Two outer blues

Don’t ya hate it when you play a hand masterfully and then have the poker gods muck it up for you?

Well welcome to hold em. Some suckers just can’t fold but then again do we want them to fold when we hit a monster hand and they’re drawing two outs?

This happened to me last night at my live game. We’re still in the first level of blinds (25/50).

I have 109 hearts on the BB. EP raises it to 200. I call just to see what happens on the flop…heck I have suited connectors, why the hell not?

The flop gives me trips. Villain bets out. Now I think I have him because he’s not the type to make a strong c-bet so this means he has something. I re-raise him and he pushes. I call. He’s got AA. Bingo, time to double up….or so I thought.

The turn is nothing. I’m still ahead. Then comes the river. Needless to say I’m the 2nd player out in the tourney. Sucks big time when you catch and the villain is unable to fold a big hand and he catches his miracle 2 outer.

I was a little ticked off at first but then I say to myself, it’s ok. I say to myself it was just bad luck, variance, or bad timing. Whatever it was I’ll take these types of calls anytime….if I can only fade two outs.

Knockout SNGs

I’ve been playing the knockout SNGs on Stars lately.

I like them better than the regular 9 man SNGs.

The bounties that you collect really add to your bottomline. There was a run of about 10 SNGs where my profit came from the bounties I earned.

The knockout games are fun but crazy. Everyone wants to collect the bounty at the expense of winning the SNG at times. For example, I see a lot of loose calls and shoves just because they want to collect the bounty. Sometimes they hit (like the time I shoved with AA and got called by 108 suited, he hit trip 8s on the river to bust me) but most times they don’t. I don’t go always go after bounties like some of these donkeys do. I try and pick my spots. As a matter of fact there were numerous times where I finished 2nd/3rd and never collected a bounty. Then there are the times where I pick off 4-5 bounties (my record is 6) and I add 10%-15% to my ROI at the end of the day.

They’re pretty much donkaments becuase everyone is trying to knock you out. I counter by playing tight and when I enter a pot, I’m playing it aggressively. Another difference is when I hit a monster I’m betting big, no slowplaying because the donkeys will pay you off when their top pair weak kicker or middle pair hoping to hit trips so they can bust you.

The tricky part is avoiding the donkeys calling you PF with any two suited cards. We are well aware of JokerStars penchant for rewarding donkeys; so it’s always a minefield.

But when your hand holds up and you collect a bounty it’s worth it. You just have to wonder what in the hell were these guys thinking when they call your KK shove with Q10.

Playing the small edges

In hold em there’s plenty of small edges to take advantage of.

These small edges add up if you play them right.

That extra value bet you get paid off on is the small edge I’m talking about.

Too many times we’re happy to check it down rather than taking advantage of that small edge we get from betting out.

Taking advantage of these small edges are tantamount to becoming a real solid player and that is what we’re striving for.

The only problem though is when I’m playing an extremely weak player. You know the ones I’m talking about…..they call out of position with a weak Ace and refuse to bet when they hit. They’re content to check it down BUT they’re not folding to your bluff…so that’s not really an edge and we should recognize these players and tag them accordingly. The small edge we get is to bet when we have them out kicked and hope they don’t hit two pair. It’s really a hard job to press these small edges but if you can do it consistently then I’m pretty sure the BR will go up.

Full Tilt vs. Stars

FullTilt vs. Stars….I play on both sites with opposite results.

I can’t seem to win on FullTilt for the life of me. I don’t know why. I do much better on PokerStars and that’s my main site. Too bad also because I get rakeback on Fulltilt but I still can’t seem to beat their games.

Are the players that much better on Tilt than Stars?

Are the structures (both MTT and SNGs) that different?

Am I just going crazy?

I don’t know.

Running Hot in my Home Game

I finally get a chance to play in a league game. My girl is away visiting her mother and I’m free all day Saturday. There’s a BBQ poker party in Coney Island and I’m there.

Poker and food all day…not to shabby.

The games start at 12 noon and the host wants to get in 3 or more games today.

I was running hot. Real hot.

I managed to finish 1st and 2nd in my league and bubbled another game.

