Simply confused... a huge pot with top two

Dateline: Thursday.  Just a normal night for poker.  I had a meeting around my house mid-day, so I decided to take the rest of the day off of work.  GolfPro invited me for a quick lunch / dinner at Maryland Live!, so I took him up on it.  I arrived at around 2, enjoyed the free lunch (thanks again, GolfPro), and grinded the remainder of the high hand promotions Live! had running (essentially, the top 4 high hands for the given hour receive $525 each).  I played for about an hour, cashing out to the positive.  Mental note: I really dislike playing 1/2.  Live! isn't so bad anymore; the games were less "grindy" and more "touristy;" though perhaps that's just the table I was playing.  The place is still dimly lit, and more of a grinder room than a nice poker room.  They're running a promotion for February where you play 50 hours during specific times and you'll get $500 for that week.  Not a bad deal.

No real hands of note at Live!, but I did see a particularly bad player get minimum value on what should have been a cooler.  Doesn't matter how it got to this point, but by the river, there's a lead from a tighter player for $20 on a K K 2 2 8 board.  The bad player raises to [just] $40 to go.  The tighter player [just] calls and is shown K 8 for the top boat.  The tight player shows KT and mucks.  Now, the bad player has around $160 effective.  He spikes a 3 outter and gets $20 additional for his effort?  LOL.

Anyway, after the aforementioned high hand promotion ends, I decide to cash out and check in on my old buddies at the Horseshoe.  I am happy to report that the games are super good there.  I think they're better than Live!, and definitely better than MGM, though MGM pulls far more players.  When I arrived, there were 2 2/5 and 5-6 1/3 games going.  I got immediate seating on a 1/3 table and proceeded to chip up.  As the table I sat at got worse (i.e. there were 4 players all-ins pre-flop on my final hand, and the winner scooped ~$500 and hit-and-ran), I switched tables to bum hunt one of my favorite ATMs, of whom I've written in the past (see the link).  She's always happy, and after a bit of banter, I'm chatting it up with her and her boyfriend.

I did manage to mix it up with her boyfriend for a $200 pot with top pair, good kicker against his flopped set, but outside of that hand, there was really nothing of note.  That hand left me from having a good session to basically break-even.  The following hands, though, I was right back around where I was prior to that misstep when the following hand of note happened:

I look tilty at this point, but half the table knows me to be a solid, aggressive player.  I look down at KQo in the cutoff.  I raise 2 limpers to $17 and get 3 callers: the BB, a seemingly more passive player, tighter, thinking player, the early position caller (bad player) and probably the aforementioned ATM, but I can't recall for sure.  Anyway, $~70 in the pot, and the flop comes down Kc Tc 8.  The BB leads out for $20 and gets a call from the EP.  It folds to me with TPGK on a draw heavy board.  All aboard the value train!  I think for a bit, debating a raise to $100 or $80 and decide to pump it to $85.  I get calls in both spots (weird).

Turn is a T, pairing the board.  It checks to me, and I think for a moment: I don't think either of these guys are showing up having called the flop raise with second pair, nor just called top two, and I can mostly rule out a set of 8's.  Therefore, I have got to be good here.  There's a huge pot and I'm interested in getting value on this street, since there's a ton of money already in the middle.  I lead for $175, little more than half pot.  The BB again calls, but the EP fades away.

River is where it gets interesting, but I guess not really.  The BB has shown himself to be on a draw - probably a massive draw - QJcc if I had to guess.  Possibly AQcc, AJcc, but more than likely QJ IMO.  Well, the river shows a Q, making the final board read K T 8 T Q.  BB checks once again to me and I think.  I have $247 behind (he has me covered), and just rivered top two.  I could be mistaken; he could have a terribly played AK, a KJ, or Kx hand as well.  I'm ahead of all of his Kx holdings at this point, save for KT.  If he has AQ, QJ, he may get real sticky on the river since the pot is so large already ($675).  On the other hand, he could show up with J9cc, but less likely since he's tight-ish.  There's so much I'm ahead of here, and to this point, so much that he's calling down.  He's seen me blow off the $200 in the prior hands, I have a tilty image, and he's also seen me not go to showdown in the ensuing hands.  All of this leads up to my decision to shove the remaining $247.  He goes into the tank.  I was surprised that he was tanking so hard.  It felt like 2 minutes and he's thinking.  Looking at the board.  Looking at me.  I'm really not sure where he's at; I'm 90% sure I want a call here, but if he calls the $175 turn with a made hand, he's got to snap off the river, right?  He has to think that the board hasn't drastically changed with the Q.  I guess from his perspective, maybe he's afraid of AJ?  Well, after what seems like hours, he counts out the chips and grudgingly makes the call.  I show KQ and scoop a huge pot.

I have to say, I felt a little reckless on this hand.  I thought my image played into the whole dynamics, but I'm not one to put in ~2 buy-ins without the nuts or something close.  I got max value for the hand, granted, but was it optimal or dangerous?  Should I be checking that river?  I think I overvalued my hand, which is not something I ordinarily do, but was it "felt" correct at that moment.  My opponent was a passive player, and that plays into my thinking as well -- perhaps with his passivity, he does not 3bet AK.  Perhaps he just calls bottom set, fearing a set over set.  It definitely had me questioning myself.  Thoughts?

One other thought: how would the hand have played out if I had AA instead of KQ?

No play at the 'Shoe (thanks, Baltimore rioters) leads to funky play at MD Live! - and a poker rules question

I got in a decent session at Maryland Live! last night.  My records show that the last time I played there was exactly 1 month ago.  Of note, I've moved my preferred poker room from MDL to the Baltimore Horseshoe due to the 1/3 game, Mississippi straddles, looser / easier action, etc.  It's interesting; I talked with the wifey, negotiating working in a poker session during a busy family weekend - full well knowing that I wouldn't have time to play Saturday or Sunday.

After watching the hooligans on TV, I saw that the 'Shoe was closing their poker room at 9PM in order to comply with the city-wide curfew - for those who don't know or watch the news, there's been significant protests and rioting in the city leading to a 10PM curfew shutting down the ENTIRE city.  Since I had "late" meetings - reference to Pete P. Peter's crazy work schedule that "late" is a relative term, I knew I wouldn't have much time to play and started thinking I would just bag the session altogether.  Then, I remembered that the DC area has a choice of poker rooms and I could go to Live! instead.  Good call, Poker Meister (pat on the back for my own stupidity and not thinking out of the box).

Before I get into the hands, which were kinda unmemorable from a strategy / challenge perspective, there was an interesting rule / issue that happened while I was there:

New dealer sits down and begins to deal (as dealers are expected to do).  As he's dealing, he asks if anyone received a cracked card - he explains that he felt something funny as he dealt the cards, as if it were a cracked card (the cards are plastic - but I've never seen a cracked card, only bent cards).  No one owns up; to be honest, I don't think anyone really heard him / processed the request.  About 20 minutes later, a player to my left sends in the card saying it's a fouled card - 5 of spades - an otherwise meaningless card.  Action continues with the hand, the guy to his left raised to $12 and picked up 2 callers.  I had limped my 45hh and refused to act until they expose the card.  The dealer explained that the card should not be exposed until after the hand because it doesn't affect the play.  I argued that it definitely does affect the play; other players potentially know the card since it is marked - no different than playing with a fouled deck / marked card.  Floor is called, the situation is explained and she says that the MDL policy is to replace the card after the hand.  I disagree with the policy verbally, explaining why the card needs to be exposed and she complies, flipping the 5s.  FWIW, I fold my 45hh and we move on.

So here's the question: with a marked deck that had been in play for AT LEAST 2-3 hands, shouldn't play be voided?  Some players are playing with potentially biased knowledge of the deck - I doubt that anyone knew about the marked card, but it opens up the hand to unfair play.  Play could have been influenced based on the knowledge the 5s was dealt; it in fact would have modified my decision had I known (I would show the card ASAP, like the guy turning in the card, rather than cheat / angle shoot).  However, is this a standard rule?  Don't show the card and replace it after the hand?  What is the rule here?

Anyway, so there I found myself, sitting at the 1/2 Maryland Live! tables, seeing a bunch of the regulars at the 'Shoe who also had the same thoughts.  No sooner than 2nd hand in, I flop a set of 4's turned King's full, only to get it in against a flopped set of Q's turned King's full as well.  Puke!  Easy $200 gone.

8th hand in, I flop KQ top two vs. AA all in on the flop which held - WTF???  HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???  And I find myself +140 with $550 in front of me.

A little later, I make an egregious mistake with AK, calling a 4bet, flopping A XX, turning a K and getting it all in for $300+ and I find myself down $200 once again with $200 in front of me. 

I later get into the mix with who turns out to be the huge whale at the table, flopping Aces up with A7hh on an Ad7d3d board after 5 callers call a $7 raise from UTG.  I lead $25, got the fish (BB) caller, lead a 7x turn for $50,  and raise the fish's $25 lead on a Jd river (i.e. 4 flush board).  Looking down, I see a $100 chip on top of some greens and move the stack into bet position.  Realizing my mistake, I put out a total bet of $225 - oops!  I thought the stack was ~$150.  Well, the fish hems & haws, complaining about how he has a really good flush and that he can't lay it down - I thought I was sunk here and he was auto-folding only to have him shove over for my remaining $17.  I obviously snap it off an show the 7's full for a really nice double through.

This was my night, repeated over & over.  Good news is I got AA a few times (one time against the fish, he rivered a backdoor 4 straight which was just a stupid stupid hand - 6 9 with the flopped pair and backdoor straight & I shoved river for ~$150 after around $225 in the pot), spiked a K on the river against the same fish after 3betting from the SB with KK to $45 ($100 behind) from a $10 3-way pot, having him call with AQ only to flop an A and see me shove into him (don't care about the board; I'm always shoving a 3 bet pot - he has 2-1 implied with his call; whatever...).

In the end, I wind up with a decent winning session - a relief - but I wasn't too happy about the roller coaster that I had to experience to get there.  I guess we'll all have days like that...

Thursday night session at the 'Shoe

I had the opportunity to play yesterday, as we returned home from our trip to Williamsburg, VA a little earlier than originally expected.  Both the wife & I were feeling a little under the weather, so we decided to make a game-time decision Wednesday to make the 2 1/2 hour drive back home rather than stay the additional night and return on Thursday.  After a mostly restful sleep and plenty of R&R during the day - and 2 DayQuils later, I found myself in the car driving up 95 on my way to play.

