Brian's Poker Blog

Hands from yesterday

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:56:57 GMT

Started the day playing 200NL and did very well and then played 400NL at night and that didn't go too well.

200NL Hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3331697
Analysis: Was doing two tables with an opponent I have no history with. Here I raise J9s otb and get called with effective stacks of 100 BBs. Flop is QJ3hh and I decide to check behind. Turn is 7c, giving me a flush draw and my opponent bets out. I decide to just call him. River is 8c, completing my flush and he bets about 2/3'rds pot. I decide to raise him pretty big up to 84$ hopefully making my hand look like AK. He tanks and then pushes the rest in and I call to see T9hh for the rivered str8.
Notes: His push is a little thin. With that back door flush completing I think I'd be more inclined to just call the raise. I don't think I could fold that, but by just calling you save 50 BBs just incase opponent did hit the back door flush. I can tell it was a really tough descion for him between calling and pushing.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3331728
Analysis: He was raising the button regularly so here I decided to 3 bet 87o with effective stacks of 200 BBs and he calls. He was calling every now and then, so a call didn't necessarily mean a big hand. I flop the low end of the open ender on a T92hh flop and decide to check call it. Turn is an off suit 8, now giving me a pair, and I check to him again. He bets 3/4th's pot and I think it over and decide to put the pressur on him + RR his turn bet. He thinks for little while and eventually folds. I thought with my shown weakness he could be stealing with a wide variety of hands.
Notes: This play is a little high variance, because I probably would have had to call a shove with mid pair and a weak str8 draw but these are the kind of plays that are all based on feel + this time it worked out.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3331751
Analysis: I raise T9s otb and get 3 bet. He was 3 betting occasionally so he didn't have to have a monster here so I decided to call with effective stacks of 200 BBs. He c-bets a J54o flop and I decide to peel one off on this relatively dry flop with a couple of back door draws. Turn is Qs, giving me an open ender and also putting a flush draw out there. He leads out again, and I feel he will double barrell this board with a wide range so look him up once more. Turn is my gin card, off suit king giving me the straight and he pushes all in for a little more over the pot and I call to see his pocket 3s.

400NL hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3331771
Analysis: Me and this opponent had been playing for a little while now and in this hand I decide to 3 bet J8s from the BB with effective stacks of about 125 BBs + he calls. Flop comes A54cc and with the texture of this flop I decided to check to him. He checks back and the turn is the 5 of hearts giving me a flush draw. I lead out about 3/4th's pot and he 3x's my raise. This opponent is definitely capable of moves, and since I checked that flop, I figured he wasn't putting me on an ace and could be doing this with a lot of hands. I didn't have a strong gut feeling to push, but the combination of me hitting my flush draw + knowing he was aggro and capable of moves led me to shove. He tanked and eventually looked me up with A6o + I couldn't spike the flush.
Notes: Couple reasons to just folding to his raise is 1) The board was paired and 2) Very hard for me to represent the ace after checking that flop. How ever not overly displeased with how this hand played out. He was in the tank for a while and called with only a few seconds remaining so that means the play was only a couple seconds away from working and I did have outs after he called(about a 4:1 dog)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3331803
Analysis: Verse same opponent as hand before pretty deep in to the match. I 3 bet 87o from the BB with effective stacks of 225 BBs and he calls. I flop the nut str8 on a 654 all club flop. I lead out 2/3rd's pot and he raises me pretty big. I am not worried about the flush here. If he has it more power to him. Now the decsion is how to extract the most money. I decide to call and check any river to give him bluffing rope and only card that I would contemplate check-folding to would be if a club fell. Turn is off suit 7, and now if he has an 8 we are chopping. This is kind of a weird card that looking back could be an action killer if he had like AcAx. But I go with my plan and check to him with a little over a pot sized bet remaining and he quickly checks back. Turn is the J of clubs, ugh, and I check to him. He makes a probing little 1/5th pot bet and with the absurd odds I was getting a look him up knowing I am never good and he had 33 with the 3 of clubs. Weird river bet on his part.
Notes: This hand illustrates how tough it can be to play OOP even when you flop basically the nuts. One thing I could have done was 3 bet him on the flop, but I thought that would make my hand look so strong but if he has some thing like KcKx he is probably never folding that no matter how deep we are. Tough hand and if he bet 1/2 pot or bigger on river I was more than likely going to fold. Maybe I should have folded to his smallish bet?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:12:33 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3304408
Analysis: Not too far in to the match but we had been playing for a little while + up to this point he was playing pretty weird. He was 3 betting(3x my open) fair amount so I decided to 4 bet QJo with effective stacks of 150 BBs. He then min raises me. This really throws me for a loop. My image thus far was pretty aggro + with the odds I was getting I decided to call a felt with something like TP or an open ender. Flop is golden, JJ9o and he jams his 449$ stack into the 296$ pot and I snap call and get shown down KK and he spikes a K on the turn to take down the pot.
Notes: The main descion here is wether or not I wanted to call his min 5 bet or not. It kind of looks like he wants me to spazz jam on him but he was playing really weird up to this point, and with the odds I was getting I don't really mind my call + plan post flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3304428
Analysis: Very early in the match and I decide to defend KQo with effective stacks of 200 BBs. I flop TP on a Q22hh flop and go for the check raise. He just calls, and I have a feeling he could be peeling one with a wide variety of hands. Turn is off suit 7, and I lead for 2/3rd's pot and he just calls. I feel I am still ahead here and river brings off suit ten. I decide to check to him for pot control and also to let him bluff if he had something like a busted flush draw. He makes a pretty big bet, 300$ in to a 368$ pot but I was pretty much going to call any bet pot sized or under so I looked him up and he had Q2 for the flopped full house.
Notes: One thing I could have done here is just check-called every street for pot control since it was so early in the match and I didn't have any real reads on him. Pretty tough hand though and I actually like how I played it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3304437
Analysis: This is kind of early in the match, but up to this hand he was playing aggro already 3 betting me a couple times and raising the button regularly. So here I decide to 4 bet AJo and he snap calls. I really think if he had a premium, he would at least think over what he wanted to do. So with that said, even though we were deep stacked I was probably going to felt top pair. I flop top pair on a JT6ss flop and he checks to me. I bet 3/4th's pot and he quickly jams all in. There are just so many hands that he could be semi bluffing here with and also that I have beat, that I decided to look him up. He ended up having KQ for the open ender and 2 overs and won the flip.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3304448
Analysis: Same opponent as hand above, I 3 bet KK from the BB with effective stacks of 200 BBs and he calls. Flop is J55dd and I c-bet + he calls. He could be peeling one off with a lot hands on this flop. Turn is off suit 6 and I decide to lead again. He presses timer and tanks + ends up calling. River is off suit Q, and I have 250$ remaining with the pot being 300$. I decide to check to him to allow him to bluff if he had something like 97dd. He snap checks + I unfortunately see he had AJ. Curious if he would have layed it down on river after taking that long on the turn.
Note: One note I want to make here is on the turn. When a player thinks that long, generally it will be something exactly like he had with AJ or something like TT. Most people with draws don't take time to think and just press the call button. So him taking so long on the turn was one merit to just open shoving the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3304468
Same opponent, stack him deep stacked with aces verse 9s.

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:07:57 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3299729
Was 2 tabling this guy, 4 bet QQ to try to get it all in pre but he just flat called it. I flop top set on a QJ8cc flop and he check raised me all in + of course I called and got lucky verse aces.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3299738
Pay back for the aces =/ lol He quit little after this hand. Ended up a little bit on him.

No other real big pots from the day. Took yesterday off but going to try to put some hands in today.

