$20 in chips - .25/.50 blinds - turned into $63 in the 6 hands i played. found a table of agressive betters - re-raised hard on their bets when i had good cards/hands.

You should write that down

Bad Play (by me!) Oh Noez!

Today I found myself sitting around the house on a really nice, sunny almost 70 degree fall day with no plans! I thought about doing something productive outside, but I chose poker instead. I decided to play in a 180 player sit-n-go tournament on pokerstars. I don't remember if it was a $5 or $10 buy-in though...sorry!

So, the cards are in the air and the fourth hand I get Ace-Ace on the button. Two limpers and I pop it to 5x the big blind. The big blind reraises me and one limper calls. I reraise all-in since I knew I was gonna get action with 3 people in the pot. I got 3 callers and found myself against A-3 off suit in the big blind and 8-9 of hearts was the limper. Good news, the flop, turn and river missed everyone and I tripled up on the 4th hand. From this point on it was basically in cruise control for me. I raised with the goods and either won uncontested or showed down the best hand. After the 2nd break I had K-J of spades in the cut-off and made a standard table raise and got called by the someone with about 1/3 of my stack on the button and by the big blind who was an overly agressive blind defender with about 1/2 my stack size. The flop came 8-K-J with 2 diamonds. The big blind lead out all in, without a hesitation I moved all in over top and the button made the call. Needless to say I didn't like my hand so much after all that action! The bb turned over 3-J off suit (I was happy and wanted to chastise him!) and the dealer showed A-5 of diamonds. Unfortunately I could just feel the diamond coming, the turn was a 2 of hearts and all I had to do was dodge a red card. The river was the 7 of diamonds. I was drawn out on! Had I won that pot I would have had a MONSTER chip lead and could have cruised to the final table. Instead I lost half my chips and needed to push my hands!

I managed to bob and weave my way back to around 4,000 chips which was good for about 18th place with 30ish players left. The blinds were at 200/400 w/ 50 ante when I was dealt Ace-Ace in the small blind. The table folded to the button who made a raise, I reraised for my whole stack and the big blind and button both call. The button turned over K-Qoff suit and the Big Blind showed pocket 4's. The flop brought an Ace and I was on my way to another big win!

Now I had about 10,000 in chips and a new player, the chip leader moved in on my left. I mainly folded until I was SB again when I got K-2 off suit, normally I'd throw it away but I had been quiet so I raised. BB called. Flop came 7-10-2. I bet at it thinking I had the best hand, the BB reraised me? I hit the tank and after thought realized I had the best hand. I called. the turn brough an 8 and I still thought I had the best hand. I check, BB bets and I called. The river is another 2. This time I bet about 1/4 of the pot hoping I get reraised. Unfortunately my trap failed and the BB showed 1J-2 for trip 2's Jack high, I showed trip 2's King high and won a nice pot. Here is my first mistake, I should have moved in instead of value betting the end! I would have had a lot more chips instead of what I did win.

With about 15 players left I was sitting on 13,000ish ships and the blinds were at 600/800 with a $75 ante. I had 3 larger stacks at my table. The 2nd smallest short stack had about 5,000 chips. I was dealt 7-7 in the cut off. I bet $2400 and the $5,000 stack called from BB. The flop was 2-5-4, a good flop for me. The BB checked and I bet enough to put the stack all in expecting a fold. BB calls and shows Q-Q. Nothing to help and I was down to $8,000.

Here comes my BIG mistake. The cheap leader at my table was going nuts raising everything! We had 13 players left and I was sure to make the money with my $8,000ish chips. I was SB with A-K off suit. The Chip leader opens from middle position with a grotesque over bet of $5,000 chips. I KNOW this is a bluff! I decided to reraise all in. Unfortunately, I lose all my courage (and my manhood evidently) and only call. The flop comes rags and the CL goes all in! I know this is a bluff. Unfortunately, I have $3,000 left. If I go all in I'm gone on the bubble with two hands all in as blinds next hand. So, i much the A-K and crawl into the money and the weekly tournament points with no manhood left. I think I made a mistake! I should have just moved all in before the flop! I just hate playing A-K for all my chips on the bubble! I don't usually agree in raise-fold only situations but I think that surely was one. I either had to get it in, face bubbling out and go for the win as opposed to sneaking in. I'd like your thoughts!

