Trip for AVP meetup
I woke up on time for my 9:40 am flight out of Chicago on Friday morning. The only problem was that I couldn’t hear out of my right ear. It was totally clogged and I knew that wouldn’t be a good thing for flying. I tried to use some ear cleaner stuff that an audiologist friend of mine gave me a while ago and all that did was give me a driving headache and a touch of vertigo. We were not off to a good start. My wife recommended I try using hydrogen peroxide which helped the vertigo go away, but I still couldn’t hear out of my right ear and a still had a pounding headache. After going through this whole fiasco, I was running late leaving to catch my plane.
My plan was to catch the L to get to the airport. I briefly entertained the idea of just calling a cab to take me to the airport, but a traffic report convinced me that taking the expressway there was just not a good idea. Looking at the clock, I figured I would still be able to make it to the airport on time, but breakfast would have to be in the form of honey-roasted peanuts on board the plane. I was still 25 minutes from downtown when my buddy, Adam, texted that he was boarding the train to the airport, which was on the other side of downtown. I told him I was about 15 minutes behind him. I stretched the truth a little on that one. The train that I was on decided that it wanted to have a ‘go slower’ contest with an old lady in a rascal and won that contest easily. I got to the airport as Adam texted that they were beginning to board. I hadn’t even gone through the security line yet. I talked my way to the front of the security line by saying that I was about to miss my plane (why don’t I just do that every time?) and got to put my bag through the x-ray machine. Of course, they wanted to re-examine it for some reason that was totally unknown to me. When they were re-scanning the bag, some genius decided to put his giant roller bag on top of one of the bins that go through the conveyor belt and it got stuck. AAAAARRRGGGGHH! So I finally got through the security line and I was literally the last person to get on my plane.
The flight was pretty uneventful. Adam and I played Chinese poker for $1 a point. I went from being up by as much as 6 points to being stuck 10 by the time we landed. Beat.
We landed and got in the ridiculously long cab line to go to Harrah’s, where we were staying. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, ~85 degrees, so the wait wasn’t bad. I paid for the cab, to make up for my losses in Chinese. We got checked in and headed over to the Venetian to play.
We put our names on the list and headed over to Grande Lux for lunch. I had a Max Burger, which was really good and a Stella. The burger was too big for me to finish. Adam had some pasta dish. He’s a vegetarian. He said it was good.
We finished lunch and went over to the poker room. I was seated in a 2/5NL game and Adam was seated in a 1/2NL game immediately when we got there. The line up at my table was pretty unremarkable. I was sitting in seat 6. There was a rockfish regular to my immediate left, in seat 7. She was really tight and would bet when she had a hand. She wasn’t very tricky post-flop so I liked having her to my left. There was a tourist from California in seat 8. He was pretty observant, but failed to act on his observations. If he took advantage of the things he saw, he could have been a headache, but he didn’t, so he really wasn’t a problem. There was a Canadian from Quebec in seat 9. He was pretty aggressive and liked to play big pots. He didn’t seem to have much idea about what to do when he was played back at, so my plan was to come over the top of him with a wider range of holdings than I would with a more conservative or trickier player. Seat 10 was a short-stacked tourist who didn’t have much of a clue. Seat 1 was a local kid who it seemed had just stepped up from 1/2NL. He tended to bet too light to get people out of pots and hated calling bets more than $100. The other players were unremarkable enough that I really don’t remember them.
I played a few interesting hands during this session. The first one came up a couple of hours in. I had worked my stack up from my $500 buy-in to about $750. I had just come from taking a walk in time to buy the button. I got Jd-5c in first position. There are three limpers to me and I check it through. Before the flop, I tell the dealer ‘I need a very special flop out of you’. The flop comes down 6-8-2 rainbow. I check. The Quebecois in early position leads at the pot for $20. The action folds back to me. I don’t give him credit for much of a hand so I check raise to $85. He flat calls the $85. At that point I put him on the straight draw or maybe having an 8. Turn is a 6 putting a flush draw on board. I lead at the pot for $145. The Quebecois thinks for a minute before mucking. I tip the dealer a redbird for giving me my very particular flop. Another player surmises that I had 6-8 for a BB special. I say nothing to deny that. ;).
