Back to the Grind

Well the main reason for me not playing poker anymore was because someone very close to me had made me promise them not to gamble anymore due to philisophical idealogies, however after showing this person my dedication to the game and my skill level they have since taken back the promise which is why I am pleased to announce my Muhammed Ali like return to the ring (bonus points if you got the reference).


With that being said, I will once again document my wins and losses for everyone to see as well as some key hands, my throught processes behind these hands and a new segment called 'How would you play it' for Sarah and Greg as they are getting into the game and want to learn and get better at reading situations and players.

I do not recommend anyone playing below 20 buy-ins for effective bank-roll management, but for the purposes of this blog I am only documenting my profit/loss statement.  As my game of choice is 1/2 No Limit Texas Hold Em, with the max buy-in at the table for $300, the ideal bank-roll for this game would be $6000.  Basically this helps with swings and variances.

I went to the casino today to again, re-grind a new bankroll and just to play for the sake of playing really, and bought in for $100 to get back into the game.  Didn't really see many familiar faces, but with the bad-beat jackpot at 130 grand, I decided to play tight and just chase the bad-beat so to speak.  Woke up with a few hands here and there and stole some pots and eventually turned my 100 dollars into 150, which leads us to our first hand worth mentioning.

I was on the button with 4h Td, and 6 limpers pre-flop.  I had no business in this pot but I wanted to mix things up a bit and see how many people were donkeys at my table.  Flop comes 4d Qs 7h.  It gets checked to me, so I bet 12 dollars, and everyone folds except for a guy in mid position, I watched him play prior to this hand and identified him as an internet donkey (someone who overvalues their hands). He calls my 12 dollars and the turn is a 7s.  He checks, and I fire 40 dollars thinking I could just steal the pot, he waits a good 3 minutes then calls, Immediately I put him pocket Jacks.  Don't ask me how I put him on that hand, but I did.  River is a 2c and he checks again and I push All-in for my remaining 90 hoping to take it away from him.  He haws and hums and he asks me if I have a Queen.  I respond "Your Jacks are no good here, just fold" he thinks again for 3 minutes and goes, I know you have a Q ueen, but I have to call.  And calls and sure enough shows Pocket Jacks and therefore he wins the pot.  I just laughed to myself and said, sweet, my read was right and I'll get those chips back soon enough.  So after this hand I'm down 100 dollars for the day.  Now, he puts me on a Queen, which is superior to his hand and still calls me for over 150 dollars, which tells me I can set this guy up big time later on.

I rebuy for another 100 and immediately see Ah Kc, and raise to 15 from UTG.  I get 6 callers, I'm assuming because they figured I was on tilt after losing that hand with the Jacks.  Flop comes Ac 8s 4h.  I immediately push all in with my remaining 85 dollars, since well, there was already 90 dollars in the pot and I was perfectly happy with it.  I get 2 callers, everyone else folds.  Turn is a Kh, and river is a 5h.  I turn over 2 pair, and the other two people show AQ and AJ.  which works out very well for me as now i'm sitting with 300 chips in front of me.

After a few more hands and a few more hours, I am UTG (Under the gun) again, as it was straddled and I see Ah Ac, I was like oh.. hello Aces, nice to meet you!  Some guy raises to 7, I immediately reraise to 22, and I get 2 callers, the guy who had the JJ from the previous mentioned hand and the original raiser.  Flop comes 6h 6d 8s.  Not exactly the best flop for AA, but I fire out 50 dollars and both of them call me.  Turn is a Td and everyone checks to the river.  The river is the As, which fills me up and I know I have the best hand now since 66 was definately not there.  The donkey fires out 35 dollars (into a 200 dollar pot) and the other guy immediately calls.  I hollywood for a bit and decide that this is where I get my money back from the donkey and reraise to 200.  The donkey calls, as does the the other guy.  Donkey has... 8s9h.  no joke.. he called with third pair.. on a paired board.  The original raiser shows a T8 for two pair, and of course I show a full house and make 700 dollars on the pot.  I left shortly after that, so I cashed out 700 dollars, but I was in for 200 dollars so my net profit for the day is 500 dollars.  Not too bad for 5 hours of poker

How would you play this hand?

I had JsTh on the button and called a 12 dollar pre-flop raise.  flop comes 8s 9c 4h.  The original raiser, who is pretty agressive bet 60 dollars.  I only have 140 dollars in front of me and it's folded to me.  I took quite some time to think about this one, and I actually put him on AK.  My thought proces was that I have 2 over cards, and an open-ended straight draw, which means any 7 any Queen, any Ten, any Jack improves my hand with 2 streets to go.  that's, 14 outs which is roughly 56% of the time I will hit my hand.  I am getting better than 2 to 1 on my money, but the only problem is, there are 2 people to act behind me.  I mucked the hand, and as soon as I did I regretted it.  Would you play it any differently?  I was in a shove/fold situation, I knew I couldn't call the 60, so I had to either fold or push all in.  Against an agressive player, would you push?  Let me know your reasons why or why not.  Keep in mind that this was before I lost the 140 dollars to the donkey with JJ so my mind was fresh and I wasn't tilting.  I just didn't want to gamble I guess.  but who knows.

Anyways, Im back and tomorrow I will post more hands and give you an update with my play from tomorrow.

Happy Thursday and it's back to gaming for me!