Okay, so there's a reason I asked that question specifically - but perhaps it was a bad example with a short stack in a turbo DYM.
If you have AK (let's say suited, diamonds), and the flop comes down with three spades (let's say 952). There appear to be two schools of thought about what to do next. Assume you have an average stack.
Some literature suggests a big raise in this position to protect the strength of your hand, whereas Daniel Negreanu suggests checking back on his masterclass, and states that a big raise in this spot would be a rookie mistake. Thoughts?
I played quite a lot of poker yesterday, and I have to say, I played quite poorly. Nevertheless though, I just about broke even. Previously, I would have lost a tonne of money.
I feel like my level of play has developed so much recently that even when I play badly, I'll still be an average player in comparison to most MTT fields. That's a clear sign of progress in my mind
UKOPS Main Event coming up tonight, and I'm very excited. It's the first time I've ever thought I have half a chance at cashing in a big tournament like that. Fingers crossed.
Well I'm out after approx. 40 minutes. That was an absolute car crash.
I started playing way too loose, and consciously tightened up after 15 minutes, having already lost 25% of my starting stack.
At that point, every hand I went into people were calling and exploiting my image. Unfortunately, the flops weren't falling for me at all - but I did make a lot of mistakes too.
Very frustrated right now.
Exit hand below. Thought he might be slow playing me with a hand like AJ/KJ/QJ, and called out of frustration more than anything. Justified the call by telling myself he had missed his flush draw, and by realising I had already committed such a big portion of my starting stack. A clear mistake, but as I say, frustration.
I won UKOPS 01, thinking I had made great progress in my development. Then crashed and burned in the UKOPS main event - which really frustrated me. Now I just finished 2nd in a £200 turbo bounty hunter without breaking a sweat, and now I think I'm a poker god again.
Perhaps the strength of the field in the £110 buy-in event was just too much for me?
Think you're putting way too much emphasis on stand alone MTTs.
Winning one comp doesn't make someone amazing, just like busting first in another comp doesn't make someone terrible (the old adage of you can play terribly and win and play perfectly and lose over very small samples)
It's always gonna be the long game with poker. Making good decisions and less mistakes than other players over time should return positive results.
In that TT hand, it's probably a fold on the turn but it's the wrong mindset to call off river because you've put X amount in the pot. You've actually not even put half your stack in, and if you fold you still have 45bb in what is a fantastic structure comp without antes. You are far from pot stuck.
Think you're putting way too much emphasis on stand alone MTTs.
Winning one comp doesn't make someone amazing, just like busting first in another comp doesn't make someone terrible (the old adage of you can play terribly and win and play perfectly and lose over very small samples)
It's always gonna be the long game with poker. Making good decisions and less mistakes than other players over time should return positive results.
In that TT hand, it's probably a fold on the turn but it's the wrong mindset to call off river because you've put X amount in the pot. You've actually not even put half your stack in, and if you fold you still have 45bb in what is a fantastic structure comp without antes. You are far from pot stuck.
Think you're putting way too much emphasis on stand alone MTTs.
Winning one comp doesn't make someone amazing, just like busting first in another comp doesn't make someone terrible (the old adage of you can play terribly and win and play perfectly and lose over very small samples)
It's always gonna be the long game with poker. Making good decisions and less mistakes than other players over time should return positive results.
In that TT hand, it's probably a fold on the turn but it's the wrong mindset to call off river because you've put X amount in the pot. You've actually not even put half your stack in, and if you fold you still have 45bb in what is a fantastic structure comp without antes. You are far from pot stuck.
I completely agree. The problem I've got is that there's no tangible way for me to know if I am improving or not. It feels like I have improved .. when I'm winning. But when losing, it's fairly crushing (emotionally speaking).
I'll keep plugging away and make an assessment after 1000 games; currently on 497.
As for the TT hand, I knew I was making a mistake when clicking the call button. Tilt central.
Thoughts on my play here please? Final table of a £500 bounty hunter.
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
Blackpuma
Small blind
400.00
400.00
66999.96
peter27
Big blind
800.00
1200.00
11369.16
Your hole cards
8
9
RLT16
Fold
vale10
Call
800.00
2000.00
9396.26
Blackpuma
Call
400.00
2400.00
66599.96
peter27
Check
Flop
6
7
J
Blackpuma
Bet
1800.00
4200.00
64799.96
peter27
All-in
11369.16
15569.16
0.00
vale10
Fold
Blackpuma
Call
9569.16
25138.32
55230.80
Blackpuma
Show
Q
J
peter27
Show
8
9
Turn
3
River
Q
Blackpuma
Win
Two Pairs, Queens and Jacks
25138.32
80369.12
Was this a stupid play? I feel like the answer is a pretty obvious yes when facing a raise on the flop, but I would still like some feedback. My thought process was that he had such a big chip advantage over the table, so if I were going to win the tournament, I needed to take a risk.
