15--30 hand

this is a live 15-30 game 9 handed. im pretty much sick of getting my ass beat against what sure seem like inferior opponents (3 betting preflop with T3o and 85s--two different fish; at least 2 any 2 cards all the way to the river players at any given time) so i plan to take a notebook next time, jim brier style and record every single hand so i can fix my leaks.

one question: is $600 a reasonable buy in at this level or is 20 bb's just not enough? how about $600 with $300 more to be bought in? also what does rick nebiolo and his female "hero" look like and where in LA do they play?


anyways for this hand i have A9o two off the button and i open raise. my rationale for doing this is: the two blinds are the two biggest fish and i want to play this against them and all the weak hands they will call with and the two players to my left are playing pretty tight and will likely fold to my raise unless they have a hand worth 3 betting. all goes as planned except the sb folds, so im heads up against the bb.


the bb plays every hand and he rarely folds. he's stuck about $1000 and he normally plays 20-40 and even 40-80. he moves to the 20-40 shortly after this hand.


anyways the flop is K32 rainbow. he bets and i call.


the turn is an A. he checks and i bet. he calls.


the river is a Q, he bets and i call.


any comments?

I don't like your rationale of playing such a weak hand against two people willing to go to the river on anything. The best way to play against these types of people is straightforward. Even if you fold the best hand once in a while, the fact that you fold early and they never fold will inevitably make you money in the long run. There is no need to bluff in a game like this, but you can sometimes get away with overvaluing your top-pair when it hits. Bet the river because they will call on anything and only raise if they have you beat. You should make more than you save if you check. Maybe I'm just rambling now.


You happened to hit an ace which is probably no good since the river bet is probably not a bluff. Most everybody would put you on at least a high pair with the AKQ board. Fish would also assume you would call any bet on the river because that is what they would do. He wanted you to call.

Sounds like you played it fine to me.

Personally I would not play this hand out of 6th - especially with loose blinds - I'd want my hand to be just a little stronger - say AToff - then it becomes a play - A9 maybe from the cutoff seat.

Me being me - if I lost this hand I'd just be beating myself up for playing it in the first place - if I won it I'd be worried about negative reinforcement - but that's just MHO.

I agree with Drew. These type of fish know you play big cards while they are drawing cards to fill 8-6o straights and buttom two pairs on the river. They will let you know if you are beat by raising on the turn or river. If they check on the turn don't give them free cards. On the river if the fish bet or raise they probably have you beat. In the Cali clubs you are seeing this type of playing a lot more. Play straight up works. I've seen good players go on tilt playing with these guys losing rack after rack because they can't believe their big cards are beat when raising preflop. These fish will call a raise with any drawing hand. When they miss make them pay.

Fronm two off you are taking a chance raising with this hand. Still it's not a bad play given theplayers. But don't complain when the blinds beat you with Q-2. That's the reason you raised with your A-9.


On the flop you have to put him on a hand.If you think he has a K you have an easy fold, you have only 3 outs (maybe). If I think there is a good chance he doesn't have a K, I'll usually raise here. I can decide what to do on the turn and it keeps me in control of the hand. I'll rarely call.


The river you, of course, call.

I usually like to buy in for 20-25 BBs. I like to have 40-50 BBs on me though. In a 15-30 game buying for a rack of red is fine but I'd like to have $1000-$1500 on me so that i can rebuy if i loose a few pots early.


Rob

Sounds about right. The other night I did just that. I got down early and kept losing until I was down about $1200. I had the bankroll to handle it and the game was still good with plenty of poor players. Within two hours, I finally hit a card rush and ended the session down $10. It would have been a big loss without the extra bankroll.