online poker

I sat down alone at 12 tables and my opponent joined me; I could tell right away he was a fish.  I searched him and saw that he was a) searchable (most regulars have hide from search on) and b) sitting at only one table. My table. The fact that he started open limping every hand was also another clue. I find this to be a very effective tactic, to sit alone at a bunch of tables, and then if a reg joins, just sit out immediately, and if a fish joins play heads up. Often I will quit the game with the fish as soon as a reg joins and just wait to play heads up with another fish, or I will play three handed with a reg and a fish but as soon as a fish joins me on one of my other tables I quit the game with the reg and the fish.

Anyway we played a few hands and I picked up

K♠J♠9♠6♦ in the SB hu.  I open to $1.5 and my opponent calls.  This is not a great hand by any means but heads up I tend to open fairly liberally.


The flop ($3) comes : Q♦ 2♠ 9♥

So here I have middle pair and a gutty on a relatively dry board.  My opponent checked and I bet $2 and my opponent called.  Maybe a smaller bet would have been the superior course of action.  Checking too seems reasonable. I wouldn't mind taking down the pot right away but there might be more value in trying to improve to three of a kind or a straight. At any rate it's heads up and I do want to establish a bit of an aggressive image so all in all betting is probably the superior play.

The turn ($7) comes 9♦ leaving the board Q♦2♠9♥9♦.

This is a great card for me obviously, giving me three of a kind.  Further, if my opponent had flopped a set or two pair (and thus now had a full house, the only hand aside from A9 that could beat me) he might have raised my bet on the flop rather than risk letting the board run out unfavourably. So I decided to bet.  I bet half the pot, or $3.5, which is sort of my standard on paired (lockdown) boards.  A lockdown board is one where the nuts is unlikely to change on the next street. Generally paired boards or boards with an already existing made flush possibility are lockdown boards. Perhaps an even smaller sizing would be good. I'd like to attract calls from the weakest part of my opponents range, hands like Qx or wraps which are in very bad shape. There aren't really a lot of 'strong but second best' hands that my opponent could have (if I suspected my opponent had a strong but second best hand then I should size larger). Perhaps I should simply bet more for value. It's not very important. My opponent called.

The river ($14) came perfectly : K♥.  This gave me a full house.  I decided to pot it, putting my opponent all in, thinking he may have made a straight and if he did he will probably pay off any bet. My opponent made a bluff catching call with
A♠4♠K♦J♦ (top pair top kicker).

a nice slowplay

Playing .25/.50 PLO on Bodog at a pretty juicy table I picked up a very weak hand in the BB. My hand was

Q♦T♦4♦4♥.  I had only $10.25 in my stack.

The dealer ($90) minraised to $1 and the SB ($56) called.  Getting 5:1 I felt like I had to take a flop, even though my hand was extremely weak; I called.

The flop came down

Q♣8♦6♦.  Now here the SB led out for $2 into the $3 pot.  This is a pretty good flop for me and I didn't really consider folding.  I've only got 3SPR and I could have raised, since I am probably a favourite, but I elected to simply call and hopefully bring the dealer along. Probably both call and all in are strong options; my hope was to induce a weaker draw to come along behind me, but I do run the risk of getting it in with less equity on the turn than I could have gotten on the flop. For this risk I gain the potential to get it in on the turn in some very high equity spots. Anyway the button called too, so we went 3 to the turn.

The turn ($9) came beautiful, 3♦.  Now the SB checked and I decided to slowplay by checking.  By slowplaying I do run the risk of letting someone fill up on the river, if they have two pair or a set.  This is a somewhat minor risk.  The odds of filling up w/ 2 pair are 9:l against.  W/ a set it is 3 to 3.5:1 against. And that's if someone even has these hands.  SB's play is consistent with these holdings to be sure, but would the button flat the flop w/ queens up or a set on such a draw heavy board? Most players would not, they would instead raise for value and protection. So I checked and the button checked around.


The river ($9) came another nice card.  J♥.  The final board reads now : Q♣ 8♦ 6♦ 3♦ J♥.  Again the SB checked.  I went all in for $7.5.  The Button folded and the SB called.  He held :

T♥7♠Q♠9♥ and had rivered a straight.