HA Quiz - Results

In the first hand, I faced a min-4-bet from OOP, then a strange tiny C-bet. I discussed this hand with friends, and the opinions seem to divide along folding or making a small feeler/information raise...

50/2/2 over 58
Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $26.84
CO: $34.33
BTN: $46.39
SB: $5
Hero (BB): $25.70
UTG: $23.96
Pre-Flop: Q K dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, SB folds, Hero raises to $3.50, CO folds, BTN raises to $6.25, Hero calls $2.75

Flop: ($13.35) Q A 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.50,
Hero?
...
...
I was ready to fold to any normal-sized C-bet, maybe even a bet as small as $6, but the $3.50 bet meant 1 of 2 things to me - either he flopped huge, and wanted to milk it for whatever value he could (AA/QQ/AQ), or he flopped bad, and was making a weak probe bet (99-JJ/KK). There's a chance that he has AK/AJ/AT here, but I see those hands making a bigger C-bet. But who's to say what a donkey is thinking here?

As for those who would advocate a small raise, I don't really like this, since, unless we want to turn our hand into a bluff to shake off KK or a weak A, we would only be folding out weaker hands that are drawing slim, or building up a pot against hands that have us crushed.
...
...
Hero calls $3.50
Turn: ($20.35) Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $6.25, Hero raises to $15.95 and is All-In, BTN calls $9.70

It gets much less interesting on the turn here, since I pull ahead of KK/AK/AJ here and am now obviously getting my stack in. It isn't much for the villain to call, so I shove my last $10 in.

River: ($52.25) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $52.25 Pot ($2.61 Rake)
BTN showed J J (two pair, Aces and Queens) and LOST (-$25.70 NET)
Hero showed Q K (a full house, Queens full of Aces) and WON $49.64 (+$23.94 NET)

Villain couldn't have played this worse. A decent sized 4-bet shakes me PF, and a decent-sized C-bet shakes me on the flop. I got to see the lovely turn for almost as cheap as possible.

The Omaha was less interesting than I initially thought it might be. Pretty much everyone agreed on the necessary action....

Bodog Poker, $0.10/$0.25 PLO cash game, 6 Players
BTN: $21.50
Hero (SB): $28.58
BB: $17.15
UTG: $22.79
MP: $26.80
CO: $40.27

Pre-Flop: Hero dealt As Qc 5s 5d
UTG calls $0.25, MP raises to $0.65, CO folds, BTN calls $0.65, Hero calls $0.55, BB folds, UTG calls $0.40

Flop ($2.85): 6c 9c 5h
Hero checks, UTG checks, MP bets $0.85, BTN raises to $5.40,
Hero?
...
...
Hero folds, MP folds.

I think this fold is made easy by my position and the fact that I have put nothing into the pot. If I call, I become pot-committed if the board pairs, and that might not be the best outcome here.

I think it becomes a little bit different if I am in position, since I can see CO's action on later streets, and possibly bluff if a 3rd club falls. But being OOP here is retched.

HA Quiz

Anyone actually know how HA stands for pot-limit Hold-Em and Omaha? Was the O just already used up, and A the next vowel that came to mind? Couldn't they have re-appropriated the O, given it's more obvious association with PLO? I've already thought too much about this.

We're going round-n-round today. One NLHE hand followed by one PLO hand.

This hand was puzzling. It's a case of an opponent (I won't say donkey yet) making a series of unorthodox moves which froze me in my tracks.

50/2/2 over 58
Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $26.84
CO: $34.33
BTN: $46.39
SB: $5
Hero (BB): $25.70
UTG: $23.96
Pre-Flop: Q K dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, SB folds, Hero raises to $3.50, CO folds, BTN raises to $6.25, Hero calls $2.75

Original raiser had a PFR above 20, so it looked like a great spot for a squeeze. Then the BTN made a min-4-bet. I really wasn't sure what to make of it, but I wasn't folding with such great odds and a decently strong hand. At this point, I'm planning to fold if I don't hit the flop hard.

Flop: ($13.35) Q A 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.50,
Hero?

I don't hit hard, but I do hit. Still, I'm ready to fold to any reasonable C-bet. Then villain leads for just $3.50. What do make of this, and how to plan for the rest of the hand?

Now for the Omaha round. I had no HUD running and no reads on any opponents.

