Weekend lessons learned

So there I was...

Got the ok from the little lady to spend the day at the tables and before the last word was out of her mouth, I was out the door.

Within an hour at the $1/$2 tables I had gained about $100 on small hands in position. Three hours later I had tripled my buyin to $900 through good cards and good plays.

Then the slow spiral down began.

In the BB I am dealt there are 3 limpers and a raise to $10 from the button, SB folds. I reraise to $25 and am called by only the BTN. $42 in the pot.

Flop comes so I bet $35 as a cbet which is called by the button. I'm thinking the button must have a small range to call both bets, but he seems inexperienced and going too far with trash hands. Unless he flopped a set, I'm not too concerned, and I really only see a set of tens in his range. $112 in the pot.

Turn hits not really a scary card but the board is wetter with connectors so I play a little more thoughtfully in the possible hands the button could hold. I decide to check. BTN checks. Now I'm pretty sure I have the best hand. Villain usually bets in position with a good hand when checked to.

River is Ok worst case scenarios: quad 7s which I discard; full house, again not likely in my perceived range of his hands; trip tens possible but he probably would have bet on the turn, same with a set of fours.

I finally put him on A-10 for two pair. I under bet the pot at $65 which is called. Villain turns over for a set of sevens.

The button travels all the way around again, but this time I'm in the SB waking up with pocket threes. I'll play to set mine if everyone limps in, and what do you know nearly the whole ring limps in. $14 in the pot. Here's the flop:

Woo hoo, flopped a boat. I bet $15. Fold, fold, fold, call, fold, fold, reraise from the CO (villain) to $30.

i don't suspect anyone has the other three, playing A-3, and I don't think anyone hit a set of 8 's, no one reraised preflop either so pocket aces are a slim possibility. I think at worst I'm playing against trip aces. Two players against and I think I can isolate the Villain with a large bet. He's short stacked and I have a mound in front of me. Villain plays trash too far and plays poor hands out of position. To him trip aces probably look like the nuts and I think I can squeeze all his money out of him. His stack is $65 on top. I bet $95 to put the villain all in and to make the other caller fold. MP2 folds, villain calls all in, pot is $219. Since its heads up I toss in my pocket 3s showing the full house

Turn hits looks good. River comes

Villain thought he lost with his A-Q because he was behind from the flop. Dealer had to point out he won.

So to not make this a novel... The other hands were things like having a double gut buster with the right odds and three callers not make the straight; pocket kings getting cracked by trip 9s; Pocket tens catching a flop of A-K-Q playing from the SB; and the one thing I've never done before - barreled air each street.

I'm trying to increase my range of plays as everyone does. I just picked the wrong time to do it. I get dealt OOP. Everyone folds to the villain on the button who has just sat down and bets $10. I figure the BB will fold and I'm SB. I call since I had been playing real tight the past hour with all the beats.

Flop comes 8-3-10 rainbow. I make a pot sized bet of $22, villain calls, pot is $66.

Turn comes 2. I'm hoping to hit a card, but I also think I can push him off the pot. $50 bet, called. Pot is $166. And this is where I needed to engage the brain. Why would the villain be calling?

River lands 7. Great all small cards, I decide to barrel air after a minute deliberation. $150. Villain calls with pocket jacks.

Lesson learned the hard way.

Not much happened after that for me since I had been whittled down from $900 to less than a hundred over the hours. I hit felt shortly there after. Although I want every day to be a winning day, not every one can be. Barring a few hands, including that last one, I think most of my playing was good playing over the day. My great hands where there was big pots got cracked and that hurt me the most.

More to come later in the week.

First two hands should make you a very happy person. You built a big pot when you were crushing your opponent.
Sure, you hit that small percent of the time where you lose in those situations.
It's your decisions that are + or - EV. The rest is just paperwork. Cards being dealt after an all-in is meh.
Losing a pot you thought you would win is what hurts, but there's only pride that makes it hurt.


Keep playing like you've shown us you are capable, and you will be sitting on a BR that doesn't tilt you to lose a hand or even a couple of sessions.

{{Moved from BC}}

Hand histories go in SSNL, general questions go to BC. Thanks for the heads-up OP.

You played your cards right. With KK I might have bet on the turn to maybe squeeze the villian off his hand however if he called your re-raise and C-Bet with just a pair of 7-5 they might not have folded anyways. I don't play at casinos but was there a way to take some money off the table if you quickly increased your chips to $900? Did you have a goal before you started playing, like if you were up to $1000 you be done for the day?

You can squirrel money away, I generally do not. There's no reason I cant, it's just preference. I also had no time / money goal. My goal is more based on becoming a stronger player which shows a + EV over time. The consistent money should take care of itself after that point. Not sure if that makes sense since I did initially triple my stack, but at this time I'm looking for strong play and plugging leaks vs. time or money goals even though I know they're interrelated.

I strongly recommend against setting monetary goals outside of BR management.

Your poker goals should be measurable actions you can do.

Make sure your goal implies the method of achievement.

I.e. "Making money" or "being a stronger player over time" are things that you can never really pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

I don't think monetary goals are ever really good on a day-to-day basis for a poker player. I like the "being stronger over time" but it has no clear statement of what better is, or how much time. These are soft goals that will plague your mind as an endless, rewardless task.

Rather, set a goal like: If I start to tilt, I will stand up and walk to the restroom / I will make every attempt to think about the NEXT hand and not the LAST hand while I do so.

Set a goal based on time at the tables or a specific action you think you need to work on.

At the end of your session, you can look back and give yourself a clear, conscious look to see if the goal was achieved and whether the goal should be changed for next session.

nice post man...
my next goal is ... when I'm beat , just fold lol

Originally Posted by micro4life

nice post man...
my next goal is ... when I'm beat , just fold lol

What if you have the correct pot-odds / implied odds to call?

There are situations in which your opponent could turn their hand face up, you could see that you were behind, and you would know that you would be throwing away money if you folded.

Opponent bets 1 BB into a pot of 60 BB. You can be pretty "beat" there and still be getting excellent odds to call if you have any draw at all.

I'm belaboring the point.

Try to set a more specific goal.
Like: When I think I might be beat, I will take a couple of deep breaths and I will try to put Villain on a range, and guess the equity I have. I will fold the hand. I will make a note of that hand and after the session, I will post the hand on FTR to ask for advice.

Do you see how that goal tells you exactly what to do? It gives you an immediate reward for doing measurable things. Even if your goal is merely to take those deep breaths, that's a measurable goal. You can easily do that. You can easily say, "Whether or not that particular fold was correct, in the long run, I am setting myself up to make smarter decisions."

I don't play at casinos but if I did I put a time limit for how long I play. Once the limit is reached up or down I walk away and then think about the decisions I've made. That's what I do online. After playing I like to spend some time reviewing my hands and looking for my mistakes.

KK hand - I would make it bigger pre, especially live. I would likely also double barrel, but don't hate your line either. Be glad he didn't ram you on the river!

3's full - You got the money in good, not much else you can do.

The goal of this blog is to post three hands every week with some analysis. Everyone is welcome to comment.

mod edit : same guy i've banned many times for cutting and pasting from other posts. in this case http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...og-197630.html








__________________
IMRAN

Well badbeats occur, and if you feel like you are tilting you should stop playing, although its difficult when you are playing live poker

Lol at dealer having to point out to other guy that he won the hand in a $200+ pot! Seems he had mentally lost the hand before it was even over. Super UL by the way; those 7 outers on the river tend to sting in big pots.

Great read, unlucky man