What would you do? #135 - River 4flush :-(

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP1: $17.00
MP2: $58.75
CO: $55.25
BTN: $102.45
SB: $21.75 - 29 / 9 / 2.2% 3bet / ~80 hands
BB: $50.00
UTG: $68.55
Hero (UTG+1): $58.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with Ad Kd
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.75, 4 folds, SB calls $1.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($4.00) 3c Ah Jc (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB calls $3

Turn: ($10.00) Kc (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6, SB calls $6
Top 2 vs. 3flush board.  I would like for him to come over the top , but he does not oblige...

River: ($22.00) 8c (2 players)
SB bets $11 all in, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $11
With the 4 flush, he finally shoves.  2 Aces left in the deck; one is the Ac.  WTF?   Am I ever good here?  Should I be saving my $11 with precisely 2:1 odds?


Click to see results

Final Pot: $44.00
SB shows 7c 6c (a flush, King high)
Hero mucks Ad Kd
SB wins $41.80
(Rake: $2.20)

Squeeze!

Compliments to Poker Grump!

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $45.75
SB: $101.10
Hero (BB): $57.05
UTG: $24.00
UTG+1: $54.45
MP: $50.00
CO: $50.00

CO posts a big blind ($0.50)

Pre Flop: ($1.25) Hero is BB with 2d 4d - Poker Grump's hand!
UTG raises to $1, 2 folds, CO calls $0.50, 1 fold, SB calls $0.75, Hero raises to $5.75, 3 folds
Really?  $1 raises are [heavily weighted towards] weak-as-crap holdings who are trying to look strong by betting weak.  Nice little pickup here.

Final Pot: $4.00
Hero wins $4.00

What would you do? #134 - Facing overbet for value

This will probably go down as one of the stranger plays I've ever gotten involved in...

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $50.00
CO: $0.00
BTN: $38.40
SB: $50.00
BB: $16.75
UTG: $73.75 - 50 / 38 / 100% steal / 2.0 aggression factor / 9 hands
Hero (UTG+1): $51.75
MP1: $53.30

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with Td Kd
UTG calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, 4 folds, BB checks
I limp because UTG limped.

Flop: ($1.75) Js 8s 2s (4 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks
3 flush already on the board.

Turn: ($1.75) Qc (4 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $1.20, BB folds, UTG calls $1.20
Turned OESD, but I have to discount 2 outs.  Given the interest in this pot (ZERO), I didn't think I would have a problem taking it down right here and now.  WRONG!

River: ($4.15) Ad (3 players)
UTG bets $72.05 all in, Hero requests TIME, Hero ???


Click to see results

Hero calls $50.05 all in
WTF?!?!?!?  At first, I was thinking "autofold."  In fact, I heavily (obviously) weighted my decision towards that choice.  Really; I have $2 invested; should I be putting in another $48 to "look him up?"

• I know very little about my opponent
• He is overbet shoving
• There are not so many limpable hands that beat me, particularly from a UTG limp perspective.

The only hands I could come up with here were AsQx, AsJx, AsKx or even a set, which I doubt would be played so passively given the flopped 3 flush.   Given his propensity for LAGgy play, I gave him some credit for 2 spades, but I just can't see a $4 -> $72 shove with a made flush.  I also can't see him losing 2 streets of value and shoving the river with the flush.  Therefore, I decide on looking him up and am disappointed [obviously] with the results: 

Final Pot: $104.25
UTG shows Tc Kh (a straight, Ace high)
Hero shows Td Kd (a straight, Ace high)
UTG wins $50.65
Hero wins $50.60
(Rake: $3.00)

I think I busted him or someone else did shortly afterward.  He was not a good player :-).

Hand of the night - Straight flush!

It's not often where I get paid on a straight flush, but I certainly maximize here:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $30.25
UTG: $50.05
UTG+1: $50.00
MP: $49.60
CO: $51.00
Hero (BTN): $52.00
SB: $30.80

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 4c 5h
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, SB calls $1.25, BB calls $1

Flop: ($4.50) 7h 6h 3c (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $4, Hero calls $4, SB folds

Turn: ($12.50) 9h (2 players)
BB bets $24.75 all in, Hero calls $24.75

River: ($62.00) 8h (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $62.00
BB shows Qh Qc (a flush, Queen high)
Hero shows 4c 5h (a straight flush, Nine high)
Hero wins $59.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Good thing this guy overplays his QQ like I overplayed my KK.

