Play Along with Rob—What Would You Do in This Spot?

I returned to Player’s Casino (see here) this past weekend for my second session there.  And there was a hand—a situation—that I can’t get out of my mind.  So rather than just present it as a done deal and tell you exactly what happened, I thought I would try something that Lightning did recently.  He posted a hand up to a certain point, then asked for feedback from his readers as to how he should have played it.  After I get some responses, I’ll post what actually happened, along with a description of the rest of my day of poker.

Here’s the setup.  Same game as last time, 2/3 NL.  I bought in for $300.  At one point, fairly early, I was up almost $100, but as things sometimes go in poker, I had dripped back down to even, and then a bit below, and I had about $290-$295 in front of me when this hand happened. 

The three “villains” in my story will be referred to as “Left,” “Right,” and “Lady.”  Left was the guy to my immediate left.  He had me covered by at least $50, maybe a bit more—the biggest stack of the four of us.  He was the only player I had any kind of information on, and it was limited at that.  The most notable thing about him was that he made a few really big preflop raises opening pots, as much as $20-$25.  There was another guy at the table who did the same thing.  They almost never got called when they did this.  One time, after not getting a call, one of them showed pocket Jacks, and another time the other one showed pocket Queens.  I don’t recall which was which.  But aside from that, nothing noteworthy about this guy, he wasn’t particular aggressive after the flop, limped in about average for the table.  I seem to recall one hand where he called on the river and mucked when the other player showed a fairly weak hand, for what that’s worth.

The other two players were both very new to the table, and I really had no read on either one.  Lady was the only female at the table, and in fact she had taken the place of the other guy who liked to open huge that I just mentioned.  She had bought in for $150 or perhaps less, and had maybe $125-$130 when the hand started. Right was to my immediate right. He bought in for $300 and had me covered by just a few bucks at this point.

I was in the small blind with King-7 of clubs.  There were a fair amount of limped pots and this was one of them.  I completed for a dollar and Left, the big blind, checked.  I think 5 or 6 of us saw the flop.

The flop was pretty damn nice.  Ace-5-3, two clubs.  And one of the clubs was the Ace.  So I had the draw to the nut flush.  First to act, I checked.  Note:  I suppose this could discussed as well, whether I should have bet my draw or not, but that’s not really the point of this post.

Left started counting out chips.  I couldn’t recall for sure, later, how much he bet.  I know it was an overbet to the pot.  It might have been $25-$30.  I remembered thinking that, if folded to me, I really wouldn’t be getting the right odds to chase my flush, and so I was starting to wonder if the implied odds would make it worth the call.  Before I decided, Lady went ahead and called, and it folded to Right.

Right tanked, started counting chips, and so I was thinking, well he’s gonna call, so I definitely have the odds to chase. 

But he kept counting those chips.  And when he finished counting, he put out a raise to $116.

Damn.

And so that’s where I want the feedback, right there.

What’s my play?

I could fold.  I’m only in for $3.  No big deal.

But I do have the draw to the nut flush.  And we’re looking at what could become a monster pot.

So call?

Or raise?  With that bet and my stack, would it make sense to raise anything less than all-in?

So shove?

Do you think I have any fold equity?  After all, a raise here is a semi-bluff, I have King-high at the moment.  Does a shove get players to fold?

I want to point out that this was fairly early in the session.  I was on my first buy-in, and I had a second buy-in in my wallet, ready to go.  I was not going to leave if I busted out there.  I was still going to play.  So the situation I described in this post here, where I made a play because I was almost done playing anyway, does not apply.  I’m at least two hours from wanting to leave no matter how the hand plays out.

So, what is the proper play here?  Please let me know your thoughts.  Thanks.

Now, since this is a fairly short post by my standards, and not all of my readers are into poker strategy (honestly, the way I play poker, I’m impressed any of them are), I thought I’d flesh out this post with a few totally gratuitous pictures.  Something for everyone, I hope.

(Follow up: Okay, the wait is over, please see the follow-up post to see what I did and how it played out.  Go here, but you should really read all the comments below first.)

I Come to Bury Caesars, Not to Praise It

No not really.

Well, maybe a little.

One of the things on my agenda for my most recent Vegas visit was to check out the new Caesars Palace poker room.  Caesars actually closed their poker room right before the start of the WSOP, a rather surprising move.  It was a temporary closure.  They were building a new, smaller room, but there was about a month where there was no poker available at Caesars.

Right when the WSOP was getting underway.  At the flagship property of the corporation that owns the World Series of Poker.

I’d bet the farm that this idea was instituted over the loud objections of all the poker execs at Caesars.

The old poker room was big, and hosted a lot of the special series tournaments that Caesars ran regularly—including a series that ran concurrently with the WSOP.  I played in a few events there over the past few years.

But no more.  It seems that the powers that be determined that all that space the poker room was taking up would be better served by expanding the adjoining night club, which is called “Pure.”  I suspected that name was chosen to be ironic.  Just a hunch.

Apparently, the bigwigs at Caesars heard that nightclubs were really good at attracting a young, hip crowd in huge numbers.  I can’t be sure, but I have to assume that they read my Slut Parade post and that’s where they got the idea.  I’m sure their plan is to make Pure bigger and better than MGM’s Hakkasan. Well, better, at least.  When the new and improved Pure reopens, I suppose I will be obligated to check out the resultant Slut Parade it creates and determine whether it is superior to the one over at Hakkasan. Yes, it will be a terrible burden, a horrific chore.  But I know my readers demand that I make that kind of sacrifice.

