Summary of the last week

I've been playing an OK amount of poker over last week or so. Mostly cash games ($0.5/$1) and some tournaments (no cashes yet). I also won the home game last thursday, which consisted of 8 people.

I was on fire in the beginning, flopping straights and trips and such. I was also getting lucky even when I didn't have the best of it. Example -- 8-handed, blinds at 200/400. There are a couple of limpers to my brother, he makes it 1200, I call in the SB with 9To, limpers call, flop comes 9-high. I check-call leaving myself heads up with my brother. Turn is some low card, I move him in for maybe 5 or 6 thousand, he quickly calls, I ask for a T on the river, the river is a T and I beat his QQ. Sort of a crappy play on my part, but it's not super-bad. He really could have any reasonable pocket pair (77+) and some big aces as well (AJ+ maybe), so I'm not in too bad of shape against his overall range here. Of course, I'm fucked against his calling range.

I kept hitting hands and playing aggressively. Eventually we got to 3-handed, where I played a weird hand to knock out the 3rd place guy. The blinds were 800/1600 and I was on the button. For some reason I decide to straddle for 3200, telling the other two guys that I was either going to have junk or a big hand. The SB folds, and the BB raises to something like 8000. He's an aggressive player and would make this raise with a ton of hands. I wake up with AQo and move him in for about 30K total. He thinks for a few minutes and calls with 44, which I beat by flopping an A. The BB is a decent player, and he thinks a lot about the game. He claims that he was pretty sure I wouldn't have played a big pair (like JJ+) this way. He happens to be very wrong on this (after all, you can get 44 to call. so why not move in with AA or KK here?), but it doesn't make it a bad call on his part because there was plenty of money out there already.

I then leaned on the 2nd place guy for a while (I was picking up a ton of hands), where I finally got in with 9cTc vs. his 8d9d on a K9XX two-diamond board and he missed all his draws. Good job me.


There isn't much to speak of when it comes to online tournaments. I've either donked off all my chips or gotten my money in good and been drawn out -- pretty standard stuff.


The cash games have been fun. I've been running good, winning a little over $31 per 100 hands (15.7ptbb/100 if you're a 2+2er). This win rate is probably not sustainable, but you never know. It's amazing how many of these people will put their entire stack in with just one pair, or how much they will call on a draw. It's silly to watch a guy put in 3/4 of his stack on a flush draw before the river gets there, but that's what makes the games so good.

Ok, let's look at some hands. This first hand is from yesterday, and is the first of two consecutive hands that I got stacked.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)
MP1 ($98)
MP2 ($121.75)
MP3 ($22.70)
CO ($95.50)
Button ($105.30)
SB ($139.60)
BB ($104.10)
UTG ($153.85)
Hero ($100.55)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Ah, Js.
1 fold, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, MP2 calls $3, 2 folds, Button calls $3, 1 fold, BB calls $2.

Flop: ($12.50) 8d, 6c, Jd (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $8, MP2 calls $8, Button raises to $24, BB folds, Hero calls $16, MP2 folds.

Turn: ($68.50) 9h (2 players)
Hero bets $40, Button calls $40.

River: ($148.50) 2d (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $38.3 (All-In), Hero calls $33.55 (All-In).

Final Pot: $220.35
Results below:
Hero has Ah Js (one pair, jacks).
Button has 9d Td (flush, jack high).
Outcome: Button wins $220.35.


I don't really know what else I can do on the river besides check-call everything, as the worst price I can be getting is about 5:1. Am I crazy to think people bluff in this spot? Ok, people actually do bluff the river sometimes when the board turns ugly. I reminded myself of this fact a little while later in the following hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)
UTG ($107.25)
Hero ($127.30)
MP1 ($70.05)
MP2 ($93)
CO ($57.15)
Button ($53.95)
SB ($185.60)
BB ($105.65)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Ad, As.
1 fold, Hero raises to $3.5, MP1 calls $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, 4 folds.

Flop: ($12) 9c, Js, 8c (3 players)
Hero bets $10, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $10.

Turn: ($32) 8s (2 players)
Hero bets $20, MP2 calls $20.

River: ($72) Jh (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $23, Hero calls $23.

Final Pot: $118
Results below:
Hero has Ad As (two pair, aces and jacks).
MP2 has Qc Kc (two pair, jacks and eights).
Outcome: Hero wins $118.


And finally, let's look at a super-play. This guy pretty much gifts me his stack. Awesome.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)
UTG ($21)
UTG+1 ($213.30)
MP1 ($71.60)
MP2 ($54.65)
CO ($138.75)
Button ($45.85)
SB ($61.35)
Hero ($105.80)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3c, 3h.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, MP1 raises to $4, 4 folds, Hero calls $3, UTG+1 calls $3.

Flop: ($12.50) 4d, 5h, 3d (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets $4, Hero raises to $15, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls $11.

Turn: ($42.50) Js (2 players)
Hero bets $33, MP1 calls $33.

River: ($108.50) 5s (2 players)
Hero bets $20, MP1 calls $19.60 (All-In).

Final Pot: $148.10

Results below:
Hero has 3c 3h (full house, threes full of fives).
MP1 has Jh Qh (two pair, jacks and fives).
Outcome: Hero wins $148.10.


I'll probably play a little bit more for the rest of the week, but I'll have a busy weekend since one of my college buddies is coming into town for the weekend. He's going to be moving to Japan for a year and is leaving in a couple of weeks, so this will basically be a huge sendoff.