Poker this weekend

Played on Friday at Orleans, and Saturday at Red Rock.  Both times 4/8 limit.  I'm still way down lately, but I did end up winning a little this weekend which was great.

On Friday I basically broke even.  Lost $2.  On Saturday I won $173.  I made some adjustments in my play.  I tightened up, and I also didn't just bet all the way down as much.  I took some free cards where I thought it made sense.  And I also did something differently than I had been doing lately - I actually hit some hands.  So that was nice.  

Not the most exciting poker weekend but it was nice to not lose $1k+.  I might play some more during the week this week, but I think overall it's going to be a little slower than it's been in the past couple of months.  

More losing

Played some more $4/$8 last night.  Dropped $180.

I did some stupid things.  For example, in one hand I had 8-6 suited.  Flop gave me some backdoor outs (flush and straight) so I called a bet, maybe that was stupid in the first place.  Then on the turn an ace hit (flop was 10 high) and the ace gave me a flush draw.  Guy bet and I raised him.  He called.  Then on the river I missed, he check-called with J-10.  Pretty retarded to raise as there's really no reason to think the guy is going to fold.  And why I was in there in the first place I'm not sure, probably shouldn't have been.

Then in this other pot I raised with K-Q in early position (probably a mistake already) and got 3 bet, and I just 4 bet it since that closed the action.  Probably stupid, but there were 2 people stuck in the middle so I thought maybe it made sense, but probably not.  Then I flopped a gutshot and ended up calling him down.  On the river I hit a king (flop was ace high) and he checked to me, and made it obvious if I bet he was calling.  I bet anyway, and he had A-10.  Probably should have just checked it back.

So I probably made a ton of mistakes throughout the night.  I think tightening up preflop would help me out a lot.  Really just playing a lot more straightforward and tight would help.  I think I should probably be doing that, and then when I do get in there with a premium hand, semi-bluffing or even straight up bluffing late in the hand makes more sense.  Not getting in with shitty hands like KQ and trying to outplay people or whatever, thats just stupid.

And of course there were plenty of times where I could have hit and didn't, or got drawn out on.  Heads up I get 4 bets in preflop with K-K, other guy has A-Q, flops a Q and rivers another Q.  Getting the $68 in that pot back in my stack would have helped the bottom line a bit.

Oh well.  The pain continues.

Just keep dumping money

In my last entry I think I said I was going to take at least a week, probably 2 weeks off.  I ended up going out and playing the very next day, $4/$8 limit at Red Rock.  And I proceeded to dump off another $200.

I don't feel like I played THAT bad.  I've been getting crushed at limit, but I think you're definitely going to see some big swings in limit.  But I don't know.  It's very frustrating.  I had a bunch of hands that didn't go very well.

For example, someone raises, I reraise with JJ, get 4 bet.  3 people in.  2 bets go in on the flop, I end up calling down, and her 8-8 hits a set on the river.  :P  Or I limp with J-9, flop J-9-8, get raised on the river when an ace hits that also brings the flush, and I fold.  Various other hands... draws don't get there, etc.

It's just frustrating.  The scariest part to me is that I don't really know if I'm playing terrible or if I'm playing these hands OK and I'm just losing.  I don't really care about the losing but I want to make sure I'm not just playing completely terrible.

Then there are some spots I just don't know about.  For example, there's a raise directly to my right and I 3-bet with J-J.  Lady cold calls it.  Flop comes J-10-x with 3 hearts.  I don't have any hearts.  I bet, get called, turn I bet and get called, river I bet and get called.  She has A-K.  I figured I was going to bet the flop.  On the turn I figure I'll bet, I don't want a flush draw to get there for free, etc.  Then on the river I'm going to bet and fold if I get raised.  That's probably true of the turn as well.  But I just bet all the way, get called down, lose to A-K.  Is that bad?  I seriously have no clue.

In that hand, you have to figure she has something at least DECENT since she put 3 bets in preflop, but you never know.  People do weird shit in 4/8.  But I guess you have to give that SOME respect.  A-K is definitely a possibility.  I don't know what she could be calling me down with that doesn't beat me.  A-Q or A-J or A-T with the ace of hearts for sure, but would she put 3 bets in preflop with that?  Maybe A-Q.  I guess she could have Q-J for the straight draw, but I have two jacks and it has to be pretty hard to call with just a straight draw on the turn there.

But then again, who knows.  I guess I could have check-folded the turn, but that seems WEAK.  And on the river, if I check I'm not going to fold to a bet so I think I made the right play there (assuming I would fold to a raise, which I would have).

Maybe I'm just running bad, not sure.  I sure hope so.  I think I'm going to continue to give limit a try for a while.  It's really fun, lot of action.

Hiatus

I'll fill you in on what happened yesterday.  I'm not happy about it, and it's pretty retarded/embarassing, but whatever.  After last night I decided I need to seriously take some time off of poker.  At least 2 weeks so I can focus, reflect on things, and be ready to play my A game.

Last night I went up to the Wynn to play some 1/3 NL.  Bought in for $500.  The day started out fine.

Hand 1: Guy in middle position raises to 15.  Someone calls, and I call from the blind with A-Q.  I already don't love it.  We see the flop 4 ways.  Flop is A-10-7 with 2 clubs.  Checks to the preflop raiser and he bets $25.  Guy calls the $25 and I call.  Now the other guy in the pot raises to 133 total.  I fold.

Had some disappointing hands.  For example :

Hand #2 : Limp with 9-6 offsuit on the button.  4 people see the flop - 10-8-7.  Guy in the blind bets out $15 (little more than the pot).  Folds to me, I make it $40.  Fold.  Damn.  I figured raising was fine because I wasn't using any of the cards on the flop.  If he had a set, or an overpair, or even a 9, I figured I could pretty easily get called there.  Just bad luck he didn't have anything really good.

Hand #3: Raise with 5-5, Flop a set on a A-10-5 board.  Bet 10 into 2 people, 1 call.  Turn Q.  Check to me, 22, fold.  :P

Hand #4 : This one basically started the downfall for me the rest of the night.  I raise with A-10 suited to 11.  1 caller, and an old guy limp-reraises me to 28.  Fucking annoying.  I call, and the other guy calls.  Flop comes Q-x-x with 2 of my suit.  He bets 25, I call, the other guy calls.  Turn is a blank.  First guy checks.  Preflop raiser bets $70.  I call.  Probably should just fold here.  He has $200 more behind, but when the flush gets there he's almost certainly going to check.  I'm getting 3:1 on my money and need closer to 4:1 (little better than that) to call.  If you factor in the implied odds I guess it's fine, but whatever.  I need to make like $100 on the river to break even.  Also I thought the other guy might call, even with a worse flush draw, which would have been great for me.  Of course he didn't call.  River brick, he bets $100, I fold.  Sigh.  Another flush draw missed.

After this point, my brain just kinda broke.  I don't know what happened.  I bought in for another $200.  On that last hand, I shouldn't really even be that upset about it.  Pretty standard really.  The call on the turn, maybe I could have folded, but it's not THAT bad.

I straddle for $6 and this girl min-raise opens on the button.  2 calls and I call with 5-3 offsuit.  Not great.  Flop is 10-6-5.  Check to her, she bets 28, I call.  Turn is a 6.  Check, she bets $40, call.  River, check check.  She has K-K.

OK, that was stupid.  Call the flop, fine.  Not good, but let's say it's fine for some reason.  Once she fires the turn, give up!  Also, she's a girl.  Just fucking check/fold the flop.  Sigh.  That hand made me pretty upset, just because it was so obviously stupid.

Now I'm frustrated and I get the brilliant idea that I'm going to - wait for it - play my hands blind for a while.  HAHA!  Yes, you read this correctly.

A long time ago, I read about Annette Obrestad playing poker online, blind, and being able to win just by playing position and paying attention to good spots to bet/bluff, etc.  I think this is an article about it too.  So I think it's a good idea to pick this time to do the same thing.

