7/18/2008

Head's up, I'm worth $3.66 a minute....

Head’s Up is not something I play an awful lot of to be honest. But it was Riverchasers and I love to get out to the game when I can. Last night, DonKaaa and I finished up golf a little earlier than usual and were getting messages from brudder Carson about playing in the game. It took us about 3 minutes to make the decision and we were headed off home to get into the fray.

I drew TripJax as my starting opponent and away we went. It all happened so fast, I’m not sure if we played four or five hands total. I think maybe five! ( I’ll say five, because it makes me feel better! )

Here’s my slow-playing… bad reading…. No luck at all… demise hand :

Full Tilt Poker Game #7265603314: Riverchasers Heads-Up Trny (54969517), Table 14 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:02:24 ET - 2008/07/17
Seat 1: TripJax (3,080)
Seat 2: BamBamCan (2,920)
BamBamCan posts the small blind of 10
TripJax posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BamBamCan [Kc Ks]
TripJax: nuff said
BamBamCan calls 10
TripJax checks
*** FLOP *** [Tc 7d Qd]
TripJax bets 40
BamBamCan raises to 80
TripJax has 15 seconds left to act
TripJax raises to 185
BamBamCan has 15 seconds left to act
BamBamCan raises to 795
TripJax has 15 seconds left to act
TripJax raises to 3,060, and is all in
BamBamCan calls 2,105, and is all in
TripJax shows [7c Td]
BamBamCan shows [Kc Ks]
Uncalled bet of 160 returned to TripJax
*** TURN *** [Tc 7d Qd] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 7d Qd Ts] [4h]
TripJax shows a full house, Tens full of Sevens
BamBamCan shows two pair, Kings and Tens
TripJax wins the pot (5,840) with a full house, Tens full of Sevens
BamBamCan stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,840 | Rake 0
Board: [Tc 7d Qd Ts 4h]
Seat 1: TripJax (big blind) showed [7c Td] and won (5,840) with a full house, Tens full of Sevens
Seat 2: BamBamCan (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens
BamBamCan: lol
BamBamCan: gg

I was trying to review the hand to see how I could have done something different to affect the outcome. The only answer would have been to make a large enough raise to get TripJax to fold pre. What do I gain from that?
20 chips….. weeeeeeeeee.

No rather than review how to get him off his hand, I need to review how I should have gotten off mine I think. Here’s what I came up with and I’d appreciate any views on the hand that others may have for me to consider.

BamBamCan calls 10
TripJax checks
*** FLOP *** [Tc 7d Qd]
TripJax bets 40 ( I think this is pretty standard play, to be honest. Bet to take it down now?)
BamBamCan raises to 80 ( Send the message that I like my hand and re-pop to see what message I get back )
TripJax has 15 seconds left to act
TripJax raises to 185 ( The perfect amount! Honestly, my gut told me to simply call here and I obviously wish I would’ve listened to it. I personally think this is where TJ made the perfect play and hooked his giant fishie )
BamBamCan has 15 seconds left to act
BamBamCan raises to 795 ( Despite what my gut was saying, I couldn’t get my mind around any hands except the Diamond draw or a decent Queen. Since I didn’t try and take him off of his BB, I’m lost with no information on the strength of his hand. Without that info. a call here should’ve been the play I think. )
TripJax has 15 seconds left to act
TripJax raises to 3,060, and is all in ( This almost instantly changed my mind back to TP?K and I felt in the lead for certain )
BamBamCan calls 2,105, and is all in (note how fast the Donkey got his chips in bad)

Now theoretically, not much would have changed no matter what I did in the hand. Even if I did manage to find the brains to just call the second bet on the flop, once the 10 comes on the turn and I’m sitting with top two in a head’s up match, I know I’m not good enough at the game to get away from the hand at that point yet. ( read HUGE leak in my game I’ve tried so hard to patch up lately )
Maybe I get scared by the second 10 and play it a lot slower. I think that’s a real possibility certainly. But it also gives TJ the perfect set up and trap all over again by slowing down himself.

So I’m going to chalk this one up as a learning experience and try to take what I can from it and move forward. It was a hand that could have made me 20 chips to start with, but instead made me busto at the rate of $3.66 per minute. It was hand vs. hand and I came out the loser once again.

The TuckFards go camping this weekend and it should be a hoot. I keep telling everyone that I really shouldn’t go, but they won’t listen. You see I’ve been camping quite a bit in my lifetime, just never when it hasn’t RAINED THE ENTIRE WEEKEND! It’s a curse or something.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by….

6 comments:

RaisingCayne said...

Yeah, I think there's definitely ample learnings to take away from this hand BamBam, as it's a huge leak to have this cost you a tourney so early in a deepstack HU game as it did. Providing my two cents below, but please always note to take it w/ a grain of salt, as it's just one donkey's opinion...

...

