OK, although i'm officially on a break been playing a couple of hours of teeny tiny NL to free up the party bonus while it's still valid before xmas so i can relax next week. Playing two levels below my usual $100 games because I want to win without having to think too much (lol) and free up the bonus without having to put in a proper BR. This hand came up today, comments appreciated on my deicisions, as well as what you'd do at the end and what you think the raiser has.

RockHolly is a TAG with vpip ~ 20% and PFR ~3.5%. Beerjug is an APPALLING loose player who has lost a ton of money and is going all in on just about anything resembling a hand.

***** Hand History for Game 1338982330 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Thursday, December 23, 16:40:34 EDT 2004
Table Table 11422 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Mouthorjoe ( $62.6 )
Seat 2: cambra41 ( $17.4 )
Seat 3: RockHolly ( $64.7 )
Seat 5: adam1224 ( $13.4 )
Seat 6: rpeak11 ( $53.5 )
Seat 7: drspectra ( $67.4 )
Seat 8: FeloniusMonk ( $45.8 )
Seat 9: beerjug ( $16.7 )
Seat 10: Solon07 ( $23 )
Seat 4: BARRYG ( $24.5 )
Solon07 posts small blind [$0.25].
Mouthorjoe posts big blind [$0.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FeloniusMonk [ Tc Ac ]
cambra41 folds.
RockHolly calls [$0.5].
BARRYG folds.
adam1224 folds.
rpeak11 folds.
drspectra folds.
FeloniusMonk calls [$0.5].
beerjug calls [$0.5].
Solon07 calls [$0.25].
Mouthorjoe checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 8c, 4c ]
Solon07 checks.
Mouthorjoe checks.
RockHolly bets [$2].
FeloniusMonk calls [$2].
beerjug calls [$2].
Solon07 folds.
Mouthorjoe folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5s ]
RockHolly checks.
>You have options at Table 25419 Table!.
FeloniusMonk checks.
beerjug checks.
** Dealing River ** [ 7c ]
>You have options at Bikini babes Table!.
RockHolly bets [$8].
FeloniusMonk raises [$16].
beerjug is all-In [$14.2]
RockHolly is all-In [$54.2]


It's about $27 to me to call at the end. Results to follow.

Monk
xxxxx

I would have a tough time not calling here at Party 25NL. Given that RockHolly limped from EP he has to have Presto, Sticks, or 87 to have you beat here, no way does he come out swinging with a made boat or quads on that kind of flop; that is, not if he likes money. Is he the type of player who would bet out the pot in front on the end with 8's full of 7's?

More than likely you're up against a player who can't see past his own trips. If he's hit it this time, I think I pay him off. Of all the hands above that beat you I'd most likely expect him to show Presto. If you win I bet he shows something like 98.

[Edit: Actually now that I come back and think of it, RockHolly was probably just trying to steal a garbage flop betting his draw; when he gets called he is satisfied to take a card off; then he makes his flush on the river and thinks it's good against trips. He probably has something like K[Q-J] of clubs]

Exactly right on your edit he had KcJc and I folded for the last bet. This was one occasion where I think PokerTracker bit me in the ass; this guy had pretty low stats for aggression, decent VPIP, and he had a big stack coming into this hand (plus I'd not seen him do anything stoopid). When he bet pot, I was thinking he probably had a weeny flush, straight or trips and thought I could raise it up to get the abysmal players' stack (which I knew would go in with just about any two cards) and get an extra bet out of the EP player. I was thinking that he's decent enough not to RE-raise with anything less than a boat, and I also thought that his flop bet looked quite possible to be 8x. In any case, I just didn't think he'd be loose enough to RE-raise a non-nut flush on that paired board, so I raised with the intention of laying down to a re-raise. The big problem with this move is that I'm nigh on committed ($27 to call into a nearly $90 pot) but I just had a real hard time putting him on a flush here.

Disappointing cock up to make, but I still made about $130 off these tables freeing up the bonus and in my short (couple of thousand hands) "recreational" run on 25NL I'm making a slightly silly 41BB/100, so it could be worse!

Anybody else have any thoughts on this hand? I freely admit mucking on the end was an error - and down to one of my biggest leaks, that is, acting too fast based on my gut instinct without thinking it through in big pots. This pot was big enough to use all my allotted time, but instead I simply raised with the intention of dropping if he moved in my last $30. I really should have refocussed on the hand and been able to put him on a flush at least a third of the time, making the call reasonable.

Monk
xxxxx

Considering that he was poor enough to bet a draw/two overcards on an 8-high flop with a paired board into a field of 5 people including the blinds, re-raising the non-nut flush doesn't exactly sound outside this player's capability. This kind of stuff is par for course at 25NL.

One would have thought that he was betting the pot on the end in order to be able to fold to a re-raise from you, not to try to get all his chips in the middle. I'm equally sure he would have never have laid down a K-high flush to 'beerjug.'

Obviously this is an interesting hand and it took me a while to figure it out too so I wouldn't feel bad at all about your laydown!

Actually, I DID put him / her on a lower flush. I wouldve had to think long and hard before calling because I HATE calling an all in with a flush on a paired board, but by the action in this hand, I was about 75% sure he had a flush and not a boat.

Also, I like him / her betting his flush draw into that board. Its better to bet a flush draw into a paired board than to call with a flush draw on a paired board. He shouldve never reraised all in though. I think that was a mistake, although it worked this time. Monk is good enough to lay down that hand, 95% of players are not.