what do you do #3? Pocket jacks facing a giant preflop raise.

Feral Cow Poker Hand Converter
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 9 players

BB: $11.53
UTG: $4.82
UTG+1: $8.11
MP: $17.45
MP2: $12.20
HJ: $5.05
CO: $4.92
Button: $16.90 (Hero)
SB: $2.21

Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is Button with (9 players)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $2.10, 4 folds, Hero???

A 21x raise from under the gun. What's that about? What do you do with pocket jacks?


See what I did


Hero raises to $10, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $6.01, and is all in

Flop: ($16.37) (2 players)

Turn: ($16.37) (2 players)

River: ($16.37) (2 players)

UTG+1 showed , and won ($15.28) with two pair, Queens and Tens
Hero showed , and lost with two pair, Jacks and Tens
UTG+1 won $15.28
(Rake: $1.09)

In my experience, these big early position overbets are small pairs that people don't want to play preflop. Aces and Kings want action, right? I put him on 88-TT and stuck it in. He had queens. Whoopsie. I think my read was right - this guy was just scared of even more than I thought, so my range was a hair off.

they laugh and laugh...

supremely frustrating night trying to climb out of one buy in hole. I guessed wrong twice and it cost me my stack. I got a stack back. Then I broke even for a hundred hands. Two hundred. Three. I would win a small pot then lose a medium one.

I shoved a straight flush draw with no fold equity (vs. trips) and lo and behold - I hit my straight flush on the river! Sweetness. I caught top pair in a dominating situation but he hit his three outer as I bet for value. Up, down, up, down.

Then I made the play of the night.

Milked from the teat of a feral cow
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 9 players

BB: $4.65
UTG: $3.34
UTG+1: $12.00
MP: $10.00
MP2: $11.48
HJ: $6.00
CO: $9.07
Button: $14.58 (Hero)
SB: $17.82

Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is Button with (9 players)
UTG raises to $0.20, UTG+1 calls $0.20, 4 folds, Hero raises to $1, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.80
Tried the old squeeze on the button. No dice, they were calling 3 bets all night...

Flop: ($2.35) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1.25, UTG+1 calls $1.25
Swing and a miss - I've hit nothing. He check-calls my cbet. What's he have? Pocket pair, a king, or a 7. Bone-dry board, nothing to draw to. He could have a set.

Turn: ($4.85) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks
Now I've got the nut flush draw, but the board is also paired. Why did he check? I would think a set would have bet to build the pot. I should probably double barrel here, I opt instead to try and hit my draw. Let's hope I don't hit it and go broke to pocket twos.

River: ($4.85) (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $2.10, Hero raises to $12.33, and is all in, UTG+1 calls $7.65, and is all in
The draw comes in, and the player comes out swinging. Lovely. I've got the flush on a paired board. Oh course I'm at least calling this bet, but will he call with worse if I raise. Trip sevens, I guess, a worse flush. I decide there is value to be had, and that the best action is a river shove.

UTG+1 mucked
Hero showed , and won ($22.73) with a flush, Ace high
Hero won $22.73
(Rake: $1.62)
Dude slowplayed top pair/top kicker into an implied odds meltdown.

I didn't play this hand great, except maybe for the river shove. That was a somewhat gutsy play into a paired board that paid maximum dividends.

I had finally crawled to even on the night, and was ecstatic. As I started to think about quitting for the night, I got dealt pocket kings in middle position. A shortstack minraised, and I threebet. Someone in the blinds shoved. The shortstack called the shove. I don't fold kings preflop, so I called too. The big blind had pocket aces, and my even night was back to negatvie one buyin in a blinding flash. All that work down the drain.

that'll do it for tonight...

out of town this week, so most of my poker tools are unavailable. A few hundred hands of Rush Poker will have to suffice.

I played very well but I lost 2+ buy ins because my pocket aces and kings were cracked all four times I had them. There's about a tenth of one percent of that happening. O joy.

It was still early, but after the fourth one (AA vs. AJ on a JJK board, I lost the minimum to a slowplayer, thankfully)- I knew someone had it out for me. Shutdown time

just call me "bet/fold"

that's all I did tonight - betting into someone with a strong enough hand to raise me. Not a great session, played about even except for getting stacked with TPTK vs. a set. Not supposed to happen, I know, but the board told me chances were good that I was, uh, good. I was smart enough to fold aces on the turn to someone who obviously had them beat.

