Sickness Inc.

These days, poker rarely excites me.

Oh, I get upset still - my anger emotion is still very much in tact. But when I win its like - meh - that was just supposed to happen. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The problem then becomes boredom. I've talked about this before, but a lot of the times to keep myself in the grind and avoiding boredom, I do stupid -EV shit. Shit that I would never recommend doing in a vacuum, but in order to keep my sanity and enthusiasm up I must.

Most of the time it is little things like calling a 2 barrell down with ace high, or calling a 3 bet in position with a suited connector, things that are marginal in the first place. But sometimes I can't help but reaching into my bag of spew, and dump a buyin or two.

Case in point:

Seat 5: tokenblak ( $820.20 USD )
Seat 3: LadySwan_ ( $485.00 USD )
Seat 1: xBORMANx ( $97.90 USD )
Seat 6: spancpot ( $115.82 USD )
Seat 2: Lunixxxx ( $496.00 USD )
Seat 4: adgsfh ( $77.00 USD )
tokenblak posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
spancpot posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ 4s 7s ]
xBORMANx folds
Lunixxxx raises [$14.00 USD]
adgsfh folds
tokenblak raises [$50.00 USD]
spancpot folds
Lunixxxx raises [$118.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$768.20 USD]
Lunixxxx calls [$364.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, Ah, 3d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ks ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
Lunixxxx shows [Ad, Ac ]
tokenblak shows [4s, 7s ]
Lunixxxx wins $994.00 USD from main pot

Seat 1: tokenblak ( $412.00 USD )
Seat 5: minraiseking ( $490.50 USD )
Seat 2: vvvvvnh ( $596.10 USD )
Seat 6: SuperTight5 ( $1109.00 USD )
Seat 3: ReteDaPesca ( $406.00 USD )
Seat 4: BluffingNuts ( $400.00 USD )
vvvvvnh posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
ReteDaPesca posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ Qs 5s ]
minraiseking folds
SuperTight5 raises [$14.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$42.00 USD]
vvvvvnh folds
ReteDaPesca folds
SuperTight5 raises [$97.00 USD]
tokenblak calls [$69.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Js, 7s, 7c ]
SuperTight5 bets [$122.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$301.00 USD]
SuperTight5 calls [$179.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
SuperTight5 shows [Jd, Jh ]
tokenblak doesn't show [Qs, 5s ]

Seat 5: jaiden2101 ( $387.03 USD )
Seat 6: pdtspa ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 1: tokenblak ( $473.00 USD )
Seat 3: OMGCAPSLOCK ( $448.60 USD )
Seat 2: Lunixxxx ( $394.00 USD )
Seat 4: DoesK27apply ( $400.00 USD )
tokenblak posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
Lunixxxx posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ 7c 8c ]
OMGCAPSLOCK folds
DoesK27apply folds
jaiden2101 folds
pdtspa raises [$12.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$50.00 USD]
Lunixxxx folds
pdtspa raises [$98.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$421.00 USD]
pdtspa calls [$290.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, Td, 5d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2h ]
pdtspa shows [Kd, Kc ]
tokenblak shows [7c, 8c ]
pdtspa wins $801.00 USD from main pot

You know, I could probably justify these somehow but, honestly, look at them. No justification ever will explain them. But I will tell you, they are damn fun when you win. And isn't that what poker is all about - fun?

But somedays the fun just comes to you. You could be sitting there, minding your own business, trying to ignore your 6 tables as you surf the latest fantasy football stats, when a donk so supreme joins your tables, you just can't avoid having fun.

Last week such an event happened. Its rare to find a player this bad. I mean we've all seen our fair share of donks, calling down with 2nd pair and never folding preflop, but generally when they get stacked they leave the table. Not this guy. Somehow, someway he had a virtually endless bankroll. Party Poker recently added this feature than when clicked, your stack is automatically reloaded to full once it drops below the maximum buyin. It was amazing to see this guy get stacked again and again just to have his stack auto-rebuy in time for the next hand.

