Horrible downswing continues...

[badgers]

Argh. I don't know what I can do except grind it out and try and sort this out... Down 20 BIs, frustrating as hell, SitnGo wiz says I've been playing good poker and yes I've sometimes adjusted the ranges. I'm down to single tabling while I try and sort it out

This sort of thing has happened a couple of times, anyone do anything different?

NL Texas Hold'em $11 USD Buy-in Trny: 34550391 Level: 3 Blinds(50/100) - Thursday, July 19, 07:22:11 ET 2007
Table Speed #1329879 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: TigerTight5 ( 1,620 )
Seat 2: BANKHAI ( 3,760 )
Seat 5: rosmar77 ( 5,600 )
Seat 4: hamish500 ( 1,760 )
Seat 6: badgers_uk ( 1,610 )
Seat 9: nenad78 ( 5,650 )
Trny: 34550391 Level: 3
Blinds(50/100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to badgers_uk [ 9d 9c ]
nenad78 calls [100]
TigerTight5 folds
BANKHAI folds
hamish500 folds
rosmar77 folds
badgers_uk raises [300] - Should have been 400, typo but that's not the point.
nenad78 raises [600]
badgers_uk is all-In [1,210]


I see 9s in that spot and can't wait to get it in. Opp has been solid though, but small PP seems very much part of his range.

[topsoyale]

Sadly this looks like a classic limp push with monster.

Even if it was a typo you haven't committed much to the pot and should be able to fold here with only 50/100 blinds.

Downswings should be horrible but you have to make sure that you don't classify marginally bad plays as "oh must be variance gain".

Keep your head straight and ride it through.

[badgers]

Sadly this looks like a classic limp push with monster.

Even if it was a typo you haven't committed much to the pot and should be able to fold here with only 50/100 blinds.

Downswings should be horrible but you have to make sure that you don't classify marginally bad plays as "oh must be variance gain".

Keep your head straight and ride it through.

But seriously do you fold here?

[topsoyale]

Well, limp UTG could mean a lot so I'd raise to, I think you wanted to go to 400 which is what I'd do. However you raise to 300 which leaves you with ~1300 chips.

He reraises after limping and whether he has a big hand or not you don't want to calling all your chips here.

If he has played a monster pair like this you're dominated when you could have folded and kept a decent stack considering the blinds are low.

If he has overcards you're flipping and there is no need again considering the low blinds.

Or you've caught him with lower PP, or win a flip, which is a good result, but I think you're risking too much to do so.

Crank the blinds to 100 / 200 and make it 5 handed I push.

[marmot]

What a horrible spot. Looks like a high pair but with his stack could be wider too. I think you probably should fold but I don't think I could or would here.

[taipan168]

Well, limp UTG could mean a lot so I'd raise to, I think you wanted to go to 400 which is what I'd do. However you raise to 300 which leaves you with ~1300 chips.

It is read dependent but I tend to agree with you. With a read that opp is solid, I'd give credit to the limp/re-raise and fold, but...

He reraises after limping and whether he has a big hand or not you don't want to calling all your chips here.

If he has played a monster pair like this you're dominated when you could have folded and kept a decent stack considering the blinds are low.

If he has overcards you're flipping and there is no need again considering the low blinds.

Or you've caught him with lower PP, or win a flip, which is a good result, but I think you're risking too much to do so.

...if we know that we're flipping, we absolutely have to shove over here considering the dead chips in the pot. The reason to fold here isn't because it's too early to flip, it's because we think we are behind opp's range of hands considering the pot odds/dead chips.

[badgers]

If we treat his raise as a push which we might as well seeing as we have no FE, then TT+ is an easy call amiright? 99 looks to be a borderline hand as he's solid, anything like 77 is an easy fold. i just see too many players limping ducks etc. for set value then thinking "I'm actually a favourite against AK, I'm all in!". 99 looks good to me here, if it's relevant this is a party speed which is incredibly quick - I need to take any small edge.

