Sunday night was a wash. I won some, lost some, got involved in 2 big pots as the favorite against the same big stack and lost one of them (see below). The end result was -$10. What a waste of 2+ hours

Monday evening was very eventful. I played very loose most of the session and was bobbling between -50 and even. That was until near the end when I went on a tear and boosted my roll up to $1540. Many big pots on this night.

Sunday night hands. Long analyses:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?776622
Bittensnake has not been out of line at this table, and this is my 1st big clash against him. I flopped a gutshot and was facing a bet from him. Raised pot, the bet was fairly small compared to the pot size, my gutshot would be nuts, no one would expect this from me, I had a backdoor FD, stacks were deep, preflop raiser who was a loose caller was still in the hand -- all these factors meant implied odds were there. I decided to chase -- I called.

So I turned my miracle 6, and I have the nuts now. Hooray. Bittensnake led out for another fair amount. I put in quite a raise, and he 3-bet. A preflop-raise-caller going ape-shit postflop -- obviously he had a set. I was so excited that I pushed for his remaining $7.65. He called. Disastrous river -- He boated up.

Now I got all-in with the best hand -- a 80% favourite -- with him drawing to 9 outs (7h gives me straight flush). Is it good enough? No! In retrospect, the best play on the turn was just to call the 3-bet. Can I put him on what he had? Yes, he had a set. Does he know I have a straight? Probably not.Will a 4 or 5 on the river stop him from putting in the rest of his stack? Probably not, since the pot is so large. So why didn't I see the river, make sure I'm winning 100% before committing for the last $7.65, which is nothing compared to the amount already in the pot, but is still a fair amount of money?

In conclusion, I got sucked out, but at the same time, I lost my composure on the turn and failed to make the best play. It cost me an extra $7.65, which isn't much, but this little difference might just be what distinguishes the great players from the good players.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?776621
This is the second big clash between me and Bittensnake. I don't raise small PP preflop very often, but here I did it probably because I was on mild tilt and dearly wanted to recover my loss from the previous hand. I flopped a set of 2s, while Bittensnake has hit the flop pretty hard himself -- TP plus gutshot SFD. If I had AK he would actually be on the good side of a coin-flip (14 outs) against me. But I had a set instead, we got all-in with me being a 60-40 favourite, and he didn't improve regardless.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?776623
Suited aces have been a weakness in my play -- I overplayed them too much especially preflop and out of position -- but fortunately things worked out here. Early on at the table, I completed in SB with A2s and then called a 4x raise from BB. I flopped a FD, pot odds were almost there, I called. I turned the flush and went for a check-raise. Surprisingly both opponent called. River was blank, and I extracted another bet from BB on the river. I later discovered that bluffingboy was a really passive player. Nice way to protect a set -- a feeble half-pot bet on a draw-heavy board on the flop ~rolleyes~. And how about LP shortie who slow-played his bigger set.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?776625
My aces always get cracked when they are spade-heart. Yet another example. An opponent called my preflop raise and then flopped a full-house on me. I minimized damage by checking ahead on turn and river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?776628
Flopped set on an all-spades and straighty board. I really didn't know how to play this -- I raised flop and then bet half-pot on turn -- denying flush draws odds, only to get called twice. Was opponent on a draw, or did he already have it? Turn and river were blanks, and I bet out minimum on the river just to see whether I can get a call from a busted draw. I did get the call, and it was from a flopped baby flush. Lucky me -- losing so little in such a difficult situation. Opponent definitely wasn't thinking enough and was clearly afraid of a bigger flush. Wouldn't I bet out harder on the river if I had a bigger (or nut) flush?

