Red Rock Monday

 Went up to the Rock last night just for a couple hours.  Played in the must-move game for about 40 minutes.  It was SUPER shorthanded.  


I don't feel super comfortable in that type of situation today.  I feel like I don't pick my spots exceptionally well and have a tendency to spew off chips.  It's fun playing and getting more experience though.  I know as I move higher and higher in stakes, I'm going to have to play more shorthanded.  It's just a fact of life.  Might as well get that experience now, as opposed to when I'm playing 5/10 or 10/20 NL and it costs exponentially more, and I'm also playing against more competent opponents.

4 handed 2/5 NL at Red Rock - must move game

Played a couple somewhat interesting hands.  In one, we were 4 handed and I min-raise opened from the small blind with K-4 offsuit.  The big blind called.  By the way, I don't generally min-raise, I was just trying it out.  The flop comes A-K-3.  I bet 10, he points to the 3 and calls.  He said something preflop about how he was going to need a special flop or whatever, basically just announcing that he had a garbage hand, and I totally believed him.  So I didn't put him on an ace and thought I was very likely good at this stage.  Turn was a 10.  I checked and he checked.  River was a 9.  I bet 20.  He said something like "I think I got you now" or whatever and min-raised me to 40.  He's now obviously trying to say "I have 9-3".  However, I felt like it's heads up and I can't really fold to a min-raise on the river here with such a monster hand as K-4 offsuit.  :-)  So I called, and he had 8-3 (just the 3).  


Later I raised on the button (again 4 handed) with A-2 suited, to $20.  2 callers.  Flop came 10-5-5.  Now this guy leads out into me for $30 (blue shirt in the picture above).  I felt like this guy had been betting out on too many flops and I thought he probably didn't have a 5.  I had backdoor diamonds and a backdoor straight draw too.  So I made it 75.  He thought about it and asked if I had an overpair, and eventually folded Q-10 face up.  Whoops.  Bad play on my part, lol.  I reassured him when he asked me about it later that I had pocket queens.


Playing between 3 and 4 handed for a while, eventually the must move game broke.  I got in the main game shortly after though.  Few fun hands there too.


Raise KJ to 15.  3 callers.  Flop Q-9-9.  Checks to me and I have 1 person behind me.  I bet 25.  2 folds and a call.  Turn is a queen.  He checks, I check.  River is an ace.  Check, check.  He had 6-6 and we chop.  I have been torn on this one, whether or not to bet the turn or river.  But I think that if he had 9-x he probably would have played it the same way.  And I'm not getting anyone smart to lay down to a tiny bet on the river.  Maybe a big bet, but I don't want to risk that much either.  So I guess it's fine to just check the turn and river here.


Guy raises to $15.  I call with J-8 suited.  See the flop 4 way and it's Q-Q-8.  He bets out 20, I raise it to 60, he folds (as do the others) and I win.  Overall this was probably just a risky spot to be in and folding preflop was probably the best option.  Or reraising, but basically just fold.  Raising the flop only gets worse hands to fold.  I guess protecting my hand has some benefit here, but overall I think there's just a lot of risk there as well and I could just avoid that spot altogether.


I think in general over the last week since I've gotten in a lot of weird spots, ran some bad bluffs, and lost a lot of money on draws, I am seeing the value in tightening up a little bit.  I don't want to be a nit but I just need to be in position basically all the time, and pick my spots a bit better.  I guess in position I don't mind going a little crazier.  But in the last hand, I have 2 people behind me.  Who's to say one of them doesn't have Q-10?  Then I just totally threw away $60.  Granted by raising I'll be able to know about it right away and shut down which is nice, but it would be great to save the $60 altogether.

The Governator

Interesting hand vs the guy I like to think of as the Governator (pictured).  I raise with 4-2 suited in late position to $15.  He calls from the big blind.  Flop comes Q-9-2 with 2 diamonds.  He checks, I bet $15, he calls.  Turn is the 9 of diamonds.  He checks, I check.  River is an offsuit 7.  He bets $25.  I think about it and call.  He has the 2-5 offsuit and we chop.  


On that hand, the turn was pretty scary.  But if I'm going to call a river bet, I really should be betting out $20 or $25 on the turn and bet-folding.  On the end there's just no way to tell if he has anything and if I think he can be bluffing I just have to call, which is a bad spot.  I should have put myself in the driver's seat by betting the turn IF I was going to call the river.  Either that or just give up on the turn and fold the river when he bets.  


Then, a couple bigger hands.  In one, I raise the button with 8-8 to $20.  Get 2 callers.  Flop 6-6-2.  Now a guy (blue shirt from pic above) bets all of his red chips, $100.  He has a $100 bill behind.  Super overbet.  Guy folds and it's on me.  I decided that he didn't necessarily have to have a 6 here or even a big overpair, so I just pushed him all-in.  He called.  Turns out he had 4-4.  So I won a big pot with that.  Kinda risky but I had seen him do some similar things earlier and I didn't think he was a good player, so I risked it.


In another hand I got a sick flop.  I call in a straddled pot with 10-9 suited.  Flop comes Q-J-4 with the Q-J of my suit.  Sick.  I bet out $25 into like 5 people, get 2 callers.  Turn is an offsuit ace.  First guy checks to me and I bet $80.  Not the best card, but I figure it's an OK bluffing card and at least I probably won't get raised off of this too often (unless someone has K-10, but I have a blocker).  Guy folds, now the first guy goes all-in (essentially calls all-in, he had like $83).  He shouts that he wants a diamond, and I'm scared that he has bigger diamonds.  River is an offsuit 9.  He had the 5-4 of diamonds so I was way ahead and won a decent pot there.    


Overall I ended up playing for just over 2 hours and won almost $600!  Really great session and a good confidence booster after a bad weekend of poker.  Excited for my next session.  :-)