$3 NLHE STT: HU 17 hand review: Starting stacks - Hero 25BB vs. Villain 10BB

[mrdeedreid]

6max STT down to HU.

(Can't download histories from 888, I don't think. This took a bit of time. Also, not sure if this post was worth the effort.)

Criticize my play, please. For some of the hands I didn't include my actions if Villain reraised. In those cases, what would you do?

Opponent: Unknown. Played tight passive.
Hero: aggressor for majority of game.

Hand 1:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,870
Villain - t890

SB limps
BB (Hero) checks with

Flop:



Action:

Hero - bet t200
Villain - reraise t400


Hand 2:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,185
Villain - t1,615

SB Hero limps with
BB reraises to t400
SB calls

Flop:



SB checks
BB bets t400
Hero shoves

Hand 3 & 4:

Villain (sitting out)


Hand 5:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t6,405
Villain - t455

SB (Hero) shoves with


Hand 6:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,630
Villain - t1,230

Villain folds preflop.

Hand 7:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,850
Villain - t1,010

SB (Hero) limps with
BB checks

Flop:



Action:

Hero raises t400

Hand 8:

Villain (sitting out)


Hand 9:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t6,190
Villain - t670

SB (Hero) limps with
BB shoves


Hand 10:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,870
Villain - t990

SB limps
BB (Hero) checks with

Flop:



Action:

BB bet t200
SB reraise t400


Hand 11:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,550
Villain - t1,310

SB (Hero) raise t400 with
Villain folds


Hand 12:

Villain folds preflop.


Hand 13:

Blinds: t100/200
ante: t20

Stacks:
Hero - t5,980
Villain - t1,160

SB (Hero) shoves with
Villain folds


Hand 14:

*Blinds: t150/300
*ante: t30

Stacks:
Hero - t6,010
Villain - t680

SB shoves
BB (Hero) calls with


Hand 15:

*Blinds: t150/300
*ante: t30

Stacks:
Hero - t4,850
Villain - t1,390

SB (Hero) raise t600 with
BB calls

Flop:



Action:

BB bets t300
SB calls

Turn:



Action:

BB bets t300
SB calls

River:



BB bets 300
SB calls


Hand 16:

*Blinds: t150/300
*ante: t30

Stacks:
Hero - t5,150
Villain - t1,090

SB raises t600
BB (Hero) calls with

Flop:



Action:

BB bets t300
SB calls

Turn:



Action:

BB bets t930
SB calls


***Hand 17:*** (probably the worst hand I've ever played)

*Blinds: t150/300
*ante: t30

Stacks:
Hero - t3,580
Villain - t3,110

SB (Hero) limps with
BB checks

Flop:



Action:

BB raises t300
SB calls

Turn:



Action:

BB bets t300
SB raises t900
BB calls

River:



Action:

BB checks
SB shoves

 

[WiZZiM]

You can save your HH on 888 to your hard drive, then from there you can post full HH's.

Go into settings and theres an option to "save HH" designate folder and hey presto, you have nice HH.

 

[WiZZiM]

against tight/passive guys, shoving pre can be great if you think they are going to fold lots preflop. Also, making stabs postflop isn't going to be as effective vs these players, they will chase with a lot of garbage.

the 74 is not a great stab spot, that flop hit his limping range really well, checking and folding is the best play here, though i like that you are taking stabs at pots, you just picked the wrong opponent to do so. Think about what his range for calling preflop is, and if this flop connects with that range.

j5s just shove it preflop

q2o shove preflop

j6o shove preflop

as played fold flop/turn/river anywhere really.


Q4 i love it if you are stop and going/trying to create fold equity postflop, but just shove the flop. and we should do this when we don't flop a 4 as well. in general though, i'd just fold this, and shove ATC the very next hand.

and ya, the 94 is a bit of a blowup hand. i'd probably just fold the flop, but you could call on street and see what he does on the turn. Remember your opponent type, Tight/passive. when the flop comes and he Bets postflop, you are against someone who has a good hand, what can your 94o beat here? he might bet a draw, but he still calls any bet we put out with a draw, so we're either crushed, or we're slightly ahead on the flop. either way, time to use our skill and discipline and fold here on the flop

Remember that bolded part, you classify an opponent, follow through with your reads and play accordingly.

 

[mrdeedreid]

Got the histories.

I saw the paired 9's (Hand 17). My brain went on "call" autopilot. No critical thinking whatsoever. Pure insanity. As I was typing this hand out, I felt sick. Lol

Thanks for the Bold reminder.

 

[WiZZiM]

happens to everyone, weather they like to admit it or not. It's great that you post it!

i tried to triple barrell bluff a loose/passive player yesterday, he snap called me with bottom pair, lol. In game, thought processes can become flawed, which is why we post hands for review and review our own thought proccesses after we play.

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

Aside from specific hands...I'd like to make some comments on the style of your game.

I think you are limping too much from the SB. While it may seem wise to pot control with marginal hands...what effectively happens by limping too much in your SB/Button is that you end up playing all the small pots in position and all the big pots out of position. Because everything is magnified heads up, what can seem like an innocent small leak can quickly overcome your post flop skills and even superior starting hands.

The other thing I'd say is the quality of your hand should have SOME impact on whether you decide to limp, raise, or jam. I'll limp hands that play well or can stand to call a raise such as 78s or A3o. I'll raise with strong hands and garbage alike. For example I might raise with AK, K4, 74 and 44. But I would limp with A4, KT and 9Ts because all of those hands are happy to call a small raise and play a flop in position. Now, AK is happy to call a raise too....but you have to balance your raising range with some strong hands or else it becomes obvious pretty quickly that you only raise with weaker hands.

