Shrug

Today wasn't a particularly great day, some donkageness going on. I bet and called a raise I shouldn't have in 5cd earlier with Hustlr and Staphros, then lost a bit at the HE tables.

I dunno, not really feeling like I'm playing my best right now. I'm missing opportunities to be aggressive and relying on getting good cards rather than abusing position like I normally do. I've been reading some 2+2 and trying to avoid losing a ton of money with mediocre holdings, but I think I'm swinging too far in the passive direction.

Hands of note today:

POKERSTARS GAME #7003905818: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/12 - 23:30:42 (ET)
Table 'Walpurga' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: loanman22 ($60.30 in chips)
Seat 2: paupar2 ($33.05 in chips)
Seat 3: pdiddy12 ($12.55 in chips)
Seat 4: erinsdad ($62.80 in chips)
Seat 5: TheProofGuru ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol ($25 in chips)
TheProofGuru: posts small blind $0.10
WolfOnTheFol: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [As Qh]
loanman22: calls $0.25
paupar2: calls $0.25
pdiddy12: folds
erinsdad: folds
TheProofGuru: folds
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
loanman22: calls $0.75
paupar2: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [Tc Qs 2c]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $2
loanman22: folds
paupar2: calls $2
*** TURN *** [Tc Qs 2c] [Kd]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $5
paupar2: calls $5

I wasn't terribly happy about that king, but I don't think it actually helped him unless he had AJ/AK. I've noticed people tend to not reraise AK though, so I'm treading with a bit of caution

*** RIVER *** [Tc Qs 2c Kd] [Ks]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $8

Okay, him having a king is now a harder sell, but I'm not convinced I have him beat. I think I'm beating Qx and AT a lot of the time here, but he could have a set, AJ, or a king. I'm going to define my pot odds instead of letting him do it.

paupar2: raises $8 to $16
WolfOnTheFol: folds

Not throwing good money away after bad! I'm learning!

paupar2 collected $31.50 from pot
paupar2: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $33.10 | Rake $1.60
Board [Tc Qs 2c Kd Ks]
Seat 1: loanman22 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: paupar2 collected ($31.50)
Seat 3: pdiddy12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: erinsdad (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: TheProofGuru (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol (big blind) folded on the River


POKERSTARS GAME #7003860347: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/12 - 23:27:22 (ET)
Table 'Walpurga' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: loanman22 ($62.85 in chips)
Seat 2: paupar2 ($35.40 in chips)
Seat 3: pdiddy12 ($11.75 in chips)
Seat 4: erinsdad ($35.40 in chips)
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol ($25.15 in chips)
loanman22: posts small blind $0.10
paupar2: posts big blind $0.25
TheProofGuru: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [Qh Qc]
pdiddy12: folds
erinsdad: calls $0.25
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
loanman22: calls $0.90
paupar2: raises $0.75 to $1.75
erinsdad: calls $1.50
WolfOnTheFol: calls $0.75
loanman22: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [3d Js 7h]
loanman22: bets $1.25
paupar2: folds
erinsdad: calls $1.25
WolfOnTheFol: raises $7.75 to $9
loanman22: folds
erinsdad: calls $7.75

I wasn't too eager to make it three bets with QQ. I decided to call and bet the flop assuming it didn't contain overcards and evaluate from there. I think that might actually be a bit foolish, because I don't want to make it three bets because of a fear of AA/KK, but this line ends with me probably going broke. Of course, if I make it three bets, he calls, and calls my flop bet, I'm clearly beat, but if he doesn't improve on the flop (indeed, if he calls the third bet at all) I miss value, especially from AT+.

That small bet looked like a blocking bet at the time, or maybe a free card play, but now that I'm thinking about it I think it looks more trappy and should've set off alarm bells, mostly because there's no draw he could have.

*** TURN *** [3d Js 7h] [9d]
erinsdad: checks
WolfOnTheFol: bets $14.40 and is all-in

I dunno what I'm thinking there, aside from him calling with TPTK. Like, sure, I think he calls with AJ, A9, maybe A7 there, but everything else is destroying me. I was pretty sure all the money was going in, though, and I wanted to get it in when I thought I was ahead.

erinsdad said, "please tell me you don't have JJ"
erinsdad: calls $14.40
*** RIVER *** [3d Js 7h 9d] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
erinsdad: shows [7d 7c] (three of a kind, Sevens)
WolfOnTheFol: mucks hand
erinsdad collected $53.05 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $55.05 | Rake $2
Board [3d Js 7h 9d 5c]
Seat 1: loanman22 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: paupar2 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: pdiddy12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: erinsdad showed [7d 7c] and won ($53.05) with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol (button) mucked [Qh Qc]

Yep. I'm pretty sure that if I have the set the hand plays out the same, but I think I can avoid going broke with queens here. I'm not sure how though. I certainly can't assume that tiny flop bets are always traps and fold, and I think I have to raise about the pot to get some definition. I think strong jacks and aces call that raise, though, and it's possible the original better is trying to define his hand. I think the coldcaller is most likely to have a strong ace and just be a donk (My experience with people who overcall preflop raises have strong aces or KQ maybe KJ, and I don't think this is different.) but he might have, you know, middle set. I think pushing the turn is wrong, but I'm not sure how to go about playing it. I think I have to bet, but betting like 2/3 doesn't make much sense. If he raises I'm going to call, and if he's going to call he should probably raise to see if he can pick off a bluff.

Hm. Opinions?

(I'm now sufficiently confused about this hand that I'm going to go post it on pokertips.org. If you didn't come from there originally, check it out.)