Online poker constantly reminds me that I am not as good as I think I am. It puts me in situations that test my ability to identify concepts that I often write about, sometimes I respond correctly and other times I make errors that I should not be making. Frustrating though it is I turn these awful situations into helpful articles that may help you eliminate some mistakes from your own poker game ideally before you make them.

The hand I played was in a micro-limit cash game. The $4 I lost on the hand is not painful, although considering it is 200 big blinds that does make it sting a little! I held QQ in middle position and was first to act. I raised to $0.07 and my opponent made it $0.24. I decided to raise yet again and made it $0.72. My opponent went all-in for $2.07. This is where I capitulated and I called off with Queens. He showed Aces and they held. Conducting a hand analysis of this hand I realised the error of my ways. This article is designed to make crystal clear the things I did right and the things I did wrong in the hand.

The raise to $0.07 with the big blind at $0.02 was standard to the game I was playing in and had become the standard raise. My opponents re-raise from late position to $0.24 could have been made with anything better than AJ in my view because he would be in position on me if I called which gave my Queens a decent chance of being the best hand. I was aware of this and decided to test him with a re-raise of my own to $0.72. I was aware of bad flops like Kxx or Axx that out of position could cost me the hand even if I was best so I decided on this second raise as it represents real strength. He instantly went all-in and I made the call. I reasoned he was trying to bully me off the pot in position but I admit I did not think it through properly.

There are two errors committed here. Firstly, I forgot about just how many big blinds were being risked here. My play could easily have been made with kings or even Aces, so assuming that my opponents are terrible at the micro stakes and still calling can never be justified by logically looking at the action in the hand so far. Secondly, I simply had to fold. I had invested 120 big blinds and had been told “You are losing” even with Queens. I became married to the hand and paid the price.

In this position in the future I must consider the question, how often can he be holding tens, or AK here? Even with AK I am racing with only a 55% chance of success. As it happens a flat call would have probably earned him my stack due to the flop and all of the money would have been in on the turn by the time the King hit that in a small pot would have slowed me down. But the re-raise then all-in play is almost always a big hand. I had no reason other than pathetic hope that he was making this bad play. My raise to $0.72 was good, it got me the information I needed but like a fool I did not use it!

I learned a lot from this hand and it is a mistake I will not repeat. This hand also taught me the value of hand history review because this and other hands have highlighted strange moves I make that need fixing. Testing myself at the micro-limits, even if I end up losing down there is far better value paying my tuition in cents rather than hundreds of dollars. This hand could have been a smaller loss, sometimes it is a success to lose less.

Watch Allen Cunningham for real life examples of damage limitation. He is probably the best in the world of getting out of the way in cash game hands when he is losing. I accept that in low limit games the outcome may have been different, but as Texas Hold’em games online get tougher action similar to what is described above will result in Aces or Kings more often than not.

Learn from my mistakes, I certainly have.

By Malcolm Clarke

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