I think you are giving the other players at the table WAY TOO MUCH credit if think they are considering your perceived range or balancing act on 3-betting.

From now on every time I get frustrated, I am going to think about these two hands from tonight and how bad beats balance out.

Hand 1: Eff stacks: $90

Hero raises with Ad Qd to $13. Button calls.

Flop As 6h 9c

Hero bets $18. Button calls

Turn 8d

Hero bets $35. Button shoves for $24 more. Hero calls.

River Tc

Villain: 7s 3s for runner runner flus

Hand 2

Eff stacks: $100

Hero limps from LP with 3h 6h

Flop: 9h 7h 6d

Villain 1 bets $10. Villain 2 calls. Hero calls.

Turn: 6s

Villain 1 bets $30. Villain 2 raises to $80. Hero goes all-in for $90. Both villains call.

River: 3c

Hero shows full house. Villain 1 shows Ah Th crushing my flush draw and Villain 2 shows 8s Ts for a flopped straight.

What goes around comes around, right?

Seriously, I couldn't have played Hand 2 worse. When both players called I said, 'Guess I need to hit a 3 on the river here' because I knew I was crushed and that the 6 was no good.

Oh well. That's the good and bad of poker.

1/2 game, i have ~$300, utg player opens to $12, one call (covers), shove for $295 from laggy old guy, fold, fold, i find aces OTB and re-shove, sb tanks, calls for my $300(covers) and utg player snaps for ~100, other caller folds while looking pissed.

UTG shows KK, laggy old guy shows JJ, sb shows QQ, guy who folded said he had 88

flop 8x4x6x turn 6x, river 2x

scoop ~1k pot with one pair 4 way

^ very nice. I play the same.

One of life's little embarrassing moments in my session last night:

$1/2 standard mix of Friday night players. Hero has about $325 and V's range from 2 shorties (one at $55 and one at about $85) and the rest are all from $200-400.

Hero UTG with A T and opens for $12. Not a standard play for me UTG, but building pots is really hard at this table, as bet progression seems to be 1.5x the last bet on each street, so I decided to play a bit fast.

4 callers
Pot: $47 after rake
Flop: 57 8 Sweet!!

I put out a little $15 bet to get all the donks with draws to stay and anyone with the made flush to raise. Folds to shortest of shorties who raises AI for $41. Folds back to hero who, ldo, snap calls.

Hero goes to show shorty the bad news and flips over A T Oopsie. Fortunately, I hadn't declared my hand, so I just said "here's a donation for you sir, nice hand." Shorty looks sad and says "I don't think so. I need help." Turn and river are apparently not the help he needs, and he mucks and walks off.

tl;dr Hero misreads hand and wins $90 pot on wet board against AI player with Ace high.

Just came home after the worst 8 hour session I had in 4 years.

Villian takes hero for $1500 over the course of the night. Hero refuses to quit because the play was so god awfull i just couldn't beleive I was losing.

Twice hero loses $500 plus ai pots were villian dosn't know what he has but tables wininning hand while trying to muck. (says you got me and flips his cards to show a runner runner straight each time, but he was "looking for diamonds" Genuine utter amazment when he gets pushed the pot.

Here are a few hands I just gotta get off my chest.

hero: playing laggy. Pounding the table but losing everything to one villian who enturn loses money to the rest of the table. Hero is trying his best not to be on full blown tilt.

The table is a dream. People will call any size bet with any piece or any draw. Seeing 5 cards is mandatory and every pot is multi way.

Stacks range from $300 to $1800 and its 1/2!!!

Everyone is drinking, shots are being brought to the table for 3 4 guys at a time doing rounds.

Lound, laughing feels like a home game.

Villian: stone drunk dosn't play a style just puts in whatever the bet is all the way to the river 7 out of every 10 hands. Regularly dosn't know what he has, shows his cards to other people in the hand and asks advice?!! says things like
" Yeah I knew you had an ace but I knew you didn't have the straight, thats why i called." This after showing pocket 3's on a board w/ 5 overs, bet the whole way. He will call, or raise almost every hand he is in.

At this point I have not beat villian in ONE hand all night. Not one!

hero has ~$550 vill covers

Mp raises to $15
hj calls
co calls
hero calls on the button w/ Kc 4C

sb folds
villian calls from BB

pot ~$70

flop Ac Kh Ks

checked around to hero who bets $50

villian raises to $150

folds back to hero who raises all in for ~$385 more

villian says " I know you have a King but I could make another ace," WTF!!!

(lol at "making an ace")

Villian calls and shows Ah 9h

turn 4h
river 2h

villian makes ace high flush and again stacks hero

I ll make this one short,

hero raises AQ from hj, gets a bunch of callers

flop A 4 J rainbow

same villian leads for $45
folds to hero who raises to $105
villian min 3 bets to $210
hero tanks then calls

turn 8
villian puts hero ai for ~$350
hero tanks again decides against this guy you gotta call, calls

villian shows K 8 for a pair of eights
river K
villian makes 2 pair and yet again felts hero

I could go on but no one cares, just had to do something to try and get over tonight.
Worst night ever!!!

