Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Let's talk Poker!

I know, I'm straying so far from "general video games blog" with my focus on Starcraft and then talking about Poker.  But I think that there's so much overlap and similarity between all games that I think you'll want to read about this too.  And besides, this is my blog, and this is what I want to write about.  I hope you want to read about it.

I'm going to post some sample Texas Hold'em hands that I've played online, against real people, for real money.  The monetary values in the hands are real.  "Hero" to me, the other labels refer to the position of the opponents around the table.  "SB" means small blind, "BB" means big blind, etc.  Cards are labeled by the face value of the card, followed by the suit.  So "Ac" means the Ace of Clubs.  "6d" means the 6 of diamonds.  When I mention stats like "25/20" or "40/40", the first number refers to the "vpip", or "volume put in pot".  It's a statistic of how often the player calls bets without raising.  The second number refers to "preflop raise", or the % of times the player has raised before the flop.  The ratio of these numbers can often tell you a player's general tendencies, along with a lot of other information.  A player with a high pfr is a loose aggressive player.  A player with a very low pfr is very tight when he or she raises and has a strong hand often.  If you need clarification about anything else, please ask!  Also included is my commentary for each hand.



No stats on this villain, 5th hand of the session.  He had a $10 stack though, so I assumed he was a pretty good reg.  From the 2 revolutions I had observed, he seemed pretty good, got involved only in good spots and usually won the pots he got involved with.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (UTG): $4.06
MP: $4.00
CO: $6.23
BTN: $6.61
SB: $4.31
BB: $9.60

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has Ac 9c

Hero raises to $0.14, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.30, 2 players) 8h Qh 9d
BB checks, Hero checks
I could have c-bet here to get value from draws, but I felt at the time that this board hits his range really hard, and if he's a good player it's going to be very tough to win the pot by c-betting and following up.  A good player is also raising draws sometimes.  And he was mostly unknown.  I just felt like taking a safer and more passive line at the time.  Think I should have c-bet?

Turn: ($0.30, 2 players) 2d
BB bets $0.25, Hero calls $0.25
I thought he bets here a TON; all of his air bluffs here after I checked flop.  All his draws bet here, plus his queens.  So I have good enough equity to call against that wide range.

River: ($0.80, 2 players) 2s
BB bets $0.60, Hero raises to $3.67 and is all-in
I tanked for a very long time after he bet river.  At this point, I thought that he could have a queen.  But I also thought that if he's a good player, my hand seems kind of face-up.  Middle pair or a draw type hand that missed completely.  He knows for a fact I don't have top pair or I'd c-bet the flop, but I called the turn, so I have a middle strength hand, meaning he can blow me off it with a river bet.  Given this, I think that I don't want to fold.  But what do I do?  If I call, he's probably like 50:50 between queens and bluffs, and while it's +ev it might not be the most +ev.  I contemplated raising, and thought that given the action so far I can very credibly rep a monster that I was slow playing, like JT (almost exactly JT, most other monsters value bet flop because of the draws).  But if I min raise or raise 3x, I think he calls sometimes with his queens, although it's hard to say.  My fold equity isn't great against something like KQ.  He can assume I have a missed draw often enough to call, potentially.  So I don't think a standard raise is going to do the job.  But a shove is consistent with what I represent, and I think he folds his queens very often because at these limits, an unknown shoving you on the river is always the nuts.  You'd fold to this line, no doubt, to an unknown player.  So would I.  So I think the shove is the most +ev decision and I went with it.

(he tanked) fold, Hero wins $1.90



Villain was 44/40, super aggressive super loose player but generally a winning one.  Pretty standard spot, he was calling and c/f a lot of flops to my 3 bets.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (BTN): $6.81
SB: $4.67
BB: $2.05
UTG: $8.08
MP: $4.00
CO: $10.75

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 6s As

UTG raises to $0.12, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.34, fold, fold, UTG calls $0.22

Flop: ($0.74, 2 players) 9d 5c Ac
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.55, fold

Hero wins $0.71



Same Villain, he's super LAG.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (BB): $4.99
UTG: $4.39
CO: $5.93
BTN: $4.54
SB: $10.91

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has Th Td

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.10, fold, Hero raises to $0.32, BTN raises to $0.88, Hero calls $0.56
The 3 bet is a no brainer.  But he 4 bet me, first time at the table he's done that.  However, it's also a pretty small amount.  Almost universally people 4 bet to $1 in my experience.  I thought he could be light here, and I also just had great pot odds.  I really wanted to jam, but I felt his calling range was still going to be fairly strong, and I knew I could outplay the guy postflop.  It felt gross but I flatted.  

