This is going to be a rather long post as it involves multiple hands. I think this is the best forum to put it in though. I'm not so much looking for advice on the specifics of the hands. It is somewhat personal reflection on mistakes that were made, perhaps both you and I can learn from. I would be happy to here your thoughts on the hands and if you think I was simply cold-decked, or if I should have gotten away from some of the hands. I will explain my thought process as much as possible.

I was playing 1/2 NL at my local card room in Coquitlam B.C. on the recent stat holiday in the afternoon.

It was a new table with most people buying in for 150-200, and I bought in for 200. A few hands in I was in mid-late position with pocket queens. It folded to a middle position player who raised it to 12 (this is a completely reasonable raise in this game, and all the times I have played in this casino). The player between us folded, and I reraised to 30. I wanted the original raiser to call, and everyone else remaining to fold. It folded back to the original raiser, who then reraised to 85, leaving him 95 behind. Now at this point it's obviously all-in or fold. I have played with this player before many times, sometimes he plays the 3/6 NL game, though not often. I did think about folding but decided to go all-in. He called, asked me if I had aces, I said no, and he showed me his kings. They held. Cold-decked, or too aggressive on my part? Should I be folding to his four-bet?

So down 180 right off the bat, I bought in for another 200 and had 220 in my stack. Kept going and had picked up a few small to medium pots here and there with reasonable hands and some c-bets. I had about 300 in my stack when the next hand I'd like to note occurred.

I was in the big blind with 10,5 of hearts. It limped to me and I checked my option. There were six of us in the hand and the flop came J,10,10 (two spades). The small blind checked and I led out for 10. I got one caller who was an early position limper and everyone else folded. The turn was an off-suit 8. I bet again, this time 20, and again my opponent called. The river was an off-suit ace. Again I bet 20. I was no longer sure my hand was best and was basically attempting to put out a small blocking bet rather than have to check call a larger bet. I think that 20 is actually a really good bet amount here. If he has a jack he might look me up. If he has ace/jack he will surely look me up. Unfortunately he min-raised me to 40. His bet wants to get called. What can I beat here that he's min-raising with? Nothing. I did call. He tabled 10,8 for the turned full house. I think I knew that I was beat and called anyway. This is a terrible call. As much as I'd like to praise myself for my river bet, I will chastise myself for this call. If I'm lucky I'm chopping. There is no way he can bluff-raise the river. This was a waste of $20. It may not be a lot, but these are the type of calls that add up and can make a difference in winning and losing. Hopefully you can get away from this hand, learning from my lesson.

A little while after that, with my stack at about 230, I raised in middle position to 12 with pocket jacks. I got only one caller, the small blind. The flop came J,4,3 rainbow. He checked, and I led out for 15. I continuation bet most of the time, so although he may fold, I made the decision to do what I usually do. I was happy when he called. The turn was a 7 and my opponent checked again. I continued to lead and bet small, 20. I was happy when he raised me to 50. We had about the same amount of chips at the beginning of the hand and I wanted to make sure to get as many of them as I could. I wasn't particulary concerned about 5/6 as I don't think he'd want to call out of the small blind with that to be heads up out of position in a nothing pot. I wasn't sure what he had. I was hoping for ace/jack or if I was really lucky, a smaller set. I reraised to 100 and he instantly moved all-in. I snap-called and he asked me if I had a set. I said yes, top set, and showed my pocket jacks, he looked sick and turned over pocket 4s for the dreaded set over set. A cold-deck in my favour! At the end of the hand I had about 450 in front of me, and about the same when the next hand came up.