The first decision I faced was whether to opt for Baltimore, where the players are far worse, the action is a lot better, and the games play larger (1/3 - $300 buy ins) vs. stopping at Live! (1/2 - $300 buy in), where it's about 10 miles closer, the room is more player friendly and the bad beat jackpot is a lot larger.  I opted for what I felt was the logical choice: Baltimore.  The driving distance is mostly nominal anyway - door to door, I imagine the distance is roughly the same since you can park on the same level as the poker room in Baltimore whereas it's a bit of a walk from the parking lot to the Live! poker room.

There's just something about playing 1/3 that is just so enticing as a segue from 1/2 to 2/5.  At this point, I've very comfortable with the 50% money jump from 1/2 to 1/3 - the raises are larger, the pots are larger, and the players are not adjusting properly.  My biggest issue with moving up to 2/5 is the money - $500 is simply a lot more money than $200.  Percentage-wise, though, the step from $300 to $500 is less than $200 to $300.  Therefore, I'm hoping to spend a few hours this year cementing myself in at the 1/3 games and then solidly make the jump to 2/5 - with a full 100BB buy-in.

As I start to evaluate myself, part of my problem with prior runs at 2/5 in the past was that I was a "little pregnant" - I'd play a $200 stack at 2/5 rather than buy in full.  That kind of risk aversion is just like playing short stacked tournament poker - and I hate doing that.  Being so short-stacked severely limits play, and I felt very much limited at the 2/5 games by playing 40% stacks...  therefore, I hope I can build up enough of a bankroll to support a 2/5 game at full stacks - I figure around $8-10k will do the trick, as around $3-4k has done the trick for the 1/2, 1/3 games thus far.

Anyway, after a bit of a wait - no more than 10 minutes - I was seated at a fairly easy 1/3 table.  It started off as a slow, somewhat tight table, but then the table started really loosening up.  I chipped up nicely throughout and found myself sitting on around $800 when I got into the mix with a somewhat wild player who wasn't really raising frequently, but was very aggressive and swingy:

I look down at Ad2d and call a $12 raise from the somewhat wild player (sitting on ~$300), along with 4 other players - $60 in the center and a flop of 3d 4c Jd.  Checks around to original raiser who leads for $25.  Player to his left thinks for a while and just calls and I sit & debate the next move.  I feel like I'm going to be paid on my 5 or diamond if / when it hits, but if I raise, I'm reducing the likelihood that either will pay off, so I opt to flat call the $25.  All other drop out.

$135 in the center - the turn is a 5s, completing my wheel.  I once again check and the wild player puts in $70.  To my surprise, the player to his left shoves all in for around $170.  With my wheel and the diamond re-draw, what do I do here?  I have the wild / original raiser covered - he has $200 remaining after the last bet, so I announce all in and he literally takes his time before calling and then asks for a diamond on the river.

River is a 6c and he flips 76o for the higher straight on the turn and scoops a nice pot.

I've been looking at the points of play which I could have done better, but I'm debating the only spot in which I could have changed - the flop.  I don't know whether it would have made a difference, but I think I like check/ raising the flop there to around $125 instead of just calling.  I'm happy to take down the pot without showing down, and if I get a call, it's an auto shove on the turn.  I also think I mark the hand up to a cooler - he had a somewhat oddball hand not really in his range that hit a gutter on me which also made my hand.  Thoughts?

The power of the look... Always look to your left!

Since the onset of this blog, I've gravitated away from being solely an online player to being a bit of both online & live.  I love the fact that the players live are so much worse than the players online, and the money live is so much larger than the money online, but live has so many more dimensions added to the game - mainly the live reads, hence the title of the post.

I will tell you this: Over the past week or two, I signed on to a new poker site (affiliate link to the right) and it's like the old days of Stars & Tilt.  I'm regularly logging on and playing 6+ tables of all stakes, from .05/.1 to .5/1 (.001 x BTC).  I have Holdem Manager installed and it's great!  I'm getting readjusted to all my old stats - 3bet, PFR, VPIP, FTSTL (Fold to Steal), etc.!  Over the weekend, I put in around 7k hands - a crazy amount since Seals with Clubs started losing players.  Hopefully, this new site will hold out & I'll be able to keep playing there.  It feels good to crush although I realize the rate that I'm crushing is unsustainable (north of 50BB/100).

Anyway, to the title of the post - always look left - I found myself at a somewhat difficult table to start last Friday's session.  In seat 1 was a player I'd played against before (competent player, good reader, very aggressive), seat 4 had an aggressive player (reg), and, since I was in seat 8, seats 9 & 10 to my left were also regs.  This was a 1/2 game at MDL.

My day started with AK within 2 hands and I raised to $12 as first in.  I got 2 callers to comply and saw a flop of A x x (rainbow).  Cbetting small seemed to be the likely route here, as I want all A x hands coming along for the ride - I lead out for $20-25 and get a fold out of the 1 seat, but seat 4 check / raises to $80.  Now I'm at a decision for my initial buy in stack...  and I opt to shove - dry board and he's check / raising?  He insta-mucks and I pick up a healthy pot.

A quick brief of one of the more important items to reads in live poker: always look to your left.  What does that mean?  When it's your turn to act, or even prior to your turn, always look to the guy to your left and see what he's going to do if he's giving any tells.  If he has chips in his hand, or he's reaching for chips, that could be a tell that he's going to raise.  If he has the "fold hold" on his cards, he's very likely to be folding.  I extend that look left to later streets - to see what the action will be after me.

The hand starts with a multi-way limped pot with an A 7 8 board - I have 8x (can't remember the other card - likely 7 or 9, as this hand was somewhat non-memorable) in late position $7 flop bet and I call along with aggro seat 1.  FWIW, this flop lead seemed weak at the time, and I call with a backdoor and mid pair.  Normally, I'm not happy about calling into an Ace high board, but the price I'm getting to hang around is decent enough...

An A on the turn checks through to me, and I'll happily take a free card here, but as I'm looking to the next street, I see seat 1 instantly grab chips for an automatic river bet.  His decision was squarely predicated on my check through.  As expected, the river comes (not a clue what it was, but maybe it was a 2 or something) and he leads $19 - fold from the original bettor and I snap it off.  He doesn't even wait for me to show but mucks his cards.  For added insurance, I asked the dealer to muck his cards so I didn't have to show.

Easy call in a vacuum?  Probably not - this may be a fold without thought.  But since this is live poker, and we're not dealing with just online reads, we can gather a whole lot more information about current and future streets - look left!

A live hand history including a live read - what would you do?

I was having a decent session at Maryland Live last Friday - I was up approximately $200 from various incremental wins; no hands of particular note - make the nuts, get paid kinds of hands.  The table had 3 huge fish at my right, a current or retired (not sure) police officer who will be at the center of this post, and 2 other very splashy players.  The police officer and I have been amicable - he's a tourist and is looking to have a good time, as evident from his play.  He's talkative, sharing stories, and the whole table is involved with the ongoing conversations.

The police office (PO henceforth) had built up a sizable stack by continually raising / betting - purely aggressive.  I also had  lost a decent chunk to him in an earlier hand - perhaps $100 or so - on a set over set situation where he limp / called a raise blind (he wound up with JJ vs. my 99), while I overall broke even on the hand when the original opener shoved his AA on the Q J 9 flop.  PO had built his stack up to $400 but was probably in for about $200 of that stack.  Emboldened by his success of bullying the table, he started raising all in on many rivers, making massively oversized bets which were rarely called.  On occasion, he'd take to calling PF raises dark, only looking at his cards when the betting on the flop & turn became significant.  I was watching this unfold until I finally found a hand from UTG+1:

I'm dealt KK with a $400 stack at a 1/2 game from UTG+1, facing an UTG limper.  I opt to raise to $15.  It folds around to PO in the SB, who instantly 3bets to $45.  It should be noted that I hadn't seen him 3bet any prior hands - if nothing else, this was out of character.  UTG folded the action to me, where I began carefully considering my options: I could raise to $75-100, but am I prepared to fold to a 5bet shove for $400?  If I'm playing a 100BB stack, this is simplified - I feel comfortable getting 100BB in PF with KK; if I'm dominated by AA, so be it, but it's a lot less costly than 2 buy ins, and a lot less of a mistake (moreso a cooler than anything else).  200BB becomes less of a cooler and more of a bad play IMO.  My other consideration is if I 4bet to $75-100, he's most likely folding his worse hands and raising AA, QQ.  Perhaps I'm giving him too much credit; he may also be 3betting / raising AK, QQ, JJ and flatting all of his pocket pairs.  But the main thought I had is I don't want him folding his bluffs and I want him to continue with the hand with all weaker cards.  He's been aggro and winning a disproportionate amount of pots due to aggression - I don't want to shut him down before he can get more money in the middle.  Therefore, I opt to flat call his raise to $45.  After calling, he tells me he checks in the dark (WTF???).  The only conclusion I can draw by his check in the dark is that in his simple mind, he's repping AA and doesn't care what the flop is?  I digress.

Anyway, as scripted (why do KK's always get an A on the flop!??!?!), the flop comes A T 8 - 2 clubs.  Outside of that stupid Ace, not a bad flop for a 3bet PF with KK - no Q, J.  If I was crushed before the hand with AA, now it doesn't even matter, but I'm not too happy about the board - I'm trying for pot control.  I decide to check through the flop.

Here's where the hand deviates from the standard:  Going into the turn, PO tells me he hasn't looked at his cards - that he 3bet the PF dark. The turn is dealt - a non-club 2 I think.  He picks up his cards to look at them, and then leads out for $60 into the $90 pot.  I think for a moment, then call given his check in the dark, his talkativeness, etc.  If he looked at his cards, he has to have AK, AA perhaps AQ?  If not, the chances of him holding 2 random cards where one is an Ace is not all that likely given the Ace on the flop.

The river is a beauty - a non-club Ace.  To me, this is an awesome card, because there are now only 2 Aces in the deck - making his story far less credible.  He verbalizes all in - $300 - a quick instant bet.  Now I'm caught, because logic dictates he doesn't have an Ace, but his bet is certainly trying to represent that he has the Ace.  There are two tangential arguments here: If he did look at his cards, he's saying he has quad Aces or AK.  If he didn't look at his cards, he has 2 random cards, and the likelihood of either being an Ace... or either being a flopped set is somewhat outside the realm - particularly given the 2 Aces on the board.  Moreover, this move falls in line with his prior moves; he's been shoving / over shoving a lot of rivers like this, making the other players very uncomfortable with calling those large bets - in fact, no one had called the bets to this point.  I took a while in deciding, and was probably 60/40 in favor of calling, but 60/40 for a 150BB call is not great...

