I played some 11-12 hours of live $2-$3 NLHE in Lake Tahoe this past weekend, and wound up something close to even. I spent most of my time in the red, having missed some big draws and bumped into a few of the more aggressive players in bad spots early on.
Got back close to even with KK on a 4-8-10-9 rainbow board, getting snap-called for my stack on a pot-size bet by J-10 (guy later claimed he misread and thought he had 10-9). Got the rest back with a set of 9s on a 9-10-A board against A-10.
There were 2 hands that stuck out clearly, and that I wanted to post here for comments. One was from a $2-$3 NL game, and the other from a $100 tourney I played in. I'll cover the tourney hand first...
Hand 1:
$100 buy-in tourney, 1st blind round at 25-50
Relevant stacks: Me - ~$4500, Villain - ~$4500
PF action: It folds around to me on the button with AQo. I raise to $200, SB folds, BB re-raises to $700, I call.
Flop: 4-8-Q rainbow
Action: Villain leads $1000, I call $1000.
Turn: K, completes rainbow
Action: Villain bets $2000, I fold.
This hand ate at me for some time. Against an unknown, raising on the button, is it okay to play for stacks with AQ on a Q high board? I'm pretty sure I would have done so had the K not spiked on the turn, so is it just an unlucky turn, or was this a poor play? In general, I hate how passively this played out from my end, but the K puts me behind AK/KQ, along with the obvious QQ-AA. And in general, if I'm going to raise, it should be on the flop with TPTK, not after a bad turn falls. Any critiques in general?
Hand 2:
$2-$3 NL cash game, Villain is young, talkative, and has been splashing a bit.
Stacks: Me - $200, Villain - ~$500
PF action: UTG+1 limps, Villain raises to $12, one LP caller, I call from SB with AsJs, BB calls, UTG+1 calls. 5 players, pot is ~$55 (after rake).
Flop: 8d-10s-Jc
Action: I check and it ends up checking around.
Turn: 5h
Action: I lead for $20, 2 folds, original PFR Villain calls, 1 fold.
River: 5d
Action: I lead for $25, Villain raises to $75, I fold.
Who makes the call on the river there? Plays it differently on other streets?
On the river, I decided that he had either a monster or air, and given the limited number of hands I'd seen him play, I told him that I was giving him credit for a monster. He promptly turned up 22, or air. I beat myself up over this one too, because I'm not sure how I gave him credit for a monster. The only real monsters are JJ, TT, and 88, and I can't imagine that any of those hands would give away free cards in a 5-way pot on the flop. QQ-AA is calling on the end there, since raising doesn't extract any additional value from hands that QQ-AA beats, except maybe the AJ I was holding, but that would be pretty thin. Thoughts?
6 comments:
Why no reraise on first hand on flop (especially in a small live tourney where I assume the blinds will start skyrocketing) to sniff out a c-bet? I don't think a raise up to 2000 commits your stack if he fires away again, and I bet he's folding a lot of the time. I just think hes holding 88-jj there or AK a lot of the time the way I see these guys play tourneys.
On second hand, w/ TPTK, I probably raise the flop to 1/2 pot and see what everyone does.
Scott
Personally, I think you played both of those hands way too passively. On the tourney hand, you should have raised to 2,500 or 3,000 on the flop. You have tbe best hand there at least 7 times out of 10. On the second hand, given the profile of the villain, you at least have to call there on the river. Many people (especially aggressive ones) will bet or raise when a scare card falls, in this case the second 5.
Hef
Hand 1 - I'd probably min raise and get it in
Hand 2 - When you put somebody on a range of monsters and air, you should generally call. Especially when that player is loose/active. Also you lead bet on the river is so weak that you will induce a lot of bluffs. What monster are you giving him credit for anyway? A 5? Slowplayed Q9? Not too many players will slowplay in a 5-way pot. If he flopped a set, he'd certainly want to protect against all the straight draws on board.
-bruechips
H1 - about as good a flop as you could hope for, outside of AQx. Raise on the flop to 2250-2500 range.
H2 - nearly 4 to 1 to call, and I think the only hands he plays this way are higher pairs (if he wanted to keep the pot smaller on straight heavy board) or air - mandatory call.
last post from ron
Scott, I do think any raise on the flop commits me...if I min-raise and he calls or raises, there is already 5000+ in the pot and I only have 1800 behind...with TPTK, I can't fold at that point.
I hate the outcome here, but maybe the idea isn't that bad. After all, a K is really the only card that I hate here, right? So maybe with anything BUT a K, I get him to fire another barrel with a hand I can beat, like KQ/JJ/TT. But in general, I agree that a raise on the flop is best, so I don't have to avoid tough decisions. And given the ridic structure of these type of live events, I SHOULD be willing to stack off with this kind of hand.
On the 2nd hand, bruechips makes a good point about narrowing an opponent's range down to something really polarized. Since it's very difficult to make a move like that with a two-pair/trips type hand, it's a flaw to assume your villain has a monster, since monsters are rare and since a lot of players will make ill-timed bluffs without strong regard for their prior action. This should have been sniffed out for one of those ill-timed bluffs, but I played the pessimist and gave him credit he didn't deserve. Wish I could have that one back.
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