By billchoice1 on November 8th, 2006 (more posts by author)

Played some $2-4 on Stars this morning for about an hour. My usual 3 table setup. I have been trying to be a bit more patient and today I made it a goal to keep my VPIP % in the very tight 10-15% range. It's hard to do this when playing live or playing one table but when playing 3 or more tables it's not too difficult because you do see some premium hands. I wanted to only play JJ+, AK and in late position I would open with AJ+ and 88+ from the CO or button. I started off with AA twice and QQ once and all three times I reraised when it was raised to me and everyone folded. Very suprising because this rarely happens.

I then get TT and raise $15 from the button and both blinds call. The flop comes rags and the blinds check. I bet the pot and get check-raised by the BB. I decide to call. The turn pairs the top card which is a 7. The big blind now checks so I check too. The river is an A and the BB checks again. I check and take down the pot. He had 55. As Borat would say N I C E.

Here is another interesting hand. I'm in the SB with 22 and it's raised from the button. I know I said that I would need better hands than this, but I really felt that he could have anything. The flop comes 2[d] k[d] a[d] . I need to protect my hand so I bet the pot. He raises. I felt that he had either a big A, was bluffing or was on a flush draw. Whatever he had I was fairly sure I was ahead and I didn't want him catching up so I push.

He is on a flush draw with A[d] 9[c] . The turn is a rag, but the q[d] hits on the river and he stacks me. Damn! I'm not too upset given that I played the hand well, but if I only followed my advice and didn't play the hand I would have been fine. Oh, well. $500 down the drain on that hand.

I had a nice hand a little while later where I have AK, raise preflop from late position and am reraised by the button. The flop comes A high and I bet about 2/3rds of the pot, the button pushes and I'm now screwed. If I were playing live and had more time to think about it I might fold here. But there was a flush draw on the board and the other two cards are 57. I felt that this guy would not have called my PF raise with A5, A7 or 57. If he had a set would he really push now? Probably not. I decided that he had either a strong A or a flush draw so I called. Sure enough he had AQ and my hand held up. Sweet!

I ended up about $100 for the session. Not bad for an hour, especially given the fact that I had been stacked.