I told the table that I was sorry for taking so long - then I flipped over my hand to show the table why I had such a hard time deciding on my action.  FWIW, I'm pretty sure the fish at the table looked at me like a fish, and the better players understood my predicament.  I told the table I didn't want them thinking I was showboating - but what I was really trying to get was a read on the PO.  I got it - his reaction was almost instant: he first made the real face of horror / shock but quickly turned it around to the sympathetic look of confidence, nodding his head in acknowledgement that my decision was a tough one.  It was all the additional information I needed.  Standing up, I made the call and waited - he flipped 76o for a complete bluff / busted gutshot draw and I scooped.  I think he had $5 in remaining chips which he threw to me as well, saying it was a great call on my part, patting me on the back, etc.  He made an unceremonious exit after that, and I found myself up $600+ for the day :-).  FWIW, I flipped the dealer a red bird of my own and his remaining chips.

When they give away their hand...

As I was playing yesterday I had an interesting hand happen - well you not might find it interesting but I found interesting myself:

I had been playing for about four hours when I found myself looking down at JJ and facing a raise of $15 from a very tight player. I contemplated three betting but after thinking about it I decided to flat in position on the cut off. 2 factors are at play here: he rarely raises and therefore I'm likely to be behind his range, or I'm 50/50 with an AK / AQ. Otherwise, I'm ahead of him and don't want him folding. In other words I don't want to put a ton of money in where I don't know whether I'm at in the hand. One other player came along - a fairly loose bad player.

The flop came all under blanks; 2 5 8 rainbow. It checks to the original raiser who immediately lead for $30. This is a fairly safe board; he's leading 2/3 pot... somewhat reasonable, but if he has AA, he's probably wanting value on a board that connected with very few hands of the 2 remaining players. KK / QQ, I understand - but this feels like an automatic c-bet. Therefore, I think for a moment and decide to flat once again.

The bad player surprisingly decided to check raise all in for $76 total. This has the original player in the tank. After much contemplation tight player flat calls & here is the title of the story - he gave his hand away - no aa kk qq - he's got a marginal overpaid that he doesn't want to fold. A tight player who's confident in his hand is always shoving / snap calling / whatever but a tell like thinking for a while and just flatting - that's a good indicator of weakness. Add to his data points the fact that I just flatted his c-bet - it just wreaks of weakness.

He has $120 or so behind and I opt to shove which puts him into the tank once again. Eventually, he calls and shows TT. The check raiser mucks and I win a decent pot with JJ!

A little playtime yesterday...

I decided to degen it up yesterday by taking the day off and go play a little poker.  My wife is away until Tuesday, so I have to get the kids off to school and back again - I have about 4-5 hours in between to get some time in.  The table was surprisingly loose for a 10am table - these were mostly regs, but some of the regs were pretty woeful to say the least.  I'm not going to get into the regs and surprising play, but there were many many profitable spots including calling down 2nd and 3rd pairs a ton for crazy prices...

There were 2 hands in question that I'll share today:

2nd or 3rd hand against a brand new player, I'm dealt TT in position and raise $15 against 2 limpers.  Get called in both spots.

Flop comes QQ5 rainbow - it checks to me.  I check through thinking that only a Q is going to call in this spot, so why bet.  Turn is an 8 and new player leads for $35.  I flat and the other player folds.

River is a blank.  He insta-shoves on me (~$125 effective).  I have showdown value here - what to do, what to do?  Knowing nothing about this player, I fold.

Thoughts?  Unknown player?  Checks flop out of position, leads turn and shoves river?

A bunch of hands later, I see him betting & raising a TON of hands.  He's getting away with it on small pots, where he's raising unreasonably large on mostly blank flops, but his raises seem out of whack; it appears that he's trying to win the pots outright and buy people off hands rather than get value for anything.  He's clearly fishy, and I'm thinking I made a bad lay down there...  I think I have to lay down there though given the strength he's shown and the lack of knowledge.

I get retribution from him (and then some) when the following hand arises:
I limp QJo in the HJ position (he's to my right so I continually have position on him).  It limps to a 4 way flop:

Q 6 2 (2 diamonds).  BB leads for $8, folds around to fish and he raises to $20.  I think for a minute and raise to $40.  BB folds and fish calls.

Turn is a blank and fish checks.  I think about how to maximize value here - I bet $75 and he insta-calls.

River is another blank and he checks again.  I think I can eek out some value here - perhaps $50 or so, but my thought is that he's calling better hands and folding draws, so why bet here?  I guess I shouldn't think when I'm dealing with a fish, and only act strong.  However, I [perhaps weakly] check through and wait for him to show.  He shows K6o, and I win a sizable pot for a pair of Queens, J kicker.  There were many eye rolls and dropped jaws when he showed mid pair after calling $115!  This guy would go on to bust through his starting stack, but he's apparently well known to do this kind of bad play.  QJ is such a check / call get-to-showdown-cheaply type of hand 99% of the time, but I got nice value for it on this go-around against this kind of player...

Friday night play time!

This is becoming a regular thing: posting after each session...  Based on the volume of posts, it shows how little I get to play these days.  However, I was able to get in a Friday night session, given the holidays & how tired my wife was after all the Thanksgiving events.  She went to bed early, I got to stay out until 3am - sounds like an equitable trade!  Anyway, what started out as a not-so-nice session turned into a decent win for the night:

I was card dead for most of the session, save for my JJ (non-clubs) in the SB.  After about 6 limpers, I bump it to $17 to go - and get called by 2 players - the only good player at the table (yuck) and a terribad player.  Flop comes all clubs: 5 6 8, and I put in $35.  The good player bumps it to $85 and I sit & think.  The pattern at this table was to limp premiums by the bad players (i.e. I saw AA v KK on a limped pot) but this player was a good player...  There isn't much he could be limp / calling with that includes all clubs other than suited connectors, but I doubt he's first in with SC's.  For some reason, I kept on thinking about him showing TT with the Tc, but in retrospect, I didn't consider all the factors above.  The other consideration that came to my mind was a set, but I felt that he would just call to see what happens on the turn - a point I shouldn't discount as heavily as I did.  Regardless, I made the call to see 5 5 for a flopped bottom set, and found myself down a buy in about 2 hours into my session.

I rebought, and slowly bled down another $100 to find myself down $300 for the session before things started to turn around:

I was able to get value twice for a turned two pair - once with A2 on a Q T 2 board.  Limped pot and I'm in the BB, I call a flop bet of $10 as does another player.  Turn is an A, I check and see the original bettor put out $15 on the turn - called by the other player.  I think about blowing up the pot and opt to check / raise on the smaller side to keep them both interested, plus given the concern about earlier limping of big hands, AQ crosses my mind.  I check / raise to $45 and original bettor snaps while the other player folds.  Turn is a blank and I bet $80 or so and he tanks before eventually calling.  He tells me he had two pair as well.

I can't remember the other turned 2 pair hand, but I started with mid pair and made 2 pair on the turn, value betting around $90 by the river and getting paid off.

I do recall one hand that I made a particularly good play: Limped pot and I'm in the BB with T9o.  Flop comes 6 9 T - 2 diamonds.  I lead for $15 into the ~$15 pot, called by the bad player to my left, folds around to the Asian dude wearing a beanie and headphones...  dude could care less about anything but taking money from everyone at the table - showed no interest in any conversation or anything else.  He pops it to $85 and I think & muck.  My thought is that he's been very very very quiet and very very very tight, he's got to show up with a set or flopped straight.  Bad player to my left just calls once again.  At this point, I leave my seat to go talk about the hand with the good player outlined above - we had been fairly chatty since I sat down, and I respected his play.  I whispered what the action was and asked what he would do in my spot...  As I returned to my seat, I told him, "I so want to see this hand go to showdown!"  Turn is a blank and it gets checked to Mr. Cool.  He bombs for $120 with $20 effective behind and bad player again calls.  Before calling though, bad player to my left says - "I'm calling since you want to see this hand to showdown."  River is a J and Mr. Cool bets - and gets snapped for his remaining stack by the guy to my left.  Mr. Cool shows 7 8 for the flopped nuts, and guy to my left shows Qd8d, a gutted straight on the river.  This drives Mr. Cool insane - what a terrible call, that I shouldn't be talking in the hand, etc. etc.  Now, he was right in the fact that I should not have said anything in the hand, but I do not believe my talking influenced any action.  Point made, sir, though.  He didn't let it drop though, so I started needling him quite a bit throughout the rest of the night - pointing out numerous times that the whole table was having a grand 'ole time while he's sitting there with his headphones and couldn't care less about pandering to his "customers."  (I actually didn't say anything like that, but certainly alluded to the fact that everyone except ONE person was having a great time at an epic table.

Anyway, over time, given enough needling, he responded to my jabs by calling me a 5 year old, a bully, and a little bitch.  Me being me, I wouldn't let those comments drop either, and the rest of the table let him hear it too.  As luck would have it, we got into a heads up conflict where I got the better of him:

8d6d in the SB on a limped pot - about 5 ways.  We see a flop of 6xQdTd.  I lead for $15 with my multi-way draw and he flats.  Turn is the Ad and I check my flush, knowing that he's going to look to extract his "revenge."  Without fail, he bets $45 and "I want him to think that I am pondering a call, but all I'm really thinkin' about is Vegas and the fuckin' Mirage."  So I call after my preponderance...  River is a blank and I check once again, full on expecting that sweet sweet revenge bet to come - and it does, without fail, but disappointingly to the amount of $45 again.  I snap raise him as quick as I can to $100 but that stops him dead in his track.  He's too good to call a c/r river, and I'd imagine he was bluffing the turn and river regardless.  So he folds with a very unhappy look on his face, and I put on my shit-eating grin.  Getting the better of a dude like this is fun!  It makes the whole session worthwhile.

By the end of the night, I found myself up $300 instead of in the hole $300, a swing of $600, or 3 buy ins.  The takeaway from the night is this: when you're at a bad table and find yourself in the hole for some money, keep your head up.  Your skill will win out over their poor play - just get the hours in and the rest will take care of itself.  Also, have a point to getting under people's skin.  I was just biding my time for when I could take advantage of the dude's hatred for me...  and I was able to successfully pull it off without forcing anything.  I guess the key is distilled down to one word: patience.

Poker Sunday!

