Since my last post, I've been able to play a bit more poker then normal basically because rush tournaments mean i can squeeze a quick game in more easily. I wrote a rush guide in my last post, but had only had one decent rush pay at that time so it was more theoretical.

Since then its proved to be a very handy strategy for getting deep in most rush tournaments, and i've had quite a few wins in the 135 man rush sit and go's. I've also fallen agonizingly close to some big paydays. Usually my theory is as long as your bankroll isn't going backwards in between big wins then your doing well.
At the moment my bankroll is sitting on $2300, and is consistently going up despite no big wins yet so i'm feeling good.

I actually think rush poker is a great way to learn the game now, because in one game you can play up to 1000 hands. And you see patterns of general poker play that would takes weeks of experience to pick up on. So your getting a lot of experience quickly which helps it stay fresh in your mind. Also not having much information on your players means you have to make pure poker decisions. A few patterns i have noticed are that at lower levels if someone 3 bets you then 90% of the time they have aa or kk, i used to never fold qq but have gotten away from it a few times now just to discover the player has aa. Also if all of a sudden someone pops a massive bet out on the river from no where they generally have it, over betting the river seems to be the new way to try to make people think your bluffing. A few times the board has looked so dead that i figured it had to be a bluff, just to discover they had hit a low set on the river. Of course people still bluff the river, but it's just not worth calling for that one time there bluffing. The few times i catch people out seems to be when they have missed the flush draw.

I thought i would share a few interesting folds I've made recently on hands that i think alot of people just wouldn't be able to get away from.

The first one i think is a very interesting hand, as when you really break it down it's quite easy to see the most likely hand your opponent has but in real time it might not be so obvious.

Blinds are 100/200, i have 8k in chips and have just been dealt I raise to 600, i then get one caller and one re-raise to 1400. we both call

The flop is

The guy who re-raised is first to act and checks, so i raise 2000 with my top pair k's. they both flat call

turn

The original re-raiser checks again, and just as i was about to move all in a voice in my head told me to hold on.

It appeared while i was playing how i would normally play ak with a good flop, my brain had been working in the background and discovered something wasn't right. So then i thought why would the guy who 3 bet pre flop just check it, and then call my raise. If he had AA whats the point of 3 betting and checking, the only hand that really made sense was that he had kk, or qq and was slow playing.. Or if hes an idiot jj. So i checked, as did the player behind me and the original aggressor makes a big raise. I quickly fold, but luckily the other guy in the hand calls showing while the main culprit flips over his and the nuts.


The reason i find this hand so interesting is that i think 95% of people reading this would deduce exactly what i did that he was slow playing kk or qq. But in real time during the game most people including myself would just see their ak with a king on the flop and end up all in.

This post is getting a little long so i might leave the second hand for next time. Although now the blog title doesn't make sense, as this was the hand i had the nuts and ended up folding it. But you'll have to deal with the confusion.

I hope you enjoyed my post, and if you have any comments post them here

Cheers, I forgot to mention i ended up clearing $80 of the bonus before it expired.


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