Playing off Image leads to big night

So Wednesday night I wasn't really planning on going to MD Live but I had met a particularly crazy work deadline on Monday and just decided last minute to head down. Good thing I did as the session resulted in my biggest 2/5 session.

MMMM Pumpkins (pumpkins are oversized $1k chips)

One of the things I have noticed more and more as I approach 1k hours since I committed to live poker is how poorly most live players adapt to image. The weird thing is you can fold and fold for hours on end then get a big hand and its as if they never notice. Conversely, if you play a ton of hands, particularly aggressively, and some players suddenly decide they are going to be sherriff's and rein your aggression in. On Wednesday night I was fortunate to have a good rush of cards right after I sat. I was 3b and opening a TON of pots. A few of the live-fish, of course, "adjusted" by playing and two cards against me (in fact I lost a pretty good sized pot to 23o vs my TT on a 945J6 board calling my all in turn c/r). 

One player, in particular, decided he was going to "show me who was boss". I had already seen him jam $300 into a $75 with AK on QJT4telling the guy afterward that he didn't want him to draw out. 

Anyway I obviously had to adjust to this cat by realizing he is "gunning" for me. Played 3 hands with him and he emptied the clip on 2 of them.

Your Ace is good sir

Villain opens to $20 in MP, I call BTN with 77 and we go 4 to the flop. Flop is Q97r. Villain leads $50, I raise to $150 and he calls rather quickly. Turn is A and he open ships ~$750 into the $380-ish pot. I snap call and river is a complete brick. He then says "Your Ace is good sir". I'm sorry huh? How do I have an A here? I guess maybe AQ is possible. Anyway I am guessing he had KQ or perhaps JT??

At this point my man is on raging tilt though he is trying to pretend like he isn't. He reloads for $500. 30 mins later the next hand happens.

You fold top pair?

So I open QJ from MP to $20 and end up with 4 callers including the fish from the BB. 

(Pot ~100) Flop Q56 Checks to me and I c-bet 60. Mr. Tilty now check-raises to 160 with 400-ish behind. For some reason, I just read him for strong. I think he has a ton of semi-bluffs in his range but he also has some made hands and better Q's too. This is really a pretty easy bet/fold spot most of the time but given this guys tilt I'm just not sure.

ProPokerTools Hold'em Simulation

71,280 trials (Exhaustive)

board: Q56

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
QhJh	41.50%	26,252	6,660
Aq, KQ, QT, QJ, 56, Ass, KsJs, 78, 55, 66	58.50%	38,368	6,660

This is probably too strong a range for Uncle Tilty but coupled with the fact that I just read him as strong and I can't really take a lot of heat on turn and river I opt to give up and fold. I also really think I will have a shot at his stack at some point with a more nutted holding (hate this type of thinking but meh what can I say). I opt to show him the Q thinking it will make him feel that he can run me over and give him a chance to puff out his chest and feel over confident. He is shocked that I folded but doesn't show.

Any other opinions on this hand?

You're too good

Finally, less than 2 orbits later I get him to stack off and end his night early. I open AJ from UTG +1 to 20. Get 4 callers including my budddy OTB.

(Pot ~100) Flop J35. Seen worse . I elect to bet 75 and my buddy calls. His range is super wide but I am 100% ahead and obviously have the flush redraw. 

(Pot ~250) Turn is a 7. I lead again. This time for 210. He snaps with about 525 behind and I know for sure he is drawing. 

(Pot ~660) River is 4 I decide he will 100% jam if I check and I'm simply not going to fold to this cat. So I check and on cue he rips it. Only way I am beat here is if he has like 56s or 45s type of hand where he floated flop with middle pair and picked up turn outs. But I'm just not folding TPTK to this dude so I snap and he tables 24o for a flopped OESD-rivered pair. 

He laughs like I made some dumb call and says "all that with one pair? I guess you're just too good for me" sarcastically. I just flip the dealer a couple of bucks and start stacking. No reason to engage these monkeys.

Played a few more hours and ended up $2,765 over a 4 1/2 hour session. Not a bad hourly .

Since June I am up ~$8,100 over a paltry 160 hours. Really need to up my time through the end of the year. Going to set a goal of 250 hours played through the remainder of the year. I have one more big work deadline on October 15 but other than that should be able to commit to these time goals.

As far as 5/10 and 5/5 PLO go, I had to use some of my poker BR for real life stuff as we are in the process of moving. This has caused me to be a bit more conscience of variance and, thus, with the softness of 2/5 I just think grinding it makes more sense ATM. I will still play a few sessions through the end of the year just for the immediate future going to stick to the small games 2/5 NLHE and 2/2 PLO.