So, here I am with $45 in chips at a loose aggressive table playing $1/$2 NLHE. I have a few options now, which I will lay out from smartest to dumbest:
Option 1: The smartest thing to do might be to just call it a bad day, go home and save that $45. But I've only been playing poker for an hour and I just don't feel like leaving yet.
Option 2: I could buy more chips with the $60 in my pocket, which would bring my back to that ideal starting stack of around $100.
Option 3: I could just keep playing with the $45 and hope I can double up.
The reason option 3 is the worst is because when your stack gets this small, you don't have many options, particularly at a loose aggressive table where any hand you play may have you pot committed. Your only real move is an all-in preflop which takes us away from the world of skillful poker and towards the world of hope-for-the-best gambling. So which option do I choose? Option 3 of course! This will be mistake #2 for me this day - or #3 if you really hate the call I made in the previous post. So I'll sit here with $45 looking for a hand I can take a chance on. And hoping it won't take too long because even $3 trips through the blinds will whittle me down pretty fast.
I get lucky and catch pocket tens a few hands later. I move all-in, and my heart sinks when I get two callers. Heads-up against two over cards I'm a slight favourite, but with two opponents I might be looking at three or four over-cards, or something even worse - a pocket pair higher than mine. When an ace comes on the flop I know I'm doomed - for sure one of these guys has an ace. Maybe they both do. The turn and the river are small cards and both my opponents check the hand down, which gives me hope. I show my hand and, miracle of miracles, the other two guys toss their cards in the muck. Pure dumb luck and I triple up!
So I survive mistake #2. Now I have $135 -almost as much as I started with. I should see this as a sign to start playing smarter, but mistakes have a way of multiplying - once you start making them they just seem to snowball.
Stay tuned.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Anatomy of a Bad Poker Day: Part 1
I've been losing at poker lately - which explains why I haven't written many posts. It isn't fun to write posts with titles like "I'm an Idiot!" and "Five Stupid Things I Did Today." Never-the-less the results speak for themselves. Time to fess up. Maybe you, Dear Reader, will learn from my mistakes. More importantly, maybe I will. Let's look at the last poker session in which I lost $340 and see if we can learn something from it.
I felt positive going in. I told my bankroll manager I was only taking $100 - a sum that would keep me from playing the loose style that always spells disaster for me. When I arrived at just before 10:00 a.m. there was a table going with bleary eyed hard-core players who had been up all night. I could see beer bottles and high-ball glasses on the small tables beside the players. This looked too good to be true. So I decided to deviate from the plan - being fresh against tired players is a great advantage, so I figured bringing in a little more to the table might just earn me a lot more in return. I went to the cage and bought $140 in chips [mistake 1].
The first hour I folded a lot and just got a feel for how the others were playing - I did pick up a small pot, building my stack to about $155. It was pretty loose. Lots of bluffing and semi-bluffing, over-betting and questionable calls. Perfect. About an hour in, sitting in the cut-off, I was dealt the kind of hand I love to play at a table like this: 6c 6s. Small and medium pairs are easy to fold if you miss the flop and often get paid off big time when they hit - particularly at loose tables like this one. There was a straddle on ( we are talking $1/$2 No Limit Hold 'Em - with a $5 straddle) and three people called before me. I called, the big blind called, and the straddler checked.
The pot was $31, with six players in. The flop came Kh 4h 9d. Big Blind bets only $5. Two players call and two players fold when the action comes to me. Normally, I'd fold without giving it a second thought, but a $5 bet into a $46 pot is pretty attractive odds, particularly since I'm in position and no one can re-raise it. At a tight table I would still probably fold, but at this loose table my implied pot-odds are terrific, so I call.
And I'm very glad I did because the 6 of diamonds came on the turn. Sweet. The board now looks like this: Kh 4h 9d 6d - two flush draws out there now and the action post-flop makes it seem likely that some of my opponents are on draws - gut shot straights and hearts being the most obvious. I think I need to bet big to chase away the draws, but Big Blind must be thinking something similar as he opens with a $25 bet - roughly half the pot. The other two guys fold and I decide that while I don't have the nuts, I'm very likely holding the best hand. I make it $50 and Big Blind calls.
Heads-up to the river with a $150 pot.
The river is the nine of spades. The board is now Kh 4h 9d 6d 9s. Big Blind bets $50.
What should I do? I've got a full house now. I've invested $60 into this hand - not exactly enough to say I'm pot commited. I ask myself, "What hands could he be holding?" He might have a busted flush he is bluffing with - but a $50 bet is only 1/3 the pot and smells more like a value bet than a bluff. Could he have something I can beat, like AK or A9? Yes, I think he could have a hand like that. Could he have something that beats me, like KK, K9, 96 or 99? Yes, I think he could have a hand like that.
