Saturday, May 30, 2009
An Old Nemesis...
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Last Casino Stop Before the WSOP
The long weekend provided me the opportunity to go play some poker at Potowatomi on Saturday evening. I called to get my name on the list, and was informed that they were running three tables and I was 42 players down on the list! I anticipated that they would be opening more tables later, but I saw no need to rush to get down to the casino. I arrived at the two-hour check in time limit, and they told me I was at the top of the list, so I went to get some chips and was called for my seat. Upon arriving I found one regular that I recognized, Turtle (aka Sam). He's a pretty good player, and as far as I can remember, I've never been there and not seen him there at some table. Another seat was also being filled, and Turtle gave us an opening shot/compliment, "Uh-oh...now the good players are showing up!"
I didn't feel like such a good player about an hour into the session as I found myself stuck about $300. I had called down a player on the river with 4th pair (and a 7 for my kicker), pretty much because he kept betting the river on several hands when no one was being aggressive, and I wanted to see with what types of hands he was doing this. He also had 4th pair, but his Ace kicker was certainly enough to win the pot. I lost a little over $100 in that pot, but I think that it may have helped me later in the session as the call down showed that at least someone was picking up on his river aggression.
I won a large pot in the middle of the session to get me back in to the black when I was able to call a middle position player's raise to $20 from the small blind with my pair of 2's. The flop was: J-8-2, and after the preflop raiser led out for $80 into the $65 pot and was called by the button, I decided to protect the bottom set with an all-in shove for a little over $300. I was insta-called by the preflop raiser, and the other player folded. My opponent held pocket Kings and called for the board to pair, which I was all for as it would give me a full house. The board bricked out and the pot got shipped my way. This put me up for the session.
I won a couple of other pots, including getting pocket Aces twice. On the first of the two pocket Aces hands I won the pot on the flop after getting two preflop callers when I raised from the small blind. The second time I was dealt them I got involved with the same player who was being aggressive at the river. In that hand I raised preflop to $30 and was called by him. The flop was: Q-9-x. I led out for $40, hoping that he hit the Queen and would raise me. He just called. Now his range of hands was all over the place, so I checked the turn after he had also checked. That appeared to puzzle him. He also checked the river, and I led for about half the pot (I bet $65). He thought about it for a while, but ultimately called and then mucked when I showed the Aces. He commented that the check at the turn had him a little confused, but it's also why I got paid off, too. He had planned on folding at the turn if I bet there, but he then thought that I might be trying to pull his maneuver after missing the board (or holding a weak pair).
I picked up one more nice pot from the player that took over in the seat where I had cracked the Kings. I had limped holding 6d-4d along with several other players when the flop came: K-3-3. Everyone checked, and I picked up an open-ended straight draw on the turn when a five came off there. The small blind bet $25 (about 2/3 the pot), and I called to see the river. It came a seven, and I was able to easily call the $75 bet at the river. I didn't raise because at the time I had about $1000, and he had about $800, and I didn't want to open the door for him to reraise and attempt to push me off my hand. Anytime the board is paired chasing the straight is dangerous so I was going to be happy if it was good there. It was as he had 6-3 for trip 3s.
That player and I got involved in one other pot. It started innocently enough when the Under-the-Gun player accidentally string bet his raise, and the dealer forced him to put out just the call amount. I was two to that player's left, so I decide to also call with the 4d-3d. Several other players also limped, and 7 of us got to see the flop. It came:
7-6-5 (two clubs)
This gave me the straight, albeit the sucker side of the straight. I'll take a flopped straight anytime, sucker or not. It was checked to me and I bet $25. Two players called. The turn was:
6
pairing the board. It was checked to me again, and this time I bet $60. The player in Seat 9, who was the player I beat with the straight earlier, check-raised me to $160. The other player got out of the way, and now it was a decision for me. That six on the turn was a horrible card. If my opponent was playing pocket 7s, pocket 6s (unlikely because its quads), pocket 5s, 7-6, or 6-5, the turn card just sealed up the hand for him. All of those hands are very possible to have limped with preflop and then flat called on the flop. He also could have 9-8 or 8-4 (unlikely, it's trash), in which case I was beat on the flop anyway, and I'm still dead now. The only hands I really thought I could be beating right now that he might have was A-6 or A-7, and I didn't think he'd check raise with A-7. He might check raise with A-6, but there are a lot more hands he'd check raise with from the other possible hands. I also started the hand with about $1200, and he had $900, and this pot was building quickly now. I mucked my hand face up. I wasn't expecting him to show, but he threw his hand in face up as well and he had 9-8 for the flopped nut straight. He probably had some worries about the 6 pairing the board, too, but the turn card definitely helped me escape there.
The session was a winning one, and I felt pretty good about the decisions I was making at the table. Hopefully my reads and decision-making will be this good later on in the week once I'm out in Vegas!
I didn't feel like such a good player about an hour into the session as I found myself stuck about $300. I had called down a player on the river with 4th pair (and a 7 for my kicker), pretty much because he kept betting the river on several hands when no one was being aggressive, and I wanted to see with what types of hands he was doing this. He also had 4th pair, but his Ace kicker was certainly enough to win the pot. I lost a little over $100 in that pot, but I think that it may have helped me later in the session as the call down showed that at least someone was picking up on his river aggression.
I won a large pot in the middle of the session to get me back in to the black when I was able to call a middle position player's raise to $20 from the small blind with my pair of 2's. The flop was: J-8-2, and after the preflop raiser led out for $80 into the $65 pot and was called by the button, I decided to protect the bottom set with an all-in shove for a little over $300. I was insta-called by the preflop raiser, and the other player folded. My opponent held pocket Kings and called for the board to pair, which I was all for as it would give me a full house. The board bricked out and the pot got shipped my way. This put me up for the session.
I won a couple of other pots, including getting pocket Aces twice. On the first of the two pocket Aces hands I won the pot on the flop after getting two preflop callers when I raised from the small blind. The second time I was dealt them I got involved with the same player who was being aggressive at the river. In that hand I raised preflop to $30 and was called by him. The flop was: Q-9-x. I led out for $40, hoping that he hit the Queen and would raise me. He just called. Now his range of hands was all over the place, so I checked the turn after he had also checked. That appeared to puzzle him. He also checked the river, and I led for about half the pot (I bet $65). He thought about it for a while, but ultimately called and then mucked when I showed the Aces. He commented that the check at the turn had him a little confused, but it's also why I got paid off, too. He had planned on folding at the turn if I bet there, but he then thought that I might be trying to pull his maneuver after missing the board (or holding a weak pair).
I picked up one more nice pot from the player that took over in the seat where I had cracked the Kings. I had limped holding 6d-4d along with several other players when the flop came: K-3-3. Everyone checked, and I picked up an open-ended straight draw on the turn when a five came off there. The small blind bet $25 (about 2/3 the pot), and I called to see the river. It came a seven, and I was able to easily call the $75 bet at the river. I didn't raise because at the time I had about $1000, and he had about $800, and I didn't want to open the door for him to reraise and attempt to push me off my hand. Anytime the board is paired chasing the straight is dangerous so I was going to be happy if it was good there. It was as he had 6-3 for trip 3s.
