Welcome

Hello all, welcome to my online poker blog.

I've been playing on and off for a decade after being introduced by a friend.

I played regularly for a few years during the poker boom and had a decent record at the micros, particularly Rush and Zoom No Limit Hold'em games (here's one of my graphs).

Around 2012 I began a new career which involved immersing myself completely in study in my spare time, so I had little to no time for poker. However recently this burden has eased and so I have been gradually dipping back in.

I'm an amateur player who still hopes to some day beat the rake.





Friday 6 May 2011

Simon Screws Up (again)

Wow, so many posts at the moment. OK I'm going to share two hands now which I just butchered in the Rush games. They're relatively interesting and illustrate a quirk of my thought process during poker play. Sometimes it can be a real strength, and other times it can be a real weakness and I call it 'tunnel vision'. To start with I will generalise. Have you ever worked through a poker hand and, given all of the information that you have assimilated been surprised with what your opponent actually turns up with? The first hand I play is an example of this. I completely discount hands from ranges sometimes where it would be better to keep them in the back of my mind. Often my system allows me to win hands where villains do weird things that don't make sense, but other times I spew off money because earlier in the hand I'd refined their range to exclude the hand they seem to be representing. Seeing the hands will help this to make more sense:

Full Tilt Poker Game #30336206978: Table Apollo - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:32:52 ET - 2011/05/06
Seat 1: Gruux ($32.66)
Seat 2: Wiir ($106.07)
Seat 3: dvrf ($29.33)
Seat 4: cyan2k ($11.30)
Seat 5: linara ($8.51)
Seat 6: Hero ($32.54)
Seat 7: buckrogers1970 ($27.10)
Seat 8: janabu1 ($6.56)
Seat 9: Jess366 ($27.16)
Gruux posts the small blind of $0.10
Wiir posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Qd Qc]
dvrf folds
cyan2k folds
linara folds
Hero raises to $0.75
buckrogers1970 folds
janabu1 folds
Jess366 folds
Gruux folds
Wiir calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [2s 2d 3s]
Wiir checks
Hero bets $1
Wiir raises to $2.75
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero raises to $6.50
Wiir calls $3.75
*** TURN *** [2s 2d 3s] [4s]
Wiir checks
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $6.75
Wiir raises to $34.85
Hero calls $18.54, and is all in
Wiir shows [Js Ks]
Hero shows [Qd Qc]
Uncalled bet of $9.56 returned to Wiir
*** RIVER *** [2s 2d 3s 4s] [8d]
Wiir shows a flush, King high
Hero shows two pair, Queens and Twos
Wiir wins the pot ($62.18) with a flush, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $65.18 | Rake $3
Board: [2s 2d 3s 4s 8d]
Seat 1: Gruux (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Wiir (big blind) showed [Js Ks] and won ($62.18) with a flush, King high
Seat 3: dvrf didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: cyan2k didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: linara didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Hero showed [Qd Qc] and lost with two pair, Queens and Twos
Seat 7: buckrogers1970 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: janabu1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Jess366 (button) didn't bet (folded)

So super tight (9/7) villain calls my middle position raise in the bb. At this point (given that he had hardly 3-bet over my sample (1.2%)) I assumed that AA-KK and possibly AK would not be in his post flop range here. So his hand was likely to be pocket pairs - or so I presumed at the time. When he check raises the flop I looked at his overall aggression which seemed very very high. His ratio of raising versus calling or folding was much higher than standard so I assumed that he would be misplaying many overpairs in this spot by raising them. I also assumed that he'd have trouble folding on such a dry board so 3-betting felt like the right play. When he calls I have discounted everything but middleish pairs. I naturally barrelled again versus this perceived range and BANG he shoves. I SNAP called thinking this was probably a play with a middle pair plus flush draw but I was actually drawing to only two outs. I was really genuinely gob smacked when he turned over his hand. My entire thinking through out the hand was flawed and I looked like a sucker. A BAD case of tunnel vision. As far as equity goes, if I put suited broadways into his range then I think that folding is definitely superior to calling on that turn even though it's only a pot sized bet left behind. Why I discounted something like AsQs or even AsKs I'll never really know!

Full Tilt Poker Game #30336577446: Table Apollo - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:50:49 ET - 2011/05/06
Seat 1: Hero ($29.23)
Seat 2: Kikomons ($26.56)
Seat 3: Menion87 ($10)
Seat 4: thonga ($10.82)
Seat 5: Artem15 ($87.21)
Seat 6: gwevolution ($25)
Seat 7: deGoochman ($31.91)
Seat 8: Dabovic ($46.82)
Seat 9: IronCross1 ($133.67)
Artem15 posts the small blind of $0.10
gwevolution posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Th Tc]
deGoochman raises to $0.50
Dabovic folds
IronCross1 calls $0.50
Hero calls $0.50
Kikomons folds
Menion87 folds
thonga folds
Artem15 folds
gwevolution folds
*** FLOP *** [4d Td 9h]
deGoochman bets $1.25
IronCross1 calls $1.25
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero raises to $4
deGoochman has 15 seconds left to act
deGoochman calls $2.75
IronCross1 folds
*** TURN *** [4d Td 9h] [8d]
deGoochman checks
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $6.75
deGoochman has 15 seconds left to act
deGoochman raises to $16.25
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero raises to $24.73, and is all in
deGoochman calls $8.48
Hero shows [Th Tc]
deGoochman shows [Kd Ad]
*** RIVER *** [4d Td 9h 8d] [3h]
Hero shows three of a kind, Tens
deGoochman shows a flush, Ace high
deGoochman wins the pot ($57.56) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $60.56 | Rake $3
Board: [4d Td 9h 8d 3h]
Seat 1: Hero showed [Th Tc] and lost with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 2: Kikomons didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Menion87 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: thonga (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Artem15 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: gwevolution (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: deGoochman showed [Kd Ad] and won ($57.56) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 8: Dabovic didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: IronCross1 folded on the Flop

This hand was a similar sort of thing but I think that calling the turn is pretty close in this case. Again for my super tight opponent to c-bet into two players I ruled out everything but big pairs, worse sets and AK with the flush draw (so one single combo). With top set on this board against two villains I definitely need to raise for value. When he calls I can't really refine his range from before, it is probably {AdKd, 99, 44, KK+}. When he check raises the turn I thought that this could be KdKx or AdAx plus AdKd (sets almost always draw to the boat on flush boards). Whether this is a realistic assumption or not depends I guess on whether he ever calls the flop with AA or KK. The equity is simple, on the turn - again - I had a pot sized stack left after I bet so I needed 33% or better equity to call a shove. If villain only ever does this play with exactly AdKd then I should fold since my equity actually works out at around 23%. But with only a SINGLE extra combination of AA or KK with a diamond draw it's a snap call. Given the decision is so marginal and dependent on so few hand combinations I think that my turn call is forgiveable in this hand.

Anyway, I regularly suffer from tunnel vision and it's a bit of a leak to be honest. But it can also be a strength because I don't believe many people have so thorough a system of thinking as this during play. Have I begun to over-think my hands? Maybe. Anyway let's hope that I can learn a lesson from this and that my down swing doesn't continue for too long. In truth I'm really enjoying playing at the moment and don't really care if I win or lose. The calculation and analysis is giving me plenty of pleasure as it is. GL

EDIT: Just happened upon the poker room reviews over at pokerscout.com. There are some pretty foolish people out there really. "OMGZ pokerz is so rigggged" - lol.

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