Pay me on the river

I first used this blog post title on January 18, 2013; here's an excerpt of what I had to say:

The more I play poker, the more I realize the importance of getting your opponents to believe they have you beat. That's the best way to get paid off. It's clear that the longer someone stays in a hand, the more reluctant they'll be to throw it away. The less you bet in the early stages of a hand, the more likely that players will stay in it. The stronger your hand is, the more important it is that you don't bet it big early on. This whole philosophy can be summed up in five words: "Pay me on the river".

Last night, I got paid on the river on a hand where I flopped a nut flush. I was dealt an ace of hearts and another heart, and the flop was all hearts. I didn't bet it on the flop, and I didn't bet it on the turn. On the river, an opponent bet, I raised, he called, and I raked in a nice enough pot to set me up well for making the money. I did :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000 50000       6     319   84    53   100000

delta: $50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,870,668
2020 balance: $1,848,343
balance: $63,656,353

Pay me on the river

The more I play poker, the more I realize the importance of getting your opponents to believe they have you beat. That's the best way to get paid off. It's clear that the longer someone stays in a hand, the more reluctant they'll be to throw it away. The less you bet in the early stages of a hand, the more likely that players will stay in it. The stronger your hand is, the more important it is that you don't bet it big early on. This whole philosophy can be summed up in five words: "Pay me on the river".

Last night, on hand 38, I got paid on the river. Unfortunately, it was only a side pot; I missed out on the main pot when one of my two opponents filled a gutshot straight draw. Fortunately, the side pot was big enough to give me a nice profit, and a reason to call it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 39 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 6 times while in big blind (83%)
 - 1 out of 6 times while in small blind (16%)
 - 10 out of 27 times in other positions (37%)
 - a total of 16 out of 39 (41%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $19,926
cash game no limit hold'em balance: 4,057,401
balance: $6,506,809

Pay me on the river

The title of this post sums up my new poker philosophy. Despite recent evidence to the contrary, I really think my strength in poker is having a good idea where I stand when all the streets have been dealt. If that's true, it behooves me to get to the river as cheaply as possible, and then bet as big as I think the market will bear when my instincts tell me I have the best hand.

This worked very well for me last night:

Table 'T #831661093' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: (28000 in chips)
Seat 2: (7600 in chips)
Seat 3: (42600 in chips)
Seat 4: (5500 in chips)
Seat 5: (46600 in chips)
Seat 6: (62100 in chips)
Seat 7: (150467 in chips)
Seat 8: neostreet (44000 in chips)
Seat 9: (38200 in chips)
Seat 7: posts small blind 100
neostreet: posts big blind 200
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [8s Js]
Seat 9: raises 700 to 900
Seat 1: calls 700
Seat 2: calls 900
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: calls 900
Seat 6: folds
Seat 7: calls 800
neostreet: calls 700
*** FLOP *** [Qs Qd 9s]
Seat 7: checks
neostreet: checks
Seat 9: bets 1400
Seat 1: calls 1400
Seat 2: calls 1400
Seat 5: folds
Seat 7: folds
neostreet: calls 1400
*** TURN *** [Qs Qd 9s] [5s]
neostreet: checks
Seat 9: bets 2400
Seat 1: calls 2400
Seat 2: calls 2400
neostreet: raises 2400 to 4800
Seat 9: calls 2400
Seat 1: calls 2400
Seat 2: calls 2400
*** RIVER *** [Qs Qd 9s 5s] [Ad]
neostreet: bets 10000
Seat 9: calls 10000
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [8s Js] (a flush, Queen high)
Seat 9: mucks hand
Seat 2 leaves the table
neostreet collected 50200 from pot

A corollary of this philosophy is not to bother going to the river if you can't get there cheaply enough, which should in turn keep down your percentage of seeing the flop.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 21 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 3 times while in big blind (100%)
- 1 out of 3 times while in small blind (33%)
- 7 out of 15 times in other positions (46%)
- a total of 11 out of 21 (52%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 3 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $36,900
balance: $961,623