Before I go on I would like to talk about another hand which I forgot about during the first level!
Simon opened from second to act to 150, small blind called so I over peel with
The flop comes
So I"ve flopped the second nuts. weeeeeeeeeee mbsfn! However the board is very dangerous. Before I can decide whether to lead the flop or not (I was leaning towards betting out) the sb to my surprise bets 300.
Now I knew he had something but I was fairly confident I had the best hand. I don"t think he"d lead with the nut straight here so I just flatted because:
1) Although I"m winning I"m not looking to get my chips in on this flop. Villian could have a very good combo draw and I"d have very little equity against his hand.
2) Simon may re raise us both with an overpair which will help build the pot for me and also help define the sb"s hand
3) It"s level one! let"s not go crazy just yet!
So I call and Simon folds. The turn card brings the td Great. If I am winning my chances of getting some value from this hand might be stuffed! The sb leads once more this time for 600. Now I could raise for value here- however I"m likely only to get action from hands that tie with me and the villian will certainly shut down the river if I raise now. I"m thinking he either has a 9 too, or maybe two pair or a set. Flatting also could mean I"m on the flush draw and the villian may have to pay me off if he checks to me. Continuing with my small ball style I just call once more hoping for a safe river so I can take sb to value town
Unfortunately the ugliest card in the deck falls the
Puke! Now villian tank/leads for 1k. I am beating nothing on this board and only tying with a 9. I reluctantly fold my straight and later he tells me he had a boat which I fully believe!
Sometimes poker can be such an easy game. You raise with qh qs you get a qd tc td and before you can think about extracting value your opponent had bet into you! Sometimes however it can be the sickest of the sickest games in the world! This APAT was beginning to have a familiar feel about it......
Back to second level 4kness. I tighten up a little bit but continue to limp in position- playing flops and trying not to get too bogged down with my stack- after all I still have 40 bigs. I managed to run my stack back up to 6k and go on break to discuss my sick hands with Kev and tuck into the "buffet" Unfortunately Kev is also on a similar stack after getting his money with 10 10 on a 9 high flop against A9 only for the turn AND the river to be an ace. However we still now there"s plenty of play left and time to rebuild our stacks. I must say- I give Kev a lot of ribbing about his game but it has improved no end over the last 12 months and his results locally have been much better than mine. However he still has the tendency to do Mike matasow blow ups with huge stacks!!!
After an early dinner I"m ready to get back in the saddle and continue small balling it up! I decided however I needed to play a little more aggressive in position. After a couple rounds of the button I"ve noticed that the gentleman to my right keeps limp/folding so I decide I"m going to try and hoover up his chips. I had Val gray and Simon on my left but they hadn"t shown any tendencies to go crazy and 3 bet so I felt that with position I could either take down the dead money or play a flop in position. So said gentleman limps in cut off- I look down at J2 and make it 750 to go. Unfortunately Val colds calls from the small and said gentleman, as predicted folds. Val then leads on an 8 high board and I fold, cursing my timing and back down to 5k. Marvelous!
Next hand a player to my 2 to my left makes it 525 to play. I look down at :as:
and 3 bet to 1550 for a few reasons:
1) GTFO small ball poker
2) I sensed some weakness from said player
3) A teensy bit of tiltage
Number 2) was the main reason I 3 bet. I thought I could take control of the pot but also that Mr player was weak.
My player calls (somewhat unexpectedly) and we"re heads up to the flop. I am probably shoving most flops he checks to me, whether I hit or not so when the board comes :
:
it"s a shock when he bets 2.5k! I only have about 3.5 back!
Now I start to run through his hand range. What could he have on such a dry board?
1) He could have slow played JJ-AA. I"m pretty sure that he doesn"t have QQ or JJ as my stack size would probably have meant he stuck me all in pre. However I do think he might have slow played the two best pre flop hands in poker. However if you"re going to take this line wouldn"t you check on such a dry board? Maybe if it comes down
or qs
your putting me but surely not this board? So I discount those. For the same reasons I discount a set.
2) Much more likely is a weaker 9 or even a draw like
I look over at him and he really doesn"t look comfortable. Live poker FTW. I stick my chips in and when he asks how much more it is I do cartwheels (metaphorically of course) My opponent has to call the 1k or so extra and flips
See how easy poker can be? I still get the sick sweat when the
comes down but a ks on the river sees me double up to around 11k. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee..............
