Another Typical Day

OMG....I can't believe the sheer number of suckouts and beats I have taken today. It is unreal. Below I am going to post some of the beats I have taken and maybe I'll find a way I could have played the hands better. For the most part, I have just run into some very loose players, who I trapped badly by the way, and they get there in the end. Most of the hands the villain was a HUGE underdog to win. Not just a coin flip situation, but a really big dog to win.
HAND #1
I came in for a standard raise, and got re-raised by the big blind. The big blind had been three betting quite a bit and I didn't really want to get too frisky with the hand before the flop, especially with the hitchhiker. His re-raise was really small, so I decided to see the flop. Sure enough I flop a 10. There's no draw out, except 89, but I know he's not raising with that. More than likely he has exactly what he had. He overbets the pot and shoves and gets there in the end.
HAND #2
This one was probably the most frustrating. We are on the bubble. Again, very loose player. I three bet him a few times, once with KK and got shoved then rivered by A9 off. The other times I was light, so I had to drop the hand to his shove. So I started playing flops with him. Then this hand came up. He makes a pretty standard raise from the button. So his range is pretty much any two big cards, any ace, any pair, probably any connected cards above a 7. I get KJ suited and since I'm out of position, want to see the flop. Again, I flop top two and decide to check-raise all in. I ususally don't check-raise, but I know he will bet just about any flop. There's a couple of broadway draws, but I know I'm a huge favorite to win. So we get the money in, and sure enough, he gets there on the river.
HAND #3
This one is simply hilarious. First, look at the chip stacks. There is a short stack with only about 4 big blinds left, and he's going through the blinds shortly. The short stack has been playing very passive and is sure to blind out soon. Second, I have the big blind covered, and have not made many moves at him. So I get a pocket pair and looked over at the short stack. I knew that without AA or KK, maybe even QQ, JJ, or AK, he's not going to call. So I push on him, and to my surprise he calls. At first I was shitting myself. Did I just run into a monster? How could he put his tourney on the line without one? The cards flip and it's 66 vs. 55. Of course he spikes a 5 and it leaves me crippled. Ironically, the short stack is the one that eliminated me. Such a horrible play on his part. To put your tourney on the line with a short stack and not even pay attention to the situation is pretty typical of low limit players.
HAND #4
This one is pretty typical of how I've been running lately. I know it's a race from the get go, and I don't mind racing at this point. I have been running really cold lately, and when I get a hand, I'm prepared to go with it. So I make a standard raise under the gun with AQ. I get re-raised by a player I have played against numerous times. I know he is capable of making this play with just about any pair and most of the time, he will fold to a three bet shove. So I push, and he calls with JJ. Not so bad, it's a coin flip. I turn a queen, then he gets there on the river. Gotta love it when you are getting nothing but frozen cards.
So, it's been an up and down day. The day started out well, but just got progressively more worse. I couldn't believe how many times I would get a big pair, and some loose idiot would shove, then hit their set. I'm not kidding, I had an overpair to their underpair 6 times, and each time they hit their set. Other than that, 3 out of the 5 times I had KK and got called by a weak ace, and each time an ace hit the flop. KK, QQ, JJ, 10's, nothing was holding and whenever I got AK or AQ, the flop would come 8 high or 3 to a flush. SO hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
On another note, I made another deep run in the $32,000 Guarantee and made a dumb mistake at the end. I just barely went out before the money. But, what can you do? It just seemed like everybody who called my raises was going to flop the nuts. That's pretty much the way it went today. I raised with AK, the flop comes A-K-10, and of course they called with QJ. The only thing I have to remember, is to play small ball and keep the LAG's at bay.
So time to get my head back in the game, and make a good run. Good luck at the tables.
UPDATE: I played a couple of multi-table tourneys, and I ran like total dog shit. I couldn't get a hand to save my life. Then when I did get a hand, it either didn't connect with the flop or they drew out on me. I went out in both tourneys with two very dumb moves that I shouldn't have made. The first, I raised the big blind and checked the flop, then moved on the turn. I didn't even stop to think about what he might have or whether or not my hand was good. Sure enough, he flopped the nuts, go figure. In the second tourney, I limped in the small blind, the big blind raised, I flat called. The flop came Q-9-8 with two clubs. I had KJ with the jack of clubs. I check called the flop then pushed the turn when another club hit. Sure enough, he had AA with the ace of clubs. I had 3 outs to the straight, but that's it. I shouldn't have made either one of these moves.
In the low limit tourneys you will find so many loose aggro's and calling stations it gets ridiculous, especially if you're not catching any kind of playable hand. You see them showing down K5 and Q6 and winning pots, while you get sucked out on with AK and QQ. Here's a good one for you. I'm in the BB with AK off, and the button raises my blind for the third orbit in a row. Every other time I had 52 and 84 so there wasn't much I could do, because I knew he was the kind of player that overvalued two big cards and would go with it. So I just had to wait. So he raises me again, and I three bet him 2.5X's his raise. He shoves for about 4X's my raise. He has me covered but I know that worst case scenario we're racing. He had K10 off. He lost the pot and I was in really good shape in the tourney, until I pulled the complete moron play. So, I just have to keep my wits and brain in the game. Don't run on auto pilot or try to bluff a player off a hand I know they won't get rid of. Most players just cannot release top pair, no matter what they have. The sheer number of times I saw pots getting jammed only for one guy to show AQ and the other to show A4 or A5 was totally insane.