Bodog Poker, $0.10/$0.25 PLO cash game, 6 Players
BTN: $21.50
Hero (SB): $28.58
BB: $17.15
UTG: $22.79
MP: $26.80
CO: $40.27

Pre-Flop: Hero dealt As Qc 5s 5d
UTG calls $0.25, MP raises to $0.65, CO folds, BTN calls $0.65, Hero calls $0.55, BB folds, UTG calls $0.40

Flop ($2.85): 6c 9c 5h
Hero checks, UTG checks, MP bets $0.85, BTN raises to $5.40,
Hero?

Donk Out

Over the last few live 1-2 sessions, I've enjoyed watching opponents play really badly from OOP. Not enough check-raises, almost no check-raise bluffs, and bets being poorly-sized and transparent. My favorite bad OOP move is the donk-lead or donk-bet- betting into the PFR on the flop.

The main problem with the donk-bet is that so few players are capable of making it with a strong made hand. Therefore, the donk-bettor's range can be narrowed to air, draws, and one-pair hands. The only exception might be on a draw-heavy flop where the donk-bettor has flopped 2-pair or a set (e.g., 7d-9d or 7d-7h on a 7c-8s-9s flop).

As the PFR in position, you are now presented with a lot of information and a lot of options about how to play the hand. Against a calling station-type player, if you have completely whiffed, you can fold easily. If you have an overpair or better, you can raise for value.

Against bluffy types, your best bet is to call and let him put more money in from behind, or to wait and represent real strength, I move that I pulled off here.

The donk lead will often be an information bet - a hand like top pair, which is willing to take down the pot or to fold to strong resistance. In this case, you can play optimally - call with an overpair or better, or bluff-raise with worse. You can also play it like a float, peeling with the intention of bluffing a scare card.

This hand wasn't exactly a float, but it demonstrates how one can put themself in a world of trouble from OOP...

Villain is 40/11/2.8 over 63

Full Tilt Poker, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $50.75
MP: $61.10
Hero (CO): $53.50
BTN: $50
SB: $86.40
BB: $50

Pre-Flop: 9 8 dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, MP calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2.25, BTN folds, SB calls $2, 2 folds

Flop: ($5.50) J 5 T (2 Players)
SB bets $4, Hero calls $4

The real benefit of villain's lead is immediate - I think he will almost never make this bet with 55/TT/JJ/JT, but would instead go for the check-raise. I can assign a range that is mostly made up of J-x hands - AJ/KJ/QJ/J9 - but also includes, with less frequency, some weaker hands (AT/KT/QT/9T/99/88) and some draws (89/KQ/Q9).

It's clearly fine to raise here. I have fold equity and a strong draw to go with it, but I somehow doubt my villain is folding to just one barrel. So if I raise here, I have to be willing to follow up with multiple barrels, and no guarantee that my villain will fold. So I call with my decently disguised draw.

Turn: ($13.50) 6 (2 Players)
SB bets $5.50, Hero calls $5.50

The turn card is a blank...it misses me, but it also improves none of my villain's range. Villain fires a 2nd barrel, and of course there's no way I'm folding here. The 2nd barrel further decreases the likelihood of T-x and small pair hands, which are likely to slow down here, although I don't put a small blockish bet out the range of possibilities. OEDSs are still possible, but J-x is most likely by far.

River: ($24.50) K (2 Players)
SB bets $5, Hero raises to $23, SB folds

I whiff the river, but Villain makes a really sheepishly small bet that looks a lot like a J hoping for a cheap showdown. The K is a great card for me, since it hits a lot of my range for PF raising and calling the flop and turn (AK/AQ/KT/KJ and the less likely KQ/Q9...nevermind the slowplayed sets or KK). I make a raise here that's big enough to induce a fold, but small enough to minimize risk and look like a value-raise. Villain folds without much hesitation.

Results: $34.50 Pot ($1.70 Rake)
Hero mucked 9 8 and WON $32.80 (+$16.05 NET)

This is a pretty good demonstration of why it's so hard to play OOP against a PFR. Donk-betting only compounds the problem by narrowing your range and bloating the pot.

I would remiss if I didn't mention this caveat - advanced players can and do turn this logic and thinking against you. But even still, most players will prefer a check-raise to a donk-lead, since it gets more money into the pot. So even against strong players, you will rarely see this move made.