Meanwhile, all the tournament series events that Caesars used to hold will be taking place at Planet Hollywood from now on.

After a few weeks of having no poker, the new room opened shortly before I arrived back in town, and early in my first week there, I went over to check it out.

The new room is located near the old one, over on the other side of the sports book from where the old one was.  It is much smaller.  About 16 tables.  But it is really, really nice.  Very aesthetically pleasing and spaciously laid out.  It really is a beautiful room.  There’s even a sorta private, separated table, presumably for high stakes games.  I also noticed a little private dining table.

When the room reopened, they announced $2/hour in comps, and a $4 max rake (and a $1 jackpot drop).  The rake is a big deal.  As most of you probably know, a few years ago all CET (Caesars Entertainment) properties (Caesars, Planet Hollywood, Harrahs, Bally’s, etc) went to a five dollar max rake.  Almost all the other rooms in town max out at $4.  So it was a big concession for CET to approve the new room at Caesars offering a $4 max rake.

It’s $1/$3 at Caesars, just as in the past.  After saying hello to a few Caesars folks I know from my work, I was shown to a seat.  This was on a Tuesday evening, and I arrived around the time the 7PM tournament was getting underway.  It appeared fairly busy for that time.  There must have been 4 to 5 1/3 games going.

I liked everything about the poker room but the game itself.  Most of the problems with the game were just happenstance, and not the fault of anything that management had set in place.

Most of the problems, that is.

The first thing I noticed was the infuriating use of the $2 chip.  We’ve gone over this before (see here).  Two dollar chips are a horrible, horrible idea for a 1/2 or a 1/3 game.  Maybe there’s a place for them somewhere (a 8/16 limit game, perhaps?).  But not in a 1/3 NL game.  And  in this case, it was clear that all the dealers were instructed to always use the $2 chips.  They would never ever give you more than one dollar chip in change.  Most of the other times I’ve seen them used, it was hit or miss whether or not you’d get them in change.  Here, it appeared to be a written-in-stone policy that $2 chips were always given in change.  At least the color was significantly different from the $1 chip so there was no confusion.

Another thing I was less than thrilled with was the availability of the button straddle.  Again, this is something I’ve harped on before, no need to repeat (see here).  I will just point out that they have the most offensive version of the button straddle….where the action starts on the small blind, not under-the-gun.  Why they would allow a player to completely change the rules of the game for one hand is beyond me.  You might as well give the button straddle the right to declare, “For this hand, straights beat flushes. And Aces are always low, never high.”

The button was straddled only a couple of times during my play there, but it still offended me.

And then there is the “Third Man Walking” rule.  Is everyone familiar with that rule?  If not, basically it is an attempt to keep the table (relatively) full.  If two players are already away from the table, the third person leaving the table gets a “third man walking” button and if he/she is away long enough to get a missed blind button, their chips will be picked up and a new player will be called from the waiting list to replace them (assuming there’s a list).

I first heard of this rule years ago. I immediately liked it, because I really don’t like short-handed games.  It was especially bad when I was playing 2/4 limit.  The pots are small enough as it is.

But I never really saw it in effect—rooms that had the policy didn’t seem to enforce it.  But after playing this one night at Caesars, I realize what a bad rule it is.

You see, the entire time I was playing at this game, the table was never full.  Not for a hand.  Oh, we indeed had nine players—technically, anyway—at the table.  But never, and I do mean never, all at once.  There was always at least one, and most often two players missing.  And when a player left, it would take some time for a new player to get into the game, so we’d be even shorter.  Then there were times when there was no waitlist so we’d be really short-handed.

With the third-man walking rule in effect, that meant if one of the rest of us were to get up just to make a quick trip to the restroom, we’d risk getting picked up.  And since the table was short handed, even if just played your button and got up to go immediately after, you might not make it back before your big blind.

The problem with the rule is—you’re punishing the wrong person.  The people who should be punished for causing the short-handedness are the people who have been gone a long time, not some poor schlub who’s bladder is about to burst and just needs to make a quick bathroom run.

There were at least three different players at my table who were gone close to an hour each in the time I was there.  Which made it almost impossible for anyone else to leave.  Why should someone be punished for a 5 minute break when people are totally abusing the liberal policy of allowing players to be away from the table for 45 minutes (or more) without penalty?

The third-man walking rule punishes the wrong people.

Anyway, this came into play because honestly, I needed to excuse myself and couldn’t.  And you know, when I’m running bad I sometimes take a bathroom break when I don’t “need” to just to clear my head and maybe cool off.  Couldn’t do it.  Actually, there were times when there was no list, and I suppose I could have left, and hoped a stream of players didn’t show up in the five minutes I was gone.  But honestly, I really don’t like leaving a table short-handed anyway. I take it as a matter of personal pride that I don’t do that.  So I was really upset at the players who abuse the system.  Ultimately, it’s really the fault of poker rooms (all poker rooms, really) for allowing players to be away from the table for so long.  I suppose one day I’ll do a full rant about that.  But the way to remedy the problem is not to institute the Third-man walking rule, that’s for sure.

Anyway, the staff at Caesars was all first rate.  The dealers were all great too.  The only problem with the game—aside from the short-handedness of it—was the fact that I was epically card dead.  I didn’t get a pocket pair or even Ace-King in the two hours or so I played.  No suited connectors, either.  The only positive was that I wasn’t getting playable hands that would cost me a lot of money.

I won only two pots.  I had Ace-Jack offsuit, raised pre, and took the pot with a c-bet.