The very next hand I am on the button. The blinds are posted and the Quebecois straddles, as he’d been doing for most of the afternoon. I had raised his straddle to $45 twice previously. Once taking it down before the flop and once taking it down with a flop bet. Both of my previous raises were pretty light. I could tell that he was getting tired of my raising his straddle. ‘So why straddle, then?’ You might ask. I would ask the same question, but Quebecois didn’t seem to get this. Anyway, there are two middle position callers to me and I have Qc-Qs on the button. I raise to $45 again. The local rock flat calls the $45 out of the SB. BB eyes me suspiciously, then folds. Quebecois raises to $245 straight. The action folds back to me. I am not too worried about the SB, because if she had AA or KK she likely would have raised me to keep from having to play the hand multi-way out of position against two aggro opponents. Quebecois had a pretty wide range in my mind. I re-raised all-in. He was visibly upset by the four-bet. He thought about it for a while then muttered something about me having aces and folded. He wasn’t too interested in calling my raises after that. The rest of the session was pretty routine. I wound up +$745 for the session.
Adam is from Michigan and went to the sports book to watch game 7 of the Stanley cup finals. After the game he came back and told me that he was going to get back on a 1/2 NL table. I told him to text me if there was a seat on his table and I’d cash out and play with him. There was a seat, so I sold all except for two stacks of my chips to a couple of incoming players and I went to hang out at Adam’s table.
The 1/2NL table that Adam and I were on was pretty soft. I was in seat 6. Adam was in seat 7. There was a older woman in seat 8 who all but told me that she didn’t want to play pots with me. There was a typical young guy in seat 9. He knew the rules of the game and had obviously played 1/2NL before, but he was not tricky or creative. Seat 10 was a buddy of seat 9 who may have been playing in a casino for the first time ever. He and seat 9 had a few inappropriate conversations during the play of hands when 10 was in and 9 was not. They got called on it and it ended. I don’t think it was truly malicious, but it was still pretty far out of line. Seat 1 was a tourist with terrible teeth and a strong southern accent. He had been getting hit by the deck, but he was pretty bad. Seat 2 was a young guy who was sitting on a short stack and seemed really reluctant to call any reasonable sized bet regardless of the size of the pot. Seat 3 was a drunk young guy who was overbetting every pot. He was funny, but he had a terrible habit of slow-rolling. Again, I don’t think he was being a douche on purpose, but he was still being a douche. He was one of my primary targets. Seat 4 was a young French kid who was a pretty good player. He was the big stack at the table and I knew that he was one of my best chances to double through. He was good enough that I knew I could set him up for multi-street bluffs and other more subtle moves. Seat 5 was an unremarkable tight (for 1/2NL) kid who overplayed his draws. He was the second stack at the table and my second target.
There were a few interesting hands at this table.
I wound up busting the drunk when he limped his KK before the flop. I raised with to $10 AcTc after his limp. There was one intervening caller (seat 1). He re-raised all in for around $105 more. I could tell that seat 1 had lost all interest in the pot. I called. I rivered a straight to beat his rivered set of kings. I still like my call against his range.
A second interesting hand occurred between me and Frenchy. Frenchy raised to $14 from MP. He had about a $450 stack. I called from the cutoff with 5c-7c. I had about a $350 stack. There was one other caller from the blinds. We took the flop 3-handed. Flop came down (Jd-2c-4d). BB checked to Frenchy, who led at the pot for $27. I called the flop with the intention of taking the pot from him on the turn with any diamond, over-card, or board-pairing 5 or 7. EP folded. Turn was the 8d, which was a great card for me. Frenchy led at the pot for $40. I raised to $145 and took the pot down. I was pretty impressed with Frenchy’s play overall and in that hand, especially. I really liked his lead at the turn. He didn’t know that I was capable of raising the third diamond without the flush. I think he wins that pot at most 1/2NL tables. Adam and I talked after and Adam agreed that he almost always wins that pot with his turn bet; most 1/2NL players just don’t have that raise in their arsenal.