June Ironman and MTT

I played in the Silver Ironman freeroll last weekend. I finished in the money for the fifth time in a row. I was making a good run in the tourney but eventually went card dead and players were shoving my raises which left me no options. I finally pick up AK and raise. The small blind shoves and I call it off. His 77 held and I was out. I also played in a couple of multi-table tourneys this week.
The tourney last night went horribly. Early in the tourney I just could not pick up a hand. The blinds were at 25/50 and I was sitting on 1500. I pick up AK and a weak passive player limps under the gun. I had him on AJ+ and 6's-10's. So I raise to 200 trying to get it heads up and eliminate anyone else from coming into the pot. It folds around to the limper and he limp-shoves. I have seen a few players do this with AA and KK. However, since I have AK it eliminates some of the possibilities and the odds that he has one of those hands are diminished. Most of the time, whenever I see this play, they show a small pair. So I call of my stack and he shows KK. I guess it was a good play on his part. I was only a 2:1 dog and hit my ace on the river. I did flop an inside straight draw and turned a flush draw, so all was not lost. So I double through and eventually build my stack to about 44,000.
Within 3 hands, I was out and went from the top 25 to out in 104th. The first hand was a basic coin flip situation. Short stack shoved for 8 big blinds, I have AK in the big blind, his 77 held. The very next hand I pick up JJ in the small blind. Another short stack shoves and I call again. He shows AQ and turns a queen. Now I'm one of the shorter stacks. I get K10 suited in the cutoff. I'm the first in the pot and with a stack of 18,000 I raise to 2300 with the blinds at 400/800 with 100 ante. The small blind calls and the flop comes Q-J-4 with the face cards diamonds. I have K10 of diamonds. The small blind checks to me. There is 6300 in the pot, so I bet 4500. He check-raises all in. I had a feeling he didn't have a queen or a jack, I can't explain why, sometimes your instincts will guide you. I just felt that he was making a move with either an underpair or a 4. So I thought I could hit 9 diamonds, 3 kings, 3 10's, 3 aces, or 3 9's. 14 outs would make me a favorite. I had 21 outs to make my hand, which was pretty much half the deck. Even if I could only count the straight and flush draw I would still be a slight favorite. So I call, he shows 77, so I'm about 74% to win. The turn pairs the jack which give me more outs. I can now hit an ace, king, queen, 10, 9, or diamond. A brick hits the river and I'm gone. So minor cash but still frustrating. If I win any of those races I might have been able to make a good run.
The sheer number of loose aggro players I have run into is pretty shocking. I don't mind playing loose aggro players. The problem is when they are hitting decks and flops and you can't get dealt anything. Just to give an example. I have QQ in middle position on a very loose table. Come in for a raise of 3 times the blind. The big blind calls, and the flop comes 664 with two spades. BB checks to me. I'm getting short and decide to push my hand. He check raised me after I put about 1/3 of my chips in the pot. Of course he has K6 off and I was gone. AA lost to AK SOOTED, QQ lost to K6, JJ lost to 45 off, AK lost to A3, and AA lost to QJ on a runner runner two pair. So I'm down a couple of buy-ins, but nothing substantial. I'm going to take a break for the next day or two and get my head together. Hopefully the cards will start to cooperate. I don't need to get AA and KK everyhand to win, I just need the LAG's to miss their longshots. But, that's what I want from them. I want them to put their money in as substantial dogs. If they keep doing that, I will win in the long run. They might suckout once or twice, but I'll win in the end game.

