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www.SharkPokerSchool.com....  Hi Guest, welcome to the SPS Forum!..... Welcome to our newest member darrayb..... Don't forget our friendly weekly forum game, and wp to last Sunday's winner, xBEASTx!!!

    $160 Live Game

    hopelesglory
    hopelesglory


    Posts : 61
    SPS Chips : 140
    Join date : 2009-11-08

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    Post  hopelesglory Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:09 pm

    Hey guys, I haven't posted any hands for a while since I been in Vegas (only the bad beat I had on poker stars vs the rivered straight flush lol).

    So I cut and pasted my latest blog post which is summarises the key hands from a 160$ live tournament I played in Ceasers Palace yesterday. Let me know your thoughts or any comments!!

    Started on 10k, 30minute blinds, 160$buy in, around 70 runners.

    J3 vs KK:

    So we've just got back from the break and the blinds are 100-200, with 25 anti. I started on 10k and have steadily built up to around 12k

    The table is full of limpers, and first hand back from the break everyone limps round to me, and I, convinced by position and pot odds, elect to call with J2 suited (Hearts) - there has been very little preflop raising so I'm not too worried about anyone raising behind.

    The button limps and the blinds check

    The flop brings K34 with 2 hearts

    It checks round to me and I decide to check, I don't want to raise and get re-raised (then lose my opportunity to see a free card) and I also want the pot to stay small until I have a made hand.

    The button raises to 1100 which is just under the pot, I decide I need at least one caller with a deep stack (the button also has around 12k) to justify my implied odds for calling and fishing for the flush.

    The UTG limper calls and he has around 20k, it folds round to me and I decide that one additional caller is enough for me to justify a call. If I miss and lose the 1k I will be on around 10.5k, which isn't much different from 11.5k. However, if I hit I could potentially get up to 20 or 25k, which is a lot different from 11.5k.

    At this point I figure both oppenants have a king, most likely with a K or J. Part of me is worried that someone may also be fishing for a better flush than me, so I'm hoping for the Ace of hearts next card to decrease the chances.

    If UTG had a set or an (unlikely) 2 pair I would have expected him to re-raise the flop bet. As he didn't I assume for now he has KQ. The button limper could have any hand as he was last to act, I figure I will get more information on his possible holdings on the turn betting round.

    The turn brings 9 hearts and completes my jack high flush. The UTG limper checks and I bet out 3300, the pot is around 4500 at this point so it is quite a value bet. Seeing as my flush isn't that strong I want to charge anyone expensive odds to see the next card (in case they have e.g. KQ with the queen of hearts).

    The button folds (I guess he didn't have much of the flop or was scared by the flush) and the UTG limper calls.

    To call the 3300 bet the UTG limper has to be pretty brave and have a good holding or drawing to a good holding. At this time I now think he also has the flush (probably ace high) and is slow playing it, he doesn't seem amazingly confident though and his call was semi relunctant....this could mean he has a strong hand but not as strong as the flush (e.g. trip 444 or 333 or even 999)

    The river card is an offsuit 9 which pairs the board, and the UTG limper bets 4k. My stack is around 7.5k so an unsuccesful call would leave me cripled with around 3.5k and soon 200-400 blinds.

    He seems a lot more confident now, he is sitting up straight and leaning forward, he also makes eye contact with me without flinching, which is a sigh he has a very strong hand. I'm not sure what it is though, I figure either a set (which is now a full house) or a higher flush (most likely ace high).

    I re-review my holding and considering what hands I'm beating....and it is not a lot.

    1. A very unlikely KQ or KJ (he would have surely checked the river with KQ or KJ),
    2. A very unlikekly 9 holding (e.g. K9 or A9, I doubt A9 would have called the bigflop bet)
    3. A lower flush (e.g. 67 hearts) which he still may have checked on the river, or
    4. A complete bluff, this seems highly unlikely and doesn't align with the bettings.


    After a long think, I fold my Jack high flush and show him my cards;

    "I don't know what you got bud, but I'm sure you got me beat!"

    He shows KK and says "no way, how can you fold the flush?!!?", he keeps talking about the hand for ages, about how he disguised his monster, slow-played the flop, then got sucked out by the flush but re-sucked out on the river board pair and how amazed he was that I didn't call the river bet.

    The way he played the KK does make sense, limping UTG hoping someone will raise, flopping a well hidden top set (it would be hard to get any chips in the pot at this point, because the king i the highest card on the flop and he has 2/3 of them!), then check-calling to the flush draw and value betting the river.

    So I'm happy with my fold and remaining 7.5k...although I wish they would give you chips for folding rather than just not take away chips lol.

    AA vs QQ:

    Not long later we're on 200-400 blinds and I pick up QQ with around 7.5k. I raise to 1200 and the player after me instantly min raises to 2400...sigh he has about 10k chips, this means he either has AK or AA. Everyone else folds so I call to see the flop.
    The flop brings T64 and I bet out 2k, he takes half a moment then goes all in. I'm pretty sure he has AA now. He's sitting comfortably and nodding his head slowly up and down**.
    I fold and show my queens: "well you obviously have aces..."
    He shows his aces. Part of me thinks I should have just folded preflop, but surely I can't fold queens pre flop to a min raise,that's just pathetically weak?!?

