Hagar
02-14-2006, 10:32 AM
Got back from my Reno trip late last night. I was in Reno for non-gambling purposes, but managed to log some hours in the poker room between points of inebriation. Extreme inebriation.
Got into town abot 1:30 Friday afternoon. My purposes for bieng there didn't require my attendance until around 4:00, so I found my way to the poker room to see what was going on. They spread 2/4, 3/6, 4/8 (kill/half kill), 5/10 HE; 4/8 Omaha hl (kill), 7 stud, NLHE 2/3 w5 bring. They had a couple of 4/8, one 2/4, one 5/10 and I think an Omaha game running. NL "would probably get rolling around 7:00". I got right in a 4/8 full kill game.
Falling true to form, I wasn't getting a lot of cards early on so I did my best to figure out who the tourists were, who the regulars were and where the donations were coming from. There seemed to be a pretty high percentage of regulars at the table, with a couple of tourists, but no obvious fishies. I pretty much sit in the shadows for 3 or 4 orbits. The kill button was on and I look down to see AJo in the cutoff. Everyone folded to me and I decided to test the waters to see 1) how they react to a kill pot raises and 2) if anyone noticed that I hadn't ventured into action yet. I raised to 16. Only the guy with the kill button called. Kill button guy appears to be a regular. He was fairly aggressive, not a maniac, but aggressive enough that his "moves" were suspect (at least in my mind). Flop came 57J, which I liked. Killer checked, I fired and killer check raised. I didn't care for that at all, but my read on him left enough room for him to be full of shit in this spot that I couldn't toss my TPTK hand with ease. I really had a hard time putting him on anything real, but the board did have some bit of coordination and it was easy enough to put hands like T8,T9,86,64, JT, JK, JQ into tha mix of hands he could be playing this way along with 57, J7, 55, 77, (JJ, but not so much) with which he would be ahead of me. I finally decided to just call him down unless the board changed the situation. I called his raise, the turn and the river feeling I could still be ahead. He showed J7 for the flopped 2 pair. (I showed my AJ hwen I gave him my resigned "nice hand".) OK, so his c/r DID represent the "traditional 2 pair flop c/r" move. I adjusted my read to "selectively aggressive" and pretty much gave him credit for pretty solid hands when he was getting pushy. (I never had to face him again, but the rest of the session did reinforce that read.)
Of course, the kill pot stakes pretty much crushed my starting $100 stack. I think I had about $20 left and bought a fresh rack. I sat and watched some more, and bled a few stacks away (think I experienced another tough beat or two, but nothing real costly) and eventually woke up with QQ, yes, in another kill pot. The killer was a different guy who was really trying to push a rush. I was in early/middle position and I think I had recently taken a rough beat so my raise could easily have been construed as a steam raise. A few callers ahead of of me, I popped it up and killer 2 came back at me. Still several callers and I put the 4th bet in. Killer 2 slowed down and called and I think there were still 2 or 3 along for the ride. 4-5 ways in a 4 bet kill pot. One of the older guys to my right was advertising my "Aces" for me ("STFU old timer!"), but that didn't slow anyone down. Flop was all under cards (thank god) and I opened. Killer 2 raised me which put my last chips in the pot ("Nice time to run out of chips", I think to myself), and there were 2 left to battle for the $2 side pot. They ended up checking down the turn and river (honestly, didn't surprise me, I had put Killer 2 on a big A, the tag along could have had just about anything) and my QQ held up to drag the $200+ pot. Killer 2 did have AK and tag along had JJ. I think that my play with AJ in the previous kill pot that I was involved in led Killer 2 to overplay his hand against me just a little.
So I was back to even and never got any better than that. Tried to run through the minefield a few more times, but never hooked up with anything good enough to get the bigger pots and mostly bled away a few stacks. Don't recall what the last hand was, but I seem to remember that it was one of those "good hand gone a little bad" hands that pushed me towards the rail. It was nearing the time I needed to hook up with my buds, so I took the cue and racked up my remaining $95. Not really tilting or steaming, just shaking my head at the "every (Ok almost every) hand I get to play got punked" luck that I seemed to be facing.
Hooked up with my buds, we hung out, did our pre-tournament BS (I was up there for our annual weekend long Hearts tournament), had some pizza and a couple beers (just a coulple!) and we broke up the crowd at about 7:00 to "do our own thing" until 8:30 Saturday morning. Some of the guys headed for the Wild Orchid (strip club), some of them headed down to the general gaming tables, I headed back to the poker room to see what was going on.
