Some lessons learned, some not so much

Back to the grind and with the sting from last night's implosion still front and center. The session netted exactly zero on the green line which is really a like a win considering the mistakes I made. Some of the hands followed procedure while others deviated and I paid the price.

I started out very solid. Simply folding hands, taking free cards when I don't have a made hand, winning uncontested showdowns due to good pre-flop hand selection, etc. Sweet.

#14 I call with AQJ2 on the button. Flop is JJ3 and the hijack seat pots it for .10. This is an odd situation because normally I would be the first to the pot after which I should give up unless I boat/quad up. So in position I decide to flat call instead. Turn brings a T and villain pots it again, enough to put me all in. If I was not behind before then I most certainly can be now. Everything tells me that he has threes full or J3 though. I might have six outs to win if we don't share the ace or queen. I'm getting roughly 2:1. Even though I'm short stacked the right play here based on read is to fold. So of course I call off the rest of my stack and am looking at jacks full of threes as suspected. Queen on the river rewards me for making the wrong play. That was a warning to tell me "you get away with this one because you at least knew better but don't tempt fate anymore."

#84 I min raise UTG with ATAJss in hearts hoping for someone to open the door. No luck. See a four handed flop of K95 two hearts. So far I have .04 of my .83 starting stack in the middle. I pot it for .17 and get repotted. Folds to me and I calculate that I have 8 clean hearts (possibly 9 if he doesn't have a set), two clean aces, and three clean queens for a gutterball straight. I'm actually getting sufficient overlay here so I shove and get snap called by second set. I miss and lose the hand. I don't regret the min-raise. I could have check/called the flop then folded if I didn't improve. I did get sufficient overlay but only after I put so much money in when I was behind. Marginal spot.

#179 I get 8242s in the BB, see a flop for free, and flop bottom set on T52 flop. OK, what's the procedure here? Pot and stop. So I pot it and get two callers. Turn is an offsuit 8, a total blank. What's that procedure again? Oh I'm supposed to stop as in bail on the hand. No more VPIP, understand? So with red flags all around and alarms going off, what do I so? Not only do I bet it but I pot it. I get re-potted and I call of the few remaining pennies and hand them over to top set. What's the other rule? Don't get invested in BB hands unless you have either a premium hand that you'd play anyway or the nuts, nothing else. The hand that should have cost me .08 max ended up costing me .54 instead. Wrong, wrong, wrong. And I knew it at the time too which is the most ridiculous part.

#189 I pot to .09 pre-flop (leaving me .58 behind) from the BB with AA23ss and get two callers. Flop comes 6Q8 with two clubs giving me an overpair and the nut flush draw. I bet half pot (gold star here, that is enough to figure out what is going on). Then I get re-potted. What do I do? Fold? Like I should? Nope. In goes the money and I lose to a set of sixes. If I can get pot committed then it's OK to stack off but I was not getting correct pot odds to proceed and drove right through the red light. Hand should have cost .16 and cost the full .58 instead.

#237 Finally I do something right in a big pot. I get my entire stack in pre with AA83ss. I have 50% equity in a three way pot for a healthy overlay. Flop comes Q86 and BB shoves, not a good sign. Cutoff calls and I see 89TJ for a wrap and QT58 for top two and a flush draw who takes the lead. Turn 3, river 3 and I take it down with trips though at the time I thought I merely counterfeited the two pair. That hand brings me exactly back to even for the session. Sometimes ending up with zero profit is like a victory.

Overall the lesson is pretty cut and dried. Just play properly, avoid investing in trap hands, fold when you are EV+ to fold, get your money in good, etc. There was no mystery in any of these hands. In each case I pretty much had the hands read correctly and knew whether I should proceed or not. Sometimes I crossed the street against the light and got lucky but the right move is not to be in that situation in the first place. Again, I am very satisfied with the fact that I at least know when I am getting money in bad instead of scratching my head wondering why I'm losing. Just need some more work on folding in those situations.