Good one hour tonight, one very dumb hand

The dumb hand first.

Get AKo in LP. EP limps. MP raises to $1. I call. EP raises to $3.00. MP folds. I call again! Why? I guess I didn't believe the AA or KK he was repping. Stupid mistake #1.

Flop comes AKx. Great flop for me, but DING DING DING alarm bells should have been going off here! He was repping AA or KK preflop, now he checks on the flop. An obvious slowplay of a set if I think about it. But I didn't think about it. I just thought about how fast I could go all-in and try to get him to think I was on a steal and call me with a worse hand -- maybe even QQ. No, of course he had KK and called and beat me. Sigh.

So, I was down one buy-in on that table. Other tables weren't terrible, I was down about $13 overall at that point. Kept working, and kept finding idiots to feed me their cash. Finished up $22.30 in 1 hour. Nice finish. I think I was basically playing smart. It's a lot easier to do on 4 tables, I find it easier to fold Axs type hands and suited connectors out of position and so on. Jeffm on bet-the-pot.com got me playing more tables & it has definitely helped my hand selection, patience, and results. Thanks, Jeff.

What other hands were there? I had A5o in the BB, check in with everybody else, probably 6 to the flop. Flop is 55x. I check, LP bets about 2/3 of pot size, I call, everybody else folds. Turn is an A. I check again, LP is all-in -- short stacked, but still, wow, OK fine I'll take your money. He was on A4o if you can believe it. Sheesh.

Another short-stack insisted on calling my PF $1.00 bet with QJ. He then bet out on the flop hitting his Q. I raised, he re-raised all-in, and of course I was happy to take his money with my AA. But come on, dude, even if I only had AQ or KQ you're behind! You don't even have TPTK and you're willing to re-raise my raise? Thanks, man!

Toward the end of the hour, I did a really nice job playing two hands against a decent opponent. I was seated directly behind him so I was in position on both hands. First hand, I get AKo, raise, get a few calls. Flop is like JTx, it's checked to me, I bet about 2/3 of the pot, everybody folds, he thinks and thinks and calls. Turn is a blank, he checks, I check. River pairs the board, he checks, I check still with nothing. He wins with QJ or something. OK fine, he wins a small pot when he hit on the flop and I didn't.

But then just a few hands later I get KK. Raise about the same amount, he's the only caller. Flop is again undercards, something like QT6, I bet out, he thinks and calls. Turn is a 5, he checks, I bet, he calls. Turn is a 4, he checks, I bet, he calls. I did a nice job measuring my bets, I think -- about .5 to .6 of the pot each time on the turn & river. I knew he would call because he thought I might be on AKo again. And he did, and I wasn't, and I took a much bigger pot than the first one. Nice conclusion there. I didn't get greedy and make him fold. On the other hand, maybe he would have called a bigger bet. I'm not sure. If he hadn't called, I wouldn't have had to show him my KK and he might be kicking himself still wondering if he should have called. But I was reaching the end of my playing time anyway, so I wouldn't have been able to take much advantage of that.

Playing smart, mostly. Taking notes & remembering which opponents know what about me, and what I know about them. Basically happy with myself. Week so far is +$75 in less than 2.5 hours, for more than $30 / hour. Crazy stuff. Gotta love it.

Big hand last night

Big hand of last night:

I get 66 in the BB or UTG, not sure which. 6-way flop, unraised. Flop is A62 with 2 hearts. 1st player in bets half pot ($.60), I am next to act and raise to $2. Next player calls, and then it's raised again to $6. A couple of folds, the initial better calls. I push all-in, next guy folds, and 2 callers of the all-in (actually they have deeper stacks than I do and they are all-in against each other also).

The re-raiser behind me has 22, the other has the flush draw K-high.

Turn is a heart completing the flush (NO!), river is an A completing the full houses (YES!). I take the main pot for 62 bucks, re-raiser takes a pretty sizable side pot.

+$43 or so in one pot is a terrific result. Ended up the night up another 10 bucks or so yay. A good start to the new week.

Still can't get anything going in the freerolls. But I want to keep trying.

Silly blogger

Haven't been able to post the last couple of days, some problem with blogger.com or else my software, not sure which.

Last night was a little annoying. I was down 8 bucks. Here's a hand I learned something from.

