LV Trip Plans

Nothing dampens the thrill of an impending poker trip like a bad downswing in the preceding week. Neverfear, whines/incriminating charts are forthcoming. Downswings really sap my desire to play. But I only get one chance this year to play poker in Vegas, so I've got to try to stoke the fire manually.

I'm definitely not playing any more PLO between now and Friday, and my current thought is that I won't plan on playing much PLO cash in Vegas. I hear that the PLO games play big in Vegas - they're generally $2-$5 and play deep and wild. I'm probably a little too rattled by PLO right now to want to take that on. Which is a bummer, since it's probably my strongest game right now.

That said, my weekend plan is starting to look like this:
- Friday: Head to Rio while my crew (3 other friends) register for event #36 on Saturday. I think I may play 1, maybe 2 satellites at most for that event. If I fail, then I'm just going to ditch it and hit the $1-$3 NLHE cash games, either at the Rio or at Aria (where we'll be staying).
- Saturday: Again at Rio, sweating friends and grinding cash. Playing WSOP on outside chance of satellite win. If I have some early success at $1-$3, I may jump up to $2-$5 and dip my toes in the PLO games. Saturday night, party with friends from LA who will be coming in.
- Sunday: Play either the Venetian deepstack or Caesar's megastack (both around $350 buyin) at noon. If I bust early, play more NLHE cash.
- Monday: This day is open. I might play another deepstack event. I might just want to play another full day of cash games. Or, I might do some extracurriculars, like hitting the 100x odds craps tables downtown.
- Tuesday: Very small early morning window before flight. Probably no poker.

Alright, this is working. I'm getting psyched just thinking about my plans. And I didn't even mention plans to make badly uninformed bets on World Cup games, spend some modicum of time at the Vdara pool (can't be surrounded by filthy poker dudes the whole trip, right?), and dump money into the casino coffers playing Pai Gow and BJ.

2 In The Flesh - Results

Alright, thanks for the comments on the 2 live action hands. I got a nice range of responses.

Hand 1)
Preflop: 4 limpers, I have Ad-Ts in the BB and check. Pot is $11.
Flop: Th-6c-3s. I lead for $7, 1 MP calls, CO raises to $30. MP has $80 behind, CO has $110 behind. What's the best play here?

This is a really awkward spot. The flop is ultra-dry, and I'm getting my TPTK raised by a non-aggro villain. It looks pretty strong. At the time we were playing, I thought there had to be a good chance that he had a set of 3's or 6's. But I convinced myself that he might make this play with KT or AT, or possibly 45. After all, I'm leading from the SB, so he has to think that I may be leading a lot of T-x hands that can't stand a raise. So I called, thinking I could get away if the 45 OESD got there, or if something like a Q or K peeled and he kept blasting away. The MP girl folded.

So the pot was $78. The turn was an A, giving me top 2 but not really changing anything if my read was right. I checked, he bet another $30, and after some deliberation I decided to ship in the rest. I figured he may still call with KT, not expecting the A to have helped me. Or, he may make a bad call with 45 and try to river his straight. He tanked for a minute and then called off his last $80. He showed 3-6 for a flopped 2-pair, and the river bricked.

We jawed at each other a little bit afterwards, with him basically calling me a donkey for thinking my AT was good after his flop raise, and me countering that I didn't expect a decent player to be in there with 3-6. I told him I thought he might make that raise with a T, and he said he would never do that.

Good call by Wonka, Mojo, Meister. Bad call by me (and great turn!), and especially bad call by Hef. :)

But in all seriousness, I don't think I would ever re-pop that flop, at least not against this villain. It's a limped pot, so a 3-bet here is only getting called by better hands - sets and 2-pairs. It was a mistake to add 4-5 to his range, and that's the only hand you would want to be 3-betting for value on the flop. The last thing we want to do against KT is 3-bet and let him get away easily.

Another point on this hand is my initial comment - it's harder for me to lay down hands like this live, since the action is so much slower, and it's hard to know how long it will be until you get a hand as playable as TPTK. And since I only get 3-5 hour live action windows, sometimes I can go for entire sessions without much happening. So I force things to happen, which rarely turns out good. But this was one of those fortunate times.

Hand 2)
Villain in this hand has a small clue about how to play, but has no idea how to size his bets, and I have seen him make some random bluffs.

Preflop: I won the previous pot so I post a $5 kill and I'm on the button. 2 EP player limp and I check 45o. SB folds and BB calls. Pot is $21.
Flop: 7-8-Q rainbow. It checks around to me and I check it through.
Turn: 6. UTG limper leads for $7, UTG+1 calls, and I call. Pot is $40.
River: 8. UTG leads for $23. UTG+1 folds. It's on me and UTG has $60 behind. Hero?

I thought it was interesting how many of you are suggesting a river shove here, especially when the river card is so ugly, pairing the board and putting me behind a bunch of hands. Only Mojo seemed committed to a call, everyone else suggesting a shove. I was actually waffling between calling and folding.

Let's examine the action - UTG checks the flop and then leads the turn...this suggests a couple possibilities:
a) He had a big hand on the flop and was hoping to trap (Q8/77/88...78 less likely, since I think most people would bet to protect a vulnerable bottom 2 pair)
b) He has made a hand on the turn and wants to get value (66/76/86/9T/59/54)
c) He now feels good about a weak made hand after the flop checked through (Q-x/8-x)
d) He has decided to bluff or semi-bluff (5-x/9-x) from OOP with a small 1/3 pot bet.

Now on the river, the 8 pairs, and he leads out again from OOP, and this time for more (still only about 1/2 pot, but I think in his eyes it was a big bet). To my mind, this eliminates all of the Q-x hands in category c), and also eliminates some of the hands in category b), like 76. What's left? A bunch of boats, some 8-x hands, and the unlikely bluff. It's a small pot and I'm only in it b/c I posted a kill...do I really want to ship it here and risk dumping off 50BBs in a limped pot?

I actually thought he was strong, and had it been a bigger pot, I may well have folded. But I made what I thought was the crying call, mainly on the thought that he would be making this bet with a wide range of 8-x hands. He showed A-6, which really falls into the unlikely bluff category. Shipping wouldn't have gotten a call here, but it's worth wondering whether it would have gotten a call from 8-x.

I had a pretty solid session, starting with $160 and leaving with $410, so now I'm all psyched to get back out there again. Back home, I'm still grinding PLO, but I'm losing patience, so I may be back at the 6-max NLHE games before too long.

2 In The Flesh

After negotiating my way into a night of live poker ($1-$2NLHE), I found myself in a funny but familiar position - having just a few short hours to balance my desire to get in as much action as possible with the need to play a smart, winning game.  This is such a common story for me as a poker hobbyist (an enthusiast, but still, given the short shrift of time poker gets, ultimately just a hobbyist).  I love the nuance of the live game, but the online game gives me the fully immersive action of multi-tabling and having the action come by spitfire.

Anyways, keep that in mind as you considering these two hands I played.  What's the right action in these spots?

