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So I start the hand with $426.20 having won a flip with AK v TT against a reg earlier in the session, which was handy as I was IP against a fish who had ran well and had me covered. I obviously want to be as deep as possible against a fish IP. Reg in CO opens to $6, the fish in SB calls and I squeeze to $26 holding AA. The reg folds and the fish calls. The flop came down (9 6 J) rainbow and he checks to me, I bet $42 into $58 wanting to build a pot. The fish check-raises to $94, so $52 more. I think I have reason to be a bit wary here as the fish could’ve out-flopped me and I have just the kind of hand to pay him off, however I did believe my hand to be good and opted for a call and to reassess the strength of my hand on the turn. The turn pairs the 6 on board also putting two hearts out there and he bets $120 into a now $246 pot. I love the turn card as I now have a strong two-pair, I only lose to a 6, 99 or JJ, and you know these fish, they have all sorts of other hands in their range. I just didn’t feel he was that strong at all. As the board had now become quite wet I shove for my remainding $306.20 which is $186.20 more for him to call. He calls pretty quickly holding As5s, so no hand / no draw and I have 100% equity in this now $855.40 pot! I’m not sure whether this was a hero call thinking I had something like QhTh and picked up more outs on the turn or just one of those fish calls whereby they get creative (and committed) putting in $240 so are not folding for $186.20 more. Who knows? But I know I love 100% equity x

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So, my notes on the villain read something along the lines of ‘exciting to play against, not affraid to bet big bluffs in big pots’, he’s a losing recreational player. Before this hand started I had $731.65 and the villain had $357.05. I open to $5 from the cutoff with AcKc and the villain 3-bet from the button to $16, it’s then folded round and back to me. Now, the villain’s 3-bet % is 24.4 which is extremely high and considering it’s from the button he doesn’t have it a high percentage of the time. I am soooo good here, like he’s definately going to at least call my 4-bet. One of my big reasons for 4-betting here (apart from the obvious big hand) is that I want to play a big pot and I want him to bluff the lot. I 4-bet to $51 and he calls. If I were to pair up on the flop here I intended to check-call all-the-way. Anyway, the flop comes (Jc 8c 4h). I now have a huge hand against his range. The pot is $105 and he has $306.05 behind. Now, I could play this in so many ways here but I opt to check and think seen as I still have no pair I’ll just let him bluff one time and check-raise all-in. This is where the plan doesn’t work, he checks behind. The turn comes the 6h. I figure I still have the best hand but check again, he then fires $82. Again a decision, I could shove here but I think I get called pretty light by him and I don’t have the equity I did on the flop to check-raise all-in. I choose an ugly passive call and the river comes the 3h completing a heart flush but missing me completely. I absolutely know if I check he is shoving no matter what his cards are, I do check and he does shove $224.05 into $269. I do think here the plan was to let him bluff and here it is but I didn’t have too much time left in my bank and something says to fold. I think it was ultimately three things nagging at me which made me fold… 1. I was scared of him bluffing with the best hand, like pairing the 6 for example and… 2. He could well have bet the heart draw on the turn and got there, and… 3. The check on he flop was not like him, perhaps he did actually flop a monster this time? I’m not sure, I can tell you I was soooo close to calling with just AK-high and still regret it a little but hey. He wrote in the chat box “ty” which I dunno but I think that may mean he had it and was annoyed he didn’t get a call so tried to appear happy with a ‘bluff’. I should finish this post by saying that about 25 mins later he lost a $568.80 pot bluffing with Ace-high doubling a reg up. Ha.

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So this was a very frustrating cooler as I later felt there was no need to gamble with this opponent. First thing to say is that I destroyed this guy heads-up. I pretty much got value from my hands whenever I wanted to and felt very much at ease. He eventually tilted, the turning point was when we got it in on a (9 2 9) board where I had 77 and he had 44. He then went on a spree of trying to double up anything marginal. I called a ship with AJ v his A5 and it held, then he 6-bet me all-in with KQo and I had AA so another $200 to me. He then called an all-in with KQo v my TT and this time he doubled through. At this point his tilt calmed down, I distictly noticed it but this hand came up soon after and I didn’t adjust which is very annoying. I’m on the button with AK and make it my standard $5, he 3-bets to $18. His stack size at the start of the hand was $420.40 and I had him covered with $704.20. I 4-bet to $43 but do this really without thinking which is the bit I’m annoyed with, he had definately adjusted and didn’t now seem likely to get it in marginally anymore now that he had 200+BB’s. I noticed it like I said but somehow it didn’t register and I went ahead and played this hand all out pre-flop. He 5-bet me to $124 and I just insta-shipped… he snapped it off with AA and I’m a big dog in a $840.30 pot. The Aces hold, he gets even and instantly leaves the table. I guess AK heads-up is a monster and if we still had effective stacks of 100BB’s then I wouldn’t beat myself up about it but once we were deeper there was no need for me to gamble with this guy all-in pre-flop with AK. It turns out he had AA so that’s obviously a terrible spot for me but that aside, if he has QQ or JJ or even 77 or something then I’m flipping which I think is good news for him and bad for me. I think I would have been wise to see a flop for $18 and play the hand from there. I could’ve continued to extract value from this opponent, especially with him still stuck $400-odd. I guess the good news though at the end of the day is that I was in a $840.30 pot gambling with his money.

