Hands « Meteoric Poker

<< Blog Home

Archive for the ‘Hands’ Category

Having a Read, or Plain Lucky?

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Haven’t played much this week which is a shame as I want to continue trying to pay more attention to opponents, take notes etc. Even if it means only opening a couple of tables, I figure that getting better at being observant will take a bit of practice, and should still have some effect when I re-add more tables later.

This morning I found it wasn’t so easy taking the notes – the players weren’t falling into easy stereotypes as before. I picked up one read on a limper though that may have helped. With a small made hand on the flop he’d bet out with a minbet. He didn’t seem to bluff particularly either. That note lead me to play the following hand like so;

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($2.09)
UTG+1 ($1.34)
CO ($1.85)
BTN ($5.32)
SB ($2.17)
Hero ($5.07)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BB 9 9
UTG calls $0.05, UTG+1 calls $0.05, CO raises to $0.10, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.05, UTG calls $0.05, UTG+1 calls $0.05

Flop: 8 Q 3 ($0.42, 4 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 bets $0.05, CO calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.40, UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $0.75, CO folds, Hero raises to $2.72, UTG+1 goes all-in $0.49

Turn: 6 ($4.43, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: 6 ($4.43, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $4.43
Hero shows two pair, Nines and Sixes
9 9
UTG+1 shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
8 K

Hero wins $4.24 (net +$1.42)

CO lost $0.15
UTG lost $0.10
UTG+1 lost $1.34

So the read paid off – he did have 2nd pair, and did minbet it. He kind of went crazy against my raise though? A good read, or just lucky?

This hand however, I’m not sure what was going on here – I didn’t really have any reads on the guy, and looking back at it my play is just insane. I dunno what set me off, a combination of bored-tilt and his excessive donk bets;

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($3.67)
UTG+1 ($5)
CO ($5.07)
Hero ($6.28)
SB ($5.34)
BB ($5)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BTN J 10
UTG calls $0.05, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.20, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.15

Flop: K 10 9 ($0.47, 2 players)
UTG bets $0.55, Hero calls $0.55

Turn: 3 ($1.57, 2 players)
UTG goes all-in $2.92, Hero calls $2.92

River: 2 ($7.41, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $7.41
UTG shows Ace King high
Q A
Hero shows a pair of Tens
J 10

Hero wins $6.92 (net +$3.25)

UTG lost $3.67

Posted in Analysis, Good Days, Hands, NL5, Poker | Comments Off

Sinking Without Trace

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

It’s getting worse;

BR is now $170, a long long way from moving back up to NL10 now

Practically the very first hand went bad – I’ve AQs in the BB, folded to the SB who raises. I 3bet, he 4bets, I shove (bad?), he shows AA…

Other big losses;

AK flops two pair
$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($7.20)
UTG+1 ($5.86)
CO ($4.04)
BTN ($7.56)
SB ($4.71)
Hero ($5.25)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BB K A
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.05, 3 folds, Hero raises to $0.20, UTG+1 calls $0.15

Flop: Q K A ($0.42, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, UTG+1 raises to $1.25, Hero raises to $4.17, UTG+1 goes all-in $5.66, Hero goes all-in $0.88

Turn: J ($11.13, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: 9 ($11.13, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $11.13
UTG+1 shows a straight, Ace high
10 J
Hero shows two pair, Aces and Kings
K A

UTG+1 wins $10.43 (net +$4.57)

Hero lost $5.25

Suck out
$0.03/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
4 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($1.70)
CO ($11.68)
Hero ($6.91)
BB ($11.10)

Pre-Flop: ($0.05, 4 players) Hero is BTN J A
UTG calls $0.05, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.16, BB calls $0.11, UTG calls $0.11

Flop: 6 7 J ($0.48, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.34, BB folds, UTG calls $0.34

Turn: 10 ($1.16, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.72, UTG calls $0.72

River: 9 ($2.60, 2 players)
UTG goes all-in $0.48, Hero calls $0.48

Final Pot: $3.56
Hero shows
J A
UTG shows a straight, Jack high
8 6

UTG wins $3.33 (net +$1.63)

