An update and a hand history

I’ve been very busy with the new job – so far, it’s been way more responsibility than I ever imagined prior to taking the job.  I’ve had to hire a new team of ~30 people, work personnel conflicts and issues, learn the new program’s processes and procedures, and ensure my new team is doing the same, all the while learning my predecessor’s roles and responsibilities.  I’m truly busy from before 7:30 I the morning until at least 5:00 at night.  The pattern has been that I go back to the hotel, go to the gym, get some dinner, take a soak in the hotel hot tub and go to sleep.  Rinse & repeat, save for the weekends, where, if I’m not heading home or somewhere with my family, I have free time to go & explore Denver or get in a solid day of poker up at Blackhawk.  It’s a funny thing; I started out thinking that the “single” life would enable me to have more free time, but somehow my free time is fully consumed.

Regardless, live poker out here is an utter joke.  The games are so soft it’s unbelievable.  Sit on the nuts and they’ll pay you off without fail.  People love to slow play, making drawing hands super profitable.  The bet sizing for most players is so laughably bad that I find myself facing true immediate odds compared to the pot, and frequently not even needing to worry or think about implied odds.  The room is regularly busy, with more than enough fish and tourists to keep my bankroll sated.  I’ve seen so many people just call or limp their KK / AA hands, and check / call to the end when their hands are clearly dead.  I’ve seen players pay me astronomical prices for their flush draws or their straight draws when they’re so way behind in their draws.  Lastly, the rewards structure in the poker room (Ameristar) is pretty decent: they give you your choice of $1 / hr in comps to be used for slots, $2 / hr in comps for food, or $0.50 / hr in rakeback.  Your choice – and you can decide to cash out at any point.

In the online front, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a moment to sit down and get a good online poker session in.  I was able to sit down for a good 3 hours last night, sitting in my new favorite online room, Seals with Clubs.  I was afraid that it had been so long since I’d last played a hand there, the games may have dried up and I would forget how to be aggressive.  My fears were not realized, because the fish were really fishy and my aggression still remains.  I’m still able to pick off blind steals, squeeze with air, and generally produce 3bets in the 8%+ range.  It’s a cool feeling to see the regs avoiding big pots with me out of fear, and the fish trying to pay big bets in the hopes of hitting a miracle.  On one table, all of the players were starting to get pretty deep; 200+BB.

I was sitting on 300+BB when I was dealt TT.  A laggy nemesis was trying to 3bet me on quite a few tables (he was to my left and trying to defend his blinds / BTN); we’d gotten into a few pissing contests and we were roughly even as far as who blinks first – perhaps he was 20-30 BB up on me (I’m not keeping track because I’m more thinking in metagame parameters that he’ll blow up sooner or later).  He’s sitting on about 300BB when I raise his BTN from the HJ for ~3x – no limpers and it’s a steal position from his perspective.  As expected, he opts to 3bet me 3x to 9BB.  Not one to be dissuaded from a little aggression, I 4bet him to 22BB and he cold calls in position.  Flop comes 9 6 2 rainbow and I lead for 30BB.  He shoves over for 250BB; is it wrong to call here?  What do you do?  Do you fold?  This is such a polarizing bet to value / air, but what can he show up with in this spot?  JJ?  QQ?  I felt like given the action that he’s not 5 betting me (probably a fold PF), he’s going to show up with so much air.  The problem is that we’re so deep at this point, a 250BB call if I’m way behind is a HUGE mistake.

Thoughts?