What a sick session

I had a gross session today.  I felt like I was in the zone for the first time, ever.  What I mean when I say that is that I was really in the zone.  I mean for real.  I have felt good in the past but today was different.  It was unlike any day I have ever had.  I was in the 1 seat for a while and the guy in the 9 seat was real active.  He made some sick calls and was a real good player.  He had a poker hoody on, which is lame.  There was also the amateur to my right who was tight but a decent player.  

We were all talking, having a good time winning pots of each other and the other idiots at the table.  I moved to the 4 seat after a few hours.  I had a big hand against Mr. Jones, sitting in the 8 seat.  I had QJc.  The flop came Qh 6c 9c.  I led out and he raised me.  He had 100 left and I shoved it in.  He called with the 9h 9s.  I missed.  That took out one of my towers.  Later on, I started playing well, getting some hands.  I made a good value bet with the 56d.  I rivered a straight and a flush.  I bet it and got called.  I also raised in the CO with 55 and got called by Mr. Jones in the BB.  The flop came KK8.  He checked, I bet. He called.  Turn 3.  He checked and I bet.  River was a K.  He checked and I bet again.  He paid me off with 22.  What else?  I stacked Ron with a set of 5's.  I had some big pairs, and picked up some pots with nothing or middle/bottom pair.

This day was so good, I played for 12 hours.  I just couldn't get up.  I didn't even with THAT much.  It was a good 20/hr day.  Not the best but I felt so good.  If I wouldn't have gotten up, I'm sure I would have been able to take a chunk more off the table.

Lunatics and Bottom Set

Lunatic guy two to my left.  I stacked him twice.  

I'm in the BB with the 10 7

The table limps around 6 handed and I check.  Pot is 12.

Flop comes 5 8 9.  Table checks around. 

Turn comes 6.  I bet out 10.  Lunatic raises to 25.  Table folds around to me and I raise to 80.  He moves in and I call.  I think he had about 100.  River is the 9.  Scoop.

So this lunatic reloads.

About 30 minutes later, a guy from middle position raises to 12.  I find the 10 10 in the CO and call.  The lunatic in the SB moves in for 65.  He says that he wants to see how big that guys hand is.  Well, he mucks and I call.  He forgot about me.  Board runs out 8 high and I scoop again.  

Very next hand, I pick up AK and raise to 12.  He shoves his reload of 120.  What is my decision?  After a minute or two, I muck it.  Right play?  I can't tell.

So my buddy, Vic, sits down next to me after he had waited for a long time to get a seat.  I know him to be a TAG, plays good cards, and bets them.  One of the best laydowns I have ever made.......

The table limps around to the guy to my left who makes a pot-builder raise to 7.  Vic calls I call and a couple others call.  I have 3 3.

The flop comes 3 4 5.  Vic bets out 21 into a pot of 35.  I am to his left, so I'm next.  What are my options.  Fold Call Raise. A fold here would be premature.  I can't just muck.  I am obviously suspicious of his holding but can't just lay it down now.  A call could be good as I am in position on him and could see what he does on the turn.  A raise here would also be OK in certain spots. I decided that this spot was not good for a raise as there were 5 to the flop and someone behind us could make a play with 67 or A2.  I also thought that because my set was bottom set, I might get in trouble against a higher set.

I called the 21 and the table folded.  The turn comes a K.  Vic bets out 50 into 77. I tank. Could he have 67?  Very possible. The preflop action was so weak, he could have 67 or A2.  Could he think I was on a flush draw of some sort, like AQs or AKs?  If I have AKs, I hit top pair and still have the nut flush draw but that doesn't seem to bother him at all.  So what could he have? And what does he think I have?  I thought he must have had 1 of 3 things, all of which beat my set.  I decided he had 67, A2 or either 44 of 55.  SO, I mucked.  He showed 4 4.  It was the happiest I have been to lose in a long time.

Sit on It

I find 8h8c in MP and limp.  There are 4 limpers and the BB, Ron makes it 7.  BB calls, EP calls, I call and BTN calls.  Five take the flop.  The pot is 35.  

Flop comes Qc 3c 8h.  Check Check Check, I bet it.  I bet 20.  The BTN calls and everyone else folds.  The pot is 75.  

The turn is the 4d.  I bet 45 this time.  BTN calls again.  

The river is the 7c.  I bet again.  60 this time.  He calls. He said he had AQ.  A nice sized pot.

Another pot involved Ron on the SB again.  There was a straddle and I raised to 17 with the AdKc.  It folds to Ron in the SB and he raises another 25.  So he makes it 42 total.  It's back to me and I really am thinking about it.  Ron is a tight weak player.  I often bet him off hands and he goes away quietly.  For me to see him raise out of position told me that he had a hand.  

