Bad weekend

Red Rock - Sunday July 14th, $1/$2 NL Hold 'Em

Went back the next day and was ready to play.  My wife stayed home and my goal was just to get about 3 hours of play in.

Overall the session did not go well.  I didn't run especially well, but as I said in the last blog, I think I'm playing too passive as well.  Falling into the trap that you see all old guy falling into.  Playing too safe, under the guise of "I want to keep my variance down" or "I'm trapping everyone" or whatever it might be.  I'm going to change that in the next session and play the WPT Boot Camp style again for sure.  Win or lose it's better than what I did this weekend.

Hand 1 : I limp in with 3-3 in early position.  Late position guy with a mountain of chips makes it $10.  I call, and we see the flop 4 ways.  Flop is Q-9-5 and it checks around.  Turn is a 5, check around again.  River, 3.  Boom.  I bet out $30, everyone folds.

Probably should have bet less.  I was hoping (as I often do) to bet bigger and make it look like a bluff.  But I don't know how well that's going to work in a situation where nobody has shown any interest in winning this pot.  Probably should have just bet $15.  Or even $8, hoping to induce a bluff raise or something.  But $30 was just too much especially when nobody showed any interest in the pot, and nothing interesting hit on the river.

Hand 2 : Raise A-10 of clubs in early position (probably should just fold).  Button makes it $40, I fold.

Hand 3 : I raise to $10 with 9-9 in early position.  (Lot of early position hands, I'm noticing.) The big stack from hand 1 calls me.  Flop comes 8-8-6.  I bet out $15, he calls.  Turn is a 7, giving me an open end straight draw and bringing backdoor spades.  I bet $25.  He raises me $40 more.  I call.  River is an ace.  I check, he bets $65, I fold.

Overall I think I played this one OK.  On the turn when he raises me, I'm getting 3.5 to 1 on my call.  If I think all of my outs are good (8 straight outs, 2 full house outs) then I think I can definitely call.  I also thought he could have had a draw or something, although he insta-raised me on the turn which seemed strong.  Like there was nothing to think about - raise.  The ace on the river really changed nothing, but I thought about it for a while and just figured it was much more likely that he had a strong hand than a bluff, and I folded.  He didn't look particularly scared, and his actions suggested strength for sure.

Hand 4 : Guy raises to $11 in early position.  3 people call.  I look down at Q-5 offsuit in the blind.  I decide, thats a lot of dead money out there if I can get through the initial raiser.  Unfortunately, that's where my thought process ended.  I hadn't really seen this guy play that many hands.  I raise to $50.  He reraises all-in for $150 more, I fold.  Yes, this one was pretty sketchy.

Hand 5 : New old guy at the table raises to $10.  I reraise to $25 with J-J.  He reraises again, just grabs a stack and puts it out there, probably $65+ more to call.  I fold face up.

Hand 6 : VERY next hand I have Q-Q and raise to $15 after a couple limpers.  Get 4 callers.  Flop is A-J-x.  3 checks to me, and I bet $45.  The blind calls.  Turn is a king and we both check, and I give up on the blank river.  A-2 offsuit takes it down.

Hand 7 : I raise with A-Q to $10 in middle position and a guy in position calls me.  Flop is 9-8-5 with 2 clubs.  Not the best flop.  I bet $12, he calls.  Turn is a 7, I give up, he bets $30 and takes it down.

Hand 8 :  At this point I'm frustrated and planning on leaving when the blind hits me.  I limp with 7-7 in early position.  Couple others call, and this guy goes all-in out of the blind for $47.  He had done this a ton of times before, like a bunch of hands in a row.  However, he had not done it in quite a while, maybe an hour, and I neglected to acknowledge that fact.  So out of frustration for whatever reason, I call.  Everyone else folds.  Flop is Q-J-x.  Turn 7.  Boom.  Flip up the 7-7.  River blank.  He flips up pocket kings and walks away from the table.  Haha.  But it really just made me feel even worse about how I played.  I got out of that one, but it was another bad call.  And I should NOT be putting that much in preflop with 7-7 like that.

Overall, I think I ran pretty bad and didn't get much going with the hands I did have.  However, my wife pointed out that on the Q-Q hand if I was playing the WPT Boot Camp style I would have just checked the flop and saved that money.  And the Q-5 raise was not a good play.  If I knew the guy was really loose, like if the big stack raised, maybe it would have been a great idea.  But this tight guy raises and I reraise out of the blind, that's not a good idea.  And then the 7-7 hand was a disaster.  So overall I was not happy with how I played.

As I said in the last blog, I'm going back to the WPT Boot Camp style for my next session.  Wish me luck!  Oh, and I lost $250 this time.  Not going well for my first couple sessions back, but I'll get it going.