TREADMILL

I thought I had some sort of momentum after last week but I've been busy outside the house without much chance to test it. Yesterday, I got into a cash game, played well, but had terrible luck. I folded my first A-A on the turn when my opponent called quickly on the flop then led into me on the turn. The flop was something like T-9-8 or 9-8-7 which made it easy to see I was being suckered. I got aces again towards the end of my session but it folded around. The big blow came when I flopped a set of sixes versus top pair and got all the money in on the flop. I lost when two hearts came to give the guy a four-flush and the $650 pot. I did have a nice payback when I beat a set of sixes later by catching a straight on the river against a different player for $380.

Another big hand played out sort of strangely: I raised to $18 ($3/6 NL) from utg with As-Ks and was called in three spots for a $81 pot. The flop came 5s-3s-3d which I didn't mind at all. I bet $48 into the field and got two callers. At this point, I'm thinking of course they have overpairs, but I'm playing it strong from first position so how comfortable can they be. The turn is the Td which I figure is a scare card for most of the pairs they could be holding, so I shove my final $156 into the $225 pot. One of the players calls me, the guy to my left who was first to call preflop. I'm thinking he could be as strong as 5-5 for the flopped full house, but anything else and I can still catch a spade, ace, or king. The river is the Ts and I think I've bagged it until he turns up Kh-Th. Wow, I can say okay to the preflop call but what's he doing calling me on the flop with two players behind him? I can't say I understand that play at all unless he knew what was coming. I've got no problem with how aggressively I played the hand - I certainly got unlucky that he called me on the flop then went on to suck out on me. There's no way he thinks his hand is good at that point, and it wasn't, so he needs to first catch a pair and then have it be the best pair, all the while avoiding the spade draw that he must have put me on. It was a losing play but it sure got all my chips.

I made a note of a couple of other hands: I was playing Stud8 for cash and raised the button from the small blind when he open-called, looking to go heads up with Ad-Qd-Qh-8h. The big blind called and we played three-way. The flop was Jh-Th-9d giving me the second nut straight with the third nut flush draw and even a backdoor nut flush draw. I bet and the big blind called. The turn was the 5c which changed nothing. It was a pot-limit game so I hate to build a monster pot with less than the nuts but I'm beating trips and don't care to see another heart come off and put me to a tough decision, so I bet out. He raises me and I take another look at my hand. Hmm, he's saying he's got the K-Q. I'm holding two queens so I don't wholly buy that line. He may have some sort of 8-7 with the A-2 of hearts. If it is true he has the nut straight, I'm just going to have to catch that heart and win it with the flush. I don't have the stone nuts, but I do have the heart draw in case he does, so I put my last chips in. He not only turns out to have the K-Q for the nut straight, but he's also got the J-9 and fills up when the 9h comes on the river. Lucky for me, I've got a straight flush and a $496 pot.

That hand was definitely the high point. It was all downhill from there and I don't think I ever won another pot. The other hand is just kind of a cute hand in a NLHE tourney in which I later busted without getting paid. A player raises to $90 from two off the button and I call with 9s-8s from the big blind. The flop is Ks-Th-8h and I check. He checks behind me, so my pair figures to be good. The turn is the 5s giving me a spade draw with my third pair. I check again just so I can get crafty on the river if another spade comes. He checks behind. The river is the beautiful As and I check a third time. Finally, he bets $60 into me. I raise to $420 and he calls with a measly A-7. I was proud of that hand because I managed to win a big pot at an early level just by extending the hand against a weak player when I could have easily won a small pot on either the flop or turn with a bet. Early in a tournament, it pays to give the other guy more chances to make mistakes.

My final seminar of the day is on a hand that just busted me out of a $150 MTT near the bubble. I have A-K in first position with a below-average stack, yet plenty enough chips to coast to the money. I make a standard 3x raise from utg at my 7-handed table and the player in fourth position raises me from $1.5k to $7k. There is $15k in my stack and $25k in his, which is just a tick above average. I am put to a big decision when it folds back around to me. I consider all three options. I can fold, coast to the money, then try to get lucky. I don't like that option because I need chips to make a deep run and Big Slick is just the kind of hand I'm looking for. I'm most likely even money to win the hand, so why run away, even if it means busting on the bubble. I could instead play the coin flip and take the 50% chance of coming away with an above average stack in an event in which I can really make some decent cash.

I think about calling and taking a flop which would cost me half my stack and only allow me to see three of the five board cards. Obviously, if I pair up, I'm going with it, and if I miss, then I let it go. If I had more chips, I could have played it this way, but since folding to the flop would make me an underdog anyways to cash in the event, I decided to go ahead and shove it in and take the coin toss. Even though he had plenty of chips compared to me, I thought there was a slight chance that he may fold to my raise since I made it in the face of a certain call. It would not be unheard of for a player to consider folding jacks or tens in this spot since he is likely to be only a slight favorite or a massive underdog against a hand I'm willing to die with.

Well, he called, showed jacks, I caught an ace on the flop, and he caught a jack on the river. It was a heartbreaking exit for me since obviously, if I would have merely called his raise, I could have probably won the hand with a shove on the flop and avoided the river disaster. Of course, that's easy to say now, and I can't even be sure he would have folded had it played out that way. I guess it was just a tough situation. Since he reraised my utg raise, and thus is announcing a big pair, should I give more consideration to folding in this spot rather than calling or shoving?