Accidental Thinness, and a Derty River X-back

Been grinding pretty hard at the Rush tables these days, and overall things have gone well. Unfortunately HEM came up with a way to send stats to your notes, so Rush poker is no longer HUD-less. I say unfortunate because I think I had more of an edge when nobody had any HUD stats. Oh well. Anyway here are a couple of hands I played tonight:

Hand 1:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/510913

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $192.15

SB: $42.80

BB: $89.50

UTG: $106.10

UTG+1: $217.85

UTG+2: $201.85

MP1: $113.90

MP2: $68.75

CO: $56.20

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with Td Th

UTG raises to $3, 5 folds, Hero calls $3, 2 folds

Flop: ($7.50) 4c 6d 9c (2 players)

UTG bets $8, Hero calls $8

Turn: ($23.50) 4d (2 players)

UTG bets $8, Hero calls $8

River: ($39.50) 5d (2 players)

UTG bets $12, Hero raises to $37, UTG calls $25

Final Pot: $113.50

Hero shows Td Th (two pair, Tens and Fours)

UTG mucks 8d 8s

Hero wins $110.50

(Rake: $3.00)

I wish I could say I was raising the river for value, but I thought I was doing it as a bluff to get him off a bigger overpair, since the straight gets there, plus I could have been slowplaying a set on earlier streets, especially with the turn pairing. That plan was obviously terrible, but two wrongs ended up making a right for me as he pretty much instacalled me with pocket eights. Which I did NOT expect ROR.

Here's a somewhat similar hand where my plan also didn't work, and this time it cost me:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/510914

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $128.60

UTG+1: $216.50

Hero (UTG+2): $133.45

MP1: $58.30

MP2: $100.00

CO: $86.40

BTN: $89.30

SB: $33.80

BB: $40.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG+2 with Th As

2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, MP2 calls $3.50, 4 folds

Flop: ($8.50) 5d 9c Ah (2 players)

Hero bets $5, MP2 calls $5

Turn: ($18.50) 2s (2 players)

Hero checks, MP2 checks

River: ($18.50) 7s (2 players)

Hero checks, MP2 bets $12, Hero raises to $37, MP2 calls $25

Final Pot: $92.50

Hero shows Th As (a pair of Aces)

MP2 shows Kd Ac (a pair of Aces)

MP2 wins $89.50

(Rake: $3.00)

When he bets the river after calling pre-flop and on the flop and then checking the turn, I pretty much know he has an ace, and any reasonable ace is going to beat me. I don't think he would bet, say, Ad8d on the river. And even if he does, there are so many aces that beat me that I don't think I can call. So I decided to turn my hand into a bluff and try to get him to fold some of the aces that beat me. AK is pretty much the top of his range, so I'm not too upset about getting called by that. If he folds AQ and AJ, then my play is good. I'm risking 37 to win 30ish, so if he's folding 2/3 of the time, then I'm golden. Granted, I'm not repping too much on the river, but I could conceivably have A7, 77, even the occasional 68s or 22. But really I'm just banking on most players at this limit folding to a river check-raise when they have one pair. Unfortunately this time he had the nut one pair. Oh well. I did manage river check which worked out pretty well:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/510918

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG+2): $160.65

MP1: $91.05

MP2: $85.90

CO: $100.00

BTN: $68.40

SB: $247.95

BB: $160.85

UTG: $151.65

UTG+1: $96.05

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG+2 with Qc Qd

1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $4.05, Hero calls $4.05, 6 folds

Flop: ($9.60) 7d Qs 6c (2 players)

UTG+1 bets $8, Hero calls $8

Turn: ($25.60) 5s (2 players)

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $14, UTG+1 calls $14

River: ($53.60) As (2 players)

UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $53.60

Hero shows Qc Qd (three of a kind, Queens)

UTG+1 shows Ac Ah (three of a kind, Aces)

UTG+1 wins $50.95

(Rake: $2.65)

Usually I am pretty obsessed with getting river value and loathe checking back big hands like this one, but here, there's just not that much value in a bet. When he check/calls the turn, he usually has an overpair, and occasionally has AQ or spades. The oversized early position raise pre-flop had me thinking big pocket pair from the start, so I was mostly discounting spades (esp with the river spade being the ace) and AQ. Even if all AQ combos are possible AND he's calling with all of them, AND he never has spades (or a straight, etc.), then I'm just breaking even on a river bet, with there being 3 combos of AQ and the same number of AA combos possible. KK he's never calling. A lower set, I think he bets turn. So I ended up checking back, ready to vomit all over myself if he had shown top two, but the decision saved me probably $35 or so.

-BRUECHIPS