Not going too far

I restart with 2 bucks. I am already playing poorly, and now I feel like I am playing with house money.

So just a couple hands in, blinded to 1.90, I pick up the Cowboys on the button and open to .45. The sm, with 2.44, re-pops to .45 which I like as he will do that with a wide range of hands. A/A or A/K are, of course, possible here, but he could just as easily and much more likely have Q/J or a dry ace.

I shove and he folds. I am okay with picking up 10 bb with no risk. I would have been fine with him calling, too.

I then settle in and play pretty well for a while, winning a few small pots, folding a few times. After a while utg opens with a click raise and 4.68. I have the button and Qd/Qs to go with my 2.66.

I decide to re-raise to .40 and the click-raiser calls. A lot of people will do this with small pairs, with suited cards, connectors…even two-gappers I am coming to see…or two face cards.

They will also often make this move planning to raise virtually any flop under the assumption the button was raising based on position, not cards. I just happen to have cards.

The flop has an over, the Kc/2h/9d. There is always the danger he has a King or pair of nines in his hand, but his min-bet screams of thinking I just raised based on position.

I re-pop it to .45. I probably have to fold to a re-raise, but that will be the first actual strength he represents. He does the expected, however, and folds.

I discuss this hand just to point out why I often re-raise against min-raises with air. They usually mean exactly this…”I have a small hand that will not stand up to heat and will fold if you put pressure on me.”

So now I am back to playing my fearless style that is great when it works and gets me stacked when it doesn’t. A middle position guy opens to .15 with 2.62 and, on the button with 6d/6c I call with 3.03.

The flop is the Qc/5c/Qs. He might have a Queen but I am more afraid of the Club draw. More than likely whoever was ahead pre-flop is ahead now. He bets out .26.

When I am playing passively the hand is over right now. This time I flat it to see what he does on the turn.

The turn is another big card, the Kh. He checks, I bet .45 and he thinks for a bit, then folds.

I think this play, when it is working, is among the most powerful moves in my arsenal. From his standpoint, I showed I had a worthwhile hand, showed no fear of the trips or the A/K type hand, I must have something and that something must be relatively good.

Of course, I then get cocky and take it too far.

The next hand utg+1 opens to .12 with 2.17 and I make another call on the button with Ah/7h.
The flop is the 5d/7c/Ad. He bets .15 and I call. So far, so good. I am calling based on the continuation bet, not the two pair.

The turn is the 9d and he bets .61. I should have re-raised the flop or I should re-raise here. The board is starting to get draw heavy, he has twice show interest. I fold here if I have nothing, so now I want to charge him to draw. The call is a weak play.

Then again…I am a weak player...

The 6h on the river makes pocket 8s painful to me but few other draws. He bets .25 and I think about re-raising, but with straights and flushes, I am just as happy to see a cheap showdown now.

And his pocket nines take it down. I let him set the price on the flop and by not re-raising, I gave him infinite odds to hit his set. If anything, I got lucky to lose so little.

Not having learned my lesson, down to 2.33, I open utg with Ac/10c. I get calles from mp with 15.07 and the button with 3.23. So now I am out of position against two players with a marginal hand.

The flop is no help, 2c/5h/9s, though I am probably ahead of all non-pocket pairs as that hits almost nobody. I bet .30 and get a call.

The Kh turn is more dangerous. Part of the issue with my play style is I cannot afford to believe flop calls. So I am pretty much committed to the second barrel of .60.

Which means a .15 pre-flop open more or less commits me to a minimum investment in any given hand of over a buck.

.15 pre-flop with a call gives a pot of .30. I like to bet about half the pot but not simply match my pre-flop, so .20 on the flop. Now there is a buck in there and that makes the turn bet .50. So that is .85 with just one caller, but on the lower levels there are often two or three callers.

This needs some rethinking.

This time, however, it works as he folds.

So with 2.97 utg+1 I open to .15 with Qd/Qs. The small blind then shoves with 12.05.

It is possible he has Jacks or tens, but I think he has Aces, Kings, or A/K over half the time here. I think there are better times and places to play for all of it. I fold.

I think a lot of people call here. And sometimes I do…but I am never surprised to see Kings or Aces. I am surprised when I see things I am ahead of. So for me I think folds are correct.

The cut-off limps with 4.07, after my fold I am down to 2.65 in the small blind and make one of my occasional “suited connector cheap flop” calls with the 8c/9c and the big blind checks with 2.47.

The Kc/6h/10c gives me the flush draw, a gut shot, and back door belly buster. Nothing too exciting, so I check as does the big blind. The cut-off then makes a pot size bet.

I always find that strange. If they limp pre flop, they should be trying to play a small pot, so a min bet or click-raise makes more sense here. A pot size bet does not shout “I have pocket sixes” to me, instead it is “I have a missed drawing hand and position.”

I call.

The Qh on the turn gives me a Jack as an additional out but still nothing I am wanting a big pot with. I check, he checks behind. This hand is mine.

The Ah should give me pause. I am behind any two hearts or any Jack…okay, any card 10+ or any pocket.

But he wants to play a small pot. I bet .35 on a pure bluff and it works as he folds as he pretty much had to unless he had the Jack or flush himself.

With 2.92, I then open with Qs/Kd from late middle position and get a call from the hi-jack with 6.64.

The flop is the 7c/10h/9h. I have a gut shot and two over cards, plus his check which make me think a bet is in order. I lay out .20 and he calls, not unexpectedly. I figure he will check-fold the turn unless he hits it.

The turn is the 3d, he checks, I bet .35 and he…calls. Time to think about what he has.

A call pre-flop does not narrow his hand range much. The flop indicates he has a high card or some sort of draw since he check-called. Again a check-call on the turn.

Some sort of hand holding an Ace, 8 or Jack would make sense on the flop or possibly two hearts on the flush draw. The turn helped no likely holdings. I guess a small to medium pair is also possible.

The river is the 5c, he checks and I almost check behind, then look at the board. The most likely holdings are some sort of Heart draw, a small pair, or even just an Ace…none of which I beat in a showdown. I actually want to force a fold here as I think he will fold lots of hands that beat me.
I bet .70 and he obliges by folding to my king high.

The problem is I am getting too willing to push too far with too little and that is a recipe for getting stacked so I call it a session.

It is the right time to stop. I have had good results overall, I am about to get myself in trouble...time for some X-box.