They were just wrapping up a $100 tournament (timing of my other stuff prevented me from getting in the tournament, I was considering it) and the room was hopping, not slammed, but busy. The 4/8 games had a lists (considered having some "fun" with Omaha) and I inquired about the NL game. The brush gave me the lowdown and said that there would was a spot available in the game they were going to startup in 15 minutes. Wasn't crazy about the 2/3 w 5 bring or the fact that the buy-in could be for as much as $1500, but decided to take the available seat. Locked up a chair and waited for the game to be spread.
I sat down with $200 (more than the $100 minimum, but enough to be able to get involved in a couple of hands) and watched the other buy. Most bought in for $300-$500, a couple with more and a couple others in the $200 range. It took a while to get enough bodies to roll, so slipped over the rail into the "smoking section" to get another stick on my lungs before we got rolling and my left hand neighbor joined me. We had already shared a few snickers so I toook the opportunity to try to "buddy up" to this guy and get a bit of the lowdown on the game in general. He said that in general the game id farily reasonable; it doesn't have a reputation as being crazy wild or a rock garden. The tourists tend to be the wildcards and if there's a bunch of crazy's in town that decide to play "I saw it on TV" poker, then it would be a bit crazy.
We started play 5 or 6 handed and right off the bat, the guy in seat 8 (big 30-something guy - B30G) raised to $20. Fold for a blind steal. Hand 2, same thing. Bang, bang, B30G is developing a very aggressive reputation. As the table filled, a couple of guys were trying to build the same rep and it took a while before we actually saw a $5 flop. My game plan was to be very conservative and try to pin reads on a people, find the calling stations, rocks and agros and watch how they react to stuff; find out what raises were "auto-calls" and which ones actually got attention and respect - just get a feel for the table, wait for hands, pick my spots.
The table was primarily local regulars with 2 or 3 non-regulars including B30G, me and (I think) a younger guy who showed up to the table with a rack of blues (which he promptly dumped out in a messy pile on the table and turned around and reracked for a color up).
Oddly enough, my reaction to the early action pushed to me towards being a little LOOSER with my raising standards. I raised ($20-$25) with AJo, 2 or 3 orbits in from late position. I got respect and stole the blinds. OK, looks like this game is going to be pretty reasonable. I know, it's still early, but the groundwork I was watching indicated that raises were genrally treated with at least some respect; the fishing derby effect would be minimal. I had a pretty good read on who was playing the solid waiting game, who was gonna be a little pushy.
After several orbits, the game generally loosened up a little - more raises were getting action and we were seeing a few more flops for $5. I limped in late pos. with A5s and saw a flop that was something like J85, 2 clubs (my suit), which developed into my first "big hand" of the session. There were a couple of players and I either called a $10 bet from B30G or opened for $10 when it was checked to me. B30G and I were heads up for the turn. Turn was a blank and I let it check through. River was a 5 for a board of (let's just call it) xx5x5. No flushes, no straights nothing particularly coordinated about the board. B30G checked, I fired a $20 bet and B30G comes back over the top with a $30 c/r. I was pretty confident that I had the best hand, but I stopped myself from getting stupid and started thinking about what might be happening here. B30G had been fairly aggressive, but I really hadn't seen many of his hands. There was not one single "reasonable" hand that I could put him on, but he was in the BB and could have any 2 cards. Sure, he could have hit a set, but I didn't really have that feeling. I was more worried about a possible x5 where the x just happened to match the board. I really expected that he actually had 2 other pair, but the big blind factor slowed me down. "You're in the BB. You could have any 2 cards right now, so I will just call." He flipped up 95, my A5 was plenty good. I gave myself a little personal whipping for being such a chicken-shit (I probably would have doubled up if I tried) but was generally happy that I walked myself through the scenario so completely and made a sound decision.