Monday evening hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?778728
This opponent must have thought I was full of crap and was trying to steal his blind, and he tried to bluff me off the hand with AJ unimproved. I had TPTK until the river when a King hit, but what the heck, I called his bluff and collected a nice pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?778730
AA, 1st at the table, preflop value shove, called by JJ. Opponent hit a 4-flush with his Jc. Fortunately it wasn't for a full buy-in. AhAd hasn't been holding up for me lately.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779064
This is a hand which might lead people to think I was a donkey, but on the other hand I think I knew what I'm doing. Maybe I'm a thinking donkey. Anyways, I completed with T3s in SB and called BB's 6x-raise after everyone else folded. I flopped top-pair, and check-called BB's pot-sized bet, just to see whether he'll give up an unimproved AK on the turn. Turn was excellent -- 9s, which brought me flush draw outs, and I checked to BB who threw in a huge bet again -- $10, almost pot size. Now it's quite obvious he had a big overpair, but he had a lot of money behind, and with 14 outs I had almost the correct pot odds to call, plus I had implied odds for many of the outs -- I'm guessing he'll pay off 11 of them -- my backdoor flush or 2-pairs, maybe not trip 10s or the Ace of spades if he was holding KK or QQ. I rivered a 3 for 2 pairs -- perfect card that allow me to take the rest of his stack. Sweeeeeeeet pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779066
I really wasn't thinking at all during this hand. I wanted them to call, so I didn't shove but yet I still overbet by a huge amount. But it worked out just fine, as EP called the massive reraise with KQs and then shoved the rest when he hit his K. I was outdrawn on the turn, but regained the lead when the river counterfeited his KQ 2 pairs. Justice prevailed. I doubt EP will call all-in preflop for a full buy-in with KQs.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779067
I didn't know that opponent was a donk -- until this hand. I flopped a set of 4s, and he called my 3-bet with middle pair no kicker. He turned 2-pairs by pairing his 2, and this improvement was enough for him to stack off.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779140
Another hand which I portrayed myself as a thinking donkey. Loose call preflop and a 3-bet shove after flopping bottom pair + flush draw. I was quite depressed when PF raiser called all-in very quickly -- he obviously wasn't afraid of a bigger overpair, 2-pairs, sets or straight, in other words he wasn't afraid of anything. But for a change I hit my combo-draw in a massive all-in pot, as I runner-runnered not just one but two Kings to piss off my opponent. Next time I run into him I'll try to beat him with some real hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779168
AA vs KK preflop all-in. Opponent thought for a long hard while, but she finally decided to call. I'm glad she did that, and my Aces held up for a nice $50+ pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779243
This opponent was on 2 of my tables, and he has been thinking that I was full of crap for reasons that I didn't know. He has been targetting me throughout the sessions, but I got the better of him here when I barely outkicked him with a 9 against his 7. I thought about laying it down because of my bad kicker, but at the end I decided to suck it up against someone who gave me no credit, stuck with my hand and prevailed.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779251
Sweet river card for me, tough spot for my opponent, a knowledgable player who reads flopturnriver.com. Should he call for a split or should he fold? My raise on the turn probably doomed him, coz he might otherwise expect me to slow-play a turned straight.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?779257
Set over set. Rivering quads was simply overkill.

A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. The last 2 weeks I got my ass whopped in 50NL (and to some extent 25NL) and lost $600+ (1800 --> 1200) in the process. I was so down and decided to abandon the blog for a while. But I inevitably came back to it. Now I am trying to rebuild my bankroll with a combination of $16 Sit-N-Gos and 25NL, and I have recovered about half of the losses.

During the slide I had some really cold cards, but just because I had bad cards doesn't alway mean my opponents were bluffing. I still need to learn to keep my composure when goings are rough. Don't go on tilt and make bad plays just because I'm not getting anything to play.

I still saved a handful of interesting hands. Most of them ended positively. I reviewed them in order to cheer my spirit up during this rough stretch:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?747807
My stretch of bad play started with some bad luck on Jan 17. This one is AA Pre-flop all-in, only to lose the main pot to a tight shortie and win a meagre side pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?747808
An epic version of AA preflop all-in, and this time I lost a full buy-in to KK

http://www.pokerhand.org/?747809
NL50, All-in on flop with a BB-special 2-pair hand, against some short donk who limped with AK and went ape-shit with TPTK, but running 4s counterfeited my 2 pairs.

