The summer challenge lad

I will follow. Good luck!

Greetings, Stee!

Sorry, there was not much to follow. It is like I said that I am not that much of a blogger. But for your consideration, here is some entertainment value for you:

BadBeat

Chuck Norris

Music

Imho, the hand of the session. Left me pondering. Villain is a loose-aggressive fish with his bet sizing being off. Is hero's play correct?

PartyGaming - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $3.82
BB: $1.32
UTG: $5.37
Hero (CO): $4.06
BTN: $3.80

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 9♣ K♥

fold, Hero raises to $0.12, fold, SB raises to $0.20, fold, Hero calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.44, 2 players) 4♥ 9♥ A♠
SB checks, Hero bets $0.31, SB calls $0.31

Turn: ($1.06, 2 players) K♦
SB bets $3.31 and is all-in, Hero calls $3.31

River: ($7.68, 2 players) T♠

I’d take an entirely different kind of line. I’d

• not open raise k9o from cut-off but if I did (high SB/BB Fold Vs Steal %), I’d fold to any 3bets — e’en min.
• check back flop and reevaluate turn.

You are betting the flop with the intent of 1) getting your opponent to fold, 2) improving to two pair or trips. Your opponent did not fold on the flop but you improve to two pair on the turn. You mustn’t fold on the turn as played but the min-3bet preflop, check flop and donk shove turn is very AKish. We are most often behind unless the opponent is a real maniac.

Thank you for your thoughts.

I guess the whole issue is about turn. The stats on villain (him being loose-aggressive and showing sometimes marginal hands with his LAG tendencies) talked me into calling him down. Regardless of the outcome that happened, I think hero can invest money here only when hero has concrete reads or examples on villain move like this. Otherwise, it's pretty much gambling.

Two hands of today's session. The first hand:

PartyGaming - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BTN): $5.04
SB: $4.44
BB: $4.00
UTG: $8.85

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 9♥ Q♠

fold, Hero raises to $0.12, fold, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.26, 2 players) Q♥ 7♥ J♥
BB checks, Hero bets $0.18, BB calls $0.18

Turn: ($0.62, 2 players) Q♦
BB bets $0.59, fold

BB wins $0.59
Villain is unknown. I tried to consider the river action here. If I call turn, then I call river. But I was not sure about my hands strength here.

The other hand:

PartyGaming - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $4.06
Hero (UTG): $5.17
MP: $3.72
CO: $4.54
BTN: $4.00
SB: $4.72

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has A♦ A♥

Hero raises to $0.12, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.26, 2 players) 6♠ 8♦ T♣
BB checks, Hero bets $0.18, BB calls $0.18

Turn: ($0.62, 2 players) 6♥
BB checks, Hero bets $0.48, BB raises to $2.03, Hero raises to $4.87 and is all-in, BB calls $1.73 and is all-in

River: ($8.14, 2 players) 5♠

played purely by villain's stats. VPIP 34/PFR 9; WTSD 29%, W$SD 30%, W$SD when bet/raise turn 30%. I figured I was expecting a call here from worse hands to make this push profitable in the long run.

Since this blog is like a project blog (The summer challenge lad ), it would be reasonable to account for my current progress.

So, on 24th of July (1,5 weeks ago) I started all three missions.

Mission's "Forum" objectives
Create a blog and update it at least 10 times.
- created and updated 6 times (including this post).
Welcome a new player and share you story.
- I actually welcomed two members but haven't yet shared my story.

Mission's "Poker School" objectives
10 hands in discussion board (5 yours, 5 other players)
- created five mine, discussed 7 hands of other players.
tell us about your favorite video and why
- didn't have status to view better videos, maybe with Silver I find something

Mission's "Grind" objectives
(cash) play 10,000 hands
- with today's session I played 5232 hands.

If I continue like that then in two weeks tops I will be done with all three missions.

Nice challenge, glgl

PartyGaming - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG: $4.34
MP: $3.46
CO: $3.82
BTN: $7.70
SB: $4.00
Hero (BB): $6.25

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 9♣ 9♦

fold, MP calls $0.04, CO calls $0.04, BTN raises to $0.16, fold, Hero calls $0.12, MP calls $0.12, CO calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.66, 4 players) 3♦ 8♦ 9♥

So, hero has two options. To lead out and protect the hand or check with the intention to raise. Hero decides for the latter, since all the players are on average slightly more aggressive.
Hero checks, MP checks, CO bets $0.48, BTN raises to $1.00,

Hero raises to $6.09 and is all-in
C'mon, I know you want the action, BTN,

fold, fold, BTN calls $5.09 ♠_love:

Turn: ($13.32, 2 players) 5♦

River: ($13.32, 2 players) 6♠

BTN shows T♦ A♦ (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 47%, Flop 27%, Turn 77%)
Hero mucks 9♣ 9♦ (Three of a Kind, Nines) (Pre 53%, Flop 73%, Turn 23%)
BTN wins $12.66

I guess the question is about hero's flop move. Is check/call with intention to let presumably unknown but fishy player bluff here the optimal option?

