$4/$8 HE (First time in a casino)

[WhiteKnight]

Hey all, I've been lurking around here for a while. I recently bought 21CHE, SSHE, and TOP. Having mostly finished reading SSHE (as my first intro to limit), I decided to scope out the local scene. In all honesty, I didn't expect the $4/$8 HE game to be half as loose as Sklansky's readings insinuated. How wrong I was... my only regret is that they stop serving liquor at 2am. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Following was my biggest hand of the night. My image probably came across as being very newbish. Right from the get-go, I was unsure about where to buy chips, and had to question Villain as to what the kill structure was. In all fairness, it was my first time playing poker in an actual casino. On the other hand, my VPIP for the first couple hours must have been running around 5%, I was getting kind of cold-decked. Table is majority loose, Villain (seems TAGish) had just pulled a huge pot in with Four Aces, ~1/3 of the table is drunk and boisterous.

$4/$8 HE (10 handed, amply-stacked)
Hero is in CO with Q/images/graemlins/club.gif Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.

3 limpers, Villain (LP) raises, Hero raises, BB calls, 2 of 3 limpers call, Villain calls (5 handed).

Flop comes 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif ($66)
Checked to Hero, Hero bets, BB calls, Villain Calls (3 handed).

Turn comes 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif ($78)
Checked to Hero, Hero Bets, BB folds, Villain calls (2 handed).

River comes 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif ($94)
Villain bets, Hero raises, Villain calls.

Results: <font color="white"> Villain shows Ah Jh. Hero wins $142.</font>

(My numbers may not be 100% correct)
Comments?

[James.]

hope you enjoyed your first trip out. live play is soooo much better than online play. you really get a feel for what poker is supposed to be like. the textures, the personalities of the players and dealers, the advantage of live reads; it all culminates into a much better experience than sitting in front of the laptop.

the hand is really pretty standard. i mean, we can only worry about AA, KK, or 99. based on the action only 99 would be a real possibility and it's likelihood is pretty low. so you played the hand well, just be thankful it was the 5 /images/graemlins/heart.gifthat came on the river and not an ace or some other /images/graemlins/heart.gif. good luck.

[BJK]

Well played, sir.

I think you can just call a 3- bet on the river. Until he makes that 3-bet, I'm guessing the villain either caught a flush on the end, has a pockeet pair lower than QQ (A9 is also possible), misplayed a set of deuces (full house), or was trying to bluff. You can only really be afraid of 99 or A5. AA or KK is possible, but doubtful (lose drunk live table, most players either play their big pairs like they're afraid of them, or they are licking their lips looking for an opportunity to cap preflop). No sense in backing off on the river when you are ahead of most of your opponent's possible holdings.

[cheer]

standard

[Smaegol]

What do you want? I mean.. its about as ABC as poker gets there.

[BigBadBabar]

looks perfect to me, villain filled up on the river and wants to bet it, and you say nope my boat is bigger /images/graemlins/smile.gif

nh.

[jjshabado]

Villain is tight aggressive, what do people think of a 3-bet on the end? I don't think we can put him on AA, KK, or a 5 since I think he would have raised on the turn when it was just heads up. I think villain will just have a 9 or a pocket pair over a 9 often enough to make this a good raise. But I could easily be wrong.

[Mystykal]

[ QUOTE ]
Villain is tight aggressive, what do people think of a 3-bet on the end? I don't think we can put him on AA, KK, or a 5 since I think he would have raised on the turn when it was just heads up. I think villain will just have a 9 or a pocket pair over a 9 often enough to make this a good raise. But I could easily be wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

????

Pretty sure that's not an option.

Play is standard.

[jjshabado]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Villain is tight aggressive, what do people think of a 3-bet on the end? I don't think we can put him on AA, KK, or a 5 since I think he would have raised on the turn when it was just heads up. I think villain will just have a 9 or a pocket pair over a 9 often enough to make this a good raise. But I could easily be wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

????

Pretty sure that's not an option.

Play is standard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Could you elaborate (about the river) why? I'm not convinced either but here's the argument for it:

We're heads up, I think we can assume villain will never fold to a raise on the river, and we will always call a raise. Lets also assume that if we're behind villain will always raise (since he has a monster hand) and that villain will never raise when we're ahead (I think this is reasonable).

So we need to be ahead 2 times in 3 to make the 3-bet break even.

I really think we can discount villain having pocket 99s, AA or KK because it doesn't match the play. He's a tight aggressive and the turn leaves him heads up against us. We clearly like our hand, why would he just call with a really strong hand. I think this argument also leaves the chances of a 5 pretty low.

So what are his likely hands? He raised preflop but didn't cap. Medium-High pocket pairs easily fit that range. A good ace also makes sense, maybe even down to A9. We're ahead of all of those hands except pocket 9s. Maybe even suited connectors including a 9. Seems unlikely that he'd have a 5, but some small chance.

On the flop I don't think we can narrow his hands down much.

On the turn I think we can eliminate high card only hands, unless he had a flush draw. I've already said I think we can eliminate most of the monster hands here too.

On the river a completed flush makes a small amount of sense (not much, but maybe he had a brain cramp). That leaves his most likely holdings to be a pocket pair below ours above 9, or a single 9. I think he'll have one of these hands at least 2 times in 3. One final small push towards a 3-bet is that some players have the AK syndrome. Whenever somebody shows lots of strength they assume he has AK and play accordingly, ignoring all other possibilities.

[jjshabado]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Villain is tight aggressive, what do people think of a 3-bet on the end? I don't think we can put him on AA, KK, or a 5 since I think he would have raised on the turn when it was just heads up. I think villain will just have a 9 or a pocket pair over a 9 often enough to make this a good raise. But I could easily be wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

????

Pretty sure that's not an option.

Play is standard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Could you elaborate (about the river) why? I'm not convinced either but here's the argument for it:

We're heads up, I think we can assume villain will never fold to a raise on the river, and we will always call a raise. Lets also assume that if we're behind villain will always raise (since he has a monster hand) and that villain will never raise when we're ahead (I think this is reasonable).

So we need to be ahead 2 times in 3 to make the 3-bet break even.

I really think we can discount villain having pocket 99s, AA or KK because it doesn't match the play. He's a tight aggressive and the turn leaves him heads up against us. We clearly like our hand, why would he just call with a really strong hand. I think this argument also leaves the chances of a 5 pretty low.

So what are his likely hands? He raised preflop but didn't cap. Medium-High pocket pairs easily fit that range. A good ace also makes sense, maybe even down to A9. We're ahead of all of those hands except pocket 9s. Maybe even suited connectors including a 9. Seems unlikely that he'd have a 5, but some small chance.

On the flop I don't think we can narrow his hands down much.

On the turn I think we can eliminate high card only hands, unless he had a flush draw. I've already said I think we can eliminate most of the monster hands here too.

On the river a completed flush makes a small amount of sense (not much, but maybe he had a brain cramp). That leaves his most likely holdings to be a pocket pair below ours above 9, or a single 9. I think he'll have one of these hands at least 2 times in 3. One final small push towards a 3-bet is that some players have the AK syndrome. Whenever somebody shows lots of strength they assume he has AK and play accordingly, ignoring all other possibilities.

[/ QUOTE ]

For [censored] sake. I totally misread the river. I thought hero bet, villain raised, hero called.

Well the analysis was fun anyway.