Another One

Another One

I had another hand that I wrote down as well, but this one was way more hype. Maybe I'll post the next one tomorrow. Anyway, Lucky Chances has a much more standard structure, so I'm not even going to talk about it unless asked. Here goes:

$3,5 No Limit Hold 'Em at Lucky Chances in Colma ($100-$500 buy-in)

I was just moved from my original table to this one. I see one player I remember as decent across the table with huge stack of chips, and the players to either side of me have big stacks as well. This certainly doesn't always mean they're good players, but it's a good indicator. They're both very well composed, so I'm assuming a higher-than-average skill level for both of them.

9♠, 8♠ UTG+1 ~$1,100 effective stack

On my second hand, I'm 2nd to act with an effective stack of about $1,100. The player to my right, UTG, calls for $5. I look down at 9♠,8♠ and raise it to $30. The player to my left, the Villain in this hand, calls $30. It's folded around to the guy who limped in UTG, who also calls.

$90 Flop (3-Way) - 5♠5♦3♦

We have basically nothing. We surprisingly have 2 over-cards, so depending on the action we could be ahead if a 9 or 8 come. We do also have a back-door flush draw with our ♠s, but unless something happens otherwise, I definitely think we've got the worst hand here.

The player UTG checks to me, I make a fairly standard continuation bet of $60. Villain thinks for a bit and calls, and the player UTG folds.

$210 turn (Heads-Up) - 2♥

Board: 5♠5♦3♦2♥

I figure the villain behind us likely called us with some sort of A high or small-to-medium pair. He could also be chasing a flush-draw at a fairly high frequency here. He could also clearly have a 5, though I assumed he would raise the flop to both make it worse for a flush draw to call and get money in, in case I had a big pair. If he had an A,4 or 4,6 suited, then he would have a straight here as well.

I figured most of the hands he has here are weak and I'm representing at least some sort of over-pair if I bet again, so I do - $110. He calls. At this point I feel like shutting down my bluff.

$430 River - K♦

Board: 5♠5♦3♦2♥K♦

Now this is an interesting card. Thinking from my opponent's perspective: If I was betting 2 streets with A,K, then I've hit a K. If I was betting with some sort of suited connector, like J♦,10♦, then I've hit my flush. If I had K,K I've filled up for a Full House. Probably the absolute worst hand I'd bet here would be A,K or maybe even a straight with A,4 or 4,6. So I think for a little while again and bet $175, sized to look like a value bet - Representing that I have a strong hand and want him to call with worse. He thinks for a good minute or so and folds.

The player later tells me that he had 4,4 and assumed I hit a pair of Kings on the river. He said he wouldn't fold the river if it wasn't a King. I tell him I bluffed him and probably wouldn't bet if a King didn't come. Right before I left an hour or two later, he tells me he doesn't believe me and is basically asking me to tell him what I really had. I told him "9♠,8♠ I swear". He didn't believe me because I played near 0 hands after that and shut down after C-betting on hands that I was in there and raised.

So I should bluff all the time then, huh?

Please don't learn the wrong thing from these first two hands - bluffing is not something that I do, nor should you, at a high frequency at these low stakes games. I would recommend a beginning player literally never bluff except for continuation bets on flops when they were the pre-flop raiser.

Once you start to recognize situations like the following: What you normally have when you bet in this situation looks very scary versus what your opponent normally has...OK start to throw a bluff or two into your game and get a feel for them.

I used to literally NEVER bluff other than C-bets and was still very profitable at the low stakes I played - typically 1/2/3 at Garden City, 1/2 at Indian Casinos and the old Garlic City. Some might ask the following: "If you don't bluff, how can you have a balanced range? If you don't ever bluff, then your opponents can take advantage and make easy folds against you and be correct to do so."

OK, yeah. You're right in theory. But most of the players at this level don't fold when they should. Unless the situation is just right for it, and you have the right type of opponent, it's just not likely to work. I saw a guy call later this same night with a single pair on a board with a flush and several straights out there, with action on every street. 2 nights ago I saw a guy calling down with bottom pair several times when it made no sense.

So unless you have a solid indication that you're against a thinking player, you have a good idea of what he has, AND the way you played the hand aligns with what better hand you're representing, please, don't bluff at low stakes poker.

But it sure feels good that I'm finally comfortable doing so when the right opportunity presents itself.

♠♥♣♦

I received some feedback that some of the terms were a bit hard to follow, so I tried to make sure I explained everything that I said the first time I said it. Definitely let me know if I'm still not handling that well.

Feel free to comment below or send any questions, comments, ideas, or w/e in to dj8bitavenger@gmail.com, and I'll make sure to incorporate the feedback into future posts.

