I played my first online poker in a while yesterday and played heads up at NL400. I knew that this player was good and probably better than me but I just fancied taking him on……yes yes I know.
Anyway we had been playing for about 30 hands or so and I am ahead by about $100 so I have about $500 on the table and he has just topped up. I get 10d-5s and raise to $12, I had been raising a very high percentage of my buttons.
They call and we see a flop of 8c-4s-2s and he checks. This is an interesting situation but I do not always like continuation betting here. I am very aggressive pre-flop so I cannot blindly continuation bet here against a strong opponent. It is pretty obvious what my range is seeing that I have just raised with a 10-5.
Raising pre and then continuation betting the flop 100% of the time is a leak. He could be looking to check-raise me here on air or any number of hands so betting something like $16 with air into a $24 pot isn’t a good strategy if I am going to do it too freely.
The turn card pairs my five and they check again, I check it back and the river card is another four and they bet out $22 into the $24 pot which I snap call and my hand wins. Then the fun starts and he starts to berate me in the chat box. I was going to leave but I figured that I needed to stay with this guy for a while.
I don’t see that checking the turn is bad, I know that many players are looking to protect their hand here but just what are you protecting when you have an aggressive image like mine? If I am behind then I may have five outs at best and if I am ahead then I am only conceding a small amount of equity by allowing them to take a free card with a hand that has a very small number of outs. The flip side to this is if I get raised on a bluff or semi-bluff and I cannot call or I make a “protection bet” on the turn that is already behind.
My play shouldn’t have spooked him but it did for some reason because his raising and three betting action went through the roof. Next hand and I get Ac-Qc and raise to $12 and they call. Flop comes Ad-Qd-9c and they check, now I want to get maximum value and I make a continuation bet that I feel is just going to get check-raised……so instead of betting 2/3 pot…..I bet $24….they check raise to $96 and I call.
Now they must know that I have a hand and the turn card is the 8s and they shove all in…..I call. They show Jc-7c and the river bricks for them and I win a huge $900 pot. It was here that I had to admire him because he left the game…..many people wouldn’t have done that. He obviously tilted losing to a muppet like me 
see you soon
Carl “The Dean” Sampson at poker loco
