Our first hand comes from Omaha. I sat out @H, it's a minefield and I choose not to waste my time navigating it.
Preflop:
Limp, limp.
Postflop:
Check, bet, call.
Check, bet, call.
Check, bet, call.
What does this tell us?
I already have the last player as pink. Does this jive? Yes. Not proof, but limping with crap and betting the button with nothing certainly won't get him in the "tight" category.
As for the check/call, the limp preflop is fine. Check and call on the flop is horrendous. Check/call on the turn is equally bad, and look how exciting, she already has an extra out in her hand! One less to find in the deck, and meanwhile the low hits AND makes all sorts of straights. Calling for a flush draw and an 8A for low is dubious at best. Lucky river. Teal? Or blue or purple?
TEAL
Now she wins a razz hand, starting with a J. Too bad she can't shuffle all 7 cards, eh? Teal for sure, even giving the greatest benefit of the doubt for her starting 2 cards. A2J3 is barely playable, also known as junk. Teal and blue players draw needing 2/3 or even 2/2 to hit.
***
As I sit here writing this, the player on my left is actually up 700 chips. Skill does not necessarily translate directly to chips in the first hour. Be patient.
***
Okay, so here's a case where one limper came in with a 7, then the high card to my right, 8 completed, and I called to see one more on 3rd. Usually that means someone is chasing a straight, a flush, a low pair, or an A. When an A hits, if they bet they have one down 70% of the time.
I get an A, so I bet to represent another one. I have a pair and 3 hearts, so I'm not really overrepresenting the value of my hand by much. I'm hoping to take it down, this street or next.
Then I hit another A. It's foldy time. Yet, I get calls on 5th AND 6th against what could easily be AAA. Must be on his club draw. If he hits, I fold. On the river, I check.
Scoop. Here's what he had.
Q88, QT8, 8T8. No way to know for sure, but they're all about the same. Then it morphed into some straight draw/flush draw. Folding on 5th was definitely correct, take your favorite 5.
Okay here's an example of Pot Odds Ignorance. I limp in late position with, yes, KA2. I specifically said this hand was crap, but I have such good odds, position, and good cards left that I limp anyways.
Fast forward through check, check:
Now I hit Broadway. Poorly disguised. I bet 120 into 160. The low draws are bust, and fold. Now guess who's on a flush draw.
Call 120 to win 160 on what is approximately a 20% shot. 10% chance I'm bluffing, no chance I fold if made. Now that's bad pot odds. You don't have to win every pot. Just all the chips.
See? FOLD! I folded. I'm a good pupil, I get a gold star. That's a fat hand not staring at AA. I will have it again, and NOT staring at AA. I will wait for a better opportunity. Even with all these little cards and hearts.
Sigh. Is nobody listening? He does fold on 5th. Not sure what draw that was.
So it's time to check on the player to our left. Some truly bad plays. Is this teal or purple?
I check bigstack.com. Stunningly, I find a graph 10,000 in the black! 100's of tourneys a month! How does this compute? I dig a little deeper.
Checking the multiple big wins, they're all versions of NLHE. Many a player can cash several big NLHE tourneys, but still be bad at everything limit, everything non-Hold'em. This player is one of those. Obviously not planning to get better at these games. Teal it is. I note specifically the profit, and the NLHE wins, but color them according to HORSE. The note will help clarify if I meet them in a NLHE tourney. I can then note their specific style and how to play against them in NLHE.
***
How am I doin'? Thanks for asking. I saw 345 in Stud 8 once, raise, but then hit J and Q so folded. Raised A5s in the CO (@H), blinds folded. Heading to first break at 2120 chips. Anything from 1000 up is great here. 4000 is ideal. Lots to play, the second hour takes longer than it seems like it might. The blinds go up slowly, and it will be @H again before blinds really start scrunching people. Look to play aggressively but still carefully in this hour. Specifically, look to open up a bit in Omaha and Stud, Stud 8, because the real cheese is either gone or on a HOT STREAK and cannot WAIT to put their chips in the pot.
***
Blargh. Nothing in Omaha.
I get excited to steal a pot finally in Razz. Nope, nevermind.
Don't call the reraise. This player WILL take any 5 cards to the river. So that means any 4 cards through 6th. And they will probably peel twice. We don't want a showdown here, so why invest any more chips?
