Poker Out Loud: Episode 7

This post was originally published on April 16, 2020, on my personal website, Lukich.io. I have since consolidated all of my poker-related content by reposting it onto Solver School.

Episode 7 of Poker Out Loud was released last Friday. To read any of my other recaps, check out the links below:

• Episode 1

• Episode 2

• Episode 3

• Episode 4

• Episode 5

• Episode 6

We filmed Poker Out Loud last year at the beginning of October. I have grown significantly as a poker player in the past six months since filming. I’ve noticed this gap throughout the season and think I would play a few spots differently now. I have the advantage of retrospect, but there are moments where I have seen an obvious oversight or a mistake. Fortunately, to this point before this episode, no mistakes have been significant or exploited by the others at the table.

But I knew this episode was coming and have been dreading it.

There’s a part in Swingers where Jon Favreau’s character, Mike, meets a girl and gets her number at a bar. After getting home that night, he calls the girl repeatedly and leaves voicemails until she picks up and asks him never to call her again. Every time I watch that movie, I struggle during that scene. Mike will mess this one up and call her, but it’s always tough to watch.

I felt that way watching last week’s Poker Out Loud. While I hadn’t been given many good opportunities in the first 6 episodes, I think I played fairly well to this point. But I made some poor decisions in this one. I think it’s the worst poker I've played throughout the season.

I’ve been somewhat anxious as the past couple of episodes dropped. I distinctly remember going through a brain funk during the session. The memory of Chin 6-bet shoving TT is tattooed in my brain as an anchor for this string of hands where I made mistakes. I didn’t know exactly which episode it would show up.

I knew it would be in this one after it didn’t pop up in the last episode. And it was tough to watch.

As for the hand, I was dealt A9s in the SB. Chin opened to $25 (2.5 BB) from the Button with TT.

This isn’t the first time Chin and I have played in this formation. In Episode 5, I 3-bet Chin in this exact formation with A9o. The hand checked to showdown, so he saw the width of my SB 3-bet range.

This time, I decided to 3-bet again with my A9s to $110. Chin realized that TT is a good candidate for him to retake the initiative, and he decided to 4-bet to $275.

Up to this point, I think my play is fine. A9s plays well in a linear 3-bet range from this formation and is consistent with my strategy. I think my analysis of Chin’s 4-bet was good too. I recognized that Chin’s bet sizing represents a merged, linear range. A polarized response is the best way to combat this type of range. I understood all this and decided to put A9s at the bottom of a polarized 5-bet range as a bluff.

Based on the aforementioned A9o hand, Chin recognized that my overall range was likely too wide in this spot. As a result, he reasoned I would have difficulty controlling my frequencies in this situation. While I would have some strong hands in my range that would cool his TT off, I was more likely to be bluff-heavy. As a result of this, he decided to shove through with TT. I folded as I was at the bottom end of the pole.

I don’t think that 5-betting A9s was the mistake on this hand. In a vacuum situation, I think it’s ok. I understood the shape of my opponent’s range and constructed a range to combat it.

But poker isn’t played in a vacuum. We learn information from previous hands that can impact the way we construct strategies in future situations. Chin understood this better than I did. My big error was overlooking and not staying dialed in with my frequencies. I should know that Chin would recognize my width after the A9o showdown. He did, as he read the situation perfectly. Had the earlier A9o hand not happened, I don’t believe Chin would have taken the same line.

As I said, I made other mistakes in this episode, which I’ll dig into below. The rest of the orbit was full of some interesting situations. Chris K 4-bet bluffed Chin with A5s. That happened right before my A9s hand, another factor that should have been ringing in my head as a poor reason to choose a bluff-heavy line. The episode wrapped up as Chris rivered a flush against Berkey’s pair of aces.

Below is last week’s full episode. You can also watch this on the S4Y channel on YouTube.

As mentioned above, the A9s hand wasn’t my only mistake during the episode. I made a couple more, including one on the very first hand.

To kick off the episode, I was dealt 99 in the HJ. Chin opened to $25 from UTG. Folding is not an option, but this hand could be placed into a call or a 3-bet range. As a call, the hand plays fine. It performs well against Chin’s opening range and can defend against potential 3-bets from Chris or Berkey behind.

I could also choose to put this into a more linear 3-bet range. This would be towards the bottom of that 3-bet range, but he hand can also perform well through that approach and give me coverage on some middling boards. I mix both actions when I play, based on the game flow and my opponents.

