What Would You Do #245 - A difference of opinion

1/2 at Charles Town.  I'm starting to come out of the funk that I've experienced over the last 2 months where I've been running poorly and playing (not as) poorly.  Effective stacks are $200 when the following happens:

I call my option in the SB with QJo and the BB checks.  We see a limped 5-way pot of Q J 6, rainbow.

I opt to check my top two to the BB who leads for $10 into the $10 pot.  A 30ish Asian dude calls (been pretty by-the-book, though I sense he's frustrated with me because I've check / raised him a bit in the past few hands) and action folds back to me.  I feel very much that he's drawing, so I c/r the pot to $45.  BB folds and Asian dude thinks for a bit - before finally calling.

$110 in the pot and we see a offsuit K turn.  T9, the obvious draw, just got there.  Damn!  I check.  My opponent, again thinking for a bit, opts to check behind.

River is an Ace, completing the rainbow.

I consider a small bet for value - partial blocking, partial value.  My thought here is this: villain called a largish flop check / raise but checked through the turn.  There aren't many hands that he limps and calls a c/r on the flop that have an Ace in them.  I think my river bet is more of a catch up from the turn check.  The river card is "scary" to all non-Ten hands, so I want to make a small bet that can be called with a Qx.  Therefore, I lead for $25.

Again, he thinks for a bit before finally raising to $75.

What would you do?  What would you do differently?


Click to see results

I feel like the turn is such a bad card for me (it completes KQ, T9, a few AT).  The river makes it even worse, and much harder for him to raise without a T.  Therefore, I fold.  Believe me, the frustration I thought he was having with me factored in all the more for me wanting to call the $50 on top.  In the end, this has to be a sick bluff for him to make - particularly with him calling the $35 c/r on the flop.  By showdown, the two hands in my head that made sense here are AQ and T9, with a strong weighting towards T9.

In talking afterwards (I had shown my cards to two "respected" table mates which caused quite a discussion), we asked him.  He said he had T9 and made his hand on the turn - I'm still not 100% sure that's the truth. He said that he hoped I would bet the river (like I did) when he checked the turn, feeling that I would fold the turn if he bet.

Last week's session summary - When is not a hand a hand?

I think it was Caro or someone of the like that said that an observant / vigilant player should see free cards every so often.  This could come in the form of hole cards, burn cards, etc.  However, in my readings, the behavior of seeking out free looks at cards is not only condoned, but also encouraged.  As a habit, I try not to go out of my way to see others' cards - encouraged or not.  I think it's a blurry line when you start to seek other people's cards on purpose.  I'm a believer that it's not my place to notify people that they're showing their cards - it's their job to protect the cards.  However, I'm also a believer of the idea that what is seen cannot be unseen.  Therefore, I'm not going to try to look away when another player is giving me a show, just the same as I'm not going to crane my neck to get a peek.

I sat down to play a session last week.  As has been typical these days (past 2 months), my session was mostly sideways to losing slightly.  I had just ran my flopped set into a donkey who snap called my open shove with an OES + bottom pair and turned his straight (details unimportant, but it was truly donkish of the other player).  I re-filled my stack back up to $200 when the following happens:

New player (I've played with him before and he can be difficult to play against; usually knows where he is, gives me respect and I give him respect) posts & checks his option to me on the button.  I don't remember the hand I had, but I limped as well (3-4 other limpers before) and we see a 2 diamond 7 high flop.  New player lifts up his cards lazily and flashes paint.  I believe his paint was a black King.  He weak leads the flop and I determine that any overcards / diamonds on the turn will allow me to take the pot away on the turn / river.  So long as there's no King, I'm likely good here as a bluff.  I call and the table folds.  Turn is a diamond (Q?).  He leads for $25.  Executing my plan, I raise.  He mulls it over and calls, which surprises me with TP at best here.  River is a blank and he checks to me now.  Sensing my opportunity, I charge largish for $65 and he pauses for a second before calling.  Utter shock on my face that he could make such a call in this spot with such a weak second (or even third at this point - don't really remember) pair.  I'm mystified and wondering what the heck I did wrong - that's one hell of a read on his part.  So much so that I want to peel away from the table with a player who just completely owned me with his mid pair on a scary board.  He waits for me to show, as I expect him to do - I show my bluff pair of 2's (I think that's what my hand amounted to at this point) and he flips Kd8d for the second nuts.

