Stop the leaks

I have been playing for almost a year now, and I am not a winning player.


I am looking to fill those leaks in my game. Here are two hands that cost me a lot.


8-16 with Kill (I am the killer in late position).

Early Position (EP) player calls, mid-position (MP) player raises. A note on the players EP is a fairly loose player, a call can mean anything from any-two-suited to A little. MP is a maniac who has been killing me - he often raises with nothing to steal the pot. Since I could be playing against any two cards I call with J-9d, everyone else folds.


Flop comes J-3-8 Rainbow, EP checks, MP bets. I raise trying to pick up the pot with top pair, poor kicker. EP folds. MP calls - I read this as he doesn't have anything yet.


Turn comes 3, no flush. MP checks, I feel like I have the lead and the best hand so I bet. MP check-raises. I can't imagine the 3 helped him so now I call.


River throws a T up there, MP bets I call. MP turns over K3 offsuit to take a very nice pot.


8-16, I am in the big blind with Th-8h. Two middle position players call, Button raises (he hasn't been very selective and often raises late). SB calls. I call because I am half in and both of the mid-position players will call (I am almost certain of no folds and no raises), making it 5 handed with 10 small bets.


Flop comes 10c 8s 3h. It is checked around to the button who bets. SB calls, I check-raise trying to knock everyone out. I don't like having two small pair as they are often costly. Button calls, SB calls.


Turn is the 5d. SB checks, I bet thinking I have the best hand and not wanting to give a free card. Button calls, SB folds.


River comes Kc. I check, button checks and shows K7 for a bigger two pair.


All comments appreciated.

You got unlucky in both hands. But that doesn't change the fact that if you continue to call raises with J9s it's just a matter of time before you lose all your money. You'll lose a little slower calling with T8 from the bb, but lose you will.

These are just bad beats. Painful yes, but dwelling on them isn't going to help you improve your poker much. Try focusing more on hands where you think you got outplayed, or where you missed a chance to outplay someone, and think about how you might be able to adjust your play to take advantage of similar situations in the future. And of course, keep reading these forums and wear the covers off your copies of HPFAP21 and ToP. If you can't stop thinking about these bad beats long enough to work on other aspects of your game, you are going to have a hard time finding out what your leaks are.


You might want to think about how often the maniac with the K3 would check raise the turn with a hand that can't beat your J9. There are no draws to speak of on that board for him to get fancy with, so you probably are best off letting your hand go on the turn unless he really does just spew chips at every opportunity.


In the second hand, K7 does not make two pair, so you messed something up in your description. Judging from the river action, the board must have paired on the turn for the K7 to beat you. In that case, you obviously played the hand as well as you could and just got beat. Next hand.


As far as your preflop play goes, the J9s and T8s are not normally raise calling hands, although in the circumstances you describe this time they probably were -- you were half in already and thus had great pot odds both times, the raisers were loose aggressive opponents, and you had position with the J9s. Just make sure you are not calling preflop raises with hands like this in many other situations. The J9s btw, I think was a much easier call since you had position on the maniac. If you fold the T8s in the BB you are not giving up much, although I think most good players would eke out a small profit with it against the right opponents.

In the first hand - fold J9s. You are investing 2 bets to try for what rates to be a fairly small pot. Heads up against the maniac, it might be playable, but you have to be prepared to invest a lot to try to win with just J-high. Against two players you will have to make a fair hand, usually. Moral of the story - don't call raises with marginal hands, even against maniacs. Let him win the other players' money. Take his money when you've got a quality hand.


In the second hand - your story doesn't work (as Coilean points out). Regardless, you should lead the betting on the flop and hope to be raised by the button, so you can reraise. There is a leak for you to plug - playing wimpy with a strong hand. You don't have "two small pair". You have top two pair. If the flop were AT8, then check raising is more of an option (but you should probably still bet it strongly). If a scary card comes on the turn, you can check-call it down if you want. You don't have to worry about a free card, since if your opponent takes it, it is unlikely he can catch anything to beat you.


Eric

"8-16 with Kill (I am the killer in late position)."


This means it only costs you one bet to call the raise, right? In that case I think it's an easy preflop call from the button. I'd consider raising from the cutoff depending on the indications (or lack of) of the button's intentions.


Flop comes J-3-8 Rainbow, ... Turn comes 3,"


With the pot already heads up, I check behind sometimes in these spots. If he has A-x, it gives a free card, which is bad, but it also nearly guarantees a one-bet profit on the river by either picking off a bluff or getting paid off when our bet looks like a bluff, whereas a turn bet would make him fold and earn no bets. If he has an eight, it might cost a bet if he would have paid off both big streets. But when he has a three, it saves TWO bets.


Second hand, the 10-8, I'd fold preflop. I'm in the minority on this play, but "plugging leaks" can translate to "lowering swings," and mucking the blinds is a sure-fire way to do that.


I'd have bet the river on the second hand.


Tommy