Good sesh satuday night

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:29:32 GMT

So decided to get some hands in Saturday night and very glad I did. Logged in 566 hands and made about 6 buy ins verse a couple different opponents.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3286137
Analysis: Pretty early in the match verse an aggressive opponent I have a little history with. I decide to 4 bet AKo on the button with effective stacks of 200 BBs and he just calls. I decide to check back a 753dd flop. Turn is an off suit ace giving me top pair top kicker and he checks to me and I bet 164$ into the 192$ pot which would result in me having a pot sized bet remaining for the river. He just calls and open shoves an ace river and ofcourse I call and he ended up having AQ.
Notes: Pleased with how I played this hand. The thing about 4-betting AK is it makes it a lot easier to commit with top pair than just calling when effective stacks are 200 BBs. That is not saying I will never flat call in that situation. It really all has to do with the flow of the match. It would have been really tough if he 5 bet me how ever since it was so early in the match, especially since he is so aggressive.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3286170
Analysis: Very little history with this opponent. We had been playing for a little while up to this hand where I decide to 4 bet with KK on the button. I decided to 4-bet since we were deep stacked and his 3 bet was only 3x my open. If he made it a little larger I might of just flat called. He checks to me on a Q43dd flop and I bet a little under pot so I can put him all in on the turn. Turn is an off suit ace, which seems like a "scare card", but in reality the only hand I can really be worried about is AQ, which would probably check raise that flop. So I put him all in and he snap calls 54o? My hand holds and he quit after that.
Notes: Not really sure the villain's thought process in this one. Was a saturday night so maybe he had a couple beers in him =) If he did think I was weak pre flop, I would probably prefer a 5 bet as opposed to calling my 4 bet OOP with that hand.

Poker hand decided to randomly not work so just gona paste the raw HH here + comment after:

FullTiltPoker Game #8353059376: Table Scenic (deep hu) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:48:26 ET - 2008/10/04
Seat 1: Hero ($804)
Seat 2: TNeid ($568)
TNeid posts the small blind of $2
Hero posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Qh Qc]
TNeid raises to $12
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero raises to $48
TNeid calls $36
*** FLOP *** [9d 4h 7h]
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $76
TNeid calls $76
*** TURN *** [9d 4h 7h] [Kc]
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero bets $176
TNeid calls $176
*** RIVER *** [9d 4h 7h Kc] [As]
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero bets $504, and is all in
TNeid has 15 seconds left to act
TNeid calls $268, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $236 returned to Hero
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero shows [Qh Qc] a pair of Queens
TNeid shows [Kh Th] a pair of Kings
TNeid wins the pot ($1,135.50) with a pair of Kings
Hero adds $164
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,136 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9d 4h 7h Kc As]
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed [Qh Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 2: TNeid (small blind) showed [Kh Th] and won ($1,135.50) with a pair of Kings

Analysis: Fairly early in the match when I pick up QQ in the BB and 3 bet his button open. He calls and the flop comes 974hh. I c-bet 3/4th's pot and he calls. Turn is an off suit king, which like in the previous hand seems like a "scare card" when in reality it is not. I would be more inclined to shut down on flush/str8 cards than the king. So I think I am still ahead and don't want to give him a free card to catch up so lead 176$ into the 248$ pot and he just calls. River is an offsuit ace and he has 268$ left in a 600$ pot and I just put him all in and he called with KThh, for a flush draw on the flop and a paired king on the turn.
Notes: This hand will usually just get all in on the flop. Like how I played it but not really a big fan of how villain played it. I would try to get it in on the flop because doing that allows you to see 2 cards with a good draw as opposed to just calling, bricking the turn + not getting the correct odds to call a turn bet with one card to come. Also you can put your opponent to a tough spot and get them to fold something like 88.

Hands from Thursday

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:24:35 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3279186
Analysis: Played with this guy before + we had been playing for little while up to this hand. I decided to just flat call AJo from his button raise because he was open min raising the button + I started to 3 bet them a lot more and he never defended so I figured he was doing that with the weaker portion of his range. Also we are 150BBs deep and I am pretty sure he has not defended one of my 3 bets so calling keeps in the hands I have dominated when I raise and he calls narrows it down to hands that I am dominated by. Flop comes A62cc+ I decide to check call his c bet. Right before I called I thought to myself that I would check fold if a club fell. Turn is 5 of clubs, and I check to him + he makes a weird half pot bet. I had not seen this in the match before but it enticed me to see a river. River is 3 of clubs, putting 4 clubs out there and I check to him again not really knowing what I am going to do. He bets 3/4th's pot + that kind of stood out to me because when a hand reached the river(didn't happen 2 much, he was pretty snug post flop) he would bet full pot on the river(I never looked him up but I thought it equalled strength). So that made me think he might of been betting the non-nut flush or just bluffing. So I decided to re bumb him to 192$ and I get snap called by ace high flush.
Notes: Should have stuck to my flop plan of check folding turn if a club fell. I actually like my thought process though on the river, but he ended up having it this time. One reason against it how ever is that this opponent was playing pretty straight forward, so I kind of think he checks back with a lot of his clubs.

Won a couple pots for stacks but nothing real intersting. Haven't played on a saturday night in a while but going to play tonight and hopefully can find a couple juicy opponents.

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:12:39 GMT

Played one session yesterday with an opponent I have not played with before. After I stacked him he was steaming pretty bad, 3-betting a ton and I had an interesting hand to end the session I want to talk about.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3268863
This is the cooler which happened in the middle of the match.

Lot of other smaller to medium pots not really worth blogging about but here is the big pot that ended the session.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3268878
Analysis: So up to this point he was just playing like an aggro-tard, raising every button and relentlessly 3 betting me. I tightened my opening range and tried to stay cool and patient, and pick up JJ on the button and he 3 bets to me. I thought to myself with my unpaired hands like AK/QJ I was going to try to just call and look to flop TP or make a move on a dry board. With QQ+ I would more than likely 4 bet to hopefull get him to spazz. When he 3 bets me I am kind of 50/50 call/4 bet. I had 4 bet him like 2 or 3 times and he had folded to them so I thought it would be a real tough spot if he 5 bet me so I decided to take a flop and probably stack with an over pair. So flop comes 474hh and he cbets. With the texture of this flop I decided to raise/call a jam + that happened and he had K5hh for an over and the flush draw + my hand couldn't hold as a 58/42 fav.
Notes: Was thinking about this hand a lot after I played it. I think I might of being a little results oriented here because I think at the worst case here I am flipping. The one benefit to 4 betting pre flop is that is makes it easier to commit when you flop an over pair. After I raised his c-bet and he jammed in on me, I had to call an additional 772$ for his all in. I wasn't getting the odds for a flip, but I really thought I could have his like A7o smashed and I was flipping at worst. Over all, can not be displeased with how this hand played out and was just unfortunate I couldn't win it as a little more than a coin flip favorite.

Hands from yesterday

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:50:05 GMT

Over all had a nice day yesterday. Feel I am playing very solid. To start the day off I played one of the longest HU sessions that I have ever played. 2 tabling we logged in a little over 900 hands and played a little under 3 hours(with a couple short breaks). I had not played with this guy before, but felt I had a pretty big edge on him and that is the reason for playing so long. He was very aggressive pre flop, raising almost every button. There got to points in the match where he would be 3 betting me 1 out of every 3 hands I opened. Overall I thought I played well against it staying patient, picking the right spots. and not letting it fluster me. After all was said and done I was up about 1.5 buy ins. Now to the hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3264577
Analysis: So this is pretty deep in to the session. We were playing with effective stacks of 250BBs where I 3 bet him with AK. He called, and he was calling pretty light. I flop top pair on a AT5o flop + c bet it. Even though we have a lot behind, I was pretty comfortable getting it all in here. He just calls my cbet and turn comes 7d putting a flush draw out there. I lead out 120$ into a 200$ pot and he makes it a total of 400$, with 600$ behind. If I just call, the pot will be 1000$ with about 600$ left for both of us. I decided to jam it in just incase he had some kind of draw like KQdd and he called with aces and tens and held up for a big pot.
Notes: With how aggressive the match was getting, I think this hand just played it self out. He could easily have AQ or some kind of draw here. The one thing I've mentioned before is generally when people are raising the turn, they have a big hand. How ever when I 3 bet AK and flop TP, even this deep, it is very hard to lay it down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3264620
Big hand for me, deep stacked cooler. One thing I want to note here is, generally with suited 2 gappers I like to be the raiser. That is not saying I will never flat call with them, but usually I like to either raise them on the button, or 3 bet them from the BB.

a LOT of other medium sized pots which I will just look over in PT. Lot of them are just 3 bet'd pots. Over all I think I played very well in the 3 bett'd pots. I picked good spots to c-bet and also tried to play some a little tricky.

