Left off busting 46th out of 660 players in the first tourney of the trip at the Venetian. I was pretty exhausted after a long day on the Thursday with the travel and like 13 hours of play. Davey and I played the $550 on Friday and I played terrible. Just pressed to much and never really hit a comfort zone. I did do certain things ok but had one guy at the table who was just getting run over with the deck and he was pissing me off. I folded a hand where later on I thought I may have laid down the best hand. Guy at our table had chipped up to like 60k in first 2 levels. I then saw this guy run two very bad bluffs and make a really loose all in call on the turn with like A,Q high. After I saw that shit I had a mission to abuse this guy and I never do shit like that. I then raised this guys blind every time I had the chance. I reraised him about three times with nothing. He even asked me once if I had something against him and I told he was the best player on the table and I think that comment confused him. Anyway it was my mission for this guy to lose his chips and he did. The shitty part was that I played for about 6 and half hours and finished about 300 out of 630.
I then hung out for a while and took a shower and ate some supper and then tried to find a good 2/5 game at the Venetian. I prefer to play with someone I know at the table and it was either Davey or Joe and the average age of Davey's game was about 72 and Joe's game looked better. Joe was getting run over with the deck and did really well that night. I made some big hands too and played well and lost one really shitty pot. One of the bigger pots came when I had JJ in the cutoff and and someone opened it for $35 in the 10 seat...I was in the two. I just called and the 5 seat and the 9 seat called. The 9 was pretty active and not a very good player but I think he was convinced he was. Flop came 10 high two diamonds and the 9 seat bet out $100 and the PFR folded and I called and the 5 seat called. The turn was the Queen of diamonds and it went checked through. River was a blank and 5 seat checked and the 9 seat bet out $280. Now this is where I had to put things together. I was positive no one had the flush b/c both players were smart enough to bet that out if they did. I wasn't sure if the queen beat me but I knew I had the 9 seat beat and my only concern was the 5. I took a while but when I noticed that the 5 seat was really concerned with the 9 seat and trying to get a read on him when it was my turn to act that kinda triggered that he might have been weak and was contemplating a thin call against that player. If he had a big hand he would have been more concerned with me and hoping I'd put money in the pot but with his focus being on the other player then I knew he couldn't call if I did. I called the $280 and he folded and the 9 seat very sheepishly turned over 66 and my JJ was good for a nice little pot. I managed to win some pots but still had to make some big decisions. The table was active so it was good have a draw b/c a lot of hands were getting paid off.
The shittiest hand I had was at the end of the session. I told myself I was leaving on my big blind or on the hour which ever came first. Well I look down at QQ with about 6 hands to go or 15 minutes. Guy opens for $35 in the 10 seat and I just call. (I'm getting sick just typing this). Well I call and the guy behind me calls. Flop comes Q,9,8 and PFR checks and I bet $90 and the guy behind me folds and the PFR calls. Turn is a 5 and he leads out for $180 and I call. I don't think he flopped the nuts and I can't really put him on 6,7. Maybe I'm just a pussy too by just calling. River is a brick and I don't fill up. He bets out $300 and I just look at him and roll my eyes and think to myself how shitty this is that I am just calling this bet on the river with top set. I call and he shows his 6,7 for the straight. So after losing $600 on one hand I rack up and leave. Pretty gross that I lost that pot. It was gonna be a great end of a shitty day as far as the tourney but instead I still turned a really nice profit but it would have been nice to rack up another $600.
I went to bed kinda sick but still up on the trip and free rolling on tourneys. I woke up early on Saturday and went register for the noon $550. That tourney didn't go so well either. Had about 460 players and finished around 240. That tourney was brutal. Thursday I played well and ran deep, Friday I played bad and didn't fare so well and Saturday I ran monsters into monsters. On three occasions I ran top two pair into a set and still had chips at the end of each hand. Never gave a double up with any of those hands so I was losing the minimum for the most part. The best part of the tourney was sitting by the rail and seeing all the fine ass women walking by. I got to see the ppl going to the pool and the later the same girls going to the club. Not sure which outfits I like better. That was about my only entertainment other than the show the dealers were putting on by the cards they were dealing me. Oh well, I played three tourneys on the trip and cashed in one. I'll take one cash out of every three tourneys.
Busted fairly early and Davey didn't fare too well in the tournaments either...wish I would have made last longer bets with him. We watched some college baseball in the sports book and then my phone rang and it was Jacob and he asked what we were up to and said he'd be there in 15 minutes. He decided last minute to come out to Vegas. We all chilled for a while and then went to Venetian to check things out. I eventually got in a game and it was terrible and I decided to get up even and go back to the Mirage and join Davey in a weak 2/5 game. It was pretty easy going and then the game started to break and it was must move and I lost $100 in that shitty game on the last hand when someone didn't believe me and called my $30 preflop with 10,3 and flopped a full house on a 3,3,10 board and of course I turn an Ace. Oh well it happens.
