2/5 and 5/10????

Poker is going f-ing SICK for me right now.

I've played so much poker since my last blog, I don't even know where to start.  My blog was last written on March 11th, and since then I've played 54 hours of poker and I'm up $8200.  

I was (and am) so happy to be playing 2/5 NL right now.  It's where I've wanted to get back to playing forever, and I'm very excited to be back.

But it's better than that.  I've been playing 2/5 and it has been going awesome... so awesome that recently I even took a shot at 5/10!!!

Graph as of March 24th

I had the biggest night of my life so far on March 14th.  I was up $2000 at 2/5 (so sick) and I was definitely thinking I wanted to get off of the table to lock up the win.  My wife said I should take a shot at 5/10.  They were running a 5/10 game at Red Rock which doesn't seem to happen very often.  I always said that if I was going to play 5/10, I'd play it at Red Rock because it would probably be the best game there.  Now was my chance.  I cashed out my massive stack of chips and a $2000 win and Jason, the floor guy, said "have a good night".  I told him I'm not leaving - I'm parlaying this win into a bigger win at 5/10!

I bought two stacks of green ($1000) and sat down at the 5/10 table.  I was the short stack, as I expected.  The game was 6 handed and people had various amounts of cash but everyone had way more than me.  First hand I saw unfortunately ended with a bad player busting out and leaving.  He was an African American gentleman we were playing 2/5 with earlier.  He was terrible and one of the reasons I thought it might be a good time to play in the 5/10 game.  The hand he busted on was crazy too.  I didn't see all of the action, but I saw Aaron, a local guy that is one of the better players in the 2/5 game, tanking on a K-K-10-10-x board after the other guy went all-in.  He must have thought for 3 or 4 minutes or more and called a $1700 all in bet on the river with A-A, and he was good.  MONSTER pot.

At that point we were playing 5 handed and I knew it wasn't a great situation for me.  However, I thought this was the first time I've sat down at the game and wanted to give it a shot.  Win or lose, I was already up $2000 at 2/5 for the night so worst case, I lose $2000 here and go home even and with a great story of how I played bigger than I ever have in my life.

The first round was crazy and really highlighted how big the game was.  First hand I played, I raised A-10 offsuit to $65 after Aaron straddled the button to $20.  He called, everyone else folded.  Flop wasn't great and I check-folded.  I posted my blinds a couple hands later and boom - I'm down $80.  Bought another $100 in chips after doing nothing but raising one hand and posting my blinds.

Luckily for me I had some huge hands at 5/10.  I flopped a set of queens and got bets in on the flop and turn.  Had AA and KK and won both.  On one hand with A-A, I raised to 40 and a younger Asian kid reraised to 130.  This rich looking guy cold called 130.  This guy was wearing a pretty sick watch (should have taken a picture) and he was dressed up.  Looks like he was wearing a suit earlier, but now he was just wearing a shiny vest.  He had lost some hands and he would simply reach into his breast pocket and pull out a wrapped stack of $100 bills and peel off $1000 or so to get back into the game.  So baller.  After he calls, I make a big reraise to $475.  The kid folds and the rich guy calls.  He only has $500 or so behind and I bet all of his chips on the flop, but he missed and folds.

I wound up winning $1600 in that game for a combined win on the day of $3600 - the biggest of my life.  Just crazy.

Since then I've continued to win.  I also played a little 5/10 at Bellagio and won a tiny amount (basically broke even).  I've had some ups and downs, but overall I'm crushing right now and I can't wait to get back onto the tables.

I also am feeling more and more comfortable at 2/5, and more willing to take shots at 5/10.  When I played that original session, I had something like 10-11k as a bankroll and knew that I couldn't play a ton of 5/10.  Now, I have around 16k and I feel like I could play a session or two there without it killing me.  I definitely don't want to risk not being able to play 2/5.  That would be a disaster.  But if I can keep playing 2/5 and take a shot or two at 5/10, that is a dream come true.

