Ok I ended up not having to work tonite, and I thought a change of scene would be good. I made my way down to the Tropicana to play 1-2 No Limit Hold Em. When i arrived there were two games going and neither game had a lot of money on the tables. After about 45 Min's I won my first pot. I was playing very tight aggressive this session, as I wanted some type of positive result.
I lost a big pot when out of the blind I flopped the nut straight with with a flush redraw with the Q-9 of diamonds. J-8 off suit got all in on the flop against me and turned a J to win with a full house. Yes by the way my flush got there on the river. After a re buy, yeah I know re buying at the Trop is a lot like trying to grab a Lady Cops ass, it is just something you shouldn't ever have to do.
Anyways I built myself up to about $360 when this hand came down. I limped in the cutoff position with the Jh 10h. The Small Blind raised to $10 and two players called, I called as well. The flop of Qh 5h 3c came down. The SB bet $20 and one player and I called. The turn was the Qc it was checked to me and I decided to check behind since the player in middle position was a calling station who claimed he was a 3-6 Limit player. I figured he would call anything I bet no matter if it was now or if I make my hand. I checked behind and took the free card. The river was the Ah I had made my flush. The SB checked and the calling station bet $25, I thought for a second and decided the SB was going to fold, so I raised to $50. Before the SB could act the calling station went all in. Damn was all I could think. Finally I did a little math figured I was getting about 5 to 1 on calling this bet, I felt this was enough for me to call. I called and turned over my flush J high, he shook hi head, flashed me a 8 high flush and folded. This pot was a little over $275.
I took a little bit of a hit over the next hour. I finally deiced to leave to meet my roommate for breakfast up $90. Not a big win, but a win is a win after the last session I played. Well i leave Tuesday for Washington, I will be back Saturday and by Monday should be looking to get February started.
UPDATED JAN Numbers
Hours: 131
Profit: +$3290
Hourly Rate: $25.15/hour
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
In my amazement
1/25/07 - Aladdin -$1250
OK it has taken me two days to write this blog, and with good reason. This was by far my biggest losing session I have ever had. I needed a couple of days to just get over it. All said in total I was down $1250 playing 1-2 No Limit at the Aladdin. So first I question myself, "A good player should never lose this much in a session right?" "What the hell were you thinking when you were down $800 re buying again?" Honestly I have no answer for this session. I felt I played well. I did not make any crazy moves, I just kept running into better hands. It is almost like I was being tested to read my opponents more. If I had made all these good lay downs, I would have never made a show down.
See it was constant, I never had Aces, I had KK once, QQ 8 times, JJ 6 times. Only QQ was good once. Three times I was up against aces, twice I was up against the same player. Twice we flopped set over set. What the FUCK. Twice set over set with QQ and AA. This was just not my day. All my other big hands we no good. I had a set flopped against my Kings, and anytime I made a large bet my opponents mucked, unless I had JJ or QQ then they would lose their minds. My QQ was beat by a range of hands from pocket 8's to K-8 off.
This session ends my month, although I had a good month, this was not the way I wanted it to end. I know I still have a lot to learn. One of the things I need to learn is better discipline and self control. Also as I have been playing more hours the last month and a half I also noticed that I have been getting angry more at the tables. This is something I had been doing before, I need to control my comments and emotions.
In Baseball I would teach pitchers if they gave up a hit, or a particular batter was beating them constantly, to never let their opponent know. It was easy I would tell them, Keep your chin up, and focus on something besides them. This worked well cause their opponent never knew when the pitcher was beat, tired or just didn't have good stuff. I guess the same thing can happen with Poker. You limit your ability to play back, if an opponent thinks that you are beat easily by him, he will call more of your raises and play back.
I was watching the 2003 WSOP and Annie Duke said something interesting, something I need to add to my game. She showed pocket Queens to an opponent after she had re raised and he had folded. She leaned back and told the cameras, that she wanted to keep this player on her good side as he was the big stack and she didn't want him coming after her. This makes sense, whenever I have befriended a player at the table, they have given my instant respect. Now I don't want all players to do this, but I want to set up these types of players, to fold when my hand is marginal and to call when I have a monster. This will be another added element to my game.
Well my stats for January.
Hours: 128
Profit: +$3200
Hourly Rate: $25/hour
My goal for the month was $30/hour. I didn't make my goal at Poker, but when I add Black Jack into the equation. Then my stats would look like this.
Hours: 143
Profit: +7700
Hourly Rate: $54/hour
So overall a very good month.
My goals for February.
1) No Black Jack
2) Make $30 per hour
3) Play at least 120 Hours
4) Only Play Monday through Thursday
5) Play at least 1 tournament per week. (I want to add tournaments into my play each month)
Next month is right around the corner. I am off to Spokane, WA for a week. I will resume posting Blogs on the 3rd or the 4th. Good luck to you.
OK it has taken me two days to write this blog, and with good reason. This was by far my biggest losing session I have ever had. I needed a couple of days to just get over it. All said in total I was down $1250 playing 1-2 No Limit at the Aladdin. So first I question myself, "A good player should never lose this much in a session right?" "What the hell were you thinking when you were down $800 re buying again?" Honestly I have no answer for this session. I felt I played well. I did not make any crazy moves, I just kept running into better hands. It is almost like I was being tested to read my opponents more. If I had made all these good lay downs, I would have never made a show down.
See it was constant, I never had Aces, I had KK once, QQ 8 times, JJ 6 times. Only QQ was good once. Three times I was up against aces, twice I was up against the same player. Twice we flopped set over set. What the FUCK. Twice set over set with QQ and AA. This was just not my day. All my other big hands we no good. I had a set flopped against my Kings, and anytime I made a large bet my opponents mucked, unless I had JJ or QQ then they would lose their minds. My QQ was beat by a range of hands from pocket 8's to K-8 off.
This session ends my month, although I had a good month, this was not the way I wanted it to end. I know I still have a lot to learn. One of the things I need to learn is better discipline and self control. Also as I have been playing more hours the last month and a half I also noticed that I have been getting angry more at the tables. This is something I had been doing before, I need to control my comments and emotions.
In Baseball I would teach pitchers if they gave up a hit, or a particular batter was beating them constantly, to never let their opponent know. It was easy I would tell them, Keep your chin up, and focus on something besides them. This worked well cause their opponent never knew when the pitcher was beat, tired or just didn't have good stuff. I guess the same thing can happen with Poker. You limit your ability to play back, if an opponent thinks that you are beat easily by him, he will call more of your raises and play back.
I was watching the 2003 WSOP and Annie Duke said something interesting, something I need to add to my game. She showed pocket Queens to an opponent after she had re raised and he had folded. She leaned back and told the cameras, that she wanted to keep this player on her good side as he was the big stack and she didn't want him coming after her. This makes sense, whenever I have befriended a player at the table, they have given my instant respect. Now I don't want all players to do this, but I want to set up these types of players, to fold when my hand is marginal and to call when I have a monster. This will be another added element to my game.
Well my stats for January.
Hours: 128
Profit: +$3200
Hourly Rate: $25/hour
My goal for the month was $30/hour. I didn't make my goal at Poker, but when I add Black Jack into the equation. Then my stats would look like this.
Hours: 143
Profit: +7700
Hourly Rate: $54/hour
So overall a very good month.
My goals for February.
1) No Black Jack
2) Make $30 per hour
3) Play at least 120 Hours
4) Only Play Monday through Thursday
5) Play at least 1 tournament per week. (I want to add tournaments into my play each month)
Next month is right around the corner. I am off to Spokane, WA for a week. I will resume posting Blogs on the 3rd or the 4th. Good luck to you.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Lessons Learned "The Art of The Check Raise"
Ballys 1/24/07 1-2 No limit +$430 11am - 3pm Buy In $300
Today Mike and I made our way to Ballys after arriving at the Aladdin and they had no games spread. We had started early today due to both of our cars were having work done, and mine was going to be a few hours so Mike picked me up, after a stop at the Saturn dealer we made our way to the strip.
When we first were seated the game seemed average, a few early morning rocks were in the game. But we had one pretty live seat. I slowly built my chip stack up to around $450, then got snapped off for $150, then built it up to $550 to get snapped off for another $120.
When building my stack to over $500, I decided to play the 7s 6d in the big blind to a raise. This particular young player was raising a lot of pots preflop then betting strong on the flop and turn and taking down pots, raised once again. In this hand he raised to $12 and there were 4 callers before I called.
Right as I closed the action and called I looked at Mike and told him. "OK time to teach a lesson." This Lesson I call the art of the check raise. The flop of 10h 7d 3s came down I checked and the raiser bet $5, it called all the way around to me and i just called. The turn was the 2s, I checked again and the raiser bet $45. It folded to me and I re raised him to $175. He thought, got mad and folded. I showed my hand and that got the table chattering. This was great timing.
See the very next hand this same player raised to $17, I looked down when it folded to me and I had two red Aces. I called and we went heads up. I knew if I checked raised him again he was going to push. I put him on JJ or QQ, maybe KK. The flop came 9 high, and I checked. He bet $35 and I raised to $100, he instantly went all in for $240 and I called. He showed pocket 10's and I showed him the bad news. My hand held up, I think he learned the lesson, he will now forever fear 'The Art of The Check Raise.'
Mike and I were about to leave, I had just been snapped off with KK, which I played horribly again, we had decided to take our wins and go. In the last hand I was under the gun with 9s 7s and thought, "What the hell, one last hand." About 5 limpers limped in the the button made it $12, I looked at Mike and said, "Figures just when I am about to leave." I call the raise as does 4 of the other 5 limpers. The flop of 5s 4s 3h came down. All I could think was "figures." We checked around to the button, who made it $20, I called and so did a pretty loose aggressive player in middle position. The turn was the 2s. I made my flush, I checked, middle position checked and the button bet $20 again, I raised to $80, and then middle position re raised me to $180, the button folded and now I had a decision. I stated to walk myself through the hand, which started off with, "Why in the hell was I out of position with 9-7 suited in a raised pot?" I thought longer about this player, to me I think this player would have lead out the flop with a flush draw, or even check raised the flop with a flush draw. I thought even more, and figured he probably turned the straight and because the flop was bet, may have put me on a over pair to the board.
After thinking for a couple of minutes, I went all in, the other player beat me in the pot. Damn! I knew it, he had to have a higher flush, I thought well I guess I'll be coming back after I get my car and making a day out of it. I said to him, "I have a flush, don't know if it's good, it's 9 high." He sighed and I said, "You have a straight huh?" "I knew it I was right!" then he showed his two red 6's.....that's right, he went broke with a one card straight, wow. He was drawing dead.
The dealer pushed the $700 plus pot my way, I pulled my rack out from off my lap, he said, "You are not leaving anytime soon are you?" I said, "Yes, right now." He started to badger me as I racked up his chips, still chirping at me, I looked up and said, "Look, I am not the one who went broke with a one card straight, when there was a potential flush out there." "Plus, sir I am not the person you want at the table with a stack like this." I picked up my chips and Mike and I left.
This turned out to be a great session, I liked my read in the last hand, I felt good that I was able to put my opponent right where I wanted him to be. As a side note I did play my KK earlier in the session bad as I paid off two pair with it again. I am still working on folding some of these hands. Hopefully I will start making better folds, which I know will only be positive EV. Good luck, and remember those lessons learned. Although I may have been giving them, I am still learning also. I try to take the good and the bad with each session. For now on, I will post my biggest mistake of each session and best play of each session. This will help me evaluate, or Minimize/Maximize as AJ would say.
Ballys (1/24/07)
Buy In $300
Cash Out $730
Profit/Loss +$430
Hours 4
"The Gamblin Duke" - The return of the Mack
Today Mike and I made our way to Ballys after arriving at the Aladdin and they had no games spread. We had started early today due to both of our cars were having work done, and mine was going to be a few hours so Mike picked me up, after a stop at the Saturn dealer we made our way to the strip.
When we first were seated the game seemed average, a few early morning rocks were in the game. But we had one pretty live seat. I slowly built my chip stack up to around $450, then got snapped off for $150, then built it up to $550 to get snapped off for another $120.
When building my stack to over $500, I decided to play the 7s 6d in the big blind to a raise. This particular young player was raising a lot of pots preflop then betting strong on the flop and turn and taking down pots, raised once again. In this hand he raised to $12 and there were 4 callers before I called.
Right as I closed the action and called I looked at Mike and told him. "OK time to teach a lesson." This Lesson I call the art of the check raise. The flop of 10h 7d 3s came down I checked and the raiser bet $5, it called all the way around to me and i just called. The turn was the 2s, I checked again and the raiser bet $45. It folded to me and I re raised him to $175. He thought, got mad and folded. I showed my hand and that got the table chattering. This was great timing.
See the very next hand this same player raised to $17, I looked down when it folded to me and I had two red Aces. I called and we went heads up. I knew if I checked raised him again he was going to push. I put him on JJ or QQ, maybe KK. The flop came 9 high, and I checked. He bet $35 and I raised to $100, he instantly went all in for $240 and I called. He showed pocket 10's and I showed him the bad news. My hand held up, I think he learned the lesson, he will now forever fear 'The Art of The Check Raise.'