Some hands during the massacre. I only picked a couple of bad hands -- there were many more of them:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748314
I took advantage of opponent's feeble check-raise, chased my flush and hit it. Opponent had top set + flush redraw, but couldn't hit any of his gazillion (actually only 12 outs -- I held two of the hearts, and 8h or 3h gives me straight flush).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748316
For a while I reverted to the bad habit of raising suited crap. But it worked out perfectly against some passive retard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748319
I turned Quad 8s and opponent pushed. Obviously he didn't believe in me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748320
Inducing a bluff from a missed flush draw, I myself holding a weak TP and the same missed draw -- thank God the flush card didn't come.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748321
I swear I won't slow-play a set on any kind of draw board, ever again. Brutal river card, obviously.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748323
It's difficult to win by never believing your opponent.

A Jan 23rd session was pretty much the turning point. Things went very well. I went from the recent rock bottom of $1195 to ~$1320. Here are some hands worth reliving:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761013
Sure I won the hand, but I called a big bet on the flop without knowing that I was behind, and then I sucked out a Jack on the turn, opponent overplaying his QQ. Did I play the hand correctly?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761014
Flopped straight in a reraised pot. I was glad my passive opponent couldn't lay down JJ on that board.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761015
I ran into some serious fish on this night. I can't possibly win such a big pot with this one-card nut flush against a half-decent opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761016
I don't know why my opponent made this play. Maybe he's looking for revenge after the AQ vs AK hand (see next hand). He certainly didn't give me credit for a 9, probably because of my preflop raise.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761017
My read was good in this hand, and it allowed me to make a confident value bet (despite 3 hearts on the board) before showdown. In retrospect my turn raise was certainly not substantial enough (He had 12 outs and only needed to call $4 into a $14 pot -- an easy call for him).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761018
A2s, preflop raise, great flop, EP check-raised me. Turns out he had a flush draw, I put him all-in, he called, and my hand held up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761019
Some new player took his TPwK hand too far and fully paid off my set.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761020
A rare bad-beat against me on this night. Diamond-heart is usually an auspicious AA suit combination for me, but not here.

Hands, Jan 25:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?765985
I hit 2 sets with 33 on this day, and both of them got paid off huge. This time I was against someone who couldn't lay down his QQ overpair against my betting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765987
Here I got creative preflop with KK, flopped a set against SB who had a smaller set, and the original raiser who pushed his flush draw after getting creative himself with 96s. My hand held up and I tripled up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765988
Another set with 33. PUNIO was tight yet very easy to read. He would have raised KK or JJ hard preflop, so it was obvious that he had KJ here. Rivering quads for me was simply overkill. It was unfortunate for me that I gave him back his money a few days later when I had 99, he had KK and we each flopped a set (that hand wasn't saved).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765989
A SB special bottom 2 pairs, turned full-house, some LP had bottom pair + flush draw, didn't improve yet still pushed river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765990
A really good way to play against passive mice is to draw cheap against their big pairs, and then destack them when I hit. Perfect example here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765993
I knew I was probably against trip 8s when my continue-bet was called, but I received the best turn card possible. I was given a free card, took it, and completed my miracle straight flush. Perfect river card, giving opponent full house. I wish my opponent had more money.

2 hands from Jan 26:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?770673
I think my opponent was trying to represent the flush himself. Good thinking for him -- it would have worked if I only had AQ of a different suit or some other TP/overpair hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?770675
Opponent was a donk, and here he tried to bluff me off my flopped house. Was he also trying to represent a flush?

I was able to sneak in a decent session Monday evening. I continued Saturday's practice of multitabling both 25NL and 50NL.

50NL is definitely a different game from 25NL. People are tighter preflop. People raise or fold on the flop. My continuation bet with missed big cards got called by bottom pair much less frequently. These all mean certain strategy adaptations.

I played a steady game and made $150 over 5 tables, on the strength of 2 big hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?742742
This power move still works, even in 50NL. AA, preflop all-in, original PF raiser called with QQ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?742743
Playing against a reraise which usually means AA or KK, I knew I must flop a set with my 99 and not just an overpair to play for stacks. I flopped a set and min-raised my opponent. This was such a tough situation for my opponent, and he inevitably went broke.