The other pot I took was one I played badly.  The guy to my right was apparently a regular, a young kid. I knew he was a regular because as soon as he got to the table he called the dealer by name and said, “Hey, remember that girl from Saturday night?”

“What girl?” the dealer asked.

“You know what girl.” 

“The girl in the blue dress?”

“Yeah, the girl in the blue dress. Anyway, she was a swimsuit model.”

“Really?  Her girlfriend was pretty hot too.”

“Yeah.  Anyway, she was so drunk I ended up escorting her to her room.”

“And then what happened?”

“Nothing.  And I haven’t heard from her since, sorry to say.”

Damn, the story was starting to get interesting.  I was hoping it had a happy ending.

But not as much as the kid was, I’ll bet.

Anyway, this kid raised to $12 and I was in the cut-off.  I was so damn card dead and had played so few hands, I decided to call with Ace-7 spades.  Four of us saw the flop, which was Queen-high, one spade.  The kid bet $15, kind of small for the size of the pot.  Honestly, that was about as well as a flop had hit me all night—back-door flush draw and an overcard.  So I decided to call. I also felt he was just c-betting and would likely check the turn.

Just the two of us left and it was another spade.  I was right, the kid checked, as did I.  The river completed my flush.  He checked again, I bet and he mucked. 

That was the end of my run.

Card dead and not wanting to run afoul of the Third Man Walking rule, I got up and cashed out, somehow only down ten bucks.

I like Caesars room itself, very nicely done.  I could do without the $2 chips, the button straddle, and the Third Man Walking rule, tho.

And next time, I’d sure appreciate better cards.

My Best Day of Poker To Date

This is the second part of my recap of my big tournament score.  It takes up right where part 1 left off, which you can find here.

At the start of level 8(100/600/1200), I was up to $47k.   Then came an interesting hand.  I limped in with pocket 6’s.  The lady on my immediate left, a regular I’ve played with a million times, shoved for about $9-$10k.  A guy called.  Another guy shoved for a lot more.  Probably around $25-$30 K.  I folded.  So did the guy who called the first shove.  The lady had Ace-King, the bigger stack had pocket 7’s.  The flop was K-6-5.  Yikes.  The Kings held up.  My set of 6’s would have been worth a huge pot.  But get this, the other guy, who called the first all-in but not the second, had pocket 5’s.  So it would have been set over set if we’d all stayed in.

Late in that level, I raised with pocket 9’s and didn’t get a call.

Started level 9 (200/800/1600) wit $44K, about an “M” of 10.  In late position, it folded to me with 8-9 clubs.  I bet $5k.  A woman (big blind) called.  The flop was K-Q-x, two clubs.  She led out with a $6K bet and I called.  A third club hit the turn.  She checked, I shoved, she tanked and folded. 

At level 10 (300/1000/2000), with about $53K, I got the dreaded pocket Kings.  It was raised to $4500 in front of me.  I three-bet to $15K and no one called.  The very next hand I had pocket 10’s and raised to $6K—no one called.

Level 11 (300/1200/2400), $60k.  I got pocket 10’s again, made a big raise, didn’t get a caller.  In the small blind, it folded to me and I limped in with 5-4 suited.  The big blind just checked.  The flop was Ace-5-4.  I checked, hoping for a check-raise, but he checked behind me.  I bet $3k on the turn, and he called.  I bet $6k on the river and he folded.

Level 12 (300/1500/3000), $70K.  Raised with Q-10 in late position, first in the pot, no callers. 

Start of level 13 (400/2000/4000), I had $67k—an “M” of around 7.  So I was getting pretty desperate. 

And then came the hand that made my tournament.  It occured soon after I stole the blinds with King-Jack offsuit.  Now having around $71K, I was in the big blind with 7-5 offsuit.  It folded to the big blind, who limped in.  The small blind just completed.  I got to see the flop for free.  Pretty unusual for this stage of a tournament.

The flop was 8-7-3.  Everyone checked.  The turn was a 5, giving me two pair but also making a straight very possible.  There were also two clubs on the board.  The lady in the small blind led out with a big bet, around $18-$20K.  Her stack was just a little bit less than mine.  Even though I knew my 2 pair wasn’t necessarily the best hand there, I went ahead and shoved.  I couldn’t imagine waiting for a better shot to pick up chips.  The button took forever to decide. He had me covered by quite a bit, so he wasn’t going to risk his tournament life by losing to me.  But he’d lose more than half his chips.

Finally he called and the lady snapped shoved for less than my bet.  She showed King-6 of clubs.  She had both the open-ended straight draw and the second nut flush draw. 

The button had 4-6 for a made straight!  What took him so long to call?  Huh?  I guess he was worried about someone having “big lick” (6-9) for a bigger straight.

It didn’t look good for me.  I was sitting right next to the dealer and softly said, “I just need a 5 or a 7.”  Now that never works right?  Except this time, it did.  Out came a beautiful 7.  Beautiful?  It was freakin’ gorgeous!

That was some nice triple up.

I started level 14 (500/3000/6000) with $225k.  No longer in shove-or-fold mode.  We were down to 19 players.  Eleven would be paid.  Top prize was $3,160.  Second place was $1,860.  Third was around $1.300.  The min cash was $230.

Then I went back to being totally card dead.  I didn’t really play a hand for awhile, I couldn’t  I didn’t even have the ability to raise with mediocre hands, it was always raised in front of me unless I had absolute crap.  Then too, as we were getting close to the money, I did start playing nitty tight.  It was going on 7-8 hours of play, and at that point, having something to show for it looks better and better.

