Weekend in review

Definitely went into the weekend looking to put in some volume and mostly "succeeded," although I cut play short today.

Cash games went well. Since "wiping the slate clean," I have totaled 17 hours and haven't booked a loss yet. I've definitely run well insofar as dodging outs when big money went into the middle. 

I played quick 4-hour sesh on Friday at Clearwater and was mostly stagnant. It looked like I was set to book a small loss, until this hand came up (1-3nl):

Player in MP opens to 10, folds around to me in the small blind and I look down at AcKd. I 3-bet it to 35. Everyone else folded and villain called. 

Flop comes 9c3c7d giving me two overs and a backdoor club draw. I underbet to 30 and villain calls. Underbetting is something I've been trying to implement into my game. It makes sense in a variety of contexts, although it can be argued that it may induce opponents to having a bluffing range when they normally wouldn't against "normal-sized" bets. In this case - I can deny equity to overcards I am not dominating and barrel a number of turn cards (large) in case he does call with a clear range advantage. 

Turn brings the 7c. An interesting card. It does put three-to-a-flush and also gives me the nut flush draw, but generally won't discourage overpairs from calling like an overcard would (especially if villain also picks up a flush draw). I feel like my options here are barrel and prepare to bomb the river or, in actuality, check and reassess. Checking to check-call purely for implied value seems bad. Check-raising is...interesting and depends what I think he will do with his overpairs. He practically never has the nuts in his hand, but definitely can have a lot of strong hands (namely, smaller flushes). Really haven't decided which line I prefer, but I lean toward continued barrels. Villain makes it easy for me and checks back.

The river double-pairs the board with a 9s. I check and expect to lose fairly often to middling pairs, but to my surprise he bets half pot. Wat? Was he getting trappy on the turn with a flush and is now going for value? What 7's and 9's does he really have in his range? Does he think I'll call off with ace-high? Did his small pair get sticky on the flop and get counterfeited, forcing him to bluff? I tank, honestly not sure what to do for about 30 seconds. I decide it's pretty hard for him to be particularly strong here and that I don't catch enough bluffs with ace-high. To my surprise, I rip it for about 4x his bet. He looks pained and tanks for quite some time. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there, fully ready to table my hand and concede, "nice call" before heading home. But nah - he lets it go and I catch a glimpse of what I think was the 10c before his hand hits the muck. An ill-timed bet with pocket 10's or a flush? I'm guessing the latter.

Now, in reality, my line is pretty ludicrous. Starting with a preflop 3-bet, I *might* play this way for value with exactly pocket 9's, 78s, 89s, and 910s. But, at this level - opponents are primarily concerned with *their own* hand strength and not what their opponents are credibly repping. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've check-raise bluffed the river. Not my most well-thought out and eloquent hand, but hey - it salvaged the session. 

Saturday was supposed to be my high volume day...I manged seven hours. I was up and down in a fairly nitty, low-action 3-5nl game at Fortune. My cheese for the day came from two hands specifically. One involved flopping two pair and getting all in vs. presumably a big draw and fading. The other was a little more interesting. 

A player potentially steaming having just lost a big pot and rebuying limps UTG and the cutoff raises to 25. I elect to call AJo on the button and the limper comes along. 

Flop QdJd3c. Check, raiser cbets to 35, I call and, the limper rips it in for just over 200. Wut? Original raiser snap folds and now I have to figure out how often villain is jamming a draw. I suspect a lot. 200 into a pot of 145 and 165 for me to call. That is, 165 to win a pot of 345. Just over 2:1, or 33% equity needed to call profitably. After the hand, I actually went through the trouble of assigning him a variety of flush draws (namely suited connectors and suited aces with diamonds), as well as Q10, QJ, KQ and K10. I couldn't do this in my head at the table, but I ended up talking myself into a call. Turns out I was right on the threshold (pokercruncher says I need 32.8% to call with my assigned range). The turn and river brick out and he turns over A9dd for a missed flushdraw. If I add in 33 to his range, I drop to 31%, which would be a small mistake. Oh well - it worked out this time. 

