Playin' with the cow pokes at the WinStar in Oklahoma

The outside of the WinStar in Thackerville, OK

Unless I write down a hand of particular significance, I usually go off memory when retelling the hand histories for this blog.  Therefore, I may get some details confused or cards mislabeled, but the overall essence of the hand retelling is, for the most part, accurate.  That said, earlier this week, I had business travel to Ft. Worth, Texas.  I arrived in Texas in the early evening, without enough time to go check in at work, but too much time to go to the hotel and call it a night.  Already knowing the time I was scheduled to arrive, I figured I would cross the border to OK to get a feel for the "local" poker scene.  The reason I put local in quotes is because the WinStar is about 1 hour from Fort Worth and 1 and a half hours from Dallas.  I digress.

Upon arrival, I tried to take a few pictures (as evidenced above), but was largely unsuccessful, as I was anxious to get seated & get in what would likely be my only time to play until next week.  Therefore, I tried a panoramic shot to get the true feel for the casino's varied architecture.  I was impressed that the architects went with a Vegas feel for the outside; if you can't see the picture, the architecture varies from London (Big Ben / Parliament) to Saxony (nondescript castle) to Roman colonnades and amphitheater, all the way over to Japanese pagoda(?).  Although the inside of the building was not nearly as meaningful of a presence as the outside, at least they're trying in the middle of nowhere in Thackerville!

Inside the poker room

I got myself situated and wait listed myself for the 2/5 & 1/3 games.  After briefly discussing the game layouts with a few dealers just starting their shift, I decided to stick with the 1/3, as they reported that the 1/3 games were very loose, but the 2/5 games were more on the "pro" "tight" side.  I'm always up for a loose game.  Of note, the casino spreads a 1/2 game as well, which did not seem particularly interesting.

The games definitely felt like 1/3 at the 'Shoe in Baltimore; very loose pre-flop calls somewhat home game, followed by check / folds and/or folds on the turn.  People were continually paying for draws and bottom pairs hoping to suck out.

There was one particularly memorable player - a late 70's farmer type - who would call any and every "reasonable" raise PF, only to fold on the flop as described above.  (I use quotes around reasonable because although he wouldn't call a $50 open, he had no problem throwing in $30 or $35).  If he hit his top pair, he'd either bet or raise, making him very easy to play against.  A few uninteresting hands with him are detailed as follows:
I open with KQ after a limper to $15.  He calls as do 3-4 others.  Flop comes K 5 2.  He ships $58.  I call as the only player and he flips over K9.  I hold and scoop.  He rebuys $200.
I open $35 (to try isolate him) with QQ from the BB after a ton of limps and he's the only caller.  Flop comes 6 2 3.  He checks and I bet $35 - he ships for $60 and I call; he hits a J on the turn for 2 pair (J6o) and scoops.  GG sir.
I isolate AQo for $35 and take down a blank flop with a cbet.  FWIW that happened numerous times, so I don't remember all the particulars.  On and on...

The two hands of the night were as follows:

• I open to $17 after a limper with AJo.  Two callers - Mr. Farmer and a loose Asian guy with about $400 in front of him.  Flop comes A 9 5cc.  I cbet $45 with my TP OK kicker.  Mr. Farmer folds and Asian dude just calls.  Turn is an offsuit 2 and he checks over to me; I lead for $75 and he flats again.  River is an offsuit Q.  He checks again.  In retrospect, I think I can make a small value bet on the river here: $50-75, but I weigh that against the issue that too often if I bet 3 streets, my opponent is only calling when they have me beat.  The logic I'm balancing though is if they're calling $75 on the turn, they're calling a $75 or less bet on the river if they hold a worse Ace.  I don't know; I could go either way, but I need to think about it more closely when I'm in that situation since in this case, I pretty quickly checked through.  Perhaps I'm being results-oriented, but he shows ATo and I win a sizable pot.
• The other hand of note was against another older guy who, to my knowledge, had not raised or been aggressive all night.  He sat down with $500+, coming from a 2/5 game, and was slowly bleeding away until this hand came up with him sitting on maybe $350.  It limps to me in the SB and I look down at QQ again.  Mr. Farmer is in the hand, so I again try what didn't work last time by raising to $35 - trying to isolate him.  This time, the other older guy wakes up and limp / raises to $100 flat by tossing in a $100 chip on an announced raise.  It folds back to me and I tank.  Does an old guy limp raise with anything but AA / KK?  Is it reasonable?  AK?  I eventually wind up folding after he tells me he'd show, but he only shows me an Ace.  Claims he had AK.  Not sure whether I believe him, but AA / KK / AK is a coin flip for a call (i.e. equal number of combos for AK as for AA & KK combined).  Oh well; tough spot for $35.