That player and I got involved in one other pot. It started innocently enough when the Under-the-Gun player accidentally string bet his raise, and the dealer forced him to put out just the call amount. I was two to that player's left, so I decide to also call with the 4d-3d. Several other players also limped, and 7 of us got to see the flop. It came:
7-6-5 (two clubs)
This gave me the straight, albeit the sucker side of the straight. I'll take a flopped straight anytime, sucker or not. It was checked to me and I bet $25. Two players called. The turn was:
6
pairing the board. It was checked to me again, and this time I bet $60. The player in Seat 9, who was the player I beat with the straight earlier, check-raised me to $160. The other player got out of the way, and now it was a decision for me. That six on the turn was a horrible card. If my opponent was playing pocket 7s, pocket 6s (unlikely because its quads), pocket 5s, 7-6, or 6-5, the turn card just sealed up the hand for him. All of those hands are very possible to have limped with preflop and then flat called on the flop. He also could have 9-8 or 8-4 (unlikely, it's trash), in which case I was beat on the flop anyway, and I'm still dead now. The only hands I really thought I could be beating right now that he might have was A-6 or A-7, and I didn't think he'd check raise with A-7. He might check raise with A-6, but there are a lot more hands he'd check raise with from the other possible hands. I also started the hand with about $1200, and he had $900, and this pot was building quickly now. I mucked my hand face up. I wasn't expecting him to show, but he threw his hand in face up as well and he had 9-8 for the flopped nut straight. He probably had some worries about the 6 pairing the board, too, but the turn card definitely helped me escape there.
The session was a winning one, and I felt pretty good about the decisions I was making at the table. Hopefully my reads and decision-making will be this good later on in the week once I'm out in Vegas!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A Rush at Poto
This past weekend a friend of mine and I decided to venture in to Potowatomi's casino just outside of downtown here. We had called to get our name on the No-Limit Hold 'em list prior to going there, and upon arriving we found that they had six tables going. We were told that we were about 16 down on the list, so we surmised that we had time to get something to eat. What the joker running the list didn't mention was that he had just opened that sixth table and 10-11 names were getting cleared off the list, so we were a little surprised to see the 30-person list at about 8 when we got back from eating, and along with that our names were no longer on the list.
Another "brilliant" thing they do there is that they don't give you a pager when you're on the list. Most casinos offer a pager so that you can go play other games, eat, etc., while waiting to get paged. Once paged you usually have about 10-15 minutes to get to the poker room to claim your seat. So, after getting our name on the list a second time, we decided to head downstairs to try our luck at PaiGow Poker for a little while.
If you aren't familiar with PaiGow Poker, it's a game where all the players play against one specific player, which could be the house dealer or another player at the table who might decide to "bank" against all the players for a hand. Everyone is dealt seven cards, and you have to make two hands, a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand. You can split up your hand however you'd like, the only stipulation is that your 5-card hand must be higher in poker rank than your 2-card hand. Once all the hands have been determined, you showdown. If you win both hands, you win your bet (less a 5% commission); if you lost both hands, you lose your bet, and if you split your bet is a push. There is also one joker in the deck. The joker can only be used as an Ace or to complete a straight or flush, so it's not a complete "wild" card. The game ususally involves a lot of pushes. In fact, when in Vegas, an easy way to get drunk cheap is to find a cheap PaiGow table and take all the free drinks :) I had an 11-hour session in Vegas once where I was down a whole $5 at PaiGow, but I was pretty damn liquored up by the time that session was over!
This session of PaiGow was not nearly so kind. In about 45 minutes, I didn't have one win. I got swept four times, and every other hand was a push. Not the ideal PaiGow session. That included getting swept when I had trip Kings in my 5-card hand with a pair of 2's to put in the two card hand (the dealer made a straight and a pair of Jacks). Yuck! This led to me being down about $100 by the time I got seated at the poker room. My friend wasn't nearly as lucky at PaiGow, being down about three bills at that table.
My friend got seated in the poker room first, and I was seated about 15 minutes after him. I don't know a lot of players that play at Poto since I don't play there all that often, but I recognized no one at my table, and my friend had also commented on the same thing (and he knows most of the regulars). The table seemed a bit passive, so I was able to lean on the table a little bit. In the first half hour I had picked up $150, only having to show down one hand (which I lost, but it was a strong hand). After another 30 minutes, I was up another $150. The hand which made most of the chips was one that I'll detail. I was dealt pocket Jacks (this happened to be the third time I got them in this hour). I hate Jacks. The other bad thing was that I was in the Under-the-Gun position. I'll do anything with Jacks. I might raise, I might limp, I could just flat call a raise, and depending on the action, I'll even fold them preflop [easy fold if Rock or Pete are playing and have raised before getting to me...sorry, guys, couldn't resist. :) ]. In this particular hand, I decided to limp with the intention of calling a single raise if one came up, but no one else raised, so six of us went to the flop. The flop was as good as it can be for Jacks:
Tx-7x-4x (three suits)
The blinds checked, and I led out for $25. I guessed I had the lead unless I was unfortunate enough to have allowed a blind to make two pair by giving them the free flop. Only two other players called and neither of them were the blinds. The turn card was a Queen. I led for $45, the player two to my left called, and then the button moved all in for his remaining $125. This left me in a little quandry. This would have been an easy call if the player to my left hadn't already called. It's only $80 more to me, and the pot is well worth the call at this point; but I want to shut the other player out of the pot. If I call and he is drawing to a straight or flush, he's easily got the pot odds. If I raise and he's been slow-playing me, I just gave him the rest of my stack as I'll be committed. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that when the third player moved all-in the player on my left made a noise/sigh that sort of sounded like he didn't like the raise. I was thinking about it for a minute when I decided the flat call was best. The other player went in to the think tank and even declared "This would have been easy if you hadn't called", which indicated to me in combination with his initial reaction to the raise that he would be folding here. He eventually folded, and the dealer dealt the river, which was a nine. The other player flipped up King-Ten, and I showed my Jacks to win the pot. The third player said he had Ace-Ten, and also said he'd have called if I didn't. I thought he made a great read to fold that there, although I think the river goes check-check if he calls on the turn, anyway. An interesting hand to be sure!
My buddy came over to my table a couple minutes later, telling me he had gotten busted on a King-high flush after flopping top pair and the flush draw when another player called him all the way to the river with the Ace-high flush draw, and they both got there on the river. Yuck! Since we had driven together and I could tell he wanted to leave I told him I'd play to my big blind and then leave. I usually don't like to announce this since all the other players now know I've got a limited number of hands left. Well, I was very surprised; I never lost a hand after making that little announcement! I'll give a brief synopsis of the hands:
Another "brilliant" thing they do there is that they don't give you a pager when you're on the list. Most casinos offer a pager so that you can go play other games, eat, etc., while waiting to get paged. Once paged you usually have about 10-15 minutes to get to the poker room to claim your seat. So, after getting our name on the list a second time, we decided to head downstairs to try our luck at PaiGow Poker for a little while.
If you aren't familiar with PaiGow Poker, it's a game where all the players play against one specific player, which could be the house dealer or another player at the table who might decide to "bank" against all the players for a hand. Everyone is dealt seven cards, and you have to make two hands, a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand. You can split up your hand however you'd like, the only stipulation is that your 5-card hand must be higher in poker rank than your 2-card hand. Once all the hands have been determined, you showdown. If you win both hands, you win your bet (less a 5% commission); if you lost both hands, you lose your bet, and if you split your bet is a push. There is also one joker in the deck. The joker can only be used as an Ace or to complete a straight or flush, so it's not a complete "wild" card. The game ususally involves a lot of pushes. In fact, when in Vegas, an easy way to get drunk cheap is to find a cheap PaiGow table and take all the free drinks :) I had an 11-hour session in Vegas once where I was down a whole $5 at PaiGow, but I was pretty damn liquored up by the time that session was over!
This session of PaiGow was not nearly so kind. In about 45 minutes, I didn't have one win. I got swept four times, and every other hand was a push. Not the ideal PaiGow session. That included getting swept when I had trip Kings in my 5-card hand with a pair of 2's to put in the two card hand (the dealer made a straight and a pair of Jacks). Yuck! This led to me being down about $100 by the time I got seated at the poker room. My friend wasn't nearly as lucky at PaiGow, being down about three bills at that table.
