Down Time

I am taking some time off from this game. I went to Las Vegas at the end of September. Landed, checked in and went over to the Bellagio. One of the regular, tighter, guys in KC told me it was really easy to win money there. He played three days straight 1/2 and had cashed for a grand each day.

He was right. I ended up $1100 for the session. Went back to Planet Hollywood. Played for a bit and won another $150. Great start to trip

Woke up. Went and played a small tourney at Planet Hollywood. Ended up chopping 4 ways on a $1500.00 prize pool. Up over $1500 for the trip. Not even in town for 24 hours.

Then the wheels started to come off. Kept losing at the poker tables. Decided to play the Friday Winn $200 tourney

Sat down. Figured the lay of the land and played well. Six fifty year oldish men had just flown in for the weekend. One got seated at my table. He was nice enough. They were all nice. Well dressed. Successful looking gentlemen. They started ordering champagne. They were buying it for anybody in the room who wanted it. They had to of purchased fifteen bottles if they got one. The booze started to take effect. The nice gentleman to my left morphed into a lagtard of a poker player. He was raising every hand. No matter what. So I sat and waited. I finally get QQ. I limp. He makes his raise. Three others come along. Enough money for me so I push. He instant calls and we are heads up. His 33 flops a set and I rebuy.

I get moved to another table. I hit some cards and get back up. I have AKos Blinds are 300/600. I tighter gentleman makes it 2000. I decide to play it slower and flat. The guy two to my left throws in two chips. But whoops, the top one was a 5K chip. He obviously did not mean to do that. Another guy looks at him dubiously and flats. It is back to the original raiser. I am going to have a decision here. He has to raise, probably all in, and I need to read him and see if I want to gamble. So I stare at him. He thinks for a moment and then ....just calls. What? Original raiser? Obvious mistake by 5K guy. I did not read it at all as an angle. So it is on me. I do what I think is my only move. I go all in for around 30K more. At worst I think I am flipping. 5K guy instant folds. The dubious guy folds while bitching at the 5K guy. The original raiser......folds. The dealer pushes me the pot and says "nice hand".

I chip up. A guy to my right is the chip leader of our table over 100K. I have a little over 60K. He is on the button. He and one other limp I get QQ in the big blind. I make it 3x the blind. He is the only caller. Board comes small with two hearts. I bet 10k, happy to take it down. He calls, pretty quickly. The turn is an over, but a blank really, I have him on a draw. I am not going anywhere. I decide to check. He had been aggressive with position and checks to him all day. He does not disappoint. He fires a pot size bet. I hem and haw, then move in. He thinks. Openly counts his outs. He folds. I am now the chip leader.

I chip up to 134k. I have over ten percent of the chips with 25 runners left. I make a bad read with 33 and lose a bit. Down to 110K. Chip down When we get to the final two tables I am still in good shape. Around 80k. One of the chip leaders. Last hand before break I look down at AA on the button. Guy in early has about 40k left. He makes it 5k to go. Blinds are 1/2k. Couple of callers. I move in, happy to take the pot. Original raiser pushes. Others go away. Flop has a nine. I cant catch up. Go to break with around 38K. Pissed.

Get back. Fold my small blind. Get AJos in the big blind. Only one guy limps from middle position. Folded to me. I push. The guy left is the only one of the champagne guys. He has no poker experience. He says "Lets see how well I am running" and calls. He flips over Q6os for a third his stack. I fade all the cards but the river when he hits a queen. Ridiculous. None the champagne guys cared about the money. They were just fucking around. First place was 5K
Not a real poker player left. I should have cashed. QQ down to 33 AA down to 99 and AJ down to Q6 . Blah

Since then I have lost around $2800.00 Part of it my fault, but a lot of running bad as well. And people playing horrible against me and winning.


My last day at Hollywood in KC. 1/3 NL

I get 62os in the big blind. Get a pass. See a flop five ways. $15 pot. The flop is 6h2h5d. I bet out my two pair. Pot sized. One caller. Turn is the 8d. I read him on the flush draw. I make is $25. He calls. River is the Kd. I slow down and check. He makes it $40. I make the crying call and he turns over.......Td7d. You tell me what he is call that flop for? That is how I go. Few hands later. Get 88 utg. Limp. I have $130 left. See a flop of 87Jos. I check. Three others check. The button bets 3/4 the pot. I raise to $35. One of the other checkers moves in. Folds to me. What do I do here? I am pretty sure he has the straight. But I only have around $90 left. I make the call. He has the straight. I do not catch. This is not a bad beat. I am just running bad. Even when I flop a set I lose. My whole losing streak has been like that.

So I have not been back. That was October 15th. Not sure when I will go back.

