And God said; 'Let sircuddles not win'

Hands Played: 840
Hours: 3.15
Amount Won: -$0.78
BB/100: -0.93
Tables: 5

Well I just had possibly the most brutal session I've had in a long time. Even worse than the -2 BI sessions I've had. It felt like God himself decided I wouldn't be making any profit today. I had a few suck outs which is fairly standard (flop trips vs. AA with an A on the river), but almost none of my actual hands got paid off by anyone - not even the fish! It's a wonder I ended up only down 78 cents, because about 30 minutes into the session I was down $13.

The tables weren't very good, but I ended up finding a few that were alright. Problem is I never actually got any hands against the fish and they just ate up my continuation bets and donked me off of just about every pot. Whenever I'd flop trips I'd bet, but instead of doing what they always do, they'd just fold. It almost felt like every fish could see my hole cards... Out of my top 15 winning hands, only 4 went to showdown. At least my red line gets a boost, I guess.

There's an odd thing I've noticed that happens at these limits. In order to valuetown the fish, you need to play poker that isn't really optimal. Against any decent player I'd never stack off with TPTK or bet 3 streets, but against a fish it's standard. I find that every once in a while I hang myself, but maybe that's also standard. When we play against fish we play very differently than optimal because it gets us the most value overall for our TPTK+ hands. There's no need to worry about keeping the pot small because our opponents will call enough and play badly enough that this is profitable. However, that's not always the case and sometimes I question the road to valuetown.

Both of us had $10 behind here.

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is CO with A Q
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.05, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.25, 2 folds, BB calls $0.20, MP1 calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.77) J K A (3 players)
BB bets $0.15, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, BB calls $0.60

At this point I'm putting him on any one of the cards on the table, but certainly not on AK or any similar hand as he would have likely 3bet preflop with such a holding. I'm not worried about QT, and a draw is also possible.

Turn: ($2.27) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2, BB calls $2

So, I take the standard line vs. fish with TPTK. Bet every street, maximize value. I'm smiling as I continue to bet the pot.

River: ($6.27) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3, BB calls $3

Sweet I say to myself, managed to get all 3 streets out of him. Although at this point I'm worried in the back of my head about being beaten, but I can't think of anything he can really have that beats me. I figure he has ATs or something similar.

Final Pot: $12.27
BB shows J A (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Hero shows A Q (a pair of Aces)
BB wins $11.72

Well don't I just look stupid, eh? Against a regular player I would have checked the turn and maybe put out a small 1/2 pot bet on the river, keeping with the small hand, small pot philosophy, especially on this board. But he isn't a reg, he's a fish, so I assume my TPTK is the nuts and off I go to hang myself on the turn and the river. Bad play? Bad beat? Fish just happened to have 2 pair? Either way, I played this hand differently against this player than I would have against anyone else, is that a good thing? Overall it probably is, given the state of NL5 and it's players. In the long run 2 pair or trips is pretty unlikely and most of the time I'll take this pot down against a fish... but damned if I don't look like a bit of an idiot here. Is there a way to balance fish play and real play to optimize our value? Is this standard? Did I just play it bad? All questions for 2 Plus 2.

I feel I really need to look into how I value TPTK against certain villains, because that seems to be the crux of my losing plays and a big bone of contention for me. I don't know when to overvalue it and when not to. Then again, maybe it's just a bad beat against a fish who got lucky and I'm over analyzing. Tomorrow I'm going to hit the tables with the wrath of cuddles and have my vengeance.

Bankroll: $220.73