Hit Counter
Friday, June 02, 2006
If only I was a better player!
The hand that screwed up my WSOP feeder, the one where I folded a nut flush draw when calling was definitely the right choice, got me thinking about my game a little bit.
I figure the best part of my game is easily putting people on hands. I have concentrated a lot on this over the last while, and I've gone from being able to put people on a broad range of hands (high ace, medium pocket pair etc.) to at times calling exactly the hand that they have, sometimes down to the suit ;)
I can't really explain how it happens, I guess I just have a bit of a knack for it. Everybody has their natural strong points in poker, this is mine. It could have something to do with studying a bit of psychology in college, understanding peoples mannerisms and the like. I try to be as observant as possible at the table, and look out for any 'tells' I can pick up. It is usually physical tells I look out for, as to be honest, I'm useless at figuring out betting patterns.
Anyway, my point is, I like to think I'm good at spotting 'tells' and getting reads on players, but my problem is I don't have a clue what to do with this information. In the WSOP game, I had a well above average stack, as did Rounders. I limped into a hand with A7, and flopped the nut flush draw. Rounders bet, I figured he had some of the flop and I could scare him off it. He instantly pushed over the top of my big raise and I figured he most likely had top pair with a flush draw. So top pair with either the K or J of clubs.
As it turned out this 'read' was spot on, he had KsQ. So I've guessed the hand correctly, I think I've played the hand well up until here, so why did I make such a stupid fold? It would have been a bad fold in a normal MTT but in a winner-takes-all game...what was I thinking? You have to aim for first or nothing at all. In the end I scraped onto the final table but never really had a shot after that hand.
And this is not the first time this has happened. So many times I am landed in situations where I will have a good idea of the hand the person is on, and not know how to act upon this information. Sometimes I get it right, as with the 99 vs AA in the WSOP game. I called knowing I was behind, figuring he had KK or AA. I knew if I flopped the 9 I would push and probably get called, which is what happened. Im happy enough with how I played the hand, because if I had check raised the flop or check called and pushed the river, I dont think I would have been called as we both had big stacks. I got it right that time, but I am getting it wrong too often for my liking.
Other times, I will risk my tournament on a 60/40 because I am so sure I have the better hand. For instance, say I have Ax and there is a raise and then the chip leader goes all in. I glance at the original raiser and feel he doesn't have an ace, maybe a medium pocket pair. I am pretty sure he will fold. As for the all-in guy, say I know he is very loose, or I have picked up a tell... maybe he wouldn't go all in with an Ace... for whatever reason I feel he has KQ or KJ or something similar which I am ahead of. Say there has been no other limpers, so I can assume there are still at least 2 and possibly three aces in the deck...
Ok, so I call this guys all in for all my stack. As I predicted the original raiser folds and as I figured the all-in guy has KQ or KJ or whatever. Anyway, he hits his card and I'm off cursing about being so unlucky and the usual...
Should I not be taking these chances? I think I make a lot of plays based almost purely on reads, when I should consider other factors. Stack sizes, blind levels etc should all be taken into account, and at times should fold the better hand and wait for a better opportunity. I get paranoid about being so unlucky because I do go into most showdowns ahead, and when I lose a large amount when I have a slight edge, I get frustrated and feel robbed. "I had the best hand, surely I should win sometimes!"... how many times has this thought gone through my head!
Sure, I do think I am a bit unluckier than other people, but If I learn how to act on reads a bit more perhaps I won't play so many big hands where I'm only a slight favourite. Another thing I've realised is its ok to play a big pot even when you know you're behind! I went into a lot of hands in the WSOP game as the slight underdog, purel because I was constantly in need of a double-up. And I was amazed by how many times I actually won! Fair enough it was a lucky night in some aspects, but I realised that sometimes you should actually go in behind and hope to outdraw... (with the help of Karl and his river button of course!)
In the past whe I have been playing, I would fold a lot of decent hands, say KQ, because I be working of a read that I was sure the opponent had Ax. Even though value was there to call and hope to outdraw, in my mind I would be making the right move purely because I had the worse hand. It doesn't matter that I was only a slight underdog, I would think I was making the right moved based on my reads, which most of the time were pretty good.
I need to loosen up online, and stop playing hands purely based on my reads of my opponents. I think I need to get cracking on some of the books I bought, and figure out how to use this ability more to my advantage, and know when to ignore it.
