Most fun night of poker in forever

Wednesday, Feb 13th, 2013 at Wynn - 1/3 NL

Before I begin, I wanted to say that my awesome wife got my a fantastic Valentine's Day present - a 2 day WPT Boot Camp cash clinic thing!  I got an email with the information yesterday.  I feel kinda bad doing it because it's so expensive.  I got the last one for free which was great, and I thought it was really helpful.  But now we are paying a ton for this next session.  I talked about it with her though and she thinks I'll totally get my money's worth out of it, even if it's really expensive.  I tend to agree because the last one was so good.  So we'll see, but I'm off to another WPT Boot Camp event in a couple of weeks!

After the fact, it turns out that I couldn't get Monday off.  So I'm still going, but only to 1 of the 2 days. That's OK though.  One big thing I want to get out of it is asking a bunch of questions I have written down, and I'm going to get that opportunity.  So that is awesome.  Just situations that have come up over the last month using this strategy.

Back to the session.  The session was SO much fun.  I was 3-betting preflop CONSTANTLY.  I wasn't doing anything different than what my plan has been lately.  It was just one of those nights where a ton of spots came up and as a result, I was constantly 3-betting preflop.  I bet there were maybe 20 3-bets preflop I saw all night, and I probably did 10+ of them myself.

Hand 1 : Guy in middle position raises to 15.  The next two people call.  I have A-Q on the button.  I reraise to 75.  Original raiser folds, and the next guy calls.  He has another 50 left.  :P  The other guy folds.  Flop comes out 2-4-5 with 2 diamonds.  He checks and I just bet his 50, and he calls.  Whatever.  I figure we are all-in after that flop and I'm not folding, so let's just do this and see what happens.  Turn jack, river queen.  Sweet.  He says he had pocket sixes, which was basically the worst hand he could have had against me on that flop because my straight outs were gone.  So that was lucky.  Right away I'm up $150 from that.

What is funny is that less than a round later, I open fold A-Q in early position.  Not in my range from early (offsuit, anyway).  I'm playing position like a boss anymore.

Hand 2 : 4 people limp.  I'm in the big blind with Q-Q.  I raise to 25 and get 2 callers.  Flop is J-6-3 rainbow.  I bet 50, both fold.

Hand 3 : I raise AQ in early position. I would have folded but I could tell someone behind me was folding (holding their cards and obviously folding) so I upgraded my position by 1, which put me in middle position. 1 caller in the big blind. Flop is 642 with 2 clubs.  He checks, I bet 15, he calls. Turn 7.  It checks around. River is a 9, we both check, he has J-7 of clubs.

Hand 4 : Guy in late position raises to 9.  I have pocket tens in the blind and reraise to 27.  He calls.  Flop is K-K-8.  I fire 40, he folds.

Hand 5 : This one was fun and it really goes to show the power of blindly c-betting everything.  This older Asian lady raises to 11 in early position.  I reraise to 33 with pocket tens.  She calls.  Flop is K-6-4.  She checks, grabs some chips, and even says she has a king.  lol.  I bet 40 and she folds.  I think she told the person next to her that she had pocket jacks.

Hand 6 : Another one that just makes you feel like a genius when it works.  This guy (who had been raising a lot) raises to 10.  I reraise to 30 with A-K.  Guy behind me cold calls, which isn't so great.  The original raiser calls too.  Flop comes out J-x-x.  I bet 60, they both fold.  Whew.

Hand 7 : Guy raises to 10 from middle position.  Same old Asian lady from early calls.  I have A-J suited and reraise (see a trend here, lol) to 40.  He folds, she calls all-in for 29 total.  She has pocket tens and wins.  

Hand 8 : There is a button straddle and it folds to the small blind, who calls.  I am in the big blind with 7-7 and raise to 30.  The button calls.  The flop is 10-8-5 with 2 clubs.  I bet 40, he calls.  Turn is another 5.  Check, check.  River, 6.  Check, check.  He wins with A-8.

Hand 9 : It folds to me on the button and I raise to 12 with 6-3 suited.  The big blind reraises me to 43. At this point, the additional 30 is less than 5% of our effective stacks, so maybe I could call.  I'm not sure.  I folded because it was heads up, but this is something I need to ask them at the next WPT boot camp thing I attend.  It seems like your implied odds are a lot better because you KNOW the guy has a strong hand, probably.

Hand 10 : I have Q-Q in early position and make it 12.  I get 3 callers.  In this situation, the WPT boot camp thing basically just says to play super passive and don't even bet.  I don't love it, especially on the turn here.  So the flop comes out 10-5-5, super dry, would be an awesome board to c-bet even into 3 people.  But I'm staying rigid with the strategy and check.  It checks around.  Turn is a jack.  Checks around again.  I was really regretting not betting the turn there.  River is a king.  I check, lady bets out, I fold, she shows a king.  

I don't love this hand, but I understand the overall thought process behind it.  In this particular case, ESPECIALLY on the turn, I think I could bet.  I mean what could someone possibly have?  Even if they have J-10 I have them beat.  But whatever, I'm sticking with this strategy 100% and if it means giving up a little value here, fine.  I'm not getting in trouble with 1 pair hands.  That does feel good.  And really I only lost $12 on this hand.  So it's not the end of the world.  It's like calling a raise with 7-8 suited and folding the flop.

Hand 11 : I didn't even write down what I had this hand, lol, but the action went like this : lady raises to 6 in early position.  Guy next to her reraises to 16.  The loose guy calls on the button.  I reraise to 60, I think I had A-Q or A-K.  Everyone folds.  Yet another 3-bet preflop.  

Hand 12 : This one was a really crazy one, the most insane hand of the night.  I am looking for opinions on this for sure.  I didn't go with the WPT boot camp strategy on this one, and I'll tell you why.

I raise from early position to 12 with K-K.  Guy reraises me to 36.  Folds to me, I reraise AGAIN to 100 total.  He thinks about it and just calls.  The pot is completely out of control right now and we both have big stacks.  Flop comes out Q-J-8 with 2 diamonds.  I check, he bets 140, I fold.

