Travelling through the micros - SnG

So yesterday i had a nice >10 BI upswing today i'm down 5BI with 3BI below EV which evened out my EV line/ Actual line for now

Heres one of the hands from today:
PartyGaming - $1+$0|20/40 NL - Holdem - 10 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 50 BB
UTG: 45 BB
UTG+1: 46 BB
UTG+2: 59.5 BB
MP: 50 BB
MP+1: 50 BB
MP+2: 50 BB
CO: 49.5 BB
BTN: 48 BB
Hero (SB): 52 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q♣ K♦

UTG calls 1 BB, UTG+1 calls 1 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 0.5 BB, BB checks

Flop: (4 BB, 4 players) K♠ 4♠ 2♦
Hero bets 2 BB, BB raises to 4 BB, UTG calls 4 BB, fold, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (16 BB, 3 players) 2♠
Hero checks, BB bets 9 BB, UTG calls 9 BB, fold

River: (34 BB, 2 players) 8♣
BB checks, UTG checks

I couldn't raise preflop since two early limpers represent better cards than say two late limpers and i'd need to play OOP. On the flop the insta reraise gave me something to think about but i chose to see the turn given the good odds i was getting for TPGK, the 2 completing the flush draw and giving any two trips saved me some chips as i couldn't put either guy on two pair on the flop but the turn could easily have helped either one

Welcome to our blogging section Musher1993 and I wish you the best of luck with your goals

Gary

Thanks Holly

Welcome to the blogging section Musher

Originally posted by Musher1993
So yesterday i had a nice >10 BI upswing today i'm down 5BI with 3BI below EV which evened out my EV line/ Actual line for now

Heres one of the hands from today:
PartyGaming - $1+$0|20/40 NL - Holdem - 10 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 50 BB
UTG: 45 BB
UTG+1: 46 BB
UTG+2: 59.5 BB
MP: 50 BB
MP+1: 50 BB
MP+2: 50 BB
CO: 49.5 BB
BTN: 48 BB
Hero (SB): 52 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q♣ K♦

UTG calls 1 BB, UTG+1 calls 1 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 0.5 BB, BB checks

Flop: (4 BB, 4 players) K♠ 4♠ 2♦
Hero bets 2 BB, BB raises to 4 BB, UTG calls 4 BB, fold, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (16 BB, 3 players) 2♠
Hero checks, BB bets 9 BB, UTG calls 9 BB, fold

River: (34 BB, 2 players) 8♣
BB checks, UTG checks

Spoiler

BB shows K♣ 4♥ (Two Pair, Kings and Fours) (Pre 30%, Flop 90%, Turn 74%)
UTG mucks A♥ J♠ (One Pair, Twos) (Pre 70%, Flop 10%, Turn 26%)
BB wins 34 BB

I couldn't raise preflop since two early limpers represent better cards than say two late limpers and i'd need to play OOP. On the flop the insta reraise gave me something to think about but i chose to see the turn given the good odds i was getting for TPGK, the 2 completing the flush draw and giving any two trips saved me some chips as i couldn't put either guy on two pair on the flop but the turn could easily have helped either one

This is flawed logic IMO, either raise to iso 1 limper and find out if they have a hand and assign a range for a UTG limp & call or get out of the hand pre flop. You will most often be dominated playing KQo in this way or find you have no idea where you are v a set or some funky draw/2 pair hand.

Micro stakes players are prone to do silly things, so put them to the test if you think your hand is good enough, or wait for one that is.

I agree with Gentari. Raising isn't purely because you wan't to maximise your payoff. It gives you a better idea of what you are up against if people are just limping in and will probably get rid of them if they just like seeing a flop. In this case I would guess you would have ended up with just the AJ in the hand had you raised pre-flop and you would have taken it down. It's definately a raise or fold situation like Gentari said.

Thanks for the analysis guys Yeah i see your point now i look back at it, the main problem with raising to me though is the raise sizing i'd need to do to push people out of that with weak holdings, a smaller raise would probably keep 2 people in, it was fairly early in SnG and the players were all unknowns i believe so i probably should have just folded without any further information.

I haven't managed to play as much as i wanted to this week, being busy mixed with running badly resulted in lack of volume, hopefully i can get some sessions played later today and tomorrow to try and turn this downswing around

Overall i'd say my play for the week has been ok, i'm going to do a lot of ICM training this week as most of the games were lost with <10BB avg stack.

As to goals:
Watch at least one video on SnG's and one on learning Half done, i watched a video on SnG's but not on learning
Decide on a BR to move up at I've decided to take a 5BI shot at 40BI, the time taken to reach 40BI should be enough to improve my game to a comfortable level however if not then i'm fine with staying at $1 games for the forseeable.

