Friday night 1-3NL at Ameristar.
My favorite hand so far:
I open raised to 10 from middle position with 9Ts and only get called by the BB, who has me covered. Flop was J Q x. He checked, I bet 10, he called. The turn was a low card, he checked, and I checked. The river was an 8 (no flush). He bet out 20. I raised to 60 and he thought for a long time, then finally called. When I turned over my hand he said that was the one hand he didn't put me on.
I have read that you frequently make the most money when you play in a style opposite of your usual style. I have been playing very tight, but looking for opportunities to open raise with lower suited connectors to balance out my range. This was one of those hands where everything just worked out perfectly.
Later I was in the BB with QJo. There was an early-position raise to 10 and 2 callers. I called. Flop was 9sThAs. I checked, the raiser bet 20, both callers called, and I called. Turn was 4h. I checked, he bet 65, one guy folded and the other called. I called. River was 7s (3rd spade). I checked and they both checked. They both had AK with no flush.
I understand pot odds and implied odds, but at the table, in the moment, I have a really hard time calculating them. I have a pretty good idea of what to do, and I don't spend a lot of time struggling to make a decision, but sometimes I have nagging doubts about whether I did the right thing. In this case, I had 105 left after the turn, the raiser had me covered, but the other guy had less. The flop call was easy: the pot was 100, I just had to call 20, and there was no action behind me. I had to be worried that the flush took away 2 of my outs, but I couldn't be sure. The call on the turn was probably more marginal, but it still looks right to me. I was getting less than 4 to 1, but I was counting on getting action if I made the nuts. I think Harrington would have been OK with that call. One thing I don't remember clearly was if I had a plan for what I would do if I made my straight with a third flush card. That is something I should have had a good idea about before I made either of those calls.
I got really sleepy that night, and purposely played a little longer after that to try to work on my stamina, but not so long that I started playing badly. I ended up taking a $10 loss at the NL table, but I was still up $60 from Omaha earlier, so it wasn't a bad night.
Saturday night 1-3NL at Ameristar.
I open raised to 10 from late position with 66 and get called by the blinds. The flop was KK8. The blinds checked, I bet 10, and they both folded.
This hand really helped me adjust my mindset from limit poker to no limit. I have been reading all this theory, but I have had a hard time seeing myself putting certain plays into practice, I think this is because of all the years I have played limit hold 'em. In (low) limit, when I get a small pocket pair, I want to see a cheap flop and I almost always give up if I don't flop a set. On a board like KK8, I would be so done with pocket 6s. But here, I raised preflop and I'm in position. Finally I'm seeing that in situations like this, it really doesn't matter what cards I have. That flop was perfect because it's so likely my 2 opponents missed completely. My sixes probably really were the best hand, but that's not really the point. To succeed in tournament play, I'm going to have to be able to take advantage of situations where I can bet with confidence to win pots without necessarily having the best cards. That is one of my biggest weaknesses, and this little pot was a baby step in the right direction.
My first real bluff: I limped behind some other limpers with JTo. The flop was 8 9 x, and I called a bet (forgot the details). The turn was a blank and it checked around. The river was an ace and it was checked to me. I bet and won the pot.
I didn't doubt that this was a good play, but it was still nice that it worked.
Later I called a $6 button straddle from middle position with Ah6h. I didn't expect the straddle to raise because he had done this a few times already. There were 5 players and no one raised. The flop was Jack high with 2 hearts. A guy in early position bet 12, the next player folded, and I raised to 35. I expected the bettor to call and was hoping everyone else would fold, which is what happened. Since I had position, I was hoping to get a free river card if need be, and also hoping that by getting heads-up, my ace would be good if it hit. The turn was a blank, he checked, and I checked. The river was the ace of spades. He bet 40 and I called. He turned over a busted straight draw, no pair.
Everything worked perfectly in this hand.
Monday night 1-2NL at Hollywood.
I didn't take notes that night, so I don't remember this hand exactly, but this is the main idea...
There were several limpers pre-flop, which was typical for this table, and I limped in on the button with KTo. The flop was K 3 6 rainbow and it was checked to me and I bet. The BB called, maybe somebody else called too. The turn was a 10. The BB led out betting, if anyone else was in they folded, and I just called. The river was unremarkable, but there was no straight or flush possible. The BB bet again, a good sized bet. I felt sure I had the best hand. The only better hand I could think of that he might play this way was pocket 10s, but even then I would have expected him to go for a check raise. I really thought he must have had a worse 2 pair, but I didn't really spend a lot of time thinking it through. I just called. He turned over T3 for a worse 2 pair and I won the pot.
I think I should have raised on the river, but raising for value on the river is not a situation that had come up for me before. If I would have stopped to think about it longer, I think I would have raised. Calling doesn't seem like a huge mistake, but I'm not really sure about that one. In a tournament situation, though, I have to be able to raise there.
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