. But it's not often you flop a straight in the small blind only to come up against a flopped Royal Flush in the Big Blind.