My friend got seated in the poker room first, and I was seated about 15 minutes after him. I don't know a lot of players that play at Poto since I don't play there all that often, but I recognized no one at my table, and my friend had also commented on the same thing (and he knows most of the regulars). The table seemed a bit passive, so I was able to lean on the table a little bit. In the first half hour I had picked up $150, only having to show down one hand (which I lost, but it was a strong hand). After another 30 minutes, I was up another $150. The hand which made most of the chips was one that I'll detail. I was dealt pocket Jacks (this happened to be the third time I got them in this hour). I hate Jacks. The other bad thing was that I was in the Under-the-Gun position. I'll do anything with Jacks. I might raise, I might limp, I could just flat call a raise, and depending on the action, I'll even fold them preflop [easy fold if Rock or Pete are playing and have raised before getting to me...sorry, guys, couldn't resist. :) ]. In this particular hand, I decided to limp with the intention of calling a single raise if one came up, but no one else raised, so six of us went to the flop. The flop was as good as it can be for Jacks:
Tx-7x-4x (three suits)
The blinds checked, and I led out for $25. I guessed I had the lead unless I was unfortunate enough to have allowed a blind to make two pair by giving them the free flop. Only two other players called and neither of them were the blinds. The turn card was a Queen. I led for $45, the player two to my left called, and then the button moved all in for his remaining $125. This left me in a little quandry. This would have been an easy call if the player to my left hadn't already called. It's only $80 more to me, and the pot is well worth the call at this point; but I want to shut the other player out of the pot. If I call and he is drawing to a straight or flush, he's easily got the pot odds. If I raise and he's been slow-playing me, I just gave him the rest of my stack as I'll be committed. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that when the third player moved all-in the player on my left made a noise/sigh that sort of sounded like he didn't like the raise. I was thinking about it for a minute when I decided the flat call was best. The other player went in to the think tank and even declared "This would have been easy if you hadn't called", which indicated to me in combination with his initial reaction to the raise that he would be folding here. He eventually folded, and the dealer dealt the river, which was a nine. The other player flipped up King-Ten, and I showed my Jacks to win the pot. The third player said he had Ace-Ten, and also said he'd have called if I didn't. I thought he made a great read to fold that there, although I think the river goes check-check if he calls on the turn, anyway. An interesting hand to be sure!
My buddy came over to my table a couple minutes later, telling me he had gotten busted on a King-high flush after flopping top pair and the flush draw when another player called him all the way to the river with the Ace-high flush draw, and they both got there on the river. Yuck! Since we had driven together and I could tell he wanted to leave I told him I'd play to my big blind and then leave. I usually don't like to announce this since all the other players now know I've got a limited number of hands left. Well, I was very surprised; I never lost a hand after making that little announcement! I'll give a brief synopsis of the hands:
- dealt 7-7; preflop raise, two callers, one overcard on flop, lead out bet, everyone folds
- dealt A-J; preflop raise, one caller, missed board, checked all the way, win showdown against A-4
- dealt 9c-2c; just called preflop (playing the rush, not my normal play), flop the flush draw with an Ace on flop, bet it, everyone folds
- dealt A-T; preflop call, hit the Ace on flop, bet and everyone folds
- dealt Qd-Jd UTG; preflop call; the flop is Ten-high with one diamond, I check, player on left bets $25, there's another caller, I call with the intention of stealing on turn; the turn is Ad giving me both straight and flush draw, I check raise to $140 after a bet of $40 and a call, both players fold to check raise
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Action 'o Plenty at Casino Rama!
For work this past week I was traveling to a small town a couple hours north of Toronto, Ontario, called Bracebridge. My flight was leaving Monday morning at 7:25am. When I woke and looked at the clock I was very surprised to see that it was 6:35am. I think my exact words were "Son of a .....!!". I'm pretty good about getting up for early flights. In five years of traveling for work this was the first time I had ever woke up late for a flight, and on that Monday, it was going to take a small miracle for me to make that flight in 50 minutes. I live about 15-20 minutes from the airport, so I quickly brushed my teeth, threw my luggage in my vehicle, and started to make my way there. I called the airline, and of course, the flight is right on time! I can't tell you the number of times I've had my Monday morning flights delayed, and the one time I actually need to have it be delayed it's going off right on schedule. Awesome!
I could waste the whole blog post detailing how I made the flight, but I won't do that. I made the flight (Woo Hoo!) and I was off to Toronto. After landing I picked up my rental and started driving north. I was able to get the facility where I'd be working set up with the help of one of the participants and I was relaxing at my hotel when I decided that maybe I should try and see what the poker room was like at the casino that was about 50 kilometers south of Bracebridge.
The poker room at Casino Rama has 14 tables, and 7 of them were in use. There were two $1/$2 No Limit Texas Hold 'em games, and three $2/$5 No Limit Texas Hold 'em games. The other two tables were being used for Limit Texas Hold 'em. I was able to lock up one of the seats at the $1/$2 game, and I went to the window to convert some U.S. Dollars to Canadian Dollars and then purchase casino chips. They gave me $224 Canadian for the $200 I wanted to exchange, and told me that I had 12 hours, but if I wanted to I could purchase the $200 US back at the same rate, which I thought was nice.
I sat down at the 11-handed table, and found myself at a table where it seemed like no less than 4 players were seeing a flop. When the table is that loose, I often find myself tightening things up and just waiting for decent hands, and then trying to force the action in to a heads up scenario. The plan was working, and within an hour I had worked my stack up from the $200 buy-in to about $350. It was at this point that a very interesting hand came up that involved two of the larger stacks at the table. The one player was two seats to my right, and had a little over $800 in chips. She appeared to be a regular, and from the play I had seen to that point was also pretty decent, getting her chips in to the middle with the goods. The other player was three seats to my left. He had about $550 in chips, and had hardly played any hands while I was there. I don't recall all the preflop action since I had folded, but there was a raise and at least the one call. The flop was:
Kx - Jh - 7h
The woman on my right led out with a less-than-pot-sized bet, and the player on my left made a minimum raise, which was called by the woman on my right. The turn was:
Kx (I only put 'x' because I don't recall the suit, and it didn't matter for the purposes of retelling this story)
Both players checked the turn, which I thought was odd, unless one of them had made a huge hand with that turn card. The river was:
9h
At this point, the woman on my right led out for about 1/3 of the pot. The other player made a slightly-larger-than-minimum raise, and the woman made a minimum raise after that. The player to my left didn't think long and moved all in, which was immediately called by the woman to my right. Before the cards were turned over I knew that at least one full house was in play (I thought the hands were going to be K-J and J-J given the way the action had occurred). In fact, the player on my left had K-J for the top full house. The woman turned over the Th-8h for a rivered straight flush!! Zowie! Talk about your bad spots to be in with the 2nd nuts! It really sucked for the K-J, since he knew that quads weren't in play because he held one King. To be perfectly honest, had I been in that player's shoes I lose all my chips there, too. I'm sure he checked the turn figuring that he had a lock on the hand (as I would have guessed, too). It was just a horrible river card for that guy. I was just glad to see those chips moving to my right, as I hoped to get a shot at them later (which I did). The action all makes sense if you look at it. The losing player flops top two pair, so he makes a minimum raise, but the player who won had both the straight and flush draw along with the straight flush draw, so the min-raise is an easy call on the flop. With the turn going check-check, it was just unfortunate, or fortunate depending on your point of view, that the river brought the card it brought. Oh, well...that's poker.
