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peterbirksAnother good day yesterday. Nothing spectacular, just a steady accumulation of chips. indeed, the best performance by me was one in which I minimized my loss, rather than maximized my gain. It's an important tenet in poker; a dollar not lost is as valuable as a dollar won.
I didn't have a single double-through, but I won five or six "reasonable" sized pots through bets on the turn, and a few more of a reasonable size when I adopted the sound strategy of having the best hand at showdown (this is intrinsically linked with another sound strategy – improving your hand on the flop).
Hands worth commenting upon:
1) 7d6d in cutoff. I throw in small raise of a couple of limpers (a) to build pot (b) to make it a multi-wayer and (c) to make any inveterate larger raisers behind me or in the blind have second thoughts. Flop comes Kd Qd Jd. I put in a pot-sized bet (a) because I'm happy to win a $40 here and now and (b) I can't see the bare Ad or Td having the courage to fold. No callers. Said to dealer. "Wrong straight flush!" (There's a $100 bonus for a straight flush and a $500 bonus for a Royal Flush - using two cards in hand).
2) Ah4h in late. Same strategy of a small raise to build pot. Five callers. This time, the flop is the less generous 4s5hJd. I fire a $16 continuation and get two callers (button and big blind). Turn brings 9h, giving me bottom pair and a nut flush draw. I push in a $37 bet and, rather disappointingly, I get a caller – the button. River is As, making a board of 4s 5h Jd 9h As. There's about $120 in pot and I have about $100 behind. Opponent has about $80. I bottle it and check, intending to evaluate whether I call opponent's bet on how big the bet is. TBH he doesn't look like a bluffer. Unfortunately if I put in any bet above $15, I'm kind of committed to calling his raise (he might have a worse two pair). Anyhoo, he turns out to have JhQh – also a flush draw, but beating me on the flop and turn. I suspect he would have called a $15 bet from me and not much more. Slightly annoyed at myself for not extracting maximum value on the river.
3) KsKh in late. Raise, get three callers, including early limper. Flop comes 9c 5d 4d and early limper fires out $20 bet into $30 pot. I think for about three seconds and fold. Other players fold and original bettor obligingly shows his top set of nines. I doubt that many players could find a fold there, but he didn't look tricky enough to me to be betting a draw. I was fairly sure that he would check an overpair, so the logical conclusion was that, like many weak players, he saw not only his set but also the scare cards 5d4d, and made the mistaken assumption that "there is always a draw out there". Was very pleased indeed with this fold, which I don't think I would have found a few months ago. With $1-$2 players, most of the time what you see is what you get. A big bet represents a big hand, not a draw.
Greg Hawes was playing the $500 one-dayer at Planet Hollywood, and despite building up to 10x his starting stack in a 43-runner field, managed to lose three coin-flips in a row to move from chip-leader to bust in 18th. That's the way he plays and it seems to work.
That permitted us time for a pleasant dinner at Lombardi's (opposite V Theater on Miracle Mile – where I saw Bob Dylan in 2005!) and, despite it being an Italian, I spoilt myself with an excellent 16oz bone-in rib-eye steak, with shitake mushrooms, asparagus, and small diced roast potatoes. I didn't finish the potatoes! Greg had a shrimp-based pasta dish followed by a cheesecake and Irish coffee.
Had an interesting discussion with Daniel the maitre d' about how the definition of "medium rare" had become something of a movable feast in the USA over the past decade, with some restaurants moving very close to the European definition, while others have moved less quickly.
Also we had an odd moment when the waitress asked Greg whether he wanted whipped cream and crème de menthe. I thought she was referring to the cheesecake, but apparently she was referring to the Irish coffee. It took me several minutes to work out why anyone would want to mix crème de menthe with coffee and whiskey – a combination of flavours which sounds to me to be utterly repulsive. Th answer of course was in the colour of crème de menthe, not the flavour. Personally, if I was determined to put green colour into anything called "Irish". in this case I would choose Green Chartreuse rather than crème de menthe (a drink forever in my mind associated with the Billy Connolly story told at The Secret Policeman's Ball, "What does the pope drink? Creme de Menthe? Two pints of that then please".)
