Back from holidays and poker ready, armed with theory

I wonder if the term 'poker ready' actually makes sense or if anyone actually uses it....

Anyways the week away was actually quite refreshing and made me raring to go in hitting the tables again. I ended up just reading through the Borer book which I actually found quite different from the last time I read it around six months ago.

Most of the example hands I generally come up with the best option which is quite reassuring, or I can at least understand the logic of any hands where I come up with a different answer. The first time I read through i'm sure there were quite a number where i'd come up with completely the wrong answer, or just couldn't seem to understand the logic of their explanations.

It is interesting to revisit the book though as I do think i've uncovered a couple leaks in my game. Mainly around not value betting enough, and often not playing draws aggressively enough.

In terms of value betting I think i've become a little too passive on later streets and am taking the check weakish hands on the river in the hope to induce a bluff a little too far. The key concept around value betting that I noticed was that checking a somewhat scary river when out of position with a medium strength hand often allows your opponent to play perfectly. ie they can just check behind when they are behind, and can bet out confidently when ahead. In this situation you are losing value from anyone who would make a crying call versus your bet, and often you won't get reraised by someone hitting the one scare card.

That being said often inducing a bluff will be the best play, but I guess its just a matter of being aware of board texture, your opponent's tendencies (the more aggro the more likely to induce), and when someone will make a bluff versus when you should value bet.

For playing draws more aggressively I found it a very interesting concept. Often lately i've fallen into the trap of just calling when I have pot odds, and betting out when I think their are enough runners in the pot to create the pot odds. What I hadn't really considered is that by playing more aggressively you can get a number of better hands to fold even if you miss. For example if you have a flush draw with say A2s with three runners on the turn, and the first player bets out, if you raise and the third player will then be faced with 2 bets to call. If they are on a small pair the may fold here when they are in front. Also if they have say a naked AK and fold here for 2 bets, then you have cleaned up your three A outs assuming the first player was betting with a single pair. The other benefit is your hand can look like a made hand.

I played a couple hours over the weekend and was hoping to find some examples but didn't get time to go through my database in any detail. Here's one though that does sort of illustrate the concept .. but I did whiff completely in the end:

$2/$4 Limit Holdem • 6 Players
UTG $171.25 (average tag, although WTSD of 30% is a little low .. but small sample)
UTG+1 $65.00
CO $58.12
BTN $53.64 (huge fish)
SB $42.88 (fishy)
Hero $100.00
Pre-Flop (1.5 SB, 6 players) Hero is BB with Ks2s

UTG raises, 2 folds, BTN calls, 1 fold, Hero calls (with the button tagging along i'm calling here, otherwise i'd fold in this spot)
Flop (6.5 SB, 3 players)

3s5sJd (okay i've got my flush draw and thats about it)

Hero checks, UTG bets, BTN calls, Hero raises, UTG calls, BTN calls (Check with intent to checkraise. Button tagging along helps my odds. No reraise from UTG though which is promising)
Turn (6.2 BB, 3 players)

9d okay now the board is quite draw heavy ... 2 diamonds, 2 spades and J9

Hero bets, UTG calls, BTN folds Bet out here and hope to take the pot. The one fold is handy in case I miss - he could easily have been in front of me)
River (8.2 BB, 2 players)

6c (damn .. whiffed .. although 356 is now on the board which might scare an UTG raiser a bit .. but probably not ...)

Hero bets, UTG folds (okay well, i'm fairly sure i'm not winning if I check here, and I can easily fold to a raise, so I think raising is the best option. I check/raised the flop and bet the turn so i've only shown strength so far in this hand. In his whole range of AA-66, AKs-QTs, AKo-KJo i'm actually behind every single hand except QTs, although he could potentially fold any hand where he doesn't have a pair if I bet. So ... AK, AQ, AT, KQ, KT are a chance and even maybe 77, 88, all of which add up to quite a big part of his range.)
Final Pot: 8.2 BB
Hero wins 8.9 BB ( won +4.9 BB )

I ended up doing okay for the session, and even had a slight heater on the Bodog tables, where i'm now only running at -0.5BB/100. My interpoker is even running slightly better than negative 2BB/100 which is a big improvement over the slaughtering i've been getting there.