A short while later, I managed to pick off a decent pot against that woman. It was appearing as though she was using her stack to bully players at the table. I found myself holding As-4s and I limped for $2, and then called her raise to $12 with the hand. The flop was:
Ks-9x-4x
She led out with a bet, and although I'm not a big fan of playing bottom pair I did think that this bet could have been anything, including just a standard continuation bet so I decided to call the $21. The turn card was an Ace, giving me top and bottom pair. She led out for $40, which I flat called. The river was an apparent blank, so when she led out for $75 on the river I also just flat called. You might ask why I didn't raise, and what it boiled down to was the fact that she hadn't shown down a bad hand yet, and if I raise the river and she then sets me all in, I don't know if I could have called with top and bottom pair on a full board. Her image was such that I would have to respect her shown down hands, and she had enough chips to set me in without it being much damage to her own stack. My hand was good as it turned out because of the turned Ace. She had flopped the King and I sucked out on her.
I grabbed a bite to eat at the sports bar at the casino, and after coming back I requested to get moved to the $2/$5 game. I had just under $600, and was informed when I got moved over that I could only buy in for $500, so I had to pocket a couple chips. Things weren't going so well for me over at the new game as I was one of the shorter stacks, but after losing a couple pots early and then flopping a flush with Ah-Qh(and getting bet at on the river) to recover some of what I had lost, a new player sat down which was going to turn out to be the guy who I wanted to play against. The player was very aggressive, attempting to take down pots with pure aggression. His stack jumped early, and was able to bully a player or two, and while he was doing this he was showing his trash hands that were missing the board. I got involved in one pot with him with A-8suited, flopped the top pair (the 8), but the board was all hearts, and I was eventually pushed off my hand at the turn. He didn't show that hand, but that was OK with me. I almost didn't want to know.
My second, and last, pot with him started with me being dealt Kh-Jh. The aggressive player had raised to $25, and I called with my speculative hand. The flop was pretty decent for my hand:
Jx-8d-4d (two diamonds)
He led out for $40, and I raised to $100, figuring if he had air he would just let it go. He called, so I guessed he had some piece of the board. The turn card was under the Jack and not a diamond. He checked and I, wanting to control the pot a little bit, also checked. If I made my standard bet here of somewhere between 1/2 the pot and the pot, I thought he would call anyway, and then the pot would be so large by the river I could be very easily looking at betting or calling my whole stack. This player had made that play on the river against two other players in pots and shown bluffs when they folded, so I wanted to keep the pot manageable so I could call a decent river bet if it wasn't an over bet. I had already made the decision that I was going to call the river no matter what if it wasn't an Ace or diamond. Well, the river was the Jack of diamonds, giving me trips, but putting the flush in play. My opponent led out for $175, which was a sizeable bet, but it was small enough for me to call with my trips. I did think about it for a minute, and I was thankful that I hadn't bet the turn, since if I did and he had called there, I knew that he would have been betting my whole stack here instead of the $175. I called and waited for him to show his hand, and he turned over the Tx-7x for a missed gutshot straight draw. It was a healthy pot to rake in! That player busted shortly thereafter (on a complete bluff), and left to get some more cash. I was informed by some regulars at the table that he was a local fireman that had won a million dollars in a lottery/contest. I guess he just likes to play poker. Good for him!
I waited for him to come back for about half an hour, but he didn't return, and it was starting to approach midnight, and I had about a 30-minute drive back to Bracebridge, so I called it a night. I exchanged $224 of my Canadian money for my $200 US dollars, and still had $555 Canadian to cashout. Pretty nice considering I'm trying to build the bankroll for the 2009 World Series of Poker in a little over a week!
I could waste the whole blog post detailing how I made the flight, but I won't do that. I made the flight (Woo Hoo!) and I was off to Toronto. After landing I picked up my rental and started driving north. I was able to get the facility where I'd be working set up with the help of one of the participants and I was relaxing at my hotel when I decided that maybe I should try and see what the poker room was like at the casino that was about 50 kilometers south of Bracebridge.
The poker room at Casino Rama has 14 tables, and 7 of them were in use. There were two $1/$2 No Limit Texas Hold 'em games, and three $2/$5 No Limit Texas Hold 'em games. The other two tables were being used for Limit Texas Hold 'em. I was able to lock up one of the seats at the $1/$2 game, and I went to the window to convert some U.S. Dollars to Canadian Dollars and then purchase casino chips. They gave me $224 Canadian for the $200 I wanted to exchange, and told me that I had 12 hours, but if I wanted to I could purchase the $200 US back at the same rate, which I thought was nice.
I sat down at the 11-handed table, and found myself at a table where it seemed like no less than 4 players were seeing a flop. When the table is that loose, I often find myself tightening things up and just waiting for decent hands, and then trying to force the action in to a heads up scenario. The plan was working, and within an hour I had worked my stack up from the $200 buy-in to about $350. It was at this point that a very interesting hand came up that involved two of the larger stacks at the table. The one player was two seats to my right, and had a little over $800 in chips. She appeared to be a regular, and from the play I had seen to that point was also pretty decent, getting her chips in to the middle with the goods. The other player was three seats to my left. He had about $550 in chips, and had hardly played any hands while I was there. I don't recall all the preflop action since I had folded, but there was a raise and at least the one call. The flop was:
Kx - Jh - 7h
The woman on my right led out with a less-than-pot-sized bet, and the player on my left made a minimum raise, which was called by the woman on my right. The turn was:
Kx (I only put 'x' because I don't recall the suit, and it didn't matter for the purposes of retelling this story)
Both players checked the turn, which I thought was odd, unless one of them had made a huge hand with that turn card. The river was:
9h
At this point, the woman on my right led out for about 1/3 of the pot. The other player made a slightly-larger-than-minimum raise, and the woman made a minimum raise after that. The player to my left didn't think long and moved all in, which was immediately called by the woman to my right. Before the cards were turned over I knew that at least one full house was in play (I thought the hands were going to be K-J and J-J given the way the action had occurred). In fact, the player on my left had K-J for the top full house. The woman turned over the Th-8h for a rivered straight flush!! Zowie! Talk about your bad spots to be in with the 2nd nuts! It really sucked for the K-J, since he knew that quads weren't in play because he held one King. To be perfectly honest, had I been in that player's shoes I lose all my chips there, too. I'm sure he checked the turn figuring that he had a lock on the hand (as I would have guessed, too). It was just a horrible river card for that guy. I was just glad to see those chips moving to my right, as I hoped to get a shot at them later (which I did). The action all makes sense if you look at it. The losing player flops top two pair, so he makes a minimum raise, but the player who won had both the straight and flush draw along with the straight flush draw, so the min-raise is an easy call on the flop. With the turn going check-check, it was just unfortunate, or fortunate depending on your point of view, that the river brought the card it brought. Oh, well...that's poker.
A short while later, I managed to pick off a decent pot against that woman. It was appearing as though she was using her stack to bully players at the table. I found myself holding As-4s and I limped for $2, and then called her raise to $12 with the hand. The flop was:
Ks-9x-4x
She led out with a bet, and although I'm not a big fan of playing bottom pair I did think that this bet could have been anything, including just a standard continuation bet so I decided to call the $21. The turn card was an Ace, giving me top and bottom pair. She led out for $40, which I flat called. The river was an apparent blank, so when she led out for $75 on the river I also just flat called. You might ask why I didn't raise, and what it boiled down to was the fact that she hadn't shown down a bad hand yet, and if I raise the river and she then sets me all in, I don't know if I could have called with top and bottom pair on a full board. Her image was such that I would have to respect her shown down hands, and she had enough chips to set me in without it being much damage to her own stack. My hand was good as it turned out because of the turned Ace. She had flopped the King and I sucked out on her.