So I got up a little fairly early. I played another hand that ended up being heads up against B30G with lesser results. I had KJ (from med pos) and saw a $5 flop. The flop was QJ8. It was checked to me and I fired at the pot with second pair. Got called from B30G (behind me) and I think one other. Turn was a blank, and again I fired and was called by B30G only. River was a T which I really didn't like. I checked, waiting to see what B30G would do. He fired a ~$30 bet. I thought for a few seconds and my gut told me that I had the best hand. I know it was only second pair K kicker, but the way the hand played out, it just felt like my hand was good and he was trying to use the scare card to buy the pot. The smallish bet did concern me a bit, but made for a pretty easy call. He flipped up T9. "Wow, I couldn't put you on a gut shot..." Another guy piped up and said "He flopped it you idiot." I did a double take and realized that B30G played me like a fiddle on that hand. I thanked the guy (the kid that splashed the rack of blues all over the table) for pointing out my oversight and offered a very sincere "Nice Hand" to B30G. I'm not at all unhappy with my play - I followed a very strong feeling and made the call.
Here's a hand that wound up being very interesting. Play it along with me and see what you do on the river. I'm in late mid pos and raise before the the flop with TT. Get a couple callers, have maybe $70 in the pot before the flop. The main adversary is to your right, and has been solid/tight. The flop came 345 rainbow. Check to you? Of course you bet, let's say $40. Get called only by S/T. Turn brings a 2, making any A a wheel. S/T checks. Now what?........................
His check took my position away and I decided to regain my position by checking through. A little weak? Yeah, but it wasn't hard to put him on a big A. River brought a T, for top set. I really, really, really hated that card. I was about 80% confident that he held an Ax. S/T fired a $35 bet. Now what?................
I sat and thought for some time. I was pretty sure he held an Ace, but it wouldn't have been unreasonable that he was now just trying to steal it from me after my check-through on the turn. I have no idea what he put me on or what I could have that he could beat. I quickly checked out the pot "Hmm 3 or 4 to one that you don't have an Ace eh? That turn really put me in a spot." I finally decided to call. "I don't have an Ace." "Then I probably just rivered you" and flipped up my pocket tens. He flashed QQ and chastized himself for playing the hand so poorly. "Tough break man."
Wow. He did play the hand pretty poorly. I got the impression he was planning to c/r the turn, but the 2 made me put my breaks on (although I can't imagine that an A in my hand wasn't a distinct possibility in his mind). My "weak" play on the turn, wound up being my saving grace: he was betting to get a call out of me on the river with what he thought was the winner. So I picked up another decent pot and climbed back ahead a little (~$40).
A little later we were joined by an Asian lady (AL) who sat down with 2 full racks of red and another couple hundred in blacks and greens. I little overkill, but hey, enjoy yourself. It was becoming clear that she was one of the regular gang. On about her third hand, she opened raised from MP for $50. She didn't have much trouble winning the $5 in blinds with that bet. She flipped up AQ suited had a "big laugh". So this was her entrance. She did this a couple more times, tangled with a few hands won and lost a few hands. My "buddy" Tom (on my left) had been playing very, very tight and came into a hand for a $20 raise. AL came over the top for $50 more. Tom called. Flop came QQx Tom checked, AL bet $100. Tom c/r all in for another $250. AL didn't even blink, just called. Tom flipped up KK, AL had AA. I thought for sure that Tom had something like AQ and that he was gonna double up through splashy AL. Not to be.
The biggest (by far) hand of the night, was between B30G and AL. B30G's night had featured many less than great hands that were hooking up for some pretty good pots. He had built his $300 up to $800 or so. AL was actually a little behind despite her $300 take vs. Tom, but still had B30G covered. The limped flop came something like KQT. There was a little bit of early jousting, nothing major, but enough action to put a little tension that there's some posturing going on and it wound up being heads up between AL and B30G, the big stacks. Turn was a brick. AL opened for $100, B30G quickly raised to $200. AL thought for about 2 seconds and went all-in. So I'm sitting here taing this in, trying to put people on hands and watching B30G while he was thinking. This just can't be any less than a set over set or astraight over set or even possibly a straight over straight situation. B30G was taking his sweet time, but didn't seem very stressed. His eyes were wandering all over the table and the room, ocasionally glancing at the board. He had calm semi-grin on his face (which was his default expression) and seemed to be pretty care-free. While I was watching all this, I finally put AL on a set and B30G on J9. We were going on 6 or 7 minutes of B30G "making his decision" and finally someone spoke up and aksed if he knew it was his turn. He hadn't heard AL's all-in (she just kind of waved her hands and said "all-in" and he missed it). Once he realized it was his turn, he called almost immediately, not even a moment of thought. Wow, nearly a $2000 pot. I was eager to see how my reads played out.
They flipped up. AL had KJ (top pair and openender), B30G had K7o. WTF!? :scratch: :!: B30G was drawing to a 3 outer and neither of them had a hand that worthy of anywhere near that kind of action. Top pair? Not even 2 pair? no sets? I was blown away and it took me almost half an hour to stop scratching my head over that hand. B30G just stood up, wished everyone good luck, "thanks for the fun" and took off with a grin on his face.
This is getting a bit long so I'll try to wrap this up. Overall, I was pretty happy with my play. Pretty tight, took few stabs, playing off my reads. I had AK in MP had raised, got a couple callers. Flop missed me, but I opened the pot with a contiuation bet which shook all but one caller, a "down to business" old timer. WHen he came in a pot, it was usually for a raise and when he limped, he had solid cards. In general he was very aware of what was goin on. His call bothered me as he could have very easily be setting me up. The turn blanked and he checked. I was confident that if I bet he would either fold or raise, no more calling. If I checked and the board blanked, he would bet regardless of his hand. I decided to bet enough to be convincing, but not so much I could get away from. I bet about a third of the pot and he pitched his cards. Nothing heroic or special about the play, but I was till happy with my analysis of the situation.
One more story to relate and then I'll wrap up this post. Mis session, a kid sat down with ~$200. I couldn't get a good first read on him - could either be solid young gun or a seasoned wanna be. The first notable hand he got involved in was in LP and he raised something like $40. IT was folded back around to Tom who had limped. Tom called and I knew he had a very good hand. PRobably at least a big A, maybe just a couple of suited broadway cards, but not garbage, nothing mediocre - he had limp/mucked or folded the SB or BB with no raise enough to know he had solid cards. Flop came pretty solid 2 braodway, 2 suits. Tom checked, New Kid fired $50. Tom quickly called. Turn was a brick. Tom checked and the Kid bet $100. Again Tom quickly called. I was starting to get the impression that Tom was chasing (either the flush or a straight) and I was concerned that he was not considering odds at all, just plain chasing. River blanked and the Kid shoved another stack for $100. Tom couldn't call and the KId flipped up 62s, essentially playing the board. This was prety bold play, but really bush league advertising. He just plain embarassed Tom who left very quickly after the humilitation. After Tom left, the Kid moved into Tom's seat directly to my right.
This story sets up my last big hand of the night. ANother play along, if you will. I was in LP with ATs. I limped 4 or 5 way to the flop. The flop came T62, 2 suits, not mine. A newbie from the BB opened for $20. (This guy just had the "I don't have any business being in this game" aura about him. I fired a $40 raise, ready to take the pot right now. New Kid raised to $90 right behind me. Newbie quickly skedaddled leaving me to deal with the guy who just bought the pot with a 62....What's your play..........?
I thought for a moment and realized that a call here was going to put the rest of my stack in this hand (I had about $150 in front of me at this moment. I tried to think of a reasonable hand that he could have that I was behind. I had TPTK and except for the flush draw, there just wasn;t really any hand I was really afraid of. Possible set? Yeah sure, but I doubted that he would pump it that quickly - sets tend to be hands that get to speed on the turn. I finally put him on something like KJ or a flush draw trying to get a free card. Calling would just put me in a defensive posture - a diamond or broadway card would freeze me on the turn. I decided to take the offensive and shoved, making it $100 to him to go. He called pretty quickly and showed JJ. I did not even consider an overpair. He was in late enough position to have raised that preflop with confidence, but he just limped along. "Nice hand man." I was reaching for my pocket for a reload and he muttered "It's not over yet." "You have nothihg to worry about buddy." The turn was a blank but I got a miracle T on the river to take it down. "Sorry man, that was ugly." Then he started giving me some shit for playing against him. "What in the fuck did you think I had? There was a bet and raise ahead of me!" "Well, if you must know, I just couldn't put you on a hand that beat me, I though maybe KJ or something like that and you were trying to push my weak ass around." "KJ?! Are you kidding me?" "Well, you did just show a pretty big bluff 10 minutes ago which put enough doubt in my mind that you had a real hand." "Moan, moan, moan". I just shrugged my shoulder and gave him one of those "you think you're the only one to get a fucked up river card?" look and got out of the discussion.
He was starting to piss me off with his attitude and I almost just racked out. He calmed down and we got back to the game. I think I drug one more pot and was geting tired. It was only 11:00, but having been up since 5:00 am, 11:00 starts to get late. I racked out +$220.