What would you do? #133 - 1 pair hand facing 4 flush on river

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $17.50
CO: $102.50
Hero (BTN): $50.00 - My steal % to him is ~50%
SB: $68.10 - 11 / 9 / 28% steal / 2.7% 3bet / 6.2 aggression factor / 52% cbet / 511 hands
BB: $34.00
UTG: $50.45
UTG+1: $65.05
MP1: $152.05

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 8d 9c
5 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, SB calls $1.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($3.50) 5s 3d Ts (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Fear a check / raise given his AF.  He has done this in the past in the few spots where I'm caught stealing.  Additionally, there is not much to rep on this board.

Turn: ($3.50) 7s (2 players)
SB bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50
Turned OESD.  My hand will be fairly well concealed if it hits.  Note that there's a 3flush on the board.

River: ($8.50) 8s (2 players)
SB bets $5.50, Hero ???
I river a pair.  What now?  Does your play change if the 8s is the Js or the 6s (completing the straight draw but putting a 4 flush as well?  Does your play change if the river is a non-spade 8?


Click to see results

Hero raises to $15, SB folds
I think a raise here folds out most TT hands, given the 4 flush.  I also think that the raise folds almost all of the flush hands, excluding Jacks+ (probably).  I can represent a rivered 4 flush myself, given that I raised PF (steal or otherwise, it is credible that I raised with an Ax hand, which may very well be an As).

Ultimately, I want to fold out the full range of his holdings, accepting the fate that he may very well have the nut flush or close to it.  I think he shows up with a premium spade much less often than he shows up with better pairs, lesser spades or hands that my rivered 8's don't beat.  I don't want to take the risk that he has a weak spade, so I push him off of the pot.

Finally, I have played this hand so passively (check -> call) that I can easily have a monster, etc.

Final Pot: $19.50
Hero wins $18.55
(Rake: $0.95)

What would you do? #132 - Facing strong turn / river play holding a "bluff catcher"

This was a takeaway from my 2010-07-03 Atlantic City trip:

A background on the players...  The table was a mix of inexperienced players, local "rocks" and wannabe young douche bags (you know; the sunglasses-wearing, Ed Hardy shirt guys with too many tattoos - sorry if I'm alienating any of my readers, but you know who you are if you are one... and for some reason, they rub me the wrong way).  I call the "rocks," rocks with quotes because by-and-large these players are terrible and only making money from the tourists.

At any rate, there was one particularly good player who I would try to avoid.  For this hand history's purpose, I will refer to him as nanonoko, because he reminded me of Randy Lew.  Clearly an online player who converted, he was positionally aware and selectively aggressive as hell.  Every time I would raise and he had position, he would flat as he would against other players.  He knew full well how to raise, 3bet, cbet air on 2 or more streets, and just generally run over the table which he was doing quite well - he was sitting on approximately $1.2K in chips, easily the big stack at my table.  He was showing bluffs when he got folds and showing down winners when he needed to; a pretty scary overall player - better than my skill level.

On the other hand, I had just gotten to even on my session, sitting on a $375 stack, which was probably good for second largest stack.  He knew that I was an internet player as well - we never discussed stakes, hands or volume, so I believe he assumed me to be a losing single-tabler.  I'm not sure that he saw me as a fish, but I believe he saw me as a level 2 thinker: able to play my hand and put my opponent on a hand.  Lastly, he knew I was able to make a fold with an overpair because I had done so [correctly] in prior hands.

All of that said, facing 2 limpers, I raised to $15 with 9 9 from MP.  My pattern had been $10 + ~$2 per limper.  I was getting decent value by doing so; if nanonoko wasn't involved, I could take the pot with a flop cbet.  Anyway, a particularly bad local rock who had been calling ATC came along for the call as well as nanonoko, from the BTN.  All other players folded and we saw a 3-way flop of:

2 7 4 rainbow

With ~$50 in the pot, I donk led for $15, wanting callers to come along.  (In retrospect, this was a particularly bad bet, giving good odds for any two overs 2 float, but I was not getting a TON of resistance when cbetting without nanoko involved in pots.)  The bad rock flatted, and nanonoko decided to put in a raise to $50.  After careful thought, I flatted, OOP and the rock folded.  We saw a 2 way turn of:

8

I checked to the aggressor who carved out a $60 stack.  Here is the WWYD?  I think that making the call here commits you to making a river crying call regardless, but what would you do?  I don't really have physical reads to give you; I think this hand played very well like an internet hand, and other than the prior description above, you can treat it as such.


