Post one or two hands that you think you played well.

[VarlosZ]

Most of the threads in these forums involve hands in which the OP feels unsure of the best solution and/or thinks he played poorly. While those threads are often instructive, I'd like to try approaching it from the other direction. Post a hand or two that you think you played particularly well, and explain why.


The hand I have in mind was a couple of years ago, in a 10-Handed PartyPoker 2/4 game. The villain in the hand was a solid regular and a 2+2er, though we didn't have very many hands together. Effective stacks $400. (Details are a little fuzzy, but the gist is accurate.)

4 limpers, I complete in the SB w/ A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], BB checks.

Flop (pot = $24): T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

I open for $20, solid player in UTG+ 2 or 3 calls, all others fold. I knew he was a solid player and definitely not loose, and these games played considerably tighter than the 6-max games most of us are used to, so I believed that sets and lower flushes comprised a solid majority of his range.

Turn (pot = $64): T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

I check, villain bet $40. At this point I think I'm probably drawing dead, but there's enough of a chance that he has a smaller flush (with which he wouldn't pound the river), so I'm willing to call anyway.

River: (pot = $144): T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

If he has a lower flush, which is all I can beat, there's no way I can earn any more money. Villain (a tight player in a tight game) would have been very unlikely to call the flop (with three players left behind him) with just top pair, plus he's generally unlikely to have the case Ten, of course.

If has what I figured he had (66 or 33), however, he hated that river since any PP >66 now beats him, and it's not impossible that I bet the flop with top pair then check-called when I made trips. If I push, I think it's extremely difficult for him to call with almost any hand he might have. So I push for $336, he says it's sick and that he has 66, then he folds (and I show, of course). My play was definitely schizophrenic (the river bet makes no sense unless I called the turn expecting to be drawing dead), but I don't think that's a bad thing in this particular case.

The hand was actually posted here by villain from his point of view, but I can't find it now.

[jfish]

seems like stack sizes would be much less awkward if you c/red river or bet 3/4-2x pot, no?

[VarlosZ]

Stack sizes on the river actually are just fine given that I'm trying to push out a boat by representing at least a bigger boat, which a pot sized bet might not accomplish. A chk-raise is very likely to whiff, while a push is very likely to succeed.

[BalugaWhale]

you think he calls your flop bet w/ a set? the fact that he doesn't raise, and then the top card pairs on the turn, i am like lets do this c owboy

[VarlosZ]

It was a 10-handed game, it played pretty tight. I know in 6-max it would be pretty standard to play for stacks with a set on a monochrome flop, but that wasn't necessarily the case in this game. A call with a set was definitely possible -- my lead bet on that flop into five players represented a lot of strength.

[BalugaWhale]

oh my b, didnt realize it was full ring