I thought of all the options.  I thought it would be OK to fold.  I was in position and I had a pretty big hand so I decided that it wasn't worth a fold here.  While I was thinking about it, Ron showed me his stack size, seemed kinda loose and feeling alright. He put his chips in front of his cards and counted them down, telling me he was willing to go all the way with it.  After he counted it down, he got a little uncomfortable.  I'm not sure what it was...not so willing to put his chips in.  So I thought a raise might be the right choice.  If he has AA or KK, I'm dead but anything else, I'm OK.  I ended up calling.  I was in position and I thought he had a pair but I would have two overs.  Plus, he is weak tight and I might be able to get him to fold something.  

The flop comes 8c 10c 5d.  Ron checks.  ??  I thought he had a pair but why would he check?  Could he have 99?  Seemed unlikely.  Maybe he had JJ or QQ.  I couldn't really figure it out.  I knew I had two overs.  So, I bet the rest of his money, 84.  He insta-calls.  He shows down 10h 10d.  EEk.  A huge hand.  Turn is the 7c and river is the 9c.  My flush kills a set.  A 5.15% comes back from the dead to take down the pot.

Here is the question.  Does anyone actually think in the course of the decision on the flop that you have the back door flush draw?  I did and I'm not sure if it's a waste of time or not.  

1 in 649,740

I hit a royal flush today.  Nothing happened before or after that hand.  I won the 90 dollar pot, got a 500 dollar bonus and everyone in the hand got 100.  Thank you and you are welcome.

Bad Calls and Good Calls

Sometimes I make a good call and sometimes I make a horrific call.  Today, I did both and the bottom line was in the red.  Lame.  I need to start playing better poker if I want to continue to play poker. 

Here is the horrific call.  The table was 6 handed and I found A6s in EP and limped (mistake #1).  A raise would have been better here.  The flop is seen 4 handed.  It is 6c 6d 9h.  It gets checked around (mistake #2).  I should have bet out.  The turn is the 8s.  This time I bet and get called by one person. The river is a 5s.  Villain checks to me and I bet 11.  He raises to 25!?  I call??!!! (mistake #3).  I am bad.  I called just in case he had something like 67 or 64.  He had 7c10s.  That's just bad poker.  

I made a good call with 88 on a board of 92275.  Flop was checked.  Turn was bet, I called and another called.  River was same bet, I called, other called again.  They both had a seven.  I even said that he had a seven on the turn when he bet $7.  I beat both of them.  This was not enough to cover what I lost on the hand I played extremely poorly.

Perfect, Perfect

Biggest donk of all time.  Seriously. Not a joke.  He had his stack up to 800+ and after about 4 hours, he had to rebuy for 200.  An hour or so after that he was about to around 300.  I was near 300, too.  I was waiting to snap him off when I got the perfect chance.

I find 9h9d in the small blind and decide to just call.  The flop is Qh 2c 9s.  Lock.  I check and donk bets and there is one caller.  I raise.  Donk calls.  Other folds.  Turn is a 5h.  I check again.  No draw at all on board.  He bets 20 and I raise to 80.  He calls rather quickly.  I have him on some Q like Q10 or something of the like.  The river is the Qd.  I move in my 180 left.  He insta-calls  and shows Q5.  On the flop, he was 1.3% and on the turn he was 4%.  He stacked me and now I'm considering quitting poker.

Sometimes, luck

Another usual day of hands and no hands and no action and nothingness.  I was down a bit when the most interesting hand of the day occurred.  I was down 75 but had reloaded to about 225.  I was in my usual 4 seat.  

There was a loose-aggressive player in the 7 seat.  I thought he was a good player.  Him and I had been battling a bit.  We were involved in a few hands, one in which I showed down a 78c to take down a pot with a board of AK3A.  He got his revenge later, putting me all-in when I was unprepared to make the move.  He had won a few big pots, showing down quads and 2 sets.  He had some hands, but played them well.  I'm going to call him Clive.  So Clive had been aggressive on all parts of the game.  He took down pots a lot.  Raised a lot.  Ok, so the hand.

The table had gotten tight for about 5 minutes.  There were a couple people missing and there were 2 chops on 2 of the last 3 hands.  I was in the cutoff and it was folded to me.  I was fearing another chop, so I decided to play the 3d 4h.  I limp and the button folds and the blinds call/check.  Pot is 6.

The flop is 3s Kc 3c.  

SB check

BB check (Clive)

I bet 7.

SB fold

BB raises to 22.

Now this guy is tricky.  I knew I had the best hand, as he made lots of raises and bets.  I had a decision.  Should I raise or call?  I didn't want to shut him out of the pot, and I didn't want him to do something crazy on the turn to shut me out of the pot.  I was in position, which is always good.  I finally decided to just call.  A raise here, I thought, would have ended the pot.