Fold?  So here is what I was thinking.  His hand looks SO much like a big pocket pair.  I don't think this guy is reraising me with small pairs.  Or like A-Q.  Maybe, but I don't know.   Well let's think about his range there for a minute.  I didn't put all this thought into it yesterday.  Realistically he might have something like 99+, AQ+.  I think that seems fair.   

So now I reraise to 100.  I think he's folding AQ here.  AK, probably has to fold too I think.  For most players.  Maybe not all.  My hand just looks so strong.  With J-J I can't think of a good reason to call, but someone might.  Q-Q seems like this guy's most likely hand to me.  He didn't reraise again, which makes me think he doesn't have A-A (although he could be slowplaying) or K-K.  Q-Q and J-J seem like a big part of his range.  Maybe some A-K suited combos.  Or maybe just a ton of A-K, I don't know.

Flop comes Q-J-x.  Right now I'm thinking:

• A-A beats me.  He could potentially be slowplaying that here.
• K-K ties.
• Q-Q beats me.
• J-J beats me.
• A-K with the flush draw beats me I think - and I THINK I didn't have a king of that suit.  Yeah if he has A-K of that suit, he's a 55% favorite over my K-K.  Just ran it through PokerCruncher.

The WPT boot camp says to bet 2/3 pot here.  But what are the hands I can beat?  A-K without the flush draw.  Honestly is there anything else he could call me with preflop?  I don't think so.

So I just checked, he bet 140, I folded.  I think I made the right decision and I'm sticking by it.

Hand 13 : I call in the small blind with 9-6 suited.  Flop comes great, 10-7-5 giving me a gutshot straight flush draw.  I bet 10, everyone folds.

Hand 14 : I have A-J suited in middle position and raise to 24 because of the button straddle.  I get 2 callers.  Flop is Q-8-3.  I bet out 50, get one caller.  Turn is a blank, we both check.  River I check, he bets 85, I fold.

Hand 15 : Two people limp.  The loose guy makes it 20.  I 3-bet him yet again, up to 60 with pocket tens out of the big blind.  Everyone folds.

Hand 16 : This was the other totally insane hand.  I have 9-8 suited in middle position and open to 12.  4 people call.  The flop is K-10-7 with 2 hearts.  I have clubs.  

It checks to me and I bet $40.  Guy to my left calls.  Now the first guy that checked check-raises all-in.  Blah.  It's $45 more to call, so I'm not folding.

I could either call or raise.  The other guy still had about $200 or so left (maybe a little less).  I decided to raise all-in.  I figured that would probably push the guy out unless he had some SUPER strong hand, and I could get heads up and try to hit my draw.  So I shove.  The guy tanks and thinks forever, and eventually calls.  Damn.  He had bottom two pair, 10-7.  Worst case scenario, the other guy actually has a flush draw.  So I'm drawing to 6 outs.  I miss and the 10-7 guy takes down a big pot.

Hand 17 : I limp with 4-4 after a couple people limp.  The blind makes it $11.  4 people call.  The flop is Q-6-4.  It checks to me, and I bet $35.  The preflop raiser calls me and we are heads up.  

Turn is an 8.  Checks to me, I bet $80, she calls.  At this point I'm SOOOO confident with this hand.  What is also great is that I can't think of a single card I'm worried about on the river.  Maybe she could hit an ace or king to get a higher set, but that's about it.  And if that happens, whatever.  Queen pairs, fine by me.  A 5 or a 7 won't scare me because she raised preflop and is calling huge bets, so I really doubt that.  

The river is a blank.  She checks.  I go all-in and she has about $150 more.  She calls, I win.  No idea what she had, except maybe A-Q or an overpair.  But then why you would check the flop, I have no idea.  Especially just check-call, it makes no sense.  

Overall I ended up winning $69 over the entire night.  Not a huge session by any means, but it was a ton of fun.  It felt great to constantly 3-bet people preflop.  Just makes you feel like a total badass since nobody is doing that ever.  I felt awesome and I was ready to take on my next session, probably the very next day.

Best session ever

February 11th, Wynn 1/3 NL

90 minutes.  2 hands.  One awesome, feel good session.  These don't come along every day.  Here were the two hands.

Hand 1 : Guy raises in early position to $10.  Two people call.  I am in the blind and look down at K-K.  I reraise to $50.  The guy who raised insta-reraises to $150.

I just sat down a few minutes ago and started the hand with about $530.  He has me covered.  At this point the main thing running through my head was "Am I going to fold kings preflop?"  Pretty much, the answer was no.  I thought about my options.  Folding seems crazy weak.  Calling is pretty stupid I think because you are committing so much preflop.  Reraising a small amount (like, to $275) and planning to fold isn't going to work IMO.  In the WPT boot camp they basically just said that folding kings preflop isn't that great of an idea anyway.  I sort of made my peace with it and shoved all-in.  He insta-called.  Sigh.

Ah, running hot at the Wynn.

"Maybe we have the same hand?" he said as he turned up his A-A.  "Not quite", I said.  I held my cards face down in my left hand, sitting in the 4 seat awaiting my fate.  Ready to muck and pull out another $500.  The flop came 9-9-6.  The turn didn't give me any kind of a sweat, it wasn't a picture.  

River - you know what it was.  KING.  :-)  I saw the king and instantly flipped my hand over.  The table was SO silent after that.  I said to the guy "Sorry bro, that was pretty bad".  Haha.  I never feel bad about hands, and this is no exception, but still.  That is gross.  Getting it in preflop with pocket aces is pretty much your dream.  And then, OHHHH SNAP!  (That sound brings me back to my super old school online poker days, playing with friends on Stars while chatting on Yahoo! Messenger and using that clip over and over and over.)  The guy pretty much got up and left the table immediately after taking that crushing beat.  :-)

Hand 2 : Then literally just a few hands later I am in the cutoff with 7-7.  The button straddled, and I raise to $20.  He calls.  I said something along the lines of, I'm ready to put another bad beat on someone.

Flop is another dream : 4-7-9 with 2 hearts.  Bang.  I bet out $26 and he calls me.  Turn is a 10.  It could have made the 6-8 straight, but at least it didn't make the super obvious straight with a 3 or a 8.  I bet out $80 and he called me.  The pot was getting pretty big now.

The river came out an interesting card, an offsuit 6.  Now there was a one-liner to a straight out there.  We were both pretty deep still, he had over $300 left and I had him covered.  What to do?

