"If You Get Lost, Ask a Hot Girl"

This is an old session I recently uncovered.  There were no spectacular hands, no huge pots.  Just chipping up and up, and coming out ahead in the end.  Slow and steady wins the race, to quote an old cliché.

This took place on a club night.  I was assigned to a seat in the back of the room, unfortunately.  I never asked for a table change to a better table (viewing wise, of course) because I was doing well enough where I was.  If you’re winning at a table, why move?  Just to get a better view of the walking scenery?  Not on this night.

I limped in with pocket 4’s, then called $7.  Four of us saw a flop that was all clubs, but it did contain a 4. Nervous about the clubs, I just called $20 and $30 on the flop and turn.  I declined to bet on the river when he checked.  My set was good.

I raised to $8 with Ace-8 of clubs. There was a call and then someone raised to $40.  I folded, but the other guy called.  I dunno, $40 just seemed like too much to call with such a marginal hand.  So the flop came Ace-Ace-6, two hearts.  Damn.  I had to console myself thinking that one of them had the case Ace with a better kicker.  The preflop raiser bet $80 (which was more than half his stack).  The other guy shoved and the first guy called.  The turn made me ill—it was an 8. The river was a 7.  The preflop raiser showed pocket Kings.  The other guy just mucked!

Huh…what the hell did he have that couldn’t beat Kings on a paired Aces board for him to shove with on the flop?  A semi-bluff with hearts?  Queens?  It was strange.  I really couldn’t figure out his hand.  But one thing is for sure.  The guy with the Kings would have known why I call them dreadedif I hadn’t folded.  I had both guys covered but still it would have been a very nice pot. 

I raised with Ace-King, had a couple of callers and took it with a c-bet.

Then I had pocket Jacks, raised to $8, only one caller.  The flop was Ace-high but he didn’t call my $12 bet.

In the small blind I put in a buck with 8-6 offsuit in a five or six way pot.  There was an 8 on the flop and I called $6.  Now there were three of us.  The turn was a 6 and I led out for $12; it was now heads up.  A blank turn and I bet $25, he called and showed Ace-9 (just top pair, top kicker).

In late position, I raised to $13 with Ace-King off and had two callers.  The flop was Jack-7-2, two diamonds—I had no diamonds.  I made a $20 continuation bet and had one call.  The turn was an Ace, I bet $30 and she called.  I bet $35 on a King river and she called.  She showed one card when she saw my hand….an Ace.

With pocket 9’s, I raised to $8 and had three callers.  The flop was 9-8-2, two hearts.  My $25 bet was not called.

I raised to $8 with King-Queen offsuit and had two callers.  The flop was Ace-Jack-5, two spades.  I bet $15 and one guy made it $30, the other guy folded, I called.  The turn was a 10.  I bet $60, the guy tanked for a bit.  Finally he said, “I’ll lay it down for you.”  Gee thanks.  I just had the nuts.

I had pocket Jacks and raised, got three callers.  A c-bet on a low flop took it.  A few hands later I had pocket Aces, raised, had only one caller, and took it with a c-bet.

I limped in with King-10 of clubs.  Four of us saw a flop of Ace-Jack-4, one club.  It checked around.  The Queen on the turn gave me Broadway.  A player led out for $5, I made it $15 and she called, it was heads up.  But the board paired on the river and neither of us bet.  She didn’t show when I showed her the nut straight.

At one point one of the players asked if there was a Men’s Room nearby.  And the dealer said, “No.”  You see, this was during a period when the nearest restrooms to the MGM poker room were being remodeled.  So you had to walk past the Sports Book to get to the next closest ones, which were the ones that serviced the poker room before it was re-located to make room for the club.

By this time, the line for the club had already formed.  From the poker room, there are two ways to get to rest rooms. You can walk through the sports book, or you can take a slightly less direct route and walk through where the poker room used to be, which is now part pathway and part line-up area for the club. In other words, if you want to take the scenic route, it’s a few more steps.  You should be able to figure out which route I take when I have to go that restroom.

Anyway, the player was surprised to get that answer.  “No?”  The dealer said, “You’ll find it, just go over by the sports book and then passed it.”  So I chipped in, “Go around the sports book, not through the sports book.  You’ll enjoy the view a lot more.”  The rest of the table laughed at that, knowing exactly what I meant.  The dealer said, “If you get lost, ask a hot girl.”  And I added, “If you don’t get lost, ask a hot girl.’

When he returned—and not particularly promptly, I might add—he said, “Yeah, I see what you mean about the view on the other side.  Thanks.”

And that was that.  No huge pots, but I was never down and kept adding to my stack.  By the time I cashed out, I was up $230.  Slow and steady wins the race.

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Face Off in Ventura

It was a titanic battle of two Asians at PC Ventura yesterday.  The first one had joined our table after I’d been there for a good hour.  He was both a bit of an aggro and a bit of a luckbox, at least when he started out.  His stack had risen and fallen, and I’m sad to report his stack had doubled (from under $100) when he beat me boat over boat.  By the time this hand occurred, he had nearly $600.

