Friday, February 15, 2008

Thinking alot about my game

I've been thinking a lot about my game and not playing as much. I've put in about 5.5k hands this month and I'm up 7 1/2 bi at $50 nl he sh at FTP. I'm running at 25/19/2.8 over 5.5k hands. I mainly play 4 tables now instead of 6. I still have the urge to 6 table because you get so much more hands.

I read a post at 2plus2 about betting/raising/calling/checking/folding (I think the post focused in on betting, however it applies to any decisions preflop/postflop). The responder basically said, when you bet/raise/call/check/fold you should know why you are doing it. I really thought about that fundamental concept and I still struggle with it because auto piloting is so much easier.

Scenario 1:
When I have a hand I want a call/raise when I bet. I can also call/check/raise to induce bluffs, for pot control, or let Villain catch a 2nd best hand.

Scenario 2:
When I don't have a hand I want a fold when I bet or I can just check/fold.

Scenario 3:
When I have an oe str8 or flush draw I can bet to win the pot/draw cheaply. It also makes the pot bigger so that if the draw hits, I can get more value for the hand. I can also check/call to draw cheaply and allow multiple opponents to tag along. I can fold if the draw costs too much and i'm not drawing to the nuts.

Here is an example.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG
($31.30)
UTG+1
($54.75)
CO
($56.50)
BTN
($74.50)
SB
($38.25)
Hero
($52.60)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 6 players) Hero is BB

4 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2, SB calls $1.5

Folded around to SB who limps. I raise 4x to take down the weak limp preflop. ( I want a fold)
SB is running at 40/14/1 over 233 hands. I hope to take it down with a c bet on the flop.

Flop: ($4, 2 players)
SB bets $4, Hero calls $4

SB leads pot and I call. (By raising, I'm only going to get call or raised if i'm beat. By calling, I keep the pot small and can possibly induce a bluff on the turn.)

Turn: ($12, 2 players)
SB bets $7, Hero calls $7

SB leads again for about 1/2 pot and I call. (Same idea as on the flop.)

River: ($26, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $14, SB folds

Once SB checks, I now want a call when I river Top two pairs. I bet a little over 1/2 pot and hope to get called by Kx or a mid pair. I don't think villain checks river with trips 2 or a Full Boat because he would just shove his last $23 into the pot of $26. Villain folds and was probably just bluffing the flop and turn. I get an extra $7 bucks by just calling the flop.

Final Pot: $26

Hero wins $38.7 ( won +$11.7 )
SB lost -$13.00



I'm just rambling, lol. Let me know what you think of my logic. This concept is very fundamental but very complicated at the same time. This is just my attempt at explaining why I bet/check/fold/raise. I know that there are a infinite amount of variables and scenarios. I just focused on a few of them.

5 comments:

M0NIKER said...

Mapping a hand out and having solid reasoning behind your actions (check/fold/bet/raise) is paramount. If you are having trouble concentrating and feel like you are making "auto-pilot decisions" you definitely need to cut down your tables to 4 or even less to make sure you are acting with a purpose. If you haven't already, I highly suggest you buy and read Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume I. This explains the concepts of mapping out your hands much better than any forum will, IMO.

Ian Little said...

Makes perfect sense, it's very easy to bet when you think you're ahead and want value. Checking with the intention of inducing a bet, and check/calling are very much +EV moves.

Unknown said...

Very good post appleseed.

LuckySOB said...

That is the kind of thinking that needs to be in every hand you play. Well done.

Unknown said...

Don't forget we moved our sweat time to 6:30 pm EST!