Two hands

These hands look a bit perverse, but I had my reasons. I think getting these right is the key to doing very well rather than just quite well. Of course, I'm not sure I got them right. I wouldn't advise a beginner to play these hands in this way, because you're just asking for trouble.

PokerStars Game #18209349337: Tournament #92460769, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/06/17 - 22:15:48 (ET)
Table '92460769 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: tookielover (2740 in chips)
Seat 2: Sheantu (1050 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1370 in chips)
Seat 4: vaaaarga (2138 in chips)
Seat 5: mrjones415 (1912 in chips)
Seat 6: McDeezQueens (2150 in chips)
Seat 8: crtptrsn (1440 in chips)
Seat 9: Vildsvinet (700 in chips)
Sheantu: posts small blind 50
FR Vessant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Jd Qd]
vaaaarga: folds
mrjones415: folds
McDeezQueens: folds
crtptrsn: folds
Vildsvinet: folds
tookielover: folds
Sheantu: raises 150 to 250

I think his range is fairly wide here. Normally I would fold, but his bet just looks a little small, so I think that I can put him on a wide range, play top pair like it's the nuts, and also push him off flops that don't seem likely to have hit him. I don't often make this call, but it felt right against a tight and fairly aggro player.

FR Vessant: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [Qs 2d 3h]

Boom.

Sheantu: checks
FR Vessant: bets 400

Easy to play from here.

Sheantu: calls 400

He is going to rep AQ by stopping and going it. But I would need to be really unlucky if he had it, not least because if he really did, he'd nearly always shove it over.

*** TURN *** [Qs 2d 3h] [3c]
Sheantu: bets 400 and is all-in

There's his SnG.

FR Vessant: calls 400

Easy call. He has KT.

*** RIVER *** [Qs 2d 3h 3c] [5c]

Villain in this hand is 33/14/8. That's super aggro and he calls our preflop raise with a wide range.


PokerStars Game #18209367062: Tournament #92460769, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/06/17 - 22:16:44 (ET)
Table '92460769 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: tookielover (2740 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (2420 in chips)
Seat 4: vaaaarga (2138 in chips)
Seat 5: mrjones415 (1912 in chips)
Seat 6: McDeezQueens (2150 in chips)
Seat 8: crtptrsn (1440 in chips)
Seat 9: Vildsvinet (700 in chips)
vaaaarga: posts small blind 50
mrjones415: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [As Tc]
McDeezQueens: folds
crtptrsn: folds
Vildsvinet: folds
tookielover: folds
FR Vessant: raises 150 to 250
vaaaarga: folds
mrjones415: calls 150

The call is not that great with the hand he actually had. Shoving over would have been better, if he wanted to play it at all.

*** FLOP *** [3c 6c 3d]
mrjones415: checks
FR Vessant: checks

I check behind. When an aggro player checks an obvious bluffing flop to you, it's okay to check it back. He likely plans to shove over my cbet, guessing that this did not hit me. If he had hit the flop, he probably bets it.

*** TURN *** [3c 6c 3d] [Jc]
mrjones415: bets 400
FR Vessant: calls 400

I simply do not believe him here and think I have the best hand. He's very very aggro, and I've shown weakness on the flop. You have to call at least some of the time in this spot because a player like him will not often have a jack, and will never have the flush. The former is just unlikely and the latter he will never bet here. Why would he? I clearly have overcards and cannot call a sizeable bet unless I have AJ, so a bet with the flush just won't get paid. Maybe he wants to stop me drawing to the Ac? Well, he can do that more cheaply and it's not the kind of thing aggrotards worry too much about anyway. I have 12 outs against a Jx hand that doesn't have a bigger club than mine, so I have a decent shot even when I have read him wrongly.


*** RIVER *** [3c 6c 3d Jc] [Kc]

I am ahead like always here, but I really doubt he can have anything that would call a bet. It's possible also that he was semibluffing on the turn, so I prefer to show down and lose bets from KJ or worse flushes, which I doubt are much of his range the way the hand played, than to pay off better ones.

mrjones415: checks
FR Vessant: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mrjones415: shows [9h Qs] (a pair of Threes)
FR Vessant: shows [As Tc] (a flush, King high)

Nice. I'm sometimes going to lose this hand, but I think that it does you good sometimes not to let aggro players have an easy ride against your PF raises. I would usually fold on the turn, even though it looks like a bluff, but minimising risk does not mean taking none at all.