So took a break then put in some hands during the night. Played two opponents, first one I lost a little just 3 betting two times and folding post flop. The other I two tabled for 375 hands and ended up a little shy of 2 buy ins. Here is the one big hand for stacks:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3264646
Analysis: He is a regular, who I have very little history with who I decided to 2 table. This hand occurred fairly early in the match, where I 3bet KQo with effective stacks of 100 BBs. I flop top pair on a KJ7o flop and decide to c-bet it. He flats calls and the turn comes a 4. For some reason now I am putting him on a jack or something like AQ. With both of those hands he will probably check behind, so I decide to bet the turn hopefully inducing a shove and he does with AJ and my hand holds.
Notes: Will comment on villains play. Since this was fairly early in the match, when I call a 3 bet with AJs effective stacks of 100 BBs generally I am looking to commit on top pair or a good draw. The flop call is not horrible, but I think I would fold to any other action unless I improved.

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:23:29 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3260067
Analysis: Me + this guy had been playing for little while now. He was playing pretty aggro coming in for raises on the button + had 3 bet a couple times. Here I open KK on the button and he 3 bets me. I decide to make it 88$ to go and he calls pretty quickly. He checks to me on a Q82cc flop and I c bet it and he just calls. Turn is 5c, putting 3 clubs out there but I have the Kc. He checks to me with 330$ remaining and the pot being 400$. I decide to check behind here because I think with my turn check, he may look me up lighter as opposed to jamming on the turn. How ever if I don't have the Kc, I think I don't try to get tricky and just put it in. River is kind of weird, and off suit ace and he checks to me again. I just had the feeling I was good so put him all in and he mulled over the descion(which ment I was more than likely ahead) and ended up looking me up with QJ.
Notes: Will comment on villain's play here. I am pretty sure I had folded to all of his 3 bets, so this should more times than not be a fold to my 4 bet. Post flop I guess he played it alright, but I would probably check raise the flop/get it in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3260102
Analysis: Pretty cool hand here. Pretty early in the sesh but I definitely had the momentum, winning a few nice sized pots. Here I defend A5s with effective stacks of 200 BBs. I decide to check raise a Q84o flop, and if he calls, lead out on any heart, 3, 2 and check-call if I pair my ace. If none of those cards fell I was planning on check folding. He calls my check raise, and a king of hearts falls and I bet about 3/4th's pot + he thinks for a little and raised me. I just felt that he was calling my check raise with intentions of stealing on a later street, so I jamed in on him and he folded quickly.
Notes: Really like how I played this hand. He either has a monster when he raises the turn like KQ or a flopped set or I think my jam will take it down. Also if he does wake up with a hand, I know I am not drawing dead.

Weekend off

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:23:25 GMT

So took this week end off. Took a road trip to see the Michigan- Wisconsin game + had a blast. Last time I played was the 25th. Booked in 220 hands 2 tabling verse one opponent and over all had good success. Had not played with this villain before, but when I was watching a table that my opponent was playing verse him, I saw him 5 bet shove A9o. This does not mean he is horrible by any means, but did probably mean he wasn't scared money.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3255706
Analysis: Here's the big hand of the match. Huge cooler where I open 43o and he defends 66 + he flops set while I flop the straight. We get it all in on the flop and my hands holds as a 2:1 fav.

Looking back not too many other real interesting hands. Just a couple medium sized pots, some going my way + some going his. Going to try to hit the tables now + look for a good HU match.

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:50:53 GMT

Took yesterday off from the tables after a not so good day on Tuesday. I played 2 tables of HU with one guy which I don't think I have every done but am going to start to do more to get in more hands. I was pleased with my play for having never do it before and there were a few big pots which I'll blog about.

So no real big hands previously till the 2 tabling sesh, so just gona post hands from that. So overall logged in about 300 hands and ended down about 50 BBs. No previous history with this villain, but saw he was doing another table on top of the 2 he was doing with me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3238990
Analysis: This hand was probably in the middle of the match, when we had been playing for little while + were playing with effective stacks of 150BBs. I was going to 3 bet with 85s if he raised it, but I see him go to his 15 second marker and min raise. I think this was the first time he min raised, so thought a little something was fishy so decided to just flat call. I flop gutter to the nut str8 and a back door flush draw and decide to check raise. He just calls and I turn my gin card. I want to build this pot up so don't try to get tricky and bet about 3/4th's pot + he raises me up. I think wether I want to just call or raise, and end up putting him on a stronger range so push the rest in and he called with bottom set and unfortunately filled up on the river.
Notes: Pleased with how I played this one. Like that I put some thought in to him min raising the button for the first time. Got it in good for a 400 BB pot and that's all I can ask for.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3239021
Analysis: I open T9o, he 3 bets, and I decide to 4 bet. I have no real explanation for this, really just is a feel thing due to the flow of the match. We're playing effective stacks of 200 BBs + he calls rather quickly. I am pretty sure this is the first time I had 4 bet, so I am really not sure on what sort of range to put him on with just calling. I flop mid pair on a A98dd flop and decide to check behind for pot control. River is a Td, making me two pair and completing the flush draw on the flop. He leads out for 117$, and I decide to raise him up hoping he's got something like AQ. He puts the rest in and I don't think I can ever fold here and called(with intentions of calling a push when I raised his turn lead). He ended up having the flush with 63s and I got lucky and boated up on the river.
Notes: This hand was kinda similar to the other one for a 400 BB pot except for in this one, he called my 4 bet OOP with 63s. I am not really a big fan of his call since this was the first time I had 4 bet. How ever I'd much rather cold call a 4 bet 200 BBs deep with 63s than something like AT.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3239064
Analysis: So this hand occurred after the one above, and I could sense he was getting a little steamy, 3 betting more often. With that said, I decided to 3 bet KJhh with effective stacks of 200 BBs because with him steaming, he is more likely to call my 3 bet light and do something stupid post flop. So he just calls and flop comes AK5 rain bow. I decide to check call the flop + he bets 74$ into the 92$ pot and I just call. Turn is 8 and I check to him again and he fires out a little under pot sized bet. I just really had a feeling with my shown weakness that he was looking to multi barrell here so I called with pretty good intentions of check calling any river card. River paires 8s and he instantly goes all in for little under pot. I press timer just to re think the situation out. My heart started to race a little faster which is usually a sign of my gut telling me to fold. I was thinking of making a big call down here though so that might of been what caused it. I ended up going with my initial plan and called him down and was shown J8 for trips.
Notes: I really have mixed feelings about this hand. My read was dead on, was just very unfortunate for him to make trips. I try not to be results oriented, and I am fairly confident he would jam any river there, not thinking his 8s were good putting me on a K-X type hand or something like QQ. How ever, the speed of which he went all in on the river really made me think twice and might of been what triggered my gut to making me want to fold. It's kind of the reverse psychology thing where if he was bluffing, wouldn't he make it look like he was thinking to make him look "weak" when actuality he was strong(or in this case trying to represent a strong hand). I don't know how deep he was thinking because this was the first time I played him and he did act quick on some descions. Over all a very interesting hand and I am kind of on the fence with my feelings on it.

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:44:53 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3229404
Analysis: Decided to limp 77 here and villain checks. I flop top set on a 732cc flop and bet a little under pot and get cold called. Turn is off suit 9, and villain checks to me again and I want to build this pot up so bet 8$ into a 10$ pot and get raised to 32$. I think my villain is pretty strong here so I don't want to just call and have a scare card come up to kill action so I re-raise, and he pushes and I call and he ended up turning two pair and I take down a nice pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3229417
Analysis: This guy was extremely passive, but up to this point he was doing a lot of weird min raising stuff, so after he re raised my raise of his limp, I decided to rebump it to 48$ making it easier to commit if I flop TP if he just calls. So he just called and I flop TP on a QJ2cc flop and bet enough so if he calls I can make a pot sized bet on the turn to get him all in on a safe card. So he just calls and the turn is a safe off suit 3 and I put him all in and he calls with AK.
Notes: Not really sure what I would have done if he pushed on me pre flop. Probably would have to fold since he was playing so passive but would have thought it over.

No real other big hands from yesterday. Tried to stick with solid game selection and didn't book a big win, but was in the green which is always better than the red. Gona try to get some hands in now.

