Those explanations make sense, I have been working on committing to it I suppose. Personally I prefer not to play pocket pairs 22-44 from any position, and normally only like to open 88+ in late position.
Today I had a pretty big winning session, only about 2 hours long. There were a couple hands I played that I feel confident I played well.
I start the session with $400.
Within the first couple hands I get A6ss in the SB looking at a straddle UTG for $10 and 2 limpers, I decide I call and see a flop, BB calls, straddle checks. Flop comes Ad6c7d I bet 15, BB folds, straddle goes to $40, folds around to me and I just call. Turn comes 2x, we both check. River is a 6, I check hoping he's gonna bet but he shows 23s ... Lol I'm still trying to figure out where the 3bet on the flop came from?
Then the next hand I played there was a raise to $10 UTG1 by a guy who was doing this almost every hand, saw him show down hands like J5o after opening min in EP, so it folds to me on the button and I min 3bet AQo to $20, BB calls and UTG calls. Flop comes 73Qhhh and it checks to me, I bet $30 in this spot and they both fold. Nothing too fancy here, seemed like a standard spot but this leads to my next hand a few hands later..
I have $500 behind. UTG1 limps, I raise AsKc from UTG2 to $20, CO, BTN, BB and UTG1 all call.
The flop comes Ac9hTc.
BB leads out $75, UTG1 folds and it comes back to me. I think for a bit to put him on a range, thinking maybe 2 pair, but more so thinking about hands that would call $20 OOP preflop, I decide to put him on either a weaker Ace or a draw and raise to $175 to really see where he's at. The guy has a bit of gamble in him but I felt like I needed more information. It folds to him and he tanks before he goes all in for like 180 more .. I tank again, check my cards and decide that with the Kc and top pair with some running straight and flush possibilities I am good in this spot. I don't think 2 pair shoves me here, or even a set really so it felt like he was drawing and he was. The turn was an 8c, and the river was 4c so I made a running flush. He turned over QJcc. Ran this hand through the equity calculator and it said from the flop I was 50.4 to win, so basically a flip. I feel like I played it well and got lucky too.
I sit through a round and take a smoke break. When I come back to the table I post $7 to come in at UTG2 (not something I do often) UTG and UTG1 both limp and I look down at QQ, I make it $30, folds around to SB who calls, then BB makes it $120, folds to me and I think (this is the guy I just stacked with AK) so I just flat in this spot knowing I have to be up against a big Ace, it just makes sense to see a flop just in case so I can get away from it, SB folds. Flop comes out J78dd, he checks and I bet $200, he thinks for a little bit then tells me "This time I am getting my money in bad!" And calls for less, board goes running diamonds and he flips AKo no diamond so we win that too
Now I'm sitting at around $1100 or so when I play what was pretty much my last hand.
UTG1 opens to $20, I look down at AA. The guy who opened is a super aggressive PLO player waiting for them to open a table. He can be really tricky so I decide to 3bet UTG2 to $50, folds to him and he calls. Flop comes K46r and he checks, I bet out $100, he thinks for a second and throws in a black chip. Turn comes diamond to put the flush draw out there, so I'm thinking maybe if he had some kind of straight draw on the flop or flush draw this card could possibly give him a bit more value to call with, but I didn't want him to know I had Aces in case he paired the K, so I do a fishy same bet of $100, he calls. River was 4d so it paired the board and put a flush out there, he checks to me and I check back to make sure he wasn't trapping with a hand that gets there, possibly a set or flush draw. I show my Aces and he mucks so we held.
Now I'm at $1450ish. I sit a few more hands and pick up 88 in the CO, folded to me so I opened to $15, BTN calls and SB 3bets to $40, I decide to let it go, it's uncontested. After this I cashed out because the table dynamic was changing and there were more regs at my table that would be a bit more difficult to extract money from. So I booked a win up 1k and think I played well
Gotta say it's a nice win after being on a bit of a downswing last few weeks, back in the green