Breaking 100

Every so often, I start out too aggressive. Case in point; 1st hand, I pick up 9/2 suited in the big blind. Under the gun +1 click-raises, everyone folds, and I randomly elect to call. I guess because they were suited? No, more because the click-raise often indicates weakness.

The problem with doing this is sometimes you hit. 9d/Js/4c does not hit a lot of pre-flop raises. Maybe pocket pairs or J/10 suited? So I bet out and he re-raises. I am done with the han….what? I called? Hmm. Turn is a harmless 3d.

I bet again and he makes a big re-raise. I belatedly realize I am not just beat but crushed. So I toss off 1.20 on the first hand with 2nd pair, weak kicker. Not a promising start.

Worse, I started with just 5.15 so now I am sitting behind 3.95. On the bright side, I learned my lesson. After several folds, I raise from the cut-off with 4/5 off, the button re-raises, and I fold instead of continuing with a weak hand.

I do not regret the raise as it was the correct move based on frequency of success, and I did not get caught up in “I raised, so am obligated to call the re-raise” type hands.

Well, not that time. Later I raise with a more reasonable 7/8 off, the blind click-raises, and that raise I call. Click raises are often responses to position raises. They usually check-fold the flop. This time the flop is Jh/9H/3D so I have a gut-shot. He raises and I…CALL? What? Turn is the Qd, he raises, I fold. Much too late, but I fold.

Now I go into passive mode. Sitting behind 2.30, with a click-raise and call, I also call from the small blind with pocket 8s, but check fold a flop with an Ace and Jack on it.

I am playing poorly so after a couple more blinds go away, I quit for a while down about 3 bucks. I then restart with 10. This is a curious choice. I do not feel like I was playing well…so why play more? And if I am going to play longer, why risk a larger stack?

First hand, under the gun limps, I check with A/4 hearts. Flop is 7H/Ad/2S. I check-call his .15 cent raise. Turn is the Jd and I check-call .25. And the river is the Ks. Lots of hands beat me, I am only ahead of A/3. I check and win, my aces beating his pocket tens.

Had he simply raised them pre-flop he would have won the blinds. Not great play on my part…but he made it cheap enough I could see the river reasonably.

Sometimes, though, taking a break and catching a break change your methods. I open raise from the small blind with 2/9 off and the big blind folds. When I am playing poorly, I fold that and give away 15 cents.

Sitting behind 10.58, I open from the button with a typical power-house, the 10/3 off. The big blind, with 5.64, calls. I am not too bothered. Lots of big blinds do that and check-fold all sorts of flops. The flop is pretty good for me, 8H/2S/10D. Only hands I am really worried about are A/10, K/10, Q/10, and 10/J. Maybe 9/J for the draw…I bet .40 into the .61 cent pot, he calls.
The turn is the 10S. I backed into trips. Kicker nothing to be proud of…but I like my chances. He checks and I decide to trap, checking behind. The turn is the 5s, giving a flush possibility. Now he leads out for 1.40. Oops.

Do I call? He did call on the flop…he beats me with any ten or any two spades. I should have bet the turn but I got tricky. Do I re-raise? Fold? Aggh! Instead of betting, I got sneaky and now I have a tough decision. Ultimately, I cannot lay down the trips, figuring if he hit the back-door flush, I goofed badly. Sort of. He had the K/Q off, so he was on a pure bluff. I ended up winning a nice little pot.

One easy way to tell if I am playing well or poorly is how I play A/J. This is my trouble hand, and I should just fold it…but it is strong enough to open raise. So every time I see it, I mentally tell myself, “I can raise with this, but I cannot call.” So when I pick it up in middle position, the Under the Gun raises, and I fold, I am happy. I am back to playing decent poker.

Or am I? Later, I pick up A/8 off in the cut-off, plenty good to open raise with in light of some of the trash I play. The big blind calls, and the flop is A/8/8. Does not get much better than that. He checks, and I raise. Very seldom do I slow-play, but in this format, this would be the time to. I pick up a few cents, but he might have caught on a later street.

At the same time, slow-playing is not my style, so it is often not a good idea to switch in the middle of a session. It is a skill I need to add, though. Playing live, I slow-play all the time. Online…not so much.

But I will occasionally take a flier on a hand in position. Some sessions, it is a bad idea to call with A/x suited. This session I make such a call when the cut-off raises to .30 and I am on the button with Ac/9c. The flop is 5h/Tc/2h. He checks and I bet, he folds. I just had him read for being on a position raise, I went with it and it worked. Sometimes this is a good idea, sometimes a bad idea.

