Hand Analysis (Bad play, unlucky or somewhere in the middle?)

[Super_Dash]

So yesterday I held the first poker event of 2011.. 6 players. £10 buy in with £50 for first place. We all started with around 5000 in chips.

Throughout a night as you can imagine you have a lot of 'uncertain' hands but this particular play gets me every time .. its like I know this is a hand I should raise on but I so often get the rough deal with it.

To set the scene, this was early on, I was chip leader with about 6000 in chips but no one had less than 4500 it was smallish hands I'd won.. the biggest hand had been a pre-flop raise of 500 which was called but once I post-flop raised another 500 the player fell out.. we were all testing the waters at this point.

Blinds 100/200

The game (Dash vs Adeel)

Dash is dealt AK both hearts

all players call the blind of 200 (small and big blind haven't played yet)
Pot is 900

I raise to 600

small blind folds, big blind (Adeel) calls, the rest fold

pot is 2100 (already biggest pot of the game)

Flop

Jh 9h 2h

He raises by 600, I call

Pot is 3300

Turn

9d

Adeel Checks

Dash raises 2000

Adeel Calls

Pot 7300

River

2d

Adeel checks
Dash raises 2000
Adeel calls

Pot 11300

Adeels hand (JJ)

Adeel wins with full house



Now when I was dealt the AK suited, I raised to elimate players, I figured I had a solid chance this is one of them top tier hands that can turn out really weak so wittle down the competition.

When Ad called me I figured he may have a pocket pair or 2 picture cards but the flop was coming now so that was unimportant.

Flop - I hit the flush, inside I felt the hand was over.. I had to rope him in for all I could but ace high flush .. no way he was gonna have me over. When he raised I called .. looking back I probably should/could have raised but I didn't want him to think I had the flush. I wanted this sucker to get caught slipping by discounting my flush .. I was just hoping the next card wasn't a heart.

Turn - This is where he roped me in, the damn check filled me with such confidence I thought I could buy the pot. I already suspected he might have a pocket pair and another 9 or whatever his pair was could really upset me.. raise 2000 .. he called, I wasn't particularly worried.

River - He checked again.. I thought he was now riding at best a 2 pair ignoring the 2's on the table. I doubt he had a 2 in his hand other wise there was little chance of him coming in past the very first raise I made, and he certainly didn't have pocket 2's and a 4 of a kind or else he'd have raised earlier when he had the full house.

I only raised 2000, I thought that was enough. I didn't want to go all in just in case I lost, I felt he'd only call the all if he had something unbeatable but I certainly wanted to raise him out of it or hope he thought I was bluffing.

In the end he had completely played me. It was the checks that got me. The same 'convince the opponent you have a crap hand' trick I tried on him ended up killing me.

In the end I won (all in against 3 players and got the full house on the river) but this was the hand that forced me to pick and choose my hands alot more .. I got bitten and didn't like it.


Sorry this is a long ass post in an under-visited part of the board but I want to improve. I play on average once every 3 months, against some pretty amatuer competitors so I don't seem to be improving much from the nights.

How should I play an AK suited, what do you do when you have the ace high flush that early on? Buy the pot or suck people in .. were my bet sizes plain foolish or what?

Thanks

[Shark]

I think Adeel played this hand terrible. How can he only call the river?! Is he that scared of quads...

[Super_Dash]

I think Adeel played this hand terrible. How can he only call the river?! Is he that scared of quads...

He said when he saw me raise 2000 after the second 9 came up he figured I might have quads.

As I said, the players I play with are very amatuer.. the closest they came to poker tables other than Dash's poker nights are FB poker.

If I could remember his stack size it might shed some light on it but I can only remember mine and the fact it was decimated after that game.

I'm not sure if your a poker specialist but any advice on my play would be welcome. I've come to realize I'm not the 'reader of the game' I thought I was lol

[Shark]

This hand is a massive cooler, just the way it goes sometimes.

Perhaps check behind river, it is a situation if you bet where he will call/raise with better and fold when he has worse.

[Clackerooney]

I know f-all about poker but decided to learn and bought myself the Phil Hellmuth book off amazon for Christmas. About a chapter ahead of where I am is all about how to play A-x suited, covers a lot of examples like getting a flush on the flop, whether to slow play or not, etc..

I haven't read that bit yet (maybe this post would be more useful in a few days when I have ) but here's the book:
http://http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phil-Hellmuths-Texas-Holdem-Hellmuth/dp/0060780193/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294095071&sr=8-1
For £3 it could come in handy.

[Indica]

I was just hoping the next card wasn't a heart.

I usually raise these kinds of flops because you won't get much action on turn if the turn is heart too. For example if Adeel is having 5h6h (and so on) and turn is heart. You won't get much action anymore there. And sometimes somebody could push AJ on that flop.

Secondly I think the pot is quite big too.

Pre-flop you could easily raise to 1000 and bully others with your 6000 stack. Oh starting stacks were 5000. You can't bully then.

[Super_Dash]

Thanks Ind, good point. My thoughts were with a 5h6h type of hand he wouldn't even be in the game with me.

Pre-flop I was trying to keep anyone in the game. Post flop I guess I should have re-raised.

And Clack, let me know the play after you've read the chapter it isn't the cost, but the book will likely end up with my already sizeable pile of unread books I've been meaning to get round to reading.

[slim]

I think you're pretty much doomed to lose a lot here.

Partly because of the way the cards ran and partly because the other player doesn't play much.

In my experience people who rarely play are calling stations, they'll just call, call, call all day. Most the people I've played with that are inexperienced would not lay down top set no matter what you raised. It doesn't matter that the board is all hearts, they can't lay it down.

Knowing that, I think you could have saved some money by not raising so much once the board pairs. But then again, I would have re-raised him (probably all-in) after his 600 raise on the flop because I have the nuts and the pot is already about 1/2 my stack - then he would have called and hit his boat anyway. I just think with this combination of cards and this type of player, you're not likely to lose much less than you did.

[Indica]

My thoughts were with a 5h6h type of hand he wouldn't even be in the game with me.

Yeah 5h6h isn't very good example but Qh10h, 10h8h and 8h7h are better ones.

From my experience (I'm not expert but have played thousands of hands) you won't get much action on that kind of flops if opponent doesn't have quality hands like set or lower flush and rarely hands like J9 or Q10 with one heart.

So by raising on the flop (maybe all-in like slim said) your action won't die on turn if it is a heart. I cannot see lower flush folding there either if somebody goes all-in. I would put him AhX.

[Super_Dash]

Excellent reply Slim. I know with hindsight it seems like the extra pair maybe should have slowed me down but I just didn't see the fullhouse coming.

I guess it was the order. If I hadn't hit my flush immediately I'd have been more humble. If I hit the flush on the last card I'd have been all in.

Its a player I've played with a few times before, he had 1 win and 1 where he was winning but got tired an stamina caused him to make mistakes but he sure Is a newish player and prone to be a bit too hopeful.

I guess it was doomed, all in when he was dealt a pocket pair and he'd have called, with a 3 of a kind he would call and definitely with the full house.

Thanks guys