Well I thought I would begin to take further advantage of the Card Runners community by starting a blog. I think it will help me reflect on my play and hopefully allow me to meet some other members in the process.

I'm a small stakes player currently on a grind challenge of $25 NL, looking to win 25 buy ins before moving up to $50 NL. I started playing seriously last year, and ended up about $1k on the year. I ran well in a donkament over the summer and won $3k, cashing out $2k. I proceeded to run the $1k roll up to around $3300 before the slow death due to my inexperience and poor bank roll management occurred. Since, I've dedicated myself to playing better while in the game and managing my roll better outside of the game.

The 25 buy in challenge is the first part of my re-dedication and it did not start off well. I ran poorly in December and ended the month down about 3 buy ins. Since, I've been playing well and running hot, up 8 buy ins since the new year.

That brings us to today, which I road a heater to a 3.5 buy in win in 258 hands (I tend to play about 1 hour a day, 4 tabling). I ended up quitting early after the following two hands occurred near back to back. I realized I was missing out on a lot of value by not betting the two rivers. How would everyone else play these?

In this hand I'd rarely fold a suited connector in position to a min raise from the bb. On the flop I can get away, but there is a lot of potential to crack big hands while only calling a min raise. Once the flop came, I chose to smooth call to encourage more action if he turns an ace, or a set. Not many cards can hurt me. I don't see him making a min-raise too often with a small pocket pair which would have given him the full house on the river, but I still didn't value bet the river. I think this was a big mistake by me. Good sign of playing scared b/c the recent bad runs last year.

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Seat 1: ZenLion ($45.60) -
Seat 2: wfox ($25) Sitting Out
Seat 3: connmanJ ($29.70)
Seat 4: chlln17 ($50.10)
Seat 5: Silkstone ($49.40) -
Seat 6: HiddenName ($5.90) -


PRE-FLOP:

HiddenName posts small blind $0.10
ZenLion posts BIG blind $0.25
Dealt To: chlln17


FOLD connmanJ
RAISE chlln17 ($0.85)
FOLD Silkstone
FOLD HiddenName
RAISE ZenLion ($1.45)
CALL chlln17 ($0.60)


FLOP:

Pot: $3


BET ZenLion ($1)
CALL chlln17 ($1)


TURN:

Pot: $5


BET ZenLion ($2.50)
RAISE chlln17 ($6.75)
CALL ZenLion ($4.25)


RIVER:

Pot: $18.5


CHECK ZenLion
CHECK chlln17


SHOWDOWN:
chlln17:

ZenLion:


chlln17 collected $17.6 from main pot with a straight, Six high

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $18 Rake: $0.90

Final Board:


Seat 1: ZenLion big blind showed [Kc Ac] and lost with a straight, Five high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-9.2)

Seat 2: wfox is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: connmanJ didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: chlln17 showed [6d 5d] and won 17.60 with a straight, Six high - Net Gain/Loss: ($8.4)
Seat 5: Silkstone button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: HiddenName small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)


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In this hand, I locked up after the turn. I'm a man that usually sticks to his reads, and I honestly felt like he/she turned a straight. Obviously, with only J10 beating me and AQ, AK probably calling a value shove I lost a lot of value on this hand.

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Seat 1: ZenLion ($36.40) -
Seat 2: wfox ($25) -
Seat 3: connmanJ ($29.70)
Seat 4: chlln17 ($58.50)
Seat 5: Silkstone ($49.40)
Seat 6: HiddenName ($5.80) -


PRE-FLOP:

ZenLion posts small blind $0.10
wfox posts BIG blind $0.25
Dealt To: chlln17


FOLD connmanJ
RAISE chlln17 ($0.85)
CALL Silkstone ($0.85)
FOLD HiddenName
FOLD ZenLion
FOLD wfox


FLOP:

Pot: $2.05


BET chlln17 ($1)
CALL Silkstone ($1)


TURN:

Pot: $4.05


BET chlln17 ($2.85)
RAISE Silkstone ($5.70)
CALL chlln17 ($2.85)


RIVER:

Pot: $15.45


BET chlln17 ($8)
RAISE Silkstone ($16)
CALL chlln17 ($8)


SHOWDOWN:
Silkstone:

chlln17:


chlln17 collected $45.1 from main pot with three of a kind, Aces

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $47 Rake: $2.35

Final Board:


Seat 1: ZenLion small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)
Seat 2: wfox big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.25)
Seat 3: connmanJ didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: chlln17 showed [As Ah] and won 45.10 with three of a kind, Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($21.55)
Seat 5: Silkstone showed [Ac Ks] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings - Net Gain/Loss: ($-23.55)

Seat 6: HiddenName button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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Like I said, after those two hands I decided quitting the session was my best bet. It's hard losing that type of value against two large stacks and not letting it affect your play.