Session No. 6 Tuesday Night (5/8) Part III

This third installment of session six will deal with Tony's hand where he flopped a set of 8s and played a little too passively all the way through. I'm not trying to pick on him at all, and he knows this, so I hope you guys don't think I'm a jerk or anything like that for singling him out. I'll criticize my friend's play the exact same way I would criticize my own, and in my opinion, the only way people can really better themselves is through a lot of constructive criticism and some brutal honesty.

So, I don't remember exactly how many players (probably 6 saw the flop) were in the hand, but it gets limped around to me. I was in the small-blind and looked down at QT of diamonds. I completed and hoped that Brian would only check his option. I remember him saying he didn't want to "suicide raise into these many players," so he checked.

At the time, Brian was not yet in his "raise ATC from anywhere" mode, but he had definitely turned up the aggressiveness a couple notches. Feliz open-limped from UTG and like I said before, he was also playing very aggressively after the flop, attempting to isolate Brian. Tony was in the Hijack (seat 4) with pocket eights. I don't mind the limp pre-flop, especially after a couple limpers. Anyway, the flop was about ready to set off some fireworks...

Flop: A:d:J:c:8:d:

Hero bets, Brian raises, Feliz 3-Bets, anyone else in the hand folds, Tony calls (wtf?! *wink*) Hero caps, all players call

Yikes! I have a double gutty with a diamond draw, Brian has top two (AJos) and Feliz claimed to be on a lower flush draw (but he lies alot, so who knows). Looking back at the hand, I remember trying to figure out what the hell Tony would cold-call three-bets there with. I have about a bajillion outs so I'm capping that and calling all the raises regardless (Brian and Feliz are getting zero respect from me at this point). Anyway, quick lesson one: If you have a set in limit and it's three-bets to you on the flop, just cap the bitch. If you're losing set over set, oh well, as is life. But when you have arguably the three most aggressive players at the table in the hand with you Tony, lower set is sooooo money (yes...a "Swingers' reference) in this spot, especially with no raise pre-flop. You think the three of us aren't raising AA or JJ here pre-flop?!

Turn: 6:h: (maybe?) I honestly don't remember...I just remember it not helping any of us.

Hero checks, Brian bets, Feliz calls, Tony calls (wtf?!!!), Hero calls

Omg Tony, if there was ever a time to raise, that was the time. I honestly don't know wtf I do when you raise that spot. I either call off $16 or I fold and pray I miss one of my bajillion outs. Brian is probably (okay...he is absolutely) three-betting that turn, Feliz is coming along for the ride, and then you cap that bad boy and get ready to rake in a sea of yellow chips...

River: 8:h: I dunno what suit it was, all I know is that the 8:d: was on the board because I didn't have a Royal flush draw and you had the other two eights.

Hero checks, Brian bets, Feliz folds, Tony raises, Hero laughs and folds, Brian goes into a long rant about "dude you stayed all the way with an 8 wtf omfg" and then shits himself when he sees the flopped set/rivered quads. I admit I shit myself too...and then almost immediately said "You probably should have raised that turn dude...I coulda snapped a diamond off on ya waaay too cheap."

Don't worry about it bro...live and learn. Everyone screws up at least once in every session they play in, and I've turned into a turtle on some big hands of my own. In the future, just remember that you can't let huge pots and tons of action make you scared of "monsters under the bed." Think about it in retrospect and try and see what there is to be scared of on that turn. Set of Aces? Hell no...not against us. Set of Jacks? Nope...those are getting raised pre-flop too. A straight? Nope, there isn't one out there...straight draws and flush draws are extremely probable, but that is why you have to charge us the the full price to draw out on you. When you just call there with pretty much the best possible hand, you're costing yourself tons and tons of money. Think about it, with all the bets you missed on the turn, it's like you open-limped from UTG with 72os seven or eight times...

Okay...you're blog lashing is over. The only thing you can do now is learn from it. Reading poker books and re-playing hands over and over again in your head is worthless if you don't learn from it. It's too bad I didn't snap off a nine or a King on you on that river though, then I'd be almost positive you'd raise the turn in that spot from now on LOL...

Sooo...special thanks T for letting me publicly chastize you (don't worry, only you and like three other people read my blog). And by the way, at least you raised the river! *cheeze*

http://forums.cardplayer.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48149