Mike and I were about to leave, I had just been snapped off with KK, which I played horribly again, we had decided to take our wins and go. In the last hand I was under the gun with 9s 7s and thought, "What the hell, one last hand." About 5 limpers limped in the the button made it $12, I looked at Mike and said, "Figures just when I am about to leave." I call the raise as does 4 of the other 5 limpers. The flop of 5s 4s 3h came down. All I could think was "figures." We checked around to the button, who made it $20, I called and so did a pretty loose aggressive player in middle position. The turn was the 2s. I made my flush, I checked, middle position checked and the button bet $20 again, I raised to $80, and then middle position re raised me to $180, the button folded and now I had a decision. I stated to walk myself through the hand, which started off with, "Why in the hell was I out of position with 9-7 suited in a raised pot?" I thought longer about this player, to me I think this player would have lead out the flop with a flush draw, or even check raised the flop with a flush draw. I thought even more, and figured he probably turned the straight and because the flop was bet, may have put me on a over pair to the board.
After thinking for a couple of minutes, I went all in, the other player beat me in the pot. Damn! I knew it, he had to have a higher flush, I thought well I guess I'll be coming back after I get my car and making a day out of it. I said to him, "I have a flush, don't know if it's good, it's 9 high." He sighed and I said, "You have a straight huh?" "I knew it I was right!" then he showed his two red 6's.....that's right, he went broke with a one card straight, wow. He was drawing dead.
The dealer pushed the $700 plus pot my way, I pulled my rack out from off my lap, he said, "You are not leaving anytime soon are you?" I said, "Yes, right now." He started to badger me as I racked up his chips, still chirping at me, I looked up and said, "Look, I am not the one who went broke with a one card straight, when there was a potential flush out there." "Plus, sir I am not the person you want at the table with a stack like this." I picked up my chips and Mike and I left.
This turned out to be a great session, I liked my read in the last hand, I felt good that I was able to put my opponent right where I wanted him to be. As a side note I did play my KK earlier in the session bad as I paid off two pair with it again. I am still working on folding some of these hands. Hopefully I will start making better folds, which I know will only be positive EV. Good luck, and remember those lessons learned. Although I may have been giving them, I am still learning also. I try to take the good and the bad with each session. For now on, I will post my biggest mistake of each session and best play of each session. This will help me evaluate, or Minimize/Maximize as AJ would say.
Ballys (1/24/07)
Buy In $300
Cash Out $730
Profit/Loss +$430
Hours 4
"The Gamblin Duke" - The return of the Mack
Nonsense
Aladdin 1/23/07 5pm - 3am
Session: + $250
This session started a lot like my last few, I was drawn out many different ways. It wasn't til Mike left, that I won a huge pot making me even, then after winning a couple more other pots I was up $250. I'll take the win after all I was in the game for $800.
My major hand in this session was with the Kd 2d, this pot was raised and I called in position. We went $15 5 ways to the flop. The flop of Jd 10h 9d, the original raiser be $15, I raised to $45, and the small blind called. The original raiser went all in for $150 total, I called and the small blind called $120. The turn was the 4d, I made my flush, and I showed the other two players mucked. The original raiser claimed he had the Js 10s.
I have noticed lately I have been paying off people a little more, a lot of it is when I have big pocket pairs, or two pair. So my short term goal is to slow my play down, get in favorable situations, and work on getting away from big hands, when I am positive I am beat.
"The Ramblin Duke" - The Swinging Magician
Session: + $250
This session started a lot like my last few, I was drawn out many different ways. It wasn't til Mike left, that I won a huge pot making me even, then after winning a couple more other pots I was up $250. I'll take the win after all I was in the game for $800.
My major hand in this session was with the Kd 2d, this pot was raised and I called in position. We went $15 5 ways to the flop. The flop of Jd 10h 9d, the original raiser be $15, I raised to $45, and the small blind called. The original raiser went all in for $150 total, I called and the small blind called $120. The turn was the 4d, I made my flush, and I showed the other two players mucked. The original raiser claimed he had the Js 10s.
I have noticed lately I have been paying off people a little more, a lot of it is when I have big pocket pairs, or two pair. So my short term goal is to slow my play down, get in favorable situations, and work on getting away from big hands, when I am positive I am beat.
"The Ramblin Duke" - The Swinging Magician
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Back On The Grind
Well after taking a few days off, I made my was down to the Aladdin around 9pm to play 1-2 No Limit Hold Em. There were two games when I arrived, the game I was put into was a pretty good game as there were about 5 good seats.
Within 4 hands I found myself re buying the max in chips of $200 for the 3rd time. I started so rough. I flopped a 7 high nut straight against bottom 2 pair, who turned a full house. The against the same player I turn another 7 high straight against his A high flush draw, which he made.
I was mad, but I tried to keep within myself. I kept grinding, winning a small pot here and there. Then finally I busted a $150 stack with Q - 10 when I turned 10's full of Q's against his A-3 top pair.
When I was up around $100 a funny hand was played. I straddled for $4, the button and small blind called. I had showed my hand top Boston Eric, who I told I was gonna play my hand based on his reaction. The flop of 6-5-3 came down. Eric almost left his chair, at this point I have still not looked at my hand. I checked and the button bet $10. I called, still not looking at my cards. The turn was another 5. I checked as did the button. The river was the case 5, Now I checked my hand. Damn I had 5-3. I just made quads. I checked as I knew that my opponent must have mad a full house and would for sure bet. He did $30. I instantly went over the top for $100. I thought he would at least call, maybe even raise me. He was thinking and then I used the official Quads phrase, "Sir, I suggest you only call if you don't like money." OK this is Mikes phrase, and this would be the first official time i used it. I used it two other times but kind of as a side comment, not really ever with Quads. He told me he liked money and that he had to call as he turned over pocket 9's. I showed him, "What Quads look like" and said "Ship It!."
This session ended with Mike and I leaving at about 2am. I was up $320, not too bad after being in for three buy ins. I will be playing a lot this week. I have a goal of making $1500, I hope I reach it. Oh and a side note I finally had a losing Black Jack session at T.I. I lost $1300. I knew it was bound to happen, the run was just too good. Well anyways hop[e everything goes good, wish me luck.
"The Gamblin Duke"
Within 4 hands I found myself re buying the max in chips of $200 for the 3rd time. I started so rough. I flopped a 7 high nut straight against bottom 2 pair, who turned a full house. The against the same player I turn another 7 high straight against his A high flush draw, which he made.
I was mad, but I tried to keep within myself. I kept grinding, winning a small pot here and there. Then finally I busted a $150 stack with Q - 10 when I turned 10's full of Q's against his A-3 top pair.
When I was up around $100 a funny hand was played. I straddled for $4, the button and small blind called. I had showed my hand top Boston Eric, who I told I was gonna play my hand based on his reaction. The flop of 6-5-3 came down. Eric almost left his chair, at this point I have still not looked at my hand. I checked and the button bet $10. I called, still not looking at my cards. The turn was another 5. I checked as did the button. The river was the case 5, Now I checked my hand. Damn I had 5-3. I just made quads. I checked as I knew that my opponent must have mad a full house and would for sure bet. He did $30. I instantly went over the top for $100. I thought he would at least call, maybe even raise me. He was thinking and then I used the official Quads phrase, "Sir, I suggest you only call if you don't like money." OK this is Mikes phrase, and this would be the first official time i used it. I used it two other times but kind of as a side comment, not really ever with Quads. He told me he liked money and that he had to call as he turned over pocket 9's. I showed him, "What Quads look like" and said "Ship It!."
This session ended with Mike and I leaving at about 2am. I was up $320, not too bad after being in for three buy ins. I will be playing a lot this week. I have a goal of making $1500, I hope I reach it. Oh and a side note I finally had a losing Black Jack session at T.I. I lost $1300. I knew it was bound to happen, the run was just too good. Well anyways hop[e everything goes good, wish me luck.
"The Gamblin Duke"
Friday, January 19, 2007
The 3 - 4- 1
OK I have played three sessions since my last blog the first two being Tuesday & Wednesday. Both of which I won a total of $450 over the two sessions. And then there was yesterday. First I should tell you I am currently on a 9, game winning streak in Black Jack. This isn't small wins, this is $300 or more wins, some of them $1000 or more, but I would say I am averaging around $500 per win. It has been a crazy ride.
The third session was Thursday Jan 18, 2007. I got to the Aladdin around 8pm, where I found Mike in a 1 -2 Pot Limit Omaha game. This game was full of a bunch of pretty bad players. I was up and down $20 - $50 for about 2 hours and finally I picked up this hand. A very aggressive player, I have played with a few times was under the gun and raised the pot. 2 calls in front of me were made and I called with 10s 10d 7d 3h. Normally I would not play this hand, but with two really tight players behind me I was sure I would end up with the button, which is exactly what happened. The flop of 9d 8d 6s came down. All I could think was. "Ship It." The players checked to me and I bet the pot which was around $35, it folded all the way to middle position and he called. This player was with the aggressive player who raised, and was pretty loose. I put him on some type of double belly buster, and assumed to play his hand he needed one of my 10's. He said he was gonna give me a call so he could bad beat me. I said "Thanks" and the turn card was the 6c. Not the ideal card I wanted but I was sure this did not give him a full house, once again he checked to me and I again bet the pot. This bet would put him all in for his last $120. He thought for a while and then said if my card comes then "I will get ya."I then told him, "just put your money in the middle and lets see if you are lucky!" I don't think he liked me saying that, and he instantly called. The river was the 3s, I flipped over my hand and said, "Well I have a straight, which is good, I had pocket 10s and were holding your outs so Ship It!" He just kept looking at his cards like he was gonna slow rolled them, then he mucked, stood up and declared he was done.
It was weird but I knew exactly what I was ducking, and had he made his hand on the turn I was going to be able to check behind or fold depending on his action. I ended Omaha up $280 and went to a 1-2 No limit game.
While playing No limit I got unlucky a couple of times, I played very aggressive, took one semi bad beat and ended the session of Poker up a $100.
On my way out of the casino I stopped by a open single deck Black Jack game, played for around $20 Min's and was up $500. So all in all the day was good. I do realize though, I need to play Hold Em a bit more seriously, I need better self discipline, and patience. When I was taking my PSP and watching Movies, I was playing very well, I need to keep myself occupied, so I can focus on playing a little more tight. I will work on this Monday when I play again to start my week off again. Oh one more thing on a side note, this month has been a pretty good one, so I went down today, Friday and bought a 1999 Mercedes C 280. Felt like I have been putting in a lot of hours end deserved it, I will try to get a picture of it up soon. Well good luck, I'll be back to posting regularly on Monday.
"The Gamblin Duke"
The third session was Thursday Jan 18, 2007. I got to the Aladdin around 8pm, where I found Mike in a 1 -2 Pot Limit Omaha game. This game was full of a bunch of pretty bad players. I was up and down $20 - $50 for about 2 hours and finally I picked up this hand. A very aggressive player, I have played with a few times was under the gun and raised the pot. 2 calls in front of me were made and I called with 10s 10d 7d 3h. Normally I would not play this hand, but with two really tight players behind me I was sure I would end up with the button, which is exactly what happened. The flop of 9d 8d 6s came down. All I could think was. "Ship It." The players checked to me and I bet the pot which was around $35, it folded all the way to middle position and he called. This player was with the aggressive player who raised, and was pretty loose. I put him on some type of double belly buster, and assumed to play his hand he needed one of my 10's. He said he was gonna give me a call so he could bad beat me. I said "Thanks" and the turn card was the 6c. Not the ideal card I wanted but I was sure this did not give him a full house, once again he checked to me and I again bet the pot. This bet would put him all in for his last $120. He thought for a while and then said if my card comes then "I will get ya."I then told him, "just put your money in the middle and lets see if you are lucky!" I don't think he liked me saying that, and he instantly called. The river was the 3s, I flipped over my hand and said, "Well I have a straight, which is good, I had pocket 10s and were holding your outs so Ship It!" He just kept looking at his cards like he was gonna slow rolled them, then he mucked, stood up and declared he was done.
It was weird but I knew exactly what I was ducking, and had he made his hand on the turn I was going to be able to check behind or fold depending on his action. I ended Omaha up $280 and went to a 1-2 No limit game.
While playing No limit I got unlucky a couple of times, I played very aggressive, took one semi bad beat and ended the session of Poker up a $100.
On my way out of the casino I stopped by a open single deck Black Jack game, played for around $20 Min's and was up $500. So all in all the day was good. I do realize though, I need to play Hold Em a bit more seriously, I need better self discipline, and patience. When I was taking my PSP and watching Movies, I was playing very well, I need to keep myself occupied, so I can focus on playing a little more tight. I will work on this Monday when I play again to start my week off again. Oh one more thing on a side note, this month has been a pretty good one, so I went down today, Friday and bought a 1999 Mercedes C 280. Felt like I have been putting in a lot of hours end deserved it, I will try to get a picture of it up soon. Well good luck, I'll be back to posting regularly on Monday.
"The Gamblin Duke"
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Thank God for.....Tourists!!!!
011507 - Paris, 1-2 No Limit
OK, so when you saw this title you thought, "Another Black Jack story?" No not this time, I went down to the Paris to play in the 3:30pm $65 tournament, kinda just wanted to risk little plus I am wanting to play a few more tournaments, so I thought this would be good practice.
