I had the opportunity to play yesterday, as we returned home from our trip to Williamsburg, VA a little earlier than originally expected. Both the wife & I were feeling a little under the weather, so we decided to make a game-time decision Wednesday to make the 2 1/2 hour drive back home rather than stay the additional night and return on Thursday. After a mostly restful sleep and plenty of R&R during the day - and 2 DayQuils later, I found myself in the car driving up 95 on my way to play.
The first decision I faced was whether to opt for Baltimore, where the players are far worse, the action is a lot better, and the games play larger (1/3 - $300 buy ins) vs. stopping at Live! (1/2 - $300 buy in), where it's about 10 miles closer, the room is more player friendly and the bad beat jackpot is a lot larger. I opted for what I felt was the logical choice: Baltimore. The driving distance is mostly nominal anyway - door to door, I imagine the distance is roughly the same since you can park on the same level as the poker room in Baltimore whereas it's a bit of a walk from the parking lot to the Live! poker room.
There's just something about playing 1/3 that is just so enticing as a segue from 1/2 to 2/5. At this point, I've very comfortable with the 50% money jump from 1/2 to 1/3 - the raises are larger, the pots are larger, and the players are not adjusting properly. My biggest issue with moving up to 2/5 is the money - $500 is simply a lot more money than $200. Percentage-wise, though, the step from $300 to $500 is less than $200 to $300. Therefore, I'm hoping to spend a few hours this year cementing myself in at the 1/3 games and then solidly make the jump to 2/5 - with a full 100BB buy-in.
As I start to evaluate myself, part of my problem with prior runs at 2/5 in the past was that I was a "little pregnant" - I'd play a $200 stack at 2/5 rather than buy in full. That kind of risk aversion is just like playing short stacked tournament poker - and I hate doing that. Being so short-stacked severely limits play, and I felt very much limited at the 2/5 games by playing 40% stacks... therefore, I hope I can build up enough of a bankroll to support a 2/5 game at full stacks - I figure around $8-10k will do the trick, as around $3-4k has done the trick for the 1/2, 1/3 games thus far.
Anyway, after a bit of a wait - no more than 10 minutes - I was seated at a fairly easy 1/3 table. It started off as a slow, somewhat tight table, but then the table started really loosening up. I chipped up nicely throughout and found myself sitting on around $800 when I got into the mix with a somewhat wild player who wasn't really raising frequently, but was very aggressive and swingy:
I look down at Ad2d and call a $12 raise from the somewhat wild player (sitting on ~$300), along with 4 other players - $60 in the center and a flop of 3d 4c Jd. Checks around to original raiser who leads for $25. Player to his left thinks for a while and just calls and I sit & debate the next move. I feel like I'm going to be paid on my 5 or diamond if / when it hits, but if I raise, I'm reducing the likelihood that either will pay off, so I opt to flat call the $25. All other drop out.
$135 in the center - the turn is a 5s, completing my wheel. I once again check and the wild player puts in $70. To my surprise, the player to his left shoves all in for around $170. With my wheel and the diamond re-draw, what do I do here? I have the wild / original raiser covered - he has $200 remaining after the last bet, so I announce all in and he literally takes his time before calling and then asks for a diamond on the river.
River is a 6c and he flips 76o for the higher straight on the turn and scoops a nice pot.
I've been looking at the points of play which I could have done better, but I'm debating the only spot in which I could have changed - the flop. I don't know whether it would have made a difference, but I think I like check/ raising the flop there to around $125 instead of just calling. I'm happy to take down the pot without showing down, and if I get a call, it's an auto shove on the turn. I also think I mark the hand up to a cooler - he had a somewhat oddball hand not really in his range that hit a gutter on me which also made my hand. Thoughts?
Friday, April 10, 2015
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
an $8-10k bankroll isnt enough to play $1-2 at full stacks let alone anything else. of course, for a rich guy with another job who knows?
ReplyDeleteWhat? Tony, based on your belief, NOBODY would be playing $1/2 NL. You are depending on it for your life, but some recreational players play $1/2 with virtually no bankroll. Many buy ins are capped at $200, which makes it a lure for almost anyone.
DeleteThanks lightning! Exactly my sentiments - I'm not a pro player. Therefore, ~30 buy-ins will allow me to sustain my streaks. I always have the option of dipping into my "real life" money but I can't imagine getting my roll so low where I'd need to borrow from my other 'roll.
DeleteThe nut flush draw is Powerful...but the wheel draw....not so much.
ReplyDeleteBottom line is it's the "ignorant" end of the straight....67 has you dead and even a single 6 or 7 can run you down.
I think as played I would simply reraise flop and commit the chips there planning not to fold to a shove when you have some fold equity....if you get called you still have 33% equity in the pot with the NFD...and if you only get one shover out of two opponents with the pot and the dead money you are getting a price
Bill, I respectfully disagree with some of your analysis. The straight draw, if it hits, is a lot more likely to get paid off because it is not as obvious or expected as the flush draw. As for the fact that he had the idiot end of the straight, based on the preflop action, I would not expect a player to be playing with 67. It can (and did) happen, but its not like he had 89 for the idiot end of a TJQ straight, where someone may be playing AK. I agree with the shove on the flop, though. There was enough money in the pot to make it worthwhile to take it down ($110, i.e., more than 1/3 of a max starting stack). You ideally want a player to call with a lesser flush draw, and 67 surely folds, avoiding the unfortunate ending to this saga.
DeleteI don't like check raising the flop at all.
ReplyDeleteHaving the wheel on the turn with the nut flush draw, I don't know how you can get away from this hand. It wasn't like there were four cards to the straight on the board and you then got stacked with the ass end of a straight. The hand was just a sucky cooler.
Yeah - I was going back & forth in my head about this one... I was just looking for a way if I could have played it better... Why don't you like c/ring the flop though? What I like about it is that even with the same results, I'm committing a lot less money on the turn regardless and have all the fold equity of a better gutter on the turn. Meh... I kinda chalked it up to a cooler as well...
DeleteI probably would have played it the exact same way you did which means that's probably wrong. :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me that the guy slow-rolled you on the turn. He had the stone cold nuts, right? Why did he hesitate to call? I mean, sure he's worried about the flush draw coming in but if you aren't willing to get it all in with nuts, whatever the redraw possibilities, you shouldn't be paying poker. And besides, you said he was a wild player and a truly wild player would be willing to get in there with a lot less than nuts!
Agree completely with lightning. I appreciate it that you are reflecting and trying to improve your game, but some hands just end up in the crapper.
ReplyDeletethe hand played its self out. imo. 7 days till April 20th and Roscoe P Coltrane died
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bill here. With a monster draw you want only the wild player in the hand. A raise on the flop might have made the Villain 2 fold. If The Wild player folds, I am happy with the pot here.
ReplyDeleteOn the turn a raise from 70 to 170 indicates strength and I would reraise without the nuts. A diamond on the river would have been nice, but, why commit a lot when we might be behind.
GolfPro