What hand have I had the entire time?
I have discovered what I believe to be a leak in my game. It’s a leak that most players probably have but they just don’t know it. As my game has progressed, I have done a better job of playing off of my image and being able to represent certain things at certain times. I suppose this is just another step in this progression.
The leak I speak of deals with betting on the end when I miss a draw. Apparently, it’s pretty transparent when I miss a draw and am betting at the pot because it’s the only way I can win it. I do a pretty decent job of mixing up how I play my draws, sometimes playing them slow and straight forward while other times playing them extremely fast. This allows me to represent draws when I have monsters and get paid off when I normally would not have. However, I don’t do a good enough job of mixing up my play if my draws don’t connect. Recently, I have routinely been getting called down on the river pretty light when I bet a busted draw. It’s almost as if my opponents know when I’ve missed my draw (insert super-user joke here).
I think my problem is I am never willing to give up on a hand. Sometimes, the right play is to not bluff the river. I have to be aware of when my opponent puts me on a draw. If he tries to price me out at some point, he probably has a made hand. If I continue with the hand but the draws don’t come home and I bet a dry river, he’s probably calling me with any decent hand. I don’t know if any of that made sense but it’s pretty much how I have been analyzing these situations. It’s really an issue of what I have been representing the entire time, what my opponent puts me on, and whether or not I can get away with betting a missed draw when I need to be to win the pot.
The sick thing is I am pretty good about being on the opposite end of these situations. I can put a guy on a draw and if he bets on the end when he doesn’t connect, I can make the “hero” call with one pair or maybe a weak two pair. I have that part down. Now I need to work on not being the guy who gets hero called. How do I avoid making these bets so transparent? When is it correct to give up on a hand? When can I play a huge hand like a missed draw and get paid off light? So many questions! Hopefully it will clear itself up as time goes by.
By the way, spring break is fantastic. Not because I am on a beach or partying or anything like that. It’s because I don’t have to worry about classes. We are transitioning to Spring quarter at the U of O. Hence, no homework. I have been able to play a ton of hands. It was only in the last couple of days that I came to this revelation about betting missed draws on the river and how much I suck at it. So, thanks spring break! Thanks for helping me identify a serious issue with my game!
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Here is a good article Daniel Negreanu wrote about the river bluff… http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/archives/negreanu64.htm
If you are playing a long session with the same people, one thing I have found to be helpful is to make an unusually small or large bet on the end when I have a good hand. I like to make this same bet two times if possible before using it to bluff. People will remember this, and be less likely call a river bluff later if I make the same unusual bet. Obviously, this works better live than online for many reasons.