Be Strong Enough to Fold KK

Quick update folks. I've played a few home games and a few times at the boat since we last spoke. No real interesting plays to note, though that is something noteworthy. The value of being able to play straight poker is huge.

I've been watching the Poker After Dark series lately and I've noticed that for the most part, they play straight poker. Some play a little faster, some play a little slower, but usually they play good, fundamental poker, rather than always trying to set elaborate "traps" for people. Maybe this is because the players they're playing against are also world class and can see these traps, but I think that TV glorifies all of the trap plays even more so than I once thought. So, what I do is DVR the whole week's shows, and watch them all at once so you can see most of the plays (by the way, the fact that they try to pretend that they play every night is laughable). What I found is a "formula" for good poker play:

Position + Premium-to-Very-Good Starting Hand + Situation Read = Success

It's easy to notice that even the "world's most aggressive" players play straight poker for the most part. It's just that these aggressive players have an uncanny ability to read and exploit the situation. Most know what hands are good starting hands. Of these people, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 realize the importance of position. From that percentage who know both, maybe 2-3% of these people have the ability to read the situation properly. The ones who have all three qualities are dangerous players, and consequently, the ones who are very good at it are the pros.

So, what's the tidbit for today? Simple. Make poker an objective game. Do not get "emotionally attached" to certain hands because they are "supposed to win." Know and keep in mind that certain hands have a certain win percentage. Know also that your position is very important, and sometimes is more important than the cards you hold. Finally, know the situation that was created or that you created, and exploit it.

Here's an example. I saw this too many times last night at the 2-4-4-8 table (yeah, yeah, I know, but I was only sitting there to try to hit the $201K bad beat jackpot).

6 players see the flop. One player inevitably has KK, QQ, or JJ (not me this time, I promise). Flop comes 3-4-5 (2 flush cards).

Look at the situation objectively. First, think about the game you're playing. 2-4-4-8 is a loose game, where the players skill level is relatively low compared to the other limits. Also, the bad beat is up to $201K, so you know that people will be calling with ANYTHING, suited connectors as low as 2-3, pocket pairs as low as 2-2, just to see if they can hit bingo.

1 player bets, and 3 fold, 1 calls to the one holding a pocket pair who raises. All call.

Ok, so the player took a stab, and got 2 callers, with no raises. They must have draws, as they didn't raise. What draws? Who knows, but, whatever they are, they'll beat the pocket pair if they hit. There are many danger cards for the player.

3 to the turn. Turn comes 6 and completes the 3-flush. A bet and a raise to the guy with the pocket pair, who calls. The initial bettor calls.

Ok here's where the person with the pocket pair should have folded. The danger card came, there was a bet, and a raise, and he calls.

The river comes blank, and the 1st position guy bets, 2nd position guy raises, pocket pair guy re-raises (I can only guess in an attempt to trap), and the 1st position guy caps it. All call.

When one shows the flush, and the other shows the straight, the guy with KK is bewildered, and gets mad because his "KK got cracked." He got too attached to a hand that was "supposed to win." If he looked at the situation objectively and took in all of the factors he would have known that he had the worst hand at the turn.

Another classic case is when one has KK and raises, and only gets called by tight/passive players. If the flop comes with an A, be ready to throw your hand away to aggression. The situation YOU created with the raise enticed known tight players to play, so be expecting your caller(s) to have an A.

Bottom line: Read your situation, exploit your situation, and be a strong enough player to know when you're beat.

...because Stone Cold said so!

Moving Up in Limits

I've been playing since my last post, but I haven't been doing a good job of blogging the experiences.

I've played 2 tournaments, one at work and one held by AA. I did ok, 4/11 in the work one, and 1/19 in AA's. Not much real poker being played in the one at work, just the proverbial "let's see if the cards hold up," which is fine, some of the players had never played poker before, so it was probably a good learning experience for them. AA's tournament was a pretty decent one. I was catching cards and playing some decent trap poker. Knowing opponent's tendencies really makes a difference, and since I had played many of these people before, I was able to steal in spots where I normally wouldn't be able to steal because of image, etc.

So, on to the subject of this post: moving up in limits.

I was playing $1-$2NLH at Caesars this past weekend, and was amazed and frustrated at the same time by the amount of strange plays being made at the table. No one uses extraction plays when they have the nuts (good for me), a host of donkey calls, and a handful of bizarre bluffs. I guess it all gets back to the strategy you incorporate into your game. 2 examples:

This is my 2nd or 3rd hand at the table. Table limit is $300.

Hero: $194
Villain: $400ish

Hero: KcQs.

SB posts $1, BB posts $2. Villain calls. Hero raises to $15. 8 players fold. Villain calls. Pot is ($33).

Flop: Jh Jd Ts

Villain bets $20. Hero calls. Pot is $73.

Turn: 9c

Villain bets $15. Hero calls. Pot is $103

River: Jc

Villain bets $20. Hero raises to $60. Villain folds and shows a Td.

He folded a boat and told me he put me on a jack. I was bewildered.

Good for me!

The other hand I don't remember as distinctly (stack sizes), but I was BB and looked down at KK. The button called and I raised to $15 (which was in my normal raise range). All fold to the button, who goes into the think tank. He then calls. Flop comes blanks; no cards higher than 7, rainbow. I bet $25. Villain moves all in. ALL IN?!?!!?!? So I go into the tank. I can only beat QQ-88 (and any non-board pairs), bluffs, and single pairs. I have this sinking feeling that he called with a pair to my raise and got lucky. So I say, "I can't beat your trips," show my KK, and fold. He then shows his neighbor his cards, and from what I could guess, he had a set of 7s, as he said "Kings don't always hold up" or some nonsense. I was thinking "well at least they don't know how to extract."

Pretty good outcome right? So why talk about moving up in limits? The obvious reasons are for more money, and to improve my play. But more importantly, to play actual POKER. I talked about my good hands, but I still took a loss on the night because they didn't know when to fold. My AK, AQ, AJs were thumped by donk hands, like 6-2, because the player thought that "this was the hand to go all-in." In higher limit games, like $2-$5, you have a better feel that players aren't going to get desperate and put their chips in with any 2 cards. It is a cash game after all, not a tournament.

As an aside: I have come to HATE the any-amount live straddle from any position.