Psuedo Home Game and an Online Hand
Friday, July 06, 2007
I'm falling way behind on posting, even though I posted thrice yesterday. Specifically, I've saved a few hand histories recently that we will discuss shortly, and I expect a couple of people are waiting for me to write about the psuedo-homegame I played at on Tuesday.
The psuedo-homegame was set up in Queens, run by the employer of Two Diamond Phillips (aka 2dP), one of the Roose crew. 2dP's boss and a couple of other guys ran a homegame tournament and cash game, but took a fee. Initially, I was a little miffed at the idea. I have a strict homegame-don't-have-rake rule, but it sounded like there would be a lot of dead money, and I just likened it to a day at an underground club.
As it turned out, the fees were more than made up for by the food and drink available. The fridge was stocked with beer and sodas, and barbecued burgers and hotdogs were served by the hosts. They even had a dealer, which helped the action to move and made me feel like we were actually getting something for our money.
Unfortunately, I lost the tournament and then $15 in the 1/2 NL game. In both instances, I was just not catching cards. I tried to make some moves in the tournament, but it was a very loose aggressive game, and it didn't pan out. During the cash game, I made some strides and got paid off on a big hand, doubling up, but then lost most of it back. Plain and simple, next time I'll play tight ABC poker. It's not my usual style, but I know it will work, and its always important to adjust to table conditions.
After about an hour of cashgames, Robbie Hole and I headed over to Scotty's house for the Roose homegame. Roose had left 2dP's boss' place a while before us, and once we were all settled in, we played a one rebuy bounty tournament. I lost that one too. I was playing well, but ultimately, just couldn't get anything going.
A day before that, I played in the Hoy, making it to 7th place (out of 23) after coming back from two insane suckouts. I remember one of them was AK v. AQ after an AK flop. Runner runner flush and I lost. I don't remember the other, but it was probably overpair to underpair. In both instances, I took the beats in stride, and was proud that I had more chips (although not much more chips) than my opponents. If you are going to suffer a bad beat in a tournament, at least try to have more chips when it happens.
Here's a fun hand in the tournament between Chad and Schaubs. With blinds of 25/50, Chad had 2790 and Schaubs had 3660. Chad called UTG and Schaubs called UTG+2. TripJax raises to 200 on the button and after the blinds fold, Chad and Schaubs call. The flop is AJ7 rainbow. All players check. The turn is an 8c, bringing a club draw. Schaubs bets 525 (pot) and after a delay, Chad raises pot to 1950 total (with 640 or so behind). Schaubs pushes and Chad calls. They show: Chad's 88 (set of 8s on the turn) vs. Schaubs' A2c (flopped top pair, weak kicker, with a nut flush draw on the turn). The river is a 5d, and Chad wins.
Chad seemed to have a lot of problem with Schaubs play, but interestingly, I think the major problem with Schaubs play was PREFLOP. It wasn't the bet on the turn or the reraise, which I think was fairly justified given what information was available to him. Allow me to explain.
Preflop, A2 suited is crap UTG. You are playing for the flush and the flush only, since you have to be wary of a stronger Ace. So, I would argue that Schaubs should have folded UTG or, at the very least, folded to Trip's raise. After all, Schaubs has a potentially dominated hand and is out of position.
On the flop, Schaubs hits top pair, but with his kicker he can't bet out. So he checks. Once Chad and Trip checks, now Schaubs can reevaluate. Perhaps his Ace is good and he's facing two lower pocket pairs.
On the turn, he gets his flush draw too. He can assume his Ace is good, but have confidence in his backup draws, if he needs it. So he bets out. Now, Chad raises pretty damn large. Well played, Chad. Without a doubt, Chad played this hand well, so I'm not particularly interested in analyzing his play. But from Schaubs' perspective, Chad might be trying to take the pot with lesser cards. Chad's extreme bet can be viewed in one of two ways: (a) He has a monster and just decided to make his move now, or (b) he has a marginal hand and wants to take down the pot, since everyone checked on the flop. If it's (b), then Schaubs is in great shape, so the raise makes sense. If its (a), then at least he has a chance to river the flush. That flush is coming 18% of the time (discount the times that it makes a full house against 8s) or over 20% if you surmise that Chad has the nuts as of the turn. Now add to the fact that Schaubs outchips Chad (i.e., is not making this play for his tournament life) and Schaubs decision isn't horrible. Mind you, I still say its potentially marginal. Schaubs could've gotten away from his top pair, shitty kicker, but I do think there is some justification for his willingness to push.
Interestingly, this just highlights why playing tight(er) is often helpful in ways we don't initially comprehend. If A2c was not played UTG then all of this would have been for naught. Schaubs would still have a nice stack and Chad would've picked up a couple of hundred instead of doubling up. Its akin to a situation that has happened to me a couple of times. I'll play crap cards, hit a flop and then get "sucked out" on the turn or river. The truth was, if I didn't play the crap cards in the first place, I wouldn't have put myself in a position to be sucked out upon. Any other thoughts?
That's all I have for today. This weekend, I plan on playing in an underground poker room on Long Island, now that I know one of the dealers, and on Sunday, I plan on playing at a local blogger game.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 11:50 AM,
4 Comments:
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At 1:46 AM,
said...
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Hands played passively preflop in NL Hold 'em should usually be played passively post-flop unless you hit a huge hand, especially if a raise would commit you with a relatively weak hand. Schaubs' mistake was betting the turn, and then his other mistake was probably going all in I'd say.
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At 11:01 PM,
Schaubs said...
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Limping this sort of hand is -EV. I played so many hands wrong that night, I deserve to lose that shit.
I've learned that lesson... -
At 5:03 PM,
said...
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Seeing cheap flops with A2s is not a bad idea... the problem is how you played it post flop. T200 is nothing with a T3660 stack.
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At 11:37 AM,
MHG said...
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WSOP bets are still alive! Carl Olson sitting in 2nd after Day 1C!
