What would you do? #32

10/7 /.8 AF / 61 hands

Too nitty to fold an overpair? He's not been aggressive yet...

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 Pot Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/397994
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $31.10
BB: $25.00
UTG: $25.00
UTG+1: $10.85
MP1: $16.20
MP2: $28.60
Hero (CO): $45.70
BTN: $36.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with Js Jc
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, BTN calls $0.85, 1 fold, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.65) 4s Tc 7c (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.75, BTN raises to $4, BB folds, Hero calls $2.25

Turn: ($10.65) 4h (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $6, Hero ???





Click to see results

Hero folds

Final Pot: $10.65
BTN wins $10.15
(Rake: $0.50)

Odds scenarios

As I was constructing the post recapping my poker education, I thought about past history and how I got where I am. I remembered back to the spreadsheets that I used to keep, detailing my wins / losses, player notes, etc. - in the years prior to Poker Tracker. I came up with odds charts, to help me with my pre-flop hand decisions and pot odds / hand equity calculations. I have 4 sheets in the online google document:

• Pot Odds Calculator
  Helps you determine whether or not, based on the bet you face and the current pot size, if you are getting odds to make a proper call for the current street.
• How to Figure Out Hand Equity
  A collection of articles on figuring out the equity for the hand you hold (i.e. counting outs & determining the percentage chance that you will make your hand).
• Preflop
  The chance of running a particular hand through a flop, turn and river against a random set of X players, and ending up winning the hand.
• Scenarios
  A basic set of scenarios for pre-flop, flop, and turn cards, and your percentage chances of making the particular hand. It is similar to the Pot Odds Calculator sheet, but more detailed.

Perhaps these spreadsheets may help one of my readers become a more educated poker player.

The spreadsheets can be accessed by this link:
Link

What would you do? #31

BTN is a known regular, my favorite Russian friend [and yours], Valera49. He's a TAG, with stats of 14/10/AF 3.4/cbet 71%/Steal 28% @ 2541 hands. Tons of sample size here.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/387245
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $20.00
UTG: $50.00
UTG+1: $37.45
MP: $49.25
CO: $19.00
BTN: $51.30
Hero (SB): $103.75

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with Qd Qc
4 folds, BTN raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5, 1 fold, BTN raises to $13, Hero ???


Click to see results

Hero requests TIME, 1 fold - He's no dummy. He plays well and he's profitable. I can't see him 4 betting 2.5x without AK, AA, KK. I've not seen him do this without the nuts - and I've 3 bet him plenty of times. Perhaps it's nitty, but I don't see that I have very much equity here. What can he honestly have? QQ? JJ?

Final Pot: $10.50
BTN wins $10.50

What would you do? #30

I've been sitting at this table where this erratic player - almost maniac has been raising crazy amounts. One hand, he'll raise UTG to $25, the next, $6, etc. He's a 64 / 39 / 3.3 / 50 / 0 over ~40 hands. What do you do here?

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/387221
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP1: $93.95
MP2: $10.75
CO: $18.75
Hero (BTN): $55.20
SB: $51.05
BB: $28.95
UTG: $50.55
UTG+1: $22.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 6h 6d
UTG raises to $17.50, Hero ???


Click to see results

I think this is clearly a shove / fold situation. However, if I shove, he has about 2:1 odds to make a call. I think at best, I'm 50/50 with him. Do I really want to get it all in at a spot where I have 50% equity? As a note, I got it all in at a later hand where I held AK to his J9 and he spike a 9 and runnered Jacks to win my stack. He sat out shortly thereafter.7 folds

Final Pot: $1.25
UTG wins $1.25

Englightenment... my short history

I was reflecting on the defining moments of my poker career. I can map them out perfectly, as they are well known points that most of you probably know already and have for sometime. (For me, I'm a little dense, and it takes me longer to learn things.)

• The ability to count outs and determine the equity my hand holds. I first read about hand equity when Justin "WPThero" Rollo of PokerSavvy Plus fame wrote an expose' on the dailyhandquiz.com. If you are unaware of how to count outs, it is along the same lines as the article written by the same author: Making a Tough Call By Justin Rollo. I remember that I immediately followed it up with a ton of research on odds and found the rule of 4x and 2x (essentially counting your outs and multiplying them by 4 for the flop and 2 for the river for your percentage of winning the hand), which is a bit easier to use. Based on that information, I formulated a spreadsheet to quickly figure out my equity at each round, as compared with the pot odds that were being offered. I was now able to figure out how to quickly know where I was in each and every hand. I can approximate that I became aware of the rule of 4x and 2x back in early 2009, 2-3 years into my unsuccessful (but lucky) poker career. You can read a few of the original posts on this blog to see what a donkey I was.
  