So at level 16 (1500/5000/10000) I was down to $174K.  First in, I just shoved with pocket 9’s.  No callers.  Next hand, I raised to $30K with Ace-10 off, no callers.  Meanwhile, other players were busting out.  I got moved to balance tables and was suddenly playing with a bunch of players who were all new to me.  And we were down to 12 players.  Eleven got paid (There were over 100 players, not sure the exact count, but enough for the prize pool to be over the $10K guarantee).  We went hand-for-hand. So now is the point in this post where you either need to remember my story of the Bubble Bitch, or you can reread it here.  Because that will explain why the bubble wasn’t played and how the bubble lady reacted to that.

With Queen-10 of diamonds, first in, I raised to $35,000.  Only the lady who was not yet, but was soon to become, the Bubble Bitch, called.  On a 9-6-6 board (no diamonds), she led out with a big bet.  Since I had bupkis, it was an easy fold.

And soon thereafter she gave all her chips to the new chip leader, put us all in the money, and made the least gracious exit from a tournament that I can recall, as noted in that prior post.  Worst case scenario, I was going home with $230.

When the bubble broke, I probably was in the bottom third of the stacks, but not the short-stack.  But I just wasn’t getting a lot of cards to play, or any situations that I could exploit.

Meanwhile, the chip-leader, the guy who busted the bubble, was getting a lot attention and comments.  Part of it was due to the scene the bubble had made losing to him.  Part of it was do to this kid being so young.  He really didn’t look even 21.  He was wearing a wrist-band to prove it so he wouldn’t keep getting carded.  He was from England.  He was in Vegas to celebrate his 21^st birthday.  In fact, he turned 21 after he arrived in Vegas a few days before .  Of course, in England you can not only play poker online easily, but you can also play in casinos at 18.  So he was a skilled player, despite his youth.  Let’s call him “Leeds.”

As I indicated, we couldn’t stop talking about the lady who busted. We kept going back to it.  And remember, the TD wouldn’t tell us who it was who had refused to pay the bubble.  She had accused Leeds of being that guy, something of course he refused to cop to. And then when Leeds was telling us that he was playing poker in England at 18, and online, one of the other players said, “So, do they not pay the bubble in England.”  Everyone, including Leeds, just cracked up.

Someone asked Leeds if he usually plays more against humans or computers.  He pointed out that when he plays on the computer, there’s always humans that are actually playing.

Level 17 (2000/6000/12000), I had $116K.  That was because of the blinds, antes and the money I lost raising to $35k pre and folding to the Bubble Bitch.    But I had a big score when I took out two short stacks with Ace-King.  I don’t recall who shoved first, but three of us were all in and I had the biggest stack, so I couldn’t get knocked out.  I was facing pocket Queens and pocket 9’s.  Two awesome Kings hit the flop.  Nothing else hit that mattered. 

That gave me $215K at the start of level 18 (2000/8000/16000).  Alas, my notes here don’t quite make sense.  They say I was down to $93k when this hand happened and I don’t have any notes on losing any big hands.  I know we were down to about 6-7 players at this point, but assuming I never played a hand, I’d be losing $38K per orbit.  It would take me over 3 orbits to lose all that without playing a hand.  I have to assume I lost some chips in a hand along the way that I didn’t write down.  Probably too busy talking to Mickey.

Anyway, a guy raised to $55K and I shoved with Ace-Jack.  It was $93K more for him to call and he tanked.  Finally, he called and tabled Ace-7.  The flop was Jack high, all hearts.  We both had a single heart, but I had the Ace.  It didn’t come into play and my Jack held up.  Later that level I shoved with Ace-9, first in, and didn’t get a call.

I just wrote a few more hands without a lot of detail.  By now we were down to 5 or 4 of us. I was never the smallest stack at the table but I was never more than one or two away from the smallest stack.  I shoved with 10/9, no caller.

I don’t have a lot of experience at the very end of the tournament, when there’s just 3,4,5 players left and you’re almost always a blind.  I tried to stay aggressive and shove/bet with almost anything that wasn’t pure crap.  I think we all did.  Leeds, the big stack, had taken a few hits and although he never lost his place as the leader, had a much smaller lead against us than he had a few levels earlier. I was on his left. This might have been when we were down to the final four.  Leeds, Liz, another guy and me.  I have to say that the nice thing was that everyone at the final table was incredibly friendly and very chatty.  We were having a great time and would always congratulate whoever took down a pot, even if it was only a bet that claimed the blinds and antes.  Liz was an especially charming, delightful woman.  And a good player.  She was on my immediately left and when given the opportunity, I shoved in the small blind against her time and time again.  I wasn’t going crazy there tho.  I always had hands that were semi-decent for the situation.  A few times I did indeed give her a walk and made a big deal out of letting her know I was doing that so she didn’t get the idea I was gonna shove every single time against her.

With just the four of us, it folded to Leeds who completed from the small blind and I just checked my King-9.  The flop was King-2-2.  He bet out and I shoved.  He folded.

I was the short stack when we had gotten down to four.  Until this next hand. Again, it folded to Leeds in the small blind.  This time, his stack diminished a bit, he shoved in front of me.  I snap-called with Ace-King. He had Ace-3, and missed the board.  That was a nice double up and a big loss for him.  I was now in third place in chips, and not all that behind Liz.

I don’t remember who the new short stack busted out to, but it wasn’t me.  But by the time it happened, my steals from the small blind had been successful enough to put me about even with Liz, or so I thought.  And that’s when Liz said, “You know, ordinarily I would talk about making a deal, but I don’t think he’d want to with his stack.”  She meant Leeds.

