Jordan Busts in the Mookie
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Howdy ho, everybody! At about 9:55 last night, I got a sudden craving for some Mookie, but found that I was down to a pathetic $5 at Full Tilt. Thankfully, it helps to have friends, and PokerPeaker was kind enough to front me the $5. With 20 seconds to spare, I registered for the event. The result, some great play, followed by one horrible play that took me out of the game. It seems to be a trend. I mentally lock up and drop the ball, but rather than take my word for it, read over the rest of this post, chronicling the ups and downs of my Mookie, and feel free to share your opinion of my last hand in particular.
Four hands into the tournament, I'm still sitting on my starting stack of 1500 when I am dealt 99 in the BB (30/60 blinds). In MP, my ole buddy DNasty raised to 90. In the SB, BobmyKnob (blog?) raised to 270. I really didn't like this spot. I was not in perfect position and I had two raisers ahead of me. However, I decided to see a flop, with the hope that I would hit a set or most likely fold. If D folded, that also meant that I would have position, so at least I wasn't in the SB. DNasty folded.
The flop came down 984, with two hearts, giving me the top set. Bob checks and I bet out 420 into the 600+ pot. Bob waits until he has 15 seconds to act and pushes all-in. I insta-call. He shows AKo, with no hearts, and the rest is academic. I double up early.
Nine hands later, I'm in the SB (blinds of 15/30) with QTc and 3120, about 2x more than my nearest competitor. For that reason and that reason only, I opted to call a raise from pureprophet to 90 from the CO. The extra 75 is relatively minor compared to my stack, so I'm willing to call to see a flop. Meltdown (blog?) in the BB calls as well.
The flop came down a near-ideal J98, with two hearts, giving me the nut straight. I checked, since it was obvious that most people will continuation bet, leaving me an opportunity to build my pot and/or check-raise. Meltdown checks and pureprophet is kind enough to oblige, betting pot, 270. It gets back to me and I consider what to do. Ultimately, I don't want to give anyone a cheap shot at the flush draw. I opt to raise to 720 total (450 on top), a number that will push out Meltdown if he is drawing, but may keep pureprophet if he has a decent pair. Meltdown folds and pureprophet calls time. This is where my loose image gets paid off. Fortunately, he then pushes all-in and I call. He shows 86d, for middle pair, shitty kicker. I have him near dead-to-rights...until he runner runners J and 8 for a full house. On one hand, I was annoyed; on the other hand, I was just glad that I doubled up early, allowing me to suffer through this blow.
Twelve hands later, I have 1605, and am dealt 77 in the BB (20/40 blinds). MEMPHIS00, in late position with 1665, raises to 120. I am the only caller.
The flop comes down 884, rainbow. This is a decent flop for me, but I opt to check. If I bet out and Memphis has a strong pair, he will raise me. He may also raise me if he has a bluffing hand, like AK or AQ here. I want to keep the pot small, since I'm in a tricky spot, so I check and he bets 200. The pot is 460 after his raise, so I decide to call the 200.
The turn is an offsuit 9. I check again and Memphis bets 475. I could sense some hesitation in his bets. The pot was 660, so the 475 bet seemed weak. Even so, I still had high pocket pairs in his range, and I opted to call, once again to control pot size.
The river was a 3, making the board 88493. By now, Memphis and I are both down to around 900. I considered pushing, since by now, I have the feeling that Memphis has crap. However, pushing in this situation is the worst possible move. I am only going to get called by a stronger hand. I'm better off check-calling, which I do. Memphis bets 475, I call and he shows A4s, for flopped bottom pair (now second pair after the rivered 3). My 77 holds up and I take down the pot. Memphis asked if I would've folded to a push. I replied, "I was hoping for a push." I meant it too.
I had been demonstrating a rush at the table, even if it was broken up by the flush v. middle pair, runner-runner suckout, so I decided to keep the pressure on. It didn't hurt that I was dealt TT two hands later in LP. I had 2400 at the time, the second most at the table.
Flip74 (blog?) limped before me, so I raised to 160, 4x the 20/40 blinds. I wanted to take down the pot uncontested or perhaps face one opponent max. Even though the blinds were still small, taking down the pot would allow me to build some heat, which can help accumulate chips early on. Everyone folded and I took down 100 profit without a sweat.
