THIN! (Part 19)

Perhaps the king of THIN! thus far:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/784616

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UTG+1: $63.55

UTG+2: $31.90

MP1: $88.15

MP2: $50.50

CO: $45.80

BTN: $129.40

Hero (SB): $61.80

BB: $51.55

UTG: $85.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with Ac Td

5 folds, CO raises to $1.50, BTN calls $1.50, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BTN calls $5.50 (Squeeze here is a little thin - I'm not doing it every time, just sometimes. Button is a pretty loose player, so could be calling pretty wide. CO is a standard TAG type, so I think he folds to the 3b quite a bit.)

Flop: ($16.00) 7c 5c Jd (2 players)

Hero bets $11, BTN calls $11 (Not the greatest flop to one-barrel on, but I do have backdoor straight and flush draws, and is it too much to ask that he fold QT or something to me on this frop?)

Turn: ($38.00) 3c (2 players)

Hero bets $22.50, BTN raises to $111.40 all in, Hero calls $21.30 all in (He does call, and I pick up backdoor clubs. I'm not folding this hand. I think he's just floating the flop with a pretty weak hand a bunch of the time. Like I'd estimate a jack or better to be less than 1/4th of his range. I've got 3 options: 1) open shove $44 into $38 2) bet something that might seem to give me room to fold, like $22 3) check, hope he bets smallish himself then shove over it, and lead river if he checks back. Of these, I think 2) is by far the best. 1) seems very draw-ish - I think he'd call me with pretty much any pair, and all the hands he's folding are worse than mine. If I had AcAs, I'd like this line more to get max value from lower pairs. 3) is pretty risky, because he could just shove himself when I check, which puts me in a pretty gross spot, and is really the only situation where I'd end up folding, which would really be a disaster against his range for calling the frop. I like 2) much more, since it looks more like I'm trying to get some value out of one pair myself, without putting all my money in yet, so he might find a fold with 66 or 76 or whatever. Or even better, he might call and then fold when I hail-mary shove the river. Also, he might shove over my bet with a bunch of worse draws. At the time I was thinking something in the T9/98 with one club range. Little did I know I'd be in even better shape than I could have hoped for!)

River: ($125.60) 9s (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $125.60

BTN shows Ks Tc (King Jack high)

Hero shows Ac Td (Ace Jack high)

Hero wins $122.60

(Rake: $3.00)

95.5% equity on the turn there with ace-high!

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 18)

Haven't had a THIN post in quite sometime and felt that this hand simply could not be overlooked for a THIN nomination. Been grinding out NLHE quite a bit with decent success, one thing I have noticed along with Bruechips is that NOBODY FOLDS anymore. NOBODY. From one pair to friggin 8th pair...it has become quite difficult to pry people off any of any semblance of a hand. It's friggin nuts. I guess it is just part of the educational evolution part of NLHE as the players get progressively better and the fish pool dwindles. The players that will succeed need to continuously find new ways to exploit their opponents. 3betting/cbetting by even bad players is becoming pretty standard - alot of your edge will come in later streets where players are uncomfortable/unsure as to the best play.

Enter THIN...lol. Provided you can VB your hands better than you opponents - you will be ahead of the game. Being able to VB later streets as your villain's range becomes more polarized will maximize your WR.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/636256

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $202.85

UTG+1: $263.25

MP: $200.00

CO: $202.50

Hero (BTN): $490.20

SB: $100.95

BB: $55.55

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BTN with Ks Jc

2 folds, MP raises to $7, 1 fold, Hero calls $7, 2 folds

(this call is not completely standard - i think a mix of calling, folding and 3b'ing are reasonable. One thing to note is that we are 7 handed. The reason I chose calling here is I felt I might get played back if I 3b here since I had been pretty aggro pre IP, I felt I could outplay him on most flops.)

Flop: ($17.00) 2h Kh 3s (2 players)

MP bets $11, Hero calls $11

(Boom goes the dynamite? Good flop but not necessarily I feel super comfortable raise getting it in with. Raise folding would be retarted for obvious reasons. I call the standard cbet - with the intention to take him into town (value town that is!) if I sense weakness on later street.)

Turn: ($39.00) 7c (2 players)

MP checks, Hero bets $26, MP calls $26

(Pretty much the nut card for me that does not improve my hand...when he x's I'm quite confident that I am best here, I am betting for value but it would be REALLY gross if I got XR here, honestly idk what I would have done. Maybe shit my pants and reshoved, but that is probably influenced by the fact that I know the outcome of the hand.)

River: ($91.00) 9s (2 players)

MP checks, Hero requests TIME, Hero bets $446.20 all in, MP requests TIME, MP calls $156 all in

(After he xc's the turn I can be pretty confident that he does not have a one pair+ hand that beats me. I really think that AK, KQ would have tried to sqz out some more value on the turn when the brick rolls off. It is obvious he is trying to get to SD without putting any more money in the pot. When I am trying to figure out what is the best to bet, I realized that I could very easily make my hand look like a bluff with an overbet shove...and given that NOBODY folds these days I figured it was the best play. I felt that KQ was the ONLY hand that I would be value cutting myself on - but against worse one pair K hands and hands like TT-QQ, I could pwn him hard.)

Final Pot: $403.00

MP mucks Td Kc

(GREAT SUCCESS!!!)