Dinner was made even more pleasant by the fact that Greg insisted on paying. May he cash in WSOP tournaments more often!
And so, back to the apartment rather early, rather tired and rather full.
Plus $205 for the day, plus $273 for trip. I am now just trying to beat my plus $978 performance in December.
I didn't have a single double-through, but I won five or six "reasonable" sized pots through bets on the turn, and a few more of a reasonable size when I adopted the sound strategy of having the best hand at showdown (this is intrinsically linked with another sound strategy – improving your hand on the flop).
Hands worth commenting upon:
1) 7d6d in cutoff. I throw in small raise of a couple of limpers (a) to build pot (b) to make it a multi-wayer and (c) to make any inveterate larger raisers behind me or in the blind have second thoughts. Flop comes Kd Qd Jd. I put in a pot-sized bet (a) because I'm happy to win a $40 here and now and (b) I can't see the bare Ad or Td having the courage to fold. No callers. Said to dealer. "Wrong straight flush!" (There's a $100 bonus for a straight flush and a $500 bonus for a Royal Flush - using two cards in hand).
2) Ah4h in late. Same strategy of a small raise to build pot. Five callers. This time, the flop is the less generous 4s5hJd. I fire a $16 continuation and get two callers (button and big blind). Turn brings 9h, giving me bottom pair and a nut flush draw. I push in a $37 bet and, rather disappointingly, I get a caller – the button. River is As, making a board of 4s 5h Jd 9h As. There's about $120 in pot and I have about $100 behind. Opponent has about $80. I bottle it and check, intending to evaluate whether I call opponent's bet on how big the bet is. TBH he doesn't look like a bluffer. Unfortunately if I put in any bet above $15, I'm kind of committed to calling his raise (he might have a worse two pair). Anyhoo, he turns out to have JhQh – also a flush draw, but beating me on the flop and turn. I suspect he would have called a $15 bet from me and not much more. Slightly annoyed at myself for not extracting maximum value on the river.
3) KsKh in late. Raise, get three callers, including early limper. Flop comes 9c 5d 4d and early limper fires out $20 bet into $30 pot. I think for about three seconds and fold. Other players fold and original bettor obligingly shows his top set of nines. I doubt that many players could find a fold there, but he didn't look tricky enough to me to be betting a draw. I was fairly sure that he would check an overpair, so the logical conclusion was that, like many weak players, he saw not only his set but also the scare cards 5d4d, and made the mistaken assumption that "there is always a draw out there". Was very pleased indeed with this fold, which I don't think I would have found a few months ago. With $1-$2 players, most of the time what you see is what you get. A big bet represents a big hand, not a draw.
Greg Hawes was playing the $500 one-dayer at Planet Hollywood, and despite building up to 10x his starting stack in a 43-runner field, managed to lose three coin-flips in a row to move from chip-leader to bust in 18th. That's the way he plays and it seems to work.
That permitted us time for a pleasant dinner at Lombardi's (opposite V Theater on Miracle Mile – where I saw Bob Dylan in 2005!) and, despite it being an Italian, I spoilt myself with an excellent 16oz bone-in rib-eye steak, with shitake mushrooms, asparagus, and small diced roast potatoes. I didn't finish the potatoes! Greg had a shrimp-based pasta dish followed by a cheesecake and Irish coffee.
Had an interesting discussion with Daniel the maitre d' about how the definition of "medium rare" had become something of a movable feast in the USA over the past decade, with some restaurants moving very close to the European definition, while others have moved less quickly.
Also we had an odd moment when the waitress asked Greg whether he wanted whipped cream and crème de menthe. I thought she was referring to the cheesecake, but apparently she was referring to the Irish coffee. It took me several minutes to work out why anyone would want to mix crème de menthe with coffee and whiskey – a combination of flavours which sounds to me to be utterly repulsive. Th answer of course was in the colour of crème de menthe, not the flavour. Personally, if I was determined to put green colour into anything called "Irish". in this case I would choose Green Chartreuse rather than crème de menthe (a drink forever in my mind associated with the Billy Connolly story told at The Secret Policeman's Ball, "What does the pope drink? Creme de Menthe? Two pints of that then please".)