I wind up with an okay session, but I'm happy to report that the games are super easy there!  If you find yourself in the DFW area, definitely make WinStar a stop on your tour!

Post-script: A few short notes on quirky rules at the WinStar.

1. When transferring from one game to another of the same stakes, you have an option of taking chips off the table.
2. When facing a bet and another player announces all in, that all in bet must be double the bet being called in order for action to be reopened.  For example, if I raise to $10 in a 1/3 game, my raise is $7.  If another player goes all in for $18 total, betting is not reopened to me since the all in player's raise is not $20 or more, double the bet being faced.
3. Betting lines are observed; moreover if you cross the betting line with a stack of chips, all of those chips are the bet.  In other words, you cannot take a stack of chips across the line and only bet a portion of them; the entire stack that you take across the line is the standing bet.

I didn't have an issue with any of those rules, but throughout the night, there were situations where they became important.

The ongoing saga of pocket Kings, or "Is it wrong to set mine?" -- oh yeah, and an angle shoot (sorta)!

I am still befuddled that my Kings never hold up.  Over the past 8-10 months, it seems as though every time I am dealt KK, I have no problem getting my money in WAY good, only to have my opponent win the pot once all cards are dealt.  I don't get it; whether I'm a 90% favorite or "as little" as a 75% favorite, my Kings simply do not hold'em.  During my most recent session, instead of getting all in only to be sucked out on, I paid off -- and paid off size-ably.

Some background, first.  I got in a rare Friday night session.  I've been vacationing recently, 2 and a half weeks in Israel with my wife's extended family (15 of us in total) traveling throughout the countryside.  Then, we had a week of work before last week journeying off to Playa del Carmen along the Mayan Riviera off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.  Although there have been some problems with a few resorts using spiked alcohol, the resort we stayed in only offers top shelf alcohol and very high end food.  If any of my readers are interested in a 5 star vacation, I highly recommend El Dorado Royale, where we stayed (it was our 3rd or 4th time staying at the series of properties).  I digress; we got back late Thursday night and I was set for a Friday session.

I was seated fairly quickly; there was a "long-ish" waitlist for both the 1/3 and 2/5 games, but I saw a few empty spots sprinkled throughout the room on the 1/3 tables.  The floor was being fairly inefficient in announcing the open seating, so I asked for permission to find a seat and sit down.  The floor granted me the privilege and I found a decent looking 1/3 table, letting them know to take me off the list.  At my table were a list of characters: a 60 -ish gentleman who I nicknamed "nuts," because he was only showing down the nuts and only raising PF with the nuts.  His bet sizing was terrible, so I felt it was only a matter of time before his AA or KK gets cracked by draws or otherwise.  There was another competent player, who I'll nickname "angle" for reasons evident later in this post.  Another player, "red" was a red-headed guy who was fairly competent, and then there was a pretender who thought he was a pro but I thought was suspect because I caught him numerous times limping where he should have thrown in a standard raise, and played far too timidly to appear to turn a regular profit.

