Misclicking for Fun and Profit
note: cross posted from Andrew's blog at http://www.thinkingpoker.net/Blog/
It never ceases to amuse me when my mistakes make me money. Here I meant to bet $99 on the river and accidentally bet $9. The result was inducing a huge check-raise bluff from a hand that almost certainly would have folded to my intended bet:
Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
BTN: $705
SB: $1,359.35
Hero (BB): $1,230
UTG: $1,336.25
MP: $600
CO: $1,828
Pre-Flop: Ac 7c dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, SB calls $3, Hero raises to $18, SB calls $12
Flop: ($36) 3s 9h 4c (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Turn: ($36) 8c (2 Players)
SB bets $13, Hero raises to $42, SB calls $29
River: ($120) 3c (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9, SB raises to $234, Hero calls $225
Results: $588 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed Th Qc (a pair of Threes) and LOST (-$294 NET)
Hero showed Ac 7c (a flush, Ace high) and WON $585 (+$291 NET)
Unfortunately, I decided to flush the profits and then some on an ill-conceived river check-raise bluff of my own:
Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
CO: $998
BTN: $597
Hero (SB): $1,713.20
BB: $352.10
UTG: $1,896.60
Pre-Flop: 8c 8h dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, CO raises to $21, BTN folds, Hero calls $18, BB folds
Flop: ($48) 2s Jc 5c (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $35, Hero calls $35
Turn: ($118) 5d (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $111, Hero calls $111
River: ($340) 7c (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $200, Hero raises to $1,546.20 and is All-In, CO calls $631 and is All-In
Results: $2,002 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO showed Jh Js (a full house, Jacks full of Fives) and WON $1,999 (+$1,001 NET)
Hero showed 8c 8h (two pair, Eights and Fives) and LOST (-$998 NET)
First off, I hate the turn call. My thinking was that his range when he near-pots it is polarized to bluffs and boats, but it's probably so waited towards boats that I don't belong in the hand anyway. Then I disregard that read on the river and decide based on his bet-sizing that he has an overpair after all and maybe I can take him off of it. Pure sloppiness on my part.
Heroic Call
note: cross posted from Andrew's blog at http://www.thinkingpoker.net/Blog/
This was an interesting one:
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
Hero (BB): $1,050
UTG: $2,182
BTN: $1,186
SB: $1,018.90
Pre-Flop: Td Ah dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, BTN raises to $20, SB folds, Hero raises to $75, BTN calls $55
Flop: ($155) 6s Jd 3c (2 Players)
Hero bets $111, BTN calls $111
Turn: ($377) Tc (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks
River: ($377) Qd (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $404, Hero calls $404
Results: $1,185 Pot ($2 Rake)
Hero showed Td Ah (a pair of Tens) and WON $1,183 (+$593 NET)
BTN showed 7d Ad (Ace Queen high) and LOST (-$590 NET)
I was looking to check-shove the turn because I think his flop calling range is really wide and my T's will be good often enough but if I check-call I'll be in a bad spot on river. Given that the turn checked through and the river was another overcard to my pair (and AK got there), I don't think I can expect to be called by worse if I bet.
I was intending to check-call the river but his overbet threw me off. On the one hand, it makes no sense for him to have a straight, but a lot of guys just don't overbet the river without a monster. There was an outside chance he rivered a set (or slowplayed one, which I guess makes more sense except that it's odd he would then overbet it). I tanked down to one second left, mostly because I was on a bunch of other tables, and finally made a kind of impulsive call.
Two Overbets
note: cross posted from Andrew's blog at http://www.thinkingpoker.net/Blog/
In light of my recent article on Creative Bet Sizing, here are two river check-raise overbets I made against the same player. The situations are similar: I have an unlikely monster hand and my opponent has a well-defined strong-but-not-too-strong hand. By "well-defined", I mean that he probably realizes that I know roughly what he has and specifically that he is very unlikely to have a huge hand. That puts him in a rough spot when I overbet, because he doesn't know what I will do with the information I have, ie whether I am trying to get value or force him out.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($6099)
Button ($4299)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Qd 5d
Button raises to $54, Hero calls $34
Flop: ($108) 5s 10c Ad (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
Turn: ($108) Jd (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
River: ($108) 2d (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $55, Hero raises to $345, 1 fold
Total pot: $218 | Rake: $0.50
Hero: LOL
You may wonder why I say I think he has some kind of hand here. It's because he's passed on two good bluffing opportunities on the flop and turn. That tells me has something, and based on how he'd been playing, I expected him to try for thin value with a lot of his range on the river.
Note that I laugh at him when he folds. He may or may not interpret it this way, but my intent was to mock him for trying to get thin value and allowing me to check-raise him huge. This is important to set up his subsequent call:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($6158)
Button ($4238.50)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kc 2c
Button raises to $54, Hero calls $34
Flop: ($108) 2s 9c Ac (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $65, Hero raises to $199, Button calls $134
Turn: ($506) 8d (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $325, Hero calls $325
River: ($1156) 2d (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $640, Hero raises to $5580 (All-In), Button calls $3020.50 (All-In)
Total pot: $8477 | Rake: $0.50
This one isn't that much of an overbet I guess, but I would have played it the same if the stacks were twice as deep. He called with AQ but unfortunately quit immediately after getting stacked.