The 25NL tables were less eventful. This is the biggest hand of the session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?742745
A few hands ago this player was a shortie and won a pot from me when I pushed a combo draw (bottom pair + FD) with 32 suited and didn't improve (he had top pair with Ace-rag). Here he must be thinking that I was full of crap again, and reraised me big preflop. But I had a real hand here. My QQ held up against his JJ, allowing me to get my money back.

I also snuck in a brief session before bedtime. It was anything but smooth. Hardly any big pots, and bad beats galore. Fortunately most of the bad beats involved only medium-small pots, and I only lost $15 at the end:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?743152
My only big winning hand of the session. K8s in BB, Flopped 2 pairs after calling a moderate PFR from SB. Scary board -- certainly not the time to get fancy -- and I correctly overbet shoved. He called. Turns out he had a combo draw -- the Ace of hearts and a gutshot, meaning I was only a slight favorite. Extra outs for him on turn, but my hand held up at the end.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?743155
Flopped a combo draw with KTs after I was the preflop aggressor. I had no idea that Apoc84 was chasing a gutshot and hit it on the turn. The river kind of saved me. Had it been another King (giving me trips) or Ten (2 pairs) I would have lost much more.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?743156
This opponent likes to play his draw aggressively. Here he pushed all-in with a 12-out combo draw, hit it and destacked me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?743159
KK was really no good for me on this night. Another short-stacked opponent chased a gutshot, caught extra outs on turn and hit on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?743161
A shortie going all-in preflop with AT. He rivered trip 10s and my JJ was smoked.

My weekend ended with a blast. After overextending my multitabling capability most of Thursday and Friday and losing ~75 in total, I got out of my funk on Saturday and won quite a bit of money.

A morning session and an afternoon session sandwiched chemistry. The morning session was unproductive -- 8 tables at a time were definitely too much to handle, I won't do it ever again. I won some, lost some, and at the end I ended up almost breaking even.

The afternoon session, however, was a totally different story. I had 3 tables of 0.25/0.50 and 2 tables of 0.10/0.25 running, and I won significant money on each of them. At different points I had 2 buy-ins at each of the NL50 tables, and I left with 3 and 2 buyins at the NL25 tables respectively. The end result was +>$200, with my bankroll now sitting at $1690.

Here are a few remarkable hands. All of them were from Saturday:

NL25:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736725
Trips in a raised pot ==> $$. This is a hand which I actually think I played well. Maybe opponent thought I was flush-drawing against his weak overpair. But I outflopped him big time, and when I sensed that he was pot-committed on the turn, I pushed all-in and destacked him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736741
Loose preflop limp, top-2 pairs on flop, added a flush draw on turn. Turns out I needed to outdraw SB who flopped a set, but I rivered another Q for the nuts anyways. I'm pleased with the result, but could I have played this differently?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736840
Loose preflop calls, but it wasn't like I had to cold-call 2 raises at the same time. Flopped a 14-out combo-draw, got a free card, and hit a flush quickly (yay). LP, who had QQ, decided to raise my river bet. I was putting him on trip Kings only so it was an easy shove for me. I'm glad he called me even without the King.

NL50:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736720
A small-blind special bottom-2-pairs against resistance. I turned a flush draw (much like hand 736741), and decided "what the hell, I'm going all-in". This time opponent only had QQ, and it was him who needed improvement. He didn't get it, and I collected a very nice $100 pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736721
An example why mixing up my game could help me paying off. Here I raised with T8s -- a favourite hand of mine -- in early position. Some opponent caught TP on flop and T2P on turn. He must be putting me on AA or KK. Little did he know I hit my straight draw with that Queen, and I successfully doubled up through him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736731
Another combo-draw situation -- FD plus 2 overcards. I hit my fair share of draws / combo draws today, but not here. I can however confidently say that I played this hand properly, and that's all I could ask for.

Tuesday was a tough day. Sure I still won some money -- I ended up with ~$1530, but I didn't have my A-game. I started out with a blast, destacking some fish with good hands and simple betting strategies. But I got complacent and started loosening up, and near the end I encountered some tough situations and failed to make the correct folds.

Tuesday night was more of the same. I was running great and was up over 1600 when disaster struck. I managed to crawl back into the green, ~$1541 at the end, but I went to bed with a sour taste in my mouth.

