Here's a couple examples from this morning on trusting your reads...

***** Hand History for Game 2113785582 *****
$50 NL Hold'em - Friday, May 27, 13:21:05 EDT 2005
Table Table 36852 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: stressball10 ( $152.56 )
Seat 4: D_312 ( $45.25 )
Seat 2: dirtyfrankpj ( $54.03 )
Seat 6: pocketpair25 ( $29.69 )
Seat 3: mr_waterski ( $47.75 )
Seat 5: NCricket25 ( $45 )
mr_waterski posts small blind [$0.25].
D_312 posts big blind [$0.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Jc As ]
NCricket25 folds.
pocketpair25 calls [$0.5].
stressball10 raises [$2].
dirtyfrankpj folds.
mr_waterski folds.
D_312 calls [$1.5].
pocketpair25 calls [$1.5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ah, 9s, 5s ]
D_312 checks.
pocketpair25 checks.
stressball10 bets [$4].
D_312 folds.
pocketpair25 calls [$4].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
pocketpair25 checks.
stressball10 bets [$8].
pocketpair25 is all-In [$23.69]
stressball10 calls [$15.69].
** Dealing River ** [ Ac ]
stressball10 shows [ Jc, As ] three of a kind, aces.
pocketpair25 shows [ 7c, Ad ] three of a kind, aces.
stressball10 wins $59.63 from the main pot with three of a kind, aces with jack kicker.

After he flat called the first bet I knew he had an ace, figured with a weaker kicker than mine. On the turn he hesitated for a second before going all in. It felt to me like short stack desperation, not any kind of monster hand, so I called and demolished him.



***** Hand History for Game 2113749302 *****
$50 NL Hold'em - Friday, May 27, 13:08:43 EDT 2005
Table Table 36852 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: stressball10 ( $117.88 )
Seat 4: D_312 ( $38.23 )
Seat 2: dirtyfrankpj ( $37.73 )
Seat 6: pocketpair25 ( $28.89 )
Seat 5: dash7713 ( $47.95 )
pocketpair25 posts small blind [$0.25].
stressball10 posts big blind [$0.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Ks 8c ]
dirtyfrankpj folds.
D_312 calls [$0.5].
dash7713 calls [$0.5].
pocketpair25 calls [$0.25].
stressball10 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 6c, Kd ]
pocketpair25 checks.
stressball10 checks.
D_312 bets [$2].
dash7713 folds.
pocketpair25 folds.
stressball10 raises [$4].
D_312 raises [$8].
stressball10 raises [$21].
D_312 calls [$15].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
stressball10 is all-In [$92.38]
D_312 is all-In [$12.73]
** Dealing River ** [ 8d ]
stressball10 shows [ Ks, 8c ] a full house, Kings full of eights.
D_312 doesn't show [ Tc, Ts ] two pairs, kings and tens.
stressball10 wins $79.65 from side pot #1 with a full house, Kings full of eights.
stressball10 wins $75.46 from the main pot with a full house, Kings full of eights.

This guy was a bit crazy, the type that overbets the pot if he's in last position and no one else has bet yet. Literally every hand, even if four or five people saw the flop, if he was on the button he'd fire in a big fat bet to try to steal. This hand I saw through his crap. I didn't actually have him on any kind of hand at all, though when he called my second flop raise I thought maybe he had a weak king after all, or a pair of sixes, or some pocket pair. On the turn I figured there was too much money in the pot to even consider letting it go, so I just put him all in.


***** Hand History for Game 2113522393 *****
$50 NL Hold'em - Friday, May 27, 11:47:07 EDT 2005
Table Table 36852 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: stressball10 ( $106.88 )
Seat 4: D_312 ( $21.95 )
Seat 3: LGS123 ( $64.17 )
Seat 2: dirtyfrankpj ( $67.4 )
Seat 5: vball1234567 ( $10.75 )
Seat 6: slagator1 ( $49.8 )
stressball10 posts small blind [$0.25].
dirtyfrankpj posts big blind [$0.5].
vball1234567 posts big blind + dead [$0.75].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 2h 4h ]
LGS123 calls [$0.5].
D_312 folds.
vball1234567 checks.
slagator1 calls [$0.5].
stressball10 calls [$0.25].
dirtyfrankpj raises [$0.5].
LGS123 calls [$0.5].
vball1234567 calls [$0.5].
slagator1 calls [$0.5].
stressball10 calls [$0.5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, 6h, As ]
stressball10 bets [$2].
dirtyfrankpj calls [$2].
LGS123 folds.
vball1234567 folds.
slagator1 raises [$4].
stressball10 calls [$2].
dirtyfrankpj calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9s ]
stressball10 bets [$6].
dirtyfrankpj calls [$6].
slagator1 raises [$12].
stressball10 calls [$6].
dirtyfrankpj folds.
** Dealing River ** [ 5h ]
stressball10 bets [$15].
slagator1 folds.
stressball10 shows [ 2h, 4h ] a straight flush, six high.
stressball10 wins $60.25 from the main pot with a straight flush, six high.

That hand doesn't have a thing to do with reads, but I'm delighted with how it worked out. Any time I can pick up a flush and gutshot draw, I'm happy to bet it and get that pot nice and juicy. Obviously it doesn't always work out, but this time it did. The overcalls from dirtyfrank really helped out, which was good since slagator pussed out on the end.