Saturday, May 12, 2012

I don't know how to put it

Not really sure how to title this one.  I had pretty much a perfect night of poker today.  It was great all around.  I want this blog to stay really poker-centric, but I can say that I really had a great time just hanging out with people at the poker table today.  My friends from work were there and we had a great time hanging out and joking around.  I just 100% had a blast.  It could not have been more enjoyable of a night of poker.

One thing that really makes poker enjoyable is.... winning.  And win I did.  I fucking destroyed.  Absolutely crushed.  And I did it myyyyyyyyyyyy waaaaayyyyyyy......

I got to the MGM Grand right after work, at around 6 or 6:30.  I decided to go to MGM because my friends said they might show up too.  So I figured, what the hell.  I've also done really well at MGM in the past, and they do tend to have pretty good games.  I have had some of my biggest nights ever at the MGM.

I sat down at my first table and didn't start off all that well.  I got bluffed right away by some douchey looking guy... I didn't chop, and raised my small blind to 6 with QT.  He called.  Flop didn't bring anything, I bet like 6, he called.  Turn gave me a gutshot (A-K-?-?), I bet 12, he raised to 36, I folded, he showed Q-4.  Fine.  Didn't really bother me that much but I was hoping to get him back at some point.  Just some young kid with a decent amount of money in front of him (like $400, max buy was $300), iPad, headphones, etc. 

I sort of just sat around and didn't get much going on.  Hovered around $240, down from $300.  Eventually I played a hand with J-T, not sure if it was suited or not, but I think I raised on the button.  I'm thinking about how to tell this hand and honestly I can't really remember how it went down.  The ending though is on the river I make a straight with my J-T.  I had flopped top pair (maybe with a gutshot?) and hit the gutshot on the river.  So it checks to me, I bet 25, the young kid check-raises to like 75, I call, he basically had nothing.  After that hand I was up $50.

Next table was pretty insane.  I sat down and was directly to the left of the button.  Dealer asks me if I want to wait.  I say, "the smart thing would be to wait, but I'm in!" and I threw down my $3 to buy the button.  I don't really remember what happened in that hand, I think I might have won though.  VERY next hand I'm on the button with 9-9.

A guy in early-ish position raises to 12.  I call.  Flop is A-A-5.  He checks, I check.  Turn, 9.  Boooooooooo *breathe* oooooooooom.  He bets out 20.

At this point, I have a freaking monster.  I figured this guy probably had one of a few things.  One, he has an ace.  Two, he has a pocker pair or something and decides to bet.  If it's the latter, I'm not getting much either way.  So I decided to raise.  I made it $50 total.  Super small raise, really easy to call.  He ends up calling. 

River is another low card, like a 6 or something.  Now the guy bets out $30 again.  That was fantastic, because I felt I could pretty much 100% put him on an ace at that point.  I only had to fear some of the weak aces, and I felt like he probably wasn't going to raise preflop with A-5 or A-whatever.  Could be wrong but it just seemed much more likely that I had the best hand.  So I made it $200 total. 

Pretty big bet.  Not that I thought it all through at the time, but there was 24 + 100 + 30 in the pot when I raised.  So 154, plus my 30 call is 184, and I raised it 170 more.  Almost exactly a pot-sized raise.  He hemmed and hawed forever and eventually ended up calling.  I think he showed either A-Q or A-K.  That put me way up.

A pot I'm a little more proud of came with J-8?  J-9?  I can't remember the exact hand.  I believe I called a raise preflop in position when a bunch of others were in the pot.  On the flop, I flopped a gutshot with at least 1 overcard.  A guy bet out something and I decided to call.  I actually thought it through and decided the pot odds were reasonable.  Turn was a 6, giving me an open ended straight draw.  I had to call a decent bet on the turn, like 30 or maybe a little more.  But I added up the bets again and decided it was worth it.  The river was an ace.  He checked to me.

I thought about it for a while.  I definitely thought the ace didn't help him and scared him a bit.  However, I thought, this is a 1/2 game.  This guy could pretty easily call with an overpair (ignoring the ace) if I bluff.  And I already have put a decent amount into this pot, I didn't really want to bluff off a big stack here.  I kept thinking about it and thought that I'd make a bet that really felt like a reasonable value bet size.  I bet out $75.  I'm also trying to think that I have the hand I'm trying to represent, so hopefully my body language supports my story.  Anyway, he folded.  I thought it made sense somewhat because I could have had the flush draw and hit my ace.

The rest of the night was fun.  I played a ton of hands, played crazy, won some pots, and kept chipping up.  Ended up winning $600.  That is a huge win for me.  My biggest win to date since I started playing again.  And it brings me WAY back, after some pretty big losses I've had lately.  So I'm just really psyched about it.

So tired.  It's 3:15 AM.  Need to sleep, then more poker tomorrow!

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