Hella Hold'em

I played a little poker on Full Tilt last night. Warming up for my return to Empress, you see. Yes, my tax refund arrived today, as April said it would. I haven't decided if the magic day is today or tomorrow... or both. Thinking about it as we speak.

One of the problems I have with my game online is that I will pay off hands on the river when it's likely I'm beat. I do it because there are SO many scoobys online that I just have to make sure I'm beat. I just have to see it. And every time I pay off a turn and/or river bet when I'm certain I'm beat, I chastise myself for being such an idiot.

For what feels like the first time, I folded a hand last night and resisted the curiosity to see that I was beat. I paid off one street too many, but saved the bet on the end.

The game: limit holdem, $2/4. I had KK in middle position and raised preflop when action folded to me. The big blind called. The flop came Js 2s Ad. The BB checked. I bet out. My opponent hesitated, then called. The turn came Js 2s Ad [2h]. The BB checked again. I bet out. The BB raised. I should have folded here, but I called with a sigh. The river came Js 2s Ad 2h [Tc], and the BB bet out this time.

Hello, typical "I outflopped you and I'm sucking as much money out of you as I can!"

I folded on the river, saving $4.

This pattern is SO typical! The action on the turn clearly indicating the true strength of the hand, and the river bet by my opponent making it certain that my KK got outflopped. Or maybe out turned. I couldn't beat an Ace and I couldn't beat a deuce, and considering my opponent was in the blind, he could have had anything. True, he could have been drawing to a flush and missed, but my notes on this guy didn't give him that much credit.

I think another reason why I tend to pay off on the river on these hands is that in limit poker, the odds of being bluffed almost justify the call on the end, with as much money as there is in the pot by the river.

The true lesson here is, I should have folded to the raise on the turn.

I also managed to donk of $26 of my profits from the cash table in the $15k guarantee NL tourney. It was early in the tourney and I got myself involved in a pot with 55. I called a 3xBB raise preflop. The flop came T-9-2, and I bet out on the flop, trying to steal control of the hand and hoping I was against an AK or something that missed that ugly flop. My opponent raised me all in. I thought a bit, because this table was FULL of all-in moves in this first round of play. I was shocked at some of the scooby moves I was seeing... people pushing all in with 2nd pair, etc. I thought to myself, "This table is full of donkeys... I call." He had QQ.

I know better than to CALL all in. It's push or fold. If I'm not the one pushing, just call me the moron here for calling off all my chips on a hand where I could only beat a bluff.

I still left the tables with a small profit, which felt good.

Now, to take down Empress...