Sheboygan Blogger

I found the blog of another Sheboygan Poker player. It seems pretty good.

Slow Playing

I still am not sure whether or not I should slow play as much as I do. In this weekends tournament I placed 4th out of 20 places. (14 people + 6 rebuys), I picked up a couple monster hands and double ups by slow playing, but I lost a few hands to draws or by the time I got around to betting they just folded. Not sure overall what the impact was on my game.

For example the last hand I was playing against a player I'm familiar with. He only plays good cards, doesn't chase, but will buy the pot if he thinks his cards are best.

I have A6 and was on BB. He had the button. He doubled the BB to 1200 chips, I had about 7000. I called the extra 600 and the flop was A 10 5. I know he has two good cards or he wouldn't have raised. Thinking it might be Ace and a face I checked. He checked also so I knew he didn't have an ace. I figured that my Ace's were the best and he didn't have anything paired, I figured maybe he had KQ or something like that. The flop came up an 8 and I figured he didn't have anything, but I was hoping to get him to bet after I checked twice in a row on BB, he'd been aggressive that night. He went all in with 10k or so, I had 7k left over. I checked twice in a row and he bet on an 8. I figured he was trying to buy the pot, maybe with a flush draw or a straight draw in reserve. I called hoping my Ace's were good and he was underestimating me or had a draw and was semi-bluffing me. He shows his cards and it was 88 for 3 8's. Ouch.

So what was my mistake?

1. Never bet A6 in the first place even with 3 people and I'm on big blind. If an Ace comes up I'll be scared my kicker is low, and if no ace comes up I won't have anything.

2. When I got a 2nd ace I should have bet to scare off any lower pocket pairs or draws, etc. The chance of them not having an ace is better than the chance of them having an ace with a better kicker. I should have just moved all in or a pot sized bet maybe.

3. Calling when he went all in when an 8 showed, even though he'd been aggressive towards checkers that night.

Weekend Gaming

I know of five games going on Friday through Sunday that I could technically attend, 4 of them are reoccuring games. My goal is to get good enough and win regularly enough where my wife views it as a part time job. I doubt it'll happen, but that's my goal in playing.