Leggo Poker Every Tool You Need To Win

The_End

Oct
17
2009
Almost played my greatest hand... Twice
Posted in Poker | View Comments (9)
 

My midterm exams are coming up next week, so I should be studying right now, but I'm having a real hard time concentrating because it's boring stuff. So I thought it'd be fun to share two hands I played last week.

These are very very complex and interesting hands, hence the long explanation of my thought process in both of them. Hope you'll enjoy reading about them and maybe even get something useful out of it.

Quote:
I think this first hand is really cool because of the way the hand played out. I was put in a spot where I could possibly make the biggest and best fold of my career. I'll walk you through my thought process on each street:

No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (6 handed)

UTG ($2812)
Hero (MP) ($1045)
CO ($5460)
Button ($1000)
SB ($1143)
BB ($5482)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, A
UTG bets $30, Hero calls $30, 1 fold, Button calls $30, 2 folds
This seems fairly standard to me. Both players are regs, UTG can be tricky. I don't wanna 3bet UTG with AQo unless I have specific reads.

Flop: ($105) 2, 5, Q (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, Button bets $70, UTG calls $70, Hero calls $70
This is where it starts to get interesting. I do not bet the flop because I don't mind it getting checked through, plus I think the BTN will stab a decent amount and I can rep midpairs by check/calling. It is key in this hand to notice that I overcall UTG. I put UTG on JJ type of hand, and my overcall should look exactly like Qx. I would fold 99 here (and probably bet the flop with it in the first place).

Turn: ($315) Q (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, Button bets $210, UTG calls $210, Hero calls $210
The turn is another Queen. Now it gets really interesting. My hand looks exactly like Qx after the flop, making it a terrible card for BTN to continue bluffing on. Everyone in the hand basically knows that I very likely have trips, yet the BTN still wants to bet and UTG still wants to call. After UTG calls I can not put him on JJ or even AA, for that matter, anymore. I strongly believe that UTG has KQ at the very least, but mostly AQ. My top trips have become a hand where I am very likely splitting against UTG, and crushed by the BTN. I timed my timebank down hovering over the fold button until the last few seconds. Sadly, I could not make the fold.

River: ($945) A (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, Button checks
Luckily, I can visualize an Ace on the river. No more worries. And it is probably this feeling of relief that caused me to make a terrible play on the river. If it were headsup I should check because he'll be valuebetting all the hands that can call a shove and the 0.5% of the time he's bluffing I've got to let him hang himself. Here however, we are 3handed! A shove is mandatory now just in case the BTN checks behind with whatever still is in his range, whether it be a bluff or KQ, and UTG shows a monster. It's hard to explain this last part, but if you go over the things that can happen when I check or shove, it becomes clear that I should shove. I do not give them credit for being able to fold 55 or 22

Total pot: $945

Results:
Button didn't show
UTG had 5, 5 (full house, fives over Queens).
Hero had Q, A (full house, Queens over Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $942
Quote:
No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (5 handed)

UTG ($2398)
Hero (MP) ($2666)
Button ($2158)
SB ($2010)
BB ($1046.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7, 6
1 fold, Hero bets $50, Button raises $180, 2 folds, Hero calls $130
Villain is ken the cow. I don't recall playing with him. Preflop probably is too loose OOP, but he had 3bet a fair amount and I was planning to check/raise a good portion of the flops. Still a fold probably, but I'm only human.

Flop: ($390) Q, 4, J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
Flop gets checked through. I can still have JJ-AA, he is very very unlikely to have a real strong hand. I'd put him on JTo,QTo,Q7s type of stuff or TT. He also might check a weak flush/straightdraw behind.

Turn: ($390) K (2 players)
Hero bets $155, Button calls $155
Pot is 390 and I only bet 155. My plan is to bet about half pot on the river again, representing the thought process of me knowing he has a marginal hand and me trying to milk. I could probably win the pot by betting big on the turn and shoving river, but I thought this should work out the same and is cheaper. Why would I ever bluff so small when it's likely he can call at least one bet, right? If I were to get raised on the turn I'd fold and give him credit for KJ type of hand.

River: ($700) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $335, Button raises $1100, Hero raises $1996 (All-In), Button calls $723 (All-In)
The river is a good card for me as it does not complete the straight for hands like TT/QTo/JTo. Considering his and my range, my riverbet basically turns all his hands into bluffcatchers. My OOP defending range largely consists of broadways. I can and would play boats in a similar way. I would probably 4bet JJ pre, but I don't mind flatting QQ+ at all against someone who is an active 3bettor. If I have QQQ or KKK I have the deck crusehd. I would bet small to either induce a raise or get a crying call, for the exact same reason I think I can bluff cheaply: I simply do not think he has a hand that wants to call a riverbet.

What happens in this hand is he raises me, and I go over the hand. Everything up to the river led me believe he had a marginal hand at best. Now he raises my small riverbet. How often does he play KQ this way? Or ATo? Or KK? How often do I have the nuts? I put everything together and come to the conclusion that he has turned a marginal hand into a bluff because he thinks (probably correctly so) that he can't profitable flat the river. In reality this seems like a bad bluff vs me. I would not blockbet this river with anything in my range. I am either snapping a raise (or shoving) or I was bluffing and I snapfold. With my read in this hand I do what I haven't done in like 4 months... I bluff 3bet the river. My read was correct but he made the ultimate call. I honestly don't think this is good vs my range, but who knows, maybe he has a timingtell. Or he's that good. Or he's a superuser.


Total pot: $4346

Results:
Button had 10, Q (two pair, Queens and fours).
Hero had 7, 6 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Button won $4344

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Comments
10-17-2009
cookie is offline cookie
the reason ken the cow called: hes a 0.19ptbb winner on tableratings. this just puts him in the category of guys who made tons of money when poker was easier than beating solitaire and are now breakeven players throughout mid/highstakes.. I recall seeing deucescrackd videos with the same guy playing worse than a nl10 player and the coach was like 'wtf happened to this guy'
10-18-2009
Probability is offline Probability
Probability's Avatar
ur nuts.
10-18-2009
JamesMa is offline JamesMa
JamesMa's Avatar
visualization is key
10-18-2009
shootaa is offline shootaa
pot odds
10-18-2009
JNuey is offline JNuey
^^lol
10-18-2009
alexgotay is offline alexgotay
Good post... really liked it.
10-18-2009
PlsTilt is offline PlsTilt
I like hand 1.

Not too sure about hand 2. I think your 3bet makes sense because you're very credibly repping AT / KJ / KQ type hands. The problem can be that you timed too long and he decided that there could be some % of missed draws in your range you decided to 3bet bluff. In that case he turned his bluff into a bluffcatcher where he needs to be right 16% of the time.. I can't imagine he is.. but ppl do crazy stuff
10-18-2009
klink- is offline klink-
i don't think i could ever fold turn on hand 1 just because i would want to kill myself if they showed up with KQ and QJ.
10-22-2009
Diamond Lie is offline Diamond Lie
Diamond Lie's Avatar
Cookie - No not even close.
 
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