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Wow! This hand is siiiick! I’m playing a Deep-Ante $1-2 game as I liked the opponents and liked my seat in relation to the opponents. I sat with $500 and before this hand started I had ran this up to $700.35. The villain in this hand started the hand with $580.80. The action comes round and is opened by the cutoff to $5 and the villain makes it $8 on the button. I am in the SB with AA. The villain is a fish and is the reason I’m sitting in this seat. We are sitting so deep that I didn’t want to make a standard 3-bet (actually 4-bet with the button already making a click-3-bet) and have both call and get in trouble OOP, I really only want the button to call for a big raise. Anyway, with the button already 3-bet I figure he will have a playable hand and you know fish they can’t fold so I opt to make my raise look like a mistake… I make it $222! I hoped this would look like I’ve leant on my keyboard or perhaps meant to only do $22. The original opener folds and the button does call… BINGO!!! The board comes down (K Q 9) which was pretty ugly really but with the pot at $453.40 and my opponents stack at $358.50 I just ship, I thought at the time that this would look like a rush of blood to make up for my ‘mistake’. The button calls and shows KQ!!! It made me smile to think it really is THAT easy to get a fish to call ANY raise size pre-flop and said to myself “please bring me some justice…”. Ha, the turn comes a 2 and the river comes a 2 making my Aces-Up a bigger two-pair!!! My Hold’em Manager shows I got my money in with only 27.1% equity so says I dogged the hand by $831.58 (meaning I got lucky and owe lady luck that $831.58 back in the long run) but I don’t feel this is the case. This is where ‘All-In EV’ doesn’t always show the real picture… try calling a cold 4-bet with KQo for 37% of your stack and see if that’s +EV… I feel I deserved my luck in this spot!

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So, in this hand, looking back, I haven’t got a clue what I was doing! Ha, I open from the cutoff with JTo (no spades) to $5 and am called by the button. The flop comes (J 6 Q) two spades and I check-call $9. The turn comes the 2s completing a flush draw and I fire $21.10 into $31 which he calls. At this point I think he either has a Queen and doesn’t believe, or maybe has the Queen or the Jack with the Ace of spades, maybe a made flush, or maybe a set of 6′s. Anyway, I think I’m definately beat. The river is a Jack giving me trips but something tells me I don’t like it, I check and he bets $60 into $73.20. I pretty much insta-fold. I took such a strange line, when I check to him on the flop he can bet anything there so I guess I was thinking I’ve let you fire, now on the turn I’m going to represent the flush and you can’t call… but he did, so that took away all of the 88 or 67 type hands and again especially when he bets the river as a Queen etc. can check to showdown against my possible bluff. Anyhow, I bet he had no idea what I had but I still think I made a solid fold.

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In this hand I have Ad8d on the button and pray it gets folded round so I can raise as (as mentioned in my last post) the SB kept 3-betting me (by only doubling my open) with anything. It does get folded round and I open to $5, SB routinely makes it $10, BB folds and it’s back to me. Against fish I think it is usually best to make a hand before going to war but in this case I think what the hell and go ahead and 4-bet for value IP, I make it $30. He calls and we see a flop of (J J J). My hand is soooo good here but I want to keep building a pot so I bet $25 to entice him to fish… he calls. The turn comes a Queen and it goes check-check, I check here as a bet doesn’t really achieve anything, either he has a Queen and continues (and I’m beat) or he doesn’t and can’t really fish to make a boat on the river with the Queen already there. The river comes another Queen and he leads $58 into $112. This is a bluff a huge percentage of the time by this opponent, the bet size didn’t really add up too by him, so I’ve read this to be we’re both playing the board. I’m not calling for a split so I re-bluff all-in for $180.95 and he insta-folds.

I chose to post this hand to document adjusting against fish. There were a few regs in the game and I would’ve thought they were looking at him and paying attention but surprisingly he managed to bully them around and I can say with (almost) certainty that he didn’t have it a lot of the time. This only kept the money coming my way, the regs would lose it to this fish and the fish would give it to me. I butted heads with him on many occasions and no-one really tried to get in my way, not anything out of character anyway. They weren’t adjusting, they were playing the same way with the seemingly same hand requirements as they would against me for example, which raised a question… do some of these regs just operate like bots? I mean, have they found out a system if you like of what makes them a wage on average and just stick to it. They didn’t seem prepared to deviate. This surprised me, I’d like to think I’m always on the lookout to adjust against players and styles and to change hand strengths accordingly.