I quickly opened my range, realizing that the table was on the tight side; they were mostly the type who would limp in and try to see flops for cheap.  If I raised (my standard raise is typically $15 + ~$3 per limper), the players would fold and I'd see and instant profit for no sweat.  In a more rare case where someone was emboldened to call, I'd simply cbet a K high flop with my missed AQ, or cbet a 2 8 6 board with my pocket 5's to take down a decent pot.  These players started the night playing tight.

Red started establishing himself as a bit of a station; he seemed to commit that if he limped, he was calling a reasonable raise to see a flop.  That reasonable raise consisted of some logical amount between $15 and $25.  At the time of this hand, I'm sitting on around $500 and he has me covered.  I look down at KK and after one limper, I raise to $17.  It folds around to Red who calls, and everyone else folds.  Heads up, we see a 2 9 Qhhh flop.  I do not hold the Kh.  Out of position, I cbet $35 which he flats.  The turn is an offsuit 5 or something, and I lead for $75.  He flats once again.  The river is an offsuit Ace, which I'm very unhappy about.  I check to him, and he thinks for a bit before betting $100.  Given the odds I'm getting here, $100 into a $220+ pot, I begrudgingly call... especially when he seemed to size up and think about why I would check an Ace river before deciding to bet and potentially represent an Ah flush draw.  I think I gave away my hand on the river by not making a blocking bet, but I think my blocking bet is going to be around $75-100, the same it costs to call his bet.  Anyway, I call and am shown T2hh for a flopped ten high flush.  Good game for a first in call of $17.

I reload $100 and wait.  I'm playing from behind most of the rest of the night when I limp my Q9 in late position after a host of limpers.  The flop comes 7 8 T, rainbow.  Decent flop, with a draw and redraw to the nuttiest of nuts.  Angle is out of position to me and bets $15 -- I'm one of 2-3 callers for my open ender.  Turn fills me in with a 6 and he bets large this time: $65 or so.  A heart draw is also put out there as the 6 and 8(?) are now hearts).  I'm left as the only caller.  I consider a raise, but figure it's very obvious with the 4 straight.  The river is a 2 (can't remember whether it was a heart) and he stacks chips ($105 to be exact) in his hand and starts to move them forward and over the line.  He holds them there for a second without releasing and I toss in a chip for the call after believing he has bet (forward motion and over the line).  He sees my somewhat snap call and then starts claiming he did not bet.  The dealer, who is a competent dealer, tells me the rule at MGM: forward motion with a carve out is considered a bet.  He did not release, therefore it is not a bet.  I did not get all upset, did not throw my drink, did not start yelling or causing a ruckus.  I was visibly unhappy, and definitely had a few unpleasant words to the tune of, "whatever, you have to look at yourself in the mirror every day.  If you're comfortable, good for you."  That was the end of it; he had an obnoxious comment back, but a few hands later racked up and left.  Ho hum; lesson learned.  I'm going to have to be more obnoxious in the future when calling with the 2nd nuts and truly wait patiently, and ask "is that a bet?" before making a call.  Again, lesson learned.

The final hand of the night involves Red.  He's got rolled up Aces.  He raises to $10.  Mid position re-re-raises to $25, reopening the betting.  Player to my right calls, I call with 88, player to my left calls.  Back to Red.  I 4bets to $135.  I have $500 effective.  Original 3bettor ships for $129.  Player to my right calls.  I think for a bit, but I believe this to be an unprofitable call, as I'm folding all non-8 boards.  Player to my left thinks for a long time before calling.  Flop comes 8 6 2hh and I'm not too happy.  Red bets $125 and gets 1 caller.  He checks the non heart turn and bets $125 on the river to get a fold.  He shows (obviously, given the action) AA and scoops a nice pot.  It shoulda been me...  I should have gotten revenge for his earlier T2hh bullshit.

Despite the crap above, I turn a decent profit.  It should have been a bigger night, but I'll take what I got.