We Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Played tonight after not having played for several weeks. Whenever I have a bad downswing, I tend to lose my interest in playing.

This isn't going to help:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	MrKGBoreoman	($50.95)
UTG+1	Dr. Fells	($200.00)
MP1	I The King I	($200.00)
MP2	DanPoker222	($246.05)
MP3	Hero	($289.55)
CO	TYJohnRambo	($120.00)
BTN	capaneo	($352.80)
SB	ZepHendrix	($262.20)
BB	Itz_	($225.15)

Pre-flop: ($3, 9 players) Hero is MP3

4 folds, Hero raises to $8, 3 folds, Itz_ calls $6

Flop: ($17, 2 players)
Itz_ checks, Hero bets $12, Itz_ raises to $31, Hero calls $19

Turn: ($79, 2 players)
Itz_ bets $65, Hero calls $65

River: ($209, 2 players)
Itz_ goes all-in $121.15, Hero calls $121.15

Final Pot: $451.30
Hero shows:
Itz_ shows:

Itz_ wins $448.30 ( won +$223.15 )
Hero lost -$225.15


Oh well, just another bad beat story. Not much I can do here.

$800 downswing

Ugh, I'm in the middle of an $800 downswing. I think I'll use this post to review some of my biggest losing hands from the last few days.

$213 loss: Got in a race w/ JJ against AK, all-in preflop, and lost. Opponent was somewhat loose-aggressive and I had reraised him a few times before. Still, when he 4-bet me to $50 his range is probably AK, AA-QQ making my push pretty dubious. I did see him get all-in with QJ earlier, but that was in a bvb situation, which this was not.

$188.85 loss: Got in a race w/ QQ against AK, all-in preflop. He hit his king.

$76.05 loss: Raised from the cut-off with Kd 8d and was called by the button. Flop was 6s 7h 5h giving me the OESD. I bet $13, was raised to $30 and pushed for $38.05 more. He had 7s 5s and I didn't get there. I guess this is OK. The thing is, with his short stack I have zero fold equity, so in some sense this is not a classic semibluff. But assuming he is sometimes drawing, I guess this push must be correct.

$72 loss: Limped from the SB with 44, three ways to the flop. Flop was 4s Ks 7d giving me the set. Bet $5 and was called by both opponents. Turn was Ah. I bet $20 (almost pot-size) and was called by one opponent. River was the 5s completing the flush, and I check-called $45. He had the nut flush, of course. Not much to be done here other than possibly folding the river, but that seems pretty weak.

$62.45 loss: Two limpers, checked 6c 5c in the BB. Flop was 3s 7c Qc giving me a flush draw and a gutshot. Led out and was called in two places. Turn as 8h turning my gutshot into an openender. Led out and got one caller. River was the 8d. He had about 70% of the pot left in his stack so I put him all-in and he called with QJ. It seems like, from a game-theoretic perspective, this must be more or the less the right way to play it. These are the sorts of hands I am supposed to be bluffing. On the other hand, I don't know how often villains actually fold this river with any made hand that they call the flop and turn with.

$50 loss: Limped preflop behind one caller w/ 9c 8c. Flop was Jh Td 5d. I called a pot-size bet. Turn was 3s and I called a 1/3 pot-size bet. River was Th. I raised a $12 bet (1/3 pot) to $36. He called with J8. Not sure I like his play - J8 is crushed by any legitimate hand I have there. On the other hand, there are a lot of busted draws. Not sure I like my play either.

$50 loss: Raised from the cut-off w/ Kd Jc, called in the BB. Flop was 8h 9d 4s and I c-bet $12 (3/4 pot) and was called. Turn was Tc giving me an OESD so I double-barrelled $30 (3/4 pot) and was called. River was 8c and he led out all-in for $42.25. His line is kind of fishy but I don't see how I can call with K high.

$50 loss: After one limper raised to $10 with QQ. Flop was Ah 6d 4s and he made a very small lead for $2. That looked pretty weak so I raised to $10 and he called. Turn was Kh. I thought he'd put me on AK so I elected to fire again for $30. He called again. River was Ac and I checked behind. He took it down with A7. Pretty loose play by him but it worked out for him this time.