This past Sunday, I had the rare occasion to get some hours in at the Maryland Live! tables...  I never get the chance to play because my wife has so many things scheduled for our family to do on the weekend.  However, by the course of the family business we own, I had deliveries to make on the way up to the poker room, and later in the day, had pick ups to make in the reverse order.  It didn't make sense for me to drop off & come home - and rinse & repeat - so I stayed out there.  Besides, who am I to complain about free time to play some live poker!?!?!?

Anyway, the tables were super soft - filled with guys who believe they know what they're doing, but are just acting like aggromaniacs.  I was surprised at some of the play - my general rule on 65+ male poker players is that they're going to be tight / passive.  I saw one such guy 3-bet KQo and get it in on the turn on a Q high board against a flopped 2 pair.  I saw another guy get it in two different times PF with 44 and AK...  not the kind of play I would expect...

Regardless, I think the tables are consistently easier during the weekend as opposed to the weekdays.  I didn't hit many hands, but those hands that I did hit, I hit hard:

AJo I raise $12 first in.  I get about 4 callers and we see a J high flop with 2 hearts.  I lead for $30 and get a terribad caller - he's been so transparent; i.e. calls when behind, bets when he has top pair.  I immediately put him on a draw.  Turn is a non-heart Q.  I bet $65 and he snaps it like he owns the place.  River is a non-heart blank and I opt to check here...  He has about $80 (effective) behind, and I've seen him try to bluff rivers where it doesn't make sense (he's a bet when he thinks he's ahead, check when he's drawing kinda guy).  He's always going to bet his air and his value on the river, but he's never calling his air on the river, so why not try for a check here when I'm going to be good so often?  I check and as hoped, he fires his last $80 into the pot, which I snap off.  He shows 9h2h for the busted draw.

AJo again, I raise into 3 limpers to $15.  I get calls in 3 spots, $60 to the flop.  J 2 5 rainbow; BB leads for $30, I call as does a terribad player.  Turn is a blank, BB leads for $60.  I call, same terribad player calls.  River is another blank and it's checked to me.  There's a ton of money in the pot already - $320 - and I have ~$200 (effective) behind - bet or not to bet?  I think I miss value here but I check and it checks through.  BB doesn't show and terribad player has JT.  Nicely sized pot but I perhaps missed value on the river with my TPTK.  I think too many players are gun shy betting into the river with a single pair hand, but I felt that I'm against 2 other players with a lot of money in the pot already...  It's probably 25% bet, 75% check situation with expectation to call whatever terribad player bets on the river (he's been prone to turn hands into bluffs when checked to on the river).

JsJx, I call an EP raise from a tight player - $15 - as do 3 other players.  $75 in the pot and the flop is 3s 4s 9.  It's checked to me and I lead for $45, only the original raiser calls after contemplating for a LOOONG time.  At this point, I feel like I'm way behind...  I'm 99% certain he's not on any sort of draw; he has QQ+, TT is very unlikely.  Turn is 2s and we check through. I turn a backdoor spade draw, though I'm not sure my Js is good here.  The river definitely bails me out though when the Jc shows it's beautiful face.  It's checked to me once again (BTW, we're playing about $400 deep to start the hand - he has $800+), and I think about how much value I can get out of my top set now that I know I'm ahead of his QQ+.  The check on the turn is what will definitely get him to call a sizable river bet, but I don't want him thinking I checked for deception on my turned spade draw.  The bet has to be awkward - so I settle on $90, which is sizable but not over-the-top.  $90 into $165 is doable.  He thinks for a good long while before finally making the call - he doesn't show but 15 hands later tells me he had KK.

Last hand of note, 7 hands later, 55 in middle position - fairly standard flopped set action.  I limp in and see an A 8s 5s board.  I lead for $15 and get a caller from a semi-solid player in the BB.  Turn is 2 and I lead for $45.  Call.  River is another 2 & I push out $100 (he has $130 total behind but I felt like a $130 bet was too large to call for a limped pot).  He somewhat quickly calls and is shown the bad news.

Happy New Year!

First session out of the way last night.  Although I don't really stand by resolutions, I have resolved to play more 2/5 this year.  I held to my resolution last night by getting my first 2014 session underway by playing - true to form - 2/5.  Wow!  I bought in for the minimum, $200, and got a bit too aggro with my open ender + over card, check/raising the flop and shoving the turn into a flopped 2 pair.  Second bullet, though, would see me cooler the same guy with top set of KK vs. his mid set of 66, followed by my AA vs. KK (AIF).

Overall, I did okay.  I'm not enthralled with the idea of buying in short.  I feel like there's very little room for error as far as betting a street or two and needing to add to my stack.  However, in the two tables I played in, the play was far more passive than the standard 1/2 game lately.  Obviously, I have limited sample sizes, but I saw a lot of limping and less raising PF.  Moreover, raises get more scrutiny and people are playing a bit closer attention to starting stack sizes.

There were a few times that I was able to raise a host of limpers on the BTN to $25 or slightly more and get folds from every single one.  In 1/2, that kind of shenanigan would never work: raising to the equivalent $10 -$12 with 5 players in would get calls from every single one of them.  It was kinda cool; I think I can replace any prior PF raises / flop folds with BTN steal money.  I believe this is a nice source of revenue that wasn't generally available before.  In other words, stealing limps in 1/2 simply costs a lot more, and the folds are not necessarily guaranteed when raising to ANY amount.  The folds are far more likely at 2/5, with far less overall monetary risk.

I'll continue to post observations in the coming weeks, as I get more time to play.  I have until the end of this week off from work, and the end of the month off from school, so I should get in a few hours of poker time.

Happy New Year to everyone, and may this year be even more profitable, both monetarily and mentally, than 2013.

Getting a fold from a fish

A few sessions ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with a complete and utter fish.  This fish was the type that had no idea about the strength of hands, no idea about anything.  One thing he did understand is raising and being aggressive.  He loved to splash money in the pot, which was interesting because he didn't have a lot of money.

The table was a new table, but it was evident from the start that this guy had no idea what he was doing.  He'd be all in on a bottom pair, betting and raising like he flopped the nuts.  Inevitably, with these kinds of players, he would suck out to the best hand and amass a small but formidable stack.  It was like watching a roller coaster, though.  His raises were sickly - $20 with Q2, $30 with T8.  No rhyme  or reason seemed to apply - some people just like to watch the world burn, I guess.

Anyway, the roller coaster comes abruptly to a stop when he gets looked up by a second pair which finally holds, and he busts.  He gets up and asks about rebuys.  I smartly tell him they can hold the seat for him as long as he'd like - he was ready to leave and not come back.  Upon hearing that, he raced over to the ATM and was back 20 minutes later.

He sits down and within 5 minutes, his $100 rebuy is up to around $120 when he raises like $20 into me (I'm on his left, thankfully, but can't hit a freaking hand that plays well against his any two cards).  I have 8 8 and I consider 3betting, but feel like I can get it in on kind flop just the same as if I got it in pre flop - he's shown that he can fold 3bets and I don't really want him folding his BS cards.  Therefore, I just call and the table folds.

We see a flop of 3 7 7 and he bets into me - like $20 again.  This is a great flop for me.  This is so far ahead of his range, but he calls off stacks with Q6, etc. so I have no problem raising here.  Therefore, I raise to $60 and he just calls.

Turn is a blank and he checks.  I shove for $100 (he has $40 or so behind) and he tanks and tanks...  He starts talking about how he thinks I have a 7 and have him beat, which raises my eyebrows...  I need trips to beat him?  WTF?  Then he asks me if he folds, will I show him my cards?  I think this is a genuine question, not a probe for information, and I like the guy, so I agree - I ask if he'll show his cards which he quickly agrees.

He declares a fold and drops 33 for the flopped boat.  I show my 8 8 and scoop.  The table quietly stifles a gasp and an uneasy laugh as I scoop the pot for his perceived bluff.  He busts out 5 hands later and says his farewells to the table (I think they cleaned him out completely).  WTF?  I get the one friggin time the LAGtard has an actual hand!!!  DAMNIT!!!  But WOW!!!!

As we (the table) discussed the hand afterwards, we tried to piece together his thought process (which was admittedly a difficult thing to do).  The common thought was that he didn't understand poker hands, and thought he just had trip 3's, not a full house.  He thought if I held a 7, I had him beat with higher trips.

LOL

Interesting bits from last night's session and prior sessions

I played a short session last night - all of 3 hours - before I got tired & decided to call it quits for the night.  Last night was the first night I've had free in... ohhh... say about 5 weeks?  Time has been sucked into a vortex for me; balancing between work, school, home, travel (work), etc., there has been very little time to get out and grind.

Regardless, I had a few interesting hands where I think I got lucky, but perhaps I made the correct decision:

First hand, 4th hand into the session - no particular reads on any of the players.

Original raiser had been semi-aggro in the 4 hands I'd seen him play; he raised once and called a raise once (in 4 hands; meaningless sample obv).  It limps around to dude and he raises to $11 in the BB.  Seeing the 5 limpers, I start the waterfall by calling with 9c8c.  3 limpers call and we see a $55 pot of TcJc5s.

He loads up and leads out for $31 - odd bet, but whatever...

I sit & think for a bit - should I call or take the aggro line...  True to myself, I take the aggro line and raise $45 on top.  Folds around and dude tanks a bit and just calls (we're playing $200 deep to start the hand).  Turn is a 5h and we check through.  I consider a shove here, but opt to just check, planning on shoving most / all rivers.  River is a 3s and he checks again.  I shove my ~$110 remaining and he insta-mucks.  Nice start.

Bit later, the table got very actiony when 3 middle age Chinese gentlemen sat down (separately, but all knew each other and were friends).  One was immediately pissed that I called him out on the "English only" rule...  he's having discussions about what I'd imagine to be the players.  These 3 guys were not afraid to put money in the pot and one particular guy was a decent hand reader.  Although he had position on me (immediately to my left) I was pretty sure he was trying to stay out of my way; he wasn't getting cutesy with raising when he sensed weakness or anything - he was fit or fold with me.

Anyway, I raise AJo to $10 from MP and get a LAG caller from the BTN and one of the blinds.

Flop comes 8c7c 2d.  Pretty meh flop, but worthy of a cbet.  I lead for $25 (I think - maybe it was $20) and LAG calls.  I put him on a draw.

Turn is 8d and we check through.  River is 3c and I check once again.  He looks at his cards, then the board - pauses for a moment, looks at me - and then bets $25.