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:28:23 GMT

Got in a combination of 700 hands at 6max and HU yesterday with so-so results. One thing I want to be more strict about is the late night sessions. Over the last couple days I've been playing at like 2am which I am not a big fan of. The main thing is that generally I will be pretty tired then + it is hard to play your best poker when tired. Also, that results in me not getting to bed till like 3 or 4 in the morning which really messes up my schedule. So gona try hard to be done by midnight unless I 'm playing a huge donk who is not quitting. Another thing that I am going to pay a lot more attention to is game selection. I played 3 reg's HU and overall ended down verse them(although one hand was very tough to get away from and the other I lost as 3:1 fav.) Then I played a weaker opponent at the end of the night and made 1.5 BI's in only a little over 100 hands. Think I've mentioned this before but the a big difference between regulars + the weaker opponents is generally in the bigger pots the regulars will have a pretty strong holding as opposed to the weaker opponents who will put more chips in light.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3225767
Analysis: This hand was very tough. Opponent is a pretty aggressive regular. I decided to play him because little while back I played him and he relentlessly was 3 betting so thought I could take advantage of that by being patient and waiting for the right spot. So here I open Q9o and he defends with effective stacks of 100 BBs. I flop bottom pair and a gutter on a KJ9dd flop and decide to check behind. Turn is a 9 making me trips and he makes a pot sized bet. Since the board is so drawy, I decide to bump his 20$ bet to 68$. He thinks for a little and makes it 188$. I am fairly confident this is not a bluff. I was actually a little worried I was beat by something like QT or 9-A/K/J but I figured worse 9s like T9 are in his range as well as something like ATdd so I put the rest in and he ended up having A9 and it held.
Notes: Very hard to get away from this one. One of the reasons I debated folding was because when I check behind on the flop and raise his turn bet when 9s trip up, it definitely looks like I have a 9. Not going to sweat this hand too much though but it's always good to think of reasons for doing something else.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3225835
Analysis: Early in the match verse a regular I have no history with. Decide to just flat call his button open with 9s with effective stacks of 100 BBs. I flop the nuts on a 972ss and decide to go for the check raise. He bets out 20$ and I make it 64$ and then he re-raises to 166$. On this board I rarely think he is doing this as a bluff. He either has some sort of draw or TP/over pair hand he is looking to get all in with so I push and he called with ATss for the nut flush draw. Going in I was a 3:1 fav but unfortunately he hit his flush on the turn and I couldn't fill up.
Notes: Two notes I want to make here. First was the point about how regulars generally get it in with stronger holdings in big pots. Here he has a monster draw with two overs to the board and a nut flush draw + I would play this hand idenetically to how he did. Second, just want to mention my smooth call pre flop. This may seem kind of obvious but small to mid PPs play awesome when the pot is just raised once. They are very easy to get away from + when you make a set, 99% of the time you will have the best hand. I am not saying I never 3 bet them, because it is good to keep your opponents guessing but just wanted to mention that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3225862
Analysis: Here I am playing verse a regular that I have very little history with. This is fairly early in the match, he had won a couple smallish to medium sized pots so momentum might of been a tad on his side but nothing too big. Here I decide to just smooth call aces in the BB from his button raise. I have no real explanation for this, sometimes I just can sense wether or not the opponent will call or fold to a 3 bet and I felt he would fold to a re-raise here. Flop is J52 rain bow and I check to him with intentions of check raising. He bets 30$ and I make it 93$. He calls and I feel his range is very wide here since I check raised such a dry flop. Turn is probably the worst card pairing jacks, and I decide to go for pot control and check to him. He checks behind, which is good, but does not mean he does not have a jack. River is awesome, putting trip jacks on board and making me a full boat. I decide to bet enough where he can try to bluff raise me off my hand + also gets value if he would just check behind something like 65. He pushs rather quickly and I gladly call and see 77 from him.
Notes: Like how I played this hand a lot. If river did not trip up jacks, I think I would check call any reasonable size bet. If I was villain on the river it is very close between calling and raising. Calling allows you to see my whole cards just in case I am bluffing + just in case you are beat by like 88+ saves you about 50 BBs. I am not saying I hate the shove though because it would be very hard for me to fold something like A5 or 66.

Off to the tables, think I am going to stick to 400NL but game select very well. Even though September has been sup-bar, still very confident in my game and going to continue to try to play as solid as I can.

Back to HU, not so hot results

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:52:19 GMT

Logged in about 400 hands hand of HU at 400NL yesterday and over all was down 4 buy ins. Definitely some hands I want to talk about which I feel I misplayed.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3213580
Analysis: This one is pretty ugly. Haven't felt I've misplayed a hand this bad in a while. So me and this guy had been playing for little while now and got up to playing with effective stacks of 200 BBs. Up to this point he wasn't defending too often so I was opening a wide range from the button. Here I open 42o and he flat calls. I flop a gutter to the wheel on a AT3ss flop and c-bet it after he checks to me. He raises me up to 60$, and I decided to call because I think this may have been the first time he check raised me, so I put him on a pretty strong range so if I hit my gutter pretty sure I would get paid off. If we were only 100 BBs deep, I'd probably just pitch it, but since we were 200 BBs deep felt my implied odds were good enough to chase. Turn is 7s, completing the flush draw, and am pretty surprised to see him bet out 116$ into a 144$ pot. I was fairly confident he did not have a flush because felt he was the type of player to just check call a flush draw on the flop. I debated a raise but I thought a call looked a little more scary and I did have the 2s for a flush draw just in case he didn't have any spades. River is a very interesting 6 of spades, putting 4 spades on the board with me having the deuce, and he thinks for a little while and then bets out about a 2/3rd's pot bet. Now I really have no idea what to do and press timer to think it out. His line is pretty funk because I felt if he had something like 33 or AsTx on the flop, that when the turn completed the flush he would check to me for pot control. And say he did get a little frisky and raise a flush draw on the flop, wouldn't the forth spade on the river slow him down? Was he turning a set into a bluff trying to get me to fold a weak flush? Because his line was so funky I decided to raise as oppose to call which maybe could get him to fold like AxKs but he ended up having A8s for the ace high flush.
Notes: Pre flop raise is fine, and I actually don't mind the call of his CR just because I was so confident he had a big hand and if I hit the wheel I was going to get paid off. Where I think I made the mistake was calling his turn bet. My plan on the flop should have been to hit the wheel, and possibly bluff if the flush completed IF he checks to me. How ever he bet, which was just really weird and I should have cut my losses there. Looking back also my raise on the river(which I did with like couple seconds left on timer not completely thinking it out) was only a little more than a min raise so he is probably priced in with any flush he has, especially with me taking that long on my descion. As I've said before, I don't mind making these type of big blunders. It won't be my last one but I need to keep learning + improving from my mistakes.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3213655
Analysis: Played with this guy little before, only had him noted as being pretty aggro. Here I decide to limp AcKd and he checks his options. He checks to me on a J95 all club flop, + I bet with my nut flush draw. He raises my 6$ bet to 24$, and I decide to re-raise him and try to get it in on the flop. He jams and I call verse his flopped flush and lose as a 3:1 dog.
Notes: This may not seem so bad getting it in with "two overs and the nut flush draw" but in a limped pot rarely will any one get it in on this type of flop with anything less than 2 pair where I will be at best a 2:1 dog. What I should have done is just called his check raise and played it from there. My thinking was that if a 4th club came I would not get paid off so try to get it in on the flop. But as I said usually I will be about a 2:1 dog verse the range that is willing to put 100 BBs in that flop in an unraised pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3213690
Analysis: Same opponent as hand above, he was opening a ton of buttons, so here I decided to 3 bet 98o. I had 3 bet him at least 5 times up to this and he didn't defend once so with this being the first time he called I was going to play with caution. I end up floping bottom two on a J98o flop and bet 64$ into an 80$ pot and he just calls. I really am not sure what he has here. He was playing pretty aggro up to this point, so his bigger hands like over pairs I think he would raise. He might of been going for pot control with something like AJ or KJ. Turn is a deuce not really changing anything. If I was ahead on the flop I am more than likely still ahead now. Since there str8 draws are definitely part of his range I decided to make a little under pot size bet. He pressed timer and ended up calling. River is pretty ugly, ten, making any hand with queen or seven a straight. This was just a really tough spot with the pot being 584$ and me having 486$ left. I think what made my descion was I just wasn't going to fold to a push so might as well push it myself so something like AA or KJ wouldn't check behind. He called with 76s for the flush.
Notes: I think I played this hand great all the way up to the river. I have had other very similar situations occur deep stacked like this when an unfriendly river card falls and I am first to act with about a pot sized bet left. I think if I have some where around a half sized pot bet remaing, pushing is fine. But since my stack size is pretty close to the pot, I have to get better at checking in these spots, and even check folding if my gut says so. Right when the ten fell I knew it was a horrible card and in the long run if I can save these 100 BB bets it will definitely add up.

Think I am going to play 200 NL tonight due to the last week or so of playing not going so great.