Low Limit Player Profiling

Low limit players have to be some of the worst players I have ever seen. By low limit, I mean, players between the minimum stakes and $30 sit and go's, tournaments up to $50, and cash games up to $200 NL. These players play two card chicken more than they should. I can't count the number of times I saw some really goofy plays. For example, the game was six handed and I get dealt 88. I open for 150 with the blinds at 25/50, I have about 1300 behind. The player to my left shoves for 2120. I have been seeing plays like this for the last few days more than normal. Usually you will find plays like this from time to time. However, I have been running badly over the past few days and just can't seem to find a way to win.
I keep getting cold decked or outdrawn. Which brings me to the reason for this post. I have been trying to not only tag players when I see them play, but I have been profiling low limit players in general. This is a little of what I have come up with. First, low limit players will generally overvalue top pair, no matter what pair it is. They could have a pair of 9's in a raised pot, and they will usually go to the river or go for a check-raise with it. Second, they tend to overvalue very marginal hands and call raises out of position with them. They will play broadway hands, any suited face card, suited connectors, almost any ace, and some suited connectors and gappers for raises. I have seen two big card hands call a lot of raises from early. In fact, I had a guy call me to the river with KQ on a 10-5-2 board while I was holding KK. It's just hilarious.
Low limit players don't think about what you might have. They usually only think about their hand. You can raise with a premium hand or big pair, and they usually won't put you on a hand. They will call and play their hand if they hit a pair or draw. Some players cannot get away from their hand if they hit a primary draw. I have noticed a sort of pattern in low limit players, in general. If they have a primary draw, like a straight or flush draw, they will usually check to you out of position and go for the check-raise. I have noticed that a lot of players love to check-raise all in with these kinds of draws. The problem with these draws is that if that is all you have, you are a 2:1 dog to get there. If you have pair or multiple draws, that is a different story.
On to two card chicken. Two card chicken is what I like to call the game of all-in preflop when you have more than 20 big blinds. It's one thing when the blinds are high and players are getting short. That is the time when you just have to pick a hand a go with it. Those are the times when you will see some very marginal situations. Short stack shoves with A8 and gets called by K5 or Q10. Those situations are understandable. I'm talking about early in the tournament when the stacks are relatively deep and there is a lot of play. You will sometimes see a player open for 3-4 times the blind, and suddenly a player behind him shoves or re-raises. If they re-raise the original raiser pushes in. I have also seen some very weak three bets and some very weak shoves early in tournaments.
Finally, I have noticed that low limit players play sit and go's and tournaments in some very wrong ways. They usually play sit and go's too loose in the beginning stages and too tight in the end. Or they will play too tight in the middle and just start shoving marginal hands when it starts to get short. Just watch them and you will know what they are doing. In tournaments, I have noticed that if the bad players get to the later stages, they usually play marginal hands in some really bad spots. Most of the field by the end stages are solid players and some loose aggressive players. But I saw some very weak plays by a number of players who just kept getting very lucky to stay in the tourney. So anywho, I'm having a rough week and just need to get my game back. I'll get there.

