Hey, I don't mean this blog to be filled with bad beats. But this one was classic. I guess the 5 out-er on river that I wrote about last night was not too bad. I'm getting good about not tilting though. I need to be proud of myself for that.

$1/2 game on Full Tilt, I have $170, opponent has 150.

I'm dealt 6 6 in BB. UTG limps, button limps, I check.

Flop comes:

6 2 2

NICE!

I bet 7, UTG raises to 14, I call.

Turn: Q

I check, UTG bets 22, I riase to 60, UTG raises to 98 (weird), I push, UTG calls.

UTG turns over K 2

Nice little double-up, but then:

River: 2

Oops!

* I guess he could have turned over QQ and it would have been just a normal bad beat.

I decided to try my hand at Full Tilt for the first time - and play like the pros as they say on the commercials. Or do they say 'Play with the pros?' Hmmm. Not sure. Anyway, I load for $500 at a 3/6 NL 6-handed table. The table starts off fairly weak. I raise from the button quite a bit and rarely meet resistence. I also 3 bet from the blinds when I suspect a steal from the button or CO and take down a few pots. I get JJ from MP, raise, see two callers, bet at a low flop and take it down.

One hand that I could have played a bit differently was when I'm in the BB with KTo and there are 3 limpers to me. I check and I flop the nut straight with a flop of QJ9. There is a flush draw on the board and I'm first to act. I bet about 2/3rds of the pot and everyone folds. I considered a check-raise but was a bit concerned about giving a free card to a flush draw. Oh, well.

I get dealt AKs. A MP player makes it 18 and there is one caller. I three bet to 40 and both call. The flop comes 568 rainbow. I decide to lead out for about 2/3rds of pot. In hind sight, I'm not sure if that made sense. Of course I could get AK to fold, but one of these players is likely to have hit a set or have either an overpair like QQ/JJ which in this limit is not likely to fold, or had a mid pair and either hit a set or now has an overpair and a straight draw and again, is not likely to fold. Anyway, they both call and get their money in on the turn. One had 7 for the set, but the other only had A9 (straight draw!). Anyway, I'm fine with the 3 bet, but not crazy about the contuation bet with 2 people in the pot. Your thoughts?

I lose a few small hands and am down to about $380 when this beauty comes up. I get QQ in the blinds and a LAG limps. I bet 20 and he calls. Flop comes J72 rainbow. I bet just under the pot and he calls. The turn is a 6 and he now bets about 3/4 of pot. I push, (another 200 or so) thinking he has a hand like AJ. Can he have a set? Sure, but I have decided that his range plus his bluffing potential is such that I need to play this hand to the end against this opponent. If he had a set, why not check-raise, why lead out after I have shown my willingness to bet for him. He had a big stack at about $1,200 and I had seen him throw chips around on several hands with very speculative holdings. Anyway, he turns over j8 and hit the J on the river and I'm done.

Oh, well!

This report was actually from January of this year, but I wasn't using this blog site then so only posted the report on 2+2. Since I haven't won too many larger tournaments I thought I would re-post here. Enjoy!

As many of you know I’ve been taking a break from poker after my WSOP overload. I’ve played an occasional tournament over the past few months, but no online multi’s at all. Had some time on Friday night and decided to give the PP $100+9 a shot. Stayed around average for a few hours, but with about 50 to go (was in the money already) had two big hands. In hand number one I made a positional raise from the button with broadway cards and missed the flop and when checked to me made a continuation bet. Opponent calls. On the turn it’s checked to me again and I bet (there was a straight and flush draw out there) and he calls again. The river brings a blank and now I’m pretty committed to the pot so I push thinking there is a strong chance that my opponent missed his draw. Of course I could check it down but I don’t want to see that he has a low pair and I just feel he’ll fold to the push (it would make him equally short stacked). Anyway, he thinks forever and folds. On the next hand I double up when I flop TPTK, make a strong bet, my opponent pushes and I call. He has a straight draw and misses. I’m now the chip leader.

I get to the final two tables and am losing my steam. I want to switch gears and play only solid hands for a while, but I’m very tired and the super-loose aggressive player sitting on my shoulder keeps on telling me to play marginal hands, come over the top of my opponents, make continuation bets after missed flops, etc. I make two idiotic plays which I’m embarrassed to share and get knocked out 15th. I pocket about a $500 profit, but am pretty disappointed by this.

So you’re probably now thinking, “I thought the title of the thread was ‘Multi Win’”. Well read on, my friends…

Fast forward a few days to this past Tuesday. I find time on my hands again and decide to give the PP $100+9 another shot. While the field is a somewhat less than the prior Friday, there are a little more than 500 players and first prize is over $12,000.

