5/10 NL Borgata.

Saturday afternoon, I had a LOT of regs at my table, all good players. Very cold deck, with the exception of 1 hand, I had to claw and scrape to make money, using mostly bluffs. Got sucked out on hard a couple of times even after making some good calls. I don't think I was on tilt, but I would say that I was probably opening a bit too much, and called some questionable 3 bets.

Hand #1:

V is a young black man. I don't know if he recognized me, but about a year ago or so I took a 1500 dollar pot off him. We had some history throughout the game, every time it was my blind he would raise. I think he thought I folded in the blinds too much. He had also three bet my opens a few times.
later on i opened with 98 suited and he three bet me. I had enough and I 4 bet him and he insta mucked his cards. He stopped after that.

The hand.

Hero Small blind Q9o
Villain MP: ??

Limps around to hero who completes, and BB checks. I believe 5 players.

Flop KJJ (I beleive rainbow). Hero checks, villain bets 25 hero calls.
Turn 10. Hero bets 75, V raises to 225. Hero calls
River 10. Hero checks (I think this was my big mistake, I feel like maybe should have made a blocking bet?) V shoves. Hero?

Hand 2:

V is a middle aged asian woman by the name of Jenny. I recognize her as a reg also. We had a little history when I called her down on a pot and she caught a straight. She's been very aggressive.

Hero, QsJc
V: K2c

V limps from UTG, in MP herop raises to 60, (there was a straddle out , maybe I should have raised bigger?) 3 callers including villain.

Flop Ks 5s 5d

Checks to hero, Hero bets 225 V calls
Turn: 3h

V checks. Hero bets 350. My rationale was that I might be able to get a flush draw to fold and the flop hits my range harder than it does hers. She calls.

River Qd.

V checks again. I am certain to what she has at this point and I bet 1000 into a pot of 1490. After long deliberation V calls. There was a bit of banter in this spot which I think led to her call, and she made a soul read. What I would like to know is, would you have done the same in this spot?

I think your fundamentals are vacationing somewhere in the Seychelles.

Stack sizes?

In both I had about 2500 in front.

I don’t disagree that I had my head up my ass for some sections of my session. In hand #1 against most villains I would fold on the flop. The thing was I had seen him making this bet a few times and he sometimes gave up the turn so I didn’t have much reason to believe he was super strong in this spot.

Hand 2 was just the matter of a read. I really believed she would fold, and she was very close to folding. She tanked for at least 3 minutes. The way I play is if I have a strong read I go with it, regardless of theory. I’ve lost money that way, but I’ve also made a ton that way as well.

EDIT: Not to say that I do it every time. I tend to remain tight for the most part.

Hand 1 - I think I'd just fold the flop. Jacks are a huge part of his range here considering he's betting OOP 5-handed. Your reverse implied odds are terrible since you aren't even drawing to the nut straight. I think the turn is a definite fold.

Hand 2 - This is probably one of the worst hands you could choose to bluff with (other than QsJs and AsQx). You just picked up some non-negligible showdown value, since many hands like 66-JJ that could x/call 2 streets and fold to the triple barrel will now just lose anyway. By holding the Qs, you also block many flush draws that might x/call 2 streets and fold the river, like AQs, QJs, QTs, Q9s.

What's your value range on the river anyway? KK+ and AK? Gotta figure you're checking back QQ on most turns, and AK could very well be too thin of a value bet with this line. I don't think you need many bluffs in your range here at all. You can probably get away with bluffing some combos of A2s and A4s without the spades (if you raise those pre), and 22-66.

Hand 1:

Agreed for the most part. I think the only reason I called the flop at that point was frustration, combined with my response up above. The deck had been so cold to me on saturday, it had been a while since variance had swung so hard.

Hand 2: The fact that I have showdown value here, imo actually makes it more valuable for me to bet. If she did have an underpair, whats to stop her from making a hero call with it? If she called as light as K2, a hero call with an underpair is DEF not out of the question. I do see your point about the Qs now, however, considering it blocks her from having a weak queen to call me down with in this spot. But the way the hand is p;layed, she shouldn't have too many Qs in this spot anyway, probably folding the turn.

And conversely, if she had exactly what I thought she did, a weak K, the only way I win is by betting. It occured to me that not only was it highly unlikely now for her to have KQ, it was completely unlikely for her to have any strong King at all the way it was played. AK-K10 she was raising preflop, she was pretty aggressive. I could easiliy have AA, KQ, AK, and since my reputation was opening wide, even A5, 65, 54 suited in this spot wouldn't be completely out of the question. With the sticky flush draw out there, QQ is not completely out of the question either, though KK is. I'd probably want to extract more value with that hand.

This was my complete analysis of that one. If there's something wrong with that, I'm DEFINITELY opening to listening and discussing. I don't think I was the best player at that table and I definitely want to see what I can fix.

Also, for anyone else replying to this thread, I either bet 175 on the flop in hand #2, Or I had 4 callers. Either way, as I'm writing this I see what an atrocious C-Bet that was.