DJAbacus Biggest Losers 25 Feb

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I didn't do too much wrong in these 4 hands.

Hand 1

Villain: unknown

After they raise OTF, I think they will call a Shove with this range. I include JJ as a sort of junky hand.

JJ+, 88, 55, AQs, KQs, Q2s+, AQo, KQo, Q2o+

We have 65% equity vs this range so made the right call from my read. The range is possible up for debate.

888 Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) FAST - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): $2.03
SB: $3.73
BB: $1.15
UTG: $2.87
MP: $1.22
CO: $1.96

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has Q A

fold, MP raises to $0.05, fold, Hero raises to $0.16, fold, fold, MP calls $0.11

Flop: ($0.35, 2 players) Q 5 8
MP checks, Hero bets $0.19, MP raises to $0.38, Hero raises to $1.44, MP calls $0.68

Turn: ($2.47, 2 players) 4

River: ($2.47, 2 players) J

Hero shows Q A (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 71%, Flop 14%, Turn 7%)
MP shows Q 8 (Two Pair, Queens and Eights)
(Pre 29%, Flop 86%, Turn 93%)
MP wins $2.32

Hand 2

I now check how long unknown Villains have been 'sitting in'. This Villain was 4 minutes so I'm giving them a wider range than normal here. I don't really like calling a PF shove with AKo because Villains love shoving with PPs and we are always behind them with our AKo. I don't want to toss a coin for chips with total fish. However, confident I'm ahead of his range bearing in mind all the crap he is doing this with.

888 Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) FAST - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: $1.25
Hero (BTN): $2.12
SB: $0.78
BB: $5.81
UTG: $1.72
MP: $2.02

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has K A

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.06, SB raises to $0.78, fold, Hero calls $0.72

Flop: ($1.58, 2 players) 3 8 2

Turn: ($1.58, 2 players) 5

River: ($1.58, 2 players) Q

Hero shows K A (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 73%, Flop 68%, Turn 3%)
SB shows 4 A (Straight, Five High)
(Pre 27%, Flop 32%, Turn 97%)
SB wins $1.49


Hand 3

Villain unkown again. I have TPTK so am pot controlling here. Will make a note (as I do on most Villains i go to SD with)

888 Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) FAST - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $2.00
SB: $9.73
BB: $2.93
Hero (UTG): $2.09
MP: $1.63
CO: $2.00

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has T A

Hero raises to $0.06, fold, fold, BTN calls $0.06, fold, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.19, 3 players) T 6 2
BB checks, Hero bets $0.09, fold, BB calls $0.09

Turn: ($0.37, 2 players) 9
BB checks, Hero bets $0.18, BB calls $0.18

River: ($0.73, 2 players) J
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BB calls $0.22

Hero shows T A (One Pair, Tens)
(Pre 32%, Flop 19%, Turn 11%)
BB shows Q Q (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 68%, Flop 81%, Turn 89%)
BB wins $1.10

Hand 4

Certain I'm ahead OTR. Villain unknown again.

888 Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) FAST - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $1.18
Hero (SB): $2.00
BB: $2.26
UTG: $0.72
MP: $0.47
CO: $1.96

Hero posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has 9 T

fold, MP calls $0.02, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.01, BB checks

Flop: ($0.06, 3 players) J 2 T
Hero bets $0.04, fold, MP calls $0.04

Turn: ($0.14, 2 players) 5
Hero bets $0.10, MP calls $0.10

River: ($0.34, 2 players) A
Hero bets $0.34, MP calls $0.31

Hero shows 9 T (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 44%, Flop 61%, Turn 73%)
MP shows Q 5 (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 56%, Flop 39%, Turn 27%)
MP wins $0.90

I agree: not too much wrong. I'm going to offer up some thoughts on how you might have played differently anyway: you might well want to reject them wholesale but at least it should be food for thought

Hand 1
My impression is that TPTK is not an AI hand at these tables. It might be worth reviewing your TPTK AIs and seeing if they're profitable over all. I could well be wrong. My read is specific to how people play at micros and could be site-dependent (might even be wrong -I haven't checked it properly myself -I know I should)

Hand 2
Seems fine to me. AI 3-bets are so often weaker Aces (or just plain weak) in my recent experience. Really strong hands tend to 3Bet lower and you still have ~50% against the middle pairs.

Hand 3
I'd bet the Flop harder -you're not strong enough to really want to get called- probably X Turn
[R] Thin value bet? After two calls I wouldn't want to open myself to a raise here without a read on the villain. After two calls I get very suspicious. Might be worth turning this one into a bluff with a proper bet though...
Again it's entirely possible your line is more profitable over the ranges.

