Back To The Trap House

As I mentioned in my previous entries I am currently working on getting more comfortable in 3 Bet pots. I am also playing with out a HUD to work on note taking, thinking through hands and ranging people properly….

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 3 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $144.55
BB: $112.90
Hero (BTN): $126.15

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 2 A
Hero raises to $3, SB raises to $11, 1 fold, Hero raises to $25, SB raises to $144.55 all in, Hero calls $101.15 all in

Flop: ($253.30) 8 9 4 (2 players – 2 are all in)

Turn: ($253.30) A (2 players – 2 are all in)

River: ($253.30) K (2 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $253.30
SB shows K Q (a pair of Kings)
Hero shows 2 A (a pair of Aces)
Hero wins $252.30
(Rake: $1.00)

This purpose of this hand isn’t really to pat myself on the back for a hero call. I felt like I made the right decision but upon further review by my coach he thinks it was most definitely negative EV and kind of bad overall.

A little background on the hand. It was a full table but people slowly started dropping out which left it 3 way. The player 2 to my left seemed competent but he was unsearchable. The guy to my immediate left had an FPP pro Avatar and he was 8 tabling. Usually when someone is multi tabling you find them mostly all at the same stakes. Not so with this guy. He was playing 2 400NL tables 3 200NL tables and a 100NL table.

Since he was playing a 400NL table I think it was safe to assume he was a decent player. He also had Auto Reload on so that made me think he was decent as well. He started playing super aggro when it was 3 way. Every time I opened the Button he would 3 BET me and I do mean every time. For the most part I was laying it down until the hand above.

When I opened and he 3bet I felt like I had decent equity to 4BET and possibly get it in if he shoved. Well he insta 5 BET and I took it as a sign of weakness and pretty much snap called. Hooray me, right?

Not so when I stoved it….What did I know about him so far? He was aggro and mos def 3 betting light. I think he probably thought since it was a 100NL he could run the table over and no one would play back at him. Well, he was definitely 3 betting wide enough to shove over him but was he 5 bet shoving wide enough for me to snap that?

Initially I thought he was 5Bet shoving with 18% of hands which would make him 60% to win against my A2s. Upon thinking about the hand I don’t think that was so, it had to of been a much smaller range. I mean, how many people really 5 bet bluff unless they’re spewing their dicks off or they’re fish? This guy wasn’t a fish….

So what is he really 5Bet shoving with? well, lets just assume he shoves 99-AA, KQs and unsuited, A9-AKs and unsuited which leaves him with 65% instead of 60%, a big difference over the long run.

After that A2s hand this hand then came up……

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold’em – 3 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $131.85
BB: $113.85
Hero (BTN): $259.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with A Q
Hero raises to $3, SB raises to $11, 1 fold, Hero raises to $27, SB raises to $131.85 all in, Hero calls $104.85

Flop: ($264.70) T 7 4 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Turn: ($264.70) Q (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($264.70) 3 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $264.70
SB shows A J (high card Ace)
Hero shows A Q (a pair of Queens)
Hero wins $263.70
(Rake: $1.00)

So he was in the spewey mood and obviously didn’t think much of 100NL players enough to put it in with KQo and AJo. So, because he was doing this light then putting poker stove aside is there some hidden EV there that I could gain back? Unfortunately, I have no idea how to calculate soul reading…..jk. But I wouldn’t know how to calculate any hidden EV. Just estimating it I may be able to gain back 5% in EV if he is doing that a little wider which would still make it negative EV overall. If this was a loose passive fish or even an ABC multi tabling reg I would 99% fold it.

I think this hand is very important to me because in its essence it is a leak. I think it is important to be able to make these calls and have them in your bag of tricks. Overall though these are few and far between and if I keep doing it I will find myself in some very tilt inducing spots.