donk hand of the week

Writing about all those big pair hands in my last post leaves me feeling a little sick about playing big pairs.

However, I just remembered an AWFUL beat I gave today. Here it is with absolutely lousy decision making on every post flop street:

hand #1
9 handed live $40/$80, CO is a very tight, and only modestly aggressive ABC player who is posting, BB is a middle age Caucasian whom I have played with before but don't remember how he plays, so I assumed pretty standard for the demographic (since he was not memorable enough for me to recall)
preflop: mucked to CO who checks, Hero raises w 8s7s, SB mucks, BB calls, CO tanks for 5 seconds and calls (very weak! yum yum) (3 players, pot size 6 small bets)
flop: JsJc3c, BB donk bets, CO turbo mucks, Hero tanks and calls (my line of thinking is that BB is donking a very small PP, and that the likelihood that BB will check the turn is fairly high - e.g. a big card comes, or just general conservativeness of my perceived classification for this player. I put my outs at somewhere near 8; 6 for my pair possibilities, >1 for my runner runner flush, and a little less than 1 for counterfeit possibilities against PP 66 or smaller (2 players, pot size 8 small bets)
turn: JsJc3cAs, BB bets, (yikes he is STILL betting?!!?) Hero tanks and calls (a pretty darn loose call with probably no more than 7 outs getting 5:1) (2 players, pot size 6 big bets)
river: JsJc3cAs2s, BB bets, (wow, STILL betting??) Hero chickens out and calls saying "I have to see what you have". BB tables two red K's and table goes berserk when Hero tables the runner runner suckout.

Everyone in this hand plays so goot...

recent big pairs in LHE

I have been playing a substantial amount of live LHE, primarily full ring $40/$80. Recently I played a KK hand that was criticized by someone who's play I respect. I don't think I agree with him, and perhaps I respect his game less so because of this. I'm not really sure, so I thought it best I post this hand so that I can re-read it later and possibly reconsider.

While on the subject of KK hands, I'll also post another one that was a little interesting and perhaps played questionably.

hand #1
9 handed, live $40/$80 LHE
preflop: Hero open raises UTG w KsKc, cold called by a slightly tilting experienced player UTG+1, loose player cold calls, mucked to maniac in SB who calls, BB calls (5 players, pot size 10 small bets)
flop: 3h4h5c, maniac bets, BB mucks, Hero immediately raises, UTG+1 immediately 3 bets, muck, muck, maniac calls, Hero caps, both call (3 players, 22 small bets)
turn: 3h4h5c9s, maniac checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, maniac calls, Hero?

as played:
turn: 3h4h5c9s, maniac checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, maniac calls, Hero tanks and calls (3 players, 17 big bets)
river: 3h4h5c9sKh, maniac checks, Hero?.

as played:
river: 3h4h5c9sKh, maniac checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, maniac mucks, Hero tanks and calls.

UTG+1 tables the flopped nut straight.

- I was criticized for calling on the turn. I absolutely concede that my hand is not good on the turn, but getting 16:1 I think it is reasonable to call vs. what I perceive to be a hand range of {AA, KK, 2 pair, a set, a straight} for UTG+1 and {some pair, and/or str/flush draw} for maniac.
- I capped the flop and led the turn because I was very confident that UTG+1 would raise on the come for a free card and take the free card UI, and also because of the value from putting in the extra bet with the maniac in the hand. I was pretty confident that I had defined my hand well enough for UTG+1 to understand and that he was not tilting so much that he would continue to raise the turn on the come.
- I was planning to muck the river UI (and I'm sure many would disagree with mucking an overpair with this pot size, but that was my plan).


on to the next hand...

hand #2
9 handed, live $40/$80 LHE, Hero and J have a "solid" table image that the majority of the table is aware of. S is a clever and sometimes tricky player (though you could very much question that from this hand - S was stuck at least 15 big bets prior to this hand, so that may influence his behavior).
preflop: Hero open raises UTG w KsKc, muck, muck, J 3 bets, mucks, S caps it cold, button and blinds muck, Hero and J call (3 players, pot size 13 small bets)
flop: 9c8h3c, Hero donk bets, J calls, S calls (3 players, pot size 16 small bets)
turn: 9c8h3c4s, Hero checks, J checks, S bets, Hero calls, J check raises, S calls, Hero 3 bets, J looks sick and calls, S laughs and calls (3 players, pot size 17 big bets)
river: 9c8h3c4sJh, Hero (throws up in his mouth and) bets, J calls, S mucks AcQc faceup. J's AA is good.

oh yeah, another fun big pair hand. This time not KK, but QQ. I think I'm okay with the way I played the hand, but was just "unlucky"???

hand #3
9 handed, live $40/$80 LHE, Mary has a fairly solid raising range, but considerably looser calling down/chasing range. Chris is a semi-solid player whom I have played a large number of hours with.
preflop: Mary open raises UTG, Hero 3 bets UTG+1 w QhQd, Chris caps it cold UTG+2, mucked back to UTG and both call (3 players, pot size 13 small bets)
flop: Ts6s5c, Mary checks, Hero checks, Chris bets, both call (3 players, pot size 16 small bets)
turn: Ts6s5c9c, Mary checks, Hero bets after a very brief hesitation, Chris instantly raises, Mary calls, Hero tanks and mucks (2 players, pot size 13 big bets)
river: Ts6s5c9cQc, Hero pukes, Mary check calls, Chris's AA are good.

Is this a bad turn muck by hero? My intention of betting the turn was to get some kind of read from Chris with the intention of mucking if I feel I am beaten to save a bet from a scenario where I am unlikely to improve (vs the check/call check/call line).

Many players in UTG+2's will automatically raise the turn with JJ or QQ, but I really felt given my previous playing experiences with Chris that he would have stopped to think (for even a brief moment) before raising on the turn with a hand worse than KK+. Perhaps my thinking is just too biased based on my actual hand. Hard to say...

3 moments from Vegas

i) In the lobby of Caesar's Palace, a young lady dressed in her bridal gown is conversing with a Caesar's employee. The employee is clearly telling her that she cannot do something. The bridezilla cries out to get her message through to the oblivious employee, "But you don't understand! We are here for THE WEDDING!!!!".

ii) At the Total Rewards desk at the Rio, a gentleman and his wife push up to the front of the line. The clerk asks "Sir are you a diamond member, this line is for diamond members only." The man replies extremely proudly, "No but my son is. He is a ~poker player~!"

iii) At a $2/$5NL game at the Wynn, there are a couple of mid-high stakes young european players donking it up. Elky wanders into the room and is chatting and laughing it up with them. I had been friendly chatting with my neighbor for the past hour, and I mention to him who Elky is (none of the players at the table know any of these online players). I get Elky's attention and start, in a VERY roundabout way, asking him if he wants to buy my seat (as there is a modest wait). My neighbor more decisively just stands up, says "sell ya my seat for 100 bucks", and pushes Elky into the chair. I snooze I lose... (I also didn't do a particularly effective job of capitalizing on the game conditions for the next couple of hours, so that missed free $100 was particularly annoying...)