Pretty Cool Hand

Any book or poker pundit will tell you that one of the keys to Hold 'Em is position. Here's an instance where I had to play a pretty good hand out of position.

I was playing $.50-$1 on Full Tilt and received A-K off in the small blind. A creative player in middle position made it $3.50 to go, and with the action folded around to me I had a decision to make. Here's the thing: I could re-raise him, make it, say, $12 to go. If he calls that and I miss my flop, I'd basically be betting at air (one of the worst things you can do in Hold 'Em is check after raising without intending to check-raise). So, instead of going all-out and maybe or maybe not taking the pot down then and there, I smooth called.

Gin on the flop: K of diamonds, 4 of diamonds, K of hearts. Now I have to act first, and I could check, giving him an opportunity to bet at the flop and then raise him, but if he doesn't have a king (which is highly probable), it'll kill my action. So, I go ahead and bet $4 into a $7 pot. He quickly calls. I could put him on a flush draw here, but pocket pair is running through my head.

The turn is a 7 of clubs. Now, here's the seller: I check. By checking it's almost like I'm telling him that I missed the flop. Why would I check after betting? What worries me is that he also checks. He might have boated there, but I'm not crazily worried.

The river is also kind of a downer: a 9 of spades. No flush draw possible, but again, that could be a boat if he has pocket nines. I bet $13, almost like I'm trying to steal it with a pot-sized bet. Of course, he raises to $26, which sets off all kinds of alarms in my head. Could he possibly have hit a set? The only cards that scared me were the 7 and the 9, simply because I doubted that player would raise with 4s in middle position. However, I came to the conclusion that the only reason he raised me on the river was because he felt that I had missed the flop and that I could have no better than 4-5 or A-4, something sloppy, maybe even pocket 5s or 6s.

I could have raised and might have had all of his chips, but I just called. He had pocket eights.

Poker is fun, for everyone... except my opponents, who should've practiced avoidance.

$18,000 Guarantee

Last night while I was looking for a multi-table tourney to hop into, I considered my many options. There was the $20+ 2 90 person sit n go, but that was taking forever to fill up. A 45 person tourney for the same buy-in was nearly full, but I thought to myself, I'm free-rolling off of a $70 win, and I want to challenge myself a little bit.

So, while I sat impatiently in a $.25-.$50 cash game, I saw a pink flash in the comment box: "$18,000 Guarantee ($69 +6) starts in five minutes." I inquired and, what do you know, there was a celebrity sighting in the tournament. The two biggest players of a note were "highplaya", who won a Full Tilt Online Poker Series event and thus got his own avatar, and, more importantly, Aaron Bartley, a player who from time to time I see on television, most recently at the 2006 WSOP, where he finished 137. The fact that they were playing combined with close to $5,000 for the winner heavily influenced my decision.

Throughout the tourney I employed my new T.J. Cloutier strategy for playing these things: chip up and stay out of trouble. The second part was easy; I saw only 15% of the flops during my stay. However, even though I was staying out of trouble, I went completely card dead for almost 20 hands. The good news is I watched several players fall victim to overaggression. The bad news was as we approached the bubble I was running extremely low on chips. In fact, during the time I went card dead, I went from nearly $8,000 to $2,400... without even playing a hand.

With 40 people left in the tourney, I started getting really nervous and found myself constantly checking the tourney info. I was pretty much hovering around 36 and 37. Did I mention that 36 players cash?

I have 5s in the BB with 37 players left. Bartley made it $1,800 to go. I had $2,400 left. I hated the decision but I had to push. Much to my surprise he turned over the Doyle offsuit. "No ten, no ten, no ten."

Ten.

I played for three hours and outlasted 277 players. I needed to outlast 278.

What a waste, but I learned a valuable lesson. Don't be afraid to die. That, and to be honest, if I was going to be busted by anyone, I guess I'm glad it was Bartley.

I just wish he knocked me out with a better hand.

Interpreting Poker Academy 2.0 Data

I should probably use the software more often, but after looking at my statistics on Poker Academy 2.0, I understand partially why I've been as inconsistent as I have been. Even though you can't play for money on Poker Academy's software, I try to play the exact same way I would play in a live cash game or multi-table tournament, so the results are very believeable. By the way, these stats are based on about 400 hands or so.

My pre-flop percentage, in my opinion, is probably the most solid part of my game right now. Sure, sometimes I can switch gears and become maniacal, but I'm proud that I'm only seeing 22% flops (this is probably tournament data, and I'd say add 10% in a cash game). Every time I sit down against new players I immediately have a solid image. Until I see a flop.

While my pre-flop percentage is great, my post-flop aggression is insane! On a 4.0 scale, I scored an 8.7 in aggression. Some poker pundits would applaud that and repeat the old adage, "The hand doesn't begin until the flop." As I've probably mentioned before, aggressive post flop play can be your savior or your ride to the ATM. I've been guilty many times of trying to be too creative and pick-up pots. Maybe it's because I don't play nearly as many flops as I used to and I'm trying to over-compensate and takedown every pot I enter. I don't know.

Also, my won showdown percentage is pretty inconsistent at 57%. Ideally I'd like that number to be at least 65-70% (of course, ideally 100% is cool, too). I can think of two reasons why this number isn't higher than it is. First, and this is something I'm still trying to master, often I get into situations where if I bet and I'm called I'm beat. This happened to me twice when I was in Atlantic City this past week. Once I held queens and the board was 10-9-8-7-X. Dude bet $40 and I moved all-in for about $130. The reason I did it was because I strongly felt like he didn't have a jack and that I could push him off the hand. It took him awhile, but he called with pocket sixes. Strong call.

The second incident happened pretty much as a result of the first incident. I limp with A-6 of clubs (a mistake in itself) and nobody raised behind me. Flop comes 4-3-2, two spades. Small blind bets $15 and all five of us called (I guess I called with a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw with the intention of bluffing on the turn). Turn is a 10 of spades. Small blind bets $30, and after one caller, I make it $90. Ryan, sitting to my left, agonizes and folds (he later told me he folded the wheel). Small blind thinks for a minute and calls. Dude in front of me folded.

The river is a complete blank. Small blind checks. How do you follow a $90 bet? "All-in," I say as I lean back in my chair feigning strength. It takes him a long time, but he made the call with 6-5 of spades. Afterwards, he says to me, "If I hadn't seen you make the play with those queens I would have folded."

Reason number two is that I committ another poker sin far too often: calling knowing I'm losing but paying for re-assurance that I was right. That's gotta stop.

About to go hit up a multi-table tourney. Wish me luck.