I wish I hadn't been so tired. The game was a really good fit for me, but I was happy that I realized I was tired and got out. I wandered about the casino checking in on my buds and headed upstairs for some sleep. More on this weekend in Part 2.
Got into town abot 1:30 Friday afternoon. My purposes for bieng there didn't require my attendance until around 4:00, so I found my way to the poker room to see what was going on. They spread 2/4, 3/6, 4/8 (kill/half kill), 5/10 HE; 4/8 Omaha hl (kill), 7 stud, NLHE 2/3 w5 bring. They had a couple of 4/8, one 2/4, one 5/10 and I think an Omaha game running. NL "would probably get rolling around 7:00". I got right in a 4/8 full kill game.
Falling true to form, I wasn't getting a lot of cards early on so I did my best to figure out who the tourists were, who the regulars were and where the donations were coming from. There seemed to be a pretty high percentage of regulars at the table, with a couple of tourists, but no obvious fishies. I pretty much sit in the shadows for 3 or 4 orbits. The kill button was on and I look down to see AJo in the cutoff. Everyone folded to me and I decided to test the waters to see 1) how they react to a kill pot raises and 2) if anyone noticed that I hadn't ventured into action yet. I raised to 16. Only the guy with the kill button called. Kill button guy appears to be a regular. He was fairly aggressive, not a maniac, but aggressive enough that his "moves" were suspect (at least in my mind). Flop came 57J, which I liked. Killer checked, I fired and killer check raised. I didn't care for that at all, but my read on him left enough room for him to be full of shit in this spot that I couldn't toss my TPTK hand with ease. I really had a hard time putting him on anything real, but the board did have some bit of coordination and it was easy enough to put hands like T8,T9,86,64, JT, JK, JQ into tha mix of hands he could be playing this way along with 57, J7, 55, 77, (JJ, but not so much) with which he would be ahead of me. I finally decided to just call him down unless the board changed the situation. I called his raise, the turn and the river feeling I could still be ahead. He showed J7 for the flopped 2 pair. (I showed my AJ hwen I gave him my resigned "nice hand".) OK, so his c/r DID represent the "traditional 2 pair flop c/r" move. I adjusted my read to "selectively aggressive" and pretty much gave him credit for pretty solid hands when he was getting pushy. (I never had to face him again, but the rest of the session did reinforce that read.)
Of course, the kill pot stakes pretty much crushed my starting $100 stack. I think I had about $20 left and bought a fresh rack. I sat and watched some more, and bled a few stacks away (think I experienced another tough beat or two, but nothing real costly) and eventually woke up with QQ, yes, in another kill pot. The killer was a different guy who was really trying to push a rush. I was in early/middle position and I think I had recently taken a rough beat so my raise could easily have been construed as a steam raise. A few callers ahead of of me, I popped it up and killer 2 came back at me. Still several callers and I put the 4th bet in. Killer 2 slowed down and called and I think there were still 2 or 3 along for the ride. 4-5 ways in a 4 bet kill pot. One of the older guys to my right was advertising my "Aces" for me ("STFU old timer!"), but that didn't slow anyone down. Flop was all under cards (thank god) and I opened. Killer 2 raised me which put my last chips in the pot ("Nice time to run out of chips", I think to myself), and there were 2 left to battle for the $2 side pot. They ended up checking down the turn and river (honestly, didn't surprise me, I had put Killer 2 on a big A, the tag along could have had just about anything) and my QQ held up to drag the $200+ pot. Killer 2 did have AK and tag along had JJ. I think that my play with AJ in the previous kill pot that I was involved in led Killer 2 to overplay his hand against me just a little.
So I was back to even and never got any better than that. Tried to run through the minefield a few more times, but never hooked up with anything good enough to get the bigger pots and mostly bled away a few stacks. Don't recall what the last hand was, but I seem to remember that it was one of those "good hand gone a little bad" hands that pushed me towards the rail. It was nearing the time I needed to hook up with my buds, so I took the cue and racked up my remaining $95. Not really tilting or steaming, just shaking my head at the "every (Ok almost every) hand I get to play got punked" luck that I seemed to be facing.
Hooked up with my buds, we hung out, did our pre-tournament BS (I was up there for our annual weekend long Hearts tournament), had some pizza and a couple beers (just a coulple!) and we broke up the crowd at about 7:00 to "do our own thing" until 8:30 Saturday morning. Some of the guys headed for the Wild Orchid (strip club), some of them headed down to the general gaming tables, I headed back to the poker room to see what was going on.
