How do we stop button stealers?

[Steelerman]

[ QUOTE ]

Your money might as well go to me as to anybody else.

6 - Free alcohol in casinos.

[/ QUOTE ]

I nominate CMAR as humanitarian of the year.

[Cry Me A River]

Dude, I wasn't kidding.

I started writing that post before Keith made his second post so evidently he may have more of a clue than his original post indicates. Regardless, that flop may be the worst played street in the history of this forum. And the rest of the hand... Well, this thread says it pretty clearly, I don't have to go over it.

[MrBump]

I'm no expert, I still have a lot to learn myself, but the donkbet and call on the flop is really bad.

And as stated by others, this should be a fold or raise preflop.

[MadMike]

Keith,

Probably seems like everyone is jumping on you, and that this forum isn't welcoming you with open arms. It's because this was played so bad on every street that we don't know exactly where to start with a hand analysis. It doesn't matter the result here- there is no range the villian can have that even makes this close to correct on any street. This hand shows a clear lack of understanding of the following key concepts- each of with are needed to have a dialog:

- The importance of position in NL, and the playability of suited connectors (when, why, how)
- Preflop agression as a way to build fold equity and isolate limpers in front
- Bet sizing on the flop
- Pot & Implied Odds for calling bets OOP
- Equity vs. likely hand range as opposed to equity against the hand range you wish the villian had
- River bluff equity
- River betting; if you're going to be called don't bet or raise hands that aren't likely to win if called.

So, here's what was wrong with the hand:

Preflop- don't mind the limp with a SC PF at a passive table (although this is subject to debate) at lower limits. At 100NL this is a bad move because players are more agressive. After it's raised behind, you're going to be OOP with a fairly shallow stack (60BB or so) with a weak hand against an agressive player with initiative and an expectation of fold equity post-flop. This is a fold after your limp is raised. This is a fold even if his range is any ace, any connecters, any two broadway, any suited 1-gap. That is how much being HU OOP with SC is the suck.

Flop- Why the $1 bet? This is awful because you've only got the bottom end of a gutshot, and isn't even worth a blocking bet here. Villian is preflop raiser and will raise your $1 bet out of principle and because he has the expectation of fold equity due to the preflop raise. Once he raises, you are calling with 4:1 odds having a hand that has only 10:1 odds of making a hand on the next street- your implied odds are crap because of stack sizes and the fact you're out of position. Did I mention how much being OOP with a drawing hand sucks in NL?

Turn: You're calling a reasonably healthy bet with 3rdpair, no kicker. If you really think the villian is full of crap and have reason to believe (need a very clear read) that a 2-barrel bluff is 40+% of his range here then you need to c/r AI. You don't have odds to call for any of your weak draws. Calling OOP with a hand that beats nothing is a horrible option. You're giving away chips here.

River: uh... why the c/r? You have zero fold equity and only beat a total bluff- and even against a bluff he may have you beat accidently with some trash like 97o. Horrible. You are not a favorite against any reasonable or even unreasonable range of the villian here. If you were so sure that the villian is full of it, you should have c/r the turn AI since then you might actually fold out a few hands that beat you... but jesus that would have to be a good read to do that.

Hope this helps. If playing NL100 and probably losing money is fun then by all means keep doing it. But right now you're holding money to a match and setting it on fire. Drop down to NL10 and learn the game. We'll help if you want to learn.

-Mike

[Ironic]

^ Very nice post. Brilliant.

Mike may I ask what level you play at?

[RiverMustelid]

Keith

Don't feel bad dude - all the advice is well intended. I remember my first post and how everybody jumped on it and said it was badly played (it was by the way).

Keep posting and reading, and take Cry Me a River's advice -he knows what he speaks of.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Steelerman]

Very nice Mike.

[Nogatsira]

You really seem to be playing at a limit thats way too high. You're going to be broke pretty soon.

These moves are the typical NL5 moves tbh =/

[Teddie]

How has it gone this far with no-one asking for a sn?!

[seki]

[ QUOTE ]
please PM me your screen name and when you plan to play.

[/ QUOTE ]

Keith, heed MadMike and CMAR's advice. I'll add this: the majority of poker is not about bluffing or catching bluffers, it's about extracting money from 2nd best hands (like the weak middle pair you have here).