As an added bonus, it will encourage their friskiness. Especially useful when I'm rolled up in Stud Hi later.
Great, just got busted raising a naked A (@S). One limper on my right with a 5. 4th we both hit Qs. 5th he hits an A which now emboldens him, or worse pairs his A. I check 6th after thinking and fold after thinking longer. I'm probably drawing dead, or close to it.
800 chips left. And I watch as the player on my right now scoops a huge pot with x99, making quad 9s on 6th and 7th.
A34 in the one game that it sucks.. Boo. I check/fold as the other player makes xx7QQ. 94J, 334, 796, nothing yet.
670 and 25 antes, 3 minutes to @E. Cmon, one time, one big hand! I finally get half of a big one, then a wheel for a big pot. Which leaves us here:
I raise 4 limpers to build a pot. 4th street is SWEET! Of course, then I hit brick brick brick, and look at that river 9. What notes from here?
999 Blue. Marginal draw (pair and gutshot), can't lay it down. Will often back into a hand on the river, which gives them courage to do it again.
858 Pink. Limping and chasing a crap low (8 anything), and then INSTARAISE 85432. When am showing a 6A draw, no one is folding, and can't even beat my showing QQ for high.
Doomed. 1025 chips, 250/500 @H. 75th of 77 remaining. Time to double up.
Raise. BB called, folded on flop. Scary flop good, in this case.
Raise A4s UTG. No calls.
1775 chips for Omaha. Sweet, something to work with. First hand is 4-way, 3-bet preflop.
1625 on the button, one limper to me. I have KQ63, 3 hearts. Easy fold. No room to mess around, I have 5 little bets.
Time to get jiggy. The limpers are here. The crap raise is in. Time to shove and pray.
What a rollercoaster. My low fails, he hits a set on the turn, and I hit my 3-out river for the nuts. Scoop and new table. Wow. Break, and I need it. 4575 chips, 35th of 61 remaining. Pays 24, but really pays 8. 17th-24th is a long way to go for a $40 return on $26.
***
A quick aside to the cash tables. Easy to see what 3 he limped and chased with. J852 suited isn't bad, but is -EV heads up. Play it in multiway pots, and try to improve on that 8 for low. 85 won't win many contested lows.
Why chase aces? He folds, I scoop.
***
What a whirlwind! Back from break, freshly with 4500 chips to play with.
A couple raises in razz with 63A, 246. No calls. Finally someone looks me up. I have him drawing dead by 6th, he folds the river. So chased, but no show. I raise 246 UTG one more time, and I show when nobody calls.
Top 15 now, with 10,000 chips. Wait for your spots, they will come eventually. 1025 chips? Doomed? When?
9275, now at Stud H/L. Diego Cordovez at my table. Wait that reminds me of last night.
No cash, but an entry refund and another shirt. Thanks, Keith Sexton!
I don't like the peel here, but multiway and that 3rd heart get me to pay for one more brick. If I'd looked closer and seen the 2 low hearts already gone, I would have folded. Oops, oh well still lots of chips.
Finally a hand! On the button! I 3-bet the pink player Ratso888 who had raised, then see both the BB and him call the 3-bet. He bets the flop, and I figure AQ means I have 3 outs, worse, with a pocket pair or big cards (outs I'll never hit) behind me in the BB. Even any pair I'm a 2:1 dog. I can't afford to find out. Other player calls flop and turn, but folds river so we'll never know if that K was good. 2400 preflop, 1700 postflop means I had just enough to not be committed into that strength. Double up time!
Skunked. In the BB with 775 back, he limps and I bet my last bet on the flop. Runner runner hearts instead of any help for me. Blech. 29th, 5 off the money.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed. Looking back to see the hands I played from 10K on, I'm not disappointed. Maybe one loose call. High quality cards, just bricked on the draws. Mostly just card dead. Ace rag was the only hand in @H I had to look at besides that damn AK. Ah well. I'm not about to limp into 24th place, I'm here to hit my big hand and take it down. Tomorrow night, see you there.
3 comments:
If there was one thing i could have asked you to do it would have been real time note taking! Thanks alot this is so helpful.
lol, i must be purple on your rankings ;-)
i'd like to think i'm yellow but i do play crap sometimes
Uh oh Rich, they put you at my starting table. I better promote you to yellow before I take any more screenshots. ;)
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