Played this hand at school during an incredibly boring class.
4-handed, micro-stakes.

Buddy raises to 4x bb, i call OTB with Jd9d.
Sb buddy calls and bb calls.

Flop: 10c 8d 7d.

Sb checks, original raiser makes it 1/2 pot raise. I smooth call, sb calls, bb folds.

Turn: 10d (my hands start trembling)
Sb checks, original raiser continues with another 1/2 pot bet, i flat once again. Sb raises a potsized raise, utg folds. I flat once more

River: 6c
Sb checks, i make a pot-sized bet. Get insta-called. I basically jump up mid-class (teacher was out of room) and do a victory dance around the room. Sb shows TT for quads. Hand goes down in legends of school poker days.

Pain continues! When it goes bad it goes bad. Flushed down the river repeatedly, Countefeited a few times, same dude floats me oop and spikes a river Ace twice. Still after a 6hrs I'm winning ~$250, I'm in the game for $450. Then in 4 hands I lose it all!!

hand one, raise w/ KK board is XXX player donks I raise, shortstack shoves, I call he has set of 4's and doubles up.

Two hands later I raise w/ QQ, 2 callers flop top set, I bet pot, called in 2 spots
turn puts second Heart on board get donked into I raise more than the pot w/ the nuts other player ships donk bettor ships I call

River 10 hearts donk shows that he made runner runner nut flush
original ai shows AK for a straight
I finish third w/ flopped top set

They both called psb on flop w/ A high, got it in on turn w/ a gutter and flush draw respectively

Very next hand get dealt the same two Queens, I 3bet to $25
original raiser calls
flop J 4 6
I lead for pot
villian pushes I call
He says "I flopped another set of 4's!"
tun x
river x

I storm out of poker room after losing another buy in and a half bringing the number to eleven buy ins in a row!

Gross

that must've been the worst night ever considering your FH got dropped by a flush!

sorry to hear that...

So, our casino just started having multi-table tourneys, which has made the cash games lively when running.

So last week, we had this "internet" player. I only call him an internet player because he raises very often, and cbets a ton. He seemed like he was competent, and was clean cut, younger, and had a baseball cap on backwards. He was 2 or 3 to my left.

So, I decided I was going to 3bet. He made it 12, and the button (donk) called. I have AQ in the BB ( or I was possibly UTG, and limped to reraise). I made it 50 to go, and he snap calls, as does the button.

I decided whatever the flop is, I am shoving. I have $150 left, and the pot is $150. I put him on 10's or a pair like that. I had been really tight in the past 30 minutes. I am repping AA or KK.

I shoved the 887 flop. He snaps with 85 of diamonds. Really, $50 preflop with 85 against a $200 eff. stack?

A week later, I get QQ in the BB. There were like 3 or 4 limpers in a straddled pot, so I made it 35, expecting everyone to fold. Button calls. Same type of player, but not as aggresive. Flop is A K 3, two spades. I bet 40. He snaps. I am done with the hand. Turn is a J, and the river is the J of spades. I check the turn, and the river, and he bets 100. I fold. He shows 3 5 of diamonds. Maybe I should have fired the turn, but I just felt like I was screwed no matter what. Flush draw calls, ace calls, a king may call.

So, I am just getting murdered by guys that call big raises with garbage, and either hit, or outplay me. Just frustrating.

Did you have a question?

+1 lol

Are you raising with other hands or just big A and big pairs? We use to have a guy in our game and if he raised he was AA, KK, QQ, AK or AQ and thats it. He would get action because his range for raising was so small, he constantly got run down and out flopped.

You may need to change it up alittle IMO, If you are raising with a good range then it will def. even out over time

Hmmmm, don't think he has a problem when people put in 1/4 of their stack pre with 85 suited. You really think 3 betting 56s is the way to exploit that?

I agree, I had huge value going into the flop, because unless he is willing to call an all-in with a pair of 8's or a pair of 5's, then I am more than likely going to win the hand a huge percentage of the time. Of course, he looks like a genius when he finds 88 on the flop, but how often does that happen.

Usually, I always raise if playing the Button, CO, Or HJ. Anyways, there is no meta game when Ive never played with the guy before.

HOWEVER, I do agree, and like to point out, that raising that big preflop does kind of turn your hand face up. Maybe thats why he calls. I was seeing 24 percent of the flops at that time, so had been playing pretty snug...Usually, I am going to have JJ-AA there.

Anyways, I don't mind it. The pot had $150 in it, and I shoved. Worst case happened, he flopped trips. Lets run the same hand 100 times, and see how often I win. If the flop is kj5, is he going to call a shove with bottom pair. I win 75 to 80 percent of the time I think.

As far as my QQ, again, my hand was flipped over preflop. WHen I bet the flop, he was trying to hit a 5 or a 3. If he really wanted to rob me, he would have robbed me then. When I checked the turn, he knew I had to be weak. Maybe I try a blocking bet on the river. I could have played it a little better on my end, but most times, I am going to be beat there.

