First Post!

Hey all,

I'm a microstakes player who's taking the plunge into blogging about his game. I've been playing for almost two years, but I've only recently started playing a true TAG-ish game whereas before I was playing hit-or-fold poker.

Of course, like all donks, I thought I was playing well when in fact I was just another fish who was barely staying afloat. I would go on nice little hot streaks which would help me believe I was playing well, but when those streaks inevitably came to an end I would struggle and my bankroll would never show any substantial growth.

Since about mid-January I've reworked my game into a tighter and more aggressive style, and I hope to build on this foundation as I build up my roll. That's about it for now; I'm sure I'll talk about my game more as I make future posts, but for now let's get to some hands!

Hand #1: 50NL

Seat 2 - RGURR ($100.52 in chips)
Seat 5 - DIRTY_ABE ($48.79 in chips)
Seat 6 - SIMPLESTYLE ($99.25 in chips)
RGURR - Posts small blind $0.25
YELLIMDEATH - Posts big blind $0.50
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to SIMPLESTYLE [Ad As]
DIGGERP - Folds
DIRTY_ABE - Calls $0.50
SIMPLESTYLE - Raises $2.50 to $2.50 -- standard raise, 4x + 1 limper
JPM333 - Folds
RGURR - Calls $2.25 -- he's pretty loose, so not surprised at this call
YELLIMDEATH - Folds
DIRTY_ABE - Folds
*** FLOP *** [9d Ac 7s] (2 players, $5.50 pot)
RGURR - Checks
SIMPLESTYLE - Checks

Very dry board. I've played with this guy before and I'm sure that if I put in 3/4-pot-size bet now that he will fold with anything but an ace, which he likely doesn't have. So I check behind hoping to get calls out of worse hands on later streets.

*** TURN *** [9d Ac 7s] [Qd] (2 players, $5.50 pot)
RGURR - Checks
SIMPLESTYLE - Bets $3.50
RGURR - Raises $8 to $8
SIMPLESTYLE - Calls $4.50

Great card for me since a Q could likely be in his range. He checks and I need to build this pot so I bet and he quickly min-check-raises. Having played with him, I'm pretty sure he's not on the flush draw. I think he's either not putting me on a hand, or at best something like KQ. So that tells he has a pair of queens beat and wants to get value out of his hand, which is now likely anything from {97, Q7, Q9, 77, 99, QQ}. I call with the intention of stacking any river.

*** RIVER *** [9d Ac 7s Qd] [4s] (2 players, $21.50 pot)
RGURR - Bets $16
SIMPLESTYLE - All-In(Raise) $88.75 to $88.75
RGURR - Calls $72.75

He makes a strong bet as predicted and we overbet for value. Ship the goodies!

*** SHOW DOWN ***
SIMPLESTYLE - Shows [Ad As] (Three of a kind, aces)
RGURR - Mucks
SIMPLESTYLE Collects $196 from main pot

Pretty strange way to play QQ, but with this guy I'm not surprised since he is a weird player.


Hand #2: 50NL

Seat 2 - BRETMARTIN ($37 in chips)
Seat 3 - MICHAEL0321 ($18.35 in chips)
Seat 4 - SIMPLESTYLE ($95.85 in chips)
Seat 5 - RLESCUE ($46.95 in chips)
Seat 6 - UNREALRIVER ($104.45 in chips)
Seat 1 - UCALLUDIE ($25.40 in chips)
MICHAEL0321 - Posts small blind $0.25
SIMPLESTYLE - Posts big blind $0.50
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to SIMPLESTYLE [Ad 3d]
RLESCUE - Calls $0.50
UNREALRIVER - Calls $0.50
UCALLUDIE - Calls $0.50
BRETMARTIN - Folds
MICHAEL0321 - Calls $0.25
SIMPLESTYLE - Checks

3 limpers, sb completes, and I check since raising here is unlikely to give me the pot with so many people in the hand.

*** FLOP *** [5d Qd Qc] (5 players, $2.50 pot)
MICHAEL0321 - Checks
SIMPLESTYLE - Bets $1.50 -- betting my draw to build the pot.
RLESCUE - Folds
UNREALRIVER - Folds
UCALLUDIE - Folds
MICHAEL0321 - Calls $1.50

*** TURN *** [5d Qd Qc] [4c] (2 players, $5.50 pot)
MICHAEL0321 - Bets $0.50 -- donk bet, almost always means garbage
SIMPLESTYLE - Raises $3.50 to $3.50 -- standard raise-the-donk-bet
MICHAEL0321 - Calls $3 -- call, likely means a Q or flush draw so we're in decent shape

*** RIVER *** [5d Qd Qc 4c] [2d] (2 players, $12.50 pot)
MICHAEL0321 - Bets $5 -- bets out most of his remaining stack
SIMPLESTYLE - Raises $42 to $42 -- he's likely committed with a Q, and might have made a worse flush, so let's stick him in
MICHAEL0321 - All-In $7.85
SIMPLESTYLE - returned ($29.15) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SIMPLESTYLE - Shows [Ad 3d] (Flush, ace high)
MICHAEL0321 - Shows [Qh 5s] (Full house, queens full of fives)
MICHAEL0321 Collects $35.80 from main pot

Puke. I wrote this off as a cooler but could I have played it differently?