I take pause and think about his body language and consider the information.  His whole demeanor screamed missed draw, but the club got him there, so can that be?  I think he always bets his turned trips, and if he's shy, then he's basically bluffing his hand now with the 3rd club out there.  Then I start thinking about the body language: he looked at me, picking up that I'm uncomfortable with the 3rd club, given the action in the hand.  He's turning his hand into a bluff - but the bullshit is whether or not he has a 7, 3 or 2 and doing this, or simply T9, 65 draws that missed altogether.  1/2 players are shitty like that - they don't know when their hands have showdown value, so they think they need to bluff the river.  Clearly, I should be calling all overpairs, especially for $25, so is that ever going to get me off my hand.  Regardless, I sit with AJ high, just 2 overcards - and not great overcards at that.  Eventually, I coax myself into a call and wait for him to flip.  As expected, he shows 65 and I flip AJ to scoop.  Although I don't think the call was that hard, the Asian guy to my left *CERTAINLY* took note and the kid to my right thought it was an excellent call.

Last hand in the post:
I raise TT (no heart) to $15 after one limper.  Get called in 2 spots (other gambly Asian dude and original limper).

$45 flop comes 3h 6h 8h and it checks to me.  I lead for $30 and get check raised by Asian fella - I think he raised to $75 or something; I didn't bother to get a count.  Original limper folds and I had expected him to do this, as he had been doing it all night.  I think he shows up with a ton of Ah x and just stupid draws, so I insta shove, putting him all in for $120.  I got an overpair and I'm not going anywhere; he's been bullying the table all night.

Well, he tanks & tanks and shows his neighbor his decision...  The one time I run into this ass when he has a hand!  He has JhJx!!!  As time runs, he finds his fold button (I'm shocked) and I scoop.

That's the second time I've aggro bet with the second best hand and gotten a fold at MDL - the first time, I'll describe in another post, because it's cringe worthy.

Sunday night recap and a What Would You Do?

At this point in my 1/2 career, I'm still astounded by players paying off a full buy in on anything where they don't have "significant" equity.  Certainly, it's rarity to see top pair pay off a buy in, but that was my 5th hand into the session:

Dealt KK UTG.  Deciding how much to raise, I see 2 loose limpers throw in $2 ahead of me.  Assessing the situation, and calling to the dealer's attention that I had yet made my move, I raised to $13-14 UTG open.  Normal raise for this spot is $11, but I felt I could get away with a bit larger because these guys were sure to call.  Both called, as did the guy to my right in the BB and we see a flop of 3 3 Q - 2 clubs.  I lead for $30 into the $52 pot, expecting to see the LAG(s) with the random 3 raise it up.  No such activity - one LAG flats and the table folds.  $122 in the pot.

Turn is a blank 9(?) and I lead for $70.  Snap call from LAG.

River is another blank.  I auto shove for my final $105.  He thinks for a second and calls.  He pays off my overpair and my session is off to a nice start.

I see a lot of players slow down the turn and only get half stacks in the middle by the river in this spot.  With a paired board, Q high, what should I really be afraid of?  He can have random 3's but he's shown that he'll bet hard when he has what he believes to be the goods.  He pot controls (or tries to) the non-goods showdown worthy hands.  Therefore I get an early double up.

Mix of hands in between, one of which I'll point out:

KJdd BB.  Limpers in multiple spots and tightish straightforward player raises to $8-11 or something.  Small raise.  1 caller on BTN and I call my BB.  1 other caller (LAG) and we see a K 8 3 rainbow flop.  Out of position, I check and it checks through.  Turn is a 4.  I lead turn for $20 and get called by original raiser and LAG - BTN folds.  River is a blank.  I check and LAG fires $35.  Original raiser tanks for a bit and finally just calls.

What do you do there?

I'm 100% positive I'm ahead of LAG.  What do you make of original raiser's call?  I suppose I should call given the amount of money vs. the pot, but I want to make the right decision and not just call based on the pots odds.  I really felt like original raiser is pot controlling KQ, maybe even AK.  Stupidly, I muck and am shown bluff (LAG) vs. QQ (original raiser).  Stupid me.

---

Final hand of interest:
Background is a curmudgeon (old man) sits down with a chip on his shoulder.  Buys in for $300 and is treading water.  I raise 9 9 to $15 from mid position against 2 limpers.  Folds to curmudgeon who calls.  Limpers fold.  Before the flop is laid out, he tells me he "checks dark."  We see a good flop of 3 7 T.  Backdoor straight draw + likely good pair.  I lead for $15 again, not sure why he's checking dark, but I want over cards to draw on me.  He c/rs me to $30 and, surprised, I call.  Turn is a J and he leads for $100 red.  I tank fold my turned gutter - 99% positive he's got JJ, QQ, KK, AA.  He's proud of himself and giving me the "F U" look - he ain't gonna take my punk ass bullshit.

7 hands later, UTG straddle $5:
I limp my 6 6 from UTG+2, 2 callers ahead of me and SB (tightish straightforward from above QQ hand) bumps it to $33 with $370 behind.  Curmudgeon calls ($350 behind) and I think for a bit.  ~10-1 implied but this is an awfully expensive call for speculating on sets.  Given curmudgeon now has a perceived history with me, I call thinking I'm ABSOLUTELY going to stack him if I hit.  I'm getting even nicer insurance if the 2 limpers come along, but they fold.  We see a beauty flop: 6 9 J rainbow.  Original raiser checks, curmudgeon leads for $60 and I try to assess original raiser.  Pretty sure that he's folding no matter what I do, I raise to $200.  Curmudgeon insta-monkey shoves his remaining $290 and I snap him off.  I flip over my 6 6 and he is totally and completely miffed.  He roots for a K which doesn't get there - board runs blank, Ace - and his buy in is gone plus the money from our earlier mix up.  I can see the steam coming out of his ears - oh man!  He flicks my cards, pounds on the table, and walks away muttering all sorts of stuff.

It's always comical when you stack a guy like this.  You only hope that he thinks it's a pissing contest and buys back in immediately, determined to "teach a lesson."  I didn't say a single word to him, but alas, he stormed off.  Oh well.

Incident at Maryland Live!

I got a rare Sunday night session in this past weekend.  My general playing style is to be unassuming, almost aloof.  I am certainly a talker at the table, but I try to pretend like I don't know what I'm doing.  Moreover, I try to avoid confrontations - both physical and verbal.  I'm not afraid, but I just feel like there's no point in putting myself out there - getting into a fight over some nonsense.  I'm able to think past the pissing contest and consider where it will lead and what good will result.  Therefore, whenever another player starts to get rowdy, I try to distance myself and placate the person or ignore it.

Sometimes, try as I may, I can't ignore a situation and need to take action in order to stop it from bubbling up to an actual physical altercation.  Sunday was one such example where I was forced to call on "impartial help," the poker room management.  Let me explain:

A 30's man at my table was becoming progressively inebriated.  He was talking a lot of garbage at the table, calling the table "dickheads," and "assholes," becoming increasingly belligerent.  The table had more-or-less discussed it on one of the inebriated man's breaks - and opted to not bring management into the picture as he was both good for the game and not quite overstepping his boundaries.  He was, in effect, a drunk guy, talking up a storm.

Prior to the point when the following happened, he had twice angle shot, acting to bet and/or call, while extending his hand and chips beyond his cards to get a reaction from players (myself included), just to pull back the bet when he saw the reaction - the very definition of an angle shoot (or in layman's terms, a soft form of cheating the game).  Each time, the floor ruled against the aggrieved, as the dealers moved on to the next hand too rapidly for the aggrieved to complain.  Again, the table dealt with this behavior as he was good for the game.

As the night continued, the drunk man became more and more unmanageable, leading him to threaten me in particular after winning a pot.  After going on a tirade about "crack and hookers," he started telling me how he's tougher than me and "he's going to kick my ass," and that he'll "see me outside."    Of note, I did not feed into this behavior nor respond to it in kind, though he continued, increasingly louder.  The reality for me is that I'm with the table at this point; he's great for the game and he's going to dump money.  However, after 25-30 seconds of his harangue, I opted to call the floor.  He probably threatened me 5 different times and ways in addition to his offensive profanities.  I had had enough with this idiot.

The floor manager responded fairly quickly and began to assess the problem.  Allowing hands to continue, he pulled each of us aside and listened to our story.  Of course, drunk guy failed to mention that he threatened me, but my story included that key tidbit.  I was offered a seat at the new table, but was determined to get drunkey out of the casino.  I stated my intentions exactly the way I wanted - "I want him out of the casino."  The floor manager had to speak with his supervisor to get permission to take that action, and eventually apparently had him removed.

A few orbits afterwards, I decided I would end my session.  I wasn't in the right mindset, and was thinking about what would happen en route to my car.  Again, I don't want to get into some stupid fight where things could escalate.  This guy was a country boy from Ohio, a real tough guy who felt the need to let everyone know he's somewhat of a big deal.  We're not talking about a hulking guy, but this guy outweighs me by 30-40 lbs. and has a few inches on me.  He probably knows how to bar brawl better than I remember the 5 years of Tae Kwon Doe that I took years ago.

I had a somewhat lengthy conversation with the floor manager, discussing his lack of immediate action, which, in all fairness, was claimed due in part to him trying to get the whole story.  As a sidebar, since action was not taken immediately, the manager was allowing both the offender and me to be dealt into hands while trying to figure out what was going on.  The manager did not canvas the table nor the dealer until I became very vocal about wanting the man removed - and only got the table's story after stating to me that in effect, it's my word versus the drunk man's.  The drunk man claimed he did not threaten me at all.  The table jumped in to my defense and told the manager that yes - indeed, the man did threaten me multiple times, including talking about drugs, hookers, and a plethora of curse words.  4 different people, including the dealer, told the manager about the threats.

Feeling comfortable with leaving to go home, as I was told they "escorted him out," I went downstairs to cash out my chips, only to find this man waiting outside of the poker room by the blackjack tables, checking his phone, unescorted.  I can only presume he was waiting for me.

I'm not quite sure how seriously Maryland Live! takes their security, but when I went back to ask management about his "escort out," management (and this time it was the manager who claims to be the poker room supervisor) claimed "yes, we had him escorted out... out of the poker room."  His words were: "I do not think he is a threat."  I can't remember the other exact words of the conversation I had with management, but in this one manager's opinion (who by the way never became directly involved, nor came over to the table, but heard it all third or fourth hand from his floor manager), the inebriated individual was "determined not to be a problem."

To me, this is a huge fail on the part of the poker room management.

