View Single Post
  #17  
Old 07-13-2007, 01:50 PM
e_phemeral e_phemeral is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 306
Default Re: Why do I suck at poker?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the replies.

Generally, I'm not a "top pair guy," as suggested in one of the replies. The two stack off hands that I mentioned went like this: New guy to table raises from EP, I call on button with AK, flop is A23 with 2 suited. He bets, I raise, he minraises, I push, hoping i'm up against AQ, AJ, etc. He shows 22. Pretty standard. Literally 5 or 10 hands later, same guy raises from EP, I call in late position with AQ. FLop is AQ9 with 2 hearts. He bets, I raise, he reraises all in, I call and he shows 99.

[/ QUOTE ]

Were these hands at $50NL? With all due respect, these hands remind me of the play I see at $1/$2NL and low-stakes sit 'n go's. (at least the AK hand, the AQ is a little tougher, but even there given his all in re-raise on the flop I think the best you're going to do is chop, since he's not raising in EP pre-flop with A9)

Think about your AK hand. On the flop the only hand you can beat is a worse ace. He bet the A23 flop, you raised, and he re-raised. What does that tell you? Obviously he knows you could have a big ace, including AK, and he's not worried.

His min raise was an enticement for you to call--if he's such a donk that he's going to get stacked on that flop with AQ or AJ then he probably isn't going to just min raise. If I raise his bet on the flop and he comes back and re-raises me, I'm worried. In that situation I'm thinking I'm almost assuredly beat, whereas you push all in "hoping" that he has AQ or AJ.

I would say that one thing that you have to do is think more carefully about what your opponent may be holding, and what he thinks you may be holding. If he's any kind of player at all he knows you could have AK, and if he's not worried about that then why would you put him on AQ or AJ?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I may have out-thought myself on that hand. I figure that most people with AK in my position would have reraised villain preflop, in which case, if I'm villain I put button on AK, AQ or a big pair and call the reraise hoping to flop a set and stack him. Instead I just call his preflop raise, hit top pair with top kicker. I feel as if my hand is disguised and that its possible he could stack off with AQ or AJ. Perhaps this is really bad thinking on my part. In retrospect for this hand, it obviously was. I sometimes think like this - I play a hand in a way that in my mind disguises it and I end up losing money because I think that there's no way my opponent knows the strength of my hand and its possible that he/she is pressing with a weaker hand. You are correct, though, that when he pushes my flop reraise, I should be worried about sets or A2 or A3. I played it pretty bad. It's just one pair.
Reply With Quote