Crazy Hot Poker Session

Spent most of last week in Toronto and Buffalo -- more on that later -- but wanted to share about a wild thing that happened to me playing poker.  Meier and I were at Seneca Niagra Casino, on the US side of the Falls, playing 1-2 NL.  After being down quickly, then building back my stack to be ahead, I'd been whittled down to about $65.  Meier and I had already decided this was going to be our last orbit and we'd pick up and check out the other casinos.  Warning: lots of poker content follows.

I'm under the gun (first after the blinds), so this is my "last" hand.  I raise to $10 with TT and get three callers.  The flop is 5-4-2 (or similar), I bet $30 and get one caller who we'll call Loose Gambler (LG) because he's a gambler as we'll see.  The turn is a jack and I push my last $25 in and LG folds.  I'm up to $125 now and it's time to go.  However Meier suggests we play one more orbit and I say OK.

BB: UTG+1 raises to 5, not a play I'd seen him make before, and a strange range because anyone who would call 2 will call 5.  Action comes to be and I re-raise to 20 with JJ.  Honestly I had checked out and hadn't realized that three people had called and thus my raise was too small.  Three people called the $20 making an $80 pot.  Flop 9-9-7, I bet $45, LG shoves for $25 more.  I think a bit and call and he shows K7 for a worse too pair and says "I hoped I could push you off AK".  My jacks hold and in two hands, I'm up to $255.  LG rebuys for $60.

SB: Meier raises to $8 UTG+1, there's a re-raise all-in for $20, I fold T8o, Meier calls.  Flop J-7-x, turn 9.  river blank and Meier shows T8s to snap QQ. (I think this was my SB hand.)

Button: I limp KJo behind several limpers. Flop K-J-T. SB leads for $6, three callers, I elect to just call; I'm probably best but it's possible there's a straight out there.  I'll see the turn and re-evaluate.  Turn K.  SB says "I don't like the king" and checks.  Everyone checks to me and I check, hoping to peal off an A or Q and have a straight pay me off.  River 4.  LG bets $10, I raise to $30, LG folds J4 face up.  I show a jack.  ($300)

CO: With about four limpers, I raise to $15 with KQ, LG re-raises blind to $36. Loose donkey in EP calls the $36.  I re-raise to $100 to isolate.  EP thinks for a while and calls his last $64 (Oops).  Board runs out Q-4-x-J-x and EP shows K4s (yes, really he put his whole stack in with that).  Blind LG flipped over his cards and had paired the board too.  MHIG. Meier criticized my play but I didn't think the limp $2, call $36 was a trap with AA/KK from this guy and wanted to get my money in good.  ($440)

HJ: With a few limpers, I limp TT (I know a raise will get called 4 ways).  Meier raises to $12 and given his style his range is wide, he gets 4 callers and I bump it to $90.  If he has AA-QQ, so be it.  He folds and everyone folds being him.  I show TT. ($490)

MP: I open raise to $12 with KQ, Meier calls on the button and we're heads up.  Flop A-Q-Q.  I figure Meier will bet the ace whether he has it or not, so I check but he checks behind.  Turn is a blank.  I bet $15, he calls.  River K, I bet $25, he thinks for a long time and calls with an ace.  ($540)

I may have the previous two hands reversed.  Or it's possible I folded from HJ and these are both MP hands.

MP: I limp 77 after several limpers. Flop Jd-7c-4d; bingo, I hit my set.  It checks to me and I check. The player to my left bets $6, a few people call, and I call planning to make a move on the turn. Turn is a diamond, everyone checks to me, I check, the flop bettor checks.  River is a 4th diamond everyone checks.  I turn over my hand, declare a set of 7s then realize I have 7d for a diamond flush; either is good.  I played this hand terribly but still won $40.  ($580)

UTG+1: I fold

UTG: I limp 5s4s.  Several limpers behind me.Flop 4-4-3. Blinds check, and I bet $8.  Slow playing is just a bad idea plus there are draws on the board. UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 thinks a long time and folds (77), BB calls.  Turn 5, BB checks, I bet $20, UTG+1 calls, BB shoves for $15 more and we both call.  As the river is coming out, UTG+1 says "who gets to check first?".  River is a blank (high card I think).  I bet $65 and UTG+1 folds.  BB shows 43 for the flopped boat. Wow, not only did I flop trips but then I hit the three-outer I needed to win the hand.  ($675)

Overall in one orbit plus a hand I won 8 of 10 or 11 hands, folded the others pre-flop and went from $65 to $675.  I'll probably never have a run like that again.

Tulalip tournament

Finally played poker for the first time in a couple of weeks.  A friend wanted to play the Tulalip evening tournament, so we met in Northgate and carpooled up.  The tournament has 30-minute levels which is much better than the 15-20 minute levels you see in most places.  The structure allows for play, though there's a huge jump after the first break when blinds go from 100-200 (300 an orbit) to 200-400 with a 25 ante (850 an orbit).  To be frank, this is a flaw in what's otherwise a good tournament.