I would also have been wary of two things, one less important than the other
Less- Jack More- Lollollolloloo- very good player!
I would have been worried that he called your flop bet( if he had the J he knew he had top pair) and the bet on the turn was followed by a big re-raise, then `i'm folding!
2nd hand
I'm a loose player and have a wide range/take risks but even I would have folded after the flop bet!
=2nd hand I'm a loose player and have a wide range/take risks but even I would have folded after the flop bet!
Well, you're drawing to eight outs (T's and 5's), so that's an approx. 36% chance of hitting the straight. But, against two players, I'm now looking at that hand thinking "what was I doing?!"
Play has been going very well of late. My balance and profit is higher than it ever has been before, and I'm also very happy that my sharkscope rating is now up to 70 for the first time.
I would like to be winning more MTT's, but nevertheless, I'm seeing a definite improvement.
Tomorrow evening I'm planning to go to DTD in Nottingham to play in a 6-max freezeout event. Incredibly nervous, but also hopeful of a good result.
I finished 28th out of 104. Top 14 cashed. I didn't really go there to cash though, at this stage it's just all about increasing my experience level in that environment.
I started the first five levels super tight, just making sure I was doing everything in turn and following the play correctly. After the tournament break (end of level five), I started to play more pots and did okay without ever being spectacular. Here are some random notes.
- Utterly shocked by how wide people's ranges were. They were basically playing any pot, from any position, with QX+.
- Being bet into, in live poker, is extremely intimidating. There's work to be done here so I don't get scared into a fold - which happened a few times.
- Calculating pot odds is fairly challenging because you don't know exactly how much is in the pot - obviously it's not like online where the exact number is displayed. The 30 second shot clock probably didn't help though.
There was one amusing moment. I ended up getting a 7-high hand to the turn in position. Opponent checks on the river. For some reason, I decide to fold. Could have checked. No idea what I was thinking. When everyone looked shocked and questioned me I "styled it out" by stating "he definitely had me beat". The opponent turned over 7-high also. Everyone loves a chop pot .. if it happens. What an idiot.
The Tens hand may be bit of a train-wreck, but well done for posting a hand you were unsure about and know you misplayed publicly for others to see. Good that you can acknowledge it was a mistake. Think maybe the pressure of the buy in got to you and you out-levelled yourself. Everyone has those lapses, just try and base your decisions on logic rather than panic.
When betting you want to have good reasons for doing so. In the Tens hand by the turn when you bet twice you are almost representing a stronger hand than you really have. You are likely going to value own yourself much more than get value -i.e he may only call you with 8s and 9s exactly that's worse, or a 7 with a flush draw, whereas he will call with all AJ, KJs,QJs,JTs,J9s, and can have sets too. When they have more better hands that call your bet than worse, betting is not a good idea. It also makes your game weaker if you bet these kind of hands because when you do check it means your range is going to be extremely weak.
Also when you do get raised when you hold a hand that shouldn't even bet the turn you really should feel happy to fold. When he raises turn you need to consider what is most likely. Does he have a draw which he is deciding to raise on the turn, after choosing not to raise the flop and also having a good price in position to try and complete his draw?(also raising into an unknown player who is showing great strength). Or does he have a big hand that is looking to get the most possible from someone who looks like they have a very strong hand? You do also have the Ten of spades which reduces his amount of flush draws he can have which works against you and is bad when looking to bluff-catch.
As you get deeper the potential mistakes you can make get exponentially worse. There's only so bad you can mess up when you have 15 blinds. I would guess in the Tens hand that most sky MTT regs are going to have a value hand over 90% of the time on the turn, easily, and maybe even close to 100. After betting the turn you proceeded to put in over 60 blinds with very low equity vs the range of hands your opponent could have, which is disastrous long term. Hopefully you can take something away from the experience.
The Tens hand may be bit of a train-wreck, but well done for posting a hand you were unsure about and know you misplayed publicly for others to see. Good that you can acknowledge it was a mistake. Think maybe the pressure of the buy in got to you and you out-levelled yourself. Everyone has those lapses, just try and base your decisions on logic rather than panic.
When betting you want to have good reasons for doing so. In the Tens hand by the turn when you bet twice you are almost representing a stronger hand than you really have. You are likely going to value own yourself much more than get value -i.e he may only call you with 8s and 9s exactly that's worse, or a 7 with a flush draw, whereas he will call with all AJ, KJs,QJs,JTs,J9s, and can have sets too. When they have more better hands that call your bet than worse, betting is not a good idea. It also makes your game weaker if you bet these kind of hands because when you do check it means your range is going to be extremely weak.