...BamBamCan calls 10 ~ (I understand your intent to deceive, and I prolly make this limp ~10% of the time to vary my play myself, but the majority of the time I'm trying to get bigger pots w/my big hands and would be raising it up pre. The blinds are so small still so you have to kind of work to build the pot.)
TripJax checks
*** FLOP *** [Tc 7d Qd]
TripJax bets 40 ( I think this is pretty standard play, to be honest. Bet to take it down now?) ~ yes, pretty standard pot bet, and you do need to react to get villain to define his hand some more, as you do need to think you're ahead here, (but by no means can you be positive.) Don't bet just "to take it down now," but bet to find out more information. How it's played so far TJ could have nearly ATC! And, an overpair is not a set, so even if you're real confident you're ahead now, you have to figure you're not in any dominating position and need to be okay with winning some small pots.
BamBamCan raises to 80 ( Send the message that I like my hand and re-pop to see what message I get back ) ~ I really hate this min-raise of a pot bet heads up. Your intentions were not wrong, and you did indeed achieve the goal of telling TJ you liked your hand, (which is exactly what he wanted to find out!,) but you completely failed to accomplish the intent to get him to send you ANY message in return! It's a MIN raise... a smooth call OR a re-pop OR even a fold here by TJ could each be done with a very very wide range. (Min raises make Jesus cry.) Re-pop to at least 100-150 to actually get a message. So what if you take it down now? You have ONE pair, and you need to NOT be bitter w/that result.
TripJax has 15 seconds left to act
TripJax raises to 185 ( The perfect amount! Honestly, my gut told me to simply call here and I obviously wish I would’ve listened to it. I personally think this is where TJ made the perfect play and hooked his giant fishie ) ~ LISTEN to your gut!!! Villain tanks... then RE-pops your RE-raise to a full 3 times! You only have one pair! Your gut was right that you definitely should've slowed down right here w/out too much risked yet. Listen to your gut! You stated your min reraise was trying to get more knowledge re: villain's holdings, and he's giving it to you now, but you're apparently not listening...
BamBamCan has 15 seconds left to act (even tanked, ?, before deciding to...)
BamBamCan raises to 795 ( Despite what my gut was saying, I couldn’t get my mind around any hands except the Diamond draw or a decent Queen. Since I didn’t try and take him off of his BB, I’m lost with no information on the strength of his hand. Without that info a call here should’ve been the play I think. ) ~ Lost w/ little to no info on villain's strength you've admitted, and the intent to get info now is understandable (albeit it's a very belated objective.) Note: a raise is not the only way to get info! You have position, so a call here allows villain to tell you more on the turn while you've not risked as much with JUST one pair.
TripJax has 15 seconds left to act
TripJax raises to 3,060, and is all in ( This almost instantly changed my mind back to TP?K and I felt in the lead for certain ) ???~ WTF?! Why?!!! Villain tells you he likes the flop enough to be all in during the FIRST level of a deepstack head's up game pre-turn in a limped pot by doing a re-re-re-raise jam and THIS is the play the convinces you he has just top pair?!?! Need to tank here and review how it's played out, and determine if your read makes any sense. Would just top pair really re-re-re-raise jam here? Hard to understand how this play took away what your gut was tellin' you earlier!?
BamBamCan calls 2,105, and is all in (note how fast the Donkey got his chips in bad) ~ NOTED! Calling off your stack with just one pair after a re-re-re-raise-shove w/out even tanking BamBam!? Leak!

I also take issue with your "theoretic" assumption that not much would've changed no matter what you did. Assuming you followed your gut w/ a call of the re-re-raise on the flop, why would the turned ten lead you to conclude you couldn't get away? It could've and should've slowed you down more, while likely also giving villain the motivation to slow down himself to not lose you.

I've played A LOT of HU lately, and especially in the DS games there's NO reason to be in any hurry to push apparent tiny edges. There's A LOT of play in a DS HU game and I will say there's very few circumstance I can even imagine where I would be willing to get it all in with just one pair in the first level (unless it's AA pre, of course.)


Please please please pardon the tone of my opinions here, as I really don't want to come across as condescending as I likely do. (Ask my colleagues, I come across as a d*ck in my correspondence.) I sincerely mean no offense, and do hope you're able to chalk this one up as a learning experience.

Anyway, hope you're well. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Astin said...

HU I don't see much wrong with limping KK, you need to get some action.

My problem is with your raise on the flop. You're giving him 4:1 with that min-raise, and him the opportunity to suck you in like he did. The board is fairly co-ordinated and you have no idea what he has. A bigger raise would have given you a better idea of where your kings were.

From there you're right. A call of the 185 could have kept your losses down, and a fold to his all-in wouldn't have been terrible, especially with those stacks at that early a level.

If you figure you're going the distance regardless on that board, then you should have tried to control to pot size and lose the minimum.

Anonymous said...

Only pussies worry about rain when they camp.

The beer will be cold.
The cell phones will be out of range.
There is no work to be done.
and
Your with some of the best persons in the world... it just doesn't get any better.

BamBam said...

RC and Astin...

Thanks so much for the input. I always give the advice listen to your gut, but very seldom take it myself in HE.

I'll re-read both of your comments over and over again.

Oh and Carson!

"Only pussies worry about rain when they camp."

You must be the one in the trailer huh?

;o)

Riggstad said...

What are you thinking limping pre?

In a heads up match, you want to be raising more often than not from the button with any two.

This is standard heads up play. With Trip being an astute player he could certainly read that and widen your range. (assuming you are doing it often)

Now, figure you did raise and he still calls. That flop crushes you anyway with him flopping two pair.

Your I don't know that you want to just call his reraise of your min, but your min was bad enough.

if you pop him there a standard bet, THEN he shoves, maybe you can let make the tough fold there and be justified.

But certainly when he shoves your three bet you have to know your crushed. Problem is your three bet put you in committed range, if I read your starting stack correcty. Maybe not so much but I think its about a third of your stack committed, no?

Raise from the button more often. Its heads up. you will get looser calls. And you will get more folds allowing you to eat up more blinds and frustrate your opponent, and have him slowly fold to a slow death

BamBam said...

Lesson listened to.......

BoooooooooooooooooM !