I find AA during the first few rounds and stay about twice the average for a while. EdmondDantes is online following me and calls me during an important hand. I have 99 and an early position player makes a standard raise. Another players who has shown to be a bully and has me covered pushes. I seriously contemplate calling but my buddy urges me to fold. Not sure what I would have done if he was not on the phone, but I do fold and the first player has 77, the second player has AK and a K does hit. Wouldn’t have minded the call if I knew the cards they had, but it did save me from getting knocked out if I called.

After that hand and after speaking to Edmond I decide to slow down my normal bullying style and try to play a more solid game of poker. Play strong hands. If I do make positional raises, do not bluff off my chips if I miss. Also, as long as I have an above average stack do not get into unnecessary tangles especially when I miss the flop. That said, I did deviate once.

There was a hand at about the bubble where I had AK in the SB, make a standard raise and am called by the SB who has been very loose since we’ve played together. I forget the exact sequence of the hand, but I did miss the flop and made a continuation bet and was called. The turn was a blank and I bet again and he calls. The river is a blank and now I check getting ready to give up the hand (which would bring me down to a bit under average from twice average prior to the hand), however, my opponent made what I considered a weird bet for him. He has about the same chips as me, I think around 18k (there is 30k+ in the pot I believe) and he bets 14k, leaving only 4k behind. It seems to me if he has something he either makes a smaller value bet or if he’s feeling really aggressive he pushes. This seems to be the kind of bet designed to make me think he wants a call. Anyway, at the very last second something tells me to call and I do. He turns over AQ so he also had nothing. My nothing was better and I’m back up to one of the chip leaders.

Now I really do tighten up for the next 2 hours and I let all temptations to play iffy hands pass. I go a few times from one of the chip leaders to average while waiting for hands, but every time I get right around average or a bit below average I get a nice hand and stay in a comfortable position. I've been in several big pro tournaments in similar situations including a WSOP event where I could not seem to shift into this mode late in a tournament when I had a comfortable stack, so I'm really challenging myself to avoid marginal situations.

I do get very lucky during the 20-10 people left mark. At around 18 there is a raise and I push with QQ (when I’m average stack) and get called by AA. I hit a Q on the river. A similar thing happens right before the final table when I have 99 versus QQ and hit a 9 on the flop.

At the final table, I keep on telling myself that this is an experiment and do not play marginal hands unless the situation is just perfect for it. It’s tough because the play is very wild, but I just allow everyone to kill each other and only play an occasional solid hand. When I do get a good hand I play it strong and my favorite hands always hold up. I even decide to fold in the SB when it’s folded to me if I have crap. My logic is that I was usually well above average at the final table (yet not near the 1 or 2 leaders) and I don’t want to get into a situation where I see a flop with junk like 84o, hit middle pair or a straight draw and am temped to call on a draw or get check raised and have to fold. Anyway the strategy works and I find myself heads-up.

I do have a 3-1 deficit in chips; around 330k to 120k. On one of the first hands I made a 3x raise with ATs and my opponent pushes. I insta-call and he turns over A7. My hand holds up and after just a few hands we’re even in chips.

Two hands later I make a 3x raise with QTs. My opponent calls (there is now 40k in the pot) and the flop comes AJ7o. My opponent checks, I bet 25k (inside straight draw, but I’m really trying to represent the A and take down the pot), but he re-raises me 25k. I call figuring that I can break him if a K comes, but I also feel there is a good chance that he was just testing me so I want to see what he’ll do on the turn.

The turn brings a Q.and my opponent checks. This seems weak and I’m now thinking that my Q’s are good. I’m about to bet again to try and take it now, but then I decide that a check call strategy is best. Why? If he has an A, it’s probably a weak A given the check on the turn and he’s likely to call my bet, but if I check he might not bet much if anything on the river, so I save myself some money. He also might have KT, the nuts, but again if I show weakness here he’s likely to make a smaller value bet on the river so I save myself some money. However, what I really think is that he has nothing, so if I check here he’s likely to sense weakness and bluff at the pot on the river. I do check the turn. The river brings a blank and my opponent quickly pushes and now I really think I have him. I just don’t see him pushing with an A or with the nuts given what I’ve seen of him at the final table. I call and he turns over T7. That was it.

So the moral of the story is that my ability to switch gears and play a more solid brand of poker than normal really paid off. Of course it also helped to crack AA and QQ with my smaller pairs. Hey, most everyone who wins has these types of lucky hands <G> and I did lost a few early hands on the river where my opponent hand 2-8 outs, but none of those hands killed me.

So I was speaking to Edmond yesterday and he mentioned that he was heading out to the Hustler for their Wed. tournament. If you read my blog from yesterday you'll see where I say that I haven't played in a few months and that I was planning to jump back in next Monday. Well, I decided to join Ed and play last night.

