Grinding away

Maybe I should play higher stakes online. Played .05/.10, and due to a couple early suckouts, I was down about half a buy in for a while. I didn't screen cap those, and I'm having issues with my hand histories not getting saved (it may be due to some security features on Vista I think), so I can't go back and retell those tales.

I did get caps of a number of interesting hands, though:


The dude check / called my pot-size bet on the flop (the button had min-raised preflop). I know I'm not the best at calculating pot odds, but I do know that calling a pot-size bet on the flop with what is probably only 4 outs is NOT going to be profitable in the long run. He only had like a buck and a half left after the flop bet, the pot was already more than that, so he check/called the turn when I put him all-in.

I hovered between $5 and $7 for what seemed like forever. I was quite happy with my play, though I was seeing a TON of flops: the table was VERY limp-friendly.

Funny, I just looked at my screen caps, looks like I saved mostly winners. :)


This guy check / called on the flop (when he was ahead); checked the turn, as did I (when he was ahead); and bet the river (after I caught my flush). I couldn't raise with the paired-board out there, but I took down a decent pot.

Here's the hand where I started my climb up the ladder: after it folds to me, I make my standard raise to $0.30, tiltsthename calls.


With $0.70 in the pot, I led out with .30. The dude raises to $1.50. With the two clubs, I'd be happy to take this pot down now, so I bet enough to put him all-in (raised another $3 or so), which he INSTA-calls. I don't get it; I just don't know how you make that call there! With no club in your hand, how do you think top pair is good here? Not that I minded of course...

Here's another great example of insane play: I saw the flop here, but when the BB bet and UTG raised, I'm not going chasing after a gut-shot:


The BB re-raise shoved this flop. Again, how do you think your Top pair / no kicker is good here?!

This was a sweet win: I got this guy to call a pot-size bet on the flop, and a 3/4 pot bet on the turn:

...and after the first two bullets, I gave up: I was no longer confident that my 4th pair was any good, and decided to wimp-out and check. Poor guy, he bets anything of significance here and I go away. But he missed his flush and wussed out even more than I did.

Here's where I think I made a good laydown: I'd been limping with hands like KJo all night: it's an OK hand, but I'm happier seeing a flop with it and seeing what develops.. With top pair and a flush-draw on the board, I bet about 1/2 the pot on the flop. The turn comes, SB checks, I bet about 2/3 pot, and SB check-raises:


Doubtful I was ahead here: I'm facing either a 68 or some random 2-pair combination (which, of course, is the danger of limping with KJ: if I had popped it preflop, I may have chased out any J4 or 74). I thought it through, and don't see how top pair would possibly be good here.

Here' the last big hand I won: MP dude pops it to $0.30; on the button I call (shut up - I know it's a weak hand, but I'm playing more poker and less cards here). Cdn Chris pot-bets the flop, stressure pushes all-in for about $1 more, I call, Cdn Chris calls:


Cdn Chris checks the turn; with something like $3 or so in the pain pot, I bet $2 on the turn, and get a call. When he checks the river, I'm happy to check behind: if he's slow-playing a set of jacks or KJ I'll get away losing the minimum here, and would probably only get called (or raised) by a monster hand. I just don't see how you call two large bets on the flop and turn with 6 clean outs (the 9h or Ah I wouldn't consider "clean" outs as there'd be a possible flush out there). That pot was worth approx $5.

All-in-all some "running good" hands, some well-played hands; I saw a lot of flops, made a lot of probing bets; I'm getting quite comfortable playing unconventional hands from position against weak players; I usually have a good idea where I'm at in the hands. I'm very, very happy with the way I'm playing. The small bankroll increases from these micro-limits are good. I'm going to play at this level for a little while longer before stepping up. Unless I just "feel it" one of these days.

I may try to satellite into FTOPS main event this week. While I'm not too thrilled about playing huge tournaments, there's no denying that with a $2million guarantee a deep-run could prove to be a significantly life-changing event.