Goals for week 2:
Watch 2 videos and attend a coaching session
Continue reading Dan Harrington's book on hold'em

Good luck with Week 2!

First part of ICM training is done with, did a quick 100 or so hands getting 89% overall, the main spots i'd got wrong were early position or in the big blind facing a SB shove so thats where my focus will be for the next couple of ICM trainings.

On the non poker front i also have a couple of goals to add for the forseeable:
Attend rock climbing with the uni society every week
I missed last weeks due to not feeling up to it so i don't want to make a habit of not going, the only way to improve is to keep going and attempt the harder bouldering routes.
Design and use a workout schedule, i'm pretty weak strength wise and don't get much exercise so gaining strength and hopefully inherently muscle is a main goal of mine.

Finally a video my friend linked me to yesterday, hadn't heard of this before but apparently its starting to become an 'easy way to fame' on youtube:

This is flawed logic IMO, either raise to iso 1 limper and find out if they have a hand and assign a range for a UTG limp & call or get out of the hand pre flop. You will most often be dominated playing KQo in this way or find you have no idea where you are v a set or some funky draw/2 pair hand. Micro stakes players are prone to do silly things, so put them to the test if you think your hand is good enough, or wait for one that is.

I Disagree with this post and also disagree with the logic from OP.

This is so early in a micro stakes sng seeing a multiway flop with a hand like KQ that can flop strong TP, 2 pair or good draws that making up in the small blind is fine. Also playing very cautious if flop a pair and pretty much getting out of the way when someone starts raising bets even if it is just a min raise.

I couldn't raise preflop since two early limpers represent better cards than say two late limpers and i'd need to play OOP.

As for OP's bolded statement. The hand strength of the limpers if they are recreational players has no relation to their position at the table.

Hello,

I am also making my way through the micros playing 6 max 1.50s right now. Good luck at the tables!

Originally posted by ipeaceonu

I couldn't raise preflop since two early limpers represent better cards than say two late limpers and i'd need to play OOP.

As for OP's bolded statement. The hand strength of the limpers if they are recreational players has no relation to their position at the table.

I disagree with this to some degree, while it won't affect their range as much as it would for a reg it should still stop most recreational players from limping complete trash, mostly because if no one limps before them they don't see a larger amount of chips up for grabs and think any two are worth taking a punt at it with.

Originally posted by maythany
Hello,

I am also making my way through the micros playing 6 max 1.50s right now. Good luck at the tables!

Thanks Good luck to you to

Well the last 2 weeks have been awful for me poker wise, i've felt my play well and truly deteriorate which hit home especially when i went to the casino to play a cheap tournament last night, i spotted the 2 fish on the table (The two on my immediate right), managed to bust them to which the immediate right rebought and them from then on i was spewing chips more than a drunk teenager who's had too much white cider. Which meant i was leaving early wondering why i'd had a blow-up with a decent amount of chips still left behind.

I haven't completed my goals this week and i also haven't played much so i'm not going to do a recap for this week, it would just be a list of failures.

Starting today i'm going to work on building up my play and confidence from scratch, i've downloaded a starting hands chart and i'm going to stick strictly to this until i feel my play is improving to a decent standard.

This week my play has definately been a lot better, i've used a starting hands chart to improve my early/mid game to reduce marginal decisions postflop, started reading a free coaching course i found online which has a lot of insightful knowledge for the bubble phase and also (finally) started using a nash chart at heads up, it sounds like a lot to incorporate in one go but the small tweaks these changes make aren't too hard to follow yet the implications are extremely +EV.

The graph/review should be tomorrow however i'm going back home for the weekend so i figured i may as well do it a day early since the chances of me playing a substantial amount tonight/tomorrow are slim.

Another week another near 10BI under EV ♠_confused:

Time for a quick update, didn't play too much poker last week and this weeks volume hasn't been amazing so far as i'm working on improving my play using less tables than i used to frequently play. I moved my bank roll to FullTilt given the segregation of player pool on Party, although this affects cash games it really makes you wonder what else they would be willing to do to help the loosing players. The FDP at FT should help to build my bankroll as well, my roll at Party was just over $80 however due to the $2.50 withdrawal fee i chose to just put $75 into FT, with the next level at FT being $2.25 my goals for moving have now become:
Take a 5BI shot at the $2.25 games at $90
Free as much of the first deposit bonus as possible, 100% will only really be possible if i manage to successfully move up due to exams coming up after easter, although in the summer i'll have plenty of time to grind.