It actually started out OK.  And it was fun.  I didn't look at my cards unless I was going to fold (in case I accidentally had a monster - spoiler alert, never happened).  Few hands where I did this:

2 people limp and I make it 12.  Get 2 callers including one guy behind me.  Flop is A-4-3 with 2 diamonds.  I see the guy behind me glance at his chips and I decide to check after the first guy checks.  It checks around.  Turn is a diamond.  First guy checks, I bet 22, both fold.

2 people limp, I make it 15.  I felt 15 was better than 12 because people were calling 12 too much, and both of them folded.

One limper, I raise to 8.  2 callers.  Flop is K-6-2.  First guy checks, I bet $16, 1 fold and the guy that checked calls.  Turn is a 10.  He checks, I bet 35, he folds.

It actually was going pretty well.  I lost some hands, but overall I was about even.  And one of the hands I lost was when I was going to fold, looked down at A-K suited and ended up losing about 40 bucks in the hand.  So as far as just playing blind, I think I did pretty well.

Until this hand.  I raise to 8 in late position.  This old guy reraises to 28.  I obviously should fold most of the time an old guy raises me, but I think I've seen this guy before and he plays a little aggressive sometimes.  REGARDLESS, I should still have folded.  He was playing tight today and who knows, I might not even be remembering the guy right.  Regardless, I decide to reraise to 70.  He calls.  OK, red flags should be going off at this point.  Flop comes out J-5-5.  He checks, I bet all-in, and he calls for 110.  So retarded.  If he put 70 in preflop, there is already 140 in the pot.  Even if he had A-K he might call just because the pot is so big.  Fucking retarded.  I look down for the first time and see A-8 suited.  I miss, he turns up Q-Q on the river, and I lose $200 for no reason at all.

If I'm going to play like that, I should at least FOLD WHEN OLD GUYS RERAISE ME!!!  WTF?????  And at least check it down after the flop.  Even when I reraised preflop, I was thinking this is my one shot, if I get called I'm done.  Because I thought (even though it was stupid) that this guy could be reraising me light.  If that was the case obviously he would fold.  So when he calls, he wasn't bluffing, he has a good hand, just check/fold.  Nope, I decide to throw away the rest of my chips.

I ended up losing $550 yesterday.  $200 of it was on that last stupid blind hand (and by blind I mean not looking at my cards, lol).  $80 was on the hand where I decided to be a hero against that lady with K-K, and about $120 was when I had a flush draw.  Overall not good.

Even playing blind wasn't that terrible of an idea.  I thought last night, that was so stupid.  But it wasn't that bad.  Just was bad that I completely ignored the extremely obvious warning signs and decided to throw $200 away.  Should I be playing blind all the time, no.  Obviously.  But it was actually going fine until I decided to throw away anything smart about what I was doing by raising/reraising a guy who clearly had a good hand.

Sigh.  I'm on a huge downswing right now.  Probably over $3k down.  I wish I could post a picture of this graph.  It's awful.  Looks like a mountain.  I was doing so well for a minute, now I'm in free fall mode.

The good news - I'm still in action.  I have about $5k in my bankroll, so I have plenty of time to come back.  That's probably the best thing, just to make sure that I can keep playing.  I'm going to take a little time off.  I don't know if it will be a week or two weeks, but it won't be much longer than that.  I just need to calm down, make peace with the idea that I'm down right now, and start crawling back.  Poker just happens in waves.  I had a huge upswing earlier, and now I'm in a downswing.  And I'm making the downswing worse by playing bad.  So I just need to ride it out, play well, and eventually I'll be the guy on the other side, hitting huge hands and getting maximum value out of them.

Home games

Played a couple home game tournaments over the last two days.  Just friendly type of games with people from work or other people we know.  Super low stakes.  Overall ended up losing money, although I did cash in two of the tournaments.

Played on Thursday with some people from work.  Played a $20 tournament with rebuys for the first hour.  Wound up buying in twice and taking 3rd place (out of like 8 people) for 20 bucks.  No interesting hands to report really.   I tripled up with pocket aces on one hand, and ended up going out when we were 3 handed and I pushed all in preflop with A-5 and got called by the big stack who limped in with Q-Q.

Friday home game

On Friday I was excited because we were going to this guy's house to play in a $100 tournament, which is pretty big for a home game tournament with the people I know.  And I know all of the people there would be morons.  I was half right, the people there were terrible at poker.  Unfortunately when I got there, $100 turned into $20.  So I ended up playing two $20 tournaments.  In the first tournament, I got heads up with a guy with a massive chip lead, got back to almost even, then took a few beats and got back down pretty low and ended up chopping.

I probably made a bad deal really.  The payouts were $120/$40 and I ended up taking $55 and giving him $105.  He had probably a 5:1 chip lead on me (not sure though).  At the time I thought it was decent, but now that I'm thinking about it I'm taking $15 to give up a chance to win $80.  I could have doubled up and have been around a 2:1 dog.  When you take into consideration that this guy has no idea how to play poker, I guess it probably would have made sense to just gamble and try to win it.

I generally don't like making deals, but I've been listening to a bunch of podcasts where they talk about making deals and how you can get a bunch of added value by taking deals in the right spots.  Especially when you get down to the late stages of a tournament or satellite when a ton of luck is involved and people are all in a lot, if you can get some extra value out of it by making a deal then it's a good idea.  That's what I was trying to do here but I think I messed up.  Not a huge deal obviously, there was like no money involved in this tournament.

Then I played another tournament, got all in preflop with AKs against KK (who had me covered) and A7, and did not hit my 2 outer or flush.  Weak.  I spent the rest of the night dealing that tournament which was pretty brutal.  Some drunk woman was playing and refused to understand what the chip denominations meant, so literally every hand I had to be like "if you want to call put out 2 black and 2 grey chips", it was very frustrating.

Afterward they were going to play a NL cash game.  It probably would have been the juiciest cash game that I have ever played in, but my wife wanted to leave and honestly I didn't really want to play either.  The reason being, nobody has any idea how to run a poker game there at all.  In the tournament, who cares because it's super low stakes.  In the NL game they were going to play 25/50c blinds and a $20-$200 buyin.  They would have played with the same chips that were in use in the tournament.  The table itself was shaky and people were dropping chips all over the floor.  So if someone dropped a red chip on the floor during the tournament, I guarantee nobody would have picked them all up.  In fact I 100% know I dropped one I never got back.  So what, is that now going to be used as a $5 cash chip?  My concern is that everyone puts their money in, some people cash out and get their money, and at the end of the night people fuck up the money and they are short.  And I know the guy who has the house is not going to just make up the difference.  It would just be like, oh, thats weird, sorry we don't know what the fuck we are doing.  I'm willing to deal with that in a stupid tournament but not a cash game where I could potentially lose a ton of money just because nobody is paying attention or knows how to run a cash game.  And if some decision needed to be made obviously I have zero confidence the right call would be made.  Like if a card was shown early, or string bets, etc.

So I lost $20 on Thursday and won $15 yesterday.  Not extremely lucrative poker, and honestly not that fun either.  Hopefully I get back to the cash game tables soon.

Crawling back

Played last night at Red Rock.  $1/$2 NL.  I just tried to focus on tightening up a bit and playing well, and picking my spots a little more selectively than in the past.

Hand #1:  Someone min-raises to $4, I call with T-8 suited along with 5 other people.  The flop is A-Q-4 with 2 of my suit.  I'm in late position (1 person behind me).  Checks to me, I check, last guy checks.  The turn is a blank and the blind bets $16.  I call, everyone else folds.  River is another blank.  He checks.  I thought about betting but decided to check, and he had Q-4 for a flopped two pair.  Kind of a big bet to call on the turn (only getting like 2.5:1 on the call if you factor in the rake).  Probably wasn't worth it, but it's not THAT bad either.  I'd only have to make like $30 on the river to make it worth it if I hit.