A while later I am sitting behind 13.26 in the big blind when the under the gun limps, the hi-jack raises to .45, and I elect to call, as does the original limper. The flop is 6d/4d/Ks. With two players behind me who have both shown strength, I check as do they. The turn is the 6c, I bet, the limper folds, the raiser calls. The river is the Ac, I check, he goes all in 3.01 into the 2.62 pot, and I fold.

I think he was slow-playing a big hand and am fine with this hand. If I had hit my set I think I would have made a nice score.

Nor would being pushed off a pot slow my aggression. Next opportunity, I opened to .30 from the button with J/4 off. As often happens, the big blind calls, I miss the 5s/ks/9h flop, he checks, I bet, he folds. This game is easy…

But it is not just blind aggression. The very next hand I fold J/8 suited from early position. It is all about position. I open fold K/Q off as well. 9/J suited runs into a call and re-raise, time to fold.
Open to .30 from the cut-off with another monster, the 3h/5c. The big blind calls. The flop is 8c/2d/4s. He checks, I bet .40 cents, and he click-raises. I hem and haw briefly. Click-raises scream weakness to me, and if an Ace hits, I think he will call a big bet. I call. The turn is the 6S, giving me the straight. He comes out firing for .70 cents, I bump it to 4.35, he folds. Guess I should have slow-played…

The next hand I am the big blind with 9/Jd…and everyone folds. I pick up the small blind uncontested. Nice!

Several unimportant hands happen, and then one that illustrates why I have loosened up my raising requirements so much. Sitting behind 13. 68, I pick up a real hand, pocket aces under the gun +2. I make my standard raise to .30 and everyone folds. I pick up the blinds and that is it.
Well, if everyone is going to fold when I have Aces, they will fold when I have K/Q off as well. That is an argument that I am folding too many marginal hands. I just have to be willing to lay them down when people play back at me. This belief only grows when the next hand again I have everyone fold to me in the big blind.

There are times when I get a “feel” that people are playing tight on Rush and really widen my raising requirements. This is going to be such a time. Or is it? People play back at me a couple times, do not pay me off when I hit a straight, and I get a hair more cautious.
With 12.07, the under the gun limps, I call from the hi-jack with A/10 suited, the big blind checks. The flop is Qc/7D/8c. They check to me and I bet my flush draw. The big blind folds, the limper calls. Turn is the 4d and he check-calls my bet again. The river is the 9s. I missed. He checks. Now, to figure out what is happening.

There were a couple of draws on the flop; gut-shot straight if he had something like J/10, open-ended straight if he had 9/10, or of course he could be playing suited cards and have missed the flush. Pretty much anything else has me beat, but he might fold with a low pair. I bet, he folds, I win.

A while later I get involved in a hand by accident. I have the suited one gapper, 8/10h in the big blind. 2 limpers, the small blind completes, I check. The flop comes 9d/2d/kc. Checked to me. No hand, no draw, 3 other people in the hand, no need to get involved. Check check check. Turn is the Js. Interesting. A queen gives me the straight to the King, though of course an Ace/10 would crush me, or a 7 would give me the nut straight…provided it is not a diamond. So really 6 clean outs. Might as well bet and see what they think.

20 cents is half the pot, sounds good. One caller. River is the 7c, a perfect card. It completes no obvious draws yet gives me the nuts. The pot is only about 80 cents. How to extract the maximum? I figure he has the 9 or jack and wants to see a cheap showdown. I over-bet, 1.40, trying to look like a desperate bluff. Turns out he had A/J and calls me down. I can see where he would have been nervous about the King so did not re-raise me on the turn, but it also shows the value of aggression. The King was still there on the river, he had no idea where he was in the hand and ended up losing way more than he needed to.

Meanwhile, by betting my draw I kept the price right, controlled the hand, and yes…I got lucky to hit my straight…but by not re-raising the turn and letting me bet it, he gave me the right price.

A while later the under the gun limps, I raise to 50 from the next seat and everyone folds. Open limps spell weakness. (I had A/Q off.)

Sensing weakness often means more than having a hand. Under the gun raises to .35, the small blind completes and I decide I have enough of a hand to call as well from the big blind. The flop is the 8d/4d/Qh. The small blind leads out for 10 cents…into a dollar pot. It does not matter if I hit or not, that is a call…and if nobody was behind me, I might even re-raise. But there is someone behind, so I just call, and he calls as well. The turn is the 5s and again the small blind min-bets, I call, and the first raiser…folds? What? The river is the 8S, the small blind again raises to .10 cents, I bump it to .80 cents, he folds. I take down the pot. If my 10/J off was the best hand, I would be surprised, but I did not need the best hand to win this pot. If I had to guess, the small blind hit the 4 or else had a diamond draw that missed.

