Your post makes me feel like you check/jammed and ran into one of the hands you're saying he shows up with here a lot (KJ/QT).

I would definitely have 3-bet pre, as played I would be deciding between c/fold and c/c, c/c. Probably c/fold against this opponent.

Not sure why you think your perceived range is so unlikely to include QT, KJ and AJ. The weights of each of those might vary by suitedness, but that might not even matter in this kind of multiway single raised straddle pot in a loose game; that is, you might have all combos of any of those hands. So the range HJ is betting into could potentially be quite strong, regardless of whether or not he thinks about hands in those terms.

this is a spot I dont mind turning my AQ into a bluff and 4betting pre, AQ doesnt play well in a mutli way pot and so there is more value in 4betting pre then flatting the 3bet and allowing the waterfall, as played I think its a clear fold on the flop.

This guy sounds like he would station with two pair so I'm not shoving with little to no fold equity. Just take the 12bb loss and curse yourself for not 4b(3b?) pre.

Hole detected: you hate playing AQo OOP (agreed), you feel raising is burning money (questionable but also player/table dependent), you feel folding is too nitty so you call (hole confirmed). So you basically did what you wanted to do least because you were unsure. If you don't know what to do in a spot pre, just fold, watch the hand play out and analyze. Don't just call so you wont feel like a nit.

I think this is spot on. AQ plays fine against the SB IP here, but OOP to the other callers you are going to be severely limited in your actions. Also, calling caps your range and does not allow you to rep QQ+, AK, and maybe even JJ (all of which you would rep with the 4b). Also, you are deep enough that you can 4bet/fold if the SB comes back over the top of your raise.

I think a fold is your only option (unless villain bluffs enough here to make it profitable). As you stated he can rep a number of hands that have you in a bad spot (most likely KJ, AJ and QT) and you can really only rep AJ (and that is a big maybe because AJ is a pretty clear fold pre imo). If you jam there will be 1300 out there and he has to call 650 so he isn't getting a crazy price, but he prob isn't folding out any hand that has you beat, so what you have is a bluff catcher and that's it. If you think he bluffs enough here then just x/c on f/t/r and let him bluff off.

Well, today I just suffered a bad beat I never experienced before. Player was using a fossil as a card protector. Asked to see it. Turns out it was a 100 million-year-old Charcarodontosaurus tooth.




So, it survived 100 million years, but 2 seconds in my hands and...






Sigh. FML. Just bought him a new one.

Tooth Decay

Back to the PAHWM:

I tank fold, which I think is the second mistake I made on the hand. The first was flatting with AQ. I justified it by saying the flush potential made this better suited to flat, and with AQos it is more of a clear raise/fold decision.

I think calling was my worst option. And check folding the flop I also think is a mistake...
Probably should have shoved.

I don't know, I guess maybe it wasn't butchered as bad as I originally thought. Some potential fatal flaws in logic that were pointed out, but it seems as tho both mistakes were perhaps more marginal than I thought.

The real thing that irked me is that never once in this hand did I know where I was at or what to do, and I just hate that helpless feeling in a hand.

(Tho I admit my opinion was skewed a bit when the SB told me he had QQ, which makes QT that much less likely; and the villain later told me he had a pair and a draw, which if true (and it may very well not be) meant I was absolutely crushing him... So maybe It's a case of results oriented malaise.

The good? news is that today I butchered a hand so badly I no longer feel bad about the AQ hand. I'll post about it later.

(+2k day overall, so I do feel a little better about it than I did a few hours ago....)

Nah I think check folding is fine as played. Think shoving is pretty bad. Would rather have TT or QQ to do that, but that might be silly PLO logic spilling over to NL in a very bad spot

Ok, now for my worst played hand of the month (and prob the year so far...)
I have 7 8 in EMP. 2 limpers I make it 25 to go.

6 callers see a flop of:

9 Q 7

Checked around.

Turn 6

Checked to button, a sometimes spewy, stationy player prone to tilt issues. (I can't say more as he probably will eventually read this blog ...)

Button bets 80. Folded to me. Lotta options here, the best of which is calling. So naturally I decide to raise.

I look at his stack surmise he has about $340 left say "eff it" and opt to commit myself with a $220 bet.

He insta shoves. FML. Oh well, I got outs. I ask for a chip count to make sure dealer says $330.

I say "Total?"

And dealer informed me, "No, behind."

HUH? What the **** oh **** I missed 2 black chips he had at the bottom of his stack.

Sigh guess I gotta fold but I talk thru it. Maybe there is a chance I am good. Could have picked up a FD, etc...

