You Decide #62
Saturday, October 11, 2008
I'm holed up in my apartment, shades drawn, windows shut, strapped down to play some online poker. Wifey Kim is out brunching and shopping with her mother and I've isolated myself from the outside world with nothing but a laptop and a bottle of diet peach Snapple, sitting in my pajamas as the day ticks by playing online poker.
It reminds me of why I love and hate online poker. The love is for the fact that it is poker, instantly accessible. I love this game more than I know how to express. The hate is its solitary existence. At a live table, I feel that I am part of the human experience. In an online room, I am entirely alone.
Yet here I am, the love of the game once again supplanting the loath of the online game. And one thing that online poker consistently gives me is hands. Lots and lots of hands.
Speaking of hands, I had the pleasure of chopping a small MTT at Stars and outright won a 176 person $10 MTT at FullTilt for $435. In both cases, I played well, from my own vantage, particularly given the fact that the premium hands were few and far between. I like to think that good results in the face of bad starting hands is a sign of skill-based success, but it may just be an association I made up for my own sanity.
I did, however, have a little bit of luck in the FT tournament, hitting a 2 outter when we were down to three. To be fair to myself, I had JJ and the chipleader had AA, which is hard to get away from three-handed. Once that suckout occurred, I had the guy slightly covered. A few hands later, I had 55 preflop and the shorty got all-in preflop against me and the former big-stack. On the 5T3, all club flop, I called an open-push from the former chipleader who showed AT with the Ace of clubs. The original shortstack showed AJo. No one hit anything and I took down the tournament.
It should be no surprise to anyone who reads here frequently enough, but the FT MTT win came in a 6-max game, easily my specialty. I just have a better grasp on when I can make moves in a shorthanded game. It probably plays to my naturally aggressive play. Whatever the case, I had an interesting hand in the middle of the tournament that ended well, but may not have been played optimally.
I'm asking you to take out your commentor's hat and even your over-critical-of-Jordan hat and really let loose on this one. Was this expertly played, was I lucky, or was this a no-brainer?
You Decide #62
We are in the 6-handed NLHE MTT on FT with five players at the table. I am in the BB with 4480 in chips. I have the third lowest stack, with two guys at about 9k, one guy nipping at my heels and a third guy in the SB with 1213. The blinds are 60/120.
UTG folds. Jewel, with about 9k, is UTG+1, which is actually the cutoff thanks to the shorthanded table. He raises to 360. It folds to me, and since Jewel has proved herself to be a bit over-aggressive, I decide to call with A2d. I want to see the flop and decide what to do from there.
The flop is 2c 3d 4d, giving me bottom pair, top kicker, a nut flush draw, an inside straight draw, and an inside straight flush draw. I check and Jewel bets 555. It is a suspicious bet. I decide to push all-in for 4120. Jewel requests time and then finally calls, showing A2o. The turn is a diamond and I take down the pot, doubling up.
My push was an attempt to win the hand outright from a player who may've been scared by the coordinated flop and/or who may've had two overcards and nothing else. Perhaps I was also representing a flopped baby set. Whatever the case, after I pushed, I second-guessed the intelligence of the play.
I won't go deeper into analysis here, but disregarding the results, was a check-raise push the optimal play? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 12:27 PM,
5 Comments:
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At 12:24 PM,
Fuel55 said...
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I like the play.
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At 12:49 PM,
Pokerwolf said...
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I think your play is the better move because going for the check-raise means that your opponent might check behind you if the flop scares them. You don't want to give free cards at this point and you definitely want to take a stab at the pot there.
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At 2:22 PM,
RaisingCayne said...
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I like the play... Aggressively going after a large pot, with plenty of reason to believe you're either: 1) possibly ahead, and the c/r is to pick off villain's bluff, OR 2) representing a bigger hand, and villain to likely fold a medium strength hand to your overt aggression... OR 3) still having LOTS of outs to come from behind if villain is actually holding a monster.
You don't really delve much into villain's call here. Dude tanks for awhile then CALLS off nearly half his stack w/BPTK+gutshot to the dummy end of a straight.?! Freaking brilliant! Glad you were able to spike a diamond to not have to split pot with the idiot. What did he put you on where his hand was good?!
(Oh, and just for the record, despite my endorsement of your play here, I actually do always wear my 'overly critical of Jordan hat'! It fits well.) -
At 6:03 PM,
Alan aka RecessRampage said...
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No brainer. Except for the preflop call.
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At 9:08 AM,
Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo said...
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Ditto what Alan said. Preflop call, not a fan. Flop play is fine, as long as you're willing to risk your tournament on a draw. You had a whole mess of outs there. Nicely done.