Hero shows Ks Jc (a pair of Kings)

Hero wins $400.00

(Rake: $3.00)

-BRACKCHIPS

THIN! (Part 17)

Well I am still running like crap at 6-max...but god the donks are JUICY. I managed to get an hour or so of PT with this drooler the other night...unfortunately he had already sucked out on me for 100 bbs once earlier when we got in my K6 (BB special, he had limped) vs. his QQ on J66, but I got him back here: AK-high for 93% equity on the turn!

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/327300

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $183.25

SB: $50.00

Hero (BB): $67.00

UTG: $54.40

CO: $48.85

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with Ks Ac

1 fold, CO raises to $2, BTN calls $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, 1 fold, BTN calls $8 (Trying to get heads up with the donk on the button, he will call with ATC so this is a value bet more than a semi-bluff)

Flop: ($22.25) 3d 9h Jh (2 players)

Hero bets $14, BTN calls $14 (Not the best frop in the world...but gotta throw this out there I guess.)

Turn: ($50.25) 6s (2 players)

Hero requests TIME, Hero bets $43 all in, BTN calls $43 (Very very close. He's not very likely to fold really any pair. But there are shitload of draws out there...hearts, 87,QT,KQ,T8...he could have any of those for sure. And who knows, maybe he'll fold a three or something. Also I could get called by a worse "made hand"!)

River: ($136.25) 4h (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $136.25

BTN shows Ad Qh (Ace Queen high)

Hero shows Ks Ac (Ace King high)

Hero wins $133.25

(Rake: $3.00)

If I had had KhQh and bricked out I might have quit poker....

-BRUECHIPS

P.S.: Unfortunately we've gotten a few "spam" comments recently where advertisers or whatever come and leave a comment advertising their B.S. products. To combat that, we're now moderating comments, so we have to approve them before they actually go on the site. Sorry for the inconvenience to our fabulous long-time readers and commentors, rest assured you won't have to wait long to see your comments up once you submit them.

THIN! (Part 16)

Standard shorty-pwning thin-ness:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/302786

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $47.25

MP1: $109.05

MP2: $60.75

CO: $15.50

BTN: $18.85

Hero (SB): $100.00

BB: $29.80

UTG: $123.95

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with Kc Jc

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, 3 folds, BTN raises to $5, Hero raises to $17, 2 folds, BTN calls $12 (Button is a shortstacker trying to punish an EP limper...how far behind could KJs possibly be? They ARE brack cards...)

Flop: ($36.00) 4s 7s 3d (2 players)

Hero bets $3, BTN calls $1.85 all in (Not exactly the nut frop for KcJc, but I'll put in his rast $2...as a sick varue bet!)

Turn: ($39.70) 8h (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($39.70) As (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $39.70

BTN shows Kh Th (Ace King high)

Hero shows Kc Jc (Ace King high)

Hero wins $37.75

(Rake: $1.95)

Red cards? Way behind....

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 15)

First off, big congrats to Rana on scoring 10th place in the $1500 HORSE event at the WSOP. Of course I'm happy in part because I had a piece of her action, but also I'm just glad for LJ playing well and getting a nice score. Great job, LJ!

On to some thintastic value:

UTG: $35.80

UTG+1: $44.35

MP1: $57.55

MP2: $50.00

CO: $50.00

BTN: $54.05

SB: $105.05

Hero (BB): $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with Th Ts

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.50, 3 folds, BTN raises to $2.50, SB calls $2.25, Hero calls $2, UTG+1 calls $2 (The UTG+1 limper is a donk of the 45/0 variety. The button I didn't have too much info on, but seemed pretty nitty in the small sample I had. 3-betting here is definitely an option, but I decided to play it safe and just call.)

Flop: ($10.00) 7s 8h 6h (4 players)

SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $1, BTN raises to $13, SB folds, Hero raises to $47.50 all in, UTG+1 folds, BTN calls $34.50 (Here's where the action happens. I decided from the beginning that I was going to check and make some sort of committing raise, unless it went something like UTG+1 pots and button shoves all-in. But the way the hand played out was perfect for me. I'm not really worried about UTG+1 at all - his min donk-bet is weak and retarded...if he calls, he's as likely to have A7 as 86, which I'm not that far behind anyway. The more relevant player is the button. I think this is a great place to shove because he's almost MORE likely to call me with a weaker hand than a bigger overpair. Stacking off on this board with AA-JJ would be pretty gross. Sets and T9s are just all over my range, as well as monster draws like JhTh or AhTh. But he will call off with 99, AhKh, and AhQh, all of which I beat (70% equity vs. these hands). Of course he could have a set already, but in that case I do have straight, running hearts, and higher set outs. Also, I think he'd be limping 66/77 at least some of the time instead of raising preflop. Even if you put all the sets in his range, vs. 66-99 and AhKh/AhQh, I'm only a slight dog. My other options are to fold...which isn't terrible I guess, but a bit too nitty I believe, and call, which I do think is pretty terrible as I am lost on later streets and so much of the deck is difficult for me, especially if UTG+1 calls too.)

Turn: ($106.00) 8c (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($106.00) Ad (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $106.00

BTN shows 9h 9s (two pair, Nines and Eights)

Hero shows Th Ts (two pair, Tens and Eights)

Hero wins $103.00

Ship the thin value! As for his play, I think he played it fine. He's almost definitely value betting vs. the donk, and he can't expect me to show up with a hand that often. And I just happened to have the absolute worst possible hand for him. Against other hands I might be shoving with (say, sets, AhTh,QhTh,JhTh,T9s,87s,67s), he has almost 40% equity.

