So, I decided to jump up and give a 10/20 game a try last night. One of the small sites that I've got some money in has a nifty little promotion called the Pit Boss Challenge, where their site operator plays 10/20 for 2 hours every Thursday night. Anything he wins, he gives out to the players who played the game, proportionally based on the amount of time they spent playing. I've been watching this game for a while, and the play is just horrible. Well, play at the site is terrible, and since there's only 200 players max at any time, it's all the same people multi-tabling whatever they can find. So, they're playing .5/.10 pot limit hold em, and 10/20 limit, it's quite a sight.

Anyway, I've been running bad for a few weeks now and haven't been playing any hold em, just stud and omaha on Absolute while I work that bonus off. That, coupled with the fact that I pretty much forgot about the money on this site, made this seem like a perfect time to jump up and try out a higher limit than I'm used to. No, my bankroll on the site wasn't enough for the game, (it was just under $400), but the fact that it was "found" money and not part of what I was considering my bankroll, would make it less of a deal should I lose it all. I wouldn't miss it.

As for the game itself, it looked real juicy. Lots of people buying in short, real short, like $100 and trying to get all in. Then there's the pit boss, who plays a solid game, and a few of the better players. Anyway, when I got there, I didn't recognize hardly any of the players, and most of them had huge stacks, which didn't bode well. I watched a few orbits, and the play was really tight and really aggressive, not at all what I'm used to on the site. Basically it was a bet and take the pot, or a bet and a raise and take the pot. Virtually no hands were going to showdown. This wasn't the game I was prepared for, still, I had been excited to play this game all day and I wanted to get in. Unfortunately, when I got to the table, the only seat left was to the immediate right of the Pit Boss, which was probably one of the worse seats available. Anyway, here's some key hands from the night, input welcome.

Hand 1 : I haven't played any hands, and we're a few orbits around the table. I've got about $300 left (bought in for $350) In MP, I'm dealt . I raise as the first player in the pot. That folds off the field to the BB who calls. The flop is and the BB checks. I bet and he calls. The turn is and the BB checks. I bet and the BB raises. I called and called his river bet when another low card came. He showed Q-6s.

My thoughts : I was still getting my bearings on the game. Had this been 3/6, I would have three bet the turn, but, since I was playing short, and with a limited amount of funds, I played it weak, which turned out to save me money. Incidently, these are the kidns of hands that have killed me on this site and why I don't play there much. A typical session goes, I raise with Aces, and take the blinds. I raise with AK, take the blinds. I raise with AQ, get called once, bet the flop and take the pot. Then I raise with Ak again, get called by some BS hand like Q-6 suited and they flop a full house, or they river me. I hate this site sometimes, but I digress.

Hand 2 : Dealt in the BB. UTG+1 open raises and the most aggressive player at the table three bets. The field folds off to me, I called as did UTG+1. The flop was . I check, UTG+1 checks, and the PF 3-bettor checks. Hmmm. The turn was . I bet, UTG+1 folds and the PF 3 bettor calls. Double hmmmm. The river is . I bet, he raises, and I call. He had for the old runner-runner flush.

My thoughts : I played this hand about as poorly as possible. Every street was a disaster. Pre flop, against the most aggressive player at the table a cap was probably correct, I was just worried about the UTG+1 player who had been reasonable, not to mention that I'm clearly, at best, going to be taking a coin flip, and at worst, I'm far behind. Still, I thougth my hand was too much to fold. Agains two players, I assumed that any overcard would kill my hand, so I wanted to take the flop as cheaply as possible and move on from there. That flop is great for my hand (probably), yet I'm unsure if I should bet, check-call, or check-raise, all have their merits. I elected to check-raise, figuring UTG+1 for AK and god knows what for the other player, but assuming the 3-bettor would bet and I could raise, thus knocking out the AK player. It didn't work as noboby bet, but a safe card hit the turn, so I bet and got called. Again, seems good. Betting the river is awful. What can call me that I beat, ace high? If he was chasing with AK and missed, he's not likely to call. If he just made a flush he's going to raise. I should have check-called. If he missed, he 'll just check, if he hit, i'll only lose one bet, and if he wants to bluff, I'll catch him. I just bungled this hand royally.

