Week 18

Bankroll is up to $4,687.

I got in a small session Monday afternoon. Later on I managed to get in a decent session, felt like I was running pretty bad at the start of it but o.k. later on. Overall I feel like I'm playing well, taking loads of notes, etc. I haven't posted a hand in a while so I thought I'd post this one against a 46/10/2 over 600 hands.

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
CO: $393.21
Hero (BTN): $200
SB: $169.45
BB: $200
UTG: $162.48

Pre-Flop: 8 5 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG calls $2, CO folds, Hero raises to $9, 2 folds, UTG calls $7

This is my 3rd hand at the table. I isolate the weak player in position, this is pretty standard but it's worth mentioning that overlimping is perfectly acceptable with this hand. However, my default is to raise.

Flop: ($21) 7 2 Q (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $14, UTG calls $14

The flop is pretty normal, not overly dry or overly wet. My cbet size will usually be around 2/3 to 3/4 pot. Here I have 8 high, my opponent isn't full stacked and won't exploit me for betting smaller with air and bigger with value hands, so I bet towards the smaller end.

I get a very quick call. This is a timing tell which usually means my opponent has a weak made hand or a draw.

Turn: ($49) T (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $38, UTG calls $38

The ten is a pretty good double barrel card. The best ones would obviously be an A or K but I expect my opponent to frequently have middle pair or worse, if he has a made hand, so the ten puts another overcard to his likely hands on the board and will be a scare card for him. My bet size is designed to be big enough to get folds but also leave enough behind to get him to fold to a river shove.

River: ($125) 4 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $139 and is All-In, UTG folds

On the river all possible draws miss, I have 8 high and have to shove to fold out flush draws and stubborn weak one pair hands.

Results: $125 Pot
Hero mucked 8 5 and WON $262 (+$201 NET)

Tuesday I got in a session in the morning, I did some pretty spewy stuff at the start but improved as the session went on. I was getting 3bet a good bit so I started 2.5xing the BTN as a default and I picked up the blinds almost every time, it's amazing how unable the regs were to counter it, they were so used to 3betting and almost terrified to play a pot postflop OOP. Here was a fun river bluff raise:

Villain is playing 55/18/2.3 over 1.1k hands, I also have the following notes on him:
didn't cbet top pair good kicker hu OOP
donk bet OESD.
donk bets draws
donk bet called J8 on T94r

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
BB: $207.30
UTG: $203
CO: $169.90
Hero (BTN): $386.60
SB: $241

Pre-Flop: 6 8 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, CO calls $2, Hero raises to $9, 2 folds, CO calls $7

Like the last hand I isolate the weak player in position. Again overlimping is perfectly acceptable with this hand, but my default is to raise.

Flop: ($21) 7 T 4 (2 Players)
CO bets $14.96, Hero calls $14.96

I flop a double bellybuster and backdoor flush draw and get lead into. This is the type of draw that we want to play passively because it's so hidden. Only having 8 high we also wouldn't mind taking the pot down now.

However, against this player we know his range is very heavily weighted towards draws, not only because we've seen him donk bet a draw multiple times but also because we've seen him not value bet strong hands before. The important point is that almost every draw he can have here is going to have a higher overcard then us and isn't going to fold. He may call a raise but if he were to shove over the top with Jd2d we'd be really hating the situation.

Turn: ($50.92) Q (2 Players)
CO bets $24.46, Hero calls $24.46

The queen is a blank which hits nothing, his bet size suggests a draw looking for a cheap river and, like on the flop, there's still no reason to raise.

River: ($99.84) A (2 Players)
CO bets $48.92, Hero raises to $338.18 and is All-In, CO folds

All the draws miss, his bet size is weak and we know he doesn't value bet thin. If we had any showdown value this would be a clear call. However, since we don't, and the ace is a good bluff card we can shove over the top and expect him to fold the vast majority of his range.

Results: $197.68 Pot
Hero mucked 6 8 and WON $484.94 (+$387.60 NET)

I got another session in later on, I did some spewy stuff at the start again. I'm going to have to stick up some post-its or something to remind myself not to spew at the start of sessions.

On Wednesday Aaron uploaded the conference calls so I downloaded them and listened to the conference call for Chapter 2.

Thursday I listened to the conference call for Chapter 3 and went to a removal in the evening. A close friend of mine hung himself, he was 23 and had a young daughter. The family asked his friends to write a speech for the funeral and the lads had started working on it but were having a bit of trouble making it flow and getting it altogether. So, since I'd gotten an A2 in English, I was asked to write it. I was very pleased with it, it turned out really nicely.

Friday I went to the funeral and didn't really feel like playing on Saturday either.

Sunday I managed to get in a small session in the morning and I listened to the conference call for Chapter 4.