We hit the bad beat

It happened. Jackpot $205,195. My table share. $6415. Three see the flop. 9s8s7h. Turn 8d. River. 6s. The oesfd was ahead on the flop and bet first. He has Ts7s. $15 on the flop into the pre flop limped pot. The set of eights 8c8h flats. The third guy with JTos bumps it to $30. The oesfd then does a crazy ass stupid thing, he moves all in for around $600. You get that? He bets that much into a $60 pot. The set guy now has a problem. He has $400 behind He tanks aaaaaaand folds. Oesfd guy effectively cost himself $52K. The quads guy lost $102K. He couldn't handle it and left soon there after.

SO EFFING CLOSE!!!!!!!!!

AA Hold

Decided to set aside family time and play Friday night at Hollywood. I usually play during the day with all the old time grinders. Friday night brings out the casual player with casual money. I walk into the room and notice a big check sitting at the floor station. Damn. The bad beat was just hit. $304K and some change. I get a 1/3 seat immediately Second hand there I get KQ suited in middle position. I limp to see where the table is. Five of us see the flop of J T 3 rainbow. I take a stab with my straight draw and win. Two hands later I have ATos It is straddled on the button I limp. Two other callers to the button. The button, whom I have played with often, raises the $6 straddle to $30. Normally this is an pretty quick fold. But I have info on this guy and he over bets his weaker hands. The other two callers call so I go along for the ride. The flop is A Q 3. Checked to the button who thinks then moves in for $130 more. The others fold. I go with my read and make the instant call. 8 and 9 complete the board. He declares one pair and show A 4 My hand holds and I am on my way.

I get AA soon there after. I get my $15 bet called by a clearly recreational player on my right. We see the flop heads up Ad Jd 6c. He surprises me my betting into me $15. Now with experienced players this is them just trying to take the pot with the ace scare card on the board. This guy is not experienced. He has caught part of the board and is betting his hand. I decide after a bit to raise my top set to $50 My feeling was he had two pair or possibly a smaller set and was not going anywhere. Outside chance he was on a flush draw. He obliged and called. The turn was a ten. No diamond. I pushed and he called. River is the King. AQ just got there. I showed my set and he mucked saying he had the last Ace. Up to $800

Get AA again. Win a small pot. Get it again later. Raise to $15. Lady on the button hems and haws. Then stacks up her $130 and moves in. I am surprised when another player moves in for about the same. I flash my cards to my neighbor and tell them I have a bad feeling about this. I call. I am up against AK and JT. AA holds and I am cruising.

Lose some back. Lose some more. Back down to $800 Seriously considering leaving soon. Get 7s8s on the button Four limpers to me. I limp with my position. The blinds come along. Flop is Kc 5s 6d. Checked to me. I take a stab at it with my draw. Called in three places. The guy to my right comes alive and raises it to $50 I tank for a bit. I have observed his play since he sat down. This is a guy who is willing to play any two cards. He is aggressive and is not afraid to get his money into the middle. I decide to call. We are now heads up. The river is the 9c. Gives me the nutz. He promptly puts in $130 more. He has a little less than $200 behind. I put him in and he calls instantly. My hand holds against his 65os I am up to $1300 I call it a night soon after and go home.

Wife is waiting up for me at 12:30 am.

Very good night.

A Few Thoughts

I played 1/3 at Hollywood last Friday. I buy in for the usual $300 I work it up to $450 I get JJ in middle position Jacks are a hand that I play differently every time. If there is a raise in front of me, a lot of the times I will re-raise to see where I am. Many times I will open limp with them. Just depends on the table, my position and my mood. Ep player makes it $15 Do not know much about him so I decide to play my hand like a small pocket pair. I just call. The button makes it $30 Now this is the older gentleman who got QQ and AA on the first two hands dealt after our table opened. He also had hit a set. He was sitting around $800 He is the only player at the table who can bust me or double me. The original raiser calls. I call. Flop is Kd Jh 7c. Here we go. Early position checks. I check to the raiser. He bets out $75 Ep folds. I think for a second and re-raise to $200 Villain thinks and smooth calls. Turn is a blank. I move my last $200 or so in He sighs and calls. Brick river He flips AA and I am a little over $900 for the session. I play for a bit I get AA More and more I do not like this hand in cash games. I get married to it and get committed and lose big pots. With that in mind I often over bet them pre flop I am in middle position Three limpers to me I make it $35 to go. I get called by one limper. Love how a three dollar hand magically becomes a thirty five dollar hand. Flop is T 8 2 rainbow. He bets out $75 In my experience this bet is almost always a pair or a draw. A set almost always checks to the original better. I have a pretty good feel for this player as well. He four bet into the AA guy earlier with JJ He is loose. Everybody knew the guy had aces. Back to the hand, I ask how much he had behind. He said about $200 I go with my read and raise him to $150 He instant calls. The turn is another 8 He shoves and I make the reluctant call. He moves all in and I make the reluctant call. Ends up he did not have ABOUT $200. As I was expecting to have to call a little over $100 He actually had $160 behind. Shame on me for not verifying I lost the hand Any guesses to what hand he called $35 pre flop out of position with? Tell you in comments if anybody guesses I still ended up the day with a tidy $412 profit for the day. Would have been 1k if that hand holds

