Another Poker Blog!!

I know there are a ton of Poker Blogs online now!! Well I can't promise anything *special* but I will try my best to post interesting hands and break them down.

I am by no means a pro, I play FR $0.50/$1 on pokerstars (most of the time). When I do play NL100 I usually just play 1 or 2 tables and try to get reads on players and manipulate them. When I am hard stripped for $$$ I play 6 to 9 tables at lower stakes ($0.25/0.50). It all depends on which game is juicy!!

Anyway the first hand I will post is a hand I saw on Poker Hand Replays, which btw is a GREAT website for all poker players.



The reason I like this hand a lot is because it demonstrates how important position is, and I believe both opponents in this hand were pretty poker savvy.

A standard raise from the HERO is late position with AQs. Obviously I'm unaware of any history between the players but BB is probably putting the HERO on a steal (since now the new trend is to steal from the cut off) and 3 bets. HERO calls since he has position and he knows BB might be making a play. Standard bet - call on the flop given the situation. The turn gets interesting - the BB checks pretty much giving up on the hand, however hero decides to check too given the dry board. This check is great because it keeps the pot small in case he is up against a monster and is gives the BB another chance to bluff on the river id he has air. Now given the action so far, HERO probably puts BB on a pocket pair and is hoping that his turn check will help him get another $30-$40 from the BB on the river.

River is a blank, and BB checks again. Now hero decides to go to value town and bets. His bet size is perfect - notice that he will get paid off by jacks-kings and as demonstrated in this hand the BB might see this as a sign on weakness and play back at him! That is exactly what happened, BB puts in a decent raise and HERO probably insta-called!

Now I personally think HERO played the hand perfectly. I believe the BB made two mistakes.
1) Tried to make a play without a sufficient read pre-flop.
2) Post flop on the turn after giving up - get rid of your pocket cards. If you want to bluff you have to tell a consistent story. A check raise on the river makes no sense after the turn check! Think about it - is there any hand with which you would check the turn and then check-raise the river?

Overall great hand!!