Actually, that fits it well…he wanted to see it cheap and made the defensive bet to keep the pot small. But his passive-aggressive under bets just begged me to re-pop him and take it away so I did.

Other times, actually having cards helps. After making a couple poor plays, and having a couple real hands go south, I am sitting behind 9.49. UTG+2 raises to 30 cents, the next guy calls, and I decided to call from the big blind with pocket 7s. Really I plan to flop a set or fold. I miss my set, but the 8c/9d/6s flop gives me an open ended straight to go with my pair. I bet out .40 into a .90 cent pot, the initial raiser meekly folds and the caller calls again. The turn drops the 6h. With no re-raise on the flop, I figure this is my pot to bet, so I do, betting .80 cents this time and again he calls. The river is the 5c, giving me my well disguised straight.

But it is not all sweetness and light. Pocket 8s, 9s, 5s or less likely 6s have me crushed, and all of those are quite believable. Less believable but still possible is the unlikely 7/10. So do I check, hoping to play pot control and/or induce a bluff, or do I value bet? Hey. This is me. Value bet, except I over-bet 2.30. Turns out he had 8/9 and slow-played 2 pair to lose a good-sized pot.
Hence my aversion to slow-playing. A few dozen hands later, I have 11.57 in front of me and pick up pocket 9s in the small blind. Middle position click-raises, it is folded to me, I re-pop to 60 and he calls. I elect to re-raise because playing out of position is no fun. So when he calls, I am thinking I need to hit to win.

I like the flop, 6c/9h/Ad. With any luck, he has something like A/K. I check, he bets .65 cents. Hey, slow-playing sometimes works! The turn is the Jd and I lead out for 1.50 which he calls. The turn is the 3c. Time to value bet. I just echo my last bet, 1.50 and he calls. And shows K/Jh. Wow. I should have gone all in, if he would call a total of 4.25 with second pair he would have called off his last 1.60 as well. I missed a nice pick-up there, but do drag a nice pot.

Play on, winning some and losing some, working my way up to 17.24 when I pick up Aces under the gun. I raise to 30, the next guy calls, the cut-off calls, and the small blind calls. The flop is 6d/10c/Kd. I am hoping one guy has A/J or J/10 and another A/K or something. They all have between 10.56 and 11 dollars except yellowbird with 8.35. First guy checks, I bet the pot, second guy calls, third guy raises to 6.50 and I have to think. How likely is a set?

Pocket 6s or tens probably call there, pocket kings probably re-raise pre-flop. So maybe a set. Maybe a draw. But maybe A/K. I raise to 11.70, they both call all-in. The first guy has q/9 off and is drawing to a gut-shot straight. The second guy has two pair, Kings and tens. Uh-oh…I made a mis-step. I need a 6, ace, or running cards to pair. Fortunately, the turn is an Ace and I pull in 27.88 after the 1.99 rake.

I should have recognized the re-raise meant I was behind. I mis-read the situation and got in trouble against two players. Of course, one of them played much worse than I did. And frankly, calling with K/10 and Q/9, suited or not, is never a recommended play. Those are the type of “marginal hands” that get people in trouble. Top two…I definitely understand the flop raise. And had I waited for the turn, who knows if we would have all gotten it all in? Admittedly poorly played by me…but after all the 21-1 beats I have taken on the river, I do not feel the least bit bad. They called with bad hands, one temporarily took the lead, the other was on a ridiculous draw, and I did have 6 outs twice and 9 outs once. For a pot that big I will take a shot every now and again.

Now I am sitting behind 34.56 and have to make a choice. Often, when I get a big hit like that, I start playing poorly and give a lot of it back. Should I just call it a night or keep playing? I am having fun, have been playing well, so I keep going.

I am picking up lots of pots in lots of ways, and this next one is typical. I open from early with A/Kc. The small blind calls, leaving himself 3.40. The flop is an innocuous 7s/10s/2c. He hesitates, then bets .80. I ponder coming over the top but decide to merely call. I doubt that flop helped him and it feels like a “test the waters” bet. Sure enough, he checks the 6s turn, I bet 1.10, he folds. Nothing exciting or major, not a big pot, but picking up lots of these little ones adds up.

And they come my way more often the more aggressive I am. From the hijack I bump it to .30 and the cut-off calls. He is sitting behind 29.83, so I need to be careful. All I have is the Js/9c. The flop is the Qs/3h/Jc and I do my standard .40 continuation into a .70 cent pot. He calls. The turn is the 7d. He did not re-raise me on the flop, so I doubt the queen. I bet .80 cents and he click-raises. Had he made a legit raise here, he wins the pot. That feels more like a “do you mean it?” query, so I snap-call. The river is the 3s, I bet 2.20, he takes his time and folds. Had I not been aggressive, I probably lose to a J/10 type hand. Instead, I probably stole the pot from a better hand.