I figured I would bet, but I did think I would fold to a raise.  I ended up deciding to bet out $125.  A big enough bet that it was going to be pretty hard for him to bluff raise me.  I took 5 red chips, put them on top of a $100 stack, and slid them out.  He said something like "well I have to call" and threw out a $100 bill.  I turned up my set.  He was disgusted and said I was so lucky, and that he should have raised me preflop.  Must have had an overpair.  It would be sick if he had pocket aces as well, wow.  

The other day I posted a picture of a stack that signifies a bad session - a bunch of bills, few chips.  The picture above is the perfect picture of a kick ass session - tons of big stacks, big denomination chips, bills, totally disorganized because you are winning chips faster than you can stack them.  That's what poker is supposed to be.  :-)

I ended up winning $690 today.  That pretty much cancels out the entire terrible session I had last weekend.  Yeah, I had to get super lucky to win that money, but that's poker.  I'm excited for my next session again.  :-)

Scheduled posts!

I'm getting formal with the blog at this point!  I figured out how to schedule blog posts, so my posts will become more consistent from here out.

My next blog will be posted on Monday at 12 AM.  The next one after that will be on Thursday at 12 AM.  I'm going to try to stay on either a once per week or twice per week schedule, depending on how much I play and how much time I have to write blogs.  I already have those two written and ready to go.  My plan is to keep writing blogs and queueing them up so you can have a consistent blog experience to look forward to first thing on Monday and Thursday!

Wynn

As of right this second, I am proud to say I have my own separate bankroll again too.  I've just been playing and keeping track, but I didn't have it separated out.  Now I do.  What is really cool about it is that it's all profit at this point.  From my starting date (January 25th, 2012) I am currently up $2218.  In my bankroll I have exactly $2218. What I love about having poker money separated out is that it makes me feel better about taking shots at bigger games.  Sure, I could say "I've been winning for a while, let's take a shot at 2/5 NL" but when I have to ATM to get the extra money out and lose it, it hurts a lot more.  If I already have money separated out specifically for a bankroll and gamble it, I feel like that's OK.  It doesn't necessarily make a ton of sense, but it feels right to me.  I think that's going to be a lot more important when I start moving up past 2/5 NL especially, because I don't think I could ever justify putting more than $1k on the table for a 5/10 NL or bigger game if I had to take it straight out of the bank.

Last summer I really felt like I was doing well.  I think I started out with $2000 and got it up to $8k or more.  And I did make it back to 2/5 NL.  Right now I'm poised to do the same and get back to 2/5 NL.  I'm really excited about that prospect.

This time I might take it a little slower.  I also like buying in deeper.  Right now I'm pretty much just playing at Wynn, 1/3 NL, and I'm buying in for $500.  Sometimes this means I'm $600 or $900 in the game, if I lose a bit and have to put more hundreds on the table.  When I move up to 2/5, maybe I should really wait until I can buy in for $800+ as well and feel comfortable with that.  With my new style, playing speculative hands is a big part of it and being able to put pressure on, and extract maximum value when I do hit, becomes important.  So sitting deeper at those games could be a big benefit.

I think what I want to do is this : focus on 1/3 for now.  Take some small ($500) shots at 2/5 soon, but still play a lot of 1/3.  Once I get a big enough bankroll, start playing 2/5 with a $800 or $900 stack, and see how it goes.  Eventually I can build up to where I'm buying in for the max ($1500) which would be so sick.  I've never done that before.

Of course, I'm getting ahead of myself.  :-)  For now, let's work on crushing 1/3 NL, and move up from there.

Shitty poker weekend (part 6)

So I lost $140 at Aria on Thursday, $142 at Venetian on Friday, won $440 at Mirage on Saturday, only to be smacked down and lose $651 at Wynn that same night.  Going into Sunday, I'm down $493.  Not a good feeling.

Sunday, February 10th - Venetian 1/2 NL

I didn't have a ton of good hands here.  And when I did, I got smacked down pretty hard.  I also got into one tough spot and I'm not sure what I should have done there.  I'm going to another WPT Boot Camp event soon, and I'm going to ask about that spot (among others).

Hand 1 : Raise AQ in middle position.  1 caller.  Flop 10-5-2 with a flush draw.  He checks, I bet $15, he folds.

Hand 2 : I raise with A-10 on the button to $15 after 2 limpers.  Both call.  Flop is 10-8-6.  The first guy leads out for $20.  The next guy calls.  I raise to $100.  The first guy calls, and the other folds.  The turn is a queen.  He goes all-in, I fold.

This one was tricky for me.  The WPT Boot Camp style says to raise anyone that leads out into you on the flop.  Seems crazy, but that's the strategy.  :-)  In this case it was a little different because a guy lead out, and then someone called.  I am not sure if I should still raise when the second guy calls or not.  I'm going to ask this when I get the chance.

Hand 3 : AQ, I raise to 12 after 1 limper.  One guy calls, and the limper reraises to $40.  I fold.

Hand 4 : I raise to $10 with Q-10 suited.  My wife reraises to $25.  :-)  Some guy cold calls.  I call as well, because at this point I'm getting the right price to play it like a speculative hand.  Flop comes Axx with 2 of my suit.  I lead for $50.  My wife reraises to $125.  I fold.  She had A-K.

In this case it's a little weird too because I know that we are playing the exact same style, and that means that she is raising any flop bet.  She might not actually do it since I don't think she's necessarily just going to bluff me out of a pot, but that's the strategy we are both practicing in theory.  Given that is the case, I wonder if I should even lead out there.  Or if I do, I probably should 4-bet all in after she raises.  However, I don't know that she had enough money in front of her to do that.

Well, that wrapped up my shitty poker weekend.  I ended up losing another $212 that night, for a grand total of just over $700 lost that weekend.

It didn't feel good, but I'm happy to say I stuck with it and got back on the horse immediately.  Basically the very next day.  :-)  I'll post more later.  

Shitty poker weekend (part 5)

Wynn on Saturday, February 9th

We left the Mirage after the Kevin James show and went over to the Wynn to continue playing.  I was riding high on my win from the Mirage.  Definitely was looking forward to kicking some ass at Wynn.