While I was at the Venetian I sat next to the same guy two nights in a row in a cash game, his name was Mike something. He was a nice guy but VERY MUCH A DOUCHE BAG!...he was about 42 years old and just talked like he knew everything about everything involving poker and the especially every poker room in Vegas. We were talking for a good bit but about stuff other than poker which I MUCH prefer. Talked about cars, he has one that he turned into a drag racing car and I grew up around classics. He was also a college basketball player at Long Beach St. and played with some NBA players. Those were good conversations but then he felt it necessary to tell us about shit we didn't care about and no one at the table was really paying attention. He told us that you can use your player comp money for any restaurant in the casino and massages. That's not bad information but of course he started the story by saying "name drop poker room director' asked me and a couple other players some things that could be better and "I" told him that we would like to use our comp stuff for different things...blah blah blah. So he listened to what I had to say and I was able to get that changed." As soon as I hear people talking about shit like that they automatically go into the douche bag category. I don't know why people want to take credit for stuff like that. He's the same guy that wants to talk to every freaking floor guy that walks by and feels it's his duty to be the one to greet every dealer by first name and let it be known that he IS A LOCAL AND PLAYS HERES A LOT!!!...wtf is the deal with people being "that guy", if you know the dealer...a simple what's up is good and anyone with a half of clue can tell weather this dealer things you're douche or actually wants to talk to you. Oh well, didn't know that rant was coming but just one of the annoying things about poker for me.
I'm done writing and almost done with the Vegas stuff. Sunday and Monday were kinda interesting and I'll get to that later. Also have a rant or two about shit that annoys me at the table that happened in the next two sessions I played.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
6.21.2009
6.16.2009
Back From Vegas (part 1)
It's time to re-enter the real world. Got back from Vegas Tuesday afternoon and did a whole lot of nothing. Thought about writing a blog, thought about doing some laundry, thought about hanging by the pool and found myself lounging on the couch watching college baseball instead. The trip was OK at best and I had intentions of posting while I was in Vegas but the Mirage made that a little difficult by not offering free Wi-Fi. It's 2009 and I can get free Wi-Fi at a Best Western but not at the freaking Mirage. They wanted to charge $15 for 24 hours of use and considering all of about 5-6 hours a day are actually spent in the room I opted not to pay for internet and didn't feel like bringing my computer across the street to the Venetian just to type.
I don't really feel like recapping the whole trip right now...mainly due to the fact that I want to continue with the theme of my day and be lazy. I did play everyday for 5 straight days which is something I haven't done in a REALLY REALLY long time. Had some good things and some bad.
After landing we went to the hotel to check in and then walked across the street to play the $330 deep stack event at the Venetian. Those guys really get it over there and it was the place that got most of my time on this trip. The tourney started off OK and I was able to get the table talking and it had a home game feel to it which was nice. I played well and withstood two tough beats. I minded my own business and was winning a lot of the pots that I was playing. Took a big hit when I raised with KhQh and flopped a Q, turned an opened ended straight flush draw and the other player moved in on me and I called with 19k (12k starting stack) and he had AQ and I hit a K on the river to give him the straight and my draw meant nothing. Lost about 7k on the hand was back to where I started. Chipped up again and made a really big bluff on a young Swedish player when I check called a flop with nothing and then it went checked on the turn and then I made a bet that would have crippled him if he was wrong. I normally would never play a hand that way but the board allowed me to make the bluff on the river without getting called when it paired...I also think he messed up when he started talking to me and he basically convinced himself he was beat. Ended up losing a pot that really hurt to him later.
Made another big bluff in a situation where I had to totally trust myself on the way I thought this guy played. He was pretty ABC and he just wanted to make good decisions and not go broke. I used that not going broke thing to my advantage. I had a really good table image and everyone got along which is good. Nothing worse than sitting at a table for 5+ hours with ppl who are mean. Either shut up or be nice. Well we saw a flop like 5 ways (100/200) and I was on the button with two cards that I honestly don't remember. Flop came 9,9,3 and it went checked to me and I bet 625 and get check raised by the bb to 2200. Now this is where I just completely trusted myself that I could get this guy to lay down a 9 in this spot. I took my time like I always do and came back over the top for 5k more and he was beside himself. He had no idea what to do and was squirming in his chair and started talking about how he hates this b/c he's in the blind and he has to be beat and this is just bad luck...he commented on how confident I looked. And he was right, once he told me it was bad luck I was as confident as though I had flopped the nuts. No way he was calling. He folds face up (I hate the face up fold, especially in this spot). He showed his 9,5 like he just made the biggest lay down in the world or as though I was gonna show him he made the right or wrong decision. Fuck that shit, I'm not showing my hand one way or another. Just bad for a player like him to show that he's gonna fold big hands like that, he got abused by like 3 players after he made that lay down...he was getting reraised every time he made a bet it seemed like.