Last interesting hand came a little later. I was in the BB with 2d-2c. There was one person who had posted a missed blind. There were a bunch of limpers and I checked my option. I think we took the flop 6-handed. The flop came down 2d-9c-Qd. I led at the flop for $10. Seat one raised to $30. I put him on a Q and thought I might be able to stack him off. Seat 5 flat called the $30. His check call of a bet and a raise had flush draw written all over it. I felt like if he’d cold-call the bet and raise, he’d go for the whole ride. I raised to $135 with the intention of sticking the rest of it in on the turn as long as no heart fell. Seat 1 was convinced that I flopped two pair and folded. Seat 5 shoved for another ~$185. I called. He showed 9d-4d and made his flush on the river. He played that hand so badly in so many ways that it really made me sad for him. When he left a few hands later it made me sad for me.
I rebought and played a few more unremarkable hands. I finished the session down about $120.
I had been tweeting with AVPers Minton, AlaskaGal, and Mrs. Lederer who told me that they were at the karaoke bar at IP. Adam and I headed over to meet them. Also ran into AVPers Pauly_D, and PiJuice, Pokermuffin (Later).
After meeting the crew at IP, Minton suggested heading to Bill’s for .50/1NL. Sure. Why not? The game was fun. We had basically a private table. Only one non-AVPer sat down and he lasted about 3 hands. There were a few interesting hands . First hand of the session I was dealt Qs-Qh UTG and raised to $6. I got 2 callers, including Minton. Flop was Q-high with 2 clubs. I bet $12. Minton called. I didn’t think he was on a flush draw or I would have expected a raise or fold, given that he bought in short-stacked for $60. Turn 8c. I bet $20. Minton shoved. I insta-called. River Xc. Minton shows me Ts-Tc for the rivered flush to snap off my set of queens. I re-loaded.
Pauly_D held over me for the entire session. Whenever we were in a pot together, I bet, he raise, I fold, he show me a superior hand. This has to be qualified by the fact that I was in around 60% of the pots. My range was just slightly wider than when I’m in a 2/5NL game.
Final hand AVPer, zzJitterzz, had was at the table. I called his pre-flop raise with Ad-3d. Flop is 3-4-X with two diamonds. I bet. He raise. I shove. He call. His KK holds up. Game was about to break anyway so I cashed out Down $145 at .50/1NL. It was around 4:00am and I was exhausted.
Called it a night. Report on Saturday to come…
Very well written, love the post. Goodluck!
First, a couple things...
- Very enjoyable post
- sounds like you are an excellent player. i enjoyed some of the moves you made. I think about these moves sometimes but rarely pull them. I need to open up my play more.
@redright88
I would've folded. You are getting less than 3 to 2 odds here. You even said he seemed to slow play too much. On that note, your other hands and descriptions are so high quality that I wonder if I am missing something here? What do you think his range was here that makes a call with AT suited profitable?
I said that the drunk slow-rolled a lot, not slow-played. A slow-roll is when the person with the winning hand hesitates to show the hand at showdown to allow the person with the losing hand to momentarily think his or her hand is best. It is a douche move and is greatly discouraged.
If he slow-played a lot, you are absolutely right, I could never call there with AT suited.
His shoving range was any any PP, any ace, any two broadway, any suited king. I think my AT suited matches up well against that range.
@redright88
oops! misread. That's what I get for reading your report with only one eye open.
thx... I thoroughly enjoyed your report. If I ever catch you at my table, I will request a seat change or I will avoid playing pots against you as far as you know.
I still can't believe that club on the river...granted the card gods made me pay for it before the session was done. Glad you would slum it up with us on the $0.50/$1 table with us...see you next trip out!!!