It's one thing to see other players' cards...  it's a whole other thing to see them and read them correctly!

Bumping fuzzies?

All too infrequently do I see women sitting at the tables here in EBF, I mean Charles Town, WV.  See, you players out in Vegas have it good; you have eye candy in the waitresses and apparently, according to this guy, the players are lookers too!  Out here in the sticks, which is all of 60 minutes from DC, there's nothing but cowpoke and bumpkins.  It's a rarity if there's a girl in the poker room who would raise an eye.

The other night, you see, was indeed a rarity.  I not only had one attractive girl at my table, but two!  Sitting next to each other.  Sitting to my left.  2 cute blondes.  It was their first time playing live casino poker.  Very friendly.  Very smiley.  Very drinky.  Very talky.

Procedurally, they both were in tune, able to post their blinds without needing to be reminded, understood and followed the action, and weren't playing like total noobs.  We started chatting it up - the 3 of us - and I was quick to find out that she never got to play [errr... poker] because her "ex-girlfriend" didn't like to gamble.  My slow, dimwitted mind processed that statement as - her "ex-friend who was a girl" didn't like to gamble, which made little to no sense to me: why would a friend exert such control over this chick?  Damned if I'll allow a friend to tell me what to do!  Hell, my wife is the only person with real influence over my my daily life plans...  wait a second....  Moreover, I've never referred to a friend as an "ex-friend."  It's not like on facebook where you unfriend someone and call them your "ex-friend."  You simply don't refer to said person anymore.  Well, the wheels started a'churnin' and I process it to mean that she's advertising that she's a pink player.  High five!

Now how often is it that you meet a girl and find out she's from the island of lesbos - that she's a card-carrying member of the lesbian community?  Moreover, how often do you find that she's a cute lesbian - and her girlfriend is a cute lesbian?  Perhaps I'm skating on thin ice by saying this, but I can count on 1 finger the amount of times I've seen a cute chick with another cute chick in the Biblical sense (is it Biblical if they're engaged in lesbianism?).  Nothing against your typical run-of-the-mill lesbian, but in my experience, they're just not generally cute; sometimes one is somewhat cute and the other is the more masculine type - just like with homosexual guys (all in a stereotypical sense - of course they're are cute gay couples out there, but again, GENERALLY the pairing is cute / dainty with more gruff).  Also, it should be noted that I'm not talking about that lesbian BS they put into porn that they CALL lesbianism, where the girls aren't real lesbos and they're inevitably having a guy join in because they crave the [WHERE AM I GOING WITH THIS!?!?!?]... I'm talking about real, honest-to-goodness gay chicks.  Moreover, they're sitting at the poker table, next to me, chatting it up!

Now, those that read my blog on a regular basis (well - "regular" is a loose term because I don't post all that frequently anymore) know that I'm a married, devoted husband and father of 3 children.  I honestly would not be interested in these girls other than for the flirtation of the chance to watch the two of them make out with each other while I eat popcorn, enjoy the show and not join in but wish I could *.  At any rate, I busted one of the two out of her original buy in ($100), and the other guys at the table were working hard NOT to bust the remaining chick (she would wind up running a failed bluff into a guy who called her down the whole way trying to not let her bust herself moreso than value betting / value calling).  There was no conversation of interest to me that is worth mentioning on the blog - they didn't start making out at the table, nor did they escape to the bathroom for a quickie, much to the chagrin of me and my fellow straight table mates.

After the girls left, the table got a little chatty Kathy about the whole thing.  Fill-ins began to trickle into the table including an older gentleman and a younger 30's -aged guy.  They listened about the legacy whose seats they were filling.  Clearly, they were not suitable substitutes.  The older guy, not having said a word nearly the entire 30 minutes he was there, started rolling on the floor when the mid-30's guy heard our story and determined that these girls were indeed "Bumping fuzzies."  Watching him process the whole "fuzzy bumper" metaphor was a comedy act unto itself; within about 20 seconds, he was tearing at the eyes.

Anyway, thought I'd share this little tale with you all.  It's not often that I write about non-poker poker stories, but I found this one amusing and I hope that you will too.

