You are playing a short-handed SNG or cash game. Taking out the obvious factor of wanted to win money, who is your dream line-up of the other 5 players.

Seat 1 - Ivey
Seat 2 - Durrrrr
Seat 3 - Me
Seat 4 - Hellmuth
Seat 5 - Brunson
Seat 6 - Amarillo Slim

Waiting list (or if it is 9-handed): Negrenau, Farha, Phil Laak

What's yours?

I would love to get your thoughts on this latest development with FTP. Do you really think that the higher ups were intentionally stealing money from the players? How much did people like durrrrr and Ivey know? Give me your opinions.

Rounder
@OhioRounder on Twitter

Played in a $1/$3 game on Friday night, and as per usual, there was some easy money as well as some tough players. One player in particular, Sam, sat directly to my left which I wasn't too pleased about.

Sam is a very aggressive player who will make any bet with any two at any time. His only fault is not knowing when to reel it in, which costs him a lot of money when he isn't hitting hands and people are calling him down with any pair.

In this particular pot, I straddled the button for $12 and there were three callers when it got to me. I picked up , and raised $30 on top of the straddle, fully expecting to lose NO ONE in this game. Two of them called, including Sam in the SB, and we saw a flop of with a pot of roughly $140.

The pot was checked to me, and I bet $60, hoping to obviously take it down. Sam immediately moves all-in for another $120, and the rest fold back to me. The pot is now $320 with $120 to call. With most players I would have to assume I was beat, and figure out if my over cards were even good before doing the math in my head, but with Sam it is a little different. Being short stacked, I can put him on any number of hands here like A5, 85, 35, 45, 65. He also might have a small overpair. The bad part of him being short short in relation to the pot is that he does not need to disguise his big hands, so he will move in with a set, 2 pair, and a straight almost always in this spot.

Ultimately I concluded that he was probably on a draw, and that even if AK-high wasn't good, my overs most certainly were. Besides, there was just too much money in the pot to fold. I called and showed. He didn't. The board ran out and , he mucked, and I road that pot to a nice $1000 win in the game.

Rounder

@OhioRounder on Twitter

I will be posting tweets during all my sessions from now on.

@OhioRounder

Thanks in advance for the follows.

Rounder

So sorry I haven't blogged in about a week, but I just haven't played. Though poker accounts for a majority of my income, I do have a regular job as a 3rd grade teacher here in NW Ohio. It pays the bills and provides my family with insurance, so poker is completely gravy. This past week was my first week back teaching, so poker too a back seat while I got back into the swing of things with the kids.Anyways, back to things you actually care about. Last night I was finally able to get back to the tables, and with no big games unless I wanted to drive to Detroit, I settled for the $1/$2 games at one of the local charity rooms. Before discussing any of the hands, let me give you a break down of my hands for the night, specifically my pocket pairs.

AA - 5KK - 4QQ - 1JJ - 0TT - 099 - 188 - 177 - 166 - 055 - 144 - 233 - 022 - 0

I'll take that any night, but big pairs usually mean big swings, and last night was certainly no exception.

The first round I sat down at the table, I picked up and raised to $8. I got 2 callers and then a unknown older gentleman made it $30 on top. I decided to disguise my hand as best I could and just called. I was hoping the callers behind me would fold, but I was willing to risk it. Thankfully they folded and we saw a flop of . I have $330 behind and he has me covered. He bets out $40 on the flop and I make it $100. He goes all in pretty quick, and I call hoping he doesn't have a set of jacks. He shows kings and I double up. Off to a good start.

Eventually I grind my stack up to $900, which has the table plenty covered, and leaves me sitting +$500. I pick up again, and make it $12. To my dismay, I get like four callers including the gentleman that doubled me up. Flop comes down , and I bet $40. It folds around to my new best friend, who makes it $100 to go. He only has another $150ish behind so I go ahead and put him all in. He snap calls and shows . Blah, but at least is wasn't a set. This room doesn't let you run it twice, so I had two cards to fade. Turn , giving him his straight. River , doubling him up. Whatever. I'm still sitting okay.

A short time later, I have about $600 in front of me and AGAIN I pick up . This time the same guy raises to $8, and I make it $32. Everyone else folds and he calls. We see a flop of , and he checks to me. Sticking with our trend, I bet $40 on the flop, and sticking with our trend, he makes it $100. Seriously? Again we have to play a big pot. At this point I am putting him on an overpair 8's through J's with a spade. At this point he has about $325ish more behind, and I decide to put him to the test, so I move all in. At first he doesn't look too happy with what has transpired, so I am 99% sure I am good. He finally calls and I roll my hand confidently. He shows . Again, we can't run it twice, and again I brick out. Where is my this time?