They were just wrapping up a $100 tournament (timing of my other stuff prevented me from getting in the tournament, I was considering it) and the room was hopping, not slammed, but busy. The 4/8 games had a lists (considered having some "fun" with Omaha) and I inquired about the NL game. The brush gave me the lowdown and said that there would was a spot available in the game they were going to startup in 15 minutes. Wasn't crazy about the 2/3 w 5 bring or the fact that the buy-in could be for as much as $1500, but decided to take the available seat. Locked up a chair and waited for the game to be spread.
I sat down with $200 (more than the $100 minimum, but enough to be able to get involved in a couple of hands) and watched the other buy. Most bought in for $300-$500, a couple with more and a couple others in the $200 range. It took a while to get enough bodies to roll, so slipped over the rail into the "smoking section" to get another stick on my lungs before we got rolling and my left hand neighbor joined me. We had already shared a few snickers so I toook the opportunity to try to "buddy up" to this guy and get a bit of the lowdown on the game in general. He said that in general the game id farily reasonable; it doesn't have a reputation as being crazy wild or a rock garden. The tourists tend to be the wildcards and if there's a bunch of crazy's in town that decide to play "I saw it on TV" poker, then it would be a bit crazy.
We started play 5 or 6 handed and right off the bat, the guy in seat 8 (big 30-something guy - B30G) raised to $20. Fold for a blind steal. Hand 2, same thing. Bang, bang, B30G is developing a very aggressive reputation. As the table filled, a couple of guys were trying to build the same rep and it took a while before we actually saw a $5 flop. My game plan was to be very conservative and try to pin reads on a people, find the calling stations, rocks and agros and watch how they react to stuff; find out what raises were "auto-calls" and which ones actually got attention and respect - just get a feel for the table, wait for hands, pick my spots.
The table was primarily local regulars with 2 or 3 non-regulars including B30G, me and (I think) a younger guy who showed up to the table with a rack of blues (which he promptly dumped out in a messy pile on the table and turned around and reracked for a color up).
Oddly enough, my reaction to the early action pushed to me towards being a little LOOSER with my raising standards. I raised ($20-$25) with AJo, 2 or 3 orbits in from late position. I got respect and stole the blinds. OK, looks like this game is going to be pretty reasonable. I know, it's still early, but the groundwork I was watching indicated that raises were genrally treated with at least some respect; the fishing derby effect would be minimal. I had a pretty good read on who was playing the solid waiting game, who was gonna be a little pushy.
After several orbits, the game generally loosened up a little - more raises were getting action and we were seeing a few more flops for $5. I limped in late pos. with A5s and saw a flop that was something like J85, 2 clubs (my suit), which developed into my first "big hand" of the session. There were a couple of players and I either called a $10 bet from B30G or opened for $10 when it was checked to me. B30G and I were heads up for the turn. Turn was a blank and I let it check through. River was a 5 for a board of (let's just call it) xx5x5. No flushes, no straights nothing particularly coordinated about the board. B30G checked, I fired a $20 bet and B30G comes back over the top with a $30 c/r. I was pretty confident that I had the best hand, but I stopped myself from getting stupid and started thinking about what might be happening here. B30G had been fairly aggressive, but I really hadn't seen many of his hands. There was not one single "reasonable" hand that I could put him on, but he was in the BB and could have any 2 cards. Sure, he could have hit a set, but I didn't really have that feeling. I was more worried about a possible x5 where the x just happened to match the board. I really expected that he actually had 2 other pair, but the big blind factor slowed me down. "You're in the BB. You could have any 2 cards right now, so I will just call." He flipped up 95, my A5 was plenty good. I gave myself a little personal whipping for being such a chicken-shit (I probably would have doubled up if I tried) but was generally happy that I walked myself through the scenario so completely and made a sound decision.
So I got up a little fairly early. I played another hand that ended up being heads up against B30G with lesser results. I had KJ (from med pos) and saw a $5 flop. The flop was QJ8. It was checked to me and I fired at the pot with second pair. Got called from B30G (behind me) and I think one other. Turn was a blank, and again I fired and was called by B30G only. River was a T which I really didn't like. I checked, waiting to see what B30G would do. He fired a ~$30 bet. I thought for a few seconds and my gut told me that I had the best hand. I know it was only second pair K kicker, but the way the hand played out, it just felt like my hand was good and he was trying to use the scare card to buy the pot. The smallish bet did concern me a bit, but made for a pretty easy call. He flipped up T9. "Wow, I couldn't put you on a gut shot..." Another guy piped up and said "He flopped it you idiot." I did a double take and realized that B30G played me like a fiddle on that hand. I thanked the guy (the kid that splashed the rack of blues all over the table) for pointing out my oversight and offered a very sincere "Nice Hand" to B30G. I'm not at all unhappy with my play - I followed a very strong feeling and made the call.
