Position and Pushing

Went to the Chu this past Saturday (10/27) and played my usual $60 NL table - seat 2 (of course). Bought in for $60 and never was in the red - got lots of crappy cards but stayed tight and am proud of myself for that.

I found a hole in my game the previous week and wanted to see if my play would be improved. So what was the wondrous secret that I discovered? My hand selection requirements were too damn loose when I would first sit down at the table. I was playing too many "gray-area" hands (e.g., A5, Q9 offsuit) when I started play because - well, I guess I just wanted to play. Of course, after I would get my ass handed to me, I naturally tightened up and played better cards. So how did I discover this?

I had gone to the little place on the Avenue (in Ventura) on the Saturday before (20th) and played at the 4/8 table (yes, I swore I'd not be playing that game ever again, but I had a moment of weakness...). Anyway, lost my first $100 buy-in and decided to buy-in again but play tighter. Guess what? My play was better (duh!). Ended up ~$100 for the day because I made a conscious decision not to play marginal hands like K9 and A7 from middle position, or from late position / SB when the pot had been raised. I tightened my selection criteria down to the point where I was pretty much either folding or raising - very, very rarely calling. And it seemed to have worked - at least at Limit, I would play a bit different at NL.

So this is a key reason why I've always been a losing player at the start of my sessions and a winner as time went on. Why did it take me so long to find this problem? Well, I don't think that I was being fully honest with myself in my review of my hand-selection. I would tell myself that, 'yeah, I'm a tight player' and wouldn't really look deeper at my play.

So anyway, some hands that stand out from the last 2 weeks are:

1) Ventura, 4/8 limit - from under-the-gun (seat 3) I raise with AdQd and get 4 callers, including the blinds. Flop is Kd, 6d, 3c and I bet when it's checked to me - the player behind me calls and the button raises, the blinds fold and we both call. Turn is the Jd giving me the nut flush but not a 'home-free' feeling - I figure the button has a set and the guy behind me (seat 6) may have a set or a smaller flush. I check, seat 6 checks, and the button bets - now I raise to build the pot while I'm on top. Both players call. River is the 5s and I bet again, seat 6 calls, and the button says, 'show me your flush' as he calls. I show the flush - button did have a set but not until the turn (JJ), and seat 6 had a set of kings. Anyway, nice pot to me.

2) Ventura, 8/16 Kill, limit - from early position I look down at two red kings and raise it, and am called in 4 spots including seat 1 (UTG) who is very loose and is playing any 2 cards. Flop is 5d, 6d, 7d giving me an iffy flush draw and making my kings essentially worthless. Seat 1 bets and everyone calls. Turn is 3d giving me a flush but even more problems - seat 1 bets and we all call (baaah). River is the Ad giving me AK-high flush and I'm just praying that seat 1 doesn't have that damn 4d. He bets, I call and everyone else bails out. I show the K and he shows the 4 for the straight flush. He had 7c4d and called $8 from UTG. I just say, 'nice hand' and cock my eyebrow at the guys across the table in a 'WTF?' kind of way...

3) Chu, 60NL - from early position (seat 2) I pick up AQo and decide to raise to $7, and get 3 callers. Flop is a lovely AQJ rainbow and I notice that seat 4 seems to like it too, so I check - and he bets out $20, which causes the others to fold. Now I know he likes his hand, so I raise him all-in (~$35 more). I figured that he'd insta-call, but he goes into the tank and finally chucks it in. Oh well.

4) Chu, 60NL - from the SB it's been a limp-fest after a live-straddle so there's ~$25 in the pot already - and I've got JJ. Now, I absolutely hate JJ, so I decide to push and try to take it here - I raise to $20. I get 3 callers (crap - that's not what I wanted) - goddam JJ. Flop is a tremendous Tc, 6d, 2d - and I ponder a second before moving all-in for ~$85 more. Again, seat 4 goes into the tank and starts talking, 'I've got a small pair, I bet you've just got AK...' If this guy knew me, he'd know I don't push with nothing. He talks for a good minute going back and forth and I just sit there trying to mentally slow my heart-rate and breathing while staring at nothing but the pot in the center of the table. He finally folds as do the others behind him, and I take down a nice one. Man, I love JJ !

5) Chu, 60NL - in the BB and it's been raised to $10 from early position (loose player on a rush) and I look at QQ. It's folded to me and I pop it to $30 - which he insta-calls. Flop is As, 6s, 4d - and I'm out of position, crap. I meekly check (what I wimp I am) and, surprisingly, so does he. Turn is Tc and I bet out another $30 - and he folds. Yay

6) Chu, 60NL - from UTG I see KK and raise it to $7, and get called by 4 players (maybe I need to increase my standard raise to $10 or so...). Anyway, flop is a QJ7 rainbow and I bet $12 at it. It gets folded to seat 8 who raises to $24, and everyone else bails. Now I hate min-raises, they scare me - but I go ahead and call and seriously wonder if he's got QJ or a set. Turn is a 8 and I have to worry about T9 now too. I check and he bets out $20, but something tells me that he's not that strong. I look at my chips and see that I've got ~$75left and I consider raising him. But I don't want to push in here (even though I should have), and I don't want to raise more than half of my stack - which is what would happen if I min-raise him back. I basically felt I didn't have enough chips to raise without raising all-in - and I was fairly certain he'd fold if I did that. So I called, figuring to extract more on the river. River was Jd and now I'm wondering why I didn't just try to push him out. Again, I'm out of position and I have to check - but he checks too and shows AQ, and my kings win.

Lessons learned?
a) Quit playing so many hands out of position - almost every single hand listed here was from early position - and that just makes my life harder. I need to pay more attention to my position - if it's early position, push harder and try to minimize post-flop activity (where I'm at a disadvantage).

b) Pay closer attention to how hard I push when I feel I have the edge - I pushed properly with the nut-flush when I (rightly) suspected the guy was on the draw, and I pushed properly with the JJ after that great flop. But I played the QQ too soft. I also didn't play the AQ (2 pair) and the KK as well as I should have (pushed too hard, and not hard enough, respectively).

c) Keep up the good work on the hand-selection - dump those 'gray-area' hands, especially out of position.


Net - Ventura $100 / Chu $130

Poker drawer is at $1200

Taking the whole wad to Vegas next week - we'll see what comes from that...