Dinner was made even more pleasant by the fact that Greg insisted on paying. May he cash in WSOP tournaments more often!
And so, back to the apartment rather early, rather tired and rather full.
Plus $205 for the day, plus $273 for trip. I am now just trying to beat my plus $978 performance in December.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-25 04:49 pm (UTC)Love the turn bet, but horrible not betting that rivered two pair!
How much longer are you out there for?
no subject
Date: 2015-06-26 04:16 am (UTC)Yes, I was almost immediately annoyed with myself for not extracting value on river with the A4, but these mistakes are much easier to make in the heat of the game than one would think. The object is to try to play perfectly, but the skill is not to go on tilt when you know that you have failed so to do. Move on, learn, try not to repeat but don't beat yourself up about it.
some comments about your hands played
Date: 2015-07-11 10:36 pm (UTC)a (small) raise with this hand is usually wasted money as you simply just build the pot and see a flop multiway. You flop 2p 2% of the time, trips .7%, a full house .09%, a flush .84% and a straight 1.3%. But not all of the boards where you end up having 2p+ on the flop roughly 3% of the time will make you feel comfortable and play for stacks (like this one). And on alot of boards you won't be getting much action (like on this one). So what is the plan for the other 97% of the time? If you are shutting down unless you hit 2p+ then being "happy to win $40 here" is a -EV play.
It boils down to where you want your profits to come from. If you want it to come from people limp/calling bad hands and playing fit/fold on the flop and you cbetting favorable hands, then you don't want to build a multiway pot because cbetting multiway is generally hard to do, especially at 1/2 where your profits are coming mainly from getting value. If you want your profits to come from getting in cheaply and playing better than your opponents after the flop by making more money with winning hands and loosing less with losing hands, then a raise here is -EV and you don't want to "take it down here", you want to get value, which is, on this board, quite a narrow range because any Q or J are not putting much more in there because you tell them you have the flush or a K. So in this case, checking back to get another bet from a Q or a J is the better play.
Not sure if you did play shorter stacked in this hand but if you did, it makes the raise worse.
Ah4h: same concept as above. How big was the pot on the flop? What are you trying to accomplish with a $16 bet? If you raised (even though small) and get 5 callers, the pot is at least 40 I presume so not sure what a bet of $16 is supposed to accomplish. With 5 callers, chances are very high that someone is holding a Jack so the 9 is a bad card to "double barrel" on the turn (allthough I would argue your turn bet is not a double barrel). You are disappointed that you got 2 callers but if I assume the pot size correctly on the turn, it should be around 90ish so you are betting less than half pot. Which hands are folding to this bet that called you on the turn? At 1/2, even weaker 4s and 5s will continue to call you (remember the dude with 23s in another hand you posted?). Are you sure about the pot size of $120 on the river? Doesn't add up with the described action. In any case. The turn can be a shove or a check/call, depending if the opponent is laying your the proper odds (and if he is paying you off when the flush hits). Pushing has the advantage of folding out better hands, being ahead of hands that call you incorrectly and when called and behind, you have a good number of outs and are guaranteed to get paid when you hit. Betting $37 is probably the least favorable option. On the river you leave alot of money on the table. People will call you here more because the flush didn't hit, not less because the Ace hit. Also people at 1/2 don't like folding the river if they have put in money on the flop and turn so definitely value bet here close to half pot.
KsKh: agree that donking out is not a draw, it's usually top pair, which on this board is not really there. I think folding here to a lead is nitty and super exploitable but since at 1/2, no one is exploiting us really, is not the biggest issu. Combinations wise I'm inclined to say you loose more though by folding than min3b/folding but I don't know stack sizes of you or your opponent. Alof of people at 1/2 also like to go for a huge check/raise on this board rather than leading so if you fold to a lead and all check/raises and have no defense against this, it is likely to be -EV play as almost every fold needs to be correct to make it the correct play to counterbalance lost EV when incorrectly folding.