Hagar
02-21-2006, 08:58 AM
Decided to end my haitus from JR, hoping to find they've cleaned up their act. Got up there about 1:00 and got seated by about 1:15. They still haven't made any progress on their poker room remodel - it looked like time stood still.
As I arrived they were just breaking down to the final table for their Friday tourney. I noticed a familliar face and after a few cranks on the recall generator, I realized it was Scotty (the guy who used to deal there and has made a few appearances in a couple of Quads' and Scooter's games). I don't know any details, but he managed to stay alive long enough to be involved in a 3 or 4 way chop.
The game in which I was seated had a familliar fell to it, though there were no readily recognizable faces. There were a couple of younger guys who were pretty well stacked and bullying the table around a bit. The kid to my right (Pimply) had raised from his button early in my session with 96 suited. It would turn out that he would raise nearly every button and several hands in between. His buddy was playing a similar game. Other than the two of them, the rest of the table was fairly calm. The kid to my left was whining about getting no cards and declared that he was moving in with the next J4 he got.
About 6 orbits in, I looked down to see JJ in SB. Pimply raised right on cue and I came over the top. The "Cardless" chap in BB came over the top of me all-in, just about doubling my raise. Button mucked and ran and I called figuring the BB had some sort of A, but I was probably ahead. He flipped up AKs. I survived until the river where he popped an Ace. "Nice hand" as I worked on preventing myself from going into a sulk-steam.
About and orbit later, I looked down to see AA. Don't remember if I was blind or LP, but the kid to my right raised it up. I sat and thought for a minute trying to figure out how I could maximize the pot without letting everyone in (there were lots of people calling PImply's raises). I finally decided that the ~$20 in the pot was enought o take down right then and shoved my ~$55 stack in. The table quickly retreated, but Pimply made a quick call. Excellent. Turns out he had KK and I got lucky that he had a real hand this time. I flopped an A, the turn brought a possible straight draw for his Ks, but I was granted a reprieve and caught a little insult when a K hit the river.
Back to square one. The table slowly turned over and the splashy guys cashed out leaving a very soft table. Ther was one Asian kid who I think I've played with before. Pretty solid and will make a laydown against someone like me. I stole a pot from him when he had rasied preflop from EP and then didn't open the Q high flop. I was holding 55 and planned to fire at the pot if there wasn't an A and he didn't open. He checked, I fired $20 at the $30 pot and took it down. I overheard him telling someone he had JJ. OTher than this kid, the table was just ripe for the picking. Nothing but weak calling stations, me and the Asian kid. I had to stop my self from openly licking my chops. Alas, my cards were running very cold and I just couldn't get a decent hand to work the table over during this stretch so I had to sit and watch the splashy fools shove chips around at each other, mostly with crap.
Here's a hand you can play along: SB 8 limpers, holding 42o. Pretty easy complete and hope scenario even for me. I made a pretty blatant "hold my breath and pitch in a dollar" motion, which wasn't missed by the Asian kid. Flop came Q42 rainbow. It just doesn't get any better than this. I checked. Asian kid opens, the biggest fish on the table raised. I was a littel shocked to see this much action on this board and took a minute to size things up. I finally c/r. ASian kid. looks me up and down and finally decided to shove. Big fishy puts his last $50 in and I'm facing a stack sized bet with bottom 2. I really went into the tank here. What's the play here?......
I went through every possible scenario that Asian kid could have had: QQ? no way would have raised. Same with overpair.
Q4, Q2? No way, not even suited.
AQ? seemed unlikely that he wouldn't have raised with that, but this was my leading candidate.
44,22? Evidence is pointing to this, but my holding made this look very unlikely.
KQ, QJ, QT? Seems likely, but I don't think he would have played this relatively weak holding this stong in this spot.
Straight draw? Just can't imagine that he'd have played something like A3 that aggressively or would have played 53 at all.
I was really in a spot. He made a comment that he was happy that I couldn't make a quick call, that let him know he was ahead of me. That statement really bothered me, but I just couldn't put hiim on a better hand. "You hit your case card?" I finally reluctantly called. Indeed he did have the unlikely 22 and flopped botom set. Wow. "Nice hand." Turn was an A, river a blank. ASian kid started reching for the pot when the big fishy flipped up his 53 for a turned wheel to drag the main pot. Asian kid was not happy, I just kind of shook my head and snickered. At the time, I was happy with my decision to call the big bet, but after quite a bit of thought afterwords, I should have put him on a better hand and got out. Bottom 2 is just too vulnerable even if I wasn't ahead at the time, which I wasn't.
