Third Pair Hero Call

I ran into the elusive third-pair hero call on a paired and flushed board. I wish this happened more often.

Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 2 - ADSCAR ($16.15 in chips)
Seat 3 - DIZZY76 ($43.85 in chips)
Seat 4 - THEMASTER311 ($51.38 in chips)
Seat 5 - SMOKINAA420 ($20 in chips)
Seat 6 - Hero ($64.90 in chips)
Seat 1 - YAYAMAMA1 ($35.99 in chips)
DIZZY76 - Posts small blind $0.25
THEMASTER311 - Posts big blind $0.50
SMOKINAA420 - sitout (wait for BB)
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [ ]
Hero - Raises $2 to $2
YAYAMAMA1 - Calls $2
ADSCAR - Folds
DIZZY76 - Folds
THEMASTER311 - Folds

Flop:
[ ]
Hero - Bets $3.50
YAYAMAMA1 - Raises $7 to $7
Hero - Calls $3.50

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
Hero - Checks
YAYAMAMA1 - Bets $9.37
Hero - Raises $46.86 to $46.86
YAYAMAMA1 - All-In $17.62 -- yes I'll call off with third pair and a gutshot on this board!
Hero - returned ($19.87) : not called

River:
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
YAYAMAMA1 - Shows [ ] (Two Pair, eights and sevens)
Hero - Shows [ ] (Flush, ace high)
Hero Collects $69.73 from main pot

4-Betting Light

Past few sessions have been swingy but in the end I am up a good amount. I don't know if it's just my game or whether this is just what happens, but throughout a 2-hour session I will swing up and down within a +/- three or four buy-in range. Usually the downswings are just coolers or beats, with an occasional failed hero-call attempt mixed in, but they are a pain in the ass.

I've been 6-8 tabling 25NL for the most part lately, mixing in some 50NL tables here and there. I've gotten much better at keeping track of the higher number of tables. I used to max out at 4 tables with reads and things but I think I am up to speed with six tables now, and getting there for eight tables. I'm probably not learning as much with the number of tables I'm playing but at this point I'm not really concerned. I think I've picked up just about everything the 25NL and 50NL tables have to offer in terms of knowledge and I'm just looking to grind my roll up so I can sit comfortably at 100NL.

I am up nice amount at both limits and I'm looking for a strong finish as the month closes.

Here's a hand where I put in a light 4-bet and my thoughts on it:

Hand 1: 25NL
Seat #6 is the dealer
Seat 6 - DEFINITIONOF ($28.64 in chips)
Seat 1 - TODDC25 ($5.28 in chips)
Seat 2 - CHARTIERE ($41.32 in chips)
Seat 3 - Hero ($46.85 in chips)
Seat 4 - EVILPIET ($28.29 in chips)
Seat 5 - CHUCKSONY ($12.90 in chips)
TODDC25 - Posts small blind $0.10
CHARTIERE - Posts big blind $0.25
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [ ]
Hero - Raises $1 to $1 -- utg
EVILPIET - Calls $1 -- utg + 1
CHUCKSONY - Folds
DEFINITIONOF - Folds
TODDC25 - Folds
CHARTIERE - Raises $2.50 to $2.75 -- bb, weak raise amount

I don't have the numbers here, but this guy did not raise a lot of hands preflop, so I'm not putting him on just a light squeeze with like 66+ here. At the same time, the raise amount is really weak. If he has AA/KK he would raise more. So his range, in my mind, is something like {TT+, AQ, AK}

Hero - Raises $6 to $7

With that range in mind I definitely want to see a flop, and I don't want the utg+1 donkey coming along. So I'm gonna put in a light 4-bet. I expect utg+1 to fold almost always. If BB puts in a strong 5-bet I can safely put him on AA/KK and fold. If he was squeezing light he should fold and if he calls, we play the flop.

EVILPIET - Folds
CHARTIERE - Calls $4.25

Flop:
[ ]
CHARTIERE - Checks -- I've found that 4-bet flops play very straightforward-ly at this limit, so this check is hardly ever tricky
Hero - Checks -- I check behind with tptk, looking for value on later streets. I suspect that he will see my check as weakness also since he is a reasonably smart player, and might fire away with hands that I beat

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
CHARTIERE - Bets $15.10 -- pot size bet, this is the value i was looking for
Hero - All-In(Raise) $39.85 to $39.85 -- I stick to my read and stick it in
CHARTIERE - All-In $19.22 -- he thought for a long time and finally called
Hero - returned ($5.53) : not called

River:
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
CHARTIERE - Shows [ ] (Two Pair, kings and jacks)
Hero - Shows [ ] (Three of a kind, kings)
Hero Collects $80.74 from main pot

Ship it! :)

Still Alive

It's been about a month or so since my last post. Since then I've been on a really bad streak that has turned around only recently. How bad? About -$1,000 bad. Towards the end of the streak I found that I was playing either scared or way too aggressively. I would switch between two extreme gears, neither of which was very profitable.

