2/5 is Back!

So we have been playing a TON of poker lately.  I think I've played every day for over a week now.  It has been a blast, and I've been playing 2/5 again!!!  I'm really excited about that.  2/5 NL is where I'm always trying to get back to.  I had plans to give it another shot when I hit $5000 in my bankroll, but I've been hovering around $4000.

Valentine's Day - $2K bankroll boost

Valentine's Day just came around and my wife gave me the best present ever - the gift of 2/5!  :-)  We have been playing together a lot lately and she was in "poker jail" as she likes to call it, since she was down about $1400 and was trying to win it back to give it back to me.  For Valentine's Day she took that out of the bank and also topped off my bankroll with an extra $600 so I'd have exactly $5000 and could take a shot at 2/5 NL.  Awesome!

AA vs KK all in pre

2/5 has been going pretty well so far.  I'm up about $1000 over the last couple of weeks.  Had a couple gimme hands where I got all in preflop with AA vs KK - that is always sweet.  Happened once at Caesar's and once at Wynn lately.

Pretty interesting hand came up the other day at Wynn.  Younger Asian guy that looked pretty good made it 20.  I reraise to 65 with J-J, he calls.  Heads up we see the flop - Th-7h-4c.  He checks to me.  I bet $75.  He calls.  Turn is an offsuit ace.  He checks again, I bet $150.  He calls.  Pot is getting pretty big at this point.

River is a blank, offsuit deuce.  He goes all in for about $400 (I only have about $300 left).  I fold.  He shows the 9-3 of hearts - bluff.

I felt pretty shitty about that one for a while.  I think my main problem was not really thinking much about it.  Even when he called the turn, I thought there was a good chance he could have a draw.  I think the pot just got too big and I got too scared because of that.  I honestly didn't even consider calling.  If you think about what he could have though, it didn't make a ton of sense for him to go all in with something that had me beat.

I guess he could have A-2 of hearts.  That's probably the most likely thing that beats me.  Calls preflop, calls the flop with the draw, hits the ace and calls again, and shoves the river for value with 2 pair.  Seems like if he had a set or turned two pair, it would have made more sense for him to raise me or check raise the turn instead of letting me see the river.  Pretty draw heavy board.

Plus he just SNAP shoved all in on the river.  I didn't take that into consideration at all, but as soon as the river hit he didn't even think about the card in any way and just shoved.  It seems like if the river hit him (which I doubted it did) he would have had to think for a second.

So with two very likely draws (8-9 and the flush draw) and since it didn't make a ton of sense for him to push with sets, and two pair hands weren't too likely (maybe A-10 but why wouldn't he go all in on the turn), I really should have called.  Plus the pot was pretty big.  $120 preflop, $150 on the flop, $300 on the turn, and he goes all in for $300 on the river.  So I have to call $300 to win $870.  If I'm good 25% of the time it's a super easy call.

Oh well, that one hurt.  Other than that, that same night I think I played really well.  I let that hand roll off my back pretty well and had some other tough ones.  I reraised from $20 to $60 with AKs and this guy limp reraised all in for $500 (just put his stack of black chips in) and I folded.  Hard to lay it down when you are losing (and SUITED!) but I just don't think I'm ahead there very often.  In another hand, I raised to $30 with A-K (with the king of diamonds)  and got 2 callers including the same younger Asian guy who was going CRAZY - on insane tilt dumping huge pots all over the place.  Flop comes Ad-10d-4.  Checks to me, I bet $65.  Middle aged guy check-raises to $165.  Asian guy calls.

I thought about it for a while and folded.  I just thought, what could this guy have that I have beat?  He's not raising anything worse for value (A-Q, A-J).  He could be raising a flush draw, but I seriously doubt it.  It's not like he raised enough to make me fold.  I wasn't worried about the Asian kid at all because he was playing SO bad.  And with the king of diamonds I have some backdoor outs and could pretty easily justify a call.  I folded though.  Turns out the middle aged guy had 4-4.  Turn was a diamond, Asian kid shipped in his last 200, middle aged guy knew he was beat and called, and the board didn't pair.