I had like $6 left after that and did a mock celebration that I still had any chips (I thought he had me covered) and reached in my pocket for another stack. I had done a coupl of refills already, so this was my third full buy for the day. Normally, I would have called it, but the table was just too juicy to leave. So I was in for $300 at this point.
I drug a few pots and the table was turning over. Slowly but steadily, the table was getting a little tougher. I just tried to keep steady, get my reads and keep my play solid. Not too much really memorable about the next few hours, but I did manage to get a stack of about $250 despite getting few opportunities ot get involved. I got AA again and scrambled my way through a cheesy 754ish flop against a guy who had migrated from a 3/6 game. He opened the pot and I raised him. HE just called. The turn was an ugly card that put 4 to a straight. HE called my $50 bet. The river brought a T. I let it ceck through, happy to take the $100+ pot as it was. He just had top pair, so my worries were unfounded. I felt I was in one of those "only gonna get called by a better hand" situations, so I was fine with "missing a bet". About 6:00, I decided to let the cards thaw out and get some dinner. I came back from dinner to a completely new table. There was one guy still there from when I had left.
A few hands into my return, I hooked up with AJs in BB. Lots of limpers, so I decided to see a flop before building a pot. Flop came AJx rainbow. Sweet. I checked and it checked all the way around. Turn brought another A. Oh man, I'm not gonna get anything for thei monster. Check. And it checked all around. River was a Q. I fired $15 at the pot fully expecting no action. One of the new kids raised me. Wow. Mass exodous back to me. I'm holding 2nd nut against one player. Thre's no way I can put him on AQ, so I'm 99% sure I'm golden. Can I get the rest of his stack? Gotta try. "I gotta put you all-in man." He called pretty quickly. He was sitting on A6 and figured he had been slowplaying his A. This put me right around even for the session.
After that, I seemed to get into nothing but tough decisions for a while. Every time I'd get involved, someone would start pushing back at me. Got a little annoying, but I was put to the test quite a bit. I ran into another tiny set that took a chunk and a couple of other pots gave me some trouble. I bled a little. I managed to find a guy (to my right) that I just kep dominating whenever he got involved. I cleaned him out a couple of times, t he second time was with AA vs. JJ. (Had AA 4 times yesterday and they all held!)
The last big hand of the session came with AJ yet again, from the BB. I hit an A on the flop, bet it and was raised from a kid who was struggling a bit from late pos. The possibility of 2 pair was real (A7, A5 from LP is a very realistic and reasonable holding), but something like AT, A9, A8 was also very possible so I called, hoping for some help on the turn. Turn blanked, I checked and he bet $35, same as the flop bet. I wasn't comfortable with this spot, but I figured if I could justify a $35 call on the flop, a $35 call on the turn was easy and did so. River was a K putting 3 to a flush on the board. I didn't like it, but I hadn't put him on a flush draw, so it looked fairly blanky to me. I checked, and he bet $40. $40? I shook my head a few times. He didn't seem like the type who was creative enough to make a small bet to entice a call and it came off feeling very weak. I just couldn;t shake the feeling that my hand was good and called. He had been bluffing the whole way, the K made him pair. "Thought I could shake you with the flush card on the river...." Wow. Thanks for making me check my shorts.
That pot got me up for the session and led to a $100+ win for the night. As a side note, I did bump into Jaime and Maylee(sp?) who were just crushing the place. They got seated at a different table about 10 minutes before me. BY the time I was seated they both had well over $300 in front of them and witin a few hours they both had around $600 a piece. Eventually, I saw Jaime rcaking out about $850 and sitting down in the 2/5 game. He bought in for the $200 and about an hour later had $800 in front of him again. He finally cashed out with oiver $1100 from that game for apretty big night. As I was leaving he was trying to pry MAylee out of her game while she was still ahead. She had about $200 in front of her and wasn't budging. I wished them luck and headed out.