Anyway, I managed to have the deck hit me a few times after the bubble and built back a decent stack. I ended up going out in 7th when the Chip leader on the button raised my SB (CL= $52,000ish chips to my $8,000ish) and I moved all in with 9-8 of hearts. CL showed a 3-5 off suit. Talk about pushing a big stack! Unfortunatley the turn brough a 5 and the river brought another 5 and I was out in 7th. I was fine because I was pushing with what I thought was a good live draw (which I was right) in order to try to get some chips to try and win.

Oh well, my tournament was good over all. Two bad mistakes, I think and I still got in the money and points. I'm playing real well still and the more I play, the more I practice and the more I think about poker the better I keep getting!

-Cadillac

Aggressive Poker Betting Against Rutt, and the infamous big blind bet.

I tried. I honestly did. I tried to find enjoyment from limit poker.

but at small limits... it drives me bonkers.

maybe I'll try again with a larger limit and see if I gain satisfaction from playing it.... and not more grey hairs.

So back to no-limit I go!

100 hands down this morning, and it was very profitable for me. I started with an $67 bankroll... and turned it into $240. Fantastic!

So let's review the scenerio...

• I'm the smallest chipstack by an average of about $60, or basically double my stack.
• I wanted to sit down in this situation and truly realize the extra pressure this puts on your betting.folding styles.
• I wanted to make some damn money.

This morning, I actually sat and watched about 20 hands before playing to get a feel for the type of people I was playing with. One pattern I picked up on was a consistent 2X big blind raise pre-flop. This tells me two things:

• Someone always raises, most everytime all players call
• Most players fold on the flop bet, unless they've hit a piece of it.

Interesting. This would be an excellent situation for me to have a bigger stack where the blinds were a small percentage of my bank roll, and I could raise and re-raise on the flop to steal bets.

That unfortunately is not my scenerio though... but I do it anyway.

I start by actually folding bad cards... letting the flop hit, and raising every time after the flop. I steal a couple hands, and win a couple. My stack has grown to $96 in the matter of 20 minutes.

OBviously, a few smarter players start to catch on to my play, and begin calling my raises and even re-raising me (to whcih I fold when necessary).

So now let's talk about where I double up, and explain a terrible play against me.

I'm UTG and call the $1 big blind with Kc 2c. Next player raises to $4, which everyone calls.

*** FLOP *** [6s 9c 2d]

Previously, I've made bets of $1 (the big blind) when I've flopped the nuts - just to show a pattern. I decide to do the same on this hand, expecting everyone to fold over-cards.

All players fold except for the dealer... who raises to $6. So I call.

*** TURN *** [6s 9c 2d] [2s]

Once again, I make my $1 bet - feeling confident that my set is the best hand.

My opponent makes a HORRRIBLE bet (in my opinion) and raises to $18 - which I insta-call. I'll explain why at the end.

*** RIVER *** [6s 9c 2d 2s] [2h]

I've hit quad's - the made hand. Following my pattern, I make another $1 bet.

My opponent makes his second horrible bet and goes all in. I again insta-call - and take down a $202 pot.

What did my opponent have? pocket 9's.

Why do I feel his $17 bet was horrible?

Given the pattern I had been displaying, if I had the nuts I would always bet $1 into the pot. Seeing this pattern, knowing that he truly did have the nuts on the turn, the best possible bet would have been to go all-in at that point, which I likely would have folded to.

Instead, he let me see another card which lead to his demise.

So remember, trapping works best when you're playing against loose players who call any bet, and play with less-than-valuable cards, when you've made the nuts.

That's my opinion at least. What's yours?