The bad hand with the Swedish player when I had about 46k and he had about 21k. Blinds were 300/600/50 and I was in the BB with 88. Two ppl limped and Swedish guy raised from the button to 1250 which I knew he was going to do b/c he was pretty active with limpers in the pot. The two guys who limped were really weak and I often raised pots when those guys limped b/c they provided almost no resistance. SB folds and then I come over the top of him and raise to 2600 and he calls. Flop comes 9,7,6 rainbow and not a bad flop for 88. I lead out for 2200 to almost induce a raise and he cooperates and makes it 2500 more and then I set him in and he contemplated for a little while and called with Jd,9d. Lucky for him to flop top pair like that considering how the hand played and I was a little shocked he called but I'm pretty sure the bluff had a lot to do with it and he was frustrated. Well I turn the straight with the 10d of diamonds and he makes the flush on the river to win a big pot and take a chunk of my stack. Even though I was reraising him I still played the hand rather weak but if I would have had aces I would have played it the same way and got him to put all his chips in the pot. I just didn't think he had anything but he was going to try to win it with aggression. Oh well, not really sure if there is anything I could have done differently.
That was how my day went. I would chip up and then lose a pot in a crappy way. Didn't get flustered and just maintained. The good thing was that both hands came when we were within 3 minutes of a break. I also went 0-3 with QQ on the day and never saw a river or a turn card with them when the board had under cards. I was involved in a hand where I had QQ and the other two ppl in the pot had AA and KK and they got it all in on the flop and I didn't see the flop. Called a raise from the guy on the my right who was UTG and two other ppl called. Flop came 10 high he lead for a pot size bet and I just didn't think I could be good. I folded and one other guy called. PFR had KK and the other guy had A,K and flopped a flush draw and put it all in and hit an A on the river to take a massive pot late in the tourney. I did get to actually see the pain of the bubble boy (or girl in this situation). Playing hand for hand and she opens with a standard 3 times the big blind raise with an above avg. stack and got reraised all in by one of 2 ppl who had her covered at the table. He had KK she had AA and he made a flush. It was brutal to actually have to see and to make it worse there was 3 other ppl all in at the time on different tables and all of them held up and she busted all alone just outside the money instead of having a really nice stack.
Withstanding all that shit and a field of 660 players in the tourney I managed to pick spots wisely and never really had to gamble. The one thing that I thought I did extremely well was playing from the blind. I even started chants of "defense" when ppl raised my blind. If my blind was raised and it was heads up, I prolly took about 80% of those flops and won well over 50% of them (position heads up can be over rated IMO) I finished 46th in the tourney with an unimpressive cash but nonetheless it was a great way to start off the trip. It was looooooooooong day getting two extra hours when we got to there and playing from noon till 1:15am. I plan on posting more parts of my trip in the next couple days but I guess that depends on how much I feel like writing about poker after all the time I spent playing the last week.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
I don't really feel like recapping the whole trip right now...mainly due to the fact that I want to continue with the theme of my day and be lazy. I did play everyday for 5 straight days which is something I haven't done in a REALLY REALLY long time. Had some good things and some bad.
After landing we went to the hotel to check in and then walked across the street to play the $330 deep stack event at the Venetian. Those guys really get it over there and it was the place that got most of my time on this trip. The tourney started off OK and I was able to get the table talking and it had a home game feel to it which was nice. I played well and withstood two tough beats. I minded my own business and was winning a lot of the pots that I was playing. Took a big hit when I raised with KhQh and flopped a Q, turned an opened ended straight flush draw and the other player moved in on me and I called with 19k (12k starting stack) and he had AQ and I hit a K on the river to give him the straight and my draw meant nothing. Lost about 7k on the hand was back to where I started. Chipped up again and made a really big bluff on a young Swedish player when I check called a flop with nothing and then it went checked on the turn and then I made a bet that would have crippled him if he was wrong. I normally would never play a hand that way but the board allowed me to make the bluff on the river without getting called when it paired...I also think he messed up when he started talking to me and he basically convinced himself he was beat. Ended up losing a pot that really hurt to him later.
Made another big bluff in a situation where I had to totally trust myself on the way I thought this guy played. He was pretty ABC and he just wanted to make good decisions and not go broke. I used that not going broke thing to my advantage. I had a really good table image and everyone got along which is good. Nothing worse than sitting at a table for 5+ hours with ppl who are mean. Either shut up or be nice. Well we saw a flop like 5 ways (100/200) and I was on the button with two cards that I honestly don't remember. Flop came 9,9,3 and it went checked to me and I bet 625 and get check raised by the bb to 2200. Now this is where I just completely trusted myself that I could get this guy to lay down a 9 in this spot. I took my time like I always do and came back over the top for 5k more and he was beside himself. He had no idea what to do and was squirming in his chair and started talking about how he hates this b/c he's in the blind and he has to be beat and this is just bad luck...he commented on how confident I looked. And he was right, once he told me it was bad luck I was as confident as though I had flopped the nuts. No way he was calling. He folds face up (I hate the face up fold, especially in this spot). He showed his 9,5 like he just made the biggest lay down in the world or as though I was gonna show him he made the right or wrong decision. Fuck that shit, I'm not showing my hand one way or another. Just bad for a player like him to show that he's gonna fold big hands like that, he got abused by like 3 players after he made that lay down...he was getting reraised every time he made a bet it seemed like.
