High On Poker

The new HighOnPoker.com comes with one of those nifty hand converter options. All I have to do is copy and paste the hand history into the blog and it’ll pop out a pretty display with a rundown of the action.

Of course, I have always found raw hand histories to be terribly boring, and even with the converter, I find it to be a bit bland, but at least I can use the program to make pretty little card pictures!

This hand is from a 6-max SNG last night. I decided to follow someone’s advice (can’t remember who, but it was a commentor) and try some volume. I basically played four 6-max SNGs at once, starting them one after another with some time in between so I wouldn’t face four HU situations at once. At it turned out, I only cashed in one, taking second place after a long HU battle that saw my opponent hit 3-outters to escape death on 3 occasions. The other three games resulted in losses due at least in part to bad play. Once again, I let distraction take over.

I had a particularly tough decision to make in this upcoming hand. I had my full starting stack of 1500 and we were in the first level, 10/20 blinds. CPT was UTG, with 1430. I was in the cutoff. CPT raised to 100 preflop and I flat called with J 9 in position. It was definitely a loose call, but I felt confident in my ability to play in position. His preflop raise 5x the BB made me believe that he probably had a weak pocket pair or unpaired high cards. As long as he didn’t have KJ or AJ, I was in decent shape against those hands, so I decided it was worth the call in position. Everyone else folded.

The flop was J 3 T, with a pot of 230. CPT continuation bet 200 and I took my time before calling. The 200 somewhat scared me. I thought to myself that if I hit a strong hand in his position, what would I do? The answer I came up with was to bet slightly less than pot to keep my story going that I was making a typical c-bet. Of course, I also considered the possibility that I was overthinking the hand and that his c-bet was actually the mindless c-bet it first appeared to be.

The turn was 8, with a 630 pot. Not my opponent changed tactics, betting 320, significantly less than pot. There were still two possibilities. He was milking me with a winning hand or he was trying to control the bet size. I wasn’t 100% confident in my top pair, mediocre kicker, but the 8 brought me a straight draw. I called once again, happy to not have to put in all my chips.

The river hit me, Q, giving me a Q-high straight. The pot was over 1200. My opponent pushed all-in for 920 and once again, I was stuck with a tough decision. I had painted myself into a corner. For some reason, AK came flooding into my head. AK! AK! HE HAS AK! It made sense, too. The preflop bet of 5x so he could take down the pot without having to flop a pair (but then again, it was 30 pot). The c-bet on the flop. The weaker c-bet on the turn. AK! I took my time and tried to determine if I did, in fact, need to fold and save my remaining 900 or so chips. And finally, I made a knee jerk decision and called.

Anyone want to guess what he had? The correct answer gets $11 transfered to their PokerStars account. Suits don’t matter.

And while you are at it, feel free to comment on the hand, from preflop play to the end. I don’t love how I played it, so I’m more than happy to receive constructive criticism.

One final disclaimer: I often post my bad hands, because I see no use in posting hands where I played perfectly. There is little to be learned from those hands, and lots to be learned from these questionable ones. I just ask that you be gentle, kind readers.

Until next time, make mine poker!