Session Notes Part I

In my Q&A column over on Cardplayer.com (You can send any questions you have to [email protected] with my name in the subject line), someone recently asked me what I do when I’m running poorly. I shared some tips for calming down in the moment like taking a walk away from the table, preferably outside. I also shared that it’s important to take a look at how you’re playing to see if you’re making your seemingly bad run worse. As an aside, I think you should do this fairly often whether you’re running well, poorly, or average just to check in on your fundamentals and be sure that you’re playing optimally. I’ll be taking the next few articles to do just that as I’m in the middle of a breakeven stretch that I’d like to get out of. All of these hands are from $5-$5 no-limit hold’em with a $1,500 max buy-in. I buy in for $1,000 and top up to $1,500 when I get below $700.

Hand No. 1:

Under-the-gun (UTG) straddles and I raise to $40 from three off the button with A-Q. The cutoff (CO) ($500 stack) calls and we see the A-8-8 rainbow flop heads up. I bet $35 and he calls. The turn is an ace, I check, he bets $100, I make it $275, he jams, I call. He has A-10 and we chop.

I’ve been continuation betting (c-betting) small on paired boards and very dry ace-high boards lately and it’s been working quite well. I lay myself a better price when I’m bluffing and my opponents probably don’t adjust their calling range too much between when I bet less than half the pot or when I bet two-thirds pot. Of course, when I’m value betting I don’t make as much money, but I tend to make up for it by betting bigger on the turn and river. I check-raised the turn which will fold out all non-ace hands but it’s unlikely I could get any non-ace hands to call much more anyways so I don’t mind that. It also gives me a chance to pick up some money from those non-ace hands that are trying to bluff. Finally, it lets my opponents see that I have the capability of check-raising in this situation, so they can’t just bet indiscriminately in the future. It also sets up future bluffs in this same situation.

I think it’s good to be able to credibly take all three actions when my opponent bets (call, fold, raise) on the turn on this type of board as well as being able to credibly take all lines from flop to river (bet, bet, bet; bet, check-raise, bet; bet, check/fold; bet, check/call). Which value line and bluff line I take will usually be dependent on the effective stacks in play.

Hand No 2:

Three off the button calls, CO ($500) makes it $20, I make it $65 on the button with red A-Q, preflop raiser calls. Flop is 10-9-7 all spades and we both check. The turn is a 10, he bets $100, I call. River is the J, we both check. He shows 8-7 offsuit.

In full ring live no-limit, playing very deep, I don’t always three-bet A-Q. In this situation, however, I was against an opponent who was opening often, not folding to three-bets, and generally playing poorly postflop. He was definitely my main villain for the night. I would have folded to a four-bet but the three-bet was for value. In three-bet pots I tend to c-bet less often than I do when heads-up for a single raise since my opponents’ ranges tend to be a little stronger. Obviously, mine is as well, but I tend more towards exploitive play in these situations. I can have all overpairs, top and middle set, flushes, and two overs and a flush draw but I’m at the complete bottom of my range (only hands worse are K-Q, Q-J, and A-J and all of those have some extra equity because of straight draws) and this flop probably fits his range better than mine overall so I like my check on this board. Turn is a 10, making it less likely that he has one in his hand. I don’t think I’m ever folding to this turn action after checking back the flop. He will be betting straight and flush draws along with his pairs and since I’m getting 2.35-to-1 on my call, I only have to have around 30 percent equity in the hand to break even on the call. I have about 26 percent against a fairly tight range of all reasonable flushes, 10s, pairs, and straight and flush draws. I do get some added equity in the fact that I can bluff the river if a spade comes off, so I’d say it’s very close on this decision. The J is a very poor card for me to try to bluff and I decided to take what little showdown equity I had. My opponent showed me 8-7 offsuit and I gained some information from that particular hand. I now know that I can three-bet him for value a little weaker than I would most players, especially when in position since he will call extremely light.

It’s good for me to take a look at hands like these to make sure we’re playing our best game even when things aren’t going particularly well for us. Next time we’ll take a look at some more hands from this session, including a few against the villain from this last hand. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG