Saturday, November 11, 2006

Day 11: -$18.20 (-18 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: +$42.00 in 1880 table minutes

I went back down to one table, and things felt a whole lot better. My reads were stronger and I played with much more confidence. The results, however, were less than pleasant. I got stuck in a couple bad spots and it took its toll on me. I may go back to play later today and call it "Day 12" even though it's the same day.

Hand 1: One limper, an aggressive player raises, and I 3-bet from SB with KK. Three of us to the flop. It's 974 with a flush draw, and I lead out, getting called by the aggressive player. The turn is an 8 for a double flush draw and I lead again. This time, the aggressive player raises. I didn't really like the raise, but I decided that he could be doing this with hands like QQ/JJ/TT that wanted to see a good turn card before raising, and possibly something like ATs/KTs that has a straight draw plus a flush draw, so I went ahead and 3-bet him. He capped it. The river was an offsuit ace. This is where I think I made my mistake. I think I can safely bet-fold this river card after all of the turn action. I get paid off by QQ/JJ/TT plus maybe miscellaneous hands that he has that I might not have considered. However, if I check, I allow him to check behind with all those hands, but value bet Ax and better hands. Anyway, I check-call and find that he had 99 for a flopped set.

Hand 2: A loose-passive limper limps and I raise K9o from the button. A somewhat loose-aggressive player in SB calls and BB folds, giving us a 3-handed flop. The flop is QJ9 and it's checked to me. I bet and get called in both spots. THe turn is a 5, bringing a flush draw. It's checked to me and I check behind. I don't like that I was called on this flop. Sometimes it means a lone K, T, or 8 that is drawing to a straight or rarely an underpair that wants to look me up, but I can't often expect this out of two players. The check behind is also good because sLAG may try to bluff this river with both missed draws, giving loose limper a chance to reveal the strength of his hand. The plan was to call a single bet from sLAG, but not overcall, and to fold to a bet from the loose limper. As it played out, sLAG bet, limper called, and I folded. sLAG had 86 for the missed idiot gutshot draw, and the limper turned over J7s for the best hand.

Hand 3: The table is down to 4-handed play, and I raise 98o from CO. I get called by the button and the small blind. The button is an aggressive player who loves to bet, but shuts down to raises (sometimes folding). the flop si T43 with a flush draw, and it's checked to me. I checked for a reason that I don't think I can actually explain because I don't know if a rationale exists for checking, except to check-fold. But I didn't check-fold, I check-called. At the time, I felt that aggressive player would bet any two cards, would likely call if I bet, and sometimes raise no-pair hands as a bluff. So I check-called and hit an 8 on the turn. Here's where I got something right. I check-raised him, knowing that he would continue to bet any hand he had bet on the flop. I could fold to a 3-bet here, and he would have a tough time 3-betting without a strong hand. The river was a 6 and we both checked. I decided not to value bet the river because he wouldn't call with overcards, which was his mostly likely holding. If he had a pocket pair, he would probably call. He turned over 55 and my pair of 8s takes the pot from him.

Hand 4: I flopped a set of 4s in a 5-handed pot, but the flop was monotone. A very aggressive player who I have seen overplaying a flush draw cap the flop and turn. I check-called the river and he showed me J8s for the flopped flush.

Hand 5: I flopped top two pair (Q8s) against an unknown UTG raiser. The flop is capped, and I lead the turn and river. He had QTo and rivered two pair to beat me.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Day 10: -$5.20 (-5 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: +$60.20 in 1803 table minutes

Meh. 6-max is a fun game. I might actually do better if I stuck to one table instead of going with two. I just can't seem to pay enough attention to get what I feel are adaquate reads, so I end up making plays that are far more marginal, and get myself into situations that I don't particularly like. I think I'll go back to one table next time, just to see how it feels.

I feel like I folded a lot of hands on the flop and turn tonight. More than I should have. But I don't feel like I played poorly. I did notice that I was a little hesitant to donk-bluff into 3-handed pots, which is something I did playing full ring quite often. I think it's not as valuable at 6-max because players call with weaker hands, and sometimes it requires a turn bet follow-up to get them out. I'm not usre if the investment is worth the reward, so I tend to just check-fold.

Hand 1: Standard A9s hand. I raise preflop UTG (4-handed) and get called by both blinds. The flop is 965 monotone (not my suit), checked to me, I bet, called twice. Turn is an offsuit queen with the same action. The river is an ace, I bet and get no callers.

Hand 2: I raise KQo from the small blind and get called by a player who has a note on him: "Very aggro". The flop is J96 with a heart draw (no heart for me). I bet and he calls. The turn is another jack and I bet. I think this bet was a mistake. Very aggro player will likely raise a lot of hands here. I've got enough outs to draw against him if I just check-call, but that puts me in an ugly spot on the river, because he's going to bet it again very often. Do I want to call with K-high to snap a bluff? If I bet-call, I definitely cannot call UI. But maybe if I check-call the turn... I don't know. It's an incredibly marginal spot. But back to the real hand, I bet, he raises, and I call. The river is a queen, saving me the agony of folding. I thought about check-raising, but I decided to just check-call, possibly because I'm weak.