Sometimes in poker, you just don't know if you are ahead or behind. I think it is equally likely I will win or lose if I make this call, so a $50 bet on what seems like a 50/50 chance to win $200 seems like the right thing to do. So I call.
My opponent shows K9 - a better boat than mine. He scoops the pot and I look down at the $45 in chips I have remaining.
Did I make a mistake in the way I played my hand? In retrospect that last call doesn't look so smart, but in my defense I think I win that hand a lot of the time against players with a big range. I think the truth is I just got rivered and my opponent made the right value bet to extract maximum value out of his hit.
Did I make a mistake? You tell me. I'm not sure too many players would fold in my position.
More to come.
Let's review my mistakes:
Mistake 1: I went in with a plan, but I didn't stick with it. I have outlined in previous posts why I think starting with a small stack is a good idea but I talked myself out of following my own good advice.
Plenty more mistakes to come! Look for part 2 to this cautionary tale - coming soon!
I felt positive going in. I told my bankroll manager I was only taking $100 - a sum that would keep me from playing the loose style that always spells disaster for me. When I arrived at just before 10:00 a.m. there was a table going with bleary eyed hard-core players who had been up all night. I could see beer bottles and high-ball glasses on the small tables beside the players. This looked too good to be true. So I decided to deviate from the plan - being fresh against tired players is a great advantage, so I figured bringing in a little more to the table might just earn me a lot more in return. I went to the cage and bought $140 in chips [mistake 1].
The first hour I folded a lot and just got a feel for how the others were playing - I did pick up a small pot, building my stack to about $155. It was pretty loose. Lots of bluffing and semi-bluffing, over-betting and questionable calls. Perfect. About an hour in, sitting in the cut-off, I was dealt the kind of hand I love to play at a table like this: 6c 6s. Small and medium pairs are easy to fold if you miss the flop and often get paid off big time when they hit - particularly at loose tables like this one. There was a straddle on ( we are talking $1/$2 No Limit Hold 'Em - with a $5 straddle) and three people called before me. I called, the big blind called, and the straddler checked.
The pot was $31, with six players in. The flop came Kh 4h 9d. Big Blind bets only $5. Two players call and two players fold when the action comes to me. Normally, I'd fold without giving it a second thought, but a $5 bet into a $46 pot is pretty attractive odds, particularly since I'm in position and no one can re-raise it. At a tight table I would still probably fold, but at this loose table my implied pot-odds are terrific, so I call.
And I'm very glad I did because the 6 of diamonds came on the turn. Sweet. The board now looks like this: Kh 4h 9d 6d - two flush draws out there now and the action post-flop makes it seem likely that some of my opponents are on draws - gut shot straights and hearts being the most obvious. I think I need to bet big to chase away the draws, but Big Blind must be thinking something similar as he opens with a $25 bet - roughly half the pot. The other two guys fold and I decide that while I don't have the nuts, I'm very likely holding the best hand. I make it $50 and Big Blind calls.
Heads-up to the river with a $150 pot.
The river is the nine of spades. The board is now Kh 4h 9d 6d 9s. Big Blind bets $50.
What should I do? I've got a full house now. I've invested $60 into this hand - not exactly enough to say I'm pot commited. I ask myself, "What hands could he be holding?" He might have a busted flush he is bluffing with - but a $50 bet is only 1/3 the pot and smells more like a value bet than a bluff. Could he have something I can beat, like AK or A9? Yes, I think he could have a hand like that. Could he have something that beats me, like KK, K9, 96 or 99? Yes, I think he could have a hand like that.
Sometimes in poker, you just don't know if you are ahead or behind. I think it is equally likely I will win or lose if I make this call, so a $50 bet on what seems like a 50/50 chance to win $200 seems like the right thing to do. So I call.
My opponent shows K9 - a better boat than mine. He scoops the pot and I look down at the $45 in chips I have remaining.
Did I make a mistake in the way I played my hand? In retrospect that last call doesn't look so smart, but in my defense I think I win that hand a lot of the time against players with a big range. I think the truth is I just got rivered and my opponent made the right value bet to extract maximum value out of his hit.
Did I make a mistake? You tell me. I'm not sure too many players would fold in my position.
More to come.
Let's review my mistakes:
Mistake 1: I went in with a plan, but I didn't stick with it. I have outlined in previous posts why I think starting with a small stack is a good idea but I talked myself out of following my own good advice.
Plenty more mistakes to come! Look for part 2 to this cautionary tale - coming soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)