We got into a game and right away I thought it was not a very good game.  There was one guy there I totally hate, he just bugs me.  And the rest all looked like regulars, I didn't see a ton of weak spots in the game.  Not that 1/3 is so damn tough that I should just get up and leave.  I'm just saying it wasn't the best game ever.  We actually put in a table change request which never came for the 3.5 hours we played that night.

My poker weekend really wasn't going that bad until this session.  I had lost on Thursday and Friday, but I just came back huge at Mirage and felt pretty good.  Then I got smacked down hard during this session.

Hand 1 : I raise to $12 in the cutoff with Q-10.  The button calls me. Flop is K-Q-8.  I bet 16, he calls. Turn is a blank.  I check, he bets $16, I fold.  I hate folding to that small of a bet but what can you do.

Hand 2 : I raise to $12 with A-J in the cutoff.  2 callers.  Flop is 10-6-4 with a flush draw.  The blind bets out $10.  I raise to $35, he calls.  We see the turn heads-up.  Turn looks like a good card, a jack.  Now this guy bets out small again, $20.  I thought he might be trying to see a cheap river with a flush draw.  I make it $75.  He calls.  River is a 4.  He bets out $20 again.  I call.  He has 6-6.  Flopped a set, rivers a boat.  

Now that I'm thinking about it, he probably bet out small again on the river trying to get me to raise him again?  That's the only thing that makes any sense.  That hand was just weird and I lost a decent amount on it.

I raised the flop because that's the WPT boot camp style play there, so I'm OK with that.  The turn was confusing.  I guess I could have just called and folded to a river bet if the flush came, or fold to a big bet if it came.  It just looked like too good of a card for me at the time to just call.  But then again, betting into me again on the turn after I raised the flop is really suspicious.  Probably should have been more careful there.

Hand 3: I raise to $12 with KQs.  3 callers.  Flop ace high and it checks around, turn is a jack, lady bets out $35 and I fold.

Hand 4 : I messed this one up.  I raised to $12 with AK.  Guy calls me in position.  I have played with this guy before and I felt (at the time) like I kinda knew how he plays, but that is just me being a complete idiot. As they say in the WPT boot camp sessions, you need to have SO much table time with someone before you can tell what they are doing.  So it was just completely stupid of me to vary my strategy at all based on what I thought this guy was doing.  Of course, preflop was fine.  :-)

Flop comes A-9-4.  I bet $20 and he calls me.  At this point since I "know how this guy plays" (lol) I figure I'm going to get tricky (WHY?!?!?!) and check the turn so he can bluff at me.  It is so idiotic to even type this out.  I mean yeah, maybe that would happen.  But anything could happen.  I have no reason to logically think this is going to happen.  I've played with this guy like 3 times in my life for a total of 10 hours max.  So stupid.

Turn is a deuce.  I execute my plan perfectly and check, and he bets $45.  Since this worked exactly the way I planned, I call.  

River is a 9.  This was actually a pretty scary card for me (or should have been) because what else is this guy calling me with on the flop?  I check again and he bets $100.  I call.  He has 2-2.  Turned a set.

So I screwed myself this hand by getting tricky.  As it turns out, maybe my plan would have worked.  He called the flop with what I can only imagine was the intention of bluffing the turn.  Otherwise that call is just retarded.  Of course he hit.  But once I think that I'm somehow in bluff catch mode, I am committing to call down.  The call on the turn really wasn't that bad, but when I call that pretty big bet and the river comes, and he bets $100 again, is he bluffing?  Maybe, but I think I need to just say "good hand" and give it to him at that point.  

If I played this hand straightforward, I probably would have bet the turn, got raised, and folded.  Or bet the turn, got called, and check/folded the river.  Either way it would have been way better than what happened.  This hand made me mad just because I played it really bad and didn't stick to the plan.  Yeah, the guy got lucky and drew out on me, but I still should have stuck with the plan.  I didn't have anywhere near sufficient evidence to stray from the plan.

Huck Seed in the 1/3 game at Wynn

One neat thing was that Huck Seed came and played in the game for a while.  He was sitting directly to my left.  There was a $25/$50/$100 NL game going in the top section that he was waiting for.  Brad Booth was in the game among other people.  So Huck sits down with $500 and is playing.  Obviously it's a sign of a bad game if I'm playing 1/3 NL with someone that won the WSOP Main Event.  lol.  Table change anyone?

I didn't lose much to Huck though, if any.  He actually played pretty damn tight when people were aggressive against him.  Definitely was interesting to see.  He would put BIG bets out, and he played some pretty crazy hands, but when people played back at him he pretty much laid down 100% of the time.  Probably a really smart move especially in a 1/3 game where you know people aren't playing back at you that much without big hands.

Hand 5 : 2 people limp.  I'm on the button with AQs.  I raise to $18.  Huck reraises from the small blind to $50.

I don't LOVE AQ here but at the same time, I didn't think I was going to lay down.  I raised the button which might look weak.  I reraised to $130 and Huck folded.  He said he folded A-K.  Haha.

Hand 6 : I raise to $12 with J-10 suited.  Our friend Krystal calls.  Flop is 10-3-2.  She bets out $20.  I raise to $60.  She calls.  Turn is a 7.  She bets out $100.  Sigh, I fold.  I figure I probably have the best hand a lot of the time here, but I didn't want to call that and have to deal with a river bet.  Better to just let it go.  

Hand 7 : I call $3 with 5-2 suited.  Huck makes it $28 total.  3 other people call.  I called as well.  There was a lot of money in the pot and it was less than 5% of the effective stack, so it was OK (WPT boot camp style).  Flop came 10-6-2 with 2 of my suit.  I bet out $80.  Huck thought for a long time and folded.  Then this guy Dane goes "yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.... yo mama!" and raises all-in.  Argh, I fold.  Another $100 down the drain.

Dane is this crazy dude from Denmark that is always wearing insane shit - a big cowboy hat with dreamcatchers hanging from it, and fortune cookie fortunes tucked into the band around the hat.  Also some crazy jacket with all kinds of weird patches on it, and he's always wearing sunglasses.  And he always bets in increments of "yo" (like, "yo eleven" at the craps table).  So if Dane wants to bet 22, he will say "yo yo" and bet 22.  And if he bets 49, he would say "yo, yo, yo, yo, nickel!"  That's just the way this guy operates.  Cool guy though, he is super nice even though he looks like a typical poker jerk.  He's always drinking and having fun.  He just plays super tight.  Usually is winning though.

