$ NL HE MTT: Cardschat $300, first tournament of the year and I played really bad.

[Gritz18]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Freeroll

1. Freeroll

Currency

$

I started the year playing very badly, I didn't do what I always do: analyze the play before taking action.
When you play on impulse this happens, I need to pay more attention in the next games.

pokerstars, Hold'em No Limit - 15/30 - 9 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

UTG: 2,970 (99 bb)
UTG+1: 2,785 (93 bb)
MP: 3,050 (102 bb)
MP+1: 2,641 (88 bb)
LP: 3,560 (119 bb)
CO: 3,160 (105 bb)
BU: 3,135 (105 bb)
SB (Hero): 3,069 (102 bb)
BB: 2,630 (88 bb)

Pre-Flop: (45) Hero is SB with Q♦ K♦
2 players fold, MP raises to 60, MP+1 calls 60, 3 players fold, Hero calls 45, BB calls 30

Flop: (240) K♣ T♥ 8♦ (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP bets 60, MP+1 calls 60, Hero raises to 257, BB folds, MP calls 197, MP+1 folds

Turn: (814) 3♥ (2 players)
Hero bets 383, MP calls 383

River: (1,580) J♥ (2 players)
Hero bets 743, MP raises to 2,350 (all-in), Hero calls 1,607

Total pot: 6,280

Showdown:
MP shows 6♥ 8♥ (a flush, Jack high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 38%, Flop: 23%, Turn: 32%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) shows Q♦ K♦ (a pair of Kings)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 62%, Flop: 77%, Turn: 68%, River: 0%)

MP wins 6,280

 

[Mart1194]

Always the dear River. Sad about that. But we all know it's part of the little game

 

[Gritz18]

Always the dear River. Sad about that. But we all know it's part of the little game

I know the river is sometimes terrible, but in this case I should have analyzed it better, when the second of hearts comes and he calls my bet, I should have stopped the action.🤪

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
You could squeeze here, but just calling is also fine. Folding would be to tight.

Flop
This one is pretty close. He only bet 25% of the pot, so if you just call, you are giving everyone great odds to stick around and try to draw out on you. But on the other side we need to be a little carefull not to overplay a hand like this against someone, who opened from MP. His range should be somewhat snug, and we dont want to value own ourselfes against hands like AA, AK or sets. But it can also be argued, that raising gives usefull information. If he comes back over the top with a 3-bet, we can probably just fold right now and get away relatively cheap. So I am ok with this raise, but the better the opponent is, the less I would like it.

Turn
Total brick and as played I would also fire again to get value from second best made hands and all the draws, that missed.

River
This is, where I really disagree with your line, and apparently you dont like it yourself either. Jh is a terrible card, not only because it completes the BDFD, but also because it completes KJ, which is one of the few hands, you could otherwise have gotten value from on the river. Finally it also gave AQ, Q9 and 97 a straight. So betting here is way to thin.

This is a check-evaluate spot, and unless he bet some silly amount like 10-20% of the pot, I would usually check-fold here. The reason is, there are no busted draws and therefore no natural bluffs. If we go back to the flop QJ, J9 and 97 were OESDs. 97 got there on the river, and QJ and J9 made second pair. If you check the river, most opponents will happily check second pair back. They will not turn it into a bluff. So if this guy has a just somewhat logical range on the earlier streets, he dont end up here with any hands, that are clear candidates for bluffing. And its also not likely, he will bet a hand like K9 and think, its for value.

So for me this river is unfortunately a check-fold. And I know, it sounds very weak-tight to check-fold top pair good kicker on the river. But check-folding does not mean, you give up. This is something, Bart Hansson from Crushlivepoker harps on about a lot in many of the hands, people call in with. These are live cash game hands, but the principle also apply in soft online games be they cash games or tournaments.

The point is, that often he check back, and then we usually win. But if he bet, we are almost always beat, because he is not bluffing nearly as much, as game theory say, he should. And on the other side if we bet, its to difficult for him to still call with worse hands. So when we do have the best hand, he just fold, and we dont win anything extra.

 

[Gritz18]

Preflop
You could squeeze here, but just calling is also fine. Folding would be to tight.

Flop
This one is pretty close. He only bet 25% of the pot, so if you just call, you are giving everyone great odds to stick around and try to draw out on you. But on the other side we need to be a little carefull not to overplay a hand like this against someone, who opened from MP. His range should be somewhat snug, and we dont want to value own ourselfes against hands like AA, AK or sets. But it can also be argued, that raising gives usefull information. If he comes back over the top with a 3-bet, we can probably just fold right now and get away relatively cheap. So I am ok with this raise, but the better the opponent is, the less I would like it.