I limp in with KTs with 3-4 others. Flop comes KT9. Top two pair! Yes! But I instantly worry about QJ. A bet and a raise before it gets to me. I know that I should re-raise here to find out where I am. But at the same time I want to disguise my hand so I just flat call. Turn is a blank, check, bet of maybe 2/3 pot, about 5 bucks at this point with 3 of us in. OK, now what do I do? I don't know because I didn't re-raise the flop! I end up calling, because I'm afraid I'm way behind to the straight, but I can't fold. Other guy calls also, so the pot is now very big. River is also a blank, no help, and the guy bets another 5 dollars on the river. Compared to the size of the pot it's not much so I can feel in my bones it's a value bet from the flopped straight. But I have to call, and I do, and of course that's what it is.

I called 5 bucks on the turn and 5 on the river when I was beat. Half a buy-in. Not good.

If I had raised 3 bucks on the flop, I save myself a bunch. If he re-raises obviously I drop it. If he flat calls then I still officially have the momentum, so if he then bets out I know to fold. If he checks it to me on the turn I can check behind or bet small -- and save a bunch either way (let it go if check-raised obviously).

Make the right play!

Lesson: DO NOT THINK YOU ARE TRAPPING SOMEONE WHEN THERE IS AN OBVIOUS BETTER HAND THAN YOURS OUT THERE! YOU ARE ONLY TRAPPING YOURSELF. Sheesh.

Ended up the night down 8 bucks. I had been up before all my good hands started getting busted.

One hand pissed me off at the time. I had AK, raise to $1 preflop from EP or a blind, get 2 calls. $3+ in the pot. Both callers are big stacks who have played well in the past. Flop is Jxx, and I bet out $2.50 or so. One folds, the other re-raises me to 8 bucks. Wow. Well, I pretend to think for a few seconds but I know I'm going to fold. And I do. He shows ATo!!

I had seen this guy make a play like that before and show his cards that time too. I think he's less smart than he thinks he is.

I'm up for the week!!!

Yes!!

The week started out so horrible (see the terrible plays under "when I go on tilt.") (Following Bet-the-Pot conventions, my weeks are Monday through Sunday.)

Today I started out good. Posted a nice $10 win in the first hour. Switch tables, take a deep breath, plunge back in.

Big hand #1. I limp in with QTs. 5 players see the flop of QJT. Two pair is very good. First player in overbets the pot slightly. What is up with that? Not sure. Call to me, I re-raise, and get 3 calls. Wow pot is big now. Turn is a blank. Original better bets again. This is where I should have laid it down, but the bet wasn't that big and the pot was huge. Call, call, call. Pot is 30 bucks or so. River is also a blank. Better is all-in but he only has 3 bucks left, a call to me, I have to call although I know I'm beat and I am: first better had K9 for the straight and takes it down.

Big hand #2. I raise preflop with AK to $1.00. 2 callers. Flop is T96. I bet about $1.50. 1 caller. Uh-oh. $5 in the pot, turn is a beautiful A. Bet $5, get re-raised all-in. Now I have notes on this guy. He has been playing very strangely, making bets of the wrong size at the wrong time. Doesn't seem to have much of a clue. I call. He has 88! Yes!!! River is an 8! No!!!!!!!!! He drags a $31 pot on a 6-outer.

At this point I have reloaded a total of 37 bucks -- almost two full buy-ins. I keep focused, though, which is wonderful. I don't start playing dumb cards or anything. One table I get up to $35. The big stack is a pretty good but very aggressive player who I've seen before. I have seen him raise to 6x the BB with AJo, KQo, even A4o. I'm in the BB with KK. He comes in with his standard $1.20 raise. I re-raise him to $4. He calls, everybody else folds. Pot is $8.50 or so. Flop is Qxx all hearts -- I have the K of hearts. I have seen enough posts on the Bet the Pot forum about this type of situation. I overbet the pot -- about $10 -- as I likely have the best hand and I have outs in any case. He re-raises all in! It's another $21 to me. I call, he has QJ for top pair decent kicker -- and NO hearts!! Obviously a bluff on his part, or guessing that I was bluffing at that 3-flush board. Not sure which. But he's way behind. A heart comes on the river to wrap it up. Yay!!!

I stick around for a few more hands, get some cards & take some small pots. But I'm too nervous with that much $$ at the table, so I quit.

From down $35 to up $19 in that session. Session was about 90 minutes, which is a pretty long session for me. With the $10 session earlier, I'm now up for the week (barely). Big smile.

