I've not posted that many hands recently so I thought I'd put a few in to one post for analysis. They are a range of different hands which have created interesting pots.
Opponent Based Play - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800126
Yesterday I was saying that I had been up against some overtly aggressive players and failed miserably with hitting anything where I could take them down. In this hand I succeeded and my play was based purely upon the opponent. Let me take you through the hand. I'm dealt QQ and my opponent has made a standard raise to $35 from mid-late position which he does a lot. I flat call in the hope of picking up a fairly sizeable pot later on. Flop comes 842 two diamonds and he bet near pot size at me. I have two options here but whereas I would usually raise this to discover how good my hand is, I decide flat calling is far preferable here as he is likely to either fold or repop and I don't want him to do either as my hand although strong could conceivably be in for a world of hurt.
Turn comes a 6h which felt very safe and to my surprise he bet $175, I would consider dropping here to many opponents on the basis that they are representing a fair amount of strength and I'm going to have to commit a lot to the pot as I HAVE to raise if I play on - a call is just horrible in my opinion. I decided that my opponent's raise was very very wide here and I was 75%+ sure that I was ahead and he was trying to run over me. Therefore I min raised, leaving myself enough to get away from it if needs be. I expected him to fold but he repopped all in. Did not like this at all and again against many opponents this would be going straight in the muck. However he is more than capable of doing this with diamonds/hearts/straight draw/weaker pair and after much thought I decided to go with my initial feelings and make the call. River a K and he flips TT so I was bang on in my decisions.
During this hand I truly did not specificly know where I was at, usually that is enough to get me to fold as I don't like taking guesses but because of the history with this opponent I was able to make good decisions throughout against some extremely well executed pressure. I still am unsure as to whether I think he's good or not, I've seen a lot of poor hands winning massive pots for and against him and he will make massive calls with mid pair etc. On the whole I like him being at the table as it loosens everyone up a bit but as he succeeds in making me uncomfortable a lot I suppose I should give him a lot of credit for being a pretty good maniac.
For a lot of unthinking players my play in the hand may seem obvious and simple as I had an overpair and went with it - trust me 75%+ of the time where the betting makes you feel like you're beat you are and being able to lay down the big hands is a key element in becoming a winning player long term.
Poor/unlucky for my opponent - you decide - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800174
I like my play here and dislike my opponents as he checks the likely winner and gives up a free card in silly fashion. I have KK early pos and call a raise from the button. Flop comes T high and I suspect I am ahead here and decide to check raise what looks to be a good flop. My opponent who has a set of 5's checks behind. Turn comes a K giving me the current nuts, again assuming my opponent has nothing I go for a check raise and pump it to $170. Again my opponent flat calls. Turn comes a 9 leaving me thinking that the only possible hand I've lost to is JQ hearts but let's face it I cannot drop this to his river push ever as I'm way too committed and despite being a touch worried I bet the river strongly and called the raise. Huge pot and you may think I got lucky but lets look at my opponent's play.
First of all he has raised with 55 and hit when in position - his check on the flop is ghastly as now if he shows strength later I'm gonna be suspicious also if I have AK he is missing out on the reraise I would undoubtably throw out to any bet. I will not have him on a set during the hand if he bets and the check guarantees minimum value from my hand if I fail to connect further. I could have lost a big pot if he'd played this better and I hadn't hit IF he bets the flop - a healthy amount of suspicion to the preflop raiser who checks the flop then shows a lot of strength is almost always a good idea.
He bets the turn and I reraise - he has got to reraise here, he must think he is ahead and I could be raising with a variety of draws and will be tempted to call in these cases. The flat call asks for trouble if really does, many draws available and he is giving me every opportunity. River leaves a straight possibility which he must at least realise I could have so when I bet 3/4 pot his raise is not good given how the hand has played as If I had AK I could easily drop it (also wouldn't have got in this situation but still...) Basically he has raised when he no longer has any idea where he is and is only getting called by hands which have him crushed.
This opponent is one of my current favourites to see as I don't think much of his game, he bluffs too much and then misplays his big hands.
How to play a set of 5's (sharp contrast to above) - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800214
Having called preflop I hit a wonderful flop of KQ5 two hearts and am first to act. I decide the bet helps disguise my hand best and stick in $30, I am reraised to $90 and as I will do in these cases I flat call looking for a good turn card where I will commit. Turn comes a 2 and I felt that my opponent had something like AK or a flush draw so I put in a weakish bet to define where I was. I exepcted to be raised here and it duly happened as he banged it to $222. This is a no brainer for me as a call asks for trouble, if I raise I am committed no matter what comes on the river so I go for one of my favourite moves the big all in reraise (works well with the nuts or without if you know your opponents) and he calls it. He had KQ so I can understand that he couldn't get away, or at least felt that he couldn't - I'd have dropped personally unless I had a good read on my opponent.
Anyway this is somewhat different to how my opponent played his 5's in the hand previously and on the whole I rather prefer my more thought out play to his donkey antics.
Hero Call - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800233
I'm not in this last one but my god what was he thinking, anybody? No... I don't have a clue either. Splash is one of the aggressive players I failed to connected against and he is very capable of moving the chips about with air BUT - you just don't call with the 3 here, there is no way that can ever be a winning play, almost everything beats him, even if he had a draw on the flop - he has hit. Oh I hate this call so much - you need such a good read to do this and with Splash's range you just cannot call this.
For all those who like making the big calls, please try making the big raises instead as at least that way you'll get paid off more when you have the goods and give your opponent the option of a fold. Splash's play is quality purely because he would have done the exact same thing with the nuts which can make him damn hard to play. Patience is the key in picking off the big bluffs, just don't get involved until you have something you are willing to put your whole stack in with.
I still cannot put splash on a single hand which the caller could beat, not one and I will die long before I figure out what on earth his opponent was thinking.
Right that's it for now, hopefully some interesting stuff for you and I'm going to try to sleep again
Steve
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