• However, I was still finding myself running into situations where I was completely unsure as to whether I was ahead or behind in the hand. Back in the days prior to using Poker Tracker or knowing my co-blogger, omgitsjoshua, situations would arise where I would limp Js3s in the UTG and a J high flop would hit a 2 flush (diamonds) drawing board... Was I ahead or behind? Was my opponent calling my bet because he was drawing to a flush or because he had a better J? I would commit way too much stack on way too weak holdings only to find out that I was dominated the whole time by AJo. I always knew enough to fold Ace rag, which likely kept me out of trouble for the most part, but my pattern for online poker was usually deposit $20 -> play $10NL poker for about a month -> re-deposit. Upon meeting up with omgitsjoshua back in June 2009, after 2 hours of talking and watching him play, I understood how to play a tight aggressive style. (Hint: TAG is not limping Qs3s and folding to a raiser.) I immediately understand ranges and positions. Within 2 months of playing TAG, I earned back all of my prior lost poker money (and continue to this day to show strong profits).
• Finally, learning bankroll management is the last critical piece to become a poker semi-pro. I learned that I was playing in games FAR above my bankroll when I first started out on Full Tilt and other sites. I never had a huge problem with bankroll management, though. I started with $100 on Bodog.com, where I was able to run my bankroll up [and down] I would deposit $20 at a time on my prior poker site, sportsfanatik.com (Cake Poker network), play $10NL and sometimes go broke by night's or week's end. However, when I joined Full Tilt, I built my roll up to $100+ and immediately broke into 1-tabling the $25NL games, which far exceeded my bankroll. I posted a nice table of how to properly manage a bankroll, taking care not to enter into games where you cannot afford the buy in. Learning bankroll management miraculously kept me from going broke. I honestly believe that joining Full Tilt was my last straw - I told myself that if I went broke on FT (lost my initial buy in & 100% match), I was not going to continue feeding the credit card into the site with regular deposits like I had been on my prior site. I had spent ~$500 to that point in the 3 years I had been playing online, and I thought it time to give up if I could not figure out how to profitable. Fortunately, the rest, as they say, is history...

I think anyone with ambition can learn to become a good, profitable poker player. It takes dedication to get there, but you can certainly do it. Start with fundamentals and work from there. I believe the above 3 bullets outline the basic tenants a poker player should have - adding in the finer details such as button steals and 3 bets as he or she become accustomed to how the game is played.

What would you do? #29

Villain is a 12/7/2.0 / 71% cbet / 12% attempt to steal

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 Pot Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/377098
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): $60.60
BTN: $95.75
SB: $14.25
BB: $32.00
UTG: $39.45
UTG+1: $51.55
UTG+2: $12.90
MP1: $27.20
MP2: $29.70

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with Qs Qh
2 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.50, MP1 calls $0.50, MP2 calls $0.50, Hero raises to $3.25, BTN raises to $12, 6 folds
Bad fold? 3bet percentage is in the 2-3% range. What do you do in this spot?
This hand was compounded by the fact that I think I lost a total of around $200 during the session. I *COULD NOT* run any worse - set of 6's all in on the flop busted by a turned set of Kings, etc... Perhaps it got to my head, but what would you do for 20+% of your stack?

Final Pot: $8.75
BTN wins $8.75

Royal flush time

Too bad I didn't get paid! I made $.25 on the hand :-(

What would you do? #28

This is not so much of a what would you do, but an education lesson. I *RARELY* call down Ace high, but I felt this was a situation that warranted it.

Villain is a 12/10/6.4 / 70% cbet / 28% attempt to steal @ 773 hands.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/374549
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $51.95
Hero (UTG+1): $53.65
UTG+2: $57.00
MP1: $50.00
MP2: $63.35
CO: $54.70
BTN: $40.00
SB: $59.70
BB: $12.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with Ah 9h
1 fold, Hero calls $0.50, 6 folds, BB checks

Flop: ($1.25) Qs Js Kh (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1, BB calls $1
A BB limped pot with a gut shot and backdoor flush draw. I figure to take down this checked pot. BB opts to smooth.

Turn: ($3.25) 6c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Check through; not sure where I am in the hand. I'm happy to go to showdown here, because I think I have showdown value.

River: ($3.25) 5c (2 players)
BB bets $2, Hero ???