Hero lost $1.70
BB lost $0.16

Failed bluff
$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($7.57)
UTG+1 ($6.27)
Hero ($5.50)
BTN ($3.75)
SB ($0.75)
BB ($5.58)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is CO 5 6
UTG raises to $0.20, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.20, 3 folds

Flop: 4 9 8 ($0.47, 2 players)
UTG bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: Q ($1.07, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: 6 ($1.07, 2 players)
UTG bets $0.60, Hero raises to $2.87, UTG goes all-in $7.07, Hero folds

Final Pot: $11.01

UTG wins $10.56 (net +$2.99)

Hero lost $3.37

While the few hands that went well;

Should’ve called turn?
$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
5 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($1.73)
Hero ($5.63)
BTN ($9.84)
SB ($3.90)
BB ($7.15)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is CO 10 10
UTG calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.20, BTN raises to $0.60, 2 folds, UTG folds, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: 3 10 6 ($1.32, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.92, BTN calls $0.92

Turn: 2 ($3.16, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.50, Hero raises to $3.10, BTN folds

Final Pot: $7.76

Hero wins $7.35 (net +$2.73)

UTG lost $0.05
BTN lost $3.02

Lucky to catch that set
$0.03/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
5 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($6.81)
UTG+1 ($7.31)
CO ($5.97)
Hero ($5)
BB ($6.43)

Pre-Flop: ($0.05, 5 players) Hero is BTN 2 2
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, BB calls $0.10

Flop: A K 9 ($0.30, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BB calls $0.22

Turn: 2 ($0.74, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.70, BB calls $0.70

River: 4 ($2.14, 2 players)
BB bets $1, Hero calls $1

Final Pot: $4.14
BB shows
K 10
Hero shows three of a kind, Twos
2 2

Hero wins $3.87 (net +$1.80)

BB lost $2.07

So, I’ve no idea what I’m doing anymore. I always find it hard to believe it’s just variance – it must be me playing badly. Maybe still not weak-tight enough?

Posted in Bad Days, Bankroll Management, Hands, NL5, Poker | Comments Off

Tilt – Taking it Personally

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Crap session today – a full house beaten by quads, followed by everything going really swingy. So I decided to really try to be weak-tight and see how that would go. The swinginess stopped, but so did everything else – flatlined for the next 600 hands. I was just getting to 1k hands, and then had this hand;

$0.025/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
5 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($6.26)
UTG+1 ($1.24)
CO ($14.62)
Hero ($5)
BB ($7.25)

Pre-Flop: ($0.05, 5 players) Hero is BTN 6 6
UTG raises to $0.20, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.20, 1 fold

Flop: 6 5 A ($0.45, 2 players)
UTG bets $0.35, Hero calls $0.35

Turn: 7 ($1.15, 2 players)
UTG bets $0.85, Hero raises to $1.94, UTG raises to $3.85, Hero goes all-in $4.45, UTG calls $0.60

River: K ($10.05, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $10.05
Hero shows
6 6
UTG shows
Q A

UTG wins $9.38 (net +$4.38)

Hero lost $5

I then get an observer pipe up in the chatbox with ‘OWNED!’ – wtf, if that wasn’t a test of my zen control I don’t know what is. I was disappointed with the loss obviously, but I easily shrugged it off – I’m really pleased with my tilt control these days (I’m practically the most boring man on earth now!), but can’t be arsed with moron’s making comments like that. Oh well…

Posted in Bad Days, Full Tilt, Hands, NL5, Poker | Comments Off

Custom Full Tilt Table

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

Update: I found it hard to distinguish which Ax or suited connector I needed at a glance, so I’ve modified the table a bit – I changed to a better font, moved the text to avoid pot & bet text, coloured the text to group in (AX, AXs)(SCs,SCo) etc. Now I’ve got to update my attitude and actually refer to the damn thing

One step forwards, two steps back! Or so it seems

Time to rediscipline myself. I’m getting too loose & playing the wrong cards at the wrong times (& calling the wrong bets as shown in the last post). So I created a Full Tilt background with my original starting range, and hopefully this time I’ll stick with it…

To those who say you should play your opponents and not use a starting hands chart, well, yes but that’s only fine when you remember why you’re playing some hands and not others – I seem to forget too easily and play the wrong ones…

Update: I figured that I ought to give away that table background in case someone wants to use it! You can download the table here (right click, Save As). BTW, it’s only for 6max and the racetrack view, but common sense should help you change FR & other views.

