I flopped the nuts!

I have just pushed freebird1980, who has about half as many chips as I do, all-in, sensing weakness and hoping he’ll fold.  I wouldn’t try this with a hand much weaker than ATs, but as it is, that’s what I’m holding.  He flips up QQ, and I flop an Ace (and a ten!) to take his stack.

freebird1980: what the %#$% was that crap??? A,10??
Erok420: thats not crap
YSR420: i agree
freebird1980: it is for that kind of money
Erok420: Kten there
freebird1980: you agree it is or is not crap YSR?
dannordquist: I’m sorry I sucked out on you
DAYTRADE: would you have felt better if he had AK
YSR420: that it is not crap
dannordquist: but I’ve seen that kind of action with 55, 77, 99
Erok420: A tne suited is a good hand
YSR420: that’s poker in case u didnt know
Erok420: ten
dannordquist: KQ, KTs, whatever
dannordquist: besides, you thought about folding QQ
dannordquist: and that was the whole point
dannordquist: cmon, rebuy and I’ll probably give it back to you
freebird1980: you are smoking crack, AT is not even close to worth putting
half your stack at stake when you got 80-100 x bb for a stack
YSR420: lol
dannordquist: I do like smoking crack…

I was literally thinking "gap concept" when he raised from the button.  It was folded around to him.  He needed almost nothing to raise from there, so my reraise was a way to tell him "nice steal attempt, but I’m keeping this".  His reraise to half his stack could certainly have meant "I’m not messing around" or "I watch too much TV and that move was totally supposed to work."

I put him on a high ace, which means I’m behind, but pushing him all-in for the other half of his chips is academic.  At that point, he’s got to fold any goofy steal-attempting hands, a lot of lower pairs, and maybe even AJ or AQ (but probably not).  When he thought about it for more than ten seconds, I switched my read to small pair: coinflip which I don’t mind playing for $10.  And I was way wrong: actually down like 66-34 or something.  It worked out in the end.

I spent some of Christmas Eve morning on Full Tilt, playing raked tables.  I actually took minor hits in my first two sessions, but the last one before I got up to go church / Grandma’s house was a big one, and my online bankroll cracked $500, up from $100 at the start of October.

That breaks down like this:

• I’m up about $100 in those 5-handed $10+1s at Pacific that pay 3 spots.
• I’m down about $200 in other sit n’ gos.
• I’m break-even in heads-up tournaments.
• I’m up about $400 in cash games, even though I don’t play those that often.

The rest is probably bonuses, I’m guessing.  Anyway, cracking $500 was great.  I think I can start playing .25/.50 NL, unless that goes really poorly, and then I’ll have to reconsider.

The kicker is this: I won $200 in Full Tilt’s daily contest on Dec. 24.  So, as of today, my bankroll’s at about $750.  Unreal!

3-handed, I’m massive chip-leader.

PokerStars Game #3391082495: Tournament #16808820, Hold’em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2005/12/20 - 22:19:17 (ET)
Table ‘16808820 1′ Seat #7 is the button
Seat 7: jlf88 (1570 in chips)
Seat 8: dnord520 (6765 in chips)
Seat 9: dgaughy (665 in chips)
dnord520: posts small blind 25
dgaughy: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dnord520 [9s Ts]
jlf88: calls 50
dnord520: calls 25

Some would say this is a raising situation shorthanded (since nobody’s shown strength), but I don’t agree. 

dgaughy: checks
*** FLOP *** [6h 8h 7c]   

I am not even that concerned about the flush draw: for whatever reason, I slowplay the nut straight.

dnord520: checks
dgaughy: bets 150
jlf88: calls 150

This is why you slowplay: folks with pairs, two pairs… those who are badly beaten?  They’ll try to steal it from you.

dnord520: raises 6565 to 6715 and is all-in
dgaughy: calls 465 and is all-in

Your first mistake.

jlf88: calls 1370 and is all-in

Bringing a friend, are you?  We flip over.  jlf88’s got Th9h: my exact hand, except he’s got a straight flush draw, and a not-bad flush draw, until you see dgaughy’s Ah5h, the nut-flush draw.  Either way, I’m 60% to split the pot here… I just need no heart.

*** TURN *** [6h 8h 7c] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [6h 8h 7c Qd] [2h]

Ah well.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
dnord520: shows [9s Ts] (a straight, Six to Ten)
jlf88: shows [9h Th] (a flush, Ten high)
dnord520 said, "whoops"
jlf88 collected 1810 from side pot
dgaughy: shows [Ah 5h] (a flush, Ace high)
dgaughy collected 1995 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3805 Main pot 1995. Side pot 1810. | Rake 0
Board [6h 8h 7c Qd 2h]
Seat 7: jlf88 (button) showed [9h Th] and won (1810) with a flush, Ten high
Seat 8: dnord520 (small blind) showed [9s Ts] and lost with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 9: dgaughy (big blind) showed [Ah 5h] and won (1995) with a flush, Ace high

I would go on to win the tournament (despite losing that big pot), so it all ended well, but sheesh.  That’s a lot of decent hands right there.