And for the second time in the session, I make a poor choice…maybe. Sitting behind 38.49 I pick up A/Kh on the button. I raise to .30, the small blind re-pops to .90. This actually is my first sign they have a hand as usually the small blind folds or at most calls. He is sitting behind 17.96, so I can take him for a lot. I call.

The flop is gorgeous…9h/kc/4h. I have top pair, top kicker, and the nut flush draw. I raise to 1.00 and he goes to 3 almost instantly. Hmm. He did not have to think about it, he has a big hand. He could have A/K, pocket Aces, pocket Kings, pocket 9s, or pocket 4s. For whatever reason, instead of calling, I re-pop to 10/90. He raises all-in and it is 6.16 to call.

I now revise him to having one of the pocket pairs. Only a set would play like that, I am obviously behind. However, there is about 30 bucks in the pot so I am getting 5-1. I am less than 3-1 against making the flush, so my aggressive play means it is an easy call. Sure enough, he flips up pocket kings, so it is top set against nut flush draw. The turn is a harmless 7d, but then on the river I break his heart, catching the 5h.

The irony here is I played this hand poorly. He showed obvious strength pre-flop and on the flop. My re-re-raise to 10.90 might be the most ridiculous thing I have done. Yet my poor play was rewarded with a monstrous 34.02 pot (after the equally ridiculous 2 dollar rake).

But I do not feel bad about it. I have taken a lot of much worse beats from much worse plays. I at least had top pair, top kicker, and a great draw. I am a dog, but not so huge a dog that this is abominable…merely bad play and I am not a good enough player to get away from such a huge draw.

I am, however, good enough to learn from it. In the future, I will just call the re-raise and see what the turn brings, playing some pot control.

Now I am sitting behind 54.55, only 10 bucks below the most I have ever held in a session. Again I consider packing it in, but elect to keep playing. However, I will keep a close eye on it and if I am acting bulletproof…making more calls based on pure aggression instead of reads they are weak….or if I am playing hands I should not or folding hands I should, I will quite. But soon I lay down suited connectors to heavy pre-flop action and re-pop a larger-than-average raise with pocket queens.

Time goes on and I find myself in a raising war. Under the gun I open to .30. The cut-off, sitting behind exactly 10 bucks, elects to bump it up to 80 cents. That is a weird amount. A click-raise goes to .50 cents, a pot-size bet goes to 1.05. So it shows he is a tricky player who actually is putting some thought into how much he wants to re-raise. Turns out I like my hand and want to play it…but want to play it pre-flop so I take my time and then raise to 2.55. He takes his time and re-pops to 6.70. About this point I figure he has Kings or Queens and re-pop to put him all in for his last 3.30. He calls and shows A/K off. This is a guy I want to play more. My Aces hold up and, after rake, I add another 8.81 to my stack. And now I have the most I have ever had, 65.79.
I almost quit just because of that. I am afraid I will play scared, not wanting to lose when I need to play fearlessly and aggressively. But I keep playing. That fear is shortly answered. Under the gun raises to .35, I re-pop with the “pot bet” button to 1.20 with pocket Kings, and he calls. The 8h/5h/5c flop brings a check from him, a raise from me, and I pick up another modest pot.
Again, many better players would say I mis-played this hand…but with just a single pair, I do not want to play a big pot, and my chances of improving are slim. I like to win lots of small plots and play few big ones. Just my style. Unless, of course, I hit the nuts…then I like to play monster pots.

Sometimes when I have deep stack, I will get a wild hair and play a drawing hand. I open to 30 with A/4c figuring I have about a 60% chance of picking up the blinds and a solid 70% chance of winning on the flop with a continuation bet even if called. I get a bit more action when the next seat flat calls and the button click-raises. Well, that just screams weakness to me, so I call the .20 cents.

When I raise to .30, I know it is only a 20 cent raise over the blind, but it FEELS like a 30 cent raise because I am not getting the big blind discount. So when I raise to 30 and he re-pops…into the raiser and a caller…another 20 cents, he is just being ridiculous. I am calling .20 to win 1.05, or better than 5-1, and I assume the next guy will also call so it is more like 6-1. I am calling that all day, all night and most of tomorrow.

