Deep Thoughts II (level up)

If my poker game were in the RPG world, I just leveled up.

I looked back at the posts I made this summer while running good and I pointed to 3 things that improved my game, plus one "deep thought". To recap:

1. Remember WHY we bet. To get a worse hand to call or a better hand to fold.
2. Steal spots and steal cards need to be selected carefully.
3. Understanding Chip Utility.
DT: Challenges with middle pairs after the flop.

Now, lets look at what happened to me this weekend and what we learned/applied:

1. AK can not draw vs. 2 opponents all-in despite attractive odds. I OVERLY concerned myself with Chip Utility and took some -EV in the "hopes" of tripling up if I hit an Ace. Turns out I had about 20% of tripling up, not proper odds.

2. There are times where your choice of call, raise or fold are nearly profound. Blinds are 300/600 and 3x raises from MP. Solid player (in this case, Bayne). Folds to me w/99 in BB. When stacks are tight, you can NOT raise here (although you could shove). Raising creates an inverted pressure point (on against you) where as a call puts you OOP. Does that make 99 a fold for 1800 when stacks are 15k and blinds 300/600? M is about 17. The answer is yes due to his range. I am either racing or way behind. I think i need QQ or better here unless i feel its a steal.

At the time, i thought it might be and thus the raise, allowing my opponent to put max pressure point ON me. This ties in very succinctly with my previous Deep Thought.

If stacks are DEEPER, I can play this middle pair many ways. But the way it was, I should have taken the fold. I get that. I eventually made the right decision, but it cost me 4k in chips instead of 600 in chips.