Saturday
I usually have a lot of trouble sleeping in Vegas, but I managed to sleep for nearly 7 hours on Friday night. I woke up starving, but feeling great. I took a quick shower and headed out to catch up with Adam and get some breakfast before I started playing. I texted Adam and he was thinking about getting into a 1/2NL game at Harrah’s. He was also hungry, so he decided to forgo the game to get breakfast. He suggested the Denny’s that is right up the street from Harrah’s and it was a great idea. There was about a ten minute wait for a seat, but then we were in.
I went with the ‘build-your-own-slam’ option. The bacon that I ordered was a little undercooked (blech!) and I asked for more. Our waiter, who was the most energetic guy in all of Vegas wound up replacing my undercooked bacon and bringing me an addition order. Yea!
After breakfast Adam and I decided to head over to the Bellagio to play. Adam put his name on the 1/2NL list and I put my name on both the 1/2NL and 2/5NL lists. We were seated at a new 1/2NL table for a few hands before my name was called for a new 2/5NL game. I didn’t even play one hand at the 1/2NL game.
My 2/5NL game was about half regulars and half tourists. It wasn’t a tough line-up in the manner that it was aggressive and a lot of moves were being made, but it was tough to make money at the table. With the exception of one guy, the regs really weren’t interested in playing pots without the nuts. The table went like this. There was an older regular in seat 1. He was very tight and wouldn’t play a pot without a really solid holding. I was in seat 2. Seat 3 was a European guy who decided to skip his shower (again). Beat. He wasn’t overly aggressive after the flop, but I don’t recall him ever limping into a pot. Seat 4 rotated, but the main character there was a pretty quiet older guy who seemed to be a little out of his depth. He wasn’t awful, but you could tell that if he stayed long enough, he’d get busted. Seat 5 was a middle-aged middle-eastern guy who was a pretty good player. He could get away from hands and showed appropriate aggression. He was also catching a lot of cards. Seat 6 was an off-duty dealer. She was a pretty solid player, but she hated getting raised. It was like she took it personally. Seat 8 was a tourist who was tight and unremarkable. Seat 8 was also a regular who was super-tight before the flop and super-passive after the flop. Seat 9 was the only regular at the table who was willing to gamble. He played his draws very aggressively, raising with most of them if bet into and betting all of them if checked to. Seat 10 was an unremarkable tourist who got hit with the deck for the first part of the session.
There were only about three interesting hands during this session.
In the first interesting hand, seat 5 raised to $25 from UTG+1 (with about $500 behind). Seat 10 called from the button. I was in the BB with about $520 behind with Ac-Kc. I flat called the raise. I didn’t want to get into a raising war before the flop with my hand and I didn’t want to set up a huge pot with my hand that was most likely to be a 1 pair hand. We take the flop 3-handed. Flop comes down KsJcTc. Bingo. This is a huge flop for me and now I’m ready to play a big pot. I lead out for $55. Seat 5 raises to $155. Seat 10 folds. I don’t think that Seat 5 is on a set. A set is usually going to make a bigger raise to protect against all of the draws that are out there. If he does have a set, I think he’s willing to get away from it for the fear that I may have flopped the nuts with AQ. I raise to make it $350 all day. He thinks for a few minutes before folding his Ad-As face-up.
The second interesting hand, I am on the button with about $800 in my stack. There are three or four limpers to me, including the CO (really solid regular with about $380 in his stack). I decide to flat call with my Jc-8c. We take the flop six handed. Flop comes down J-8-7 with two spades. The action is checked to me and I lead at the pot for $30. I am prepared to dump my hand to a big raise here. There is a chance that someone checked the nuts to me and I am drawing very thin. One MP player calls and the CO calls. There is now $120 in the pot. Turn is 7d. MP checks. CO checks. I lead for $90. MP folds. CO flat calls. Uh-oh. River is an off suit 3. CO leads for $120. Danmit!!! I’m pretty sure that I’m beat, but he is laying me $420:$120. There is a chance that he has AJ . I call. He shows me JJ for the turned boat . I did not see that hand coming. He played it really well.