The next hand, I am dealt K9s, which seems to be happening a lot lately. I decide to keep on the pressure. My cards are almost irrelevant, except for the fact that I want decent drawing hands if I'm making this play. In MP, I raise to 120. I want it to seem like this is a standard raise. All players fold and I take down another 60 uncontested.
A few hands later, I am dealt 66 in EP/MP. UTG and UTG+1 both limp. The next guy folds and I am left with a decision. If I limp, I am playing for set value. But I also run the risk of having players act after me. Also, the pot was already 140 on blinds alone. If I can take it down uncontested or limit players and be in position, I won't need my set. I raise to 240, signaling to everyone to get the fudge out of my way. Only pureprophetwith almost 3k in chips calls in EP.
The flop came down AQJ, rainbow. Pureprophet checks and I bet out 400 into the ~600 pot. He waits until the 15 second prompt and then folds. See? I told you I wouldn't need my set if I could narrow the field. If I merely limp there, someone hits that flop and I lose 40. As it were, I took down ~350 profit.
A little over a half-orbit later and I'm dealt QQ on the button with 2825. Sweet. I may have gotten a bit of fancy play syndrome here, and I welcome comments.
Flip74 raises to 150. He is on my immediate right. Blinds are 25/50. I consider raising, but opt for a call. I'm in position and I can see a flop to make sure that it is "safe" before proceeding any further. Plus, there is deception value to checking here. If a player hits TP on a 9-high board, they will not expect me to have JJ-AA, and I may be able to extract a lot of chips.
The flop came down A96, rainbow. Donkette, who called the preflop raise from one of the blinds, bet out 475. Flip74 folded and I folded too. She must've had an Ace. I think the fold was right, but I wonder if I should've raise preflop.
I got into another odd hand with Memphis a couple of hands later. I was up to 2675, whereas Memphis was down to 620. UTG, he raised to 175, with blinds of 25/50. I decided to call in EP/MP with KQo. I wouldn't have minded more players in the pot, but if I ended up HU, that was fine with me. My potential losses for this hand would be capped to Memphis' 620, and since he was in a push/fold situation, I thought I could also exploit that come the flop.
Everyone folded and we saw a QT2 flop, all spades. I had the King of Spades, giving me the second-nut flush draw and top pair with a strong kicker. Memphis checked, and I checked too. He had little chips, so I wanted to give him an opportunity to "sense weakness" and "push me out of the pot."
The turn was a 5s, completing my second-nut flush. He checked and I checked again, hoping that he would try to steal and/or think that a weak flush was good on the river.
The river was a Ten of diamonds, pairing the board. Memphis pushed all-in for 445 more and I called. He showed AA, with an Ace of spades. At least I was right about capping my potential losses. After the hand, I commented that we both wanted the other player to do the dirty work for us. I don't particularly mind how this hand played out. AA was definitely in Memphis' range (when is it not?), but since he raised earlier with A4s, I still think the preflop call was justified. Still, it was a shame that he had the one spade that could beat me.
I must admit that right around the 37th hand, I stopped paying as much attention as I should have been. I had 2055, and AQo UTG when I decided, on auto-pilot, to raise 3x the 25/50 BB. DNasty, down to 655, pushed. It folded to me and I insta-called, another auto-pilot decision. Instantaneously, my brain thought, "500 more to call, thus capping me losses, combined with a 500 call to win the almost 900 pot. I called, he had 88, and he doubled up. I don't know if this was played poorly. I just don't like the fact that I acted without really thinking things through.
I tightened up once I realized I was playing on auto-pilot, and blinded my way down to 920 by the time we hit 40/80 blinds. I was in the BB with K9o (at least it wasn't K9s again), when Perticelli55 with 4k+ limped in from EP. Big Blueberry (blog?) with 1075 limped in from MP/LP. The SB folded and we saw a flop of KQ8, with two clubs. I checked, thinking that I would check-raise my top pair. Petricelli min bet 80 and Blueberry folded. That's when I remembered that I recently busted from one of these games when I check-raised a crappy top pair (Kings then as well) only to find out that I was check-raising a guy with two-pair. Since I did not have a complete grasp on where I was at compared to Petri, I opted for a call.