* If my wife is reading this, EWWW!  Another chick?  Gross me out!  I wouldn't ever want to look at or see another chick, much less touch one!  I said the above for effect for my readers, lest they think worse of me than they already do!

Improvements to Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races' Poker Room

As talked about a few months back, I aired my grievances with CTRS, aka "The Chuck."  In it, I complained about the lack of promotions, among other things.  I've been back numerous times since (of course, because there is no other poker offering in my area - YET).  However, I was in there last week and low & behold - I found a flyer listing the daily tournaments... and more importantly to my interests - a list of Poker Promotions.

I thought I'd share them here, to expose egg on my face (for not knowing about the promotions; shows what a good job they do promoting the promotions), as well as allow me to recant some of the issues I have with the Chuck as far as their lack of promotions.  Apparently, these promotions were introduced in April, but it looks as though they'll end at the end of June.

The following is quoted from Hollywood Casino's flier (verbatim):

• Full House Mondays - Every Monday from April 1, 2013 - June 24, 2013, players will receive entries for every hand where they make a Full House or better.  From 8am-11:45am, players will receive two entries.  From 11:45am-9:45pm, players will receive one entry.
  
  From 12pm-10pm, entries will be randomly selected from the drawing drum.  The prizes and times are as follows: 12pm: $100, 1pm: $100, 2pm: $200, 3pm: $200, 4pm: $300, 5pm: $300, 6pm: $400, 7pm: $400, 8pm: $500, 9pm: $600, 10pm: $700.  There will be no drawings held on May 27, 2013.
  
• Full House Thursdays - Every Monday from April 1, 2013 - June 24, 2013, players will receive entries for every hand where they make a Full House or better.  Players will receive entries from 2pm - 11:45pm.
  
  From 3pm-11:59pm, entries will be randomly selected from the drawing drum.  The prizes and times are as listed: 3pm: $100, 4pm: $100, 5pm: $200, 6pm: $200, 7pm: $300, 8pm: $300, 9pm: $400, 10pm: $500, 11pm: $600, 11:59pm: $700.
  
• High Hand Wednesdays - Every Wednesday from April 3, 2013 - June 26, 2013, players will be eligible for the High Hand Promotion.  High Hands will be tracked from 11:00am-10:00pm with the first drawing at 12pm.
  
  Each hour at the top of the hour a player will be awarded $100 for making the high hand of the previous hour (minimum high hand 5 high straight).  The current high hand of the hour will be posted conspicuously in the room.
  
• Suited Royal Flush Daily - Every day, when a player achieves a Royal Flush using both hole cards, they will win the current jackpot amount.  $100 will be added to the prize pool each day for each suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs).  Only one royal flush prize pool for each suit may be won each gaming day.  If any of the price pools reach $1000 or more, it will be divided as follows: 50% of the funds will go to the player that received the Royal Flush and 50% will be divided equally among the remaining players at the table.
  
• Mustang Giveaway - The Mustang Giveaway Promotion will run between March 11, 2013 and April 7, 2013.  Players will receive 1 entry into the drawing for 60 hours of BRAVO tracked eligible play and an additional ticket will be issued for every 10 additional hours of BRAVO tracked eligible play.  EXAMPLE: 80 hours equals 3 tickets in the drawing.
  
  The drawing(s) will be held on April 14, 2013 from 10am-9:45pm.  A ticket will be drawn every 15 minutes for a prize pool of $1,000.00 in valued chips.  At 3pm and 8 pm an additional ticket will be drawn for the grand prize winners who will have the choice of a 2013 Mustang GT Coupe or $25,000 in valued chips!

Today is the last day of the promotions listed above.  I sincerely hope The Chuck continues or betters their promotions.  As for the Suited Royal Flush daily promotion, it should be noted (although it is not explicit on the flier) that you must be clocked in with your Hollywood Rewards Card in order to be eligible.

My next post will be a list of the daily tournaments they started running since April 2, 2013.

Losing begets bad play just as winning begets good play?

I know it shouldn't be this way, but sometimes, when we experience these kinds of trends it pervades our thoughts and our game.  Clearly, this is not the way it should be; whether we're winning or losing, we should strive to play a solid, "A" game every time we are dealt cards.

Card dead?  Not a problem!