Click to see results

Hero calls $2 -His lack of interest / check on the turn says that he's on a draw... to the ten. The only question is whether the 5 or 6 connected with him. I snap call immediately and find that I read the situation exactly correct.

Final Pot: $7.25
Hero shows Ah 9h (Ace King high)
BB shows Th 8h (King Queen high)
Hero wins $6.90
(Rake: $0.35)

Winning Stacks by Ed Miller

Ed Miller, Author of Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em and Professional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I, has written a good strategy article on stacking your opponent. I know I take this to heart in my game, and perhaps I expose myself to a lot more risk as a result (i.e. opponents are willing to stack off light against me because I put so much pressure on them when I know I'm ahead), but to me, this is what the game is all about. Assuming you believe in statistics, which my brain tells me I do (my heart doesn't - which is how I explain running less than expected value for my hands), then the name of the game is getting your stack in the middle when you're a significant favorite.

Here is the link: Link.

Enjoy!

What would you do? #28

Villain is a 20/15/2.4 / 71% cbet / 49% attempt to steal @ 214 hands.

I'm not sure whether I stepped in this & had it coming to me, but check it out:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/374542
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $51.95
Hero (BTN): $56.30
SB: $56.50
BB: $63.35
UTG: $53.45
UTG+1: $40.00
MP1: $59.45
MP2: $12.75

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 9d 8d
4 folds, CO raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, 2 folds, CO calls $3
CO has proven that over 200 hands, he LOVES to steal - 50% of the time to be exact. I feel comfortable 3 betting light here. I had been 3 betting him light in prior hands and he would call the raise / fold the flop.

Flop: ($9.75) 8c 8h 2s (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $3, CO raises to $6, Hero calls $3
CO is definitely defining his hand here by min raising me. I'm putting him on air (AK & the like) or an overpair. Perhaps he is testing me because of our prior history where I'm raising his steals.

Turn: ($21.75) 4c (2 players)
CO bets $10, Hero ???
Are you happy to get it all in here? Are you smoothing the bet? There aren't any draws out there, and he's betting half pot. What is your line?

Click to see results

Hero raises to $25, CO raises to $40, Hero raises to $45.80 all in, CO calls $1.45 all in

River: ($104.65) Jd (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $104.65
CO shows 2h 2d (a full house, Twos full of Eights) - Perhaps I got what I deserved by 3 betting light, but I think he's raising with a lot of junk in the CO / BTN by having a 50% attempt to steal...
Hero shows 9d 8d (three of a kind, Eights)
CO wins $101.65
(Rake: $3.00)

Dropping down a level

I took a cash out of most of my Full Tilt funds on Wednesday, leaving me with $600.00. I took it out as a precaution against the UIGEA Act that may or may not go into effect on Dec. 1, which stipulates that financial institutions are no longer allowed to process financial transactions for online gaming companies.

SO, a to make a long story short, staying at $50NL with $600.00 is going to be a difficult thing. 12 buy ins makes it easy to go broke, which is more or less what happened Thursday and Friday... my account dropped to around $350. I decided that I needed to drop down in stakes to $25NL until I can establish a reasonable account balance - at which time I can move back up to $50NL.

I forgot how easy $25NL is... these players are just terrible! Granted, I have a limited sample size, but I have included some of the more amazing hands that just stupefied me when I saw the players call me down.

Didn't win this one, but these villains were pure DONKEYS with a capital "D":
Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/382892
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $38.29
MP1: $3.20
MP2: $23.80
CO: $13.36
Hero (BTN): $37.39
SB: $12.55
BB: $5.00
UTG: $36.37

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Kh Ac
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 3 folds, Hero raises to $1.10, 1 fold, BB raises to $5 all in, UTG+1 calls $4.75, Hero raises to $10, UTG+1 calls $5
Okay. I've established that I have a monster hand. If you're UTG+1, are you calling a 4 bet for 1/3 of your stack (we're deep stacked here) with KTo? PURE DONKEY!

Flop: ($25.10) 8h Tc Jh (3 players - 1 is all in)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $8, UTG+1 calls $8
PLEASE QUEEN!!! PLEASE!!!

Turn: ($41.10) 5c (3 players - 1 is all in)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

River: ($41.10) Js (3 players - 1 is all in)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks
Perhaps I can all in shove to represent a Jack, but I already contributed enough to this pot.

Final Pot: $41.10
UTG+1 shows Ts Kd (two pair, Jacks and Tens) - LOL!!!!
Hero shows Kh Ac (a pair of Jacks)
BB mucks Ad Qd
UTG+1 wins $24.70
UTG+1 wins $14.35
(Rake: $2.05)

Here's another hand; tough to fold AQo high, huh?