1. $497 Pot
4-bet habitual 3-bettor in blind-on-blind with 33 (not sure about this!)
http://bit.ly/oCLArh
I elect to 4-bet-call with just 33 from the SB v BB who just kept 3-betting me. I expected a fold or shove but he calls and I flop set-under-set. Not sure if he was only set-mining. I still think there is little value to 4-betting small pocket pairs and don’t really know why I chose this line, but no matter how I played it this time I would’ve still gone broke.

2. $514.90 Pot
So unsatisfying to get called by a bigger draw… in hindsight I could’ve played this different.
http://bit.ly/oNkfef
I call pre-flop then call a squeeze from the BB holding Ts9s and flop the world really, it comes (Q J 4) two spades. He C-bets and I think then chose to just shove which was a big overbet. He tanks then calls with just a Ks8s flush draw, not getting the right price, but King-high holds. To win this pot I could’ve called the flop then shoved the turn which I considered at the time, or I could’ve played it passively and only raise if I hit as I wasn’t sure what I was getting him to fold by moving in. To be honest I was actually worried that this opponent would call with just AK, but I put him to the test and failed I guess.

3. $400 Pot
Horribly played non-nut draw…
http://bit.ly/rkLAee
I hate the way I played this. I think I was a bit stunned from losing two big pots early in my session so I pushed my luck here. It is so just a call on the flop imo, and once he 3-bets it on the flop I think there it is a fold. I simply have no fold equity by moving in and he could well have me strangled with the nut-flush draw. Lesson learnt.

4. $369.80 Pot
When you’re running bad, even fish win.
http://bit.ly/n6caPb
This opponent was a donkey. He was doing stupid little 3-bets holding rags at times, which was fine by me. I raise to $5 from the button with JT and he (as he had been routinely) made it $10, I have to call and flop top-two. He bets $10, I raise to $49, he calls and I think I’m so good here, like I’ve seen him have 82 in this spot, I’m moving in on the turn as long as it’s not a club. The turn is a blank Ace, I do move in and he calls with KQ for the straight.

So, even if I did show a little tilt in these hands, from this point on I’m proud of myself. I re-grouped, went to work and ended the session only $300 down. The best bit is I’m not too sure how I won it back, there were biggish pots but mostly I just grinded a $700 upswing which I’m quite impressed with. There were two strange hands that I will post individually so watch out for these. Here’s to feeling good and thinking clearly! Roll on next session!

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I 3-bet KK from the BB to $20 and am called. We are sitting on effective stacks of $303.20 at the start of the hand. The flop comes (5 5 2) and I C-bet $22.50, he thinks then calls. I pretty much knew at this point his hand was a medium pocket pair that he didn’t wish to 4-bet pre-flop and risk having to possibly fold as it had value calling my 3-bet pre-flop. At this stage I just hope the board runs out good for me and hopefully he will think himself into committing more of his stack thinking I’m pushing a bluff. The turn comes a 6 and I bet again $51.50 into $85, he thinks again then calls. The flop had two clubs so I guess he was thinking I’m double-barrelling a club draw. The river comes a perfect 5 giving us both full-houses so I ship $209.20 into £188. He tanks but I just know he is calling, he’s talked himself into coming this far and if he thinks I have clubs then he thinks I am now just representing a big pair. He does call and shows 77. I love these spots where they think I’m triple-barrel bluffing and I can get three streets of value and in this case a $605.90 pot!

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In this hand I call an UTG raise to $6 from the villain holding 44 from UTG+1. I’m IP and hoping to set-mine. The villain is a winning regular at $1-2 6-Max on PokerStars. Everyone else folds and the board comes down (J 4 A) and I flop a set. The villain C-bets $10 and I elect to just call. I just call for a number of reasons… 1. To slowplay, a raise here puts too much pressure on AK or AQ and I want to appear to have the AQ vs his AK or a weaker Ace or a Jack at this stage… 2. Follow on from point one is that the value hands that continue (happily) facing a raise here are of course AA or JJ and AJ. He raised UTG so I have to have that in mind… 3. If he is mixing it up I feel like he will try to represent a strong hand here if I show weakness and possibly try to get me to fold AQ on the later streets. I want him to try to do that. So the turn comes a King also putting two hearts on board and he fires $26 into $35. Now, I could raise here again but I figured he would think a set would raise at this point. I’m gaining money from AK or AJ and losing money to AA, KK, JJ or QT, and losing him triple-barrelling his bluffs. He could also have picked up a heart draw with his bluffs which would be a good reason to raise but with a call he has charged himself for the draw and I get to see if the river is safe, so I call. The river is the 2h. He bets $62 into $87, I have $160 in my stack so can ship a $98 raise. I’m not folding, but I consider calling or raising. I figure the bluff heart draws got there, I’m not sure if he calls a ship with AJ so if I raise I am hoping for one hand: AK. I end up electing to just call, he shows AK and I win the pot. The table then laughs at me saying things like “you can never be too careful!” which made me wonder if I’m thinking through this wrong. Clearly the villain indicated that he thinks he saved $98 on that hand. I felt at the time that perhaps he was just frustrated that he got a call and lost. I’m still happy with my call having just written this post, but would appreciate some thoughts??