Hand by Hand 11

Having achieved my goal, I restart with 2. First hand the button limps with 2.86, I check with 4s/2d and the flop arrives Ks/4c/Kd. Agh. Why could he not raise and get rid of me? I should raise here but I check and he checks behind. When the 5h turns, I raise and he folds.

These hands scare me. I am most likely ahead…but not definitely…and I do not want to get involved in a marginal hand in a big pot. But a pretty good result to start me off.

Soon I am in the big blind with As/4s. With 4 people having called a raise by the time it gets to me, I feel good about my 5-1 odds and call. The flop makes me even happier, the 4d/4c/9c. But it gets checked around. The turn is the 2s and I have a decision.

I most likely have the best hand, but I do not want to give someone 2 free shots at the club flush and I also do not want to have the pot never grow. I bet half the pot and everyone folds.

So I am feeling pretty good, I have 2.28 and pick up Kd/Ks in middle position. I make the standard raise and get click-raised by the hijack with 3.10. For some inexplicable reason, people think a click raise of .10 will get someone who has raised to .15 to fold.

I cannot imagine they would…although the open to .15 is only a 10 cent raise over the blind, it FEELS like a .15 because that is how much you are putting in voluntarily. Well, I have a big hand, I think he is making a move and I pop it to .85. I am mildly surprised when he calls.

Now there is 1.85 in the pot, I have 1.43 left and think he has some sort of medium pair. I plan to shove the flop. I should reconsider when it comes Jd/Ac/Jc. If he has an Ace…unlikely but possible…he calls. I doubt the jack but again…possible. I shove anyway and he snap calls with Jh/Qh, then turns the Js to give him the nuts.

Oops. But…if he insists on calling big re-raises with Qh/Jh I want to be in a lot of hands with him. He stacked me this time but I will get him many times in the long run.

I am not particularly bothered but take a break for a while, then come back and start again with 2. A middle position guy limps with 4.86 and I check in the big blind with pocket deuces.
This is actually one of the types of hand I like. I have a well disguised hand if I flop a set and have excellent implied odds. *** FLOP *** [5s Kh 2d]

Oh, I like that. Ideally he has something like K/Qs and we can get it all in. I check, he checks behind. The turn is the 9d. Now there is a diamond draw, he should have at least a gut shot. I bet the pot, he calls.

The river is the 7h and I am disappointed. I do not think I will get much action but I bet .25 and he click raises. I bump it to 1.00 and he calls. Probably a medium pair, maybe even two pair.

But no, he shows Ac/As. Yet again the “clever” ploy of limping with Aces costs 22 big blinds.

Now, admittedly I most likely call a standard raise in this situation, but at least then he charged me to draw at it and has some idea where I am. As is, he has no clue if I have paired the 9 or if I have something like 2/7 and hit two pair with a classic big blind hand. He is beat by numerous hands, played very passively beginning to end. I think he played very badly, but then again…I flopped a set and did not get it all in so how bad did I play?

So the next hand I play I am again in middle position with pocket faces…Jc/Jd and 3.00. I open to .15, the button click-raises with 4.89 and for whatever reason, instead of re-raising as I should, I simply call.

I am not overly excited by the 7c/9h/Qc but I lead out for half the pot anyway and he calls. The turn is the 5d, I lead out for .50 and he calls. Okay, I am not liking this. He is not afraid of the Queen, I am, I think I am done with this hand.

The river is the 6h, I check, he checks behind…and shows Kd/Kc. Well…I bet .90 into a better hand. But perhaps that saved me facing bigger bets and I did get to see a showdown…small consolation as I got outplayed in the hand. Then again…I would have called a raise to .65 or .85 pre-flop so I kind of got off easy with his fish-raise.

I stop playing for a while, then I reload to 2.00. This is probably a mistake. Whether playing well or poorly, when I start losing big pots I tend to keep losing big pots.

First hand I have Qh/9c in the big blind. The small blind opens to .15 and I make my standard position call. The flop is the 4d/Ah/10h, he bets a weird amount, .26. A pot bet would be .30. So he had to do that deliberately. I call anyway with nothing. The turn is the 5s, he checks, I bet .40, he folds. Life is good again.

The next hand the utg opens to .10 with 8.60, I call from the middle with 2.34 and As/7s, the button calls with 8.44 and the three of us take the flop with about .37 in the pot.

The flop is the 5c/5h/Ac. UTG bets .15, I call, The turn is the 2d, he bets .30 and I call. Problem is…I am beating A/6, A/4 and A/3. I am behind every other ace and any hand holding a 5. I am ahead of every other hand.

The river is the 10c and he shoves his last 8.05 all in. Now I have a tough decision. The pot is 1.19, I have 1.79, so I am getting less than 3-1 on the call…but I think he has the Ace. It is possible he is bluffing here, but will he be bluffing more than 2 times in three? I cannot convince myself he would and fold.

So now I am down to 1.77 and pick up pocket queens in the small blind. Naturally everyone folds to me, so I try to make it look like I am just making a position raise and open to .20. He folds anyway.

Middle position has 3.62 and click-raises. I am on the button with 1.72 and Ad/9d. I make the somewhat loose call, the small blind comes along with 3.54 and the big blind folds.

The flop is Jc/5d/Kh. They both check and I think it is probably a real check. Barring pocket pairs that match the board, nothing is strong enough to check raise here. I lead out with my dry ace, they fold and I take it down.

I then open to .15 utg with 10c/10h and the button, with 4.93, raises to 1.95…exactly the amount to put me all in. I use that raise myself with a strong hand from time to time. I figure he has Aces or Kings…either way, I am not calling all in with tens.

Of course, as bad as the hands I sometimes see people get it all in with, maybe I should…but I think I am a better player than that. I fold.

Middle position limps with 2.93 and, with 1.80, on the button I have Qc/Ks. I usually fold this, but this time I have my heart set on playing it…and think I can take it down pre-flop. I raise to .20. The big blind calls with 1.94 abd so does the original limper.

The flop is 2s/Jh/7c and the big blind leads out for .25. The original limper folds. I think if he actually hit that…say 10/J+…he check-raises here. He has nothing. I raise to .65, for the second time putting in a re-raise with a trash hand. I must be right about him having nothing as he folds.

The cut-off then limps, the small blind completes and I check with 5c/7c. I do not mind seeing a flop cheap with this hand. I will flop a straight or flush draw or be done…unlike K/4, this hand has potential.

The flop is the 6s/Kh/3h. Gut shot, nothing to get excited about. The sb and I check, the cutoff raises .05, I am planning to call when the sb takes time, then check-raises to .25. I fold. He has something like 2 pair or a set or a really nice draw like a 4/5 hearts…which I would believe.

The sb calls and the turn is the 3d. The sb takes time to think then raises to .25. Cut-off raises to .60 and gets called.

Now I think set over set is a remote possibility.

The river is the 4s. Only a 5/7 is helped by that. Again the small blind raises to .35, gets re-raised to .90, and click raises to 1.45. This garners a big re-raise, but a pointless one as sb has but .17 left and calls.

The limper shows 3c/6c…the two pair I posited. And wins against K/8, also a two pair hand, but one with one pair on the board, which means the full house takes it down. Glad I got out of that mess! I would have hit the straight on the river with less raising by those two.

And that is the thing...sometimes it is not the hands you play that make you happy...it is the ones you see other people play that you fold where they would have hit what seems like a big hand...and get clocked.

This is one reason I play suited connectors seldom and cautiously...I have hit higher flushes too many times.

Somehow I need to figure out how to get away from big confrontations with second best hands.