Las Vegas: Day 3

I promised myself that I'd play a long session yesterday, and while I reached that goal, unfortunately it was with the caveat of losing like 3-4 buyins.

I can sum up the answer to my problems with one sentence: stop bluffing and start value betting thinner. I made what I think would be very effective bluffs in a typical 1/2 online game where people can hand read and potentially fold marginal and weak hands, but live is a different story.

Zach, Sean and I started the day by heading over to caesar's for breakfast again, and decided to meet Jason at Binion's. The card room turned out to be pretty dead. We checked out the Golden Nugget across the street, but it was just as bad. So Zach and I headed back to the strip to hit up the Venetian while Sean and Jason went to Treasure Island I think?

Zach and I went to our separate tables and managed not to find each other by the end of the day. I sat down at a table with like 5 hilarious danish guys who seemed to have pretty good knowledge of the game but were just there for fun; straddling and chasing and goofing around. Unfortunately I ended up OOP against the loosest of the bunch who was also sitting with the shortest stack at like $100. He foiled several hands of mine where he donked into me, leaving half his stack left and stuff like that. I thought about leaving for another table, but the rest of the players were bad enough that I thought it was a pretty +EV table.

Yesterday saw me lose quite a bit, and while I'll review some hands here, the solution was simply to play tighter and value bet the hell out of these guys.

I opened J2s (mistake one) in MP and got a call from one of the Danes who had position on me. Flop came QQ5ss, no flush draw for me, and he flatted my cbet. Could be Qx, a flush draw, but more likely I thought 22-44 and 66-99. Really hate my turn/river play here, but I double barreled a offsuit 6 turn, he called, then I check-folded a 5 river. What I really like in spots like those is betting really small, especially if you weight his range more heavily towards draws. We get an insane price on our bluff and these guys think well enough to realize it looks like I'm going for thin value. Anyways I really hated my play because he's rarely slowplaying a Q there unless he's boated up (live players are terrified of FDs because most other live players love to play suited cards), so he's more likely to be on a draw, and since the only real draws he can call with are Axss and 6xss, I feel like I get tons of folds with even like a 1/4 pot or 1/3 pot bet.

A short-ish player sat down behind me and there were a couple hands I played against him. He seemed tight but ended up being really weak.

One hand I opened 77, he flatted. Flop is 874 and I bet big, he flats. Turn is a Q and I bet huge, trying to rep a double barrel, he thinks and calls. River is a T and I stick him in for less than pot, he folds. I ask if he had 9s, he doesn't answer but asks if I had AQ (so he must have had 8x/99/9T/some other crappy pair).

Another hand I open 97 in LP, he flats from the blinds, and we end up stacking his ~$60 stack on a T97 board. I improve to a FH, he says I sucked out. Yay!

Only goes downhill from there though.

Another one of the Danes opens in EP, gets two loose callers, and it's on me in the BB with JJ. EP Dane at first seemed like a nit, but opened up like crazy later on and at this point I thought he would call any pocket pair to a squeeze, and tons of big card hands like KQ/AJ/other random shit, and obviously jam some better hands. I squeeze his $10 open to $37, he gives the stare and asks how much I have, and shoves. He either outleveled me or is one level below what I expected him to be (just showing strength when he's strong), but he did win the pot with QQ. Thought my read was right, didn't mind the stack, but it was disappointing.

Few hands later, a bunch of limpers in EP, LP tag bumps it up to like $14, I call with 33 from the blinds to get calls behind, everyone calls. Flop comes A35 with a flush draw, I end up check-raising the preflop raiser who folded. HATED my check-raise. It was pretty much a textbook spot for a lead to trap all the weak limper's calls in between, hope the tag raises AJ+, then get in a big reraise. Hate hate hate my c/r there. Lesson on that hand is to slow down with your decisions. As soon as I checked I regretted it.

A couple more hands here, both of which I played horribly, and both of which I got punished for.