But Leeds said no, he’d be willing to talk numbers.  For one thing, it was after 1AM (we’d started at 2PM—11 hours of poker!).  For another thing, his big lead over everyone had diminished.  He had us both covered, but he didn’t have the two of us combined covered.  Either one of us could double up against him and cripple him.  And if either one of us had knocked the other out, we’d have been the chip leader.

I was guaranteed at least $1,300 or so and that sounded pretty good to me.  I was tired and also hungry.  All I’d eaten since around Noon was a couple of hot dogs I’d shoved down during the break.  I knew I was close to making a mistake due to hunger and/or fatigue.  We may have all felt that way.  Even Leeds, who was just barely 21 years old. 

We discussed a number of scenarios. I suggested a chip-chop (which I now had experience with from this tournament here)  and we had the TD come over and run some numbers, after we counted our stacks.  I don’t remember the numbers, but Leeds was well in the lead and Liz and I were very close, but I was a little surprised that I actually had a very small amount of chips more than Liz.

The chip-chop numbers were such that Liz and I would both get over $1,800 ($1,870 for me).  I think Leeds take was something $2,400.  Leeds asked for a little more. But it was very little more.  When we factored in his little bit more, I was still getting $1855 or so and Liz a little less.  I said that I’d be happy splitting second place with Liz evenly since we were so close, and we all agreed and shook hands and celebrated.  My final number $1,847, definitely the most I’d have won in a poker tournament, by far.  Also the most I’d ever won in any poker session.

We all got paid, and the TD at Binion’s who has seen me many, many times was curious about the blog, which he had heard Mickey go on and on about.  I gave him a card and also told him what his colleague knew, that I also work for AVP and Ante Up.  He said he used to be a regular reader of the AVP forums but stopped reading because of all the negativity surrounding a certain blogger who used to blog at that site.  I told him all that is gone and he should give it another try.  I also warned him that he’d recognize some of his Binion’s colleagues in my blog posts if he checked it out—albeit with phony names.  He said he was sure he’d be able to figure them out based on their behavior.  I laughed and said, “Yes that…and perhaps some physical descriptions.”

I also gave my card to Liz.  She was such a nice lady and I hope she’s checked out the blog and hasn’t been too shocked by it.  I did promise her I would eventually be posting about this tournament.  And now, finally, I have.  

It was after 1:30AM when I finally left Binion’s and headed back to my room.  Exhausted, happy, and with a nicely stuffed wallet.

Was This an Online Hand in Live Poker?

I’ve been thinking more and more about online poker lately.  I haven’t played much in quite awhile.  In fact, you can find a couple of posts about my most recent online adventures here and here.  But now that online poker is fully sanctioned in both Nevada and New Jersey, maybe it’s time to give it another try.

One site that is sanctioned in New Jersey that I find intriguing is 888Poker.  I note that PokerAtlas (who I work for, of course) is offering a sign up bonus for them.

I know I started blogging after the heyday of online poker, but many of the bloggers I link to were or are very much into online poker.   Lightning used to play a lot of online poker, and Little Acorn, located in Scotland, still does.

Back in the day, I was mostly using online poker as a learning tool.  First I had to learn poker etiquette, and then I learned strategy (I’m still working on that one!).  I never got to the point of multi-tabling.  At the time I was playing, I never considered it. It was all I could do to keep track of one table.  But I stopped playing online before I became comfortable.

Perhaps if I was still playing regularly I’d be multi-tabling six or eight tables by now?  I definitely want to give that a try if I get back to it.  I know online plays wilder, more aggressive, and has a lot more action than live poker.  So perhaps the EV you lose by having to concentrate on so many tables is offset by the plus EV from all that wild play?  All you have to do is play just a bit sane and you’ll do alright, no?

I know when I played before I never played NL cash games (except maybe for penny stakes).  I learned limit hold’em from online.  So playing it again, playing a cash game for my normal live poker stakes, would be different for me. 

I’m sure the online game is a little different (or a lot different) than I remember it.  Poker live, or online, always seems to be evolving.

You know, just maybe the reason I saw the hand I’m about to describe (from live poker) was because the players involved were both online players?  I can’t say for sure, but I know at least one of them was European.  The other guy was an older gentleman who you’d have expected to be more of a nit.  Not at all the case.

I had just arrived at the table at BSC and was just settling in.  The Euro was in middle position, and after a limper or two, he made it $35!  Wow, I thought, is that the standard raise at this table?  The pot was $7 until then.  It folded to the older guy who called.  Ok, I wanted to see this.

I folded my garbage hand and it was just the two of them to see the flop.  The flop was King-King-10.  There was a bet from the Euro, a call from the other guy.  I think they both checked a blank turn.  Another 10 on the river, the Euro checked, the other guy bet and the Euro reluctantly called.  I don’t remember the bet sizes after the flop but they were reasonable for the size of the pot.  I do know that no flush was possible.

The older gentleman showed King-Jack offsuit.  Huh?  You call a preflop raise for $35 with that hand?  Seriously?

I guess he knew there was gonna be two Kings on the flop.

The other guy showed his hand even though he didn’t have to.  He had Ace-Queen offsuit.  So he did flop a gutshot, then missed.  I understand the c-bet on the flop, but I sure don’t understand his call on the river.  I guess he thought his Ace might be good.  Damn, I made a call like that recently myself (see here).   

