Swimming With The Fishes

I logged in on Tuesday and immediately spied the 'lucky fish' from the night before. I was licking my lips as I sat down to play.

Initially it wasn't to be, as his run continued. I raised from UTG with QQ and he reraised so I capped. No scary cards on the flop, so I bet and he called. Board paired 3s on the turn and suddenly I was in trouble as he reraised. I hung in to a showdown, and lo-and-behold he turns over 4c3c for trip 3s. Not my idea of a pre-flop reraising hand.

Not much later KK comes my way. The betting is capped pre-flop as we raise and reraise. No scare cards on the flop. An A on the turn, and yes he reraised me with AJo pre-flop. Bloody hell!

A good while later I'm sitting around $40 down, when I'm dealt 9c7c in the BB. Lucky Fish is first to stay in, with a raise. The button, and SB both call.

Normally I'd be reluctant to play against a raise even from the BB, but I'm suited, have some connectivity, there's seven small bets in the pot, I'm last to act this round, and I just can't respect this guys raises. So, I decide to call and muck if I miss the flop.

Heh, heh. As if! The flop comes 8hThJd. I've flopped a straight, but with two to a flush against me. Time to chase off any single card flushes.

The SB bets, I raise, Lucky Fish calls, button folds, SB reraises, I cap, Lucky Fish calls.

The turn is an Ac (Surely he can't have KQ). SB checks, I bet, LF raises, SB folds, I reraise, LF caps, I call. (Now I AM worried)

The river is a Qh. (Damn. There's the flush, and any K beats me now.) I bet anyway, he calls, and shows AdTd.

So he called on the flop with middle pair against two raisers. Got 'lucky' with his A on the turn, and figured two pair was best.

My weakest call of the evening won an $80 pot in a 2/4 game.

Does this make me a fish? If so, I must be a pike at least.

It certainly does show the value of good notes. I doubt I'd have laid this hand down against many players, but I could certainly have gone into check-call mode on the turn and river. That would have cost me a lot here.

On the subject of notes and other statistics, Poker Tracker are now running an affiliate program. So, I've added them to my shill list.

You probably know this already, but if you don't and are kind enough to read my blog, you deserve to. Poker Tracker is the absolute dogs bollocks. Buy it now (ideally through my link), and see 100% return on your investment in days. Team it with Gametime+ for maximum effect. It's the best advice I can offer anyone. Just do it.