$43 loss: Called a preflop raise in position w/ 66. Flop was 3d 4c 8h and I called a pot-size bet. Turn was As and he checked to me. I thought maybe the ace scared him so I bet $25. He check-raised all-in and I had to muck.

$40 loss: Raised JJ preflop, one caller behind me. Flop was 245 rainbow. Bet and was called. Turn was a 3, checked through. River was a 9. Bet and was called by AK for the straight. Think I lost the minimum here.

$38 loss: Called a button raise to $6 from the blind with Ac 9d. Flop was 3c Qc Qh and I check-called a pot-size bet of $12. Turn was Kc giving me the nut flush draw and I check-called a $20 bet. River was the 3d and it checked through. He had Tc 8c for a cautiously played flush. I definitely played this loose-passive. On the other hand, I was ahead until the turn, at which point I picked up a good draw. I guess I need him to put in another $24 on the river on average, when I hit my flush, to justify the turn call. (That's assuming he never boats up.) Not sure if that's reasonable.

$38 loss: Raised in early position with KQs and got one caller behind me. C-bet on the 3c 4h 9h flop and he called. Turn was the Jh (completing a possible flush) and checked through. River was a K and I check-called $18 (a bit less than 1/2 pot). He had AK. My first instinct was that I played this well and lost the minimum. On the other hand, what kind of hand checks the turn through but bets the river? After the flop call, medium-to-high pairs like 77, 88, TT, QQ are likely. The turn check is consistent with a medium strength hand that wants to get to showdown. QQ is now unlikely. With a hand like 77, 88 or TT the river bring a second overcard. Who would value bet there? Especially since my hand looks a lot like a missed AK. Also note that the only likely draw on the flop is a heart flush draw that actually got there on the turn. So he can't really be bluffing a missed draw. It's pretty counterintuitive but unless my opponent is a maniac, or at least an aggressive player who will float with any two, I think this is a fold.

$31 loss: Raised over two limpers to $12 with Ad Kc, got one caller in front of me. Flop was Ts 8c 7c, I c-bet $19 and got called. Turn was 6c, completing both likely draws and I checked behind. I folded to a lead out on the river. Boring hand. Maybe I shouldn't c-bet this flop, or at least c-bet smaller.

$30 loss: Called a raise with AsQs. Called a bet on the 6d 6h Ad flop. Bet the Jd turn when checked to and got called. Checked behind when the fourth diamond came on the river. He had Kd Kh. Not much I can do.

$29 loss: Checked my option in the big blind with 5c 9h. Four way to the 4d As 3s flop which checked through. Turn was 2s giving me the straight. I bet $5 and got called in two places. Check-called $22 on the Th river and lost to a flush. I completely didn't see that there was a flush possibility on the board. Still, I'm not sure I could play it much differently.

$28 loss: Limped with As Ts. Four way to the 2s 4s Tc flop. Ajven, a notoriously tight regular, leads out for $6. I call with the nut flush draw and so does someone behind me. On the 5c turn, Ajven leads out for $20, I call, there is a raise behind me all-in to $45.60 and Ajven reraises to $80. I figure I don't have odds to draw, especially considering that some of my outs may give someone a boat, so I fold. It turns out that on the turn, both opponents had two pair.

$28 loss: Raised with AA preflop. Got 4 (!) callers. Bet $20 on the 8h 8d 9c flop and got two callers. Turn was the 7c and I checked behind. River was the 6d, there is a bet and a raise in front of me and I make the world's easiest fold of AA. Turns out it was boat-over-boat (99 vs. 86) at the end.

It's not clear what the take-home message is. I see a couple of big flips that I lost, a number of semi-bluffs that didn't work out, some passively played draws that didn't come through and some hands where I had a good hand but just lost to a better hand. I don't think I played terribly in these hands. It's possible I can tighten up a little bit; on the other hand, when you review exclusively a set of hands that you lost big on, you're naturally going to feel that you should have played tighter. It would be interesting to review the big hands that I won over the same timeframe and compare.

