1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

WSOP update + some interesting hands from my week

Discussion in 'The Poker Room' started by TRN, Jun 15, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. NeonTurtle14

    NeonTurtle14 I Run the Vegas Hotdog Stand

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2011
    Messages:
    2,700
    Location:
    USA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    47
    First things first - I cancelled my trip for the main event. I found way too many leaks in my game this week I need to work on before I think I have a good chance at cashing in it. Going to save the $ for now, and revisit next year. Appreciate everyone's support this week for sure.

    Now... a few interesting hands from the week I jotted down. Figured I'd just get them into one thread, toss some details out (not "how would you play it" - just the whole rundown) and let you tear it apart.

    Hand 1 - Wynn $550 single-day NLH tournament - this was the hand that knocked me out in level 2 (75/150).
    Starting stack - 15000 chips, 30 min levels. Villain was what I would describe as "hyper aggressive" - was in every other hand (or more), was always open raising or 3-betting, never backed down from a 4-bet response to his 3-betting, etc. Looked like a 12 year old kid but apparently he was in the tourney so must have been of age. Hero was in middle position, villain was on button. Hero has $14000 chips and a tight image if any by now, villain has $14500 chips and loves to win small pots raising too much (while a standard open is somewhere in the 2-3x BB range, villain's open was in the 6-9x range). Hero had KK and raised preflop to 425. Villain 4-bets to 3750. Hero shoves, villain snap calls and has AQ. The board played out 876A3. Against this opponent, do you play differently?

    Hand 2 - in one of the 2pm $235 NLH WSOP deep stack daily tournaments... villain was very, very TAG and had about same # of chips as hero (started at 15k, we're both up around 28k-30k now). Hero was playing this tournament a bit more towards the LAG image and had shown some questionable hands (on purpose - for the sake of trying to build an image and throw a 180 in that later). Hero in MP raises pre-flop 3x with AK suited. Villain on BB calls. Flop AK8 rainbow. V checks, hero continues for about 2/3 pot, V calls. Turn 2, check check. River 9 (no flush suits). V checks, hero bets almost pot, V raises 3x hero's bet, hero calls. V shows 88 for a flopped set and hero is back to starting stack size. Guess I shouldn't have called the raise and took the bait on the river. Ugh.

    Hand 3 - in Millionaire Maker - interesting hand in one of the first two levels (didn't jot down which level this was, but was either 1 or 2). Hero on button with about 6000 chips. Villain is UTG with about 7000 chips. Other villain 2 is less important here, but v2 (SB, 7500 chips starting stack, this was his first hand) was late to the table and played this hand blind - it was his first hand (I believe this to be true as he was saying it, as he called it before the cards were dealt and we were watching him) until the betting got big. V raises pre, hero calls with KT suited spades, and V2 in SB calls. Flop was KQ9 (two diamonds). SB checks, V makes a half-pot bet, hero calls, SB calls blind again. Turn is the T (not a diamond). SB checks, V makes a 1/3 pot bet, hero calls, SB calls. River is 3 of diamonds, so now there's four to a straight and three to a flush on the board. SB checks, V bets about 1/2 pot, Hero raises all in (for not even 2x that bet amt). SB finally decides to look at his cards, thinks about it for a second, and folds. V tanks, shows JJ face up as he folds his straight. He says "nice flush". I told him I only had 2 pair but never showed it, don't think he believed me.

    Hand 4 - Venetian 2-day $600 NLH deepstack. While this wasn't my knockout hand, it was my cripple hand that led me to the knockout hand. The V lets players buy in pretty late. I believe this guy came in around level 6 or 7. He was playing really, really crazy. I wouldn't even say "aggressive" because that might imply there was some theory / strategy around the play. This guy was just playing any two cards. He was old, looked homeless (no better way to describe it), and really smelled bad. The quick version of this one, I was too frustrated to write down all the details. Hero had pocket 33, raised pre, called by villain. Flop was 843 rainbow. Hero bets 2/3 pot, V calls. Turn is A, hero bets 1/2 pot, V calls. River is 2. Hero bets 1/2 pot, V raises all in, hero tank calls, to find that V played T5 offsuit and caught a gut shot on the river. Lesson learned...
     