Old fart sits down across the table from me and has been doing weird shit like baluga'ing Q9 on T965 and rivering trips (not against me). He limps utg, I iso J6s, everyone else folds. Flop comes 854ss, no FD for me, I cbet, he c/c. I raised enough pf and on the flop that the pot was pretty big on the turn. K drops on the turn, perfect barrel card even though he's still chasing some draws, and I double barrel fairly big. He thinks a bit and calls. River comes a 6, and I end up checking back. I reeeally thought about betting river, but I thought "I'm actually beating most busted FDs (except Kxss/bigger 6xss), he's never folding two pairs (56/86/K6/etc), and a 7 is a pretty big part of his range as well". He flips over A8o and takes it down. Getting frustrated at this point and decide to leave fairly soon.

A few hands later I get my cue. New guy to my left who I remember flatting QJ pf, calling a cbet on AK2, and checking it down calls my LP raise with A7o (which I hated too btw; tilt showing). I cbet T85, he calls after some thought. I put him on any pair, some random overs, most straight draws, and the rare monster. Turn comes a J putting a flush draw on board. I double barrel big, he thinks long then calls again. River comes a Q and I decide to jam for nearly pot. He thinks forever and ends up calling with AQ. "Good luck guys", and I stand up and leave.

So like I said, in summary: value bet more thinly, and stop bluffing with air.

I grab my beer and head out to the strip (oh yeah, drink anywhere outside in Vegas btw :). I take a nice walk, cool off and decide to head back to my hotel after getting disconnected from Zach and not knowing where everyone is. I end up getting a couple messages that everyone's at the MGM having drinks and that they're about to play poker on Joe's last night in town, so I head on over there. I can't find them or get a hold of Debi (she never picks up her phone :p), and start to head over to the food court area to grab some eats, but bump right into her and Joe. Looks like everyone headed over to the Sahara to play some tourney at 11pm, but it's already started and I'm pooped, so I say goodbye to Joe (very nice, classy guy and it was a pleasure meeting you Joe :), grab some food, some more cash for the next few days and head back to my hotel to pass out.

I feel pretty rested today and ready for more poker, but dammit yesterday was dissapointing. I think my goals for the next while will be to make sure I've got good position at the table and to quit or find a new table if I don't like it. There was definitely an element of chasing losses yesterday and I'm really not happy with myself. I think the thing with live poker is that you're usually at some really loose table, and considering it's full, 10-handed, ring, you simply have to play super tight and get it in good. I mean isolating a single limper with any broadway is fine, but usually there are like 3-4 limpers, or a raise and a couple callers, and you just can't get carried away with trying to push them off a flopped top pair or something.

I'll be back at it today. Took out some more cash last night and will be hitting up the tables once more. Maybe back to the MGM, but the Venetian was pretty juicy. Just have to play more sensibly.

Las Vegas: Day 2

Day 2 started with breakfast at Caesar's Palace with Zach and Sean and it was awesome. Will no doubt be going back today.

Then we headed out to meet up with everyone at the Rio to watch Fredrik play (he's in the WSOP ME remember). His registration ended up getting delayed through some fuck-up in the system, and he didn't play until we all left the casino. Last update I heard was he dropped to 20k (30k starting). All the luck in the world to ya Fredrik! (minus a little for myself this trip..)

Then Zach, Sean and I headed over to the MGM to grind for an hour before heading up to the cardschat party in Nick's suite. I came out a little more than a buyin up with a nice card rush. Some memorable hands:

Literally the first four hands I get dealt, I pick up preflop monsters and win about half a stack. I purposely show a couple of them to see if I could lay down an image and start running some bluffs later.

Very next hand (yes, 5th hand), I pick up KK, open, get a caller or two, and a young internet(?) player squeezed to like $35. We're both about $300 deep, so I 4bet to $90 or $85 or something. He folds, and I show again.

