UltimateBet Session Report

My main game at the moment is $10-$20 Limit Holdem at either UB or Party Poker. Today it's $10-$20 at UltimateBet. I'm using Holdem Hawk for fast pot-odds calculations and to keep me honest preflop.

A Holdem Hawk side note. They recently released a patched version which improves the stability and fixes a few bugs and also includes a not-documented feature in the options menu that lets you totally customize the pre-flop play tables. The default values arevery tight and don't help you take advantage of weak-tight play by opening with a raise with hands like medium pocket pairs in middle position. The good news is now you can tweak those settings yourself. The bad news is that the way the settings are defined isn't documented and the defaults in this new version seem to have some flaws (including the advice to fold QQ in an unraised pot sometimes). For example in the preflop configuration screen in middle position it has two tabs, one for what you'd do with a particular hand in an unraised pot and one for what you'd do with it in a raised pot. Of the actions you can take in a raised pot they included several options including "raise" and "reraise". Well since the pot is raised anyhow any raise you make IS a reraise, so the meaning of those two settings in this context is confusing. Next patch perhaps.

Where was I? Oh yes, the $10-$20 poker session.

Table conditions lately aren't ideal, however the mistakes of some of the players at the table are so extreme that the game is profitable. The best bet, no pun intended, at these tables is to play a mostly straightforward game. Avoid pre-flop domination and bad post-flop drawing.

One sample hand highlights some of the playing mistakes at the table:

I'm dealt TT in middle position. The player under the gun raises and is called by another early position player. I also call as do two players after me and the big blind. The flop comes 2h 3c 8h. The player UTG bets and is called and I raise for value and to hopefully eliminate some overcards. The next player folds and the late position pre-flop caller 3-bets. UTG calls and I call. The turn is a 6s and UTG checks and I bet into the late position player who raises. UTG calls, I call. The river is a 4c so the flush is dead.We both check to the late position player who bets. UTG folds and I call. The late position player shows 85o (rivering a 6 high straight) and wins the pot.

Worst hand and worst draw pumped the pot (I have to put the UTG player on a flush draw because of his river fold).

Besides that there were the typical people calling with bad unsuited aces especially in the blinds and people drawing with pocket pairs that were clearly beat to only two outs. Those are extremely juicy mistakes in the long run, but can be huge sources of tilt when they beat ones hand on the turn or river. Happily that didn't happen in today's session.

Here's the VP$IP% at the table right now:

Player 1: 44.7%
Player 2: 28.0%
Me: 16.8%
Player 4: 10.0%
Player 5: 21.0%
Player 6: 14.3%
Player 7: 20.4%
Player 8: 52.9%
Player 9: 24.3%
Player 10: 30.2%

As you can see there are a couple players seeing WAY too many flops, a couple people seeing too many flops NS one person playing excessively tight. I like my preflop percentage for this type of table (between 15-20% depending on how well I'm catching good starting cards).