Also when you do get raised when you hold a hand that shouldn't even bet the turn you really should feel happy to fold. When he raises turn you need to consider what is most likely. Does he have a draw which he is deciding to raise on the turn, after choosing not to raise the flop and also having a good price in position to try and complete his draw?(also raising into an unknown player who is showing great strength). Or does he have a big hand that is looking to get the most possible from someone who looks like they have a very strong hand? You do also have the Ten of spades which reduces his amount of flush draws he can have which works against you and is bad when looking to bluff-catch.
As you get deeper the potential mistakes you can make get exponentially worse. There's only so bad you can mess up when you have 15 blinds. I would guess in the Tens hand that most sky MTT regs are going to have a value hand over 90% of the time on the turn, easily, and maybe even close to 100. After betting the turn you proceeded to put in over 60 blinds with very low equity vs the range of hands your opponent could have, which is disastrous long term. Hopefully you can take something away from the experience.
Wow, that's an incredibly detailed post. Thanks for taking the time to feed back to me.
The bit I've bolded above is something I learned a few weeks back in Daniel Negreanu's masterclass. He refers to it as range advantage.
I feel like I'm playing better than ever before right now. Really happy with how things are progressing.
I am playing a lot of £55 turbo DYM's at the moment, due to the £40k winter battle promotion, and I am crushing them to be honest. I'm quickly realising that these turbo DYM's are, without doubt, where I'm strongest. Happy days.
I've also played a few MTT's today, but just can't quite seem to reach the cash at all. Nevertheless, I do still feel like I am playing well.
Anyway, here's a hand I thought was interesting. Would you have played this any differently to me (without being results orientated of course)? It's from tonight's £1500 quickdraw tournament.
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
Granite89
Small blind
50.00
50.00
5110.00
jonnyboy63
Big blind
100.00
150.00
4190.00
Your hole cards
A
K
Jessieak
Raise
300.00
450.00
5910.00
wineli
Fold
peter27
Raise
900.00
1350.00
3995.00
Granite89
Fold
jonnyboy63
Fold
Jessieak
Call
600.00
1950.00
5310.00
Flop
J
A
2
Jessieak
Check
peter27
Bet
1000.00
2950.00
2995.00
Jessieak
Call
1000.00
3950.00
4310.00
Turn
6
Jessieak
Check
peter27
Bet
1750.00
5700.00
1245.00
Jessieak
Raise
3500.00
9200.00
810.00
peter27
All-in
1245.00
10445.00
0.00
Jessieak
Unmatched bet
505.00
9940.00
1315.00
Jessieak
Show
Q
A
peter27
Show
A
K
River
4
peter27
Win
Pair of Aces
9940.00
9940.00
I didn't have any reads on the opponent, and got very worried when they check-raised the turn. Given that their pre-flop raise was UTG, I figured the only hand they could have that was beating me was AJ. AA was possible, but surely they would have shoved after my pre-flop re-raise? Potentially JJ too, but would they really check-raise me on the turn rather than check-calling? The 6 is hardly a scare card.
Comments
Chance to add 20% to your stack without any likely fuss or bother.
If you have AK (let's say suited, diamonds), and the flop comes down with three spades (let's say 952). There appear to be two schools of thought about what to do next. Assume you have an average stack.
Some literature suggests a big raise in this position to protect the strength of your hand, whereas Daniel Negreanu suggests checking back on his masterclass, and states that a big raise in this spot would be a rookie mistake. Thoughts?
I feel like my level of play has developed so much recently that even when I play badly, I'll still be an average player in comparison to most MTT fields. That's a clear sign of progress in my mind
UKOPS Main Event coming up tonight, and I'm very excited. It's the first time I've ever thought I have half a chance at cashing in a big tournament like that. Fingers crossed.
I started playing way too loose, and consciously tightened up after 15 minutes, having already lost 25% of my starting stack.
At that point, every hand I went into people were calling and exploiting my image. Unfortunately, the flops weren't falling for me at all - but I did make a lot of mistakes too.
Very frustrated right now.
Exit hand below. Thought he might be slow playing me with a hand like AJ/KJ/QJ, and called out of frustration more than anything. Justified the call by telling myself he had missed his flush draw, and by realising I had already committed such a big portion of my starting stack. A clear mistake, but as I say, frustration.
I won UKOPS 01, thinking I had made great progress in my development. Then crashed and burned in the UKOPS main event - which really frustrated me. Now I just finished 2nd in a £200 turbo bounty hunter without breaking a sweat, and now I think I'm a poker god again.
