I'm playing as ~LiNkInPaRk~. heh.
poker is easy. step 1: flop nuts. step 2: get someone to go all in. step 3: money$.
#1
i hate how i played this.
#2
i don't really like how i played this either :/ i had kings here.
do i cb? do i fire on the turn when the ace pairs? i think i'm just turning my kings into a bluff. villain was capable of playing back at me, I could have just check called river.
#3
shortly after reading a 2p2 post on 3-betting light. ugh. i had small suited connectors that whiffed.
flop minraiser is a habitual calling station / donk.
#4
boring
#5
i actually kind of like my play here even though it looks pretty weak tight. i had QJo.
#6
this hand was WEIRD. i feel like i should have bet the turn. can't raise the river :(
#7
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
I'm a freaking genius
Only on Cake is this play standard.
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXGwMTFxcDEwsTExMzBxojFws3ExM0%3d
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXGwMTFxcDEwsTExMzBxojFws3ExM0%3d
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Spain-o-rama
Three hands where the main villain is Ryan Spain. Ryan's the originator of our lunch game and is a very solid player. He's generally TAGgish, with an emphasis on the AG. That said, he's still known to play a wide range of hands. He's capable of pushing draws to the felt, but also able to make big laydowns when he feels he is beat.
1. Straddle into Trips
Effective stacks of about 100. I'm UTG and elect to straddle for two chips before the cards are dealt. I look down at AJo, which is a bitching hand to get in this position. Three players call the straddle, Ryan in the SB completes, and Dave in the BB calls as well. I bump it up to 10, and everyone folds to the blinds, who call.
Flop comes AA7 rainbow. Ryan bets out 20 into the ~36ish pot. I immediately push all in over the top. Ryan tanks for a while and finally calls. I turn my hand over, the turn and river are dealt, and he mucks face down.
I have to imagine he had a weaker Ace here since that's about the only hand he'd be willing to bet out at this board with. He would have raised preflop with any premium pocket pair, and he certainly wouldn't have called my all-in with a medium pair or two unpaired cards.
I've never done the insta-all-in before, and that might have helped me get paid off here.
2. QQ UTG+1
I'm big stackin' it up after winning that last hand against Ryan, who rebought about 5 hands before this one. He's gone into aggro mode, raising a lot of pots preflop and betting most flops that he sees. He's brought his stack up to about 120 from the 100 chip rebuy, and I'm sitting pretty at somewhere near 210.
Dave made some comment about always straddling into queens, so he decides to straddle immediately to my right. I look down at QQ and say "That's too bad, I have two of your outs" and raise it to 7. Jim, a loose player to my left calls, and Ryan re-raises it to 20 from the SB.
It's very possible I'm crushed here, but I'm ahead here way more often than not, so I decide to try milking him for a little more. I make a minraise to 40, he thinks for a little while, and just
calls. Everyone else gets out of the way.
The flop comes K73. Ryan looks at the board and checks after some thought. I do the same.
The turn brings another K. I'm almost certain I have a lock on this hand now (all I'm afraid of is AK, and his range is way wider than that) and just want to get the rest of Ryan's stack. Ryan thinks for even longer than on the flop and just checks. What should I be betting here to get him to put more money in? I think about the all-in, but figure that's only going to get called by a set or trips. I looked over at his stack and he had about 70 chips left after the preflop battle. I think for a long time, and bet 30 chips, a little less than half his stack.
My thinking here is that it looks weak. I've been caught bluffing with bets like this in the past, and I've left him with just enough room to give him two possible options. One is the "fuck it, I'm all in" thinking that can happen when you're steaming and involved in a big pot. The other is "I don't think he has shit, and I have just enough to raise him off his hand." I was completely committed to calling any raise he made here. If he turned up a king then oh well.
Anyway, he tanks for a long time and eventually folds. He says "are you just pushing me around now?" I show him my queens, and he shows 99.
3. Fucked.
I'm still sitting at around 200 chips. Ryan's rebought and is somewhere around 100, a little over. Matt, my boss and a loose player raises to 3 from UTG+1. Ryan re-raises to 10 from middle position. I look down at AcKc in the cutoff and smoothcall. Action goes around to Matt who also calls the reraise.
Matt's range is pretty wide here, he's been known to raise it up with weak aces, any pocket pair, etc. But the small bet and smoothcall of a reraise has me a little worried. He's done this sort of thing with aces and kings in the past, so it's something I have to consider here.
Ryan's still steaming a little, he could be anywhere, but it's most likely some sort of decent pocket pair, from 8s on up. Also possible are AK, and AQ suited. Maaaybe AJ if he's really pissed.