The second Asian had joined the table more recently.  He was even more aggro, and he was only at our game for a few hands when they asked him if he wanted to move to a bigger game, but he said no, he would stay at this table. So I figured he’s probably used to bigger stakes. The two of them got into a few hands together, and seemed to be playing against each other a bit.  As far as I could tell, they didn’t know each other previously, but it’s possible that I’m wrong about that.  He had just won a big pot right before this hand and had around $500.

We’ll call the first player I mentioned Kenny and the second guy Artie.  Kenny had been away from the table for awhile and didn’t see Artie win that big hand I mentioned.  On Kenny’s first hand back from his little break, he raised to $21 after a couple of limpers.  Artie immediately said something like, “Whoa…first hand back and you make it $21?”  I don’t believe he had looked at his cards when he said that.

Meanwhile, an older gentleman, one of the tightest players at the table, had called the $21 immediately behind Kenny.  Artie looked at his cards and then said, “The bet is $21?  What’s four times $21?”  The dealer said, “No math please.”  I’m not sure if he was joking or not. Maybe it appeared another player, one not in the hand, was going to tell him, and I guess that would not have been ok.  But the guy managed to figure it out without any help and called out his raise to $85 (close enough).  It folded back to Kenny.

He complained a bit to Artie.  “What, you were giving me a hard time over $21 and you make it $85?  What’s that all about?”  Artie said something like, “Hey I’m not kidding here. I mean it.”

Kenny tanked for some time, then counted out chips and looked at his stack and looked at Artie’s stack.  And reading his body language, I thought he was going to re-raise.  But finally he said, “I’ll just call,” and counted out the $85.  The gentleman who had called the $21 folded instantly.  Apparently he only had a $21 hand, not an $85 hand.

It was heads up and the flop was Queen-high on an unconnected board.  Kenny took very little time in checking, but Artie didn’t notice that he checked.  “Is it on me?”  Assured that it was, he announced, “all-in.”

Kenny was surprised by the bet.  “What does he have, “$300?”  No, he had more than that.  He had two $100 chips which were kind of hidden (by the way, in this casino, the $100 chips are white, not black).  The dealer said it was more so he asked for a complete count. It was something like $425-$435, in that range.  So Kenny counted his own stack, and separated the amount he needed to call.  It would have left him with less than $100 if he called and lost.

Kenny was in a bit of agony.  He mentioned something about really not wanting to lay his hand down.  Or maybe he said, “I can’t lay this down.”  Artie said, “I showed that one hand.”  It was a reference to a really big bet he had made in a previous hand, and after getting the fold, he showed his hand to be exactly what he was representing with his big bet—not a bluff.

So Kenny asked, “Will you show if I fold?”  But Artie said, “Will I show if you fold?  No…I don’t do that.  I never show.  That one time was it.”

Kenny stared and stared.  He kept quizzing Artie and Artie just softly indicated he “had it” and that he wasn’t kidding.  I can assure you that everyone at the table was totally engrossed in this battle of wills.  So I was kind of surprised when someone called for the clock.  I wasn’t sure who it was.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Artie.  Frankly, I was enjoying the drama.  I wouldn’t have minded watching for another five minutes if not more.  It was highly entertaining.  Of course, I would have been more in favor of calling the clock if it had been a tournament setting.

It took awhile for the floor to come over for the clock, but finally he did and the countdown began.  The staring continued, Kenny kept talking, saying anything to try to get a better read on Artie.  By this time Artie had stop saying anything in response, and was looking away.

The floor said, “30 seconds,” and a few seconds later Kenny just flipped over his hand.  It was two Kings.  Artie jumped a little…..not sure if it was from the hand itself or if he was just surprised to see the hand exposed.  Needless to say, Kenny wasn’t taking his eyes off Artie the entire time. 

But he still wasn’t acting on his hand.  The floor man spoke again. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”  I knew that if he got past “one” his hand would be dead.  Kenny was motionless and I wondered if a last second “call” announcement would escape his lips at the last possible moment.

But……no, it did not.  The floor man said “one” followed by, “this hand is dead,” And he himself put his hand on the two Kings and swept them into the muck for the dealer.  The dealer started pushing the pot to Artie.  Everyone was kind of gasping that he could lay down his Kings on a Queen-high, non-threatening board like that.    Especially since, from our observations, Kenny certainly seemed to have more than a little gamble in him.

Artie started to just slide his cards back face down, but at the last second, he flipped them over.

Of course, it was two Aces. 

Artie said, “Wow….how could you lay that down?  I would have called.”

He repeated similar comments for a quite a while and now Kenny was strangely silent.  I think at one point he said, “I saved myself a lot of money there.”  He did indeed.

Artie even pointed out that he could have still won.  He had outs, after all.  Yeah…two of them.  But he used that to justify his statement that he would have called had the shoe been on the other foot.  Another player said, “I thought he had a set of Queens,” (meaning Artie).  Kenny said, “No way, I knew he didn’t have a set of Queens.”  I agree, I don’t think he would have played it that way.

OTOH, I’m not sure I like how he played the Aces. It was a dramatic hand, but not necessarily a well played one, at least not by Artie.  You can’t argue with Kenny’s play, unless you just want to say, “Kenny was supposed to lose his stack there.”  But Artie?  His shove into a pot of a bit less than $200 was not necessary.  He probably could have gotten called with a bet of say, $150.  And been an 90/10 favorite if the hand continued.  Based on his comment though, it appears he really was concerned with losing as a huge favorite, that’s why he bet so much.