Perhaps the strength of the field in the £110 buy-in event was just too much for me?
Winning one comp doesn't make someone amazing, just like busting first in another comp doesn't make someone terrible (the old adage of you can play terribly and win and play perfectly and lose over very small samples)
It's always gonna be the long game with poker. Making good decisions and less mistakes than other players over time should return positive results.
In that TT hand, it's probably a fold on the turn but it's the wrong mindset to call off river because you've put X amount in the pot. You've actually not even put half your stack in, and if you fold you still have 45bb in what is a fantastic structure comp without antes. You are far from pot stuck.
Who are you, and what have you done with Hhy?
Happy (and prosperous) New Year
I'll keep plugging away and make an assessment after 1000 games; currently on 497.
As for the TT hand, I knew I was making a mistake when clicking the call button. Tilt central.
This is how i would have thought it out...
First hand
I would also have been wary of two things, one less important than the other
Less- Jack
More- Lollollolloloo- very good player!
I would have been worried that he called your flop bet( if he had the J he knew he had top pair) and the bet on the turn was followed by a big re-raise, then `i'm folding!
2nd hand
I'm a loose player and have a wide range/take risks but even I would have folded after the flop bet!
Play has been going very well of late. My balance and profit is higher than it ever has been before, and I'm also very happy that my sharkscope rating is now up to 70 for the first time.
I would like to be winning more MTT's, but nevertheless, I'm seeing a definite improvement.
Tomorrow evening I'm planning to go to DTD in Nottingham to play in a 6-max freezeout event. Incredibly nervous, but also hopeful of a good result.
I finished 28th out of 104. Top 14 cashed. I didn't really go there to cash though, at this stage it's just all about increasing my experience level in that environment.
I started the first five levels super tight, just making sure I was doing everything in turn and following the play correctly. After the tournament break (end of level five), I started to play more pots and did okay without ever being spectacular. Here are some random notes.
- Utterly shocked by how wide people's ranges were. They were basically playing any pot, from any position, with QX+.
- Being bet into, in live poker, is extremely intimidating. There's work to be done here so I don't get scared into a fold - which happened a few times.
- Calculating pot odds is fairly challenging because you don't know exactly how much is in the pot - obviously it's not like online where the exact number is displayed. The 30 second shot clock probably didn't help though.
There was one amusing moment. I ended up getting a 7-high hand to the turn in position. Opponent checks on the river. For some reason, I decide to fold. Could have checked. No idea what I was thinking. When everyone looked shocked and questioned me I "styled it out" by stating "he definitely had me beat". The opponent turned over 7-high also. Everyone loves a chop pot .. if it happens. What an idiot.
When betting you want to have good reasons for doing so. In the Tens hand by the turn when you bet twice you are almost representing a stronger hand than you really have. You are likely going to value own yourself much more than get value -i.e he may only call you with 8s and 9s exactly that's worse, or a 7 with a flush draw, whereas he will call with all AJ, KJs,QJs,JTs,J9s, and can have sets too. When they have more better hands that call your bet than worse, betting is not a good idea. It also makes your game weaker if you bet these kind of hands because when you do check it means your range is going to be extremely weak.
Also when you do get raised when you hold a hand that shouldn't even bet the turn you really should feel happy to fold. When he raises turn you need to consider what is most likely. Does he have a draw which he is deciding to raise on the turn, after choosing not to raise the flop and also having a good price in position to try and complete his draw?(also raising into an unknown player who is showing great strength). Or does he have a big hand that is looking to get the most possible from someone who looks like they have a very strong hand? You do also have the Ten of spades which reduces his amount of flush draws he can have which works against you and is bad when looking to bluff-catch.
As you get deeper the potential mistakes you can make get exponentially worse. There's only so bad you can mess up when you have 15 blinds. I would guess in the Tens hand that most sky MTT regs are going to have a value hand over 90% of the time on the turn, easily, and maybe even close to 100. After betting the turn you proceeded to put in over 60 blinds with very low equity vs the range of hands your opponent could have, which is disastrous long term. Hopefully you can take something away from the experience.
The bit I've bolded above is something I learned a few weeks back in Daniel Negreanu's masterclass. He refers to it as range advantage.
I am playing a lot of £55 turbo DYM's at the moment, due to the £40k winter battle promotion, and I am crushing them to be honest. I'm quickly realising that these turbo DYM's are, without doubt, where I'm strongest. Happy days.
I've also played a few MTT's today, but just can't quite seem to reach the cash at all. Nevertheless, I do still feel like I am playing well.
Anyway, here's a hand I thought was interesting. Would you have played this any differently to me (without being results orientated of course)? It's from tonight's £1500 quickdraw tournament.