6 max itch

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:17:23 GMT

So took most of yesterday off but towards the night I had a really big urge to play some 6 max. When you really want to play that is probably the best time to play, so fired up 2 tables of 600 deep NL 6max + feel I played pretty well for not playing in a while. I probably played a little too loose and made a couple call downs that I shouldn't have since I've been playing so much heads up as of late. So here are some of the more noteable hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3208213
Analysis: So a crazy maniac player limps in the CO(he was just doing LAG tard stuff from small sample I saw) + am very happy to see I am delt KK in the BB. A regular raises from the SB and I am pretty sure his range is on the stronger side since it's not a position iso raise so I decide to make it 93$ to go hoping that badforher will come for the ride to or even raise. He folds and the SB calls, rather quickly. We are playing with effective stacks of 200 BBs but since he called my raise so quick I thought he'd atleast put some thought in to what to do if he had AA so I kind of ruled that out. Flop comes K73cc, giving me the nuts and he checks to me. I decided to check behind to let him improve or allow him to bluff with my shown weakness. The thing is, I am putting him on a stronger range so the only hand that can really continue on this flop is AK(since I am ruling AA out pf) and with me having KKK that just makes AK less likely. Turn is off suit deuce and he checks to me again. Now I want to build this pot up so I bet 120$ into a 192$ pot and he calls pretty quickly. River is off suit 9 + he checks and I wanted to make a bet that looked like I was trying to steal so maybe he'd look me up light or bluff raise me. He ended up pushing with JJ and obviously I called with the nuts and took down a nice pot.
Notes: Will comment on villains play here. Him just calling pre flop is fine since we are 200 BBs deep. One thing how ever is that I was playing very snug up to this hand so he can probably put me on a stronger range. He checks to me on a king high flop, and I check behind. If I am going to try to steal this pot, I will probably bet out the flop. So with that said, I am not really a big fan of his turn call. With my image so far I would probably only continue on any non ace/king boards or obviously if he hit a set. And even if the board was all rags I think he could get away from this one with the combination of my image + us being deep. Not really sure his thought process on his river push. I am guessing he just didn't put me on a strong hand since I checked the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3208253
Analysis: So here a single tabler limps UTG, and I decide to raise it up with jacks in the CO, regular BB calls, and the UTG limper re-bumbs it to 107$. I talk myself in to getting it in verse the UTG limper since he only 66BB stack + he ended up having aces.
Notes: I had him noted as limping weak, seeing him open limp fold to raises pre flop so I definitely think I should have folded here. I think this kind of had to do with me playing HU so much and JJ being so strong but I am NEVER greater than a coin flip here and with only a little more than 4 BBs invested should have picked a better spot verse this villain. If he had a 50 BB stack or lower I probably wouldn't think twice of this hand but 66BB stack was just little too much with my reads on him.

Over all was pleased with my play, especially since I hadn't played 6 max in a while. I don't know if it is that I have played so much heads up or I have been blogging more frequently, but I can really feel my game developing + noticed it in that sesh. I was reviewing hands from the past from 600NL 6max and got a good laugh at some of the mistakes I made and thought to myself how could I ever do that? In the past I used to play crazy LAG, but now I am fine-tuning my game picking up leaks + am really eager to keep improving.

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:58:43 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3199136
Analysis: Forget exactly how deep into the match this hand occurred, but had no previous history with this villain. This might have been his first 3 bet, or if it was not he had not been 3 betting much up to it. Since he only 3x my open raise and we were deep stacked I thought I was getting more than enough implied odds to set mine with pocket 3s. He checked to me which was a little weird(and a little scary), but I am not going to go for pot control with bottom set here so bet about 3/4th's pot and he called on a QJ3dd flop. Turn is 6d, completing flush draw and he checks to me again. I am not putting him on a flush here, more likely something like AK or TT so I fire turn + he calls pretty quickly. He leads on an off suit 5 river for little more than half pot and I put the rest in(which was about a min raise) + he snap folded. Guessing he had AK with one of them being a diamond.
Notes: I guess I could have just called his river bet just in case he was slow playing QQ,JJ, or AKdd + to also see what he took that line with. How ever I just felt I had the best hand so raising gets more value and also if he folds you don't show down your hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3199180
Analysis: This is verse same opponent as previous hand except this one I played him at night and other I played in afternoon. In this match I don't think he called one of my 3 bets, so decided to re bump his 12$ open to 42$ with 85cc with effective stacks of 200 BBs. He called and I flop bottom pair and an open ender on a 765 rainbow board. I decide to go for the check raise but he checks behind. Turn brings a queen, and I decide to check to him again not really sure what I will do if he bets. He makes a weakish half pot bet, and I decided to raise him up due to the size of his bet and my shown weakness checking flop and turn. He literally snap called my raise and now I am putting him on a weak holding. River is king, which is a great bluff card so I decide to turn my hand into a bluff and bet 308$ into a 364$ pot. There had been other hands where he called my 3 bet where I fired flop and/or turn and he folded to a river bet so that was another good reason for betting river because it could get him to folding something like 88.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3199209
Analysis: Here I open JJ, and up to this point he had been playing super passive, so when he 3 bet me I decided to just call it and play carefull post flop. Flop is 524o, and he c-bets for a pot sized bet. He may c-bet AK on this board, and I am ahead of like 99/TT so I decided to peal one off. Turn pairs deuces and next thing I see is him jam his 560$ stack into the the 300$ pot. Pressed timer to think it out. I actually didn't have a strong gut feeling I was behind here, but the risk verse reward he gave me with his over bet jam just wasn't worth it to look him up.
Notes: After reviewing pleased with my lay down here. The combination of how passive he had been playing with the poor risk verse reward on his over bet jam I think a fold is correct there. The only reason I debated a call was because I didn't have the feeling I was beat. I think best case scenario if I called him on the turn would be him having AK, where I would be 3:1 fav.

Going to review couple more hands than get sesh in.

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:38:01 GMT

Hands from Wednesday, had a not so good match towards the end of the night with a couple tough hands. Took yesterday off from cash tables and did a tournament at night and didn't make the $. Haven't done a tourny in while and just felt like taking day off from cash and mix it up with a tournament. Think I may try to do couple more tournies in the near future.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3182620
Analysis: No previous history with this villain, but we had been playing for a little while up to this hand + were playing with effective stacks little over 200 BBs. He seemed to be a LAG, raising a lot of buttons but also defending very light. Don't think he folded suited cards or A-X+K-X hands. That is definitely very exploitable so I was looking to take advantage of that. Here I open J8ss and he defends. I flop TP on a J75cc and my cbet get's flat called. Turn is off suit 6, now giving me an open ender and he checks to me again. He checks to me and I really think I am ahead at this point so bet a little under pot. This is probably the most important part of the hand where he just flat calls. We hadn't had any other real big pots up to this point except for one, where he check raised a made str8 on the turn. So with him not check raising the flop or turn, I am not putting him on a flopped flush. River is awesome, off suit 9 now making me a str8 and possibly drawing out verse a better jack. He checks to me once again and I fire 128$ into a 168$ pot and fairly quickly he bumps it up to 484$. I immediately got a bad feeling but pressed timer to think it out and just went with my initital read that he would of check raised either the flop or turn if he had flopped flush.
Notes: I feel this was a pretty tough hand how ever I didn't go with my gut and when I don't I usually pay the price. I think he definitely could have played any Ac-X type hand like this though so I am not too displeased with my call down. Ended the session with him after making this call.

No real other big hands to post. Gona try to get a session in now.

