Friday, April 20, 2007

Day 66-1: +$14.50 (+4 BB at $2/4)

Level: +$14.50 in 2.75 table hours (+4 BB at $2/4)
Overall: +$386.15 in 136.62 table hours

I bought in for the $100 remaining in the $2/4 bankroll. I was worried about going busto twice in a row when I was down to $31. Fortunately, I pulled out of it and came back to being ahead $14.50. Not many hands to post this time.

Hand 1: Villain is known to be aggressive, but I didn't know how aggressive he was. The flop donk/call followed by the re-donk/3-bet had me really worried about some strangely played flopped big hand and he just didn't know how to handle it. It turned out he was just bad. You can argue about throwing in a river raise because I now beat Q6/Q7, but given the turn action, I wasn't entirely convinced that this card helped me (he could play a turned flush draw this way, I guess, but wouldn't pay it off unless he had a pair.)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Kh, Ac.
Hero raises, 4 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 6d, Ah, 7s (2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) Qh (2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

River: (10.25 BB) As (2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.

Results:
BB has 7h 3c (two pair, aces and sevens).
Hero has Kh Ac (three of a kind, aces).

Hand 2: I took a flop peel here because I could be ahead of a flush draw and potentially have as many as 6 outs against a pair smaller than queens. In aggressive games (well... more generally against aggressive players), folding the flop too often is a huge leak. The turn brought me a good draw, but I didn't think a turn raise had enough credibility to make any better hands fold, so I just called and try to pick up something on the river. It didn't happen. With this many broadway on the board, it's hard to have A-high hold up, so it's an easy fold.

Preflop: Hero is MP with Ad, Jc.
UTG calls, Hero raises, 4 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: (5.50 SB) 8h, Qh, 2c (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (3.75 BB) Td (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero calls.

River: (5.75 BB) 6d (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero folds.

Hand 3: Value bet the turn even though an ace fell. If the someone calls it, then you can be worried. But you might still win anyway.

Preflop: Hero is Button with Kd, Js.
1 fold, MP raises, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BB calls, MP calls.

Flop: (9.50 SB) 9c, Kh, 6s (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Button bets, BB calls, MP calls.

Turn: (6.25 BB) As (3 players)

BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets, BB folds, MP calls.

River: (8.25 BB) 5d (2 players)

MP checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: 8.25 BB


Results:
MP has Jc Ts (high card, ace).
Hero has Kd Js (one pair, kings).

4 comments:

Jarno said...

(Regarding Hand 1.) There seems to be a class of players who don't give opponents any credit for good hands. ;-)

I've probably lost some value by slowing down my strong hands after continuous donk-bets and 3-bets. It's real hard to put the villain on a middle/bottom pair after you've raised and reraised and the villain just doesn't slow down. But maybe slowing down saves some bets in the long run, I don't know.

Had the villain check-raised the flop you probably would have reraised it? He would have saved few bets with that line, I guess. But go figure, some people play strangely. :-)

Jarno said...

Hand 3: hey, isn't that the good old "you have the (implied) odds for the draw on the flop, but not on turn" for the villain (MP)? I'd say that to call on the turn with a gut shot straight draw (and not the odds), you'd have to have some showdown value (Ace high or something) and maybe go for a call-down along with the straight draw.

As the hero, I would have probably bet the river too, but I guess that would have been a bit questionable value bet. Maybe I'm just too used to loose/passives calling down with anything. (Yes, even in 5/6 max.)

Jarno said...

Also, if you don't mind me asking more stupid questions, how did you come up with the numbers for moving up and down the limits? They seem a bit on the aggressive side. Now, I understand that you already say it in title, "Tired of grinding", but you can lose 100BB in one fell swoop, as you've demonstrated. ;-) Short handed seems to be even more swingy than full table.

You're obviously aware of all this, but I was just wondering what was rationale behind the numbers. I guess you don't mind going broke with that bankroll?

Aaron W. said...

Jarno -

(Hand 3) It's a reasonable value bet there (bet-fold). I remember villain being a little loose in his raises, but I felt like Ax made up much of his range, so when he called the turn bet, it was close mid-range pocket pairs and Ax hands.

I came up with the numbers by just picking something that looked reasonable. I think the usual number you want to look at for being "properly rolled" for a 6-max game is 400-500 BB (300 BB full ring). But instead of grinding my way up to 500 BB, I decided to cut it short. I'm really only playing on a 50 BB bankroll at each level, which means I go up and down in stakes much more quickly.