little content, some fun with reads, much patting self on back

[kurto]

Damn, I love poker. I really wanted to share since I was having a fun poker-high last night. Its definitely a little self congratulatory. Though not entirely content free because it all involves concentration and reads... And since no one at work wants to discuss these hands with me, I'll post.

After nearly 3 weeks of staying even (which is almost more frustrating then losing, for some reason), I finally had a good night. Oddly enough, I knew I was 'in sync' right away when I lost this hand-

I raise from MP with AQ suited. Folds all around to SB who, by nothing more then the length of his pause followed by a completion, I told myself he has a monster and I'll keep the pot pretty small. I missed the flop so I checked, he checked. I hit my queen on the turn, I made a small bet. He called. Didn't improve on the river. I made a small bet, he made a small reraise... and, oddly enough, I smiled. I called it to see... he showed aces. The loss felt awesome.

The nights when you're reading well, and have players who are easy to read, are the best. Two hands that stick out in my mind--

I was watching two lags go at it for awhile. I noticed the Villain bet strongly with any top pair, regardless of kicker. And he was generally a calling station with any piece of the board. He called a lot preflop, not too much pf raising.

Villain does min-raise from mp. I have K5os in the bb. Folded to me. Normally I toss this without a second thought. But I was intrigued by the minraise. I knew it meant he liked his hand (he almost never raised) but it wasn't AA-QQ or AK because he'd do better then minraise. He had to have a pocket pair or a fairly strong Ace. Since I only had to put in another blind, it would just be the two of us, AND I knew his play was so transparent, I called.

FLOP xQK

I lead into him 1/2 pot. Villain calls. Bingo. His call told me everything. If he had a small pp he would have folded. Had he raised with AK, he would have reraised me here. He didn't fold so he likely got a piece of it.

TURN xxQK

I pot it. He calls. I'm smiling. I say aloud to myself, "AQ"

River pairs one of the rags. I pot it. He calls. (I really wanted to type, "your queen is no good" for advertising value but didn't have time. He turns over AQ.

The last hand was a typical pocket pair hand. I had pocket 4s near the button. There was a preflop raiser ($1.25), 1 caller, and then me, who also called. I was going to 'hit set or get out'

(~$4) FLOP 6 6 9

PFR bets $1.25. 1 fold. I CALL. Which is kind of weak, but normally I fold this. His bet smelled of overcards. I wanted to see his followup bet. I would see the river, then either make a move or get out.

(~6.50) 6 6 9 6

Villain bets $2. DEFINITELY overcards. (I figure even a pair of 2s is going to bet stronger then that) So I raise to $5. He calls.

(~16.50) 6 6 9 6 J

He checks to me. I bet $4 (I know he has nothing but I want to get a little more out of him.) He calls. And mucks.

The fun part was, at the end of the night, I saw something I'd never seen before on one of my tables.... While normally there might be 5-6 limpers in any pot, if I limped from early position, no one would limp in. I've been in a situation where my raises have respect, but this was the first time that I noticed no one was limping after me.

I wanted to start playing super laggy considering the respect I was getting but it was 2am and I should have been asleep hours ago.

After weeks of nothing, I ended the night about $60 ahead. Which isn't a fortune, but for $25 tables (mutlitabling on 3), I felt pretty pleased.

I hope if you made it this far, it was at least interesting.

[jtr]

Nice one Kurto. Good for you.

I can't honestly say I'd play each of those hands the same way, but you were there and obviously feeling good about your reads. And I completely sympathize with the frustration of having had a good session but having no relevant ear to chew about your great moves.

[btetreau]

Yup, I read it Kurto - pretty interesting, thanks!

[TrailofTears]

Nicely done Kurto. Congrats on the great session, particularly the reads, which is a thing of beauty when you get them online like this. Hopefully this is the start of a nice streak of winning sessions.

-Trail

[kurto]

Yeah, thanks. It was a lot of fun.

I think my favorite part of the game is when you make a read. I remember when I was first watching poker on TV and reading interviews and people would tell how they just knew someone had xxx... I thought it sounded like magic. Then when you discover that you can do it, its just a thrill.

I think my favorite hand of all time was one where I lost on the river but knew exactly what the player had (my flush lost to quads... and I knew he had quads on the river). I wasn't happy to lose the money but I remember laughing when he flipped his quads because I knew they were there.

"Hopefully this is the start of a nice streak of winning sessions." Knock on wood. My bankroll has literally stayed the same +/- $10 for weeks. It was starting to wear on me.