Back on topic.
I just wrapped up a game that I won, which was chock full of nice hands. Even nicer, the things that I could not control didn’t bite me, I won most of the big pots, I got very lucky in at least two spots, and I have nothing to complain about in this one. And a few other players at the table had a couple of very nice hands as well!
One of the first hands in the game, I am the BB, holding 94s, and a couple of players limp it to me, I see the flop pair my 4 for a low middle pair. I check, fold to a min-bet, raised 2BB by the button, and feel a bit dumb about it on the Turn when another 4 hits the board. River is a Q, Cutoff lays in a 500 chip bet, button raises it, having waited patiently to hit this low board with AQ. Cutoff calls, and wins the hand with 44488. I feel like Cutoff got good value out of the hand, but might have done even better re-raising on the river. They’re only getting beat by QQ, 88 (both unlikely, given the way this table played out, so they should have been confident enough that they had the nuts that they could 3-bet the river here.) I now of course feel smart for folding 94.
Hand #564019341 · Replay Poker
Some time later, I have K7s in the SB. Not a great hand at all to be playing from early position. The AQ player who lost big on his river Queen shoves about 700 chips in, the Button shoves, which is enough to tell me to fold, which is what I do. The rest of the table folds, and Button shows AK, small-stack has 89o. They both hit a pair, Ace on the flop, 8 on the river, both players missing straights by just one card, the Q. @jokerwithace eliminated, nice hand for @Greywolf24.
Sometime later, I have QJo in middle position, and call a 40->180 raise from the chair to my right. Three see the flop, and I make top pair, QQ. First to act leads out a min-bet, I raise half-pot. The preflop raiser folds, and the flop lead flats. He checks again to me on the Turn, and I bet again and take the hand. Was he on a weak draw or a small pair? +2300 chips to me, a nice score.
A7o, in early-middle position, I fold pre. Board runs out 5Q5QJ, two players in the hand, QT wins it, QQQ55 over ???. I have no idea what the loser of this hand had to call such a big raise on the river with, but it sure wasn’t a Q. Maybe they had the 5? Or AA? They don’t show. +3120 to eventual runner-up @35cent, who played rather well in this game.
The big hand of the game came for me when I had AQo, in late position, and raised 3BB. @kol-klink jams his small-stack all-in from the BB, and is called by @wayne1. I strongly considered folding here, figuring I might be up against AK or AA or QQ, none of which I could beat with AJ. I look at both players’s stacks, and I have them well covered, although if I lose here, I’m really not liking my chances of making it deep into this game, as calling leaves me with just 2000 chips behind. My negative attitude tells me I won’t win the hand if I play, but if I fold I’ll see that I would have won the hand, and these cancel each other out, I make the call. BB shoved 99 and the caller called with J4o. Yes, it’s looking for sure like this will be JJJ by the river, based on the way things have been running for me lately. But no, the flop pairs my Ace and J4’s J, no other Js make it to the show, and 99 misses a straight 5-9 for want of an 8. I have the best hand and take down nearly 3500 chips, putting me in a 3-way dead heat for the table lead. Best of all, two players are busted in this hand, and now we’re 6-up.
As an aside, something funny that I’ve noticed over many months, but especially lately. There’s often a hand where I’ll have some nice cards that I’d like to play, someone shoves, and then a second player shoves, and I fold and watch the board run out to my favor more often than not. It’s virtually always a wise fold though, not a point in the game where you want to risk your tournament life, and not like I’m sitting on AA, but usually it’s something you’d ordinarily feel you could 3! with. But in a fair amount of these, the first caller is calling with absolute junk, which I just don’t understand, and sometimes this even triggers an avalanche of ridiculous calls – I guess on the theory that pot-odds are now good enough to demand calling that wide? Occasionally, it’ll be two big pairs going up against each other, or AK vs a pair, and sometimes I just have QT and know folding is best, but then the board runs out and gives me the only Broadway straight hand. So, not that I’m keeping accurate books tracking this, but it’s like I’m about 50-60%+ to win these multi-way all-in hands that I’m wise to fold, and yet when it comes to heads-up all-in situations, I feel like I’m more like winning in 30-40% of them. I guess maybe because in the heads-up matchups, V is not shoving (or calling) with junk (well except the time they did, and beat my AK with 73… grr) and much of those hands, it’s not surprising whoever wins it, because they were both strong hands.
Anyway, moving on…
A5o, in the Hijack, I think about it but decide against. Button hits a set with pocket 88’s, and BB hits middle pair, 7s, and then improves to 2 pair, 7722 on the Turn, leading to a 1500 chip win for @irishrose820. 88 flats a 150 bet from 72, who barrels again on the turn and river, each time getting called. Since 888 had top set and there were no pairs on this board, I feel they could have raised, but the Turn did bring up a 3rd diamond, and the flop was 678, making 9T or 95 a flopped straight, which maybe explains why they only flatted each street. So, very reasonable, cautious play and a decent payoff for hitting their set. Hand #564025866 · Replay Poker
Sometime after that hand, GQboi22 ended up with a set of 333s, on a 234 flop, and made quads on the Turn, to beat two other players who held A4 (rivering two pair, with the Ace), to double up. Worst river for @roybur who loses a hefty chunk of chips to the underdog stack.
Hand #564026050 · Replay Poker
AJ vs. 73s. 73s flops absolutely nothing, no spades, nothing, but tries to make me fold. No action on the flop, I catch a pair of Jacks on the turn, and @Greywolf24 bets into it. I reason that no one has a Q, or we’d have seen a bet, so I likely have the best pair, and Greywolf’s bet is small so I call. River pairs the board with a Ten, and now I’m beat if he’s got Q or T in his hand, and with TJQ on the board I’m also in trouble if he’s holding K9 or AK, and trying to rep weak to induce me to raise him, or if he just doesn’t think I have much and won’t call bigger. He bets small again, and I call again, and see he’s min-bluffing air at me. Well at least his air inflated the pot a bit, and I take down 2300 chips, calling pretty thin.
