LOL Minbet Hold'em
I've been getting frustrated playing no-limit, just generally running bad, maybe getting pushed around a little bit, so I decided to give limit hold'em a try, just for fun. Limit was my original game when I started playing, and moved to no-limit when the games started drying up. Well, apparently limit has made a comeback on the online internet, or at least at $.50/$1 6-max on Stars. Wow, are the players bad. There seem to be least two people at every table who are playing at least 60% of the hands, habitually cold calling raises (with bullshit hands like A2o and K6o too). Furthermore, they are very passive, both before and after the flop. They love to limp and then peel cards off with marginal draws (or backdoor draws) and then call down with really bad hands. I really don't want people to know how juicy these games are, so I'm posting it here.
This is great because all of the advice in Small Stakes Hold'em is once again, relevant. Pushing your edges, value betting relentlessly, even when the scare card hits, etc. Here's a few hands (damn, LegoPoker doesn't support limit cash games):
PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is CO with A, K.
2 folds, CO raises, Button calls, 2 folds.
Flop: (5.50 SB) 5, 9, K (2 players)
CO bets, Button calls.
Turn: (3.75 BB) 9 (2 players)
CO bets, Button calls.
River: (5.75 BB) J (2 players)
CO bets, Button calls.
Final Pot: 7.75 BB
What'd you think he had? Take a guess then scroll your mouse over the results in white below:
Hero has Ah Kd (two pair, kings and nines).
Button has 2h 5h (two pair, nines and fives).
Outcome: Hero wins 7.75 BB.
Wow, just wow. The guy's major mistake of course, is cold-calling preflop. It's not no-limit where you can use your position and hope something breaks well for you (i.e. hitting your hand or finding a good bluffing opportunity). I naively perhaps figured him for a weaker king, maybe KQ or KT when he called on the end. Nope. Bottom pair, no kicker. I guess after the flop he hung himself. I'm certainly capable of betting the flop & turn UI with AQ there, so the calls are somewhat defensible I guess, but you can't be in there with 52.
Here's another fun hand.
PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with J, K.
UTG raises, 4 folds, BB calls.
Flop: (4.50 SB) K, J, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, UTG bets, BB calls.
Turn: (3.25 BB) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, UTG bets, BB calls.
River: (5.25 BB) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, UTG bets, BB raises, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 9.25 BB
Results:
BB has 9c 9d (three of a kind, nines).
Hero has Jc Kc (two pair, kings and jacks).
Outcome: BB wins 9.25 BB.
Miracle on the river sir. You gotta put up with this shit if you're playing limit. It happened quite a few times actually. I have AQ, flop misses me with two. I bet the flop and a blank turn, and then check behind on a 6x river, only to lose to Q6. Frustrating because I played the hand well, since I put in money on every street when I was ahead. But it happens. At least I don't lose my whole stack and can move onto the next hand.
PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, 4.
2 folds, CO raises, Button calls, Hero calls, BB 3-bets, CO calls, Button calls, Hero calls.
I make a bit of a loose call here. I expect BB to put in the extra $.50 and see a flop, and I get to come in for a little bit of a discount, so I think I can expect to make up enough bets postflop against these loose players and see a flop. Unfortunately, BB raises (he actually was pretty LAG, 60/20) so I have to throw in another small bet to see a flop.
Flop: (12 SB) 4, 3, 8 (4 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, CO raises, Button calls, Hero calls, BB calls.
I hit my set and I donk right into the raiser. I expect him to raise here (even with whiffed overs) and not respect my "weak lead". This is also a good way to protect my hand, as a raise from him forces the other two players to call two cold. The pot is too big to force anything out though, so I suppose I could have gone for a checkraise. If BB bets, he likely gets two calls, then I can raise and get an extra bet out of each player.
The CO raises me instead. I decide to call and then pump it up on a blank turn, where my equity will be higher. I'm not sure if this is the correct play or not. I want to encourage CO to bet again however. He might just go into call down mode with his 8 or flush draw or whatever if I 3-bet him.
Turn: (10 BB) 2 (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, CO bets, Button calls, Hero raises, BB folds, CO calls, Button calls.
He does bet again, and with one caller in between I now raise. I force BB out, but that's okay. A is probably correct to call one bet there with the gutter ball, so charging him two bets if he did have an A is certainly good. I of course get the CO and button to put in the extra bet.
River: (16 BB) 7 (3 players)
Hero bets, CO calls, Button calls.
River is okay, I'm certainly betting this for value and forcing myself to call if raised. Both players call and.....
Final Pot: 19 BB
Results:
Hero has 4h 4s (three of a kind, fours).
CO has 8h Kh (one pair, eights).
Button has Qd Qh (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins 19 BB.
MHIG. I don't know what button was thinking. QQ and he calls down the whole way. He three-bets preflop, I'm out of there with my fours, and he gets a shitload of value out of the other guy with K8 who hit top pair and won't be able to get away from it. Don't know what the big blind would've done if it was 3-bets to him, but perhaps he gets some money off of him too.
