The goal of playing poker ultimately is to make money, period.   Improving your bottom line is the desired result no matter what the game, whether it be in a tournament or a cash game.   Sure, having fun should be a part of it, but really, when was the last time you had a good time while losing money?   Tough question right?   That's because losing money is never a fun endeavor.   How do you improve your bottom line.   The simple answer is by playing good solid poker - strong starting hands played in position and maximizing the value of your good hands and not leaving bets on the table.   Seems simple doesn't it?  

But we are human after all.   So we don't win every single hand we play.   No player does no matter how good they are.   But if you are able to step back and analyze a situation you find yourself in, you may be able to minimize the amount of damage caused to your stack and long-term, to your bankroll.   After all, what good is winning a few small to medium sized pots and lose a couple monsters?

This brings us to today's hand of the week.   This particular hand was one in which I really was thinking long and hard making decisions based on the action.   This hand occurred during a 6-handed $5-$10 no limit game.   I was in the big blind and looked down at big slick (AK) offsuit.   Not bad for a big blind hand.   A middle position player calls the blind and a late position player, whom I had never played against raises to $30 to go.   Everyone else folded including the small blind.   I call as does the middle position player.  

The flop comes and is the 2h-3c-As.   I'm happy with this flop because it is highly unlikely that either play has caught a straight and I now have top pair, top kicker.   I decide to check with the intention of check-raising.   The middle player checks and the original bettor bets $20, a small amount considering there is already $90 in the pot.   I raise him to $40 and am called by the middle position player.   The original raiser pauses for a couple minutes and re-raises me to $80.   I'm now forced to make a decision.   This player has to have put me on some type of ace or a complete bluff.   I'm having trouble reading him.   So I think about what I have observed about him.   He hasn't played very many hands at all and seems like a tight enough player for me to think twice about calling this re-raise.   The other player involved in this hand is a very loose player and he very well may be sitting on a straight right now.   I begin to talk out loud. "What can you possibly have?"   No response, not even a blink.   "I'm beginning to think you have a set because there's no way you have a straight." &n bsp; Nothing again, no reaction whatsoever.   I look at the $290 in the pot and I have a sense of doom about this hand.   I reluctantly fold.   I didn't want to do this but with two players in the hand, I figure that there is a pretty good chance that I'm beaten.

Immediately the middle position player calls the re-raise.   The turn comes and it's the 3h.   The middle player checks and the original raiser bets $120 putting the other player all-in.   He is called and with over $500 in the pot, the original bettor shows pocket Aces!   I couldn't believe it.   All along, I had thought he had big slick and he made me fold mine but he had a full house and the other player tossed his hand in the muck before the river even come out.   He likely had the straight on the flop and was torched basically.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that my assessment of the situation was correct and saved me the rest of my stack potentially.   See what I mean about minimizing the losses...

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