Wednesday I played 2 brief sessions at school, sandwiching the inorganic chemistry talk between 7pm to 8pm. The 1st session was brutal and dropped my bankroll below 1500, but I managed to pick better spots in the second session to bring my bankroll back to a respectable 1530.

A brief 1.5-hour session late in the evening went well. I pushed my ability to the limit as I was 6-tabling throughout, and I translated good play into $50. No big hands from this session -- just lots of aggressive betting and medium sized, $10-15 pots, and not much bad-beat.

Tuesday afternoon hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727276
Set over set in a raised pot. Tough break for my opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727277
My donkey opponent called a preflop raise with 92s and made a flop raise with a flush draw. It was an obvious push for me against a donk. It was a bad call by opponent, but the call wasn't as -EV as one might think. Thank God my Aces held up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727278
I lost half a buy-in here. Flopped set, only to lose to a running flush. #$+?%^&*#$^%*#&!~

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727279
Never min. raise. Never min. raise with Aces, never min. raise on a drawy board, never min. raise, ever (unless you're slow-playing a monster).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727282
When I have a winning session going I got complacent, and then I started pulling crap moves like these. Had I been playing fewer tables at the same time I might be able to make a read, represent AK myself and pull off a bluff.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727287
Another half of a buy-in donked off in this hand. If the chicken-bet on the flop wasn't bad enough, my river call certainly was. This hand made me quit the session altogether.

Tuesday night hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727948
I was sitting to the immediate left of 2 loose-aggressive players. Here I saw a good flop in a reraised pot, and I let gothenutbaby hang himself and bluff off a moderately-sized chunk of money.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727949
Sets are beautiful. I won almost another buy-in here with a set of 7s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727966
I couldn't believe so many people called my massive preflop reraise. The flop was quite bad, with a pair of 10s, but villain was too short for me to fold. Luckily he was only demi-demi-semibluffing with a gutshot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?728051
Twinpsych was another loose-aggressive player that I encountered this night, and he was actually quite good. But here he doubled me up when I turned a straight and check-raise pushed.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?728090
Flopped 2nd nut flush, only to lose to flopped nut flush -- this was the beginning of a ~$70 down-swing. Poker Gods hated me.

3 Wednesday hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?730136
My secret (well, it's not really a secret) to having such a huge BB/100 (~7.5) with AA is to play it hyperaggressively. This is the 1st hand at this table. Some player called me all the way, probably out of disbelief. I was glad he did that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?730139
Another AA hand, another preflop value shove, villain called with AJ (LOL)!?Beautiful.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?730140
I thought I hit a miracle gutshot, but it turned out to be a mauling. Should I get away and not call the shove? I guess it would be opponent dependent, but when I am 6-tabling I won't have much idea how my opponent plays.

Monday the 8th was another winning day. I started @ ~1425 and ended with ~$1500 so you could see everything was going well.

I played a very brief ~20 minute session at school. I sat down to the left of some huge-stack maniac and was targeting him throughout. Unfortunately such an opportunity never arose. I did however get involved twice in three consecutive hands. The 1st hand I had Q5 in BB and bet out 3x on flop and 6x on turn, with UTG, who wasn't a gem of a player, calling twice. I checked the river, board was Q9696 no flush, and I induced a 20x ($5 ) bluff from UTG who had T8s (a busted double gutshot).

Two hands later this happened -- http://www.pokerhand.org/?724720

This isn't really anything unusual, just AA vs KK preflop all-in, not even against my orignial target. Unfortunately for me I got bad-beaten here. Bummer. I was gone after that.

However I quickly rebuilt my bankroll late in the evening. I 4-tabled and played solid tight aggressive pretty much throughout. I had the PokerTracker software running in the background, and I was running at a solid 19 (VP$IP -- voluntarily put $ into pot) /10 (preflop raise %) and 18/6 at my 2 winningest tables. Good cards certainly didn't hurt -- I remember flopping 3 sets, got all-in on the flop against AA in 2 hands, and gradually destacking a semi-short-stacked player who had TPwK in the third hand (TT vs K5, board KT3). One of the former 2 hands resulted in another bad-beat (http://www.pokerhand.org/?725306, set with 88, opponent caught his Ace on turn), but a suckout by me later at a different table (AA against 2 donks, one of them had a real hand -- http://www.pokerhand.org/?725304) pretty much evened things up.