Hand 4
Sucks huh?
You might have saved some money playing more passively but I'm confident that would have been the wrong play.

Thanks very much for posting again.

Originally Posted by Timlagor

I agree: not too much wrong. I'm going to offer up some thoughts on how you might have played differently anyway: you might well want to reject them wholesale but at least it should be food for thought

Hand 1
My impression is that TPTK is not an AI hand at these tables. It might be worth reviewing your TPTK AIs and seeing if they're profitable over all. I could well be wrong. My read is specific to how people play at micros and could be site-dependent (might even be wrong -I haven't checked it properly myself -I know I should)

Work in progress but I'm inclined to agree with you there. It certainly wouldn't do my BR any harm if I started folding my TPTK hands to raises more often. However, as I collect more data on more opponents the unknown pool gets fishier and fishier and TPTK is going to get stronger and stronger.

Hand 2
Seems fine to me. AI 3-bets are so often weaker Aces (or just plain weak) in my recent experience. Really strong hands tend to 3Bet lower and you still have ~50% against the middle pairs.

Yes, I'm pretty confident that vs a SS who's been playing for 3 mins it's +EV to shove JJ+ AK here.

Hand 3
I'd bet the Flop harder -you're not strong enough to really want to get called- probably X Turn
[R] Thin value bet? After two calls I wouldn't want to open myself to a raise here without a read on the villain. After two calls I get very suspicious. Might be worth turning this one into a bluff with a proper bet though...
Again it's entirely possible your line is more profitable over the ranges.

Agreed bet flop harder, but then why check turn, what hands are we suddenly afraid of? Trying to squeeze some extra value OTR. QQ is a bit of a wtf moment.

Hand 4
Sucks huh?
You might have saved some money playing more passively but I'm confident that would have been the wrong play.

With my Tc, I'm confident I'm ahead so putting in a pot sized bet OTR. Villain seems like a drooler so definitely think I'm getting called by worse. If Villain had shoved there, that would have been tricky. That's why I always try to keep my stack no bigger than 150BBs. I wouldn't want to have to call a 2BI shove, but would have to really.

^^

Overall, these look okay. You do have some huge bet sizing tells though, which better players can destroy (which won't happen at 2nl).

H1: I can go between flatting flop to keep the bluffs in and then calling off most turns, or ripping it in versus this stack size when you'll see some weaker Qx. You'll also see some sets and funky 2-pair when you get c/min raised (2-pair normally wouldn't be likely if a normal c/r size, but the c/mr means a fish). You won't often see big draws vs fish in my experience though, as they prefer to call with them. Overall, I think you played it fine, but you're unlikely to be either a massive favourite or a massive dog.

You're point about TPTK becoming stronger vs a fish isn't necessarily true. Competent regs are far more capable of getting funky on this board texture with air, and your tptk can therefore have more value against them.

H2: marginal, but probably okay. You'll see some AJ-AK and 22+ the majority of the time, so AK will just about be okay I think.

H3: villain plays the hand completely standard. I prefer a check back on this particular river, but I kind of like your sizing for squeezing out thin value. Probably a bit too thin though and we're vulnerable to getting c/r off the best hand here some % of the time when we size this way (assuming villain knows we size non-flushes this way, based on H4).

H4: Looks fine for 2nl. Villain should raise river if he can hand-read, as you don't have much KXcc.

Hand 3
I'm going to throw that one back at you: what do you think he calls the (bigger bet on the) flop with?

Thanks for your comments

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

You're point about TPTK becoming stronger vs a fish isn't necessarily true. Competent regs are far more capable of getting funky on this board texture with air, and your tptk can therefore have more value against them.

I don't think there are many competent regulars at 2nl, but there are regs that play pretty aggressive post flop and will happily cbet with MP and LP as they feel they are getting enough fold equity to do so and I think they probably are most of the time, but will fold to cbets or raise, which is when having TPTK becomes tricky. The fishier the pool the more likely I am to play vs a drooler who will call me down with any pair, but I'm not clear about this. Time will tell how TPTK is best played in these spots.

Originally Posted by Timlagor

Hand 3
I'm going to throw that one back at you: what do you think he calls the (bigger bet on the) flop with?

Well, they will have something, but will they call with a tighter range with a bigger bet OTF. Possibly/Probably...not sure..

I'm pretty sure, I'm getting called on the flop with a bigger bet with Sets, Every Pair (maybe not weak pairs), FD and possibly a GS. OTT the 9s may give them an OESD as well so I want to charge those draws by betting big OTT. I'm ahead OTT so I'm betting the turn.