Gulf Coast Poker Championship and Lessons Learned part five
Continued from previous posts...
There was a 2 on the turn. Hard to give him quads. Possible AA or KK or 1010 but those were the only hands that beat me. At the same time A10 seemed a little weak for him to raise from EP but Texas Holdem games have changed so much these days I was hoping for JJ. He checked I bet, he called (now that range is tighter as 99, 88, or an underpair seemed less likely).
I think on the river he bet and I called. He barely had anything behind and for some reason I didn’t shove on him. Which would never happen in online poker tournaments because the stacks are self-evident. And all that information is easy and readable.
He actually had more than I thought and we entered the hand with similar stacks. He turned over A10 and I showed QQ. He said nice hand but I’m not sure he meant it. Yes, I surprised him with the QQ but the way it worked out it probably looked pretty reckless to him.
The good thing was I immediately garnered the “he could have anything at anytime” respect that is so helpful in tournaments. It didn’t really pay off. In the two nooners that I played I got a steady diet of card dead o/s numbered non-connectors. Nine three started to look good with all the six two, seven three, eight two, and five deuces I got. In early position I of course got marginal hands that I either had to give up if I chose to bet them or just played terrible post flop not connecting.
Such is life I guess. Can’t get QQ on every hand and win with it can you.
Anyway, I had success opening my range up online and avoiding showdowns with follow up bets so now I need to apply it in real life. At the same time I’m balancing that with the short-stack relearning I got out of watching John Price “Is Right.” I saw him fold UTG, in the BB, and the SB, leaving him with exactly 1 BB. Blinds were 1500 – 3000. He had 3000 when he finally found a hand after folding forever. In less than a revolution that 3k became 36k. Then it became almost 80k and he almost cruised to the money in a survivor tournament.
He got short again, and did something I used to do with similar success except against all but the most savvy opponents though I don’t get why it works. Basically, he’d do a lot of things backwards. For example he might just call with KQ. If he hit the flop he wouldn’t just shove he make a bet so small that a player would be embarrassed to fold to it. Then he’d make the same bet on the turn and the river if the guy didn’t come back at him.
At any point he would have called the shove, but he was also adding a couple of big blinds to every hand by betting out little. I’ve gotten into such a pattern of escalating follow up bets that I think I’m leaving money on the table. As I used to be a short-stack ninja, I now remember that even when short your arsenal is not limited to just one move in live play. I had gotten away from that and adopted the online pushbot mentality which isn’t necessary live.
In one hand John employed his weak betting strategy and a monster stack called him twice and then folded to the same bet on the river (and the board didn’t even look like it was supporting a draw to justify the call-call fold).
To be continued...
There was a 2 on the turn. Hard to give him quads. Possible AA or KK or 1010 but those were the only hands that beat me. At the same time A10 seemed a little weak for him to raise from EP but Texas Holdem games have changed so much these days I was hoping for JJ. He checked I bet, he called (now that range is tighter as 99, 88, or an underpair seemed less likely).
I think on the river he bet and I called. He barely had anything behind and for some reason I didn’t shove on him. Which would never happen in online poker tournaments because the stacks are self-evident. And all that information is easy and readable.
He actually had more than I thought and we entered the hand with similar stacks. He turned over A10 and I showed QQ. He said nice hand but I’m not sure he meant it. Yes, I surprised him with the QQ but the way it worked out it probably looked pretty reckless to him.
The good thing was I immediately garnered the “he could have anything at anytime” respect that is so helpful in tournaments. It didn’t really pay off. In the two nooners that I played I got a steady diet of card dead o/s numbered non-connectors. Nine three started to look good with all the six two, seven three, eight two, and five deuces I got. In early position I of course got marginal hands that I either had to give up if I chose to bet them or just played terrible post flop not connecting.
Such is life I guess. Can’t get QQ on every hand and win with it can you.
Anyway, I had success opening my range up online and avoiding showdowns with follow up bets so now I need to apply it in real life. At the same time I’m balancing that with the short-stack relearning I got out of watching John Price “Is Right.” I saw him fold UTG, in the BB, and the SB, leaving him with exactly 1 BB. Blinds were 1500 – 3000. He had 3000 when he finally found a hand after folding forever. In less than a revolution that 3k became 36k. Then it became almost 80k and he almost cruised to the money in a survivor tournament.
He got short again, and did something I used to do with similar success except against all but the most savvy opponents though I don’t get why it works. Basically, he’d do a lot of things backwards. For example he might just call with KQ. If he hit the flop he wouldn’t just shove he make a bet so small that a player would be embarrassed to fold to it. Then he’d make the same bet on the turn and the river if the guy didn’t come back at him.
At any point he would have called the shove, but he was also adding a couple of big blinds to every hand by betting out little. I’ve gotten into such a pattern of escalating follow up bets that I think I’m leaving money on the table. As I used to be a short-stack ninja, I now remember that even when short your arsenal is not limited to just one move in live play. I had gotten away from that and adopted the online pushbot mentality which isn’t necessary live.
In one hand John employed his weak betting strategy and a monster stack called him twice and then folded to the same bet on the river (and the board didn’t even look like it was supporting a draw to justify the call-call fold).
To be continued...
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