Flop: ($1.78, 2 players) Kc 2c 8h
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.01, Hero calls $1.01
Given his stats, I can't fold here, I think.  Very dry flop, he c bets almost every flop, I can't immediately assume he has AK.

Turn: ($3.80, 2 players) Qc
Hero checks, BTN checks
I'd have folded if he bet here.

River: ($3.80, 2 players) 8s
Hero checks, BTN checks

Hero shows Th Td (Two Pair, Tens and Eights) (Pre 84%, Flop 95%, Turn 100%)
BTN shows 4s 6d (One Pair, Eights) (Pre 16%, Flop 5%, Turn 0%)
Hero wins $3.61


This hand is kind of ridiculous.  Gotta love micro players.  A 3 bet pot AND it's multiway, this is as fit-or-fold as it gets!

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (UTG): $7.18
MP: $4.85
CO: $1.90
BTN: $7.68
SB: $4.00
BB: $10.75

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 2d 2s

Hero raises to $0.10, MP calls $0.10, fold, fold, SB raises to $0.32, BB calls $0.28, Hero calls $0.22, MP calls $0.22
Note the stack sizes and the pot odds and you'll see why I called.  If BB had folded I would have.

Flop: ($1.28, 4 players) Kc 4c 3d
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, MP checks
Obvious check-fold 4 way on this flop.  Except nobody bet!

Turn: ($1.28, 4 players) 7d
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.64, fold, fold, fold
After it checks through on the flop, I figure this 7 hits nobody's ranges and if they didn't have a K before, they're folding for sure here.  And 4 way, why would you check something like AK or KQ on that flop?  Only needed to risk half pot to get the job done.

Hero wins $1.22


For a change, here's a hand I lost.  Same super LAG villain, I know he's very loose and raise-happy.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (UTG): $6.55
CO: $4.72
BTN: $7.13
SB: $3.78
BB: $10.89

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 9d 9h

Hero raises to $0.14, fold, BTN raises to $0.40, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.26
Again this felt gross.  But we were both playing back against the other lately, and I felt like if I 4 bet he'd 5 bet very often.  But I hate to just fold 99 against him.  Are we deep enough for me to set mine here?

Flop: ($0.86, 2 players) Td Jc As
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.57, fold
Yeah I might have the best hand on this flop, but it just felt like such a shitty spot, I have an underpair to the board, it's ALL broadways, he could easily have a lot of gutshots with K's and Q's that I have little fold equity against and that have great equity against me.  And I can't really stand up to any pressure after the flop.  So with little fold equity and no good plan to make it to showdown with what MIGHT be the best hand, I figured fold was the best plan.

BTN wins $0.82


Hand reading :) Villain was 40/0 over 50 hands. Look for spots like this where you can get value, you might be missing some.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

SB: $4.20
BB: $1.20
UTG: $4.16
CO: $2.29
Hero (BTN): $3.98

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 2c Kc

fold, CO calls $0.04, Hero raises to $0.16, fold, fold, CO calls $0.12
I raise here because this guy limped in and I want to take the dead money in the pot.

Flop: ($0.38, 2 players) Ac Td 3d
CO bets $0.19, Hero raises to $0.57, fold
He leads into me for half pot.  He limped, so I don't believe he has an A - I think he'd raise an A.  I also don't think he'd be too afraid to check flop and either check raise or lead turn, considering I raised him before the flop, if he did have an A.  Leading here indicates either a monster like a set, or a bluff, and I think it looks way more like a bluff.  So I raise him.  He folded and showed me a ten.

Hero wins $0.73


Villain was 17/17 over 6 hands, no real reads in the blinds.  Decided the standard villain is light enough here, and I have ace blocker, that I can 4-bet bluff him here profitably without reads.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

BB: $3.96
UTG: $1.26
CO: $4.00
BTN: $2.34
Hero (SB): $4.06

Hero posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has Ad Qh

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.08, BB raises to $0.24, Hero raises to $0.56, fold

Hero wins $0.48



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