100 Poker Hands

It is of course part and parcel of the game.  Having a strong hand, or maybe even the nuts on that street, and someone coming along and hitting the one card that they need to make the hand that beats you. What do you do?  Swear and curse? Vow to get your vengenace?  Shrug it off like you know you should. Make a note and hope you play them in lots more hands yet. Of course I know that there have been times when I have had no right to be in the hand, or been too aggressive, and Lady Luck has shone on me and somebody else has the bad beat. Welll yesterday in one of my microstakes hands I felt the bad beat good and proper.  Here's the details. I'm fully stacked on  table full of unknowns and I find myself with AQ spades.  UTG bets 3bb and I make it a 3 bet.  The big blind calls and the player UTG folds.  The flop comes 5, 10, 2 all spades.  I've got the nut flush in position.  Just need to make sure I make some money. What does...

Sometimes you feel its worth defending your small blind, sometimes you don't. 3 betting with a pair of 5s when the big blind is still in the game can be a risk. But sometimes the flop is good to you. Of course sometimes you might think you could have made a bit more money.

Over 65 hands the villain is VP 21 and PF 17. In this session he has folded to every continuation bet made against him.  He 3 bets 7% of his hands so as he calls this raise from the hero in early position we can probably conclude that he doesn't have a big pair. But the villain is happy to go all in on the river. Before you see his hand try and guess what it is...

Perceived wisdom certainly suggests that playing suited connectors should be reserved for late positions, ideally against multiple opponents. Certainly limping with 67s from mid position in 6 max is probably not the best idea. And when you get raised you should probably fold and cut your losses. In this hand there is certainly one player who is going to play every hand (he has put in to 97% of hands and not yet folded to a 3bet. Villain 4 has only 3 bet 11% of all hands. The equity calculations say that the raiser probablt has about 50% equity with our 67s on about 24% equity and the loosest, most passive player around with about 26% equity. Having played the loose player we know that he will make very small bets with nothing, probably call any bet with an ace in his hand, but any real big bet from him tells us that he has a big hand. If we call we need to hit the flop and then our implied odds will work for us. We've also been tight at the table, playing around 14% of ha...

Limping with a small pair in 6 max can prove profitable.  Hitting a full house on the flop is something of a dream.  But there is usually a good reason to play your good hands aggressively since there are few hands that can't be beaten when there are more cards to come.   What should the hero have done on the flop?  Should he have called the raise on the turn card?  How would you have played the hand?

Sometimes when you play small pairs you get the flop of dreams. But who would call your bets and how do you get maximum value?

Hitting a set with your small pair is great.  This villian has played 58 hands against you and has figures of VP 53% and PF 13%.  That's a wide range to hit this flop. He gets very aggressive on the river with AF figures of 2/1/1/5. How would you play this hand?

Pocket pairs can prove profitable but can also be expensive.  The villain is VP 21, PF 17 over 65 hands. When would you fold this hand? P

Micorstakes 2c/5c 6Max fast poker.  The hero has the best possible starting hand and hits a great flop in position.  The villian is a total unknown. How would you play this hand?