Life and Times of a Poker Addict

I had typed out nearly an entire post the other day but just before I finished it I realized what a whine-fest it had turned out to be, so it got scrubbed. Last Thursday was one of the toughest days of poker I've played. I got well over twenty pocket pairs over the course of the session and felt like I was involved in almost every hand. And the suckouts... oh, the suckouts. I was on the receiving end of every manner of them before finally sucking out on someone else at the end of the evening to finally turn a profit. Thirty bucks. Eight hours of work for thirty bucks but it's a helluva lot better than being down three hondo.

There was plenty else to be happy about though because I think I played nearly flawless poker. I set up my plays well, my traps all worked and of the bazillion times I was all-in, I only got my money in as the underdog once... and won. Strange how that works out sometimes. The one play I will relate easily moves into my top three reads so far in this short career. It was later in the evening and I had received pocket pair number twenty two, eights, in the cutoff. There were a few limpers early, a raise from middle position and then I raised again. Folded to the guy under the gun and he limp-pushes all in for another $80. It folds all the way around to me and I have to laugh as I once again am in a situation like this for about the fiftieth time that night.

The guy was a new player to the game so I didn't have a lot of experience to go on with him but I was pretty sure that he wasn't good enough to have made that play properly with Aces or Kings. I also figured that with any strong to medium pair he would have raised the first time action was on him. So I start eyeing him up a bit, trying to put a bit of pressure on him. I'm talking out loud about how the hand progressed watching him the whole time as he's sitting back in his chair trying to look relaxed. Then I look down at his chest and the kid isn't breathing. He's literally sitting there holding his breath. Um, thank you very much, sir.

"I call."

He turned over pocket sixes to my eights. Since I'm resisting the temptation to post any more bad beat stories, let's just say I didn't end up taking the pot. But it was one hell of a read.

Last night went a little better for me. I had decent cards again and this time was able to avoid most of the nasty donks at the table. I missed a few opportunities here and there but can't be unhappy with a $300 profit. For the last hour we played $1/2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo which is fast becoming my favorite game. Since I know some of my fellow bloggers are Hi-Lo aficianados I want to post two hands that came up and ask for some analysis/help.

In both situations the game is five handed:

Hand #1:

AAK3, AK suited in hearts. I'm on the button and everyone limps in front of me and I pot and get three callers. The flop comes 578 rainbow and it checks around to me and I bet half the pot, $20 and get called in two places. Pot size is now $100.

The turn is a 10 putting a club draw on board. It checks around to me again so I stay aggressive and bet half-pot again and get called in both places, pot size now around to $250.

I figure player number two for having flopped the straight as he is somewhat inexperienced in the game and is too happy to call to be just drawing at something. The other player I'm figuring for a low, but I don't think it's the nuts so now I'm worried about a quarter. The turn bet puts player two all-in so now any river betting is just between seat one and myself. The river is a brick and I check and so does he. Immediately I realize that I've probably made a mistake.

Should I have pushed the rest of my chips in on the river?

Turns out he had A3 low as well and my Aces had him beat on a high. If I had pushed on the river I would have taken 3/4 of the side pot as well as my quarter of the main pot. I'm pretty sure I should have pushed in on the river but I'm curious to hear others' thoughts on this.

Hand #2:

Last hand of the night, I have 589J double suited in red cards. We all take the flop with a preflop raise to $10 and the flop comes down 10 9 3 rainbow. It checks around to me and I bet half pot and get called by three, so now the pot is $125. The turn is a 5 and puts a club flush draw on the board. It checks around to me again and I bet $50 with the open end straight draw and two pair. I get called in two places this time and the pot is at $275.

At this point I'm really not sure where I'm at. It's possible someone has now picked up a low draw and a club draw. I'm feeling like one of them must have hit trips on the flop to stay with the betting to this point. The river card is the Queen of spades. Seat one pushes all-in for $200.

Dammit. Seat two goes in the tank forever. The whole time he's thinking I'm trying to analyze the hand. I've made my queen high straight, but it's only the second nuts. Seat one can be a very crazy player and makes ridiculous draws sometimes. Because a flush draw came out on the turn I can't write him off having KJ in his hands for the nut straight but I'm feeling like he's being agressive. But with the guy in seat two going in the tank in such obvious distress I figure he's made the same hand I have, the queen high straight. There's just nothing else to be this distraught over. So if he calls I feel like I have no reason to call because at best we're splitting it three ways and getting our money back, at worst I'm putting in two hundred more to try and get $80 back and losing $280 to King-Jack. The EV just seems very, very negative to me in this situation. If he folds, it's pretty much the same, but I feel more inclined to call than if we're three ways.

Finally, after about six minutes, seat two pushes his $200 into the middle and I muck. Seat one turns over a Queen high straight and seat two turns over a bottom end straight. He was tired and thought there was a low also which is why he pushed in, so the whole pot ships to seat one.

That one hurt my feelings a little bit.

So any and all comments/analysis are appreciated.