Down 1 buy in. My month looks pretty good though.

Going on a week long trip this week for work, not sure if they'll be any time for poker. We'll see.

Live Tourney Report - Jun 25

Small turnout for the monthly local tourney - only 26. Was not pleased with my opening table draw - one player I knew was super aggressive and not afraid to put his chips to work. None of the mistake-prone players at my table - I looked lamentfully over at them as they got ready to give their chips to someone else.

Two guys were new to the game, but gave every appearance that they knew what they were doing. When each opened a pot with a normal 3x raise, I knew that there wasn't going to be much smooth sailing.

Won a small pot early with pocket jacks. Raised up 3 limpers and chased them all away but one, then cbet a queen high board. He stayed along for the ride. Fortunately he checked the turn and river and mucked his draw or second pair.

Very little else to tell until the final table - I'm not I had a showdown. Floated down to 9-12 blinds and kept afloat with some timely aggression.

Once at the final table, things tightened up considerably as is often the case. I draw a nice seat - three shortstacks to the left and all waiting for a hand. I kept pounding. - pocket twos, king rag, all stole the blinds for me. I also had enough chips to shove over a preflop raise twice, and got folds both times. Just enough cards at the right time to stay alive.

I got my aces at a good time (is there a bad time?) - a shorty pushed over me (less than half of a 3x bet) with AT and I held up. (wasn't easy, three clubs on the flop had me fading one more). A double up would have been better, but knocking someone out wasn't bad either.

I also avoided aces twice. In the first, an under the gun player made it 2x. I knew this guy pretty well - not much of a "poker" player per se -more of a guy who waits for a big hand and then bets it. I think this might have been the second time I had ever seen him raise, and it was under the gun to boot. I looked at my big blind king-queen suited. Against most players, this would have been an easy shove or stop-and-go call - against this guy, I folded! He showed his aces to the table.

One other time, things open folded to me in the small blind and I checked out nine-deuce. Marginally good enough to shove given the situation, but I gave it a pass. The player on my left cursed a bit and flipped over his pocket rockets.

The bubble broke after a long while. The long pre-bubble had made the blinds high and most players were sitting with somewhere between 2 and 5 big blinds left. This part would go quickly. After #4 was eliminated and the blinds went up again to 2000-4000, the chip leader had less than 5 blinds left. I had less than 2. We chopped 3 ways, leaving $50 left to play for and name a winner. I was first out after that, bagging a 3rd place finish to go with my three wins and 2 seconds in this tourney.

"Table change, please"

6 seats filled for the Thursday night cash game - which was mostly like trying to get the milk out of coconut. Tough table. Everyone sensed it, too, and the game skill level went up about 2 notches. There was no betting your top pair and getting 3 streets of value from second pair here.

My cards were good early, and I may have even started the fun with some limper raises and three betting (with pocket kings, so hey). Then Mr. Pietzak and I got all in - him with bottom set, me with the old 15 out straight + flush draw. We ran it three times - I hit one of my outs on all three - he hit his boat redraw twice. A fine result, everyone played great on a 60/40 flip and got some money back.

Later my cards went kablooey and I tightened way up, my opportunities vanished. I maintained some semblance of order with a couple steals and one light three bet out of the blinds, but not much was happening.

2 hands worthy of note in the later hours. A raised up a limper with AQ. Wiley 3 bet my raise out of the blinds, and I had a big decision to make. Basically, it came down to whether I thought Wiley was three betting light. There was evidence to support this possibility - I had raised up limpers two or three times already on this evening, so he might be thinking it likely that I'm making a move. This was also a tougher game than our usual Thursday game, and three betting was overall more frequent (though not necessarily by Wiley)

We were not deep here, so calling was not an option with AQ. Basically, I had to decide right now if he was light, and either shove it in, or fold. After quite a bit of thought, I decided that I simply didn't have enough evidence that this was a light three bet, and my AQ wasn't quite good enough to felt. I folded.

I didn't have a problem with my play here - it was the second time around that my play irritated me. This time, I raised from the button with KcQc and Wiley three bet me again. Slightly worse hand, but sooooted. And of course, now I have more evidence of the possibility of light three betting. Another big difference this time around - the stack sizes were a bit bigger, and I could simply call this three bet and play a flop.