Turn
Total brick and as played I would also fire again to get value from second best made hands and all the draws, that missed.

River
This is, where I really disagree with your line, and apparently you dont like it yourself either. Jh is a terrible card, not only because it completes the BDFD, but also because it completes KJ, which is one of the few hands, you could otherwise have gotten value from on the river. Finally it also gave AQ, Q9 and 97 a straight. So betting here is way to thin.

This is a check-evaluate spot, and unless he bet some silly amount like 10-20% of the pot, I would usually check-fold here. The reason is, there are no busted draws and therefore no natural bluffs. If we go back to the flop QJ, J9 and 97 were OESDs. 97 got there on the river, and QJ and J9 made second pair. If you check the river, most opponents will happily check second pair back. They will not turn it into a bluff. So if this guy has a just somewhat logical range on the earlier streets, he dont end up here with any hands, that are clear candidates for bluffing. And its also not likely, he will bet a hand like K9 and think, its for value.

So for me this river is unfortunately a check-fold. And I know, it sounds very weak-tight to check-fold top pair good kicker on the river. But check-folding does not mean, you give up. This is something, Bart Hansson from Crushlivepoker harps on about a lot in many of the hands, people call in with. These are live cash game hands, but the principle also apply in soft online games be they cash games or tournaments.

The point is, that often he check back, and then we usually win. But if he bet, we are almost always beat, because he is not bluffing nearly as much, as game theory say, he should. And on the other side if we bet, its to difficult for him to still call with worse hands. So when we do have the best hand, he just fold, and we dont win anything extra.

Really, you're right, when I take the third shot after the flop and villain calls and hits the J of hearts, I should have given up right there.
But since I knew the villain, I had some notes about him and I knew he plays and pays if he hits any pair, I didn't give up.
But it serves as a lesson, sometimes our reading doesn't work out very well, and in this case I made a mistake because I didn't stop to analyze the play as I always do.
Thanks for your review, it's very important to me.
Grateful Cesar.

 

[fundiver199]

But since I knew the villain, I had some notes about him and I knew he plays and pays if he hits any pair, I didn't give up.

Since I did not know anything about the opponent, I analysed, how I would play the hand against a competent player or an unknown. But if he is a known calling station, that definitely change the river plan. A calling station might give us action with many worse one pair hands like K5 or QJ or whatever. But he is not raising those hands on the river, he is just calling. So when you bet and get raised, you are beat, and its a much easier fold, than if you check and face a bet from him. Betting top pair or an overpair for value but folding to turn or river raises is the bread and butter of soft online cash games. Or the early phase of tournaments, when stacks are cash game deep like in this hand.

 

[makisaa]

You betted too much, all-in for the hand you had and too early in the game! So you stayed with one pair and your opponent builded a flush!

 

[eetenor]

I started the year playing very badly, I didn't do what I always do: analyze the play before taking action.
When you play on impulse this happens, I need to pay more attention in the next games.

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - 15/30 - 9 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

UTG: 2,970 (99 bb)
UTG+1: 2,785 (93 bb)
MP: 3,050 (102 bb)
MP+1: 2,641 (88 bb)
LP: 3,560 (119 bb)
CO: 3,160 (105 bb)
BU: 3,135 (105 bb)
SB (Hero): 3,069 (102 bb)
BB: 2,630 (88 bb)

Pre-Flop: (45) Hero is SB with Q♦ K♦
2 players fold, MP raises to 60, MP+1 calls 60, 3 players fold, Hero calls 45, BB calls 30

Flop: (240) K♣ T♥ 8♦ (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP bets 60, MP+1 calls 60, Hero raises to 257, BB folds, MP calls 197, MP+1 folds

Turn: (814) 3♥ (2 players)
Hero bets 383, MP calls 383

River: (1,580) J♥ (2 players)
Hero bets 743, MP raises to 2,350 (all-in), Hero calls 1,607

Total pot: 6,280

Showdown:
MP shows 6♥ 8♥ (a flush, Jack high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 38%, Flop: 23%, Turn: 32%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) shows Q♦ K♦ (a pair of Kings)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 62%, Flop: 77%, Turn: 68%, River: 0%)

MP wins 6,280

Focus is a skill we can practice- we do it by diving deep into hands like this practicing thinking about each street- I usually watch the replayer very slowly to do just. Playing online also helps as we can use reminder aids like timers to stay focused and of course we want to have pregame and in game rituals to refocus- the hourly breaks are good for more than just to pee .

 

[ammje]

in CC freerolls some players will call with anything.
That J on the river completes a lot of things, which is why I might have folded.