Hello,

Firstly, I know I have some vid thread comments to answer, so Koerperkarle, Kitsune101 etc I will get to them, it's just that I tend to write proper essay answers rather than just write a few one liners, and that takes more time. Hopefully today.

Secondly, after a good first month of the year, biggest month in around 15 months actually, I'm on a bit of a downswing this month. There's lots of runbad breakers that I preach, but one I've found most effective is to write a blog like this stating that I'm going to review all the big and otherwise interesting hands I'm about to play. So, to be continued ...............

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'The Gambler, Kenny Rodgers'




So, session was a bit weird. There was a mental new (apparent) reg who was 3betting like 25% at 6max in most positions, 4betting a ton as well, both folding to 5bets and calling off ridic light. I got in 44 VS his AJ and lost, won JJ vs his TT, won AA vs his AJ, etc. Meant the session had weird gameplay as I essentially just had to nit it up and wait for top 6% of hands to 4bet call it off or 3bet/5bet.

So I'll just post the few interesting ones and some from yesterday:


$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO lefou322 ($1,196.90)
BTN grogheadflow ($913.92)
SB yogahio ($481.92)
BB PUNISHER113 ($1,287.41)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 4 players) grogheadflow is BTN 9 9
1 fold, grogheadflow raises to $10, 1 fold, PUNISHER113 calls $6

Flop: 4 10 10 ($22, 2 players)
PUNISHER113 checks, grogheadflow bets $15, PUNISHER113 calls $15

Turn: 5 ($52, 2 players)
PUNISHER113 checks, grogheadflow bets $40, PUNISHER113 calls $40

River: K ($132, 2 players)
PUNISHER113 checks, grogheadflow bets $88, PUNISHER113 calls $88

Final Pot: $308

Hmm so this one, villain is a weak reg incapable of decent hand reading and fairly unaware of ranges. Balance wise I dislike the size of my river bet VS a decent player, with this betsize I'm repping a thin value bet where I think my aim should be to rep nuts or a fairly ambitious bluff (from these positions), where the fairly ambitious bluff with something like 32/a3/a2/76/86/87 makes up a decent part of my range. In terms of basic handreading, he'd probably raise Tx earlier on in the hand, but JJ (given deepness so afraid of 3betting) and Axs are outside possibilities.


$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG grogheadflow ($233.28)
UTG+1 lefou322 ($217.79)
CO benbenben462 ($77.57)
BTN gentladyes ($104.94)
SB BallBagGiver ($209)
BB CardGod253 ($251.37)

Pre-Flop: ($3, 6 players) grogheadflow is UTG J A
grogheadflow raises to $6, 3 folds, BallBagGiver calls $5, 1 fold

Flop: 10 8 4 ($14, 2 players)
BallBagGiver checks, grogheadflow bets $10, BallBagGiver calls $10

Turn: K ($34, 2 players)
BallBagGiver checks, grogheadflow bets $26, BallBagGiver raises to $64, grogheadflow goes all-in $217.28

Final Pot: $315.28


Villain is nitty PF 17/15, but has some postflop aggression. Not a huge winner. I can't give him KT from PF, and given positions and board texture I should probably take out around 70% of set combos after his flop flat.



$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
grogheadflow (CO) ($400)
BTN ($1,129.02)
SB ($1,278.34)
BB ($1,134.21)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 4 players) grogheadflow is CO 10 9
grogheadflow raises to $10, 2 folds, BB raises to $35.60, grogheadflow calls $25.60

Flop: 10 5 8 ($73.20, 2 players)
BB bets $56.56, grogheadflow calls $56.56

Turn: 9 ($186.32, 2 players)
BB bets $116.67, grogheadflow calls $116.67

River: 3 ($419.66, 2 players)
BB bets $292.01, grogheadflow calls $191.17

This guy, man he just 3bets a ton and barrels 3 streets a ton, way out of line and completely unbalanced. At least VS everyone else, VS me he just always has it, and not because he 3bets me any less than other guys PF. I think in times gone past I'd have just been like omg I need to stay away from this guy, but experience has given me the confidence that one of these days I'm going to flop at least a top pair and use my middle button clicking skills to finally win a hand. Turn was a real MUST. RESIST. URGE. TO. SHOVE, and in doing so resolving to call river whatever 3flush or 4 straight came along.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($802.41)
UTG+1 ($418)
CO ($497.60)
grogheadflow (BTN) ($803.20)
SB ($402)
BB ($404)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 6 players) grogheadflow is BTN K K
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $12, 1 fold, grogheadflow raises to $36, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $24

Flop: 4 J 8 ($78, 2 players)
UTG+1 checks, grogheadflow bets $40, UTG+1 calls $40

Turn: Q ($158, 2 players)
UTG+1 checks, grogheadflow bets $84, UTG+goes all in

Final Pot: $242

Villain is clawviper on stars, a reg....... I seem to encounter these spots far more often than I should. For most people, turn is a mandatory bet to protect bluffs. Similar spots occur when we're OOP on a wet board say with JJ on T93ss and we turn Ko. Instinctively, I feel like I need to develop a different plan on these wettish turn scarecards with both bluffs and value. Essentially, our bluffs aren't working enough as although the turn is a 'scare' card, it's more scary for us than villain and he just has improvement potential or nutted hands too much of the time. At the same time, value is thin on the ground and if we ever make a mistake to a check shove (folding to JT in the hand example, or calling off with 6% equity) we're losing a lot of money.

So I feel like checking in these spots might be the way forward, and only bet a super polarised range of 2pair+s and weak draws. Hmm.

Anyway, only stuck $3k for the month now, and the month is young. Good luck to everyone.