The flop brings AKTc. Sweet, top two and a backdoor flush draw! The pots at about 30, and Matt leads out with 20. This does not scare me too much. Matt bets much smaller when he's got a monster, so I'm usually ahead of whatever he's doing this with. Ryan thinks for a while and just calls. This scares me a lot. Two possibilities here, either he's afraid of what I'm about to do, or he's trapping with a huge hand. I decide to just call and see what happens on the turn.
The turn's a 9c, giving me top two with a nut flush draw. Matt pushes all-in for 87 chips, Ryan yet again thinks and calls off his last 86. I'm so sure I'm fucked here but I cannot lay this down, right? I'm getting like 3 to 1 odds, and sure, someone probably has me beat but I have too many redraws to ever consider folding, so I call.
Matt turns up A9o, and Ryan shows TT for a flopped set versus my flopped two pair. Ugh.
I miss my flush and ship half my stack back to Ryan.
After all that, I end up down about 10 bucks. Brutal day.
1. Straddle into Trips
Effective stacks of about 100. I'm UTG and elect to straddle for two chips before the cards are dealt. I look down at AJo, which is a bitching hand to get in this position. Three players call the straddle, Ryan in the SB completes, and Dave in the BB calls as well. I bump it up to 10, and everyone folds to the blinds, who call.
Flop comes AA7 rainbow. Ryan bets out 20 into the ~36ish pot. I immediately push all in over the top. Ryan tanks for a while and finally calls. I turn my hand over, the turn and river are dealt, and he mucks face down.
I have to imagine he had a weaker Ace here since that's about the only hand he'd be willing to bet out at this board with. He would have raised preflop with any premium pocket pair, and he certainly wouldn't have called my all-in with a medium pair or two unpaired cards.
I've never done the insta-all-in before, and that might have helped me get paid off here.
2. QQ UTG+1
I'm big stackin' it up after winning that last hand against Ryan, who rebought about 5 hands before this one. He's gone into aggro mode, raising a lot of pots preflop and betting most flops that he sees. He's brought his stack up to about 120 from the 100 chip rebuy, and I'm sitting pretty at somewhere near 210.
Dave made some comment about always straddling into queens, so he decides to straddle immediately to my right. I look down at QQ and say "That's too bad, I have two of your outs" and raise it to 7. Jim, a loose player to my left calls, and Ryan re-raises it to 20 from the SB.
It's very possible I'm crushed here, but I'm ahead here way more often than not, so I decide to try milking him for a little more. I make a minraise to 40, he thinks for a little while, and just
calls. Everyone else gets out of the way.
The flop comes K73. Ryan looks at the board and checks after some thought. I do the same.
The turn brings another K. I'm almost certain I have a lock on this hand now (all I'm afraid of is AK, and his range is way wider than that) and just want to get the rest of Ryan's stack. Ryan thinks for even longer than on the flop and just checks. What should I be betting here to get him to put more money in? I think about the all-in, but figure that's only going to get called by a set or trips. I looked over at his stack and he had about 70 chips left after the preflop battle. I think for a long time, and bet 30 chips, a little less than half his stack.
My thinking here is that it looks weak. I've been caught bluffing with bets like this in the past, and I've left him with just enough room to give him two possible options. One is the "fuck it, I'm all in" thinking that can happen when you're steaming and involved in a big pot. The other is "I don't think he has shit, and I have just enough to raise him off his hand." I was completely committed to calling any raise he made here. If he turned up a king then oh well.
Anyway, he tanks for a long time and eventually folds. He says "are you just pushing me around now?" I show him my queens, and he shows 99.
3. Fucked.
I'm still sitting at around 200 chips. Ryan's rebought and is somewhere around 100, a little over. Matt, my boss and a loose player raises to 3 from UTG+1. Ryan re-raises to 10 from middle position. I look down at AcKc in the cutoff and smoothcall. Action goes around to Matt who also calls the reraise.
Matt's range is pretty wide here, he's been known to raise it up with weak aces, any pocket pair, etc. But the small bet and smoothcall of a reraise has me a little worried. He's done this sort of thing with aces and kings in the past, so it's something I have to consider here.
Ryan's still steaming a little, he could be anywhere, but it's most likely some sort of decent pocket pair, from 8s on up. Also possible are AK, and AQ suited. Maaaybe AJ if he's really pissed.
The flop brings AKTc. Sweet, top two and a backdoor flush draw! The pots at about 30, and Matt leads out with 20. This does not scare me too much. Matt bets much smaller when he's got a monster, so I'm usually ahead of whatever he's doing this with. Ryan thinks for a while and just calls. This scares me a lot. Two possibilities here, either he's afraid of what I'm about to do, or he's trapping with a huge hand. I decide to just call and see what happens on the turn.
