HORSE is fun!
Over the past few days I have been playing a little of the 0.10/0.25 $25max NL on Stars because I haven't played a lot of NL ring games recently and I am finding limit poker quite boring lately. I guess I am becoming more of an action junkie.
I sat down and bought in for the max buy-in of $25 and started trying to get reads on the players. I noticed that the player on my left was pushing with a lot of marginal hands and busting and rebuying. He finally lucked out and caught two pair and doubled up to about $50. He was also doing stuff like raising open raising to $6.50 preflop, 26X the BB! I was just waiting to pick up a hand to come over the top of him and either just pick up his over bet or for a chance for him to double me up.
I finally picked up my first decent hand, AQ of diamonds. I was in middle position and decided to limp and hope he would raise, then come over the top. He raised it to about $6 after my limp and a guy in late position called it. I actually thought about chucking the hand but I felt that if I pushed I could at least get the late position guy out of the hand if the aggressive guy called me. Well, it worked. Guy to my left not only called my bet but went all in for about $15 more than I had. The thing about Stars is that they don't flip the cards when people are all-in which freaks me out when the board is revealed and I am wondering what the other guy has. The flop comes king high and the turn and river fail to help my hand. I am sure that he beat me but my hand is turned up first and his is immediately mucked. Sweet! I double up to about $53 or so with A high. In the chat, he said he had a lower suited ace and I believe him with the cards he was playing. I think he had A8 or A9.
The very next hand I am dealt 77 and decide to limp. I get to see a cheap flop of KJ7 rainbow. Very sweet for me. There are about 5 players in the hand at this point. UTG bets $2 so and I am next to act so I decide to raise it to about $6. With bottom set here I don't want to be messing around and I am thinking UTG might have hit a king so he might pay me off. Plus a hand like QT scares me a little here and I don't want to give him a cheap card. Everyone else folds and UTG calls. Turn is a blank and UTG leads again for $2 into a pot of about $15. This bet confused me a little so I decided to raise it a lot because I think he has something but I am pretty sure I still have the best hand. I think he would have raised JJ or KK preflop. I am thinking KQ or KJ at this point. I raise to $18 or so and he pushes the remainder of his stack which is only about another $6 or so and I call. River is a blank and he shows KJ for the flopped two pair and I take another huge pot.
I am really glad I decided to give NL another try because I had all but given up on it. I have been reading a lot lately from other blogs not to overvalue TPTK in NL or you will lose your money. Sets, straights and flushes are the way to go. Now I am a believer.
I also tried something completely new last night. Stars has started offering H.O.R.S.E. and have even put games in the play money section for those of us who have no clue what all of the letters mean. I am still a little confused by the E part of it. I hopped into the play money 20/40 with $5000 of my $50,000 in my play money account. I can't even remember how I build up the 50 grand in there it has been so long since I played for play money. I started a few hands into limit hold'em (there were 8 hands of each at a 8 handed table) and was extremely bored. Next was Omaha Hi/Lo which took me a little while to figure out what made up a low hand but I actually did quite well in this portion of the game. Made a few low's and even lucked into a few high hands. With a lot more practice, I might know what I am doing in a few more years with this game. So much to think about! Razz was fun but quite maddening when you start off with A24 and then get Q-Q-K-T after that. Stud and Stud Hi/Lo were pretty fun as well and I quit once it got around to hold'em again. I think I will try to practice here a little more, then hopefully Stars will spread some micro limit and I can play for pennies to stars. All and all a fun night of playing when I should be packing for my move. I am heading into Toronto after work to sign my lease.
Jopke
I sat down and bought in for the max buy-in of $25 and started trying to get reads on the players. I noticed that the player on my left was pushing with a lot of marginal hands and busting and rebuying. He finally lucked out and caught two pair and doubled up to about $50. He was also doing stuff like raising open raising to $6.50 preflop, 26X the BB! I was just waiting to pick up a hand to come over the top of him and either just pick up his over bet or for a chance for him to double me up.
I finally picked up my first decent hand, AQ of diamonds. I was in middle position and decided to limp and hope he would raise, then come over the top. He raised it to about $6 after my limp and a guy in late position called it. I actually thought about chucking the hand but I felt that if I pushed I could at least get the late position guy out of the hand if the aggressive guy called me. Well, it worked. Guy to my left not only called my bet but went all in for about $15 more than I had. The thing about Stars is that they don't flip the cards when people are all-in which freaks me out when the board is revealed and I am wondering what the other guy has. The flop comes king high and the turn and river fail to help my hand. I am sure that he beat me but my hand is turned up first and his is immediately mucked. Sweet! I double up to about $53 or so with A high. In the chat, he said he had a lower suited ace and I believe him with the cards he was playing. I think he had A8 or A9.
The very next hand I am dealt 77 and decide to limp. I get to see a cheap flop of KJ7 rainbow. Very sweet for me. There are about 5 players in the hand at this point. UTG bets $2 so and I am next to act so I decide to raise it to about $6. With bottom set here I don't want to be messing around and I am thinking UTG might have hit a king so he might pay me off. Plus a hand like QT scares me a little here and I don't want to give him a cheap card. Everyone else folds and UTG calls. Turn is a blank and UTG leads again for $2 into a pot of about $15. This bet confused me a little so I decided to raise it a lot because I think he has something but I am pretty sure I still have the best hand. I think he would have raised JJ or KK preflop. I am thinking KQ or KJ at this point. I raise to $18 or so and he pushes the remainder of his stack which is only about another $6 or so and I call. River is a blank and he shows KJ for the flopped two pair and I take another huge pot.
I am really glad I decided to give NL another try because I had all but given up on it. I have been reading a lot lately from other blogs not to overvalue TPTK in NL or you will lose your money. Sets, straights and flushes are the way to go. Now I am a believer.
I also tried something completely new last night. Stars has started offering H.O.R.S.E. and have even put games in the play money section for those of us who have no clue what all of the letters mean. I am still a little confused by the E part of it. I hopped into the play money 20/40 with $5000 of my $50,000 in my play money account. I can't even remember how I build up the 50 grand in there it has been so long since I played for play money. I started a few hands into limit hold'em (there were 8 hands of each at a 8 handed table) and was extremely bored. Next was Omaha Hi/Lo which took me a little while to figure out what made up a low hand but I actually did quite well in this portion of the game. Made a few low's and even lucked into a few high hands. With a lot more practice, I might know what I am doing in a few more years with this game. So much to think about! Razz was fun but quite maddening when you start off with A24 and then get Q-Q-K-T after that. Stud and Stud Hi/Lo were pretty fun as well and I quit once it got around to hold'em again. I think I will try to practice here a little more, then hopefully Stars will spread some micro limit and I can play for pennies to stars. All and all a fun night of playing when I should be packing for my move. I am heading into Toronto after work to sign my lease.
Jopke
posted by Leafs31 at 10:56 AM
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