Starting to put the peices together
This week has been much better for me than last week. After the feedback I received on my last post. I really made an effort to step up the aggression. I enjoy poker but I am in it to make money, and the way I was playing I might be able to beat the game but I still lose to inflation . I three-bet a lot more this week, especially when I had a big hand out of position. I even check-raised a guy all-in on the turn with my over pair of Kings to win a 240bb pot. I was playing aggressive and it paid off.
I also noticed a more subtle change in my game. I seemed to be manipulating the pot size to a point where I could get my opponents to do what I wanted. There was one hand that really opened my eyes. I flopped bottom two pair in a four way limped pot out of the big blind on a ♣ar♦♠ q♦ 2♠ 3♣ /♣ar♦♠ boar♦. I le♦ out for a 3/4 pot ♠ize bet an♦ player w♥o limpe♦ in preflop min-rai♠e♦. It fol♦e♦ ba♣k aroun♦ to me an♦ I ma♦e a pot ♠ize 3-bet an♦ my opponent ♣alle♦. T♥e turn wa♠ t♥e ♣ar♦♠ 7♦ /♣ar♦♠ an♦ I le♦ for about 2/3 pot an♦ my opponent flat ♣alle♦ again. T♥e river wa♠ t♥e ♣ar♦♠ k♦ /♣ar♦♠ an♦ I bet 2/3 pot again, w♥i♣♥ wa♠ enoug♥ to put my opponent all-in an♦ ♥e ♣alle♦ an♦ ♠♥owe♦ ♣ar♦♠ q♠ t♦ /♣ar♦♠. I figured he had a weak Queen with his line on the flop and I was happy to see my read was correct.
When I looked back later I saw how I broke up my bets (especially the 3-bet on the flop instead of slowplaying) to build the pot over the course of the hand to make it easy for my opponent to call of his whole stack here. I guess I am kind of weird but a lot of times I make plays that are correct without knowing exactly why I am doing them. It is almost like my subconscious mind takes the lead and I have to catch up with it later. Anyway, back to the story. When I looked back at the hand I recognized the play from the books that I have read and from the videos I have watched from the training site I belong to, but this was the first time I really put it all together. I think my fellow blogger Murf72 was right on the money in this excellent post, Learning poker with matchsticks, when he wrote
“We can read poker books, discuss hands, watch videos, etc. but we don’t learn poker this way, what we learn here are the theories and ideas that form a base”
It is nice when you put in the hours of reading books and watching videos trying to learn your craft, followed up by more hours of actual play trying to apply these theorys and then it just sorta clicks and you go “That’s what everyone has been talking about!” Once you get it it seems so simple. Hopefully there will be many more of these moments where the poker light switch gets turned on this year. Thanks go out to Ed Miller and Kyle Hendon for helping to open my eyes on this one as well.
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Comments
“I saw how I broke up my bets (especially the 3-bet on the flop instead of slowplaying) to build the pot over the course of the hand to make it easy for my opponent to call of his whole stack here”
This is a really advanced idea and if you incorporate it you can make a lot of money. This is almost word-for-word from Ed Miller’s No Limit Hold’em book. Too many people make the mistake of slowplaying their big hands rather than building a pot. It’s good to see you using this in your game, hope you have continued success.
... Hig♥ Stake♠ Poker | Report♠ on Hig♥e♠t Stake♠ Online Poker Game♠ wrote an intere♠ting po♠t to♦ay on Starting to put t♥e pei♣e♠ toget♥erHere’♠ a qui♣k ex♣erptI enjoy poker but I am in it to make money, an♦ t♥e way I wa♠ playing I mig♥t be able to beat t♥e game but I ♠till lo♠e to inflation . I t♥ree… ...
Thanks for the plug and glad you enjoyed my last post. I just made a comment on your previous post with the TT hand I hope you might find helpful.
Glad you’re finding a more comfortable zone in your game.
Not knowing the exact stack sizes, I’d tend to bet more on that turn especially OOP, giving yourself no room for a river mistake since there are alot of bad river cards for you like a Q, 7, A even a 6, plus he could hit his kicker with any other card too.
... Talk to t♥e aut♥or know. ...