Life and Times of a Poker Addict

Overall in the ring games I think I played below average, but I still found a lot of good spots and was up $450 overall for the cash games. I took some bad beats, some tough beats and made a couple of really donkey-esque decisions of my own, otherwise I may have done much better. There are a lot of holes in my game but now when I make a mistake I know exactly what I've done most of the time, so I feel like I'm at least making progress.

I think the two biggest problems I have, and one really just contributes to the other, are that I'm not taking enough time to think through what's just happened when a player acts and that I'm still paying off some value bets on the river when I know I'm beat. Paying $25 or 30 more in either a raise or a river bet from another player when I'm almost 98% certain I'm beat is definitely costing me money I don't need to lose. I just need to tighten up in those situations and be willing to pitch those 2% that are winning hands anyway so as not to keep costing myself those bets.

One situation in particular I'm still unsure of whether I really made a mistake or not, but I definitely could have taken a bit more time to think it through. I was sitting at a $1-2 NL table with about $300 in front of me and I picked up pocket kings one off under the gun. I raised to $12 and got called in four places. The flop came down J 10 5 rainbow and I led out for $30. One player mucked and the next one to act raised it up to $80 and the action folded back around to me. I thought for a second and had him on Ace or King with a Jack. I certainly thought he could have had a set as well, I definitely didn't have him on Jacks, Queens or Aces because I am pretty sure from what I saw out of him he would have reraised me with any of those hands.

So I moved in, and after thinking for a second and listening as he started wondering aloud if I had really made top set, I knew I was in trouble. He finally called with his set of tens and I bricked out. I was really confident I was ahead, especially because just a few orbits earlier I had seen him make the same move on a Queen high board with Ace-King and stick himself against a flopped set of Queens.

I really don't know if I would not go broke on that hand even if I played it differently. If I smooth call his raise, which I don't think is an option there, the card on the turn was a 6 leaving me with $200 in front of me and a pot of about $215. I have to bet a decent amount on the turn if I think I'm still ahead because now I have to wonder if he's on a OESD and may have picked up a flush draw. I probably would bet about $100 and if he raises me there he's putting me all-in, the pot is then laying me over 5-1 odds and I have an overpair to the board. Basically I could reraise him on the flop and make it $75 more, which means he either moves it in there or smooth calls me and I'm in the same predicament I just explained.

I think the only way I get away from the hand would be to reraise the flop and pitch if he moves in there. He could certainly have two pair like J-10 as well, so I think I was a bit too quick to move in on the flop, when a reraise would have been the best option. It's certainly not a hand that's impossible to get away from, I just acted too quickly. Love to hear some others' thoughts on what they have done or would do in this situation.