Wynn - 1/3 NL, Saturday April 6th
Got to the Wynn and we were determined to play some NL. Played limit for about a half hour and lost $150. Just got crushed, couldn't do anything right. It was pretty depressing. Got called for NL and moved over. I only bought in for $300. My bankroll is dwindling and I decided to only buy in for 100 BB just because it seems like I haven't been winning a ton of pots where the extra money comes into play, but I've played some big pots (set over set, etc) where it does come into play. And since I am not in the business of folding sets, I'd rather make a small mistake or no mistake by deciding to never fold a set with 100 BB, where it could potentially be a mistake with 200 BB+.
Another thing to note, I'm throwing a lot of the WPT Boot Camp shit out of the window starting with this session. :-) For better or worse. There are some good tidbits of information there. Don't go broke with one pair. Feel free to bet or even raise / 3-bet your draws. Bet your strong hands aggressively. But there are some things I don't like too. I just want to give myself the right to play hands the way I see fit. So that's what I'm going to do for a bit. We'll see how it works.
Hand 1 : I call 2 more with 7-6 in the small blind. We see the flop 3 ways. Flop is 8-5-3 with 2 clubs. I bet $7, next guy calls, and the 3rd guy raises to $27. We both call. My plan is to turn the nuts. :-) Just kidding. Turn is a 10. I check, the next guy checks, and the last guy bets $35. I'm getting a good price to call. I wait a bit and call, and the last guy folds. At this point I'm strongly considering bluffing if a club comes off. Although, I didn't really have a plan for bet sizing for that or anything. River is the perfect card, an offsuit 4. I make the nuts. I bet out $150 and he folds.
I don't love my bet size. The pot had $160 in it, so I guess it wasn't a terrible size. But I think $100 would have been a lot easier to call. I could have also gone for a check-raise, but it would have just looked really strong and it would have been hard for him to call the raise (if he even bet). I think betting out is superior, I just don't know about the bet size. Plus if I bluffed the river, I know I wouldn't have bet that much.
Hand 2 : I raise Q-6 suited on the button to 7. :P As I said earlier, throwing the WPT Boot Camp stuff out of the window. I have no idea what I was trying to accomplish here. The big blind calls. Flop is 2-4-8 and we both check. Why I didn't c-bet, I have no clue. Turn is a 6. He bets out $10, I call. River is another 6. Boom! He bets $15. I raise to $55. He calls - with the straight (5-7). lol.
Hand 3 : This crazy guy named Jamal was at the table acting weird. Every person that sat down at the table would get greeted by him and he would say "Welcome to the table! I'm Jamal, what's your name? This is a really fun table." and he would shake their hand. I sat in the 1 seat and he was in the 10, and he shook my hand right in front of the dealer. lol. Just a crazy guy. Tourist. He was playing pretty wild too.
Jamal raises to $20. I have A-K and reraise to $60. Before I get my raise out, Dan the Man calls $20. Dan is a cool guy, super nice older guy that can play pretty wild too. Me and my wife really like Dan, he is super nice. He plays pretty tight, but can put in some HUGE overbets and I've seen him get paid off sometimes in crazy spots. So I make it $60 and Dan cold calls the $60.
It comes back to Jamal. He has a ton of money in front of him and says, "This might be the best move of the night or the dumbest move of the night. I'm all-in." and he stands up.
I have $260-ish left. I'm in the tank at this point. I have no more money to buy in with. And I did NOT want to ATM at the casino, I freaking hate that. :-) Losing the pot would put me on massive tilt and I would just storm out of the casino.
What made it tough is that I KNEW Jamal had a strong hand. I was getting pretty good odds to call. I figured Dan was folding and probably had a medium/high pair (or AK, which would suck). So his 60 was dead, plus the 60 that I put in and Jamal put in. So if I call, I'm putting in 260 to win 440 (180 + 260). Not quite 2:1. If he had a pair less than kings, it's a snap call. But of course he could have aces or kings here sometimes. At least I have blockers.
I decide to call. Flop is A-10-10, so I hit my hand. Turn and river are blanks. He turns over - pocket queens. A-K, ship it all day. So I go from the outhouse to the penthouse and now I'm sitting on $700 or so. Yes!!!!
Hand 4 : I am the most proud of this hand, I think it was great. There was a straddle and I raised to 25 with pocket jacks. I get one caller in the blind. Older lady that plays tight, but can over-value a hand too. She called an all-in preflop with A-Q for $160 earlier - terrible.
Flop is T-9-x. She checks, I bet $40, she calls. Turn is a king. She checks. I decide to check. I figure if I have her beat, she is going to have a hard time calling. If she has me beat, I get to see if she bets out on the river. It's going to look like I raised with either exactly what I have (underpair to the king) or A-Q, bet the flop, and am giving up.
River is a blank (some random low card). She checks. At this point I'm convinced I have the best hand. I decide to overbet, trying to look like I'm pushing her off the hand. I shove out a big stack of $150, I think she had maybe $120-130 left. She SNAP calls. I flip up the jacks. She says it's good and folds. That was awesome, getting so much value with the overcard out there.
Hand 5 : Pretty much plays itself but it was still awesome. I limp with pocket 4s. Flop comes out Ts-9s-4. Boom, bottom set. Maureen (lady from last hand) bets out $16. Jamal calls. I raise to $60. Maureen calls.
Now Jamal goes all-in for over $300! Crazy. I call. Maureen is short stacked and she calls too. I flip up the 4-4. Jamal flips up the J-6 of spades. I fist bump him and say good luck. Turn is a 9, giving me the boat (and giving Maureen some outs, since she had A-10). River blank, and I bust both people in a massive pot. Ship it!!!!
This was the first NL session I've played in a while, and I threw some of my rules out of the window. It turned out fantastic and I had literally the biggest win I have had ALL YEAR! +$850 (although I did lose $150 earlier at limit). Sick win, just absolutely monstrous.
I was so psyched. Poker has been tough for me, and March did not go that well. Getting a giant win under my belt felt awesome and it reignited my passion for no limit. Poker is such a brutal, crazy thing. You can go forever and not win, and then suddenly - WHAM. Giant win. I don't think I did anything spectacular today. Just won a huge flip, and had a set hold up. But that's all you need to do, and before you know it you are taking multiple racks of red up to the cashier.
Maybe April is the month where I turn it around and start fucking crushing. Let's do this. Could this be the time in my poker career where I have a downswing, stick it out, and come out of the other side stronger than ever? I don't know, but I definitely hope so. The WSOP starts on May 29th, so I have a little less than 2 months to get my bankroll up and ready. I would love to get over there and play cash games the whole time. Maybe 1/2, but better yet 2/5. Let's just crush this month and make it happen.
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