My first big score vs him went something like this:

Seat 6: hrthestrup ( $733.70 USD )
Seat 5: tokenblak ( $1307.70 USD )
Seat 3: schmarrer_ ( $1909.40 USD )
Seat 2: LAMANI1 ( $851.70 USD )
Seat 4: Zavadil ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 1: davidross ( $407.40 USD )
davidross posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
LAMANI1 posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ As Ah ]
schmarrer_ folds
Zavadil folds
tokenblak raises [$14.00 USD]
hrthestrup folds
davidross folds
LAMANI1 raises [$40.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$126.00 USD]
LAMANI1 calls [$96.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8h, 9h, 9c ]
LAMANI1 bets [$250.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$1167.70 USD]
LAMANI1 calls [$461.70 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5c ]
LAMANI1 shows [Jh, Td ]
tokenblak shows [As, Ah ]
tokenblak wins $456.00 USD from main pot
tokenblak wins $1702.40 USD from main pot

As soon as he snap called my reraise preflop I knew it could be an epic pot. My poker playing friend was over and I even predicted so. Sure enough, he donks out HUGE on the flop and since I know he probably isn't folding I just push now. I have to admit the turn scared the shit out of me since thats exactly what he would do with like 78 but I manage to dodge a 7 or Q and I win a 2 buyin pot.

After I won this pot I did a small little jig around the room but I kept it pretty subdued.

This set the stage for the most INSANE HAND OF MY POKER CAREER.

The table was playing super fast, with everyone eager to get a piece of this donks endless roll. Notice the stack sizes of all the players at the table for this next hand:

Seat 6: hrthestrup ( $1092.70 USD )
Seat 5: tokenblak ( $2174.90 USD )
Seat 3: schmarrer_ ( $2727.20 USD )
Seat 2: LAMANI1 ( $458.00 USD ) <- the donk
Seat 4: Zavadil ( $430.10 USD )
Seat 1: davidross ( $789.40 USD )
davidross posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
LAMANI1 posts big blind [$4.00 USD].

Alright STOP. Just notice that I have over 2k at the table, as does another player. I've never played 5 buyins deep ever in my life.

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ 3c 4c ]
schmarrer_ raises [$14.00 USD]
Zavadil folds
tokenblak calls [$14.00 USD]
hrthestrup folds
davidross folds
LAMANI1 calls [$10.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4d, Jh, 4h ]

Jackpot flop. Now lets call to trap LAMANI1 into doing something stupid.

LAMANI1 checks
schmarrer_ bets [$34.00 USD]
tokenblak calls [$34.00 USD]
LAMANI1 raises [$134.00 USD]

Sweet, another stack for me!

schmarrer_ raises [$2679.20 USD]

WHAT

THE

FUCK?!?!?!?!?!

I mean seriously what the fuck is this guy doing? I've watched this guy take stack after stack off the donk and hes been playing very good. Did he seriously just raise me 5 buyins???? Did he even see me in the hand?? Does he put me on a 4??? Wow I have 15 seconds to make this decision??? Fuck you party!

Now I probably wouldn't have even posted this hand as my "craziest hand ever" if I didn't call right?

***INTERMISSION***
























/***INTERMISSION***

tokenblak calls [$2126.90 USD]
LAMANI1 calls [$310.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9d ]
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
LAMANI1 shows [9h, 4s ]
schmarrer_ shows [Ah, Ac ]
tokenblak shows [3c, 4c ]
schmarrer_ wins $552.30 USD from main pot
tokenblak wins $3433.80 USD from main pot
LAMANI1 wins $1373.00 USD from main pot

Wow, sucks to be you buddy. Way to loose 5+ buyins in one hand! Looking back its pretty clear he didn't even consider my stack when he shoved in here. He did it so fast he probably just saw the donks check raise along with my smooth call on the flop (probably also assuming I would never slowplay this deep) and just shoved in for fun with his aces (aka nuts vs the donk). It kind of sucks that the donk woke up with trips here and split some of the pot (sucks even more that we didn't chop it which should happen 40% of the time) but I still walked away with $1250 from one hand. I'm pretty sure I've won more in one hand before but never in this ridiculous of a situation.

















Here's to fun in poker - a rare sighting these days!

Edit - Oh and how about those Pats? You like that guaranteed win? They don't come around often so I hope you cashed in like I did +$500!

Back The Truck Up

Here is a gambling 101 moment for you.

Tom Brady went down for the season last night. Yes, as a Pats fan this is obviously the worst possible thing that could ever happen. However, like poker, in testing times, you must maintain a calm thought process and avoid tilt. You cannot be a winning poker player if you can't bounce back from devastating loses. The same is true in New England.

