PokerWorks

It's Not All About The Cards

In the previous Assignment, I listed several hand histories and asked you to put certain players (usually myself and another player) on a certain range of hands. For the first two hands, I am going to go through each stage of the hand and break down the potential hands a player could have and why. Compare this to your thought processes and answers and see if you are thinking along the right lines. For the remainder of the hands, I am only listing what the hands were. Take those hands and replay them from the beginning of the hand. Do the actions make sense? For hands 3-9, refer to the previous section for the actual hand histories.

Hand #1 (just do mine and Seat 4's hand)

Level V: 25 Ante 100/200 Blinds (25 Minimum Chip)
Average Stack: 22,666.66 (10,000 starting chips)
Remaining Players: 15 (34 started)
Seat 1 : thehazyone starts with 22,075
Seat 2 : starts with 15,600
Seat 3 : starts with 8,725
Seat 4 : starts with 22,050
Seat 6 : starts with 38,900
Seat 9 : starts with 3,975
Seat 10 : starts with 36,500
Seat 10 : has the dealer button
>>>DEALING HOLE CARDS<<<
thehazyone posts the small blind 100
Seat 2 posts the big blind 200
Seat 3 folds
Seat 4 calls 200

Limping in first to act once there are antes will typically mean one of two hands. A small pair or a hand like Axs or KJ/QJ, etc;. This was the range I put him on.

Seat 6 calls 200
Seat 9 folds
Seat 10 folds
thehazyone calls 100

I can be completing here with any two.

Seat 2 checks
>>>DEALING FLOP<<< [ 6s 8c 6c ]
thehazyone checks
Seat 2 checks
Seat 4 checks
Seat 6 checks
>>>DEALING TURN<<< [ Ah ]
thehazyone checks
Seat 2 checks
Seat 4 checks
Seat 6 bets 500
thehazyone calls 500

OK, it was checked around on the flop and turn and seat 6 takes a stab at it. I obviously think he could have anything here. What could I have here? Probably not a 6, I'd raise to get the draws out and likely would have bet the flop. Probably not a hand like AK/AQ - I would have raised pre-flop. That leaves 88, Ax, and the draws (straight and flush).

Seat 2 folds
Seat 4 calls 500

So here's the more interesting one - he was first to act flop and turn, so he could very well be slowplaying a monster. 66, 88, A6s and Axc are all possible hands. If he had a suspect hand like 99 or an ace he probably would have either raised pre-flop or bet out on the turn. He concerned me more than the other player.

>>>DEALING RIVER<<< [ 7c ]
thehazyone checks
Seat 4 bets 900

Passive the entire time and then leads out on the river? This almost always means something big. I put him on one of the aforementioned hands (66, 88, A6, and Axc) with just a slight possibility he has just a lone 6 (a hand like 65s for example).

Seat 6 folds
thehazyone calls 900

So knowing what I put him on above? What hand would I call with here? Only one hand makes sense. A flush (very unlikely I would call the turn bet on a gutshot straight draw).  
The Hands: Seat 4 – A-6, Me K-Q of clubs.

Hand #2 (just do mine and Seat 2's hand)

Level VI: 50 Ante 150/300 Blinds (25 Minimum Chip)
Average Stack: 22,666.66 (10,000 starting chips)
Remaining Players: 15 (34 started)
Seat 1 : thehazyone starts with 20,450
Seat 2 : starts with 15,375
Seat 3 : starts with 8,700
Seat 4 : starts with 24,700
Seat 6 : starts with 38,175
Seat 9 : starts with 3,950
Seat 10 : starts with 36,475
Seat 1 : thehazyone has the dealer button
>>>DEALING HOLE CARDS<<<
Seat 2 posts the small blind 150
Seat 3 posts the big blind 300
Seat 4 folds
Seat 6 folds
Seat 9 folds
Seat 10 raises 1,100 to 1,400
thehazyone calls 1,400

Very unlikely I have a big pair like QQ-AA here, I'd probably repop. Same goes for a hand like AK or AQ, I'd want to see where I was at. JJ-TT are possibilities, but most of the time I'd reraise with those to isolate as well.

Seat 2 raises 4,850 to 6,250

Honestly, when she did this I said you have one of three hands. QQ-KK-AA. (Because I thought she'd move in with a big ace).

Seat 10 folds
thehazyone folds

I had JJ. The reason I just called was because I had position on the initial raiser and I knew him to be one of those pre-flop raiser post-flop bettor types, so I wanted to get a few more chips off of him post-flop, once Seat 2 raised, it made my fold pretty easy.

My opponent showed KK.

Hand #3 (just do my hand)

I had Q-J off suit, no diamond.

Hand #4 (just me and Seat 9 and know that Seat 9 has shown very loose aggressive tendencies when making your evaluation)

I had A-Q off suit. Seat 9 had Q-9 off suit.

Hand #5 (just me and Seat 5)

I had A-K suited. Seat 5 had A-J suited.

Hand #6 (just me and Seat 9, same observation as above about Seat 9)

I had 8-3 of spades. Seat 9 had Q-7.

Hand #7 (mine and Seat 2's hands)

I had J-8 off suit. Seat 2 had 10-9 off suit.

Hand #8 (mine and seat 10's hands)

I had pocket 3's. Seat 10 had A-8 off suit.

Hand #9 (myself, seat 4 and seat 9's hands)

I had queens. Seat 4 had J-10. Seat 9 had 9-7.

I'm sure some of you were way off on some of the hands and that's understandable. Reading hands isn't easy and I'm going to let you in on a secret. You're not going to always be right, or even close for that matter. The purpose of this exercise was to force you to take a step by step breakdown of a hand and figure out what the possibilities were.

Why?

Because this is what you should be doing whenever you are playing (in or not in a hand). This is how you figure out patterns. This is how you know when to bet with nothing or next to nothing (like hand #3 for me, although I showed an example with #7 where I had a right read that my opponent didn't have the ace but still got called) and how to bet for value based upon your read of your opponents hand.

Each time you are in a hand, take the time to think through the action. Based upon what you know about your opponent and what their range of hands are, what do you think they have? Do you have that beat? If so, then bet/raise. If not, then fold. It's that simple.

I'll give you an example of how hand reading can save your ass. The other day I was in a SNG, 9 people left. I limped in UTG with AK (something I'll do now and then) and the flop came king high. The blinds checked, I bet 3/4 the pot, and the BB check raised to 500 (I had bet 150). I called to see what he did on the turn. He pushed the turn and I folded. He showed two pair. I took the information I had available to me, and was able to make a big fold based upon that (kind of similar with the JJ hand I had against the woman who had KK). I ended up going on to win the SNG - most people would have called with top pair top kicker and finished 9th.

When you're playing poker, you're always trying to figure out what your opponent has. The better you are at it, the more successful you will be. Always be using the information your opponents give you and use it to your benefit. Your wallet will thank you later. In the next section, I'm going to conclude Chapter Two, Playing the Player, with a discussion on the importance of table dynamics. I know... finally, right?