Cash game hands

[Pab]

OK after my recent debut on the poker analysis generated quite a bit of interest, and at the request of Tight end, I will start to post key hands from my cash game sessions as well as hands and situations if I go deep in a multi. If people seem interested i will try and do it on a regular basis, if not, nothing lost on my behalf.

I make most money from multi's but as anyone knows they can be very high variance and a baron patch can start eating away at the bankroll, that is why i play cash games. I never play cash games and tournaments at the same time as you need to be in different mindsets. In a tournament im looking to win every chip on the table in order to finish in first place. In cash games im looking to get in a dominating situation as an overwhelming favourite to take a full buy in off someone. The most profitable hand in cash games is when you flop a set with your pocket pair in the hole because it can be very hard to read for your opponents and a lot of the time people fall in love with their overpair even when the betting suggests they are beat. At the moment I 4 table 3/6 NL 6 seater tables on party poker and the blonde site and use pokertracker to analyse my play as well as keep accurate financial records of my cash game play.

Am just importing my session at the moment but am off to sleep now, tomorrow i will review my session and post any significant pots i won or lost and what i was thinking at the time. Hope it gets people of all abilities discussing or at least understanding the dynamics of the hands as it is the best learning tool in poker in my opinion and I continue to learn all the time. Hope you enjoy,

Pab

[thetank]

You big tease 

Sounds like a good plan. 

[ACE2M]

looking forward to it.

[Bongo]

looking forward to it.

Me too

[Pab]

OK, here are the key hands from my cash session yesterday. tbh i dont really remember a lot happening so might not be much to discuss. I played for 95 mins and won close to $700 between the 4 tables I was playin. I remember losing a decent pot with AQ even though the guy told me he had at least 2 pair on every street i still called (brain freeze)

***** Hand History for Game 4510628802 *****
$600 NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, June 13, 22:37:10 ET 2006
Table Table  96550 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 6: iluvtoulouse ( $1031.40 )
Seat 5: LEADBOOTS ( $667 )
Seat 3: skunkmasterc ( $645 )
Seat 4: goldenfan ( $619.35 )
Seat 1: royal06 ( $203.25 )
Seat 2: vivalajeff ( $386.96 )
iluvtoulouse posts small blind [$3].
vivalajeff posts big blind [$6].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LEADBOOTS [    ]
skunkmasterc raises [$25].
goldenfan calls [$25].
LEADBOOTS calls [$25].
** Dealing Flop ** [ , , ]
skunkmasterc bets [$60].
goldenfan folds.
LEADBOOTS calls [$60].
** Dealing Turn ** [ ]
skunkmasterc checks.
LEADBOOTS checks.
** Dealing River ** [ ]
skunkmasterc checks.
LEADBOOTS bets [$125].
skunkmasterc calls [$125].
LEADBOOTS shows [ , ] a full house, Jacks full of tens.
skunkmasterc shows [ , ] two pairs, queens and jacks.
LEADBOOTS wins $452 from  the main pot  with a full house, Jacks full of tens.

This hand was quite nice, UTG raises to $25 and is called, i make the call with JT suited on the button. Both players have the max buy in and i have a v.good to see a flop with in position at the chance of a sizeable pot. I hit an ok flop, J high, and the raiser fires $60 into $85 pot. I call for information, he could be betting AK, AQ here as well as a pp below Jacks as a continuation bet. If i call the flop he will likely shutdown on the turn with all hands i am currently beating and would struggle to fire a 2nd bullet with AK AQ unless he was a nut job (this is party so not beyond the realms) If i get no help on the turn then i wont call another bet becasue im am likely to be behind and dont want to play a big pot with 1 pair and essentially no kicker. I hit a great turn card, another J making trips, he immediately checks and i cannot see how i dont have the best hand. I was in 2 minds weather to bet the turn or not, if he has air i wont get another $ and also he could muck AA, KK QQ as well if he was very disciplined. I check behind giving AK AQ a chance to catch up a little on the river of need be. The river is a T giving me the nuts. I bet $125 into $200 pot and get a call from QQ. Looking back i could have jammed the pot on the turn as a lot of pairs just cant fold overpairs and i maybe could have taken his fulll buy in, but a nice pot nevertheless