If that was his concern though, did he consider the possibility that Kenny might have played pocket Queens the exact same way?  In which case Artie was shoving into a set?  Just asking.

What do you think of Artie’s play there?

Anyway, the table was buzzing about this for the rest of the time I was there.  I enjoyed being a spectator to it.

Oh, and by the way….my original title for this post was going to be, “Aces vs. Kings—Asian edition.”  As you likely know, I’ve done “Aces vs. Kings” posts a few times (see here, here and here).  But I realized I’d be giving away the punch line of my post in the title, so I had to up with something more innocuous. 

Anyway, the pic below was taken by my pal Norm in Vegas at the grand opening of the new Wynn poker room.  It seems an appropriate pic for a post about Aces.  As far as I know, there were no guys there dressed as Kings.  Sorry.  Thanks, Norm!

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I Guess This is Why They Call it "Lady Luck"

Yesterday I traveled to Ventura to play poker at Player’s Casino.  I was seated immediately at the 2/3 game, and bought in for the usual $300, the max. The place was rather dead, which didn’t surprise me.  Memorial Day Weekend in Southern California, a lot of people go out of town.  And let’s face it, a lot of people who might normally be there to play poker may have gone to Vegas to play poker there instead.

Still there were three full tables of the game and we were never short-handed.  I recognized a few of the players, but the one that stuck out was the lady who I mentioned the last time I played there (see here).  She had that odd playing style, sometimes very aggro, a real LAG.  I knew I had to keep an eye on her.  As it happens, she never had a big stack, and played her wild game a smaller percentage of the time than two weeks ago.  But she still liked to make the occasional big bet, the big three-bet, the odd shove.  Just not as frequently.

The very first hand I was in, I was in the cut-off with King-Jack of diamonds.  A few players had limped, and I decided to limp as well.  The lady was in the big blind and I wanted to see what her level of crazy she was playing this week.  It was a marginal hand, and not really knowing many of the other players, I didn’t want to raise so early.  Sure enough, the lady made it $18, one of the limpers called so I came along.

There were two low-ish diamonds on the flop (the other card was low too) and she led out for $20.  I called.  The turn was a blank and this time she bet $15.  That was such an odd bet.  I felt like raising but was worried that she would re-raise—that was certainly in her repertoire.  I figured that since she was giving me excellent odds to chase my flush, I may as well take advantage and just call.  The river was indeed a diamond and I had the second nuts.  She checked.  I bet $25 and she folded.

Nice to win the very first hand.  I was hoping it was good omen.

I lost a few bucks chasing but was still a bit in the black when I raised to $15 in late position with King-10 of hearts.  Only the guy next to me called.  From one hand I’d seen that day, and from my recollection, he was a bit of an aggro.  So I didn’t c-bet when I whiffed the flop.  But he checked.  I was still sensing something so I kept checking and he kept checking back.  Nothing hit and my King-high was good (he said he had overs but obviously below a King).  Ok, I’ll take even though I would have ended it sooner with a c-bet on the flop.

Then came the most interesting hand of the session.  I looked down at my first pocket pair of the day, two Queens.  A tight player who hadn’t played more than two hands since I’d been there raised to $12.  I just called.  The guy behind me called and then the young Asian fellow at the table made it $35.  He had been up and down, losing his stack recently and only re-buying in for $100.  But he had hit some lucky hands both before and after busting and re-buying, and had demonstrated some interesting play.  He had three-bet pre a few times with Ace-rag type hands—and in the cases I’d seen, hit them big.  Just before this hand, he had three-bet with Ace-4 off and taken a pot with two pair against a much stronger Ace.  When his stack was below $100 he seemed to shove (sometimes a three-bet shove) fairly light.

It looked like he had around $150ish left after the bet $35, give or take. But his chips were arranged oddly so it wasn’t clear.  I had a bit more than the $300 I’d started with.  When the original raiser folded, I decided to re-raise. I felt my Queens were way ahead of his three-betting range.  I thought he very likely had an Ace but the other card was lower than a Queen and thus it wouldn’t be a coin-flip, I’d be a big favorite.  I also thought there was a pretty decent chance if a tight player like me pulled the call/re-raise move, he’d fold a crappy Ace.

There was still a player behind me.  I was a bit worried about him.  His stack was closer to the Asian’s than mine.  I decided to put another $100 on top of the $12 already out there.  I figured he’d either fold or shove, not call, and I was fine either way.  The player between us got out of the way and the Asian immediately announced “all-in.”  I snap called.  He said, “Is it Aces vs. Kings?” Gulp.  He showed me two Kings and I was certainly dreading them.  I just shoved another stack out in front of me, expecting to be down a fair amount after the hand played out.  I got unlucky there, I thought, but based on my read of this guy, I was ahead of more than half the hands he could have there.  Oh well.

The flop was all low, and rainbow….no one was catching a flush.  I saw a face card come out on the turn, but it was a Jack.  I found myself thinking, why couldn’t that be a Queen?  Of course, it could have been a King too, leaving me drawing dead.  I was resigned to the worst and then….well, wouldn’t you know, an absolutely beautiful lady hit the river.  Everyone groaned or whatever it is you do when you see that.  The guy took it pretty well. He muttered something under his breath but otherwise was a good sport.  I gave my apology.  “Sorry….not sorry.”  And as I was stacking my chips, I said, “It was worse because it was on the river, right?  Wouldn’t have been quite so bad if it had been on the flop?”  He didn’t really agree with this assessment.  OK, whatever. 

