More on Making Laydowns

Since the writing of what is now part 1 of Making Laydowns, Jay wrote in explaining he did not like my play at all. I could not agree more. He writes:

"Mikey Mikey,

I hate your play. Either r/r AI pf or fold. Though I opt for the AI because I'm assuming you're TAG and don't open many pots so that small reraise is a straight feeler.

Obv never folding on that flop once you called pf.

Also consider raising to 14k pf.

I was actually in this situation in the sunday lottery from the SB's perspective where a LAG opened on the button for the 3rd orbit in a row and I repopped him x2.555 with A8 nearly comitting myself and folding to the push.

He got angry because I folded.

Anyway, I've been banned from the forum for being a bad boy or something and now my PM box is screwy so this is the only forum of communication for now.

Later

J"

My entire point of writing that article was to explain how badly I disliked my actual play and how I talked myself into weakly calling, then calling again when the circumstances and situations called for me to play it differently.

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Jay is 100% correct, preflop... I should have either moved (all-in most logically) or folded. However, he was not "on" with my current table image. As chip leader, I was quite the Loose and Aggressive player preflop. I was running over the table, scratch that... the entire tournament over with my blind aggression. Once the antes started, every pot I was entering was to a raise.

That being said, (in hindsight - without knowing what hand he had) it was reasonable to assume that this dude thought I was stealing. Additionally, I figure he thought he had a hand big enough to show down on it's own and/or stand up to the "big bad wolf." He stared me down, and I froze.

From a starting hand standpoint, my hand was strong enough to re-reraise. Positionally, it was also strong enough to call, as I had position post-flop, thus a re-raise to all-in does not benefit my position being last to act on the flop.

From a chipcount standpoint, however... This guy was pretty much the only player at the table who was capable of "hurting" me. He was really one of only three or four players in the tourney who, at that time, had the chips to injure me in any way, shape or form.

I win that hand, I am chip leader... Wait, already am, by nearly a mile. I fold preflop after my initial raise and to his reraise, I'm still convincingly the chip leader. I call preflop, I fold to the allin bet with top pair, I'm still chip leader, though the gap has closed a bit. I call the allin bet and win, I'm coasting to heads up - though I can already do so if I get away from not just that hand, but also that situation.

I lose that hand (after the all-in), I'm just your average tourney Joe... Everyone in the tourney sees me as a bully. With a loss, I'm a bully who "puts his pants on the same way everyone else does." I'm nothing special, I have not the chips to bully. I have no fall back for when I've got caught trying to steal with a semi-bluffing preflop raise. I have little, if any continuation betting power.

The point I am making is that I stood to benefit little if I won, but would suffer greatly if I lost (to the all-in). I had to reasonablly assume that if I would have called/moved all-in, that he'd get his money in. Why would I... with the chip lead, want to see a flop? He hits, he pushes. He misses he pushes. Again, my hand is strong enough to be there, but does the situation warrant me to be in the game? And if so, should I really allow him the luxery of seeing the flop before committing his chips?

Given the exact situation (my exact raise, his exact preflop reraise), I see the best course of action to be reraising (to all-in) roughly 60-70% of the time with that hand and the second course of action to fold to his raise 30-40% of the time with that hand and in that situation.

This being the case, maybe "making a laydown" is not the correct title to this post grouping? Actually, this is still the best of all possible titles, as I should have situationally folded with top pair, best kicker on the flop and the way I played the hand. Had I done so, I'd have lived beyond the bubble; and not having merely enough chips to just slide into the money either. I'd have still been in a position of power and had the assets to continue torturing my table and the tournament.

Mike


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"but i was 75% preflop, how could you call?"

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As poker players, we hear that a lot, don't we? Especially online, where we have plenty of time and resources to crunch the numbers.

Usually these words are uttered in the context of complaining and whining. I am here to tell you... and the whiners, what you already really know... deep down. Just like having a static, one style approach to poker, this line of thinking is flawed.


My buddy Gerg (Greg backwards, pronounced as it sits) and I were talking poker last night. Of which, the whining part came up. It occured to me that I hear entirely too much "didn't he know that I had (insert hand such as pocket 4's, 7s, Kings, AKs here)? And then they follow up with "how could he call, I was 70%?"

For starters, maybe the "caller" thinks you're a donkey... and hopefully if he thinks that, it's wrongfully so. But maybe, just maybe he thinks you have a weak hand or are bluffing. As poker players, we do sometimes like people to think we're bluffing when we are not, right? Don't we also sometimes want players to call with weak hands - or at least hands weaker than ours?


Also, what's this 70% stuff you're talking about preflop? If you're playing against a good player, he's probably got you on a hand range preflop... If you're not playing against a good player, he has no clue you even have a hand. He's not thinking past his own foxhole.

Additionally, pondering how they could have called THERE is flawed. Put yourself in their head. Understanding who they are and what motivates them will help you to better understand how to defeat them. You can't think that you'd never call there with ace king, because to them, Ace king is a made hand! Know this, understand this, embrace and accept this, because it is EXACTLY how it is... People play their style, not yours. Be flexable, think like they do... figure out what mistakes they make, and why they make them. Commit to making adjustments to your game to best exploit their errors, which can also include PURPOSELY MAKING MISTAKES TO GET THEM TO SCREW UP.

The point is... and I know I've made this same point before... First off, know how other players view you RIGHT NOW. Second, have an idea what level thinker you're up against. Do they even know you have a hand or do they think you think that they think they have exactly AK?