Hand 3: I complete 96s in the small blind against 3 limpers. The flop is 662 and I get FPS and check my hand. Stupid! It gets checked around. I lead the turn and river and get one caller on each street. My hand beats a limped QQ.

Hand 4: The table just broke and I'm heads up with an aggro player. I really don't want to play heads up, but I didn't get up right away. So I'm dealt a hand. I limp T9o expecting him to raise. I don't mind him having the lead because I'm already in showdown mode, and since I'm in position I have the ability to value bet/raise a lot. He checks behind. The flop is KQ3 all clubs (I hold the T of clubs). I donk and he calls. I know he's very aggro, so he's either got a weak club draw or is slowplaying a monster. Either way, I don't like my hand or my draw. The turn is a K and I check. Surprisingly, he checks behind. I guess he's suspicious of something. Or has a boat. Anyway, the river is a Q and I check again. Now he bets. I probably should have folded to this bet, but I was curious and suspicious and called. He turned over 95 with 9 club and I win.

Hand 5: Same villain, next hand. I have QTo on the button and call his raise. The flop is K43 and he bets into me. I expect he's fuming. I decide that Q-high is probably ahead of his hand range and call down blind. Turn 7, river 2, and I beat Q8o. Then I get up and leave that table.

Hand 6: I have red QQ and open-raise from the button, getting called by both blinds. The flop is J97 with a diamond flush draw. SB bets, BB calls, I raise, SB 3-bets, BB calls, I cap, and we all see the turn in a nice big pot. I notice that SB is running short, so might be stacking off, but that's a lot of bets to be putting in. I don't like my hand enough to keep pounding, so I decide to slow down if he leads. The turn is a 4 of spades. SB leads again, BB calls, and I just call. The river is a T of spades, and SB puts in his last $.50. BB wakes up and raises. After debating with myself for a while, I note that BB has been a very loose-passive customer, and that my overpair is no good. I muck my QQ for one bet in a monster pot on the river. SB shows T9o and loses to BB's 86s OESD.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Day 9: -$11.35 (-11 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: +$65.40 in 1641 table minutes

I played pretty well last night, but I was unable to put together a winning session.

Hand 1: Here's another preflop fold hand. A somewhat tight player raises UTG and is 3-bet by a TAGgish player. I muck AQo on the button. The showdown had the tight player with 99 and the TAG with AQs.

Hand 2: Aggressive player raises UTG and I 3-bet with AJs. BB comes along and it's 3 to the flop for 3 bets. The flop is AT8. They check to me, I bet, and they both call. The turn is a 9 and they check to me again. I bet, BB calls and UTG raises. This raise is bad news for me. Most of the time, I'm in big trouble. There will be some times when the aggressive player will have something like the Jx of clubs (maybe KJ) and have just the draw, but most of the time it's AK/QJs/AA/TT. But with my open-ended straight draw and a big pot, I peel to catch a miracle. The river was a 7 of clubs, completing my straight and the flush that I don't have. It's checked to me and I bet it. BB folds(!) and UTG calls with his TT.

Hand 3: A somewhat poor aggressive player limps UTG and I raise with AJo. It's folded back around to him and he LRRs. I just call. The flop is 983 with a diamond draw (I have no diamonds). He bets. I think for a while about how I want to play it. I don't particularly believe his LRR because he has been wildly aggressive preflop and on the earlier streets. But he does seem to slow down. I decide that I would either call down or raise the turn. I decided to raise the turn because I had seem him muck to aggression before. So I call his flop bet. The turn was an excellent card for me, another 8 to pair the board. Bet-raise-hesitate-call. At this point, I decide that he has two overcards. The river is a 7 and he checks to me. I debate with myself about trying to bet him off his hand (maybe AK/AQ/AJ), but decide that it probably doesn't work often enough and check behind. We chop the pot.

Hand 4: I raise A9 clubs UTG and get called by aggro-bluffer BB. The flop is 542 with a diamond draw. He checks to me. I decide to check behind and go to showdown blind against him. This is the sort of spot where he could easily check-raise a pocket pair or nothing. The turn is a 9 of diamonds and before it registers in my head that I just paired up the action has already been bet-call. This is a good spot for a value raise. If he has a diamond draw, he may 3-bet it as a 4:1 dog. And it's highly unlikely for him to have the best hand. Either way, I'm still showing down against him. The river is another diamond and I call his bet again. He turns over Q3o with the 3 of diamonds for the lowest possible one card flush to take the pot.

Hand 5: This is a pretty standard KK hand, except maybe for the river. I raise from the button and get called by both blinds. The flop is J95, check-check-bet-call-call. The turn is another J, check-check-bet-call-call. The river is an ace, check-check-check. I lose to AT. I might get yelled at for not betting the river...

