Some questions for michael1123

Hey Michael I was reading through your Monte Carlo hand history thread and I had a few questions on some of the non-bolded heads-up hands. I realize that they are not significant in terms of gaining/losing chips, but I did not understand your reasoning on some hands.

*********** # 342 **************
PokerStars Game #952973603: Tournament #3778837, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII
(200/400) - 2004/12/12 - 22:25:51 (ET)
Table '3778837 3' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 6: pkrbt (52979 in chips)
Seat 9: michael1123 (19521 in chips)
pkrbt: posts the ante 25
michael1123: posts the ante 25
pkrbt: posts small blind 200
michael1123: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to michael1123 :Qs: :3s:
pkrbt: calls 200
michael1123: checks
*** FLOP *** :Td: :9d: :Kc:
michael1123: checks
pkrbt: checks
*** TURN *** :Td: :9d: :Kc: :6c:
michael1123: bets 400
pkrbt: raises 800 to 1200
michael1123: calls 800
*** RIVER *** :Td: :9d: :Kc: :6c: :3d:
michael1123: checks
pkrbt: bets 3200
michael1123: folds
pkrbt collected 3250 from pot
pkrbt: doesn't show hand

I noticed you said that pkrbt seems to respect your raises more when you check the flop and bet the turn, but why the minimum bet? Also why did you call his reraise? Were you hoping to catch a Jack or Queen? Since the third diamond came out on the river, why not represent the flush and throw out a bet?

*********** # 349 **************
PokerStars Game #952983597: Tournament #3778837, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII
(200/400) - 2004/12/12 - 22:28:29 (ET)
Table '3778837 3' Seat #9 is the button
Seat 6: pkrbt (59404 in chips)
Seat 9: michael1123 (13096 in chips)
pkrbt: posts the ante 25
michael1123: posts the ante 25
michael1123: posts small blind 200
pkrbt: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to michael1123 :4d: :7h:
michael1123: calls 200
pkrbt: raises 800 to 1200
michael1123: calls 800
*** FLOP *** :Qs: :9s: :Kh:
pkrbt: checks
michael1123: checks
*** TURN *** :Qs: :9s: :Kh: :5s:
pkrbt: checks
michael1123: bets 400
pkrbt: calls 400
*** RIVER *** :Qs: :9s: :Kh: :5s: :Ac:
pkrbt: bets 800
michael1123: folds
pkrbt collected 3250 from pot
pkrbt: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***

First of all, I can understand you calling the BB with that hand (even though I probably would throw it away) but why call the raise? Also, why min bet the turn when you plan to fold to any bet on the river?

*********** # 406 **************
PokerStars Game #953087771: Tournament #3778837, Hold'em No Limit - Level IX
(300/600) - 2004/12/12 - 22:54:46 (ET)
Table '3778837 3' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 6: pkrbt (47258 in chips)
Seat 9: michael1123 (25242 in chips)
pkrbt: posts the ante 50
michael1123: posts the ante 50
pkrbt: posts small blind 300
michael1123: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to michael1123 :As: :6c:
michael1123 said, "nice river yet again"
pkrbt: raises 1200 to 1800
michael1123: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** :Kc: :Tc: :4d:
michael1123: checks
pkrbt: bets 3000
michael1123: folds
pkrbt collected 3700 from pot
pkrbt: doesn't show hand

Why not take a stab at the pot on the flop? There is a good chance Ace high is the best hand. Also why not reraise preflop?

One other thing. I noticed that you folded very little preflop when first to act. Is this just your style? It would be interesting to calculate out of the amout of hands you limped with how many did you win or lose.
BTW thanks for posting this. I learned A LOT just by seeing your hand history and reasoning behind big hands. Keep it up!

Its been a while, so I can't actually remember my thought process on these hands, but I'll do my best in trying to figure it out.

Its worth pointing out that these hands are heads up, so obviously you have to loosen up a good deal. I also felt like I had a pretty good read on him, which meant I may find a good opportunity to bluff with a weak hand, or make a tough call, postflop.

#342

I thought that a minbet would be sufficent if he didn't have anything. Once he came over the top of me, I probably put him on slowplaying something rather big and thought he'd pay me off on the river if I happened to hit. I didn't bluff the river because I thought he'd call, based on my read that he had a big hand. The turn call was loose though, especially for just a draw to a one hole card straight which wouldn't be that disguised even if it did hit. I probably was still steaming from my AA getting beat on the river a few hands prior to this, as I don't like how I played this hand looking at it now, but I don't think it was horribly played either.