Ask him what he wants he says he wants me to fold, he is best and will show.

I believe him.

Still undecided he shows 5 and I immediately just assume Q 5.

Sigh (again). Tho I guess he can have a hand like 56dd (even tho this is impossible) or hell even 58. I assess my equity at about 20%.

I go to fold then decide "KingFish (not my real name), you already ****ed this hand up so bad you deserve to be punished. Now suck it up and call and you can still hit 2 pair, a straight, trips... (Forgetting during this inner monologue that 2p is no good and completely discounting the fact that 2 of my outs are also diamonds and figuring the best way to negate a mistake is to compound it into a bigger mistake and...)

"I call!"

Who the **** said that? Stupid brain.

River is a 4 and my brain thinks it's a straight he shows Q5dd I show my not a straight and then he berates me for my play while scooping a big pot...

Well this brings out my big swinging dick and I challenge him to HU4ROLLZ!!! (I know him well enough to not worry about chasing him away)

To my surprise he agrees.

"Really??!" Says I, ashockedly (not a typo). I was not expecting this. I think I peed a little in excitement.

"Yes. Let's go."

"Seriously?!?!" say I, inquisitively.

"What part of yes do you not understand?" Says evil villain man, cantankerously.

"5/10 so we can just pay time no rake?" I ask, still incredulous

“Whatever you want. Yes, already!” he retorts, retortedly.

Stunned, I ask the floor if we can play a 5/10 HU game and they agree.

Brush comes asks if if I want to play I say "Yup!"

Then asks evil villain man if he wants to play and he says...

“Hell no.”

Well played, sir. Well played.

Soo...
I declare a fatwa on his chips, go into captain aggro mode, declare war!

"If anyone takes any of his chips they are MY chips! I will hunt down my chips with great vengeance and furious anger those who yatta yatta yatta..."

He eventually leaves, I rebound from loss (was still +400ish on day after the spew), and 2 hours later finish +$2k.

If the hand never happened my plan was to leave at the end of the down, so technically my awful play made me about $1000 as I only stayed so I could fake tilt my way back to +1k, and made a little extra for my effort.

Moral to the story: Lol there is no moral it's ****ing poker.

Up Next: Finally, a hand I played well! (I think)

To be continued...

CO: Villain from above (~$500 effective)

Button: Amazingly awful spewtard on monkey tilt. Into game for 3-4 BI in last hour. Continues to bluff shove or call down light and keeps getting stacked. (~$500 effective)

I cover all.

I open for $15 with A 2 in emp for reasons. MP calls. CO (villain above) makes it $45 to go. Button calls. I call and decide based on players involved if I hit an ace I'm going to play it as the nuts. MP calls.

Flop A 7 4

Checked to Button who makes it $105. I call. Rest fold

Turn J

Villain bets $185 I CIB for his last $165 he instacalls.

River K

I scoop.

Needless to say this is not a line I usually take.

This looks like a pretty big leak. In your analysis of the hand you say you believe we are up against either hands that beat us (KJ,QT, AJ), or hands that we crush, like KQ/QJ/JT, or air. And you want to shove our hand, basically the best bluff-catcher we can have, against that polarized range? That would be really fundamentally bad, it seems like you arrived at "I should have shoved" because you would be uncomfortable c/c'ing and then playing a turn, but you didn't really want to fold.

Awesome. Gl op, looking fwd to following your progress !

More stubbornness on my part. I know villain is exploitable in these situations but really just wound up exploiting myself.

I guess the only reason to shove is drive out draws, which yeah is a little suicidal here. A clear case of all better hands call and all worse fold. Prob comes from my "if I don't know where I'm at screw it and shove and let the other guy figure it out" philosophy. Works better when a hand is HU from the start and not so great multiway.

Hands like these where I can't control the pot/action take me far out of my comfort zone and are prob my main source of Spazz, and definitely something I need to work on.

The more I step away from it the clearer it becomes.

Also should point out that this thread is skewed greatly towards me posting hands where I either effed up or had trouble with or found interesting for whatever reason. I'm only half as bad as I appear to be .

Tho I probably should post more "standard" or automatic hands, because what I consider automatic may be anything but...

Nobody likes to focus on the boring hands that happen constantly, but those hands are where the bulk of our profit comes from. Stuff like, we raise A9o on the button for min, BB calls. Flop comes T42r. BB checks, Hero ? is where the best players really figure out how to play better than others.

Good thread, and gl!

Just noticed I hit the $100k mark since I started using Poker Journal... Almost extactly a year to the day.