Hand #2: I have A-A and raise to $7 under the gun.  3 callers (2 from the blinds).  Flop is 9-4-2 with 2 hearts.  It checks to me, I bet $12, one guy in the blinds calls me.  The turn is the 5 of hearts.  He checks, I bet $23, he calls.  I thought I had the ace of hearts, but I wasn't 100% sure.  So I had to check and yes, I did have it.  River is money, the queen of hearts.  He checks, I bet $45.  He calls with the J-2 of hearts, so I drew out on him.  Feels good.  :-)

I was trying to be more selective with my c-bets as well.  In the past I've been betting 100% of boards (more or less), but now I'm not betting the scarier boards.  When it comes like Q-J-x with 2 of a suit, I'm just not even betting.  So many hands can hit that board with a pair or a draw, I just don't even think it's worth it.  I'm talking multiway pots.  Heads up it's a little different for sure, but most pots are multiway especially at 1/2.  I don't want to swing too far in the wrong direction where I raise and if I miss, I just check all the time.  But I do think I am probably throwing money away by betting the worst boards.

Hand #3 : Pretty fun one.  I had been playing really tight but decided to get out of line a bit and raise to $6 with T-8 suited in early position.  3 callers.  Flop comes A-7-4.  I just check, it checks around.  Turn is a 5, great card giving me the straight draw.  Checks to me, I bet $10, get 1 caller.  River is the magic 9.  Now the lone caller from the blind bets out $15 into me.  I raise to $65, he calls with an 8.  $65 was already a really big bet, but I'm wondering if I could have done something like bet $100.  Probably.  And if I am raising to $65, I don't think there's anything he's going to call me with that isn't an 8.  So if I thought about that a bit, maybe I could have gotten more money there.  Maybe even just ship it all in.  Which would have been a sick overbet, we both had $300.  But it could have worked.  Definitely $100 would have worked.  Then again, I guess he knows that he's calling to chop, so maybe even $100 could not have worked.  I'm overall happy with that one.

Hand #4: Just solid play.  Bunch of calls and I'm in the small blind with two red kings.  I raise to $15, get 3 callers.  Flop comes J-4-4.  I bet $35, they all fold.  I think here you could make an argument for checking really.  Check flop, bet turn, or check-raise if someone has A-J or whatever.  I'm way ahead and even if someone has a jack, they can't catch 2 pair.  So I really could check there a lot of the time, make it look like I have A-K, and maybe get a lot more calls on the turn when a blank rolls off.  Probably would have been the best play there because the board was so good for me.

Overall I ended up winning exactly $100.  I'll take it.  I've been struggling lately, and even yesterday I didn't get a ton of great hands.  It felt good to play solid and come out a winner.

Drop down to 1/2-1/3?

The free fall continues.  I played last night at Red Rock ($2/$5 NL) and it was absolutely brutal.  I dropped $750 in what I believe was 2.5 hours.  I feel like I played OK, but the one big call I made was maybe really bad.  I don't know.  Either way, here were some of the hands.

Guy raises to $20 in early position.  Another guy calls.  I reraise to $60 with AKs.  They both fold.  Yay.  :-)

Lady raises to $25 in early position.  I reraise to $60 with A-K offsuit.  Guy cold calls.  Lady reraises to $160.  I fold.  She ends up showing A-A.

I open to 15 with A-K offsuit on the button.  The two blinds call, including the A-A lady from the other hand.

Call $10 with 4-4 in early position (someone straddled).  Guy raises it $35 more, I call and another person calls.  Flop is T-9-3, I check/fold.

This one was a tough one.  I limp on the button with 7-7 after one or two others limped.  I have been raising this lately but I decided to just limp.  In fact lately I've been essentially raising any pair from any position.  I figure I should cut back on that, but I don't know if this is the right time to cut back.  I don't think my decision affected this hand at all, but anyway, here's the rest of the hand.

Flop comes out T-5-3 with a flush draw.  Limper bets out $15, I call.  Turn is the magic card, offsuit 7. He checks.  I bet $40.  Now he check-raises me to $130.

I felt like that was weird.  Like if he had the straight, why wouldn't he just bet it?  He already bet the flop.  I just wasn't sure.  So I called.

River was a 4.  He bets $260.

At this point, I probably should have just folded.  However, here's what I was thinking.  That was a very scary card.  Good bluffing card.  I didn't really think that card could have improved his hand.  He either turned the straight (bet with 4-6 on the flop, hit) or he is continuing a bluff.  The flush didn't get there.  The only other good straight draw could have been 6-8 (turn the double gutter) and although I wasn't thinking about that one at all at the time, it wouldn't make a ton of sense because he would have just had to bet $15 with total air on the flop with that.  But like I said I didn't really consider that.  So eventually I felt like since I felt his betting line was weird on the turn, I didn't think this card (although scary) was good enough to make me fold, and he could easily be bluffing here.  Also although I don't know how much weight I should put into it, but he was not moving at all and I didn't get a super confident feel from him or anything.  So I called.

He had 5-6.  Bet the flop with middle pair, picked up a gutshot on the turn and decided to check-raise for whatever reason, and hit the straight on the river.  Damn it.

I pick up 10-10 in the blind.  There was a button straddle.  Girl (who is pretty terrible and loose) raises to 40.  I reraise to 105.  She calls.  Flop comes out 9-8-x.  I bet $100.  She calls.  Turn is a jack.  At this point I have $300 left and there is $400 in the pot.  I didn't really know what to do, but since I picked up the draw I figured I wasn't going to be in that bad of shape, so I just pushed for $300.  She thought about it for a bit, said something like the jack was a bad card and she thinks I might have turned a set, and she folded.  She was trying to make it sound like she folded an overpair, but I seriously doubt it.

Finally, guy raises to $25, another guy calls, and I reraise to $60 with K-K.  They both call.  Flop is 10-9-x.  Checks to me, I bet $130.  Original raiser folds.  Next guy goes all-in for a min-raise.  I call obviously.  He flopped a set of 10s.  I said "nice hand" and he said "yeah, it was", which just pissed me off even more.  I followed him to his vehicle later that night and strangled him to death with his own shoelaces and took my money back, which felt great.  I also used his library card to rent several books that I have no intention of returning.

So that was my night.  Lost $750.  I think I'm going to drop down to $1/$3 at Wynn for a while, still a decently big game compared to like Red Rock 1/2, and hopefully it can get my bankroll and confidence back up a bit.

Thin value bets

I went up to Red Rock with my wife last night and played 1/2 NL.  I think overall I played really well, made some decent thin value bets, and overall I'm pretty happy with my play.

Here are some hands that went down last night.

Limp with J-9 offsuit after some others limped.  Flop comes out 9-8-4.  Guy to my right bets 15 (about a pot sized bet).  I raised to 30.  I actually meant to make it 35 but messed up.  He called.  Turn came a queen.  He checked.  I bet 22, he called.  River is a jack, giving me 2 pair but putting the 1 card straight out there.  He checked again.  I bet 30.  He called.  He had Q-8.  :P

I thought I played that hand fine, and I thought my bets were pretty good.  Flop raise, fine, although I could have made it more.  I wanted to isolate and didn't want to get in too much trouble by putting too big of a raise in.  On the turn I was more than willing to fold to a raise, like if he had J-T, but he didn't raise.  On the end I make 2 pair.  I was planning on checking behind if I didn't improve, but since I made 2 pair I thought it was reasonable to put another small bet out there and get value from something like A-8, A-9, whatever.  Of course, he turned 2 pair and I hit the only 3 outer I had to lose additional money.

Hand 2 : Guy raises to 7 in early position.  I call with 2 red queens.  We see the flop 5 handed.  Flop is A-8-5.  It checks around.  Turn is a blank.  Checks to me, I bet 9, get 2 callers.  River is another 5.  Checks to me, I bet 16, get 1 caller.  Queens are good.  I was pretty happy with this one.  Pretty much every other person playing 1/2 there would just check it down I'm sure, and certainly would shut down after getting called on the turn.  So I got a little extra value there.

Hand 3 : I raise to 7 with K-K, get 3 callers.  Flop is J-10-3.  I bet 21, get 1 caller.  Turn is a queen, giving me the straight draw.  I'm out of position and don't love it, but I still want to get value where I can so I bet 30.  I'm going to fold to any raise.  Girl calls me again.  River is a 5.  I bet 35, she calls.  I turn up my K-K expecting it's good, she turns up a set of 3s.  :P

Then just a couple annoying hands.  I have 9-9 in the blind and raise it 7 more after a bunch of people limp.  Flop comes 10-7-x.  I bet out 20.  This lady down the table raises me 20 more.  I fold.  She is all like "I just wanted to see where you were at".  LOL, give me a break.  Preflop she was also saying something like I was raising a lot, and do I really have it every time, etc.  Which made me want to call more on the flop.  At that point, I thought she might be raising me somewhat light but I just figured I'd let her have this one and if she kept doing it, I'd be more willing to keep her honest later.  However as the night progressed I think that was literally the only pot she played.  So I was pretty happy with myself, not getting sucked into her obvious BS talk.  Preflop she probably even had me beat, who knows.  I'm really really happy I didn't put an extra dime in on that pot.