The bad hand with the Swedish player when I had about 46k and he had about 21k. Blinds were 300/600/50 and I was in the BB with 88. Two ppl limped and Swedish guy raised from the button to 1250 which I knew he was going to do b/c he was pretty active with limpers in the pot. The two guys who limped were really weak and I often raised pots when those guys limped b/c they provided almost no resistance. SB folds and then I come over the top of him and raise to 2600 and he calls. Flop comes 9,7,6 rainbow and not a bad flop for 88. I lead out for 2200 to almost induce a raise and he cooperates and makes it 2500 more and then I set him in and he contemplated for a little while and called with Jd,9d. Lucky for him to flop top pair like that considering how the hand played and I was a little shocked he called but I'm pretty sure the bluff had a lot to do with it and he was frustrated. Well I turn the straight with the 10d of diamonds and he makes the flush on the river to win a big pot and take a chunk of my stack. Even though I was reraising him I still played the hand rather weak but if I would have had aces I would have played it the same way and got him to put all his chips in the pot. I just didn't think he had anything but he was going to try to win it with aggression. Oh well, not really sure if there is anything I could have done differently.
That was how my day went. I would chip up and then lose a pot in a crappy way. Didn't get flustered and just maintained. The good thing was that both hands came when we were within 3 minutes of a break. I also went 0-3 with QQ on the day and never saw a river or a turn card with them when the board had under cards. I was involved in a hand where I had QQ and the other two ppl in the pot had AA and KK and they got it all in on the flop and I didn't see the flop. Called a raise from the guy on the my right who was UTG and two other ppl called. Flop came 10 high he lead for a pot size bet and I just didn't think I could be good. I folded and one other guy called. PFR had KK and the other guy had A,K and flopped a flush draw and put it all in and hit an A on the river to take a massive pot late in the tourney. I did get to actually see the pain of the bubble boy (or girl in this situation). Playing hand for hand and she opens with a standard 3 times the big blind raise with an above avg. stack and got reraised all in by one of 2 ppl who had her covered at the table. He had KK she had AA and he made a flush. It was brutal to actually have to see and to make it worse there was 3 other ppl all in at the time on different tables and all of them held up and she busted all alone just outside the money instead of having a really nice stack.
Withstanding all that shit and a field of 660 players in the tourney I managed to pick spots wisely and never really had to gamble. The one thing that I thought I did extremely well was playing from the blind. I even started chants of "defense" when ppl raised my blind. If my blind was raised and it was heads up, I prolly took about 80% of those flops and won well over 50% of them (position heads up can be over rated IMO) I finished 46th in the tourney with an unimpressive cash but nonetheless it was a great way to start off the trip. It was looooooooooong day getting two extra hours when we got to there and playing from noon till 1:15am. I plan on posting more parts of my trip in the next couple days but I guess that depends on how much I feel like writing about poker after all the time I spent playing the last week.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
6.04.2009
A Week Away
My heart starts pumping just thinking about it and I'm definitely ready. Just one week before Davey and I head to Vegas. It's hard to not get excited and start thinking about all things that "might be" while on this trip. Already starting to get things planned out and getting off the plane and going straight to the Venetian to play the noon event there. The fields have been really nice and in the first two $300 events first place was over 50k. The game plan is set and now the time is approaching to show up and play. I always have mixed emotions when playing tourneys during an event. Of course I'm confident and I expect to play well but I'm a realist to the extreme and all the positive thinking is put in perspective that there is a lot better chance to not win or go deep in a tourney than there is to take one down. A couple positives is that I played well during the circuit in NOLA and the last time I went to Vegas for CC's birthday I won a daily tourney. Telling myself everyday that I'm gonna play well and good things will happen isn't going to do a whole lot for me if I'm not focused and ready to play. Well I'm both as of today and now the clock won't move fast enough.