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/382899
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $69.47
UTG+1: $7.15
Hero (MP): $28.57
CO: $12.50
BTN: $5.00
SB: $6.08
BB: $36.77

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP with Kh Kc
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, 3 folds, BB raises to $2.65, Hero raises to $5, BB calls $2.35

Flop: ($10.10) 7h Jc 5d (2 players)
BB bets $6, Hero calls $6
AJo? JJJ? Pretty strong bet for a donk bet

Turn: ($22.10) 2s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $8, BB calls $8
He doesn't have anything!

River: ($38.10) Jh (2 players)
BB bets $17.77 all in, Hero calls $9.57 all in
$9.57 into $38? CALL!!!

Final Pot: $57.24
Hero shows Kh Kc (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
BB shows Qc Ad (a pair of Jacks)
Hero wins $54.38
(Rake: $2.86)

Always good to stack off with AKo high! ESPECIALLY AGAINST THE POKER MEISTER - J9s

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/382900
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $10.28
SB: $32.22
BB: $5.00
UTG: $31.51
Hero (UTG+1): $35.81
UTG+2: $26.36
MP1: $8.42
MP2: $5.00
CO: $13.07

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG+1 with Jh 9h
1 fold, Hero calls $0.25, UTG+2 raises to $1.10, 6 folds, Hero calls $0.85

Flop: ($2.55) 9s Jd 8d (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+2 bets $2.55, Hero raises to $7.75, UTG+2 raises to $25.26 all in, Hero calls $17.51
PLEASE have AA, KK!

Turn: ($53.07) 8h (2 players - 1 is all in)
Damnit, he has a better two pair

River: ($53.07) Js (2 players - 1 is all in)
Redeemed!

Final Pot: $53.07
Hero shows Jh 9h (a full house, Jacks full of Nines)
UTG+2 shows Ad Kh (two pair, Jacks and Eights) - Nevermind; he had AK high! DONKEY!!!

Hero wins $50.42
(Rake: $2.65)

A Rakewell hand (the Mighty 24!):

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/382902
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $41.77
CO: $25.00
BTN: $33.86
SB: $12.42
Hero (BB): $25.00
UTG: $12.50

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 2c 4s
1 fold, MP calls $0.25, 2 folds, SB calls $0.15, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.75) 5d Ac 3c (3 players)
SB bets $0.25, Hero raises to $1, MP folds, SB calls $0.75

Turn: ($2.75) Jh (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.25, SB calls $1.25

River: ($5.25) 6h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4, SB calls $4

Final Pot: $13.25
SB mucks Ah 2h
Hero shows 2c 4s (a straight, Six high)
Hero wins $12.59
(Rake: $0.66)

But don't try to turn the Poker Meister against me!

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/382904
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $10.10
Hero (BB): $39.89
UTG: $9.84
UTG+1: $8.17
UTG+2: $9.75
MP1: $5.91
MP2: $33.60
CO: $26.52
BTN: $5.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with Td As
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, UTG+2 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, 3 folds, SB calls $0.15, Hero checks

Flop: ($1.25) 9c Ad Jh (5 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.75, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to $3.50, MP1 folds, SB folds, Hero raises to $11.75, UTG+2 calls $6 all in

Turn: ($20.25) 3d (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($20.25) Ts (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $20.25
Hero shows Td As (two pair, Aces and Tens)
UTG+2 shows Js 9s (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
Hero wins $19.24
(Rake: $1.01)

What would you do? #27

First hand at this table.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/372442
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $46.00
CO: $10.00
BTN: $114.45
SB: $12.85
BB: $13.50
UTG: $11.85
Hero (UTG+1): $50.75
UTG+2: $47.25
MP1: $39.85

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with Ac 9c
1 fold, Hero calls $0.50, 1 fold, MP1 calls $0.50, MP2 raises to $1.50, 3 folds, BB calls $1, Hero calls $1, 1 fold

Flop: ($5.25) 8d 9d 9s (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP2 checks

Turn: ($5.25) 3d (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.25, MP2 calls $3.25, BB folds

River: ($11.75) 5c (2 players)
Hero bets $5, MP2 raises to $26.75, Hero ???
This is probably an easy one for everyone *EXCEPT* me... I really screwed this hand up! What would you do here? Raise, call fold?





Click to see results

Hero calls $21.75

Final Pot: $65.25
MP2 shows 8h 8s (a full house, Eights full of Nines)
Hero mucks Ac 9c
MP2 wins $62.25
(Rake: $3.00)