When I arrived they were sold out as they only accept 50 players. There was a 1-2 No limit game going so I sat down. The table did not have a lot of money, and the players seemed to be pretty tight, I was about to leave after 3 hands, then one of the tight players. 'Lost His Mind.' He went on a run where he raised every hand for 3 button rounds to $22 preflop. I once called one of his raises with Kd 6d, the flop of Jc 7h 6h came down and I check raised all in. He folded and I showed. Then a few minutes later while in middle position I limped with Kc Qc, another player limped and then our hero made it $22 "to go," as he would say. I called as did this other player. The flop of Ks 7d 3d came down, normally I would bet out with this hand, but I was not sure what the other player in the hand was holding. Plus knowing that our aggressive player liked to bet I figured with any piece if I check raised he would call, so i checked as did the other two players, "Oops" is what I thought. The turn brought the 7s, now I led out and bet $70 which was a little more then a pot sized bet, then the limper called, leaving $27 behind???? WTF??? The original raiser folded, before the river card was delt I announced all in, and the other player called. The 6d cam on the river I said NH and showed my KQ, he shook his head, rolled over JJ and flipped his cards in. Sweet I scooped the pot, waited til the blinds hit and I bounced.
I had sat down with a goal of making $150 in the game, I was up $200 so I left. This was good for me to take a win, even though small, I want to build some momentum, I know I have been playing more loose lately which for me is not good. I need to reign it in more then what I have, so my goal for the rest of the month is to play more straight forward, play more tight, but also change my style against certain player. Finally I have realized lately that I have been trying to bluff down too many pots, I need to remember it is 1 -2 No limit and most people love to show down here, where as in 2 - 5 the players are not much better, except, you can move them off a hand a little more often.
OK so the goals are. Build a series of 5 or more straight winning sessions, only bluff 1 time per session and leave if I start getting deep into a game. Wish me luck, I could use a little at Poker.
El Diablo "A Brand New Man" OK will it was worth a shot.
OK, so when you saw this title you thought, "Another Black Jack story?" No not this time, I went down to the Paris to play in the 3:30pm $65 tournament, kinda just wanted to risk little plus I am wanting to play a few more tournaments, so I thought this would be good practice.
When I arrived they were sold out as they only accept 50 players. There was a 1-2 No limit game going so I sat down. The table did not have a lot of money, and the players seemed to be pretty tight, I was about to leave after 3 hands, then one of the tight players. 'Lost His Mind.' He went on a run where he raised every hand for 3 button rounds to $22 preflop. I once called one of his raises with Kd 6d, the flop of Jc 7h 6h came down and I check raised all in. He folded and I showed. Then a few minutes later while in middle position I limped with Kc Qc, another player limped and then our hero made it $22 "to go," as he would say. I called as did this other player. The flop of Ks 7d 3d came down, normally I would bet out with this hand, but I was not sure what the other player in the hand was holding. Plus knowing that our aggressive player liked to bet I figured with any piece if I check raised he would call, so i checked as did the other two players, "Oops" is what I thought. The turn brought the 7s, now I led out and bet $70 which was a little more then a pot sized bet, then the limper called, leaving $27 behind???? WTF??? The original raiser folded, before the river card was delt I announced all in, and the other player called. The 6d cam on the river I said NH and showed my KQ, he shook his head, rolled over JJ and flipped his cards in. Sweet I scooped the pot, waited til the blinds hit and I bounced.
I had sat down with a goal of making $150 in the game, I was up $200 so I left. This was good for me to take a win, even though small, I want to build some momentum, I know I have been playing more loose lately which for me is not good. I need to reign it in more then what I have, so my goal for the rest of the month is to play more straight forward, play more tight, but also change my style against certain player. Finally I have realized lately that I have been trying to bluff down too many pots, I need to remember it is 1 -2 No limit and most people love to show down here, where as in 2 - 5 the players are not much better, except, you can move them off a hand a little more often.
OK so the goals are. Build a series of 5 or more straight winning sessions, only bluff 1 time per session and leave if I start getting deep into a game. Wish me luck, I could use a little at Poker.
El Diablo "A Brand New Man" OK will it was worth a shot.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Thank God for Black Jack Pt. 2
Jan 12. 2007, 1-2 No Limit, Aladdin
Today I ended up at the Aladdin, but was not planning to play. I had a meeting with the Poker Room manager Tommy, which was suppose to start at 2pm. Well after getting there, being advised he would be late, I thought I would sit down for a while, til he got back. Apparently, he was in a meeting with the Casino about the new Poker Room.
What a bad decision it was to play. In the first hour I was down $600, after getting my Aces cracked by K-10, who made 2 pair. I made a lower two pair, against top pair who caught his kicker on the river, and I turned the second nut flush right into the nut flush.
Finally I was able to meet with Tommy around 5pm. Our meeting lasted about 20 minutes then I was back to the table. So at this point I sat with $500 in front of me, and was down $300. Another table had broke and two new players joined our table. After 30 minutes with these two, I knew one of them was going to be building big pots. After getting snapped off with big Aces, AK & AQ to be exact I was sitting with $400 in front of me.
I think I went a little on tilt cause I started gable mode more. I have noticed lately that this is the mode I get in when I have been playing for a while with now luck. In a straddle pot, I was in the small blind with Ac 3d, a new player who had just sat down, (Only been at the table 20Min's, and had already shown down 3 times) limped in middle position. One of the players that had moved to our table raised to $35, and it folded to me, I was positive he had JJ, or QQ. I called as did this other player. The other player, I put him on a small pocket pair, cause he would be re raising 10's or better, as well as a big Ace. The flop of Ad Qd 7d came down. I did not want the original raiser if he has JJ, to draw for free by checking to him if he has the Jd, I bet, I lead out with $150, I also thought this might be enough to to take the pot right here. Well I was wrong, the limper immediately went all in for his $140, I now knew he had 77, and then to my amazement the other player who had me covered, went all in also. Now with my bet of $150 the pot was at $560, and I would be calling another $280, to win a total of $840.
So I went through the hands, the finally said out loud, So let me guess set of 7's, and set of Q's, OK so that means this, as I showed the 3d, is live. "I Call." I was right it was just as I had said, the turn card came the 10c, and the river......6h. Dammit I missed. Oh well though cause I liked my spot, once I was committed to this hand, my reads were right, yes I know I gambled, but I liked my chances, knowing that I was live, and that I was also holding a blocker with a pair of Ace's also it seemed to be the right call.
He is how it worked out on card players odds calculator. The player with QQ wins 63.79% of the time, while I would win 28.57% of the time, and 77 would win 4.54% of the time. I think making this read and call for this size of pot in the long run is good, I know I need to try to worked harder to avoid this situation all together.
So here is where it goes, so I left the Poker Room, and once again made my way to the Black Jack pit, I was down $800 playing Poker, and since I had been running hot in Black Jack I figured, "fuck it, why not." Well needless to say I bought in for $500, and sat at a $25 minimum table, it was single deck. After an hour, I had $1800 in front of me, I had won all my loss at Poker back, and was up $500 for the day. Well I guess you win some and you lose some, It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but it's working. Wonder what it would be like if I skipped the losing part first....LOL
El Diablo, "The Gambling Duke"
Today I ended up at the Aladdin, but was not planning to play. I had a meeting with the Poker Room manager Tommy, which was suppose to start at 2pm. Well after getting there, being advised he would be late, I thought I would sit down for a while, til he got back. Apparently, he was in a meeting with the Casino about the new Poker Room.
What a bad decision it was to play. In the first hour I was down $600, after getting my Aces cracked by K-10, who made 2 pair. I made a lower two pair, against top pair who caught his kicker on the river, and I turned the second nut flush right into the nut flush.
Finally I was able to meet with Tommy around 5pm. Our meeting lasted about 20 minutes then I was back to the table. So at this point I sat with $500 in front of me, and was down $300. Another table had broke and two new players joined our table. After 30 minutes with these two, I knew one of them was going to be building big pots. After getting snapped off with big Aces, AK & AQ to be exact I was sitting with $400 in front of me.
I think I went a little on tilt cause I started gable mode more. I have noticed lately that this is the mode I get in when I have been playing for a while with now luck. In a straddle pot, I was in the small blind with Ac 3d, a new player who had just sat down, (Only been at the table 20Min's, and had already shown down 3 times) limped in middle position. One of the players that had moved to our table raised to $35, and it folded to me, I was positive he had JJ, or QQ. I called as did this other player. The other player, I put him on a small pocket pair, cause he would be re raising 10's or better, as well as a big Ace. The flop of Ad Qd 7d came down. I did not want the original raiser if he has JJ, to draw for free by checking to him if he has the Jd, I bet, I lead out with $150, I also thought this might be enough to to take the pot right here. Well I was wrong, the limper immediately went all in for his $140, I now knew he had 77, and then to my amazement the other player who had me covered, went all in also. Now with my bet of $150 the pot was at $560, and I would be calling another $280, to win a total of $840.
So I went through the hands, the finally said out loud, So let me guess set of 7's, and set of Q's, OK so that means this, as I showed the 3d, is live. "I Call." I was right it was just as I had said, the turn card came the 10c, and the river......6h. Dammit I missed. Oh well though cause I liked my spot, once I was committed to this hand, my reads were right, yes I know I gambled, but I liked my chances, knowing that I was live, and that I was also holding a blocker with a pair of Ace's also it seemed to be the right call.
He is how it worked out on card players odds calculator. The player with QQ wins 63.79% of the time, while I would win 28.57% of the time, and 77 would win 4.54% of the time. I think making this read and call for this size of pot in the long run is good, I know I need to try to worked harder to avoid this situation all together.
So here is where it goes, so I left the Poker Room, and once again made my way to the Black Jack pit, I was down $800 playing Poker, and since I had been running hot in Black Jack I figured, "fuck it, why not." Well needless to say I bought in for $500, and sat at a $25 minimum table, it was single deck. After an hour, I had $1800 in front of me, I had won all my loss at Poker back, and was up $500 for the day. Well I guess you win some and you lose some, It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but it's working. Wonder what it would be like if I skipped the losing part first....LOL
El Diablo, "The Gambling Duke"
Friday, January 12, 2007
Sometime people just come to play!
January 11th 2007 - Aladdin 1-2 No Limit
Made it to the Aladdin around 7pm, when I arrived there were 2 full games going. After waiting for around 20 Min's a new game opened and I took my seat as did Todd. After 15 Min's of play I saw how the game is going to be running. There were at least 3 seats that had no problem putting $40 or more in preflop in every hand. In fact at one point we had three consecutive $300 plus pot's preflop. OK I was ready for one of these tables so like a good Shark* I sat and waited.
It didn't take long to find our ring leader of this group of Banshees, he was a guy that smelled of Cigarette smoke from Quebec. Something about or friends from the North, they sure have a lot of Gamble in them. He was raising and re raising many hands, busting people then getting busted. Between him and his wife they pumped about $1400 into the table in around 2 hours.
First you should know this guy from Canada, well call him 'Gamblin Joe', was directly on my right, also the next seat down was an older guy that liked to bet A high to the river, so in my opinion I had the best seat in the house.
In one hand I had $210 in front of me to start the hand, after a $10 raise 6 ways preflop, I flopped bottom 2 with Q-10 on a K Q 10 board. First position bet $30, second called, I called then the button made it $60, then it went call, call. Finally when on me I went all in, and everyone folded. What in the world? I thought I would, if anything get called by A high or at least a naked 9. Wow I more the doubled up without seeing a turn card or a having to showdown. What a great table.
I continued to be patient till these run of hands came down. While under the gun I limped with the 8s 9s, there were 6 limper's then 'Gamblin Joe' made it $20 to go, one of his favorite pre flop raises. I called, and the field folded, we were heads up and I had position. The flop of Jh 10d, 6s came down. 'Gamblin Joe bet $45. I called. At this point I had around $500 in chips in front of me and 'Gambling Joe" had about $450. The turn card was the Qs. 'Gamblin Joe" grabbed as many chips as he could with one hand and said, "I bet this," and placed $130 in front of him. I thought for a minute, then I went all in, as I did not think he had AK, I was sure he had a J maybe even 2 pair. He thought for a long time folded, I was later told be the dealer he had KJ and had folded a redraw to the nuts with a pair. Wow I was quite surprised by this play.
2 hands later the other player who was in love with A high, raised a pot and I had the button. He made it $20, the 'Gamblin Joe' announced "Re Raise!" and made it $40. With the 6d 6s I called. Then the original raiser made it $80. WTF? $80 seriously? I was positive I had the best hand, 'Gambling Joe' then did something I would have never thought would happen, he folded. What? Min re raise then fold? OK? I was positive I was ahead so I called to see the flop.
At this point the original raiser had $another $230 behind, and I knew it was going in on the flop, no Q K A and I was calling any amount he bet. But then it got easy, the flop of Jd 6h 2c came down and he instantly went All In, I could not call fast enough, I said, "Sir I call, I have a set of 6's" and flipped over my hand. Then he said' "Ooops" and showed AQ high, I was right on my ready, although I did not need the 6 this made my call all that much easier. I scooped this pot, asked to color up and was sitting with $850 in front of me. I went on to run it up to $940 before I left. I played til midnight and only had about 4 1/2 hours at the table that night.
Booked a nice little win, called it a day and got out. Man I need to play like this more often. After my session Mike and I talked a little and I really think the players after this years World Series have gotten even worse. I also see more Female players at the tables. Every table last night at at least 2 women players at them. Now I am not saying Women are bad players, but I general consensus is that they will not fold top pair. I think it is most Women's, lack of knowledge in the game, that they will force calls in a game. Plus it also helps that when a Women is at the table, especially a good looking one, most players seem to be more distracted while playing. Anyways, I meeting with Tommy from the Aladdin today about a Poker League idea I have, if you know of any ideas for a good name for a Poker League i am up for suggestions.