Last interesting hand came up a little later. I am in the BB with around $850 behind. I have As-5s. There were a total of 5 limpers when the action got back to me. I had a hand that I wanted to see a flop with, so I checked it through. Flop came down Ad-5h-7h. I led at the pot for $15 with my top and bottom pair. Seat 6 (off-duty dealer who is solid, but unspectacular) min-raises to $30. What?! That smells like a draw. I’m not sure if I’m going to flat the flop and lead on the turn or if I’m going to raise right here. My plan is to raise it if there are no callers, but flat if there is an intervening caller, since an intervening caller probably takes some more draw-completing cards out of the deck. However, seat 9 doesn’t like a $30 bet. He likes a $100 bet. His raise was unexpected. Both seat 6 and seat 9 started the hand with about $325 in their stack. Action folds back to me. I tanked for a while. If I could flat the $100 and make my move on the turn, that would be ideal. However, I don’t think that seat 6 is going to overcall if I do flat the $100. I think she is going to shove and I’ll be forced to call two all-ins with the price I’ll be getting. Seat 9’s range is sets, two-pairs, flush draws, and combination flush and straight draws. Seat 6’s range is mostly flush draws, pair plus flush draws, sets and two-pairs make up less of her range. I didn’t want to gamble on the flop, so I folded. Seat 6 shoved and Seat 9 called. Seat 6 had Ah-Kh for TPTK with the nut flush draw. Seat 9 had 3h-4h for the gutshot straight flush draw. He spiked a 6 on the river to make his straight. I still don’t know if my fold was the right play or not.
I played a few more unremarkable hands and left to eat and head for the AVP tourney down about $140 in the game.
Adam said he was at the best 1/2NL table he’d ever been at in his life and was up around $750 for his session. I should have stayed at that table.
We grabbed dinner at the Bellagio buffet with other friends of ours from Chicago, Mae and Ron. The Bellagio buffet is always solid and they did not disappoint. We got to Bally’s and there were still a few open seats, so Mae and Ron signed up for the tourney too.
At the tourney I had the honor of being the first person to bust, when I mis-remembered my hand in a pot against JoeyNumbnutz. I thought I had 5c-7c on a 4-6-X 1-club board. I really had 7c-Tc. We got it all in on the flop. My rivered pair of 7s didn’t stand up to Numbnutz’ pocket 9s. I re-busted not long after the break when my pocket deuces couldn’t outrun PiJuice’s pocket 9’s in an all-in pre-flop situation. I was anxious to get back to the Venetian for more cash games, so I wasn’t too upset about not spending all night at the AVP tourney. It was good to be able to put faces to many of the names that I see online. I headed off to the Venetian stuck $200 for the tourney. Adam had previously busted. He was going to meet me at the V. Mae and Ron were still playing when I left. Ron was doing quite well.
Back at the Venetian I was seated immediately in a new game that turned out to be one of the wildest 2/5NL games I can recall having played in, ever. There were straddles for around 60% of the hands and nearly every pot was raised before the flop. There were only two times that the blinds were chopped that I could recall. There were a few interesting hands that went on here.
