Small session

I played a couple of tables after lunch today for just over an hour - one HU and one 6 max. Things went pretty well and I ended up with just under a couple of buyins profit, one thing I was particularly pleased about (aside from running well) was that I quit at a good time and I didn't let my ego dictate my length of stay at the tables. Since I haven't posted any hands here for a while I'm going to go over these in a little more detail - or atleast I'll try to. :)

HU Table
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855167
This hand is fairly standard from both players POV. Sometimes I would fold the A9o from the BB early on in the match since it can often get you into trouble OOP without a decent read. As played my opponent didn't really have a choice on either street. If I hadn't hit the gutshot on the turn I would have just checked it down because I try not to do anything other than standard in the first few hands until I get an idea about my opponent. This is one thing I'm trying to work on a bit in my HU game - just taking things slowly to start with and establishing a "decent" image and then making moves. I find this easier to play than starting out like a maniac because then you have to hit cards to do anything since you get no respect if your opponent is even paying the slightest bit of attention.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855186
Another pretty standard hand. Although by now I believe that my opponent isn't very aggressive and isn't likely to be bluffing that often I still think calling the river is a good play. Firstly because he could easily be value betting worse, secondly it is possible that he is bluffing (although unlikely) and thirdly for information. The last point is pretty crucial because it is really useful to find out what sort of range this guy is calling the flop then leading out on the river with. For instance if you find out that your opponent is value betting very thinly then you can start to raise his river bets, if he shows up with a set then you can see that he slow plays, in this instance I got some pretty useful information about this guy's checkraising range since he didn't c/r his draw and this enabled me to reraise bluff one of his subsequent checkraises.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855199
I made a small mistake here by calling the river, given the information I have on my opponent I think I have to fold despite the awesome pot odds I am getting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855201
This is a pretty reasonable 3bet given that there are very few legitimate hands he can checkraise with there. The only real hands my opponent can have are AA/JJ/AJ/22 and possibly AK. Previous to this hand I saw my opponent flat call QQ PF so both AA and JJ are possible but of course this set of hands is tiny compared to his preflop calling range so the most likely hand is a bluff or a lower ace which can't stand a 3bet anyway.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855210
Betting the river here is a little dodgey but I don't mind it against this specific opponent because he could easily have any sort of straight or flush draw which obviously can't handle a river bet.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855214
This hand is pretty interesting I think. If my opponent had shoved the flop or the river I would have folded as well if any of the draws had hit and he had bet (since he very rarely, if ever, bluffs). However once he checks the river I have an easy value bet because it is obvious that my opponent doesn't have a made hand but I can still get value from many pair+draw type hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855218 Pretty standard really.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855220
Also standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855226
This one too. Although this hand and every subdequent hand in a reraised pot ended up with my 3betting, my opponent calling every 3bet and then shoving over my cbets (on reasonable boards to cbet). This wasn't very fun because I kept missing the flop and had to fold every time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855230
One of said hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855233
And another. The reraise with 58s PF is a little silly against this guy given that he has been pwning me in reraised pots however this was after a period of him winning quite a few small pots plus I thought there was almost no chance of him bluffing me because he would expect me to call with almost anything post flop. I'm not sure what to think here aside from he either pwnd me or the just kept hitting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1855241
He had been beating me down a bit but had generally shut down on the turn after c/ring the flop so I chose to float and take the pot away on the turn or river. Obviously 2 checkraises means a monster hand.

After this hand I played for a tiny bit more and stopped. The flow of the match had gone in his favour and I was feeling a little tired so I just quit even though I still felt I had an edge over him. HU is very much like swimming, if the momentum is against you then its pretty hard to reach your goal and you can easily get swept away - its much better to get out of the water and come back when the current is in your favour.

Thats all for now, good luck at the tables guys.