Putting together a gameplan

I was recently talking with Bruechips about a hand where he raised the river as a bluff with a made hand in an effort to get move the villain off of TPTK.  When the villain tanked forever (ship the time bank stretch, MUY EV!) and ended up calling with top 2.  While we were bummed that the villain won the pot – Brue pointed out that since the villain tanked forever and ALMOST folded – it was good bet.  It is INCREDIBLY hard (if not almost impossible) NOT to be results oriented in poker.  The only measuring stick is who wins the most money….plain and simple.  There is no Enron style accounting that can be applied to mask your losses – when you lose, you lose. 

However, when we lose pots – it’s difficult not to focus on what we did wrong and how we lost the pot.  You end up second guessing yourself throughout your decision process – could I have bet more on the flop?  Should I have folded on the turn?  Does my line appear to be unbalanced? 

Furthermore, when we continue to lose pots – our overall game suffers quite a bit (I don’t know anyone who plays as well when they are losing as when they are winning).  Being able to CONSISTENLY play you’re A-ish game is paramount to success in this game (granted Durrrr would pwnd me HARD if he was on his D game vs my A game…but you get the picture) unless you are “tiltproof” like this guy.

Back to the topic of putting together a gameplan…I think that as long as you have a solid plan for each hand, you will DEFINITELY play better.  You will stop second guessing yourself and you will make better decisions.  When you make a check raise all in on the turn in an attempt to fold out a draw and anything less than TP vs an agro monkey and the guy shows up with a set…don’t HATE on yourself when you get stacked!  You executed your plan correctly – but you just need to work a bit harder on your hand reading skills! 

Here is an example of a hand I played where I unsuccessfully 3 barreled. 

Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/116342

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $182.00
UTG+1: $174.10
Hero (UTG+2): $816.00
MP1: $628.30
MP2: $454.50
CO: $705.70
BTN: $1175.90
SB: $234.75
BB: $439.00

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is UTG+2 with Ts Js

2 folds, Hero raises to $14, 1 fold, MP2 calls $14, CO calls $14, 3 folds

Flop: ($48.00) Kc 4d Qc (3 players)
Hero bets $32, MP2 requests TIME, MP2 folds, CO calls $32

Turn: ($112.00) 8h (2 players)
Hero bets $70, CO calls $70

River: ($252.00) 2h (2 players)
Hero bets $166, CO calls $166

Final Pot: $584.00
Hero shows Ts Js (King Queen high)
CO shows Qd 9h (a pair of Queens)
CO wins $581.00

Prefrop – I open the JT of the NUT soot from MP…a tad thin, but I have never become accustomed to the term “tight is right” – ROR.

Frop – This is an INSTA c bet.  I opened and did NOT get 3b so I think I can get TONS of folds of hands better than JT high, ROR.  I think 22-99 folds almost ALWAYS along with many A high hands.   I’m not thrilled to get called by the roose passive player…but seeing as he did not 3b me, and did not raise this frop – it is pretty safe to say we can be narrow down his range to flush/straight draws, 1 pair hands.  I plan on barreling any turn card that does not complete a frush.

Turn – It’s a brick but I’m going to continue to rep a monster since I opened pre, bet the frop and faced zero aggression, this board texture weighs much heavier towards my range than this.   When I get called again we can be CERTAIN that the villain is weak.  He has one pair at BEST.  Again, assuming the obvious frush draw does not come in, I am going to bet the river and attempt to do 2 things – fold a Q and higher A high/draw hands.  If he has a K, I do NOT expect him to fold it. 

River – I go ahead and bet and get looked up pretty quickly…JT high NO GOOD!  oh well – I’ll make a quick note about his inability to fold and take him downtown to VTOWN next time we tangle!  

Often I find myself tilting for making a stupid river bet when it gets rooked up...but in this case I was able to brush off the ross and quickly move on to other tables.  

-BRACKCHIPS