I few of the other players said things like, “That’s awful,”  “You hate to see that,” or “That’s sick.”  Really?  I found it rather inspirational, myself.  That Queen on the river was the best looking lady I’d seen in a long, long time.  And she wasn’t even naked.

When I finished stacking, I had about $510 in front of me.  The pot must have been $360-$370 or so.  I’m sure that’s the biggest I’ve dragged (in a cash game, of course), since I left Vegas at the beginning of the year.

Later I was in the big blind with Queen-Jack off and saw the flop for free. Only three of us were alive and it came King-Queen-10.  No betting on the flop and I called $17 on the turn, it was heads up.  It checked around on the river, another blank.  He had pocket 6’s and my Queens were good.

I raised to $18 after a couple of limpers with Ace-Queen suited; no one called.  Very next hand, I raised to $12 with Ace-King off, and had two callers.  The flop was 10-6-2, rainbow.  I led out with a $20 c-bet.  The next player made it $60 and the third player called.  I got the hell out of there.  There was more betting on the turn and they got it all in.  Turned out it was set over-set, 10’s vs 6’s (the 10’s just called the flop bet).  Actually the board paired on the river and the guy with the 6’s lost boat-over-boat.  Tough way to lose your stack.

I raised with Queen-Jack of spades and had a couple of callers.  The flop wasn’t bad—Ace-King-10.  There were two of some other suit.  I bet, an older gentleman, a seeming nit, min-raised.  I came over the top, he shoved, I snapped and of course he showed Queen-Jack too.  His was unsuited but he didn’t have the flush draw.  Beats losing, right?

Eventually my $200 profit had worked its way down to closer to $100.  It was getting late—I was interested in getting home in time to see the basketball game (Warriors-Thunder, game 6, what a freaking game!).  So when I posted my big blind this time, I felt it was likely my last orbit.  I had still been fairly card dead most of the day, save that one incredible suck-out that went my way.  The only other pairs I’d started with were 10’s twice, both times calling raises with them, both times folding to decent-sized bets on flops that had an Ace.  The only Ace-King, Ace-Queen hands I had I’ve already described.  The Queen-Jack where I flopped Broadway was the only suited connector I had above 5-4. 

Anyway, the big blind hand was garbage and then in the small blind, I finally saw another pocket pair.  Two Jacks.  That same Asian fellow, under-the-gun, had limped in.  After rebuying when I felted him, he had been quite a bit quieter than before.  Might have been that this was his last buy-in, or maybe he was just not getting cards he liked.  He had about $200 or so, which is what he’d bought in for after he started liking Kings as much as I do.

It folded to me and I made it $15.  The big blind folded and the Asian fellow called.  The flop was Queen-Jack-2, two hearts.  I bet $25 and he called.  The turn was a blank.  This time I put out $50.  He tanked.  But eventually called.  A low heart hit the river, and I was not happy at the scare card.  My naturally tendency there is to check.  I thought about overcoming it.

Yeah, he had tanked on the turn.  But I remembered all the times—particularly the post here—where I had misread a player taking his time, thinking it was almost a fold when it was really almost a raise.  Was this guy capable of raising me on the turn with a flush draw, thinking I might fold a one pair hand to him?  Yes, he was. 

So if I bet and he raised, would I have the discipline to fold my set?  Well, likely not.  Hard to fold a set of Jacks, especially to someone who was certainly capable of bluffing or betting a worse hand than mine.  I figured if he had hit it, a check would cost me less money, so I ended up checking. 

I was somewhat expecting him to bet, I was just hoping it was something I could comfortably call.  But he instead flipped over his hand. King-Queen, no hearts. I showed my Jacks, and he dutifully said, “nice hand.”  As I dragged in the pot, I said to him, “I thought maybe you were on the flush draw.  It would have only been fair if you rivered me back.”  He sorta-laughed. 

By then I realized he wanted to get to the showdown cheap.  If I had bet $100 on the river, he’d probably have folded.  But if I had bet $50 again, it would probably have been too cheap for him to fold.  Oh well. I’m not losing sleep over that.

Second to last hand, I got another pocket pair.  It was 3’s.  I had to call $15 to see the flop, which was Queen-4-4.  I was done with the hand.  But here’s something I’ve observed, maybe it’s just my mind tricking me.  But have you ever noticed, whenever you have a small pocket pair, and the board comes out paired, more often than not the board pair is just one off from yours?  I mean, you have two 5’s and there are two 6’s or two 4’s on the board, something like that?  Or is that just me?

I racked up and was up $202.  I wished everyone luck, as I often do when I leave, and then nodded to the Asian.  I guess I said, “sorry,” and he said, “Hey it’s ok…that’s poker.”  Good sport!  I’ve seen plenty of guys who don’t take it so well.  I said back to him, “Well, next time, you’ll get me.”  I sure hope I’m wrong about that.