Then the always annoying hand where I'm in the big blind with J-J and make it 11, early position limper girl (previously had the set of 3s) now raises it to 32 and just so obviously has a super strong hand.  She's like "I have to raise" and double-checks her cards before putting the raise out.  I know she has me beat, and she only has like $160 more.  I'm getting 2:1 on my call, and she has about 8 times the size of the raise in her stack, but I know I'm going to have to hit a set to win so I just fold.  I figure it's a good play especially since I'm not going to know if she has A-A or K-K or whatever (maybe Q-Q?) so it's going to be hard to play even if I do hit a set.  I'll just blindly stack off if she flopped set over set.  So I fold and she shows me A-A.  

Basically just another super annoying night of poker.  I'm losing a ton lately and it's extremely frustrating.  I think I played really well yesterday.  I made some great value bets in my opinion, although if anyone reading this thinks otherwise feel free to post.  The J-9 and K-K hands were just sort of unlucky I think, I feel like I could have gotten called by a bunch of weaker hands there and my bets were good.  Then the other hands were just annoying to lose.

I ended up losing about $190 over 2.3 hours.  I'm trying to stay positive and play my best.  I think I played really well yesterday so that is a good feeling, but losing doesn't feel good.  I'm on about a $1700 downswing right now and it feels shitty.  It's crazy too, a lot of that has been playing 1/2.  Some of it has been bad play, but I haven't been getting much luck either I think. 

Going to play again tonight, but I'm definitely feeling beat down after these losses.  Staying positive!  :-)  I know I can turn it around and I'm playing fine, especially when I'm really concentrating and focusing on playing my best.

Orleans

Orleans Poker Room

This weekend I played a bunch of 1/2 NL with my wife at the Orleans.  I was definitely hoping to have some fun and crush.  I've had some really good days at the Orleans in the past so I was hoping for some terrible players and big wins.

There was a lot of limping that caused a lot of multiway pots.  More players than I'm used to, like you'd routinely get in pots with 6+ people seeing the flop.  It made for some weird spots.  For example in one hand early on Friday I limped with 9-9 from early position.  About 6 people saw the flop and it came out J-8-6 with 2 clubs.  Guy bets out 10, 2 people call, I call.  Next guy goes all-in for 22.  Everyone calls.

My call closed out the action, so I guess I had some options there.  I could have raised, but I had more of a showdown value hand than anything else.  At the same time, the pot is big and there are a ton of potential draws and overcards that can hit, so there are a ton of scare cards that can get me off of my hand if I do have the best hand.  Since I have no way to get the all-in guy out though, I don't think just calling was that bad.

Called himself a "famous poker player" lol

Turn was a low club and it checked to me.  I decided to bet $35.  Pretty small bet compared to the size of the pot.  I think I've been betting too small a lot of the time lately.  In this case I guess it's OK.  It should accomplish what I want - getting people out if they don't have anything, or maybe getting value from an 8.  If someone has the ace of clubs here though I think I'm giving them proper odds to draw.  The pot was like 12 (pre) + 110 (flop) + 35 - 5 (rake) and they had to call 35, so they were getting 150:35 or over 4:1 odds.  Well, plus their odds need to be even less because they would have an overcard they could hit against me too.  I guess against a flush draw I'm giving them proper odds, but that's OK if I don't want to risk a lot to get overcards out, or get value from a low pair.  It has to be better than just checking.  The river was a 10.  He checked, I check.  I won the side (he had an 8) and the all-in guy turned the nut flush.  So I basically broke even.

Another interesting hand came up when I had 7-2 in the blind and checked.  Flop came 4-5-6.  There were 3 people in.  I bet out 6.  Next guy called, and the final guy made it 15.  I called, as did the other guy.  Turn came the 8.  I bet out like $15 or $20.  I guess this isn't really the best move necessarily because it turns my hand face-up, but whatever.  Next guy calls.  Now the flop raiser raises huge, to $100.

He had about $300 total.  I think he at least has the 7 100% of the time, so I'm basically looking to chop at best.  Of course, he could have the 7-9 in which case I would be stacking off with an extremely low chance to chop.  I decided to fold.  He showed the 7-8, so he flopped the straight.  Would have chopped, but my decision was 100% right to fold since chopping was my very best option there.

This dealer would not shut up

Got in a big pot with a draw when I raised with 9-8 suited to $7 preflop.  2 callers, and the flop came out J-10-x with J-x of hearts and 1 club.  I have clubs.   Now a guy in the blind leads out for $15, the guy in the middle calls, and I call.  The turn is a low club, giving me a backdoor flush draw.  Same guy leads out for $30, guy in the middle calls, and I call.  The river is a offsuit, so I miss.


Now the guy betting all the way checks.  The guy in the middle checks too.  I thought the first guy might have had a strong hand, but now that he checks I don't think he's that strong.  Although, I guess he could still have something like A-J and just be taking a really passive line here as many live players will tend to do.  The guy in the middle I basically put on a draw and am not worried about at all.  So I figured that I might be able to take this down by betting.  I bet out $75.

Nice hair bro

Probably not the best bet, for a couple reasons.  First of all, my bet doesn't make any sense.  The story I'm telling with how I played the hand does not add up.  If I had something like J-10, I would have had to raise the turn.  The board is so drawy.  If I had an overpair or a set I would have had to raise the flop or turn too.  So my bet really looks like I missed a draw.  I figured at 1/2 people might not be that great of hand readers so maybe even though it doesn't add up, I could get away with it.  But the second thing is that I think the guy betting all the way had to have SOMETHING, and if it was AJ+ he is definitely going to call.  Anyway, the guy betting all the way folded (which should have meant I was golden) and the other guy calls me with 10-7.  Flopped a pair and flush draw, rivered trips.  UGHHHHHH.  I pretty much got what I deserved there, but if I got snapped off it should have been from the first guy.  Bad luck the second guy had trips.

I had a couple decent hands over the weekend, like when I flopped a set and busted a guy, and another when I got all-in against a short stack with a draw and hit.  But I had some other bad hands too.  I flop a straight with 10-9 on a K-Q-J board, guy had K-J and turns a jack.  Flop top two with K-J, other guy calls down with K-Q and rivers a Q.  Have A-K with the ace of spades, flop comes K high with 3 spades, get it in on the turn against a small flush and don't draw out ($400+ pot).

Overall I played 9 hours over 2 sessions at the Orleans this weekend and ended up losing $700.  A pretty big loss at 1/2.  It was frustrating for sure.  Didn't play any yesterday, but I'm going out tonight.  I'm just going to tighten up a bit, think more, and play my very best.

Mandalay Bay 1/2 NL

Mandalay Bay 1/2

Can't write for long, so I'll just quickly talk about the session I played last night at Mandalay Bay.  Played for maybe 2-3 hours, and won $130.  I basically had one huge hand and lost the rest of the night.  Here's my hand:

Guy that doubled me up

Limp with 7-9 offsuit in late position after some other people limp.  Flop 8-6-5.  Boom.  Guy bets out 10.  I call, and another guy down the table calls.  There's a flush draw so its a little risky.  I've seen this guy put a ton of money in pots though so I'm hoping to trap him a bit.  Turn is an offsuit 3.  Same guy bets out $25.  I raise to $75.  Guy down the table folds.  Now this old guy thinks about it for a little bit and calls.  And I'm thinking... I got him now.  River is an offsuit 10, so I still have the nuts.  Now he leads out into me for $100.  I raise all-in for $220 total, he calls.  He had 7-8 offsuit, for a pair of sevens.  I think he said that he misread his hand.  Ship it.