I'm buying in for $500 into the 2/5 game.  Once I have a bigger bankroll I'll buy in for more, but I'm trying to limit my variance for now and just buy in for less.  I have a new chip denomination strategy also - I buy in for 2 stacks of red and the rest are bills.  So 2 stacks, 3 $100 bills.

Back in the day I thought it was awesome to have the huge stack of chips.  Now I'm going the opposite and it's sort of baller to have a tiny stack but worth a lot.  $500 is not a lot but I like to keep my stack tiny even after I start winning.  The other day I had 2 stacks of red and 8 bills underneath - pretty awesome.

Tight stack!

There are some other benefits to my stacking method also.  I take my hundreds, fold them, and place them underneath my chips.  This makes it harder to see how much I have.  If anyone asks I have no problem telling them the exact number of bills I have, but if someone doesn't ask, why make it obvious?  Just less information for them to work with.  I've had multiple people say it looks like I have 1 bill underneath.  That's fine - I'm not cheating or anything.  If they don't want to ask, that's their problem.

Another great aspect is the ability to rathole some chips if you want.  I'm hoping Beth reads this because she will laugh at me for using that word.  Haha.  I would never take hundreds off of the game I'm in, but if I double/triple up I could pretty easily change tables and remove a few hundred on the way over.  With all red chips you don't have that option or at least it's not as easy.  Super easy to take a few hundred out of your stack and pocket them before you get to the next table.

Super excited for more 2/5 this week.  I need to post more hands but I'm playing so much, it gets hard to keep up with it.

Recent poker and reflections

Been playing a ton of poker lately.  I want to keep up with the blog and have been slacking a bit.

Overall I have been playing pretty solid and erring on the tighter side.  I think it's a good way to go.  It feels weak and really lame to just sit back and fold for days until someone decides to just dump a couple hundred bucks in my lap.  But I think overall it's my best bet right now.

The one thing that differentiates me from the way too tight crowd is that I really try to value bet my hands on later streets if I think I'm ahead, even if I have a pretty weak hand.

Couple hands of interest lately.  I played a monster pot the other day at Caesar's.  I limp with 3-3, guy raises to $20 (1/3 game).  There are 2 callers and I call.

I actually am trying to fold a lot more preflop for somewhat big raises.  I just don't know if it's worth it.  At a pretty tight table, should I be calling $20 to hit a set?  A lot of the time, these guys don't play very aggressive even when they DO hit a hand.  When they don't, they tend to bet once postflop and just shut down.  So it can be hard to really get paid off often enough to make a pocket pair work, in my opinion.  And suited connectors - that is even more true.

Anyway with the 3-3 I call.  Flop of dreams - 9-3-2 with 2 spades.  One guy checks, I check, preflop raiser bets $35 (sweet).  Now the next guy goes all in for his tiny stack - 3 black chips, some green, some red.  I get a count, $375.  I think for a bit but there is no way I'm folding this hand, sorry.  I go all in over the top for $500 (well, effectively just call).  Next guy is thinking forever and I obviously want him to call.  He eventually calls for $300.

Preflop raiser has Q-Q.  The black/green chip guy has K-K.  I'm sitting pretty and am about ready to triple my money.  Turn, nothing.  River - king.

That one fucking hurt.  I had to take a walk.  Walked through the Forum Shops and back, about a 20 minute walk.  On the way back, I see Mr. Black/Green Chip walking through the casino.  He immediately had racked up his chips and got out of there.  No class.  Oh well, you can't expect someone like that to have any class at the poker table.  Just have to deal with people hit & running on you.  Tilted me a bit but I kept it together.  I went from being up $175 to being down $200 in that session, and ended up only losing $11 that night.  Felt pretty decent.

