NLHE

A couple of interesting hands:

I was playing six-handed $3/6 NL and several times in a row, it folded to my small blind when I had a raising hand. Early on in this series of confrontations, I raised with A4 and the BB called. The flop came A4A two diamonds. I bet a bit more than half the pot and he called. The turn was the 3d and I checked as if giving up, assuming he had either trips or the flush. He checked behind me. The river was another 3 and I went all in, a massive overbet of $280. I figured he would call with an ace and I would take it with the bigger full house. He thought a moment before folding, leaving me to wonder what he held.

My best guess is that he had some sort of middle pair like 66. He must have had something to call the flop, but if it was diamonds, then I'm sure he would have made a huge bet on the turn after my check. He might have checked trip aces in that spot to avoid a check/raise. It's possible he laid down an ace on the end, but I would say it is highly improbable since he is only beat by exactly A4 or 33. I was hoping for the call. I suppose there's a chance I may have been able to get a call from a value bet on the river if he thought his pair might be good. I doubt he would have bet for me had I checked. I think the massive overbet was the right play for the situation since in all likilhood I was going to get either nothing more or his entire stack, wholly dependent on whether or not he held an ace.

The next time I raised him, I held AT and he reraised me. I called but folded on the flop. Somehow I could tell he was self-satisfied in getting some chips from me. Soon after, I raised from the button with 42h. I normally just muck that hand but I felt that both players acting after me where verging on tilt and I wanted to force some action with an unconventional hand. I made a minimum raise to $12 and both players called. The flop came A58 rainbow, one heart, and my nemesis from earlier bet out $18. I had nothing but a gutshot and a backdoor heart draw but I made the call because I wanted to live that moment in which a trey comes and I bust the guy. I know it is just throwing away $18, but not really so long as I am willing to lay down my hand to anything but a trey, and knowing that if the magic happens, I will be bountifully rewarded. I guess it's the psychology of the game encroaching on the odds which sometimes changes the mathematics - that's what brings art to the science of poker.

Well, the magic happened - the 3h dropped on the turn and he bet $54 into me. Against a non-tilting opponent, I likely just call in this case, figuring he can get away from one pair, but I had a feeling I could get all the money in on the turn against this guy, so I min-raised him to $108. He got stubborn and raised me right back to $225. I've got the nuts with a heart redraw (which I don't want to hit) so my only dilemma was whether to go all in now or let him come at me on the river. I chose now, since I felt it was the more heroic way to settle our pissing contest and he dutifully called with AT. A ten dropped on the river, so there's no doubt he would have pushed had we not settled early.