Hand 1) 

The CO in this hand is a Middle Eastern guy that I've played with many times.  He plays a lot of hands but is a thinking player.  He's not terribly aggressive but limps with a wide range and may continue with a wide range, especially in a small pot.  MP is a young Asian girl playing a short stack who I have never seen get out of line post-flop.  I expect her play to be very straightforward.

Preflop: 4 limpers, I have Ad-Ts in the BB and check.  Pot is $11.

Flop: Th-6c-3s.  I lead for $7, 1 MP calls, CO raises to $30.  MP has $80 behind, CO has $110 behind.  What's the best play here?

Hand 2)

Villain in this hand has a small clue about how to play, but has no idea how to size his bets, and I have seen him make some random bluffs.

Preflop: I won the previous pot so I post a $5 kill and I'm on the button.  2 EP player limp and I check 45o.  SB folds and BB calls.  Pot is $21.

Flop: 7-8-Q rainbow.  It checks around to me and I check it through.

Turn: 6.  UTG limper leads for $7, UTG+1 calls, and I call.  Pot is $40.

River: 8.  UTG leads for $23.  UTG+1 folds.  It's on me and UTG has $60 behind.  Hero?

Disconnected

Been disconnected from online poker for most of the past week, but not fully disconnected from poker. In a strange twist, I've found myself playing a good amount of live poker lately. I've been squeezing live sessions in by pushing them late into the evening, starting around 10pm when the homestead is starting to ease in for the night. This has made for some rough days following late-night poker sessions, but it has been worth it.

Being able to play in these live 1-2 games with buddies (usually David, Stephen, or Scott) is really the difference and what makes it worthwhile, since having someone to chat with and sweat out hands helps me overcome my biggest weakness in moving from online multi-tabling to the slooow full table grind - patience. Of course, I also love talking strategy at the table with my friends. I realize it is generally a big no-no, since it gives up a ton of information - how well I understand the game, my take on certain situations, etc. But, if you've played live, you know that it's nearly impossible to whisper to a neighbor quietly enough that no one else can overhear you. And it looks sketchy to be constantly whispering directly into someone's ear while sitting at the table and my draw outcries from other players. So I've decided I'm willing to give up a little edge in order to stay entertained and keep a discussion going with a friend.

No matter how much I mumble about strategy with friends, I doubt it will do much to improve the play of guys like one I played with early this week. I was at a 1-2 game with 2 friends, and all 3 of us managed to score huge pots, all in somewhat tough spots, all against the same maniac.

I had the benefit of watching both of my buddies make correct hero-calls against this guy before it got to my turn. Both times, he raised pre-flop, C-bet, checked the turn, then made a big bet on the river. Both times he was on a pure bluff and got caught.

One final piece of history. I played one hand with this villain in which we saw a flop of 7-7h-Th, and the villain made a donk-lead (he wasn't the PFR), I called with 8h-9h. He checked offsuit 8 turn, I bet and he folded. He told me after the hand that he had A2, and thought he could take it on a scary board. Nice to know, thank you very much.

Here's the relevant hand:
I have ~$290, villain covers me.

I get 56o and limp from MP. LP guy with big stack raises to $12, Villain in SB calls, one other EP player calls, and I make the loose call.
I was trying to see a lot of cheap flops, hit something big, and stack somebody. The table was limpy enough that I think this was a good approach.

4 way flop comes 4-7-K rainbow.
Villain donk-leads from SB for $25. I call and everyone folds.
I almost raised here, but thought I might prefer a bigger pot with a few more players, in case I hit one of my decently well-disguised OESD outs.

Turn is a 7, putting 2 clubs up. Villain checks and I check behind.

River is an Ad. He takes his time before counting out $75 to bet into a $100 pot. I have about $175 behind, and after about 10 seconds, I shove it all in. Villain instafolds.
I honestly think he had no hand-reading skills, and put almost no thought into my actions. I thought my shove would like like 44/A7/K7, but I doubt he gave it that much thought. He would again admit to having complete air.

It felt nice to make the kind of move that I never have the guts to make, and have it pay off. That's the kind of move I would almost never make online, so chalk it up to live feel and read, which is something I never thought I'd practice enough to really develop. But extra time on the live felt has me feeling a little differently about it this week.

PLO Hands - 1 tourney, 1 cash

2 interesting PLO hands, IMO, that have been marinating for a little while in my mind. The hands aren't really related in any way, but I figured I would knock them both out here at once.

Tourney Hand

The first hand was from an online Pot-limit HA (half holdem, half omaha) tournament. Somehow, I lost the HH, but should be able to remember most of the details. The tourney started with just over 100 runners, and at the time of this hand, we were down to the final 2 tables. I think there were 16 players left when this hand came up. The tournament paid out 12, so we're nearing the bubble.

The blinds are 200-400 with 50 chip ante, and I'm sitting on a stack of about 14000, which is slightly above average. It's the PLO round, and I get dealt 6c-7c-7-8 on the button. The CO, with a short stack of 4000, pots it to 1700. It's borderline, but I decide to call. The SB, with about 11K, also calls, and we see the flop 3 ways.

The flop comes 5-6-Q rainbow. The SB checks and the CO moves in for his last 2300. Given my pair plus OESD, it's a pretty easy call. Then, the SB ships in his remaining 9K+.

I don't play a whole lot of tournament PLO, so this was a weird spot for me. But let's start with the PF action... I hold a decent PLO hand, one worth seeing a flop cheaply, and which benefits from good implied odds. In this case, I can play pretty close to perfect against the CO, since he is almost guaranteed to get the rest of his chips in. But this close to the bubble, should I be calling a raise for 15% of my stack with a marginal hand? Folding PF would probably have been fine.

I think my call of the CO's push is easy, but once the SB shoves, I am in a tough spot. I would be calling ~7K to win almost 19K. But losing puts me on a pretty short stack of ~3K. If I'm up against a set and a draw similar to mine, I'm in really rough shape, and the same goes if I'm up against a dominating draw (7-8-9). At best, I'm up against 2-pair (SB) and high connected cards (CO), in which case I could be as good as 40% to win.

I ultimately made the call and found myself up against 2-pair from the SB (Q-J-9-5) and high cards (A-Q-J-9) from the CO, pretty much the best case scenario. But I bricked out, and busted out 14th a few hands later.

My guess is that the primary mistake was the one PF, where I should be giving bigger consideration to where we are in the tournament, and not putting myself at risk to lose a lot of chips. If I am entering pots, I should be raising, and not calling, to take advantage of FE. Anyone hate my play, at any spot in this hand?

Live Hand

The second interesting hand came from live $1-$2 PLO play during my recent Vegas trip. The villain was a young guy who seemed to know what he was doing and hadn't made much noise in the 45 minutes or so that he had been sitting at the table. Villain has $220 and I cover.

An EP raiser makes it $10, MP villain calls, I call from the CO with Ah-Qc-Jc-Td, the button calls, and the BB calls. $50 pot.