Fuck! From $500 up to $300 down in a matter of 45 minutes or so. I contemplate getting up, but instead I take a short break, rebuy for $200 more and get back to work. I grind and grind, getting back to even, then up $100, then back to even, then up $200. I am pretty happy with how I am playing, and again I contemplate locking up a win and leaving. But what fun would that be?

Shocking the next big hand I play doesn't involve me having two black aces! An aggressive young kid named Kris makes it $16 to go. A loose terrible player named Dave calls, and I call from the BB with . I have them both covered with $800. Dave has less than $200, and Kris has between $500 and $600. I bet $2 in the dark, and we see a flop of . Kris calls the $2, and Dave raises to $25. I call the $25 and Kris does as well. Kris could have absolutely anything from a set to overcards, and Dave probably has a Jack that may or may not be strong. Turn is the , and this time I fire out $60, which is about half the pot. Kris again calls, but before I can begin to put him on a hand, Dave goes all-in for $90 more. He seems generally unhappy, and I am thinking he has AJ or KJ, and doesn't want any action. Turning my attention back to Kris, it feels like he is on some sort of draw. Possibly diamonds, possibly straight, possibly a combo of both. Small chance of something like AQ that floated the flop and turned a draw. I really don't want to give him the price to chase, so I make it another $110 on top of the $90, making it $200 for him to see a river. Shockingly he calls after much debate. River is not the worst card in the world, but it's certainly not a good one, . I reluctantly check, and thankfully Kris checks behind. I announce two pair and Dave angrily slams AJ down on the table. Kris asks, "Which two?" I show my hand and he mucks claiming to have flopped top two. I tend to believe him, because he's a pretty honest guy, but it baffles me how he played the flop if that was the case.

I continue to play well, and slowly make progress, when my last big hand of the night comes up. I pick up in the SB, and it is limped around to me. I make it $15 more and two players call. Then the button, who limped in originally, announces raise and makes it $100 more, leaving him just over $100 behind. The other two stacks are fairly deep, and I don't need to give anyone else odds to call, so I isolate and move all in. He calls and I show my hand. He does not. The board runs out , and he mucks.

All in all, it ended up being a very good night, and I banked a $1250 profit. Although I had a bunch of huge pairs, I ended up only making two sets the entire night. The set of aces I turned in the pot that gave the guy a straight, and a set of queens when I flopped queens full of fours, and got zero action. Either way, I will surely take it, and I'm planning on playing several more sessions this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some more fun stories or interesting hands to discuss soon.

Rounder

p.s. I am going to start tweeting more during my sessions, so if you would like to follow me and chime in with your thoughts mid-session, please follow me @OhioRounder on Twitter.

Would love to get some opinions from you guys as to whether you like the 3 month layoff/build-up to the final table or not?

Please post your responses as to why as well.

Rounder

I will always maintain that the main skill that sets good poker players from great poker players is the ability to maximize profit on good hands and limit losses on good hands that aren't good enough.

I pick up in $1/$2 game. There is a straddle to $6, and I make it $18. Everyone folds to the straddle to who calls. Flop is . Not my favorite flop, but at least there are two aces instead of one, making it more unlikely that he has one. He checks to me, and I check behind. If he has an ace, it helps keep the pot controlled, and if he doesn't, it gives him a chance to pick up something on the turn and hopefully call a bet or two.

Turn . He checks to me again. I am pretty pleased with this card, but not expecting to get any action. I bet $27, and when I look up at him, he is putting on the worst acting job I have ever seen. This guy wanted me to think his girlfriend just cheated on him with his brother. He made sure I KNEW he hated that I had bet that $27...........................

Then he called.

I know it sounds silly, but at this point I have him on an absolute monster. Not just one ace either. I'm fairly sure he has A9 or 99, and I have already made up my mind that barring the on the river, I am just calling what I expect will be a rather large bet on the river.

The river comes the , and again he checks it to me. This is rather unexpected. Could I have been wrong, and his acting job was really just two tens. Is he a better player than I give him credit for and he is really unhappy about a bad ace and is just check calling? My gut tells me something is off and I should check behind, but as I said up top, I need to maximize my profits and I am only losing to AA, AK, A9, and A4. So again I bet $27.

