Some thoughts...

on a couple of crappy sessions. I know I said I wasn't going to play again until after finals, but I couldn't stay away. Played 3 hours on tuesday and lost $95. Nothing was hitting unless I'd folded it pre-flop. Many weak King hands that went into the muck would have been two pair on the flop, oh well. I still won't play them. My decent hands, A-Qo, K-Js, and 99 would get horrible flops. Questions at the end of this post on those. Played 5 hours on Wednesday for a nifty profit of $1 per hour. Woo-hoo. Felt like a loss to me. Looking back, there were 4 hands that really stung me.


Hand #1--I raise from the SB with A-Qo, six callers for two bets each. flop comes As-Qs-X. I bet out, all call. Turn is a horrid 4s. I check. I've got this feeling that there's a made flush out there. It checks around. I still think I'm losing to a flush. River is innocuous. I check BB bets MP calls, I call. BB shows Ks-7s for the nut flush. He apologizes, I immediately forgive him.


Hand #2--I re-raise from the BB with pocket Kings, old man to my left caps it. 4 players take the flop for 4 bets each. I bet out a raggy Jack high flop, old man raises, MP calls, I call. I go into check call mode and cooter flips up AA for the win.


Hand #3--I call from the button with A-10o. Flop comes A-10-3, I bet, many call. Turn is a 4--you see where I'm heading, right? I bet, many call. River is a 5, I bet out, EP calls and flips over a 2 for the runner-runner straight.


Hand #4--I raise pre-flop with A-Ko from the cutoff. Four callers. Flop comes A-9-2. I lead all the way and a different old man calls me down with 9-2 suited. Guy to my right starts commenting on what a horrible play the old man just made.


I look at those hands and see that I could have been a huge winner, but the probability God's were against me. Not much I can do about those hands except hope that my opponents don't stop playing them. Considering those memorable beats, maybe a $5 profit is a huge win.


Questions--On my day where nothing was hitting, I was constantly raising A-K and A-K pre-flop and firing with it on the flop and turn with just overcards. Is this the right tactic with these hands--to represent a big pair. Nobody ever folded and my cards never came.


Comments on my play, good or otherwise, are always appreciated.

ill start with the hands first...


"I raise from the SB with A-Qo, six callers for two bets each"


i wouldnt have raised here. your not knocking anyone out. suited i would. the BB with Kxs hes looking at 11-1 on his call if everyone calls behind him. id have called. then flops the nut draw. no apology necessary.


AA over KK....it sucks to be on the receiving end of that one. but it happens...you wont complain when you have the AA...


hand 3 you didnt say what the other card he had was. or how many callers were in, or if it was a 2 tone flop. all these can affect how to play a hand here.


if the game is this loose. i tend to wait for the turn to knock players out. most wont be folding on the flop. but it also helps save chips if anyone catches on the turn. explore that concept...its a good one.


these streaks come and go. thats just how it goes. and it takes awhile to accept that. your going to lose at times. even if your on a table with the worst players possible. you can still lose. ive been there, and it sucked. happened last night actually. a day after one of my biggest days at the cardroom, i go back and dump some back on a gravy table. the trick is to try to minimize the damage. also understand that you want these guys to call with crap. even if they win. i actually dont mind if a bad player has my chips, chances are, theyre coming back to me anyway, and hopefully with some of the others' at the tables chips too.


"Nobody ever folded and my cards never came"


when this starts happening, try tightening up a little and playing just solid cards. nothing fancy. the cards will turn, just maybe not during this session.


hang in there...


b

I agreed with most of your post but found the last bit of advice a little confusing. Are you suggesting tightening up because nobody is folding or because you are running bad? Varying your strategy to changing table conditions is of course mandatory. However you shouldn't change based on how your luck is running. Optimal play is still optimal. Trying to decrease your variance because of a losing streak is only a good idea for players who are under-bankrolled. A better idea would be to move down in limits.


Respecrfully,

Hugo

I think the tightening up part of the advice pertains to value or bluff betting overcards. with the possibility of folding everyone or mostly everyone else gone, these reasons to bet naked overcards is lost too, so betting frequency by our hero should be reduced.

no...im saying tighten up a little on your betting...theyre calling you...meaning no bluff opps really. only solid bets.


maybe also adjust your preflop. if there's many callers to the flop regularly, throw out some of the offsuit hands a little, since they suck multiway...

depending on how your playing. you may be playing fine, but its always worth a quick self check. or minor adjustment.


b

OK, that's what I was thought you meant. The part that confused me was; "...try tightening up a little...the cards will turn..."


Best Wishes,

Hugo

Hands 1 and 3. You flop top two in a large field. You bet out. After everyone calls there are 21SB in the pot. How bad a hand does someone need to fold to your single bet? If the guy puts you on top pair, he can almost call with anything.


On hand 1, did you consider a check-raise either flop or turn (assuming the flush doesn't get there)? On hand number 3, I think you are doomed. I have no complaints about your play here. One thing you should look at, none of your opponents made enough money on their winning hands. Would you have made more money in his chair? If yes, you won on that hand. Count the number of bets that were missed by your opponents with their winning hands.


I think you know the answer with you AK overcards. If your opponents never fold and there are 3 or more of them, you almost can't win with your unimproved overcards. You are bluffing, and you told me you had 0% chance of it working. Maybe check raising is the right play here. If not, try checking the flop and folding on the turn unless you improve or unless you have enough outs to call your 6 outer. If the other players will call any pair and won't bet the turn without one, why pay off. You lose to 22.


Are you sure that losing the minimum on 4+ hands with big cards was the only reason for the losing session?


Better luck next time.


- Doug

"...the cards will turn"


what that means is dont play crap just because your losing and not getting good starters...good cards will come eventually. and hopefully, when they do, they will hold up.

ive gone hours on end not dragging a pot watching crap win. its a patience game...


actually for practice on this, i also checked when i played TTH. they have a stat that has most hands without a pot. figure every 30-40 hands equals an hour. seems in a 7 hour session, i challenge the advisor for 200hands, theres usually about an 1 1/2- 2 hour lull. of course, in a live game you tend to feel it more, since TTH you can 'zip' thru the hands. but its interesting to explore..


b

I agree with you on the play. I don't think that CRing the turn occured to me. It will next time. After I got over the fact that I'd spent 5 hours in a smoky cardroom for a $1 an hour profit, I realized that the session was right on the borderline. Had I lost my cool over those hands not holding up, it could have been so much worse. Yes, I would have extracted more from my opponents than they got from me. Another positive is that had only one of those hands held up, exluding the Aces over Kings hand, my session would have been +60, 2 BB per hour. The three pots I actually had the lead in were quite large. The session was very close to being a nice boost. I'll take the positives here. I was never down to a point where I needed to rebuy and had as many of those kinds of hands hold up (for smaller wins, though), plus I was able to steal a few. So after looking at the session from afar, it was a good one.

'Been There, Done That'. Had a very similar situation last night of being outdrawn, etc. but unlike you, I wound up losing 1.5 C-note.