Flop is Kc-2h-5h. EP checks, Villain bets 20, I call and others fold.

There are a couple of interesting things about the action here. One thing I find in PLO, especially in multi-way pots, is that the action from early position tends to be extremely straightforward and honest. Given the dryness of the board, the Villain betting here likely means 2-pair or a baby set, bet for value. Unless he has a monster straight+flush draw combo, he probably doesn't want to lead out and find himself out of position with just a one-way draw. My opponent is handicapped by his position in a big way...I know he isn't semi-bluffing the nut flush draw, since I have the Ah. So I'm in a good spot to make a dry-A bluff if another heart falls.

The second thing to consider is my hand and the strength of my backdoor draws. There are quite a few cards in the deck (any A/Q/J/T/9) that can fall and give me a big nut-straight wrap draw heading to the river. Plus, I have a backdoor 2nd-nut club draw. Now, it isn't always correct to call a flop bet with only backdoor draws. The key factors are stack depth and opponent bet-sizing. Stack depth is key since backdoor draws are by definition less likely to hit, but get paid well when they do since they are disguised and tough to read. Bet-sizing is critical because if you are facing a pot-sized bet on the flop, and another likely PSB on the turn, then you are unlikely to be getting the right odds to draw, even if you get part-way to your draw on the turn. But against an opponent making a small flop bet, you can often anticipate either a check or another smallish bet on the turn. After all, why would they suddenly change their story from weak to strong when the turn falls.

Now back to the hand...

Turn is the Ad, giving me top pair and a 9-out broadway wrap. Villain bets out 50 into a $90 pot, and I have an easy call now.

The river is the Tc, giving me the nuts. Villain bets $100, leaving only $40 behind. I shove for his remaining chips, and shockingly, he folds pretty quickly, leaving me to think he was either stone bluffing with a heart draw that whiffed.

Of course it takes some luck to have a backdoor draw come in like that. But if you recognize good hands and situations to play strong, multi-way backdoor draws, you can make a decent profit of it...and also enjoy the berating you'll receive for catching up from so far behind.

Lost Time

It would seem odd that a purported poker blogger would hype up a trip to Vegas and then fall completely silent once that trip has come and gone. Well, I can only explain it like this - it went pretty badly, I was fully burnt out by the end of the trip and ready to take a month+ break from poker. But I wiped that silliness out of my head pretty quickly.

I'm pretty sure it goes like this for all poker enthusiasts... When you're winning, the appetite is pretty much insatiable, and you play as much as you can, in which case your level of degeneracy is determined by how many other important facets of your life you put aside to make poker the #1 priority. When you're losing, you burn out quickly and promise to take a break or quit completely, in which case your level of degeneracy is determined by how quickly you forget about the whole thing and return to the felt.

The Vegas trip thrust me into the latter scenario, and it basically took me about 10 days to get over it. Not sure where that puts me on the degeneracy scale, but either way, I feel alright about it.

Basically, I started out my Vegas trip on a losing streak and never fully recovered. In literally my first orbit playing 1-2 at Imperial Palace, I got all-in PF with AA vs. KK vs. KT, and saw 9-J-Q hit the flop. Fortunately, the KT was a $60 short-stack, but it still turned a coulda-been $230 win into a $110 one. The pain of that loss was doubled when the KT guy, a loose-passive redhead (we'll call him Red), who was ready to leave on the all-in hand, later hero-called my river bet to take down a $170 pot.

In that hand, I raised J9s from MP to $10, got called by the tight old cowboy to my right and by Red in the BB. The flop came 2-4-5 rainbow, and I C-bet $20, which both players called. The turn was an 8 and it checked through. The river was a K, I fired $40 into $90, cowboy folded, and after tanking, Red called with AQo and scooped it. I guess he figures I'm 2-barrelling the turn with pocket pair better than 8's, which polarizes me on the river to AK/KQ or air. It was a good call, but I would later find out that Red was a total spewmonster, and I would eventually get a piece of it too.

So I ended the first night down $165, but felt good heading into Thursday, where I planned to play the Caesar's $330 megastack event. I enjoyed that event, which has a great structure, but I was completely card-dead, catching nothing better than TT over 5 hours of play, before finally shipping it in from UTG with 44 and an M of 6. Got called by KK and that was that.

Over the remaining course of the weekend, I rarely got much going at the NLHE tables, although I did end up back at a table with Red from the first night. We were at the Rio playing 1-3NL. We played 3 big hands...basically, this dude was calling any raise with any 2, so these are really just all of the hands that I raised. In the first one, Red, sitting 3 to my right, limped for $3, and I raised to $17 from the button. I ended up isolated against him, and we saw an 8x-8c-5c flop. I led for $28, he shoved for $85, and I called. He had been playing any 2, but had generally been a calling station and not an aggressive raiser, so perhaps that should have been a sign. However, given his short stack and the number of draws out, there was no way I was folding. He turned up 82o, I missed my 2-outer, and he scooped it. I was fairly well steamed and the entire table was shocked (and also drooling over the fact that he now held a $200 stack).

I would get a small piece back later when I flopped my first cash-game set of the trip (3 days in!) with 99, extracting 2 streets before he folded the river. It was a limped pot, so I only got about $25 off him in that hand. But I would get the rest from him shortly thereafter, when he decided to slowplay a turned 2-pair, checking a turn that eventually got checked around and allowed me to river an OESD. He shipped it in and I snapped him off for a ~$150 pot.

Those were the NLHE cash game highlights as I remember them. There were some more interesting spots that I remembered for a while, but have slipped my mind now that we're 2 weeks past the trip.

I only played one tourney after the $330 one, when we returned to Caesar's for their $160 7pm megastack tourney. This tourney was also a good value, with a decent amount of play for the buy-in. 218 players entered, and I ran really well in this one, making it down to the final 2 tables (18 paid). I was thriving on a short stack until, with 12 players left, I called an EP shove with KK. Opponent turned up A9, and A hit the flop, and I was done. Had I won that I probably would have cruised to the final table and pulled down at least $1K. Sigh. I still won $225 for my efforts.

Despite feeling crappy about my poker play, when all was said and done I was only down about $250 for the trip in poker tourneys and cash (I forgot to mention that PLO treated me quite well...I won some $300+ in PLO cash games). The kicker was the money I blew at table games. I didn't walk away a winner from a single one of the table games I played over the course of my 5-day trip. I lost at Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, and Pai-Gow, to the tune of $730. The next poker trip is going to be poker-only. All it takes is one trip like that to lose your taste for games that are stacked against you.

Okay, that's enough about the trip. I'm trying to get back into the online swing. And I'll have a post coming soon with my overdue June results.

The Live Grind

Last week I played at a local poker house in a $1-$2 NL game. It's always a somewhat strange experience, given how frequently I play online 6-max, to sit in a full ring live game. My strategy and style of play is calibrated to online shorthanded games, so I find myself making some big mistakes in these games. Here are the biggest ones:

1) Not noticing stack sizes

This is easy to do for several reasons: One, there is no little number floating over each player's head showing the exact size of their stack (waiting for the software upgrade on that one). Two, the game is slow, such that when you wake up and find yourself in a hand, you often haven't taken a good look at each player's stack in some time. And three, it isn't all that easy to look at someone's stack and determine exactly how much they have.