I don’t get it.  But perhaps if I started playing online, I’d see that more often?

The Card Protector

I hadn’t returned to play at the Wynn since the story I told here of a rather disastrous session.  I knew that eventually I had to return to try again.  It took me awhile, but in August I finally spent another evening in the Wynn poker room.
 

I was playing at kind of a wild table and I could have made some money if only I could have gotten some cards.  If only.

There were a number of loose aggros and one absolute maniac.  The maniac was sitting in seat 9 and had every possible electronic device at his disposal.  In addition to his celphone, he had an Ipod and an Ipad.  He actually had the Ipad propped up in front of him, right on the poker table.  I was surprised they allowed that.  I was also surprised he wasn’t warned about holding up the game.  He was so into his Ipad, he frequently didn’t act immediately when it was his turn, because his head was buried in the Ipad and he wasn’t paying attention to the game.  When finally nudged by the dealer that it was his turn to act, he’d usually look around for a few seconds and then raise.

There were a couple of other pretty aggressive players, and most of these aggros had big stacks.  Because of the action at the table, I loosened my calling standards and played some hands I don’t normally play, hoping to get paid off if I hit something even mediocre.  But I had trouble hitting anything at all.  And it would have been difficult to bluff or steal because all these maniacs would call with anything—bottom pair, Ace high, Jack-high.

There was one player at the table who was a bit of a distraction for me.  No, it wasn’t a well-endowed woman in a low-cut dress dammit.  It was a guy who looked incredibly familiar.  My first thought was that it was just some guy I’d played poker with before, That happens all the time.  Even when I go into a room I’ve hardly every played, I usually spot someone I’ve played with before.  But the more I thought about it, the more I thought I knew this guy from something other than poker.

It was driving me crazy.  As the evening wore on, the more I became convinced it was not from poker that I knew this guy.  I started thinking that I had seen this guy on television.  So I started thinking that I didn’t know him at all, he just looked like someone famous. Some actor, some television personality, some minor personality.  Fortunately I came to that realization before I embarrassed myself by asking him where I knew him from.

It was only the next morning, waking up, that it dawned on me.  The guy had a very strong resemblance to former Clinton political advisor Paul Begala.  Yeah, that was it.  Phew.  I could stop thinking about it, finally.  Recall that last year I played poker with someone who looked like Newt Gingrich (see here). So at least my poker opponents were now officially bi-partisan.

Anyway, I was steadily losing chips when I found myself looking at Ace-5 of diamonds on the button.  It limped to me and I was relieved that I could see a flop with a pretty weak hand without having to call a raise.  The flop was great, an Ace and two diamonds.  It checked to me and I bet $10.  The only player who called was one of the tightest players at the table.  The turn card completed my flush, and I bet $20, and he called.  The river was a blank and when it was checked to me, I didn't expect to get a call there.  But I dutifully put out $50 and was surprised when he called.  He mucked without showing when he saw I had the nuts.

Then there was hand that I played badly and cost me some chips.  I had Ace-Queen off in early position.  There had been a button straddle (and you all remember how much I love the button straddle, see here) and the guy who was straddling usually raised when he did that.  So, I just limped in.  The button didn’t raise and I saw the flop for cheap. It came all spades, and all kind of bunched together, making a straight or even a straight flush possible.  I had the Queen of spades and a red Ace.  Paul Begala bet out $20 and I called.  You can’t just assume he has the Ace of spades there, right?  A fourth spade hit the turn, and this time he checked.

I figured he didn’t like the spade and so I bet $35.  He called.  A 9 of clubs on the river made a straight very, very likely.  This time Paul Begala bet out again, $75.  Did I still like my flush (which was only the third-nuts)?  Not really.  I thought about it.  I wondered if he had the straight there and if so, would he bet it?  I foolishly decided to call.  In my defense, I was probably distracted by trying to figure out where I knew this guy from.  Of course he had the Ace of spades.  Bad play on my part, to be sure.

By the way, Begala wasn’t really one of the aggros at the table, but he did do this one thing—whenever he raised preflop, he bet really big.  It was usually $20-$30 when he raised preflop, even if he was first in.  That’s a pretty big preflop raise in a 1/3 game.

My stack dwindled down to less than $100 (from $300).  As it was getting late, I decided not to add more chips and just play with what I had in front of me.  I hoped to get a top pair or overpair hand that I could play aggressively with a short stack.  So in early position I found pocket Jacks.  I had too much to shove with (a bit under $100) so I raised to $15.  The guy on my left—a reasonable player—called.  It folded to the maniac in seat 9—the Ipad guy.  He made it $35 and it folded back to me.  This was what I was looking for.  He could be doing that with a lot of hands, most of which I was ahead.  So I shoved.  The reasonable guy folded and of course the maniac called.

We didn’t show and the board was kind of scary.  Ace, a pair of 9’s, even a possible straight.  But when I showed my Jacks and I asked, “You have an Ace?” he just said “no” and mucked.  He said “no” as if it was a ridiculous question.  Like, “Do you really think I’d call your shove with that good of a hand?” I have no idea what he had but I was glad to take his chips.

There was one incident at the game I want to mention.  One of the aggros had a huge stack of chips, easily over $1000, all in red.  Some of the players, in addition to having $100 bills, had black chips, which of course, are worth $100.  I had noticed this aggro with the huge stack had what I first took to be a small stack of $100 chips (say 4 or 5).  Upon closer inspection, I noticed it wasn’t chips at all, it was either a lighter or a tin of mints like the one I used to use as my card protector.

