Further Adventures in No Limit

Attempting to gain more experience in No Limit Hold Em, I returned to The Bike today and once again played in their 1/3 No Limit game.  Bought in for $80 as last time. 

Scored big time with the third hand I was dealt.  UTG first hand, folded.  Big Blind second hand, no one bet, we chopped.  Now Small Blind, I am dealt 8-4 offsuit.  Ugh.  Before it was my turn to act, there were two limpers, no raise.  Now I'm thinking, I get a 33% discount to call, why not risk two bucks to try and win an early pot.  So I called.  Plan was foiled when the Big Blind raised to $9.  Both limpers called.  Now I knew I should fold here, but remembering the wild action at this room from last time, I figured I might have pretty good implied odds even if I didn't have good actual odds.  In otherwords, if I got lucky on the flop, I might get lots of action and have one or two players put a lot of chips in for me.  No one could put me on 8-4, especially since it was the first hand I'd played at that table.  So what the heck, I'll risk $6 more dollars.  Unless the flop hits me big, I'm out nine bucks but that won't kill me.

The flop indeed hit me big.  It was 8-4-3, rainbow.  I flopped two pair.  I was about to bet when I realized a check-raise was a much better idea.  I checked.  The pre-flop raiser bet $25.  Wow, that's a big bet, I thought.  Next guy folds but the other player called.  Now we are looking at a big pot where I'm pretty sure I've got the best hand.  There's no reason to call here, the play is to raise.  But as the pre-flop raiser bet $25, if I raise the minimum I can raise to is $50.  I only have $71 left.  As I learned two weeks ago, it makes no sense to raise more than half your stack.  You're pot committed, so you have to go all in.  Which I did.

The big blind who had bet out the $25 folded.  But the other guy called. I had him covered, so he only put in around $55-$60 more. The turn was a blank and just because I'm a great guy (or actually, because I was extremely lucky) the river was another 8, giving me a full house.  Even before I flipped my cards, the other player said, "You win."  Obviously he must have been on a draw or had high cards that never hit, I didn't need to fill up on the river.  But I took down a very nice pot. 

Played a few hours and was pretty much card dead.  My stack shrunk, and I only added to it minimally when I got no action on my bets and raises.  I guess I had around $110 or a bit more when this next hand came up.  I was again the small blind.  Big Blind was a new player who had only played a few hands and had most of his $100 buy-in left.  I was dealt pocket 6's, only the second time at this game I had a pocket pair.  The first was pocket 10's which only cost me money when someone with pocket Jacks flopped a boat.  Only one limper before the action was to me.  In low limit, that's an automatic fold, you're not getting the right pot odds to call.  But again, with two players able to put in a lot of chips if they make a hand and I make a better one, I thought it was easily worth two extra bucks to see the flop. 

Again, the Big Blind foiled my plan by raising, this time to $12.  The limper called.  It was an iffy call for me but I figured I could make a big score if I hit my set (ie, a 6 on the flop for trip 6's).  So I called.

Flop is K-8-6--I hit my set!  Again I check, planning to check raise.  Big Blind bets $12 again.  Other player folds.  Now I considered the possibility that he had raised pre-flopped with pocket Kings, and I had no read on this player, but I really thought that was unlikely.  And almost any other hand he would have raised with would put him behind me.  I thought about my raise and decided $25 wasn't enough.  I made it $40. 

I thought a call was likely, a fold was possible, but I wasn't expecting him to go all-in.  But that's exactly what he did.  I insta-called.  If I lost, I would have less than $20 left (I had him covered).  As I called he said, "You've got a set?" in horror.  Indeed I did.  Nothing mattered on the next two cards.  He didn't show, I assume he had a King, very possibly with an Ace.  It was a huge pot.

Never played another hand after this, but I left the table having won $205.  And no one called me asshole this time.  Very nice.