Hero (BB): $4.00
UTG: $2.06
MP: $4.15
CO: $7.05
BTN: $4.30
SB: $4.15

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has K♠ K♣

UTG calls $0.04, fold, CO raises to $0.16, BTN calls $0.16, SB calls $0.14, Hero raises to $0.84, UTG calls $0.80, fold, fold, fold

Flop: ($2.16, 2 players) J♥ 3♠ A♠
Hero checks, UTG bets $1.22 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.22

Turn: ($4.60, 2 players) T♥

Nasty river card. Hero's optimal move? Fire up a third barrel or check in hope for a showdown value? Villain unknown.

CO: $2.69
BTN: $4.17
Hero (SB): $6.06
BB: $4.13
UTG: $4.67
MP: $1.29

Hero posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 8♥ 9♥

fold, fold, CO calls $0.04, fold, Hero calls $0.02, BB checks

Flop: ($0.12, 3 players) 7♠ 3♦ T♦
Hero bets $0.09, fold, CO raises to $0.20, Hero calls $0.11

Turn: ($0.52, 2 players) J♥
Hero bets $0.50, CO calls $0.50

River: ($1.52, 2 players) A♦
Hero checks, CO checks

1. The optimal move would be to lead out to check where hero stands, however, as played, hero's move on turn? Fold as played? Can we call and re-evaluate? Villain unknown.

UTG: $3.48
CO: $4.00
BTN: $6.91
SB: $8.51
Hero (BB): $4.00

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has T♥ 9♦

UTG calls $0.04, fold, BTN calls $0.04, fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.14, 3 players) 9♣ 8♣ T♣
Hero checks, UTG checks, BTN bets $0.14, Hero calls $0.14, fold

Turn: ($0.42, 2 players) A♦
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.36, fold

BTN wins $0.40

Today was a somewhat tough session. The reason for that is that somewhere during the middle of my session I noticed a villain who was targeting my play. Didn't know how to counter him/adjust my play against his but here are three hands I played against the villain and that left me pondering after the session.

Villain's stats so far:
VPIP 30/PFR 32 (200 hands)
WTSD 38%/W$SD 68%
3bet total 16%, 3bet EP 23%
steal total 41%, blinds/LP 60-70%
fold to cbet on flop 40%

#1 HAND: JJ as over pair versus raise all-in on turn.
UTG: $4.94
BTN: $4.80
SB: $2.76
Hero (BB): $4.42

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has J♥ J♣

UTG raises to $0.16, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.34, 2 players) 8♥ 6♥ 2♣
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.24, Hero calls $0.24

Turn: ($0.82, 2 players) 2♥
Hero bets $0.58, UTG raises to $4.54 and is all-in, fold

UTG wins $1.89

#2 HAND: 99 as 4bet bluff/fold
Any thoughts regarding the 4bet?
Post flop as played?
PartyGaming - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $5.31
UTG: $3.92
CO: $6.10
BTN: $2.54
Hero (SB): $4.00

Hero posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 9♦ 9♥

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.12, BB raises to $0.40, Hero raises to $1.00, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.00, 2 players) 7♠ 6♣ K♣
Hero checks, BB bets $1.42, fold

BB wins $1.90

#3 HAND: JJ as over pair versus 2/3pot-size donk bet turn
PartyGaming - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $3.64
BB: $5.19
UTG: $7.45
Hero (CO): $4.35
BTN: $5.60

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has J♣ J♥

fold, Hero raises to $0.12, fold, fold, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.26, 2 players) 6♦ 7♥ 3♥
BB checks, Hero bets $0.18, BB calls $0.18

Turn: ($0.62, 2 players) T♥
BB bets $0.44, fold

BB wins $0.59

Another week is over and here is my progress so-far:

Mission's "Forum" objectives
Create a blog and update it at least 10 times.
- done
Welcome a new player and share you story.
- done

Mission's "Poker School" objectives
10 hands in discussion board (5 yours, 5 other players)
- done
tell us about your favorite video and why
- Still pending, going to watch some videos today while grinding a few freerolls.

Mission's "Grind" objectives
(cash) play 10,000 hands
- with today's session I played 7405 hands.

I play at PartyPoker and there is this cash bonus for cash grinders - a mission called "Final hands". The objective of the mission is to win a hand at a showdown with all the combinations (except royal flush). The prize is $25. I only needed to hit the straight flush. Today I finally gut-shoted the one outer on river.