Went out for dinner last night to celebrate a mates birthday at Jacques Reymond, one of Melbournes premier culinary destinations. We had the 8 course degustation with matched wines. The whole experience can only be described as outstanding. My highlight was def the Wyagu beef with horseradish sorbet and freshly sliced truffle, washed down with '03 Dalwhinnie Pyrenees Cabernet - it was the stone cold nuts.


Up about 5 BI for August (incl ******** ). Have probably been playing too many tables and not enough hours. Had a gross session the other day losing 8 BI in about 1200 hands, pretty much all losing flips and getting coolered in fistpump spots.

Here's a hand from that session. I was playing pretty well, villain is semi-decent TAG. I don't think he had any reason to be getting out of line or to suspect I was getting out of line. Regarding my betsizing, this is pretty standard for me for value and as a bluff/semibluff on a board this dry that hits my range so hard.

CO: $237.90
BTN: $295.65
SB: $200.00
Hero (BB): $210.05
UTG: $154.60
MP: $226.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with A A
UTG calls $2, 1 fold, CO raises to $8, 2 folds, Hero raises to $29, 1 fold, CO calls $21

Flop: ($61.00) K 6 Q (2 players)
Hero bets $26, CO calls $26

Turn: ($113.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $52, CO calls $52

River: ($217.00) K (2 players)

I'm really torn between valueshove and c/f this river. Basically I think his range after peeling flop and turn is QQ and KK (that didn't 4bet or raise flop or raise turn), 66, AQ, KQ, KJ, QJss and some rando backdoor stuff like JTss, AJss. I think he peels flop but folds turn with stuff like TT, JJ and weak queens. Hands like AJ, KQo, KJ, QJ may not even be in his range that calls pre.

So on the river we really only beat AQ that isn't AQss. He doesn't jam AQ thats just a pair, does jam a K or better, and doesn't have any air left in his range. The gross bit is that we have less than 1/2 pot left. Obviously the plan from the flop was to go the 3 street installment plan, but do we follow through now that one of the worst cards in the deck falls?


And lastly a hand from today. I've been playing less tables, trying to take some non standard lines and really focus on exploiting opponents that aren't going to counter-exploit.


Hero (BB): $211.65
UTG: $40.00
CO: $262.40
BTN: $200.00
SB: $38.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with Q A
1 fold, CO raises to $6, 2 folds, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($13.00) 2 T A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $8, Hero raises to $29, CO calls $21

Turn: ($71.00) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($71.00) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $45, Hero calls $45


Flop c/r isn't all that standard for me, but I'm starting to feel that it should be given that I didn't 3bet pre. There is sooooo much value - given the texture of this board I don't expect to get much credit, and probably get peeled by all aces and even some weaker made hands. C/cing down is ok against someone who's gonna fire 2 or 3 with a ton of their range, but against less aggro opponents I think I prefer taking the lead and pushing for value myself. Come the river I expect him to only bet the Ad, Jd and Qd for value, and turn some marginal stuff into bluffs since i'm repping something decent that isn't a flush. It's a gross spot and it may not be a correct call, but I was pretty happy about making it.