Feb 15 2010

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

Category: Chewie's ChipstackChewie

@ 11:04 am

Lately I’ve been playing pretty tight at the tables.  I’ve hit a pretty bad run of cards and if I’m being honest with myself have begun to play a bit scared.  Never a good feeling.  I try not to watch hands where I’ve already folded but I simply cannot do it.  I watch every hand and find myself (more often than not) saying “Man, I wish I would have stayed in for one more street.”  Here are just a couple of examples from a recent game:

Hand #1

The under the gun player folds and the next player raises to $400 early in the tournament.  I look down and see a nice looking King Ten suited and think for quite a while before throwing my hand away.  I figure that against an early position raiser I’m most certainly behind – potentially crippled.  Of course, the flop comes out with three clubs including the Ace.  I could only sit and watch as the pot was pushed to someone else after I’d laid down my nut flush pre flop.

Hand #2

The second time I had the deal I look down and see those beautiful bullets.  It’s music to my ears when the under the gun player raises.  It’s folded around to me and I make a decent size raise which he calls.  At this point I put him on a middle pair or AK.

AA on button, raise, called by one player.  The flop comes 224 and he moves all in.  I fold.  This is a pathetic play and I realize it even before he turns over QQ.  Playing scared sucks.

I’m happy to say that the next time I sat down at the table I did NOT play nearly this scared.  It’s very important to look at your game objectively.  Gotta plug those leaks whenever you can!

See you after the flop.

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Feb 08 2010

All In Or Fold… I Did Neither

Category: Chewie's Chipstack, Questionable PlaysChewie

@ 12:12 pm

Heads up for the title and I’m out chipped by about 10:1.  We’ve been playing heads up for about 20 minutes at this point and I’m hanging tight.  I’ve moved in a couple of times and he’s folded.  I’m to the point that I really can’t call a raise so he’s moving me all in when he raises (typically from the button).  I look down at 77.  I obviously can’t fold here and would probably take the pot down here with an all in (my opponent confirmed this after the game).  Instead I choose to raise and try to win a big pot.

A pretty terrible flop for my sevens but I do have an inside straight draw.  I check giving up the lead and the button makes a reasonable bet which I call.

Trips on the turn puts 4 to a straight out there but I’m backed into a corner at this point.  I move in and get called instantly by J9 for a made straight.  I fail to fill up on the river when an Ace comes and the tourney is over.

I knew when I raised preflop I could be getting myself into trouble.  In all honesty I may have been getting a bit antsy but I was really hoping to get a double up to gain some traction.  Going into heads up 10:1 or 15:1 I knew I was in for an uphill battle and figured that this hand was as good a time as any to try and make my move.

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