Hand Analysis: $500/$1000 NLHE Home Game (1 Viewer)

[Windwalker]

Not going to belabor this decision, Hero only has to put an additional $30k in to flop pretty into a $220K+ pot, so definitely calling.

Continuing…

It’s time for another hand from this past weekend. Taking @DrStrange ’s advice, no early dismissals of villains in the description.

Due to the presence of a certain whale-lawyer-player, host upped the blinds to $500/$1000, attracting a pretty pro-heavy 8-player lineup.

Host, you will remember, is the same one who rivered a straight flush in this thread.

Minimum buy-in for this session is $250k. No big pots yet, largest one was about $20k. Only 15-20 hands into the night. Everyone is fresh, no one is drunk. No television, soft music. People are playing poker. Hero is on the button. Most are around $250k, except for Host who has bought in for $500k and V1 (UTG) who has bought in for $400k.

V1 is UTG and has straddled to $2000. Big, ballsy, splashy player. Plays large games in Macau. Considered one of the big private game whales. Not a professional.

V2 is UTG+1, raises to $6,000. LAG pro. Penchant for bluffing, known to be fearless.

V3 is in the HJ, 3-bets to $15,000. GTO-heavy, I’m told. Nitty pro.

V4 in the cutoff calls $15,000. Host.

Hero is on the button. Stack at $275k. Looks down at:

.

Hero is aware that this hand is a simple preflop fold. Hero is also loose. And had just won $12k+ the previous hand. It’s not even 90 minutes into the session. And JTs is so pretty. So he calls. Sigh.

V1 has not even pulled his cards together after they’ve been dealt. He’s been looking at his phone. He looks up when he’s told action is on him. He reviews the action thus far. He says, “ah I’m bored, let’s gamble.”

V1 raises to $45,000. Blind. Then pulls his 2 cards together. And peeks. Host asks, “you haven’t looked?” V1 confirms he hasn’t. We don’t know whether to believe him.

V2 calls.

V3 calls.

V4 calls.

There is now ~$196k in the pot. The game just turned, quickly.

Hero still has JTs; sadly.

Hero calls.

Flop is an incredible one for us:



V1 bets out, no hesitation: $90,000.

v2 folds.

v3 folds.

v4 tanks. Calls.

Hero?

 

[Kyle]

@Windwalker Just curious. I assume you are friends with and or have decent relationships with some top level well known pros.

Do you review those hands with them or have any one on one training / study with them?

I'd assume you would get a much more advanced level analysis that you seek.

Perhaps get in contact with Matt Berkey as he seems to reach out to everyday folks to train with. Maybe he is easier to access but I have no idea. Just a thought.

You are one of the few people in the world that can play at these stakes on a regular basis.

Thank you for sharing your experiences here as they are indeed entertaining to follow and to analyze.

 

[warma]

Too early for this pic?
View attachment 931883

Perhaps this instead?

 

[liftapint]

I'd assume you would get a much more advanced level analysis that your seek.

I assumed this was for our entertainment

 

[JustinInMN]

There is now ~$196k in the pot. The game just turned, quickly.

Hero still has JTs; sadly.

Hero?

Well now the pot is laying 6.5-1 so I think that's an easy call with JTs. Just be careful about the flops you will be playing, Surely your one pair flop will need improvement more than not. You really want to flop two-pair or at least an 7-8 out draw. to continue.

The call pre I think was a close decision only because V4 flatted the V3 3-bet. Without that call, I think I agree with the general sentiment that this is a fold. But I am assuming that V3, even as a "tight pro" knows enough to attack a straddle a little wider than a normal open raise. I think he can have some unpaired holdings, but obviously the big pairs are in his range too, and this is the kind of hand that can flop big hands or big draws.

Even at that though, with V1 waiting to act after the straddle, if "splashy" means raising a lot on his straddle, then you probably are still better off passing to avoid the spot.

 

[toothpic]

That flop makes me want to go full rampage poker. Top pair, open ended straight draw and a backdoor flush.

 

[JustinInMN]

OH just saw the flop, this is pretty good. 8 outs to a straight that likely wins, two "bonus" outs to trip jacks that I assume is usually good, and backdoor hearts as well. I think you have to at least call the 90K, but there might be something to be said for for a jam here given you have given the pot presently has 410K in it and you have about 230K behind before calling the 90K. This also assures you get to see both cards, if called, and maybe there is some chance (not a huge chance) to just pick this up without improving if neither player in the pot has a monster. Even players holding KK and AA may be thinking hero-laydown at this point.

