Playing like shit.... or maybe not
I've had a few losing sessions and I think I'm playing pretty bad, but perhaps not. I'm getting shit for cards, getting shitty flops, and not getting to take down pots. A few hands from this weekend:
I happen to be sitting with $21.90 in this hand, villain has me well covered at $85. I dunno how he got his money, had a lot when I sat down. He seems to be a decent player, 35/9/1 over a measly 25 hands I've played with him.
So anyway, I get T
7
in the BB. Two off the button open limps, villain limps in CO, SB completes, I check. Flop comes T
TQ
. SB checks, and I check. Sometimes I would bet this, and I probably should have here. Maybe my first mistake. It is checked to button who bets a lousy $.50 and SB calls. I checkraise to $3.25 and now villain flat calls. I started to worry about a 10. I figured him as a solid player, so I couldn't see him hanging around with a draw here. Button calls the $2.75 more leaving him with $.04 left. SB folds.
Turn is the harmless 2. I bet the minimum, (.$25) just to put the other guy all-in. Now villain raises to $5 (and button calls all-in of course). I was happy to just show it down at this point, if he has a T I can't possibly have him beat, he has at least T8 since he limped in. But now I thought he might be making a move against me since I weak-led the turn. Maybe he just has a Q? Would he check a Q on the flop and AT won a huge pot. The short stack player had the AQ and if he just shoved in preflop for his damn $3.54 like he was supposed to, I would've saved a lot of money.
Tonight I pick up JJ UTG with $25 and villain in this hand covering. I raise to $.85. Villain calls in the CO. He had been playing pretty loose-passive. 50/6/1 or something like that over 65 hands or so. Flop comes 824 and I bet $2.15, a little over pot. I honestly don't know why I bet that much, but whatever. It was an okay bet against this player on a drawy board. He called. Turn came the 5 and now I bet $2.35 into $6.35 just to keep the lead. He called again. River was the 9, completing a possible flush. I check, he insta-bets pot ($11.05), and I fold face up, showing my jacks. He doesn't show or tell me in the chat what he had, but there's no way I was good there. I was offering him 3.7:1 on the turn, probably could've bet 1/2 the pot there. He was still calling, but at least that way I can charge him more. It was still okay though, since I didn't pay it off and denied him implied odds. Not to mention that I charged him enough on the flop.
That was my biggest loser tonight. My next biggest losing hand was where I had AKo, raised preflop and bet a J high flop, and checked it down with a guy who had pocket 8s. So I dunno, I think I'm playing pretty well, just getting a little unlucky. I'm doing a pretty good job of manipulating the pot size; I keep it small when I have a small hand and big when I have a monster. I have a pretty good idea of where I stand in hands, most of the time. Outside of that T7 hand I never got it in without being a big favorite (most of the time my opponents drawing to 2 outs).
One final thing actually. I've been trying this experiment that I picked up on 2+2, and tonight I got to use it. When you start, you buy-in for the minimum 20bbs, play your big and small blind, and then add-on the full stack before you get your button. So tonight I did it at one table, and picked up an AQ the very first hand. UTG (5 handed) brings it in for $.85, and SB calls. I move in for $5 total. UTG calls rather quickly, and SB folds. Board comes 47736 and I figured there was no way my hand was good. Any pair beats me, as does AK. I was surprised when the pot got shipped to me and he mucked. It turns out he had T9.
Even though you can only do this for two hands, it's uber-profitable. Even moreso because even good players are willing to call with weak hands, just so they can knock you out (because you're an annoying short stack), while the bad players will still likely call with dominated hands such as AJ or KQ or whatever. It' s so much better to play move-in or fold poker from the blinds. Calling and playing a pot out of position can be tough. Reraising to an amount that doesn't put you all-in and being forced to play a flop out of position in a big pot is a tough scenario as well.
Also, even if you pick up a monster like AA or KK, it's not so bad to not have a full stack. For one, people might tend to give you action for a whole $5 whereas with a full buy-in, they might call the reraise to $2.50 and then ditch it on the flop after they miss. Also, you're still playing out of position with it, and it's still one pair, so you may find yourself in some difficult situations after the flop. So it's something to think about. Just remember that you can always add money to the table, but can't take any off.