QQ in a Reraised Pot

This is a pretty standard situation:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	WraithCloak	($208.00)
UTG+1	vhunter	($171.00)
MP1	BEERBRATS	($314.60)
MP2	DJWhiteMike	($200.00)
MP3	hyperthermia	($61.95)
CO	nuts106	($223.80)
BTN	MeleaB	($42.65)
SB	Hero	($202.25)
BB	downgoesdown	($200.00)

Pre-flop: ($3, 9 players) Hero is SB

3 folds, DJWhiteMike raises to $6, 1 fold, nuts106 raises to $18, 1 fold, Hero calls $17, 1 fold, DJWhiteMike calls $12

Flop: ($56, 3 players)
Hero checks, DJWhiteMike checks, nuts106 bets $52, Hero calls $52, DJWhiteMike folds

Turn: ($160, 2 players)
Hero checks, nuts106 goes all-in $153.80, Hero folds

Final Pot: $160

nuts106 wins $310.80 ( won +$87 )
DJWhiteMike lost -$18.00
Hero lost -$70.00


I recognize that I play this pretty weak-tight compared to what most people would do. But I don't know, I just don't think most players will double-barrel with a whiffed AK enough to make this a call. To tell the truth, part of the reason I feel OK about this is that I looked up the stats for nuts106 on pokeranalytics.com today and he's a relatively high volume player with 15% VPIP and 5% PFR. Heck, maybe I should just check-fold the flop. How often do regulars c-bet into two opponents in a reraised pot? I have no idea actually.

Here's another option. Suppose I min 4-bet preflop to $36, planning to fold to a 5-bet. If called, I'll check the flop and fold to any bet. If the flop checks through, I'll check the turn and still fold to any bet (?). If two streets check through, I can be fairly confident that he doesn't have AA or KK and will play the river accordingly. The virtue of this is that I get off for $36 when I am losing to AA or KK as opposed to $70 ($18+$52) as happened on this hand. The key assumption is that the 4-bet preflop will freeze him up and keep him from betting his unimproved AK on the flop. The other assumption is that he is likely to play his AA or KK fast preflop and 5-bet thereby telling me where I stand.

On the downside, I am giving him 5 cards to catch an A or a K with AK. So he's going to win virtually every time he has AA or KK and also almost half the time he has AK. That's something like 20/28 (just over 70%) of the time. On the other hand, I will occasionally hit my set and stack him. Still I think he needs to have something other than AA-KK,AK to make it worth my while not mucking this preflop. Presumably he can sometimes have JJ, AQ (maybe) or, of course, the other QQ.

The other alternative, if I elect to just call the 3-bet, is to bet out the flop myself. It all just depends on his tendencies.

Hosted a Home Game

Hosted the $1/$2 home game that we have from time to time from some of my former work colleagues. Ended up up about $1K, although that wasn't due to much skill exhibited on my part. Funniest hand of the night is when we get to the river on a KKTxx board and I have TT for the boat. I lead out for $75 and my opponent starts hemming and hawing. He eventually asks if he can pay me $25 to see another river card. Obviously I already beat whatever he's drawing to, so naturally I say yes. The river is the 8c and I notice that this completes the flush - I assume this was his draw. So I put on my best dejected look and check, and he obliges by pushing his stack in.

He's a smart guy and he realized after the fact that he should have been suspicious when I agreed to give him another card for $25. I'm too nitty to take a -EV gamble in a decent size pot. He just didn't pause to think it through. The other noteworthy thing is that he actually had a straight flush draw (which he did not hit) so this could have backfired for me.

We were playing the 72o game. The way we do it, you have to win the whole pot with 72o at a showdown - you can't win by bluffing. Then everyone who is in gives the 72o player $100 each. We had everyone at the table doing it so when I managed to hit it, I raked in $600. Amusingly, someone had busted out just the hand before this hand. He had run poorly all night, but at least he ran well in the sense that he busted just in time to avoid paying $100 to me.

I ran a bluff in a pretty decent spot. There was a button open raise to $7, the SB called and I called in the BB. The board is K88. Checked to the button who bets $15. SB folds and I check raise to $45. He calls which wasn't necessarily part of the plan, but I assume that just signifies that he has a decent king. I lead out the turn for $100 and he folds. This is such a crappy spot for him. Keep in mind that I am the tightest player at the table.