That's pretty much it for my Wynn session.  I ended up having my biggest losing session in forever and lost $651.  It was a real morale killer especially since I just won $440 earlier that night at Mirage and thought I was back.  Then I go get crushed and end up deeper in the hole.  That sucked.

Almost done with my shitty weekend recap.  One more part, Venetian the next night.

Shitty poker weekend (part 4)

Saturday, February 9th at the Mirage

You would think that with a picture like the one posted here, from a 1/2 NL game, "shitty poker weekend" would not apply.  You would be right if my entire weekend consisted of playing this one session at the Mirage.

So we got up to the Mirage around 6 or so.  My wife and our friend were going to see Kevin James at Mirage that night at 10 PM, and we got a little poker in beforehand.  I played some interesting hands here, and some hands that played themselves but were still awesome.  :-)

Hand 1 : This is one that I'm really proud of how I played it, especially the river.  I think it would be somewhat easy to chicken out and not reraise it.  There is a straddle and I'm in the big blind with A-6 of diamonds.  I call 2 more.  We see the flop 4 handed.  The flop comes 10-3-3 with 1 diamond.  It checks around.  The turn is the 4 of diamonds.  I bet out $10 and get 1 caller.  The river is the queen of diamonds, so I hit my flush.  I bet out $25.  Now the other guy raises me to $50.

It was a little tricky because we were pretty deep.  I started the hand with around $300 and he had me covered.  If he had a boat, I didn't want to lose my whole stack.  I thought about what he could have.  Definitely could have a lower flush, or he could have a 3.  I was thinking flush at the time.  Could he have a boat?  I didn't really think so.  Unless he flopped a set or turned one.  I guess he could have 4-3 as well, I didn't consider that at the time.  Regardless, I decided to reraise an amount where I could fold if he went all-in over the top.  So I made it $125 total, he called, and he lost.  He said he had a 3 and was slowplaying it.  lol.

Short-lived success at the Mirage

Hand 2 : Feel good hand.  Haha.  I call a raise to $10 with pocket 8s.  The flop is a dream, 9-8-5.  My wife is in the hand in the blind and she bets out $15.  The preflop raiser raises to $30.  I reraised to $90. Makes my hand look SUPER strong so I don't love it, but I'm pretty much always going to do that.  My wife folds.  Raiser thinks about it and goes all-in.  I call.  He had K-K and I end up winning a monster pot.  He had a lot of chips at the start of that pot and I busted him.  I think after that pot I had the stack you see pictured.

Hand 3 : I raise to $12 with pocket aces after 1 limper and get 2 callers.  The flop comes Q-J-8.  It checks to me, I bet $20, get one caller.  Turn is a jack.  He checks, I check.  River is an 8.  He checks.  I bet out $20.  This is another spot where I wanted to get some value from my hand, but didn't think he could call with much (maybe just a queen) so I figured I'd bet small and fold to a raise.  He calls with A-K, no pair.

Hand 4 : Gamble!  :-)  I limp with 9-8 of clubs after a limper or two.  The flop is Q-10-6 with one club.  Double gutter and a backdoor flush draw.  Nice.  One guy bets out $20 and gets a caller.  I raise to $80.    Lady to my left goes all-in for about $20 more than my raise.  Everyone else folds.  At least one guy thought about it hard for a while.  The lady has A-Q.  The turn pairs me, so I pick up more outs.  Unfortunately I brick the river though and lose a decent size pot.

Hand 5 : Classic annoying Vegas old man hand here.  Old man limps in.  I raise to $12 with A-K suited.  Guy calls me.  The old guy now limp-reraises all-in for $45.  Whatever, I call.  The other guy calls too.  Now the pot is really big.  Flop comes 7-7-8.  I put out my standard c-bet, lol, $100.  The other guy folds so now I'm heads up.  Turn and river brick out, so I have ace high.

The dealer tells that guy to turn up his hand.  He is like, "that guy (me) should turn up his hand since he bet last".  I am fucking annoyed because I have nothing and scream at the guy "TURN UP YOUR HAND!"  It shocked him into it and he turns up his hand - pocket aces.  What a fucking asshole.  lol.  I throw my hand in.  He was like "I wanted to see that guy's hand, what did he have", etc.  Then that guy leaves before the blind hits him.  What a joke.  If all went well, I'm hoping he left the Mirage and was immediately mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs.

Hand 6 : Last hand (of interest) at the Mirage.  I had over $700 in front of me and moved to the left of this guy that had me covered, and he was playing somewhat crazy (although I think he wasn't that bad of a player).  A double through would have been sooooo sick from that guy, wow.  :-)

Anyway, I call a $12 raise from that guy with A-2 suited.  4 people see the flop and it's as good as it gets - 3 of my suit.  Booooooom.  First guy to act goes all-in for $64.  The big stack folds (boo).  I "think about it" and call.  Other guy in the pot folds, I turn up my hand, he throws his cards in before even seeing the river come out.

So yeah, pretty good session at Mirage.  I ended up winning $440.  Really good for a 1/2 NL game, and I had high hopes for the rest of the weekend.  In the next blog entry, I'll fill you in on the session that night at Wynn.

Shitty poker weekend (part 3)

Maybe this isn't the most interesting format but since I wrote down details from all of these hands, I'm just going to continue listing them all out here.  At this point I'm still at the Venetian on Friday night.

Hand 1 : I have A-10 in the small blind.  I call, and 8 people total are in.  I think you could probably make an argument for raising here.  I don't have a speculative hand and in a multiway pot like this with 8 people in, I could probably raise it up to 22 or 24 from the small blind.  But I didn't.  Flop came out A-10-6 with 2 hearts.  I bet 11, everyone folded.

