blonde poker forum

I hadn't played much poker for a while & it was great to get back into a proper session.  I won a $5 SnG ( 9 seater ), then went up to a $10 game, where I had one of those ( Jamie ) Golden games.  I hit flops & people would bet into me, I'd bluff, they'd fold.  HU villain was so scared, I raised every hand & he only bet back at me when he had something.  In the end my 2 pair took out his top pair.  This game can be sooooo easy sometimes.

So I tried a $20 game.  I've never played this level before, but I thought, if not now, then when would I ever have the balls to try it ?

1500 starting stack.  I played 1 hand early doors & climbed to 2280, limped into 1 hand on the button ( 3 limpers in front of me ) with QJo & folded when an A hit the flop.  And I made an attempted steal of another hand from BB on the turn, when the flop had been checked round.  IE I was tighter than a nuns knickers.

I worked on the idea that a mid position steal at this level was more believable ( a tight player would only play a REALLY good hand from here, wouldn't they ? ).  But in hindsight, would a 3x BB bet have worked better ?

Then when the flop came, I had villain as either 2 overcards, top pair, or overpair.  He hadn't been overlivley himself.  I know there are loads of other cards he could have had, so what else should I have allowed for?

When he re raised me all in I worked out that I had 13 outs [ Qor7 - 4 of each, 9( 2of) T ( 3of) ], having knocked off the 2 overcard option.  Because I had him covered, & the all in guaranteed me two cards, I worked out it was too good a position to fold.  Tell me I'm wrong, you know you want to.

But seriously, is this me playing odds again when I should be thinking of survival, or was this call justified ?

Full Tilt Poker Game #1524509202: $20 + $2 Sit & Go (11011395), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:06:36 ET - 2007/01/03
Seat 1: LOMA96 (3,920)
Seat 2: joerob1 (3,305)
Seat 3: Muahahahaha (1,995)
Seat 5: Ben50100 (1,300)
Seat 6: wormsville (1,490)
Seat 7: W1NDF18HT (1,490)
Ben50100 posts the small blind of 30
wormsville posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Muahahahaha  9d Td
W1NDF18HT folds
LOMA96 folds
joerob1 folds
Muahahahaha raises to 120
Ben50100 folds
wormsville calls 60
*** FLOP *** [Jd 9h 8h]
wormsville bets 270
Muahahahaha raises to 540
wormsville raises to 1,370, and is all in
Muahahahaha calls 830
wormsville shows [Kd Jh]
Muahahahaha shows [9d Td]
*** TURN *** [Jd 9h 8h] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 9h 8h Ks] [Th]
wormsville shows two pair, Kings and Jacks
Muahahahaha shows two pair, Tens and Nines
wormsville wins the pot (3,010) with two pair, Kings and Jacks

Yes, if you were blind stealing then you need to raise at least 3*BB. Giving the BB 3-1 on the pot means he could call blind. I would have potted it on the flop (equals a raise to 970 with him having 1370), your min raise allows him to come over the top of you and he is going to feel more comfortable doing that than calling for all his chips. In this hand however, i think he was going to call you preflop even with a 3-4*BB raise and he would have called your inevitable allin.

Button raises always look suspicious so i probably wouldn't have played this hand on the button.


ps. I don't bother stealing if i have more than 25*BB it's an unnecessary risk imo, but that's just me.

excellent point; in STT's I could not agree more.

Really?

I prefer to keep applying the pressure (not in the early levels though). If you have a stack use it and if you are brought back to the field then slow down again.

For me it's kindoff reverse. Once the blinds are worth nicking (so not the early levels) and you have 25 times the BB you are close to being CL whereas others are close to being (if not already are) in trouble and therefore they will push more often and I hate being reraised when I am "applying the pressure" as I don't like to donk off a big portion of my chips when it's not necessary.I tend to slow down a bit in STT's when I have a decent chiplead. That might be because I also play loads of sattelites and I have a tough time varying my game if I play 2 sats and a STT. I tend to (and it's a problem I admit) sometimes slow down too much.

Although if none plays then I will force the play as I don't want my 25BB to get into trouble.

I don't mind going into the HU in a STT with a small chip disadvantage so that also affects my play, as I'm still confident I'm a better HU player then most players I run into in STT's.

I wouldn't mind hearing from Tank on this point..and other STT players as to what they prefer to do.

Fair points boldie and of course, I'm not pushing atc when you are expecting an autocall from an oppo (even then you can get lucky :) ) but I think that many players are so passive in the middle section of the game that there are many easy chips on offer. I like to keep the pressure on.

You did hit on one key difference though and that is the STT to the satellite game. Completely different beasts imo.

yeah they are..and to be honest it's casuing me some problems.

I seem to have this tendency to only play 1 thing well at a time. If I play sats, I'll go in sattelite mode and play them allright. HU is the same.
The problem I have is when I "have to" make the switch,. For instance when I play a sattelite and play like a rock..so therefore have nothing to do I like to open up a STT on the side. I do cash in them regularly but that seems to be where it ends if I also play a sat.
This is also the reason why I don't like playing cash other then HU ( other then me being a complete fish in a full handed cash table)

Does anyone have any tips on how to better make the switch? Or is it just a case of "only play 1 style at a time and then take a break before switching"

Cheers guys.

The reason for the min raise preflop was coz, really I only wanted to limp & see the flop, but coz it was folded round to me, I thought I ought to play it with a raise ( If it's good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for me  ;)), but didn't think the hand itself was worthy of  3 or 4 x BB.

I understand, in hindsight about the min raise post flop. A larger raise a) gives him worse odds for calling, & b) makes the all in call from me arbitrary if he does decide to push, which might well have made him think twice about going all in with 1 pair.

But did I put him on a big enough range of hands ? And once I'd worked out I was behind, was thinking about the pot odds bad here, or is it ok in this instance, coz I worked out I didn't need much more than evens, & was getting nearly 2.5 /1 ?

Or should it just have been fold & let him take it ? I'd still have had a stack of 1300.  Which although short compared with the guys with 3000+ chips, is still well over 20 xBB.

All help, as always dumped deep into the mental recesses.  Hopefully one day some of it will resurface as intelligent thought.   ;nanana;