So with a pot of 1.65, the flop comes 8c/6c/ks. I hit nothing but do have the nut flush draw. I lead out for .70, the original caller folds, and the button again click-raises. That is at best a feeler bet. And not a smart one. I have to call .70 to win 3.05, so way better than 4-1. Lets say I put him on Pocket Kings. I am getting a stupendous price to draw to the nuts. However, the way he has played that hand, I do not think he is that strong. The click raises indicate a soft Ace or something goofy like K/9, K/10, maybe even a medium pair.

I call. And the turn gives me the nuts. It is the 10c. I love that card. It hits a lot of hands, giving straight draws or making 2 pair with hands like K/10. Now, how to extract the most? I could bet, if I were afraid he had a set and was drawing to the full house. I do not want to give him the infinite odds. But if I think he has a weaker hand, I should check to let him catch up.

I am fairly positive he does not have a set, so at worst I am against 2 pair and a 11-1 favorite. ( I figure if he has 2 pair, then I “know” 8 cards…my own two, the 4 on the board, and that he has 2 cards in his hand that match the board, in which case it does not matter which ones.) If the board pairs, I will re-evaluate at that point…

Except he shoves all in his last 2.18. Easy, easy call. At the moment I have the absolute nuts and worst case scenario is he has a set and is drawing to 10 outs, so I am either an 11-1 favorite, a 4.4-1 favorite, or holding an unbeatable hand. I am not surprised when he flips up A/K, as it fits with how he played the hand, neither being a club. He is drawing dead and I pull down another 8.23 pot.

Now I am sitting behind 71.02 and again the thought crosses my mind…quit while you are ahead. But then I get a wild hair…I want to see if I can break 100. So I keep going.

One good thing about having a deep stack is I can play against more raises. Sitting behind 69.45 I pick up pocket deuces on the button. The cut-off, sitting behind 18.81, raises to .40 cents. Now, if I only have 3 or 4 bucks, I have to fold that because even the implied odds are no good. But here, I am going to try to win 18.81 so I can take a flyer on a trash hand. I call. Then the big blind, with 11.18, raises to 1.90. It is folded back to me.

There is 1.30 in the pot, I need to call 1.60 to win 3.90. A little better than 2.4-1, not even close to the 8-1 odds I need. Worse, if I am behind about 10 bucks or so, it is 20% of my stack and I have to fold here. With almost 70 bucks, it is a drop in the bucket and I can call in position. No need to get fancy, with him re-raising a steal position raise and a steal position caller, he can have a wide range of hands…medium pockets or better, A/10 or better, any suited ace…lets take a flop and see what he does.

8s/jh/2h. Jackpot. I flopped my set. The only obvious draw is a heart flush, though I suppose a super loose player on a move could have re-raised with 9/10 suited and if he did, he is not going away if that suit is hearts. He leads out 3.70. Either he hit the flop hard or else he has an over pair. So I think he has Queens or better, maybe A/J, and less likely a set of Jacks or set of 8s. The 8s seem unlikely and it feels like an overbet for A/J or a flush draw, but they are still possible.

So really, the only hand I am behind is pocket Jacks, and I think he has a better starting hand than that. I think for a bit, then re-raise him a pot-sized bet…he calls his last 5.58 all-in. He has Aces. The turn and river are blanks, I stacked him. Ah, the joys of playing deep-stack…if I folded pre-flop, I would have missed out on a big hit. And sitting behind 79.61.

Ironically, a few hands later I pick up the deuces again. In fact, after a number of folds, it is the next hand I play. With 2 limpers, I complete from the small blind and the big blind checks. I weakly check the 7h/8s/8h flop and fold to a bet after we turn a queen. I should have bet the flop. Even if someone re-raises….a bet is in order here.

But I am not above making a move. On the button I pick up ks/5s. Not a monster, and one I usually fold to any action. This time the cut-off open limps. I decide he is not serious and raise it to .40 cents. To my surprise he calls. The flop is 8d/10d/kd. Great flop for me…suited, straight draws, high cards. He checks, I raise, I win.

At the same time, I miss a possible value bet opportunity. Under the gun open limps, I raise to .50 from the cut-off, the first limper calls. Flop is Ks/10S/2H. He check-calls my raise to .60. Time to put him on a hand. A/10, J/10, medium pair seem most likely. Better and he would re-raise, worse and he would fold. Turn is the 10h. He checks, I bet 1.20, he calls. River is the 6h.
Now, it is unlikely he is slow-playing trip tens and also unlikely he rivered the back-door flush…but possible. All I have is A/K, so Kings up…but one pair on the board. A lot of hands he could have called with…A/10, K/10, J/10…are out there. I meekly check behind and he mucks his J/Q, a missed straight draw. I am up to 80.69.