A typical session would begin with me playing my regular game. Inevitably, I'd take a bad beat. They're part of the game and by now I should be able to just roll with them. I'd copy the hand out to analyze later and I'd continue playing. However, without even noticing, at this point I would now be playing either scared or tilted. Just any little beat would do it.

I don't know when during the -1k streak this started happening but I suspect near the the latter end. I was running really shitty to start this bender. I mean really shitty. Like set over set three times in two sessions shitty.

Anyway, I ended up cashing out a good amount of money to make myself feel better. Since then I've been grinding away at 25NL and 50NL and I'm happy to say that my game is back on track. My bankroll isn't where it was a month ago, but it'll get there soon enough. I might even deposit the cash I withdrew if I feel my game is back all the way. We'll see.

I've also been out to the casino to play 2/5 limit the last two weekends, and each trip was very profitable. The game is just a complete joke and I'm confident I can crush it on any given night.

But let's get to some hands:

Hand 1: 25NL
Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 2 - CPTNBLUEBEAR ($25.06 in chips)
Seat 3 - JUNIOR24XX ($39.40 in chips)
Seat 4 - IMBRAINDEAD ($24.39 in chips)
Seat 5 - PLOUPLOUF24 ($23.27 in chips)
Seat 6 - Hero ($49.30 in chips)
Seat 1 - GOSUMINH ($29.92 in chips)
JUNIOR24XX - Posts small blind $0.10
IMBRAINDEAD - Posts big blind $0.25
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [ ]
PLOUPLOUF24 - Folds
Hero - Raises $1 to $1
GOSUMINH - Folds
CPTNBLUEBEAR - Folds
JUNIOR24XX - Folds
IMBRAINDEAD - Calls $0.75

Flop:
[ ]
IMBRAINDEAD - Checks
Hero - Bets $1.50 -- standard 3/4 cbet
IMBRAINDEAD - Raises $3 to $3 -- standard donk cr
Hero - Calls $1.50 -- my rockets are still ahead very very often, and I don't mind letting him see a turn on this very dry flop

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
IMBRAINDEAD - Bets $3.25 -- donks less than 1/2 the pot
Hero - Raises $11 to $11 -- time to valuetown him
IMBRAINDEAD - Calls $7.75 -- most often his line indicates an overpair to the board, so I'm value betting my rockets on just about any river

River:
[ ] [ ]
IMBRAINDEAD - Checks
Hero - Bets $30.10 -- stick to my read and obfv; if he has a 7 then congrats him
IMBRAINDEAD - All-In $9.39
Hero - returned ($20.71) : not called

Showdown:
Hero - Shows [ ] (Two Pair, aces and sevens)
IMBRAINDEAD - Shows [ ] (Full house, sevens full of threes)
IMBRAINDEAD Collects $46.45 from main pot

Very appropriate name.

Hand 2: 25NL
Seat #5 is the dealer
Seat 5 - WFORCIER ($14.13 in chips)
Seat 6 - BADBEATREMO ($19.35 in chips)
Seat 1 - YOSSARIAN23 ($7.79 in chips)
Seat 2 - BUSTER3522 ($10 in chips)
Seat 3 - Hero ($60.30 in chips)
Seat 4 - DANCEOFDDEAD ($65.73 in chips)
BADBEATREMO - Posts small blind $0.10
YOSSARIAN23 - Posts big blind $0.25
BUSTER3522 - Posts $0.25 -- post
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [ ]
BUSTER3522 - Checks
Hero - Raises $1.25 to $1.25 -- 5x b/c of post
DANCEOFDDEAD - Calls $1.25
WFORCIER - Folds
BADBEATREMO - Folds
YOSSARIAN23 - Folds
BUSTER3522 - Calls $1

Flop:
[ ]
BUSTER3522 - Checks
Hero - Bets $2.75 -- bet top 2!
DANCEOFDDEAD - Raises $6.17 to $6.17 -- raise from position includes lots of semi-bluffs...
BUSTER3522 - Folds
Hero - Raises $19 to $21.75 -- ... so make him pay
DANCEOFDDEAD - Calls $15.58 -- flat call here for so much is most often a made hand and a made hand on this flop, with me holding top 2, would mean either an overpair or 22, but 22 would shove here almost always, so his range is pretty narrow at TT,JJ,QQ since KK/AA would 3-bet pf almost always

Turn:
[ ] [ ]
Hero - All-In $37.30 -- not a great card given the above read but i still need to shove for value
DANCEOFDDEAD - Calls $37.30

River:
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
Hero - Shows [ ] (Two Pair, nines and eights)
DANCEOFDDEAD - Shows [ ] (Two Pair, jacks and twos)
DANCEOFDDEAD Collects $119.20 from main pot

River pairs the board and he takes it down with JJ. Pretty braindead call on the turn by him. Not sure if I should be slowing down when the Q comes out. I doubt I'm folding to any turn bet and I don't want another spade coming out so I'm happy with the turn shove.

That's it for now. I'll be putting in some solid sessions so expect more posts.