Saturday, November 3, 2007

Call the cops...I'd like to report a hit and run

Short story:
I sat down at a table, folded one hand, and then walked into a monster pot, biggest ever. It happened to put me over a major milestone. I then immediately left the table. The question for TNP'ers is - When do you guys leave a table? I have no qualms about any etiquette online. If I score big I don't care if someone wants to win their money back, someone will sit down right after I leave and I guarantee it will be easier to get money out of them than out of me. Whether it is EV+ or not, I just get in a mental state of feeling like I should quit right after taking down a big one even though I know I'm going to sit down in the future with just as much at risk (remember this is fixed limit play) so it's not a question of taking money off the table to avoid a confrontation with someone who has me covered. I also don't feel like I am on a heater and am leaving money behind. What do you guys do? Comments?

Gory details below:
Just back from going to the mall and sat down for a quick session. Surprisingly enough there is adequate critical mass for two tables of 500/1000 so I sit in the last seat of both tables and open up a couple of 100/200 tables as well.

Second hand of one of the 500/1000 tables and I pick up 2h3h/4c and am planning to just flat call the bring-in trying to just play conservatively at the expensive tables. Guy with Ah showing completes so that takes care of bumping it like I wanted without advertising my hand. Don't want to go overboard...yet.

Six handed to 4th street which brings me Ad. Did I mention that this game really agrees with me? Same guy now shows Ah2c and he bets it. A fold. I just flat call again. Three other callers.

5th street says 8c to me and I have a qualifying low. Mr. Aggro bettor shows Ah2cTc and I cannot be behind him. No one else shows anything close to a low. Pair of Nines showing opens for 1000, call, Aggro bumps to 2000 and I make it 3000 and EVERYONE calls!

6th street card hits me directly in the face...5d! What is running through my mind now is balancing a raising war with Aggro versus keeping everyone else in and which one will get me more money. I am showing 4A85 as my upcards so it is easy to put me on a low. I think Aggro will keep betting and the others may dismiss me as a threat since they are vying for a high hand. Three checks to Aggro who opens for 1000, I raise to 2000, a call, a fold (lost one, damn!), call, the back to Aggro who bumps to 3000, I decide to bump figuring these guys are chasing and I need to charge them while they still have a chance to catch so I go ahead and cap it and the three other players call the cap! Is it Xmas or something?

The only card that could make my hand any better would be a Six for a higher straight but I settle for a paired 5. Now everyone slows down and just wants to see a showdown as cheaply as possible. Everyone check/calls my last big bet.

I beat out Aggro's 7432A for low and my straight trumps JJ99 and 9966 two pairs which fortunately were taking each other's outs to boat up (though three of them were up so they weren't being very smart about chasing a boat). Luckily everyone had deep enough stacks that no one ran out. Final damage: I rake a huge, new record, 41,300 pot or roughly one sixth of my bankroll which has breached the quarter million dollar mark. Now 254,759.

7 comments:

jason said...

Much different in NL hold'm. Once you get a big stack you typically get little action at the cash tables. No one wants to go up against you unless they have a big hand.

So I usually stay at the table, steal a bunch of small pots until I get caught, then evaluate whether or not I am playing with donks or just got lucky.

No real etiquette in on line play, certainly no obligation to stay.

Ryan said...

There's no etiquette online, for better or worse. Heck, the Ferguson method outright instructs you to hit and run.

I have been quite strict with the "leave at next blind if you have 10% on the table" rule, and it has been a big part of my upward trend.

I agree with Jason that limit changes things completely, though. The point of leaving after a big score at NL is to protect yourself against giving that profit back, potentially all in one brutal, perfectly-played hand.

If you've just won the biggest pot of your S8 career, you can't be in any danger of giving it all back in one hand. If the table is good, stay and play. What exactly are you protecting by bailing?

Sushi Cowboy said...

Yeah, good point. I am never risking any more than .5K or 1K per click and it would not even be POSSIBLE to give even half of it back capping on all streets.

It's not really a question of protection really. I think it is more just a kind of instinct. Once the squirrel finds that huge cache of acorns to go and immediately store them away before anything bad can happen.

I am more just curious about how other people decide when to stop. At a certain time? After a set number of hands? After a big win? After a big loss? (probably less likely on this one) Does anyone else keep one eye on the bankroll meter and pull off the tables after passing significant numbers?

Ryan said...

Online, I strictly follow Ferguson hit-and-run rules, as I said. If 10% is on the table, I'm done at the next blinds.

Live, of course I play until the end, and if I"m not shutting the game down, I announce ahead of time.

I sometimes find myself nutting up to protect my stack, but I have been doing my best not to let my results so far that evening impact how I play later in a session. If I let my current net affect how I play a hand, then I am not playing my A game.

Marshall said...

I have been pretty bad about getting the money off the table, but at the same time, I have been playing a bit under my roll lately. I would have to get to 19-20.00 to be at 10%, and I rarely get that high at .02-.04.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Let me paraphrase then. When do you guys decide to call it quits? Assume that you are not running into any bankroll limitations. What circumstance causes you to leave the table?

Ryan said...

If it's during the day, whatever window was open for me to get some hands in has closed, and I have to be a father and husband again.

If it's at night, I usually quit because I'm ready for bed, or because I'm physically uncomfortable with my setup and need a break.

Once, I stopped playing because I recognized that I was not on my A-game. That was the time I mentioned in some other comment that I was "seeing" the microstakes and playing poorly.

Oh, since the question was, "what gets you up from a table," one other reason is that the table is thinning out. I like full-table poker because it is more conducive to multitasking (i.e., my PF hand selection is tight). If the table drops to six or seven players, I will look for a full table to join.