A little while later, a fishy player to my right who's friend says he's playing in the ME opens. His friend to his left calls in the SB, and I squeeze QQ to like $25 I guess, and cbet a 994ss flop. He folds.

Next I open AK in EP and get 3bet by a $40-60 shortstack from Toronto who's tilting like crazy. I ship obviously, and win the flip against 99.

Last, and definitely most interesting hand: UTG (guy who squeezed and folded to my 4bet) limps, a couple limp behind, and I iso to $15 or so with AK. Folds back to UTG who 4bets. I have serious doubts he does this with worse hands for value or bluffs often enough to get it in good. Not really sure about it though; on the one hand I'd been pushing the table around pretty bad, but on the other hand I had been showing lots of legit hands. Pretty sure a taggy utg limper doesn't just decide to turn JTs into a bluff there, but I could be wrong.

Not sure there were many other hands that session, but I do remember leaving an hour later to some grumbles. Probably felt I was hit and running.

Next, it's Nick's party. He has a ridiculously awesome suite up on the 357th floor of the MGM hotel, and catered with drinks and everything. It was tons of fun and nice to meet more people and get to know others better.

We all agreed to play a STT downstairs, and ended up playing two $60 games. Structure was horrible, starting with 20bbs and the blinds doubling every 12 mins. Was still fun; I busted in both getting my money in bad, and was left itching to play some 1-2. The game also featured some hilarious play and commentary by Jason, aka Alien Genius, including a hand where he lost an all-in, and fell backwards to the ground from his chair to the disapproval of the rest of the room. Had us all in stitches.

I don't know what was going through our sick little heads, but we decided to play each other with 1-2 instead of playing the fishy casino regulars. Obviously it's fun to have an all-CC game going, but I have to say I'm going to be avoiding these guys so I can actually play a significantly profitable game.

Some hands from the session (don't remember all that much after like 10 beers though...):

I open AJd in EP, get a flat from Zach in the SB. Flop is something like 2d6s8d, and he leads for like 1/2 pot. I bump it up, happy to get it in, and he 3bets me. Had Zach been anyone else at the table I'd have seriously considered folding there as the worst they have is a combo draw and monster made hands, but he'd been playing pretty aggro so I shipped it in. He later told me he had A3s or something for a gutter with a backdoor.

Later, Zach opens, I think Joe (Debi, aka Dakota-xx's husband) called the SB, and I squeeze AA to $26. Both Zach and I were like $250 deep and in retrospect I like a bigger squeeze pf, to like $30. Zach says he has AA, then when the flop comes Kh9xQh, he says he actually has JT. I cbet like $30, he raises to like $70 or something.

I can't see him stacking any one pair hand here; he doesn't flat PF then raise that flop with AK, and doesn't stack worse kings or other pairs obv. If he had a flush draw I don't really expect him to raise an inducing amount there; I expect him to jam or flat it. I mean if he has 67h there, raising and calling it off is just going to kill his equity since my hand range will be so strong that he'll only be drawing to a flush. Also, I really don't see him bluff-raising a wet board like this since it hits my range so hard. So I don't like my play of not raising more pf, since it gives him some room to call and make pain in the ass moves on boards like this, and gives him better odds on a set mine. I also don't like my play of jamming here, since basically he only calls with huge combo draws (like GS+NFD or 9x+FD) and hands that have me crushed. He snapped my shove and my heart sank: he had JTs.

Reload!

A few isolations later and a couple small pots lost, I'm too lazy to reload and I have like $160. I open QQ in EP, get a call from Tammy, and JD gets a little shaky-handed as he squeezes to like $35. I'm genuinely worried at this point; although JD had been a little aggressive today, in general he's a fairly tag player, and I put him on a very strong range. That said, I think the fact that we were shorter stacked, there was some dead money in there, and a significant chance he was squeezing AQs or TT/JJ and calling it off, I don't really see a fold here. I end up getting it in against aces and kick myself for not reloading when I suck out on the river. Sorry Brian!

