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).