#349

This one I think is played fine. Its a connected hand, and typically any pair will be the best hand on the flop when heads up, and I'd have position after the flop, so I think the preflop call is fine. Plus, there's a little bit of salesmanship here, showing that I'm not going to fold automatically whenever I limp in and he reraises. Again, minbets seemed to work when he didn't have a hand, and I minbet some of my big hands as well, so I don't see a problem with that. The folding to a bet on the river thing doesn't really matter at all. Its a pure bluff, so of course I plan on folding to any bet or raise. I was trying to take the pot down, and figured that a minbet was enough to do so without near as much risk as betting more.

#406

This one I'm kind of surprised seemed out of place at all. I'm not reraising because of the size of the blinds and my stack. I don't believe in minraising (as it gives basically no incentive to fold after they've put a good amount of chips in, which also gives you no indication of how strong they are when they call), so the smallest reraise I'd make in this case, if I were to preflop raise, would be to about 5000. That'd be putting in a 1/5 of my chips preflop, in what very well could be a dominated hand too, as he's obviously very likely to raise A7-AK, and pocket pairs 7 and higher.

Probably the biggest reason though was that I felt like I had the edge over him in post flop play. Why reraise such a high percentage of my stack preflop with just a decent hand, when I can see a rather cheap flop? I don't lead at the flop because he's the one that preflop raised (and I decided not to reraise, this basically goes hand in hand with the first part), and typically people always check to the preflop raiser. Betting out of turn usually looks very suspicious. If he checks the flop I bet the turn no matter what hits, but leading (especially leading weak) would basically be inviting a reraise that I couldn't call. I'd much rather check and try to read his bet in this situation.

One last thing about this hand. I'm not sure why you think there's a good chance that my A high, 6 kicker, is the best hand. He'd raise a higher ace, be likely to raise with a K, could easily have a T, could possibly have a 4, may have any pocket pair, and may have a flush draw or open ended straight draw that is still favored against just ace high (and more importantly when you're bluffing, he's unlikely to fold it). It could be the best hand, but its not all that likely, and I'm not about to risk many chips here, when he's been the aggressor in the hand.

Finally, on the topic of all the heads up hands in the hand history, I should note that first place got the $15k package and 2nd place only got $1500. The huge discrepency between 1st and 2nd certainly was a factor. In a SNG when its heads up, sure, I may be very likely to reraise big (or maybe all in) with A6 when the other person has raised my BB (with lets say KQ). If it doesn't work out, oh well, still cashed and can start the next one. But with how much was at stake in this one, I tried to limit the amount of gambling, especially preflop when I really have no clue where I stand, while I was the small stack. Once I became the big stack I was more aggressive preflop, but especially when I was a small stack, I wasn't just looking for a small edge to push with. And with the blinds still being reasonable, I wasn't forced into gambling it up either.

Hey I have a question to your response to the A6 hand. For what reason did you even play the hand? Were you hoping for a miracle flop (ie 2 pair, trips, boat)? You said he could raise with AK-7 or a king or ten, so basically if you flop a 6 or an ace you will not be confident your hand is the best because you could be out-kickered. If you threw out a sizable bet on the flop (3000 or so) you might be able to take the pot down because you could be easily calling with a king or a ten, and if reraises you can always get out without having invested too much. Then again, what do I know, I don't even have 10 posts! :P

I almost added something about that, but I figured my previous post was getting too long. :)

Preflop is completely different from postflop. Again I clearly wouldn't just shove in if I hit an A, but then it would be the perfect time to checkraise him on the flop and see how he reacts, not preflop when I just have a pretty good heads up hand. Top pair on the flop is a very good heads up hand, no matter what your kicker is, and an A on the flop also means that its a bit less likely that he has an A as well. I don't know what you mean by being outkicked if a 6 hit.

As I said, I felt like I had a good read on him, but you can't read a 3xBB preflop raise, you can just try to figure out a certain range of hands that they'd raise with. Postflop you can read how they bet to determine where you stand. I certainly wasn't going to fold an ace preflop heads up to a completely standard raise, but that doesn't mean I should throw caution to the wind, either.

I already explained why I didn't lead at the flop when he was the aggressor preflop. By your logic of firing out a bet at the flop because "you might be able to take the pot down", it would make sense that a person should bet strong at every flop, because they may fold! I'm not that reckless, I bluff when I sense weakness, and there was nothing weak in his play in this hand.

I also wasn't looking to blow 3k by him making a good read of weakness there, even if he had shit. If I had KT or AK or a set or any other strong hand that wouldn't fold to a reraise, would you be suggesting that I should've lead at the flop and not checked to him first, after he preflop raised? As I said in the last post, doing this looks weak (like bottom pair, testing the waters to see if its safe, screaming that they'll fold to a reraise). If anything I would've check raised him, but his bet was strong enough for me to read that he had something that hand and I could find a much better spot to make a move.