Apologizing for a Few Things...

1. Pardon me if you see this site undergo major visual changes every now and then. I still haven't yet come up with an official "look", so I will be making changes until I figure out just what that look is. Sorry.

2. Didn't play any poker this last weekend as I was too busy rotting on my couch watching The Masters, the NHL Playoffs, NBA games, and even some Washington Nationals baseball (it was one helluva sports weekend). So I don't really have anything to discuss regarding anything I experienced (Sorry.), BUT the weekend didn't go to complete waste poker-wise as I did do a lot of thinking over a play I saw on High Stakes Poker:

The small, defensive, out-of-position bet on the river - Phil Helmuth (holding A9) was heads-up in a pot vs. Daniel Negreanu (who held AK). By the time they reached the river, neither player held a pair, and the pot was worth $19k. Helmuth, who's c-bet was called by Negreanu on the flop, opted to make a small bet of $1k on the river after the turn went check-check to see if he could take the pot away. The move didn't work though, as Negreanu made the call and took down the $21k pot.

Initially I thought that the move made no sense, because he was probably getting called by many hands that beat him in that spot, and at the same time no hand that he could beat would call him. Looking back on the play now, I actually think the bet itself was a decent idea. If an opponent were slow-playing you on the flop by just calling your bet, and then you checked to him on the turn, I don't think he'd check behind you on 4th street if he were strong... he'd probably bet. I believe Helmuth saw weakness in Negreanu's check OTT, and attempted to exploit it, but it was the amount that Helmuth bet that didn't give the play a chance. Say Helmuth bet half the pot ($10k) instead of the $1k. Now can't that bet be seen as a value bet? What about $5k? Same thing, no?

I may do some experimenting with this in future sessions (meaning in situations where I'm OOP and my continuation bet is called OTF, and then it goes check-check OTT).

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Just to warn you, I Tivo every episode of High Stakes Poker that airs, so I will likely be bringing up strange plays that I see from that show instead of plays I experience while playing online. If that annoys you too...

Bleep yourself.