Pay attention to the guy who's folding or whatever on your left.  It's a valuable opportunity to improve your reads and perhaps pick up a tell or two.  As a minimum, you may be able to determine whether he grabs his chips when he's readying to make a raise.  That tell will save you money from limping or raising your weaker-ranged hands.

Watch for other players and how they play their hands.  Do they check the turn when they give up?  Do they shuffle their chips nervously when they make a bluff?  You should treat this time as a learning opportunity to improve your intangibles game.

Finally made a hand?  You can fold it!

I got into this situation where I couldn't believe my made hands are constant losers.  For the past month or two, I've become used to missing my draws.  I understandably got excited when I finally made a 5-card hand.  It was clearly not the nuts, and I should have folded it in retrospect given the action.  However, I got into the mindset that it was incomprehensible to me that I make my hand [finally after 2 months of waiting] yet am still behind.

For the hand in the link, I was not ready to accept that fate that the hand I held was a loser.  More to the point, if I believe the hand is the winner, I shouldn't be just calling a river bet - I should be raising.  I think part of me subconsciously knows I'm beat there by my lack of raise, but I willfully accepted my beatdown like a lamb to the slaughterhouse.

Get over it!  If you're a winning player, you're still winning.

There is no "due" or "owe" in poker.  The simple fact is you can be the best player in the world, and fold fold fold your way out of paying off the winners of the hands you play, yet the cards owe you nothing.  You are not due for a nut hand.  You are not in line for Sklansky (which, as I'm writing this, blogger tries to auto-correct Sklansky to Klansman - go figure) dollars.  There is no EV bank in the sky keeping track of your lifetime variance.  Each hand is independent from one another.  Each new player is independent from one another.  One player and one hand has no memory of how your past session / week / month went.  They don't know and don't care.  They're just playing their cards.  (Good thing, too - because they probably wouldn't want to play with you if they knew your lifetime winnings or history / experience with the game.)

You have a choice: you can either accept your fate as the natural course of cards, or you can fight it.  Acceptance will lead to an eventual turnaround (hopefully), and fighting the "fate" will lead to further losses (i.e. improper bluffs, bad calls, bad play).  Your choice.

One last footnote.

I want to point out something that happened to me while playing last night.  It didn't really affect my play, but I was seething mad at an annoying guy who kept laughing inappropriately.  He wasn't doing it get reactions, but he was more the type to laugh for tension release or reasons unknown.  I couldn't wait to stick it to him; I never got the opportunity, but I really took it too far.  When he lost a major pot, I started laughing loudly, and in a forced manner, trying to mimic him.  I tried to tilt him as he was subconsciously doing to me.  He was too aloof / dumb to really understand or know what I was doing, but it didn't feel good to be the verbal bully at the table.  That's not me - that's not my game.

I don't understand why it annoys me so much when player play laughably badly.  This guy (first, from the SB) called a raise to $25 (my late position raise to iso with QcJc on a straddled limp pot) with $51 behind with 6c4c.  Flop came 4d Tc Kc and he auto shipped the flop.  Natch, I called & missed my 19 outs.  This is the same guy who, an hour later, insisted on checking out an opponent's stack to "see how much you have behind - for pot odds!" and proceeded to get it in with 2 pair against a flopped nut straight for totally incorrect pot odds.

I need to stop allowing this kinda crap to bother me.  I need to zone it out.  I need to stop focusing in on the hatred and anger for this guy (I'm sure he's a very friendly guy outside of the casino), and work on more productive things like creative ways to extract chips from every player instead of zeroing in on the annoying guy.  Even though I'll likely never see him again, and he'll never read this article, I want to take the bottom of this post to apologize for my over-the-top inappropriate behavior.  To the dude that looks like an Asian Harry Potter, I am sorry for my behavior at the table last night.

Point is: we need to stop sweating the small stuff and focus on the important things when we're playing.

Overall report & AC report

Things have been fairly quiet around here - and for good cause.  I've been fully engaged at both work and school, and coupled with the way I've been running at the tables lately, I've been passively avoiding sitting down (as opposed to actively refusing to play, I simply haven't been rushing out to play when I get a free opportunity).  This little run bad (past 2 months exactly) has seen me set over set someone only to get runner 4 flushed, run my 2 pair into a backdoored flush, and have all sorts of bad stuff happen.  Interestingly enough, though, during the 6 sessions I've played over the 2 month period where the run bad has occurred, I find myself down "only" $1200 - 6 buy-ins.  I say "only" because it feels like so much more.

