Sorry, my favorite hand and Raise the Turn

It sounds like there were plenty of others that were miffed when Full Tilt decided to go down Saturday. Luckily, I was right at the end of my poker day. I did come back later in the evening and had to use Absolute. I never did hear what happened.

Friday night was a little different. I was struggling from the outset. Not hitting flops, blah, blah. Finally, about an hour into the session, I'm back to the positive about a buy ins worth. Then it happen.... AGAIN!!!

AQ on a T9A board gets bested by a set of 9s. Yes, I know what you are thinking, don't ever lose your stack with one pair. The problem was the villain was an uber LAG-tard. I'm talking 50/30 guy. Sometimes, I tend not to believe them. These types really, really enjoy bluffing.

7 hands later... same uber LAG-tard. He raises with A7 and I reraise with KK. Short story, he flops OESD and hits on the turn. Again, I didn't believe him and paid him off.

And finally 37 hands later (relatively speaking as I was playing 3 tables). A different LAG-tard; but again the same stats as he was a 50/30 guy raises from EP and I reraise with AJo. The amounts aren't important as it was standard type play. Flop comes 3AK (2 hearts). I bet (only 1/2 pot) and he calls. Turn 8. This time I bet $15 and he goes all in for $41. I pretty much have to call especially given the villain. He turns over K8 and takes me down.

Now, I'm especially steaming after getting stacked 3 times within 10 minutes; but this guy says "Sorry, my favorite hand". I don't why; but that made want to stick my hand through the computer and wring his neck. Instead, I did the more sensible thing and just called it a night down 2 1/2 buyins after about 250 hands. I'm actually kind of proud of myself as normally I would have continued to play and more than likely continued to lose. I do have the tendency to really go after players like this which is good normally as you always look to play with the LAGs; but patience is the key there and I definitely have been known to lose my patience after a few of these.

Fast forward to Sunday and another interesting back to back hand occurred against the same player. Let's say the theme is what to do when you hit your hand on the turn and your opponent is betting into you.

Hand #1

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $52.95
MP: $45.25
Hero (CO): $67.90
BTN: $82.75
SB: $50.00
BB: $54.95

Pre Flop: Hero is CO with Q Q
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, BTN calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($4.25) K 3 J (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BTN calls $3

Turn: ($10.25) K (2 players)
Hero bets $5, BTN calls $5

River: ($20.25) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $14, BTN calls $14

Final Pot: $48.25
Hero shows Qc Qs (a full house, Queens full of Kings)
BTN mucks Jh Jc
Hero wins $45.85
(Rake: $2.40)

Here the villain hit his set on flop and full house on Turn only to lose to a bigger full house on river. A turn bet most likely sends me out of the hand as this guy was pretty straight forward. If he was betting he had something. He was a little passive with 36/12 stats.


Hand #2

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $53.20
CO: $44.50
Hero (BTN): $89.25
SB: $62.00
BB: $50.00
UTG: $52.45

Pre Flop: Hero is BTN with J A
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, SB raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.25

Flop: ($6.50) Q K K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($6.50) T (2 players)
SB bets $6.50, Hero calls $6.50

River: ($19.50) Q (2 players)
SB bets $19.50, Hero folds

Final Pot: $19.50
SB shows Ah As (two pair, Aces and Kings)
SB wins $18.55
(Rake: $0.95)


Here, I hit my straight on Turn and just called the turn bet. The ultimate scare card came on river and I folded the winning hand that would have cracked his aces. I have to admit that it was a very nice bet from him as this card also was the ultimate scare card from him as well. Here, a turn raise probably would have gotten paid off.

So, the question of the day is how to play those hands on the turn. So many times you want to wait and try to let your opponent catch up where he will fire away again on the river and you can the push and hopefully get paid off. After these two hands, I'm not so sure. Does anybody raise these hands on the turn?

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I think that this bears repeating. After watching a few Stoxpoker videos, it has changed how I've played for the better, I think. It is obviously too soon to tell; but certainly we can tell that my aggressiveness has been increased.

In March over about 6,800 hands, my stats were 28/16/2.11. Most definitely, I was calling way too many hands. My win rate was about break even at .49bb/100

So far in April after 3,700 hands, my stats are 23/18/3.59 which so far has lead to 6.54 bb/100.

Again, way too early to tell; but hopefully I am headed in the right direction. Being new again to NL, I'm not sure what kind of stats are good and what kind of win rates I should expect at this level. I'll just keep truckin' on and see what happens and re-evaluate after 20,000 hands similar to the Mook.

Have a nice day!!!