Poker Ramblings of cmitch

Contact Info:

cmitchpoker@gmail.com

I never really got anything going in the Skillz tourney last night. I gave away about half of my stack in the Omaha rotation when I turned the nut straight and the river paired the board and had to fold a double suited KK hand in the Omaha round when there was a raise and a re-raise before it got to me (both guys had AA+connectors). I really never got any other playable hand in the PLHE or the PLO rounds and it seemed like there was always a raise before it got to me. A re-raise would have committed my stack. I think that I was the short stack from about 60 players until I busted out in the low 40s.

I was playing a few cash games and searched for Fuel to see if there was a blogger cash game going on. There wasn't, but I got on the waiting list for his 10 handed 5/10 nl cash game while playing a few 2/4 6 max and gambling at a 5/10 cap game.

I lost a lot of chips the second hand after getting seated directly to Fuel's right at one of the 5/10nl 10 player tables. I was dealt KK in the SB and decided to slow play it against a mid position raiser. The flop brought an Ace. I check raised the original raiser to find out if he had an Ace and hopefully end the hand right there. He thought a little bit and called the c/r. Normally, I would just shut down but I felt like he would lay down a weak ace if I lead on the blank turn. No such luck, he shoved and I folded.

Several hands later a fun hand came up. The button had literally raised every time he was otb and about 75% of the time he was in the cutoff. I had folded every time he raised. Most of the time he was a short stack with somewhere between $300 and $400, so it was a no brainer to fold to his pf raises without a hand. The guy was clearly "the spot" at the table. He managed to build his stack up thanks to getting AA vs KK all-in preflop.

After a few orbits of letting him steal the blinds, I decided that if it folded to him otb and he raised that I was going to 3 bet him with atc. Well, the scenario happened and my 95o qualified as atc. I had two reasons to 3 bet him from the BB - to see how he would re-act and to set him up for a later big hand.

Full Tilt Poker $5/$10 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $960.00
Hero (BB): $1000.00
UTG: $3516.00
UTG+1: $4568.00
UTG+2: $1015.00
MP1: $1512.00
MP2: $572.50
CO: $1000.00
BTN: $1301.00

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with 9 5 - Horrible hand, but still decide to go ahead with my original preflop plan
6 folds - Fairly tight table - maybe I am just too used to playing 6 max
BTN raises to $30 - Like Clockwork
1 fold
Hero raises to $110 - 3 bet him with atc to see if he folds or how he plays the hand
BTN calls $80 - I plan to lead most flops since he is probably 4 betting 1010+,AQ+

Flop: ($225.00) 3 7 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $175 - Actually, a pretty decent flop. I figure that I probably have at least 6 outs (double gutshot) and maybe as many as 14 outs (against two non-diamond overs). Combine that with him possibly folding and I think leading out here was a no brainer.
BTN calls $175 - Not good, but not horribly bad. I think that he would probably make a re-raise here with a flush or straight draw, an overpair, or a pair and an overcard.

Turn: ($575.00) 4 (2 players) - Bingo
Hero checks - I really felt like checking would look like I raised pf, c-bet, and finally shut down. I planned to c/r him big.
BTN checks - Uggggh. I guess I read that wrong, but based on his hand and my check on the turn, I really don't know why he didn't bet behind there.

River: ($575.00) J (2 players)
Hero bets $715 all in - Since Fuel was at the table, I decided to go with the old "Overbet for Value" play and shoved with the 2nd nuts. I felt like (against a weak player) it might make my hand look like a missed draw or air. He is folding to any size bet if he missed and there is a very good chance that he is calling with 1 pair/2 pair type hands. I think this player would be just as likely call a $400-$450 bet as he would to call an all-in bet.

BTN calls $715 - He pretty much insta-called.

Final Pot: $2005.00
Hero shows 9s 5c (a straight, Seven high)
BTN mucks Jd Td - I really hate how he played this - way too passively. Calling the 3 bet preflop with J10s was probably marginal. Not raising the turn was horrible, especially if he felt like he had a flush draw with two live overs. He obviously must have since he insta-called on the river with top pair 10 kicker.
Hero wins $2002.00
(Rake: $3.00)

There other great thing about this hand is that I went to showdown with a very weak preflop hand and the whole table got to see that. I decided to play extremely tight after that and hope that my image would pay dividends the next time that I was dealt a big hand.

I am eagerly awaiting being called a donkey now. :) The preflop play of the hand was definitely -EV short term, but was long term +EV in my mind. If I completely missed the flop, I could lead and shut down if he called or raised.