It feels like I can't win a session if my life depended on it.  More often than not, my sessions will end in frustration of being coolered somehow or some way.  I don't feel like I'm playing poorly, but I do feel like I've been cold decked frequently.  People are nutting on my constantly, against my value hands.  I should be crushing 1/2 and right now, it's crushing me.

Atlantic City

The Meister family generally stays at the Tropicana when we go up to AC.  Note that we go up to the hellhole (AC, not necessarily the Trop) MAYBE once per year.  The kids get to go on the beach, we can walk the boardwalk, and they can go shopping at the outlet mall area while I can get in a bit of table time.  I also don't have to clockwatch to deal with the 45 minute drive home when I'm playing at the Chuck; my room is a mere 5 minute walk / elevator ride upstairs.  Since it was raining this past weekend, I opted to play at the Trop's poker room.  For a Sunday night, they had maybe 2 1/2 games running and 4 2/4 limit games.  I was kinda in shock; I figured it would be busier than that for a Sunday summer night.

I sat down to the cast of rocks and donks and was able to spot the regs with ease.  On a first name basis with the dealers, my first reg was a mid-aged woman with 2 dogs at home.  I think she fancied herself much better than she actually was, frequently moving her stack in with top pairs and rarely getting called.  In all fairness, perhaps she was a bit tilted by the donkey in seat 10 snapping off her 3bet shove ($11 raise called 2 ways and she 3bet/ shoved $100+) with 2 2 PF (he had ~$50 total) - 2 on the flop natch sealed it for him.

My next 2 hands in my history involve both of these players, although individually:
I introduce myself to the table by raising the CO with AQo (3 limpers, I popped it to $15 and get 2 callers + fancy lady who is to my right).  Flop misses but has 2 hearts; 8 4 4.  I cbet $30 and fancy lady player calls.  Non-heart Ace on the turn and she open shoves her remaining $50.  I think for a bit and determine that she doesn't have a 4, so I call.  She flips Ah2h immediately and I'm very happy to see that I'm way ahead; 80% to the win, 2% to the chop.  Of course, 4 on the river has us chopping and she comments that I should be glad that I didn't see a heart...  yeah...  glad...

A few hands later, I limp along with a host of limpers - A5ss.  Flop is A J 4 - 2 clubs and aggro Asian leads for $15 into around that size pot.  Donk in 10 calls and I come along.  Turn is a 5 and donk checks to me.  I decide to take the lead, ensuring that I charge for the donkey's club draw - I bet out $40; Asian dude calls as does donkey.  River is 2c and donk open shoves (lol) for $23.  I think I snap here (maybe incorrect because I'm reading him directly for a club draw) and Asian dude folds.  I'm shown Q8cc and concede the pot.

2 hands, shitty results.

I tread water, get to break even and contemplate leaving when, of course, the following happens:

KTss UTG+2 and I limp.  It folds all the way to the SB, who comes along and the BB, and ABC player raises to $12.  I call as does the SB and we see a flop of QsJsJx - OESF draw.  Checks to the BB who leads for $20.  I think for a bit and opt to call instead of raise here.  I can see what develops on the turn, but I can fairly well put the ABC player on a tight range; he's never gotten out of line in the hour I've played with him - always shown the nuts or very close to it.  No need to knock him off the hand if I can even get him to fold AA or KK.  Best case, he holds 2 red Ace's and I can stack him with a straight flush over boat.

Turn is a beautiful 9h.  Not the 9 I was looking for, but completes my straight.  BB leads for $30 and I again don't want him to go away.  I think a raise here forces him to fold, so I opt to flat the $30.  I also want to draw to that straight flush rather than folding out my opponent.  At this point, the board is pretty scary for AA, KK, and he's showing extreme weakness based on bet sizing.

7s on the river and I now have a flush to trump my straight.  However, he now leads big for $80.

What do you do?  Why?

Weekend in AC

Are any of my readers going to be in AC this weekend?  I'm headed up with the family for a quick Sunday / Monday getaway to drop off the kids at my parent's house in NJ.  I'm hoping to get in a few solid hours of poker; I haven't really had any time to focus on poker within the past month or two...  School, work, my son's baseball schedule and miscellaneous other things have all been getting in the way of my poker schedule.

