Learn from my mistakes

This really is unacceptable, though I'm not sure I would've gotten away from this hand anyway. Saturday night I visited Derby Lane to play a little NLHE and Stud/8. I had an up-and-down night, which ended down, and likely because of two stupid mistakes on one hand.

Earlier in the night my first buy-in got depleted and ultimately bit the dust when my pocket jacks lost to Ax when a board came with two spades but all unders. I shoved and he called with A♠7♠. He hit an ace on the river. So after I rebought I won a few pots and then took down a massive pot with The Cosenza, A♦10♥. The flop came all diamonds and there was a bet and a raise. I decided to gamble and shoved only to be called by K♦3♦. He already had the second nuts! But a 7♦ on the river ensured my first buy-in was recovered and I had about a $25 profit. The Cosenza rules!!!

Later I moved to a $2-straight Stud/8 table and lost all of my profit and was down about $20 when the table broke because all of the old salts had to go home to go to sleep. Man, don't play this game. No one folds and the bets add up. There was talk of turning it into a $1-5 spread, but NOOOOOOOOOO! One guy said VETO! Damn!

So when that table broke I got a seat change to another NLHE game and turned a very nice profit for the first hour. And within that hour I flopped a sweet flush with the J♥8♥ and just abused this one guy in the hand, taking almost his whole stack with a very sneaky check-raise on the turn and then a shove on the river. He called, mucked, stood up and left immediately! I was not his favorite person. About three guys at the table said "Ooooooo, that's cold! That was cold-hearted!" when I check-raised him. Funny stuff.

Anyway, I looked at my cell phone and it was around 1:15 a.m. At that point the best starting hand I had all night were those jacks; that's about five hours of play and nothing better than JJ (which isn't too hard to imagine since I only saw about 100 hands in that time frame). There was this little old Ukranian woman on my right who was a regular. She was pretty straight-forward but she did do something a lot of older players do: when she had a hand like JJ she raised $15 and when she had AA she limped and slow-played them to the end. I noticed her do this TWICE with each of those hands. So I had about a $75 profit at that point and there was only about 45 minutes left before Derby Lane closed. There were three limpers and then the little old lady in the SB raised to $15. I looked down at Q♥Q♦. From what I saw she had about $80 left and it was at least her second buy-in. So I knew the other guys who limped had nothing because that's how the table had been playing all night: limp with nothing and hope to hit. So I put her on JJ or 10-10 and reraised her all-in because if I reraised the standard three-times-her-bet rule it would've been $45 and if she had come over the top I couldn't lay down QQ for just another $35 or so. I pushed $175 out there and she called when it folded to her. D'OH!!!!!!! She had A♠A♣ again!!! Three times in an hour, and since the dealers at Derby Lane average like 20 hands an hour this was remarkable. And she played them exactly like the jacks instead of her usual slow-play.

Mistake No. 1: Don't assume your opponents play every hand exactly the same way no matter how consistent and predictable they are.

Mistake No. 2: Look more carefully at your opponents' stack or better yet ask how much they have left. I failed to see the three gold $25 chips under her second stack because from my vantage point they were hidden. This meant she had $75 more than I thought and I lost a $146 pot to her aces instead of just $71.

After that hand it was like 1:25 a.m. and I had almost no time to make up for my losses. I won a few pots and got back to being down just $70, and I'm not sure I would've gotten away from those queens regardless of her stack because the flop came all unders. But you never know. I may have just called and then lost less. I'm an idiot.

On the last hand of the night I was dealt 10-10 and I said "Is this really the last hand of the night?" and when they said yes I said "Raisy-Daisy!" and put $15 out there, hoping it looked like I was just gambling. No one called (it reminded me of the last hand at Snuffy's when I had KK and no one played!). So I left down $70 exactly. Bummer.

Oh well. I went home and played till 5 a.m. online and won $71, so I turned a $1 profit for 10 hours work, that's 10 cents an hour!! I could retire on that ROI!

-- Chris

Comments

[NickG]

that's 10 cents an hour!! I could retire on that ROI!

How I love looking at those numbers after a good night of poker and a total $1 profit. I guess $0.10/hr better than a -$7/hr

[Russell Blattberg]

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[Chiberta]

I only think you made one mistake in regard to this hand.

Mistake No. 1: Dont play results. Considering the tendencies of your opponent, the stack sizes, and the action, you're supposed to pay her off with q's, and its fine to reraise preflop. If you raise less than all in, youre still going to be committed, so nothing wrong with pushing.

Dont base your analysis on the fact that you happened to be beat this time - thats the mistake in my opinion....

[Erwin Blonk]

"so I turned a $1 profit"

Does that account for gas, electricity, write-off on your car, computer etc?

[mn156]

One important thing you left out of your read on the AA lady is whether she was capable;e of stacking off TT or JJ pre-flop. If not, much better to make a smaller raise (enough to get HU) and play the hand post flop; otherwise she gets to play perfectly against you.

Also, in every room I've ever played, the rule is usually that higher denomination chips have to be plainly visible either on top of smaller denoms or in their own stack. Angle shooters love to hide black chips under whites or blues. Always ask for a count before you shove.

[Rant2112]

When I played in San Diego the floor came and made me move my higher denomination chips to the top of a stack. I had them on the bottom of a stack out in front of my others where everyone could clearly see them.

[Chi-Guy]

MN156,

Good point on the calling off her chips thing. That is what makes pairs like that difficult. If she is going to call with J or 10,10, then a shove is a good play. If she isn't, the risk-reward analysis is tough. I probably would have pushed there as well but I if I got the feeling my hand was best, I think I would have to raise at least. Then, if she re-raised, then I would know where I was at and had to make a decision.

Either way, I have had many $.10 per hour sessions, which are better than -$5 per hour sessions.

Brian