The rest of the night, not very exciting.  The players here were awful.  Overall somewhat tight, and just idiots.  This one guy raised with a small ace out of the blind one hand, flopped trip aces, and folded when he bet out and some guy raised all-in for like $100 or less.  And then that guy showed a flush and straight draw.  IMO that is retarded to just fold trips there.  Even if you have a small kicker, the board was A-A-J.  The kicker won't even play a lot of the time.  Just stupid.

Gotta run!  I'll post more after playing this weekend.  Might not play a ton, maybe on Sunday though.

Red Rock Wednesday

Played some 2/5 last night at the Rock.  Didn't go all that well, but it could have been worse.  I made plenty of mistakes.  Some were freaking terrible, honestly.

I started out in the must move game, which was 4 handed.  In one hand, it folded to me in the small blind with AKs and raised to 15.  The big blind called.  Flop was J-10-8.  I bet 20.  He raised to 55.  I called.  Turn was an ace.  I checked, he checked.  River was a 7.  I bet $60.  He says, "Do you have K-Q?" and called.   I flip up my A-K, he has J-9 for the straight.  :P  A queen would have been a nice card on the turn.  Oh well.

In that hand, I called the flop bet just because it's 4 handed.  I figure I have 2 overs and a gutshot, and it's 4 handed, so I call.  Is that a good idea, I don't know.  I think I can probably tighten up a bit in these spots until I know that someone is CONSTANTLY raising me out of pots and might be raising me light.  I had no reason to think this guy was raising me light here.  And as far as odds, there was 30 + 40 + 35 = 105 in the pot and I had to call 35.  So I'm getting exactly 3:1 odds.  If I think all of my outs are good I have 10 outs, so I'm getting 4:1 odds and with implied odds I'm definitely cool to call there.

And of course, BET THE TURN.  OMG.  What a huge mistake.  Sure, I would have gotten called and lost a much bigger pot, but still.  Bet the turn.  Bet/fold.

Actually, that's something that I have messed up a couple times lately.  Where I know I'm behind, and when the next card gives me a very good but non-nut hand, I don't bet out.  I just check/call.  This happened to me at Bellagio the other week.  I had A-K and I was out of position, flopped an ace, and I was worried the guy had a better hand so I think I just called a bet on the turn.  Then on the river a king came off, giving me top two.  I should have bet/folded the river, but I checked and it went check-check.  This is another similar situation, I probably turned the best hand and I gave him a free card.

Then I ran another bluff that didn't work.  This one was one where I just went with my read, but my read was bad.  So I don't really blame myself too much for this one.  We were 3 handed and I raised with K-7 of diamonds.  Guy called me out of the blind.  Flop came Q-8-8 with 1 diamond.  He checked to me and I bet 30.  He check-raised 60 more.  I thought about it and I didn't think he looked very strong.  So I ended up raising him 125 more on top of that.  He went all-in, I folded.  Maybe it was a bit spewy for sure, as I had no draw and I was just raising him because I thought he looked weak.  But really, the guy check-raised me on the flop, what do I think, he's check-raise bluffing me?  Pretty unlikely.  Especially with zero draws out there.  So I'm not super upset about it, but I could have picked a better spot.  Sure, if he had like 4-4 he would have folded.  Or maybe 10-10.  But whatever, just a bad move.

Then, I had some really big hands that I got ZERO money on.  It was pretty frustrating.

This one is so bad I don't even want to write about it.  I was at the main game and raised under the gun to $15 with 10-9 diamonds.  3 callers.  I had been playing a ton of pots and went up and down a lot so I felt like I looked like I was playing pretty reckless.  Flop comes just sick.  3 10s.  I flop quads.  I bet $20.  3 folds.  ARRRGHHHHHHHHH

Was this bad, I don't know.  I figure I'm going to cbet there a ton of the time anyway, and since I had been playing SO many hands before that, it was reasonable to bet out.  But realistically I guess I should have just checked, hope an ace peels off on the turn.  And if I was in position, maybe that's a better place to bet small.  But I did raise under the gun, and now I'm betting out, so an overpair has to be in peoples' minds.  Or at least a pair.  I mean, I'm sure nobody had a pair there or they would have called me.  Maybe I couldn't have gotten much more, but it was pretty frustrating to let that one slip away.

Then in another hand (against same guy I ran the bluff against) I called a raise out of the blind with 9-9.  Flop came 9-4-3.  There were 4 people in.  I checked, next guy checks, he bet $55.  Next guy folds, and I check-raised to $160.  He folded.  I thought this was OK because I had been playing pretty aggressive and had that big hand against him earlier, so I thought he might call.  But realistically I look super strong there especially with multiple people in the pot.  I should have either lead out on the flop or  probably better, just call the flop and lead the turn for $75 or $100.  Oh well though.  That sucked.

Another one where I fucked up a bit - I was going crazy and I raised with 4-2 suited.  Really bad timing too because I literally just raised the last 4 hands.  As I was putting the chips out I was like "this is a bad idea" in my head, but I did it.  Whatever.  Flop came literally the only flop you are hoping for when raising with 4-2.  It came A-5-3 with 2 hearts.  Checked to me, I bet 25.  One caller.  Turn, offsuit 10.  I bet $75, he calls.  River, offsuit 6.  I bet $225, he folds.  My river bet was too big.  Maybe he was just calling me with a flush draw, in which case it didn't matter.  I was hoping since I was going so crazy in other pots that if he had A-10 or A-6 he would call the bet.  But I probably could have been more successful if I bet like $130, then it might have been hard for him to fold any ace.

Last hand - another example of me putting too much in with a draw.  I limp with 7-5 suited.  Flop comes J-6-4.  Checks to me, I bet 20.  Guy calls, and this tight old guy makes it $60.  Fine, I call.  I don't even mind really because I have the draw and at least he probably has a strong hand.  The other guy called too.  Turn was a king.  First guy checks, now the old guy bets $150.  Sigh.  I'm thinking about it and I'm putting him on a set.  I was playing somewhat deep, probably started the hand with around $900 and he had me covered.  So if I did hit the straight I felt like I could get paid huge.  So I called.  I was only getting like 2:1 I think.  Let's say there was 25 in preflop, 180 on the flop, now 150. So I had to call 150 to win 355.  2.3:1 or so.  For an open ender I have 8 outs, about 16% to win, so I need like 5:1.  I figured it was worth it and called.  River was a queen and he checked.  I thought about betting but knew he was check-calling, so I checked.  He had pocket aces.  This actually sucked for me because I don't think I was getting the odds I needed at all to draw.  He may have check-folded the river to a decent bet anyway.  Not sure.  If the river came a 3 and he bet, I think he would be hard pressed to not call my shove.  And if he checked hopefully I would have bet like 300.  If I bet like 400 or shoved he would have folded with A-A.  Since I put him on a set I gave myself much better implied odds than what I actually had.

So I ended up losing $170 last night.  Not the end of the world.  I think I'm going to play some lower limit poker the next few days, I'll be hanging out with my wife and playing some 1/2 most likely.  :-)  Hopefully I can crush the game, I just need to ease up on the bluffing and value bet like crazy.

Watch your back

I might just write about this one hand today.  Let me just write about how this went down first and talk about it after.

Red Rock 2/5 NL.  I limp for $10 with 7-6 of hearts (there was a straddle).  The big blind makes it $50 to go.  2 people call, and I call.

Flop is K-5-2 with the 5 of hearts.  It checks around.  The turn is a 4.  Checks around again.  The river is my money card - the 3.  So I have the nuts.

So the river comes out and one guy bets $80.  I raise to $300.  He goes all-in for a bit more, I call.  We chop the pot.

Not a very interesting hand (and definitely disappointing for me).  But here's how the betting and physical actions went down on the river.  He bets $80.  I raise to $300 by throwing 3 bills out (I had 5 bills in front of me).  The dealer pulls in the $80, leaving 2 bills and 5 red chips in front of me.  Now the guy says all-in.  I put out a small stack and say call.  We show our hands.  I take my $220 back.  Now the dealer said something about "I need to give him $200 out of the pot first" just thinking out loud, and I think he gave the other guy $200 or $220 to account for the $220 I just pulled back.  Then he chopped the rest.