As a result of this mistake, I've found myself trying to steal pots from committed opponents. I've also made bad calls due to miscalculated implied odds.

2) Firing multiple barrels against calling stations

The 1-2 games I play are dominated by people who want to spend a couple of hours playing poker. This means playing a good number of hands and seeing a lot of flops. It also means sticking around in a lot of hands, whether it be wise or not. I donked off a decent portion of my stack double-barrelling in 2 different spots. One on a K-high board against a loose fish with K-8o, another on an A-high board against a guy with A-5o. The lesson against most of these players is simple: value bet them to death, and if you want to take a stab at an orphaned pot, one stab will do.

3) C-betting too much

This is a corollary to problem 2), accentuated by the fact that, even in a raised pot, there are usually 4 or more players calling and seeing the flop. As a result, when you miss the flop, unless it is a super-dry flop, it is likely that someone got a piece. In general, the C-bet doesn't have the effect that it used to, and in live games, that statement is even more true. So unless it's a 2- or 3-handed flop, I will forego a C-bet on a lot of flops that I would automatically bet online.

*************************************************

So yeah, I make some common mistakes. Overall, I love these live games. It's always more fun to add in all of the little details of a live game - the chips, the reads, the banter. And, these games are far easier to beat. But, it takes an amazing amount of patience. Grinding these games is really grinding, because these games can be so loose that you are best off waiting for made hands to get paid off.

Some time back, I asked a group of poker-playing friends how I could open up my game to play more loosely, thinking that this would be a good way to adjust my style to try and take advantage of some of the bad players at these games. It's probably fine to try to make a change like that, if I commit to it, and deal with a painful adjustment period and some higher variance. But I have realized that I really just need to stick to a TAG approach to crush these games. Which means long periods with no action, and some night where I play for 4 hours and only have 1 or 2 noteworthy hands to show for it.

To wit: last night, I played 1 big hand early on, then lost a few later in the night by exercising live game mistake 2). Here's the big hand, most notable for my mistake on the flop:

It's a kill pot, so an LP player has posted a $5 blind. My stack is $119. Other significant players in the pot all have me covered. LP is an old man who has been playing loose. SB is weakish too.

Hand: 8h-9h in the BB
PF action: 2 MPs call the $5, the SB raises to $15, I call, the MPs call, and the LP kill pot blind poster calls.
Pot = $75

Flop: Qc-Js-Th
Action: SB leads for $25, I call $25, 2 MPs fold, LP raises to $50. SB calls, I shove for $54 more. LP calls, SB calls.
Pot = $387

Here's where I make a mistake. On one hand, it is risky to overplay bottom straight, given the fact that SB will sometimes have AK here, and K9 is also a possible holding from an LP player. So I call thinking I can sweat the board pairing and get it in on a later street.

But, with this thinking, I am ignoring my stack size. My stack is small enough that I should basically be willing to get it all-in when I flop the 3rd nuts. Also, as noted earlier, these games are full of poor players who will make bad calls with lots of 1 and 2-pair hands, and also with draws that I am way ahead of. So I should be making a raise here, maybe to $65-$80, and planning on getting the rest in on the turn no matter what comes. By just calling, I give a lot of hands the right odds to draw, and with any A, K, or 9 on the turn, on top of any board-pairing card, I risk falling behind and being in a tough spot.

Luckily, the loose LP made a raise and allowed me to get my stack in on the flop. The rest was just sweating it out.

Turn: 5d
Action: LP shoves, SB tanks and folds, saying he had KQ.

River: 7c
I turn up my bottom straight and LP turns up QTo.

Playing Top 2 In PLO

I played some round-n-round $1/$2 NLHE/PLO at a local poker house last night, and frittered away 2 buy-ins. There were 2 big hands, and neither was played all that badly on my part, just standard PLO variance. The disappointing part was that I lost both buy-ins to the one guy at the table who is a known super-fish. This is basically the guy that everyone at the table has their sights set on. The best indication of this guy's rep is that the guy who runs the game will send out texts advertising whenever this fishy dude is at the table, knowing it will draw out a bunch of people who want a shot at him. I'm sure that the rest of the table was doubly frothy at the sight of his stack climbing up towards the ceiling as he took pot after pot away from me.

In the first big hand, I was holding a relatively weak AA69 hand, with one Ace suited in spades. I was UTG+1 and just limped for $2. Next to act raised to $10, one MP player called, and Donkasaurus repotted to $45. I only had $135 total, so now I was in a position to repot and basically get it all-in, knowing that I was probably in the lead. So, I repopped to $115, and it folded to the Donk, who called. Flop came 6-7-J with 2 spades, I put in my last $18, villain called, turned down my offer to run it multiple times, and then it ran out 2-5, no spades. I announced my unimproved AA, and the Donk stared at his hand for a second and announced his rivered 2-pair, 5s and 7s. He got it in with 4-5-7-8, single-suited. C'est PLO.

Second hand was equally standard. I raised from EP with a pretty 9c-9h-Ts-Jh, got re-raised to $35 by the same dude, called, saw a nice 7x-8c-Qc flop, and got it in on the flop. Villain had flopped 2-pair, Qs and 8s, and I had a wrap, with 12 straight outs. I bricked again and was busto.
No problem with my play, like I said, just basic PLO variance. Now, in the course of this session, I got to thinking about one of the most difficult holdings to play in PLO - flopped 2-pair hands. Generally, 2-pair is the bare minimum made hand that merits continuing beyond the flop in PLO. Now the situations that arise are more numerous than can be analyzed here, so I'll focus on one specific spot - flopping top 2-pair or top and bottom pair (with no other draws) from early position.

Flopping top 2 or top and bottom from EP is very tough to play. I am assuming a hand that does not have any other straight or flush draws, meaning that your hand is very unlikely to improve. The first dilemma is whether or not to lead out on the flop. I would say that it's a toss-up, and depends on a number of factors:

- The aggressiveness of your opponents. If you are likely to get raised, then you are probably better off checking with the intention of calling and trying to fade an ugly turn card. A two-pair hand with no draws really can't stand a raise, so if you think a raise is likely, you can't lead the flop.

- The number of opponents. In a big multiway pot, I would be more likely to bet, so as to thin the ranks, get value from drawing hands. Any free card in a big multiway pot is likely to make someone's hand better than yours, or allow hands that miss the flop to pick up backdoor draws. Against 2 or 3 opponents, I'm more comfortable giving up a free card, since there are fewer hands to sweat out. You might be missing out on value by checking in this spot, but that must be weighed against the risk of being check-raised, and the fact that 2-pair is not a strong enough hand to fire 3 barrels, and therefore you are faced with the prospect of checking into your opponents on future streets, and having to make tough decisions if you are bet into after checking.

