Sunday, March 12, 2006

 

Cash Game Madness

I popped into the Vic today just to feel some cards and chips in my hands. After bleh-ing out of the tournament quite early I was on the point of sloping off when I saw a seat in the £50 PL with "the needy and the greedy" as The Camel says, and I thought why not give it a spin for £100. So I did. Here are some interesting hands which I am just going to report as factually as I can. All comments welcome on my play and that of my opponents. £1-2 blinds, players have around £100 in front of them unless otherwise stated.

1) S makes it £5 UTG, 1 caller, I make it £25 with QQ. Both call. The caller and I both have around £60 left. Flop 982 with 2 diamonds. S bets £75, we both call, there's a small sidepot. Turn diamond, River diamond. I spy the Qd in my hand and turn it over hopefully. "Nice hand" says S sarcastically and shows his unlucky 82. The other poor sod flopped a set of nines. Just to recap, he called a £20 reraise pre-flop with 82 when both opponents had only £60 more in front of them.

2) Aye aye, I find the boots (AA) and make it £10. One caller. Flop A55 kerching ! Check check. Turn 4 I make a small bet, he calls. River irrelevant. He bets £50 which is a little more than the pot. Natch, I put him all in for his remaining £30. He passes and shows me 56.

3) Several limpers and I limp, with about £300 in front of me now, with AQs on the button. Flop Q67, one of my suit. S (playing about £200) bets £5. I make it £25. He makes it £50. Hmm. Comments on this play are welcome as I elect to make it £125 (consensus in the bar was it was either that or fold). He shows me Q6 two pair and passes, saying I must have a set. 56 boy suggests AQ and is met with derision.

4) Now I have £350 and find KK. I make it £10 and there are 4 callers, a couple of whom are also deep stacked. At this point I think "If this doesn't come a K or an A I have no fucking clue what I'm going to do". Fortunately for me it comes an Ace and I pass the flop. S wins it with 23s that makes a flush. Having hit I decide to run for a £256 profit.

I think I am a fish, but today I'm a lucky fish.

Comments:
1. plays itself. Nice to know that people will come after you with 82 though. In my limited exposure to Vic cash games, there sometimes is someone who will pull up the minimum and gamble, almost like a cheap rebuy strategy.

2. You've done nothing wrong with the way you played the hand, but:
a) How did he bet more than the pot in a PL game?
b) how did he pass for the underraise?

3. Situational. I don't even think calling (usually the worst option) is THAT bad and see what the turn brings and how he likes it... It is one of the few situations taht I would be happy to put more stock than usual into my read of his reaction.

4. My turn to pull you up. If you have KK and you cheer an ace on the flop so you can get away from a decision, you should have left the game before the hand was dealt.
One of those situations where you have to play poker, but you shouldn't be frightened to bet the pot with an un-coordinated board with KK and then work it out from there...

PS - smooth calling the raise with AA in a previous post - what do you do if it comes down KK5 and the guy leads at it??
 
Thanks Simon,

In response to your points :

2a) by accident
2b) fucked if I know

4) Yes. I thought this to myself after the hand, saw that there was some amenable company in the bar and quit for exactly that reason.

With some thought offline I would bet an uncoordinated AK-less flop if checked to me ; if I am bet into or raised then I decide based on how many chips he has. If he's around £100 then fine, let's see who's winning.

If a bigger stack wants to play on a coordinated (although not complete, that is 2-flush and/or 2-straight flop) I would try to wait for the turn and bet/raise a blank. Dangerous, but I have to learn how to play a big stack somewhere !

Andy.
 
PS - in an online tournament, which is the setting for this discussion, play it as the best hand. A King is so likely to check-raise or slowplay that I'm going to rule it out heads up.

Andy.
 
Hiya,

I know that you just adore giving free advice so here goes.

Last night I'm in the final four of a tourney. Chips 31k (me), 17k (me +1), 45k (+2), 107k (+3). Blinds 4k/8k (gulp - we've been losing people slowly). I post the sb, it's folded to me and I have K3. I put him all-in and think I was right to do so but my decision process was not much better than "I have a hand better than the average and he's pot committed by the blind". Could you tell me what you would have have thought in that situation? Many thanks if you can.
 
Sure, your reasoning and your play sounds fine to me.

Chip leader should have raised with any two but that's his problem !

Andy.
 
No one I know, some kid.

He certainly read me 2/2, you can judge for yourselves how much of an achievement that is ...

Andy.
 
Hiya,

Extension of the K3 question above. I am happy with that play but if I had had a hand worse than the average, say J3, I'm not too sure how I'd work out the right move. At some chip-to-blind level my 4k sb in combination with his low stack commits me to pushing with anything but I don't know when that point is reached. If I got 32 in this situation I think I would have passed. Ta for any help.
 
Bear with me, I'll post something about this over the weekend, probably ...

Andy.
 
I was away for a little while and didn't see your comment. I'd be very grateful if you did write anything. I am particularly clueless at blind-on-blind play in tourneys, especially when the blinds are substantial, and it's a pretty important area.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?