PokerStars
  Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Variance is fun
Permalink Posted 11:56 am in Categories: Poker

I continue streaming towards the end of my first 20K hands of heads up play and I've certainly had my good moments and my bad. Some days every third pocket pair makes a set and my opponents cannot wait to get top pair no kicker in on the flop. Other days, betting pot and turn with top two pair loses to runner runner straights. Overall I've been learning a good amount about the game, making some decent money and having fun while doing it. I'm running at about 8 PTBB/100, still winning more than the rake which is something like 5 PTBB/100.

Some hand analysis for the day:

Seat 1: TheSalche ($79.30)Seat 2: sixgun38 ($43.70)
sixgun38 posts the small blind of $0.25
TheSalche posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #2
* HOLE CARDS *
Dealt to TheSalche King of DiamondsJack of Spades
sixgun38 raises to $1.50
TheSalche calls $1
* FLOP * Ten of DiamondsThree of ClubsNine of Clubs
TheSalche checks
sixgun38 bets $3
TheSalche raises to $12
sixgun38 raises to $42.20, and is all in
TheSalche calls $30.20
sixgun38 shows King of SpadesNine of Spades
TheSalche shows King of DiamondsJack of Spades
* TURN * Ten of DiamondsThree of ClubsNine of Clubs Seven of Clubs
* RIVER * Ten of DiamondsThree of ClubsNine of ClubsSeven of Clubs Six of Hearts

sixgun38 shows a pair of Nines
TheSalche shows King Jack high
sixgun38 wins the pot ($86.90) with a pair of Nines

This match was pretty aggressive, villain was pretty meh, and had a tendency to call me down with not much. On the surface this looks like a terrible call, but it may have been closer a "bad" call or could even be a good call depending on what range we assign the villain. A few things to note:

My pot odds are 56.9/30.2 or 1.88:1
Twodimes.net gives the odds here at 70:30 against, or 2.33:1.

However, given the match flow, his more likely hand is a pair of tens or 9s that doesn't block one of our pair cards, which gives us 61.5:38.5 or 1.60:1. His range also includes flush draws, in which case we are flipping with non ace high draws, but 78:22 against the ace high ones. Obviously his range may include some monsters, but I'm not crediting those as much because people slowplay in bad spots in heads up.

Looking back on it after some analysis this might not have been the best call I've ever made, but I have certainly made worse. The point here is to illustrate that I'm not in as bad shape as it appears and that one concept that is important in heads up is fold equity. If you can get an opponent to fold anything above 15% when you have an OESD or a flush draw + an over, you are making a +EV play to shove.

Neat PT stats ...
- Best three hands are QQ, JJ and AA with an average win% of 91 and each have netted me over $500
- Worst three hands are KJo, 86o and KQo

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Comment from: View ProfileMrDarling
Permalink 06/29/08@17:55
yeah, its pretty hard to beat the rake at $50NL HU...
Am actually down on HU so haven't really played a lot lately, though it sure does improve your post flop and reading abilities.

As for the hand, you have no FE when you call an AI. So unless villain is really good and tough I say wait for better spot.
I like the c/r but once he comes over the top you just have to let it go... The advantage of PUSHING AI is that the FE simply adds to your overall equity.

I think my biggest problem with HU is that I get caught in the action and become overly aggressive and start spewing and convincing my self I run bad...

Keep us informed.

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 TheSalche
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: calling down
PokerStars Name: Sonny617
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