I was playing the 5-handed SnGs on Pacific.  They’re my new favorite.  I hate the software, but the game is just too awesome to stop.

I’m chip-leader and pick up AA one off the button.  I min-raise, since I don’t want everyone to think I’m just pushing them around.  SB and BB will call.  J66 flop, with two suits matching.  Checked to me, so I bet half the pot in this situation… habit I picked up from Phil Gordon’s new book.  SB folds, and BB calls.  Turn is the third heart, and with no heart, I’m assuming that any caller for that bet has something, so when he checks, I check.  The river is a ten, helping nobody, so when he bets a third of the pot, I’m thinking I might be facing a lonely jack, or a busted flush draw… but no, he called my tiny raise with 63o and flopped the set.  Not a bad slowplay, but I resolved never to do that again.

I didn’t have to wait long.  The very next hand: AA again!  I was in the BB, and saw UTG limp.  SB did the same, completing the blind, so I push it hard: 6xBB.  UTG calls.

QQJ flop.  No flush draw, but I don’t like the straight draw, and I’m not gonna let this guy just draw his way past my past me… it’s close, but he’s got me covered.  I’d have a hard time betting the pot (about half of either of our stacks) and getting away from this hand if he pushed all-in.  I remember thinking "a jack is more likely than a queen here… I’m taking this pot now."

It was a very fast call of my all-in bet: he held QJ.  Not something I’d call a raise with, but it’s hard to tell someone that they aren’t playing well four-handed.  I know one of my friends will tell me that you have to push all-in, every time you’ve got AA online, because you will get called.  Someone will fall in love with their hand and make the mistake.  Once cards are on the board, you’re the one who might be behind, and how would you know?

It’s a thought.  I’ll put up a post about "you will get called", because it’s actually excellent advice in low-stakes NL, but today’s not the day.

I played with some friends over the weekend.  It might be sixth or seventh time I’ve seen some of these guys across the table, for a couple of hours of play.

But someone - a player whose observation skills I respect - told me that he knew, once I got involved in a pot, that I was going to keep firing at it.  That’s maybe the nicest thing anyone’s said about my game.

It’s true.  I love making the continuation bet, because with the people I play with, they mostly assume that I actually have a piece of it when I bet the flop (and have raised preflop).  If they call that one (and don’t raise it), it’s coming at them again.  No free cards against me.

This could have just as much to do with how tight I play, actually… I’m almost never in an important pot (again, against these guys) with a speculative hand.  I want to find out where I stand.  I want to punish draws.  I want loose players to reconsider.  Phil Hellmuth talks about firing the third bullet: I’m usually done with bluffs once I’ve tried pre-flop and post-flop, but I’m glad someone is paying attention to my aggressive play on the turn and river.

Since the kids were in daycare, I had the day completely to myself, so I decided to spend the day at Canterbury Park. 

First issue: I play $10 SnGs and .10/.25 NL online, almost exclusively.  They don’t play NL at Canterbury, and the lowest limits they do play are $2/$4.  I figured it’d be tough to burn through $200, so that’s how much I brought.  (To adjust to limit play, I made a note to play more suited aces and suited connectors for a single bet in late position, and to let go of a decent NL hand if a flush or straight seemed likely.)

"Act like you’ve been here, act like you’ve been here…" I kept saying to myself.  As I tried to make sense of the "28" underneath "2/4" on the Hold ‘em board, I told the staffer "I’ve never been here before."  She was nice and got me on the waiting list, and then the floor guy took me over to the 2/4 table.  "It’s right next to our highest limit table… fun group.  You’ll have a good time with them."  But as soon as there were eight of us on the waitlist (around 9am), they set up a new table. 

The guy in seat 3 recognized the dealer from his first session eight hours ago. 

"This dealer dealt two straight flushes in ten minutes!"

"I dealt you one, and you have the hat to prove it."

I noticed his stocking hat said "Canterbury".  A free hat for flipping over a straight flush?  Nice.  I was just surprised that anyone who was here gambling at 1am would still be lucid at 9am. 

On the second hand, three cards to a royal flush (in clubs) showed up on the flop.  The turn was the fourth club.  Mr. Hat was still in the hand, heads-up with an older woman.  "Do you have it?" he said to her.  He bet the turn and she called.  River was a blank.  He checked, she checked, and he turned over the Q for his second royal flush of the day.  "Another hat over here!"  (Checking to her would prove to be a ridiculous mistake - she just wouldn’t bet at anything, but would call absolutely everything.  But he couldn’t have known that yet.)