    **In my experience there are two times when players slowly nod their head up and down, the 1st is if you bet into them and they think they are beat - they slowly nod their head up and down then fold. The second is when they bet into a pot and they think they have the best hand, then they nod to themselfs.

    I'm not sure why people do this, maybe it is a natural reaction and they are nodding to themselfs in agreement with their thoughts. Either way I've seen it dozen of times in live poker.

    78 vs A7:

    I pick up a pot but am still I'm short from the hands mentioned above and have only around 3.8k Chips after putting my SB and anti in. The big blind is 400 at this point.

    It folds round to me on the small blind and I have 78 offsuit, the big blind is a tight player and has around double my stack (he has already donked the chips away I gave him AA vs QQ) - I figure if I push all in here there is not a lot of hands he will call with (only top 10 most most likely) as it can do so much damage to his stack and is an unecessary risk. I also prefer raising all in with a hand like 78 as it has a reasonable percentage vs most hands pre flop. (Where-as if you pushed all in with Ace2, any person who calls you with an Ace, like AceTen will have you dominated. 67 vs At has a much better chance)

    I push all in, I hate going all in so early in the tournament - but it has to be done unfortunately, theres a potential 1k in chips up for grabs which is 25% of my stack!

    He calls with A7, so much for my not being dominated theory...lol, however I got lucky and hit an 8 on the flop. This hand doubles me up to around 8k.

    AQ vs JJ:

    Not very long later a new player joins the table and raises from middle position to 1200 (BB 400) I'm still on 8k and he has around 14k behind)
    I have AQ and just call behind, I haven't much information on the player because he has just joined the table and AQ isn't a good enough hand for a large preflop pot so raising isn't an option (in my opinion). The raiser has around 14k and me 8k.

    The player immediately to my left, takes a while to think about his action and then calls. I'm pretty sure he has does not have AA or KK because earlier in the game he min raised me with AA (the hand discussed earlier in this post) and his manorisms seem completely different to last time. He also spent a long time thinking before he called - which he didn't do last time with AA.

    I list a few hands in my head I think he may have, and the most likely holdings are around AQ stength (AQ, KQ, TT, JJ) which makes sense and reference to the same solid tournament strategy I'm applying, by calling with AQ in position.

    The flop brings QT9 rainbow and the original raiser checks. It looks like he has given up on the hand already and is most unlikely willing a bet. I assume he has a hand like AK or 88 and is very unhappy with the flop.

    I bet out 2500, the pot is just below 3k and I add a few more chips than normal to my continuation bet of around half pot (e.g. 1700) to ensure the straight draw is overcharged (any jack).

    The player behind me calls and the original raiser folds, I take a few more moments to consider his holdings. I figure if he had TT or AQ he would have re-raised the flop because of the straight draw, if he had JJ he would just flat call, and if he had QK he would flat call. I can't think of any other possible holdings (maybe 99 but that follows the same route as the TT) and I don't believe he is slow playing an overpair like AA or KK

    I figure he has then either JJ or QK - so as long as the turn isn't a 9, Jack or King then I'm in good shape and can throw the rest of my chips in. If it does come a 9, Jack or King then I'm almost certainly behind.

    The turn brings a K, and I check. He bets all in which has me covered and I fold, showing the AQ...I say: "pocket jacks yea?"

    He asks how I always know what he has, and shows the pocket jacks. Again no additional chips for folding Sad It just means I lose less than another player might. This puts me down to around 4.5k.

    AJ vs AK vs J7:
    The blinds are now 300-600 and I'm looking pretty desperate. I've picked one up my set of blinds since the AQ hand discussed above and am on around 6k (the blinds are pretty big, 600+300+Antis).

    A player limps under the gun and another in middle position - I have AJ suited one before the cut off. The UTG limper is pretty deep, but has been limping lots (probably 1 in 3 hands) and the other limper has limped almost every hand - despite it being such a big proportion of his stack, he has around 4k left.

    I put all in with AJ suited, hoping to take down the pot right there which is about nearly 3k (600+600+BB 600+SB 300+Antis). Everyone folds round to the UTG limper who calls, and then the other limp also calls....bummer

    The UTG limper shows AK, and the other limper J7...the UTG limper was the same guy who limped UTG earlier with KK vs my J3 so maybe I should have figured this out, however he has been limping so much I think this was just unlucky timing.

    The J7 call was just terrible I don't know what he was thinking lol

    The flop is 44T, turn T, then river an A which is a shame because any card but an Ace or K on the river would have split the pot (or a jack would have even won it for me)

    So that was a pretty harsh tournament for me, feel free to comment - any thoughts appreciated!!

    Steve (hopelesglory)

      Current date/time is Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:15 am