Not off to a banner day today at Party as I keep running into sets. I don't think there is much I could do with the AK hand besides lose the stack. The AQ hand perhaps I could have folded to the all in and the all in call and saved 40.00 or so because I just knew that one of them had the set and the other probably a flush draw but by then I was probably too far in. Both villians seemed to be decent players.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (8 handed)

MP1 ($259.33)
MP2 ($68.3)
CO ($111.9)
Button ($159.9)
Hero ($104.55)
BB ($574.6)
UTG ($20.24)
UTG+1 ($77.43)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , . Hero posts a blind of $0.5.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, 4 folds, Hero (poster) raises to $3.5, BB calls $3, UTG+1 calls $3.

Flop: ($12) , , (3 players)
Hero bets $9, BB raises to $18, UTG+1 calls $18, Hero raises to $55, BB calls $552.60 (All-In), UTG+1 calls $55.43 (All-In), Hero calls $45.55 (All-In).

Turn: ($756.58) (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($756.58) (3 players, 3 all-in)

Final Pot: $756.58

Results in white below:
BB has 4c 4h (three of a kind, fours).
UTG+1 has Jd Td (high card, ace).
Hero has Qh Ac (two pair, aces and queens).
Outcome: BB wins $756.58.



Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed)

UTG ($162.45)
UTG+1 ($119.5)
UTG+2 ($29)
Hero ($99.25)
MP2 ($93.15)
MP3 ($147.2)
CO ($133.45)
Button ($104.35)
SB ($77.1)
BB ($84.9)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , . SB posts a blind of $0.5.
3 folds, Hero raises to $4, MP2 calls $4, MP3 calls $4, 2 folds, SB (poster) calls $3.50, BB calls $3.

Flop: ($20) , , (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $20, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, SB calls $73.10 (All-In), BB folds, Hero calls $53.10.

Turn: ($166.20) (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($166.20) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $166.20

Results in white below:
SB has 5s 5d (full house, fives full of aces).
Hero has Ah Kc (three of a kind, aces).
Outcome: SB wins $166.20.

Hand #1.....I dont like raising AQ from a blind. Youre out of position. Just complete and play a small pot.

I wouldve folded once there was a flop raise and an overcall (even though he was all n)


Hand #2 is annoying but its still a fold. Ive called in that spot way too many times, and lost most of them.

Thanks Ice. Got to get better at getting away from these hands when sets are very likely and wait for better opportunities. Tough things to dodge though. Two stacks down two more lessons

Piers,

It seems like the biggest thing you need to work on at this point as far as NL goes is that you need to be able to get away from TPTK. This is one of the toughest things to do and you will always be tempted to overplay it. However, in hand 1 ask yourself this question: Is BB really raising me with worse than TPTK? And if he is, will he really call my huge re-raise with less than TPTK when my play screams AQ, AA, and KK? The answer should be a clear no. You are in such a tough spot because UTG+1 overcalled the raise which usually indicates a draw. So you are sandwiched between the raiser and the drawer. If you think your hand is best your big raise is good but your hand is marginal so you have to let it go. If it was headsup and UTG+1 had folded I might call and hope to get to a free/cheap shodown.

Hand 2 is very similar to hand 1, although it's tougher to get away from it IMO. But you made a pot-sized bet and got checkraised allin - an extreme sign of strength. Without a spectacular read that told me SB overplays Top pair or semibluffs too much I would have to fold this, as at best you are probably tying him. Remember that when people call raises preflop it often means they did it with a pocket pair, so when they are raising the flop it often means they hit the set they were looking to hit.

It's tough but learning when to throw away TPTK is definately one of the most important elements of the game.

Thanks MG,

Yeah I agree getting away from TPTK has definately been an expensive thorn in my side but I think I have already started to improve upon that. Was able to get away fairly cheaply 2 to 3 times already from hands such as this in my evening sessions.

Suited connectors have been pretty much gold mines for me as I have hit some big hands or been able to just bully the flop for the small pot after my preflop raise. Starting to get a pretty good feel for things while 4 and 5 tabling which I thought might take longer but it already seems comfortable.

I looking for good things to continue to happen as my game progresses from day to day and just thankful I have some nice folks at Party that are providing me with less than world class competition to gain experience from.

for non-english readers TPKT stands for what plz ?

edit : and NO ! it doesn't figure on the glossary poker-glossary-page78.html#T


edit 2 : I hope this is not that ! http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.a ... ronym=TPKT