To use it you have to follow these steps;

Go to the Full Tilt installation folder where the tables are (C:\Program Files\Full Tilt Poker\Graphics\NewTable\RaceTrack\Backgrounds)
Rename Table.svg to something like Table_original.svg – this is the normal green baize table image. By renaming it FT won’t use it, and all you see is the background. You can always return it to it’s original name if you want it back.
In the Backgrounds folder create a new one with your own custom name (ie Meteoric).
Put my table jpg into that folder (or copy a background from one of the other folders and customise it yourself).
Edit Backgrounds.ini (in the Backgrounds folder, make a copy first);
- At the top where it says lines like Sys7=”Stainless” add one more to the list, ie Sys9=”Meteoric” (increase the Sys number and use the same name as your new table background folder)
- At the bottom, add (using your own folder name);
[Meteoric]
MenuName=”Meteoric”
Folder=”Meteoric”
FinalOnly=0
Go up one folder level to
C:\Program Files\Full Tilt Poker\Graphics\NewTable\RaceTrack and edit the Layout.xml (use a regular text editor like notepad) – make a copy of the file first.
Find a line like
<image_object w=”794″ h=”547″ z=”0.0″ url=”Table.jpg;%1.png” urlprefix=”Graphics/NewTable/RaceTrack/Backgrounds/Stainless/” id=”Stainless Steel” />
Create a copy of that line immediately afterwards, but change where it says Stainless to your folder name (and the id is your foldername). So it should look like;
<image_object w=”794″ h=”547″ z=”0.0″ url=”Table.jpg;%1.png” urlprefix=”Graphics/NewTable/RaceTrack/Backgrounds/Meteoric/” id=”Meteoric” />
That’s it, you’re done! Just start Full Tilt and select your table view.

Posted in Analysis, Full Tilt, Hands, Poker | 1 Comment »

Name & Shame

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

Two horrendous hands played today. Posting them in order to shame myself to lay hands down now and again!

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
5 players

Stacks:
UTG ($2.91)
CO ($3.92)
Hero (BTN) ($5.52)
SB ($5.20)
BB ($2.54)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is BTN Q J
1 fold, CO calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.15, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10, CO calls $0.10

Flop: 7 Q J ($0.47, 3 players)
BB checks, CO bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.30, BB folds, CO calls $0.20

Turn: 8 ($1.07, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks

River: 7 ($1.07, 2 players)
CO bets $1.50, Hero calls $1.50

Final Pot: $4.07
Hero shows: Q J
CO shows: 5 K

CO wins $3.80 ( won +$1.85 )
Hero lost -$1.95
BB lost -$0.15

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 players

Stacks:
UTG ($4.30)
Hero (UTG+1) ($5.13)
CO ($2.60)
BTN ($7.20)
SB ($2.57)
BB ($3.15)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1 A A
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.15, CO calls $0.15, 2 folds, BB calls $0.10

Flop: T 9 T ($0.47, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.30, CO folds, BB calls $0.30

Turn: 9 ($1.07, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.55, BB raises to $1.10, Hero calls $0.55

River: 6 ($3.27, 2 players)
BB goes all-in $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

Final Pot: $6.47
Hero shows: A A
BB shows: T K

BB wins $6.04 ( won +$2.89 )
Hero lost -$3.15
CO lost -$0.15

Posted in Analysis, Bad Days, Hands, Poker | Comments Off

Happier Now

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

That’s better

Bad beat in the middle somewhere;

