Limit Hold Em Cash Games
During my unemployment I’m fully taking advantage of my available time.. and most importantly the time I have to play poker. I’m considering these days paid by my severance a bit of a pro poker fantasy camp. I have this time off and I want to see what it’s like to play poker full time as if I was doing it for a living. So today I started my day off with a Full Tilt warm up session. I woke up and had breakfast to a $2 NLHE 9 person. I placed 1st. Off to a good start. From there I went to the gym and came back for a quick lunch.. Then I was off to the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa…
I decided on a $2-4 Limit HE cash game. Min buy-in was $20 and max was $100. I settled on buying in for $60. This seemed to be about an average stack for the table. All the players were regulars… and they would not stop talking about how the Hard Rock got rid of their Bad Beat Jackpots and whatnot.. I said to them that I honestly don’t think about the jackpots.. if I hit or someone at the table.. great.. it’s like hitting a lotto, right? I don’t chose a card room based on their available jackpots. But these are old, retired, Florida regulars. They’re not good players. They know how to play but that’s about it. They were shocked I didn’t care about jackpots.
I kind of like limit cash games. The NL games are a joke. They’re crazy down here. A lot of the players at the track are insane which is why I chose the extra 20min drive to the Hard Rock today. I hear the players are generally better and with my experience in tournaments there I’ve noticed more skill. In my limit games I like to control the pot with betting and checking. This is a valuable tool that came in handy when I had A-A. I bet preflop which only sweetens the pot in these games. The entire table called. The flop brought K-3-7 rainbow. I bet and surprisingly only got one raiser- everyone else folded. (probably because it was rainbow without draws). I call knowing he hit a K based on how he’s been playing. The turn was a 2c bringing the 2nd club. I check to control the pot. He bets and I call. The river brings another club. I check and he bets. I call. He shows a KcQc for a flush. There was no way I was getting him off that hand. I felt like I lost the minimum for my A-A.
Another hand that taught me to limp with my mid-low pocket pairs. I had J-J. I raise. I get 5 callers. The flop brings 5-7-Q with 2 clubs. I bet and get 2 callers. The turn was a 4h. I bet again and get 2 callers. The river brings.. a 9d. I check and then call one bet. The 2 other opponents both show Q-3 suited. I then remember that when I play online I usually just limp with hands like that or say a A-J… try to hit and then try to suck people in knowing I have them out kicked.. or just get out cheap when I completely miss.
Overall, my 3 hr session went well. I left with an extra 100 in my pocket.. a little more than 1.5x my buy-in. Now, where to play tomorrow? I have a lunch with friends (co-workers who were also laid off) and then maybe back to the Hard Rock. Thursday I’m thinking I’ll go for the NLHE $60 deep stack (8000 chips) 50 person tournament at 1pm at the Dog Track, Derbylane. I think there’s a $1000 guarantee for 1st. I could be wrong though….
Oh, so am I the only one who could care less about a card room offering a big bad beat jackpot?
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Comments
I would rather them leave the money in the pot myself, but it does attract the fish so it’s hard to say whether you win more with or without it.
I had to comment on your “valuable tool” of controlling the pot. You had AA vs KcQc and a board of K37 2 with two clubs. When you check to control the pot to keep the pot small. In this spot you are a 70-30 favourite. Why could you possibly want a small pot when you are a huge favourite? Just because you lost the pot in this case, does not give evidence that it is a good move. In fact you are giving up a huge amount by not betting (or raising here).
Also you other lesson learned… to not raise with mid-low pocket pair (not sure how you figured JJ was mid low) is equally bad. Just because your JJ was beaten in that one instance by 2 players with Q3s.. the reality is pre flop you are again a 70-30 favourite against those hands. When you are that huge a favourite you want the pot to be as big as possible. Plus if you raise preflop, you then have the correct odds to call a bet on the flop if an over card hits. You would have played this hand much better if you raised preflop and then folded on the turn (or river) when it was clear that you were beaten.
You have to start looking at these hands in the terms of long run expectation… not using what happened on one given hand to determine if youmade the right play or not based on its outcome.
I only consider the fact that some people are willing to go crazy seeking a big jackpot. I don’t worry about it (the jackpot) myself, just its effect on the other players.