Tonight we played at Venetian for the first time in forever.  My wife Beth had a crazy hand.  It folds around to the blinds and we never chop.  Guy looks over at Beth and she says that she does not chop.  He has a bunch of chips in front of him, she has about $300.  He raises to $16.  His buddy sitting next to him is mouthing the words to Beth : "Why don't you chop????" - total lack of comprehension of why not chopping is good.  Beth looks and raises to $45 total.  I know she has a really strong hand.  Now this guy grabs 2 stacks and puts them out!  Beth is just like... well... all in then.  You could see the look on his face like - oh... I fucked up.  He calls all in with A-2 offsuit, spikes the ace, wins the pot.  What is sick is that he will go home and think "she was so stupid not to chop", "that's what you get for not chopping", and so on.  Probably the whole table thinks that.  But it's so insane to ignore how incredibly profitable a situation like that is.  Nobody is EVER getting it all in preflop for 150 bb with you in a 1/2 game with A-2 offsuit unless their brain explodes, like in this situation.  It's just so good.  Going to lose sometimes, but what a great situation.

We called my poker friend Johnny (aka one of the two people that actually read this blog) to talk about it after midnight.  I felt bad about calling him so late, but I knew his perspective would really help Beth feel better.  She felt awful and was even questioning whether we should just chop like everyone else, if we were the idiots.

It really makes me wish we had a good crew of people to play with in Vegas.  Really, I just wish Johnny lived here.  I am not always into poker, but right now we're in the middle of an upswing in poker interest.  It would be so sick to have a buddy here to play poker with, talk hands with, and just hang through the good and bad times that poker provides.  Maybe play well, talk through hands until all hours of the night, and move up in stakes together.  It's not to be right now.  Everyone has a good job and that's just not the situation today.  One day though, it would be so sweet.  Even if it's when we are retired and in our 50s, I think it will be cool.  Just hanging out together, playing poker, killing it the best we can.

Poker is crazy.  It's hard to know if you are playing well or not, and it really messes with your mind.  It can be the most painful and horrible hobby to have in the world.  But it can also be amazing.  It just makes you feel so many strong emotions.  Through the good and bad, I really like poker.  Can't wait for the next session.

Couple nights at Caesar's

January 25+26, Caesar's Palace, $1/$3 NL

We have been hitting Caesar's Place to play 1/3 lately.  It's our new place of the moment.  There are some nice things about it.  You can get to it PRETTY easy from the highway because it's just north of Flamingo.  Parking is alright, not the absolute worst.  You have to walk a ways to the poker room, but it's in it's own little enclosed room super far away from the smoke of the casino which is nice.  Cocktail service is awful but right now we aren't drinking anyway so it doesn't matter.

Few interesting/big hands from this weekend:

I've been doing this a lot lately and it is NOT helping me.  I need to tone it down over the first hour or so I play.  Bunch of people call a straddle or maybe it was just the big blind, I don't recall, but I make a pretty big raise out of the small blind with Q-2 offsuit.  :P  Guy calls me.  OK.  Flop has 2 diamonds (I have the queen of diamonds) it's something like 9-7-2.  I bet out $45, guy raises me huge, I fold.  :P  Instantly lose a big amount.  This is in the first half hour I'm playing.

I'm in the big blind with 5-5 and check.  5 people see the flop and it's pretty ridiculous.  5-5-3.  Haha.  What a flop.  Not much out there though, so I check it.  Checks around.  Fine, might not get much action on this.  Turn is a jack.  I bet $15, guy to my left calls.  OK.  There was a flush draw on the flop too so he could have that.  River is another jack.  Interesting!  I decide to way overbet the pot.  This guy either has a jack (so there is no way he can fold) or he has a flush draw and I'm getting nothing out of him.  So I bet out $100 into the $45 pot.  He has me covered and I have a little over $400 including that $100 bet.  He grabs two stacks and puts them out, raising me another $100!!!  Dream situation.  I don't take long and I just say "all in" and he insta-calls.  J-10 no good for him.  So I win this INSANELY huge pot for no reason.  Plus I got another $100 bonus on top of that (high hand).  What a sick start to the weekend.