[mcatdog]

I try not to get involved in silly little mind games when my stack is that short. If my hand is good enough to shove over the top of a standard raise by him -- and 99 obviously is good enough here -- then I don't worry about his limp-reraise and I just go all-in anyway. If he actually has a big pair, then his "clever trap" did him no good because we would have ended up all-in anyway if he'd just made a standard raise. But if he's ever bluffing here then folding is a disaster. This may be poor thinking on my part but it's how I've always thought about these situations.

[Jack Sawyer]

Sadly this looks like a classic limp push with monster.

QFT

fold this.
EDIT: i didn't pay attention that you were the BB
in that case
check/fold (to no set or cheap draw) this.

[mike4066]

There a few things that set alarms spinning about this hand.

First the big stack limping UTG after you say he's playing "solid" So I put him on a small-mid pair, maybe a strong ace.

You raise with position, and he limp-min raises you.

That action right there sets off lights in my head

Limp raises are typical AA,KK, or maybe AK - typically solid players don't limp raise UTG unless the table is uber agro at which point your re-raise is alot more than a min raise.

The min raise - he's praying for you to push or give him action. The min raise in this spot does nothing but add chips to this pot, he knows your not in a position to fold.

But in reality you can, it puts you into push/fold poker which sucks but I'd rather push first in than play againt this aggression.

[bjsaust]

Why not just check and look for a set?

[badgers]

I still can't find a fold here, rightly or wrongly. I could perhaps have seen his small rr and seen it as trappy but it just looked weak, as I said I can basically put him on any PP, even if he pushes. Add in perhaps AK, AQ and we have a range that I can shove vs. easily.

Why not just check and look for a set?

Interesting thought, I hadn't actually considered that, could well be a good line to avoid the tough decision if he limp/pushes, but I'm not sure we're maximising value with a goid starting hand by checking; we will have to play the flop OOP and will most likely be thinking no set - no bet (except on rag flop obv.) I'd rather just take down the pot now than hand him the pot 6/7 times.

[bjsaust]

True, tough one. Given stacks though you have your 15:1 odds, and it costs you no extra money to play. If it hits, its fairly hidden, and if he's slowplaying a monster (whats odds? Say 20%?) then you'll probably get paid.

Dunno, tough spot for sure. Limpers always mess up my thinking.

[biondino]

Sorry badgers, a limp/3-bet is never ever ever a lower PP. Ever. Who would possibly play like that? By re-raising they would have to either think you were on some kind of ridiculous bluff - and even if the 300 was a typo, it's the bet that they can see, so it's pretty obviously not a bluff, and they must assume you'll usually call or push when the re-raise. Essentially they are saying "let's go all-in" but without any of the benefits of an open push (i.e. fold equity).

So it's got to be a very strong hand; AK might do this, AQ in the hands of a very aggro player maybe, but 90% of the time this is TT+. It just has to be. It's a very easy fold against anyone other than a maniac who has demonstrated such moves with junk many times before.

(side note - a small PP might limp/call, limp/push or even limp/fold here, sure. But limp/re-raising is just so skewed. Hmm, maybe I should add it to my arsenal )

[drmcboy]

Based on this hand, it seems like you're playing one street at a time. Think through a couple actions before you bet.

You have to assume a UTG limper is going to call 300 more. Now you have a little under 1K in the pot and a little more than 1K in your stack and you are OOP. What's the plan on the flop?

Checking is fine, pushing seems fine too. The only reason to make this play is if you have seen him limp/fold a lot from EP.

[mike4066]

You were in the big blind in this hand right?

I think checking along here would actually be really "safe".. Easy to get away from an ugly flop, and you can feel more confident about getting your money in on a good flop.


If you on such a downswing maybe your getting too aggressive?
Do you have poker tracker? If so look back at your preflop vpip/pfr and aggression on each street, see if there is a diffrence in your last 300 sng's as opposed to when you were doing better.