Thursday, February 4, 2010

2 Rush Hands

Ah yes, the most fun part of playing Rush poker is that you get to use "no stats, no reads" as an excuse for making bad plays. Well, that's not exactly true anymore, now that HEM is writing stats into the FTP player notes. But for these hands, I had nothing, so I was left considering what should be my "standard" play in these tough spots.

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($32.12)
UTG ($16.28)
MP ($25)
Hero (CO) ($26.12)
Button ($25)
SB ($40.80)
Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, 10, 2, 8
1 fold, MP calls $0.25, Hero bets $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.75, MP calls $0.75

Flop: ($3.10) 4, 10, 10 (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $2, BB raises to $5.55, 1 fold, Hero calls $3.55

I'm never folding here with trips in position, but at the same time, I'm very weary of naked trips, especially without top kicker.

Turn: ($14.20) J (2 players)
BB bets $8, Hero calls $8

The J is bad...if my opponent was check-raising a naked T, there is now a good chance that he has filled up, since J and T go together like gin & juice. I though hard about pitching it here, since I could be drawing really slim. But, the smallish bet gave me pause...if my opponent is full, he should be inclined to bet big, knowing that I'll have a hard time folding a naked T and wanting to charge me for the chance to fill up myself. If it had been a PSB, I think I would have folded. Instead, I made the nervous call.

River: ($30.20) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River is another bad card, but I get to exhale when my opponent checks to me. I basically only beat a bluff or semi-bluff so I snap check it back.

Total pot: $30.20 Rake: $1.51

Results:
BB had 7, K, A, A (two pair, Aces and tens).
Hero had Q, 10, 2, 8 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $28.69

Interesting that my opponent didn't 3-bet PF with a strong suited AAxx, and also that he check-raised with a FD on a paired board. These are all the sorts of actions that I might have had good insight into with any extent of notes or hands against this opponent. So the combo of naked trips + facing heat + Rush poker = tough spot. I'm just lucky I got spared on the river from making another tough decision.

In this next one, I created a giant mess...I think.


Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
CO ($25)
Hero (Button) ($53.48)
SB ($48.73)
BB ($28.25)
UTG ($20.15)
MP ($35.85)
Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A, K, 10
3 folds, Hero bets $0.75, SB raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $7.75, SB calls $5.25

So I 4-bet here without giving much thought to our stack depth. With most hands, I think that would be a mistake, since I have position and we are 200BBs deep. But my hand is so strong that I think I'm happy to build up a pot.

Flop: ($15.75) 4, 4, 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $15.75, SB raises to $40.98 (All-In), Hero calls $25.23

Not the worst flop...I'm happy to see low cards, but not to see the 2 hearts. Is this an automatic bet and call off spot?

Turn: ($97.71) J (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($97.71) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: $97.71 Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had A, A, K, 10 (two pair, Aces and fours).
SB had 6, 8, 4, 7 (straight, seven high).
Outcome: SB won $94.71

Turns out I was in rotten shape. Here again 3-bet stats would have told me a lot - is this guy's 3-bet range wide enough to include a lot of 4s? But still, given this flop, I'm not sure I can fold, since my opponent should be shipping it in with any piece of this flop, including something like 567x or any 2 high hearts. So if you agree with that, I'm still left wondering, what was the mistake? Your options:
1) 4-betting PF. You should have called and played with a strong, underrepped hand in position.
2) Betting full pot on the flop. Bet smaller, since you will learn either way whether my opponent has anything, and with a smaller bet you may be able to get away.
3) Nothing wrong, just gross luck.
4) Being born. You suck at this game and deserve every bad thing that happens to you in life.

Go easy on a battered poker player, friends.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

#2 - gotta remember that nobody folds in Omaha pre-flop. Also given that you are both ~200bb deep, you won't be getting it in against worse against a halfway decent player. You are still pretty deep even after the 4bet. Also, your 4bet screams that you have AAxy. He should only stick it in w/ a 4, a wrap, or a combo draw.

It is ugly, but I think the best play is a 2/3 - 3/4 pot bet followed by a fold to a shove. This would be exploitable against good aggressive opponents, but you aren't going to find those players at the $25 level.

noldmax said...

Good point Anon about the 4-bet. Makes a decent argument for either never 4-betting this deep (esp. in position), or else widen my 4-bet range to include some rundowns and other hands that will hit flops deceptively.

Anonymous said...

Yes, you should add some to your 4-bet range, but my point was that an unknown player will almost always assume you have AAxy here. So adding rundowns & other biggish hands to your range is good and will add deception, but you should also be aware that when you actually have AAxy, your hand is face up.

noldmax said...

Anon, I understand your point about playing AAxy face up, but I don't think that necessarily dictates a bet-fold line in all cases. What you can't ever be sure about is how a villain will play, even if he knows you hold AAxy. Will he assume he has no fold equity and only check-raise when he flops 2-pair or better? For the same reason, will he check-call with a wrap, rather than semi-bluffing?

My point is, even if you have AAxy, you can't assume that getting check-raised means that you are crushed. And in bloated 3- and 4-bet pots, the pot odds are often so good that you have to call off if there is a decent chance that your opponent is shoving with a 50-50 hand like a naked wrap or a flush draw + a gutter.

All that said, on a paired board, it's a little different, since that shove is more likely to mean trips than anything else. But in this case, the existence of the flush draw skews it and makes it a tougher call. Eh, it's close and ugly either way.