A good week

Well its only 9pm and unless I have a change of heart I am going to end my poker night here. Has been a fruitful week for me with some ups and some downs but by far more ups. I played in the $1/$2 NL game for about and hour and walked away with about an extra $15. What I noticed was far superior play than that of the $0.50/$1 Nl tables. Perhaps it was just that table, but they played a lot tighter and subsequently strong hands were being played trickier to garner a bigger pot. So I decided to play my $0.50/$1 game for the rest of the day and made an additional $200. I will definitely be trying the $1/$2 games again and see whether it is a lot tougher or not. I had some good pots go my way and made some timely bluffs on scary tables. Would be nice if I could do this well every week.

Here are a couple of hands for your enjoyment...

PokerStars Game #1316928079: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2005/03/06 - 23:40:41 (ET)Table 'Mensa IV' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Lotsa Leaks ($101.15 in chips)
Seat 2: jarlaxle133 ($97 in chips)
Seat 3: JLucky13 ($94.75 in chips)
Seat 4: O_Rawk ($98.50 in chips)
Seat 5: HOLDEM49 ($39.30 in chips)
Seat 6: rezn8nh ($186.40 in chips)
Seat 7: bluey1000 ($222.55 in chips)
Seat 8: eddthefed ($20.70 in chips)
Seat 9: cook32 ($111.70 in chips)
eddthefed: posts small blind $0.50
cook32: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bluey1000 [9h 9d]
Lotsa Leaks: folds
jarlaxle133: folds
JLucky13: folds
O_Rawk: folds
HOLDEM49: folds
rezn8nh: folds
bluey1000: raises $3 to $4
eddthefed: folds
cook32: calls $3
*** FLOP *** [5c Qd 5h]
cook32: bets $2
bluey1000: raises $5 to $7
cook32: calls $5
*** TURN *** [5c Qd 5h] [8h]
cook32: bets $3
bluey1000: calls $3
*** RIVER *** [5c Qd 5h 8h] [9s]
cook32: bets $3
bluey1000: raises $25 to $28
cook32: calls $25
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bluey1000: shows [9h 9d] (a full house, Nines full of Fives)
Lotsa Leaks leaves the table
cook32: mucks hand
bluey1000 collected $81.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $84.50 Rake $3
Board [5c Qd 5h 8h 9s]
Seat 1: Lotsa Leaks folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: jarlaxle133 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: JLucky13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: O_Rawk folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: HOLDEM49 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: rezn8nh folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: bluey1000 (button) showed [9h 9d] and won ($81.50) with a full house, Nines full of Fives
Seat 8: eddthefed (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: cook32 (big blind) mucked [Ks Kd]

As you can see this guy tried to play off of my aggression. But a good lesson to anyone is if I guy calls your big bet on the flop you need to slow down, especially when they lead small into you and call your raise. Then he led into me again - at this point I thought I was beat but seeing as his bet was so small I figured I would call his measley $3 turn bet. Magic came on the river and I felt with his $3 bet again I would reraise huge in the belief he had a strong hand and would call or hopefully reraise. As it was his hand was strong but not trip 5's strong. It is another good lesson to not slowplay your hand. He could've taken this hand away from me on either the flop or the turn but he tried to be tricky and it cost him.

PokerStars Game #1316783184: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2005/03/06 - 23:14:54 (ET)Table 'Mensa IV' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: spartangator ($103.55 in chips)
Seat 2: bailey8 ($76.85 in chips)
Seat 3: JLucky13 ($98.45 in chips)
Seat 4: Tekkster ($167.35 in chips)
Seat 5: lsunick80 ($66.50 in chips)
Seat 6: rezn8nh ($189.50 in chips)
Seat 7: bluey1000 ($112.75 in chips)
Seat 9: cook32 ($75.60 in chips)
cook32: posts small blind $0.50
spartangator: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to bluey1000 [Ts Jh]
bailey8: folds
JLucky13: folds
Tekkster: calls $1
lsunick80: folds
rezn8nh: folds
bluey1000: calls $1
cook32: calls $0.50
spartangator: checks
*** FLOP *** [9h Tc Qh]
cook32: checks
spartangator: checks
Tekkster: bets $4
bluey1000: calls $4
cook32: folds
spartangator: folds
*** TURN *** [9h Tc Qh] [8h]
Tekkster: checks
bluey1000: bets $5
Tekkster: calls $5
*** RIVER *** [9h Tc Qh 8h] [Th]
Tekkster: bets $20
bluey1000: raises $30 to $50
Tekkster: raises $107.35 to $157.35 and is all-in
bluey1000: calls $52.75 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tekkster: shows [9d 9s] (a full house, Nines full of Tens)
bluey1000: shows [Ts Jh] (a straight flush, Eight to Queen)
bluey1000 collected $224.50 from pot
bluey1000 said, "hehe
"*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $227.50 Rake $3
Board [9h Tc Qh 8h Th]
Seat 1: spartangator (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: bailey8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: JLucky13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Tekkster showed [9d 9s] and lost with a full house, Nines full of Tens
Seat 5: lsunick80 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: rezn8nh folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: bluey1000 (button) showed [Ts Jh] and won ($224.50) with a straight flush, Eight to Queen

Tekkster played this hand fine until the river. The turn put a flush on the board and gave me a straight which I also noticed the slim possibility of a straight flush on the river. His check and call of my $5 was obviously in the hopes to make a FH on the river to beat either my straight or flush. What a beautiful card to see on the river for both of us. With his leading bet into me I knew he probably had an Ace high flush or a FH and knew he would call another big bet. Obviously with his FH he knew he could beat a flush so he reraised and as he said after "I should pay more attention to the board" as he didnt initially notice the straight flush possibility.

WOO!