Recent Success

This past week has been one of my most successful limit poker weeks since I first started playing.

Over on Poker Stars I’ve played just under 3000 hands since last Thursday and I’m up around 280 BB.

Now, I realise some of this is due to variance and I will admit at times I’ve enjoyed some good luck with the cards. Heck, even my pocket jacks have been holding up to the river! For example:

:Jh::Jd:

I’m first to act and raise, the player to my left re-raises and gets four (!) callers. A little nervous about my prospects I call to finish the betting round. So the pot is now 18 SB and we haven’t even seen a flop:

:3s::Td::3h:

Player to my right checks, I bet, the original raiser re-raises and all except one calls. I really don’t think the re-raiser has a three, in fact given previous reads I have to say he could have any over card so I re-raise him back. He calls… and so does EVERYONE else left in the hand!

So going to the turn the pot is 16.5 BB:

I get that nervous feeling and just check this card (weak play? perhaps, but the action has been quite fierce up until now). The original raiser checks another player who’d just called up until now bets and myself and two others call, so we have 22.5 BB in the middle and the river comes:

Now there’s a flush on the board as well. I check. The turn bettor bets and everyone left in the pot just calls.

The late aggressor shows:

:Ah::4c:

Everyone else mucks (checking back later the second best hand was pocket 7’s) and I take down a big multiway pot on a scary(ish) board with pocket jacks that didn’t improve. Good times!

Anyway, I’m getting off topic my point was supposed to be that it’s not all been good luck (though you won’t believe me after that example). I’ve made a few changes to my game which look like they are helping, these include:

1. Not underestimating the bad players, I have made mistakes before where I’ve played against the odds due to thinking that my opponents are poor players. While it’s often true that they are poor, usually at the levels I’m playing at they have exactly the hand they are telling you they have with their bets. Also, just because no one raised preflop, doesn’t mean my ace rag is good. The number of players I see just calling with big hands like AK and AQ is crazy, got to watch what they do after the flop.
2. Raising for value when appropriate, especially preflop. I haven’t been doing enough raising preflop, this past week I’ve been following Miller’s recommendations to the letter and it’s been paying off.
3. In addition to the above, being able to check or fold post flop if I’ve raised preflop and haven’t hit anything. This depends on opponents/position and potential to improve but unlike in NL hold’em a post flop bet on a low board isn’t scaring anyone (no one ever believes you have a high pocket pair at the tables I play on, which is nice when you do).
4. Never drawing unless the odds are exactly right. I’ve been guilty too many times of saying “Well, I’m almost getting odds” … almost isn’t good enough!

All pretty basic stuff really and stuff that I thought I was doing until I sat down and analysed some big losing hands, it’s amazing how plugging a few leaks (and getting some good cards) can make you feel a whole lot better about your game.

Good luck at the tables!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 16th, 2006 at 10:05 pm and is filed under My Poker Game, Poker, Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.