Big day - Wynn and the Nugget

It's been an up and down weekend.  On Friday night I went to Red Rock and played 2/5 NL and won $600 in like 2 hours.  On Saturday, I went back to the Rock and gave it all back.  Then today, everything's coming up milhouse.  Had a good win at both the Wynn and downtown at the Golden
Nugget.  Won almost $1000 today.

So many hands, I'm not sure where to begin.  I got a little crazy with bluffs this weekend but luckily it worked out overall.  At Red Rock on Friday I ended up 4-betting A-Q suited to $150 preflop.  I raised to 15, aggressive guy reraises me to 45.   I reraised to 150, hoping to take it down.  He calls *gulp*.  Flop comes bad, like K-9-x with 2 clubs (and I have no clubs), I bet out $225, he folds.  And I show. 

Today at Wynn I had a pretty crazy bluff hand too.  I called a $10 raise with A-J.  The preflop raiser had gone crazy with some hands and I was hoping to flop something big on him.  We saw the flop 4 ways and the flop was 9-9-3.  The raiser bet out $14.  I raised to $37.  He called.  I didn't think his bet felt very strong, so I thought I could just take it there.  Then he called and I thought maybe he had overcards or something.  Turn was a king.  He checked.  I bet $50.  He raised to $110.  At this point, I thought he probably hit a king.  But I thought that since I raised the flop and bet out on the turn, I could really represent a super strong hand like a 9 with a reraise here.  So I counted out a $150 raise, and made it $260 total.  He folded and I felt indestructible.  Unfortunately, later I saw him coming out of the bathroom and he said that he had J-7 and knew I was bluffing but didn't think he could raise me off of the hand, but whatever.  Not sure if that is true or not.  Again, I showed this bluff and I really need to stop doing that.  At least after I showed I played super tight and waited for some big hands.  Didn't really capitalize on it, but I did get to bet-bet-bet my way to success with A-2 on a Q-2-2-?-J board and got called all the way by Q-8.  I think it was a limped pot and I bet 7, 22, and 65 after the flop.

Of course, I had some bluffs go wrong too.  I think I reraised preflop on Friday night with A-Q suited at the Rock as well, bet $75 on the flop when I missed and got called, and had to give up on it.  Then today at Golden Nugget I sat down with $500 at the 1/2 NL game and the very first hand I was dealt I got A-K.  I raised to 10.  Got 3 callers.  Flop came all small cards with 2 clubs.  I don't think I had any hope for a flush.  Checked to me, I bet 25, 1 caller.  Turn was a small overcard, like a 9 after the 7 high flop.  Guy bets 25 into me.  I felt like the bet was weak and maybe he was trying to set the price with a flush draw.  So I raised to 85.  He called.  On the river he bets 80 into me and I fold, and it sounded like he flopped a big hand.  My bluff was stupid here, I had no reason to think he was bluffing me at all.  I literally just sat down and had no reads on anyone, and just wanted to be a hero. 

I got my stack back to even at the 1/2 game at the Nugget by flopping a set of jacks vs AA and getting some value out of it.  Not a ton.  I called a $20 reraise preflop out of the blind with J-J and 3 people saw the flop.  Flop was K-J-x and I check-called 40.  Probably should have just bet out.  Turn was a blank and we both checked.  River was a queen, and I bet out $80.  He called.

After that, I got called for the $5/$5 NL game they had going.  There was about a billion dollars on the table and people were yelling and going crazy.  Sounded like a good game and I was hoping to just flop some big hands and crush.  I get in and on my 3rd hand (in the small blind) I have pocket 3s.  I had $500 in front of me to start the hand.  It gets raised to 30 and I call.  5 people saw the flop.  The flop was pretty damn good for 3s.  3-4-7 with 2 diamonds.  I check, it checks to the raiser and he bets $100.  The next guy calls $100, and clearly this guy was a really crazy player that everyone could not stop talking about.  Like this guy was busting everyone and just playing insane.  The action is on me next, and with all that money in the pot I just ship the rest of my stack in for $475 total.  The preflop raiser folds, and the crazy guy calls.  He called me with 4-6 suited (not diamonds).  So he had middle pair and a gutshot.  Luckily the turn and river were a deuce and an ace, and I more than doubled up.  When the ace hit the preflop raiser started going crazy, because he had folded pocket aces and would have made a bigger set on me!  I was also lucky this guy didn't happen to have 4-5 instead of 4-6.  Hand would have gone exactly the same and he would have made a straight on me. 

I didn't really play many hands after that.  I had Q-Q and called a raise preflop once, and had pocket aces twice and in both cases I didn't get to see a flop.  In one hand I limp-reraised the crazy guy from 15 to 55 and he folded.  I was OK with that though because I didn't want to play that hand postflop with $1200 in front of me anyway, he would have made it really difficult.  And the second time there was a $10 straddle, and after a few callers I made it $50 and everyone folded.  I didn't really want to play that much anyway.  Once I get over $1000 at a 2/5 game (or in this case, 5/5 but basically the same thing) I just don't feel super comfortable.  I'd rather sit down with $500, double up or run it up to maybe 1200-1300, and just cash out.  Maybe play 1/2 or whatever for a while, lock up the win, and come back.  I'll probably feel more comfortable playing deeper once I have a bigger bankroll.  Right now I'm sitting on about $6k which is great, but I'd like to avoid the possibility of losing $1200 in one pot if I can for now.

Overall, great weekend.  Was pretty much a wash (up $60) between Friday and Saturday, but then I end up winning almost $1000 today.  Felt awesome.  :-)