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:27:38 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3172634
Analysis: Me and this guy had played for a little bit up to this hand. He seemed pretty weak, bought in for 50 BBs and just didn't seem good from little sample I had seen so far. So I had opened 2.5xBB a couple times through out the match, and I think at least two of the times he 3 bet me, so decided next time I got big hand I'd open to 10$. So make it 10$ to go with QQ and he ends up just flat calling. He leads little less than half pot on a T97o flop, and that just screams to me he wants to see a cheap turn so I raise it up to 28$ and he calls. He checks to me on a very safe deuce turn card, and I decide to bet enough that if he calls he will have about a pot sized bet remaining on the river. He calls pretty quickly and river is probably best card that could have come pairing deuces, counterfeigting two pair if he was slow playing that on the flop. He checks and I push and he called with AT.
Notes: Just wanted to note my turn decsion of how much to bet. I've become more concious of planning my hands ahead to get the opponent all in. Wether that all in be for value, or to make a big bluff, I feel it has improved my game a lot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3172653
Analysis: No previous history with this villain. Up to this point saw he was doing like 5 heads up tables verse different opponents. He raised the button regularly and c-bet regularly. He bought in for 100 BBs, but I dwindled him down to about a 50 BB stack. Here I defend A9ss and go for the CR on a 977cc flop. I had check raised - folded to a raise a couple hands back, so I was more than confident enough to get it in here, especially with the effective stacks only being 50 BBs. He just calls which was pretty weird but I was going to bet out most turn cards unless it was really ugly. Turn is off suit 8, the pot is 120$ and he has 176$ remaining and I wanted to bet an amount that made it look like I could get away from the hand but big enough to make it look like I was stealing so went with 84$ and he pushed the rest in and I called and he showed T8o for open ender on flop and turned pair and my hand held as a 70/30 fav when the $ went in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3172681
Analysis: I don't know what it is but some people just love to raise my button limps. This guy wasn't going to crazy with it but when he raised it, it definitely didn't mean strength. So going in to this hand, I think I had 3 bet him 2 or 3 times out of the last like 6 hands. That with the combination of the speed he pushed in led me to believe he was getting frusterated with me so I called his jam with AQo and unfortunately couldn't win the flip verse 55.
Notes: Usually I plan out in this kind of spot if I am going to call or fold to a shove prior to them doing it but the action was so fast up to this point I had to press timer to think the situation out. I just didn't have "that feeling" that I was beat/he was strong so went with my gut which was correct. I wasn't getting the correct odds to call for a coin flip, but I thought I was a coin flip at worst, and could of had his like ATs dominated. One merit to folding how ever was this was the first time he had put all his chips in pre flop, but with the flow of the match really don't mind my call down in this spot.

Back At It

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:16:02 GMT

So have taken the last 2 weeks off from poker. Just moved into a house with 3 other friends so just needed to get settled in. Was a good break and didn't really think about poker at all over it. When you are playing on a regular basis it's good every once in while just to give your mind a break. So going to start where I last ended playing 400NL HU and try to get to 600NL HU(using 50 buy in rule). I used 30 for 6 max but heads up can just be so swingy I feel 50 is very good for me. I've played 600 HU before, and if you game select well you can find some pretty juicy games but now that I am playing heads up more regularly I think I should stick to 400 until I get 50 buy ins for 600 or unless there is really juicy spot.

Played little 200 HU last night just to get back in to swing of things and played verse a weak opponent in my mind who I have played with fair amount previously at 400 HU.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3167512
Analysis: So this guy doesn't defend too much, but seems to like to raise my button limps. So up to this point there were no real big hands. We were playing with effective stacks little over 100 BBs, and I decide to limp-re-raise AQo. I make his 12$ raise to 26$ with intentions of folding to a re raise(since it was fairly early in the match and I hadn't seen how he had react to me doing this yet in this sesh). He flat calls and flop comes A63o and he checks to me. Since this flop is so dry, I decide to check back to let him improve or show weakness so he will attempt a bluff on a ladder street. Turn gives me trip aces and puts a flush draw on board and he leads for near pot. If the turn didn't bring a flush draw, I may just flat call here, but since it did, and I really couldn't see him folding like 99, decided to raise him up. I made my raise kind of smallish to make it look like I was trying to steal. He pushes the rest in and I call and he ended up having AJ and my hand held.
Notes: Pleased with how I played this hand on every street. If he was playing crazy aggro, and he re raised my raise pre flop, I definitely wouldn't mind getting it in with AQ for 100 BBs. But since he wasn't getting too out of line, like my plan of folding if he raised me pre.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3167546
Analysis: This was the very next hand from the hand above. He opens on the button, and I decided to flat call AQo with effective stacks of 200 BBs(he re bought). I flop tp-tk on a QJ7cc board and decide to lead. He bumps my 10$ lead to 35$, and it just felt very steamy on his part. I think over if I want to re raise him or just call, but since we were playing deep stacked decided to go for pot control and look for a safe turn card. Turn is very safe, off suit 5, and now the pot is 80$ with him having 365$ behind. I just had a feeling if I checked to him he was betting, so went for the check raise. He bet 66$ and I almost just pushed but decided to make it 194$ and he quickly pushes the rest in and I call fairly confident I will have the best hand but he ended up flopping jacks up and I couldn't draw out on the river.
Notes: Couple notes I want to make here. Looking back pre flop, I kind of think I lean towards 3 betting for couple reasons. First off he just lost a hand for stacks, so he could definitely call light and make a stupid move post. Also being deep stacked, 3 betting makes it easier to commit when flopping top pair. My reasoning for just calling was he literally opens every button, so it keeps in the hands I have dominated. Also, since he did lose that last hand for stacks, it would be a tough spot for me if I got 4 bet. It kind of sucks putting in 200 BBs in post flop when the size of the pot going in to the flop is only 6 BBs with only TP-TK, but as I said he just lost that hand for stacks so he definitely could have been in a tilty mood. Poker is all about adjusting, and I think I adjusted correctly in this hand but was just unfortunate that he had a better hand. If the match was going slow up to this point, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't stack here. I'd probably just check call turn and re evaluate on the river.

Hands from yesterday

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:39:28 GMT

Logged in 449 hands and basically broke even. Played pretty well but definitely made a river call down where I should have folded to.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3097481
Analysis: Here is the hand that I mentioned above. This guy was pretty bad from what I had seen so far(had played little in past as well). So I noticed he liked to raise my button limps, so I decided to limp-re-raise KK with effective stacks little over 125 BBs. I make it 56$ total pre flop and he calls. He checks to me on a very drawy flop, JT8cc, and I decided to make a full pot bet + he calls. Turn is worst card in deck, completing flush draw and making any hand with Q or 7 a straight. He checks to me and I check back hoping to spike an offsuit jack or something but not really knowing what I will do if he bets river if I don't improve. River comes an off suit ace, and he instantly goes all in for 400$ into a 336$ pot. I literally called him down with like 2 seconds on the timer left and he had Q6cc for the flush(+ str8 draw on flop)
Notes: On the river, I beat absolutely nothing. I think it was more of a curiosity call, but that's probably not the smartest idea for a 100 BB bet =/ lol Was 2 seconds away from making the right move, but curiosity got to me. This won't be the last time I make a wrong call down like this, but I feel just looking over it really helps a lot and may prevent less of these suspect call downs in the future. The thing in this spot is even if he has like Ac2x and is trying to get me off a 7 or something, I don't even have that beat! But even if the ace didn't fall on the river, I really think this is a pretty easy fold. It is hard to fold over pairs when the pot is 3 bet'd pre flop with stacks near 100 BBs, but this is definitely the type of board where you can do so. If the turn was say a 2 of clubs how ever and he checked/pushed all in I would bet/call with out batting an eye lash.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3097515
Analysis: This hand is verse same villain from hand above, but was from earlier in the match. He was calling 3 bets light, so I was 3 betting my broad way cards that would have him dominated. Also he was raising the button very frequently. So here I 3 bet KJo with effective stacks near 125BBs and he calls. I flop TP on a K83o, and since it was so dry I decided to check to him. Doing this allows him to catch up and gives him some bluffing rope. It also balances my range when I check like JJ in that spot. He checks behind and turn is Q. There are no flush draw possibilities, but there are now some str8 draws that he could have picked up and also I want to build this pot up so I bet about 3/4th's pot and he calls quickly. River comes 5, and I decide to check to him just in case he had a busted draw or was just floating the turn to take it away on the river. He like instantly fires out pot, and I am never folding here, but he has 136$ left and debated if I wanted to just call to see what he was taking this line with or to get the extra value from him. Decided to get the extra value and he called with Q9o.
Notes: One thing I wanted to mention here was in the past, I was kind of a robot in always c-betting when I 3 bet. Now I pay more attention to the texture of the flop in combination with the image of my opponent. So say I c-bet here he might of just insta folded. But by mixing up my game and checking the flop, I earned an extra 100 BBs.

Had 2 other big hands where I won. One was a cooler(QQ vs. JJ all in preflop) + the other was a bone head move on opponent's part. Lost couple medium sized pots. Lot of them were me 3 betting big cards and whiffing. Think I'm going to try to get session in now, so hopefully tables are pretty juicy.