That was on Friday.  Unfortunately it was just a downward spiral from there on Friday.  Nothing super interesting, just a lot of hands similar to - I have AK or AQ, flop top pair, get drawn out on or bet out on a scary card.

One somewhat interesting hand was when I had 8-7 in the big blind and checked.  Flop was 9-8-8.  About 5 players.  One guy leads out for $10, I raise to $25.  Another guy cold calls it, and the $10 bettor calls.  Turn is a 6, giving me an open ended straight as well.  Checks to me, I bet $40, they both call.  River is a queen.  They both check to me and I check.  The $10 guy had J-8 so he had the higher kicker.  :P

I was up about $375 at one point, but ended up only winning $75 on Friday.  No biggie, still a win and I'll come back next time.

Next day was pretty brutal and there was a common theme - I get all in, I lose.  Variety of situations but that was what was happening.

In one hand I think I raised preflop with 5-4 offsuit (why) and the flop was Q-4-3.  This guy bet out $25 and he had been betting out a lot, so I raise to $60.  Next guy goes all-in.  Sigh.  Came back to me and I think he had about $79 more.  He looked REALLY weak.  And I felt like this guy was just trying to get me.  There was about $45 in there preflop, +$25, +$120, +$79.  I really felt like any 4 or 5 would be good, plus this guy could have a draw (although that does seem unlikely).  So I made a (probably really bad) call.  I didn't improve and he had Q-10.

Next hand I button straddle (which I was doing all night long) and I had K-9 of spades.  My wife directly to my right raises to $16 and I call, there are 2 or 3 others as well.  Flop is J-5-3 with 2 spades.  It checks to me, I bet about $25, get 2 callers.  Turn is a 7.  Checks to me, I bet $60.  Now the first guy check-raises all-in.  BLAH!!!  Why did I bet????  :-)  Other person folds and it's on me.  It was an extra $120 for me to call.  Pot had a decent amount of money in it.  Preflop was $16*5, Flop was $75, turn is $120 + $120.  So I'm getting 3:1 or so.  Not quite good enough odds.  But I just say fuck it, grab the chips, say "GAMBLE!!!" and put them in.  River I miss, he says he has the straight, fine.  I lose.  But then he says it was a good call from me.  I'm like, WTF are you talking about?  Turns out, he didn't have the straight on the turn.  He had 8-6 of spades.  Flush draw (which was dead) plus the open ended straight draw.  And he hit the straight.  FUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKKK.  $500 pot slips through my fingers.

Then to top off the night, in early position an older guy raises to $15.  Another guy calls.  I have A-K in the blind and raise to $50.  Original guy calls.  Now the middle guy goes all-in for like $150.  He had been short stacked all night and although he was playing fairly tight, he went all in for a TON preflop a bunch.  And I had him go all in over a raise on me earlier when he had 9-9 and I busted him with Q-Q.  So after he goes all in, I'm definitely not folding.  I didn't think the other guy had a super strong hand (KK+) so I just took the 4 bills in front of me and threw them in.  He folded.  Guy who went all in had J-J.  Flop was Q-Q-x, turn gave me a flush draw also, but I missed everything and lost another huge pot.

Overall I ended up losing maybe $430 or so.  Not a great night, but I had a bunch of shots at winning pretty big pots to get even or close to even.  So I'm not sweating it too much.

Nug live updates

Golden Nugget - Wednesday January 22, 7:00 PM

Sit down at a 2/4 game to wait first. Second hand on my big blind have 97o, flop A97, win a good pot. Next hand get called for 1/2 NL. Already up about $30.

Few hands in, it's my button. I straddle, bunch of calls. I have KTo and make it $30. 2 calls. Flop Q52 rainbow. First guy checks, next guy bets $50. I looked at him and went with the WPT boot camp play to just raise. Made it $125. He goes all in for $250, lol. Fold. 

Buy another $200. Now some old guy, ranting about being drunk, sits down to my direct left. Quite the character. Name is Chuck. He rolls into the poker room smoking.  When the cocktail waitress says he can't, he put the cigarette out on a $100 bill. 