Click to see results

There were three factors at play for me:
First, I had seen him show a lot of bluffs, from a similar line of aggression.  The concern he was capable of overcalling with just the type of hands that were on the board; any two garbage.  However, the only "logical" hand combo that I could put him on was 7 4...  Is he really overcalling on the button with 7 2?  I can pretty much rule out overpairs, JJ+; my OOP flat on the flop has to at least draw a bit of concern that maybe I too hit a set.  Of course I felt like this line is clearly repping a flopped set, but he knows that I'm an internet player and can at least put opponents on a hand; would he make it so obvious to me that he has a set?  I would think he would turn or river raise me and keep bad rock in the hand to let him chase his 2 overcards, etc.  I suppose he was off in his estimation of me - as far as I was level 3 thinking, not level 2.

Second, he needs to build a pot if he wants to stack me.  I'm sure he knows this; he's clearly experienced.  He raised to $50 on the flop, which is the beginnings of a pot building.  At this point, there's about $150 in the pot going into the turn.  To bet $60 into $150 is significantly slowing down and not setting up for stacks on the river, because he knows that I'm in check / call down mode.

Third, if you're thinking raise, this is a way ahead way behind situation.  The most value gained here is letting him continue to bluff / value bet.  If I raise, I kill the action because it's going to fold all of his bluffs and value town myself to his monsters.

I'm also thinking about his "logical" hand possibilities: he's not flop raising strong with 8 7; he's folding out bluffs and dominated by overpairs.  I took to the thought of weighted much more heavily towards bluffs and semi bluffs than overpairs, sets and two pair combos.

Therefore, I make the passive check / call.

We saw a river with a pot size of $270:

3

He led for $80 and not tanking nearly as much, I make the call for the first pump win - $430 pot!

For those interested, I made him showdown first; he showed down Q 2, claiming he thought I was on a draw.  So glad his selective aggression value towned himself...

GG nanonoko (his real name was Luke)!

2010-07-03 Atlantic City session notes

So thanks to the wifey, I was able to play my first significant set of live poker sessions.  As I talked about in an earlier post, she bought me tickets to see Jim Norton at the Borgata in Atlantic City, for my birthday back in May.  As a side effect, we would be in Atlantic City (sans kids thanks to my mother, who stayed at our house for the day and night - Thanks, mom!).  I am no fan of Atlantic City; I think it is by-and-large a dump.  However, it does have "entertainment" for both my wife and me.  She enjoys spending time at the beach and / or pool, in the sun, as well as shopping.  Atlantic City has the outlet mall and plenty of [crappy] beach, along with a surplus of pools.  Therefore, our destination was well-matched, and she absolutely did not mind if I went and played poker for every available waking hour.  As a result, I spent a total of 14.5 hours at the tables; the start of my live poker bankroll.

Before getting into session notes, I want to recommend that all of you go & see Little Jimmy.  It was truly an excellent show; even the opening act [Lenny Marcus] was awesome.  For those of you who haven't heard of Jim Norton, he's an off-color comedian who has a truly deranged way of seeing life.  In my opinion, he's a creative comedic genius.  Due to his F*ed up childhood, he's simply damaged... and funny as hell.  I've been listening to him for years on the Opie and Anthony radio show (on XM / Sirius); they should add his name into the title as he is clearly [at minimum] an equal to O & A.  I was fortunate enough to be at the show Anthony (of the title show's fame) would attend.  I thought it very cool that both Anthony and Jim would hang around after the show to sign autographs and take pictures.  They didn't need to do that; but clearly they're appreciative of their fan base.  Finally, as proof to Jim's comedic genius, I actually caught the wife laughing it up pretty hard at times - and she is *NOT* into raunchy comedy (though I did prepare here ahead of time).

Anyway, back to poker:

My first session, at the Tropicana, started out well enough...  I chipped up to about 175BBs, and was feeling on top of the world.  Clearly, I felt at an advantage to these players.  My table consisted of two players who I considered decent - one of whom would felt me for the full 175BBs, when I overplayed my KK into his AA.  I don't know; I kinda lost my head here - I don't think I would do the same online, but details as far as overall play will be at the bottom of this post as a summary.  The KK vs. AA action, which put me into a 1 buy-in hole went like this:

As I said, $375 effective stacks:
I raise to $15 with approx. 4 limpers.  Folds around to smartie, who insta-raises to $60.  Folds back around to me...  and without thinking (there was a few seconds of thinking actually), I 4bet to $75 on top, for $135 total.  He flats and we see a flop.