El Diablo, AKA The Fighting Chicken, Mr. Ed, The ED
Made it to the Aladdin around 7pm, when I arrived there were 2 full games going. After waiting for around 20 Min's a new game opened and I took my seat as did Todd. After 15 Min's of play I saw how the game is going to be running. There were at least 3 seats that had no problem putting $40 or more in preflop in every hand. In fact at one point we had three consecutive $300 plus pot's preflop. OK I was ready for one of these tables so like a good Shark* I sat and waited.
It didn't take long to find our ring leader of this group of Banshees, he was a guy that smelled of Cigarette smoke from Quebec. Something about or friends from the North, they sure have a lot of Gamble in them. He was raising and re raising many hands, busting people then getting busted. Between him and his wife they pumped about $1400 into the table in around 2 hours.
First you should know this guy from Canada, well call him 'Gamblin Joe', was directly on my right, also the next seat down was an older guy that liked to bet A high to the river, so in my opinion I had the best seat in the house.
In one hand I had $210 in front of me to start the hand, after a $10 raise 6 ways preflop, I flopped bottom 2 with Q-10 on a K Q 10 board. First position bet $30, second called, I called then the button made it $60, then it went call, call. Finally when on me I went all in, and everyone folded. What in the world? I thought I would, if anything get called by A high or at least a naked 9. Wow I more the doubled up without seeing a turn card or a having to showdown. What a great table.
I continued to be patient till these run of hands came down. While under the gun I limped with the 8s 9s, there were 6 limper's then 'Gamblin Joe' made it $20 to go, one of his favorite pre flop raises. I called, and the field folded, we were heads up and I had position. The flop of Jh 10d, 6s came down. 'Gamblin Joe bet $45. I called. At this point I had around $500 in chips in front of me and 'Gambling Joe" had about $450. The turn card was the Qs. 'Gamblin Joe" grabbed as many chips as he could with one hand and said, "I bet this," and placed $130 in front of him. I thought for a minute, then I went all in, as I did not think he had AK, I was sure he had a J maybe even 2 pair. He thought for a long time folded, I was later told be the dealer he had KJ and had folded a redraw to the nuts with a pair. Wow I was quite surprised by this play.
2 hands later the other player who was in love with A high, raised a pot and I had the button. He made it $20, the 'Gamblin Joe' announced "Re Raise!" and made it $40. With the 6d 6s I called. Then the original raiser made it $80. WTF? $80 seriously? I was positive I had the best hand, 'Gambling Joe' then did something I would have never thought would happen, he folded. What? Min re raise then fold? OK? I was positive I was ahead so I called to see the flop.
At this point the original raiser had $another $230 behind, and I knew it was going in on the flop, no Q K A and I was calling any amount he bet. But then it got easy, the flop of Jd 6h 2c came down and he instantly went All In, I could not call fast enough, I said, "Sir I call, I have a set of 6's" and flipped over my hand. Then he said' "Ooops" and showed AQ high, I was right on my ready, although I did not need the 6 this made my call all that much easier. I scooped this pot, asked to color up and was sitting with $850 in front of me. I went on to run it up to $940 before I left. I played til midnight and only had about 4 1/2 hours at the table that night.
Booked a nice little win, called it a day and got out. Man I need to play like this more often. After my session Mike and I talked a little and I really think the players after this years World Series have gotten even worse. I also see more Female players at the tables. Every table last night at at least 2 women players at them. Now I am not saying Women are bad players, but I general consensus is that they will not fold top pair. I think it is most Women's, lack of knowledge in the game, that they will force calls in a game. Plus it also helps that when a Women is at the table, especially a good looking one, most players seem to be more distracted while playing. Anyways, I meeting with Tommy from the Aladdin today about a Poker League idea I have, if you know of any ideas for a good name for a Poker League i am up for suggestions.
El Diablo, AKA The Fighting Chicken, Mr. Ed, The ED
Thank God for Black Jack!
My session at the Aladdin on January 10th was a disaster to say the least. After running top two into top set, a guy catching a miracle 2 outer on the river against my nut flush and me once again finding myself set over set. I was stuck for $800 again in 1-2 No limit. Sometime I feel I run unlucky, but who doesn't.
I did make one bad play in this session that cost me about $200 when I made a call with As Js on a Ah 7d 3h, 4d board. I should have folded this hand, but do think I was a bit on tilt and I ran into a set of 7's and a player holding Ad 4s. I was the third person in the pot, which is my indication that I should have folded. Oh well, that is what No Limit Hold 'Em is about learning from your mistakes, making good folds and maximizing your wins.
Hopefully Mike can delve more into AJ's mind about minimize maximize in your win/loss. I think some of this philosophy can improve my game. After the session Patrick, Todd and myself went to eat, but not before I made them swing by a Black Jack table on the main floor. I quickly ran $200 into $700 at Black Jack and called my experience at the Aladdin $300 loss.
Well as you would think this was it for the day, you were wrong. After heading home, I freshened up and went back to the strip and ended up at Caesars. Well all I have to say is when you are running bad, you are running bad. 10Min's after I sat down, I was re buying chips. I ran top two into bottom set in a $800 pot, and I had another run in when I had KK all in against a player with an A in his hand as he spike a ace on the river. So all said in total I was in for $900 at Caesers, tucked my tail and left. As I left Caesers I thought 'Fuck It' how much worse can it get, and I sat down at another Black Jack table, a $25 minimum and bought in for $500. I played through three dealers, 5 shoes, and cashed out $2300, that is right over 2 G's. What a joke, I spent hours playing Poker, to get it all back in about an hour and a half at the Black Jack table!
My totals for the day Down $1700 at Poker, Up $2300 at Black Jack I was up a total of $600 for the day/ "How in the hell" is all I could think. Well I am glad the sun shined on this horrid day. I know I need to work on my swings a little in Poker, maybe, a little less gamble, although, it was the gamble that got me up for the day.
I did make one bad play in this session that cost me about $200 when I made a call with As Js on a Ah 7d 3h, 4d board. I should have folded this hand, but do think I was a bit on tilt and I ran into a set of 7's and a player holding Ad 4s. I was the third person in the pot, which is my indication that I should have folded. Oh well, that is what No Limit Hold 'Em is about learning from your mistakes, making good folds and maximizing your wins.
Hopefully Mike can delve more into AJ's mind about minimize maximize in your win/loss. I think some of this philosophy can improve my game. After the session Patrick, Todd and myself went to eat, but not before I made them swing by a Black Jack table on the main floor. I quickly ran $200 into $700 at Black Jack and called my experience at the Aladdin $300 loss.
Well as you would think this was it for the day, you were wrong. After heading home, I freshened up and went back to the strip and ended up at Caesars. Well all I have to say is when you are running bad, you are running bad. 10Min's after I sat down, I was re buying chips. I ran top two into bottom set in a $800 pot, and I had another run in when I had KK all in against a player with an A in his hand as he spike a ace on the river. So all said in total I was in for $900 at Caesers, tucked my tail and left. As I left Caesers I thought 'Fuck It' how much worse can it get, and I sat down at another Black Jack table, a $25 minimum and bought in for $500. I played through three dealers, 5 shoes, and cashed out $2300, that is right over 2 G's. What a joke, I spent hours playing Poker, to get it all back in about an hour and a half at the Black Jack table!
My totals for the day Down $1700 at Poker, Up $2300 at Black Jack I was up a total of $600 for the day/ "How in the hell" is all I could think. Well I am glad the sun shined on this horrid day. I know I need to work on my swings a little in Poker, maybe, a little less gamble, although, it was the gamble that got me up for the day.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
2 + 3 =5 > 1 + 1 = 2
OK I will explain in a moment, but for now let me set a quick scene. Tues I made it to the Aladdin to join Mike for a fun filled night of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. When I arrived to the room I was seated in the only 1 -2 No limit game going, is was comprised of basically 7 regulars, and only one real bad player at the table. After playing about a half hour, Mike, myself and Todd*, left the Aladdin and walked over to Ballys.
Once at Ballys I was placed in one game, Mike and Todd in another. I sat down and bought in for the max of $300. My game seemed decent, as after 5 hands there were two players that were playing every pot to showdown. In the 6th hand, one of these players raised to $12, I was in the small blind with the 2s 3s and called as did two other players. The flop of 10d 4c 2h came down, I checked as did the other players, and the original raised bet $15. I thought for a moment with bottom pair and called. I figured I may get my stack payed off with trips or two pair so it was worth the implied odds. The two other players folded.
We were heads up, perfect place for me to be with this player. The turn came down and 'Boom' there it was the 3d, I thought for a min or so, till the other player said, "did he check?" I then bet $100, he instantly went all in for $180, and I called. He had AA, my two pair held up and I was shipped the pot. He was furious, this hand was referenced at least 3 other times in the session by him, finally the last time, I pulled off my glasses leaned over and said, "But it was suited," then put my glasses back on. A couple of chuckles came from the players next to me and that was the last I heard.
See if this player knew simple math, then he would know that his AA which is 1 + 1 only equals 2, but 2 + 3 equals 5. If he just knew that his EV was minus 3 (-3EV) then he may have been able to avoid this situation. To demonstrate this your self click here: http://www.calculator.org/jcalc98.html
The session went on for around 5 hours, I cashed out with Mike and Todd, and we walked back to our cars, I was up a totals of $440 for the day. And yes finally a nice win without going broke three times. Well I will be playing again today, wish me luck.
* Todd is a player I recently met through Mike, mike knew him from the time period I took off from playing over the summer. Todd is in town visiting for about a month.
Once at Ballys I was placed in one game, Mike and Todd in another. I sat down and bought in for the max of $300. My game seemed decent, as after 5 hands there were two players that were playing every pot to showdown. In the 6th hand, one of these players raised to $12, I was in the small blind with the 2s 3s and called as did two other players. The flop of 10d 4c 2h came down, I checked as did the other players, and the original raised bet $15. I thought for a moment with bottom pair and called. I figured I may get my stack payed off with trips or two pair so it was worth the implied odds. The two other players folded.
We were heads up, perfect place for me to be with this player. The turn came down and 'Boom' there it was the 3d, I thought for a min or so, till the other player said, "did he check?" I then bet $100, he instantly went all in for $180, and I called. He had AA, my two pair held up and I was shipped the pot. He was furious, this hand was referenced at least 3 other times in the session by him, finally the last time, I pulled off my glasses leaned over and said, "But it was suited," then put my glasses back on. A couple of chuckles came from the players next to me and that was the last I heard.
See if this player knew simple math, then he would know that his AA which is 1 + 1 only equals 2, but 2 + 3 equals 5. If he just knew that his EV was minus 3 (-3EV) then he may have been able to avoid this situation. To demonstrate this your self click here: http://www.calculator.org/jcalc98.html
The session went on for around 5 hours, I cashed out with Mike and Todd, and we walked back to our cars, I was up a totals of $440 for the day. And yes finally a nice win without going broke three times. Well I will be playing again today, wish me luck.
* Todd is a player I recently met through Mike, mike knew him from the time period I took off from playing over the summer. Todd is in town visiting for about a month.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Trout or Tilt!!!! You decide
So Mondays session started like most of the one have started this year, I was stuck $600 or more in the game before I got started. I made it to the Aladdin to play 1 - 2 No Limit. I was down early, then was up about $100 about 6 hours in, I went to dinner then all hell broke loose. When I got back I saw my $800 chip stack get picked away at by a guy who made two nut flushed against my top two, and called an under pair with three over cards on the board to hit his set on the turn. An of course the 3rd session out of 4 that I was on the losing end of set over set.* All in all without going into too much detail. I tucked my tail and left the Aladdin down $900. I know, how in the world do you lose that much in a 1 - 2 game, well the 'ED' knows how, trust me, nothing more humbling then knowing you became someone Else's action.
OK so on to the rest of the story. I went home and did my Radio mix for Tuesday which needed to be done, got freshened up, had a different mind set, grabbed a chunk of my bankroll and decided to head down to the MGM to play some 2 - 5 no limit. I had, had enough, I got to the MGM about 3:30am Tuesday morning, when I arrived I was seated immediately and instantly recognized a local player, I had played 1 -2 with before and knew he was action. Most of the stacks on the table were between $300 and $700, I bought in for $400, the max is $500.
I wasn't there 15Min's and I doubled up, while under the gun I limped with 2 - 4 of clubs, also known as the "Jack Bauer" of clubs. A guy in middle position raised to $15 and when it got back to me there was 6 way action, so of course I called, the flop came Ad 3d 5h, yeah I flopped the nuts. It was checked by the big blind to me and I over bet the pot betting $125, leaving behind another $315 (I had won a couple small pots before this. The original raiser wasted no time and pushed all in. The field folded to me and I told him "I call, do you have a set?" He said, "No" and I showed him my straight, he showed the Ah Jg the turn and river did not improve his hand and I won the pot. So nice start to this session.
While sitting at the table I realized it was easier to play against this field of players because they had fold equity, twice in raised pots, I made large bluff bets and got players to fold, this was defiantly my type of game. Well after running AK into a set of 3's for $300, I sat with about $500 in front of me when this hand came down.
