NL .02/.05 6-max

Managed to get in a some decent sessions the last few days. I've been focusing more on my preflop, hand reading and watching opponent betting patterns. Had one today I nearly folded on the river. We were 5 handed and I raised 3xBB 1st in from the CO with A A. The Button and SB folded and the BB called. The flop came 9 8 A. The BB checked, I bet the pot and he called. The turn was J. Again, the BB checked, I bet the pot and he called. The river was 7, not a great card for me as it completed two draws. BB bet 1/3 of the pot. He had played the hand like a draw but his bet size didn't seem right. I thought he had something but (a) he in the blind, and (b) he had an AF of 2 on the river. Admittedly, this was over a small hand sample but his bet looked weak to me. He was giving me 4:1 to call so felt there was no way I could fold the set; I called. He did have a hand, 9 9, for a smaller set. Felt good about that one :)

I was playing two tables and there was one guy at both; he was playing 4 tables and a real TAZ: 34/31/5 with Attempted Blind Steal of 64%. He was UTG to my blind on one table and B on the other and he was wailing on my blinds. His fold to blind steal was 0%, he defended them very aggressively. I started to get annoyed and then decided to just wait until I got a hand. My patience paid off, he won some of my blinds but I netted 35BB from him. Sort of drove home the point that I don't have to aggressively defend my blinds in NL; it works differently than limit because you've got more control over the pot size.

I also managed to pick off a number of river bluffs, amazing how many people will suddenly bet out on the river when the board pairs; they usually don't bet enough, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the pot although one I picked off was a 1/2 pot bet. I had raised AQ and bet the pot on a fairly dry flop 8 A 5. The turn was another rag and I bet the pot again. The river was a 5. Villain had check/called the F and T and then suddenly bet 1/2 the pot on the river. But I'd noticed in other hands that he would bet bottom pair in HU and multiway situations regardless of the flop texture. In this hand he had checked/called so I figured he probably didn't have the 5 and called. He turned over K 2; he'd been on the flush draw and had then decided to bluff the river.

Didn't make any total donk errors that I could see so feeling a bit better about my game. I even made a few moves against players based on reads and they worked out, for the most part, in particular against the TAZ and against another player who was super loose and aggressive but the aggression was weird, he was 67/0 and he would min bet the flop and turn and people would fold. I kept waiting to see a hand but there were no showdowns; he'd limp, min bet the flop and turn and everyone would fold. So I started raising him and either raising his flop or turn bet and he'd fold. It was a nice setup until a LAG sat in behind us and started cold calling; sandwiching me so I had to tighten up.

Anyway, just gotta keep doing more of the same: focus and think correctly at the table.