Tight Poker

[aj]

I've been reviewing some of my bigger losing hands lately to try to understand where I make major mistakes and got stacked. I found one that is very illustrative of three bad plays by me in the same hand. I thought sharing it and being very critical might be helpful to the group. Don't beat me up too bad - I've already done that on this hand myself.

Note: I had less than 15 hands history on this guy and he seemed perfectly normal VP$IP 28% PFR 6%. Little to go on, but no signs of being a maniac.

FullTiltPoker Game #807653196: Table Rancho - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:49:52 ET - 2006/07/17
Seat 1: polokrayzie ($95)
Seat 2: alan333 ($350.15)
Seat 3: Pebo1 ($155.90)
Seat 4: BayPac21 ($473)
Seat 5: mdina ($107.40)
Seat 6: dontplayahate ($758.10)
Seat 7: p2p2 ($475.30)
Seat 8: extrawurst ($366)
Seat 9: Alycyn ($376)
BayPac21 posts the small blind of $2
mdina has 5 seconds left to act
mdina posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Alycyn [Jh Jc] One of my least favorite hands
dontplayahate folds
p2p2 folds
extrawurst raises to $12
Alycyn calls $12 Mistake #1 - a reraise here might have helped me define his hand better if he had re-reraised, and i think he would have. Dumping Jacks would have been possible.
polokrayzie folds
alan333 folds
Pebo1 folds
BayPac21 folds
mdina folds
*** FLOP *** [8h 3d 9d] A flop designed to get me in trouble
extrawurst bets $30 This could have meant anything
Alycyn raises to $75 I think this was the right play
extrawurst calls $45 This should have set off bells for me
*** TURN *** [8h 3d 9d] [6d]
extrawurst checks
Alycyn bets $125 Mistake #2 - with three diamonds on the board and the way he had played the hand, taking a free card here seems like a better play
Pebo1 is sitting out
extrawurst raises to $279, and is all in Of course
Alycyn calls $154 Mistake #3 - in retrospect, what could he have pushed with that I could beat? Answer: only 10 10. Really bad call by me. And please, no comments about pot committed - I should have saved the $154.
extrawurst shows [Kd Kh]
Alycyn shows [Jh Jc]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3d 9d 6d] [6s]
extrawurst shows two pair, Kings and Sixes
Alycyn shows two pair, Jacks and Sixes
extrawurst wins the pot ($735) with two pair, Kings and Sixes

[easy_as_pie]

agreed
check fold turn almost all the time. veyr easy no (what were you trying to do)

anybody like checkc all river and check/fold turn?

[kedoran]

Looks like you know what you did wrong, preflop reraise would be easiest way to play it but I dont think floating/cold calling is that bad unless you do it everytime. Turn you might have some bluff equity (unless he made the flush) and might fold an overpair but you dont really know and if he has a big pair with diamond he might not even consider folding

[bram]

Yeah a small reraise would have defined the hand preflop, but hey now you have learnt your lesson and will play it better next time

[ugignadl]

Not much else to add, just a question. I sometimes find myself pissed off in the middle of a hand after I do something retarded. Does that happen to you?

For example, say I was playing the hand in question and called PF. On the flop I would have been thinking ``shit, what a friggin' moron...great job <name>....'' and that would have lasted perhaps the hand. That attitude might have made me call the all-in, even though it is an easy fold (you're also ahead a big draw which means you might not be in as bad shape as you think). Do you think that contributed to your play? Maybe also the bet on the turn?

It *is* annoying, but fortunately after the hand is over I can try and play better from there on. It's just for that hand I'm on tilt, since I made an incorrect move and have that much less of an idea where I am in the hand.

Great discussion hand AJ.

[neverthink]

Yeah, bad flop for you, but you pointed out everything and know what you should have done at every stage of the hand. Personally, I always clear things up before the flop, so I always reraise, only time I may call is if there is a coldcaller ahead as well, then I may play for set value instead.

[scottie_g]

I think most people are missing the point of raising his open raise preflop. A raise with JJ in this spot is more for isolation than anything else. Sure, if he is dumb enough he will 3-bet his KK here and let you get away from your dominated hand, but a good player will just flat call here.

If you just call as you did, you gotta expect there may be callers behind you, and if that is the case, you are in a tough spot unless you hit a set. JJ is one of those hands I like to switch up my game with. Sometimes I will raise to isolate someone (esp. donkeys), and sometimes I just look for set value, esp if there are many other players in the hand.

As played preflop, you ended up getting it HU anyway, so OK thats fine. I like the flop raise, but you can probably raise more there. Once he calls, SLOW down on the turn. Think pot control on the turn. He was dumb enough to check into you on the turn, so take the free card. Now, you are most likely going to get to a see a showdown.