So I was a bit shell-shocked because it definitely hurts when you are already down, you river the nuts, and end up chopping.  I wasn't paying close enough attention.  So I stack all of my chips, look down, and see that I have 4 bills.  And not a lot more chips.  And then it hits me - I had 5 bills before.  Now I only have 4.  And I have about the same chips as before.  I should have the same bills and a little more chips, or 1 less bill and a lot more chips.  I had lost a bunch before this point so I started the hand with 5 bills and maybe $170 in red (had to put a bunch of bills on the table).  Now I have 4 bills and $200 red.

The chips are already in my stack and his stack.  At this point I realize that I have no recourse.  The next hand is already going.  The cards are out and there's no way to prove anything.  I guess I could have thrown up a hail mary and said I got shorted, and just hope that they get someone in the back to review the hand on camera and pay me back.  I decided not to say anything.  I think that expecting that they are actually going to run the tapes back or whatever to find out about $100 is super unlikely.  The biggest thing is that I didn't want to call it out, have everyone know I lost that $100, and now everyone is talking about it all night and I'm just on SUPER tilt.  I was already tilting hard because of the hand.  If it was public knowledge and people were just sitting there laughing about it and talking about it, you made the nuts and still lost $60 or whatever, I don't know that I could really deal with that.  I just thought it would be a better idea to cut my losses, act like it didn't happen, and try to move on.

Mentally it was incredibly hard.  Sure, it's only $100.  I bluffed away $350 earlier in the day (fucking STUPID by the way) so this pales in comparison, as far as the amount.  But still, the fact that the dealer caused me to lose it instead of a bad decision on my part was really fucking with my mind.

At that point I'm in damage control mode.  I know I'm on tilt.  I can feel my temperature going through the roof.  I know I have to keep it under control because I'm going to be more likely to make some bad decisions.  I should have walked it off but I just stayed at the table.

Overall it didn't screw me too bad.  I had like zero hands after that to play, so I basically sat there pissed off for another 1.5 hours and left.  I think the lesson to learn though is that you really have to pay attention at all times because you never know when you are going to get screwed over by a bad dealer.

As far as the bad bluff, that hand was fucking atrocious.  It went down like this:

Guy raises to $20.  I call with A-8 suited.  Already maybe a sketchy play, but I guess it's OK.  Guy in the blind makes it $50.  Raiser calls, and I call.  I definitely don't love it but I tell myself I'm priced in, and I think that's reasonable.

Flop comes 6-3-2.  It checks around.  Turn is a 4.  Now the preflop reraiser bets out $85.

I get it into my head that he probably has something like A-K.  So I come up with this elaborate scheme to win the hand - I'm going to float the turn, and bet the river to get him to fold his A-K.

River comes another 4.  He bets out $100.  I raise to $260.  He snap calls.  He had K-K.

This hand was so fucking stupid.  Calls preflop - fine.  I kinda got screwed into calling the reraise and I'm in position, so whatever.  As far as his bet on the turn, I should have just given up.  But honestly I don't really hate the float THAT much if I honestly think he has A-K all the time.  Of course, I made the classic mistake of wanting to find a reason to win the pot, and A-K was the only hand that you might reraise preflop with that I can beat here.  In general people aren't reraising a ton preflop, and this guy also had to reraise out of the blind.  And he didn't make it that much more.  If I analyzed the preflop action a bit more I would have seen that he could easily have a big hand.

Why check the flop, who knows.  I think that's kind of a weird play.  The pot was already pretty big so maybe he thought a standard cbet wouldn't be called by much.  But if someone had an overpair that would probably call at least one bet.

On the turn, his bet makes sense.  He's like OK nobody bit on the flop, now I'm going to try to get some value.  My float would have been better if I knew this is a guy that might bet ace high here, and also if I knew that he is a guy that can fold on the river if he didn't have much.  I knew none of those things from this guy so it was moronic to try to steal the pot.  Sure, it could have worked.  But logically I had no reason to think that it would work other than "It's going to look strong if I call here, and I can probably steal on the river if he doesn't have much."

Then on the river, my biggest mistake ever.  He bets out $100.  I already thought I was going to try to take this away from an ace high type of hand.  What ace high hand bets here again after betting the turn?  And a super small bet?  NONE!!!  Fucking nothing.  Especially that size.  It's screaming this is a value bet.  Sure, he might have something like 9-9 and might fold to a raise.  But there is no way in hell that's an ace high bet.  What I should have done if I chose to float was see that he bets the river and say, OK, fine, he has something.  I fucked up and called incorrectly on the turn because he has something.  So now I'm going to give up.  But instead I decide to follow through with my bluff and he insta-calls me.

So, idiot play there.  It's cool I'm playing around with those kind of things, and hopefully in the future I'll take some time to think through what the guy actually has, like replay the action in my head.  And maybe when I decide to float there, I can think, what will I do if he bets out?  What will I do if he checks?  What will I do if he check-raises?  That way I'm prepared.

Oh well.  Shitty session, I lost $300 and I did not play that great.  Basically just played bad in the hand above.  It's OK though, I'll probably play more tonight.  :-)

Red Rock Monday

 Went up to the Rock last night just for a couple hours.  Played in the must-move game for about 40 minutes.  It was SUPER shorthanded.  


I don't feel super comfortable in that type of situation today.  I feel like I don't pick my spots exceptionally well and have a tendency to spew off chips.  It's fun playing and getting more experience though.  I know as I move higher and higher in stakes, I'm going to have to play more shorthanded.  It's just a fact of life.  Might as well get that experience now, as opposed to when I'm playing 5/10 or 10/20 NL and it costs exponentially more, and I'm also playing against more competent opponents.

4 handed 2/5 NL at Red Rock - must move game

Played a couple somewhat interesting hands.  In one, we were 4 handed and I min-raise opened from the small blind with K-4 offsuit.  The big blind called.  By the way, I don't generally min-raise, I was just trying it out.  The flop comes A-K-3.  I bet 10, he points to the 3 and calls.  He said something preflop about how he was going to need a special flop or whatever, basically just announcing that he had a garbage hand, and I totally believed him.  So I didn't put him on an ace and thought I was very likely good at this stage.  Turn was a 10.  I checked and he checked.  River was a 9.  I bet 20.  He said something like "I think I got you now" or whatever and min-raised me to 40.  He's now obviously trying to say "I have 9-3".  However, I felt like it's heads up and I can't really fold to a min-raise on the river here with such a monster hand as K-4 offsuit.  :-)  So I called, and he had 8-3 (just the 3).  


Later I raised on the button (again 4 handed) with A-2 suited, to $20.  2 callers.  Flop came 10-5-5.  Now this guy leads out into me for $30 (blue shirt in the picture above).  I felt like this guy had been betting out on too many flops and I thought he probably didn't have a 5.  I had backdoor diamonds and a backdoor straight draw too.  So I made it 75.  He thought about it and asked if I had an overpair, and eventually folded Q-10 face up.  Whoops.  Bad play on my part, lol.  I reassured him when he asked me about it later that I had pocket queens.


Playing between 3 and 4 handed for a while, eventually the must move game broke.  I got in the main game shortly after though.  Few fun hands there too.


Raise KJ to 15.  3 callers.  Flop Q-9-9.  Checks to me and I have 1 person behind me.  I bet 25.  2 folds and a call.  Turn is a queen.  He checks, I check.  River is an ace.  Check, check.  He had 6-6 and we chop.  I have been torn on this one, whether or not to bet the turn or river.  But I think that if he had 9-x he probably would have played it the same way.  And I'm not getting anyone smart to lay down to a tiny bet on the river.  Maybe a big bet, but I don't want to risk that much either.  So I guess it's fine to just check the turn and river here.


Guy raises to $15.  I call with J-8 suited.  See the flop 4 way and it's Q-Q-8.  He bets out 20, I raise it to 60, he folds (as do the others) and I win.  Overall this was probably just a risky spot to be in and folding preflop was probably the best option.  Or reraising, but basically just fold.  Raising the flop only gets worse hands to fold.  I guess protecting my hand has some benefit here, but overall I think there's just a lot of risk there as well and I could just avoid that spot altogether.


