Bug's Good Beat of the Day

Met Flyboy for lunch today and went over some of his PT3 stats, replaying some of his bigger more recent losing hands, trying to uncover some leaks. We discovered four areas that need work, which are general enough that they bear repeating here:

1. Avoid Trap Hands. Don’t play these OOP and/or when facing a raise…. unless of course you have a plan or a reason to do so. Generally speaking, fold and move onto the next hand. There are situations (e.g., against weak/fishy players) where you can play then IP, but as a general rule it’s best to pick easier battles.
2. Work on Bet Sizing. Min bets accomplish nothing. You won’t get better hands to fold, and you’re not charging the worse hands enough to chase.
3. Evaluate Board Texture. Keep asking yourself a) is this a wet or dry board? b) should I be afraid of this board? c) should the opp be afraid of this board? d) what cards do I want to see on the turn? e) what cards do I NOT want to see on the turn.
4. Be Afraid of Big Villain Bets. The main point here is to believe what the villain is saying with his bets. When he bets big or CR’s the turn, he likes his hand. When he cold calls your flop bet (e.g., when you hold TPTK), it means he’s not afraid of the board… and therefore you might ought to be. Yes, you get bluffed occasionally, but more often than not at the micro-stakes tables the players tell you what they have by the bets. When they check, they usually have missed. When they bet, they’ve usually hit.

All good useful advice, for beginners and advanced players alike.

Before I go, here's a big winner I played recently. For a change it was nice to be the one who sucked out:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($10) MP3 ($2.57) CO ($10.76) Button ($0.59) SB ($10.18) BB ($10.95) Hero (UTG) ($16.16) UTG+1 ($5.76) MP1 ($3.51)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, MP1 calls $0.30, 3 folds, Button raises to $0.59 (All-In), 1 fold, BB raises to $2.42, Hero raises to $8.20, MP1 calls $3.21 (All-In), BB raises to $10.95 (All-In), Hero calls $2.75

Flop: ($26.05) 3, 6, 3 (4 players, 3 all-in)

Turn: ($26.05) K (4 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($26.05) J (4 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $26.05 | Rake: $1.73

Results: Button had 7, 7 (two pair, sevens and threes). BB had A, A (two pair, Aces and threes). Hero had K, K (full house, Kings over threes). MP1 had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and threes).

Results: Hero won $24.32

The BB was a fairly loose aggressive sort, so I figured he could be doing this with JJ+ and AK+. Against this range, I'm pretty far ahead (something like 65:35), so getting it all in PF is the right play, even against 3 other players.....

....whew.

All-in for now....
-Bug