I also use PT to analyse my opponents in order to help me make the best decisions. For example, somebody raised 5x on the button, I called with JJ in SB, flop was 972, and everybody checked to button who bet pot (20x). I looked him up and realized he has never made a preflop raise over 50 hands. I quickly folded my Jacks.

My other 2 big hands were as follows:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?725303
This is the other set -- with 77 against AA. Ja Hunta is a regular poster @ liquidpoker.net so I figure he is quite knowledgable. Fortunately for me he couldn't get away from his hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?725308
I limp-called with a marginal hand (T8 offsuit) on the button, flopped a good draw and paid cheap to hit it. On the blank river card (a Queen) SB, the initial preflop raiser, shoved. It's rather unlikely that he raised with JT in SB preflop, so it was an easy call for me. Turned out he only had KK......what a donk.

Thursday and Friday were reasonably productive. Thursday I played a short little 1-hour session in the evening. I think I played well -- solid and reasonably tight, and I was able to make ~30 with a couple of moderate pots.

Friday I started earlier than usual, maybe during mid-afternoon. Things started horribly, but soon I was able to get into a groove and pulled off some aggressive plays, such as making strong continue-bets and bluffs. On this day everything worked out great. I made about $100, and my bankroll now sits at ~$1280.

A Saturday evening session followed a rare trend. I started out great by winning 2 enormous pots with AA preflop all-ins, before I started spewing chips all over the place, like making bluffs against opponents who had the goods. The net was +$25, which was real bad coz I once peaked at +$100 for the night.

Sunday evening was more productive than the previous night. A strong start was negated by some cold cards near the end, but I maintained a solid level of play throughout, and ended up keeping most of what I made earlier in the night. I started at ~$1310, peaked at ~$1470 and wound up with ~$1420 so it was a satisfactory session.

3 hands from Thursday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?715149
A successful straight draw, and my hand was fully paid off by opponent who had TP on flop and 2 pairs on river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?715151
Trips in a raised pot. I was able to get my opponent, who was less than stellar, to call my mild raise on the flop. When she hit top pair on turn I was able to destack her.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?715152
A good, perhaps even trivial fold of AK. Flopped TP + gutshot royal flush draw, yet EP bet out aggressively twice. Looks like he's trying to protect something and is afraid of a 4th club. When I didn't improve I threw my hand away. A weak opponent in LP paid off a flopped straight when she rivered a smaller straight.

Hands from Friday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717595
I had 2 big hands with successful gutshot straight draws. This is one of them. Opponent probably played his 2-pair hand too slow, and I was able to destack him after I caught my miracle 8.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717596
Flopped straight. Good check on the flop, allowing my opponents to catch up. The river King also allowed me to extract more from my opponents.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717597
I flopped top set with KK against opponent's JJ -- I was a 95:5 favorite -- and I still lost. Fortunately the pot wasn't overly big.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717603
A small pot with a bluff. I was putting opponent on a Queen, which meant that the river Ace was a good card for me to bluff at. Opponent claimed afterwards that he had the same hand (JT)......how believable was that?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717654
Laying down QQ. First, opponent cold-called 2 raises preflop. Second, I have displayed strength throughout the hand and yet he still came over the top. I put my opponent on Kings, and judging from the chat afterwards I was probably right, because he first asked me whether I laid down AA. When I said no he then asked whether I laid down QQ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717655
This is my other dream gutshot catch. I raised preflop with KQs on the button and made a continue-bet after I missed the flop. A weak player called. I caught a miracle J on the turn, and he donk-bet led into me. Was he flush-drawing? I shoved and he called. I didn't like the final heart, but he soon showed a set instead. Sweet pot.

Just 2 hands from Saturday night. I choose not to post any of my losing hands because, well, they were just too ugly.

Both of these hands are AA preflop all-ins:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?720717
This one I was against AK and KK. Imagine how I reacted after I saw the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?720718
This one I was against AK and JJ. This one involved more nail-biting. The JJ villain was a big donk and he could have called with a variety of hands. My biggest pot ever in terms of net amount gained.