I think in general over the last week since I've gotten in a lot of weird spots, ran some bad bluffs, and lost a lot of money on draws, I am seeing the value in tightening up a little bit.  I don't want to be a nit but I just need to be in position basically all the time, and pick my spots a bit better.  I guess in position I don't mind going a little crazier.  But in the last hand, I have 2 people behind me.  Who's to say one of them doesn't have Q-10?  Then I just totally threw away $60.  Granted by raising I'll be able to know about it right away and shut down which is nice, but it would be great to save the $60 altogether.

The Governator

Interesting hand vs the guy I like to think of as the Governator (pictured).  I raise with 4-2 suited in late position to $15.  He calls from the big blind.  Flop comes Q-9-2 with 2 diamonds.  He checks, I bet $15, he calls.  Turn is the 9 of diamonds.  He checks, I check.  River is an offsuit 7.  He bets $25.  I think about it and call.  He has the 2-5 offsuit and we chop.  


On that hand, the turn was pretty scary.  But if I'm going to call a river bet, I really should be betting out $20 or $25 on the turn and bet-folding.  On the end there's just no way to tell if he has anything and if I think he can be bluffing I just have to call, which is a bad spot.  I should have put myself in the driver's seat by betting the turn IF I was going to call the river.  Either that or just give up on the turn and fold the river when he bets.  


Then, a couple bigger hands.  In one, I raise the button with 8-8 to $20.  Get 2 callers.  Flop 6-6-2.  Now a guy (blue shirt from pic above) bets all of his red chips, $100.  He has a $100 bill behind.  Super overbet.  Guy folds and it's on me.  I decided that he didn't necessarily have to have a 6 here or even a big overpair, so I just pushed him all-in.  He called.  Turns out he had 4-4.  So I won a big pot with that.  Kinda risky but I had seen him do some similar things earlier and I didn't think he was a good player, so I risked it.


In another hand I got a sick flop.  I call in a straddled pot with 10-9 suited.  Flop comes Q-J-4 with the Q-J of my suit.  Sick.  I bet out $25 into like 5 people, get 2 callers.  Turn is an offsuit ace.  First guy checks to me and I bet $80.  Not the best card, but I figure it's an OK bluffing card and at least I probably won't get raised off of this too often (unless someone has K-10, but I have a blocker).  Guy folds, now the first guy goes all-in (essentially calls all-in, he had like $83).  He shouts that he wants a diamond, and I'm scared that he has bigger diamonds.  River is an offsuit 9.  He had the 5-4 of diamonds so I was way ahead and won a decent pot there.    


Overall I ended up playing for just over 2 hours and won almost $600!  Really great session and a good confidence booster after a bad weekend of poker.  Excited for my next session.  :-)

Bad week

Two weeks ago I had one of the best weeks I probably have ever had at the poker table.  This last week was a bad one.  I got a little unlucky here and there, but overall I think some of the play that got me rich last week was also the reason that I lost this week.  

Dealer picking his teeth with his card - gross

Hand 1: I just sat down, it was literally my first hand at Red Rock in the 2/5 NL game.  I have 500 and I'm in the big blind.  About 5 people limp.  I have AQs.  I raise to 35 total.  Bigger raise than I'd normally make, and I'm just hoping everyone folds or I can play it heads up.  2 people call.  Flop comes 8-3-3 with 1 of my suit.  I am not yet ready to give this pot up, so I bet $60.  1 caller.  Turn, 7 of my suit.  Now I pick up the flush draw, so I fire another barrel - $130.  He calls.  River, 3.  At this point I felt like I've been repping a big hand the whole way, and another big bet will have to scream JJ+ for the boat.  So I go all-in for $285 or whatever was left.  He thinks for a while and calls.  He had 10-8.

There were a few things wrong with this hand.  I'm fine with the flop bet and the turn bet.  On the river, I know he has a full house.  I didn't even try to talk myself into thinking he didn't.  So then when I go to bet, I don't even take into account who the guy is and if he can fold.  Looking at him after the hand, he's some middle aged guy with a ton of money in front of him and some local golf club gear on.  Probably some kinda rich guy that typically is going to be a calling station.  So it was just a bad bet on the river.  

Second, I have told myself several times - don't bluff in the first half hour or so at the table.  I've dumped off so much money lately when I sit down and instantly am running some big bluff.  It makes no sense.  Sit down, see who the players are, get a feel for the table, then you can start playing.  So that was another mistake.

Another problem I've had lately is overplaying my draws.  In every possible way.  Calling without good enough odds, as well as just sort of blindly raising people with draws.  I guess the raising part is OK as long as I'm making sure I'm against a person that is capable of folding, but I played a couple hands yesterday where I didn't take that into account at all.  Then I also had some hands where I just put WAY too much money in with draws.

This is me getting even after 100 rebuys

I think if I focus on only calling with my best draws I'd be a lot better off.  For example I had this hand at Bellagio the other day in the 2/5 game.  I raise with 9-9 to 15.  Guy makes it 35.  I call.  Flop is 10-8-7.  I check, he bets 60.  I thought about raising, but I KNEW he had an overpair so if I raised I was just basically getting it in for no reason.  So I call.  At that point there's like 135 in the pot and I'm calling 60, so I'm getting just 2.25 to 1 odds.  With 10 outs and 1 card to come, I need like 4:1 odds to break even.  Am I getting implied odds?  I don't know.  I'm out of position so that makes it hard.  Hell if I hit a 9, he might have J-J in which case I'm dead also.  Overall it is probably just a bad call.  So I call, then on the turn I miss and he bets out 120.  Now there's like 315 in the pot, giving me 2.5:1 odds or so.  He has about $160 left.  I figure if I hit at this point he basically has to call because he's pot committed, but that might not even be accurate because it really looks like I have the draw if I call.  I called again, and missed.  But I think both on the flop and turn I really just wasn't getting a good price.  Especially if you consider that I'm out of position, this is just not good play.

I've had a TON of draws not hit this week.  It's been frustrating.  Big flush draws SO many times, straight draws, and sometimes I'm raising them in position setting myself up to win a giant pot if I do hit.  So I feel like I'm getting slightly unlucky not drawing out in some of these monster pots.  But regardless, I'm playing too many draws.  And also I got SO lucky last week in some monster pots that I really can't complain about this week's luck.

I'm looking forward to playing some more.  It's frustrating when you don't win, and when you make mistakes that you regret later.  But it's all part of the game I suppose.

Always playing your best

Last night I played at Red Rock (1/2 NL).  I had some fun at first, but overall I ended up not having that much fun.  The reason is not because the game was bad or because I got unlucky.  The reason is because I played terrible, I knew I was playing terrible, and I ended up losing a lot because of it.

The hands really aren't even worth discussing.  Just overall really bad decisions.  I raise to 7, lady reraises to 35, guy calls, I call with 9-9.  That's just too much to call unless I know for sure she is a complete moron that is going to stack off 100% of the time.  Or another hand where I decide to 3 barrel bluff with A-J, no pair, after I bet the 10 high flop, bet again on the K turn, and bet again on the heart river.  Really it might not have been so bad if I had ANY reason to think this guy could fold, but I definitely didn't think he was a good player or anything.  I just blindly dumped off $150 on that hand for no reason.  Countless other really bad decisions, limping or raising with any 2 cards (including 7-2 offsuit multiple times), etc.

I've been playing 2/5 exclusively over the last couple weeks, and I've been running really good.  So yesterday I played 1/2 with my wife and I thought I'd just "have fun" and play stupid.  But you know what is fun, winning money.  :P  Just because I'm playing at lower stakes, there's no reason why I can't have fun by just playing my best and taking advantage of how people will generally be playing worse than at my normal stakes.  And I can make moves, just like I do at my usual game, but I need to pick my spots.  If I want to do anything that is a little risky, value betting thinner than normal is what I should be doing instead of bluffing.  Obviously bluffing the worst players possible is not a great idea because they will continue to call you.

This isn't a new lesson for me or anything, but last night just made me think that I need to be smarter about those situations.  I ended up losing $350.  That is ridiculous.  For the hands I had, I should have only played a handful of times, and out of those maybe I could have lost $100 max.  I really didn't have that many playable hands.  Sure, it would have been somewhat boring.  But just hanging out with my wife, seeing her play well, and trying to read the other players when I'm paying attention should be enough fun for me.

