So, I left the Crackhouse at midnight last night up $55. (Black refers to holding four black chips at the end, each worth $10.)
The difference this time?
No really bad suckouts.
(Details about a close call to follow shortly.)
Seriously, I got my money in with the best hands, and they held up. When I thought I was beat, I folded. (There's one hand I almost certainly got bluffed off of, but holding Jacks with a King on the board and a total of four dollars in the pot, I decided it wasn't worth defending the dollar I had in.)
One of the two best players in the game kept getting the wrong cards at the wrong time while I was in pots with him as well. He wasn't pleased when I called down his all-in holding only A9 off. Considering I had him well covered, his penchant for hammer-dropping, and the fact he went all-in out of position on me while he held A8, I don't feel too bad about it, actually. (I had him on pocket 5s through pocket 8s. Even with the "coin flip" I probably shouldn't have called, but live by the hammer, die by the hammer.) By the time I left he was visibly peeved with me (thanks for pointing out the tell, dude!) but I can't say I blame him; he's right that he's a lot better than me, and I've been catching on him consistently the past couple of sessions. The two together can be irritating, and I can be fairly irritating all on my own.
The consensus seems to be that I'm crazy aggressive with my betting. Maybe it's not the standard model, but I continue to believe that the best play when holding what I believe to be the best hand but one that is vulnerable to major suckage (say, pocket Kings) is to push the hell out of it.
Case in point:
AngryGuy under the gun bets out three dollars (blinds .25/.25). Folds around to QuietGuy, who contemplates. AngryGuy says "You better have a monster if you want to play with me." Instantly I put him on AT / AJ. I believe QuietGuy folds, and Ron Ladd calls. I have KK, which is in fact a monster hand, and AngryGuy seems to be in perpetual LGMT (low-grade muttering tilt). I say "All in". F-Train makes a "what is this donkey doing" kind of noise. I figure I'm going to steal some chips, or be roughly a 60-40 favorite to take all of AngryGuy's stack. I'm expecting a call though because at some point this seemed to have become more about cojones than cards.
No surprise. He calls. No surprise, he has AT off.
Before AngryGuy called Ari spent a lot of time asking rhetorically, "What could (Mut) have?" All things considered, I think it should have been obvious I had Aces, Kings, or possibly AK. None of these hands give AngryGuy a positive EV, and the Aces or Big Slick would be positively brutal for him. Still, he called, so I was at risk with about half my stack.
Flop gives him some runner-runner possibilities. Turn is one of his two-outer Aces. (Dawn had tossed an ace into the muck, meaning pre-flop he was more badly hosed than he knew). I'm channeling the pot of petunias, thinking "Oh no, not again" when the river gives me one of my two-outer Kings, giving me the winning set.
The rest of the evening became a group exercise in "trap the Mut and take his money". I folded a lot.
Things to do (or not do) in the future:
-
If I put someone on a painted ace that misses the QQ5 rainbow flop, I will raise them on the run and not wait for another 5 to counterfeit my pocket 3s.
In general, I will call less, and both raise and fold more.
I will sit while playing hands. (This is where my glaring tell glared at people.)
I will scan the table before acting. (I acted out of turn a couple of times which is rude, embarrassing, and potentially -EV.)
Comments (2)
1. Yes I was slightly annoyed but it wasn't so much at you, as just generally. You took the brunt for a bit. Sorry about that.
2. I don't think I made a noise, I think I said "...and MP is all-in for $70 into a $3 pot." I mean, sure you had the best of it, but getting your whole stack in with the perception that you're a 60-40 favorite isn't the strongest play in the world (especially since most times, people won't call). Post-flop play is where it's at, and if you really think he has AJ/AT, you should be comfortable putting in a standard reraise and then taking a flop.
3. I don't mind pointing out people's tells in a $20 home game. It should be as much about having fun and learning as it is about playing cards. Hand-shaking is a fairly common tell when people don't have lots of experience under their belt.
Oddly, I had someone call me on hand-shaking at the Borgata within the last 6 months as I was calling a raise preflop, but really all I had were suited connectors. My hands were just REALLY cold and I'd just consumed a cup of coffee. =D
Posted by F-Train | January 19, 2007 12:49 PM
Posted on January 19, 2007 12:49
Actually, pointing out the shaking hands is much appreciated; that's why the "sit while playing" note-to-self is here for me to remember. Not in any way, shape, or form upset with the call on it, then or now. (It may have actually helped AG make his call of my all-in, so again, thankee.)
I think Ron called AG's initial bet prior to it getting to me, so it was (I think) $6 to steal, but...
I really was sure AG would call, I was extremely confident in my read, and I really did want to be playing against just him,
so in the end it worked as planned. However, your point about it being a poor real-world play is understood and noted.(I really didn't want Ron to see the flop because of the previous week's 6 3 debacle, so I'd decided on the all-in as soon as I heard the banter. Maybe the crack is making me twitchy....)
Posted by PhantomMut | January 19, 2007 5:33 PM
Posted on January 19, 2007 17:33