The turn was an offsuit 6. I checked again and Perti bet out 80. This time, I started to get the impression that Petri was making what I like to call Sweet n' Low bets, just a little bit to sweeten the pot without making the pot dangerous for his drawing hand. I pushed all-in and he called. He showed QTc, for middle pair and a flush draw. He bricked on the river and I doubled up.
God damn! When am I going to get to this freakin' busto hand!
So, we are at the 60/120 level and I have 1270, still maintaining a tighter game, since I am low on chips. But that all goes out the window when everyone folds to me in the CO and I decide to limp with T9c. I didn't want to raise preflop because I did not have enough chips to do anything but push, or perhaps make a small raise that I would have to fold to any re-raise. By limping, I keep the pot small and hopefully see a flop in position. What I see from there on out will determine what I will do. The SB, Donkette, called with 3775, and the BB, Petricelli55, checked with about 3k.
The flop came down 854 with two clubs. It wasn't ideal, but it would do. Donkette min bet 120 in the SB, Petricelli folded in the BB and I opted to call. The upside potential on this hand was huge, and the downside was minimal. This is really where implied odds is important. The odds that I will hit my flush is roughly 60% (15 outs, twice). Assuming that Donkette lucked her way into two pair, my outs are only roughly 36% to hit my flush. The pot odds are 4:1 (I have to call 120 to win a 480 pot). So, the pot odds are there to call anyway. However, the implied pot odds are huge. I am likely to double up if I hit, so I want to see that next card and if needed, the river, for cheap.
The turn is a 7 of clubs, giving me a flush. Donkette bets out 600 and I push for 1030 total. She calls the additional 430 and shows A6o, with the 6 of Clubs. I double up. That was the worst possible turn for her.
God, I wish I could stop writing there, but at least I'm at the end.
Still at the 60/120 level, I am dealt AA in the CO. I have amassed 2480. Chitwood (blog?) raises to 360 from EP and I re-raise to 720. I want to play this HU. Only Chitwood, with 2600, called.
The flop was J97. Chitwood pushes all-in for 1800+ more. He has me barely covered. I think for a few seconds and call, convinced that he does not have a set.
I am wrong. He has 99 and I am out. Realistically, I should've folded the flop. This was the one error that busted me. Yuck! Even now it leaves an ugly taste in my mouth. At least I had played well eariler in the evening.
The lesson I keep learning is to always be cognizant of where you are and what your goal is and then act with purpose. It's a lesson I will keep on learning.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 10:10 PM,
4 Comments:
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At 4:17 PM,
Lucypher said...
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Based on the info you provided (you said you should have folded the turn but you also said he pushed all in on the flop), I am not sure how you could have played the Aces differently on a flop of all unders. He could have been pushing any Jack with a good kicker. However, I would never just call with 10-10, J-J, or Q-Q. I definitely would have raised with the Queens on the button. Your opponents would not have put you on that big of a hand and probably would have imagined you were just playing your position.
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At 10:35 AM,
CC said...
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I think I have $0.85 on FullTilt, so I hear you there!
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At 4:49 PM,
RaisingCayne said...
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Nice write up Jordan, I like the review of your thought processes.
But yeah, I'm with Lucypher regarding that QQ call preflop. I think getting tricky at all with QQ pre is -EV... but that's just me. I think you have to raise there!
But other than in that spot, the rest of the play seemed optimal. I don't see how you can be too bitter with your bustout hand. C'mon now, it was AA on a fairly raggy flop, after you had raised it up pre. I make that call there in that spot too, and expect to be ahead more often than not. (Villain's range included ANY J, and any lesser over pair; I don't think you should have even much considered folding.)
But also worth noting about that bustout hand, is the nice play by villain. I really love the play by Chitwood in that spot. Flops middle set and jams (like a man) instead of opting for the check raise or any other trickier play. That's a nice play by villain there, as it's really hard to put him on such a made hand when it appears he really did not want a caller!
Have a good weekend... -
At 12:17 AM,
said...
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Thanks for the compliment, Cayne. :)
Jordan, I don't have a blog, but I really enjoy reading yours and others in the group. Really good analysis of the hands. I don't see anyway you get away from the bustout hand. I could have shoved with AJ, QQ, or maybe even AK as a pure bluff. I remember thinking right after the hand that I was glad you didn't raise more preflop--I would have folded to a bigger raise. That said, you can't mind taking AA against just one other player--the flop just coolered you.
Greg aka chitwood