And starting to get too aggressive. From the cut-off I open raise to .30. The big blind, with 7.96, calls and we take the flop heads up. The flop is 6d/10h/5h and he comes ut betting. I go through the normal routine…A/10, a heart flush draw, J/10, maybe big pocket pair higher than a ten or a set. I re-raise to .70 cents and he calls.

The turn is the 3s and he leads out…for .20 cents. Into a pot of about 2.60. That is a defensive bet. I narrow it down to a likely flush draw and raise it to 1.50. And he calls. I am not happy. I am done with this hand. I have nothing. Then he checks the Ac on the river. If my read is right, he has a modest flush draw and just missed it. I bet 2.60 int the 5.32 pot…and he folds. I win with King high and virtually no chance of having the best hand. Woo-hoo! But stupid…

I get pretty aggressive, splashing around in lots of pots and playing them aggressively. I play pocket kings and K/j off the same way. I pick up several pots, lose a couple, and am having a great time, bouncing around between 79 and 82 bucks.

Presently I call a guy with 10.84 who opens under the gun for .35. That raise indicates they are raising the pot and I have A/q off and position as I am in the cut-off. I often fold here, but this time I call. Mixing up my game I guess. The flop is 2h/2s/3h and he raises .50 cents. For whatever reason, I sense weakness and re-raise to 1.60 which brings a rapid fold.

I keep splashing about, raising pocket 10s on the flop with a king and turn with a queen, raising 2.4 from the button, just generally raising and re-raising like mad. After a while, with 83.18 in front of me, I pick up As/Qh under the gun. I open to .30, sirbluffalot calls with 8.39 from the next seat, a fold, then a re-pop to 80 cents by a guy with only 8.90 to start. Not a good raise yet again…if it is folded to me there will be 1.05 in the pot and the raise will be only 55 cents. I will call that all day. As does sirbluffalot.

The flop is the 9s/Qc/3c. I bet 1.20, sirbluffalot folds, and the re-raiser makes another horrible raise, click-raising to 2.40. I am curious what he is doing here so I call. The turn is the Jd which I am not happy about. It completes the straight if he is playing something like a K/10 maniacally…which his poor betting means he might do. In the right circumstances, K/10 is a good hand. Against an under the gun raiser and a call, re-raising it is begging to be broken. I check…and he checks behind.

What a weird hand. The river is worse, dropping the Ks. I am behind A/K, K/Q, K/J, K/10, K/9…and this guys betting patterns tell me those are all possible. Also possible is some sort of suited connector flush draw or even something like J/10. I raise to 3.50 with my second pair…and he folds the 6.86 pot to me. Wow. So bizarre. What can you re-raise in that situation, click-raise the flop, check the turn and fold the river with? I wish I could see his cards…

A while later, pocket nines on the button. I love pairs on the button. They always seem suspicious when you raise, yet it is entirely possible to have a legit hand on the button. Middle position click-raises, I bounce it to .60 cents, he calls. The flop is Kc/6h/Tc and he checks.

If I re-raise pre-flop and you check to me, I will raise about 95% of the time. I bump it to .70. That is actually a raise I hate, but it makes sense. I raised to .60 pre-flop, so it seems like a weak bet of just slightly more than pre-flop but into a much larger pot…but it fits my ½ -2/3 pot bet size I like to stay with. So it is a real quandary…should I alter it when my flop bet would match my pre-flop bet?

Admittedly, the situation arises more frequently when I raise to .30 pre-flop and get one caller in the blinds as after the rake, the pot is about .61 cents or so. But it also comes up frequently when I re-raise someone pre-flop. Definitely an area I need to work on.

I am not surprised when he calls. The turn is the 8d, he checks, I put him to the test with a 1.60 bet and he folds. All sorts of hands he could have, and his passive play costs him a pot he could have had. With two overs on the board, both of which hit a lot of hands he could reasonably hold, he could make me lay it down with any reasonable raise at several points in the hand.

Later on, it is folded to the small blind who click-raises. I come over the top to .60 cents from the big blind and he folds. I had pocket nines…but I should make that move with deuce-seven, too.
I guess I should show the level of play I sometimes face. Under the gun limps, I call with As/5s hoping to see a cheap flop and hit a flush.

This, by the way, is a poor play that I over-use. Sure enough, the cut-off bumps it to .55 cents and for the rest of the hand I will be out of position against the aggressor. Since he only has 4.41 behind, I will be calling .45 to win 5 bucks but need it to be 7.20 to justify the call. But the limper makes it easy by pushing all in.

Easy fold since that almost always means Aces. The re-raiser calls. I figure Aces versus Kings or Queens or, if a really weak player, A/K. But no, it is…I am embarrassed to write this…pocket tens for the limp-re-raiser versus K/10 suited? What?