6 6 5 rainbow board - and he checks out of turn.  I lead for $100 and he overshoves.  I call and insta-turn over my KK.  He lets the board run out J J before showing his AA.  That miffed me a little bit; he knew he was far ahead and didn't need to let me wait to see that bad news, but whatever - there are schmucks everywhere...

I didn't have any memorable session notes on my second session; I hit 3 made hands and got paid decently on all of them.  I didn't play particularly well or poorly, but I did realize that made hands will get paid nicely in live $1/$2 poker.  No need to trap and / or slow play.  If you don't play fast, they're not going to pay off the river when they miss their draws.  Moreover, they will definitely pay incorrect odds for draws - I saw guys call an all in ($80 into a $30 pot) on a T 9 x board against an obvious set holding QJo... WHAT?  LOL.  I made back all of my earlier day's session losses, which was nice.

My third session was the most interesting; I had two WWYD hands, which I will post in the coming days.  Walking into the session, I was break-even, so it felt good to start anew.  However, at the first table, I ran into a streak where I dusted off a total of one buy in with TPTK twice to the same opponent within a 5 hand set; once to a flopped set and a second to a rivered 4 straight.  UGGG!  I started to re-evaluate my play and determined to stop being a payoff wizard with my TPTK hands to strong action.  Regardless, the end result,  was a success - I ended up positive a half buy-in...  Go me!  My first live poker spree and I'm net positive to kick off my bankroll.

Quick WWYD, which is more of an etiquette thing: I realize that it is *NOT* my responsibility to protect other opponent's cards.  However, is it wrong to purposely look when they're inadvertently showing me?  I mean, come on!  I had a player to my left that would BRING HIS CARDS TO HIS FACE, exposing them for me to see every time I looked to my left.  Just like a tell, I don't believe someone giving free information away should be told he is doing so... it is not my responsibility.  For all of you live players out there: what do you do when presented with this type of golden information?  Are you purposely trying to look away?  For me, it's like looking at cleavage...  I'm kinda shy to take a peak, but I just can't help myself!

Overall session notes:

• It was a truly wonderful feeling [for the first time] to sit down at a casino poker table, and feel as though I will get my money in ahead and value town most of the players
• It was nice knowing each player; who was going to be a payoff wizard, and who I should avoid tangoing with.
• Value bet your made hands.  Don't worry about trapping because they will pay you off on their draws and / or second pairs.
• Don't be afraid of betting decent money.  To start, I felt like a bet of $40 was heavy and people would become gun shy like I potentially would.  NOT THE CASE!  These people are here to GAMBOL, while I'm here to make educated bets.
• On the contrary, beware of strong bets.  These players do not know [generally] how to trap their made hands.  All they know is bet bet bet and strong when they have a strong hand.  Besides the occasional bluff, they are betting strong with strong hands and betting weak / checking their weak hands.
• Although I was confident with my play of the cards and assessing other's cards, I need to become less self-conscious.   I felt like I was giving off a TON of reads, through actions and facial expressions, which I need to work on [if my opponents were even paying attention, which I don't believe they were...] if I want to have a decent live game face.
• I need to work on taking my time with decisions.  For whatever reason, it seems that live poker puts the pressure on me instantly when it is my turn to act.  I have no problem paying attention, and have a general idea of my move before the action turns to me, but for whatever reason, I feel rushed and have probably made incorrect plays due to that fact.
  
  I made a poor call for $54 from a shove with bottom pair an open ended straight draw on the turn into a ~$60 pot...  This is a simple math problem; $54 to win $104 is ~ 33% pot odds to make a 24% equity call.  Bad call (and bad result :-( ).
• I am the chatty Kathy -type that Poker Grump wants to tune out.  I hadn't realized this in my home games (probably because everyone is talking too much), but I'm the talkative guy at the table.  I'm always spawning light conversation.  Although I'm never talking strategy or speculating about a hand, I'm always going on about something inane.  I think it's due to the fact that I'm nervous, and want to keep it light at the table.  Subconsciously, I believe the people are there to have a good time and gamble it up on their 8% turn equity...  why not help them have that good time?
• Keep my eye on the table; if the Yankee game is on, don't tune out the table because I've folded the hand.  There is valuable information to be picked up when two guys are all in and I have no idea how they got there... as far as tells on when a player has a monster pot, etc.
• I am totally comfortable with the amount of money being played.  I feel confident that I can sit down at a $2 / $5 table and not concern myself with the money as well.  When I build my live bankroll, I will certainly and unhesitatingly be taking shots at the $2/$5 games.  I can't remember one time over the weekend where I considered a single call, raise or bet equating to a steak dinner, etc.
• I am totally comfortable stealing blinds and limps (I was afraid I would freeze up when the live pressure was on).
• I am totally comfortable 3- and 4- betting.  Quick example:
  
