This week was a slow week as far as poker goes. I only managed to get two sessions in this week. I played 8 hrs and 38 min on Thursday and then on Friday 4:48. I did manage to book two small wins for a weekly profit of $364, which is under my goal of $500 for the week. Luckily I had a good week last week, so I am on track to hit my monthly goal of $2K.
I am horrible at note taking. I think for the most part, I played pretty well. I did play one hand pretty poorly. I called an EP raise from a fishy type player. I had the button. I had QJ. Many times, I would 3bet in position to isolate or to gain control of the hand, however, I felt she had a decent hand, and I was the only one in the pot with the villain. Flop was KQ10. I flopped second pair and an OE draw. She leads out for $25. I decide I am going to raise a little bit here, as I am sure she is not folding her hand. Then on the turn, I am going to really bomb away at the pot and take it down. Problem was, I did not consider her range. Her range crushes me. I think the bottom of her betting range on the flop is AK, but she could easily have flopped two pair, or a set as well. Well, being the donkey I am, I raised it up to $60. She re-raised me back, and it was $40 to call. Of course, I feel I have to peel. I peeled and bricked. She checked the turn however, but I felt I had zero fold equity, so I checked back. River was a blank, check/check, and she has AK. RULE #1. If a fish raises pre from EP-MP, and the flop comes broadway cards, and they donk the flop, they HAVE A HAND, and are not folding it. I liked my creativity in the hand, and if she hadn’t reraised the flop raise, I may have been able to go through with it. However, this is lighting money on fire in the long run. I felt since she re-raised my flop bet, and I knew she had a hand, that she was emotionally committed to the hand. She did express concern about me having a better hand, hence the two checks on later streets. Maybe I should have fired the turn and river, but her flop re-raise had me thinking she had more than just a pair. So, I should have just peeled, and folded turn. Maybe even fold pre…REPEAT: If a fish raises pre from EP-MP, and the flop comes broadway cards, and they donk the flop, they HAVE A HAND, and are not folding it.
Another bad spot…Bluffing A high boards. I caught myself doing this twice on Thursday. One time, I put this guy on a low kicker, and thought he was capable of folding it. I was a little off on the kicker, as he had a jack with his A. He did consider a fold. NEVER GOING TO MAKE MONEY BLUFFING PEOPLE OFF TOP PAIR WHEN ITS AN ACE. I am considering just not even c-betting ace high flops when I am the pre flop raiser (90 percent of time of the flops I play, I am the preflop raiser). I find I am burning a lot of money firing at those flops. I tried to bluff another guy off an Ace as well. I fired three streets. I knew he had a weak kicker, but didn’t matter, he wasn’t folding. I get over ambitious at times…I need to take these A high flops to valuetown when I have an ace.
Friday, I had a hard time with another decent player at a table. I could tell he was a decent player. We seemed to stay out of each others way for the most part for about half an hour. He was directly to my left. I hadn’t opened up my game, as I had just stated playing, and it was a new table, etc. I did get JJ against him OOP. I must have been in the BB and he must have opened from UTG. I just decided to flat, because I did not want to play a bloated pot OOP against a solid player. ( Side-note, I think I overestimate people being able to steal a pot from me postflop a lot of times. I automatically assume if I am OOP, I am at a huge disadvantage against solid thinking players, because then they can steal the pot from me. However, I think I need to 3bet more often for value with these hands, and play poker postflop). Anyways, I decided to flat, and the flop comes J97 with two spades. I decide to check raise his cbet, as he is cbetting 95% of his range which I feel is pretty wide( even though he opened from UTG, he actually should have some hand here). I check raised his pot sized bet, and he then snap shoves. I of course snap call, and he has q8 of spades and hits his gutshot. No big deal. I lose 150BB in the hand. I decide to move two seats to his left when a seat opens (I usually claim I hate unlucky seats when I do this). However, with position, he continued to beat me. I had 1010 on the button, and he opened. I just flatted (I am not playing my A game, as I usually always 3bet this hand). I then called two barrels ignoring flop texture. The flop was all little cards, and all kinds of straights and flushes hit. He fired a flop bet, and then a turn bet, and I just called both. river but 4 to a straight, and he checked. Maybe I should have bet and turned my hand into a bluff. He had AA. Later, same situation, I had KJ and he opened, and I flatted. Flop comes K high, and I call two streets. He has AK.
My problem is I focused to much on this guy, and I ended up focusing my efforts on bluff catching him. With the 1010, I should have 3bet, then when he 4bets me, I HAVE to give him credit for a hand. I can’t just assume he is making a play, which my mind wants to tell me. With the KJ, I should have raised the flop for value. If I think I have the best hand, then I should raise it. Problem is I was getting tricky, trying to bluff catch him, but the fact is, he is not going to bluff as much as I thought he was. I give LAG’s too much credit sometimes. He ended up catching QQ against another guy all in pre with AK and stacked him. The fact of the matter is, he was on a heater, plays solid, and he stacked me, which put me on my B game. I actually was looking for a table change but he left to go play a tournament.
I obviously have some leaks when playing against other solid aggressive players, and I will admit, it is not my best game. I did like that I was looking for a table change. I make my money off people making mistakes. Fish make more mistakes, so I need to focus on them. Overall, I am quite happy with my play lately. I am pretty much raising every pot I play, and I have eliminated over-limping and limping. If I find myself wanted to limp along, I force myself to raise. Doesn’t matter what my cards are. I have a better chance of winning with less opponents and that is the main reason for raising preflop with hands that may not be best. With hands that are best, it is for value, and to limit the field.