Sunday evening hands:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?722984
Another miracle catch. I probably won't win much if a T, 9 or 6 appears on the board, but I got the perfect river card.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722985
Semi-bluffing my good 12-out draw twice. For a change I actually hit it on the river, and I was able to destack some MP player who played his flopped 2-pairs rather poorly.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722986
I had 99 -- an overpair on the flop. I raised for information, but didn't get any. Opponent was too short, however, and I decided to shove the turn. I thought I was toast when EP called all-in. But he only had overcards and not an overpair. How could he call that flop raise?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722987
Flopped trips, but was outdrawn. The end result would have been the same, but shoving the turn was definitely a better play coz opponent had so little behind.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722994
Set, turned full house against an absolute donk. He actually had a real hand here. But not surprisingly he could not lay it down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?723047
Laying down AK TPTK on flop. VCCI was quite unpredictable, and I decided to check ahead on the flop to see what the everyone would do. After the 3-bet by IM_Amazed and 4-bet by VCCI it was an obvious laydown. While it's possible they both have AK, it was more likely that at least one of them had AA or JJ (or maybe even KK).

With the holidays coming to an end I'll probably be playing less in the near future. I have truly enjoyed the game the past month. I hope to get my schoolwork back on track while working on a solid game and a steady win rate when I get to chance to play again.

My 10 best hands in 2006 (since I started recording them)

My definition of an interesting hand is a hand that involves a big pot and extremely good or extremely bad play.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?618860
Opponent, a total donk, played his AA the worst possible way, allowing me to catch a running straight for free and then fully paid me off!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?660877
QQ against a maniac -- I pushed on the flop of 467. Had it been another player I would play the hand more cautiously. But not against this player. Turns out he had a good draw, and I was only a slight favorite, but my overpair held up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?587053
A set played extremely fast -- massive overbet all-in on the flop, and opponent called.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662993
This hand has been posted before. I led out with the flopped full house, allowing my opponent to pay a fairly cheap price for a flush draw, and then pay me more (fully) after he hit.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?652540
Another hand that I posted before. Raising with suited crap (Q3d) preflop. I took my free card on flop and turned 2-pairs, and my opponent called my push. Rivering the full house was just overkill.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?631445
Defending my completed small blind. Turns out he had a real hand, but I flopped a good draw, check-raised opponent all-in and hitting my out on the river after I was called.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?636736
Raising preflop with T4s is probably a losing play in the long run, but here I got my opponent's stack when he flopped TPTK and I had trips. The spades on the board were scary but at the end I prevailed.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?656640
Flopped set with 88. I went for a check-raise on this flop, and it worked out charmingly. I was able to get SB to overcommit with TPwK.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?657136
Opponent underbet the flop allowing me to silently runner-runner an improbable full house with suited crap in BB, and my undetectable hand was fully paid off.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?609590
I flopped middle set with 66 and some donk check-raised me all-in with TP. Fun stuff.

Happy new year to all!

January 2nd and 3rd featured some more winnings. The Jan 2nd session started out poorly as I donked off $70+ with Bribri's account -- a combination of questionable plays and bad luck. Fortunately in the afternoon I more than undid my morning mistakes and soared back into the green. I had 3 NL25 tables going, and I also stuck around at a NL50 table for a lengthy stretch as I was trying to get to some fish (and I eventually did it with AA vs AK on a K-high flop -- http://www.pokerhand.org/?709667). A few big hands late in the day boosted my bankroll up to ~$1165 (already after refilling Bribri's account).

Mistakes aren't easy to undo. I should always remember this.

I also played an unexpected afternoon-evening session on Wednesday. It was quite productive. At one point I had doubled up at 3 of my 5 tables. At the end I had >3 buyins at 2 tables. But not everything was good. I started making loose plays, losing money and building a poor image at 2 other tables, necessitating me to top up my stack from time to time and eventually just get the hay out of there. At the end of the day my BR was a modest $1238, modest because at one point it peaked at $1260+.