"When We Held Kings" - The oral history of the 2003 World Series of Poker

This link was brought to my attention by pokerlistings.com.  It's about the Chris Monkeymaker effect - it's a complete detail of the 2003 WSOP and how it all went down.  Interesting read if you have 30 minute or so - a worthy way to spend some time.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9286395/view/full/the-oral-history-2003-world-series-poker-which-chris-moneymaker-turned-39-25-million

Variance at the PLO tables

I've been playing a bit of PLO (pot limit omaha) lately, to give myself a change of pace.  I still haven't built up the courage to solidly 2 table or more; I'm still adjusting to simply the hand reading aspect and figuring out my own equity... much less introducing more complexity by adding more tables and hands to sort through.

The following hand leaves me -300 for the night:

Hand #7354006-231 - 2013-05-22 00:11:05
Game: PL Omaha (20 - 100) - Blinds 0.50/1
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: PLO 6max .5/1 #2
Seat 1: Player1 (96)
Seat 2: DONKEY (456.48) - 100/50 in my estimation
Seat 3: AveragePlayer1 (105.15)
Seat 4: LAG1 (1010.15)
Seat 5: Hero (100)
Seat 6: AveragePlayer2 (196.21)
AveragePlayer1 has the dealer button
LAG1 posts small blind 0.50
Hero posts big blind 1
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to Hero [Ad Ah 9s 4d]
AveragePlayer2 folds
Player1 folds
DONKEY raises to 3.50
AveragePlayer1calls 3.50
LAG1 calls 3
Hero raises to 17.50
DONKEY calls 14
AveragePlayer1calls 14
LAG1 calls 14
70 in the pot and 83 behind
** Flop ** [As 6d 7d] - I flop top set with the nut flush draw and 2 blockers to the up & down straight draws
LAG1 checks
Hero checks
DONKEY bets 68
AveragePlayer1raises to 87.65 (All-in)
LAG1 raises to 399.20
Hero calls 82.50 (All-in) - snap call fist pump
DONKEY raises to 438.98 (All-in)
LAG1 calls 39.78
** Turn ** [6c]
** River ** [6h]
** Side Pot 2 Show Down ** [As 6d 7d 6c 6h]
DONKEY shows [4s 5h 6s Kh] (Four of a Kind, Sixes +K)
LAG1 shows [9d 8s Ts Td] (a Full House, Sixes full of Tens)
DONKEY wins Side Pot 2 (702.66) with Four of a Kind
Rake (0)
** Side Pot 1 Show Down ** [As 6d 7d 6c 6h]
AveragePlayer1 shows [8d Qc Ac 5d] (Three of a Kind, Sixes +AQ)
DONKEY wins Side Pot 1 (15.45) with Four of a Kind
Rake (0)
** Main Pot Show Down ** [As 6d 7d 6c 6h]
Hero shows [Ad Ah 9s 4d] (a Full House, Aces full of Sixes)
DONKEY wins Main Pot (398) with Four of a Kind
Rake (2)
Got it in with HUGE equity vs. the field: 2 4's, 2 5's , 2 8's, 3 9's - 9 outs against the field - and I get runner runnered by quads...  hrmph!

Immediately followed by this hand which puts me down -400 for the night:

Hand #7354156-233 - 2013-05-22 00:14:13
Game: PL Omaha (20 - 100) - Blinds 0.50/1
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: PLO 6max .5/1 #2
Seat 1: Player1 (96)
Seat 2: DONKEY (1186.73)
Seat 3: AveragePlayer1 (40)
Seat 4: LAG1 (548.67)
Seat 5: Hero (100)
Seat 6: sigmasquared (129.59)
Hero has the dealer button
AveragePlayer2 posts small blind 0.50
Player1 posts big blind 1
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to Hero [Ad Tc Td 8s] - I call here because DONKEY has PROVEN he only has 3 buttons: "pot" for what he believes to be his value hands, "call" for his draws, and "fold" for his rare misses
DONKEY calls 1
AveragePlayer1 calls 1
LAG1 raises to 4
Hero calls 4
AveragePlayer2 folds
Player1 calls 3
DONKEY calls 3
AveragePlayer1 calls 3
** Flop ** [8h 8d 2c] - Trip 8's with an Ace kicker; boom
Player1 checks
DONKEY checks
AveragePlayer1 checks
LAG1 checks
Hero bets 10
Player1 folds
DONKEY calls 10
AveragePlayer1 folds
LAG1 folds
** Turn ** [Ts] - It just gets better!
DONKEY checks
Hero bets 20
DONKEY calls 20 - This guy has an overpair who desperately wants to get to showdown; he doesn't understand that his overpair is no good.
** River ** [Qc]
DONKEY bets 78.50 - There's so much in his range that he's value betting thinking he's good here.  He has no problem dumping in with random 8's, so I'm not too concerned about his shove.  I think this is a snap call.
Hero calls 66 (All-in)
DONKEY refunded 12.50
** Pot Show Down ** [8h 8d 2c Ts Qc]
DONKEY shows [Qs Qd 3c Jd] (a Full House, Queens full of Eights) - 2 outted!  WTF?
Hero shows [Ad Tc Td 8s] (a Full House, Tens full of Eights)
DONKEY wins Pot (210.50) with a Full House
Rake (2)
Hero adds 100 chips

Now, as I said, I've been learning the game.  Poker is poker, and reads still are reads.  Since I've been playing live, I've improved my reads a TON.  Since there is no HUD for PLO on Seals With Clubs, I've focused on discerning hand ranges and player types.

The following are the upsides to last night, as I went on a mini heater after all the bad stuff.  A little background is that DONKEY doubled me up in the next 2 or 3 hands or so (with my bottom 2 pair vs. his TPTK AK), so I'm sitting on 200 or so chips when we get into another hand:

I have A K J 9 double suited and I raised pre.  He opts to 3bet to 12 and I think we're heads up and the flop is:
K Q 9 two spades

He leads pot ~26.
I think for a little and call; J T is a possibility, but even though he raises 50% of his hands, he 3bets rarely; like this is his second time - and AA is squarely in his range.
Turn is the 8s - bummer shitty.
To my chagrin, he pots again; 78.  If I call, I'll have 84 behind and a huge pot in the middle.  It's shove or fold time for me.  I just don't believe he has the spades, and I'm trying to collect my thoughts with regards to his ranges.  He can 3bet AA and KK holdings.  I have a K in my hand, so it's less likely for him to hold 2 K's.  He has a habit of mashing pot when he believe he has value.  He has no consideration for his opponent's hands; he's a level 1 player.  His value hands that beat me are AA K Q, AA JT, AA XX with 2 spades.  Any other AA xx hands are beat.  I opt to shove and he does not snap it off; I breath a sigh of relief - no JT, no spades.  He calls with AA xx and I double through again - 400 to finish the hand.

Then, I get into a hand where I hold AA double suited against a standard-ish player.  I raise pre and he calls; we're heads up and he has ~200 to start the hand:

7 in the pot and the flop is K J 3, rainbow.
He checks, I lead pot and he calls.

21 in the pot and the turn is a 3.
He checks and I lead pot again.  He calls

63 in the pot and the river is a J.
This time, he leads pot.  I snap it off; he can have random jacks, but I think 2 pair are going to check raise at some point in the hand - mostly the flop.  This bet does not make any sense, hence the snap call.

K J 3 3 J board and am shown A K Q T.

I'm learning.

I made the Wednesday Big Ass Pot of the Week!

Pretty cool that someone blogged about a hand I played last week!

For reference:  http://www.bitcoinpokerblog.com/index.php?p=493

Calling with King high...

I played an interesting hand the other day.  I "played up" to 3/6 on SWC and ran into a TOTAL LAGbot who was playing a 50/30 or thereabout.  I raised KQs UTG and get him as the second caller:

(Sorry for the raw format; I don't believe there's a hand converter available just yet for SWC)