I think I first mentioned the card protector I use to use back in this post here.  It was a blue tin and on one or two occasions when I used it, a player would express concern that it looked too much like chips to be used.  This really only happened at the Aria tournament and it did kind look like the blue tournament chips they use there.  I don’t think anyone would have confused it with any room’s real chips.  I've since replaced that card protector with an AVP card protector, which is actually too big (in diameter) to be confused with a chip.

Anyway, I had quickly figured out that the guy’s black “chips” were not chips at all.  But I will say, that the Wynn’s regular chips always seemed to me to look more like tournament chips and less like “real” chips than any other casino I’ve ever played in.  Anyone else ever notice that?  Well, apparently I wasn’t the only one who initially thought the small black “stack” was chips.  When a new player came to the game, he asked if the guy had a stack of black chips to go along with his stacks and stacks of red.  The guy picked up the “stack” and held it out in front of him and said it was indeed a lighter.  He rolled it around in front of him and even flicked it once.

The new player demanded that the lighter be removed from the table.  He said it was confusing, and he said that if some guy with a big stack went all in against him, he’d be liable for the $400 that represents. The player with the lighter said no, he liked the lighter and that it was his good luck charm.  The new player asked the dealer to tell him to remove the lighter, but the dealer looked it over and said it was fine.

Now a bunch of other players started complaining and insisting that the lighter be taken off the table.  Note, these other players had been playing with the guy all night and hadn’t said a word up until now. The dealer called the floor over.  The floor looked it over for a bit and said it was fine.  But the new player insisted on going to a higher authority.  He asked for someone by name—presumably the shift manager.  I guess this guy was a regular.  So a second guy in a suit came over and made the exact same ruling.  The lighter was fine.  He did ask the guy to put it in front of his other chips and not on top of them.

The players pissed and moan for some time after that.  One of them even pointed out my AVP card protector and noted the contrast. “Now, no one would confuse that with a real chip.”

Sadly, the JJ hand was the last even remotely playable hand of the night.  I was getting tired and so I left, down around $100 and change.  Still not wynning at the Wynn but it was improvement over my last session there.

I Did Have Ace-Queen, Dammit!

The Sunday before Halloween was my first real poker session of my most recent Vegas trip.  I played about 8 hours, with about ½ hour off for dinner.

I was warmly greeted by many of my MGM buddies who obviously had missed me.  It had actually been over a month since I was there.

Abe was one of those who came over to say hi.  He had a few nice stories for me.  As I mentioned in the post here, they started having a football promo in the room Sundays and Monday nights.  In addition, they have a “Progressive Power Hour” promo, where every hour there’s a specific high hand you have to get in order to win a progressive jackpot.  That promo had started near the end of my previous trip, and there were some hands that had never been hit, meaning the jackpots for 6-7 and 8-9 hours were over $2,000 by the time I returned.  So, if you caught quad 6’s or a 6-high straight flush between 6 & 7 (am or pm, actually) or quad 8’s or an 8-high straight flush between 8 & 9, you’d get a nice reward.

Now when the football promo started, Abe laughed at the idea of every getting picked.  He said he simply doesn’t win those things.  Ever. And though I had hit the football promo once on my last session in town the previous trip, Abe, good to his word, had come up empty last I had heard. 

But he told me that he actually won it twice on the same night on a previous Sunday.  One prize was $100 (the minimum) but he actually managed to select the one $500 prize (the maximum) the other time.  Furthermore, that particular nite he had a winning poker session (even not counting the promo winnings), which was unusual because he has told me repeatedly that he never wins on Sundays.

Finally he told me on that particular night, he came thisclose to winning the 8-9 promo hour jackpot.  He said he had the draw to the 8-high straight flush. A one-outer, of course.  He actually did get the 8 for his straight—but it was the wrong 8, so he won the pot but missed out on the promo money.

But then he said that the dealer of that hand was Michelle, and I got a real kick out of that.  Of course, Michelle is the dealer who “never pushes me a pot,” who I win with so rarely that I keep a mental count of all the pots she owes me (see here, for example).  Abe of course knows exactly who the “Michelle” on my blog is, but he didn’t use her real name when he told the story.  No, he actually called her “Michelle.”

Heh heh. It’s sort of like the phrase, “the dreaded pocket Kings.”  I feel I should get a royalty whenever someone refers to one of my blog characters by their blog name.

And of course he was pointing out it was Michelle because he knows she’s my jinx dealer.  I don’t think she’s Abe’s jinx dealer.  I believe that would be Mike.  I run hot and cold with Mike, depending on whether or not he cracks my Kings (see here).  But Abe never seems to win with him.  It’s kind of funny, if you play in a room a lot, it seems there’s always one or two dealers who you always seem to lose with, and another one or two who seem to be your own personal “lucky” dealer.

They have one more promo I’ll mention.  It’s a cash giveaway thing, where, for the month of October, they were holding drawings every three hours to give away a total of $100K for the month.  To qualify for the drawing, you needed a flush or better to get a drawing ticket.  The prizes were between $100 and $5,000.  This promo started just after I left town last time, and by some fluke, almost all of the big prizes were picked early.  By the time I got back there were only smaller prizes ($300 and under, I believe) available. 

These promos will figure into many of the blog posts about this trip I’ll be doing about this trip.  And I have to say—and this is kind of bad to admit—I think the thought of catching some of these promos affected my play a bit.  I know I played more suited cards than normal just trying to get a ticket for the cash drawing.  And I played anything that could conceivable get me an 8 or 6 hi straight flush at the appropriate hours.  One time I had pocket 8’s when quad 8’s was the high hand, and after I blanked on the flop, I thought I would probably call a flop bet just in case I could hit runner runner quads.  I lucked out, no one bet the flop.  I folded on a blank turn.

