Friday, April 6, 2007

First winning session!

I take the 80 out of my pocket and add on another $100 which I promptly flushed away when I made top pair and an open ender KQ on a K J T flop. Push came to shove and I paid off AQ. This thing of players flopping perfect against me is really really irritating.

Time to switch gears into Diamond Tight mode. I buy $100 more and will only see flops if I can limp with pocket pairs, Ax suited, or other Ace/Face combinations. I call with some hands but fold if I get raised out. I finally get to limp in with pocket Nines and flop top set. Seat 9 seems pretty excited about the flop but not as much as I am. He leads out 20 and I decide how dangerous this flop is. I think it's OK to smooth call here. Turn brings Ten and a very convoluted possible straight draw. He leads, I re-raise enough to trigger the All-in reflex and he bites and moves in. I call. He turns over 9 3 os (???) and he's already drawing dead to the river. That puts me over the top. I take down some more pots and eventually get up to almost $400. I continue to play very tight with only hands that have potential to give me the nuts or very powerful hidden hands.

I pay blinds and get to see some hands for "free" and try to limp with other hands. I pick up Jacks and it gets raised to 30. There is another call and I decide that it is OK to see a flop because of the pot/implied odds of catching a high set. Doesn't materialize and I let it go. I eventually get worn down and cash out at $305. Net gain for session: $25. It's a start.

That brings me back to being stuck $1053. Next stop is getting that down to triple digits. Just need to stick to the fundamentals and stop donking off chips. A little more luck on my side wouldn't hurt either. I repeat to myself..."I will not donk, I will not donk, I will not donk." No more reports of stupid plays.

1 comment:

jtrey333 said...

Ok, now I'm all caught up for the day, I have a little more input.

So, I know that your style is to smooth call the flop if you hit it and there are no draws on the board, but in some cases that you've described, it seems as though you could've made maximum profit by raising on the flop. Many of the 1-2/1-3 players are so unsophisticated that a value raise is called without a thought OR a door to re-raising you with their dominated hand.

It doesn't even have to be a value raise, it can be a normal raise. Whatever the case, say the pot is ~25, and your opponent bets 15-30. If you raise in this spot to 40-50-60 with set or top pair, top kicker, many will call you with a weaker hand (draw and/or pair). If you are playing rock solid, I think there are times you will want to switch from tight/passive to tight/aggressive.

Plus, if you have a juicy draw hand (say flush+straight draw), I think you might want to test the waters and push hard, with fold equity still intact and outs if you get called or get pushed. In any case, the tide is turning, I can just feel it! Get some of their monies!