Never confuse motion with action

Pretty standard week for the most part. The 2/4 and 3/6 games on FTP have been pretty good the past two weeks or so. Even the TAGfish are probably donning a comfortable win rate in those games for the past couple weeks. Hands to follow.

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

CO: $167.30
BTN: $670.30
Hero (SB): $764.80
BB: $615
UTG: $654.70

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG calls $6, CO folds, BTN calls $6, Hero raises to $38, 2 folds, BTN calls $32

Flop: ($88) 8 4 A (2 Players)
Hero bets $60, BTN raises to $120, Hero raises to $228, BTN raises to $632.30 and is All-In, Hero calls $404.30

Turn: ($1,352.60) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($1,352.60) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: $1,352.60 Pot ($3 Rake)

BTN showed K Q (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-$670.30 NET)
Hero showed A A (a full house, Aces full of Eights) and WON $1,349.60 (+$679.30 NET)

The fruits of playing LAG and pissing off donkies. Easiest $680 I've ever made. The holidays must have really had him in the giving spirit.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $257.90
SB: $396
BB: $549
Hero (UTG): $826.20
CO: $446.50

Pre-Flop: 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $14, CO folds, BTN calls $14, SB folds, BB raises to $52, Hero calls $38, BTN calls $38

BB is a solid TAG. We've tangoed a bit in the past and I had been involved in a hand with him where I made a very aggressive play and won a $500 pot without showdown. BTN is your standard LAP donk. BB makes the mistake of granting me the implied odds I need to set mine.

Flop: ($158) 5 A 7 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

BB hesitates and checks. I opt to check behind bc I assume that he leads AK-Q here. I weigh his range towards KK-QQ. I didnt want to blow him off of it so I check behind trying to rep KK-88.

Turn: ($158) 5 (3 Players)
BB bets $77, Hero calls $77, BTN calls $77

Even better. Once again, my turn logic is consistent with my logic on the flop.

River: ($389) A (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $697.20 and is All-In, BTN folds, BB calls $420 and is All-In

At this point, I have to bet. He's obviously calling if he slowplayed his AK-Q. The only way I would get value from KK-QQ is if he felt I was bluffing. If I were to bluff, I wouldn't VB so I opted to shove.

Results: $1,229 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB mucked J J (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and LOST (-$549 NET)
Hero showed 5 5 (four of a kind, Fives) and WON $1,226 (+$677 NET)

This opponent really played this hand bad. By checking the flop, he opened himself up for disaster. Its going to be very difficult to get value with JJ OOP against two other opponents. Lead the flop here and let the hand play itself. If he receives any action, it should be obvious that hes behind. He turned what should have been an easy decision into a difficult one and convinced himself that I was bluffing.

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Player

SB: $594
BB: $214
UTG: $1,069.40
MP: $279
CO: $311.35
Hero (BTN): $878.55

Pre-Flop: T J dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $21, SB folds, BB calls $15

BB is a tight passive short stacker running 21/10/1.7. I have a note on him that he bluffed the turn and river when I checked the flop behind.

Flop: ($45) A 6 J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

By betting Im not getting called by anything Im ahead of, and at the same time, Im folding out anything that I beat. No draws other than a gutter. Safe check. Im willing to make a very small mistake to potentially induce a larger mistake on his part.

Turn: ($45) 4 (2 Players)
BB bets $40, Hero calls $40

Uh oh. Ive seen this line before.

River: ($125) 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $153 and is All-In, Hero calls $153

I can only beat a bluff, but based on his quick timing, I went with my read.

Results: $431 Pot ($3 Rake)

BB showed T Q (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-$214 NET)
Hero showed T J (two pair, Jacks and Sixes) and WON $428 (+$214 NET)

In terms of monetary gain, this was an insignificant hand. However, this was a confidence boost because I was able to make a call based on his timing and a read.


Picture with my buddy from his 21st birthday celebration.