Two Unorthodox Hands: What Am I Thinking?

I’ve had a reading week this week (meaning no classes) but with an assignment due next Monday I’ve been busying myself with that. I played a bit of poker last weekend and continued my downswing all the way down to -37K as of Thursday night but fortunately managed to recover 16K on Friday and Saturday. I locked myself out on Saturday night to focus on my assignment and haven’t played since.

The more perceptive of you may have noticed that I just commented on how well I went in a session, something I said I’d no longer do! Well, it took me a while but I soon realised that a poker blog without such updates isn’t really a poker blog at all. So I’ve decided to continue giving updates on how well I’m doing but I definitely won’t be posting any monthly graphs or stats still.

I said in my last blog that I’d try to do some more strategy-type posts in the future. Well I’ve been brainstorming about some things to talk about and already I’ve got five or six really interesting topics in mind (and illustrative hand histories to go along with them!). I don’t have time to write one up now though so what I thought I’d do is just post the hand histories and get you guys thinking about the hands (perhaps post in the comments what you think I’m thinking?) and then I’ll explain them fully in my next post when I get the time. I actually got this idea from Greg’s montage videos on Leggo where he showed a series of ‘sick’ hands with no explanation in one video and then explained them fully in a later video. I thought it was actually quite remarkable how ‘sick’ a hand can look in isolation yet, when you hear the full explanation of it later on, it all seems very standard and straightforward.

Anyway, I thought I’d start off with a bang and show two hands where I obviously came out on top in a big way.

In the first, villain is a reg who plays up to 25/50 (he doesn’t seem to have discovered the auto-rebuy function though).

No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($1373)
CO ($1476)
Hero (Button) ($1000)
SB ($965)
BB ($884)
UTG ($2633)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, J

3 folds, Hero bets $25, 1 fold, BB calls $15

Flop: ($55) 3, Q, 8 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($55) 4 (2 players)

BB bets $41, Hero raises $123, BB raises $341, Hero raises $852 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $819

Results:
Hero had 8, J (one pair, eights).
Outcome: Hero won $1409

In the second, villain was a complete unknown but in the two orbits or so he’d been at the table he’d exhibited reg-like stats.

No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($609)
Button ($338.95)
SB ($690.45)
Hero (BB) ($1213.65)
UTG ($1349.25)
MP ($238.80)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 7

2 folds, CO bets $21, 2 folds, Hero calls $15

Flop: ($45) 4, J, 5 (2 players)

Hero checks, CO bets $30, Hero raises $93, CO calls $63

Turn: ($231) 9 (2 players)

Hero checks, CO bets $198, Hero raises $1099.65 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $627

Results:
Hero had 7, 7 (one pair, sevens).
Outcome: Hero won $1525.65