I was in the small blind on a straddle hand with 8,9 of spades. In this casino the under the gun straddle is for $5. There were a couple of limpers to me and I called. The big blind called, but the player in the straddle bumped it to 20. The one middle position limper folded and the button called and I called. The straddler had about 250 and the button had about 120 remaining. I could have folded here and avoided the whole thing, that would be a fair thing to say. Why play this hand in the worst position with only two other players in the pot? That being said I don't think this was a terrible call. Not great, but not really terrible either. The flop came down 10,7,5 (10,7 of spades). I like my hand. I decided I would check, and hope to check raise if the straddler continuation bet, giving me fold equity and still a huge draw to back it up with. The straddler checked as well, and the button bet 40. I stuck with my plan and raised to 110. The straddler folded (guess he had A/K or A/Q) and the button put all his chips in (about 10 more which of course I called). We turned over and he had bottom set. The turn and river were blanks and he took down the pot. Just a cold deck? Once I see this flop in this hand I really don't think I can fold. Maybe I should have let it go preflop, or is that being results oriented? I think that the straddler did have enough chips and I was getting a decent enough price preflop to call the additional 15 in hopes of hitting a big hand and cracking him. Just unlucky that the button woke up with such a large hand? If he has A/10 there instead of 5/5 he probably folds to my reraise.

So now I'm back around the 300 range in my stack. A little while later, with a couple limpers ahead of me I limp from late position with pocket 2s. The big blind pops it to 17 (a little on the large side, but given the number of limpers certainly not unreasonable). There was one caller to me and I called, completing the action. Again, I could have folded preflop and avoided the whole situation; the players probably didn't really have enough chips for me to set-mine. The big blind had about 130 in his stack after his raise and the other caller about the same. With that being said, again I don't think this is a terrible call, not great, but not terrible. Luckily, the flop came a beautiful K,5,2 rainbow. The prefop raiser checked, as did the next player, and so did I. This board is not draw heavy, and I hope someone can catch something on the turn. The turn was another king. Now the preflop raiser bet out 25. The other preflop caller folded and I called the bet. The river was an ace and he checked to me. Now I have to bet here, and I want to get paid. There was about 100 in the pot, and I settled on a river bet of 60. I was a little shocked when instead of just calling, my opponent moved all-in. It was only about another 45 to call. This is a very similar situation to my 10/5 hand from above. I was genuinely concerned about A/K. He can't be raising the river as any sort of a bluff. What do I beat here? KQ, and would he have really made such a large preflop raise with that? I called and he showed me pocket aces for the rivered full house. That is an absolutely sick river, and a gross cold-deck. I also think that if at any point in the hand I had played it more aggressively I still get called (and rivered). Ultimately I don't want to bet him out and was unlucky that he hit one of his outs. With that being said, I should have saved the extra 45 on the river. Yeah, there's a lot in the pot, but what do I beat here? It was a waste of 45.

Once that hand was over I was back down to about 200 in my stack. Fortunately I was able to make a good recovery during the rest of the session. I one a medium size pot with AK>AJ on a board with an ace. Then won a good sized pot by triple-barrelling after raising preflop with Q,10 on a board of J,9,4,7,9. I finally got back into the black by semi-bluffing with A,7 suited on a 9,8,6 board and having my opponent fold for another mid-sized pot. I packed up shortly after that for a net profit of $29! Don't spend it all in one place!

Now, I've been thinking about this a lot the last day and a half, trying to decide if I really was just cold-decked, or if some of it was avoidable.

If I just don't call the river on the second and fourth hand I save $65.

If I just fold to the four-bet on the first hand I save $150.

If I don't play my 8,9 suited I save about $140.

If I don't play my pocket twos I save about $145.

All together that is a $500 swing!!! Just by not playing those hands!

On the other hand if I had won the third and fourth hand I'm up $600 (even with the losses on the other two).

Could/should I have folded these hands? Or was it indeed just some gross cold-decks?

I know this was long, thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for your thoughts/opinions.

Boston

Hand 1 - I would fold the QQs to a 4bet at most live $1/$2 games.
You just don't see your normal player 4bet with anything less than KK+,AK
in fact i will often just smooth call with JJ/QQ in position esp
if i think the villain is tight or predictable. absolutely nothing
wrong with 3betting though. I find a fold here at a live game.

Hand 2 - i think the key here is that you put out a blocker bet.
Concept of block bet is to control pot on river and fold to a raise
if you had planned to call a bet then you should check/call.
i wouldn't beat yourself up over calling such a small amount.
just remember the whole idea of why put out a block bet.

