Shippin' it

I just played one of my best sessions ever skill wise, and one of my better ones cash wise. I played around 1.5 hrs and was break even on suck outs (3 and 3) and made some really nice moves if I do say so myself. Up until this point I've mostly been playing fit or fold ABC poker. I did a stat review with mpethybridge (Stox coach, 2p2 mod) yesterday and he gave me some advice about basically not playing fit or fold because it's losing a lot of value. I agreed and I do feel I'm at the point where my game should be opening up to all the good stuff poker has to offer.

I'm going to share some of these hands that I enjoyed. If you play 50NL or above they probably seem pretty basic, but I loved making them at the table and am reasonably proud of myself for doing so. Also, I folded AA for the first time ever.

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Hero (BTN): $28.80
SB: $23.70 (24/14 over 90 hands)
MP2: $20.85 (51/16 over 69 hands, 100% cbet)

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with 9 9
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $0.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.50, SB calls $0.40, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25

Flop: ($2.25) 8 2 3 (4 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75, SB calls $1.75, UTG+1 folds

At this point I feel this is a pretty standard continuation bet and I feel he has air here a lot (air or trips). SB's call tells me that he's on a flush draw most of the time. With the action so far anyone with a set is raising here (even a fish).

Turn: ($7.50) Q (3 players)
SB checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets $5.50, SB folds, MP2 folds

Both of their checks let's me know that MP2 really was just firing a continuation bet and was trying to scoop the pot and that SB is in fact on a draw. I now know SB likely has absolutely nothing and the turn card isn't a bad one. I bet a sizeable bet that should be enough to force MP2 to give up and SB will of course fold his air.

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BTN: $27.90 (7/4 over 501 hands, 100% cbet and fold to cbet)
Hero (BB): $53.05

UTG+1 posts a big blind ($0.25)

Pre Flop: ($0.60) Hero is BB with J J
1 fold, UTG+1 checks, 2 folds, BTN raises to $1.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $1, 1 fold

He's likely raising a hand, but the dead money is also something to consider. I figure his range is slightly wider here than his usual 4%. Also if he does have a hand he likely has TT+, or AK. I flat call for the obvious reasons.

Flop: ($2.85) 9 A 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2, Hero raises to $6.25, BTN folds

I check to let him bet and he does a standard continuation bet. At this point I realize that if he has TT-KK here he is folding if I raise this flop because he's an uber nit and he plays his hands face up. I also know that if he has AK he'll likely call, and AA will call or raise. So if my raise is called, I can just be done with the hand. Since I feel only 2 hands in his range are continuing in this spot I make a decent raise. He thinks for a while and then folds. I also assume he uses a HUD and I would show as a fairly TAG regular, so my raise should have some weight behind it.

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Hero (MP2): $42.85
BTN: $25.00 (8/4 over 91 hands, 50% fold to cbet and 3.7% 3bet)

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP2 with A A
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.50, 1 fold, BTN calls $1.50, 3 folds, MP1 calls $1.25

I've been watching this player and he is a classic set miner. He folds any flop he doesn't hit. I know when he calls here that he has a pocket pair approximately 134.16% of the time. MP1 is a 59/3 fish so we can just ignore him.

Flop: ($5.10) 6 J 5 (3 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $3, BTN calls $3, MP1 folds

I made a slightly smaller cbet than normal in this spot. MP1 has 75% fold to cbet and he limped pre so he likely has garbage. BTN is only continuing with a set, so I think a smaller cbet gets the job done and loses less when I'm behind.

Turn: ($11.10) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $5.50, Hero folds

Uh... yeah. I thought for a while and realized that this is a value bet and BTN is not an aggro donktard. I realized that more often than not I'm totally dominated here. His AF is 1. This is a set all day every day. I sigh and fold knowing that I saved myself a buy in.



Those are the three hands that stand out to me. A lot of the other ones were positional 3bets in position against regulars and some nice abuse of the limp/fold type players. All in all it was a stellar session and I hope my current rate of winning continues. At this point I hope to be shot taking 50NL by probably next weekend or earlier, depending on how bad or good I run. I'm not sure how 50NL is going to be, but I hope to play more of this kind of great poker and less of value betting the fish. I'm really, really tired of value betting fish. This is the kind of poker I want to be playing.


Bankroll: $935.70