Overplaying TPTK
The day started off so well, I’ve been working hard to get my bankroll back up to $140 after a shapr drop a couple of weeks back, and its been a bumpy journey. Finally though, I get to within 5c of my target. Then of course, I loose 1 1/2 buy-in’s and I’m back where I started, having blown all of my work from the day before.
How, well the short answer is that I over played TPTK in two key hands, here they are:
For the first hand, I make a standard raise with AK, get two callers and flop TPTK. I expect my hand to be ahead here, but theres two draws I’m worried about, the flush and a possible OESD with JT, so I lead out for a little over the pot, I get one caller.
The 6 doesn’t worry me, but I want to deny my opponent implied odds if he his drawing against me. I’m not used to calculating my bet sizes according to my stack in this spot, so I think for a while, and eventually bet $2 into a $1+ pot, which I hoped denied my opponent the correct implied odds to call me, though maybe not with JTs.
On the turn I actually decided to push the river, when the river came though and my opponent checked again, I realized that would be a big mistake. If my opponent was drawing he isn’t going to call a shove here, but worse still if he wasn’t drawing its highly likely I’m beat, so I check behind. Sure enough I was.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2387823
Here on another table I again find myself with TPTk after a pre-flop raise.
Oops, after reviewing the hand history, I’ve spoted a glaringly obvious mistake in my play… I’ll write out my in hand analysis first, then add what I’ve just realized.
I’m faced with a bet from an OOP calling, Its a stronger bet then I would normally expect for someone to make with an under pair or 2nd pair etc, which happens a lot at this level, so I’m aware he’s likely got something he wants to play with. My descion making is tainted by the fact that I’ve picked up every pot I’ve been involved in for the last few orbits, and I feel my opponent his simply drawing a line in the sand with a weaker ace, So I re-raise him to see where I stand. Long story short I end up with all my money in way behind.
Now heres the obvious point I missed in the hand. I’m facing an OOP bet for almost the size of the pot. I make a modest re-raise to see where I stand and my opponent makes it glaringly obvious he’s happy with what he has by coming over the top. If my head was screwed on I should have expected to see aces up or a set, but it obviously wasn’t as I move in.
I was actually going to note something I’ve just read and felt like I ignored in this case from Sklansky’s NL Hold’em Theory and Practice, but as you can see I made an even more obvious error. Anyway I may as well had my other though on the hand from Sklansky.
Essentially, if your opponents are folding to your seemingly frequent pre-flop raises and c-bets, and are not tangling with you, when they do, they are likely to have a strong hand, so don’t over value a vulnerable hand, expecting them to have lowered there standards against you, because you’ve been raising a lot recently.
Here I think the correct, line was to make a modest re-raise against the OOP better on the flop and then to fold when my opponent comes over the top, no need to get cute here. This hand especially has really bugged me tonight, either before I realized my more obvious beginner error, hopefully I wont be making such a foolish mistake again anytime soon.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2387850
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