A badly played hand with AA

Maybe I was really tired after a long day at work. I couldn't focus at all and played very badly tonight. I ended the day barely breaking even after 4k hands.

My Result today:

There are a couple of hands that I played badly. Especially this hand with AA.


Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players

Hero (BTN): $40.63 (162.5 bb)
SB: $18.81 (75.2 bb)
BB: $12.50 (50 bb)
UTG+1: $13 (52 bb)
UTG+2: $37.29 (149.2 bb)
MP1: $25.22 (100.9 bb)
MP2: $41.99 (168 bb)
MP3: $37.06 (148.2 bb)
CO: $26.04 (104.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with A A
4 folds, MP3 raises to $0.62, CO folds, Hero raises to $2, 2 folds, MP3 calls $1.38

Flop: ($4.35) 5 4 8 (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $2.50, MP3 raises to $6.75, Hero calls $4.25

Turn: ($17.85) 4 (2 players)
MP3 bets $11, Hero folds

Results: $17.85 pot ($0.80 rake)
Final Board: 5 4 8 4
Hero mucked A A and lost (-$8.75 net)
MP3 mucked and won $17.05 ($8.30 net)

Learning Points:

• Villain is a 18/12 reg tag. In my notes, he is seen as a player who open wide at MP and late positions. 
• What is so bad about this hand is my call vs his flop check raise. 
• I can choose to fold (If I think he has a set) or shove to his check raise(if I think he is on a flush draw). The worst ever option here is to call his check raise.

Why?

• There is a possible flush draw on the board.
• Villain has shown strength by checking raising me. 
• If I had a monster (sets+), I am very likely to reraise him rather than to call and allow another heart to hit turn.
• By calling his check raise, I am simply telling him what I have and given that we are both reg, he can simply shove turn with any two cards and expecting me to fold a huge % of time. 

Keeping the red line up

As I review my games that I played so far, I realised that my red line has been trending slightly negatively over the past few sessions I had. I reasoned that it could be due to lots of missed opportunities to steal pot and folding a lot of pots uncontested.

Therefore, in my session today, I tried to be more conscious of folding too easily and unnecessarily. I think it is important for my winrate to spot opportunities to float and bluff some pots. 

So, with my increased post flop aggression, I managed to keep my red line up and at the same time, have a solid showdown winning. The drawback? I played few hands per hour as I am involved in more post flop plays. 

Well, obviously, my good run helps. Not until towards the end of my session where I lost a big pot to a fish who completely caught me by surprise how passive he plays this hand. 

He was lucky that I have the nut flush and I couldn't really put him on any hand based on the way he play this hand. If I had anything worst than the nut flush, I would have checked river and he earn peanuts. Sometimes, fishes are dangerous because they are so unpredictable. 

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players

BTN: $18.80 (75.2 bb)
SB: $30.91 (123.6 bb)
BB: $12.74 (51 bb)
UTG+1: $31.34 (125.4 bb)
UTG+2: $23.28 (93.1 bb)
MP1: $25.25 (101 bb)
MP2: $25 (100 bb)
Hero (MP3): $25.31 (101.2 bb)
CO: $22.74 (91 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K K
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, 2 folds, SB calls $0.65, BB folds

Flop: ($1.75) 5 J 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1, SB calls $1

Turn: ($3.75) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($3.75) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB raises to $29.16 and is all-in, Hero calls $20.56 and is all-in

Results: $50.87 pot ($2 rake)
Final Board: 5 J 2 A J
SB showed J A and won $48.87 ($23.56 net)
Hero showed K K and lost (-$25.31 net)

As played, should I have folded this hand? I took quite a bit of time to think about this hand. I only lose to fullhouse now. Did he have it? I discounted that he has pocket 22, 55 as he is likely to reraise my flop bet on a drawish flop. I discounted JJ and AA as he is likely to 3 bet me preflop. My blind spot: I did not consider AJ which is in fact what he has.

My mistake perhaps but really, even if I consider that there is a possiblity that he has AJ, could I ever my nut flush here? I posted this hand at twoplustwo forum to seek opinion on this (Link below).

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/25nl-zoom-kk-nut-flush-hand-1190780/#post32490469

Live Session: 25nl Zoom

Aboslute Nit? Or fantastic laydown?

A game I played at Zoom. Villain is a nitty - TAG reg with a stat of 10/8


I folded the second nuts in this hand. But I really couldnt think of any hands that I can beat.


Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players

BTN: $17.69 (70.8 bb)
SB: $12.40 (49.6 bb)
BB: $12.49 (50 bb)
UTG+1: $23 (92 bb)
UTG+2: $33.32 (133.3 bb)
MP1: $49.07 (196.3 bb)
MP2: $26.88 (107.5 bb)
MP3: $19.58 (78.3 bb)
Hero (CO): $26.94 (107.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q J
2 folds, MP1 raises to $0.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.75, 3 folds

Flop: ($1.85) 2 9 4 (2 players)
MP1 bets $1.10, Hero calls $1.10

Turn: ($4.05) 7 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $2.75, MP1 calls $2.75

River: ($9.55) A (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $6, MP1 raises to $18, Hero folds

Results: $21.55 pot ($0.97 rake)
Final Board: 2 9 4 7 A
MP1 mucked and won $20.58 ($9.98 net)
Hero mucked Q J and lost (-$10.60 net)

Zoom Poker Update

Well, I tried registering for my routine dose of SnG today. But what greeted me was a sea of winning regulars whom I had coded red previously. Sick of playing at these regulars infested tables, I decided to switch to 25nl Zoom.

 I am glad I made the decision.

I went on a mini heater, winning $127 in about 3.5k hands which took me about 3.5 hours.

My Result today:

Good showdown winnings and a close to breakeven non showdown winnings. Similar to the graph that I used to achieve at 25nl regular tables last time.

So, am I calling it quit in SnG?

I do not know. Perhaps I should move back to 25nl and especially Zoom, where there seems to be more fishes and where the variance is less crazy.

Targets for April 2012

1. Play at least 40 SnG/day
2. Review at least 1 SnG Video /day.
3. Continue to experiment in Zoom Poker and reach 10k hands at 25nl Zoom. 

I have also reseted my account at sharkscope. Lol... simply disgusted with that ugly graph. Hopefully, with the new month, I will be able to record a nice upward sloping graph for the rest of the year. 

New month = New beginning!

End of Month Report

It has been a disastrous month. I have my worst ever losing month in SnG. Played About 1330 games and lost about $1.3k. I have been very stubborn and refused to move down when I run real bad. As a result, I crashed my bankroll and have to reload for another $1k.

Now, I am not sure if I am a winner at $15 SnG. I feel like a breakeven player or maybe I am indeed a losing player. I really do not know. I will give myself 1 more month in SnG. If I still do not manage to start recording profit, I will consider going back to cash game where I have been crushing 25nl before I switched to SNG.

I have been playing some Zoom 25nl, with some positive results. In order for me to maintain my Platinum status, I need to play at least 3k hands/day which equate to ~3.5h of work For now, I will continue to play some Zoom poker during my free time as R&R. Who knows, if I decided to call it quit in SnG, I will play Zoom as my main game, especially since STT turbo SnG is seriously infested with regulars during week days.

My Zoom 25NL result: