Fold this 100% in Micro Stake Sngs or MTTs

One of the most important skills in nlhe is knowing when to fold. In Micro Stakes Sngs and low buy in MTTs if we raise and get reraised by SB/BB we can fold up to QQ with out feeling too badly. Unless we have a read that villain is a maniac, a reraise from the blinds, especially in the early stages is more often than not AA/KK.

One characteristic of this raise is that it is usually a smallish reraise. Because of the size of the bet it may be correct for us to call with pocket pairs for set value, but if we don't improve post flop we need to get out.

I've noticed this for some time but continue to pay off in these spots. Hopefully posting it here will help me get away from these hands in the future.

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Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 1,105
MP1: 1,378
Hero (MP2): 1,452
CO: 4,485
BTN: 2,330
SB: 3,630
BB: 4,175
UTG: 840
UTG+1: 195

Pre-Flop: (75) Jh Jc dealt to Hero (MP2)
UTG calls 50, UTG+1 raises to 195 and is All-In, 2 folds, Hero raises to 400, 2 folds, SB raises to 605, 2 folds, Hero raises to 1,452 and is All-In, SB calls 847

Flop: (3,199) 4d 8h Qs (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (3,199) 5h (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (3,199) Ac (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 3,199 Pot
Hero showed Jh Jc (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-1,452 NET)
SB showed Kh Kd (a pair of Kings) and WON 2,514 (+1,062 NET)
UTG+1 showed As 6c (a pair of Aces) and WON 685 (+490 NET)

Shouldve gotten away from this pre. small stack goes AI, i reraise to iso and this guy min reraises = fold JJ. Unfortunately i don't give villains alot of respect in the early stages of a $4 180 because they are usually so bad. This was bad in that it narrowed his range down to prob just 3 hands, all of which have me crushed.

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Poker Stars, $9 + $0.90 NL Hold'em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

MP2: 1,240
CO: 1,430
BTN: 1,730
SB: 3,090
BB: 1,540
UTG: 1,180
UTG+1: 1,780
Hero (UTG+2): 1,620
MP1: 1,430

Pre-Flop: (30) Jc Jd dealt to Hero (UTG+2)
2 folds, Hero raises to 80, 5 folds, BB raises to 140, Hero calls 60

Flop: (290) Kh 7s 8s (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (290) 9c (2 Players)
BB bets 180, Hero calls 180

River: (650) 8d (2 Players)
BB bets 180, Hero calls 180

Results: 1,010 Pot
BB showed As Ad (two pair, Aces and Eights) and WON 1,010 (+510 NET)
Hero mucked Jc Jd and LOST (-500 NET)

I definitly shouldve gotten away from this and save the 360 chips. What did i think i beat on the flop? sigh... i play bad. JJ was not good to me yesterday... i believe i lost with it 4 times.

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I don't have the hand history on hand, but i was also reraised smallish from the btn in another tournament yesterday that turned out to be AA also. So generally smallish raises pre-flop = monster unless you have a read otherwise.

-Isgrinder

Mistakes will Donkey Make.

After reviewing several tournaments i realized i'm a huge donkey. I just make too many mistakes, and spew like crazy. Even when i play relatively well i usually make that one huge mistake down the stretch that end any chance i have of winning. I'm playing horribly right now.

I will be posting these donkish plays and trying to analyze what i did wrong or could've done differently on this blog... no bad beats.. no brags.. just pure donkishness. I have to slow down and think through my dicisions better.

ok to the hands...

Hand1 from a $4 180 man sit n go

Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 75/150 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

SB: 3,525
BB: 1,330
UTG: 3,510
UTG+1: 3,490
MP1: 3,210
MP2: 2,040
CO: 6,425
Hero (BTN): 7,110

Pre-Flop: (225) 9h Qh dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, Hero raises to 450, SB folds, BB raises to 1,330 and is All-In, 3 folds, Hero calls 880

Flop: (2,885) 3d Tc Ac (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (2,885) Qd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (2,885) As (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,885 Pot (2,885 Rake)
BB showed 9c 9d and LOST (-1,330 NET)
Hero showed 9h Qh and WON 1,330 NET


Table was playing tight and i decided to raise with a pretty hand, unfortunately i was in EP and once shorty shoved i think i had to call. Fold PF in this position.

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Hand 2
Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 75/150 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

SB: 3,825
BB: 1,230
UTG: 3,285
UTG+1: 2,740
UTG+2: 1,920
MP1: 1,275
MP2: 1,755
CO: 5,975
Hero (BTN): 10,240

Pre-Flop: (225) 4h 4c dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, UTG raises to 450, 5 folds, Hero calls 300

Flop: (975) 2c 6h 7s (2 Players)
Hero bets 600, UTG raises to 2,835 and is All-In, Hero calls 2,235

Turn: (6,645) 9c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (6,645) 8c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 6,645 Pot (6,645 Rake)
UTG showed Qs Qc and WON 3,285 NET
Hero showed 4h 4c and LOST (-3,285 NET)


Call pf was ok i think, but i have to let it go on the flop... there's not much i beat that shoves after i lead flop. just spewey.

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Hand 3
Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

SB: 9,015
BB: 8,026
Hero (UTG): 7,004
UTG+1: 15,164
MP: 11,881
CO: 9,927
BTN: 8,155

Pre-Flop: (450) 5c 4c dealt to Hero (UTG)
BB folds, Hero raises to 900, UTG+1 calls 900, MP calls 900, 3 folds

Flop: (3,150) 3d Kc 5s (3 Players)
Hero bets 2,100, UTG+1 raises to 14,239, 2 folds

Results: 7,350 Pot (7,350 Rake)

spewage. I will sometimes raise with suited connectors from this positon, but i just put too much of my stack in with this hand.I think i have to adjust to my image better and let these type of hands go when i've been active.

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Poker Stars, $4 + $0.40 NL Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 18,094
Hero (MP1): 9,353
MP2: 4,425
CO: 6,580
BTN: 2,533
SB: 7,455
BB: 17,630
UTG: 4,415

Pre-Flop: (675) Ac Qh dealt to Hero (MP1)
2 folds, UTG+1 calls 300, Hero raises to 1,500, MP2 calls 1,500, 4 folds, UTG+1 calls 1,200

Flop: (5,175) Qc 6d 2d (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, MP2 bets 900, UTG+1 raises to 1,800, Hero raises to 7,828 and is All-In, MP2 calls 2,000 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 6,028

Turn: (23,731) Jc (3 Players - 2 are All-In)

River: (23,731) Td (3 Players - 2 are All-In)

Results: 23,731 Pot
UTG+1 showed Ah Ad (a pair of Aces) and WON 23,731 (+14,378 NET)
Hero showed Ac Qh (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-9,353 NET)
MP2 showed Qs As (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-4,425 NET)

I simply failed to think through this hand. There's no way i shouldve stacked off with TPTK in this spot.

If i had just followed the sequence of events i couldve folded;

chipleader limps utg+1
hero raises 4x+1
MP cold calls
Chipleader calls
Hero chks
MP bets
Chipleader Min Check raises
Hero folds!!!!!

At the very least i shouldve put him on a set and folded. this was bad, i had a nice stack with about 33 remaining. :(

Levelling - - Hand Reading

"Multiple level thinking is largely what seperates professionals from amateurs, what seperate players who win at the top levels from those who lose" - Sklansky

For the most part players on my level, including myself, think on level one the majority of the time. This level, refered to as the "Zeroth" level in "Theory and Practise", is where a player only considers his hand and what possible hands can beat his hand.

The next level or '1st level' is where we consider what our opponent has based on the actions that he makes. For instance, he raised pre-flop therefore he must have a strong hand or he made a big bet he must have hit his hand, or his bet is typical of a weak hand... etc. etc.

The following level or '2nd level' we think about what our opponents might think we have based on the actions we've taken. So if we raised pre-flop our opponents are likely to think we have AK rather than J5.

Using just these three levels and maybe the third level, which is to think about what our opponent thinks we think he has, we should have a significant edge on most opponents at the micro stakes.

The trick is to put your opponent at a level and think one level deeper, which will usually be the 2nd level.