Current bankroll: $14,100

Poker theory refresh

Well, i'm about to take off on holiday, so wont be playing any poker for a week or so, so there won't be too many updates (if any) until i'm back. I may get in a little over the weekend and maybe Monday but will see.

I've decided to take my two main poker books (stox and borer) with me to just refresh myself on some of the key theories of shorthanded play. Maybe spot a leak or two in my game that needs fixing. Given I haven't even picked one up for 6 months i'm probably about due for the refresh.

I've also got to get it straight in my head exactly how I play paired boards on the flop. I always find these to be tricky situations.

I even got into a couple today. One with the board reading 995r and me holding QJ and being the preflop raiser. I cbet the flop but got check raised but a quite aggro player. Do I throw it away here? I ended up calling and hit a Q on the turn and called down his turn and river bets. He flipped over 33.

Generally post flop i'm calling down (or betting) if its heads up and I have a pair on a paired board.

Can't say too much interesting happened in my session, although given it was only 20 minutes you wouldnt expect much. I think I dropped about 10BBs ... mainly from a couple fish who called my cbets and managed to hit one of their two rubbish cards on the turn or river. For some reason no one seemed to fold .. which would have been good if I had been actually hitting my cards.....

On the plus side, only 200mpps to go and i've finished the Interpoker bonus.

Current bankroll: $13,950

Stats - the river

Thought i'd better have a quick check of the 'more details' summary on pokertracker, just in case I have developed any more leaks in my game.

On a quick view, only 2 stats really stood out. My AF on the river was only just over 1, and my fold to a river bet was 30%.

It looks like probably i'm not value betting enough on the river, and should have a slightly higher AF, but as compensation, i'm calling down a lot of river bets. I suspect i'm taking the theories of not betting when I will only get called by a better hand and checking to induce a bluff on the river to the extreme, and it may actually be a leak.

I will have to make sure I am getting this right. Might have to refer back to the stox or shorthanded books to brush up on the theory as well.

Anyways, only played briefly on the tables, and made about 20BBs on the $1/2 table. Was well up on a $2/4 table before I missed about 3 draws in a row, and managed to have my QJ dominated by KQ in a stealing situation. Disappointing not to end further up, but any positive session is a good session :)

cyas next week

Current Bankroll: $7,950

Poker books and reading

I am the kind of person that likes to have a pretty good idea of what i'm doing before I jump in (as well as learn to improve as I go). So in order to do that I have purchased a few poker books and also regularly read websites/forums.

In the beginning I got bored quite quickly with full ring games, so I quickly narrowed down my game choice to 6max limit poker. (I really should look at no limit at some stage, but am doing okay with limit for now)

To work out what I should be doing, I purchased Stoxtrader's book, winning in tough holdem games and Limit Hold'em: Winning Short-handed Strategies by Terry Borer. Admittedly I do make a few adjustments because I play in softer games, but i'd highly recommend the book.

I also regularly go to the twoplustwo forums, in the bonus sections and shorthanded sections, which often provide useful pointers or reinforce particular strategies.

Now, onto yesterdays play. Probably played a little over an hour 2 tabling cake poker for a while, and then 2 tabling sunpoker for a while when the cake tables disappeared. At the same time i played a couple double up crypto SnGs. Managed to make about a $70 profit, including doubling up on both the SnGs.

Couple hands of note. One in the cash game where I made a pretty big mistake on the river. I had AK and was the aggressor, and on the flop QTs had hit, I continued to bet, and actually hit the J on the river, however that was also same suited, hitting the possible flush draw of the one caller. Out of position I bet the river before thinking that I am an idiot and should have just checked as its unlikely a worse hand will call, and a better hand would 3 bet. If I had checked it could also have induced a bluff ... end result was my opponent folded to my bet, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

One hand in the double ups I had a stack of about 2,500 chips, and UTG (v loose) had a stack of about 1,000. UTG limped in, couple other limpers and i was in the big blind with 94o and checked. flop was 947 rainbow, so I lead out with a pot bet of around 100. UTG called, rest folded. Turn was a K, and I pot bet for 200, which was raised for another 200 by UTG. I called. River was a Q, and I thought I may be in trouble but could still be in front. UTG pushed all in for the remainder of his stack. I decided to call having some faith in my read I suppose, and he flipped over AA. That gave me enough chips to basically fold for the win. I guess he shouldn't have slow played his bullets :)

Current bankroll (profit): $3,870