I grabbed a bite to eat at the sports bar at the casino, and after coming back I requested to get moved to the $2/$5 game. I had just under $600, and was informed when I got moved over that I could only buy in for $500, so I had to pocket a couple chips. Things weren't going so well for me over at the new game as I was one of the shorter stacks, but after losing a couple pots early and then flopping a flush with Ah-Qh(and getting bet at on the river) to recover some of what I had lost, a new player sat down which was going to turn out to be the guy who I wanted to play against. The player was very aggressive, attempting to take down pots with pure aggression. His stack jumped early, and was able to bully a player or two, and while he was doing this he was showing his trash hands that were missing the board. I got involved in one pot with him with A-8suited, flopped the top pair (the 8), but the board was all hearts, and I was eventually pushed off my hand at the turn. He didn't show that hand, but that was OK with me. I almost didn't want to know.
My second, and last, pot with him started with me being dealt Kh-Jh. The aggressive player had raised to $25, and I called with my speculative hand. The flop was pretty decent for my hand:
Jx-8d-4d (two diamonds)
He led out for $40, and I raised to $100, figuring if he had air he would just let it go. He called, so I guessed he had some piece of the board. The turn card was under the Jack and not a diamond. He checked and I, wanting to control the pot a little bit, also checked. If I made my standard bet here of somewhere between 1/2 the pot and the pot, I thought he would call anyway, and then the pot would be so large by the river I could be very easily looking at betting or calling my whole stack. This player had made that play on the river against two other players in pots and shown bluffs when they folded, so I wanted to keep the pot manageable so I could call a decent river bet if it wasn't an over bet. I had already made the decision that I was going to call the river no matter what if it wasn't an Ace or diamond. Well, the river was the Jack of diamonds, giving me trips, but putting the flush in play. My opponent led out for $175, which was a sizeable bet, but it was small enough for me to call with my trips. I did think about it for a minute, and I was thankful that I hadn't bet the turn, since if I did and he had called there, I knew that he would have been betting my whole stack here instead of the $175. I called and waited for him to show his hand, and he turned over the Tx-7x for a missed gutshot straight draw. It was a healthy pot to rake in! That player busted shortly thereafter (on a complete bluff), and left to get some more cash. I was informed by some regulars at the table that he was a local fireman that had won a million dollars in a lottery/contest. I guess he just likes to play poker. Good for him!
I waited for him to come back for about half an hour, but he didn't return, and it was starting to approach midnight, and I had about a 30-minute drive back to Bracebridge, so I called it a night. I exchanged $224 of my Canadian money for my $200 US dollars, and still had $555 Canadian to cashout. Pretty nice considering I'm trying to build the bankroll for the 2009 World Series of Poker in a little over a week!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Maybe There is a Pot 'O Gold At the End of the Rainbow
Work sent me off to Iowa City this week, and lo and behold, they've got a casino nearby. The Riverside Casino and Resort played host to a poker session for me later on Monday. The drive to Iowa City was slightly miserable as it was raining off and on. The casino is located about 20 miles south of Iowa City, and as I drove there later in the afternoon the rain was just finishing blowing through and the sun had come out. As I was heading south and came over the crest of the hill that was just west of the casino, I looked to my left, and you wouldn't believe it, a spectacular rainbow was just appearing. It was very bright, and I had to laugh because it appeared from my view where I was at that moment that the rainbow was coming down right in to the casino. I tried to get a pic with my cell phone camera, but it didn't seem to show up that well on the cell phone and trying to do that while driving was proving somewhat difficult. I was extremely disappointed about that; however, I did take it as a sign that maybe my "pot of gold" was waiting for me at the casino! Yee Haw!
The poker room at The Riverside has 14 tables. Of those, three were being used. They had a $3/$6 Texas Hold 'em Limit game, a $5/$5 Omaha game, and a $2/$5 No Limit Texas Hold 'em game going. I got my name on the list for the $2/$5 No Limit game and decided to spend my time waiting by playing craps. The buy-in range for the No-Limit game was $100-$500, so I plopped down $200 at craps in the hopes of making a quick score so I could buy in for the max at the Hold 'em game. My luck at the dice was my typical luck at craps, though, and when I got called for poker, I had to pull another $100 out just so that I'd have $265 to sit down with at the poker game.
As I sat down the first hand being played out had a board of 9-8-7 for a flop, and two players were getting some large bets in to the pot. The turn brought a 7, and when the river put out a 6 both players got their stacks in the middle....One player had 7-8 for a full house, 7s full of 8s, and the other player had 9-9 for a higher full house, 9s full of 7s....Yikes!!! I was watching the player who won the hand while he raked in his chips, and I noticed that he had about $2000 sitting in front of him. There were a couple of other players that were above $800, but this guy had a huge stack, and for the next hour I watched him hit just about everybody with it. He was getting cards though, and what made it worse was that some of the medium stacks at the table were getting hands that you just couldn't get away from. The owner of the big stack was named Archie, and man, Archie was killin' us. He made a set of 9s when someone else had AK and hit the Ace on the flop. He flopped a straight when someone else flopped a set. He turned the nut flush after another player flopped middle set. It was unreal. Lucky for me, Archie was three seats to my right, so I had position on him.
The guy on Archie's right couldn't catch a break. He hit a set of Jacks just to watch someone make a flush, then had two consecutive overpairs cracked by underpairs. I felt a little bad for him, especially since it wasn't me doing the crackin'!!
My big hand of the evening came after I was up a little bit. The table was generally loose, so I just decided to play my normal tight game. In this hand I thought that I was playing it brilliantly, then during the hand I was cursing myself for my idiotic play. It was one of those hands. The hand began by the player on my right opening the pot with a bet of $15. He was in early position and the bet seemed small since most opening bets were in the $25-$35 range, and when I looked at his stack I noticed that he had about $70 left after his raise. I looked down and found myself holding pocket Aces. I breifly thought about it, grabbed some chips that I knew would be a raise, and sent them in to the pot for a near-min-raise to $30. I did this by design. I had surmised that the short stack was going to put his stack in the middle. I also guessed that I would possibly get one of the middle or late players to maybe call the $30, then when it got back to the short stack he would shove for his $70, and then I could re-shove with a big bet, trapping the middle and/or late players calls (if they indeed called). Well, one player in mid-position called, and Archie, who was in the small blind, also called. Unfortunately, the player on my right didn't shove...he just called!! Personally, I thought this was a mistake on his part as he now had $30 of his $85 in the pot preflop. Nonetheless, I was now cursing, since instead of playing Aces heads up in decent pot, I was now playing Aces in a 4-way pot with the biggest stack at the table.
The flop was: 9-7-2 - rainbow. I was about as happy as I could be with that flop. Archie checked, and then the short stack shoved for his stack...ugh...do that before the flop. I thought about reraising, but if I do that and either player remaining comes over the top, do I just reshove and hope that they have the overpair that's under me? Or am I up against that dreaded set that I could easily see anyone playing the way the hand went so far....Hmmmm....what to do....Well, I decided to just call. I didn't think either player would call unless they had something, and guess what, they both called! Now, I was cursing myself. The turn was a King. Archie checked. I now was running out of chips to put in the pot, and I decided to just shove here. I was insta-called by the guy behind me, and Archie was thinking about it...for a l-o-n-g time. He eventually folded, and the short stack showed 8-8 for an underpair, and the insta-call was from someone who hit with his Ace-King. That meant the whole pot was getting shipped my way. It was a nice result, but I felt that I got lucky there. Granted, the pot ended up being much larger than what I was originally planning, but playing Aces against three other players is just asking to get yourself stacked off, especially when I had the opportunity to isolate. I was still a little miffed that the short stack didn't reshove, since that was part of my plan, but I guess I forgot to tell him that part.
I did have one other hand where I got sort of lucky when, after an hour of nothing but folding and having multiple players point it out, I decided to raise to $35 preflop with 7s-6s in an effort to pick up the blinds and two limpers, then after one call from the small blind I hit middle pair on the 9-7-4 flop, turned another 7, and then filled up on the river with a 6. I was betting the whole way, and got paid off by someone who just assumed I was trying to buy the pot while holding AK or AQ. He did hit either the 9 on the flop, or had pocket Tens, but I got very lucky in that hand, and it didn't go unnoticed that I raised preflop with the 7-6, either.