The line-up went like this. Seat 1 was a guy who said he was a pit boss at Wynn. He was from KC and was a drinker. He made a point of telling all who would listen about how much he got paid in his pit boss job. He was not a very strong player and had a really bad case of Caro-it is (acting strong when weak). Seat 2 was a guy who was quite aggressive before the flop. He said that he was playing in some of the DSE events and WSOP events and he played just like a good tournament player. He loved the pre-flop squeeze play and timed it very well. His post-flop game was not as strong as his pre-flop game, but he was no pushover. I was in seat 3. Seat 4 was a regular from my game in Chicago. He is a pretty good LAG player. He is young and sometimes lets bravado get the best of him in pots that other people have shown a bunch of interest in. So, he gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar more than he should. That said, he is a winning player and I don’t like the fact that he is on my immediate left too much. Seat 5 is a local younger guy. From table talk I know that he fancies himself to be a sports bettor. I get the impression that he is trying to make his living gambling; maybe not purely poker, but in the gambling lifestyle. He is a tight player and on a short-ish stack. Seat 6 is also a young guy who is very tight to be in this game. He is probably still notably tight at a less crazy table, but he is an absolute rock at this table. Seat 7 is a guy from California who is a good aggressive player. He has a lot of moves in him and will attack weakness. He is definitely aware of position and plays the vast majority of his hands in position. His range from the CO and the button are nearly ATC. Seat 8 is a local Venetian grinder. He is not afraid to gamble, but he’s not there to throw his money away. He is willing to bluff and semi-bluff liberally. He also has a very wide range from LP, but he is more discriminating than seat 7. Seat 9 rotated, but it was usually filled with a shell-shocked tourist. Seat 10 was a younger guy who was solid. He showed down good values for his table position. That said, he would play his draws aggressively and would make thin value bets if he thought he was in front.
First interesting hand:
Tournament player in seat 2 straddled. I was first to act. I decided to flat call the straddle with 9-9. I had about $420 behind. My plan was to either see a cheap flop to see if I could flop a set or to represent a much bigger hand with a limp/re-raise if there was just a standard raise or raise and call. Seat 4 (the Chicago regular) raised to $50 right behind me. Action folded back to me. I know that seat 4 would make this raise with a pretty wide range of hands. Something like AT+, 55+, KJ+, QJs, JTs, and a random suited connector type of hand a minority of the time. So, I stand to be in front of most of his range. However, a raise would put a $300 pot out there and I’d only have about $270 behind. The stack sizes made it sort of awkward. The standard opening raise of a straddle had been to $35, which would have been much more convenient from my perspective. I viewed my options as raising > calling > folding. Since the stack sizes were so weird I opted to shove. I felt like my shove increased the chances that if called, I was a 4:1 dog, but also increased the chances of a fold by a sizable margin. The 4 Seat went into the tank a little. He said that he thought I was on a middle pair. He was dead on. When he didn’t snap call, I felt like he was either on a middle pair, too, in which case I stand to be the favorite by a wide margin or he was on two big cards, in which case I was a slight favorite. He said he was going to go with his read and called. Board ran out ace-high with a jack and no 9. He had KQ and my hand was good for a double up. His slightly larger than standard raise made the hand trickier than I’d hoped.
Second interesting hand happened an hour or two later against Seat 1 (the Wynn pit boss from KC). I was in the BB with 6-9 off-suit. Seat 4 had straddled. There were 3 callers of the straddle to me. I looked left and seat 4 didn’t look to have raising in mind, so I completed. Straddler checked his option and we take the flop 5-handed. Flop came down 6-8-9 with two clubs. I checked to keep the pot small. The action checked to the button (Seat 1) and he led for $30. I flat called the $30. All others folded. Turn was a 3d. I checked again. Button bet $50. I called. River was Qs. I checked again. Button bet $45. I called. Button showed J-9 for a flopped top pair. My two pair was good. This hand was interesting in that I didn’t feel like there was any place for me to raise along the way. Also, I felt like a bet would bloat the pot if he raised me and I definitely didn’t want to play a big pot. If he’d made a big bet on the river, I’d have folded. I don’t know if I won the minimum on this hand, but I definitely didn’t want to get into a big hand and have him show me the nuts. Playing out of position is a bitch!
Final interesting hand was against the 5 seat (young professional gambler). I was in the BB about a $650 stack. Seat 5 limps in UTG+1. There are three callers, including the SB and the button. I raised to $40 with the intention of taking down the pot without a flop with 9-9. Seat 5 shoves for $220 total. Action folds back to me. I put seat 5 on either two big cards, a middling pair, or AA. I didn’t think that there were too many other hands that fit that pattern. So I felt like my 9-9 matched up well against {AA, AK-AJ, KQ, TT-77}. I made the call. There was no paint on the board after the river. My 9-9 held up against his AK.