Moving on to specific hands:

Hand #7, J5s just open jam into him since he has 5bbs. It's either jam or fold preflop here because of effective stack sizes. I'd probably jam that one.

Hand #9 Q2o fold or shove preflop. Generally because he is so short, this will be a shove, but since a deuce is such a weak kicker you could fold it...especially if you'd been raising a lot.

Hand #15 J6o again it's a fold or shove based on his stack size. I'd lean toward the shove

Hand #16 Q4o I think I'd fold. He seems to have a tighter than average raising range, so we're probably in pretty bad shape vs. his range. If I play the hand then I'll either flat pre and jam any favorable flop (stop n go) or I'll just jam preflop.

Hand #17 94o You can fold your worst hands from the SB, I do. It is also good for image building. You can also raise your worst hands from the SB, I do. You should NOT, however, limp with your worst hands from the SB.

 

[mrdeedreid]

Aside from specific hands...I'd like to make some comments on the style of your game.

I think you are limping too much from the SB. While it may seem wise to pot control with marginal hands...what effectively happens by limping too much in your SB/Button is that...

--> you end up playing all the small pots in position and all the big pots out of position.
Can you clarity this a bit more for me? I'm not sure what you mean.


Because everything is magnified heads up, what can seem like an innocent small leak can quickly overcome your post flop skills and even superior starting hands.

The other thing I'd say is the quality of your hand should have SOME impact on whether you decide to limp, raise, or jam.

I'll limp hands that play well or can stand to call a raise such as 78s or A3o. Just because you say you would limp with them doesn't mean you wouldn't raise them as well right?

I'll raise with strong hands and garbage alike.

For example I might raise with AK, K4, 74 and 44. But I would limp with A4, KT and 9Ts because all of those hands are happy to call a small raise and play a flop in position. Now, AK is happy to call a raise too....but you have to balance your raising range with some strong hands or else it becomes obvious pretty quickly that you only raise with weaker hands.

Moving on to specific hands:

Hand #7, J5s just open jam into him since he has 5bbs. It's either jam or fold preflop here because of effective stack sizes. I'd probably jam that one.

Hand #9 Q2o fold or shove preflop. Generally because he is so short, this will be a shove, but since a deuce is such a weak kicker you could fold it...especially if you'd been raising a lot.

Hand #15 J6o again it's a fold or shove based on his stack size. I'd lean toward the shove

Hand #16 Q4o I think I'd fold. He seems to have a tighter than average raising range, so we're probably in pretty bad shape vs. his range. If I play the hand then I'll either flat pre and jam any favorable flop (stop n go) or I'll just jam preflop.

Hand #17 94o You can fold your worst hands from the SB, I do. It is also good for image building. You can also raise your worst hands from the SB, I do. You should NOT, however, limp with your worst hands from the SB.

Thanks.

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

by limping too much in your SB/Button is that...

--> you end up playing all the small pots in position and all the big pots out of position.
Can you clarity this a bit more for me? I'm not sure what you mean.
sure. basically let's say for simplicity's sake that you always limp on your button, and your opponent always raises on his button. On the flop you'll be playing a 2bb pot when you're in position, and on the flop you'll be playing a 4bb pot when you're out of position.

Now, in reality no player always limps their button and few players always raise their button (some do) but if the composite of the 2 players is that you limp more on your button, and your opponent raises more on his button....then you will be playing the biggest pots of the match out of position.

I do NOT suggest a 100% button raise strategy...I sometimes fold my worst hands in my sb/button and I do limp some of them. But you want to make sure you are raising your button more often than you are limping it.


Because everything is magnified heads up, what can seem like an innocent small leak can quickly overcome your post flop skills and even superior starting hands.

The other thing I'd say is the quality of your hand should have SOME impact on whether you decide to limp, raise, or jam.

I'll limp hands that play well or can stand to call a raise such as 78s or A3o. Just because you say you would limp with them doesn't mean you wouldn't raise them as well right?
correct. heads up is too much of an intimate dance to always play a certain hand a certain way....but I have general hand types that I "usually" limp with or "usually" raise with. and my "usually" might mean 75-80% I do it the usual way and sometimes I'll just open fold it, or do the opposite move. If you NEVER limp with AA in the sb then whenever you limp, your opponent knows you don't have AA. So while I usually min raise AA in my sb I very occasionally will limp it (10%) especially if he is the type of villain who pounces on my limps.

I'll raise with strong hands and garbage alike.

For example I might raise with AK, K4, 74 and 44. But I would limp with A4, KT and 9Ts because all of those hands are happy to call a small raise and play a flop in position. Now, AK is happy to call a raise too....but you have to balance your raising range with some strong hands or else it becomes obvious pretty quickly that you only raise with weaker hands.

Moving on to specific hands:

Hand #7, J5s just open jam into him since he has 5bbs. It's either jam or fold preflop here because of effective stack sizes. I'd probably jam that one.

Hand #9 Q2o fold or shove preflop. Generally because he is so short, this will be a shove, but since a deuce is such a weak kicker you could fold it...especially if you'd been raising a lot.

Hand #15 J6o again it's a fold or shove based on his stack size. I'd lean toward the shove

Hand #16 Q4o I think I'd fold. He seems to have a tighter than average raising range, so we're probably in pretty bad shape vs. his range. If I play the hand then I'll either flat pre and jam any favorable flop (stop n go) or I'll just jam preflop.

Hand #17 94o You can fold your worst hands from the SB, I do. It is also good for image building. You can also raise your worst hands from the SB, I do. You should NOT, however, limp with your worst hands from the SB

my responses above in red