My best session, believe it or not, since the first few days of the year (from my Christmas trip).  I dunno how well I played, but it was sure nice to be on the right end of the luck curve for once.  I was due, right?

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Back in the Days When I Could Have a Good Session...

I assume that most of my loyal readers memorize everyone one of my blog posts.  You do do that, right?  But for the one or two of you who don’t, I will refer you back to the post here from last December.  Now that post was about a session from a year earlier.  And in it, I mentioned that I had then recently discovered a number of “nice” sessions from that time period that I had never written up for you and hoped to present to you in the future.  Well, the future is now—at least for one more of them.

There were a couple of reasons for me to go back and grab a report from the not so recent past.  For one thing, with my trips to Vegas having been reduced both in frequency and in length, I’m running out of recent material.  But also, I was getting tired of writing up losing sessions as I have mostly done lately.  I remembered that I had some old sessions that I thought were worthy of blogging about, and that most likely meant they were winning sessions.

And then I started to wonder if maybe I could learn something reviewing a report on a old session.  Clearly my results lately have been disappointing, to say the least. I’ve been getting some great feedback from you guys on where I need to improve (so many areas!).  And I also got one comment that I wasn’t playing the way I used to.  Maybe I could find something important from an old session that would make me go, “Damn, why don’t I do that anymore?” So I was digging for information that maybe could help more as much as anything.

Reviewing this session I’m writing up, which took place around Christmas time in 2014, I don’t think I found anything that will help.  Except that just revisiting (and then reporting on) a session where I had a nice win might help me with my confidence a bit (possibly) and at least will be more fun to write about.  So here we go….

The first hand I made note of was against a guy with a big stack who I said (in my voice notes) looked familiar.  Based on the description I had for him, I think I now know who this player is, a player who became an MGM regular I ran into a lot during the heyday of the MGM Invitational. (freeroll).  I dunno how many times I mentioned him by “name” but I did call him “Dave” when I needed him to have a name.  So let’s assume this was that Dave.

In this hand, I had Jack-10 in the big blind.  No raise.  The flop was Queen-9-x.  I checked, Dave made a small bet. Another player called, as did I. The turn was a King, and there were now two cards of the same suit each on the board (and I had no cards in either suit).  I checked.  I wish I had explained to myself in my notes why I checked there with the nuts, but I didn’t.  It’s possible that I was, by this time, pretty sure that Dave would bet.  But it remains a mystery.  Dave did fire, a bet of $27.  The next guy called.  With two flush draws out there, I check-raised to $100 (guess I started the hand near my original buy-in of $200, and as I indicated, Dave had me covered).  Dave then shoved, the other guy folded, and I snap called.  Dave had Jack-10 too, but his was suited in one of the suits on the board.  So he had a freeroll.  Either he hits his flush and takes the whole pot, or he misses and we chop with the same straight.

Lucky for me, he missed his flush, and we chopped it.  Phew.  But Dave did ask the guy who folded if he would have called if he only called my $100 instead of shoving?  He said he would not have.

I raised to $8 with pocket 7’s and got only one call, the guy on my immediate left.  The flop was 7-4-2, rainbow.  I checked, as did he.  The turn was a Jack, no flush possible.  I bet $10 and got a call.  The river was a 7.  I bet $30 but didn’t get a call.  It’s tough to get paid for quads.

A few hands later I raised to $8 with pocket Jacks.  Same guy was the only caller.  The flop was Jack-4-2 (too bad no one was playing the Grump on either of these hands).  I checked, as did he (guess I was more into slow-playing sets back then).  A 9 on the turn and I bet $10, he called.  Another 9 on the river, I bet $25.  No call.

From the small blind, I completed with Jack-8.  The flop was 9-7-3.  I called a $5 bet. There were still three of us left.  A 10 on the turn filled in my gut-shot.  I led out for $25 and got a call.  The river was a blank and I didn’t get a call to my $40 bet.

After winning a small pot with Ace-Queen (raise and a c-bet on an Ace-high board), I looked down at pocket Aces.  I opened to $8 and then someone three-bet to $21.  It folded back to me, I bet $48.  He called, it was heads up.  Harmless looking board of 8-7-2.  I bet $75 and he folded after tanking for a bit.  He showed two Queens.

With pocket Queens myself, I called $10, it was three-ways.  The flop was King-Jack-5, I called $30, the last guy shoved for $67.  The original raiser called, but I folded.  Probably shouldn’t have called the $30.  The shover showed King-Jack, which looked real good when a Jack hit the river.  The original raiser never showed.

With the dreaded pocket Kings, I opened to $8, only one caller, a guy who was a bit of a Crazian.  The flop was Queen-high, I bet $12, he made it $40.   Hmm.  I thought he could easily do that with just a Queen.  I called.  We both checked a blank turn.  Interesting.  The river paired a 7.  He bet $60.  I tanked.  I almost folded.  But I had a hard time believing the second 7 helped him and if he was that strong without it, why didn’t he bet the turn?  I decided I had to call.  As soon as I put my chips out, he folded instantly without me even having to show.  Guess he didn’t even have a Queen!

