[Tayman20]

Ok heres the First of 3 hands I will post to analyze. This is mainly for my demons but hopefully people can learn from my stupidity.

I have 5000 chips with the Average being about 3500 although my table has some large stacks.
Seat 1: JosiahBartlett (3,770)
Seat 2: teacuppoker (5,785)
Seat 3: Saelen (5,605)
Seat 4: 2 stop da fire (2,825)
Seat 5: Tayman20 (5,305)
Seat 6: Im2Fast (2,455)
Seat 7: fergwrx (2,740)
Seat 8: sadlickiusmc (3,610)
Seat 9: bigbear133 (6,420)
2 stop da fire posts the small blind of 25
Tayman20 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tayman20
Five Players Fold
teacuppoker raises to 150
Tayman20 calls 100

Questionable Call. Called 100 more into a pot of 225 so not terrible.
*** FLOP ***
Tayman20 checks
teacuppoker bets 250
Tayman20 raises to 600
teacuppoker has 15 seconds left to act
teacuppoker calls 350

Ok I figured he had AK or something of the sort and missed his flop and tried to push him off the hand. He didn't bite. Now would be the time to get out of the hand.
*** TURN ***
Tayman20 bets 1,525
teacuppoker raises to 5,035, and is all in
Tayman20 folds
Uncalled bet of 3,510 returned to teacuppoker
teacuppoker mucks
teacuppoker wins the pot (4,575)

I fired another shell of the bluff when it was not neccesary and it cost me 1500 chips. The whole hand cost me over 2200 chips, or more than 1/3 of my stack. Stupid, just stupid.

[Tayman20]

Seat 1: JosiahBartlett (3,820)
Seat 2: teacuppoker (5,785)
Seat 3: Saelen (5,630)
Seat 4: 2 stop da fire (1,350)
Seat 5: Tayman20 (6,655)
Seat 6: Im2Fast (2,455)
Seat 7: fergwrx (2,740)
Seat 8: sadlickiusmc (3,610)
Seat 9: bigbear133 (6,470)
Saelen posts the small blind of 25
2 stop da fire posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tayman20 :Tc :Th
Tayman20 calls 50
Im2Fast folds
fergwrx folds
sadlickiusmc folds
bigbear133 calls 50
JosiahBartlett calls 50
teacuppoker folds
Saelen folds
2 stop da fire raises to 190
Tayman20 raises to 500
bigbear133 folds
JosiahBartlett folds
2 stop da fire raises to 1,060
Tayman20 raises to 1,620
2 stop da fire calls 290, and is all in
Tayman20 shows [Tc Th]
2 stop da fire shows [Kc Kh]
Uncalled bet of 270 returned to Tayman20

I like my decision to just call with the 10s in early position. Im not wanting a ton of money in this pot in case a scary flop comes. Then came the raise. A simple call would be good and analyze the flop afterwards. Why Raise?? Even after the re-raise I should have known I was beat and gotten away.
*** FLOP ***
*** TURN *** ]
*** RIVER *** ]
Tayman20 shows a full house, Fives full of Tens
2 stop da fire shows a full house, Fives full of Kings
2 stop da fire wins the pot (2,825) with a full house, Fives full of Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,825 | Rake 0
Board: [Js 7s 5c 5h 5s]

The only problem is that even if I would have just called the raise of 200, I probably would have thought 10s were still good and bet. He then would have re-raised and I would have folded and saved 1000 chips. Once again. Stupid.

[_GUN_]

I am about to purchase a new heads-up set, either actual casino chips or a fantasy set. I'm going to try to place an order in the next month for a full custom set, too, but I haven't hammered that out yet.

One thing I noticed in the last year....

BAD PLAYERS HAVE NO RESPECT FOR CHECK-RAISES!

I really don't know if he was a weak player or not, since I missed that part of the tourney, though. I just can't see many low-level players folding AA, AQ, KQ, QJ to your check-raise.

The check-raise used to be the sword of death, but now for some reason it is always read as a bluff by inexperienced players. Low level players seem to have virtually no fear of the check-raise these days.

When you reraised his 250 to 600, it doesn't exactly scream strength, though. I think it's unlikely he folds a raise to 800, though, based on his turn action. You barely doubled his bet and if he had AK, then he may've felt inclined to try and catch on the turn.

As for the second hand, you can only get reraise happy with 88/99/TT hands if you think it will take the pot pre-flop or are prepared for a big confrontation. If he puts in the third raise, it should always be AK/AA/KK/QQ. The ideal situation to reraise with an upper middle pair is when you have a tight table image, or when you have a substantial chip lead over a competing player.

If you actually take the time to admit flaws and impatience, then that's a big step towards being a solid player. You certainly gained experience from the tournament and those two hands should help you in several hands down the road.

[Tayman20]

Definately. I learned as much from that tournament as I have in my whole poker career. I wont be making those mistakes any time soon. Thanks for feedback.

And nice on getting some customs. Ive got about 600 Pharoahs for our home game.