The first raise against two passive players I love. Great move, K/10s is a great hand in that instance. But when the limper re-raises you all in, have the discipline to fold. No need to call off another 3.86 with what is now a trash hand. Of course, he got rewarded when he rivered the straight after turning a queen and rivering a jack…and the Ah/qh were on the board which meant his incredibly bad play would have been a royal flush had the river jack been a heart instead of a diamond.

Lets see how I play pocket tens. Sitting behind 86.35, I pick up tens on the button. I open to .30 cents and the big blind comes over the top all in for 13.78. Wow, massive overbet…small to medium pair? A/K? Aces, Kings, Queens? We will never know. I am not risking that amount pre-flop when I might be a 3-1 dog or worse when I can simply fold and go back to raising monsters like the K/3 off when I have position. Easy fold.

After all, a weak hand like pocket tens cannot compare to a power house like 3h/9c. Under the gun limps, everyone else folds, I check from the big blind. The flop is 2s/3c/10d. That hits very few limp-worthy hands so I lead out with a pot-sized bet, 20 cents. He calls. The turn is the 6d which does hit a few suited connector type hands but I lead out for 30 cents anyway and he folds. Clearly, proper aggression works for me.

Sometimes I chase my draws too long. I am in the cut-off with A/6h and two people limp to me. I decided to try to see a cheap flop and limp along. The big blind checks and we take the flop four handed. The flop is decent…8c/Jh/5h. For me, this is a pretty good flop. I have the nut flush draw and got in cheap. As long as it stays cheap, I am happy.

First guy checks, second guy bets .25 into a 42 cent pot. Third guy folds, I call, first guy folds.

The turn is the Jd which is one of the worst cards in the deck from the standpoint of now I would believe lots of hands that have trips, so even if something like the King of Hearts rolls off I do not want a big pot. Well, he checks, and, never one to be smart, I bet .50 cents, trying to take it down. He calls and the river is the pseudo-beautiful 9h giving me the 5th nuts.

Of course, he is UNLIKELY to be playing the J/9, J/8, J/5 and if he had pocket jacks he would have played it different, so when he checks I go ahead and make a value bet of 1 dollar, which he calls with pocket tens. Perfect. I sucked him in, and on the river got him to pay off with a worse hand. His cautious check on the turn, while prudent, probably made an extra 1.50 for me as I doubt he calls nearly as much if the pot was smaller.

The thing is, I was getting a pretty good price pre-flop and on the flop, not necessarily straight pot odds, but implied odds for sure. However, though I did pull in a pot of 3.69, in the long run that is a losing play because I called a total of 35 cents and to properly play the hand, I need to get about 5.60. This is a play I make quite a bit that if I tighten up might improve my overall results.

It is just so hard for me to lay down what could turn into the nut hand. But it is hard to get paid off when you are holding the nuts. All of which makes it very hard to get the right price on it which means I need to make smarter decisions. This is one way I can become a much stronger player with better long-term results.

It is not easy to ignore the lure of a potential big pay-off, but it should be because I can make nearly the same amount just by picking up numerous small pots with aggressive raisers instead of a few modest pots with passive calls.

Example; the next hand I play I raise the Qs/6d from the cut-off, perhaps a seat too early for this hand except I have notes on the big blind. Sure enough, everyone folds. Now, I have been raising the blinds left and right but mention this one just to contrast it to the hand that looks good because I won but was actually poorly played when examined more closely. Here I raise a trash hand and pick off the blinds.

The next hand I play I open to 30 under the gun with Ah/js, the big blind calls and check-folds to my continuation bet on a 2h/Qd/Ac flop. I like that even more than just winning the blinds. An extra 20 cents a shot is always nice. And it does not require cards.

From the cut-off I open to .30 cents with the Kc/3h. The button calls and we take the 9h/8s/2c flop heads up. I lead out for 40 cents, he folds. Who needs flush draws? It is a hard lesson to learn, but I need to learn it. In three hands I have picked up almost a buck…and with the flush hand, I only made like 1.80. But here I have risked the same 30 cents three times, there I risked the 35 cents I called and the 50 cents I lead out on the turn. Play smarter, not luckier. Grr.

Again I raise from the cut-off, though by some quirk of nature I actually have a pseudo-respectable hand, the Js/Kh. Both blinds call sitting behind 9.91 and 11.30 each. I am pretty happy when the flop is Jd/Ks/3c. If I am going to raise trash hands, flopping Kings up is a pretty good result. They check to me and I continuation bet. The small blind checks, but the big blind check-raises me to 1.75. Suh-weeeeeet! Flat call or re-raise?

