Horrible Plays – 1

This is first in a series of hands that were horribly botched up – either by me or by the villain -

Full Tilt Poker, $0.15/$0.30 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BTN: $31.15

SB: $58.95

BB: $50

UTG: $52.75

Hero (MP): $81.15

CO: $59.45

Pre-Flop: A 4 dealt to Hero (MP)

UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.90, CO calls $0.90, 3 folds

Not usually a good move to raise A-weak, but I prefer it to limping in..

Flop: ($2.25) 8 K K (2 Players)
Hero bets $1.40, CO calls $1.40

This was more of a probe bet to see if villain had a King that he liked. I also had the nut flush draw, so this was more like a semi-bluff. When villain didn’t re-raise, all I could think was that he had some hand he liked that he wanted to take to a showdown as cheaply as he could.

Turn: ($5.05) T (2 Players)

Hero checks, CO bets $1.50, Hero calls $1.50

A smallish bet by villain – less than 1/3rd the pot again made me think that he just wanted to get to a cheap showdown, I decided to call with plans of making a 1/2 pot bet on any river card.

River: ($8.05) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets $6.30, CO calls $6.30

River filled my flush draw, decided to bet about 3/4th the pot hoping that villain would re-raise if he had anything at all, or would call if he had a lower pocket pair (than kings) which was what I had put him on by now.

Results: $20.65 Pot ($1 Rake)
Hero showed A 4 (a flush, Ace high) and WON $19.65 (+$9.55 NET)
CO mucked A K (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$10.10 NET)

This was probably the worst possible way in which he could have played his hand – he had trip kings with an ace kicker on the flop, and played this so passively that he let me draw out on the river, and then to top it all, he pays me off after I get the flush!!
If I were him, I’d have re-raised pre-flop. Would probably had overbet the pot on this flop against an aggressive villain making it seem as if I was trying to buy the pot. Would have bet close to the pot on the turn if the flop bet was called denying proper odds to draw to the flush. Although I guess I would have paid off if the villain had drawn to his flush, hit it and bet less than the pot.

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This next hand is something that I botched up real bad.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.15/$0.30 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

CO: $26.85

BTN: $8.45

SB: $67.80

Hero (BB): $44.25

UTG: $25.35

Pre-Flop: 9 J dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to $1.05, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.75

Not a smart call here – I am going to be out of position to the villain and I have a hand that could be easily dominated!

Flop: ($2.25) 2 J 4 (2 Players)
Instant reaction on seeing this flop was – Nice! Top pair and the flush draw. Check-raise and call a shove!
Hero checks, UTG bets $2.25, Hero raises to $8, UTG raises to $24.30 and is All-In, Hero calls $16.30

Okay, that worked, now what.

Turn: ($50.85) A (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

I didnt like this card, it was hitting a major part of my opponent’s range (if he didnt have a better Jack or an overpair already)

River: ($50.85) 9 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Miracle card on the river to give me a 2 pair.

Results: $50.85 Pot ($2.50 Rake)
Hero showed 9 J (two pair, Jacks and Nines) and WON $48.35 (+$23 NET)
UTG showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$25.35 NET)

Ouch!! That was such a horrible play, overplayed top-pair no-kicker with a weak flush draw. I played this hand like a total fish and sucked out on villain who played it perfectly!

Ahh well.. thats the game.

Update : 4/20

Hold the press! I thought about this some more and ran pokerstove on this hand with a reasonably tight range for the villain to see how much equity I actually had in this hand, and the results were actually a bit surprising. I had undersestimated the equity I had in the hand -

Board: 2c 4c Js
Dead:

equity     win     tie           pots won     pots tied
Hand 0:     71.489% 71.29%     00.20%              67751           192.00   { Jc9c }
Hand 1:     28.511%      28.31%     00.20%              26905           192.00   { 88+, ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+ }
I actually had a better than 70% equity in the hand, so my move, while it seemed donkish was not a bad percentage play. Live and learn I guess…