I busted the main event on day 3 when I shoved JJ over a raise and call; only the initial raiser called and his AQ hit two pair on the flop. There were a few interesting hands leading up to that point though, including this one from level 3 on day 1.

I was mainly playing a solid/ABC game looking to exploit the weaker players and minimize swings, so this hand was a bit out of character.

Blinds: $150-$300 (no ante)

UTG limps, I call Qs3s OTB, SB completes, BB checks. Effective stack with most players ~ $30k.

Flop: 5h 8s 9s (Pot: $1200)

SB bets $400, BB and UTG call, I raise to $2k, everyone calls.

Turn: 2h (Pot: $9200)

SB checks, BB bets $5k, UTG folds, I call, SB calls.

River: Kh (Pot: $24,200)

SB checks, BB checks, I bet $14.2k.

Analysis: I just about always fold Q3s pre in this spot, but UTG was playing about 65-vpip and willing to put in his stack with one-pair hands postflop. I felt strongly that he was going to spew his stack to someone at the table (and sure enough, he later called off a 5bet shove pre almost 100bb deep with jack-high), and I wanted to put myself in a position for that person to be me and went out of my way to get involved in pots with him.

At the flop, SB's 1/4 pot bet looked weak, and I didn't think anyone was showing much strength by flatcalling, so I raised with the goal of winning immediately, or if called having the option of checking back the turn unimproved to see a free river.

The turn is super-close. Based on a number of hours playing with the small blind, I thought he was almost never check/raising here, so I have the implied odds to call if I expect to win at least another $6k or so when I hit. I thought I'd stack the big blind often enough when I hit that it was correct to call, but this is definitely close. And if the SB was capable of check/raising there, I'd have just tossed it.

At the river, a bluff really doesn't represent much besides maybe a hand like 9h Xh. At the same time, I didn't have showdown value, there was a ton out there, and I didn't think that either of the recreational players in the blinds were capable of calling off most of the rest of their stacks based on how the hand had played.

SB snap-folded and afterward claimed to have an OESFD. BB tanked and looked like he was gonna toss in the chips which kinda sucked, but fortunately he mucked.

I went back to my ABC/value game after that hand which worked out well, bringing me close to $80k by the end of the day.

Early on Day 2 I lost a major pot folding top trips at the river, which will be the topic of my next blog. And please feel free to post any feedback on my line in the above hand, I'm very open to the idea of an alternative play on any street.

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