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 14)

I managed to score a seat two to the left of a 40/20/3 LAGtard last night. It took a while, but I eventually won a big pot off of him with some razor thin value:

MP: $10.00
Hero (CO): $72.45
BTN: $15.40
SB: $9.50
BB: $33.90
UTG: $141.55

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with Ks Qd
UTG calls $0.50, MP calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2.75, 3 folds, UTG calls $2.25, 1 fold (Standard rimper punishment)

Flop: ($6.75) 9d Qh 6s (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.25, UTG raises to $8.50, Hero calls $4.25 (It's tempting to check behind here and control pot size with a good-but-not-great hand, but against an overly aggressive player, this hand is good enough to go to the felt with, and I want to give him an opportunity to make a big mistake. Against a tight player, getting check/raised here would mean 99, 66, maybe even QQ. The other hands you might expect check/raises from - JTs, 87s - wouldn't be limped UTG. But with this guy, I think he'd raise QQ/99/66/AQ preflop, and he'd definitely be limping all sorts of hands that hit this frop in a marginal way: any 9, any Q, A6o, 78, JT, KJ, KT...so let's start getting some money in. Once he raises, I could re-raise, but I think even he would figure out that I'm committed to the hand, JT has no fold equity, and second pair is probably no good. I'd rather call and give him an opportunity to commit himself on the turn.)

Turn: ($23.75) 2s (2 players)
UTG bets $23.75, Hero raises to $61.20 all in, UTG requests TIME, UTG calls $37.45
(2s is the blankiest blank in the blank. He full pots it, which probably means he wants me to fold, and I shove. He tanks for a while before finally deciding QJo should be gold for 140bbs. Turns out it's not. But KQo is! Ship it!)

River: ($146.15) 3h (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $146.15
Hero shows Ks Qd (a pair of Queens)
UTG shows Qc Jh (a pair of Queens)
Hero wins $143.15

One more note: to encourage more commenting, we will be linking anyone who's in our top 5 commenters (see widget on right sidebar). Thanks to all who comment on our brog!

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 13) - Trying to Range-Balance in a 3b pot

First of all, big ups to Vizer and his buddies for pwning San Diego last night. It was fun to hang out with you guys; sorry I suck so hard at pool.

Anyway, with all the prop betting and HSP-recapping around here recently there hasn't been too much hand analysis, so here's one I played recently that was interesting because both of us were in pretty rare parts of our range:

CO: $106.10

BTN: $97.25

SB: $112.05

BB: $101.35

UTG: $49.25

UTG+1: $21.85

UTG+2: $53.15

MP1: $94.15

Hero (MP2): $100.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP2 with Ts Th

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2.25, 3 folds, BB raises to $7.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $5.25 (Fairly standard call in position 200 bbs deep. I only had 120ish hands or so on this guy, in which his VPIP/PFR stats were pretty nitty - 11/11 - but his 3b% was fairly high - 11 as well. I've posted about this a bit before, but in those situations, I give more credence to the VPIP/PFR, since the player faces those decisions in every hand, whereas he only faces the decision of 3b/not 3b in a small subset of hands. So the effective sample size is much larger for the VPIP/PFR stats. Therefore I put him on a fairly strong range when 3b'ing my raise of the EP limper, even though the limper was a donk and my range for raising him is fairly wide.)

Flop: ($15.75) 9s Jc 5c (2 players)

BB bets $9, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $9 (Usually I would fold right here. But I decided this would be a good time to balance my range and try to rep a big hand. Since he was the 3-bettor pre-flop, he's not supposed to have many of the draws on this board. This means that I could plausibly slow-play a set. It also means that I can represent draws if a club or a Q, 7, 8, or K comes (which also actually give me some straight outs). I could also be floating him with JsTs or the like, so if a J or T comes, those could plausibly help me as well (the T actually does, obviously). Basically, there are lots of cards that should help my range more than his on the turn, therefore putting me in a profitable bluffing situation. So depending on what comes in on the turn, I have a lot of options available to me.) 

Turn: ($33.75) 8s (2 players)

BB bets $33.75, Hero raises to $83.50 all in (This is one of the cards I was looking for, and I go ahead and follow my plan of shoving it all-in, hoping that he would fold AA-QQ, and call with AcKc or AcQc. Since I have a reasonable number of outs if called by the overpairs, he doesn't even have to fold that often for me to be making money here. If he folds half the time and I have 23% equity when called, my EV here is $19. If he folds only 1/4 of the time, my EV is -$5. Given that occasionally he'll have random bluffs or even weaker hands that still beat me but would be likely to fold such as KJs, I think I've got pretty significant fold equity.)

BB requests TIME, BB calls $49.75 (He timed down for a while before making this call, which I think means he believed my story somewhat, although it's hard to say given what he showed up with, he's really just figuring out equity vs. pot odds)

River: ($200.75) 3d (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $200.75

BB shows Tc 9c (a pair of Nines)

Hero shows Ts Th (a pair of Tens)

Hero wins $197.75

THIN!! Somewhat accidentally....but that's the cool thing about this shove on the turn, is that often I will get calls from worse hands (I thought A-high flush draws, but in this case an even huger draw), and folds from better hands. Anyway I'm still not totally sure how much I like my play in this hand, but comments are welcome. I think in general I am a little bit too nitty when deep and don't put stacks light enough, so I've been trying to look for spots to go crazy recently, and this was one of them. Fortunately it worked out this time...but I'd be really interested to know if he or other villains would call with AA-QQ.

