I AM PROBABLY NOT BLUFFING!

                                                          I’m not bluffing!

           


Despite promising myself not to play for a few days, the allure of the game was too much for me, and once again I found myself playing an early morning poker sessions.  The games at the 0.15c/0.25c have simply been too good and had I not done my usual thing of wasting money on narrowly losing football bets, I’d now be seeing some serious profit.  Yesterday I managed to accumulate a huge stack of $100 from $25 when I played my 33 to perfection in a big pot.  The main rule is, if you are involved in a big pot, do EVERYTHING you can to try to win it!


Here’s how it went:

I called from early position with 33 with two players to my right.  The original pre flop raiser bet the pot on the flop, which I called with a two way straight (open ended).  There was another $5.50 bet on the turn, which I also decided to call and the pot got bloated by a third call from the player next to me on the right.  The river made my straight, the big raiser went all in for $16 and there was NO WAY I was folding here despite the potential made flush!  In my opinion, it was unlikely either player had made a flush.  Here’s what happened:



CASHING OUT

The trouble is, is that I decided to cash out some of my money to pay a bill, and in the poker players mind when you don’t see that money as part of your bankroll any longer, then it is as if you’ve lost it.  You only see what you have in front of you, but the truth is I am actually doing better than I thought I was even though overall I’m down on profit this month by around 15-20%.


Still I’m not concerned though because as I said, on the poker tables, I’ve been having a very successful time of it! 


I woke up this morning thinking about how I could improve my game further as one concept in particular had been bothering me in recent play: pot odds. So I re read the chapter from David Sklansky’s Small Stakes hold’em how to crush micro stakes games and considered his words.  What are pot odds? When do I have the correct number of outs to call on a draw in terms of the pot odds, bets made and money in?  Although by the end I still wasn’t 100% sure, I felt I had a slightly clearer idea in my mind and tried to do the maths when it came to the type of bets happening in my game.


I truly felt that these extra ten minutes of pre game study helped me to win a massive pot during a short session played at the 0.08c/0.16c level I dropped down to while playing in one other table as well.  Here I held KQ off suit which I decided to raise from mid position.  I got one early position caller (a good player) and a poor short stack player.  The flop came K ♠️ Q 💎 3 💎.  I re raised the early position bet and then just called the big raise into me on the turn when a scary 9 of 💎 arrived!  Suddenly the good player to my left went all in and the short stack called putting him all in.  I considered my options.  This was a massive pot.  I probably had 4 outs.  Usually I would just fold here.  But I considered my pot odds and whether I would profit in the long term by making the call and hitting either a K or Q.  Although I didn’t know the exact maths I decided that taking the risk was profitable knowing what the other players were likely to have as well.  Fortunately my risk did pay off and my K arrived on the river!!




CONCLUSION:

As I said, despite being around 15-20% down for the month, I feel excited.  Excited about my game and the potential for making money, given the loose way players seem to play even at this level.  Of course caution is required as there are genuinely good players out there as well.  I’ve noticed that here a lot of players try to ‘stack you’ by playing tight and waiting for those sets on the flop, so watch out sometimes with hands like AK! Love AK, but don’t love it too much!! Same goes for all hands really.


Bankroll startup: £300

Profit/loss: -15/20%

Cashed out: £30


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I have been playing poker for about 15 years. I play online currently and I've played poker in casinos, card rooms, local games and with friends. I play NL hold'em tournaments and cash games and can also play Pot Limit Omaha, a game I also love.
Comments (1)
Ukraine Vetal Guru
Guru

Fantastic: on the turn, straight and flush, and the river full house is stronger than everyone

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