I saw yesterday that Jacob cashed in the Stimulus 1k event. I'm sure it was one of those mixed emotions things. He put in a mini-marathon and had a min-cash but if I would have been the guy that bubbled that thing I would have prolly thrown up. Not gonna do a whole lot till Vegas. Serving in a wedding this Saturday and then CC is headed off to Europe on Monday for 3 weeks. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are prolly gonna take forever. Good luck to anyone headed out to Vegas.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
I saw yesterday that Jacob cashed in the Stimulus 1k event. I'm sure it was one of those mixed emotions things. He put in a mini-marathon and had a min-cash but if I would have been the guy that bubbled that thing I would have prolly thrown up. Not gonna do a whole lot till Vegas. Serving in a wedding this Saturday and then CC is headed off to Europe on Monday for 3 weeks. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are prolly gonna take forever. Good luck to anyone headed out to Vegas.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
5.25.2009
Conspiracy Theory
I made it out to Harrah's Friday night but I didn't get lucky and hit the bad beat. I headed there about 8:45 or so and gave Joe a call to put me on the 2/5 list. When I got there it was perfect, they had two 2/5 games going and they opened a third as I was walking in and William the floor guy pointed me to table #2. This was a must move game which I'm not a fan of at all but the upside (if there was any) is that at least I'm on the bottom of the move list so when I have to move it may at least give a couple hours in the game. Well the first hand I got a chance to play was when I had jacks UTG and had $5 in b/c I thought I was the BB. Oh well I just kept it in there and then looked at my cards after the guy next to me made it $20. Well a few ppl call and this is an easy chance to pick up $100 if I repop and everyone folds. I make it $80 total and get two callers (not really what I was hoping for). Flop came 7,4,4 and the flop was harmless but I was more worried about being behind preflop. Not sure if it was the right play or not but I was just lost and checked the flop. PFR checked and the position guy bet $100. I almost had him locked in on a mid pair. Only thing that made sense. I was contemplating my action and the PFR grabbed $100 when it was barely my turn to act. After what seemed like forever I folded my JJ on a 7,4,4 board after I limp-reraised. They eventually get it all in and the guy in position flopped sevens full and the PFR called all his money off with A,Q. Kinda got lucky with that one.
The game then proceeded to get nuts. People in the main games were trying to get into our game and action was really good. I was relatively card dead and just wasn't connecting on flops. I bled away about $200 never really doing anything and this wasn't a game that I wanted to be short in so I added $300 more and was in for $800 total. Then something kinda weird happened at the table. I'm in the two (on a 9 handed table) and a guy comes into the one seat and is just slurring and seeming really drunk but a nice drunk. He starts with the whole "I never play in a casino and it's been a long time since I played so don't let me do anything stupid...just tell me if I do something wrong." Now sometimes these are guys are sincere, sometimes it's sarcasm b/c they think they are really good at poker and it's there clever way of saying coming into a game, and sometimes it just comes off really shady. Well this is one of those times that it comes off really shady, it was almost as though the guy wanted me to know this and was just volunteering a lot of "I'm a bad player information" Well it was a must move game and about 5 minutes later a seat opened up and another guy came to the table he was in the 7 seat and had a mardi gras bead around his neck and was drinking pina calodas (a real manly drink) and he was slurring and being drunk too. So between the drunk guy on my right and the one in the 7 seat and Henry (rich old guy) in the 9 this game is getting better. Well the whole table is talkative, everyone is talking to everyone...no shyness at all.
Something just isn't right the more I watch things progress. I start talking to the guy on my left who is a regular and we've played at the same table plenty times. I tell him that I'm not sure about these "drunk guys" that just got to the table. He's not sure what I mean and I just say, I doubt they are smart enough to pull it off but I kinda got this feeling they might being doing the whole drunk guy routine and are attempting to play together. He doesn't really buy it and I wasn't really trying to sell it...I was just making an observation that I wanted another player to pay attention to in case he picked up on something I missed. The more things go the more these two never really play a hand against each other and when they did we never saw a showdown and they never talked although they engaged everyone else in conversation while in a hand, they show up to the table similar times, they both have that thick Baton Rouge accent. (I'm not saying collusion, but I'm just saying). I eventually get moved to the main game before I could really put anything together.....(are they cheating, to be continued later this blog..)
The main game was very nice to me. I sit in the 10 seat and Bo, a regular is in the 9 and it was nice to have someone to bullshit with at the table. Well nothing really exciting happens and I pick up a few small pots and I have about $450 in front of me when the first big hand shows up and something that hasn't happened in a loooooong time happened. I have 55 in position and it's a $20 to go with 4 players. I flop a set with straight cards all over the place. It checks to me and I bet $50 and get called in one spot. The turn card is a 3 and it puts a gut shot draw getting there so I'm not too concerned about it. She checks and I bet $85 and she calls. River is another 3 and she leads for $100. Well I don't do too much Hollywood and she shows me how much she has left and I say all in and she calls. I hit gin on the river b/c she was opened ended on the flop with 3,4 and hit running three's. Only card that can hit to make her go broke.