Played again yesterday. A grinding kind of day. No big hands really Just a guy that would chase draws for any bet. I had AA Make it $16 and get three callers. The board is KcTc2h I make it $35 and get one caller The turn is the 8d nothing too scary I make it $100 about 3/4 the pot. He instant called. River is the Ks Ouch. We check it down. He has 9c7c Should have bet more on the turn.

The most interesting had was a bit later. We have a Mississippi straddle at Hollywood. Meaning you can straddle from any position sans the blinds. I occasionally straddle from the button like I did for the following hand. I look down at As3s I has been limped to me in 5 spots. Many times I will raise here with any two cards but there are three loose guys that play any two cards for raises so I decide to let my option go. the flop is 2s 5c 9h I have the gutter. Checks around and I take the free card. The river is the oh so pretty 4s I now have the wheel with a draw to the nut flush. One of the any two card guys comes alive from the blinds and makes it $15 I am thinking about my action when an aggressive younger guy flats. This feels like a flush draw to me so I decide to flat as well in position. The river is the Js giving me the nuts. First guy checks Younger guy makes it $30 I think a few seconds announce raise and make it $80 I felt a min raise would be obvious and I had seen the young guy pay off bets like this. First guy folds and young guy takes a minute before folding. I think I played this hand wrong on the turn. I put him on the flush draw. I should have min raised there. The first guy might have stayed and the flush guy would most likely have stayed. That bet would have also masked my spade holding possibly. I do not know. Ideas?

Draws

I played two draws big recently. The first hand I saw a raised pot $12 six ways. I had 89d. The flop comes Td 6d 3h. I have a gut shot straight flush draw. The big blind bets out $25. He was not the original raiser. The original raiser was in the CO Another guy calls. It's down to me and the original raiser to act. I decide to play it big and move in. There is $120 in the pot. I push for $280. Folds around to the big blind and he basically instant calls. He had T6os. He hold up nd I bust. I made the move here because I had been playing with the big blind for a while. He did the same thing with JT earlier when he had only top pair after calling a raise pre flop I think he folds here if he only had a pair. Did I play it right?

Second had

I have Q4hh in the big blind. Middle position player makes it $12 to go. It is called in three spots. I decide to come along. The flop is Ah 4c Th Small blind checks I check. The original raiser makes his standard c-bet of $25. Folds to small blind who moves in for $70 total. Now the small blind was the subject of my previous post. He got all in pre flop with K8cc vs my KK. But I digress. Point is he can have anything here. I do not really care He doesn't have enough money to really matter. The original raiser talks it out. Says one of us has a draw and one has a set. He hems then decides to call. Turn is Js. He immediately bets $100. I had already decided to shove the turn either way. I go through with it for. $240 morevnand he instant calls. He flips over Ad Jh. The river is the 3h. The small blind flips over AsQc. I scoop the pot. The original raiser starts berating me in a nice enough way. Not with venom more like the older gentleman he was imparting knowledge to a younger man. The small blind looked at me and quietly said the older man did not even know he was in third place on the flop. Did I play it correctly?

Donk poker

Played at Hollywood the other day. A player I have seen playing in the 2/5 game sat down two to my left. I had never played with him. We were playing 1/3. He immediately makes it $10 on his first hand. This proved to be his normal play. Lots of small raises. He min raised his button every time it was limped to him. I had been watching him and he always telegraphed his raises by having the bet ready in his hand over his cards. Oh and he only bought in for $100. He busted out in about fifteen minutes

He re buys. $100. Few hands later I get KK. It is the dudes big blind. Three people limp ahead of me. My normal play like most it to raise. But. I glance at the dude and sure enough he has his min raise ready. So I limp. Fold to him and he min raises. Small blind folds. Big blind comes along All the limpets come. I announce raise. I make it $75. I will be happy to get the $30. The donk barely thinks and moves in for $94. We are heads up. Qc 9s 3s. Great no ace and I have the Ks. Have not seen his cards. It comes running clubs. The donk says he got there. Any ideas as to what he had? AcJc. Nice guess. Ac2c. Nope. Kc8c. Yep. Called off $100 with that rag.

I am not exaggerating. Of the last fourteen times I have gotten my money in as a %90 favorite, I have lost nine times. I am still up. I should be crushing it.

