Welcome

Hello all, welcome to my online poker blog.

I've been playing on and off for a decade after being introduced by a friend.

I played regularly for a few years during the poker boom and had a decent record at the micros, particularly Rush and Zoom No Limit Hold'em games (here's one of my graphs).

Around 2012 I began a new career which involved immersing myself completely in study in my spare time, so I had little to no time for poker. However recently this burden has eased and so I have been gradually dipping back in.

I'm an amateur player who still hopes to some day beat the rake.





Sunday 30 March 2014

Hand histories

So to get back into the swing of things, a couple of hand histories.

The first demonstrates my rustiness, and the second is much more standard. I will post the history and then a little discussion afterwards. If you hate my play, please comment below!

PokerStars Zoom Hand #114013817064:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2014/03/29 18:26:57 WET [2014/03/29 14:26:57 ET]
Table 'Whirlpool' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: yanoji ($36.68 in chips)
Seat 2: izmailov13 ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 3: gabi_igna ($76.80 in chips)
Seat 4: J@sonB0urne* ($14.35 in chips)
Seat 5: ho8888 ($26.76 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($25.70 in chips)
Seat 7: dellbono ($10.08 in chips)
Seat 8: Infoc ($17.77 in chips)
Seat 9: donald543210 ($26.79 in chips)
izmailov13: posts small blind $0.10
gabi_igna: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Qh Ah]
J@sonB0urne*: folds
ho8888: folds
Hero: raises $0.50 to $0.75
dellbono: calls $0.75
Infoc: folds
donald543210: folds
yanoji: calls $0.75
izmailov13: folds
gabi_igna: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc Ts 9h]
Hero: bets $1.50
dellbono: folds
yanoji: calls $1.50
*** TURN *** [Jc Ts 9h] [8h]
Hero: bets $4.25
yanoji: raises $6 to $10.25
Hero: calls $6
*** RIVER *** [Jc Ts 9h 8h] [Qc]
Hero: checks
yanoji: bets $17.45
Hero: calls $13.20 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($4.25) returned to yanoji
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yanoji: shows [Kd Qd] (a straight, Nine to King)
Hero: shows [Qh Ah] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
yanoji collected $50.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $52.50 | Rake $2
Board [Jc Ts 9h 8h Qc]
Seat 1: yanoji (button) showed [Kd Qd] and won ($50.50) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 2: izmailov13 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: gabi_igna (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: J@sonB0urne* folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: ho8888 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Hero showed [Qh Ah] and lost with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 7: dellbono folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Infoc folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: donald543210 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I don't mind the c-bet, I don't expect much to fold but I have plenty of equity myself against most ranges. 
The turn is where I question my play. I think I'm getting good odds to call, because I assume I'm chopping some of the time, plus I have flush outs. Would you give a villain such a wide range in this spot?

The problem with calling though is that I end up pot-stuck, and getting 3/1 on the river against an unknown opponent I didn't feel that I could then fold. 

I guess I'm wondering whether I should just have shipped on the turn if I was never folding the river anyway. If I assume he's never folding to a turn shove, I think I need to be good around 40% of the time or more for it to be OK. I think that that's probably true (unless the games have improved so much that opponents are only ever raising the nuts here). If this was against a known competent opponent I could have called the turn and then folded the river I think, but I just didn't know enough to get away this time.

PokerStars Zoom Hand #114012447626:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2014/03/29 18:01:22 WET [2014/03/29 14:01:22 ET]
Table 'Whirlpool' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: gepapar2823 ($5.21 in chips)
Seat 2: fasarias ($25.39 in chips)
Seat 3: GrijzeWolf38 ($21.17 in chips)
Seat 4: sturm14 ($28.05 in chips)
Seat 5: Schneider028 ($47.88 in chips)
Seat 6: Sharckogogo ($36.68 in chips)
Seat 7: UnBent022 ($30.26 in chips)
Seat 8: damobookie ($29.64 in chips)
Seat 9: Hero ($25.78 in chips)
fasarias: posts small blind $0.10
GrijzeWolf38: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Qs Js]
sturm14: folds
Schneider028: folds
Sharckogogo: folds
UnBent022: folds
damobookie: folds
Hero: raises $0.50 to $0.75
gepapar2823: folds
fasarias: folds
GrijzeWolf38: calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [Qc Jd 3d]
GrijzeWolf38: bets $1.50
Hero: raises $4 to $5.50
GrijzeWolf38: raises $14.92 to $20.42 and is all-in
Hero: calls $14.92
*** TURN *** [Qc Jd 3d] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [Qc Jd 3d 8s] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GrijzeWolf38: shows [5d 4d] (high card Queen)
Hero: shows [Qs Js] (two pair, Queens and Jacks)
Hero collected $40.53 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $42.44 | Rake $1.91
Board [Qc Jd 3d 8s 2h]
Seat 1: gepapar2823 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: fasarias (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: GrijzeWolf38 (big blind) showed [5d 4d] and lost with high card Queen
Seat 4: sturm14 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Schneider028 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Sharckogogo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: UnBent022 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: damobookie folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Hero showed [Qs Js] and won ($40.53) with two pair, Queens and Jacks

Straight forward I think. He's not playing with a full stack so I assume he's a weaker player.

I'd expect most villains to 3-bet at least QQ and maybe JJ, and then probably check any sets back to me a large proportion of the time. So ruling the really strong hands out I'm probably either facing the same hand, or some kind of draw so I raise the flop lead happy to play for stacks.

To conclude, I think I'm going to make posts like this more often. To just play a few hundred hands and post the larger pots - if only to keep this blog going which has now got a fair bit of history.

Anyway, good luck at the tables all!

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