Good Instincts or Too Aggressive?

I went down to Chumash last Wednesday to play the $2-5NL $200 max buy-in and came out loser, putting me down for the last two out of three sessions. I played my usual Chumash shortstack game before coming up on another hand that I played abnormally for my style.

The table was full and included your usual mix: one old guy who we saw check the nuts behind three times, a middle-aged regular who likes to gamble, and a young 18-year-old internet player. The rest of them were okay players who weren't doing much.

Here's the setup for the hand

1-Seat - Regular who I've noticed likes to gamble. Seems to get lucky a lot, but mostly because he gets in the worst hand so many times.
2-Seat - me
3-Seat - Younger internet player. Thought he was a lot better than he was, and was one of those who leaned over to me to complain about how bad the table was. He liked to take a lot of flops with suited connectors and 3-gappers, and was very aggressive postflop.

3-Seat had built up to around $650, I was on $560, and the third player in this act, 1-Seat was on around $370.

Button is on 7-Seat.

Preflop: Dealt to Hero(Ad Qh)
1-Seat limps.
Hero raises $15 to $20.
3-Seat calls $20.
Folds around.
1-Seat calls $20.


Flop: [As Js 8h]
1-Seat checks.
Hero bets $60.
3-Seat calls $60.
1-Seat calls $60.

Right here 3-Seat called off pretty quickly, which I didn't know what to make of, and 1-Seat looked at his cards before tossing in the call. I wasn't sure if 3-Seat was slowplaying something, but from how aggressive he was with his missed flops earlier and how his image was, I figured he'd hit a piece of the flop but not too hard.


Turn: [As Js 8h 7d]
1-Seat checks.
Hero checks.

Now usually I'd fire out right here and see where the other two are at, but this time I figured I'd check and find out where 3-Seat was. If he bet around the pot, I would have guessed that he was loaded. I put 1-Seat on a flush draw because of the way he called off last time, and if 3-Seat ended up checking and we saw a river for free, I'd have no problem reassessing the situation. With my aggressive style here, I usually would bet around the pot in this situation. Thoughts on a pot bet on the turn here?

3-Seat bets $100.
1-Seat calls $100.

With $245 now in the pot, $100 seems a bit weak from the aggressive 3-Seat. With such a draw heavy board and a gambl0r in 1-Seat in the pot, I'm sure with a big hand 3-Seat would've bet around $200. Before calling off the $100, 1-Seat had checked his cards twice before throwing his stack in with a careless laugh. At this point I'm 100% positive that 1-Seat has a flush draw. As for the 3-Seat, I was thinking probably a weak ace. If I push here I figure 1-Seat for a fold and 3-Seat for a call for his remaining chips on a gamble. If I get instacalled by 3-Seat then I know I'm in trouble, but I'm trusting my instincts here.

Hero raises $280 to $380 and is all-in.
3-Seat folds.
1-Seat calls $190 and is all-in.
Hero is returned $190.


River: [As Js 8h 7d 7h]
1-Seat shows (Ks 7s) for three of a kind sevens.
Hero shows (Ad Qh) for a pair of Aces.

1-Seat wins the pot of $925.



3-Seat to my left had grown pretty fond of talking to me, and winced when the 7 peeled off. He told me he had folded A-10 s00000ted. Obviously 1-Seat had the flush draw and, as fate would have it...again, he won the hand.

I could've played this hand differently, but if I did it wouldn't have made it onto this blog. I decided to mix it up this time around to try to find out a different way to read 3-Seat, and for the purpose that I did it it worked. Like I stated, I usually bet the turn here, but even after the turn check I think the push was okay. Unfortunately I got smacked on the river again, and my instincts got blown to bits by another river card.

At the end of the session, I was a loser again for the second session in a row, making me loser two for three.

Today I'm going to pick my brother up from the airport, as he's flying in from New York. He'll be staying with me until Saturday, and hangin with him should be a good time. Hopefully hangin out with him will get my mind off of all this losing I'm doing lately.

Until next time.