Playing For BadBeat: June
Hey all, back here with another blog! After my last one, I received feedback saying they'd prefer me talking hands and thought processes. So I looked back on some of my deep MTT finishes, using Hold ‘Em Manager and will post some key hands. June started great after I shipped a MTT on the very first day of June :-).
I mainly played turbo's and SNG's due to the World Cup 2010. As a big soccer fan, I wanted to watch almost every game I could see. Therefore, couldn't play evenings and just start playing afterwards. There aren't a lot of games at around 11 pm on PokerTime, so I just played the turbo ones. In the hand analysis's I will review the key hands of the € 55 buy-in € 2500 GTD tournament. These small field tournaments offer a potential high return of 1 or 2 hours of play.
Highlights June:
1st in the € 5 Turbo Hold ‘Em 1/126 on PokerTime
4th in the 3-2-1 Jackpot MTT 4/312 on Pokertime
2nd in the € 2500 GTD 2/69 on PokerTime
3rd in the € 2000 GTD Turbo 3/285 on PokerTime
6th in the € 2500 GTD 6/53 on PokerTime
Tournament: € 2500 GTD (result 2/69)
Starting Stack: 2500
Blinds: 5 Minutes starting at 10/20
At the 2nd level (15/30 blinds) I found myself waking up with AA on the BB. I was very fortunate to see a limper, a raiser and a button caller in front of me. Of course I'm playing aces, the only question here is how? I could flat call to disguise my hand, but against 2 or 3 opponents that's not an ideal choice. I could also flat call hoping the preflop limper will make a squeeze play. On the other hand, if I shove all-in I might scare them off as no-one is pot committed. I decide that the best play is to reraise. With the pot being 315 ( 15 SB +30 BB + 30 Limper + 120 Raiser + 120 Caller) I decide to raise to 360, pumping up the pot to 645. The limper folds, the raiser 4-bets to 600 and the button caller folds. This is exactly what I want, getting my aces heads up with a big pot already in front of us. I read his small 4-bet as a legitimate raise, meaning he'd raise more if he's bluffing and trying to put me off my hand. Besides, he only has 1400 in chips and his 4-bet is therefore telling me he's not folding. So, I shove all-in and he calls with KK and I win a 4k pot.
At the 3rd level (25/50 blinds) and with a stack of 3800 I'm in middle position when I get aces again. UTG limps, as does UTG +1. I raise 5 BB's to 250 and the button ,UTG and UTG +1 call. So 4 players in a 1075 pot. I hated the button calling as he's giving UTG and UTG +1 pot odds to call as well, but aces have great potential. When the flop comes 2 4 8 with 2 spades I am a little worried. With 3 people flat calling and not folding or reraising preflop, I'm narrowing their range down to 22 to JJ and hands like 56s/67s etcetera. I don't see them calling 5 BB's with hands like AJ/AQ/KQ as they are likely to be dominated, but you never know. Key thing in this scenario is what they think my range is? I only played two pots so far.. Getting AA all-in to KK and flopping trips with A3 in a limped pot. So, they should put me on a very tight range like JJ/AK +. So their most likely holdings are hands that crack big pairs or AK.
So that means they are calling for implied odds. If they hit a big flop, they correctly assume I'll pay them off with big pairs. Ok, on the flop UTG and UTG +1 check to me. I fire out a continuation bet of 1050 (almost full pot). Seems a little much for an overpair? Well I bet this big to avoid myself getting in trouble by giving them odds to draw. A hand like J10 of spades will have a hard time calling hoping to hit a spade. And if they decide to shove with that kind of hand, I'm about a 3 to 1 favorite to win the hand. I also bet this much giving their stack sizes post flop: UTG = 1490, UTG +1 = 1600 and Button = 2660. I also have the advantage that they might me read my bet as AK, missing the flop. That will get their money in with any pair they might have.
Button folds, UTG shoves for 400 more and UTG +1 folds. By now I'm pot committed and I call, only to see 88 for a flopped set. Turn and river brick out and I'm left with 2020 in chips.
At the 4th level (50/100 blinds) I'm left with 1800 and decided it's time to use my tight image. The cutoff limps and I raise to 400 from the button with 66. Both blinds call, as does the cutoff. Flop comes 10 7 Q and they check it to me. Not exactly the flop I'm looking for, but I decided to bet half the pot leaving me 620 behind. I bet 800 in the 1600 pot, because it looks strong giving my stack size and they see me as a very tight player. So they're only comfortable with at least top pair. When they fold, my stack increases to 3820 due to this gutsy but thought over play. Image is important.
Afterwards I quietly went on and got to the final table and the final 3, when the chipleader had 100k and the short stack 20k. I was sitting 2nd with 40k, with blinds being 1500/3000. I'm on the SB and I look down at 44 with the short stack on the BB. To me this is an easy shove, for the following reasons: 1) A pocket pair 3-handed is very strong 2) His effective stack is around 7 BB 3) My effective stack is around 13 BB 4) He already has 3000 (or 1 BB) invested. All in all an easy shove, whereas he called with A5 and lost the coin flip.
The key hand Heads Up came up when I had 60k versus chipleader's 100k, with blinds at 2000/4000. My opponent was a fairly aggressive player, who min-raised almost every pot and folded to a lot of my 3-bets. He min-raised yet again, and I shoved with KJ. He called with A9 and won the flip. I was very unhappy with this decision afterwards. Although we were effectively flipping, he had a tough time calling all-in with A9. And I didn't want to re-evaluate my hand post-flop (like would it be good on Q J 4? ). But, I was taking most pots away from him and he correctly put me on a wide range here. Looking back, I should have taken a flop and play post-flop (as he was weaker at it). They money difference was significant and I shouldn't have gambled with a hand like KJ. I guess it was my impatience and my confidence in him folding to almost every reraise of me. This is something I have to work on!
See you next month!
Charlie-Robinson Poortvliet aka ‘CPoort 1'!