This is one of the better articles I've read recently:
http://redchippoker.com/how-to-think-about-flop-texture/
Whenever someone explains why a common practice is for the intermediate players (vs. those continually striving to get better), I listen. I have often thought about why I instinctively don't want to c-bet on some boards and I realize that I've been looking to quantify it as this article has.
A digression: So much poker information today is related and correlated to "wide ranges" and keeping bad hands in the pot. So much is on maximizing return and the notion of "survival" is far less emphasized. I continue to struggle with the notion that these are somewhat opposing views and that there is instead a time to look at any given situation as in one camp vs. the other instead of preaching/teaching one or the other. I have yet to nail down some of the dynamics, but I am contemplating this a ton.
Intuition tells me that there are times that its better to maximize value and there are times where its better to avoid a marginal edge, despite convention 2014 thinking that I have to take many many edges and just amortize it over a larger number of entries. If there was a way to draw that distinction, it stands to reason (although unproved) that you could get similar results with a smaller sample size.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Run Good? Run Bad? It's all the same
League nights were this weekend, and on Friday, I stuck with a hand (KK on J high board) to long and paid off a 1/3 of my lean stack to a flopped two pair. I never really recovered and eventually A8 on the button ran into QQ in the BB. old story... But on Saturday...
Worked up my stack and caught a player with an Ace on an Ace high flop in a terrible spot against my two pair. I made the proper bets to get him committed by the river, where he paired his second card. I could see the Ace if it came, but not the Ten. I work my punished stack up large enough that I could raise 5s6s from MP because the table was playing too passive. Two callers and the flop is 3 spades. I check, player bets, BB flats and I shove (because I think one of them must call with As). Turns out to be the BB who does call and the turn is a spade! I am not out, just disappointed until I make the two out straight flush on the river. Wow.
30 minutes later, I get a spot to call a raise with QdJd and FLOP my second straight flush. AND a player moves all in on the flop! Two in one night! Lots of chips now!
But in the end, I catch the remaining player on a draw with his overs no good and the run out gives him the flush to knock me out second.
After this night, I am not sure I can ever say that I run either Good or Bad on any given night. You can make two straight flushes and still lose as a 2:1 favorite at any time.
Moral of the story: "That's Poker"
Worked up my stack and caught a player with an Ace on an Ace high flop in a terrible spot against my two pair. I made the proper bets to get him committed by the river, where he paired his second card. I could see the Ace if it came, but not the Ten. I work my punished stack up large enough that I could raise 5s6s from MP because the table was playing too passive. Two callers and the flop is 3 spades. I check, player bets, BB flats and I shove (because I think one of them must call with As). Turns out to be the BB who does call and the turn is a spade! I am not out, just disappointed until I make the two out straight flush on the river. Wow.
30 minutes later, I get a spot to call a raise with QdJd and FLOP my second straight flush. AND a player moves all in on the flop! Two in one night! Lots of chips now!
But in the end, I catch the remaining player on a draw with his overs no good and the run out gives him the flush to knock me out second.
After this night, I am not sure I can ever say that I run either Good or Bad on any given night. You can make two straight flushes and still lose as a 2:1 favorite at any time.
Moral of the story: "That's Poker"
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