wham bam thank you ma'am

If you want to know the most infuriating thing in an STT, it is not the allin suckout, which you come to expect. It is this:

PokerStars Game #29788410103: Tournament #174709378, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/06/25 23:22:43 ET
Table '174709378 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Sucho11 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: harry580 (3040 in chips)
Seat 4: push2shock (1440 in chips)
Seat 5: BigSlick1972 (1680 in chips)
Seat 6: swinger92 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1380 in chips)
Seat 8: olly_e (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: SCRAAPNBY (1500 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 10
olly_e: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [4c 3c]
SCRAAPNBY: folds
Sucho11: folds
harry580: folds
push2shock: folds
BigSlick1972: folds
swinger92: folds
FR Vessant: calls 10

I actually misclicked but it's okay. I don't mind playing that.

olly_e: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh 8s 3d]
FR Vessant: checks
olly_e: checks

I could bet my bottom pair, but olly_e is fairly passive so I'm content to check it down.

*** TURN *** [Qh 8s 3d] [4h]
FR Vessant: bets 40
olly_e: calls 40

Well now I have two pair, so I won't be checking anything. I bet pot but I'm not supposing he'll call. When he does, I figure he must have a 4 or maybe an 8.

*** RIVER *** [Qh 8s 3d 4h] [Jd]
FR Vessant: bets 60

So I bet for value.

olly_e: raises 120 to 180

WTF. Could he have JT? Jhxh? A queen that he's slowplayed? I think these are all likely so I can't fold.

FR Vessant: calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
olly_e: shows [8h Js] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)

That's nice.

Anyway, I won it all back when we got it in with QQ and KK.

***

In the same tourney, this hand came up. This is a bit more interesting. I'm not sure that I didn't play this badly on every street! But it seemed right at the time.

Earlier on, we had had a hand where I had A8s in the BB and called a minraise. The flop had come 8 high but I checked it to him. (It was earlier in the tourney, so I wasn't aware that he was playing 79/46.) He checked it back and the turn paired 5s. I bet and he called. The river was a 9 and I checked it to him. He overbet the pot pretty big, so I folded. That was a poorly played hand in retrospect. I like to check and call the flop, but bet/folding the river is better than checkfolding. Although he is loose and aggressive, not many people will bluff when there's a pair on the board and you're in the big blind, and few villains in the $11s will bluff with hands that have showdown value, so I'd figure to be against a better hand often if he raised.

Anyway:

PokerStars Game #29788677115: Tournament #174709378, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/06/25 23:34:46 ET
Table '174709378 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Sucho11 (1385 in chips)
Seat 3: harry580 (3660 in chips)
Seat 4: push2shock (1595 in chips)
Seat 6: swinger92 (2445 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (2235 in chips)
Seat 8: olly_e (590 in chips)
Seat 9: SCRAAPNBY (1590 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 15
olly_e: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Td Tc]
SCRAAPNBY: folds
Sucho11: folds
harry580: raises 30 to 60
push2shock: folds
swinger92: folds
FR Vessant: calls 45

I could and probably should threebet. Because I'm not watching the game closely, I hadn't realised who had raised.

I generally flat midpairs OOP though, and you could definitely argue against threebetting here because it allows the tard to shove over and make you fold.

olly_e: folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 4h 6d]
FR Vessant: bets 120

I lead out because I am not going to risk him taking the free card.


harry580: calls 120

He doesn't have to have much here. His range is still very wide, although it's quite likely only strong hands and air, because he'd play more moderate hands faster (play everything faster bar monsters).

*** TURN *** [7d 4h 6d] [Jh]
FR Vessant: checks

I check to induce a bluff. I'm not keen on giving a free card here, but I'm pretty sure he will bet.

harry580: checks

Whoops.

*** RIVER *** [7d 4h 6d Jh] [9d]

Well, that's not a great river to say the least. Several draws got there. But I am quite doubtful he had a flush draw. If he did

FR Vessant: checks
harry580: bets 330

Well, I induced the bluff so I have to call, right?
FR Vessant: calls 330
*** SHOW DOWN ***
harry580: shows [9s Kh] (a pair of Nines)

Nice.

Later in this game I stacked off with KQs on a K high flop against a nitty sort of guy who had also paired his kicker. That left me with 300 chips. But here's the thing. I didn't give in. I kept shoving, taking risks, mad risks. And they paid. I won it. It's easy to hate poker. It's a rubbish game. You do the right thing and get burnt. But sometimes it's just brilliant.