It was a very good session, and I was able to walk out of the Riverside Casino with my little pot 'o gold!
The poker room at The Riverside has 14 tables. Of those, three were being used. They had a $3/$6 Texas Hold 'em Limit game, a $5/$5 Omaha game, and a $2/$5 No Limit Texas Hold 'em game going. I got my name on the list for the $2/$5 No Limit game and decided to spend my time waiting by playing craps. The buy-in range for the No-Limit game was $100-$500, so I plopped down $200 at craps in the hopes of making a quick score so I could buy in for the max at the Hold 'em game. My luck at the dice was my typical luck at craps, though, and when I got called for poker, I had to pull another $100 out just so that I'd have $265 to sit down with at the poker game.
As I sat down the first hand being played out had a board of 9-8-7 for a flop, and two players were getting some large bets in to the pot. The turn brought a 7, and when the river put out a 6 both players got their stacks in the middle....One player had 7-8 for a full house, 7s full of 8s, and the other player had 9-9 for a higher full house, 9s full of 7s....Yikes!!! I was watching the player who won the hand while he raked in his chips, and I noticed that he had about $2000 sitting in front of him. There were a couple of other players that were above $800, but this guy had a huge stack, and for the next hour I watched him hit just about everybody with it. He was getting cards though, and what made it worse was that some of the medium stacks at the table were getting hands that you just couldn't get away from. The owner of the big stack was named Archie, and man, Archie was killin' us. He made a set of 9s when someone else had AK and hit the Ace on the flop. He flopped a straight when someone else flopped a set. He turned the nut flush after another player flopped middle set. It was unreal. Lucky for me, Archie was three seats to my right, so I had position on him.
The guy on Archie's right couldn't catch a break. He hit a set of Jacks just to watch someone make a flush, then had two consecutive overpairs cracked by underpairs. I felt a little bad for him, especially since it wasn't me doing the crackin'!!
My big hand of the evening came after I was up a little bit. The table was generally loose, so I just decided to play my normal tight game. In this hand I thought that I was playing it brilliantly, then during the hand I was cursing myself for my idiotic play. It was one of those hands. The hand began by the player on my right opening the pot with a bet of $15. He was in early position and the bet seemed small since most opening bets were in the $25-$35 range, and when I looked at his stack I noticed that he had about $70 left after his raise. I looked down and found myself holding pocket Aces. I breifly thought about it, grabbed some chips that I knew would be a raise, and sent them in to the pot for a near-min-raise to $30. I did this by design. I had surmised that the short stack was going to put his stack in the middle. I also guessed that I would possibly get one of the middle or late players to maybe call the $30, then when it got back to the short stack he would shove for his $70, and then I could re-shove with a big bet, trapping the middle and/or late players calls (if they indeed called). Well, one player in mid-position called, and Archie, who was in the small blind, also called. Unfortunately, the player on my right didn't shove...he just called!! Personally, I thought this was a mistake on his part as he now had $30 of his $85 in the pot preflop. Nonetheless, I was now cursing, since instead of playing Aces heads up in decent pot, I was now playing Aces in a 4-way pot with the biggest stack at the table.
The flop was: 9-7-2 - rainbow. I was about as happy as I could be with that flop. Archie checked, and then the short stack shoved for his stack...ugh...do that before the flop. I thought about reraising, but if I do that and either player remaining comes over the top, do I just reshove and hope that they have the overpair that's under me? Or am I up against that dreaded set that I could easily see anyone playing the way the hand went so far....Hmmmm....what to do....Well, I decided to just call. I didn't think either player would call unless they had something, and guess what, they both called! Now, I was cursing myself. The turn was a King. Archie checked. I now was running out of chips to put in the pot, and I decided to just shove here. I was insta-called by the guy behind me, and Archie was thinking about it...for a l-o-n-g time. He eventually folded, and the short stack showed 8-8 for an underpair, and the insta-call was from someone who hit with his Ace-King. That meant the whole pot was getting shipped my way. It was a nice result, but I felt that I got lucky there. Granted, the pot ended up being much larger than what I was originally planning, but playing Aces against three other players is just asking to get yourself stacked off, especially when I had the opportunity to isolate. I was still a little miffed that the short stack didn't reshove, since that was part of my plan, but I guess I forgot to tell him that part.
I did have one other hand where I got sort of lucky when, after an hour of nothing but folding and having multiple players point it out, I decided to raise to $35 preflop with 7s-6s in an effort to pick up the blinds and two limpers, then after one call from the small blind I hit middle pair on the 9-7-4 flop, turned another 7, and then filled up on the river with a 6. I was betting the whole way, and got paid off by someone who just assumed I was trying to buy the pot while holding AK or AQ. He did hit either the 9 on the flop, or had pocket Tens, but I got very lucky in that hand, and it didn't go unnoticed that I raised preflop with the 7-6, either.
It was a very good session, and I was able to walk out of the Riverside Casino with my little pot 'o gold!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sometimes, Even the Best Laid Plans...
In Texas Hold 'em, I think everyone loves to get dealt pocket Aces. They look so nice when you first see them, knowing that you have the best hand at that moment. Then comes the next moment, when you have to decide how to play them. You want to win a lot of chips/money with them, but you also know that you can lose a lot of chips because you're going to be more willing to put a lot of chips in to a pot when holding Aces.
Sometimes, the decisions are easy with Aces. If you are short stacked, or if an opponent moves all in before you preflop, making the decision to call is automatic and no real thought is required. Other times, when you're not short-stacked you might raise and no one calls making things very easy, although maybe not as profitable as one would like. Then there are those times when you've got some tougher decisions. Up until you see a flop you know where you stand because, after all, you've got Aces and you know you're in the lead. After the flop is when the fun begins with Aces. Once again, sometimes it will be easy because you'll hit an Ace to make a set of Aces, but more often than not you won't so you'll be put in that situation of "What do I do with this great hand now?" and that's where it gets interesting.
I had one of those situations very recently in a tournament I was playing and I thought I'd go over it here. I was in the Big Blind with a stack of about 3400 and blinds at 100/200. There were six players left in the tournament. An opponent in early position had raised it to 500. That opponent had approximately the same amount of chips as myself. The player on the button, we'll call him naD because I don't want to use real names here, had a stack of about 9000 to 10000 chips and decided to call the 500. The small blind folded and I looked down and saw Aces. I could have just shoved for all my chips, but I was pretty sure that both players would fold and I was hoping to get a call out of one of the two players, preferrably naD because his decision to call instead of reraising had already indicated that his hand wasn't super strong. I decided to reraise and made it 1450 to go. If the first raiser had raised with a very strong hand he was going to reraise all in anyway and naD would then get out of the way and I'd get it all in. If the first raiser didn't have a strong hand he'd fold, and then naD would have a decision to make. Well, the first raiser folds, and then naD decided to call, so I got the scenario I was looking to get. The flop came:
Q T 7 (2 clubs, 1 spade; or 1 club, 2 spades, I don't remember which)
Now, there are a couple of scenarios that are going to be possible here as far as naD's hand is concerned:
Because I'm the big blind I have to act first. I thought about it for a minute. My options are pretty much going all in or to check it to naD. Running through it in my head, if I move all in and he's got Scenario #1 he's calling 100% of the time and I need to get lucky. If he's got Scenario #2, he might call, depending on his hand in the range. I would guess he would call about 60-75% of the time because he's got possibly the best hand and he can afford the chips. He might fold, though, and I don't want that either, because I'm the favorite and I want those chips in the middle. If he's got Scenario #3, he's probably not calling if I go all in. He might call with AK or maybe with a lower pair if he thinks I'm bluffing, but I didn't think so, so let's say he calls 10% of the time here, in which case none of his chips are going in and what's in the pot is mine.