About 10 minutes later I get a full double up in a limped pot. Flop comes A,3,6 and the BB leads for $25 which is the pot and it's a rainbow board and I have the nut draw. I call as well as the button. Turn card is a 7! Check to me and I bet $65 and the button raises me to $165 (that's such a good feeling..just thought I'd rub it in for y'all). The BB folds and now it's back to me and the question of what to do here? Now I've got about $685 in front of me and I need to figure out how to get it all in the pot. This is my thought process (I think it's the best plan of action):
-if I call it's gonna be a lot harder to get that in on the river b/c I can't just move all in and expect to get called, he could lay down a set if he doesn't fill up with that large of a bet. If I bet $xxx I have to hope he raises me. The best idea I had was to raise for value on the turn where he has to call the river. Well while I'm contemplating on how to play the nuts I can't see how much he has and I don't want to ask so I just kinda stare in his direction and he happily shows me that he's about $1k behind...this was good information b/c to me he's not scared at all. I then say raise and put the $100 more in the pot and whisper to the dealer to pull in the bets before I put out my raise. I make it $200 more and leaving about $285 and he thinks for about 5 seconds and says "all in". I call and praying the board doesn't pair and it doesn't and he slaps his hand down with his two pair and I drag a really nice pot. I'm a little biased but I think that was a good way to play the hand b/c $585 is a lot of money to put in the river with top two pair.
After that I was on cruise control and never really encountered trouble...at least for a few hours. My table breaks and of course table two (the must move that I was on) became a main game like 15 minutes after I got up. Gotta love Harrah's. I got moved from the game that I was now on the list to get back in...weird, huh? Anyway, I hang out and just bull shit with some people and a seat opens up. It was the 7 seat that drunk guy #2 was sitting in. Well what do you know, both guys got up from the table w/in 5 minutes of each other and it wasn't on or near a push and not even in their BB or button. After they leave and I sit down I couldn't help but say something to the table and ask if anyone thought they might have been trying to play together. The guy in the three seat perks up and says "no shit" and says they got here together and left w/in 10 minutes of each other and then says something that is pretty interesting. Apparently everyone noticed that they talked to everyone at the table except each other well right before they got up the guy in the 7 seat got in an argument with the guy in the 3. The argument came up when the 3 seat and the 1 seat got into it. Kinda weird that all of a sudden he was standing up for a guy who he never talked to at the table. We all kinda dismissed it but it was something to think about b/c I know people try to do it but I'm pretty sure more times than not it doesn't happen successfully. On top of that they really didn't take that much money off the table. (enough of the conspiracy theories)
When I moved back to that game I leaked off some money with a lot pocket pairs that never connected and one memorable hand where I folded QQ preflop and 33 won the hand without ever seeing a flop. This game was deep and one person had less than $1200 in front of him and that about $600 total (not exactly short). Guy with "short stack" opens for $15 in early position and 2 callers and I make it $60 total. Henry in the 9 seat repops it to $160. Now if you've ever played with this rich old man you know he's got a wiiiiiide range hands to that with...any pocket pair. Get back to the original PFR he ships it! Now it's back to me and I don't know how the hell I can do anything here except fold and as I'm pitching in my cards the dealer extends her hand out and cards hit her hand and expose my QQ. Henry is flustered by this and says "if those cards are exposed then I can't call" and folds his QQ face up. The other guy shows his 33 and wins the pot. No doubt Henry's logic is nonexistent but apparently if he was behind preflop then two outs is enough to call $500.
On the whole it was interesting night and nice a little win. Went to the Beau Sunday for the 10k gtd with Davey and that was about boring as it could be be. I finished in the neighborhood of 28 or so with a field of 70+. Was beyond card dead for the whole thing and my table was big hand after big hand. Reid even asked what the hell was going at my table b/c he kept hearin "all in." So with all that going on I had almost no chance to steal pots and then I couldn't find a spot to get all in b/c every pot was opened and I was card dead. It was a slow death and eventually got in heads up with A,2 against K,J and he made a full house of course. I'm ready to play some more and I'm gonna try to pick a week night to go and then I'll be at the Beau next weekend for my friend's bachelor party weekend.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
The game then proceeded to get nuts. People in the main games were trying to get into our game and action was really good. I was relatively card dead and just wasn't connecting on flops. I bled away about $200 never really doing anything and this wasn't a game that I wanted to be short in so I added $300 more and was in for $800 total. Then something kinda weird happened at the table. I'm in the two (on a 9 handed table) and a guy comes into the one seat and is just slurring and seeming really drunk but a nice drunk. He starts with the whole "I never play in a casino and it's been a long time since I played so don't let me do anything stupid...just tell me if I do something wrong." Now sometimes these are guys are sincere, sometimes it's sarcasm b/c they think they are really good at poker and it's there clever way of saying coming into a game, and sometimes it just comes off really shady. Well this is one of those times that it comes off really shady, it was almost as though the guy wanted me to know this and was just volunteering a lot of "I'm a bad player information" Well it was a must move game and about 5 minutes later a seat opened up and another guy came to the table he was in the 7 seat and had a mardi gras bead around his neck and was drinking pina calodas (a real manly drink) and he was slurring and being drunk too. So between the drunk guy on my right and the one in the 7 seat and Henry (rich old guy) in the 9 this game is getting better. Well the whole table is talkative, everyone is talking to everyone...no shyness at all.