There was another decent size pot against the same player. I raise in early position with QQ and get a call from late position and a call from the blinds from this opponent. He kind of sighs and has a "whatever" look as he calls. The flop is Jxx and he leads out pot size. I call, late position player folds. Turn is another blank and he leads out pot size again. Must have been for about $60. I'm very concerned at this point, and actually consider folding. Fortunately, I suppress my weak-tight tendencies and call again. River is another blank and he checks. At this point, his hand is pretty much face-up. I put him on exactly AJ. It's pretty consistent with his semi-reluctant call preflop (to a tight player). I figure he'll call another $100 (pot is about $180) and indeed he does. It's kind of a boring hand. I just thought it was kind of interesting how the action seems to mark him with one and only one hand.

I got rebluffed in a BVB situation. SB open limps and I check my option with Q2. Board is JT9 and I call a flop and turn bet. (Turn is a blank.) The river is a T and he checks to me. He's pretty loose and aggressive so I figure he has air a lot of the time here. I bet $20 or so, he immediately checkraises and I turbomuck. Later he admitted he did have air, and my queen high was actually good. Another player suggested I could check my queen behind on the river and expect to be good a lot of the time. I never even considered that. He pointed out that my opponent is unlikely to have an ace or king because he didn't raise preflop. I think he could still have a king, but I guess the odds are reduced. So I am only bluffing out a better hand when he has a king or a pair of 9s. I assume he calls with any J, and he may even call with a 9 (he's loose). Oh, actually, I could also be bluffing him off a chop with another queen. Hard to say what's right. The thing is, I didn't really think he was capable of a checkraise bluff there. Obviously I was wrong.

Winning with AKo

Oh yeah, in addition to getting into the black at $1/$2, the other recent development is that I am now in the black with AKo. It was pretty annoying to look at my stats in Poker Tracker and see that I was losing money with AKo. It's supposed to be a good hand! Maybe I've been overplaying it, or maybe it's just variance.

Some good hands that I am still losing money with: AJo, KQs, KJs, 99, 77, 44 and 22. Not sure what, if anything, can be read into that. There's still obviously a lot of variance in these starting hand stats.

I've heard the claim made that over enough hands you should see the 13 pocket pairs as your biggest winners. Would be interesting to see if that ever becomes true for me. Is 22 > AKs? It would be interesting to adopt an ubernitty style where you only play pocket pairs! I bet you could win with that at the lower levels.

The other interesting thing I just noticed is that if I sort the starting hands by BB/Hand, it's clear that the suited aces are kicking the butt of the unsuited aces. Hmm, I always thought suitedness was overrated (how often do you actually make a flush, after all?) but maybe not.

Another Decent Day

Nothing earth shattering, but up another $250 today. Ran very well - lots of sets.

In theory, I have enough to move up to the next level, using the 500 BB rule I initially adopted. (I'm at $2450 or so now.) But I think what I really want to do is prove I can be a winner at one level before moving up to the next. Right now I only have 3,500 hands at $1/$2 which doesn't prove anything. I think I'll wait for at least 10,000 hands. If I run at 4 PTBB/100, I should be around $3000 by then - that can be my dollar target. That may be an unrealistic win rate, though. Some databases seem to show the best regulars to be running only at 2.5 PTBB/100 or so (actually that's at higher levels, but still). I guess that just goes to show how hot I am running the last few days. Better not let it go to my head.

10,000 hands still won't prove anything, of course, but I hope I can at least develop an intuitive sense of how I measure up by then. After 10,000 hands at $0.50/$1, I definitely felt I could tell I was a winner. Could be an illusion, I suppose.

The other disturbing thing is that even at $1/$2, the tables are at least half full, sometimes 75% full, of decent tight regulars. Keep in mind I only play at night too. This is surely only going to get worse at $2/$4. All the regulars on 2+2 like to complain about shortstackers killing the games, but, really, the thing that is killing (or at least hurting) the games as far as I am concerned is 24-tabling nitty regulars.

OK so the plan is: at least 10,000 hands at $1/$2 and at least $3000 before moving up. And maybe more, depending on comfort level.

Great Two Days

Today and yesterday were very good to me. Made almost $1000 over the two days combined. This has pulled me into the black for $1/$2; indeed I am now averaging a little less than 2 BB/100 for $1/$2 which is almost respectable. My bankroll is now $2200.