Game: NL Hold'em (120 - 600) - Blinds 3/6
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: NLHE 9max 3/6 #1
Seat 1: a*m (1877.66)
Seat 2: A***1 (564)
Seat 3: P***a (596.33)
Seat 4: a***8 (715.91) - sitting out
Seat 5: W***a (250) - waiting for big blind
Seat 6: P***f (543)
Seat 7: M***s (571.57)
Seat 8: K**pFloppin (679.73)
Seat 9: P***o (855.26)
P***a has the dealer button
P***f  posts small blind 3
M***s posts big blind 6
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to K**pFloppin [Ks Qs]
K**pFloppin raises to 18
P***o calls 18
a*m calls 18
A***1 folds
P***a folds
P***f has timed out
P***f folds
M***s folds
** Flop ** [6h 3d 8h]
K**pFloppin bets 35 Standard cbet
P***o folds
a*m calls 35 When he calls, I'm 95% putting him on a flush draw.  He's the type that raises all hands, and has no problem stacking of top pair, which is how he's built his 1877 chip stack - aggression into the fear of the normally low stakes players.
** Turn ** [5c]
K**pFloppin checks I'm going to check for pot control just in case he shows up with something stupid.
a*m checks
** River ** [2s]
K**pFloppin checks Another blank, but it makes a backdoor 4 straight.  4's are in his range, but I can't ever see him checking through all the way like this.  He's got a flush draw, but the question is: is it Ace high - or worse.
a*m bets 70
K**pFloppin calls 70
** Pot Show Down ** [6h 3d 8h 5c 2s]
a*m shows [Kd Th] (High Card King +T865)
K**pFloppin shows [Ks Qs] (High Card King +Q865)
K**pFloppin wins Pot (266.18) with High Card
Rake (6.82)


By the river, he has position on me and has checked through the turn.  If he has *ANYTHING* here, he's betting the turn, as he's proven time & time again to do - in fact, I'm surprised he's not betting the turn with the naked draw.  Not only is he LAGgy, but he's aggro when he senses weakness.  I'm fairly (more than 90%) certain he's on the flush draw - the question is how good of a flush draw does he have?  He's shown to 3bet any good Ace broadways, so I can more or less discount that from his range.  I can beat all K high or worse draws.  The main concern I have is if he shows up with the Ax flush draw, or nipped a low pair.  If he nipped the low pair, I can easily see him checking through to get to showdown, but leads 70% pot; he wants to win the pot outright without a showdown.  Although the 2 completed the 4 straight, he's rarely showing up with Ah4h, the other concern (again, he didn't bet the turn).  Since there's much more to his range than Ax (50% VPIP, after all), I snap call his bluff on the river with a bit of a gulp.

He got very pissed at my snapping his bluff - he got up and left immediately.  Fun times when you can call K high and win :-).  Definitely not an everyday occurrence.

A stupid hand at 1/2 - nutted on with nary a chance of catching up...

I had forgotten about putting a post together to detail last week's session, so I'm going by memory here:

5 hands in, I am dealt TT from the BB and raise to $14 after a host of 4 limpers (including SB).  I get 2 callers and see a Qh 7h 4 flop.  I cbet $25 and get called in one spot, an alert player who thinks he's fancy but ABC.  The turn is Th and I lead again - he took his time in calling the flop bet so I don't put him on a draw; he's got KQ or some such hand.  I lead for $50 and he INSTA-raises me all in to $200.  I call and he slams down his pocket 4's for the flopped set (with the 4h).  I show my set of T's and he proceeds to hit a heart on the river for the scoop.  Amazing part was he was genuinely surprised to be pushed the pot; he didn't realize he 4 flushed me.  Buy in down.

I'm over it.

But here's the hand that annoys me:
AK on the BTN.  I raise to $16 after 5 limps (don't remember effective stack sizes but I have $200; in reverse, I guess villain has $~100).  One caller - older tightish player.  Flop comes 3 7 7.  Checks.  I cbet $25 and he calls (60 behind).  King on the turn and I lead for $30, he c/r's all in to $60 and I pay him off with his flopped 3's full.

What annoys me is the continuing bet of $30 on the turn - I am doubting myself as to whether I should have checked through the turn and c/c the river or c/f the river.  Tight old man making a call on the flop - my thinking at the time is he has a ton of pocket pairs + x7 + set of 3's.  Him check / raising the turn all in, he *has to have a 7 or set of 3's*.  I just can't see him showing up with worse.  Sometimes, the internet play gets the better of me & I think "cooler, meh, gonna pay it off; I'm either way behind or way ahead."  I have to get out of this mindset in live play because FAR MORE FREQUENTLY THAN NOT, I'm way behind.  Even for $30 +$30 additional.