Something just isn't right the more I watch things progress. I start talking to the guy on my left who is a regular and we've played at the same table plenty times. I tell him that I'm not sure about these "drunk guys" that just got to the table. He's not sure what I mean and I just say, I doubt they are smart enough to pull it off but I kinda got this feeling they might being doing the whole drunk guy routine and are attempting to play together. He doesn't really buy it and I wasn't really trying to sell it...I was just making an observation that I wanted another player to pay attention to in case he picked up on something I missed. The more things go the more these two never really play a hand against each other and when they did we never saw a showdown and they never talked although they engaged everyone else in conversation while in a hand, they show up to the table similar times, they both have that thick Baton Rouge accent. (I'm not saying collusion, but I'm just saying). I eventually get moved to the main game before I could really put anything together.....(are they cheating, to be continued later this blog..)
The main game was very nice to me. I sit in the 10 seat and Bo, a regular is in the 9 and it was nice to have someone to bullshit with at the table. Well nothing really exciting happens and I pick up a few small pots and I have about $450 in front of me when the first big hand shows up and something that hasn't happened in a loooooong time happened. I have 55 in position and it's a $20 to go with 4 players. I flop a set with straight cards all over the place. It checks to me and I bet $50 and get called in one spot. The turn card is a 3 and it puts a gut shot draw getting there so I'm not too concerned about it. She checks and I bet $85 and she calls. River is another 3 and she leads for $100. Well I don't do too much Hollywood and she shows me how much she has left and I say all in and she calls. I hit gin on the river b/c she was opened ended on the flop with 3,4 and hit running three's. Only card that can hit to make her go broke.
About 10 minutes later I get a full double up in a limped pot. Flop comes A,3,6 and the BB leads for $25 which is the pot and it's a rainbow board and I have the nut draw. I call as well as the button. Turn card is a 7! Check to me and I bet $65 and the button raises me to $165 (that's such a good feeling..just thought I'd rub it in for y'all). The BB folds and now it's back to me and the question of what to do here? Now I've got about $685 in front of me and I need to figure out how to get it all in the pot. This is my thought process (I think it's the best plan of action):
-if I call it's gonna be a lot harder to get that in on the river b/c I can't just move all in and expect to get called, he could lay down a set if he doesn't fill up with that large of a bet. If I bet $xxx I have to hope he raises me. The best idea I had was to raise for value on the turn where he has to call the river. Well while I'm contemplating on how to play the nuts I can't see how much he has and I don't want to ask so I just kinda stare in his direction and he happily shows me that he's about $1k behind...this was good information b/c to me he's not scared at all. I then say raise and put the $100 more in the pot and whisper to the dealer to pull in the bets before I put out my raise. I make it $200 more and leaving about $285 and he thinks for about 5 seconds and says "all in". I call and praying the board doesn't pair and it doesn't and he slaps his hand down with his two pair and I drag a really nice pot. I'm a little biased but I think that was a good way to play the hand b/c $585 is a lot of money to put in the river with top two pair.
After that I was on cruise control and never really encountered trouble...at least for a few hours. My table breaks and of course table two (the must move that I was on) became a main game like 15 minutes after I got up. Gotta love Harrah's. I got moved from the game that I was now on the list to get back in...weird, huh? Anyway, I hang out and just bull shit with some people and a seat opens up. It was the 7 seat that drunk guy #2 was sitting in. Well what do you know, both guys got up from the table w/in 5 minutes of each other and it wasn't on or near a push and not even in their BB or button. After they leave and I sit down I couldn't help but say something to the table and ask if anyone thought they might have been trying to play together. The guy in the three seat perks up and says "no shit" and says they got here together and left w/in 10 minutes of each other and then says something that is pretty interesting. Apparently everyone noticed that they talked to everyone at the table except each other well right before they got up the guy in the 7 seat got in an argument with the guy in the 3. The argument came up when the 3 seat and the 1 seat got into it. Kinda weird that all of a sudden he was standing up for a guy who he never talked to at the table. We all kinda dismissed it but it was something to think about b/c I know people try to do it but I'm pretty sure more times than not it doesn't happen successfully. On top of that they really didn't take that much money off the table. (enough of the conspiracy theories)
When I moved back to that game I leaked off some money with a lot pocket pairs that never connected and one memorable hand where I folded QQ preflop and 33 won the hand without ever seeing a flop. This game was deep and one person had less than $1200 in front of him and that about $600 total (not exactly short). Guy with "short stack" opens for $15 in early position and 2 callers and I make it $60 total. Henry in the 9 seat repops it to $160. Now if you've ever played with this rich old man you know he's got a wiiiiiide range hands to that with...any pocket pair. Get back to the original PFR he ships it! Now it's back to me and I don't know how the hell I can do anything here except fold and as I'm pitching in my cards the dealer extends her hand out and cards hit her hand and expose my QQ. Henry is flustered by this and says "if those cards are exposed then I can't call" and folds his QQ face up. The other guy shows his 33 and wins the pot. No doubt Henry's logic is nonexistent but apparently if he was behind preflop then two outs is enough to call $500.
