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Jay's Trip Report #6 (07/11/04)
Usual settings.
I played the tight-aggressive style as usual. Hands:
First hand. I pick up AhKh in late position and raise, there's 3-4 callers. The flop is Jxx. It's checked to me, I bet, BB raises, and I fold. It's still early, so I don't know what kind of players I'm up against.
A couple hands later. I pick up TT in mid position and limp in, there's 4-5 other limpers. The flop is 632, two hearts. There's a bet to me that I raise, a few players call. The turn is a 3. Checked to me, I bet and everyone calls. The river is an 8. I bet and no callers.
I pick up AK in late position and raise, button re-raises, and I cap it. We're heads up. The flop is J98. Check-check (I should've bet). The turn is rag. I bet and he calls. The river is a T. Check-check. The guy has A2. I was a bit confused but shrugged it off. This guy was another one of those weirdos. He called 3 bets with 72 in another hand, made two pairs but lost to two higher pairs. Needless to say, his big stack depleted pretty quickly.
I get cold cards for a good 30 minutes. Funny thing that happened during this period. I folded A7 in mid position, the cards bounced and landed face up. More than half the table went estatic over my folding an ace. I just meekly said that A7 has never been good to me as an excuse. I knew I was at a good table...
I pick up Q7 in the BB and check it. The flop is Q42, two clubs. I check-raise to see if top pair is good. No re-raises, they must be drawing. No club or straight cards fall on the turn or river, I bet both rounds and didn't get a caller on the river.
I pick up KQ in the BB, there's 5-6 limpers so I just check it. The flop is Q94. SB (tight player) bets, I call instead of raise to induce overcalls and there's 2-3 more callers. The turn is a 4. SB bets, I raise to see if there's any 4's out there and there's one other caller (he's a chaser, could be looking for the straight) besides the SB. The river is a blank. I bet and no one calls. SB told me he had a Q with no kicker, which is what I put him on because he would've raised AQ preflop.
I pick up KJ in mid position and limp in. The flop is Jxx, two suits. There's a bet to me that I raise, there's a few callers. The turn is a K. I bet and a couple call. The river is a blank. I bet and they fold.
I pick up Ac3c in late position, there's 4-5 callers and I limp in. The flop is KQJ, two spades. It's checked to me, so I bet, there's a few callers. The turn is a rag. I bet and a couple call. The river is a K. I check it just in case someone is slowplaying trip K's. The callers missed their draws.
Right now, those are the only hands I remember playing because I'm tired. I'm sure a few more hands will come to mind by tomorrow.
I only played for 2.5 hours because I had to get the car back home and finished +$210. Not bad. I would've played at that juicy table a lot longer if I didn't have to get home.
I played the tight-aggressive style as usual. Hands:
First hand. I pick up AhKh in late position and raise, there's 3-4 callers. The flop is Jxx. It's checked to me, I bet, BB raises, and I fold. It's still early, so I don't know what kind of players I'm up against.
A couple hands later. I pick up TT in mid position and limp in, there's 4-5 other limpers. The flop is 632, two hearts. There's a bet to me that I raise, a few players call. The turn is a 3. Checked to me, I bet and everyone calls. The river is an 8. I bet and no callers.
I pick up AK in late position and raise, button re-raises, and I cap it. We're heads up. The flop is J98. Check-check (I should've bet). The turn is rag. I bet and he calls. The river is a T. Check-check. The guy has A2. I was a bit confused but shrugged it off. This guy was another one of those weirdos. He called 3 bets with 72 in another hand, made two pairs but lost to two higher pairs. Needless to say, his big stack depleted pretty quickly.
I get cold cards for a good 30 minutes. Funny thing that happened during this period. I folded A7 in mid position, the cards bounced and landed face up. More than half the table went estatic over my folding an ace. I just meekly said that A7 has never been good to me as an excuse. I knew I was at a good table...
I pick up Q7 in the BB and check it. The flop is Q42, two clubs. I check-raise to see if top pair is good. No re-raises, they must be drawing. No club or straight cards fall on the turn or river, I bet both rounds and didn't get a caller on the river.