Hand is dealt and everyone limps. I limp in late position with Q9o. Flop is sick, Q94. One guy bets 6. I think about raising but I see chips in Chuck's hand and just call. He raises $40 more. He has me covered.  I have about $450 to start the hand.

I think I clearly have the best hand right now. Raising seems like it will just drive out worse. I call.

Turn is a four. Not a great card because an overpair beats me, but I thought there was a big chance he was bluffing. I check, he bets $100. This is getting serious. I figure I still have the best hand though so I call. 

River is a king. Not a good card. Any king wins, and I didn't think of it at the time but obviously JT gets there. I just really felt like this guy was just trying to take the pot. I did NOT love that river though. I check. He bets 2 bills. I think for a while and he fluctuates between quiet and telling me "it's only money!". I call. He had A7, total bluff the whole way. Overall it was pretty crazy though. I should have just shoved the turn at least. 

So I was down almost $150, and after a few other small hands I'm up about $250. I decide let's play the tournament! :) It's 1 hour in already and the structure is god awful, but so are the players.

Blinds were 100/200 and you get 4000 to start, lol. Plus they give you the option to post or wait to come in???? That can't be right. I actually posted because I was in late position and didn't want to wait too long, the blinds might go up soon.

Get AQ and raise to 700, 3 calls, bad board and I don't think there's a good reason to bet. In the blind I have 74o, flop a pair, min bet turn and get called, river two pair and bet full pot and get called. Back to 4600. Then raise A3 in late position to 600 and call a 600 bet on the ace high flop and fold the turn. Not a good idea. Been in the tournament 10 minutes and the blinds are going up. 3400 stack. It's all good, I knew I was gambling getting into this. :)

Blinds are 200/400 after the break. I open shove JJ. Guy in big blind TANKS forever and I think I obviously want a call. He calls with AK. OMG that is a SNAP call, wtf. I flop a set, turn a boat, let's go! Up to 7k. 

Min raise AK to 800, get called, guy folds to 500 on a K62 2 spade flop.

6800, blinds are up to 300/600. 20 minute levels apparently. No monitors to say what the blinds are or time left.

Raise to 1200 with AK. Lady in the blind calls. Flop T82 with 2 spades, I have one spade. She checks. I go all in for about 4k. She thinks for a while and folds. Had me sweating it. Up to 7700.

Table breaks. Moved into the blind, but I was almost at the blind at the last table so it's a wash. Lady over here has a full face mask (like a painters mask) and latex gloves on. No clue what that is for.

Had 1 hundred dollar chip, race, turned it into 500. Yeah. And the blinds are up in my small blind. Good timing. I have 7500, blinds are 500/1000 now. No I didn't skip recording 400/800. This blind structure is awful.

Shove AK on the button, no calls. 8500.

Get a walk in the big blind... Sweet! Blinds pass and I have 8500.

Lady with the mask limps, I shove 33 for 8500, everyone folds. Up to 11k.

Table change and I move from just getting hit with the blinds directly into the blinds again. 

Cutoff limps and I push 22 from the small blind. Everyone folds. Up to 10500.

Blinds double. 1000/2000. I have 11k.

Ship Q7s in the small blind. Big blind calls with A9o. River 7, bang! 18k.

Damn. Shove AKs for 15k on the button. Lady calls for 1/3 of her stack with J6s. 6, I'm out. Oh well.

Pretty good night at the Nug!  Won $220, even after the money I paid for the tournament buy-in.  And I made it pretty damn deep in the tournament too.  Poker room was PACKED, every table was going.  The tournament had to be at least 5 tables, maybe more.  First place was over $2000 and it paid like 9 places.  And this is in a $65 tournament with a $40 add-on (which I didn't get).  I figure F it - you have to get lucky at some point anyway, I might as well not get the add-on and just get lucky one extra time early.

Looking forward to the next time I play!  Probably will be on Friday.