Now let's look at those same scenarios if I check. If he's got Scenarios #1 or #2 and I check he's probably going to set me all in. He might check with Scenario #1, but considering the pot size and my stack I didn't think that the flop would go without any action. If he's got Scenario #3 he's going to check 90% of the time because he's whiffed, but he might take a stab because he can put pressure on me, and I really like my chances in that scenario, anyway.
Basically, I saw no upside in betting this flop since he'd be able to avoid getting his chips in the middle if he had Scenario #3 and he might fold with some hands that are part of Scenario #2's range of hands. If he's got Scenario #1 I'm dead no matter how you look at it, and I was willing to accept the risk that he didn't out-flop me there. If I check, he's getting his chips in the middle with Scenario #2, and maybe, although chances are slim, with Scenario #3. In both of those situations I'm in the lead and the chips are in the pot.
After all that thought I decided to check. With the action on naD and the pot at 3500, he set me all in for the 1950 I had remaining, as expected, and I called. He tabled J-9, giving him the open-ended straight draw and about a 35% chance to win. The turn card was an 8, giving naD the straight and the win since I was drawing dead going to the river. Sometimes, no matter how you draw it up, the cards just don't always cooperate. I thought it was an intersting hand and would share my thoughts about it with you here. Obviously, I don't enjoy losing, but I was glad that I worked the pot and my opponent in to the situation that I wanted with the hand that I had. I guess I should have just tried to take a small pot and moved all in preflop, right? Ha!
Sometimes, the decisions are easy with Aces. If you are short stacked, or if an opponent moves all in before you preflop, making the decision to call is automatic and no real thought is required. Other times, when you're not short-stacked you might raise and no one calls making things very easy, although maybe not as profitable as one would like. Then there are those times when you've got some tougher decisions. Up until you see a flop you know where you stand because, after all, you've got Aces and you know you're in the lead. After the flop is when the fun begins with Aces. Once again, sometimes it will be easy because you'll hit an Ace to make a set of Aces, but more often than not you won't so you'll be put in that situation of "What do I do with this great hand now?" and that's where it gets interesting.
I had one of those situations very recently in a tournament I was playing and I thought I'd go over it here. I was in the Big Blind with a stack of about 3400 and blinds at 100/200. There were six players left in the tournament. An opponent in early position had raised it to 500. That opponent had approximately the same amount of chips as myself. The player on the button, we'll call him naD because I don't want to use real names here, had a stack of about 9000 to 10000 chips and decided to call the 500. The small blind folded and I looked down and saw Aces. I could have just shoved for all my chips, but I was pretty sure that both players would fold and I was hoping to get a call out of one of the two players, preferrably naD because his decision to call instead of reraising had already indicated that his hand wasn't super strong. I decided to reraise and made it 1450 to go. If the first raiser had raised with a very strong hand he was going to reraise all in anyway and naD would then get out of the way and I'd get it all in. If the first raiser didn't have a strong hand he'd fold, and then naD would have a decision to make. Well, the first raiser folds, and then naD decided to call, so I got the scenario I was looking to get. The flop came:
Q T 7 (2 clubs, 1 spade; or 1 club, 2 spades, I don't remember which)
Now, there are a couple of scenarios that are going to be possible here as far as naD's hand is concerned:
- Scenario #1: He's hit this hard. Possibly two pair with Q-T, maybe a set of Ts or a set of 7s, or maybe A-Q for top pair top kicker. A set of Qs seems unlikely as we probably would have gotten it in preflop. If he's hit it this hard, he's going to get his chips in the pot no matter what I do.
- Scenario #2: He's semi-connected with the board. Maybe he played KQ, QJ, AT, KT, JT, or something else that has given him either top pair with a medium kicker or second pair. He also may have a straight or flush draw.
- Scenario #3: He's completely missed with a hand like A-K or A-J, or he has a pair less than Tens that hasn't connected with the board. Considering my reraise this board is a whiff for him in those situations. If he's got AK or AJ he does have a gutshot straight draw, though.
Because I'm the big blind I have to act first. I thought about it for a minute. My options are pretty much going all in or to check it to naD. Running through it in my head, if I move all in and he's got Scenario #1 he's calling 100% of the time and I need to get lucky. If he's got Scenario #2, he might call, depending on his hand in the range. I would guess he would call about 60-75% of the time because he's got possibly the best hand and he can afford the chips. He might fold, though, and I don't want that either, because I'm the favorite and I want those chips in the middle. If he's got Scenario #3, he's probably not calling if I go all in. He might call with AK or maybe with a lower pair if he thinks I'm bluffing, but I didn't think so, so let's say he calls 10% of the time here, in which case none of his chips are going in and what's in the pot is mine.
Now let's look at those same scenarios if I check. If he's got Scenarios #1 or #2 and I check he's probably going to set me all in. He might check with Scenario #1, but considering the pot size and my stack I didn't think that the flop would go without any action. If he's got Scenario #3 he's going to check 90% of the time because he's whiffed, but he might take a stab because he can put pressure on me, and I really like my chances in that scenario, anyway.
Basically, I saw no upside in betting this flop since he'd be able to avoid getting his chips in the middle if he had Scenario #3 and he might fold with some hands that are part of Scenario #2's range of hands. If he's got Scenario #1 I'm dead no matter how you look at it, and I was willing to accept the risk that he didn't out-flop me there. If I check, he's getting his chips in the middle with Scenario #2, and maybe, although chances are slim, with Scenario #3. In both of those situations I'm in the lead and the chips are in the pot.
After all that thought I decided to check. With the action on naD and the pot at 3500, he set me all in for the 1950 I had remaining, as expected, and I called. He tabled J-9, giving him the open-ended straight draw and about a 35% chance to win. The turn card was an 8, giving naD the straight and the win since I was drawing dead going to the river. Sometimes, no matter how you draw it up, the cards just don't always cooperate. I thought it was an intersting hand and would share my thoughts about it with you here. Obviously, I don't enjoy losing, but I was glad that I worked the pot and my opponent in to the situation that I wanted with the hand that I had. I guess I should have just tried to take a small pot and moved all in preflop, right? Ha!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Jackpot at the State Tournament
This past weekend I was at the State Bowling Tournament in Green Bay. Luckily, with the tournament being held in Green Bay, it's not so far to travel to get to Oneida's Mason Street Casino, which is where the poker room is in Green Bay. I arrived early Friday afternoon with the intention of sitting down for about a 3-4 hour session, then take a couple hour break back at the hotel, and then come back for a longer session in the evening. My session started on a downturn after I had my trip 10's get hammered by a flush in a large pot early, and then shortly after that got hit in a decent pot again when I flopped two pair (AK) on a single-suit board, only to get it all in with someone who had a lower two pair (A8), and then they hit their kicker (the 8) for the full house after we got it all in on the flop.
