some NL25 hands.
these hands i just played in a NL25 session. NL25 was going really well until i lost the hand at the bottom of this thread. these hands are in order of interesting ness basically, tho they are all interesting anyway.
ok so hand 1.
villain in this hand posted the hand on the previous page with AK. he is a kinda weird player. his stats are like 22/11 which means his pre flop game has leaks. he flats a ton of junk from the blinds, but has owned me a couple of times post flop actually he has trapped me pretty well with tricky lines that didnt really make sense for value (so well played to him to be fair)
anyway, so the hand... i check back the flop mainly to enduce a bluff from villain. i dont think theres many worse hands that can peel on the flop here and theres certainly not many danger cards on the turn or river.
looks pretty standard until i explain at the bottom why its interesting
Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
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BB: $17.40
UTG: $20.05
Hero (CO): $25.00
BTN: $8.90
SB: $53.95
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with K
T
1 fold,
Hero raises to $0.75,
2 folds, BB calls $0.50
Flop: ($1.60) Q
K
Q
(2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: ($1.60) 3
(2 players)
BB bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50
River: ($2.60) 2
(2 players)
BB bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75
Final Pot: $4.10
BB shows 8
8
(two pair, Queens and Eights)
Hero shows K
T
(two pair, Kings and Queens)
Hero wins $3.90
(Rake: $0.20)
the interesting point in this hand is that i asked villain why he had bet his 88 and he didnt really have a reason other than "i didnt put you on the king". now, this is ok reasoning, if you think you have the best hand, you wont go far wrong by betting. however is this a bluff or a value bet?? can he expect me to call with A high or 77?? similarly is it a bluff? can he expect me to fold 99 or Kx?? i dont think villain even thought remotely about this, he's just betting because... he... wants to bet
if your bet cant get worse to call, or it cant get better to fold, then its a pointless bet that will ultimately cost you money...
there are a few hands now that occur in 3bet pots. its kinda cool getting into 3bet pots, dynamics really change as the pots become bigger, and you can dish out some serious ownage in position. also, people at Nl25 have so far played REALLY terribly in them, so i think its worth looking at.
hand 2:
villain in this hand seemed a standard reg at the time. most of the tables i was playing i had been going absolutely nuts, playing like 30/26 with like a 13% 3bet and on some tables it was as high as 20%. from this hand you should be able to see why...
Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
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BB: $29.35
UTG: $9.10
CO: $25.25
Hero (BTN): $25.35
SB: $11.80
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q
Q
UTG raises to $0.75, CO calls $0.75,
Hero raises to $2.75,
3 folds, CO calls $2
Flop: ($6.60) 6
4
6
(2 players)
CO checks,
Hero bets $1.75,
CO raises to $5.75, Hero calls $4
this is a great flop for me, and im never folding at any point. you might say "wtf why did u bet so small". well, i have 3 streets to get the money in. with 100bb, i can bet like 1.75 now, bet 2/3rds pot on turn, and bet about the same 2/3rds pot on river and be all in. which is all i want to do.
sometimes people will fold to this ridiculous bet, especially as u move up the stakes, because it just looks like it is gagging to be called. so when i am bluffing it works perfectly. obv i have to keep the same approach when strong too...
anyways villain spazzes out and check raises. there is literally nothing he can have that beats me except a slowplayed AA or KK. theres no value in raising i just let him keep bluffing at me..
Turn: ($18.10) 5
(2 players)
CO checks,
Hero bets $3.75, CO calls $3.75
he decides not to fire again, which to me would indicate he probably has something like TT that wanted to 'see where its at'. i fire a tiny bet again purely because the pot is so big now that i can shove the river for half pot which is still a fine sizing.
River: ($25.60) 4
(2 players)
CO checks,
Hero bets $13.10 all in,
Hero says "we splitting?", CO calls $13 all in
river is just obviously i know i have the best hand. i dont really know what he has except a mid pair, but i am guessing he is thinking i might be bluffing with whatever i could have. i trash talk a little hoping for him to put me on A high, and he SNAP calls
Final Pot: $51.60
CO mucks A
J
Hero shows Q
Q
(two pair, Queens and Sixes)
Hero wins $49.60
(Rake: $2.00)
hand 3:
this hand is against what appears to be a reg. but he is so terrible. he is in the bottom hand which actually happened before this one but i think posting this one first is better for the purposes of the content order..
Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
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UTG: $21.90
MP: $37.60
CO: $24.50
Hero (BTN): $25.70
SB: $116.95
BB: $25.00
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with A
9
2 folds,
CO raises to $1,
Hero raises to $3.25, SB calls $3.15,
1 fold, CO calls $2.25
against a cut off open who has like 30% to steal or so and like a 70% fold to 3bet, this is just instantly profitable play. when he does occasionally call i still have a hand that plays postflop and can make top pair type hands. however, flat calling would be pretty bad because A9o doesnt play well against his opening range (he can have hands like AJ/ AT etc that might fold to a 3bet)
Flop: ($10.00) 2
3
Q
(3 players)
SB checks, CO checks,
Hero bets $3.25, SB calls $3.25, CO folds
i make my little bet. when the sb cold calls pre flop, his range is mostly like 66-TT sort of hands looking to flop a set and stack me (this is absolutely ridiculous thinking btw, and dont ever ever flat 3bets out of position 100bb deep with like 77 its so bad) he flats, so i assume he has what hand i listed above.
