A bad night at the office

[snodog]

I'm a relative newcomer and play a whole lot less than a lot of you guys.
I like to think I play tight - but I'm very aware I have real moments of madness......

anyway, I was playing last night, just sat down at a .10/.25 NL table and post my blind, get K 3 off suit. Blinds get raised to $2 so I fold. Flop is 3 2 3, turn 8, river 6.
Hand is won by someone with 10 2. (mutter, mutter)

Next hand I get JJ, blinds are raised to $2 which I call. Flop is 4 5 5 , it's bet up to $2, I call.
Turn is 5, so I've got full house, guy bets $5 - and I fold......
Was I way too chicken? Was only my second hand of the night, and I didn't know this guy at all. He won the had with 4 6 offsuit.......... stayed around at the table and watched him bet like a loon, and eventually he lost his $30 stack. I know if I had got my JJ 20 hands in, having seen this guy play, I would have stayed the hand.

The evening got worse.......
got 88 and lost to a well played pocket KK - bu got finished off when I got KK and the guy who beat my eights, had 88 - and landed an 8 on the river.........

oh well, you live and learn.


My biggest moan tho' is trying to play sensibly against people who win with hands that I would always fold, 7 2, 6, 3 etc

Just wanted to rant really.


OOooops, didn't mean to post this here - it should have gone in the "Beginners" section.
Bob, can you move it please?

[scrawnybob]

hi snodog

dont think you did anything majorly wrong - definately playing safe

hand a) making trips from a pair on the board is always a dangerous hand to play especially if its they are low trips - there is every possibility that someone with Pocket Pair is sat happily on a full house having hit another single card (trips + pair on board)


b) JJ

in this situation I would have raised the pot on the flop to see where you stand - with a flat call you are none the wiser and will end up either folding to the next bet or paying them off calling on the next card (still none the wiser) - and they will have confidence your not sure

Some players dont like the 1x raise but often I think this can be a cheaper way to get a feel for the opposition - especially if you are at a table where some thinking is going on and you can get respect - they think your crafty trying to get them to stay in - they talk themsleves out of the hand

You would be amazed at how often you can win a hand (after a few solid showdowns) even $20 bet into a pot worth $1000 - pot odds go out the window and they just sh** they're pants they are going to loose and look stupid

Also probably against all good poker advice you would be suprise how much in future bets / future folding value you can get out of making a pot size only bet on a flop with 2 same suit

Why ? because that bet gives them no real information about your hand - you could be agressively playing the draw or you could be passively (badly) trying to get them off their draw with you having top trips -

top pro advice was always - everytime you get your opponent to play his cards differently to how he would if he could see yours you are winning - everytime he plays his cards as if he could see yours you are losing

This all depends on having a table where at least some thought is going on - if not then you just have to play very tight and pretty aggressive - funnily enough I find that you have to play your strong hands more aggressively than your marginal ones - because the chances are that flop will have helped someone else

hand c) shows what I mean about two decent hands coming together - and not alot you can do about it - sometimes you know your hand is good (dispite the board etc) and sometimes your better hand will loose to a lucky break

most of the time its down to cutting out your k3 off's and never worrying even if the board comes up KKK3K

but if it did you might want to call the pit boss

cheers scrawnybob

[Arjonius]

Hand 1. K3 is an easy fold against a raise. At low stakes like .10/.25, solid, tight-aggressive play will win pretty consistently. The opponents will make plenty of poor and mediocre plays, so you just have to wait until they do so when you have a big hand.

Hand 2. I agree with scrawnybob. Calling after the flop doesn't really help you gather information to help you make better decisions as the hand proceeds. If you're ahead, you want to raise to build the pot and to put the onus on the opponent to make what you hope will be a difficult decision that they might well get wrong. If the opponent folds, you win a decent pot. If you're called, you can assume you're up against some kind of hand - hard to say how good, but if you raised enough, you're probably not being called with just a draw. If you're re-raised again, you can fold quite easily. Don't worry that you got bluffed; eventually, the same thing will happen when you hold the nuts, and you'll win the money back plus a lot more.

When the third 5 comes on the turn, fold seems weak. You're only behind a hand holding the case 5, AA, KK and QQ. Yes, you could lose your stack here, but I think you rate to be ahead a good majority of the time.

Hand 3. There's nothing you can do when you're opponent hits something like a two-outer on the river. You want to have all your money in as a better than 90% favorite; if those odds aren't good enough for you, give up poker.