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I wanted to share this hand I observed two weeks ago. I thought I learned something very interesting.
It was my first day at this stake. By first day, I mean, I had been playing at a $1-2 50BB max buy-in at this casino. I was always scared to go to this stake because I was not properly bankrolled for it. After losing 20 buy-ins at $1-2 to some very erratic players, I decided to take a step back, get a bankroll, and step into the 100 – 167 BB game. It was finally time to actually play some poker.
It was my first day at the stake, and I had changed tables an hour into my session. Competition at my first table, was really hard, from my point of view. My new table was a bit softer compared. I had been playing very tight, but mostly observing who my opponents are and taking notes on my phone.
The “hero” in this hand is a regular, and I see him a lot at this casino. He plays this stake, and would go to $2-5 on the rare occasion this casino runs it. He had just came to the table and amassed a stack of 3k in the first three hands I saw him play: Queen high flush, rivered a full-house, 9 high flush. He sat to my right, thank goodness.
The villain in this hand sat directly to my left. He is a complete unknown to me, but he was friendly. He came to the table about an hour after the hero in this hand had come to the table. I dont know if they now each other.
Hero Stack: ~3k
Hero Hand: AK dc
Hero Position: UTGVillain Stack: 325
Villain Hand: ???
Villain Position: MPPreflop:
Hero opens to 25, Villain is the only callerFlop: 2 4 9 All Diamonds
Hero check, villain bets 45, hero tanks and c/r to 145, villain callsTurn: Jd
Hero check, villain all-in, hero snap-calls!!!River: 2s
I was new to this stake. I had no idea what had just happened. I was in awe of the action. That was a lot of chips I just saw pass in front of me!
The villain in the hand left after this hand and while the hero was stacking his chips, I leaned over and asked, “how’d you know to check the turn?” His reply, “When he called the flop, I knew he had a strong hand.”
I thought I learned something here. Hero had semi-bluffed the flop with the nut flush. But more importantly, I think he was trying to define his opponents hand. When the villain called, he had to have a strong hand here, like he said. I’m going to guess the 2nd nut flush at most. He knew the villain would stake off, if he hit his flush on the turn. Big hand = Big pot.
I played a few more hands and left up about $100, but this was the most memorable hand for me that night.
Please let me know if there is any other lessons here, that I missed. Thanks guys!
What I see here is how bad villain played the pot. The only thing that makes sense for him to have here is something with the Kd. The check/raise is a really strong play, and without the nut flush draw you really need to assume the check raiser has it. Why shove would shove into that after the 4th diamond comes is beyond me. I don’t feel great with the second nut flush there. My guess is there’s some sort of history between the two.
I think you’ve got a pretty good grasp of the game, Han. I really enjoy reading your hands. I don’t get a chance to play much, so analyzing these hands really helps my game. I play a 3/5 session on Sunday and have a few hands I need to post, but been pretty busy this week so I haven’t had a chance to get to it.
Thank you John! I really value the act of discussing hands. I really want to get better and move up in stakes, but I know it can’t be done in a “vacuum.”. I try to take diligent notes to get feedback on my decisions. I have one more hand from this weekend that I think you’d like as well. It’s where I was trying to apply deep stack strategy. I’ll post soon. I can’t wait to hear about your sessions.
Do you have any recommendations on books or sites to improve reading hand ranges? All I have to go on are notes on my regular opponents, yes I’m actually building a list of all the hands my opponents show up with. Thanks
Books are kind of dated. The game is changing so fast it’s hard for them to keep up. I don’t think they are bad, by any means, I just think sites are better because they can update more regularly. The game has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
There are a few subscription sites (that have free forums) that I like. My favorite is Bart Hansen’s Crush Live Poker. He breaks down hands really well and is straight forward. I kind of subscribe off and on. I don’t always have time to dedicate, so I kind of take it in chunks on his pay stuff and read the forums a lot. I know those sites can seem expensive, but when you think about it a full year on most of those sites is still about 1 buy-in at a 1/3 game.
I would start with Bart’s hand reviews on his YouTube channel (search for crushlivepoker). A lot of good hand reviews that people call in and he gives really good advice and breaks down hands really well. He normally does a call-in show once a week (not now with WSOP going), but there are still a few hundred hand reviews. Some are really basic questions and some are really tough situations, but he always breaks it down and does it for the level of poker you’re playing.
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