- Board texture. On any flop that contains a made straight (needless to say for a made flush), I very likely won't lead out, unless it's heads-up. The strength of a 2-pair hand is greatly reduced on any board where there are multiple ways to hold a made straight, and I'd be inclined to check-fold.

You are looking for a somewhat dry flop to lead on - one where the draws are limited and transparent. You don't want to fire on a flop that contains both flush draws and straight draws, because you will have a hard time on later streets determining if your opponents have hit their draws. Thus, I might fire on a Ks-8c-2s flop with K-8, since I am likely getting called by a spade draw or K-2, but I would check on a Ks-8c-7s board, since the combination of flush and straight draws is too great.

If the flop is totally dry (rainbow, no straight draws), you are very likely to either take it down (a good result), or get a worse 2-pair to call (very good result). If you are raised, you are likely facing a set and can fold.

The next question is, if you plan to lead out, how much should you bet? I like to bet about 2/3 of the pot. A full pot bet is a mistake, especially from OOP, since it unnecessarily bloats the pot and opens you up to larger-sized raises. Anything smaller than 2/3, and you are giving a decent price to backdoor draws, which are hard to read.

The main problem with playing 2-pair from OOP is that it is usually a mistake to fire multiple barrels, since 2-pair is a mediocre holding in PLO. But, you telegraph the weakness of your holding if you check the turn after betting the flop. Good opponents will pick up on this and blow you off of your hand on the turn. Since you are looking at getting at most 2 streets of value, you have to carefully evaluate how to do so. If you are inclined to put your opponent on a flush draw, you are most likely to get 2 streets of value (assuming the flush doesn't get there) by betting the flop and turn, then checking the river. You are most likely to get 2 streets of value from a worse 2-pair hand by either betting the flop/river or the turn/river. If your opponent is aggressive, you can consider just betting either the flop or turn, and then check/calling the river. Of course, getting value on the river is dependent on the board bricking out. Any flush or obvious straight cards, and you basically have to shut it down and check/fold.

The key thing to realize is that 2-pair is a weak holding, even top 2, and we should always be willing to toss it away when facing any big-time action. We play hands in PLO to flop sets, boats, and big straight and flush draws. When we flop 2-pair, we should be happy to win a small pot, and we should be hesitant to make it anything other than a small pot.

Anybody have any disputes with this way of playing 2-pair? Any general approach people take with the holding from OOP?

Live Fade-N-Go

I owe special thanks to the authors over at Spritpot for the concept that helped me pull down a nice pot in a live $1-$2 cash game last night.

Full ring game, 9 players, $1-$2 NLHE

My stack is around $400. UTG+2 is around $500. MP is at $137.

I'm dealt T5o in the BB. UTG+1 limps, UTG+2 limps, MP limps, Button limps, SB folds, I check.

Pot = $10, Flop: Td-9c-5d

I lead for $10, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP raises to $35 (leaving $100 behind), Button folds.

MP is an older guy (55-60?) who has been talking it up at the other end of the table. I don't really have any reads on him.

So here I'm either way ahead, facing something like AT/KT; way behind, facing TT/T9/99/55; or, very likely, facing a big draw - OESD, NFD, or both. I strongly considered re-raising here. I am content with getting it all-in with the MP, since he has a relatively short stack behind him. But, I figured I would be playing my hand face up by re-raising, broadcasting that I had turned my BB special into 2-pair or a set. Also, if I make a re-raise and a bad turn card comes, I may be committing myself against the MP, who wouldn't have a lot of chips left after calling another raise on the order of $40 or so. Getting it all-in here is probably not maximum EV either, since UTG+2 folds and MP probably folds AT/KT and a lot of his draws, including J8/78 and small flush draws. So I made a plan to just call, sweat out a turn blank, and bet enough to put the MP all-in if the turn did blank out.

I call the $35, and UTG+2 calls as well.

Pot = $115, Turn: 2h

The blankiest blank of them all, an offsuit deuce. I now execute my plan, firing $100. Now, both UTG+2 and MP have to make a big mistake by calling on a draw with only 8 or 9 outs (maybe less).

I bet $100, UTG+2 folds, MP calls.

MP called off his stack quickly, prompting me to say "That's not good." I expected to see T9, 99, or maybe something like Ad9d. But he flipped up his cards - QcJc! Open-ended with 1 card to come.

Pot = $315, River: 7c

Shippage!

Two things I really like about how I played this hand. I reduced my risk by taking a line that allows me to get away on a bad turn card. I also forced my opponent to make a really bad play and get his money is as a big underdog, whereas it wouldn't have been much of a mistake to make the call, had I pushed him in on the flop. Also, we might have made a deal to run it 2 or more times had we gotten it in on the flop, so I may have ended up chopping up the pot with him.

One thing I don't like - this play works best against one opponent. The number of scare cards goes up precipitously when there are 2 players potentially drawing. In this case, my guess is that UTG+2 was holding a weakish FD, while MP had the OESD. This means 9 diamonds are no good for me, and so are 6 straight outs. But since I don't know which straight outs to fear, I have to slow down on a large number of turn cards. And what's more, I am allowing someone with a deep stack to draw cheaply here, so I could end up facing some tough decisions if the turn were a non-diamond straight completing card, like a 6, and UTG+2 started firing out.

2 From Tahoe

I played some 11-12 hours of live $2-$3 NLHE in Lake Tahoe this past weekend, and wound up something close to even. I spent most of my time in the red, having missed some big draws and bumped into a few of the more aggressive players in bad spots early on.

Got back close to even with KK on a 4-8-10-9 rainbow board, getting snap-called for my stack on a pot-size bet by J-10 (guy later claimed he misread and thought he had 10-9). Got the rest back with a set of 9s on a 9-10-A board against A-10.

There were 2 hands that stuck out clearly, and that I wanted to post here for comments. One was from a $2-$3 NL game, and the other from a $100 tourney I played in. I'll cover the tourney hand first...

Hand 1:
$100 buy-in tourney, 1st blind round at 25-50
Relevant stacks: Me - ~$4500, Villain - ~$4500

PF action: It folds around to me on the button with AQo. I raise to $200, SB folds, BB re-raises to $700, I call.

Flop: 4-8-Q rainbow
Action: Villain leads $1000, I call $1000.

Turn: K, completes rainbow
Action: Villain bets $2000, I fold.

This hand ate at me for some time. Against an unknown, raising on the button, is it okay to play for stacks with AQ on a Q high board? I'm pretty sure I would have done so had the K not spiked on the turn, so is it just an unlucky turn, or was this a poor play? In general, I hate how passively this played out from my end, but the K puts me behind AK/KQ, along with the obvious QQ-AA. And in general, if I'm going to raise, it should be on the flop with TPTK, not after a bad turn falls. Any critiques in general?

