Poker mistakes I shouldn't have made last night
Nine-handed. Early position raises $4 BB to $10. Two folds, one caller, and I call with two black tens. Two more callers, and the big blind raises to $40, about a fourth of his stack. Original raiser calls with almost all of his stack. First caller calls. I don't have pot odds to play this hand any more, and should have folded, but, mistakenly hoping to isolate AK, I raise to $100. Folds to the big blind, who re-raises all in. Early position calls all in. Caller calls all-in, with slightly more than big blind, and now I'm pot-committed and in trouble. Around the table, it's KK, AA, AJs, and my TT, no one improves, AA takes a big main pot, KK takes a big side pot for a profit, and I take the tiny $10 second side pot vs. AJs.
Later, I got out of position with top pair against a set against the same player, and decided to bluff at the pot on the river with wishful thinking that he was on a draw, and he takes $170 from me, when his smooth call of a significant bet on the flop should have set off alarm bells.
Later, I play J9s from the blind in an unraised seven-way pot. Flop comes JJ5 rainbow, I bet $5, get three callers. Turn is Q, I bet $15 (enough to chase out the backdoor flush draws) everyone folds to fellow across the table who raises to $50. Now, he bluffs a lot, but I should have read this for what it was and got away from the hand; instead, I put him all in, and lose to AJ after a blank on the river.
Another big blind hand, this time in Omaha/8, of JT86, and I get a miracle flop of Q97 rainbow, giving me, oh, twenty outs to hit a straight. I bet out, get five callers. Sure enough, the turn is T, I bet out, the low-chasers fold, one caller, and then a generally sound player raises. I have him on KJ, decide I'm drawing dead and don't want to put another $16-$24 in the pot over two rounds of betting, and fold. Turns out he had the same J8 with a flush draw. Oh well. Still probably the right decision, given the risks of redraws and drawing dead.
Tilting later that evening, I'm in middle position with one limper ahead of me. I pot-raise to $18 with A5o. Cut-off raises to $50 and has a deep stack; I put him (and correctly, I think) on a hand that has me dominated or with only one live card. I can't play this hand without hitting two pair, trip 5s, or a straight on the flop, so I correctly fold, $18 too late.
When I was short-stacked, I had a lucky hand where I raised all-in with A9s a limper slow-playing QQ and spiked an A on the flop.
I had a lucky hand where I had two players all in where I had AQ vs. TT vs. T9. On the flop, however, the case ten showed up (JT6), but I got the four-outer on the river.
I had another lucky hand where I called a regular bluffer's big under-the-gun pre-flop bet from the cut-off with JT. The flop comes AT9 two-suited, and he overbets the $40 pot all in for $105. I call immediately, quite confident from my read that he doesn't have the ace. He doesn't, but he has QT. Fortunately, the 9 pairs on the river, and we chop the pot.
In short, I was lucky to only lose $200-$300 from my mistakes. Otherwise, I played pretty well, and ended up with a profit for the night; I had a nice hand where I flopped the nut flush playing AdQd in an unraised eight-way pot from the small blind, and a lower flush put me all in thinking I was on a draw. But I have to be dissatisfied overall.
Later, I got out of position with top pair against a set against the same player, and decided to bluff at the pot on the river with wishful thinking that he was on a draw, and he takes $170 from me, when his smooth call of a significant bet on the flop should have set off alarm bells.
Later, I play J9s from the blind in an unraised seven-way pot. Flop comes JJ5 rainbow, I bet $5, get three callers. Turn is Q, I bet $15 (enough to chase out the backdoor flush draws) everyone folds to fellow across the table who raises to $50. Now, he bluffs a lot, but I should have read this for what it was and got away from the hand; instead, I put him all in, and lose to AJ after a blank on the river.
Another big blind hand, this time in Omaha/8, of JT86, and I get a miracle flop of Q97 rainbow, giving me, oh, twenty outs to hit a straight. I bet out, get five callers. Sure enough, the turn is T, I bet out, the low-chasers fold, one caller, and then a generally sound player raises. I have him on KJ, decide I'm drawing dead and don't want to put another $16-$24 in the pot over two rounds of betting, and fold. Turns out he had the same J8 with a flush draw. Oh well. Still probably the right decision, given the risks of redraws and drawing dead.
Tilting later that evening, I'm in middle position with one limper ahead of me. I pot-raise to $18 with A5o. Cut-off raises to $50 and has a deep stack; I put him (and correctly, I think) on a hand that has me dominated or with only one live card. I can't play this hand without hitting two pair, trip 5s, or a straight on the flop, so I correctly fold, $18 too late.
When I was short-stacked, I had a lucky hand where I raised all-in with A9s a limper slow-playing QQ and spiked an A on the flop.
I had a lucky hand where I had two players all in where I had AQ vs. TT vs. T9. On the flop, however, the case ten showed up (JT6), but I got the four-outer on the river.
I had another lucky hand where I called a regular bluffer's big under-the-gun pre-flop bet from the cut-off with JT. The flop comes AT9 two-suited, and he overbets the $40 pot all in for $105. I call immediately, quite confident from my read that he doesn't have the ace. He doesn't, but he has QT. Fortunately, the 9 pairs on the river, and we chop the pot.
In short, I was lucky to only lose $200-$300 from my mistakes. Otherwise, I played pretty well, and ended up with a profit for the night; I had a nice hand where I flopped the nut flush playing AdQd in an unraised eight-way pot from the small blind, and a lower flush put me all in thinking I was on a draw. But I have to be dissatisfied overall.