Q6o in SB, I fold, flop Q24, trip QQQs on the turn. BB and Button build a pot to 1300, and Button wins, pocket 55s over 43s hitting a pair of 4s on the flop. What could have been. I think about junk hands like Q6o, and see players playing not much better hands like 55 and 43s. I could have limped here, and stayed in with top pair, it would have only cost me 100 chips to speculate on it. Should I make plays like that, when the whole table folds around to the Button and it’s 3-way at most? Or raise, and trust that weaker hands like these would fold most of the time, enough to make such raises profitable? Or is it best to play it safe and just fold them, and not worry about missing opportunities like this? Since I won this game anyway, I can conclude that I didn’t need to win this hand, so I think folding is just fine.
65s on the button, I limp, flop 888. 4 handed, table checks around. A on the turn, a player bets, I fold, another Ace hits the river for a community full house. SB shoves, and is called by both players thinking it’s a guaranteed chop, but nope, they have Q8. Lol. Perfectly played for @roybur, and second quads hand dealt at this table. vnh
KQo in the BB. 3 players behind me limp, and I decide to raise to thin the field. I go to 3BB, player behind me calls, the next player shoves ~1900. Ugh. I call, player behind me calls. This could get ugly. Flop hits me very nicely, 7QK, giving me top two pair. I min-bet, hoping roybur will feel committed and all-in on me anyway, so I can get all his chips, or at least call, but to my surprise he lays it down, leaving me to run the board out with @irishrose820 already all-in. They have 9J, miss a straight for want of a Ten, and pair their 9 on the way out, and I dodge a bullet and take down another huge pot, this time 6500 chips and take the table lead, now up to 11000 chips. My 3rd KO, and it’ now 5-up and I have a little under half the chips at the table, which is a nice place to be.
Suddenly I seem to be getting respect! 44 on the button, I limp to a 4-way flop, J8K, and the table checks around. I min-bet, very much expecting someone to have K, J, or KJ and jam on me, because this is the sort of situation I run into a lot where someone hits in early position and check-raises, and to my surprise everyone folds. I don’t show.
QTo, in the BB. Small stack shoves 900 chips, I decide it’s OK to call, it’s only 3BB, and I have him covered by about 13:1. They flip up pocket TTens, and I get ready to double them up. Board runs me out a broadway straight though, 7KA4J, and I earn my 4th KO of the table so far. It’s starting to feel like the poker gods have decided that I should be the chosen one this time. This takes me up to 1300 chips.
4-handed table now, it’s bubble time. A9o, I raise, only the BB calls, we check to the river, and I edge him out just slightly, A9 over A4, taking 2700 chips. It’s noteworthy that no one tried c-betting or bluffing this hand. I think @Greywolf24 probably didn’t want to get burned again after his failure air-bluffing 73s in the earlier hand above, and I felt like I was perhaps being overly cautious by not betting after 3 streets, but by the time it got to the river and it was evident V wasn’t interested in the pot, I knew betting would only enable him to raise me, which I would then have to fold, or he’d fold and I’d get no additional value for the raise. So didn’t bother risking any more, and it was the right way to play this hand.
Greywolf24 played this table very well, and ended up KOing the bubble boy, @GQboi22, on this hand, A9o vs TT, flopping a pair of Aces, to become my biggest threat with the #2 stack.
Sometime later, Greywolf24 had AA against me, in a very similar hand, and didn’t get much value out of it. He didn’t raise (it would have only folded me pre- if he did, though; I had junk, something like T5o) and I never hit anything on the board on that hand, so never bet anything, and would have folded to any bet, as I didn’t have any draw. So it’s not like he could have gotten any more chips out of me. But I could have seen his lack of betting as weakness and tried to bluff him off the hand. I didn’t need to, though, since I already have the big stack, and it’s not necessary to try to take every pot, even if you can successfully bully a lot of the time. I dodged a bullet there.
A bit after that, I have QJ and flop 9TA, and he shoves on me again. I think hard, his stack is about 5000 chips, and I have him covered, but I don’t want to chase the draw, am not priced with good odds to call for that draw, and decide to lay it down. He claims that he had AAA, but if so I still wouldn’t have been drawing dead to his hand, but I’m glad I decided to not push my luck on this hand.
Finally, I KO @Greywolf24. He had announced that he had to leave and couldn’t stay past the 1-hour break, and had started [shoving]Hand #564031988 · Replay Poker a lot. He had the 2nd stack at this point, and it was near even with mine, so I was playing him cautiously. This time, he shoved 33 when I had 99, and I can call here. Glad I did, I end up hitting another straight, this one 8-J, and KO my 5th opponent. The 33 shove wasn’t unreasonable even for a player trying to exit the game. I would have had a harder time calling if I didn’t know he wanted to go, or if I didn’t have a pair, though.
Heads-up vs. 35cent, he played very well from a small stack, getting up to near-even with me over a series of hands where I was getting dealt mostly rags, when i got 44 dealt to me, and feeling suddenly card dead and like this might be the best hand I’d see for the rest of the game, and certainly the best hand I’d gotten out of the previous 20, I took a deep breath and shoved it. He calls with AQ and misses the board, almost hitting a straight but for lack of the Jack, and I win the game. I definitely got lucky there, a coin flip and he came close to taking it away from me.