Turn: ($16.50) J
(2 players)
SB checks,
Hero bets $5.25, SB folds
well that J is unlikely to help him. if i was bluffing with KJ or AJ tho i just made a pair, and obviously i could have had him beat anyway. i make a tiny bet purely because i think he will fold real often. and also, i want to be able to shove the river with a big-ish bet (i would have about $14 left for a river shove) and i would basically be auto-shoving any river if he flatted again here.
ok this next hand is a 4bet pot vs the same guy in this last hand.
hand 4:
his stats read something like 22/18 8% 3bet or something. its not entirely important for the hand or in general except that his 3bet% is quite high and means his 3betting range is probably really polarized - JJ+ and AK account for like 3% of hands which is what most people will 3bet for value and stack off with. if you are balanced, people will also 3bet hands like 99 and AQ which make them hard to play against. however most people 3bet JJ+ and AK, then throw in loads of random stuff like 78s, 33 etc, that just cant stand any heat unless u want to 5bet bluff with them
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UTG: $22.40
MP: $24.90
CO: $30.45
Hero (BTN): $54.40
SB: $71.20
BB: $32.10
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q
T
3 folds,
Hero raises to $0.75,
SB raises to $2.75,
1 fold,
Hero raises to $6.50, SB calls $3.75
stacks are deep, he has been 3betting a bit already and i think its a good spot for a 4bet bluff. 1) i have blockers to QQ/ AQ/ TT which make it more likely he has a marginal hand purely because of card combinations. 2) since we over 200bb deep, its hard for him to auto-5bet ship it in with JJ/ TT/ or even AK/ QQ (although he should be shipping those hands vs me)
my 4bet sizing doesnt need to big. 2.2x or whatever is plenty. it means he needs to fold something like 66% of the time to be immediately profitable assuming no equity when called (which is of course not the case)
so he flats, i obviously put him on a range of mostly mid pairs or something ridiculously spazzy like AQ that just didnt wanna fold.
Flop: ($13.25) J
9
8
(2 players)
SB bets $9.75, Hero calls $9.75
pretty nice flop for me i flop the nuts and he leads into me... i have absolutely no idea why he leads into me, this is terrible play on his part whatever he has. i would be betting this flop 100% when checked to whatever i had (because what can he do with AK/ AQ here if he has that, he has to check and fold).
i flat obviously, i can get all sets to call me if i raise, but i cant get any of his bluffs to continue unless he is an absolute maniac. also, he may be taking some weird bet/ fold line with a hand like TT whereby he bets to see 'where he is at' and then would fold to a raise (i shouldnt have to explain why this is terrible, but a lot of people do that sort of thing)
Turn: ($32.75) K
(2 players)
SB bets $14,
Hero raises to $29.75,
SB raises to $45.50, Hero calls $8.40 all in
if he has some weird hand with a K in he just made a pair, i am obviously still ahead of whatever he has because i have the nuts. a raise is pretty standard here imo because i think he will stack off with whatever he has been betting with thus far, as his range is becoming a bit clear to basically a set.
River: ($109.05) J
(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $109.05
Hero mucks Q
T
SB shows J
J
(four of a kind, Jacks)
SB wins $106.05
(Rake: $3.00)
meh, he spikes his outter. i lose a 400bb pot which now puts me at a loss for NL25
fair play to him though he could obviously never fold.
but i really dont like his play post flop and it just shows how badly people play in 3 and 4bet pots. i guess he wanted to just build a big pot... but if i have QQ-AA i am going to bet myself and he can check raise/ check call and then check raise later etc... and if i have something like AK or a random bluff i am going to bet when checked to but im never going to call a bet.
hopefully this post has been interesting for you guys, i think these hands are the most interesting i have played so far at the micro stakes by a long way, and with a bit of luck i will be able to get into a lot more interesting spots in the future too
i would also be interested to hear from any Nl25 players who have played with me what they think of my image and how they adjust to it. i say not because i care too much about picking up reads etc (lol like me posting hands where i am talking about triple barrel bluffing in 3bet pots is going to be +EV for me!!), but because discussing how u adjust to someone who 3bets quite a lot in position and generally is pretty aggro for these stakes might help you come up with a more balanced strategy to cope with and exploit it.
hopefully i could help you adjust, because i think as poker develops the micro stakes will get more and more like the small/ mid-stakes with people watching a lot of deuces cracked videos etc... and the games will end up getting super aggro, its important to adjust well because it can cost you your whole stack if u make 1 bad decision in a 3bet pot
Last edited by jackwilcox; 06-09-2009 at 09:59 PM.