This table was so nuts. I am usually really, really, really reluctant to play a big pot before the flop with 9-9 , but I did it twice in this session. I was getting tired and the table was turning over, so I racked up. I finished the session up about $180.
I was heading back to Harrah’s to call it a night. I’d put a dent in my losses from earlier in the day and played well. A funny thing happened on the way to the room though…
I was walking past the poker room in Harrah’s when I noticed a guy sitting at the table with about $700 in front of him. No one else at the table had more than $250 in front. There was an open seat two spaces to the big stack’s left and I couldn’t resist the urge to try to lighten his load a little. I bought in for $200 with the intention of doing a quick hit-and-run for a chunk of this guy’s stack.
The line-up at the table was really unremarkable it was about 3:30am and most had been drinking. Seat 1 was a younger guy who seemed to know that the button straddle was a good thing to do, but not why. He seemed like he wanted to be good , but was inexperienced and somewhat passive. I was in seat 2. Seat 3 was a young guy with a non-U.S. accent that I couldn’t place. I was thinking it was either European, possibly German (it was late and I was tired). Seat 4 was a young guy who was nursing a $40 stack. He was friends with the big stack and was trying to convince him to leave (internal dialogue: ‘Shut up, kid! Let him play as long as he wants!’). Seat 5 was a local. He seemed to work for Harrah’s corporation because he knew all about the benefits of the Total Rewards card. He was doing a sales job for the TR card on seat 4. He tended to call too much. He knew the big stack was pushing him around and didn’t like it, but he didn’t seem to know how to stop it. He was a nice guy, though. Seat 6 was open. Seat 7 was an unremarkable kid with about a $100 stack. Seat 8 was an unremarkable woman with about a $150 stack. Seat 9 was open. Seat 10 was the big stack. He was aggressive in position, but he really didn’t like calling. His bluffs were pretty transparent. They did not tell a coherent story at all. I played a few interesting hands here.
I just folded my first orbit to try to get a feel for the flow of the table. My first interesting hand came up at the beginning of my second lap around.
Seat 10 straddled on the button. Seat 1 folded and I raised from my would-be BB to $14 with Ah-5h. I started the hand with exactly $200 in my stack. Action folded to the button (big stack) who called. We took the flop head’s up. Flop came down Q-4-4 rainbow. I led at the flop for $20. Button called. Given the aggression that I’d seen out of him, I didn’t put a Q in his hand. He’d likely have raised. He might have flatted with a 4. His action on the turn should illuminate. Turn 8c putting a club draw on the board. I checked. He checked behind. His check behind makes me pretty sure that he doesn’t have a 4. If he did he’d want to bet to set up an all-in on the river. River 2h. I checked. He bet $51. I raised all-in. He turbo-mucked. I would have never made this bluff against a good player as it would have nearly no value. My hand looked to all the world like a middle pair or two big cards. I would have called me with any Q and any pair 88+. He asked me many times if I had QQ or 88 for a boat. I didn’t answer.
Second interesting hand I was on the button and straddled. There were three callers to me. Big stack was not one of them. I had AsTs and raised to $18. I felt like my hand was likely better than the limpers and I had position throughout the hand if they chose to call. I got two callers; Seat 5 and seat 8. Flop comes down A-8-6 with one spade. Action checked to me and I led at the pot for $30. Seat 5 called. Turn was a 9c, putting a club draw on board. I felt like that was a good card for me because it could easily give him top pair if he were open-ended, which would get me a call of a value bet, or it could look like I hit my straight if he was on a hand like AJ. I didn’t think AK and AQ were much of his range due to the pre-flop limp. I led at the pot for $45. He called. If he’d been deeper I’d have bet heavier, but I didn’t want to put myself into a must-call spot if he shoved. River was an off-suit 4. He checked, I checked behind. He said he missed. I said ‘ace’ and showed. He mucked. I don’t know what draw he might have missed other than random clubs, but that doesn’t explain the check/call on the flop. Oh, well.