I pick up KQ in the BB, there's 5-6 limpers so I just check it. The flop is Q94. SB (tight player) bets, I call instead of raise to induce overcalls and there's 2-3 more callers. The turn is a 4. SB bets, I raise to see if there's any 4's out there and there's one other caller (he's a chaser, could be looking for the straight) besides the SB. The river is a blank. I bet and no one calls. SB told me he had a Q with no kicker, which is what I put him on because he would've raised AQ preflop.
I pick up KJ in mid position and limp in. The flop is Jxx, two suits. There's a bet to me that I raise, there's a few callers. The turn is a K. I bet and a couple call. The river is a blank. I bet and they fold.
I pick up Ac3c in late position, there's 4-5 callers and I limp in. The flop is KQJ, two spades. It's checked to me, so I bet, there's a few callers. The turn is a rag. I bet and a couple call. The river is a K. I check it just in case someone is slowplaying trip K's. The callers missed their draws.
Right now, those are the only hands I remember playing because I'm tired. I'm sure a few more hands will come to mind by tomorrow.
I only played for 2.5 hours because I had to get the car back home and finished +$210. Not bad. I would've played at that juicy table a lot longer if I didn't have to get home.
Comments
Why bet the flop (or at all)? 5 callers and the chance that none of them have you beat was extremely slim.. You got lucky. Next time, throw that garbage away when your flop misses..
It's the only way to play. And let us be the judges of that.
Call this raise. You certainly have odds to call it and bet out if you hit an A or K.
Raise preflop. You have the 5th best hand in hold 'em. You can still get away from it if overcards flop and there's heavy action. The nice bonus is that even if an overcard flops, you likely will still get a free showdown in this game as people are way too timid to bet the river with one pair, even top pair.
Nice cap, way to take the lead, especially against a known loose wild player. He's wild and crazy, let him bet for you. But with AK, you are seeing a showdown for sure against a lunatic.
Good recovery. Never let em know you're taking it seriously. People are much happier throwing their money around when everyone's having a good time - if they see you're tight, not only will they try to run over you (not terrible but not good), but they'll play seriously whenever you're in a hand. Good play.
Need more description on the action. Check-raising the flop is awful here, you have no reason to think someone will bet, and you have no reason to think you have the best hand. What do you do if you get raised at any point? But I'd bet out, and bet again on the turn if there's no raise. I'd check and call a river bet.
In the loose games section of HPFAP (Hold em poker for advanced players), S+M (Sklansky and Malmuth) discuss this sort of play exactly. Your top pair second kicker is good in this spot often enough when there's no preflop raise, and this is a draw heavy board (assuming players in this game regularly draw to gutshot straights), that it is best to just call the flop and raise the turn to knock out all the draws behind you that would otherwise call a single big bet. Calling 2 big bets with an inside straight draw is suicide unless the pot is a monster (18+ BB) and even the worst players have an idea that this is a mistake. Nice hand.
Don't get involved with KJo. It's trouble, especially in multiway pots, if it's not suited. KJs is much better in this spot.
Calling with Ace-rag suited after 4-5 limpers is ok, you're much better raising. What you're doing with a big drawing hand is making the pot big so that players who are drawing dead will be inclined to call you down with virtually any piece of the board, because the pot is so big. Once you miss the flop though, check it and take the free card - how do you feel when you get check-raised? How about you bet and get callers all the way to the end? You got lucky here.
For the Q7 hand where I flopped top pair, Q, I raised to see where I was at exactly. If I get re-raised, I know I'm behind and can fold. If I just get called, I am most likely ahead and can take the lead or get myself a free card later on because I showed strength. If they fold, I can pick up the pot right there. That's exactly what one Phil Hellmuth advised at his site.
Never bet or raise "for information". It's a sucker's play, because a lot of good players will play back at you on the cheap streets (they often slow down on the expensive streets) with funny hands.
The earlier the position of the bettor, the more likely he has you beat. An late position bettor might bet to try to pick up the pot or get a free river card, but an EP bettor is almost always betting for value in LL games. If the bettor was in late position, this might be a good candidate for the ol' stop-n-go: check-call the flop, then bet the turn regardless of what falls. If you get called, check-call the river. You're losing 2.5 BB postflop if you're beaten, whereas if you take your line here (c-r then bet turn and river) it's 3 BB. If you're ahead with top pair no kicker, he'll fold the river (which he did) and you'll only make 2 BB if you're ahead. You still have to bet out on the flop. How would you feel if it got checked around and an A fell? or a club?