I haven't put a ton of studying into cash games, but I think I have put a few things into practice quite nicely. I have picked some good spots to run triple barrel bluffs, and have definitely tightened my ranges up, lol. Its so easy to play over 70% of hands in heads up sit n go's that I started out way to LAG in cash games.
A couple of hands I'm happy with to follow. Bare in mind that I didn't think either of these opponents were very good hand readers:
First hand:
SB: $31.09
BB: $50.00
UTG: $50.75
MP: $51.00
Hero (CO): $59.86
BTN: $71.72
SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero has Kc Ad
fold, fold, Hero raises to $2.00, fold, SB calls $1.75, fold
Flop: ($4.50, 2 players) Jd 3c 8d
SB checks, Hero bets $2.75, SB calls $2.75
Turn: ($10.00, 2 players) Jh
SB checks, Hero bets $3.15, SB calls $3.15
River: ($16.30, 2 players) 4h
SB checks, Hero bets $14.72, fold
Hero wins $15.49
Thought process:
Pre flop was standard.
Flop was obviously not great, but the opponent wasn't particularly difficult to deal with post flop, and realisitically C betting was my best chance of winning the pot. Checking back would allow him to fire with almost his entire range on the turn, so that wasn't a good idea.
The turn was interesting. It was the perfect card I think to manipulate the opponents range with a small bet. By betting only 1/3 pot, most standard players would check raise with the top of their range, and call with marginal showdown. Once he called, I put him on a draw, or a PP lower 99 or lower (TT+ I assume would 3 bet pre flop). I planned to overbet a large % of river cards to fold out his marginal holdings. Obviously folding out busted draws would only need a small bet, but I was worried that he could call a smaller bet with something like 66.
River was perfect. Who knows, I may have had the best hand the whole time :P I still liked my play.
Second hand:
BTN: $50.00
SB: $96.04
BB: $43.26
UTG: $69.69
Hero (MP): $50.00
CO: $34.94
SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero has 9h As
fold, Hero raises to $2.00, fold, fold, SB calls $1.75, fold
Flop: ($4.50, 2 players) Jc Kc 7s
SB checks, Hero bets $2.60, SB calls $2.60
Turn: ($9.70, 2 players) 9d
SB checks, Hero bets $6.46, SB calls $6.46
River: ($22.62, 2 players) 7d
SB checks, Hero bets $38.94 and is all-in, fold
Hero wins $21.49
Thought process:
Pre flop is perhaps a little out of line, but so far there had been no evidence of making a stand to pre flop raises. I figured I would take it down pre flop a large % of the time.
Flop again is likely to hit is calling range quite well. I had seen him check raise 1/2 previous flops so I figured he would check raise the top of his range here. With a wet board like this, I imagine he would check raise with JJ/77/KJ. This meant if he called, I had already planned to barrel off.
Turn is kind of bad, but again I believed this type of player to check raise if he had QT or other strong hands. At this point I put him on KT, AJ, KQ, TT, QJ type hands.. All of which I knew no matter what came on the river here is a strong chance he would fold.
River doesnt really change a lot, but to someone who can't hand read that well he might believe somehow I have rivered trips. Not only that but I rep QT/AK/T8/KJ/AA fairly well. The key here is that to my opponent he knows that I know he has a hand strong enough to call 2 barrels. By betting as much as I did I think he could level himself into thinking that I am wanting him to call with his KQ/KT/J9 type hands, thus making the fold.
Again I could have read too much into this, but I do think that I would have got looked up a fair amount had I have bet smaller on the river.
Hope everyone's doing well!
