Prep For Tonight

Just doing a quick post to prepare for tonight, the 0.25/0.50 game I played last week.

First though, I should post my notes from Tuesday's game (0.5/1.00):

+$16 ($9 of that profit from Chinese poker before everyone showed up)

Early on, I raised in the CO w/ ATo to $4.  Called by 3.  Flop comes A53.  We all check.  Turn comes 3 (with a flush draw).  Host in the SB, very aggressive and loose, bets $6, one caller, I call.  River is another 5, and he leads out for $25.  The pot is about $30.  What to do?

I should mention that the host is generally very tight to my raises, especially out of position. In fact, before he looked, he said "I'm going to need a big hand to call this." but then he called pretty quickly once he looked.

I spent a lot of time on the decision for the call. With a large, almost pot-size bet, and he has made big bets into me for value in similar spots, but he has also made big bets on the river to bluff.

Anyway, he had 44 and was bluffing. I ended up folding, but I think a few things could have helped me with the call. First, he made a big value bet into me before when it was heads-up -- in that spot, I think he'd bet less with a full house to try to get a call. Plus, it was a good card for him to bluff. Ultimately, though, I made two mistakes: 1) not betting the flop and 2) not raising the turn. Either of those could have made my decision much easier on the river. I was VERY close to calling though.

Later, I doubled with aces -- a pretty tight but aggressive guy makes it $7 after a limper.  I call since I have $40 behind, he'd likely fold to a raise with the majority of his hands, and my stack size will let me push over his continuation bet on the flop.  Of course, two others called, so I was regretting my decision until the limper makes it $20 more.  Pfr folds, I push, only the limp-raiser calls. We ran it three times (he had AK) and I won every one!

* * * * *

I have some thoughts on my overall strategies, but I'll save them.  For now, some goals for tonight:

1. Take my time and range hands from pre-flop action.  There is a reason this is back to #1 -- I think it is the most important thing I can do.
2. Look for openings to bluff the turn or river.  This is something I need to work on, and I could add a lot to this goal, but I'll just keep it simple.