However, as some recent off table study has taught me - if you feel that someone is light three betting - you do not not not call a three bet for the purposes of trying to hit a hand. If you do this, you will leak money from your bankroll like a busted pipe, and you will get run over. If you call a three bet from someone whom you suspect is light three betting, you do it with the intention of taking the pot away on the flop. And my problem on this play was that while I did make an attempt at the pot, I didn't make the best play. My cards and situation made for an easy shove all in - as a semi-bluff, mind you, but with good fold equity once you've made the decision that you're up against a light 3 better.

It's funny because after the game I found out what I was up against with my KQ, and the chances are good that my postflop shove would NOT have worked, and therefore would have had to suck out to win that pot. And you know what? I'm still not fine with the way I played it. I think I would have rather made the right play (based on my read) and lost than made a non-optimal play that saved me a few bucks.

we counted out the stacks at the end of the game and I was plus one dollar. That is one hard-earned dollar.

what would you do #2? Nut Flush on a paired board

First, props to my fellow blogger The Poker Meister and his "what would you do" series - I love the way he presents a hand with an open question for discussion. I love it so much, I'm going to copy it occasionally! The only hard part so far is figuring out how he hides a portion of the text, so I'll be experimenting with that until I get it right. On to the hand..

Moooooooooooraaawwwr.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 9 players

SB: $8.07
BB: $3.70
UTG: $11.02
UTG+1: $11.37
MP: $10.00
MP2: $4.00
HJ: $12.54
CO: $3.65
Button: $16.50 (Hero)

Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is Button with (9 players)
UTG raises to $0.20, 5 folds, Hero calls $0.20, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.55) (2 players)
UTG bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.95) (2 players)
UTG bets $0.30, Hero raises to $0.85, UTG calls $0.55

River: ($2.65) (2 players)
UTG bets $1,

lovely card, I go from straight to nut flush. Of course, the board has to pair. He makes a smallish bet, is that enough (along with the rest of his play) to give the green light and raise for value? Or do you nit it up and just call this bet?


See what I did
Hero raises to $5, UTG raises to $9.77, and is all in

And, if you've now thrown up as I did, here's the end.


The inevitable result

Hero calls $4.77

UTG showed , and won ($20.72) with a full house, Jacks full of Queens
Hero mucked
UTG won $20.72
(Rake: $1.47)

Nut straight on the turn, nut flush on the river, but also boated him up. That was the only card in the deck I go broke on. Sigh.

Despite the cooler, I posted a modest victory in 400 hands, so I'm still playing well.

what would you do? open ended on monotone board, facing minbet

Feral Cow Poker
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 9 players

BB: $9.24
UTG: $4.77
UTG+1: $11.52
MP: $4.71
MP2: $1.94
HJ: $4.88
CO: $16.71
Button: $10.56 (Hero)
SB: $13.05

Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is Button with (9 players)
UTG calls $0.10, 5 folds,
Hero raises to $0.45,
First instinct was to call on the button, then remembered that I'm working on increasing my "punish the limper" range to any ace, any pair, any two broadway cards. QTo qualifies, so punish it is.


SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls $0.35

Flop: ($1.05) (2 players)
UTG bets $0.10,
First question, do you call this minbet?

You've flopped an open ended straight draw, but the two hearts of your outs are tainted. No idea if your overcard outs are any good. Seems like I have, at most, 6 outs, but 6 outs gives me 11/1 odds on my card coming on the turn, and he's offering me 10.5/1. Close + implied odds + fold equity if his hand is something I can push him off later (like one heart that doesn't get there). I make the call.

Hero calls $0.10

Turn: ($1.25) (2 players)
Bingo - straight city. A nice card, but he could have been sucking me in with a made flush. Seeing as he started with half a stack, I don't really care. I'm not folding a straight for half a stack, especially if he's chasing hearts with some of his range.

UTG bets $0.10,
The minbet again, looks weak/scared to me. Gotta hope he has one heart and get it in. If he's sucking me in with a flush, nice hand by him. I think the shove looks the most bluffy.

Hero raises to $4.35, UTG calls $4.12, and is all in

River: ($9.69) (2 players)

UTG showed , and lost with three of a kind, Nines
Hero showed , and won ($9.05) with a straight, King high
Hero won $9.05
(Rake: $0.64)

Moral of the story - don't minbet.

off the table work

Not much real poker last night - was pretty tired (as I always am the day after playing live until midnight and going to work the next day), but I did a fair amount of off the table work...

HUD rearranging. I'm back to some Rush poker on FullTilt, where I prefer a full 9 man table, my 9 man cash HUD does not have all the data elements I want on it (my 6 man HUD is sweet, however). Did a bit of work getting that up to par.

