Poker blog vol. 4

Not sure what's the best play here 110bb deep. Obviously when I raise there are not many better hands folding, mainly AK and small pocket pairs and maybe some 8x that villain c-bets for some reason (many regs cbet 80-90% in 3betpots, so basically they're c-betting everything. Well, AK is ahead of my hand, so it's good if it folds.

My (stacking off) range for raising is 89s, 88-99, some slowplayed KK+, and all the broadway FD's (+A9s), so pocket tens should be a fold for villain (28% equity on flop with TT, even KK has only 31%, AA 45%), unless I'm raise-folding a lot (I'm not). Calling isn't really good either, cuz' then even my low equity bluff raises get to realize their equity. And even if he calls and the turn is a blank, his equity doesn't improve vs. my range (and I may x-back some FD's, so his equity actually decreases).

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 4 Players

BB: $90 (180 bb)
Hero (CO): $55.64 (111.3 bb)
BTN: $20.75 (41.5 bb)
SB: $55.15 (110.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A Q
Hero raises to $1.25, BTN folds, SB raises to $4, BB folds, Hero calls $2.75

Flop: ($8.50) 8 2 9 (2 players)
SB bets $6, Hero raises to $14, SB raises to $51.15 and is all-in, Hero calls $37.15

Turn: ($110.80) K (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($110.80) 5 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $110.80 pot ($2.00 rake)
Final Board: 8 2 9 K 5
Hero mucked A Q and won $108.80 ($53.65 net)
SB showed T T and lost (-$55.15 net)

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This was vs. someone who I had no info other than that he was playing 12/6/0 over 50 hands, and had open limped. So I play it safe, which is probably one my biggest leaks (after tilting), and just flat QQ. Well I flop top set. I bet, he calls, I bet again, he jams. Was pretty sure he has TT or AA, but no, AJ. This is why I tend to pot control even AQ in these spots, when I don't know if I'm versus a nit or a randow spewwer.

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 4 Players

BB: $43.73 (87.5 bb)
Hero (CO): $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $18.47 (36.9 bb)
SB: $54.91 (109.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q Q
Hero raises to $1.25, BTN folds, SB raises to $4, BB folds, Hero calls $2.75

Flop: ($8.50) 2 Q T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5, SB calls $5

Turn: ($18.50) 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $11, SB raises to $45.50, Hero calls $30 and is all-in

River: ($100.50) 4 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $100.50 pot ($2 rake)
Final Board: 2 Q T 6 4
Hero mucked Q Q and won $98.50 ($48.50 net)
SB showed J A and lost (-$50 net)

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Here I have AA in MP. Reg calls in SB. His range is pretty pocket pair heavy (probably 66-77 up to JJ, also he prolly has AQ and suited broadways). Checking back seems like a good idea for a few reasons.

A) I think the board rarely runs out so that I have 3 streets of value vs. opponents range, so not losing much value.

B) If he has 66 or 77 he has 6 outs - but other than that he has max 10% equity vs. AA. So no big need to protect.

C) Also I feel like I'm gonna get c-raised on this board a lot, both as for value and as a bluff, and then end up making bad folds or bad calls.

D) He might hit top pair and start valuebetting.

E) He might start bluffing.

F) I check back AK and AQ here too and then call usually once (or twice, depending on villain's aggression and his SB range), so good for balance.

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

BB: $50 (100 bb)
UTG: $53.05 (106.1 bb)
Hero (MP): $50.50 (101 bb)
CO: $41.01 (82 bb)
BTN: $72.60 (145.2 bb)
SB: $51.59 (103.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A A
UTG folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 2 folds, SB calls $1.25, BB folds

Flop: ($3.50) 5 4 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($3.50) 2 (2 players)
SB bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

River: ($8.50) J (2 players)
SB bets $5.50, Hero calls $5.50

Results: $19.50 pot ($0.97 rake)
Final Board: 5 4 8 2 J
Hero mucked A A and won $18.53 ($9.03 net)
SB showed K Q and lost (-$9.50 net)

Hi Zebbu and welcome back to blogs!