The Patriots play at the Jets next Sunday. With no Brady injury this line is easily New England -14. Currently, without Brady the line is Jets -1. This is a serious over adjustment. As sick as Brady is, no chance he is worth 15 points. Everyone across North America right now is inexplicably high on the Jets right now. OOOHH BRETT FARVE!!! I agree they are a better team than last year but they were 4-12 last year, it's not hard to improve on that.

I'll say it right here. Put any starting QB in the league in a Jets or GB uniform and you will get the same result Farve gets. Hes washed up (was never that good?). Did anyone even watch the Jets / Dolphins game yesterday? They almost lost! Pennington had that Miami offense unstopably moving down the field on the final drive for the win, threw a bad pass from the 10 yard line and game over. Farve is destined to regress back to his pre 2006 season stats. In the game yesterday, 4th and 13 Farve is chased out of the pocket, and then slings up an air ball to a guy who is triple covered. Miraculously he catches the ball for the TD and Farve looks like a genius. Throw that up vs the Patriots? Int.

Sure Cassell is a complete wildcard, but we still have Belichick and in Belichick I trust. This happened to the Pats in 2001 when Bledsoe got injured for the season and they won the Superbowl. Belichick is the master of the adjustment. And if you don't think the Pats are going to be fired up to beat a division rival with something to prove you are insane. Look what the Pats did with motivation last year - 18-1. This team thrives on motivation. They are a team of solid veterans who want nothing else than to win. I guarantee they now want to prove to the league that they can still win without Brady.

Pats +1 @ Jets. What a joke. Back the truck up on this one. It will be close, but no chance they lose.

Signed,

RikkiDee
Pats Homer

Oh and as a side note, I've started a seperate fantasy football blog since I didn't want to clutter this site up with football shite.

Dee's Fantasy Nuts

Hopefully it is enjoyable.

Dear Party Poker

Heres my email I just sent to party:

Ok

So I stopped playing at party for a month or so. You guys noticed, thats nice, its nice to feel appreciated. You offered me a sizable deposit bonus. Also nice. I thought, hey, why let a few minor things like the software crashing every hour and lack of any meaningful loyalty program get in the way of a free $500 deposit bonus. So I deposited, and have been getting back to playing a bit on party. Its win win. You guys get my long term rake, I get your bonus.

But then I remembered why I left party in the first place.

I went to join some tables today to play, and in the meantime was checking out my bonus status. $500 bonus still active, party points to clear - 3000, expires SEPT 4, 2008.

If my math is correct, I have to play 5454 "raked" hands at 2/4NL to get to 3000 base party points. Since I fold 80% of my hands this means I have to play in the neighborhood of 25,000 hands in order to clear your bonus. On top of this you put a ridiculous 2 week expiry date on the bonus. Tell me, exactly how many of your customers play in the neighborhood of 50k hands a month? Probably a very small percentage I'd imagine. Not to mention you are trying to "win me back" which should involve some sort of easing me back in. I'm not going to automatically start playing on your site and putting in 25k hands in 2 weeks just to clear a bonus.

Now I've realized what you have done. You basically duped me into joining your horrible site by offering me a bonus that can never be cleared. Congratulations, you've lost me again, probably for good now.

I realize you probably don't care and probably won't even read this email but I really think if there's even a chance that someone there at party is actually listening to their customers, it could go a long way. I mean, there are about 10 things that a monkey could realize is wrong with your site, yet you seem intent on staying the same as you've been since 2004. I mean you don't even properly order the button when heads up. How basic can you get for "the worlds largest poker room"? But I digress, no one is listening. I'm just one semi consistent user who is leaving your site, who cares? My bonus will go uncleared and you will have done your job by getting me to deposit.

I wish you luck in all future endeavors.

Regards,

TokenBlak

I imagine absolutley nothing will come of this. Whoever reads it (if anyone even bothers to) will immediately delete it as if it never happened. Thats the party way. Ignore all problems until everyone leaves your god awful site.

September Goals and Football Gibbrish

The last 3 months have basically been a write off. I've been playing lower stakes, and playing less which can only lead to failure. I'm not really sure what caused my lack of play but I do know I am back now.

My goals for September are pretty much standard for what a full time poker player should be playing.

Goal 1: Play 4 hours a day, which equates to 2000 hands each day playing 5 tables on party.
Goal 2: Goes hand in hand with goal 1 - play 40k hands.
Goal 3: Maintain a +5ptbb/100 winrate

These are not lavish unreasonable goals but basically I just need to get back on track. March and April of this year were banner months for me and there was no reason I should have let off. I was days away from taking a shot at 5/10 and now I have barely been playing 2/4. Even if I achieve my goals this month I won't be able to take a shot, but I will be primed to do so if I continue through October. Baby steps here.

