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.