Day 15: +$22.45 (+22 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: +$81.20 in 2307 table minutes

Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving! I had just over 20 people at my place last night for Thanksgiving dinner, and it was great. About half of them were members of Graduate Christian Fellowship at UCSD, and the other half were friends and family of GCF members. I ended up making two turkeys, one baked in the oven and one semi-smoked over the grill. (I say semi-smoked because the first smoke bomb I put in there turned into a fireball, so I don't know how much smokey flavor was actually picked up by the meat.)

I went back up to two tables today for no particular reason. I would really like to develop the ability to switch between two lines of thinking with ease, and I know that if I want to develop this, I should start sooner (low stakes) rather than later (not quite as low stakes). I do notice that when I play two tables, I remember fewer hands that I played. I'm also going to try posting hands via the FTR Hand Converter to see if I like the format better.

Once again, I'm within reach of the next level...

Hand 1:

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ah, Ad.
UTG calls, 1 fold, CO raises, Button calls, SB calls, 1 fold, UTG calls.

Flop: (9 SB) Ac, 8c, 9d (4 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB calls, UTG calls.

Turn: (6.50 BB) 3s (4 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, Button folds, SB calls, UTG calls.

River: (9.50 BB) 7c (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG folds.

I guess this is a bad beat. I lost to 52 of clubs. I'm posting this hand simply because after I lost, I had to remind myself that it was a good value bet against a wide range of hands.

Hand 2:

Preflop: Hero is CO with Jh, Ah.
1 fold, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls, MP caps, Hero calls, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (16 SB) Js, 4s, 2c (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP bets, Hero raises, SB folds, BB calls, MP 3-bets, Hero calls, BB calls.

Turn: (12.50 BB) Qh (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero checks.

River: (12.50 BB) 8c (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets, BB calls, MP folds.

The turn play really had me confused. MP is a known aggressive player. His preflop raising range is quite wide, but this is the first time that he capped. Given that he capped in a multi-way pot, I assumed that this meant he was more likely to have a legitimate hand. The flop 3-bet seemed to point in this direction as well. But when he checked on the turn, I became concerned that he might have QQ. Aggro players tend not to slow down suddenly unless they have hit a strong hand. I intended to check behind and call a single river bet, but it was checked to me again. BB paid off with T8o and to the best of my knowledge, MP had AK of spades and decided it wise to get to the river cheaply instead of semi-bluffing.

Hand 3:

Preflop: Hero is SB with Kd, Kc.
UTG calls, MP calls, 1 fold, Hero raises, BB calls, UTG calls, MP calls.

Flop: (8 SB) 8d, 7h, 3s (4 players)
SB bets, BB raises, UTG calls, MP folds, Hero 3-bets, BB calls, UTG calls.

Turn: (8.50 BB) 7d (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, UTG calls.

River: (11.50 BB) 5h (3 players)
Hero bets, BB folds, UTG raises, Hero calls.

I thought about folding to this river check-raise. Villain in this hand was not particularly aggressive and I had no reason to think he would pull a monster bluff here on the end. But I hate folding overpairs and paid him off. He had 96 of hearts for the OESD.

Hand 4:

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ts, 5s.
2 folds, SB raises, Hero calls.

Flop: (4 SB) As, Qh, Ah (2 players)
SB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (3 BB) 3h (2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB folds.

Villain in this hand was an aggro-stealer. He was an aggressive player already, and in blind situations he seemed to turn it up even more. But he also knew how to fold when it's fairly clear that he's beat. Because his preflop range is so large here, I think this play works very very very often. If he were a showdown monkey (like me), then I think it would be harder to pull this off, as he would be showing down pocket pairs like 55 to win. I might not be playing this hand against such a player... at least not at my current skill level.

Hand 5: I'm posting this one to 2+2 for some feedback.

Preflop: Hero is SB with Tc, 9c.
2 folds, CO calls, Button calls, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: (4 SB) Kh, 4h, 9s (4 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, CO calls, Button calls, Hero calls.

Turn: (4 BB) Kd (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, CO checks, Button checks.

River: (4 BB) Kc (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, CO bets, Button folds, Hero calls, BB folds.

This one gets put in the "I played it strangely" file. From SB, I don't always donk this flop with my hand. I think I would from BB with only two players behind me to act, but with three players it becomes much more marginal (especially if the players are aggressive or otherwise hard to read). I don't recall anything special about BB (a consequence of playing two tables, I think). I'm not quite sure how to handle the turn play. My instinct says that betting is best, but with all the callers and the broadway draws, I'm not sure if I can get away reliably on the river. Once the river gave me a boat, I decided to check-call because I'm pretty sure not many worse hands will call and that the chances of there being only worse hands out there is just too small. But I can check-call because after the turn action there is a decent chance that someone wakes up and tries to bluff the missed draw, especially after some checks.