Disconnected

Been disconnected from online poker for most of the past week, but not fully disconnected from poker. In a strange twist, I've found myself playing a good amount of live poker lately. I've been squeezing live sessions in by pushing them late into the evening, starting around 10pm when the homestead is starting to ease in for the night. This has made for some rough days following late-night poker sessions, but it has been worth it.

Being able to play in these live 1-2 games with buddies (usually David, Stephen, or Scott) is really the difference and what makes it worthwhile, since having someone to chat with and sweat out hands helps me overcome my biggest weakness in moving from online multi-tabling to the slooow full table grind - patience. Of course, I also love talking strategy at the table with my friends. I realize it is generally a big no-no, since it gives up a ton of information - how well I understand the game, my take on certain situations, etc. But, if you've played live, you know that it's nearly impossible to whisper to a neighbor quietly enough that no one else can overhear you. And it looks sketchy to be constantly whispering directly into someone's ear while sitting at the table and my draw outcries from other players. So I've decided I'm willing to give up a little edge in order to stay entertained and keep a discussion going with a friend.

No matter how much I mumble about strategy with friends, I doubt it will do much to improve the play of guys like one I played with early this week. I was at a 1-2 game with 2 friends, and all 3 of us managed to score huge pots, all in somewhat tough spots, all against the same maniac.

I had the benefit of watching both of my buddies make correct hero-calls against this guy before it got to my turn. Both times, he raised pre-flop, C-bet, checked the turn, then made a big bet on the river. Both times he was on a pure bluff and got caught.

One final piece of history. I played one hand with this villain in which we saw a flop of 7-7h-Th, and the villain made a donk-lead (he wasn't the PFR), I called with 8h-9h. He checked offsuit 8 turn, I bet and he folded. He told me after the hand that he had A2, and thought he could take it on a scary board. Nice to know, thank you very much.

Here's the relevant hand:
I have ~$290, villain covers me.

I get 56o and limp from MP. LP guy with big stack raises to $12, Villain in SB calls, one other EP player calls, and I make the loose call.
I was trying to see a lot of cheap flops, hit something big, and stack somebody. The table was limpy enough that I think this was a good approach.

4 way flop comes 4-7-K rainbow.
Villain donk-leads from SB for $25. I call and everyone folds.
I almost raised here, but thought I might prefer a bigger pot with a few more players, in case I hit one of my decently well-disguised OESD outs.

Turn is a 7, putting 2 clubs up. Villain checks and I check behind.

River is an Ad. He takes his time before counting out $75 to bet into a $100 pot. I have about $175 behind, and after about 10 seconds, I shove it all in. Villain instafolds.
I honestly think he had no hand-reading skills, and put almost no thought into my actions. I thought my shove would like like 44/A7/K7, but I doubt he gave it that much thought. He would again admit to having complete air.

It felt nice to make the kind of move that I never have the guts to make, and have it pay off. That's the kind of move I would almost never make online, so chalk it up to live feel and read, which is something I never thought I'd practice enough to really develop. But extra time on the live felt has me feeling a little differently about it this week.

PLO Hands - 1 tourney, 1 cash

2 interesting PLO hands, IMO, that have been marinating for a little while in my mind. The hands aren't really related in any way, but I figured I would knock them both out here at once.

Tourney Hand

The first hand was from an online Pot-limit HA (half holdem, half omaha) tournament. Somehow, I lost the HH, but should be able to remember most of the details. The tourney started with just over 100 runners, and at the time of this hand, we were down to the final 2 tables. I think there were 16 players left when this hand came up. The tournament paid out 12, so we're nearing the bubble.

The blinds are 200-400 with 50 chip ante, and I'm sitting on a stack of about 14000, which is slightly above average. It's the PLO round, and I get dealt 6c-7c-7-8 on the button. The CO, with a short stack of 4000, pots it to 1700. It's borderline, but I decide to call. The SB, with about 11K, also calls, and we see the flop 3 ways.

The flop comes 5-6-Q rainbow. The SB checks and the CO moves in for his last 2300. Given my pair plus OESD, it's a pretty easy call. Then, the SB ships in his remaining 9K+.

I don't play a whole lot of tournament PLO, so this was a weird spot for me. But let's start with the PF action... I hold a decent PLO hand, one worth seeing a flop cheaply, and which benefits from good implied odds. In this case, I can play pretty close to perfect against the CO, since he is almost guaranteed to get the rest of his chips in. But this close to the bubble, should I be calling a raise for 15% of my stack with a marginal hand? Folding PF would probably have been fine.

