2 HU $5 + .50 End 1st 5 hands

Not a lot to say about this one beyond short & sweet. It deludes you into thinking you might really know how to play poker. :-) My opponent was from Italy & he was very aggressive from the start.

Hand 1. I had 3h 5s as SB and decided to just limp in as I was still adding the session into my little red book. He raises me to 260 and I, of course, fold.

Hand 2 he slowed down. As BB I had Jc 4s, he limps and I check. Flop Kd 10c Kc. I bet 20 and he surprised me by just calling. Turn Ac. I have a J high flush draw and again I min bet 20 figuring if he bets something that does take most of my chips I might call him, but instead he just folds. Doesn't look like if I'd bet more aggressively I'd have picked up any more chips.

Hand 3. SB I have 3d 4s and bet 2 BB's (40) and he raises me to 120. I fold. It's looking like this may be a difficult match for me to figure out when I can make plays. Now it may be that he just had very good cards these early hands and is betting them, or he's just playing certain cards very hard. Since I've not seen any of his cards I don't know. I believe he is seeing me as a cautious, if not tight player, to this point. I'm certainly one who has been backing down to his large raises.

Hand 4. As BB I have 10d 4h, SB limps in and I check. Flop 4d 10c 8s, giving me a top & bottom two pair. Nice. I check to see what he'll do and if all goes as I hope he'll respond with a large bet and I'll be able to raise that. He bets 100 into the 40 pot and I raise him to 200, expecting he might fire back aggressively. He does, reraising me by going all-in with his1500 chips. My thought is he might have a nice overpair to the flop cards. I'm hoping he doesn't have top two pair on the board, which has happened to me from time to time. I decide to call (checking later, Poker Stove has me 87/13 against a random hand). He shows Jh 10h. He only has top pair, not as good as I expected for such a large bet. Turn 5d. River 9s. He didn't suck out and I win. He has 40 chips left.

Hand 5. I have Qc Js as SB and bet 40 to put him all-in .. a no brainer on my part. He calls and shows Qs 10c. He has one good card and a better spade flush draw, I have the better club flush draw if the cards fall that way. River 3c 6h 8c. Turn Kc. Looking good. River 6c. I win, yeah! :-), nice start to my playing day.