Hand 2:
$2-$3 NL cash game, Villain is young, talkative, and has been splashing a bit.
Stacks: Me - $200, Villain - ~$500

PF action: UTG+1 limps, Villain raises to $12, one LP caller, I call from SB with AsJs, BB calls, UTG+1 calls. 5 players, pot is ~$55 (after rake).

Flop: 8d-10s-Jc
Action: I check and it ends up checking around.

Turn: 5h
Action: I lead for $20, 2 folds, original PFR Villain calls, 1 fold.

River: 5d
Action: I lead for $25, Villain raises to $75, I fold.

Who makes the call on the river there? Plays it differently on other streets?

On the river, I decided that he had either a monster or air, and given the limited number of hands I'd seen him play, I told him that I was giving him credit for a monster. He promptly turned up 22, or air. I beat myself up over this one too, because I'm not sure how I gave him credit for a monster. The only real monsters are JJ, TT, and 88, and I can't imagine that any of those hands would give away free cards in a 5-way pot on the flop. QQ-AA is calling on the end there, since raising doesn't extract any additional value from hands that QQ-AA beats, except maybe the AJ I was holding, but that would be pretty thin. Thoughts?

The Rare and Elusive Post

I'm going to cut the (re-) intro short so we can get to the poker. The lil' gal is faring well...well enough to allow me to tiptoe back into the online poker waters, well enough that I can even escape for a night of janky poker once in a while, like I did last night.

I do have to say this - contrary to my preconceptions, I definitely have no diminished desire to play poker, despite the joy I experience from spending time with my daughter, and despite the energy drain of managing a first baby. I still love these poker games, friendly and janky alike. I keep waiting for this bug to fade, but it's not happening. Now, if I were on a brutal downswing of beats like my friend Dave is feeling, maybe I'd feel different.

Here's the problem though - I need time to make my playing style effective. I play patient, I build up an image, and I have to wait it out to hit some hands before I can make any money. Last night, my game was thrown on its head - when I was patient, I got stomped with my big hands. When I lost patience and donked around, I struck gold.

The first (and only) Eureka:

Hand 1
Hand: Q8s, middle position
PF: 3 limpers ahead ($2), I limp, one behind. SB raises to $12, everyone calls. 6 to the flop. $72 pot.

Flop: Q-Q-Q (poker is easy)
Action: SB bets $10, one fold, 2 calls, I call (obv). Pot is $110.

The two callers in front are wonderful for two reasons - more money in My Pot, and some disguise for my hand...now the PFR may think he can milk money from other guys playing low pocket pairs.

Turn: 4
Action: Check all around

I'm hoping for an A or K here, so I can make some money on the end.

River: 5
Action: SB leads for $20, one caller ahead, I raise to $60, both fold. I scoop $150.

Easiest Hand I've Ever Played, Part 2. First off, a $10 raise is not how you narrow the field, not at this game, and not from out of position. I would have made it something more like $20-$30.

As it turned out, my Q and 8 both played and qualified me for the house high hand, which is important, since it's the only thing of value I had left my the time the night had ended.

Basically, nothing really got going, I lost a big hand (see below), and ended up dropping off my last $125 when I flopped a pair and a flush draw, got it all in as a favorite against two players with top pair, and missed my draw. Ended down $240.

But if I may jump back to the other big hand of the night. This is a hand where I think I played one too many tricks with myself in talking myself into a bad play. Judge for yourself:

Hand 2
Hand: Kc-Kh in MP
PF Action: UTG limps, folds to me, I raise to $12, it fold around and UTG calls. Pot is $25.

Flop: 10s-7d-6d
Action: UTG checks, I bet $15, UTG raises to $60, leaving $55 behind.

Pause for a second. This is messy...it's a bad flop, because it's coordinated and hits a lot of the hands that would limp-call from UTG, like 89, 67, 66, 77. UTG player has been relatively tight too...I haven't seen him make a big raise like this yet. All of these are telling signs, and I've picked up on them. But there are two big problems:

1) The board could also be read as draw heavy, with the diamond flush draw out there, and a hand like 88, 99, or even 7-8 or 7-9 possibly willing to make a big semi-bluff.

2) My villain only has $55 behind, which lures me into the false sense that there is a low cap on my losses in this hand. I mean, it's still another $105 total, over half my stack at the time, but it gave me some strange sense that it would be wrong to fold here.

So I pushed for his final $55, he called, the board ran out Q-Q, and he turned up 66 for a set-turned-boat.

Here's the question, and try to answer without regards to the revealed results: In these overpair facing aggression situations, how much influence should the presence of draws have on your assessment of your opponent's strength?

Should I be more or less concerned if the flop had been 10-7-6 rainbow?

And how much, if at all, should my opponent's remaining stack size play into my decision?

Live Hand Results

So in the last post I ended with a question about my very last hand from a live 1-2 cash game session Monday night. Here is the full hand and results.

Position: UTG
Stack: $390
Hand: Ac-8c
Action: I limp for $2, UTG+1 limps, Ed raises to $15, it folds around, I call, UTG+1 calls.
Pot: $45

Flop: Ad-Jh-4c
Action: I check (considering a raise or call if Ed C-bets), UTG+1 checks, Ed checks

Turn: 8s
Action: I bet $25, UTG+1 calls, Ed folds
Pot: $95

River: Ks
Action: I checked here, thinking my best chance to make money here is to check-call, and because I don't want to face a raise. UTG+1 deliberates and then bets out $100 (river PSB!). I didn't note in the first post, but UTG+1 has about $120 behind after making his river bet. Well, I stuck with my plan here and called. My thinking was that it's hard to put him on a better two pair, since AK would have raised PF, and AJ would have either lead the flop or raised on the turn. But there's certainly a chance that he has a worse two pair, including KJ, J8, or A4. It's also hard to put him on a set, because I would figure a set (4s, 8s, or Js) to have raised the turn as well. The nut holding would be Q-10, but I almost immediately dismissed it, since it would have meant he was calling the turn bet with just 4 outs on the river.

But he turned over Q-10, and I shipped away $150 on my last hand of the night. It was an awful river card. But my real mistake was not realizing that he had not 4 but 8 outs with Q-10 on the turn, since he had a double-gutter, with a 9 making him the nut straight as well.

Rodney picked up on this and made a nice read in his post. Hef also picked up on it, and also added AK as possible holding (which I disagree with, since it would be such a strange line to have taken). But still, aren't the other possibilities likely enough to make this a call? For my opponent's line, I think KJ, J8, A4, or a bluff are certainly within his range.

And I'm making that call regardless of it being my last hand of the night.

Hot Live Action

It's starting to happen...fewer hours of play (and poor results to boot) and less time to write posts. Right now it's because of a busy stretch of work, but I've got a baby coming in a month! I'm obviously expecting a slowdown then, but I'm hoping it won't be a complete stoppage. Let's see, what options might I have?

Learn the precarious art of belching baby on left shoulder while multi-table grinding with right?

Train baby early on to be soothed and calmed by the frequent sound of Full Tilt deal and bet sound effects?