  I was dealt AKo (one of my few premium hands this weekend) in late position (one off the CO), facing 4 limpers.  I raised to $16, as my formula was typically $10 + $2 per limper, which seemed to strongly discourage 5 7s or A3o from calling.  I believe the BTN called and the BB, who had previously splashed around a bit, 3bet me to $40.  It folded around to me, and I 4bet him to $95 where the CO folded and he flatted.  Nice flop of A T T and a check to me.  (I was playing $225 effective stacks).  One move: all in.  He folds and I take it down.
• I am comfortable cbetting, floating and bluffing.  I was expecting to be scared due to the irregular amount of money in play (i.e. needing to lead $20 on air) to be a scary thing.  It wasn't.  The plays I was making, for the most part worked (unless I was betting INTO one of the 5-6 flopped sets my opponents would have against me.  BOO HOO HOO.
• There are *FAR* more limpers than I every remembered from prior play experience.  Perhaps this was happenstance, but all of my sessions were met with a high percentage of limpers.  It made for easy times to raise my stronger hands and / or steal from position or limp in and see cheap flops.
• Live poker players seem to rarely bet "correct" bet amounts.  I saw plenty of overbets which were supposed to be for value.  I saw plenty of players betting too light against would-be draws, providing more-than-correct odds to a player on a flush or straight draw.
• Finally, I simply CAN NOT WAIT for Charles Town Races and Slots / Hollywood Casino to open their poker room doors.  I am SO GOING TO SOUL CRUSH THERE.  This poker spree started the poker juices flowing...  I am ready for live play!

If you've read this far, don't worry; this blog will not become a live poker blog. I will continue to play online and post HHs, though, both live and online.  

Hand of the day - Royal screwup

It's not very often that I mess up fairly deep-stacked, but I wanted to post this doozy, based on the size of the overall pot.  I royally messed up by overplaying KK.  This could be a WWYD, but I don't even think it's close...  The action clearly favors a flopped set:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP2: $56.65
CO: $87.40 - 16 / 12 / 27% steal / 5.5% 3bet / .9 Aggression Factor @ 683 hands
Hero (BTN): $125.10
SB: $61.50
BB: $54.70
UTG: $86.55
UTG+1: $17.50
UTG+2: $50.00
MP1: $45.75 - 19 / 0 / 0% 3bet / 0% steal / 1.0 Aggression Factor @ 21 hands

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with Kc Ks
3 folds, MP1 calls $0.50, 1 fold, CO calls $0.50, Hero raises to $3, 2 folds, MP1 calls $2.50, CO calls $2.50
Nice position, and nice cards :-).

Flop: ($9.75) 5c 9d 3h (3 players)
MP1 checks, CO checks, Hero bets $5.75, MP1 raises to $22, CO calls $22, Hero raises to $78.20, MP1 calls $20.75 all in, CO raises to $84.40 all in, Hero calls $6.20
I really screwed up with my raise here.  What else could there be on such a dry board?  Moreover, who is going to call a strong raise (essentially shove) without a set to this board?  I've been aggro at this table, but not psycho.  I clearly play my hand face up and CO takes full advantage.

Turn: ($221.30) As (3 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($221.30) Kd (3 players - 2 are all in)
But I luckbox my way into a win!

Final Pot: $221.30
CO shows 9c 9s (three of a kind, Nines)
Hero shows Kc Ks (three of a kind, Kings)
MP1 shows Jc Jd
Hero wins $83.30
Hero wins $135.00
(Rake: $3.00)

What would you do? #131 - When to fold AK?