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 13)

These days even in lower stakes tourneys, most players are aware that good players are opening a wide range of hands in late position and c-betting most flops. As a result, when you're 20-25 bbs deep or so, you get check-raised all-in pretty often on rag boards that miss most hands. One way to combat this is to c-bet less, checking behind hands with some showdown value, hoping to show down without putting in your whole stack, and to pick off some bluffs on later streets. Another way is to c-bet and call shoves much lighter. It's worth mixing it up between the two, but here's an example of the second strategy working to perfection:

Blinds @ 150/300, Antes 25
Seat 5: bruechips (6,060)
Seat 6: SB (9,760)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bruechips [Ah Ks]
bruechips raises to 750
SB calls 600

*** FLOP *** [9d 4c 3c]
SB checks
bruechips bets 1,350 (If I'm not willing to call a shove, I shouldn't bet this hand. I decided to bet/call, and I want to size my bet to induce as many shoves as possible. There's about 2200 in the pot, effective stacks are 5300. If I had absolutely nothing (like 8h7h) and wanted to try and steal, I think I'd bet about 1350, which makes that a good amount to bet here when I'm going to call light. It leaves enough in my stack that I can fold. This board is so crappy, I think he's going to shove over my c-bet at least 1/2 the time. If he has 66, I've got 6 outs plus runner-runner straight, so it's not the end of the world.)
SB raises to 8,985, and is all in (On cue.)
bruechips calls 3,935, and is all in (I had already decided I was going to call before betting, so this was a snap call.)
SB shows [Th Jd] (Pwnd.)
bruechips shows [Ah Ks]

*** TURN *** [9d 4c 3c] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [9d 4c 3c 7d] [5c]

bruechips wins the pot (12,595) with Ace King high

Managed to dodge 10 outs on the river FTW!!!

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 12)

Ok back to our regularly scheduled content of poker hands...check out the action below.



So we have a pretty standard call with AQ vs a UTG raise...

The flop is pretty nuttish for our hand...but how does it fair in a multiway pot that includes a UTG raise?  Obviously we are behind any sets and any overpair...so I think calling behind is pretty standard.  You could make a case for raising here to get value from draws, but I only think you will get played back by sets, Axhh, and overpairs.  

UTG checks back the turn on a blank 8, and we are faced with a decision to check or bet.  Betting is pretty much a no brainer here...we want to get value from any heart draws, and 99-JJ.  I was prepared to pitch my hand in the event that was check raised here, a utg raiser who c bets into 4 people and then check raises the turn, that's a pretty daymn strong line - and I'm likely no good vs this player...who was not playing particularly aggressive. 

I'm a little confused when UTG check calls...it sure doesn't feel as if he has an overpair, especially when he checks back the river.  I was VERY tempted to make a thin value bet here on the river, but I felt like there were SO few UTG raising hands hands that will call me with worse here.  

He tables a second best KQ and I throw up a bit in my mouth...I missed a MONSTER vb on the river, it would have been razor thin but I DOUBT he is check folding.  It is very possible he could put me on missed hearts.  

It really PAINS ME to miss out on value on the river...its the street where decisions are the most expensive and thus have a monsterous effect on your winrate.  I missed out on a 1/4 - 1/2 buyin here when I missed a river bet.  GROSS.

-BRACKCHIPS

THIN! (Part 11)

Well, since the Shortstack Game seems to getting very little interest, I figured I'd put in a THIN! post before going back to it.

And this hand actually does have something to do with the Shortstack Game, just because it's blind vs. blind in a tourney where both players are fairly short. As loyal readers know, late in tourneys I think you really need to maximize your fold equity and steal chips preflop as often as you can.

One of the best times is when it's folded to the small blind, who limps into your big blind. Donks love to limp into the small blind with any two cards, and often min bet any flop or some donkey move like that. In general I do not permit this and will be either shoving preflop or shoving the flop if I catch any piece at all.

Some donks try to combat this by limping their big hands like AA, KK, AK, etc., which I think is probably a pretty good strategy. However these hands don't come around nearly often enough to deter me from shoving over their limps a large portion of the time. Perhaps some of them realize this and start limp/calling with some more marginal hands, like A6o. I'm pretty sure this is a terrible strategy. Say stacks are 10 bbs and you're comparing limp/calling A6o in the small blind to just shoving in your 10 bbs. A6o has only 51% equity vs. the top 50% of all hands, which is probably about my shoving range:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 51.043% 47.73% 03.32% 5805749604 403268034.00 { A6o }
Hand 1: 48.957% 45.64% 03.32% 5551921944 403268034.00 { 33+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J4s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T8o+, 98o }

Whereas my calling range if the sb shoves is obviously much smaller, probably only 8% of all hands. Since you guys are probably bored of equity calculations, I'll spare you, but I don't think limp/calling a marginal hand like A6o is a good play.