The turn's a 9c, giving me top two with a nut flush draw. Matt pushes all-in for 87 chips, Ryan yet again thinks and calls off his last 86. I'm so sure I'm fucked here but I cannot lay this down, right? I'm getting like 3 to 1 odds, and sure, someone probably has me beat but I have too many redraws to ever consider folding, so I call.
Matt turns up A9o, and Ryan shows TT for a flopped set versus my flopped two pair. Ugh.
I miss my flush and ship half my stack back to Ryan.
After all that, I end up down about 10 bucks. Brutal day.
Monday, April 16, 2007
More Lunch Poker Hands
1. Set on a scary board
Effective stacks of about 120. I'm in early position with pocket sixes. I raise to 3 units (a small raise, I'm only interested in building a big pot for a set preflop). About 4 callers to the flop. Flop comes 6s8hTc rainbow. Hells yes! I bet out 10 into the ~12 chip pot.
Jay, a tricky player on the cutoff, raises to 25. Jay has traditionally been the kind of player who will always check with the nuts, and always bet with a draw or air. I have a set, there's no way I'm folding this, regardless of the player, so I now have a decision. Call or raise?
If I raise, I charge him more for what is likely a draw, or I could blow him off of top pair or complete air. If I call, I can induce a bet on the turn and check-raise him all in. Normally I will raise here, but instead I call.
The turn brings a 7c, putting four to a straight and adding a flush draw to the things I have to worry about. This is a horrible, horrible card for me. There's about 60 in the pot right now, and I slow down. My original plan to check raise isn't looking so hot anymore, so I check with the intent to call or fold. He bets 18, giving me great odds to draw to my boat. I call.
The river is a 2c, completing the backdoor flush. Awesome. I check, he thinks and bets about 30 into the massive 100 chip pot, and I fold.
2. Top pair, fourth kicker good?
In the big blind with King Jack Not Suited, aka the Fillmaff. Four people limp to the blinds. SB checks, I check my option. Flop comes with K98 rainbow. SB checks, I bet 5 into a pot of 6. Nick, immediately to my left, raises to 15.
Nick's a good player, so I don't think he's doing this with complete air. I run through the possible options and try to put him on a hand.
1. A solid made hand. He'd definitely raise here with a set or two pair with people left to act behind him. However, on a board like this, the only good hand I could see him having is 98. AK, KK, 99, and probably 88 he would have raised preflop, and he's not the kind of player to muck around with K9 or K8. I'd say the odds are about 20% of this
2. Complete air. Nick is fully capable of bluffing, and this is a pretty dry board, but I think he respects me enough to not try any fancy moves on me. 10%.
3. KQ. Definitely matches his betting pattern, but I feel like the odds of him limping with KQ (he would have raised) are about the same as him limping with KT (he would have folded), so I'm going to say this one cancels out.
4. A lower pair or a draw. He's completely capable of semibluffing, in fact I think he might do it a bit too often. He could even have a weak pair and be trying to push me off of what is likely to also be a weak hand. Somewhere over 50%.
Alright, so my percentages don't really add up, but what I'm trying to say is I put him on a weaker hand here than mine more often than not. Being keenly aware of the straight draw possibilities, I elect to just call.
The turn is a total blank, I think it was a deuce. I decide to check here. Nick bets 30 into the 35 chip pot. Hmm, that's a big bet. What could he have here? Was he really slowplaying a good pair preflop? Or is he trying to blow me off a made hand? I figure it's more likely to be the second, so I raise to 100, effectively putting him all in. He thinks, does some math, and folds.
In retrospect I hate my turn check here. If I know he's going to bet that turn with a draw then the checkraise is a lot better. He told me after the hand he was indeed on a draw, and wanted to take back his turn bet as soon as he made it. So, it worked, but still, lesson learned.
Effective stacks of about 120. I'm in early position with pocket sixes. I raise to 3 units (a small raise, I'm only interested in building a big pot for a set preflop). About 4 callers to the flop. Flop comes 6s8hTc rainbow. Hells yes! I bet out 10 into the ~12 chip pot.
Jay, a tricky player on the cutoff, raises to 25. Jay has traditionally been the kind of player who will always check with the nuts, and always bet with a draw or air. I have a set, there's no way I'm folding this, regardless of the player, so I now have a decision. Call or raise?
If I raise, I charge him more for what is likely a draw, or I could blow him off of top pair or complete air. If I call, I can induce a bet on the turn and check-raise him all in. Normally I will raise here, but instead I call.