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:35:12 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093331
Analysis: Pretty early in the match where I defend with 88, effective stacks of 100 BBs. I flop 8s full on an 844ss flop and decide to go for the check raise. If there was no flush draw on board I may either c/c or lead in that spot. So I CR his 15$ c-bet to 48$ and he calls. Turn is off suit jack, and I don't want him to check behind with something like 77 so I lead out for about 3/4th's pot + he calls fairly quickly. River is off suit king, and he has a near pot sized bet left, and since this is so early in the match I decide to just put him all in to try to get as much value as I can from this hand as opposed to checking to let him bluff. He called river very quick + was pretty surprised to see 86o. He quit little after this hand unfortunately.
Notes: Too early in the match on his part to be looking me up this light I feel. I don't mind the call of my CR, or even so much the call on the turn, but with no reads on how I am playing think he should be folding to my river bet.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093362
Analysis: Very first hand of the match vs. an unknown opponent(did have iron man symbol though). Decided to limp AQcc with intentions of raising a raise + folding if he shoved on me. So he does raise, I re-raise, and he cold calls my raise. I flop awesome, top two on a AQ3 rain bow flop and he checks to me. Since I have this flop so crushed and it's relatively dry, I almost check behind, but decide to c-bet to hopefully get him to do something spewy. So he raises me and I put the rest in and he calls with KTo for gutter ball to broad way and my hands holds as a pretty big fav. on the flop.
Notes: Similar reasoning to the first hand which I feel I have gotten a lot better at: Way too early to be making this move. I don't mind him raising my limp, but he really should just fold to my re-raise. I guess how ever that is a good flop to make a move on because if I don't have an ace I probably have to fold and he does have a gut shot str8 draw if I do wake up with a hand but just way too early in the match to make this sort of move.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3093393
Analysis: This is the very next hand from the hand above. He raises, and I decide to defend J9s hoping to catch something and have him do something stupid while steaming. I go for the CR on a J85hh flop and he calls. I was pretty much going to check any turn for pot control since my kicker was pretty marginal + also to give him little bluffing rope. If the turn was a scare card completing any of the draws I probably would have check-called, but turn paired 8s, so I checked with intentions of checking any river, and calling if a brick lands and re evaluating if a scare card fell. River is off suit king, which may look "bad" but is probably one of the best cards in the deck. Now if he did have something like JT/JQ which had me out kicked on turn, we are chopping. It also makes JK a little less likely and misses all draws. So I check call the river and he ended up having 87cc for mid pair on flop but turned trips.
Notes: I actually really like how I played this hand. J9s is a quality hand to defend with, especially if your opponent is a little tilty. On the flop wasn't sure if I wanted to c/c or c/r but since there were lot of draws on board, opted for the CR to see where I was. Like my thought process on turn/river. I posted a hand before in a similar situation in the past I generally would just check raise the turn if I thought I was ahead(which I still will do), but check calling allows him to bluff, and if he does have me beat, it allows for a scare card to potentially fall on the river where he may just check behind something like AJ.

Couple Days Off

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:35:37 GMT

So took a little break and have taken the last couple days completely off from poker. No real explanation for it, just kind of a feel thing. Previously to the break I had hit the tables pretty hard, and I feel breaks are important to take every once in while in poker. So last time I played was the 18th, booked in 626 hands and pretty much broke even. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3090125
Analysis: So forget exactly how many hands deep we were into this session when this hand occurred, but had noticed this guy was raising every button. So here I defend KTo with effective stacks of little more than 75 BBs. Flop comes pretty dry, 954o, and he had been c-betting pretty frequently so I decided to go for the CR + he called. My plan was to CR if I hit some sort of str8 draw, bet out if I paired up, and c/f if neither occurred. So turn is Q, giving me gutter ball, and I check to him and he checks behind. River now pairs 5s, + I checked to him not really sure what I was going to do. He fires 99$ into a 136$ pot and I just thought he was weak so pushed all in and he ended up having A5 for rivered trips.
Notes: Definitely couple of notes I want to make here. Since he was raising every button, I was getting a little spewy with my defend/CR method. I am not saying defending KTo and CR'ing a 954o board is bad, but I was definitely getting a little out of line and I think it gets pretty obvious to villain when you are over using that so some times you just need to tighten up. Also, you really want to pay attention to the quality of hands that you are defending with(KTo is kind of meh as opposed to like 87s). As for my turn plan, I am not sure how big a fan of it I am after reviewing. The thing is the pot is 136$ and he only has 263$ so if he bets any where near a pot-sized bet, my raise is basically a min raise kind of committing him even like if he decided to bet out his A5 there where I am 3:1 dog. So if I thought he was weak on the turn, I think with the stack to pot ration, I would prefer making a committing sized bet(think that looks scarier then an over bet all in shove). Now for the river, one thing I heard which I definitely have noticed to be true is that when some one does something out of the ordinary(for this instance it would be betting 99$ as opposed to the more round numbers he was betting through out the match), it usually is a sign of a big hand. This may seem kind of small/stupid but its these small things that really add up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3090165
Analysis: So here I open limp A9o otb with effective stacks of about 175 BBs. Villain raises(I 4get if I he seemed to like to raise my button limps at this hand) but I decided to call since we were so deep and I had position. Flop is 988hh, he c bets 16$ and I decided to bump it up to 56$ since there the flop is so draw heavy. He just flat calls my raise, which could be a wide variety of hands but big advantage that I have position through out the hand. So river is pretty much a brick, off suit 3, and he checks to me. I really think out if I want to play for pot control and check behind or decided to get value from weaker holdings. I think there's so many hands that he will call my flop raise with that I have beat that betting is the most profitable move here. So right before I bet, I say a smooth call is awesome and I will probably fold if he raises me, which he does. So I re think the situation over, and decide to go with my initial plan and pitch the hand.
Notes: Actually like how I played this hand. Would have transfered him 20 bucks if he told me what he had =P Will just run my equity vs some of his hand ranges... JTo for OESD- I am 2:1 fav, KhTh for flush draw + 2 overs- I am 2:1 fav, over pair- about 9:1 dog, he has weaker 9/pair- about 9:1 fav. So basically vs his draws I am 2:1 fav, and if he wasn't drawing I was either 9:1 favorite/dog. I think the weaker 9 is a little less likely, and generally when people are looking to put a lot of $ in on the turn, it is usually a sign of a big made hand. That is not saying he could have played his draw like that, but even though I lost this hand like how I played it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3090220
Analysis: Raise red aces otb here and get 3 bet from pungy. Reason I opted to 4 bet was because he was rarely 3 betting and we were playing deep stacked. If he was going crazy with his 3 bets, I'd probably be more inclined to just flat call his raise, but since he wasn't 3 betting often, I felt his hand range was weighted more towards stronger hands and with AA you are looking to get as much in pre flop as you can. So I make my normal 4 bet size of a little more than 2x's villain's 3 bet size. He just calls and I am stacking any board at this point. He checks to me, and since the board is so drawy(J94hh), decide not to try to play this one tricky and just bet out about 2/3rd's pot. He raises + I push the rest in and he ended up having K9hh for a pair and a flush draw and fortunately I could win the coin flip for a 400 BB pot.
Notes: Really don't like villains cold call of my 4 bet here. This was the first time I had 4 bet, and flat calling with K9, suited or not, is just very tough to play in this situation. If I think my opponent is weak in that spot, I definitely think I'd rather 5 bet to like 196$ or something as opposed to just calling and trying to play it post flop. He was fortunate to catch a very nice flop where he was flipping but in the long run I feel this is a -EV play. At least in this particular situation since this was my first 4 bet of the match- where I had AA, I'm such a nit =)

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:47:58 GMT

Over all had a good day yesterday. Played about 500 hands and made little over 2 buy ins. Here are some of the more note able ones:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3064979
Analysis: So this was a pretty weak opponent who was playing extremely loose-passive. He did not 3 bet me, but often he would min raise my button limps, so I adjusted to that by once in a while limping my big hands and re-raising his min raise. You really have to stay patient vs. these types of players and not try to do anything too fancy/bluff and basically just wait for hands. He's got little over 75BB stack, I limp, he makes it 8$, and I re-raise to 48$ and he calls. If I do not hit an ace or king or nut flush draw I more than likely will not c-bet. Flop is awesome though because it gives me TP but is drawy so I am really hoping he will call my c-bet. He checks to me, I bet and he calls. Turn is total brick, off suit 3, and he checks to me with a pot sized bet for a stack left and I bet it and he calls for AQcc for nut flush draw and my hand holds as 4:1 fav.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3065005
Analysis: Playing vs. unknown player who bout in for 100 BBs and was doing one table. Pretty early in match but up to this point he was raising about every button so decided I was going to 3 bet lot of my AJ/KQ type hands. So here I 3b KQcc and he calls. I flop broadway and there is no reason to slow play this because there are so many hands that will at least peal one off. So I bet and he just calls. Now on the turn pot is 248$ and he has 357$ left so I am looking to get all of his $ so decide to bet instead of having turn checked behind. He thinks for a little while and ships in A6o drawing dead which is always nice.
Notes: Do not like villains call pre flop here. I'd rather defend with like 98o then A6o. Just generally gets you in less trouble as seen in this hand.