Final Table $17,000 Guarantee

I made the final table of the $17,000 Guarantee tonight. From the start of the tourney, I was playing my typical small ball style. I didn't want to get into too many difficult situations early, so I tried to keep pots small and control the action when I was in the hand. My philosophy is that when the blinds are small, you should play pretty tight. I'm usually waiting for a big hand, and looking to build a stack over the first few levels. I'll take some drawing hands to the turn with the right odds, and hopefully hit my draws. If I have more than 15 outs I will usually play my hand very aggressively and try to win it on the flop and not wait for the draw.
So back to tonight. It was early in the tourney and I pick up AA. I hate getting aces in the early stages of a tournament. Don't get me wrong, I'm not folding, but I know that most of the players early in a tournament are playing really loose and are usually very weak if they are calling big bets and raises. So I raise to 120 with the blinds at 15/30. I get three callers, which I was expecting. The flop came K-10-6 with two diamonds. Both blinds check to me, so I fire 320. I want to find out who is drawing, and who has a real hand. The button calls and the big blind calls, the small blind folds. So I have a little more information on the hand. I put the big blind on a decent king, like KJ, KQ, maybe K9, or a marginal 10. I put the small blind on the very typical flush draw or straight draw. So I figure as long as another paint card, heart, ace, or nine hits the board, I figure I'm probably in good shape. Just my luck, the 4 of diamonds peels off on the turn. The blind checks, so I check behind. Suddenly the button checks as well. So now I knew the button probably did not have the flush. He was the kind of player that would bet when he hit his hand. So unless he is slow playing the nut flush on the turn, again, I figure I'm probably good. The river brings a 3 of clubs. Now the big blind bets about 1/2 the pot. I have a quandry now. I know the rags didn't help his hand, so he probably has a naked king. But what about the button? If I call and he raises, I'm done with the hand, but at the same time, I can't get any equity from my read. So I decide to take the gamblers route. I flat call, and decide that if the button makes a move I'm going to fold. The button folds, and the big blind shows KQ of hearts. Top pair with no draw and a decent kicker.
From there, I slowly built my stack to about 5,000. I was rolling along and playing position and my opponents' well. Just to put the tourney in perspective. I played a total of 447 hands and had AA once, KK once, AK 3 times, and AQ 4 times. I had a few suited connectors and some small pairs, but for the most part, it was a hot and cold run. I would hit a hand then go card dead. Another key hand was much later in the tourney. We were down to about 60 players. I'm in the big blind with K10 off. The player UTG min raises, mistake number 1. He gets 5 callers, so it comes around to me. The blinds were 500/1000 and I'm sitting on about 27,000. There is 11,000 plus the antes, and it's costing me 1,000 to call. There is not one single hand that I could fold for the price I'm getting. So I flat call. The flop hits me hard. It comes K-10-7 with two clubs. The small blind bets 1/2 the pot, and with that many players left behind I only have one choice. I shove for the rest of my chips and the player UTG re-raises all-in. I know what he has, I'm sure you can figure out what he has too. Of course he has AA, mistake number 2. He gives me protection, the small blind folds and I win with two pair on an unimproved board. That jumps me up to the ranks of the chip leaders and I have a healthy stack I can play with. The reason why I consider these mistakes are very simple. For one, to min raise under the gun, you are just begging for a waterfall of calls, which is what happened. As soon as the first person calls, everybody else thinks they are priced in. So AA has to dodge all kinds of hands. In a 5 or 6 way pot, you can go ahead and toss your AA out the window. For the other reason, when the action after the flop goes bet, raise, you have to ask yourself what possible hands could have called. When the board is coordinated like it was, you need to re-evaluate what kinds of hands could have called. If the board was 10-6-2, that would be a different story. But with a board of K-10-7, or the dreaded 9-10-J, you have to proceed cautiously with one pair.
So anywho. We get down to 10 handed and on the final table bubble. I haven't seen two cards that are even in the same area code, much less even playable. I like to play aggressively and play small ball. But when my raises are getting shoved, I'm getting short and can't pick up a hand there's nothing I can do. So we get to the final table and I'm sitting 6th in chips. I'm prepared for a battle and looking to play some flops. All was going well. We lost a couple of players pretty early on and I'm in the big blind. For some reason, I played this hand horribly and ended up finishing 7th.
The hand came down like this. I have 85 off and the small blind limps. I was talking to my friend on the phone and even said outloud to him, "I should raise him to find out how much he likes his hand." He was playing really tight passive, so I knew his limp was weak. He wasn't limping a monster to try and trap. He was a pretty straightforward player. He would raise with a decent hand and limp trash and marginal hands. So I made a mistake and checked it down. The flop came Q-8-2 with two hearts. He bet the minimum on the flop. I thought he might have had a queen, but thought if a scare card came on the turn I could get him to fold. A 5 hit the turn. He bet half the pot now. Again, I thought he might have a naked queen or maybe a draw, but I thought my two pair would be good. I pushed on him and he quickly called my all-in. I knew I was in trouble. Of course, thanks to my good luck lately, he turns over Q2 for a flopped two pair. I'm out in 7th for a decent, but not good score.
I played in the 50-50 the other night and made a good run as well. I ended up finishing 51st out of 981. I've only played a handful of multi-tables this week, so not bad for the week I've had so far. Hopefully tomorrow will go much better and I'll final table another one. I just have to keep playing small ball and let the LAG's hang themselves.

