Atlantic City Lesson September 14, 2008
Posted by Jennifer in : poker , trackback
My most interesting hand from the three Borgata Fall Open events I played was sadly, one that I lost. I was 45 minutes into a $400 buy-in with a relatively deep, no ante structure, and I woke up with a pair of kings. I’d already increased my stack from 7000 to 8500 so I was feeling good. A dude in early position raised to 150: he had been very aggressive and involved in a lot of huge pots, especially considering this was just the first level with 25 50 blinds. I re-raised to 500 and he called. The flop came out 669 with two spades and one club. He checked, which immediately caught me off guard because I hadn’t seen him check any flops up to that point. I bet 700, he insta-called. The turn was annoying, an 8 of clubs. He fired out with 1500. I had a bad feeling but decided there was a high % chance he had nothing, so I called, figuring I’d go to the river unless something disgusting popped up. Also maybe he would just give up and check the river. The river was an icky 7 of spades. He bet 2500 instantly: definitely not what I wanted to see, So many things beat me. 99,88,77, AA any ten, any six, any two spades, any 5. Pretty much the only two reasonable hands I can beat are JJ or QQ so without too much thought, I threw away my cowboys. He then gleefully turned over AK…of HEARTS. Stone cold bluff. I was even more upset at myself when he barely played a hand for the next two hours.
If I’d known he was a tight player who just happened to play the first 30 minutes like a maniac, I probably would have called the river or even better, I would have pushed the turn. If you’re not really into poker, you might be wondering: Why would you be MORE likely to think a tight player was bluffing than a loose player? Well no one is as tight as you think they are, first of all. More importantly, in that spot, a crazy player could potentially have hands as weak as A6s or A5s or ATo – they all beat me, but a tight player would almost certainly throw them away based on the preflop action. So I folded because I thought he was loose….seems counterintuive but actually makes a lot of sense. Of course I was disgusted at being bluffed like that, but also grateful he had shown me the hand so I could better analyze it. After losing this demoralizing hand, I lost two races with AK vs. pairs and was out in a flash in the second chance. Not my lucky day in AC!
Comments
Jennifer – sorry to hear about your loss. I was wondering if you could post about the similarities between chess and poker and why a chess player might make a good poker player. Also, what would you recommend for studying poker?
Thanks!
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Hi Mike, I think the main reason chessplayers are good at poker is because they take an analytical approach to poker: “What’s the best move?” rather than “how can I make money fast?” Of course, there are many exceptions and some chessplayers are bad at poker because they expect to win too often. Check out my uschess.org article on chess master Ylon Schwartz, who made the final table of this year’s WSOP: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8690/471/
those insta-actions are big tells. Your assessment of hands beating you is correct, but the only hands that are raising in early position in early stages of the tournament that are beating you are 99, TT, AA, AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, KQs, KJs. Any 2 spade overcards, AA, or TT is leading out at the flop, particularly if he is aggressive. That leaves 99 – with that hand he will think hard before calling on the flop. Quick river action surely indicates a bluff – I would have called in a heartbeat, especially with all you have committed to the pot thus far. There is more on this at Mike Caro’s site here: http://www.poker1.com/absoluteig/mculib_videos.asp?categoryid=15
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