Here's a hand that wound up being very interesting. Play it along with me and see what you do on the river. I'm in late mid pos and raise before the the flop with TT. Get a couple callers, have maybe $70 in the pot before the flop. The main adversary is to your right, and has been solid/tight. The flop came 345 rainbow. Check to you? Of course you bet, let's say $40. Get called only by S/T. Turn brings a 2, making any A a wheel. S/T checks. Now what?........................
His check took my position away and I decided to regain my position by checking through. A little weak? Yeah, but it wasn't hard to put him on a big A. River brought a T, for top set. I really, really, really hated that card. I was about 80% confident that he held an Ax. S/T fired a $35 bet. Now what?................
I sat and thought for some time. I was pretty sure he held an Ace, but it wouldn't have been unreasonable that he was now just trying to steal it from me after my check-through on the turn. I have no idea what he put me on or what I could have that he could beat. I quickly checked out the pot "Hmm 3 or 4 to one that you don't have an Ace eh? That turn really put me in a spot." I finally decided to call. "I don't have an Ace." "Then I probably just rivered you" and flipped up my pocket tens. He flashed QQ and chastized himself for playing the hand so poorly. "Tough break man."
Wow. He did play the hand pretty poorly. I got the impression he was planning to c/r the turn, but the 2 made me put my breaks on (although I can't imagine that an A in my hand wasn't a distinct possibility in his mind). My "weak" play on the turn, wound up being my saving grace: he was betting to get a call out of me on the river with what he thought was the winner. So I picked up another decent pot and climbed back ahead a little (~$40).
A little later we were joined by an Asian lady (AL) who sat down with 2 full racks of red and another couple hundred in blacks and greens. I little overkill, but hey, enjoy yourself. It was becoming clear that she was one of the regular gang. On about her third hand, she opened raised from MP for $50. She didn't have much trouble winning the $5 in blinds with that bet. She flipped up AQ suited had a "big laugh". So this was her entrance. She did this a couple more times, tangled with a few hands won and lost a few hands. My "buddy" Tom (on my left) had been playing very, very tight and came into a hand for a $20 raise. AL came over the top for $50 more. Tom called. Flop came QQx Tom checked, AL bet $100. Tom c/r all in for another $250. AL didn't even blink, just called. Tom flipped up KK, AL had AA. I thought for sure that Tom had something like AQ and that he was gonna double up through splashy AL. Not to be.
The biggest (by far) hand of the night, was between B30G and AL. B30G's night had featured many less than great hands that were hooking up for some pretty good pots. He had built his $300 up to $800 or so. AL was actually a little behind despite her $300 take vs. Tom, but still had B30G covered. The limped flop came something like KQT. There was a little bit of early jousting, nothing major, but enough action to put a little tension that there's some posturing going on and it wound up being heads up between AL and B30G, the big stacks. Turn was a brick. AL opened for $100, B30G quickly raised to $200. AL thought for about 2 seconds and went all-in. So I'm sitting here taing this in, trying to put people on hands and watching B30G while he was thinking. This just can't be any less than a set over set or astraight over set or even possibly a straight over straight situation. B30G was taking his sweet time, but didn't seem very stressed. His eyes were wandering all over the table and the room, ocasionally glancing at the board. He had calm semi-grin on his face (which was his default expression) and seemed to be pretty care-free. While I was watching all this, I finally put AL on a set and B30G on J9. We were going on 6 or 7 minutes of B30G "making his decision" and finally someone spoke up and aksed if he knew it was his turn. He hadn't heard AL's all-in (she just kind of waved her hands and said "all-in" and he missed it). Once he realized it was his turn, he called almost immediately, not even a moment of thought. Wow, nearly a $2000 pot. I was eager to see how my reads played out.
They flipped up. AL had KJ (top pair and openender), B30G had K7o. WTF!? :scratch: :!: B30G was drawing to a 3 outer and neither of them had a hand that worthy of anywhere near that kind of action. Top pair? Not even 2 pair? no sets? I was blown away and it took me almost half an hour to stop scratching my head over that hand. B30G just stood up, wished everyone good luck, "thanks for the fun" and took off with a grin on his face.
