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.