Video watching. Took in a couple of training videos over the weekend and last night - the subject is basic blind stealing and defense. Have already spotted a few tweaks I plan on implementing to my game.

Keep working, keep improving....

trading punches

Sunday night cash game(!) Our cash game is really an amalgam of two smaller games - the "neighborhood" guys and the "original" guys. The original guys were a group that played twice a week many years ago, but now barely at all. I'm part of the neighborhood group, and me (along with Tony) kind of serve as the "bridge" that brought the two groups together.

Anyway, one of the original guys can't really play much on Thursdays anymore, so he decided to try and re-stoke their old Sunday game. Tough sledding this week with Father's day and all, but we did manage to find 5 degenerate gamblers players ready to play.

The original guys, overall, are much more accomplished players than the neighborhood guys. Relying on getting value for your decent hands is not enough against this group. Many of them are capable of c-betting, floating cbets, donkbetting into the raiser and so forth.

Three of the other four players I had played with before - the last guy was new to me. I felt like the one weakness that these three guys shared was being a bit too tight, preflop, and definitely not aggressive enough (still plenty of limping even 5 handed). Therefore, my strategy going in, especially at a 5 handed table, was to LAG it up a bit.

This worked to some effect early one with blind stealing and such. In the first hour, I showed down two pocket pairs that became strong postflop hands - sixes that became a boat (won a small pot vs. someone whom I knew wasn't strong enough to call a big bet) and sevens that plugged the gut of a one card straight (slightly bigger pot, more hidden hand, more two-pair possibilities to call me). But I think my preflop raising of these smaller pairs perked up the radar of the table and they started opening up a bit to defend me. I got pushed off two pots with strong donkbets and didn't have enough information to decide they might be bluffing.

I won my biggest pot of the night from the new player. As I was trying to figure out his style, I watched him play a hand against another player that raised my radar. The flop came jack high and he bet. The turn brought a second diamond and he bet again. The river brought a third diamond, and another jack, and he quickly bet a third time. This could not have been a strong hand, in my estimation. That river brought a third jack and a flush wasn't met with any thought or decision on how to extract value - it appeared to be a blind "I have something and I'm going to bet" type of thing. No thought of aces being cracked or trip jacks getting flushed out. My suspicions were confirmed when he was forced to show down his hand - pocket tens. Not a bad hand, sure (and a winner this time), but not much thought on what the opponent might be holding. Could I use this information to my advantage?

It turns out that I got my opportunity. I checked my option with ace-nine-off in the big blind in a limped pot. A flop of ace-jack-six rainbow came out. I checked and the new guy bet out. I could checkraise, certainly, but I felt like a different line might earn me some more money based on my observation of his previous hand. I called.

The turn paired the bottom card with another six. This was mostly a good card for me - I no longer had to worry about ace-ten outkicking me, and I discounted bigger aces because this was a limped pot and not a raised one. Him holding a six was obviously a problem, but I decided to stick with my plan and check-call to the river unless he bet really large or something.

The river brought a queen - a pretty harmless card - one more likely to help his range a bit (maybe a two pair jack-queen, or a single pair), and more likely to let him fire one more time. I checked. This time he thought for maybe a second or two before making a solid bet. I thought equally long and called - he mucked without showing. (not great etiquette, by the way, I paid to see those cards, but I made the mistake of showing first. I should have held my cards out face down and waited for him to show, but I think he would have mucked even in that case).

He appeared to be steaming a bit afterward on his bluff gone bad, and this dynamic changed the table condition for awhile. Soon after, I raised a button with jack-queen suited and he defended from his blind. The board came Ace-three-four and he checked. I glanced over at him and he seemed fully engaged, fully interested in this board. My radar went up. "Checkraise coming", it said. I checked behind. The turn brought a low card and he checked again. Now, I might have been on the lookout for a trap, but there's no way I let someone check twice out of position without me stabbing at the pot. I stabbed away, and he called. I knew right away what was going on - he was trying to return the favor of letting me bluff down the river with a hand he intended to call to showdown.

The river brought another baby card and he checked again. I had deciphered his intention was to call (oh to have hit a bullshit wheel straight here!), and I had queen high, so I checked behind. He revealed pocket queens! A bit stronger than I thought, but my general read was true - he was waiting for me to bluff my stack away, and I didn't oblige the request.