The turn brings a 7c, putting four to a straight and adding a flush draw to the things I have to worry about. This is a horrible, horrible card for me. There's about 60 in the pot right now, and I slow down. My original plan to check raise isn't looking so hot anymore, so I check with the intent to call or fold. He bets 18, giving me great odds to draw to my boat. I call.
The river is a 2c, completing the backdoor flush. Awesome. I check, he thinks and bets about 30 into the massive 100 chip pot, and I fold.
2. Top pair, fourth kicker good?
In the big blind with King Jack Not Suited, aka the Fillmaff. Four people limp to the blinds. SB checks, I check my option. Flop comes with K98 rainbow. SB checks, I bet 5 into a pot of 6. Nick, immediately to my left, raises to 15.
Nick's a good player, so I don't think he's doing this with complete air. I run through the possible options and try to put him on a hand.
1. A solid made hand. He'd definitely raise here with a set or two pair with people left to act behind him. However, on a board like this, the only good hand I could see him having is 98. AK, KK, 99, and probably 88 he would have raised preflop, and he's not the kind of player to muck around with K9 or K8. I'd say the odds are about 20% of this
2. Complete air. Nick is fully capable of bluffing, and this is a pretty dry board, but I think he respects me enough to not try any fancy moves on me. 10%.
3. KQ. Definitely matches his betting pattern, but I feel like the odds of him limping with KQ (he would have raised) are about the same as him limping with KT (he would have folded), so I'm going to say this one cancels out.
4. A lower pair or a draw. He's completely capable of semibluffing, in fact I think he might do it a bit too often. He could even have a weak pair and be trying to push me off of what is likely to also be a weak hand. Somewhere over 50%.
Alright, so my percentages don't really add up, but what I'm trying to say is I put him on a weaker hand here than mine more often than not. Being keenly aware of the straight draw possibilities, I elect to just call.
The turn is a total blank, I think it was a deuce. I decide to check here. Nick bets 30 into the 35 chip pot. Hmm, that's a big bet. What could he have here? Was he really slowplaying a good pair preflop? Or is he trying to blow me off a made hand? I figure it's more likely to be the second, so I raise to 100, effectively putting him all in. He thinks, does some math, and folds.
In retrospect I hate my turn check here. If I know he's going to bet that turn with a draw then the checkraise is a lot better. He told me after the hand he was indeed on a draw, and wanted to take back his turn bet as soon as he made it. So, it worked, but still, lesson learned.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
CAKE!
Cake Poker has got to be the greatest poker site in the world. Check out the caliber of play I'm up against here:
Playing as 'sally97,' I flop a set two hands in a row and get paid off both times:
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXEwcTFxcDNxMTExMXCw4jFws3ExM0%3d
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXEwcTFxcDNxMTExMXCzIjFws3ExM0%3d
(A few minutes later I change my name to 'BoNgKiLlA420.' Sometimes in poker it's beneficial to vary your play. It also helps if people think you're high.)
Some dude goes crazy with A5, another donates his stack with K8:
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXEwcTFxcHFx8TExMTCwIjFws3ExM0%3d
Seriously, you owe it to yourself to get in on this.
Playing as 'sally97,' I flop a set two hands in a row and get paid off both times:
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXEwcTFxcDNxMTExMXCw4jFws3ExM0%3d
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXEwcTFxcDNxMTExMXCzIjFws3ExM0%3d
(A few minutes later I change my name to 'BoNgKiLlA420.' Sometimes in poker it's beneficial to vary your play. It also helps if people think you're high.)
Some dude goes crazy with A5, another donates his stack with K8:
http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand=xcXEwcTFxcHFx8TExMTCwIjFws3ExM0%3d
Seriously, you owe it to yourself to get in on this.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Wacky poker variants rule
It's Friday, which means our normal NL hold'em lunch poker game turns into dealer's choice. Normally we limit it to Omaha (O8 and high only) or slight hold'em variants like pineapple or crazy pineapple, but every so often we'll come up with something new and see how it plays.
Today, it was Pineapple Upside Down Cake. The brainchild of one of our designers, it's crazy pineapple with one exposed card.
The exposed card makes for some interesting metagame play. You get questions like "why's the guy with the deuce reraising?" or "I see he's got an ace, but is kicker really any good?" It was a lot of fun, we'll probably devote a Tuesday to it one of these weeks.
But next Tuesday, it's Badugi! BADUGI!!!
Today, it was Pineapple Upside Down Cake. The brainchild of one of our designers, it's crazy pineapple with one exposed card.
