Queen it up

Villain is a bit loose over the few hands so far. I haven't played a hand.

PokerStars Game #18171722806: Tournament #92258795, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/16 - 06:49:45 (ET)
Table '92258795 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Sabrewolf (1440 in chips)
Seat 2: WazaAa86 (1670 in chips)
Seat 3: PeteythePete (1570 in chips)
Seat 4: Tackenberger (950 in chips)
Seat 5: HSB24 (1620 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1470 in chips)
Seat 7: DocReno (1360 in chips)
Seat 8: rock020567 (1990 in chips)
Seat 9: guivess (1430 in chips)
PeteythePete: posts small blind 15
Tackenberger: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Qh]
HSB24: folds
FR Vessant: raises 90 to 120

Standard raise early with QQ. I've taken to popping it up to 4x and it seems to work. You generally get one or two callers and much more rarely the four or five you can get with 3x.

DocReno: calls 120

They almost always have an ace. When you're running badly, an ace always flops. When you're going okay, you flop all undercards and the ace-rag guy hits his kicker and goes all the way.

rock020567: folds
guivess: folds
Sabrewolf: folds
WazaAa86: folds
PeteythePete: folds
Tackenberger: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kc 7c 5c]

Not as terrible as it looks at first glance. He has more aces than kings in his range, and I am at least drawing to the second nut flush

FR Vessant: bets 150
DocReno: calls 150

He most likely has a flush draw, possibly to the nuts, but I would expect him to play it harder if so

*** TURN *** [Kc 7c 5c] [Qd]

Now this presents an opportunity. I have a set and a flush draw that I have every reason to believe is to the nuts. So I don't mind giving a free card and if I check, I look a lot like someone who had a go on the flop and is now giving up.

FR Vessant: checks
DocReno: bets 420

And it works a treat.

FR Vessant: raises 780 to 1200 and is all-in
DocReno: calls 670 and is all-in

He has Ah8c. The call is beyond awful obv.

Uncalled bet (110) returned to FR Vessant
*** RIVER *** [Kc 7c 5c Qd] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Qc Qh] (a full house, Queens full of Kings)
DocReno: shows [Ah 8c] (a pair of Kings)
FR Vessant collected 2765 from pot

Nice. But then a few hands later...
Guivess is a weak player. He is decently tight but is far too aggro postflop and he'll stack off ridiculously light.

PokerStars Game #18171809228: Tournament #92258795, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2008/06/16 - 06:59:45 (ET)
Table '92258795 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Sabrewolf (1950 in chips)
Seat 2: WazaAa86 (3065 in chips)
Seat 3: PeteythePete (1495 in chips)
Seat 4: Tackenberger (2240 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (2690 in chips)
Seat 9: guivess (2060 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 25
guivess: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Tc As]
Sabrewolf: folds
WazaAa86: folds
PeteythePete: folds
Tackenberger: folds
FR Vessant: raises 100 to 150

Worth putting in a raise. You basically don't mind winning the blinds.

guivess: calls 100

He'll call pretty wide.

*** FLOP *** [4d 6d Ad]

Meh. Another monotone flop but we are not too scared because we don't ever put other blind on a flush here.

FR Vessant: bets 200

Smallish bet, but it's enough to fold out anything not legitimate.

guivess: raises 400 to 600

We don't believe he has anything to scare us here.

FR Vessant: raises 1940 to 2540 and is all-in

Lower the boom, and he should be folding.

guivess: calls 1310 and is all-in

But he makes a bad call even by his low standards. He has QcJd. Basically, he's gambling with just the flush draw. He's actually priced himself in against the hand I have because his play is so bad. He is getting just better than 2 to 1.

I guess you could consider that he has the best of it, but basically, this kind of being priced in is achievable simply by making a horrible bet on the flop that leaves you with few enough chips that any bet you call is good.

Uncalled bet (630) returned to FR Vessant
*** TURN *** [4d 6d Ad] [Td]

Sigh.

*** RIVER *** [4d 6d Ad Td] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Tc As] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
guivess: shows [Qc Jd] (a flush, Ace high)
guivess collected 4120 from pot
FR Vessant said, "wow"

He's actually been lucky against me before.

And in case you were thinking that because I had made one decent pot with QQ, the ladies love me...


PokerStars Game #18171943124: Tournament #92258766, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2008/06/16 - 07:14:40 (ET)
Table '92258766 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: boosh1313 (7850 in chips)
Seat 2: valueschka (1545 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (2740 in chips)
Seat 5: x walks x (1365 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
x walks x: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qd Qs]
boosh1313: folds
valueschka: folds
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 450

Standard raise.

x walks x: raises 915 to 1365 and is all-in

Even BvB, his push is bad. I think I might have pushed on his blind once though, so he's maybe interpreting my raise as weak. But I'm not going to be raising anything I think I can fold for 900 more. He has KhTh.

FR Vessant: calls 915

Get ready for that sick feeling.

*** FLOP *** [Qc Kd Ad]

I am not even excited about flopping a set, because I see that there is a nice straight draw, and obviously that's coming in by the river.

*** TURN *** [Qc Kd Ad] [4s]

Wait for it...


*** RIVER *** [Qc Kd Ad 4s] [Jd]

Boom!

*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Qd Qs] (three of a kind, Queens)
x walks x: shows [Kh Th] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
x walks x collected 2730 from pot
FR Vessant said, "oh man"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2730 | Rake 0
Board [Qc Kd Ad 4s Jd]
Seat 1: boosh1313 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: valueschka (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (small blind) showed [Qd Qs] and lost with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 5: x walks x (big blind) showed [Kh Th] and won (2730) with a straight, Ten to Ace

It got worse because the same guy picked up QQ a couple of hands later when I pushed with A9. So not only did I not knock him out, he gained enough chips from me to eliminate me! Oh well. I shouldn't grumble. In that set of eight, I won three, ran up once, and came third in another.