A Poker Quiz: See if you can catch this mistake in hold'em?

Image via WikipediaA Poker Quiz: See if you catch this mistake in hold'em?

You are playing holdem--it could be a limit, no limit ring game or a tournament--it doesn't matter.

The blinds are $50-$100, and you have $3,000.

You are in the big blind with 10c-4h.

An early position player limps. A middle position player limps. And the button calls as well. The small blind mucks.

You check, happy to see the flop for free.

The flop comes Kd-Qs-2s.

You check. The early player bets. Everyone folds to you.

You fold.

Question: Did you catch the mistake?

Answer: Folding is certainly the correct play. The mistake is that you were not thinking ahead of what you are going to do in this situation if different flops hit. At the very least, you should know what you would do if you hit a pair, two pair, or trips here--and if the board is coordinated or not.

Most players do not anticipate what will happen and plan ahead. Don't be one of those players!

Before the flop, you should be thinking about:

how many opponents
your opponents' table image
how your opponents view your playing style
how big is the pot
what action to take if you miss or hit your hand--and
how the flop type will effect your play.

I sense this mistake all of the time in poker. The player who is first to act ends up hesitating if the flop somehow connects to his hand--and then, he doesn't want to give it away, so he checks.

Think ahead. What is the situation? And, what action should you take? This is key when you are first to act on any street.

I Just Made Tournament Poker Mistake #2!

I Just Made Tournament Poker Mistake #2!

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I entered the Oaks tournament today. I had not had a premium hand all day, and yet I was in good chip shape as it got down to 13 players.

I was doing well since I really focused on playing my opponents' hand rather than my own cards. This meant that I could take down a lot of pots with a bet heads up--out of position, or take my opponents at their word and bet in position when they checked.

The Situation

The blinds had just gone up to $1,000-$2,000 with a $400 ante. There were 7 players at my table, and 6 on the the other table. I had $21,000.

I was third to act and had Ac-Jc. The first two players checked. I raised to $5,400. Pushing all-in is an option but I am cocky enough to believe I can outplay my opponents on the flop.

Anyway, the player on the button called. He had about $20,000 left after calling my raise.

Rather than doing what I was doing all day--putting my opponent on a hand--I was thinking about needing to hit my hand.

The flop came Qc-5c-2s. I missed and auto-checked.

What! As soon as I checked I realized that I made the wrong play. I should have been moving all-in here.

My opponent moved all-in. Now, I was fairly certain he had a middle pair.

I had 15 outs. Should I call here?

I called all-in. My opponent showed 10h-10s.

Both the turn and river missed me, and I was out.

I just wrote in my prior blog post not to auto-check when you miss. And here I am knocking myself out, with a freaking check. Stupid.

Oh well. This is a mistake I've done before and I need to stop doing it now!

What Do You Think of the Mistake I Made at the Local Sunday Poker Tournament

My Mistake at the Local Sunday poker tournament

I have not played in a live event in quite some time. I decided to play at the Oaks Sunday event. It is a no limit event with a $125 buy-in and $100 rebuy.

Everyone begins with $2,500 in chips with 20 minute rounds.

Early levels

Nothing was happening for me early on, until this hand. The situation was that I was in the big blind for $50. Everyone folded to the small blind. The small blind is one of the stronger players in the event--I've played against him before. He will bet his hand and follow-up with a half-sized continuation bet almost every time.

In the small blind, he raised to $250. I thought he was trying to steal my blind. I found A-7 offsuit. Not a great hand, but I had position. I called.

There was $500 in the pot.

The flop was A-J-2 rainbow. He bet $250 and I called. I figured he would check the turn if he didn't have the ace.

There was $1,000 in the pot.

The turn was a 6.

He had about $2,000 left and I had about the same. He moved all-in.

That surprised me. Did he have top pair with a better kicker? Or was he just firing another bullet?

I was unsure of what to do. He was in seat 10 and I was in seat 1. I leaned back in my seat to see if I could pick up a tell. One of my edges in live poker is that I tend to be real good at picking up tells.

My opponent was totally still and looking down at the board cards. This indicated weakness to me so I called.

