Monday, April 16, 2012

An unlucky outcome but still a good move

What do you think of this line?

Limped pot, I'm on the BTN and limp along with Q5s (live 1/2, $1050 stack size; have everyone at the table [easily] covered).

Flop comes Q Q 3 rainbow.  Checks around to me, and I lead for $5 into a 6x$2=$12 pot.  I get a call from the most readable guy there; definition of calling station, who will call HUGE bets down to the river with any and all pairs, and totally passive.

Turn is a 5, and I'm convinced that he has a Q and will call any bet.  He checks to me and I'm not yet thinking out of the box; I bet $25 into the now $24 pot.  He calls.

River is a 7 and he leads for $30.  He has $300 behind.

I shove the $300 effective into the $100 pot - he INSTANTLY calls and shows Q7 for the rivered better boat.

I just think there's so many hands that he's calling a shove here, without the nuts.  I think this is profitable, though unlucky that he hit his [second time on the night against me] 6%.

What do you think of the overbet for value?  No matter, in this case it would have been the same outcome (i.e. if I go through the more standard raise / re-raise / shove process), but he's clearly check / calling his weak Q as a bluff catcher, and will call off tons of $$$ with the non-nuts bluff catch.  Same could be said if the river double paired the board with a 3.  I think that in these situations, you need to extract max. pain against the loose / passives who are happily calling you down "just to see."

The hand earlier in the night, I flopped TPTK where I raised to $15 PF and he called his T6s (WTF?).  Flop is J T x and I got 3 streets of value on him when he hit his 6 on the river for 2 pair (he check / called my $45 river bet, which I debated checking through).

Sigh...  That hand above was the difference of a $1200 winner (which would have been single session tops in my short live poker career), vs. $500 winner on the night...  Oh well.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Sunday night at Charles Town

I got a rare Sunday night to play poker; I continue to have solid success playing there.  Although my sessions are short-ish, I'm playing tight and smart.  I doubled through with KK three hands (AIPF) into the night (vs. QQ) and AA on a 8 8 3 board (AI vs. 9 9).  Those were the major hands of note; it was not a slow bleed of limp / fold or raise / call / fold action.  The tables on the "off" nights, i.e. non-Friday / Saturday, continue to be soft as can be, with action typically limping around and getting to see flops cheaply.  With these players, I can establish myself as the tight player I am, and my raises get lots of respect.  I can typically make a move from the BTN when it is limped to me where I'll raise to $15-$17, allowing me to take down the dead money without a fight.  Fun times, fun times indeed.  I'd like to have a day devoted to a session, as I am not a huge fan of these mini- 3 hour sessions.

Last Thursday night, I went looking for Mr. NewinNov at the Omaha 5/5 tables, but no one admitted to being from Alexandria, VA.  Hey Newin, if you read this: leave a comment with your name, so that I can ask for you by name and introduce myself to you.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Thursdays at Charles Town

I am slowly coming around to the idea that my continual poor results at the casino in Charles Town are due to the days of the week that I'm playing.  In the past, I'd primarily play Fridays and Saturdays - prime days in which the gamblers are playing any two cards, the games are far more aggressive, and I'm the one playing more fish-like, in that I'm calling more and raising less.  This is due to an overall lack of cards, but more so being continually drawn out on.  Raises on a Friday and Saturday are met with no respect, and a $15 raise at 1/2 fetches 4-5 callers...  heck, a solid 3-bet can get 3 callers.  Regardless whether I have the best holdings pre-flop, chances are, without a pair, that I won't have the cards when I see the flop.  This is in polar contrast to playing Thursday nights, which I've been playing the last 2-3 sessions.  Raises get far more respect, and even though the post flop play is just as bad at 1/2 during any night of the week, Thursday-night players are not there to gamble it up with literally any two cards.

It's funny; I would figure that I want callers when I'm raising - my PF raises are nearly 100% value-oriented, 0% bluff-oriented.  The amazing thing is that these players don't care that they're behind PF, and clearly have no recognition that they're not getting paid when they hit their flushes or straights.  I should do better on Fridays and Saturdays over Thursdays because I'm getting the calls I want.  However, when that father variance rears his ugly head (which I've seen at Charles Town since I've been playing there), I can't allow myself to get called down to the river holding my Ace-King high vs. a villain's Ace-9 which happened to flop top pair.  Or the best is the typical AK 3-bet vs. Ax  setup hand where they call the $50-60 flop bet and turn two pair to stack me on the turn / river.

I'm tilting myself now, thinking about the nastiness that I've experienced at Charles Town.  I'm actually showing a profit for Charles Town in 2012.  I'll try to continue the Thursday night trend :-).

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Poker rooms near Indianapolis, IN?

I'm possibly going on business there next week - mid week.  Anyone know of decent poker rooms in the area of Indianapolis?

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