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Texas Holdem / Poker Strategy Author
Tony is a high limit specialist, rising in limits initially in Limit Hold'em, and now playing Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo full time. He currently writes on general theory, and is the host of his own forum in the ITH forums. To ask Tony a question, simply visit the Ask Pilchard forum and express your mind! |
| My Poker Career (In Just 5 Hands) |
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In a break from talking tactics or strategy, I am going to write about the 5 hands that have marked my poker progression from a novice at the end of 2002 to the player I am today. The theme from this article is taken from my favourite poker post in 2005, a post written by Mike l. at 2+2 where he talks about his “5 ‘life changing’ sort of hands”. Although I would not describe any of the below hands as “life changing”, they definitely stand out as highlighting key moments in my development as a player. Hand 1. End of 2002. 5 handed 10/20 at Pokerroom. I had been playing for about 6 to 8 weeks and I had made every single beginner’s mistake. To say at this point that I knew nothing about the game would be an under statement. After losing 6000$ through ignorance I had worked another buy in of 600$ up to 1000$ (at 10/20$) before dropping down to 500$. Despite having supposedly finished for the day at 4pm, I found myself later in the evening down to about 350$ playing 5 handed 10/20. The following hand then came up. I had KK and raised a limper and the big blind and limper called. The flop came 77x and the flop was capped. The turn was an A. I ended up calling a capped turn. The river was a blank and I called a capped river. My opponents both had A7 and split the pot. Why did I call all those bets when it was obvious I was beaten? It was because I didn’t know any better. I had just watched a few hands on TV and decided this was a way I could make money. I was totally clueless and these players were making a fortune out of me. Unfortunately, for them, they decided to take this opportunity to berate my play with derogatory comments as well as making remarks like “I hope you can rebuy”. Thankfully, I took their comments as a sign I should leave and I didn’t play again for 6 weeks. In that period I read everything I could find online about poker strategy and tactics. After the 6 weeks, I took the 100$ and decided to use some bankroll management. It took 6 months of constant improvement and grinding at the low limits but I eventually recovered my initial losses of 6000$ and was ready to successfully play the 10/20 game again. What would have happened to me if those players had kept quiet I don’t know. Maybe I would have bust out a few more times and given up on the game. One thing I know, I have NEVER said anything about another poker player at the table. I have NEVER commented on the play of a hand. No poor player is ever going to see the light because I have not got the sense to keep my mouth shut. Hand 2. Mid 2003. 10 handed 15/30 at Party. I have 8s 8c on the button. The two other players of note in this hand and are UTG and UTG+1. They are both a bit loose but tend to read hands pretty well and usually play accordingly. UTG limps, UTG+1 calls, two others call and I think a raise is in order. I raise and the SB, BB and 4 limpers call. 14 Small Bets. Flop Kd Td 8d Check to the UTG who bets. UTG+1 calls, two limpers call, I raise. SB and BB fold. The UTG and UTG+1 call and the other two fold. 11 Big Bets. Turn Qd UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, I check. 11 Big Bets River Ts UTG bets, UTG+1 raises. What should I do? The relevance of this hand is that it was the first hand that I ever posted at a poker forum. After initially posting it at 2+2, I later posted it at ITH. I only spent a month or so posting at 2+2 before making ITH my permanent home in September 2003. Engaging in strategy and tactical discussions at ITH enabled me to improve rapidly as a player. You can only learn so much from reading books. You learn far more by discussing specific hands and positions with other “thinking” players. I remember feeling intimidated at first about posting hand examples and discussing poker with players who may have more experience than me but I have no doubt that it was the best poker decision I ever made. Hand 3. Beginning of 2004. 7 handed 30/60 at Empire. The fact that I had a Royal Flush is not significant. The thing that stands out about this hand is the way my opponent played. He is an excellent player who has been successful online for a long period of time. My opponent open raised from the cut off with AK and I was the only caller from the Big Blind with QTs. The board came AKJ with two of my suit. I check-raised the flop, he three bet and I capped. The turn was the A which completed my Royal flush and gave him the second nuts. I bet, he raised, I three bet and he capped. The river was a blank. I bet and he called. He worked out that the only hand I was leading into him after that betting sequence was another AK (unlikely given that I would have 3 bet preflop) or QTs. “Playing the player” is such a key factor in successful poker. I know a lot of players who would have capped that river thinking if I had the Royal Flush so be it, QTs was only one hand combination out of all the possible hands I could have. My opponent knew better and there have been numerous times since that I have made similar player related plays and I always think back to this hand. Hand 4. Mid/End 2005. 4 handed 50/100 at Empire. I was having a real stinker of a session. The game was even more loose and aggressive than most high limit short handed games. One player in particular seemed to be raising anything every hand and was not being moved off any pots as soon as he got a pair (and every hand he was getting at least a pair). I on the other hand was getting nothing and any time I got something half playable I was missing the board completely. Anyway, a hand came up where the aggressive player open raised from the SB and I had Q3s suited in the BB. Given he was raising any two here I decided to call to see if I could hit something (hoping to make a dent in the 3500$+ I was already down for this session). The flop looked nice QQ3 (two suited). We capped the flop (at this point he could still have any two). The turn was an offsuit 2. We capped the turn. The river was a 6 (completing the flush draw). After he three bet the river I had to make a decision whether to cap. I decided there was enough chance he didn’t have Q6 to make capping the river the right play. He had Q6… So I lost 1100$ on that hand dropping my loss to the session to around 5000$ and I just remember being totally pragmatic about the situation. If I had already reached playing enlightenment, I had now reached financial enlightenment. I knew that with time I would see my bankroll reach a new peak and I realised that losing that hand meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Hand 5. January 2006, 8 handed 30/60 O8B at Pokerstars. Towards the middle of 2005, Omaha high low (O8B), be it limit or Pot Limit, became my game of choice. In fact, in the last 8 weeks I would guess that I have played only about 50 hands of hold’em. I like O8B because my edge over my opponents is far greater than my edge in hold’em. In hold’em, due to a) the nature of the game and b) the amount of literature out there I was finding that my edge at the high limit games was getting smaller and smaller. It is true to say that there is almost a universally accepted way of playing profitable hold’em and that most of the players playing high limit hold’em are thinking the same way. This is not the case at O8B. There is a shortage of literature and that which is out there is not very good. Consequently, players are coming up with their own way of playing. Even at the high limits, some of their systems are extremely unprofitable. Anyway, the reason I am posting this hand is not because it highlights anything strategic or that I learnt something meaningful from the hand. I just like it because I split a 1/3rd of the low pot and won the whole of the high pot with my 8 high !!! At the end of the day, poker is still just a game and I am pleased to say that I still have fun playing it. 4 limpers, the SB limps and I check 2s 3c 4c 8d in the BB. Flop A67r (6 players – 6 small bets) Checked to the button who bet. I called as did two others. Turn 6r (4 players – 5 big bets) I checked, the next player bet. The next player raised. The flop bettor folded. I cold called and the turn bettor called. River K (3 players – 11 big bets) It was checked down. I’ll leave it to you to work out what hands my opponents had but I hope you enjoyed this quick recap of my poker career. If you have any questions or if you have 5 hands of your own that you would like to share, I would be interested in reading them at my Ask Pilchard forum at ITH. |
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