1. Do they take verbal threats seriously?  What about offensive language?  In my opinion, this guy was out of control and threatening my safety.  Does the poker room think it's a joke?
2. Should this drunk be allowed to roam the casino to harass other patrons?  What is the point of kicking the guy out of the poker room?  Does that reduce my risk of danger when he can be waiting right outside of the room for me to leave?
3. Why would the management not be completely truthful?  When they tell me they had him escorted out, when they really mean "escorted out of the poker room?"  An escort out of the poker room does nothing to protect the customer, as the dude was waiting outside for my exit.  Don't tell me he's gone and then let me get blindsided in the parking lot.
4. How is the manager assessing a threat?  Is he looking him in the eye and making him promise to cause no more trouble?  To me, that's laughable.  The dude is drunk, he's making threats of violence, and he's talking about crack.  86 him from the casino!

Security is not a joke, and I feel that the poker room management needs to be trained to understand that fact.  As recently has late July, a lady was robbed at knife-point in the parking lot.  They are undoubtedly aware of that.  Why would the poker room tolerate this kind of behavior - and look at my grievances as a mere inconvenience to them?

Prior to this incident, I have been very happy with Maryland Live!  I thought the poker room was set up in an extremely player-friendly manner.  The casino is convenient to get to from my home, the dealers are friendly, and the atmosphere (last night excluded) is wonderful.  I think the poker room is a model which other poker rooms can strive to be.  However, if the casino is not taking security seriously, this is not the right place for anyone, no matter the positive the casino has to offer.  The simple fact is that they need to adequately protect their customers.

Addendum: I sent an email to the poker room manager and cc:ed the casino manager and investment group who owns the casino.  I got a fairly quick response, and was invited to call the poker room manager.  We spoke briefly - it was explained that this is not the normal procedure, and that the supervisor on duty failed at performing his duties.  The manager offered me a free buffet for my wife & me (which I declined, feeling like if I accepted, it would cheapen the whole argument I made) as an apology, which I felt was very nice.  As for dealing with the situation, I believe the manager spoke with the supervisor and other floor managers to set them straight as far as proper procedure and process.

Tilting and a recap

I never really thought of myself as a tilter, but I suppose I am.  Tilting comes in all forms - and I guess we're all prone to it, but never want to acknowledge it.  My form of tilt comes in two forms: entitlement and watching others' unbelievably poor play.

I started out winning the very first pot I played - limping T8o from late position and flopping 8 8 3 - two spades.  I led, got a caller.  Called a $25 bet on the offsuit K turn from the BB who thought he could rep 8's - figuring that I raise here, I likely blow him off of his hand.  River comes a T and he leads for $40(?) and I raise all in.  He fold rather quickly, leading me to believe that he either floated the flop or was drawing spades.  Good start to the night.

Bit later, I get 74o in the BB and check my option.  Flop comes a beautiful 3 5 6 - two hearts.  I immediately lead for $15 into the world of limpers and get called by the guy to my left.  Turn is an 8, giving the board 2 hearts and 2 diamonds, and I lead again, for $35.  He calls.  River: 9 diamonds and I lead for $50.  He flats and shows the nut straight: T7o - I get runner runnered by a gutter turned open ended.  There goes my nice start.  Just pisses me off that I put $50 in bad there, but I can't see myself ever checking the 4 straight; there's so much he can have that doesn't include the nut straight there...  Perhaps I should re-adjust thought?  Bet less?

Few orbits later, I limp T9o (this table was continually limping monsters, looking to limp / raise which inevitably no one ever did (raise to allow the limp / raise, that is).  I usually don't limp so frequently, but it was worth it getting involved with guys trying to "slow play" their AA, AK, etc.  So we see a flop of Q T 9 - rainbow.  Tight tight BB leads for $10 into $12 and gets called by a terrible player - black woman who was clearly out of her element.  I opt to raise to $35 because she's always calling with a J, and I think most of the players there are going to do so as well (see tilt #2 - poor play; do they really think I'm going to pay off a 4 straight board????).  Tight BB folds and woman calls once again into the limp pot.  Anyway, we see a 4 on the turn, putting 2 hearts - you see where I'm going with this?  She checks to me and I lead for $50(?).  She snaps it.  River is a third random heart and she checks.  I check through and am shown AhKh for the runner runner flush, once again from a gutter.  At least I didn't put out a big bet on the river.

I fish $100 out of my pocket to top up; in the hole for $100 now.  I would go on to become the angst of the table - I was virtually the only one raising in an otherwise passive table, and the 3 curmudgeonly older gentlemen were more than happy to stick with their small pocket pairs through my overcard raises and cbets.  I don't know why, but it took me awhile to figure out that they'll call me down extremely light just because they're stations.

Anyway, the last hand of note involved a $5 straddled pot where I raise AJo from late position - first in - to $15.  Folds to the UTG straddler who insta-calls.  Let me give a little description of this guy: 30-40 years old, dark sunglasses; looks like a brown-haired, fatter version of Andrew Brokos.

A picture of the incredible Andrew Brokos, for reference

Clearly fancies himself a serious poker player.  Trying to make moves, play tough, look tough.  Flop comes T 8 3 - 2 clubs.  Checks to me and I cbet $20.  He calls.  Check through blank turn / river and he shows T6o.  LOLWUT?  I think this tilt is a mix of entitlement and bad play tilt.  Villain clearly thinks he's the man and knows what he's doing, but yet gets $20 of value from a stupid hand that he chooses to defend his straddle?  I just don't get it - calling $15 with T6?  I shouldn't expect to win with AJ, but show me T9, JT, something reasonable to call 7.5BBs.  Shame on me for cbetting a blank flop.  Hope you make money with that, dude.

Regardless, I came out of a 4 session slump with a solid W last night.  I just need to continue my run.  I have a running bet with a buddy of mine, where whichever of us has the higher earn rate for the year gets a free dinner from the other.  I'm rooting for him to come in a penny per hour under where I end the year, though his last night's session really boosted up his earn rate.  Hopefully, free dinner at Prime Rib!

P.S. I've been playing a bit of PLO online lately.  I'm loving the game.  I did a bit of analysis on my hand histories, though, and found that I'm a huge loser at the game (huge being relative to the stakes I'm playing).  If I want to get better, I had better read about the game; I'm discovering that I have a vague idea of what hands I should be playing, but no solid footing for certain.  I started reading Pot Limit Omaha by Jeff Hwang and have found it's tremendously helpful.

2 quick examples:

• I wasn't aware that the particular cards I want to enter into a pot are top gappers rather than bottom gappers: 5 7 8 9 plays far better because of nut value than 5 6 7 9 or 6 7 8 T.  I'd imagine this was a huge leak to me because I was continually drawing to suck ends of draws.  There are other components: suited Ace with 3 straight cards, suited Ace with offsuit pairs, etc.  Point is: you want to be drawing to the nuts whenever you get involved in a pot, unless you have reason to otherwise do so.
• I wasn't aware that unimprovable nut hands should proceed carefully - like flopped straights.  If I have a hand like A 4 5 6 and the board flops 2 3 5, I should not be intending to get it all in on the flop.  I have an hand that can't improve, and only set myself up for getting freerolled by the same 4 6 with a 7 and/or 8.  Backdoor draws are important there too; I'd be less cautious if my hand were double suited and the board had one of each suit, for example.

At any rate, if you get the motivation, my dear readers, come join me on Seals with Clubs.  If you let me know, I can work something out to throw you a few chips to get you started.  If nothing else, there's a few ways you can earn free chips: Seals has hourly freerolls where you can win a few chips to get you entry into some of the cash games, and there's a few websites which offer free bitcoins for inputting codes - one particular one I've been playing around in is Daily Bitcoins.  We're talking micro bitcoins here, but still, you can build up a minimal roll if you put in a little time clicking.

I terrorized my table last night... (Continued)

Continued from yesterday's post of "I terrorized my table last night..."

As we left off, our hero is sitting on a stack of around $600 and having a very good night.  He's having a very good night.  He kinda gets a lot of action rolling when he raises a $5 straddle to $25 on the BTN with 23o (yes, you read that right, folks!).  He claims he was collecting dead money, but the joke was on him when he got two callers.  The flop was nice enough to him, though, a prety 2 4 5 flop, giving him up & down plus the weak pair.  A $75+ pot calls for a cbet here at least - our hero has equity, of course!  I choose to bet $55 and the lone old nit at the table flats.... uh oh!  The last guy I want to see is a guy who I can't make fold.  I lost value on him with my turned straight hand earlier in the night, and I was determined not to a. lose value again or b. pay him off any more than I need to.  So we see a turn 8 and check it through.  The river was a bitter sweet 6.  He proceeds to bet $100.  I insta snap call (I don't think a raise is in order because I'm so often behind him when he shows up with an un-foldable 77.  I'm delighted when he shows a pair of 3's for the chop and the table is oooh'ing and ahhhh'ing.  They're talking about how that's the hand that's going to get me paid off later.

As with poetry in motion, I'm getting towards the end of the night I stuck this poor guy for ~$350 on two real head scratchers.  New guy, middle aged Asian dude, sits down and quickly builds up a $~400 stack when the table kinda goes bonkers between straddles, limp straddle / raises (I mean like 6 limps -> $25 straddle raise -> $100 3bet -> call call -type shit...  Crazy stuff and this guy happened to catch a piece and get paid $200.  I claim to be the guy that started all of the wild action based on the above hand, but I digress.

I'm in the BB with J4o and get a 6 way limp to check my option.  Flop comes J 4 4 rainbow.  Did I mention I have J 4 - the effective nuts?  I don't think betting accomplishes anything here, so I check and new Asian guy leads for $15.  It folds around and I c/r it up to $45!!!!  Booyah baby!  Call me crazy, but they've been doing some crazy shit at this table.  As he's contemplating action, I show him a Jack without actually flipping it; I flip the corner up for him to see and tell him to go away (I would later indicate that I have AJ).  Undeterred, he calls and shows me his Jack- tells me he KNOWS I HAVE AT LEAST A JACK.  Turn is a King.  This time, I lead for $60.  He snaps me off.  River is a blank 8 I think.  I lead $190 and he's tanking.  And tanking.  And I'm talking and talking and ask him to see his cards.  He flips up KJs and the table is looking quizzically at him for not snapping it off here - especially after I flip up my Jack as well.  I'm trying to do my best tap dance to keep the guy on the line - looking on in supposed horror as my AJ goes down in flames to a better two pair.  And I'm squirming in my seat.  And I'm staring at him.  And I'm looking away.  And squirming.  And the fish gets off the hook by folding :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(!!!!  PUKE!!!!