PokerVT

I have been waiting for a long time for this. Daniel Negreanu has been putting together a training site since last year. He has signed quite a few top professionals; including Annette_15, Paul Wasicka, JC Alvarado, Adam Junglen, and Kirk Morrison. From what I have read of the early reviews, this is going to be a great teaching tool. Unlike Cardrunners and some of the other sites, this site is going to be more interactive.

With most of the other sites, you are given a selection of videos and you basically get to see what they are doing while they talk about their hand and their opponents. However, with PokerVT, they are going to have quizzes and games that will also teach you different aspects of poker. There will also be ways to determine your personal poker knowledge, and it will then guide you to different sections to teach you what you need to know. I am really excited about taking the site out for a test run and seeing how much it can help my game.

I feel that I am playing well, just unlucky right now. Last night, I donked off quite a few tourneys and am down about 7 buy-ins. I was pretty card dead throughout most of the tourneys, and after taking a beat in an early tourney, I was playing too tight and too timid. The hand came down like this:

I have AA in middle position. A loose passive player limped, like he had been doing with most hands. I raise to 300 with the blinds at 25/50. The player to my left calls, as does the limper. The flop came J-6-7 with two diamonds. I had about 1800 when the hand started and the limper was the chip leader with 2200. He checked the flop, and I bet out 650. The player behind me called and the early limper minimum raised. I pushed in and the limper called. He showed QJ off. A jack hit the river and I was gone. It was a bad play on his part for two reasons. First, by limping out of position, then overvaluing top pair on that flop, there are not many hands you can be beating against two players. The only hand he can really be beating is a bluff or two overs like AK. If I have AK of diamonds he is a big dog, if I have AA or KK he is a big dog. If I have 89 of diamonds, again he is a big dog. The only real hands he can beat are J10 or a flush draw with no other pair or draw. Sounds reasonable, but remember that this is a raised pot from a player who has only shown strong hands and hasn't played back at him. Second, if he misses his hand, he has risked most of his chips on a play out of position. I knew what he had when he checked it to me. I knew he probably had a hand like KJ, QJ, or possibly a flush draw. I would have been happier if he showed at least QJ suited for the top pair and the flush draw. At least then he would have been the favorite to win the pot. But to make this move with QJ off is just stupidity. So that put the wheels in motion for the rest of the night.

For the remainder of the night, I kept getting the money in with second best, which is not like me. I was not three betting like I should and was playing too timid. I kept seeing players call my raises with very marginal hands and started limping too much. In the blink of an eye I was down almost 10 buy-ins. I would get short and push with AQ, AJ, QQ, JJ, and kept running into AK and KK. It was so sick. SO I played one final game and ended up winning that one to be down about $160 for the night. I decided to call it a night. I am still well within my bankroll to be playing at this level, so hopefully tonight will go better. I just have to remember to play position better and stop playing so damn timid if I take a beat. If they want to call my raises with marginal hands, we'll just have to play a flop.

On a final note, I noticed that while I was playing tentative, I was not three betting and shoving like I should have. I had this little voice in the back of my head that kept yelling at me, "You're going to lose." One hand in particular, I have 10's in middle position with 5 players left. UTG raises the pot. I don't know if it was intuition or just stupidity. I decided to fold the hand, figuring the best I could hope for was a race. Nobody called, but I just thought he had AA or KK. I don't know if it was a good fold or not, but the old me would have at least called and seen a flop, possibly would have re-raised or shoved. That's just what last night did to me. I kept getting second best, so I thought it was going to be second best again. So I'll just have to play aggressive and keep watching my opponents.