An even worse play, which I can't come up with any logic for but which seems to be an important part of a tourney donk's arsenal, is limp/calling a terrible hand. I mean I really just don't get it. I guess they just get frustrated that I shove every time they limp like a donkey? I dunno. But something led to this "accidental value bet":

Seat 3: Donk (SB) (4,645)
Seat 4: bruechips (BB) (4,580)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bruechips [Kc 5s]
Donk calls 200 (does he really expect to get away with this BS?)
bruechips raises to 4,580, and is all in (gimme the pot, donk!)
Donk calls 4,180 (whoops...looks like I'm gonna have to spike something this time...)
Donk shows [Jc 5c] (actually...huh?!?!?)

*** FLOP *** [9h Ts Ah]
*** TURN *** [9h Ts Ah] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [9h Ts Ah Qd] [Jh]
bruechips wins the pot (9,160) with a straight, Ace high

Just to clarify, J5s is a slight dog to a RANDOM hand. ROR!!! Oh man...donks make me laugh...

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 10)

Ok so as I'm sure you may know...we here at spritpot have a lil obsession with getting THIN value on hands.  The concept is simple and straight forward, but we enjoy getting thin value like a fat kid loves cake.  

The hand below defintely ranks up there in my all time favorites...sit back and enjoy!

Did you catch that?  9 high called by 4 high, ROR!  Granted my 67% equity did not hold...but whatever...let's try not to be results oriented.  Its hands like these that fuel your addiction for the game, it makes you keep coming back for more!  

Let me walk you through my thought process on this on the hand...

Prefrop - ok 89o UTG+1 is a BIT loose (TAG is not exactly in my vocab when it comes to my playing style)...but the table was INFESTED with shortstackers behind me, and I knew they would be giving my raise some respect based on my position.  

Frop - 1 caller...from the brinds, super.  Love me some HU pots in position...I'm looking to either outfrop him, or manipulate him based on having position.  He makes a SUPER weak donk bet.  My thoughts were - a) this dude does NOT have a King.  b) there are a ton of draws on the board which he might be donking with.  Flush draws, 34, 78.  c) this could be one of those situations where he is just bet folding something like 6x, 5x, or 77-88.  

I opt to SHIPITIN, I can credibly rep a King based on my pre/frop pray in hopes of getting a decent range of his hands to fold.  Villain tanks for a while and finally calls.  

I don't think I really need to go into how BAD his play, ROR.  Despite not having a pair or a FD, I had the WORST possible hand vs his hand...half of his OESD outs are giving me the nut straight!  This definitely highlights the concept of reverse impried odds (as recently mentioned by Bart Hanson on Cash Plays).  In this instance...he had the WOST POSSIBLE draw on the board - not only is there a FD which could arso nurify some of his straight draw outs, but his straight draw is NOT to the nuts.  His thoughts were probably - "I have 8 outs to make the best hand."  Well if I had a naked FD - then its only 6, and if I have a super sweet combo draw 78cc or 89cc then he is drawing even thinner.

I really wish the board woulda entirely bricked off for both of us...don't think I've ever seen a HH with two arr ins that says "x wins $y with 8 high" ROR.  

THIN! (Part 9)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...been going through a rough stretch of late and haven't been in much of the brogging mood of late.

Had a brief little session and had this interesting hand...

THIN! (Part 8)

One of the first principles of poker education is that playing out of position sucks and therefore should be avoided. However, sometimes seeing a flop out of position is unavoidable, and moreover you do give up value by being TOO tight out of position. I have been working recently on playing better out of position. Again I think it's one of the more difficult aspects of the game, but essential to be a well-rounded player and be able to adapt to games where all the players are trying to get positional advantage. Position is important, but at some point a stronger hand range outweighs the advantage of position. A key element of playing well in position vs. aggressive players means making some pretty thin check/calls and check-raises. Here are a couple of examples in blind vs. blind situations where I was pretty much obligated to raise from the sb and got called by the bb:

Seat 2: bruechips (SB) ($125.90)
Seat 3: BB ($12.75)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bruechips [Kc Th]
bruechips raises to $1.50 (Pretty standard, although if I were deep with the BB and he were an exceptional player I might consider just folding. That's obviously not the case here.)
BB calls $1

*** FLOP *** [2h Qh Tc]

bruechips checks (The outcome of this hand probably would have been the same if I had just bet/called rather than check/raised, but possibly not. Anyway, my thinking was: if I bet and he raises, I have to call. Pretty much any hand he's going to raise a continuation bet with he'll also bet/call with if I check/raise. He's certainly not folding any hand that beats me, so bet/calling and check/raising both get all the money in against the hands that beat me or that have huge equity like Ah9h. Check/raising, however, gets more value out of hands that I beat like worse tens, and total air. The only danger is if he checks behind, and I give up a free card to a hand like A3 that then catches an A to beat me. But I decided to just take that risk and go for the check/raise.)
BB bets $2.50
bruechips raises to $12
BB calls $8.75, and is all in
bruechips shows [Kc Th]
BB shows [Td Jd] (Indeed, check-raising earns me so razor-thin value)

This next hand is a little more interesting since I'm deeper with the big blind, so there's 3 streets of action:

Seat 2: bruechips (SB) ($115)
Seat 3: BB ($84.90)

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to bruechips [Js Ad]
bruechips raises to $1.50
BB calls $1

*** FLOP *** [8d 3h 7d]

bruechips bets $2.25 (Standard raise and c-bet on a rag flop. He calls, which I think he would do with a pretty wide range, including hands like 55 that he thinks is probably good but doesn't want to bloat the pot with)
BB calls $2.25

*** TURN *** [8d 3h 7d] [8s]

bruechips checks
BB checks (This doesn't change my perception of his range that much except that I'm pretty sure he doesn't have an 8 now. I doubt he'd slowplay trips on a board that has lots of straight and flush draws on it.)