Hand three : After the above two hands I only had about 115 left. I got Kings in the BB and managed to get all in and got back up over 200. I played a few orbits and was back down to around 175. I'm dealt in the cutoff. The ultra-aggressive player is the BB this hand. An MP player open raises and I call, as does the BB. We see a 3 way flop of . The BB checks, MP bets and I raise. The BB cold calls and MP calls. The turn is . Both check to me, I bet, the BB calls and MP folds. The river is and the BB bets. I calls and win as he shows .

My thoughts : I was finally getting a little comfortable on the table and feel I played this hand much better. It was close between smooth calling the flop and three betting. I elected to smooth call, hoping to bring one more person along and hiding the strength of my hand. I was hoping for a slightly less coordinated flop, so I could smooth call once more and pop the turn. The flop I got was too draw heavy, so I figured I should come out and charge the max right away. I was NOT happy about the BB calling two cold, and immediately put him on a straight or flush draw. The turn was safe and standard. The river was pretty much the worst card in the deck, completing both straight and flush draws. I took a while before I called. The problem was this. Yes I put him on a draw on the flop, but, he was hyper-aggressive and I'd seen him bet draws multiple times. His check-calls were too out of character, the pot was huge, and I wanted to look him up.

Hand four : The table was getting ready to break as the Pit Boss challenge only runs for 2 hours and we were about out of time. Down to 5 players, and a new aggressive player has taken a seat to my immediate right. All I can say is that he loves raising. Anyway, I'm in the SB with and the Pit Boss is the BB. Folded to the aggressive player who raises the button for about the 10th time in a row. I call, as does the BB. The flop was . Checked to the button who bets, I check-raise, the BB folds and the button three bets. Doh! I call. The turn is the . WOO HOO!. I check, the button bets, I raise, he three bets and I cap. The turn was a brick, I bet, he raises, I three bet and he finally calls. I win a really nice pot, getting me up to 480.

My thoughts : On the flop, I figured I was going to play this hand anyway, with my nut flush-belly buster straight draw, so I might as well check raise. He's aggressive and will bet a lot of hands. If I bet out and he raises me, I haven't really made him define his hand and I'd be hard pressed to three bet. By check-raising, the result is the same, only now I'm fairly sure I'm actually up against a good hand and will need to hit. From the turn it's straightforward since I've got the nuts. He didn't show his hand, but he must have been strong.

I quit not long after the Pit Boss left, as I wasn't particularly interested in playing 3 handed. After the early disasters, I felt like I got into the grove and handled the extra aggression pretty well. I'll probably give this game another go next Thursday when they do it again, since it is "found' money and all.

Drade

Hand 1 - I think you played it right. 3 betting the turn isn't necessarily good because the bb could be defedning with anything.

Hand 2. Tough break. I don't know about capping preflop but I would bet out that flop. If raised, I would need to have a good read on the player to continue unless he often overplays AK.

Hand 3 - I 3 bet the flop as I don't like to f around with AA. The rest of the hand was played well. There is no purpose to raise the river.

Hand 4 - I believe you played it well as long as your read on the raiser was strong. Otherwise KTs will get you in trouble. I believe you played it postflop perfectly.

Drade, I don't think you give yourself enough credit. I think you played all these hands pretty well.

Hand 1--Opponent will lose more often than he wins, but sometimes they win. That's poker.

Hand 2--So, he sucked you out. Big deal. Again, opponent will lose more often than win. When they win, you lose a few bets which you'll probably get back if this is the way they play. When they lose, you're making them pay the max for gambling. That's poker, too.

Hand 3--I'm with Brian. I don't care how much I win with AA. I just don't want to lose a lot. Allowing anyone to see a card without paying the maximum I can make them pay is incorrect. AA against one other player is a huge winner. The percentages drop quickly as opponents are added. I never pass up the opportunity to bet.

I added some more comments about commenting, but decided to open a new thread for it. Hope to see you there, as you're comments are more than welcome, they're necessary.

Keep up the good work.

CJ