I was Surprised...
.25/.50 NL Holdem $100 max - I felt good about the table line up and felt that I would make some money today. I knew the players well and felt I could exploit them. I don't know what happened, but the game turned fairly loose and the majority of them are usually tight players. I just couldn't get anything going early, kept on getting outflopped. Limped UTG with 
, more people limp, SB raises to $3.50, I RR to $17 and he calls (terrible player by the way). Board runs out 
turn 
river irrelevant and I lose to 
. WTF! I now have about $25 behind and looking to gamble and rebuy. Called on the button with 
, flopped 2 pair and got it all in vs to double up. Still looking to gamble. Crazy hand of the night: Called a raise in LP with 
(still looking to gamble) multiway pot. Flop 
. BB checks, original raiser overbets the pot $35. I have $42 behind and shove it all in there. BB (tightest player ever) thinks and takes forever and goes AI for 100+. Not a good sign... Original raiser folds (overpair is my guess). We elect to run it twice. First board, I turned a 2, missed my flush, Yippie... 2nd time, missed everything. "You gotta have me, I missed my flush" and tabled my hand. He says "Looks like you scoop it all" and tabled 
! Won with a pair of 2 and 10 high on the 2nd board! SICK! I would never guess he would push with a draw there, even if it was big. That pot brought me back to + and I didn't play very many interesting hands after that. Finished the night +43, which is pretty good considering I was down to $20 in front of me. League game tonight so wish me luck!
Article I read today:
, more people limp, SB raises to $3.50, I RR to $17 and he calls (terrible player by the way). Board runs out turn river irrelevant and I lose to . WTF! I now have about $25 behind and looking to gamble and rebuy. Called on the button with , flopped 2 pair and got it all in vs to double up. Still looking to gamble. Crazy hand of the night: Called a raise in LP with (still looking to gamble) multiway pot. Flop . BB checks, original raiser overbets the pot $35. I have $42 behind and shove it all in there. BB (tightest player ever) thinks and takes forever and goes AI for 100+. Not a good sign... Original raiser folds (overpair is my guess). We elect to run it twice. First board, I turned a 2, missed my flush, Yippie... 2nd time, missed everything. "You gotta have me, I missed my flush" and tabled my hand. He says "Looks like you scoop it all" and tabled ! Won with a pair of 2 and 10 high on the 2nd board! SICK! I would never guess he would push with a draw there, even if it was big. That pot brought me back to + and I didn't play very many interesting hands after that. Finished the night +43, which is pretty good considering I was down to $20 in front of me. League game tonight so wish me luck!Article I read today:
Daniel Negreanu: Poker rookies often not aggressive enough
Friday, November 21, 2008
It's common for beginners to set themselves up for disaster by misplaying hands before the flop. Then, they complain about their bad luck when they lose.
Well, bad luck has nothing to do with it. Rather, they likely committed a critical error by misplaying a pot against limpers who called their too small pre-flop raise.
Here's an example from a recent tournament.
The blinds were 100-200 with a 25 ante. A beginner was in the small blind with pocket aces. He didn't want to scare off the other players so he tossed in a very modest 300 chip raise.
Two players limped in and called, as did the big blind. They correctly believed it was worth risking a mere 300 chips to try to crack any hand, even pocket aces.
Here's the first tip: When any player shows interest in a hand by calling the initial bet, they almost certainly will call a tiny pre-flop raise, too.
OK, so the rookie is now in a four-way action pot. He has exposed the strength of his hand by his pre-flop raise yet has failed to gather any information about what hands his opponents might have. To make matters worse, he'll need to act first after the flop.
The flop comes 10c-8d-5c. This time he decides to make a stronger bet, throwing out 2,000 in chips. The first two players fold but the next player shoves all-in for 10,000 more. The beginner calls.
His opponent turns over 8s-5s to win the pot. The beginner moans about his back luck and berates his opponent for playing a bad hand. Let's dissect this hand.
I rarely use the term never when it comes to poker but I'll use it here — never make a stingy raise before the flop after someone has called in front of you. If you want to raise, make it meaningful.
With two players already calling the 200 chip big blind, a post-flop raise to around 1,000 would have been considered standard. But the beginner's initial small raise only served to reveal that he had a decent hand. With that knowledge, other players simply wouldn't play the hand after the flop unless they'd caught a big piece of it.
Another error in the beginner's play was that he raised from the small blind. It's the worst seat at the table because you are forced to act first on every street after the flop.
Remember, position is a powerful tool. Avoid getting tangled up in tough situations after the flop when you are out of position. That, of course, doesn't mean you should automatically fold pocket aces. But make a sizable raise that protects your hand.
TK
Friday, November 21, 2008
It's common for beginners to set themselves up for disaster by misplaying hands before the flop. Then, they complain about their bad luck when they lose.
Well, bad luck has nothing to do with it. Rather, they likely committed a critical error by misplaying a pot against limpers who called their too small pre-flop raise.
Here's an example from a recent tournament.
The blinds were 100-200 with a 25 ante. A beginner was in the small blind with pocket aces. He didn't want to scare off the other players so he tossed in a very modest 300 chip raise.
Two players limped in and called, as did the big blind. They correctly believed it was worth risking a mere 300 chips to try to crack any hand, even pocket aces.
Here's the first tip: When any player shows interest in a hand by calling the initial bet, they almost certainly will call a tiny pre-flop raise, too.
OK, so the rookie is now in a four-way action pot. He has exposed the strength of his hand by his pre-flop raise yet has failed to gather any information about what hands his opponents might have. To make matters worse, he'll need to act first after the flop.
The flop comes 10c-8d-5c. This time he decides to make a stronger bet, throwing out 2,000 in chips. The first two players fold but the next player shoves all-in for 10,000 more. The beginner calls.
His opponent turns over 8s-5s to win the pot. The beginner moans about his back luck and berates his opponent for playing a bad hand. Let's dissect this hand.
I rarely use the term never when it comes to poker but I'll use it here — never make a stingy raise before the flop after someone has called in front of you. If you want to raise, make it meaningful.
With two players already calling the 200 chip big blind, a post-flop raise to around 1,000 would have been considered standard. But the beginner's initial small raise only served to reveal that he had a decent hand. With that knowledge, other players simply wouldn't play the hand after the flop unless they'd caught a big piece of it.
Another error in the beginner's play was that he raised from the small blind. It's the worst seat at the table because you are forced to act first on every street after the flop.
Remember, position is a powerful tool. Avoid getting tangled up in tough situations after the flop when you are out of position. That, of course, doesn't mean you should automatically fold pocket aces. But make a sizable raise that protects your hand.
TK
That little guy is so FU*&ing smart, it is so obvious what he is saying, but players like the newbie he is speaking of have no concept of the strategy behind the game, they only see the cards in front of them and what is on the board. When there limp raise only gave the players to act after him ready to take a shot at crushing the kid because they know he will over react to the flop.
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