But I was to have my revenge... oh my sweet sweet revenge!  An orbit or two later, he's still talking about the hand - and he is absolutely 100% steaming here.  He's the quiet type, but he's talking about what I had - swearing I had JJ - or J4 - but utterly unconvinced, and utterly confused.  I grabbed $105 of his stack and I would have liked it all.  But my justice cometh early when I am dealt JJ in mid position and raise to $15 after a limper.  He calls, as does like the whole table (well, around 5 of 'em) and we see a 3 4 J flop rainbow.  YAHTZEE!!!!  No way I'm slow playing here - and I know the table wants to look me up light.  And I know the Asian guy wants to call me light!  I lead for $45 into the busting $75 pot.  One caller - same guy, poor Asian dude.  He's got about $190 behind.  Turn is a kinda ugly 2, completing the only draw out there.  I don't reckon he's on the draw, though.  I think he has two pair, mid pairs, or TP + backdoors.  Perhaps he even has an overpair.  I put out two stacks of red ($200).  He snaps me off so fast that I'm sure my JJ is toast - he has to show up with 67 or A3!  He doesn't show at all and the river is an oh-so-beautiful 2!  I show my Jacks over deuces and he storms off.

I really would have liked to have seen his hand, though I didn't get the opportunity.  I was curious whether I got lucky on the river or totally coolered him.  I am still questioning how he folded the KJ hand even after I SHOWED him my Jx; it was a good fold without a doubt, and he tanked for about 5 minutes...  I'm not saying I'm not capable of the same; I think I fold the c/r flop with his hand, but he was intent on peeling one off.  By the turn, I think I raise my supposed turned better top two to see what the weather's like - to see how my opponent reacts; raise the $60 to $120 (min raise) or something like that.  It's obviously a dangerous thing because you're way ahead way behind.  But once you call the $60, I think you're pretty committed to calling any bet on the river.  All of a sudden, your top two is bad on a blank river even though you think you're good on the turn?

Too bad the river wasn't another 4 - I would have gotten paid BIG TIME because of Zeebo theorem.  Oh well - I still cleaned hm out - and I probably wouldn't have gotten paid on my Jacks full if he had been cleaned out from the earlier hand.

And that, folks, was my 5 hour night at Maryland Live!  Stay tuned for new craziness next week!  Hope you enjoyed all the bogus cliches i.e. "poetry in motion."

I terrorized my table last night...

Every once in awhile, I'll assert myself as the dominant player at the table.  I generally don't like doing that because I don't like being under the microscope by players who can't wait to look me up light.  I like to be the guy at the table who's cracking jokes, talking, being generally annoying - but aloof and unsuspecting.  I' like to be the "friend" at the table, if that makes any sense.

To the summary - I have a bunch of hands to share, so I'll probably break it up into segments.  The night started off pretty quickly when I checked my BB option into a 6-way limp pot with J9hh.  I folded probably 2 orbits and was down maybe $10 from my original $200 buy in.  The flop came as good as good can get with QhTs2h - I flopped open ended + flush draws.  The SB leads for $11 and I take my time in thinking whether I should be raising or just calling.  I want people encouraged to enter the pot, but I also want to ensure that my flush draw is good.  Obviously, in a limp pot, drawing to the QJ high flush is not necessarily great if there's a Kh & Ah out there in someone's hand (and the KJ is also drawing to the nut straight).  I think one or two people called before the uber aggro young gun (buckwheat styled Afro) pumps it up to $41 on the BTN.  SB immediately calls and I'm again facing a decision...  This is kinda how I hoped it would work out - I'm fairly certain the SB is a donkish player and isn't drawing to the flush, and I'm semi-certain the BTN is aggro-ing it up but has a pair or something.  At this point, though, with calling putting 25% of my stack at risk and making the pot uncontainable, I opt to shove the remaining $179.  Afro guy fist pump snaps and SB snaps his remaining $100 - I'm in trouble(?).  We start talking about the hands and I find out (based on reactions) that I'm ahead of Afro guy and SB flips KQ(? LOL).  Turn 6h and I sweat the 2h river but scoop a decent pot to start my night.

The next hand of note (and I literally took notes last night), I think I really played poorly, though with an excuse.  I limp JTo in late position and we see a 5 way flop of Ks 9s 3x.  It checks to me and I stab at the $10 pot with a $10 bet.  Folds around to old nit who's sitting on a mountain of reds - about $800 - who calls.  Turn is a golden Qx.  He checks and while I'm thinking about how much to bet, touching my chips and cutting some out, he starts to move to fold.  I absolutely don't want to price him out, but the move felt very genuine and subconscious.  I was going to bet $25, but I opt for $17.  He snaps it and we see a river 9x.  He again checks to me.  Now, I'm good here a HUGE percentage of time.  I'm also getting tells from him that say I'm good; he doesn't have a boat here - 99.9% sure.  Here's where again, though, I compound my $17 small bet with another small bet.  I think against a nit like this who has exhibited calling station tendencies, I need to bet HUGE - as in $50-75+.  The pot has $54+5x limps = $~60.  If I bet huge, it looks bluffy and he can't lay down.  But as I'm carving out, again he moves to the auto fold thing - a "fold hold," if you will.  I level my bet down to $30 to try to force a call which he does automatically and he's mystified when I show the straight - he actually took 30 seconds scratching his head about what hand I had.

I would not value own myself again in the night.  All the rest of my bets and hands were big and [most were] getting paid.

So I'm in a hand with a local ~30 year old.  We've been chatting it up quite a bit.  He's in software development, new[ish] father of 2, etc.  He's playing a bit drunk - he's had 2-3 Bourbon & Coke(?)s within the past 3 hours on an empty stomach.  I can see he's making little biting moves like min raising air.  The first time he did it when he sat down was on me.  I had missed the flop, thought nothing of the raise of my cbet & folded.  I'd now seen him do it a handful of times when we get into the following which may be questionable - but I stand by my decision (FWIW, I also know that he loves to play his button):

I raise 77 in late position to $15 after 2 limpers.  I get called in 2 spots - developer dude (on button) & someone else.  Flop comes A 6 5 and I figure it's as good an opportunity as any to cbet into 2 players.  I cbet $22 into $45 and raises me to $44 (he has about $100 behind).  As I'm contemplating my move (most times it's a fold), two things strike me: why is he raising an Ace high board in position, and why is he totally staring me down and facing me up.  It was such a classic tell that I thought he was acting strong when he was strong (instead of the classic act strong = weak, act weak = strong).  I mean... he was practically in my face, and he was 2 seats away from me!  I continued to think about the situation and quickly concluded that he doesn't have an Ace.  Then I started talking to him.  I told him that I don't have an Ace either...  I shoved on him for the remaining $100.

Now he's in a pickle...  He starts talking about odds and how he thinks I have nothing, but his nothing may be worse than my nothing...  I try my hardest to convince him that I don't have an Ace - I should have shown him I'm on the draw with a 7, but in retrospect, I think he'll read that to be 77 rather than 78.  Regardless, after contemplating his "odds," he calls his KTss.  The board runs out clean & I scoop.

I imagine I'll get grief from this hand because the claim will be "you have a bluff catcher - do you really want him folding his bluffs there cause the only thing that's calling you is a hand better than you..."  I think this was really a player dependent situation.  I think he's a bit drunk and with the liquid courage, willing to call a bit lighter than usual.  I adequately convinced him that I did not have an Ace.  I was 100% convinced that he did not hold an Ace nor a pair.  He was talking to me as well and convinced himself (with my help) that I did not have a pair either.  On top of that, add the fact that his turn bet is coming no matter what; I'd rather get the money in on the flop when I know I'm good rather than on the turn when any overcard pops and I suddenly pay off bad money.  That's probably poor logic as well, though, but just a thought.

The next two hands kinda fit together, so I'll continue my story tomorrow...

More tales from Maryland Live!

I rarely get time to play on the weekend, but I got the opportunity to play Saturday - and I seized the moment.  Going up with my buddy Josh, we hit up the new poker room, getting seated around 11:00 - immediately upon arrival.  Tangentially, I called ahead for the both of us - putting us on the list for 1/2, 2/5 and 2/2 PLO.  It was uncanny; 1 1/2 hours after calling and precisely when we arrived, we get called and seated...  sometimes I guess I run good.  At any rate, we were both seated at 1/2 tables right next to each other and started play immediately.

I dropped down $50 almost immediately, raising $15 with AKdd and flopping a gutter - weak cbetting $25 and check / folding the turn $45 bet from the single caller I got from my cbet.  Treading water for a bit, things started to look up when I found a bit of confidence raising AQo from MP to $15.  The same caller as described above called my $15 open and we saw a J 5 8 board.  I led for $25 and he flatted.  We checked through a deuce turn and the river paired the board with a J.  I checked once again, ready to give up on the hand, but dude leads for $~35 on the river.  I smell bullshit and look up his A9o to win with my better Ace high - from the looks of it, I probably fold the turn bet, but when he checks through and suddenly bets what seems like an improbable trips on the river, most pair hands are checking through.  My 2 street check also signaled weakness to the aggressor, making this spot seem like such an obvious spot for a bluff, which again, led me to look him up.  I hate the Ace high lookup, because there's so much bullshit that he can be "bluffing" with the best hand (i.e. X2, X5), but I just can't see weaker players not turn betting their top pair, but also not checking through what could possibly be trips for their opponent - if that makes any sense.

Anyway, the good times continued when I 3bet KK in the SB to $45 after a host of callers called a $10 open from an EP raiser - got folds out of all but 1 player who had recently sat down and run through $280 in immediate fashion (the chip runner could not replenish his chips quick enough...) - BINGO; the exact player I want calling with ATC.  The flop came AsXsXs and I held the Ks.  With $200 behind, I'm never folding here, so I opened the flop for $100 (there was probably around $140 already in the pot).  He thought for a bit and folded - bummer - but calling $45, I have to figure he's ready to play for stacks like he had in the prior 5-10 hands he'd played.  Anyway, a $95 win is a decent with on an Ace high board with KK and the nut flush redraw.

I later limped 66 and hit bottom set against a SB two pair who refused to lay down (bets of $15 -> $35 -> $65) which in retrospect probably could have been a bit more.  I hit AA once and KK 2 more times, but didn't get paid on them :-(.  All in all, it was a decent session, and my Maryland Live! experience has been most profitable thus far.

To round out the night, Josh played his free slot play - he won $15 in free play - and won $92 in a short time!  That's 2 for 2 for those counting the return on investment for slots.  Perhaps I should convert to a slot player instead of poker.

Quick addition to the Maryland Live! post

First: Happy Rosh Hashanah to my fellow Jewish readers.  Have a Happy New Year!