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
4 players

Stacks:
CO ($11.35)
BTN ($10.00)
Hero (SB) ($13.20)
BB ($10.55)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 4 players) Hero is SB A T
CO raises to $0.30, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.90, 1 fold, CO calls $0.60

Flop: T 3 6 ($1.90, 2 players)
Hero bets $1, CO calls $1

Turn: 8 ($3.90, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $2, Hero calls $2

River: 3 ($7.90, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $4, Hero calls $4

Final Pot: $15.90
CO shows: 5 3
Hero shows: A T

CO wins $15.15 ( won +$7.25 )
Hero lost -$7.90

Who calls a 3bet with 53s? Oh well.

showdown/non-showdown is nice on the chart above, and even more nice is this;

I’m a winner from the blinds Ok, so 1k hands isn’t a big sample, but you have to gloat over these small victories now and again. Bit odd on the button though.

I also pulled off some dodgy bluffs which perhaps wasn’t so smart, but it’s no fun just folding all the time;

Looking back at the first I’m beginning to think it was a *really* risky move – villain could easily have had either the A or K here. However he’s also one of those 100% cbet players, and for better or worse I’d put him on air from the beginning. Hmmm, maybe that wasn’t so clever;

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
6 players

Stacks:
UTG ($2.25)
UTG+1 ($9.40)
Hero (CO) ($11.40)
BTN ($13.00)
SB ($12.75)
BB ($14.95)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is CO 9 9
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, BB raises to $1.10, Hero calls $0.80

Flop: A K 3 ($2.25, 2 players)
BB bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25

Turn: A ($4.75, 2 players)
BB bets $2.25, Hero calls $2.25

River: K ($9.25, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, BB folds

Final Pot: $9.25

Hero wins $14.80 ( won +$4.20 )
BB lost -$4.60

Maybe this one is a bit more reasonable – my 3bet was a blind defense, but then he min-raised it. Did he have something & was a bit passive, or was it a cheap defense to my defense? I wasn’t sure what to do, it was only $0.90 to call but so unlikely to hit the flop. So I called, and the flop came down with two aces. He put a 3/4 pot bet in, and I was on the verge of folding when I thought why would anyone bet with an A bet here? Surely they’d slowplay at least one more street? So let’s put him on QQ or KK etc, so I’m still beat, but he’s probably not happy about those aces. I’ve three options, fold (probably smart thing to do), 3bet or call and then bet turn. If I called and he bet the turn then a bluff would no longer have any fold equity (since any bet is pretty much all-in) and I’d have to fold, so I decided to 3bet straight away.

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
6 players

Stacks:
UTG ($9.55)
UTG+1 ($10.00)
CO ($10.75)
BTN ($9.45)
Hero (SB) ($21.65)
BB ($8.50)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is SB 3 3
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $0.90, 1 fold, BTN raises to $1.80, Hero calls $0.90

Flop: 4 A A ($3.70, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2, Hero raises to $6, BTN folds

Final Pot: $7.70

Hero wins $11.35 ( won +$3.55 )
BTN lost -$3.80

Afterwards he told me he had KK. I told him I had Ax since I’m nice and I couldn’t be bothered to mess around with him by admitting the bluff.

Update: Now played for 4 and half hours, reckon that’s close to my limit (how do the pros manage to click at their screens all day?!). Gone well though;

Something clicked the other day, and I’m almost too embarrassed to admit it – in the order of things you learn about how to play poker this is one of the earliest things, and I can’t believe I never properly understood it;

We all know that when you have a strong starting hand like KK or AK etc it’s good to 3bet preflop. Mostly I’d been seeing this from the point of view of isolating your opponent, but really more than anything else it’s for value. Chances are you’re going to have the best hand postflop too, and you want a decent sized pot to build on. The number of times I’ve thought things like ‘I won’t 3bet because he’s so passive he’ll just fold, and I want another street of value‘, or ‘I don’t want to 3bet as it’ll give away the strength of my hand‘ and that’s really bad thinking. Instead I should be thinking ‘whoo-hoo, great hand, let’s play for more money this time round‘. If they fold to the 3bet, then never mind, that’s just the way it goes. Can’t believe I never really understood that, even though I’ve read it so many times…

Posted in Good Days, Hands, NL10 | Comments Off

Hard Work

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

Much of my downswing was my own fault, mainly from tilt where I wasn’t hitting any decent hands – I’d then get spewy which would make it worse, and then finally go on a monkey tilt shove fest. Not a good strategy really.