Only 3 hours of poker as we chose to break up to get some semblance of sleep for the week ahead. I ended up +30 big blinds.

wild hand last night...

Pocket tens for me. I limped behind one other because I had already iso-raised him 3 times and I thought he was going to start getting frisky. We go 4 handed to the flop.

962, all hearts. I do have the ten of hearts. Check from blind, and bet from first limper. I decide to raise with my overpair, but not too big - representing a pot building move with the nut flush. I hope to clear out some garbage like broadway non-hearts and buy myself some overcard outs. Then it gets interesting.

Cold Call of the raise.
ReRaise all in (from shorty big blind, not much more than my raise).
ReReRaise all in from big stack early limper.

Ok, I guess I found out where I was at. I fold. Then, the last player behind me calls the all-in too! We get to flip over three way, and see:

UTG limper: a set of nines.
limper behind me: a set of deuces.
big blind shorty: jack-high flush.

the flush is in the lead, and stands to triple up of the board doesn't pair.

the turn - black ten. Now I would have had top set!

river - another six. The board pairs. Nines full of sixes wins it, stacks deuces full of sixes and a flush. I would have ended up with the best hand, but my fold was obviously correct there. No regrets at all.

Just crazy, though, had I stayed in, we would have had three full houses and a flush banging away at a giant pot.

cash game report

Stayed in the black, barely, +13BB. Biggest loss came early - free play with J6 in the big blind, trip sixes on flop, bet for value on three streets vs. the worst chaser at the table. He calls all three streets and flips over king-six to outkick me. Bad luck there.

Biggest win also came early - my second three bet of the night, Tony makes a powerplay shove thinking I have to fold everything except aces and kings. Sadly for him, I have kings and stack his nines.

Tony and Mr. Pietzak have rough nights and cut out early. We play 5 handed for much of the night - I lapse into a limpy, fit-or-fold mold for awhile and nothing comes of that. Breaking out of it, I kick my aggression up but the cards don't go my way (3 betting pocket nines then seeing a flop of KJA isn't much fun). I keep above water raising some limpers and playing my button hard.

A tough night overall - three people walk out with empty pockets - luckbox Wiley walks out with most of the cash. I'll take the modest victory.

kicked in the junk for a good cause

Thanks to OhCaptain for putting on a sweet tourney - I even made the money, finishing 5th out of 61 runners.

As is their wont, The poker gods both giveth and taketh away on this evening. I was blessed with pocket aces four times in the 356 hand tourney, when I should have expected to receive them only 1 or 2 times in this number of hands. Of course, I might have been better off not receiving them, as they were cracked 2 out of the 4 times, including a stunning, jaw-dropping suckout on my bustout hand to leave me staring at the monitor and wondering whom I had pissed off and how badly.

We were 5 handed - all five were competent, aggressive players. Most of the game was preflop - raise and folds, or raise, reraise and fold. I was the short stack with 14 big blinds, one other player (OhCaptain himself) was close to me. Someone raised my big blind and I had the rockets waiting for them. Instead of reraising, since I knew I would be heads up, I chose to call and checkraise shove any flop.

The flop came deuce, six, eight rainbow - harmless enough. I carried out my plan and checked, after a sneaky two second "oh no, what do I do now that I've missed" pause - and my opponent bet big - committing himself to the pot. Perfection personified. Patting myself on the back, I shoved it in. After his requisite "whoopsie, hand caught in the cookie jar" 3 second pause - he called, with ace-six. Middle pair. Getting all your money in the middle as a 9:1 favorite at the final table of a multiway tourney is a sweet feeling indeed...

...until another six rolls off on the turn.

2-outed to the rail. Man, that hurts. Oh well, all for a good cause.

session review 6/15

down 1 buy-in, 642 hands of Rush NL10. Only 2 hands won over 30 BB (both pocket aces), and 4 hands lost. Reviewing the 4 losses:

Attempt blind steal with 7Ts, bb defends - hit a 773 flop. Villain leads out, I call. Turn is a 4, villain leads .20 into .95 pot. I raise, he calls. River jack and he bets pot (actually a bit over pot). Do I fold trips there? I probably should, but I don't. He's got 33 and flopped the boat. The small flop and turn bets looked weak to me, so he outplayed me that time. Nice hand by him. Gotta watch out for that minbet/minbet/POT line - usually a monster. But I had a pretty big hand too.