Ask local poker rooms for possibility of in-house Day Care? (Wait, this really might not be a bad idea)

Dads, give me some advice here. Did you have to shut it down with a baby in the house? If you were able to keep playing, how did you squeeze it in?

I do have some updates and recaps to drop here. I got in a few sessions online this past weekend, but I'm going to post about that tomorrow, because I got to play a live 1-2NL game last night, and I want to post about that while it's still fresh.

So I hit a new poker house last night with friend Dave, resulting in two new things:
1) I now have potential place to play every single night of the week (Wheeee!)
2) I now have a place to play that is less than 5 minutes from my house (Gulp.)

I played real tight at the start, and didn't pick up many hands to play. I had AK maybe 3 times, and twice I raised, only to get reraised by the player to my immediate left, then call, miss the flop, and give up. The second time, I thought about overpushing, as two more players had called the reraise to $30, but I lost my nerve and have been beating myself up since.

After starting at $160, I floundered around and was sitting at about $125 when I picked up QQ in the CO, raised to $17, and got just one caller, a guy named Ed, from the BB, a loose aggressive player who I knew would be putting me on a strong holding. The flop came 7-7-K and he led out for $25. It seemed like a feeler, and knowing my reputation, I figured a push might shake off a weak K, so I moved my remaining $105 in. He insta-called and turned over 7-9 offsuit. Rebuy!

I was a bit frustrated but I bore down, waiting for a decent hand or a nice flop to finally arrive. But it was pretty slim. I took down several pots with a PFR + C-bet, but I still couldn't hit a thing. The one set I hit was with KK, but I didn't get any action on the flop.

When I finally picked up AA, I got 4 players to call my PFR to $15 from the BB. The flop came Q-high with 2 hearts and one spade. I C-bet for $25 and got one caller. The river was a low spade. I fired $40, and my opponent called again. The river was a third small spade, I checked, my opponent checked, and I turned up my hand. He groaned in frustration, flipped over the Q-9, then realized they were both spades. He had river the backdoor flush and not realized it! So I was torn between being pissed about the BS backdoor flush, and happy that my opponent passed on the opportunity to extract another bet from me on the river.

The very next hand I picked up KK, but after a C-bet on a 10-9-7 flop, an 8 hit the board and I had to give the hand up to a big bet. I finally get a run of cards, but some awful boards and bad luck, and I'm out another $100+ in the process.

At this point, it's getting late, but you don't just go home, not without at least one nice hand to show for your time, you know? It's depressing enough to get hosed for an entire session, but to not even have one somewhat redeeming hand? So I asked for another $100 behind, and shortly thereafter, this hand went down... After one EP limper, I picked up 6d-4d in MP, limped for $2, the Button limped, and Ed, in the SB, raised to $17. The EP limper called, and so did I, having transformed into a late-night, loss-chasing donkey. We saw the flop 4-handed. It came 2-4-6, with 2 hearts and 1 club. It checked to me and I bet $30. Only Ed called and the turn was the 10c. Ed checked and I bet another $50. Unless he had a flopped straight or a set, I couldn't see how I was behind. And I couldn't see Ed playing a monster like that so slowly. He called my $50, and the river brought the Jh. He checked, and after a minute of deliberating, I figured I was almost surely good, but that I might get him to call a desperate looking push, with him putting me on a missed straight or flush draw. I put in my last $110. Ed went in the tank, and finally called, turning over the Jc-7c, having rivered top pair, thinking I had either a missed draw or a small pair on the flop. I showed my 6-4, and raked a $400 pot, bringing me almost back to even on the night.

It being late, and finally having some satisfaction with a good hand, I shortly thereafter called last round. It came to my final hand, and I want to see how people would play this one:

Notes: Ed is loose-aggressive, frequently raising PF with a wide range, and seemed to bet his made hands regularly. UTG+1 has only been in for 2 rounds or so, and I have little info or reads on.

Position: UTG
Stack: $390
Hand: Ac-8c
Action: I limp for $2, UTG+1 limps, Ed raises to $15, it folds around, I call, UTG+1 calls.
Pot: $45

Flop: Ad-Jh-4c
Action: I check (considering a raise or call if Ed C-bets), UTG+1 checks, Ed checks

Turn: 8s
Action: I bet $25, UTG+1 calls, Ed folds
Pot: $95

River: Ks
Action: What does our Hero do here? I decided to check, thinking my best chance to make money here is to check-call, and because I don't want to face a raise. UTG+1 deliberates and then bets out $100 (river PSB!). What is Hero's action here? What do we put the villain on?

Results of this hand, and final results for my night, tomorrow.

The Last Hand of the Night

Continuing from my last post, after a 4 hour session of round-and-round 1-2 NLHE and PLO, I announce that I am playing my final orbit for the night. I'm sitting on a stack of about $320, up $70 for the night. On my very last hand, playing Omaha, I get myself into a mess. I'm very curious to see how everyone else plays this hand in this situation. Try to take into account the "last hand of the night" status of the hand as well.

Note 1: Button is a bit wild and very willing to gamble on a draw.
Note 2: BB is solid and has not been betting out in PLO without strength.
Note 3: Some of the math is a little fuzzy and doesn't seem to add up, but the major elements of action are accurate.

$1-$2 PLO, 8-handed
Position: 4 from button
Hand: Qd-10d-10h-5h
PF Action: UTG limps, I limp for $2, 4 limpers behind, SB calls, BB raises pot to $20. UTG calls, I call and Button calls.
Pot: ~$80

Flop: Qs-7h-5s
Action: BB bets pot for $85. UTG folds.
Question 1: Does Hero fold, call or raise?
...
...
...
...
...
Actual Action: BB bets pot for $85. UTG folds. Hero calls $85. Button tanks and eventually folds.

Turn: 3c
Action: BB checks.
Question 2: Does Hero check behind or bet?

I'll post the final results later today.

All Hail The Kite Runner!

We here at CK have a special love for book clubs. Personally, I enjoy the incentive to curl up with a good book, knowing that you can discuss interesting and confusing passages with your closest girlfriends, and draw parallels with our struggles as young women in a world where our role has become amorphous where it once was clear. But mostly I love it because it means I get a free pass out for a night of poker, biatches!

I went to a local poker shop and my friend Hef came, which is a big help to me at cash games, because I find it infinitely easier to play my tight style of game when I can chat it up during hands I'm not playing. I was expecting to get in a solid evening of 1-2NL, but little did I know that the evening would be almost wholly focused on 1-2 PLO. This is how it goes when you play round and round - hold em flies and omaha drags. So I have almost nothing to relate about hold em play on the evening. I didn't pick up any big starting hands, but I won a few speculative pots, and didn't lose anything big. But on the Omaha side, it was a different story.