In other news, I'm ridiculously psyched for this upcoming NFL season. To be honest I hadn't thought much about football since the disaster that was 18-1, but I'm definitely ready to be hurt again. The Pats look good again this year, although not nearly as good as last year. I still think they are probably Superbowl favorites, but its unlikely they will be nearly as dominant. Last year their defense was a little inflated due to every opponent having to play from behind. This year, their defense will be exposed. Their secondary and linebackers are a joke. With the exception of first round draft Jarod Mayo and Adalius Thomas at LB, they have virtually no unstable positions. Vrabel, Bruschi and Harrison are way past their primes. Rodney Harrison is especially a joke. Last year he spent more time hitting players after the play then during. He also choked hard on the infamous "helmet catch" that basically cost them the superbowl. I'm expecting them to get torched deep a lot. They did just pick up Deltha O'Neil at cb, and guys like Merriweather, Sanders and Andrews have had a year to improve and move up the depth chart, but I'm still not too confident. If the offense starts struggling, you may see some ugly 30 pt games put up on this defense.

But the offense likely won't struggle. They are essentially exactly the same team they were last year. They still have Moss, Welker, Maroney, Watson, Faulk, their entire pro-bowl offensive line and of course Brady. They did lose Stallworth, but he was an extremely small part of what they did last year. Gaffeney can easily fill his shoes. They also got Sammy Moris back, who last year had some dominant games at backup RB before getting injured. The only question mark is health. Welker has had some rib problems, and Brady missed every preseason game with undisclosed "foot" issues, but both say they will be playing the opener vs KC, so I'm not too worried, yet. If Brady goes down you can count on them missing the playoffs.

I also finally got in a meaningful fantasy league, something I had wanted to do for years but most of my friends weren't into football enough to do so. Our league has 12 people in it. I randomed first pick overall and of course picked Brady. In hindsight this was kind of a bad pick even though he is head and shoulders better than any #2 QB you can think of. The problem it left me with was not being able to grab a RB untill last pick of round 2. At this point essentially every decent starting RB was gone and I was left with the decision between Edgerin James, Thomas Jones, and Brandon Jacobs. I really hate James and feel that he is completely washed up and from watching the Giants last year in the playoffs it seems they have too many options at RB to take Jacobs as a starting RB, so I took Thomas Jones. He should have a solid year as the #1 back in the Jets offense. I think the Jets are actually going to be half decent this year, probably ending around 9-7.

My team looks like this:

QB: Brady
WR: Marques Colston
WR: Nate Burleson
WR: Chris Chambers
RB: Thomas Jones
RB: Michael Turner
TE: Benjamin Watson
Flex: Jonathan Stewart
BN: Chris Johnson
BN: Chris Perry
BN: Kurt Warner
BN: Isaac Bruce
BN: Antwaan Randle El
K: Mike Negent
Def: Baltimore

Now on paper there are definitely better teams in the league. But there is no team in the league with more potential for greatness than mine. Marques Colston is a stud and is going to put up huge numbers this year (which is also a contract year for him). Nate Burlesson looks like a wtf pick for #2 WR but if you look at Seattles depth chart, their other WR's Bobby Engram and Deion Branch are out for 5+ weeks each, so Burlesson becomes far and away Hasslebecks #1 option. For #3 WR I have a few interesting choices. I have Chambers penciled in at the moment but I really feel that Isassc Bruce has one last year in him - especially playing for Mike Martz in San Fran. Also Anwaan Randle El is expected to be a strong #2 in Washington behind the aging and small Santana Moss.

My RBs are the position with the most potential. My two starters, Jones and Turner are definitely not the strongest in the league, but with both being starting #1's I think they will get a lot of touches. My three backups, Jonathan Stewart, Chris Johson and Chris Perry all have massive upsides. The first two, Stewart and Johnson will start the year at backup in Carolina and Tennessee, but both are first round draft picks and are expected to get a lot of touches and possibly take over the starting role. No chance I'm trading them. Chris Perry, a guy I had never heard of till last week just got the starting job in Cinicinatti after they cut Rudi Johnson. Now I'm sure he will split carries with Kenny Watson but I'm definitely going to keep my eye out on him to see what develops. The best part is I got Perry and Johnson in the 4th and 3rd last rounds, which are absolute steals.

