As I Was Saying...

It's 11:38pm on a Friday, a time at which I'd normally be grinding rather than blogging. I probably will put in another session later tonight when some of the Euro crowd starts waking up - I definitely should from a volume perspective. I'm going to be lucky to hit 100k hands this month... ugh.

Earlier in the day, I put in ~6k hands and took just shy of 2k off the tables, which isn't far off from "best day ever" status. In terms of big blinds and EV, I actually ran pretty lousy, but as I talked about in the last post this month I can't hold to save my life at small stakes but absolutely can at midstakes. Today was no exception, and I played what for me is a record hand in that while it is my second largest pot ever in sheer size, it is the most money I've won in single hand by a large margin (my largest pot ever was HU stacking a whale for ~155bbs, while in the hand today I tripled up with 100bb stacks at 600NL for a net profit of 1.2k). Anyway, I'll get to some HHs below to show you what I'm talking about. First, the record hand:

The CO in this hand is a reg, while MP3 is obviously a whale. Super thrilled that I held. I think my cold 4bet here is actually pretty non-standard, but this whale was of the 90/15 variety who I just don't think was folding pre period when he had a hand he liked enough to open. The 4bet also may look a bit more like AK to the reg, with flatting perhaps appearing even stronger.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (9 handed)
Hero (BB) ($600)
UTG ($630)
UTG+1 ($609)
MP1 ($414.05)
MP2 ($609)
MP3 ($1858.55)
CO ($613.50)
Button ($668)
SB ($600)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A♥, A♦
4 folds, MP3 bets $18, CO raises to $66, 2 folds, Hero raises to $132, MP3 calls $114, CO raises to $200, Hero raises to $600 (All-In), MP3 calls $468, CO raises to $613.50 (All-In), MP3 calls $13.50

Flop: ($1830) 2♠, 9♠, Q♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($1830) 8♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($1830) 7♠ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $1830 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had A♥, A♦ (one pair, Aces).
MP3 had 6♥, 6♦ (one pair, sixes).
CO had K♦, K♣ (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $1800, CO won $27


Another hand that demonstrates I can actually hold up at midstakes. Both villains in this hand are fish, with UTG+1 being a full blown whale. I'm really happy with my turn shove as the way the hand plays out MP1 is drawing 99% of the time and I have the whale crushed a lot.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (8 handed)
BB ($200)
UTG ($400)
UTG+1 ($439.55)
MP1 ($280.70)
MP2 ($400)
CO ($558.50)
Hero (Button) ($412)
SB ($218.80)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J♠, J♦
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $4, MP1 bets $12, 2 folds, Hero calls $12, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $8

Flop: ($42) 10♦, 7♠, 6♦ (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $12, MP1 calls $12, Hero raises to $56, UTG+1 calls $44, MP1 calls $44

Turn: ($210) 5♠ (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $28, MP1 calls $28, Hero raises to $344 (All-In), 1 fold, MP1 calls $184.70 (All-In)

River: ($663.40) J♥ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $663.40 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had J♠, J♦ (three of a kind, Jacks).
MP1 had 3♦, K♦ (high card, King).
Outcome: Hero won $660.40


Finally, a hand to illustrate how I've been running at small stakes. I won't bore you with all the other instances of getting AA in pre drawing dead vs ATC (A8o was my favorite, 888 flop obv), but one outers are always special.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, €1.00 BB (8 handed)
MP2 (€225.30)
CO (€65.55)
Button (€102.95)
Hero (SB) (€100)
BB (€100)
UTG (€65.95)
UTG+1 (€152.20)
MP1 (€80.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♥, 6♦
1 fold, UTG+1 bets €3, 3 folds, Button calls €3, Hero calls €2.50, 1 fold

Flop: (€10) 5♦, 3♦, 6♣ (3 players)
Hero bets €8.50, UTG+1 raises to €18.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to €41.50, UTG+1 raises to €149.20 (All-In), Hero calls €55.50 (All-In)

Turn: (€204) 5♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (€204) K♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: €204 | Rake: €2

Results:
Hero had 6♥, 6♦ (full house, sixes over fives).
UTG+1 had 5♣, 5♥ (four of a kind, fives).
Outcome: UTG+1 won €202

Aside from poker, I finished Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the PSP a couple days ago. It was a really good game, but definitely had enough flaws to not reach "great". It is the first game in a trilogy, and the ending did a very good job setting up the next entry. Too bad it'll probably be a year or more before it gets released. Next up on my gaming plate is FFIV:Complete Collection for the PSP. I wonder how many times I've played through FFIV in its different incarnations by now - I'd bet the over/under should be set around 10. At any rate, this remake seems to make a good thing better, so I'm happy. The arranged music is the nicest addition in my opinion.