New Blog / 1st Hand

New Blog / 1st Hand

Welcome to my blog that I'm calling 8BitPoker. I've started playing poker a whole lot more again recently and I decided I wanted to start a blog for two main reasons:

• I want to share my poker journey, especially particularly entertaining or interesting parts, with friends, family, and whomever else might be interested.

• It's probably a good idea to give myself yet another reason to do my best to remember as many details as I can about impactful hands and analyze them after the fact - look for misplays, opportunities for improvement, etc.

What to Expect

I expect my primary focus to be on sharing No Limit Hold 'Em cash game hands - one per session that I find particularly interesting or fun. If this gains any sort of popularity and people want something else - More or less context on hands, Q&A, thoughts on different parts of the game like bankroll management and game selection - I'll do all of the above. But enough talking about what I'm going to do, how about we do it, huh?

$1,2,2 Spread Limit at Garlic City Casino in Gilroy ($40-$400, $2-$200 Spread)

First off this is a super weird structure at a very unique card club, but I think the level of play is so low that I'm 100% OK with it. What they mean by spread limit is that the maximum bet/raise is $200, plus there's a 4-bet (1 bet, 3 raise) maximum on every street unless the hand is heads-up - kind of a mix between limit and no-limit betting structure. $400 buy-in is fairly deep and they take $4 per post-flop hand, so the structure is actually pretty decent overall. Anyway, here's the hand I played last night:

A♣, 5♣ in Small Blind ($2) - ~$190 effective stack

There are severally limpers (players just calling the minimum bet) in the field, I check my option, and our villain in the hand - the BB (big blind) - raises it up to $17 in something like a $10 pot. He's been raising fairly often pre-flop, but typically for smaller amounts.

3 people call in the field, I call.

~$90 flop (5-way): 2♦6♥3♣

I have a gut-shot straight draw (any 4 hits a straight), a back-door nut flush draw (any 2 clubs for flush), and a single over-card that may or may not be good if I hit (pair of Aces).

I check, villain makes it $20, 1 player in the field calls, I call.

My thinking is that there's a high probability I'm good with anything that hits me and that I can pick up the club draw on the turn and keep playing even if I don't get exactly what I want, and I will probably get paid for whatever I hit. Getting 6.5-to-1 on my money, yeah...call.

$150 turn (3-way): 2♣

the board now reads 2♦6♥3♣2♣

I still have the gutshot, I still might be ahead if I hit an A, and I now pick up the nut flush draw. Not the best card, but I'll take it. I check. Villain bets again for $65, the 3rd player in the hand folds, and it's back to me.

Now I'm in a kind of weird spot. To make the call I have to put in $65 to win a pot of about $215, which is about 3.3-to-1. If I still think I'm good with any 4, A, or ♣ (which I do), then I'm about 32% to win the hand and need a little over 2-to-1 to call, which I'm getting the right price on. If we assume our A is no good because our opponent has A,6, or a pair of Aces here fairly often, then we're about 26% to win or need 3-to-1 to call, which we're also getting.

But apparently I'm bad at math at the table. I thought I wasn't quite getting the right price to call, but I assumed he'd pay me off for the little left in his stack ~$80 if I hit. At this point I mostly put him on Jacks through Aces and figured there's no way he's folding based on how he and I both played earlier in the session. Anyway, after a really long time miscalculating the pot odds and some guy that's not in the hand getting mad at me about thinking super long over a $65 bet, I call.

~$280 river (heads up): 6♠

the board now reads: 2♦6♥3♣2♣6♠

There's no way I'm good here. GG. Hand over... HOLD UP. I think for a second, realize he's going to have a really tough time calling here with a single pair, and I throw enough chips in to cover what he's got left (~$80) in, fairly quickly. He immediately makes an audible upset grunt-type reaction, says "You have a 6, huh?", takes about 30 seconds to psychologically get over the fact that he's lost, then folds.

I am actually pretty darn proud of my river play here, even more-so than I am embarrassed about not being able to do the math on the turn. I correctly put my player on a big pocket pair most of the time that we're in this situation, though he should show up with a pair of 3s, A6, or AK a bit of the time as well. I realized with a double-paired board that his most likely holdings would have a tough time calling AND my line looks super strong. I called pre-flop, I called on the flop, I called on the paired turn, and I fairly quickly and confidently bet out all-in on the double-paired river. I'm representing AT LEAST a 6 here.

Not only was it a great feeling scooping a pot where I was clearly behind, but it was a confirmation of my progress as a player. I started playing poker fairly seriously when I was 18, and in the last 10 years I've been very on-and-off and just haven't played a ton in between. I would never have made this play any time in that period until maybe a few weeks ago because I just wasn't reading hands that well or making decisions based on as much information.

Feel free to comment below or send any questions, comments, ideas, or w/e in to dj8bitavenger@gmail.com, and I'll make sure to incorporate the feedback into future posts.

♠♥♣♦