Hand by Hand Part 2

I pick up the 8d/4d in the hi-jack, think about raising but some limps first. Fold.

In the small blind with an early limper, I fold the 2d/Js.

With a raise in front of me, in mp, I fold the 4s/6s.

This is one reason I love Rush poker. In ring games, to fold this many hands I probably have been playing 35 – 45 minutes or more. Here, I am maybe 5 – 10 minutes in. It makes it much more entertaining to fold stuff I should not be playing like 8d/4d or 4s/6s.

In the small blind I pick up the 9d/Kc. If folded to me I raise this as I figure to be a favorite over the big blind. But when UTG dips into his time bank, I fold and move on. See prior comment regarding love of Rush poker.

In the big blind I pick up the 5hKs. With a mp all-in open raise, this is an extremely easy fold.
UTG+1 I open with Ad/3d and everyone folds. This is a bit early position wise to be opening with such a weak hand…I think the constant folding is starting to get me. I will have to watch that. If I get too out of line, it will be time to go play some X-box for a while.

UTG+2 I open fold As/7h.

From the cutoff I open with 10h/Jh with my standard raise and again everyone folds.

In the big blind with Kc/8c I get little action…the sb limps with 1.43.

The flop is 7d/Ks/6h. He checks, I have top pair, weak kicker, no draw. I bet the pot, he calls.
Second pair maybe? The turn is the 10H, he checks, I bet half the pot, he folds. I like this result. There is virtually no river card I like and a call on the turn would make it real hard to call if he led out with a sizable river bet. So would a re-raise, for that matter.

MP with Ah/3s facing a raise, a clear fold.

UTG with 9c/7c I open fold. Would have been a good one to limp as 3 others do limp and the big blind calls…except open limping is not my style. Even if I want to see a cheap flop, I like to raise my standard as it A) disguises whether I have a real hand or am playing a modest drawing hand, and B) gives them a chance to fold so I can take the pot uncontested.

UTG with 2c/3s. If you did not know I folded before you read this sentence…you play too aggressive.

2cQs in utg+1 folds when raised to.

MP open fold of 10c/3d seems obvious.
On the button I fold 8s/10c to a raise.

MP fold to raise with As/5d.

With an early raise and call from the small blind, I fold the 9c/6c. This is arguably a mistake…a small mistake, but still a mistake.

I would be calling 10 cents with 35 in the pot, so getting about 3.5-1. I would obviously be playing to flop the flush draw with bonus points for a gut shot straight or something like that. From strictly an odds standpoint it is correct to fold here; I am in the squeeze position with a suited 2-gapper, not exactly an ideal situation.

At the same time, if a flush does flop there is a good chance all the chips are going in. I have 2.13 so cannot get badly hurt but could get a double or triple up out of it if they hit well…or could lose to a higher flush, also.

So if I have a lot of chips I might call and see if I can take a favorable flop with a disguised hand, but at the same time…playing Rush, it is not much of a mistake to fold this weak hand in bad position and see what I am dealt next.

Which turns out to be mp 2s/Qc which fold to a raise.

And 6c/3c in mp which I open fold. No reason to do other with 3h/8c.

Or an utg Ks/10c. The folds are coming fast and furious.

With 2 limpers I see the 10s/2c in the small blind and remember there is something I have to do…fold.

A middle position 5c/7c if I am having a good session I raise, trying to pick up the blinds, but with just 2.06 I meekly open fold.

The next hand is finally a raise-worthy hand..Ah/Jh in middle position which I duly do and everyone folds. Which, by the way, is an argument in favor of raising the 5c/7c I just folded.
In the big blind I fold 6s/Ah to utg open to 4 times the big blind.

On the button with a click-raise and call I have the 8d/9h and 2.08. With position and a hand like this I occasionally call but this time I fold.

UTG+1 click-raises with 4.88 and I call in the small blind with Ad/7d. With .25 in the pot we take the flop heads up.

The As/9c/Kh is exactly the type hand I hate. I hit it…sort of…but if he holds an Ace, quite believable for an early raise, I am probably behind. I am ahead of only A/2 through A/6. If he did not, I am not going to get much action unless he has a draw he plays aggressively.

I check, he again bets .10. Why the small bet? Did he hit it hard…say, pocket Kings…and just trying to price me in with the small bet? Or did he have something like Jacks or 8s and want to see if they are good? With top pair, no kicker I do not want a big pot but I do not want to fold either so I call.

The turn is one of those good-bad things. The 7s gives me Aces up…which is good…but I am still way behind A/K, A/9, pocket Kings or pocket 9s (I all but discount the pocket Aces). I check and he checks behind. Now I am sure he has something I am beating…K/Q, maybe K/J type hands, lower pairs, some sort of missed draw.

The 3s puts a potential flush, but I doubt it the way the hand has played out. I think a medium pair is most likely. I bet a smallish amount, .15, roughly a third of the pot and am happy he calls. Sure enough he turns up pocket 10s.

4d/5s early is an open fold.

Jh/4d I open fold in the small blind…probably a mistake, but I really do not want to play a hand out of position with garbage.

An early 2d/7s is yet another open fold.

On the button with 6s/Kh with utg+1 opening all in 1.40 there is something like zero percent chance I am playing that hand.

UTG Jc/Qc is a hand I see a lot of people play but for me It is an open fold.

I fold the big blind with Ad/2s to a hijack raise. I note, however, in going over this hand by hand, that guy tends to raise a LOT of hands…I might have to look into re-raising him.

UTG+1 limps with 4.28, mp comes along with 3.93 and in the cutoff I look down as 7c/7d and 2.32. There is an argument to be made for raising here…both players showed weakness, I probably will not win a show-down unimproved, and a raise here might take down .17 pot with no risk.

On the other hand, I would love to flop a set with several players along. I call, the small blind completes with 2.00 even and the big blind checks with 12.94. So now we have 5 players and a small pot.

The Jh/4h/9d gets checked to me in what is now the button. All the books say not to bluff here…too many speculative hands have a Jack in them, I am likely to get check-raised. Probably true at the higher limits but here…I have a pair, they have all shown weakness twice. I bet .15 and they all fold.

With a limp and raise the 3h/10d finds a home in the muck pile. It is followed by 4d/2c facing a raise.

Stats for this portion:
I folded when limped to 4 times, folded when raised to 13 times, and open folded 11 times. I open raised 3 times, called 2 times, and checked my option once.

I had been concerned my pre-flop strategy was poor, but I am more or less okay with it. Arguably I could open raise with a wider range of hands, but the problem is I am not comfortable with my post-flop play yet and getting involved with more marginal hands seems like a poor proposition.

Later, when I am better at getting away from hands I am beat on, I will open my starting range, but for now I think I like my pre-flop strategy.



So I think I will call it good with the “every hand” thing and just start looking at hands I had some action on.