I've played 496 hands and my winrate is 4.95 BB/100. That's probably unsustainable, but 3 BB/100 should be achievable at this level with these bad players hemorrhaging money away. Also, I'm trying to multitable. I played 2 tables pretty successfully when I was playing NL, but I'm trying to 4-table. I only got up to 3 tonight because games kept breaking up, but I think limit is a good way to get practice multitabling. There aren't that many real deep-level decisions in limit, so it's not too much trouble to be involved in two pots at the same time after the flop and make a play while the action is on you at the other table.
This is great because all of the advice in Small Stakes Hold'em is once again, relevant. Pushing your edges, value betting relentlessly, even when the scare card hits, etc. Here's a few hands (damn, LegoPoker doesn't support limit cash games):
PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is CO with A
, K.2 folds, CO raises, Button calls, 2 folds.
Flop: (5.50 SB) 5
, 9, K (2 players)CO bets, Button calls.
Turn: (3.75 BB) 9
(2 players)CO bets, Button calls.
River: (5.75 BB) J
(2 players)CO bets, Button calls.
Final Pot: 7.75 BB
What'd you think he had? Take a guess then scroll your mouse over the results in white below:
Hero has Ah Kd (two pair, kings and nines).
Button has 2h 5h (two pair, nines and fives).
Outcome: Hero wins 7.75 BB.
Wow, just wow. The guy's major mistake of course, is cold-calling preflop. It's not no-limit where you can use your position and hope something breaks well for you (i.e. hitting your hand or finding a good bluffing opportunity). I naively perhaps figured him for a weaker king, maybe KQ or KT when he called on the end. Nope. Bottom pair, no kicker. I guess after the flop he hung himself. I'm certainly capable of betting the flop & turn UI with AQ there, so the calls are somewhat defensible I guess, but you can't be in there with 5
2.Here's another fun hand.
PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with J
, K.UTG raises, 4 folds, BB calls.
Flop: (4.50 SB) K
, J, 6 (2 players)BB checks, UTG bets, BB calls.
Turn: (3.25 BB) 3
(2 players)BB checks, UTG bets, BB calls.
River: (5.25 BB) 9
(2 players)BB checks, UTG bets, BB raises, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 9.25 BB
Results:
BB has 9c 9d (three of a kind, nines).
Hero has Jc Kc (two pair, kings and jacks).
Outcome: BB wins 9.25 BB.
Miracle on the river sir. You gotta put up with this shit if you're playing limit. It happened quite a few times actually. I have AQ, flop misses me with two
. I bet the flop and a blank turn, and then check behind on a 6x river, only to lose to Q6. Frustrating because I played the hand well, since I put in money on every street when I was ahead. But it happens. At least I don't lose my whole stack and can move onto the next hand.PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 4
, 4.2 folds, CO raises, Button calls, Hero calls, BB 3-bets, CO calls, Button calls, Hero calls.
I make a bit of a loose call here. I expect BB to put in the extra $.50 and see a flop, and I get to come in for a little bit of a discount, so I think I can expect to make up enough bets postflop against these loose players and see a flop. Unfortunately, BB raises (he actually was pretty LAG, 60/20) so I have to throw in another small bet to see a flop.
Flop: (12 SB) 4
, 3, 8 (4 players)Hero bets, BB calls, CO raises, Button calls, Hero calls, BB calls.
I hit my set and I donk right into the raiser. I expect him to raise here (even with whiffed overs) and not respect my "weak lead". This is also a good way to protect my hand, as a raise from him forces the other two players to call two cold. The pot is too big to force anything out though, so I suppose I could have gone for a checkraise. If BB bets, he likely gets two calls, then I can raise and get an extra bet out of each player.
The CO raises me instead. I decide to call and then pump it up on a blank turn, where my equity will be higher. I'm not sure if this is the correct play or not. I want to encourage CO to bet again however. He might just go into call down mode with his 8 or flush draw or whatever if I 3-bet him.
Turn: (10 BB) 2
(4 players)Hero checks, BB checks, CO bets, Button calls, Hero raises, BB folds, CO calls, Button calls.
He does bet again, and with one caller in between I now raise. I force BB out, but that's okay. A is probably correct to call one bet there with the gutter ball, so charging him two bets if he did have an A is certainly good. I of course get the CO and button to put in the extra bet.
River: (16 BB) 7
(3 players)Hero bets, CO calls, Button calls.
River is okay, I'm certainly betting this for value and forcing myself to call if raised. Both players call and.....
Final Pot: 19 BB
Results:
Hero has 4h 4s (three of a kind, fours).
CO has 8h Kh (one pair, eights).
Button has Qd Qh (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins 19 BB.
MHIG. I don't know what button was thinking. QQ and he calls down the whole way. He three-bets preflop, I'm out of there with my fours, and he gets a shitload of value out of the other guy with K
8 who hit top pair and won't be able to get away from it. Don't know what the big blind would've done if it was 3-bets to him, but perhaps he gets some money off of him too.I've played 496 hands and my winrate is 4.95 BB/100. That's probably unsustainable, but 3 BB/100 should be achievable at this level with these bad players hemorrhaging money away. Also, I'm trying to multitable. I played 2 tables pretty successfully when I was playing NL, but I'm trying to 4-table. I only got up to 3 tonight because games kept breaking up, but I think limit is a good way to get practice multitabling. There aren't that many real deep-level decisions in limit, so it's not too much trouble to be involved in two pots at the same time after the flop and make a play while the action is on you at the other table.
Comments