Hand 2 : This one was a little tilting, not too bad but it was annoying because I was already losing.  It folds to me in technically early position (one spot over from middle position).  I have A-10 suited, and I fold.  I'm trying to play super strict position preflop and that for me is a middle position hand, so I folded.  Of course the flop came out Q-8-8 (queen of my suit) and knowing my current strategy, I would have c-bet.  Then the turn was the jack of my suit, giving me a gutshot royal draw, and I would have bet again.  River gives me the royal - king of diamonds.  :P

Plus my boy Johnny Dyzzl hit his first live royal this day too.  It would have been sick if I hit one within an hour after, across the country.  But no good.

Hand 3 : AK under the gun, raise to 10, everyone folds.

I left the Venetian after that, and ended up losing $142.  Not a huge deal, but just the start of a lousy weekend for me.  I'll continue the drama here in my next blog entry.

BTW is anyone reading this blog?  If so drop a comment in!  Even if it's "you suck".  Haha.

Shitty Poker Weekend (part 2)

Just continuing my hand recap from the weekend.  Still at Venetian right now, from Friday night.  I think I'll start numbering my hands in case anyone wants to comment on them (PLEASE do!!!!)

Hand 1 : Raise from early position with AK after one limper.  He calls. Flop is 10-8-6 with 2 diamonds.  He checks, I bet 15, he raises to 30, I fold, he shows 10-9.

Hand 2  : I have J-5 in the big blind and check.  I don't remember how many people were in, at least 4 total.  Flop is J-6-5 with 2 spades.  I bet 6 and get a caller.  Turn is a 7.  I bet 15 and get a caller.  River is a 6 which counterfeits my 2 pair.  :P  I check, he bets 16, I fold.

Hand 3 : Guy in town for his bachelor party raises to 10 in the cutoff.  I look down at Q-J and reraise to 30.  He calls.  Flop is 6-4-2 rainbow.  He has maybe 80 left.  He checks, I bet 40, he folds.

Hand 4 : I return from the bathroom and post in late position.  3 people limp and I look down at K-Q.  I raise to 18 and get one caller.  Flop is K-J-x.  He checks, I bet 30, he folds.

Hand 5 : I'm busy eating a sandwich.  A guy in early position raises to 7.  Two people call.  I am on the button and look down at A-K.  I reraise to 35.  Everyone folds.  Raises never look stronger than when someone is eating at the table and raises.  Haha.

Hand 6 : I messed this one up.  One guy limps and I limp with 9-7 suited.  Another guy raises to 12, we both call.  The raiser is in position.  Flop is K-8-6.  First guy checks.  I check, but if I'm playing the strategy they use in the WPT boot camp (which I am) I totally should have bet out.  Sigh.  The raiser checks.  Turn is an ace.  We both check to him, he bets, we both fold.  If he had A-Q, maybe J-J, etc I totally could have bet 25 on the flop and taken that down.

Hand 7 : There is a straddle and 3 limpers.  I raise to 30 with K-Q.  One caller.  Flop is 2-6-3.  He checks, I bet 40, he check-raises all-in for 110 more, I fold.

Hand 8 : Guy raises to 12, another guy calls, I call with 3-3.  Miss, fold.

Hand 9 : A bunch of people limp.  I'm in the blind with A-K and raise to 20.  One caller.  Flop is J-10-x.  I bet 30, get called.  Turn and river are both blanks, and it checks all the way down.  I lose to 9-9.

Hand 10 : Pocket 10s and I raise to 15 after 2 limpers.  Everyone folds.

I go to the bathroom.  Guy is talking about how he has spent 99 dollars and has only bought 4 drinks.  He is talking to his friend who apparently was a doctor and he is like "You're a doctor - do the math!"  His friend told him he would be better off buying needles and heroin, it would be cheaper.  And the original guy just kept talking about how he got raped.  It was pretty funny.

Hand 11 : I limp with 10-7 of diamonds after a couple limpers.  We see the flop 6 ways and it comes A-8-5 with 2 diamonds.  Guy bets out 10 and gets one caller.  I raise to 40.  The original bettor calls.  Turn is a 5, and the guy goes all-in.  Sigh.  He has 35 more and I call.  I miss.  He had A-10.

Some of the WPT boot camp advice is a little hard for me to understand.  I'm basically raising any 8 out+ draw in all situations.  But betting out with a draw into 5 people, even with low flush draws, does seem pretty crazy.  I wonder if I should dial it back and only bet out into less people, or only do it in position against a ton of people.  I don't know.  Of course I think if you do that, then you also are taking away some of the reason why they let you limp in or call raises with 5% of your stack or less with things like 2-gap suited connectors.  So I'm going to stick with it for now.

The saga continues later!  Gotta get back to work.

Shitty poker weekend (part 1)

Short version - this weekend fucking sucked.  Nonstop losing.  Then one giant win, followed by a more giant loss on the same night so I couldn't even enjoy the win.  Overall, a total failure of epic proportions.

I guess the overall dollar value I lost isn't THAT big - around $700.  But it was just demoralizing.

Venetian - Friday night (part 1)

Venetian

I went up to the Venetian after work on Friday night by myself.

I raise under the gun with 10-10 to $10.  The big blind calls.  Flop is A-J-8 with 2 diamonds.  He checks, I bet 14, he calls.  Turn is a 10 (boom!) but it's also the third diamond.  He checks, I bet 35, he calls.  River is an offsuit 5.  He checks.  I bet $50, and I think if he check-raised me I could fold assuming he made the flush.  He calls, I win.

Few limpers and I raise K-K from the blind to $20.  One caller.  Flop is 10-9-7 with 2 spades.  I bet $35, he folds.

Raise with A-J to $12 after one guy limps.  I get 2 callers.  Flop is J-2-3.  I bet $25, everyone folds.

I raise K-Q to $10 from middle position.  2 callers.  Flop is 7-9-10, all diamonds.  I have the king of diamonds.  I bet $10 (not sure if that's accurate, would normally bet $15), get 1 caller.  Turn is the 4 of clubs. We both check.  River is a queen.  I bet $30, he folds.

Gotta run, I'll continue the weekend recap later.

Mirage

At the Mirage. Dealers are freaking terrible. So slow. As slow as this room has gotten. It used to be awesome in here, now it's just sad. 1/2 NL and 3/6 limit and that's it.

Not much going on here so far, but the players are terrible. Hopefully I can ship some idiot money this way!