Hoping to be able to play more in 2014.

A bit more statistical analysis for the 1-yr/ $100k benchmark:

Day of week breakdown:



Been awhile since I looked at the data broken down by days of the week. I was a bit surprised by my Tuesday results, because I always considered Monday and Tuesday to be the worst days to play. In fact, preferred Monday because of the occasional all-night Sunday game still going strong. Tuesday is almost always a nit fest and table selection virtually nonexistent. As is shown by the hours played, I am much more likely to take a Monday or Tuesday off than other weekdays.

I also assumed Thursday would be a higher hourly. Usually good games Thurs/Friday. Wonder if it's worth looking into making adjustments. I assumed Thursday would be my #2 hourly behind only Friday. Turns out it's my second lowest, and basically on par with Monday.

A lot of my Saturday play is 1/2 where I am playing with friends who are visiting from out of town. And the times I play Sunday is usually a promotion day for regs (raffles based on hourly play during the month), so the tables are much more reg-filled than normal.

Of course all the data does suffer from a but of "lol sample size" issues.


Breakdown by shifts:



As you can see, most of my play is 10-6 M-F. Basically playing against regs, business owners, and retired nits.

While still a small sample size, really do wish I could play more during the swing shift, but family comes first. Curious if hourly would possibly go up in the looser weekend/evening games, or if my style works better against the daytime regs.

Some fantastic numbers for 2/5 (would be great for 5/10 even). I doubt anyone else in that room is doing better than that in 2/5, including BBJ winners lol. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, bus. Doubt numbers would convey to Borgata or Vegas, but I'm slowly building that shot-taking bankroll so you *******s can take a full year's profit in a week.

'Course by the time I grow a sack to donate you boys will prob have graduated to 50/50/100 Courchevel or something equally as sick.

Love reading your blog, even though it makes me feel like the insignificant maggot that I am. I had no idea you even knew how to play a 2-card game... Talk about revelatory!

Once wife settles in a bit more at her new job, I hope to be making weekly jaunts to MDL to (hopefully) speed up the BR building at 5/10. So itching to lose a $40k pot to you one day...

Congrats on passing the 6 fig mark on poker journal. Thanks for the captivating thread, will be following.

Was just called an idiot for having a Ktss on a KKJ board. Because he had an Ace (AJ) preflop and called my raise. I stacked him.

Went in today only 2 1/2 tables going. Not even a list of interest for 2/5. Sat down and decided to play till bored or bigger game opened.

Pretty much a perfect day of poker. Didn't get too many great cards. Every bluff worked, won every showdown. Made $850 in 90 minutes, noticed I had about half the chips on the table, so racked up and went home. Don't usually do that, and enjoyed my afternoon off.

Felt good to basically do no wrong for a day, even if it was just at 1/2. In one of those zones where it seemed like everyone was playing their hands face up.

Today started like yesterday: While waiting for 2/5 made $550 at 1/2 in just under an hour.

Almost left, but a shorthanded 2/5 game opened.

Then **** got weird...

One of wildest days at table I can recall. Ended up even but what a roller coaster.

One quick hit for now:

Dealt K T in EP at a loose, deep stacked short-handed table (7 players). I have $1400 have villains covered.

UTG limps I raise to $25. 3 callers (Button, SB, UTG)

Flop 9 J 8

I bet 75. Button minraises to 150. I call.

Turn Q

I check the nuts button shoves for $380 more I call.

River 4

He flips A 9

Earlier in the day:

$15 straddle

UTG (villain) raises to $40 UTG after we just had a convo about how both of us combined have won 1 pot in 90 minutes.

6 callers so I call button with A 2

Flop is 2 2 T

Checked to MP Who shoves his $250 short stack all in. Folded to me I reshove $500 total. Villain instacalls.

Turn 7 river 4

Villian flips 7 2

Player to his right (not In hand) who all hand been saying how villain gonna lose etc has no chance etc Talk talk talk (same villain who I doubled up with my 78 spew play the week before). Goes crazy wow no one could put him in that woah wow u won blah blah blah as I'm trying to count out what I owe he keeps talking so I finally tell him to "SHUT UP!"

My biggest pet peeve are people who immediately after someone takes a beat (whether given by them or not) all they do is talk about how u could have done this and this and.... Arrrgg. Win graciously, respect someone who just lost a pot.

(I don't show at this point but later did tell table my holdings and why I was not quite in the mood to hear how I was outplayed and 72 hit and blah blah blah)

And the day was just going stranger and stranger.