Not too many hands after that. We all were playing fairly seriously until Zach started getting minraising wars going which was hilarious. He also posted an interesting hand in HA with minbetting involved, funny but interesting stuff.

Last hand was against JD. I open AK, he calls in the SB, we're heads up. Flop comes QQ2, he weak leads for like $12 into $16 or something. I put him on 33-99 pretty much exclusively, and figure raising definitely doesn't get folds on the flop, and gets too expensive on the turn if I decide to fire again. So I flat with the intention of getting aggressive on scary turn cards, and baluga'ing some blank ones because I strongly feel he has to fold 33-99 at that point. He bets like $30 on a blank turn, I raise to $80, he folds. At least I actually thought about one hand well and executed.

Don't remember many other hands; got to bed crazy late last night and somehow woke up early this morning, ready for more. Think I'm going to the venetian today which supposedly has an awesome card room. GL me!

Las Vegas: Day 1

Figured I'd give you guys a bit of a rundown of how each day is for me and how the trip is going. It's been fun so far.

Wake up time is 3:30AM EST, but I'm completely on edge, excited about the trip. I'm freaking out a bit about whether or not I packed everything and have the proper paperwork for tickets etc.

Get to the airport, am completely lost, but end up finding my way to my first flight by 7:46AM. Lucky me, I'm sitting behind 3 skull-candy-sporting, fluorescent pink wayfarer-wearing loudmouth 15 year olds. End up wanting to reach over and slap each one in the face, but restrain myself. Flight is something like 3hrs.

Next is a 2.5hr stopoff in Denver. Didn't do much there, just tried to get some sleep, watch a dogisheadsUP video, and hopped on my next flight to LV.

Second flight is much better, everyone's quiet and I get about an hour of sleep before waking up over I guess what was the grand canyon. It was a little hard to gauge how big the canyons were since we were so high up. Got some nice pictures.

Finally I arrive in LV, get on a shuttle bus, check in to the Imperial Palace, and get a phone call literally within 30 seconds of opening my hotel room door. It's Debi, she's at the MGM, and apparently everyone's already there and having drinks.

I can't tell you how surreal it was to meet everyone. It reminds me of meeting a celebrity: you've seen tons of pictures of everyone, but when you meet them in person there's just this weird surreal feeling. Anyways everyone was super nice and friendly, and made me comfortable as soon as I sat down. We knock back a few, then we all get the itch to play some cards (we are in Vegas after all...). We sit down at a 1-2 game at MGM, and almost have a table full of CCers. There was one aggressive but fishy shortstacking lady with $40, and a couple of decent but slightly weak-tight Swedish guys who were nice, and later on a weird weak-tight player sat down (who did stuff like donk 1/3 pot with 88 on KT9r).

First hand, I toss in (literally) a raise, and as Sean (Icemonkey9) put it, "he nearly took someone's eye out". "I'm used to a mouse", I reply...

Anyways I calm my nerves a little bit and settle down. Not too many interesting hands to post, but I played aggressively for a FR table and took down a few isolation-spot pots, some bigger than others. I was held back a little bit by the aggro shorstacker behind me who loved to get in on every pot and spoiled some of my iso attempts.

We end up heading out for dinner a couple hours later and have some really good mexican food which was nice.

After that, I head back to my hotel while everyone else decides to play some more cards. I'm exhausted, my eyes feel like they're melting from the 40C (100+F?) heat and decide I really need some rest.

So the first day was awesome. Met everyone from CC, some of which I've known for like 5 years!??! Had a nice intro to live poker as well, a nice dinner, and finally got some rest to overcome the jetlag.

Speaking of which, my internal clock is still a little off. I woke up at 8am today LV time, looks like I'll have time to wander a bit before railing Fredrik's first day at the WSOP ME.

More to come tomorrow morning about the day ahead, hopefully more poker to talk about!