Cowboy Roundup

Sitting behind 26.59, I pick up Kings, this time the red ones. UTG+2 I open to .30, the small blind calls with 11.84

The flop is a pseudo-dream flop, A/A/K, the third nuts. I am only behind A/k and pocket Aces, neither of which is overly likely. Normally, I bet out here. This time I elect to do one of my rare slow-plays. If he has one of those hands, it is all going in anyway and if he doesn’t he would just fold. Finally, a smart decision. He checks behind.

The turn is the irrelevant 9d, I bet half the pot, he calls.

The river is the 7s and suddenly he leads out for 1.30. I should re-pop it…but suddenly I get nervous. What if he called with A/9 or A/7 and now he drew out on me? What is he had big slick and slow-played me? As unlikely as these scenarios were, I suddenly wanted to play a small pot…and flat-called.

Not that I would not call a re-raise...after all, I have the fifth nuts and two hands that beat me...pocket Aces and big slick...are highly unlikely with how the hand played out. But it would be with a sick feeling that I had lost a huge pot.

He flipped up pocket 9s and I took a very, very small pot compared to what I should have taken.
When I have such a powerful hand, I cannot be afraid of getting involved. At the very least, a re-raise on the river was in order here. The way the hand played, it was very unlikely he had A/K or pocket Aces and no other hand beats me. Well, okay, so A/9 and A/7 do, both of which were in his range…but unlikely.

With 26.33 I pick up 2 red jacks in the big blind. UTG+2 opens to .30 with 9.80. The small blind, with 3.25, calls, I re-pop to 1.35, the utg+2 calls and the other folds.

The flop is decent for me…10c/6c/7d. I am pretty aggressive, betting 2.70. He re-pops to 6.20. Well now, that looks bad.

Remember a while ago when the opposition had bet weird and did this, I did the call-fist pump routine. This time it is way different.

He raised a standard amount and flat-called. This time I figure 6/6+, suited Ace, maybe A/J+. The re-raise indicates a made hand and he is wanting to maybe prevent the flush draw. Really, about the only hands I believe he is holding I could beat would be the somewhat unlikely A/10 suited, but I think he more likely has 10s, 6s or 7s. I fold and do not regret it.

Here is a fun hand I had nothing to do with except folding my small blind. Early middle position limps with 22.27, I fold my Ad/2c from the small blind, and the big blind checks with 18.65.

The flop is 4s/3h/8c. The limper bets the pot, .25 and gets a call. Lets see…open limper could be Aces or Kings trapping…though I tend to seldom see that play on this level…it could be a weak ace, probably suited, or a low to medium pair or possibly suited connectors. The big blind could be literally any two cards, but with a call here I would not be surprised to see him have something like 8/3, 8/4….maybe a 5/6 even. He could have all sorts of hand.s He might have two overs to the board or might just be planning to raise any checked turn.

The turn is the 7d. If either of them had the 5/6 they are very happy. The original limper bets .75 and gets a call. Pot is about 2.25 or so now.

The river is the 9s. 10/J is the nuts, but the way this hand played out, it is highly unlikely. Pocket 9s, pocket 8s/4s/3s are all within the realm of possibility as well as random two pair hands.

The initial limper checks, the big blind finally bets…20.42 cents into a 2 dollar pot! What on earth? I am betting he has something like pocket 9s, maybe pocket 3s…I would never call this bet without a 10/j or set of 8s or 9s. But the initial limper does call.

Original limper shows 8s/7s. Okay, flopped top pair, turned two pair, and checked on river when lots of hands beat him.

Big blind had…pocket 4s.He let the other guy hang himself, then made a fish bet and got paid off for it.

I really hate the way the first limper played the hand. He had no business limping in with that hand. I like his flop and turn play, hate every step of the river play. Bet again, don’t call a massive bet like that. Wow. So this pot of 35.35 goes to the big blind who got a free shot to hit his set.

He then eschewed the value bet to try and get hugely paid off.

Though I did not play this hand, I could see me being either guy and I see holes in both plays, yet I also see the value in both plays (except the river call). I guess the line between a really good play and a really bad play is really thin…

For example, I played a hand where to a point I took a similar line (though with a better finish for what I played). With 17.79 I watch the utg limp with 9.71, middle position take his time and then click-raise with 5.90 and from the next seat I have A/K.

Limps and click-raises both scream weak hand/weak player to me. I am raising this something like 103% of the time. I bump it to .85. The first limper calls and we take the flop.

The flop is decent for my hand, 4h/Qs/Jc. He could limp with something like J/10 or a suited ace that hit the four, maybe pocket 4s or some other middle pair, say 7s or worse. All those hands fit how he played the pre-flop, as well as a few random things I would hate to see like K/Q.

He checks, I bet 1/2 the pot expecting him to fold, he calls. The turn is the 10c, he checks, I bet expecting a call…and he folds. Probably should have checked there, but I like to charge people for their draws, and he was getting near pot-commitment time.

I need to be less fearful of getting drawn out on. It will help me make more on hands like this where he is highly unlikely to have a hand that has any chance of drawing out on me.

I had a really bad run where I was getting sucked out on with numerous runner-runner draws or one memorable one where I had Aces, got called on the flop and turn and rivered when a 10 hit by a guy holding 10/4 with a queen and king on the flop.

Or another where my Aces got taken down by a guy who called a re-raise with a suited q/9, missed the flop but called all in anyway and hit runner runner to flush out.

So I got gun shy about how I play, nervous about hands that could beat me and sometimes weighting my thoughts towards those hands instead of more reasonable hands.

As a result, several good hands I have mis=played and not pulled in as many chips as I should. Definitely a hole in my game.