Good Laydown, Bad Result (tourney)

LAYDOWN

Sometimes you'll make a good laydown only to find out you would have won if you stayed in the hand.

Top Pair Ain't All That (tourney)

LAYDOWN

When someone bets a large portion of your stack and you just have top pair, you should either raise or fold. I chose the latter because there was another opponent and the large bet on the flop seemed odd to me.

You Can Still Win When You Lose (cash)

DEFINITION

I'm not referring to side pots here. I'm referring to cards coming up on the board that helps you slow down and be more cautious. In this hand, I had a great flop with both flush and straight draws. I made my straight on the turn, but forgot that it was the dummy straight. Luckily, another jack hit the river to warn all of us that a full house could be out there. In fact, I thought I lost the hand on the river, but it turned out I had lost it on the turn.

Sometimes Lady Luck may not help you win, but help you from losing more than you normally would.

Jacks Beat? (cash)

LAYDOWN

Even though the flop looked safe, I suspected I was beat with either two pair or a set. I wondered if my opponent might have overcards with a flush draw, but decided to just fold rather than see what the turn brought. Did I make a bad laydown?

Folding Top Pair (tourney)

LAYDOWN

When Player 9 raised on the flop with over 1/3 of his chips, I felt he was committing himself to go all the way. I thought a call would be a weak play on my part, and raising was very questionable especially with another player in the hand. I suspected this hand would be a major confrontation so I folded knowing that I hadn't invested that much anyway.

Folding Two Pair (cash)

BAD PLAY

My experience flopping two pair with a flush draw board has never been very good. That experience combined with my lousy position and a bad run of cards helped me make a bad fold. After seeing another spade come out on the turn, I was happy to have folded and thought there was no way I could win. Obviously, I was wrong. In retrospect, I should have called the turn bet since it was fairly small and I had a few outs still left. However, it turns out I didn't need them.

Side Pot Action (cash)

DEFINITION

Sometimes you can lose but still win. Here, one player flopped a full house, but had fewer chips than the remaining players. Trips are pretty tough to lay http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifdown especially when it's hard to see that there's a possible straight out there. Still, I was lucky my opponent called the all-in bet that created a . If he had folded, it would have been a losing hand for me.

Aces Versus Set (cash)

BAD BEAT

I was actually a little worried about going up against jacks pre-flop, but I don't think there was any way I was getting away from this hand with what was in the pot already and the relatively small amount my opponent had left.

Top Pair is Good Sometimes (tourney)

BAD PLAY

I went too far with one of my favorite maxims, that top pair isn't that great. When the early positioned player bet and there was a call, I figured I must be beat with just a jack kicker. Instead, I had the best hand the entire hand. The bet that was made was fairly large at about 25% of my stack, so I was worried that I would be committed to push it all-in. Although I made the mistake of folding, I think calling would also have been a mistake.

Heads-up Loss (cash)

BAD PLAY/BAD BEAT

The table actually started full, but as players left, it whittled down to heads-up play. I had my opponent dominated pre-flop, but Lady Luck was not on my side. Interestingly, we both had straight draws on the flop, but my opponent's was a better one. The king gave him a straight while giving me top pair. Had a 9 or an ace hit to give me a straight, it would not have helped his hand.

I worried a little when my opponent raised on the turn and I suspected him may have AK. I was ready to fold on the river, but the amount was just right to get me to call.

Good Flop, Bad River (tourney)

BAD BEAT

I felt like I had the best hand when two players limped to my big blind. AKs is a pretty good gamble and I had the best hand going into the flop. Even the flop was good, but as we know, when Lady Luck is not by your side, you can lose if you haven't won by the river.

Straight on Board (cash)

BAD PLAY

From my experience, anytime someone moves all-in when there's a straight on the board, it usually means they have either one card to make them a higher straight, or they have the nuts with two cards that make an even higher straight.

Queens Mightier than Kings (cash)

BAD BEAT

Sometimes poker is like chess, when the queen is strongest and the king weakest.

Slow Play to Death (cash)

BAD PLAY/GOOD BEAT

Here's a great example of slow-playing oneself to death. I'm surprised my opponent wasn't scared on the turn, but when you hold such a big hand, it's sometimes hard to let them go. Try not to fall in love with your hand.

Crushed by Flopped Nut Flush (cash)

DOOMED

Most of the time a hand that gives you a king high flush draw, an open-ended straight draw and top pair is pretty darn good. The only time it's not good is when someone flops a bigger hand. I'm not sure if I could have gotten away from this hand. It may be one of those hands where I'm doomed to lose money.