I would’ve won all 3 if it weren’t for some untimely luck.

The first game was a $30 buy-in 12 player freezeout. Top 3 get paid. I was hot early on and caught several flushes and straights. My style is aggressive but it’s a controlled aggression. I bet when I have something and I bet when I think I can buy the pot, like when I stole a huge pot when I represented a flush (I totally missed my straight), other times I just make a continuation bet when I feel that my opponent has missed the flop. I’m setting them up for when I really have a big hand. Like when I get AA and stacked AK. I also got very lucky when I turned a set of Jacks vs QQ. We were both all in and that’s when I took the chip lead for good and coasted to the win. $180 in my pocket for the effort.

The 2nd game I bubbled but it was due to bad luck more than anything else. $30 buy-in and we have enough players for 3 tables. I could have coasted into the money when a key hand occurs on the bubble. I have KK and I’m second in chips. The chip leader has open the pot standard 3x BB, I 3 bet him back and he shoves. I insta call with KK. The villain shows AQ suited. He hits an Ace on the turn. Game over for me. Should I have laid down KK in a bubble situation? I didn’t have to risk my stack when I could’ve let the short stack bust out first (he barely had 3x the BB left). Is that the right play? Perhaps but my thinking is that I’m looking to get a huge chip stack and go for win # 2. It didn’t happen. Oh well…I’m +$150 on the day so I’ll live with the decision.

The third game started at about 10:30 pm. We’re down to 14 players. We decide on a turbo since it’s getting late. 4,000 in chips and 10 min blinds (instead of 7k in chips and 15 minute blinds.

It’s getting late and most of the players have played all day long. This is perfect for me. I’m used to playing SNGs online where the games are faster. I feel that I have a huge edge. While the other players are stuffed and lethargic, I’m on point and ready to kick ass. The game turns very soft because every has food coma so I’m stealing pots and playing my game and building my chip stack up. I’m practically the chip leader all game long. I stay out of trouble and I bet my good hands aggressively. I make a tough lay down with JJ when a super tight player shoves on a 10 high board. I might be ahead but then I get the strange feeling that this player had QQ or a set. He’s not the type to make that kind of move on a bluff or 99 something like that. Now he could’ve done the same with A10 I guess but I’m not going to risk my stack on a situation that I’m completely sold on. I cruise into the money and it’s heads up. I have 4x the chips of the other player. Then he starts to catch. He rivered me a few hands and we’re basically even. I’ve been playing aggressive and he’s been folding a lot. I have J7 suited on the button. The villain min raises. I call. I catch two pair on the flop no flush or straight draws to worry about. Villain checks and I check behind, I want him to catch up so I can stack him. The turn is a 3 with two diamonds on board. He makes a 3/4 pot sized bet. I shove. He goes into the tank.

He starts to talk to himself about what my range of hands could be. He thinks I’m on a flush draw (I’ve been known to shove on flush draws). I’m glad he’s thinking that because I have 2 pair and I hope calls. He’s still in the tank. I’m guessing he’s not strong at all. He definitely doesn’t have my two pair beat, hech he probably doesn’t even have top pair or he would’ve bet the flop for sure. After another 30 seconds to a minute, he says that it’s getting late and screw it he calls. He has A3. The river gives him trips and I’m crippled. I lose the next hand and finish in second. Damn that river. Still finishing second isn’t so bad….I get 40% of the prize pool for a cool $144.

Most of the players have left except for 6 players who want to play cash. I’m up money so I’m open for it. We play .25/.50 blinds. Again right up my alley as that’s the game I play online also. I grab a cup of coffee and buy-in for $50. We play dealers choice and the games are mostly Omaha, Holdem, stud (both hi and hi/low), some razz, badugi and crazy pineapple. I was doing very well and up about $75 before the games start to get crazy and the dealers start to choose some wild games like double flop omaha and some crazy wild card games just like when I was a kid…it’s getting real late. I give some money back and we finally stop around 4am give or take (probably closer to 5am). I count my chips and I’m up $33 for my cash session.

All in all, a pretty good day. I’m up over $320 playing poker. That’ll pay some bills and we’re always thankful to the poker gods for that.