Wouldn’t you know it, not very many hands later, I got Kings again.  After a couple of limpers, I made it $12, two callers.  The flop was King-6-5, two diamonds (no diamonds for me).  I bet $25 and got a call.  The turn was another 5.  Nice.  This time I checked behind the other guy.  Hmm….does it make sense to check there if the other player has already checked?  Well, I figured he would likely bet something on the river, based on his play thus far.  Sure enough, on a meaningless river, he led out for $25.  I put out $65 which put him all in, and he did call.  He didn’t just muck (without showing) when he saw my boat—he left the poker room. 

Now if you’re one of those wondering how it is I would take so long to write up a session where I had pocket Kings twice (within a very short time frame) and won with them both times (including a flopped set and a turned boat), you have to get in line behind me.  I can’t believe it myself.  Should have written this blog post before going to sleep that nite!

There was annoying guy at the table for a brief period.  Announced that he had just gotten into town from Oregon.  He announced that repeatedly.  He mentioned it again when he said he had forgotten the drinks are free in Vegas because they’re not in Oregon.  He was one of those guys who just wouldn’t stop talking.

His very first hand, there had been a raise to $10, two callers, and he immediately announced “all-in.” He had bought in for $100. No one called, and he said, “Well, look at what I got on my first hand!” And he showed us his hand.  Was it Aces?  Kings?  Jacks?  Nope, he showed us two deuces.  He complained that people weren’t calling his wild bets and eventually got a table change.

I only noted one more hand for myself.  It was Ace-King, I raised, two callers.  No one called my flop bet on a King-high board.

When I cashed out, I was up $380. Oh, for the good ol’ days.

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A Lucki Duck and An Arrogant Bastard

Before I headed up to Vegas last time, I learned that fellow blogger Lucki Duckand Mrs. Duck would be in town during my visit, so I contacted Lucki and we discussed the possibility of getting together for some of that pokerz we both like to play.  I told you about the previous time I met the Ducks here, Can that really have been nearly three years ago?  Wow.  Time sure flies when you’re getting old.

Anyway, on this particular Wednesday, I had planned on playing all day and all night at the Aria tournament, taking home first place.  But of course, that plan was torpedoed by a couple of cowboys, and I don’t mean horse-riding kind (see here). Soon after I went busto, Lucki and I were in contact and we were trying to arrange a meet-up.  After much negotiation, we ended up deciding to meet at the Hash House A Go Go at the Linq for dinner.

So I met Lucki and his lovely wife there and we had a great time and a fine meal.  My only complaint was that the service wasn’t particularly good.  But the food was tasty and more than plentiful.  We of course traded poker stories, Vegas stories, and whatever gossip we could come up with about any of our fellow bloggers who had the misfortune of not attending. I’m sure more than a few ears were burning. It was a lot of fun.

One of us noticed a beer menu on the table.  I guess they had a bunch of specialty brews.  And when I looked at the menu, I happened to notice one of the beers was called “Arrogant Bastard.”  I pointed that out to the Ducks and we all got a good laugh out of that.  Great name for a beer, right?  I actually think it’s an ale, but whatever.  I can just see going into a bar, asking the bartender for an “Arrogant Bastard” and being told, “You must be looking for that guy in the corner.  He’s the most arrogant bastard I’ve seen in a while.”

Now, all during dinner, I was trying to contact the manager of the Linq poker room to see if there was any way I could get the meal charged to Lightning’sTotal Rewards comps.  It seemed only fair, as the last time I broke bread with Mr. & Mrs. Duck, Lightning had picked up the check.  The fact that he wasn’t there this time shouldn’t have mattered, should it have?  Well, I guess I don’t have nearly as much juice in Vegas as some people seem to think, and I was unable to pull it off.

And so, despite my incredibly meek attempts to fight him for the check, Lucki insisted on paying for the entire meal.  So the least I can do is publically thank him for his generosity.  Thanks, Lucki.  Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do.  Next time, it’s on Lightning for sure.

After dinner, Mrs. D was ready to return to their hotel and call it a night, but of course Lucki and I endeavored to seek fame and fortune in a local poker parlor.  We first checked The Linq’s poker room, but there was only game going and there was a small list.  The trouble with a small room like that is that if they only have one game going, you just never know how long it will be before you can get into that game.  Could be a couple of minutes, could be an hour or more, easily.  Or it could be that enough folks show up so that they start a second game.

But we decided we were not in Vegas to gamble, so we thought about playing in another poker room; there are so many in walking distance from where we were.  Lucki had mentioned that he liked the poker room at the Mirage, but that he had not been there since the new room had opened last year.  So, since it was more or less across the street from where we were, that seemed like the obvious choice.

We trekked over to the Mirage and not only managed to get into a game right away, we were able to play at the same table and had seats right next to each other.  Of course I took the seat to Lucki’s left so I would have position on him.

Early on I won a few very small pots which I didn’t jot down any details on.  One of them I did get some of Lucki’s money when I flopped top pair with Ace-Jack and rivered the Ace.  I bet and he didn’t call.  Not sure if I even needed the Ace on the river.

I raised to $8 with Ace-2 of hearts and got one caller.  There were two bigger cards and a deuce on the flop.  I c-bet $15 and got a call.  Another deuce on the turn and my $20 bet was called. An Ace hit the river and thus I had a full house.  I bet $30 and the guy faked calling but after he counted out the bet with one hand, he mucked with the other.

