Playing a hand how it should be played...

[blah730235]

Over the last couple months my poker game has improved alot by reading up about holdem, playing alot of hands and reading people's thoughts on these forums. I keep examing my plays for leaks etc. so I can keep improving. I'm still having trouble however with what is probably my biggest leak - getting caught up in a hand and not playing how I know I should play the hand. Here's an example...

I've seen the main villian slowplay a good hand, call down with a pair, he hasn't suggested that he chases draws (i.e. call flop, call turn, fold river on a drawy board) he sees alot of flops and almost always limps preflop as well. I wrote down these notes on him after about ~ 40 hands

Hero is on the button with [10d 9d] in 10$ NL 9 player holdem, stack sizes all ~ 10$
2 limpers 4 folds, hero limps, sb folds, bb checks
***Flop*** [Ks Kd 4d]
checked to hero, hero bets .35, bb calls, rest fold
(At this point I'm almost sure villian range is: Kx, 4x, small PP, theres a small possblity he has a hand like Q7, or a flush draw(unlikely). I'm praying he has the kings so i can stack him if the flush hits)

***Turn*** [Ks Kd 4d 8d]
bb checks, hero bets 1$, bb calls

(I came up with this play after bb checked: I would make a pot sized bet on the turn extracting value out of his small pair/Q7 hand if he had that then I would shove the river and he would call if he had the kings and fold if he had the other. If he had a higher flush so be it but it seemed unlikely that he did. This way I would get value out of him with most of his range. If another diamond came down I would have to re-evalute but I figured the risk was worth it.)

***River*** [Ks Kd 4d 8d 4c]

bb shoves, Hero??

(Here the villian has come out of his passive mode, my notes on him line up, and I know he has Kx or 4x. I don't know why but I ended up calling him here and he flipped over that King.)


Enter Leak #1 - I got caught up in the hand and made a move I knew was wrong.
Enter Leak #2 - Now my next hand is dealt and i'm still running the hand over and over in my head, asking myself why I did not fold. Instead of playing a good poker game I start playing a so-so poker game or even worse I start playing a stupid poker game. Now the rest of my poker session and maybe even the next poker session - I don't play well and usually quit after I make enough stupid moves to realize I need to quit.


What really bugs me is this is only 10$ NL how bad is it going to hinder me if I play higher stakes? Anyways I was wondering if anyone had advice on the following?


- Relaxing during the middle of a big hand in order to make good sound desicions
- Letting mistakes go so you can countinue to play well


Note: I don't wish to discuss any part of the hand except the river, yes possibly I could have shoved the turn, bet more here or there, put him on a different range, but I am not concerned with what could have been a slightly better move. I am concerned with not makeing obvious bad mistakes like I did on the river.

[kingetje]

well, at least you know you made a terrible call on the river.. thats a start

- Relaxing during the middle of a big hand in order to make good sound desicions

you should be relaxing and in good mental shape before a SESSION, not just one hand... to play your best

- Letting mistakes go so you can countinue to play well

this is definitely an experience thing.... i used to flip my wig after one beat/big pot that i lost... these days... not so much

[supafrey]

Everyone and their mother these days thinks they play a "tight, solid game". Not overcalling in the big pots is probably the biggest difference these days between marginal winners and losers. No advice we give you is going to convince you to be sharper at the table - that's pretty much a "skill" that comes from experience.

You might consider pulling a Ferguson (sp?) and do the same 2-3 second routine for every single decision. that might remind you to slow down and think.

[Jauron]

One thing I read from Barry Greenstein that stuck with me was, people make a lot of bad calls because they want to show how unlucky they got. They know they are beat but call down anyways and try to make it some sort of cooler.

I'm not saying that is what you did, but it could be.

I'd imagine if you were sweating someone else's cards and they had your hand you'd think, that's a fold, but when you hold them it's suddenly a hard decision. I sometimes fold preflop and continue to play the hand in my head. I found my reads were much better when I folded than when I was playing the hand. I was trying to put villian on a hand I could beat instead of putting him on a range and seeing if I could beat him.

[Jernej Zorec]

well if u put him on Kx or 4x,
then u just have to fold the river
only thing u beat is some min PP

once u put ur opponent on a range u think he might have stick to it
its a common leak one i have too

say there is a 3bet pot preflop and i have TT, and i know that the player pretty much has JJ+ but flops comes low card then i make some shit thinking like oh well he could have AK or AQ and i stack off to his KK or AA which was obvious that he had pf.

[miaowmiaowchowface]

I also struggle to fold when I get involved in big pots and know I am behind. Try and keep your cool and know even though you won't see their cards, you've made a good fold lol

[Garoen]

i would find that hard to fold as well. with two kings on the board you start hoping he was sitting on pocket 9's or some such hand.

[jeffonline]

Learn to trust your feelings. Convince yourself that folding and never knowing is much better then knowing and getting it wrong. I think I might try this as well.

[lwestatbus]

Now I'm just starting to try to analyze opponents' hands as they are being played and with mixed success but here's a thought: If the villian did not have a king he would have to be very worried about you having one. You didn't say what his kicker was but he might also have been worried about kicker problems. You limped on the button and some Kx with a better kicker is not an unreasonable holding for you to have had. Your play, to him, is consistent with a trapping play with a king OR a flush draw.

So if he did NOT have a king the ONLY hand he can push with is pocket fours which is statistically very unlikely (though I've been burned more than once by quads). The fact that he pushed on the river therefore has to scream "King". The NUTS on the river in this hand are pocket kings, followed by pocket fours, followed by K8. From his point of view the second four on the river takes care of every problem HE has except K8 and 44. He has no flush problem and no kicker problem. Since K8 and 44 are statistically unlikely, he has little to dissuade him from seeing what happens with a push IF he has a king. At worst he (probably, barring K8 and 44) ties, at best he gets a value bet out of a flush draw mixed with frustrated curiosity.

I think you're doing the right thing with your analysis.