I had a couple of people mention that they were interested/surprised at the amount of thought I put into the last hand I posted about. I was hoping to write about something besides poker...but this has been on my mind so this is what I'm writing about!
The table had 4 people (including myself.) It was a cash game with the blinds at $2 and 5$ with a mandatory straddle to $10 (this means that the first person who would normally act before the flop has to put out a blind raise of $10. In return, he gets to act last preflop.) Because there is a mandatory straddle, the stakes are more like $5/$10 than $2/$5. Earlier in the night when the table got to 4 people we decided to make the $10 straddle mandatory to encourage the 4 of us to play more hands. As an aside, when the decision was made to make the $10 straddle mandatory, it was definitely one of those moments were Jesus was high fiving me. Basically, I had played at the table with the other three guys for a while, knew how they played, knew I was better than them, and then they basically said, "Want to raise the stakes of the game?" Thanks, Jesus!
Anyways, back to the hand in question. I'm on the button (with about $2000) and am first to act preflop and raise to $40 with Jc9c. The Small blind (who has about $500) calls, the BB folds and the straddler calls (he has about $580.)
The pot is ~$120 The flops comes As8s3d.
They both check to me and I bet ~$80.
SB calls and the straddler calls. The straddler then elect to check to me before the turn is shown.
Pot is ~$280. The turn is Ah. The board reads As8s3dAh.
Straddler had elected to check in the dark, I bet ~$175. He calls. He elects to check in the dark again.
~Pot is $640. River is Jh. The board now reads As8s3dAhJh.
He had elected to check to me. I put him all in. He folds and shows an 8.
Alright, so this hand was pretty ballsy, but I figured I had a pretty strong read on my opponent. It looks like I just bet a bunch of money and then said all in and was happy when he folded, but there was a lot more going on than that. Here's the breakdown:
My raise to $40 preflop was standard. It was the same amount I raised every other hand, so this was no different. If I'm the first one in the pot my raise size is always the same. It disguises the strength of my hand as well as gives me an opportunity to take the blinds preflop. The added value of raising on the button means I got to act last preflop. The small blind was a super tight/nitty so if he calls he is just going to check/fold a lot of flops. The straddler was a massive spew box. He really overvalued his draws and hated folding, so if I flop anything against him I was just going to pound him with value bets.
~120 pot. Flop is As8s3d. Everyone checks to me.
I'm not surprised that everyone checked to me, as checking to the raiser is generally pretty standard in raised pots. This is actually a pretty good flop for me (although not for my hand as I've completely whiffed.) Of the three people in the pot, I'm the most likely to have an Ace in my hand as I raised preflop. I think a lot of times I can just bet here and they'll either fold on the flop, or fold on the turn if I decide to bet against. It's hard to call here twice if you have just an ace, or even a flush draw. Because I have position (this means that I'm last to act) I will have more information post flop because they have to act first.
I bet out ~80. The SB folds and the straddler calls. I just mentioned the advantages of betting here, so I won't go over that again. I bet ~80 as I would with any hand I'm betting. I'd bet an ace, an 8, a flush draw, or even possibly 99-KK. When he calls I think he might have an ace, but I really feel like based on the way this guy had played hands in the past it was more likely than he had an 8 or a flush draw. He liked to raise with top pairs (and two pair+) and would often get carried away and over value his hands.
~$280 in the pot. Ah on the turn, making the board As8s3dAh. He checked to me in the dark.
The dark check was goofy. I think he just saw it on tv and wanted to do it. I wish I was making that up but that's sincerely how I felt. With that being said, this is where my having position in the hand is REALLY advantageous. I really don't feel like he was going to check in the dark with an Ace. It seems like if he had an Ace he would want to see if the flush hit on the turn, and if it didn't, he would bet to make me draw to the flush he may think I'm hoping to hit.
As sort of an aside, I think this is a good spot to explain how helpful position is in the hand. Let's pretend he didn't check in the dark. Instead he sees the Ah fall and acts accordingly. Let's say he just made trip aces and decides to bet. If I have a flush draw I can pretty easily fold to his bet on the turn. Because I had position I chose how much I wanted to pay to draw on the flop, while giving my chance to win outright by betting on the flop. Now let's say he just made trip aces and decides to check. If I have a flush draw I can check it right back and get to see the river for free!
