bluh

So I'm having a losing month and that sucks. Here's why:

PokerStars Game #27643370473: Tournament #159788147, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/04/29 21:04:56 ET
Table '159788147 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Bennitez (1425 in chips)
Seat 2: commiedoctor (700 in chips)
Seat 3: idofatties (1040 in chips)
Seat 4: BeSmart13 (1225 in chips)
Seat 5: XBluffDaddyX (2240 in chips)
Seat 6: Trainerboy30 (1250 in chips)
Seat 7: vice999 (1970 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (2040 in chips)
Seat 9: daulton05 (1610 in chips)
commiedoctor: posts small blind 50
idofatties: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad Qd]
BeSmart13: folds
XBluffDaddyX: folds
Trainerboy30: folds
vice999: folds
FR Vessant: raises 150 to 250

Standard raise.

daulton05: folds
Bennitez: calls 250

Fish calls.

commiedoctor: folds
idofatties: folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc 6d Jd]

That's a decent flop for me. I have a big combo draw and overcards.

FR Vessant: bets 400

So I lead out strong.

Bennitez: raises 775 to 1175 and is all-in

He probably has a jack. It goes without saying that there are no hands with jacks in them he should have here, except maybe JJ. I have a ton of outs, so I'm obviously not folding.

FR Vessant: calls 775

He has QsJs. So he called with a dominated hand and got lucky, but never mind, I have 15 outs and I'm a decent favourite to win the hand.

I don't think you can play this hand differently. It mostly plays itself. It's grossly unlucky that the fish's bad call was rewarded with a jack rather than a queen, but that's how it goes.

*** TURN *** [Tc 6d Jd] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 6d Jd 3s] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***


So I miss everything. Oh well, a few hands later, I call a shove with 99 and triple up when I flop a boat, so that's good. Not so good when I shove over a shortstack shove with 88, he has ATs and as happens monotonously, the ace comes on the flop. And turn, just in case I didn't get the message. I'm pretty sure my shove was good, although it would have been on the border probably, but obviously I'm going to be flipping always. I am beginning to think I can probably give up some of the thinner spots in the $10s because they're not as pressurised as the turbos. Not in this instance though. The guy's stats indicated a wide push, and you just can't fold 88 when the guy can be pushing raggy aces and small pairs that you crush. It's just one of those things to run into the upper end of his range.

Mind you, that has happened all month. Which would be okay, but if he had had A3, he still hit the ace, and that's been happening too. The problem is that you can't let yourself become gunshy as a consequence. My edge, thin as it seems to be, consists mostly of being more aggro than my opponents in the right spots (they are either not aggro enough or aggro in the wrong places).

On another table, I pick up QQ and raise. The button calls. He's another fish, so you can't take much out of his range. The flop comes A high.

It's time to start openfolding QQ.

So I cbet, even though my gut tells me to check and fold. He calls. I think he bet small on the turn and I called because I can see him just peeling with a pair, but yeah, he had A5s.

But I'm not kidding. How often can QQ get cracked?