This might sound really, really stupid, but I'm considering trying to write a poker book.  :-)  I won't do it unless I consistently stay at 2/5 and 5/10 NL and am winning.  However, I was thinking it might be interesting to have a poker book written by a guy that was stuck at 1/2 forever and finally broke through to 2/5 and 5/10.  I actually think there is a niche I could fill in poker literature as well.  I've seen books written by great players, and even books tailored to playing low stakes NL hold 'em.  However, even those books are talking about "maximize your winrate" and they have all of these strategies that can be hard to execute.  I think that if you are a player that CAN NOT win and just want to win SOMETHING, there are some things you can do where you won't be winning a ton, but it can make your life a lot easier and you can win something.  Then you can build from there.  Namely, play tight and avoid marginally profitable (in theory) situations.  Like fold your suited connectors unless you're in the best position or it's for a limp.  Dump hands like A-Q out of position, or hands like K-J in position if you are prone to playing them poorly.  Fold basically any time someone bets a substantial bet into you, and treat everyone like they are never bluffing. Basically just play ultra tight, wait for big hands, and ignore a lot of the common wisdom you see in poker books or online.

If I did it, I'd self-publish on Kindle.  I think it would be a fun thing to do.  It could also help open the door for me to do some poker coaching which could be a very cool thing that I would love to do.  Again - it may sound really dumb that I would even pursue that, and who would want me to coach them.  But I think a lot of the people that are buying these books or people that would like a poker coach are probably losing players that are playing 1/2 and are hating their life.  If I could help them win, that would really be a nice and fun thing.

Sorry for not posting for so long.  I've been just playing SO much poker that it has been hard to find time to write about hands.  However, I think it's really beneficial for me to write about hands and it helps me learn, so I do need to get back into it.

Until next time, see you at the tables!  Oh and I'm really looking forward to Johnny coming out to Vegas in a week or so!  

Fold, fold, fold...

This weekend was a rough one on me.  I think I saved a lot of money by making some very big folds, but it was rough.  You can check out the numbers yourself (see the link on the right) but I got crushed this weekend.

Red Rock $2/$5 - I limp 65s, about 5 people in.  Flop is K-8-5 with 2 of my suit.  I bet out $20, guy raises me to $65.  I think about it and call.  Have some good backdoor outs too... could hit trips, could backdoor a straight.  Thought about reraising but I figured I'd just call.  Turn is the 10 of my suit.  I check, he checks.  I think that with this very low flush, I'm not going to get 2 streets of value.  So I figure I can just check the turn and bet the river, maybe represent some kind of a king or less, whatever.  River is a total blank, offsuit 2.  I bet $75.  He raises me to $225.  I tank FOREVER.  He looks pretty comfortable.  Tried to look nervous and just sit there but after a long time he kinda started moving around more and got more comfortable looking.  I didn't feel like he was bluffing and there just aren't any value hands I beat.  So I fold.  Afterwards he was asking me if I would have called for less.  I think he definitely had the flush.

Wynn $2/$5.  I raise 9-9 to $20 in middle/late position and the button calls.  Flop is A-2-5 with 2 clubs.  I bet $20, he calls.  Turn is a 9 putting 2 hearts on board.  I bet $80, he calls.  River is the 3 of hearts.  I bet $150.  He insta-raises me all in for over $300 more.  Again, I tank fold.  :P  I just figured that there is no way he would think I could fold anything because there was so much money in the pot.  He didn't look nervous at all.  And there are a ton of hands he could have gotten there with.  Random flush draw with a 4, backdoor flush, who knows.  Just didn't seem like a spot where the guy is bluffing me especially since I don't have much behind.

Same guy a few hands later, I raise with 8-8 to $30 on his button straddle.  He calls.  Flop K-K-Q and we both check.  Turn is an 8.  I bet $35, he calls.  River third club, and it's a king.  Counterfeited.  :P  I check and he bets $60.  I tank for a while again.  This time he's staring at me, totally different feel from the last hand.  I also thought that if he flopped a queen, he would have likely bet it.  I call, he has A-7 of diamonds.  Floated the turn with nothing and bluffed the river.

Green Valley Ranch $2/$5 - They never run a $2/$5 game at GVR.  We saw it on Bravo and were like, we have to play in that game.  Drove there and immediately got into a new game.  The game was crazy at first.

I played 2 hands with this spaz guy.  First hand I raise J-10 offsuit on the button, he calls in the blind.  Flop K-Q-J rainbow.  He checks, I bet $30, he makes it $75.  I think about it for a bit and call.  Little worried that he could already have the straight and I'm in super bad shape but I figure it's worth a call.  Turn is a king.  Pretty terrible card.  He bets out like $130.  I fold.  He throws up his hand - A-3 of diamonds.  Nothing.  I say "good for you".