Given that you go from good stack to short stack after the break, I took some chances in the third and fourth levels and wound up busting out early.  While busting out early seems like a bad thing, it's actually better to take chances and bust out early than nurse a tiny stack a long time and still miss the money.  11th and 120th place pay the same -- nothing.  Of course if you get to 11th or 12th, you had a chance to cash, but truly these no difference between 30th and 90th except you waste a couple more hours.  A had a couple of hands where I made a steal raise, bet the flop and got check-raised all-in.  Not having much of a hand, I could fold but that cost be a lot of chips.  Went out when I made a small raise with KK looking for action, shoved on an A-A-9 flop (pretty good) and was called by 99.

The cash game was good, though I hate the 1-3 blinds and $200 max structure.  I guess it's the same as 2-5, $300 max but both feel very, very small.  On an aside, that's one of the pluses of playing in Vegas -- they have larger max buy-ins which allows you to win more money and play more hands.  Imagine choosing between two stocks that are similar companies each selling for $10/share (yes the price is silly but bear with me).  If you were told one stock could never go above $20 while the other could go into the $50s, the latter is the better choice all other things being equal.

I turned a small profit in the cash game and was close to even for the night.  I think I made one bad fold, but since I folded I'll never know. I'd go back sometime, but it's still quite a trip.  With a couple stops at the park and ride and dropping off Meier and home, it took me well over an hour to get home.

Wild poker action last weekend

I played at Snoqualmie last Saturday night.  Weekends are usually good games because everyone is out having fun and thus the play is more relaxed.  You don't often get "drunk tourist" locally like to do in Las Vegas, but on Saturday night there's a lot more drinking.

It was one of the wildest sessions I've had in a while -- up a bit, down a lot, back to ahead, and finally down a bit.  In a short four hours I had a ton of hands.  AA, KK, QQ, JJ twice, AK at least three times, KQ, AJ, 88, probably some others I forget.

That said, a lot of medium pots but no huge pots.  I don't think I saw the turn with any of the big hands.

I'll never understand why people enjoy getting plastered while playing poker.  A social drink sure, but what's the fun in paying $30/drink because you're so out of it you're giving away your money.  That said, I'm happy to relieve stupid people of their cash; that's much of why I play poker.

Vegas poker trip

Went to Vegas for a few days right before New Year's.  It's a great place to play because there are more good poker rooms in a two mile stretch than there are in all of Washington and Oregon combined.  Had a couple of huge cashes, mainly at the Venetian and Planet Hollywood and came out enough ahead that the trip was free.  Of course staying three nights for $89 total makes that pretty easy.

I played so much poker in three days that I really can't talk about interesting hands or sessions.  Independent of the cash result, it was a lot of fun to live on the wild side.  Cuz I'm kinda a simple boring guy :)

I'll be heading back in March and it looks like July as well.

Poker update

It's not that I haven't been blogging, I actually haven't played much poker since my last post. With the holidays, evenings have been spent shopping, wrapping, packaging, lighting candles, etc.  And then I had a major "non-playing" disappointment.

I played at Snoqualmie a couple of weeks ago and nearly tripled up by buy in. One of my best results of late.  Basically had two big hands where I hit sets and got paid.  One I erred by calling too much pre flop -- but I just didn't believe the guy -- but the other I played well calling down what was essentially a three barrel bluff on an all-club flop.  Also had a simple hand where four people limp called my raise to 25 and a flopped top pair and took down the pot.  I wish I could have more hands that were so easy.

We spent the weekend at Tulalip for my birthday so I could get a lot of poker in.  Unfortunately it didn't work out well. Monica wanted to go shopping after dinner so I accompanied her and didn't get into a game until after 9 PM.  It had been a long day and I just wasn't feeling it.  Though it was a great table with really bad players.  I also liked that their 3-5 game allows a $500 buy in which means more money on the table.  Wound up winning a little bit almost all of it on one hand where a guy "donated" $300 with trips, no-kicker against my tips-ace kicker when his hand HAD to be no good on the turn.

Hope to get in a session this week, likely Friday if not before, before I head to Las Vegas next Monday.

Snoqualmie 11/18

Had one of the most frustrating nights of poker in a while. First see my previous post on bad players.

Was at a good table at Snoqualmie against a number of bad players and wound up down a buy-in. Played three or four hands the first hour and was up $4 -- I had K8 in the blinds flopped top pair a rivered a straight and won a small pot. I could never get anything going. Had at most one big pair, no big aces that I recall, and a couple of small pairs. Saw a lot of KQ, KJ, 75 hands.

A made a few bad plays, but meanwhile I watched people throw money around. The guy on my left seemed like he had never played live before -- needed an explanation on every bit of terminology. He was pretty tight, but would limp call for 20% of his stack. I made a bunch of second best hands, but I think my real problem was inconsistent aggression. I'd make a loose raise pre-flop then give up when someone check-called. I think I could have pushed people off better hands a few times with a turn or river bet. And I probably played a bit too lose.

But ultimately when people are calling too often, you have to make a hand to win, and I couldn't make a hand.

Overall I'd grade my play a B-, but I need to be on my A game.