So I lost a ton, and then took a step back and reconsidered what I was doing. I wasn’t going to drop down since 2NL and 5NL are usually a nightmare, but I was killing some time yesterday and ended up playing 2NL for a couple of hours coming in at 80BB/100. After that I figured my head was on straight again.

So today I was back at 10NL, and it still went all wrong! This time however it’s ok – I played properly, no tilt, just good ABC poker. Unfortunately the poker god was having a laugh;

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
2 players

Stacks:
Hero (BTN) ($14.30)
BB ($10.15)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 2 players) Hero is BTN J T
Hero raises to $0.30, BB calls $0.20

Flop: 6 7 J ($0.60, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.40, BB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5, BB goes all-in $9.85, Hero calls $4.85

Turn: 5 ($20.30, 2 players)

River: 9 ($20.30, 2 players)

Final Pot: $20.30
Hero shows: J T
BB shows: 7 5

BB wins $19.30 ( won +$9.15 )
Hero lost -$10.15

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
5 players

Stacks:
UTG ($11.80)
CO ($10.00)
Hero (BTN) ($12.00)
SB ($11.10)
BB ($14.60)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 5 players) Hero is BTN A A
UTG raises to $0.40, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.60, 1 fold, BB calls $1.50, UTG calls $1.20

Flop: 3 6 3 ($4.85, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $2, Hero goes all-in $10.40, BB folds, UTG goes all-in $8.20

Turn: T ($25.45, 2 players)

River: 4 ($25.45, 2 players)
BB says “lol”, BB says “hahaha”

Final Pot: $25.25
UTG shows: K A
Hero shows: A A

UTG wins $24 ( won +$12.20 )
Hero wins $0.20 ( lost -$11.80 )
BB lost -$1.60

Not that I was winning much anyway, but these two hands left me -$14, rather than the deserved $34 up…

Just for balance here’s a standard hand where I’m being stupid;

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
6 players

Stacks:
UTG ($10.00)
Hero (UTG+1) ($14.30)
CO ($10.25)
BTN ($12.25)
SB ($10.00)
BB ($4.00)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1 T Q
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, SB calls $0.25, 1 fold

Flop: 4 J 3 ($0.70, 2 players)
SB bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Turn: T ($1.50, 2 players)
SB bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

River: J ($2.70, 2 players)
SB bets $1, Hero calls $1

Final Pot: $4.70
SB shows: J Q
Hero shows: T Q

SB wins $4.50 ( won +$2.20 )
Hero lost -$2.30

Couldn’t be more obvious that he had a J. The big leak is that I didn’t fold the turn – the second barrel was all the information I needed (I think)…

What a month ;

Posted in Bad Days, Hands, NL10 | 1 Comment »

Archive for the ‘Hands’ Category

Pages

HUSNG blogs

Poker Blogroll

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Cellsino Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Everleaf Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

300% up to $500

Signup Bonus

Minted Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Everleaf Gaming

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

$250-$2,500

Signup Bonus

Cake Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: dealt

Statistics: Daily

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Americas Cardroom

27% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Winning Poker

Rake: dealt

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $1,000

Signup Bonus

True Poker

27% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Winning Poker

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $1,000

Signup Bonus

Fortune Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

200% up to €1,000

Signup Bonus

Poker Heaven

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1000

Signup Bonus

Paradise Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1,000

Signup Bonus

PKR

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: PKR Network

Rake: contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $800

Signup Bonus

Red Star Poker