Stalling with a pair of hands from tonight.

I've been wanting to write the 2nd part of my online poker saga, but my schedule has been just too busy lately. I have basketball games on Monday and Wednesday nights, and indoor soccer games on Tuesdays. I considered writing it when I got home from work today, but decided to play instead. I put in 1 hour playing 4 full $3/6 tables on Party, and I lost $70. Blegh.

Here are some hands I thought would be interesting to write about.

***** Hand History for Game 1571336377 *****$3/$6 Hold'em - Thursday, February 10, 20:05:38 EDT 2005Table Table 13140 (Real Money)Seat 4 is the buttonTotal number of players : 10Seat 1: kidmarek ( $158 )Seat 2: Simplecall ( $134.5 )Seat 3: Blackdan13 ( $152.5 )Seat 4: babyNM ( $421.5 )Seat 5: STP21604 ( $126.5 )Seat 6: muggsy666 ( $196.5 )Seat 7: RAllen28 ( $134 )Seat 8: ADSPAR ( $245 )Seat 9: mx957 ( $146 )Seat 10: LDHpp ( $184 )

STP21604 posts small blind [$1]. muggsy666 posts big blind [$3].

** Dealing down cards **Dealt to ADSPAR [ Qc Ks ]
RAllen28 folds.ADSPAR raises [$6].mx957 folds.LDHpp folds.kidmarek folds.Simplecall folds.Blackdan13 folds.babyNM calls [$6].STP21604 folds.muggsy666 calls [$3].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, 3h, Tc ].
muggsy666 checks.ADSPAR checks.babyNM checks.

** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
muggsy666 checks.ADSPAR checks.babyNM bets [$6].muggsy666 calls [$6].ADSPAR raises [$12].babyNM calls [$6].muggsy666 calls [$6].

** Dealing River ** [ 3d ]
muggsy666 checks.ADSPAR bets [$6].babyNM folds.muggsy666 folds.

ADSPAR does not show cards.ADSPAR wins $58.5

Preflop the raise here is pretty standard. Limping is usually not a good play cause you get less information about hands behind you. This forces weaker hands to fold, and most hands that dominate you (AA, KK, AK, AQ) will reraise a lot of the time and warn you on a cheap street that you are in trouble. The button calling two cold rules out those hands for the most part. The big blind calling the raise means basically nothing in this game.

A lot of times a blind will bet out on a flop without face cards, so his check looks pretty weak. I consider betting with my overcards and inside straight draw, but decide to check and call or possible checkraise a bet from the button, but he checks too.

The turn 9c is a great card. When the blind checks again, it almost completely rules out the possibility of him having a T,9,3 or pocket pair, since he saw our weakness on the flop. I again consider betting, but decide that if I get called I won't know what to do if I don't improve on the river. So I check, and I love it that the button bets. There's no way he would have checked the flop with any pair, so he probably has either some weak straight or flush draw (note there are 2 flush draws now) or maybe Ace high or even a complete bluff. When the blind calls this bet, it means he is on a similar draw. I checkraise with King high and they both call.

When the 3 pairs on the river, I have an easy bet. The only remote concern is that maybe the blind had a 3 and played it weak. The button couldn't possibly call a preflop raise with a 3 so when the blind checks, I'm pretty sure my bet will take down the pot, which is does.

I like the way I played this hand and built a nice pot and didn't have to show my bluff.

$3/$6 Hold'em - Thursday, February 10, 20:07:51 EDT 2005Table Table 13140 (Real Money)Seat 6 is the buttonTotal number of players : 10 Seat 1: kidmarek ( $158 )Seat 2: Simplecall ( $131.5 )Seat 3: Blackdan13 ( $152.5 )Seat 4: babyNM ( $403.5 )Seat 5: STP21604 ( $101.5 )Seat 6: muggsy666 ( $160.5 )Seat 7: RAllen28 ( $176 )Seat 8: ADSPAR ( $279.5 )Seat 9: mx957 ( $146 )Seat 10: LDHpp ( $184 )

RAllen28 posts small blind [$1].ADSPAR posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to ADSPAR [ Ad 4h ]
mx957 folds.LDHpp folds.kidmarek calls [$3].Simplecall calls [$3].Blackdan13 calls [$3].babyNM folds.STP21604 calls [$3].muggsy666 folds.RAllen28 calls [$2].ADSPAR checks.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, 3d, 5h ]
RAllen28 bets [$3].ADSPAR calls [$3].kidmarek folds.Simplecall calls [$3].Blackdan13 calls [$3].STP21604 calls [$3].

** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
RAllen28 bets [$6].ADSPAR calls [$6].Simplecall raises [$12].Blackdan13 folds.STP21604 folds.RAllen28 calls [$6].ADSPAR raises [$12].Simplecall calls [$6].RAllen28 calls [$6].

** Dealing River ** [ 7d ]
RAllen28 checks.ADSPAR bets [$6]. Simplecall raises [$12].RAllen28 folds.ADSPAR calls [$6].

Simplecall shows [ 4d, 5d ] a flush, seven high.ADSPAR doesn't show [ Ad, 4h ] a straight, ace to five.
Simplecall wins $108 from the main pot with a flush, seven high.

Preflop there are lots of callers, so its hard to get a read on anyone, except that a big pair is unlikely.

On the flop I think my call is pretty easy. I have the inside straight draw and an Ace that might be live since nobody raised, and the pot is big. Everyone calling is exactly what I hoped for.

The turn brings my dream card. I don't raise because I can't imagine anyone has too much of a draw to beat me, and there's a good chance someone might raise behind me with this kind of weird board. Party poker players love to raise the turn on weird boards, and that is what happens, giving me the chance to limp/reraise with what I'm sure is the best hand when nobody caps it. I put the raiser on 2 pair.

The river flush card scares me a bit, because there are tons of players who would raise that turn with the flush draw. I consider checking, but I doubt the raiser would bet 2 pair in this spot, so I bet out. He raises and I have no choice but to call with this huge pot and see his flush.

Oh well, I still like the way I played this hand. Should I have maybe checked the river? Given that he raised with a weak-ass flush he probably was the type of player to bet that river with 2 pair, so I wouldn't have missed that bet by checking and calling. Hmmm. Not sure.

I'm going to go watch Tilt on my 55" HDTV.