Boy was it boring

I played in the tournament for about 1.5 hours and the live game for about 1.5 hours. I saw AQ once, JJ once, 55 twice, KJ twice and AT once. Those were my good hands. Not much to speak of. I also had a few playable hands like 89s, QTs, etc., but never hit a flop.

Tournament

It was a $150 buyin with $25 fee. There were a bit over 100 entrants and we started with 2,000 chips. I basically had 3 hands to speak of in addition to a bunch of the standard little stuff.

Hand 1

Blinds 25/25. MP raises to 75. I call from LP with KJ, another player calls. Flop is all low rags. Everyone checks. Turn brings a flush draw. Checked to me, I make it 150, only the initial raiser calls. River J. Good and bad. Initial raiser makes it 250. I don't like it, but call. He turns over A7 . Oh, well.

Hand 2

Blinds 25/25. 3 limpers to me in SB. I complete with K4s. Flop comes 47J. Checked around. Turn is a blank. I checked, MP makes it 75. Folded to me and I decide to just make a loose call with the thought of taking it on the river with a bluff. The river pairs the 7. I figure if he doesn't have the 7 I can win here with a bet. I bet 250. He throws in a 500 chip. He meant to raise, but didn't say raise -- not that it would have mattered either way. He had j7 for a full house. So much for my 'amazing' reading skills.

Hand 3

Level 3. Blinds are now 50/100 and I have about 1100. At this point I cannot mess around with raises unless I'm willing to play for all of my chips. About halfway through the level I'm dealt AQs in EP. I make a standard raise to 300. MP calls. I make the decision that I'm doing a stop and go and will push on any flop -- the guy has me covered by a little but my extra 800 is meaningful to him so I have plenty of FE. My plans get postponed when I see a great flop of QT8. Now I change my plans and decide to go for a check-raise. He bets 300 after my check and I push. He complains that he now has to call the remaining 500 and does. He turns over 99. Beautiful. Well, not really. The turn is a 7 and the and the river is a 6, giving him runner/runner straight and I'm out.

That was fun!


Live Game

I usually like to play in the $5/10 NL game, but they weren't spreading one so I played in the $2/5 game. The buy-in is $100-300 and I buy in for $300. Once again, I don't get many hands. Here are 4 hands that are somewhat interesting. You'll see that I didn't play them particularly well.

Hand 1

A guy 3 to my left is straddling ever time I'm on the button. Second time around I have 55 and call his straddle of $10. He just checks. Flop is the wonderful A95o. He bets $20, and I decide that my plan now is to figure out how to get all of his chip. I don't want to just call because it would make it hard to get all of his money on future streets (he still has about $150 left). I make a raise to $60 and he calls. The turn is the case 5 giving me quads. He checks and I bet $75. He calls. River is a blank, he checks and I force him all-in and he calls. Not sure what he had. I sure wish he had more chips, oh well... but I'm not complaining.

Hand 2

Next orbit. Same situation. Same guy straddles. I look down at 55 again and call. He now raises to $50. Hmmm. He reloaded so has about $300 behind him. If he had $100-150 I probably put him all-in, but I'm concerned that he might have a hand or just the balls to call and I'm going to be 50/50 at best. Of all of the choices (fold, raise, push, call) I believe I made the absolute worsts which is call. Flop comes AJ9, he bets $100 and I have to fold. I didn't really have the proper odds to get paid if I hit my set, so I have no idea why I was in there. Probably because it was so coincidental that I had 55 again and wasn't going to fold it given the quads the last time I folded. Good poker thinking! Probably the best move would have been to make a good PF raise with my 55. Something like 30-40. Anyway, so much for that hand.

Hand 3

JJ in EP. I make it 15, short-stack woman to my left calls, guy from 55 hands makes it 40. I think of pushing but decide to call. Lady calls. Flop comes QT5 rainbow. I want to see where I stand so I make it $100. Lady goes all-in for her last $80. Guy calls but he doesn't seem happy with my bet. I put him on AK or a pair under mine. Turn is a blank. This is my mistake. I decide here to check which is terrible -- I wasn't playing weak here. I really thought he would bet if I checked and I wanted him to bet given my read. He seems happy to check. Now I really think my read is good and I just misread his level of aggression. I will now bet any turn that doesn't include an A or K. Unfortunately it is a K. I hate that card! I check and he makes it $120. I don't like it but given my weakness on the turn I feel that he could easily be trying to take it away with a hand like 99 or 88. I also know that I'll have to see his hand given the all-in player and don't want to learn that I would have won. So I call and both of my opponents turn over AK. If I bet the turn, I wouldn't have won any more money because the all-in player would still have taken most of the pot, however, I would have avoided losing the $120. I was a big favorite to win a nice pot going into the river (they had only 6 outs -- 2xK, 2xA, 2xJ).

