Won today for the first time in April (not actually, but I almost paid for my coaching session so I'll take it). Took me till 3am to pull it off, but god damn it I made it, ship the $225

I played two interesting and similar hands in my coaching session today that I promised myself to look over afterwards, so I might as well do that now. Both of them deal with hands that are too strong to fold where we get raised on the flop.

Villain in the first one was unknown.

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $200
BTN: $552.10
SB: $140.51
Hero (BB): $200
UTG: $205.75

Pre-Flop: A J dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, CO calls $2, BTN folds, SB calls $1, Hero raises to $12, CO calls $10, SB folds

Flop: ($26) J 4 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $18, CO raises to $42, Hero calls $24

Turn: ($110) A (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($110) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $60

Preflop is marginal but whatever. The flop raise looks really FOS here and obviously I'm never folding. The question is whether to 3bet or just call here. Calling has the advantage of allowing him to continue his bluff. In this situation my coach reccomended 3betting because we need 2 streets of betting to get the money in, and being OOP we can't control if a bet goes in on the turn or not so we're just left firing a 2/3 pot bet on the river which is obviously inferior to taking all his mobnies. Of course I don't listen to my coach so I called.

The turn check is standard. If I donk there I think he folds a J sometimes and it's a decent card for him to fire again if he's feeling spewy. Board comes bad on the river and I think he'll shove KJ anyways, so I bet an amount that I think a J will call. He called with A3 for a bluff turned showdown hand and MHIG.

Hand 2, villain was kinda tight but played weird and aggro

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $144
MP: $256.55
CO: $169.51
Hero (BTN): $415.75
SB: $206.75
BB: $310.55

Pre-Flop: Q K dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG calls $2, MP calls $2, CO folds, Hero raises to $12, 2 folds, UTG calls $10, MP calls $10

Flop: ($39) K 3 2 (3 Players)
UTG checks, MP checks, Hero bets $31, UTG folds, MP raises to $70, Hero calls $39

Turn: ($179) 4 (2 Players)
MP bets $174.55 and is All-In, Hero calls $174.55


I kinda wanted to 3ball here because of the drawyness of the board but my coach convinced me that call intending to snap-get it in on any non club turn was better because of our position and ability to shove on cards where our equity against semibluffs skyrockets. Of course we get the advantage of allowing villain to continue to bluff again, the only real disadvange is we're left in a real tough spot when a club peels. So turn is good and I call, he flips 88 and two outs me. Sigh.

The crux of the analysis in both these hands is that I have to decide right away that my hand is too strong to fold. Since I do that I have to forget about the sets in his range because nothing I do can change them. I have to tailor my line to maximize EV against the non-set parts of his range and plan ahead for different turn scenarios.

Oh, I'll throw this last hand up for head asplode value

Party Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $337.34
BTN: $88
SB: $194.55
Hero (BB): $229.50

Pre-Flop: 8 8 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, BTN raises to $8, SB calls $7, Hero raises to $32, BTN folds, SB calls $24

Flop: ($72) 4 3 8 (2 Players)
SB bets $162.55 and is All-In, Hero calls $162.55

Turn: ($397.10) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($397.10) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $397.10 Pot ($2 Rake)
SB showed 9 5 (a straight Five to Nine) and WON $395.10 (+$200.55 NET)
Hero showed 8 8 (three of a kind, Eights) and LOST (-$194.55 NET)

And I like pictures so here's another from the Mills last week.