  2. bribhoy

    bribhoy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2015
    Messages:
    216
    Location:
    London, UK
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    6
    Sorry to hear you won't be at the Main, but if you're not happy with your game then that's a good, disciplined decision.

    Hand 1 - I'm going to assume that V here is c-betting 100% of his pre-flop raises. If so, I would be calling his 3-bet pre then pushing over the top of his c-bet, because I would think that your pre-flop shove gets a fold from most of the hands that I can get more money out of on the flop. However, I'm happy with the way you played it and his call of your push at this blind level is ridiculous.

    Hand 2 - With your turn check and river raise, you're repping a steal attempt so when he comes over the top, you need to call. But with top two pair, I would have bet the turn and his call or raise would have given me a lot more information which I hope would have meant the hand cost me less than it did in this case.

    Hand 3 - Very aggro river shove from you - I am folding in that spot. V2 can show up with absolutely anything, including random diamonds. Terrible fold bv V. He's getting 5 to 1 on the call, and he has you covered so he will have 10BBs left if he loses. Not great, but not his tournament life. I think you must have played your Get Out of Jail Free card there!

    Hand 4 - GG. Not much you could have done. Beware the stinky guys at the table, they always seem to be around for longer than they should,
     
  3. MiamiDave

    MiamiDave You Can't Handle the Truth

    Joined:
    May 13, 2017
    Messages:
    1,153
    Location:
    South FL
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    44
    Hand 1 - You got all your money in pre-flop with the best hand. You got the best scenario and the worst outcome. You can't play the result. I may have played it different vs. a maniac and called the 3-bet and then shoved the flop but, as you can see, in this situation you actually would have lost value by doing so. If he cbets that flop and you x/r for the rest of your chips he's not folding his last 3-4k chips (his cbet would have possibly even been all-in) so you'd have ended up in the same place. The only way you would have won this hand was by smooth calling his 3bet preflop and leading out the flop and getting him to fold. I don't think you have much to analyze on this hand.

    Hand 2 - Villain played it terribly (check turn check river with a set? say what? talk about getting too fancy...) and you got lucky enough to avoid more damage than you did. The way it should have played out was with him leading out the river and you calling or you raising and then folding to a 3bet. You played it a bit passively on the turn but I'm ok with pot control. I think you did OK here, too. His line was moronic so I would have snap called AK there. There's no way you can think you're losing with the way he played it.

    Hand 3 - You have to be careful with RIO hands (reverse implied odds), even in position. AJ, KQ, KJ, AT, KT: these hands are hard to win money with unless you hit a flush, straight or 2p, and when someone stays in the pot with you while you have it, you're generally behind. Even when you do get a big hand, you have to be very careful with bet sizes because your opponent is typically capped at 1p so if you push too hard they're going to fold. I consider these hands to be the most dangerous in poker and I try to avoid them. I like to be the one raising with them, rarely calling a raise unless the player is very loose. If you're going to play with it, it needs to be 3bet preflop and hope you get your opponent to fold. I think you should have folded this pre-flop. As played, I'm raising that turn and folding to a re-raise or hoping the river checks through.

    Hand 4 - You played against the worst player in the tournament and lost (calling 2 streets for a T5 gutshot? Ok!). You were in a dream situation with a person handing you their chips until a miracle struck. The only part of his range here that you can even consider would be a higher set or A2/A5. I think I'd check/call that river after he calls me twice but otherwise there's not much you can do here.
     
  4. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2007
    Messages:
    8,401
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    18
    Hand 1, get it in

    Even if you've seen him call off light before, 68% to win is pretty good. If you wont play this one all the way, you are folding until a table change. Plus you are OOP

    In position, you could argue for a call then GII with no ace on the flop, but this villain doesn't have to have an ace, so even that creates opportunities for villain to get out of his own way when he misses, or bluff you on an ace high board.

    Hand 2

    Top 2 vs a set is always going to be pretty expensive. After you check back the turn and he continues to trap on the river, I don't see how you ever get away.