It was up and down, but I was finding that Malmuth’s advice was very, very true: these low-limit players called with trash, didn’t raise when they had the best of it, and went too far with hands that were certainly beaten.  The worst case was a guy in a Mystic Lake security shirt: probably just getting off a shift, this guy bought in for $100.  He’d raise preflop, frequently bet the flop, call all the way down, and then turn over a pocket pair that was never good.  I think I saw him hit his set once, but I also saw him build a huge pot on an AAK flop, and call off almost all of his chips with pocket jacks.  I never saw him show down a hand that wasn’t pocket pairs.  He rebought, lost that, and left.

I got extremely lucky with my own pocket pairs: 77.  Flop came 345, and I bet the overpair.  Mr. Hats called.  Turn was a nine or something, and I bet it, but got check-raised.  Hmm.  I knew he was a solid player, but I wondered if he could be that excited about a pair of nines.  I figured the odds of him having nothing were non-zero, and I was pretty deep in the hand, so I called for the additional $4.  The turn was a six, and when he bet, I called, almost sure I was beaten by something monstrous, but… he’d flopped the straight with A2, and slowplayed again, letting me draw to the inside straight.  I made mistakes, but they weren’t huge ones, and I got pretty lucky.

But bad luck cut both ways: I raised with KQ, caught my queen, and bet to the end.  One caller (the arthritic victim of the earlier full house).  She turned two pair (kept T5!  And I’m sure I raised!), and I lost a big pot.  I took advantage of her one last time when I had KQs, picked up a pair of kings and a flush draw, and was able to get called on every street, including the river, where I picked up the flush.  The dealer said my hand was very nice.

On my last hand, I caught AQ.  I raised, and got two callers.  Flop came K73, and I bet, thinking that it was… I don’t know, better than not betting?  One caller, other guy folds.  Turn is a Q, and I know it could be real trouble for me.  (See how good of a poker player I am?  I know about mistakes as I’m making them.)  I bet out, and the same guy calls.  River is a blank, and my feeling is that this guy is not playing a K (or if he is, he must have a terrible kicker), and since I’m gonna call his bet anyway, I might as well make it myself.  He calls, and flips over 77 for a set.  See what I’m saying?  You almost never have to worry about these people raising you.  With a lock hand, they’ll just call down, hoping to trap you. 

I cashed out down about $45.  That didn’t feel so good.  Culver’s, on the other hand, is awesome, and right across the street.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to get back in and play (I had some other projects to look at), but since I couldn’t get a hold of my wife, I figured I’d buy in for another $100 and just see what happened.

Again, they sat us at a new table.  For the second time, I was sitting across the table from someone with an iPod on.  That’s getting to be a poker-kid cliche (like you’re too awesome to pay attention to what’s happening at the table), so if you’re thinking about showing up in a live card room with an iPod on, you should probably reconsider.  I lost a few bets just getting a feel for the table, but then I absolutely went on a heater from poker Jesus.

AQ.  Raise, callers.  Raggy flop.  I bet, one caller.  Insignificant turn.  Bet, one call.  Q on the river.  Bet, call.

"Did you get lucky on the river?"

"Looks like I did"

"I knew I had you until the river.  You got lucky."

Okay, so there’s two things I could have said here.  One is "if you knew you were beat on the river, you should have folded".  The other, which is more constructive, is "give me any reason to fold, and I might.  You called all my bets, and I can’t fold unless you raise."  The value of aggression, illustrated.

But I thought about what to say to him, and I thought about table image, and I thought about what everyone else was thinking.  So I put on my dumb tourist voice and said…

"What am I gonna do, fold AQ?" 

Other guy rolled his eyes.  But I’d done my part to set myself up as a poor player: maybe that would pay off.

Next orbit, AQ again.  Same guy again.  Same circumstances - again.  Ace on the river this time. 

"Did you do it to me again?"

"Yep."

"That card’s not going to come on the river every time."

"Well, except you’ve got a really good read on me know.  I’m only playing ace-queen, so you know where you stand, right?"

More groaning from the villain.

Another nice hand: K3 in the big blind, flop A33.  I checked.  Turn was a king, and I bet it.  Callers.  River completed someone’s flush.  He bet, I raised, he called.  Fantastic.

I had made back the morning’s losses, and I didn’t lose another pot for the rest of the day.  In fact, I think I picked up two or three without resistance.  The best example: AK.  I raise.

Flop: 984.  I bet to define, two callers.

Turn: another 8.  I bet again.  One caller.

River: another 9.  Facing an unlikely (but possible) full house, I bet, thinking I’ll split (because someone else’s trashy kicker doesn’t matter).  Guy across the table thinks… and folds.  Big pot is all mine.

That kind of thing kept happening. 

I racked up around 3pm, up about $100, for a profit on the day of $55.  If I have any advice, it’s

• be sure you’re properly bankrolled, esp. if you’re used to microlimit online play, BUT
• you can use the exact same techniques.  2/4 and 3/6 and even 5/10 are still low limits, still packed with poor players, and very beatable, if you know what you’re looking for.
• bet on the end with a reasonable hand, and
• don’t buy doughnuts, they’re free out there.