It`s great to have you back here. I have always like to read all these thought processes. Keep it going!

Thanks Nutz

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This was a really gay hand. It's vs. a reg who had played 93/0/7 (fold/flat/3bet) vs. btn open in sb over 300 hands. So his most likely holding is a pocket pair below tens. Checking back QQ on K22, pretty standard, could valuebet, but I x-back this board a lot and make a delayed c-bet, so it's good. Turn he halfpots, I call. On the river I make almost the nuts, and he bets small. Obviously I raise. He reraises, and I'm like ehhh.... I thought about it, decided he has some combos of nines (not sure if he 3bets it) and 1 combo of quads, so I shove. I did have a bad feeling about it though. Actually I think shoving was a mistake, especially vs. his "I have the ubernuts and wanna milk some value" -betsizes. And if he has pocket nines there, he should probably fold them to my shove.

IPoker, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

BB: $50.75 (101.5 bb)
UTG: $64.25 (128.5 bb)
MP: $12.19 (24.4 bb)
CO: $50.70 (101.4 bb)
Hero (BTN): $68.27 (136.5 bb)
SB: $52.68 (105.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with Q Q
3 folds, Hero raises to $1, SB calls $0.75, BB folds

Flop: ($2.50) K 2 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($2.50) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25

River: ($5) Q (2 players)
SB bets $2, Hero raises to $9.50, SB raises to $26.50, Hero raises to $66.02, SB calls $23.93 and is all-in

Results: $105.86 pot ($3.00 rake)
Final Board: K 2 2 9 Q
Hero mucked Q Q and lost (-$52.68 net)
SB showed 2 2 and won $102.86 ($50.18 net)

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I'm not sure how should I play vs. regs who bet 100% when checked to (and there are quite a few @ iPoker NL50 Speed). I kinda wanna check everything since they are just autobetting, but since they are not barreling, it's not that good with strong valuehands. So I should prolly check-call my weakish TP's and 2nd pairs, and then x-raise a lot of air.

Also some of them c-bet 80%, and probably close to 100% in HU pots. Like they are cbetting 22 on 987ss, or A4o on Q98ss. Also they don't seem to have a c-bet, c-call turn range - they are just betting twice with everything they are continueing with. For example they have A3s in UTG, somebody flats, flop is AQJ, they always fire 2 here, even though even the first one is thin.

And 3rd thing. I gotta stop hero calling. Like let's say I get 3betted in UTG 120bb deep, I call with 88, flop is 267ss. Villain C-bets, I call. Turn is a 9, villain bets, I call. River is a J that brings the flush, villain doesn't think much and jams. I start thinking that he might not even 3bet JJ, there are very few flush combos, and he just can't jam QQ+ anymore. I call, and he shows KK. I've lost many stacks making these calls where I'm thinking villain can't valuebet anymore with overpairs, and he always shows up with the overpair.

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Was sick the whole weekend. Watched a lot of High Stakes Poker (again, I think Gabe Kaplan is hilarious). Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius and Doyle Brunson are solid. Ilari Sahamies is a complete donkey, he was probably drunk? Phil Hellmuth wasn't that bad, but he kind of loses his composure whenever things don't go his way.

Daniel Negreanu tilts and whines a lot, but he plays reasonably well postflop. However he loses a lot of money calling big raises with trashy hands preflop. Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey do that do, but they take away enough pots later. Negreanu doesn't, so he really should tighten his preflop play. But as said, he plays ok postflop. Unlike Gus Hansen, Eli Elezra and Ilari Sahamies, who just randomly bet big with reasonable SD-value in many spots and then x-back river. Obviously it's ok to bet the turn with like 3rd pair (to keep ur range uncapped) if you intend to turn the hand into a bluff on good river cards, but if that's not the plan, then it's just burning money.

Funny thing was that if the pot was limped preflop, Dwan or Ivey (and sometimes Antonius) would almost always stab at it with nothing on the flop, and then the other one would float the stab with nothing, even 4-way. I think it's mostly an ego thing / a funny game between them, since with players left to act it can't be a huge source of profit to float a bet with air multiway.

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Bye.