I chose to call this time. Given the caliber of players at the table, I think a call is probably better than a 3-bet. Berkey and Fausto also decided to call, and we went 4-ways to a flop. The flop was a KQ8 two-tone board. Chin put in a continuation bet, and I folded my weak pair. All of this seems pretty standard. So, where is the mistake that I referenced?

While I think how I ultimately played the hand was fine, my analysis was pretty terrible. Have a listen for yourself:

In Episode 4, I introduced a wider flatting range from this formation. During that situation, I suggested that I back 4-bet a portion of my range if I faced a 3-bet from one of the players behind me. As I mentioned in this recap, I think this a good, deceptive strategy that can be very successful in aggressive games.

However, 99 should not be in that back 4-bet range. When a 3-bet comes through, any 4-bet range I construct should be polarized. In other words, it should contain some really good top-end hands, like AA and KK, and some bottom-end bluffs with good blockers to a continuance range.

99 is certainly not at the top end of the pole. It’s a good showdown value hand, but if I am including that at the top of a polarized range, it implies that I’m also doing this with 30 additional combinations, TT through AA. That’s far too many hands in a back 4-bet range that will be very difficult to balance appropriately with enough bluffs.

99 also shouldn’t be included as a bottom-end bluff. It has far too much value to raise with a plan to fold to a 5-bet. It also contains poor blocking properties and doesn’t limit my opponents from having full coverage at the top of their polarized range. During my analysis, I suggested that I would 4-bet this as a value candidate, which is bad in my opinion.

I know this situation is a hypothetical one. Without explanation, I think the hand was played fine as-is, and I wouldn’t think twice about it if I were watching myself play it on a stream. But Poker Out Loud gives a sense into the thought process during gameplay. My plan to include this as a value candidate in a back 4-bet range suggested that my thought process wasn’t dialed in during this hand.

Immediately after the A9s hand, I was somewhat tilted and opened my button with K6o. Both Chris and Berkey continued by calling with reasonable holdings. The flop was AJ3 with the J and 3 of the same suit.

While I do have a range advantage and would likely bet a higher portion of my range, K6o is at the bottom of my range distribution. I recognized this and decided to check back, folding to a turn bet. The mistake here is the initial opening. K6o is a bit wide from the button as it is. But it’s especially wide after the previous hand happened. My image sucked at this point, and the perception at the table is likely that I’m rattled. If anything, I should tighten my range up somewhat on this hand.

I’ve learned much about my play from watching myself over the past 2-3 months. Some of the notes I’ve taken throughout the season involve improving my range construction, becoming more aware of my own frequencies and table image, and adjusting to other players, among others. But the area that comes up the most when I go through my old notes is patience, or more accurately, my lack of it.

This season has spotlighted what I believe is a significant leak in my game. I can lack patience. While it’s certainly not all the time, there are situations where I start to get a bit anxious. This often occurs after I make a few mistakes in short succession or when I’m card-dead and miss every flop. Whenever this happens, I press and try to force something to happen.

Like many things in poker, a poor play can work out sometimes. This isn’t surprising. I’m not pressing with complete garbage hands. I believe there’s at least some method to this madness, and I’m expanding my range to include cusp hands instead of randomly adding in additional combos. However, even by doing this, I’m taking more chances and putting myself in some -EV situations. Observant opponents, particularly those in this game, will be able to notice this is happening and take advantage of my mistakes.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched myself shift into this pressing mindset. The combination of my card distribution, the time between hands to get in my head, and the limited timeframe to play has tested my patience to a breaking point, which was reached in this episode. Consequently, I decided to insert myself in a few more spots I shouldn’t have. While I hadn’t gotten burned to date before this episode, it was only a matter of time before someone took advantage.

The good news is that I believe this week was a peak for bad play. While we’re coming close to the end of the season (I believe there are somewhere between 8-10 episodes), I do remember a specific hand that took place after this one that I played better. I’m just happy to get past this week.

To catch the latest episodes, subscribe to the S4Y channel. Stay tuned for the final one, dropping on Friday, April 24. I’ll have a recap of that episode and the whole season the following week.

If you have any comments or thoughts, please feel free to leave any comments below. You can also contact me at [email protected] or on Twitter or YouTube through the links in the footer below.

-Lukich