Hand 6: This is a pretty standard JJ hand, except definitely for the river. I have JJ in the small blind and raise two limpers. BB 3-bets, both limpers call, and I cap. 4 players for 4 bets. The flop is 932. I bet and get called in all three spots. The turn is an 8, I bet and get called in all 3 spots. The river is another 9 and completed a backdoor flush draw. Here's where I screwed it up. I bet, got called by the first two spots and the guy on the end raises. I'm beat by a 9 most of the time here. Sometimes I'm beat by a backdoor flush. I'm beat with more a 95% confidence level. This is just a completely awful spot for me. I call and get shown T9o. Once again, I get lots of bets in as a 4:1 favorite, but don't win the pot.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Day 8: +$13.25 (+13 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: +$76.75 in 1441 table minutes

I think this was my first early afternoon session. The tables didn't seem very different to me. It was nice to have two stable tables after last night when I think I was in and out of 6 different tables over the course of the session.

Hand 1: I have A4s in the small blind. There's a super-passive, super-bad limper UTG and the rest of the table folds. I can see raising this hand sometimes in this spot to try to knock out BB and get heads up OOP against a really bad player, but I'd rather have a mid-range kicker instead of a lower one so that postflop play will be a little less tricky. I'd much rather have K8s here than A4s. I limp in and BB raises. I don't have a lot to say about BB. He has let me steal a number of his blinds from him so I take him to be a generally weak player. We all call. The flop is AQT. I check, BB checks, and UTG checks. Normally, I'd put villain on a strong hand like AQ/AK/AA/QQ. However, with this weakish player, I think that KK/JJ are both legitimate possibilities, with perhaps KQ in there. Anyway the turn is a J. At this point, I'm trailing *EVERY* legitimate raising hand from BB, so I check-fold. The two other players go to showdown for one bet each street, and they both show down a K for the nut straight.

Hand 2: I open-raise Q9o from the button and get called by BB. The flop is 542. He checks and I bet. This villain played pretty tight-passive, but knew how to bet good hands. In this case, that means top pair, a set, flopped straight (A3s, not 63), or maybe an overpair to the board. I peel getting 7:1 (which is a little loose against this player). He leads again when the turn comes a queen. I made the mistake of just calling instead of raising. This is a clear value raise against a player who will not 3-bet without a very strong hand and who will call down even though he thinks he is beat. It's also important because he will not bet the river with a marginal hand, so this is the only spot for a value raise. The river was an action-killing ace, and he check-called with his K5s.

Hand 3: I raise ATo UTG and get called by both blinds. The flop is JT2 with a flush draw and the small blind donks it. SB is somewhat new to the table, but has so far seemed to be a weakish. Of course, this is a read over only about a dozen hands, so I don't put a whole lot of faith into it. All three of us call. The turn is an 8 and SB donks again. BB calls and I think for a moment about my action. I'm getting around 6:1 (after rake). If I'm behind, I likely have 4-5 outs, but I might still be ahead. I think this is a good point to fold because if I'm ahead, I don't know if I stay ahead often enough on the draw-happy river card to make up for the times I'm getting short odds. But I called. The river was another 8 and now SB checks but BB donks. BB is strangely erratic on the river. He seems to like waking up on the river and showing down fairly weak hands and missed draws. I'm pretty sure I'm ahead of him, but I'm worried that SB had a jack and is afraid of running trips (which would be consistent with my weakish read). After some contemplation, I decide that I should call because my read on SB is too weak to fold when I know that I'm either first or second, and especially when I don't fear a check-raise. BB had T7o, but SB had AJs for the read-confirming TPTK.

Hand 4: I'm not going to type it all out, but I lost with K7o flopping trip sevens from the small blind. It was capped on the flop against what turned out to be two flush draws, and they hit it on the turn. I was able to get away without putting anything in on the river, but it's too bad when you get the flop capped as a 75% favorite because of all the dead flush cards plus your boat redraw, but lose 4 bets on the turn chasing the big pot when you're a 4:1 dog.

Hand 5: I had a happy moment when my 84o from BB flopped two pair against pocket queens that decided to limp. I got it capped on the flop and one bet each on the big streets. I might have gone for the check-raise on the turn except that the action-killer fell and slowed him down.

Edit: I posted Hand 6 at the TwoPlusTwo Microlimit forum. I think I played it right, but I'm curious to know what others think about it.

Day 7: -$11.35 (-11 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: +$63.50 in 1274 table minutes

I played a longer than usual session tonight. I don't think it hurt a lot, but I was tired at the beginning of the session and I'm tired now. But there was a really good table that I didn't want to leave. There were two players going at each other (capping 42o preflop and such), and I was just waiting to pick up a decent hand to mix it up with them. The one hand I picked up something, they both limped in and I raised my TT. I flopped QQT, but the two nut cases bailed out. I did get paid off by a flush for 4 bets on the turn and 3 bets on the river (he went all-in). But it's nowhere near as exciting when you're only getting one person's money as opposed to two or three. I'm not going to post any hands tonight besides this one. There were a couple really good hands in there and a couple crappy ones, too, but I'm not going to sift through it tonight. Maybe I'll amend this post with some hands, or perhaps not. It depends on how ambitious I'm feeling later.