I in the Big Blind with the 9h 5h, a player in middle position raised to $25, 3 players called as did I and then 3 more behind me. We went 7 ways to the flop for $25 each, wow this was gonna be a good pot. The flop of 10h 6h 3d came down, I checked and it checked all the way to the button, he made a bet of $100. I thought for a few minutes, he had a total of $410 n front of him I had him covered by around $60 dollars or so. Also this player had paid off a couple of hands when he refused to fold when the draws made it so I thought it was a safe bet I would get paid off if I made my flush. I called the $100, and to my surprise another player with almost the same amount as me called as well. The turn was the 9c, I checked, as did the other called and the original raiser went all in for $310. I quickly did the math, and figured my 5 was an out as well as I did not think this player had better then A-10. With a pot now of, $475 this call is a stretch, and I was not getting the right pot odds, but then the greatest thing that could happen did, the other caller announced "call" out of turn. I thought to myself that I was on one buy in and with how the game is going it should not be too hard to get it back. Plus with all of my bad luck I thought, maybe, just maybe something might go my way. Finally I called and so did the player behind me.
As it stood the pot was now at $1580, and my call was laying me over 4 to 1 to call, and as I had it figured my card odds were about 2 1/2 to 1. Well the river card was delt and it was the Kh. I had made my flush. i pushed for my remaining $60 and the other caller sighed and folded what was a busted straight draw. The original raiser rolled over Ad 10c which is exactly where I had put him. I was pushed the pot and my chip stack now stood at $1650. This made up for all the nonsense at the Aladdin, the set over set, from earlier in the day, and to top it off I was up for the entirety of the two sessions. I was in awe. It took me 3 hands to stack all of my chips as I did and now I was the big stack at the table. Normally I may not have so much gamble, don't get me wrong I have been in better spots, but figured this was a good pot to make a play in.
So all in all, my 2-5 experience was positive. I ended up $275 for the two sessions, booked my win and went home. I know I may have been the fish in this situation, but honestly I was willing to do a little gambling to win the big one, or should I say "Catch."
*I now need to develop a plan to fold set over set as apparently I have been practing for some colossal blowup instead.
OK so on to the rest of the story. I went home and did my Radio mix for Tuesday which needed to be done, got freshened up, had a different mind set, grabbed a chunk of my bankroll and decided to head down to the MGM to play some 2 - 5 no limit. I had, had enough, I got to the MGM about 3:30am Tuesday morning, when I arrived I was seated immediately and instantly recognized a local player, I had played 1 -2 with before and knew he was action. Most of the stacks on the table were between $300 and $700, I bought in for $400, the max is $500.
I wasn't there 15Min's and I doubled up, while under the gun I limped with 2 - 4 of clubs, also known as the "Jack Bauer" of clubs. A guy in middle position raised to $15 and when it got back to me there was 6 way action, so of course I called, the flop came Ad 3d 5h, yeah I flopped the nuts. It was checked by the big blind to me and I over bet the pot betting $125, leaving behind another $315 (I had won a couple small pots before this. The original raiser wasted no time and pushed all in. The field folded to me and I told him "I call, do you have a set?" He said, "No" and I showed him my straight, he showed the Ah Jg the turn and river did not improve his hand and I won the pot. So nice start to this session.
While sitting at the table I realized it was easier to play against this field of players because they had fold equity, twice in raised pots, I made large bluff bets and got players to fold, this was defiantly my type of game. Well after running AK into a set of 3's for $300, I sat with about $500 in front of me when this hand came down.
I in the Big Blind with the 9h 5h, a player in middle position raised to $25, 3 players called as did I and then 3 more behind me. We went 7 ways to the flop for $25 each, wow this was gonna be a good pot. The flop of 10h 6h 3d came down, I checked and it checked all the way to the button, he made a bet of $100. I thought for a few minutes, he had a total of $410 n front of him I had him covered by around $60 dollars or so. Also this player had paid off a couple of hands when he refused to fold when the draws made it so I thought it was a safe bet I would get paid off if I made my flush. I called the $100, and to my surprise another player with almost the same amount as me called as well. The turn was the 9c, I checked, as did the other called and the original raiser went all in for $310. I quickly did the math, and figured my 5 was an out as well as I did not think this player had better then A-10. With a pot now of, $475 this call is a stretch, and I was not getting the right pot odds, but then the greatest thing that could happen did, the other caller announced "call" out of turn. I thought to myself that I was on one buy in and with how the game is going it should not be too hard to get it back. Plus with all of my bad luck I thought, maybe, just maybe something might go my way. Finally I called and so did the player behind me.
As it stood the pot was now at $1580, and my call was laying me over 4 to 1 to call, and as I had it figured my card odds were about 2 1/2 to 1. Well the river card was delt and it was the Kh. I had made my flush. i pushed for my remaining $60 and the other caller sighed and folded what was a busted straight draw. The original raiser rolled over Ad 10c which is exactly where I had put him. I was pushed the pot and my chip stack now stood at $1650. This made up for all the nonsense at the Aladdin, the set over set, from earlier in the day, and to top it off I was up for the entirety of the two sessions. I was in awe. It took me 3 hands to stack all of my chips as I did and now I was the big stack at the table. Normally I may not have so much gamble, don't get me wrong I have been in better spots, but figured this was a good pot to make a play in.
So all in all, my 2-5 experience was positive. I ended up $275 for the two sessions, booked my win and went home. I know I may have been the fish in this situation, but honestly I was willing to do a little gambling to win the big one, or should I say "Catch."
*I now need to develop a plan to fold set over set as apparently I have been practing for some colossal blowup instead.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Not much new - "Fun with Tony B."
As I sat down to blog about my Sunday session at the Aladdin on 1/7/07, I realize, I have nothing new to write about. My session lasted all of 2 hours as I sat down at 4:45pm and left at 7:45pm. It was AJ's last day in Vegas for a while and he arrived about 30 minutes before I left. I won a big pot in this game and left up $170. With not much to report, I thought I would spend some time on my experiences with a player from Georgia. His name Tony B.
"FUN WITH TONY B."
Tony B. was an African American player from Georgia, the self proclaimed 'Tony Bologna'. He was very interesting, as a player and personality. He would provide trash talk, a good suck out and an occasional slow roll. All of which added to the "Fun" at the table.
I played with Tony over three different days at the Aladdin in December. Over those three days, Tony never changed his shirt. Whether he showered was yet to be seen, but I will say I have noticed a trend; if a player wears the same clothes on consecutive days they seem to be more loose. I do not know if this is because they are gambling the entire time they are in Vegas, or if they just don't bring some other clothes. But no matter what the case was, with Tony B. it was the gamble that kept him going.
Tony had money, he befriended me, as he said, I was "on his side." He thought all the chips should come to our end of the table, and I played this off, giving him high 5's, and encouraging him to make even worse calls, all while I sat and waited. Now I know I have not mentioned too much about his play style but this should give you an indication.
On the second day I saw Tony B. I played a 14 hour session, because as long as he was at the table, the table was good. During this session I watched Tony build his stack up from his $200 buy in to $1900, then proceed to lose everything and re buy 4 more times.
The following is an actual hand Tony played during this session. While sitting in the 1 seat and under the gun, Tony B. raised preflop to $25, his current chip stack was around $400. A tight aggressive player in middle position called, and a loose player in late position called. The flop of Ac 8d 5d came down. Now Tony had a thing for black chips, and during his run at the table every time he had more then $300 in front of him he was coloring up a stack or two of red $5 chips to a $100 black chip. Tony had one Black chip when this hand started. Tony's patented move was to throw in a $100 chips almost at random, you never knew when he would, this was partially what kept this game so damn interesting.
So with the flop of Ac 8d 5d Tony made this ever so famous $100 chip flip into the middle of the table. No sooner did the chip hit the table the first caller announced himself all in for $275. Immediately the loose player in late position pushed his $400+ chips stack in the middle as well. Tony sat there and stared at his cards, then the board then his cards then the board. Almost like it was a Tennis match that no one could ever win. Finally the first all in player said, "C'mon how about a call, you have called everyone else so far." This is when Tony's charm came in, he looked up after taking a drink of his 12th 'Beefeater and Grapefruit Juice'
(http://www.garnetwine.com/sku003071.html) and said. "We'll you don't want Tony to call, cause if he calls , You Lose!" This statement was just fitting, after all referring to yourself in the third person is just one part of becoming a winning player, according to Highwaytime Mike.
Well back to the hand. As Tony thought for a minute more the dealer informed him he would need to either put all his chips in the middle or fold, he looked up and said "So you are saying I should bet this?" and shows the dealer his hand. A look of disbelief came over the dealers face. Almost to say, 'We have been waiting this long for that?' Finally Tony grabs his his chips, double fisted I might add; (which could be the third rule as to what you should do to become a winning player according to Highwaytime.) and throws them in the middle of the table. Once he does this the dealer says call, turns and burns the turn and river cards faster then I have ever seen any dealer. The turn card was the 9s the river card was the 7h. The dealers proclaims "Turn them up."*
The first all in players shows down Ad Kd, he had flopped top pair with a flush draw. The second player shows down As 10c for top pair. Finally it is our hero's turn to flip over his cards, Tony B. gets a big smile on his face, "Says I don't know, but if I was to look at my hand, I think it is the winning hand, ship it to Tony!" Both players look at Tony with amazement, Tony then gives one of the greatest slow rolls of all time flipping each card over, first showing the 10s and then the 6h for yeah, that is right a 10 high straight. The whole table just loses it and pandemonium breaks out. Everyone is talking and laughing, players from other tables have made their way over to see what had gone on. The dealer counts down Tony's stack and he has both players covered, she prepares the the pot and pushes it to Tony. He stands up reaches his hand out to the player who had the Ad Kd and shakes his hand, as he shakes it he says, "It's not many peoples day, when Tony Bologna is at the table." The player pulls his hand away tells him to "Fuck Off," and leaves the Poker Room. The other player from this hand then asks how much he can re buy, is told a max of $200 and then calls the floor and asks if he can buy more then $200, he is told no and re buys $200 and sits behind his $200 stack furious. I honestly don't even think this second player, realized the other player in the hand had him beat, but he was now determined to personally destroy Tony. Well that lasted all of 2 hands as this player paid off my nut flush for his whole stack, man was Tony good for the table.
As I mentioned this session I player 14 hours against Tony, most of which was me watching him destroy new players as they sat down, with plays similar to this, although probably not with him holding cards in quite a worse position then his 10 - 6 was in. As we played on I picked up a couple of hands against Tony and my session was a good one, I cashed out $1400, on a $400 buy in, from this session almost all of which came from Tony. In the three days I was up $2200 from playing in Tony's games. I can only hope Tony comes back to Vegas soon, but if you are ever in Biloxi, you might just find Tony as he had said many times, "Tony Balogne is the man, in Biloxi!"
*Using the Card Player poker odds calculator, (http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_odds/texas_holdem) you can see what the players odds were after the flop.
Tony had a 2.1% chance to win
Player 1 had a 93.02% chance to win
Player 3 had a 3.54% chance to win
on the turn the odds were
Tony 7.14%
Player 1 90.48%
Player 2 2.38%
"FUN WITH TONY B."
Tony B. was an African American player from Georgia, the self proclaimed 'Tony Bologna'. He was very interesting, as a player and personality. He would provide trash talk, a good suck out and an occasional slow roll. All of which added to the "Fun" at the table.
I played with Tony over three different days at the Aladdin in December. Over those three days, Tony never changed his shirt. Whether he showered was yet to be seen, but I will say I have noticed a trend; if a player wears the same clothes on consecutive days they seem to be more loose. I do not know if this is because they are gambling the entire time they are in Vegas, or if they just don't bring some other clothes. But no matter what the case was, with Tony B. it was the gamble that kept him going.
Tony had money, he befriended me, as he said, I was "on his side." He thought all the chips should come to our end of the table, and I played this off, giving him high 5's, and encouraging him to make even worse calls, all while I sat and waited. Now I know I have not mentioned too much about his play style but this should give you an indication.
On the second day I saw Tony B. I played a 14 hour session, because as long as he was at the table, the table was good. During this session I watched Tony build his stack up from his $200 buy in to $1900, then proceed to lose everything and re buy 4 more times.
The following is an actual hand Tony played during this session. While sitting in the 1 seat and under the gun, Tony B. raised preflop to $25, his current chip stack was around $400. A tight aggressive player in middle position called, and a loose player in late position called. The flop of Ac 8d 5d came down. Now Tony had a thing for black chips, and during his run at the table every time he had more then $300 in front of him he was coloring up a stack or two of red $5 chips to a $100 black chip. Tony had one Black chip when this hand started. Tony's patented move was to throw in a $100 chips almost at random, you never knew when he would, this was partially what kept this game so damn interesting.
