The Adventure Begins or My first day at 1/2

First of all, this is only over 700 hands, so all conclusions made of this can be completely useless. This ended up being a lot longer than I expected. It’s not my fault, posting hands just takes up a lot of space.

Maybe it was just the tables I was playing at, but it seemed that they play deeper than .5/1. The average stack at .5/1 was less than 100bb. Most of the tables I saw had many people with over 200bb stacks. While I was playing I had a 250bb stack at one table and a 300bb stack at another (but that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves). Also note that this was on Absolute Poker where the max buy-in is 200bb. So maybe there are just more people buying-in for the full amount then at .5/1.

Now for the fun part. This is the ride I went on last night:
1/2 NL graph

Half of those vertical lines are because of 1 guy. He is my new best friend and I will be spending as much time at his tables as possible.

Button – Hero $256
BB – MyNewFriend $340.42
SB – Posts small blind $1
MyNewFriend – Posts big blind $2
Dealt to Hero As Ah
3 folds, Hero raises to $8, SB calls $7, MyNewFriend calls $6
*** FLOP *** 6h 5h 3h
SB checks, MyNewFriend checks, Hero bets $20, SB folds, MyNewFriend calls $20
*** TURN *** 6h 5h 3h Jc
MyNewFriend checks, Hero checks
*** RIVER *** 6h 5h 3h Jc 10c
MyNewFriend bets $78, Hero calls $78
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MyNewFriend – Shows Jh Ad (One pair, jacks)
Hero – Shows As Ah (One pair, aces)
Hero Collects $217 from main pot

Between these two hands, Evan and I start discussing the psychology behind this guy. He is also a very big talker and is always trying to belittle people. BIG fan of the word sissy.

Button – Hero $405.35
BB – MyNewFriend $442.79
SB – Posts small blind $1
MyNewFriend – Posts big blind $2
Hero: Ad Qh
2 Folds, Hero raises to $8, SB folds, MyNewFriend calls $6
*** FLOP *** 8s Qc 6h
MyNewFriend checks, Hero bets $14, MyNewFriend calls $14
*** TURN *** 8s Qc 6h Jh
MyNewFriend bets $90, Hero raises to $228, MyNewFriend calls $138
*** RIVER *** 8s Qc 6h Jh 10c
MyNewFriend checks, Hero checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MyNewFriend – Shows Ah 7h (ace high)
Hero – Shows Ad Qh (One pair, queens)
Hero Collects $498 from main pot

I tell Evan that our conversation lead to my new biggest pot won. He comes and starts sweating me. My action at this table dies. Evan only gets to see one interesting hand. But we will come back to that as I’m trying to do this chronologically.

As I said before, I had two tables where I had a stack of 250bb or more. The other table went as follows (plus two other uninteresting hands for about a 25bb net on each).

SB – Hero $193.60
BB $228.55
CO $744.27
Hero – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
Dealt to Hero Qd Qs
CO calls $2, Button folds, Hero raises to $8, BB calls $6, CO calls $6
*** FLOP *** 4h 2h 5h
Hero bets $20, BB calls $20, CO calls $20
*** TURN *** 4h 2h 5h 5c
Hero checks, BB checks, CO checks
*** RIVER *** 4h 2h 5h 5c 9s
Hero checks, BB checks, CO checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero – Shows Qd Qs (Two Pair, queens and fives)
BB – Mucks Kh Js
CO – Mucks Kc Jh
Hero Collects $82 from main pot

———————————————————

UTG – Hero $254.45
Seat 4 – UTG $125.95
SB – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
Dealt to Hero Qs Ks
Hero raises to $8, MP folds, CO calls $8, 2 folds
*** FLOP *** 2c 9s 7d
Hero bets $14, CO calls $14
*** TURN *** 2c 9s 7d 3s
Hero bets $34, CO raises All-In to $103.95, Hero calls $69.95
*** RIVER *** 2c 9s 7d 3s 10s
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero – Shows Qs Ks (Flush, king high)
CO – Shows 7s 7c (Three of a kind, sevens)
Hero Collects $251.90 from main pot

On the surface this looks kinda bad. For the situation it ended up being, I wasn’t getting odds to call. That being said, I was messing around with Poker Stove with some ranges to put him on. He plays pretty loose pre-flop so that gives me some wiggle room with his hand range. I need to be ~29% or more to make this call.

