Is it better to be good, lucky, or good and lucky?

UTG+1 opens to .30 with 12.77, I flat-call with 15.36, the hijack calls with 10, the small blind calls with 3.25 and we have a pot of 1.30 and four players.

When the flop comes 6d/9h/3d I am not super excited. On the one hand, it misses an awful lot of hands and hits very few…maybe suited Q/9+, assorted pocket pairs, the unlikely but possible 7/8 hit a straight draw. On the other hand…with that much action, I am likely facing a better pocket pair.

The small blind checks, utg+1 continuation bets .60 and I have a choice. With 2 people left to act, I might face a big raise. On the other hand, I can represent strength by calling and perhaps take away a decent pot with a turn bet. I decide to call and see what happens.

Everyone else folds and we see the Ah fall on the turn. He checks which demands a bet, I oblige with 1.20 and he folds.

I seriously doubt my sevens were the best hand anyone had…he quite possibly had something like 8s or 10s and did not want to lose a big pot, I showed strength and he played predictably.

And the very next hand I have pocket 7s again, open to .30 from utg+1, everyone folds. Hockey sticks ftw.

Numerous folds and forgettable hands later, utg+1 opens to .32 with 13.52. People deliberately being stupid like that annoy me but I double check to make sure I do not make dumb plays just for that reason. In the small blind I re-pop to 1.06 with 16.45 and he calls.

The flop is pretty scary…10d/9h/Kc. Pocket 10s or 9s are in his range, so is Q/K suited, smaller pockets, suited connectors…a lot of hands that flop hits. At the same time I have top/top and was the pre-flop aggressor. I lead out for 1.20. He calls.

Now I am exactly where I do not want to be…in a sizable pot with a marginal hand. Still, he could just be seeing if I am serious. We will see how the turn develops.

The 8s does not make me overly happy, though it is not a horrible card. It does add a couple hands that have me in trouble, but I want to see where he is. I bet 2.20 and he calls. Now there is over 8 bucks in the pot and I know he has SOMETHING but do not know if I am ahead or behind in the hand.

The river 10s only changes things if he had something like A/10, J/10 type hands…otherwise whoever was ahead on the turn is still ahead. I do not want to face a big re-raise, so I check planning to call about a half pot bet. He checks behind.

At this point I think I am probably ahead. Maybe he had a weird missed draw like Q/J or maybe something like A/9. But he turns over the Ad/Kd and we split the pot. I lose .25 due to the rake…

After that I rathole and start again with 4.00.

I have been playing for a while, having people fold to my continuation bets, and feeling good. UTG+1 limps with 5.63, the button limps with 3.34, and I check with 5.59 and Jd/6d.

This is the type hand I wish people would raise on me so I could fold before I hit a piece of the flop, meet resistance, and get stubborn, shipping chips like mad with marginal hands in bad spots.

The flop is 10d/Kd/6h. I have the third nut flush draw and randomly decide that is a betting situation. I bet .20, utg+1 calls and the button raises to 1.15.

This is a clear signal; fold. Go away. His stack is small enough I have the wrong odds to chase a flush, there is another guy behind, and I am chasing the third nuts.

So having accidentally gotten into the hand, taken a stab at it, and being squeezed, I make the obvious move…I re-pop to 2.10.

Idiot. This is why I hate getting to play bad hands in the big blind. I get stupid because I am not a very good player.

UTG+1 folds, button re-pops to 3.24 all in. It is beyond obvious I am beat, probably by a set of 6s but he could have something like K/10 or 10/6 suited to have limped there…whatever he has, he hit the flop hard.

Unfortunately, my poor play has led to the following situation: 5.84 in the pot and it is 1.14 more to me. Getting better than 5-1 on the call…and with two cards to come I am 3-1 dog but at this point the pot is too big and I played too stupidly to fold.

He flips up 2 black aces…a horribly mis-played pair of aces, and of course my even worse play is rewarded when I spike the 8d on the river to steal the pot.

I fold for a while, then I pick up pocket Kings in the small blind, it is folded to me, I raise and he folds. The very next hand I pick them up again. The cut-off opens to .40 with 2.89 and, with 8.77, I re-pop to 1.35. If he has anything at all then we will see a river with all the chips in the middle.

He calls and when the flop comes 4d/7c/8d he insta-ships his last 1.54 which, with over 2.70 in the pot and an over pair, I would have to have an incredibly accurate read to fold here. I do not, I insta-call, and the turn is the 10c.

Great, I think, he now wins with any Jack, 6, or 9…10 outs. Fortunately the river is an Ace and my cowboys hold up.

The rest of the round is pretty uneventful and once again I notice a weird trend. My biggest score came when I made a massive mistake and got rewarded for it. I need to not let that get into my head lest I start playing idiotically.

I need to figure out a way to avoid the big blind conundrum...even though it paid off this time, it was still a huge mistake that I should not repeat.