On the whole it was interesting night and nice a little win. Went to the Beau Sunday for the 10k gtd with Davey and that was about boring as it could be be. I finished in the neighborhood of 28 or so with a field of 70+. Was beyond card dead for the whole thing and my table was big hand after big hand. Reid even asked what the hell was going at my table b/c he kept hearin "all in." So with all that going on I had almost no chance to steal pots and then I couldn't find a spot to get all in b/c every pot was opened and I was card dead. It was a slow death and eventually got in heads up with A,2 against K,J and he made a full house of course. I'm ready to play some more and I'm gonna try to pick a week night to go and then I'll be at the Beau next weekend for my friend's bachelor party weekend.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
5.21.2009
A Night of Almost and Back to Normal
I was ready to play some more and after eating some supper decided to go to Harrah's to catch a little of the final table and play some 2/5. I wish I would have just stayed home and watched the weird dude on American Idol. I'm pretty happy I'm not addicted to any television shows. The last show I was addicted to and never missed a new episode was the Sopranos. It was a sad day when that show ended....how can a mob show/movie end without the boss dying? It was the whole reason for the crappy Godfather III movie.
Anyway, I showed up to Harrah's and walked into the theatre and the winner was taking photos with alligator head and all that good stuff. No clue who the winner was or if he was a player or not. I walked over to the poker room and was somewhat surprised. By all means it wasn't packed like it had been but they still had like five 1/2 games and about 7 limit games going too. Even had a list of interest for 2/5 PLO. Had one 5/10 and one 2/5 game going. I put my name on the list for the 2/5 and I was 6th on the list and after about 20 minutes they had 10 ppl on the list. After about 40 minutes the list was 12 and I was still 6th on the list. HMMMMMMMMMM maybe we should get another table going?? But no, the circuit is gone and now things are back to normal over there. Two dealers on break instead of one and a list of 12 players and no new game. I told myself I was going to watch the first half of the Cavs/Magic game and leave if i didn't get in....kept holding on that they would open a new table. Finally 9:15 rolled around and I had no interest in getting in a game that late and it looked like they had no intent to open a new table. I left without ever playing after being on the list for more than an hour and half. But I was proud of myself for not sitting in the 1/2 game.
I also got a text from Gene that the bad beat jackpot should have been hit on the 3/6 table but instead someone won like a $14 pot. Apparently someone started the hand with like $5 (beautiful!) and they would have hit the jackpot with quads over quads but they didn't have the $20 minimum in the pot!...HAHAHA How brutal would that be? No sir you and the table do not get to share the 138k b/c you're playing a game made for retards. Maybe it'll get hit the next time I'm playing.
Maybe this Friday I'll have a chance to hit it unless of course I'm on the list for 2 hours and decide to go home instead. Davey and I might be headed to the Beau for the 10k gtd. on Sunday. That's still up in the air but I wouldn't mind going play.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
Anyway, I showed up to Harrah's and walked into the theatre and the winner was taking photos with alligator head and all that good stuff. No clue who the winner was or if he was a player or not. I walked over to the poker room and was somewhat surprised. By all means it wasn't packed like it had been but they still had like five 1/2 games and about 7 limit games going too. Even had a list of interest for 2/5 PLO. Had one 5/10 and one 2/5 game going. I put my name on the list for the 2/5 and I was 6th on the list and after about 20 minutes they had 10 ppl on the list. After about 40 minutes the list was 12 and I was still 6th on the list. HMMMMMMMMMM maybe we should get another table going?? But no, the circuit is gone and now things are back to normal over there. Two dealers on break instead of one and a list of 12 players and no new game. I told myself I was going to watch the first half of the Cavs/Magic game and leave if i didn't get in....kept holding on that they would open a new table. Finally 9:15 rolled around and I had no interest in getting in a game that late and it looked like they had no intent to open a new table. I left without ever playing after being on the list for more than an hour and half. But I was proud of myself for not sitting in the 1/2 game.
I also got a text from Gene that the bad beat jackpot should have been hit on the 3/6 table but instead someone won like a $14 pot. Apparently someone started the hand with like $5 (beautiful!) and they would have hit the jackpot with quads over quads but they didn't have the $20 minimum in the pot!...HAHAHA How brutal would that be? No sir you and the table do not get to share the 138k b/c you're playing a game made for retards. Maybe it'll get hit the next time I'm playing.
Maybe this Friday I'll have a chance to hit it unless of course I'm on the list for 2 hours and decide to go home instead. Davey and I might be headed to the Beau for the 10k gtd. on Sunday. That's still up in the air but I wouldn't mind going play.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.
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