    My main thought is that, presumably, you checked back the turn looking to get bluffed or value bet by worse on the river, or get him more likely to pay a value bet. But I think if I'm trying that, I bet smaller on the river to try and get looked up by more. With the nice side bonus in this case that his raise size is either more manageable or more suspicious. I mean, sometimes you size up to try and make it look like a bluff, but I think especially in a tournament and with your image, you can get very loose calls with a smaller bet, while a bigger one gets the fold and say "nice bluff" from your opponent, hoping for information.

    Hand 3

    This hand is lol. Villain turned a straight in a 3 way pot, blocking other straights, with a flush draw out there, and bet 1/3 pot. Then bed folded to the diamond. That's pretty hilarious.

    Ballsy turning 2 pair into a bluff, especially without much behind.

    Hand 4

    I mean, with crazy, you are going to take some beats. Turn size could have been bigger against a guy that probably won't give up to a scare card. But it may have made no difference.
     
  5. meyers67

    meyers67 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    May 30, 2013
    Messages:
    1,742
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    I thought you played everything fine - my only difference is that I'd bet the turn in hand #2. Gives you information that could lead you to not going broke - but the result could have been the same.
     
  6. zolar31

    zolar31 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Messages:
    173
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    Hand 1 - Perfect. As described, I don't see any other way to play this hand.
    Hand 2 - I would go broke on this hand. Only comment here is I don't think it is necessary in the 235 daily deepstack to build an image. Tables break pretty quick, and new players are sat fairly quick.
    Hand 3 - Nice
    Hand 2- agree, not much you can do.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. TuscaloosaJohnny

    TuscaloosaJohnny Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2013
    Messages:
    156
    Location:
    Cullman, Alabama
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Hand 1 -- Played it like a champ.
    Hand 2 -- In my mind TAG and tricky aren't synonymous, so I guess we must know how tricky this player is. The way he played this hand was extremely tricky and probably reckless from an equity POV given the high likelihood of a check from you on the river (based on what he knows on how you played the flop and turn). Against what I think is your standard TAG player I think I fold the river as I have a hard time giving him credit for anything but a set here. Having said that, I'm never checking the turn. I'm looking for value, not pot control, with top two pair. I assume if I do that I get raised and I actually would have a harder time folding the turn and probably go broke, lol. Sick cooler, regardless.
    Hand 3 -- I love this.
    Hand 4 -- I'd take the lower side of variance and check-call the river. Two reasons: the fool who plays and draws to anything could have gotten there, plus I give him a chance to bluff into our very strong hand by feigning weakness.
     
  8. TuscaloosaJohnny

    TuscaloosaJohnny Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2013
    Messages:
    156
    Location:
    Cullman, Alabama
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    By the way, I'll be in Vegas June 22-28 primarily to play the Monster Stack (trying to improve on my 63rd place finish last year :cool: ). Anybody going to be around then?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  9. MiamiDave

    MiamiDave You Can't Handle the Truth

    Joined:
    May 13, 2017
    Messages:
    1,153
    Location:
    South FL
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    44
    The hand is from a tournament, not a cash game, otherwise I would agree with you. Pot control in a tournament is important. Value betting the turn with 2p in a cash game is a lot different than value betting the turn with 2p in a tournament. In a tournament, if you get pushed into a corner with a bloated pot a mistake means your day is over.

    I'll be arriving late June 28th but won't be playing any poker that night. Good luck out there.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2017
  10. TuscaloosaJohnny

    TuscaloosaJohnny Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2013
    Messages:
    156
    Location:
    Cullman, Alabama
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    I'd argue, though, if you're controlling the pot with a hand as strong as top two pair (that can't be counterfeited by a higher two pair) here you're practicing too much pot control. I could go with this on the guise by underrepping our hand we can maybe get more river value, as TRN played it, but not so much about pot control. Maybe I'm just too much of a gambler. ;)
     
  11. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2007
    Messages:
    8,401
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    18
    I think betting the turn is fine, but if you get check raised there, you should probably not be going broke unless you have a very clear read. There are no good turn bluffs and x/c x/r shows ridiculous strength.

    But if I check the turn, it is more for value than control. I'm more afraid of losing AQ and AJ callers and people floating than getting raised by a set.
     
  12. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2012
    Messages:
    2,393
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    Fold that shit, man. Great result, though!
     
    • Wow! Wow! x 1
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.