Over all, a good session for me. I'd like to have the bottom 2-pair call back, but other than that, was happy with my play. JR is still the same old place, with each dealer calling the games differently.
As I arrived they were just breaking down to the final table for their Friday tourney. I noticed a familliar face and after a few cranks on the recall generator, I realized it was Scotty (the guy who used to deal there and has made a few appearances in a couple of Quads' and Scooter's games). I don't know any details, but he managed to stay alive long enough to be involved in a 3 or 4 way chop.
The game in which I was seated had a familliar fell to it, though there were no readily recognizable faces. There were a couple of younger guys who were pretty well stacked and bullying the table around a bit. The kid to my right (Pimply) had raised from his button early in my session with 96 suited. It would turn out that he would raise nearly every button and several hands in between. His buddy was playing a similar game. Other than the two of them, the rest of the table was fairly calm. The kid to my left was whining about getting no cards and declared that he was moving in with the next J4 he got.
About 6 orbits in, I looked down to see JJ in SB. Pimply raised right on cue and I came over the top. The "Cardless" chap in BB came over the top of me all-in, just about doubling my raise. Button mucked and ran and I called figuring the BB had some sort of A, but I was probably ahead. He flipped up AKs. I survived until the river where he popped an Ace. "Nice hand" as I worked on preventing myself from going into a sulk-steam.
About and orbit later, I looked down to see AA. Don't remember if I was blind or LP, but the kid to my right raised it up. I sat and thought for a minute trying to figure out how I could maximize the pot without letting everyone in (there were lots of people calling PImply's raises). I finally decided that the ~$20 in the pot was enought o take down right then and shoved my ~$55 stack in. The table quickly retreated, but Pimply made a quick call. Excellent. Turns out he had KK and I got lucky that he had a real hand this time. I flopped an A, the turn brought a possible straight draw for his Ks, but I was granted a reprieve and caught a little insult when a K hit the river.
Back to square one. The table slowly turned over and the splashy guys cashed out leaving a very soft table. Ther was one Asian kid who I think I've played with before. Pretty solid and will make a laydown against someone like me. I stole a pot from him when he had rasied preflop from EP and then didn't open the Q high flop. I was holding 55 and planned to fire at the pot if there wasn't an A and he didn't open. He checked, I fired $20 at the $30 pot and took it down. I overheard him telling someone he had JJ. OTher than this kid, the table was just ripe for the picking. Nothing but weak calling stations, me and the Asian kid. I had to stop my self from openly licking my chops. Alas, my cards were running very cold and I just couldn't get a decent hand to work the table over during this stretch so I had to sit and watch the splashy fools shove chips around at each other, mostly with crap.
Here's a hand you can play along: SB 8 limpers, holding 42o. Pretty easy complete and hope scenario even for me. I made a pretty blatant "hold my breath and pitch in a dollar" motion, which wasn't missed by the Asian kid. Flop came Q42 rainbow. It just doesn't get any better than this. I checked. Asian kid opens, the biggest fish on the table raised. I was a littel shocked to see this much action on this board and took a minute to size things up. I finally c/r. ASian kid. looks me up and down and finally decided to shove. Big fishy puts his last $50 in and I'm facing a stack sized bet with bottom 2. I really went into the tank here. What's the play here?......
I went through every possible scenario that Asian kid could have had: QQ? no way would have raised. Same with overpair.
Q4, Q2? No way, not even suited.
AQ? seemed unlikely that he wouldn't have raised with that, but this was my leading candidate.
44,22? Evidence is pointing to this, but my holding made this look very unlikely.
KQ, QJ, QT? Seems likely, but I don't think he would have played this relatively weak holding this stong in this spot.
Straight draw? Just can't imagine that he'd have played something like A3 that aggressively or would have played 53 at all.
I was really in a spot. He made a comment that he was happy that I couldn't make a quick call, that let him know he was ahead of me. That statement really bothered me, but I just couldn't put hiim on a better hand. "You hit your case card?" I finally reluctantly called. Indeed he did have the unlikely 22 and flopped botom set. Wow. "Nice hand." Turn was an A, river a blank. ASian kid started reching for the pot when the big fishy flipped up his 53 for a turned wheel to drag the main pot. Asian kid was not happy, I just kind of shook my head and snickered. At the time, I was happy with my decision to call the big bet, but after quite a bit of thought afterwords, I should have put him on a better hand and got out. Bottom 2 is just too vulnerable even if I wasn't ahead at the time, which I wasn't.
