After finishing up my bonus at PartyPoker, I decided to get back to the crazy action over at Titan Poker. Until recently, I believed Titan Poker to be a low traffic site, spreading very few games featuring nothing but nits. If my recent sessions are any indication, Titan Poker is one of the better sites to play (especially if you like 6-max NL...and as long as you're not a U.S. player...unfortunately).
My primary focus for this session was to increase my flop and turn aggression. Recently, I'd become pretty weak on these two streets which resulted in difficult river decisions on a number of hands. And when my river decisions happened to be easy, the pots were small or my opponents were folding to my bets.
NB: There are very few hand history converters for the iPoker Network's hand histories. I had to write up a little program to perform a quick conversion on the hand histories in order to have them appear nicely on my site. I'll continue to refine my program until I'm happy with the results. As it stands now, the converter still leaves too much of the conversion process in my hands and the results are not exactly spectacular.)
Titan Poker ($50 NL)
Seat 1: UTG+1 ($21,90)
Seat 3: CO ($25,35)
Seat 5:
Hero ($49,25)
Seat 6: SB (Villain) ($58,80)
Seat 8: BB ($47,85)
Seat 10: UTG ($39,70)
Villain posts small blind of $0,25; BB posts big blind of $0,50;
Hero is dealt
5♦ 5♣UTG
folds; UTG+1
folds; CO
folds;
Hero raises to $2,00; Villain
calls $1,75; BB
folds;
(I have no read on Villain having just sat down at the table. Presto is Gold, so I raised it up!)Dealing flop
3♠ 3♥ 9♠Pot is: $4,50
Villain
bets $2,00;
Hero raises to $6,00; Villain
calls $4,00;
(Villain donk-bet me on a fairly safe board. I thought it best to maintain control of the hand and raise. I was a little concerned that Villain called the raise.)Dealing turn
A♣Pot is: $16,50
Villain
bets $4,00;
Hero folds;
Villain
wins $19,70
(I'd represented strength throughout the hand and Villain still came out betting on the turn when an Ace fell. I gladly folded my hand (sorry Fuel55!). I figured that if Villain had pushed me off the pot with a weak hand, he'd probably make a mistake later in the session making a similar move and I could take my money back then.)
Titan Poker ($50 NL)
Seat 5: SB (Villain #1) ($65,25)
Seat 6: BB (Villain #2) ($50,00)
Seat 8:
Hero ($94,45)
Seat 10: BTN ($49,75)
Villain #1 posts small blind of $0,25; Villain #2 posts big blind of $0,50;
Hero is dealt
A♥ J♦Hero raises to $2,00; BTN
folds; Villain #1
calls $1,75; Villain #2
calls $1,50;
(Villain #2 just sat down, Villain #1 is pretty tight. Down to four-handed, I raised AJo because it's the nuts!)Dealing flop
7♠ 2♠ Q♦Pot is: $6,00
Villain #1
checks; Villain #2
checks;
Hero bets $5,00; Villain #1
folds; Villain #2
calls $5,00;
(Check to the raiser and I thank my opponents by betting a good flop. Villain #1 folds but Villain #2 calls. I don't like being in the pot with an unknown player, but I do have position on him.)Dealing turn
Q♥Pot is: $16,00
Villain #2
checks;
Hero checks;
(Terrible play on my part. I needed to bet here. By betting the flop, I was representing AQ, KQ, QJ, or pocket pair. I think a bet of $10 on the turn would usually win me the pot here, but I could also be walking into a check-raise from an unknown player. Which do you think is best? Checking to control pot-size or betting to steal the pot? I think the former point is moot since I didn't have a hand and wouldn't be able to call a river bet unless I rivered something.)Dealing river
8♠Pot is: $16,00
Villain #2
bets $10,00;
Hero folds;
Villain #2
wins $25,20
(And there's a good reason for betting the turn: Villain #2 bet into me on the river for $10. I had nothing and couldn't call.)
Titan Poker ($50 NL)
Seat 1: BTN ($57,10)
Seat 5: SB (Villain) ($95,50)
Seat 8:
Hero ($65,45)
Seat 10: CO ($50,50)
Villain posts small blind of $0,25;
Hero posts big blind of $0,50;
Hero is dealt
3♠ 3♥CO
folds; BTN
folds; Villain
raises to $1,75;
Hero calls $1,25;
(This was actually a close call for me. Villain was uber-tight. Getting paid off if I hit a set would be tricky. Still, the set might not be required if I could steal the pot from my opponent on a no-ace, no-face flop)Dealing flop
T♠ 4♣ 3♣Pot is: $3,75
Villain
bets $3,00;
Hero raises to $6,00; Villain
calls $3,00;
(Bingo! Set time! Villain bets into me on the flop. Given that he was so tight, I figured that a min-raise on my part might induce a re-raise on his part if he had a premium pair. Otherwise, the min-bet acts as a pot-sweetener and gives Villain odds to see the turn if he has a AT - JT.)Dealing turn
6♥Pot is: $15,75
Villain
checks;
Hero bets $12,00; Villain
calls $12,00;
(Villain checked to me so I needed to bet here. If I didn't, the pot wouldn't be big enough on the river to get him to call a good-sized bet. I opted for a three-quarter pot-sized bet. Although Villain tended to fold to both turn and river bets, he'd shown me that he liked his hand enough to call my raise on the flop. I was pretty sure that my $12 would get called here.)Dealing river
9♣Pot is: $39,75
Villain
bets $11,50;
Hero calls $11,50;
Hero wins $60,50
