Coach Weighs In

I send email back and forth with a pretty large group of people discussing hands. Specifically there is a group from up north that to this day still shares several hands a month for open discussion in an effort to improve and keep our brains fresh about this silly game we all play. Coach is a recent addition to this group, and he recently emailed out a hand in which he basically wondered if there was any reasonable chance his aces were ever good on the river once he got check/raised. The general consensus was "no but you can't fold" which is dumb if you think about it, but I pointed out that hands like that shouldn't really affect his bottom line that much, since they should be rare. His response, via email, was this:

What I'm finding truly absurd is the number of times I can find myself in 3-bet pots and lose with overpairs, two pairs, and trips:

I open KJo probably a spot or two earlier than I normally would because of a conversation with Pete in which he said essentially, "Wat? I open KJo from anywhere." Of course, I don't play like Pete, so maybe that's my problem. Nit prop cold calls. Also notable is that nit prop is playing like tilty running bad short stacking nit prop these days. Old white guy who check/calls a set of kings because he thinks his opponent has a straight on J97/K board 3-bets. 2 players take 3 to the face. Nit prop and I call.

Flop: KJ4r, I c/r, nit prop takes two to the face, OWG calls, everyone calls.

Turn: 9, I bet, nit prop calls all-in, OWG calls.

River: 8, I bet, OWG calls. With AA of course. Thanks for the one bet side pot Mr. Overpair. Yeah, I know, I have no right to complain about nit props's QT, but isn't nit prop supposed to fold QT when I open MP1?

I open KsJd BN, DC, Asian guy who plays OK but can certainly spazz, 3-bets his post, my dream opponent Raj eats 3 in one of the blinds (the small, I think), and I call.

Flop: KJh4h

DC bets, Raj raises, I love a good fastplay and 3-bet, DC caps, we all call.

Turn: 7s

DC bets, Raj calls, I love a good fast play and raise, DC calls, Raj calls.

River: Ah

DC doiiiiinks, Raj calls, I lol fold because if he doesn't have AK or AA I feel like I can get you a steak dinner too, except I didn't really say that, which is good, because he actually had KhQh. And Raj put in his claim with AK.

Raj open limps UTG, crazy Asian Mickey raises UTG+1. Guy who looks like Kurt Vonnegut and plays about 80/3/0.2/58WTSD calls. Guy who just came from the 40 and likes calling my UTG raises with KJ calls. Asian guy with a round head and sunglasses who thinks it's cool to roll his four chips into the pot while looking at the TV calls. I'm working on names still, sorry. Jessie calls. SB calls. I don't know the SB. I call with the 4h and the 2h. Raj calls. Wall of text etc. etc. blah blah.

Flop [16 SB]: JsTs4c

SB checks, I check, UTG checks, Mickey checks, Vonnegut checks, 40 guy checks, Round Head bets, Jessie folds, SB folds, I call (feel free to flame me for this peel), Raj calls, Mickey calls, Vonnegut calls.

Turn [10.5 BB]: 4d

I check, Raj checks, Mickey checks, Vonnegut checks, RH bets, I raise, two folds, Vonnegut tank calls because it's tough to maintain a 58% WTSD if you fold the turn much, RH calls.

River [16.5 BB]: As

I bet, Vonnegut snap calls, RH calls with 9s6s because I frequently show up with a full house or a bigger flush there. Good turn bet, too. Vonnegut has an ace. Probably like Ace-Eight IMO.

That's right, I'm *that* guy complaining about my KJo losing to AA, my KJo losing to KQs and AK, and my 42s losing to, well, anything. Ah well.... at least recognizing the absurdity of my complaining might be a good thing. :-P (also, I somehow managed to win 9 big bets over the hour and a half or so over which this happened, so...)

I was entertained, at a minimum.