Got me!
I'm in the midst of baking five batches of brownies (the chocolate sort, not the other kind) so have a few minutes here and there to review some of my play over the last few days. In the interests of preemptively appeasing the poker gods, as I'm conscious of having written about some of my successes lately, here are a few samples where, well let's say, things did not go quite so well.
Exhibit A At a short handed table (only five players at the moment), I'm in the BB with K♠5♠. All fold to the short-stacked ($7) button who open limps ($0.25), the SB folds, and I check. I pick up third pair plus the backdoor flush draw on the A♦Q♠5♣ flop, but check intending to fold to a bet. However, the button checks behind. The turn is a seemingly exciting 5♦. I bet a daring $0.25 into the $0.60 pot, which is called. The river is the 7♠. I start with a near pot sized bet ($1) which is raised ($3.25). I pause to think. It seems to me that the river may have completed a two pair hand (A7 or Q7), so I reraise enough to put him all in. He calls -- with AA.
(And yes, I know, this is an instance where playing AA "poorly" got paid off -- though not so poorly as all that, the preflop limp ensures some action and with a relatively dry flop checking behind is reasonable. One might suggest a raise on the turn though ...)
Exhibit B Also at a slightly short handed table (6 players), I get A♦K♥ in the BB. UTG+1 raises ($0.75), the cut off calls, and I elect to call as well.
AK offsuit from out of position is a problem hand for me (and for many others I gather), so any comments on the preflop action would be welcome. With many limpers I will tend to put in a significant raise to narrow the field, but here it seemed that at least one of my opponents was likely to have a medium to big pair and would correctly call. So, I chose to see a flop, hoping for a K (an A would be ok too, but not quite as good).
Indeed, the flop contained an A, specifically: A♠6♣6♥. I led ($1.50) into the $2.35 pot. The initial raiser folded, but the cutoff called. The turn brought the T♣. Perhaps I should have slowed down at this point hoping to check-call reasonably cheaply to the river, but for some reason I led ($4.00) into the $5.35 pot. This was called again.
Finally, the message began to get through to me, but not it seems clearly enough. I checked the 3♦ on the river, but called the cutoff's bet ($5.50 into the $13.35 pot). I can't really explain that one, since my betting prior to that point had surely represented at least top pair, top kicker, and yet the cutoff was making a value bet.
But after all, even a source as authoritative as Fuel55 has recently told me (and I quote) "Top pair, top kicker is the nuts". What's that you say? Irony? Geez, I wish people would tell me these things before it costs me money.
More later if I haven't collapsed from a chocolate overdose.
Exhibit A At a short handed table (only five players at the moment), I'm in the BB with K♠5♠. All fold to the short-stacked ($7) button who open limps ($0.25), the SB folds, and I check. I pick up third pair plus the backdoor flush draw on the A♦Q♠5♣ flop, but check intending to fold to a bet. However, the button checks behind. The turn is a seemingly exciting 5♦. I bet a daring $0.25 into the $0.60 pot, which is called. The river is the 7♠. I start with a near pot sized bet ($1) which is raised ($3.25). I pause to think. It seems to me that the river may have completed a two pair hand (A7 or Q7), so I reraise enough to put him all in. He calls -- with AA.
(And yes, I know, this is an instance where playing AA "poorly" got paid off -- though not so poorly as all that, the preflop limp ensures some action and with a relatively dry flop checking behind is reasonable. One might suggest a raise on the turn though ...)
Exhibit B Also at a slightly short handed table (6 players), I get A♦K♥ in the BB. UTG+1 raises ($0.75), the cut off calls, and I elect to call as well.
AK offsuit from out of position is a problem hand for me (and for many others I gather), so any comments on the preflop action would be welcome. With many limpers I will tend to put in a significant raise to narrow the field, but here it seemed that at least one of my opponents was likely to have a medium to big pair and would correctly call. So, I chose to see a flop, hoping for a K (an A would be ok too, but not quite as good).
Indeed, the flop contained an A, specifically: A♠6♣6♥. I led ($1.50) into the $2.35 pot. The initial raiser folded, but the cutoff called. The turn brought the T♣. Perhaps I should have slowed down at this point hoping to check-call reasonably cheaply to the river, but for some reason I led ($4.00) into the $5.35 pot. This was called again.
Finally, the message began to get through to me, but not it seems clearly enough. I checked the 3♦ on the river, but called the cutoff's bet ($5.50 into the $13.35 pot). I can't really explain that one, since my betting prior to that point had surely represented at least top pair, top kicker, and yet the cutoff was making a value bet.
But after all, even a source as authoritative as Fuel55 has recently told me (and I quote) "Top pair, top kicker is the nuts". What's that you say? Irony? Geez, I wish people would tell me these things before it costs me money.
More later if I haven't collapsed from a chocolate overdose.
Labels: cash
posted by Michael Albert at 11:02 am
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