I guess I've been playing no limit hold em for a little over 2 years now. (This is my first blog entry ever, so forgive me if I ramble.) For the last several months I've been working to improve my betting skills. I really feel like that area of my game has significantly improved recently, although, I'll be the first to admit I was really bad at betting for at least the first year or so that I played. After lots of coaching from my husband and a couple other good players at our regular game, and reading various poker magazines and books, I thought I was getting it. Well, this weekend, I seemed to have lost my mind. I regressed for some reason.

The first poorly played hand for me was at Argosy's $1/3 NL game on Saturday night. I bought in for $200 and won a couple smaller pots early on in the session, lost a few bets here and there. I wasn't too bad off, really. I looked down at QQ, raised to $15, picked up 2 callers. The flop was completely ragged, no real draws or over-cards. It was checked to me, so I bet out $25. 2 callers. The turn card could have made a bad straight for someone and for some reason, I checked. I immediately regretted my decision. The next guy checks, the guy after him bets out $75. It was my turn to act and I sat there for a minute and mucked my hand. If I were to have called that bet, it would have left me with around $35. The kid after me also folded. As soon as I folded I knew I had that guy beaten. I don't know why I folded. I should have pushed. The guy with what I presume was ace-high would have had to call and barring an ace showing up on the river, I'm pretty sure I would have taken that pot down.

I played for a couple more hours and my stack was up and down. I got back to even at one point, but wasn't finished playing then. Fairly late in the session I picked up 7-8. At this point, I was right around $110. There were no raises and I limped in for $3. The flop was 7-8-x, giving me 2 pairs. First to act bets out $15. I think there were 2 callers between him and me. I thought about it for a minute and suspected the bettor may be on a straight draw. Since there was no raise pre-flop, it was entirely likely that he was playing something like 5-6 or 9-10. So, like an idiot, I smooth called. Yeah, great move. But it gets better. The turn is a 9. First to act bets $75, gets a caller before me and then, being the brillian player I was being that night, I push the rest of my stack in with 2 pair up agains what I know now is a made straight. Of course they both call the additional $15 or $20 and away goes my stack for the evening. I was disgusted with myself. Any other night, I would have rebought, but in light of my donk-tastic moves, I decided that I should probably just call it a night. I got up and went over to my husband's table and let him know I was ready to go when he was. Thankfully, he was having a good night and he more than made up for my $200 loss.

Sunday we went to our regular cash home game. There always seems to be lots of money flying around there and it's a fun game with mostly good players and a couple any-two-cards people mixed in for good measure. I was down just a little bit when I picked up QQ in the small blind. I raised to $15 and got 4 callers. The flop was 2-3-9 with two s. My husband, at the opposite end of the table, bets $25. I'm not sure what he has, but I call along with a couple others. The turn card was a blank and it was checked to me where I bet $50. I got one caller, who I suspected was probably on a flush draw. The river, also a blank. I bet $100. He folded fairly quickly. I was happy enough to take down a pretty good sized pot there, but everyone was teasing me about my big bet on the river and they said that if I was worried about the flush, I should have raised the $25 bet on the flop. I decided they were probably right and moved on.

Another hand I had 8-9 o/s and limped in with $3 and there were at least 4 other limpers. The flop was Q-J-10, giving me the straigt. My husband bet out $15. The guy after him called, and I called. I can't remember if there were people after me who called, but I realized what a huge mistake I had made after the ace showed up on the turn. Oye! He bets out $40, next to act folds. I thought about it and ended up laying it down. I was sure he had a king and I turned over my lower-end straight and mucked my cards. One guy told me it was a good lay down, then my husband told me I should have raised him on the flop when I had the made hand. I agreed. I don't think I'll make that mistake again anytime soon.

Case in point: I limp in with K-J o/s, with a bunch of other limpers. The flop is x-A-Q. No one bets. I'm thinking, "cool, all I need is a 10 on the turn!" Low and behold, it shows up. I bet out $10 into a pot of about 18 white chips. Next to act min-raises to $20, husband calls. It's folded around to me and I grabbed a stack of reds and raised it to $120. Fold. Fold. They were dying laughing at the table. Actually I was too. What a move to raise everyone out of the pot with the nut straight. Once again, there was a flush draw on the board, but, still they thought my bet was too big. And it was, I'm sure of it.

Well I think that about covers my weird hands for this weekend. I ended up cashing out $451 last night, which put me up $51 for the weekend. Not my best showing by far, but at least I made up for the night before plus a tiny bit of profit. I guess I need to get a little deeper in the bet-size chapter of Sklansky's "No Limit Hold 'em Theory and Practice". Okay, I need to re-read it.

lakeoffire says

Good post. Honesty..the best way to get useful feedback. 1. I would have bet 3/4 of the pot with the first QQ hand and continued aggression on 4th street. If he puts you all in then you must rethink the hand and make the best decision. Has he been calling raises with garbage? Suited connectors, etc. 2. I bet two pair pretty hard, if I am reraised I might reraise or push if I think he is on a draw. Just some thoughts. LOF

05/07/07

EdmondDantes says

Nothing worse than a weekend of second guessing. Sounds like you already know where you went wrong on the hands but here are my thoughts:

1) On the 1st QQ hand, I think you need to pot that flop...especially multi-way, live. If they come, they come. And shove that turn!

2) With two pair connected, I raise that pot aggressively. Two connected pair, limped pot--there's a straight draw out there, by definition--first to act bets $15...so the pot's now at $30 or so. I say pop that another $30 or so and re-evaluate on the turn. I'd even be fine with a shove here. I see straight draws calling shoves in a 1/3 game all the time. Let him come along with his money in wrong.

3) On the 2nd QQ hand, raise the flop. As for the river...$100 into a $260 pot where a guy had shown a willingness to come along? It's a good bet, imo. Again, though...multi-way, live...raise that flop!

4) On the turned straight hand, the min-raiser said he had a hand, and with a flush draw out there and a great hand but one that can only get worse (straights don't get better), I'm not a fan of just calling here with two others still in the pot. In a limped pot, min-raiser could just be a baby ace feeling you out, but it could also be a set, two pair, flush draw or who knows what else? What card do you want to see on the river? A king or a jack puts four to a straight on the board, killing your action. An ace or a queen pairs the board and may either increase or kill your action but could crush you if someone boats. A third flush card is a bummer for you and maybe someone else. So there's a bunch of cards that can bum you or someone else out AND you're going to have to lead out at the river anyway. Sounds like you raised a pot with about $65-70 bucks in it another $120. That's a bit much, but I think a more moderate raise here is fine.

Keep digging,

Edmond

05/07/07

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