He showed pocket 4's and I doubled up!

A key hand for me was the last hand before the break. The blinds were $100-$200.

The same player from before was in early position and he raised to $600. I was next and found pocket Jacks. This hands needs to be played very carefully when early player raises 3x's the big blind upfront. I called.

To my surprise, the player in the big blind called. The player was a woman who played ABC poker, but will give up a hand on the turn, if her c-bet gets called and hasn't improved.

The three of us took the flop. There was $1,900 in the pot.

The flop was 9-9-4. The pre-flop raiser was first and he had $2,000 and moved all-in. I had pocket Jacks...what to do here?

Well, I leaned back in my chair and checked him out. This time he was relaxed and he was looking up and away fro the table. I thought that meant he had AA, KK or QQ...but I could be wrong.

The only other thing to worry about was the player behind me. I thought I noticed a slight reaction from her when the flop was revealed. Was she reacting to the paired board or did she have a 9? She may have hit that 9, I thought. I could be wrong.

Given the situation I folded my overpair. A mistake?

She insta-called and showed A-9 suited. The guy turned over Q-Q and was knocked out. I was feeling real good about my play...

Middle Rounds

I didn't take the rebuy since I was up to $7,500.

After the rebuy period, though, I went card dead.

The blinds are now $200-$400 with a $25 ante. I was in an early position.

The player under the gun limped in. I found A-Q. I had about $7,000.

I started to count out chips for a raise, when I had a feeling that this was going to be a bad hand for me. I was going to raise to $1,600, but in the previous hand, the limper had won a huge pot and had about $10,000. If I raised, I knew he would call, and I would be in a tough spot if I missed the flop.

I limped. The big blind checked. There was $1,600 in the pot.

The flop came A-4-2 with 2 diamonds. I had the Q of diamonds.

I liked the flop. The big blind checked, but the limper bet $1,000.

What did I know about this player? He was an amateur. If he had a hand, he bet it. If not, he checked. Of course, he had only been at the table for about 10 minutes, so I could be wrong about his game.

I called, and the big blind folded. There was now $3,600 in the pot.

The turn was another Ace. A diamond! Now I had three aces and the flush draw with the Q of diamonds.

I really liked my hand...until....my opponent moved all-in for over $7,000!

Geeze....what to do now?

Did he have a flush? Why overbet the pot?

When this player had won the previous pot, he made a full house on the river and moved all-in. When he moved all-in, his opponent didn't know what to do, so he took some time to consider his action. I looked at the player who push all-in and he was so excited, he was practically falling out of his chair. I knew he had to have a hand. His opponent called, and lost a lot of chips.

In my situation, the best thing to do was take time and see if this guy was acting the same way. Sure enough, he was. He was so excited...but why move all-in on the turn? Could he really have a big hand back-to-back? My read was that he had a big hand.

I thought for a while longer. I looked at my cards, and it was such a nice hand. My tells had been working well so far...so...I called for all my chips! What?!

He turned over pocket 4's for a boat, and I was out. Oh my, what I a terrible mistake...

What do you think of the mistake I made at the local sunday poker tournament

Tournament Poker: What happened with that 6-4 hand

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Tournament Poker: Did I make a mistake here?


A long time ago, I entered a deep stack tournament in Vegas where I started with $10,000. (The photo is this crazy woman who kept flirting at me while I was playing poker at The Venetian. It may explain my poor play below...lol)

For the first round or 30 minutes, I did not get a playable hand. I was getting a little impatient, when this hand came up.

Blinds are $100-$200 with a $25 ante.

I am in the cutoff.

Everyone folds to me. I have 6d-4h offsuit. A big hand! I raise to $650.

The big blind calls. Such respect.

The pot is $1,625.

The flop is Kc-8h-4d.

My opponent checks. I check without thinking. I mean, I was just trying to steal the blinds. However, after I checked, I wished I had bet. Oh well...

The turn is a 2s.

My opponent bets $1,500. Did that 2s really help him? Or did he hit his King on the flop? Or is he just bluffing.