Now reverse it, let's say I had just made trip aces and he was drawing to the flush. If that third ace comes and he bets, I'm going to raise to protect my hand/get value. If he decides to check his flush draw, I can bet my trip aces and choose how much he pays to draw. This is why position is so important in poker! I have the upper hand in all of those scenarios!
Anyways, back to the actual hand. I was trying to decide whether to continue my bluff on the turn, or just check and sorta give up. I could also check and if the flush misses on the river then I could try and bluff then as well. I decided that because I was almost positive he didn't have an ace, I should continue this bluff on the turn. By bluffing the turn I make it more believable that I have an Ace in my hand and would be able to push him off an 8 by bluffing again on the river. If I check here and just try to bluff if the flush draw misses on the river, I think he'd call with an 8. This also means that if the flush draw gets there on the river, OR if another Ace falls on the river, I have to give up. If another Ace falls I don't think I could make him believe I have four of a kind.
The other important thing here is how much to bet. I had to bet an amount on the turn that makes my hand look strong, BUT ALSO leaves him enough money in his stack so that he'll fold to my all in bluff on the river. So let's say I bet an amount on the turn that makes it so he's got like $100 left in his stack on the river, he'll definitely call off his last $100 on the river because he's put so much money in the pot already. I like $175 bet because it leaves him the perfect amount to fold on the river, but also if he check raises me all in on the flop I could pretend to sit and think and then fold.
He checks in the dark again.
Pot is ~$640 river is Jh. The board now reads As8s3dAhJh.
This is an interesting river. I'm now beating any king or queen high flush draw that missed, as well as any 8. I suppose it is also possible that he could have QJs or KJs and now be beating me, but that makes up a very small percentage of his range. I decide to put him all in just like I planned out on the turn (and kind of on the flop.) It now looks like I'm ahead so I'm kind of hoping he makes a hero call with an 8. It's definitely possible because my bluff actually became what's called a "range merge." The way the hand played out it looks like I'd only be betting trip aces, a full house, or a bluff (most likely a missed flush draw.) So it's definitely possible that he could sit there and think, "I don't think he has trip aces or a flush draw, so my 8 must be good." I know that he knows I might not have an ace in my hand, so betting with the jack makes a bit of sense. He thought about it for about five seconds, said something like "I'm pretty sure I'm folding the best hand," flipped up an 8 and folded. Thanks for your money =)
Now here's a clip that makes me laugh:
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Hand
I obsessed over this hand for like a month after it happened, but now I'm over it. I still think of it from time to time, so I'm hoping by writing about it I'll finally lay it to rest.
It was my second time playing 2/5 poker (I generally play 1/2 NLHE but was feeling cray cray.) I'd been playing at this table for about 5 hours or so. I was pretty much beating the shit out of everyone I was playing against, so I was pretty happy with how things were going for me. I was raising and squeezing a lot. It was funny because some of the players were talking about the ridiculous amount of raising I was doing...but nobody had any kind of solution. It's pretty funny when players are openly talking about your play at the table but are just completely baffled/annoyed by what's happening. I had a loose aggressive image with anybody who was paying any kind of attention to how I was playing. Anyways, the following hand came up:
I was in the Big Blind and it got folded around to the CO (he has about ~1k), who had a rock image. He played pretty straight forward, and generally only showed down strong hands. He limped in and the button raised it to $30. The button played A LOT of hands. He was running super hot and had about $2k in front of him, so this raise could be a pretty wide range of hands. It got folded to me and I decided to call with Td8d. The button played pretty aggressively in position, regardless of whether or not he had a hand, so I knew if the flop hit me that I would be getting paid regardless of if the BU made a hand or not. The CO called the raise as well.
Pot is ~$90 Kd 6d 3c.
I check, the CO bets ~$50, the BU folds and I decide to call. The CO range is generally going to be betting middle pocket pair, Kings,flush draws (unlikely because I have two diamonds in my hand) and sets.
Pot is ~$190 the turn is the 8 of h, making the board Kd 6d 3c 8h.
I've now turned a pair. The pair itself isn't that significant because I'm probably now only ahead of 77, and some kind of 6 he may have bet, although I feel it is unlikely he would have bet a 6 on the flop. I decided to check to the raiser. The thing about players like this is that their bet sizes are often very telling with regards to the strength of their hand. Larger bet=stronger hand. It sounds ridiculous, but yes, they play their hands that face up.