The turn is the 9c.  Not a good card.  It brought a flush but beyond that, it couldn't have changed the hand very much.  This time Clive bets right out.  He bets 45.  Before this bet, the pot was 6 +22 +22 = 50.  Now, it is 95.  The action is to me.  A 45 dollar bet.  ???  I just could not put this guy on a hand that I was afraid of.  Maybe he had a better 3.  I thought it was more likely he had a K of some sort.  Maybe he had K9 and he thought his K now beat my K.  I still thought my hand was good.  My stack had about 200 left in it.  I raised to 110.  He insta-shoved.  WOW.  Not what I was expecting.  He had a lot of chips.  About 400. After my 110 dollar bet, I only had 101 left in my stack so I just bet over 50% of my chips.  Now, am I supposed to be able to fold?  I thought my raise had me committed.  I said that I could not fold so I rolled the rest of my chips into the pot and Clive showed the Ac2c.  

I thought he played the hand extremely well.  He had me.  Check raised the flop and led right out when he hit the flush.  It was well done.  I obviously had a flush in mind but from the history of this player and the way the hand was played, I just didn't think that's what he had.  I was wrong.

Of course, poker hands don't end on the turn.  There is such thing as 5th street - the river.

After all this, the chips were in, I got outplayed and then there was the river.

The Kd.  ;)

:( or :)

I'm not sure what to think of today.  I was even on the day but I had like 5 sets.  I look back on the day and can't find out how I only broke even.  There was one hand I lost a good chunk of money on and if not for that hand, I would have been up about 120.  Here is that hand.  

I was in the CO with the 67h.  There was one small raise to 6 and 3 callers.  I make the call and the flop comes...

4h 8d 9c.  There is a 10 dollar bet from the initial raiser and I make the call.  We go heads up to the turn...

9h falls on the turn.  Now, the original raiser checks and I, with my straight and flush draw, bet 15.  He now min raises me to 30.  Hmm?  I call.  

River comes 5c.  I hit my hand.  The good, hidden way - not the flush and it's the nut straight.

So now he leads out for 75.  WOW.  What in the?  Wow does he have a bare 9?  An overpair?  I was not sure but I knew he had to have something.  Next question.  Is there a spot for a raise?  I decided no, a raise would not be good.  I don't beat tons of things and I knew this guy to be a bit tricky.  He also threw in that min raise at me on the turn.  I decide to call the 75.  He shows me? 

8s8h

It's a tough spot and it makes sense.  Can I fold there?  Daniel?  Can I?

Value City Poker

I just value bet my face off.  I have really improved this part of my game.  I had some spots today where I certainly did not have the nuts and was not sure my hand was good but I was able to make good value bets, and got paid on almost all of them.

I had Ad10h in EP and limped in.  The flop was 10d 6h 3d.  I bet right out and got a caller, a guy with a stack around 1200.  The turn was the 8d.  I liked the card and bet it again.  Once again, I got called.  The river was the 9c.  This guy won't go away and in the past I would concede the pot or check/call.  I bet right out again and got a call from Qc10s.  

I had Jc10s in MP in a 4 way pot.  Flop comes As Qc Qs.  It gets checked around.  The turn is Kh.  I bet out and get a caller.  The river is the 8h.  This time I get led into for 20.  In the past, I would simply had called here and hoped I was not up against a boat.  Nowadays, I can get value here so I raised it up to 60 and got insta-called by a naked Q.  

Sets

Sets are my favorite.  They are why I get up in the morning.  Sets are my goal for any given day.  A lot of the time, sets are the difference between a good and bad day.  I hit a set today and played it well.  Here is a rundown.

I am in EP and find the 6s 6h.  I limp in hoping to get a cheap flop.  It doesn't last as the guy to my immediate left raises to 12. A young guy who had lots of money called and so did 3 others.  There is now 56 in the pot and I need 10 more to call.  The pot is laying me 5.6 to 1.  This is not the same as the odds against flopping a set but the implied odds were easily covering that.  So, I call.  

The flop is the 

Kd 3s 6c.

With so many people in the hand I had to decide what to do.  I was in early position and had a tight image so I decided to go with that image and check.  The initial raiser to my left (who knew I had been tight but caught me on a bluff) bets 40.  The young rich purple chip guy called the 40.  I have another decision.  I wanted to raise here.  I was sure of it.  After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that my hand is strong enough that I don't have to raise. There are no real draws on board, too.  So, I call the 40.  The turn is the Qh.  The board is still extremely good for my hand.  I continue the slow play and check it again to my two opponents.  The man to my left moves in for 87.  The other guy thinks for a while and I am definitely wanting him to call or even raise.  Unfortunately, he folded.  I called the 87 and he showed 99. 

I was quite surprised to see that he didn't have AK or even KQ.  And if he didn't have it, I thought the other guy must have.  But, it didn't matter as I won the pot.  Good hand, good day.  All in a sets work.

Slow Down

Two slow days of annoyingness

I had a guy raise me on the flop with KK.  I had AA and it got all in and he rivered a K.  No hands today.  NONE. Bluffed my way to a very small win.