Couple other medium sized pots but nothing really worth posting. Since I made that post about how I was slacking on posting, I have pretty much been posting daily, and have been crushing it so far. Hope to keep this up, and am going to try very hard to keep up with blogging. Almost did the FT Main Event last night but ended up not doing it. May try to look for couple juicy tournies in the near future to enter.

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:35:30 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3060051
Analysis: This is very early in the match, like 5th hand, and he had iron man symbol so figured he was at least decent. I 3 bet his open with effective stacks of 100 BBs with KK. Flop comes AA6cc, and I am definitely getting it on this flop + pretty much anything that falls on turn/riv. I c-bet the flop and he flat calls. I am not putting him on air right now, maybe some kind of PP like 77, so I don't want him to check behind so I lead out on an off suit 8 turn and he pushes and I gladly call the remainder and he had 54cc for flush draw on flop and turned gutter ball. My hand holds as 3:1 fav.
Notes: I am not a fan of the villain's call PF here this early in the match. You could maybe justify a call of my 3 bet this early if we were playing deep stacked, but with no reads on how I am playing I usually lean towards folding pre flop in these spots. As he played it post flop, I think I would either raise or fold to my c-bet. It just sucks if he raises because If I am going to continue he is probably going to be at least a 2:1 dog.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3060085
Analysis: Here villain min raises button, and we had been playing for fair amount now, and he was coming in for 3xBB raises and min raises, and it felt like he was min raising with his weaker hands so I decided to 3 bet 64o playing with little under 100 BB effective stacks. Flop is very good for me, 862 rain bow and I lead out. I think if he raises me that I would have folded cause this might of been the first time he called one of my 3 bets. So now I am kind of 50/50 if I have best hand or not on flop. Turn is 7, and that is card that I felt I should c/f turn to but he checks behind. River is 5, giving me the ass-end of the str8(any 9-X hand has higher str8). Pot is 192$ + he has 269$ left and I basically felt I wasn't going to fold if I checked to him so I might as well bet it out. I bet a little more than half of his stack and he like insta shoves the rest and I think I am dead in the water but have to call but he actually had K8dd for TP on flop.
Notes: I don't really like villains call pre flop here. I wasn't getting too crazy with my 3bets, and K8dd can be a trouble hand in 3-bet'd pots unless you flop a monster. As for post flop, I don't mind him just calling the flop since it is so dry. If I was him on turn though I think I would bet to protect my hand since so many hands could be drawing(flush + str8 draws now on board). I would have at least THOUGHT about folding the river before insta shoving the rest(or maybe save yourself 120$ and just call).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3060127
Analysis: Me and a reg. had been playing for short time now, and I was playing pretty snug so decided to 3-bet 98o. He calls, and I have him noted for calling 3-bets pretty light so will c-bet lot of flops. I flop open ender on a T72o board, and decide to go for the check-raise but he checks behind. Turn is Qc, putting flush draw out there, and since my hand has no show down value I bet about 2/3rd's pot. He makes a smallish raise and I think my hand looks so much like AK/AJ that he could definitely be making a move here so I push the rest in and he folds quickly.
Notes: That turn definitely wasn't prettiest card in the deck, but I just went with my gut feeling on turn. If I had no history with villain I'd probably just fold it. It is a high variance play but it's the type of play you some times need to make to be winning HU player.

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:10:19 GMT

Didn't get in any hands last night, but here are some from during the day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3056305
Analysis: So this is very early vs. an unknown who was doing one table. I limp with K8o and he min raises(now I am thinking he is going to be on weak side). If he made a bigger raise I would fold but I called the min raise. I flop top 2 on a K83cc board and he bets half pot. If there was no flush draw on board I may just flat, but decided to jack it up to 32$ and he calls. Turn is 3, and I am pretty sure he has a king so I bet full pot to get as much value as possible and if he called that would result in him having just about a pot sized bet on river. He checks to me on an off suit Q river, not the prettiest card in the deck, but at this point if he has KQ then oh well. I am not going to miss the value I can get just because one hand now counterfeits me on the river. So I pushed and he pressed timer(good sign) and ended up looking me up with Q2cc. Unfortunately he quit after this hand.
Notes: May seem obvious but I will mention the things villain did wrong here. Pre flop is very bad. I don't think there is any hand that I would min raise when some one limps button, especially not Q2s. Leading flop is fine, calling the raise is fine too. Now on the turn when I bet pot on a paired board and he has no overs he should have just pitched the hand. He called though, and unless he hits a club he should probably check-fold with no reads on how I am playing since this was literally like one of the first hands in the match.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3056335
Analysis: Alright so this guy was playing like a huge aggro-tard. He was 3 betting a bunch(with stuff like K7o) and 4bet shoved with effective stacks of 100 BBs 33 against my AK and it held. So here he opens button(which he did pretty much every button, but wasn't getting out of line in calling my 3 bets) so I decided to defend QJs. I flop TP and decide to c/c since the board is so dry to give him some bluffing rope. The "scare card" king falls on turn, but on the flop I pretty much planed to c/c every street unless I got real bad feeling so I c/c turn and river makes me trip Js. I debate leading so he doesn't check behind like 88, but since he could definitely have air here I just checked to him and he over bet 200$ into a 124$ pot. I think if I raise I will only get called by better, so just called him and he had 65 for busted str8 draw.
Note: Will talk about villains play here. I think every where up to the river is great. Turn card is obviously a great card to keep up the semi bluff since it puts a lot of pressure on my like 88 type hands. I think when the jack pairs on river though that is probably the worst card to bluff at. It is very hard to represent the jack now, and if he had some kind of K-X type hand he would probably check behind for pot control. Also the risk vs. reward on his over bet is just not good. He's almost risking double the pot size on his river and if he really wanted a call wouldn't he bet smaller so I'd be more inclined to look him up?

So played with that guy for a while but only managed to break even with nothing else too exciting occurring.

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:29:32 GMT

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3050479
Analysis: This guy was playing a little weird, here he min raises and I 3bet with AQhh with effective stacks little over 75 BBs. He calls, and I flop a huge draw on a JT5hh flop and with the pot 84$ and him having 280$ left I decided to go for the all in check raise but he checks behind. River is off suit 9, now giving me open ender, and I figure my hand is looking like AK now, so if I check he may take a stab at it. He bets half pot and I put the rest in and he ended up having KQ for a turned str8 but I rivered my flush.
Notes: I actually like how I played this hand even though I was 3:1 dog when the $ went in. He could be stealing with my shown weakness on the turn, but even if he does have something like AJ, I am only a 60:40 dog.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3050499
Analysis: This guy seemed pretty decent, was doing another HU table. We had been playing for a little while now with no real big hands. He opens the button + I hadn't been 3 betting much so decided to 3bet 54o with effective stacks of 200 BBs and he calls. I flop very good, bottom pair and open ender on a 467hh flop. I decide instead of leading out, to apply more pressure my check raising. This way I can potentially get more if he is putting me on AK and tries to steal on the flop. So I check and he bets about 3/4ths pot. I decide to raise enough that if he just flat calls, I would have about a pot sized bet on the turn with intentions of shoving any turn. So I raise and he jams and I call and he had 76dd for top two pair and fortunately I hit trips on turn as a 2:1 dog on the flop.
Notes: Pleased with how I played this hand. Ran some of his potential hands he would jam here and these are my %s: Verse and over pair or 2 overs + flush draw it is a flip. If he flopped a set I am only 3:1 dog and verse his two pair I was 2:1 dog. I like the check raise on the flop because it puts a lot of pressure on my opponent, allows him to bluff, and also is kind of an awkward spot if he just calls flop and I don't improve on the turn.

Those were the two big hands of the night. Managed to have no real big losers.