His Range My Chance to Win
QQ+, 99, 77, 33, 22, AsJs, AsTs, JTs, T8s, 97s, JTo,T8o 50.98%
QQ+, 99, 77, 33, 22, AsJs, As9s, JsTs, Ts8s, 97s, JTo, T8o 48.33%
QQ+, 99, 77, 33, 22, AsJs, AsTs, JTs, T8s, 97s 31.94%
QQ+, 99, 77, 33, 22, AsJs, As9s, JsTs, T8s, 97s 27.63%
QQ+, 99, 77, 33, 22, AsJs, AsTs, JsTs, Ts8s, 97s 22.20%
QQ+, 99, 77, 33-22, 9s7s 18.75%

Feel free to comment on what ranges you think are fair or if there is anything I am missing.

Button – Hero $479.60
BB $671.29
SB – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
Dealt to Hero 2h Qd
2 folds, Hero raises to $8, SB folds, BB calls $6
*** FLOP *** Qh 5s Kd
BB checks, Hero checks
*** TURN *** Qh 5s Kd 2s
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12
*** RIVER *** Qh 5s Kd 2s 8h
BB checks, Hero bets $30, BB raises to $60, Hero calls $30
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB – Shows 8d 5c (Two Pair, eights and fives)
Hero – Shows 2h Qd (Two Pair, queens and twos)
Hero Collects $158 from main pot

That where the fun starts to end.

Button $269.40
CO – Hero $531.60
SB – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ah As] UTG folds, Hero raises to $8, Button calls $8, SB folds, BB calls $6
*** FLOP *** [4d 8s 7h] BB checks, Hero bets $18, Button raises to $45, BB folds, Hero raises to $144, Button raises All-In to $261.40, Hero folds

———————————————————

Button – Hero $303.60
MP $205.57
SB – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero Ah Ad
UTG folds, MP calls $2, CO folds, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, MP calls $6
*** FLOP *** 2c Kh 9h
MP checks, Hero bets $18, MP calls $18
*** TURN *** 2c Kh 9h 7h
MP checks, Hero bets $45, MP calls $45
*** RIVER *** 2c Kh 9h 7h 10s
MP checks, Hero checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MP – Shows Jh 8h (Flush, king high)
Hero – Mucks
MP Collects $142 from main pot

———————————————————

BB $219.15
MP – Hero $152.15
SB – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero 7c 6c
UTG folds, Hero raises to $8, CO folds, Button calls $8, SB folds, BB raises to $30, Hero calls $22, Button folds
*** FLOP *** Ks 9c 8d
BB bets $60, Hero Raises All-in to $122.15, BB calls $62.15
*** TURN *** Ks 9c 8d Jd
*** RIVER *** Ks 9c 8d Jd As
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero – Shows 7c 6c (ace high)
BB – Shows Kc Ah (Two Pair, aces and kings)

Now the one interesting hand Evan saw:
SB – Hero $556
CO $570.05
Hero – Posts small blind $1
BB – Posts big blind $2
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero 4s 5c
UTG folds, MP calls $2, CO calls $2, Button folds, Hero calls $1, BB checks
*** FLOP *** 10c Jc 5h
Hero checks, BB checks, MP checks, CO checks,
*** TURN *** 10c Jc 5h 5s
Hero bets $6, BB folds, MP folds, CO raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, CO calls $30
*** RIVER *** 10c Jc 5h 5s Ks
Hero checks, CO bets $266, Hero folds

So, now we fast forward to the end of my session. I was going to sleep because I had an 8am exam today. I had started to close down my tables after I played a hand UTG. Looked at Poker Tracker and saw that I had lost everything I had made during the night. Then I realized I had forgotten to uncheck Auto-Post Blinds on the table with MyNewFriend. Fine I’ll play one more hand, then I am done. Here is that last hand:

BB – Hero $536.90
CO – MyNewFriend $659.55
SB – Posts small blind $1
Hero – Posts big blind $2
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero Qh Ks
RIGGED14 folds, MyNewFriend calls $2, 2 folds, Hero raises to $8, MyNewFriend calls $6
*** FLOP *** 2d 9h 10s
Hero bets $15, MyNewFriend calls $15
*** TURN *** 2d 9h 10s Jd
Hero checks, MyNewFriend checks
*** RIVER *** 2d 9h 10s Jd 6d
Hero bets $35, MyNewFriend raises to $190, Hero calls $155
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MyNewFriend – Shows Ac 10d (One pair, tens)
Hero – Shows Qh Ks (Straight, nine to king)
Hero Collects $424 from main pot

Comment Rules

Comments (4)

  • joepro Says:

    Wow. Awesome hand histories. Please post more of these. I will do the same, if others enjoy them as much as me. Last night I watched some great action on fulltilt, actually the best part was watching John Dagostino clean a guy out of around $20k, and then the guy bitched and moaned about how Dags sucked out on him. ”How can you call there?,” to which JDags replies ”If you know me, you should know I don’t like to fold.” The guy was only a 3-2 favorite in the hand, but the worst part was he tried to make dags feel bad because he said he lost his whole bankroll on that one hand. Oh yeah, then Matusow tried to play dags heads up, but dags refused because he said it’s a ”lose-lose situation” because Mike already owes dags money.

    But sorry to highjack your post, I love these hand histories! To me, you played great, but may want to consider value betting the river. Thomas Keller recommends this and it has helped me lately. The only hand I think you played poorly was the 67clubs, which you had the chance to get away from cheaply not once but twice. The hand where you had trip fives was a hard laydown imo. In a limit game, you probably a raise, but when someone bets their stack it’s hard to call.

  • The Saint Says:

    I somewhat agree with you on the 76 hand. I have no fold equity on my flop push. Looks like I forgot to reload after losing to trips two hands earlier. I always try to start every hand with at least 100bb. An extra 25bb does get me some fold equity. As for pre-flop, the button plays VERY loose so I expected him to come in as well. Maybe I was expecting too much from him, a re-raise is still a re-raise even if you are playing 70% of your hands.

    As for value betting rivers, I don’t see these hands as spots where that isn’t just asking for trouble.
    Hand 1: I am calling almost a pot sized bet with only a pair of aces on a board with a possible flush and straight.
    Hand 2: Again I only have top pair with a bunch of straights out there.
    Hand 3: Possible straight, flush and boat.
    Hand 7: Flush and straight possible.
    You need to remember that in no limit failed value bets are a lot more expensive than limit. The only hand where I think I should have played the river differently is the 45 hand. Seems like it would be a lot easier to bet/fold in that spot.

  • joepro Says:

    Yeah, I guess you’re right about those hands being tough to value bet in a no limit game, but it’s the fear of getting raised that essentially leaves a lot of money out there (I got this from Thunder Keller, I didn’t make it up.) Just something to keep in mind, especially in shorthanded games. I do agree it’s a lot easier in a limit game. From what I can see, you are a fairly tight player, so they have to give you credit for something most of the time. I don’t imagine you would be getting raised on the river much.

    I still don’t get the 76 hand. It just seems like a very scary board to be raising into, where the preflop raiser is being aggressive, and you are probably a huge dog if you get called.

    The only hand where I think I should have played the river differently is the 45 hand. Seems like it would be a lot easier to bet/fold in that spot.

    Agreed.

  • The Saint Says:

    The range I think the guy is on in the 76 hand is 88+, AK, AQ. It’s possibly wider, but this is a good range do use to do some math with. On the flop, I am 37.26% to win versus that range, or 1.68:1. With my flop push, I am betting $123 to win $193 (he never folds to my raise), or 1.57:1. So it’s a fold, but it’s closer than you think. If I try and then use the image I would for playing this hand loose-aggressive, it should make up the difference to make the play at least neutral EV. For the pre-flop call, I do really need the other guy to see the flop.

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