Solving a live poker misclick l Strategy with Barry
Barry Carter bubbled a High Roller last week after an untimely misclick, so he tortures himself further by studying the spot with GTO Wizard.
I've just returned from Party Poker Madrid, where I was fortunate enough to play the High Roller tournament, after winning a satellite for £5. The event went very smoothly for me, except unfortunately, very near the Bubble, I made a live misclick.
With about five players to go before the money, I had around 13bbs. I was in Seat One in the Small Blind, and I thought that it had folded to me, so I completed the Small Blind with 93. This, in itself, was a mistake, but my opponent, a Triple Crown winner, no less, had let me complete the Small Blind in the previous few orbits, so I had got a little ambitious.
Unbeknownst to me, the Button in Seat 9 had actually opened. I didn't see this because the dealer was obscuring him from my view, but no excuses. I should have paid better attention.
The flop came A94, giving me second pair and not much else. I had tagged my opponent as being pretty aggressive. When I checked to him, he bet 2bbs.
I thought about it for a while and did not like the idea of check-calling down with middle pair, but I also didn't like the idea of folding. I decided that check-raising all-in was a risky but effective strategy. My opponent doesn't have an Ace most of the time. I block a set of 9s, which I guess is something, but most of all I just felt that my hand really wanted to deny equity to two overcards.
As it happens, he tanked forever and eventually called with a weak Ace, and my tournament was over. It absolutely sucks to go out on a misclick like that, especially so close to the money.
Way Ahead, Way Behind
I ran my logic by my coach, Dara O'Kearney, and he didn't agree with it. He reminded me we were in a "Way Ahead, Way Behind" situation and the way to play a hand in these instances is to check-call. He also reminded me that if my opponent did not have an Ace, a lot of the time he would check back the turn.
I decided to run it in GTO Wizard to see what its advice would be. What I did to replicate the situation was to give myself a Small Blind completing range in an ICM-heavy spot like this, rather than a flatting range versus a Button open. The ranges looked like this:
It was always 100% check on the flop. My opponent bets 100% of the time. Just as Dara suggested, GTO Wizard always calls in this spot, never raises.
Because I was so irked at putting myself in such a silly situation in the first place, I had completely forgotten what the turn and river were. But I ran a number of turns and rivers, and in pretty much every instance, the strategy was to just call down.
In almost every instance, we ultimately stack off by the River with our weak hand. This is because it's GTO World where our opponent is expected to have bluffs on every street. In reality, I think what Dara said was correct about our opponent checking back when they don't have an Ace on the turn. So in that respect, we could probably fold turn or river to more aggression.
Ultimately though, the biggest mistake was probably completing a Small Blind anyway. The Big Blind was literally one of the best players I know, and the fact that I had been getting away with it for a few orbits did not give me carte blanche to start playing pots out of position against a Triple Crown winner.