Hand 4

I really screwed this one with my meak play. MP raises to 15, two limpers to me in SB with 78. It will be my last hand either way, so I call. Flop comes A96. I check. Loose MP player makes it only $25. Folded to me, I call. Turn is J. I check. MP makes it $50. I figure that I have 12 outs, and the pot is offering me a bit less than the odds I need, but I figure if he has an A I can get him to pay me what I need on the river. I call. The river blanks. I check and he checks. Turns out he hated my call because he only had a 6. On the one hand I had 6 additional outs so easily had the odds to call. But in reality I screwed up the hand. There is no reason why I shouldn't have pushed on the turn after his bet. I was probably influenced by the fact that I was ready to stand up and cash out and didn't wanted to be stacked at that time. Not good reasoning.

In summary, I didn't get many hands or good flops. But I also played much too sheepishly. There were hands that I won where I pushed people off hands, but in the critical spots I always found a reason to play less aggressively. Not good!

I stayed at the Rio the last time I went to Vegas. I had a pretty sick hand come up at the $2/5 NL table. My action on the river still bothers me a few months after the hand. I hope I learned something from this hand and hopefully some of you can too -- or maybe you wouldn't be so stupid to make this mistake in the first place.

The two players in the hand -- especially the initial better -- were action junkies who would raise with a many hands. I had played with the EP guy for many hours and he did appear to be a strong player, not sure about the MP guy.

I have a deep stack, around $1,300, both opponents are much shorter -- see comments on this below.

Dealt JJ on Button. EP makes it $25, MP calls, I bump to $100, both call after some deliberation.

Flop: T86 rainbow (pot about $300)

Both check to me, I make it $150. Both call.

Turn: offsuit 9. (pot about 750)

Early position player makes it $200. MP calls, I call.

* EP has only $65 left, MP has $110 left, I'm deep. I thought about pushing here on the turn, but felt that there was a pretty good chance that I was now beat given the 4 card straight on the board and knew that I would have to see this to the end, so maybe I would save my $110 at the end it was slowplayed to me.

River: T (pot about 1350)

Final board: TT986, no flush

EP pushes quickly, MP beats him into pot with his remaining $110.

What do I do (of course it's only $110 to me for a $1,500 pot)? But I'm trying to play 'smart' poker and throwing $110 into the pot, if I know for sure I'm beat is not smart.

Below is what I wrote about the hand on TwoPlustwo when it happened. Feel free to follow the complete thread here .

1) Sure I could have bet more on flop and normally bet at least 2/3 of pot, but in this game I felt that $150 was about right there. In an online game I always make it between 2/3rds and pot, but this bet just felt right at the time. Perhaps it was a mistake.

2) On turn I would never fold to this player who now is taking the lead. If he really had the 7 or a better hand I just don't see him taking the lead. Perhaps the 2nd guy had the 7, but not the EP guy. I was about to put them all in, but at the last minute I decided that I was 100% calling the river once I put in $200 here, so perhaps I could save myself $110 if I was beat assuming it was checked to me on river.

3) When the T paired and the two guys put their money in so quickly I felt there was just no way I could have won this pot. The 'old' me would have raced to put my $110 in there given that it was a $1500 pot, but I'm trying to play smarter and save bets when it's clear I'm beat. My hope all along was that 1 or both of them had a T, so now that the T paired what could they possibly have that I could beat. So I very reluctantly mucked my hand in disgust.

Of course, the reason for the post was that I would have won the pot. The first guy had J9 (flopped an open-ended and picked up 2nd pair on the turn) and the second guy had A9, flopped zippo and picked up 2nd pair on turn.

There is no logic in why the 2nd guy called any of the bets, other than he wanted to go out to dinner and was gambling. The 1st guy just put his last $65 in the pot when he missed on the river because it was all he had and he would start out with new chips -- no poker logic.

In hindsight: 1) given my reads I should have just put them all-in on turn because if they were on draws and missed (and they were 'normal' players) I could get all of their chips in now while they were still on the draw; 2) of course I should have called on river since I cannot assume that these players are acting clearly and especially in live games people often just gamble with chips they have left in front of them since they will either leave the game so why bother just cashing in a few dollars; or reload anyway.

I really had a hard time getting over this hand. I was just curious if you guys made it to the river, if you would have saved yourself the $110 and folded. About an hour later I limped from the button with Kx and the flop came KKK. I stacked a guy who had TT and just did not believe I had the K, so it wasn't all bad.