I ran so badly in December and January I was almost busted my live bankroll. As well as the hammah challenge had been going online I was doing the opposite live.
I realized I had to yet again improve or be mired in the depths of being a slave to cards. I realized that with my preferred type of play (tight) I wasnt getting much action on my big hands unless someone had something better or a better draw.. Basically I was playing with my hands turned over.
To counter this I needed to be more aggressive. Betting my draws, stealing pots in good situations, making plays that should be +ev etc.. Its been an interesting adjustment but so far so good. I have had nice cashes in 5 out of the last 6 times I have played. I had one mini cooler where I ran my AK into AA when they had a short stack. And I lost KK to AK when they flopped an Ace again when they had a short stack.
So its hard to say absolutely that my new more aggressive style is paying off, but I feel it is in a few ways:
* since I raise more and take the lead, I am able to win more small pots that still have say 40-50 bucks in them when I cbet and win the pot
*since I raise more and I hit the flop hard, again I win a much larger pot and players defend bigger pots than smaller ones so the effect is magnified...
*on limped pots I steal these alot more often by betting my draws and or bluffing in good spots..
The main thing is making a pot big enough for the other players to try and defend. Since I am in the lead and almost always in position, this is much harder for them to do. then every once in a while I get super lucky like my quad 88s hand from a previous post. Here is another example:
A player who I think is on "I want to leave tilt" has gone from 200 to 700 to 200 and back again in a matter of a few rounds.. but wont leave until he loses his whole stack. he is back to around 125 and limped around .. I have KQ and check my option from the bb and he is in the sb.. Flop is K high two clubs. I bet this since I have a good kicker and dont put anyone on AK and he calls my 15 bet.. I think he is probably on a flush draw.. turn is a 5 and now he leads into me for 25 .. I see this as a block bet and I raise to 75 and with only 75 left he calls.. river puts a 7 on the board and now he bets 50.. I call with a cry and he has rivered 7 for two pair 5s and 7s.. he was on a flush draw. bummer. so now he has around 250 and a few hands later he raises to 30 and I see KK and I raise to 135 .. when its up to him he shoves for around 250 and he flips over AK and I lose when an ace hits the flop.. so now hes back up to 500.. he gets a few pots here and there and I rebuy to 500 to keep my stack up.
I win a nice pot with AK a few hands later against JJ short stacker when we get it all in and I manage to win a few nice pots to get my stack to around 650 or so. He has around 400 at the start of the big hand..
So he limps as first in the pot and with another caller I raise to 30 with 9s (I moved one seat over ) this is my newer style to isolate ep limpers and try to get the hand heads up or 3 handed in position. Well he reraises me to 60.. player in between muses he would call the 30 but not 55 more.. Well I have him on AA and call the extra 30 hoping to see a 9 and get the rest of his chips. Remember he WANTS to leave.. So I see a 9 in the windos and to my surprise another 9 for good measure. Since I raised pre I dont think he would have me on a 9 and probably thinks I have an overpair to the board. So when he bets 100 I just call hoping he will shove the turn. He does I snap call him and he flips over AA and I say "no good" and flip over my quads and get all my chips back from him.
so the moral of the story is if I had just called someone else might have raise and I would not have been able to overcall his stupid min raise.. Also if no one called he might have been able to lay his AA down (maybe) because he might have been able to put me on a 9 in a limped pot calling him. By raising I was able to get his whole stack knowing exactly what he had.
so far so good. hopefully this can be the begginning to a whole new level of my play.
h
I realized I had to yet again improve or be mired in the depths of being a slave to cards. I realized that with my preferred type of play (tight) I wasnt getting much action on my big hands unless someone had something better or a better draw.. Basically I was playing with my hands turned over.
To counter this I needed to be more aggressive. Betting my draws, stealing pots in good situations, making plays that should be +ev etc.. Its been an interesting adjustment but so far so good. I have had nice cashes in 5 out of the last 6 times I have played. I had one mini cooler where I ran my AK into AA when they had a short stack. And I lost KK to AK when they flopped an Ace again when they had a short stack.
So its hard to say absolutely that my new more aggressive style is paying off, but I feel it is in a few ways:
* since I raise more and take the lead, I am able to win more small pots that still have say 40-50 bucks in them when I cbet and win the pot
*since I raise more and I hit the flop hard, again I win a much larger pot and players defend bigger pots than smaller ones so the effect is magnified...
*on limped pots I steal these alot more often by betting my draws and or bluffing in good spots..
The main thing is making a pot big enough for the other players to try and defend. Since I am in the lead and almost always in position, this is much harder for them to do. then every once in a while I get super lucky like my quad 88s hand from a previous post. Here is another example:
A player who I think is on "I want to leave tilt" has gone from 200 to 700 to 200 and back again in a matter of a few rounds.. but wont leave until he loses his whole stack. he is back to around 125 and limped around .. I have KQ and check my option from the bb and he is in the sb.. Flop is K high two clubs. I bet this since I have a good kicker and dont put anyone on AK and he calls my 15 bet.. I think he is probably on a flush draw.. turn is a 5 and now he leads into me for 25 .. I see this as a block bet and I raise to 75 and with only 75 left he calls.. river puts a 7 on the board and now he bets 50.. I call with a cry and he has rivered 7 for two pair 5s and 7s.. he was on a flush draw. bummer. so now he has around 250 and a few hands later he raises to 30 and I see KK and I raise to 135 .. when its up to him he shoves for around 250 and he flips over AK and I lose when an ace hits the flop.. so now hes back up to 500.. he gets a few pots here and there and I rebuy to 500 to keep my stack up.
I win a nice pot with AK a few hands later against JJ short stacker when we get it all in and I manage to win a few nice pots to get my stack to around 650 or so. He has around 400 at the start of the big hand..
So he limps as first in the pot and with another caller I raise to 30 with 9s (I moved one seat over ) this is my newer style to isolate ep limpers and try to get the hand heads up or 3 handed in position. Well he reraises me to 60.. player in between muses he would call the 30 but not 55 more.. Well I have him on AA and call the extra 30 hoping to see a 9 and get the rest of his chips. Remember he WANTS to leave.. So I see a 9 in the windos and to my surprise another 9 for good measure. Since I raised pre I dont think he would have me on a 9 and probably thinks I have an overpair to the board. So when he bets 100 I just call hoping he will shove the turn. He does I snap call him and he flips over AA and I say "no good" and flip over my quads and get all my chips back from him.
so the moral of the story is if I had just called someone else might have raise and I would not have been able to overcall his stupid min raise.. Also if no one called he might have been able to lay his AA down (maybe) because he might have been able to put me on a 9 in a limped pot calling him. By raising I was able to get his whole stack knowing exactly what he had.
so far so good. hopefully this can be the begginning to a whole new level of my play.
h