Third, don't fall into the "but i was 70% preflop" trap. If it's me, I'm AT LEAST a cointoss on your range, and probably a favorite. If it's a bad player, they don't even know what you mean by incorrectly stating you're 70%.

And finally, don't assume that your opposition thinks just like you... Get into their heads, don't place your head into their situation. Exploit their mistakes...


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In my "previous life" I used to laugh at many of my peers. Generally speaking, they believed that "buy and hold" was an actual investment strategy. Worse yet, they believed "buy and hold" was the correct all around investment strategy. They'd say stuff such as "well, over time, markets ALWAYS go up..." And throw other things in there starting with "we all know that..." and using supporting charts that start off in the middle of a year, but imply that it's a year over year chart. And these brokers tell their customers to pay attention not to the market today, but instead to where it will be 20 years from now. Or, "Joe, what do you mean you want to sell, I thought you were in this for the long haul... WE need to hang in there... Buy and hold, remember?"

To blindly invest and believe, in my opinion, is a mistake. Buy and hold was a great posture to have when the market itself was in a tremendous upswing, as it was in the majority of the 90's. In the 90's buy and hold was the correct POSTURE, because most all was going up. It was however never a philosophy, just a posture.



In a structurally fair market, buy and hold investers will tend to get crushed. Structurally fair markets tend to feature stocks going up and down equally, both in magnitude and quantity. The correct posture, generally speaking, during these fair markets are properly timing the market. Picking your spot, moving in when the time's right and leaving the party on a high note, before it dies down.

I believe playing hold'em, the same is to be said. I believe that there's a time to play tight, aggressive poker. I believe there's a time to play a more passive, deceptive game. I do not believe that I am a tight aggressive player. I don't believe I am a weak-tighter, nor a loose-passive player for that matter. If I were to put myself into a catigory of what kind of ring game hold'em player I am, I'd say I was an observant, thinking poker player.

I'd say I can and do adjust my game to table conditions. Generally speaking, I know when I can limp with shit OOP and not have my ass handed to me. I try to know when top pair is good, and when yours is not. I can play hard, I can play soft... I can be aggressive and effective, I can be passive and cause you to fail. The point is, I am a thinking player. A cereberal assassin on the tables, if you will. And sure, I may sound full of myself by saying that... My point is, I strive to understand the game of hold'em. I've come to understand it in such a way to know that it's illogical to think that playing "a certain style" is also a correct overall philosophy. I believe that effective playing styles vary by opponent, by hand, and by table conditions. I believe I am wise enough to recognize that and to adjust my play.

I also believe that my few readers are insightful enough to understand and embrace the same.

Mike

Micro Limit Preflop Strategy

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Recently there's been discussion about effectively playing the NL$100 game. Anyone who remotely comes close to understanding Hold'em knows full well that there's no one cookie cutter strategy to playing hold'em. In fact, there's not any one "correct" method to play or playing style that applies "all of the time." Hold'em is situational. To approach hands or games with a mindset of "I'm a tight aggressive player and I'm going to run over this table no matter what" will get you stacked by someone who understands the game.


Poker is a game of mistakes. Whoever wins this battle of mistakes wins the game. I do not mean this in the sense that if you make ten mistakes in a session and I make five, I win, because that may not be the case. In order for me to win, I have to be willing to make mistakes while the pots are small, and cause you to make mistakes when the pot is big. I do this, I win...

When selecting a table, at the micro limits, I try to find the softest table possible. What I mean by softest is that I am wanting to find a table that doesn't raise preflop too often, but has a lot of players entering the pot voluntarily. Why do I want this? For starters, I want to be the strongest person at the table, but I do not wish for them to know that. Additionally, I enjoy exploiting the "mistake" of players calling or limping too often.

Now, I could theoretically put in a steal raise when there's too many limpers, and from time to time I do... But typically, I like to also limp, when the pot is small. So, quite often, I go into a hand wrong preflop... Remember, the name of the game is make mistakes in small pots, exploit other's mistakes in big pots. Players who tend to limp often at this level tend to play poorly after the flop.

Once the flop occurs, I decide if I wish to play for a small pot or build it into a large pot. I make this decision based on what I have, and what I have my opposition on, relative to the board.

For the reasons stated above, I am wanting to see a lot of flops cheaply. I'm equally likely to be limping with 7-6 suited as I am 10-10 under the gun. But, only at soft tables as described above. I understand that my money comes from exploiting mistakes post-flop, and that's typically what I plan to do.I've done quite well at it, for that matter.

Unfortunately, I'm not always able to find that table that is soft from top to bottom. There's always going to be someone coming in there who thinks they're a pro raising away... raise raise raise raise raise... Because they believe that to not raise is not manly. When these players get on the table, I tend to adjust to them, because after all, I adapt to my opposition, choosing the correct tools to get the job done. I don't play 7-6s utg because that hand doesn't like the preflop raise.

I do, however, weakly slip into the pot with monsters or monster busters when this aggressive player is still left to act and raise behind me. When he does raise in behind me, my decision is to either reraise and take position away, or to fold... It should be noted, I usually either mow these players down or they get all flustered saying crazy stuff like "hmmm, 9-9 right? I guess my eights are no good here." This is nothing more than the overly aggressive player trying to save face. His ego gets insulted when he's challenged from a substantial over the top raise. He knows that usually when he calls, he's behind. He in turn becomes the weak player, generally speaking.

Now keep in mind here, I play against overly aggressive players one way, and passive players another way... How do you catigorize me? That is the question, now isn't it...?

More on this later, as this is a topic that I'm surely not done with.

Mike




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