Dropped 3.5 BIs last night.  I think a lot of my problems lately, after talking with some friends, is that I have become far too passive.  I have heard this is not an uncommon occurrence when the cards begin to fall the other way and can make your negative results run longer and deeper.  I am choosing not to focus on anything during this run other than improving my play and trying to figure out better lines with certain hands and what I should be doing against particular villains.  I want to improve my play and if I do that, then I will become a better player and can make better decisions.  I have been quite frustrated lately by my poor play and not my results.  I know you are not supposed to be emotional when it comes to poker, but if you’re playing like an asshole, then damn it, you ought to be pissed at yourself.  That being said, being pissed won’t help, so you better dig deep and start solving some problems and get back to making good decisions again.  I was far too passive at first, and once I realized that, I think on a few hands I got too aggressive.  Yes, you need to be betting for information and for value.  You also need to know when you have SD value and check it behind.  There were definitely a couple of hands where I needed to slow down on the turn for this very reason last night.  I am gonna post a few hands on this post, as I think it is important to note what my thoughts were at the time and after discussing the hands with several players, what I now think is the correct play.  I am going to try and go through some hands (though not in this post) where I will review my decisions on each street and assign a range to the villain and do some stove work, a la malfaire.  He did this in his blog quite a bit for a while and I can’t speak for him, but I know reading it helped MY game a ton, so it certainly can’t do anything but good to do it here imo.  Anyways, here are some of the hands from last night that I may have misplayed.

Hand 1: 

 

UTG:               $122.70

Hero:              $216.13

CO:              $103.50

Button:         $40.75

SB:              $104.00

BB:                  $95.00

 

Dealt to Hero: [Kh 10h]

UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $4.50, 3 folds, BB calls $3.50, UTG calls $3.50

 

This seems like a very standard isolation raise for me, given that the CO and button are pretty tight. 

 

Flop:  [Jc 5h 3h]

Pot:  $14

BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $9, BB raises to $23.50, UTG folds, Hero calls $14.50

 

I have a flush draw and an over to the board.  This is a strong flop for my hand.  Once checked to me, I bet out.  This is pretty standard, but my bet sizing sucks, I think it should be more like $11 or so.  I am checkraised by the BB who is an unknown to the degree that I don’t even have stats on villain, so I was pretty concerned at the time about his checkraise, especially to such a size, that he had a set.  This is silly.  He can easily have many other hands.  This thinking was a direct result of my clouded vision during a time of poor results and becoming too passive.  Here, the correct play is to just shove the flop.  I can fold out better hands certainly and when called I should have 9 outs almost for sure, possibly more, though that is doubtful.  I opted to call, which was a mistake.

 

Turn:  [Jc 5h 3h Qc]

Pot:  $61

BB bets $37, Hero calls $37

 

I am getting very good pot odds to call with my flush draw and now open ender.  I opted not to shove as the pot would be $135 on the river and villain would have $30 left.  There is no way villain is getting away from the hand at that point, even with just a jack.  So given that read, a push is worse than a call, because I can save myself that $30 if I miss and will get it if I hit.  If you include the implied odds, then this is a no brainer call.  As played, this turn call is appropriate.  I missed the river and folded.

 

Hand 2:

 

UTG:                 $198.50

UTG+1:             $183.70

CO:                  $187.30

Button:             $212.80

SB:                   $153.50

Hero:                $225.65

 

Dealt to Hero:  [10h 10c]

3 folds, BTN raises to $4, 1 fold, Hero calls $3

 

Villain is 58/19/1 over 190 hands.  This is a standard call as I don’t want to play an inflated pot OOP deep stacked with 1010.

 

Flop:  [3d Js 2c]

Pot:  $8.50

Hero checks, BTN bets $8.50, Hero calls $8.50

 

This a pretty standard call, especially against a villain who cbets 88% of the time.

 

Turn:  [3d Js 2c 8h]

Pot:  $25.50

Hero checks, BTN bets $25.50, Hero calls $25.50

 

It gets a little trickier here imo.  Villain just pots it.  I thought if he had a real made hand, he would bet some other amount for value and not bet so much as to possibly push me off.  This is also a terrible card to double barrel without a hand as most people won’t fold the turn if they call this flop.  I called and feel this is a mistake.

 

River:  [3d Js 2c 8h Qs]

Pot:  $76.50

Hero checks, BTN bets $38.25, Hero folds

 

Well if I was ahead on the flop and/or turn, I certainly think I am behind now.  Villain bets ½ pot and seems to scream that it wants a call.  I think this is a clear fold here.  But I could have saved myself $25.50 on the turn for sure.

 

Hand 3:

 

UTG:               $53.40

CO:              $63.50

Button:         $201.50

SB:                  $252.05

BB:                  $126.70

 

Dealt to Hero:  [Qs Qd]

UTG calls $1, 3 folds, SB raises to $4, Hero raises to $14, UTG folds, SB calls $10

 

Villain is 19/9/3 over 2,300 hands.  Mistake number one is preflop.  I should not be 3betting this hand.  Villain’s range is tight and there is really no value in 3betting here.  If I do not want to stack off preflop (and I don’t against a 19/9), then I should not be 3betting. 

 

Flop:  [5s 2h 10c]

Pot:  $29

SB checks, Hero bets $17, SB calls $17

 

Villain folds to 69% of cbets.  Pretty standard value bet.  I am not sure if this is a mistake or not.  You can get value from less, but based on the range this player has to have for calling 3bets OOP, I think the only hands I might get value from are JJ and 99.  I asked several good players about this hand, and the consensus was mostly in favor of betting here, but one good player even said to check the flop sometimes (remember this is villain specific).

 

Turn:  [5s 2h 10c Js]

Pot:  $63

SB checks, Hero checks

 

The consensus on the turn was split basically 50-50 from what others thought.  I opted to check because of the tight 3bet calling range.  If I figure that 99+, AK calls my preflop, then I am only ahead of AK and 99 at this point.  In fact, I think AK gets folded out on the flop, since the villain is OOP.  I think you can make a case for AK calling the flop if he is in position, but most likely not OOP. 

 

River:  [5s 2h 10c Js 8s]

Pot:  $63

SB bets $35, Hero calls $35

 

I called this river, because I induced the bet by checking the turn.  However, given the villain’s narrow 3bet calling range, I really wanted to fold this river.  I just don’t think I am good often enough to call this donk lead on the river for slightly more than ½ pot.  Most everyone (but not all) said to call this river as well, because of the turn check.  Villain tabled AA btw.

I think I learned a good bit from these hands and do feel better about my game.  I am learning from these mistakes I make, so that is all I can do.  Learn from my mistakes and try to not repeat them in the future.  I am optimistic about getting out of this rut of poor play.

After work, I am going to the par 3 course again with some friends from work.  Should be fun, but it is pretty hot and muggy outside.  95 F and pretty humid.  Summers in North Carolina are pretty brutal to someone who was raised in the Midwest!  It should be fun and will be a good warmup for the round we are playing together Friday morning and Emerald Lake Golf Club.  It is a pretty nice and fun course, both forgiving on some holes and very punishing on others, it is a course I like a lot and is well maintained.

This happened a few weeks back, apparently the players (pitcher, shortstop, and catcher) were pissed about the umpire not calling the same strike zone for both teams.  The catcher was told by his potential college coach not to play collegiate baseball, as he was going to walk on to his team.  Seems appropriate if you ask me.  I bitch about officiating as much as the next guy, but this is too far.

That is all for now, take care all.