Hand 3 - 8/9 of spades. THe initial call is standard, you could
even raise sometimes here (though I would usually call). After the straddler
raises preflop you need to fold this out of position esp since stacks
aren't that deep. The rest of the hand is a cooler.

Hand 4 - limp is fine but i would fold when he raises to $17.
You need the stacks to be extremely deep to call.
after that the hand is just a cooler. No matter how you play it
he is getting all your chips. And I don't see how you could ever fold this
on the river for that small amount as KQ is def in his range.

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I often find there is a direct correlation between thinking you are getting cold decked and playing mediocre starting hands, not paying enough attention to position and falling in love with our own hand instead of adequately listening to the story an opponent’s actions are telling us.

Agree with Vook on hands 1,2, and 4. Somebody (Phil Gordon) said fourth bet is usually kings or aces and that has been the case many many times in my experience-must confess I have done the same thing.

I bust balls with suited connectors(hand 3). Vooks point of being out of postion the whole hand is well taken-and I think his point of folding preflop has merit(and in retrospect in this hand would have saved you a bundle). I am pretty sure the only hands here where you are NOT a favorite post flop is a made set or higher suited cards. Personally I would have pushed with the straight flush draw-yeah, you were screwed after getting into the hand. Again, played a similar hand at the Aria in August-preflop raise to $12 from UTG-looked down on button after another caller(drunk) to see 3,4 diamonds-probably shouldnot have but called and the flop came up 5,6 diamonds, K spades(turns out preflop raised-nice guy-had A,K of diamonds). He made $20 bet, call from loose caller-I pushed($225), he called other guy folded and a sweet 2 of diamonds turns-yeah, I got lucky. I guess if you miss, Vook is right but man when you hit it is usually a big pot. I got no problem with how you played it-just wish you would have won.

coming back out Wednesday-can't wait!

Haven't read replies or even the whole post, but wanted to jump in because this has seemed to happen to me a lot. There are two schools of thought. One is that you should never 3-bet then fold because you turn your 3-bet into a bluff. I'm sure someone will say that if they haven't. The other is that if you 3-bet and get 4-bet in a typical live game, you can be darn sure you're looking at AA or KK. Plenty of people will raise with a wide range, and some of the aggressive types are even aggressive 3-betters. But when you make it 30 and V makes it 85, he says I'm willing to play for my stack. Is he really doing this with QQ, JJ, or AQs? Did you put him on any of those hands?

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So u agree with the 2nd group right? Stacks are deep enough to fold to a 4bet

I prefer calling one opponent with QQs in position. I will usually raise OOP or if there are callers

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Thank you for the feedback.

Both the 8,9 hand and the pocket twos hand were borderline calls preflop. They are the type that can win a big pot if they hit though, just unfortunate that when I did hit the walls came crashing down on my monsters. Most often on those hands, I miss and fold to c-bets. I do think that other than folding preflop, they really were just cold decks.

The pocket queens hand probably should have been folded. I was only in for 30, and would still have 170 in my stack. Sometimes it's easier in hindsight to fold queens preflop. If you're folding the third best hand in poker preflop all the time that's probably too tight. Not trying to justify my play, but it is something I think about. As for my opponent's range I certainly considered AK and would consider QQ if I didn't have it myself, probably not AQ but perhaps JJ though unlikely. This hand was probably more on the side of a bad call than a cold deck.

In general I'd say most of these losses are avoidable. You already mentioned two hands where you shouldn't call a river raise.

In the 98s and the 22 hand, I think you put too much money in pre-flop. Part of the problem with calling $15 with 22 is what happened is going to happen. If you flop set vs. over pair, he's going to hit a set a shade more than 8% of the time. That's small but when it happens, it costs you your whole stack. As such, you want to be able to win 20x what you're calling, but you're only getting 11:1. It's unlucky to hit set-over-set (boat over boat) but you should fold pre-flop.

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