Aria Thursday

Aria - super busy

 Aria last night was pretty weak.  Quick recap of the session here.  I got there around 9 PM and it was slammed in there, just super busy.  Probably 8 tables of 1/3 and a wait list 20 people deep.  Luckily I was on the call ahead list and I was right at the top.  I need to make sure to call in 100% of the time I go there.

Didn't get very many interesting hands.  Unfortunately I got zero action with a lot of the big hands (preflop) I had.  I didn't really have any big hands postflop.  But I raised a few times with things like A-K, K-K, pocket tens, got zero action.  Not a big deal and it's just the luck of the draw in my opinion.  Just variance.  You can't expect to get a ton of action every time.  And I know these morons aren't reading me and seeing that I have a good hand or something.  They just didn't have anything like Q-9 suited to call with.

A few of the hands I did play were all fails.

Guy limps for 3, I raise to 15 with 5-5.  Guy from the blind calls, limper calls.  Flop comes something like 10-8-4 with 3 diamonds.  I don't think I had a diamond but didn't really care, I was just going to c-bet it regardless.  Checked to me, $30, one caller and I give up.  He called out of the blind and bet out on the blank turn, and I folded.

Guy raises to $16 in middle position.  I reraise to $48 on the button with A-Q offsuit.  I don't LOVE it, but I don't want to just call with it, and I don't want to fold it, so reraising seemed like the best option.  Comes back around to him, he goes all-in for over $300.  :P  Fold.  Fine.

Nothing else interesting at all really, just called some raises or limped with speculative hands, missed.

Playing again tonight, maybe at Venetian.  We'll see.  If anyone is reading this and wants to play, let me know!  :-)  We can meet up.  Not like anyone is reading this, but if I happened to meet someone that does read my blog that lives in town that would be pretty epic.

Not a good sign

It's never good when your stack looks like this.

Getting my ass kicked so far, down 150. No big hands. Reraised preflop with AQ, guy reraised me all in, fold. Missed with a bunch of pairs. Nothing special. Probably will jet in a few.

Aria is hella busy!

Damn, Thursday night and the Aria is banging. 22 names on the 1/3 list. Luckily I got called in and I'm waiting at the top. Time to crush some noobs!

Wynning!

Last night we went up to the Wynn again.  My wife and our other friend swore up and down that they were not playing.  Sure enough, by about 8:30 PM everyone was there playing.  :-)

My wife shared this article from the WPT Boot Camp site with me before we went last night : http://www.wptbootcamp.com/dont-dwindle-reload/.  Basically the guy was just saying you should buy in for a full stack and keep it loaded so you don't get a big hand and not get all the money you should from it.  I have been a little hesitant to buy in for the full buy-in at Wynn ($500 at the 1/3 game) just because if I do something stupid, I'll lose an extra $200.  Especially because with our strategy, I might be putting my whole stack in with a draw or possibly stacking off lighter than I would have in the past.  

However, I think she is right.  We have been playing way better than any time in recent history.  Yes, I might get in a weird spot where I end up dumping way more than I should have on a hand.  However, I think there will be more spots where I could capitalize and ship a giant pot where I would have missed out on a few hundred dollars by not buying in for a full stack.  So I like her strategy, and I'm down to buy in for the full stack all the time.  I'll definitely start doing that every time we go to Wynn from now on.  Tonight we are heading to Aria and the max buy-in at 1/3 is $300 (lame), but we'll be back at Wynn soon.

Last night went really well for me.  I actually got some hands and got some good action when I did. I flopped a couple of sets and busted a guy both times.  Nothing interesting - I am in there with 6-6, flop K-6-3 or whatever, get the guy all-in, win.  I never doubled up exactly, but I did win some decent pots.  

I'm really surprised at how often our continuation bets are working.  It's a REALLY high percentage of the time.  I think in the past we just wouldn't bet enough.  Now we are betting around 2/3 pot, and it's working really well.  

Couple funny recent poker stories too.  Last night this guy was saying how he lives in California and was just out in Vegas to "party", blah blah blah.  Our friend notices that when he opened his wallet, he had like EVERY player's club card in town in there.  Haha.  So we think he was local and just pretending that he was from out of town, lmao.  

Even better was the other day.  Two guys at the table were speaking some foreign language.  They sounded a lot like Roman and Maurice from Rounders.  :-)  I was thinking, "We know you're talking about pierogies and snow and shit, but....".  Anyway, our friend says she can speak their language.  And then she is like "I know you were talking about the ace of spades".  Later she told us that she actually saw one of the guy's cards when he peeled them up and one of his cards was the ace of spades.  Haha, it was pretty hilarious that she called him out on that secretly, I'm sure they were like "WTF?".

Well anyway, I'm out of here.  Final tally from last night was that I won $310 and my wife won $270.  Going to Aria tonight, wish me luck.  

Last night at Wynn

Played again at Wynn last night.  It was super slow for me and I ended up losing $100.  Over the last 2 days, I played 8.5 hours and lost $75.  It has just been dead.  No big hands to speak of.  I'm playing the same strategy I've been using for a while, but it's just one of those things.  If you don't get into any interesting situations, there is just nothing to report.

One hand I was pretty happy about was this one.  I raised with A-10 offsuit and got 1 caller.  Flop came J-4-4 and I bet, she called.  Turn was an ace.  She checked.  My hand wasn't that great and I figured I wanted to put one (and only one) more bet in.  I figured if she had a jack, she might fold to my bet.  So I just checked, planning on betting the river if she checked.  River came another jack and she checked.  I thought about betting, but decided against it.  I thought her most likely hand on the flop was a jack.  If it wasn't, what else could she have?  I guess she could have something like 7-7 (although I didn't think of that at the time).  She could also have a 4 and be slowplaying it, who knows.  Anyway I just decided to check.  She had A-K so I lost.  Now that I'm recounting this hand, it was pretty much garbage and I'm not thrilled about it.  What can you do though.  This was one of my more exciting hands.  :P  If I had thought of the possibility of her having something like a pair between 4s and jacks, maybe I could have bet very small on the river planning to fold to any raise.  

Might play more tonight, we'll see.  Definitely going to play tomorrow night, and probably all weekend.

