Posted by Junelli 11:31 AM
Last night I had one of the biggest rushes of my career. I played $1-$2 Pot Limit at the MVP. I was dealt approx. 25 pocket pairs, including AA four times. Twice I was dealt AA in my straddle, and both times I flopped a set and got action. I hit at least 8-9 full houses and made countless other straights and flushes.

Although I booked a nice profit on the evening, it should’ve been much more. I was on the losing end of 2 big hands that limited my profits. One was just bad luck, and the other was a mistake.

In the first hand I had approx $800 in front of me, and was dealt a 24o in the small blind. I was able to limp in for $1 more, and saw a flop of 356 rainbow, giving me the nut straight. I checked and a middle position player bet $10. It was called once, and then the button (a strong player) raised the pot, making it about $60 to me. I smooth called hoping to draw in another player, and decided to make my move on the turn. Everyone else folds. The turn is a Q, and I check again to the button (waiting to trap). The button bets again, and I raise putting him all in. The pot was approx $600. He turns over a set of fives and my straight is a 2.5:1 favorite to win the hand. I decide to take insurance and pull back $200, giving him $80. We play for the remaining $320 in the pot. The river brings another Q, giving him 555QQ, and my straight loses the pot. Thank goodness I took insurance and still had a sizable chip stack. Which brings me to the 2nd beat I took:

By way of background: The MVP gives $50 to the high hand every 3 hours. To give you an idea of how big my rush was, I hit KKK66 early in the night to get my name on the board. Before the time expired I hit AAA66 to give me a better high hand. I won the first $50. 30 minutes later I hit JJJQQ putting me on the board for the 2nd high hand payout. Before that one expired, I hit AAAKK to improve my high hand. It again held up and I won another $50.

While I enjoyed winning the high hands, it played a role in a big mistake I made at the end of the night. I wanted to go home about 1am, but since I was running so hot, and had a pending high hand on the board, I decided to play until the high hand expired at 2:35am. My stack didn’t change much during this time, I was sure to leave with a huge profit.

At 2:33am (2 minutes before I collected my $50), I was dealt Ad2d in the BB. The flop was all diamonds (9d3d8d) giving me the nut flush. I checked and an early position player bet $10. A middle position player raised it to $25, and I smooth called, hoping to keep the early player in. The early player raises all-in for approx $30 more, and both of us call. The turn is another 8, pairing the board. I really don’t give the second 8 much attention at this point, because I had put the bettor on (1) a flush/straight draw, (2) a smaller made flush, or (3) trip eights (all of which lose to my nut flush). Bettor bets $35 and I smooth call waiting to trap him on the river (this was my 1st mistake). My second mistake came on the river (which was a blank). I checked and the bettor led out with $50. This was a confusing bet for several reasons. First, it was a sizable bet from this player. In 4 hours, I had only seen him make a bet this big once or twice. He usually would bet $15-$35. However the pot was large (>$250), giving me another signal that the bet was odd. It was a massive underbet. Did he have the 2nd nut flush (Kx)? Was he betting trips? Did he turn a full house? Or was he trying to steal it with something mediocre like 2 pair? (remember that I had only checked-called up to this point).

I decided against the full house, and was certain my hand was the best (mistake number 3). I then debated over how much of a raise I could get him to call. I raise $100 more, and he quickly reraises all-in for $150 more. He turns over 99 giving him top full house (99988) and takes down the $950 pot. I immediately cashed out and went home.

The last hand is a good example of what I consider to be my biggest weakness in NL and PL Hold ‘Em: Betting/Raising the river with mediocre hands. My aggressive style tends to breed this kind of play, but I’m slowly learning to reign in the aggression on the river. As Dr. Fro has pointed out in previous posts (I couldn’t find them for this article), there is little to no expected value from my raise on the river. If I’m ahead, he probably won’t call my raise (so I actually gain nothing by making the raise), and if I’ve lost, I will be faced with a sizable re-raise, which I may or may not be able to call. Folding to a reraise on the river is not fun, and certainly not something you want to get into the habit of doing. However, sometimes it’s the right thing to do.

I think my mistake last night, was not in calling his all-in bet, but rather, it was in making the initial raise of $100. I should’ve realized that (1) the board had paired, (2) the bettor was exhibiting unusual strength, (3) better did not appear to be afraid of my flush, (4) the pot was already big enough. If I had smooth called his $50 bet on the river, I only would’ve lost $150. Instead, my aggression got the better of me, and I got greedy. I made an ill-advised raise and painted myself into a corner. Net loss on the hand = $400.

But I did collect $50 for my high hand… :)

3 Comment(s):

Posted by  Anonymous, at 1:10 PM, June 14, 2005  

This is fascianting reading. I too have made a mistake before which cost me dearly. I am glad to hear that other people make mistakes.

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Posted by  Junelli, at 6:14 PM, June 14, 2005  

The biggest mistake any of us have made is giving you access to post on this blog. :)
^_^

:-{}

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Posted by  Junelli, at 6:20 PM, June 14, 2005  

Morris, click here

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