--------------
Decision with AA

Full Tilt Poker $5/$10 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $940.00
Hero (CO): $1751.00
BTN: $375.00
SB: $1000.00
BB: $1654.00
UTG: $1005.50
UTG+1: $1015.00
MP1: $301.00

Pre Flop: Hero is CO with A A
4 folds
Hero raises to $35
1 fold
SB calls $30
1 fold


Flop: ($80.00) 3 J K (2 players)
SB checks
Hero bets $55
SB raises to $165 - I have a very loose table image and have folded to a couple of flop check raises. The SB is a solid player, probably not making this bet with air. My guess is something like a flush draw, pair and flush draw, AK, 2 pair, or possible Kxo.
Hero raises to $450 - OK, let's gamble. I bet enough to commit myself. Hopefully, I am racing at worst. I might have just called behind if I had a tighter table image.
SB raises to $965 all in
Hero calls $515

Turn: ($2010.00) A - I liked that card. It gave him less outs. I'm not sure if we would have still gotten all the money in on the turn if I had just flat called the flop raise - probably still would have.
River: ($2010.00) 8

Final Pot: $2010.00
Hero shows Ad Ah (three of a kind, Aces)
SB shows Kc Qc (a pair of Kings) - Whew I dodged some bullets there. It turned out that we were almost exactly 50/50 on the flop. I don't mind getting in there as a 50/50 for 100BB, especially since there is alread $190 in the pot.
Hero wins $2007.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Anyone think that I should have played this hand differently? Possibly just call the flop and try to get it all-in on the turn?

11 responses to "Unconventional Blind Play/ Decision with AA"

  1. I got to see both these hands play out and think your line in both was just fine, although I just don't know if I could squeeze with 95o!

    Shrike

  2. The guy with JTs played it about as bad as he could. Flop was perfect for him. I don't know how you didn't get raised on the flop.

    The AA is such a marginal situation and those are so hard. I am currently debating if it's a better play to get it all in when it's a virtual coinflip vs peeling another or seeing flop (in instances of QQ v AK type situatino) to reduce variance. Based on a very crude EV calc that Bayne and I discussed, at least in terms of preflop all ins, it was more +EV to see flop. In your instance, I prob would have gotten it all in on the flop but I wouldn't have liked it. On the flop, he might have been the favorite...

    Alan aka RecessRampage

  3. Alan - I put the hand in pokerstove and it actually came up something like 49.8%/50.2% with him being the very very slight favorite.

    cmitch

  4. I agree with Shrike. I like the line you played in both hands.

    WillWonka

  5. LOL, first hand is awesome. I hate the turn check tho. I don't slow play vs a calling station fish. I probably pot the flop so I can push the turn if I want to.

    Hand 2: No way you can fold. You are basically ahead of all but 2 hands. NH.

    lucko

  6. The second hand is certainly the one that requires more though. I would have to agree with the line you took, because on a connected and suited flop like that you are going to be up against OESDs, flush draws etc just as often as against 2 pairs and the occasional set.

    If the flop was more connected, i.e. JT or or KQ, I'd be much more inclined to call or even fold to the flop raise.

    Nice hands though, well played.

    SubZero

  7. The OBFV in hand 1 is pure genius. I guess you are lucky he hit a pair though.

    Fuel55

  8. dream of hands like that first one.

    2nd hand, i'm of the opinion at the moment that whether you cold call the 3-bet on the flop (over 50bbs committed) or jam its irrelivant, as any action on the turn gets the rest of the chips in. I think with aces, king high flushed board, i might side with calling and puking if another king or club comes, ah hell, i hate tough decisions so I like the 4-bet and sit back and watch.

    nice, 2 1k hands

    Eric a.k.a. Bone Daddy

  9. I like how you played both hands.

    I'm starting to be a believer of 3-betting not so great hands and just calling with the better hands. Of course, there are other factors that go along with that, like skill of villain, number of villains, stack sizes, etc...

    Hell, I'm running like 21/14 the last 2 weeks, and I'm up 20 buy-ins. Pre-flop is the easiest street to play in Hold 'em. It's the post flop play where you make your money :)

    PokerFool

  10. we're defending our blinds at the 5/10 game with 5-9o now?

    awesome

    smokkee

  11. Thanks to Alan's guidance I'm all about getting value from hands now, and I don't think you get as much value from the hand if you move all in on the turn there. He probably doesn't call an all in since half his cards have been reduced. Nice.

    Unknown