It's the London Poker Masters at the Gutshot this week. The £500 main event is at the weekend, but I can't really play then. Instead, I will probably play the £200 NLH event on Thursday.
Today, as a warm up, I played some cash PLH. Unfortunately, it went by the usual pattern. I thought I played OK - admittedly very loose pre-flop - and was up significantly.
I was really trying to tighten up at that stage to bank an elusive winning session, but then 2 hands finished me off. In the first, I had 67o. I had posted the £5 straddle and nearly everyone called. I checked my option, and the flop came 772. Checked around. Turn J. I bet just £5. There was a raise, then a re-raise, and now I bet the pot (£189). Called all-in. The caller has 72 !!
Then, a short while later, I called a £7 pre-flop bet with 3s5s. Flop 235 with 2 clubs. It all went in and I was shown a set of 2s.
Up, to down&out in the space of 30 minutes. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid this year. I can't really say that I shouldn't have been in those pots in the first place because it was hands like 62o, 98s etc that produced my win to begin with. It's true that in both losing pots, I faced a big re-raise and perhaps I should lay down but if you are going to play 76 or 53 then can you really lay down when you hit trips, or 2 pair ?
So:
a) unlucky ?
b) what do you expect if you play those hands ?
c) respect the re-raise ?
To do better next time, what can I do ? I really can't see myself tightening up too much pre-flop. At live cardroom hand-rates, you just don't see the really premium hands often enough. I suppose I will have to see if I can control the pot size a bit better post-flop so I don't go broke in those situations.
5 comments:
The 2 hands you described are clearly bad luck. Very hard to lay down, at least for me.
I was wondering how many hands you play pre-flop. PokerStars shows the % of hands played, what's your average? Are you also bleeding from the other sub-prime hands that you see the flop with?
Another difficulty is: how you play sub-prime hands if you hit top pair? You need a good read then if somebody shows strength.
Hard to play.
I am not certain of my % of flops seen but it will have been very high. This is clasically bad, of course, but being pot-limit and with the table being fairly passive pre-flop, I felt that wasn't the worst thing I did.
67 hand. From the pattern you describe it must be clear the villain had 7. Playable 7's? 87 or A7 beat you. Obviously you have outs to split and 3 outs to win. My point is that you can beat some legitimate hands (AJ and 57 say) but most of the time you can only beat a bluff. I would not be reraising with that hand but calling instead for pot control. I do not advocate folding but see no danger in just calling. After all if you are ahead, you are way ahead and giving the opponent a free card is no big deal. I saw some very good players being able to lay down trips almost instantly in similar spots but i am not one of them.
dunkin - very well put.
On reflection, afterwards, it was crystal clear the fella had a 7 and then - as you say - I am in s lot of trouble.
Even at the time, whilst I hoped he had AJ, I thought it quite likely he had a 7. I suppose there were two things that I had in mind (which may be quite important problems in my general play).
One is: I thought that it should be obvious to HIM that I ALSO had a seven, and then perhaps he has to lay down a poor 7 ? He doesn't have to have a playable 7 as the pre flop action was so light. In fact, on recollection, I am not even sure there was a straddle. I may have been the big blind. Either way, he can have any two cards (as we saw !).
The other thing is, if I just call (and I totally see your argument for that), what do I do when he bets the turn ? I hate calling down, so I always prefer to raise.
In both these things, I reckon there is some merit to what I'm thinking, but I give too much weight to these points I think.
"...if you are going to play 76 or 53 then can you really lay down when you hit trips, or 2 pair ?"
Yes and no! On the first hand you're beat 90%+ of the time. You bet small to smoke out those snakes in the grass who were slowplaying their monsters, and got a pretty convicing response. If you really don't think anyone has anything then bide your time and let them bluff or "value bet" their jack.
On the second hand you'll see AcXc/overpair enough to make the call correct.
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