I think my call of the CO's push is easy, but once the SB shoves, I am in a tough spot. I would be calling ~7K to win almost 19K. But losing puts me on a pretty short stack of ~3K. If I'm up against a set and a draw similar to mine, I'm in really rough shape, and the same goes if I'm up against a dominating draw (7-8-9). At best, I'm up against 2-pair (SB) and high connected cards (CO), in which case I could be as good as 40% to win.

I ultimately made the call and found myself up against 2-pair from the SB (Q-J-9-5) and high cards (A-Q-J-9) from the CO, pretty much the best case scenario. But I bricked out, and busted out 14th a few hands later.

My guess is that the primary mistake was the one PF, where I should be giving bigger consideration to where we are in the tournament, and not putting myself at risk to lose a lot of chips. If I am entering pots, I should be raising, and not calling, to take advantage of FE. Anyone hate my play, at any spot in this hand?

Live Hand

The second interesting hand came from live $1-$2 PLO play during my recent Vegas trip. The villain was a young guy who seemed to know what he was doing and hadn't made much noise in the 45 minutes or so that he had been sitting at the table. Villain has $220 and I cover.

An EP raiser makes it $10, MP villain calls, I call from the CO with Ah-Qc-Jc-Td, the button calls, and the BB calls. $50 pot.

Flop is Kc-2h-5h. EP checks, Villain bets 20, I call and others fold.

There are a couple of interesting things about the action here. One thing I find in PLO, especially in multi-way pots, is that the action from early position tends to be extremely straightforward and honest. Given the dryness of the board, the Villain betting here likely means 2-pair or a baby set, bet for value. Unless he has a monster straight+flush draw combo, he probably doesn't want to lead out and find himself out of position with just a one-way draw. My opponent is handicapped by his position in a big way...I know he isn't semi-bluffing the nut flush draw, since I have the Ah. So I'm in a good spot to make a dry-A bluff if another heart falls.

The second thing to consider is my hand and the strength of my backdoor draws. There are quite a few cards in the deck (any A/Q/J/T/9) that can fall and give me a big nut-straight wrap draw heading to the river. Plus, I have a backdoor 2nd-nut club draw. Now, it isn't always correct to call a flop bet with only backdoor draws. The key factors are stack depth and opponent bet-sizing. Stack depth is key since backdoor draws are by definition less likely to hit, but get paid well when they do since they are disguised and tough to read. Bet-sizing is critical because if you are facing a pot-sized bet on the flop, and another likely PSB on the turn, then you are unlikely to be getting the right odds to draw, even if you get part-way to your draw on the turn. But against an opponent making a small flop bet, you can often anticipate either a check or another smallish bet on the turn. After all, why would they suddenly change their story from weak to strong when the turn falls.

Now back to the hand...

Turn is the Ad, giving me top pair and a 9-out broadway wrap. Villain bets out 50 into a $90 pot, and I have an easy call now.

The river is the Tc, giving me the nuts. Villain bets $100, leaving only $40 behind. I shove for his remaining chips, and shockingly, he folds pretty quickly, leaving me to think he was either stone bluffing with a heart draw that whiffed.

Of course it takes some luck to have a backdoor draw come in like that. But if you recognize good hands and situations to play strong, multi-way backdoor draws, you can make a decent profit of it...and also enjoy the berating you'll receive for catching up from so far behind.

June

You'd think such a horrific PLO chart would leave me disheartened and discouraged, but no, I want more. I am, in fact, torn over how to devote my precious few available online poker-playing hours. The numbers suggest one thing, the heart croons for another.

NLHE: +$12.24 (1100 hands)
PLO: -$180.93
Live Poker: -$293
Rakeback: +$56.99

Ah, the peace and serenity of knowing that at least the Rakeback number will be positive each month.

I have a few interesting PLO hands to discuss, one from Vegas and one from a recent tourney. I'll be back with those hands soon.

Lost Time

It would seem odd that a purported poker blogger would hype up a trip to Vegas and then fall completely silent once that trip has come and gone. Well, I can only explain it like this - it went pretty badly, I was fully burnt out by the end of the trip and ready to take a month+ break from poker. But I wiped that silliness out of my head pretty quickly.