*** RIVER *** [8d 3h 7d 8s] [Qc]
bruechips checks (This is a somewhat close decision. I could bet here to represent a Q, which is well within my range, and try to make him fold 55 or 76. But I'm not positive that he'd fold those hands - 6-max players can be very sticky, especially blind vs. blind - and I think I probably get more value by checking and letting him bet air, which I beat. The key is that I DON'T think he could value bet 76 or 55 if I check. Of course if he himself rivered a Q he will value bet that. But that's really the only hand that I could see him value betting here, and the only hands with queens in them that get to the river are ones with diamonds in them. There are a whole host of other missed straight and flush draws that he would bluff with that I can snap off, so I decided to check/call. It's a weird situation where I think his hand range is stronger when he checks behind the river than when he bets it. If he could somehow check and then make a bet with me on whose hand his better, then I'd bet on his hand. But since there's no way to check and then make me fold, he has to bet, which then makes me think that I have the best hand often enough to call.)
BB bets $6
bruechips calls $6

*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB shows [Ts Jh] a pair of Eights
bruechips wins the pot ($18.55) with a pair of Eights

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 7)

One of the most important things to do while you're playing, in my opinion, is to keep track throughout the whole hand of what you think your opponent's range is, how he will play each part of it, AND how you will react to those plays. Here's a hand I played against an aggressive villain where I got some very thin value by inducing him to make a pretty horrific shove:

Seat 2: MP1 ($209.60)
Seat 5: HERO (CO) ($200)

*** HOLE CARDS **

Dealt to HERO [Kd Ks]
MP1 raises to $7
MP2 calls $7
HERO raises to $34 (Pretty standard re-raise with the second nuts preflop. I want to make it pretty big because there's a caller in the middle. Making the bigger re-raise might look it a little more like just a squeeze, and also I have a better chance of getting to just heads-up, which is what I want. If I make it $25 or so, MP1 will be calling much more often, at which point MP2 will be priced in with all his JTs/66 type of hands that could easily own me on the frop.)
MP1 has requested TIME
MP1 calls $27 (This guy was a pretty aggressive player...I think about 20/16/6. Since my raise looks like it could be a squeeze, I think he'd be 4-betting AK, but it's possible he could be calling AK. I think AQ he would be either 4-betting or folding, although there might be a slight chance he'd call and see a flop with AQs. But in my mind most of his range is pocket pairs. And I doubt he'd slowplay AA - he doesn't want to go multiway with AA any more than I do with KK. So to me he's got 77-QQ probably 80% of the time. QQ-TT or so he's calling because he thinks he has the best hand a lot of the time but doesn't want to get it all in preflop with them. 77-99 he's probably hoping MP2 calls so that he has odds to draw to a set.)
MP2 folds (Good result. Overall, the preflop action went exactly as I wanted - I got a lot of money in, with position, and it's down to heads up.)

** FLOP ** [As 6h 2h]
MP1 checks
HERO checks (Obviously not the flop I wanted. Not so much because I'm afraid I'm behind now, because as I said, I think he doesn't have an ace that often. More because it's harder for me to get value from the pocket pairs, which are now afraid of the ace. Checking behind here is kind of risky because you're just giving those pocket pairs free draws to a set, 1) but if he has an ace, he's never folding 2) I could catch a king and stack AQ, 3) he's aggressive enough that I could get value catching some bluffs on later streets if I check behind. I probably check this flop behind more than most players in general. If I had AK or especially AQ, I would check a good percentage of the time as well.)

*** TURN ** [As 6h 2h] [Ad]
MP1 checks
HERO checks (Awesome turn card. I am now more confident in my hand, because he's less likely to have an ace, AND he's thinking the same thing if he's sitting on a pocket pair himself. I could bet here, but I think it's slightly possible he could check an ace or 66 twice and I'd rather keep the pot small for now, because if he has QQ-TT, he will probably only call one bet, and I can wait until the river to see him check again before making that bet.)

*** RIVER ** [As 6h 2h Ad] [9s]
MP1 checks
HERO bets $50 (When he checks again, I'm pretty sure my hand is best. I don't think he'd have the patience to check 66 or AQ THREE times. He could check-raise 99, but 1) I'm not totally sure he'd call my re-raise preflop with 99, so it's a little bit less of his range, 2) I think he'd be leading it most of the time because it looks like I have exactly what I have, a big pocket pair, and he probably thinks I'll check behind on the river with those hands a lot, as I probably would if I had a slightly weaker hand, like JJ. So I bet to try and get value from QQ-TT. But before doing so, realizing I'm up against an aggressive player, I think about what I'm going to do if he shoves. Since it really doesn't look like I have an ace after I checked the flop and the turn, I think my bet will induce some bluffs. Enough of them that checking behind would be better than bet-folding. So I decide to trust my read that I have the best hand, and bet-call. If we had been a little deeper, I might have just checked behind.)
MP1 raises to $175.60, and is all in
HERO calls $116, and is all in

*** SHOW DOWN ***
MP1 shows [Qc Qd] two pair, Aces and Queens
HERO wins the pot ($407) with two pair, Aces and Kings

So I made a pretty thin call on the river that turned out to be good. I will get owned there sometimes, but I think this is a good call long term. His shove with QQ on the river is, in my opinion, horrific. If he's shoving for value, it's way too thin, since he is not ahead of my calling range. If he thinks I'm calling with JJ, then he has to think I'll call with KK as well, plus any ace I could have been slowplaying or boat that I rivered. Even if the only time I'd slowplay is if I had AA, and I'd only be re-raising 99 preflop 1/2 the time, that's still 6 KK combos, 1 AA combo, plus 1.5 99 combos, which is more than the 6 JJ combos he'd be getting value from. Remember, if you're raising for value, you have to be ahead of your opponent's CALLING range, so he has to beat more combos in my calling range than he loses to, which is definitely not the case.

