Two quick 2-3 Hands

[John S]

Played a short 3 hour session today. My normal casino is closed due to flooding/damage from a monsoon storm about 3 weeks ago, so I went to the other side of town. These games play very different due to a different buy-in structure. It’s usually super action given how deep players are. It started out with a lot of action then went pretty dead. Anyways, only two interesting hands. One was sort of a cooler, and the other was pretty interesting. I think I played both pretty well, but curious as to what you guys think.

Hand 1 – Effective stacks around $600. I’m in UTG+1 or 2 with AQo (both red). The player to my right limps for $3, I raise to $18. Folds around to either SB or BB (we’ll say BB since it doesn’t matter). He reaches for his greens ($25 chips), then pulls his hand back and calls. Everyone else folds. I took note of his temptation to raise – he was playing pretty loose at first but had tightened up in the last hour at the table.

Flop – QJ5ss. BB checks, I bet $20, he thinks and raises to $75. I’m thinking about his pre-flop chip tells here. He could have a set or 2 pair, but with this player I think he could have some hands like KT, T9, or plenty of other hands that I beat. Plus I can never fold Top-Top here. I call.

Turn brings QJ59sss. Flush gets there, KT gets there. Villain looks at his chips and checks after 10-15 seconds. I play with some chips like I’m preparing to bet, but I check back. Definitely look for a cheap showdown.

River QJ59Asss. I river top two. Villain bets out $150, I pretty much snap call. I beat any two pair and his pair + straight draws. He shows QQ for flopped top set.

I think I lost about the minimum here unless he makes a huge 3-bet preflop. I don’t think I could have done much differently.

Hand 2: Effective stacks around $175-200. One limp, I raise UTG +1 or 2 to $18 w/ QQ. Button calls, everyone else folds.

Flop JT5 rainbow. I lead for $20, button quickly calls. Snap calling is often an indication of a draw.

Turn is a 3 (JT53 rainbow). I lead for $35. He thinks for a while and calls.

River brings an Ace (board is JT53A). I don’t like this card for a few reasons. KQ is now the nuts, and this is very much in his range. Also if he has AT or AJ he’s never folding.

I want to check, but I think that he’s weak here – J or T at best. He’s got somewhere around $130 left. I think that if I check he’s jamming and I probably have to fold.

I decide to put out a bet. I want it to look like value, but in reality it’s a blocker bet. I want to tell him that he can’t bluff at this pot, since he has so little behind I can’t fold (in reality, I probably have to fold if he jams). I bet $75. My value/bluff here would be much larger, but he doesn’t know me and doesn’t know that – he only sat down at the table about 10 minutes before this hand. He counts out chips and tries to give me a stare down to get a read, but I’m just shuffling my chips and staring at nothing. He thinks for probably 30 seconds and decides to fold.

I’m kind of curious to what everyone thinks of that bet. I’m not making that bet in a lot of situations – I normally would just check and be prepared to fold to a big bet. But given this players actions and his exploitable chip stack, I think this was a good bet.

[Han]

Ha! Hand 1 played by the villain is almost like Rafael’s hand in CLP today. Villain just flats instead of 3bet.

[Han]

Hand 1. I agree that you lost the minimum here. The villain lost some value for trying to get fancy with his play. The flush definitely slowed him down. Nice check back and pot control.

Hand 2: Your turn bet sizing, was it to keep the villain in with is draws? I think you have a clear bet-fold here. I dont think villain would have an Ace here and its more likely in your range. I like the sizing. I’m noticing players pay attention to the absolute bet sizing, and not thinking relative to the pot. They base the bet size to the strength of your hand has well. I think you made a classic “thin-value” bet, targeting J or 10s here.

[John S]

Looking back, I’m not happy with my turn sizing. I have been trying to up my turn bets to around 2/3 to 3/4 pot. Why I did this 2/5 pot bet I don’t know. I sensed that the player wasn’t a strong player in general, and I also sensed he was weak in this hand. I don’t hate my sizing, but I should have gone bigger.

The river I was pretty happy with my decision on the river. The ace is obviously a bad car for me. I thought a straight draw was in his range, but I block KQ so that is unlikely. AT or AJ is always calling. But I sensed he wanted to bluff me here, so I exploited his chip stack and bet an amount where he couldn’t raise me light.

One weakness in my game is not always being aware of chip stacks during every street of the hand. It’s one thing I’ve been working on being more aware of and I feel I did that very well in this hand. I probably check here if villain has $250 left, but I felt I could put pressure on him given his shorter stack.

Also, sensing he was a weaker player, I was focusing on some more reliable physical tells. I generally don’t pay too much attention to this, but with some players this can be very reliable (just like how I sensed villain in hand 1 was stronger than he should have been, just couldn’t fold top 2 there).

[Han]

Thanks for the insight about turn bet sizing. I think that is where I have leaks as well, as my turn bet sizing is habitually small. Johnnie Vibes played at stones-live last night, and he played at my stakes. I’m gonna learn how he size his bets in different spots.

I really like your decision on the river. Bet enough so that the opponent cant bluff you. I think that was what I gained from your discussion with Bart. There are only 1 or 2 physical tells that I look for in opponents. I try not to pay attention to other live tells, because they could mean a lot of things for different players. The opponents bet sizing and tempo given the board texture are good indicators of their hand strength, I keep a keen eye on those.

My leak is that I lose track of how much is in the pot during the hand. Its pretty easy for me to see my opponents stacks, as they stack them in neat $100 of $5 chips.

[Author]

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