This is getting a bit long so I'll try to wrap this up. Overall, I was pretty happy with my play. Pretty tight, took few stabs, playing off my reads. I had AK in MP had raised, got a couple callers. Flop missed me, but I opened the pot with a contiuation bet which shook all but one caller, a "down to business" old timer. WHen he came in a pot, it was usually for a raise and when he limped, he had solid cards. In general he was very aware of what was goin on. His call bothered me as he could have very easily be setting me up. The turn blanked and he checked. I was confident that if I bet he would either fold or raise, no more calling. If I checked and the board blanked, he would bet regardless of his hand. I decided to bet enough to be convincing, but not so much I could get away from. I bet about a third of the pot and he pitched his cards. Nothing heroic or special about the play, but I was till happy with my analysis of the situation.
One more story to relate and then I'll wrap up this post. Mis session, a kid sat down with ~$200. I couldn't get a good first read on him - could either be solid young gun or a seasoned wanna be. The first notable hand he got involved in was in LP and he raised something like $40. IT was folded back around to Tom who had limped. Tom called and I knew he had a very good hand. PRobably at least a big A, maybe just a couple of suited broadway cards, but not garbage, nothing mediocre - he had limp/mucked or folded the SB or BB with no raise enough to know he had solid cards. Flop came pretty solid 2 braodway, 2 suits. Tom checked, New Kid fired $50. Tom quickly called. Turn was a brick. Tom checked and the Kid bet $100. Again Tom quickly called. I was starting to get the impression that Tom was chasing (either the flush or a straight) and I was concerned that he was not considering odds at all, just plain chasing. River blanked and the Kid shoved another stack for $100. Tom couldn't call and the KId flipped up 62s, essentially playing the board. This was prety bold play, but really bush league advertising. He just plain embarassed Tom who left very quickly after the humilitation. After Tom left, the Kid moved into Tom's seat directly to my right.
This story sets up my last big hand of the night. ANother play along, if you will. I was in LP with ATs. I limped 4 or 5 way to the flop. The flop came T62, 2 suits, not mine. A newbie from the BB opened for $20. (This guy just had the "I don't have any business being in this game" aura about him. I fired a $40 raise, ready to take the pot right now. New Kid raised to $90 right behind me. Newbie quickly skedaddled leaving me to deal with the guy who just bought the pot with a 62....What's your play..........?
I thought for a moment and realized that a call here was going to put the rest of my stack in this hand (I had about $150 in front of me at this moment. I tried to think of a reasonable hand that he could have that I was behind. I had TPTK and except for the flush draw, there just wasn;t really any hand I was really afraid of. Possible set? Yeah sure, but I doubted that he would pump it that quickly - sets tend to be hands that get to speed on the turn. I finally put him on something like KJ or a flush draw trying to get a free card. Calling would just put me in a defensive posture - a diamond or broadway card would freeze me on the turn. I decided to take the offensive and shoved, making it $100 to him to go. He called pretty quickly and showed JJ. I did not even consider an overpair. He was in late enough position to have raised that preflop with confidence, but he just limped along. "Nice hand man." I was reaching for my pocket for a reload and he muttered "It's not over yet." "You have nothihg to worry about buddy." The turn was a blank but I got a miracle T on the river to take it down. "Sorry man, that was ugly." Then he started giving me some shit for playing against him. "What in the fuck did you think I had? There was a bet and raise ahead of me!" "Well, if you must know, I just couldn't put you on a hand that beat me, I though maybe KJ or something like that and you were trying to push my weak ass around." "KJ?! Are you kidding me?" "Well, you did just show a pretty big bluff 10 minutes ago which put enough doubt in my mind that you had a real hand." "Moan, moan, moan". I just shrugged my shoulder and gave him one of those "you think you're the only one to get a fucked up river card?" look and got out of the discussion.
He was starting to piss me off with his attitude and I almost just racked out. He calmed down and we got back to the game. I think I drug one more pot and was geting tired. It was only 11:00, but having been up since 5:00 am, 11:00 starts to get late. I racked out +$220.
I wish I hadn't been so tired. The game was a really good fit for me, but I was happy that I realized I was tired and got out. I wandered about the casino checking in on my buds and headed upstairs for some sleep. More on this weekend in Part 2.