I still play against Newbs
The one really good thing right now is I'm at a level where there are still tons of fishes. 100NL I believe is the absolute pinnacle of the sweet spot in poker: You have 1/3 the table with fishes.If you play lower, you'll have more fishes and more swings, which if you're on a hot streak can make you rich, but so many ppl are involved in hands that your swings are so large that you can go insane/tilt at the things people do.
If you play higher, the skill level increases slightly.
My goal, if possible is to multitable 2/4 and maybe throw in a 3/6 sometimes if the table there is weak. I think most pros and really good players are usually at 5/10 and greater and maybe sometimes swing down to 3/6. At least this is what I'm banking on.
Here is a deep stack hand that I was very happy to be playing against a fish. It was pretty clear exactly what hand I had.
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (5 handed)
saw flop|saw showdown
BB ($37.30)
JoeThePro ($182.35)
MP ($100)
Button ($258.50)
SB ($97.50)
Preflop: JoeThePro is UTG with As, Ad.
JoeThePro raises to $3.5, 1 fold, Button calls $3.50, 2 folds.
Flop: ($8.50) Ks, Qh, 6h (2 players)
JoeThePro checks, Button bets $6, JoeThePro calls $6.
The flop is very scary. Clear flush and str draws out. JT a popular deep stack hand and it has an open ended str. KQ has 2p which can often call a raise in POS. Agr flush drawers in position could play aggresively, so I decide to check this hand.
He bets 3/4 and I call happy with his bet size as it was what I would have bet myself in position.
Turn: ($20.50) 7h (2 players)
JoeThePro checks, Button bets $14, JoeThePro calls $14.
A bad card. This completes the flush, but I believed the flush is one of the least likely holdings of someone who cold called my bet on the button. It usually happens with KQ, AQ, JTx, or pocket pairs. Most pocket pairs did not hit the flop b/c I doubt he had KK or QQ b/c he did not reraise. The flush is unlikely, but if he bets huge on the river I tank my hand.
I am hoping for a low card on the river to negate the chance of a str filling up.
River: ($48.50) Jd (2 players)
JoeThePro bets $20, Button calls $20.
Very bad card. At least it wasn't Jh, but it's pretty bad. AT filled up. KJ and QJ have 2p now. He still has that flush possibility. KQ beats me. I can hardly even think of many hands I beat, but my passive play would let many people semi bluff their pairs or Ace gut shot and other random hands.
Against a good player I would have to make a pretty reasonble sized blocking bet, so I won't get reraised bluffed, but then I would lose out on the value bet of someone with a single pair. Lucky for me that a small blocking bet still works versus fish, so I bet out 2/5ths the pot. If I am even min raised I grudgingly fold.
Final Pot: $88.50
Results in white below:
JoeThePro has As Ad (one pair, aces).
Button doesn't show.
Outcome: JoeThePro wins $88.50.
posted by joe | permalink |
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hey Joe, I just read the comment you left me about SPR. That's a pretty interesting concept. I always thought about that subconsciously but never really had a name or strict definition for the concept.
I am a live player, so I don't know how relevant my hand discussions will be since live and online play vary so greatly, but for an example as you asked for, the hand in question I was playing $2/5 and made it $30 to go w AA in MP, pretty standard, got one caller behind and one caller in the BB, also standard in live games (they are much more loose passive pre than online). Pot was $97-$5 rake = $92, made it $50 on the flop, BB call, LP fold, so there's $192 in there. Turn BB checks, I lead $100 into $192 pot, he checkraises AI $600 and I am fucked. The board was relatively dry, something like 4x,6s,jx then a 7s on the turn. I mucked AA faceup and he showed me JsKs. He is representing two pair here in his range, like 67 or j7, maybe a straight with 35, or a jack with two spades, maybe very rarely a float with 77, or a set. I have nowhere near the equity to call here.
The problem with building up your SPR pre is in such a deepstack game (i regularly play between 100-250 BBs deep), you have to make insane preflop raises that totally define your hand. When you get in the higher levels, this is a terrible idea. I am a big advocate of bringing it in for the same amount every time to make your hand harder to read, as it's so easy for good players to play against you when they know what you have. Building an artificial SPR only works on weak players.
i totally agree with what you said about SPRs and deep stack. the thing about SPRs is it gives you target goals, IF you can reach that low SPR goal then you know you are committed (on like 95% of flops) but if you can't reach that really low SPR, then your goal is to have a really big SPR . Top pair likes 4-6 or 20+ but is difficult to play 7-19. having SPRs in that akward middle range are the hard to play areas.
i wrote a long post about your hand, but it seemed pretty dull and don't want to bore you.
i like your preflop (i too like to raise standard for disguise purposes, if i'm reraised i've reached target SPR for my stack size).
i like your c-bet and size on the flop. i would bet 52, but i'm anal about exact numbers for some reason. however, if it was heads up, i would check dry boards with AA. you'll only get called by hands that beat you. i bet into 3 ppl b/c i want to narrow it down.
the turn is a check for me. a dry flop that was called by an out of position player is alarm bells. you don't need to protect your hand. it is still a relatively safe board. he probably isn't going for runner runner straight.
the only scary cards on the river if he bets out big are 2 and 8 completing an unlikely straight draw and a K or Q (KJ,QJ)for 2nd pair hands.
also your check may induce bets from 1p or pocket pairs that would have folded to a turn bet.
on the river, if he checks, i would bet 170 (just under pot) if there wasn't a K or Q (dump if reraised, but would be called by 1p jacks and pocket pairs 88+). and 80 if river had an K or Q (small enough to get some value and also small enough to call reraises). if he reraises me 210 or less, i call.
being in position made it an easy check for me, but being out of position, i'm not sure what i would have done.
i don't know much about live games tho. i've only played 2 times.
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