At the table early in my session was Warren, who I wrote about in this post here.  He’s the guy who shocked me by calling me “Rob” even though we’d never exchanged names.  He had recognized me from my pic in Ante Up.  I suspected in that post that he was a blog reader but I found out this trip he had never read it.  It’s ok, I’m sure he’ll be reading this post!

Early in the session I had Ace-Queen of spades, raised to $10 and had two or three callers, including Warren.  The flop was Ace-10-8 and Warren, who was the big blind, bet $16.  It folded to me.  I immediately flashed back to the last hand I had played against him, which, conveniently, I had blogged about in that post I just linked to, so it was fresh in my mind.

Just as in that previous hand, I had raised, and Warren, first to act on the flop, had led out on an Ace high flop.  It was déjà-vu all over again.  Except that that time, I had pocket Jacks, and the Ace was bad card.  This time, I had top pair, second best kicker. 

And I recalled his comment at the time, that he figured I didn’t like the Ace.  And of course, I did have some doubt that he had Ace back in that earlier hand.  Now, he had seen that leading out against me (when I was the preflop raiser) had worked before.  So I wondered if he was just trying the same move again.  Did he put me on a big pair and feel I would fold to his bet with the Ace showing?

You see, I might otherwise have only called there, not wanting to bloat the pot too much with just a top pair hand.  But thinking about the previous hand, I couldn’t help thinking he was testing me.  He might not have an Ace, or if he did, it was likely weaker than mine.  So I decided to test him back.

Instead of calling, I raised to $40.  I really thought that would change his mind that I didn’t like the Ace, and he would likely fold.  But no, he smooth called.

The turn was a blank.  He checked and I decided to check behind him for pot control.  It was a pretty dry board.  But I knew that by checking, he was probably going to bet the river and I’d probably have a tough decision to make.

Except that the river was a Queen.  A very nice looking card, if you ask me.  Warren checked again and I put out a bet of $55.  He tanked for a bit and then started talking about not liking the Queen.  He didn’t like it a lot.  “I didn’t want that Queen to come……I put you on Ace-Queen…..so I fold.”  He meant to fold face up, but only card was exposed, a King.

He said he meant to show both cards and that he had Ace-King.

Shit.  It always bugs me when someone guesses what I had and they’re right.  Of course, I’m putting people on hands all the time, but I never verbalize it (except as a joke).  But when people do that to me, I wonder if I’m too predictable.  Did you know I was going to write that?

Another player made a comment, expressing surprise that he folded top pair/top kicker.  And Warren said, “It’s not like I haven’t played with him before.”

Then he mentioned something about my checking the turn making him think his Ace was likely better than mine.

Humph.  I of course would neither confirm nor deny his guess.  Instead I said, “Ace-King, huh?  You don’t three-bet with Ace-King?”

He said, “No, not usually.”  To which I replied, “Good to know.”

He said, “I said usually.”  And I said, “I know, I know…..I don’t usually three-bet with 7-deuce, but sometimes I do.” 

Who says I can’t bluff?

Anyway, he laughed at that, but he was clearly bothered by the hand.  If I hadn’t been way across the table from him, I would have whispered to him, “Hey, eventually, you’ll be able to find out what I had by reading my blog.”  But this hand made me think that, although he knew I blogged, he hadn’t read the blog, because if he had, he likely would have said something like, “I guess I’ll find out what you had when I read about on your blog.”  But he didn’t mention the blog.

I’ll flash forward a couple of nights.  I was once again playing at the same table with Warren.  At one point, out of the clear blue, he said to me, “I was thinking about that hand last night.  I still think you had Ace-Queen.  I still think it was a good fold.  But…I can’t get it out of my mind.”

I just laughed.  As a poker player, I know it’s the hands you lay down—when you don’t know whether it was a good lay down or not—that haunt you the most.

Warren is a good guy.  Very likeable.  So when I left for the night, as I walked away from the table, I went over to him and whispered something like, “It’s not there yet, but if you read my blog, I’ll eventually talk about that hand you laid down.”

Yeah, I could have just said to him, “Yes, I had Ace-Queen, you bastard,” but hey, I could always use another blog reader.

A couple of days after that, while I was playing at a table where Mike was dealing, Warren came over to me and said, “I read your blog.  Very entertaining.  I have a lot of the same thoughts as you do while playing.”

As I was thanking him for the compliment, Mike—who loves to rib me about my blog posts being too long—said, “How many naps did you have to take to get through it?”

My usual self-restraint was missing in action.  Without any hesitation whatsoever, I blurted out to Mike, “F*** you!”  I think I said it loud enough to possibly have gotten myself in trouble—but I didn’t.

Mike cracked up, but it was mostly because he was so damn proud of his own joke.  After Warren left, he even said to me, “That was really funny, what I said.”

I said yes, it would definitely make it into the blog.

Before that though, I told Warren that he had been mentioned here already.  He hadn’t read that far back, so I gave him the name of the blog entry where I introduced him (already linked to, above).  I haven’t seen him since, so I don’t yet know his reaction to being immortalized here with a phony name.

There’s a lot more from that night to talk about—I played for 8 hours, after all (plus it was the Sunday before Halloween)—but I figure if I stop here, maybe this post will be short enough for Mike to get through without having to take a nap.

More to come......