Thursday, September 2, 2010

Back to sucking

Be at peace, townsfolk: You are safe at last. I have gone back to sucking at poker.

Finished penultimately at last night's Very Josie. As I describe what doomed me we can also play a little "what would you do," especially with the hand that crippled me.

I had jumped out to an early lead with some decent play and some good decisions - including calling crazy Josie with second pair having sniffed her seat bluff bet on the river after missing her straight.

So I was cruising nicely until hand 52. As SB I got dealt Ah7h. Josie and I both called Mojo's standard PFR of 150. Flop comes 77J rainbow. A set of 7's! Praise the lord and pass the chow mein. I check, Jo bets 150 (1/3 pot), Mojo folds, I call. Prolly shoulda maybe possibly I shoulda shoved right there but maybe I got a little greedy. I could easily put Josie on a Jack, which meant I could get all her chips with a little patience. Woulda coulda shoulda - either way, this is The Question: Assuming folding is out of the question, would you call or raise, and if raise by how much?

Well, I called, and the pot is now 750. Turn comes another Jack which gives me the low boat, 7's full of Jerks. I check, Josie bets 200, I raise to 600, she shoves.

Ahhhh, shit.

Like I said, I could easily put Josie on a Jack. Her favorite hand is J10, for christ's sake. However, I could also put her on anything -- an 89 which would give her an up and down draw, a low pair, a medium pair, pretty much anything. I say this knowing that it sounds disparaging but it's really to her credit - she's at times recklessly aggressive and she often works it to her advantage. So she really could quite literally have nothing.

Call.

Of course she turns over the J10 - why wouldn't she. Her bigger boat takes me from over 70 BB's to under 30, which coincidentally was about how many more hands I lasted (raced Mojo with 88 to his A10 - he turns his ace, and knocked my dick in the dirt even further when he rivered a straight).

As it turns out, she spiked a two-outer on me, but that's just poker. She didn't play poorly (unless you count playing a favorite hand when you otherwise wouldn't - I've seen D Brunson on TV playing 10-2 just because), the cards didn't turn my way. Well hey, at least Josie went out before me.

But I re-call to your attention The Question: what would you do?

BTW, your obedient servant The Crafty Southpaw is yo ho ho and a bottle of rum-ing it up the US/Canadian coastline from Gotham to St. Johns, New Brunswick this long weekend. If the hurricane rips us apart and I'm food for a shark that doesn't care about his fat intake, listen: It's been grand. Grand, grand, grand.

5 comments:

  1. Here is some serious advice from someone who has watched you play a bit. You are an Unbeliever. You have this mentality that nobody is going to fricken bluff you off a hand! When that person shoves he has to be faking it..

    Yet you know they have it. Because you wind down your time clock and then make the horrible call. You are a better player than that. Make the tough laydowns when you have to. I like cold calling Josie on that flop but when the second Jack comes and she re-jams your raise how can you be ahead?

    You need to find the fold button. People are not jamming pocket two's there.. people are not jamming stuff that AT beats when they re-jam you all in... Listen to what their bets are telling you.. You will have much better results.

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  2. Well said, Waffles. As far as raising the flop: If you put her on a Jack, and you don't think she'll fold, then by all means, go ahead. I have no problem flatting the flop, but I would prefer to set up for stacks. I don't know how much was in each of your stacks, but you want to make sure that you're aiming for stacks to get in prior to the river.

    As played, you *HAVE TO* fold the turn. She 2 outted you. Done. End of hand. She's not shoving over your raise without Jacks full there.

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  3. Waffles, STFU! LOL jk. I was gonna say, yes at times I'm aggressive, but I would NEVER 3 bet shove on a bluff. Come on! I KNEW after I bet, you raise and then I shove, I KNEW you'd call.

    I'm thinking worst case we split, best case you have a 7. Since I KNOW you wouldn't lay it down, I never would've done it without the nuts.

    And Waffles, I have been playing with Gary for about a decade, and you just disected his game PERFECTLY....so like i was saying shut the fuck up. I need my weekly donation from him. :P

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  4. Oh and I suggest you stop playing ace seven.

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  5. Great post in that Josie's style and yours are exposed for all to see. Help like this is always appreciated!

    You could probably have played it better by re-popping Josie's raise, knowing that she had a Jack (and we would guess J-10,right?) and would either call or re-raise you (the reckless agression you mention). When the Jack shows it all its hideous glory, the hand is over, unfortunately. The Jack is almost expected at Full Tilt, right?

    Making a big laydown when you are beaten is difficult. The great pros can do it, but can we? I made the same error last night in the Mookie.

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