He bets ~$80. Ok, I'm pretty confident he has a King in his hand. Because he limped preflop that generally means KT,KJ, and MAYBE KQ or K9, but almost never AK. Those hands are both suited and unsuited. I'm pretty confident that he's got some kind of middle strength king that he's trying to get some value from here. I feel like if I call the turn bet then my hand looks like exactly what it is: a flush draw. There's no point in drawing to a hand that the villain knows you're drawing to. If you hit your hand, you're not getting paid. So I wonder: "Is there any way to disguise the strength of my hand here?" This is where all hell breaks loose. I'm pretty confident that because he has a middle strength king here, I can blow him off the hand.
I raise to ~$220. I really want him to fold here, but if he doesn't I have a ton of outs. My outs should be 8s,Ts and all diamonds. I don't think he'd ever call this raise with a set, so if he 3 bets me I'm going to fold. I'm pretty sure that if he calls and I miss the river AND the river isn't an Ace, I'm just going to check fold to a bet. He elects to call.
Pot is now ~$630. River is Th. Board now reads Kd6d3c 8h Th.
Ok, sick river for me. Of all the cards to help me, this one is probably the worst. I would have loved another 8 because he's never putting me in trip 8s, but ho hum, I'll take my 2 pair. My hand is also ridiculously disguised here. He's never putting me on 2 pair (8s and Ts) because it's just so random. I also decide that it's extremely unlikely HE has 2 pair because he's not the kind of player to limp with K6, K3 or K8. So I feel like right here I'm only losing to KT. My hand is looking pretty good! I think and decide to bet ~$350.
He thinks for about 20 seconds. As each second passes I get more and more excited. He's sort of groaning a bit, which is equally awesome! If he has a set he would have either Called already, or not be groaning because he'd be deciding how much to raise. I was trying to decide what I'd do if he raised and I wasn't really sure. Then he called! Boom goes the dynamite. I silent flipped over my two pair. He looks for a second...then says YESSS! Wait. WTF? I look at his hand. KT. The ten also gave him 2 pair...a higher 2 pair than me, and a ~$1200 pot. Oops!
I still can't decide if I liked how I played the hand. After I calmed down (just start guessing the words that insta flew out of my mouth when I saw his 2 pair) I asked him how on earth he called the turn! He said "I put you on a flush draw." Here's what I've learned about poker. A lot of times when people say "I THOUGHT you had xyz," what they are really saying is "I was HOPING you had xyz." Maybe he thought I had a flush draw, maybe he didn't.
What I loved about the hand is how I was thinking critically about my options. A lot of (super poor) players get stuck in this "can I hit my draw or not" rut. If they hit their draws, they win. If they don't hit, they don't. Probably is flushes and straights only hit about one third of the time. I feel like super standard ABC poker says I should fold on the turn, or maybe call because I have made a pair to go with my flush draw. I like thinking outside the box, but the problem is sometimes "Thinking outside the box" =super mega spew box. I haven't decided if this was genius or insanity. Only time will tell.
Now here's a video that makes me laugh =)
It was my second time playing 2/5 poker (I generally play 1/2 NLHE but was feeling cray cray.) I'd been playing at this table for about 5 hours or so. I was pretty much beating the shit out of everyone I was playing against, so I was pretty happy with how things were going for me. I was raising and squeezing a lot. It was funny because some of the players were talking about the ridiculous amount of raising I was doing...but nobody had any kind of solution. It's pretty funny when players are openly talking about your play at the table but are just completely baffled/annoyed by what's happening. I had a loose aggressive image with anybody who was paying any kind of attention to how I was playing. Anyways, the following hand came up:
I was in the Big Blind and it got folded around to the CO (he has about ~1k), who had a rock image. He played pretty straight forward, and generally only showed down strong hands. He limped in and the button raised it to $30. The button played A LOT of hands. He was running super hot and had about $2k in front of him, so this raise could be a pretty wide range of hands. It got folded to me and I decided to call with Td8d. The button played pretty aggressively in position, regardless of whether or not he had a hand, so I knew if the flop hit me that I would be getting paid regardless of if the BU made a hand or not. The CO called the raise as well.