Some interesting Tuesday hands. All of the at NL25 (0.10/0.25 blinds):

http://www.pokerhand.org/?709669

Some poor soul was dealt a SB-special top two-pair hand and thought it was good. Unfortunately for him I was salivating with bottom set.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?709670

This is a hand that needs serious analysis. I chased 7-outs -- a gutshot and overcard -- for a fairly small price, and hit the gutshot -- unfortunately once too often. I was aware of the possibility of a full house, but didn't have the discipline to fold to the check-raise. In retrospect I should've bet less on the river since my hand was pretty obvious from my betting. What hands were going to call my big turn check-raise and then another big river bet? Probably only a full-house or 65. Trip 4s probably won't call turn and any 2-pair hands on turn would have either improved to a house or been counterfeited (Q3, Q2, 32) and won't call river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?709692

I have seen this opponent limp with AA in early position a few days ago, and I got burned back then when I overcommit with KQ on a K-high board for almost half a buy-in ($12+). This time he had a chance to reraise preflop......his small reraise was a recipe for disaster, as it defined his hand almost completely (big pocket pair) while still allowing me proper implied odds to set-hunt (according to common belief a person can't set-hunt profitably if he has to commit >1/8 of his chips preflop). I hit my set on the flop, and the rest is straightforward. Almost all NL25 players don't know how to lay down Aces on a rag board. Flopping sets is fun!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?709741

I called a small raise preflop with suited crap, flopped a combo draw and hit both draws on turn (of course I only needed to hit 1 draw). Opponent played his AK terribly -- min. raise preflop, bet smallish on a flop that he hit and not repopping my check-raise, and then kept calling after he was outdrawn.

Quite a few Wednesday hands worth posting:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712325

T9 in late position, flopping top 2-pairs. Fireworks ensued -- BB went ape-shit with his hand, and some MP called all the way with what turned out to be a combo draw. Beside a set with 33 BB could as easily have worse 2 pairs, which was exactly what he had. Shortie MP hit his draw on the turn but I rivered the full house that allowed me to collect the 200+BB full pot. It would have been more fun if the ten of clubs appeared on the board -- it would have improved all 3 hands!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712326

KK, flopped full house, and then this donk check-raised with Ace-rag. I was so glad he was interested in tangling so I simply pushed. He called. Unfortunately my hand wasn't as strong as it looked. A full house like this only holds up ~77% of the time against higher trips. This was 23% of the time that I would get outdrawn, as he paired his rag (4) on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712328

Flopped straight with preflop-raised AQ. The sweet feeling was gone by the river when a second King arrived and I had to face an all-in raise by this semi shortie. There was so much in the pot, I had to call. I was praying for trip Kings only, but he showed the nut house and scooped up the pot. What else could I have done? Maybe push all-in on turn? That would have been an excessive overbet. I don't know.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712329

Flopped TP + gutshot royal flush draw, and hit the prettiest out on the river. A royal flush, and it was paid! My AQs was prettier than his.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712332

This happened right after the KK vs A4 house under house hand (712328). I flopped a small flush and doubled up through AJ 2-pairs unimproved. It did take away some of the sting from that suckout.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712333

An unsuccessful bluff. Next time know the player before making this play. =(

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712735

Another opponent played his AK feebly. Postflop I did everything right (raised for information, checked when suspecting that I fell behind, value-raised when I hit my miracle 6 on the river) and he did everything wrong. 1) A 3-bet on the flop by him was probably warranted. He had a flush draw and 2 overcards against a 9 or an overpair like TT to QQ, so he was actually ahead. Had he 3-bet I obviously would have folded. 2) I don't know why he checked the turn. He hit his out for Christ's sake! 3) Did he need to call that big an all-in at the river?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712737

Another bottom set vs. a blind-special top 2-pair situation with him drawing slim (4 outs for a boat). I managed to get him to call my all-in at the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712745

AA vs. KK preflop all-in for almost a full buy-in. The rich (me) just got richer.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?712761

Another miracle catch at the river. This time it was a Jack that gave me a full house. When he raised me I thought I had his AK trapped. Turned out he had K9 instead. Still the same -- I busted him with a house over a straight.