I had like $6 left after that and did a mock celebration that I still had any chips (I thought he had me covered) and reached in my pocket for another stack. I had done a coupl of refills already, so this was my third full buy for the day. Normally, I would have called it, but the table was just too juicy to leave. So I was in for $300 at this point.
I drug a few pots and the table was turning over. Slowly but steadily, the table was getting a little tougher. I just tried to keep steady, get my reads and keep my play solid. Not too much really memorable about the next few hours, but I did manage to get a stack of about $250 despite getting few opportunities ot get involved. I got AA again and scrambled my way through a cheesy 754ish flop against a guy who had migrated from a 3/6 game. He opened the pot and I raised him. HE just called. The turn was an ugly card that put 4 to a straight. HE called my $50 bet. The river brought a T. I let it ceck through, happy to take the $100+ pot as it was. He just had top pair, so my worries were unfounded. I felt I was in one of those "only gonna get called by a better hand" situations, so I was fine with "missing a bet". About 6:00, I decided to let the cards thaw out and get some dinner. I came back from dinner to a completely new table. There was one guy still there from when I had left.
A few hands into my return, I hooked up with AJs in BB. Lots of limpers, so I decided to see a flop before building a pot. Flop came AJx rainbow. Sweet. I checked and it checked all the way around. Turn brought another A. Oh man, I'm not gonna get anything for thei monster. Check. And it checked all around. River was a Q. I fired $15 at the pot fully expecting no action. One of the new kids raised me. Wow. Mass exodous back to me. I'm holding 2nd nut against one player. Thre's no way I can put him on AQ, so I'm 99% sure I'm golden. Can I get the rest of his stack? Gotta try. "I gotta put you all-in man." He called pretty quickly. He was sitting on A6 and figured he had been slowplaying his A. This put me right around even for the session.
After that, I seemed to get into nothing but tough decisions for a while. Every time I'd get involved, someone would start pushing back at me. Got a little annoying, but I was put to the test quite a bit. I ran into another tiny set that took a chunk and a couple of other pots gave me some trouble. I bled a little. I managed to find a guy (to my right) that I just kep dominating whenever he got involved. I cleaned him out a couple of times, t he second time was with AA vs. JJ. (Had AA 4 times yesterday and they all held!)
The last big hand of the session came with AJ yet again, from the BB. I hit an A on the flop, bet it and was raised from a kid who was struggling a bit from late pos. The possibility of 2 pair was real (A7, A5 from LP is a very realistic and reasonable holding), but something like AT, A9, A8 was also very possible so I called, hoping for some help on the turn. Turn blanked, I checked and he bet $35, same as the flop bet. I wasn't comfortable with this spot, but I figured if I could justify a $35 call on the flop, a $35 call on the turn was easy and did so. River was a K putting 3 to a flush on the board. I didn't like it, but I hadn't put him on a flush draw, so it looked fairly blanky to me. I checked, and he bet $40. $40? I shook my head a few times. He didn't seem like the type who was creative enough to make a small bet to entice a call and it came off feeling very weak. I just couldn;t shake the feeling that my hand was good and called. He had been bluffing the whole way, the K made him pair. "Thought I could shake you with the flush card on the river...." Wow. Thanks for making me check my shorts.
That pot got me up for the session and led to a $100+ win for the night. As a side note, I did bump into Jaime and Maylee(sp?) who were just crushing the place. They got seated at a different table about 10 minutes before me. BY the time I was seated they both had well over $300 in front of them and witin a few hours they both had around $600 a piece. Eventually, I saw Jaime rcaking out about $850 and sitting down in the 2/5 game. He bought in for the $200 and about an hour later had $800 in front of him again. He finally cashed out with oiver $1100 from that game for apretty big night. As I was leaving he was trying to pry MAylee out of her game while she was still ahead. She had about $200 in front of her and wasn't budging. I wished them luck and headed out.
Over all, a good session for me. I'd like to have the bottom 2-pair call back, but other than that, was happy with my play. JR is still the same old place, with each dealer calling the games differently.