DANGERLION

Often it’s a really difficult pursuit to remain objective during a downswing. When you first start playing poker you’re a victim of cosmic irony — how do you analyze how to play better when you don’t have the toolkit to do so yet? And when you’re an expert, chinks in the armor can be rationalized away by bending the framework of a hand to suit your results. This is extremely problematic in a game where short-term luck can be very influential. This is why you will see the best video producers take their time analyzing other common or possible iterations of the hand in question to explore when and why a poor line might become a good one. And this is why you should be doing the same thing in your own analysis. And don’t just stop at “how could I have played these hands better?” or you’ll miss out the happy happy joy joy of the whole process.

Hand 1:
Poker Stars $1000.00 No Limit Hold’em – 3 players – View hand 681152
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $1467.00
DerekJC9954 (BTN): $1895.00
supfoolio (SB): $1810.00

Pre Flop: ($15.00) Hero is BB with 9 9
DerekJC9954 raises to $30, supfoolio raises to $120, Hero raises to $315, 1 fold, supfoolio raises to $1810, Hero calls $1152 all in

Flop: ($2964.00) Q 6 A (2 players – 1 is all in)

Turn: ($2964.00) 7 (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($2964.00) 9 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $2964.00
Hero shows 9 9
supfoolio shows K 3
Hero wins $2963.00
(Rake: $1.00)

This hand is an extension of a situation discussed a bit in High Stakes Strategy here: http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/14-High-Stakes-Strategy/148501-cold-4-bet-situation
It’s the kind of hand that I might play totally differently (like just folding preflop) against different players or without the proper dynamic. I’d been playing 35/28 and really active preflop and supfoolio seemed to be just the type of player who might be prone to doing just what he did, especially considering a lot of that preflop activity was focused towards 3 and 4-betting him. If there isn’t a dynamic, this hand and others like it run the risk of becoming hands in which I might needlessly put too much money in preflop, creating situations in which I’m potstuck against a dominating range. Hard to say whether or not your opponent is waiting for a hand or just an opportunity. Hard to be objective.

Hand 2:
Poker Stars $1000.00 No Limit Hold’em – 4 players – View hand 681154
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $2970.00
Oxota (CO): $1000.00
DerekJC9954 (BTN): $2156.00
supfoolio (SB): $1133.00

Pre Flop: ($15.00) Hero is BB with 4 3
Oxota raises to $30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $120, Oxota calls $90

Flop: ($245.00) 9 A 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $124.00, Oxota calls $124

Turn: ($493.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $200.00, Oxota calls $200

River: ($893.00) K (2 players)
Hero bets $2526.00, Oxota calls $556 all in

Final Pot: $2005.00
Hero shows 4 3
Oxota shows Q A
Oxota wins $2003.00
(Rake: $2.00)

This hand is another great example of sticking myself into a bad situation and then playing it excusably. A tighter man might get a lot of credit with this line (although obv not expecting him to fold Ax on the river) but a man like me is just not getting any respect preflop. This turn is literally one of the only cards in the deck I don’t c/f on and the river seems mandatory to try to get him to fold a flush draw or once in awhile make a bad fold with an ace. You could say I run bad because I turned a six or I run bad because he had the top of his range or I run bad when in Hand #1 he has AA and not K3 suited.

You could say a lot of things, but I think for today these two hands say a lot about what I can tweak.