Raise 99 preflop, button calls. He's a shortstack with 3.81 left on the flop - the pot is .95 - our SPR is 4.0. Board comes 358 rainbow, all under my nines. I check, he bets exactly pot, I put him all in. He calls.. with pocket tens. Bad luck there I think.

Cutoff raises - his steal percentage is 67 after 139 hands. I threebet him with pocket tens on the button, he calls the threebet. Flop is ace-ace-six. check/check. Turn is a third ace. He bets pot. He's another shortstacker with 20 blinds left after his turn bet. This can easily be a move, and the chance of him 4betting me preflop with JJ-KK is high, so I put him on a smaller pocket pair now, or air. I put him all in., for value. He's got ace-king for quads.

I call on the cutoff with 9s7s - third limper into the pot. Flop is 9c3s5s - top pair + flush draw. One of the limper bets pot. I raise and he calls. Turn is a king - he bets 0.80 into a $7 pot. Thanks for the odds buddy, I'll take them. River bricks with a 4c, he bets .70 into an 8.65 pot. I call the laughable bet. Pocket queens for him. Oh brother.

I had a number of $2 losses as well - mostly chasing draws and not hitting them. Don't think I played terribly, but like I mentioned last night - one hand can make the difference. Let me hit the flush with the 97 hand and I'm even or slightly ahead. An ok session, results weren't great, but we're not supposed to be results-oriented, right?

one hand either way can make or break the session

666 hands of Rush 10NL tonight (Dio would have been proud). An even session - won some, lost some. Down to a $6 loss, then chipped up to a $2 win, then back down losing half a buy-in with jacks to kings (people on the button should NOT show up with kings - that's not fair. Thankfully the flop was all hearts which I think kept his value bets down)

I knew that I was playing well - my reads were good, I was sticking to profitable ranges, and I wasn't making huge postflop mistakes. - I just needed that one hand to make my session.

Converting hands till the cows come home
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 9 players

HJ: $4.49
CO: $11.06
Button: $5.92
SB: $19.66
BB: $10.62 - 25/0, only 12 hands.
UTG: $9.51 - 12/6 nit/setminer, only 17 hands though
UTG+1: $10.88 - no hands at all, total unknown
MP: $4.00
MP2: $14.44 (Hero)

Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is MP2 with (9 players)
UTG calls $0.10, UTG+1 raises to $0.40, MP folds, Hero calls $0.40, 4 folds, BB calls $0.30, UTG calls $0.30

the nit limps UTG, and gets immediately iso-raised. I considered re-raising here, but this more or less turns my hand into a bluff, and my villain is a total unknown, so I have no knowledge that he even knows how to isolate with a wide range. He could actually have a big hand. I may open myself up to a squeeze by calling so early, but pocket tens are too strong to fold, so the only play left is to call. We hit the flop 4-handed.

Flop: ($1.65) (4 players)

Pretty good flop for me, I would say. Top set and two babies, and a flush draw for someone to chase.

BB checks,
UTG bets $1, Even better, UTG comes out swinging. Why would he lead out with the raiser behind him?

UTG+1 raises to $2.80, The dream sequence - looks like the iso-raiser has an overpair. Do I smooth call and try trap both of them? Maybe they both have overpairs! (did original limper limp with aces to trap?) A thousand possibilities whip through the mind, but in the end I decide no freaking heart draw is getting there for free against me. It looks like UTG+1 has a hand he's willing to go with, so I raise it up...

Hero raises to $5, BB folds,

UTG raises to $9.11, and is all in. It just gets better and better - UTG has a hand he's willing to go with too!. Let's say top pair, overpair, set, or heart draw. Now all I need is UTG+1 to call or shove over him...

UTG+1 folds, Damn. He thought about it for quite a bit, but he decided two people raising after his raise meant his top pair/overpair was no good. Nice fold by him. Ok, now all I have to do is avoid the suckout...

Hero calls $4.11

Turn: ($22.67) (2 players) Nice of the poker gods to quad me up on the turn, making the river meaningless.

River: ($22.67) (2 players)

UTG showed , and lost with a full house, Twos full of Tens
Hero showed , and won ($21.16) with four of a kind, Tens
Hero won $21.16
(Rake: $1.51)

Set over set. Everyone played perfectly - you don't fold sets for 100 big blinds in NLHE, you go broke with them. The hand really played itself post-flop, I was fortunate to be on the top end of this one. It gave me another winning night and 4 out of 5 winning sessions at my new NL10 level.