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $17.50
BTN: $102.50
Hero (SB): $54.00
BB: $68.60
UTG: $34.00
UTG+1: $51.95 - 19 / 15 / 38% steal / 5.7% 3bet / 4.8 aggression factor / 2K hands
MP1: $65.05
MP2: $145.40 - 14 / 10 / 28% steal / 2.6% 3bet / 2.5 aggression factor / 50% cbet flop / 928 hands

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with As Kc
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1.50, 1 fold, MP2 raises to $5.25, 2 folds, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $5, 2 folds
Quite a bit of history on both players, from the stats.  Here are my thoughts on this:

I wonder whether I should be folding this outright.  A case could be made that this guy does not 3bet all that often (2.6%), which gives him a pretty well-defined range; perhaps QQ+, AK.

The second thought I have is that I believe I lose a lot of the value of AK by flatting and not 4 betting to $15.  If I 4bet to $15, I likely fold out AK, but get QQ to flat, and KK+ to overshove.

The third thought is to flat, out of position, like I did.  I can pray for the Ace or King, but I don't even know if that's good, given MP2's range here.  More to the point, even if I do hit my Ace or King, and it is good, what is the chance that I'm getting value out of it?

I think this mistake hand cost me $5, which is a small price to pay, but a price nevertheless.  I think, had I chosen option 2, it could have cost me a whole lot more.  However, option 1, folding outright, is probably the best choice here.

Thoughts?

Flop: ($12.50) 8h 3h 5d (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $7.25, Hero folds

Final Pot: $12.50
MP2 wins $11.90
(Rake: $0.60)

As a side note, one commenter pointed out that I am placing too much priority on stats, particularly given datapoint sizes.  I have really taken this comment to heart; definitely learned from it - as I am indeed placing less stress on smaller sample sizes.  I have definitely been focused on that point.  It is much appreciated, Anonymous, whoever you are!

#12 on today's PTR top winner list!

It's been awhile since I checked PTR's top winners list for all sites, but I had a pretty decent day today.  The short of it is that since I'm going to AC tomorrow, I wanted to get a solid start on my mid-year Iron Man bonus.  I have 10,000 FTPs to generate throughout the next 45 days - at least 2 of which will be absorbed by this trip.  Therefore, I took today and grinded 6 hours worth of poker.  The results were very good to say the least...  Good enough for #12 on all sites at my stakes!  Not too shabby...

(I blocked out my name for privacy-sake.)

Squeeze!

Fairly uneventful hand, but if there ever was a spot to squeeze, this would be it.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $50.00
BB: $62.05
UTG: $37.15
UTG+1: $50.00
UTG+2: $60.95
MP1: $68.80
MP2: $34.50 - 53 / 12 / 24% steal / 3.1% 3bet / 164 hands
CO: $50.15 - 34 / 23 / 57% steal / 5.3% 3bet / 44 hands
BTN: $133.85

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with Jd Qc
4 folds, MP2 calls $0.50, CO raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $7.50, 3 folds
Gee, 57% steal (CO)?  Hmm.... 53-12 = 41% limp (MP2)?  I think I'm way ahead of MP2's limping range and  decently far ahead of CO's stealing / isolating range...  SQUEEZE!!!

Final Pot: $5.00
Hero wins $5.00

What would you do? #130 - Tons of pre-flop action in the blinds & CO

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $50.75
BB: $54.10 - 13 / 12 / 50% steal / 3.5% 3bet / 3.8 Aggression Factor / 254 hands
UTG: $22.15
UTG+1: $59.45
MP1: $63.25
MP2: $23.50
CO: $50.00 - 34 / 26 / 57% steal / 6.3% 3bet / 38 hands
BTN: $134.60

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with Tc Th
4 folds, CO raises to $1.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5, BB raises to $14, CO requests TIME, 1 fold, Hero ???
What range are you assigning BB? If you are folding, what is the minimum hand you call with? AK? JJ?

Click to see results

Hero requests TIME, 1 fold
I evaluated this hand as either a steal (CO) vs. my re-steal vs. BB getting crafty and re-re-stealing, OR BB waking up with an actual hand which he likes *A LOT*. Since BB is not off-the-charts aggro with 3bets, and he's not off-the-charts aggro PF in the first palce (13/12), I have to give him credit for a hand with his 4bet. Moreover, at this point, I have $5 invested in this hand.

Do I really want to go all the way (which is what BB's 4bet indicates) with a vulnerable pair of tens, where, *at best*, I'm likely flipping a coin and not going to get value post-flop if an all undercard comes, or I'll be suckered in for a bet being behind the whole way? Nah. Nest hand, please.

Final Pot: $11.50
BB wins $11.50