Again, the academy award performance comes out. He looks SOOOOO weak on purpose. AND THEN HE RAISES! To $75. Now I am absolutely positive he is on one of the hands above or 99, with a small chance he is on a non boat ace. Re-raising never crosses my mind. Folding definitely crosses my mind. But with no prior knowledge of this player and only $48 to call into a $200 pot, I feel like I have to make the call.

I announce as I put my chips in that I have "kings full", and that "I know it's no good." Sure enough, he shows me AK. My first reaction is frustration, but after a few minutes I am just thrilled that I lost the absolute minimum. The only way I can play it any better is to follow my gut and check behind on the river. The sad part for the kid is if he doesn't try to sell it so bad, he probably gets doubled up. Oh well. Limit the losses guys.

Rounder

We were 6-handed and I was dealt in the BB. UTG +1 raised to $7 which is standard at this table and it folded around to me. My opponent is a fairly good LAG player who opens with a wide range, so I felt I needed to re-pop it out of position, but I didn't want to scare him, so I made it $22 total, and he smooth called.

We saw a flop of and I bet $35 (3/4 pot)

He though for a short time and flatted me again. It is not uncommon for him to float me here with any PP, any draw, or two over cards, in an attempt to hit or take it away on the turn, which was the 2 of clubs.



With what I felt was a very good turn for my hand, I elected to check to my opponent in the hopes that he would make a bet with just about anything he was holding. Obviously an 8 isn't out of his range here, but if he can show me one, he's going to stack me. No way around it. I'm not laying down aces to him because his range is so wide here. Sadly though, he checked behind which was a little surprising to me. I figured he would bet just about anything here, my planned c/r was foiled.

On the plus side, checking the turn opens up a whole new playbook for me on the river, as I have now shown a c-bet followed by a check. My opponent has to assume I am weak here, and I can use that to my advantage.

The river makes the board

I have to tell you I was not thrilled with this river as 10-9 is definitely something he would raise and call a 3-bet with, but I still have no plans to fold this hand. But what to bet? As I said before, I need to use my weak image on the turn to my advantage. What would I bet if I had AK in this spot and got called on the turn? The correct answer is check-fold, but he doesn't know that. Acting accordingly I make a little over a half pot bet of $65, leaving myself $115 behind. The reason for this bet is to give him the impression that he has fold equity, and that I am able to lay down a hand like AK or AQ in this spot. Also, if he does have a PP like 55 or 66, this is a bet he will very likely call, and will get me paid off. I am definitely thinking he is more likely to call than he is to either raise or fold.

To my surprise, he does set me all after tanking for a short while. Could I be beat? Absolutely. 77, T9, 22, and a few 8x's are all we within his range. The deciding factor is that while all of those are in his range, they make up a small percentage of what he actually may be holding. I call, fairly quickly, fulling expecting to see a complete bluff and I am mildly surprised to see 7c 6c. I would have definitely thought he would have just called the river with that hand, or that he would have bet the turn with it. Either way, the lesson to be learned here is that when a planned c/r doesn't pan out for you, analyze what range your opponent is putting you on, and adjust your river bet accordingly. You might get lucky enough to have him bluff off his stack to you, or at least call a value bet he wouldn't have had you fired a 2nd shell on the turn.

Enjoy,

Rounder

Would love to hear some thoughts on who does and does not do this. Does it matter if it's omaha or hold 'em? Do you need to see the other person's cards before you agree? Anyone run it more than twice?

Rounder

In any poker session you are bound to run into hand, where you have raised preflop, flopped well, and have continuation bet the flop and turn with your hand. Then the river brings whatever the opposite of a brick it. A magical card than fills all draws and makes your marbles shrivel up a little bit. Because you can't control what position you get these hands in, you will inevitably play more than a few of these hands out of position. What makes these even more challenging is that it opens yourself up to being bluffed should you choose to check to your opponent. Here's an example.

Last night I was playing a $1/$2 deep stacked NLHE game with about $1000 in front of me. I pick up UTG+1 and make it $12 to go, which is a pretty standard raise in this game. I end up with 4 callers on a board. With this wet of a flop, I don't like to commit too much, especially with 4 opponents, so I make it a pretty reasonable $28. I get one caller, who is a very skilled aggressive player.

The turn is the filling up the 68 draw. I still feel like I have the best hand and again I play pot control betting out small in relation to the pot with $56. Again he just calls. Now I am fairly certain I have the best hand, and I would have heard from a set, 2 pair, or a straight on the turn. The river is the . Not exactly a brick. The flush gets there. 2 straights get there. QJ makes 2 pair. You get the point. What do you do here? I'd like to get some of your thoughts and then tell you what I did and why.

Rounder