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Wednesday 16 November 2011

Showing too much respect!

The image that you forecast to your opponents at the table is an important factor when they are up against you in a hand. Last week's poker night is a fine example:

I had a solid evening of poker, play lasted just over 5hours and I never found all my chips in the middle once, even though before the first hand was dealt I declared to my poker mates "I will guarantee and show 3 stone cold bluffs for the night". So they knew I would, they just didn't know when, this worked well in my favour because I was getting loose callers when I had the Nuts, and players folding to bluffs.

I felt I played loose aggressive, and the only thing I would change is the unnecessary flops I pay to see. There were many stages in the night where the best cards I received was like 3h 9h, and I would call small raises just to see the flop - even though I folded when I missed, the calls chipped away from my towers of chips. My mental goal was to stay patient, focused and 'incontrol', and by this I wanted to keep it strictly business and not make too many haphazard big calls. As a result the only story I managed to extract from the evening was against a pretty tight and calculated player, that however makes a few 'over calculated' decisions.
Play was down to 4-handed, I'm in Big Blind and receive A5 (off suit). The player UTG raises R5. Action folds round to me, I re-raise what is essentially 7x BB. He calls after a minute or two of thinking.
*I immediately put him on a mediocre hand (small/ medium pair, medium/ high suited cards). Flop comes [5 6 5]. I make it R21, he RAISES 2x my bet. I feel I'm ahead so I RE-RAISE by R60... Then, out of nowhere he SNAPS ALL IN about R200!!!! And without giving it much thought I FOLD. Possibly because I put him on the small pair and his tight play throughout the night made me cautious. Or because I regard him as one of the more experienced and calculated players at the table.

Even though many players sitting around the table were unsure as to why I LAID IT DOWN, I feel that as chipleader its not really wise to get too involved in hands with 2nd highest stack at the table.

STRATEGIC and FOCUSED are the two words I will be taking with me to the next poker table I find myself at.

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