Maybe I've figured out why I'm so bad at online!
gl
I figure the best part of my game is easily putting people on hands. I have concentrated a lot on this over the last while, and I've gone from being able to put people on a broad range of hands (high ace, medium pocket pair etc.) to at times calling exactly the hand that they have, sometimes down to the suit ;)
I can't really explain how it happens, I guess I just have a bit of a knack for it. Everybody has their natural strong points in poker, this is mine. It could have something to do with studying a bit of psychology in college, understanding peoples mannerisms and the like. I try to be as observant as possible at the table, and look out for any 'tells' I can pick up. It is usually physical tells I look out for, as to be honest, I'm useless at figuring out betting patterns.
Anyway, my point is, I like to think I'm good at spotting 'tells' and getting reads on players, but my problem is I don't have a clue what to do with this information. In the WSOP game, I had a well above average stack, as did Rounders. I limped into a hand with A7, and flopped the nut flush draw. Rounders bet, I figured he had some of the flop and I could scare him off it. He instantly pushed over the top of my big raise and I figured he most likely had top pair with a flush draw. So top pair with either the K or J of clubs.
As it turned out this 'read' was spot on, he had KsQ. So I've guessed the hand correctly, I think I've played the hand well up until here, so why did I make such a stupid fold? It would have been a bad fold in a normal MTT but in a winner-takes-all game...what was I thinking? You have to aim for first or nothing at all. In the end I scraped onto the final table but never really had a shot after that hand.
And this is not the first time this has happened. So many times I am landed in situations where I will have a good idea of the hand the person is on, and not know how to act upon this information. Sometimes I get it right, as with the 99 vs AA in the WSOP game. I called knowing I was behind, figuring he had KK or AA. I knew if I flopped the 9 I would push and probably get called, which is what happened. Im happy enough with how I played the hand, because if I had check raised the flop or check called and pushed the river, I dont think I would have been called as we both had big stacks. I got it right that time, but I am getting it wrong too often for my liking.
Other times, I will risk my tournament on a 60/40 because I am so sure I have the better hand. For instance, say I have Ax and there is a raise and then the chip leader goes all in. I glance at the original raiser and feel he doesn't have an ace, maybe a medium pocket pair. I am pretty sure he will fold. As for the all-in guy, say I know he is very loose, or I have picked up a tell... maybe he wouldn't go all in with an Ace... for whatever reason I feel he has KQ or KJ or something similar which I am ahead of. Say there has been no other limpers, so I can assume there are still at least 2 and possibly three aces in the deck...
Ok, so I call this guys all in for all my stack. As I predicted the original raiser folds and as I figured the all-in guy has KQ or KJ or whatever. Anyway, he hits his card and I'm off cursing about being so unlucky and the usual...
Should I not be taking these chances? I think I make a lot of plays based almost purely on reads, when I should consider other factors. Stack sizes, blind levels etc should all be taken into account, and at times should fold the better hand and wait for a better opportunity. I get paranoid about being so unlucky because I do go into most showdowns ahead, and when I lose a large amount when I have a slight edge, I get frustrated and feel robbed. "I had the best hand, surely I should win sometimes!"... how many times has this thought gone through my head!
Sure, I do think I am a bit unluckier than other people, but If I learn how to act on reads a bit more perhaps I won't play so many big hands where I'm only a slight favourite. Another thing I've realised is its ok to play a big pot even when you know you're behind! I went into a lot of hands in the WSOP game as the slight underdog, purel because I was constantly in need of a double-up. And I was amazed by how many times I actually won! Fair enough it was a lucky night in some aspects, but I realised that sometimes you should actually go in behind and hope to outdraw... (with the help of Karl and his river button of course!)
In the past whe I have been playing, I would fold a lot of decent hands, say KQ, because I be working of a read that I was sure the opponent had Ax. Even though value was there to call and hope to outdraw, in my mind I would be making the right move purely because I had the worse hand. It doesn't matter that I was only a slight underdog, I would think I was making the right moved based on my reads, which most of the time were pretty good.
I need to loosen up online, and stop playing hands purely based on my reads of my opponents. I think I need to get cracking on some of the books I bought, and figure out how to use this ability more to my advantage, and know when to ignore it.
Maybe I've figured out why I'm so bad at online!
gl
