Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Playing bad, getting lucky...

These are two dopey hands from a $5/$10NL session at the Rio.

hand #1
9 handed live $5/$10NLHE
- Villain is a vegas local who plays about 20/10/0.8. He likes to slow play to the river. About 10 minutes ago, we were discussing a different player at the table who Villain had commented was playing weak tight (he said so in a mocking way). Last of all, Villain is steaming a little bit just prior to this hand.
- Hero has not been very active in this session with a VPIP < 10%
preflop: muck, Villain limps, Hero raises to 5xbb w AdKh, mucked around to Villain who calls (2 players, pot size 11.5bb)
flop: AhKd4h, Villain checks, Hero makes a weak c-bet of 5xbb, Villain immediately CR to 15xbb, Hero tanks and calls (2 players, pot size 41.5bb)
turn: AhKd4h5c, Villain bets 20xbb, Hero tanks and calls (2 players, pot size 81.5bb)
river: AhKd4h5c2s, Villain instabets 40xbb, and Hero instacalls. Villain shows 8c8s, presumably to see what Hero called him down with. Hero shows, and Villain goes ballistic.

On the flop, I made a weak bet on a coordinated A high board to allow a thinking player, like the Villain, to take the pot away from me. Villain's flop action is consistent with this line (and, of course, with a better hand like 44, but also worse made hands like Ax/A4)

On the turn, I put Villain on 44 or nothing, and call to keep the pot small (and in small part for rope-a-dope reasons)

On the river, Villain fires a THIRD bullet. Granted, I know that Villain is steaming a little bit, and also that Villain knows that I am capable of folding top pair type hands, but I still don't think these Vegas locals are making these multistreet bluffs often enough to call getting 3:1. I don't like my call.

At any rate, in the actual hand: on the river, I would have tanked and possibly mucked if any of 3 things happened:
i) heart comes
ii) significantly bigger bet, say 40bb
iii) any pause before Villain bets the river

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On to the next hand....

My postflop actions in this hand related to bet sizing and building a pot are poor. I really hate this hand.

hand #2
9 handed live $5/$10NLHE
- different Villain who is new to the game this orbit (no prior history)
- effective stacks ~120bb
preflop: donkey limps UTG, mucked to Villain in MP+1 who limps, mucked to button who limps, Hero complete in SB w 5h5s, another donkey in the BB checks (5 players, pot size 5bb)
flop: 2s5dJs, checked to Villain who overbets 8xbb, button mucks, Hero calls fairly quickly, everyone else folds (2 players, pot size 21bb)
turn: 2s5dJsAh, Hero checks, Villain bets 15xbb, Hero CR to 40xbb, Villain tanks for ~8 seconds and calls (2 players, pot size 101bb)
river: 2s5dJsAh8s, Hero bets 40xbb, Villain insta calls, Hero shows set, Villain shows smaller set.

I was quite astonished to see his hand give that he didn't push on the turn.

Anyway, this should have been a very simple hand. If I lead on the flop, all the money goes in on either the flop or the turn. Boo me!
This is the most significant notable point of the hand. *** Namely, Hero took a very simple situation and unnecessarily created a potentially difficult situation to handle. ****

Villain commented that he wished I had moved in on the river so he could have mucked. I replied that I had to bet some amount that he could call.

I don't know what I would have done (other than throw up in my mouth) if Villain moves in on the river for ~30bb more. It is a very bad sign in NLHE if you don't know how to respond to a raise.

Hero was very lucky that Villain had just the right hand to call the river bet. I would imagine that for a more standard range for a Villain with this board and the earlier action, the Villain will either muck or raise.