 

[Kyle]

I assumed this was for our entertainment

Thanks for pointing out the typo. Autocorrect gets in the way sometimes. It happens.

 

[CraigT78]

Now we go with the fancy JAM!

 

[upNdown]

@Windwalker Just curious. I assume you are friends with and or have decent relationships with some top level well known pros.

Do you review those hands with them or have any one on one training / study with them?

I'd assume you would get a much more advanced level analysis that you seek.

Perhaps get in contact with Matt Berkey as he seems to reach out to everyday folks to train with. Maybe he is easier to access but I have no idea. Just a thought.

You are one of the few people in the world that can play at these stakes on a regular basis.

I often wonder about this. Like, take this hand specifically - now that all the pros are folded out, should we assume the skill level of the players is any different than what you’d see at any other home game?

 

[Senzrock]

Yeah just an easy jam at this point, hopefully run it twice and you should be good at least 1/2. Weird hand for sure.

 

[kmccormick100]

Jam, run it 3 times.

 

[Windwalker]

@Windwalker Just curious. I assume you are friends with and or have decent relationships with some top level well known pros.

Do you review those hands with them or have any one on one training / study with them?

I'd assume you would get a much more advanced level analysis that you seek.

Perhaps get in contact with Matt Berkey as he seems to reach out to everyday folks to train with. Maybe he is easier to access but I have no idea. Just a thought.

You are one of the few people in the world that can play at these stakes on a regular basis.

Thank you for sharing your experiences here as they are indeed entertaining to follow and to analyze.

As Mel said, I've just been sharing hands that stood out to me more for entertainment purposes. This hand was more exciting when I was in it, but realizing as I write it out, its just one of those weird gambollll hands. I really wish I knew what V3 folded tho.

 

[TheDuke]

Should have jammed preflop.

With this flop, it's a jam.

 

[jpietrella]

Jam-town, baby. Not sure you could really call preflop hoping for better.

 

[liftapint]

View attachment 931901

With all of the screen time from the live-stream events that Krish has played in, seems like we ought to pull a meme of Krish calling all in from that footage, for use in threads like this!!! I like Krish's hats better, but I'm not sure I've seen a chip toss with quite that much flair.

 

[Kyle]

As Mel said, I've just been sharing hands that stood out to me more for entertainment purposes. This hand was more exciting when I was in it, but realizing as I write it out, its just one of those weird gambollll hands. I really wish I knew what V3 folded tho.

Cool and thank you again for sharing with us.

My take: I would call on button with J 10 hearts if I knew for sure the original raiser would flat and complete. And then go from there. If I think he will 4bet I would fold.

Great to watch you play vs these wizards btw.

 

[Windwalker]

Conclusion...

It’s time for another hand from this past weekend. Taking @DrStrange ’s advice, no early dismissals of villains in the description.

Due to the presence of a certain whale-lawyer-player, host upped the blinds to $500/$1000, attracting a pretty pro-heavy 8-player lineup.

Host, you will remember, is the same one who rivered a straight flush in this thread.

Minimum buy-in for this session is $250k. No big pots yet, largest one was about $20k. Only 15-20 hands into the night. Everyone is fresh, no one is drunk. No television, soft music. People are playing poker. Hero is on the button. Most are around $250k, except for Host who has bought in for $500k and V1 (UTG) who has bought in for $400k.

V1 is UTG and has straddled to $2000. Big, ballsy, splashy player. Plays large games in Macau. Considered one of the big private game whales. Not a professional.

V2 is UTG+1, raises to $6,000. LAG pro. Penchant for bluffing, known to be fearless.

V3 is in the HJ, 3-bets to $15,000. GTO-heavy, I’m told. Nitty pro.

V4 in the cutoff calls $15,000. Host.

Hero is on the button. Stack at $275k. Looks down at:

.

Hero is aware that this hand is a simple preflop fold. Hero is also loose. And had just won $12k+ the previous hand. It’s not even 90 minutes into the session. And JTs is so pretty. So he calls. Sigh.

