Reasoning

Hello everyone. I've had several comments that I should be posting more often, so for those of you who wanted more: I'm now trying to give you more! Not sure they will all be very interesting but who knows....

Had a very remarkable hand this morning with a result that surprised me quite a lot. I was sat at a $3/6 table with several weak players, no 3-betting before the flop and lots of calling going on afterwards. There were also lots of checkraises being made, mostly courtesy of the villain in this hand. I had made a few bad calls to lose some pretty big pots: one with TP weak kicker to lose to a better kicker, and one with TP decent kicker to lose to flopped trips. My image was therefore not great, but I didn't think it was terrible.

Hand #55256802-7320 at Fairfield (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 01/Aug/08 03:32:22

Hero is at seat 1 with $634.20.
Villain is at seat 2 with $2018.35.
The button is at seat 0.

Hero posts the small blind of $3.
Villain posts the big blind of $6.

Hero: 4h As

Pre-flop:
Player2 folds. Flamez13 folds. Player4 folds.
Player1 folds. Hero raises to $18. Villain
calls.

Pretty standard move with an Ace in the SB when it gets folded round. Normally I'd pass if it's not suited, but given the game play I wasn't too concerned about being 3-bet and could see a flop without paying more if I got called.

Flop (board: 3s 5s 4s):

Now I obviously liked this flop. With middle pair top kicker, the nut flush draw (I have the As) and a gutshot sucker draw, I figured I had very good equity against my opponents calling range.

Hero checks. Villain bets $36. Hero
raises to $84. Villain calls.

I decide to check raise to get maximum value from bluffs and unimproved high cards. The call suggests my opponent is also on a draw, though he may have caught a piece of the flop, an overpair or have an unlikely made flush.

Turn (board: 3s 5s 4s 5h):
Hero bets $135. Villain calls.

With about $200 in the pot, I bet under 3/4 pot to look like the 5 helped me, and I'm trying to entice my opponent into calling. He does so quickly, and I become convinced he is weak and that he does not have a made flush or a big overpair since he would usually raise now a full house is possible. I'm starting to think 6s6x or 7s7x are also very plausible holdings.

River (board: 3s 5s 4s 5h 3d):

I hate this river. If my opponent was sticking around with A3, 23, 36 etc. they all now destroy my hand. I was always behind the unlikely overpair, and now without a flush or straight I am losing to that also. That said, I checkraised the flop, and weak bet the board pairing. Now with the second 3 coming in, I figure my opponent is unlikely to have either a 5 or a 3, and so I can represent a fullhouse myself, and get 66-77 to fold, because if I check to them the pot is gone. The other reason I want to lead here is because a check looks far too scared, and any bet my opponent makes cannot be called with a lowly pair of 4s. If I get raised I'm gone, but I think it's worth the potential cost to retain the initiative. So, trying to maintain the 'call me' bet sizing I established on the turn, I bet $250 into the $450 pot.

Hero bets $249. Villain calls.

He called quickly, and I thought he'd made the under full house on the river. I knew he didn't have the flush or an overpair as there would definitely have been some agonising before any call was made.

Showdown:
Hero shows 4h As.
Hero has 4h As 5s 4s 5h: two pair, fives and fours.
Villain mucks cards.
(Villain has 6d Ac.)

I was stunned when the pot came my way and I read what he had called with. How on earth he thought his hand was good on the river I do not know. That said, I'm obviously glad he called, and was obliging enough to also pay off my flop checkraise and turn bet with nothing but an OESD on a monotone flop.

Hand Summary:
Hero wins $968.50 with two pair, fives and fours.
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I know this doesn't happen very often (we'd all be rich) but it's interesting to see what aggression and initiative can lead to. My opponent was drawing to roughly 10 outs (only 1 for the Ace because of counterfeiting) all the way, and with my mediocre hand I was able to extract huge value. I don't think I got particularly lucky here either, and I think I played the optimum line given my read. If I had lost the pot, at least I would have done so for good reason.

Comments and criticism below please!