To compensate for all the whining in my last post, here's a bad beat I put on a regular:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	stofferx	($112.85)
UTG+1	jessyj	($212.45)
MP1	MeleaB	($98.90)
MP2	Tixmaster	($220.10)
CO	AndrewBoccia	($264.35)
BTN	fantasticcow	($469.95)
SB	Hero	($248.50)
BB	YaDaDaMeeN21	($212.90)

Pre-flop: ($3, 8 players) Hero is SB

5 folds, fantasticcow raises to $6, Hero raises to $18, 1 fold, fantasticcow calls $12

Flop: ($38, 2 players)
Hero bets $25, fantasticcow raises to $66, Hero calls $41

Turn: ($170, 2 players)
Hero checks, fantasticcow bets $66, Hero goes all-in $164.50, fantasticcow calls $98.50

River: ($499, 2 players)

Final Pot: $499
fantasticcow shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $496 ( won +$247.50 )
fantasticcow lost -$248.50


Wonder if I can play this any better against a tight regular. Can he have KQ here, given the preflop action? Maybe he can, given that it is button-vs-blind. I guess raising all-in on the turn is fine because a) all my money is going in the middle anyways, and b) he might check a weaker K behind on the river, but call a push on the turn.

More Whining

Ugh, why do I run so bad at $1/$2. Tonight I turned a straight but the card gave my opponent a flush. He got most of my stack. I had AK on an A66 flop and stacked off to 76s by the river. Stupid, but I had trouble putting him on a 6 after he called the preflop raise. I got all in on the flop with the nut flush draw and lost to 56s which hit his gutshot on the river. Oh, and I got in a 3-way pot w/ KK against QQ and TT and a T flopped. Fortunately that player was already all-in.

Most of those hands I played OK, except the AK hand. Just was destined to lose money tonight, and lots of it.

Painful Folds

Ugh, I had to make a lot of painful folds last night. Seemed like everyone was setting up against me - or else making daring and successful bluffs. Here's one:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	tpress12	($197.70)
UTG+1	sfbomber34	($197.15)
MP1	herschelw	($209.00)
MP2	wbwbird	($197.00)
CO	Satori100	($181.75)
BTN	MatCauthon13	($199.00)
SB	I The King I	($244.55)
BB	Hero	($205.75)

Pre-flop: ($3, 8 players) Hero is BB

tpress12 calls $2, sfbomber34 calls $2, 3 folds, MatCauthon13 calls $2, I The King I calls $1, Hero raises to $13, tpress12 calls $11, sfbomber34 calls $11, MatCauthon13 calls $11, I The King I calls $11

Flop: ($65, 5 players)
I The King I checks, Hero bets $40, 3 folds, I The King I raises to $124, Hero folds

Final Pot: $145

I The King I wins $226 ( won +$89 )
MatCauthon13 lost -$13.00
Hero lost -$53.00
tpress12 lost -$13.00
sfbomber34 lost -$13.00


This is actually a good spot to bluff against me. My range is pretty much exactly 99-AA here, with 99 being less likely due to the 9 on the flop. I don't want to play an overpair for my whole stack against four opponents so I'm pretty much guaranteed to fold over 90% of my range here.

If I want to be less exploitable, I think I have to check-call some of my overpairs. Probably I would still bet TT since it is so vulnerable to an overcard coming on the turn, but check at least AA and KK. I don't know though. If I check-call the flop, how do I get away from the hand? Maybe I don't, but I hope to make a lot of money off of TT-QQ when I hold KK-AA and that that will compensate me for when I lose to a set. The thing is, though, my opponents all had a chance to raise preflop and didn't, making TT-QQ less likely.

The other thing about this hand is that it is hard to put my opponent (a regular, by the way) on a hand. 99 makes sense, of course, but I don't think many hands with a 2 are consistent with the preflop action. Maybe A2s or conceivably 32s. Probably not TT-AA (he would have raised preflop). Ugh.

Here's another hand:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
7 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	YaDaDaMeeN21	($394.25)
UTG+1	dustinvan	($64.25)
MP	prefunds	($238.75)
CO	PowerDude300	($51.65)
BTN	Tenven	($217.25)
SB	Hero	($188.40)
BB	chloepuppy8	($68.55)

Pre-flop: ($3, 7 players) Hero is SB

2 folds, prefunds raises to $4, 2 folds, Hero raises to $13, 1 fold, prefunds calls $9

Flop: ($28, 2 players)
Hero bets $14, prefunds calls $14

Turn: ($56, 2 players)
Hero bets $25, prefunds calls $25

River: ($106, 2 players)
Hero bets $50, prefunds raises to $100, Hero folds

Final Pot: $206

prefunds wins $253 ( won +$101 )
Hero lost -$102.00


I think I played this OK, although it certainly hurts to fold at the end getting very good pot odds. But, really, what do I beat? My opponent had reasonably tight stats, although I didn't have a lot of hands on him.