I started to make a comeback at the $1/$3 table, and had just about doubled up my rebuy when I was dealt a pair of Kings in late position. The player in the Under-the-Gun seat limped in to the pot, the player next to him had limped, one more player between that position and myself limped in to the pot, so when I saw KK I popped it up. I tried to pick an amount that would get one of the prior limpers to call, but not all of them, so I bet $25. The player that was under the gun was a very active player and I expected him to call with just about anything here. Well, he folds. The next player, who had been playing very well after the flop, decides to now raise to $95. That killed the other action and it was now back on me. Usually, when a player limps and then reraises from early position they have a VERY strong hand. It's actually not that unusual to see pocket Aces in that situation. The one thing I thought was odd here, though, was the fact that someone else had already limped. Usually when this limp-reraise play is made there is no other action behind you. The idea is to induce a raise from someone else and then trap that raise in the pot with your reraise. With the other limp in front of him I really didn't put him on Aces, but I was pretty sure he must have something big to try and pull this play. I had about $375 in front of me when the hand began, so if I were to reraise I would probably make it about $250 to go. If I'm putting in $250 of my $375, the rest is going in on the flop regardless of what hits the board, so I might as well bet the whole thing, right? The only thing I didn't want to hear was the automatic "I call". So, after I declared myself "All In!" (that's for you Stretch and Buck) I was very happy to hear absolutely nothing out of my opponent, as that meant he didn't have Aces. Well, at that moment, another table started going beserk about something. It turns out that over at the $3/$6 Limit table someone had lost with quad Jacks to a King-high straight flush. The Oneida Poker Room has a Bad Beat Jackpot, and it turns out that it hit because in order to qualify you have to lose with quads. The jackpot was at just over $67,000. I couldn't get up and personally check it out though as I was still involved in a hand at the moment. My opponent thought and thought and finally called. Now, at the cash game you don't need to show, but I don't play that way so I turned over the Kings, and he showed his Queens. My Kings held up and I won a very nice pot.
What I couldn't figure out, though, was why the whole room was going nuts over the bad beat. Everyone was high-fiving each other. I finally asked what was up, and the player on my left informed me that a portion of the jackpot goes to the players in the room. Apparently, Oneida splits the jackpot like this: 40% goes to the loser of the hand, 20% goes to the winner of the hand, 20% is split among the other players at the table dealt in to the hand, and 20% is split amongst the rest of the poker players in the room that had been dealt a hand at the time it happened. At every other casino poker room I've been to with a Bad Beat Jackpot, the split is usually 50% to the loser, 25% to the winner, 20% to the rest of the table, and 5% to reseed the Jackpot. As it turned out, each player in the room that wasn't at the table where the bad beat occurred received $308. Not bad for just being in the room at the time! It took about two hours to process paying out the Jackpot. Everyone, and I mean everyone, got paid in chips, so there were quite a number of chips that had to be paid out to players. I felt very bad for one individual who had left the $3/$6 Limit table to go to the bathroom and wasn't dealt a hand, as he didn't receive anything. The rest of the players at the table got a little over $2300 each. That is one expensive bathroom break!
As far as my poker for the rest of the weekend, it was pretty uneventful. After receiving my room share of the Jackpot I took my break, and my evening session ended up being a $1 loss. I was profitable up until, in the last orbit, I got KK and someone else got AA. I lost most of my profit for the session in that hand, and then lost another small pot to be $1 down for the session. I was planning on being done for the weekend, but a played a couple hours late on Saturday and had a small losing session to the tune of $41. In that session, I actually had AA against someone else's KK, but I had already lost some chips so when I doubled up that hand it didn't get me to the profitable side. I can't really complain about the poker this weekend, though, as that first session on Friday was very profitable.
On the bowling side of things, it was a pretty uneventful state tournament for me. No real good series to report. I had a couple good games here and there, but never put together a good series. A couple of people I was bowling with put together some good numbers, and one bowler of that group in particular, Iggy, put together one of the best, if not the best, 9-game series I've seen at State Tournament. He had series of 730, 737, and 648 (I think, it may have been a couple pins higher/lower), for a 9-game total of 2115. An excllent score for all-events, and just great bowling all weekend by him. Of course, if those houses weren't lefty houses it might have been a different story....just kidding, Iggy. It was very impressive.
I started to make a comeback at the $1/$3 table, and had just about doubled up my rebuy when I was dealt a pair of Kings in late position. The player in the Under-the-Gun seat limped in to the pot, the player next to him had limped, one more player between that position and myself limped in to the pot, so when I saw KK I popped it up. I tried to pick an amount that would get one of the prior limpers to call, but not all of them, so I bet $25. The player that was under the gun was a very active player and I expected him to call with just about anything here. Well, he folds. The next player, who had been playing very well after the flop, decides to now raise to $95. That killed the other action and it was now back on me. Usually, when a player limps and then reraises from early position they have a VERY strong hand. It's actually not that unusual to see pocket Aces in that situation. The one thing I thought was odd here, though, was the fact that someone else had already limped. Usually when this limp-reraise play is made there is no other action behind you. The idea is to induce a raise from someone else and then trap that raise in the pot with your reraise. With the other limp in front of him I really didn't put him on Aces, but I was pretty sure he must have something big to try and pull this play. I had about $375 in front of me when the hand began, so if I were to reraise I would probably make it about $250 to go. If I'm putting in $250 of my $375, the rest is going in on the flop regardless of what hits the board, so I might as well bet the whole thing, right? The only thing I didn't want to hear was the automatic "I call". So, after I declared myself "All In!" (that's for you Stretch and Buck) I was very happy to hear absolutely nothing out of my opponent, as that meant he didn't have Aces. Well, at that moment, another table started going beserk about something. It turns out that over at the $3/$6 Limit table someone had lost with quad Jacks to a King-high straight flush. The Oneida Poker Room has a Bad Beat Jackpot, and it turns out that it hit because in order to qualify you have to lose with quads. The jackpot was at just over $67,000. I couldn't get up and personally check it out though as I was still involved in a hand at the moment. My opponent thought and thought and finally called. Now, at the cash game you don't need to show, but I don't play that way so I turned over the Kings, and he showed his Queens. My Kings held up and I won a very nice pot.
What I couldn't figure out, though, was why the whole room was going nuts over the bad beat. Everyone was high-fiving each other. I finally asked what was up, and the player on my left informed me that a portion of the jackpot goes to the players in the room. Apparently, Oneida splits the jackpot like this: 40% goes to the loser of the hand, 20% goes to the winner of the hand, 20% is split among the other players at the table dealt in to the hand, and 20% is split amongst the rest of the poker players in the room that had been dealt a hand at the time it happened. At every other casino poker room I've been to with a Bad Beat Jackpot, the split is usually 50% to the loser, 25% to the winner, 20% to the rest of the table, and 5% to reseed the Jackpot. As it turned out, each player in the room that wasn't at the table where the bad beat occurred received $308. Not bad for just being in the room at the time! It took about two hours to process paying out the Jackpot. Everyone, and I mean everyone, got paid in chips, so there were quite a number of chips that had to be paid out to players. I felt very bad for one individual who had left the $3/$6 Limit table to go to the bathroom and wasn't dealt a hand, as he didn't receive anything. The rest of the players at the table got a little over $2300 each. That is one expensive bathroom break!
As far as my poker for the rest of the weekend, it was pretty uneventful. After receiving my room share of the Jackpot I took my break, and my evening session ended up being a $1 loss. I was profitable up until, in the last orbit, I got KK and someone else got AA. I lost most of my profit for the session in that hand, and then lost another small pot to be $1 down for the session. I was planning on being done for the weekend, but a played a couple hours late on Saturday and had a small losing session to the tune of $41. In that session, I actually had AA against someone else's KK, but I had already lost some chips so when I doubled up that hand it didn't get me to the profitable side. I can't really complain about the poker this weekend, though, as that first session on Friday was very profitable.
On the bowling side of things, it was a pretty uneventful state tournament for me. No real good series to report. I had a couple good games here and there, but never put together a good series. A couple of people I was bowling with put together some good numbers, and one bowler of that group in particular, Iggy, put together one of the best, if not the best, 9-game series I've seen at State Tournament. He had series of 730, 737, and 648 (I think, it may have been a couple pins higher/lower), for a 9-game total of 2115. An excllent score for all-events, and just great bowling all weekend by him. Of course, if those houses weren't lefty houses it might have been a different story....just kidding, Iggy. It was very impressive.
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