V1 has not even pulled his cards together after they’ve been dealt. He’s been looking at his phone. He looks up when he’s told action is on him. He reviews the action thus far. He says, “ah I’m bored, let’s gamble.”

V1 raises to $45,000. Blind. Then pulls his 2 cards together. And peeks. Host asks, “you haven’t looked?” V1 confirms he hasn’t. We don’t know whether to believe him.

V2 calls.

V3 calls.

V4 calls.

There is now ~$196k in the pot. The game just turned, quickly.

Hero still has JTs; sadly.

Hero calls.

Flop is an incredible one for us:



V1 bets out, no hesitation: $90,000.

v2 folds.

v3 folds.

v4 tanks. Calls.

This hand is confusing, to say the least. What could v1 have, if he actually raised blind, that he could be C-betting with on that board? What did v4 call with? Options:

- v1 did actually look at his hand and has a monster pair.
- v1 didn't look at his hand and got lucky with an open-ended, maybe even J10.
- v1 missed the entire flop, but its not a great flop for all the pre flop action, and thinks it missed everyone and can perhaps take down the pot with the $90k bet.
- v4's range is narrower now, we think -- was he set mining with 8s or 9s? Maybe AJs? Seems like hitting a set would cause an instant jam -- so we're leaning towards AJs.

Hero jams.

v1 thinks for a bit, hesitates. This is good. Calls.
v4 reluctantly calls.

Business is discussed. We agree to run it twice.

First board:



Second board:



v1 has
v4 has


Hero is stacked. And makes a mental note never to play J10s like that again.

 

[jpietrella]

Conclusion...

It’s time for another hand from this past weekend. Taking @DrStrange ’s advice, no early dismissals of villains in the description.

Due to the presence of a certain whale-lawyer-player, host upped the blinds to $500/$1000, attracting a pretty pro-heavy 8-player lineup.

Host, you will remember, is the same one who rivered a straight flush in this thread.

Minimum buy-in for this session is $250k. No big pots yet, largest one was about $20k. Only 15-20 hands into the night. Everyone is fresh, no one is drunk. No television, soft music. People are playing poker. Hero is on the button. Most are around $250k, except for Host who has bought in for $500k and V1 (UTG) who has bought in for $400k.

V1 is UTG and has straddled to $2000. Big, ballsy, splashy player. Plays large games in Macau. Considered one of the big private game whales. Not a professional.

V2 is UTG+1, raises to $6,000. LAG pro. Penchant for bluffing, known to be fearless.

V3 is in the HJ, 3-bets to $15,000. GTO-heavy, I’m told. Nitty pro.

V4 in the cutoff calls $15,000. Host.

Hero is on the button. Stack at $275k. Looks down at:

.

Hero is aware that this hand is a simple preflop fold. Hero is also loose. And had just won $12k+ the previous hand. It’s not even 90 minutes into the session. And JTs is so pretty. So he calls. Sigh.

V1 has not even pulled his cards together after they’ve been dealt. He’s been looking at his phone. He looks up when he’s told action is on him. He reviews the action thus far. He says, “ah I’m bored, let’s gamble.”

V1 raises to $45,000. Blind. Then pulls his 2 cards together. And peeks. Host asks, “you haven’t looked?” V1 confirms he hasn’t. We don’t know whether to believe him.

V2 calls.

V3 calls.

V4 calls.

There is now ~$196k in the pot. The game just turned, quickly.

Hero still has JTs; sadly.

Hero calls.

Flop is an incredible one for us:



V1 bets out, no hesitation: $90,000.

v2 folds.

v3 folds.

v4 tanks. Calls.

This hand is confusing, to say the least. What could v1 have, if he actually raised blind, that he could be C-betting with on that board? What did v4 call with? Options:

- v1 did actually look at his hand and has a monster pair.
- v1 didn't look at his hand and got lucky with an open-ended, maybe even J10.
- v1 missed the entire flop, but its not a great flop for all the pre flop action, and thinks it missed everyone and can perhaps take down the pot with the $90k bet.
- v4's range is narrower now, we think -- was he set mining with 8s or 9s? Maybe AJs? Seems like hitting a set would cause an instant jam -- so we're leaning towards AJs.

Hero jams.

v1 thinks for a bit, hesitates. This is good. Calls.
v4 reluctantly calls.

Business is discussed. We agree to run it twice.

