I donkbet a river today when I backed into the nuts. I got a long think and a fold out of it.
But then later on in the session I flopped two pair and I got ‘em all in against the same guy and his Top Pair/Good Kicker. So, there is some value in the donkbet. It gives you an image. I’m sure I never would have doubled up on top two pair like that without the prior donkbet.
In the middle of February:
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I have 19 Buy Ins for $50 No Limit Hold ‘em. One more to go.
Two weeks later…
Friday, February 27, 2009
I just earned 20 buy-ins for $50 No Limit Hold ‘Em, so I’m moving up in stakes.
Yes, it took me two weeks to make that last fifty bucks. But even with the big down-swing I took between the 12th and the 27th, I still turned $500 into $1000 in a month.
I just earned 20 buy-ins for $50 No Limit Hold ‘Em, so I’m moving up in stakes. $50 No Limit Hold ‘Em is the highest level of micro-stakes. If and when I double my 1k bankroll into 2k, I’ll have the bankroll to play Big Boy Poker — Low Stakes $.50/$1 No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.
And if I do say so myself, I’m a Poker Monster right now. I’m alert. My reads are sharp and I have confidence in my intuition. I’m controlling the pot size. I’m avoiding troublesome situations and putting other people in bad spots. I’m making good value bets and have a bulletproof pre-flop game. I would not want to sit down at a poker table with me.
That little voice that says, “That ace on the turn is trouble,” or “He wouldn’t have called that raise without a set,” knows what it’s talking about.
“Excellence is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle
One good habit I’m making for myself is to glance at every opponent’s stack size before I take any action (except for the action of folding garbage pre-flop.) In real life, noticing someone’s stack size is automatic. But online, it takes constant effort. But it’s important.
When the river hits a nightmare card, there’s no shame in checking it. Even if you had a golden hand on the turn. If it looks like it just turned to shit, it probably just turned to shit.
It’s hard to hit the brakes, especially when consistent aggression can be so profitable. But it’s the right move when the board says it is. A big pot hand can turn into a small pot hand. And if you have a small pot hand in the middle of a big pot, it may be time to cut and run.
I’m thinking about these things I’ve never said because I lost a small hand when some guy hit his trips on the turn. I had put down a pre-flop raise with a mid-pair in late position, but the flop scared me so much that I failed to c-bet, and let him hit his set for free.
Then when I bet the turn and he called, I had no idea what I was dealing with. Was he on a draw? A made hand? If so, what made hand? If I had just bet the flop he probably would have folded and I would have been fine. But even in a situation where he was ahead on the flop (say he had different cards and flopped a big pair) his call would have let me know to save bets on later rounds. But in the real hand, there was no flop betting, and so I was confused on the turn and river, and paid too much to see his set.
But now I know. Just c-bet every flop. Unless I’m dealing with an opponent who knows that I c-bet a lot, and who knows what that means, and who knows how to counter my strategy, and who has the moxie to implement the right counter-strategy, just c-bet every time.
If I can just learn to fold to every turn raise, ever, I can actually do this.
Note to self: When the guy who sees a flop with half his hands starts playing back at me on a dry flop such as K82-rainbow, make two pair part of his range, because it is.