If he has A/K he will keep raising, if he has A/J he might be done either way, if he has K/10 or worse he is done. I flat-call, he checks the 2s turn, I bet out and he folds. I end up picking up a nice 4.11 pot when all I was really trying to do was to steal the blinds.

And for the first time, I am over 90, sitting behind 90.81.

And then I get a couple people playing back at me, a couple flops I get re-raised, and get down to 86.61. So I tighten up, go back to just trying to win the blinds and start building my way back up.

And one hand shows why raising the big blind is always wise. I am able to check in the big blind with 7/10off. I flop a 7, bet it, get called, turn a second 7, bet my trips, get called, river the full house, bet but they fold. Still, they gave me over a buck when a pre-flop raise would have driven me off the hand. I can raise that trash but will not call with it.

Sitting in the small blind, I call the button’s raise to 30 cents with the 9h/10h. The big blind also calls and we see the 6h/7h/4c flop. I have a flush draw and two over cards and no chance of winning a showdown. Time to bet my draw. I lead out for 40 cents, the big blind folds, and the button calls. It is at this moment that I decide he is on the flush draw and am no longer sure I want to hit mine. The turn is the Ac and I figure it is a good bluffing card, so I lead out for 80 cents and he calls. The river is the Js. I have nothing. But I also think he has nothing. He has a busted flush draw. I lead out for 2.10…and he folds. I win the 3.08 pot with what absolutely has to be the worse hand.

A while later with one middle position limper I complete from the small blind with the Kh/Js. What a weak move. The big blind checks and we see a 7H/Jh/Kd flop. I bet .40 cents, the big blind re-pops to 2.35. For whatever reason, I decide he cannot have A/K or K/Q or two pair and raise his last 1.43 to put him all in. He calls…and we split the pot with both of us having K/J off. I played very poorly in this hand. Tying a pot costs money as you lose to the rake…and I was very fortunate he did not have one of the better hands.

Yet aggression overall has done well for me. Sometimes it lets me have multiple chances to win a pot; I can stay in a hand I am betting that I could not stay in if facing a raise. With Qc/Kd I open to 30 cents from middle position, the cut-off calls and we take the flop heads up. He is sitting behind 10.33 so I need to be careful, by which I mean make a continuation bet of .40 cents into a .61 cent flop on an As/3d/Jd flop which he calls.

If he had re-raised me I would have to fold a gut-shot, but with what Cloutier calls the “first in vigorish” I keep the initiative. The turn card is great, the 10h. I hit my straight. Never one to slow-play, I keep betting, 90 cents and he calls. The river is a harmless 8s, I have the nuts. I am afraid he will check behind if I slow down, so bet 1.20. Sure enough, he has just enough to call…an A/Q…but probably would not have bet. He had me crushed on the flop, played conservatively, and I pull in a 5.37 pot.

After a few more blind steals I am sitting behind 94.21 when I pick up Jd/Kd in the small blind. It is a requirement to raise this strong a hand when folded to, and I oblige, only to be called by the big blind, sitting behind 4.28. The flop is 10s/Kc/5h and I continuation bet 40 cents which he calls. The turn is the 6c, I raise to 80 cents and he does the “has yet to work” click-raise move which I call. Now we have a large pot, the river is the 8c and I bet 2 bucks, with him having just 1.98. He calls and shows Ac/10d. I take down the 7.99 pot.

What was he thinking? That I bet the flop and turn, called a re-raise on the turn, and bet the river with nothing? He has the Ace of clubs, so I guess not being afraid of the runner-runner flush makes sense…but calling off 4.38 with second pair against constant aggression? Very interesting maneuver. Not a good one…but at least interesting. These are the players I want to be in a lot of pots with because while there are plenty of better players on here and I tend to do poorly against them.

So now I am at 97.92 and desperately wanting to get to 100 dollars just to say I have done so.
After a while I am at 99.19 and think I have it for sure. Under the gun click-raises, I am under the gun + 2 and re-raise to .75 cents with pocket Aces. I figure he will call and check-fold the flop and I will quite with over 100. But everyone folds. My Aces pick up 35 cents…but not enough to bring me home. I laugh quietly to myself, thinking I have made much more with 2/7 than Aces.

A while later, 2 people limp, I complete the small blind with 10c/Qd…and the big blind, correctly sensing weakness, busts it to .70 cents. One limper folds, the other one and I call and the flop comes down 10s/6d/Ah. Never one to shy away from raising second pair, I raise it 1.20, they both fold, and I have 100.90. I instantly fold the next hand and quit.