Sweat the Small Stuff

Have you ever won a monster pot in a poker game, yet felt disgusted as you raked it in? This happened to me (not for the first time) a couple of weeks ago while playing $80-$160 hold'em at Bellagio.



Without going into too much detail, here is what happened: I held pocket nines in the small blind, and following a raise and a few callers, I called. The flop came very favorably: Q-9-7, with two hearts. I checked, the initial raiser bet, and another player raised. This other player was playing with all cylinders blasting, as he had taken a few bad beats and was now in the process of dusting off the mountain of chips that had once been in front of him. I was more than happy to oblige him, and I made it three bets. The first raiser folded, and then the speeder made it four bets. I reraised again, and he promptly made it six bets. I wasn't sure this was allowed, as I believe the house rule was that only five bets were permitted on any street in which more than two players were in the pot. But, I didn't feel like troubling the floorperson, who I knew was very busy, for a decision. I made it seven bets, and he immediately put the eighth bet in. Now, at about this point, it did cross my mind that he may have top set. But, wouldn't he have put in another raise before the flop with pocket queens? Yep, I told myself, as I put in the ninth bet. He finally just called.



So, what did he have? A set of sevens seemed like the most likely hand, or perhaps Q-7 or Q-9. The other option was that his raises on the flop were to "buy a free card" on the turn with a flush or straight draw. I know, it seems rather silly to put in that many raises with just a draw in a heads-up pot, but this player was certainly capable of such an aggressive play. Earlier, he had made it four bets on the flop in a three-way pot with a flush draw, so I certainly didn't rule out this possibility, although I considered it an unlikely hand.



In any case, the turn was a low offsuit card, and I bet and he just called. The river brought the dreaded third heart, giving me some cause for alarm. But, I still believed I probably had the best hand.



Now comes the part that ruined this nice hand for me: I checked to him! He checked right behind me, and I sheepishly turned over my set of nines and collected the pot as he mucked his cards. As I stacked the chips (which took a while), I couldn't help but think there should've been another $160 in my stack. Even though I won lots of chips on the hand, the knowledge that I had missed an easy opportunity to make a value bet on the river put me in a bad mood for the next couple of hours.



I was upset because I realize that at the end of the year, my success as a poker player is limited by how many mistakes I make. In this hand, I cost myself money by failing to bet the river. Just a mistake here and there will ultimately add up to a significant sum. So, it pays to be a perfectionist in poker, and to work hard to eliminate mistakes and leaks in your game.



As the title of this column suggests, paying attention to detail is something that I find very important while playing poker. Over the course of time, small mistakes that repeat themselves over and over can be the difference between winning and losing, or between winning a lot and winning a little. I continually strive to monitor my play for holes that can be mended. Over the past couple of years, I have identified a few, and have worked to fix them. As a result, I have seen dramatic improvement in my limit hold'em results.



Although I'm not going to specifically say what changes I made in my game, I am going to list a few leaks that I have seen a lot of in the limit hold'em games I play. These are mistakes that I see players repeating over and over. They may not seem like major mistakes at the time, but they occur often enough that they are probably sufficient to prevent the guilty parties from being winning players.



1. Overdefending the blinds: The concept of pot odds is frequently invoked as justification for defending your big blind against a raiser. But, whether or not defending is correct depends on a few factors. One mistake I see occurs when the raiser is a solid player in early position. Well, this player is nearly always going to have a big pair, A-K, or A-Q.

Even though calling from the big blind with hands such as K-Q, K-J, or A-10 may seem correct, given the better than 3-1 odds you are receiving, there is a big problem here. That problem is that there is still plenty of betting to do, and you will be out of position against the raiser for all of it. If you do hit your hand, the most likely hand you will make will be one pair. This may or may not be good enough to win. Most likely if it is good enough, you will bet or raise on the flop, and then win the pot without collecting any double-sized turn and river bets. However, if you are behind, you will likely pay off on the turn and river, perhaps losing multiple bets should you play your hand aggressively. That nice 3-1 price you were receiving doesn't seem so attractive anymore. So, let these hands go, as they play extremely poorly after the flop against a solid raiser.



2. Limping in with ace-rag: If you insist on playing ace-rag hands, don't plan on doing very well in hold'em. When an ace flops, you will typically either win the pot immediately with a bet or be in a position in which one of your opponents in the hand has you out-kicked. So, you will again find yourself in that undesirable position of winning a small pot or losing a larger one.



3. Missing value bets: One of the things that separates the big winners from everyone else in hold'em is their ability to squeeze every last drop of value from a hand. Don't get in the habit of thinking "the pot is big enough" on the river, just because a card came that might have beat you (as I did in my earlier example). If you still believe you are likely to have the best hand, and there are other players in the pot who could plausibly pay you off with worse hands, you should bet. I would estimate there are players who cost themselves four or more big bets each session they play by not value-betting enough. Do the math, and you can see that this adds up very significantly at the end of the year.

If you can identify with any of the three leaks I listed above, work to change them. Doing so will have a positive impact on your results at the poker table.



In my next column, I'm going to discuss a hand that is probably the most misplayed hand in limit hold'em (and likely no-limit, as well). I'll bet you can guess what it is. See you then!

Please feel free to e-mail me with feedback or ideas for future columns. My e-mail address is [email protected].