Pot is ~$90 Kd 6d 3c.
I check, the CO bets ~$50, the BU folds and I decide to call. The CO range is generally going to be betting middle pocket pair, Kings,flush draws (unlikely because I have two diamonds in my hand) and sets.
Pot is ~$190 the turn is the 8 of h, making the board Kd 6d 3c 8h.
I've now turned a pair. The pair itself isn't that significant because I'm probably now only ahead of 77, and some kind of 6 he may have bet, although I feel it is unlikely he would have bet a 6 on the flop. I decided to check to the raiser. The thing about players like this is that their bet sizes are often very telling with regards to the strength of their hand. Larger bet=stronger hand. It sounds ridiculous, but yes, they play their hands that face up.
He bets ~$80. Ok, I'm pretty confident he has a King in his hand. Because he limped preflop that generally means KT,KJ, and MAYBE KQ or K9, but almost never AK. Those hands are both suited and unsuited. I'm pretty confident that he's got some kind of middle strength king that he's trying to get some value from here. I feel like if I call the turn bet then my hand looks like exactly what it is: a flush draw. There's no point in drawing to a hand that the villain knows you're drawing to. If you hit your hand, you're not getting paid. So I wonder: "Is there any way to disguise the strength of my hand here?" This is where all hell breaks loose. I'm pretty confident that because he has a middle strength king here, I can blow him off the hand.
I raise to ~$220. I really want him to fold here, but if he doesn't I have a ton of outs. My outs should be 8s,Ts and all diamonds. I don't think he'd ever call this raise with a set, so if he 3 bets me I'm going to fold. I'm pretty sure that if he calls and I miss the river AND the river isn't an Ace, I'm just going to check fold to a bet. He elects to call.
Pot is now ~$630. River is Th. Board now reads Kd6d3c 8h Th.
Ok, sick river for me. Of all the cards to help me, this one is probably the worst. I would have loved another 8 because he's never putting me in trip 8s, but ho hum, I'll take my 2 pair. My hand is also ridiculously disguised here. He's never putting me on 2 pair (8s and Ts) because it's just so random. I also decide that it's extremely unlikely HE has 2 pair because he's not the kind of player to limp with K6, K3 or K8. So I feel like right here I'm only losing to KT. My hand is looking pretty good! I think and decide to bet ~$350.
He thinks for about 20 seconds. As each second passes I get more and more excited. He's sort of groaning a bit, which is equally awesome! If he has a set he would have either Called already, or not be groaning because he'd be deciding how much to raise. I was trying to decide what I'd do if he raised and I wasn't really sure. Then he called! Boom goes the dynamite. I silent flipped over my two pair. He looks for a second...then says YESSS! Wait. WTF? I look at his hand. KT. The ten also gave him 2 pair...a higher 2 pair than me, and a ~$1200 pot. Oops!
I still can't decide if I liked how I played the hand. After I calmed down (just start guessing the words that insta flew out of my mouth when I saw his 2 pair) I asked him how on earth he called the turn! He said "I put you on a flush draw." Here's what I've learned about poker. A lot of times when people say "I THOUGHT you had xyz," what they are really saying is "I was HOPING you had xyz." Maybe he thought I had a flush draw, maybe he didn't.
What I loved about the hand is how I was thinking critically about my options. A lot of (super poor) players get stuck in this "can I hit my draw or not" rut. If they hit their draws, they win. If they don't hit, they don't. Probably is flushes and straights only hit about one third of the time. I feel like super standard ABC poker says I should fold on the turn, or maybe call because I have made a pair to go with my flush draw. I like thinking outside the box, but the problem is sometimes "Thinking outside the box" =super mega spew box. I haven't decided if this was genius or insanity. Only time will tell.
Now here's a video that makes me laugh =)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
"The X Wing"
I'd like to talk about this clip (you can probably just skip to about 50 seconds into the video):
What did you think of when you watched this clip? Probably how awesome the original trilogy is, and how George Lucas should be ashamed of himself for what he did to Episodes I, II and III. That's pretty reasonable.