Fictional depiction of my wife:



Now to the point of the post:  I forgot to mention that since I signed up for a new card, I got $10 in free slot play (new card members get a spin on a wheel to determine how much free slot play they win from $10 to $750).  So, as a continuance from the prior post, I finished my last hand at poker and ran down to the Cheesecake Factory, where my wife & kids were waiting.  I knew I had this $10+ free play sitting and wasn't sure whether I'd have to redeem it today or lose it, so after dinner, I went over to customer service to see what's up.  Well, since I was with my family, I couldn't very well take the kids into the casino.  However, the casino is set up where the slots are located right next to the entrance, where spectators can stand without actually going into the casino.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I abhor slot machines; I don't believe you can win at them.  In fact, my son was commenting to me about how many people there were playing the slots and how it's (his words, not mine) a "sucker's bet."  Anyway, my wife & I decided that she would gamble the $10 by the gate so that the kids could see us degen it up.  So there my wife sat, opting to play a $0.02 machine by the door - can't remember the name or type of machine at the moment.

Now I don't think my wife particularly enjoys slots either, but she does like it more than me.  However, she has a methodology for how to play free money which consists of cashing out after every win she gets.  In other words, she'll run a few $$$ through the machine, and when she hits a winner, she cashes out the winning money instead of letting it wash through the machine again.  FWIW, I'd imagine our expectation on the free play (total wild ass guess, as 67% of statistics are made up on the spot) is around a 50% return, as has been our historical return.

Well, she demolished that historical return.  We watched her max bet "lose" around $3 ($0.50 per spin I think) before winning $0.20... meh... cashout.  Then she dropped down another $4 when the following happened: the slots spun and she lost the spinner part, but won "free spin time," or something like that.  After a bunch of bells & whistles (2 of the kids were less than interested), we started watching more intently.  Suddenly, the machine announced that she hit the mini jackpot - $230!  I don't keep stats on the free play / slots returns, but I'd imagine our return on slots is in the neighborhood of 30,000%!!!  Booyah!  I just hope she doesn't want to start a new career as a professional slot player.

Finally! A [short] poker session!

As has been par for the course lately, I've been balls-to-the-wall busy.  This [extended] weekend, the Meister family took a trip up to NJ to attend a bris for a new baby in the family.  The trip was uneventful, but it was a 24 hour turnaround - up Sunday, back Monday.  I was fortunate enough to convince the wife to leave NJ prior to any major traffic, so we made it back to Maryland around 4:00PM.  Knowing that MD Live! had their new poker room open this past week, I hustled the wife into taking the kids to go shopping, intending to go "check out" the new room and achieved great success!  She took the bait & went shopping - my son needed shoes, my daughters needed clothes and who knows what she wanted...  But I got to play a short session.

The rundown

Parking was a pain - I'm not sure whether I'm just dumb or if it's always a hassle there, but parking was painful.  I had to park around a block away from the casino, maybe further.  For those who don't know, the lay of the land is that the casino is located immediately next to a Mills outlet mall property, so you have a mall surrounded by a huge parking lot, and a casino with an 8 floor garage.  Now it should be noted that I did not venture into the garage, figuring it would be a bigger pain, but the parking "near" the casino was consumed by shoppers and casino patrons.  However, parking was my only complaint; all of the other details are on the upside.

I found the room in the back corner of the casino.  The way they run it, you line up outside of the room to wait to register your name on the waiting list.  I arrived and waited in line for around 20 minutes before finally being granted entry and signing up.  They had a huge variety of offerings, from HORSE to 2-2 PLO (and up) and 10-25 NLHE.  I think I saw a Stud game going as well, which was somewhat of a surprise.  I signed on for the 1-2 and 2-5 NLHE games (1-2 was 117 deep and 2-5 was 45 deep), as well as the 2-2 PLO which was open seating.  I opted to waitlist myself on the 2 lists while taking the seat and passing time at 2-2 PLO (fun fun fun :-) ).

The poker room consists of 2 floors, perhaps a bit smaller than the Charles Town poker room - 52 tables, from my understanding. My 2-2 PLO table was located upstairs, but they don't have a cashier upstairs, so I had to wait in line for chips at the downstairs window.  After getting chips, hitting the head (I just drove in from NJ, after all, and a car ride tends to make nature call), I journeyed upstairs to find table 46, 2-2 PLO.

There doesn't seem to be a logical ordering of the tables, though I'm sure there is, but it was near impossible to find 46.  Once I finally found it, there were no open seats, though I saw a bunch of familiar faces at the 1-2 tables (a bunch of people from the Chuck had already migrated to MD Live).  There were a ton of open seats at 1-2 tables, and I sat down at one.

The seats were leather or leather-like.  Very comfortable.  The tables had no betting lines; mostly plain tables with a leather bumper / padded ring and cup holders for drinks embedded.  The chips were 95% brand new.  The dealers were mostly experienced, coming from Charles Town, AC and Philly to deal.  The players were about what I expected; the fish were very fishy - I'm assuming that the fishy fish will be weeded out within the year or two, like what Charles Town experienced.

Playing with a players card yields $1 / hour credit towards casino goods / restaurant.  They have a bad beat and a mini bad beat (Aces full of Tens beaten nets 10% of the bad beat - not sure how they qualify the hand though).  Drinks and food in the room were weird; prices were like $2.11 or $3.44 instead of even numbers like $2.00 or $3.00.  I think beers are $5, though.  There's free wifi access, and of note, the cell service sucks (at least for AT&T).  No need to post when coming in as a new player.

The play was mostly loose passive.  Lots and lots of limping, rarely a 3bet, and no creativity.  The old guys were nuts only and the younger guys were reckless aggro.  I'll have to share a few fish stories with you as well as a hand:

Fish story 1:

I'm the "fish" in this story, because I misread my cards.  I limp J3hh on the BTN or CO and we see a 6 way flop of A Q 3 rainbow (one heart).  The fishy fish leads for $8 and gets 2 callers and I decide to peel a turn.  The turn is a J completing the rainbow board.  Fishy fish again leads for $8, gets 2 callers, and I pop it to $32, happy with my 2 pair.  No one has shown aggression and I'm fairly certain my 2 pair are good.  Fishy fish insta-calls, tight gentleman (in fact, I think he was an Canadian online player) calls after much hesitation and another guy folds.  River is a 7(?).  Checks to me and I same bet $32.  Fishy fish INSTA CALLS (like lightning) and Canadian gentleman is long faced and folds (later claims he folded AJ - I believe him - he says he put me on KT for the straight).

I flip up my "2 pair" and call 2 pair to the somewhat dejected fishy fish who shows Q 6o.  Only problem is that I flip up J5hh, no J3hh like I thought I had!  Bummer - $64 wasted and what and idiot I am.  What an even bigger idiot the Q6 guy is; what was he "soul reading me" for J5 when I myself believed 2 pair to be good?  And he's never believing I have an Ace or a better Q?  LOL GG.  Facepalm on myself but I'm salivating for this guy calling with middle pair on a scary board against me.

Fish story 2:

Same fish, I'm not involved in the hand.  Decent to good player (better than me, I think) raises limpers to $17 in the BB and I dutifully fold my suited Ace - all limpers fold to the same fishy fish who calls in the CO.  They see a 9 6 2 two diamond flop and fishy fish immediately leads for $30 or $40.  [I'll call him] Good player contemplates and talks to fishy fish for awhile, trying to get a read, before announcing all in.  He's telling fish AA is good there; if he has AA, good game, or something like that.  Fishy fish nearly beats him to the pot, calling off his remaining $~100 for a total of $134.  Cards run J(?)d 9d and fishy flips up 9x5d for the 4 flush and trip nines to good player's overpair of Tens.

Facepalm; I feel for the guy.  Fish couldn't understand the problem after good player started to grouse about the hand.  To good player's credit, he stopped talking about it fairly quickly and fish was none the aware.

Well played hand 1:

Dealt AA in  mid position.  I raise to $15 with 2 limpers already in the pot.  Good player calls on BTN and limpers fold.  I really wanted fish in the pot, but so be it; he folded what I guess was absolute garbage (apparently 95o is not garbage).  We see a J 9 9 flop and I cbet $25.  Player calls and the turn is a blank.  Here's where I would normally bet $50+ on the turn to a bad player, but I check the turn and expect a bet to be followed by a river bet.  I know my player will float me or call his pair of Jacks on the flop.  I'm fairly certain he doesn't have a 9 there.  However, if I continue to bet, I think it makes it easy for him to fold.  If I let him bet, he feels comfortable trying to push me off the hand, which is what he tries to do.  As planned, he leads for a meager $25 on the turn.  I hesitate, then call.  The river is a blank and I check.  He bets $50 and I raise him to $100.  He folds.  Claims he has an overpair (QQ) but I think he calls there with QQ for $50 to win $~230 in the pot already.  I think I played that hand well - proper use of fancy play.

Fish story 3:

Here's me again, a little lost.  Limp 76o (no misread; actual hand) mid position and we see a 6 way flop of K 7 3.  Fishy fish is involved in the hand, but all check to new player in CO who bets $5.  4 callers and I decide to peel.  Turn is a 7 and fishy fish leads for $5 this time.  3 callers, I call and CO raises to $10.  3 callers (fishy fish too) and I call.  River is a blank and all check to CO who leads $20.  Calls in 2 or 3 spots around to me and I have a dilemma as last to act.  I think I should raise here, but I have trips, no kicker.  If anyone has a 7, it's almost always better than mine - PLUS the tight old Canadian guy is in the hand calling along (i.e. if he can't call $32 on the riv with AJ, then what can he call $20 on the riv with?).

Decision is on me and I weakly just call (I should have raised to $40-50) and am shown a variety of 2 pair hands: AK from Canadian, KQ from CO, and fishy fish claims he had two pair on flop.  My chance to make more money from fishy fish was stifled by my weak play.  I got up 2 hands afterwards (to meet my wife and kids for dinner and to regroup because I was pretty upset with myself).  If there's a silver lining, that limp made me around a $140 pot.

Summary

I'll definitely be back.  I could make this casino my new home casino.  Problem is that the drive from my house is 45 minutes, equidistant to the Chuck, but the drive from work is 20 minutes longer without traffic.  If I'm going to leave from work, I'd have to leave long before rush hour, whereas I take mostly back roads from work to the Chuck.  I'm going to try it a few times - the benefits far outweigh the downside.  The next time I'll be able to play is next week :-(.  I want to get back in action; the month or so off has done me good except shaking off the rust of misreading hands or trusting my raises.