I limped in with pocket 4’s and then had to call $6.  It was four-way.  I hit my set on a rainbow board and check/called $6. We were now heads up. The turn was a blank and I checked again.  But when he bet $10, I check-raised to $25.  He tanked but folded.

I was up a bit and then managed to turn that around with one hand.  I raised to $8 with Ace-6 of clubs. It was four-way. The flop was 9-9-7, two clubs.  One of the players donk-shoved $35.  Another guy called and so did I.  The other player folded.  The turn was a blank and the other guy shoved.  It was maybe $100?  I didn’t note it.  I folded to let them fight it out.  But I guess it was a bad fold.  The guy who shoved the turn had pocket 7’s for a flopped boat.  The other guy never showed but claimed to have a flush draw (it didn’t come on the river).  So unless he had a pair, I would have won the side pot either catching the flush or Ace-high beating his high card.  But I don’t think that would have been a good play.

Of course I got the dreaded pocket Kings, and I happened to be on the button.  Someone raised to $7 and Lucki called.  I meant to make it $30 but miscounted and put out $35.  The first guy folded and then Lucki looked at me and said, “I didn’t mean to get you angry.”  And then mucked.

Not long after, Lucki took off.  I believe he won some money, but he can tell you about it on his blog.  It was fun eating and playing with him, he’s a good guy. 

I kept playing and with Ace-Queen I raised to $10 and it was three-way.  Flop was Queen-high, two hearts.  A guy donked out $7 and I made it $25.  The third player called me but the donk bettor folded.  The turn was a blank and I bet $50 and took it down there,

I had Ace-Queen in the big blind and called $6.  Three of us saw a Queen high flop. There was no betting.  The turn was an Ace so I bet $15 and had just the preflop raiser call.  I bet $25 on the river and he called, but didn’t show when I flipped over my two-pair.  He said he had Ace-King.

I didn’t write down the last hand I won, but the next day I recalled a small pot where I won with top pair, lousy kicker from one of the blinds against a lady who bet her middle pair on the river. I don’t think there had been any betting before that.

I ended up booking a whopping $15 win.  The way I’ve been running in Vegas lately, it felt better than it should have.  But the big win was the renewing my acquaintance with a terrificterrific—and Lucki—couple.

Note:  I’ve decided that the best way to thank Lucki for the meal is to steal from him.  So, except for the Arrogant Bastard shot, the pics on this post were all ones I stole off his blog.  Yes, I am not the only poker blogger who likes to put pics of fine looking ladies on his blog. In fact, I think he was probably doing it before I did.  Enjoy.

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Stolen Blinds, Dreaded Kings & a Welcome Table Captain

Yesterday I made my first visit of the year to The Bike in historic Bell Gardens, CA.  It is historic for being home to The Bike, which I believe to be the second largest poker room in the U.S.  The last time I went there, it was to check out the status of the remodeling project (see here) after they opened their hotel.  This time, I went to see their new system of poker room management which was recently installed by my employer, PokerAtlas. It is called TableCaptain and you can read about it here.  And if you want to see it in action without taking a trip to The Bike, just look at Bike’s page on PokerAtlas (here).

As you will observe, you can see all the live cash games going and also the tournament clocks for all the tourneys going on.  If you click on the waiting list, you can even see the names of the players waiting for a game.  Now, this great software is handled by a totally different side of the business than I am associated with it.  So I only know about it from my colleagues.  Until yesterday, I had never seen it in action at all.  But I knew my colleagues have been working their tails off, day and night, getting the second largest poker room in the U.S. up and running with it.

Now that they have (mostly) completed the task, I just had to go down to the Bike and see it for myself.  Oh, and also get a little poker session in while I was there, of course.

And it was really cool.  I was impressed that my old Bike player’s card, issued to me over 10 years ago, still worked and did not have to be replaced.  I was clocked in immediately when I sat down.  And here’s something neat: my picture actually appeared on the screen next to the dealer, along with my name.  I imagine there might be some players who won’t like that, since the camera that took all those pics many, many years ago was probably not the best.  And some folks might have older pics than mine!  My picture has me with darker hair and a moustache I got rid of last decade.  And aside from unflattering pics, I suppose some folks might prefer more anonymity. But the good news is the pic appears very, very small on the screen!

I was only there a few minutes when the guy next to me asked the dealer how much time he had accumulated that day.  And the dealer told him.  Hmm….the dealer can’t tell you that using some other system you might be thinking of.  That comes in handy for several reasons.  The Bike offers cash back for playing (but you have to play way longer than I ever would in a month to qualify).  Also, you get either free or discounted meals for playing so many hours.  In the game I was playing (2/3 NL), you need to play three hours (in a day) to get a free meal.

All the cash and tournament info for a room using TableCaptain that you see on the website is also available using the PokerAtlas phone app, of course.

When I first sat down, it appeared like this game was going to well exceed Bike’s reputation for wild games.  First hand I was in, a guy raised to $18, got a call, and then someone raised to $102.  The raiser called.  The flop was Ace-high and the three-bettor shoved (another $200 or so).  The other guy folded without showing.

Next hand was similar, a $16 raise, another re-raise, so I folded my Ace-4 of spades.  More betting on the flop where I would have flopped a gutshot and a back-door flush draw.  On the turn, where both players got it all in, I would have caught my wheel.  As it was, the guy who was the bigger aggressor (and shoved the turn) had a pair of Queens and rivered his set.  The other guy had pocket 9’s, unimproved.