I also won a pretty big three-way pot against seat 5 and seat 10 when they were both drawing, Seat 5 to a straight and seat 10 to a flush against my naked pair of aces on the flop. But I don’t remember enough detail to try to put it in this report. Sorry.
Seat 10 got up to leave not long after this and so did I. He was the only reason I was there. I was really tired and it was around 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. I left that game +$285 in around an hour. That game got me back in the black for the day, which helped.
After that, I really did go to bed.
Sunday adventures to come…
@minton
That was the most fun table that I was at all weekend. I had a great time. Can't wait until next trip.
Very good report... this makes me realize I don't pay enough attention to the other players at my table. My descriptions are usually more like "old guy-passive" or "young kid - aggressive" without much more detail.
Great report so far! BTW, this is the sort of deep thought strategy that makes me bow in awe of RR88:
@redright88
Just reading this kind of discussion makes me a better player (or at least tells me how much room I have to improve). FWIW RR88, this spot is one where I raise if I think I can get it heads up, and fold if I think both are coming along for the ride.
It was great meeting you and playing at Bill's. I appreciate the advice you gave me since I'm still learning NL. I only wish that on my first time playing with you that I hadn't been tipsy and could've played my "A" game! Next time!
@redright88
When I read this my initial reaction was bad fold. Definitely gotta stick the money in here.
But then I went and played with poker stove a little bit using the read you gave. This is a real pain in the ass spot to put into stove because there are so many different flush draws, but luckily for you I was just bored enough to do it
.
Text results appended to pokerstove.txt
834,372 games 0.016 secs 52,148,250 games/sec
Board: Ad 7h 5h
Dead:
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 37.241% 33.51% 03.73% 279576 31150.00 { As5s }
Hand 1: 27.325% 24.18% 03.14% 201752 26236.00 { 77, 55, A7s, A5s, KhQh, KhJh, KhTh, Kh9h, Kh8h, QhJh, QhTh, Qh9h, Qh8h, JhTh, Jh9h, Jh8h, Th9h, Th8h, Th7h, 9h8h, 9h6h, 8h6h, 75s, 6h4h, 4h3h, 3h2h, A7o, A5o, 75o }
Hand 2: 35.435% 34.61% 00.83% 288756 6902.00 { 7c7d, AhKh, AhQh, AhJh, AhTh, Ah9h, Ah8h, Ac7c, Ah6h, Ah4h, Ah3h, Ah2h, KhQh, KhJh, KhTh, Kh9h, Kh8h, QhJh, QhTh, Qh9h, Qh8h, JhTh, Jh9h, Jh8h, Th9h, Th8h, Th7h, 9h8h, 9h6h, 8h6h, 6h4h }
So it's a pretty meh spot with those ranges. As you start taking out the weaker flush draws from both of their ranges (like the bare Q,J,T high flush draws) your equity gets worse and worse. Maybe if they are capable of making big lay downs when you shove it would make the play better. But assuming they are both sticking around for sure, it's not a bad fold at all. Goes against my instincts in this spot though. Maybe that's just because we're not thinking about fold equity, whether the range is actually right, etc.
Btw it was nice to finally meet you last night at the shoe.
Sounds like it was a pretty fun and profitable trip. I wish I could have been out there for this!
Thanks for running it through stove, Hawk. Like I said yesterday, I was almost afraid to do it myself and have stove tell me I had like 45% equity or something else that confirmed that my fold was the nittiest thing ever. It's good to see that it was as close as I thought it was.
It was good to see you at the 'Shoe yesterday. Hope the night went well. I'll post my report from Sunday when I get back to work.
@Mrs. Lederer
Thanks. That was a really fun table and I had a great time. I'm sure I'll see you out there for the meetup next summer, if not sooner.
RR88