Just played a late night session and some interesting and funny hands came up.

Overall had a pretty swingy session with a lot of coolers but I think I finished up around 5.


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HAND #1
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This guy was a reg who had a solid game. After quite a boring match I started to really up the aggression and was donk betting and raising him relentlessly and he wasn't adjusting.


$0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $100.05
Hero (BB): $92.28

Pre-Flop: Q 5 dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to $1.50, Hero calls $1

Flop: ($3) 3 5 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $2.25, BTN raises to $7, Hero raises to $25, BTN calls $18

Turn: ($53) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($53) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $38, Hero calls $38

Results: $129 Pot ($1 Rake)
BTN showed 7 6 and LOST (-$64.25 NET)
Hero showed Q 5 and WON $128 (+$64 NET)

So I was expecting a tonne of credit here being my first flop 3bet as he was a straight forward player.

I know he will shove his sets/overpairs when I 3bet this big, leaving only some big draws and some top pair type hands that will call (but I am pretty sure he will fold most of them).

Once he bets the river I am pretty sure I am ahead as I feel a large portion of his betting range here is going to be missed draws. I think any hand he has with showdown value is going to be more than happy to check behind and he definitely does not value bet thinly. I doubt he ever has J9 or TT+ here.

The only thing I don't like about this hand is my flop 3bet sizing, but after seeing what he called with I guess I don't mind it so much now.



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HAND #2
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Same guy as last hand, except I could tell he was now very frustrated against me as I was being extremely aggressive, donking and raising him relentlessly (even more so deep).


$0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $94.23
Hero (BTN): $149.12

Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero raises to $1.25, BB raises to $5, Hero calls $3.75

Flop: ($10) T 5 9 (2 Players)
BB bets $7.50, Hero raises to $16, BB raises to $51, Hero raises to $144.12 and is All-In, BB calls $38.23 and is All-In

Turn: ($188.46) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($188.46) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $188.46 Pot
BB showed A Q and LOST (-$93.73 NET)
Hero showed A K and WON $242.35 (+$148.37 NET)


As bad as this sounds I quite enjoyed watching this guy break down by frustrating him with a lot of aggression and seeing just how much it affected his play.


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HAND #3
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These next three hands were against a guy who started out playing decent but later turned into a seriously crazy aggressive donk. Hands are in no particular order.


$0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $192
Hero (BTN): $108.63

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero raises to $1.25, BB raises to $3.75, Hero raises to $9.75, BB calls $6.25

Flop: ($20) Q A 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($20) 4 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($20) 8 (2 Players)
BB bets $15, Hero raises to $60, BB calls $45

Results: $140 Pot ($1 Rake)
BB showed 8 6 and LOST (-$69.50 NET)
Hero showed K K and WON $139 (+$69.25 NET)




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HAND #4
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$0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $136.76
Hero (BB): $158.76

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to $2.50, Hero raises to $7.50, BTN calls $5

Flop: ($15) 4 5 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets $10, BTN calls $10

Turn: ($35) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($35) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $35, Hero calls $35

Results: $105 Pot ($1 Rake)
BTN showed 6 K and LOST (-$52.25 NET)
Hero showed K A...

Hi,

I will be using this blog to record my progress playing solely heads up poker, starting at the micro's and hopefully moving my way towards the bigger and tougher games.

Background

I have played upto NL400 6max but due to swongs I am back down playing a mix of NL100 and NL200.

I feel I can beat up on those games pretty good but I have just become so bored of it that I have decided to switch to HU. It just feels like such a dull grind and not as much fun.

I know the variance is going to be much worse than 6max but I enjoy HU so much more and I find it pretty addictive trying to figure opponents out and constantly making adjustments according to how they play.

Goal for now is to just become a really good HU player and move upto MSNL sometime quickly.


In the past I would refuse to ever play NL50 or lower as it just seemed retarded after playing a lot higher, but i'll make an exception:

I'm pretty sure you can just play upto NL400 playing a really solid style and sticking to a certain strategy and be a winner. I know alot of people who do.

But the goal now is to really start focusing on people I play against and figure out how they are playing certain hands down to the finest details. Thinking about every action they take and why they do it and trying to understand how they think about things is a bit of a challenge, but it quickly becomes quite addictive once you figure out something and start to really beat up on your opponent mid match.

I think NL50 is a good place to start and I really don't mind playing it. I'll still be playing 6max at my normal stakes occasionally but I'll be focusing mainly on HU for now.