And then there was today. Tournament day - the $250 Muckleshoot "monthly special." Oh man, did I play poorly. First mistake was going in the first place knowing that a lot of the regulars would be down in Oregon for a tournament series there that I opted not to trek out for. I showed up and TEN PEOPLE were signed up for the start. At that point I should have just turned around and headed to Fortune for continued cash games. But nope, I decided I'd play anyways and hope for more people to show. They did trickle in...to 30 total by the end of the 3rd round. Not exactly my idea of time well spent. This particular tournament didn't have a pot bonus, guarantee or anything of the sort - essentially making it a glorified sit n go. 

With an already-impaired mindset I proceeded to sit down and spew off my stack in laughable fashion. Namely with this gem. Button opens 3x and I 9x with two black aces. Blinds fold and he calls. At this point I had already bled my stack down to 10k from 15k and there was 3500 in the pot going to the flop, which came 678 all hearts. I underbet 1200 without a lick of logic and my opponent calls. The turn came the 9x putting 4-to-a-straight in addition to the flush draw on deck and I...shove? I mean, I wasn't thinking clearly (or at all), but maybe I can justify this play to "protect" or get a crying call from JJ, QQ (which are in all likelihood shoving preflop) or an ace with a heart? He actually begrudgingly called with J10o (one heart) leaving me drawing stone dead. Just embarrassing. I believe the proper play with my stack-size and knowing my opponent is to check-shove the flop, or, reassess the turn if it goes check check. If I do take a bet-the-flop line, I need to size up substantially on the flop. 

So what do I do? Snap re-buy, of course. Bullet two yields non-atrocious plays, but nothing noteworthy either. I bleed down between being card dead and failing to flop anything of value and eventually bust 77<88 all-in pre. Tournaments and cash games play quite a bit differently, and I definitely failed to adjust in some spots. One right off the top of my head. I am sitting with about 30bbs effective and UTG limps. It folds to me on the button with K10dd and I...limp along. 

Just wrong. UTG was new to the table and I hadn't seen him play enough to range him with any accuracy. If I had to guess, he was limping speculative hands, which means I raise. Take initiative and pick up the dead money in the blinds. Even if I think he is limping strong UTG, K10s can only be played in this instance for implied value. 30bbs is simply not enough to play for implied value. These kind of leaks add up. 

Just a pathetic effort overall. My mindset should always be "pay attention and play your best" when I choose to play. Of course, given the nature of tournaments, I could have easily dusted off two buyins playing my absolute best. I'd be less bothered if that were the case. Variance is fine. Sub-par efforts are not. 

At this point it's still only 3pm and, since I made the trek out, I head to Fortune. 

This ended up being a shameless hit n run. I knew I wasn't in the best mindset after those tournaments, and I opted for "mental insurance" after winning one big pot. 1/3nl.

I open 99 in early position and get called in three spots. Flop 9 10 4 two diamonds. Checks to me and I cbet 2/3rds pot. One caller in position. The turn pairs the board 4. Beautiful. I bet just shy of the pot and villain calls. At this point there is about 160 in the pot and I have a bit over 200 in front of me. River is the 8 of diamonds. Welp - every draw got there and I can beat all of them. I overbet shove because that's way more fun than trying to eek out value from a 10 and get beat into the pot with a call. I table and he flings a flush into the muck. Nothing too impressive, but, a good reminder that's it's totally fine to be greedy when going for value if you think they can't fold strong hands. 

On a side note - that hand put me up for a $250 high hand bonus with 9 minutes to go. It held up until there were 13 seconds left when a larger 9's full beat me. Ouch. That would have gotten me even for the day. *sigh*

The Seahawks game was on (distracting me) and I felt simultaneously relieved and annoyed. I decided to just book the small win and head home. 

Final score - +$605 in cash games and -$500 in tournaments. Feels like a wasted effort. 

Till next time.