I Crack Aces (cash)

GOOD BEAT

I was on tilt and pushed it all-in with pocket tens. Obviously, I got lucky.

Kings Cracked on River Again (tourney)

BAD BEAT

Just another hand getting cracked but kind of in a unique way. The three hands in the pot would have made for a nice chip stack.

Reverse Greed (cash)

GOOD BEAT

Greed will get you into trouble and in this case, my opponent's greed prevented him from laying down a big hand.

His first error was probably not re-raising pre-flop. However, he probably wanted action, so I don't blame him. I can't blame my opponent for calling all the way down because there's just no way he could have known I had 97s. At the same time, my check raise on the turn should have alerted him that I had a big hand, but his greed blinded him. Don't let greed blind you.

Calling Isn't Always Bad (cash)

BAD BEAT/BAD PLAY

Although I was a little unlucky in this domination hand, I probably should have just called when the bet was close to pot-sized and came from the small blind. Then, I could have seen what the turn brought and seen if my opponent moved-in. However, my opponent had such a small stack, I decided to just move him in on the flop.

Kings Cracked on the River (tourney)

BAD BEAT

After a big re-raise, it didn't make much sense to me to just call so I pushed it all-in. Just a simple bad beat that hurts a little more because it was on the river.

Folding on the Flop When Sandwiched (tourney)

LAYDOWN/BAD PLAY

For some reason, I felt like I was dominated on the flop. I asked myself what someone in middle position would have limped-in with and why he would bet-out a pretty significant amount with two players yet to act? I decided I was likely beat and folded.

I think the button made a mistake by not raising pre-flop with pocket tens. Then he made another mistake by not re-raising on the flop. Even worse, he continued to make mistakes by calling all the way down the river.

Nut Flush Draw Gamble (cash)

GOOD BEAT

Sometimes you have to gamble to win big pots and with two players in the pot, I decided to make my move. I figured I'd have a lot of outs since I could win with any heart and with any ace or deuce.

Interestingly, I was a 50% favorite to win pre-flop. On the flop, I went to 51% and was just a 40% dog on the turn.

Calling Oneself to Death (cash)

BAD PLAY

If you are calling most of the time in poker, you are playing weak poker. I should have raised on any of the streets, but I wasn't willing to take some risk. Remember, the worst risk you can make is not taking one at all.

Re-raise from the Big Blind (cash

LAYDOWN

Should Hero have called? Was he beat? What could Player 7 have?

Big Pair, Hard Laydown

BAD BEAT/BAD PLAY

Greed, being on tilt and other negative feelings can cloud your game and prevent you from making the right decision. On this occasion, I got greedy and was trying to parlay my slight profit into a large profit. Rather than thinking more carefully, I called quickly and paid the price.

Aces and the Case Queen (cash)

BAD BEAT/BAD PLAY


The worst beat I've ever taken when holding pocket aces. My opponent had just one out - the case queen. An ace would give me a set and the queen of hearts would give me a flush.




Then, I was on tilt and was just too aggressive on a very dangerous board.

Two Pair On the Flop (cash)

What was Player 5's mistake, if any? What should he have done?

Aces Cracked Then Tilt Call (cash)

BAD BEAT/DEFINITION

I'm not sure if I could ever lay down such a good hand on the turn. I was a little worried about a set, but I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking someone might have top pair and maybe two pair, but I was hoping they didn't. I decided to just be aggressive and hope for the best. I had a few outs, but I was a big dog in this case at 18%.



Then I made a tilting call just two hands after and got crushed.

Made Flush (cash)

BAD BEAT

I was up and I wanted to be aggressive, so I put someone in. I was a 75% favorite, but the dreaded river got me.

River Ace Laydown

LAYDOWN

I probably should have bet to see where I was, but I wanted to see if checking would do that. I'm not sure if I made the right fold here, but the bet was enough to make me fold so I may have been bluffed.

No-limit Can Be Brutal (cash)

BAD BEAT

It doesn't matter how well you're playing in a no-limit game, you can still end-up losing your stack with a few bad beats. I took two-in-a-row and my session was done. I was tempted to re-buy, but I figured I'd better just wait for another day. In the first example, my opponent had just seven outs and in the second, my aces were cracked. I was a big favorite (over 70%) in both situations, but Lady Luck doesn't really give a damn.