Later that night I raise A-K to $20 and the same guy calls.  Flop A-4-6 with the 4-6 of diamonds.  I bet $30 and he calls.  Turn is an offsuit 7.  I bet $80.  He puts me all in for $450 more.

SIGHHHHHHHH..... so this one was crazy.  I start thinking about it and looking at this guy.  First sign of strength I saw was he picked up his cards in a "I'm about to throw them in the muck" kind of way and immediately put them back on the table.  I think that's typically a sign of strength for whatever reason, when someone picks up their cards and cocks back their wrist like they are going to fold.  And I feel like he noticed that he did it out of a reflex and immediately thought "I shouldn't do that" and put it back.  Overall he was really herky jerky and moving around a lot, it was hard to tell.  I honestly think the guy was on drugs.  Overall I didn't get a nervous vibe from him.  So I'm thinking and he calls the clock on me.  It literally has been less than a minute.  I was so fucking pissed off.  He's yelling about how I've had plenty of time and I'm like this is ridiculous, it was so insane.  So I'm letting the clock tick down and he's like "he's going to fold".  Feels like something you say to get someone to call.  "I'm going to prove you wrong, I call!"  Plus the bet size was SUPER big, and he already bluffed earlier and showed it so he has to know I want to make a big call against him.  So I folded.  He showed the 8 of diamonds.  Maybe turned a straight, hard to say.  May have been bluffing with a big draw.  But I think it was a good fold.

Red Rock $2/$5 - I raise K-K in early position to $20 and get 5 callers.  Flop 6-2-2 rainbow.  I bet out $75.  Young guy that is pretty good raises to $220.  This one is the most questionable of the weekend but I folded.  Only draws present were gutshots.  Yeah, he could be raising me with some overpairs I beat.  My only real moves (in my opinion though) were to raise all in for another $450 or so, or fold.  If I call, what do I do?  I guess I can check-call as well... I thought that he might not raise with some of the smaller pairs (77, 88, etc) but he might.  Seemed like a big raise though.  And if he had a bigger pair he might have just reraised me preflop.  I'm torn on this one and I'm not saying it's a good fold, but I did fold.  I also definitely think this guy could have a 2 in his range.  He plays somewhat loose preflop but when the money goes in, I haven't seen him bluff a ton.  Who knows.

On the bad side of things : Red Rock $2/$5.  I raise J-10 offsuit on the button to $20 and get 1 caller.  Flop A-10-8 with the 10-8 of diamonds.  He checks, I bet $20, he calls.  Turn is the jack of diamonds.  He checks, I check.  River is a 4th diamond.  He checks.  I bet $50, going for thin value.  He raises me $125 more.  I think that's weird - why would this guy try to check raise the river?  I reraise to $375 trying to represent the ace.  He insta-calls with A-3 of diamonds.  Fuck.

So that was my weekend.  Pretty retarded bluff but the rest of the weekend was OK I think.  Made some huge folds.  Maybe not all of them were good, hard to say.  I have to go with what I think is the best play though and I know I'm going to fold some winners sometimes.

Check out my actual results!

Check out the "Bankroll Spreadsheet" link on the right side of my blog.  This is what I'm using to track my results on a daily basis.  I opened it up with view-only permissions for everyone.  Now if you're reading the blog, you can see the actual ups and downs with REAL numbers.

I might make some modifications and hide some of the specifics at some point, but since nobody's reading this blog but Mike and Johnny, I guess I don't care for now.  :P

Monday night

Monday, February 25th 2014
Went to the Wynn today to play.  Got there around 7 PM.  Sat down in the 1/3 game, which was pretty dead.  That's par for the course - always seems to be better action in 2/5.  Bought in for 400 green, 100 red which is my new standard.  Eventually moved to the 2/5.

Couple interesting hands at Wynn:

Right away I get 3-3, it folds to me in late position, and raise to 20.  Even before raising I ask the guy in the big blind how much he was playing - only $175 or so.  Both blinds call.  Flop is K-Q-x with 2 hearts.  They check to me, I bet 35, one caller.  Crap.  Turn is something like a 7.  He checks, I check.  River is a 3.  Boom.  He checks, I bet the rest of his chips (around $100), he calls, I win.