73-27

I played three sessions of poker this week. I am up around $75 for my efforts. I should be up more. I have had KK four flushed by QQ. AKs flop the nut flush only to be boated out on by a flopped set. 44 flop a set and ATd call off his stack on a draw and hit the flush.

I was %73 to win or better when the money got all in on all the hands. Two of the three hold and I am having a good week. All three hold and I am up a cool grand. All in all I am happy. I am up after weathering the storm.

I am playing well. Making moves when I feel they will work. For instance. I have 8h9h in early position. I limp. Three calls to the button who makes it $20. Two callers so I decide to take a flyer. Five of us see the flop KK3 two hearts. Checks to button who makes it $40. Folds to me. I move in with my draw while representing the king. The button instant folds If he had AK so be it. I had the flush outs to save me. I was certain it would work though based upon my read

This is a play I would not make six months ago. I am learning how to put more pressure on my opponents. It is fun to explore this part of my game

Poker bored

Do you ever get just plain bored playing poker? I do. I play poorly when it happens I force the issue and back myself into a corner. I had A5os I limped in early position. Bad play A loose player raised in late position like he had been doing often. We get heads up and the flop comes Ac3c6d. I chech call his bet. Turn brings the Tc. I chech he checks. River is an ace. He puts me all in and I have to call. All because I made a horrid pre flop call out of position. He had 33 for the boat. I went home. Blah the loose player had been showing down KQ and ace small on his position raise. I could have been slightly ahead. But I need to pick better spots

3x3

Played Hollywood yesterday. 1/3. Bought in for $300. Chipped up to $500 early. Down to $400. Nearing the end of my session a new player sat down. He had all the tell tale signs of a professional player. Ear buds. Hat He sized everybody up before he sat down. Two players I am friendly with and play with often knew him. I had never seen him before.

He raises his first hand and takes it down uncontested. Three hands later I look down to JJ in the big blind. New guy makes it $12 to go. He is now called in five places before me. I decide to just call. Flop is Ac Jd Td. Bingo. Little scary with the flush/straight possibilities. I check. New guy bets $20. Folds to the small blind. He hems and haws. I have played with him before. I was pretty sure he had the flush draw. He haws a bit more and pushes all in. About $ 200. I instant move all in for about. $350. New guy instant calls and I instantly know I am sunk. Yep set over set. He had AA. The small blind had AdQd for the straight flush draw. There were bad beat chances but alas it was not to be. I went home.

Played today. Finished with a $434 profit. Feeling better

Courage

Money breeds courage. That's my theory anyway. I have finally ground my bankroll up to a respectable level. With that level has come some poker courage. Last week I had two great sessions cashing out up $800 and $1000. Now that I have a little money behind me I have started making moves and paying with more freedom.

I was playing earlier this week. I was down a bit. A good player takes a seat at my table late in my session. He is aggressive and is capable of playing any two cards from any position He makes a standard raise of $13. Three call ahead of me so I decide to call from the big blind. I have 2c3c. The flop comes KcKh5c. I check. The raiser makes it $35. Folds around to me. I consider folding then I consider the hand. I did not think he had a king. His betting pattern did not jibe with the board and my experience with him. I decide to flat and see. Turn is the 4d. Now I am up and down with the flush draw. I have $160 left. Villain checks. I check. I am nearly positive he does not have the king. I really want an ace now. Probably pairs him so I can extract value. River is another 5. Now I have issues. Old me would have shut down and abandoned the pot. Or put another way, chicken out. New me sucks it up and does the only thing I can to win the pot. I bet $100. He tanks. Cuts out the money and stacks and restacks. He asks me if I will show if he folds. My buddy Slick has a theory on the question. He asks it to opponents when he is on the fence to call. If they say yes he instant calls. No means muck. I remember this and say no. He mucks, showing the 5 for the bottom full house. He then says if I said yes he is instant calling Telling the correct story and courage bought me a pot.

What?

Played today. Played loose and relaxed. Up and down. Chipped up $200 over my buy in. Four hands until I leave to pick up the kids. Look down at 33 on the button. Utg raises to $13. Five of us see the flop including the big blind. Flop brings 33Q. Super gin!!!! Now to get paid. Big blind bets $20. Middle position calls. Now all the books and blogs say I just call here. So I did Turn is a 2. Bb bets $20. Middle guy class. Blogs and books say call so I do. River is a 9. BB makes it $45. Middle guy pauses a sec and calls. I am confused as hell What do they have? I make it $100 after fake deliberation. Bb thinks a bit and moves in. The middle guy tanks Tanks a long time. He finally calls. I cannot raise him in due to the bb not having enough to reopen the betting. I call and immediately table my quads. I really wanted to know what they had. Must be quads over full house at least. Right? Bb had KK. Played itbso bad. Other guy had had AQ. Just needed one three