I happen to be sitting with $21.90 in this hand, villain has me well covered at $85. I dunno how he got his money, had a lot when I sat down. He seems to be a decent player, 35/9/1 over a measly 25 hands I've played with him.
So anyway, I get T
7 in the BB. Two off the button open limps, villain limps in CO, SB completes, I check. Flop comes TTQ. SB checks, and I check. Sometimes I would bet this, and I probably should have here. Maybe my first mistake. It is checked to button who bets a lousy $.50 and SB calls. I checkraise to $3.25 and now villain flat calls. I started to worry about a 10. I figured him as a solid player, so I couldn't see him hanging around with a draw here. Button calls the $2.75 more leaving him with $.04 left. SB folds.Turn is the harmless 2
. I bet the minimum, (.$25) just to put the other guy all-in. Now villain raises to $5 (and button calls all-in of course). I was happy to just show it down at this point, if he has a T I can't possibly have him beat, he has at least T8 since he limped in. But now I thought he might be making a move against me since I weak-led the turn. Maybe he just has a Q? Would he check a Q on the flop and AT won a huge pot. The short stack player had the AQ and if he just shoved in preflop for his damn $3.54 like he was supposed to, I would've saved a lot of money.Tonight I pick up J
J UTG with $25 and villain in this hand covering. I raise to $.85. Villain calls in the CO. He had been playing pretty loose-passive. 50/6/1 or something like that over 65 hands or so. Flop comes 824 and I bet $2.15, a little over pot. I honestly don't know why I bet that much, but whatever. It was an okay bet against this player on a drawy board. He called. Turn came the 5 and now I bet $2.35 into $6.35 just to keep the lead. He called again. River was the 9, completing a possible flush. I check, he insta-bets pot ($11.05), and I fold face up, showing my jacks. He doesn't show or tell me in the chat what he had, but there's no way I was good there. I was offering him 3.7:1 on the turn, probably could've bet 1/2 the pot there. He was still calling, but at least that way I can charge him more. It was still okay though, since I didn't pay it off and denied him implied odds. Not to mention that I charged him enough on the flop.That was my biggest loser tonight. My next biggest losing hand was where I had AKo, raised preflop and bet a J high flop, and checked it down with a guy who had pocket 8s. So I dunno, I think I'm playing pretty well, just getting a little unlucky. I'm doing a pretty good job of manipulating the pot size; I keep it small when I have a small hand and big when I have a monster. I have a pretty good idea of where I stand in hands, most of the time. Outside of that T7 hand I never got it in without being a big favorite (most of the time my opponents drawing to 2 outs).
One final thing actually. I've been trying this experiment that I picked up on 2+2, and tonight I got to use it. When you start, you buy-in for the minimum 20bbs, play your big and small blind, and then add-on the full stack before you get your button. So tonight I did it at one table, and picked up an A
Q the very first hand. UTG (5 handed) brings it in for $.85, and SB calls. I move in for $5 total. UTG calls rather quickly, and SB folds. Board comes 47736 and I figured there was no way my hand was good. Any pair beats me, as does AK. I was surprised when the pot got shipped to me and he mucked. It turns out he had T9.Even though you can only do this for two hands, it's uber-profitable. Even moreso because even good players are willing to call with weak hands, just so they can knock you out (because you're an annoying short stack), while the bad players will still likely call with dominated hands such as AJ or KQ or whatever. It' s so much better to play move-in or fold poker from the blinds. Calling and playing a pot out of position can be tough. Reraising to an amount that doesn't put you all-in and being forced to play a flop out of position in a big pot is a tough scenario as well.
Also, even if you pick up a monster like AA or KK, it's not so bad to not have a full stack. For one, people might tend to give you action for a whole $5 whereas with a full buy-in, they might call the reraise to $2.50 and then ditch it on the flop after they miss. Also, you're still playing out of position with it, and it's still one pair, so you may find yourself in some difficult situations after the flop. So it's something to think about. Just remember that you can always add money to the table, but can't take any off.
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