The Cooler

I haven't played any limit this week, instead feeling like playing No Limit again. I brushed up today just before going back to play in Florida. I think I didn't play as well as I should have. I know I made at least four really loose calls pre-flop but that doesn't bother me nearly as bad as some of my post flop play where it really matters. I know I made mistakes in several hands.

It's ironic because the only time I've left down, I felt really good because I couldn't think of any clear mistakes I had made all night. Tonight, I left up and felt really really bad and could think of a couple hands right off the top that could have been played better. I'm glad that it's that way, but it doesn't ease the feeling at all.

One thing that bothered me, although I know it's correct, was that I raised pre-flop exactly 10 times and folded by the turn 9 out of 10 times. At least 5 of those times, the flop came 3 of one suit, which I was not holding. I never paired big cards and the one hand I won was a straight I caught on the river. I folded the best hand once or twice, and one time I probably should have stayed in. I had AQ and raised pre-flop. The flop came 3 hearts with 1 Ace, neither of my two cards were a heart. The pot was about 10 bets and I was in 2nd position with 2 players to act behind me. The small blind raised and I folded, figuring that with 2 people behind me and the raiser to my right, I was drawing slim. Everyone folded and she showed me A3, no heart. It's just terrible to fold the best hand, worst mistake you can make in small stakes limit. I should have re-raised, to get everyone besides the flush draws out (who would have still called)and to see if anyone already had the flush. That would have been the correct play but instead I gave up about 10-15 bets. Awful play.

The cooler came at the end of the night. I had KQs and raised preflop on the button. It was 6 handed. The flop brings AA2 rainbow and it's checked around. The turn brings the Q with all 4 suits on the board. I'm confident I have the best hand here. There is only one guy that worries me because he was a tricky player and always slowplayed trips or big hands he made on the flop. His check on the flop didn't guarantee he didn't have trips. I raised here and he called as well as one other guy. This raised my suspicions because there was no draw on the board and people usually get out of the way if they have nothing on these kinds of flops. To add to it, these guys were semi-tight. The only hands I could put them on were a duece, small pocket pair, and queen thats afraid to raise because of the 2 Aces, or a straight draw. I really had my eye on the tricky player here. The River brought the 3rd Ace. I felt like I had the best hand at this point with only 1 Ace left in the deck. I had a full house and could only be beaten by the case Ace or pocket Kings. Both players would have raised pre-flop with Kings so the worst case scenario was lose to the last Ace or tieing the pot. The tricky player checked, the next checked, and I raised. Tricky player re-raises me and the next folds. I re-raise back, and he caps it. I'm still kinda suspicious of the case Ace because if he had it, he would have played the hand exactly this way. I put him on about 20% Ace (which is a huge percent considering only 1 left in the deck), 70% to hold a Q, and 10% to be holding something else. There's no way I'm folding here and I think we're going to split. I can't shake the feeling of the case Ace though because of how the hand played out. He'd have raised with any medium strength hand like a duece or pocket pair and would have folded if a straight draw hadn't come in. He rarely bluffed. "You got the Ace?" I ask him. "Nah, I got a Queen." I immediately put him on the last Ace then, something that is very hard to do, but I had played with him for about 3 hours at this point and had a great read on the way he played/acted at the table. He was good enough to not be re-raising me with a smaller hand that Aces full, as he knew I was strong if I was re-raising. With 1 big bet to go for a 20 big bet pot, I certainly was calling, but as I did, I asked him to show the Ace to everyone, being about 90% sure that's what he had now. He shows the Ace and I muck Aces full of Queens, the 2nd best hand.

I'm not unhappy about the hand. This is not really a big deal in limit unlike had it been No Limit because the last call was automatic here, no matter what I thought he had. It would have been more deserving of that analysis had it been a No Limit game. I was just really happy that I had such a good read on him that I could put him on the 1 card in the deck by how the hand played out. But you're never totally happy losing a huge pot to the case card. I ended up losing about 6 BB's in that pot, thanks to his slowplay (something, btw, you should only rarely do at small stakes. He could have won more had he fired back at me on the turn trapping the caller between us).

I'll get my game back in gear this week and be looking to do some damage next time. Playing poorly is just not acceptable.