Tonight...

Well, I'm turning things around. I threw away some $$ that I didn't have to, but they were fairly tough hands to get away from.

Hand #1: Dealt JJ. Raise to $1.00. Only callers are in the blinds. Flop is 222. Bet $2.00 into the $3.00 pot. One caller. Uh-oh. No way he has a 2. Higher pair? Bet $5 on turn, he flat calls again. WTF. Bet more on river, he raises, I can't give him credit, but yup, he was playing K2o. I lost most of my stack.

Three hands later, same board. I get QQ and lose all-in to AA.

Down like 30-32 bucks in a few minutes on that table. Luckily I was up about $15 on the other table. But still, I was seriously ticked off at this point. Had to get up from my tables, walk around, talk to myself a little.

But I kept my focus! I need to put in more hours, so I got back to work. And I worked and worked and I got to a point where I was UP for the night! Yes!!

Then the very, very last hand of the night. I'm just playing until the blinds come around, then I'm done. It's almost 1:30 in the morning after all. What the heck, maybe I'll get a free premium hand. Yup, here it is. AK utg. I raise to $1.00. I get an all-in re-raise from a short stack. These short stacks can re-raise all in with anything or nothing, so I'm not worried and call. Everybody else folds. Sure enough, he has A3s. He catches a fricking 2, 4, and 5 and beats me with the straight. Unbelievable. So that's 5 bucks down the tubes.

Night's totals: 90 minutes, +$7.50. Not a great win rate, to say the least, but it IS a winrate despite a couple of tough breaks & bad playing hands. Without that river 4 to complete his straight, I am up about 17-18 bucks instead. Crap! But oh well, I'll take it.

Mostly calling stations giving me their money tonight. Always love to see those!

Somehow I remember my losing hands way better than my winners tonight.

Gnight. Way way past bedtime.

When I go on tilt, BABY do I go on tilt. Crap!!!

OK, so I start playing Monday night. I am quickly up about 12 bucks when my TT busts a guy playing A9 who catches his 9. He check-raises, bets all streets, all-in. Sheesh. The idiots who play on this site, I'm thinking to myself.

But then I start to get cocky, or stupid, or both. I don't know wtf I was thinking, but the next thing I know I'm making a big flop raise and then calling an all-in re-raise when I have only TPTK. And of course he has the set and I'm now down 7 bucks for the night.

"It's OK, I'll get it back. These guys suck." Kent, listen to me here: you will NOT make money with that attitude. Seriously. Play slightly scared the whole time, that's the only good place to play from. Overconfidence will destroy you.

So here's the hand that loses me another buy-in. I'm already on tilt as the hand starts and I can feel it in my bones. My brain is telling me that I NEED to bust somebody NOW. Probably the other worst emotion possible to have.

I am dealt the 8 and 5 of diamonds on the cutoff. A guy from EP comes in with a raise to $1.80 (20c is the big blind, so this is a big raise). I am putting him on a pretty darn good hand, but I call just to see if I can flop something big and bust him.

Flop: T85 with two hearts. Sweet!!!! I check, he bets $2.40, I call. I want him to put in more money. How stupid is that? I mean, I have to bet here don't I?

Turn: another heart. Uh-oh. Now I could be in trouble. But I doubt he has the flush. He bets another $2.40. I just flat call again. WTF is up with that? You have to raise big here!!!

River: another heart. Now he bets 10 bucks. He has about 3 bucks left, so do I. What do I do? I am SO ANGRY THAT I BLEW THIS HAND that I go all-in. Unbelievable. He calls of course with the Ace of hearts for the nut hand and I am toast. He was playing AQo, so any decent raise I made he would have folded on previous streets. At the very least I could have put him all-in on the turn, so he's drawing to just a few outs. Maybe he wins anyway but at least I'm not a moron in that case.

Is it POSSIBLE to play any worse than that? I don't think it is! Wow.

So I quit for the night down 30 bucks. Unbelievable how stupid I can be when I'm feeling unbeatable and angry at the same time. Wow wow wow wow wow. Wow!

At least I have the sense to quit when I'm getting killed.

God what a moronic play. I'm embarrassed to post it.

So I didn't play at all yesterday. Still angry at myself. Plus it was Warcraft night with my friends. We won a bunch of games. Felt good. But no cash comes with it. Strange, that....

Back at it tonight. Properly chastened, and much smarter, I hope.