So with the flop of Ac 8d 5d Tony made this ever so famous $100 chip flip into the middle of the table. No sooner did the chip hit the table the first caller announced himself all in for $275. Immediately the loose player in late position pushed his $400+ chips stack in the middle as well. Tony sat there and stared at his cards, then the board then his cards then the board. Almost like it was a Tennis match that no one could ever win. Finally the first all in player said, "C'mon how about a call, you have called everyone else so far." This is when Tony's charm came in, he looked up after taking a drink of his 12th 'Beefeater and Grapefruit Juice'
(http://www.garnetwine.com/sku003071.html) and said. "We'll you don't want Tony to call, cause if he calls , You Lose!" This statement was just fitting, after all referring to yourself in the third person is just one part of becoming a winning player, according to Highwaytime Mike.Well back to the hand. As Tony thought for a minute more the dealer informed him he would need to either put all his chips in the middle or fold, he looked up and said "So you are saying I should bet this?" and shows the dealer his hand. A look of disbelief came over the dealers face. Almost to say, 'We have been waiting this long for that?' Finally Tony grabs his his chips, double fisted I might add; (which could be the third rule as to what you should do to become a winning player according to Highwaytime.) and throws them in the middle of the table. Once he does this the dealer says call, turns and burns the turn and river cards faster then I have ever seen any dealer. The turn card was the 9s the river card was the 7h. The dealers proclaims "Turn them up."*
The first all in players shows down Ad Kd, he had flopped top pair with a flush draw. The second player shows down As 10c for top pair. Finally it is our hero's turn to flip over his cards, Tony B. gets a big smile on his face, "Says I don't know, but if I was to look at my hand, I think it is the winning hand, ship it to Tony!" Both players look at Tony with amazement, Tony then gives one of the greatest slow rolls of all time flipping each card over, first showing the 10s and then the 6h for yeah, that is right a 10 high straight. The whole table just loses it and pandemonium breaks out. Everyone is talking and laughing, players from other tables have made their way over to see what had gone on. The dealer counts down Tony's stack and he has both players covered, she prepares the the pot and pushes it to Tony. He stands up reaches his hand out to the player who had the Ad Kd and shakes his hand, as he shakes it he says, "It's not many peoples day, when Tony Bologna is at the table." The player pulls his hand away tells him to "Fuck Off," and leaves the Poker Room. The other player from this hand then asks how much he can re buy, is told a max of $200 and then calls the floor and asks if he can buy more then $200, he is told no and re buys $200 and sits behind his $200 stack furious. I honestly don't even think this second player, realized the other player in the hand had him beat, but he was now determined to personally destroy Tony. Well that lasted all of 2 hands as this player paid off my nut flush for his whole stack, man was Tony good for the table.
As I mentioned this session I player 14 hours against Tony, most of which was me watching him destroy new players as they sat down, with plays similar to this, although probably not with him holding cards in quite a worse position then his 10 - 6 was in. As we played on I picked up a couple of hands against Tony and my session was a good one, I cashed out $1400, on a $400 buy in, from this session almost all of which came from Tony. In the three days I was up $2200 from playing in Tony's games. I can only hope Tony comes back to Vegas soon, but if you are ever in Biloxi, you might just find Tony as he had said many times, "Tony Balogne is the man, in Biloxi!"
*Using the Card Player poker odds calculator, (http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_odds/texas_holdem) you can see what the players odds were after the flop.
Tony had a 2.1% chance to win
Player 1 had a 93.02% chance to win
Player 3 had a 3.54% chance to win
on the turn the odds were
Tony 7.14%
Player 1 90.48%
Player 2 2.38%
Saturday, January 6, 2007
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Split my session up into three parts today 1/5/06. Started at 5pm at the MGM, not much to tell here I played three hands in a hour, my big hand was JJ in a raised pot with the flop 10-8-10, 8-6 went broke in the hand. Man I love tourists.
Now it was on to the Aladdin. I had spoke with Mike earlier and he told me this calling station was going to be there as AJ had called him and told him to come down. When I got there the calling station was not there and the game was average. Mike & AJ were at the same table with me, and usually when the three of us are at the table were attempting to play for the same fish's chips, no pun intended.
A second game broke and some players were moved into our game. One we knew and a obviously very drunk Eagle fan, his name was Mike, but we will call him "Michael The Great" for the rest of this blog. It was easy to see he was going to play every pot to a showdown with what he thought was anything. This mainly consisted of A high.
While I was on the button with $230 in front of me this hand came up Michael the Great raised to $20, folded to me & I had Kh Ks, I re raised to $60 and it folded back to our fish. He thought for a few minutes then announce All In and I called. He said "I have an Ace" and I turned over my Kings. The river was an A and he showed the As 9s. So my chips were pushed to this Donkey and I was left in awe. I had gotten the situation I wanted, but Oh well.
About 15Min's later I picked up Ah Kh in middle position, I limped and to my amazement Michael the Great announced all in, in a unraised pot out of the Big Blind. I decided to call my $180 I had in front of me right now. We flip over our hands, he shows the Ac 10c, I was in a good spot again after the board double paired we chopped this pot, WTF twice now the guy has escaped.
I took off exactly 3 hands when an aggressive player raised to $15, the field folded and I looked down in the Small Blind and had two black aces. I just smoothed called knowing I would at least get him to bet the flop, what a flop it was I flopped top set. I checked and he bet $15. I thought for a few minutes then I called, the turn was a blank I checked again, he bet $25 and I raised to $50, he went all in for $100 more and I called. He had Ah Ks and I showed him the bad news.
Now just like the day before with the guy that I kept running over, I think this kid that had AK was in the same situation. About 45 Min's after the set of Aces, I was in the small blind. He had won two big pots and had almost $400 in front of him, I had a little more like $430 or so. He raised to $15, and it folded around to me. I had two black Kings so I decided to just call with only one player behind me to act. We went heads up to the flop, the flop of 9c 8s 4d came down. I checked and he bet $35, now I checked with the intention to just call, and then bet the turn, but I stopped and thought for a minute. When he had AK top pair, he had lead out for $15, in that hand there were two spades on the flop. This bet of $35 made me think he had a hand he was trying to protect from an Ace, likes QQ or JJ possibly KK also. This prompted me to check raise as he would not put me on an over pair larger then his. I raised to $75, he thought for a minute then raised me again $100 more, I had him right where I wanted him, I knew he had QQ I was positive. He now had about $250 behind. I did not know if I could get another bet out of him if I just called, so after putting on the show I went all in. AJ and Mike were in amazement, here were two of the big stacks pushing at each other. He thought for a long time, finally he said call, and as soon as he did I said out loud "You have Queens'" he looked at me and flipped over QQ, I showed him my Kings, my hand stood up and I took the pot. It felt good to know exactly where he was in the hand, and I am now playing better where I am figuring ways to get players to put their chips in the middle when they are behind. I finished the second leg of 3 1/2 hours of play and cashed out $845, up $445 for the session.
Finally after I went and Dj'd at V Bar I was still not tired and ready to play again, I returned to the Aladdin, where most of the table lineup had not changed. I will not get too in depth on this part of the session (for more details read http://www.highwaytime.blogspot.com/, "Set Over Set with the Educated Donkey").
All I have to say is that it was uncalled for for Mike to push, I have folded huge hands for him, not played hands in situations with him, and have checked down more then my fair share of good sized pots with him. I think he was just feeling like maybe I was trying to steal the pot, maybe he thought it was his pot, and honestly, I know he was frustrated from his long session. Oh well, it happens, but I will make sure I do not have set over set three days in a row, because I will not be playing on Saturday, I am taking the day off from Poker.
Overall for the day I was up $605, decent day of Poker. I will be playing a lot next week, I am going to try to play 30 hours next week and see how things go. The week will start Sunday for me.
Now it was on to the Aladdin. I had spoke with Mike earlier and he told me this calling station was going to be there as AJ had called him and told him to come down. When I got there the calling station was not there and the game was average. Mike & AJ were at the same table with me, and usually when the three of us are at the table were attempting to play for the same fish's chips, no pun intended.
A second game broke and some players were moved into our game. One we knew and a obviously very drunk Eagle fan, his name was Mike, but we will call him "Michael The Great" for the rest of this blog. It was easy to see he was going to play every pot to a showdown with what he thought was anything. This mainly consisted of A high.
While I was on the button with $230 in front of me this hand came up Michael the Great raised to $20, folded to me & I had Kh Ks, I re raised to $60 and it folded back to our fish. He thought for a few minutes then announce All In and I called. He said "I have an Ace" and I turned over my Kings. The river was an A and he showed the As 9s. So my chips were pushed to this Donkey and I was left in awe. I had gotten the situation I wanted, but Oh well.
About 15Min's later I picked up Ah Kh in middle position, I limped and to my amazement Michael the Great announced all in, in a unraised pot out of the Big Blind. I decided to call my $180 I had in front of me right now. We flip over our hands, he shows the Ac 10c, I was in a good spot again after the board double paired we chopped this pot, WTF twice now the guy has escaped.
I took off exactly 3 hands when an aggressive player raised to $15, the field folded and I looked down in the Small Blind and had two black aces. I just smoothed called knowing I would at least get him to bet the flop, what a flop it was I flopped top set. I checked and he bet $15. I thought for a few minutes then I called, the turn was a blank I checked again, he bet $25 and I raised to $50, he went all in for $100 more and I called. He had Ah Ks and I showed him the bad news.
Now just like the day before with the guy that I kept running over, I think this kid that had AK was in the same situation. About 45 Min's after the set of Aces, I was in the small blind. He had won two big pots and had almost $400 in front of him, I had a little more like $430 or so. He raised to $15, and it folded around to me. I had two black Kings so I decided to just call with only one player behind me to act. We went heads up to the flop, the flop of 9c 8s 4d came down. I checked and he bet $35, now I checked with the intention to just call, and then bet the turn, but I stopped and thought for a minute. When he had AK top pair, he had lead out for $15, in that hand there were two spades on the flop. This bet of $35 made me think he had a hand he was trying to protect from an Ace, likes QQ or JJ possibly KK also. This prompted me to check raise as he would not put me on an over pair larger then his. I raised to $75, he thought for a minute then raised me again $100 more, I had him right where I wanted him, I knew he had QQ I was positive. He now had about $250 behind. I did not know if I could get another bet out of him if I just called, so after putting on the show I went all in. AJ and Mike were in amazement, here were two of the big stacks pushing at each other. He thought for a long time, finally he said call, and as soon as he did I said out loud "You have Queens'" he looked at me and flipped over QQ, I showed him my Kings, my hand stood up and I took the pot. It felt good to know exactly where he was in the hand, and I am now playing better where I am figuring ways to get players to put their chips in the middle when they are behind. I finished the second leg of 3 1/2 hours of play and cashed out $845, up $445 for the session.
Finally after I went and Dj'd at V Bar I was still not tired and ready to play again, I returned to the Aladdin, where most of the table lineup had not changed. I will not get too in depth on this part of the session (for more details read http://www.highwaytime.blogspot.com/, "Set Over Set with the Educated Donkey").
All I have to say is that it was uncalled for for Mike to push, I have folded huge hands for him, not played hands in situations with him, and have checked down more then my fair share of good sized pots with him. I think he was just feeling like maybe I was trying to steal the pot, maybe he thought it was his pot, and honestly, I know he was frustrated from his long session. Oh well, it happens, but I will make sure I do not have set over set three days in a row, because I will not be playing on Saturday, I am taking the day off from Poker.
Overall for the day I was up $605, decent day of Poker. I will be playing a lot next week, I am going to try to play 30 hours next week and see how things go. The week will start Sunday for me.
Friday, January 5, 2007
The Beat down!!! No seriously!!
Tonite I made my way to the Aladdin once again as, I figure, why change anything, if things are going well then that is good right? Anyways I made it to the strip around 8pm. There were two 1 -2 No limit games going I was placed in the second game. When I sat down I recognized a couple faces from my session the night before and a player that I have played with a few times. I believe his name is Brent. Anyways, there were a few stacks of $500 on the table, which I like as it is easy to double up. I won my first hand with 22 when I called a raise and bet the flop. Then got into a series of nonsense, lost a big pot with the second nut flush against the nut flush. Flopped a set of 5's against a set of Aces, next you know I have been there 20 minutes and I am in the game for $600.
All I can think is how is this happening again, but I keep my head straight, soon after I went on a small run actually I won 8 hands in a row and my worse starting hand was KQ suited. I build my stack up to about $350.
One of the players in the game was an older guy, pretty tight and I have not see him play much. But over the first hour I have seen him start to loosen up after the flop a little. As Brent is raising almost every hand preflop. I knew I could catch this tight player making a mistake after the flop because of all the action. This is when all my fun began.
This guy raises to $15 in middle position two players call and so do I with the 7 c 10c, the flop of 7s 4d 7h comes down I check, he bets $25, the other players fold and I call the turn is the 7d, I just turned the nuts. I lead out with a bet of $60, he thinks and then raises all in for a total of $120, I call he shows JJ and I show him the 4 sevens. But wait there is more. This player reloads to $100 two hands later he raises to $12 one caller and I call with Ks Qs, the flop of Qh Qc 6d comes down, he bets $40 leaving $38 behind I raise to $100 he calls, I show him the 3 queens, he folds when the board ends up Qh Qc 6d 9d 4s. So I have now flopped trips twice. Of course this gets the table talking, they were amazed this had happened against the same player. I have now gotten him twice.
He reloads and is now the button. Brent is under the gun and announces a straddle, in middle position I limp with Jc 9s, there are two limper's and the button raises to $12, Brent calls and so do I. The flops comes Qh Jh Js, OK this is unreal, there is no way I just flopped trips again, we both check and he bets $60, he leaves $18 behind Brent folds and I raise to put him all in he calls quickly and shows a Qs, I show him my Jc 9s and he looks angry the turn is the 9h and the river is the Jd giving me Quads again. OK this guy is getting his ass kicked by me. No ,matter what the poor guy has I have out flopped him every time. I have never had a run of cards like this before.
He asks the dealer to move seats, he reloads $100 and moves two seats to my left. A half hour goes by and we start loosing a few players. Our table is 4 handed and I am on the button, I pick up Qc 10h, it is folded to me I raise to $7 against the blinds. They both call. the flop of 5c 4c 2h comes down the blinds both check as do I. The turn is the 10c, not the best card that could come down but I think I probably still have the best hand, the small blind checks and the guy I have been running over leads out to $8, I call with the Qc in my hand I think if I hit a club I have the best hand. Then the small blind calls. The river is the 10s, yep, I have trips again against this guy. The small blind checks, and he bets $25, leaving about $35 behind, I re raise to $70, the small blind folds, and our "Friend" calls I show him the trips 10's. He throws his cards in the middle of the table and says "No Fucking Way, this guy is destroying me," grabs his jacket and storms out of the Poker room.