This time I think about the hand. My read is that he is trying to steal. But, it is going to cost me some chips. Oh well, sounds crazy but I called.

There is $4,625 in the pot.

The river is a 7d.

My opponent bets $1,500 again.

What should I do?

What happened....

My opponent bet $1,500 on the river which is less than one-third of the pot. I thought he had a hand like A-9, A-10 or A-J because I didn't think he would have called my pre-flop bet with a weaker hand.

While I regretted not making a flop bet, I still thought I had the better hand on the river. His bet was what I would call a weak c-bet on the river. But, did I want to jeopardize more chips with such a weak hand?

Frankly, I was going to fold when I remembered to look at the pot in the middle. It was a decent sized pot and if he was bluffing, my fold could be a disaster.

I called.

He said, "you got me."

I revealed my pair of 4's and he mucked.

One positive that came out of that hand was that the next round when I was in late position, I was dealt pocket Kings, and made a pre-flop raise first in the pot. The small blind, thinking I was stealing, moved all in with A-J. I insta-called, won the hand, and my stack got a big boost.

Later on, when it got down to 4 tables I was running low on chips and had to push all-in with pocket Jacks. The big blind found pocket Kings. I was pushing my chair back when the Jack hit the flop.

It ended up being a good event for me.

I Made A Mistake In Poker That Cost Me

The Countdown Continues....

Full Tilt-Rebuy/Add on Event

I entered a Full Tilt Tournament the other night. There were over 200 players. It was a rebuy and add-on event.

One of the things about online poker tournaments is that most players are too tight. Playing tight is not right! I know the books say to play tight aggressive poker, but really the books are wrong. The reason is that when you play tight aggressive you are simply telling your opponents what you have when you raise so infrequently; a premium hand.

I like to play loose aggressive pre-flop. I will open with a raise pre-flop with a wide range of hands, and make a continuation bet about 80-90% of the time. In fact, I am opening with just a 2 times big blind raise when my opponents are so quick to fold.

Of course, you can't mindlessly take this plan of action into the final stages of an event because your better opponents will beat you up. That happened to me.

I was building and building a nice chip stack, when two of my opponents (to my left) realized my game plan, and re-raised my min raises. It is difficult to call off a big percentage of your chips with 7-5 suited when someone re-raises you pre-flop.

As a result, I had to slow down and tighten up. I also wanted to set a trap since I knew what they were doing. In fact, I won a big pot when I made my standard min raise with K-K and one of these players re-raised me. I just called. The flop came Q high, and I check raised my opponent. He folded and I won a big pot.

My Mistake

The game continued and I went totally card dead. I wanted to put in those min raises but while I slowed one opponent down, the other player kept it up. My chip stack was down to $12,000 and the blinds were $250-$500. We were two players away from the money (27 got paid).

I hate when I make a mistake playing poker. I don't mind if I lay down the winning hand, but I don't like when I make the wrong play. Here is the hand....

I get dealt pocket 6's in middle position. The player under the gun raises to $1,500. Another opponent calls. I call. The big blind re-raises to $4,500.

What should I do?

I have $10,500 left, and I know I am beat, so I hit the fold button since I don't want to risk another 30% of my stack as a dog. And there are only two places to go before the money. To my surprise, the other two players insta-call. And before I can think through this situation, I am folded.

I hated my fold for three reasons:
1. The pot now had over $15,000 and I had great implied odds if I hit my set.
2. I selected to auto-fold without waiting for my turn because I was close to the money. Who wants to play 3 hours and not get paid off? But, the most important thing in poker is to play to win, not to cash!!!!
3. The 6 hit the flop and two players went all-in on the flop. I would have won a huge pot and given myself a great opportunity to wn.

The End Result

I was able to build my stack up to about $30,000 and we were down to 15 players. I was dealt pocket Aces and made a min raise. I got called in two places. The flop was
Q-8-4 with two clubs. I had the Ace of clubs. I bet the pot, and my opponent raised me. I moved all-in, and he turned over 8-8....doh!

I win $40 for 4 hours of play....awful!

The moral of the story: Play to win and not just to cash!