$1/$2 NLHE at casino. UTG ($200) a total donk just sat down and limps, two others limp, button ($270)raises to 17, I ($400) call from SB with J8, the donk calls, everyone else folds

flop comes JJ6, I lead for 30, the utg donk calls, button calls

turn JJ6 8 …bingo, all the flushes get there, and JQc/JKc/JAc will still give me action. I lead for 60, UTG calls, button reraises all in, I call and the donk calls. At this casino, no body tables their cards when all-in until showdown.

river JJ68 5

Button proudly flips Q10 for flush, I table my FH. Donk flashes his cards with defeat, because he had a smaller flush (47) and is ready to muck. Some douche who is not in the hand and not affiliated with him, yells "wait, you have a straight flush…you win..you win"…the donk tables his cards and collects the money…he left 20 minutes later

I play at Bay 101 in the $1/$2/$3 NL game in which most people buy in for $100 but you can buy in for more. I was wondering if anyone knew what a "good" player can expect to make at this stake. Would a long run average of $20/hr seem too high? I know rake's a bitch and this game is vastly different from the NL FR games online--way looser. I just have no clue what a good player can expect to average...is it even beatable? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
J

Had to play AJ off in a raise pot vs a cowboy, who hates tv poker lmao.

He raises UTG and 4 callers lmao I call not happy, playing my hand for 2 pair or straight value. Flop comes A 9 6, everyone folds to me, I say your AK is good sir folding my hand face up, uber whale who calls blind pre and flop says you fold that. I say "he is one of the tightest players in the casino" cowboy turns over A K lmao

Next time you need to laugh, go to a comedy club instead of paying $20 to play a hand that it is hitting 3% of the time.

Now this would have been a funnier story if he turned over KK.

I would be an idiot if he did, that guy is not betting with kk on that board, he is a real super retired cowboy

...and one of the very rare times i could fetch an open seat.
[goddamn 2 hour bus trip window... altho THAT has advanvantages for bonus-whoring video poker LOL]
1/2/300max, i buy in for 115 [BAD, BAD $pike, ok, we got that over with...],

I have evry1 damn near covered, except guy on my right... he has 400,
griped about being down 400, also about a paper cut from the cards...

1 orbit of crap hands i fold, i notice they're limping for 2bux a lot. Look down @ 97off in CO, 2 limpers to me, I call, BT, SB folds, BB checks.

flop is 982, 2 clubs, i don't have a club. BB opens for 5, 2 limpers in front call,
I raise to 15 [obv. over representing my 9 LOL], 2 folds, last limper before me calls 15.

The whole table had that grim, meh, look about em. I'm NOT looking @ villain having TT+, thinking more 9x or 8x, 9x likely beating me, or 2 clubs,
My logic behind the puny raise [I expect 2 be torn 2 shreds, but now it'll be reinforced into my head as to WHY.]

turn is another 2, now spade and club flushy draws.
lone villain checks, I pop 25$, villain folds, I likely dodge a bullet.

One more orbit of cheese, then it's time to catch the shuttle to the bus depot.

TBH, I been reading this voraciously...
the more I read, the better the 5/10 stud hi @ the Taj looks.

$pike

I didn't make a FH obv, mis type ott card, my bad

I started playing 1/2 live poker the past two weekends and turned 150 into 1000 so I was feelin good but last night was so brutal. How do I know if I'm just bad or it was just unlucky?

I flop top two and villain turns a straight.
I flop a set and villain flops a boat.
I flip top pair, villain flips a set.

Then villain raises to 30 UTG (which is almost always TT or JJ) so I call on the button with AK planning to shove any flop with cards above a J. Flop is AQx. Villain checks I shove. She has pocket queens. Plus the turn is another Ace so all the money would have gone in anyways.

I also went through a streak of like 13 hands where both cards weren't both higher than 5 at the same time.

It was truly a brutal night. Can I sum this up to variance or am I not as good as I thought?

Some of this you can chalk up to variance. Other hands might be bad play. It sounds like you're newer to the game. We can help you better if you take 1 or 2 of these hands and post them individually. It's tough for us to say if it's variance or bad play without more information. Like in the first hand, was the board something like QJT and you had QJ? This is a spot that it's easy to get away from sometimes. The second hand, it's impossible to flop a set and have a villain flop a boat. So you must've flopped trips, and depending on villain, you can get your money in, or if you're against a 60 year old man who you've never seen raise in 5 hours of play, you can fold there. Your third hand, as you get better, you'll learn to get away from top pair hands in certain situations. If you have KQ on a K72r board and you start getting lots of heat, you probably need to lay your hand down.

"I also went through a streak of like 13 hands where both cards weren't both higher than 5 at the same time."

This line makes me wonder if this post is a level. Sometimes you'll go several hours without a playable hand. You're only getting 30 hands/hour.

Probably both.

The AK hand is pretty brutal fwiw, unless Villain had some obscenely small stack. It's possible the 2pr vs. set and top vs. set hands were both really bad too depending on how they played out, but without the entire recap it's hard to say. The other one sounds like a pretty standard cooler.