Passive Play Gets Punished

Hate myself for stacking off here. Seems like a classic case of getting too attached to a hand based on how good it was preflop.

I had a history with this guy. I had 3-bet his button raise earlier with air and he 4-bet me forcing me to lay it down. So I didn't give him credit for a big hand preflop (correctly, as it turned out). Also, he had a 40% VPIP.

On the flop, it seemed like what I had was a medium strength hand so I should check-call. With his aggression in the earlier hand (and his high VPIP), I figured there was a decent chance he would bluff a weaker hand. Not sure that's really true though. Who bluffs a three-bettor on a king high flop? Not even most maniacs.

On the turn, somehow I convinced myself that if he had a real hand he would play it slower to extract maximum value. Dumb. I think his thought process was actually "OMG - I have two pair!".

This hand is certainly easier to play if I lead out and then shut down if called or raised. I lose the value I get from him bluffing, but frankly that was never very likely. Bleh.

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($105.35)
UTG+1		($98.50)
MP1		($127.25)
MP2		($79.50)
MP3		($104.50)
CO		($91.15)
BTN		($88.90)
SB		($244.75)
Hero		($117.50)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 9 players) Hero is BB

6 folds, BTN raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero raises to $9, BTN calls $6

Flop: ($18.5, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $14, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($46.5, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN goes all-in $65.9, Hero calls $65.9

River: ($178.3, 2 players)

Final Pot: $178.30
BTN shows:
Hero shows:

BTN wins $175.3 ( won +$86.4 )
Hero lost -$88.90

A Questionable Laydown

As it turned out, he had QQ, so it would have been good to call. But his range is probably AA-QQ,AK. According to my calculations, AK has 40% equity against that range. Since I had to call $12 for a chance to win $28, in theory I have the proper odds. However, my hand has reverse implied odds. I am in danger of losing a lot if an ace or king flops and my opponent has AA or KK. I am unlikely to win much if an ace or king flops and he has QQ. Maybe I can get one c-bet out of him. He can also set up against me with a lower pair on an ace or king high flop.

Probably the way I would play it would be to fold any flop which doesn't have an ace or a king on it. If an ace or king comes, and he bets into me twice very sizeably, then I fold to the second bet. If his bet size is half-pot or so, especially if it is smaller on the turn than the flop, then I may call a second bet. Not sure about a third.

Playing it this way, it seems like I am not going to turn a profit, in part because he will bluff me off many hands where we are chopping because we both have AK. So maybe I need to float a weakish bet on the flop if I miss? This also offers the opportunity to steal the pot from a chopping AK.

I don't know, despite the apparent logic in this, I just don't have the cojones to play it this way. Maybe part of the reason is that I feel he doesn't always reraise AK here preflop. So his range may be skewed towards AA-QQ, and even QQ he may not reraise sometimes.

As an aside, look how insane the cutoff was in this hand. I'm not sure which is more atrocious, the preflop call or the flop call.

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($68.70)
UTG+1		($95.20)
MP1		($46.50)
Hero		($134.40)
CO		($40.05)
BTN		($20.10)
SB		($92.05)
BB		($100.00)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 8 players) Hero is MP2

3 folds, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $4, 1 fold, SB calls $3.5, BB raises to $16, Hero folds, CO calls $12, SB calls $12

Flop: ($52, 3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $30, CO goes all-in $24.05, SB folds

Turn: ($100.1, 2 players)

River: ($100.1, 2 players)

Final Pot: $100.10
BB shows:
CO shows:

BB wins $5.95 ( lost -$40.05 )
CO wins $97.1 ( won +$57.05 )
SB lost -$16.00
Hero lost -$4.00

Good Laydown

Of course, if I had called, the queen wouldn't have come on the flop, so ignore that.

You always wonder when you make a laydown like this whether your opponent is just a maniac, and you think about how sick to your stomach you will be if the hand makes it to showdown and he flips over J4o. In this case, I felt good about the result.

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($14.50)
UTG+1		($8.70)
MP1		($125.15)
MP2		($99.65)
MP3		($33.60)
CO		($95.20)
BTN		($43.50)
Hero		($134.90)
BB		($42.55)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 9 players) Hero is SB

UTG raises to $3, 1 fold, MP1 raises to $10, 1 fold, MP3 goes all-in $33.6, 2 folds, Hero folds, 1 fold, UTG folds, MP1 calls $23.6

Flop: ($71.7, 2 players)

Turn: ($71.7, 2 players)

River: ($71.7, 2 players)

Final Pot: $71.70
MP1 shows:
MP3 shows:

MP3 wins $68.7 ( won +$35.1 )
UTG lost -$3.00
MP1 lost -$33.60

Merry Christmas To Me

I've been losing at $0.5/$1 and needed something like this to cheer me up.

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($110.40)
UTG+1		($144.45)
MP1		($110.25)
MP2		($127.85)
Hero		($90.95)
CO		($105.05)
BTN		($37.00)
SB		($74.00)
BB		($14.50)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 9 players) Hero is MP3

3 folds, MP2 raises to $3, Hero calls $3, 4 folds

Flop: ($7.5, 2 players)
MP2 bets $7, Hero calls $7

Turn: ($21.5, 2 players)
MP2 bets $20, Hero calls $20

River: ($61.5, 2 players)
MP2 goes all-in $97.85, Hero goes all-in $60.95

Final Pot: $183.40
MP2 shows:
Hero shows:

MP2 wins $36.9 ( lost -$90.95 )
Hero wins $180.4 ( won +$89.45 )

It's Not A Semibluff, Stupid

This is not the first time I've done this. I talk myself into a call on the premise that my opponent could have been semibluffing with the ace of the possible flush suit. And that on the river he goes ahead and decides to stick the rest of it in. People just don't do that. See the set-over-set hand a couple of posts ago for another example. And there was a hand at Commerce where I dropped over 100 BBs with pocket aces by succumbing to the same rationalization.

I wonder on which street I should have folded this. Can I fold the flop or do I have enough implied odds in case I catch the flush? I think I definitely need to fold by the turn at the latest. Having called the turn, I felt I was pot committed on the river, but I'm not so sure about that either.

Getting close to needing to drop down to $0.25/$0.5. It's a shame because I think I'm playing OK except for a few brain farts like this one.

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($48.80)
UTG+1		($113.90)
MP1		($67.00)
MP2		($54.00)
MP3		($108.75)
CO		($18.50)
Hero		($96.20)
SB		($47.10)
BB		($166.85)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 9 players) Hero is BTN

3 folds, MP2 calls $1, 1 fold, CO calls $1, Hero calls $1, SB calls $0.5, BB checks

Flop: ($5, 5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP2 bets $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $2, SB folds, BB raises to $12, MP2 folds, Hero calls $10

Turn: ($31, 2 players)
BB bets $25, Hero calls $25

River: ($81, 2 players)
BB goes all-in $128.85, Hero goes all-in $58.2

Final Pot: $197.40
Hero shows:
BB shows:

BB wins $265.05 ( won +$98.2 )
MP2 lost -$3.00
CO lost -$1.00
Hero lost -$96.20
SB lost -$1.00