Donkeys pay me off

Like I said yesterday I would only have time for about an hours play online before my friends came over for a homegame...WOW...and what an hour it was. There was only one hand that I played marginally over aggressive but when I worked out the odds I actually was right...

One limper before me I am in MP w/AQd and raise to $10 only first limper calls. Flop comes 4dJdKc, giving me the nut flush draw and a ten for a straight (12 outs for the nuts). He checks and I bet $20 and he raises me $20 leaving him with $80 left. So there is $80 in the pot, it will cost me $20 to call and another $80 to put him in, if he calls the pot will be $260. Thus I would be getting 1.6:1 on my bet. My all-in would also have fold equity. 12 outs to the nuts is 45% to hit which is 1.2:1 so in the long run this would be a profitable play. Unfortunately I didnt do the math in my head at the time and went more on aggression and want. So I pushed and he called. He had JJ for trips which didnt really matter as long as he didnt boat. Turn brought me a diamond and he didnt boat on the river, hehe. I got the obligatory "typical" comment but as you can see the math supports the bet.

I have recently started hating the idea of making the SPFR of 4xbb w/ AA/KK UTG as I will be called by a lot of hands and not really have an idea when I may be beat and will only will a small pot if people fold on the flop. I have started believeing that those two hands deserve a $15 (7.5xbb) bet from UTG. It should typically cut down crap calling hands, but not always....

I have AA UTG+1 with an extra 1.5xBB in the pot due to a player coming back outside of the blinds. As said above, I am not going to make this cheap for anyone anymore and decided to raise huge on this one hopefully representing a steal. I bet $25 and I got one caller. Flop was J high and non threatening. The other guy has $110 left and I am willing to go all the way with the hand. I bet $40 on the flop and he calls. Turn is also non-threatening and I put him in. He thinks for a long time and then calls and shows JTs (no flush or straight draw). River doesnt help him and I take a nice pot. These are the Donkeys I love and hate on Bodog, but tonight they were paying me.

Next big hand I had just seen a donkey call a huge PF bet w/J9s then call a potsize flop bet chasing his flush which he hit on the turn. SO I have QQ in the SB and he min. raised from LP so I wasnt going to make it cheap and raised to $20, he called of course. Flop was an ugly TTA and I bet out $40 which he called. Turn was nothing and I checked as did he. River was also nothing and I checked again and he bet $50...what do I do? Was pretty simple really...he should've tried to scare me off on the turn and he should've bet a lot more on the river to scare me into NOT calling. I knew he was a Donkey and its possible I am still good and for only $50 I was willing to see, so I called. Donkey had KJs :-)

Final big hand of the night I have KK on the button and everyone folds around to me. No cheap flops for the blinds and I raise to $10, BB calls. Flop is 3T3 (2 spades). BB checks and I bet $15 and BB raised me $15...I paused for a bit and called. Turn was a nothing card and he bet $65 leaving him w/$65 remaining. I didnt think he had a 3 and if he had pocket tens I would think he would play it slower so I felt the chances were good that I was the best so I put him all-in. He thought about it for quite a while making me even more confident and finally called w/T9s (no flush draw), with a pair on the board he only had 2 outs (Tens) to beat me and no Ten came on the river. Thank-you donkey #3.

Thus in the space of just 1 hour I won $550!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poker is good when everything goes as planned. :-)