Winning Pots You Play Poorly – It's Real, and We Need To Talk About It

[Scott Freestone]

Share My Pair – http://mysmp.me/h_iKs

First hand post – Winner but I feel like I played it really poorly, and the longer I think about it the less I’m sure about the line and feel like I basically slipped in shit and got lucky more than I was thinking about it. Thoughts?

9 Players – $1/3NL (no straddle this hand but often) MGM National Harbor 10.23.17

My Hand: AKos in MP

UTG fold, Villian in EP (2 off the BB) calls, fold, I raise to $15, fold, fold, nit rec on the button calls, SB fold, BB call, Villian raises to $50…

It was my second hand of the night and I didn’t know anybody at the table. I’m told while buying in (for $300) that there is a regular $6 straddle and often a $12 re-straddle by the table, great, and the first hand I see there is indeed a re-straddle. It fizzled out quickly and stayed small but you could see the potential for huge pots quick if people were playing loose. I would like to 3 bet here often to iso the villain but I have no idea what the button and BB are thinking so I would prefer not to get it in w AK off in my first hand of the night with all unknown players so I flat. Button calls, BB folds quickly so I’m feeling like I’m in a flip or ahead of both. Villain has me covered by at least $100 and looks like he’s been here a while, wrinkled suit w no tie and food cart next to him.

Flop comes Ks4d8d

Villain checks after thinking longer than necessary and I bet $75 into $160ish pretty quickly, Button folds, Villain thinks for a second and raises to $175, I insta-flat…

I knew I was going to bet into him if he didn’t lead, and his little tank before checking made me feel like he was on a middle pocket pair or air so I felt good about it. The quick re-raise made me feel like he hit or missed a set but for all I know he’s on a flush draw and a total maniac. I have no idea why but I just inst-flat before even thinking about it. Like my hands worked without my brain. I’m surprised I didn’t say “oops, why did I just do that” out loud. It was ridiculous.

Turn is 2d

Flush got there but the Villain checks pretty quickly, and I check behind him as I’m literally still not sure how this hand is apparently happening without me. I know at this point I realize I called off the 3 bet and left myself $75 which I just checked with.

River is Js

No diamond so no matter what I have to call or push of course. I’m pissed at this point that I let myself get into this situation and am pretty sure I’m going to call it off to this guy eating a Cesar salad in a plastic bowl with a napkin in his shirt like he’s at a crab boil and lose. He pushes and I call. Villain sighs and turns over pocket 9’s. I table my hand and stack the chips but feel like I just blew the entire session with a jacked up table image.

My biggest question here is how I let this get away from me so easily that I was doubting myself suddenly when I knew pretty well from pre-flop what was going on. Had I stayed present I would have made different decisions I think, but we would have gotten to the same place. I also keep thinking that maybe the check on the turn is what got him all in anyway, and I would have lost that last bet had I not checked the turn.

Anyway, I’m open to all ideas, criticism and critique and really just wanted to start a conversation and get a hand posted to get involved. Next time I’ll post a cooler, but hey, I wanted to start positive and it’s tough to know how to handle hands you win after playing them poorly.

Thanks

[Chuck]

Not sure you played all that badly. Him turning over 9s and flush being onboard along with lacking awareness of stack size during all probably contribute to your feeling of poor play.

His line is confusing especially with the call to the raise by a nit rec on button. Playing 9s out of position against an initial raiser in their first hand is questionable (adding to your confusion) and I wouldn’t expect that type of hand, nor would I expect AA, 8s or 4s there. So to me that eliminates the trips possibility and an overpair to your kings. His raise to me said Ax of diamonds, possibly A4 or A8 but are those really in his 3 bet range from EP? Clearly you having the Kd eliminates AKd. I might have shoved there, since I doubt I’m folding either with top pair and no expectations of being beat. I also probably call when he checks turn, bets river – $75 to win around 600. I think we play it fairly close to the same way – except as noted maybe I shove to his raise on the flop. Since you felt unsure of where he was at, that adds to the feeling of playing it poorly but sometimes you have to look at the analysis and not always go with the feeling of the moment. Hope it helps. Cheers.

[Frederick F]

I don’t think you butchered it as hard as you think. Even though you’re committed, it’s not always necessary to jam your whole stack in if you think you can get value on a later street. You’re obviously never folding after the flop so why not let him keep piling money in? Remember we make money from our opponents’ mistakes and your opponent made several mistakes in this hand.

On that note, winning hands that you’ve played poorly definitely is a thing. It’s almost embarrassing to show down a hand that you’ve butchered and still won. Just make a note of how the hand has affected your image and adjust accordingly. Cheers!

[Scott Freestone]

Thanks for the feedback, it’s appreciated!

I really want to agree that my line wasn’t actually that bad until the flat on the flop. After that I feel like I went pretty passive and just called off (which is disappointing but I make bad plays all the time so you learn and move on) but the problem has been I can’t find any time where I would flat the flop 3-bet, especially with only a 1/3 pot or less behind…like, ever.

I think it was just so far off of how I would play this in 95% of cases that I just shut down in terms of thinking it out. Does anyone else experience making this type of mistake, or making a play far outside your norm by mistake, and then just shutting down to a calling station?

Thanks again for the feedback and advise, glad to have found the forum!

[Author]

Posts