The last 3, Kurt Warner, "random kicker" and Baltimore defense I'm happy with. I think I picked up Warner in the 5th last round, which is pretty suprising. I know its easy to hate on ol' Kurt but if you look at his numbers last year, 3400 yards, 27 TD 17 INT and considering he didn't even play the whole season, you can't deny he is a solid QB and probably should be a starter in a 12 man leauge. He has 2 pro bowl WR's and the Cardinals have just named him the starting QB for the season over Matt Lienart, who looks like he'll never be starting in the NFL at this point. I imagine some one who drafted a piece of shit like Farve, Hasselbeck or McNabb will be begging me for Warner later on. And for some reason I got Baltimore defense. I originally had Tennesse defense but someone ended up dropping Baltimore to free agents and I snapped them up.

So heres to a great NFL season where the Pats go 14-2 and I win my fantasy league.

Oh and poker, I should get to work on that.

Every decision counts

Money is won and lost in the microcosms of poker. Making mistakes preflop and on the flop seem small in an absolute sense - after all whats another $3 to see the flop or another $8 to see the turn. But those mistakes not only add up, they also create a multiplier effect which inflate your losses on later streets. This is why a lot of instructors tell new players to the game to learn how to play preflop first. By making correct plays preflop, you eliminate a lot of late street difficulties by virtue of them never existing in the first place. But flop play is a lot harder to teach because there are so many variables. This is why you have so many marginal break even "regulars" at small stakes. They learn what cards to play preflop and get that magical "18/15" ratio. But since postflop can't be bottled and taught, they can't go any further.

Some examples of early round decisions getting bad players into trouble:

Seat 3: OkeyDonKy ( $548.90 USD )
Seat 5: tokenblak ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 6: maniac_054 ( $85.00 USD )
Seat 4: robin3596 ( $373.16 USD )
Seat 2: CheckUrNUTZ ( $400.00 USD )
maniac_054 posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
CheckUrNUTZ posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ 2s As ]
OkeyDonKy folds
robin3596 calls [$4.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$18.00 USD]
maniac_054 folds
CheckUrNUTZ folds
robin3596 calls [$14.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2h, 3c, 6s ]
robin3596 checks
tokenblak bets [$29.00 USD]
robin3596 calls [$29.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ad ]
robin3596 checks
tokenblak bets [$65.00 USD]
robin3596 calls [$65.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
robin3596 checks
tokenblak bets [$155.00 USD]
robin3596 calls [$155.00 USD]
tokenblak shows [2s, As ]
robin3596 doesn't show [6d, 3d ]

Can you count the mistakes this player "robin3596" made?

First, he limped with 63s, definitely a mistake - easy fold. By even playing this hand, out of position in a raised pot he is destined to lose money in the long run.

Second he hits gin on the flop and decides to slowplay. This is not the time to slowplay a hand like this. From his persepctive it is possible that I have a big hand myself and am ripe to pay him off (not this time but often) with a big pair. He should have raised for value and protection. Instead he got drawn out on and it ended up costing him $270.

Seat 1: turbostanz ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 2: trappedu23 ( $682.90 USD )
Seat 5: FinnStarr ( $989.30 USD )
Seat 6: johnyq4 ( $407.80 USD )
Seat 4: tokenblak ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 3: IshootmyWad ( $400.00 USD )
IshootmyWad posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
tokenblak posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ 5s Qc ]
FinnStarr folds
johnyq4 calls [$4.00 USD]
turbostanz folds
trappedu23 folds
IshootmyWad folds
tokenblak checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, 5c, Qh ]
tokenblak bets [$8.00 USD]
johnyq4 raises [$16.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$58.00 USD]
johnyq4 calls [$50.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ks ]
tokenblak bets [$125.00 USD]
johnyq4 raises [$337.80 USD]
tokenblak calls [$205.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Jd ]
tokenblak shows [5s, Qc ]
johnyq4 shows [9h, Th ]
johnyq4 wins $7.80 USD from main pot
johnyq4 wins $799.00 USD from main pot

Aside from the fact this player won this pot, he definitely played it almost as incorrectly as possible, maximizing long term losses.

First he limps with 9hTh from utg+1. Again, I'm not the hugest fan of limping ever, especially from early position with a bunch of agressive players behind him, but I can see why he did it. IMO its still raise/fold here preflop.