Guy raises to $20 in early position, another guy calls.  I reraise to $75 on the button with two black nines.  They both call.  Flop comes As-Qc-4c.  They both check to me.  I checked.  Could have bet but I didn't feel like that was a great flop to bet after getting 2 callers.  Definitely could have, I don't know.  Turn is the perfect card - a red nine.  Guy in early position bets $150.  I had about $550 left.  I just called.  I figured that raising might look way too strong.  The nine was a total blank and it might look like I had flopped a set and checked it. At least that was my reasoning.  River is the ace of clubs, he checks, I bet $225, he folds.

Later I get moved to one of the main games.  Folds to me on the button and I have A-A.  I raise to 20, blind calls.  Flop is 9-7-5 with 2 spades.  He checks, I bet 30, he calls.  Turn is a king.  He checks, I bet 75, he calls.  River is the 2 of spades.  He bets 2 black chips.  I fold.  He shows the 6-4 of hearts.  Bluff.  Overall I wasn't sweating this at all.  It was a good bluff and his hand definitely looked like a flush.  He did bet pretty quickly after the river hit, but sometimes these guys just act quickly.  I was OK with this one.

Although after that hand, I looked around the table and didn't see any soft spots.  So I decided to get up and walk over to the Venetian.  I left up $238 at Wynn.  Hands weren't super interesting at Venetian but I had a couple big ones.

Everyone (all players, dealer, massage girl, food runner, cocktail waitress, floor, cashier, slot attendant) limps.  I'm in the big blind with 5-5 and check.  We see the flop 7 ways.  Flop is J-8-5 rainbow.  Hello flop.  I bet out $35.  Few folds, one guy calls, and a guy on the button reraises to $135.  This is an older middle aged guy I've played with before.  My read is that this guy is pretty tight.  I have about $500 and he has between 400 and 500 total.  I don't love it, the most likely hand is 8-8 I think.  8-8, maybe 6-7 or 10-9, but I don't know if he would semi bluff raise.  Seems a little more likely because someone called my bet.  I figure I have to raise in case he is drawing, and if I flopped set over set, so be it.  I reraise to $285.  Middle guy folds and the button goes all in, I call.  He says "do you have a set" and shows the J-8.  I flip up the 5-5 and he says "nice hand", and although he tried to jinx me it didn't work.  :)  Held up and I was up about $450 at that point.  He said that I tricked him by leading out so strong on the flop - he thought that I wouldn't bet it that strong if I flopped a set, which is why he felt fine getting it in with J-8.

Later I raise under the gun with K-K.  Big blind calls.  Flop is 9-6-4 rainbow.  He checks, I bet 30, he calls.  Turn is a queen, putting 2 spades up.  He checks, I bet $75, he calls.  River is a 4.  He insta checks.  He has about 200 left.  I put out a stack of green.  He asks how much it is, which is hilarious because it's obviously at least 400 and he has 200 left.  Dealer counts it down and he thinks about it.  I just stare at the flop.  He thinks for a while, calls, and K-K is good.  At this point I have 1450 in front of me and bought in for 600.

Stuck around later than I wanted to, but eventually left at about 10:45.  Huge win for me on the day - I won 238 at Wynn and 866 at Venentian for a total win of just over $1100.  So sick!

2/5 is going so well lately.  It is really exciting.  My bankroll is at about $7500 right now.  It feels great to get a good cushion built up so I won't have to drop back down.  It gets more and more likely every day that I'm going to be able to stay at 2/5.

Plus, I am just playing SOOOOOO solid right now.  I honestly feel like an absolute beast.  I'm not doing anything tricky, just playing super solid and tight.  Really trying to play only in position, not getting in trouble out of position with suited connectors or other bullshit.  Early position with AJs, T9s, QTs, I'm just folding.  Most of the time I'm raising with all pairs in early position if the game is tight enough, but if people are going crazy I'm folding some pairs too.  And I'm really trying to take my time and bet the right amounts postflop, and just get away from hands when it makes sense.  Sure I'm getting bluffed out of a few pots but I'm not letting it bother me too much and I'm sticking with my solid strategy.

Looking forward to more poker!  Probably won't play tomorrow, but definitely Wednesday and after that.  I think I've played like 10 days in a row now.