Hand 2

***** Hand History for Game 4510436121 *****
$600 NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, June 13, 22:15:49 ET 2006
Table Table  96550 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: SineadDad ( $1287.17 )
Seat 2: Stiff_Wind ( $781.53 )
Seat 4: UnderUrSkin ( $269 )
Seat 6: iluvtoulouse ( $853.65 )
Seat 5: LEADBOOTS ( $573 )
Seat 3: skunkmasterc ( $120.54 )
Stiff_Wind posts small blind [$3].
UnderUrSkin posts big blind [$6].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LEADBOOTS [  ]
LEADBOOTS calls [$6].
Stiff_Wind calls [$3].
UnderUrSkin checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ , , ]
Stiff_Wind bets [$6].
UnderUrSkin folds.
LEADBOOTS raises [$21].
Stiff_Wind raises [$30].
LEADBOOTS calls [$15].
** Dealing Turn ** [ ]
Stiff_Wind checks.
LEADBOOTS bets [$56].
Stiff_Wind calls [$56].
** Dealing River ** [ ]
Stiff_Wind checks.
LEADBOOTS bets [$100].
Stiff_Wind calls [$100].
LEADBOOTS shows [ , ] a full house, Fours full of queens.
Stiff_Wind doesn't show [ , ] three of a kind, queens.
LEADBOOTS wins $400 from  the main pot  with a full house, Fours full of queens.

Another decent pot, i limp UTG with 44. I flop my set on a draw heavy board and the SB comes out betting, even if the draws were not there i would still be raising at this point to get more money in the pot because on later streets its a lot harder to for players to fold once there is a nice pot in the middle. The turn and river are just value bets from me nothing ground breaking. He could have avoided this pot my mucking Q8 in the small blind. The hand doesnt flop well and he is out of position for the whole hand. After making up the SB he flops a Q with $6 invested at this point and loses $200 on the hand. He has no idea where he is at any stage on the hand and is just a calling station. Just pass marginal hands in the SB they only lead to trouble as it did for this guy

Hand 3

**** Hand History for Game 4510567244 *****
$600 NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, June 13, 22:30:25 ET 2006
Table Table  96231 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: PhilsHel ( $122 )
Seat 3: SkzVct ( $979.85 )
Seat 4: rebirth_ ( $602.30 )
Seat 5: CellPhonePkr ( $1436.19 )
Seat 6: LEADBOOTS ( $1074.90 )
Seat 2: ten9slutted ( $202.90 )
rebirth_ posts small blind [$3].
CellPhonePkr posts big blind [$6].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LEADBOOTS [  ]
LEADBOOTS raises [$21].
CellPhonePkr calls [$15].
** Dealing Flop ** [ , , Ah ]
CellPhonePkr checks.
LEADBOOTS bets [$30].
CellPhonePkr raises [$90].
LEADBOOTS calls [$60].
** Dealing Turn ** [ ]
CellPhonePkr bets [$155].
LEADBOOTS calls [$155].
** Dealing River ** [ ]
CellPhonePkr checks.
LEADBOOTS checks.
CellPhonePkr shows [ , ] two pairs, sevens and fives.
LEADBOOTS doesn't show [ , ] a pair of aces.
CellPhonePkr wins $532 from  the main pot  with two pairs, sevens and fives.

This is the worst hand i played all session and showed a lack of discipline on my behalf. I came in for a raise with AQ and the BB defended. The flop is A high and it is checked to me, I make a standard continution bet whcih i would make with nothing, a set, a str8 draw and this time happened to be top pair, 2nd kicker. The good thing about betting all the time is people usually let you know you are beat becasue they have to raise and this is what happens here. I get check raised on a pretty non-scary board which eliminates the chance of a draw so he either has 2 pr, a set, or a weaker A, AK also possible and that beats me. So out of the 4 possibilities I am behind to 3 and just in front of the other. This is a clear fold but for some reason I call, and compound the error by calling a big bet on the turn. We check the river and his 2 pair wins and i lost $250 instead of $50 on the hand.


These were the only key pots really. The AQ i played really bad, i cant really justify why I called when i was clearly beat

[TightEnd]

Brilliant Pab thanks


No time now but I am delighted to see this on the board, will be good to get into the debates on these type of posts


Much appreciated.

[Bongo]

Good reading - nothing much to add here you have done some great analysis yourself and there's nothing too out of the ordinary.

I like the AQ hand as it illustrates one of the reasons i really don't like the hand - even if you hit the A you're never really happy to take any action with the hand as there's not much you can beat...

I remember reading something by one of the high level (probably scandie) short handed no limit players. He said that even 4 handed he really doesn't like to play AJ as it's just as likely to get you in trouble as at a full table and that he'd much prefer to widen his raising range with suited connectors, rags and the like.

[Pab]

yeah, this was a relatively short session and nothing that exciting happened.

Also in the future i may just post the HH from my session first, let people discuss then i will add my comments afterwards rather than self-analysing staight away

[SupaMonkey]

On the first one i like your check on the turn. You half criticised yourself for not betting but (although this is player dependent) by checking the turn you encourage the bluff on the river (well you would from me anyway). There are only 6 ways to make aces, kings or queens (18 ways total) and 16 ways to make any other two card combination (i.e. any two card combo you think will bluff here) so i think the check here has a higher EV.

There is an argument that no hand would bluff here because it is a scary board, personally i lilke to bluff on scary boards because if you are raised you have an easy fold and your bet puts your opponent to a tough decision.