The only question, I think, is whether I can save money by not betting all three streets. But if I don't bet, I think I have to check-call and he may well bet bigger than 1/2 pot, the size I have been betting.

This one was a painful call rather than a painful fold:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	Lem6687	($197.00)
UTG+1	Detonate	($275.45)
MP1	garfield21	($89.70)
MP2	Hero	($197.00)
MP3	elmwoodiam	($226.90)
CO	wildtooo	($54.00)
BTN	YaDaDaMeeN21	($200.00)
SB	I The King I	($278.80)
BB	xROKKOx	($121.05)

Pre-flop: ($3, 9 players) Hero is MP2

1 fold, Detonate raises to $8, 1 fold, Hero calls $8, elmwoodiam calls $8, 2 folds, I The King I calls $7, 1 fold

Flop: ($34, 4 players)
I The King I checks, Detonate bets $12, Hero calls $12, elmwoodiam calls $12, I The King I folds

Turn: ($70, 3 players)
Detonate checks, Hero checks, elmwoodiam checks

River: ($70, 3 players)
Detonate checks, Hero checks, elmwoodiam bets $32, Detonate calls $32, Hero calls $32

Final Pot: $166
Hero shows:
elmwoodiam shows:
Detonate shows:

elmwoodiam wins $163 ( won +$111 )
Hero lost -$52.00
I The King I lost -$8.00
Detonate lost -$52.00


I definitely didn't feel good about the overcall. But I think elmwoodiam's check behind on the turn introduced enough uncertainty that I felt I had to call. Meh, good pot odds.

This time we get to see the set:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	MeleaB	($58.00)
UTG+1	Tenven	($200.00)
CO	Hero	($214.50)
BTN	gman345	($249.30)
SB	YaDaDaMeeN21	($407.25)
BB	dustinvan	($74.60)

Pre-flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is CO

2 folds, Hero raises to $8, gman345 calls $8, 2 folds

Flop: ($19, 2 players)
Hero bets $12, gman345 calls $12

Turn: ($43, 2 players)
Hero checks, gman345 checks

River: ($43, 2 players)
Hero checks, gman345 bets $20, Hero calls $20

Final Pot: $83
Hero shows:
gman345 shows:

gman345 wins $80 ( won +$40 )
Hero lost -$40.00


Feel like I got off cheaply here. Bad check behind by him on the turn.

Chased a draw and didn't get there:

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG	irons mike	($29.70)
UTG+1	Glover12	($323.85)
MP1	$imm0n$	($205.00)
MP2	Sephirot88	($200.00)
MP3	I The King I	($350.20)
CO	Wizard551	($143.90)
BTN	Tixmaster	($295.95)
SB	mufahula	($205.00)
BB	Hero	($285.35)

Pre-flop: ($3, 9 players) Hero is BB

7 folds, mufahula raises to $7, Hero calls $5

Flop: ($14, 2 players)
mufahula bets $9, Hero calls $9

Turn: ($32, 2 players)
mufahula checks, Hero bets $17, mufahula raises to $59, Hero calls $42

River: ($150, 2 players)
mufahula goes all-in $130, Hero folds

Final Pot: $150

mufahula wins $277 ( won +$72 )
Hero lost -$75.00


Let's see, in calling the raise on the turn, I'm getting about 2.5:1 and I probably have about 17 outs: 9 flush outs, 3 non-heart kings, 3 non-heart nines and 2 eights (I don't think the 3 tens are likely to be good at this point). Additionally, although my straight and flush draws are not well-disguised, he may feel pot-committed giving me excellent implied odds. On the other hand, he could easily have a higher flush draw. I guess it's a fine call.

Should I push? I guess I can't imagine him folding anything here so I don't see the point. Conceivably I could be ahead if he has something like Kx of hearts, but I don't think that's a significant part of his range. Should I raise the flop? I could have. I think my plan was to take it away on the turn.