Making a big comeback

For a while I'd had a bit of a poor run from the 4th - 10th October, despite a great start on Pokerstars to the month where I'd seen a 30% profit.  Thankfully I'm now pr 4th of October, more or less back to breaking even after a good session on No Limit Hold'em cash games ($10 buy in) where I'd built up my stack to around $30 yesterday, and also on Pot Limit Omaha, where I managed to grind out to $55.  That was the session that has brought it all back!

In No Limit Hold'em I'd been getting involved in too many hands and so my bankroll was taking huge up and down swings and sometimes you get to that point where you start to get worried.  Mine was when I fell below the £60 mark for bankroll.  So I took a break, returned to reading some of the concepts again in Sklansky & Miller's Theory & Practise, and reminded myself of the poker knowledge and gems of wisdom and overall I decided to play much tighter.

I applied this tighter/more solid approach to both the No Limit Hold'em game and the Pot Limit Omaha game I played and my results were much better...please look at the results...

HAND 1: A $25.78 win with several straight draws, top pair and the nutflush draw.  Fortunately my hand hit the lucky 4 on the river to make my straight because as you can see I was (surprisingly) up against a set of aces.  I took one of his outs at least with one of my A, and that always makes a small percentage difference.

HAND 2:  Favourite hand of the night.  This was a strange hand against the same player I'd doubled up against before.  I reraised pre flop, then semi bluffed with a bet on the flop, but felt the player was strong and decided to check to give this hand up on the river.  By raising twice this gave me a free card on the turn.  By sheer luck the K of diamonds came on the river.  This was the perfect card as it gave me the absolute nuts!  Had the K of spades arrived I would not have been able to bet for value so much on the river.  The player bet $3 (approx) into me and as I knew he was steaming I very quickly re raised to $12 (approx) before he could think.  He called.

HAND 3: Another lucky straight made.  This is a rare occurrence indeed in one night... another straight completed against a player with a good hand!  This time on the No Limit Hold'em table.  I made the nuts with a QJ straight when the K came on the river, giving me another nice pot of $11.68.

HAND 4: This was an incredible hand.  Using my now big stack of $40 plus dollars effectively I called a little more loosely and the results were fantastic with 9 ♣️ 10 ♣️ 8 ♥️ 7 ♥️ which is a very nice starting hand in my opinion, and the flop came 7 ♠️ 6 💎 Q ♥️ giving me a straight wrap (and 5, 8, 9 and 10) and without the board pairing my made hand would hold.  I actually think there were 5 players who went all in here.  Altogether the pot came to about $30+ dollars!  See for yourself...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick quiz question (Small Stakes Hold'em Sklansky & Malmuth):

You have A ♠️ A ♣️ on the button.  Three players limp, and you raise.  Both blinds and all the limpets call (12 small bets).  The flop is Q ♥️ 7 💎 3 ♣️.  Everyone checks, and you bet.  Three people call (8 big bets).  The turn is the 9 ♣️.  Everyone checks, and you bet.  The first player folds, the second calls, and the third check-raises (12 big bets).  What should you do?

Answer: Call.  You are probably behind.  A player who check-raises the field on the turn (check raises after one or more players have already called) is rarely bluffing.  This board is also relatively ragged, so the chance that he is pushing a draw is reduced.

Still you cannot fold.  The pot is too big.  You are getting 12-1 to call, and your opponent could have two pair.  You have eight outs to beat any two pair (2 aces, and 6 cards that pair the board but do not give him a full house), making you only a 4,75-to-1 underdog.

Thank you for reading.  Good luck on the tables.