Fairly decent weekend

I did feel pretty good about my weekend.... starting after work on friday, ending sometime early saturday morning, I had won a few tourneys on Pokerroom to put me ahead by about 300 bucks... man it felt good...

Today, its Monday.... rest of saturday and then a bit on sunday.. I lost some of those earnings, but still ahead... still have a bit of money on three sites... tonight is my groups 100k freeroll preliminary on Royal Vegas... looking forward to that....

Going to share a hand with ya'll. I have not yet decided if the guy just got lucky, or if I didn't bet enuff before the river.. or what.. background is that he would pretty much call any bet, to the river.. sometimes even all in bets, and he would almost always catch one of his outs... In this case.. I think had I bet 3XBB, on the flop, he might have caved, but, the pot would have been small...

here it is:

No-limit Texas Hold'em $10+$1 (real money), hand #511,521,160
Ventura Single Table Tournament, 19 Dec 2004 08:55 AM

Seat 2: 4acefrolle ($1,325 in chips)
Seat 3: kylelizard ($3,095 in chips)
Seat 4: Zonnywhoop ($3,272 in chips)
Seat 6: texasAUtiger ($3,495 in chips)
Seat 7: Slayre [QH,KD] ($1,385 in chips)
Seat 9: Kelley4x1 ($1,535 in chips)
Seat 10: TARE21 ($893 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
TARE21 posts blind ($25), 4acefrolle posts blind ($50).

PRE-FLOP
kylelizard folds, Zonnywhoop folds, texasAUtiger folds, Slayre calls $50, Kelley4x1 folds, TARE21 calls $25, 4acefrolle checks.

FLOP [board cards JD,10D,KS ]
TARE21 checks, 4acefrolle checks, Slayre bets $100, TARE21 calls $100, 4acefrolle folds.

TURN [board cards JD,10D,KS,8S ]
TARE21 checks, Slayre bets $100, TARE21 calls $100.

RIVER [board cards JD,10D,KS,8S,3S ]
TARE21 checks, Slayre checks.

SHOWDOWN
TARE21 shows [ 3H,3D ]
Slayre mucks cards [ QH,KD ]
TARE21 wins $550.

SUMMARY
Dealer: Kelley4x1
Pot: $550
4acefrolle, loses $50
kylelizard, loses $0
Zonnywhoop, loses $0
texasAUtiger, loses $0
Slayre, loses $250
Kelley4x1, loses $0
TARE21, bets $250, collects $550, net $300

I remember thinking had he a straight, he would have prolly raised me on the turn...or bet it on the river..

I don't know too many 'good' players that would stick with those 3's with that many over cards...and a straight draw! I know I wouldn't, but perhaps I am not as good as I think I am... it would be different if this guy had alot more chips... I'm pretty sure he would have called me to the river, regardless of my bet.. so, I don't feel bad about the way I played it, just maybe tho, had I came out stronger on the flop... but, I needed more value... is this just 'one of those hands'? I checked on the river because i figured he had a set, of sumtin or the other, or at least 2 pair. Now that I have typed that, I guess had I come out gunning, I would have been 100 ahead instead of 250 behind.. heh...perhaps. nah, he would have played those 3's no matter what.. I'm sure of that..

I get so frustrated to losing pots to folks that should never have been in the pot in the first place.. heh.. I'm not sure how to defend agaisnt that... I wonder if it is just part of the variance factor...

Oh well.. I do know that being more agressive and giving more value to my cards has helped my game... alot.. that feels good....

I came up with this:

before the flop and before the first bet after the BB, everyone's two hole cards are worth the same.

This prolly isn't news to anyone.. but, its a pretty simple rule to help me understand what cards I should play and when...... one thing I did over the weekend, was try to play any two cards early on... however, I didn't pay enuff attention to position and it backfired more times than I care to say...

But, i believe, early on in a tourney, your two hole cards are just as valuable as the next players, taking size of bets and position into account... so, im going to start buying in with any two cards, in the early rounds, in late position....the way I play, I'll end up at round 3 with the same amount of chips anyway, being the tight ass that I am... heh.. might as well play of few of those hands..... catch those sets...two pairs and what not.....

I also had this song in my head all of friday and into saturday which i believe was a big factor in my winnings... Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Bruce Springstien... just kept humming it over and over.. and kept winning hand after hand..

..Better not pout! Raise!
..Better not shout! Raise! heh..

I'm gonna have to start playing more ring games, now that my bankroll is a bit more padded..... specially on UB, where I still have 90.00 bonus to work off.. ugh...

Merry Christmas!