$6 NLTRN: Preflop play at the 50/100 level

Somekid · #1 10-23-2007, 01:53 PM

I've had a lot of difficulty playing the 50/100 level, especially preflop. In this game, chips stacks started off pretty even when we reached 50/100, but my opponent just crushed me in this level. I know part of it was just terrible cards (I had a lot of hands where I folded trash like 92o, etc, to his raises), but it seemed like in other places he was just overwhelming me pre-flop. He was just min-raising a huge amount. Also, my read so far in the match was that he's fairly aggressive PF in position (minraising usually), but loose-passive OOP, going a bit too far with hands, but also doing things like calling on the flop with nothing, making me worried about things like raising PF here and continuation betting since I figured he could be calling with anything.

Anyways, are any of these plays really boneheaded?

Hand 1:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

BB (t1878)
Hero (t1122)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
Hero folds.

Final Pot: t150

Should I have raised in that spot? I'm worried that he'll just call me and call any bet on the flop.

Hand 2:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

Button (t2078)
Hero (t922)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
Button raises to t200, Hero raises to t922, Button calls t722.

Flop: (t1844) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)

Turn: (t1844) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)

River: (t1844) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)

Final Pot: t1844

Here I decided I had to make a stand. Is Q9s strong enough?

Hand 3:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

Button (t1356)
Hero (t1644)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
Button raises to t350, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t200

I feel like this fold may have been bad, but I really didn't want to play KJo OOP. But, after folding this and having to fold a lot of trash, I started to realize he was just taking all my blinds and quickly eating my stack.

Hand 4:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

BB (t1606)
Hero (t1394)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
Hero folds.

Final Pot: t150

Worth a raise? Again I was worried based on my read of my opponent.

Hand 5:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

BB (t1756)
Hero (t1244)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
Hero raises to t275, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t200

I think I played this KJo hand correctly.

Hand 6:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

Button (t1656)
Hero (t1344)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
Button raises to t350, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t200

Should I mix in some pushes in spots like this?

Hand 7:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

BB (t1756)
Hero (t1244)

Preflop: Hero is Button with T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
Hero raises to t275, BB raises to t600, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t550

Hand 8:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

BB (t2081)
Hero (t919)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
Hero raises to t275, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t200

Hand 9:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (2 handed)

BB (t2381)
Hero (t619)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
Hero raises to t619, BB calls t519.

Flop: (t1238) 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)

Turn: (t1238) 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)

River: (t1238) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)

Final Pot: t1238

I know this is a lot of hands in one post, but I thought I should show them together since most of the decisions were PF and I wanted to make sure they weren't part of some pattern of horrible PF play. Thanks in advance.