I felt bad but like it's said that's Poker. A couple of hands later the player to my right who was pretty good tells me "that is the greatest run of cards I have ever seen." After it was all said and done, not only did I get all my money back from the hands earlier, I actually made my goal of $175. After playing for 3 hours I got up and left. I will not forget this session anytime soon, as I will always remember it as "The Beat down"
All I can think is how is this happening again, but I keep my head straight, soon after I went on a small run actually I won 8 hands in a row and my worse starting hand was KQ suited. I build my stack up to about $350.
One of the players in the game was an older guy, pretty tight and I have not see him play much. But over the first hour I have seen him start to loosen up after the flop a little. As Brent is raising almost every hand preflop. I knew I could catch this tight player making a mistake after the flop because of all the action. This is when all my fun began.
This guy raises to $15 in middle position two players call and so do I with the 7 c 10c, the flop of 7s 4d 7h comes down I check, he bets $25, the other players fold and I call the turn is the 7d, I just turned the nuts. I lead out with a bet of $60, he thinks and then raises all in for a total of $120, I call he shows JJ and I show him the 4 sevens. But wait there is more. This player reloads to $100 two hands later he raises to $12 one caller and I call with Ks Qs, the flop of Qh Qc 6d comes down, he bets $40 leaving $38 behind I raise to $100 he calls, I show him the 3 queens, he folds when the board ends up Qh Qc 6d 9d 4s. So I have now flopped trips twice. Of course this gets the table talking, they were amazed this had happened against the same player. I have now gotten him twice.
He reloads and is now the button. Brent is under the gun and announces a straddle, in middle position I limp with Jc 9s, there are two limper's and the button raises to $12, Brent calls and so do I. The flops comes Qh Jh Js, OK this is unreal, there is no way I just flopped trips again, we both check and he bets $60, he leaves $18 behind Brent folds and I raise to put him all in he calls quickly and shows a Qs, I show him my Jc 9s and he looks angry the turn is the 9h and the river is the Jd giving me Quads again. OK this guy is getting his ass kicked by me. No ,matter what the poor guy has I have out flopped him every time. I have never had a run of cards like this before.
He asks the dealer to move seats, he reloads $100 and moves two seats to my left. A half hour goes by and we start loosing a few players. Our table is 4 handed and I am on the button, I pick up Qc 10h, it is folded to me I raise to $7 against the blinds. They both call. the flop of 5c 4c 2h comes down the blinds both check as do I. The turn is the 10c, not the best card that could come down but I think I probably still have the best hand, the small blind checks and the guy I have been running over leads out to $8, I call with the Qc in my hand I think if I hit a club I have the best hand. Then the small blind calls. The river is the 10s, yep, I have trips again against this guy. The small blind checks, and he bets $25, leaving about $35 behind, I re raise to $70, the small blind folds, and our "Friend" calls I show him the trips 10's. He throws his cards in the middle of the table and says "No Fucking Way, this guy is destroying me," grabs his jacket and storms out of the Poker room.
I felt bad but like it's said that's Poker. A couple of hands later the player to my right who was pretty good tells me "that is the greatest run of cards I have ever seen." After it was all said and done, not only did I get all my money back from the hands earlier, I actually made my goal of $175. After playing for 3 hours I got up and left. I will not forget this session anytime soon, as I will always remember it as "The Beat down"
Thursday, January 4, 2007
8-5 and the Orange hat
Made it to Aladdin tonite about 11pm to play 1 -2 No Limit. When I arrive there where two tables going and as was the case the night before, Mike and John were seated and already had chip stacks. I was seated in the other game. I was card dead most of the session til our table broke and we combind to one table. We were 4 handed for over an hour, I liked this game because the major calling station was in it and he was trying to give away his money.
So I title this blog the 8-5 and the Orange hat. My reason for this is pretty simple, there was a player playing at my first table who was brought this game making it 6 handed, as another table had broke. He was from Canada, was very loose agressive, and he had an orange hat on. And it was bright Orange, like contruction cone orange. Anyway as he sat down with his $600 in chips, I knew he was ready to Rock n Roll. As I suspected he started raising hands, except umlike his last table, our tables calling station was taking it upon himself to extract every chips from the Canadian. He was talking and made a gay joke about another players, basically saying he looked gay. I took this oppurtunity to rile him up, I knew if he got any type of resistance it would question his man hood and he would go on major tilt. Man I was right I said to the player he was making fun of, "He's calling you gay? That is coming from a guy with a bright Orange hat on." The Canadian about left his seat. He started saying things like "How is that relevaent" all while he was now raising to $25 every hand, the sad thing is I could not pick up a hand at this point, but Patrick from last nights blog did. While on the button Patrck limped with the 8d 5d, the Canadian was in the Small Blind and made it $20, the calling station called, as well as did Patrick. The flop of 8s 6h 4d came down the Canadian led out for $60, the calling station called and Patrcik decided to push all in for $129 more, the dealer announced the raise and the Canadian threw in $49 in chips, the dealers said $100 more please and he tried to take it back. I said to get the floor and the floor made the money play, the player folded losing $29 more dollars, the calling station called, he show 6c 7c, Patrck showed his 8d 5d. Pats hand stood up and he was pushed the pot.
Now earlier in the session on the same board I had the same hand as Patrick against the calling station flodded to pair as well and rivered the straight. Kind of funny that we both won pretty good size pot with that hand.
As I wrapped up my session at 5am, I was up $213 for the session. not too bad since I was down for the majority of the session.
So I title this blog the 8-5 and the Orange hat. My reason for this is pretty simple, there was a player playing at my first table who was brought this game making it 6 handed, as another table had broke. He was from Canada, was very loose agressive, and he had an orange hat on. And it was bright Orange, like contruction cone orange. Anyway as he sat down with his $600 in chips, I knew he was ready to Rock n Roll. As I suspected he started raising hands, except umlike his last table, our tables calling station was taking it upon himself to extract every chips from the Canadian. He was talking and made a gay joke about another players, basically saying he looked gay. I took this oppurtunity to rile him up, I knew if he got any type of resistance it would question his man hood and he would go on major tilt. Man I was right I said to the player he was making fun of, "He's calling you gay? That is coming from a guy with a bright Orange hat on." The Canadian about left his seat. He started saying things like "How is that relevaent" all while he was now raising to $25 every hand, the sad thing is I could not pick up a hand at this point, but Patrick from last nights blog did. While on the button Patrck limped with the 8d 5d, the Canadian was in the Small Blind and made it $20, the calling station called, as well as did Patrick. The flop of 8s 6h 4d came down the Canadian led out for $60, the calling station called and Patrcik decided to push all in for $129 more, the dealer announced the raise and the Canadian threw in $49 in chips, the dealers said $100 more please and he tried to take it back. I said to get the floor and the floor made the money play, the player folded losing $29 more dollars, the calling station called, he show 6c 7c, Patrck showed his 8d 5d. Pats hand stood up and he was pushed the pot.
Now earlier in the session on the same board I had the same hand as Patrick against the calling station flodded to pair as well and rivered the straight. Kind of funny that we both won pretty good size pot with that hand.
As I wrapped up my session at 5am, I was up $213 for the session. not too bad since I was down for the majority of the session.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Getting to know Patrick
Well tonight I went down to the strip to play 1 -2 No limit at the Aladdin. When I arrived there were 3 games going all with open seats. Mike and AJ were at one table, most of the off duty dealers from the Aladdin were at another table. I chose to sit in this game. After I sat down I recognized a player I had played with the night before that was a calling station at the 3rd table. I requested a table change, and a seat opened up. The seat was right next to Patrick. Patrick is a guy that has been a regular at the Aladdin for some time. Although him and Mike are friendly, I have never really had the opportunity to get to know Pat at all. When I sat down he was very friendly with me and him and I talked quite a bit about the table, players etc. Patrick was talking to another player about going to eat and I decided to join them.
As we ate and I talked I learned a little about Patrick, including him being from D.C., which is where Mike if from also. Patrick also lived in San Diego for some time as well. All in all Patrick seems like a pretty nice guy, somewhat interesting, I am sure I will have him in future blogs as he plays at the Aladdin most of the time.
The person we went to dinner with was a female player, and for the life of me I cannot remember her name. I think it was Gina, for the blogs sake, we'll call her Gina. Apparently she is seeing one of the dealers at the Aladdin and did not want to eat alone so we joined her. She was a little too high energy for me, but that was OK she was nice overall.
When we returned from eating, Patrick and I had been moved into another game as our table had broke. We sat down and were also now at the same table as Gina. The table was average, mainly tight passive players, not a lot of action. Patrick left about 15 Min's later.
The only other No Limit table broke and Joe also known as the "Magic Man" was seated to my left in Patrick's seat. I have played with Joe many of times he is a Gothic looking kid, young plays a little unorthodox, but seems to be a winning style. After two button rounds I had not played a hand, I was in the big blind bullshitting with Joe when Gina who was in early position raised to $15. I had not looked at my hand and Joe said, "hey can I sweat ya". Sweating being a term used to look at another players hand when you are out of the action. I said "sure I have not looked yet", he looked at my hand and I said, "so what should I do"? He said, "well I cannot tell you, but you might want to look". as one other player called, I looked down and there they were, two glorious Aces, I thought for a minute and decided not to raise as Gina seemed to be the type of player that would only raise a premium hand. I thought for a few more minutes, noticed that the other player who called only had $40 in front of him left and I finally just called. I figured, Gina would only raise with JJ or better, and that I could get her to lead out on the flop, which will more then likely pot commit herself as she only had about $100 left. The flop of Qc 10s 4h came down I checked and Gina bet $25, the other player folded. It got back to me and I called I knew she was going to play for her stack so I would have her commit it on the turn. The turn was the 4c and I lead out for $60, she instantly went All In, I called, she turned over KK and I showed her the bad news with my AA. She somberly picked up her Ipod, said nice playing with you and left, I felt bad but that's poker.
I had figured she would have possibly folded had I re raised her before the turn as she was worried about playing in any pots with Patrick or I. She would know I was only re raising her with AA or KK so I figured this was the best way to play the hand. This play was something I had read in Angels book 'No Limit Hold Em'. In there he discuss play against short stacks in 1 - 2 No limit and in this situation, there was really no way I was folding my hand for the chips either player in the hand had. So instead of giving them a chance to fold their hands knowing they were beat I took a little bit of a chance and let them bet off their chips.
Well overall the session was successful I made $150 in about 4 hours of play, I left when the game was 5 handed and most players were above average in the game. No need to play in that game, when there are many other games in Vegas with players just looking to give their money away.
As we ate and I talked I learned a little about Patrick, including him being from D.C., which is where Mike if from also. Patrick also lived in San Diego for some time as well. All in all Patrick seems like a pretty nice guy, somewhat interesting, I am sure I will have him in future blogs as he plays at the Aladdin most of the time.
The person we went to dinner with was a female player, and for the life of me I cannot remember her name. I think it was Gina, for the blogs sake, we'll call her Gina. Apparently she is seeing one of the dealers at the Aladdin and did not want to eat alone so we joined her. She was a little too high energy for me, but that was OK she was nice overall.
When we returned from eating, Patrick and I had been moved into another game as our table had broke. We sat down and were also now at the same table as Gina. The table was average, mainly tight passive players, not a lot of action. Patrick left about 15 Min's later.
The only other No Limit table broke and Joe also known as the "Magic Man" was seated to my left in Patrick's seat. I have played with Joe many of times he is a Gothic looking kid, young plays a little unorthodox, but seems to be a winning style. After two button rounds I had not played a hand, I was in the big blind bullshitting with Joe when Gina who was in early position raised to $15. I had not looked at my hand and Joe said, "hey can I sweat ya". Sweating being a term used to look at another players hand when you are out of the action. I said "sure I have not looked yet", he looked at my hand and I said, "so what should I do"? He said, "well I cannot tell you, but you might want to look". as one other player called, I looked down and there they were, two glorious Aces, I thought for a minute and decided not to raise as Gina seemed to be the type of player that would only raise a premium hand. I thought for a few more minutes, noticed that the other player who called only had $40 in front of him left and I finally just called. I figured, Gina would only raise with JJ or better, and that I could get her to lead out on the flop, which will more then likely pot commit herself as she only had about $100 left. The flop of Qc 10s 4h came down I checked and Gina bet $25, the other player folded. It got back to me and I called I knew she was going to play for her stack so I would have her commit it on the turn. The turn was the 4c and I lead out for $60, she instantly went All In, I called, she turned over KK and I showed her the bad news with my AA. She somberly picked up her Ipod, said nice playing with you and left, I felt bad but that's poker.
I had figured she would have possibly folded had I re raised her before the turn as she was worried about playing in any pots with Patrick or I. She would know I was only re raising her with AA or KK so I figured this was the best way to play the hand. This play was something I had read in Angels book 'No Limit Hold Em'. In there he discuss play against short stacks in 1 - 2 No limit and in this situation, there was really no way I was folding my hand for the chips either player in the hand had. So instead of giving them a chance to fold their hands knowing they were beat I took a little bit of a chance and let them bet off their chips.
