Sick Calls: One the Good, One the Bad

During my foray back and forth between taking a break and not, I've been thinking a lot about my game and reasons why I've been as inconsistent as I've been. I'm sure there are a ton of reasons, but I think I've stumbled upon a major--and honestly, a should-be obvious--hole in my game.

During my blogging, I constantly mention how "well" I played a hand or how "sick" of a call I made. All well and good; as a matter of fact I have another "sick" one to tell you about in a minute.

But, look back and count how many times I write about "sick" laydowns. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Not very often, right?

When I'm in a marginal situation, for some reason I always take the more aggressive or creative course of action. Top pair with a potential flush or straight out there facing a big bet? More often than not I call. Trips on a paired board against a value bet? I probably call. In big situations more often than not I'm a calling station. When I'm right, I look like a genius. When I'm wrong, I'm an idiot.

Like this one (for some reason my Full Tilt isn't doing it's job and saving my hand histories so I must re-construct): I limp with Q-J off in a six-handed tourney in first position (I know, I know). Four see a flop, comes like Q-5-8, two spades. BB checks to me, I bet like 3/4 of the pot, fold, fold back to the BB. Well, Mr. BB min. raises me.

In hindsight, I definitely could have dipped right there. He could have had anything in the BB. If I had thought about what I was beating, I should have made the easy drop. But, no, I call, for some reason putting him on a draw. Well, a nine hits on the turn. He checks to me again, and I check back.

River is inconsequential. He bets 800 into a 1200 pot. I have about 1450. I had one more chance to get out of this hand with minimal damage, but again, I called. BB shows... pocket fives for a set. Felt like a dumbass.


Now, same tourney. Through some fortunate cards and some rock solid play (my avatar on Full Tilt is now a rock, to me remind me), I get heads-up. Blinds at 100-200 and I guess I have about 6500 to his 9,000. I see 4-6 of diamonds on the button and I limp. BB checks.

Flop comes 4-K-3, two spades. I lead out for 350. He calls. At this point a weak king, a draw or ace high come into my head.

Turn is a jack of spades. He checks to me. Well, if he was on a draw he might have made it. I didn't feel like getting check-raised and getting too much more money into the pot, so I check back.

River is a queen of hearts I believe, and he fires out 900. Wow.

What am I facing? Three overs, a spade draw and maybe a backdoor straight draw. So, to deducing the hand:

• He called the flop. Something about that flop kept him interested.
• Checking the turn is standard, nothing really jumps out about that. Whether or not he hit the turn I expected a check.
• The river bet, however, is weird. If he does have the best hand, I'd figure he'd want value out of it. Granted, my check on the turn indicated weakness, but why put so much money out there?

The reason I made the call is because I kind of generalized him. Tons of online players have a habit of betting hard at a missed draw. That, plus the fact that I just wasn't convinced he caught a queen or a jack on the end, factored into my decision.

He showed 5-7 of hearts.

And, naturally at that point he was crippled. The match ended the next hand when my AK held up against A4.

Man, I gotta learn to make some laydowns...