Just something to think about as I continue to play.  There is nothing but good that can come out of playing my very best 100% of the time.

Hit and run

Went up to Red Rock today for a super short session.  Might have been a short session, but there was nothing short about the huge profit I made.  Less than 3 hours, $800 extra in my pocket.

Kicking ass

Few quick hands to tell you about.  First, I'm sitting at 1/2 waiting for 2/5.  I pick up pocket aces in early/middle position.  2 people limp for 2 bucks and I raise to 15.  Get 3 callers.  Flop comes K-x-x.  I think there was a heart draw too.  Guy leads out for 20.  I raise to 55.  He calls.  Turn is a king.  Really gross card.  He checks to me.  Now I'm thinking I basically have two options.  One, check and call a river bet (as long as it's not too big).  Or two, bet and fold to a raise.  I decided to bet out.  I know that on a turn card like that, I'm just going to lose some money sometimes and I'm not going to shy away from it.  Betting out probably helps me lose the least because I can set the price.  So I bet out $60.  He folded.  Sweet.

So I'm up $100 at 1/2 and I get called for 2/5.  Right away, I get in another big pocket aces hand!  I'm in the blind.  Girl limps, small blind completes, I look down at two black aces.  I raised to 25, they both call.  Flop comes J-9-5, all clubs. I bet out 50, one girl calls.  Turn is a blank.  I bet out 80.  Now she goes all-in for 220 more.  I didn't really know what to do, but with the nut club draw and a reasonable hand besides, I didn't really see myself folding.  So I called.  River was a brick.  I kinda just look at her like... well?  I say I have a pair.  She says she has a pair.  So then I flip mine up and say, I have a big pair.  :-)  She mucks.  Maybe she had an overpair, hard to say.

Mark of the beast

I honestly started to feel bad for this girl.  She obviously should have stopped playing.  She was on SUPER tilt.  Every pot she played, she lost.  I had a couple hands where I had small pairs and beat her. Like I raised with 4-4, checked to the river, she bets out a small bet ($20) on the river, I think for a bit and call, she paired up the deuce and lost.  Or another hand where I had A7s, raised, missed the flop and bet (10 high flop), she called, turned a 7 and bet again, she called, river we both check and my 7 is good.  No matter what, she lost.

Left - tilt girl

This hand should illustrate how bad she went on tilt.  She limps for $5.  Some guy makes it $20.  She goes all-in for $69 total.  He calls.  The cards run out and she obviously didn't hit anything.  She's all talking to herself "I can't win this, blah blah blah" and just throws her cards into the muck?????  Doesn't even show?  Who knows what the other guy had?  That was just insane.  I mean yeah, you probably lost, but this guy simply called a short stack's all in preflop so there's no reason to think he has a pair or even high cards.  It's likely that he does, but it's a $150 pot... I'll turn my hand up at least!

Later I played another hand against her.  I have Q-3 suited in the blind and check.  Flop comes 4-5-7 with 2 of my suit.  It checks around.  The turn is a 3.  I bet out 10.  The old guy next to me raises to 20. She calls 20, and I call the 10.  The river is the 10 of my suit.  I bet out $65.  Old guy folds.  She goes all-in for essentially a min-raise.  I call.  She has J-8 for the lower flush.  Ouch.

I ended up winning $800.  Just a totally sick session especially if you're only talking about playing for 3 hours.  Insane.  The sick run continues!  Up $2400 in the last 4 days.

Huge weekend, some sick suckouts

I had a great weekend of poker.  Results-wise, anyway.  Did I play well?  Sometimes.  I also made some questionable moves and got rewarded handsomely for those mistakes.  :-)

I'll try to write this quick because I have some stuff to do at work.  I'll just highlight a few of the big hands.  These were all at 2/5 NL.

Call 10 more out of the blind from a middle aged lady on the button.   I have 98s.  Flop comes 8 high, I call a bet.  Turn is an 8.  I fire out 100, which was actually a really huge bet, probably more than the pot, so I'm not sure why I bet that much.  She raises me to 300.  I think it over in my head and really the only hand I can beat is something like pocket aces, but I honestly didn't think she would do that with pocket aces.  So for basically no good reason at all, I end up moving all in on her.  It was only 150 more for her to call (and I certainly wasn't expecting a fold) and she calls.  She has 10-8 and the 10 will play.  River... 9.  SICK.  1k+ pot there.  Such a bad move on my part.

Next, I'm at Red Rock 2/5 and have JTs.  I raise in early position, get a couple callers.  Flop is 9-8-4 with 2 spades (I don't have spades).  I bet out 25.  Another guy calls, and the next guy goes all-in for 60 total.  I figure the other guy in the pot might be on a spade draw so I raise to isolate : 160 total.  he calls.  OK.  Turn is an offsuit king.  At this point I have 450 left and I decided to just push all-in to get him out of the pot and play for it heads up against the other guy.  I go all-in, he calls me.  GULP.  Worse yet, he has basically the worst hand for me possible : K-3 of spades.  So he hit a pair over my two cards, and he also kills 2 of my straight outs.  River, offsuit queen.  SICKKKKKKKK.  Another insane pot.  I don't think my move was all that bad in this one, but I did have to get incredibly lucky to win the pot.

2 stacks of green

Got all in preflop this weekend with AA vs KK and won, that's always nice.  I was in the big blind and had just shown down a small bluff the hand before, not sure if that made any difference.  But some guy made it 20, I raise to 75 with AA, he makes it 220, and I shove for 550.  He thinks and says "I don't think I can fold the 2nd best hand preflop" and eventually calls, and doesn't hit.  That feels awesome.  :-) 

Lost a couple decent size pots with AK.  The first was stupid, the second was kinda standard I think.  In the first I was at 1/2 at Venetian.  I call a raise out of the blind with A-K.  Flop comes A-Q-x.  I check, preflop raiser bets 22, next guy raises to 45.  I think about it a bit and decide I don't want to fold, so I reraise to 110.  Preflop raiser folds, other guy goes all in for like 80 more, I call, he has pocket queens.  I should have just folded to the 45. 

The other AK hand, I reraise out of the blind at Red Rock 2/5 from 15 to 55.  The original raiser folds, and a short stack calls.  He has about 125 left.  On the Q-x-x flop I just push all-in and he calls with Q-J and I don't improve.  I think that's fine.

My best hand this weekend was with A-Q.  A kid who looked like he was pretty good raised to 15 in early position.  1 other caller, and I reraised to 50.  They both call.  Flop comes A-6-5.  Checks to me, and I check.  I'm thinking, pot control, and also it might disguise my hand a bit.  Turn comes a 4, and now the original preflop raiser bets out 120.  I had seen him make some kinda big bets when he c-bet earlier, so the size didn't really bother me too much, and I figured he might try to pick it up thinking I have K-K or whatever.  So I call.  Now I think this basically turns my hand face up, letting him know I have an ace.  However, I didn't really consider that he might still think I have K-K or Q-Q or whatever.  River is a blank.  Now he fires out 300.

Mr. Incident Report

Really big bet, and I didn't want to just throw the money away.  There was like 390 in the pot and he's betting 300.  And I felt like it was very obvious that I had an ace.  I thought, if he did have something like a set or a straight, would he bet 300?  Seems like too big of a bet to get me to call if I just have A-K or whatever.  And I thought that he might have thought that if I did have A-K, he could probably push me off of the hand if he made such a big bet.  So I took a long time and really thought about it, and decided to call.  He had QTs - total bluff.  And I won a sick pot. 

Quick funny story.  This guy (pictured left) sits down behind the button at Venetian.  The dealer doesn't deal him in for some reason.  So this guy starts going insane, "I'm going to file an incident report!!!!"  He tries to stop the action and the dealer is like, uh, no.  So he calls the floor over and eventually leaves the table, I think without even playing a hand.  Maybe he did end up filing an incident report, whatever that means.  What a freak of nature.  Yeah, the dealer messed up.  But who cares, it's one hand.  Get over it!