The lesson learned is not to overvalue your hand and play it too aggressively. I made the same mistake on all three hands. In bad play #1 I had two pair on the flop and when it was checked around to me I bet from last position. The player to my right check-raised it and I called. So far all is OK. On the turn he bet into me, this is a huge flag, especially with this player. I was locked in on what I believed he had (which was top pair) and did not take the time to review the board. I then raised him, mistake 1. He re-raised and instead of properly folding I called, mistake 2. On the river I at least didn’t raise again but of course made a third mistake by calling the bet. He showed a flopped straight and I was down 5.5BB.
Bad play #2 was very similiar. Everyone called the BB and I flopped top pair w/ a J 10. The board was a J57o. I bet out from EP to be raised by someone I had labeled a fish in LP. I called the raise. (see a pattern here?) Turn brought a 4 for a rainbow and I bet out again…I’m still debating this move. My thinking was LP was a fish and I would let him know his raise would not intimidate me. I think this was the right move but comments are welcomed with explanation. Anyway he raised again (red flag) I then made legitimate mistake number 1 and re-raised. I think at the time I didn’t believe he had a hand with that board. The betting indicates otherwise though and I was too dense to see it at this point. He capped it and mistake #2 was made with the call. The river was a blank and at least I wisened up a little to check then fold to his bet. He had a set of 5’s and I was beat from the flop once again. Another 5.5BB down the drain. A collection of little losses accounted for the rest and I ended the night as follows:
120 minutes, 12.88BB, 6.44BB/Hr, 118 hands
I still had a profitable evening though and since I reached my stop loss with an hour to go before bed time I headed back to Aztec Poker. I wanted to play off some more of my 250 raked hands for the chip set. I started out with two tables of .50/1 like the night before but things went even better. I was up 19.25BB at one table when it broke up and on the other I played for the full hour to achieve a 6.75BB profit. For my one hour of play I saw 47 hands and netted a profit of 26BB. Further bonus to my bonus.
I earned my largest pot ever tonight as well. It wasn’t the biggest pot I’ve seen at 1/2 or even the biggest pot of the night at the table. Still it was my biggest ever and I was happy to receive it.
Big Pot Of The Night
Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (10 handed) converter
Preflop: lifesagrind is Button with Qd, Th.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO calls, lifesagrind calls, SB folds, BB checks.
Flop: (6.50 SB) 7s, Kc, 9c (6 players)
BB checks, UTG+2 bets, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO calls, lifesagrind calls, BB folds.
Turn: (5.75 BB) Js (5 players)
UTG+2 bets, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, CO calls, lifesagrind raises, UTG+2 3-bets, MP2 calls, CO calls $1.25 (All-In), lifesagrind caps, UTG+2 calls, MP2 calls.
River: (19.37 BB) Jd (4 players, 1 all-in)
UTG+2 checks, MP2 checks, lifesagrind bets, UTG+2 calls, MP2 calls.
Final Pot: 22.37 BB
UTG+2 shows Kd 7d (two pair, kings and jacks).
MP2 shows 4c Ac (one pair, jacks).
CO shows As Qc (one pair, jacks).
lifesagrind shows Qd Th (straight, king high).
Outcome: lifesagrind wins 22.37 BB.
That was a fun one. Had the club come on the river I was dead, but I was making him pay to see it. :)
On a side note, Some of the advanced topics I hear and read about playing poker are now making sense to me. In recongnition, and celebration, of this fact I have decided to purchase a few poker books and start some hard studying. I would like to hear your recommendations. Please post some recommended reading along with why you would recommend it in the comments section. Thank You
