Folding Pocket Aces

Originaly posted: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Haven’t been able to play much until this week so I really didn’t have much to post. Last time I posted I was on a bit of a downswing. I’ve been able to bounce back up from it and I’ve been running well since then. I’ve been keeping around 20BI for my level, I got up to about 25 and decided to take a shot at 10NL. I know it was a little early to do some since I didn’t have the proper bankroll to do so but I felt good about my game and decided to give it a shot but with limits; if I dropped to 18BI or for 5NL I was going to come back down. Needless to say, it was a huge mistake.

I think the player pool is drastically different between these two stakes. Players are a lot nittier at 10NL and there’s A LOT more short stackers. Also, I realized another reason to have the proper bankroll before moving up in levels, I play with ‘scared money’ if I don’t. I wouldn’t take chances on calls I would sometimes normally take at 5NL. There are those maniac players which run 63/12 that sometimes you can call with TPGK when you have the bankroll for it.

I had a few good hands at 10NL but it just seemed like I was always going in with the worst of it.

Villain was pretty crazy, he was running 47/18 and he had just cracked my top set with a straight after I slow played the flop. I should have probably taken more time to read the board before betting the turn but in the previous hand I mentioned he raised when he hit his straight. Anyway, here’s the hand.

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $2.00
Hero (UTG): $10.75
UTG+1: $21.20
MP1: $6.00
MP2: $9.45
CO: $3.55
BTN: $1.85
SB: $13.75

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with K K
Hero raises to $0.30, 1 fold, MP1 calls $0.30, 3 folds, SB calls $0.25, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.20) 8 6 2 (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.70, MP1 folds, SB calls $0.70, BB folds

Turn: ($2.60) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, SB calls $2

River: ($6.60) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3.30, SB calls $3.30

Final Pot: $13.20
Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)
SB shows 5 7 (a straight, Four to Eight)
SB wins $12.60
(Rake: $0.60)

Here’s the previous hand I mentioned. It happened about 10 minutes before the previous one. Lesson to learn from this: don’t slow play anything. Period.

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold’em – 7 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $4.50
Hero (BTN): $9.95
SB: $21.65
BB: $8.55
UTG: $3.00
UTG+1: $21.70
MP: $5.20

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with T T
2 folds, MP calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, BB calls $0.30, MP calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.25) 4 T 5 (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.25) 7 (3 players)
BB bets $0.30, MP raises to $2.30, Hero raises to $9.55 all in, BB folds, MP calls $2.50 all in

River: ($11.15) 2 (2 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $11.15
Hero mucks T T
MP shows 6 8 (a straight, Four to Eight)
MP wins $10.60
(Rake: $0.55)

Well at least I was smart enough to know when to move back down before my bankroll took too big of a hit.

I played a hand today which I think would be a great example of knowing when to fold. Unfortunately, I realized this only after the hand was played.

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold’em – 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $9.90
UTG: $7.44
UTG+1: $2.96
Hero (MP1): $5.52
MP2: $5.33
CO: $5.00
BTN: $10.82
SB: $10.00

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP1 with A A
UTG raises to $0.15, UTG+1 calls $0.15, Hero raises to $0.45, MP2 calls $0.45, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.45, 1 fold, BB calls $0.40, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.30

Flop: ($2.42) 7 6 6 (5 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2.40, MP2 calls $2.40, BTN folds, BB folds, UTG+1 raises to $2.51 all in, Hero calls $0.11, MP2 calls $0.11

Turn: ($9.95) K (3 players – 1 is all in)
Hero bets $2.56 all in, MP2 calls $2.37 all in

River: ($14.69) 5 (3 players – 3 are all in)

Final Pot: $14.69
UTG+1 mucks 5 6
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
MP2 shows 7 7 (a full house, Sevens full of Sixes)
MP2 wins $4.49
MP2 wins $9.50
(Rake: $0.70)

I’m still up for the month which is great, hopefully I can keep this going and build up to a proper bankroll for 10NL by end of month next month.

I’ve decided to give myself a goal of trying to win 15BI per month for the level I’m playing. I don’t think that’s too outrageous of a goal to set. For the month of April I’m just under 12BI. I might try and get some hands in tonight or tomorrow to reach my 15BI but I’m still happy with what I’ve achieved this month. Especially since I started with 6BI and built from there.