I'm pretty sure it goes like this for all poker enthusiasts... When you're winning, the appetite is pretty much insatiable, and you play as much as you can, in which case your level of degeneracy is determined by how many other important facets of your life you put aside to make poker the #1 priority. When you're losing, you burn out quickly and promise to take a break or quit completely, in which case your level of degeneracy is determined by how quickly you forget about the whole thing and return to the felt.

The Vegas trip thrust me into the latter scenario, and it basically took me about 10 days to get over it. Not sure where that puts me on the degeneracy scale, but either way, I feel alright about it.

Basically, I started out my Vegas trip on a losing streak and never fully recovered. In literally my first orbit playing 1-2 at Imperial Palace, I got all-in PF with AA vs. KK vs. KT, and saw 9-J-Q hit the flop. Fortunately, the KT was a $60 short-stack, but it still turned a coulda-been $230 win into a $110 one. The pain of that loss was doubled when the KT guy, a loose-passive redhead (we'll call him Red), who was ready to leave on the all-in hand, later hero-called my river bet to take down a $170 pot.

In that hand, I raised J9s from MP to $10, got called by the tight old cowboy to my right and by Red in the BB. The flop came 2-4-5 rainbow, and I C-bet $20, which both players called. The turn was an 8 and it checked through. The river was a K, I fired $40 into $90, cowboy folded, and after tanking, Red called with AQo and scooped it. I guess he figures I'm 2-barrelling the turn with pocket pair better than 8's, which polarizes me on the river to AK/KQ or air. It was a good call, but I would later find out that Red was a total spewmonster, and I would eventually get a piece of it too.

So I ended the first night down $165, but felt good heading into Thursday, where I planned to play the Caesar's $330 megastack event. I enjoyed that event, which has a great structure, but I was completely card-dead, catching nothing better than TT over 5 hours of play, before finally shipping it in from UTG with 44 and an M of 6. Got called by KK and that was that.

Over the remaining course of the weekend, I rarely got much going at the NLHE tables, although I did end up back at a table with Red from the first night. We were at the Rio playing 1-3NL. We played 3 big hands...basically, this dude was calling any raise with any 2, so these are really just all of the hands that I raised. In the first one, Red, sitting 3 to my right, limped for $3, and I raised to $17 from the button. I ended up isolated against him, and we saw an 8x-8c-5c flop. I led for $28, he shoved for $85, and I called. He had been playing any 2, but had generally been a calling station and not an aggressive raiser, so perhaps that should have been a sign. However, given his short stack and the number of draws out, there was no way I was folding. He turned up 82o, I missed my 2-outer, and he scooped it. I was fairly well steamed and the entire table was shocked (and also drooling over the fact that he now held a $200 stack).

I would get a small piece back later when I flopped my first cash-game set of the trip (3 days in!) with 99, extracting 2 streets before he folded the river. It was a limped pot, so I only got about $25 off him in that hand. But I would get the rest from him shortly thereafter, when he decided to slowplay a turned 2-pair, checking a turn that eventually got checked around and allowed me to river an OESD. He shipped it in and I snapped him off for a ~$150 pot.

Those were the NLHE cash game highlights as I remember them. There were some more interesting spots that I remembered for a while, but have slipped my mind now that we're 2 weeks past the trip.

I only played one tourney after the $330 one, when we returned to Caesar's for their $160 7pm megastack tourney. This tourney was also a good value, with a decent amount of play for the buy-in. 218 players entered, and I ran really well in this one, making it down to the final 2 tables (18 paid). I was thriving on a short stack until, with 12 players left, I called an EP shove with KK. Opponent turned up A9, and A hit the flop, and I was done. Had I won that I probably would have cruised to the final table and pulled down at least $1K. Sigh. I still won $225 for my efforts.

Despite feeling crappy about my poker play, when all was said and done I was only down about $250 for the trip in poker tourneys and cash (I forgot to mention that PLO treated me quite well...I won some $300+ in PLO cash games). The kicker was the money I blew at table games. I didn't walk away a winner from a single one of the table games I played over the course of my 5-day trip. I lost at Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, and Pai-Gow, to the tune of $730. The next poker trip is going to be poker-only. All it takes is one trip like that to lose your taste for games that are stacked against you.

Okay, that's enough about the trip. I'm trying to get back into the online swing. And I'll have a post coming soon with my overdue June results.