(When Villain bet out, I wasn't sure what to think. Could he have had a couple clubs in his hand? It was possible but unlikely. I decided that I was going to call the bet. Should I have raised on the end? If Villain didn't have the flush, I was certain that he would fold to a raise. And given that my hand had very good showdown value here, I figured it best to call.)Results:
Villain loses $31,50 with Qh Td
Hero wins $29,25 with 3s 3h
Titan Poker ($50 NL)
Seat 1: CO ($49,25)
Seat 3: BTN (Villain) ($77,95)
Seat 5: SB ($49,50)
Seat 6: BB ($99,35)
Seat 8:
Hero ($52,25)
Seat 10: UTG+1 ($50,00)
SB posts small blind of $0,25; BB posts big blind of $0,50;
Hero is dealt
8♦ 8♣Hero raises to $2,00; UTG+1
folds; CO
folds; Villain
calls $2,00; SB
folds; BB
folds;
(I hate raising and getting called by a Villain who has position on me. I had a good hand but no read on the Villain.)Dealing flop
5♠ 3♣ J♠Pot is: $4,75
Hero bets $3,00; Villain
raises to $6,00;
Hero calls $3,00;
(Another safe flop to bet. I wasn't going to give a free card here by checking since the board was pretty drawy. When Villain raised me, I considered the fact that the board had potential straight and flush draws before calling. My plan was to bet the turn if a non-spade hit.)Dealing turn
6♦Pot is: $16,75
Hero bets $8,00; Villain
folds;
Hero wins $23,95
(I was pretty sure that the Villain wouldn't have called my pre-flop raise with 42 or 74, so I believed that I was ahead on the turn. In that case, I had to protect my hand since any spade, A, K, or Q on the river might put me in a bad spot. I figured an $8 bet would give Villain incentive to fold and he obliged.)
Titan Poker ($50 NL)
Button is in seat 8
Seat 1: BB ($56,30)
Seat 5: UTG (Villain) ($98,00)
Seat 6: CO ($98,35)
Seat 8:
Hero ($57,65)
Seat 10: SB ($60,75)
SB posts small blind of $0,25; BB posts big blind of $0,50;
Hero is dealt
K♦ A♦Villain
calls $0,50; CO
folds;
Hero raises to $2,50; SB
folds; BB
raises to $4,50; Villain
folds;
Hero calls $2,00;
(It's always nice to pick up a big hand on the button, especially when your opponents are used to your frequent button raises. Villain was a little loose and tended to call down to showdown - your typical calling station. When he re-raised my button raise, I considered the possibility of AA, but Villain was loose enough pre-flop that he could have made the same move with KK - TT, AK - AJ.)Dealing flop
8♥ 6♦ 8♣Pot is: $10,25
BB
checks;
Hero checks;
(Villain wouldn't have folded here, so I wasn't going to bet. If I'd had a tighter table image, I think I could have given the pot a little pop.)Dealing turn
Q♠Pot is: $10,25
BB
bets $0,50;
Hero calls $0,50;
(For such a small bet, I called here. Again, I couldn't raise here getting no fold equity. I was happy to draw to my discounted 3 or 4 discounted outs.)Dealing river
A♣Pot is: $11,25
BB
bets $2,00;
Hero calls $2,00;
Hero wins $14,05
(When the ace hit the river, I was a little surprised that Villain bet. Generally, when a calling station bets on the end, they have a hand. Villain could have had AQ or AA, though both were unlikely. I probably could have raised on the end here, but I chickened out. TPTK is a good hand unless you're facing a bet from a calling station. I started to wonder if Villain had simply been waiting for me to bet his hand given my recent aggression at the table.)Results:
Villain loses $7,50 with Jc Js
Hero wins $7,05 with Ad Kd
(I was pretty close on my read. I'm a little surprised that Villain bet on the river with third pair. His blocking bet worked like a charm.)
Titan Poker ($50 NL)
Seat 1: UTG+1 ($53,20)
Seat 3: CO ($19,25)
Seat 5: BTN ($86,80)
Seat 6: SB (Villain) ($70,80)
Seat 8:
Hero ($84,45)
Seat 10: UTG ($58,50)
Villain posts small blind of $0,25;
Hero posts big blind of $0,50;
Hero is dealt
J♥ A♥UTG
folds; UTG+1
calls $0,50; CO
folds; BTN
calls $0,50; Villain
raises to $1,75;
Hero raises to $5,50; UTG+1
folds; BTN
folds; Villain
calls $3,75;
(Villain is an uber-LAG. He was raising every second hand and I was happy to re-pop him with my AJ.)Dealing flop
Q♣ 5♠ 8♥Pot is: $12,75
Villain
checks;
Hero bets $8,00; Villain
folds;
Hero wins $19,40
(During the past few orbits, I'd had to tighten up given that Villain had been trying to make every pot a big pot. In a recent hand, we had checked down to the river and I'd shown him a strong second pair in a raised pot. I reasoned that a big bet from me on the flop might get Villain to fold, even though he had only folded to a c-bet once in the last 15 pots he'd played. The last hand that he'd seen me raise with had been an AQ, which must have crossed his mind before he finally decided to fold.)
I started to feel a little more like myself as this session went on. I'm still learning and it shows. I still made a few weak lay-downs (small pots though) and I can think of a couple more hands where I gave ill-advised free cards.
If I played perfectly though, I'd have nothing to write about or complain about.
Have a great weekend!
Keep reading "Session Review #6: Titan Poker, $50 NL (6-max)"
I just thought I'd drop a quick line letting everyone know that I'm still playing poker. Unfortunately, things have been a little busy at home with the family. And when things get busy, it's hard to play and post with any regularity.
