1. 2008-02-26 21:18:44

   Bankroll Bulletin: Damage Control

   Date:11-8-07
   Where:La Center WA
   Game:4-40 Spread limit

   How is everyone doing? I am here to give you my new update today. When I sat down I noticed a table full of mainly regulars, I knew I had to play my best. One hand I want to tell you about was about 45 minutes into my session (playing tight). I have , a player in middle position makes it 14 to go, I called. The flop was , I bet out 18 to steal and he calls. The turn is a , we both checked, then the river is a . This is a non scary board and looks like a stealing situation, I bet out 35 and he thinks for about it for about a minute and called my bluff with . It was a good call on his part. After that was a mixture of bad cards and trying to limp then it would get raised every time. Frustration was beginning to set in but I tried not to let that get to me.

   Now I have two situations that I want to ask about feedback on how you would play these scenarios.

   First Situation

   I have and made it 15 to go, the most aggressive player at the table re raises the max so now it is 55 to go. Now what I was thinking if I re-raise, I pretty much have to risk my whole stack on this hand, with max bets before the flop and on the flop. So my question would be? Is my hand really worth it? Against a player where he can be holding anything? I decided it was not worthy of re-raising him and I folded. He ended up showing I think that was the correct lay down against a Kamazie. How would you play that hand against someone when he can be holding anything?.

   Second Situation

   My next situation I came across was I have I made it 15 to go with one caller. This player seemed like he wanted to see a lot of flops. The flop is 9 high with 3 hearts on board My question here is, do I slow play this? Or do you not want to risk to be in a sticky situation with a big bet against you when you figure that your behind. But then again you have and it is that hard to pitch the hand. I ended up with a continuation bet on the flop and took it down. I feel it is better to win a smaller pot then be stuck in a big pot with aces. That is the conventional theme with but none the less it is difficult to pitch this hand. In situations like 4 to the nut flush but when you have to put out just to much money when your pot odds are not in your favor to hit your flush looks like a bad decision. What do you guys think?

   After those series of hands, I was on the decline and pressing. Today I was just not on my A game. I overplayed after flopping an and lost to which cost me quite a bit. One hand I played well after switching seats: I had in the small blind and made it 13 to go 6 PLAYERS CALLED!!!! The flop brought out I tried an attempt to steal - this was pretty risky and knew it, I bet 30 and everyone folded. Granted, that time I got lucky, but felt it was a necessary play. One hand I outplayed someone was the same player that took me when I had . This time I have off suit I made it 15 to go, everyone folds to this player that re raises to 35. I decided to spend a bunch of money pre-flop here and pretty much gamble in this situation, I decided to re raise the max 40 more and made it 75 to go. He ended up folding and told me he thought I had KK or AA. I showed him my hand and he was very upset cause he had the same hand.

   So overall I felt like it was more of like a damage control session I ended up down 142 and the bankroll is at 1,319 - a little bit disappointing but it is better than going broke right?

   Tune in next week when I write about my next experience. Big props to Poker Soup play well and may your pots be monster.

   Posted by Nick L at 2008-02-26 21:18:44

   View all posts

Comments on “Bankroll Bulletin: Damage Control”

1. • Posted by Krishna g 2008-02-28 04:22:40
   • 

   • Your opponent well on the KQ hand out of position. Sometimes check calling can be just as good.

     He checked on turn for pot control and let you bluff the river.
     If he bets the river you probably would have folded. I am not sure if he intentionally did that or acting like a calling station.

     Disclaimer:
     I don't fully know the situation about stack sizes, how tight both of you are playing, what happened in previous hands, etc.

2. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-02-27 18:44:16
   • 

   • Nice work w/ the 22. I made a similar play a few weeks back with 33 - the guy raised preflop (and had been raising fairly frequently), and bet into a low board, continued to bet on the the turn, and went all in on the river. He showed AK for no pairs. I just wish I could do that more frequently.

     Good discussion on this one. Nice post, Nick.

3. • Posted by Nick L g 2008-02-27 18:18:15
   • 

   • Thank you everybody for the feed back I appreciate it this has helped my game out a lot I would like to see some excellent play from everyone else.

     Wish me luck in the freeroll

4. • Posted by Sunil (unverified) g 2008-02-27 17:58:37
   • 

   • I have a different opinion for both the situations.

     First situation - Against an aggressive player with a VERY WIDE range of hands I would definitely play my 77. It's not ideal to be out of position, but I would want to see a flop with aggressive players. See the flop and then decide if the guy shows strength or is weak. Last week, in a similar situation, I had 22 in BB. The aggressive in the middle seat raises to 4 times the BB. Everyone folds and I call. I thought he had AK or AQ. The flop is rainbow - no pictures. I check-raise him. He calls. The turn a blank. I bet, he calls. His calling made me suspicious of a small pair, but obviously bigger than the deuces. The river pairs the board and I check. He bets aggressively. I saw that as a sign of weakness. It made me think my original read of AK/AQ was right and called. He was obviously livid to see my deuces and never showed his hand. He threatened to call every bet of mine for the rest of the night. It was good for me because I cleaned him out.

     Second situation - I would have checked with AA and the nut flush draw. With a flop like that I would check the flop. Let him see the turn for free and give him an opportunity to catch his pair or bluff. Either way, I would take a little risk in checking that flop. On that flop, the only hand that can beat you is a set. Two pair seems unlikely with 9 high flop. I am guessing the board was not straightening.

     Obviously, it is better to win small pots than losing the big ones. But every now and then, change the game a little to throw people off.

5. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-02-27 08:09:04
   • 

   • Weeeeeeeeezer mentioned another very important thing to consider - the smaller stack between you and your opponent (or, in the case of spread limit, the amount the maximum bet is). That determines the most money you can win, so you need to make sure the odds of hitting (your set, for example) or of being able to outplay somebody without a lock hand are worth it to win whatever that amount is.

6. • Posted by Ethan g 2008-02-27 08:02:45
   • 

   • I'm imagining playing that first hand vs. Jason. I'm pretty sure I'd fold with 77. Your odds against any two over cards are not that great (it's like 55-45 IIRC).

7. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-02-27 07:39:00
   • 

   • First off, I wanted to comment on the steal play at the 6-way limped pot. Wow. Guts-city. I think you are right to question that maneuver, but it seemed to work at the time.

     When I first read this earlier this morning, I felt the same way WeezerMooDog felt. He summed it up better than I could. Nice comment.

     Nice work keeping the bankroll up there. I can't wait to see the next post ;)

8. • Posted by WeezerMoo g 2008-02-27 05:26:38
   • 

   • First Situation - good fold...easy fold...especially in spread limit where you can't always play for full stacks because of the limitations, 77 just isn't going to be able to be played profitably vs a max reraise, even from an overly aggressive opponent.

     Second Situation - You really can't go wrong with that hand. It basically is and should be played as the nuts. You aren't risking too much slow playing it because no hand that isn't already beating you is likely to catch up. I would definitely play it fast, though. People like to represent flushes and things to scare preflop raisers off overcards, so it's not like they are just going to give you credit because you bet out. You should under (almost) no circumstance be thinking of reasons to fold that hand. Building a big pot is the goal here.