First board:



Second board:



v1 has
v4 has


Hero is stacked. And makes a mental note never to play J10s like that again.

My instant gut reaction is that I'm happy to see either of these hands with 2 cards to come all in, but not both. 67 call seems crazy, but yeah giddy-up.

Barf. Glad I'll never be able to play this high up.

 

[liftapint]

In a game like this, when stacked so early in the night, does one dip in the pocket for another buy-in, or find the masseuse for a nice massage before climbing in the bat mobile? Not a joke question. I'm totally curious what happens in these big games, in a situation like this.

 

[CrazyEddie]

How do we win money without winning hands?

I'll assume you're not making a joke and so I'll answer seriously.

Of course you can't win money without winning hands, but that doesn't mean the goal is to win hands. If you focus on trying to win hands, you'll pass up too many opportunities where the chance of winning is against you but the play is profitable anyway. For example, you might make a big bet to "win the pot right now" instead of letting the Villain suck out on you one time in four for a pot that's twice as big.

 

[jpietrella]

In a game like this, when stacked so early in the night, does one dip in the pocket for another buy-in, or find the masseuse for a nice massage before climbing in the bat mobile? Not a joke question. I'm totally curious what happens in these big games, in a situation like this.

Huge stakes but I just compare it to me playing $2/$5. I reload because I can afford playing at this level.

I assume Krish can afford this so I'm guessing it's not a huge deal to fire another round and this game seems juicy.

 

[jpietrella]

I'll assume you're not making a joke and so I'll answer seriously.

Of course you can't win money without winning hands, but that doesn't mean the goal is to win hands. If you focus on trying to win hands, you'll pass up too many opportunities where the chance of winning is against you but the play is profitable anyway. For example, you might make a big bet to "win the pot right now" instead of letting the Villain suck out on you one time in four for a pot that's twice as big.

I suppose you're just trying to be fancy with words? I can't tell.

For me, I'm trying to win every hand I'm in and I'm also trying to maximize profit. Obviously there are plays which are profitable where you're not favored, but... duh.

 

[Windwalker]

In a game like this, when stacked so early in the night, does one dip in the pocket for another buy-in, or find the masseuse for a nice massage before climbing in the bat mobile? Not a joke question. I'm totally curious what happens in these big games, in a situation like this.

This early, I definitely reload. V1 ended up down $1.4mm for the session. V3 was the big winner of the night, up $1.7mm. I barely scraped through, up $50k.

 

[toothpic]

In a game like this, when stacked so early in the night, does one dip in the pocket for another buy-in, or find the masseuse for a nice massage before climbing in the bat mobile? Not a joke question. I'm totally curious what happens in these big games, in a situation like this.

Yea think of it as a rebuy in one of the larger games we are used to. Unless you're already on tilt I think the answer is reload

 

[jpietrella]

. I barely scraped through, up $50k.

But that's like 7200 gallons of gas. Lock it up.

 

[Himewad]

 

[CrazyEddie]

We don’t know whether to believe him.

If you believe him then this is free money. Call. You had decent equity before this (no, I haven't run it in a calculator, and @Random Phish says I'm wrong so take this with a grain of salt), but with him holding Any Two Cards you're way ahead of break-even on this wager.

 

[Jimulacrum]

I'll assume you're not making a joke and so I'll answer seriously.

Of course you can't win money without winning hands, but that doesn't mean the goal is to win hands. If you focus on trying to win hands, you'll pass up too many opportunities where the chance of winning is against you but the play is profitable anyway. For example, you might make a big bet to "win the pot right now" instead of letting the Villain suck out on you one time in four for a pot that's twice as big.

One of the best examples of this is when you're at a limit game with people who refuse to fold, and you've got 5+ people going to virtually every flop.

If you're playing a strictly TAG style in a game like this, or you're trying to use aggression to take down pots early, you're leaving a ton of money on the table.

 

[TheDuke]

In a game like this, when stacked so early in the night, does one dip in the pocket for another buy-in, or find the masseuse for a nice massage before climbing in the bat mobile? Not a joke question. I'm totally curious what happens in these big games, in a situation like this.

These are nosebleed stakes for sure, but buyin and bankroll considerations should likely be the same at any level.

If you go to a cash game with only one bullet, your night is likely going to be short. And if you're concerned about preserving that one bullet, it will impact making optimal decisions.