POTD #244 I Pick The Wrong C-Bet Size vs Kevin Paque
A hand from a $40k in Cyprus.
When I learn a new trick or strategy in poker, it takes me a while to successfully implement it. Usually what happens is this: I learn something new, and while it’s fresh in my mind, I overweight its importance. Then as I play, I am itching to try out a new trick and apply it to all sorts of situations. Sometimes correctly, sometimes not. Then after punting around and trying out this new trick, through trial and error I learn the nuances of this specific maneuver and can consistently implement it into my game.
One of the earliest tricks I learned was that if you raise preflop and the board is ace high, you c-bet it. That this was considered a “trick” at some point in my life in poker goes to show just how soft those early games were. This trick was followed up by a new trick: You don’t always c-bet ace high boards, but you always c-bet on the smaller side. This also made sense to me: It’s easy to float QJ on 962; it’s a lot harder to float QJ on A96, when you’re often drawing to running cards to win the hand. At some point, I learned the next level of ace-high board mechanics: Sometimes you check, sometimes you bet small, and sometimes you bet big. Generally, big bets on ace-high boards are on ace-high flops with several broadway cards on them, since you want to charge gutshots. Theyr’e also used in shallow-stacked spots where top pair is the nuts, and you want to play your strong hand aggressively before the board runs out unfavourably.
One deep-stacked spot where Ax plays similar to as if you’re short-stacked is a board where strong top pair is often best, but there are many bad turns for it. If you have have AK on 7h6h5cAc, you know to tread carefully with it, but if you have AK on Ac6h5c, the solver beats you to the punch and says we want to build the pot in case the 7h or Jc or 4d rolls off. In today’s hand, I took the lessons of betting big on these kinds of boards, misapplied it, and lost a small pot, but I should have lost less.
Triton Cyprus 2023 - Event #5 $40,000 NLH 8-Handed
(5k/10k/10k) (SB/BB/BBA) Registration closed.
It folds to me in the LJ (668k) and I make it 22k with K♦️9♦️, it folds to Kevin Paque (1.325M) in the BB who calls.
A♣️6♦️5♥️ (59K): Kevin checks, I bet 50k, Kevin calls.
Turn 5♣️ (159k): Kevin checks, I check.
River Q♦️ (159k): Kevin bets 80k, I fold.