Well overall the session was successful I made $150 in about 4 hours of play, I left when the game was 5 handed and most players were above average in the game. No need to play in that game, when there are many other games in Vegas with players just looking to give their money away.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
The meeting of Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde
First off as I mentioned before, I will use this blog to brag* as well as bitch, today I am here to bitch a little. I am not sure where I should start but I guess letting you know the scene is important. I ended up 1/1/07 at the Aladdin in the 1 - 2 no Limit game. I was rested after New Years, and ready to play a long session. I bought in the max if $200 and sat down in a game I would deem better then average, 3 calling stations 2 loose aggressive players and 2 tight aggressive players. I will only talk about a couple characters in this blog. The first was my arch nemesis, she yeah that's right she! From here on out she'll be known as TB "The Beast" from the Middle East. This lady was not only aggressive but very lucky in a matter of 7 hands she proceeded to bust me twice when I flopped top two, both times she called me down with a pocket pair under the board and hit sets on the river. She busted me once with AQ when she had KK, and got me busted when I had KK against another player who had AK (actually a friend of mine John known as "AJ"). Finally she got me to pay off a hand to another player the came down like this;....
The Beast and I had been playing a lot of pots heads up, although I won some she was laughing last for most of her time at the table. I was in middle position at a full table when this hand came down. I limped in early position with Kh 10h, the loose aggressive player to my left limped, then TB made it $10, it called in 3 seats before it got to me, I called and so did the LAG. The flop of Ks Qh Jh came down, all I could think was this is the perfect hand for me to get her back on. I never even considered other people in the hand as the table had become her and I's personal heads up match. It checked to me so I lead out to $20 with $50 in the pot. The LAG called, then TB the rest folded. The turn was the 8h, I checked as this was the kind of card she would bet at usually, but it check around. The river was the 4s, no help I led out to $10, just to see if I would get a raise from here, this is when the LAG behind me made it $70. As she sat there and thought about her hand all I could think is that he was making a play, he had left like $35 behind, which seemed curious to me. She finally folded and I called, he had the Ah 9h in his hand. I know I made mistakes all through out this hand. I took a minute to reflect on it after as I realized I had removed everyone else from the table except her and I, oops. Well that was lesson learned, I eventually got $400 of the $500 I had lost over this time back from her before she picked up her chips and left, she was up to $800 at one point cashed out about $60.
So this was all just the start, I found myself into this game in about 2 hours for $800, AJ, Mike and I were all playing and went to dinner I had gotten all but $150 back at this point. When we got back from dinner the game was much the same except the two TAG's had left and were replaced by loose passive players. I continued to build my stack up to about $900, this is where I was at when Dr. Jeckle showed up.
OK Dr. Jeckle was a guy in his mid to late 40's, he looked down, almost depressed. He sat directly to my right, he bought in with black $100 chips, which I was so kind to color change for him when he sat down. He informed me he had just played 5 hours of Baccarat and was even, just tired of playing on the casino floor. I knew at this point he was here to gamble, boy was I right.
15 Min's into him sitting down he had busted Aces with 5 - 2 off suit after he limp re raised, the limp re raise was his favorite play. It was now he had turned in Mr. Hyde. He was raising all kinds of bad hands and on the Poker roller Coaster up and down up and down. Finally after being card dead for nearly two hours and calling off about $125 dollars in chips I picked up AA on the button, Mr. Hyde raise to $20 preflop, I re raised to $60 knowing this would thin the field, it folded back to him where he, to my surprise just called. Here it was, I thought for sure he had picked up KK, knowing I had not raised since he sat down, I could see in his face he thought he had me. The flop of Js 10h 4h came down, as soon as the flop hit he double fisted his chips and bet $200 leaving $130 behind, I thought for a long time, did he have JJ? Why would he bet? Does he had 4 - 5? 4 -5 was more likely, but I know he liked to check raise, so I put him on a hand, A - J of hearts, this seemed to be his type of hand, eventually I went all in, he called and rolled over JJ, FUCK!!!! As soon as I seen it, he knew that was the only way to get me to pay his stack off, he had hit his two outer, I did not improve as his set of Jacks held up. I was furious, here it was the 6Th 2 outer hit against me in the session. I was about to book a nice win of around $400 and instead I was looking at and $400 deficit again.
After this hand he returned to Dr. Jeckle, it was amazing, I couldn't tell after that hand, if he was good, or lucky. I watched him run his stack up to $1000, as I won a small pot here, small pot there. Finally I scooped a nice pot with 6 - 8 and had about $700 in front of me. It was starting to get late the game was getting smaller and smaller at 7 am we were 5 handed and without any warning or anything Dr, Jeckle turned a Club Royal Flush that paid $599 in bonus money to him. All I could think is, is it ever gonna stop with this guy. Immediately after this hand he started raising every hand again, at one point he was betting $75 dark but was consistantly making it $15 to $20 to go every hand. Mr. Hyde was back!!! After he busted the last short stack we were 4 handed with him sitting with $900 in front of him, I had $750, and the other two stacks were about $400 each. On the button Mr. Hyde raised to $20 and I called with 44. The flop of Kh 8s 4d came down. I finally flopped a set against him, whooooooooo hoooooo was what I was thinking. I checked and to my surprise he be $85, I thought wow he had to have hit that K hard. After a few moments I called, the turn was the 3c. I check raised this time he bet $40, I made it $140. I know he was waiting for it, he thought for a while, counted his chips then called. The river was the 7d. I knew I had the best hand, how to get him to pay it off, I quickly figured if I won what was in the pot I would be about even for the day, I finally decided to bet another $100, as I threw my black chip in, a look of defeat came across his face, he said, "I have to call $100 more you probably have me". He turned over the Kc Jc I showed my set and the pot was mine. All that Patience finally paid off. I played three more hand and called it a day.
Overall I cashed out $1006, was up $106, and had played for 14 hours. It was nice to at least get to a little above even, but I did learn from this session that I do need to watch the other players a little more at the table, once I started doing this, I was winning. What a session, now I am off to pay rent, then get back home, take a nap and go at it again, I want to get some good sessions in this month, so I guess I will be playing everyday for a while.
El Diablo
* Don't worry fun times with Tony B. is still coming, just delayed by my recent sessions.
The Beast and I had been playing a lot of pots heads up, although I won some she was laughing last for most of her time at the table. I was in middle position at a full table when this hand came down. I limped in early position with Kh 10h, the loose aggressive player to my left limped, then TB made it $10, it called in 3 seats before it got to me, I called and so did the LAG. The flop of Ks Qh Jh came down, all I could think was this is the perfect hand for me to get her back on. I never even considered other people in the hand as the table had become her and I's personal heads up match. It checked to me so I lead out to $20 with $50 in the pot. The LAG called, then TB the rest folded. The turn was the 8h, I checked as this was the kind of card she would bet at usually, but it check around. The river was the 4s, no help I led out to $10, just to see if I would get a raise from here, this is when the LAG behind me made it $70. As she sat there and thought about her hand all I could think is that he was making a play, he had left like $35 behind, which seemed curious to me. She finally folded and I called, he had the Ah 9h in his hand. I know I made mistakes all through out this hand. I took a minute to reflect on it after as I realized I had removed everyone else from the table except her and I, oops. Well that was lesson learned, I eventually got $400 of the $500 I had lost over this time back from her before she picked up her chips and left, she was up to $800 at one point cashed out about $60.
So this was all just the start, I found myself into this game in about 2 hours for $800, AJ, Mike and I were all playing and went to dinner I had gotten all but $150 back at this point. When we got back from dinner the game was much the same except the two TAG's had left and were replaced by loose passive players. I continued to build my stack up to about $900, this is where I was at when Dr. Jeckle showed up.
OK Dr. Jeckle was a guy in his mid to late 40's, he looked down, almost depressed. He sat directly to my right, he bought in with black $100 chips, which I was so kind to color change for him when he sat down. He informed me he had just played 5 hours of Baccarat and was even, just tired of playing on the casino floor. I knew at this point he was here to gamble, boy was I right.
15 Min's into him sitting down he had busted Aces with 5 - 2 off suit after he limp re raised, the limp re raise was his favorite play. It was now he had turned in Mr. Hyde. He was raising all kinds of bad hands and on the Poker roller Coaster up and down up and down. Finally after being card dead for nearly two hours and calling off about $125 dollars in chips I picked up AA on the button, Mr. Hyde raise to $20 preflop, I re raised to $60 knowing this would thin the field, it folded back to him where he, to my surprise just called. Here it was, I thought for sure he had picked up KK, knowing I had not raised since he sat down, I could see in his face he thought he had me. The flop of Js 10h 4h came down, as soon as the flop hit he double fisted his chips and bet $200 leaving $130 behind, I thought for a long time, did he have JJ? Why would he bet? Does he had 4 - 5? 4 -5 was more likely, but I know he liked to check raise, so I put him on a hand, A - J of hearts, this seemed to be his type of hand, eventually I went all in, he called and rolled over JJ, FUCK!!!! As soon as I seen it, he knew that was the only way to get me to pay his stack off, he had hit his two outer, I did not improve as his set of Jacks held up. I was furious, here it was the 6Th 2 outer hit against me in the session. I was about to book a nice win of around $400 and instead I was looking at and $400 deficit again.
After this hand he returned to Dr. Jeckle, it was amazing, I couldn't tell after that hand, if he was good, or lucky. I watched him run his stack up to $1000, as I won a small pot here, small pot there. Finally I scooped a nice pot with 6 - 8 and had about $700 in front of me. It was starting to get late the game was getting smaller and smaller at 7 am we were 5 handed and without any warning or anything Dr, Jeckle turned a Club Royal Flush that paid $599 in bonus money to him. All I could think is, is it ever gonna stop with this guy. Immediately after this hand he started raising every hand again, at one point he was betting $75 dark but was consistantly making it $15 to $20 to go every hand. Mr. Hyde was back!!! After he busted the last short stack we were 4 handed with him sitting with $900 in front of him, I had $750, and the other two stacks were about $400 each. On the button Mr. Hyde raised to $20 and I called with 44. The flop of Kh 8s 4d came down. I finally flopped a set against him, whooooooooo hoooooo was what I was thinking. I checked and to my surprise he be $85, I thought wow he had to have hit that K hard. After a few moments I called, the turn was the 3c. I check raised this time he bet $40, I made it $140. I know he was waiting for it, he thought for a while, counted his chips then called. The river was the 7d. I knew I had the best hand, how to get him to pay it off, I quickly figured if I won what was in the pot I would be about even for the day, I finally decided to bet another $100, as I threw my black chip in, a look of defeat came across his face, he said, "I have to call $100 more you probably have me". He turned over the Kc Jc I showed my set and the pot was mine. All that Patience finally paid off. I played three more hand and called it a day.
Overall I cashed out $1006, was up $106, and had played for 14 hours. It was nice to at least get to a little above even, but I did learn from this session that I do need to watch the other players a little more at the table, once I started doing this, I was winning. What a session, now I am off to pay rent, then get back home, take a nap and go at it again, I want to get some good sessions in this month, so I guess I will be playing everyday for a while.
El Diablo
* Don't worry fun times with Tony B. is still coming, just delayed by my recent sessions.
Monday, January 1, 2007
My Last Session and New Years
12/230/06Where to start...OK sat down at the Aladdin Saturday and thought "I should play to continue my run." I had 4 hours to play before I had to head to work. I should have slept instead. The day was a disaster. No matter what I had it was no good. The end of the session was capped off with a $500 pot when I moved all in on the river with a busted straight flush draw. After he thought for a while, why I have no idea, the guy that slow played 2 pair called. All ended I was down just $200 even though I was down almost $500 at one point. When my time was up I tucked my tail, picked up my chips and headed towards the cashier.
12/31/06 New years Eve
No Poker today, I had my show at V Bar for New Years, after I spent 2 hours at The Burlington coat factory getting my "Pimp" suit. That was an experience, I felt as though everyone in Vegas decided to go to Burlington and wanted to check out the same time I did.
Finally got out of Burlington, went home and took a quick nap before the night started.
On the way to V Bar sat in traffic for an hour and a half, got to V Bar around 9pm, got everything going, had a fun night, it was packed and had some friends come to bring in the New Year. Mike "Highwaytime" was on of my friends at the show, after midnight I was doing toasts when it came to a toast with mike I provided the following glorious Cheer to never be forgotten.
A Toast To Mike: By El Diablo
"Always dish you bad beats"
"Never give you good beats"
"Ship it bitch"
And to that I say Happy New Year and may God have mercy on my opponents souls this year. New Years resolution #1: Every time I sit down to play Poker, sit down with the intention to completely destroy the game.
El - Diablo
12/31/06 New years Eve
No Poker today, I had my show at V Bar for New Years, after I spent 2 hours at The Burlington coat factory getting my "Pimp" suit. That was an experience, I felt as though everyone in Vegas decided to go to Burlington and wanted to check out the same time I did.
Finally got out of Burlington, went home and took a quick nap before the night started.
On the way to V Bar sat in traffic for an hour and a half, got to V Bar around 9pm, got everything going, had a fun night, it was packed and had some friends come to bring in the New Year. Mike "Highwaytime" was on of my friends at the show, after midnight I was doing toasts when it came to a toast with mike I provided the following glorious Cheer to never be forgotten.
A Toast To Mike: By El Diablo
"Always dish you bad beats"
"Never give you good beats"
"Ship it bitch"
And to that I say Happy New Year and may God have mercy on my opponents souls this year. New Years resolution #1: Every time I sit down to play Poker, sit down with the intention to completely destroy the game.
El - Diablo
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