Need help with this hand please

Here's the situation. I'm playing at this cash table ($25maxNLHE 6max) for a little while now and I have watched daytimerobbery reload twice already. He's playing extremely loose and reloads for $10 each time on a $25 max table. He's trying to hit a nuts hand and stack someone and he's playing a lot of pots. I don't have pokertracker or anything else running, so I don't know his VP$P or any other stats but I have a feeling for what he is doing.

In the following hand (scroll down for cards), I raise UTG with suited 1 gappers in hopes of grabbing the blinds or hitting a nice draw on the flop. daytimerobbery reraises me and everyone else folds. Now this is an odd raise amount to me. And I'm only calling .60 into a 2.65 pot. Question 1: Do you throw this away now with two low cards knowing he is probably on two overcards? My thought was that if I can connect in any way to the flop, I will stack him, and I'm getting 4-1 to call here.

The flop comes two cards to my flush and 1 pair. I immediately decide to check raise (I probably should have raised more), and he insta-shoves for 4.55 more. I'm only getting 2-1 to call here, but my read is that he is on AK or AQ with one club. Question 2: After the check raise, do you throw away the hand on his all in? I figure he calls my check raise if he has the hit the set. The reraise seems like an attempt to buy. I figure if he has AK and 1 club, I am an 80% favorite.

I call and find out I am actually only a 51% favorite. I dodge the 13 outs he has and win the pot, but it felt really ugly. Question 3: How bad was this play? I played a hand out of position, very loose, but made a read after the flop. I appreciate your honest critique.

Overvaluing AK

I should have reraised all in from the initial raiser. I learned nothing about his hand with a call. After the flop, I doubt I get away from this hand, but either way, I overvalue AK all the time. I am working on it...

Overbet for Value, Ooops, Nice suckout

Pokerhandreplays.com

I recently came across this website for recreating hand histories through blogio and it is, quite frankly, the best one I have found yet. I usually prefer HH's in text so I can comment along the way, but this animation is so smooth it is hard not to recreate your hands this way. Here is their official explanation of the website:

"Poker Hand Replays lets you recreate, view, and comment on replays of poker hands you’ve played online or offline. You can use our simple wizard for recreating hands, or copy/pasting your hand histories from your favorite poker sites. Hands are then recreated in an animated flash video that can be easily embedded anywhere online (on your blog, forums, etc.)."

See for yourself how smooth it is:



Try it for yourself: pokerhandreplays.com

I recently read a great writeup from Willing2Die about his cash in the 2006WSOP. You should read it too: http://willing2die.blogspot.com/

Don't forget about the Mookie tonight. 9pm CST on FTP. password: vegas1

Stay patient...

It's the same 'ol story, same 'ol song and dance, my friend

Played in the MATH last night. This was my first blogger tournament since 2007. Wow! 2 1/2 months I took off. I take that back. I think I did play in one bodonkament of Smokkee's.

Anyway. I played very well, I thought. I did suck out at least once and I won my coin flips -which is critical to going deep in any of these blogger tournaments. I was reading when the table was tight and when it was loose and playing back at it accordingly. I even laid down AQ with a Q high flop that turned a J to a big raise from GCOX. Maybe I gave him too much credit, but he said he had trip Jacks (as I assumed he did). Some well timed aggression along with some luck and I managed to grab the chip lead with around 24 players left (of the original 70something). I had been playing aggressive and won a couple of coin flips when the next hand came and kicked the wind out of me.

Tripjax was sitting to my immediate right and had come to my table the chip leader. I don't remember exactly how, but he had lost about 3/4 of his stack (a good chunk to me). I was sitting around 20K in chips and he was around 12K. I had just won a coin flip and had been buying blinds aggressively. He raised my blind and I came over the top of him with QQ. Now, I didn't shove but I bet enough to make him uncomfortable to call with a bluff. Conversely, I bet little enough to look like I just might be on a re-steal. I wanted his call. He came over me all in.

Now I'm thinking for a second here. Did I just walk into AA or KK? I don't think so. Trip is the kind of player that does not like to be pushed around. Especially by someone trying to bully the table and someone who stung him for a nice sized pot earlier. I put him on A10, AJ, maybe even KQ. And I know if I call him here, it is another coin flip as surely he has an overcard to my Queens. I feel he is making a stand and I must push him down. And if I do, I take a very nice chip lead in the tournament.

I call his all in and he tables A8. Nice. Pretty much what I thought. Except he doesn't have the straight draws I thought might have been there. "Dodge an Ace. Dodge an Ace." And the flop comes: Axx. Sprinkle an 8 and another Ace on the river just for good measure and my Queens are rolled over and spanked by the full house. That was the turning point for me as I couldn't quite gain ground afterwards.

Here's where the same 'ol story comes in. I am sitting around 8th with 14 left and an M of about 13. So I am not super short stacked but starting to feel pressure. We are 4 from the bubble, again, the hardest part of my game to play in. An aggressive player raises my BB and I attempt a resteal semi bluff with Ace high. Busted! He calls and I go home 14th. My point here is that the 2 cards I had were irrelevant, the position I was in was. Getting close to the bubble, I tried to steal assuming everyone was going to be super tight.

I just said yesterday that I need to slow down near the bubble and get to the money. My aggressive style will take me to the top 20% of the field, but it is so hard to slow down when I get near the bubble. Of course, if I win that flip against Trip, it would be hard for me to imagine I don't final table this tournament.

Oh well. It was fun getting back into the blogger games. I plan to start playing Mondays and Wednesdays for the remainder of the BBT3. Hope to see you there.

Stay patient (especially near the bubble)...

I played the Jen Harman charity tournament on FTP tonight. 3000+ players and I finished 160somethingish. Maybe even 157 or 8. It paid the top 153. You have two choices at the bubble with a short stack (as I was). You can shove from the button on an unopened pot or you can fold to the money.

I decided to shove from the button with A4off with 11,000 in chips and around a 5 or 6M and the SB and BB had me covered by 2x or more. I could have waited, but I wanted to get a few more chips (1/3 of my stack from just buying the blinds). What would you do? I spent $10 and the initial money spot was $18+. But with an Ace I thought I could buy the blinds, especially since we were so close to the money.

I managed to fold KK to an A88 flop. I folded AJ to a raise and reraise (and would have lost). I also missed a few hands I could have won with A8, 73, or other junk hands. I feel like I played really well, except for the last hand shoving with A4. I wouldn't shove with that other than we were on the bubble and I expected tight play behind me. And I was right, except the SB woke up with AQ and twice the amount of chips I had. I really need to sit on my hands when we get close to the bubble -I mean literally: put my butt on my hands so I can't shove with ATC expecting tight play near the bubble.

Thanks to everyone who was railing me: Riggs, PE, Zooks, Closer, and more. Sorry if I missed you. I am on Hawkette's laptop tonight so I don't have screenshots or HH and I don't have links. I'll try to get them up tomorrow.

Looks like I will finally get into the BBT3 this week. I have my token for the MATH and I will play in the MOOK.

Do you watch Big Brother? Holy Cow what a crazy trip this year has been. Natalie half naked trying to bone Matty, James and Chelsia, and Sheila the cry baby still in it. Fun Fun. Chelsia has been talking aout needing an 8ball and Nataie talking about smoking pot... And all the worry about the siren going off again to save another person voted off... This might have been the best BB ever, even though DR WILL isn't on it.