Uneventful Monday night at Wynn

Got up to the Wynn last night at 6 PM, immediately got into a new 1/3 game.  Played till about 10:45.  Won $25.  I basically had NO hands the entire night, so while it was frustrating, it was still awesome that I broke even.

Going out to play again tonight.  Maybe Venetian.  The Wynn was really slow last night, and by comparison, the Venetian had 10 1/2 games going on.  So I can swing by there and see what I can do.  Unless my wife wants to play, in which case we'll probably hit the Wynn again.  She did pretty well last night, won about $300.  

Tonight I think our friend won't be there, so we'll be able to table select a bit better.  Moving 3 people to a new table is always tougher than moving 2, and also my wife has been super down to move lately.  Table selection is huge and she has been really smart about it lately, proactively moving even if we are in great seats right next to each other.  That is super smart.

Haha, just texted her and it sounds like she is probably down to hit the Wynn again.  Me too.  :-)  Time to crush some Tuesday night poker!

Poker lately

I haven't had much time to post lately.  I've been playing a ton of poker and I've been loving it.  I've also just been working and working out a lot too, so my time is pretty short.  Doing P90X right now and I'm through the first week.  Hopefully I can stick with it through all 90 days and turn into a super beast!

Who cares about that though, let's talk poker!  After the WPT Boot Camp poker has been going really well for me.  I've been playing good, or at least following their system as well as I can.  I'm also taking select hands and running them through PokerCruncher to see if I made any mistakes.  I also quit drinking a couple weeks ago and have been playing decent since then.  Definitely had some insane drunken crazy poker nights the previous weeks.  Actually didn't do that bad during that time, but I'm doing pretty well since then.  I'm currently up $1153 over 42.5 hours of live poker in that time.  Just playing all 1/2 and 1/3 NL around the valley.  

We have been playing at SO many place.  Red Rock, Santa Fe Station, Wynn, Golden Nugget, Aria, MGM, Excalibur.  It has been a blast driving around and just "rounding", lol.  Also, we have been having a lot of fun at the table.  I'm playing with my wife a ton, and we also met a new friend that we are having a ton of fun hanging out with.  The 3 of us get on the same table and just get loud and have fun.  It puts me in a better mood and sometimes helps the other people at the table open up.  I think having fun at the table has SO many benefits.  You go on tilt less and get bored less.  You might get other people to open up and get information out of them, or even just talk to them and have a good conversation which makes the time so much more enjoyable.  And for the people that are 100% serious and refuse to open up, it puts them on tilt and they might play like shit.  Overall it's a good thing IMO.

I don't know if I've had that many super interesting hands lately.  I'm just trying to stick to this WPT Boot Camp strategy as much as possible.  It's awesome because I'm playing SUPER aggressive in some hands where I never would do that before, and I'm not getting myself in trouble in other hands.  And when I have a big hand, I'm hammering the pot and am winning bigger pots than I might have in the past.

Few fun hands (maybe not that interesting) lately:

Last night at Wynn.  It folds around to the cutoff and I say "I don't chop" just so the guy knows (I'm in the small blind).  Folds to me.  I look down, Q-Q.  Raise to 12.  Guy reraises me to $30.  I reraise to $100, which is basically his whole stack.  He goes all-in with K-10, I win.

Santa Fe Station, Saturday night.  I have about $300 in front of me.  I raise to 10 with AcKc in middle position.  The blind reraises me to $30.  I reraise to $90.  He thinks and thinks, and goes all-in.  I had about $200 left.  I called, he had K-K, and he flopped a set.  I figured his range was probably QQ+.  Maybe JJ, but I figured I would just rule that out.  I thought I had odds vs QQ+, since I was getting almost 2:1.  However, I wasn't getting even 2:1 on the call (only 1.85:1), and I needed 2:1 if he was pushing with QQ+, based on PokerCruncher.  It says I have 34.7% equity against QQ+.  That was interesting to me though because I didn't know my equity would be so high.  Also what was interesting is that being suited REALLY helps your equity a lot, especially if you are against KK+.  

Wynn last night.  I am in the big blind with Q-3, check.  Flop comes Q-J-3 with 2 hearts and we are 3 handed. Small blind checks.  I bet out 6 bucks.  Guy calls.  Small blind (old woman) raises me to $12.  I reraise to $36.  She just calls.  Turn is a blank, a 2.  She checks, I bet $55, she calls.  River is the 4 of hearts.  She checks.  I figured she was probably drawing, so I checked behind.  She had Q-J.  :P

Guy limps and I limp with 7-4 suited.  Flop comes K-7-7 with 2 diamonds, bam.  I bet $6, guy calls me.  Turn is a 5.  He checks, I bet $20.  He raises to $40.  I got a little lost here.  I just called and planned on calling the river.  Not really sure what I was thinking though.  River comes a jack.  I thought that was actually a good card for me because the kicker is not very likely to play.  He bets $75.  I thought about it and didn't think there was any way I could really fold.  I called, he had 7-5 for the boat.  In retrospect maybe I can just fold there.  On the river the pot was about $104 ($12 preflop, $12 on flop, $80 on turn).  I had to call $75 and I figured he had a 7.  So I'm calling $75 to win $50, and some percentage of the time he is going to have a boat.  So I think really I can just fold there a lot of the time.  Alternatively I could raise the turn and fold to a reraise, but that puts me in a bad spot if he bets the river too.  Overall it's sort of a cooler IMO.  I figured I chop with 8-7 and 7-6.  A-7, yeah that gets me.  I don't know, probably should just have folded.

Last night at Wynn at the 1/3 game.  Guy opens to $40 (LOL) under the gun.  I look down - pocket aces.  OMG.  I make it $120.  I only had about $250 total.  Comes back around to him, he looks at my stack and goes all-in, I obviously call, and win.  He had pocket queens.  

That's about it for me today!  I'm going to play after work today, and hopefully I can start writing more regular blogs.  I'm pumped though.  I feel like I'm playing good and making good decisions based on the game plan I'm trying to follow.  It's also a ton of fun.  I'm really hoping this year is THE year for me and I get back to being a winning player, and move up to 2/5 NL soon.  That would be awesome.  I would be in heaven if I am solidly, without a doubt playing 2/5 at the end of this year and sometimes taking shots at 5/10 games.  That would just be sick.