What I thought of was Peter and Jesus. The disciples see Jesus on the water and think He's a ghost (see Matthew 14:22.) Peter is like, "Jesus! If that's you, tell me to come to you!" Jesus is all like "Well get on over here!" Peter walks to Jesus, and then is like "Holy crap, what on earth is happening here? How is this happening. ZOMG!?!?!" Then he falls in and Jesus is like chillax, and grabs him up. Woah. Epic.
I tie that back to Luke (Skywalker) trying to use the force to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp on Dagobah. Luke is so trapped by what he thinks is reality. He's such a small man, how could he possibly lift an X Wing out of a swamp? He starts to do it...but ultimately fails basically his knowledge of/faith in the force ultimate won. After Yoda lifts the X Wing out with ease, one of my favorite line exchanges in the entire Star Wars Franchise takes place.
"I don't believe it!"
"That...is why you fail." (Side note, in Super Empire Strikes Back on SNES if you ran out of lives and chose not to continue, this is what Yoda says to you on the game over screen.)
I feel like this scene in Star Wars illstrates so much of the Gospel. The desciples (and also you) need to have faith in Jesus. At times you may feel like just one man (or woman) with the impossible task of lifting an X-Wing out of a swamp. How can you do it? How can one person accomplish anything? What if he asks you to go somewhere crazy (like the swamps of Dagobah) with an impossible mission (like learn a dying art from a muppet)? With Jesus, it can be done. Much like the force, the Holy Spirit is all around us. Have faith friends. I could go on forever, but that's all for now.
Blessings,
Nick
What did you think of when you watched this clip? Probably how awesome the original trilogy is, and how George Lucas should be ashamed of himself for what he did to Episodes I, II and III. That's pretty reasonable.
What I thought of was Peter and Jesus. The disciples see Jesus on the water and think He's a ghost (see Matthew 14:22.) Peter is like, "Jesus! If that's you, tell me to come to you!" Jesus is all like "Well get on over here!" Peter walks to Jesus, and then is like "Holy crap, what on earth is happening here? How is this happening. ZOMG!?!?!" Then he falls in and Jesus is like chillax, and grabs him up. Woah. Epic.
I tie that back to Luke (Skywalker) trying to use the force to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp on Dagobah. Luke is so trapped by what he thinks is reality. He's such a small man, how could he possibly lift an X Wing out of a swamp? He starts to do it...but ultimately fails basically his knowledge of/faith in the force ultimate won. After Yoda lifts the X Wing out with ease, one of my favorite line exchanges in the entire Star Wars Franchise takes place.
"I don't believe it!"
"That...is why you fail." (Side note, in Super Empire Strikes Back on SNES if you ran out of lives and chose not to continue, this is what Yoda says to you on the game over screen.)
I feel like this scene in Star Wars illstrates so much of the Gospel. The desciples (and also you) need to have faith in Jesus. At times you may feel like just one man (or woman) with the impossible task of lifting an X-Wing out of a swamp. How can you do it? How can one person accomplish anything? What if he asks you to go somewhere crazy (like the swamps of Dagobah) with an impossible mission (like learn a dying art from a muppet)? With Jesus, it can be done. Much like the force, the Holy Spirit is all around us. Have faith friends. I could go on forever, but that's all for now.
Blessings,
Nick
I like to write about the things that I like to write about
So I've (obviously) started a blog. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, but I just hadn't gotten around to it. I really enjoy writing so this seemed like a pretty awesome avenue. I'm not one of those "I love creating ideas" sorta people, so much as "I hope that if I write about something it'll stop me from giggling about it for an hour" kind of writers. I guess this is really for me to cut back on the amount of texts I send to my room mate, Wes, saying "guess what I just laughed at the entire way up to Oklahoma..."
With that being said, I'll probably only be writing about a handful of different things.
1) Poker. This is pretty much a given. I LOVE LOVE LOVE talking about hand histories, ranges, merging my ranges, bluffs, catching bluffs etc. I know people don't want to hear about it, so that's why I'm going to write about it. If you don't like it, that's totally fine. You can leave this page just as easily as you got to it.
2)Things that make me giggle. Yes, I said giggle. There is no other verb that more accurately describes what is going on when I watch the video where Vegeta says "IT'S OVER 9000!!!!!" again...and again...and again.
3) Things that I'm kicking around in my brain. This is whatever I feel like writing/thinking about. I'm going to start with this category.
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