It did get a little calmer after that.

I limped in with 9-8 offsuit, one call and then the big blind made it $8, I called but the other guy folded.  The flop was 9-7-x and I called $10.  The turn was an 8 and I called $20.  He checked a blank river and I bet $30, but didn’t get a call. 

With pocket Jacks I raised to $15, only had one call.  The flop was King-Queen-x, but my c-bet of $25 took it down.

I opened to $15 with Ace-Jack and had one caller.  The flop was Ace-high, I bet $25 and he called.  But he didn’t call my $50 turn bet on a blank.

With pocket 6’s in late position, I opened to $15.  One hand earlier I had raised to $15 with a suited Ace and gotten two callers—and had to fold to a donk bet when I missed.  This time, with the sixes, I was three-bet to $30 by the most active player at the table.  It folded back to me and I called. The flop was 10-9-9 and we both checked.  The turn was a 7 and we both checked.  The river was a Queen and he still didn’t bet.  I showed my pocket 6’s.  The other player was on my immediate left and although he didn’t show, I saw him look at his cards and it was either Ace-King or maybe Ace-Jack.  I’ll bet he was shocked as hell that I raised with those 6’s and even called his three-bet with them.  And I’ll bet he was pissed he didn’t c-bet.  I was thinking I might get a few more calls now having showed the table how I played a low pair.  And winning the pot was nice too.

Despite these hands, I was still down to about $280 (from $300) when I got—wait for it—the dreaded pocket Kings. Now, rather than tell you how well that went, I’m gonna show you.  On a previous trip to the Bike, (see here), I met Steve Miller, one of the folks behind the nifty ShareMyPairapp. And yesterday, Steve was finishing up his session at the Bike and he recognized me and came by to say hello,  And despite the fact that we here are only the seventh most awesome poker blog in the universe, he had some incredibly nice things to say about what passes for poker content here.  Thanks, Steve, you really made my day.

And running into Steve got me thinking about his app again, so I decided to give it a try with my favorite hand.  I’m embedding the video below.  But I believe due to the limitations of my blogger software, it might not fit right.  I hope it doesn’t block out any text and that you can view it.  If not, a link to see the video on the SMP site is here.

Hopefully you can all see it.  Basically, I opened to $17 with the dreaded hand.  What I couldn’t figure out how to tell the app was that the guy in the cut-off was posting a missed blind, so he was already in for $3.  That’s the reason for betting $17.  I had already decided my standard 2/3 opening to $12 was no good; I was opening to $15.  I was only called by four players.  The rainbow flop made a flopped straight possible.  Anyone think I shouldn’t have bet there?  I’m open to suggestions.  Once the board paired there were so many ways I could be beaten I didn’t see the point of continuing.  It was, after all, Kings.  Anyone disagree?  The guy behind me was the aggro at the table.  He wouldn’t have folded any draw he had.  Of course, he flopped the straight so….Short stack got ridiculously lucky with the flopped two pair and boating up.  Lucky for the guy with the straight the other guy was short-stacked.

Once again, done in by the dreaded hand.  I only noted one more hand after that.  In the big blind I had King-9, no one raised.  There were many limpers.  The flop was King-10-8, I checked/called $10.  A second King on the turn and I checked, thinking about a check-raise.  But he didn’t bet.  A blank hit the river, I bet $30 and didn’t get a call.

There was one really noteworthy thing I witnessed that I’ve never seen before in a cash game. In the past, I’ve complained, no doubt more than once, about all the walkers at the Bike. Check out this post, for example.  It’s one of the things that drove me away from there.  It seems that half the table would be made up of players who would play a few orbits, then miss a few orbits, then come back, play an orbit, and disappear for two or more orbits yet again.  Drove me crazy.  You seldom had two consecutive orbits that were nine-handed.

Last time I was there, I noticed that instead of tossing players “missed big blind” buttons when they were away, they were throwing a card that said, “Missed 1.”  I think I might have seen one time a card turned over when it happened twice in a row and then it said, “Missed 2.”  I never really knew what that meant.

But yesterday I found out.  The player next to me took off for a long time.  He got the card and next orbit they turned it over so it showed “Missed 2.”  He was still gone when the big blind would have been his again.  And so the dealer asked another player to take $3 off his stack!  And yes, they put that money in the pot (but still had the regular small and big blinds).  They actually penalized the guy—monetarily that is—for missing his blinds so often.  And indeed, they took the small blind from him next time.  And they did it again for one more orbit until he returned.  It was a whole new definition of “stealing blinds.” 

Of course, that’s the standard in a tournament.  But I’d never seen that in a cash game before.  Has anyone else seen that?  Honestly, as much as I complain about walkers, I’m not all that sure I like it.  But I definitely see the virtues.  The walkers yesterday were mostly non-existent.  Sure, players took a quick bathroom (or, unfortunately, a cigarette) break.  But it was fully 9-handed most of the day.  And I like that very much.  Let me know what you think.

I ended up losing about half my buy-in for the day.  And of course, it was the damn Kings that did the most damage.  When will I learn to just throw them away?

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