It became clear pretty early that a portion of the table wasn't very comfortable with PLO, so I resolved to loosen up and play a lot of pots, which ended up being easy, because we saw very few PF raises. In my first big hand, I was dealt Kc-Jh-8c-6c and limped for $2 from MP. 8 players saw the flop of A-8-8. I potted for $20 and got 2 callers. The turn was a nice but not entirely comforting K, and I fired $50. The same 2 players called. The river was a 6, and one player checked to me. I had about $60 behind and tanked for a minute, trying to decide whether to bet here or not. What do you do here?? I have the 4th nuts, and a pretty short stack behind, and I haven't faced a raise of this hand yet. I eventually checked and the last player checked. The first guy showed 8-6 for a smaller boat than my K-8, and the third guy had A-K (nice). I think the check was a mistake, because I highly doubt the 8-6 boat would've folded, and the A-K guy was certainly bad enough to call there too.

In any case, I bounced up $160 pretty quickly.

During the next Omaha round, I picked up 3-4-6-8 in the BB, and saw a 7-handed flop of 4s-5s-Qc, giving me an open-ender, but really only giving me 6 outs, since I'm donw with any spade. A $10 flop bet by a LP player was called by myself and one other player. The turn was a very nice 2c, so I led out with a PSB of $45. Both players called, so I knew I would be sweating a spade or a bigger straight card. I literally thought to myself - "dealer, put a red J out there". And bing, Jd on the river, leaving me with the nuts. I bet $55 for value and both opponents folded. Not sure anything would have gotten a call there. Regardless, picked up another $130 and was sitting up around $250.

Then I took a brutal beating when I overplayed A-A-Q-5 (rainbow), C-betting and then potting the turn for almost my entire stack. A loose player called my turn pot with a big flush and straight draw and connected on the river. He had some 15-20 outs, but I was still steamed to have blown my profits. I was down $100 at that point.

Fortunately, I had Hef on my right, and we tangled in a pot shortly thereafter. I picked up Jc-9c-8s-3s, a borderline but playable hand and limped in along with 5 or so other players. The flop came Kh-10h-7c, giving me an open-ender, but only the low end making the nuts. I also, presumably, needed to dodge a heart. It checked to Hef, who bet the pot for $20. I called along with 2 more players. The turn was gin - a non-spade 6, giving me the nut straight. I pushed in my remaining stack of about $90. The only caller was Hef, who turned over Qh-Jh-9-5. He had, by my count, 18 outs to win and 5 to split. We asked the dealer to run it 3 times to slim the variance but assure a winner. It came 6d the first time, 4d the second time, and 7d the third time. A clean sweep for me! I was giddy and Hef was exasperated....the way I like it.

This put me back up around $70 on the night and took me down to my last orbit, where I had one more big hand. But this post is getting overlong and I have work to do, so I'll save it for tomorrow and post it as a quiz hand.

Thanks for reading,
noldmax

A-Cee!

So I flew into Philadephia Thursday night for a weekend wedding, but more importantly (sorry Hastings), for a chance to get involved in some action at the Borgata in nearby Atlantic City. I tell you, it's a good thing I live in Austin, 4 hours from the closest live poker spot, and not in Philly, or anywhere closer to a casino. I'd be a broke alcoholic, about 50 pounds fatter, and, based on a quick glance at the faces around the average poker room, quite a bit uglier.

So my old UVA friend AA picked me up at the airport and it was don't pass go, go directly to the Borgata. After a delayed flight (I'm about done with American Airlines altogether) and the hour+ drive to AC, it was 2am, but no amount of valium can put me to sleep when I've just arrived at a casino. So we dropped off our bags and went straight to the tables.

We found the first 1-2NL table we could both sit down at, and it was almost no time before I was reminded why live low-limit poker is so wonderful. A drunk man in his 50s started showing off a beautifully bad loose-passive game, taking pots left and right from people trying to out-maneuver him. In one hand, he raised PF to $8, got re-raised to $25 by a LP player, and called, going to the flop 3-handed. Flop came 4-5-6 rainbow, Drunk Guy checked, the raiser C-bet $40, and Drunk Guy calls. A 5 and a Q fall, and they check the rest of the way, with the aggressor showing AK, and Drunk Guy showing 89o(!). Awesome. Another bad player to my left called a PF raise in a 5-way pot with AK, flopped a K, and proceeded to check all the way to the end. Oh I love it.

But I really only got one chance to prey on these easy targets, when I called PF with 7s-8s and it flopped 6-9h-10h. An EP caller led out for $20, Drunk guy called, and I raised to $60. EP folded, Drunk Guy made a predictable call. Turn brought a 7, souring me a little, but with Drunk Guy, who knew. I only had $90 behind and pushed it all in. Unfortunately, it was the one time this guy realized he didn't have a chance, so he folded. I ended a short first night at around 4:30am, up $70.

On Friday morning we were back at the tables about as soon as we could muster. We only had one day to get in enough card playing to hold me over until the next time I can make it to a casino. And with a baby girl due in 2 months, it may well be 2026 before that happens.

We started at 1-2NL again, and another UVA friend, Dave, joined AA and myself for the action. It doesn't matter the stakes when you get a chance to sit down with two friends. And although I was itching to step up to a 2-5NL game, I was close to frothing after seeing how disgustingly loose/passive an old man to our left was playing. I figured drool would be an easy tell to pick up, so I focused on keeping my mouth shut. We'll call him the Russian, although AA didn't think that was his accent. I thought I had picked up a wonderful chance to filet him when I looked down at my biggest starting hand since I had arrived in AC - QQ. I raised it up to $15 and saw the flop heads-up with the Russian. The flop brought 10-K-A, which was very unfortunate. But I figured one bullet might be worth it, but my boy called rather quickly. We checked down the two blanks that followed, and he showed me a righteous A-3o to take it down. And sadly, I didn't get another chance to fleece him. He confessed, before walking away, that he had dropped $1000 in his foray at that table. It takes hard work to drop that much at a 1-2 game.

I wish I had some interesting hands to relate, but everything was pretty straightforward. I moved over to a 2-5NL table, where I finally picked up AA, raised and won a 3-way pot with a C-bet. I won another decent pot when I played A-Q really passively (early jitters), limping and then calling a raise. The flop brought an A, my opponent C-bet $40 and I called. We checked a blank turn, and when the river brought a very nice Q, I bet $70. Unfortunately, he wasn't playing an A because he folded pretty quickly. Then I lost a big chunk back to the same opponent when I called his PFR with 5c-7c, it flopped Kc-6c-9h, I checked, he bet about $50, and I came over the top to put him all-in for an additional $130. He showed K8o and I missed my flush and straight outs. I ended on an upswing when I raise PF with AsJs, the flop came A-4-A, I C-bet $40, and one player pushed for an additional $75. He showed A6 and I ended up leaving that table up $140.

Sadly, that was it. +$250 at the tables, just enough of a winning session to make you want to play more. It takes a lot more patience for me to play my game in a live setting, but the laughable game that some of those players play make it well worth my while. Both Dave and AA came out winners as well, with AA being to biggest winner. Nothing lifts the spirits like playing with 2 friends and having everyone come out black. Very nice job guys.

Not sure how much time I'll have to play online this week but I'll update if there's anything to update.