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http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/forum/blog/mooseontheloose/ironing_out_the_holes_b-218_sid-60fa831f46ba3012180c7f1d6fc24c44.html |
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| Author: | mooseontheloose [ Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:36 pm GMT ] |
| Blog Subject: | Ironing out the Holes |
Know what feels great? When you identify a hole in your game, make an effort to correct it and see yourself making positive gains. That's how today went for me so far. Over the past few days I realized a huge hole in my game, something that was costing me a lot of SnG/MTT entries. I was basically misplaying premium starting hands, especially from early position, when I was short-stacked in the middle-late stages. Essentially, with a mediocre hand I knew when to fold and didn't get caught up with the hand, but with premium hands I continually watched myself stubbornly refuse to accept that my KK, AK, etc. was beat. Well, after losing money on this problem yesterday I sat down and decided to read up again and focus on fixing that hole in my game - it was to be my main focus in my next tourney. To do this I started reading Harrington on Hold'Em v1, a book I had not read yet. I have all three volumes now and they are to be my reading material for this week. Anyway, I found Harrington's first volume to be amazing and just what I needed. It didn't really talk specifically about my problem but it really made me think about plays more, things I'd either never considered during a hand or something I overlooked. I was determined to think out my plays more and to specifically correct my problems with premium hands when short-stacked. First tournament following my study session and effort to improve my game/holes? 45-person $1+0.20 SnG. Result? 2nd place, $10 payout. I was very pleased with my play today as I felt I avoided the dumb mistakes I'd been making over the last few days. I started out with some weaker hands and basically just sat around waiting for some decent hands. But I tried to expand my game a little more and began raising with suited connectors from MP/LP (78-9T) hoping to eventually show one down. As luck would have it I never had to as I either hit the flop or my play at the pot postflop would win it. I was at about the chip average for most of the tourney right up until I made it to the final table. I went into the FT with the second shortest stack and here is where I really felt my game was sharp. Before I speak about the FT though, I want to talk about a hand that I felt really showed off my new strategy of thinking moves through. We're down to around 16 of 45, I'm roughly at chip average with blinds at 75/150. I'm dealt AJo in the CO. First to act is the villian in this hand, he calls the 150 and it comes to me. Now, this guy had been a pretty interesting player. He liked to play a range of hands but knew how to lay it down later, so I full well knew if he called he might have a mediocre starting hand. I'm not a fan of AJo so I came in with a small raise to try and isolate the villian. I raise from 150 to 450, all fold and villian takes a few seconds and eventually calls. Flop comes: 535 rainbow. My obvious play here is to continuation bet, but he bets first, betting 600 which was roughly the pot. I think for a few moments and consider the player. To me, it is highly likely he as something like A3 or A5 or another PP, but I can likely rule out A5 because it's unlikely he's put in such a big bet if held the 5. I decide he's either on A3 or he's got overcards/PP. I decide to raise, something I'm trying to do more often when I think I have a good read, putting it up to 2000. He takes a very long time to decide and finally folds in, telling me he had A3s. May not seem like much but my thought process here made me pleased, felt like I'd somewhat improved as a player because my initial reaction here when making dumb moves would be All-in or fold (if I were short-stacked) but instead I thought this one out, knew this guy was capable of folding when beat and made a move. Anyway, so I get to the FT with about 5k in chips and CL is around 23k. Needless to say I'm in trouble. The table only started with 8 as two were knocked out at once prior to FT, and only top 7 paid so I had to try and hold on. One other guy had a similar stack, I was trying to wait him out. I stayed alive by blind stealing as my cards were pretty ugly, and anytime I'd pick up something decent there would be an All-in before me, never with cards I could call with. I finally got sick of waiting and decided I want to make a move, either finish 8th or put myself in position for top 4 rather than sitting orbit after orbit hoping people bust. I'm dealt QJs on the button, I hadn't stolen in a while so I went All-in hoping to steal this one. It worked, I got just the blinds and antes though. Next hand I'm dealt AJo in CO, do the exact same thing going All-in hoping mostly for the blinds, but feeling okay about a call. Then it happened. I wasn't the shortest stack anymore due to those blinds, but still vulnerable. The next hand was EXACTLY what I needed in this situation. I picked up KK in MP and I figured someone would be sick of watching me go All-in. After a short-stack raises 3xBB, I go All-in and it folds around to the villian and he decides to call and flips over TT. Flops? 8KK :) My first Quads online, the pot doubled me up and put me into 2nd place and knocked him out putting us down to 7, and me in the money. Since it was my first online Quads, and with Kings no less, here's the hand history :) http://www.pokerhand.org/?457026 Thankfully, in this tourney I waited for the RIGHT moves, not the right cards really. I didn't force bad hands or ruined premium hands, instead I was careful and eventually it paid off. From here I sat back waiting, letting the smaller stacks go at each other while I took blinds here and there, usually from short/medium stacks to put more pressure on them. I eventually made it down to heads-up but had a terrible task ahead of me. Blinds are 1000/2000 with 100 ante. My stack, ~15k. His stack, ~55k. Right away I can tell he wants to bully me but the first hand I get is 62, I can't call his raise. I then get A5o and A8s the next two hands, All-in both times and got just the blinds both times. I then get AJo, he raised so I go All-in and he flips over K8, we both hit our top pair and I'm back up to 13k. But the blinds were just too much, in the SB, with 11000 left, I am dealt 89s and I raise to about 6k and he puts me All-in. I was thinking All-in myself but didn't know if he'd call. I basically knew I needed to go with whatever I could and get lucky. Didn't happen. He flips over KJs, flop comes 6K6 and I don't improve. Still, I was pleased with my play and was aiming for the money and ended up second. I just hope I can improve moreso, see a few more wins for confidence, and iron out any other holes that come up. I've got more reading to do, probably some more SnGs/MTTs, so it's time to end this. Sorry about length, take care! |
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