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Kochan's Blog

 
6 Posts and 2 Comments
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The tension, the drama, the buzz, the crowd, the mistake

By Kochan - Jan 22 2009, 04:47 PM

So I started day 2 with 95k chips, perfect position with around 300 players left. My table was nice and soft with mainly stacks with 20bb’s and no-one particularly good or aggressive. In the first level and a half I slowly increased my stack to 110k playing a fair few pots but not making many hands. Soon after that my table got broken and I moved to the table of death. Somehow my healthy 110k stack was only the 5th biggest on my table and I was caught in between some good young players, Zach Gruenberg and Noah Schwartz who had at least 150k each. On the previous table there was generally only one raiser and maybe one caller to each hand, this table there were raisers and callers and 3-bettors and lots of action. My first hand came up with Noah Schartz opening UTG+1 to 2300 at 400/800. I called behind with 87cl and the bb, a young Japanese guy also called. Flop came 436dd and bb lead out for 2k. Noah Scwhartz thought for a while and then made the call and I called as well. Turn comes a 10, a pretty good card giving me a double gutter and this time bb lead out 2500. Schwartz called again and I called. The river came a 7 and the bb tanked for a while and bet out 5500 with Schwartz again making the call. So now action is on me and I’m clearly not ahead. Thing is that I don’t really believe the Japanese guy with a 5 here because his river bet is just so small against 2 players, about half pot. It feels like he has a 76 sort of hand and Schwartz seems to have just played the hand cautuiously with a pair like 8s 9s or even Js. I decide to make it 21k and am quickly called by the Japanese guy with 45off for the straight. OOOOPS!

So back I go to around 80ishk where I stay till the end of the level not getting dealt any hands of any sort. At 500/1000 I raise 109d and continuation bet a Q 4 2  and then give up on the turn sending me back down to 70k. Things are not going according to plan. Noah Schwartz who has been one of the more active players raises utg+1 and it folds to me on the cutoff with JJ where I flat call. The flop comes 882 and he bets out 5.5k. I think for a while and decide that its go time. I’m not happy about it but I dont feel as though I can flat call and allow a Q/K/A come off on the turn and then fold. In addition my hand is very underrepresented and he’s going to have a hard time deciding what to do with 6s, 7s,9s, 10s. I make it 14.5k and he tanks for ages before throwing down his hand. He later told me he folded 9s. Damn those good young online players. Against most live players I probably double up there. Later on in the level a middle aged Irish guy with a big stack who had also been quite active raises UTG to 3000. Again I pick up JJ on the button and flat call. Flop comes down 10 3 2 rainbow and he checks to me. I bet 4800 and he thinks for a while before rolling out 15k. This play makes almost no sense really. If he has JJ,QQ,KK,AA its very unlikely he plays it this way and loses a potential street of value on the flop , especially since I have shown a tendency to check behind often. He can’t have 10s or a set because he would just check/call not reraise on the absolutely nothing flop. I pretty much put him on air or maybe a mid pair and I reraise to 55k. He decides to stare me down which pretty much indicates to me that he doesn’t believe that I have a hand but he knows he doesn’t have a hand either. It makes me regret making my 3bet so big and not leaving enough fold equity. If i had my time over again I would probably make it 42k or so. He eventually folds and my comeback continues. I’m back at 110k

 

Towards the end of the level Noah Schwartz limps UTG+1 and I limp K10cl behind. 1 other limper and the blinds both come in for some 5 way action. Flop comes Qcl Jcl 10. HUUUUUUUUGE FLOP. Pair and royal flush draw ftw! Schwartz makes it 3.5k and I reraise to 8k. Everyone folds back to him where he thinks for a while and rolls out a 4 bet to 20k. I go into the tank and try and break down the hand. He limped here so I cant really put him on AK for the flopped straight. It seems very unlikely that he has 89 as well because his 4bet is so small he’ s not getting me off any sort of draw I might have. If he were to have 89 he would have to make it at least 30k in my opinion. So that leave QJ the most likely possibility or Q10. He’s definately way too good to limp early position with K9 there. So facing his hands of QJ/Q10 I feel as though if I flat call here and 1 of my outs hits the turn, its going to be very easy for him to get off the hand. I also think I’ve got plenty of fold equity against QJ and feel as though he’s unlikely to get it in for a 220k pot. I reraise to 72k indicating that I’m going with this hand. He seems really disgusted and thinks for ages. I get the feeling that he really doesn’t want to fold. Looks down at his cards a few times before folding and saying ‘I can’t believe I’m gonna fold this hand’. He folds and I decide to show my hand and he reels back. ‘I folded JJ’ he says. Wow. So insane gross that he limped JJ there and folded when he flopped a set. Realistically the only hands I play that hand that way are 98 and K10cl so hes never really ahead but still its a very disgusting fold. I’m relieved I don’t have to get it in and race for 230k chips. I’ll take my 135k at the dinner break. 


 

Shortly after the dinner break after folding for the first 3 rounds I decide its time for my inaugral 3bet pre and look for a spot. It seems as though 3betting Schwartz in position is my best play because alot of the other players have a tendency to call 3bets out of position and cause trouble. Also I figure having played so many hands with Schwartz he’d give me more respect for a hand thinking that I wouldn’t want to tango with him light given our history. I raises  to 4000 and I look down at 46d on the button and make it 11500. He calls relatively quickly. OK. Flop comes down 3d 3 4 and he checks to me. I make it 15k. He looks down at his chips and reraises me to 35k. I can’t put him on a gigantic hand here and I figure I should call here and continue my line of JJ-AA. I call and the turn is the Ad and he checks to me. This is a really strange card for me. It gives me outs to my flush and I find it hard to bet since I can’t really represent AK so it negates what I’m trying to represent. I check behind as I would if I had any of JJ-AA here and the river comes a 7. I miss. He checks to me. His hand appears to be 8s-10s here and I feel as though I have represented my hand well enough here to get him to fold those relatively easily. I bet 44k and he seems quite frustrated. ‘I can’t beat you in a pot. You must be the best player in the world.’ I already have visions of rolling over the 6d if he folds but suprisingly he calls. He turns over QQ and I am pwned. I’ve thought a fair bit about this hand and spoken to some people about it. I think it was a case of thinking too much about my hand and not thinking enough about his. As one person told me, raising the flop for information is not a play that young players use very much and when he did it I should have given him more credit for a hand than 8s-10s. If anything he would most likely flat these hands on the flop. So I guess it is a mistake from me but not really one I can beat myself up about too much. I wasn’t unhappy with the way I played the hand and if I hit an 11 outer I could’ve been up to 220k instead of down to 35k. Such is poker.

 

With 35k at 800/1600 I still felt like I was in it. But as usual picked up absolutely nothing and dropped to 20k without playing a hand before going out A6<A9 missing a 14 outer to chop the river. So now I sit deciding whether to play the 6max 2k tourney in 1hr. 

Pros:- I avoid having to be forced to drink Sambucca by roomates when we go out tonight (def. no1 reason) 

           -I like 6max

           - I don’t have alot to do today apart from watch the cricket which I can do while I play

 

Cons: - I hate live poker

            - Got a flight tommorrow at 11am which I would miss if I make day two

            - I’ll probably bust out within 8hrs and will still have to drink Sambucca

            

Pending…

 

Kochan


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About Kochan

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