If he's raising as a bluff, it's almost as bad. The only hand he's behind that I might consider folding is KK. And he's spending $175 to win $120. Which means his bluff has to be successful AGAINST HANDS THAT HE BEATS 175/(120+175) = 60% of the time. It doesn't matter if he raises and gets me to fold TT, he would have beaten that hand by calling and winning at showdown anyway. "Bluffing" out a worse hand has no value. Going back to the range above, if I'm folding KK, then he's folding out 6/(6+1+1.5) of the hands he beats, which is slightly more than 60%, but I think I do check down AQ to the river occasionally. And of course I end up making the call with KK, so the point is pretty much moot.

His play here should definitely be to call. It's not that I'm never bluffing or that I'm doing a good job of repping an ace. It's that his hand beats pretty much all my bluffs, and the hands that he loses to are pretty much never folding.

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 6)

As I have discussed before, I hate shorties. As a consequence, I love stacking them. Partly because I just hate them and seeing them lose gives me joy, but also because it might get them off the table. Here's a hand where I got some razor-thin value off a shorty:

Seat 1: CO ($63.95)
Seat 8: HERO (MP) ($279.25)

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to HERO [Qh Ac]
HERO raises to $8
CO calls $8

*** FLOP *** [2c 7h Td]
HERO bets $14 (Knowing pretty much nothing about this short-stacker before this hand, I think this is a mandatory bet.  Surprisingly, a lot of shortstackers do set-mine. It's the most retarded thing in the world, but he could have 55 and fold here. I also don't want to check and let QJ or KJ or something retarded like that eihter get there or bet me out of the pot.)
CO raises to $28 (MIN raise. With $28 behind...OK...this idiot must have taken a break from giving his boyfriend head to make this bet. I think my fold equity is pretty minimal, although you never know with these shorties. I was thinking I'm probably against some crap one-pair like 66 or 78, with some chance of a straight draw. It costs me $42 more to shove and there's already almost $60 in the pot. So that's my story for why I thought shoving was +EV, but part of it was that I just didn't want to fold to a min-raise from this shorty asshat, and nailing an A to suck out vs. his pocket threes would just feel so tasty.)
HERO raises to $103
CO calls $27.95, and is all in
HERO shows [Qh Ac]
CO shows [Ah Jh]
*** TURN *** [2c 7h Td] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [2c 7h Td 9s] [4c]
HERO wins the pot ($127.90) with Ace Queen high

Thin-ness!!! Eat it, you filthy short-stacker!! Get the hell off my table!!!

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 5)

One of the joys of small-stakes 6-max games are the super LAG-tarded players that show up with alarming frequency. While most of the full-ring donkeys are more loose-passive, 6-max attracts the loose-aggressive donkeys. As with loose-passive players, thin and strong value betting is key to getting max profit out of these players. This particular donkey had been opening for 6x in probably 50% of all hands. 

Seat 1: HERO (BB) ($84.30)
Seat 3: MP ($204.15)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Jh Kd]
MP raises to $3 
HERO raises to $12 (He makes his standard 6x open. I am ahead of his range with KJ-high. He has respected my c-bets a decent amount post-flop. At the same time, if I flop a pair, I will probably be getting all the money in.)
MP calls $9

*** FLOP *** [Qs 2d Kc]
HERO bets $15 (Golden flop. Unless he has KQ or 22, I have the nuts.)
MP calls $15

*** TURN *** [Qs 2d Kc] [4d]
HERO bets $57.30, and is all in (Great turn card, time to get max value out of a Q, a lower K, JT, or even something like AJ)
MP calls $57.30
HERO shows [Jh Kd]
MP shows [9d Ks]

*** RIVER *** [Qs 2d Kc 4d] [Qd]
HERO wins the pot ($165.85) with two pair, Kings and Queens

K9 is gold!!!

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 4)

Loose-passive players ("calling stations") are by far the most profitable type of player to play against. I think some players tighten up too much, especially post-flop, against these players and miss a lot of value bets, which is a big mistake. You do want to avoid hands that could be dominated and such, but when you make a good pair, just keep betting until your loose-passive opponent raises to inform you that you are beat. Here's an example of a hand vs. a station where I got max value out of my thin edge:

Seat 2: MP1 ($130.20)
Seat 5: CO($152.20)
Seat 8: HERO (BB) ($233.55)
CO posts $2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Jh Ad]
MP1 calls $2
CO checks
HERO checks (Some aggressive players raise here to punish the limper and the poster. While I don't think that's a terrible play, I think it's probably not the best one. MP1 is probably not folding if I make it $12. Once he calls, the poster will feel priced in too. At that point I've created a pretty big pot where I'm out of position, with a pretty marginal hand, and if they get a piece of the flop, they aren't going anywhere. Also some of the hands they might fold - like A6 or J9 - I want to keep in their range so that I can win a big pot if we both hit a pair.)