Second, he makes a classic fish mistake of minraising a flop with a draw. This almost has no purpose other than to inflate a pot in which you are most likely an underdog in. Remember flush draws, while pretty, are only a 35% shot to win. Now obviously you can't immediately put me on 2 pair when I bet out at this flop, and it is true I will fold every now and then to your min raise, it is still a very innefficient method to achieving what you want me to do - which is fold.

His third mistake was to simply call the rather large reraise I make. For whatever information he was looking for with his minraise here - he got it. I love my hand and realistically most people are never reraising this big from the blinds without a monster. I mean I could have any 2 pair or set combination. Once he calls this bet he is really setting himself up for disaster.

Now on the turn he picks up a gutshot to go along with his flush draw and he decides to push over my bet. I mean my line is so strong that is so unlikely that I'm running a complete bluff, and therefore am very unlikely to be folding. But you see what has happened. By calling my big reraise on the flop he has committed himself to bluffing at this pot if he wants to win it, and since the pot is so big, he is now bluffing his whole stack to do so. Not to mention bluffing into an extremely strong line that is highly unlikely to fold. It worked out for him this time as he had 12 outs and hit, but 75% of the time it will cost him his stack. Had he simply either called on the flop or possibly raised larger he could have saved a lot of money (equity).

One more.

Seat 2: Pipati4Ever ( $637.10 USD )
Seat 3: tokenblak ( $996.50 USD )
Seat 5: dickestoast ( $602.30 USD )
Seat 6: Poh___ ( $80 USD )
Seat 1: KaYiCHi ( $208 USD )
Seat 4: gotshrimp ( $197.70 USD )
gotshrimp posts small blind [$2 USD].
dickestoast posts big blind [$4 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ Tc Qs ]
Poh___ folds
KaYiCHi folds
Pipati4Ever folds
tokenblak raises [$12 USD]
gotshrimp calls [$10 USD]
dickestoast folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qc, 6c, Td ]
gotshrimp checks
tokenblak bets [$21 USD]
gotshrimp raises [$42 USD]
tokenblak is all-In [$963.50 USD]
gotshrimp is all-In [$143.70 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 6d ]
gotshrimp shows [ Jc, 4c ]a pair of Sixes.
tokenblak shows [ Tc, Qs ]two pairs, Queens and Tens.

This hand is similar. For whatever reason, this player decides to call my raise out of position with J4s. Then he decides to check min raise his flush draw on the flop. Again, this does have a % chance of working as I won't always have a pair to play back with, but the check min raise has basically the lowest chance of getting your opponent to fold, which is what you definitely want when you are out of position with only a J high flush draw. Here his check min raise got im into big trouble as it compelled him to call my push with his draw, all because he inflated the pot by calling preflop and raising the flop.

And heres one last one that isn't all that similar but there is an important lesson involved.

Seat 1: koomiss ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 2: Pipati4Ever ( $442.00 USD )
Seat 4: onkelpmx ( $274.80 USD )
Seat 5: unexplicable ( $406.00 USD )
Seat 3: tokenblak ( $400.00 USD )
Pipati4Ever posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
tokenblak posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ 6d 3d ]
onkelpmx folds
unexplicable folds
koomiss folds
Pipati4Ever raises [$10.00 USD]
tokenblak calls [$8.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5d, 4s, 6s ]
Pipati4Ever bets [$16.00 USD]
tokenblak raises [$58.00 USD]
Pipati4Ever calls [$42.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jc ]
Pipati4Ever bets [$75.00 USD]
tokenblak calls [$75.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 5s ]
Pipati4Ever bets [$255.00 USD]
tokenblak calls [$255.00 USD]
Pipati4Ever shows [7h, 4h ]
tokenblak shows [6d, 3d ]

Shameless brag: this was my first hand at the table, no reads.

The reason I made this call was this. By him calling the flop and betting the turn like he did on a complete blank (no reason for him to have a jack) he is basically representing (or trying to) a pair that is now protecting itself from the draws on board. Once he pushes the river when the flush arrives, what he is representing changes. Not only does he have to be concerned with me having the flush, his line also makes no sense for a flush draw himself. Sure he could have spazzed out with a pair higher than a 6, but more often than not his hand has no showdown value at all, and a pair of 6's is good.

Before making any move in poker, always ask yourself - "Why am I doing this?" And not just to the big decisions. Take time out after every marginal preflop and flop decision and analyze not only why you did your action, but also what other actions were available and what their potential consequences may be.