The exposed card makes for some interesting metagame play. You get questions like "why's the guy with the deuce reraising?" or "I see he's got an ace, but is kicker really any good?" It was a lot of fun, we'll probably devote a Tuesday to it one of these weeks.
But next Tuesday, it's Badugi! BADUGI!!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
So I think what I'm going to do with this blog is just post interesting hands I've played and try to do a little analysis, see what went right and what went wrong.
Most of these hands will be from my office's lunch poker game. Like this one, from today!
Last hand of the day. Action folds/limps to Nick, a solid, usually tight but tricky and aggressive limit refugee, who elects to raise to 7 chips. Dave, a loose, beginner player immediately to his left calls the raise. Everyone folds to me on the button with pocket queens.
I think for a while, and put Nick on a pocket pair since he likes making bigger raises with solid pocket pairs preflop. Dave could have anything here. First of all, it's the last hand. Second of all, it's Dave. This is the dude who got into a preflop raise battle with pocket 4s preflop, and took those mothers to the felt. Anyway, if I had to guess a range here for Dave, I'd say A7+, 44+, various suited connectors and one-gappers, and a dash of Any Two Cards.
I decide a raise here is in order. This will help me figure out where I am with Nick, and get more money from Dave in the pot. I raise to 20.
Everyone folds back to Nick, who thinks for a little while, and goes all in. He's got my covered, I have a little over 80 behind. Before I have time to come up with a solid plan here, Dave calls as well, and he's got more than I do.
Action's back on me... WHAT DO YOU DO, HOT SHOT?
... RESULTS! ...
I tank for a few minutes and end up open folding my queens. Nick says "That might be the best fold you've ever made," and turns up Jacks. Ouch. Dave turns up the stone cold nuts, i.e. Ace Ten offsuit (??? wtf ???). I zoned out on the board, I think I would have made a set of queens on the river and taken down a massive pot. But still, I stand by my fold.
If Dave ended up folding to Nick's raise, I was ready to call this. I'd been reraising fairly light that session, plus our last hand usually gets a little crazy. I'd expect to be beat about as often as I'm flipping or way ahead, plus it's fun to gamble on the last hand.
But the addition of the extra caller behind Nick, for what was a fairly massive reraise, really throws a wrench in the works. I've seen Dave play Aces really passively like this as well, so that was running through my head, but honestly it could have been anyone in his seat. Two players, both interested in investing their whole stack in a hand will always give me pause, especially after a raise and a re-raise.
So I like my fold, but it still stings. Nick made a good play and it worked, but not for the reason he was expecting.
Most of these hands will be from my office's lunch poker game. Like this one, from today!
Last hand of the day. Action folds/limps to Nick, a solid, usually tight but tricky and aggressive limit refugee, who elects to raise to 7 chips. Dave, a loose, beginner player immediately to his left calls the raise. Everyone folds to me on the button with pocket queens.
I think for a while, and put Nick on a pocket pair since he likes making bigger raises with solid pocket pairs preflop. Dave could have anything here. First of all, it's the last hand. Second of all, it's Dave. This is the dude who got into a preflop raise battle with pocket 4s preflop, and took those mothers to the felt. Anyway, if I had to guess a range here for Dave, I'd say A7+, 44+, various suited connectors and one-gappers, and a dash of Any Two Cards.
I decide a raise here is in order. This will help me figure out where I am with Nick, and get more money from Dave in the pot. I raise to 20.
Everyone folds back to Nick, who thinks for a little while, and goes all in. He's got my covered, I have a little over 80 behind. Before I have time to come up with a solid plan here, Dave calls as well, and he's got more than I do.
Action's back on me... WHAT DO YOU DO, HOT SHOT?
... RESULTS! ...
I tank for a few minutes and end up open folding my queens. Nick says "That might be the best fold you've ever made," and turns up Jacks. Ouch. Dave turns up the stone cold nuts, i.e. Ace Ten offsuit (??? wtf ???). I zoned out on the board, I think I would have made a set of queens on the river and taken down a massive pot. But still, I stand by my fold.
If Dave ended up folding to Nick's raise, I was ready to call this. I'd been reraising fairly light that session, plus our last hand usually gets a little crazy. I'd expect to be beat about as often as I'm flipping or way ahead, plus it's fun to gamble on the last hand.
But the addition of the extra caller behind Nick, for what was a fairly massive reraise, really throws a wrench in the works. I've seen Dave play Aces really passively like this as well, so that was running through my head, but honestly it could have been anyone in his seat. Two players, both interested in investing their whole stack in a hand will always give me pause, especially after a raise and a re-raise.
So I like my fold, but it still stings. Nick made a good play and it worked, but not for the reason he was expecting.
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