*** FLOP *** [Js 7h 4d]

HERO checks
MP1 bets $6
CO folds
HERO raises to $20 (Check-raising here is unusual for me, but I did it for a couple of reasons: 1) MP1 has a tendency to bet pot when checked to in a limped pot, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't be checked around, 2) MP1 is willing to go broke with top pair weak kicker on boards like this, so I want to get the pot bigger. In a limped pot, you have to get in a raise at some point to get all the money in - bet, bet, bet won't get it done, and he won't raise me. 3) By letting MP1 bet, I can see what the CO will do. If he raises, I would probably fold. He posted and checked his option, meaning he could have any two cards. So while MP1 can't really have J7 or J4 or 74 - he's loose, but not a complete tard - the CO could. Also if the CO just calls, I will still be confident I have the best hand, and can trap his money in the pot when I raise.)
MP1 calls $14 (Loving this call. Putting him on KJ-JT every time.)

*** TURN *** [Js 7h 4d] [Kh]
HERO bets $34 (The turn card is not my favorite, obviously. Partly because if he had KJ, now he's ahead, partly because it might scare him off calling down with QJ or JT. But again, vs. the stations: keep betting until they tell you you're beat. If he raises here, I probably fold.)
MP1 calls $34 (Just calls = AJ is gold.)

*** RIVER *** [Js 7h 4d Kh] [8c]
HERO bets $75 (Straight draw gets there, but there was pretty much no river card that I wasn't going to set him all-in on. Checking down here and giving a weaker jack a free showdown would be a big mistake. And if you think you can't get value out of a worse jack here, you are wrong:)
MP1 calls $74.20, and is all in

*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO shows [Jh Ad] a pair of Jacks
MP1 mucked [Qd Jd] - a pair of Jacks

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Parts 2 and 3)

Werr, Brackchips has certainry thrown down the gauntret in terms of charrenging me to get some thin varue. Nothing makes me happier than getting RAZOR thin varue from short-stacking megadonks.

Thin varue #1 -

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $76.65
SB: $205.80
Hero (BB): $315.95
UTG: $58
UTG+1: $293.45
MP1: $287.10
MP2: $42.05
CO: $76.40

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $2, 6 folds, Hero checks (Rimper is a massive donk. His carr UTG narrows his range down to about 40% of arr hands. ROR!)

Flop: ($5) (2 Players)
Hero bets $4, UTG calls $4 (Two things make me want to fire: 1) his range is massive, he wirr probabry throw away something rike A3o...arthough I guess it's possibre he might not, and more importantry, 2) The chances of him raising are very very row. He's a station, not a maniac. So basicarry, I wirr get to see the turn card for the $4 I'm putting out there, which is not a bad dear with two overs and a gutter, prus there's the chance he wirr ford some dogcrap Q-high hand that is ahead of me right now)

Turn: ($13) (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $8, Hero raises to $50, UTG raises to $52 and is All-In, Hero calls $2 (Top pair, vs. a donk this sharrow, is GORD. I check to arrow him to bet something rike A7 or some other one-pair that I beat, then raise arr-in to get some derty razor thin varue!!!)

River: ($117) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Results: $117 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and WON $114 (+$56 NET)
UTG showed (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and LOST (-$58 NET)

If you're a donk out there reading this, PREASE continue to rimp 89o UTG with 30bb behind. It is an excerrent NRHE pray.

Thin varue #2 -

This donk tried to rep the donk method of praying a big pp, but when he checked the frop, I was ress convinced. When the turn comes out, I don't know what he has, but I am just gonna ship it on in, maybe he fords AK or some smarr pp. Or I get varue out of Q-high!! I did have quite a sweat on the river...but crubs never get there, A-high takes this down every time. If I had naired this with K-high, I think we could just end this series right here. But getting varue out of second-nut no-pair for 25bbs isn't the nut thin varue quite yet.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $49.70
MP: $204.15
CO: $40
BTN: $135.60
SB: $204.75
BB: $123.85
Hero (UTG): $204

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $8, UTG+1 raises to $14, 5 folds, Hero calls $6

Flop: ($31) (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Turn: ($31) (2 Players)
Hero bets $36, UTG+1 calls $35.70 and is All-In

River: ($102.40) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Results: $102.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG+1 showed (Queen Jack high) and LOST (-$49.70 NET)
Hero showed (Ace Queen high) and WON $99.40 (+$49.70 NET)

- BRUECHIPS

THIN! - Part 1

Here at spritpot...we LOVE the concept of getting THIN varue out of worse hands. Nothing provides us more joy than extracting thin value...and nothing enrages us more than missing out on value. Thus, we are introducing a new series titled THIN!

Check out the hand below where we flop the 3rd nut frush, and get it arr in on the turn with our opponent drawing STONE DEAD with the 4th nut frush. Granted our PF call from the brinds is definitely questionable, but NEVER EVER underestimate the power of spades. I have done some historical analysis on PT and when holding two spades PF, we frop a frush roughly 146% of the time, ROR!



SHIP IT!

-BRACKCHIPS

Spade on spade crime!!! Can't we all just get along?

-BRUECHIPS